An electrical control system for an absorption heat pump capable of conditioning a space by cooling or heating including:. (a) a unit activation component 64a having an on and off position responsive to temperature in the space to be conditioned; PA1 (b) a mode selection switch 64e having a heating mode position and a cooling mode position; PA1 (c) safety switches 64c for sensing hazardous operating conditions; PA1 (d) a timer device 60 which is activated by the unit activation component 64a and the safety switches 64c and which, after a predetermined period of activation, turns an output 64 to an on position; PA1 (e) a first control circuit 68 for operating the outside fan 15a when the unit activation component 64a is in the on position; PA1 (f) a second control circuit 69 for operating the solution pump 30 when the timer output 64 is in the on position; PA1 (g) a third control circuit 70 for operating the second or chilled coolant pump 12p when the timer output 64 is in the on position; PA1 (h) a fourth control circuit 71 and 71' for moving a valve 14 to a heating position when the mode selection switch 64e is in the heating position and for moving the valve 14 to a cooling position when the mode selection switch 64c is in the cooling position; and PA1 (i) a fifth control circuit 72 for operating a heat source 42v associated with the heat pump generator 10 when the timer output 64 is in the on position, the unit activation component 64a is in the on position and the safety switches 64c sense no hazard. The dependence of some control circuits on the unit activation component and others on the timer output improves the safety and reliability of the heat pump.

Electrical control circuits of various types are commonly used in air conditioning and heat pump systems of various types, including compression and absorption refrigeration systems. Such systems typically include various sensors or switches as inputs and controls for various valves and pumps as outputs. In an absorption system the controlled functions are typically the solution pump, one or more coolant pumps or fans and a heat source associated with the generator such as a gas burner and ignition device.
The control system described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,527,060 and 3,527,061, issued Sept. 8, 1970 to Kruggel, includes a thermal time delay responsive to a thermostat which, after a delay, starts water coolant pumps, a diaphragm solution pump, a fan associated with an outside coil, and a gas burner. The delay, although inherent in the system, serves no useful purpose. When the thermostat senses no further demand, the gas burner is shut off and, after a delay attributable to the same thermal timer, the remaining power components are shut down. Several additional safety and control switches are also provided.
Such a timed system utilizes some of the refrigeration capacity or heating capacity of the system after gas burner shut off. The delay prior to unit activation serves no useful purpose, however, with all of the power components coming on at once.
Furthermore, since the gas flame is normally ventilated by the same fan that draws outside air over the outside coil, the gas supply and the fan come on at the same time. Since the absorption fluids may include a flammable component such as ammonia or ethyl tetrahydrofurfuryl ether, a flame started before activation of the fan to ventilate the apparatus has the potential of starting an uncontrolled fire.


Disclosed is a method for calibrating optical spectrographs, and in particular optical spectrographs having focal plane array detectors. The method comprises the steps of detecting a spectrum of a known source, referencing a table of known spectral wavelengths and relative intensities, and deriving a spectrograph model based on the spectrograph's physical properties to approximate the observed spectrum, wherein non-linear optimization techniques refine the theoretical model parameters, thereby minimizing the residual difference between observed and calculated spectral intensities in an iterative process producing a set of physical model parameters that best describe the modeling spectrograph for calibration of subsequent spectral acquisitions.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an improved method for calibrating optical spectrographs, and in particular optical spectrographs having focal plane array detectors.
2. Background
A spectrograph spatially disperses light focused at an entrance slit onto an exit focal plane, where it may be detected by a detector. A spectrograph is calibrated when the spatial position of the various wavelength components of the dispersed light at the exit focal plane is known with some degree of accuracy. A spectrograph with a focal plane array detector may be calibrated by placing a light source with a plurality of known emission wavelengths in front of the entrance slit, rotating the grating to some angle and noting the position(s) in the array where the detector is illuminated.
Traditional calibration methods require substantial user input, assume sophistication on the user's part, and provide limited feedback on the accuracy of the calibration across the spectral range. In addition, the accuracy of traditional routines is partially limited by the number of emission lines observed (herein referred to as observables) at a given grating angle as a result of quantifying the calibration in wavelength space, e.g. a direct wavelength to detector pixel coordinate correlation. Moreover, it is easy for a user to collect data with an uncalibrated instrument. In the best case, post-acquisition spectral calibration is tedious; in the worst case, the data are invalid and the experiment must be repeated. Patents and publications in this field include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,339,665; 6,876,448; 6,700,661, and 6,362,878; and U.S. Patent Application Pub. no. 2006/0290929. All references cited herein are incorporated by reference.
A need exists, therefore, for an improved calibration method for optical spectrographs.

Method for calibrating imaging spectrographs


A two-phase DC/DC converter includes, as an inductor array, a pair of inductors to which a DC input voltage is alternately applied with a phase difference of about 180 degrees through switching control of switching devices. A duty ratio is substantially in a range from 5% to 40%, and a coupling factor between the inductors is substantially in a range from −0.4 to −0.1. With this configuration, ripple current in the inductors can be made to be smaller than in the case in which there is no coupling between the inductors even when the duty ratio considerably varies.

Existing examples of multiphase DC/DC converters of this type include a two-phase DC/DC converter 10 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,986, illustrated in FIG. 1.
In the two-phase DC/DC converter 10, input voltages Va and Vb are switched between by two switching devices 12 so that they are alternately converted into an output voltage Vc. A duty ratio, which is a ratio of the output voltage Vc to the input voltage Va or Vb is set to about 50% or between about 5% to 90%. The output voltage Vc is smoothed by two inductors, which are formed of windings 14A and 14B as an inductor array, and a capacitor 17. The windings 14A and 14B are wound about rungs 16A and 16B of a core 16, and the rungs 16A and 16B, together with risers 16C and 16D, form the core 16 which is substantially shaped like a square. When an input voltage Va is applied to the windings 14A and 14B through switching performed by the two switching devices 12 with a phase difference of about 180 degrees, magnetic flux 18A collides with magnetic flux 18C. When an input voltage Vb is applied to the windings 14A and 14B, magnetic flux 18B collides with magnetic flux 18D. Hence, when the input voltage Va or Vb is applied to the windings 14A and 14B, a magnetic flux flow in the core 16 is decreased, and negative coupling is generated between inductors formed by the windings 14A and 14B.
A magnetic inductance formed as a result of magnetic flux interlinking with the core 16 is set to be higher than or equal to about three times a leakage inductance formed as a result of magnetic flux leaking from the core 16. In other words, a coupling factor k between inductors formed by the windings 14A and 14B is substantially set to −0.75 or less (k≦−0.75). In the case where the duty ratio is about 50%, as shown by characteristics line 19 represented by a solid line, in the graph illustrated in FIG. 2, the smaller the coupling factor k with respect to this negative value (k≦−0.75) and, hence, the stronger the negative coupling, the smaller the ripple current in the inductors, whereby the DC voltage conversion efficiency of the two-phase DC/DC converter 10 increases. Note that the horizontal axis of the graph represents the coupling factor k and the vertical axis represents ripple current (A) in the inductors.

Multiphase DC/DC converter with coupling inductors


A multiwell plate scanner comprises a detector for measuring an attribute of a sample which is scanned continuously over wells of a multiwell plate. A signal obtained during the scan may be sampled and digitized based on detector position over the multiwell plate. The scanner is also disclosed for scanning microarrays, bio-chips and areas of samples not having physical separations. The scanner may be used in a high throughput screening system comprising a storage and retrieval module, a sample distribution module, a reagent distribution module, and a detector which incorporates the scanner. The screening system may further comprise a transport module and a data processing and integration module for transporting samples between the components of the system and for controlling system operation. In a further aspect, the present invention comprises methods and apparatus to compensate for variations, inconsistencies and other differences in the dimensions, configuration and/or materials of the platform in which an assay is performed. Another aspect of the invention is a system and method for performing an assay to detect the effect of a reagent on a target. The present invention is also directed to compositions and therapeutics identified by the disclosed methods. A further aspect of the present invention is a method of testing a therapeutic for therapeutic activity and toxicology by identifying a compound using a method of the present invention and monitoring the toxicology and efficacy of the therapeutic in an in vivo model.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices and methods for rapidly identifying chemicals with biological activity in liquid samples, particularly automated screening of low volume samples for new medicines, agrochemicals, or cosmetics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drug discovery is a highly time dependent and critical process in which significant improvements in methodology can dramatically improve the pace at which a useful chemical becomes a validated lead, and ultimately forms the basis for the development of a drug. In many cases the eventual value of a useful drug is set by the timing of its arrival into the market place, and the length of time the drug enjoys as an exclusive treatment for a specific ailment.
A major challenge for pharmaceutical companies is to increase the speed and efficiency of this process while at the same time minimizing costs. One solution to this problem has been to develop high throughput screening systems that enable the rapid analysis of many thousands of chemical compounds per 24 hours. To reduce the otherwise prohibitive costs of screening such large numbers of compounds, typically these systems use miniaturized assay systems that dramatically reduce reagent costs, and improve productivity. To efficiently handle large numbers of miniaturized assays it is necessary to implement automatic robotically controlled analysis systems that can provide reliable reagent addition and manipulations. Preferably these systems and the invention herein are capable of interacting in a coordinated fashion with other systems sub-components, such as a central compound store to enable rapid and efficient processing of samples.
Miniaturized high throughput screening systems require robust, reliable and reproducible methods of analysis that are sensitive enough to work with small sample sizes. While there are a large number of potential analysis methods that can successfully be used in macroscopic analysis, many of these procedures are not easily miniaturizable, or lack sufficient sensitivity when miniaturized. This is typically true because absolute signal intensity from a given sample decreases as a function of the size of the sample, whereas background optical or detector noise remains more or less constant for large or small samples. Preferred assays for miniaturized high throughput screening assays have high signal to noise ratios for very small sample sizes.
Fluorescence based measurements have high sensitivity and perform well with small samples, where factors such as inner filtering of excitation and emission light are reduced. Fluorescence based measurements therefore exhibit good signal to noise ratios even with small sample sizes. A particularly preferred method of using fluorescence based signal detection is to generate a fluorescent (emission) signal that simultaneously changes at two or more wavelengths. A ratio can be calculated based on the emission light intensity at the first wavelength divided by the emitted light intensity at a second wavelength. This ratiometric measurement of a fluorescent assay has several important advantages over other non-ratiometric types of analysis. Firstly, the ratio is largely independent of the actual concentration of the fluorescent dye that is emitting fluorescence. Secondly, the ratio is largely independent of the intensity of light with which the fluorescent compound is being excited. Thirdly, the ratio is largely independent of changes in the sensitivity of the detector, provided that is that these changes are the same for the detection efficiency at both wavelengths. This combination of advantages makes fluorescence based ratiometric assays highly attractive for high throughput screening systems, where day to day, and, assay to assay reproducibility are important.
Traditionally, there are two general ways to read fluorescence from a multi-well plate. In one arrangement, a read head is moved from well to well and at each well, there is a dwell time during which the fluorescence signal is digitized and stored into memory. Optically, this scheme is the simplest. There is only one optical assembly, one set of filters and one detector. However, depending on how many wells there are in the plate, the read time can be unacceptably long. It is not just the dwell times that contribute to the total read time. Every time the read head is moved from well to well, it takes time to accelerate and decelerate the stage used in moving the setup.
In the other arrangement, some sort of parallelism is employed. Either a picture is taken of the plate, using a CCD camera or some other imaging arrangement, or multiple optical read heads are employed. The advantage of this arrangement is a significant reduction in the read time. However, a new difficulty is introduced, namely that of normalization. When several wells are read at the same time by several read heads, the question that arises is how to make sure that these heads behave in the same way in terms of collection efficiency, detector sensitivity, filter quality and the like. In the case of a CCD camera, the analogous issue is one of flat-fielding. Accordingly, improved methods and systems for rapidly and accurately measuring fluorescence signals in high throughput screening environments are needed.
In one embodiment, a method in accordance with the invention comprises placing a platform on a detector for detecting sample attributes, wherein the detector has an adjustable parameter. The method includes making a plurality of measurements of a characteristic of the platform to obtain a plurality of measured values of the characteristic at different locations on the platform. The attributes are measured with the detector with the parameter adjusted based upon the measured values.
In one embodiment, the platform is a multi-well plate, the characteristic comprises a bottom contour of the multi-well plate, and the adjustable parameter comprises the distance between an optical detector and the multi-well plate bottom. In some of these embodiments, to maintain the optimal distance between the optics and the plate, the detector is provided with a sensor used to detect the location of a plate element of interest. In addition, the optics are mounted on an optics positioning device, for example a linear stage. In one embodiment, the optics positioning device may be oriented in the vertical axis so that the vertical position of the optics may be adjusted relative to the plate. Alternative to adjusting the optics, the plate positioner may be mounted on a stage oriented in the vertical axis and the plate may be moved to adjust the relative position of the plate and optics. The optics positioning device is slaved to the stages on the plate positioner which controls the horizontal position of the plate relative to the optics.
The method of reading a microplate while compensating for plate variations comprises first mapping the topology of the plate element of interest, for example the elevation of the plate bottom relative to the optics. The plate is moved relative to the sensor along all or a representative portion of the plate element of interest. The plate may be moved in any desired pattern which covers the desired area, but is preferably moved in a raster scan. As the plate is moved, the sensor measures the location of the plate element of interest. From these measurements a contour map of the plate element of interest may be computed which describes the plate topology. After the mapping is complete, the scanner reads the plate. During the reading scan, the optics positioning device adjusts the positioning of the optics based upon the mapped plate topology to maintain the desired distance between the optics and the critical plate element. For example, the optics positioning device may adjust the distance between the optics and the bottom of the plate to maintain a substantially constant distance between the optics and the bottom of the plate as each of the wells is scanned. In some advantageous embodiments, the reading scan is performed in an essentially continuous fashion along rows of wells, avoiding dwell time on each well and thereby decreasing the time required to scan a multi-well plate.
In another embodiment, an apparatus for detecting an attribute of a plurality of samples disposed on a platform comprises a platform positioning stage for supporting the platform and for aligning a predetermined location of the platform with a predetermined position. The apparatus further comprises a first sensor which measures a feature of the platform at a plurality of different locations and transmits the measured values to a controller. A detector is provided having a signal output representative of the attribute, wherein the detector is positioned to detect the attribute of a sample when the sample is aligned with the predetermined position, and wherein the detector has optics for receiving light transmitted from the samples and the optics are mounted on an optics positioning device. In addition, a controller is adapted to receive the measured values and to transmit a signal to an optics positioning device to control the position of the optics relative to the platform, wherein the optics positioning device is adapted to automatically adjust the position of the optics relative to the platform in response to a signal from the controller based upon the measured values.
Other embodiments of the invention include methods of identifying a chemical having modulating activity with respect to a target molecule. In one specific embodiment, such a method comprises retrieving a plurality of sample chemicals from a chemical storage and retrieval module, placing the plurality of sample chemicals in respective wells of a multiwell plate; routing the multiwell plate to an automated analysis system comprising a detector adapted to measure an attribute of a chemical, biological or biochemical sample, wherein the detector has a detection head, an adjustable parameter and a sensor for measuring a feature of the multiwell plate. The multi-well plate is placed on the detector, and a plurality of measurements are made with the sensor of the feature at or proximate to a plurality of predetermined locations on the multiwell plate. This particular method additionally comprises measuring, with the detector, an attribute of the samples in each predetermined well with the adjustable parameter adjusted based upon the measured value of the feature at the predetermined location at or proximate to each predetermined well so as to obtain measured attribute values for each sample. The measured attribute values are analyzed to detect the modulating activity.
Furthermore, another embodiment of the invention comprises a medicament made by a process comprising identifying a pharmacologically active chemical by a process including loading chemicals into a plurality of wells of a multiwell plate, placing the multiwell plate in a detector adapted to measure an attribute of a chemical, biological or biochemical sample, the detector having a detection head, an adjustable parameter and a sensor for measuring a feature of the multiwell plate, and making a plurality of measurements with the sensor of the feature at or proximate to a plurality of predetermined locations on the multiwell plate to obtain a measured value of the feature at each of the predetermined locations, each of the predetermined locations being at or proximate to a predetermined well of the multiwell plate. The method also comprises measuring, with the detector, an attribute of the samples in each predetermined well with the adjustable parameter adjusted based upon the measured value of the feature at the predetermined location at or proximate to each predetermined well, thereby detecting pharmacological activity of at least one of the samples and incorporating an effective amount of at least one of the pharmacologically active samples into a biocompatible carrier.


A multi-stage diagnostic system and related method which seeks diagnostic information from a secondary information source when a first information source does not yield sufficient data for producing a diagnostic result. In particular, diagnostic process includes a first stage of communicating with an onboard vehicle computer to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes therefrom. If diagnostic trouble codes are received from the onboard computer, the diagnostic trouble codes are used to produce a diagnostic result. On the other hand, if no diagnostic trouble codes are retrieved from the onboard computer, the diagnostic process proceeds to a second stage wherein symptomatic diagnostic information is solicited from the user. A series of symptomatic questions may be presented to the user on a smartphone.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a smart phone application, and more specifically, a smart phone application for facilitating symptomatic diagnosis of a vehicle in response to an indication that there are no diagnostic trouble codes present in an onboard vehicle computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automobiles are a common means of transportation in regions throughout the world. In this regard, automobiles may be used for local, day-to-day transportation, or for traveling to more far-reaching destinations.
Automobiles are sophisticated machines comprised of cooperative electrical, mechanical and fluid components. Although automobiles are designed to operate for long periods of time between routine maintenance and checkup, breakdowns may occur at any moment. For those drivers using their automobile for local transportation, a breakdown may be quickly remedied by visiting a local mechanic or repair shop. However, if an automobile breaks down while in a remote location, it may be more difficult to resolve the problem.
For instance, the driver may be required to call an unknown tow-service to have the automobile to a nearby repair shop. Once at the repair shop, the driver is oftentimes in a vulnerable position since the driver cannot diagnose the automobile problem by himself and thus, must rely on the opinion of the mechanic. The mechanic may be misleading as to the true nature of the problem, as well as the cost associated with fixing the problem.
Various devices have been developed to arm the driver with objective diagnostic information regarding the health of their vehicle. For instance, diagnostic scan tools are devices which typically connect with an onboard vehicle computer to retrieve diagnostic trouble codes therefrom. The diagnostic trouble codes may be uploaded to a diagnostic database for analysis for determining a possible diagnostic solution.
Although such devices are typically powerful automotive diagnostic tools, drivers oftentimes do not have access to diagnostic equipment when a vehicle breaks down. For instance, one family may own one diagnostic scan tool for use with several vehicles, such that if any of the vehicles not including the diagnostic scan tool breaks down, the tool may not be available as a resource.
Recognizing this deficiency, there is a need in the art for a diagnostic system which utilizes equipment readily accessible to a driver, should a breakdown occur. One device commonly carried or kept in close proximity to many individuals is a smart phone, which is a handheld electronic device capable of communicating over a cellular telephone network. Smart phones are also typically include data processing and display capabilities, which allows smart phones to be used for a wide range of functions beyond simply making phone calls.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an automotive diagnostic system which utilizes the capabilities smart phone to retrieve symptomatic information from a user/driver and upload such information to a diagnostic database. As described below, the present invention addresses these and other improvements to contemporary vehicle authentication and diagnostic prediction systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multi-stage diagnostic system and method


Disclosed is a method for melting and solidification of a scintillating material in micromechanical structures, including controlling the melting and solidification of the scintillating material by individually controlled heat sources, a top heater and a bottom heater, placed above and below a process chamber, housing a sample with the micromechanical structures and the scintillating material. The heaters are controlled to set a vertical temperature gradient over the sample to control the melting and solidification of the scintillating material. During melting, the top heater is ramped up and stabilized at a temperature where no melting occurs and the bottom heater is ramped up and stabilized at a temperature where melting occurs during a period of time while the scintillating material melts and flows into the micromechanical structures. During solidification, the temperature of the bottom heater decreases to enable solidification to take place starting from the bottom of the micromechanical structures.

It is common practice to use a scintillator in combination with an image sensor to capture x-ray images. In such a setup, the scintillator absorbs x-ray photons and emits secondary photons, which are typically in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum and can be detected by an image sensor placed behind the scintillator. In an unstructured or semi-structured scintillator, the secondary photons spread laterally while traveling through the scintillator towards the image sensor. This results in blurring of the image because the image sensor registers signal not only in the pixel right below where the x-ray photon was absorbed, but also in other pixels in its vicinity. This mechanism deteriorates the image resolution of the x-ray detecting system and in many cases limits the achievable image resolution of the system. To overcome this problem, a structured scintillator comprising a micromechanical structure such as a pore matrix filled with scintillating material can be used. The structured scintillator eliminates, or at least significantly reduces, the lateral spread of secondary photons in the scintillator, thus avoiding deterioration of the image resolution.
In some applications, the use of micromechanical trenches, functioning as elongated scintillation strips is of particular interest, for example as scintillating gratings in x-ray phase contrast imaging.
When melting and solidifying scintillator material in micromechanical structures, there are many factors that determine the quality of the final crystal. In a conventional furnace, there is often problem with formation of bubbles during the melting, leading to undesired voids in the solidified scintillating material. Another problem with a conventional furnace is that heating is typically more or less isotropic, which means that there is little or no control of the nucleation process, i.e. of where nucleation starts during the solidification process. In addition to the undesired formation of voids mentioned above, this uncontrolled nucleation also typically results in an undesired poly-crystalline structure with small crystal grains, rather than the desired large crystal grains or ultimately single-crystalline structure. Due to these effects, there will typically be non-uniform characteristics when measured over the area of the scintillator, in terms of (i) x-ray absorption, (ii) efficiency of secondary photon generation, and/or (iii) optical guiding of the secondary photons towards the exit surface of the scintillator.

Method for melting and solidification of scintillating material in micromechanical structures


A method of verifying properties of a source program includes creating a directed multigraph from the source program. The directed multigraph is then minimized by identifying removable vertices in the multigraph. Based on the minimization of the directed multigraph, the source program is transformed by inlining variables in the source program to produce a transformed program. The transformed program is then model checked using a model checking tool in order to verify properties of the source program.

The present invention relates generally to model checking, which is an automated approach to proving properties about programs through exhaustive state space exploration. More particularly, the present invention relates to a preprocessing method and system for model-checking languages which can be used to improve performance of model checking tools.
Model checking (both explicit state and symbolic) has been successfully used to verify properties of various finite state systems, such as communications protocols, concurrent systems, hardware designs, and software systems. The primary limitation of model checking is the state space explosion problem, which limits the size of systems that can be successfully checked by a model checker.
For implicit state model checkers, the state space is not explicitly represented; instead, sets of states, and the model itself, are described as a formula over a set of Boolean variables. For these tools, it is not only the number of reachable states but also the size of the Boolean representation of the state and the model that determine whether or not a tool is able to successfully analyze the model.
For implicit state model checking tools, it is well known that the structure of the Boolean formula representing the model affects the difficulty of verifying properties over it, and a considerable amount of research has been done to try to minimize the size of the Boolean representation of a model. Many checkers, such as the Symbolic Model Verifier (SMV) available from Carnegie Mellon University and the Symbolic Analysis Laboratory (SAL) available from Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Inc. are based on Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) representations of Boolean formulae. BDDs provide a compact, efficient encoding of Boolean formulae. The performance of logical operations on BDDs, and therefore model checking tools based on BDDs, is sensitive both to the number of variables necessary to encode the model and also to the ordering of variables within the BDD.

Variable graph minimization for improved model-checking performance


The present invention provides anti-hemagglutinin antibodies, compositions comprising anti-hemagglutinin antibodies, and methods of using the same.

Influenza virus infection causes between three and five million cases of severe illness and between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths every year around the world. In the United States alone, 5% to 20% of the population becomes infected with influenza virus each year, with the majority of these infections caused by the influenza A virus. (See, e.g., Dushoff et al., (2006) Am J Epidemiology 163:181-187; Thompson et al., (2004) JAMA 292:1333-1340; Thompson et al., (2003) JAMA 289:179-186.) Approximately 200,000 people in the United States become hospitalized with influenza-related complications every year, resulting in 7,000 to 30,000 deaths annually. The burden associated with influenza virus infection on health care costs and lost productivity is extensive. Hospitalization and deaths mainly occur in high-risk groups, such as the elderly, children, and chronically ill.
Influenza viruses are segmented membrane-enveloped negative-strand RNA viruses belonging to the Orthomyxoviridae family. Influenza A virus consists of 9 structural proteins and 1 non-structural protein, which include three virus surface proteins: hemagglutinin (HA or H), neuraminidase (NA or N), and matrix protein 2 (M2). The segmented nature of the influenza viral genome allows the mechanism of genetic reassortment (i.e., exchange of genome segments) to take place during mixed infection of a cell with different influenza viral strains. Annual epidemics of influenza occur when the antigenic properties of the viral surface proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase are altered. The mechanism of altered antigenicity is twofold: antigenic shift, caused by genetic rearrangement between human and animal viruses after co-infection of host cells with at least two viral subtypes, which can cause a pandemic; and antigenic drift, caused by small changes in the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins on the virus surface, which can cause influenza epidemics.
Influenza A viruses may be further classified into various subtypes depending on the different hemagglutinin and neuraminidase viral proteins displayed on their surface. Each influenza A virus subtype is identified by the combination of its hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins. There are 16 known HA subtypes (H1-H16) and 9 known NA subtypes (N1-N9). The 16 hemagglutinin subtypes are further classified into two phylogenetic groups: Group1 includes hemagglutinin H1, H2, H5, H6, H8, H9, H11, H12, H13, and H16 subtypes; Group2 includes hemagglutinin H3, H4, H7, H10, H14, and H15 subtypes.
Hemagglutinin promotes viral attachment and entry into the host cell; neuraminidase is required for viral budding from the infected cell. The hemagglutinin of influenza A virus comprises two structurally distinct regions—a globular head region and a stalk or stem region. The globular head region contains a receptor binding site which is responsible for virus attachment to a target cell. The stalk (or stem) region of hemagglutinin contains a fusion peptide which is necessary for membrane fusion between the viral envelope and an endosomal membrane of the infected cell. (See, e.g., Bouvier and Palese (2008) Vaccine 26 Suppl 4: D49-53; Wiley et al., (1987) Ann Rev Biochem 556:365-394.)
Current treatment for influenza virus infection includes neuraminidase inhibitors, such as oseltamivir and zanamivir. Oseltamivir is a widely used prophylactic and early therapeutic treatment option for influenza A virus infection. (See, e.g., Kandel and Hartshorn (2001) BioDrugs: Clinical Immunotherapy, Biopharmaceuticals and Gene Therapy 15:303-323; Nicholson et al., (2000) Lancet 355:1845-1850; Treanor et al., (2000) JAMA 283:1016-1024; and Welliver et al., (2001) JAMA 285:748-754.) However, oseltamivir treatment must begin within 48 hours of symptom onset to provide a significant clinical benefit. (See, e.g., Aoki et al (2003) J Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 51:123-129.) This liability compromises oseltamivir's ability to treat severely ill patients, who are typically beyond the optimal 48-hour treatment window at the time of seeking treatment. Therefore, significant focus has recently been placed on identifying influenza virus therapeutics to treat hospitalized influenza virus infected patients. One strategy has focused on development of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that target a highly conserved epitope on the stalk of influenza A virus hemagglutinin. (See, e.g., Corti et al., (2011) Science 333:850-856; Ekiert et al., (2009) Science 324:246-251; Ekiert et al., (2011) Science 333:843-850; Sui et al., (2009) Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16:265-273; Dreyfus et al., (2012) Science 337:1343-1348; Wu et al., (2012) J Virology 2012.09.034; Clementi et al., (2011) PLoS One 6:1-10. See also International Patent Application Publication Nos: WO2009/115972, WO2011/117848, WO2008/110937, WO2010/010466, WO2008/028946, WO2010/130636, WO2012/021786, WO2010/073647, WO2011/160083, WO2011/111966, WO2002/46235, and WO2009/053604; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,631,350 and 5,589,174.)
Several reports have described monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that bind hemagglutinin and broadly neutralize influenza A virus. For example, Corti et al. (supra) described antibody FI6v3, which was cloned from a human plasma cell and shown to neutralize human influenza A viruses belonging to both Group1 and Group2 hemagglutinin subtypes. The FI6v3 mAb was discovered as a result of a heroic effort of analyzing approximately 104,000 human plasma cells. Additionally, Dreyfus et al. (supra) recently described the identification of antibody CR9114 by phage display panning; antibody CR9114 was shown to bind to a highly conserved stalk epitope shared between influenza A virus and influenza B virus hemagglutinin.
Despite these reports, a need still exists in the art for novel influenza A virus therapies effective against Group1 and Group2 influenza A virus subtypes. The present invention meets this need and provides other benefits for the treatment of influenza A virus infection.

Anti-hemagglutinin antibodies and methods of use


According to one embodiment, an ink-jet head includes a main body, electrodes, electrically conductive portions, an insulating film, a frame member, a lid member, an electronic component, a protective agent. The main body includes pressure chambers. The insulating film covers the electrodes and a part of the electrically conductive portions. The frame member is attached to the main body from above the insulating film. The protective agent covers an end portion of the insulating film located between the frame member and the electronic component and the electrically conductive portions between the electronic component and the end portion of the insulating film.

An ink-jet head comprises a substrate and a piezoelectric member mounted on the substrate. The piezoelectric member comprises a plurality of groove-like pressure chambers to be supplied with ink. Electrodes are disposed in the pressure chambers, individually, and are connected individually to a plurality of electrical traces on the substrate. A driver IC for controlling the ink-jet head is connected to the electrical traces. If the driver IC applies voltage to the electrodes in the pressure chambers through the electrical traces, the piezoelectric member undergoes a shear-mode deformation such that the ink in the pressure chambers can be discharged.
To prevent corrosion of electrically conductive portions or a short circuit, an insulating film is formed on the electrodes in the pressure chambers and the electrical traces on the substrate. In forming the insulating film, those portions to which the driver IC is connected are masked with, for example, grease.
After the insulating film is formed, that part of it located on the grease is removed. The driver IC is connected to the electrical traces exposed by the masking. On the other hand, the electrical traces are left exposed between the driver IC and an end portion of the insulating film. Thus, exposed parts of the electrical traces may be degraded.

Ink-jet head and method of manufacturing ink-jet head


A method for drying sludge which may contain combustible vapors in a manner to positively prevent fires and explosions within the sludge dryer and the associated sludge-drying piping. The method provides for a substantial reduction of the oxygen content of the sludge-drying vapors by deviating a part of the sludge-drying vapor stream from the principal vapor circuit and passing it as secondary combustion air into the combustion chamber which generates hot gases for drying the sludge. Furthermore, a portion of the hot effluents from the combustion chamber is deviated from the sludge-drying circuit and is used to heat the sludge-drying vapors whereafter it is vented to the atmosphere. In a variant of the invention, an acid scrubber is provided to remove hydrochloric acid. A number of embodiments is presented.

In a known method for sewage sludge treatment, the digested sludge is subjected to treatment in an apparatus which includes a combustion chamber, a dryer, a cyclonic dust precipitator and a suction blower, all connected in series. It is necessary to label the inlet temperatures of material admitted to the dryer below approximately 550.degree. C. This requires that a substantial amount of cold air is added to the hot gases generated in the combustion chamber prior to admission to the dryer. As a result, these gases acquire an excess of air leading to an air factor .lambda. between 2 and 3, i.e., a relatively high value. Even if the outlet temperature of the dried vapors is held at the relatively low temperature of 100.degree. C., the thermal efficiency of the drying process is relatively low. Furthermore, the high air factor .lambda. means that the dryer is operated with gases which have an oxygen content of more than 13%. Such gases cause numerous dryer fires and even explosion-like combustion within the dryer. Furthermore, the known dryer apparatus connected in the manner described above causes emissions of dust and foul-smelling substances into the atmosphere which is contrary to the goals of environmental protection. The dust contained in the gas could be eliminated by placing an air scrubber between the cyclonic precipitator and the suction blower but the unpleasant odors are generally not removed from the gas by scrubbing.
Another known method for sludge drying and treatment has a provision for returning sludge vapors due to drying to the inlet of the dryer to be admixed there with the hot gases coming from the combustion chamber. This method results in improved heat economies and a relatively lower air excess factor without increasing the temperature of the dryer beyond permissible limits. However, the aforementioned emissions of dust and odor-causing vapors are not eliminated. Accordingly, the known sludge drying apparatus and method can be used only for drying pure mineral sludges in which the drying vapors are odor-free.


A wireless power transmitter includes a converter configured to output an alternating current (AC) voltage in response to a transmission control signal; a power transmitter including a power transmitting coil and configured to vary an impedance in response to a resonance control signal, and to receive the AC voltage to wirelessly transmit power; and a controller configured to determine whether a wireless power receiver is present while varying the transmission control signal and the resonance control signal.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a wireless power transmitter that wirelessly transmits power, and a method for wirelessly transmitting power.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless power transfer technology has been widely used in the area of chargers of various communications devices, including smartphones, and home appliances, and is a technology having a very wide field of application, which may also be used for an electric vehicle, or the like, in the future. In the wireless power transfer technology field, various attempts at increasing a wireless power transmitting distance as well as a degree of freedom in charging target positioning have been conducted.

Wireless power transmitter and method for wirelessly transmitting power


A system and method for organizing and retrieving conditioned data is disclosed. The data retrieval application includes a criteria determination engine, an optimization engine and a retrieval engine. The criteria determination engine determines criteria set for a list of data elements. The optimization engine organizes the list of data elements into a directed acyclic graph embodying a skip list data structure and optimizes the constructed directed acyclic graph. The retrieval engine receives a query, determines the features of the query, queries the directed acyclic graph using the features and retrieves a node representing a user interface data based on the criteria set matching the features.

The specification relates to organization and retrieval of data conditioned upon multi-dimensional features of a query.
Organizing data for quick and easy retrieval can become complicated. This may be particularly true when the data being organized is conditioned by associated criteria for retrieval and the associated criteria for the data can overlap and intersect. For example, a hash table can be utilized to partition the data based on a subset of dimensions of the associated criteria. The same hash function can be applied to features of a query to determine which hash buckets to search for matching data. This approach may be problematic, however, because it can be biased towards certain dimensions, be storage-intensive and deliver degraded performance because of growing hash buckets.

Organization and retrieval of conditioned data


A car seat/stroller has a rigid tubular telescoping handle assembly and wheel bracket assembly which are fitted thereto in a manner which does not interfere with normal operation of the device as a car safety seat, but rather enhances the seat's safety and convenience. The handle assembly consists of a series of telescoping sections of tubing. Two holes are drilled at a diagonal angle into an infant car seat at respective top corners of the seat's sides, and further through respective flares at armrest portions of the seat. A tubular sleeve is inserted into each hole and is fed through to an underside of the flare. A clamping adjustment device is then affixed to one or both tubular sleeves at an upper portion thereof. Tubular L-shaped upper handle members are inserted into the tubular sleeves. The tubular L-shaped upper handle members are joined via a connecting tube having tensioning wires, each of which is fastened at a first end to an end stop in the connecting tube and at a second end to a second end stop in the tubular L-shaped upper handle member. A flat bar bracket having a first set of wheels thereon is affixed to a bottom portion of the seat in a manner whereby the wheels extend just below the lowermost portion of the seat and do not extend substantially beyond the outer periphery of the seat's housing. A retractable pivoting support on the car seat's bottom portion is modified by drilling a hole therethrough and inserting an axle on which a secondary set of wheels is mounted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to infant safety seats for use in automobiles, and in particular to a conversion for transforming an infant car seat into a car seat/stroller.
2. Related Art
Infant car seats which are suitable for use as strollers are known. However, these devices have heretofore been complex in nature, have required a difficult conversion from one configuration to the next, and/or have not provided a means for easily and inexpensively transforming a "production" car seat into a car seat/stroller combination. Further, the prior art features allowing an infant car seat to function as a stroller have been obtrusive in nature and have hindered, rather than enhanced, the operation and safety of the seat when used as a car seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,688 to Edwards teaches a stroller with retractable telescoping legs and handles which unlock and fold forward into a position wherein they are interlocked with the retracted legs so that the seat may be placed in an automobile. Two distinct configurations are necessary for operation of the seat in stroller mode and car seat mode, respectively. Operation of the folding and interlocking handles and legs can be difficult, especially where the operator has the additional responsibility of handling the child. Further, the design of the stroller/car seat of Edwards does not lend itself to modification of a production car seat to yield the disclosed device.

Infant car seat stroller conversion and method therefor


A radio transmission system including many radio transmitters using frequency hopping carriers to intermittently transmit very short messages indicative of status of sensors associated with the transmitters. In operation, a time interval generator included in a transmitter generates pulses activating the transmitter at time intervals according to a predetermined algorithm. When activated, the transmitter transmits a message at one or several different frequencies. The frequencies are changed according to a predetermined algorithm and differ for each subsequent transmission. Alternatively, when an abnormal sensor status is detected, the transmitter transmits repeated messages at a plurality of predetermined alarm frequencies for a predetermined time regardless of the time interval generator. The system also includes one or more receivers containing a plurality of memory registers to hold digital data indicative of (a) the time and (b) the frequency of the next transmission occurrence independently for each transmitter. The registers are programmed separately for each transmitter based on the time, frequency, and the content of the received messages. In addition, the receiver includes an improved RSSI circuit based on FFT to detect transmitted carrier power at several different frequencies in order to improve synchronization and acquisition. The receiver also includes one or more frequency selective circuits that are tuned in response to the outputs from FFT and the status of the time and frequency registers. In addition, there is provided a method for authentication of the received messages.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to radio transmission systems in which a plurality of transmitters intermittently transmit short messages indicative of status of sensors associated with the transmitters, to a method of synchronization suitable for using frequency hopping carrier in such systems, and to a method of authentication of the received messages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In certain types of radio transmitter systems there exist many transmitters that periodically transmit very short messages to one or more receivers. One example of such systems is burglary and fire alarm systems. In these systems, many transmitters located at different places in a building transmit messages indicative of the status of monitoring sensors to a receiver that collects the data from the sensors. Normally, the transmitters transmit supervisory status messages that are as short as feasible and the period between the transmissions is as long as feasible in order to minimize the average current drain as the transmitters in these systems are typically battery operated. In addition, short and infrequent transmissions lower the probability that the data is lost due to collisions which occur when two or more transmitters transmit at the same time. However, when an alarm condition occurs, a transmitter transmits immediately in order to convey the alarm message with little delay.
Typically, such systems transmit data at a single frequency. Thus, they are susceptible to interference and signal loss due to phenomena known as multipath fading. Consequently, the reliability of such systems is compromised or conversely, the transmitted power has to be increased to overcome the fading, which results in a larger power drain and a shorter battery life. Besides, there usually are regulatory limits that restrict such transmitter power and thus limit the possible compensation by sheer increase of power. Since the multipath effect is highly sensitive to the frequency of the transmitted carrier, the frequency hopping spread spectrum technique has a potential to eliminate these drawbacks. However, frequency hopping systems require long acquisition time and they are typically used in two way communication applications in which all the devices are continuously synchronizing with one master device or with each other using a variety of synchronization methods as shown in some of the following references. In other cases, to ease the synchronization problem, there are employed multichannel receivers that can simultaneously receive signals at many frequencies by making the receiver broadband or by using several receivers at the same time. Generally, those solutions suffer from performance degradation or high cost or both, which makes them less desirable for low cost applications that require high reliability such as security alarms.
For example according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,638 granted to Walters, a receiver local oscillator has a comb spectrum. This effectively makes it a wide band since each of the frequency range down-converted by the spectral components of the local oscillator will fall in the receiver pass-band and raises the noise floor at the detector input. Consequently, the sensitivity of such receiver will be adversely affected.
In another example according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,602 granted to Kemppainen, each hoppping frequency is monitored by a separate receiver. This is very costly and presently not suitable for low cost systems.
In another example, according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,6149,45 granted to Brunius et al., a system is described that allows multiple instruments to be monitored and data to simultaneously transmitted by several radio transponders. However, in order to operate properly, the transponders have to be energized by a RF signal to begin a transmission sequence. This necessitates a radio receiver to be included in the transponder. This makes the system a two-way communications system. Such systems are inherently more complex and costly than one-way communications systems.
In yet another example, according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,303 granted to Adair, a transmitting apparatus is described that transmits bursts of data continuously at varying time intervals and at varying frequencies. However, the apparatus as described in the preferred embodiment and associated claims, allows identical hopping pattern to be realized in the transmitters. A means is provided to offset the starting point of the variation sequence for different transmitters depending on the transmitter ID, so that the hopping sequences in various transmitters are initially offset in respect to each other. However, due to unavoidable reference frequency drifts that are different in various transmitters, the sequences may slide in respect to each other. Consequently, it is only a matter of time that the patterns of two or more transmitters will be aligned thus producing a condition for persistent collisions of the transmitted data bursts. In addition, Adair does not provide for a receiving apparatus or a method that would allow such transmitted signals with varying frequencies to be received. In the case of Adair's invention, the actual sequence used by a transmitter is not predetermined but instead it may vary with temperature and depends on the transmitter circuit design and manufacturing tolerances, therefore the signal acquisition is made even more difficult.
A serious problem that must be addressed in battery operated systems is to shorten the transmission time as much as possible by making the message preamble as short as possible in order to conserve the battery power. Therefore, the synchronization of the receiver with the transmitters is a difficult task. This problem is exacerbated in some systems such as security alarms that require some messages to be conveyed to the system immediately without waiting for the scheduled transmission time. A related problem in battery operated systems is a limitation of the transmitted power in order to conserve the battery power. The frequency hopping system, if designed properly, can be advantageously used to combat multipath fading that is a major source of transmitted signal attenuation. Consequently, proper method and construction of the receiver is of great importance. The system design and the receiver design should be done to support each other advantageously.
For example according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,637 granted to Oliva, et al., a method is described to reduce the synchronization overhead in frequency hopping systems to reduce the burden of re-synchronization before each separate transmission. The method is based on allocation of specific time slots for any unit that desires to transmit data and thus the method requires a two-way communications to accomplish the necessary exchange of series of reservation and acknowledge messages.
Similarly, in yet another example, according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,329 granted to Gastouniotis et al., a two-way system is used for an efficient operation of a telemetry system designed to operate in the presence of multipath fading and interference.
Recently, multicarrier receivers, i.e. receivers that can simultaneously receive symbols at many frequencies using FFT (Fast Fourier Transform), become popular especially in the area of telecommunications. Specifically, such multicarrier receiver created the greatest interest in the area of digital subscriber loop where multiple implementations have been pursued to improve the data rate in the frequency selective communications channels by simultaneous use of multiple modulated carriers. The disadvantage of these implementations of multicarrier transceivers is that fairly complex signals are produced in the transmitters that require expensive and power hungry logic. Thus, these implementations are not suitable for the low cost and low power transmitters used for sensor monitoring.
Another implementation of multicarrier receiver is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,582 granted to Brajal, et al., is aimed at reception of frequency hopping modulated carrier. The designer stated objective was to receive fast hopping modulated carrier using multicarrier receiver principle based on FFT in order to avoid the need to construct fast and phase accurate hopping controlled oscillator in the receiver/transmitter stations.
The system is in principle designed for two-way communication and as such is not suitable for low cost implementations such as required for alarm systems.
Another disadvantage of this method is that it uses a fast frequency hopping in which the data content of the transmitted message determines the sequence of the transmission frequencies and where several frequencies are used to transmit one symbol. Fast frequency hopping requires faster processing in the receiver and the transmitters and results in a more complex and expensive system.
U.S. Pat. References: Pat. No. Inventor Issued Title 4843638 Walters 6/89 "Receiver for frequency hopped signals." 5428602 Kemppainen 6/95 "Frequency-hopping arrange- ment for a radio communication system." 4614945 Brunius et al. 9/86 "Automatic/remote RF instrument reading method and apparatus." 5659303 Adair 8/97 "Method and apparatus for transmitting monitor data." 5428637 Oliva et al. 6/95 "Method for reducing synchro- nizing overhead of frequency hopping communications systems." 5438329 Gastouniotis et al. 8/95 "Duplex bi-directional multi- mode remote instrument reading and telemetry system." 5408506 Mincher et al. 4/95 "Distributed time synchro- nization system and method." 4653068 Kadin 3/87 "Frequency hopping data communication system." 4606041 Kadin 8/86 "Frequency hopping data communication system." 5390166 Rohani et al. 2/95 "Method for recovering a data signal using diversity in a radio frequency, time division multiple access communication system." 5546422 Yokev et al. 8/96 "Method for transmitting low- power frequency hopped spread spectrum data." 5079768 Flammer 1/92 "Method for frequency sharing in frequency hopping communi- cations network." 5548582 Brajal et al 8/96 "Multicarrier frequency hopping commmunications system" 5121407 Partyka et al. 6/92 "Spread Spectrum Communi- cations System."

Frequency hopping system for intermittent transmission with receiver using individual tracking, FFT, and authentication


Provided is a wound cell, formed by winding of a first and second separator, a first and second electrode plate from start ends thereof, outermost circle of second electrode plate includes second single-side coated area, surface of which facing center of the wound cell is second blank current collector area not coated with second active material, portion of first electrode plate opposite to second blank current collector area includes first single-side coated area, surface of which away from the center of the wound cell is first blank current collector area not coated with first active material; tail end of first electrode plate contains first blank foil area, portion of second electrode plate opposite to first blank foil area contains second blank foil area; start ends of first and second single-side coated area are located at two opposite sides in thickness direction of the cell.

At present, the polymeric Li-ion battery has more requirements on higher energy density, safety problem appeared therewith is also a big challenge. Many cells with high energy density cannot pass certain safety tests, such as nailing test and impact test. A common manner for improving nailing performance and impact performance is to adopt an external armor area formed by a double-layer uncoated cathode-anode current collector, however, such manner can only form an armor area on one surface of the cell, as shown in FIG. 1, it is easy to trigger safety problem when the area other than the armor area is suffered from external impact, which may lead to a great loss of energy density, and is a waste of material.
In view of the above, the present application is proposed.

Wound cell having single-side coated areas


A photosensitive material processing apparatus prevents a developing solution from adhering to a photosensitive material before it is fed into a developing tank, so as not to cause developer streaks. A holding member which supports inlet guide rollers and a holding member which supports outlet guide rollers can independently be taken out of a transport rack for cleaning. The developing solution dripped from the outlet guide rollers does not adhere to the inlet guide rollers. Accordingly, unevenness in development can be prevented, which would occur when the developing solution adheres to the transported photosensitive material before it enters the processing solution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus for feeding a photosensitive material into a processing tank such as a developing tank to develop the photosensitive material.
2. Description of Related Art
In a photosensitive material processing apparatus, a photosensitive material such as photographic film or photographic printing paper, on which an image has been exposed, is fed into a developing apparatus. In the developing apparatus, the photosensitive material is successively passed through a series of processing tanks such as a developing tank and a fixing tank. In detail, the photosensitive material is fed into a processing tank while being nipped by inlet guide rollers provided at the inlet of the processing tank. After being passed through a processing solution in the processing tank, the photosensitive material is pulled out of the processing tank and is transported to the next stage while being nipped and driven by outlet guide rollers provided at the outlet of the processing tank.
When the photosensitive material enters a developing tank, a developing solution contacts the photosensitive material, thereby starting development. If the developing solution contacts a portion of the photosensitive material before that portion enters the developing solution, development of that portion progresses faster than the remaining portion. This causes developer streaks or unevenness in development. The contact of a developing solution to a photosensitive material at an early stage of processing occurs when the developing solution which has carelessly soiled the inlet guide rollers contacts the photosensitive material. The developing solution on the inlet guide rollers sometimes produces, due to oxidation thereof, a substance which suppresses the developing reaction. In such a case, development is delayed with a portion soiled by the developing solution. This also causes developer streaks or unevenness in development.
The reason why a developing solution can be unintentionally adhered to the inlet guide rollers is that when the developing solution smudges a certain stationary guide roller which is located above the solution and the photosensitive material hits the stationary guide roller, the developing solution splashes, and the splashed developing solution sometimes adheres to the inlet guide rollers. Further, when the inlet guide rollers and the outlet guide rollers are both taken out for cleaning, the developing solution carried on the outlet guide rollers as the photosensitive material is transported drips onto the inlet guide rollers after the outlet guide rollers are taken out. Moreover, there is a possibility that developing solution evaporated due to heat contacts the inlet guide rollers and condenses into drips as the temperature decreases, so that the developing solution adheres to the inlet guide rollers.

Photosensitive material processing apparatus


An arrangement for accommodating telescoping masts on mobile carriers comprises devices for selectively swivelling the mast into a transport position or an operating position for support with respect to the ground surface for the raising of the mast into its operating position. The mast swivel bearing is provided on the carrier so that it can be adjusted or adapted for the respective adaptation of the center of gravity of the mast with respect to the mobile carrier, with respect to the transport position with vehicle wheels resting on the ground, and relative to the starting operating position of the mast with carrier supports resting on the ground surface.

This invention relates to an arrangement for accommodating a telescoping mast, particularly on a mobile carrier, comprising devices for selectively swivelling the mast into an essentially horizontal transport position while the telescopic elements are retracted, or into a perpendicular operating position while the telescopic elements are extended, in which the mast or the carrier are supported with respect to the ground surface by means of supports.
Such telescoping masts are used, for example, as carriers of antennas for radio communications, for television transmissions or other transmitting or receiving purposes or as relay stations.
It is a requirement that mobile operating systems of the above-mentioned type can be set up and taken down within a very short time and, for economic reasons, with the lowest possible equipment-related expenditures and the minimum use of personnel.
It is known to perpendicularly extend masts of the above-mentioned type to a given height by means of elements that can be slid into one another or on one another, to brace the masts in this position and to support them with respect to the ground by means of extendable base parts or supporting arms. For the transport, the telescopic elements are retracted and the masts are swivelled into a horizontal transport position.
An arrangement of this type is known in which a telescoping mast is pivoted on a supporting arm and can be adjusted by means of an adjusting device into a perpendicular operating position or a horizontal transport position while the telescopic elements are in the retracted position.
However, a number of difficulties exist with the known arrangement. These difficulties are caused by the design of the vehicle used for accommodating the mast and by the design of the accommodating device for the mast where raising and transporting the telescoping mast into the operating and transport positions results in disadvantages, particularly with respect to the center of gravity.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to eliminate the disadvantages of the known construction and provide an arrangement which is simplified with respect to the equipment; exhibits an improved efficiency with respect to achieving a faster setting-up and removal of the mast system, and has the best possible stability of the mast system with respect to the center of gravity in the operating position as well as in the transport position of the mast.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by a special development of the accommodating device of the mast system on a mobile carrier for selectively swivelling the mast into a transport position or an operating position for the support with respect to the ground surface for the raising of the mast into its operating position. The mast swivel bearing is provided on the carrier so that it can be adjusted or adapted for the respective adaptation of the center of gravity of the mast with respect to the mobile carrier, with respect to the transport position with vehicle wheels resting on the ground, and relative to the starting operating position of the mast with carrier supports resting on the ground surface.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, the mast swivel bearing is accommodated by means of a supporting structure by the frame part of the mobile carrier, and an adjusting device is provided which causes the relative movement between the mast and the mobile carrier in the longitudinal direction of the carrier.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, the supporting structure of the mobile carrier with the mast swivel bearing or the bearing support can be placed and fastened on the supporting structure or the vehicle frame of the mobile carrier.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention the center of gravity of the mast with respect to the mobile carrier can be adjusted in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and in the perpendicular direction or in a direction resulting from the individual adjusting devices.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention the center of gravity of the mast can be adjusted with respect to the mobile carrier transversely to the vehicle axis.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention for the adjusting of the mast system or of the center of gravity with respect to the mobile carrier in the direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis and in the perpendicular direction, a guiding device is provided providing guides and scanning elements which are guided on these guides in a restricted manner.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, by means of the construction of the adjusting device, a combined swivel movement of the mast and of the mast swivel bearing can be caused with respect to the carrier in the direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis and in the perpendicular direction.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, the mast swivel bearing is formed by interacting bearing elements on the shaft or on the supporting structure or on the carrier frame, and a gearing in the manner of a crank mechanism is applied by means of bearing rockers by way of joints in an articulated manner to the mast and to the supporting structure or to the carrier frame.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, the bearing rockers, in the perpendicular operating position of the mast, take up a perpendicular or approximately perpendicular swivelled-out position on the supporting structure of the carrier.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, the bearing bores of the mast swivel bearing have slots, and the bearing shafts have sections with flattenings which fit into the slots.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, at a distance in the direction of the carrier longitudinal axis from the mast swivel bearing, between the mast and the supporting structure or the carrier frame, a mast guide is formed which comprises guide rollers and guide rails with guide ways extending in an inclined manner with respect to the horizontal line.
According further to especially preferred embodiments of the present invention, the guide rollers are freely rotatably arranged on fork parts of a bearing fork of the supporting structure and the guide rails are fixedly connected with the mast.
By means of an arrangement that is constructed according to the invention, it is achieved that the center of gravity of the mast system, in its operating position as well as in its transport position, is always in the center of gravity of the vehicle, whereby the projecting of the extendable and projectable supports required for erecting stability and resting on the ground surface can be minimized. In the case of such a construction, the transport supports may be advantageously mounted on the carrier frame of the carrier vehicle.
The construction also makes it possible for the carrier vehicle proper to be used as a balancing weight with respect to the mast, thereby maintaining erecting reliability while minimizing the projecting of the supports, particularly when the available erection surface is limited.
By means of the special construction of the mast swivel bearing, an advantageous center of gravity point of the mast system is also maintained along the entire adjustment path during the adjustment for the raising and retracting of the mast.
In addition, by means of the special construction of the mast swivel bearing, together with the construction of the supporting frame or of the vehicle frame, it is provided that, for the transport, the center of gravity of the mast or of the overall system is at an extremely narrow distance above the road surface. Also, when the mast is swivelled into the operating position, a displacement of the mast or its swivel bearing in the perpendicular direction is achieved and erecting height is correspondingly gained.
The development according to the invention permits a construction of the mast system on any series-constructed vehicle frame or load accommodating part without having to perform an expensive adaptation. In this case, both towing vehicles and trailers in a single-axle or multi-axle construction can be used.

Arrangement for accommodating telescoping masts, particularly on mobile carriers


A photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit includes a light receiving element, an amplifier, a feedback resistor, an offset resistor, a constant current source, and a comparator. A feedback resistor is connected between the input and the output of the amplifier and converts photo current into voltage. An terminal of the offset resistor is connected to the output of the amplifier. The constant current source is connected to another terminal of the offset resistor. The comparator compares the connected point of the offset resistor and the constant current source with a reference voltage and outputs a binary signal. The reference voltage is an input voltage of the amplifier or the divided voltage of the intermediate point of the feedback resistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit which converts a photoelectric current generated from a light-receiving element into voltage and outputs the voltage as a binary signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit, which converts a photoelectric current generated from a light receiving element into voltage, such as a photodiode, and outputs the voltage as a binary signal, is applied in various technical fields.
For example, the photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit is used in a light reception circuit of a photo-coupler in order to isolate an input and output electrically as Factory Automation.
The photo-coupler supplies a light emitting element (e.g. a light-emitting diode) on input side with an electric signal to transmit a light signal from the light emitting element to a light receiving element on output side, and outputs an electric signal from the light receiving element.
This kind of photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit is made into an IC and is used as a light receiving IC.
Hereinafter, a photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit 200 is explained as a conventional technique with reference to FIG. 1.
The photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit 200 includes a photodiode 1, an amplifier 12, a reference voltage circuit 16, a voltage divider circuit 20, and a comparator 30. Here, an anode is grounded to the photodiode 1.
The amplifier 12 includes an inverting amplifier 13, a non inverting input terminal of which inputs a voltage source 15 (voltage is described as "Vo") based on voltage of the ground. A cathode of the photodiode 1 is connected to an inverting input, and a feedback resistor 14 is connected between the inverting input terminal and the feedback resistor 14.
The reference voltage circuit 16 includes a non inverting amplifier 17 as an operational amplifier. An offset resistor 18 is connected between an inverting input and an output. The inverting input is grounded through a constant current source 19, and the non inverting input terminal is connected to the inverting input of the inverting amplifier 13.
As for the voltage divider circuit 20, a resistor 21 and a resistor 22 are connected in series with the outputs of the amplifier 12 and the reference voltage circuit 16. The series connection point is grounded through a condenser 23.
Further, as for the comparator 30, the non inverting input of which is connected to the output of the amplifier 12. The inverting input of the comparator 30 is connected to the connection points of the first resistor 21 and the second resistor 22.
An operation of the photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit 200 having such constitution will be described bellow.
A photoelectric current Ipd is never generated without light-input to the photodiode 1.
Therefore, the photoelectric current Ipd does not flow through the feedback resistor 14 in the amplifier 12. As a result, the voltages of the output and the inverting input in the amplifier 12 becomes equal, and also becomes equal to the voltage Vo of the non inverting input in the amplifier 12 by a virtual short.
On the other hand, on the reference voltage circuit 16, an offset voltage Vos is generated by the offset resistor 18 and the constant current source 19.
A higher voltage is outputted as a reference voltage Vref (=Vo+Vos) than the voltage of the inverting input in the inverting amplifier 13.
The higher voltage to be outputted is offset according to the difference of the offset voltage Vos.
The voltage between the outputs of the amplifier 12 and the reference voltage circuit 16 is divided by the first and second resistors 21 and 22 in the voltage divider circuit 20 to develop a threshold voltage Vth.
Therefore, when the voltage Va=Vo on the output in the amplifier 12 is outputted, the voltage is compared to the threshold voltage Vth by comparator 30.
Here, the output voltage Vo of the amplifier 12 is lower than the threshold voltage Vth.
As a result, the binary signal in the Low level is outputted as an output signal Vout from the comparator 30 in the photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit 200 shown in FIG. 1.
On the contrary, the photoelectric current Ipd is generated by the light-input to the photodiode 1 in response to the quantity of light.
The photoelectric current Ipd flows through the feedback resistor 14 in the direction of the inverting input from the output of the inverting amplifier 13.
As a result, the voltage of the photoelectric current Ipd is converted into a voltage Vr=Ipd×Rf (the Rf means resistance value of the feedback resistor 14) between the two edges of the feedback resistor 14, and then the voltage Va on the output develops Va=Vo+Vr. When this voltage Va is outputted to the comparator 30 from the output of the amplifier 12, the voltage is compared with the threshold Vth from the voltage divider circuit 20.
When the intensity of the light-input to the photodiode 1 is lager than a certain level, the voltage Va develops larger than the threshold Vth, then, judged as being input a signal.
As a result, on the contrary of the above mentioned case of no light-input, a binary signal in the high level is outputted.
On the other hand, the quantity of the light input to the photodiode 1 is less than the certain level, the voltage Va becomes less than the threshold Vth, and then, a binary signal in the same level as the case without the light-input is outputted. (Refer to Japanese Patent JP B 3121339)
The operation of the photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit is explained bellow referring to the FIG. 2.
The output voltage Va of the amplifier 12 varies from Vo to Vo+Vr as shown in FIG. 2A. On the other hand, the reference voltage Vref has no relation to Ipd and is equal to V0+Vos. This reference voltage Vref and output voltage Va is divided by the first resistor 21 and the second resistor 22 and delayed by the condenser 23 and develops the threshold voltage Vth as shown in FIG. 2A.
FIG. 2A shows the timing chart under the condition that the ratio of the first resistor and the second resistor is about 1 to 2 as described in the Japanese Patent JP B 3121339. The output of the comparator 30 changes after rising and trailing of the output Va of the amplifier 12. Then the output signal Vout of the comparator 30 becomes the form as shown in FIG. 2B.
In the case of the conventional circuit 200, the threshold voltage Vth is generated using the reference voltage circuit 16 including the non inverting amplifier and the voltage divider circuit, the size of a chip is large so that the cost for making such circuit becomes high.

Photoelectric current and voltage converting circuit

NEC Compound Semiconductor Devices, Ltd.


The present invention relates to a laser irradiation apparatus and a laser irradiation method. The laser irradiation apparatus, according to the present invention, comprises: an optical fiber which transmits a laser and has a light emitting surface; a protecting member for covering an end portion of the optical fiber including the light emitting surface; and an indication member which is identified by an X-ray and indicates the position and/or direction of the light emitting surface.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser irradiation apparatus which has a side firing function and capable of confirming irradiation information and a laser irradiation method using the same.
Related Art
Since treatment using a laser allows incision, removal, and suture of a bodily tissue without through surgical operation, healing is possible within a short time with a small curing cost. Accordingly, in recent years, the range of curing using the laser is extending to dermatology, an orthopedics, and a plastic surgery as well as a surgery
The treatment using the laser generally inputs a laser (for example, Nd:YAG laser) toward a bodily tissue. The laser is absorbed in a corresponding bodily tissue so that the corresponding bodily tissue emit heat to use a time period when the corresponding bodily tissue is cut, removed, sewed, and modified.
The above laser is transmitted using an optical fiber and is irradiated to an outside from an end portion of the optical fiber. In some cases, there is a need to irradiate the laser in a side direction of a longitudinal direction of the optical fiber. Such side irradiation refers to side firing. However, when the side firing scheme is used in an inside of the body, it is difficult to confirm irradiation information on from where the laser is irradiated to a certain direction.

Laser irradiation apparatus and laser irradiation method


The present invention provides a waterproof recording material having ground patterns characterized in that the ground patterns are imparted to the surface of a film of a resin composition comprising a thermoplastic synthetic resin and a filler. According to this invention, it is possible to provide a fine-looking recording material which, besides excellent waterproofness and recording property, may have various stages of surface properties and visual effects imparted by means of the ground patterns. The waterproof recording material having ground patterns of the present invention is suitable as a material of valuable securities and the like, facilitating true/false discrimination and preventing illegal use or abuse thereof by altering, falsification et cetera.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waterproof recording material and its manufacturing method and, more particularly, relates to a waterproof recording material, which can be manufactured cheaply and easily, having imparted thereto various surface properties such as irregularities, wettability, printability, writability and coating property and visual effects such as stereo patterns or perspective patterns provided by combination of stepwise control of luster and tone.
Waterproof materials of the present invention are particularly suited as security recording materials enabling one to distinguish false from true valuable securities or the like or ensuring against illegal use or use for evil purposes such as altering or falsifying.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As waterproof recording materials, synthetic papers have hitherto been used but so far those used are, for instance, (1) a PET film with its surface roughened by sandblasting, (2) a synthetic resin film with its surface coated with some inorganic chemical, (3) a mixture of a polypropylene resin and an inorganic chemical filmed and drawn or orientated, (4) a paper with a thin synthetic resin layer formed thereon and sandblasted and (5) a paper extrusion-laminated with a polypropylene resin by the use of a matte roll. Of these, however, synthetic paper (1) has drawbacks of the resin used being expensive and the manufacturing process comprising many steps, the latter being the case also with synthetic papers (2), (3) and (4), and their manufacturing costs are inevitably expensive. Synthetic paper (5) is easy to manufacture, indeed, but it cannot well meet the requirements for a recording paper and is poor in workability due to its tendency to be easily charged electrostatically.
Meanwhile, as a method of imparting visual effect background patterns to a synthetic paper using some synthetic resin film, embossing has been used widely. A common method of embossing, however, consists in preheating a sheetlike material, imparting irregular patterns to its surface by the use of an embossing roll with given patterns engraved therein and winding after cooling. This process for manufacturing the waterproof recording material having ground patterns comprise two steps, this making the manufacturing process complicated and the productivity low.
Nowadays, various gift cards such as gift certificates, beer cards and white shirt cards, capital or fund securities (investment securities) such as stock securities, debentures and government bonds, monetary certificates such as bills and checks, goods certificates such as cargo exchanges and warehouse bonds, various admission tickets, and cards such as ID cards and prepaid cards are used widely and in large quantities and they are no longer dispensable in our daily life.
Of these, the gift certificates, cards and the like allow users to obtain goods or service without carrying cash, and allow member stores to save effort and expense for sales promotion and bill collecting. Also card issuing firms can have commissions and banks can anticipate increase of deposits as well as loans and omission of credit survey, thus the system being profitable for all those concerned. Since such system can work, needless to say, on the premise of social credit, however, illegal use of false or altered cards and the like is truly fatal and crimes involving illegal use of such cards have come to be a graver social problem in proportion to the spread of the system. In the case of the aforementioned capital securities or monetary certificates, in particular, the amounts of money are quite large and the influence that the illegal use or abuse of such certificates and the like has on the society is quite grave. For prevention of such illegal use, there is a method of using the so-called watermark, but this method cannot be easily used since it requires a highly advanced technique and, further, there are legal limitations set therefor. As safeguard against illegal use of cards and the like, the insurance system is widely used but this is an ex post facto conduct having nothing to do with prevention of crimes such as illegal use or abuse of cards and the like.

Waterproof recording material having ground patterns and its manufacturing method


A method of editing a digital image having associated embedded data, such as printing hints, includes embedding a first watermark in the original image before the image is edited. The first watermarking scheme associates first watermark information with each pixel and is used to detect which pixels have been edited. A second watermark may be embedded in the original image according to a second watermarking scheme which associates second watermark information with non-overlapping groups of pixels in the original image. The second watermark information may be used to synchronize the first watermark information and to detect editing information which does not change pixel values. After editing, only those edited portions of the image need have their embedded data reapplied.

Associating embedded data with an electronic image has been used for many applications. For example, spatial-dependent metadata has been used to associate printing hints with an image. The use of printing hints increases the printer's ability to generate high quality document images. Embedded data has also been used to associate digital rights management information, such as copyright notices and permissions, with a document. However, when an electronic image is edited, the embedded data needs to be modified too, i.e., the embedded data needs to be re-associated with the corresponding edited portion.
One method of editing an electronic image permits the corresponding printing hints to be regenerated and then added; however, this method may be time consuming. Some commercial software image editing tools offer customers many options and choices, such as cropping, scaling, color manipulation and filtering. However, most commercial packages, such as Adobe PhotoShop, do not preserve printing hints. If an editing tool does not preserve printing hints, the edited image must have the printing hints re-associated with the edited image. Similarly, if other embedded data, such as digital rights data, is associated with different portions of an image, after image editing, the digital rights management data must be re-associated with the edited image.
Digital watermark technology has been used in various applications to embed additional information in an electronic image. Digital watermarks are usually printed as marks which cannot be easily identified by the human eye. Digital watermarks have been used to embed and store data associated with an image. Watermarks have also been used to detect edits to electronic images. Typically, "fragile" digital watermarks, which are sensitive to editing, are embedded in the images to be protected. To detect image editing, the watermarks are extracted from the image to be tested and compared to the original watermarks. The image is considered to be altered if significant discrepancies in the watermarks exist. If only a part of the image has been modified, digital watermark technologies may also identify the altered image regions. Nevertheless, the regions are typically detected at a very low-resolution.
There is a need for a method of editing an image which preserves image quality, and which permits embedded data associated with the original image to be easily associated with the edited image. Also, with the advent of image editing software, the ability to manipulate or otherwise alter a digital image is readily available. There is a need to be able to authenticate a digital image in order to determine whether or not the digital image has in fact been altered in some way.

Method of detecting changes occurring in image editing using watermarks


Manufacturing processes and related systems are disclosed which provide for fast, reliable, inexpensive production of customizable goods. Types of manufacturing equipment elements are individually equipped with various sensors and effecters, and associated with a software agent running on a dedicated processor. The elements may be made mobile, perhaps by placing the individual pieces of equipment on a movable trolley, and further equipped with a wireless transceiver. In this way, the elements may be easily assembled for a manufacturing process, with minimal human intervention required. Moreover, the elements may execute the steps of the manufacturing process in an autonomous, intelligent fashion.

Conventional manufacturing systems exist for the production of goods. Many such manufacturing systems allow for mass production of goods in a timely, cost-effective manner. In order to produce goods in a timely, cost-effective manner, however, many conventional manufacturing systems rely on the fact that the goods being produced are identical or nearly identical. In other words, manufacturers often deliver products within a product line for which an associated manufacturing process has been designed and optimized. Due to the fact that such manufacturing processes are often large-scale (in order to be cost-effective on a per-item basis) and complex, it may be difficult for manufacturers to rapidly adapt to customers' changing product needs, particularly on a per-customer basis.