A first prefetch engine from a first plurality of prefetch engines is allocated to a first load instruction in response to a buffer miss of an iteration of the first load instruction in a program stream. The first plurality of prefetch engines include prefetch engines for prefetching data from memory to a buffer based on a predicted stride. A second prefetch engine from a second plurality of prefetch engines is allocated to the first load instruction in response to the buffer miss. The second plurality of prefetch engines include prefetch engines for prefetching data from memory to the buffer based on an instruction loop representative of a sequence of instructions that affect an address value associated with an allocated load instruction. One of the first or second prefetch engines is deallocated if the other prefetch engine achieves a prefetch performance greater than a first threshold value.

Prefetching data from memory into a buffer is a common approach for reducing the effects of memory latency during load operations in processing systems. Common prefetching techniques are broadly classified into two types: prediction prefetching or precomputation prefetching. Prediction prefetching techniques rely on the context of the data accesses to predict and prefetch data. Prediction prefetching techniques are particularly advantageous when prefetching data that has regular access patterns, as frequently found in numerical and scientific applications. An exemplary prediction prefetching technique includes a stride-based prefetching technique that utilizes a stride value that defines the identified access pattern.
In contrast, conventional precomputation prefetching techniques rely on the execution of a version of the main program at a separate hardware engine so as to run ahead of the execution of the main program at the main processing engine. Precomputation prefetching techniques are grouped into two types: coupled techniques or decoupled techniques. Coupled precomputation prefetching techniques rely on the execution of a pre-marked instruction in the main program to trigger the precomputation execution. As a result, coupled precomputation prefetching techniques typically cannot prefetch in time for programs that have little time between the trigger and when the prefetched data is needed. Such instances are common in processing systems that utilize register renaming and out-of-order execution that results in a shortened time between the loading of values and their use in the program. Conventional decoupled precomputation techniques have been designed in an attempt to overcome the timeliness problem present in coupled techniques. These conventional techniques allow a prefetch engine to execute several iterations ahead of the program at the main processor. While these conventional decoupled precomputation prefetching techniques can be relatively effective for programs that have a static traversal order along data structures, these conventional techniques fail to account for instances where the traversal path changes between access iterations. Accordingly, improved techniques for prefetching data in a processing system would be advantageous.

System and method for cooperative prefetching


The present invention relates to a liquid pharmaceutical composition comprising a peptide of SEQ ID NO.: 2 as an active pharmaceutical ingredient. The composition of the present invention is suitable for medical use in humans, for example in the treatment of disorders of a metabolic syndrome or diabetes or obesity or for reduction of excess food intake.

WO 2014/056872 A1, the content of which is incorporated by reference herein discloses the peptide of SEQ ID NO.: 2:
(SEQ ID NO.: 2)1          5        10H-dSer-Q-G-T-F-T-S-D-L-S-K-Q-K(γE-x53)  15        20-E-S-K-A-A-Q-D-F-I-E- 25       30        35W-L-K-A-G-G-P-S-S-G-A-P-P-P-S-NH2
wherein γE-x53 is (S)-4-Carboxy-4-hexadecanoylamino-butyryl- as shown below:

which activates the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor and the glucagon receptor. General remarks for a formulation are given, but no data regarding long term stability of specific formulations.
Liraglutide and a pharmaceutical composition thereof are publicly known. It is a marketed chemically modified analogue of GLP-1 in which, among other modifications, a fatty acid is linked to a lysine in position 20 leading to a prolonged duration of action.
The amino acid sequence of Liraglutide is shown as SEQ ID NO.: 1:
(SEQ ID NO.: 1)1       5         10       15        20H-A-E-G-T-F-T-S-D-V-S-S-Y-L-E-G-Q-A-A-K ((S)-4-Carboxy-4-hexadecanoylamino-butyryl-)-         25        30E-F-I-A-W-L-V-R-G-R-G-OH
The marketed formulation of liraglutide comprises the active agent liraglutide, sodium monohydrogen phosphate dihydrate, propylene glycol, phenol, and water for injection at pH 8.15 (see Novo Nordisk Australia: "Product Information Liraglutide Victoza®" and Novo Nordisk Australia: "Product Information Liraglutide Saxenda®, available online via the publicly accessible version of the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG; retrieved on 19 Dec. 2017 under URL https://www.ebs.tga.gov.au/ebs/picmi/picmirepository.nsf/PICMI?OpenForm&t=&q=victoza&r=https://www.ebs.tga.gov.au/ (for Victoza) and https://www.tga.gov.au/artg/artg-id-225804 (for Saxenda); Rote Liste 2016, page 402). Two formulations by Novo Nordisk, Victoza® and Saxenda®, are mentioned in the "Rote Liste": Victoza® 6 mg/mL solution for injection in a pen device, (access code Rote Liste: ATC: A10BX07) and Saxenda® 6 mg/mL solution for injection in a pen device (access code Rote Liste: ATC: A10BX07). Both formulations comprise the active agent liraglutide, sodium monohydrogen phosphate dihydrate, propylene glycol, phenol, and water for injection.
These formulations have certain disadvantages due to the presence of propylene glycol, e.g. because parenteral administration may cause pain or irritation. Further, from the viewpoint of patient tolerability, the alkaline pH (pH>8) is disadvantageous, taking into consideration that the formulation has to be injected daily (see FDA reference ID: 3677762, retrieved on 19 Dec. 2017 under URL http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2014/206321Orig1s000lbl.pdf; page 10, section "Injection site reactions"). There, it is described that the most common injection site reactions, each reported by 1% to 2.5% of Saxenda-treated patients and more commonly than by placebo-treated patients, included erythema, pruritus, and rash at the injection site.


Systems and methods for generating and playing a sequence of media objects based on a mood gradient are also disclosed. A mood gradient is a sequence of items, in which each item is media object having known characteristics or a representative set of characteristics of a media object, that is created or used by a user for a specific purpose. Given a mood gradient, one or more new media objects are selected for each item in the mood gradient based on the characteristics associated with that item. In this way, a sequence of new media objects is created but the sequence exhibits a similar variation in media object characteristics. The mood gradient may be presented to a user or created via a display illustrating a three-dimensional space in which each dimension corresponds to a different characteristic. The mood gradient may be represented as a path through the three-dimensional space and icons representing media objects are located within the three-dimensional space based on their characteristics.

With the emergence of digital media, that is audio, video (audiovisual) and text content stored digitally, users now have virtually unlimited choices. There is more media, in the form of electronic files and objects, available to users now than they could be expected to consume in a lifetime. However, users can only experience media which they are able to find. Traditional media discovery involves searching for a track by its title and/or creator, which information is often stored as metadata in a media file. Yet for the majority of audio files on the web, there is no such information or metadata. This is because the generation of metadata is a time consuming, typically manual task that is often omitted by a media object's creator. There are millions of web media objects which are poorly annotated or lacking in any type of metadata whatsoever. These media will never be returned in any search result. There are also millions of "long tail" tracks which may be properly annotated but are generally unknown and will therefore fail to the bottom of any search query and, thus, for all intents and purposes rarely or never be selected by users.

System and method for generating a mood gradient


A multi-layer ceramic capacitor includes: a ceramic body including first and second end surfaces, first and second side surfaces, first internal electrodes drawn to the first and second end surfaces, second internal electrodes drawn to at least one of the first side surface and the second side surface, and dielectric layers, the first and second internal electrodes being alternately laminated via the dielectric layers; first and second external electrodes that respectively cover the first and second end surfaces, and extend to each of the first and second side surfaces; a third external electrode including a first side-surface region formed on the first side surface and a second side-surface region formed on the second side surface, the first side-surface region and the second side-surface region being formed to be mutually shifted along the first direction and at least partially facing each other in the second direction.

The present disclosure relates to a multi-layer ceramic capacitor and a circuit board on which the multi-layer ceramic capacitor is mounted.
There are known multi-layer ceramic capacitors as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2016-127262 and 2017-28240. Those multi-layer ceramic capacitors each include a first external electrode and a second external electrode, which are provided at both end portions in the length direction, and also include a third external electrode formed on a side surface. Such multi-layer ceramic capacitors are each referred to as a three-terminal-type multi-layer ceramic capacitor.

Multi-layer ceramic capacitor and circuit board


A system for releasably securing to each other a first and a second connector by means of a pair of pivotable latching members, one or each side of the first connector and each pivotable into and out of a latched position with respect to a corresponding one of a pair of catches on the second connector, as controlled by a manually-operable jack-screw arrangement for each latching member, mounted on said first connector.

It is sometimes desirable to hold the two halves of an electrical connector releasably to each other in their mated conditions, by means over and beyond the friction of pin against socket which is often relied upon, so that there is no chance of their accidental dislodgement, complete or partial, or relative motion due to vibration, gravity pull, accidental contact, or the like. This is particularly important where a first connector is mounted on a panel and mated with a second connector which has one or more other connectors mounted on its rear side, so that there is a distinct tendency for the second connector to loosen and perhaps ultimately fall out.
Mechanisms are known in which the pins of spring-mounted jaws, one on each side of one connector, can be manually pinched open and then allowed to close about a retaining catch on another connector of the same size, once the two connectors are fully mated. However, in some instances a pair of connectors are to be mated with each other which are of different sizes, e.g. a 68-position to 50-position adapter mated with a 50-position connector. Despite the difference in connector size, it is desirable to be able to assure that such connectors are securely and releasably held together by an appropriate mechanism. It is also sometimes desirable to secure one or more other connectors to the rear of one of the pair of connectors, while still retaining the ability to secure the original pair of connectors to each other. It has been found difficult to provide an appropriate latching system for assuring that the connectors will then remain mated as desired, and which is convenient and easy to use.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a new and advantageous mechanism for releasably latching together a pair of electrical connectors.

Latching system for electrical connectors


An engine controller to control a plurality of engines is disclosed. The engine controller may determine that power to a load is to be increased, wherein the load is configured to be powered by one or more of the plurality of engines; determine that an engine, of the plurality of engines, is configured to provide supplemental power to the load after a temperature of the engine satisfies a threshold, wherein the threshold corresponds to a warm-up operation of the engine being completed; determine that the temperature of the engine does not satisfy the threshold; obtain, via an operator interface, an authorization to bypass the warm-up operation of the engine; and bypass, based on obtaining the authorization, the warm-up operation for the engine to permit the engine to provide instantaneous power to the load.

A plurality of engines may be used in various implementations to provide power to a load when a single engine is not sufficient to provide power to the load. For example, a plurality of generators may be configured to provide electrical power to a load that requires more power than a single generator can output. In some instances, power output from one or more of the plurality of engines can be controlled by particular configurations of an engine controller. For example, to use an engine to provide power, the engine controller may be configured to cause the engine to undergo one or more operations, such as a warm-up operation. However, such operations can delay and/or inhibit the load from receiving an amount of power that is required by the load at a particular moment. Such issues may be especially troublesome if the engine is cold and is to undergo a warm-up operation, but the load requires instantaneous power from the engine (e.g., because the load may have to wait for the engine to complete the warm-up operation).
One approach to control power is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,970,278 that issued to Broussard et al. on May 15, 2019 ("the '278 patent"). In particular, the '278 patent discloses a system and method for centralized monitoring and control of a hydraulic fracturing operation.
While the system and/or method of the '278 patent may enable control of power of a turbine, the system and/or method are configured to monitor whether an engine is ready to be loaded and/or a ready to load time remaining.
The engine controller of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.


Polygons defined in three-dimensional space are processed in order to facilitate subsequent manipulation. A first polygon is tested against a second polygon to identify a part of one of the polygons which may have a particular relationship. Thereafter, a second test is performed with reference to that polygon part. When producing rendering order lists, trees or directed graphs, a current favorite polygon (for placing on a list, tree or graph) is tested against a candidate polygon to determine whether the candidate polygon may be occluded by the favorite polygon. In performing this test a fragment of the favorite polygon may be identified which may occlude the candidate polygon and a fragment of the candidate polygon may be identified, as that which may be occluded by the current favorite. Thereafter, a second test is performed with reference to the fragment of the favorite polygon and the fragment of the candidate polygon.

In an interactive three-dimensional graphics system, such as a system of the type disclosed in the Applicant's copending European Patent Publication No. EP-A-0531157 (not published at the first claimed priority date), data representing polygons is manipulated in three-dimensional space interactively, in response to input commands from an operator. Two-dimensional images are presented to an operator at a rate sufficient to maintain a closed feedback loop between the operator and the virtual three-dimensional environment.
A two-dimensional image is generated by rendering the three-dimensional image data onto a two-dimensional plane. For each view, "hidden surface removal" can be performed by ensuring that primitives which occlude other primitives are rendered into the two-dimensional plane either instead of the primitives which they occlude or at least after said occluded polygons. Often the occlusions are partial, therefore it is preferable to render occluded polygons prior to rendering the occluding polygons. In addition, totally invisible primitives may be culled and do not require further consideration during the rendering process. Thus, it can be appreciated that a very important aspect of the rendering process involves ensuring that the primitives are rendered in the correct order. However, determining the correct order for rendering, repeatedly for each iteration, would account for a considerable proportion of the available processing time.
A system for producing rendering order lists is disclosed in the aforesaid copending European Patent Publication, in which said lists are produced as a pre-process, using a topological sort, prior to interactive operation. If necessary, a plurality of view orientations are selected and a rendering order list is produced for each of these views. During interactive operation, one of these rendering order lists is selected by comparing the actual view orientation with the pre-processed orientations, to determine which is the closest fit. Thus, the computational overhead required during interactive operation is reduced significantly.

Apparatus and method for determining a rendering order between first and second object surface primitives


A refuse collecting device includes a frame configured with a longitudinal channel, an actuating member, a disposable container, and U-shaped retaining members. The actuating member is positioned within the channel and freely slides through the channel. The U-shaped retaining member releasably retains the disposable container to the actuating member. The disposable container is attached to the frame by sliding the container hinge over the U-shaped retaining member. After the container is attached, sliding the actuating member upward within the channel causes the container to close thereby picking up the refuse. The container is self-locking when closed and can be removed by sliding the container off the U-shaped retaining member.

The proliferation of state and local ordinances requiring the collection and disposal of animal and pet wastes has created a need for an inexpensive, sanitary method of doing so. Several devices have been proposed to deal with the growing problem presented by pet waste. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,987 discloses a refuse collecting tool for the collection of animal waste. The tool consists of an elliptical scoop permanently attached to a tubular handle having a rod which opens and closes the scoop. By proper manipulation of the device, animal waste is collected within the scoop for further disposal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,468 discloses a similar apparatus. While devices such as these may be easier to use than other tools, such as shovels, they still suffer from disadvantages. Notable among the disadvantages is the need to clean the device itself. Because the scoop used to collect the waste is permanently attached to the device, the device must be cleaned to prevent the accumulation of pet waste, a task which is itself hardly pleasant.
Several refuse collecting tools employing disposable scoop-like elements have been proposed to overcome some of the problems associated with permanently attached scoop elements. U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,252, for example, discloses a device which uses commercially available disposable cups to collect the waste. The cup is secured within a frame attached to the end of the handle. Waste is collected by using a lateral movement to scoop the waste into the open cup. Because the cup is detachable and disposable, some of the problems associated with permanently attached scoops are overcome. The device nonetheless suffers from drawbacks. Because of the type of scooping motion required to collect the waste, the outside of the cup can become soiled with the waste thus presenting the user with the unpleasant task of disengaging the waste-soiled cup. In addition, although the cup can be closed with commercially available cup lids, the lid cannot be put in place until after the cup is disengaged from the holder. Thus, in the process of removing the cup from the holder, the potential exists that some of the waste will spill out of the cup.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,139 discloses an alternative type of waste collecting device using a detachable, disposable scoop-like element. The device includes a disposable container attached to a handle. A camming mechanism within the handle opens and closes the container. The user places the device over the waste and operates the camming mechanism so that the container is open. After lowering the device until the container sides surround the waste, the user operates the camming mechanism to close the container. As the container closes, the waste is lifted into the container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,842 discloses a similar device employing a removable, disposable container. The container is attached to a pair of jaws which form the lower end of the device. A spring within the device moves the jaws outward and in so doing opens the container. The device is placed so that the open container surrounds the waste. As the spring moves the jaws inward, the container closes around the waste thereby picking up the waste. The devices in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,247,139 and 5,056,842 overcome some of the problems associated with refuse collecting devices employing removable scoop-like elements. These devices help to prevent contamination of the outside of the containers because the devices use a vertical motion rather than a lateral one to collect the waste. In addition, the devices help to prevent spillage of the waste because the containers are closed before they are removed from the devices. Problems exists, however, due to the complexity of the mechanisms for opening and closing the containers. The camming mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,139, for example, requires the cooperative motion of two wire-like legs over four cam followers. In addition, the device uses flexible guides to properly position the closed container on the device. The spring mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,842 requires the cooperative motion of the spring and the two movable jaws. The complexity of these devices contributes to the expense in manufacturing them. In addition, the relatively large number of moving parts presents maintenance problems in that any of these parts may become fouled by debris or worn out by use.
A need exists for a refuse collecting device that is sanitary, easy to use and maintain, and inexpensive to produce.


A disk table rotation supporting structure includes a tray having an inner wall surface that stands upward, a bottom surface provided on an inside, a central axis portion that stands upward on a center portion of the bottom surface, and a receiving portion disposed around the central axis portion, and a disk table having a large circular-ring supporting rib provided downward in neighborhood of the inner wall surface, a central through hole portion opened in a center portion and into which the central axis portion of the tray is inserted, and a small circular-ring rib extended downward from a periphery of the central through hole portion. Only the large circular-ring supporting rib is supported rotatably on the bottom surface of the tray via a lubricating member, and the disk table is rotated in this situation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk table rotation supporting structure on a tray.
2. Description of the Related Art
A first prior art is shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. A disk player includes a slide table 103 that is put in and out to slide in the horizontal direction of a housing 101, a rotary disk tray 104 mounted on the slide table 103 and on which a plurality of disk loading portions 104A that can house plural disks therein to align on the same planar surface are provided, a driving unit having a rotating motor 105 for rotating the rotary disk tray 104 to stop it at a predetermined position, a disk playing block 107 housed in the housing 101 to reproduce recording signals of the disk positioned at a playing position of the rotary disk tray 104, and a loading unit 109 for setting the slide table 103 and the disk playing block 107 to a loading position. A chucking head 106 one end of which is held by the slide table 103 is provided over the playing position of the rotary disk tray 104 (for example, see JP-B-6-75331).
However, as shown in FIG. 5, this disk player causes the rotating motor 105 provided on the outside to rotate the rotary disk tray 104.
A second prior art is shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIGS. 9A and 9B. A disk playing system 201 includes a tray 203 for moving back and forth with respect to a front panel 202 of the disk playing system 201 to install/eject a disk, a turn table 205 fitted rotatably to the tray 203, a plurality of disk holding portions 207 formed on the turn table 205 around the rotating axis of the turn table 205, an annulus rib 229 formed on a back surface of the turn table 205 like a concentric circle of the rotating axis of the turn table 205, notched portions formed on the annulus rib 229, a sensing means (not shown) for sensing the notched portions, a turn table driving means for driving the turn table 205 to turn/transfer the disk 204 being held by the disk holding portion 207 to a disk playing means (not shown), and a controlling means for controlling the driving means. In addition, the notched portions includes a plurality of positioning notches 230 used to stop a plurality of disk holding portions 207 at a playing position of the disk playing means, and a plurality of number sensing notches 231 provided to both sides of the positioning notches 230 symmetrically as a pair respectively to correspond to the numbers assigned to a plurality of disk holding portions 207. When the main body of the system is brought into the playing state, the turn table 205 is rotated to read the number of the disk holding portion. First, a length L3 between the notched portions of both neighboring disk holding portions 207 is sensed by the photo couplers 212 that are opposed to sandwich the annulus rib 229. Then, the number of the number sensing notches 231 on the annulus rib 229 is counted to recognize the position of the disk holding portion 207, the turn table 205 is then rotated in the rotating direction that enable to access quickly the target disk holding portion 207, and then the turn table 205 is rotated until the number sensing notches 231 corresponding to the number of the concerned disk holding portion 207 is counted up. After the number sensing notches 231 corresponding to the number of the target disk holding portion 207 is counted up, a length L1 from the positioning notches 230 to the right or left number sensing notches is sensed and then the turn table 205 is stopped when the positioning notches 230 are sensed. When the turn table 205 is stopped at this positioning notches 230, the disk 204 being held in the target disk holding portion 207 is positioned such that the disk can be loaded correctly on the disk turn table 210 as the playing means (For example, see JP-B-7-122951).
However, the number sensing notches 231 and the positioning notches 230 must be provided in this disk playing system.
A third prior art is shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C. A tray base fitting mechanism is constructed to provide a sliding surface 301e and a claw portion 301d, which is aligned to the sliding surface 301e, to right and left sides of a tray base 301 and to insert the claw portions 301d of the tray base 301 into visor portions 304c of right and left guides as the fixing portions. A disk 317 can be loaded on the tray base 301 and can be moved in the longitudinal direction between a disk loading/unloading position, at which the disk 317 is protruded from a housing 307, and a disk housing position, at which the disk 317 is housed in the housing 307. When the tray base 301 is positioned at the disk loading/unloading position, the sliding surfaces 301e of the tray base 301 engages with the visor portions 304c of the guide and also only the claw portions 301d of the tray base 301 are seen as the external appearance. In contrast, when the tray base 301 is positioned at the disk housing position, the sliding surfaces 301e of the tray base 301 also engages with the visor portions 304c of the guide (For example, see Japanese Patent No.3118952).
In this tray base fitting mechanism, the sliding surface 301e and the claw portion 301d, which is aligned to the sliding surface 301e, must be provided to the right and left sides of the tray base 301, and also the visor portions 304c of right and left guides as the fixing portions must be provided. Therefore, its configuration of the mechanism becomes complicated.
A fourth prior art is shown in FIG. 11, FIGS. 12A-12B, and FIGS. 13A-13D. In this disk changer, a tray base 401 that is cooperated with a tray table 404 via gears provided to the tray table 404 is provided over the tray table 404 that is pushed out from or housed in a housing 426 by a driving mechanism provided in the housing 426. A rotation shaft 407 is provided over the tray base 401. A rotary tray 402 on which disk receiving portions for loading three sheets of disks are arranged/formed at equal interval is provided. A playing device for playing sequentially the disks loaded on the rotary tray 402 is provided. In addition, a locking gear (not shown) for restricting a movement of the tray table 404, when housed, in the ejecting direction by its rotation, and a tray locking lever 408 for restricting a movement of the tray base 401 in the ejecting direction or the housing direction by its rotation that is interlocked with the locking gear are provided to the tray table (for example, see Japanese Patent No.3264021).
However, as shown in respective drawings, this disk changer is complicated in configuration and the number of parts is very great.

Disk table rotation supporting structure


A compact two-group zoom lens, wherein zooming is accomplished by changing the distance between the two lens groups. In order from the object side, the first lens group G1 is of positive refracting power and includes a negative meniscus lens element L.sub.1 with its concave surface on the object side, a positive meniscus lens element L.sub.2 made of plastic having two aspherical surfaces with its convex surface on the object side, and a biconvex lens element L.sub.3 having different surface curvatures, with its surface of stronger curvature on the image side. The second lens group G2 includes a positive meniscus lens element L.sub.4 that has two aspherical surfaces with its concave surface on the object side, and a negative meniscus lens element L.sub.5 with its concave surface on the object side. It is preferable that lens element L.sub.4 has an aspherical surface of positive refracting power and lens element L.sub.2 has an aspherical surface of negative refracting power. Also, it is preferable that lens elements L.sub.2 and L.sub.4 are formed with an acrylic-system resin. Furthermore, the following conditions are satisfied: EQU 1.4<f.sub.w /f.sub.1 <2.0 (1) EQU -0.77<R.sub.9 /f.sub.1 <-0.35 (2). wherein. f.sub.w is the focal length of the compact two-group zoom lens at the wide-angle end, PA1 f.sub.1 is the focal length of the first lens group, and PA1 R.sub.9 is the radius of curvature of the object-side surface of the fifth lens element.

Recently, among lens systems used for lens-shutter cameras, ones equipped with a zoom lens are becoming mainstream. Because this kind of zoom lens is required to be compact, two-group zoom lenses with a telescope-type refractive power arrangement are commercialized wherein, in order from the object side, the first lens group has positive refracting power and the second lens group has negative refracting power.
Furthermore, many lens systems are known where the number of lens elements is reduced and the optical performance is improved by using an aspherical surface as the lens element surface.
As for this kind of technology, zoom lenses having six lens elements in two groups are described in Japan patent publications H03-200913 and H06-82696. Also, zoom lenses having five lens elements in two groups are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,663,838 and 5,687,028. However, there is a need for further improvements in miniaturization and cost reduction.


An array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof, and a display device are provided. The array substrate comprises: a gate electrode (11) and a gate line (12) located on a base substrate (00); an active layer (20) located on a film layer where the gate electrode (11) and the gate line (12) are located; a drain electrode (31), a source electrode (32) and a data line (33) located on the active layer (20); a pixel electrode (40) located on a film layer where the drain electrode (31), the drain electrode (32) and the data line (33) are located and connected to the drain electrode (31) through a first via hole (100); and a common electrode layer (50) located on a film layer where the pixel electrode (40) is located and insulated from the pixel electrode (40); wherein, the common electrode layer (50) includes a plurality of self-capacitive electrodes (51) disposed on a same layer and mutually insulated; the array substrate further comprises: a plurality of conducting lines (60), located on the film layer where the drain electrode (31), the source electrode (32) and the data line (33) are located, and insulated from the drain electrode (31), the source drain (32), the data line (33) and the pixel electrode (40); and, disposed on a layer different from the common electrode layer (50), and each of the conducting lines (60) being electrically connected to a corresponding self-capacitive electrode (51) through a second via hole (200).

Along with rapid development of a display technology, a Touch Screen Panel has been widely used in human life. At present, a touch structure contained in the touch screen panel may be divided into: a mutual-capacitive touch structure and a self-capacitive touch structure. The self-capacitive touch structure is favored by a majority of panel manufacturers due to its touch sensing accuracy and high signal to noise ratio.
Currently, the self-capacitive touch structure detects a finger touch position on self-capacitance principle, which is: a plurality of self-capacitive electrodes disposed on the same layer and independent of each other are arranged in the touch structure; when a human body does not touch a screen, capacitance borne by respective self-capacitive electrodes is a constant value; when the human body touches the screen, the capacitance borne by a corresponding self-capacitive electrode at a touch position is the constant value plus a human body capacitance, and a touch detection chip may determine the touch position by detecting variation of capacitance values of the respective self-capacitive electrodes during a touch period.
In the self-capacitive touch structure, each self-capacitive electrode needs to be connected to the touch detection chip through a separate lead; as illustrated in FIG. 1, each lead specifically includes: a conducting line 2 for connecting a self-capacitive electrode 1 to a frame of the touch screen panel, and a peripheral wire 4 arranged on the frame and configured to conduct the self-capacitive electrode 1 to a wiring terminal 3 of the touch detection chip.
In actual implementation, since there are a large amount of self-capacitive electrodes, correspondingly there are many leads; with each self-capacitive electrode occupying an area of 5 mm*5 mm as example, a 5-inch liquid crystal display screen needs 264 self-capacitive electrodes; if each self-capacitive electrode is designed to be smaller, there will be more self-capacitive electrodes, so more leads should be designed.
Moreover, at the time of designing, in order to reduce the number of film layers, as illustrated in FIG. 1, generally the conducting line 2 in the lead is disposed on the same layer as the self-capacitive electrode 1, so more conducting lines 2 will cause too large touch blind region, wherein the touch blind region refers to a region where the lines are concentrated in the touch screen panel, and signals in such a touch blind region are relatively disordered, so it is called the touch blind region, that is, touch performance in this region cannot be guaranteed.
In summary, the touch blind region in a current self-capacitive touch structure is relatively large, resulting in a worse touch performance of the touch screen panel containing the self-capacitive touch structure.

Array substrate and manufacturing method thereof, and display device

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A cytometer includes an illuminating unit having a laser and a light beam shaping module for shaping and converging the laser beam emitted from the laser. A sample generation unit includes a gas-liquid transmission controlling module and a flow chamber which are connected to each other, so the sample liquid containing the cells to be detected may flow through the flow chamber while being encircled by the sheath fluid. A signal processing unit receives, converts and processes the scattering light emitted from the flow chamber. The signal processing unit includes at least a photoelectric detection module, wherein the light beam shaping module has at least one aspheric collimating lens and a pair of mutually crossing cylindrical lenses, and the numerical aperture of the aspheric collimating lens is at least 0.3.

Conventional flow cytometers have been widely used in the analysis of blood cells. Such a blood cell cytometer is mainly comprised of an illuminating unit, a flow chamber and a signal processing unit. The flow chamber provides an optical cell-interrogation zone, in which a flow of the sample of blood cells is encircled in a sheath flow according to the fluid focusing principle, so that the blood cells pass through the detection passage one by one; the illuminating unit, usually a laser, provides an illuminating light beam which may irradiate into the cell-interrogation zone of the flow chamber, such that the illuminating light beam may irradiate onto the cells flowing through the cell-interrogation zone so as to be scattered, or excite fluorescence emission, etc.; and the signal processing unit is useful for collecting various optical information generated in the flow chamber and converting it into electric signals. By processing and analyzing these converted electric signals, the parameters of various cells contained in the blood can be obtained in order for subsequent processing such as counting and classification, etc.
Normally, certain properties of cells are all represented by the peak or pulse width of the signals described above, thus it is necessary to obtain such data as the peak or pulse width of various optical information, and some parameters concerning the blood cells may be calculated by using a histogram or scatter diagram plotted with these data.
In prior art, as shown in FIG. 1, a typical flow cytometer has to pass the light beam LB eradiated from a light source through the optical system which focuses the beam on the center of the cell-interrogation zone of the flow chamber 4, forming an elliptical spot BS on a plane π perpendicular to the optical axis at the center of the cell-interrogation zone, and the minor axis of the spot should coincide with the flowing direction {circumflex over (ƒ)} of the sample. Since the light beam has a very large divergence angle θy in the direction of the cell flow, a significant aberration in particular a spherical aberration occurs after the light beam passes through the optical system, such that the spot focused at the cell-interrogation zone of the flow chamber, besides a main spot BS0 in the sample flowing direction, also has two symmetrical sidelobes BS1 and BS2, as shown in FIG. 2, in which I denotes the inner wall of the flow chamber and O the outer wall of the flow chamber. Thereby, the signal generated by the cells passing through such an illuminated region will correspondingly comprise sidelobs P(1) and P(2) at both sides of the main pulse signal P. If the amplitudes of these pulses are also to be identified as the scattered signals of cells, the result of the sample detection would be incorrect.
In a prior art approach for resolving this problem, a scattered pulse signal recognition algorithm is incorporated in the signal processing unit, getting rid of the sidelobs via a threshold value Vth. As shown in FIG. 3, when a peak as recognized is smaller than this threshold value, it is deemed to be a false signal and is rejected. However, this approach has a significant disadvantage in that usually the main pulse Pk of some smaller cells is even smaller than the associated pulse of the bigger cells, and the real scattered signal Pk of the small cells would be rejected along with the associated pulse of the bigger cells by using the threshold value, which will bring error to the cell analysis.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,019, a negative cylindrical lens (concave cylindrical lens) is used for eliminating the aberration in y direction so as to avoid the disturbance of the associated pulse. However, this approach has the following drawbacks: the complexity of the optical system, the dimension of the structure, and the difficulties upon assembly and adjustment are all increased; while minimizing the error in y direction, the concave cylindrical lens also influences the x direction, as a result of which the flat top effect upon light beam shaping is poor, which further affects the overall performance of the system; for certain systems requiring irradiation with multi-wavelength, the compensation effect of such a concave cylindrical lens is inconsistent, and it is still needed to increase the complexity of the signal recognition algorithm.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,927, an aspheric lens is used for collimating the light beam from the semiconductor laser, which is then focused via a space filter and a spherical lens to create an elliptical spot that irradiates into the flow cell. Although this approach also functions to eliminate the sidelobs, the application of the space filter enlarges the size of the structure and increases the difficulty upon assembly and adjustment. Furthermore, one spherical lens is incapable of forming a flat top in x direction, leading to aberration if the cells are introduced into the irradiated region from different positions.

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd.


A backside alignment apparatus and method for determining a position relationship between a substrate (6) and a workpiece stage (24). The backside alignment apparatus includes: an illumination apparatus (1) for emanating infrared light; a workpiece stage assembly (2) for supporting and moving the substrate (6); an imaging apparatus (3) for detecting alignment marks and calculating positions of the alignment marks, the alignment marks including a reference plate alignment mark (41) and a backside alignment mark (20); and a reference plate assembly (4) for setting up a relationship between position coordinates of the imaging apparatus (3) and the workpiece stage assembly (2). The illumination apparatus (1) and the imaging apparatus (3) are able to illuminate and align different alignment marks using only one set of illumination apparatus.

With the continuous improvement of our living standards and the increasing development of semiconductor technologies, in the future semiconductor market, there will be an increasing demand for the level-up of intelligence and miniaturization of semiconductor packing devices. For example, digital products, such as digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs and the like will be required to have a smaller size for ease of carrying, diverse functionalities and a high price-performance. In order to meet the demand for the development of intelligence and miniaturization of semiconductor packing devices, there arises a need for multi-chip packaging (MCP) solutions to package two or more planar devices in a stacking-and-connecting way at a wafer level. Such packaging method is also known as three-dimensional (3D) packaging. Currently, there are three major ways to achieve 3D packaging, namely wire bonding, flip chip bonding and through silicon via (TSV) bonding. Among these bonding methods, TSV bonding is considered as one of the most potential and promising 3D packaging methods, because it has many advantages such as a smaller length and a higher density of bonding leads, a smaller package area and non-significant increase of package cost with the increase in the number of packaged chips, compared with the relatively conventional wire bonding method. In the TSV bonding method, fine vias are formed through each semiconductor silicon chip, namely extending from the frontside to the backside of the semiconductor silicon chip, and then the stacked silicon chips are electrically connected to one another. As semiconductor silicon chips are bonded in a three dimensional and vertical way, bonding leads arranged between the silicon chips can be greatly shortened and a final device can be significantly improved in terms of volume, performance and signal access and transmission speed.
As the TSV bonding method requires exposure to the backside of a wafer, relevant semiconductor lithography devices are required to be equipped with a backside alignment apparatus which uses a pattern formed on a frontside (or a top surface) of the wafer as a reference mark for a backside (or a bottom surface) of the wafer to determine a deviation between positions of the pattern formed on the frontside and a pattern to be exposed on the backside of the wafer. Thus, measuring precision of the backside alignment apparatus critically determines the overlay errors between patterns formed on the frontside and backside.
Currently, there are mainly two methods for carrying out backside alignment of a wafer, namely visual light measuring method and infrared light measuring method. In a visual light measuring method, a light-path turning device and an imaging device are arranged on opposite sides under a wafer stage for illuminating and imaging a backside reference mark of the wafer using a visual light. While in an infrared light measuring method, a backside reference mark of the wafer is illuminated and imaged by using the wafer penetrating property of the infrared light. However, the above two methods for carrying out backside alignment for a wafer each have advantages and disadvantages in configuration.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,525,805B and 6,768,539B respectively disclose a typical backside alignment apparatus, which uses an off-axis alignment apparatus to achieve wafer backside alignment with visual light measuring method. However, as too many illumination devices for illuminating backside alignment marks are incorporated in this apparatus, each backside alignment mark corresponding to a set of illumination devices, it is complicated and expensive to assemble these illumination devices together. Moreover, its design of arranging the illumination devices under a wafer stage leads to a high complexity and processing cost in structure design of the wafer stage. Furthermore, as each of the backside alignment marks must be positioned within an illumination field of its associated illumination devices, the apparatus has poor process adaptation.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,805B also discloses a backside alignment apparatus using infrared light measuring method. In this apparatus, near-infrared light sources are arranged at different positions within the wafer stage for illuminating backside alignment marks of the wafer, and a near-infrared imaging device is disposed above the wafer for imaging the alignment marks. As illumination devices for illuminating backside marks of the wafer are arranged within the wafer stage, the structure design and assembly of the wafer stage are complicated and may have a high processing cost; moreover, the structure design may be restricted by the overall alignment accuracy of the wafer and space size of the wafer stage. Furthermore, alignment marks need to be formed at predetermined positions to co-work with the backside mark illumination devices, thus increasing process steps and complexity and leading to a poor process adaptation.

SHANGHAI MICRO ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


This disclosure relates to a method for determining a position of a mobile terminal in an interior of a vehicle or in surroundings of the vehicle. A radio signal emitted by the mobile terminal at a carrier frequency assigned to a channel of a selected radio technology is received by at least one antenna that is mounted on the vehicle.

Locating or situating a mobile unit as precisely as possible is a substantial requirement for numerous applications. Therefore, methods for determining a position of a mobile unit are of high economic relevance.
A known application is situating a person by means of a mobile smartphone carried by the person. For example, it can be helpful when searching for a missing or a kidnapped person. However, a free choice of a place to stay belongs to the so-called personality rights of every natural person. Therefore, the location of a person is an object of their informational right of self-determination, i.e., the person must be able to allow or prohibit the specification of a position of a smartphone he or she is carrying.
Accordingly, DE 102 01 474 A1 discloses a method for authorizing a query of a position of a first terminal by a second terminal. If the first terminal is a mobile terminal, which is arranged in a mobile radio cell of a mobile radio network and communicates wirelessly with a base station of the mobile radio network, which defines the mobile radio cell, the distance between the first terminal and the base station can be determined on the basis of a reception level measured by an antenna of the base station.
The location of a person also plays a crucial role in rescuing people. Targeted rescue measures can only be carried out after the most accurate localization of a person in need of help.
From DE 101 03 034 A1, a method for determining a position of a person seeking help is known, in which the person seeking help has a GPS terminal (Global Positioning System) wirelessly connected to a message center and a mobile terminal that is separate from the GPS terminal and which is wirelessly connected to the GPS terminal. The mobile terminal has an emergency call button and the GPS terminal has a device for measuring a reception level of a radio signal of the mobile terminal. In the event of an emergency call made with the emergency call button, the GPS terminal can transmit both its position in the form of GPS coordinates and the measured reception level. A distance between the mobile terminal and the GPS terminal can be calculated in the message center from the reception level. In this way, a position of the person seeking help in the form of a circumference around the transmitted position of the GPS terminal can also be determined if the person seeking help has moved away from the GPS terminal and his or her position deviates from the position of the GPS terminal.
Even a mobile unit that moves autonomously or at least partially autonomously must precisely determine its own position in order to correctly determine a further movement in the direction of a target, starting from the current position.
DE 10 2014 002 150 B3 discloses a method for determining a position of a mobile unit, for example a vehicle, on the basis of an image of the surroundings of the mobile unit, which is detected by an optical sensor of the mobile unit, by means of a previously stored image of the environment. A first position hypothesis for the position of the mobile unit is formed from the relative positions of certain objects within the captured image and the relative positions of the specific objects within an image of the surroundings, which has been previously stored from a known position. In addition, further position hypotheses for the position of the mobile unit can be formed in a similar manner, for example on the basis of a plurality of reception levels of WLAN radio signals measured by the mobile unit, which are transmitted by antennas in surroundings of the mobile unit. The position of the mobile unit is then determined by merging the position hypotheses formed.
In all of the aforementioned methods, an antenna measures a reception level of a radio signal emitted by a transmitter. A corresponding received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is then determined from the measured received level, which in turn allows a distance between the transmitter and the antenna to be calculated.
Methods for determining a position using radio technology are described in US 2016/0320469 A1 in connection with a keyless entry to a vehicle, in WO 2017/181050 A1 for the purpose of authorizing a mobile terminal and in DE 11 2014 001 445 T1 for warning in case of theft of an object carried in a vehicle.
A radio signal of a mobile terminal that conforms to a specific radio technology has a so-called carrier frequency, which is usually assigned to a so-called ISM frequency band (Industrial, Scientific and Medical Band) reserved for the specific radio technology. For example, the 2.4 GHz band is reserved for the popular wireless technologies WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) and Bluetooth. In many cases, the ISM frequency band is divided into a plurality of numbered channels, each of which is assigned to a specific carrier frequency. As usual, a channel is understood to be a narrow frequency range with respect to a width of the ISM frequency band. Depending on the specific radio technology, a reception strength value is determined from a plurality of reception levels of a frequency spectrum or from a reception level averaged over several channels.
If a plurality of mobile terminals are arranged in an interior of a vehicle or in surroundings of the vehicle, each of which transmits radio signals on different channels of an ISM frequency band, this can have a negative influence on the determination of a reception strength value, for example as a result of overlaps in the edge areas of adjacent channels. A reception strength value determined under these conditions can have sudden changes over time, which results in corresponding jumps in the calculated distance. Such fluctuations can only be partially removed from the determined reception strength value by means of special filters, for example by means of a Kalman filter or a particle filter.

Locating a mobile terminal by means of a vehicle


An occlusion device includes a body having a plurality of layers and defining a first diameter. Each layer of the plurality of layers is releasably coupled to a respective inwardly-adjacent layer. An outermost layer of the plurality of layers is removable from the respective inwardly-adjacent layer. Removal of the outermost layer reduces an outer diameter of the body from the first diameter to a second diameter that is less than the first diameter.

Sealing a surgical opening, e.g., a natural orifice or surgically-created opening, is often necessary in order to maintain pneumoperitoneum or for other purposes. During a laparoscopic hysterectomy, for example, the abdominal cavity is insufflated with a gas, or pneumoperitoneum, to distend and separate the abdominal wall from the uterus, such that the clinician can adequately view the surgical site and perform the hysterectomy. Laparoscopic hysterectomy is typically performed using a uterine manipulator including an occluder balloon that can be inflated within the vaginal cavity to prevent air from escaping and creating a loss of pneumoperitoneum. During the course of a laparoscopic hysterectomy, it may be necessary to introduce and withdraw the uterine manipulator multiple times, at least to create a seal to maintain pneumoperitoneum at various different points during the laparoscopic hysterectomy. Reintroducing the uterine manipulator into the vaginal cavity and re-inflating the occluder balloon multiple-times may be unnecessarily invasive.


A method for the preparation of hydrophilic elastomers involves the synthesis of polydimethylsiloxane with tunable hydrophilic surface properties. An elastomeric monolith with desired hydrophilic properties is produced by combining a polyethylene oxide polymeric surfactant additive with a PDMS base and curing agent during polymerization. The surfactant chain segment lengths are varied to control the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a silicon based organic polymer that is inert and non-toxic. The mechanical, chemical, and optical properties of PDMS make it a material used in a range of medical related applications, such as artificial organs, prostheses, catheters, contact lenses, and drug delivery systems. Non medical applications include microfluidic devices, microreactors, lab on chip diagnostics, soft-lithography, membranes, electrical insulators, water repellents, anti foaming agents, adhesives, protective coatings, sealants, and a wide variety of other uses.
PDMS is commercially available from several vendors as a two part kit consisting of an elastomer base and a cross linking agent, both in liquid form. A range of kits are available in which elastomer base molecular weight and/or branching are varied. Polymerization is initiated upon mixing the elastomer base with the cross-linking agent, producing an optically clear rubbery solid PDMS elastomer with hydrophobic surface characteristics. The hydrophobic nature of PDMS is often an undesirable property for various applications stated previously. In particular, microfluidic devices may require hydrophilic surfaces to permit polar liquids to pass through. Biomedical devices, such as contact lenses, that are easily wetted improve user comfort. A variety of strategies have been developed to render the PDMS surface hydrophilic, which include exposure to oxygen plasma, ozone, corona discharge, and ultraviolet light. In addition hydrophilic surface modification has been achieved through physical adsorption of charged surfactants, polyelectrolyte multilayers, and entangling amphiphilic co-polymers using a swelling-deswelling method in organic solvent. Covalent modification of the PDMS surface requires activation of the surface, generally through an oxidative process followed by deposition of the reactive molecule from solvent or chemical vapor deposition. Some of the most widely used methods for production of hydrophilic PDMS are described briefly below. Cost effective methods to render PDMS hydrophilic that do not compromise mechanical, optical, or gas permeability properties are of the essence.
It is well established in the literature that exposing PDMS to various energy sources can alter its surface properties. Energy sources such as oxygen plasma, ultraviolet light, and corona discharges have been used to create hydrophilic PDMS surface by oxidation. Oxygen plasma and ultraviolet light have been the most widely used methods in modifying PDMS surfaces. However, these methods generate an unstable and brittle hydrophilic glass like silicate surface layer that compromises elasticity and is unstable over time, allowing the PDMS surface to recover its hydrophobic nature.
Chemical grafting of hydrophilic molecules to the surface of PDMS is stable but is difficult to achieve because PDMS is chemically inert. Thus the first step is to render the surface reactive through exposure to an oxygen plasma or other energy source as discussed previously, resulting in a glass-like silicate layer with chemically reactive groups (e.g. hydroxyl groups: —OH) on the surface. Additional surface modification is achieved via chemical coupling of target molecules to the —OH (or other reactive groups) following standard protocols. However, the underlying glass-like layer remains brittle, limiting applications where elasticity is required, and the process requires multiple reaction steps, which can be costly, inefficient, and generate waste in the form of organic solvent.
Physical entanglement of amphiphilic copolymers containing a PDMS chain to serve as an anchor group is achieved via a swelling-deswelling method. In this approach, a cross-linked PDMS monolith is placed in an organic solvent, such as choloroform, resulting in swelling. In the swollen state low molecular weight amphipilic copolymers may penetrate the PDMS surface. Exchanging the solvent for a polar solvent returns the PDMS monolith to its original size. The aim is to embed/anchor the amphiphilic copolymers on the surface of a cross-linked PDMS. Copolymers that may penetrate the surface of the swollen PDMS monolith are likely held in place by van der Waals force and hydrophobic interactions between the PDMS monolith and PDMS segments in block copolymer amphiphiles. The aim is produce a stable hydrophilic surface on PDMS. However, this method is very time consuming and requires an organic solvent such as chloroform to sufficiently swell the PDMS.
From a review of the current literature, there is a need for a simple and cost efficient technique to form a silicon elastomer, namely, polydimethylsiloxane exhibiting hydrophilic character that can be tuned by the preparation conditions and subsequent treatments and exposure environments.

Hydrophilic surface modification of polydimethylsiloxane


A patient support is disclosed having an adjustable length deck and a mattress positionable on the deck.

The present invention relates generally to adjustable beds and more specifically to a bed having an improved adjustable foot section.
There are many known bed designs that have adjustable foot sections. On beds that convert from a planar bed configuration to an upright chair configuration, the foot section is generally shortened as the foot section rotates from a horizontal to a vertical position. There are also beds having adjustable lengths wherein an attendant physically repositions the head or foot section of the bed to the desired length. These designs include a sliding telescopic foot section as well as a folding foot section equivalent to a "lazy boy" design. It is also known to deflate the foot section of the mattress when converting from a bed to a chair. For short occupants, there exists a need for adjustment of the foot prop or board in the chair position shorter than that attended by adjusting the length of the foot section.
The ability to adjust the length of the foot section independent of converting from a bed to a chair is also important. This would assist in maneuvering the bed in a confined locations during patient transport. It also allows the bed length to be customized to a patient's size. If a foot prop is provided at the end of the foot section, the adjustment of the foot section and the prop would prevent patient migration across the support surface of the bed. It would also provide support for the feet to thereby improve the patient's feeling of security. It could also be used in the prevention of peripheral neuropathy ("foot drop"). Positioning the end of the mattress relative to the patient substantially increases the ability to provide heel management. Heel management is wherein the heel is supported by the thigh and the calf and the heel has reduced pressure contact with the mattress.
Certain individuals who are confined to bed for an extended period of time are vulnerable to skin breakdown on the back of the heel. Protection of the skin in this area is important if initial indications of tissue failure are observed. If the breakdown process has progressed to a point of ulceration, protection of the heel area of the patient is essential to healing.
Reducing or eliminating the time an individual spends in a supine position will protect the heel area, although it may increase the risk of skin failure on other areas of the foot and body. The current practice for protecting the heel area of a patient while in the supine position utilizes foot support to reduce or eliminate pressure and shear on the back of the heel. Such support is often provided by placing an ordinary pillow or folded towel under a calf area of the patient's legs. Several different foam boot designs are known that strap to the leg or foot to reduce the effects of heel pressure. In addition, a conventional mattress is known in which removable sections are provided in a foot area.
All of these conventional support methods require a caretaker to add or remove components from the bed in order to control pressure on the heels of the patient. Components which are removed from the bed have the potential to get lost or mislaid. Components that are added to the bed provide an extra cost associated with the purchasing, cleaning, and disposal of the added components. There is also a cost in time for the caregiver who must go through multiple steps to initiate and maintain the support of the device.
According to the present invention, a patient support having an adjustable length deck is provided. The patient support includes a deck support frame, a deck, a head board positioned adjacent a head end of the deck, and a foot board positioned adjacent a foot end of the deck. The deck includes a first section connected to a remainder of the deck, a second section movable in a common plane with the first section, and a first actuator directly connecting the first and second sections.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a patient support having an adjustable length deck is provided. The patient support includes a deck support frame, a deck, a patient rest surface configured to support a patient thereon, and a plurality of siderails configured to block egress of a patient from the patient rest surface. The deck includes a first section connected to a remainder of the deck, a second section movable in a common plane with the first section, and a linear actuator connecting the first and second sections and configured to move the second section relative to the first section between an extended position and a retracted position.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a patient support is provided including a mattress support and a mattress. The mattress support includes a main section and an extendable section movable relative to the main section between extended and retracted positions relative to the main section. Movement of the extendable section to the extended position exposes an exposable portion of the mattress support. The mattress has a main portion positioned over the main section of the mattress support and an extension portion positioned over the exposable portion of the mattress support when the extendable section is in the extended position. The extension portion has a width that is substantially equal to a width of the main portion adjacent to the extension portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a patient support is provided that includes a mattress support and mattress. The mattress support includes a main section and an extendable section movable relative to the main section between an extended position and a retracted position. The mattress support has an extended length when the extendable section is in the extended position. The mattress support has a retracted length when the extendable section is in the retracted position. The extended length is greater than the retracted length. The mattress has a main portion positioned over the main section and an extension portion movable between a first position positioned on the extendable section when the extendable section is in the extended position and a second position spaced apart from the extendable section when the extendable section is in the retracted position with the main portion positioned over the main section. The extension portion of the mattress has a thickness less than a thickness of the main portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a patient support is provided including a mattress support, a mattress supported by the mattress support, and a plurality of siderails positioned to block egress of a patient from the mattress. The mattress support includes a main section and an extendable section positioned adjacent to the main section. The mattress support has an extended length when the extendable section is in an extended position. The mattress support has a retracted length when the extendable section is in the retracted position. The extended length is greater than the retracted length. A segment of the main section of the mattress support supports the mattress at a first elevation relative to a floor when the main section is substantially horizontal. The extendable section of the mattress support is configured to support the mattress at a second elevation relative to the floor when the extendable section is substantially horizontal. The second elevation is greater than the first elevation.
Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hospital bed and mattress having a retractable foot section


Upon reading out signals from a plurality of photodiode layers, highly color-separable signals which suffer less color mixture and noise are read out. A photoelectric conversion element which is formed by alternately stacking photoelectric conversion regions of a first conductivity type and regions of a second conductivity type as a conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type to form a multi-layered structure, in which the photoelectric conversion regions of the first conductivity type are formed to have depths suited to mainly photoelectrically convert light components in a plurality of different wavelength ranges, and which outputs signals for respective wavelength ranges, has a plurality of charge accumulation portions for accumulating charges obtained by photoelectric conversion in the photoelectric conversion regions in surface regions of the photoelectric conversion regions, and an output portion for converting charges transferred from the charge accumulation portions into electrical signals, and outputting the electrical signals.

Conventionally, a general color solid-state image sensing device detects photo signals of specific wavelength ranges obtained via color filters, which are arranged on respective pixels. Hence, only a part of incident light reaches a semiconductor where photoelectric conversion is carried out, and a signal output decreases compared to a signal converted without color filters. A proposal that solves such a signal loss problem has been made by U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,895 "Color Responsive Imaging Device Employing Wavelength Dependent Semiconductor Optical Absorption".
According to this proposal, threefold photoelectric conversion units are layed in a semiconductor in depth, and three kinds of signal charges accumulated in these photoelectric conversion units are independently transferred and read out using triple CCDs which are also formed in the semiconductor in depth.
FIG. 13 shows a representative embodiment of the above proposal. Referring to FIG. 13, reference numeral 51 denotes a semiconductor substrate; 52, an insulating film formed on the interface of the semiconductor substrate 51; and 53, an electrode formed on the insulating film 52. The semiconductor substrate 51 is formed by stacking p-, n-, p-, n-, p-, and n-type regions from the interface to the depth, and reference numerals 54, 55, and 56 denote signal charges which are generated in response to incident light and are accumulated in p-type semiconductor regions. The signal charges 54, 55, and 56 are transferred and read out by CCDs formed in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 13.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,875 "Color separation in an active pixel cell imaging array using a tripe-well structure" has also proposed a photo-detection device having a triple-stage photodiode structure. According to this proposal, terminals of respective photodiodes are formed in the semiconductor interface, and are connected to the gates of MOS transistors which serve as amplifiers, so that signals of the photodiodes are amplified and read out. FIG. 14 shows this invention. Referring to FIG. 14, reference numeral 57 denotes a p-type semiconductor substrate; 58, an n-type semiconductor layer formed to be stacked on the substrate 57; 59, a p-type semiconductor layer formed to be stacked on the layer 58; and 60, an n-type semiconductor layer formed in the semiconductor interface to be stacked on the layer 59. By pairing the substrate 57 and layer 58, the layers 58 and 59, and the layers 59 and 60, three photodiodes are formed. Reference numerals 61, 62, and 63 denote MOS transistors, which are respectively connected to the semiconductor layers 57, 58, and 59, and are used to amplify and read out signal charges accumulated on those semiconductor layers.
The above two proposals exploit the dependence of the light absorption coefficients of semiconductors on the light wavelengths to implement color separation. A photoelectric conversion unit for a shorter wavelength, i.e., blue light, is formed in the top layer, a photoelectric conversion unit for a longer wavelength, i.e., red light, is formed in the bottom layer, and a photoelectric conversion unit for a middle wavelength, i.e., green light, is formed in the middle layer, thus attaining color separation. These structures uses incident light without a loss, and output greater signals compared to a general color filter device. Moreover, since three different color signals can be extracted from a single location from two-dimensional viewpoint, the color resolution can be improved compared to the color filter system that extracts one type of color signal from one pixel.
However, the example of U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,895 uses embedded triple-stage CCDs which are stacked in the depth of a semiconductor, as described above. The structure therefore hardly control the potential wells of the middle and bottom CCDs by a gate electrode located on the surface so as to transfer signal charges.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,875, since the electrodes of the respective photodiodes are commonly used as those of photodiodes neighboring in the depth direction, a signal voltage of one photodiode is influenced by that of another neighboring photodiode, and it is difficult to extract a independent signal of each photodiode. Furthermore, this prior invention offers another problem that considerable kTC noise resulting from the capacitance of the photodiode generates, upon resetting each photodiode

Photoelectric conversion element and solid-state image sensing device using the same


A surface emitting semiconductor laser array includes multiple light-emitting portions arranged in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array, each of the light-emitting portions including, on a substrate, an active region and a current funneling portion between first and second reflection mirrors, and a light-emission aperture above the second reflection mirror, laser beams being simultaneously emitted from the multiple light-emitting portions. At least one of the multiple light-emitting portions has a near field pattern different from those of other light-emitting portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface emitting semiconductor laser array applicable to light sources of optical interconnections, optical memories, optical switches, optical information processing, laser beam printing machines and copying machines, and an optical transmission system using the array.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode (hereinafter referred to as VCSEL) is an optical device that has a resonator formed in the direction vertical to the semiconductor substrate, and emits light in this vertical direction. Multiple VCSELs are attractive as parallel-arranged optical sources that can be arranged in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array in highly integrated fashion.
In VCSEL, the carrier and light are confined in the vertical cavity in order to efficiently emit laser light. There are several means for realizing a confinement structure in the horizontal direction of the substrate, and examples of these means are typically of air post type, selective oxidization type, proton projection type and proton reflection type. The air post type has a slender post on the substrate and the post itself functions as a current path. In the selective oxidization type, a post structure is formed on the substrate, and a part of an AlAs layer called a control layer is oxidized so that a limited current path can be formed. In the proton type, a limited current path is formed by defining an insulation region by proton implantation. The selectively oxidization type of VCSEL among the various types of VCSELs has a low threshold current and excellent light-current characteristics. Thus, there is considerable activity in the reduction to practice.
Japanese Patent Application Publication 2004-23087 discloses a VCSEL in which the side surfaces of a contact layer, an upper multi-layered film reflection mirror and a current confinement portion are aligned with a metal contact layer provided on the tope of the mesa. This arrangement improves the precision in alignment of the metal contact layer having a light-emitting aperture with the current confinement portion, and realizes improved optical output although laser oscillation is in the fundamental lateral mode.
The light source of special transmission needs comparatively large power. Thus, a VCSEL of multi-spot type is used in which multiple light-emitting units (multiple spots) serving as parallel-arranged light sources are formed on the substrate. The multiple spots are driven by identical drive signals from a drive circuit, and laser lights emitted from the multiple spots are combined.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-65266 discloses a VCSEL in which at least one of upper and lower semiconductor multi-layered reflection mirrors is made longer than the other in a direction on the plane of the semiconductor substrate so that the emitted beam has a directional intensity pattern. This application describes a laser device, as exemplarily shown in FIG. 20, in which the VCSELs are one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally arrayed so that the short axes of light emission patterns having a rectangular or oval shape are aligned in a direction of n. This makes it possible to realize uniform light emission.
Japanese Patent Application No. 10-52941 discloses a light source, as exemplarily shown in FIG. 21, in which light sources are arrayed so that the light emission apertures (near field pattern sizes) become smaller from the center of the main scan direction Y towards opposing ends of the array. The light beams emitted from the light sources in the center form an image at a focusing point on the plane of a photosensitive member. In contrast, the light beams emitted from the light sources in the ends form an image at a focusing point short of the photosensitive member, and gradually become thick. Then, these beams form a spot size as large as the spot size available in the center on the plane of the photosensitive member.
However, the above-mentioned multi-spot type VCSELs have the following drawbacks. FIG. 22 schematically shows two adjacent light-emitting portions of the conventional multi-spot type VCSEL. Referring to this figure, on an n-type semiconductor substrate 910, provided are an n-type lower reflection mirror 911, an active layer 912, a p-type current funneling portion 913, and a p-type upper reflection mirror laminated in this order. A p-side electrode layer 915 is formed on the laminate. Cylindrical posts (mesas) 916 are formed on the substrate, and include the upper reflection mirror 914, the current funneling portion 913, the active layer 912 and the lower reflection mirror 911. A selectively oxidized region 913a is formed in an outer peripheral portion of the current funneling portion 913 in each post 916. The remaining non-oxidized portion is an aperture 913b that has a circular shape and a conductive region. The p-side electrode layer 915 has circular light emission apertures 917, which are respectively aligned with the centers of C1 and C2 of the apertures 913b in the axial directions. An n-side electrode 918, which is provided common to the posts (light-emitting portions) 916, is provided on the backside of the semiconductor substrate 910.
When the VICSEL is driven, laser lights having a divergence angle θ with respect to the center axes C1 and C2 are emitted from the substrate 910 in the vertical direction in accordance with the diameters of the apertures 913b and those of the light-emission apertures 917 in the electrode layer 915. At that time, near field patterns (NFP) 920 in the light-emission apertures 917 of the posts 916 have symmetrical single peaks, and a near field profile 921 of the combined laser beam has a portion 922 in which power is reduced. This is because there is a difficulty in close arrangement of the posts 916 over a given interval due to fabrication limitations. The power-reduced portion 922 is not good in optical systems over which light is transmitted.
When laser light is incident to a light slit, a lens and a light-receiving element, the divergence angle of the laser light is preferably stable and narrow. The single-spot VCSEL may easily meet the above requirement. In contrast, the multi-spot type laser array has difficulty in reduction of the spot intervals over the given distance due to the fabrication limitations as described above. The light-emitting points of the laser lights are spatially spread, and the divergence angle of the combined laser beam has difficulty in narrowing as much as that of the single-spot. Especially, the laser beams from the posts (light-emitting portions) located in the array ends are made dark through an optical member such as a lens. This makes it difficult to reduce the divergence angles of the laser beams from the array ends.
The emission near field patterns described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-65266 have drawbacks similar to those mentioned above. The near field patterns described in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-52941 are symmetrical although the light-emission apertures have different sizes. The combined laser field has a near field pattern or beam profile that has an output reduced portion in the center and cannot eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Surface emitting semiconductor laser array and optical transmission system using the same


A spa system includes a tub supported by a chassis, an enclosed space formed between the tub and the chassis, first and second vents through the chassis leading to the enclosed space, water heating and cooling devices coupled in series to a circulating system adapted to withdraw and return water relative to the tub, and a thermostat operatively coupled to the heating and cooling devices. The cooling device incorporates a fan operative for drawing air into the enclosed space through the first vent in response to activation of the cooling device, and a blower is operative for expelling air from the enclosed space through the second vent currently with the operation of the fan of the cooling device.

For many years, hot tubs and home spas were the exclusive luxuries of the wealthy. They were expensive to buy, expensive to operate, and not entirely reliable. With the onset of better manufacturing techniques, improved materials, and lower prices, however, the popularity of hot tubs and home spas has soared, particularly throughout the last decade.
History provides many examples of hot tubs or spas. For instance, the Romans were known to have used bathhouses, which became centers of social life and a common daily activity for the elite classes. Other cultures made use of spa-like hot baths as well, including the ancient peoples of China and Japan.
Some of the earliest spa enthusiasts appreciated the health benefits of using hot water to relax the body, open the pores of the skin, and generally promote better health. Cleanliness was considered healthful and a sign of prosperity. As medical science has advanced, there has been an increased awareness of the benefits of hot tub hydrotherapy. Many medical conditions, injuries and other health problems can be eased or improved with regular hydrotherapy treatments. For example, people with arthritis, multiple sclerosis, paralysis and other conditions that involve deteriorating range of motion benefit from time spent in a hot tub. The warm water helps ease aches and pains, while loosening joints and making them easier to move and keep mobile. Joint problems, chronic back pain and other painful conditions resulting from injuries are also helped with regular hot tub hydrotherapy. Those seeking stress relief, general relaxation, and quiet opportunities for conversation commonly experience significant hot tub benefits as well.
Modern technology, materials and production processes make it possible to design and build home spas and hot tubs with highly specialized hydrotherapy features. These features are typically based on a combination of seating position, jet position and jet function.
Traditional hot tub seating was bench-style, typically in a round shape and at a uniform depth so that everyone sat at the same level in the tub. This made it challenging for people of different heights to fully benefit from hot tub therapy. With the development of molded fiberglass spa shells came the development of different shapes and sizes of seats. Manufacturers began to include lounge seats, where the bather reclines in the water, as well as seats to accommodate bathers of different heights. Some also included deeper seats, designed to fully immerse the bather and allow placement of jets in specific positions for specific benefits.
Moldable shell manufacturing made it possible for the first time to place jets in nearly any position within the tub. Manufacturers began experimenting with placing jets in places where they would focus on specific areas of the body, such as the back, neck, shoulders, arms and legs.
The earliest jets were single-action nozzles with limited ability to adjust where they were aimed or the intensity of the jet action. This made it difficult to use them in positions where they would affect more tender areas of the body, such as wrists, forearms, ankles, feet and knees. As manufacturers developed more advanced jets with a wider variety of functionality, though, the technology of hydrotherapy advanced significantly. Modern hot tubs and spas can be customized with a surprising variety of jets that range from multi-purpose to highly specialized. Buyers often are able to select exactly which jets to install in specific locations within their hot tub or home spa. The benefits of different jet types have grown substantially with the development of independent seating control. In older spas and hot tubs, one set of controls ran all of the therapy jets, but independent seating control allows each bather to control the strength and intensity of therapy in their own individual seat.
Spas and hot tubs have been around in one form or another for centuries, but only in the last few decades have technology, materials and manufacturing improved to the point where a home spa is affordable enough and reliable enough to be within reach of most people. Although the field of spas and hot tubs has enjoyed considerable innovation throughout much of the last decade, much of the improvements have been directed toward improving the hydrotherapy systems, the jets, and the construction materials, particularly the construction materials relating to the tubs, with little effort directed toward improving their overall usefulness. As a result, the art suffers in that spas and hot tubs are not versatile in terms of providing users with the ability to not only enjoy the benefits of hot water, but also the benefits of chilled water.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a spa system incorporating a tub and heating and cooling devices operatively associated with a circulating system for providing the ability to provide the tub with hot water and also with cold water.
It is another purpose of the invention to provide new and improved spa system that is easy to construct.
It is still another purpose of the invention to provide new and improved spa system that is inexpensive.
It is yet another purpose of the invention to provide a spa system that is easy to use, and that incorporates a tub held by a chassis that is specifically adapted to accommodate a water cooling device to be operatively plumbed with a circulating system for the tub that is concurrently operatively plumbed to a water heating device.
It is a further provision of the invention to increase the usefulness of spa systems.

Combination spa system with water chilling assembly


Disclosed is an output buffer circuit including a first differential transistor pair for differentially receiving a data signal from a differential input pair; and a second differential transistor pair for differentially receiving an emphasis data signal from another differential input pair; a pair of output resistor circuits via which the drains of first and second differential transistor pairs are connected to a power supply, said output resistor circuits each including a transistor; and a logic circuit adapted for receiving the data signal and the emphasis signal and for supplying a control signal which is of first and second values at the time of preemphasis and at other times to the transistors of the output resistor circuit, wherein the output resistance is relatively made larger at the time of emphasis, while being relatively smaller at the time of deemphasis.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional CML (Current Mode Logic) driver circuit. The CML driver circuit includes N channel MOS transistors (NMOS transistors) N1 and N2, composing a differential circuit and constituting a switching device. The NMOS transistors N1 and N2 have coupled sources connected to a constant current source CS, have gates connected to differential input terminals INT and INB, respectively and have drains connected to a power supply VDD via output resistors Rout1 and Rout2. The drains of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 are also connected to differential output terminals DOT and DOB, respectively. The differential output terminals DOT and DOB are connected to both ends of termination resistors Rterm1 and Rterm2, with the output potential being of an analog level.
The CML driver circuit, shown in FIG. 1, is of a circuit configuration generally used in high-speed differential signal transmission. However, since a constant current source is needed, it is supposed that current consumption tends to be increased.
In particular, there is no marked difference in characteristics of SerDes macros (interface macros each including a serializer for parallel-serial converting parallel data and serially outputting the resulting data at an output buffer circuit and a deserializer receiving the serial data at an input buffer and serial-parallel converting the so received serial data), manufactured by competing vendors, as long as the SerDes Macros manufactured are those that meet relevant standards. It is noted that each of the SerDes macros of different vendors carries larger numbers of CML drivers thereon. As a matter of fact, it is the power consumption which mainly determines the dominance of products by the different vendors.
The waveform of a transmission signal tends to deteriorate due to the increase of transmission speed and the increase of transmission distance. With wide spread use of a broadband system and high speed transmission, waveform deterioration, ascribable to transmission line loss, as shown schematically in FIG. 2, is becoming of serious concern. In case the transmission side (output buffer circuit side) is not equipped with preemphasis function which emphasizes the amplitude of the output signal at the time points of output signal transitions, the amplitude at the transition point of the signal which has been transmitted on the transmission line and received by a receiving end, has get attenuated by distortion.
In particular, in the transmission of the GHz order, the logarithm of the signal attenuation, ascribable to the skin effect and dielectric loss, is increased in direct proportion to the logarithm of the frequency. For this reason, an output waveform is intentionally subjected to overshooting, on the transmission side, at the rise time of an output signal waveform, based on the preemphasis function, as shown in FIG. 3, to prevent waveform deterioration otherwise caused on the receiving side, that is, to prevent the jitter from increasing. This preemphasis function has proven indispensable means for transmission on the GHz order.
It is now assumed that, in FIG. 1, an input differential signal of the waveform shown in FIG. 4 is supplied to gates INT and INB of NMOS transistors N1 and N2. If, at a timing t3 of FIG. 4, a HIGH side potential and a low side potential are supplied to the gates INT and INB of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2, respectively, the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 are turned on and off, respectively. This establishes the following two current paths between the power supply potential VDD and the ground:
(1) A current path of output resistor Rout1→NMOS transistor N1; and
(2) another current path of output resistor Rout2→termination resistor Rterm1→termination resistor Rterm2→NMOS transistor N1.
In this case, the output terminal DOT is at a high potential, and the output terminal DOB is at a low potential. Meanwhile, in case the input logic is reversed, as indicated from a timing t5 to a timing t6 in FIG. 4, the output logic is such that the output terminal DOT is at the low side potential and the output terminal DOB is at the high side potential. The ratio between two currents is determined by the values of output resistors and termination resistors and, from these values of the currents and the resistances, the output potential and the amplitude (high side potential minus low side potential) are determined.
An amplitude Vout, an output high voltage VOH of the output signal and an output low voltage VOL of the output signal, at a timing t1 in FIG. 4, are indicated by the following equations (1), (2) and (3) respectively:Amplitude Vout=I×{Rout1/(Rout1+Rout2+Rterm1+Rterm2)}×(Rterm1+Rterm2)  (1)output high voltage VOH=VDD−{Rout2×I×{Rout1/(Rout1+Rout2+Rterm1+Rterm2)}}  (2)output low voltage VOL=VDD−{Rout1×I×{(Rout2+Rterm1+Rterm2)/(Rout1+Rout2+Rterm1+Rterm2)}}  (3)
In the above equations, the symbols used correspond to those of FIG. 1.

Output buffer circuit with control circuit for changing resistance of output resistor pair