In an example method, a base station determines that a UE is CSFB capable and that the base station is currently serving a relay on a first carrier of a plurality of carriers. The base station provides a coverage area on which to serve UEs, and the coverage area operates on the plurality of carriers. Based on at least the determining that the UE is CSFB capable and that the base station is currently serving the relay on the first carrier, the base station assigns the UE to operate on a carrier of the plurality of carriers other than the first carrier rather than having the UE operate on the first carrier on which the base station is currently serving the relay.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description provided in this section is not itself prior art to the claims and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A typical wireless network includes a number of base stations each radiating to provide coverage in which to serve user equipment devices (UEs) such as cell phones, tablet computers, tracking devices, embedded wireless modules, and other wirelessly equipped devices. In turn, each base station may be coupled with a switch or gateway that provides connectivity with one or more transport networks, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or the Internet for instance. With this arrangement, a UE within coverage of the network may engage in air interface communication with a base station and may thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other UEs served by the base station.
Further, such a network may operate in accordance with a particular radio access protocol, examples of which include, without limitation, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (e.g., 1×RTT and 1×EV-DO), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), IEEE 802.11 (WIFI), BLUETOOTH, and others. Each protocol may define its own procedures for registration of UEs, initiation of communications, handover between base station coverage areas, and other functions.
Each base station may provide wireless service to UEs on one or more carrier frequencies (carriers), each of which could be frequency division duplex (FDD), defining separate frequency channels for downlink and uplink communication, or time division duplex (TDD), defining a frequency channel multiplexed over time between downlink and uplink use. Each carrier or its respective channels could be within a defined frequency band and could be of a particular frequency bandwidth, such as 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz for instance, defining a certain extent of air interface resources. A given base station could be arranged to serve a UE on a single such carrier at a time or, with carrier aggregation service or the like, on multiple such carriers at a time.
On each carrier frequency in a coverage area, the coverage area may also define a number of air interface channels for carrying information between the base station and the UEs. These channels may be defined in various ways, such as through frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, and/or code-division multiplexing, for instance. By way of example, each coverage area may define a pilot channel, reference channel or other resource on which the base station may broadcast a pilot signal, reference signal, or the like that UEs may detect as an indication of coverage and may measure to evaluate coverage strength. As another example, each coverage area may define an uplink control channel or other resource on which UEs may transmit control messages such as registration requests and access requests to the base station. And each coverage area may define a downlink control channel or other resource on which the base station may transmit control messages such as system information messages and page messages to UEs. Each coverage area may then define one or more traffic channels or other resources for carrying communication traffic such as voice data and other data between the base station and UEs.
When a UE first powers on or enters into coverage of the network, the UE may scan for and identify a strongest pilot or reference signal and may register with the network by transmitting a registration request or attach request to a base station providing that signal. This registration process may serve to notify the network of the UE's presence in a particular coverage area and to facilitate network authentication of the UE. Once registered, the UE may then operate in an idle mode in which the UE monitors a downlink control channel to receive overhead information and to check for any page messages. In the idle mode, the UE may have no assigned traffic channel resources on which to engage in bearer communication.
When the network has a communication (such as a voice call or other traffic) to provide to a UE that is registered with the network but is operating in the idle mode, the network may page the UE in an effort to then facilitate assigning traffic channel resources to the UE. In particular, the network may transmit on the downlink a page message addressed to the UE. Assuming the UE receives this page message, the UE may then transmit to the network a page response message on the uplink. And upon receipt of the page response message, the network may then assign traffic channel resources to the UE, for use to carry the communication, thus transitioning the UE to a connected or active mode in which the UE can engage in the communication.
Likewise, when an idle UE seeks to initiate a communication (such as to place a voice call or engage in other bearer communication), the UE may transmit on the uplink to the base station an origination or connection request, and the network may then assign traffic channel resources to the UE for use to carry the communication, similarly transitioning the UE to a connected or active mode in which the UE can engage in the communication.
In normal operation, when a base station operates in such a wireless network, the base station may thus engage in various types of communication with other network entities. Such communication could be categorized into "control-plane communication" and "user-plane communication". The control-plane communication encompasses any of the base station's control signaling with other core network entities to help manage operations in the wireless network and service of UEs, and could thus include communications such as bearer setup signaling, tracking area update signaling, paging, handover signaling, and the like. Whereas, the user-plane communication encompasses bearer data being communicated to or from one or more UEs served by the base station, such as packet data that the base station receives from a gateway system and then schedules/transmits to a UE and packet data that the base station receives from a UE and forwards to a gateway system for transmission on a transport network.
In systems that provide service under more than one air interface protocol, service providers may implement functionality that allows UEs to operate by default on one air interface protocol and to dynamically switch over to operate on another air interface protocol when necessary to engage in certain communications. By way of example, in a system that supports both LTE service for mobile broadband and an older protocol such as CDMA or GSM for traditional voice calls, service providers may implement "circuit switched fallback" (CSFB) functionality, which allows UEs to operate by default on LTE and to switch over to operate on the older protocol to engage in voice calls. Further, service providers may implement "enhanced circuit switched fallback" (eCSFB) functionality to make use of certain additional functions that support transition of a UE from operating on one network to another.
Under CSFB, for instance, a hybrid CDMA/LTE UE may be arranged by default to scan for and register with an LTE network and to operate with its CDMA radio powered off, but to then engage in control signaling with the CDMA network via the LTE network, i.e., over the LTE air interface. To facilitate this, when the UE registers with the LTE network, LTE network infrastructure such as a mobility management entity (MME) may signal through an interworking server (IWS) with the CDMA network to register the UE with the CDMA network as well.
In turn, when the CDMA network has a voice call to connect to the UE, the CDMA network may signal through the IWS to the LTE network to cause the LTE network to transmit a CSFB page message to the UE over the LTE air interface. After further CSFB signaling through the LTE network, the UE may then power on its CDMA radio and tune to the CDMA network to engage in the call over the CDMA air interface.
Optimally, a wireless service provider will strategically implement base stations throughout a market area so that served UEs can move between the base station coverage areas without loss of coverage. Each base station may include an antenna structure and associated equipment, and the wireless service provider may connect the base station by a landline cable (e.g., a T1 line) with the service provider's network infrastructure to enable the base station to communicate with a signaling controller (e.g., MME), gateway system, other base stations, and the like.
In practice, however, it may be impractical for a wireless service provider to run landline connections to base stations in certain locations. For instance, where a service provider seeks to provide many small coverage areas blanketing a market area or to fill in coverage holes between coverage of other base stations, the service provider may implement many small-cell base stations throughout the market area, but it may be inefficient or undesirable to run landline cables to every one of those small-cell base stations.
To connect a base station with the network infrastructure in such a situation, the wireless service provider may implement a wireless backhaul connection between the base station and another base station of the service provider's network. In this situation, the base station at issue operates as a relay base station, and the other base station operates as a donor base station. In practice, the relay base station includes or is coupled with a UE, referred to as a relay-UE, and the donor base station then serves the relay-UE in much the same way that the donor base station serves other UEs. Further, the relay base station itself serves UEs, in much the same way that any base station would.

Management of carrier usage by relays and CSFB capable UEs


A retrofittable seat assembly comprises a base, a base receiver operatively connected to the base and configured and arranged to receive a mounting post of a seat, and a connecting member configured and arranged to connect the base to a support structure.

Standup paddle boards provide users with a great way to exercise because they require balance while standing, sitting, or lying on the boards during use. A user could become exhausted from paddling and want to rest, and it could be difficult to move between or among positions on the board. Therefore, there is a need for a seat assembly that is easy to use.
Many people buy or rent boards, and some people may want to use a variety of boards. Therefore, there is a need for a retrofittable seat assembly that is easily connected to a variety of boards or other support structures.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, a need exists for the present invention.


Plastic tubes are welded by first placing the plastic tubes across aligned tube slots in a pair of side by side tube holders. The tubes are clamped to create a fluid free area. The clamps in one of the tube holders are shifted laterally away from the other tube holders to increase the fluid free area of each tube. A cold cutting device cuts through the clamped tubes to create four stub ends. The four stub ends are heated/melted. The stub ends are realigned so that the one stub end in one holder is aligned with the other stub end of the other tube holder and the realigned stub ends are pressed into contact with each other to create a weld seam.

Various techniques have been used for welding plastic tubes, particularly as used in the medical field. For example, there are situations where medical or scientific procedures require sterile transfer of dangerous or sensitive fluids from one container to another. For example, in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) the procedure involves replacing hemo-dialysis. The CAPD patient has a tube connected to the patient's peritoneal cavity via an implanted catheter. A tube from a bag of fresh dialysis solution is connected to the patient's tube. The fresh dialysis solution is drained from the bag into the patient's peritoneal cavity where it remains for about 3-4 hours. During this treatment period the empty bag is folded and carried by the patient who can continue with his or her normal activities. After this treatment period the spent dialysate is drained back into the empty bag which is then disconnected from the patient's tube. A bag of fresh dialysis solution is then connected to the patient's tube and the procedure is repeated. In this connection process the tube from the new bag is to be welded to the tube leading from the patient so that the new bag can replace the used bag. This process involves cutting the tubes of both bags and then welding the tube from the new bag to the tube from the patient. Similar techniques which require cutting plastic tubes and then welding a portion of one tube to another tube includes such processes as blood processing, bio-medical technology labs, total parenteral feeding, chemotherapy, urinary drainage and indwelling catheters.
A common technique used for the cutting of the plastic tubes and then welding the tubes together utilizes a heated wafer which cuts through a pair of tubes either simultaneously or sequentially. The heated tube ends are in a molten condition so that by shifting the tubes a molten tube end from one of the tubes is disposed inline with a molten tube end from the other tube. The molten ends are pressed together to weld the two tube sections and form a unitary tube. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,670; 4,619,642; 4,770,735; 4,793,880; 4,832,773; 4,864,101; 4,897,138; 4,913,756; 4,933,036; 5,141,592; 5,156,701; 5,158,630; 5,209,800; 5,244,522; 5,248,359; 5,256,229; 5,279,685; 5,397,425; 5,525,186; 5,632,852; 5,674,333; 5,855,731; 5,871,612; 6,020,574; 6,132,833; 6,177,652; and 6,637,489 are examples of techniques using heated wafers. All of the details of these patents are incorporated herein by reference thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,056 discloses an apparatus and method for connecting and disconnecting flexible tubing without a heated wafer and which involves crimping a tube in guides during the disconnect procedure. A hammer located between the guides moves into contact with the tube pushing liquid out of the area to be disconnected. As the tube is pinched between the hammer and an anvil a laser heats the pinched tube to seal it. The hammer remains in contact with the tube while it cools. The hammer then moves back to its original position and the guides are removed in reverse pulling the tube apart with two sealed ends.
One of the main problems in sterile connection technology has been welding liquid filled tubes. The weld site must be clear and free of any fluid or fluid ingress before a welding process can begin. The prior art techniques for removing and preventing fluid from entering the weld site are generally characterized by intrinsic weakness or are expensive to implement. Some prior techniques involve minimizing clamping distances or registering sealed tube ends to prevent trapping fluid beyond the clamp faces. These techniques work but have a small operating window and cannot guarantee consistent fluid free weld sites. Other methods include the use of rollers or even of creating temporary seals to remove fluids from the weld site prior to completing a weld. While these systems are functional they are difficult and expensive to implement.


A system of an aircraft for signaling the presence of an obstacle during visual flight, which system includes at least one onboard unit to be installed in an aircraft to be equipped, which onboard unit includes an onboard database that stores at least one obstacle to be avoided during flight. The onboard unit includes an interface to be installed in the aircraft and whose function is to authorize the addition and the deletion of obstacles in the onboard database, with the interface being in communication with the onboard database.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for indicating the presence of an obstacle, an aircraft equipped with this system, and an obstacle-avoidance procedure.
Thus, the invention lies within the technical area of obstacle detection on board an aircraft.
(2) Description of Related Art
The simplest and the most free manner of flying consists of piloting an aircraft by observing the outside environment in order to guide this aircraft and, if necessary, to avoid obstacles. The phrase "visual flight" characterizes this type of flying.
Visual flight is traditionally authorized under certain visibility and cloud-cover conditions. Such visual flight is governed by rules that are known by the abbreviation "VFR" (Visual Flight Rules).
During visual flight, however, a pilot may not see an obstacle, or may not see it early enough to avoid a collision, which could lead to an incident. These obstacles may include, in particular, electrical power-line pylons, antennas, cables such as electrical power lines, antenna guy wires, or even towing cables.
Poor awareness by the pilot of the presence of these obstacles is a recurring factor in accidents during visual flight.
Systems for determining the presence of obstacles are known. However, these systems may be considered costly, and therefore are not installed on board aircraft intended for visual flights. In fact, the instrumentation that is present on board such aircraft may be reduced in order to reduce the cost of the aircraft, which does not appear to be compatible with the installation of costly instruments for signaling obstacles.
Conversely, aircraft are instrumented in order to allow flight known as "instrument flight" In compliance with rules that are known by the abbreviation "IFR" (Instrument Flight Rules).
A pilot performs an instrument flight in compliance with these IFR rules with the aid of instruments and, optionally, with the aid of an airborne control center, in order to:                keep his aircraft in a proper flight configuration, in terms of altitude and speed;        follow a path imposed by the air traffic organizations; and        comply with the published regulations and procedures.
An aircraft may be equipped with a system known by the acronym "TAWS" (Terrain Awareness and Warning System). The versions of TAWS systems that are dedicated specifically to being carried on board rotary-wing aircraft are sometimes known as "HTAWS".
This TAWS system is used, in particular, within the context of instrument flights.
A TAWS system can allow a predictive operating mode based on the use of a database of terrain and of obstacles, if any. The system determines the presence of an obstacle by using this database and, if necessary, signals an obstacle to a pilot.
The term "terrain" is understood as referring to the surface of the planet. The preparation of a terrain database may cause certain obstacles that are present on the surface of the planet to be likened to terrain, such that these obstacles are not treated as obstacles but as terrain.
Accordingly, the term "obstacle" is understood as referring to an object that is located on the surface of the planet but that is not identified as constituting a part of this surface.
A TAWS system may, if appropriate, provide a reactive operating mode using sensors on board the aircraft to probe the outside environment and detect a potential obstacle. The detection of an obstacle leads to the triggering of a warning intended for a pilot. These sensors may include a variometer, a radio altimeter, or even a piece of equipment known in English as "glide slope".
Thus, TAWS systems are designed primarily for use during IFR (i.e., instrument) flight. The function of a TAWS system is to warn the pilot of an estimated collision risk, based on relatively short notice. Accordingly, the goal of the TAWS system is not to provide long-term anticipation helping a pilot to acquire and maintain, during visual flight, visual contact with the potentially most dangerous obstacle.
The terrain and obstacle database is sometimes divided into a terrain database that provides topographic information and an obstacle database that lists potential obstacles.
The obstacle database or databases that are used in TAWS systems are subject to quality requirements and an expensive trackability process, particularly in view of their use during IFR (instrument) flight. They are then updated by competent organizations.
Furthermore, aircraft are sometimes equipped with an active detection system known by the abbreviation "OWS" (Obstacle Warning System). An OWS system may be based on the use of a probe device that probes the sector of the outside environment located in front of the aircraft. This probe device may include a radar, a so-called "scanning" laser, or a laser-based remote detection system known by the acronym "LIDAR" ("Light Detection and Ranging") that employs a laser light. The echoes generated by the probe device could possibly permit reconstitution of the obstacles that are located in the detection zone.
Consequently, TAWS and OWS systems have the disadvantage of being expensive, because of the devices and/or the databases to be implemented. These TAWS and OWS systems may therefore be difficult to implement on board an aircraft intended for visual flight.
Furthermore, and in order to combat wire-based obstacles of the cable type, a rotary-wing aircraft may be equipped with one or more cable cutters.
Cable cutters are worthwhile and inexpensive passive solutions for preventing an accident following a collision with a cable. However, cable cutters are not effective against all types of obstacles, such as, for example, a crane.
Map-display systems only make it possible to view the position of topographic elements and of obstacles in relation to the position and orientation of the aircraft.
These map systems do not always necessarily include warning means for signaling an obstacle, and require an analysis of the display that can take the pilot several seconds to perform.
Document FR 2,780,701 proposes the inclusion of measurements of the instantaneous position and speed of an aircraft in messages that are broadcast via radio. A device installed on board a given aircraft flying VFR analyzes the messages that are broadcast via radio and the path being followed by this given aircraft in order to identify a collision risk. A potential collision risk is signaled vocally.
Document FR 2,893,158 describes a procedure for the construction of a database of obstacles that includes topographic information about obstacles based on heterogeneous sources. Among these sources, document FR 2,893,158 cites commercial databases that include topographic data about obstacles, or even information from various organizations that are responsible for compiling the obstacles.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 7,994,902 B2 proposes an anti-collision system in which vehicles on the ground send and receive GPS information for anti-collision purposes.
Documents EP2355071, EP 2407953, FR 2,908,218, EP 0911647, EP 2204639, U.S. Pat. No. 7,633,430, US 2009/082954, and US 2013/169541 are also known.
Thus, the goal of the present invention is to propose an innovative and, if possible, inexpensive system for indicating the presence of an obstacle in an aircraft and, possibly, in an aircraft engaging in visual flights.

Aircraft system for signaling the presence of an obstacle, an aircraft equipped with this system, and method for the detection of an obstacle


This invention relates in general to a genetic control of retinoblastoma and regulation of carcinogenicity. In particular this invention relates to the cloning, isolation, identification and sequencing of the retinoblastoma gene. The invention also relates to the method of use of the cloned retinoblastoma gene cDNA as a tool for diagnosing retinoblastoma, osteosarcoma and fibrosarcoma. Finally, the invention relates to the control and regulatory mechanisms and functions of the retinoblastoma gene in the oncogenesis.

A proposed general hypothesis of carcinogenesis consists of the following features: All cells possess multiple structural genes capable of coding for transforming factors which can release the cell from its normal constraints on growth. In adult cells, these structural genes are suppressed by diploid pairs of regulatory genes and some of the transforming genes are tissue specific. The structural genes loci are temporarily activated at some stage of embryogenesis and possibly during some stage of the cell cycle in adult cells. Spontaneous tumors, or tumors induced by chemicals or radiation, arise as the result of mutations of any set of regulatory genes releasing the suppression of the corresponding structural genes and leading to transformation of the cell. Autosomal dominant hereditary tumors, such as retinoblastoma, are the result of germ-line inheritance of one inactive regulatory gene. Subsequent somatic mutation of the other regulatory gene leads to tumor formation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 70:3324-3328 [1973]
Thus, under the above theory, it seems entirely plausible that cancer such as retinoblastoma may result when specific genes regulating certain types of cells are activated or inactivated. On the other hand, from the other available evidence outlined below, it is equally plausible that the retinoblastoma gene itself acts as one of the regulatory genes involved in tumorigenesis of certain tissues.
Retinoblastoma tumors have been associated with an interstitial deletions of the long arm of chromosome 13. The deletion of a specific locus on chromosome 13 would be followed by somatic mutation with the consequence of tumor formation. (Ibid).
Thus, the retinoblastoma tumor is a prototypic model for the study of genetic determination of cancer. Amer. J. Hum. Genet., 30:406-421 [1978].
Retinoblastoma, the most common intraocular cancer of childhood, occurs in both hereditarily and nonhereditarily acquired forms. The former is characterized by early age onset and multiple tumor foci compared to the nonhereditary type, which occurs later on with a single, unilateral tumor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 68:820-822 [1971]; Hum. Gen., 52:1-67 [1979]; and Science, 223:1028-1033 [1984].
Retinoblastoma is a malignant embryonal tumor of the sensory layer of the retina that arises in the retina of one eye (unilateral) or both eyes (bilateral), and it is frequently multicentric. Retinoblastomas are characterized by small round cells with deeply staining nuclei, and elongated cells forming rosettes. They usually cause death by local invasion, especially along the optic nerves. The molecular mechanism of the formation of this tumor is unknown.
Although most retinoblastoma ("RB") patients survive the disease, the consequences of undiagnosed and untreated retinoblastoma are severe. Therefore, an understanding of the genetic aspects and early diagnosis of this disease is very important. Without the isolation, identification and sequencing of the RB gene, such understanding and early diagnosis is very difficult.
Retinoblastoma occurs unilaterally in about 65% of cases and bilaterally in the remaining 35%. The majority of patients have a negative family history for this tumor. Despite this, it has been estimated that 40% of the patients, including all of those with bilateral disease, have a hereditary basis to their tumor. The genetic form of retinoblastoma demonstrates the characteristic features of hereditary cancers. Children having retinoblastoma at an earlier age average up to 9-10 months, usually have bilateral disease. Gen Cytogen, 58:534-540 [1986].
The pattern of inheritance is autosomal dominant, with a risk of 50% that the child of an affected parent will receive the gene for retinoblastoma, and a 90% chance that he or she will manifest the tumor. There is an increased risk for the development of second primary malignancies, particularly osteogenic sarcoma and fibroblastoma, both within and outside the field of radiation therapy. Molecular genetic evidence has been reported that the development of retinoblastoma and osteosarcoma involves the specific somatic loss of constitutional heterozygosity for the region of human chomosome 13 which includes the RB 1 locus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, 82:6216-6220 [1985].
In addition, the same cancers that occur frequently as second primary tumors in patients with hereditary retinoblastoma have been observed in their relatives.
Two-mutation hypothesis explains the occurrence of retinoblastoma in both a hereditary and a sporadic form with differing frequencies of bilaterality. It proposes that all retinoblastomas occur as a result of two mutational events. In the hereditary form the first mutation is germinal, and thus is present in all cells of the individual. Only a single second mutation in the somatic target cell is required for development of the tumor. Therefore, these tumors might be expected to occur at an early age and to be bilateral. In the nonhereditary form, both mutations take place post-zygotically in the same somatic cell, and thus, these tumors would more likely be unilateral and occur at a relatively later age. Cytogenetic and molecular genetic studies of patients with retinoblastoma have provided data that strongly support this hypothesis.
Susceptibility to hereditary retinoblastoma is transmissible to offspring as an autosomal-dominant trait from parent to child with 90% penetrance. Under the above hypothesis, the inherited gene alone is not sufficient for carcinogenesis because not everyone who receives it develops the cancer, and not every susceptible cell carrying it becomes transformed. Thus, another event, a second gene change, or "second hit" such as deletion or rearrangement of the gene, is necessary.
The retinoblastoma gene deletions have been directly linked to the retinoblastoma. JNCI, 71:1107-1114 [1983].
A constitutional chromosome abnormality in a patient with retinoblastoma, with a deletion of one of the D group chromosomes, was previously reported. The D group chromosome involved in retinoblastoma cases is chromosome 13, and the band common to all the deletions is 13q14. These data suggested that the retinoblastoma gene is located within this chromosomal band.
Gene dosage studies have demonstrated that the locus for the enzyme esterase D is also located in band 13q14, and is closely linked to the retinoblastoma gene. Thus, there is available a biochemical marker for small deletions of this region of chromosome 13. Most of the patients with this specific chromosomal deletion have other phenotypic abnormalities in addition to retinoblastoma. Although there is no classical phenotype, developmental delay, microcephaly, microphthalmia, and skeletal and genitourinary malformations have been reported.
The patients with constitutional deletions of chromosome band 13q14 clearly demonstrate the first germinal mutation. Evidence for a second somatic cell mutation has recently been published in Nature, 305:779-784 [1983]. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms were used to compare constitutional and tumor genotypes of patients with retinoblastoma. The results suggest that tumorigenesis may result from the development of homozygosity for a recessive mutant allele at the retinoblastoma locus. In other words, the patients inherited one mutant allele, and homozygosity occurred when the normal allele was lost by mitotic nondisjunction or mitotic recombination. Thus, although pedigree analyses of families with hereditary retinoblastoma are compatible with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance, molecular genetic studies support the hypothesis that the retinoblastoma locus is recessive, and that both alleles must undergo mutation before the tumor is expressed. Gen. Cytogen., 58:534-540 [1986].
The genetic locus determining retinoblastoma susceptibility was assigned to band q14 of chromosome 13, along with the gene for the polymorphic marker enzyme esterase D ("ESD"), by examination of cytogenetic deletions. Science, 208:1042-1044 [1980]. The close linkage of these loci was confirmed by studies of retinoblastoma pedigrees. Science, 219:971-972 [1983].
The retinoblastoma susceptibility locus was further implicated in nonhereditary retinoblastoma by observations of frequent chromosome 13 abnormalities in tumor karyotypes and reduced esterase D activity in tumors. Cancer Genet. Cytogenet., 10:311-333 [1983].
The proposition has been made previously that inactivation of both alleles of the RB gene located in region 13q14 evidenced by the reduced esterase D activity resulted in retinoblastoma. Such proposition was based in part on a case of hereditary bilateral retinoblastoma LA-RB69 in which both RB alleles located in close proximity of the esterase D gene were inferred to be absent. Science, 219:973-975 [1983]. Recently, however, the assumption that the absence of esterase D activity implied loss of both esterase D and RB genes has been disproved by finding a low but detectable quantity of esterase D protein and enzymatic activity present in tumor cells LA-RB69. Hum. Genet., 76:33-36 [1987].
Nonetheless, Cavenee et al., (Nature, 305:779-784 [1983]) found that chromosome 13 markers that were heterozygous in somatic cells often became homozygous or hemizygous in retinoblastoma tumors. Homozygous 13q14 deletions at the molecular level in 2 out of 37 retinoblastoma tumors were also reported in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, 83:7391-7394 [1986]. These experiments provided evidence that the proposed RB gene may function in a "recessive" manner at the cellular level, in distinction to the "dominant" activities of classical oncogenes as measured, for example, by transfection assays. Science, 235:305-308 [1987] and Cancer Res., 46:1573-1580 [1986].
Thus, absence or inactivation of the RB gene, mapped to the chromosome 13q14:11 region, is believed to be the primary cause of retinoblastoma. Science, 213:1501-1503 (1981), Science, 223: 1028-1033 (1984), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 68:820-823 (1971), Nature, 305:779-784 (1980). Since little of the RB gene structure or function is known, its cloning has proved to be difficult. Discover, March:85-96 (1987).
There is now enough evidence available showing the genetic involvement in the development of retinoblastoma and its secondary tumors. However, the precise location of the RB gene, its identification, isolation and nucleotide sequence and cloning, as well as the amino acid sequence of its protein product, is necessary for early diagnosis and treatment but difficult to obtain. It would be therefor advantageous to have this information available to enable the development of diagnostic procedure and treatment.
The latest reports suggest that the RB gene may have a regulatory function and that its presence and normal function prevents the development of the retinoblastoma. On the other hand, absence, malfunctioning or inactivation of the RB gene causes the development of, or genetical predisposition and susceptibility, to the retinoblastoma and is believed to be the primary cause for both hereditary and acquired retinoblastoma, osterosarcoma and fibroblastoma and other cancers.
Therefore, to find a way of determining the genetic predisposition in the fetus or the susceptibility in later age of acquiring retinoblastoma, by determination of the normal or abnormal function of the RB gene, is of utmost importance for early diagnosis and/or possible treatment of retinoblastoma, ostesarcoma, fibroblastoma and other cancers through a genetic manipulation.
The research on genetics of the retinoblastoma has a long history. Discover, March:85-96 [1987]. The major turn in retinoblastoma occured in early 1980 when general radioactive DNA probes were prepared against specific regions of chromosome 13. These probes were instrumental in findings that the retinoblastoma patients have abnormalities at 13q14 region of chromosome 13. Am. J. Hum. Genet., 36:10-24 [1984].
The next important finding of the esterase D gene location in the close proximity of the retinoblastoma gene was made in 1984. Then walking along the chromosome from the esterase D gene was initiated, including the cloning, probing, and screening. This approach eventually led to the identification, isolation and sequencing of the RB gene as disclosed in this invention. Science, 235:1394-1399 [1987].
Independently, there were other attempts to isolate RB gene by preparation and random use of DNA probes for the q14 region, using cells from the eye tissue of a fetal eye and from the retinoblastoma tumor. This random approach resulted in the finding of two tumor cells of 2 retinoblastoma patient missing part of the chromosome 13. Apparently at least a fragment of the gene was identified by one of the randomly constructed and used DNA probes. Later on, it was determined that the fragment was expressed in normal fetal eye tissue but was not expressed in retinoblastoma. Although scientists at that point called the results a detection of the gene, there was, and still is not sufficient evidence available that the whole gene was indeed identified at that time. The discovered fragment was later cloned. Discover, March:85-96 [198].
Since the discoveries of the RB gene fragment, published in Nature, Vol.323:643-646 [1986], only disclosed the randomly obtained but not identified and sequenced piece of DNA, albeit probably a portion of the RB gene, it would be greatly advantageous to identify the exact nucleotide sequence of the whole RB gene, including the initiation and termination codons to identify the amino acid sequence of the retinoblastoma gene protein product and to provide the antibody against such protein. The specific anti-RB protein antibody would be usable as the diagnostic tool in diagnosing retinoblastoma and other secondary cancers associated therewith and for regulation of carcinogenicity.
The localization of esterase D and RB genes in the same chromosomal region provides an advantageous approach for evaluation of RB gene functioning, for discovery of RB chromosomal patterns, for cloning of the RB gene, for isolating the RB gene and identifying the RB gene sequence by chromosomal walking, using the esterase D cDNA clone as the starting point. The isolation, identification and cloning of esterase D was part of the current discovery and is the subject of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 091547 filed on Aug. 31, 1987, hereby incorporated by reference. The protein product of the RB gene, namely phosphoprotein ppRB.sup.110, was isolated and its amino acid sequence determined as a part of this invention. It is independently disclosed and claimed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 098612, filed on Sep. 17, 1987, and is hereby incorporated by reference. The subject matter was also published in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 83:6337-6341 and 6790-6794 (1986). Science, 235:1394-1399 (1987).
The identification of the exact RB gene location, isolation, identification, sequencing and cloning of the RB gene; the identification of the RB protein, and preparation of the specific anti-RB antibody would allow diagnosis and treatment of the retinoblastomas and their secondary tumors and other cancers regulated completely or partially by the RB gene.
It is therefore one object of this invention to identify and isolate the RB gene.
It is another object of this invention to determine the exact nucleotide sequence of the cloned RB cDNA derived from RB gene.
It is yet another object of this invention to prepare RB cDNA and to clone the same.
It is a further object of this invention to prepare appropriate RB gene probes.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for diagnosing a retinoblastoma and its related secondary cancers and susceptibility thereto and to provide treatment of retinoblastoma by genetic manipulation.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a method for diagnosing a tumorigenicity of tissue regulated by the RB gene.

Retinoblastoma gene-cancer suppressor and regulator

The Regents of the University of California


A cleaning system for an endoscope is disclosed wherein the inlets of respective channels of the endoscope are connected to a suction pump through a connecting device enabling the endoscope to be cleaned by aspirating fluid through the channels under operation of the pump. The connecting device includes as passage arrangement having a plurality of first connecting ports and at least one second connecting port. The device further includes control means to control fluid flow through the passage arrangement enabling individual channels in the endoscope to be isolated from the suction.

The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for cleaning an endoscope. The invention is suitable for use on all types of endoscopes including both fiberscopes and video endoscopes and has particular application in the cleaning of the channels within the endoscope after use, and is herein described in this context. However, it should be appreciated that the invention has broader application and is not limited to this particular use.
Endoscopes are widely used in medical diagnosis, therapy and research. A typical endoscope incorporates a control section, from which an insertion tube and universal cord extend. The insertion tube incorporates a distal end which includes an objective lens and light guides, and the universal cord incorporates a connecting head at its outer end through which the light source and power are supplied to the endoscope.
A plurality of channels extend through the endoscope to the distal end. These channels, which include a working channel and water and air channels, allow access to enable various functions to be provided at the distal end. The working channel enables forceps and other instruments to be used at the distal end and is also usually connected to a source of suction to provide suction at the distal end. The water and air channels are primarily provided to clean the objective lens. Other channels may also be incorporated including auxiliary water channels to provide irrigation at the inspection site, auxiliary instrument channels and CO.sub.2 insufflation channels.
Each of these channels incorporates an inlet port. Usually the instrument channel inlet port is located at the control section with the inlet ports for the other channels located at the connector head, though this may vary with different types of endoscopes.
To maintain adequate performance of the endoscope and to stop cross-infection, it is necessary that the endoscope is thoroughly cleaned after each use, and in cleaning the endoscope it is necessary that each individual channel is thoroughly cleaned.
In the past a method of cleaning the endoscope includes applying pressure, usually via a syringe, at each inlet port of the channels to flush fluid through the individual channels to the distal end. While this procedure is adequate, this process is time consuming and labour intensive.


A passenger protection apparatus has plural kinds of passenger protectors, e.g., air bags and seat belt retractors, which are actuated when a scale of collision of a vehicle is above an actuation level. It has a memory for memorizing actuation levels which are set in advance for each kind of the passenger protectors. The apparatus has a corrector for correcting the actuation level, which is kept in the memory, of non-actuated kind of passenger protector to a lower level when at least one kind, out of the plural kinds, of passenger protectors is actuated. In case the passenger protection apparatus is made up of a gas-actuated air bag which is actuated by a plularity of gas generators, it has also a memory for memorizing actuation levels which are set in advance for each of the gas generators. An actuation level corrector corrects the actuation level, which is kept in the memory, of a non-actuated gas generator to a lower level when at least one of the plurality of gas generators is actuated.

This invention relates to a passenger protection apparatus which is operated at the time of collision of a vehicle such as an automobile.
There are many conventionally known passenger protection apparatuses comprising passenger protection means as described below for maintaining a passenger's posture at the time of collision of a vehicle. As passenger protecting means, there is known, for example, an air bag apparatus in which an air bag is provided in a position in front of the passenger such as in a steering wheel or in a dashboard such that the air bag is inflated at the time of collision of the vehicle. There is also known a seat belt retraction apparatus for rapidly retracting a seat belt.
In case plural kinds of passenger protection means are mounted on the vehicle, it is known to set levels of actuation at the time of collision of respective kinds to values which are different from each other so that, in a light degree of collision, the passenger protection means are only partially actuated or operated to reduce the repair expenses. In case the passenger protection means is actuated by gas pressure to be generated by a gas generating device, it is known to provide a plurality of gas generating devices for one piece of passenger protection means and to vary the levels of actuation of the plurality of gas generating devices so that, in a light degree of collision, the gas generating devices are only partially actuated. This partial actuation of the gas generating devices is to restrict the actuation speed of the passenger protection means so that its operation is in agreement with the sense of collision to be actually perceived by the passenger.
Where the collision of the vehicle is of such a degree that the passenger protection means are only partially actuated as described above, there may be a case where the vehicle can still travel by its own driving force. When the vehicle were to be collided for a second time during the travel after the first collision, there will be no problem from the viewpoint of the passenger's safety because the remaining part of the passenger protection means will be actuated to protect the passenger. However, the actuation level of the remaining part of the passenger protection means is actually set to a level which is higher than the level actuated at the time of the first collision. It is, therefore, preferable to cause the remaining part of the passenger protection means to actuate at a level which is lower than the originally set value in order to give the passenger a sense of assurance.
Further, also in case where a plurality of gas generating devices are provided for one piece of passenger protection means, when the vehicle were to be collided for a second time after the plurality of gas generating devices have been partially actuated in the first collision, there will be no problem because the remaining part of the gas generating devices will be actuated. However, the sense of assurance on the part of the passenger can further be increased if the level of actuation of the remaining part of the gas generating devices is lowered.


A wavelength conversion crystal including: a single nonlinear optical crystal which satisfies both of a first phase-matching condition and a second phase-matching condition, the first phase-matching condition being required for first wavelength conversion to convert a fundamental wave having a wavelength of 1064 nm into a second harmonic having a wavelength of 532 nm, and the second phase-matching condition being required for second wavelength conversion to convert the light having a wavelength of 532 nm into a fourth harmonic having a wavelength of 266 nm; and a first reflective face and a second reflective face for reflecting the light having a wavelength of 532 nm generated by the first wavelength conversion to supply it to the second wavelength conversion. This approach can efficiently generate a third or higher-order harmonic with a reliable and simple configuration.

In a conventional case of emitting third and higher-order harmonics, a configuration of using not only a first wavelength conversion crystal for emitting a second harmonic but also a second wavelength conversion crystal for emitting a third or fourth harmonic has been generally employed.
However, such a configuration of using a plurality of wavelength conversion crystals requires not only a plurality of wavelength conversion crystals but also adjustment means for adjusting an angle and a temperature of each wavelength conversion crystal, and also other adjustment means for adjusting an incidence angle and an incident beam diameter of light to be wavelength-converted and to be incident on each wavelength conversion crystal. These requirements may raise costs required for the wavelength conversion crystals and the wavelength conversion laser device.
In addition, since it is required to adjust angles and temperatures of the plurality of wavelength conversion crystals and an incidence angle and a beam diameter of light to be wavelength-converted, the configuration has problems of not only requiring much time and effort for the adjusting works but also causing an output, a beam intensity distribution, and a beam diameter of a higher-order harmonic to easily fluctuate due to variation of an appropriate value of each of elements to be adjusted.
To address these problems, a technique of integrating the plurality of wavelength conversion crystals by using such a method as optical contact has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1). Also, another technique of emitting a third harmonic from a single wavelength conversion crystal by using a specific crystalline material has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Wavelength conversion crystal and wavelength conversion laser device


An information recording medium (10) is provided with: a first area in which first data is recorded, first data region information being assigned to the first data; a second area in which second data is recorded, second data region information being assigned to the second data; and a control area in which control data including setting command data (72) is recorded, the setting command data setting the first data region information as reference region information, which is referred to by an information reproducing apparatus, if the first data is reproduced.

The DVD-Video standard is complied with, in the case where video information compression-coded by MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) 1 or MPEG 2, which is one example of compression-coding, is recorded onto an optical disc such as a DVD. According to the DVD-Video standard, the compression-coding and high-density recording of the record data have advanced to the extent that content information with a volume of about one movie can be recorded onto one optical disc. The DVD-Video standard is standardized mainly to prepare packaged software including the title of a movie or the like, and to sell the packaged software to users. On the other hand, since the DVD-Video standard is standardized mainly to record the read-only title, a users' arbitrary editing is restricted. In particular, the DVD-Video standard is not suited for such an application that users record the title such as a TV program, in which commercial messages (CM) and a main story are discretely arranged, while editing the CM. In addition, in the DVD-Video standard, the copy-once title broadcasted in terrestrial digital broadcasting and BS digital broadcasting cannot be recorded.
That is why the DVD-VR (Video Recording) standard, disclosed in a patent document 1, is standardized in addition to the DVD-Video standard. In the DVD-VR standard, users can record the title such as a TV program in which CM and a main story are discretely arranged, while editing the CM, or users can edit it after recording the title. In addition, the DVD-VR standard supports CPRM (Content Protection for Recordable Media) or the like, so that the copy-once title can be recorded. Thus, it is possible to preferably protect the copyright of the title to be recorded.
Moreover, a region code for restricting a reproducible area of recorded content is assigned to a DVD. Specifically, the world is divided into six regions (or seven regions if an airplane is considered to be one region), and a unique region code to each region is defined. One or a plurality of region codes are assigned to a DVD. Moreover, one region code is assigned to a DVD player for reproducing the DVD. Then, only if the region code assigned to the DVD matches the region code assigned to the DVD player, the DVD player can reproduce the content recorded on the DVD. For example, a region code "2" is assigned to both the DVD and the DVD player which are sold in Japan. Thus, the content recorded on the DVD sold in Japan can be reproduced by using the DVD player sold in Japan. On the other hand, a region code "1" is assigned to the DVD sold in America. Thus, the content recorded on the DVD sold in America cannot be reproduced by using the DVD player sold in Japan. Such DVD reproduction control is referred to as RPC (Region Playback Control) (refer to a patent document 1).
The patent document 1 discloses that the DVD player is controlled as follows. The region code indicating a country or region in which the DVD player is to be placed and operated is stored in the DVD player for reproducing the DVD, while the region code indicating a country or region which allows the reproduction of the title recorded on the DVD is recorded in the DVD in the manufacturing step. The region code stored in the DVD player on which the DVD is loaded is verified with the region code recorded on the DVD itself, and only when the both region codes match, the title reproduction is started.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open NO. 2004-127486

Information recording medium, information recording device and method, and computer program


The present invention provides a plate material stocker facility with a simplified pallet loading and unloading mechanism. The plate material stocker facility includes a plate material stocker 4 in which pallets 9 each allowing a plate material to be stacked thereon are stored, and a pallet slide device 2. The plate material stocker 4 has a plurality of pallet support portions 10 arranged in stages in a vertical direction, the pallet support portions slidably moving the respective pallets 9 in a front-back direction, and supporting the respective pallets 9 and switchably moving the pallets 9 between a first position 4a and a second position 4b, and a plurality of posts 11, 12 supporting the pallet support portions 10. A gap is present between the adjacent pallet support portions 10. The posts 12 located at a rear end are arranged inside respective lateral ends of the pallet support portions 10. The pallet slider device 2 has a slider 30 that is movable in a direction parallel to a slide direction of each of the pallets 9, and pallet abutting portions 33 attached to the slider 30 and coming into abutting contact with the pallet 9. The pallet abutting portions 33 come into abutting contact with the abutting target portions 18 of the pallet 9 at positions outside, in a lateral direction, the respective posts 12.

In a certain plate material stocker facility that stores raw plate materials carried into a plate material processing machine and product plate materials carried out from the plate material processing machine, a plurality of shelves are provided which are arranged in stages and on which pal lets with the plate materials stacked thereon are stored. In a plate material stocker facility of this kind, an elevator device loads and unloads the pallets onto and from the respective shelves (for example, the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication (Tokkai-Hei) No. 5-85608). A plate material conveying device (for example, the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication (Tokkai-Hei) No. 2000-117374) conveys the plate materials between the plate material processing machine and the pallets in the plate material stocker facility.
The conventional plate material stocker facility has the elevator device and a device that transfers the pallets between the elevator device and the shelves or the plate material conveying device. The conventional plate material stocker facility thus has a complicated structure. Furthermore, a power source is required to drive the above-described devices. Moreover, because of the heavy weight of the pallet, the elevating and lowering speed of the elevator cannot be significantly increased. A long time is also required to transfer the pallets between the elevator device and the shelves or the plate material conveying device. It is thus difficult to improve the efficiency with which the pallets are loaded in and unloaded from the plate material stocker facility.
To solve this problem, a plate material stocker facility may be provided in which the plate material conveying device includes a slider that is movable in a horizontal direction to draw out a pallet from any of a plurality of pallet support portions of the plate material stocker facility. In this case, the slider includes a draw-out tool that moves in a draw-out direction to draw out a pallet from any of the pallet support portions.
However, the plurality of pallet support portions are supported by, for example, four posts arranged in the respective corners of the pallet support portions. Thus, when the slider moves forward to or backward from the pallet support portions, the draw-out tool needs to move around the posts. The draw-out tool thus has a complicated structure.


Heat in a stream of combustion products obtained from a glassmelting furnace heated by oxy-fuel combustion is passed to incoming glassmaking materials in a heat exchanger without requiring reduction of the temperature of the stream yet without causing softening of the glassmaking material.

Conventional glassmaking methods require establishing in a glass melting furnace temperatures that are high enough to melt the glassmaking material (by which is meant one or more materials such as sand, soda ash, limestone, dolomite, feldspar, rouge, which are collectively known as "batch" and/or broken, scrap and recycled glass, known as "cullet"). The required high temperature is generally obtained by combustion of hydrocarbon fuel such as natural gas. The combustion produces gaseous combustion products, also known as flue gas. Even in glassmaking equipment that achieves a relatively high efficiency of heat transfer from the combustion to the glassmaking materials to be melted, the combustion products that exit the melting vessel typically have a temperature well in excess of 1093° C. (2000° F.), and thus represent a considerable waste of energy that is generated in the glassmaking operations unless that heat energy can be at least partially recovered from the combustion products. The prior art has addressed this problem by using flue gas to air heat exchangers known as regenerators. In a conventional air fired regenerative furnace, waste heat in the flue gas is partially recovered in the regenerators by preheating the incoming combustion air and the exit temperature of the flue gas after passing through the regenerators is reduced to about 427 to 538° C. (800 to 1000° F.).
Combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel with gaseous oxidant having an average of at least 35 volume percent oxygen (known as "oxy-fuel combustion") provides to the glassmaking operation numerous advantages compared to combustion of the fuel with air. Among those advantages are higher flame temperature, which affords higher heat transfer and shorter melting times, and reduced overall volume of the gaseous combustion products that exit the glass melting furnace, which affords a reduction in the size of the gas-handling equipment that is needed. The gaseous combustion products formed in combustion with oxidants having such higher oxygen content can exhibit temperatures of 982° C. (1800° F.) or higher, even 1093° C. (2000° F.) or higher. Thus, the gaseous combustion products of oxy-fuel combustion contain even more heat energy, compared to the combustion products of conventional air-fired combustion, which should be used to advantage to improve the overall energy efficiency of the glassmaking operation.
While the glassmaking art is aware of using heat in the hot gaseous combustion products from the glass melting furnace to preheat incoming glassmaking material which is to be melted in the manufacture of the glass, the heretofore known technology has believed that the temperature of the hot combustion products should not exceed about 538 to 704° C. (1000 to 1300° F.) as it is fed commences heat exchange with the glassmaking material. This maximum temperature is imposed by considerations of the capability of the materials from which the heat exchanger is constructed to withstand higher temperatures, and considerations of the tendency of the glassmaking material to begin to soften and become adherent (or "sticky") if it becomes too hot during the heat exchange step, leading to reduced throughput and even plugging of the heat exchanger passages. The temperature at which the glassmaking material becomes adherent or sticky depends on the batch composition and the material in contact with the glassmaking material and is believed to be in a range between 538 to 704° C. (1000 to 1300° F.) for a common batch to make soda lime glass for bottles and windows. In a conventional air fired regenerative furnace, the flue gas exit temperature after the regenerators is about 427 to 538° C. (800 to 1000° F.) and there is no need to cool down the flue gas prior to a batch/cullet preheater.
When the gaseous combustion products are those obtained by oxy-fuel combustion, the conventional belief has been that they need to be cooled to the range of from 538 to 704° C. (1000 to 1300° F.) before heat exchange with the incoming glassmaking materials can commence. Numerous examples exist showing the prior art's belief that the temperature of the flue gas must be reduced before the flue gas is used to heat incoming glassmaking materials. Such examples include C. P. Ross et al., "Glass Melting Technology: A Technical and Economic Assessment", Glass Manufacturing Industry Council, August 2004, pp. 73-80; G. Lubitz et al., "Oxy-fuel Fired Furnace in Combination with Batch and Cullet Preheating", presented at
NOVEM Energy Efficiency in Glass Industry Workshop (2000), pp. 69-84; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,412,882; 5,526,580; and 5,807,418.
However, reducing the temperature of this stream of combustion products by adding to it a gaseous diluent such as air, and/or spraying a cooling liquid such as water into the stream, is disadvantageous as such approaches reduce the amount of recoverable heat remaining in the gaseous combustion products, increase the size of the gas handling equipment that is needed, and adds additional equipment and process expense.
Thus, there remains a need in this field for method and apparatus permitting practical and efficient heat exchange from the gaseous combustion products of oxy-fuel combustion to glassmaking material, which can be practiced even at the relatively higher temperatures encountered when using oxy-fuel combustion in glassmaking operations.

Method for preheating glassmaking materials


A circuit for generating a bias signal and an erase signal for use in a recording apparatus having a record head for recording an input analog signal on a magnetic tape, and an erase head for erasing information from the tape. A DC erase signal is applied to the erase head in response to the erase control signal to cause the erase head to erase information. An AC bias signal is generated and is combined with the input analog signal to make a record signal. The record signal is applied to the record head in response to the record control signal to record information on the tape. A controller generates an erase control signal and as record control signal. The AC bias signal is generated by an AC bias oscillator, such as a Hartley oscillator to reduce the noise contributed in the recording system. Use of a DC source to drive the erase head reduces the cost of the circuit, while maintaining a significant increase in the signal-to-noise ratio.

Magnetic tape recorders, such as telephone answering devices, commonly use magnetic tapes on which analog signals are recorded. Such devices require a circuit which adds a bias signal to the recorded analog signal so that the dynamic range of the magnetic tape may be optimized. It is also necessary for such devices to incorporate additional circuits which are used to erase signals from the magnetic tapes so that new signals can be recorded.
In telephone answering devices and other low-cost recorders, the bias signal is normally provided by adding a DC voltage to the analog signal. A circuit for realizing this biasing method is shown schematically in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1 a record/playback head 10 is connected to input amplifier 14, via switch 12, and to output amplifier 16. When switch 12 is open, the device is in playback mode (i.e., the signals on the tape are reproduced) and an output signal is provided by the output amplifier 16. When switch 12 is closed, the record/playback head 10 is in record mode to record the analog signal on the tape. In this mode the record head 10 receives the analog input signal from amplifier 14. A DC voltage from DC bias source 18 is combined with the analog input signal by an adder circuit 20. This combined signal is provided to the record/playback head 10 via input amplifier 14.
In order to erase the tape, the DC voltage from the DC bias source 18 is also received by an erase head 24 via an erase amplifier 22. A switch 26 is provided in order to disable erasing when the device is not intended to erase.
This biasing/erasing system is inexpensive and reliable and does not require careful adjustment or extensive maintenance. However, as is well-known, the DC method of biasing uses only part of the magnetization curve of the recording head 10. Consequently, the system typically provides a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of less than 30 decibels (dB). A careful investigation has revealed that the principle noise contributor in such a system is the DC bias arrangement itself.
By contrast, in high quality, professional, magnetic tape recorders, a biasing method known as AC biasing is used. A circuit embodying this method is shown in FIG. 2. The AC biasing method involves adding a large amplitude, fixed, supersonic, single frequency sinusoidal signal to the analog signal before coupling the signal to the record head 10. (Similar reference numbers in FIGS. 1 and 2 indicate similar structures.) In place of the DC bias source 18 (FIG. 1), the AC biasing method uses an AC bias oscillator 30. This oscillator provides a second bias signal to an amplitude control circuit 32. The amplitude control circuit 32 subsequently provides an AC biasing signal to the adder circuit 20 where the bias signal is combined with the analog signal to be recorded. The combined signal is provided, in turn, to an amplifier 14 and, via switch 12 to the record head 10 and output amplifier 16.
Oscillator 30 also provides a AC erase signal to the erase head 24 via a step up transformer 31 and a switch 26. The step up transformer is necessary to increase the erase signal voltage so that it completely saturates the tape in order to erase it completely. Due to the presence of the transformer, the AC signal provided to erase head 24 usually has a frequency equal to the frequency provided to bias the record head 10 or equal to an odd submultiple of the bias frequency.
The AC biasing/erasing arrangement is capable of producing superior sound quality when compared to the DC bias/erase arrangement discussed above--with such AC systems, S/N ratios of 60 to 70 dB can be achieved. However, during initial factory set up, the frequency of the AC bias oscillator 30 (typically 30 to 40 kHz), and the RMS value of the AC bias waveform (typically about 50 volts) must be carefully adjusted to maintain such high S/N ratios. In order to reduce distortion further, the oscillators must also be fine tuned so that the output waveform is symmetrical. In addition, the circuitry required to control the frequency and amplitude of the AC bias waveform is costly. Further, the step up transformer 31 contributes significantly to the cost of the erase circuit. Consequently, the conventional AC bias/erase circuit is generally too costly for relatively low cost magnetic tape recorders such as telephone answering devices and is only cost effective for expensive devices, such as professional quality magnetic tape recorders.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a biasing/erasing method and apparatus for a magnetic tape recording apparatus, especially telephone answering and other low cost recording devices, which method and apparatus improve the signal to noise (S/N) ratio over a conventional DC biasing/erasing system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a biasing method and apparatus which improve the signal to noise (S/N) ratio over a conventional DC biasing/erasing system without greatly increasing the cost.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a biasing method and apparatus which utilize AC biasing for a high S/N ratio and which eliminate the need for a step up transformer in the erase circuit.

Biasing and erasing apparatus and method for magnetic tape recording devices to improve signal-to-noise ratio


A portable sling chair having a frame formed by a plurality of rigid axially elongated collapsible tubular frame members including a main frame member and a rear frame member connected for pivotal and axial sliding movement relative to each other, a collapsible front support member, a collapsible frame front support assembly, a collapsible frame rear support assembly, and at least one connecting member connecting the main frame member and the rear frame member to maintain the frame in a substantially static condition when the frame is resting on a supporting surface in setup condition. A rectangular panel made from flexible material is supported at its opposite ends by collapsible front and rear panel support members, extends therebetween, and defines contiguous chair seat and back portions when the frame is in its setup condition. All of the frame members are disposed in generally side-by-side relation to each other in the collapsed condition of the frame and form a compact bundle.

There was a time when a hiker or camper traveling on foot and seeking respite would look for a nearby "comfortable" rock or fallen tree upon which to sit. However, in the current era of creature comforts those seeking to enjoy the beauties of nature and the great outdoors are often reluctant to give up the basic comforts of home and will more than likely carry with them some form of seating device. The advent of durable lightweight materials has made it feasible to carry a foldable or otherwise collapsible chair or seat in a backpack and has created in ever increasing demand for improved portable chairs and seats. Consumers—more than ever—are thinking comfort in the great outdoors. Those light weight seating devices heretofore available and which are suitable for portage in a backpack most often take the form of a seat or stool which lacks provision for back support. Seating devices which do provide back support and enable a user to obtain a comfortable reclining position often include a foldable relatively cumbersome frame structure. Those which collapse to form a somewhat smaller and less cumbersome package usually includes a relatively large number of frame elements which require time consuming individual manual manipulation during setup and break down and are troublesome and time consuming to erect and break down.
Accordingly, it is the generally aim of the present invention to provide portable, light-weight, durable sling chairs which may be readily broken down to form compact bundle and which may be rapidly set up for use and collapsed for portage or storage with minimal effort.


In an original image, an area whose brightness is smaller than a predetermined value is detected as an ink line area, and a neighboring area of the ink line area, which surrounds the ink line area, is detected as a neighboring area. Furthermore, with respect to an area other than the ink line area and the neighboring area in the original image, an outline portion of an image is detected as an outline area. A color is applied to the ink line area and the outline area, and a different color is applied to an area other than the above two types of area.

1. Technical Field
Present exemplary non-limiting embodiments of the technology described herein relate to a line drawing image generating device, a storage medium, and a line drawing image generating method. More particularly, the present exemplary non-limiting embodiments relates to a line drawing image generating device, a storage medium, and a line drawing image generating method for generating line drawing data based on original image data.
2. Description of Background Art
Conventionally, there is a technique for extracting outlines of an original image by performing a predetermined process for original image data (for example, see Japanese Patent Gazette No. 2627744). In a typical outline extracting process, a brightness or color difference between a pixel to be processed and a pixel in a neighboring area (for example, 3×3 pixels) of the pixel to be processed is estimated, and the pixel to be processed is extracted as an outline if the brightness or color difference exceeds a predetermined value. The neighboring area of the pixel to be processed is extended (for example, 5×5 pixels), thereby thickening a width of an outline to be extracted and improving the continuity of the outline.
By the above outline extracting process, line drawing data is generated from arbitrary image data, and a line drawing is displayed on a TV monitor based on the line drawing data. A user may paint the line drawing using a paint program.
Now, in an image used in animation (referred to as an animation cell), an outline of a character is typically black (this black outline is referred to as an ink line), and patterns of the character's clothes and grasses in a background are not especially outlined in black (see FIG. 13). If a conventional outline extracting process is applied to the above image in which the outlines are partially thickened, outlines in a resultant line drawing vary widely in line width. However, a neighboring area of a pixel to be processed, which is referred to when a brightness or color difference is estimated, is extended in order to improve the continuity of the outline of the grasses in the background of the image shown in FIG. 13, for example, the outline of the character is unnecessarily thickened in a resultant line drawing as shown in FIG. 14. As a result, the image becomes artificial, which is a problem.

Line drawing image generating device, storage medium, and line drawing image generating method


A safety stopper for a receptacle includes a top portion and a sealing ring having an inner bead embraced around a rib at the receptacle opening. The stopper is press fitted into the receptacle. A weakened seam is provided between the top portion and the sealing ring. A slide may be provided in the top of the stopper and is moved outward to enable the stopper to be removed after the seam is broken. The stopper may also include a segment which blocks movement of the slide until the sealing ring is removed.

This invention relates to a stopper for a receptacle that is preferably in the shape of a bottle and is, in particular, intended for receiving pills, dragees or also other substances, e.g. in powder or granular form. The stopper is provided with a tear-off sealing ring surrounding the edge of the receptacle opening, such as the neck of the receptacle, for ensuring the original state of the contents of the receptacle, and said ring having an inner projection gripping below an outwardly oriented annular projection of the receptacle.
Such stoppers are known. These have a tear-off sealing ring which grips below an outer annular projection on the neck of the receptacle with a bead having, for instance, the shape of a truncated cone when viewed in cross-section. These stoppers have the disadvantage that when they are made from a material having some flexibility, they may be lifted off from the receptacle neck without damage to the predetermined break seam of the sealing ring. As a result, they do not adequately fulfill their function of ensuring the original state of the contents of a receptacle.
Therefore, EP 0 202 506 A2 discloses a stopper as a receptacle closure whose outer wall, which covers the receptacle edge, is connected via tear-off webs to a sealing ring used for ensuring an original state. The sealing ring comprises tabs on its inner surface which are obliquely oriented into the opening direction and grip below a flanged edge of the receptacle. This known stopper can only be removed from the receptacle if the sealing ring has been removed, so that the undamaged state of the sealing ring guarantees that the receptacle content is originally filled-in preparation in its original state.
This known stopper has the disadvantage that it requires an expensive injection molding tool with slides which grip the obliquely upwardly facing tabs from behind. The production of the stopper is therefore very expensive. It is also disadvantageous that recesses must be formed in the head portion of the stopper for the slides.
DE-OS 30 19 180 discloses a childproof sealing stopper in the cover of which a slide is integrally aligned for being pushed laterally beyond the cover edge to remove the stopper. This sealing stopper has no means for ensuring an original state.


A continuous flow centrifuge adapted with an insert of glass beads, sand or the like is used to concentrate cysts of microorganisms such as giardia or cryptosporidium from large volumes of water. The apparatus and methods are useful for the detection of contaminating microoorganisms in groundwater and public drinking water.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a continuous centrifugation apparatus and method. A continuous flow centrifuge adapted with an insert of glass beads, sand or the like is used to concentrate cysts of microorganisms such as giardia or cryptosporidium from large volumes of water. The apparatus and methods of the invention facilitate the detection of such contaminating organisms in groundwater and public drinking water.
2. Background Information
The problem of human cryptosporidiosis is emerging as one of the more serious issues confronting water purification and distribution facilities both in the United States and elsewhere. Recent outbreaks in Carrolton (Hayes et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 320:1372–1373, 1988), Jackson County, (Leland et al., J. Am. Water Works Assoc. 85:34, 1993) and Milwaukee (Mackenzie et al., 1994 N. Engl. J. Med. 331:161, 1994), have brought matters to a head and in a recent announcement, the US Environmental Protection Agency has required testing of water supplies for oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum to prevent transmission of the parasite.
Oocysts of C. parvum are common contaminants of natural waterways and have been found in surveys (Ongerth and Stibbs, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 53:672–676, 1987); Hansen and Ongerth, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 57:2790–2795, 1991). Outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis appear to be associated with technical aberrations at water treatment facilities or changes in river flow following drought conditions or high level of snow melt. Such conditions may combine to increase the load of C. parvum oocysts in the natural waterways, as well as allow the organisms to break through the filtration purification barrier and get access to human populations. The extent to which the organism occurs naturally has been explained recently in a review by Lisle and Rose (Aqua 44:103–117, 1995) and stresses the gravity of the public health problem.
Isolation and extraction of the oocysts of this parasite from natural water or from water being processed or from finished drinking water is difficult and expensive. Current methods utilize filtration as the main extraction process, but filtration of large volumes of water poses major problems particularly with natural water. Even at low turbidities (NTU values ±5), debris and colloidal material soon blocks the filtration medium making the procedure cumbersome and recovery rates become variable and unpredictable. To overcome this, filtration apparatus become large and require vacuum or pump assistance in order to process the samples. The regular method for the concentration and isolation of protozoal cysts from water utilize spiral wound filters to handle large volumes of water (Proposal P229, Annual Book of the American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pa.). The device requires a pump assisted, pressurized apparatus to extract material from the water sample. The apparatus is recommended for use in clarified water (turbidity ±1 NTU). Filtration of 380 L of water constitutes the sample. Following this the fiber filter unit is removed, the apparatus and filter rinsed with elution fluid, and the filter then slit into shreds with a razor knife, washed, kneaded and finally sonicated in 1 L volumes of elution fluid. The cysts which have been recovered from the water are then removed by elution and concentrated by centrifugation and purified on a Percoll-sucrose gradient. The procedure is cumbersome and leaves several procedures vulnerable to loss of material and hence a source of variability in the results. Reported concentrations of both C. parvum oocysts and Giardia intestinalis cysts from water samples analyzed through current methods have wide confidence limits due to poor and inconsistent recovery (5–40%), a high degree of variability (0–130%) and occurrence of false positives (AWWA: 1996 RFP No 364 "New Approaches for isolation of Crytosporidium and Giardia").
Use of centrifugation for retrieval of particulate matter from water is well known. However the concept of continuous flow centrifugation has not been used frequently apart from separation of cream from milk. The process differs from previously known continuous flow centrifugation methods in that a column of particulate matter is added to the fluid stream. The matrix (water) containing cysts is added continuously to the centrifuge, and excess water overflows and drains away, while the particles of interest remain trapped in the centrifuge tubes by force of gravity. A system was developed in Zimbabwe by Barrett and Ellison (Cent. Afr. J. Med. 11(11) 338–340, 1965) to separate trematode cercariae from natural waters. The present invention represents a significant advance over the system of Barrett and Ellison.
Extensive field testing demonstrates its superiority compared, for example, with filtration methods and used with considerable success in natural water systems in Egypt (Yousif et al., 1996). The unique operational advantage of this system is that it can handle large volumes of water irrespective of turbidity. It has been shown by Yousif et al., (1996) to operate both in clear water and water with turbidity above 30 NTU and concentrate particulates in the centrifuge tubes even at speeds of 2–3,000 rpm. The cystic stages of both C. parvum and G. intestinalis are much smaller than the trematode larvae and other particles which were isolated by the centrifuge described by Barrett and Ellison, so additional modifications were needed to proceed.

Apparatus for the separation of cystic parasite forms from water


A plastic article is formed in an injection mold by injecting molten plastic into the injection mold at an elevated temperature, cooling the plastic from the molten condition to a solid condition, and crystallizing a portion of the plastic by slowing down the cooling of said portion.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming an injection molded plastic article having amorphous and crystallized portions generated from the melt phase of the plastic resin as well as a novel molded plastic article. More particularly, the invention relates to a novel partial crystallization method and apparatus conducted entirely or partially inside a mold which is particularly applied to the injection molding of novel polyethylene terephthalate (PET) preforms having a crystallized neck portion and an amorphous body portion. This type of preform is further blown into a biaxially oriented container with improved strength properties in the desired crystallized area. The invention is applicable to preforms made of a single or multiple materials. The previous injection and blow molding methods for PET preforms show crystallized portions generated from the glass phase by local heating and then cooling. The present invention teaches a preferential cooling temperature pattern applied when the article is in a melt phase whereby an amorphous portion is created by rapid local cooling and a crystallized portion is created by a relatively slower local cooling.
Preferentially, the present invention uses novel designs of the PET preform molding and handling equipment. The present invention can also form other kinds of plastic articles exhibiting areas of different physical or optical characteristics. A preferred example in this regard is represented by innovative information carrier plastic discs that have a central hole, such as the HD""s, CD""s, DVD""s, MOP""s and CD-ROM""s which have a central area without retrievable information. Especially the CD""s and DVD""s withstand critical manipulations in use and thus have to have enhanced strength and stiffness characteristics in their central portion. Even higher strength and stiffness characteristics are essential for injection molded precision and high torque resistant plastic gears actuated by rotation shafts.
It is well known that polyethylene terephthalate (PET) blown articles exhibit biaxial-orientation and thus have excellent properties which make them suitable for many applications. However, the biaxial orientation of a hollow shaped article has the disadvantage of strongly increasing the internal stress, thereby causing a reduction of dimensional stability under heat in excess of 70xc2x0 C. Of critical importance in many packaging applications is the neck portion of a container which is not biaxially oriented during the blow-molding process and thus is weaker than the rest of the part. One common solution to strengthen the neck portion of an amorphous PET parison or bottle is to crystallize the neck portion by local heating at a temperature of more than 140xc2x0 C., where a rapid spherullitic crystallization of the non-oriented amorphous material occurs. Many attempts have been made to improve the strength of the neck portion of PET blown bottles by local reheating of the preform or of the bottle, after injection molding of a blowable PET parison. Reference is made in this regard to U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,442 to Ota, U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,559 to Hayashi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,835 to Collette, U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,135 to Horwege, U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,893 to Sugiyama and U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,533 to Sugiura. In all these approaches, a heating source is directed towards the neck portion of a molded preform which is heated to a temperature necessary for its crystallization and heat set. A different approach to form a preform with a crystallized neck is disclosed in EP 503086 to Orimoto et al. In this case, a molded neck finish is first molded and then crystallized outside the mold and then located in a second mold as an insert to form a complete parison by an overmolding method.
Crystallization of the neck finish of a molded parison or a molded neck from glass does not represent an optimum method because it represents an additional, time consuming step to make a heat resistive blown article. Furthermore, it requires additional equipment and floor space and is highly energy inefficient. In most cases, the reheated and crystallized neck does not preserve its nominal dimensions.
Attempts have been made in the past to control crystallization in thermoplastic plastic materials during the injection molding process by varying the pressure on the thermoplastic material in a controlled manner during the cooling cycle. This method, disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,079 to Chang, is hardly implementable when it comes to crystallize only a limited portion of the article, as is the case with the neck portion of a preform.
Partial crystallization has been also applied to vacuum thermoformed articles, as disclosed in the PCT application WO 88/09298 to Clarke. Clarke ""09298 fairly describes a vacuum mold or press for shaping a flat blank of molded PET into a food container with reinforced areas. The mold of Clarke has local heaters, local coolers and local thermal insulators to induce crystallized and amorphous areas of the already flat blank. Clarke ""09298 mold does not receive molten PET and does not use preferential cooling/heating of a molten material to form crystallized patterns. Therefore his method is not applicable to the injection molding of partially crystallized articles, such as PET preforms, by selective cooling from melt.
In-mold local crystallization during normal cooling has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,137 to Ota. The subject matter of the ""137 patent is to create a visible difference in the body of a blown preform by creating an opalescent pattern during the in-mold cooling of molten PET when molding a preform. Thus, the ""137 patent is not interested in the local increase in the strength of a preform through in-mold crystallization. Also, the ""137 patent does not teach any new means to locally alter the cooling rate in a mold. What clearly appears from Ota""s disclosure (see FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) is that he uses the geometry of the molded part itself to achieve partial crystallization by using any standard well known molding equipment. Ota""s crystallization method is based on the inherent fact that a PET article in the molten state that has regions of variable thickness will require more time to solidify in the thick regions than in the thin regions at the same temperature. Accordingly, thick regions that resist cooling may become crystalline while the thin regions that cooled faster become amorphous during the normal cooling step of a PET melt. The ""137 patent creates the thin and thick areas in a two stage overmolding process. A first article comprising variable thickness areas is molded and then used as an inner xe2x80x9cmoldxe2x80x9d surface to form the final composite article where the second layer has corresponding thick and thin areas. During the normal cooling process the thick areas of the second outer layer have a slow cooling and thus crystallize while the thin areas of the second outer layer have a faster cooling and thus become amorphous. The crystallized areas are used as a design pattern. As mentioned before, this select cooling process of the ""137 patent is achieved in a regular mold solely due to the thickness variation of the second molded layer.
The crystallization method, apparatus and article of the present invention is different from the known methods because it uses a differential cooling pattern induced by innovative molding equipment to slow down the cooling process of the resin in a substantially molten phase only in certain selected areas. This local crystallization method that provides strength enhancement can be understood from the following brief description of the polymer""s behavior under heat.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved, injection molded plastic article and a process and apparatus for preparing same.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an article, process and apparatus as aforesaid which includes a crystalline portion with enhanced strength properties, and an amorphous portion, especially having a crystallized neck portion.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.
In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing objects and advantages are readily obtained.
The process of the present invention comprises: forming a plastic article by injecting molten plastic into an injection mold at an elevated temperature; cooling the plastic in said injection mold from the molten condition to a solid condition; wherein a first portion of the plastic is rapidly cooled from the molten condition to the solid condition to form an amorphous portion, and a second portion of the plastic is slowly cooled from the molten condition to the solid condition to form a crystallized portion. Desirably, said article has a closed bottom, a sidewall portion extending from the closed bottom, and a neck region extending from the sidewall, including the step of crystallizing at least a portion of the neck region. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention includes the step of providing cooling means in the injection mold to cool said article, and insulating at least a portion of the neck region from said cooling means.
The apparatus of the present invention comprises: an injection mold having a mold cavity therein; means for injecting molten plastic into said mold cavity to form a plastic article therein; cooling means in heat exchange relationship with said mold cavity to cool said plastic from the molten condition to the solid condition; wherein said cooling means is operative to rapidly cool a first portion of said plastic from the molten condition to the solid condition to form an amorphous portion, and including means adjacent a second portion of said plastic to permit slowly cooling said second portion from the molten condition to the solid condition to form a crystallized portion. Desirably, the article has a closed bottom, a sidewall portion extending from the closed bottom, and a neck region extending from the sidewall, wherein the means adjacent the second portion is adjacent at least a portion of the neck region. In a preferred embodiment, the means adjacent the second portion insulates at least a portion of the neck region from the cooling means.
The injection molded article of the present invention comprises: an injection molded plastic article formed by injecting molten plastic into an injection mold, wherein said article includes an amorphous first portion formed by rapidly cooling said molten plastic to the solid condition, and a crystallized second portion formed by slowly cooling said molten plastic from the molten condition to the solid condition. Desirably, the article has a closed bottom, a sidewall portion extending from the closed bottom, and a neck region extending from the sidewall, wherein at least a portion of the neck region is crystallized. In a preferred embodiment, the article is a preform.
In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing readily obtains the objectives and advantages of the present invention. Further features of and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.

Partial crystallization apparatus of amorphous plastic articles