Nucleoside-5xe2x80x2-triphosphates and phosphoramidites which carry a residue absorbing in the long wavelength region, preferably a carbocyanine group of the general formula (I), on the base portion or on the phosphorus atom

The invention concerns nucleoside-5xe2x80x2-triphosphates and phosphoramidites which carry a fluorescent residue absorbing in the long wavelength range, preferably a carbocyanine group, on the base portion or on the phosphorus atom, as well as their use for labelling, detecting and sequencing nucleic acids.
Nucleic acids are of crucial importance in living nature as carriers or transferrers of genetic information. Since their discovery by F. Miescher they have therefore stimulated a broad scientific interest which has led to the elucidation of their function, structure and mechanism of action. with increasing knowledge of these fundamental molecular biological mechanisms it has in recent years become possible to pursue the new combination of genes. This technology opens for example new possibilities in medical diagnosis and therapy and in plant breeding.
An essential tool for understanding these interrelations and solving the problems was and is the detection of nucleic acids and their sequences i.e. their primary structure.
The specific detectability of nucleic acids is based on the properties of these molecules to interact, i.e. to hybridize, with other nucleic acids by forming base pairs via hydrogen bridges. Nucleic acids (probes) labelled in a suitable manner, i.e. provided with indicator groups, can thus be used to detect complimentary nucleic acids (target).
The determination of the primary structure (sequence), i.e. the sequence of the heterocyclic bases, of a nucleic acid is carried out by means of sequencing techniques. This knowledge of the sequence is in turn a prerequisite for a targetted and specific use of nucleic acids in molecular biological investigations and working techniques. The sequencing finally also utilizes the principle of specific hybridization of nucleic acids among each other. As mentioned above, labelled nucleic acid fragments are also used for this.
It is clear from the aforementioned that suitable labelling of nucleic acids is an essential prerequisite for any method of detection.
Above all, radioactive labelling with suitable isotopes such as 32p or 35S is already being used for this at an early stage. The disadvantages of using radioactive reagents are, however, obvious: such work requires special room installations and permits, as well as a controlled and complicated disposal of the radioactive waste. The reagents for radioactive labelling are expensive. A longer storage of such labelled samples is not possible due to the short half-life of the above nuclides.
Therefore in recent years there have been attempts to circumvent these serious disadvantages i.e. to get away from radioactive labelling. In doing so the high sensitivity of this type of labelling should be preserved as far as possible. Great advances have in fact been made in this case [see e.g. Nonradioactive Labeling and Detection of Biomolecules, C. Kessler (Editor), xe2x80x9cSpringer Verlag Berlin, Heidelbergxe2x80x9d 1992].
Haptens (such as biotin or digoxigenin), enzymes (such as alkaline phosphatase or peroxidase) or fluorescent dyes (such as fluorescein or rhodamine) have above all proven to be successful among others as non-radioactive indicator molecules.
Although labelling with haptens such as e.g. digoxigenin extends into the sensitivity range of radioactivity, a direct detection of hapten-labelled nucleic acids analogous to radioactive labelling is not possible. A subsequent detection reaction is necessary which is, for example, achieved by means of an antibody reaction. This indirect detection requires several steps i.e. more time and financial expense. Since proteins are used for the detection reaction, a special treatment of the solid phase (membranes, microtitre plates) by blocking and washing steps is necessary in order to reduce unspecific binding. Despite this, the sensitivity of this two-step detection is usually limited due to the occurrence of interfering background colouration resulting from unspecific protein binding. The same basically applies to direct enzyme-labelled nucleic acids.
The said disadvantage of the aforementioned indirect detection does not occur when using fluorescent-labelled nucleic acids. A direct detection is possible by exciting the fluorescence and can be visualized and measured with a suitable device (fluorescence microscope, scanner). However, the autofluorescence of cell and tissue components of the biological material to be examined such as dyes, lipids, proteins etc. also interferes in this case. Such interferences also occur particularly when using solid carrier materials (e.g. nylon membranes) due to their intrinsic fluorescence and complicate or prevent the detection.
In principle a solution to these problems is to use dyes whose excitation and emission is in wavelength ranges above 680 nm i.e. in the near infrared (NIR) range. The aforementioned interfering influences are not significant under these circumstances. A further important advantage is that very durable cheap laser diodes can be used for the excitation.
Thus for example the technique of DNA sequencing by photoelectric measurement with a laser and a sensor after fluorescent labelling of the DNA fragments is the subject matter of an application U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,947. In this method, oligonucleotides labelled with an IR dye are used in a known manner as a primer in the so-called Sanger method which act in this process as starters for the synthesis of the new complementary nucleic acid strand. However, a disadvantage of this method is thatxe2x80x94depending on the DNA to be sequencedxe2x80x94specific labelled primers have in each case to be newly synthesized again and again i.e. numerous such labelled primers. This synthesis of labelled oligomeric primers is expensive and time-consuming since the unlabelled oligonucleotide has to be synthesized at first and subsequently the signal (reporter) group is chemically attached in a second reaction.
The object of the present invention is therefore to produce compounds which enable a universal, simple and specific labelling of nucleic acids.
It is now known that nucleic acids can be newly synthesized and concomitantly labelled by the incorporation of appropriately labelled nucleoside triphosphates using polymerases. In the field of deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) this is achieved by DNA polymerases using the methods of nick translation [Rigby, P. W. et al. (1977) J. Mol. Biol. 113, 237] and of random primed labelling [Feinberg, A. P. and Vogelstein, B. (1984) Anal. Biochem. 137, 266] by incorporating deoxynucleotides and in the case of ribonucleic acids by RNA polymerases and ribonucleotides along the lines of a transcription. A further method of labelling nucleic acids is by means of a so-called 3xe2x80x2 tailing reaction with the aid of terminal transferase and ribo or deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates.
However, nucleoside triphosphates provided with indicator molecules such as fluorescein or digoxigenin (MW 332 or 390) arexe2x80x94in contrast to their natural substratesxe2x80x94accepted relatively poorly as substrates by polymerases and incorporated relatively poorly into the newly synthesized nucleic acid (Hoeltke, H.-J. et al. (1990) Biol. Chem. Hoppe-Seyler 371, 929).
It is therefore not to be expected that indicator molecules with even considerably higher molecular weights (800-1000) would be accepted by polymerases as substrates and incorporated into nucleic acids. It is even less likely that these molecules with their given spatially demanding structure would be converted by polymerases due to strong steric hindrance.
Surprisingly it has been found that nucleoside triphosphates labelled with infrared dyes are accepted as substrates by polymerases such as T7 DNA polymerase and are incorporated into nucleic acids. The compounds according to the invention are therefore novel.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method of using the aforementioned labelled nucleotides according to the invention which enable nucleic acids labelled thus to be detected directly on solid carriers such as e.g. nylon membranes or in solution such as e.g. in microtitre plates.
As already described above, a disadvantage of labelling nucleic acids with fluorophores such as fluorescein or tetramethylrhodamine is that the intrinsic fluorescence of the carrier material interferes with the measurement of this fluorescence.
If, however, the nucleoside triphosphates labelled with IR dye according to the invention are used to label nucleic acids, these interferences are no longer significant because the measurement wavelength is located in the near infrared range.
The advantages of a nucleic acid detection by in situ hybridization are known. In this method the labelled samples or probes are either detected directly under a fluorescence microscope or, in the case of hapten labelling, are detected in an immunological reaction (ELISA) by means of a further process step. This visualization is usually achieved by immobilizing the samples for example on a nylon membrane or in a liquid homogeneous phase in microtitre plates. This additional step is very time-consuming and costly. It is thus desirable to omit this step.
In the instant invention, the possibility of directly exciting the IR-fluorescent-labelled nucleic acids by suitable laser diodes and the aforementioned insensitivity of the detection towards autofluorescence of the carrier material enables simple and cost-effective equipment to be used. The immunological detection reaction can be omitted. The IR-labelled nucleic acid is simply detected by optical means through a laser/detector combination with the aid of a suitable scanner or microtitre plate reader.
The use of the nucleoside 5xe2x80x2-triphosphates labelled with infrared fluorophores as polymerase substrates enables direct enzymatic incorporation into nucleic acids and detection of the nucleic acids labelled in this manner for sequencing, and it also allows an in situ hybridization which is also part of the invention.
The nucleoside 5xe2x80x2-triphosphates of the invention are of the general formula
They are produced by starting with unmodified nucleosides in a well-known manner, these i.e. uridine, thymidine and cytidine in the case of pyrimidine nucleosides and the purine nucleosides adenosine and guanosine as well as the corresponding 7-deaza-purine and 7-deaza-8-aza-purine nucleosides, are chemically modified in a suitable manner at C-5 or C-6 (pyrimidine), at C-8 (purine), at C-8 (3-deaza-purine) at C-7 or C-8 (7-deaza-purine) and finally 5xe2x80x2-phosphorylated.
It is expedient that the modified group is composed of a spacer of suitable length and a terminal primary or secondary amino group which can be substituted by suitable activated fluorescent dyes (e.g. in the form of isothiocyanates or N-hydroxysuccinimide esters).
Such fluorescent dyes are used in an activated form, i.e. in a form which reacts well with for example amino groups, preferably as isothiocyanates. After the reaction is completed the fluorophores are covalently bound via NHCS groups to the modified group of the nucleotide.
The phosphorylation of the nucleosides modified in this way is carried out according to methods known in the literature [e.g. Yoshikawa, M. et al. (1967) Tetrah. Lett. 50, 5065] by reaction with phosphoryl trichloride to form the monophosphate and subsequent reaction with pyrophosphoric acid to form the desired 5xe2x80x2-triphosphate. As an alternative a direct modification of the preformed nucleoside 5xe2x80x2-triphosphates is also possible.
The fluorophores are compounds which absorb in the near infrared range i.e. between 600 and 800 nm. Those of 630 nm to 780 nm are preferred such as e.g. carbocyanines.
As already mentioned above, in addition to the method described above of incorporating labelled nucleoside triphosphates using polymerases, a further method is common which is based on the use of labelled oligonucleotides, so-called primers. As already mentioned, the conventional synthesis of these molecules in a multistep reaction is very time-consuming. In this process the signal group must be attached at the 5xe2x80x2-end of the oligomer in an additional step after the oligonucleotide synthesis is completed. Since the actual oligonucleotide synthesis is carried out in automatic synthesizers, it is extremely desirable to also be able to carry out the step of attaching the signal group already in the synthesizer. Since the oligonucleotide synthesis is composed of a stepwise attachment of monomeric building blocks, so-called nucleoside phosphoramidites, it is a further object of the invention to develop a fluorophore phosphoramidite which enables the direct incorporation of the signal group as the last step in automatic oligonucleotide synthesis. Such a NIR-dye-phosphoramidite is hitherto unknown and therefore novel.

Nucleotides labelled with an infrared dye and their use in nucleic acid detection

Abstract: in which R1 and R2 each denote hydrogen or together form a phenyl residue; R3 denotes hydrogen if linkage with the nucleotide is via the R4 position or it denotes a xe2x80x94NHCSxe2x80x94 group if linkage with the nucleotide is via the R3 position; both R4 and R5, or R5, alone denote an alkylsulfonyl group with n being a number from 3 to 5 or R4 represents a xe2x80x94NHCSxe2x80x94 group with n being a number from 3 to 8, as well as the use of the compounds to label, detect and sequence nucleic acids.


According to an embodiment of the present invention, a lens module is provided, which includes a first lens assembly including a first patterned substrate, a first recess formed from a first surface of the first patterned substrate, a first lens element disposed in the first recess, and a second lens element disposed on the first patterned substrate, wherein the second lens element aligns along an optical axis through the first lens element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to lens modules and more particularly to lens modules with a patterned substrate and fabrication methods thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Micro-optical components such as one- and two-dimensional lens assemblies are typically used in devices such as lens modules. The design and manufacturing of lens modules for portable electronic products is extremely challenging. Some challenging factors include: high production volume, constant price erosion, size limitations and changing performance and functionality requirements.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a configuration of a conventional imaging lens module. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional imaging lens module 10 includes a first plano-plano substrate 12 with a first lens 14 and a second lens 16 formed on both sides of the substrate 12, a second plano-plano substrate 22 with a third lens 24 and a fourth lens 26 formed on both sides of the substrate 22, and a spacer 36 interposed between the first and the second substrates 12 and 22. A black yard coating layer 18 can be formed on the second lens 16 to serve as an aperture. An antireflection film 28 can be formed on the fourth lens 26. The spacer 36 can separate the first and the second substrates 12 and 22 by a predetermined gap. Additionally, spacers 34 and 38 are, respectively formed on the front surface of the first substrate 12 and the back surface of the second substrate 22. Stacking glues 32 are used between the spacers 34, 36 and 38 and the first and second substrates 12 and 22.
Conventionally, packaging techniques are used when stacking and aligning the imaging lens module 10. There are some problems associated with the conventional packaged lens module, such as high spacer production costs, limitations of the substrate used therein and inaccurate spacer thicknesses and alignment of the optical center of the lens module due to spacer processes which cause misalignment.

Lens modules and fabrication methods thereof


A silver halide photographic emulsion which comprises at least one compound represented by the formula (I): ##STR1## where Z represents an atomic group necessary to complete an oxazole nucleus, a benzoxazole nucleus or a naphthoxazole nucleus, R.sub.1 represents a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, R.sub.2 represents an alkoxycarbonylalkyl group, a hydroxyalkyl group, a hydroxyalkoxyalkyl group, a carbamoylalkyl group, a hydroxyphenyl group or a hydroxyalkylphenyl group, and R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 which may be the same or different each represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkoxy group, a chlorine atom or a carboxyl group, and a lithographic silver halide material containing the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to silver halide emulsions spectrally sensitized by novel merocyanine dyes and particularly to silver halide photographic emulsions having high green sensitivity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, as spectral sensitizers for photographic emulsions, it has been known to use certain dimethine merocyanine dyes as described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,480,439, 3,501,306, 3,567,458, 3,625,698, 3,698,910, 3,736,145, 3,765,900, 3,765,901, and 4,057,430, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 18105/71 and 549/71, German Pat. No. 1,234,522 and British Pat. No. 800,244, etc. However, silver halide photographic sensitive materials containing these known dimethine merocyanine dyes often suffer stains, deterioration of sensitivity with a lapse of time or increase fogging.


A lighting or indicating device for motor vehicles comprises an enclosure formed by a housing and an outer lens, the enclosure receiving a printed circuit carrying at least one light source and an optical device. The housing comprises means for fastening the stack formed by the printed circuit and the optical device, so as to fix together the housing, the printed circuit carrying at least one light source and the optical device, the printed circuits being sandwiched between the housing and the optical device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lighting or indicating device for a motor vehicle.
The invention also relates to a method for assembling a lighting or indicating device for a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known lighting or indicating devices for motor vehicles which comprise an enclosure formed by a housing and an outer lens, intended to receive a reflector and a light source mounted on a support. For the assembly of a lighting or indicating device of this type, the usual procedure is to position and fasten the support in the housing, notably by screwing, and then to position and fasten the reflector onto the support or onto the housing, notably by screwing. Finally, the outer lens is positioned and fastened onto the housing. The operations of fastening the support in the housing and fastening the reflector to the support or to the housing create complexity, and therefore give rise to costs, particularly where screwing operations are used.
The document FR 2 952 164 A1 proposes a lighting and/or indicating device designed to reduce the complexity and cost of production of lighting or indicating devices for motor vehicles.
The lighting and/or indicating device for motor vehicles according to FR 2 952 164 A1 comprises an enclosure formed by a housing and an outer lens, receiving a support supporting at least one light source and a reflector. The housing and the outer lens have, respectively, a first means for support on the support or on the reflector or on the support and reflector assembly, and a second means for support on the support or on the reflector or on the support and reflector assembly. The support means enable the support or the reflector or the support and reflector assembly to be immobilized in at least one direction, and may also enable a mechanical force, such as a bending force, to be applied to impart a stress to the support or the reflector or the support and reflector assembly. A method according to FR 2 952 164 A1 for assembling a lighting and/or indicating device comprises the following steps:
positioning on the housing:                the support, or        the support and the reflector,
without fixing either the support or the reflector to the housing,
assembling the outer lens onto the housing, for example by gluing and/or clipping and/or welding.
No step of fastening the support in the housing, and notably no step of fastening by screwing, is required in the method of FR 2 952 164 A1.

Lighting or indicating device for a motor vehicle and corresponding assembly method


In a wireless communication device, in a correction value calculating mode, a control unit flips switches to the “a” sides, a modulation processing unit generates a CW signal as an I channel signal, a DAC converts the digital CW signal into an analog CW signal, an LPF eliminates the high-frequency component from the CW signal, a mixer functions as an up-converter for up-converting the CW signal, a PA amplifies the RF power of the CW signal, a mixer functions as a down-converter for down-converting the CW signal, an ADC converts the analog CW signal into a digital CW signal, a level detecting unit detects the voltage level of the CW signal, a correction value calculating unit calculates a correction value based on the detected voltage level, and a correction value storing unit stores the calculated correction value.

It is important to secure a stable throughput with the growing needs for a larger data amount and a faster data transmission in these days. In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (3GPP-LTE) that is a new communication scheme for mobile communications, a channel bandwidth is extended up to 20 MHz. Extension of a channel bandwidth tends to increase the in-band ripple deviation (hereinafter, abbreviated as "ripple deviation") inherent in a high-frequency device such as a duplexer. The increase of the ripple deviation causes reduction of the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) and thus reduces the throughput.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of frequency characteristics of a duplexer that is used in a wireless communication device mounted on a communication terminal device (hereinafter, abbreviated as "communication terminal") such as a mobile phone. In the example, ripple deviations occur in the transmission bandwidth of 1920 to 1980 MHz. The ripple deviations vary depending on each individual duplexer due to the temperature change, the variation in the elements, the difference of manufacturers, the difference of models even in the same manufacture, or the like. It is difficult to further improve the performance of the duplexer itself in order to reduce the ripple deviations because it increases the production cost.
Conventionally, to reduce the effect of ripple deviations to a transmission signal, a technique for previously correcting the voltage level of the transmission signal before being input to the duplexer with a correction value for negating the ripple deviation (hereinafter, abbreviated as "correction value") has been used. Conventionally, based on the correction values for as many wireless communication devices as possible, the average value of the correction values is stored in the memories of wireless communication devices as the correction value of the individual wireless communication device at the experimental stage of a wireless communication device. Then, when the wireless communication is in a communication state, the correction value stored in the memory corrects the voltage level of the transmission signal.
Related-art examples are described, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-235966 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-186690.
Because the correction value stored in the memory at the experimental stage of a wireless communication device as described above is a fixed value, it is difficult to follow the temperature change. On the contrary, when the correction values according to the temperatures are stored in the memory in consideration of the temperature change, the storage capacity of the memory becomes large and thus the device scale of the wireless communication device becomes large. Further, in this case, since it is preferable to detect the temperature of the wireless communication device, the device structure of the wireless communication device becomes complicated. Further, because the correction value stored in the memory is conventionally an average value of a plurality of wireless communication devices, it is difficult to completely correct the ripple deviations that are different from each other at each duplexer.

Wireless communication device for calculating level correction value for transmission signal


Provided is an electric-current-controllable magnetic unit, including: a substrate, an electric-current channel disposed on the substrate, the electric-current channel including a composite heavy-metal multilayer comprising at least one heavy-metal; a capping layer disposed over the electric-current channel; and at least one ferromagnetic layer disposed between the electric-current channel and the capping layer.

Magnetization manipulation is the keystone for the magnetism based devices including traditional magnetic recording media and magneto-electronic devices, such as magnetic sensors, nonvolatile magnetic random access memories (MRAMs) and spin logic applications. In such devices, a magnetic layer is switched by a magnetic field. However, it is desirable to combine the nonvolatility of the magnetic bit with semiconductor microelectronics. Thus, the use of electric current, instead of magnetic field, to control magnetization is highly demanded.
Spin-transfer-torque (STT) was developed to switch the magnetization in a non-collinear magnetic system using spin-polarized current without the use of a magnetic field. For example, the racetrack memory and the STT-MRAM have been developed based on STT induced domain wall motion in magnetic nano-wires and the STT induced magnetization switch in giant magnetoresistance devices and magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), respectively. While STT based devices enjoy the benefit of site specific switching without magnetic field, the electrical current required to switch magnetization must passes through the device and must exceed a high threshold current density of greater than 107 A/cm2. This high value of current density is close to the breakdown limit of the devices, especially for MTJs. This drawback severely limits the viability of STT based devices.
To overcome the limitations described above, new technology has been proposed to utilize spin current generated from spin-orbit coupling (SOC) to manipulate the magnetic bit. A typical structure of such device comprise of Heavy-Metal/Ferromagnet bilayer. As an electric current passing through the Heavy-Metal, an effective torque will exert on the ferromagnetic layer, as so called spin-orbit torque (SOT). In this technique, the manipulation of the magnetic bit does not require high current density flowing in the FM layer, and therefore, promoted the lifetime and the reliability of the whole device. A shortcoming of such conventional techniques, however, is that they cannot manipulate a ferromagnetic layer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA); i.e. its magnetic moments points in one of the two directions perpendicular to the film plane, without applying an in-plane magnetic field. While the PMA is generally considered necessary for achieving high recording density, the requirement of an external magnetic field is incompatible with microelectronics and magnetic storage. Such magnetic field requirement is undesirable and improved techniques. What is needed in the art, therefore, are improved devices and methods that avoid the limitations of conventional devices and methods.

Heavy metal multilayers for switching of magnetic unit via electrical current without magnetic field, method and applications


A hologram recording assembly includes a transparent, absorbent member supported on a substrate. The transparent member is positioned to be directly incident to an exposure beam. The transparent member is out of moisture equilibrium during an exposure time. Consequently, the transparent member increases or decreases in thickness depending on a moisture difference between it and the environment. As the thickness changes, a phase shift in the light reflections within the recording assembly blurs spurious holograms while leaving the desired hologram intact.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a system and method for reducing noise holograms and, more specifically, to an improved system and method for inducing phase shifts of reflective light during construction of the primary hologram.
2. Description of Prior Art
High quality holographic optical elements are used in defraction optics display systems, such as head up displays (HUDs), for advanced aircraft, helmet mounted displays, laser protective devices, narrow band reflective filters, and holographic high gain screens for simulators. These are only a few of the many uses of high quality reflective holograms.
One of the critical problems in defraction optic display systems utilizing a replicated hologram has been a degradation of the holographic images as a result of the effects of spurious reflection in transmission hologram recordings that are frequently generated during the holographic replication process. Perhaps the most damaging spurious noise holograms are generated by reflections from surfaces which are interfaces of materials of different indexes of refraction, such as air/glass interfaces of the transparent surfaces of a recording cover plate, a hologram substrate, the recording medium itself, and optical elements used to generate the recording beams. These reflections can combine with the primary holographic beams at the recording film to form spurious reflection holograms, when the beams are in the opposite direction, and spurious transmission holograms when the beams are in the same direction. A subsequent display system using this hologram will be degraded by ghost images from the spurious reflection hologram recordings, and rainbow-like flair patterns from the spurious transmission hologram recordings.
The prior art has attempted to solve these problems in several different ways. A simple approach has been to form the hologram with energy beams that strike the recording material surfaces at Brewster's angle, at which reflections are at a minimum. This method has very limited application because in general the incident angle is set by the desired holographic function, and is not a variable that one can select at will.
Another approach has been to reduce the spurious reflections by attempting to match the indexes of refraction at the different surface interfaces with an index matching fluid, such as a mineral oil. The entire recording module is immersed in an index of refraction matching oil bath. The shape of the container is then designed so that surface reflections are directed away from the recording material. For many optical configurations, such a shape does not exist. Furthermore, the phase instability of the optical paths in oil degrade the desired hologram. Also, the problems of stabilizing the oil after each plate change, the need to frequently clean the oil of impurities, and the delays in handling the volume of oil needed all make this method unsuitable for production.
More sophisticated approaches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,458,977, 4,458,978, and 4,456,328, in which spurious holograms caused by glass/air interfaces are eliminated by moving an outside cover plate to change the phase of the reflected rays relative to the primary beams during the recording period. Thereby, spurious holograms are not formed. For these approaches that use a moving cover plate, the rate of movement or phase change is a function of the exposure time which depends on the sensitivity of the recording medium. The total movement must provide a phase change of at least one half wavelength in the reflected spurious hologram beams to nullify or "smear out" any spurious interference patterns that would otherwise be recorded. While those systems have advantages over the prior art, they still have certain disadvantages. For example, the drivers to move the cover plate take time to adjust, calibrate, and test. The complete apparatus is complex to set up, needs long stabilization time, and has many modes of potential failure to decrease yield.
Another attempt to suppress spurious holograms is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,017. Therein, an immersion liquid is applied to either the surface of the recording medium or the surface of a transparent support member, which surface is remote from the direction of light incidence. The thickness of the immersion agent layer is varied over time during an exposure by evaporation or, when it is not so readily evaporated, by generating acoustic or surface waves which, during their reflection, directionally modulate the wave field in the liquid. Preferably, the transparent immersion liquid is O-xylene. This system also has drawbacks, including the fact that the evaporating liquid is not a good optical surface. Further, the variation in thickness would not appear to be highly regulated, particularly when using generated waves.
A need still exists in the technology to provide an improved system and method for producing a high quality hologram that has minimal spurious holograms and at the same time can be produced in an economical and efficient manner.


A hydraulic circuit for a backhoe comprising a first multiple valve, a second multiple valve, and a confluence mechanism mounted between the first and second multiple valves. The first multiple valve includes control valves connected to a first pump in parallel to one another for driving working implements. The second multiple valve includes further control valves connected to a second pump in parallel to one another for driving other working implements. The confluence mechanism is connected to a rear end of a center bypass line of the first multiple valve and to a rear end of a center bypass line of the second multiple valve. Further, the confluence mechanism, in neutral position, is connected to a return oil line for confluently returning oil from the first and second multiple valves to a tank.

The present invention relates to a hydraulic circuit for a backhoe, and more particularly to a hydraulic circuit comprising a first parallel type multiple valve including control valves connected to a first pump in parallel to one another for driving part of a plurality of working implements, a second parallel type multiple valve including further control valves connected to a second pump in parallel to one another for driving remaining working implements, and a confluence mechanism for combining a hydraulic pressure from the first pump and a hydraulic pressure from the second pump for delivery to an attachment control valve,
FIG. 3 shows such a hydraulic circuit known in the art. This circuit comprises a first multiple valve A and a second multiple valve B formed separately, and a confluence mechanism C. The confluence mechanism C includes an attachment control valve V7 connected in parallel to the first multiple valve A and having a third center bypass line R3 connected to a rear end of a first center bypass line R1, and a confluence block 7 mounted in the first multiple valve A for connecting a rear end of a second center bypass line R2 of the second multiple valve B to a rear end of a parallel circuit 10 of the first multiple valve A.
When assembling the control valves into the backhoe, however, this construction requires a troublesome operation of assembling the first and second multiple valves A and B separately. Furthermore, the first multiple valve A must have a considerable length since oil cannot be supplied from the second multiple valve B to the attachment control valve V7 unless the confluence block 7 is mounted in the first multiple valve A. As a result, these valves on the whole require a large accommodating space.


An apparatus for discharging pressurized liquids at elevated positions includes a holding adapter, an actuating assembly, and an extension pole. The holding adapter includes first body member for holding a canister of pressurized liquid. The canister has an actuating stem extending from its top end thereof. An actuator nozzle is formed of an annular flange and a cap-like head portion. The head portion is disposed over the actuating stem. A handle portion is formed integrally with the first body member and extending downwardly from the holding adapter. The actuating assembly is telescoped over the canister and the holding adapter and includes a second body member for applying a downward force on the annular flange of the actuating nozzle to activate the actuating for discharging the pressurized liquid therefrom. The extension pole is operatively connected to a distal end of the handle portion and is adjustable to desired elevated positions.

This invention relates generally to apparatuses for discharging pressurized liquids and more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved apparatus for discharging pressurized liquids at elevated positions in an effective and efficient manner.
As is generally well-known, pressurized containers or canisters housing various types of fluids, such as liquid insect sprays for killing wasps, bees, hornets and the like, are widely used in everyday life. Conventionally, these pressurized canisters include a cylindrically-shaped body of a predetermined length and an actuating stem disposed at a top end thereof. An actuating member or button is typically connected to the actuating stem which is manually operated by the index finger of a user or consumer. When the actuating member is depressed, the liquid contents of the pressurized canister is discharged or released therefrom in the form of a spray, i.e., liquid insect spray.
However, these prior art pressurized canisters used for killing wasps, bees, hornets and the like suffer from the disadvantage of being capable of applying a spray only for a relatively short distance, such as twenty feet or less. Thus, these prior art pressurized containers must be held fairly close to the insect's nest by the user in order to be effective. Frequently, the insect's nest will be located at remote or elevated positions which are difficult to reach, such as in the gutters of houses or up in a tree. In these situations, the users are forced to resort to Neanderthal extermination methods, such as placing a ladder on the side of the house or tree and climbing up the same, while at the same time holding on to the pressurized canister and depressing the button with one hand. These methods are ineffective and inefficient and many a times can jeopardize the personal safety of the user.
Furthermore, during certain weather conditions such as on a windy day, the spray from the pressurized canister for the relatively short distance will probably not even reach the nest and will thus be totally ineffective. In addition, the spray being in the form of an insecticide may be toxic and harmful if it comes into contact with the user.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved apparatus for discharging or dispensing the contents of a pressurized canister at or on desired elevated locations in an effective and efficient manner. It would be expedient that the apparatus for discharging the pressurized contents be relatively simple and inexpensive in design, construction, and operation. It would also be expedient that the apparatus for discharging the pressurized contents at the elevated locations be capable of being operable safely without the need of climbing a ladder and the like.

Apparatus for discharging pressurized liquids at elevated positions


A display driving circuit includes a digital-to-analog converter configured to convert a digital image signal to an analog image signal, and a buffer circuit configured to receive the analog image signal and to output an output signal to be applied to a data line, where the buffer circuit includes an input stage configured to receive the analog image signal and to output a first signal, a first output stage configured to receive a first voltage and a second voltage and to output the output signal, a second output stage configured to receive a third voltage and a fourth voltage and to output the output signal, and a selection circuit configured to apply the first signal from the input stage to the first output stage or the second output stage in response to a mode signal.

1. Field
The disclosure relates to a display driving circuit and a display apparatus including the display driving circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display driving circuit that drives a display panel of a display apparatus is generally designed based on display characteristics of the display panel, e.g., a driving method of the display panel.
Among display apparatuses, a liquid crystal display includes two substrates facing each other and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the two substrates. When two electrodes respectively disposed on the two substrates are applied with voltages, an electric field is generated in the liquid crystal layer due to an electric potential difference between the two electrodes, and an arrangement of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer is changed. In the liquid crystal display, a direction of the electric field is typically periodically changed to prevent electrical and physical properties of the liquid crystal layer from being deteriorated, which may occur when the electric field is applied to the liquid crystal layer constantly in one direction.
To change the direction of the electric field, an inversion driving method, such as a frame inversion method in which a polarity of pixels is inverted in the unit of a frame, a line inversion method in which the polarity of pixels is inverted in the unit of a line, a dot inversion method in which the polarity of pixels is inverted in the unit of a pixel, for example, is widely used. However, different display driving circuits are typically used for the various inversion driving methods.

Display driving circuit, display apparatus having the same and method of driving the same


This invention is a hat specially configured to carry earphones and a music player equipped with or without an attachment clip. The hat comprises slit-like button-hole openings and grooves in the bill into which the music player clip can be attached, as well as elastic retaining straps to affix the music player and the earphones. Button holes on the hat's surface form together with the headband a conduit that allow the passage, from outside to the inside, of the electrical cables connecting the music player to the earphones. The seam between the headband and the hat is open above the ears of the wearer to allow the retrieval or stowing away of the earphones. The invention also covers a method of listening to music at the option of the user without obstructing surrounding sound by keeping the earphones stowed away in the retaining area formed by the headband.

Advances in electronic miniaturization technology has led to the design of extremely light and compact music players of brands such as the Nanopod™ and the Shuffle™, Satellite Receivers (Sirius™ and XM™) and has made possible the incorporation of these devices into clothing such as headgear. While prior art describes hats configured to hold such music players, the approaches described by previous inventors are far from optimum. At issue with the configurations suggested by the prior art are manufacturing costs, obtrusiveness of the music player and flexibility of its use.
In addition, one of the problems that the prior art does not address is the blocking of environmental sounds by the insertion of earphones into the user's ears. The muffling of sound presents a danger to the user when he drives a car or rides a bicycle. Several states have enacted laws prohibiting the insertion of earphones into ears by users performing these tasks. This invention solves the aforementioned problems.
Several US patents describe systems that incorporate music players in hats. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,746 by Gelber describes a cap capable of carrying an AM/FM radio. In this system the user has only two choices: either he places the earphones in his ears, and therefore hears music but blocks out sounds from his environment; or he stores the earphones in the brim of his hat or bill of his cap, and therefore can hear sounds from his environment but cannot hear any music at all. In addition, the user cannot listen to music without blocking surrounding sounds. Conversely, he cannot listen to surrounding sounds while playing music in the background.
US patent application 2003/0196249 by Roberts incorporates speakers into a ski hat. Cables connect the speakers to the music generator which may be located outside the hat. The cables are cumbersome as they must run from the hat to the music player which would be located in a trouser pocket for example. Again, the user cannot listen to music without blocking surrounding sounds. Conversely, he cannot listen to surrounding sounds while playing music in the background.
US application 2006/0185062 by Peng describes a head mounted MP3 player. This device does not offer any convenient means for storing the earphones and does not allow the user to listen to music in the background or to easily access the player controls.
US application 2007/0226876 by Foust describes a headgear equipped with a pocket for holding a music player. This invention does not allow the user to listen to music in the background, or to easily access the player controls.
Most miniaturized music players today come equipped with a clip for attachment. None of the prior art takes advantage of this clip as a means for attaching the music player to the hat or allows easy access to player controls.
None of the prior art has an anti-theft capability or prevents the loss of the hat and the attached electronics in the event of a strong wind, or attempted theft.
Further features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention over the prior art will be more fully understood when considered with respect to the following detailed description claims and accompanying drawings.


An energy management system in a smart grid environment includes: an electrical power producing apparatus for collecting and analyzing real time price information and electrical power production environment information inputted through a communication network interface to thereby determine a control of an electrical power production; a micro grid, connected to the electrical power producing apparatus, for supplying an electrical power in a local micro grid environment; an electrical power grid, connected to the micro grid, for supplying a main power; and an energy routing service apparatus for transmitting an electrical power and processing an energy information packet for a control of an electrical power flow.

In a smart grid technology where an electrical power and communication/information technology converges, a problem of unbalance of supply and demand due to discordance between electrical power production and demand can be solved by using a method of demand/response.
A technology for demand/response consists of two types. The first type is a method by policy and the second type is a method for controlling demand of electrical power by real time price fluctuation process.
The first type is a method where a supply of electrical power is stopped according to importance of an electrical power consumer when the supply of the electrical power is not sufficient. The second type is a method for leading reduction of electrical power consumption according to ability of a consumer by setting a supply price of electrical power according to demand of electrical power in order to solve the unbalance of supply and demand.
However, in such smart grid environment of the method of demand/response, although an electrical power producer which supplies power to a specific user can supply sufficient power to the specific user, the specific user may instead have to put up with a problem of the electrical power supply shortage generated in other systems. In addition, a problem that a user has to accept a relative loss may be brought since the electrical power consumption generated by other factors is reflected in price.

Method and system for providing energy management in smart grid environment, electrical power producing apparatus in smart grid environment

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


An edge detection/color determination portion detects edges using a Sobel filter and makes color determination, to output a black edge judgment signal. A characteristic quantity calculation/judgment portion calculates characteristic quantities inside a mask including an observed pixel and judges based on the result whether the observed pixel is of a character edge, to thereby output a character edge judgment signal. An AND circuit produces a logical product between the two signals and outputs it as a black character edge judgment signal. Further, an emphasis setup judgment portion judges whether the emphasis process will produce white voids and contours around characters and outputs the judgment as an emphasis setup judgment signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus for use in a digital color copier, facsimile machine, etc., in particular relating to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus wherein black character areas in an image are detected so that the image is processed in an appropriate manner based on the detected result.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, digital color copiers and color laser printers have widely spread because of rapid development of OA apparatus into digitalization and increase of the demands for color image output. In order to realize high quality imaging and high performance functions with these image forming apparatus, image processing techniques play an important role. In a digital color copier, a color original is captured by separating it into three colors, R(red), G(green) and B(blue), and the captured data is subjected to various image processes so as to produce a converted set of image data of four colors, C(cyan), M(magenta), Y(yellow) and K(black), which in turn is used to form a color image on a recording medium. Here, the reason the K signal is added is that if reproduction of achromatic colors such as black and the like is tried by superimposition of the three colors, C, M and Y, color turbidness and color misregistration will occur.
In order to improve against these drawbacks, black generation and undercolor removal(UCR) are executed. However, even with these processes, it is not possible to execute a perfect undercolor removal, so the black characters cannot be reproduced to be black and also color blurring will occur around the black characters. In order to improve against these drawbacks, there have been proposals for improving image quality by detecting black character areas in originals and subjecting those areas to a treatment for enhancing the reproducibility of characters, such as emphasis filtering, black emphasis, and the like. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 9 No. 139843, discloses an image processing apparatus in which edges of black characters are detected from image data of an original composed of chromatic and achromatic color components, outer portions with respect to the edges are distinguished from inner portions and the data values of the chromatic and achromatic color components of pixels determined as belonging to outer edge portions and the data values of the chromatic color component of pixels determined as belonging to inner edge portions are replaced with minimum values from among the individual observed pixels and their surrounding pixels while the pixels determined as within inner edge portions are edge emphasized, that is, the data value of the achromatic color component of the pixels are enhanced.
In the above prior art, inner and outer sides with respect to edges are determined so that the data values of the areas on the outer side are replaced with predetermined minimum values while only the areas on the inner side are edge emphasized to thereby avoid occurrence of white voids around characters and thickening of black characters. However, there is a good chance of color blurring around black characters when the data values of observed pixels are replaced with predetermined minimum values with a risk of fine characters and thin lines being deleted. Further, in this prior art, since each pixel is determined to belong to either the inner side or the outer side with respect to an edge, based on whether the coefficient of the second-derivative filter is positive or negative, there is a possibility that the density of pixels which have been determined to reside inside an edge might become lower than the background density by an emphasis filtering process, thus possibly generating contours around characters. Therefore, the method of discriminating the inner portions from the outer portions and subjecting them to different processes will encounter drawbacks in that small characters and fine lines may be deleted, color blurring and contours may arise around characters and the image quality may become lowered.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image processing method and an image processing apparatus wherein not only the occurrence of white voids but also the occurrence of contours, color blurring, which all would arise around black characters, can be avoided.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows:
In accordance with the first aspect of the present invention, an image processing method, comprises the steps of:
subjecting a plurality of color components constituting color image input data to an emphasis judgment filtering process;
comparing each result with a corresponding predetermined reference value and summing the compared results;
comparing the sum with a predetermined threshold;
judging whether an emphasis process is effected for the color image input data based on the comparison; and
replacing the color image input data with achromatic color data when the judgment determines that the emphasis process should not be effected.
In accordance with the second aspect of the present invention, the image processing method having the above first feature is characterized in that the achromatic color data is the mean value of the multiple color components of the color image input data.
In accordance with the third aspect of the present invention, the image processing method having the above first feature is characterized in that the reference value is determined based on the background data of the color image input data.
In accordance with the fourth aspect of the present invention, an image processing apparatus at least having an edge detecting means for detecting edges of black characters based on color image input data, comprises:
an emphasis judgment filtering means for subjecting a plurality of color components constituting color image input data to an emphasis judgment filtering process;
a comparing means for comparing the result as to each color component output from the emphasis judgment filtering means, with a corresponding predetermined reference value;
a signal generating means for generating an emphasis setup judgment signal based on the result from the comparing means; and,
a signal replacing means for replacing the color image input data with achromatic color data when the judgment determines that the emphasis process should not be effected.
In accordance with the fifth aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus having the above fourth feature is characterized in that the signal replacing means calculates the mean value of the multiple color components of the color image input data to produce achromatic color data and replaces the color image input data with the achromatic color data.
In accordance with the sixth aspect of the present invention, the image processing apparatus having the above fourth feature is characterized in that the reference values set up in the comparing means are determined based on the background information of the color image input data.
In the method written as the first feature, first, each of the color components of the color image input data is subjected to an emphasis judgment filtering process, and the result is compared to a predetermined reference value, for example, with reference to the sign of the resultant value, i.e., checking if the value is positive or negative, or the background data (the value of the background density), or the like. An area of pixels having negative values after the emphasis judgment filtering process can produce white voids around characters. An area of pixels having values smaller than the background density value can produce contours around characters. The effect of the above process enables previous detection of these defects.
Then, the comparison results for individual color components are summed and the sum is compared to a predetermined threshold so as to determine whether an emphasis process is to be effected. When the judgment determines that the emphasis process should not be effected, the color image input data is replaced with achromatic color data.
Since color blurring often occurs at black character edges, replacement of the data of the areas, for which the emphasis process should not be effected, with data close to black (achromatic color) enables prevention of color blurring as well as avoidance of the disappearance of small characters and fine lines.
In the method written as the second feature, when it is determined that no emphasis process should be effected, from the judgment as to whether the emphasis process is to be done, the mean value of the multiple color components of the color image input data is used as the achromatic color data to replace the color image input data. For example, when the color image input data is of C, M and Y, the mean value of C, M and Y is calculated to replace each of the C, M and Y values. Thus, replacement of the C, M and Y component values with their average enables neutralization of the density differences between C, M and Y color components and generation of data close to an achromatic color. In this way, it is possible to generate achromatic color data in a simple method.
In the method written as the third feature, when each of the color components of the color image input data is subjected to an emphasis judgment filtering process and the result is compared to a predetermined reference value, the background data (the background density value) is used as the reference value. An area of pixels having negative values after the emphasis judgment filtering process can cause white voids around characters. An area of pixels having values smaller than the background density value, even if they are positive, can produce contours around characters if uniform emphasis is effected. For countermeasures against these drawbacks, use of the background data of the color image input data as the reference value makes it possible to exclude the areas which could produce such contours and hence effect appropriate emphasis filtering process for black character edges.
In the configuration written as the fourth feature, first the emphasis judgment filtering means subjects each of the color components of the color image input data to an emphasis judgment filtering process, and the comparing means compares the result with a predetermined reference value, for example, with reference to the sign of the resultant value, i.e., checking if the value is positive or negative, or the background data (the value of the background density), or the like. An area of pixels having negative values after the emphasis judgment filtering process can produce white voids around characters. An area of pixels having values smaller than the background density value can produce contours around characters. The effect of the above process enables previous detection of these defects.
Then, the comparison results for individual color components output from the comparing means are summed and the sum is compared to a predetermined threshold so as to determine whether an emphasis process is to be effected. The signal generating means generates an emphasis setup judgment signal. The signal converting means replaces the color image input data with achromatic color data when it is judged from the emphasis setup signal that the emphasis process should not be effected.
Since color blurring often occurs at black character edges, replacement by signal converting means of the data of the areas, for which the emphasis process should not be effected, with data close to black (achromatic color) enables prevention of color blurring as well as avoidance of the disappearance of small characters and fine lines.
In the configuration written as the fifth feature, when the color image input data is subjected to an emphasis judgment filtering process by the emphasis judgment filtering means and it is determined that no, emphasis process should be effected, the signal converting means calculates the mean value of the values of the multiple color components of the color image input data and replaces each of the color component values with that mean value. Thus, replacement of the multiple color values with their mean value enables neutralization of the density differences between the individual color components and generation of data close to an achromatic color. In this way, it is possible to generate achromatic color data in a simple method.
In the configuration written as the sixth feature, when each of the color components of the color image input data is subjected to an emphasis judgment filtering process by the emphasis judgment filtering means and the result is compared to a predetermined reference value, set beforehand in the comparing means. In this configuration, the background data (the background density value) is used as the reference value. An area of pixels having negative values after the emphasis judgment filtering process may cause white voids around characters. An area of pixels having values smaller than the background density value, even if they are positive, can also produce contours around characters if uniform emphasis is effected. For countermeasures against these drawbacks, use of the background data of the color image input data as the reference value makes it possible to exclude the areas which could produce such contours and hence effect appropriate emphasis filtering process for black character edges.

Image processing method and image processing apparatus including replacing color image input data with achromatic color data


A pressing roller is used in a sheet-advancing arrangement to press the advancing sheet material against a driven roller to control the friction between the driven roller and the sheet material and thereby reduce, if not entirely eliminate, any slippage between the driven roller and the sheet material. Two levers pivotally mount the pressing roller on a housing which, in turn, is detachably mounted on a support, the housing being extremely flat and bounding a chamber which has an open end. A diaphragm deflectably spans and sealingly closes the open end of the chamber and urges the pressing roller and thus the sheet material against the driven roller with a force proportionate to the pressure prevailing in the chamber of the housing. Each of two springs is connected to one of the levers and to the housing and moves the pressing roller away from the driven roller when the pressure in the chamber drops below a predetermined value.

The present invention relates to an arrangement for advancing sheet material in general, and more particularly to a pressing roller unit for use in such an arrangement.
It is well known that, in arrangements for advancing sheet material, such as webs, particularly paper webs or the like in the printing industry, one or a plurality of driven rollers contact the sheet material and advance the same in a predetermined path, for instance, through a plurality of printing stations or the like. The driven rollers may be arranged, for instance, at the location at which the web enters the arrangement, at a cooling arrangement or the like. Usually, a machine of the type here under consideration includes more than one of the driven rollers. Experience has shown that, because of the tension which prevails in the material of the paper web or the like, there exists the danger that slippage could occur between the driven roller and the paper web. To avoid this problem, it has been proposed in the past to provide one or a plurality of pressing rollers which press the paper web against the driven roller with a predetermined force to increase the friction between the driven roller and the paper web and thus reduce the likelihood of the occurrence of slippage between the driven roller and the paper web being advanced thereby.
So, for instance, a German Patent DT-PS No. 10 55 553 discloses an arrangement in which a pressing roller presses the paper web against a speed-controlling roller, the purpose of the provision of the pressing roller being to assure unproblematical entrainment of the paper web by the rotating speed-controlling roller. A particular disadvantage of this conventional arrangement is that the force with which the pressing roller is urged against the speed-controlling roller can be manually adjusted only within very narrow limits.
More recently, it has been proposed in a German published patent application DT-AS No. 19 19 762 published on Nov. 5, 1970 to construct the pressing roller as a rubber roller and to urge this pressing roller against the driven roller by means of pneumatically operated cylinder-and-piston units, the operation of which is controlled by a magnetically energized valve. However, even this arrangement utilizing the pneumatically operated cylinder-and-piston units still has some grave disadvantages. The relatively high friction between the piston and the cylinder of this unit distorts the loading results in such a manner that a precisely defined loading of the pressing roller is impossible. This is further aggravated by the fact that the loading of the bearings occurs in the transverse direction of the bearings of the piston rod, as a result of which there comes into existence an even additional friction. In addition thereto, this conventional arrangement requires a substantial amount of available space, which is of a particular disadvantage especially in an arrangement where several webs or loops of a single web are located in close proximity of each other.

Pressing roller for use in sheet-advancing arrangements

VEB Polygraph Druckmaschinewerke Leipzig


A rail lock riser assembly comprising a rail interface having a cutout, top surface with a through-hole, and shoulders; a first collar portion having a top outer tongue and a groove, a bottom outer tongue and a groove, mounting shoulders and a through-hole in the top outer tongue; a second collar having a top inner tongue and a groove, a bottom inner tongue and a groove, mounting shoulders and a through-hole in the top inner tongue; and a locking bolt. The collar portions are joined at the top outer tongue and groove and the bottom outer tongue and groove. The combined tongues of the first and second collar portions is inserted into the cutout of the rail interface and secured by the locking bolt.

Law enforcement, paramilitary and military personnel typically carry advanced firearms systems for offensive and defensive activities. These systems include gas-operating rifles. Contemporary military technology includes the attachment of various accessories, including sights, illumination devices and other devices to the barrel of the firearm, notably to the hand grips along the barrel. Accessory mounts for weapons began with the development of the Weaver rail mount system that was the first standardized scope mount for rifles. The mount was improved in the 1980s and became the Picatinny rail system, a universal accessory system for military and paramilitary weapons. The Picatinny rail device has now relocated the foregrips on many military and paramilitary weapons systems. The foregrip is a handling structure located ahead of the firing action and along the barrel assembly of a modern firearm. The barrel assembly of a modern firearm typically includes a gas tube structure for the transfer of combustion gases from a forward port back along the barrel to a gas port located in the firing action assembly. The front end of the foregrip is nearer to the opening of the barrel. The rear or back end of the foregrip is closer to the firing action of the firearm. Today, one or more accessories can be mounted, including but not limited to tactical lights, laser aiming modules, night vision devices, reflex sights, foregrips, bipods and bayonets. Picatinny rails and accessories have relocated iron sights in the design of many firearms and are now incorporated into pistol frames and grips. Picatinny locking slot dimensions are standardized such that the slot width is 5.23 mm. The slot centers are spaced apart by 10.01 mm. Weaver slots are less standardized, but have a uniform slot width of 4.57 mm. Accessories can be attached and detached by sliding them onto the rail from one end or the other, by clamping with bolts, thumbscrews or levers; or onto the slots between the raised sections or the rails.
The various rail systems for firearms utilize the particular geometry of the firearm without alterations to the barrels or fixed mechanisms particular to the function of the weapon. For example, the foregrips of a Colt AR-15, M-4 family of carbines or similar weapon are held in place by tension springs that hold collars over locking shoulders on the ends of the grips. The rail system shape at the ends conforms to the basic hand grips so that it replaces the existing grips without requiring modification to the barrel assembly or upper receiver of the weapon and uses the existing tension spring collars.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/919,604, entitled VEHICLE MOUNTED FIREARM LOCK (the teachings of which are incorporated by reference as a useful background information), teaches a system for locking down a firearm via its rail system. Such locks are provided with a receiving slot that is constructed and arranged to receive a portion of an accessory rail on a firearm. A disadvantage of such systems is that the disconnection of the rail from the firearm barrel group can lead to unauthorized removal of a secured firearm from the lock, albeit without the accessory rail portion retained by the lock. However, given that the accessory rail is a fungible and non-registered item, it is a small loss compared with the firearm in terms of value. The rail lock riser can work in conjunction with devices that secure the upper receiver to the lower receiver. It would be desirable to provide a device that supports an accessory rail within a firearms lock that cannot be readily removed from the firearm.


This invention relates to a mixture containing one or more olefin rubbers and one or more nitrile rubbers, to a process for the production thereof, to a vulcanizable mixture and to a process for the production thereof as well as to moldings of all kinds producible from the mixtures.

This invention relates to a mixture containing one or more olefin rubbers and one or more nitrile rubbers, to a process for the production thereof, to a vulcanizable mixture and to a process for the production thereof as well as to moldings of all kinds producible from the mixtures.
Mixtures (blends) of incompatible elastomers are frequently encountered in industrial rubber articles. In general, the polymer components are mixed in a single mixing operation together with conventional additives without any particular measures being implemented to improve phase structure.
It is often observed in such processes that the expected improvements in certain material properties are accompanied by considerable disadvantages in other properties which are the result of insufficiently uniform distribution of the polymer phases in the blends. Mixtures containing EPDM may be taken by way of example. In mixtures with nitrile rubber (NBR), EPDM primarily improves low temperature flexibility. In contrast, other properties, such as vulcanizate strength and oil swelling, are impaired.
Improved mixing processes provide complicated, often multistage processes which are time-consuming and entail excessive mixing costs.
Mixtures of olefin polymers with nitrile rubbers are known, for example, from EP-A2-0 146 068, EP-A1-0 773 255 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,370. Although, macroscopically, these mixtures appear homogeneous, extensive domains of disperse phases are clearly evident on examination by phase-contrast microscopy (FIG. 1).
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a mixture of olefin rubber and nitrile rubber having improved properties.
This object is achieved by a mixture containing one or more olefin rubbers and one or more nitrile rubbers, characterized in that there is no phase segregation in the mixture.

Mixtures of olefin polymers and nitrile rubbers


This invention relates to potentiating insulin activity in a patient in need thereof. This invention provides a composition comprising an insulin potentiating agent; such composition comprises one or more substance derived from a water extract of Polygonum multiflorum, Agaricaceae, or Cinnamomum mairei. This invention also provides a method for treating hyperglycemia in a patient by administering to the patient an insulin potentiating agent. The method can be used to decrease blood glucose and/or glycosylated hemoglobin and/or glucose level.

Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem. In the United States, there are approximately 8 to 10 million patients with diabetes. Diabetes is a syndrome that is caused by a relative or an absolute lack of insulin. Clinically, it is characterized by symptomatic glucose intolerance as well as alterations in lipid and protein metabolism. The maintenance of normal blood sugar levels is achieved by the actions of several hormones, most notably insulin, but also glucagon, epinephrine, corticosteroids, and growth hormone. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is characterized by below normal levels of blood glucose. On the other hand, hyperglycemia is exemplified by higher than normal concentrations of glucose in the blood. The pancreas produces insulin which is released in response to increased blood glucose concentrations. Insulin works to lower the blood sugar level by stimulating the uptake of glucose by cells. Glucose is used in cellular metabolism to produce energy, or is converted to glycogen for storage in the liver and muscles, or is used in the production of triglycerides and fats.
Hyperglycemia is associated with an increased risk for all of the common late complications of diabetes mellitus, which are the major causes of excess morbidity and mortality in diabetics. However, there is no generally applicable and consistently effective means of maintaining plasma glucose fluctuations within a normal range in diabetics, and efforts to do so entail significant risks of causing frequent or severe hypoglycemic episodes. Nevertheless, common treatments include diet management and the use of insulin preparations and oral hypoglycemic agents.
Conventional treatments for diabetes include oral hypoglycemia agent treatments. The two historically used classes of oral hypoglycemic agents are biguanides and sulfonylureas. Biguanides, however, are not currently approved for treatment of diabetes in the United States. Hypoglycemia is the most important complication of sulfonylurea treatment. Sulfonylurea-induced hypoglycemia can be severe and may last or recur for days after treatment is stopped. A mortality rate of 4.3% in patients hospitalized with sulfonylurea-induced hypoglycemia has been reported. Conventional insulin treatment for diabetes also include one or two injections per day of intermediate-acting insulin, with or without smaller added doses of rapid-acting insulin in the same syringe. Complications of insulin treatment include severe hypoglycemia, local allergic reactions, generalized insulin allergy, immunologic insulin resistance and local fat cell atropy or hypertrophy.
A composition which consists of a Sephadex G-25 column fraction isolated from a 0.1N ammonium hydroxide (base) extract of Polygonum multiflorum has been disclosed for treating hyperglycemia (U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,991). Polygonum multiflorum is also known as HeShouWu, or Chinese Cornbind. The natural distribution of P. multiflorum is in southwestern China, Japan, and Taiwan. It also has been reported to be effective against high blood pressure and hardening of the veins and arteries. (Chinese Herbal Medicine, McClellan Maitland Eds. (1990) p. 150). The disadvantages of using a base extract include that handling base in the manufacturing procedure is hazardous and should be avoided if possible. Furthermore, additional acidic components from the raw material are extracted. The acidic components increase the impurities in the extract and are not useful for human or animal consumption without further modification.
Considering the complications attendant to the use of insulin preparations and sulfonylureas in controlling blood glucose concentrations, there is a need for a new method and a new composition for treating hyperglycemia to control the high blood glucose levels associated with glucose intolerance. The new composition ideally is easy to manufacture and relatively inexpensive.
Relevant Literature
Chinese herbs have long been used in the treatment of many diseases. Modern day descriptions of Chinese herbs and their traditional usage can be found in Lu, Henry C., Legendary Chinese Healing Herbs (1991) and Reid, Daniel P., Chinese Herbal Medicine (1990).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,991 discloses a composition which consists of a Sephadex G-25 column fraction isolated from a 0.1N NH.sub.4 OH extract of Polygonum multiflorum; and a method of using such a composition for treating hyperglycemia. Cheng et al (FASEB J. 2, A1103, 1988) report that the He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) extracted by 0.1 N NH.sub.4 OH (1:20 dilution) has both an insulin-potentiating and a hypocholesterolemic effect in mice. Both references disclose a base extract of Polygonum multiflorum, but not a water extract. Kahn et al (Biol. Trace Element Res. 24, 183 (1990) disclose that the supernatant of cinnamon spice extracted with 0.1 N NH.sub.4 OH (1:20, W/V) contains insulin potentiating activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,679 discloses a method of treatment of a skin disease associated with hyperproliferation of keratinocytes by administering to a patient an effective amount of Agaricus bisporus lectin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,470 discloses a method of deodorizing an animal comprising preparing a deodorant composition by a process of extracting Agaricus bisporus with a hydrophilic solvent to obtain an extract capable of deodorizing the animal; contacting said extract with a suitable carrier; and causing the animal to ingest said extract and said suitable carrier. Neither of the two references relates to insulin potentiating activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,156 discloses a method for treating undesirably high levels of blood serum lipids in an individual using a composition consisting essentially of chromium tripicolinate. Striffer et al (Metabolism, 44:1314:1320 (1995) report that chromium supplementation prevents insulin-secretory hyper-responsiveness produced in rats fed with a high-sucrose, low chromium diet and conclude that dietary chromium is required for maintenance of normal glucose tolerance in rats. Evans (Int. J. Biosocial Med Res. et al. 11: 163-180 (1989)) report that oral chromium supplements alone provide an improvement of insulin function in the non-diabetic animal. Chromium has been reported to potentiate insulin action, decrease glucose intolerance, decrease total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels and increase HDL-cholesterol level (Anderson, J. Adv. Medicine 1:34-47 (1995).

Composition and method for increasing insulin activity


A magnetic recording-reproducing circuit in a camera includes a magnetic head for reproducing information recorded on a magnetic recording portion, a first amplifying circuit having at least two input ends, the output of the magnetic head being connected to one of the input ends of the first amplifying circuit, a second amplifying circuit having at least two input ends, the output of the magnetic head being connected to one of the input ends of the second amplifying circuit, a first impedance for connecting the other input end of the first amplifying circuit and the other input end of the second amplifying circuit together, a second impedance for connecting the other input end and the output end of the first amplifying circuit together, and a third impedance for connecting the other input end and the output end of the second amplifying circuit together. The circuit also includes first and second comparison circuits and a binarization circuit for binarizing information recorded on the film on the basis of outputs of the first and second comparison circuits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a camera provided with means for effecting magnetic recording and reproduction on film having a magnetic recording portion which is inserted in the camera.
2. Related Background Art
Heretofore, a reading circuit for effecting reproduction on a magnetic recording medium by the use of a magnetic head has been constructed as shown in FIG. 25 of the accompanying drawings. The reference numeral 601 designates a magnetic head, the reference numeral 602 denotes a differential amplifier for amplifying the output of the magnetic head 601, and the reference numerals 603,604, 605, 606 and 607 designate resistors. The reference numerals 608 and 609 denote comparators connected to the differential amplifier 602, and the reference numeral 610 designates an RS flip-flop connected to the comparators 608 and 609.
The resistors 603, 604, 605, 606 and 607 supply the input bias current of the differential amplifier 602. The resistor 607 is a gain setting resistor. When the value of the resistor 607 is determined, the differential voltage gain is determined as shown in FIG. 27 of the accompanying drawings, and the reproducing signal output of the magnetic head 601 conforming to the voltage amplification degree thereof is output.
FIG. 26 of the accompanying drawings diagrammatically shows an amplifying circuit for amplifying the reproducing signal of the magnetic head. In the circuit of FIG. 26, the gain setting resistor 607 is connected to terminals (b) and (g), and the output of the magnetic head 601 is connected to terminals (a) and (h). Tr1-Tr13 designate transistors. When a potential difference occurs between terminals (a) and (g), a difference occurs between electric currents flowing to the transistors Tr1 and Tr2. The current difference is converted into a potential difference by the transistors Tr3-Tr6 which constitute the feedback circuit of the subsequent stage. The conversion rate of the current difference and the potential difference is varied by the value of the resistor 607. Accordingly, when the value of the resistor 607 is determined, the differential voltage gain is determined as shown in FIG. 27, and the reproducing signal output of the magnetic head conforming to the voltage amplification degree thereof is output.
In the above-described prior art, however, as shown in FIG. 27, the amplification degree is changed by a variation in the value of the resistor 607 by a temperature change or the like and therefore, the amplitude of a noise voltage applied to the comparators 608 and 609 varies, and when that amplitude becomes great, the comparators 608 and 609 are operated by the noise voltage, and this has led to the disadvantage that a wrong signal is output from the RS flip-flop circuit 610. Also, when the differential voltage gain is amplified to a frequency higher than the signal frequency from the magnetic head, it becomes a high frequency noise, and this has sometimes led to the aggravation of the signal to noise ratio.

Magnetic recording-reproducing circuit in a camera


In an analogically similar word production apparatus, based on three inputted unit strings, an analogically similar word which is a word analogically similar to inputted unit strings is produced at high speed without using attributes and without any finite state automaton. A pseudo-distance matrix memory stores therein only matrix elements sufficient for computation of limited pseudo distances between two letter strings, out of the elements of two pseudo-distance matrices, and more specifically, matrix elements including diagonal elements are computed by a preprocessing section and then stored in the pseudo-distance matrix memory. An analogically similar word production section, based on the three inputted unit strings, computes a status parameter (com) by looking up to the elements of the two pseudo-distance matrices stored in a pseudo-distance matrix memory, stores the status parameter into an internal parameter memory, computes minimum paths of pseudo distances represented by the two pseudo-distance matrices while updating the status parameter (com), produces an analogically similar word according to the two minimum pseudo-distance paths, and outputs the produced analogically similar word.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to analogically similar word production apparatus and method for producing or generating an analogically similar word analogized from three inputted unit strings. More particularly, the invention relates to analogically similar word production apparatus and method for producing or generating a unit string composed of a plurality of units whose property or attribute is analogically similar in a predetermined analogically similar relation to three inputted unit strings given in a predetermined order. In this case, the unit is a character, an alphabetical letter, a word or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, as a procedure to produce a new word which is morphologically related to another word, techniques such as finite state automata are used. For example, Prior Art Document 1, Kimmo Koskenniemi, "Two Level-Morphology: A General Computational Model for Word Form Recognition and Production", Department of General Linguistics, University of Helsinki, 1983, has proposed a method for producing a word with respect to some attributes which specify a certain form and which are given this certain form (hereinafter, referred to as a first prior art).
For example, production of a letter string "unlike" from a letter string "like" and an attribute or property "antonym" is considered. According to the first prior art, if the attribute "antonym" is given to a finite state automaton, and if this finite state automaton converts the attribute into the task of inserting a prefix, namely "un", before the word to which the attribute has been given, then the letter string "like" can be transformed into the letter string "unlike" with a prefix "un" inserted, and therefore the antonym of the letter string "like" can be computed as "unlike". Similarly, the antonym of a letter string "known" can also be computed using the same method, and therefore the antonym of the letter string "known" can be computed as "unknown".
In the first prior art, in order that a new letter string be produced, it is therefore necessary to input attributes at the same time the letter string is given to the finite state automaton. Therefore, by executing the finite state automaton, a word similar to an inputted word but different therefrom with some attributes inputted can be obtained. In particular, because the whole process is implemented by the finite state automaton, the first prior art method has an advantage of operating at relatively high speed.
Likewise, Prior Art Document 2, "Unix user commands, sed--stream editor", has proposed a method for replacing a letter string by another letter string by means of description of regular expressions (hereinafter, referred to as a second prior art).
For example, replacement of a letter string "miracle" by a letter string "miraculous" is considered. According to the second prior art, if the letter string "miracle" and the letter string "miraculous" are given to a finite state automaton, and if this finite state automaton first recognizes the letter string "miracle", delimits its boundaries in a letter stream, and replaces the letter string "miracle" by the letter string "miraculous" within the boundaries, then the letter string "miracle", when recognized in the letter stream, can be replaced into the letter string "miraculous". For instance, in a letter stream "it was a miracle and fable healing", the letter string "miracle" can be replaced by the letter string "miraculous". Therefore, by executing the method of the second prior art, the replacement of a letter string by another letter string can be achieved.
However, since the first prior art method produces a word form by using a finite state automaton, the method involves preparatory registration of all the possible letter strings that can be added as prefixes, suffixes or infixes with respect to an object language. Hence, the first prior art requires a linguistic description of the object language which is not immediate. Therefore, the first prior art requires the involvement of specialized workers to establish the non-immediate linguistic description of an object language.
Also, since the second prior art method is based on a finite state automaton method, the replacement of, for example, a letter string "fable" by a letter string "fabulous" is impossible even if the letter strings "miracle" and "miraculous" are given to the finite state automaton. However, the letter string "fabulous" is in the same relation to the letter string "fable" as the letter string "miraculous" is to the letter string "miracle". Therefore, the second prior art can not perform the replacement of analogically similar words.

Apparatus and method for producing analogically similar word based on pseudo-distances between words

ATR Interpreting Telecommunications Research Laboratories


An apparatus for controlling the engagement between a cam and a push rod in an internal combustion engine for affecting operation of a valve. The apparatus includes an outer tappet engaging the cam. A central tappet is connected to the push rod and supported within the outer tappet. A tappet coupling member is disposed between the outer tappet and the central tappet. A locking element is slidable between an unlocked position where the outer tappet moves freely with respect to the central tappet and a locked position, where the outer tappet is locked to the central tappet for moving the push rod to open the valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a valve control mechanism for an internal combustion engine. More specifically, it relates to a valve control mechanism for switching control of the valve between two different cams or for keeping the valve closed.
2. Prior Art
Valve control systems are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,364 for use with overhead camshafts and underhead camshaft and push rods. This valve design has a tappet element that can be switched on or off with respect to its action on the valve stroke. The tappet element is axially slidable in the direction of reciprocation of the valve train. In each case, a driver device is arranged between the push rod and the tappet element. The drive device can be switched on and off and may have different designs. FIGS. 8 to 12 of the patent specification show an arrangement of a tappet for two valves to be actuated in parallel. The driver device has balls as drivers for alternatively changing between two cams with different profiles.
This mechanical driver device is arranged between an outer tappet engaging both valves, and a central tappet slidable within the outer tappet. The two tappets can be coupled together by the driver device. When the driver device is inactive, a small stroke is transmitted to the valves by a first cam having two halves. When the driver device is active, a larger stroke is transmitted to the valves by a second cam arranged between the halves of the first cam.
The driver device has ball bearings, which are supported in a central guide of the outer tappet and which are slidable radially outwardly. The ball bearings can be engaged with an inwardly inclined annular surface on the central tappet, with the surface being averted from the camshaft. The displacement and holding of the balls in the engaged position take place by means of a locking slide, which is slidable against a spring force against the axial direction of reciprocation by admission of pressure, and which is concentrically guided in the central guide of the outer tappet.
A driver device of the type described above, with a locking element that is arranged in the center and axially slidable in the direction of reciprocation and always acted upon by spring force, is disadvantageous because of the forces resulting from movement with their acceleration and delays, and also the spring force acts on the locking element against the hydraulic controlling force.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a valve control mechanism that is self-locking in the engaged condition and where the locking slides of the driver device remain unaffected by forces resulting from the reciprocation and by constantly acting spring forces.