A grilling appliance includes a housing having a vertical food compartment for receiving a food article in a vertical position, a heated first grill plate mounted in a vertical position in one side of the food compartment, a heated second grill plate mounted in a vertical position in the opposite side of the food compartment, and a drive for driving the second grill plate to an extended position towards the first grill plate, or to a retracted position away from the first grill plate. Also described are food holders particularly useful with such grilling appliance.

The present invention relates to grilling appliances, and particularly to an electrical grilling appliance for use in grilling meat products, such as steaks, hamburgers, and the like, in an extremely short time. The invention also relates to food holders particularly useful in such grilling appliances.
A large number of electrical grilling appliances are known and described in the patent literature. The known grilling appliances generally include open grills, racks or meshes for holding the food article to be grilled. However, such grilling appliances usually require a considerable period of time to grill a steak or hamburger. Other appliances are known, such as described in our prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,762,058 and 5,181,455, which permit food articles to be grilled in a relatively short period of time.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel simplified construction of electrical grilling appliance which permits food articles, such as steaks, hamburgers, and the like, to be grilled in a very short period of time.

Grilling appliance and food holder therefor


A power-switched driver circuit for a disc drive that provides accurate back emf detection in PWM mode. In one embodiment, a power transistor is coupled between the low side drivers and ground. During the off time of a PWM cycle, all of the high side drivers are off and the current recirculates through two of the low side drivers. The power transistor is off. This disconnects the motor from ground and allows the voltage on the center tap of the motor to be about half of V.sub.cc, which allows the back emf of the motor to be detected during the off time using a conventional comparator as the back emf approaches a zero crossing. During the on time of a PWM cycle, the power transistor is on.. In an alternative embodiment, a power transistor is coupled between the high side drivers and V.sub.cc. During the off time of a PWM cycle, all of the low side drivers are turned off and the current recirculates through two of the high side drivers. The power transistor is off, disconnecting the motor from V.sub.cc and allowing the voltage on the center tap of the motor to be about half of V.sub.cc. This enables the back emf of the motor to be detected during the off time using a conventional comparator as the back emf approaches a zero crossing.

The present invention relates to improvements in motor driving and control circuitry, and is more specifically related to an improved circuit and method for back electromotive force (emf) detection in a polyphase direct current (dc) motor, or the like.
Three phase dc motors, particularly brushless, sensorless, three phase dc motors, are popular in drives in information retrieval systems that use rotating recording media, such as discs. Conventional disc drives are used to both record and to retrieve information. As discs become more prevalent as the medium of choice for storing information in both computer and home entertainment equipment, disc drives likewise become more prevalent and important components of such electronic systems.
In addition to the recording media, a disc drive typically includes a read/write assembly and a spindle motor assembly. The read/write assembly is adapted to transfer data between the disc and an external system, or device, such as a microprocessor. The spindle motor assembly carries the information storage discs and is arranged to rotate the discs.
A conventional motor can be viewed as having three coils A, B, and C connected in a "Y" configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, although a larger number of stator coils are usually employed with multiple rotor poles. Typically, in such applications, eight pole motors are used having twelve stator windings and four N-S magnetic sets on the rotor, resulting in four electrical cycles per revolution of the rotor. The stator coils, however, can be analyzed in terms of three "Y" connected coils, connected in three sets of four coils, each physically separated by 90.degree..
During operation, coils A, B and C are energized with a drive signal that causes electromagnetic fields to develop about the coils. The resulting attraction/repulsion between the electromagnetic fields of the coils A, B, and C and the magnetic fields created by the magnets in the motor causes the rotor assembly of the motor to rotate. While rotating, the rotor assembly causes a back emf signal to be generated in the coils A, B and C due to the movement of the magnets in relation to the coils A, B and C.
The coils are energized in sequences to produce a current path through two coils of the "Y", with the third coil left floating, hereinafter floating coil FC. The sequences are arranged so that as the current paths are changed, or commutated, one of the coils of the current path is switched to float, and the previously floating coil is switched into the current path. The sequences are defined such that when the floating coil is switched into the current path, the direction of the current in the coil that was included in the prior current path is not changed. In this manner, six commutation sequences, or phases, are defined for each electrical cycle in a three phase motor, as shown in Table A.
TABLE A ______________________________________ Current flows Phase From: To: Floating Coil ______________________________________ 1 A B C 2 A C B 3 B C A 4 B A C 5 C A B 6 C B A ______________________________________
FIG. 2 shows a typical architecture of the motor 34 and a driver circuit 10 for driving the motor 34. Individual elements shown in FIG. 2 are suitably made in accordance with prior practice, as described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,317,243 and 5,294,877 which are incorporated into this specification by reference. Specifically, the motor 34 consists of the stator 36 driven by the driver circuit 10. Although the driver circuit 10 can be constructed of discrete components, preferably, the driver circuit 10 is integrated onto a single semiconductor chip adapted for connection to the stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c of a three phase dc brushless spindle motor. The stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c are connected to output nodes OUTA, OUTB, OUTC and CT28. One end of each of the coils 26a, 26b, 26c is connected to the common center tap 28. The outer end is connected to one of the output nodes respectively designated, OUTA, OUTB, OUTC, which are connected to a power stage 11.
Referring to FIG. 3, a driving voltage is provided to the stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c by the power stage 11, which is configured to have one high side driver 50a, 50b, 50c, and one low side driver 52a, 52b, 52c, for each of the stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c. Referring again to FIG. 2, the power stage 11 is sequenced to provide sequential control output signals to the stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c by a sequencer circuit 13. A signal interface circuit 12 supplies the output signals from the sequencer circuit 13 to the power stage 11, as well as enabling other functions, such as brake and output enable functions. The sequencer circuit 13 also provides drive signals to other circuits of the driver circuit 10 through sequence decode and output switches 15 to control the various aspects of rotation of the motor 34.
The stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c are switchably connected to a back emf amplifier 14. The back emf amplifier 14 in turn delivers signals to a zero crossing detector 16, which provides input signals to a digital timing circuit 17. The output of the mask counter of the digital timing circuit 17 controls the operation of the sequencer circuit 13.
The driver circuit 10 includes system clock circuitry 23, phase lock loop (PLL) frequency/phase detector circuitry 24, a PWM drive 18 to support pulse width modulation operation mode of the motor, and may include various other circuitry, not shown, such as "align and go" start up circuitry to facilitate start up of the motor from a stopped condition, port control logic and associated shift register circuitry to facilitate control of the driver circuit 10 by an external microprocessor (not shown), and so forth.
The switching of the driver transistors of the power stage 11 to effect the switching currents for each phase is accomplished by the sequencer circuit 13. The sequencer circuit 13 provides signals to the high side drivers and the low side drivers to accomplish the switching sequence outlined above in Table A.
The commutation among the stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c is performed in response to information indicating the specific position of the rotor 38 in conjunction with circuit information indicating the desired position of the rotor 38. More specifically, the commutation to apply the next drive sequence of Table A is determined in response to a corresponding coil reaching a particular rotational position and its correlation with sequencer information indicating where the motor 34 should be when a commutation is to occur. The determination of the precise rotational location of the rotor 38 is continuously being determined by monitoring the zero crossing voltage in each non-driven, or floating, stator coil. More particularly, as the stator coils 26a, 26b, and 26c are switched during the commutation sequence of the rotor 38, the voltage of the floating coil is monitored by the back emf amplifier 14.
During the operation of such a polyphase dc motor, maintaining a known position of the rotor 38 is an important concern. This can be implemented in various ways. One widely used way, for example, has been to start the motor in a known position, then derive information related to the instantaneous or current position of the rotor 38. Such instantaneous position information can be derived during the commutation process by identifying the floating coil and monitoring its back emf, that is, the emf induced into the coil as it moves through the magnetic field provided by the stator 36.
When the voltage of the floating coil crosses zero (referred to in the art as "a zero crossing"), the position of the rotor 38 is assumed to be known. Upon the occurrence of this event, the commutation sequence is incremented to the next phase, and the process repeated. The assumption that the zero crossing accurately indicates the rotor position is generally true if the motor 34 is functioning properly.
Referring again to FIG. 3, the sequence decode and output switches circuit 15 includes switches 56a, 56b, 56c connected to the stator coils 26a, 26b and 26c through the output nodes OUTA, OUTB, and OUTC to apply a selected one of the output nodes OUTA, OUTB, or OUTC (particularly the output node of the floating coil FC) to the non-inverting input of a comparator 65 in the back emf amplifier. The particular one of the output nodes OUTA, OUTB or OUTC which is applied to the comparator 65 corresponds to whichever of coils 26a, 26b, and 26c is expected to be floating (not the coil which is actually floating). Although the term "floating" is used herein to indicate the coil that is not in the instantaneous current path, the coil does not actually "float", but is connected to a tristate impedance. The center tap 28 of the stator is connected to the inverting input of the comparator 65, so that when the voltage on the selected floating coil becomes larger than the center tap voltage, the comparator changes states, representing the zero crossing of the voltage on the selected floating coil. When the voltage on the floating coil becomes smaller than the center tap voltage, the comparator again changes states, representing the zero crossing of the voltage on the selected floating coil. (The voltage on the floating coil is the so-called the back emf of the floating coil.) The comparator 65 is designed to have hysteresis, because the occurrence of a voltage beyond the zero crossing voltage may not last a sufficiently long time to enable the output signal of the comparator 65 to be useful.
A sense resistor 54 is coupled to between the low side drivers 52a, 52b, 52c and ground to control the current on the coils. The voltage on the sense resistor 54 is measured to determine the current on the coils 26a, 26b, 26c; if the current is too high the current is reduced and if it is too low it is increased.
Reducing the power consumed by the motor has long been a goal in the disc drive industry. One way to significantly reduce the power is to operate the motor in pulse width modulation (PWM) mode. The PWM mode is a nonlinear mode with discontinuities in application of drive current to the coils 26a, 26b, 26c. The power to the coils follows in the same overall pattern as in the linear mode but is chopped with alternating segments of on and off time as shown in FIG. 4. The frequency of on-off times in a PWM mode can typically vary from 25 kHz to 100 kHz. In a typical on-off cycle, lasting about 20 .mu.s, there may be 14 .mu.s of on time followed by 6 .mu.s of off time.
In operation, during the on time of a PWM cycle, one output node, for example node OUTA, is driven high by one of the high side drivers 50a. One output node, for example node OUTB, is driven low by one of the low side drivers 52b. The third output node, for example node C, is left floating. This is commonly referred to as the "AB phase". The coils are then switched in a commutation sequence determined by the sequencer circuit 13 in a manner such that in each commutation phase current always flows in two of the three coils, with the third coil floating, and that after switching current will continue to flow, and in the same direction, in one of the two coils in which current was flowing in the previous phase to generate the six phases shown in Table A.
During the off time the high side driver 50a that was on is turned off and its corresponding low side driver 52a is turned on to recirculate the current flowing through the coils 26a, 26b. The low side driver 52b that was on during the on cycle, remains on. Almost all of the current will flow through the low side drivers 52a 52b and practically no current will flow through the sense resistor 54, bringing the voltage at node V1 to zero. This also brings the voltage on the center tap 28 to zero. When the voltage on the center tap 28 is zero, it very difficult to detect a zero crossing. The comparator 65 has to compare the voltage on the center tap, which is now zero, and the voltage on the floating coil as it approaches zero during a zero crossing. This would require the comparator 65 that is compatible to ground and has excellent common mode rejection, which requires a more complicated and expensive comparator.
Therefore, typically the voltage on the center tap 28 and the floating coil 26c is only compared during the on time, so the zero crossing is detected only during an on time. If the output of the comparator 65 toggles between on times there is a back emf zero crossing sometime in between. Therefore, there is a delay between the real zero crossing occurrence and the detection of the zero crossing.
This delay presents a problem because the delay could be up to the entire off time of a PWM cycle. The delay between the occurrence and the detection of the zero crossing is the time when the signal crosses the time axis until the next on time. The lower the PWM frequency the worse it will be. The delay in detecting the zero crossing produces jitter in the motor and disrupts the speed control of the motor, which can cause damage to both the disc, the head, and the drive components.

Circuit for improving back emf detection in pulse width modulation mode


A method of manufacturing a DC superconducting quantum interference device comprises forming an insulating film over a portion of a resistance film. A lower electrode superconducting film is formed over the resistance film and the insulating film. A barrier layer is formed on a portion of the lower electrode superconducting film. An upper electrode is formed sandwiching the barrier layer between the lower electrode superconducting film and the upper electrode, so as to form a Josephson junction. To reduce the number of manufacturing steps, the lower electrode superconducting film is photolithographically patterned and/or etched to simultaneously form an input coil, a feedback coil and the Josephson junction. In another embodiment, after forming the upper electrode, an insulating film is formed over at least a portion of the lower electrode superconducting film. A superconducting film is formed over the insulating film in contact with the upper electrode. To reduce the number of manufacturing steps, the superconducting film is photolithographically patterned and/or etched to simultaneously form a counter electrode, the input coil and the feedback coil.

The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a DC superconducting quantum interference device ("DC-SQUID"), which is applied to a highly sensitive magnetic sensor, an ammeter, a displacement meter, a high-frequency signal amplifier or the like.
The steps of the prior art are shown in sections in FIGS. 2(a) to 2(e). These steps manufacture a SQUID integrated with a pick-up coil and begin fabricating a pick-up coil 1, a feedback coil 2 and an input coil 3 before the remaining steps. The individual steps will be briefly described in the following. FIG. 2(a) shows a step at which the surface is flattened with the first insulating film 4 after the pick-up coil 1, the feedback coil 2 and the input coil 3 are formed of a superconducting film. This superconducting film is formed by depositing Nb by sputtering, and the first insulating film 4 is flattened by applying SOG after SiO.sub.2 has been deposited by plasma CVD.
FIG. 2(b) shows a step at which a resistance film 5 for shunting or damping the SQUID is set to a designed value by a second insulating film 6 after it has been deposited. The resistance film 5 is made of Pd, and the second insulating film 5 is formed by evaporating MgO together.
FIGS. 2(c) and 2(d) show steps at which a Josephson junction 10 and a washer coil 11 are fabricated. The Josephson junction 10 is formed by depositing a Nb/Al-oxide/Nb structure by sputtering. The washer coil 11 is formed of a lower electrode 7 of the Josephson junction 10.
FIG. 2(e) shows a step at which an opposed electrode 13 of a superconducting film is formed after a third insulating film 12 has been deposited. The third insulating film 12 and the counter electrode 13 are deposited together, respectively, by evaporating SiO and PbIn.
According to the steps of FIG. 2, the pick-up coil 1, the feedback coil 2 and the input coil 3 are fabricated before the remaining steps so that the number of masks for patterning the deposited films by a photolithography increases. Since the number of steps increases, the time for the manufacture is elongated to reduce the production yield of the element.

Process for manufacturing DC superconducting quantum interference device


A process for the production of propylene from the metathesis of ethylene and 2-butene is disclosed wherein a mixed C4 stream is first treated to enrich and separate the 2-butene from 1-butene and isobutene by isomerization of 1-butene and concurrent fractional distillation of the 2-butene and isobutene to provide the 2-butene feed the metathesis with ethylene. In addition the mixed C4 stream may be treated to remove mercaptans and dienes prior to 2-butene enrichment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the metathesis of olefins. More particularly the invention relates to a process including the preparation of purified metathesis feed. More particularly the invention relates to a process wherein the catalyst is part of a distillation structure and the products are simultaneously separated from the reactants and each other by fractional distillation during the reaction.
2. Related Art
Broadly metathesis has been defined as a chemical reaction in which an element or radical in one compound changes places with another element or radical in another compound. See The Van Nostrand Chemist's Dictionary, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1953, page 463. More specifically olefin metathesis can be defined as the redistribution of alkylidene moieties to give a mixture of olefins. In effect, this reaction takes place via cleavage of the olefin double bond. Generally the reactions of olefinic molecules in the presence of metal-containing catalysts to produce other olefinic molecules are known in the art as "disproportionation", "dismutation" or "metathesis" reactions.
The metathesis reactions generally are of considerable interest because of the versatility of the reaction and the numerous olefinic hydrocarbons available from petrochemical sources which are suitable for use in the reaction to yield useful products. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,832 (metathesis of propylene with itself to produce n-butene and ethylene); U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,827 (the metathesis of 2-methyl-1-propene and 2-butene to produce 2-methyl-2-butene); U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,115 (simultaneous disproportionation of butene with itself to produce ethylene or propylene and hexene or pentenes and fractional distillation); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,583,329 (concurrent metathesis reaction and separation by fractional distillation to produce: (A) propylene from butene; (B) detergent range olefins from the metathesis of C15 and heavier olefins with C9 and lighter olefins; (C) 2-methyl-2-butene and propylene from the metathesis of 2-butene and isobutylene; and (D) tetramethylethylene from the metathesis of isobutylene with itself and/or the reaction of diisobutylene with ethylene to produce neo hexene).
The metathesis of ethylene with n-butene to produce propylene is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,936. However, the purification of 2-butene prior to the metathesis reaction can be quite difficult. If pure 2-butene is not used, a wide range of byproducts are formed and/or the life the metathesis catalyst is shortened. The metathesis requires that the feed olefins be pretreated to remove contaminants such as dienes, water, sulfur, etc. These contaminants dramatically shorten the life of the catalyst. It is an advantage of the present invention that provides an integrated process for the recovery of high purity 2-butene and the conversion by metathesis with ethylene to propylene. It is a further advantage that an optional step in the integrated process provides purification of sulfur compounds and polyolefins from the 2-butene.


A vanity case includes a lower casing, an upper cover rotatably attached to a rear portion of the lower casing, and includes a lock projection. A latch device is rotatably attached to a front portion of the lower casing, to selectively lock the upper cover relative to the lower casing. The latch device includes a lock opening for engaging with the lock projection of the upper cover, and to solidly secure and lock the upper cover to the lower casing. The upper cover includes a lock recess to engage with the latch device when the latch device is rotated relative to the lower casing to the folded locking position, and to prevent the upper cover from being moved laterally relative to the lower casing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vanity case or compact or cosmetic casing, and more particularly to a vanity case or compact or cosmetic casing having a solid latch device to solidly secure or lock the vanity case in place, and to prevent the vanity case from being opened inadvertently.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various kinds of typical compacts, vanity cases, cosmetic casings, or the like have been developed and widely used for a long time, and all comprise a lower casing body, and an upper cover member pivotally attached to the lower casing body, to allow the upper cover member to be opened and closed relative to the lower casing body.
For example, U.S. Des. 360,487 to Ko, U.S. Des. 407,856 to Orsomando, U.S. Des. 428,211 to Gavin, U.S. Des. 443,393 to Goswell, U.S. Pat. No. 1,774,543 to Babbitt, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,468,161 to Beseke, disclose several of the typical compacts, vanity cases, cosmetic casings, or the like, and each includes a catch device to openably catch or lock the upper cover member to the lower casing body.
However, the catch devices of the typical compacts, vanity cases, cosmetic casings, or the like are engaged or coupled with each other by frictional forces or by force-fitted engagements, and may not be solidly engaged with each other, such that the upper cover member and the lower casing body may have a good chance to be opened inadvertently.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional vanity cases or compacts or cosmetic casings.


An image processing system according to the invention comprises a valuable information processing apparatus which manages valuable information equivalent to money, and an image forming apparatus which is connected to the valuable information processing apparatus and forms an image according to the valuable information. The image forming apparatus stores read or input image data into image data memory means. Then, image data stored in the image data memory means is invalidated when the valuable information to be managed by the valuable information processing apparatus fulfills a predetermined condition.

Recently, it is a common scene to place an image forming apparatus, such as a copy machine, in a convenience store or the like at the corner of a street to provide a copy service. A plurality of users bring in book originals, sheet originals or so and use it without constraint. In recent years, digitalization of image forming apparatuses has been advanced and multifunction type image forming apparatuses equipped with a printer function, a copy function and a FAX function which electronically scan an original image with a scanner device and print it out with a laser printer or so, have been commercialized. The merits of the digitalization are high quality outputs, free image processing, 1-scan multicopying, storage of electronic data of originals, and so forth, and are proposed as new document services on the market.
With the advancement of digitalization of image forming apparatuses, the technologies of erasing stored image data are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S59-50660, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-223061, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-284572, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S63-6575, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H6-4766 in order to prevent data, scanned by a scanner and stored on a hard disk or so, from being used by a third party without permission.
As a plurality of people uses an image forming apparatus in a store, such as a convenience store, it is necessary to surely erase stored image data. However, the image information processing method described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S59-50660 has a problem such that as image data is erased immediately after scanning the image data or after a predetermined time elapses after scanning of the image data, a user cannot use the function of reading scanned image data again and copying it (so-called electronic filing function). In stores, such as convenience stores, therefore, demands for developing image processing systems capable of effectively using the functions of digital image forming apparatuses have increased.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described situations, and aims at providing an image processing method, an image processing system and an image forming apparatus which can effectively use the functions of a digital image forming apparatus while ensuring the security of image data of a user by invalidating stored image data when valuable information, which is managed by a valuable information processing apparatus, such as a coin vendor, fulfills a predetermined condition.
It is another object of the invention to provide an image processing method, an image processing system and an image forming apparatus which can effectively use the functions of a digital image forming apparatus while ensuring the security of image data of a user by invalidating stored image data in response to an instruction from an information processing apparatus.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an image processing system, etc., which can invalidate image data after image formation by a user is surely finished, by invalidating the image data stored under the condition that an adjustment process on image data to be invalidated is completed by an information processing apparatus.

Image processing method, image processing system, and image forming apparatus


This disclosure concerns compositions and methods for novel pesticidal proteins, polynucleotides encoding such proteins, use of such novel pesticidal proteins to control Hemipteran/Lepidopteran plant pests, and transgenic plants that produce, and are protected, by these novel pesticidal proteins are described.

Biological control of insect pests of agricultural significance using a pesticidal protein affords an environmentally friendly and commercially attractive alternative to synthetic chemical pesticides. Generally speaking, the use of pesticidal proteins presents a lower risk of pollution and environmental hazards, and pesticidal proteins provide greater target specificity than is characteristic of traditional broad-spectrum chemical insecticides. In addition, pesticidal proteins often cost less to produce and thus improve economic yield for a wide variety of crops.
Certain species of microorganisms of the genus Bacillus are known to possess insecticidal activity against a range of insect pests including Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and others. Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus popilliae are among the most successful pesticidal proteins discovered to date. Insect pathogenicity has also been attributed to strains of B. larvae, B. lentimorbus, B. sphaericus and B. cereus, Pesticidal proteins, particularly those obtained from Bacillus strains, have played an important role in agriculture as alternatives to the use of synthetic chemical pesticides for insect control.
Crop plants have been developed with enhanced insect resistance by genetically engineering crop plants to produce pesticidal proteins from Bacillus. For example, coin and cotton plants have been genetically engineered to produce pesticidal proteins isolated from strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. These genetically engineered crops containing novel pesticidal proteins are now widely used in agriculture and have provided the farmer with an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional insect control methods. While they have proven to be very successful commercially, these genetically engineered, insect-resistant crop plants provide resistance to only a narrow range of the economically important insect pests. In some cases, insects can develop resistance to different insecticidal compounds, which raises the need to identify alternative biological control agents for pest control.
Accordingly, there remains a need for new pesticidal proteins with different ranges of insecticidal activity against insect pests, for example pesticidal proteins which are active against a variety of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the order Herniptera including but not limited to species belonging to the family Pentatomidae, the family Plataspidae and the family Cydnidae. In addition, there remains a need for pesticidal proteins having activity against a variety of insect pests that have developed resistance to existing pesticides.


A stent structure includes a stent and one or more fibers disposed on the stent, the fiber adapted to provide a therapeutic agent. Nuclei containing therapeutic agents that impede restenosis may be included within the fiber or within separate particles that are contained within hollow core fibers. The fibers and the particles may be bioerodible. A permeable, biocompatible sheath may be interposed between the stent and the fiber. A kit including a stent, a fiber, and a delivery catheter is also described.

This application claims benefit to foreign application IT TO99A000693 filed in Italy on Aug. 5, 1999.
The present invention relates to angioplasty stents. In particular, this invention relates to a stent structure that minimizes restenosis.
The term xe2x80x9cstentxe2x80x9d is used to indicate in a general way those devices intended for intravascular application (for example inside a blood vessel), usually carried out by catheterization followed by in-situ expansion in order to exert an action of local support to the lumen.
For a general overview of vascular stents the reader may usefully refer to the work xe2x80x9cTextbook of Interventional Cardiologyxe2x80x9d, ed. Eric J. Topol, W.B. Saunders Company, 1994, and in particular section IV of vol. II entitled xe2x80x9cCoronary Stentingxe2x80x9d.
The subject has also attracted a large number of patent documents, as witness, for example, EP-A-0 806 190, EP-A-0 850 604, EP-A-0 847 766, EP-A-0 857 470, EP-A-0 875 215, EP-A-0 895 759, EP-A-0 895 760.
The clinical use of these devices, which in recent years has grown considerably in popularity, must address the need to ensure an effective impediment to the phenomenon usually known as restenosis. This is a phenomenon (linked to the manifestation of physiological mechanisms that, furthermore, are not yet clearly understood) whereby the stenosis site, after having been reopened by the implant of the stent, gradually tends to close up again, usually owing to gradual tissue growth.
Various solutions have been proposed for dealing with this problem: they essentially involve a local action designed to impede the phenomena that give rise to the restenosis. In particular, a number of solutions have been investigated in which drugs are released locally or radioactive sources are used locally.
These solutions, especially those based on the localized and controlled release of drugs, have themselves to address the problem of how this localization is to be effectively carried out at the stent implant site. In the case of agents designed to be released by the stent, it is important to ensure that the majority of the agents are released gradually into the walls of the vessel rather than being washed away relatively rapidly by the flow of blood passing through the lumen of the stent. This is particularly important because clinical experiments show that the mechanisms of reaction of the vessel subjected to the stent implant occur at the level of a reaction by the vessel wall within a period of time typically ranging from 1 to 6 months from implantation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution capable of improving on previously attempted solutions, from a number of points of view. First, it is wished to be able to achieve a reliable connection, or anchoring, of therapeutic agents to the stent, and in particular a connection that will not be influenced either by the movement of the stent as it dilates, which is characteristic of the implanting operation, or by possible surface treatments (such as deposition of a surface layer of biocompatible carbon-containing material) which may have been applied to the stent.
Second, it is wished to be able to produce a collection of components capable of acting in effect as a xe2x80x9creleasing machinexe2x80x9d that will deliver a controlled release of restenosis-impeding agents, particularly as regards the possibility of precisely controlling the release kinetics, with the further possibility of selectively controlling, in time or in relation to other parameters, the release of diverse agents.
Again, it is wished that the functions specified above be able to be carried out without negative impacts on the other characteristic aspects of the functionality of the stent, e.g., by ensuring that, whether at the time of implantation or later, the lumen of the stent does not become a site for obstructions to the free flow of blood.
In one aspect, this invention is stent structure having a longitudinal axis and having a substantially tubular body capable of being dilated from a radially-contracted position to a radially-expanded position comprising a stent having an inner surface and an outer surface; and at least one fiber disposed adjacent one of the surfaces of the stent, the fiber adapted to provide a therapeutic agent. Preferably, the therapeutic agent is an agent that impedes restenosis. The fibers preferably are attached to the stent structure such that the fibers do not substantially retard dilation of the stent structure from the radially contracted position to the radially expanded position. The therapeutic agent may be contained within a nucleus embedded in the at least one fiber or may be within a lumen defined by the at least one fiber. The therapeutic agent may be in a nucleus where the nucleus is in a particle contained within an outer envelope. Preferably, the outer envelope is bioerodible. The particle may range in size from 100 to 200 nanometers. Preferably, the fiber is bioerodible.
The stent structure may also comprise a sheath interposed between the stent and the fiber. The sheath may be a biocompatible material, such as silicone, and may be permeable. Alternatively, the sheath may comprise a metallic material or a polymeric material and have an apertured structure such as a mesh, so that it may expand when the stent structure expands. The sheath may be coated with a layer of a biocompatible carbon-containing material. The fiber may be anchored to the sheath. There may be multiple fibers disposed around the stent. The fiber preferably is extensible in the direction of the longitudinal axis. The fiber may be wound around the stent structure in a helical path with a winding pitch of 45xc2x0 or 60xc2x0 relative to the longitudinal axis. The fiber may comprise a porous structure. The fiber diameter can range between about 30 and 100 micrometers and have wall thickness ranging between about 10 and 20 micrometers. The therapeutic agent may comprise one or more drugs selected from anti-inflammatory and antimitotic agents.
In a second embodiment, this invention is a kit for impeding restenosis in vasculature comprising a stent that can be dilated from a radially contracted position to a radially expanded position; at least one fiber comprising a restenosis-impeding agent; a catheter adapted to deliver the stent and the at least one fiber to a site of restenosis; and a container configured to house the stent, the at least one fiber, and the catheter. The fiber may comprise a sheet configured to be wound around the stent or a tubular sock configured to be fitted onto the stent.
In a third aspect, this invention is a component for delivering a therapeutic agent that impedes restenosis, the component for use in combination with a stent having a longitudinal axis and having an inner surface and an outer surface, the component comprising at least one fiber configured to be placed adjacent a surface of the stent; a particle contained by the at least one fiber, and a nucleus contained within the particle, the nucleus adapted to contain the therapeutic agent. The particle may be contained within a lumen defined by the at least one fiber and/or may comprise the nucleus contained within an outer envelope. The therapeutic agent that impedes restenosis may further comprise one or more drugs selected from anti-inflammatory and antimitotic agents.
In a fourth aspect, this invention is a method of impeding restenosis in a patient""s vasculature comprising: providing a stent having an inner surface and an outer surface and a longitudinal axis and being capable of being dilated from a radially-contracted position to a radially-expanded position; providing at least one fiber adapted to deliver a restenosis impeding agent; providing a delivery catheter; mounting the stent and the at least one fiber onto the delivery catheter; and advancing the delivery catheter to the patient""s vasculature to deliver the stent and the at least one fiber at the site of stenosis.

Angioplasty stent adapted to counter restenosis respective kit and components


In a system for transmitting a plurality of data flows from a mobile station to a base station, combinations of capacities which are given from a radio network controller are optionally or quickly modified in the mobile station to be sent to the base station. The combinations of capacities are divided into a plurality of groups each of which is individually pointed by a sub pointer.

In WCDMA system, the uplink capacity is loosely managed in such a way that a mobile station can transmit up to a maximum rate that is controlled by a Radio Network Controller (RNC). The RNC based statistical multiplexing scheme would result in a high noise rise variation that leads to a loss of uplink capacity due to a large required noise rise headroom.
As a sister technology of HSDPA, a closed-loop-based uplink capacity scheduling between mobile station and base station is recently proposed in 3GPP. A reference is Non-Patent Publication 1 (3GPP TR25.896 v1.0.0 "Fesibility Sudy for Enhanced Uplink UTRA FDD" (2003-9)). In EDCH, a base station controls the maximum capacity of mobile station instead of RNC in such a way that the noise rise of cell is controlled in order to achieve smaller variance. The base station can react faster than RNC to the fast changing nature of wireless channel. Therefore the capacity scheduling at base station has a natural advantage over the RNC based WCDMA capacity scheduling. There are two kinds of scheduling schemes currently under investigation namely, 'Rate Scheduling' and 'Rate and Time Scheduling'.
In WCDMA system, the priority handling in uplink packet data transmission is such that a higher priority data packet is transmitted prior to lower priority data packet. Therefore a data packet with highest priority will be served up to maximum available transmission rate of mobile station, and if there is remaining rate, the next highest priority data packet can be transmitted. In addition to priority handling, a QoS handling was introduced in HSDPA, namely Guaranteed Bitrate (GBR). This is a kind of QoS-aware radio capacity scheduling in downlink packet transmission in such a way that the packet scheduler is aware of QoS requirement of data packet in addition to its priority to provide sufficient radio capacity to meet the required QoS of data packet.
In WCDMA system, a mobile station can assign uplink capacity for multiple data flows using a "set" of Combination of Capacities (CC). Each CC in the set indicates how a total capacity is divided into multiple flows while each CC may have different amount of total capacity TC in FIG. 1. Therefore, RNC can limit the total uplink transmission capacity by restricting mobile station to use only an allowed "sub-set" of CC. The required signaling is, then, an indication of the sub-set of CC from RNC to mobile station.
Similarly, in EDCH system, the base station can limit the total uplink transmission capacity by restricting mobile station to use only an allowed "sub-set" of CC. An efficient signaling technique, namely Pointer Handling, is proposed to reduce the overhead associated with the required signaling of the sub-set of CC between the base station and mobile station. This scheme requires the set of CC to be ordered with respect to the total amount of capacity. For example, the CC in FIG. 1 is ordered with respect to total capacity into FIG. 2. Then, the base station uses a differential signaling (i.e. +1 or −1) in signaling of the allowed sub-set of CC, e.g. at every beginning of capacity scheduling interval, a differential signaling is sent to all mobile stations in the cell. In addition, the mobile station can request to modify the allowed sub-set of CC, if it's allowed subset and cannot meet the priority and QoS of data flows. Then, a conventional differential signaling can be also used as request to modification of allowed sub-set of CC so that mobile station sends +1 or −1 if it requires higher or lower capacity. The differential signaling limits the overhead of signaling the allowed set of CC in order to conserve the uplink and downlink capacity for data transmission.
Despite of its spectral efficiency, the conventional differential signaling has a latency problem when it is applied to multiple data flows. In the example shown in FIG. 2, if the mobile station wants to reduce or increase the capacity allocated for a specific flow, then more than one differential signaling message is needed to be signaled. For example, if the current Pointer indicates CC3 and mobile station wants to increase the flow capacity of Flow 2 to 64 kbps, then two consecutive +1 signaling are needed and therefore the latency of capacity scheduling is increased. If the total size of the set of CC increases by introducing finer granularity of each flow, the latency will be also further increased so therefore the effectiveness of capacity scheduling is reduced.
The conventional differential signalling has a coupling problem when it is applied to multiple data flows. In the example shown in FIG. 2, if the current Pointer indicates CC3 and the mobile station wants to increase capacity of Flow 1 to 128 kbps while maintaining capacity of Flow 3 at 8 kbps, two consecutive +1 signaling are needed. After 1st +1 signaling, Pointer indicates CC2 in which Flow 3 cannot transmit a data at all. This problem will be even more complicated if finer granularity for multiple flows is to be supported.
Handling of multiple priority and QoS of multiple flows is also a problem of differential signalling. If a flow is high priority and other flows are low priority flows, the latency of capacity change of high priority flow is delayed by granularity in low priority flows. For example in FIG. 2, if Flow 1 is high priority flow, in order to change a capacity, it requires two consecutive differential signaling. The problem becomes more complicated if the granularity of low priority is increased or total number of multiplexed flows is increased. There should be a mean to enable faster adaptation based on flow priority and associated QoS.
With reference to FIG. 3, consideration is given to a case in which a mobile station 1 and a mobile station 2 each have a plurality of flows having different priorities. In the mobile station 1, a flow 1a with high priority requests increase of the capacity, whereas a flow 1b with low priority requests reduction of the capacity. In the mobile station 2, a flow 2a with high priority requests reduction of the capacity, whereas a flow 2b with low priority requests increase of the capacity. According to the conventional differential signaling, each mobile station synthesizes the capacity requests of the plurality of flows into a single capacity request and reports this capacity request to the base station. Accordingly, in the example shown in FIG. 3, both the mobile station 1 and the mobile station 2 transmit a single capacity increase request. However, the base station cannot identify which flow of the mobile stations requests the increase of capacity. Therefore, it is impossible to preferentially allocate the capacity to the high-priority flow when the remaining capacity is not enough and the base station is only able to respond to the capacity increase request from one of the mobile stations. This induces a problem that the QoS achievement rate of the system as a whole is deteriorated.

Signaling method, system, base station and mobile station


A labeling machine applies an adhesive to labels for attachment to containers and has a glue bar which engages a glue roller. A label drum receives and delivers labels into engagement with containers for wrap around labeling of the containers. An adhesive is delivered to the glue bar. The adhesive is a hot melt adhesive which can maintain its label bond while withstanding high heat such as from a pasteurization process. The hot melt adhesive has a viscosity which tends to increase if the adhesive is not kept in constant motion or is allowed to set. The shear of the adhesive is increased during adhesive transfer to ensure low viscosity transfer of the adhesive from the glue roller to a label positioned on the label drum.

The increased concern for health standards in consumer product packaging requires that containers often be pasteurized before they are filled. This makes the application of labels to some containers especially difficult because the labels typically are applied by wrap around labeling to a container before the container is filled. After the label is applied, the empty container is pasteurized. The high heat of pasteurization could cause a hot melt adhesive to weaken and cause heat distortion of the label with the result that the adhesive bond would break. This problem could occur with hot beverage filling, where the containers are filled under heat with a beverage.
One type of hot melt adhesive, comprising a polyurethane based polymer, has been found advantageous for use on an adhesive based joint for a label applied by wrap around labeling and which is subject to high heat such as a pasteurization process. An example of such adhesives are those adhesives disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,608,418 and 4,870,142 to Czerwinski et al., dated Aug. 26, 1986 and Sep. 26, 1989 respectively. The adhesives disclosed in these patents are advantageous because they can withstand high heat such as from a pasteurization process or hot beverage filling, while maintaining the label bond even when the label is subject to heat induced forces. Thus, the heat induced forces will not tear the adhesive bond.
Such adhesives, however, are extremely tacky, and the label is prone to adhere to a glue roller when a glue roller engages the label for adhesive transfer. The label could be pulled from the label drum. Additionally, such hot melt adhesives have a viscosity which tends to increase if the adhesive is not kept in constant motion or is allowed to set. Thus, slight delays of a few seconds in which the adhesive is not agitated or sheared during transfer from glue bars onto glue rollers, or other contact points, could cause an increase in adhesive viscosity which would make adhesive transfer difficult or impossible.

Method and apparatus for labeling containers with increased vacuum draw on label drum


A radio base station has a monitor (31), memory (33, 49) and one or more resources (35(i), 37(j), 39(k), 41(m), 43(n), 45(o), 47(p)). The memory (33, 49) is connected to the monitor (31) and stores tasks and data. Each of the resources (35(i), 37(j), 39(k), 41(m), 43(n), 45(o), 47(p)) is connected to the monitor (31) and performs a function or executes a program. The radio base station has an analogue signal manifold (39(k)) with input lines, output lines, and nodes for making connections between input and output lines. The input lines and output lines are connectable to predetermined resources and the nodes may perform a mathematic operation on an incoming signal on the input lines.

The present invention relates to improvements in radio base systems. Whereas the present application is directed to connections between components in radio base stations, other aspects of the invention are claimed in co-pending applications:                1. XML controlled radio base station and method of using such a radio base station U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 10/584,363 filed on Mar. 9, 2007        2. System with centralized resource manager is a PCT Application Number PCT/NL2003/000932 filed on Dec. 24, 2003        3. Multisectional bus in radio base station and method of using such a radio base station is a U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,220 filed on Mar. 5, 2007

Manifold in a radio base station and method of using such a radio base station


A gas delivery apparatus is provided, comprising a system controller configured to collect valve position information and sensor information from at least a plurality of the sensors and valves, store the valve position information and sensor information into the monitored gas delivery process data, and execute the discriminative classifier including a first artificial intelligence (AI) model configured to extract features in a first input image of the monitored gas delivery process; a second AI model configured to extract features in a second input image of a golden gas delivery process; and a contrastive loss function configured to calculate a similarity between the first input image and the second input image based on outputs of the first AI model and the second AI model, and output a repeatability confidence value based on a similarity index between the first input image and the second input image.

In the apparatuses of gas delivery systems that are used to supply various kinds of gases in semiconductor manufacturing, multiple gas supply channels may flow different gases to be mixed and supplied for various manufacturing processes. A mass flow controller is provided for each gas supply channel to adjust the flow rate of the gas.
In some gas delivery systems, the mass flow controllers may all be connected via a network to a central control unit which remotely sends commands to the mass flow controllers and requests process data via the network. Each mass flow controller maintains its own control loop with the central control unit, synchronized to commands sent via the network from the central control unit. A predefined gas delivery process, including the sequenced delivery of one or more gasses at various flow rates and pressures to downstream equipment such as a semiconductor process chamber, is fulfilled by sending sequential flow commands and settings via a local computer network to the mass flow controllers. The control unit receives feedback from each mass flow controller, which it uses for feedback control of each mass flow controller and to log the actual gas delivery process for quality assurance purposes. However, for high precision control, as sensor resolution increases and data flows become larger, real-time data acquisition of data from sensors and processors on the individual mass flow controllers by the control unit may be difficult to achieve, especially when local computer network capacity and bandwidth are constrained. Further, even if such data is acquired by the control unit, monitoring a target process (i.e., a current process occurring in real time or a process that has been performed in the past and is later analyzed) of the gas delivery system for subtle deviations from an idealized process definition is difficult.

Computing system with discriminative classifier for determining similarity of a monitored gas delivery process


A vehicular brake system component is used in a brake system of a vehicle. The brake system component includes a sealable bonded component having a metal member and an elastic rubber member bonded to each other and located so as to touch a brake fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular brake system component, such as an accumulator, used in a brake system of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known vehicular brake system component, e.g., an accumulator, comprises a pressure vessel and a diaphragm. The pressure vessel has a gas chamber in which a compressed gas is sealed and a liquid chamber filled with a liquid, such as oil. The diaphragm divides the gas and liquid chambers and has one end capable of extending and contracting in the axial direction of the vessel. The diaphragm of the accumulator of this type requires elasticity to cope with change in volume of the gas, as well as high gas barrier performance (high gas impermeability). Therefore, the diaphragm is expected to be flexible and highly durable.
In the case of the accumulator of which the interior of the pressure vessel is divided into the gas and liquid chambers by the diaphragm, however, the diaphragm sometimes may excessively extend or contract when the gas is sealed into the gas chamber or if the pressure in the liquid chamber falls below a given level during use. If the diaphragm excessively extends or contracts in this manner, it is partially pressed against the inner surface of the pressure vessel. Thus, an undue force may possibly locally act on a seal member provided on an elastic end of the diaphragm, thereby spoiling the sealing performance.
A known accumulator is described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 6-1092. In this accumulator, a partition wall is located in a liquid chamber, and a lid (seal member) is provided on an elastic end of a diaphragm. The partition wall has a circulation port in a position opposite the elastic end of the diaphragm. Oil in an oil chamber flows through the circulation port when the diaphragm extends or contracts with the port communicating with the oil chamber. The lid is formed of a rubberlike elastic body of synthetic resin.
When the diaphragm fully extends or contracts, according to this accumulator, some of oil that is previously stored in the liquid chamber is confined to the liquid chamber side of the diaphragm (between the partition wall and the diaphragm) by the lid. Since the liquid is substantially noncompressive, the diaphragm is prevented from further extending or contracting by the confined backup liquid or oil.
The seal member for confining the backup liquid is always immersed in a liquid that is introduced into the liquid chamber. The accumulator is used in a hydraulic-pressure device that is mounted in a vehicle, for example. Preferably, therefore, the seal member should be able to secure satisfactory sealing performance for a prolonged time, as well as chemical resistance and durability against pressure fluctuation at high temperature.


A configuration memory architecture for an FPGA eliminates the need for a regular array of word lines and bit lines. The memory includes memory bytes, each of which has eight SRAM latches, a single flip-flop and a one-of-eight decoder having data input coupled to the inverting output of the flip-flop and eight individual data outputs, each of which is coupled to a data input of one of the SRAM latches. The flip-flops of all memory bytes for a logic block are coupled together in a serpentine shift register. Loading of configuration data involves shutting down all paths through the decoder, shifting all configuration bits for the xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d position SRAM latch of each memory byte into the shift register, and setting the address bits to the decoder so as to create a conductive path on each memory byte from the output of the flip-flop to the data input of the 0 latch. The process is then repeated for the seven other SRAM latch positions.

This invention relates to the field of programmable gate arrays that have static RAM which stores programming bits which define the functionality of the field programmable gate array.
In prior art FPGAs which are SRAM based, there are thousands of individual memory bits which define the desired functionality of the device. These bits are loaded one at a time using the word lines and bit lines and addressing circuitry to address each bit. The bit and word lines define an array with the word lines typically running across the entire FPGA in one direction and the bit lines running across the entire FPGA in an orthogonal direction. The individual memory cells in the array are coupled to the word lines and bit lines in the interstices of the matrix defined by the lines. The whole memory array has to be relatively regular. The memory cells contain the control bits to turn switches on and off in the FPGA""s logic blocks to define the configuration and functionality of the logic blocks. Generally, the memory cells need to be close to the logic blocks they control to minimize routing problems. This forces the logic blocks to be fabricated inside the interstices of the array defined by the word and bit lines of the SRAM memory array. This puts a constraint on the layout of the FPGA which can adversely affect the circuit design because of insufficient space and non optimal spacing between different logic blocks that need to communicate data therebetween.
By forcing the logic blocks to be in the interstices of the memory array in prior art FPGAs, it is frequently necessary to run high speed signal lines over the top of memory cells. Although these high speed signal lines are insulated from the memory cell, they still radiate electromagnetic noise. The EMC emissions can cause soft errors by changing the state of data in the memory cells through capacitive coupling of energy from the high speed data signal into the memory cell. While it is not possible to completely eliminate this problem, it can be alleviated through use of the invention.
The purpose of an FPGA is to provide a customizable logic array to the customer. The critical path is in the design of the FPGA and not the design of the SRAM memory which defines the function of the FPGA. Therefore, the restriction in space available and the routing complications that are caused by the need in the prior art to place logic blocks in the interstices of the logic array create problems.
Thus, a need has arisen for an FPGA structure wherein the need for regularity in the array structure is eliminated such that there is no need to place the logic blocks in the interstices of the memory array.
The invention eliminates the need for a regular array of word lines and bit lines running across the FPGA and the need to put the logic blocks into the interstices of the bit line/word line matrix. An FPGA using the configuration memory according to the teachings of the invention will have the memory cells placed close to the switches etc. being controlled. This allows the memory cells to be built small since they do not need a large drive capability, and it also eliminates long routes for control signals from the memory cells to the devices being controlled thereby. This allows a logic designer specifying the function of an FPGA using the teachings of the invention to optimize the critical paths by placement and routing decisions that make the most sense. The memory cells can be placed anywhere in the logic block, but they are usually placed close to the device being controlled. The selection or control lines can be run to the portions of the various logic blocks being controlled. The memory architecture according to the teachings of the invention also reduces the number of high speed data paths that must be routed over memory cells thereby creating the possibility of soft errors.
These advantages are achieved through the use of a memory architecture that eliminates the use of a conventional regular array of bit lines and word lines to load configuration data into the memory cells. The memory configuration will be called a memory byte architecture because each decoder and group of memory cells includes eight memory cells for a string of eight configuration bits. There is nothing critical about the number eight, and other sizes of groupings can also be used.
In the preferred embodiment, each memory byte has a single flip flop or bistable latch for storing one configuration bit to be loaded into one of the eight static RAM latches. A one-of-eight decoder is interposed between the single flip flop and the eight static RAM latches. The purpose of this decoder is to steer the configuration bit in the flip flop to a selectable one of the eight static RAM latches under the influence of addressing signals supplied by a state machine or programmable computer. The state machine or programmable computer controls a sequence of events to load bits into all eight of the eight static RAM latches of each memory byte. The reader should understand that the selection of the number eight for the number of SRAM latches or other types of memory cells in each memory byte of the configuration memory was purely an arbitrary choice and other numbers could also be chosen with a suitable increase in the span of the decoder from one-of-eight to one-of-X where X is the number of memory cells in each memory xe2x80x9cbytexe2x80x9d. Hereafter, the word xe2x80x9cbytexe2x80x9d should be understood as referring to the number X, whatever that number is chosen to be.
The overall memory structure of an FPGA using the teachings of the invention uses a plurality of these memory bytes. It is the eight static RAM latches of each memory byte which store configuration data that generates the logic signals that are coupled to various switches in the logic blocks and define the functionality of the FPGA.
The configuration data stored in the eight static RAM latches of each memory byte is stored in the static RAM latches using a special memory loading technique involving a serpentine shift register. The single flip flop of each memory byte structure is one link in the serpentine chain of flip flops, all flip flops being connected to act as a serial-input, parallel-output shift register. One output of each flip flop is coupled to the data input of the next flip flop in the serpentine chain. The other output of each flip flop is coupled to the data input of the one-of-eight decoder. The address inputs of the decoder are coupled to the state machine. Each decoder of each memory byte is coupled to the same address bits. Each of the one-of-eight decoders has eight individual data outputs which are coupled to the data inputs of the eight static RAM latches.
Loading of configuration data into the eight static RAM latches of each memory byte structure is accomplished as follows. First, the state machine sets the address bits to all zeroes so as to cut off conductivity of all data paths through the decoder. Then the state machine loads the configuration data that is to be stored in all the xe2x80x9cOxe2x80x9d position static RAM latches of all the memory byte structures having their flip flops in the serpentine chain shift register. This data is in serial format and is shifted into the serpentine chain by clocking the flip flops in the chain as many times as there are flip flops in the chain and bits to be stored. After all the bits are loaded, the state machine changes the address bits to cause each decoder to create a conductive path between the data input of the decoder and the data input of the static RAM latch in the xe2x80x9cOxe2x80x9d position. This causes the configuration bit in each flip flop to be loaded into the xe2x80x9cOxe2x80x9d position static RAM latch of each memory byte. Next, the state machine sets the address lines to all zeroes again to close all conductive paths through the decoder, and the configuration bits for the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d position static RAM latches of each memory byte is shifted into the serpentine shift register. After that data is loaded, the state machine changes the address bits to all the decoders to cause them to open a conductive path from the decoder data input to the data input of the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d position static RAM latches of all memory bytes. This causes all the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d position static RAM latches to be loaded. This process is repeated until all the static RAM latches have been loaded.

Configuration memory architecture for FPGA


A socket assembly for a gate valve wrench includes a socket, a support member adapted to mount on the wrench and a fastener for connecting the socket to the support member in such a manner so as to retain the socket fixed in place on the gate valve wrench. The socket includes a cylindrical piece with an inner surface shaped to include twelve inwardly protruding ridges that together define an interior cavity. In use, the socket assembly can be used in conjunction with the wrench to turn a rounded gate valve operating nut. Specifically, with the socket assembly attached to the wrench, the socket is forcibly driven down over the rounded nut such that each ridge digs into the rounded nut. Firmly engaged by the socket, the rounded nut can then be operated using the wrench.

The present invention relates generally to valves located in underground fluid-carrying conduits and more particularly to tools used to operate said valves.
Underground fluid-carrying conduits, such as water lines, fuel lines, sewer lines and the like, typically have gate valves installed at periodic locations. In this manner, one may shut off the flow of the fluid through a desired length of the conduit by closing selected gate valves. Examples of conditions that require closure along particular segments of the conduit include, but are not limited to, emergency conditions (e.g., a water main break or gas leak) and construction projects (e.g., tapping the water system for a new building into a preexisting underground water main).
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a gate valve which is well-known in the art and which is identified generally by reference numeral 11. Gate valve 11 includes a shortened conduit 13 that is shaped to define first and second openings 15-1 and 15-2 that are in fluid communication with one another. A movable gate (not shown), which is typically rounded or rectangular in shape, is located within conduit 13 between first and second openings 15-1 and 15-2 and serves to regulate the flow of fluid therebetween.
The gate is typically connected to a vertically disposed stem 17 which at least partially protrudes out from conduit 13. An enlarged operating nut 19 is traditionally mounted onto the free end of stem 17, operating nut 19 typically having a square shape in both longitudinal and lateral cross-section. In this manner, it is to be understood that fluid flow through valve 11 can be manually regulated through the rotation of operating nut 19 (i.e., clockwise rotation to close valve 11 and counterclockwise rotation to open valve 11).
Because gate valves are commonly disposed a considerable distance underground (e.g., often several feet beneath the surface of a road), an elongated wrench is commonly used to turn operating nut 19. In this manner, the valve can be easily regulated through a relatively small access hole in the ground, which is highly desirable.
Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown one well-known type of wrench which is often used to turn operating nut 19, the wrench being identified generally by reference numeral 21. Wrench 21 is typically constructed out of a strong, rigid and durable material, such as cast iron or steel, and comprises a square-shaped key 23 which is connected to an elongated T-bar 25 through an inverted U-shaped stirrup, or strut, 27.
As can be seen, key 23 is constructed as an elongated band that is configured so as to define a square-shaped central opening 24 therein. It is to be understood that key 23 is sized and shaped to fittingly receive operating nut 19 within opening 24.
T-bar 25 comprises an elongated arm 29 which is connected to key 23 through stirrup 27, with arm 29 preferably being several feet in length. An orthogonally disposed handle 31 is formed onto the free end of arm 29 so as to provide T-bar 25 with its T-shaped design. Although T-bar 25 is represented herein as being generally square-shaped in lateral cross-section, it is to be understood that T-bar 25 is often circular or rectangular in lateral cross-section as well.
In use, wrench 21 is commonly used to operate an underground gate valve 11 in the following manner. Specifically, key 23 of wrench 21 is disposed through a small access hole (either preexisting or newly created) in the ground directly above the gate valve 11 to be regulated. Due to the considerable length of arm 29, key 23 can be disposed several feet below ground by an operator who remains above ground. By grasping handle 31, the operator orientates key 23 such that operating nut 19 inserts into opening 24. Because key 23 and operating nut 19 have complementary square-shaped designs, it is to be understood that operating nut 19 fits loosely within key 23. With nut 19 positioned within key 23 as described above, the user manually rotates T-bar 25 using handle 31. The rotation of handle 31 similarly rotates operating nut 19 in such a manner so as to open and/or close gate valve 11.
A gate valve may sit underground for many years, even decades, without being turned. As a result, it has been found that an infrequently operated gate valve often becomes stuck or otherwise difficult to regulate (e.g., due to the accumulation of dirt, grime or other similar forms of debris between moving parts). Accordingly, in order to move a stuck gate valve, an operator is typically required to rotate the wrench handle back and forth a number of times to loosen the gate mechanism of the valve. Because the operating nut often fits rather loosely within the wrench key, this process of loosening the gate mechanism commonly causes the wrench to round (i.e., strip) the operating nut. With the operating nut rounded, it is to be understood that a conventional gate valve wrench (e.g., of the type shown in FIG. 2) is no longer able to adequately grip the operating nut and thereby regulate the gate valve.
The inability to operate a gate valve using a traditional gate valve wrench introduces a number of notable shortcomings.
As a first shortcoming, the inability to operate a gate valve using a traditional gate valve wrench often necessitates that the access hole in the ground be significantly expanded so as to permit a worker and/or large machinery to reach the rounded operating nut. This expansion of the access hole is extremely costly due to the significant amount of labor and machinery required to excavate. In addition, the expansion of the access hole is rather time consuming and disruptive in nature.
As a second shortcoming, the inability to operate a gate valve using a traditional gate valve wrench creates a potentially dangerous condition. Specifically, because a more expansive and time-consuming process is required to rotate the rounded nut, hazardous conditions that require an immediate shut-off of selected gate valves (e.g., a gas leak or water main break) can remain untreated for unacceptably long periods.
Accordingly, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,036,402 to J. S. Marks et al. (hereinafter the '402 patent), there is disclosed a water main T-bar that is configured to work in combination with a socket tool, the combination forming a key for actuating an underground valve in a water main, sewer line, gas line, petroleum pipeline, fuel line, etc. In the '402 patent, it is suggested that the socket tool may be of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,906 to J. S. Marks (hereinafter the '906 patent). The socket tool disclosed in the '906 patent features spring loaded pins that adapt or conform to the valve stem, handle or nut shape and size. The pins are bundled in parallel inside a housing and collectively gain purchase on and apply the torque necessary to open or close the valve. In this manner, the socket tool may be used in conjunction with the T-bar to actuate a gate valve with a decayed operating nut.
Although well known in the art, the water main T-bar and adaptor disclosed in the '402 and '906 patents suffer from a couple notable shortcomings.
As a first shortcoming, the self-forming socket disclosed in the '906 patent is rather mechanically complex in nature, thereby rendering it considerably expensive to manufacture and purchase. Due to the high cost associated with such sockets, most municipalities are limited in the number of self-forming sockets that they can purchase. As a result, it has been found that certain emergency situations which require the immediate shut-off of selected gate valves are unacceptably delayed until operators can locate and acquire the socket and complementary T-bar.
As a second shortcoming, the self-forming socket disclosed in the '906 patent is not designed for attachment to a traditional water main T-bar. Rather, the self-forming socket is designed for attachment with the T-bar disclosed in the '402 patent. As a result, municipalities that are to consider use the socket disclosed in the '906 patent are additionally required to purchase a new T-bar, thereby increasing expenses.
As a third shortcoming, the self-forming socket disclosed in the '906 patent is relatively large in size. As a result, the socket is often incapable of being passed through many preexisting access holes in the ground. Consequently, a time-consuming and expensive excavation process is often required to expand the size of the access hole.
As a fourth shortcoming, the self-forming socket disclosed in the '906 patent has been found to be ineffective when used to turn operating nuts that are considerably round in lateral cross-section. Specifically, it has been found that the parallel pins are unable to effectively grab an operating nut that does not include at least one flattened surface.
As a fifth shortcoming, the self-forming socket disclosed in the '906 patent is often difficult to use in certain conditions. Most notably, when disposed underground, dirt and rocks have been found to accumulate within the socket and can compromise the ability of the spring-biased pins to be displaced.


The present invention provides a communication means that enables use of a function for providing connectivity to a local area data network (LADN) in a 5G system (5GS). Furthermore, the present invention provides a communication means that enables use of a function for providing connectivity to an LADN between a user equipment and a network when the use of the function for providing connectivity to an LADN is enabled.

In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), studies related to a system architecture of the next generation, i.e., a fifth generation, mobile communication system (i.e., 5G System; 5GS), have been started, and supports for new procedures and new functions are being discussed (refer to non-Patent Document 1 and non-Patent Document 2).
For example, requirements may include the followings: optimization and diversification of communication procedures adapted to various and diverse services and used for supporting continuous mobile communication services; optimization of a system architecture corresponding to the optimization and diversification of the communication procedures; and the like.

User equipment (UE) and communication control method


A wireless local loop system is provided that includes a wireless base station that communicates with a subscriber station via a wireless link. The wireless link can carry a voice service, such as telephone calls, or a data service, such as internet browsing. The subscriber station includes a steerable antenna. A presently preferred steerable antenna for use with the subscriber station includes a driven element mounted on a base plane that is surrounded by a plurality of parasitic elements also mounted to the base plane. The parasitic elements can be optionally grounded or floated in order to reflect the wireless link towards the driven element. The antenna can be oriented in a desired direction during the transception of a voice or data service. A method of transceiving between a wireless local loop subscriber station and a wireless local loop base station is also provided.

Various forms of modern wireless communications systems are well known. For example, cellular wireless voice services are now widely deployed in industrialized nations, and technology improvements are expected to enhance and expand cellular wireless services and lead to further deployment.
Wireless local loop (WLL) systems are expected to become a viable alternative to the wired local loop telephone services offered by the existing local telephone companies throughout North America. WLL systems typically include a network of wireless base stations, each serving a plurality of subscribers. In turn, each subscriber possesses a subscriber station that supports voice services (e.g., telephone) and/or data services (e.g., internet) using wireless communication with one or more of the base stations.
Attempts have been made to implement WLL systems. In general, these systems have either failed or not enjoyed broad penetration. One system that failed was the IONICA system implemented in United Kingdom. The IONICA system (explained in some detail in the Background of the Invention of U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,966 to Smith) required an antenna mounted to the exterior of the subscriber's premises and connected via a cable to the subscriber station within the subscriber premises. These external antennas needed to be installed by professional installers, often at significant expense, as the IONICA system required the subscriber antenna to be externally mounted and directed towards the base station best suited to service the subscriber.
Such external antennas suffered the additional problem that, as new subscribers and base stations were added, subscribers frequently needed to have their antenna readjusted by professional installers in order to redirect the subscriber's antenna to the new base station, thus increasing the expense of the system and causing frustration to the subscriber as they waited for the professional installer to make the adjustments. It has been suggested that IONICA failed, at least in part, because of the problems associated with unwieldy external antennas. In general, more modern WLL systems still rely on external antennas. For example, the so-called "Project Angel" system promulgated by AT&T uses an external antenna. While these more recent systems have overcome some of the other limitations of IONICA, the need for careful mounting of an external antenna can still be a barrier for some subscribers desiring access to WLL services.
Steerable antennas are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,197 to Milne teaches an adaptive array antenna that is adapted for use in mobile terminals that communicate with satellite communication systems. One problem with Milne is that it directly contemplates satellite systems, thus Milne teaches away from the of use an adaptive array antenna in a terrestrial-based WLL system. In any event, Milne teaches the use of over a dozen parasitic elements that require complex controls to steer the antenna, and overall adding extra cost and/or complexity to the mobile terminal, thus making it generally unsuitable for use in a WLL system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,905 to Koscica teaches a steerable antenna having a plurality of radiating elements that are comprised of a series of diodes connected in series with conductors having a length that is a fraction of the wavelength of the design frequency. A basic assumption behind this Koscica is that the radiating elements (active or passive) are broken into lengths much smaller than a wavelength in order to make them electrically transparent. However, when this design is applied to common cellular telephone applications or a WLL system, the performance of this antenna would be poor because of the losses due to the plurality of diodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,034,638 to Thiel teaches a steerable antenna for use in mobile telephones. Thiel teaches an antenna having four equally spaced monopole elements mounted in a symmetric array on the outer surface of a solid cylinder structure. The cylinder has a high dielectric constant, and extends from a conductive ground plane. The monopole elements can be switched by switching elements so that one or more is active, with the others acting as parasitic directors/reflectors being connected to ground, or left in an open circuit to be effectively transparent. One problem with Thiel is that it is specifically directed to mobile cellular telecommunication systems, and thus teaches away from the application of a steerable antenna in WLL subscriber stations. Further, the mounting of the monopole elements within the solid cylinder structure results in an antenna that may be physically robust for the abuse to which a mobile telephone can be subjected, but is unnecessary and/or overly expensive when applied to a WLL subscriber station. Furthermore, Thiel teaches the switching of the elements in order to reduce the exposure of the subscriber to electromagnetic radiation when the cellular telephone is placed near the subscriber's head, a constraint that is not believed to be of concern in a WLL subscriber station. For example, Thiel teaches the switching of the driven elements, yet it is believed that switching in this manner can cause unacceptable performance loss in a WLL subscriber station. In general, the configuration of the antenna in Thiel and the method of switching the antenna in Thiel are directed to mobile applications, and is thus unsuitable for fixed wireless applications.


A continuously variable transmission for a vehicle includes first and second continuously variable shift parts. A torsional damper for absorbing torsional vibration caused by a change in engine torque is connected to an output shaft of an engine. A forward/reverse control mechanism for controlling forward and reverse drive of the vehicle is connected to said damping means. The first continuously variable part is connected to the forward/reverse control means through a first power transmission member. The second continuously variable shift part transmits shifted rotating force to a final reduction gear system.

Continuously variable transmissions are increasingly used. This is a result of the advantage of CVTs which is that shift shock is avoided by enabling speed ratios to be varied in a continuous fashion.
However, conventional continuously variable transmissions which are well known at present have problems that whole shift range is so limited, deteriorating fuel consumption ratio and driving performance. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,247 discloses such a continuously variable transmission.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a continuously variable transmission which has an enlarged shift range to improve the fuel efficiency and driving performance.

Automatic transmission with a toroidal CVT and a belt type CVT for vehicle


A keyboard of a notebook type computer that is small in size yet has a smooth key-in operation. The keyboard includes a plurality of keys including English letter key, with each of the keys having keytops arranged in transverse lines and vertical rows in a matrix manner, with a small gap between every two adjacent keytops. An arrangement of the keytops of the English letter keys is such that a pitch in a transverse direction is larger than that in a vertical direction, and a size of an upper surface of the keytop of the English letter key is such that a length in the transverse direction is larger than a length in the vertical direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyboard and a notebook type computer, specifically to a keyboard and a notebook type computer capable of being miniaturized while maintaining a favorable key-in operability.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computers have gradually been miniaturized to realize, at present, a portable notebook type computer as shown in FIG. 5. This notebook type computer includes a main body 2 having a keyboard 1, a display 3 and a hinge section 4 for coupling the display 3 with the main body 2, wherein the display 3 constitutes an openable/closable cover for the main body. The keyboard 1 has a plurality of keys having keytops 5 arranged in transverse lines and vertical rows in a matrix manner with a small gap between every two adjacent keytops, wherein information input from the keyboard 1 is processed by a CPU provided in the interior of the main body. The input information is displayed on the display 3.
The keyboard of the notebook computer described above is small in size because of the miniaturization of the computer itself. In addition, a marketed notebook type computer Libretto CTA 20 (provided from TOSHIBA) realizes the miniaturization of keyboard by using a keytop having longer transverse edges. In this regard, the outer periphery of this keytop is chamfered as shown in FIG. 6 so that an upper surface (operating surface) 6 of the keytop 5 has a square shape of about 8 mm per side.
According to the conventional notebook type personal computer described above, there are problems in that the key-in operation becomes inconvenient and an erroneous key touch may occur when the keyboard is operated by touch because the operating surface 6 of the keytop 5 is too small.
In view of such problems in the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard and a notebook type computer smaller in size without sacrificing the key-in operability.


A power generating installation located in a shallow water area of the sea for generating power utilizing a shallow water wave comprises a mooring member located either in the sea or at the sea bottom, a chain having one end connected with the mooring member and the other end to which a dead-weight is attached, and a float provided with a generator and a rotary member for rotating engaged with the chain. Rotary force of the rotary member produced when the float moves up and down according to an up-and-down motion of the wave is transmitted to the generator, thereby to generate power.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power generating installation utilizing wave force which generates electrical power utilizing an up-and-down motion of a shallow water wave to rotate a generator.
2. Description of Related Art
Many examples are known in the art of generating electrical power utilizing an up-and-down motion of a shallow water wave. As an example which is related to the present invention, there is known a wave activated buoy which moves up and down along a guide tower. A power generating installation of this sort is, for the sake of classification, called a movable body type, and is capable of high energy absorption.
However, a power generating installation utilizing an up-and-down motion of a wave is generally large in scale, so that it is liable to incur a high generating cost.
Further, it has a drawback that it is difficult provide the installation with sufficient strength for resisting heavy weather, for example, due to passing of a depression, or a marine anomaly such as tsunami.


A system and method are presented that persist assembly bind information for applications at each stage of execution of the assembly policy. New assembly bind history files are created and persisted to disc when changes in assembly bind policy results in a change in the assemblies with which the application binds. This persisted information is used to reconfigure assembly binds to a prior state when operation of the application conformed to a user's desires. Since this assembly bind reconfiguration is on a per application basis, only the binding of the selected application is affected. Likewise, the assembly bind history files are associated with a particular user to allow personalized execution of applications on a system.

While modern application programs provide various specialized functions tailored to meet the needs of particular types of clients, these applications utilize, at their core, a number of common functions. While the code to execute these common functions may easily be incorporated into each application program, such would increase the size and complexity of these application programs, and would increase their cost due to the increased manpower needed to duplicate code for these common functions. Because so many common functions exist, it was recognized early on that the code for these functions could be stored in an accessible library, the components of which could simply be called by the application program when such a function were needed. This greatly simplifies the programming necessary within an application and reduces the cost associated with the initial coding and development of that program.
The various functions are contained in separately named files which are called by the application program when that function is to be performed. In a Windows environment, such shared functions are stored in dynamic link library (DLL) files ending with the extension .dll. All these .dll files are typically stored in a common directory, e.g. c:\WinNT\System32\*.dll. While many core .dll files are provided with the operating system, new application programs loaded on a computer are often shipped with the .dll files needed for its proper operation. During installation of the application program, the application and all of its components (.dll files) are installed. If one of the shared components already exists, most installation programs will simply overwrite the already installed .dll file with the component included with the application that is being installed. While some installation programs provide the user with a choice of whether or not to install the shared component that is provided with the application program, choosing not to install this .dll file may result in the application being installed not working properly. Therefore, most users typically install all the components provided with the application program to ensure its successful operation.
However, while installing the provided .dll file should guarantee successful operation of the application being installed, it is no guarantee that applications installed previously that use that same shared .dll file will continue to operate properly with the version that overwrote the shared component that was originally installed when the other program was installed. Unfortunately, since the code that loads the .dll files does not express any versioning information of the .dll that it wants to load, and hence loads any .dll that has the same name as that for which it was looking, a subsequent failure of an application program to operate properly due to a shared component being overwritten with a different version of that component was difficult to fix.
A feature provided in the Windows ME operating system called "System Restore" allows users to essentially choose which versions of the shared components to put in the shared location. This feature keeps track of every time a user installs or uninstalls an application, and records the state of things like the registry and the contents of the directory \winnt\system32 before and after the install or uninstall. When a user chooses to rollback, the feature simply installs or uninstalls applications to try to get back to the state that existed before the last install or uninstall. In this way, if the installation of a new application causes other applications to break due to the overwriting of the shared component with a new version of that component, System Restore allows the user to effectively reinstall the old version of the shared component so that all application programs will use that older version of that shared component. If the new application will not operate properly with the old version of the shared component, System Restore will allow the user to replace that older version with the newer version so that the new application can operate correctly, although the old applications may again break. This presents a significant advantage over prior system that did not have this ability. However, this system still allows only a single shared component that must be used by all applications that require that shared component to be stored in the shared location. As such, a user may have to access the system restore function multiple times to operate different application programs in the situation just discussed.

Persisting and resolving application assembly binds


A call management system enables each of multiple prospective callers to specify how to forward (e.g., direct or redirect) future calls to one or more target phone devices or users. For example, each of multiple persons provide call forwarding configuration information to the call management system. Upon initiation of a call by a user, the call management system intercepts and forwards a user's call in accordance with call forwarding configuration information previously provided by the user.

According to conventional techniques, people have the ability to communicate with each other via a variety of communication options. For example, consumers can communicate via use of the traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) resources such as a land-line or "wire line" phone. Such technology has been around form any years. Over time, PSTN technology has been augmented with the addition of cellular technology and VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) capabilities. Accordingly, people now have the ability to communicate over wireless links as well as over the Internet. Typically, a single user can be reached via a number of different ways such as via a cell phone, a VOIP phone, a landline phone, etc.
To some degree, phone subscribers have the ability to configure how they receive telephone calls. For example, persons receiving calls have the ability to specify how to terminate incoming communications to a variety of their personal communication devices such as a land-line phones, cellular phones, etc.

Communication system and call forwarding management