An integrated credit card data processing method that allows transactions to be processed either as a payment or as a receipt of payment. The new process is a combination of the regular data processing method for consumer purchases of goods and services similar to those used by credit/charge cards, debit cards, and smart cards and a merchant processing method that allows acceptance of such payments. The second part of the invention is a method to execute an order on the manner of disposition of the proceeds of sale, such as payment by check, application of the excess cash to outstanding debts, investment into a plurality of investment accounts, or retention of the proceeds as a credit to the account. The third part of the invention is a method to provide a report of both purchases and sales itemized together for an account holder.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to providing the consumer with a "multi-directional" payment facility. More particularly, this invention relates to a financial process that a consumer can use either as a means of purchasing goods and services or as a means of accepting payment as a merchant selling goods and services. Currently, the two systems exist separately. Although the systems embodying payment methods are diversified and well developed, the systems embodying payment acceptance (merchants accepting payments) are often part of, but separate from, the various payment methods. These payment acceptance systems are equally well developed but not so widely available to the average consumer. Most particularly, this invention relates to merging the two functionalities thereby allowing for multi-directional payment processing available to the consumer.
2. Description of Related Art
The many financial processes available today to the end user consumer have single-directional payment methods. A vast majority of these processes are payment methods that provide convenient means of purchasing goods and services. For example, credit and charge cards allow purchases of goods and services on credit or deferred payment. New processes involving debit cards and smart cards make payment more convenient by not having to carry and use cash or checks. E-cash and other payment methods in cyberspace provide convenient means for movement of cash and purchases of goods and services electronically. These payment methods provide access and convenience to the consumer and enhance commerce. These financial processes are meant for consumers and commercial establishments to use as payment methods to purchase goods and services or as a means for moving money. Conversely, credit/charge cards are the cornerstone for businesses to accept payment for goods and services.
All of these processes have one thing in common. They are all single-directional, that is, all of these processes handle a flow of transactions emanating from the consumer's purchase and flowing to the merchant that produces and sells the goods and services. None of the existing processes today are capable of handling multiple directional flow of financial transactions where the direction is different from or opposite to the traditional transaction. For example, a consumer uses the credit card to make purchases but cannot use the same card to make a sale (i.e. accept payment). Today's cutting edge technology merely enhances current payment methods but is nevertheless single-directional. Smart cards, for example, are used to make payments but cannot be used to accept payments. There are no known financial processes today that provide for multi-directional transaction processing. There are no known financial processes that allow the average household consumer to engage in commercial transactions as a seller or merchant and accept credit/charge cards, debit cards, and smart cards while at the same time allowing the traditional purchasing transactions. A consumer may become a credit/charge card accepting merchant by applying for a merchant facility with one or more of the credit card institutions such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,897 discloses a system or method for producing more credit cards faster and safer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,787 allows one credit card to function like several credit or debit cards. Other prior art in the field of the instant invention serve the sole purpose of providing convenient and accessible consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,442 combines the features of a Visa credit card and investment and brokerage accounts for the purpose of utilizing free cash balances for payment of credit card purchases. U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,803 allows an account holder to charge as much as 40% of the balances of her/his 401(k). The result of this process is the use of funds designated for use upon retirement for present consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,270 is directed towards exploiting any asset with value by freeing its cash value for eventual release as loans without selling the asset. U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,270 does not disclose using the proceeds to finance commercial activities because such needs are served by various other financing schemes. What makes U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,270 unique is that it is directed towards the average consumer for the purpose of availing of the present and future value of an asset to finance day-to-day consumption. Assets such as real estate, works of art, and other valuable collections may potentially be completely depleted by releasing their value as loans to finance various consumer uses. U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,768 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,055 disclose releasing value of an asset but are centered on insurance policies. The net effect of a process following these patents is to consume present and future value of insurance policies which are originally set up to accumulate value and are methods of saving for the future. The patents cited show a diversified but linear approach to developing existing payment methods. They are all directed towards developing systems that handle a single-directional flow of transactions.
Single-directional payment methods cannot truly replace cash because they do not have the flexible properties of cash. Cash can travel in any direction, from consumer to consumer, merchant to consumer, consumer to merchant, merchant to merchant. Cash also stores value and retains its intrinsic value. Current payment methods perform but a fraction of what cash can do. In their present state, current payment methods flow from a consumer to a merchant and nothing more. Therefore it is impossible for current payment methods to displace cash entirely. The notion of a cashless society is not feasible with existing processes without altering the processes significantly to acquire more properties akin to cash. This new invention adds functionalities to existing payment methods by drawing from other existing methods that mimic some of the properties of cash. By merging functionalities, a new financial process is created that mimics cash. A second part of this invention further extends the functionality of the new process by allowing the proceeds to move either freely or systematically between the ordinary consumer accounts and the traditional brokerage accounts. A process that can perform all the properties of cash and offer more capabilities may truly eliminate the need for cash.
A financial process capable of handling multi-directional transaction has a significant economic impact. Single-directional processes such as those previously mentioned provide convenient means of purchasing goods and services and enhance economic growth through increased consumption. However such consumption has to be financed by some resource. Often such transactions are financed by revolving credit or debt or utilization of existing assets. This type of growth is not real growth in the sense that it increases the real wealth of the consumers. On the contrary, for some of the processes, they deplete real wealth. Real wealth of the average consumer can only be increased by increasing productivity and income. Today's processes benefit consumers by providing convenience but do not really help in improving overall economic well being. The effect of the current invention is to create and increase real wealth by empowering the average consumer with the means of accepting alternative means of payment and enabling the consumer in engaging in entrepreneurial commercial activities as a merchant or seller.
Equipment supporting current payment methods is very well developed. There is a wide variety of capabilities such as split dial capabilities that allow a terminal to dial into various merchant processors as instructed by the initiating credit card, charge card, debit card or smart card. Like credit cards and other existing payment methods, the equipment also performs the sole function of handling a singular transaction flow. Credit card processing terminals handle payment transactions from a purchaser to a buyer. More recent developments with cash dispensing machines expand the functionalities from dispensing cash to handing out information and other products (e.g. stamps). But no equipment exists today that can handle buy-sell and sell-buy transactions at the same time.
This invention touches on several fields. The core process or method is within the field of credit card processing systems. The closest prior art in this field is U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,427. Although the conceptual framework of this new invention has some resemblance to the debits and credits used in an accounting system embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,427, its application and functional parts are extremely different. U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,427 concerns the management of accounting transactions. In contrast, this new invention concerns processing of credit card transactions and involves several financial institutions to complete the process.
This invention also touches on the field of class 705: Data processing: Financial, Business practice, Management, or Cost/Price Determination. In this field, U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,249 discloses automating the generation of drafts as means of payment and has no significance to this new invention. Also touched by this invention is class 364#408-Electrical Computers and Data Processing Systems. In this field, U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,397 discloses a system that interfaces a regular banking system with a brokerage account. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,116 discloses an integrated decision management system. The instant invention also links banking transactions with a brokerage account, with the additional capability of specifically dealing with transactions that could not have been anticipated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,397 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,116 or any prior art concerning methods or systems linking or managing brokerage accounts. This is because the transactions generated by this invention are generated mostly by credit card transactions in which the credit card holder is the merchant receiving payment. This concept of a consumer using her/his credit cards to receive payments as a merchant is novel to this invention and could not have been anticipated by other prior art involving brokerage accounts.
Any new payment method must either be compatible with equipment already in place handling payment processing or requires new equipment to be developed. Developing new equipment to handle multi-directional transactions is not only very expensive but also makes the new method more difficult to be broadly accepted and therefore unattractive. Seamless transition from a single-directional environment to a multi-directional environment is necessary to make the proposition succeed. The solution to this problem is a gradual transition towards more sophisticated equipment. What is needed is a process that transcends the underlying equipment, and is appropriate for use now and with later equipment innovations.

Method for multi-directional consumer purchasing, selling, and transaction management


A snowboard and the like with very low weight and high mechanical strength, comprising a core made of foamed plastics which is arranged between a lower layer and an upper layer of fabric impregnated with epoxy resins. The core can be shaped and rigidly coupled to the layers by molding in a heated mold. There is also provided a base with a corresponding lamina, associated with the lower layer, and a topskin element associated with the upper layer.

The present invention relates to a snowboard with very low weight and high mechanical strength.
Snowboards, surfboards, monoskis, water-skis and the like are conventionally manufactured according to two basic construction criteria which are derived from skiing: in particular, there are injection-molded boards and so-called sandwich boards.
Injection-molded boards use a mold into which the materials that constitute the lower part and the upper part of the snowboard are placed, injecting polyurethane of appropriate density which, by expanding, forms the core of the board.
This solution does not yield optimum results, since there are considerable difficulties in achieving high mechanical strength of the board; considerable weights are also obtained.
The sandwich method uses a wood core which has a structural function and is placed inside layers of stiffening material of various kinds, placed between a base and a topskin.
Two shaped elements made of plastics, generally ABS, are added to the wood core and form the ends; this solution, however, is not ideal, since inevitably there is a discontinuity between the shaped ends and the central part where the core is provided. Moreover, in order to round the edges of the board, as typically occurs, it is necessary to carry out preliminary machining of the edge of the wood core before embedding it between the layers of stiffening material of various kinds, with application of the laminae and of the lower base and of the upper topskin.
Although these boards have better mechanical strengths than boards produced by injection molding, they are not free from drawbacks, including the poorly bonded connection between the ends and the core and a relatively high weight, in addition to risks of deformation caused by the use of wood.

Snowboard, surfboard, Monoski, water-ski and the like with very low weight and high mechanical strength


A system including a medical device to form a 3D image of an anatomical structure in a body of a living subject, a user interface including a display and an input device, and a processor to prepare a user interface screen presentation including a graphical representation of the anatomical structure based on the 3D image, generate a feature list of a plurality of features associated with the anatomical structure, each feature having a respective location, render the user interface screen presentation to the display showing a first view of the graphical representation, receive an input from the user interface selecting a feature from the list, and render the user interface screen presentation to the display showing the graphical representation of the anatomical structure being automatically rotated from the first view to a second view showing the selected feature at the respective location on the graphical representation.

Medical images of various body parts may be formed in numerous ways for example but not limited to, X-ray radiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), medical ultrasonography or ultrasound, endoscopy, elastography, tactile imaging, thermography, medical photography and nuclear medicine functional imaging techniques.
Volume rendering techniques have been developed to enable computed tomography (CT), MRI and ultrasound scanning software to produce three-dimensional (3D) images for the physician. Traditionally CT and MRI scans produced two-dimensional (2D) static output on film. To produce 3D images, many scans are made, then combined by computers to produce a 3D model, which can then be manipulated by the physician. 3D ultrasounds are produced using a somewhat similar technique.
US Patent Publication 2010/0316268 of Liang, et al., describes a procedure for pre-operating assessment of one or more anatomical structures generated from medical images and provided in a rendered 3D space, and an imaging system, apparatus, and computer program, that operate in accordance with the procedure. The procedure comprises providing one or more safety margin indicators in the rendered 3D space, each having a shape corresponding to that of a respective one of the anatomical structures within an organ and having a predetermined size of safety margin from the respective one of the anatomical structures. The procedure also comprises manipulating at least one of the shape and predetermined size of safety margin of at least one of the safety margin indicators in the rendered 3D space, and immediately providing a rendering in the 3D space of a manipulated version of the at least one safety margin indicator. Also provided is a procedure for defining at least one cutting surface to resect one or more medical anatomical structures using an imaging system.
US Patent Publication 2009/0028403 of Bar-Aviv, et al., describes a system for analyzing a source medical image of a body organ. The system comprises an input unit for obtaining the source medical image having three dimensions or more, a feature extraction unit that is designed for obtaining a number of features of the body organ from the source medical image, and a classification unit that is designed for estimating a priority level according to the features.
US Patent Publication 2003/0152897 of Geiger, describes a method for navigating a viewpoint of a virtual endoscope in a lumen of a structure. The method includes the steps of determining an initial viewpoint of the virtual endoscope, the initial viewpoint having a first center point and first direction, determining a longest ray from the initial viewpoint to the lumen, the longest ray having a first longest ray direction, determining a second direction between the first direction of the initial viewpoint and the first longest ray direction, turning the viewpoint to the second direction and moving the initial viewpoint a first predetermined distance in a first direction of the initial viewpoint, calculating a second center point of the viewpoint, moving the viewpoint to the second center point.


Disclosed is an improved inner surface shaper comprising, on a bed, a first reciprocating stock having a first working spindle and a drive screw, a servomotor to drive the drive screw for making a linear reciprocation of the first reciprocating stock, a second reciprocating stock having a second working spindle, a hydraulic cylinder to drive the second reciprocating stock toward and apart from the first reciprocating stock, and a tool rest placed between the first working spindle and the second working spindle. The first working spindle, second working spindle, drive screw and hydraulic cylinder are arranged along the center line of the bed, and the hydraulic cylinder and first reciprocating stock are connected by two joint rods which are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center line of the bed.. This arrangement has the effect of directing undesired counter force to the joint rods and the longitudinal axis of the drive screw. Thus, there is no fear of causing any distortion as would bend either working spindle or would injure the threads of the drive screw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in or relating to a machine which cuts and shapes the inner surface of a given work piece such as a differential gear used in an automobile.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
FIG. 7 shows a conventional inner surface shaper. It comprises, on a bed 10, left and right reciprocating stocks 63 and 64 each carrying a working spindle 61 or 62 and a motor (not shown), and associated reciprocating drives 69 and 70 each having a hydraulic cylinder 65 or 66 to make a linear reciprocating motion of the reciprocating stock along an associated drive screw 67 or 68, thereby permitting these reciprocating stocks 63 and 64 to move toward and apart from each other. In operation the reciprocating drives 69 and 70 drive the reciprocating stocks 63 and 64 to move toward each other until a tool 73 has been sandwiched between the opposite tool supports 71 and 72 of the working spindles 61 and 62 for rotating. The hydraulic cylinder 65 drives the reciprocating stock 63 toward a stopper 74 to cut and shape the inner surface of the work piece 75.
The feeding of the tool 73 by the hydraulic cylinder 65, however, is liable to be dependent on the temperature of the oil in the cylinder, lowering the accuracy with which the cutting-and-shaping is effected. Also disadvantageously, the accurate setting of feeding distance is hardly attainable with recourse to the positioning of the stopper 74.
In an attempt to reduce such disadvantages the inventor proposed that the conventional inner surface shaper is modified by using, in place of the reciprocating drive 69, a drive screw extending under the reciprocating stock 63 and threadedly engaged with a nut which is fixed to the bottom of the reciprocating stock 63 and by using a servomotor to drive the drive screw for making a linear reciprocation of the reciprocating stock 63. In operation the tool is put in position by driving the reciprocating stock 63 with the aid of the nut-and-screw drive, and then the hydraulic cylinder 66 pushes the tool support 72 against the tool, which is fed by the nut-and-screw drive. This arrangement permits the accurate setting of feeding distance, and accordingly the accuracy with which the tool can give the work piece a desired shape is improved.
In this improved inner surface shaper, however, the pushing and supporting of the tool 73 by the hydraulic cylinder 66 and the feeding of the reciprocating stock 63 by the servomotor through the nut-and-screw drive will cause counter force to push the opposite reciprocating stocks 63 and 64 away from each other, thus causing a distortion in the opposite reciprocating stocks. Therefore, the machining accuracy is limited. Such a distortion causes slight vibration in machining, the bending of the screw drive or uneven wearing of parts which move relative to each other. For these reasons the machining accuracy cannot be retained for an extended period.


A portable data input or computer system includes a keyboard, another data input device such as an optical scanner, a data processor module, and a display. All of those system components are configured for carrying and/or securing on a garment, such as a vest. Typically, the garment has a number of pockets. The operator can wear the garment and carry the system components in pockets when not using them. At such times, the system components are out of the way. The display may be flipped up so that, when the system is in use, displayed data is visible to the operator without removing the display from the pocket. The operator may activate the keyboard with only one hand while it is still in its pocket, or the operator can remove the keyboard from the pocket, hold it in one hand and key in data with the other hand. To input other data, for example by scanning bar code type indicia, the operator removes the scanner from its pocket, points the scanner at the bar code and triggers the scanner to read the indicia. System batteries are contained in one or more separate pockets in the garment, and all signalling and power connections between the various components are provided by flexible cabling incorporated into the garment. The system is particularly easy to transport and operate.

Optical readers, such as bar code readers, are now quite common. Typically, a bar code comprises a series of encoded symbols, and each symbol consists of a series of light and dark regions, typically in the form of rectangles. The widths of the dark regions, the bars, and/or the widths of the light spaces between the bars indicate the encoded information. A bar code reader illuminates the code and senses light reflected from the code to detect the widths and spacings of the code symbols and derive the encoded data.
Bar code reading type data input systems improve the efficiency and accuracy of data input for a wide variety of applications. The ease of data input in such systems facilitates more frequent and detailed data input, for example to provide efficient inventories, tracking of work in progress, etc. To achieve these advantages, however, users or employees must be willing to consistently use the bar code readers. Many applications require the operator to carry the bar code reader about as the operator moves from place to place and to operate the reader manually to scan codes appearing on different objects. The readers therefore must be easy and convenient to operate and carry.
Many applications additionally require use of the bar code reader with other data input means, for example by incorporation of all the elements into a single integrated data input terminal. Such integrated systems typically include a keyboard, for input of alphanumeric data which may or may not be related to bar code data, a central data processor unit having associated RAM and ROM, and a display. Integrated terminals of this type have been proposed which are small enough to be handheld (see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,916,441 and 5,144,120). Such units incorporating so many different elements, however, tend to be larger than many dedicated bar code readers and cumbersome to operate as bar code readers, particularly for extended periods. Also, the prior art integrated devices often require the operator to hold the device in one hand and operate the keyboard with the other. Such operation requires use of both hands and does not allow the user to perform other manual tasks at the same time. These problems, together with problems related to securing and carrying the integrated terminals when not in use, tend to discourage employees from using the data input system, thereby defeating the purpose of the system and particularly the advantages otherwise associated with bar code data entry. Similar problems exist in other types of portable computer or data devices.
From the above discussion of the state of the art, it becomes clear that a need still exists to produce portable computer or terminal systems, particularly ones incorporating an optical reader unit, which are particularly convenient to carry and operate.

Computer and/or scanner system incorporated into a garment


A multi-material iron type golf club head is disclosed. More specifically, the golf club head in accordance with the present invention may have a metallic portion and a lightweight portion, wherein the entirety of the striking face is made out of a metallic material while a majority of the chassis is made out of a lightweight material that serves to reduce the overall weight of the golf club head. The lightweight material, in addition to reducing the overall weight of the golf club head, may be comprised of an interior face support to at least partially support the metallic striking face portion to improve the performance and feel of the golf club head.

In order to keep up with the increasing demands of the golfing public for more technology and performance from their iron type golf club heads, golf club designers have been forced to change the design of iron type golf club heads away from traditional muscle back construction in order to keep up with this trend.
One of the earliest attempts to improve the performance of the iron was to improve the moment of inertia of a golf club head by adding weight to the perimeter of the golf club head to create more forgiveness in off-center shots. U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,172 to Antonious provides an illustration of this technology by showing a perimeter weighted iron-type golf club head with a recessed or cavity back and a peripheral mass having an improved weight configuration.
Another way to improve the forgiveness of an iron type golf club head in addition to removing weight from the central portion and moving it out on the perimeter as illustrated above is to use exotic materials that are heavier than steel. The utilization of exotic materials that are heavier than steel allows more discretionary weight to be created in the same footprint, further improving the performance of an iron type golf club head. U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,960 to Thompson illustrates this principle by placing tungsten powder at the heel and toe end of the golf club head to improve the moment of inertia of the golf club head.
With the development of more advanced materials, the infatuation with lightweight materials such as carbon fiber composite has also worked its way into golf club design, creating yet another way to improve upon the forgiveness of an iron type golf club head. U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,383 to Aizawa provides an early example of this by creating a golf club with resin with woven material as well as resin with non-oriented fibers to create a golf club head.
In addition to making the golf club more forgiving as shown by the three above examples, another way to improve the performance of an iron type golf club head is to improve the ballspeed of the iron type golf club head. One way to achieve this is to decrease the thickness of the striking face of the golf club head. U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,469 to Gilbert provides an example of this technology by teaching a golf club with a thin front face for striking a golf ball and a peripheral weighting surrounding the back of the front face and defining a cavity.
Despite all the attempts to improve the performance of an iron type golf club, none of the designs have been able to combine all of the best characteristics of each individual technology in one compact convenient package. More specifically, none of the designs incorporate advanced material technology to increase the forgiveness and ballspeed of the iron type golf club head in one unitary golf club chassis without sacrificing the aesthetic appeal of the golf club.


Capacitor material for use in forming capacitors, is disclosed. More specifically, the invention is directed to capacitors formed from this material that have one or more discrete electrodes (314), each electrode (314) being exposed to at least two thicknesses of dielectric material (300). These electrodes (314) are surrounded by wider insulative material (312) such that the material can be cut, or patterned into capacitors having specific values. A single electrode can form a small value capacitor while still providing a larger conductive area for attaching the capacitor to associated circuitry. The thin dielectric (310) can be a tunable material so that the capacitance can be varied with voltage. The tunability can be increased by adding thin electrodes that interact with direct current.

Parallel plate capacitors have been in manufacture for many years. The basic design of these capacitors involves two conductive electrodes separated by a dielectric or insulative thin film material. While many variations of this type of capacitor have been developed, all of the known designs suffer from the following disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is the condition wherein a small defect in the dielectric layer wherein the two electrodes are allowed to short together. This short circuit renders the entire capacitor useless, resulting in loss of product. A second disadvantage is the inability to take a single sheet of capacitor material (formed of a sandwich of conductive material on the outside and thin film dielectric material on the inside), and cut this material into several smaller value capacitors and attaching connectors to the conductive portions of these smaller value capacitors. This inability is due to the shorting out of the conductive layers by the cutting, shearing or connecting action itself that creates defects in the dielectric, resulting in high leakage and potential shorts. The present invention overcomes these disadvantages by providing discrete locations of electrode interaction, thereby allowing failure points to be removed, as well as allowing a simple method of forming capacitors with specific capacitance. Furthermore, due to the reduced active electrode area, capacitors with small capacitance can be formed while still allowing enough surface area for connecting the capacitor to other circuitry. These thin dielectrics, if ferroelectric, such as barium strontium titanate (BST), can have the capacitance varied by applying a bias voltage. The thinner the dielectric, the lower the bias voltage can be to effect the same capacitance change. These tunable capacitors have a wide range of applications particularly in the RF wireless arena.
In the field of tunable capacitors that use ferroelectric dielectrics, a particular problem is intermodulation distortion (IMD), that can occur as the RF electric field inadvertently biases the material at the RF frequency. This problem is addressed by the present invention by providing several embodiments of capacitor electrodes that allow greater levels of tunability, while reducing RF interaction with the biasing electrodes.


The present invention provides a recombinant swinepox virus vector containing a heterologous nucleotide sequence encoding a protein from a selected pathogen inserted into, or replacing, all or a portion of a swinepox virus gene, which gene is not essential to replication of the virus in a host cell. Also provided is a recombinant SPV vector into which a pseudorabies antigen is inserted within the TK gene, which is useful in diagnostic, therapeutic, and prophylactic compositions.

Various attempts have been made to construct vaccine vectors from viruses. The use of viruses and virus proteins in eukaryotic host-vector systems has been the subject of a considerable amount of investigation and speculation. Many existing viral vector systems suffer from significant disadvantages and limitations which diminish their utility. For example, a number of eukaryotic viral vectors are either tumorigenic or oncogenic in mammalian systems, creating the potential for serious health and safety problems associated with resultant gene products and accidental infections. Further, in some eukaryotic host-viral vector systems, the gene product itself exhibits antiviral activity, thereby decreasing the yield of that protein.
In the case of simple viruses, the amount of exogenous DNA which can be packaged into a simple virus is limited. This limitation becomes a particularly acute problem when the genes used are eukaryotic. Because eukaryotic genes usually contain intervening sequences, they are too large to fit into simple viruses. In the case of complex viruses, size of exogenous DNA to be inserted is not a limiting factor. However, because they have many restriction sites, it is more difficult to insert exogenous DNA into complex viruses at specific locations.
Studies with vaccinia virus have demonstrated that poxviruses in general have several advantageous features as vaccine vectors. Poxviruses are taxonomically classified into the family Chordopoxvirinae, whose members infect vertebrate hosts, e.g., the Orthopoxvirus vaccinia. Vaccinia virus has recently been developed as a eukaryotic cloning and expression vector (Mackett, M. et al., [1985] DNA Cloning, Vol. II, ed. D. M. Glover, pp. 191-212, Oxford: IRL Press; Panicali, D. et al. [1982] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:5364-5368). Numerous viral antigens have been expressed using vaccinia virus vectors (Paoletti, E. et al. [1986] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:193-197; Piccine, A. et al. [1986] BioEssays 5:248-252) including, among others, HBsAg, rabies G protein and the gp120/gp41 of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Regulatory sequences from the spruce budworm EPV have been used previously with vaccinia (Yuen, L. et al. [1990] Virology 175:427-433).
The advantages of poxviruses as vaccine vectors include the ability of poxvirus-based vaccines to stimulate both cell-mediated and humoral immunity, minimal cost to mass produce vaccine and the stability of the lyophilized vaccine without refrigeration, ease of administration under non-sterile conditions, and the ability to insert at least 25,000 base pairs of foreign DNA into an infectious recombinant, thereby permitting the simultaneous expression of many antigens from one recombinant.
However, although recombinant vaccinia viruses have demonstrated great potential as vaccines, vaccinia has several drawbacks that have prevented its widespread use in both human and veterinary medicine. First, vaccinia virus has a wide host range that includes man and many domestic animals. This could permit the spread of a recombinant vaccinia vaccine to other animal populations not intended for vaccination. Secondly, although the vaccinia virus recombinants are attenuated by inactivation of the thymidine kinase gene, this virus still has the ability to cause potentially serious generalized vaccinal infections in immunocompromised individuals (i.e., patients with AIDS).
Another poxvirus, swinepox virus, the only known member of the genus Suipoxvirus, is naturally restricted to swine and occurs widely throughout the world. Swinepox virus produces a mild, self-limiting disease in swine. (Kasza et al. [1960] Am. J. Vet. Res. 21:269-272; Shope [1940] Arch. Gesamte. Virustorsch 1:457-467). This virus is characterized by a genome 175 kb in size which includes a thymidine kinase (TK) gene closely resembling the TK genes of other poxviruses (Feller et al. [1991] Virol. 183:578-585).
Pseudorabies is one of the most important diseases affecting the swine industries of the USA and several countries within Europe. Losses due to disease in the USA each year run into several million dollars. This disease is characterized in its reservoir host, swine, by central nervous system disorders in suckling pigs, respiratory disease in growing pigs, and fever and inappetence in adult swine. Cattle, dogs, cats, and other species are atypical hosts of pseudorabies, but develop an invariably fatal neurological disease similar to rabies. Highly pathogenic strains of pseudorabies have been detected in the USA and later in Europe since the 1960's (Gustafson, D. P. [1986] "Pseudorabies," in Diseases of Swine, pp. 274-289, 6th Edition, eds. Leman, A. D., Straw, B., Glock, R. D., Mengeling, W. I., Penny, R. H. C., and Scholl, E., Publ. ISU press, Ames, Iowa).
The control and the eradication of pseudorabies in the USA has proven to be difficult due to the existence of a large population of feral swine in the southern states which is known to be infected with pseudorabies virus.
There remains a need for a safer and effective vector system to create vaccines directed to diseases of humans and animals, including e.g., pseudorabies infections of swine.

Use of recombinant swine poxvirus as a live vaccine vector

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A cooling system of an internal combustion engine has a plurality of cylinder coolant passages. Each of the passages is provided for one of a plurality of cylinders. The plurality of cylinder coolant passages has grooves provided on outer surfaces of cylinder liners of the plurality of cylinders. The system also includes a cylinder head coolant passage located so as to extend in a cylinder head and a coolant supply for supplying coolant to the cylinder head coolant passage. The cylinder head coolant passage has branch passages connected therewith, each of the branch passages being also connected with respective one of the plurality of cylinder coolant passages.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cooling system of an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to a cooling system for cooling a cylinder and/or a cylinder head.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. 168242 discloses a cooling system for cooling an internal combustion engine by passing a coolant through a spiral or ring-shaped passage formed on an outer surface of a cylinder liner.
FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C are plan, front, and side views of a conventional cylinder liner, respectively. A plurality of ring-shaped passages 11, each formed in-a plane roughly perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder liner are spaced apart from each other at equal intervals in a longitudinal axial direction of the cylinder liner 10. All the passages 11 are coupled to each other by means of connection passages 12 and 13 formed in the axial direction of the cylinder liner 10. A coolant is poured into the cylinder liner 10 via an inflow part 14, and is distributed into the ring-shaped passages 11 via the connection passage 12. The cylinder is cooled while the coolant is flowing in the ring-shaped passages 11. After flowing through the cylinder, the coolant flows into the connection passage 13, and the coolant collected in the connection passage 13 is discharged via a flux part 15.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are respectively system diagrams of cooling systems, which are used for multi-cylinder engines; these cooling systems cool cylinders by means of such cylinder liners.
In the system shown in FIG. 2A, coolant is pressurized by a pump 21, and then the coolant flows in parallel cylinder coolant passages 23a, 23b, 23c, 23d. An outlet of the pump 21 separates into the passages 23a-23d each of which passages is provided for the respective cylinders, which cylinders are formed in a cylinder block 22. After flowing through the passages 23a-23d, the coolant is collected and then it flows into a cylinder head coolant passage 25. The coolant thus returns to the pump 21 via a radiator 26 and a thermostat 27.
In a system shown in FIG. 2B, coolant pressurized by a pump 21 is distributed into a cylinder block 22 side and a cylinder head 24 side, then coolant distributed into the cylinder block 22 side flows into cylinder coolant passages 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d, while coolant distributed into the cylinder head 24 side flows into a cylinder head coolant passage 25, in parallel. Both of the coolant flows are thus collected so as to flow into a radiator 26.
The cylinder coolant passages such as those shown in FIGS. 1A through 1C have a high cooling ability. In a construction of a cooling system such that cold coolant is directly provided to the cylinder coolant passages, in a cold state of the engine, a temperature on an inner surface of a cylinder liner is too low, and friction energy loss due to a piston reciprocating in the cylinder liner will increase. Further, the clearance between the outer surface of the cylinder liner and the inner surface of a bore of the cylinder block will increase as the temperature of the liner decreases. As the cylinder liner is fitted in the bore, this results in a diminishing of the sealing ability for sealing coolant in a space between the outer surface of the cylinder liner and the inner surface of a bore of the cylinder block.
Further, in the construction shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, bubbles generated in the pump 21 flow into the cylinder coolant passages 24a through 24d directly. It is then difficult to remove the bubbles in the cylinder coolant passages 24a-24d, which are constructed as shown in FIGS. 1A-1C. There has been a problem in that these bubbles staying in the passages 24a-24d may make the cylinder liner corrode.
A cooling system, wherein coolant is provided to coolant passages of a cylinder liner after passing through a cylinder head coolant passage, is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2-130246. However, this cooling system may cause a problem such that a sufficient amount of coolant may not be provided to cylinder coolant passages if the cooling system is applied to an engine having a plurality of cylinders, because pressure of the coolant may be expended during passage through a cylinder head cooling passage before the coolant flows into the cylinder coolant passages. Thus, this lack of coolant pressure, and resulting lack of coolant supplied to the cylinder coolant passages prevents the cylinders from being cooled sufficiently.
A combustion chamber of an engine consists of a cylinder block and a cylinder head, the cylinder block having some cylinders located therein, and the cylinder head having a concavity on a bottom surface thereof. Outer surfaces of cylinder liners are fitted in inner surfaces of bore parts formed in the cylinder block. Thus, a high temperature generated by engine operation in the combustion chamber result in heat being transmitted into the cylinder liners and other parts via the cylinders and the cylinder head.
The present applicant disclosed a cooling system having a construction such as shown in FIG. 3 in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-51701. A cooling system such as the above mentioned is a cooling system of an internal combustion engine, the cooling system effecting cooling by means of the so-called groove cooling method. The groove cooling method is a method wherein coolant flows into coolant passages. The coolant passages are formed between the inner surfaces of the bore parts of the cylinder block and the outer surfaces of the cylinder liners. The coolant flowing into the coolant passages cools a wall of the cylinder liner and the flowing of coolant in the coolant passages prevents the coolant from boiling.
In the FIG. 3, a plurality of ring-shaped grooves 33 each having rectangular sectional areas are formed on an outer surface of a cylinder liner 32 each in a plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axial direction of the cylinder liner 32. The plurality of ring-shaped grooves 33 are spaced apart from each other at equal intervals along a longitudinal axis of the cylinder liner. The cylinder liner 32 is fitted in a cylinder block 31. Ring-shaped coolant passages are formed by the plurality of ring-shaped grooves 33 when each cylinder liner 32 is fitted into corresponding bore parts of the cylinder block 31.
Further, longitudinal grooves 35a, 35b, 36a, and 36b are formed on both the outer surface of each cylinder liner 32 and the inner surface of the corresponding bore part of the cylinder block 31, along the longitudinal axial direction of the cylinder liner 32, in positions such that corresponding longitudinal grooves are opposite to each other, so as to form passages connecting the above mentioned ring-shaped grooves 33 with each other. Also inflow passages 37a, 37b are formed in the cylinder block 31. One side of each of the passages is connected with the respective longitudinal grooves 35a and 35b. Flux passages 38a and 38b are formed in the cylinder block 31, in a diametrically opposite location. One side of each of the passages is connected with the respective longitudinal grooves 36a and 36b.
A pump 39 discharges coolant so as to distribute it into two flow paths of coolant. The pump 39 then provides one of the coolant flow paths to the inflow passage 37a via a filter 40, at a high pressure thereof, while the pump 39 provides the other coolant flow path to the flux passage 37b directly, at a low pressure thereof. The coolant in the inflow passage 37a is distributed into the ring-shaped grooves located in an upper side, as in FIG. 3, of the cylinder liner 32 via the longitudinal groove 35a, then the coolant passes around the outer surface of the cylinder liner 32 and is consequently discharged from the longitudinal groove 36a via the flux passage 38a. On the other hand, the coolant in the inflow passage 37b is distributed into the ring-shaped grooves located in a lower side, as in FIG. 3, of the cylinder liner 32 via the longitudinal groove 35b, then the coolant passes around the outer surface of the cylinder liner 32, and is consequently discharged from the longitudinal groove 36b via the flux passage 38b. The coolant discharged from the flux passages 38a and 38b is collected so as to be returned to the pump 39 via a radiator (not shown in the drawing).
In the above mentioned disclosed system, heat generated in the combustion chamber is transmitted into the cylinder liner via the cylinder head, the heat is reduced by means of cooling the wall of the cylinder liner 32. An incoming heat distribution of the wall of the cylinder liner 32 is such that an upper part, as in FIG. 3, which part is nearest to the combustion chamber, is the hottest part and the lower part is at a lower temperature.
Thus, to make it possible to cool the wall of the cylinder liner 32 uniformly, it is necessary that a coolant flow rate in the ring-shaped grooves 33 located nearest to the combustion chamber is largest, and that a coolant flow rate in the ring-shaped grooves located farther from the combustion chamber, is smaller, as shown by a solid line curve `c` of FIG. 4.
In the system shown in FIG. 3 if sectional areas of the longitudinal grooves 35a, 35b, 36a, 36b are larger than a predetermined amount, a distribution of coolant flow rate in the ring-shaped grooves 33 becomes such that a flow rate is uniform in all parts of each of the ring-shaped grooves 33 between the uppermost part and the lowest part thereof as shown by a broken line `a` of FIG. 3. On the other hand, if the sectional areas of the longitudinal grooves 35a, 35b, 36a, and 36b are reduced to an amount less than the predetermined amount, a flow rate in an upper part of the ring-shaped grooves 33, as in FIG. 3, is greater as shown by a broken line `b` of FIG. 4, so that an incoming heat distribution in the ring-shaped grooves 33 becomes more similar to that shown in the solid line `c` of FIG. 4.
However, it may be difficult to equate a distribution of flow rate of coolant flowing in the ring-shaped grooves to the distribution of the heat incoming to the cylinder liner 32 because the difference of flow rates is too large. The difference of flow rates occurs between a flow rate in an uppermost part of the ring-shaped grooves and a flow rate in a lower part of the ring shaped grooves. This difference is shown by the broken line curve `b` of FIG. 4. The reason for the above mentioned difference in produced flow rates will be described below. The inflow passage 37a and the longitudinal groove 35a are connected with each other so as to intersect each other at a right angle at a connecting point thereof. Coolant flowing into the uppermost groove 33 flows straight and does not have to make the right angle turn at the connecting point between the inflow passage 37a and longitudinal groove 35a. The groove 33 extends along the same line as a line in which the inflow passage 37a extends, as shown in FIG. 3. On the other hand, coolant flowing into the ring-shaped grooves 33 located lower than uppermost groove 33, must make the right angle turn at the connecting point between the inflow passage 37a and the longitudinal groove 35a. As a result, a flow rate of coolant flowing in the ring-shaped grooves 33 located lower than the uppermost groove 33 is small, because of the large pressure loss incurred in the right-angle connecting point between the inflow passage 37a and the longitudinal groove 35a. Therefore, coolant flows mainly along arrows shown in the FIG. 3.
Another example of a cooling system having ring-shaped passages formed in a cylinder liner in a fitted position in the cylinder block relating to the present invention is shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, a groove 4 having a rectangular sectional area is formed on an outer surface 53 of the cylinder liner 51 spirally, the cylinder liner 51 having a rim part 52 at a top position thereof. The cylinder liner 51 is fitted into an inner surface 56 of a bore formed in a cylinder block 55 so that the outer surface 53 of the cylinder liner 51 is in contact with the inner surface 56 of the bore of the cylinder block 55. Thus, a spiral-shaped coolant passage 57 consists of the groove 54 and the inner surface 56 of the bore.
In this construction of the coolant passage of the cooling system, a shock absorbing function of the cylinder liner 51 is not sufficient when an inner wall of the cylinder liner 51 is deformed by a side pressure of a piston or a combustion pressure, due to contact of the outer surface 53 of the cylinder liner 51 with the inner surface 56 of the bore of the cylinder block 55. Thus, the inner wall of the cylinder liner 51, which is constructed to retain engine oil thereon, suffers from mirror abrasion due to a deficiency of the shock absorbing function of the cylinder liner 51. Therefore, there have been problems with the retaining-oil function of the inner wall of the cylinder liner 51 becomes diminished, and noise generated by piston movement becomes large.
Further, there has been another problem with electrolyte etching caused in the cylinder liner surface 51 which is in contact with the bore of the cylinder block 55. Electrolyte etching occurs if the cylinder liner 51 is made of cast iron and the cylinder block 55 is made of aluminium. As electrolyte etching is caused when metals of different kinds are in contact with each other.

Cooling system of an internal combustion engine


Wideband multiplexer for radio-frequency (RF) applications. In some embodiments, a multiplexer may include a common path configured to receive a plurality of RF signals. The multiplexer may further include a first path having an output coupled to the common path and configured to provide a band-pass response for a frequency band BX. The multiplexer may further include a second path having an output coupled to the common path such that RF signals in the first and second paths are combined and routed through the common path. The second path may be configured to provide a band-stop response for the frequency band BX such that the common path includes a wideband response that includes the frequency band BX and one or more other frequency bands.

Field
The present disclosure relates to multiplexers (such as diplexers and triplexers) that may be capable of providing a wideband capability.
Description of the Related Art
Many designs for wireless devices such as smartphones and tablets desire lower cost and smaller size, while simultaneously increasing complexity and performance requirements. Radio-frequency (RF) front-end modules (FEMs) provide a platform where at least some of such designs can be implemented. For example, functionalities associated with switching, filtering, and power amplifiers (PAs) can be implemented in a FEM.

Wideband multiplexer for radio-frequency applications


In a throttle body, a passive film and a corrosion-resistant film are stacked in that order on a substrate of aluminum. The passive film has a concave part on its corrosion-resistant film side. A metal layer is provided in the concave part. In shot blasting, upon collision of a blasting material against the corrosion-resistant film, a part of the blasting material is separated and adhered onto the resultant concaves to form the metal layer. For example, aluminum having a purity of not less than 98% is selected as the blasting material.

Structural members composed of aluminum or aluminum alloy have advantages that, for example, the weight is light and the deformation can be easily performed in order to obtain a predetermined shape, because processes can be easily applied. The structural members are used in a variety of fields, for example, for carburetors and throttle bodies as constitutive parts of automobiles.
Such a structural member is manufactured as follows. That is, for example, a mold is filled with a molten metal of aluminum or aluminum alloy, and then the molten metal is cooled and hardened to provide a cast product. In order to improve the corrosion resistance, the surface of the cast product is coated with a corrosion-resistant coating film.
Conventionally, such a corrosion-resistant coating film is provided by immersing the cast product in a chromate treatment liquid containing CrO3, i.e., hexavalent chromium, as described in Patent Document 1. For this reason, hexavalent chromium is also contained in the corrosion-resistant coating film. However, hexavalent chromium is a substance which imposes the load on the environment. Therefore, in recent years, investigations have been made in order to form a corrosion-resistant coating film containing no hexavalent chromium.
From the above viewpoint, the present applicant has proposed the following invention in Patent Document 2. Specifically, a Zn underlayer is formed on a structural member composed of aluminum or aluminum alloy.
Subsequently, a chromate coating film (corrosion-resistant coating film) that contains trivalent chromium, is formed on the Zn underlayer.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-35432;
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-76041.

Cast product having aluminum-based film and process for producing the same


This invention relates to an improvement in a process for the separation of a multi-component stream comprising component A, B and C with A being the most volatile and C the least volatile. A multi-component feed is introduced to a multicolumn distillation system comprising a first or main distillation column and a side column wherein at least a light component A is separated from a heavier component C in the main distillation column, the lighter component A being removed as an overhead fraction and the heavier component C being removed as a bottoms fraction. The improvement for enhanced recovery of component B in the side column comprises withdrawing a liquid fraction from the main distillation column at a point intermediate the overhead and feed and introducing that liquid fraction to an upper portion of the side column. Lighter components are withdrawn as an overhead from the side column and returned to an optimal location in the distillation system, typically the main distillation column. A vapor fraction is also withdrawn from the main distillation column at a point intermediate the bottoms and feed and vapor fraction is introduced to a lower portion of the side column. A liquid fraction is withdrawn as bottoms and returned to the main distillation column. Thermal integration in the side column is effected by removing a portion of the liquid typically from the stripping section of the side column and vaporizing this fraction against a vapor fraction obtained from the main distillation column.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to an improvement in a process for the distillation, separation and recovery of select components in a multi-component stream and to the further improvement with heat integration by thermally coupling columns in a multi-column distillation system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fractional distillation of multi-component streams to effect separation is a well known chemical engineering process and is used extensively in the chemical industry. It is well recognized that although distillation is widely used, it is also energy-intensive and often is the dominant cost in a distillation process. With rising energy costs efforts have been made to enhance the efficiency of the distillation process through thermal coupling or through the use of heat pumps and the like. Representative art illustrating the enhancement of distillation efficiency via heat pumps or thermal coupling include the following:
An article entitled "Minimum Energy Requirements of Thermally Coupled Distillation Systems", AICHE Journal, Vol. 33, No. 4, (pp. 643-653, April 1987) discloses four different thermally coupled distillation systems consisting of distillation columns connected by liquid and vapor countercurrent streams. One embodiment shows thermal coupling to a main column with a side arm column wherein a vapor is removed from the rectification zone in the main column and fed to an upper portion of the side column. A liquid stream from the side column then is returned as reflux to the rectification zone in the main column. A liquid is removed from the stripping section of the main column and fed to a lower portion of the side column. The vapor is returned to the stripping zone of the main column. (Page 644) Another embodiment shows a thermally coupled system associated with a stripping column wherein liquid is removed from the main column and introduced to an upper portion of the stripping column. Lighter components are removed therefrom with the vapor from the stripping column being returned to the main column. Reboilers are associated with both the main column and stripping column to provide boilup. (Page 647)
An article entitled "Heat Integration of Distillation Columns Into Overall Processes", Chem. Engineering Science, Vol. 38, No. 8, pages 1175-1188 (1983), discloses energy enhancing techniques for the separation of multi-component systems in a multi-column distillation process. It was noted in a conventional method reactor feeds were preheated with other process streams and steam. Steam was used as a heat source for the reboilers. By passing the feed through the vaporizer side of a reboiler for the main distillation column for effecting vaporization of the liquid at the bottom of the column one reduces the need for steam.
An article entitled "Distillation with Intermediate Heat Pumps and Optimal Side Stream Return", AICHE Journal, Vol. 32, No. 8, pages 1347-1359, (August 1986), discloses the separation of multi-component streams using a multi-column distillation system. The term "heat pump" as conventionally used in these systems referred to the removal of heat from a location in the rectification section in the distillation column to the stripping section of the distillation column. One of the simpler techniques used in the prior art involved the movement of heat from the overhead vapor in a distillation system to the reboiler in an adiabatic column to effect an alteration of the internal reflux ratio. Examples of various methods of altering the internal reflux ratio involved removing vapor from a column at a point above a feed plate, condensing that vapor fraction in a reboiler and returning it to an optimal location. Another process scheme involved removal of liquid from the stripping section of a column, vaporization at the expense of compressed overhead vapor, and return to an optimal point in the column.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,398 discloses a fractional distillation process wherein multiple columns are intercoupled to provide variable reboil and variable reflux so as to approach thermodynamically ideal fractionation. The system comprised a variable reboiler column and a variable reflux column wherein the variable reflux column was operated at a higher pressure and mounted at a lower level than the variable reboil column. Vapor was drawn from the variable reflux column, condensed at an upper level in the variable reboil stripping column and returned to the variable reflux column.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,391 discloses a continuous distillation apparatus incorporating separate stripping and rectifying sections in tandem, each of which are segregated into a plurality of vapor/liquid contact stages. In this process, the rectifying section of the column is operated at a higher pressure than the stripping section and this is achieved by compressing vapor from the stripping section prior to introducing the vapor into the rectifying section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,247 discloses a process for the production of medium to high purity oxygen as well as other components contained in air. A triple pressure distillation process is developed in which the low pressure column has an argon stripping section and a rectification section reboiled by the high pressure column. At least one latent heat exchange is made from an intermediate height of the low pressure column with an intermediate height in a moderate pressure column. Latent heat exchanges are used to insure high reboil through the argon stripping section of the low pressure column.

Inter-column heat integration for multi-column distillation system


A contact recording head assembly arrangement capable of performing reliable read and write operations on magnetic tapes of varying thickness is provided. The head assembly includes a read island and a write island with gaps offset a distance from their centers to maintain signal integrity when processing the data signals stored and retrieved from the various tapes.

A magnetic head assembly including separate read and write head elements or islands is the recording and reproducing unit of a magnetic tape drive system. An island may include one or more magnetic cores. A magnetic coil is wound around the magnetic core of each read and write island, and each core has a gap. During the recording process, electric current supplied to a coil produces a magnetic field in the write core. The resulting flux across the gap region enters a magnetic tape moving over the island and magnetizes a small area therein in accordance with the direction of the current. During the reproducing process, the magnetized areas induce magnetic flux in the read core and an associated voltage in the coil.
The bit density is a measure of the number of magnetized flux reversals recorded per unit length or area on a magnetic tape. High bit density is desired for the tape in order to provide high data capacity. At high bit recording densities, the separation between the gap of an island and the moving tape must be maintained within very narrow tolerances, e.g. less than 2 microinches, to achieve proper retrieval and recording of the closely-spaced bits; slight variations in the separation between the gap and tape can lead to erratic recording performance. Yet for low-to-moderate bit densities, a larger separation, e.g. 10-20 microinches, is tolerable because the bits are spaced farther apart.
Previously, magnetic tapes having a thickness of at least 1.0 mil (0.001 inch) were widely used in tape drives. These tapes are composed of materials having microstructural properties that result in scratching of the outer surfaces of the islands and eventual wear of the head assembly. Advances in recording material technology have led to thinner tapes having a thickness of 0.5 mil (0.0005 inch) or less and capable of achieving high bit densities. The thin tapes have largely replaced the thicker tapes because they provide higher storage capability per volume of tape. Moreover, the materials of the thinner tapes are smoother, thus increasing the operating life of the head. Yet, there is still a need to read the thicker tapes, since they often contain data that must be retrieved from them.
A magnetic head assembly configured to operate with tapes of different thicknesses may encounter data reliability problems. Movement of a tape over the head assembly gradually wears the contour of the head to the "natural radius of curvature" of the tape. The inherent stiffness of a tape influences its natural curvature, i.e. thick tapes are typically stiffer than thin tapes and thus, have a larger natural radius at constant tension. A head assembly partially shaped to the curvature of a thick tape has a large tape-to-head separation at the center of the island, where the gap is located, when operating with thinner tapes. The thick tape is also likely to scratch the surface of the head, particularly in the area of the gap. The increased separation and scratches significantly reduce the amplitude of signals retrieved from the thin tape.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic contact head assembly capable of recording and retrieving data on magnetic tapes of different thicknesses.
Another object of the present invention is to minimize the separation between the gap of an island and a thin magnetic tape having a high bit density so as to facilitate proper recording and retrieval performance.
Additionally, an object of the present invention is to provide controlled separation between the gap of an island and a thick magnetic tape having a low bit density so as to minimize damage to the gap, yet still maintain proper recording performance.

Magnetic contact recording head for operation with tapes of varying thicknesses


A method for adjusting an intensity of a light beam in an optical arrangement includes passing the light beam through an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF). The intensity of the light beam is adjusted as a function of frequency and/or amplitude of a sound wave with which the AOTF is operated. The amplitude of the sound wave at a specified sound wave frequency is selected such that the amplitude is larger than would be required to achieve a first maximum diffraction efficiency for a specified wavelength or for a specified wavelength spectrum of the light beam. The amplitude of the sound wave is also selected such that a value of an integral of a product of the transmission function of the AOTF and the wavelength spectrum of the light beam is larger than at a value of the amplitude to be selected to achieve the first maximum.

Methods and optical arrangements with which the intensity of a light beam is adjusted are known in practice. A widespread option in this case involves the use of acousto-optical tunable filters—or AOTFs—which vary the intensity of an excitation light in laser scanning microscopes, for example.
In this process, acoustic sound waves—usually in the radiofrequency range—are applied to an optical crystal via a transducer, wherein the sound waves cause periodic modulation of the local refractive index of the crystal. This modulation acts like an optical grating or Bragg grating and is able to diffract light with a corresponding wavelength. The speed with which such an acoustic wave can be modulated, together with the low costs of acousto-optical tunable filters in comparison with other methods, such as methods based on electro-optical effects, mean that they have become the standard tool for light modulation in laser scanning microscopes, for example. Acousto-optical tunable filters for laser wavelengths in the visible range are very widely used, but there are also embodiments for infrared—multiphoton microscopy—or ultraviolet light.

Method for adjusting the intensity of a light beam in an optical arrangement and associated optical arrangement


A verification system, method and computer program product are provided. In one embodiment, one of a plurality of call instruction formats is selected. In addition, it is verified whether an invocation of an interface was attempted by code utilizing the selected call instruction format. Further, the selection and the verification are repeated for each of the plurality of call instruction formats. In another embodiment, a return target address is identified. Still yet, it is determined whether return of contra to the return target address would result in invocation a one of a plurality of interfaces.

Interfaces, such as application program interfaces (API's), are generally monitored for various reasons. For example, interfaces may be monitored for security purposes, for understanding a flow of applications, for tracking problems associated with applications, etc. Traditionally, security-related monitoring has involved examining return addresses passed to an interface by a caller that invokes the interface, for verifying that the call to the interface is valid (e.g. non-malicious, etc.). However, various techniques are available to callers which allow them to hide the actual return addresses or otherwise obfuscate their identify, thus allowing such callers to escape detection.
There is thus a need for overcoming these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method and computer program product for verifying invocations of interfaces


This invention is directed to an apparatus for packaging a semiconductor flip chip on a substrate by face-down bonding in which coherent light is used to irradiate a bonding head and the substrate, and the light reflected by the bonding head and the substrate form interference patterns. Adjustment of the inclination of the bonding head against the substrate is performed by observation of the interference fringes caused by the interference between the light reflected by the bonding head and the light reflected by the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for packaging a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for packaging a semiconductor device to a substrate by face-down bonding.
2. Related Background Art
A flip chip packaging technique in face-down bonding has recently been attracting interest in view of a packaging density and workability in packaging increased semiconductor device onto a substrate. This method is described in an article entitled "Technology Trend of Flip Chip Packaging, Electronic Packaging Technology, December 1989. When a flip chip is to be packaged onto the substrate by the face-down method, it is bonded while it is kept parallel to a plane of the substrate to which the semiconductor device is packaged. In the prior art, however, the face-down bonding is carried out without adjustment after an initial adjustment of the packaging apparatus to adjust a parallelism between a bonding head and the plane of the substrate. Thus, in this method, the semiconductor device may not be bonded to the plane of the substrate without failure. To solve this problem, the semiconductor device is observed by a TV camera mounted beside a bonding head which sucks and holds the semiconductor device during the face-down bonding process to watch the parallelism between the bonding head and the substrate.
In the prior art method described above, the parallelism of only several .mu.m/10 mm is attained between the semiconductor device having the bump formed thereon and the substrate to which the semiconductor device is to be bonded. Accordingly, it cannot comply with high density packaging which requires that a bump height of the flip chip is smaller than 10 .mu.m.

Apparatus for packaging a semiconductor device


This cooler refrigeration system is for a cooler (10) having a storage compartment (12) including opposed side walls (16) an upper wall (18), a lower wall (20), and front and rear walls (22, 24) at least one of said front and rear walls (22, 24) providing an access door. The storage compartment (12) includes a circulation system (30) including a duct (32) disposed below the upper wall (18) providing an air inlet (34) in the midportion and air outlets (36) at the opposed end portions. The circulation system (30) provides two counter air flow paths A1, A2 by drawing air upwardly through the air inlets (34) by fans (40), cooling said air by directing the air outwardly across coils (38) disposed between each air inlet (34) and each air outlet (36) and directing said cooled air downwardly through each air outlet (36) and guiding the air along opposed side walls (16) to said lower wall (20) to be again drawn upwardly into the air inlet (34).

This invention relates generally to a refrigeration system for a cooler and more particularly to a dual air circulation system for a cooler storage compartment.
There are many different types of coolers with refrigeration systems. One increasingly popular type of cooler is the pass-through merchandiser beverage cooler having front and rear glass access doors, and which is used primarily in supermarkets. The most common means of cooling the pass-through merchandiser is a simple circulation refrigeration system with air flow down one side wall and up the opposite side wall. Another means of cooling is by a transverse circulation with air flow down either the front or rear wall and up the opposing wall.
These two systems work quite well, but suffer from several disadvantages. One disadvantage, particularly with the latter system, which usually has both front and rear access doors, is that a considerable amount of condensation forms on the glass doors intended for viewing, with the result that a customer is then unable to view product without opening the cooler door. Another disadvantage is that since the pass-through merchandiser is primarily intended for beverages, the front and rear access doors are opened frequently and a substantial amount of cold air is lost. This loss causes beverages to be warmer than desired and it increases compressor run times. To keep beverages cold, the traditional cooler must operate at high compressor run times which decreases longevity of the merchandiser. Prior art pass-through merchandisers also have a problem with pull-down time of refrigerated products which is a particular disadvantage for a quick moving product such as canned and bottled beverages.
This invention solves these and other problems in a manner not revealed in the known prior art.


A compact, reliable scanning electron-beam x-ray source achieves reduced complexity and cost. In particular, the x-ray source includes an electron beam that is propagated parallel to an x-ray target and is swept across the target in response to a moving magnetic cross field. Rather than scanning the beam by deflecting it about a single point, the point of deflection is translated along the target length, dramatically reducing the volume of the device. The magnetic cross field is translated along the target length using either mechanical systems to move permanent magnets, or electrical systems to energize an array of electromagnets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to high-energy electron beams, and more particularly, to a scanned electron-beam x-ray source suitable for computed tomography (CT) imaging systems, such as those used in medical and security applications, and for photon backscattering devices, such as those used for subsurface and through-wall detection.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the art to use a high-energy electron beam to generate x-rays. When high-energy electrons strike a metal of high atomic number, their kinetic energy is converted to x-rays. This principle is employed in x-ray vacuum tubes, which typically use a thermionic cathode to emit electrons, and then form the electrons into a high-energy beam via an anode at a large positive potential relative to the cathode. The beam is directed toward a high-atomic-number target, typically tungsten, and the x-rays resulting from the impact are transmitted out of the tube through a vacuum window. In some cases, an additional accelerator section is incorporated between the anode and target to further increase the energy of the beam.
Applications such as CT systems require that the point of origin of the x-rays be scanned around the object to be imaged. This can be achieved by physically moving the x-ray tube, as in rotating gantry CT machines, or by scanning (deflecting) the electron beam across an elongated target. The latter variety of x-ray tube, typically referred to as a scanned electron-beam source, employs focus and deflection coils mounted externally to the vacuum envelope to control the transmission and the cross-section of the beam as it is swept across a linear or curved target. A collimator is generally used to shape the resulting x-ray beam, which, as in point-source x-ray tubes, is transmitted out of the vacuum via a window.
A conventional scanned electron-beam x-ray source uses an electron gun to produce a beam of electrons that passes through a focus coil used to compress the beam to a small diameter. The beam then enters a large vacuum chamber that is tapered such that it has a narrow end at which the electron beam enters the chamber and a wide end at which is located a heavy metal target that produces x-rays when impinged upon by the electron beam. At the point at which the electron beam enters the vacuum chamber, it passes near a deflection coil that can be used to bend the trajectory of the electron beam and cause it to be selectively directed at various portions of the heavy metal target at the far end of the chamber. By causing the beam to bend through various deflection angles, the deflection coil can direct the electron beam to scan along the heavy metal target, producing x-rays that then exit the vacuum chamber through a window. Thus, by applying an appropriate voltage to the deflection coil, the electron beam can be made to move back and forth to sweep out a V-shape or fan shape, producing x-rays at the point at which the electron beam strikes the heavy metal target.
However, because the electron beam must propagate through a vacuum between the deflection coil and the x-ray target, it is necessary that the vacuum chamber itself be quite large. Furthermore, it is often necessary to limit the maximum deflection angle of the electron beam because the large magnetic fields required to produce large deflection angles can result in aberrations that are undesirable for many applications. Thus, in order to scan across a target of a given length with a limited deflection angle, the target must be placed at a significant distance from the deflection coil, necessitating a large vacuum chamber. As the size and complexity of vacuum systems increase, material and manufacturing costs rise, and reliability can be negatively impacted. Furthermore, the anode or accelerating voltage must be tightly regulated to avoid significant deviations in the spot positional accuracy on its track along the target, since the deflection angle is inversely proportional to the beam velocity.
In many applications of scanning x-ray technology, such as luggage screening, it is important to make the scanner as small as possible, maximize reliability and keep costs down. It is therefore desirable to provide a compact, reliable and low-cost scanning x-ray source.

Compact scanned electron-beam x-ray source


A joint structure for fixing between a sunroof and a headliner, may include a headliner defining an opening, wherein a portion of the headliner around the opening protrudes and is curved upwards to define the opening, and the headliner has a face fabric attached to a surface thereof, a bracket attached to an upper end portion and a lower portion of the headliner, outside of the opening, wherein the bracket has a support end portion protruding in a direction opposite to the opening, a clip into which the support end portion of the bracket is selectively fitted, and a sunroof frame coupled with an upper portion of the clip, wherein the sunroof is provided on the sunroof frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a joint structure for fixing between a sunroof and a headliner, in particular, to one which can reduce manufacturing costs and improve product quality by automatically wrapping a headliner face fabric around the interior of the roof of a vehicle as well as improve merchantability and convenience by increasing the size of a roof opening.
2. Description of Related Art
As is well known in the art, a sunroof is a convenience device with a shade member, which is installed on the roof of a vehicle. The shade member can be tilted or slid open to provide extra ventilation and/or light, thereby allowing occupants to feel more comfortable.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional vehicle headliner 1. According to conventional approaches, the headliner 1 is located as close as possible to a sunroof frame 4 in order to increase the size of a roof opening. The headliner 1 located close to the sunroof frame 4 allows only a small difference in height "a" between the support end portion of a bracket 3, which is used to fix the headliner 1 to the sunroof frame 4, and the upper end portion of the headliner 1. This, as a result, makes it impossible to automatically wrap a headliner face fabric 2 around the interior of the roof of a vehicle. Even if the face fabric 2 can be manually wrapped, this would disadvantageously increase manufacturing costs and deteriorate the quality of the face fabric 2.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Joint structure for fixing between sunroof and headliner


A rack for supporting an article on a rear hatch of a vehicle includes a bracket mounted to an inner panel of the rear hatch. The rack also includes a hinge having a fixed portion mounted to the bracket and a pivotable portion. A support bar is connected to the pivotable portion and includes an article-receiving member. The support bar is pivotable via the hinge between a stowed position in which the support bar is nested with the rear hatch and a carrying position in which the support bar extends outwardly from the rear hatch allowing an article to be disposed on the article-receiving member.

Aftermarket bicycle racks allow customers to attach bicycles to a vehicle. Some aftermarket bicycle racks include a portion that supports the bicycles and a portion that mounts to the trailer-hitch receiver. These aftermarket bicycle racks prevent the rear hatch of the vehicle from opening when they are attached and require storage space when disconnected from the vehicle.
The present disclosure is directed at solving the above problems and other problems as summarized below.


An electrical connector assembly has a first connector with preferably two oppositely protruding cam followers and a second connector having a pivoting cam lever having preferably two lever arms. The two lever arms respectively engage the earn followers when the first connector is initially staged and locked partially into a cavity defined by the second connector, and as the cam lever pivots from an open position and towards a mated position. The first connector, once locked in the staged position within the forward cavity of the second connector, can not be easily or inadvertently withdrawn, thus, proper orientation of the cam followers to the cam lever is assured for initial cam engagement. The assembly is locked in the staged position by the snap fitting of a tab, which projects laterally from the first connector, into a close ended groove carried by a flex wall which is cantilevered from the second connector. Should the first connector be inadvertently pulled backward from the mating direction, a forward facing stop surface of the tab engages, and thereby prevents further withdrawal of the first connector, with a rearward facing lock seat of the flex wall. The stop surface of the tab is disposed substantially perpendicular to the mating direction preventing inadvertent flexing of the flex wall which would otherwise un-lock the first connector from the staged position.

The present invention relates to a staged lock feature for an electrical connector assembly and more particularly to a staged lock feature for an electrical connector assembly having a cam mating device.
Known electrical connector systems such as those used with automotive vehicle electrical harnesses typically comprise plastic housings for male and female connectors that fasten together to secure coupling of terminals mounted within the housings. Many male and female connector pairs require a high amount of force to completely engage, resulting in large exertion by the person assembling the connectors together.
To reduce the amount of effort required to assemble connectors while achieving reliable electrical continuity some connectors are provided with cam mating devices. Cam mating devices typically include one or more cam surfaces on an operator handle or lever that is mounted to the housing of one of the connectors to be mated. The other connector housing has one or more protruding cam followers to engage the cam surface(s) so that, as the lever or handle is moved in the desired direction, the cam surface(s) act on the cam follower(s), drawing the connector housings together and forcing secure engagement of the connectors.
One type of cam mating device is a cam lever that transfers rotary motion of the cam lever into linear movement between the connector and a mating connector, facilitating secure engagement of the two connectors and reducing the amount of operator exertion required when making the secure engagement. To operate, the connector having the cam follower must be xe2x80x9cstagedxe2x80x9d or partially inserted into the mating connector to properly orient the cam follower to the cam lever for initial cam engagement. Unfortunately, if the cam follower is not properly aligned to the cam lever, operation of the cam locking feature can result in inadvertent damage to the cam lever or may result in a poorly mated electrical connector assembly.
An electrical connector assembly has a first connector with preferably two oppositely protruding cam followers and a second connector has a pivoting cam lever having preferably two lever arms. The two lever arms respectively engage the cam followers when the first connector is initially staged and locked partially into a cavity defined by the second connector, and while the cam lever pivots from an open position and towards a mated position. The first connector once locked in the staged position within a forward cavity of the second connector can not be easily or inadvertently withdrawn. Thus, proper orientation of the cam followers to the cam lever is assured for initial cam engagement.
The connectors are locked in staged position by a tab which projects laterally from the first connector and a flex wall which is cantilevered from the second connector and extends forward and parallel to a mating direction of the assembly. During placement of the first connector into the staged position, a preferably ramped rearward facing surface of the tab engages a distal edge of the flex wall causing the flex wall to resiliently flex laterally outward until the tab snaps into a close ended elongated groove which extends along the mating direction. Withdrawal of the first connector from the second connector when in the staged position is prevented via engagement of a forward facing stop surface of the tab with a lock seat of the flex wall which defines the forward closed end of the groove. The stop surface of the tab is disposed substantially perpendicular to the mating direction. Therefore, any inadvertent force placed upon the connectors in a direction opposite to the mating direction will not have a tendency to flex the flex wall laterally outward which would then unwantedly release the flex wall from the tab and thus release the first connector from the staged position.
Advantages of the present invention include a cam lever engaging electrical connector assembly having a locked or non-releasing staged position for reliable engagement of the cam locking or mating feature. Yet other advantages of the present invention are the relatively simple and inexpensive design of the locked staged position feature and its easy incorporation into existing connector assembly designs to reduce the opportunity of cam lever damage during the connector mating process.

Staged lock feature for an electrical connector assembly having a cam mating device


Antibacterial and antitumor agents designated LL-E333288.epsilon.-I and LL-E33288.epsilon.-Br and their production by strains of Micromonospora echinospora ssp. calichensis designated NRRL-15839, NRRL-15975 and NRRL-18149, are disclosed.

The family of antibacterial and antitumor agents, known collectively as the LL-E33288 complex, are described and claimed in a series of related, commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. applications, namely Ser. No. 672,031, filed Nov. 16, 1984 (now abandoned); Ser. No. 787,066, filed Oct. 17, 1985 (now abandoned); and Ser. No. 9,321, filed Jan. 30, 1987.
These applications describe the LL-E33288 complex, the components thereof, namely LL-E33288.alpha..sub.1 -Br, LL-E3328.alpha..sub.1 -I, LL-E33288.alpha..sub.2 -Br, LL-E33288.alpha..sub.2 -I, LL-E33288.alpha..sub.3 -Br, LL-E33288.alpha..sub.3 -I, LL-E33288.alpha..sub.4 -Br, LL-E33288.beta..sub.1 -Br, LL-E33288.beta..sub.1 -I, LL-E33288.beta..sub.2 -Br, LL-E33288.beta..sub.2 -I, LL-E33288.gamma..sub.1 -Br, LL-E332887.gamma..sub.1 -I, and LL-E33288.delta..sub.1 -I, and methods for their production by aerobic fermentation utilizing a new strain of Micromonospora echinospora ssp calichensis or natural or derived mutants thereof.

Antibacterial and antitumor agents LL-E33288EPSILON-I and LL-E33288EPSILON-BR


The present invention provides a method for generating electronic patent application files, which includes steps of: creating multiple extensible markup language (XML) templates; setting basic requirements of drafted files; mapping the XML templates to chapter headers in the drafted files; analyzing and verifying whether the drafted files meet the basic requirements; parsing contents of the drafted files into corresponding XML templates if the drafted files meet the basic requirements; and generating XML patent application files according to the XML templates. A related system is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for generating electronic patent application files.
2. Description of Related Art
It is significant for applicants or agencies to file a patent application timely and accurately, for the purpose of protecting inventions effectively. Traditional means of filing the patent application to intellectual property offices include registered posts, certified mails, certified facsimiles, and handing in patent application files, etc. All the above-mentioned means require the applicants to print the patent application files, and then submit the patent application files with paper to the intellectual property offices. Moreover, some intellectual property offices have more requirements on the patent application files. For example, the applicants need to submit two copies of requests, specifications, drawings, and other required files to the SIPO (State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China, SIPO) for applying Chinese patents. This may waste time and manpower, and may afterwards obtain a latter application/filing date of the patent application. Furthermore, the applicants or the agencies have to wait a period of time before being assigned application numbers.
In recent years, many intellectual property offices provide a new means of filing the patent application files electronically via the Internet by utilizing software programs. The new means saves time and costs, and helps the applicant or the agencies to get the application numbers timely.
However, the new means also has special regulations on electronic patent application files. For example, the electronic patent application files should have a designated format, which is extensible and suitable for the software programs. Generally, the designated format is convenient for the software programs to recognize, but not convenient for attorneys or drafters to draft. In addition, different attorneys/drafters have different work habits to draft the patent application files, which generate different formats of the patent application files.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method that can provide functions of standardizing the formats and contents of drafted files, and generating electronic patent applicant files that comply with different electronic application regulations of the intellectual property offices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for generating electronic patent application files

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.