An active bi-directional overrunning clutch that includes an oil housing. The clutch also includes a flange rotatably supported with respect to the oil housing. An input shaft is connected to the flange. The clutch further includes a plurality of rollers contacting the input shaft and a coupling. A roller cage positions the plurality of rollers with respect to the input shaft and coupling. The friction ground ring is in contact with the roller cage. The clutch also includes a worm gear in contact with the friction member.

The present invention relates to clutches, and more particularly, relates to an active indexing bi-directional overrunning clutch.
In a typical all wheel drive system, a front axle is a primary drive, while torque to the rear axle is transferred if and when the average speed of the front wheels is faster than the average speed of the rear wheels. The torque transfer generally occurs if the front wheels have excessive slip and it also may occur during low speed cornering situations. A clutch works as a mechanical disconnect which prevents torque from being transferred from the rear axle to the front axle. Currently known in the prior art are single direction clutches and bi-directional overrunning clutches and also clutches that use hydraulic systems to effect changes thereon. The bi-directional overrunning clutch differs from the single directional, because it works in both the clockwise and counter clockwise rotational directions. With the bi-directional clutch, if the output of the rear axle is rotating faster in one direction than the input from the front axle there is no torque transmission but if the input speed is equal to the output speed the unit will lock. Also, while in four wheel drive and in the reverse gear, the overrunning clutch locking function direction must be changed from the forward direction to the reverse direction. The bi-directional clutch will switch the operation mode dependent on the prop shaft or input speed direction. The use of the bi-directional overrunning clutch provides benefits with regards to braking, stability, handling, and drive line durability.
In a typical ABS braking event, disconnecting the front and rear drive line during braking helps to maintain braking stability. During the ABS braking event the locking of the rear wheels must be avoided for stability reasons and hence, the brake systems are designed to lock the front wheels first. During an ABS event, torque transfer from the rear axle to the front axle may disturb the braking system because of potential instabilities on the slippery surfaces. The use of a bi-directional overrunning clutch will decouple the rear drive line once the rear wheels spin faster than the front wheels and will provide excellent braking stability.
A bi-directional clutch also reduces likelihood of throttle off over steering during cornering of the vehicle. During a throttle off maneuver the clutch will decouple the rear drive line thus transferring all the engine braking torque to the front wheels which reduces the chance of a lateral slip on the rear axle. Therefore, the vehicle tends to under steer on a throttle off condition, a situation which is generally considered easier to manage by the average vehicle operator.
Bi-directional clutches have provided several advantages to the all wheel drive systems. Problems may occur during low speed when a vehicle is in a reverse rolling position and the vehicle operator then selects a drive position. After acceleration backlash may occur in the drive line which allows inertia in the engine and other components to build thus transmitting a torque to the rear drive line which induces an engagement phenomenon within the bi-directional clutch mechanism as the vehicle drive line goes from a reverse gear to a forward gear. This phenomenon is often reported by vehicle owners and is undesirable. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a bi-directional clutch mechanism that has active indexing which will reduce the engagement phenomenon associated with a switch from a forward to reverse gear or reverse to forward gear in an all wheel drive vehicle system.
One object of the present invention is to provide an active bi-directional overrunning clutch capable of being indexed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an active low speed worm gear bi-directional overrunning clutch.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a clutch with active indexing that will reduce the clunk phenomenon of prior art bi-directional clutch mechanisms.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a clutch that will index during rotation reversal before torque is transmitted through a prop shaft of a vehicle.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to reduce the speed difference between the prop shaft and the rear axle pinion shaft which will lock the clutch before any torque transmission.
To achieve the foregoing objects the active bi-directional overrunning clutch includes an oil housing. The clutch also includes a flange rotatably supported with respect to the oil housing. An input shaft is connected to the flange. A plurality of rollers are in contact with the input shaft and a coupling. The clutch also includes a roller cage wherein that roller cage positions the plurality of rollers with respect to the input shaft and the coupling. The clutch further includes a friction ground member in contact with the roller cage and a worm gear in contact with the friction member.
One advantage of the present invention is that active indexing of a bi-directional clutch will occur prior to torque transfer via an electric motor.
A further advantage of the present invention is the reduction of the clunk phenomenon by active indexing of the bi-directional clutch mechanism.
A further advantage of the present invention is the reduction in speed difference between the prop shaft and the rear axle pinion shaft because of the indexing of the clutch, which therefore, locks the clutch before any torque transmission.
A further advantage of the present invention is a low speed indexing of the clutch from either the reverse to the forward gear or vice versa.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Active bi-directional overrunning clutch indexing


In a telemeeting terminal for performing communication between remote locations by using multiple media, the other party of a meeting is identified in a display picture and thereafter switching to a principal picture for presenting and explaining materials meeting is performed. As a result, it is possible to keep materials used in the meeting secret.

The present invention relates to telemeeting terminal devices for performing communication between remote locations by using multiple media (i.e., multimedia telemeeting terminal devices), and in particular to a screen display method for keeping materials of previous arrangements secret.
Conventional terminal devices are described in JP-A-61-114641. In terminals allowing communication of audio data and image or code data, audio system service messages, data system messages or communication data are automatically displayed in varied picture configurations in accordance with the use situation of the user.
In case one terminal device (hereafter simply referred to as terminal) is used in common by a plurality of users, switching to pictures (explanation pictures) used for presenting materials mutually to give explanations during a meeting is immediately performed. The above described conventional technology thus has a problem in keeping a secret.

Multimedia telemeeting terminal device, terminal device system and manipulation method thereof


This invention relates generally to nucleic acid hybridization analysis. More specifically, a method for detecting a point mutation in a DNA strand is provided, which method uses, inter alia, a test nucleic acid strand complementary to a target DNA strand, said nucleic acid strand comprises a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected to form a target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex and RNase H cleavage of said target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex. Kits and arrays for detecting a point mutation in a DNA strand comprising test nucleic acid strand comprising a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected are also provided.

This invention relates generally to nucleic acid hybridization analysis. More specifically, a method for detecting a point mutation in a DNA strand is provided, which method uses, inter alia, a test nucleic acid strand complementary to a target DNA strand, said nucleic acid strand comprises a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected to form a target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex and RNase H cleavage of said target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex. Kits and arrays for detecting a point mutation in a DNA strand comprising test nucleic acid strand comprising a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected are also provided.
Nucleic acid hybridization, in the forty years since its discovery, has become a powerful tool with implications for biology, medicine and industry. Hybridization assays are based on the very specific base pairing that is found in hybrids of DNA and RNA. Base sequences of analytical interest appearing along a strand of nucleic acid can be detected very specifically and sensitively by observing the formation of hybrids in the presence of a probe nucleic acid known to comprise a base sequence that is complementary with the sequence of interest. Nucleic acid hybridization has been used for a wide variety of purposes including, for example, identification of specific clones from cDNA and genomic libraries, detecting single base pair polymorphisms in DNA, generating mutations by oligonucleotide mutagenesis, amplifying nucleic acids from single cells or viruses, or detecting microbial infections.
Recent advances in nucleic acid hybridization methods have greatly expanded the scope and extent of its potential applications. Of great interest are approaches to miniaturize hybridization reactions by preparing xe2x80x9cmicroarray biochipsxe2x80x9d (or xe2x80x9cDNA chipsxe2x80x9d) containing large numbers of oligonucleotide probes prepared, for example, through VLSIPS(trademark) technology (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,143,854 or 5,561,071). These approaches offer great promise for a wide variety of applications. Microarray biochips are useful for sequencing nucleic acid by hybridization (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,644), for diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,242) and for screening potential DNA binding drugs (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,752).
When using nucleic acid microarrays, there are two general approaches for detecting hybridization to a nucleic acid. Detection can be accomplished if the target nucleic acid is labeled (xe2x80x9cdirect labeling approachxe2x80x9d). Alternatively, detection can be accomplished by a second probe that is detectably labeled and which can hybridize to the nucleic acid of the sample, which is hybridized to the first probe immobilized on the array (xe2x80x9cindirectxe2x80x9d labeling approach).
Bagwell, U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,834 discloses a fluorescent probe for binding to a polynucleotide target and methods using such fluorescent probes that comprises: an oligonucleotide having a segment complementary to the polynucleotide target, the oligonucleotide forming two imperfect hairpins both of which together include the segment except for one nucleotide; and one donor fluorophore and one acceptor fluorophore covalently attached to the oligonucleotide so that only when the imperfect hairpins are formed, the donor fluorophore and the acceptor fluorophore are in close proximity to allow resonance energy transfer therebetween. The fluorescent probes disclosed in Bagwell must contain xe2x80x9cimperfect hairpins,xe2x80x9d i.e., containing mismatches in the double-stranded stem segment. In addition, Bagwell does not disclose or teach any immobilized arrays of oligonucleotide probes.
Nazarenko et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,336 disclose an oligonucleotide containing a hairpin structure for use as a primer in detecting a target nucleotide sequence. Similar probes are described in Mergny et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 22:920-928 (1994). Blok and Kramer, Molecular and Cellular Probes, 11: 187-194 (1997) describe an amplification RNA probe containing a molecular switch, i.e., a plurality of hairpin structures. Fujiwara and Oishi, Nucleic Acids Res., 26:5728-5733 (1998) describe a method of covalent attachment of probe DNA to double-stranded target DNA where an imperfect hairpin was used to hybridize to a target DNA. Sriprakash and Hartas, Gene Anal. Techn., 6:29-32 (1989) describe a method of generating radioisotope labeled probe with hairpin nucleic acid structure. One common feature of the hairpin structure-containing probes described in the above references is that the nucleotide sequence complementary to a target nucleotide sequence always resides in the single-stranded, not double-stranded, segment of the hairpin structure.
Berkower et al., J. Biol. Chem., 248(17):5914-21 (1973) describe isolation and characterization of an endonuclease, i.e., RNase H, from Escherichia coli specific for ribonucleic acid in ribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid hybrid structures. Donis-Keller, Nucleic Acids Res., 7(1):179-92 (1979) disclose that the hybridization of a DNA oligonucleotide (a specific tetramer or longer) will direct a cleavage by RNase H (EC 220.127.116.11) to a specific site in RNA. The resulting fragments can then be labeled at their 5xe2x80x2 or 3xe2x80x2 ends, purified, and sequenced directly. This procedure is demonstrated with two RNA molecules of known sequence: 5.8S rRNA from yeast (158 nucleotides) and satellite tobacco necrosis virus (STNV) RNA (1240 nucleotides).
The direct labeling approach can be problematic because nucleic acid labeling methods may fail to label different nucleic acids in a mixture equally. In addition, direct labeling may introduce mutations or other chemical modifications of the sample nucleic acid that prohibit or reduce hybridization.
Detection of hybridization in a microarray biochip by indirect labeling also can be problematic because background hybridization between the second probe may hybridize to the first probe immobilized on the microarray, giving rise to a high false-positive assay background. If the microarray utilizes only a single probe or very limited set of probes, the background may be reduced in the indirect labeling format by designing the specific second probe such that it does not hybridize to the immobilized probes on the array. However, when the microarray contains a wide variety of probe sequences for simultaneously detecting a variety of different nucleic acid targets (the reason for miniaturizing hybridization), designing second probes that are specific and that can avoid background hybridization to the immobilized probes becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. Accordingly, a need exists for improved hybridization in general and for detecting hybridization and point mutation on microarray formats in particular. The present invention addresses this and other related needs in the art.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for detecting a point mutation in a DNA strand, which method comprises: a) hybridizing a target DNA strand containing or suspected of containing a point mutation with a test nucleic acid strand complementary to said DNA strand to form a target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex, said nucleic acid strand comprising a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues to span the position of said point mutation to be detected; b) contacting said target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex formed in step a) with an RNase H; and c) determining whether said ribonucleotide residues within said test nucleic acid strand are cleaved by said RNase H, wherein said ribonucleotide residues within said test nucleic acid strand are cleaved by said RNase H in the absence of mismatch at said position of said point mutation and said ribonucleotide residues within said test nucleic acid strand are not cleaved by said RNase H in the presence of mismatch at said position of said point mutation and the presence or absence of a point mutation in said target DNA is assessed.
Any suitable nucleic acid strand comprising a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected can be used in the present methods. The test nucleic acid strand can comprise ribonucleotide residues only. Alternatively, the test nucleic acid strand can comprise both ribonucleotide residues and deoxyribonucleotide residues. The test nucleic acid strand can also comprise ribonucleotide residues, deoxyribonucleotide residues and peptide bonds or linkages. In a specific embodiment, the test nucleic acid strand comprises ribonucleotide residues, deoxyribonucleotide residues and peptide bonds or linkages beyond the sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected.
Any suitable nucleic acid strand, whether linear and/or circular, can be used in the present methods. In a specific embodiment, the test nucleic acid strand is a part of a hairpin probe having a loop and a stem regions, wherein the loop region has more than 2 nucleotide residues and the target DNA strand and the test nucleic acid strand are hybridized under conditions that favor intermolecular hybridization between the target DNA strand and the test nucleic acid strand over intramolecular hybridization of the test nucleic acid strand itself. The sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected can be located within the loop or stem region of the hairpin probe. Preferably, the sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues that span the position of said point mutation to be detected is located within the loop and stem regions of the hairpin probe.
The hairpin probe can further comprise an element or a modification that facilitates intramolecular crosslinking of the test nucleic acid strand upon suitable treatment. The element can be a chemically or photoactively activatable crosslinking agent, e.g., a furocoumarin. The element can also be a macromolecule having multiple ligand binding sites, e.g., a component of biotin-avidin binding system.
When hairpin probes are used in the present method, the conditions that favor intermolecular hybridization between the target DNA strand and the test nucleic acid strand over intramolecular hybridization of the test nucleic acid strand itself can be achieved by any suitable methods, e.g., by controlling compositions of the target DNA strand and the test nucleic acid strand so that the Tm of the intermolecular hybrid is higher than the Tm of the intramolecular hybrid. Preferably, the Tm of the intermolecular hybrid is at least 2xc2x0 C. higher than the Tm of the intramolecular hybrid.
In a preferred embodiment, the sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues within the test nucleic acid strand can comprise at least a ribonucleotide sequence having the formula 5xe2x80x2-RXR-3xe2x80x2, 5xe2x80x2-RRX-3xe2x80x2 or 5xe2x80x2-RRXR-3xe2x80x2, or a complementary strand thereof, wherein R is an ribonucleotide residue complementary to its corresponding deoxyribonucleotide in said target DNA strand and X represents the position of said point mutation to be detected and X is a ribonucleotide residue that is complementary or not complementary to its corresponding deoxyribonucleotide in said target DNA strand. In a specific embodiment, X in the above formulas can be complementary to the corresponding deoxyribonucleotide that would be present in a wild-type target DNA strand and cleavage of the ribonucleotide residues within the test nucleic acid strand indicates the absence of a point mutation at position X and failure of the cleavage of the ribonucleotide residues within the test nucleic acid strand indicates the presence of a point mutation at position X. In another specific embodiment, X is not complementary to the corresponding deoxyribonucleotide that would be present in a wild-type target DNA strand and the cleavage of the ribonucleotide residues within the test nucleic acid strand indicates the presence of a point mutation at position X.
The cleavage of the ribonucleotide residues by RNase H can be assessed by suitable methods. For example, the cleavage of the ribonucleotide residues can be assessed by analyzing the disappearance of the target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex, e.g., by gel electrophoresis. Any type of gel electrophoresis, including agarose gel electrophoresis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, capillary electrophoresis and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, can be used (See generally, Ausubel (Ed.) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, 2. Preparation and Analysis of DNA and 4. Preparation and Analysis of RNA, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (2000)). Other suitable analytical methods such as mass spectrometry, chromatograph, filtration and centrifugation can also be used. In a preferred embodiment, each of the target DNA strand and the test nucleic acid strand contains an element, whereby the formation of the target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex brings the two elements into close proximity to generate a detectable signal, and the cleavage of the ribonucleotide residues disrupts or interferes with the close proximity of the two elements and alters the detectable signal. More preferably, the elements belong to a enzyme/substrate pair or are components of a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) system.
The present method can be conducted in a liquid or solution. Alternatively, the present method can be conducted on a surface, e.g., by using a test nucleic acid strand that is immobilized on a solid support.
The present method can be conducted to detect a single point mutation at a time. Preferably, the present method can be conducted in high throughput mode, i.e., by analyzing a plurality of point mutations simultaneously. For example, a plurality of the test nucleic acid strands immobilized on a solid support can be used. Preferably, each of the plurality of the test nucleic acid strands is capable of detecting a different point mutation. More preferably, a plurality of samples is assayed simultaneously using a plurality of the test nucleic acid strands, either in a liquid or solution, or on a surface, wherein each of the plurality of the test nucleic acid strands is capable of detecting a different point mutation.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a kit for detecting a point mutation in a DNA strand, which kit comprises: a) a test nucleic acid strand that is complementary to a target DNA strand containing or suspected of containing a point mutation to be detected and capable of forming a target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex, said test nucleic acid strand comprising a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues to span the position of said point mutation to be detected; and b) an RNase H.
In still another aspect, the present invention provides an array of test nucleic acid strands immobilized on a solid support for detecting a point mutation in a DNA strand, comprising a solid support suitable for use in nucleic acid hybridization having immobilized thereon a plurality of test nucleic acid strands, at least one of the test nucleic acid strands comprising a sufficient number of ribonucleotide residues to span the position of said point mutation to be detected to form a target DNA strand/test nucleic acid strand duplex.

Methods and compositions for analyzing nucleotide sequence mismatches using RNase H


The present invention relates to a method of splicing a hollow gasket such that the final welded joint remains highly flexible and does not impair the fluid flow between the two spliced sections. The two gasket sections having identical multiple-chambered cross-sections are held in a splice mold by precision tooling and air drawn through small holes in the splice mold by a vacuum pump. Heat is applied to each end of the gasket sections and the ends are brought into contact with one another. As the ends cool, a welded joint is formed. The integrity of each individual chamber is maintained so that, when spliced, the two gaskets sections become one, with the chambers forming continuous channels. The continuous channels create a higher insulating quality than if the channels were blocked at the welded joints. Further, corners spliced in this manner remain as flexible as the adjoining gasket sections. Magnetic strips may be inserted into selected channels to assist in maintaining the proper position of the gasket when in use as well as provide a magnetic latch. A common application for such a gasket is for use with a refrigerator door.

Hollow gaskets having multiple-channels make excellent sealing strips for refrigerator doors and the like because the multiple channels form insulating dead air spaces throughout the entire inner portion of the gasket and give a certain resilience to the gasket. This compressible yet resilient construction permits a large surface width of the gasket to conform against the frame surface to provide an excellent thermal seal for the door. Such gaskets are well known in the art, for example, U. S. Pat. Nos. 3,178,778 and 2,908,949.
Several improvements to the basic design have surfaced in the development of gasket art. One improvement, for example, involves the creation of one or more central cells, also know as bulbs or balloons, such as those described in U. S. Pat. Nos. 3,952,455 and 4,138,049. The central cells increase the insulating dead air space to enhance the overall insulating quality of the gasket as well as cooperate with the outer walls of the gasket to provide increased flexibility.
Magnetic strips having a flat surface can be used in conjunction with the above-mentioned compressible gaskets to enhance the sealing function. The magnetic strips are usually positioned inside one of the channels of the gasket which is affixed to the door of the refrigerator. The gasket wall is sufficiently thin to allow the strips to magnetically adhere to the refrigerator frame through the gasket walls, thus acting as a magnetic latch.
Since the gaskets usually cannot be employed as one continuous length of material, several sections must be spliced together to form the entire gasket according to the shape of the opening to be sealed (usually rectangular for refrigerator applications). Standard splicing techniques such as heat welding have two major problems associated therewith.
First, the gaskets are usually made of an extruded material such as a PVC compound or the like, and are made with inner and outer walls which are quite thin for enhanced flexibility. As wall thickness decreases, the heat splicing process tends to fuse the thin inner walls to the side walls and to each other, forming what is known in the industry as "hard corners." Hard corners destroy the continuity of the channels of the gasket at the spliced joint and ultimately degrade the insulating quality of the gasket. Further, hard corners are less flexible than the adjoining gasket sections, inhibiting compression around the corner area which also degrades the insulating efficiency of the gasket.
Second, as the area of the central cell increases to provide more flexibility, the overall stiffness of the gasket section decreases, making it difficult to manipulate within the splice mold area. Extremely flexible gaskets have a tendency to escape the tooling of the splice mold, causing frequent and expensive delays for a human operator to correct before the splicing process can be successfully completed.


Apparatus (and a method) useful in a switching power converter having a transformer and a primary switch for connecting a DC input source to a primary winding of the transformer during a portion of each of a succession of converter operating cycles, the apparatus includes a reset capacitor and a reset switch. Reset circuitry cooperates with the reset switch to connect and disconnect the reset capacitor in a manner which provides for resetting the transformer and which allows a current having a non-zero average value to flow in the reset switch.

This invention relates to control of stored magnetic energy in power converter transformers.
In one class of power converters, called single-ended switching power converters (10, FIG. 1), a primary switching element 20 is used to repetitively connect an input source to the primary winding 329 of a power transformer 25 (FIG. 1) during a portion of each of a series of converter operating cycles. In some such converters, called xe2x80x9csingle-ended forward converters,xe2x80x9d forward energy transfer from the input source toward the load occurs during the time that the switch is closed. In other topologies, called xe2x80x9csingle-ended flyback convertersxe2x80x9d, energy is stored in the transformer during the time that the switch is closed and is transferred forward to the load after the switch is opened. In yet other single-ended converters a portion of the energy may be transferred during both the on and off times of the switch. In general, practical converters of this kind must incorporate circuitry for managing the effects of magnetic energy storage in the transformer. For example, in converters in which energy is transferred forward during the on-time of the switch, circuitry is typically included to deal with the magnetizing energy which is stored in the transformer at the time that the switch is opened (e.g., to provide means for xe2x80x9cresettingxe2x80x9d the transformer); more generally, the effects of magnetic energy storage in the leakage inductance of the transformer must also be managed, e.g., to prevent the energy stored in the leakage field from overstressing the switch when the switch is turned off.
A wide variety of reset circuits (also called core reset circuits because almost all switching power converter transformers include a magnetic core), for use in single-ended forward converters, are described in the literature. These circuits differ in terms of their efficiency, cost and impact on converter power density. One such circuit 15, shown in FIG. 2, is described in Clemente, et al., xe2x80x9cA Universal 100 KHz Power Supply Using a Single HEXFET,xe2x80x9d International Rectifier Corporation Applications Note AN-939, December 1980. One of the advantages of this circuit is that it can maintain the minimal value of peak switch voltage consistent with converter input voltage and duty cycle; one of its disadvantages is that it is dissipative and therefore compromises both converter efficiency and power density. Another circuit 30, of the kind described in Vinciarelli, xe2x80x9cOptimal Resetting of the Transformer""s Core in Single Ended Forward Converters,xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,146, (incorporated by reference) is shown in FIG. 3. This circuit has several advantages, among which are the following: (1) it, too, minimizes the peak voltage seen by the switch, (2) it provides for bipolar transformer 25 core excitation, thereby maximizing utilization of the available flux swing in the transformer""s core and allowing for a smaller transformer, and (3) it is essentially lossless.
When used in single-ended forward converters, core reset circuits 15, 30 of the kinds shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 will also inherently control the effects of leakage energy by providing a capacitive sink which xe2x80x9csnubsxe2x80x9d (i.e., clamps) the effect of the release of the leakage energy on switch voltage. In other kinds of converters, single-ended or otherwise, circuits 15, 30 of the kinds shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be used solely as snubber circuits to manage and control the effects of stored leakage energy. For example, in flyback converters all of the magnetizing energy stored in the transformer 25 during the time that the primary switch 20 is closed is magnetically coupled into the transformer secondary winding and released to the load after the switch opens. While this provides a natural mechanism for reducing the magnetizing energy to zero it does not provide a mechanism for managing transformer 25 leakage energy, which can cause excessive switch 20 voltage when the switch 20 is opened. Circuits 15, 30 of the kinds shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (the simplified converter schematics in the Figures can be modified to correspond to a single-ended flyback topology by simply reversing the polarity of one of the transformer 25 windings) can be used to clamp the voltage which might otherwise be caused by the stored leakage energy. For example, in Ogden, xe2x80x9cImproved High Frequency Switching in Coupled Inductor Power Supplies,xe2x80x9d European Patent Application 0 350 297, a circuit essentially identical to that of the circuit 30 of FIG. 2 is used to both clamp the leakage inductance energy in a flyback converter and reroute it forward toward the load.
In an aspect, the invention features apparatus (and a method) useful in a switching power converter having a transformer and a primary switch for connecting a DC input source to a primary winding of the transformer during a portion of each of a succession of converter operating cycles, the apparatus includes a reset capacitor and a reset switch. Reset circuitry cooperates with the reset switch to connect and disconnect the reset capacitor in a manner which provides for resetting the transformer and which allows a current having a non-zero average value to flow in the reset switch.
Embodiments may include one or more of the following features. The reset circuitry may open and close the reset switch. The reset circuitry may cause the connecting and disconnecting to occur at times based on switching of the main switch. The reset switch may be connected in series with the capacitor. The reset circuitry may include circuit elements which inhibit bidirectional energy flow between the capacitor and the transformer. The apparatus may only allow transfer of magnetizing energy between the reset capacitor and the transformer if the polarity of the voltage across the reset capacitor is of a particular polarity. The apparatus may be connected in parallel with a winding on the transformer. The winding may be the primary winding, a secondary winding, or an auxiliary winding. The reset switch may be a unidirectional switch (e.g., a MOSFET) in parallel with a unidirectional conducting element (e.g., the intrinsic body diode of the MOSFET), the unidirectional switch and the unidirectional conducting element being arranged to conduct in opposite directions. The unidirectional switch may be a MOSFET in series with a series diode, the series diode and the MOSFET being poled to conduct in the same direction. The circuit elements may include a reset diode connected in parallel with the capacitor. Bidirectional energy flow may be allowed only if the voltage across the reset capacitor is of a particular polarity. The particular polarity may be that which will result in a reversal in the polarity of transformer magnetizing current during the time that the reset switch is closed. The reset circuitry may include circuit elements which inhibit bidirectional energy flow between the capacitor and the transformer. The circuit elements may include a reset diode connected across a series circuit comprising the reset capacitor and the series diode. The switching power converter may be a forward power converter, a zero-current switching converter, or a PWM converter. The reset circuitry may open the reset switch prior to the ON period of the primary switch, may close the reset switch during the OFF period of the primary switch, and may keep the reset switch open throughout the ON period of the primary switch.
In an aspect, the invention features a method for limiting the slew rate in a switching power converter which includes a transformer and a reset circuit of the kind which non-dissipatively recycles the magnetizing energy stored in a transformer during each of a succession of converter operating cycles. The method includes sensing the magnetizing current which is flowing in said transformer, and allowing initiation of another converter operating cycle only if the magnetizing current meets a predefined criterion for safe converter operation. In embodiments of the invention the predefined criterion may be the magnetizing current passing through a predefined value, e.g., zero. Among the advantages are the following. Resonance between the transformer and the reset capacitor is inhibited. Very low dissipation is achieved. The selection of Cr can be made based solely on the operating requirements of the converter.
Other aspects, features, and advantages will become apparent from what follows.

Control of stored magnetic energy in power converter transformers

Abstract: Another aspect is a method for limiting the slew rate in a switching power converter which includes a transformer and a reset circuit of the kind which non-dissipatively recycles the magnetizing energy stored in a transformer during each of a succession of converter operating cycles. The method includes sensing the magnetizing current which is flowing in said transformer, and allowing initiation of another converter operating cycle only if the magnetizing current meets a predefined criterion for safe converter operation. In embodiments of the invention the predefined criterion may be the magnetizing current passing through a predefined value, e.g., zero.


A light transmitting optical fiber having at least one coating layer of an ultraviolet curing resin on an outer surface of the fiber, in which the ultraviolet curing resin used in an outermost layer has a Young's modulus of at least 100 kg/mm.sup.2 and an elongation of at least 30%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light transmitting glass fiber used in a optical telecommunication. In particular, it relates to a thin layer-coated light transmitting glass fiber (an outer diameter of an coating: at most 200 .mu.m). In the present invention, a coating resin of a resin-coated optical fiber is improved.
2. Description of Related Art
Because a light transmitting glass fiber (optical glass fiber) has a poor mechanical property and a poor light transmitting property in a state of a drawn fiber, it has a coating layer such as a polymeric material on its circumference.
As the polymeric material, an ultraviolet curing resin (hereinafter referred to as "UV resin") is generally used in view of the productivity. The .coating generally has two-layer structure. An inner layer is a relatively soft buffer layer (the coating outer diameter: about 200 .mu.m, Young's modulus: about 0.1-0.2 kg/mm.sup.2) and an outer layer is a rigid protecting layer (the coating outer diameter: about 250 .mu.m, Young's modulus: 30-100 kg/mm.sup.2).
Recently, the higher density of a telecommunication cable is required for changing the cable to an optical fiber cable in a telephone network.
In a tape slot cable which has the gathered plural tape glass fibers formed by parallel tying plural UV resin-coated optical fibers into a bundle and coating the bundle with a common UV resin coating, the conventional coating outer diameter (about 250 .mu.m) cannot give the higher density. Accordingly, the thin coating (the outer diameter of the outermost layer: about at most 200 .mu.m) is developed.
However, the thin layer-coated optical fiber (the outer diameter of the coating layer: at most 200 .mu.m) comprising a conventional UV resin (Young's modulus: 30-100 kg/mm.sup.2) as the coating material of the outermost layer gives an extreme decrease of lateral pressure resistance because of the thin coating layer.
Thus, in order to improve the lateral pressure resistance in the thin layer-coated optical fiber (the outer diameter of the coating layer: at most 200 .mu.m), the UV resin of the outermost layer is intended to have a very high Young's modulus, whereby giving substantially the same lateral pressure resistance as the conventional coated optical fiber (the outer diameter of the coating layer: about 250 .mu.m)
A term "lateral pressure property" herein means that a fine curvature arises to increase the light transmittance loss of the fiber when an external pressure (lateral pressure) is applied to the fiber. The term "lateral pressure resistance" means that the increase of the light transmittance loss is inhibited on the application of the lateral pressure.
In the thin layer-coated optical fiber (the outer diameter of the coating: at most 200 .mu.m) which has an outermost coating layer of a UV resin having a very high Young's modulus of at least 100 kg/mm.sup.2, the light transmitting property is deteriorated and the screening break strength decreases.
The reason therefor seems to be that since the UV resin used for the outermost layer has a high Young's modulus and a very low elongation (about 6%),
(1) a scratch on the coating surface easily becomes a crack and the outermost layer buckles and gives the ununiform distortion to the glass part so as to deteriorate the light transmitting property, and PA1 (2) the fiber easily breaks at the screening because of a growth of the crack. PA1 The term "screening" herein means a test which ensures a minimum strength in longitudinal direction by applying a constant pulling force to a whole length of the fiber.
The term "elongation" herein means a ratio in percentage of an elongated length to an original length until a sample breaks in a tensile test.

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation


A time delay filter includes at least one field-effect transistor of the MOS type and at least one bipolar transistor having their respective base and gate terminals connected together. The bipolar transistor is coupled to an input terminal through a drive transistor, and the field-effect transistor is coupled to an output terminal. The charge time for the gate capacitance of the field-effect transistor, using the low base current of the bipolar transistor, enables high-frequency noise to be filtered out of input digital signals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to filters for removing high-frequency noise from low-frequency signals, and particularly to filters of the time delay type.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
It is well-recognized by persons skilled in the art that high-frequency noise can blanket a transmission signal, unless it is properly filtered out. A number of methods for filtering signals from the outside world, to clear them of any affecting noise, are to be found described in pertinent literature. Of such methods, the most widely employed are those which either provide an analog low-pass filter or a digital low-pass filter, depending on whether the signal to be filtered is an analog or a digital one.
According to the first of the preferred prior art filtering methods, the input signals are applied, via a resistor, to a first terminal of a capacitor having a second terminal connected to a ground potential. The first terminal is also connected to an output terminal of that RC circuit. Assuming the voltage across the capacitor to be null in the absence of any signal, upon application of a signal, an initial transient would occur whereby the voltage across the capacitor varies with inverse proportion to the time constant fixed by the product of the resistive value of the resistor and the capacitance value of the capacitor, approaching, theoretically after an infinite time, the input signal voltage value. The larger the resistance and capacitance values are, the more slowly the circuit will respond to variations in the input signal.
Therefore, short-duration pulses, as are typical of pulsive noise, don't succeed in affecting the capacitance charge of the capacitor in such a manner to produce significant output variations if compared with the values of the signal they overlap. Such pulses are, therefore, filtered out by the RC circuit.
On the other hand, in the latter of the prior art methods, a fixed rate counter is used as a digital low-pass filter, whereby the state of the input digital signal is controlled to remain the same for at least a predetermined time interval. If the logic level setting of the signal changes during that time interval, the counter is reset and counting is resumed only upon reappearance of the logic level. Accordingly, the output signal of the digital type is determined by the counter end-of-count bit. The count is timed not to exceed the standard duration of the logic level of the signals to be filtered for noise. Only those signals which retain the same logic level throughout the counting period are addressed to the output, and therefore, all signals at a higher frequency will be removed.
Both of the prior methods outlined above are effective, but where a large time constant or a long time count must be provided, the circuits comprising low-pass filters involve significant occupation of integration area, when incorporated into an integrated circuit.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide an efficient filtering of digital signals affected by noise, while retaining low integration area requirements of the circuit components compared to known filtering circuits.

Time delayed filter monolithically integratable


A dental implant includes a generally longitudinal body having a first portion for receiving an artificial tooth and a second portion for engaging the hard tissue of a person receiving the implant, the second portion having coronal end adjacent the first portion, and a apical end, and a surface characterized by a texture compatible with osseointegration of hard tissue with the second portion, the second portion having a contour adjacent its coronal end having a generally saddle shaped configuration so that upon implantation, the surface of the second portion extends further from the apical end between adjacent teeth than it does in front or behind the artificial tooth.

This invention relates generally to dental implants and more particularly to a dental implant having an improved configuration for reducing interproximal bone resorption compared with known implants.
Artificial dental implants, usually made of metal or ceramic, can be used in place of natural teeth to provide a base/support on which an artificial tooth can be fabricated. An artificial dental implant is implanted in the hard tissue (bone) of a patient (referred to as implant). The implant is composed of a machined/polished collar (coronal part) (referred to as collar) and an apical surface characterized by macroscopic and microscopic surface features (referred to as root). A mounting part (abutment) is attached to the implant (referred to as post) to which an artificial tooth (referred to as prosthesis; i.e. crown, denture etc.) can be attached.
Artificial dental implants of the type to which this invention relates can be made from metals, such as titanium and titanium alloys, as well as ceramics such as zirconia based, alumina-based, and sapphire based ceramics.
Of these materials, titanium and its alloys are the most widely used because of their fracture and fatigue resistance, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility.
While osseointegration can be obtained with different types of dental implants, it is common to observe bone loss around the implant in the first year of implant life. Bone loss up to 1 mm is considered to be acceptable in the first year, and bone loss no more than 0.1-0.2 mm is acceptable in subsequent years. Usually, after some initial bone loss, bone levels near the top of the implant (crestal bone level at the coronal macro-microscopic features) reaching a steady state and no significant further bone loss occurs.
A number of explanations for the greater bone loss in the first year after implantation have been proposed. Among these are remodeling of the bone crest due to mechanical loading of the implant, crestal remodeling due to abutment micro movement, crestal remodeling due to contact of polished and/or machined surface of the implant with bone, and resorption of the bone crest due to the presence of inflammatory infiltrate at the level of the implant-abutment junction, possibly caused by bacterial colonization of the inner surfaces of the implant.
Implants are generally cylindrical or modifications of cylindrical in form. The artificial tooth mounting surface (referred to as implant-abutment interface) is normally flat and arranged at an angle perpendicular to the long axis of the cylindrical implant. Conventionally, a machined and/or polished metal collar is immediately adjacent (in the apical direction) the artificial tooth mounting surface. In other words, the machined/polished collar is the most coronal portion of the implant (not considering the antirotational features that may be present at the implant-abutment interface) The collar may have a width of up to a few millimeters, depending on design choices made by the manufacturer.
The root of the dental implant can be threaded, serrated, or lack macroscopic surface features (press-fit design). At a microscopic level, some implant designs include surface modifications such as coating, etching, and grit-blasting to improve osseointegration.
Human tissues, including soft tissues (gums or gingiva) and hard tissues (bone), react differently to the different surfaces. Epithelial tissue (gum) can establish a stable attachment with the machined/polished collar. This attachment forms a seal against bacterial invasion of the underlying hard tissue (bone). Hard tissue that comes in contact with a machined or polished surface such as the surface of the collar is normally resorbed. Resorption normally progresses to and stop at the most coronal macro/microscopic surface features. Therefore, a longer polished/machined collar in contact with bone, leads to greater resorption.
In a healthy patient, the outline of the alveolar bone crest is curved. The outline follows the concavities and convexities of the cemento-enamel junction of the healthy tooth.
The free gingiva, junctional epithelium and connective tissue attachment to the tooth are the most coronal portion of the periodontum (tooth supporting apparatus). The apico-coronal dimension of the junctional epithelium and the connective tissue attachment are together defined as the biologic width. In healthy patients, the apico-coronal dimension of the biologic width is generally constant for different teeth, different individuals, and different ages. This dimension is also recreated during the healing process following periodontal surgery. Therefore, the dimension of the soft tissue (gums of gingiva) is generally constant. The dimension of the biologic width around dental implants and healthy natural teeth is similar. Moreover, different types of dental implants show similar biologic width dimensions.
Studies of implants several years after insertion show that resorption proceeds until the bone crest is at the level of the most coronal macroscopic feature (the first thread for a machined threaded design or serration) or to the level of the most coronal part of the surface microscopic features (coating, etching, and grit-blasted surface). Since, heretofore, the macroscopic and microscopic features lie in a flat line perpendicular to the long axis of the implant, bone loss proceeds to the same level all the way around the implant, including the mesial, buccal, distal, and lingual surfaces. Because the bone level around a natural tooth is not flat, more resorption of the interproximal bone peak occurs than of the buccal and lingual portions. The loss of bone, particularly of the interproximal bone peak, often leads to apical migration of the overlying soft tissues (that have constant dimension: biologic width), including the connective tissue and epithelium, with a resultant gingival recession. This loss is particularly accentuated in the interproximal areas, that are the sides that face another tooth or implant, and is particularly severe when two implants are placed side by side. Gingival recession can lead to an unsightly gap between an implant-supported artificial tooth and an adjacent natural tooth or another implant-supported artificial tooth.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved dental implant that decreases or eliminates interproximal bone loss by providing an implant that has a coronal part that is curved or angled to correspond to or imitate the cemento-enamel junction of a natural tooth.
It is another object of this invention to provide a dental implant having a polished and/or machined collar and macro/microscopic surface feature that are more coronally extended in the interproximal areas of the implant as mounted in a patient.
It is yet another aspect of this invention to provide an implant having a curved or otherwise angled outline of the coronal machined/polished metal collar that also follows the outline of the cemento-enamel junction and the alveolar bone crest.
It is still another aspect of this invention to provide a dental implant having macroscopic and microscopic surface features that follow the outline of the machined collar.

Dental implant for promoting reduced interpoximal resorption


The use of selectable marker genes, such as the kanamycin resistance encoding neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII), has been invaluable in transgenic plant production. The subject invention provides a new selectable marker gene, an Arabidopsis thaliana ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, Atwbc19 and methods of using the gene for the identification of transgenic plants. Since ABC transporters are endogenous to plants, there should be less controversy using Atwbc19, as a selectable marker in transgenic plants with regards to concerns of horizontal gene transfer.

The use of selectable marker genes, such as the kanamycin resistance encoding neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII), has been invaluable in transgenic plant production. Since all currently used antibiotic resistance genes are from bacterial origin, there have been concerns about horizontal gene transfer from transgenic plants to microbes thereby causing new antibiotic resistance problems. Here we characterize the first, to our knowledge, plant gene shown to confer antibiotic resistance in transgenic plants: an Arabidopsis thaliana ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, Atwbc19. Its mechanism of conferring resistance is novel while the level of endowed resistance is comparable to that of bacterial antibiotic resistance genes in transgenic tobacco using the 35S promoter. Thus, since ABC transporters are endogenous to plants, there should be less controversy using Atwbc19, as a selectable marker in transgenic plants with regards to concerns of horizontal gene transfer.
ABC proteins are biologically ubiquitous proteins classified on the basis of the presence of an ATP-binding cassette or nucleotide binding folds, with sharing of 30-40% identity between family members (Higgins, 1992). The vast majority of ABC-transporters are membrane bound and contain transmembrane domains (TMDs). These TMDs are considered to form the pathway for solute movement across the phospholipid bilayer and appear to determine, or at least contribute to, the substrate selectivity of the transporter. Resistance of human cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents and multidrug resistance in infectious microorganisms often arises from the over-expression of ABC transporters. Their clinical significance has spurred a number of structural studies to better understand how ATP hydrolysis is coupled with a substrate specific transport.
Among all multicellular organisms sequenced so far, plants have the largest number of ABC proteins encoded in their genome. Why plants allocate proportionally more genes to this superfamily relative to their genome size is not clear, but begs the question of adaptive significance (Sanchez-Fernandez et al., 2001a). Arabidopsis ABC transporters have been classified on the basis of their domain organization and their homology to orthologous genes, but their functions remain largely unknown (Sanchez-Fernandez et al., 2001b). The AtWBC family (White-Brown Complex homologues) is the largest of all Arabidopsis ABC transporters with 29 members. One recent publication attributes the role of Atwbc12 to the secretion of cuticular wax (Pighin et al., 2004).
Kanamycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic isolated from the soil bacterium Streptomyces kanamyceticus. Aminoglycosides act primarily by binding to the 30S subunit of prokaryotic ribosomes and inhibiting protein synthesis (Mingeot-Leclercq et al., 1999). In eukaryotes they inhibit protein synthesis by putative non-specific binding to the ribosomal complex, hence their usefulness as selection agents for plant and mammalian genetic transformation. In bacteria, aminoglycoside resistance is most often associated with the presence of inactivating enzymes. These enzymes, classified as aminoglycoside acetyltransferases, nucleotidyltransferases or phosphotransferases, catalyze the transfer of acetyl, adenosine monophosphate, or phosphate groups onto the aminoglycoside antibiotics (Wright et al., 1998). Neomycin phosphotransferase type II (nptII), originally isolated from the Tn5 transposon of Escherichia coli, is among enzymes of the latter group. Since its first use in 1983 (Bevan et al., 1983; Fraley et al., 1983; Herrera-Estrella et al., 1983), it has been the most commonly used selectable marker for the production of transgenic plants. The fact that kanamycin resistance via aminoglycoside modifying enzymes is common among soil bacteria has contributed to its acceptance by regulatory agencies for deregulated transgenic plants containing nptII.

Antibiotic resistance conferred by a plant ABC transporter gene when expressed in transgenic plants

University of Tennessee Research Foundation


The device comprises a base element (1) and a movable element (8). Three control arms (4) are rigidly mounted at their first extremity (15) on three shafts (2) which may be rotated. The three assemblies each formed by a shaft (2) and an arm (4) are the movable parts of three actuators (13) of which the fixed parts (3) are integral with the base element. The other extremity (16) of each control arm is made integral with the movable element through two linking bars (5a, 5b) hingedly mounted on the one hand to the second extremity (16) of the control arm and, on the other hand, to the movable element. The inclination and the orientation in space of the movable element remain unchanged, whatever the motions of the three control arms may be. The movable element supports a working element (9) of which the rotation is controlled by a fixed motor (11) situated on the base element. A telescopic arm (14) connects the motor to the working element.

The invention is concerned with a device for the movement and positioning of an element in space.
The majority of devices of the above type which are known, such, for example, as the main known industrial robots, include a carrier member which supports a wrist, the carrier member having three axes known as the main axes, intended for defining three degrees of freedom which may be rotations and/or translations, so as to position the wrist in space, the orientation of the said wrist being in turn controlled by one to three axes known as the secondary axes, in accordance with one to three supplementary degrees of freedom which are necessarily rotations.
In these devices, the configuration of the carrier member of which may be of cartesian type having cylindrical coordinates or spherical coordinates or of SCARA (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot) type or having angular coordinates, the control of the degrees of freedom is effected in series. The first main axis is employed as a reference for the motion of the second main axis, the latter serving as a reference for the motion of the third main axis which in turn serves as a reference for the degrees of freedom which define the orientation of the wrist.
The configuration in series necessitates the location of the driving motors at the level of each axis or demands a heavy and complicated configuration for the transmission of the motion to the axes, and, consequently, even in the case of the movement of a small load, large masses must be set in motion.
On the other hand a device is known having a configuration similar to that of a flight simulator, having six axes working in parallel. In this case, the motors may be fixed, which limits the masses to be set in motion. This species of device, however, enables only a very restricted working volume to be reached.
A device in which the control of the three basic degrees of freedom is effected in parallel is described in the patent U.S. Pat. No. 2,286,571. This device is intended for the positioning and t control of the motion of a paint gun. It comprises three actuators integral with one base member, each of the actuators including one fixed portion and one moving arm mounted in rotation at one end of it on the fixed portion of the actuator. On the second end of each of the arms are mounted respectively three linking bars by way of articulations of cardan type mounted respectively at one of the ends of the linking bars. Two of the linking bars are mounted by articulation at their respective second ends onto the third linking bar, near to the second end of it. The support for the gun is mounted by articulation at the end of the third linking bar.
The Patent Application FR-A-2,550,985 describes another device in which the control o the three basic degrees of freedom is effected in parallel. This document concerns an arm able to extend, retract and fold, composed of a plurality of extensible members mounted in series, each of them including three actuators acting in parallel.
The known devices are, however, poorly adapted to the transfer of light pieces at very high rates.

Device for the movement and positioning of an element in space


A turbine assembly is provided. The turbine assembly includes a plurality of sails and a generator assembly configured to convert rotation thereabout to power. A brake assembly may be provided. The brake assembly may include a magnet assembly that rotates with rotation of the plurality of sails, a conducting plate initially spaced-apart from the magnet assembly, and an actuator for translating the conducting plate relative to the magnet assembly during rotation thereof to thereby induce eddy currents that create a magnetic field acting on the conducting plate to impart a retarding force to control the rotational speed thereof. A control module is configured to control the actuator to adjust the spacing between the magnet assembly and the conducting plate in order to maintain the turbine assembly at a predetermined speed.

Wind turbines are used for generating electricity or otherwise providing electrical or mechanical power. Wind turbines rely on winds in order to impart rotation of propellers that are carried by a central rotor shaft. The rotor shaft is then operably coupled to a generator in instances where electricity is being generated or to a mechanical apparatus when conversion of mechanical power is desired.
Wind turbines are desirable because of low maintenance costs and the use of available "free" wind in order to generate clean energy. However, since wind turbines rely on wind to generate energy and because the speed of the wind correlates to the efficiency of the wind turbine, having the wind turbine rotate at an optimal speed is desired. When the wind is blowing at too high of a speed, the electricity generated is at a frequency in excess of what is allowed to be transported to the electrical grid. In order to compensate for excess wind speed, some wind turbines employ a mechanical or electrical brake in order to reduce the rotation speed of the wind turbine. These brakes are generally sufficient for controlling the speed, however, they do not capture the energy that would otherwise be created at high wind speeds and instead convert that energy into waste heat. The lack of sufficient rotational speed control causes the inverter downstream of the wind turbine to shut down, thus causing downtime in which electricity is not being generated.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method or apparatus for effectively monitoring the rotation speed of a wind turbine and capturing energy that would otherwise not be generated by conventional devices.


In one embodiment, a circuit substrate comprises a substrate; and a warpage preventing pattern disposed on the substrate. The warpage preventing pattern comprises a first pattern at a first corner of the substrate and a second pattern at a second corner of the substrate. The first corner and the second corner are disposed adjacent to each other. An overall orientation of the first pattern is different from an overall orientation of the second pattern with respect to the substrate. The warping of a semiconductor package can be significantly reduced by cutting off stress lines in the corners of the circuit substrate. Various configurations and orientations of the warpage preventing pattern are provided in order to effectively block stress concentration in the corners of the circuit substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to circuit substrates and packages including such circuit substrates. More particularly, the disclosure relates to circuit substrates having improved warpage preventing properties and methods of manufacturing warpage preventing circuit substrates and packages having the warpage preventing circuit substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern electronic devices require small size, large memory capacity and high performance for their applications such as mobile applications. Consequently, semiconductor chip packages that go into modern electronic devices, such as mobile electronic devices, also have to have small size, large memory capacity, and high performance. Typically, semiconductor chip packages are either a lead frame type or a Ball Grid Array (BGA)/Land Grid Array (LGA) type. A printed circuit board (PCB) or film substrate is often used in conjunction with a BGA/LGA type package to obtain high reliability and reduced size and weight of the semiconductor chip package.
A PCB includes an insulating substrate, which is typically made of a polyimide material, and a conductive pattern, which is typically made of copper (Cu). The conductive pattern can be disposed in between layers of the substrate or it may be disposed on one of the substrate surfaces. When a chip package is used in an electronic system, such as the main board in a mobile electronic device, the package may be subjected to a heat step for bonding purposes. As a result of the heat step, package warping may occur due to the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the various components in the chip package. These components include the semiconductor chip, the substrate, and the molding compound.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional semiconductor chip package design. A semiconductor chip 20 is disposed on a circuit substrate 10. The chip 20 is coupled to a conductive pattern 22 through a wire 16. One end of the wire is connected to a chip pad 18 and the other end of the wire is connected to a bond finger 14. A dummy pattern 12 is disposed on the substrate 10 to increase the strength of the substrate 10 as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,864,434. The dummy pattern 12 can be connected to a power or a ground lead of the semiconductor chip package. The conductive pattern 22 may include solder ball pads, upon which solder balls can be formed. The solder balls may be formed by applying a solder paste to the solder ball pads and using a heat step to form the solder balls from the solder paste.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor chip package mounted on a circuit board 40, showing warpage at the edges of the chip package. A conventional process for manufacturing an electronic device having a semiconductor chip includes attaching a semiconductor chip 20 to a circuit substrate 10. The semiconductor chip is then connected electrically to the circuit substrate 10 by a wire 16. This step may be accomplished by a standard wire-bonding process, as is known in the art. Next, the semiconductor chip 20 and the wire 16 are encapsulated by an epoxy molding compound (EMC) 50. Solder balls or solder bumps 30 are then attached to the circuit substrate 10. Next, a singulation step is performed to separate individual semiconductor chip packages from each other. This step may be accomplished by a wafer dicing process. Finally, the solder balls or solder bumps 30 are used to attach the chip package to a circuit board 40. This step may include a heat treatment to melt the solder balls or to melt other conductive material, such as solder paste, for attaching the chip package to the circuit board.
One problem with the conventional semiconductor chip package design is that heat steps used to either form solder balls or join the chip package to the circuit board can cause warpage of the chip package, as shown at "a" in FIG. 2. This warpage can be due to the CTE mismatch between the semiconductor chip 20, the circuit substrate 10, and the EMC 50. This warpage can lead to open connection failures between the chip package and the circuit board as illustrated in a center area of the circuit board of FIG. 2. Further, the stress resulting from the difference in CTE of the materials in the thickness direction of the substrate (i.e. the substrate material, the conductive pattern, and the dummy pattern) can also play a major role in causing warpage of the chip package.
FIGS. 3a and b are stress contour graphs of the circuit substrate 10 during a heat treatment process to mount the chip package to the circuit board. The darker areas of FIGS. 3a and b indicate areas of higher stress. As shown in the figures, the corners and the center areas of the circuit substrate have relatively higher stress concentration than the other areas of the circuit substrate 10. However, as the semiconductor chip 20 is in the center area of the circuit substrate 10 and can therefore resist the stress concentration in the center area, the stress in the center area of the circuit substrate 10 is relatively small. There is, however, not enough resistance to offset the stress at the corners of the circuit substrate 10. Therefore, the stress at the corners of the circuit substrate 10 leads to warpage. Further, the conductive pattern and the dummy pattern, being made of copper, have a high CTE, or high shrinkage rate, thereby causing additional concentration of stress at the corners.
In other words, stress is concentrated at the four corners of the circuit substrate 10 as indicated at "b". As the thermal expansion or shrinkage rate of the chip 20 is relatively low, the chip 20 opposes the stress generated between the circuit substrate 10 and EMC 50. Therefore, warpage of the area of the circuit substrate 10 where the chip 20 is attached is relatively small. In contrast, in the region "b", there is not enough stress resistant material such as the chip 20 to oppose the stress. Thus, the stress is applied without much resistance. In particular, the conductive patterns, which have a higher shrinkage rate, cause thermal stress directed toward the corners of the circuit substrate 10. Moreover, the dummy pattern 12 increases the shrinkage of the circuit substrate 10 even higher, thereby increasing the warpage in the region "b". Such warpage causes non-uniform height of the solder balls 30 against the board 40 during mounting, thereby causing contact failures as illustrated in FIG. 2 as discussed above.
One method to prevent warpage of a chip package is disclosed in JP 2000-151035 ('035). '035 teaches a warpage preventive pattern disposed on a PCB. Another approach to prevent warpage is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,864,434, as mentioned above.
These conventional methods do not account for the different directions of stress lines that may be concentrated at the different corners of the substrate. Consequently, the stress may not be as effectively reduced at the corners of the substrate. The invention addresses these and other disadvantages of the conventional art.

Circuit substrate for preventing warpage and package using the same


A server control unit of a pump monitoring server records, in a recording unit, a state of a pump together with a time at which the state of the pump is confirmed in a case where the server control unit has received the state of the pump confirmed by a medical practitioner from the pump within a first predetermined time from the start of clocking of a liquid delivery time by a clocking unit. In contrast, in a case where the server control unit has not received the state of the pump from the pump even after the first predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the clocking of the liquid delivery time by the clocking unit, the server control unit prompts the medical practitioner to confirm the pump.

In a medical field such as a hospital, medical pumps such as infusion pumps and syringe pumps are used as pumps for administering medicines into the body of a patient. Generally, these medical pumps are used to deliver one type of medicine. For this reason, in a case where a plurality of types of medicines is simultaneously administered to a patient in an operating room, an intensive care room, or the like, several medical pumps, in a number according to the types of medicine, are needed.
Even in a case where a plurality of pumps is used for one patient, it is possible to allow each of the pumps to deliver a plurality of types of medicine at different timings, flow rates, or the like. A medical practitioner (for example, a nurse) monitors the states of the pump (name of the medicine delivered by the pump, flow rate, amount of delivered medicine, or the like) so as to prevent the flow rate of the medicine delivered by the pump from exceeding a predetermined range, or prevent shortage of the medicine. Unfortunately, however, it is difficult for a medical practitioner to oversee each of the pumps and constantly confirm the state of the pump.
Japanese Patent Application No. JP 2014-6915 A discloses an arrangement in which a server stores a medical device maintenance schedule including a reminder for executing maintenance on a medical device in a computing system isolated from the medical device and transmits the reminder from the computing system to the medical device.

Pump monitoring system and pump monitoring server


The invention is an echo canceller for reducing the magnitude of an echo occurring in a return channel of a communication device and a method of implementing the same. The echo canceller includes a processing unit for generating an echo attenuated signal. The processing unit includes a first input, a second input and an output. The first input is for receiving a first signal that is the precursor of the echo. The second input is for receiving a second signal that potentially contains the echo. The output is for outputting the echo attenuated signal. The echo attenuated signal is derived by combining the second signal and an adaptation signal. The adaptation signal is generated by normalizing the echo attenuated signal to produce a normalized adaptation signal, and combining the normalized adaptation signal with the first signal to generate an intermediate signal. Additionally, the intermediate signal is de-normalized to produce the adaptation signal.

In a typical telephone network, two types of echoes may be present: acoustical echo and electrical echo. Acoustical echo may occur in a telecommunication network when a hands-free telephone terminal is used. The speech signal generated from the speaker in the terminal propagates in the form of an acoustic wave through an acoustic environment (air) and part of it is reflected back into the microphone of the terminal. This reflected signal will be transmitted back to the talker thereby creating an echo. In some instances, an acoustical echo may occur in a telephone with poor voice coupling between the earphone and the microphone. Therefore, two different components may make up the acoustical echo. The first is the undesired remote speech reflected from the roof, windows and walls, and the second is the direct coupling between the loudspeaker and the microphone. The echo from the first component could be delayed as long as 200 milliseconds.
An electrical echo results from the presence of a hybrid converter that is required to connect a unidirectional four wire link from a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to a local two wire loop. The basic function of the hybrid converter is to separate the transmitted signal originating in the local loop from the received signal in the PSTN section, and vice versa. This process requires the energy of the received signal to pass filly in the local loop. However, due to an impedance mismatch in the hybrid converter, part of the received energy is reflected back to the transmitting port. As a result, a talker hears his own delayed speech which, of course, is undesirable.
One approach for echo reduction in communication networks is to use echo suppressors. A typical echo suppressor acts like a switch that monitors the voice signals traveling in both directions. It detects which person is talking and blocks the signal traveling in the opposite direction. The drawback of such an echo suppressor is that the echo suppressor tends to "chop" speech signals when the users talk back and forth quickly due to the response time for monitoring the speech activities. Moreover, during double talk, i.e., when the users talk simultaneously, the suppressor fails to control the echo.
One proposed solution to avoid the problems of echo suppressors is to provide circuitry or an algorithm that, instead of blocking speech signals in one direction in the communication link, cancels the echo by using an adaptive filter. An adaptive filter is a computational device that attempts to model the relationship between two signals in real time in an interactive manner. Adaptive filters are well accepted in communication systems, for echo cancellation and line equalization. The adaptive filter is based on convolution. The most frequently used structure of an adaptive filter is the finite-impulse-response (FIR) filter.
An adaptive filter can be implemented as an open-loop filter or a closed-loop filter. In a closed-loop filter, an algorithm operates in an iterative manner and updates the adjustable parameters with the arrival of new data and current-signal performance feedback parameters. During each iteration, the system learns more about the characteristics of the input signal. The processor makes adjustments for the current set of parameters based on the latest system performance, i.e., the error signal e(n). The optimum set of values of the adjustable parameters is thus approached sequentially.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a conventional (prior art) adaptive echo cancelling device designated 210. One input of the adaptive echo cancelling device 210 is a far-end input signal x(n) 20. In this figure, the far-end input signal x(n) 20 may be from a far-end terminal, such as a telephone, cell phone, Voice over IP phone or the like. The far-end input signal x(n) 20 is the discrete-time signal used to drive a loudspeaker in a hands-free near-end terminal (not shown).
Another input of the adaptive echo cancelling device 210 is a near-end input signal d(n) 26. The near-end input signal d(n) 26 is the signal picked up by the microphone (not shown) of the hands-free near-end terminal. The near-end input signal d(n) 26 contains a portion of the far-end input signal x(n) 20 in the form of an echo, background noise, and possibly, local speech.
The output of the adaptive echo cancelling device 210 is the output/error signal e(n) 28 which is output to the far-end. The adaptive echo cancelling device 210 may include a loss controller, a non-linear processor, a supplementary howling control device or the like (not shown) to further process the output/error signal e(n) 28 output to the far-end.
The adaptive echo cancelling device 210 includes an adaptive FIR filter 211. The adaptive FIR filter 211 includes a main FIR component 230, an adder 232 and an update step-size control 234. The adaptive FIR filter 211 also includes inputs for receiving the far-end input signal x(n) 20 and the near-end input signal d(n) 26. The adaptive FIR filter 211 outputs the output/error signal e(n) 28 which may be output directly to the far-end or further processed by one of the components mentioned above.
The main FIR component 230 uses the far-end input signal x(n) 20 as a reference signal. The main FIR component 230 outputs an estimated echo signal y(n) 236. As mentioned above, the main FIR component 230 is based on convolution.
The main FIR component 230 also includes multiple delay units denoted by Z−1 in the figure. The far-end input signal x(n) 20 is coupled to an input of a first delay unit. An output of the first delay unit is coupled to an input of a second delay unit. An output of the second delay unit is coupled to an input of a subsequent delay unit. An output of the subsequent delay unit is coupled to an input of another subsequent delay unit (not shown). A last delay unit receives the output of the previous delay unit in the series as its input. The number of delay units depends on the number of taps in the adaptive FIR filter 211. The number of delay units is the number of taps minus one.
The main FIR component 230 also includes multiple multipliers denoted by a circle containing the symbol for a tap coefficient (e.g., Ax). The far-end input signal x(n) 20 is also coupled to an input of a first multiplier. The output of the first delay unit is also coupled to an input of a second multiplier. The output of the second delay unit is also coupled to an input of a subsequent multiplier. The output of each subsequent delay unit is also coupled to an input of each subsequent multiplier (not shown), respectively. The output of the last delay unit is coupled to an input of the last multiplier. The number of multipliers also depends on the number of taps. The number of taps equals the number of multipliers. Each multiplier has a second input. The respective component of an updated tap coefficient vector A(k), as further described below, is coupled to the second input on each respective multiplier.
As mentioned above, the main FIR component 230 includes multiple taps. The computing step enclosed in a dash-line block 238 (hereinafter "the filter tap 238") is an example of a tap. One input of the filter tap 238 is the far-end input signal x(n) 20. In this example, the delayed output of the far-end input signal x(n) 20 from the previous delay unit in the series of delay units is the input to the last delay unit. Another input of the filter tap 238 is the updated tap coefficient AN output by the update step-size control 234. Specifically, the updated tap coefficient AN is input into an input of the last multiplier. The output of the last delay unit is fed into the other input of the last multiplier. The last multiplier multiplies the output of the last delay unit by the updated tap coefficient AN. The output of the last multiplier is the tap output. Thus, the filter tap 238 includes both a step of convolution and a step of coefficient adaptation.
The outputs of the taps are coupled to multiple inputs of an adder 240. The output of the adder 240 is the estimated echo signal y(n) 236. The output of the adder 240 (i.e., estimated echo signal y(n) 236) is coupled to a negative input of the adder 232. The near-end input signal d(n) 26 is coupled to a positive input of the adder 232.
The adder 232 compares the near-end input signal d(n) 26 to the estimated echo signal y(n) 236 and outputs the output/error signal e(n) 28. Thus, the output/error signal e(n) 28 is the difference between the near-end input signal d(n) 26 and the estimated echo signal y(n) 236 of the main FIR component 230. The output/error signal e(n) 28 is output by the adaptive FIR filter 211 to the far-end.
The output/error signal e(n) 28 is also fed back to the main FIR component 230 via the update step-size control 234. The update step-size control 234 includes a multiplier 242 and an adaptive coefficient algorithm 244. The output/error signal e(n) 28 is input into an input of the multiplier 242. The output of the multiplier 242 is input into an input of the adaptive coefficient algorithm 244. The output of the adaptive coefficient algorithm 244 is the updated tap coefficient vector A(k). Thus, the update step-size control 234 outputs the updated tap coefficient vector defined as A(k)=[A0, A1, A2 . . . AN].
The multiplier 242 includes a step size factor represented by μ. The step size μ is usually a small positive constant. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that a variable step size μ could be used. There may be some situations when the adaptive coefficient updates of the taps need to be stopped. For example, the adaptive coefficient updates of the taps may need to be stopped when a local speech signal is present. In this case, the step size μ may be mathematically reflected as being set to 0. This has the effect of temporarily disabling the adaptive function.
Thus, in the conventional adaptive FIR filter 211 x(n), d(n) and e(n) denote the far-end input signal x(n) 20, the near-end input signal d(n) 26 and the output/error signal e(n) 28, respectively. The adaptive FIR filter 211 is excited by the far-end input signal x(n) 20 and driven by an adaptive algorithm (e.g., a normalized least mean square algorithm (NLMS or LMS)) to produce the estimated echo signal y(n) 236 or replica of the echo signal. The error signal e(n) 28 is then obtained by subtracting this estimated echo signal y(n) 236 from the near-end input signal d(n) 26 and can be expressed as follows:       e              (      n      )        =            d                    (        n        )              -          [                        ∑                      k            =            0                                N            -            1                                                                                A                                      (              k              )                                                      x                                      (                              n                -                k                            )                                          ]
and the adaptive algorithm (i.e., when using the LMS algorithm) of the tap coefficient vector update equation can be expressed as follows:Anew(k)=Aold(k)+μe(n)×(n−k), k=0, . . . ,N                where A(k) denotes the coefficient vector for the taps and μ is the step size. It is understood by those skilled in the art that the convergence factor is denoted by μe(n) (i.e., the step size μ multiplied by the output/error signal e(n)).
When the output signal e(n) 28 is not close to the near-end input signal d(n) 26, the adaptation algorithm will be executed to correct or update the tap coefficients so that the estimated echo signal y(n) 236 will gradually approach the near-end input signal d(n) 26 (i.e., the desired signal). The near-end input signal d(n) 26 is unknown and changes all the time. Therefore, the adaptive FIR filter 211 has to be a real time closed loop feedback system adapting all the time to follow the definition of the near-end input signal d(n) 26.
In a high quality adaptive filter, the coefficient set is adapted all the time and therefore costs a lot in terms of computing power. Thus, an adaptive filter becomes expensive in terms of computing power.
As mentioned above, one example of the adaptive algorithm is the LMS algorithm. The LMS algorithm is the most popular adaptation algorithm, however, other adaptive algorithms may be used. Additionally, the LMS algorithm may make use of the steepest descent approach. The LMS algorithm derives the estimation of the gradient vector based on a limited number of data samples.
Further, the adaptation algorithm may include convergence control in addition to coefficient adaptation. Convergence control is not performed in every tap in order to reduce the cost of the computing power. On the other hand, coefficient adaptation is usually performed on all taps during each sample for a high performance adaptive filter. Thus, most of the computing power of the adaptive filter is consumed when performing the coefficient adaptation.
Early echo cancellation implementations were based on analog circuit technique. However, analog technique was unable to follow adequately the changes in the room environment. Therefore, echo cancellation is now typically done using digital technique. A digital echo canceller is an adaptive FIR filter with long tap size.
The number of taps in a long tap adaptive FIR filter may be more than 3200, for example, for a 200 ms echo canceller used in a 16 kHz sampling-rate ISDN telephone system. This means that at least 7200 Multiply Accumulate (MAC) operations are required in every sample. This includes 3200 MAC operations for the convolution and 3200 MAC operations for the coefficient adaptation. This is equivalent to 102.4 Million Instructions Per second (MIPs). Including other associated computing and control operations, the total number of MIPs could be more than 110 MIPs. One way to decrease the number of MIPs is to skip part of the adaptation computing, which yields relatively low adaptation quality.
In typical digital acoustic echo cancellation, a long tap adaptive FIR filter is used to simulate the echo environment in order to subtract the echo from the near-end input signal, as described above. Usually the taps of the tail component have rather low envelope amplitude compared with the taps of the header component since the echo energy will attenuate with distance. In a finite precision (i.e., fix-point) implementation, the coefficient adaptation of the taps of the tail component become inefficient since the precision of the coefficients is too low. Although double precision algorithms can be adopted, these algorithms will significantly increase the computational complexity.
For example, in a low cost implementation of acoustic echo cancellation, the voice signal and the FIR taps are represented by 16 bit fix point data. If the taps of the tail component contain only 3-4 bits of effective data, the updating or adaptation of the taps of the tail component is very inefficient. If double precision is used to store the taps, the MIPs of the tap adaptation will be doubled. Further, the higher bits in the memory of the taps of the tail component are wasted.
Therefore, there exists a strong need in the art for an improved adaptive echo cancelling device, particularly well suited for use during a communication session involving at least one hands-free telephone terminal.


In binoculars employing a pair of telephotographic optical systems with their respective optical axes being arranged in parallel to each other, the telephotographic optical systems having a lens group for focusing, respectively, and at least one of the telephotographic optical systems having a lens group for diopter-adjusting; first shaft member for simultaneously moving each lens group for focusing in an optical axis direction; and second shaft member for moving the lens group for diopter-adjusting in the optical direction; wherein the first shaft member and the second shaft member are arranged coaxially. Thus, it becomes possible to adjust a diopter-difference and a difference of eye contact positions by means of a single mechanism and to easily adjust focusing with a simple arrangement.

The present invention relates to a focusing mechanism for binoculars by which the focus is adjusted by moving the objective lenses of two telephotographic optical systems, which have optic axes thereof arranged in parallel, along the optic axis direction thereof, and more particularly to a focusing mechanism capable of improving the operating performance with a simple arrangement.
Conventionally, binoculars having two telephotographic optical systems, disposed with the optic axes thereof arranged in parallel, are generally provided with a focusing mechanism for simultaneously moving the eye pieces of right and left telephotographic optical systems in the optic axis direction thereof, and a diopter difference adjustment mechanism for independently moving one of the eye contact portions. The so-called diopter-adjusting operation is executed, as described below, by correcting a diopter difference between the eyes of an operator. The diopter difference adjustment mechanism adjusts a diopter difference between the right and left eyes of the operator and the focus adjustment mechanism adjusts the focus so that the diopter difference is adjusted.
However, in the case of binoculars when the objective lenses of two telephotographic optical systems which are disposed in parallel are fixed at the same position in the optic axes directions, a positional difference of the right and left eye contact portions (i.e., eye pieces), may be caused by a difference of the focal length of each of the objective lenses which occurs due to an error in manufacturing. In other words, the eye contact portion on the side of the objective lens having a longer focal length is more projected in the optic axis direction. In this case, the objective lens of the projected eye contact portion is forwardly dislocated by inserting a washer into the position where the objective lens is fixed, so that the right and left eye contact portions are equally positioned in the optic axes directions. Hereinafter, this adjustment is referred to as an adjustment of a difference of eye contact positions. Several kinds of washers having a different thickness are prepared and are selected and inserted in accordance to the amount of projection of the eye contact portion having been caused in accordance with a difference of the focal length of the objective lenses.
Recently proposed binoculars have been provided with telephotographic optical systems disposed in parallel with objective lenses having a uniform distance between the optic axes thereof. Wherein, the optic axis of the objective lens in each of the telephotographic optical systems is eccentrically arranged with respect to the optic axis of an eye piece by a so-called Porro prism as an erecting prism system interposed between the objective lens and the eye piece, and an eye contact portion is rotated about the axis of the objective lens thereby to adjust the width between the eyes. In this type of binocular, a focusing mechanism is provided with the objective lenses in which the distance between optic axes thereof is not changed, since it is easier to provide the focusing mechanism on the objective lenses in which the distance of the optic axes is not changed as compared with the case in which the focusing mechanism is provided on the eye contact portions arranged to be rockingly moved for adjusting the width therebetween. Thus, a focusing operation is carried out by moving the objective lenses in an optic axis direction.
Nevertheless, when a focusing operation is carried out by moving the objective lenses as described above, a problem arises in that the arrangement of the binoculars is made complex in the portion near the objective lenses. In addition, the job of adjusting a difference between the eye contact positions carried out by adjusting the position of the objective lenses, is troublesome and requires skill because attention must be paid to not make the surface of the lenses dirty by grease applied to the sliding surface of objective lens frames to smoothly move the frames of the objective lenses, when the focusing operation is carried out.
Further, the above binoculars have two kinds of adjustment mechanisms, i.e., a mechanism for adjusting a diopter difference and a mechanism for adjusting a difference of eye contact positions which are optically the same mechanism, and thus the provision of the two adjustment mechanisms is useless.


Chip-Based Gaming includes methods for playing electronic games of chance or skill that provide players with a greater number of options and greater wagering flexibility than previous methods have afforded them. In the present Chip-Based gaming model, players may select virtual betting chips from an onscreen palette and apply those chips to various wagering opportunities throughout a game. Using this model, players are able to make individual bets on each of a slot machine's paylines or wager on making specific hands in Video Poker. Players are also able to buy and/or wager on symbol “nudges” and to buy symbol “re-spins” within a multi-line slot machine, options which provide the player with a much richer, more flexible gaming experience than he or she had heretofore enjoyed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present inventions relate generally to the field of regulated pay computer-controlled games, either games of skills or games of chance.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Existing models for betting within electronic games of chance such as video poker or multi-line slot machines are limited, as players are conventionally only offered high-level bets that apply across a number of potential onscreen events in each game. This betting model applies to multi-line slot machines, in that players are conventionally able to manipulate their bet sizes globally, across a number of pay lines, but are unable to assign specific bet sizes to each payline or to selected individual pay lines. This conventional betting model also applies to most video poker machines, in that players are able to manipulate their bet sizes across a number of potential reward-generating hands, but are not able to assign specific bets to specific hands.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.