An injection mold system and corresponding method that equalizes pressure of flowable plastic dispensed into an injection mold cavity. A gate in communication with the mold cavity introduces a quantity of flowable plastic into the cavity at a predetermined pressure. A gas inlet in communication with the mold cavity at a mold cavity location remote from the gate introduces a gas into the mold cavity to pack the flowable plastic in the mold cavity at a pressure corresponding generally to the predetermined pressure, to thereby minimize the formation of sink marks and warpage on an injection molded part formed therein. The present invention insures formation of the part with a highly finished appearance surface and eliminates the need for painting or otherwise additional finishing of the part.

The present invention relates generally to gas assisted injection molding and, more particularly, to an injection molding system and method in which flowable plastic is introduced into a mold cavity at a predetermined pressure at one location, and gas is introduced into at least one mold cavity portion remote from the first mold cavity location at a pressure corresponding to the pressure of the flowable plastic, to maintain a uniform pressure on the flowable plastic in the mold cavity during dispensing and cooling thereof.
Injection molding provides an effective method of forming plastic parts having high quality finished appearances. In conventional injection molding systems, a flowable plastic is introduced into a two-piece mold cavity at a predetermined pressure. The predetermined pressure is maintained within the mold cavity during dispensing of the flowable plastic and cooling thereof to disperse the plastic uniformly through the mold cavity to facilitate a high quality part finished appearance surface.
However, in conventional injection mold systems, and particularly in a mold cavity configured to produce a thin, elongated part, the flowable plastic material is introduced at one end of the mold cavity. As the plastic is dispensed within the cavity, the packing pressure decreases as the plastic flows further away from the dispensing gate. This drop in pressure correspondingly creates sink marks and warps in the finished part. Thus, the appearance side of the part must either be painted or the part must be discarded, thereby increasing production costs.
One conventional solution to the above problem is to introduce the thermoplastic into the mold cavity at a higher packing pressure than would otherwise be required. Therefore, as the flowable plastic is dispensed within the cavity, the plastic dispensed into a mold portion remote from the gate is maintained at or near a target pressure. However, the increased gate pressure causes the pressure on the plastic dispensed in proximity to the gate to be maintained at a higher than necessary pressure, which in turn increases the stress and strain on the plastic. This increased stress and strain causes stress and strain marks to form on the part appearance surfaces at these locations, thereby detracting from part appearance and resulting in the part appearance side having to be refinished or the part to be discarded altogether.
Another conventional approach to overcoming the above problem is to introduce gas internally into the flowable plastic and mold portions remote from the gate. By internally introducing gas at these locations, the plastic packed against the mold cavity walls, and the problems associated with introducing the flowable plastic at higher than necessary gate pressures, is avoided. By introducing gas internally into the flowable plastic, the plastic is packed at appropriate pressures throughout the mold cavity. However, gas channels are also created within the part being formed. Such a method is thus not desirable in the formation of many parts, especially elongated parts having minimal thicknesses, as the gas channels tend to lessen the structural integrity of such parts.
Therefore, in view of the above, there is a need for a gas assisted injection molding system that maintains relatively uniform packing pressure distribution on the flowable plastic dispensed into the mold cavity during dispensing of the plastic into the mold cavity and during formation of the part therein to minimize sink mark formation and stress placed on plastic introduced through the gate.

Injection mold internal pressure equalization system and method


SAPONINS AND CHROMANS DERIVATIVES MIXTURE COMPOSITIONS AGAINST LEISHMANIASIS, TRYPANOSOMIASIS AMERICANA, MALARIA, TRYPANOSOMIASIS AFRICANA AND FASCIOLA HEPATICA, is a composition of saponins and chromans derivatives. The saponins are triterpene types and chromans are hydrazones derivatives. This composition is a therapeutic agent against tropical diseases.

This invention belongs to the field of chemistry and relates to a formulation of saponins and chromans derivatives mixtures. The saponins are triterpenes types and chromans (TC) are hydrazones derivatives. This formulation is a therapeutic agent against tropical diseases for parenteral use and/or topical use.
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions. In practice, the term is often taken to refer to infectious diseases that thrive in hot, humid conditions, such as leishmaniasis, malaria, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, Chagas disease, African trypanosomiasis, and dengue.
Tropical diseases blight the lives of a billion people worldwide and threaten the health of millions more. An evaluation of their significance to public health and economies has convinced governments, donors, the pharmaceutical industry and other agencies, including nongovernmental organizations, to invest in preventing and controlling this diverse group of diseases.
Parasitic diseases caused by protozoan parasites such as Leishmania spp and Trypanosoma cruzi are affecting thousands of people around the world. Leishmaniasis is prevalent disease in 88 countries worldwide affecting 12 million people with 2.000.000 new cases per year, accounting for 500.000 cases of visceral leishmaniasis and 1.500.000 of cutaneous leishmaniasis. On the other hand, about 7.5 million people are infected with T. cruzi in 21 Latin-American countries, with approximately 41.000 new cases per year.
The massive displacement of populations, weather change, growing resistance to drugs treatment, lack of therapeutic alternatives and long treatments are creating a significant rise in these diseases, with the resulting increase in public health problems, mainly regarding poor people.
Solutions exist against the leishmaniasis like patents U.S. Pat. No. 8,287,921, EP 2337560, EP 2241317 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,872,713 and publication number US 2012/0207821 A1.
EP 2241317 A1 "Domperidone at a low daily dose for use in the treatment or prevention of a disease associated with an alteration of the immune response" (Ochoa, P., Homedes, J., Sabate, D.) 31 Mar. 2009 that relates to the use of domperidone or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof at low doses to prevent and/or treat a disease associated with an alteration of the immune response such as Leishmaniasis.
Publication number US 2012/0207821 A1 "Liposomal formulation and use thereof" (Ali, N., Ghose, J., Bhowmick, S.) 10 May 2010 presents a liposomal formulation useful as a leishmanicidal agent, wherein said formulation comprising a single dose of therapeutically effective amount of an antileishmanial antimonial drug encapsulated in a cationic liposome consisting of a neutral lipid and a cationic lipid in a molar ratio of 7:2 respectively, wherein molar ratio of the neutral lipid and the cationic lipid to said drug is 7:2:0.2 to 0.25.
The U.S. Pat. No. 8,287,921 "Formulations against cutaneous leishmaniasis" (Rahman, Choudhary, Yousuf, Khan, Soomro, Perveen) 24 Jul. 2011 consisting essentially of a therapeutically effective amount of an ethyl acetate extract of aerial parts of Physalis minima dispersed in petroleum.
EP 2337560 A1 (WO2010017613A1) "Use of 5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-y-pyrone (hmp) as a leishmanicidal agent" (ALVES, CARVALHO, NASCIMENTO, Drumond, Silva, Oliveira) 14 Ago 2009 refers to the use of HMP (a secondary metabolite obtained from Aspergillus fungi) as an agent that intensifies the mechanism of macrophage activation, leading to the death of L. (Leishmania) amazonensis, the etiologic agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Also Sapindus saponaria resin contain saponins type hederagenin and has been employed in traditional medicine as antihelmintic, and these types of compounds are reported like leishmanicide too.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,872,713 "Antiprotozoal saponins" (Louis Jules Roger Marie Maes, Nils Albert Gilbert Germonprez, Luc Emiel Mathilde Van Puyvelde, Norbert G. M. De Kimpe, Tran Ngoc Ninh) 29 Mar. 2005 refers to saponins of formula (I), a stereoisomeric form thereof or a pharmaceutically acceptable addition salt thereof, wherein R1 to R12 have the meaning given in the description, can be isolated from plants of the family Myrsinaceae and used, to decrease the infectiousness of and reduce the mortality associated with protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania which are responsible for a group of conditions known as leishmaniases, but the new patent of this application in a formulation of saponins and chromans derivatives mixture with better therapeutic results.
With regard to the extract of Sapindus saponaria, the application of patent US 2011/0274777 A1 "Method for extraction of material from a Sapindacea family fruit" (Jaime Toro Restrepo, James Alberto Jimenez Martinez, Luis Fernando Echeverri Lopez, Sandra Patricia Zapata Porras) 10 May 2010 provides a standardized method to obtain a material from Sapindacea family fruits, wherein the material provides a preparation of material used in combination with Swinglea glutinosa extract for the preparation enhances the ability of the Swinglea glutinosa extract to kill and prevent fungi, and to kill and repel insects and mites. In the present application of patent a new formulation is obtained mixed an extract from Sapindus saponaria in quantities from 20% until 60% with synthetic chroman for use as therapeutic agent against tropical diseases like leishmaniasis, american trypanosomiasis, malaria, african trypanosomiasis and fasciolosis.
On the other hands, some saponins form Maesa balansae showed high activity in vitro and in vivo assays against Leishmania, but the instant invention is a formulation of saponins and chromans derivatives mixture, where the saponins are triterpene types and chromans are hydrazones derivatives.

Saponins and chromans derivatives mixture compositions against leishmaniasis, Trypanosomiasis americana, malaria, Trypanosomiasis africana and


A metal laryngoscope blade with a resiliently elastically deformable metal blade hook-on fitting for removable double snap engagement into an operative intubation position on a laryngoscope handle with a correspondingly sized handle hook-on fitting.

ISO 7376 standardizes a removable double snap engagement of a metal or plastic laryngoscope blade into an operative intubation position on a laryngoscope handle. Metal laryngoscopes blades include pre-loaded ball bearing mechanisms for effecting the engagement whilst their plastic counterparts have resiliently elastically deformable blade hook-on fittings for effecting same. Metal laryngoscopes blades engage a laryngoscope handle more securely than their plastic counterparts but they are more expensive and therefore cost considerations militate against the former particularly for disposable single use laryngoscope blades. Exemplary laryngoscopes are illustrated and described in inter alia U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,256, U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,614, U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,624, U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,570, U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,491, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,937.


In a delivery apparatus having a delivery conveyor for receiving and transporting a signature discharged from a printing press, the delivery conveyor is continuously driven if the drive speed of the printing press is higher than a predetermined speed, or the delivery conveyor is intermittently driven if the drive speed of the printing press is lower than the predetermined speed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a delivery apparatus and a delivery method used, for example, in conjunction with a printing press.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a delivery conveyor of a web rotary press has been driven by a dedicated motor. To facilitate handling of signatures in a subsequent step, the signatures always need to be delivered, while being arranged in an overlapping state with a constant spacing of 20 to 50 mm provided between the front ends of the adjacent signatures. If the signatures do not overlap and there is a clearance between the signatures, a jam detector installed downstream in the direction of delivery erroneously detects a jam. To avoid this erroneous detection, it is necessary to synchronize the drive speed of the delivery conveyor with the drive speed of the printing press. For this purpose, it has been required to use a motor whose speed can be varied in the range of 120 to 30,000 mm, namely, in a 250-fold speed range from a low speed to a high speed.
Such a delivery apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1999-11769.
The conventional delivery conveyor of a web rotary press, as described above, uses a motor whose speed is variable in a broad range. This has posed the problem of necessitating an expensive motor having a large capacity.


The present disclosure provides an array substrate and a display device. The array substrate includes: a base substrate; and a plurality of pixel units disposed on the base substrate; each of the pixel units includes an active display region, the active display region of at least one of the pixel units is provided with a light-shielding layer, the light-shielding layer is located at an edge of the active display region, and a surface of a side of the light-shielding layer away from the base substrate is a reflecting surface. The light-shielding layer is disposed within an annular region, the annular region has a width in a range of 20 μm-50 μm, and an outer boundary of the annular region is a boundary of the active display region.

At present, a market share of "hard screen" display device has been gradually increased. The "hard screen" display device is an in-plane switching liquid crystal display device. By taking an Advanced Super Dimension Switch (ADS) display mode as an example, it possesses characteristics of "hard screen", wide viewing angle, high color saturation and the like because of its normal black mode and its way of achieving display function by horizontal rotation of liquid crystal molecules.

CHONGQING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A mobile device case for functional connection and physical attachment to a mobile device, the mobile device case comprises an application adapted to run in the mobile device and a cradle configured for removable attachment with the mobile device, the cradle comprising a controller capable of functional connection with the application, where the cradle is adapted to protect the mobile device while attached to the mobile device and the cradle is adapted to functionally pair with the application to create at least a portion of a mesh network.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a system for enabling personal security and localization. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a system for enabling personal security that is coupled to a ubiquitous mobile device and a localization system not dependent on a Global Positioning System (GPS) network.
2. Background Art
Low cost mobile personal security monitoring devices have been typically limited to discrete devices that require additional package space for travel. These devices are often limited to simply performing the action of an audio or visual alarm if an event such as the opening of a hotel room door is detected. These monitoring devices also have typically required that human action be taken to call for help. These low cost devices have typically not made use of automated communication through network means to notify various parties for help based on preprogrammed parameters and Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates. Such low cost personal security devices have not integrated multiple detection methods and aggregated monitoring sensors and devices, located both local and distant, into a convenient and small travel package. Further, they have not included the ability to aggregate additional monitoring devices and to form mesh networks of multiple personal security devices and peripherals through communication means, such as Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other wireless communication means. They also were not able to aggregate distant monitoring devices through wireless communication to the internet and wireless communication to other devices from the internet to remote aggregated devices. Disclosed below are references in which one or more elements of the present invention may be disclosed but none of which disclose devices used for performing the functions of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 20130033358 of Yamazaki et al. (hereinafter Yamazaki) discloses a system including at least one sender, and a beacon signal sent from the sender that is received by a portable terminal. In accordance with a sender ID included in the beacon signal, the portable terminal displays on an Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) a map image and a current position of the portable terminal or a user having the portable terminal, and displays on the LCD a guide image as for events or exhibition items in a predetermined place. The portable terminal stores state information included in the beacon signal for each sender (sender ID), and transmits or moves the state information to a central terminal at a predetermined timing. Yamazaki fails to disclose a case capable of physical coupling to a mobile device. Yamazaki further fails to disclose a means by which to detect a large motion or movement and guard against detecting vibrations which are to be ignored. This publication fails to include a mesh network in that senders/nodes do not relay information between each other but only to a portable terminal. Further, the portable terminals do not relay information between each other and are not able to relay information from one terminal to another and back to the central terminal. A mobile terminal is unable to communicate directly to the central terminal. Thus, if a portable terminal loses communication, it cannot relay through another portable terminal. Note also in this disclosure that vibration is used to detect that a sender or node has been moved from a stationary position. A notice of vibration or movement indicates that repositioning and recalibration of Yamazaki's portable terminal is required while the present invention includes senders or nodes that can be continuously moving (as not required to be stationary). Yamazaki fails to disclose localization methods.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 20130146661 of Melbrod et al. (hereinafter Melbrod) discloses embodiments of a smart phone casing and information exchange system which enables a user to carry a single system that merges the digital and telecommunications necessities of the individual with the personalized cards, membership accounts, consumer credit and/or medical insurance or health information in a single source protected both physically with a hardened case, and digitally with appropriate safeguards for electronic protection. Melbrod demonstrates the use of a smart phone case capable of storing information and safeguards for allowing certain information exchanges only. It does not however disclose a smart phone case having the tools and means for detecting large motions and movements, etc. Melbrod also fails to disclose localization methods.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 20110195753 of Mock et al. (hereinafter Mock) discloses a smart phone case with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDS). In a particular embodiment, the case includes a front portion adapted to cradle a lower portion of a smart phone, a rear portion adapted to engagingly mate with the front portion to secure the smart phone within the case, a first strip of LEDS and a second strip of LEDS that are mounted on opposing sides of the front portion, a vibrating sensor that is adapted to activate the LEDS of the case when a vibrator of the smart phone is vibrating, and circuitry is used to control the vibrating sensor and the LEDS. The vibrating sensor detects vibrations of the vibrator of the smart phone when the smart phone is receiving an incoming call or message. The LEDS are programmed to display in a set sequence when activated, where the set sequence to display the LEDS is selected by a user. Mock demonstrates the use of a case for detecting vibration from a smart phone and taking an action, i.e., activating LEDS based on the detection of the vibration. It does not however disclose a smart phone case having the tools and means for detecting large motion and movements, etc. Mock also fails to disclose localization methods.
Therefore, there arises a need for a mobile personal security system which can be seamlessly coupled with a ubiquitous mobile device for providing personal security and a localization system not dependent on a Global Positioning System (GPS) network at low costs.

Mobile device utilizing time of flight for personal security and localization


The invention provide a restraint in the form of an attachment for connection to a free end of an angled arm body of a self loading, style tow truck wheel lift with the attachment being positioned adjacent to a lower, outer side wall of a wheel suspected of being unstable. A damaged ball joint or axle can allow an unstable wheel to pivot outwardly at its lower side wall, and in some cases, to collapse. The wheel keeper attachment restrains the wheel from such pivoting thereby allowing a successful lifting and towing of the vehicle front end.

Self-loading wheel lift devices are commonly used on a number of commercially available tow trucks for lifting a front end (or a rear end if the driver chooses) of a vehicle in order to tow a vehicle. One example of such a self-loading tow truck lift is the Century Express Series by Miller Industries Towing Equipment, Inc. located at 8503 Hilltop Drive, Ooltewah, Tenn. 37363. Such commercially available self-loading trucks can approach an end of the vehicle to be towed at about 90° to the parallel parked vehicle to bring a first end of a cross bar into engagement with the bottom portion of the front tread surface of a first front wheel, and a further backing of the tow truck causes the second end of the cross arm to swing about a pivot such that it brought into engagement with the bottom portion of the front tread surface of the second front wheel. Then, a pair of interior lifts members preferably in the form of L-shaped lift arms are pivoted by a hydraulic actuating mechanism about pivots to close the outer free ends of the lift arm behind the respective wheels in a pincer/like action so that the wheel is captured in a lifting position. This pincer action brings each of the L-shaped lift arms into contact with the bottom portion of the rear wheel tread surface of the first and second front wheels. With the wheels so captured, a boom lift for the cross bar is actuated to lift the cross bar thereby lifting both of the front wheels, and then, the raised front end of the vehicle may be swung outwardly into the street with the vehicle pivoting about the on rear wheels.
Pincer style, self-loading tow trucks can run into difficulties lifting vehicles that have sustained damage to their wheel ball joints, axels or other wheel mount stabilizing structures because the damaged wheel can collapse, tip severely or wobble from its normal vertical orientation such that the upper portion of the wheel collapsing inwardly while the lower portion of the wheel shifts outwardly. This can cause one of three problems; (1) a pronounced wobble in the damaged wheel can cause the pincer action of the lift to fail during an attempt to capture the damaged wheel; (2) where such a wobbly wheel is initially captured, twisting or jarring of the vehicle relative to the lift may cause the damaged wheel to slip free; (3) or, in the most severe cases, the damaged wheel may be collapse so that the frame of the vehicle rests against the ground, which can make it difficult or impossible to get the lift underneath the vehicle in order to capture the wheels. In this third scenario, where one or more wheels have collapsed, it is common for a pincer style, self-loading tow truck operators to call in another style tow truck to move the vehicle, such as, for example, calling for either a hook and chain style truck or a flat bed tow truck. All three of the unstable wheel scenarios discussed above involve significant risks that either the wheel capture process, vehicle lifting, or subsequent towing of a vehicle could result in additional damage to the towed vehicle, the tow truck or its lift mechanism.

Tow truck wheel restraint and methods of using same


The method for producing a color filter of the present invention comprises the following steps: an inorganic active layer is formed on a transparent substrate, a first color is dyed on said inorganic active layer, a resist is formed on portions of the inorganic active layer other than portions where a second color is dyed, a decoloring treatment is conducted, the second color is dyed on the exposed inorganic active layer, the resist is removed, a resist is formed on portions of the inorganic active layer other than portions where a third color is dyed, a decoloring treatment is conducted, the third color is dyed on the exposed inorganic active layer, and then the resist is removed.

The following color filters have been used for various kinds of displays such as a liquid crystal display.
1. A color filter obtained by forming a polymer film superior in dyeability on a transparent substrate and then patterning the polymer film by photolithography followed by coloring.
2. A color filter obtained by forming a polymer film superior in dyeability on a transparent substrate and then drawing a color filter pattern with dye.
3. A color filter obtained by forming a pigmented polymer film pattern on a transparent substrate by photolithography.
4. A color filter obtained by forming a transparent electroconductive film pattern, e.g. an ITO film pattern, on a transparent substrate and then applying an electrodepositable paint on the transparent electroconductive film.
5. A color filter obtained by forming a colored polymer film on a transparent substrate by a printing method.
However, the above described color filters have the following disadvantages.
The color filter of the method 1 is poor in surface flatness and strength.
The color filter of the method 2 is superior in surface flatness, because the polymer film is not patterned but colored as a color pattern. The filter, however, is poor in surface strength, because it employs polymer material. Also, since the patterns of the respective colors are colored on the same one polymer film, bleeding and migration of the dyes occurs.
Since the color filter of the method 3 is obtained by coloring the polymer film on the transparent substrate in the same manner as the color filter 1, it is poor in surface flatness and surface strength. In addition, a problem may occur in that light is scattered by pigment particles.
In the production of the color filter of the method 4, the patterned transparent electroconductive film has to be formed, and it is further required in many cases that a transparent electrode from ITO and the like is formed on the electrodeposited coat, so that the producing process becomes complicated. In addition, since the electrodepositable paint is applied on the transparent film pattern, the obtained color filter is poor in surface flatness.
The color filter of the method 5 is also poor in surface strength, because it employs polymer material as mentioned in the method 1.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above described problems and provide a method for efficiently producing a color filter superior in various kinds of physical properties.

Method for producing color filter comprising an inorganic active layer and photoresist


An apparatus for securing the prongs of an electrical appliance plug into a block of strong, flexible plastic. The block has a pair of grooves spaced at the appropriate distances to accommodate the parallel prongs of a standard electrical plug. Additionally, the block has an aperture to receive the third, or grounding prong of the electrical plug. A hole, receptive of a bolt, exists at right angles to the direction of insertion of the plug. The hole has a clearance region through the middle and the section of the block adjacent to the bolt head, but is threaded at the section which is opposite the bolt head. The bolt is of the appropriate length to traverse the width of the block when fully tightened into the block. Additionally, the hole may be recessed to form a depression around the bolt head to discourage tampering or probing. Similarly, a recessed region may be formed on the face of the block into which the plug is inserted to likewise discourage tampering or probing. In operation, once the plug prongs are inserted into the block, the bolt is tightened, and retentive force is applied to the prongs of the plug to prevent removal. Optionally, a groove may be positioned on the side of the block, and a hole may be located in the end of the bolt. This combination allows the shackle of a padlock to be inserted into the shank of the bolt, to retain the bolt in the block. Once the bolt is tightened into the appropriate position, the padlock shackle is inserted into hole in the shank. The groove cooperates with the shackle and prevents the loosening of the bolt thereby preventing the release of the plug until the padlock shackle is removed.

This invention relates generally to the field of devices designed to prevent the use of electrical equipment or appliances by securing the electrical plug, and more specifically to a device which will captively surround the prongs of the electrical plug in such a manner that young children, elderly persons, or mentally retarded persons cannot gain access to their use. Optionally, the operation of the Electrical Plug Safety Lock can be secured with a padlock to discourage a wider selection persons unauthorized access to secured electrical equipment.


A surgical needle with an open distal port at which tissue to be fractured is positioned contains an optical fiber for providing pulses of laser energy and a titanium target that receives these pulses. The target converts the energy in the electromagnetic pulses to shockwaves that impinge on the tissue at the port causing the tissue to fracture. The target has one or more steps such that vaporization of the target by the laser pulses leaves a surface which directly faces the port so that the continued conversion of laser energy to mechanical shockwaves will provide shockwaves that are not blocked in traveling to the port at which the tissue is located.

This invention relates to a laser powered surgical instrument that employs a target for transducing laser energy into shockwaves.
The particular application of this invention is to a surgical instrument used in eye surgery and particularly for cataract removal. However, the invention may be embodied in devices which are adapted to other surgical procedures.
The use of laser energy to perform eye surgery is well known. In particular, the use of laser energy to impinge on a metal target so as to cause optical breakdown to generate shockwaves is known in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,282. The patent discusses some of the background of the art.
More particularly, the patent discloses a design of the distal end of a surgical needle that is used for breaking up cataracts. The arrangement is one where laser pulses impinge on a target at the distal end of the needle to generate shockwaves that travel to a port of the needle at which the tissue to be fractured is positioned.
As discussed in the '282 Patent, there are a number of desirable goals for a laser operated surgical device including efficiency of operation to minimize weight, cost and size as well as to minimize heat generated and to assure maximum effect. One of the important goals is to have a minimum size diameter for the surgical instrument or the needle involved so that only a small incision need be made in the patient's eye thereby minimizing trauma and enhancing recovery. As stated in the '282 Patent, safety, comfort and minimum trauma consistent with performing the operation is the goal of the surgical instruments.
One of the instruments disclosed in the '282 Patent is disclosed herein as prior art in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 5, a surgical needle 50 having an O.D. of about 2.0 mm has a sidewall 52 containing an evacuating passageway 54 and an optical fiber 56 to provide pulses of laser energy. The pulses of laser energy, in one embodiment, are provided by a neodymium-YAG laser that provides light energy at a wavelength of 1,064 nano-meters. It is delivered in pulses having a width of approximately 8 nano-seconds. These pulses impinge on a target wall 58 to cause breakdown of the target and generation of plasma at the target which causes shockwaves to be transmitted to the port 60.
What has been found is that the laser pulses develop a pit in the target 58. The pit then tends to capture some of the shockwaves generated and make the application of the energy to the tissue less efficient.
In addition, particles of the vaporized target get in the path of the laser pulses thereby reducing the level of laser energy that impinges on the target and thus making the operation of the instrument less efficient.
Accordingly, a major purpose of this invention is to provide an improved surgical instrument design using the laser transducer function in which the instrument operates more effectively and efficiently and specifically to provide shockwaves that are greater in intensity at the tissue to be fractured.


The present invention makes improvements in a mobile communication system that performs a communication via a communication network provided in a mobile body to execute a data transfer. The present system comprises a plurality of nodes, a path control device which receives data from the nodes respectively, selects a path for the data transfer on the communication network, and outputs the data, first optical fibers which connect each of the nodes and the path control device and transfer the data, and second optical fibers provided in parallel with the first optical fibers. In the present system, the path control device communicates with the node via the second optical fiber when a failure occurs in the first optical fiber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system provided in a mobile body, for communicating via a communication network so as to transfer data. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mobile communication system capable of enhancing flexibility in a layout of the communication network and improving reliability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there is a remarkable progress in higher functioning and computerization of the mobile body such as a car, an airplane, a train and a vessel. According to the higher functioning and the computerization, numbers of sensors, in-vehicle equipments, signal lines (e.g., wire harnesses) for connecting the sensors and the in-vehicle equipments, and the like, which are installed in the mobile body, are steadily increasing.
Therefore, for the purpose of achieving the reduction in weight of the wire harnesses and also sharing the vehicle information, an introduction of an in-vehicle network having high-speed and large-capacity is being promoted.
FIG. 3 is a view showing a configuration of a mobile communication system of the related art (for example, refer to JP-A-2002-175597). In this case, explanation will be made with the car as an example of the mobile body. In FIG. 3, a vehicle total-control device 11 issues the instructions to various control units respectively by using information from sensors so as to execute the control of the vehicle entirely. An image processing camera 12 and a radar 13 are sensors for recognizing a driving environment. An engine control unit 14, a transmission control unit 15, a brake control unit 16, and a steering control unit 17 are control units respectively, and control various in-vehicle equipments (not shown) connected to the control units.
A wire harness 18 is a bus that connects the vehicle total-control device 11, the sensors 12, 13, and the control units 14 to 17 mutually respectively. Also, a wire harness 19 is a bus that connects the vehicle total-control device 11, the sensors 12, 13, and the control units 14 to 17 mutually respectively, as well as the wire harness 18. In this case, the wire harness 18 is a signal line that is normally used, and the wire harness 19 is a signal line for fail-safe that is used when the failure occurs in the wire harness 18.
An operation of such mobile communication system will be explained hereunder.
The vehicle total-control device 11 communicates with the sensors 12, 13 via the wire harness 18, and collects various information relating to the driving environment. In this case, the information may be collected from other sensors which are not shown (for example, a speed sensor, a tire pressure sensor, etc.). Then, the vehicle total-control device 11 communicates with control units 14 to 17 via the wire harness 18 respectively and issues the instructions based on the information from the sensors 12, 13. Then, control units 14 to 17 controls the in-vehicle equipments (not shown) in compliance with these instructions.
Also, when the vehicle total-control device 11 cannot perform communication since the failure occurs in the wire harness 18, the vehicle total-control device 11 performs communication using the wire harness 19 for fail-safe so as to transfer data.
Then, FIG. 4 is a view showing another configuration of the mobile communication system in the related art (for example, refer to Japanese Patent No. 2904296). FIG. 3 shows the bus connection type network in which all the devices (the vehicle total-control device 11, the sensors 12, 13, and control units 14 to 17) are connected to the wire harnesses 18, 19 in parallel. The devices having high relevancy may be grouped together based on the number of the sensors 12, 13 and the control units 14 to 17 and the purpose of application.
Here, in FIG. 4, the same reference symbols are affixed to the same portions as those in FIG. 3, and their explanation will be omitted herein. In FIG. 4, a gateway 20 is provided instead of the vehicle total-control device 11. A driving system network 100 is a network in which the devices related to driving are grouped together, and is provided with the sensors 12, 13, and the control units 14 to 17.
A car body system network 101 is a network in which devices related to the car body are grouped together, and is provided with a temperature sensor 21, an illuminance sensor 22, an air conditioner control unit 23, a lamp control unit 24, and a wiper control unit 25.
An information system network 102 is a network in which the devices related to music, image, etc. are grouped together, and is provided with an audio control unit 26, and a navigation control unit 27. In the respective networks 100 to 102, each units and sensors are connected mutually via the wire harnesses 18, 19. In this case, the sensors 12, 13, 21, 22, and the control units 14 to 17, 23 to 27 are nodes. Also, respective networks 100 to 102 are connected mutually with the gateway 20.
An operation of such system will be explained.
The gateway 20 receives data from the nodes 12 to 17, 21 to 27 in respective networks 100 to 102, and issues instructions to the control units 14 to 17, 23 to 27 based on the data. The control units 14 to 17, 23 to 27 respectively control the in-vehicle equipments in compliance with the instructions. In addition, the gateway 20 performs data transfer between the different networks (e.g., transfer data from the network 100 to the network 102).
In addition, when the communication cannot be performed since the failure occurs in the wire harness 18, the data transfer is executed by performing the communication using the wire harness 19 for fail-safe. For example, when the failure occurs in the wire harness 18 in the driving system network 100, the communication is performed via the wire harness 19 for fail-safe only in the driving system network 100.
Then, the wire harnesses 18, 19 shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 will be explained. As the transmission speed becomes higher, a metal transmission by the wire harness radiates noise from a transmission line and is easily influenced by noise from an external path. Therefore, the measure to suppress the radiation of the noise and the influence of the noise must be taken. However, problems occur due to an increase in cost and an increase in weight. As a result, communication via an optical fiber, which is not influenced by the noise, attracts attention nowadays.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, with the increase of the in-vehicle networks, in some cases the data handled in the in-vehicle network are classified into the car body system network (lamp, wiper, etc.) 101, the driving system network (engine, brake, etc.) 100, the information system network (navigation, audio, etc.) 102, and the like, based on the purpose of application.
In the classification shown in FIG. 4, particularly as the standard of the information system network 102, IDB-1394 (ITS Data Bus-1394) that is widespread mainly in Japan and the United States of America, and MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transfer) that is widespread mainly in Europe are developed. Also, an introduction into the real car of the in-vehicle network employing the optical fiber instead of the metal transmission is started.
However, these standards are applied to the information system network 102. In the driving system network 100 and the car body system network 101, for the reason that a transmission capacity is small and the cost can be suppressed low, the metal transmission via the wire harnesses 18, 19 is still used as the in-vehicle network.
The mobile body is used in a poor environment in which the temperature changes drastically due to the outdoor temperature and the radiant heat from the in-vehicle equipments. Therefore, the mobile communication system is also used in the poor environment. Under such situation, in order to perform the communication with high reliability, measures such as dualizing the wire harnesses 18, 19 are adopted. Of course, such a problem exists that a cost required for the measure and a weight of the wire harnesses 18, 19 are increased.
Furthermore, in the bus connection type network as shown in FIG. 3, there exists a problem that flexibility in the layout is low. In addition, since all nodes 11 to 17 are affected when the wire harnesses 18, 19 in the transmission line are disconnected, such a problem exists that the reliability is low.
Also, in FIG. 4, the in-vehicle network is divided into a plurality of networks 100 to 102, and then integrated by connecting the buses of respective networks 100 to 102 via the gateway 20. As a result, the flexibility in the layout and the reliability are improved rather than those of FIG. 3.
However, there exists a problem that, since the bus connection type network is employed in the inside of the networks 100 to 102 respectively, both the flexibility in the layout and the reliability are low. In addition, there exists a problem that, since all the information gathers in the gateway 20, the high-speed bus line is required and thus the cost is increased. Further, the gateway 20 not only controls a data path in the in-vehicle network but also serves as the central control unit that is provided in the uppermost position. Therefore, for the gateway 20, there exists a problem that the needs for high performance and reliability become high, resources required for design and development must be concentrated, and the cost is increased.


Hydrotalcites are partially or fully thermally decomposed to provide catalysts useful for the conversion of ethanol plus methanol to a reaction product comprising isobutanol.

Efforts directed at improving air quality and increasing energy production from renewable resources have resulted in renewed interest in alternative fuels, such as ethanol and butanol, that might replace gasoline and diesel fuel, or be used as additives in gasoline and diesel fuel.
Methods for producing isobutanol from methanol and other alcohols, particularly ethanol, are known. It is known that isobutanol can be prepared by condensation of ethanol and methanol over basic catalysts at high temperature using the so-called "Guerbet Reaction." See for example, J. Logsdon in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 2001.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,695, assigned to Amoco Corp., discloses processes in which an alcohol having X carbon atoms is reacted over an L-type zeolite catalyst to produce a higher molecular weight alcohol. In some embodiments, a first alcohol having X carbon atoms is condensed with a second alcohol having Y carbon atoms to produce an alcohol having X+Y carbons. In one specific embodiment, ethanol and methanol are used to produce isobutanol using a potassium L-type zeolite.
J. I. DiCosimo, et al., in Journal of Catalysis (2000), 190(2), 261-275, describe the effect of composition and surface properties on alcohol-coupling reactions using MgyAlOx catalysts for alcohol reactions.
Carlini et al. describe a catalytic reaction of methanol with n-propanol to produce isobutyl alcohol. The involved catalyst is a calcined hydrotalcite in combination with copper chromite. See C. Carlini et al, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical (2005), 232 (1-2) 13-20. See also C. Carlini, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical (2004), 220 (2), 215-220, in which the catalyst is a mixture of a hydrotalcite with palladium, nickel, rhodium or copper, with the mixture being calcined at 500° C.
Hydrotalcites are layered, double hydroxides of the general formula(M2+1-xM3+x(OH)2)(An−x/n)●yH2OThe M2+ ions can be a variety of divalent cations (e.g., Mg, Ni, Pt, Pd, Zn, Co, Fe, Cu) and the M3+ ions can be trivalent Al, Fe or Cr. Some hydrotalcites are described by V. K. Diez, C. R. Apesteguia, and J. I. DiCosimo (Latin American Applied Research, 33, 79-86 (2003)) and N. N. Das and S. C. Srivastava (Bull. Mater. Sci. 25, (4), 283-289 (2002)).
It has been found that partially or fully thermally decomposed hydrotalcites, particularly those that incorporate transition metals, are catalysts that are effective for the conversion of ethanol plus methanol to a reaction product that comprises (i.e., contains, among other things) isobutanol.

Catalytic conversion of ethanol and methanol to an isobutanol-containing reaction product using a thermally decomposed hydrotalcite catalyst


An arrangement for maintaining even tube burn-in. The arrangement identifies active and inactive display regions on a display unit when video content is displayed on the display unit. When inactive display regions are identified the arrangement monitors the duration that the active display regions remain active. After the active display regions become inactive and a predetermined time period has passed the arrangement displays a corrective image on the identified inactive regions. The predetermined time period may be set by a user or based on the user's viewing habits.

Some high-end home entertainment systems have display units (e.g., high definition and/or wide screen display units) having an aspect ratio, horizontal width to vertical height, of 16:9. Video signals (i.e., video, graphical and textual data) received from various sources (e.g., broadcast systems, cable systems, satellite systems, DSL systems and the Internet) have varying aspect ratios. Two such aspect ratios are the 4:3 aspect ratio, often associated with conventional sources of video, and the 16:9 aspect ratio, often associated with sources of high definition video. It is desirable for a high-end home entertainment system having a 16:9 aspect ratio display unit to display video signals having 16:9 aspect ratios as well as video signals having aspect ratios other than 16:9 (e.g., video signals having an aspect ratio of 4:3).
One drawback encountered in displaying a 4:3 video signal on a 16:9 display unit is that the entire 16:9 display is not used to display the 4:3 video signal. This will result in an uneven burn-in of the display unit. In other words, the active video region of the 16:9 display unit will burn-in at a different rate than the non-active regions of the 16:9 display unit. Burn-in relates to the phosphor aging of a CRT screen. All phosphors are subject to aging (browning) such that their light output diminishes with use. As a result, a 16:9 display unit that is also used to display 4:3 video will have significant portions of its phosphor display surface that are not activated in the 4:3 display mode. This will eventually result in a difference in brightness across the display that could be very distracting to a viewer.
One approach to achieve even burn-in is to horizontally expand the active video region over the entire display unit (i.e., expand the 4:3 video signal to 16:9 video signal). However, a drawback to using this approach is that the horizontal expansion leads to an undesirable distortion of the active video. For example, the displayed video may appear horizontally stretched.
Another approach to achieve even burn-in is to horizontally and vertically expand the active video over the entire display unit and maintain the proper proportions of the horizontal and vertical resolutions. However, a drawback to this approach is that some video content (e.g., a sport score located in a corner of the active video) will be moved off screen and will not be viewable by a user.
A further approach to achieve even burn-in is to monitor the illumination of the active video region, calculate an average illumination value, and to display side panels on the inactive portions of the 16:9 display at the average illumination value. The display of the side panels then occurs while the user is viewing the display unit. However, a drawback with this approach is that the user may find the display of the side panels to be distracting when the user is viewing an active video on the display unit. Furthermore, even if the side panels are displayed when the display unit is off, a user who is engaged in an activity in the vicinity of the display unit may find the display of the side panels to be bothersome.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these drawbacks.

Method and system for maintaining even tube burn-in


A utility bag for carrying and distributing a plurality of generally thin promotional sheet materials includes a housing having a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape and including, in combination, a front panel, a rear panel, a pair of sides panels and a bottom panel, wherein the combination forms an internal compartment open at one end, and wherein the internal compartment is sized to receive such plurality of generally thin promotional sheet materials. A handle or flexible strap is connected to the housing for carrying such bag.

As is generally well known, promotional information can include advertisement for concerts, political events, notice of public events, store sales and offerings and the like. The promotional information is usually distributed in a form of a generally thin single sheet material, typically measuring 8.5 inches in width and 11.00 inches in height or the size of the standard sheet of paper.
A single sheet may be given to a single member of the public targeted to receive such promotional information or it may be placed in a location for view by a large number of individuals. One of the more common methods for distributing such promotional information is known as a door-to-door method, wherein a person charged with distributing such promotional information must quickly cover large distances, usually on foot, in order to reduce distribution costs.
Furthermore, in some applications, the distributor of the promotional information must leave or present a business card containing his or her identity or containing the identity of the organization associated with the event and it may require the use a writing instrument, for example a pen, to record additional information.
Accordingly, the individual must carry a variety of different articles while covering large distances.


The method of the invention is for preparing a plasma or serum sample from whole blood and includes mixing an aqueous solution of an inorganic salt or an amino acid or salt thereof with the whole blood in an amount of 20% or less of the whole blood volume so that concentration of the inorganic salt or the amino acid or salt thereof becomes 10 to 200 .mu.mol/1 ml whole blood, and then, filtering the whole blood to remove blood cell components. According to the method of the invention, plasma separation from whole blood can be achieved efficiently, and recovered volume of plasma can be increased. By selecting reagent, good plasma which has no deviation in component viewpoint, and which is possible to measure in the same level accuracy as a plasma obtained by centurifuging, can be obtained through a simple filtration operation.

This intention relates to a method of preparing a plasma or serum sample from whole blood, especially to a method capable of obtaining a plasma or serum sample from whole blood having a high hematocrit value in a high separation rate without destroying blood cells.
Type or concentration of blood components, such as metabolites, proteins, lipids, electrolytes, enzymes, antigens, and antibodies, is measured, in general, using a plasma or serum sample obtained by centrifuging whole blood. However, centrifuging takes labor and time. Particularly, centrifuging is unsuitable for an urgent case of measuring a small number of samples promptly and in site inspection, because of requiring a centrifuge and electricity. Thereupon, it has been investigated to separate serum from whole blood by filtration.
Several filtration methods using glass fiber filter have been known wherein whole blood is charged into the glass fiber put in a column from one side of the column, and plasma or serum is obtained from the other side (Japanese Patent KOKOKU Nos. 44-14673, 5-52463, Japanese Patent KOKAI Nos. 2-208565, 4-208856)However, practical filtration methods capable of obtaining an amount of plasma or serum necessary for measuring by an automatic analyzer from whole blood have not been developed except a part of items, such as blood sugar.
The reason is seemed that previous filtration systems do not satisfy the following three conditions
1) It is difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of plasma necessary for automatic analysis by filtration. PA1 2) Erythrocytes tend to destroy (hemolyze) through filtration, and accordingly, it is difficult to measure analytical items which are liable to be affected by hemoglobins released into plasma or serum by hemolysis or analytical items wherein quantity in blood cells is greater than plasma or serum, such as GOT, GPT, LDH, Va and K. PA1 3) In the case of high hematocrit value (50% or more) samples, it is difficult to filter because of clogging filtering material by erythrocytes. PA1 (1) Not to destroy erythrocytes (hemolyze) in plasma separation When erythrocytes are destroyed, blood cell components of which quantity in blood cells is much greater than in plasma, such as Hb, GOT, LDH and K are released into plasma to cause analytical error. Hb released into plasma interferes with optical measurement. PA1 (2) Sure plasma separation even from whole bloods having a high hematocrit value (50% or more) with difficulty in erythrocyte separation, and having tendency to hemolysis. When hematocrit value rises, separation by filtration becomes difficult due to sharp increase of blood viscosity. PA1 (3) Variation of composition do not occur in plasma separation.
For example, Japanese Patent KOKOKU No. 6-64054 discloses plasma filtration technique by glass fiber filter made of a particular material, but it states that plasma amount capable of taking out shall be limited to 1/2 or less of the volume of glass fiber filter. In the Japanese patent, on the premise that hematocrit value is 50%, it is supposed that space of glass fiber filter is filled out by erythrocytes, and the quantity of plasma obtained by filtering up to the filled out state is set 50% of the volume of glass fiber filter at maximum However, whole blood samples having a hemotocrit value of 55 to 60% are not rare among whole blood samples daily dealt in clinical assay organization.

Preparation of plasma or serum sample from whole blood


In a method for realizing carrier wave synchronization in the receptio of a multi-level, two-dimensional modulation signal, the received signal is demodulated by using at least one local oscillator (3) in order to generate the local oscillator frequency. In the method, the local oscillator (3) performs a frequency scanning within the frequency range of the reception; during the frequency scanning, a demodulated signal point system is formed of the received signal by using the frequency generated by the local oscillator (3). Furthermore, the demodulated signal point system in the method is examined in order to determine at which point of time the frequency of the local oscillator is synchronized to the carrier wave frequency of the received modulation signal.

A problem in the reception of multi-level modulated signals is that the carrier wave is difficult to regenerate, because the modulated, received signal does not contain a real, unmodulated carrier wave. The effective information in a multi-level modulation, such as that of 64-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and 256-QAM, deforms the carrier wave phase at random to so many possible angles that in most prior art synchronization methods the effective information itself disturbs the estimation of the carrier wave phase (self-noise). The larger the employed modulation alphabet, the worse the problem generally becomes.
A prior art carrier wave synchronization method is based on the raising to a power of the received signal, as well as on filtration. Among the drawbacks of this method in the reception of multi-level modulated signals, is the fact that the carrier wave synchronization signal to be generated contains a strong insignificant part and weak useful part. The useful part describing the phase error is made available with a dense but slow filtration (a kind of averaging). If the frequency error between the local oscillator frequency and the carrier wave is significant, the phase error may change during the averaging to such an extent that the synchronizing signal is not kept up to date; it may exchange its sign, vibrate or be eliminated through averaging.
Another prior art carrier wave synchronization method is based on a process of detecting the transmitted data symbols from the received signal by applying certain decision-making criteria. Such methods are mainly designed for phase tracking after the receiver is locked to the carrier wave. An example of this kind of solution is DDL (Decision Directed feedback Loop). In carrier wave synchronization, this type of solutions based on decision-making can finction with extremely low modulation alphabets, such as BPSK (Bi Phase Shift Keying) and QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying). In order to ensure a sufficiently reliable operation, the error ratio in the decision-making is typically 1:100. In multilevel modulations an error ratio of this order means that the demodulated signal point system remains more or less inside the decision-making grid and is not allowed to rotate, as is illustrated in FIG. 1a. With multi-level modulation alphabets, such solutions are applicable mainly in the correction of the phase error in a situation where the frequency is corrected, in other words when the local oscillator frequency is locked to the carrier wave frequency.

Carrier wave synchronization for multi-level two-dimensional modulation alphabets


Estimation of interference cancellation efficiency as disclosed herein advantageously accounts for the real-world or effective performance of interference cancellation by estimating the interference cancellation efficiency expected for a signal targeted for interference cancellation as a joint function of signal parameters for the targeted signal and one or more other signals that will remain after such cancellation. For example, a wireless communication apparatus, such as a user equipment configured for operation in a cellular communication network, is configured to estimate the interference cancellation efficiency expected for an interfering signal received in conjunction with a desired signal, based on a joint function of signal parameters for the interfering signal and the desired signal. Such processing extends directly, of course, to the consideration of multiple interferers and/or multiple desired signals, and may be carried out in each of two or more interference cancellation processing iterations.

Communication receivers use interference cancellation to improve performance, such as might be measured in terms of data throughput. Interference cancellation in this respect enables successful transmission of data in instances where the transmissions likely would not be received successfully in the absence of at least some reduction in the effects of interference impinging on reception of the desired signal.
The amount or extent of interference cancellation—really, more accurately understood as interference reduction, because actual cancellation is imperfect—can be understood as a cancellation "gain". One may express cancellation gain in terms of increased throughput or in terms of the increase seen in received signal quality, such as represented by the signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio or SINR of the demodulated symbols obtained for a desired signal component in a received signal. Here, a "desired" signal merely indicates a signal for which transmit data is recovered and it will be understood that a received wireless communication signal in general is a composite of potentially many signals of varying strengths, e.g., one or more desired signals and one or more interfering signals.
The cancellation gain depends on a number of items, including the inherent design and sophistication of the receiver and its included interference cancellation circuitry. Conventionally, the term "cancellation efficiency" or "cancellation efficiency value" is used to denote the amount of interfering signal energy removed from a desired signal after a cancellation operation. For example, a cancellation efficiency value of 0 means that no interfering energy is removed and a cancellation efficiency value of 1 means that all interfering energy from a certain interfering stream is removed. In practice, of course, no interference cancellation process has one hundred percent efficiency.
In mathematical terms, calculation of the SINR of a certain data stream is made to depend on the cancellation efficiency of interference cancellation as applied to a signal interfering with the data stream in question. This arrangement can be expressed as follows:
      SINR    d    =            S      d                      N        0            +                        ∑                      k            ≠                                                        S            k                                          (                          1              -                              CE                k                                      )                              where Sd and Sk are powers of the received desired and interfering signal components, respectively, before additional processing, e.g. despreading/combining. Such measurements correspond to, for example, the OFDM input signal or the chip-level signal in DS-CDMA. Further, N0 is the interference power not attributed to any signals removed using interference cancellation, d denotes the index of the data stream of interest, e.g., the desired signal, whereas k denotes the index of the signal interfering with the data stream of interest. Correspondingly, CEk denotes the cancellation efficiency for the k-th interfering signal. Note that CE is typically in range of zero to one—with zero being no cancellation and one being complete cancellation. Of course, a suboptimal design for interference cancellation processing can add more noise than is removed, resulting in a CE of less than zero.
Conventionally, the interference cancellation efficiency for a given interfering signal is estimated based on the link quality between the victim receiver and the interfering transmitter or node. Conventional processing may further consider the modulation and coding scheme or "MCS" of the interfering signal. Within this conventional framework, the cancellation efficiency is interpreted as the fraction of the interference power that is removed during the IC operation.
This simplistic approach can be embodied in a simple look-up table or "LUT" that depends only on selected parameters of the interfering signal, such as the interfering signal quality and MCS. A receiver configured to perform traditional estimation of interference cancellation efficiency would obtain or guess MCS parameters for an interfering signal and would estimate its link quality with respect to the transmitter originating the interfering signal. The conventional receiver would then use both such items of information to obtain its cancellation efficiency estimate with respect to the interfering signal. In turn, the receiver might condition certain operations on that conventional estimate. See, for example, WO 2014/004897 A1

Method and apparatus for interference cancellation efficiency estimation and control


Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a bearer setup method, a related apparatus, and a system. A first base station receives a first bearer setup request message initiated by UE; sends a first tunnel endpoint to a core network device, where the first tunnel endpoint includes a first TEID and a first transport layer address, and the first tunnel endpoint is allocated by the first base station; receives a second tunnel endpoint sent by the core network device, where the second tunnel endpoint includes a second TEID and a second transport layer address, and the second tunnel endpoint is allocated by the core network device; and completes setup of the first bearer with the core network device, for transmitting uplink data and transmitting downlink data.

Currently, a 5G access technology (5th-Generation New radio access technology, 5G New RAT) is referred to as a new radio access technology, and may be implemented by evolution from a 4th generation mobile communications (4th Generation mobile communications, 4G) technology.
For example, a 4G network may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. In evolution from 4G to 5G, evolution from a 4G core network (i.e., Evolved Packet Core, EPC) to a new core network (i.e., new core) may undergo two phases sequentially. LTE and the new radio access technology (New RAT) of two standards evolve to a 5G new core in two different manners respectively. The standard refers to a radio access technology, and different standards are used for different radio access technologies.
For LTE, in phase 1, LTE-NR supports close 4G-5G interworking by using a dual connectivity (DC) solution. In the DC solution, user equipment (UE) may use radio resources of at least two different network nodes. To be specific, the UE performs access from LTE network and transmits one part of data, and uses NR to transmit another part of data. In phase 2, evolved LTE (eLTE) supports both an S1 interface in connecting to the EPC and a next generation network (NG) interface in connecting to the new core. For the NR, the NR in phase 1 is in non-standalone (non-standalone) mode. where non-standalone indicates that the NR does not have a 5G core network and needs to connect to the 4G core network by using a 4G base station, that is, the NR connects to the EPC by using LTE. The NR in phase 2 is in standalone (standalone) mode, where standalone indicates that the NR has a 5G core network, that is, the NR directly connects to the new core and comprehensively supports all 5G functions.
Currently, the LTE and the NR in phase 1 are described using an architecture as an example. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture for multi-connectivity transmission in the prior art. UE uses the 5G new RAT, and connects to an evolved base station (eNB) via a new radio access technology base station (New RAT Base Station, NR BS) by using a new interface X5; the eNB sets up a connection to an LTE core network, where the LTE core network includes a mobility management entity (MME) and a serving gateway (SGW); and a data plane connection may also be set up between the NR BS and the LTE core network. Based on the foregoing architecture, when the UE transmits data, the data needs to be split into two data streams for transmission. For one data stream, a connection is directly set up to the 4G core network via the eNB. For the other data stream, the 5G new RAT is used, and a connection is set up to the eNB via the NR BS by using the new interface X5. For the UE, radio resources of two different network nodes are used, and therefore the UE may transmit data in DC mode.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a control plane protocol stack for multilink transmission in the prior art. The UE performs access from an LTE network and then transmits a part of data by using the NR BS. A control plane (CP) anchor and a user plane (UP) anchor are at an LTE Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer. The NR BS has a radio link control (RLC) layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, and a physical (PHY) layer. DC means that a CP sends data to the UE through the LTE PDCP layer via the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the PHY layer, and the CP may be a radio resource control (RRC) layer. A UP also sends data to the UE through the LTE PDCP layer via the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the PHY layer. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack for multilink transmission in the prior art. As shown in the figure, the UP may be an Internet Protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) layer.
However, the UE connects to the eNB via the NR BS by using the new interface X5. The new interface X5 is classified into an ideal backhaul interface and a non-ideal backhaul interface, where the ideal backhaul interface may be implemented using an optical fiber and has no latency, and the non-ideal backhaul interface has a latency. Currently, most used interfaces are non-ideal backhaul X5 interfaces. Because backhaul network quality needs to be considered when data traffic is transmitted between two network elements by using a non-ideal backhaul X5 interface, the backhaul network quality is related to factors such as a transmission medium and a bandwidth resource. However, due to the factors, the non-ideal backhaul X5 interface may cause an additional latency to a bearer on a 5G network.

Bearer setup method, related apparatus, and system


A wireless push-to-talk (PTT) communication system 100 assigns a special dispatch priority to for emergency communications to and from police, fire dept. or communications to other emergency personnel. A communication which has been assigned dispatch priority takes precedence over all other non-dispatch priority communications for initially completing the call and maintaining the communications links. An indication of dispatch priority in a 1xEV-DO system may be achieved by setting a bit in the RequestReason field 604 of the ConnectionRequest message 602.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of wireless telecommunications, and more specifically relates to establishing priority for a wireless data communication.
2. Background
The demand continues to increase for wireless services including wireless telephony, the wireless transmission of multimedia, wireless e-mailing, Internet access, video streaming, image transmission, and interactive gaming. While a number of systems are in place already, new wireless technologies are being developed to satisfy the growing demand for high speed wireless Internet services. These wireless technologies include, for example, CDMA2000 1xEV-DV, 1xEV-DO, and WCDMA (wide-band Code-Division Multiple Access) which may be used in various forms of voice and data communications. These and other wireless technologies may be used to implement Push-to-Talk (PTT) direct radio voice communication services using various known protocols and specifications.
PTT communications are sometimes known as dispatch communications or "walkie talkie" mode. One advantageous feature of PTT is that a user can communicate with others without dialing an outgoing telephone number. A mobile PTT user may speak with another PTT user, or with a predefined group of other PTT users, by simply pushing a talk button. In current PTT implementations the predefined group of PTT users may include up to one hundred people participating in the same conversation, and possibly more in the future. When making a PTT call a user depresses a button to speak, and all members of the group receive the message. If one of the members of the group responds, all members of the group hear the response. In this way a group of people—say, constructions workers or taxi cab drivers—may carry on a conversation in which all members of the group hear all parts of the conversation. PTT services operate using half-duplex communications, with one channel being used for both in-bound and out-bound communication. Unlike ordinary telephone conversations in which a user may receive and transmit simultaneously, a PTT caller can only transmit or else receive at one given time, but not both at the same time.
A drawback of these and other wireless systems is that they occasionally drop calls or fail to complete new calls, especially during peak usage times or in highly congested areas. This can be a severe disadvantage if the call that is dropped or fails to complete is an emergency communication.

System and method for providing communication resources to wireless dispatch priority users


A structural body pillar is provided for a motor vehicle having a structural component. The structural component is designed as closed hollow profile and extends in a longitudinal direction of the structural body pillar. Furthermore, the structural body pillar comprises a facing. The facing comprises an elastic material and is arranged in the direction of an outer side of the motor vehicle above the structural component. The structural component is designed unitarily and on a first side provides a support surface for a window of the motor vehicle.

In order to minimize injuries in the event of an impact of a person, for example a pedestrian, on a motor vehicle, predetermined regions with known front hood structures are designed in such a manner that these can particularly effectively absorb and reduce the impact energy. Depending on the nature of the impact the person from the engine hood can further strike the front window or an A-pillar.
To satisfy applicable Euro NCAP requirements, particularly the so-called Euro NCAP Head-Impact-Requirements, a so-called minimum "wrap distance" from a stiff body pillar to a softer window region is required. According to the prior art, this includes the configuration of the structure in shell design even including the structural precautions for the window support integrated therein.
From DE 101 21 688 A1 an impact-soft pillar comprising an outer panel and a substructure as well as a mounting with a contact surface on the front end for the marginal region of a windscreen is known. Between the outer panel and the substructure at least one deformation element extending in pillar longitudinal direction is arranged in the region between the mounting and the vehicle door adjoining the pillar or the outer panel in the region between the mounting and the vehicle door is omitted and replaced with a plastic outer part with an integrated deformation element, wherein the plastic outer part contacts the substructure. With the impact-soft pillar the risk of injury can be reduced in the event of an impact of a pedestrian or another person involved in the impact. Disadvantageous in the known pillar is that this is only possible with substantial restriction of the angle of vision of a motor vehicle occupant.
At least one object is to state a structural body pillar for a motor vehicle and a motor vehicle with a structural body pillar which reduces the risk of injury while improving the angle of vision for the vehicle occupants at the same time. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Structural body pillar for a motor vehicle and motor vehicle having a structural body pillar


Compounds containing a specific branched chain end terminal group, which is isopropyl, sec.-butyl, or tert.-butyl; a polar leading group; and long-chain aliphatic, non-cyclic, saturated or unsaturated, hydrocarbon group linking them; and having anti-cancer and immune boosting activity.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is drawn to a group of compounds with specific structure, which possess anti-cancer activity. It also relates to processes of making these compounds, and processes for their use in human and other mammalian subjects for cancer therapy, prevention, and immune boosting functions.
2. Description of the Background
Extensive studies have been underway for over 2 decades to identify drugs that could be used to treat cancer. Drugs that either directly or indirectly cause tumor cell growth arrest, or cause tumor cell death via apoptotic mechanisms have been identified. However, major limiting factors in anticancer therapy still exist, i.e. drugs' adverse effects on normal cells and drug resistance developed by cancer cells. Some new approaches, such as anti-angiogenesis approach, represent new avenues of fighting cancer.
Nonetheless the most direct approach to stop cancer is to use drugs that kill tumor cells. As mentioned above, one major drawback of these conventional cancer-killing drugs is that they also kill non-cancerous cells and cause severe adverse effects. In an effort to search for anti-cancer agents that have minimal effects on normal tissue, a group of compounds with specific structure that directly kill cancer cells but do not harm normal cells have recently been identified.
A group of specific iso- and anteiso-branched-chain fatty acids with significant anti-cancer effect has been described in Applicant's U.S. application Ser. No. 09/173,681, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,875. Such compounds as described in the above Applicant's U.S. Application, and derivatives thereof obtained by reacting the acid moiety thereof, are described in Applicant's WO 99/53086. These compounds have shown excellent cytotoxic activity through induction of apoptosis against a broad variety of cancer cells, including, but not limited to, leukemia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, with extremely low toxicity to experimental animals.
JP-A 04295423 and JP-B 07072134, each to Daiichi, disclose anti-cancer agents containing MeCHR(CH2)nCOOH wherein R is C1–C5 alkyl and n=4–22. U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,466 to Deguchi disclose a method for treating tumors susceptible to treatment with a wool fatty acid, or its reduced alcohol, metal salt or aliphatic ester derivative, or a wool alcohol, or its carboxylic acid, aliphatic ether or aliphatic ester derivative. Deguchi additionally disclose that it is characteristic of wool fatty acid and wool alcohol to contain a large quantity of iso- and anteiso- higher saturated aliphatic compounds. Deguchi also exemplifies a number of specific iso- and anteiso-higher saturated aliphatic acids and alcohols.
However, none of the above prior art recognizes Applicant's discovery that the anti-cancer activity resides in a terminal branch structure and a polar group per se directly linked at opposite ends, respectively, of a long chain group.

Group of anti-cancer compounds with specific structure and their production method


An IPS liquid crystal display (200) includes a first substrate (21) and a second substrate (22) opposite to each other, and a twisted nematic liquid crystal layer (25) sandwiched between the first and second substrates. A first polarizer (23) is disposed at an outer surface of the first substrate, and a second polarizer (24) is disposed at an outer surface of the second substrate. Polarizing axes of the first and second polarizers are parallel to each other. A plurality of pixel electrodes (27) and common electrodes (26) are disposed at the second substrate. A first alignment film (213) is disposed at an inner surface of the first substrate, and a second alignment film (224) is disposed at an inner surface of the second substrate. The first alignment film maintains a rubbing angle of approximately 90° relative to the second alignment film.

In order to obtain a wide viewing angle, the IPS (in-plane switching) type LCD has been developed. FIG. 9 is a schematic, exploded isometric view of a conventional IPS LCD 100. The IPS LCD 100 includes a first substrate 11, a second substrate 12 opposite to the first substrate 11, and a liquid crystal layer 15 sandwiched between the substrates 11, 12. The liquid crystal layer 15 includes liquid crystal molecules 18. A first and a second polarizers 13, 14 are formed at outer sides of the substrates 11, 12 respectively. A plurality of pixel electrodes 16 and common electrodes 17 are disposed parallel to each other at an inner surface of the second substrate 12. A first alignment layer (not shown) is disposed at an inner surface of the first substrate 11. A second alignment layer (not shown) is disposed at the inner surface of the second substrate 12, covering the pixel electrodes 16 and common electrodes 17. Original rubbing directions of the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer are parallel to each other. Long axes of liquid crystal molecules 18 adjacent to the alignment layers are approximately parallel to the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 12. Polarizing axes of the first and second polarizers 13, 14 are perpendicular to each other.
When no voltage is applied, the long axes of the liquid crystal molecules 18 maintain an angle relative to the pixel and common electrodes 16, 17. Light beams are emitted from a back light module (not shown) underneath the second substrate 12. When the light beams pass through the liquid crystal layer 15, their polarizing directions do not change, and the light beams are absorbed by the first polarizer 13. Thus the IPS LCD 100 is in an "off" state, and cannot display images.
As shown in FIG. 10, when a voltage is applied to the pixel and common electrodes 16, 17, an electric field E1 is generated between the pixel and common electrodes 16, 17. A direction of the electric field E1 is parallel to the second substrate 12, and perpendicular to the pixel and common electrodes 16, 17. The long axes of the liquid crystal molecules 18 twist to align in the direction of the electric field E1. Light beams exiting from the second polarizer 14 pass through the liquid crystal layer 15, and the polarization state of the light beams is converted to match the polarizing axis of the first polarizer 13. Thus the light beams pass through the first polarizer 13 to display images, and the IPS LCD 100 is in an "on" state.
However, before the voltage is applied, all the liquid crystal molecules 18 are aligned in the same direction. When the voltage is applied and the liquid crystal molecules 18 twist to align in the new direction according to the electric field E1, the amount of time needed for all the liquid crystal molecules 18 to twist is unduly long. This means that the response time of the IPS LCD 100 is unduly long.
What is needed, therefore, is an IPS LCD which overcomes the above-described problems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

In plane switching liquid crystal display


A method of driving a nonvolatile memory device, includes; forward shifting threshold voltages of nonvolatile memory cells by executing a first program loop with respect to the nonvolatile memory cells, and thereafter, reverse shifting the threshold voltages of the nonvolatile memory cells, and again forward shifting the threshold voltages of the nonvolatile memory cells by executing a second program loop with respect to the nonvolatile memory cells.

The inventive concept relates generally to methods of driving a nonvolatile memory device.
The threshold voltage of programmed nonvolatile memory cells in certain nonvolatile memory devices and systems tend to change over time. There are many reasons for this adverse result having to with environmental factors, operational factors, and basic properties of materials used to fabricate the nonvolatile memory cells.
It not acceptable to have the threshold voltages of programmed nonvolatile memory cells to materially change over time, because the resulting "changed" threshold voltages may be misinterpreted, thereby resulting in read data errors.

Method of driving nonvolatile memory devices


Techniques for computer memory management are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method includes in response to receiving a request for allocation of memory, determining whether the request is for allocation from a first memory region or a second memory region of the physical memory. The first memory region has first memory subregions of a first size and the second memory region having second memory subregions of a second size larger than the first size of the first memory region. The method further includes in response to determining that the request for allocation of memory is for allocation from the first or second memory region, allocating a portion of the first or second multiple memory subregions of the first or second memory region, respectively, in response to the request.

In computing, memory management is a form of resource management applied to computer memory, such as random-access memory ("RAM") in a computing device. For example, a memory manager at an operating system can initially allocate an amount of memory space (often referred to as "blocks") to a program or process executed by a processor in the computing device. The processor can then utilize the allocated memory space for holding objects and data structures corresponding to the executed program or process. Once the allocated memory space is no longer needed, for instance, when execution of the program or process is finished, the memory manager can deallocate or "free" the previously allocated memory space to be reused for other programs or processes.

Computer memory management in computing devices


A preview and playback method of video streams is provided for a video playback device having network function. The method includes defining a virtual channel and a preview channel corresponding to the virtual channel. A video stream list of the virtual channel is established for linking a plurality of video streams. A preview list is established and description information of each of the preview data corresponding to the video streams is recorded in the preview list. When the video playback device receives a preview channel selection instruction, the preview data is obtained automatically and played continuously. When the video playback device receives a preview data selection instruction, the video stream corresponding to the preview data being selected is recognized as a selected video stream. The preview channel is switched to the virtual channel, and the selected video stream is obtained from a video stream service and played automatically.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a preview and playback method of video streams and more particularly, to a method capable of automatically playing preview data of a plurality of independent video streams and a preview and playback system thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional TV set receives radio frequency (RF) signals from TV stations via an antenna or a cable to play cable over-the-air TV programs. In operation, a user can watch all TV programs played on a channel by simply inputting the number of the channel with a remote control. When the user is about to switch channels, he/she can do so by inputting the number of the desired channel with the remote control or by pressing down the channel up/down keys on the remote control, which is very intuitional and convenient.
However, along with the explosive growth of the Internet, video transmission through the Internet has become a new means to watch videos or TV programs. Regarding existing Internet video or Internet TV techniques, a specific application program has to be installed in advance in order to play programs provided by a corresponding online video service. To be specific, a user needs to manually start a specific application program, browse available programs, and select a desired program through the operation interface of the application program.
Moreover, the existing Internet video services typically allow the user to browse messages, such as cover photos of videos, introduction of video programs and so forth, so as to select the video program to be watched. Accordingly, the user has to change his/her operation habit of watching conventional TV programs and choose the desired program by using the four arrow keys, the "confirm/select" key, and the "enter" key on the remote control. Obviously, such an operation pattern is very complicated compared to the conventional one in which a channel is selected by directly inputting the number of the channel or pressing the channel up/down keys. Besides, since different application programs have different operation interfaces, and contents and types of programs provided through the Internet are numerous, a user has to keep his/her eyes on the screen to perform operations and correctly select the content desired to watch. Accordingly, as for the Internet video services, how to allow the user to choose a video program in easy and quick way has become an important subject.

Preview and playback method of video streams and system thereof


A device for sensing a level of ice stored in a bin of an automatic ice maker includes a bail arm and an actuator mechanism. The actuator mechanism is constituted by a shape memory alloy that, upon application of a voltage, contracts to move the bail arm to a raised position prior to initiation of an ice harvest cycle. After completion of the ice harvest cycle, the voltage is discontinued, allowing the shape memory alloy to relax, causing the bail arm to return to a lowered position. The bail arm includes a sensing member that extends into the bin and, depending upon the level of ice, prevents the bail arm from contacting a sensing switch, temporarily halting ice production.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to a sensing device for detecting a level of ice present within an ice storage bin of an automatic ice maker system arranged within the refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the art of refrigerators, it is widely known to incorporate an automatic ice maker system wherein ice cubes are formed and collected within an ice storage bin. The ice cubes can either be accessed directly at the ice storage bin or through a dispenser. With such a system, provisions are commonly made to sense a level of ice cubes in the ice storage bin. A control is employed to automatically terminate the production of additional ice cubes when the amount of ice cubes in the storage bin reaches a predetermined level. Typically, the automatic ice maker will have an associated bail arm which rises and falls with the level of ice in the storage bin. When the level of ice causes the bail arm to shift upward a predetermined distance, the formation of additional ice is temporarily terminated. However, with this arrangement, often times ice can pile onto the bail arm in such a manner as to prevent the bail arm from shifting upward and terminating ice production.
To address this problem, some automatic ice makers are provided with a separate motor and cam arrangement, or utilize existing drive components, to raise the bail arm prior to an ice harvesting cycle. That is, prior to harvesting or ejecting ice cubes into the storage bin, the bail arm is raised so that ice cubes that are ejected into the bin do not pile onto or accumulate on the bail arm. However, while effective at preventing the bail arm from signaling a false negative, and allow ice to exceed preset levels, motor and cam arrangements increase the overall cost, complexity and size of the automatic ice makers. Additionally, the burden placed on existing drive components could detrimentally impact the service life of the ice maker. In the highly competitive field of kitchen appliances, it is advantageous to minimize manufacturing steps, eliminate potential failure points or otherwise increase the efficiency of an appliance without detracting from an overall established level of quality.
Based on the above, despite the existence of the automatic ice makers in the prior art, there still exists a need for an automatic ice maker system that includes a bail arm which is moved to a raised position prior to an ice harvesting cycle. More specifically, there exists a need for a bail arm that employs a simplified actuation mechanism to move the bail arm between the raised and lowered positions.

Ice level sensing device for an automatic ice maker in a refrigerator