Pressure actuated oil jets have long been used to cool the underside of the pistons in such reciprocating engines. The present disclosure is a fluid jet for providing fluid under pressure to a desired location. The fluid jet comprises a valve body, at least one fluid passage extending longitudinally within at least a portion of the valve body, a fluid pressure actuated valve element located within the valve body and moveable longitudinally therein between a valve open position and a valve closed position, and a sleeve extending inwardly within said valve body, wherein said valve element is retained within said sleeve when oil pressure drops below a predetermined threshold.

The pistons of gasoline engines, diesel engines, and high performance engines become easily overheated during operation. Pressure actuated oil jets have long been used to cool the underside of the pistons in such reciprocating engines. Such oil jets are often mounted in a bore on the underside of the engine block and receive oil under pressure from an oil gallery. These oil jets also incorporate a check valve to supply oil to the oil jet when a predetermined oil pressure is achieved and also prevent siphoning off of needed oil pressure during low oil pressure conditions.
Oil jets spray oil into cooling channels on the underside of the pistons, cooling the piston crowns and surrounding cylinder wall by absorbing heat (thus lowering combustion chamber temperatures). This occurs while the engine is running. This practice reduces piston temperatures, which helps the engine develop more power and assists in lubricating the piston and cylinder wall to increase durability. The extra oil layer on the cylinder bores and reciprocating components also minimizes noise that typically emanates from these components. The optimum operating temperatures also enhance the life of the critical engine parts and reduce maintenance costs.
There are two standard types of pressure actuated oil jets used in the industry, each comprising a two-part configuration. As shown in FIG. 1, typical pressure actuated oil jets comprise a two-piece construction comprising an oil jet body 10 and an oil jet valve 12. The oil jet body 10 comprises a main body 14 having a valve aperture 16 at one end and a bolt-receiving aperture 18 at the other end. Extending from the sides of the main body 14 are two nozzles 20 that are in fluid communication with the interior of the valve aperture 16.
The valve 12 generally comprises a tubular sleeve 22 having a threaded exterior portion 24 and a pair of oil exiting apertures 26. The sleeve 22 is further connected to an oversized head 28 at one end. Therefore, in assembly of the typical two-piece oil jet assembly, the valve 12 is inserted within the valve aperture 16 until the oil exiting apertures 26 of the valve 12 line up with the nozzles 20. The threaded portion 24 of the valve 12 threadedly engages a threaded bore in the lower portion of the engine block that transfers oil under pressure from the oil gallery to the valve 12.
There are generally two valve constructions used in the industry to handle pressure actuation: a ball valve construction (shown in FIG. 1A) and a piston valve construction (shown in FIG. 1B). While both constructions are further described below, it should be understood that for simplicity, like elements are identified by like numbers.
As best shown in FIG. 2, the ball valve 30 comprises a tubular sleeve 32 connected at one end to an oversized head 40. The sleeve further includes a pair of oil exiting apertures 36 which communicate with the nozzles of the oil jet body when the ball valve is placed within the valve body 10. A bore 38 extends through the head 40 and sleeve 32 as a passage for oil entering the ball valve 30. At the end opposite the head 40, the bore 38 tapers to create a seat 42 that communicates with an oil entrance opening 44.
A spring 46 is held within the bore 38 and urges a ball 48 against the seat 42 to create a valve-closed position. A cap 50 is placed over the bore 38 at the head 40 to retain the spring 46 within the sleeve 32. When the oil pressure is above a predetermined value, oil under pressure passes through the oil entrance opening 44 to overcome the spring force and depress the ball 48 against the spring 46 thereby creating a valve open position. The oil under pressure enters the bore 38 and exits the oil exiting openings 36 as indicated by the arrows X and Y of FIG. 2. The oil exiting apertures 36 are in fluid communication with the nozzles in the separate body 10 that direct oil to the pistons. When the oil pressure falls below a predetermined value, the spring 46 urges the ball 48 against the seat 42 to prevent a siphoning off of oil pressure and creates a valve-closed position.
A particular disadvantage with the ball valve construction is that the ball 48 flutters, oscillates, or vacillates at low or transitional oil pressure. When the oil pressure in the oil jet is not great enough to overcome the spring force and depress the ball 48 against the spring 46, the ball 48 flutters in place. This flutter causes a noise that is audible to the operator and/or the passenger of the vehicle into which the oil jet is installed. Additionally, when the oil pressure falls below a predetermined value, the spring 46 urges the ball 48 against the seat 42. This causes the ball 48 to "knock" against the seat 42, again, causing a noise audible to the operator and or the passenger of the vehicle into which the oil jet is installed.
As shown in FIG. 3, the second oil jet configuration comprises a piston valve construction. The piston valve 52 comprises a tubular sleeve 32 connected at one end to an oversized head 40. The sleeve 32 further includes a pair of oil exiting apertures 36 at its lower end which communicate with the nozzles of the separate oil jet body 10. A bore 38 extends through the head 40 and sleeve 32 as a passage for oil entering the piston valve 52. At the end opposite the head 40 and below the oil exiting apertures 36, the bore 38 tapers to create a seat 42 that communicates with an oil entrance opening 44.
A spring 46 is held within the bore 38 and urges a piston 54 against the seat 42 to create a valve-closed position. A cap 50 is placed over the bore 38 at the head 40 to retain the spring 46 within the sleeve 32. When the oil pressure is above a predetermined value, oil under pressure passes through the oil entrance opening 44 to overcome the spring force and depress the piston 54 and reveal the oil exiting apertures 36 thereby creating a valve open position. The oil under pressure enters the bore 38 and exits the oil exiting openings 36 as indicated by the arrows Y and X of FIG. 3. The oil exiting openings 36 are in fluid communication with the nozzles in the separate body 10 that direct oil to the pistons. When the oil pressure falls below a predetermined value, the spring 46 urges the piston 54 against the seat 42 to prevent a siphoning off of oil pressure and creates a valve-closed position.
The piston valve construction suffers from the similar disadvantage, although not as severally, as the ball valve construction. The piston 54 can flutter at low or transitional oil pressure. When the oil pressure in the oil jet is not great enough to overcome the spring force and depress the spring 54 against the spring 46, the piston 54 can flutter in place. This flutter causes a noise that is audible to the operator and/or the passenger of the vehicle into which the oil jet is installed. Additionally, when the oil pressure falls below a predetermined value, the spring 46 urges the piston 54 against the seat 42. This causes the piston 54 to "knock" against the seat 42, again, causing a noise audible to the operator and or the passenger of the vehicle into which the oil jet is installed.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to create a fluid jet that operates in a quieter manner and does not flutter at low or transitional oil pressures or knock against the seat when oil pressure drops and the spring urges the ball or piston against the seat.


An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture is fabricated on a semiconductor substrate which is negatively capacitively charge pumped below ground and subject to feedback regulation, rate measurements and adjustments. The ADC receives signal inputs of positive and negative polarity relative to ground, while being powered at 0V and 5V, without any negative power source input, as a result of a closed feedback loop which keeps the negative bias voltage constant as external supplies and component voltages vary. The high frequency pumping of the silicon substrate is subject to timing requirements which permit high resolution analog input signals to be converted in the presence of pump noise.

Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) of many kinds have been used with various kinds of measurement systems. For examples, ADCs have been employed in sensors and transducers for thermocouple and piezoelectric sensor applications. Typically, such systems produce no voltage output signals at all, unless they are provided with a specific input such as heat or pressure. Input signals from such sensor applications are thus inherently ground-based. In other words, the input signals from the sensors express value levels with reference to a zero or ground potential. The signal input relative to ground may be positive or negative.
Performing analog-to-digital signal conversions on analog signals going below ground levels is particularly difficult with ADCs which run on 0V and 5V supplies only. A significant problem of these ADC systems is level shifting the negative and positive voltages produced by particular sensors and transducers when interfaced with single supply ADCs. Level shifting of low noise, high accuracy signals is expensive and complicated. In the past, only dual supply converters with positive and negative 5V supplies could convert negative analog voltage signals. In particular, measurement systems with analog front end circuits and ADCs have relied upon dual supply voltages. With dual supply voltages, circuits could be designed with components which could utilize both positive and negative power supply voltages. The power supply voltage levels at one time ranged from positive 15 to negative 15 volts. More recently, the range of voltages serving as power sources for semiconductor chips has diminished to positive 5 and negative 5 volts, or even, in some instances, to as low as 3 volts.
To protect sensitive analog circuitry on monolithic ADCs, large diodes have been connected to the input pin leads associated with the first and second ADC power supplies. In the case of a single supply being used as the semiconductor chip power source, the ADC diodes are connected respectively to ground potential and to VDD in order to protect the on-chip ADC circuitry. This protection is effective, because if the semiconductor chip input signal pin goes above or below the level of either of the predetermined supply voltages, the corresponding diode turns on. For example, if the input pin of the ADC is driven above the level of VDD or below the level of ground, a corresponding diode turns on and clamps the associated voltage at the VDD or ground level, as applicable. The diodes as configured accordingly are effective to protect the sensitive internal circuitry of the ADC. Since the turn-on voltage of each diode is approximately 0.6 volts in each case, an input pin to the ADC can in principle operably be taken below the level of ground. However, the diode turn-on action is not instantaneous, but subject to a non-linear exponential turn-on transfer curve. The nonlinearity of the transfer curve detrimentally affects ADC performance. However, without the diodes, the input pin becomes subject to damage from electrostatic discharge (ESD) events.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a monolithic analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 7 according to the prior art. ADC 7 is conventionally connected impedance resistor 8, a source voltage 9, and a ground terminal 10. ADC 7 includes internal circuitry 7A, and first and second diodes respectively 7B and 7C, also respectively referred to as diodes D1 and D2. ADC 7 further includes respective first and second voltage connections 7D and 7E, respectively VDD and ground (GND), and an analog input connection 7F. Voltage connections 7D and 7E are according to one embodiment respectively connected to five volts (5V) and zero volts (0V). Diodes D1 and D2 are reverse biased and connected in series between VDD and ground, with the anode of diode D1 being connected to the cathode of diode D2. Further, the anode of diode D2 is connected to ground, and the cathode of diode D1 is connected to VDD. Source impedance resistor 8 is connected between analog input connection 7F and source voltage 9. Source voltage 9 is connected between ground 10 and source impedance 8. Diodes D1 and D2 are large in current carrying capacity to protect the sensitive analog circuitry of the monolithic ADC 7. In the case of a single supply, the diodes to both ground and VDD protect the on chip circuitry by forward biasing, if the input is driven above VDD or below ground. For example, if analog input connection or pin 7F is driven above VDD or below ground, one of the diodes turns on and clamps the pin 7F.
FIG. 2 is a current voltage characteristic curve diagram for a diode according to the prior art. As a result of this characteristic, a diode does not instantly turn on. When a particular diode is forward biased more than approximately 0.6 volts, it begins to conduct current. However, the turn-on current is highly non-linear.
It is accordingly desirable to develop an ADC circuit design which accommodates a range of input signal levels, including both positive and negative levels. Moreover, it is desired to create an ADC circuit which operates in a substantially linear mode, even when acting upon input analog voltage levels which traverse ground by having components that are positive as well as components which are negative in polarity. Further, it is desired that the ADC circuit design be effective for minimizing noise and increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the overall circuit design.

Synchronously pumped substrate analog-to-digital converter (ADC) system and methods


An example of the present invention is a storage system comprising a first real storage apparatus including a plurality of real resources. The first real storage apparatus includes: real resource groups allocated to a plurality of virtual storage apparatuses; first management information for associating virtual resource identifiers individually assigned to real resources in a namespace independently defined for each of the plurality of virtual storage apparatuses with real resource identifiers individually assigned to the real resources in a namespace defined for the first real storage apparatus; and a controller for receiving a command including a designation with a virtual resource identifier, converting the virtual resource identifier in the command into a real resource identifier with reference to the first management information, and processing the command with the converted real resource identifier.

In a computer system including a plurality of real storage apparatuses interconnected via a network, a method of managing volume identifiers is employed to provide a host computer and a management computer with a plurality of logical volumes in the real storage apparatuses as a single logical volume of a virtual storage apparatus (for example, refer to PTL 1).
This method of managing volume identifiers enables transfer of a logical volume in a virtual storage apparatus from a real storage apparatus to another in the same network without stopping tasks using volumes or volume management in a host computer.
In a recent large-scale aggregate storage environment where a plurality of companies or a plurality of departments share and use real storage apparatuses, desired for storage management to reduce the burdens on storage administrators is an approach to multitenancy management, which provides each company or each department with a storage administrator and distributes real storage resources to the administrator. In such an environment, a resource configuration management method that logically divides the real storage resources into a plurality of clusters is typically employed (for example, refer to PTL 2).

Storage system and control method for storage system


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, an insulating film disposed above the semiconductor substrate, a temperature detecting element disposed on the insulating film, and an anode side region and a cathode side region respectively located on an anode side and a cathode side of the temperature detecting element. The anode side region or the cathode side region includes one or more capacitance elements, and a sum of capacitance values of the capacitance elements is larger than a capacitance value of the temperature detecting element.

There has been known a technique in which a switching element and a temperature sensing diode are formed in a semiconductor substrate, and when an abnormality, such as flowing of overcurrent to the switching element, occurs and the switching element generates heat, the temperature sensing diode detects that to protect the switching element.


The present disclosure addresses an enhancement to a resource access decision facility, preferably a CORBA RAD, that allows additional query capabilities and faster resource access. Resource access decisions obtained from RAD are placed in a cache. An application can retrieve access decisions directly from the cache rather than requesting the decisions from RAD. If an access decision is not available in the cache, the access decision is requested from RAD. The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure allow the retrieval of lists of roles that have access to a particular resource and resources to which a particular role has access. The cache can be populated either prior to or during the mainstream execution of a program. In another embodiment, a backup version of the data in the cache can be stored in a storage medium external to the cache for near immediate restart after a crash or shutdown.

Computer networks transmit data between the individual components in the network along multiple communication channels. One type of a distributed object system which participates in computer networks is a distributed object system that is defined under the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) specification produced by OMG. Distributed object systems may be in the context of an Object Request Broker (ORB) implemented under the CORBA specification from the OMG, Revision 2.0, Revision 2.1, Revision 2.2 and Revision 2.3, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. For purposes of this application, programs and communications compliant with CORBA Revision 2.3, 2.2, and 2.1, by definition will be viewed as compliant with CORBA Revision 2.0 and will be referred to simply as CORBA-compliant. Unless otherwise specified, a generic reference to the CORBA Services specification will be presumed to be OMG's CORBA Services Revision 2.0.
The CORBA Resource Access Decision (RAD) Facility is intended to be used by security-aware applications. The facility is a mechanism for obtaining authorization decisions and administering access decision policies. It enables a common way for an application to request and receive an authorization. The CORBA RAD facility is described in the OMG document Resource Access Decision Facility Specification, Version 1.0, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. References herein to requests to or actions taken by CORBA RAD should be understood as referring to a facility complying with the CORBA RAD specifications. Further, while the present disclosure focuses on its preferred embodiment enhancing CORBA RAD, one of skill in the art will recognize that many of the same benefits may be obtained with other types and versions of resource access decision facilities which provide authorization for access to protected resources.
Applications that access sensitive resources can use CORBA RAD to validate a user's authority to retrieve those resources. The service provides administrative tools to establish security policy that defines authorized access to resources. Prior to making calls to the authorization service the user whose authority is being validated must be authenticated. Once authenticated, the user's credentials can be established based on the user's security attributes. User security attributes (userid, organization, roles, groups, domain, and the like) can be stored in a user profile facility and administered via a profile manager interface. Applications can make explicit calls to CORBA RAD, typically using resource, operation, and user credentials as arguments, to determine if a user is authorized to access secured resources. CORBA RAD then returns a Boolean access decision.
Standard CORBA RAD security policy consists of user policy and access policy definitions. User policy comprises a user's security attributes including userid, organization, assigned groups, and roles. These attributes define a user's credentials or granted rights in the system. Access policy comprises resources, resource domains, operations, operation criteria, and access rules that define the required rights and criteria constraints to perform operations on resources. Access decisions are evaluated by comparing the granted rights of a user attempting to access a resource with the rights required to access the resource as defined by the security policy.
The policy contains mechanisms to group users and resources to enable scalable administration. Users can be placed in defined organizational entities or groups of associated users. Resources can be grouped into domains so that policy can be defined at the domain level for a set of resources sharing common policy.
Three types of policy rules are defined in the CORBA RAD access policy: permissive, constraint, and override. Permissive rules define access requirements sufficient to permit access unless additional access requirements are defined by constraint or override rules. Permissive rules are the default rule type. If multiple permissive rules are specified they are evaluated via a logical "or" operator. That is, if any of the permissive policies evaluate "true" then the user is permitted access unless further constrained by constraint or override rules.
If constraint rules are specified, this indicates that there is an access requirement that must be met in addition to those specified by the permissive rules. If multiple constraint rules are specified they are evaluated via a logical "or" operator to determine if the constraint condition is met. That is, if any of the constraint rules evaluate "true" then the additional access requirement is satisfied. A logical "and" operator is used to combine the evaluated constraint and permissive rules. That is, one of the constraint rules must be met and one of the permissive rules must allow access. If no permissive rules exist, the access decision evaluates "false".
If override rules are specified for resources, these invalidate any permissive or constraint rules that would otherwise permit access. This provides a mechanism to define exceptions to general policy definitions. If multiple override rules are specified they are evaluated via a logical "and" operator. That is, all of the override rules must evaluate "true" for access to be permitted. Any permissive or restraint rules that would otherwise apply are ignored.
In the design of a CORBA RAD-compliant application, authorization logic is encapsulated within an authorization facility that is external to the application. In order to perform an application-level access control, an application requests an authorization decision from such a facility and enforces that decision. The following sequence occurs in the interaction between a client using CORBA RAD and the external authorization facility. First, the application client invokes an operation of the interface provided by a target object. The CORBA object request broker transfers this request to the target object and causes invocation of the appropriate method in the target object. While processing the request, the target object requests an authorization decision from the Access Decision object (ADO) by invoking the access_allowed( ) method of the ADO.
Then, the Access Decision object consults other objects that are internal to the RAD to make an access decision. The access decision is returned to the target object (ADO client) as a Boolean response. The target object, after receiving an authorization decision, is responsible for enforcing the decision. If access was granted by the ADO, the target object performs the requested operation and returns the results. If access to secured resources was denied, the target object may return partial results or raise an exception to the client.
Standard CORBA RAD as specified by OMG contains no single command that retrieves a list of all resources available to a particular user. Similarly, there is no command to retrieve a list of all users who have access to a particular resource. In addition, calling CORBA RAD for every resource request can be time-consuming, especially when multiple, repetitive requests for the same resource are made. It would be desirable to have a cache or similar memory retention mechanism in which authorization decisions received from CORBA RAD can be retained so that subsequent requests for the same authorization decision can be made directly to the cache rather than through CORBA RAD.

Method and system for authorization and access to protected resources


Design software in accordance with an implementation of the present invention is configured to provide believable three-dimensional representations of user selections in real-time. Design elements that would otherwise be difficult to efficiently render three-dimensionally in real-time are prerendered for realistic visual effects, such as realistic shading, which correspond to various positions of the elements in a design space. Blanks of the visual effects for each position are then stored in a data store for visual effects. At run time, data associated with user design choices, as well as the blanks for any corresponding design elements are fed in one implementation to peripheral processing hardware, such as a GPU, which sends the processed data to a display device. The user is therefore able to view complex visual data of certain design choices efficiently with added realism.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program products for modeling, such as the design of commercial and residential interiors, and related spaces.
2. Background and Relevant Art
As computerized systems have increased in popularity, so has the range of applications that incorporate computational technology. Computational technology now extends across a broad range of applications, including a wide range of productivity and entertainment software. Indeed, computational technology and related software can now be found in a wide range of generic applications that are suited for many environments, as well as fairly industry-specific software.
One such industry that has employed specific types of software and other computational technology increasingly over the past few years is that related to building and/or architectural design. In particular, architects and interior designers (or "designers") use a wide range of design software for designing the aesthetic as well as functional aspects of a given residential or commercial space. In some such cases, the designer might use some software programs that might be better suited for exterior design, and then use other software programs that might be better suited for interior design. For example, a designer might implement one software program to design an overall look of a building, and then use the software to design or position each of the functional components of the building, such as weight-bearing walls, trusses in a roof, positioning of electrical outlets, and so on. The designer might then use another software program, whether separately, or as an add-on to the first software program, to design functional walls for offices, design where to place work stations, design the position of desks, chairs, lamps, and so forth.
When designing the exterior and/or interior of a given residential or commercial space, the designer will ordinarily need to take care that each of the elements in the design are structurally sound when built. This is because typical design software allows spaces to be fairly configurable to suit the user's tastes without specific regard in many cases to whether the design will actually work. For example, one typical software design program might allow an architect to design a roof or ceiling that is ill-suited for the number or type of weight-bearing walls the architect has presently drawn. If the roof were actually constructed as designed by the architect, the roof or ceiling might collapse. In a situation such as this, however, the builder might indicate to the architect that the design is physically impossible or impractical, and ask for a redesign. This, of course, can lead to any number of inefficiencies.
Part of the problem with many design software programs that can lead to designing physically impractical structures is the notion that many such design problems require some drawing of a space in flat, two-dimensional space. For example, the outside of a building is designed in a view that emphasizes primarily only height and width, while a top ("plan") view of a building is designed in a view that emphasizes primarily only length and width. With views such as these, the designer will either need to independently visualize the three-dimensional spacing, or will need to perform a separate rendering of the design, if the software allows for it.
While three-dimensional rendering is available in some design software, three-dimensional rendering is fairly processing or resource intensive, and can take an additional amount of time. In particular, traditional rendering programs can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours to appropriately render all of the lighting and shadowing characteristics of a given space with any accuracy. Alternatively, another type of rendering program might simply generate only a very rough set of lighting and shadowing characteristics of a given space based primarily on certain assumptions about a given object's shape.
For example, a gaming engine, which is not typically used in design systems, might rely on a graphical processing unit to determine and generate certain rough visual effects in real-time. With this type of system, however, both the determination and rendering are done as the user is making selections in real-time, and, as such, is quite limited in its ability to provide believable, realistic visual effects that would be useful in a design environment. Thus, conventional software is either too processing intensive, or insufficiently processing intensive to efficiently render expected, believable visual effects of design choices in a given space.
In addition, neither the three-dimensional rendering nor the two-dimensional drawing views are designed to accommodate necessary modifications to the objects or walls, based on real-world materials, or other important constraints. For example, a designer might place several L-shaped desks in a work space that are to be arranged back to back against a cubicle wall. In an ordinary environment, positioning the L-shaped desks together might involve a next step of removing a leg where one leg might be shared, or removing a bracket from one of the L-shaped desks for similar reasons. Accordingly, both the two-dimensional views and three-dimensional renderings of conventional design software tends to capture only what is written, and requires the designer to add or remove parts in a specific drawing to reflect real-world usage. This farther encumbers the processing, or potential processing, of realistic visual effects for display, particularly in real-time.
Accordingly, an advantage in the art can be realized with systems, methods, and computer program products that provide a user with the ability to efficiently view and navigate realistic-appearing designs n a highly configurable, and yet user-friendly manner. In particular, an advantage can be realized with expert systems that are configured to specifically capture possible or practical configurations of a designer's intent.

Design software incorporating efficient 3-D rendering


A method and apparatus for concealing data. Frequency information is identified for a number of data object types of a set of data objects in the data using a frequency map. A set of pixel values is assigned to the set of data objects based on the frequency information for use in encrypting the set of data objects to form encrypted data. An image is generated that includes a set of pixels that represents the encrypted data. Each pixel in the set of pixels has a pixel value from the set of pixel values that is assigned to a corresponding data object of the set of data objects.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to concealing data and, in particular, to concealing data within images. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for concealing data as a set of pixels in an image based on a frequency map.
2. Background
Currently, different types of encryption algorithms are present for encrypting data and providing secure communications. However, with some currently available encryption methods, certain risks may still be present. For example, some encryption methods use traditional encryption keys that are shared between both the transmitter and the receiver of encrypted messages. These types of encryption keys may be easily obtained by an unauthorized person, directly or indirectly. An unauthorized person may, for example, use guesswork, brute-force search techniques, dictionary program-based methods, hacking, and/or other types of methods to obtain an encryption key.
Additionally, in some cases, the transmission of data, whether encrypted or not encrypted, may be vulnerable to certain threats through the very awareness of the existence of the transmission. Consequently, concealing the existence of the transmission may be beneficial in certain instances.
Steganography is concerned with concealing the fact that a secret message is being sent, as well as concealing the contents of the secret message. However, some currently available methods for performing steganography may be less effective than desired. Further, these currently available methods for performing steganography may be more complex and expensive than desired. Therefore, as the need for and importance of secure communications increases, it would be desirable to have a method and an apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.


A battery warmer for a vehicle mounted storage battery comprises a resistance heater for warming the battery and a combination power supply within a single electrically insulated enclosure passing a dc current to the battery terminals and controlling the ac power to limit the temperature of the resistance heater.

The fact that vehicle storage batteries are more effective for starting a vehicle engine when kept warm is well known. Numerous schemes for heating batteries have been proposed. The applicants have discovered that by inducing fluid motion currents in the electrolyte with a trickle charge, the battery can be easily and efficiently warmed in conditions of extreme cold.
Systems for simultaneously heating and charging a vehicle battery have been proposed. See, for example, Bachmann U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,633 which discloses heating and charging a vehicle battery with energy supplied by the generator or alternator when the vehicle engine is running. Carlson U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,072 teaches heating and charging simultaneously when the engine is running but only heating when the engine is not running. Edlund et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,855 teaches a timer-controlled circuit for heating the engine, the cab and charging the battery. No control of the charging current or the heater temperature is provided. Miyahara U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,737 teaches simultaneously charging and heating a battery but with no individual control of the heating and charging circuits.


A jig adapted to hold a contact lens material having a concave surface, for holding the contact lens material, including a protruding portion which has a top end having as an outer surface thereof a convex surface. This convex surface of the jig is bonded to the concave surface of the contact lens material. The protruding portion has a recess which extends from an inner surface of the top end toward a bottom end of the protruding portion. The recess is defined by an inner surface which includes a first portion that corresponds to the convex surface of the top end of the protruding portion. At least the first portion of the inner surface is roughened with a light-scattering texture. A method of holding the contact lens material while the contact lens material is processed into a contact lens is disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a jig which is adapted to be bonded to one of opposite surfaces of a contact lens material which has been machined, for holding the lens material while the other surface is machined In particular, the invention is concerned with such a jig as described above, which is bonded to the contact lens material with high uniformity in bonding strength, thereby assuring enhanced accuracy with which the lens material is machined, and which permits accurate measurement of a front curve of a contact lens formed from the contact lens material while the material is bonded to the jig.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In a conventional method for producing a contact lens, a suitable lens material is fixed to a spindle which is rotatable about an axis, and one and the other of the opposite surfaces of the lens material are sequentially subjected to machining operations, such as cutting and grinding, and further to suitable treatments as needed. More specifically described, one of the opposite surfaces of the lens material, which gives a concave inner surface of the contact lens, is first subjected to the cutting and grinding operations and other treatments, and the other surface of the lens material, which gives a convex outer surface of the contact lens, is then subjected to similar machining operations and treatments, so that the opposite surfaces of the lens material respectively provide desirably shaped inner and outer surfaces of the contact lens.
In the above process of producing the contact lens, the above-indicated other surface of the lens material is machined while the above-indicated one surface, which has been machined to form the concave inner lens surface, is held by a suitable jig through which the lens material is attached to the spindle. Thus, the inner lens surface is protected during the machining operations on the other surface of the lens material.
The jig favorably used in the above process includes a protruding portion which has a top end having as its outer surface a convexedly curved surface that substantially follows the concave inner lens surface formed by machining the above-indicated one surface of the lens material. The jig is bonded at its convexedly curved, top end face to the concave lens surface so as to hold the lens material in position. In this case, an ultraviolet-curable (UV-curable) bonding agent or adhesive is particularly favorably used as a bonding agent for bonding the jig and the lens material together. The UV-curable bonding agent, which is interposed between the convex surface of the top end of the jig and the concave surface of the lens material, is irradiated from the outside with an ultraviolet radiation, and is thus cured. This permits the lens material to be freely removably bonded to the jig, without affecting the lens surface bonded to the jig, while suitably controlling the time when the curing of the bonding agent is initiated. Thus, the use of the above bonding agent ensures improved efficiency with which the contact lens material is machined.
In the conventional jig used as described above, a recess is formed on the rear side of the protruding portion opposite to the top end face (convexedly curved surface) to be bonded to the lens material, so that optical fibers are inserted into the recess which extends inwardly of the protruding portion, and the bonding agent is irradiated with ultraviolet radiation transmitted through the optical fibers. This arrangement meets a requirement for continuously processing the contact lens materials so as to form one contact lens after another. In this arrangement, however, a variation in the intensity of the ultraviolet radiation may arise at the top end face of the protruding portion which serves as the bonding surface, resulting in non-uniform or inconsistent curing of the bonding agent, and consequent variation in the bonding strength between the lens material and the jig. Consequently, the lens material may be distorted during a cutting operation, for example, resulting in reduced machining accuracy,, or may even be removed from the jig in some cases.
In addition, the contact lens thus produced from the lens material is usually inspected in terms of its nominal specifications according to predetermined standards, by irradiating the convex outer surface of the lens, and detecting a light reflected by the convex outer surface so as to measure a radius of curvature, that is, a front curve of the outer lens surfaces If this inspection is effected while the contact lens material is bonded to the jig, the light incident upon the outer lens surface may also be incident upon and reflected by the inner wall of the recess formed on the rear side of the jig, and the thus reflected light may cause noise, which makes it difficult to measure the front curve of the lens surface with sufficiently high accuracy. Therefore, the above-described inspection for the contact lens is conventionally effected in a separate process step after the contact lens material which has been machined is removed from the jigs resulting in a considerable reduction in the production efficiency of the contact lenses.

Jig for holding contact lens material, using light-scattering bonding adhesive

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Disclosed is an ergonomically improved hypodermic syringe which facilitates one-handed use by allowing the same hand that holds the syringe to operate the plunger conveniently to accomplish both the distal (injecting) stroke and the proximal (aspirating) stroke. The syringe includes a pair of finger-stop structures on diametrically opposite sides of the barrel which block slippage in both proximal and distal directions and which do not occupy the barrel's entire circumference and do not interfere with the legibility of a calibration scale that passes through the region of the barrel with which said structures are associated. A loop atop the syringe's plunger member is also provided, which is adjustable to vary the size of the aperture thereof for a snug fit with fingers and thumbs of varying sizes. In combination, the adjustable loop and finger-stops make the syringe plunger easily operable in both directions with one hand. The result is a syringe which is inexpensive to manufacture, which is compact to store and ship, and which enables an aspiration maneuver, to test for the presence of blood indicating that a blood vessel has been penetrated, to be performed easily with one hand.

The field of the present invention is hypodermic syringes. The invention has particular application to those hypodermic syringes which are used for administering medicaments such as vaccines, local anesthetics and antibiotics which are designed to be injected intramuscularly, subcutaneously, or intradermally but not directly into a vein or artery. The invention also has particular application to those hypodermic syringes which are used in introducing catheters and tubes into the lumens of blood vessels. The present invention is directed to certain improvements in the construction of a hypodermic syringe which facilitate one-handed performance of an aspiration test, hereinafter further described, which is useful to avoid the accidental injection of medicaments into blood vessels or else to confirm that the tip of the needle is in the lumen of a blood vessel when this is the desired goal, as in catheterizing a blood vessel. The improvements are ones which are suitable for incorporation into a fully disposable, single-use syringe of compact size and configuration which has barrel and plunger components that can be made of moldable plastics.
Correct technique for injecting medicaments which are intended for hypodermic but not intravenous injection requires the practitioner to insert the syringe needle into muscle, subcutaneous or intradermal tissue and then draw back on the plunger and observe whether blood is or is not aspirated into the syringe barrel. If the practitioner observes blood being aspirated, the practitioner takes this as an indication that the needle has perforated a vein or artery, and the needle is then withdrawn and the injection procedure started over at a different site. Performance of this so-called aspiration test is recommended in numerous guides and treatises which physicians and other clinical professionals regularly consult. For example, a well-known nursing training text includes this instruction: "Aspirate by holding the barrel of the syringe steady with your nondominant hand and by pulling back on the plunger with your dominant hand. If blood appears in the syringe, withdraw the needle, discard the syringe, and prepare a new injection. Rationale: This step determines whether the needle is in a blood vessel." (B. Kozier & G. Erb, Fundamentals of Nursing Concepts and Procedures 3d Ed., Addison-Wesley 1987!, p. 1521.) Another well-known nursing treatise, in instructing on how to administer a subcutaneous injection, recommends the aspiration step "to determine whether the needle is in a blood vessel" and warns that "d!iscomfort and possibly a serious reaction may occur if a drug intended for subcutaneous use is injected into a vein." (L. Wolf, M. H. Weitzel & E. Fuerst, Fundamentals of Nursing 6th Ed., J. B. Lippincott 1979!, p. 614). Similarly, a Physicians' Desk Reference (hereinafter cited simply as "PDR") article on Haemophilus b Conjugate (Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate) reconstituted with CLI DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis) vaccine warns that the vaccine is not to be injected intravenously and recommends: "After insertion of the needle, aspirate to ensure that the needle has not entered a blood vessel." (R. Arky, medical consultant, Physicians' Desk Reference 49th Ed., Medical Economics Data Prod. Co. 1995!, p. 903.) In addition to the cited references, there are numerous others which recommend that the aspiration test be performed to minimize risk of unintentionally injecting medicaments into blood vessels.
It is noted in the medical literature that failure to perform the aspiration test, resulting in the accidental injection into a blood vessel of a medicament not intended for that mode of administration, may have serious consequences for the patient. For example, in L. Tessio, L. Bassi and L. Strada, Spinal Cord Lesion After Penicillin Gluteal Injection, 6 Paraplegia 442 (June 1992), the authors state that in eight cases seen by or reported to them, gluteal injection of penicillin caused sudden and irreversible paraplegia. The authors suggest that "the mechanism might be the accidental injection into the superior gluteal artery, causing its distal spasm and the upstream ascent of the penicillin with ensuing embolic and/or spastic occlusion of the anterior spinal artery." For another example, it is noted in J. R. Roberts & J. R. Hedges, Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine Saunders 1985!, p. 436, that there is risk of inducing convulsions and generalized seizures in patients by injecting local anesthetics (intended for intramuscular or subcutaneous administration) into an artery by mistake.
As for vaccines, there is apparently little or no published evidence of toxicity to the patient resulting from accidental injection into a blood vessel. However, for absorption reasons, vaccines are typically designed to be injected intramuscularly or subcutaneously, and immunogenicity from vaccines can depend on proper administration. Hence, there is at least reason for concern that a vaccine intended for intramuscular or subcutaneous injection might not have the same efficacy if injected into a vein or artery, even if no toxicity to the patient would thereby result. (In addition to the PDR article cited above regarding the Haemophilus b Conjugate (Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate) reconstituted with CLI DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis) vaccine, PDR articles pertaining to other vaccines as well caution that they are not to be injected intravenously. See, e.g., articles on the Measles, Mumps and Rubella Virus Vaccine, PDR, p. 1575, and on the Hepatitis B Vaccine, id., p. 2372).)
Although reports of adverse effects on patients from accidental injections of medicaments into blood vessels are apparently not common, the severity of possible risks dictates that the aspiration test should be performed routinely, whenever an intramuscular, subcutaneous or intradermal injection of a medicament is administered.
In most clinical settings involving normal adult patients, the drawing-back-the-plunger maneuver, and hence the aspiration test, can be accomplished without any intolerable amount of difficulty because the patient can ordinarily be relied upon to hold still voluntarily. The practitioner thus has both hands free, and so can grasp the barrel of the syringe in one hand while drawing back the plunger with the other hand to check for aspiration of blood. Even with normal adults, however, there are clinical situations (such as, for example, the injection of a local anesthetic into a painful area) in which the need to use one hand to immobilize the injection site, leaving the practitioner with only one hand free to operate the syringe, poses serious inconvenience to a practitioner trying to perform the aspiration test.
Where the patient is a child, performance of the drawing-back-the-plunger maneuver is especially likely to prove cumbersome and inconvenient with a conventional syringe. Children, in contrast to normal adults, often struggle when receiving injections, and cannot be depended upon to possess the self-control necessary to hold still voluntarily. Hence, a practitioner who is, for example, injecting a medicament into the arm of a child must take steps to see that the child's arm is held immobile during the injection. Otherwise there is risk of such mishaps as the practitioner's suffering an accidental needle stick, or breaking off the needle in the patient's arm, or accidentally withdrawing the entire needle, or lacerating the patient's tissue. Unless the practitioner has an assistant to hold the child, the practitioner must typically hold the child's arm immobile with one hand while operating the syringe with the other hand. The practitioner therefore does not have two hands free to accomplish the drawing-back-the plunger maneuver; and with a syringe of the kind now conventionally used for the intramuscular, subcutaneous or intradermal injection of vaccines, antibiotics and other medicaments, the maneuver is very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to perform with one hand. The result is that the practitioner is tempted to, and all too often does, forego the drawing-back-the-plunger maneuver, omit the aspiration test, and hence fail to make certain that a vein or artery has not been perforated by accident. Correct technique, and its attendant advantages in terms of safety and efficacy, are thereby sacrificed for convenience's sake.
There are clinical situations where the practitioner, rather than desiring to avoid perforating a blood vessel, desires instead to confirm that such perforation has been accomplished. One example of such a situation is when the practitioner desires to accomplish a venous catheterization, that is, the introduction of a catheter, or tube, into the lumen of a vein. Such catheterization may be desired, for example, in order to secure intravenous access for delivery of medicaments or in order to guide a sensing device. to the patient's heart to take cardiac measurements. Typically, catheterization is accomplished by first inserting a relatively large-bore hypodermic needle through a vein, often without a syringe attached. When the practitioner believes that the needle has achieved the through-the-vein position, a syringe containing saline is attached and, while the practitioner withdraws the plunger in an aspirating maneuver, he or she simultaneously begins a gradual withdrawal of the syringe and needle. The practitioner looks for aspirated blood to appear in the syringe, indicating that the tip of the needle has now been withdrawn to the point where it is in the lumen of the vein. With the needle so positioned, the practitioner detaches the syringe and introduces a guidewire into the vein through the bore of the needle. The needle is then slipped out over the guidewire and a catheter is slipped in over the guidewire. Once the catheter is in place the guidewire is withdrawn through the catheter. A syringe is then attached to the catheter and an aspiration stroke is typically performed, the appearance of aspirated blood in the syringe being a reconfirmation that the catheter is correctly positioned in the lumen of the vein. The syringe typically is then used to flush the catheter with heparin to inhibit formation of clots and emboli.
The venous catheterization technique just described depends, of course, on the practitioner's success in positioning the tip of the needle within the lumen of the vein; and the aspiration-while-gradually-withdrawing-the-needle maneuver is important in that it confirms that that positioning has been achieved. Syringes according to the present invention, because they render it ergonomically easier than conventional syringes to accomplish the aspiration stroke while handling the syringe with a single hand, enhance the ease and convenience with which the practitioner can accomplish the aspiration-while-gradually-withdrawing-the-needle maneuver.
So-called "control syringes" are known in the art which include a pair of finger rings affixed to opposite sides of the barrel (the barrel rings), together with a thumb ring atop the plunger. By inserting the index and middle fingers through the barrel rings and the thumb through the thumb ring, the practitioner can achieve a measure of control over the syringe and can operate the plunger on the backward (withdrawing) stroke with one hand. However, the three-rings arrangement of the "control syringe" is typically seen in a syringe much larger than syringes designed for the intramuscular injection of medicaments and syringes designed for use in venous catheterization procedures. "Control syringes" are typically not intended for those uses, but instead for irrigation and the like.
It would not be immediately apparent or obvious to adapt the three-rings feature of the "control syringe" to provide a one-hand-operable syringe for the intramuscular injection of medicaments, because the resulting syringe would have substantial obvious disadvantages. First, the barrel rings, being relatively large and bulky, would increase material cost, would increase the complexity of molding the syringe body if it were attempted to mold it in a single piece, and would make the syringe less compact to package, ship and store. While making the syringe barrel itself larger might make it easier to attach and configure the rings, the use of an unnecessarily large disposable syringe would make for unnecessary cost and waste of materials, and could also make difficult the accurate measurement of doses as small as some doses, especially pediatric doses, can be (e.g., 0.5 cc or the like). Thus, syringe designers would not consider such a design to be acceptable. Secondly, the manual maneuver required to insert the fingers through the barrel rings would be slow and awkward compared to the simpler maneuver of grasping the barrel of the syringe between the fingers (or between finger and thumb) in the region of the finger-stops of the present invention as hereinafter described. Thirdly, neither the barrel rings nor the thumb ring on a conventional "control syringe" are adjustable, but are instead made in fixed diameters designed to admit the largest fingers and thumbs expected to be encountered. Practitioners with average or smaller than average sized fingers will find their grasp of a control syringe to be less than optimally secure because of the looseness, or play, which results from the excessive size of the rings. Fourthly, the non-adjustable ring atop the plunger of a control syringe, necessarily being designed to accommodate the largest normal thumb, will be much too large to make a snug fit with a small or even a normal index finger inserted therethrough; whereas the adjustable plunger loop of the present invention, as hereinafter described, affords equal convenience to those practitioners who choose to operate the plunger with the index finger while grasping the barrel between the thumb and middle finger (as is typical in administering vaccines) and those practitioners who prefer to operate the plunger with the thumb while grasping the syringe barrel between the index and middle fingers (as is typical in administering local anesthetics).


The invention relates to a measuring method for measuring the properties of a powder or granular sample (1) from the surface information of the sample. According to the method the sample is leveled for the measurement, at least one image of the surface of the sample (1) is taken and the properties, such as the grain-size distribution, of the sample (1) are determined by processing the information material by calculation. According to the invention, the sample (1) is made to be supported on a transparent sample plate (2, 13, 14, 15) and an image is taken through this sample plate (2, 13, 14, 15).

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a measuring method, according to the preamble of claim 1, for measuring the particle size and shape distribution of powder material. By means of the method, a surface is formed in a controlled manner of the powder material, which can be imaged in precisely controlled exposure conditions.
2. Description of Related Art
FI patent 20000493 discloses an analysis method for a moving granular material. The method is not suitable for accurate optical grain-size distribution analysis, precisely on account of the movement of the material being studied.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,358 discloses a method for removing foreign particles from a powder sample. The central component of the invention is a rotating sample plate. Precisely on account of the rotating plate, the method is not suitable for accurate optical grain-size distribution analysis.
JP publication 10010033 discloses a measuring method for a moving powder substance. In this publication, the light passing through a sample is studied. The measuring method does not appear to be accurate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,042 discloses several methods for optical analysis. In the method, comparison image pairs of a stationary sample are not created.
WO publication 03062804 discloses a method for optical analysis. In the method, the fine-particle distribution is not determined, nor are comparison image pairs created from a stationary sample.
It is also known that the particle-size distribution can be relatively reliably defined from the surface of a powder or granular material (scientific publication: Laitinen, N., Antikainen, O., and Yliruusi, J. (2002) Does a powder surface contain all necessary information for particle size distribution analysis? European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 17(4-5), 217-227). In this case, the subject of the measurement of particle size is an undispersed powder, from which a level surface is made. Thus the method cannot be used to measure a property of a single particle, but of a larger group of particles.
The determining of a particle distribution from a powder surface, using the prior art, takes place according to the following description. For example, the most level surface possible is made from a powder sample in a sample container. In the method, a light source is used to illuminate the sample surface, in such a way that shadows are formed on the surface. The shadow formation is utilized by converting the surface information of the powder to depict the particle size of the powder material. To illuminate the sample it is possible to use, for example, two light sources placed symmetrically on either side of the sample. The sample is then illuminated by alternating the light sources and taking a digital image using a CCD camera, in such a way as to obtain two digital images. The sample must remain stationary, as first of all the difference is calculated between the two grey-tone matrices from which the digital image is formed. For a theoretically completely even sample, the difference matrix is formed of elementary units that are zero. For a real difference matrix, the elementary units receive values that are integers between −255-+255 (if a grey-tone range of 0-255 is used). The next stage of the calculation determines how many elementary units of the difference matrix have received a certain value of the 511 possible values.
The known measuring method is based on the fact that a sample with a certain grain-size distribution will always form a grey-tone difference distribution that is specific to it. To be able to use the measuring method, a model must be made for the pitch of the actual size distribution of the grain of the grey-tone difference distribution, which will convert the measurement result obtained into a size distribution. In the known method, a PLS (partial least squares) model is used, which is based on principal-component analysis. The independent variables are the 511 values of the distribution of the elementary units of the aforementioned grey-scale matrix while the response variable is the percentage mass fraction on each screen of the screen series of the screen analysis of the grain batch. With the aid of the model in question, it is possible to determine the grain-size distribution, which corresponds to the result obtained by screen analysis of the same powder material. A corresponding model can be similarly calculated for other generally used methods for determining particle size.
In the known method, stable collimated (parallel) and direct current light sources are used. The illumination can be arranged using two stable light sources, or using a single light source, the light provided by which is dispersed optically, in such a way as to make it possible to illuminate the sample symmetrically in two directions. A matrix-type (CAD) camera or similar, or generally any opto-electric camera or image-recording method whatever can be used to detect the image signal. Imaging can also be performed using only a single light source, in which case that the sample is rotated. Afterwards, the images can be combined according to the above matrix-difference principle. In the manners described above, it is also possible to take several images of a single sample surface by rotating the sample, or by altering the imaging angle. In this way it is possible to obtain more information from the surface of the powder.
The material being studied can be a surface created in a suitable manner from powder, granular, or other multi-component samples. The surface can be created by wiping with a suitably flat spatula or plate. Repeatability is a problem in the sample preparation method of the aforementioned measurement technique. In the method in question, the powder surface is made by pouring an excess amount of powder into a sample container, after which the excess is removed using a suitable plate, while simultaneously attempting to create a level surface from the powder. The surface is leveled by pulling the levelling plate horizontally over the upper edge of the sample container. When the surface is leveled in this manner, unevenness can form on the surface due to the manufacture of the sample, for example, large particles in the powder can cause wipe traces on the surface. It can also be difficult to level powders with small particles that cohere easily to each other (cohesive powders), when using the levelling method in question. The aforementioned problems will lead to errors in measurement.

Measuring method and system for measuring particle size and shape of powdery or grain like particles


A pen needle dispenser having a cover rotatably mounted on a circular shaped container having a plurality of cavities, with each cavity dimensioned to receive a pen needle assembly with or without shields. The cover includes a slot that is rotated into alignment with one of the cavities in the container to provide the user with access to one unused shielded pen needle and thereby permits the pen needle to be mounted on a medication delivery pen. After use the used unshielded pen needle is returned to and locked in the cavity. Then, the cover is rotated until the slot is aligned with another cavity containing the next unused shielded pen needle to be used during the next injection. The pen needle dispenser prevents the cover from rotating the slot back to cavities containing used pen needles.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a pen needle dispenser and, more particularly, to an apparatus that holds and dispenses sterile pen needles for medication delivery pens and that safely stores the needles after use.
2. Description of Related Art
Hypodermic syringes are used to deliver selected doses of medication to patients. The prior art hypodermic syringe includes a syringe barrel having opposed proximal and distal ends. A cylindrical chamber wall extends between the ends and defines a fluid receiving chamber. The proximal end of the prior art syringe barrel is substantially open and receives a plunger in sliding fluid tight engagement. The distal end of the prior art syringe barrel includes a passage communicating with the chamber. A needle cannula is mounted to the distal end of the prior art syringe barrel, such that the lumen of the needle cannula communicates with the passage and the chamber of the syringe barrel. Movement of the plunger in a proximal direction draws fluid through the lumen of the needle cannula and into the chamber. Movement of the plunger in a proximal-to-distal direction urges fluid from the chamber and through the lumen of the needle cannula.
Medication to be injected with the prior art hypodermic syringe often is stored in a vial having a pierceable elastomeric seal. Medication in the prior art vial is accessed by piercing the elastomeric seal with the needle cannula. A selected dose of the medication is drawn into the chamber of the syringe barrel by moving the plunger a selected distance in a proximal direction. The needle cannula is withdrawn from the vial, and the medication is injected into a patient by moving the plunger in a distal direction.
Some medication, such as insulin is self-administered. The typical diabetes patient will require injections of insulin several times during the course of the day. The required dose of insulin will vary from patient to patient, and for each patient may vary during the course of the day and from day to day. Each diabetes patient will establish a regimen that is appropriate for his or her own medical condition and for his or her lifestyle. The regimen typically includes some combination of a slow or medium acting insulin and a faster acting insulin. Each of these regimens may require the diabetes patient to periodically self-administer insulin in public locations, such as places of employment or restaurants. The required manipulation of the standard prior art hypodermic syringe and vial can be inconvenient and embarrassing in these public environments.
Medication delivery pens have been developed to facilitate the self-administration of medication. A prior art medication delivery pen is identified generally by the numeral 1 in FIG. 1. Pen 1 contains a cartridge with sufficient medication for several doses. The prior art cartridge has opposed proximal and distal ends. The distal end is closed by a pierceable and resealable rubber septum identified by the numeral 2 in FIG. 1. The proximal end receives a stopper in sliding fluid-tight engagement. The prior art cartridge is disposed in an elongate pen-like body 4 with a proximal end (not shown) and an opposed distal end 6. The proximal end of the pen body includes a plunger for selectively driving the stopper of the cartridge in the distal direction and a dose setting mechanism for determining the distance through which the plunger and stopper can move. Distal end 6 of pen body 4 includes an array of threads 8 for threaded engagement with a pen needle assembly 90. Pen needle assembly 90 includes a needle cannula 91 with opposed proximal and distal points 92 and 93 and a threaded mounting skirt 94 which surrounds the proximal tip 92. Mounting skirt 94 is threadedly engageable with threads 8 on distal end 6 of pen body 4. A safety shield 95 is releasably engaged over distal point 93 and portions of mounting skirt 94 to prevent accidental needle sticks.
A person who must periodically inject doses of medication will carry a medication delivery pen 1 and a supply of pen needle assemblies 90. Each pen needle assembly 90 has its needle cannula 91 safely and sterility sealed in its own shield 95, and is accessed immediately prior to administering a dose of medication. Pen needle assembly 90 then is mounted to distal end 6 of prior art pen 1. This mounting causes proximal point 92 of needle cannula 91 to pierce rubber septum 2 of the cartridge, to place needle cannula 91 in communication with the medication in pen 1. Pen 1 then is used to inject the selected dose of medication. After completing the injection, needle assembly 90 is separated from pen 1 and is discarded. Pen 1 may be used repeatedly in this manner until the medication is exhausted. Such prior art pens offer many conveniences and efficiencies. However, the storage of unused needles and the final disposal of used needles has presented problems. In particular, supplies of new needles often are loosely scattered in the bottom of purses or briefcases, and used needles are often disposed of unsafely.


A parallel processor performs efficient parallel processing of one or more basic instructions contained in each of a plurality of instruction words delimited by instruction delimiting information. The processor includes: a plurality of instruction execution units performing processes in accordance with corresponding, supplied basic instructions in parallel; an instruction fetch unit fetching the instruction words one by one in accordance with the instruction delimiting information; and an instruction issue unit recognizing and, in accordance therewith, selecting each of the basic instructions contained in each of the instruction words fetched by the instruction fetch unit to a corresponding instruction execution unit to execute the basic instruction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to processors, and, more particularly, to a parallel processor that executes a plurality of basic instructions in parallel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in a conventional computer system, a plurality of basic instructions are executed in parallel by pipeline processing, thereby improving its performance. Conventionally, a plurality of basic instructions constitute a fixed-length instruction word, and a very-long instruction word (VLIW) technique is employed as a method for executing a plurality of basic instructions contained in one instruction word in parallel. Also, a super scalar technique may be employed. In accordance with the super scalar technique, basic instructions are executed in parallel depending on the number of basic instructions contained in each instruction word.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of a conventional parallel processor 10. This parallel processor 10 comprises an instruction fetch unit 1 connected to a memory 7, an instruction issue unit 3 connected to the instruction fetch unit 1, instruction execution units EU0 to EUn each connected to the instruction issue unit 3, and a register unit 5 connected to each of the instruction execution units EU0 to EUn.
The instruction fetch unit 1 fetches an instruction word from the memory 7, and supplies the instruction word to the instruction issue unit 3. The instruction issue unit 3 issues the basic instructions contained in the supplied instruction word to the instruction execution units EU0 to EUn. If the instruction execution units EU0 to EUn are still executing previous basic instructions at this point, the instruction issue unit 3 waits for the end of the execution. When the execution ends, the instruction issue unit 3 supplies the basic instructions to the instruction execution units EU0 to EUn.
The instruction execution units EU0 to EUn execute the basic instructions, and notify the instruction issue unit 3 of the end of the execution. The register unit 5 supplies data to the instruction execution units EU0 to EUn, if necessary, and holds the execution results of the instruction execution units EU0 to EUn. The externally connected memory 7 stores an instruction word string to be executed in the parallel processor 10. The memory 7 also stores necessary data for the execution units EU0 to EUn to execute instructions, and data as the execution results.
FIG. 2 shows the formats of instruction words to be supplied to a parallel processor having four instruction execution units EU0 to EU3. As shown in FIG. 2, each instruction word is made up of a basic instruction EI and a do-nothing instruction NOP. If the number of basic instructions contained in one instruction word to be executed in parallel is smaller than the number of the instruction execution units EU0 to EU3, the proportion of do-nothing instructions is large.
In the conventional parallel processing method of executing a plurality of basic instructions by the VLIW technique, each instruction word has a fixed length. Therefore, if the number of basic instructions to be executed in parallel is smaller than a predetermined number, do-nothing instructions are added to comply with the predetermined length. Because of that, in a program having a small number of basic instructions in total, the proportion of do-nothing instructions is large, and the amount of instruction code increases accordingly, resulting in problems such as poor usage efficiency of memory, a decrease of the hit ratio of cache memory, and an increase of the load on the instruction fetch mechanism.
With the super scalar technique, there is also a problem that a large-scale circuit is needed to increase the number of instructions to be executed in parallel.

Parallel Processor efficiently executing variable instruction word


A fitting has a first fitting part, a second fitting part which is rotatable about an axis relative to the first fitting part, a drivable eccentric mounted rotatably about the axis, locking elements moved radially outward by the eccentric to interact with the second fitting part to lock the fitting, a disc cam which pulls the locking elements radially inwards to unlock the fitting, and a free-pivoting control element which, in a certain free-pivoting angular range corresponding to a relative angular range of the fitting parts, prevents the fitting from locking. The free-pivoting control element has at least one first stop track, and at least one second stop track which is offset axially and/or radially with respect to the first stop track. The locking elements comprise first locking elements which interact with the first stop track, and second locking elements which interact with the second stop track.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,413 B2 proposes a fitting of the type mentioned in the Technical Field section of this disclosure, in which the free-pivoting control element controls the engagement of exactly one locking element which, in turn, upon pivoting freely, acts upon the eccentric and blocks it in such a manner that the eccentric is unable to act upon the other locking elements. This solution permits the provision of free-pivoting angular ranges which are greater than the angular distance between two locking elements. This is advantageous in particular if there is a relatively large number of locking elements, as is the case for fittings of seats with integral belts. Because of the higher loading in these types of seats, the relatively large number of locking elements is provided to ensure that the fitting has greater strength.


An apparatus and method for continuously preloading during installation and removal of steel sheet piles, steel pilings, and casing piles, with a telescoping, articulated boom having a free end for creating the downward driving force, a weighted base to provide support and stability for the boom, a connector at the free end of said boom to engage the piling, a modified resonance-free vibratory hammer, to allow for simultaneously vibrating the piling while applying to the piling the continuous downward or upward force.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a machine and method for driving sheet piling that uses an articulated boom for vertical, upward or downward force and a resonance-free vibratory hammer to rapidly install or remove sheet piles using continuous force.
2. Description of Related Art
Sheet piles are elongated, often corrugated, vertical metallic members driven into sand or other loose earth to act as sea walls or to hold back earthen embankments. Machines for driving vertical members, and particularly sheet piles, into the ground are well known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,698, issued Jan. 20, 1978 to Nakagawasai, uses a base body to exert a pull-down force so that an earth auger applies a downward propelling force to an auger screw which is a member to be driven into the ground. The base body is brought down vertically by a chain to which it is mounted. The endless chain is connected around upper and lower sprockets of a leader that is driven. The base body comprises a rotary power portion having an output shaft to which the auger screw is connected and that is moved downward by the endless chain. A pile-holding portion at the lower part of said rotary power portion holds the pile as it is driven into the ground adjacent to the hole created by the auger screw. This invention does not incorporate any means of vibration to enhance the efficacy of its pile-driving ability.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,482, issued Jun. 17, 1975 to Frederick, describes a jet sheet and circular pile with water hammer assist wherein a supply of lubricant or preferably water is furnished to the sides of a section of piling to facilitate the driving of the piling into the ground through earthen strata. The use of water also creates a water hammer effect that acts synergistically with the vibratory driver by generating a shock wave with a pressure of 3,000 psi in approximately 1/400 of a second so that the pile is driven more easily into the ground. This invention relies on the water hammer effect and vibration to drive pilings into the ground.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,764, issued Dec. 1, 1987 to Gibbons, the invention relates to a sheet pile supported driver wherein a sheet pile driver rides along a single wall of sheet piles already driven into the ground so that the pile driver moves progressively forward as it drives subsequent sheet -piles into the ground. Sheet pile driving is slow and cumbersome using this invention due to the roller and track assembly used to move it on top of the wall of sheet piles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,156, issued Jun. 13, 1978 to Dumont, describes a method and apparatus for driving sheet piles into the ground in which a hole-drilling mechanism works beside the driving mechanism to create a cavity adjacent to the sheet pile as it is being driven into the ground so that earth that is displaced by the driven sheet pile can be received by said adjacent cavity thereby facilitating driving of the sheet pile. In this invention, the sheet piles are engaged with a framework upon which hydraulic pressing devices press downward, thereby driving the sheet piles into the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,630, issued Dec. 10, 1985 to Neil, describes a vibratory clamping device for use with an excavator in supporting and placing sheet pilings when excavating in sand, running sand, and silt. This device provides a means for obviating damage caused to sheet piles while they are hammered into ground with water present therein, but does not include a means for driving the sheet piles into the ground. The invention described in this particular patent is connected to the mounting for an excavator bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,583, issued Aug. 12, 2003 to Van Randen, describes a device and method for driving an object, including sheet piles, into the ground using vibration. U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,811, issued Dec. 2, 1986 to Tuenkers, relates to a hydraulic vibratory pile driver, in which hydraulic motors are connected to and rotate shafts and weights thereby creating vibration that, along with the weight of the driver, causes the pile to sink into the ground. Both of these patents use vibration as their sole means for driving piles into the ground.

Hydraulic-forced resonance-free vibratory sheet piling driving and extraction machine


A dust-proof glass is provided on a light incident surface of a transmission-type liquid crystal panel. The dust-proof glass includes: a reflection section which is provided at an outer edge of a light incident surface of the dust-proof glass; and a notch section which is formed at an outer edge of a light emitting surface of the dust-proof glass.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a dust-proof glass which is used for a projection-type display device or the like, and relates to an electro-optic device and a projection-type image display device using the same.
2. Related Art
An electro-optic device which includes a transmission-type liquid crystal panel is used for a projection-type display device or the like. In the projection-type display device, light which is transmitted through a transmission-type liquid crystal panel is projected onto a screen or the like by a projection lens. At this time, since a scratch on a light incident surface of the transmission-type liquid crystal panel, a dust stuck to the light incident surface, or the like is within a short distance of a liquid crystal in a focus state, they are projected onto the screen, causing deteriorating display quality. To reduce the effects of such scratch, dust or the like, a dust-proof glass is attached on the light incident surface of the transmission-type liquid crystal panel and the distance between the liquid crystal in a focus state and the dust is increased so that the focus position is displaced. As a result, the scratch, dust or the like is made difficult to see even when it is projected onto the screen or the like. In addition, a light shielding film is provided on the dust-proof glass to prevent light from being incident to the outside of a display range of the transmission-type liquid crystal panel. Accordingly, a structure that includes a configuration and a two-layer light-shielding film is known. (See Japanese Patent No. 3799829 (page 22, FIG. 14).) In this configuration, a light shielding film for the dust-proof glass is provided on a side of a liquid crystal light bulb side that serves as the transmission-type liquid crystal panel (hereinafter referred to as "the light emitting surface of the dust-proof glass"). The two-layer light-shielding film includes a reflective film which reflects incident light from the outside and an absorbing layer which absorbs light from the side of the liquid crystal light valve.
In the case where a reflective film is provided on the light emitting surface of the dust-proof glass, incident light is transmitted through a surface of the dust-proof glass and reaches the reflective film. A part of the incident light reflected by the reflective film travels to the surface of the dust-proof glass again. Reflection occurs again on the surface of the dust-proof glass, and then a part of the incident light travels to the transmission-type liquid crystal panel. The light, however, has an incident angle that is different from an incident angle of a normal light beam. Therefore, the light is reflected by the transmission-type liquid crystal panel so that it will become feedback light or stray light. As a result, deterioration of display quality such as deterioration of display contrast, display unevenness or the like is likely to occur.

Dust-proof glass, and electro-optic device and projection type image display device using the same


An inductor embedded in a substrate, including a substrate, a coil electrode formed by filling a metal in a spiral hole formed on the substrate, an insulation layer formed on the substrate, and an external connection pad formed on the insulation layer to be connected to the coil electrode. The inductor-embedded substrate can be used as a cap for a micro device package by forming a cavity on its bottom surface.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to an inductor, and more particularly, to an inductor embedded in a substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, a micro device package using the same, and a manufacturing method of a cap for the micro device package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, portable electronic apparatuses such as video apparatuses, personal computers, cellular phones and flat type displays have been rapidly reduced in thickness and size. Electronic circuits including magnetic devices such as inductors and transformers that are built in the above apparatuses are strongly required to cope with the small-size, high integration, and radio-frequency (RF) tendencies of the devices.
A high-Q inductor is a common characteristic of most of the communication semiconductor devices. A related art method for forming the inductors in the semiconductor device includes depositing a metal having a thickness of at least 3 μm on the top layer of the circuit. However, this method requires an area over 300 μm×300 μm to form ten inductors. The area is not used for the other circuits due to electromagnetic interferences. That is, the general inductor has a low inductance as compared with design space utilization. It is therefore difficult to manufacture an inductor having a high Q factor and a low insertion loss in the restricted space.
In addition, a current process technique for forming a high-Q inductor using photoresist and copper requires a two or higher mask level and a two or higher exposure step. However, an inductor having an air gap is not compatible with the current process technology. That is, the inductor having the air gap needs a high difficulty process. Especially, in wet etching for floating the structure, the structure is adhered to the substrate. Moreover, the inductor having the air gap does not show sufficient solidity as a device.
On the other hand, a packaging technology for making a few devices with a single chip is required with the small size and high integration tendency of the electronic circuits. The general inductor and the manufacturing method thereof cannot embody the single chip package.

Inductor embedded in substrate, manufacturing method thereof, micro device package, and manufacturing method of cap for micro device package


A stowable module, i.e., a storage container, that provides storage space in the airplane without occupying revenue floorspace. The stowable module comprises an integrated feature of a sidewall lavatory. The stowable module stows inside a sidewall lavatory during ground, takeoff, and landing operations. During flight, the stowable module is deployed by a flight attendant into an adjacent doorway area so that the lavatory can be used by passengers and crew.

Providing lavatories on board airplanes is widely known. For examples of lavatories provided on board airplanes, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,150,863, issued Sep. 29, 1992, to Hozumi, 4,884,767, issued Dec. 5, 1989, to Shibata, 4,646,145, issued Feb. 24, 1987, to Alie, and 4,589,463, issued May 20, 1986, to Ryan. However, these fixed assembly lavatories are not concerned with the issues of doorway space utilization.
Doorway space utilization is the idea of making use of the floor areas and spaces immediately inboard of commercial airplane exit doors not needed during flight. The purpose of the present doorway space utilization concept is to increase the revenue generating capability of the commercial airplane. Doorway spaces are use for entry and departure from the airplane while on the ground and are required for emergency exit and attendant assist purposes. During flight, these spaces are largely unused.
By using doorway spaces during flight, there exists an opportunity to: (i) increase seat count, (ii) prevent seat (seat pan) loss, and (iii) add storage capacity. All of these opportunities can be used to increase the amount of revenue generated by the airplane thereby making the owner/operator of the airplane more profitable and the airplane more valuable to those commercial airplane customers.
Seat count gains are the most direct way to increase an airplane's value. Analysis of airline revenues and aircraft pricing indicates that each incremental seatpan added to an airplane of a given gross weight increases the value of the airplane at the time of sale by many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Avoiding the loss of a seatpan has the same impact on value.
Examples of apparatus providing increased space utilization on an airplane include an expandable volume lavatory disclosed in the aforementioned patent to Ryan and a convertible seat-bed disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,704, issued Aug. 12, 1975, to Gallaher, etal. Also available for use on the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 commercial airplane is an accessible expandable lavatory for the physically impaired. When stowed, the lavatory is basically a conventionally sized module. When the need arises or on-demand, the lavatory can be expanded into the passenger doorway area to permit positioning of a wheelchair next to the toilet in the lavatory.
Increased storagle capacity can also be related in revenue or value terms. Most airlines would find additional storage capacity useful on their airplanes. This capacity might be used for providing additional services, such as duty-free sales, or might displace conventional monument storage off of revenue floorspace, like closet or galley trash volume. None of the patents disclosed above provide increased airplane storage capacity of the type afforded in the present invention.


A punch canister includes a punch head with an axial shaft that has a screw thread which is adapted to be connected during use to the screw threads of a punch element that is slideably associated within a stripper bushing. A punch recess adjustment member is rotatably and slideably associated with the punch head. The adjustment member is adapted to the slideably but non-rotatably rotatably connected during operation to the punch element. A resilient retraction member, e.g., a spring, is located between the punch head and the adjustment member for biasing the adjustment member axially downward on the punch head. A manually releasable detent provided on the adjustment member is operatively associated with the punch head for retaining the adjustment member in any one of a plurality of selected circumferentially distributed angular positions on the punch head such that during operation disengagement of the detent allows the adjustment member and the punch element to be threaded axially on the punch head to control the distance that the punch element is recessed within the stripper bushing. In a preferred form, the detent is a lock that can be disengaged manually when the punch recess adjustment is to be made.

In the punch and die art and particularly in the field of high-speed automated forming and punching equipment for punching and forming sheet material, e.g., sheet metal and especially in the case of automated turret punch presses, the punch presses are operated by computer to perform a series of punching or forming operations sequentially. These punch presses which by themselves form no part of the present invention are typically provided with an upper turret and a lower turret that rotate and are indexed intermittently between punching operations. The turrets may, for example, hold as many as a dozen or more separate punches that are used in sequence for performing given operations. When a punch is struck from above by the ram of the punch press, the punch element or punch insert is driven downwardly through the workpiece to perform the punching operation. When released, the punch insert is retracted by a spring provided in the punch assembly. In order to assure a clean separation between the workpiece and the punch insert, a stripper having an opening shaped to conform to the tip of the punch is used to strip the workpiece from the punch tip. The stripper can either be a separate piece or it can be built into the punch guide bushing. When the punch assembly is placed in the punch press, it is important to assure that the tip of the punch is recessed the correct distance within the stripper. In many punching operations it is common for the operator to recess the punch about 0.032 inches within the stripper, i.e., providing a lead of about 0.032 inches.
The present invention described below and shown in the Figures can be applied to a variety of different kinds of punch set types including relatively large diameter punch sets in which the stripper comprises a flat removable circular stripper plate as well as those of a smaller size in which the stripper comprises the lower end of bushing that encloses the punch insert. Although the invention can be applied to punch sets in which stripper and bushing as well as the punch insert are custom made by the manufacturer, it is particularly applicable to stock punch and stripper sets of a relatively small size that are supplied by numerous manufacturers and are available commercially in many standard sizes and configurations. These "stock" or standard size punch sets are usually kept in stock by the end user. To make a complete punch mechanism using a stock punch insert and stripper set, the manufacturer provides the punch head and spring assembly to which the user attaches his punch insert and stripper bushing. The punch assembly provided by the manufacturer is commonly referred to as a punch canister and consists of a punch head which has threads for engaging the threads of the punch insert, a retraction spring, and includes a provision for holding the spring in place. Since the punch insert and stripper set has nothing for adjusting the punch recess, the entire mechanism for controlling the punch lead or recess must be contained in the punch canister assembly. While the invention is particularly well adapted for use in a canister punch assembly of the kind described, it can be practiced in a variety of punch sets of different types. A preferred embodiment that is described and shown in the Figures illustrates but one of the various ways that the invention can be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.
Various punch assembly adjustment devices previously proposed are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,895,797; 5,647,256; 5,329,835; and 4,375,774. In some cases the recess adjustment of the punch is contained on or within the punch insert or is a part of the bushing which surrounds it. This, of course, is unacceptable for a canister style punch assembly since the "stock," i.e., commercially available, punch insert and stripper bushing sets contain no recess adjustment feature. In other cases, changes in the recess or lead of the punch insert can only be made by partially or completely disassembling the punch set or by using tools to make changes in the punch lead. In the case of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,647,256 and 6,895,797, the punch assemblies are not suited for use with a stock punch set provided by the end user but must include the punch and/or stripper supplied by the manufacturer as a part of the complete assembly. In addition, recess adjustments cannot be made with the punch insert in situ.
In view of these and other deficiencies of the prior art, it is one object of the present invention to provide a punch assembly with a self-contained device in which changes in the distance the punch is recessed within the stripper can be made manually without the use of tools.
Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved punch assembly having a recess adjustment in which the entire recess adjustment mechanism is contained within a canister style punch set can be used in conjunction with a any of a variety of standard size, i.e., "stock," punch insert and stripper bushing sets that are kept in stock by the end user and are attached or replaced on the canister assembly as needed and including a feature for enabling the recess adjustment of the punch to be made with the punch in situ whereby the recess adjustment can be observed by the operator while being made.
Another more specific object of the invention is the provision of an improved punch assembly in which precise recess adjustments can be easily made without tools and in which the punching operation is performed by a punch insert and stripper guide bushing set that together have no adjustment feature and which can be removed together and replaced by hand without the use of tools whenever required.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following figures and detailed description which illustrate by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

Punch with self-contained punch recess adjustment indexing