An apparatus and method for optically treating tissue by contact between the apparatus and the tissue. The apparatus includes a holder having a distal end having an opening in it, and a contact member for contacting tissue to be treated and for coupling optical energy from a source of optical energy into said tissue. The contact member is a curved lens mounted in and partially extending from the opening and freely rotatable about at least one axis relative to the holder. The holder has a single coolant flow channel proximal to the opening and the contact member for supplying a cooling fluid to the contact member. A gap is provided between the contact member and the opening for allowing the fluid to flow around substantially the entire outer surface of the contact member and out of the opening onto said tissue to cool the tissue. The method includes the steps of contacting the surface of tissue in an area to be treated with a light transmissive low-friction contact optical element, applying optical energy from a source thereof to said optical element, converging said optical energy by said optical element into subsurface tissue in said area, moving said optical element over said area while maintaining it in contact with said surface, flowing a cooling fluid over said optical element and said surface to cool said optical element and said surface, and terminating application of optical energy to said optical element after a selected treatment time.

Medical and surgical procedures using optical energy or light, such as laser energy, have been developed for a wide range of treatments. Historically, light was delivered to tissue to be treated in a direct line from the light source to the tissue by travelling through air. Subsequently, articulated arms, hollow wave guides, and fiber optics have provided more flexible and clinically suitable ways of delivering optical energy to tissue, but the energy still travelled through air before reaching the tissue. Delivery systems of this type are frequently referred to as non-contact delivery systems, since the delivery system is not intended to contact tissue in order to deliver energy to it. Although useful in many applications, non-contact delivery systems suffer from several drawbacks.
To overcome the drawbacks of non-contact delivery systems, numerous devices and techniques have been developed that permit direct contact between the delivery system and tissue, although both contact and non-contact delivery systems are used.
In recent years, attention has been given to the treatment of cutaneous tissue by optical energy. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,797 to Chess teaches a non-contact device and method for treating cutaneous vascular lesions by passing a laser beam through a cooling medium on its way to a patient's epidermis. The cooling medium is used to cool the patient's epidermis while it is being exposed to the laser beam. The need for a secondary device, such as a container to hold a cooling medium, separate from the laser delivery system makes the Chess apparatus and technique cumbersome. The coolant container must be frequently changed, since it will reach or exceed body temperature in a short time and become ineffective. The placement of a separate container between the delivery system and the tissue prevents tactile feedback to the surgeon manipulating the delivery system, and prevents the tissue from being compressed. It also alters the laser beam diameter and thus its power density.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,104, also to Chess, eliminates the coolant container and subjects the patient's epidermis to a cooling fluid. However, this patent also illustrates a non-contact device, i.e., there is no contact between the delivery system and the tissue, and thus it suffers from the same drawbacks as the device previously described. Moreover, as with all non-contact devices, it is difficult to keep the distance to tissue a constant and therefore the beam diameter, and thus power density, can change substantially.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,568 to Anderson, et al., discloses a method and apparatus for removing multiple hair follicles from skin. The method involves eliminating the hairs and follicles with optical energy delivered by a transparent tissue contact device. The apparatus includes an optically transparent contact device having a surface shaped to simultaneously contact several hair follicles in a region of the skin, and for delivering optical energy to a region of the skin, including the hairs and hair follicles. While the contact surface of the contact device is convex, sliding friction between the contact device and the surface of the skin can be problematic. The contact device is cooled by passing a cooling fluid over the rear surface of the contact device, i.e., the surface which does not contact the patient's skin. This is said to indirectly cool the patient's skin, but no direct cooling of the skin by a cooling fluid takes place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,795 to Slatkine discloses a method of facial rejuvenation by using a carbon dioxide laser in conjunction with a flash scanner to ablate, or remove, an area of facial skin above the papillary dermis. There is no disclosure of any contact between the apparatus and the facial skin, which is consistent with the use of a carbon dioxide laser.
The present invention is intended to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior apparatus and methods. It is an object of the present invention to provide an effective apparatus and method to deliver sub-surface irradiation of tissue while providing the surgeon a greater degree of control over clinical effect. Another object of the invention is to provide tissue compression to give the surgeon the greater degree of control over the clinical effect obtained.
It is another object of the invention to provide subsurface irradiation of tissue with minimal surface temperature effects.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method that provides direct cooling of the surface tissue while providing subsurface irradiation.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide low friction movement of the treatment apparatus over the tissue surface.

Optical delivery system and method for subsurface tissue irradiation


In an overlay, U-TDOA-based, Wireless Location System, LMUs typically co-located with BTSs, are used to collect radio signaling both in the forward and reverse channels. Techniques are used to compensate for sparse LMU deployments where sections of the U-TDOA service area are uplink demodulation or downlink beacon discovery limited.

A. Wireless Location
Early work relating to Wireless Location Systems is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,144, Jul. 5, 1994, "Cellular Telephone Location System," which discloses a system for locating cellular telephones using time difference of arrival (TDOA) techniques. This and other exemplary patents (discussed below) are assigned to TruePosition, Inc., the assignee of the present invention. The '144 patent describes what may be referred to as an uplink-time-difference-of-arrival (U-TDOA) cellular telephone location system. The described system may be configured to monitor control channel transmissions from one or more cellular telephones and to use central or station-based processing to compute the geographic location(s) of the phone(s). TruePosition and others have continued to develop significant enhancements to the original inventive concepts. An example of a U-TDOA WLS is depicted in FIG. 1. As shown, the system includes four major subsystems: the Signal Collection Systems (SCS's) 10, the TDOA Location Processors (TLP's) 12, the Application Processors (AP's) 14, and the Network Operations Console (NOC) 16. Each SCS is responsible for receiving the RF signals transmitted by the wireless transmitters on both control channels and voice channels. In general, an SCS (now sometimes called an LMU, or Location Measuring Unit) is preferably installed at a wireless carrier's cell site, and therefore operates in parallel to a base station. Each TLP 12 is responsible for managing a network of SCS's 10 and for providing a centralized pool of digital signal processing (DSP) resources that can be used in the location calculations. The SCS's 10 and the TLP's 12 operate together to determine the location of the wireless transmitters. Both the SCS's 10 and TLP's 12 contain a significant amount of DSP resources, and the software in these systems can operate dynamically to determine where to perform a particular processing function based upon tradeoffs in processing time, communications time, queuing time, and cost. In addition, the WLS may include a plurality of SCS regions each of which comprises multiple SCS's 10. For example, "SCS Region 1" includes SCS's 10A and 10B that are located at respective cell sites and share antennas with the base stations at those cell sites. Drop and insert units 11A and 11B are used to interface fractional T1/E1 lines to full T1/E1 lines, which in turn are coupled to a digital access and control system (DACS) 13A. The DACS 13A and another DACS 13B are used for communications between the SCS's 10A, 10B, etc., and multiple TLP's 12A, 12B, etc. As shown, the TLP's are typically collocated and interconnected via an Ethernet network (backbone) and a second, redundant Ethernet network. Also coupled to the Ethernet networks are multiple AP's 14A and 14B, multiple NOC's 16A and 16B, and a terminal server 15. Routers 19A and 19B are used to couple one WLS to one or more other Wireless Location System(s).
FIG. 1A depicts the components representative of a standard wireless communications system (WCS) 100, which may take the form of a cellular telephone network or the like. Although the technology represented in FIG. 1A is expressed with some of the terminology typical of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) infrastructure, the technology is also comparably applicable to and beneficial for implementations of cellular wireless communications in accord with other standards, such as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications describing the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS). In FIG. 1A, the wireless mobile communications unit or mobile station (MS) 101 communicates via a radio frequency (RF) link carrying transmissions to and from a base transceiver station (BTS) 102. As highlighted in the dashed circle in FIG. 1A, the BTS facilities include the uplink-receive (U_Rx) and downlink-transmit (D_Tx) antenna(s) and associated cables for the appropriate signals carrying the wireless communications. A set of (typically three) BTS cell sectors (or sectorized cellular areas of operation) cover a localized communications area or cell (surrounding a serving BTS) served by the antenna(s) deployed at the BTS terminal location. Each cell sector is identified by its unique cell global identifier (CGI, which term is also used herein to refer to the BTS cell facilities). Each BTS may individually or independently generate its time base or time-standard/reference for its transmitted downlink signals based upon an independent oscillator that operates at a nominal time base frequency, within specification tolerances. For GSM service, a compliant standard BTS timebase reference is specified to operate at 13 MHz, within a tolerance of 0.05 ppm or 0.65 Hz. A set of the various BTSs covering a broader operational region are controlled by a base station controller (BSC) 103. The BSC manages the MSs and BTSs operating within its domain, and this management includes the handover of the responsibility for the integrity of the RF link with a particular MS from one BTS to another, as the MS moves from the cellular coverage of the cells of one BTS to those of the other BTS. In a similar manner at a lower level of communications management, the BSC also manages the handover of an MS from one BTS sector to another and the BTS detects the successful execution of the handovers within its domain. At a higher level of management, a mobile switching center (MSC) 104 manages a multiplicity of BSCs. In supporting the WCS operations, any MS operating under the control of its particular serving CGI (SCGI) is used to synchronize itself to the SCGI's transmitted BTS downlink "beacon" signal, and thus the signals from the distinct BTSs are not required to be synchronized to a common time standard, such as the GPS time base.
FIG. 1B shows a WLS that cooperates as an adjunct to a wireless communications system. In this example, the WLS is called a Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC) 110. An infrastructure-based, or "overlay," WLS can be represented with the overlay configuration of components depicted in FIG. 1B. In FIG. 1B, the RF uplink signals in the communications channel from the MS/UE 101 of interest are received and measured by LMUs 112 that are deployed at locations distributed throughout the operational domain of the communications system. (Note regarding terminology: In 3GPP GSM terminology, the term "SMLC" refers to the entire WLS whereas in other contexts "SMLC" refers to the sub-system component that is called a "WLP". As also used herein, the 3GPP term "LMU" refers to the geographically dispersed SMLC/WLS component that receives transmitted RF signals and measures (e.g., location-related) signal characteristics, whereas such a component may be called the signal collection system "SCS" in other contexts or descriptions of the background art.) Typically, as may be visualized with the "overlay" of FIG. 1B on top of FIG. 1A, LMUs 112 are deployed at BTS 102 facilities, and thus the LMU usually accesses or "taps" its uplink-receive (U_Rx) signals for the location-related measurements via multi-coupling to the same signal feeds that the BTS uses from the antenna(s) deployed for the communications. For time base synchronization of the (location-related) data collections and measurements at the distributed LMU sites, the LMU accesses GPS signals via a GPS-receive (GPS_Rx) antenna with cable, as highlighted in the dashed circle in FIG. 1B. Additionally, the LMU senses the BTS downlink transmissions via a downlink-receive (D_Rx) antenna with cable. As depicted in FIG. 1B, although the LMUs are typically but not necessarily deployed at BTS sites, they are also not necessarily deployed one-for-one with the BTSs. The measurements of the received signal characteristics extracted by multiple LMUs are managed and collected through wireless location processors (WLPs) 203, each of which directs the operations of multiple LMUs. The WLP oversees the selection of the particular LMUs that are tasked with providing the measurements for a particular MS of interest. Upon reception of the appropriately measured signal data, perhaps including through other WLPs managing LMUs not under its direct control, the WLP will typically also evaluate the data and determine the optimal (location) estimate based upon the data. Typically, a WLP may manage the operations of LMUs covering a geographic region for which the corresponding communications services are provided by multiple BSCs. The wireless location gateway (WLG) 114 of the SMLC conducts overall control and tasking of the WLPs. The WLG is typically (but not necessarily) co-located with a MSC 104 (and may interface with it). The WLG interfaces with and exchanges location-related requests, information, or data with the multiple BSCs it serves within the communications system. The WLG validates the location-service requests, and disperses the location-determination results to authorized recipients.
The performance of a U-TDOA WLS (and other location systems) is normally expressed as one or more circular error probabilities. The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as part of the Enhanced 9-1-1 Phase II mandate, requires that network-based systems, such as a U-TDOA system, be deployed to yield a precision that generates a one-hundred meter (100 m or 328.1 feet) accuracy for 67% of emergency services callers and a three-hundred meter (300 m or 984.25 feet) accuracy for 95% of emergency services callers. The requirements for precision vary with the location service deployed, but if the precision (such as predicted by the Cramer-Rao bound for instance) of the U-TDOA location system is such that the location quality of service is exceeded by a deploying fewer LMUs than BTSs, such a deployment would be advantageous because it would reduce the cost of the system.
The inventive techniques and concepts described herein apply to time and frequency division multiplexed (TDMA/FDMA) radio communications systems including the widely used IS-136 (TDMA), GSM, and OFDM wireless systems, as well as code-division radio communications systems such as CDMA (IS-95, IS-2000) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UTMS), the latter of which is also known as W-CDMA. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) model discussed above is an exemplary but not exclusive environment in which the present invention may be used.
B. Problems with Building a Sparse WLS
In a non-sparsed U-TDOA system (a U-TDOA system with 1 LMU per BTS), LMUs are able to detect and demodulate downlink signals (beacons or Broadcast Control Channels (BCCH)) from the resident cell. The measured timing is then compared to system time, determined by the LMU's GPS-based clock, and then sent to the SMLC for storage or forwarding to other LMUs. Each LMU will then be able quickly to demodulate uplink messaging since the channel and timeslot are provided in the location request and the frame timing offset from system time for each adjacent cell and sector is known.
In a sparsed U-TDOA system (a U-TDOA system with a less than 1 LMU per BTS deployment ratio), the increased distances between radio emitter (the mobile device) and the radio receiver (the LMU) resulting from the selective deployment ("sparsing") will have an adverse effect on U-TDOA location accuracy and will inhibit the LMU's ability to determine frame timing offsets, which are needed in a GSM environment. An LMU, to generate the timestamps needed for TDOA, should: (1) detect and demodulate cell downlink beacons to determine cell timing, and (2) detect and demodulate uplink signals. The requirements that the LMU receive and demodulate both uplink and downlink signals in the presence of noise, adjacent channel interference, co-channel interference and at the distance of several cell radii make it difficult to minimize LMU deployment cost.

Sparsed U-TDOA wireless location networks


A transmission unit includes a planetary gearing system including a ring gear connected to a bicycle frame, a planet carrier with planet gears, and at least one sun gear that is engaged with the planet gears. A rear wheel shaft is coaxial with respect to the sun gear. A driving mechanism is operatively rotationally engaged with the planet carrier. At least one bearing is configured to bear the rear wheel shaft with respect to the bicycle frame and is arranged between the planetary gearing system and a seat of the rear wheel from an axial perspective. The bearing bears the rear wheel shaft inside from a radial perspective and is connected, either directly or indirectly, to the bicycle frame, externally from a radial perspective. The transmission unit provides at least one transmission ratio between a driving mechanism and the rear wheel shaft.

The chain drive is extremely widely used for driving bicycles. In this context, the drive chain wheel which is connected to the pedal is positioned predominantly outside the bicycle frame from an axial perspective, whilst the drive crown gear mounted on the rear wheel axle is arranged predominantly within the bicycle frame between the bicycle frame and the rear wheel from an axial perspective.
Multi-gear shifters for bicycles are preferably implemented by way of chain drives having various chain wheels on the pedal and various crown gears on the rear wheel or by way of single-level chain drives in combination with hub transmissions in the rear wheel or by way of a combination of these two solutions. Thus, in total, overall transmission ratios of up to 1:4.9 (for example SRAM i-motion with the chain wheel combination 48/18) are achieved. To achieve expedient deployments (distance covered per pedal rotation) with an appropriate ratio between distance travelled and pedalling frequency, these shifting combinations are used for idle wheel sizes of 28 to 16 inches.
Bicycles having small idle wheels are preferably used so as to achieve small packaging sizes and weights, and are often in the form of folding bicycles. Bicycles having idle wheels of 14 inches and less require a transmission ratio between the pedal frequency and the idle wheel frequency of at least 1:5 so as to achieve an expedient deployment.
Moreover, trailer bicycles for bicycles are known, which are trailed on the rear of a bicycle and generally have much smaller idle wheels than the bicycles on which they trail. Until now, transmissions having similar transmission ratios to those of the bicycles themselves have generally been used for these trailer bicycles. Thus, the person who is riding on the trailer bicycle has to pedal at much higher pedal frequencies than the person on the bicycle on which the trailer bicycle trails. Even trailer bicycles with small idle wheels require the aforementioned transmission ratios between the pedal frequency and the idle wheel frequency.
To achieve the aforementioned overall transmission ratios of approximately 1:5 and less for bicycles having idle wheel sizes of 14 inches and less, the following solutions are known:    a. In particular for the idle wheel size of 14 inches, a chain drive is occasionally used, having a particularly large drive chain wheel (for example having 53 teeth) arranged outside the bicycle frame and a particularly small driven crown gear (for example having 11 teeth), the driven crown gear being arranged between the bicycle frame and the rear wheel in an axial perspective.    b. In the Dreamslide bicycle from Dreamslide S.A., Bures-sur-Yvette, France, a particularly large driving mechanism chain wheel and a particularly small driven crown gear are likewise used, the drive chain wheel and the driven crown gear being arranged inside the bicycle frame in an axial perspective.    c. Using two chain drives in succession (for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,623,749 A, EP 1 600 368 A2, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,186,482 A, 7,229,089 B2, 6,595,539 B1, US 2005/0 035 570 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,771 B2).    d. Using a planetary gearing system having a stationary ring gear and a driven sun gear on the pedal in combination with a chain drive (DE 39 05 579 A1 and high speed drive from Schlumpf Innovations GmbH, Vilters/Switzerland).    e. Using a planetary gearing system having a stationary ring gear and a driven sun gear on the rear wheel in combination with a chain drive (for example DE 39 05 579 A1, and also U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,253 A in parts, FIG. 20 of WO 2011/102 606 A2).
Solution a. has the drawback that, because of the different arrangement of the drive chain wheel (outside) and the driven crown gear (inside) with respect to the bicycle frame, the bicycle frame has to be passed through between the chain wheels or over the chain drive. Because of a number of parameters (for example the large chain wheels required and the small driven crown gear, the frame shape, the required frame strengths, the required distance of the rear wheel from the bicycle frame, the arrangement of a suitable brake, the construction conditions for the rear wheel and the chain), in this context a minimum distance, which can be determined as a function of the idle wheel size, has to be maintained between the pedal axle and the rear wheel axle. In an embodiment as a folding bicycle, this minimum distance and the large drive chain wheel lead to a correspondingly large packaging size. By way of example, if a chain wheel combination of 53/11 is used, only an overall transmission ratio of 1:4.8 is achieved. There is therefore the further drawback that the achievable overall transmission ratio for idle wheel sizes smaller than 14 inches barely makes an appropriate deployment possible. Because of the resulting chain skew, an embodiment as a multi-gear derailleur gear set is only possible with a correspondingly long chain, and this in turn makes a determinable minimum distance necessary between the pedal axis and the rear wheel axis.
Solution b. has the following drawbacks:
The bicycle frame, the bottom bracket and the chain wheel have to be manufactured, mounted and maintained as separate components, at a correspondingly high cost. The special embodiment of the chain wheel prevents the use of multiple chain wheels. Likewise, because of the special drive chain wheel, the arrangement of the brakes and the requirements for the bicycle frame, a minimum distance, which can again be determined as a function of the idle wheel size, is necessary between the pedal axis and the rear wheel axis, and in an embodiment as a folding bicycle would in turn result in a correspondingly large packaging size.
Solution c. has the following drawbacks:
Because of the two chain drives which are to be implemented in series, the double chain drive requires a relatively large horizontal distance between the pedal axis and the rear wheel axis. As a result, the folded length of a folding bicycle is relatively large, and the directional stability is lessened as a result of the lower rider weight on the rear wheel. As a single-gear transmission, these solutions require at least two transmission ratios (2 chain drives). As a multi-gear transmission, these solutions would require at least three transmission ratios (2 chain drives and a multi-gear hub shifter in the rear wheel). The resulting high rotational speed of the second chain drive requires a high expenditure of energy.
Solution d. has the following drawbacks:
The torque is introduced from the pedal onto the pedal bearing shaft. Because of the high pedal forces which have not yet been transmitted and because of the relatively low diameter of the pedal bearing shaft, the shaft-hub connection between the pedal bearing shaft and the planet carrier of a downstream planetary gearing system has to be dimensioned correspondingly large, or be provided in a material fit as in DE 39 05 579 A1. The gearwheels which are to be used in the planetary gearing system on the pedal likewise have to be made relatively large and thus also relatively heavy. The resulting high rotational speed of the chain drive requires a high expenditure of energy.
The variant disclosed in DE 39 05 579 A1 in relation to solution e. has the following drawbacks:
The planet carrier of the planetary gearing system and the driven crown gear of the chain drive are positioned on different sides of the bicycle frame in an axial perspective. This results in the drawback that the torque of the driven crown gear initially has to be transmitted to the rear wheel shaft before it can be received on the other side of the bicycle frame by the planet carrier. The rear shaft and any shaft-hub connections between the driven crown gear and the rear wheel shaft or between the rear wheel shaft and the planet carrier have to be able to receive a high torque. Thus, either the planet carrier and the rear wheel shaft have to be produced in a single piece, as disclosed in DE 39 05 579 A1, resulting in very high material waste and costs for the rear wheel shaft, or a correspondingly large shaft-hub connection has to be provided between the rear wheel shaft and the planet carrier. Overall, the known variant makes a considerable axial installation space necessary between the chain line and the central reference plane of the bicycle. A further drawback is that, in the known solution, the bending moment acting on the rear wheel shaft as a result of the rider's weight also acts on the planet carrier and is detrimental to the tooth engagement of the planetary gearing system. In addition, with the arrangement of the planetary gearing system on the inside of the bicycle frame, only one gear ratio of the planetary gearing system can be implemented, since the arrangement of the driven sun gear as a sun gear mounted on the rear wheel shaft means that, as seen from the sun gear, the torque can only be transmitted in the axial direction with respect to the rear wheel.
The variants disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,253 A or in DE 25 20 129 A1 and in FIG. 20 of WO 2011/102 606 A2 in relation to solution e. have the following drawbacks:
As a result of the different arrangement of the drive chain wheel (outside) and the driven crown gear (inside) with respect to the bicycle frame, the bicycle frame has to be passed through between the chain wheels, with the drawbacks described previously in point a. above. Moreover, with the arrangement of the planetary gearing system on the inside of the bicycle frame, only one gear ratio of the planetary gearing system can be implemented, since the arrangement of the driven sun gear as a sun gear mounted on the rear wheel axles means that, as seen from the sun gear, the torque can only be transmitted in the axial direction with respect to the rear wheel.

Transmission unit with a planetary gearing system


Provided is a hairdressing appliance, which includes a portable treatment unit provided with a gripping device and a heat and steam treatment system configured for heating hair and for applying steam to this hair, a base remote from the portable treatment unit, and connection device between the base and the portable treatment unit configured for supplying the portable treatment unit at least with electricity from the base. The hairdressing appliance includes a circuit board for controlling the treatment system arranged in the base and a system of communication between the control circuit board and the treatment system. The hairdressing appliance enables, for example, the straightening, curling, or crimping of hair and chiefly aims to reduce the weight and the bulk of the portable treatment unit so as to make it easier to handle during styling.

Hairdressing appliances for straightening, curling, or crimping hair typically comprise a portable treatment unit composed in particular of two arms, or jaws, which each have a surface that can be flat or curved, the two arms being hinge-connected to one another to form a clamp configured for clamping hair between the two surfaces facing one another as the two arms are brought together. These two arms also comprise a gripping zone enabling the opening and closing of the clamp and the handling thereof during the styling. At least one of these two surfaces has a heating device enabling the treatment of hair with heat while it is clamped between the two surfaces. The straightening of a lock of hair is effected by clamping the lock of hair between the two surfaces and by moving the closed clamp along this lock of hair, from the root to the tip. The curling of a lock of hair is effected by clamping the lock of hair between the two surfaces and by winding, at least partially, this lock of hair around the surfaces, the heat making it possible to set the curl. For improving the hair styling, it is possible to use a steam treatment as a supplement to the heat treatment, said steam being applied to the hair.
To this end, the Applicant has already developed a steam hairdressing appliance, which is described in the patent application published under the number FR 2 967 017 A1. Besides the aforementioned technical features, the hairdressing appliance according to FR 2 967 017 A1 comprises a base remote from the portable treatment unit, said portable treatment unit composed of a clamp as described above. The base comprises a water tank and a water pump which, when turned on, pumps the water in the tank for supplying the clamp. One of the arms of the portable treatment unit comprises a vaporization chamber equipped with a heating device. Once the hairdressing appliance has attained its optimum operating conditions and when the user wishes to use steam for styling his/her hair, the pump injects water into the vaporization chamber; this water vaporizes under the action of the heating device, and the steam is then applied to the hair. Thus the clamp makes it possible to treat hair with heat and with steam. In the hairdressing appliance described in FR 2 967 017 A1, connection means between the base and the portable treatment unit make it possible to supply said treatment unit with electricity and water from the base. The portable treatment unit further comprises a circuit board for controlling the heat and steam treatment system and the pump, this control circuit board being located in the portable treatment unit.

Steam hairdressing appliance equipped with a remote control circuit board


In a method of steering a vehicle by a steering assistance system, a steering-wheel angle of a steering wheel is set by a driver. The steering assistance system checks whether the set steering-wheel angle is maintained during a predefined time period and checks whether the driver has taken the hands from the steering wheel. The vehicle is then operated according to the set steering-wheel angle, when the driver maintains the set steering-wheel angle during the predefined time period, or the steering assistance system is switched off, when the driver has released the steering wheel.

The present invention relates to a method of steering a vehicle using a steering assistance system.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Various driver assist systems have been developed to simplify operation for the driver of a motor vehicle. An example includes a lane keep assistance which has a surround sensor, for example a video camera, and prevents an inadvertent crossing of a relevant lane marking that has been recognized by the sensor. The lane keep assistant provides hereby a steering-wheel torque in addition to the hand torque generated by the driver. As an alternative, or in addition, the driver is alerted before crossing the recognized lane marking by a warning signal which may be a visual, audible, or haptic warning signal.
Performance of conventional lane keep assistants is limited by the sensors so that conventional lane keep assistants, which are permanently active and enable automatic transverse guidance, have been found inadequate for useful application. In addition, concerns have been raised that a permanent automatic lane guidance could cause the driver to pay less attention to the surroundings and could distract the driver. As a result, the time for interventions by the driver would be prolonged in the event the driver has to execute a steering motion that is not detected by the lane keep assistant. Therefore, "Hands-On" solutions have been proposed which generate only a steering-wheel torque on the steering wheel so as to ensure the attentiveness of the driver with respect to the travel situation and events that happen in the surroundings.
It would be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved method of steering a vehicle by a steering assistance system to obviate prior art shortcomings.

Driver assistance system with hands-off maintaining of steering angle and lane keeping function


An automobile run channel installing method for installing a run channel in a sash of an automobile door is provided. The method involves setting a run channel to a conveyance device having only a pair of arms, the run channel having a concave section and only two corner sections; pushing both corner sections of the run channel into corner sections of an upper portion of the sash, respectively; pressing and fitting an upper-sash roller of the arm into the concave section of the run channel to move from the corner section of the upper sash; and pressing and fitting a lower-sash roller of the arm into the concave section of the run channel to move from a higher portion to a lower portion of a lower portion of the sash and to fit the run channel into the lower sash.

Conventionally, as a method for installing a run channel for an automobile door on a concave groove of sash of an automobile door, there is known a method for installing a run channel for an automobile door in a spatula section first with a seal rubber fitting jig composed of a spatula section formed in one end of a rod-like section bent to an L-shape, a pressing protruding section formed in a base of the spatula section and a pressing and fitting roll provided in the other end of the rod-like section; subsequently fitting the spatula section into a corner section of the sash of an automobile door; and moreover fitting the run channel for an automobile door into a concave groove of the sash of an automobile door with the pressing protruding section and the pressing and fitting roll (see Patent Literature 1, for example).
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-205551
However, the method for installing a run channel for an automobile door disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has a problem in that it does not contribute to man-hour reduction since a worker uses a seal rubber fitting jig to install a run channel for an automobile door in a concave groove of a sash of an automobile door.
The present invention has been made in view of the problem that methods of the prior art have and provides a versatile method for installing a run channel for an automobile door which is capable of man-hour reduction and applicable to multiple models, a device for installing a run channel for an automobile, and a soft member installation device.

Method for installing run channel for automobile


The present invention provides a low-profile printed circuit board including a substrate having at least one planar magnetic element supported thereon. The element includes a planar winding integral with the conductive circuit formed on either one or the other side of the board, and electrical communication is made from one side of the board to the other side via plated through holes provided in the substrate. Additional planar windings may be surface mounted to the winding carried by the substrate. A dielectric coating is also provided which completely isolates the winding of the planar magnetic element.

The present invention relates to a low-profile printed circuit board and, more particularly, relates to such a printed circuit board including planar magnetic elements.
Recent advances have been made in designing and building low profile printed circuit boards. In the quest for reliable, miniaturized, low profile circuits built on insulating substrates such as plastics and ceramics, there has been a shift from high profile components with solderable leads to chip mounted components. With the advent of thick-film technology and advanced etching techniques, there has been a further shift toward screen-printing or etching components and circuits such as resistors, capacitors and circuit conductor paths directly on a substrate. Such components are not only extremely low-profile, but also have proven to be temperature and vibration stable, repeatable and cost effective.
Although there are advantages associated with the printing or etching of components and circuits, it has been difficult to produce planar magnetic elements such as inductors and transformers by these methods. One reason for this difficulty is the limited surface area available on the substrate to accommodate the two-dimensional windings required to construct planar magnetic elements. Moreover, since the windings are printed in a roughly spiral shape, the inner terminus or end of the winding is surrounded by the outer turns of the spiral. Thus, a mechanical bridge together with possible solder connections or a multi-layer circuit is needed to connect the inner end of the winding with other circuitry on the substrate. Difficulties also arise in insulating from one another the individual two-dimensional windings which are often stacked to form a planar magnetic element such as, for example, a transformer.
There have been attempts to overcome the various problems associated with printed circuit boards incorporating planar magnetic elements. U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,627 discloses a planar magnetic transformer which includes a primary winding formed on a first substrate and a secondary winding located on the same or opposite face of the first substrate or on a second substrate. Top and bottom inductive cores are connected together through apertures in the substrate(s) and magnetically coupled with the windings. While it is possible to achieve a low-profile transformer in this manner, there remains the problem of the inner terminus of the winding being surrounded by the outer turns of the spiral. Accordingly, a mechanical connection or additional dielectric and conductive layers are necessary to connect the inner terminus of the winding with other circuitry on the substrate. In addition to these problems, valuable substrate surface area is sacrificed where both the primary and secondary windings of the transformer are placed on the same substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,553 attempts to overcome the problem of limited surface area by stacking double-sided magnetic layers on top of one another to simulate a three-dimensional coil. Each of the double-sided magnetic layers contains a single, printed turn of a rectangular coil, and the layers are staggered in relation to one another so that both sides of each layer add turns to the coil. Corresponding conductive turns on the upper and lower sides of selected magnetic layers are electrically connected and mechanically adhered to one another by heating, crimping and sintering the layers via through-holes provided in a middle-layer positioned between the top and bottom layers. Thus, a laminated structure is formed, and electrodes are subsequently placed on opposite ends of the laminated structure in order to form a chip inductor. Although the above-mentioned process uses printed conductor turns, the advantages of a low-profile device having a two-dimensional screen-printed or etched winding are lost through stacking of the magnetic layers. Moreover, the process for electrically and mechanically connecting the coil turns and the need for additional electrodes adds expense and makes fabrication of the chip inductor difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,314 also discloses planar magnetic elements. The patent teaches two flat bobbin trays each having a raised rectangular guide at its center. The trays house substrates supporting the primary and secondary spiral conductive patterns of a transformer. Layers of dielectric sheet material are provided between the substrate layers supporting the windings as well as between the two bobbin trays. Top and bottom inductive cores extend through an aperture formed in the center of the bobbins, the substrates and the dielectric layers so as to magnetically couple the planar windings to the core. Connections between different conductive layers are established by solder leads that extend beyond the perimeter of the laminated structure. The use of bobbins in the configuration eliminates the advantages associated with a low-profile, planar element. Moreover, the plurality of layers needed to form the element and the solder leads required for connections between layers make the transformer both expensive and difficult to fabricate.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a low-profile printed circuit board which includes at least one planar magnetic element formed integrally with other circuitry carried on the board.
It is another object of the invention to provide a planar magnetic element which does not require mechanical connections to connect windings or portions of windings with one another or with other circuitry on the printed circuit board.
It is a still further object of the present invention to electrically insulate the windings or portions of the windings comprising such a planar magnetic element from one another without the need for the expensive dielectric layers used in the past.


An example of a solution provided here comprises: providing a logical design, including at least one hub containing central management tools, and a plurality of lower tiers containing local management tools; placing components according to the design; and providing, from the hub, one or more management functions. The lower tiers include one or more elements chosen from RIM's, spokes, and POD's.

The computing resources of data centers or web hosting centers need to be managed efficiently. Management decisions may be complex, and rapid changes of allocations may be required. Such computing resources may handle large numbers of transactions, with heavy network traffic, and rapid fluctuations in volume. A conventional solution is to use multiple, 3-tier management structures, with separate management structures for separate geographical regions, for example. These conventional solutions do not realize the benefits of true centralized management. Thus there is a need for architecture, systems and methods for centralized management of computing resources.

Architecture for a centralized management system

International Business Machines Corporation


An inventory of pharmaceutical vials is kept in an inexpensive manner by providing a plurality of stackable cartons stacked in a neat array and each having a front access panel which opens to form an access window to allow access to remove vials from the interior of one of the respective cartons. The cartons having indicia indicating the type and size of vials stored therein. The preferred cartons are in the shape of a box having a hinged access panel die cut into the carton providing an access window or opening on its face. The window allows access by hand into the contents of a plastic bag within the carton. When the access panel is open, portions of the plastic bag may be draped out from the opening to allow easy access to the contents of the bag. The plastic bag and its contents are originally placed within the carton through end flaps located either adjacent or opposite the face of a carton. Upon placing the contents into the carton, the top end flaps may be closed and permanently sealed. The carton thus serves several functions including shipping, storage and inventory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the storage, shipment, dispensing and inventorying of pharmaceutical vials. More particularly, the invention relates to cartons for storing and dispensing such vials, wherein each carton of a stacked array of cartons is specifically designed to be stacked with other cartons and to provide easy access to vials stored with the respective cartons.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, pharmaceutical vials, which often have a child-resistant closure, are purchased by pharmacies in bulk quantities in which one or more gross of vials are enclosed in a plastic bag. The vials come in various standard sizes and they are usually at least five to eight standard sizes for any given type of vial, e.g., a snap-type closure vial or a bayonet lock child-resistant closure. The pharmacy may have an inventory of various sizes and kinds of vials which are non-child resistant and simply have a screw-on or snap-on and off closure for those who do not like or have no need for child-resistant closures. Thus, it will be seen that a pharmacy may have in inventory a large number of open cartons or bags of vials of different kinds to store. Typically, small quantities of the different vials are taken from the bulk storage, plastic bags, e.g., in a back storage room and placed at a counter location more convenient to the pharmacist at the time of counting and placing pills in the vials.
The providing of a convenient and inexpensive way of storing a bulk inventory of these vials has not heretofore been accomplished. The cartons or plastic bags of vials may be piled on one upon another in the back room or expensive permanent shelving may be used with the plastic bags placed on the shelves. In any event, the size and shape of the storage area or facility is usually not tailored or customized to the size of the bulk plastic bags filled with vials to thereby minimize the overall volume of space for such storage and, at the same time, to provide an immediate visual indication of the array of vials of the respective sizes and types. There is a need for an improved and inexpensive system for inventorying and dispensing vials from bulk containers such as plastic bags.
In a number of instances, plastic bags of vials are shipped in paperboard cartons with top end flaps that are originally sealed and which are opened by the pharmacist and left open. Alternatively, these opened, top end flaps are "tucked in" and folded one within to the other to hold the individual flaps against being loose. The tucked in, end flaps result in an uneven top surface for the carton. Further, carton strength to support another carton or cartons of thereabove is diminished after the top end flaps are opened and vials are removed from this carton.
Accordingly, a general object of the invention is to provide a new and improved method of storing bulk vials and for dispensing the same.
A more specific object is to provide a stacking carton designed to serve several functions at once including packing, storing, shipping, inventorying and dispensing of the carton's contents.


A laser projection system preferably for use in commercial motion picture theaters and other large screen venues, including home theater, uses optical fibers to project modulated laser beams for raster scanning on the screen. The emitting ends of the optical fibers are arranged in an array such that red, green and blue spots are simultaneously scanned onto the screen in multiple lines spaced one or more than one scan line apart. The use of optical fibers for laser beam projection eliminates the need to use complex optics, and enables the scanning of small, high resolution spots on the screen. The use of optical fiber also permits convenient packaging and permits replacement, upgrading or modification of the system components. The scanning of multiple lines simultaneously is accomplished by reordering the video signal with a microprocessor controller component to write lines in a sequence after repeated vertical sweeps to form a complete picture. In a preferred embodiment, the video signal is reordered to scan different color beams at different times to render the desired composite of the red, green and blue spots at each dot location on the screen. Alternate embodiments are disclosed to illustrate the flexibility of the system for different optical fiber output head spacings, and for different types of laser, modulation, and scanning components.

Large motion color images, such as displayed in movie theaters, are formed by projection of an image onto a separate front or rear projection screen. The images are usually formed by projecting light through individual film frames illuminating a full screen, with frames succeeding one another at 20 to 30 times a second.
Film projection technology is approaching the limit of its technological evolution. Film requires the frequent changing of bulky reels of film. Film image quality degrades with repeated showings. Film has reached the economic limit of its resolution capabilities. The vibrancy of its colors falls short of the colors visualized in the real world. Film projection frequently encounters registration problems, where the image jumps around on the screen. This contrasts with recent technological advances in digital image storage, manipulation and transmission, wherein complete movies can be digitally recorded on optical disks and other digital storage media. Digital storage and distribution should be relatively inexpensive, and the image source does not degrade with repeated showings or duplications. Thus, movie projection utilizing a digital, electronically scanned (termed "video" herein) image source is a desirable alternative to film, assuming such an image can be projected with sufficient brightness, resolution, color balance, registration, and lack of motion artifacts to equal or exceed the capabilities of film. Laser projection is believed by many to offer the most promising solution to the problems inherent with film projection.
Laser video projectors have been used for the display of electronic images since about 1980, with the first projector built in England by the Dwight Cavendish Company. This projector used an Argon ion laser and a dye laser to produce standard television resolution images up to about ten feet across in a darkened room. The projector was almost as large as its image and was difficult to operate. The Dwight Cavendish laser projector, and indeed any laser projector, required the following basic components to make a video image: (a) lasers to supply the light that is sent to the screen to form the image; (b) a method of controlling the intensity of the laser light for each portion of the image, often called "modulation"; and (c) a method of distributing the modulated light across the screen surface, often called "scanning".
An improved version of the Dwight Cavendish laser projector is described by Richard W. Pease in "An Overview of Technology for Large Wall Screen Projection using Lasers as a Light Source", MITRE Technical Report, The MITRE Corporation (July 1990). The projector described in the MITRE publication utilized the following components corresponding to the laser source, modulator and scanner described above. The laser sources included argon ion lasers to produce 454 to 476 nm blue and 514 nm green, and Rhodamine 6G dye laser pumped with an argon ion laser to produce 610 nm red. The system used acousto-optic modulators between the laser sources and the scanning component for the laser beam of each color, with the modulated beams later combined with dichroic mirrors and deflected and focused onto the scanning component. The scanning section included a rotating polygon mirror and galvanometer-controlled frame mirror, as further described below. The rotating polygon mirror had 25 mirror facets, each of which deflected the modulated beam horizontally across a predetermined angle onto a mirror tilted vertically by a galvanometer across a predetermined angle through lenses onto the screen.
Several problems in particular limit the ability of current large screen projection technology to produce movie theater quality laser images. Because such laser projection systems typically used complicated lens and mirror systems to combine modulated colored beams into a composite beam to be scanned, and to scan and focus beams onto a screen, much of the power of the laser beams was sapped away, making laser projection images substantially less bright than that produced by film projection. Further, because certain wavelengths, especially blue, have been difficult to produce at adequate power levels with lasers, brightness and color balance have been inadequate for large screen video applications.
Currently known laser video systems typically use an Argon ion laser to make blue and green, and a ′flowing jet dye′ laser to make red. To provide some perspective, an Argon ion laser is 5 to 8 feet long, weighs 100 to 600 pounds and consumes from 15 to 75 kilowatts of electricity and two to five gallons per minute of cooling water. Such lasers cost $30,000 to $105,000 each. Several of these laser would be required for the optical power necessary to accomplish theater or large screen video display.
Known projection systems that used rotating polygon mirrors did not adequately address the problems of facet errors that would tend to slightly misdirect the beams, requiring complex optical or mirror array systems to compensate for the slight misdirections. The complex optics, facet error correction, and scanning systems also tended to cause color separation, causing the combined laser beams to diverge and degrade as they passed through these complicated optical paths.
Perhaps the most significant problem, however, with prior laser projections systems in comparison with film projection technology, is the lack of sufficient resolution. Attempts to increase resolution only exacerbate the other problems noted above. In order to effectively compete with or displace film projection, it is widely believed that laser projection systems must be capable of resolutions approaching 1900 by 1100 fully resolved pixels, or roughly the maximum resolution of the newly established HDTV standard of 1920×1080 p at 60 frames per second or more. HDTV is an acronym for "High Definition Television" and refers to an emerging standard for new home viewing and large image projection technology. While this standard addresses many formats, many believe that the highest resolution format, 1920×1080 pixels, especially in a "progressive" mode, defined herein (designated as "1920×1080 p"), represents more than sufficient resolution for theater displays. Standard television quality resolution, such as that projected by the Dwight Cavendish system, rarely exceeds 525 horizontal lines. For television to achieve this resolution, 525 horizontal lines of analog image data are scanned, roughly comparable to a digital pixel array of 525×525 pixels. Thus, television quality video would require, for a full frame rate of 30 frames per second, that a polygon mirror scan more than 945,000 lines per minute. For a 25 facet polygon mirror such as used in the Dwight Cavendish system, writing one line with each facet would require a rotation of more than 37,500 rpm. Because of centrifugal force limitations, rotational speeds this high limit the feasible size and/or number of the facets, thereby limiting resolution.
Moreover, the problems inherent in polygon mirrors frequently used in prior laser projection systems such as the Dwight Cavendish system are exacerbated when attempting to scan 1920×1080 HDTV quality video or better resolution video. The threefold or greater horizontal resolution mandates a larger facet size, yet the increased number of lines per frame mandates either an increase in the number of facets or substantially increased polygon mirror rotational speeds. For example, a 25 facet polygon mirror would have to have facets more than three times greater in width resulting in a polygon more than three times greater in diameter. For HDTV 1920×1080 p resolution at a full frame rate of at least 60 frames per second, this polygon of much larger facet widths would have to scan more than 3.8 million lines per minute, or achieve a rotational speed of more than 150,000 rpm. A polygon mirror assembly capable of these facet rates would be structurally difficult to manufacture and operate, and extremely expensive. Due to centrifugal force limitations referenced above, one cannot increase the number of facets per second simply by increasing the number of facets of the same size on the polygon.
Another significant problem confronting prior laser projection systems attempting to produce the high resolution required to compete with film technology is the inadequacy of prior art modulation technology. Each laser beam of the three primary colors must be modulated to produce a different color intensity for each pixel being scanned. For standard television resolution, more than 250,000 modulations must occur for each frame for each color or laser, or a total of 7.5 million modulations per second for 30 frames per second. For high resolution, at 1920×1080 p, more than 2 million modulations must occur for each color or laser to scan each frame, or a total of at least 120 million modulations per second per color for 60 frames per second. For desired non-interlaced (progressive) imagery having even greater resolution, such as 3000×2000 pixels, the rate is above 360 million modulations per second. Current modulation technology is not capable of modulating the laser beams, especially powerful laser beams, at a sufficient rate to enable the generation of the number of discreet pixels required for even film-quality digital resolution.
There are other inadequacies in the existing technology that are not addressed in detail here, but there are significant challenges, including complexity of optics, brightness, resolution, contrast and image stability.


An extended text wrap label includes a base ply and at least one top ply. The base ply has a first lengthwise dimension, a first widthwise dimension, a top surface that is capable of bearing graphic images, and a bottom surface that is capable of bearing graphic images and capable of being adhesively coupled to an object to be labeled. The at least one top ply has a second lengthwise dimension, a second widthwise dimension, a front surface that is capable of bearing graphic images, and a back surface that is also capable of bearing graphic images. The base ply and the at least one top ply are adhesively coupled, in a first portion of the label, to each other such that the top surface of the base ply and the back surface of the at least one top ply are in contiguous juxtaposition with each other along the first lengthwise dimension and the second lengthwise dimension, respectively, and along the first widthwise dimension and the second widthwise dimension, respectively. Also, the base ply and the at least one top ply are, in a second portion of the label, resealably coupled to each other.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to labels. The invention relates specifically to an extended text wrap label that may be used with existing roll-fed wrap labeling machines for application to containers and like objects.
II. Related Art
In the printing arts, and in particular in the commercial printed label art for labeling and decorating consumer products, there exists a continual demand for labels and decorations which not only appeal to consumers, but also bear ever increasing amounts of printed information. For example, labels for identification of consumer health care and pharmaceutical products are often required by governmental regulations to describe in painstaking detail their compositions and ingredients. As new food and drug laws are passed, regulations require the inclusion of increasing amounts of label information.
One label that has gained wide popularity is a so-called "wrap" label. A wrap label commonly utilizes a continuous label substrate or base ply comprising paper, or a clear or opaque film such as polypropylene, or a combination of paper and film. The base ply is usually rectangular, as defined by a desired label width associated with a widthwise dimension and a desired label length associated with a lengthwise dimension (transverse to the widthwise dimension). The base ply also has, of course, opposing first and second ends, along with front and back surfaces. Desired graphics are typically printed on the front surface of the base ply, and may also be printed on the back surface. In application of the wrap label to a commonly cylindrical container, a widthwise portion of the back surface of the base ply at the first end thereof is adhered to the object to be labeled, by means of an adhesive. The base ply, having been adhesively secured to the container at the first end, is then wrapped around the container and is adhesively secured to the container at the second end of the base ply adjacent to the first end. The length of the base ply is usually chosen to nearly match a circumference of the container, to minimize unnecessary overlap of the opposing ends of the label substrate applied to the container. The application of the wrap label to the container may be carried out by any suitable roll-fed label applicator, such as are available, for example, from Krones A. G. of Regensburg, Germany, and from B&H Labeling Systems of Ceres, Calif., U.S.A.
In general in the labeling and packaging arts, various forms of so-called "extended text" labels have been proposed to provide increased printed information on labels. One such extended text label type that has gained wide popularity is the booklet type label, where a base ply is joined to a top ply via an adhesive coupling or "hinge" between the two plies. An example of this type of label is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,265 issued to Kaufmann, entitled "PEEL-BACK RE-SEALABLE MULTI-PLY LABEL".
Attempts have been made to provide an extended-text wrap label. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,667 issued to Ingle, entitled "EXTENDED WRAP AROUND LABELS", discloses a pressure sensitive adhesive label that is of a sufficient length (i.e., greater than a circumference of a container to which it is to be applied) so that it may be wrapped around an exterior surface of the container and overlap itself. A portion of the overlapping label is provided with lacquer or ink to facilitate adhesive release therebetween.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,093 issued to Weernink, entitled "WRAP AROUND LABEL", a label includes first, central, and second portions sequentially lengthwise along a single label ply. The first and central portions together have a length that is substantially equal to an outer circumference of a container to be labeled. The second portion has a length that is substantially equal to the first portion. When the label is adhered to the container, the second portion of the single ply overlaps the first portion.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,377 issued to Mehta, entitled "OVER-WRAP LABEL", a label substrate is provided having first and second ends, and first and second major surfaces. A length of the substrate is chosen so that the second end thereof may extend around a container to which the label is being applied, over the first major surface, and overlap the first end. A combination of an adhesive and a release agent is utilized so that the second end is releasably securable to the second major surface.
Also, Smyth Companies, Inc. discloses its WRAP AND A HALF™ product (http://www.smythco.com/package/wrapandahalf.html) as a typical cut label used on cans and bottles that is simply a longer printed label. A length of the Smyth label product may be chosen to extend 10-100% beyond a circumference of a container to be labeled.
Labels such as those disclosed above, however, cannot be successfully utilized with typical roll-fed wrap labeling machines used by customers buying such labels and applying them to their product containers, packaging, and like objects to be labeled. Specifically, the disclosed labels require, relative to roll-fed label application machines, that extensive and complex tooling changes be made to account for the longer, overlapping label ply lengths resulting in longer "repeats" as known in the art. Additionally, the disclosed labels often require multiple adhesive and release coating depositions, resulting in longer label fabrication and application times. Further, the known labels have been commonly required to be constructed from relatively expensive pressure-sensitive web materials.
Therefore, there exists a need for an extended text wrap label that does not require modification by customers of their existing roll-fed wrap labeling machines, and does not require significant changes to materials and adhesive specifications. There also exists a need for such a wrap label that may be constructed from relatively inexpensive film and paper web materials.
Wrap labels of the class of the present invention described herein are labels manufactured for application by purchasers using conventional roll-fed wrap labeling machines. They are produced without any adhesive material on the bottom surface of the base ply. The labels are sold and supplied on a web in roll form without the need for any liner or release layer associated with the bottom surface. The labels belong to a class of labels also commonly referred to by those in the art as "roll-fed" labels.
At the point of application to containers of interest, a continuous roll of labels is introduced to a purchaser's high-speed label application machine which cuts the roll into a series of individual labels and applies them sequentially to a series of product containers or other objects to be labeled. Any adhesive used to apply the labels to the containers of interest is supplied by the labeling machine at the time of application and is generally applied to adhere the leading and trailing edge portions of the bottom surface of the base ply of the labels; and the individual labels are thereafter typically "wiped onto" corresponding containers with their base plies fixed as desired.
It is generally accepted and well-known in the label making arts that in-line printing and converting processes offer the most cost-effective label production. An exemplary in-line method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,043 issued to Instance, entitled "METHOD OF PRODUCING LABELS".
Therefore, there also exists a need for an in-line converting and printing process for manufacture of such extended text wrap labels.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Extended text wrap label and method of manufacture thereof


An apparatus and a method for monitoring optical signal-to-noise ratio are provided. It can be applied in dense wavelength-division multiplexed networks to monitor the transmission quality of each optical channel. The apparatus comprises an optical circulator, a tunable optical filter, a dithering signal, a dithered reflector, and two photodiodes. It can be integrated on a single chip. The invention utilizes the dithering and reflection functions of the dithered reflector, and passes the signal and the noise through the tunable optical filter once and twice, respectively. When the tunable optical filter is scanning and filtering the whole spectrum, the signal and noise powers are measured by the two photodiodes, respectively. The OSNR for each optical channel is then calculated according to the signal and noise powers. It can monitor channel location, wavelength drift, and OSNR by including a wavelength locker to act as an optical channel analyzer.

As information networks evolve rapidly, fiber optic networks become more and more important. The fiber optic network provides not only low transmission loss but also high transmission capacity. In a DWDM communication system, 16, 32, and even more channel wavelengths can be transmitted in a single optical fiber. In order to guarantee the quality of transmission signals in a fiber optic network system, it is necessary to effectively monitor optical power, optical wavelength, and OSNR. Wherein, the OSNR is the most important parameter to be monitored. The importance of the OSNR stems from the fact that it represents the degree of signal impairment after an optical signal is transmitted through an optical amplifier of an optical communication system. The attenuation and dispersion of an optical signal will affect the detectability of the optical signal. An amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise, which is first produced by an optical amplifier and then received by a receiver, may result in a significant reduction of the transmission efficiency of an optical communication system. In practical applications, the use of optical amplifiers may improve communication quality due to an enlargement of signal amplitude. However, the noise accompanied with the optical signal is amplified as well. The end result is a deterioration of the OSNR.
In order to accurately measure OSNR, it is required to carefully design a detector module. For example, conventional approaches using polarization rotators and linear polarizers or adopting various combinations of different optical filters to improve the accuracy of noise measurements have been proposed. However, the schemes that use polarization-selective components can be easily influenced by polarization fluctuation during signal transmission. For most optical filtering approaches, it is generally difficult to use a single tunable optical filter (TOF) for both optical signal power and noise power measurements.
In 2000, Chappel et al. ("Optical signal-to-noise ratio characterization demands precision and flexibility," WDM Solutions, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 55-60, November 2000) proposed a method for accurately measuring the optical signal power and the noise power. The method requires an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) with a wide enough resolution bandwidth (RBW) to accommodate an optical signal modulation sideband. Furthermore, the dynamic range of the OSA must be large enough to reject adjacent optical channels. As for the measurement of noise power, it can be performed by measuring two noise components at both sides of the optical channel in the optical spectrum. Then, the noise component mixed in the optical channel is obtained by an interpolation between the two measured noise components. Alternately, a dual sweep technique can be used for the OSNR measurement. This technique adopts an optical filter with a wide RBW to measure the optical signal power, and another optical filter with a narrow RBW to measure the noise power. Its drawback is an increase of the complexity due to the use of a dual sweep and the requirements of a wide RBW optical filter and a narrow RBW optical filter.
In 1998, Hentschel et al. ("Fiber Optic Test and Measurement", Prentice-Hall, 1998, pp. 101-115) applied a double-pass filtering technique to OSAs. The double-pass filtering technique was achieved by accurate tuning control of high-precision optical elements. Incoming and outgoing lights are directed to different trajectories for separate coupling. Though this technique is also adopted to increase the dynamic range of an OSA, it usually requires a sophisticated tuning control and optics. Besides, it occupies more space than that required for other techniques.
In business applications, Fabry-Pert etalon has been widely used in single wavelength distributed feedback lasers to control the wavelength. Therefore, its requirements of wavelength monitoring are not very strict. The location of each optical channel can be clearly identified by scanning and filtering the optical spectrum with a TOF. In DWDM networks, it is very important to maintain the quality of optical channel signals. And, effectively analyzing the quality of optical channel signals is a foundation for the maintenance of an optical communication system to guarantee the quality of the system.
The conventional techniques mentioned above for monitoring OSNR, a dual sweep technique and a double-pass filtering technique applied to OSAs, will result in an increase of both complexity and cost. The present invention provides an apparatus and a method for monitoring OSNR to not only lower the complexity and cost of the monitoring system but also increase the sensitivity of the monitoring system.

Apparatus and method for monitoring optical signal-to-noise ratio

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The present invention relates to a method of injecting fuel into the combustion chamber (16) of a cylinder of a direct-injection four-stroke internal-combustion engine, notably of diesel type, that can run according to a homogeneous combustion mode and according to a conventional combustion mode.

Such an engine type, as better described in French patent applications Nos. 2,818,324; 2,818,325 and 2,827,913 filed by the applicant, comprises at least one cylinder, a piston sliding in this cylinder, a combustion chamber delimited on one side by the upper face of the piston comprising a teat arranged in the centre of a concave bowl and at least one injection nozzle for injecting fuel with a nappe angle less than or equal to
      2        Arc                          tg                                CD              2                F              ,where CD is the diameter of the cylinder and F the distance between the point of origin of the fuel jets from the injection nozzle and the position of the piston corresponding to a crank angle of 50° to the top dead centre.
The fuel does thus not come into contact with the cylinder wall and it can mix with the air or the mixture of air and of recirculated exhaust gas present in the combustion chamber.
This layout, although satisfactory, involves some significant drawbacks.
Thus, in conventional combustion mode, the fuel is injected when the piston is in the vicinity of the top dead centre of the compression phase. In this situation and considering the small jet nappe angle, this fuel, in vapour-liquid two-phase form, slides along the wall of the teat, flows to the bottom of the bowl, is guided by the lateral wall of this bowl and reaches the combustion chamber. More particularly, this fuel is sent, on the one hand, to the squish zone above the piston and, on the other hand, to the centre of this bowl.
Considering the path followed by the fuel, the latter cannot easily mix with the air present in the bowl and the maximum fuel/air ratio reached for operation of the engine can remain low in relation to conventional engines using injection nozzles with a large fuel jet nappe angle, generally of the order of 140°. This results in a bad use of the air contained in the combustion chamber, notably in the squish zone.
Furthermore, the teat undergoes a high thermal stress due to the energy released during combustion and high-temperature zones are located thereon, more particularly near to the top thereof.
The present invention aims to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by means of a fuel injection method in two stages allowing to provide suitable mixing of the fuel with the air contained in the bowl.

Fuel injection method for internal-combustion engine, notably of direct injection type, comprising a piston provided with a bowl and a teat

Abstract: According to the invention, this method consists, for the conventional combustion mode of the engine, in feeding into this chamber a first amount of fuel in the vicinity of the top dead centre of the piston at the beginning of the intake phase and another quantity of fuel in the vicinity of the top dead centre of this piston at the end of the compression phase.