Sequences of nucleic acid oligonucleotides for amplifying different portions of gag and pol genes of HIV-1 and for detecting such amplified nucleic acid sequences are disclosed. Methods of amplifying and detecting HIV-1 nucleic acid in a biological sample using the amplification oligonucleotides specific for gag and pol target sequences are disclosed.

This invention relates to diagnostic detection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1), and more particularly relates to compositions and assays for detecting HIV-1 nucleic acid sequences using nucleic acid amplification and detection of amplified sequences, particularly sequences related to development of HIV-1 drug resistance.
HIV-1 is the causative agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Early detection of HIV-1 infection is important for determining effective treatment of the infection and to avoid transmission of the infectious virus in body fluids, even before the infected individual manifests symptoms. Early detection of the presence of HIV-1 nucleic acid sequences in infected tissue or body fluid can lead to earlier treatment and steps to prevent spread of the virus to others. To be effective in early diagnosis, reagents and procedures to detect HIV-1 nucleic acid sequences must be able to detect relatively low numbers of viral copies in the tested sample (e.g., a few hundred copies per ml of plasma). Furthermore, diagnostic methods that provide additional information about the HIV-1 present in an infected individual, such as the HIV-1 subtype and/or mutational changes associated with viral drug-resistance, are useful for prognosis.
Drug-resistance mutations (substitutions, deletions or insertions of one or more nucleic acid bases) have been found in HIV-1 patients who have been treated with drugs and have experienced a resurgence of HIV-1 proliferation and symptoms. Such mutations, which result in a phenotypic change whereby the virus becomes resistant to an antiretroviral drug, have found in the gag gene, often affecting protease cleavage sites, and the pol gene, in both the protease and the reverse transcriptase (RT) coding regions (Gingeras et al., 1991, J. Infect. Dis. 164(6):1066-1074; Richman et al., 1991, J. Infect. Dis. 164(6):1075-1081; Schinazi et al., 1993, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 37(4):875-881; Najera et al., 1994, AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses 10(11):1479-1488; Eastman et al., 1995, J. AIDS Hum. Retrovirol. 9(3):264-273; Frenkel et al., 1995, J. Clin. Microbiol. 33(2):342-347; Shirasaka et al., 1995, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92(6):2398-2402; Leal et al., 1996, Eur. J Clin. Invest. 26(6):476-480; Cleland et al., 1996, J. AIDS Hum. Retrovirol. 12(1):6-18; Schmit et al., 1996, AIDS 10(9):995-999; Vasudevechari et al., 1996, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 40(11):2535-2541; Winslow et al., 1996, AIDS 10(11):1205-1209; Fontenot et al., Virology 190(1):1-10; Cornelissen et al., 1997, J. Virol. 71(9):6348-6358; Ives et al., 1997, J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 39(6):771-779).
Information on viral mutations present in an HIV-1 infected patient can be used by a clinician to determine appropriate treatment, such as whether to begin or maintain the patient on a particular antiretroviral therapy. Moreover, continued testing of patient samples that permits characterization of the HIV-1 during treatment can indicate emergence of a drug-resistant virus, thereby allowing the clinician to alter the therapy to one that is more effective. Evidence suggesting that drug resistance testing has clinical utility comes from retrospective and prospective intervention-based studies (Durant et al., 1999, Lancet353:2195-2199; Clevenbergh et al., 1999, Antiviral Ther. 4: Abstract 60; Baxter et al., 1999, Antiviral Ther. 4: Abstract 61; Cohen et al., 2000, 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (San Francisco, Calif.), Abstract 237). Some mutations known to confer drug resistance affect 20 codons of the protease coding sequence and 27 codons of the reverse transcriptase (RT) coding sequence (Hirsch et al., 2000, JAMA 18:2417-2426). A comprehensive list of 190 mutations in pol was reported by Schinazi et al. (Int""l Antiviral News 8:65-91 (2000)). Mutations that affect gag cleavage sites have been shown to compensate for loss of enzyme activity due to resistance mutations in protease. Thus, there is a need for genotypic assays that provide sequence information on relevant codons, because such assays may detect a viral mutant which could contribute to drug failure, even if it is a minor component of the patient""s viral population.
The HIV-1 genome is highly variable, with three groups (M, O and N) described based on their genetic relatedness. The most prevalent group, M, contains subtypes (A to J), with subtypes A, B and C accounting for about 95% of the viral subtypes found worldwide. Subtype E, which is frequently found in Asia, is a recombinant virus that includes subtype A sequence in the gag and pol genes. Therefore, an effective diagnostic assay must be able to detect at least one of the A, B and C subtypes, and, preferably, all of them.
Detection of HIV-1 by using a variety of assays and reagents has been described previously. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,594,123, 5,176,995 and 5,008,182 (Sninsky et al.) disclose detection based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify HIV-1 nucleic acid. U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,637 (Moncany et al.) discloses oligonucleotide primer sequences for selected regions of HIV-1 genes, and methods of amplifying viral sequences using the primers and detecting the amplified products. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,712,385 (McDonough et al.) and 5,856,088 (McDonough et al.) disclose amplification oligonucleotides, probes and methods for detecting HIV-1 sequences. U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,177 (Moncany et al.) discloses methods of amplifying HIV-1 nucleotide sequences for gene expression and purification of the polypeptides produced. HIV-1 nucleic acid sequences useful for detecting the presence of HIV-1 have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,602 and EP 0 178 978 (Alizon et al.), U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,843,638 (Montagnier et al.), 6,001,977 (Chang et al.), 5,420,030 (Reitz et al.) and 5,869,313 (Reitz et al.), and EP 0 181 150 (Luciw et al.). PCT No. WO 9961666 discloses a method for detecting polymorphic mutations in HIV genetic sequences which provide an indication of an increased risk of an imminent viral drug-resistance mutation.
Methods of amplifying nucleic acids to produce more copies of a target sequence have been described previously. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195, 4,683,202, and 4,800,159 (Mullis et al.) disclose PCR amplification which uses a thermocycling series of denaturation and polymerization reactions to produce many copies of a target sequence. Amplification methods that rely on transcription using an RNA polymerase have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,399,491 and 5,554,516 (Kacian et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,990 (Burg et al.), PCT Nos. WO 8801302 and WO 8810315 (Gingeras et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,238 (Malek et al.); and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,868,105 and 5,124,246 (Urdea et al.). The ligase chain reaction (LCR) uses four different oligonucleotides to amplify a target and its complementary strand by using cycles of hybridization, ligation, and denaturation (EP No. 0 320 308). Strand displacement amplification (SDA) uses a primer that contains a recognition site for a restriction endonuclease that nicks one strand of a hemimodified DNA target duplex, followed by primer extension and strand displacement steps (U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,252 (Walker et al.)).
Nucleic acid sequences may be detected by using hybridization with a complementary sequence (e.g., oligonucleotide probes) (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,503,980 (Cantor), 5,202,231 (Drmanac et al.), 5,149,625 (Church et al.), 5,112,736 (Caldwell et al.), 5,068,176 (Vijg et al.), and 5,002,867 (Macevicz)). Hybridization detection methods may use an array of probes on a DNA chip to provide sequence information about the target nucleic acid which selectively hybridizes to an exactly complementary probe sequence in a set of four related probe sequences that differ one nucleotide (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,837,832 and 5,861,242 (Chee et al.)).
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a nucleic acid oligomer for amplifying a nucleotide sequence of HIV-1, comprising a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:5 to SEQ ID NO:22 and SEQ ID NO:33 to SEQ ID NO:68. In one embodiment, the nucleic acid oligomer has a nucleic acid backbone that includes one or more 2xe2x80x2-O-methoxy linkages, peptide nucleic acid linkages, phosphorothioate linkages, methylphosphonate linkages or any combination of these linkages. In another embodiment, the oligomer is a promoter-primer having a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:5 to SEQ ID NO:10 and SEQ ID NO:33 to SEQ ID NO:45, wherein a 5xe2x80x2 portion of the sequence includes a promoter sequence for T7 RNA polymerase. Another embodiment is a mixture of nucleic acid oligomers that includes oligomers for amplifying a first gag sequence and having a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:11, SEQ ID NO:33, SEQ ID NO:35, SEQ ID NO:46, SEQ ID NO:47, SEQ ID NO:17 and SEQ ID NO:59. Another embodiment is a mixture of nucleic acid oligomers includes oligomers for amplifying a second gag sequence and having a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:12, SEQ ID NO:34, SEQ ID NO:36, SEQ ID NO:48, SEQ ID NO:49, SEQ ID NO:18, and SEQ ID NO:60. Another mixture embodiment includes oligomers for amplifying a Protease sequence and having a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:13, SEQ ID NO:37, SEQ ID NO:38, SEQ ID NO:50, SEQ ID NO:51, SEQ ID NO:19, SEQ ID NO:61, and SEQ ID NO:62. One mixture of oligomers includes oligomers for amplifying a first reverse transcriptase (RT) sequence and having a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:14, SEQ ID NO:39, SEQ ID NO:40, SEQ ID NO:41, SEQ ID NO:52, SEQ ID NO:53, SEQ ID NO:54, SEQ ID NO:20, SEQ ID NO:63, SEQ ID NO:64 and SEQ ID NO:65. Another embodiment is a mixture that includes oligomers for amplifying a second RT sequence and having a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:9, SEQ ID NO:15, SEQ ID NO:42, SEQ ID NO:43, SEQ ID NO:55, SEQ ID NO:56, SEQ ID NO:21, and SEQ ID NO:66. Another mixture includes oligomers for amplifying a third RT sequence and having a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:10, SEQ ID NO:16, SEQ ID NO:44, SEQ ID NO:45, SEQ ID NO:57, SEQ ID NO:58, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:67, and SEQ ID NO:68.
Another aspect of the invention is a labeled oligonucleotide that specifically hybridizes to an HIV-1 sequence derived from gag or pol sequences, having a base sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:23 to SEQ ID NO:29, and a label that results in a detectable signal. In one embodiment, the labeled oligonucleotide includes in its nucleic acid backbone one or more 2xe2x80x2-O-methoxy linkages, peptide nucleic acid linkages, phosphorothioate linkages, methylphosphonate linkages or any combination these linkages. In another embodiment, the labeled oligonucleotide includes a label that is a compound that produces a luminescent signal that can be detected in a homogeneous detection system. In one embodiment, the label is an acridinium ester (AE) compound and the oligonucleotide hybridizes to an HIV-1 sequence derived from gag sequences and has a base sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:23, SEQ ID NO:24 and SEQ ID NO:25. In another embodiment, the label is an AE compound and the oligonucleotide hybridizes to an HIV-1 sequence derived from pol sequences and has a base sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:26, SEQ ID NO:27, SEQ ID NO:28, and SEQ ID NO:29.
Another aspect of the invention provides a method of detecting HIV-1 in a biological sample. The method includes the steps of providing a biological sample containing HIV-1 nucleic acid; mixing the sample with two or more amplification oligomers that specifically amplify at least one HIV-1 target sequence contained within gag and pol sequences under conditions that allow amplification of nucleic acid, wherein the amplification oligomers have sequences selected from the group consisting of:
SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:11, SEQ ID NO:33, SEQ ID NO:35, SEQ ID NO:46, SEQ ID NO:47, SEQ ID NO:17, and SEQ ID NO:59 to amplify a first gag sequence;
SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:12, SEQ ID NO:34, SEQ ID NO:36, SEQ ID NO:48, SEQ ID NO:49, SEQ ID NO:18, and SEQ ID NO:60 to amplify a second gag sequence;
SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:13, SEQ ID NO:37, SEQ ID NO:38, SEQ ID NO:50, SEQ ID NO:51, SEQ ID NO:19, SEQ ID NO:61 and SEQ ID NO:62 to amplify a first pol sequence, which is a protease sequence;
SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:14, SEQ ID NO:39, SEQ ID NO:40, SEQ ID NO:41, SEQ ID NO:52, SEQ ID NO:53, SEQ ID NO:54, SEQ ID NO:20, SEQ ID NO:63, SEQ ID NO:64, and SEQ ID NO:65 to amplify a second pol sequence, which is a first reverse transcriptase (RT) sequence;
SEQ ID NO:9, SEQ ID NO:15, SEQ ID NO:42, SEQ ID NO:43, SEQ ID NO:55, SEQ ID NO:56, SEQ ID NO:21, and SEQ ID NO:66 to amplify a third pol sequence, which is a second RT sequence; and
SEQ ID NO:10, SEQ ID NO:16, SEQ ID NO:44, SEQ ID NO:45, SEQ ID NO:57, SEQ ID NO:58, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:67, and SEQ ID NO:68 to amplify a fourth pol sequence, which is a third RT sequence, or a combination of oligomers selected from these groups that allows amplification of at least one gag sequence and at least pol sequence; amplifying the target sequence to produce an amplified nucleic acid product; and detecting the presence of the amplified nucleic acid product. In one embodiment, the amplifying step uses a transcription-mediated amplification method which is conducted in substantially isothermal conditions. In one embodiment, the detecting step uses a labeled oligomer having the sequence of SEQ ID NO:23, SEQ ID NO:24 or SEQ ID NO:25, or a mixture of these oligomers, to hybridize specifically to the amplified nucleic acid produced from a gag sequence; a labeled oligomer having the sequence of SEQ ID NO:26, SEQ ID NO:27, SEQ ID NO:28 or SEQ ID NO:29, or a mixture of these oligomers, to hybridize specifically to the amplified nucleic acid produced from a pol sequence; or a mixture of at least two labeled oligomers, wherein the mixture comprises one or more first labeled oligomers selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:23, SEQ ID NO:24, and SEQ ID NO:25, and one or more second labeled oligomers selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:26, SEQ ID NO:27, SEQ ID NO:28, and SEQ ID NO:29 to hybridize specifically to the amplified nucleic acid produced from at least one gag and at least one pol sequence. Another embodiment of the method has a detecting step that detects hybridization of the amplified nucleic acid to an array of nucleic acid probes. In another embodiment, the method may also include the step of contacting the sample containing HIV-1 nucleic acid with at least one capture oligomer having a sequence that hybridizes specifically to the HIV-1 nucleic acid, thus forming a hybridization complex that includes the HIV-1 nucleic acid, and separating the hybridization complex from other sample components.

Amplification of HIV-1 RT sequences for detection of sequences associated with drug-resistance mutations


An arrangement to detune a reception antenna in a local coil of a magnetic resonance system, with at least one reception antenna that is fashioned as a loop antenna and that has at least one first capacitance. Radio-frequency signals of a magnetic resonance examination are received via the reception antenna. A switchable detuning circuit contains the first capacitance connected to an oscillating circuit and a first inductance. A reception device to receive a control signal is coupled with the oscillating circuit. The reception device switches the oscillating circuit into a high-resistance state given a received control signal so that a receipt of a radio-frequency signal via the reception antenna is prevented. The reception device is fashioned to receive a wirelessly transmitted radio-frequency control signal. The radio-frequency control signal has a frequency that lies outside of the bandwidth of the radio-frequency signal used for magnetic resonance examination.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an arrangement to detune a reception antenna in a local coil of the type employing a switchable tuning circuit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In modern magnetic resonance systems, magnetic resonance examination signals are acquired with the use of local coils placed close to the patient.
In addition to actual reception antennas (that are preferably fashioned as loop antennas), the local coil contains additional low-noise preamplifiers in order to be able to amplify the acquired magnetic resonance signals. The local coil additionally contains for each loop antenna, an associated active detuning circuit with which that reception antenna can be detuned during a transmission phase.
During the transmission phase the detuning is necessary in order to prevent an unwanted inductive injection of strong currents (which could be generated in the reception antenna by a received transmission signal) into the patient body. The unwanted reception of the transmission signal in the reception antenna is thus prevented with the use of the detuning circuit.
FIG. 5 shows an arrangement to detune a reception antenna LA of a local coil that is designed as a loop antenna.
The reception antenna LA shows four capacitances C1 through C4 that are fashioned to shorten the reception antenna LA.
A first capacitor C1 together with a first inductance L51 forms a block circuit that, together with a first diode D51, a second diode D52 and a second inductance L52 forms a detuning circuit VSS.
The first diode D51, the second diode D52 and the second inductor L52 are thereby connected in parallel with one another, and the two diodes D51, D52 are connected with opposite polarity relative to one another.
This parallel circuit is connected at the input side with a first end of the first capacitor C1 while the parallel circuit is connected at the output side via the first inductance L51 with a second end of the first capacitor C1.
As described, during the transmission phase it is necessary to detune the reception antenna LA. For this purpose a controllable switch DCD is provided that is connected parallel to the two diodes D51, D52.
The switch DCD is preferably designed as a DC diode and is switched with the aid of a direct current signal DCSS as a control signal. The direct current signal DCSS as a control signal is directed via cables to the switch DCD.
Given a closed switch DCD, the first inductance L51 together with the first capacitance C1 forms a high-resistance block circuit, such that the detuning circuit VSS "detunes" and the loop-shaped reception antenna LA is therefore quasi-interrupted. In this case no reception of magnetic resonance signals is possible via the reception antenna LA.
If the first capacitance C1 has a residual charge, or that the reception antenna LA nevertheless receives during the transmission phase (for example because the control signal DCSS is not present due to a line disconnection), either the first diode D51 or the second diode D52 (depending on polarity of the capacitance C1) is switched through, such that the first inductance L51 together with the first capacitance C1 forms a high-resistance block circuit. The detuning circuit VSS is therefore also "detuned" for these cases.
The second inductance L52 serves to discharge residual voltages of the two diodes D51 and D52. This type of detuning is designated as "active detuning".
Given such local coils the respective preamplifier and the respective detuning circuits are supplied via cables with operating voltage and operating power.
The received magnetic resonance signals are also forwarded on via cables for additional processing.
The DC control signals described above for the active detuning circuit are transferred via cables.
Due to this multiplicity of necessary cables, a cable bundle connected with the local coil is formed that is unwieldy and can be difficult to manage.
Due to the dimensions and the resulting weight, as well as the movement of the cable bundle, mechanical defects can occur at the respective plugs and at the individual cables.
Concepts are presently being developed that enable a wireless transmission of the received magnetic resonance signals from the local coil for additional processing.
The received magnetic resonance signals are thereby amplified only after a successful wireless transmission, such that the preamplifiers are no longer an integrated part of the local coil.
The mechanically susceptible cable connections that are required for the feed of the control signals for the active detuning circuit still remain.

Arrangement to detune a reception antenna in a local coil


The objective of the invention is to increase the potential hop density of single frequency TDD radio links by allowing a set of closely located terminals to use a single channel. This is possible when transmission and reception periods of the terminals are synchronized so that the transmit period of any of the terminals in a terminal group does not overlap with the receive period of any of the terminals in the group. Synchronization is achieved by selecting at least one terminal in a hub site as a super master terminal. This terminal gives timing through a common bus to the rest of the terminals in the group. These terminals use the received timing for adjusting their own timing i.e. for adjusting the starting moment and ending moment of the transmission and reception periods in such a manner that none of terminals is sending a burst while another terminal is receiving.

Modern terrestrial microwave radio systems provide a feasible technical solution for telecommunications transmission links at distances from some hundreds of meters to up to 80 km. Such systems are increasingly being developed in both cellular and fixed telecommunications networks. A radio link system is a particularly good solution in urban areas for wireless based networks in fixed telecommunications, and for base station interconnections and base station—base station controller in cellular communication. Unlike fiber, which can require several months for right-of-way and permits, microwave can be put into immediate operation. In addition, microwave easily goes over difficult terrain where cable cannot be laid, and microwave does not require trenching or pulling through duct work, which can take weeks or months, and which increases installation costs.
A typical microwave radio site consists of an indoor mounted base band unit, an indoor or outdoor mounted radio frequency transceiver, and an parabolic antenna.
Basically there are two types of radio link network topologies in use, namely star networks and ring networks. Of course, it is common for hybrid ring and star network as well as tree network to be deployed.
FIG. 1 depicts an example of a star network. It contains at least one telephone switch and one or more hub sites at strategic locations, which serve spurs or chains of subordinate sites from the centralized hub. The hub sites are connected to the switch via a transmission link, which usually is a trunk cable. A star network has one disadvantage in that outages on a single transmission link may affect many sites so lowering overall network reliability.
FIG. 2 shows a network configured in a ring structure. This structure requires some routing and grooming intelligence at all appropriate points in the network. The capacity of every link in the ring has to be sufficient to support all sites in the loop.
As mentioned above, radio link network provides one solution for realizing a cellular telecommunications network. Then, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the switch might be a mobile switching center, the hub site can be a base station controller and a subordinate site is a base transceiver station. Each of the radio links performs a point-to-point connection.
FIG. 3 depicts a telecommunications system to which a radio link system using the invented method can be applied. The system is a cellular mobile network comprising a mobile switching center with a visitor location register, base station controllers 31 and 32, and several base transceiver stations BTS. The base station controllers 31 and 32 correspond to the hub sites as depicted in FIG. 2. Usually the base stations and their base station controller are interconnected with fixed trunk lines such as coaxial cables. For several reasons coaxial cable connections are not always possible. In this example, the base stations BTS1, . . . , BTS4 are each directly connected to the base station controller 31 with point-to-point radio links, so forming a star type topology whereas the base stations BTS6, . . . , BTS8 are connected to the base station site BTS5 with point-to-point radio links so forming another star. In this concept, the base station site means a single site which serves a plurality of hops from which one hop or link is common, like the radio link between BTS5 site and the base station controller 31. The base station controller 32 controls base stations BTS 9, . . . , BTS 118, which form a subsequent point-to-point chain. Mobile stations MS in a cell communicate with the network through the base station of that cell so that there is a radio connection between the MS and the BTS. The MS in cell 4 communicates with BTS 4.
One hop carrier between the base station and the base station controller can transfer four 2 Mbits channels each of them being divided into 16 kbits channels. Thus, one 2 Mbits channel can transfer 128 calls. Typical hop length is only 500 meters in the case the network is of the micro cell type.
A message, be it audio, video, or data is modulated on the microwave signal, which is often referred to as a carrier. The maximum distance between sites, also called a hop distance, is mainly determined by propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves. The higher the carrier frequency the greater free space loss, or attenuation due to the atmosphere, i.e. the shorter the achievable distances. However, this also means that frequency re-use distances are shorter: the distance between links operating on the same frequency can be shorter without fear of interference.
There are three types of interference which should be considered in any terrestrial radio link network: 1) intrasystem interference occurs when a radio signal within a multi-hop network interferes with the receiver of a different hop, 2) external disturbance occurs when a foreign system affects a signal, 3) reflection—from anything that has a reflective surface can deflect other signals into the path of the transmitted signal and the stronger signal will interfere with the weaker signal.
Radio links have traditionally operated on regulated frequency bands which are further divided into frequency channels. The use of radio channels is regulated by local authorities and based on coordinated planning. Hence, in a predetermined local area in which radio links are to be established, only a predetermined overall bandwidth and then a predetermined number of channels are available for the radio links.
When a plurality of radio links or so-called hops are present within a given area, in the regulated radio environment, the channel choice is based on coordinated frequency planning. That is, the channel to be used for a specific radio link at a time is predetermined.
The objective of frequency planning is to assign frequencies to the radio links in order to avoid interference. Prior to the planning, it is essential to determine, at the earliest opportunity, what band are locally available for fixed link systems, and what the local "link policy" is. The majority of national frequency management administrations have some form of link policy regarding link lengths and net output power.
Recent developments in telecommunications have, however, lead to changes with regard to frequency allocations and have thus created possibilities to operate radio links and/or hops in non-coordinated frequency bands. These specific bands are left unregulated in the sense that selection of a working channel for an individual radio terminal inside the band is not controlled by the local authorities. Instead, the channel can be selected freely as long as the general requirements associated with the band are not violated.
As an example, European Telecommunication Standard ETS 300408 specifies the minimum performance parameters for radio equipment operating at frequencies around 58 GHz and not requiring coordinated frequency planning. Recently, the frequency band has been widened by ETSI to cover the band from 57 GHz to 58 GHz. Hence, it is possible to obtain 20 channels with the channel separation of 100 MHz. Within this band it is of interest to share the bandwidth among different links efficiently.
However, unlike the above described traditional radio links within a regulated (or coordinated) radio environment, those systems operating in an non-coordinated band will operate in an interference limited environment. That is, the signal quality of received signals may be deteriorated due to interference phenomena caused by neighboring radio links. Therefore, it is of increasing interest to consider how to share available bandwidths among various systems efficiently.
The most common way to avoid interference is to use different frequencies in the hops located near each other and reuse the frequencies at a distance. Hence, a great majority of the terrestrial radio link systems are based on the frequency division duplex (FDD) concept in which hops having a common site i.e. the hub site, are using different frequencies. Referring to FIG. 3, the channels between the base station controller 31 acting as a hub site and each of the base stations BTS 1, . . . , BTS4 could have a different frequency, for example. A duplex channel is formed from a frequency pair, one frequency of which is used for transmission and another one is used for reception. However, in FDD systems the same channel may be used by a hop pair in a hub site if the aerials are radiating to opposite directions.
A plurality of hops can use the same frequency if the system is based on a time division duplex mode of operation (TDD). In that case terminals in the hub site are transmitting only during predetermined transmit periods which are called time slots. The carrier frequency of each of the transmitters in the hub is the same but each of the transmitters has its own transmit time slot. Consequently, the interfering signal generated by the terminal varies greatly.
FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a hub site including several transceivers. In this example, the number of transceivers is the same as that of the base stations which communicate with the base station controller 31, see FIG. 3. In consequence, the hub site contains a transceiver A for communication with the BTS1 through an aerial 41, a transceiver B for communication with the BTS2 through an aerial 42, a transceiver C for communication with the BTS3 through an aerial 43, a transceiver D for communication with the BTS4 through an aerial 44 and a transceiver E for communication with the BTS5 through an aerial 45. Each transceiver is connected to its own aerial which in turn is aligned with the aerial at the opposite end of the link.
A straightforward implementation of the TDD principle in the radio link system would to allow each transceiver in a hub to use its own timing. This could be done if each hop uses a frequency which differs from frequencies of another hops. In that case, a transmission signal from a transmitter in the hub does not interfere with reception in the receiver of a neighboring transceiver due to the different frequencies.
However, a problem would arise if all the hops in a hub were using the same frequency. The reason for that is clearly comprehensible from FIG. 4. If the beams of aerials 41 and 42 were directed into substantially different directions, aerial 41 could send a signal at a frequency while aerial 42 were simultaneously receiving a signal at the same frequency. On account of divergent antenna beams radiation energy from aerial 41 would not significantly leak to aerial 43. Hence, interference at aerial 42 caused by aerial 41 would be negligible. However, in practice it is very likely that co-channel interference is too high so preventing usage of the same frequency.
The situation is remarkable worse if the aerials are facing in the same direction. Then radiating power from the sending aerial could leak to the receiving aerial causing high interference there. Therefore, due to its very high signal strength, the received interference signal could either saturate the receiver or even damage it. In case each terminal in a hub site uses its own burst rate and timing in transmission, the probability that one terminal is transmitting at the same time another terminal is receiving is very high.
The problem mentioned above leads to the fact that the interfering signal generated by a terminal is greatly varying with time. The hop density of radio links operating in a time division duplex mode in a frequency band, especially in the non-coordinated 58 GHz band, is limited not only by interference caused by the remote links, but also by considerable interference caused by the terminals located in the same hub site.

Synchronization of terminals in a radio link system


A switch conveyor including a modular conveyor belt or mat divided into longitudinal lanes of rollers. All the rollers in a lane are arranged to rotate about axes oriented in a common direction. The rollers in an adjacent lane are arranged to rotate about axes oriented in a different direction. A switch mechanism underlying the conveyor belt along a carryway selectably contacts the bottom side of the belt or mat with bearing surfaces that rotate the rollers in selected lanes along the carryway to propel conveyed articles in one direction or another.

The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and, more particularly, to switch conveyors including conveyor belts with selectively rotatable rollers useful in diverting conveyed articles to selected positions across the width of the belt.
In a typical beverage industry application, cans or bottles are sequentially filled in a filler, warmed in a warmer, packaged in a case packer, and loaded onto a pallet by a palletizer. Multiple palletizers are often used so as not to bottleneck any of the upstream processes, such as the filler. Shoe sorters are often positioned just before the palletizers to distribute conveyed cases of filled cans or bottles among lateral belt positions leading to individual outfeed conveyors each transporting the cases to one of the palletizers according to the palletizers"" availability.
One typical shoe sorter includes an endless conveyor belt or chain constructed of a series of slats flanked by drive chains. A shoe for pushing articles across the conveyor belt is movably attached to each slat. Typically, the shoe either surrounds the slat, top to bottom and front to back, or has an appendage that extends through a transverse slot formed through the slat from top to bottom. A guide track arrangement in the conveyor frame beneath the conveyor belt guides the shoes across the belt as the belt is driven in the conveying direction. The specific arrangement of the guide track programs the system to push conveyed articles to specified lateral positions on the conveyor belt.
But these chain-driven slat conveyors have shortcomings. One is that their construction limits the placement of connecting joints between consecutive slats because of interference with the shoes and associated appendages. For that reason, the slats can sag in the middle because they are supported mainly at the drive chains positioned out of the shoe""s travel range at the side edges of the slats. This problem is especially noticeable on wider conveyors. Another shortcoming is that the shoe mechanisms and the guide track arrangement can be complex and, consequently, expensive.
Roller conveyors are also used as shoe sorters in many applications, especially for heavy articles, such as tires, and also for beverage cases and for low-profile, multi-sized articles, such as packages and mail. But one of the problems with roller conveyors is that these metal conveyors can be noisy, especially as their bearings wear. Frequent maintenance operations, such as lubricating and tightening, and repairs are a way of life with roller conveyors.
Thus, there is a need for a conveyor that can divert conveyed articles, such as cases and packages, but without the shortcomings of shoe sorters or roller conveyors.
These needs and others are satisfied by a switch conveyor embodying features of the invention. One version of the conveyor includes a conveyor belt with rollers arranged in first and second lanes. A plurality of parallel longitudinal bearing surfaces underlies the conveyor belt along a belt carryway. The bearing surfaces are selectably moveable into and out of contact with the bottom side of the belt and the first and second lanes of rollers along the carryway. The conveyor belt, which extends in width from a left side to a right side and in thickness from a top side to a bottom side, runs longitudinally in a direction of belt travel along the carryway. A plurality of first rollers is arranged to rotate about first axes disposed at a first angle relative to the direction of belt travel. The first rollers are arranged to define the parallel longitudinal first lanes. Similarly, a plurality of second rollers is arranged to rotate about second axes disposed at a different second angle. The second rollers define the second lanes. The first and second lanes alternate across the width of the belt.
Another version of the switch conveyor includes a modular conveyor belt with rollers and a switch mechanism. The modular conveyor belt is constructed of a series of rows of belt modules connected end to end at hinges. At least some of the rows include rollers that can extend above and below top and bottom sides of the belt. First and second groups of the rollers can rotate about axes generally in different first and second directions. The first group of rollers is arranged in spaced apart longitudinal first lanes, and the second group, in spaced apart longitudinal second lanes. The switch mechanism, which underlies the belt along a carryway portion of the conveyor, is selectably adjustable between contact with the first group of rollers at the bottom side of the belt under the first lanes and contact with the second group of rollers in the second lanes. As the switch mechanism selectably contacts the first or second groups of rollers, it causes the selected group to rotate as the conveyor belt advances along the carryway.
In a third version of the switch conveyor, a conveyor mat is divided across its width into a plurality of longitudinal lanes of rollers. All the rollers in each lane rotate about parallel axes. The rollers of adjacent lanes rotate about non-parallel axes. A switch mechanism underlies a carryway portion of the conveyor and is adjustable between lanes to rotate the rollers of alternately selectable lanes.


Fire hose manifolds and systems are provided by this invention which include a high pressure chamber having a large inlet opening and a plurality of small outlet openings therein. A first coupling means is provided for making fluid communication between the large inlet opening and a source of pressurized water, and a second coupling means is provided for making fluid connection between a portion of the outlet openings and a fluid conduit. The fire manifolds of this invention are light weight and include quick disconnect couplings for providing emergency access to a water source for the treatment of fires and hazardous material zones.

Fire fighting units have increasingly been called upon to aid in the containment and clean-up of hazardous material sites (also referred to herein as "HAZMAT" areas or sites). Typically, HAZMAT area formats include a "hot zone" around the spill which is marked or roped off to contain the area. The hot zone is restricted to the entry team only and is accessible by a single entrance way, so that remnants from the spill on the boots and other personal protective equipment of the fire fighters can be contained properly. The hot zone is surrounded by a marked off "warm zone" which is restricted to other fire fighting personnel and members of the support crew. Bystanders are required to stand in a "cold-zone" which is marked off a safe distance from the potentially toxic effects of the spill.
In an effort to prevent the contamination of areas outside the hot zone, clean-up stations have been provided near the hot zone entryway so that the personal protective equipment of the fire fighter can be washed thoroughly, before he or she is permitted access to the warm zone. These shower stations have typically been supplied with water by standard fire fighting industry 1.5 inch fire hoses, which are usually reinforced and contain porous fabric exteriors that readily absorb contaminants. Once contaminated, these hoses must either be professionally cleaned or destroyed, both at great expense to the often limitedly funded fire company or municipality.
Accordingly, there is a need for a more inexpensive water supply system for providing required cleaning water to shower stations contained within the hot zone of HAZMAT decontamination areas. There is also a need for a more disposable and versatile conduit for supplying water to fire fighting applications.


Device for measuring the bottom of vehicles comprising an extendable rule that in one end is provided with a conical mandrel for contact with measuring holes or points and that the ruler in its other end is provided with a magnetic fastening means and a centering means for centering the fastening means relative to holes in the bottom. The centering means is a conical mandrel that against the force of a spring can be pushed into the fastening bracket.

As an aid when checking damages on crashed cars and on repairing these respectively it is known to use rulers constituted by an extendable, for instance telescopic part that is fixable to its length and in its ends are provided with measuring points. The ruler may be used for measuring or adjusted according to measures taken from an undamaged side or alternatively from a data sheet or drawing for the vehicle for comparisons. To this end the ruler is provided with scales. Since most mass produced vehicles are provided with a number of holes in the bottom of the body that are very precisely defined to their position one can with the aid of such a ruler comparatively simply through measuring between selected holes obtain a good measuring accuracy for cross measuring.
A drawback with these rulers is however that they are comparatively cumbersome requiring in particular at larger damages when the ruler becomes comparatively long and consequently difficult to handle and to locate with the required exactness with its points. In reality this often means that its a two person job with the resulting costs.
It is also known to arrange measuring systems on correction, or straightening benches that are used when repairing cars. These measuring systems and correction benches or fixtures are however very expensive and can only be acquired by firms with a sufficiently large volume of work and each bench can only take one car at a time. This means that many who actually would have to use measuring equipment can not afford it, but instead have to work instinctively.
Yet another time when a simple measuring is desirable is when a car has been damaged. A good knowledge of how badly damaged the car is, is necessary in order to enable the insurance company, the owner or the man who is to repair it if the car is worth repairing or if it should be broken up and to assess expected repair time and cost. Even here a simple measuring method with accompanying means would be desirable, provided that sufficient exactness can be achieved. To achieve the desired precision three-dimensional measuring is further desirable.
In view of the above problems the invention has as its object to provide a low-cost simply manageable measuring system for the measuring of the bottom plates of cars.
The system in accordance with the invention constitute in its most simple variety an extendable ruler or bar that in one end is provided with a measuring point and in the other end with a fastening means including a powerful magnet for the fixing to the underside of the vehicle and a centering device for the centering of the fastening means in relation to a measuring hole in the body. Since today very powerful magnets are available the end of the ruler may be firmly and securely be held to the body even if rust and/or underseal should be present around the hole.
When the ruler is fixed in one end the user may measure distances, compare left and right measures or compare with data sheets. The ruler is mounted in the magnetic fastening bracket and is preferably swivable laterally as well as vertically. In this way it can easily be moved to different measuring points or out of the ay without having to be dismounted. The ruler may easily be used by one person and even on cars that stand on their own wheels. The ruler can be extended to approximately the right distance, inserted under the car and with a simple movement be fastened to the car with the magnet and then the measurements can be controlled in the other end of the ruler or compared with a new reading with the magnet fastened to a symmetric location on the other side.
The centering device for the fastening bracket can be constituted of a cone pretensioned outwards by a spring. At mounting the cone is inserted into the hole and the fastening means is pressed against the hole until the magnet grips. Practically it has turned out that this fastening means result in a good grip that is also always centered in the hole. This also means that the fastening means is adaptable to different hole sizes and the invented fastening means can be used on a very great variety of cars without change of adaptors. With an easy bending movement the fastening means can be removed again. With the right relation between the cone angle, the spring force and the magnetic force, the spring of the cone can center the fastening means during the movement towards the mounted position or actually even after mounting since the force necessary to achieve lateral movement always is smaller than the holding force (since the friction coefficient is always smaller than 1). Even if this balance is not achieved it is easy to feel when the cone has reached its correct position, since the bracket will have a considerably increased resistance against movement away from this position.
The magnetic fastening means in the end of the ruler may be permanently fastened to this or preferably removably. Also for the connection to the ruler magnetic force can be used or a simple snap lock with a spring loaded ball and a circular groove.
The fastening means can according to the invention not only be used together with a ruler but may also be used to mount and center other measuring equipment increasing speed and precision when using these. For instance the rod in the small end of the ruler may in its upper end also be provided with a magnetic self-centering fastening means so that a specific length measure can be monitored while for instance straightening work is carried out.
In accordance with the system according to the invention the ruler may instead of being used together with the magnetic fastening bracket be used together with a transverse preferably self-centering beam that is fastened to the vehicle. By fastening the ruler to a central point on the beam measurements to different points on the right and left side can quickly be taken showing in figures how skewed or deformed the bottom is. The ruler may also be fastenable to points on the transverse beam situation on equal distance from the center to provide additional triangular measurements to provide the coordinates of measuring points.
A further part of the invented system is a device that delivers a line of light and that can be mounted either on the self-centering beam (preferably centered) or on a magnetic fastening bracket. When mounted on the self-centering beam the line automatically will provide a plane that is essentially horizontal or at least perpendicular to the vertical symmetry plane of the car. This means that it can be used as a reference for vertical measurements at least at symmetrical points, for instance by means of an adjustable measuring rod arranged in the outer end of the ruler and provided with a scale. To obtain exact measurements the rod has to be vertical but in order to compare the left and right side it is only necessary to compare readings without adjustments of the rod in the ruler, which in turn means very rapid comparing.
Instead of mound the light (laser) device giving the line on the transverse beam it can be mounted on a magnetic fastening bracket and adjusted so that it is perpendicular to the vertical symmetry plane.
In a more sophisticated development of the invented system using for instance the transverse beam the angles of the ruler laterally and vertically are electronically registered as well as the length of the ruler. In this way a connected computer may provide quickly and precisely a measuring chart of the vehicle, that can be compared with a corresponding data chart of what the measurements should have been. Also this version can to a certain extent be used with the car standing on its wheels. Connection to the computer may be wireless. This version of the invention has the advantage of requiring very little or perhaps no adjustment or precision on mounting since the computer from three undamaged points can relate the measuring to the actual datum plane of the vehicle.
It deserves to be mentioned that the invented system and its components allow not only simple and fast measuring, but it is also easy to understand how it should be used and no lengthy training or tutoring is necessary.


A multilayer printed circuit board having a pad pattern formed on each of the layers. When the board is assembled, the layers are releasably secured together. The pads on each layer are aligned and make electrical contact with the pads on adjacent layers to provide interlayer electrical connections.

The present invention relates to printed circuit boards, and more particularly, to multilayer printed circuit boards for mounting and interconnecting electronic devices, such as LSI (large scale integration) and VLSI (very large scale integration) devices in a data processing system.
Multilayer printed circuit boards are generally manufactured by bonding stacks or sheets of substrates of insulating material having printed conductor or wiring patterns on their faces. The printed conductor patterns may be formed on each layer separately, and then the layers may be assembled and the printed conductor patterns on the layers electrically interconnected by employing plated-through holes or the like. Plated-through holes are usually formed by drilling the assembled layers or boards and plating the entire length of the drilled hole with copper or another conductor to effect the interconnection.
Alternatively, multilayer printed circuit boards have been formed by starting with a first substrate, forming a conductor pattern on that substrate, forming a second substrate directly over the first substrate and forming a conductor pattern on the second substrate, and continuing thereon until the desired number of layers have been formed.
Two common difficulties often arise in the design and manufacture of multilayer printed circuit boards that are used in mounting and interconnecting LSI and VLSI devices. Because of the large amount of circuitry within and the large number of external leads on these devices, there is often difficulty in trying to provide, during the design of the multilayer board, adequate electrical paths or connections between layers without using significant amounts of circuit board area which might otherwise be used to route printed conductor patterns. Where plated-through holes provide the electrical connections between layers, a hole of sufficient size must be drilled or otherwise made through each of the layers so that there can be enough plating material used to form an adequate electrical connection between all of the desired layers.
Another difficulty that often arises is that in multilayer boards, especially boards for mounting and connecting LSI and VLSI devices and thus having a large number of conductive patterns on the layers, an improper connection or other defect on any one of the layers makes the entire multilayer board unusable. Since the fabrication of a multilayer board is generally expensive both in design and production costs, the necessity of discarding a board because of a defect or a circuit design change on only one layer further increases an already high cost.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,352, issued to James O. Redwanz on Dec. 18, 1973, there is disclosed a multilayer printed circuit board comprised of thin, flexible sheets for connecting semiconductor chips in an integrated circuit package. The Redwanz patent does not, however, disclose a printed circuit board which might be used, for example, in a data processing system where a number of electronic devices are mounted on the board for electrical interconnection, nor does it deal with solving the difficulty when a defect or a design change occurs with respect to only one of the layers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,028,573, issued to Rudolph O. Stoehr on Apr. 3, 1962, there is disclosed a multilayered printed circuit board with the layers secured together by nuts and bolts. The circuit board in Stoehr could thus be disassembled by removing the nuts and bolts. However, unlike modern multilayer printed circuit boards, the Stoehr printed circuit board includes insulating layers between the layers having the conductor patterns, and uses removable pins for providing interlayer electrical connections. The printed circuit board in Stoehr would not be suitable for the complex and significant number of interconnections required in printed circuit boards used for mounting and interconnecting LSI and VLSI devices in data processing systems.


A pivoting transfer means for a jet of bulk material between a first cover belt conveyor and a second cover belt conveyor. The bulk material leaves the cover belt conveyor in the area of the tail pulleys and enters the receiving mouth of a second cover belt conveyor as a free jet of bulk material. Both cover belt conveyors are arranged pivotably in relation to one another around a pivot axis. The receiving mouth of the cover belt conveyor is limited by the bottom belt, the cover belt and the side walls. The jet of bulk material is deflected from the vertical into the horizontal direction of delivery within the receiving mouth. The first belt conveyor may be arranged at a higher level with the second cover belt conveyor arranged thereunder. However, the second cover belt conveyor may also be arranged at a higher level with the first cover belt conveyor arranged thereunder wherein the transfer is still from the first cover belt conveyor to the second cover belt conveyor.

The prior-art pivoting transfer means of belt conveyors for bulk material are usually designed as follows:
The bulk material arriving from a first belt conveyor is thrown against a baffle plate, which is arranged at a short distance behind the vertical pivot axis. As a result, the horizontal velocity component of the bulk material is reduced to zero over the shortest possible distance. As a consequence of the force of gravity, the bulk material is accelerated in the downward direction, and the bulk material at the same time obtains a small horizontal velocity component against the original direction of delivery due to the rebound force as well as to fluidic effects.
The baffle plate is arranged such that the downwardly directed jet of bulk material will arrive as accurately as possible in the vertical pivot axis of the second belt conveyor. The vertical velocity component is again reduced to zero over the shortest possible distance there. The bulk material is then again accelerated by its own weight and by friction in the direction of delivery of the second belt conveyor, until it reaches the velocity of the second belt conveyor after a certain acceleration section (on the order of magnitude of 1 to 5 m).
To guide the bulk material, chutes are arranged in the area of the belt conveyor, besides the baffle plate.
The disadvantage of this design is the fact that large amounts of energy are inherently continuously destroyed by friction and converted into heat in the area of the pivoting transfer means. The baffle plate, the chutes and the rubber belt of the second belt conveyor are subject to intense wear. Therefore, they require frequent maintenance and replacement, or they must be frequently equipped with new wear material. The lost energy must continuously be applied by the belt drives.
Since the force of gravity is utilized between the first and second belt conveyors, the direction of delivery must always be from the discharge end of the first belt conveyor, which discharge end is arranged at a higher level, to the second belt conveyor. Consequently, the direction of delivery cannot be reversed, unless the height positions of the belts are reversed.
Pivoting transfer means are defined as means in which the second belt conveyor is arranged pivotably around a vertical axis in relation to the first belt conveyor, or in which the direction of delivery of the second belt conveyor is or can be different from that of the first belt conveyor from a bird's eye view.

Pivoting transfer means at belt conveyor


The present invention relates to a medical device used to repair intertrochanteric fractures of the femur and a method for inserting and using the same which includes in cooperation a hip screw, a gliding mechanism, an intramedullary nail, and a compression screw. The hip screw includes along a longitudinal axis an externally threaded portion as a bone screw for threadable insertion into the head of the femur and a hollow barrel portion, the barrel portion having a pair of opposed slots provided therein along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw. The hollow barrel portion optionally further includes internal or female threads within the barrel portion near the end of the hip screw opposite the bone screw for threadably engaging a compression screw. The gliding mechanism is retained within the barrel portion of the hip screw with a slidable fit and provides for lateral movement of the intramedullary nail along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw. The hip screw and the intramedullary nail are retained by the gliding mechanism at either a fixed angle of the intramedullary nail relative to the hip screw or a variable angle. The intramedullary nail is affixed to the gliding mechanism, as for example with a set screw or locking screw, to prevent relative motion between the gliding mechanism and the intramedullary nail. Upon securing the gliding mechanism to the intramedullary nail, in turn the hip screw and the intramedullary nail are affixed to one another, but due to the slidable fit of the gliding mechanism within the barrel of the hip screw and due to the slots in the hip screw, movement of the gliding mechanism/intramedullary nail assembly along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw can occur as the gliding mechanism glides within the barrel portion of the hip screw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical device used to repair intertrochanteric fractures of the femur and a method for inserting and using the same.
2. Description of the Currently Available Technology
Current implants for the treatment of intertrochanteric (xe2x80x9cITxe2x80x9d) fractures consist of a variety of devices which are distinguished by three cardinal featuresxe2x80x94two of which are generally mechanical in nature and the third of which relates to the surgical procedure for implantation of the devices in a patient.
The femur is generally comprised of its head, which is ball-shaped and fits into the hip socket, its neck which is generally cylindrical in shape and extends from the head of the femur towards the shaft of the femur, the body or shaft of the femur which forms the major longitudinal axis of the femur, and an intermediate region which connects the shaft of the femur with the neck of the femur. This intermediate region is the trochanteric region and, very generally speaking, it holds the body of the femur and the neck of the femur at an angle of about 130 degrees relative to one another. This angle, often called the neck/shaft angle is not always precisely a 130 degree angle, but may vary considerably in each animal or human having a femur, but will generally be referred to hereinafter as a 130 degree angle for discussion purposes. Fractures in the trochanteric region of the femur are generally termed intertrochanteric or xe2x80x9cITxe2x80x9d fractures.
All orthopedic implants for the treatment of IT fractures of the femur must operate to hold the head of the femur at the above-described generally 130 degree angle relative to the body of the femur during healing of the fracture of the trochanteric and/or neck of the femur. All such orthopedic implants generally consist of three main elements. The first is a hip implant, also commonly referred to as a hip screw, which is screwed at one end into the head of the femur and extends therefrom to the body of the femur. The second is a stable platform affixed in some manner to the body of the femur. The third is a mechanism for affixing the hip screw and the stable platform to one another in order to hold the body of the femur and the head of the femur at the above-described generally 130 degree angle to one another while the fracture or fractures in the intervening region heals.
The three cardinal features which differentiate the presently available orthopedic implants are: 1) the type of stable platform employed by the implant (e.g., intramedullary or extramedullary); 2) the type of connection between the hip screw and the stable platform (e.g., rigid, dynamic or static plus dynamic); and 3) the surgical procedure, and more particularly, whether it is the hip screw or the stable platform that must be first implanted in the patient.
With regard to the first cardinal feature, there are two types of stable platforms which can be affixed or otherwise associated with the body of the femurxe2x80x94intramedullary and extramedullary. Extramedullary platforms typically employ one or more plates affixed to the outside of the body of the femur with screws which extend generally transverse to the femur""s longitudinal axis into the body of the femur to attach the plate to the body of the femur. The hip screw and plate are affixed to one another to hold the head of the femur and the body of the femur at the above-described generally 130 degree angle during the healing process. Extramedullary platforms of this type are particularly useful for nondisplaced or minimally displaced IT fractures.
Intramedullary platforms typically employ an intramedullary nail (IM nail) which is generally a metal rod or tube which is inserted from the top of the femur through the trochanteric region into the hollow core of the body of the femur (known as the intramedullary cavity). The intramedullary nail extends along a portion of the body of the femur, and may extend from the trochanteric region of the femur through nearly all of the body of the femur. The intramedullary nail is generally affixed at its end opposite the end implanted in the trochanteric region (e.g., that portion of the intramedullary nail nearest the patella) to the shaft of the femur with screws inserted transverse to the longitudinal axis of the shaft of the femur through the femur and through the intramedullary nail. The hip screw is positioned generally transverse to the intramedullary nail""s longitudinal axis into the head of the femur. The intramedullary nail and hip screw are affixed to one another as explained below, to prevent relative motion in order to provide the stabilization of the body of the femur and the head of the femur at the above described generally 130 degree angle during the healing process.
As between intramedullary platforms and extramedullary platforms, intramedullary platforms are generally more desirable because the moment arm between the head of the femur and the intramedullary nail is less than that of the moment arm of extramedullary platforms where the moment arm extends between the head of the femur and the extramedullary plate attached to the outside of the femur. Thus, the moment arm mechanical forces on the intramedullary implant are lower and it is therefore less likely to experience a mechanical failure. Intramedullary platforms are also desirable because they generally involve a less invasive surgical exposure for implantation. In other words, rather than having to make a surgical incision along a substantial portion of the length of the femur sufficient to permit the surgeon to insert the plate of the extramedullary platform and attach it to the outside of the body of the femur, the intramedullary platform permits the surgeon to simply make a small incision at the top of the femur to insert the intramedullary nail and a small incision on the side of the femur to insert the hip screw.
With regard to the second cardinal feature, the type of connection between the hip screw and the stable platform differentiates presently available orthopedic implants. Such connections may be rigid, dynamic or xe2x80x9cstatic plus dynamic.xe2x80x9d
Bone compression occurs during the healing process. Bone compression or simply compression, refers here to the process in which bones held together during healing collapse into one another during the healing process to provide a smaller overall dimension than that provided when the fragments were first placed contiguous to one another during the surgery conducted to set the broken bone. Uncontrolled compression is undesirable, but controlled compression is desirable as it permits the fractured bone to heal along desired or required compression paths.
Rigid connections permit no movement in any direction between the stable platform and the hip screw, and are therefor unable to accommodate bone compression that may occur during the healing process.
Dynamic connections permit some movement between the stable platform and the hip screw during the healing process. More particularly, where for example the femur is a human femur and the patient is viewed from a standing position, dynamic connections permit the stable platform to move closer to or further away from the head of the femur along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw, but do not permit vertical movement of the stable platform relative to the longitudinal axis of the hip screw. Dynamic connections can accommodate bone compression, and allow the hip screw to guide the fracture to its most stable position during the healing process without further surgical intervention, but do not provide a post-operative compressive force along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw to urge the stable platform towards the head of the femur, which may be desirable to stabilize the fracture.
Static plus dynamic compression devices also provide such guidance, but permit the surgeon to stabilize the fracture intraoperatively by applying compression forces on the fracture and then allow further dynamic compression during the healing phase.
With regard to the third cardinal feature, the order in which the hip screw and the stable platform are to be surgically implanted differentiates presently available orthopedic implants. More particularly, the design of the orthopedic implant determines the sequence of implantation of the hip screw and the stable platform (e.g., intramedullary nail). In certain intramedullary platforms the hip screw is first inserted, and the stable platform (e.g., intramedullary nail) is then inserted through the hip screw. This type of platform may be referred to as the xe2x80x9chip screw-firstxe2x80x9d type. In other types, the stable platform (e.g., intramedullary nail) is first inserted followed by insertion of the hip screw. These types may be referred to as xe2x80x9cstable platform-firstxe2x80x9d type.
Hip screw-first designs are desirable because they have a tendency to stabilize the fracture with the hip screw. Subsequent insertion of the stable platform, particularly where the stable platform is an intramedullary nail, is less likely to destabilize or produce unwanted movement of the bone fragments or alignment of the bone fragments. In contrast, stable platform-first designs, particularly where the stable platform is an intramedullary nail, have the potential of causing unwanted distortion of the fracture, unwanted movement of the bone fragments and/or unwanted misalignment of the bone fragments during insertion of the intramedullary nail, which may not and often cannot be corrected upon insertion of the hip screw through the intramedullary nail.
While there are presently available many platforms for the stabilization of the femur to provide for healing of the same for both IT and other femur fractures, there does not exist a platform which: is intramedullary; is capable of providing static plus dynamic compression; and which is of the hip screw-first design, which would therefore combine the best attributes of each into a single orthopedic implant. A need exists in the art for such an intramedullary platform.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel orthopedic implant which is minimally invasive, allows custom fitting of an implant to the dimensions of the femur of a patient, allows for static compression to be applied at the time of surgery as well as allowing for dynamic controlled collapse of the fracture during the healing process and which allows fixation to the shaft of the femur by an intramedullary nail. It is an object of the present invention to provide an orthopedic implant which is intramedullary; is capable of providing static plus dynamic compression; and which is of the hip screw implantation-first design.
These and other objects are obtained with the orthopedic implant of the present invention which includes in cooperation a hip screw, a gliding mechanism, an intramedullary nail, and a compression screw.
The hip screw includes an externally threaded portion for threadable insertion into the head of the femur and a hollow barrel portion, the barrel portion having a pair of opposed slots provided therein along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw. In one embodiment, the hip screw is a hollow tube that tapers from a first diameter to a smaller diameter, the smaller diameter portion having an externally threaded portion to act as a bone screw for insertion into the head of the femur, the larger diameter portion having the slots provided therein. The hollow tube further includes internal or female threads within the barrel portion near the end of the hip screw opposite the bone screw for threadably engaging the compression screw.
The gliding mechanism is generally cylindrical and is retained within the barrel portion of the hip screw with a slidable fit and has a throughhole therethrough transverse of the longitudinal axis of the hip screw. The throughhole is of a diameter which allows a slidable fit with the outside diameter of an intramedullary nail. The throughhole of the gliding mechanism aligns with the slots in the barrel portion of the hip screw to permit the intramedullary nail to pass through the first slot of the barrel portion of the hip screw, through the throughhole of the gliding mechanism and to pass through the second slot of the barrel portion of the intramedullary nail as the intramedullary nail is inserted into the femur through the hip screw and gliding mechanism, whereupon the intramedullary nail is affixed to the gliding mechanism to prevent relative motion between the gliding mechanism and the intramedullary nail.
Upon securing the gliding mechanism to the intramedullary nail, in turn the hip screw and the intramedullary nail are affixed to one another, but due to the slidable fit of the gliding mechanism within the barrel of the hip screw and due to the slots in the hip screw, movement of the gliding mechanism/intramedullary nail assembly along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw can occur as the gliding mechanism glides within the barrel portion of the hip screw.
The internally threaded portion of the barrel portion of the hip screw threadably engages the compression screw, which compression screw is of sufficient length so as to contact the gliding mechanism while the compression screw is still threadably engaged with the internal threads of the barrel portion of the hip screw. Rotating the compression screw further and further into the barrel portion of the hip screw causes the compression screw to urge the gliding mechanism along the longitudinal axis of the hip screw in the direction of the head of the femur, which in turn forces the intramedullary nail in the same direction. Such movement of the intramedullary nail is accommodated by the opposed slots in the barrel portion of the hip screw. As gliding mechanism/intramedullary nail assembly is urged towards the head of the femur, the head of the femur and the body of the femur are caused to be urged toward one another, allowing the surgeon to provide whatever static intra operative compressive force between the body of the femur and the head of the femur is deemed medically necessary. However, as the bone fragments collapse during the healing process, the surgeon can re-operate and rotate the compression screw to provide more compressive force if deemed medically necessary.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the gliding mechanism may be formed of two portions which are joined about the intramedullary nail. While this embodiment introduces additional pieces, it also introduces flexibility in that unlike the above-described embodiment having a throughhole in the gliding mechanism which establishes a fixed angle between the intramedullary nail with respect to the hip screw, the two part embodiment of the gliding mechanism permits any angle between the intramedullary nail and the hip screw, which angle is maintained and secured when the two portions of the gliding mechanism are joined about the intramedullary nail.
The process for the insertion of the orthopedic implant of the present invention is also novel and forms a part of the present invention.

Orthopedic implant used to repair intertrochanteric fractures and a method for inserting the same


A central straddle-sheet section (1) made of fiber or other foldable material is provided with a pocket section (2 and 3) at each end. Each pocket section (2 and 3) is sufficiently narrow not to overlap the other when both are folded onto the central straddle-sheet section (1) at fold lines (10 and 11) where the pocket sections (2 and 3) are joined to the central straddle-sheet section (1). When the straddle pack organizer is straddled over a chair (18) or other surface, the pockets (6 and 8) in the pocket sections (2and 3) hang or lay to each side of the chair to form easily-reachable pockets for holding folders, notebooks and other materials. A carrying case is formed when the pockets are folded over the central straddle-sheet section (1) and the central straddle-sheet section (1) then is folded at a central fold line (12) between the folded pocket sections (2 and 3). In a folded-case mode, the pockets (6 and 8) are vertical with a portion of the central straddle-sheet section (1) covering the opening (7 and 9) of each pocket (6 and 8) are with openings (7 and 9) upright above the pockets (6 and 8). The straddle pack organizer may be carried on the back by back-pack straps (4) are attached from end-to-end at each side of the central straddle-sheet section (1), or by hand using hand-grasp straps (13) attached from side-to-side at each end of the central straddle-sheet section (1).

This invention relates to hand-carrying and back-pack bags. More specifically, it relates to a foldable bag which can be positioned over a chair or other platform as a work surface cover with organizer pockets hanging from the sides when in an unfolded condition. In folded condition it is a form of case that can be either hand carried or back-pack carried.
Students in schools and colleges are required to carry books, paper, writing tablets and other educational paraphernalia with them from class-to-class. Often, the distances are so long that bicycles are used to commute to and from schools as well as between classrooms. At times also, students go to parks and other outdoor places to study and think about what they are learning. When they get to their classes, study halls, libraries, dwellings or other destinations, it is helpful for their educational items to be organized and conveniently accessible right next to where they are sitting or writing. Having a pad or cushion to sit on adds comfort and conduciveness of learning environments. Stadium attendees, back-packers, artists, travelers and others also often find themselves in need of a container with features similar to those which benefit students. There has been no container previously that provides benefits for all of these conditions as well as this invention.
Prior art which is related but different includes the following U.S. patent documents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Date ______________________________________ 4,892,353 Goddard Jan. 9, 1990 4,863,003 Carter Sep. 5, 1989 4,854,637 McCree Aug. 8, 1989 4,687,248 Ross et al. Aug. 18, 1987 4,553,785 Duke, Jr. et al. Nov. 19, 1985 4,050,491 Hargrove Sep. 27, 1977 2,909,215 Mitchell Oct. 20, 1959 1,934,615 Selverstone Nov. 7, 1933 ______________________________________
The Goddard patent described a cover for a chaise lounge chair. It featured drop pockets at sides of the cover similar to this invention. But the entire cover was different in that it was not foldable into a hand or back-pack carrying case as taught by this invention.
The Carter patent appears to resemble this invention more closely that any other prior art believed to exist, but is also quite different. Unlike this invention, however, the Carter device is a combination seat cushion and tote bag with side pockets which fold over each other at one side of a seat cushion. The side pockets in the Carter device are attachable to each other to prevent them from unfolding when being carried. Fundamentally different, side pockets in this invention are not folded over each other nor fastened to each other to prevent their unfolding. Instead, side pockets or drop pockets are folded first onto a central straddle-sheet section without overlapping or folding over each other. Then the central straddle-sheet section is center-folded to form a cover at each side of pocket section sin addition to covering openings to the pockets. Pockets in the Carter system are left on their sides such that a zipper or other fastening means is necessary to prevent items from falling out when in carrying mode as described. This invention in carrying mode positions pockets upright and, in addition, provides a covering to prevent escape of items from the pockets. The Carter patent specifically described its pockets as being wide enough to overlap and to be attached to each other at a common overlap section. This overlap feature would prevent folding of the cushion section without also folding or bending the pockets and any books, tablets or other items which this invention is devised to carry. A handle section which renders this invention back-packable as well as hand-carryable also would not be possible and was not foreseeable within the teachings of the Carter patent. In the Carter device, a handle was attached to a single free side rather than from side-to-side at both ends or from end-to-end of both sides of the critically-different form of this invention. In addition to these fundamental differences that are essential to its structural nature and working relationship of parts, there are other advantageous features made possible with this invention.
McCree taught a cushion with pocket foldable over it on one side and back-pack straps on the other.
Ross et al. described a convertible lounge chair-tote bag with foldable legs
Duke, Jr. et al. provided a removable and washable cover for a beach lounge chair with pocketed skirts at its edges.
The Hargrove patent covered a combined school chair and a side pocket for it.
Mitchell taught a folding chair equipped for fishing with a drop pocket in front and fishing-rod holders on arms of the chair.
Selverstone described a particular type of cushion for a chair.
None of the above patents teaches any device similar to the present invention.


An improved skate or skateboard truck is disclosed which incorporates precision steering and rocking components for consistency and accuracy during maneuvers and a method for removing or replacing worn or broken axles. A yoke containing the truck's axle includes a central body portion into which a precision ball socket has been machined. It is jointed by a spherical component for the yoke to pivot around. It is also fitted with a precision ball pivot pin opposite the socket which will act as the associate pivotal and rocking mechanism for the truck assembly. The base is comprised of a central body into which a stud is secured for mounting the yoke and a pocket has been machined for containing a precision ball socket to accept the associate ball pivot pin. A sloted configuration situated at each end of the yoke can be compressed with screws to allow the axle to be removed or replaced.

Trucks are well known devices having numerous references in the art. Conventional skateboards and roller skates are equipped with steering mechanisms known as trucks. The main body of the truck is generally formed by placing the axle, onto which the wheels will be rotatably attached, into the mold when the truck is cast so as to bond the two metals into one piece. Thus once the axle becomes damaged in any way; this necessitates the replacement of the entire truck.
Additionally, conventional trucks follow a basic design in which an axle pivots about an arm attached at one end to the center portion of the axle. The other end of this pivot arm is loosely fitted, at an angle of approximately 45 degrees, into a plastic cup mounted in a baseplate, thus forming a ball-like joint. A pair of doughnut-shaped grommets, usually made of rubber or urethane plastic of various hardnesses, is mounted on a substantially vertical kingpin fixed in the baseplate on the side of the axle opposite the plastic cup. These grommets grasp a ring extending from the axle body so that the axle is suspended between the ball-like joint and the grommets. By adjusting the kingpin, the tension on the grommets may be increased or decreased, thereby varying the balance between turning stability and turning ease. The kingpin employed in conventional trucks is oriented at a substantially right angle to the tilting movement of the deck, resulting in high stress on the kingpin. Because the kingpin and the grommets do not adequately stabilize the pivot arm axis, and because of the loose fit between the pivot arm and the plastic cup, the angle of the pivot axis tends to deteriorate as the axle tilts, so that very tight turns may be difficult or impossible to achieve.
A further drawback of this standard design is that the suspension system formed by the plastic grommets fails to provide fine steering control. Riders control the angle of the deck's tilt, and thus the size of the turns they make, by varying the distance by which they shift their weight laterally across the width of the deck. Regardless of their hardness or of how they are adjusted, the standard urethane grommets do not offer a regular, orderly pattern of resistance to such weight shifts. The result is that the riders cannot easily predict or measure how far they must shift their weight to achieve steering radii of various sizes.
Moreover, when a rider removes his weight from the side of the deck at the end of a turn, the plastic grommets used in conventional trucks do not return the vehicle to the neutral, non-turning position quickly enough. Sideward shifts of a rider's body mass create forces, which compress the grommets, thus causing the deck to tilt arid the vehicle to steer. Conventional trucks behave like dampers in the sense that the energy used to compress the grommets is largely dissipated; the grommets retain very little of this energy for use in quickly rebounding the axles to the straight-ahead position. This is especially noticeable, and troublesome, when the rider attempts to propel and accelerate himself by means of quick, alternating turns. High-performance riding depends upon the ability of the trucks to quickly resume straight-forward motion after the rider discontinues a lateral weight shift.
Additionally, conventional trucks often begin to feel kinked, as if they "want" to steer in one direction more than the other, such as to the left more than to the right. The plastic cup in which the axle pivot arm swivels, and the urethane grommets, tend to permanently deform in an asymmetrical manner in accordance with the rider's steering habits and may oppose his attempts to steer the vehicle either straight ahead or against the memory of the plastic cup and grommets.
Various prior patent arts have used springs or alternate axle configurations to allow for adequate steering control. Progression to the use of the current standard with the plastic cup and grommets was a logical step, but still does not have the consistency or precision necessary for high performance acrobatic maneuvers.

Truck assembly with replacable axles and ball joint pivots


A packaging system and method for receiving articles from a first location, such as a product delivery system, transporting the articles to a second location for unloading the articles such that they are placed in a desired orientation and number of columns, rows, and stacks.

The subject invention relates to packaging systems, and more particularly, a packaging system and method utilizing intelligent conveyor systems effective for delivering articles from a first location to a second location and for placing articles into a desired number of rows, columns and stacks.
Packaging systems have been developed for transporting articles from a manufacturing operation or storage location to a system for aligning the articles into a desired configuration for packaging and shipment. Such systems often have conveyors with conveyor belts for moving articles to an elevator apparatus that operates to stack the articles into a desired configuration of rows, columns, and stacks then move the stacked articles for placement into cartons for shipment or to another location before shipment. Such conventional automatic packaging systems however are typically very complex, or operate only for moving identical articles traveling down a conveyor, or have difficulties in handling articles with irregular shapes, or are not easily converted to handle different size articles, or are not easily modified or reprogrammed to arrange articles into different packaging configurations.
Further, packaging systems use conventional conveyor systems having conveyor belts that move articles from one location to a second location whereby the articles are removed by hand from the conveyor and placed into a container or package. Such systems typically depend on the ability of one or more individuals to remove the articles and properly place them into a container or package. Unfortunately, such systems typically are unable to adjust the speed of delivery of the articles to different unloading stations thereby often resulting in article back-up or articles being displaced or being expelled from the conveyor system. Further, such systems cannot automatically determine if a backup is occurring and automatically adjust the delivery of articles being delivered to that unloading station.
Accordingly, a need exists for a packaging system that can operate to receive articles from a first location and transport the articles to a second location for arrangement of the articles into a desired number of rows, columns, and/or stacks, that can easily handle articles with irregular shapes, and that can be easily converted to handle different size articles and/or to arrange the articles into various packaging configurations. Further, a need exist for a packaging system that can easily pack different articles into a single container or package, can be easily modified to accommodate different product streams, and can automatically adjust the delivery of articles to one or more unloading stations.

Packaging system and method utilizing intelligent conveyor systems


Provided is a TFT substrate including a dielectric substrate and a plurality of antenna unit regions arranged on the dielectric substrate. The TFT substrate further includes a transmission and/or reception region including the plurality of antenna unit regions, and a non-transmission and/or reception region positioned in a region other than the transmission and/or reception region. Each of the plurality of antenna unit regions is provided with a TFT that is supported by the dielectric substrate and that includes a gate electrode, a semiconductor layer, a gate insulating layer formed between the gate electrode and the semiconductor layer, and a source electrode and a drain electrode-electrically connected to the semiconductor layer; and a patch electrode electrically connected to the drain electrode of the TFT. The patch electrode is formed from the same conductive film as the gate electrode.

An antenna for mobile communication or satellite broadcasting requires a function to change a beam direction (referred to as "beam scanning" or "beam steering"). As the antenna having such a function (hereinafter referred to as a "scanned antenna"), a phased array antenna including antenna units is known. However, an existing phased array antenna is expensive and thus, has an obstacle for popularization as a consumer product. Particularly, as the number of antenna units increases, the cost rises considerably.
Therefore, a scanning antenna utilizing high dielectric anisotropy (birefringence) of a liquid crystal material (including nematic liquid crystal and polymer dispersed liquid crystal) has been proposed (PTL 1 to PTL 4 and NPL 1). Since a dielectric constant of a liquid crystal material has frequency dispersion, a dielectric constant in a frequency band for microwaves (may also be referred to as a "dielectric constant for microwaves") is particularly denoted herein by a "dielectric constant M (εm)".
PTL 3 and NPL 1 each describe an inexpensive scanning antenna that can be obtained by utilizing liquid crystal display device (hereinafter referred to as "LCD") technology.

TFT substrate, scanning antenna provided with TFT substrate, and method for producing TFT substrate


In order to ensure that an adequately high gear ratio (such as top gear) is engaged momentarily before the first gear ratio and thus reduce select shock when a manual selector valve is moved from neutral (N) to drive (D) while simultaneously enabling the provision of a flow restriction required to ensure smooth automatic upshifting, a valve which by-passes the flow restriction is provided. This by-pass valve includes a chamber provided with a drain port which is closed by a device (such as a solenoid valve) responsive to an engine associated with the transmission entering an idling condition. The chamber is supplied line pressure from the manual selector valve when the latter is moved from the N to D position so that when the engine is idling and the N-D select is made, the valve is moved to a position wherein the flow restriction is by-passed and line pressure fed unrestrictedly to the friction elements which condition the transmission to provide high gear ratio slightly before those which produce the first gear ratio. As soon as the engine ceases to idle the chamber is drained, the valve is returned to its normal position, the friction elements which produce the high gear ratio are drained and the flow restriction rendered effective again for normal automatic shifting.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an automatic automotive transmission and more specifically to a control system for same which enables select shock and shift shock attenuation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an automatic automotive transmission there is a general tendancy for so called "select shock" to be produced when a manual selector valve is moved from neutral (N) to the forward automatic drive range (D) due to the sudden coupling of the engine to the transmission (via a torque converter or the like). A known method of reducing this phenomenon is to couple the friction elements which produce a high speed gearing (preferably the highest) just prior to those which produce first speed so as to reduce the effect of engine torque on the transmission.
One method of reducing the above mentioned select shock is to detect engine idling and feed line pressure to the shift valves in place of the normal governor pressure under such circumstances, to induce same to assume their respective upshift positions. However, in the case of a three speed transmission wherein two clutches (e.g., a foward clutch and a high and reverse clutch) are provided, wherein first gear is produced when the forward clutch is engaged and third gear is produced by engaging both of the clutches and wherein a one-way clutch is utilized so that first gear can be produced by engaging only the forward clutch; in order to reduce select shock, it is necessary to ensure that the high and reverse clutch is engaged slightly before the forward clutch. To achieve this it is possible to provide a flow restriction in the passage through which hydraulic fluid is fed to the forward clutch and no restriction or orifice in the fluid circuit through which the high and reverse clutch is pressurized. On the other hand, in order to prevent shift shock during a 2-3 shift, the pressure in the high and reverse clutch must be raised slowly enough to allow time for the release of the brake engaged to produce second gear. Viz., to reduce select shock it is necessary to rapidly pressurize the high and reverse clutch while, on the contrary, during a 2-3 shift the pressurization must be suitably delayed to avoid shift shock. Accordingly, a simple control arrangement via which both of these conflicting requirements can be readily obtained has been wanting.

Transmission control system including select shock suppressing arrangement


An apparatus for warning a vehicle driver about an object, including: a) a sensor device having a detection area (DA) extending from a front DA, in front of a vehicle, including the front DA, to a rear end of a side DA, laterally from one vehicle side and whose length corresponds to no more than the vehicle length, the sensor device detecting an object, b) a control device to evaluate the sensor signals for objects and defines a warning area (WA) that is dynamically alterable (DyA) based on the vehicle speed, the WA being alterable within the side DA between a non-zero minimum/maximum WA, c) a warning device generating a warning signal for a detected object, d) the sensor device being such that the DA continues from the side DA into a rear DA behind the vehicle rear, including the rear DA, e) the control device expanding the DyA WA.

With such warning apparatuses, it is desirable for warnings about the objects detected by the sensor device to be given only if this is also actually appropriate in view of the driving situation, because otherwise unnecessarily frequent generation of warning signals means that the driver's acceptance of the apparatus is reduced.
An apparatus of the type in question is discussed in DE 10 2009 041 555 A1, for example. This document describes dynamic range limiting for the detection area for a turning assist system and a blind spot assist system. In particular, it describes a lateral warning area that is dynamically alterable on the basis of the speed of the vehicle as seen in a direction perpendicular to a vehicle side. The dynamic lateral warning area extends between a non-zero lateral minimum distance (0.4 meter) and a maximum distance (2.5 meters) from the vehicle. A warning signal is then generated only if there is a stationary or moving object within the dynamic lateral warning area.

Device for warning a vehicle driver of a vehicle about an object, and vehicle having such a device

KNORR-BREMSE SYSTEME FUER NUTZFAHRZEUGE GMBH