An insulated container for the consumption of hot or cold beverages with an integral remote controller capable of operating an entertainment center, television or other system.

The present invention deals with items in the field of consumer electronics and housewares.
Common to today""s lifestyle, more and more consumer electronics and other systems are controlled by users remotely. Televisions, compact disc players, entire home entertainment centers and even environmental controls are automated in such a way as to allow convenient control. The entertainment center has virtually become the hub of many households, where children watch educational programs or cartoons, parents obtain news or watch prime time television, and even shop. Digitized sound and pictures and a shrinking world have led to family rooms being windows to the world of both reality and escape. Lounging recliners, television trays for consuming food and beverage, and other accessories have allowed all manner of living or habitation to be accomplished in front of the television or home entertainment center. People today eat, sleep, and work in front of their televisions.
One typical example of an accessory which facilitates the aforementioned phenomenon is the television remote control. While the remote control is convenient, it is not a hands free method of control. When used as originally designed, the remote control requires the use of one hand, temporarily preventing the use of that hand for any other function.
It is usual for persons to use the hand they are most coordinated with to operate remote controls (xe2x80x9cremotexe2x80x9d). Specifically, a right-handed person will typically use the right hand to operate a remote, and a left-handed person will typically use the left hand to operate a remote. In fact, many people will use their xe2x80x9cfavored handxe2x80x9d to perform almost all single-handed tasks; the other less favored hand being used predominantly when tasks requiring the use of both hands are performed. One reason people use their favored hand when operating a remote is that a general pointing of the remote is required in order to situate the infrared beam commonly employed by remote controls onto the receiving means of the television or other system to be controlled. People are just generally more comfortable using their favored hand for such tasks.
Other tasks are also performed using the favored hand, right or left, such as eating, drinking or smoking. These activities of everyday life are performed continually in front of the home entertainment center or television by virtue of the lifestyle phenomenon previously described. Consequently, when one of these tasks is being performed, and a person wishes to operate a remote, the typical action is to stop what the person is doing, such as using a fork or holding a glass, putting that item down in order to pick up the remote and operate the television or system.
Such actions are even more cumbersome and annoying for disadvantaged persons having only one hand, and who must continually stop whatever manual activity they are engaged in to handle a remote. With the continuing application of technology to find more convenient ways to eliminate unnecessary tasks or steps, thereby simplifying everyday life, the time has come for devices which eliminate the need to cease repetitive everyday activities in order to operate remotely controlled systems.
Of the many manual tasks typically performed in front of a television or home entertainment center, a primary task is the raising and lowering of a cup or glass in order to consume beverages. Exemplary is the drinking of morning coffee while watching the news, or of enjoying a cold beer during a sports telecast. The frequency with which an activity such as drinking in front of the television takes place can be appreciated merely by realizing the number of soft-drink, beer and coffee commercials viewers are exposed to. For the viewer who employs a remote to operate his or her television or entertainment center, this means putting down a drink time after time to pick up and use a remote. It would be hard to find someone who had not either spilled a drink or dropped a remote, by virtue of the continual shuffling or reaching for a cup or a remote while watching his or her favorite program.
For those using reclining chairs, the number of times one bends forward to put down a cup to pick up a remote or vice versa is only a guess, but such bending probably occurs thousands of times during a lifetime. The propensity for accidental spillage by continually fumbling or shuffling between remote control and cup or glass is great. The potential for pain or injury due to continually bending forward, particularly for the aged or infirm, when needing to set down one item to pick up another is not only great, but even sometimes dictates how viewers position and select their furniture. The viewer with only one hand is the most adversely affected by virtue of his or her condition.
A downside to consuming food and beverage while watching television results from the length of time which passes while engaged in doing so. Because the activity is often one of leisure, with many viewers even taking their major meals in front of a television, significant time may pass while viewers watch lengthy program segments, enabling a hot drink to cool or a cool drink to warm.
What is needed then is a device which allows a viewer to hold a beverage and operate a remote control using the same hand. The device should also keep a beverage palatable for a substantial length of time.
The present invention provides a container for the consumption of hot or cold beverages with an integral remote controller capable of operating an entertainment center, television or other system without the necessity of the operator putting down his or her beverage.
The container holding the beverage is held in an insulated sleeve to maintain the desired beverage temperature, and the keypad is positioned for easy operation on the operational end of the device""s handle. The container is removably affixed to a base extending from the base end of the handle. The extending base has a removable upper plate allowing access to a cavity that extends from the base into the handle and houses batteries and circuitry of the remote controller. The infrared emitter is located either in an aperture along an edge of the base of the device permitting ease of pointing the emitter, or on the sleeve itself.
Another embodiment comprises an insulated sleeve and container device where the remote controller is integral with the sleeve, without the handle or base.
The ability to direct the emitter via a handle and base is very convenient for the user. Coupled with the convenience of detachable containers for removal for cleaning, the embodiment depicted in the drawings, having a handle, a separate base and a sleeve is considered to be the best mode of the present invention.
The device can employ a universal remote for controlling a complete entertainment center, television or even household environmental and lighting control systems. In fact, the mode of operation of the remote control is not critical to Applicant""s invention. The remote can transmit radio, infra-red or other signals, and may be hand or voice operated.


This document describes techniques enabling users to customize their applications through workflows. In contrast to often-simplistic rules, these user-selectable workflows can be arbitrary and nearly limitless in number and complexity. Further, these workflows do not require that an application designer build them by adding or altering code of the application. The techniques enable users to create workflows by connecting exposed events and exposed actions of an application. These connections, referred to as “synapses,” are used by the techniques to build workflows, thereby permitting users to customize the application.

Software applications typically have a fixed set of rules that a user of the application may select. An email application, for example, may include, as a user-selectable option, a rule that forwards an email having a particular word in the subject line or a particular sender's email address. Or, for example, a word-processing application may include a rule that auto-corrects a selected misspelled word with a correct spelling of the word, such as correcting the misspelled word "thier" with the correct spelling "their."
Application users, however, may wish to customize their applications beyond a fixed set of rules. These desired customizations often cannot be implemented without the application's designer creating or altering code of the application. Because of this, desired customizations are time consuming and expensive for application designers to create. Furthermore, the number of customizations can be as numerous as the number of users themselves, making it impractical to address all but a few of the most-commonly requested customizations.


A virtual reality system providing a virtual robotic surgical environment, and methods for using the virtual reality system, are described herein. Within the virtual reality system, various user modes enable different kinds of interactions between a user and the virtual robotic surgical environment. For example, one variation of a method for facilitating navigation of a virtual robotic surgical environment includes displaying a first-person perspective view of the virtual robotic surgical environment from a first vantage point, displaying a first window view of the virtual robotic surgical environment from a second vantage point and displaying a second window view of the virtual robotic surgical environment from a third vantage point. Additionally, in response to a user input associating the first and second window views, a trajectory between the second and third vantage points can be generated sequentially linking the first and second window views.

Minimally-invasive surgery (MIS), such as laparoscopic surgery, involves techniques intended to reduce tissue damage during a surgical procedure. For example, laparoscopic procedures typically involve creating a number of small incisions in the patient (e.g., in the abdomen), and introducing one or more surgical instruments (e.g., an end effector, at least one camera, etc.) through the incisions into the patient. The surgical procedures may then be performed using the introduced surgical instruments, with the visualization aid provided by the camera.
Generally, MIS provides multiple benefits, such as reduced patient scarring, less patient pain, shorter patient recovery periods, and lower medical treatment costs associated with patient recovery. In some embodiments, MIS may be performed with robotic systems that include one or more robotic arms for manipulating surgical instruments based on commands from an operator. A robotic arm may, for example, support at its distal end various devices such as surgical end effectors, imaging devices, cannulae for providing access to the patient's body cavity and organs, etc.
Robotic surgical systems are generally complex systems performing complex procedures. Accordingly, a user (e.g., surgeons) generally may require significant training and experience to successfully operate a robotic surgical system. Such training and experience is advantageous to effectively plan the specifics of MIS procedures (e.g., determine optimal number, location, and orientation of robotic arms, determine optical number and location of incisions, determine optimal types and sizes of surgical instruments, determine order of actions in a procedure, etc.).
Additionally, the design process of robotic surgical systems may also be complicated. For example, improvements in hardware (e.g., robotic arms) are prototyped as physical embodiments and physically tested. Improvements in software (e.g., control algorithms for robotic arms) may also require physical embodiments. Such cyclical prototyping and testing is generally cumulatively expensive and time-consuming.

Virtual reality training, simulation, and collaboration in a robotic surgical system


A simple, inexpensive and highly efficient fuel cell has boundary structures made of a photo-sensitive material in combination with selective patterning. Printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication techniques combine boundary structures with two and three dimensional electrical flow path. Photo-sensitive material and PCB fabrication techniques are alternately or combined utilized for making micro-channel structures or micro stitch structures for substantially reducing dead zones of the diffusion layer while keeping fluid flow resistance to a minimum. The fuel cell assembly is free of mechanical clamping elements. Adhesives that may be conductively contaminated and/or fiber-reinforced provide mechanical and eventual electrical connections, and sealing within the assembly. Mechanically supporting backing layers are pre-fabricated with a natural bend defined in combination with the backing layers' elasticity to eliminate massive support plates and assist the adhesive bonding. Proton insulation between adjacent and electrically linked in-plane cell elements is provided by structural insulation within the central membrane.

A fuel cell is an electromechanical device that produces electrical current from chemical reactions. The essential form of a fuel cell includes an ion-conducting electrolyte between two electrodes that are backed by fuel and oxidant flow distributors. A catalyst on one electrode, i.e. the anode, promotes separation of ions and electrons at the fuel side. It is only the ions that pass through the electrolyte which then at the oxidant site, i.e. the cathode, recombine with electrons. The electrons are conducted through an external circuit therewith supplying electrical power. Excellent overviews of fuel cell technology can be obtained from the following references:    "Fuel Cell Systems Explained" edited by J. Larminie and A. Dicks and published by John Wiley and Sons (2000) or in a book entitled "Fuel Cell Technology Handbook" edited by G. Hooger and published by CRC Press (2003);    Related exemplary teachings can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,586, issued to Wilson, Jun. 24, 1997, titled "FUEL CELL WITH INTERDIGITATED POROUS FLOW-FIELD";    U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,828, issued to Spear et al., Nov. 4, 1997, titled "METAL PLATELET FUEL CELLS PRODUCTION AND OPERATION METHODS";    S. J. Lee, S. W. Cha, Y. C. Liu, R. O'Hayre, F. B. Prinz, "High Power-Density Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel Cells by Microfabrication", in Micro Power Sources, K. Zaghib and S. Surampudi (eds.), Proceedings, V. 2000-3, The Electrochemical Society Proceeding Series, Pennington, N.J., 2000;    S. J. Lee, S. W. Cha, R. O'Hayre, A. Chang-Chien, F. B. Prinz, "Miniature Fuel Cells with Non-Planar Interface by Microfabrication", in Power Sources for the New Millennium, M. Jain, M. A. Ryan, S. Surampudi, R. A. Marsh, and G. Nagarajan (eds.), Proceedings, V. 2000-22, The Electrochemical Society Proceeding Series, Pennington, N.J., 2000;    R. O'Hayre, T. Fabian, S. J. Lee, F. B. Prinz, "Lateral Ionic Conduction in Planar Array Fuel Cells", Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Volume 150, Number 4, April 2003, pp. A430-A438; and    S. J. Lee, A. Chang-Chien, S. W. Cha, R. O'Hayre, Y. I. Park, Y. Saito, F. B. Prinz, "Design and Fabrication of a Micro Fuel Cell Array with 'Flip-Flop' Interconnection", Journal of Power Sources, Volume 112, Issue 2, November 2002, pp. 410-418.
Prior art FIG. 1 shows a cross-section side view of a conventional fuel cell assembly. The assembly includes a membrane electrolyte 9 with catalyst-loaded gas diffusion layer 2 on either major face of membrane electrolyte 9. The primary electrochemical reaction occurs at the interface between membrane electrolyte 9 and its adjacent catalyst-loaded gas diffusion layer 2. The membrane-electrode assembly is interposed between two backing layers 30. Backing layers 3 are manufactured to allow for open passages 31 for reactant flow. The open passages in conventional fuel cells are either parallel or serially arranged distribution channels that distribute the reactant fluid along the gas diffusion layer 2. For optimum operation it is desirable to distribute the reactant fluid as evenly as possible with minimal pressure and flow variances while keeping the design space for the distribution channels to a minimum. The present invention addresses this need.
In order to keep the different components together and isolate reactants at either side of membrane electrolyte 9, prior art fuel cells employ a mechanical clamping structure that may include threaded fasteners 4 such as bolts and/or nuts and other well-known mechanical clamping elements such as plates 41 and the like. In prior art fuel cells, the mechanical compression of the fuel cell's core structure within the inner boundaries of a surrounding elastomer gasket 5 may influence the fuel cell's efficiency. It is noted that the elastomer gasket 5 is positioned between the membrane electrolyte 9 and backing layers to isolate reactants on either side of membrane electrolyte 9. Consequently, the mechanical structure involved for providing the required compressive force and for evenly distributing that compressive force across the fuel cell's core structure increases the fuel cell's over all size, complexity and fabrication cost.
An alternative approach has been introduced in the prior art to keep the different components together and to isolate reactants at either side of membrane electrolyte 1 without relying on a clamping mechanism. In this alternate approach pure adhesives are used. However, bonding of a membrane electrolyte with pure adhesives introduces severe assembly challenges due to compatibility issues between the membrane electrolyte and the pure adhesive. Furthermore, pure adhesives are known to fail readily when subject to expansion of the membrane electrolyte as well as varying degrees of moisture content. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a fuel cell assembly that may be efficiently fabricated and operated without need of a mechanical clamping structure and that takes into account the limitations of pure adhesives used for bonding fuel cell elements. The present invention addresses this needs.

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


The present invention is a cardiac-assist device and technique used to maintain a patient's cardiac output when normal cardiac output is insufficient. Blood is removed from a selected ventricle using an arterial or venous side approach. The use of a right side approach reduces the amount of work required and reduces the number of foreign objects present within the left side of the heart and associated blood transferring conduits. The device of the invention includes a flexible catheter positionable within the patient's body. An external assist mechanism connected to one end of the flexible catheter receives blood from the arterial circulation and includes a pumping membrane. A flexible cannula is connected for reinfusing blood. A control console is provided for alternately supplying vacuum and pressure to the pumping membrane. A synchronizing means varies inflation and deflation in synchrony with the cardiac cycle of a patient.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cardiac assist technologies which assist in maintaining a patient's cardiac output when the normal cardiac output is not sufficient to maintain an adequate pressure for supplying the patient's organs with arterial blood.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recent statistics indicate that approximately ½ million Americans die of acute heart failure annually. Of these deaths, approximately 50% occur in spite of medical treatment (the other 50% do not reach the hospital). Although acute heart failure is presently treated with drugs and other therapy, present interventions are not sufficiently effective. As a result, additional measures are needed to help save lives of patients suffering from acute heart failure due to obstruction of the coronary vasculature or due to extensive cardiac surgery or other causes. Certain of these measures deal with varying or modulating coronary perfusion pressure according to the phases of the patient's cardiac cycle.
The coronary circulation system delivers blood to the heart muscle during the relaxation phase of cardiac contraction. During the contraction phase, pressure in the heart muscle rises and restricts coronary inflow, even though the arterial pressure rises due to cardiac ejection of blood. This elevation of coronary pressure increases the stiffness of the heart wall. With increased stiffness, the heart must expend more energy to bend the heart wall in order to eject blood. In other words, contraction of the heart against a large coronary pressure results in more "internal work" relative to the beneficial "external work" of ejecting blood from the heart chamber.
Theoretically, when the systolic coronary pressure is decreased, the heart wall becomes less stiff and can be more readily deformed during cardiac contraction. Thus, with reduced coronary pressure during the cardiac phase of contraction, the heart muscle requires less oxygen to overcome this important component of "internal" cardiac work. It is therefore often times desirable to vary or modulate coronary perfusion pressure according to the phases of a patient's cardiac cycle. Since perfusion pressure alters myocardial stiffness, changes in systolic stiffness should affect myocardial oxygen demand by changing the ratio of internal to external work. With a decreased systolic perfusion pressure, myocardial oxygen demands will be reduced, thereby permitting an increase in myocardial oxygen utilization efficiency.
A number of devices exist at the present time for varying or modulating coronary perfusion pressure. For example, the intra-aortic balloon catheter (IABC) is a commonly utilized ventricular assist device. This device is used when the patient's cardiac output is not sufficient to maintain an adequate arterial blood supply to the patient's organs. The IABC consists of an inflatable balloon attached to a catheter, which is advanced through the patient's femoral artery and into the descending aorta. Inflation and deflation of the balloon is accomplished by an external control unit synchronized with the heart beat. This unit rapidly inflates the balloon during the diastolic or resting phase of the heart cycle, and thus elevates diastolic aortic blood pressure and improves blood flow to the heart, the brain and other tissues. The balloon is rapidly deflated as the heart contracts. This action reduces the aortic blood pressure that the heart must overcome to eject blood from the left ventricle. Thus, the IABC is a ventricular assist device that also augments diastolic aortic blood pressure.
However, present IABC devices cannot sustain the circulation if the heart is severely diseased or injured, since ventricular ejection must be sufficient to keep the mean aortic blood pressure above approximately 60 mmHg. When the aortic pressure falls below this value, there is insufficient blood to fill the space around the balloon when it is deflated. In that case the wall of the aorta collapses around the deflated balloon of prior art devices, and the IABC becomes ineffective. Thus, present IABC devices can be used only in less severe cases of left ventricular failure.
Other technologies do exist that provide support for the ailing ventricles of the heart and include temporary or short term implant or pumping devices referred to in the industry as Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD). These devices are designed to overcome the inherent design or physical limitations of IABC's but suffer the disadvantage of requiring very invasive surgical procedures, such as the thoracotomy, which consequently provides access to large chambers or conduits of blood within the body. The LVAD type devices also require significant surgical incisions and significant mechanical work in vital areas such as the aorta or heart chambers that may be a cause for complications or secondary events such as diminished mental acuity and cerebral injury now linked to the release of emboli into the brain.
A need therefore exists for a ventricular assist device which overcomes the various shortcomings of the prior art IABC and LVAD type devices presently in use.
A need also exists for a minimally invasive ventricular assist device which is capable of having multiple configurations within a patients body such that either left side support and/or right side support of the heart can be achieved using minimally invasive techniques. The device should be capable of providing true cardiac volumetric support and not merely act to unload the heart as in the case of IAB's. The device should function to actually displace clinically relevant blood volume like an LVAD but without the need for highly invasive surgical techniques. The result would be to provide a minimally invasive ventricular assist device.
Since clinical use of one device may be done while another device is also being used, a need exists for such an assist device which can also be used in conjunction with an intra-aortic balloon catheter IABC in a variety of clinical settings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Minimally invasive ventricular assist technology and method


An intelligent plate parts machining production line combining universal equipment and special equipment. Four special machining tools are located on first to fourth stations, respectively, and a universal machining tool is located on a fifth station. The stations are sequential from an automatic feeding device. Truss conveying devices are behind the first to fourth stations, and four mechanical arms are on the truss conveying devices. A four-axis manipulator is between the fourth and fifth stations for transferring materials between the two stations and discharging finished products. Industrial cameras are on the second-station mechanical arm and the four-axis manipulator. Waste boxes are between the first and second stations and between the fourth and fifth stations. A discharging box is on the front side of the fifth station. A scrap conveying mechanism is below the production line. Flexible clamps and sliding rail cylinders are used, so that the production line is flexible.

A flexible machining production line is an inevitable way to transform a conventional manufacturing industry to automated production, and is an inevitable choice for manufacturing enterprises to improve production efficiency and reduce labor costs. Advantages of the flexible production line can be better applied for machining of plate and frame parts with large output and simple structures. However, in the pursuit of automated and flexible production, enterprises often fail to achieve expected results due to limitations of various factors. The problem is: the manufacturing costs of the flexible production line is extremely high, far exceeding the expected return; the production line cannot truly achieve flexibility and cannot adapt to product and market changes; and machining efficiency of the production line is low and cannot meet output requirements.
Currently, in the machining of plate and frame parts, most enterprises still tend to use conventional machine tools with simple structures, and clamping and conveying of parts depend on workers or assembly lines. Such a production method has low equipment costs and easy maintenance, but a low level of automation, high dependence on workers, and high labor costs. In addition, a large quantity of machine tools is difficult to manage in a centralized manner, and the production efficiency is limited by factors of workers. Urgently seeking production methods to reduce labor costs and improve the level of automation, some enterprises blindly choose the common flexible production line layout of manipulators combined with general machining equipment on the market, rigidly combining the machining process of the plate and frame parts and the production lines together, resulting in many problems. The plate and frame parts have small costs, low machining requirements, and mass production. The costs of the flexible production line using multiple general machining equipment have exceeded the value return of the plate and frame parts, and the general machining equipment cannot reach the machining efficiency of dedicated machine tools, and thus cannot meet a product output requirement. In addition, during milling of upper and lower surfaces of the plate parts, defective products that are not milled are easily produced due to clamping deformation, vibration, and other factors. Currently, the defective products are mainly sorted manually, which greatly wastes resources and consumes time and labor.
In summary, based on the control of manufacturing costs, it has become an urgent technical problem to be resolved in the plate and frame parts manufacturing industry to design a flexible production line suitable for production and machining of plate and frame parts, to improve production efficiency and automation levels, reduce labor costs, and achieve intelligent sorting of defective products. This has great practical significance for plate and frame parts manufacturers.

Intelligent plate parts machining production line combining universal and special equipment

JIANGSU UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


In an embodiment, process for providing a secure remote workspace includes accessing, via a first client application, a remote desktop application. The process includes activating, within the remote desktop, a second client application to provide access to a task. The process includes obtaining user input in connection with executing the task, and transmitting user input information associated with the execution of the task to a server.

A machine learning model is trained to recognize and distinguish particular objects by ingesting training data. The training data includes annotated data. For example, a machine learning model is trained to accurately recognize that an object within an image is a car or a person by providing the model with many examples depicting a car or a person. The examples are annotated to indicate that there is a car or a person inside the image. Human operators manually annotate objects in datasets to build the training data. The human operators may annotate the dataset in a variety of ways such by using enterprise-controlled devices or using a Web-based annotation tool on their personal devices. However, there are many challenges attendant to such annotation tools such as security concerns because human operators may inadvertently or maliciously copy or transmit the data that they are processing.


An air bag for a driver's seat of a vehicle that utilizes an inflator gas of low and high pressures, in which a twofold tether composed of first and second tethers is established inside the air bag for a driver's seat that is unfolded toward the driver when the vehicle collides with a collision object and the sewn portions of the first and second tethers are burst selectively according to the high and low pressures of gas generated from an inflator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air bag for a driver's seat of a vehicle that utilizes an inflator gas of low and high pressures, in which a twofold tether composed of first and second tethers is established inside the air bag for a driver's seat that is unfolded toward the driver when the vehicle collides with a collision object and the sewn portions of the first and second tethers are burst selectively according to a high or low pressure of gas generated from an inflator.
2. Description of Related Art
An air bag is a safety device for protecting a vehicle driver or passenger. Generally, when a vehicle collides with something, a sensor and an electronic control unit (ECU) detect the collision and the ECU operates an inflator to inflate a folded air bag cushion to prevent a driver or a passenger from bumping directly against vehicle interior. Air bags for a driver's seat, however, may cause fatal injuries to the face and neck region at an early stage of deployment.


A method for controlling the Grace Restart (GR) status is disclosed. The method includes: entering a GR status when a router detects that neighbor relationship with a neighbor router breaks and the router itself does not restart; receiving a neighbor relationship establishing message sent by the neighbor router; and quitting the GR status when the router detects that the message does not indicate a restart of the neighbor router. A router is also disclosed. The router includes a neighbor relationship testing module restart testing module, a relationship message receiving and processing module and a GR module. The solution is able to detect timely that a router mistakenly enters a Grace Restart status. Thus, unnecessary signaling and data interaction are reduced, and CPU resource is less occupied. In addition, a newly generated routing can be delivered to the LSP, which improves the rate of a success data transfer.

Graceful Restart (GR) refers to a technique that ensures normally going on of data forwarding and ensures critical services being uninterrupted when a protocol is restarted. The GR technique is one of High Availability (HA) techniques. The HA is a whole set comprehensive technologies, including redundant fault-tolerant, link guarantee, node fault recovery and flow engineering. GR is a redundant fault-tolerant technique, which, at present, is broadly used inactive/standby switchover and system update, in order to ensure an uninterrupted forwarding of critical services.
Currently, multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) protocols that support GR include: Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) and Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). The two protocols add parameters in relation to GR in initializing message of the protocol when supporting GR, and such parameters interact when neighbor relationship is established between routers to help GR's proceeding.
Taking LDP as an example, the current GR process is explained, as shown in FIG. 1, and its specific steps are as follows:
Step 101: Router A determines that neighbor router B is restarted and enters GR status, taking itself as helper end while starting a connection timer.
Step 102: The router A searches LSP of the neighbor router B in itself, and marks on the LSP.
The LSP will be interacted when the router A and router B establish a neighbor relationship.
Step 103: The router A sends a neighbor relationship establishing message to the neighbor router B.
Step 104: The router A determines whether a neighbor relationship establishing message sent by the neighbor router B is received prior to timeout of the connection timer; if yes, the process proceeds to step 105; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 106.
Step 105: The router A keeps the GR status, sends the marked LSP to the neighbor router B, and this flow terminates.
Step 106: The router A deletes the marked LSP and quits the GR status.
Currently, an LDP-supported router determines that a neighbor router restarts mainly through the following manners:
Manner 1, the router detects that the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) interface with the neighbor router is close, and then determines that the neighbor restarts.
Since the LDP runs on TCP, when the TCP connection breaks, the LDP certainly is disconnected.
Manner 2, the router detects that the HoldTime timer for maintaining the neighbor relationship is timeout, and then determines that the neighbor router restarts.
The HoldTime timer is the timer configured to maintain neighbor relationship. If the router fails to receive a Hello message sent by the neighbor router within timing period of the HoldTime timer, then it deems the neighbor router restarts.
The RSVP-supported router will determine the neighbor relationship breaks and then deems the neighbor router restarts when it fails to receive the Hello message sent by the neighbor router three times of continuous.
It can be seen that both of the LDP-supported router and the RSVP-supported router determine that the neighbor router restarts by detecting the turning off of the neighbor relationship. However, in fact, the neighbor router might not restart when the neighbor relationship breaks. For example, it is possible that the neighbor router cannot send out the Hello message in time due to the system being busy or due to the problem of protocol process per se. At this time, the local router might deem the neighbor router restarts when it detects that the neighbor relationship breaks; or, in the case that two routers connect via a switch, when the physical link of one of the routers goes wrong, the other might deem the neighbor router restarts as the turning-off of the neighbor relationship is detected. The above cases may cause the router entering into GR status by mistake.
The following disadvantages may result from the entering into GR status by mistake:
1. It will cause unnecessary signaling between routers, data interaction, and occupancy of CPU resources.
2. It might cause failure of data forward, the reason is that, considering that some routes in relation with a router might shock when the router being in GR status, current protocols prescribes that when a router is in GR status, the route newly generated on this router cannot use LSP that the route assigned before entering into GR status but being invalid when being in the GR status corresponds to. That is, when the router enters GR status, if it detects a route that a certain assigned route that the LSP corresponds to is invalid, then the LSP cannot be released immediately, but be preserved to the end of the GR status; and when the GR status terminates, if the route that the LSP corresponds to is still unavailable, then the LSP will be released to be assigned to a newly generated route for usage. Obviously, this may result in the following problems: if the amount of the routes newly generated by the router is large when the router is in GR status, then it is possible to result in that the LSP of the router not enough, making the newly generated routes being unavailable due to no LSP being able to be assigned, so that data forward will fail. For example, a certain router can support 100 thousand pieces of LSPs at most, before the router enters GR status, it has assigned 90 thousand pieces of LSPs to generated routes, then when the router is in GR status, it can only assign 10 thousand pieces of LSPs more, if the amount of the newly generated routes when being in GR status is more than 10 thousand, e.g. 30 thousand, then there will be 20 thousand pieces of routes unavailable as they cannot be assigned LSP, so that 20 thousand destination addresses cannot reach in the period of GR status.
Thus, when entering GR status by mistake, it must be detected in time and quitted, in order to eliminate persistent duration of the wrong GR status.

Method and router for controlling graceful restart status


Provided is a network system including at least first and second communication terminals capable of communicating with each other via a network. The first communication terminal causes handwritten data input in response to an instruction for a point on an image to be displayed in a certain position on the image corresponding to this point, associates the point information about the point with the handwritten data and transmits the point information and the handwritten data to the second communication terminal. Based on the point information and the handwritten data from the first communication terminal, the second communication terminal causes at least a part of the image to be displayed on a second display and also causes the handwritten data to be displayed in a location in accordance with the point information.

There is a known network system in which a plurality of communication terminals connectable to an Internet network directly exchange contents data with one another. Examples of the network system include a server/client system, a P2P (Peer to Peer) system and the like. In such a network system, each of the communication terminals transmits and receives photographic image data, data for identifying the image storing position, handwritten image data (handwritten data), text data, and the like. Then, each of the communication terminals causes a display to display images and texts based on the received data.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-234594 (PTL 1) discloses a photo-communication system. According to Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-234594 (PTL 1), a pair of information communication terminals includes image input means for receiving image data from a memory card and the like of a digital camera; data recording means for recording image data and the like; input means for a user providing an instruction input therethrough; image display means for displaying a recorded image and the like; data communication means for exchanging the data such as the recorded image with another terminal; and control means for controlling execution of each terminal. Each of the pair of information communication terminals is configured such that, when a handwritten graphic element is written through the input means overlaid on the image display means while looking at the image displayed on the image display means, the results of scribbles including images are displayed on another information communication terminal in real time.

Network system, communication method and communication terminal


A system and method for intelligently routing calls between customers and agents. The system and method use knowledge graphs to generate route recommendations for a route selection system. The system uses dynamically selected objective functions to generate the route recommendations. The objective functions may be selected according to the intent of the call. The system and method can also be used to reroute ongoing calls when the intent of the call changes.

Call routing is a process of automatically routing incoming calls from customers to agents or representatives of a company or organization who can answer questions and help customers complete tasks. During call routing, incoming calls may move through multiple phases: a qualifying phase in which the purpose of the call is determined; a queueing phase during which the call is sent to a system that queues the incoming call along with many other incoming calls; and a distribution phase in which the calls are finally routed to available agents based on the queue and other criteria.
Different companies may use different call routing methods. Exemplary call routing methods include fixed order, skills-based routing, talk-time, and time-based. Each of these call routing methods assigns calls according to a single criteria (such as which agents have had spent the least amount of time talking with customer so far).
Currently, call routing systems use predefined scripts to classify user intent, using, for example, interactive voice response systems. The intent or context of a call is pre-mapped with target routes to different agent groups that may specialize in various tasks or knowledge domains. Agent selection is done using call distribution algorithms such as the longest available agent. And all agents that can be reached within a given queue are considered equal. Because the call routing is based on scripts, simple distribution algorithms, and agents are not considered as distinct (outside of perhaps their specialization), existing systems ultimately route callers to agents in a manner that promotes efficiency. However, routes selected in this manner may not be the most effective in generating desired call and/or business outcomes.
There is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the shortcomings discussed above.

Intelligent call routing using knowledge graphs

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)


Process for the preparation of an alkoxylated alcohol composition comprising one or more alkoxylated alcohols wherein the process comprises the steps of:                (a) reacting carbon monoxide with hydrogen under Fischer-Tropsch reaction conditions in the presence of a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst;        (b) separating from the product of step (a) at least one hydrocarbon fraction comprising paraffins having from 9 to 17 carbon atoms and olefins having from 9 to 17 carbon atoms, the hydrocarbon fraction additionally comprising at least a portion of alcohols;        (c) contacting one or more of the hydrocarbon fractions obtained in step (b) with an alkylene oxide; and        (d) recovering an alkoxylated alcohol composition from the reaction product of step (c).

A large variety of products useful, for instance, as nonionic surfactants, wetting and emulsifying agents, solvents and chemical intermediates are prepared by the addition reaction (alkoxylation reaction) of alkylene oxides (epoxides) with organic compounds having one or more active hydrogen atoms. For example, particular mention may be made of the alcohol ethoxylates prepared by the reaction of ethylene oxide with aliphatic alcohols of 6 to 30 carbon atoms. Such ethoxylates, and to a lesser extent corresponding propoxylates and compounds containing mixed oxyethylene and oxypropylene groups, are widely employed as nonionic detergent components in cleaning and personal care formulations.
An illustration of the preparation of an alkanol ethoxylate (represented by formula III below) by addition of a number (n) of ethylene oxide molecules (formula II) to a single alkanol molecule (formula I) is presented by the equation:

One typical method of preparing such alkoxylated alcohols is by hydroformylating an olefin into an oxo-alcohol, followed by alkoxylation of the resulting alcohol by reaction with a suitable alkylene oxide such as ethylene oxide or propylene oxide.
Typically the olefin to be hydroformylated is obtained by the oligomerization of ethylene, for example as is used in the Shell Higher Olefin Process (SHOP).
Hydroformylation is typically conducted in the presence of a homogeneous catalyst which is based on a source of a transition metal, typically a metal of Group 8 (iron, ruthenium or osmium), 9 (cobalt, rhodium or iridium) or 10 (nickel, palladium or platinum) of the Periodic Table of Elements. In their catalytically active form these metals may be used with carbonyl ligands, but they can also be used as a complex with other ligands, suitably phosphorus-containing ligands. Such catalysts are commonly referred to as phosphine and/or phosphite-modified hydroformylation catalysts.
The first stage of the hydroformylation reaction is formation of an oxo-aldehyde. This is followed by a secondary reaction involving the hydrogenation of the oxo-aldehyde into the corresponding oxo-alcohol. The secondary reaction may occur simultaneously with the actual hydroformylation reaction, depending on the type of catalyst used. Some of the homogeneous hydroformylation catalysts are sufficiently active to hydrogenate the in-situ formed oxo-aldehyde into the desired oxo-alcohol. Sometimes, however, a separate hydrofinishing step is applied in order to improve the quality of the final oxo-alcohol product in terms of its aldehyde content.
Once the oxo-alcohols have been alkoxylated, they may be used as nonionic surfactants in a wide variety of products, such as, for example, detergent compositions, lubricants and personal care compositions. Especially useful for this purpose are ethoxylated and/or propoxylated alcohols which contain from 9 to 17 carbon atoms in the carbon backbone, excluding the carbon atoms in ethoxy/propoxy groups.
As can be seen from the above discussion, current commercial processes for producing ethoxylated alcohols involve multi-step processes, for example involving the following steps (1)–(3): (1) oligomerization of ethylene to produce an olefin, (2) hydroformylation of the olefin to produce an alcohol, and (3) alkoxylation of the alcohol to produce an alkoxylated alcohol. Further, currently used processes for producing alkoxylated alcohols are based on ethylene feedstocks, which tend to be relatively expensive.
In view of the high demand in the detergents industry for nonionic alkoxylated alcohol surfactants, it would be desirable to provide a less complex process for preparing alkoxylated alcohols. At the same time, it would be desirable to make use of feedstocks which are cheaper than ethylene. In particular, it would be desirable to make use of feedstocks derived from the "Fischer-Tropsch" hydrocarbon synthesis which involves the reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen ("synthesis gas") to produce hydrocarbons. The synthesis gas used in the Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbon synthesis is derived from cheap, abundantly available natural gas or coal.
In addition to hydrocarbons such as paraffins and olefins, feedstocks derived from the Fischer-Tropsch process typically also contain a certain amount of oxygenate components such as alcohols and aldehydes. The amount of alcohols present in the Fischer-Tropsch stream varies depending on the type of catalyst used, although it may be relatively low compared with the amount of hydrocarbons (e.g. paraffins). It has now surprisingly been found by the present inventors that despite the relatively low levels of alcohols present in feedstocks derived from the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, these alcohols can be ethoxylated directly. This leads to a process for preparing ethoxylated alcohols which comprises fewer steps than current commercial processes. In addition, the process of the present invention enables the use of Fischer-Tropsch derived feedstocks that tend to be cheap relative to ethylene feedstocks and contain very low levels of sulphur and/or nitrogen contaminants.


A magnetoresistive sensor element with a three-dimensional micro-architecture is capable of significantly improved sensitivity and highly localized measurement of magnetic fields. The sensor is formed of a multilayer film of alternately magnetic and nonmagnetic materials. The sensor is optimally operated in a current perpendicular to plane mode. The sensor is useful in magnetic read/write heads, for high density magnetic information storage and retrieval.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to localized magnetic field detection and measurement and more particularly to magnetoresistive sensors.
2. Description of Related Art
Magnetic sensor technology is likely to play an enabling role in a wide variety of product applications. Advanced magnetic sensors will serve as read elements in magnetic heads for information retrieval from magnetic tape, disk and card storage media. The sensors may also serve as non-volatile information storage elements. In addition, magnetic sensors have great potential as switches and control elements in automobile engines and anti-lock braking systems as well as in medical applications to map magnetic signals from the human brain, and in underwater excavation and/or search systems to map the magnetic signature of metallic objects.
The value of magnetic sensor technology in future applications will depend in large part on the ability to develop sensors with improved sensitivity, smaller dimensions, and innovative packaging. Specifically, packaging refers to a system architecture which allows efficient signal retrieval without compromising performance or reliability.
Conventional magnetoresistive (MR) sensors use the magnetoresistance of simple thin films of ferromagnetic materials to detect and measure the local magnetic field in the environment of the sensor. Typically magnetic materials exhibit a change in electrical resistivity as the local magnetic field is changed. By passing an electrical current through the material, a change in resistivity produces a change in output voltage which is then a direct measure of the local magnetic field change. Such conventional MR sensors have been successfully used as information retrieval (i.e., read) sensor elements in magnetic heads used in magnetic disk storage devices. A magnetoresistance sensor may also be used as a reliable switching element for use as a device controller or a digital information storage element. The usefulness of conventional MR sensors is limited by the small magnitude of the MR response ##EQU1## where .DELTA.R is the change in resistance with and without an external saturation magnetic field and R is the resistance in the presence of the saturation magnetic field).
Recently materials with enhanced magnetoresistive response ##EQU2## have been produced by controlling the one-dimensional micro-structure of the materials. This effect, called giant magnetoresistance (GMR), is described in the IEEE Translation Journal on Magnetics in Japan, Vol.7, No. 9, September, 1992, pages 674-684 and IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 28, No. 5, September, 1992, pages 2482-2487. The GMR effect has been produced in synthetic multilayered structures consisting of ferromagnetic metal layers separated by non-magnetic metal layers. The thicknesses of individual layers in these structures are typically several nanometers. The origin of the giant magnetoresistive effect is related to the large difference in resistivity between the configuration in which the magnetization state of adjacent ferromagnetic layers is substantially parallel versus the configuration in which adjacent ferromagnetic layers have a substantially anti-parallel magnetization state. The observed large variations in resistivity between these two states is thought to be due to the differences in spin dependent scattering at the layer boundaries when the magnetization states of adjacent ferromagnetic layers are parallel or anti-parallel.
While GMR materials provide the opportunity for sensors with a large magnetoresistive response ##EQU3## they typically do not have high sensitivity, ##EQU4## where: .DELTA.R=R(at H=O)-R(at H.sub.sat)
R=R(at H.sub.sat) PA1 H.sub.sat =the applied magnetic field to saturate the ferromagnetic layers.
This is because the anti-parallel magnetization state (which occurs at H=O, i.e., no applied external field) is produced by an exchange coupling between the adjacent ferromagnetic layers. The exchange coupling between adjacent ferromagnetic layers is a strong, short-range, quantum mechanical interaction. It requires a thin spacer layer between the ferromagnetic layers, and because it is so strong it demands a strong H.sub.sat in order to switch the sensor from the anti-parallel magnetization state to a parallel magnetization state. This is an important limitation in the practical application of GMR sensors to high density read/write magnetic heads because of the requirement to be sensitive to modest magnetic fields.

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A method for high rate assembly of nanoelements into two-dimensional void patterns on a non-conductive substrate surface utilizes an applied electric field to stabilize against forces resulting from pulling the substrate through the surface of a nanoelement suspension. The electric field contours emanating from a conductive layer in the substrate, covered by an insulating layer, are modified by a patterned photoresist layer, resulting in an increased driving force for nanoelements to migrate from a liquid suspension to voids on a patterned substrate having a non-conductive surface. The method can be used for the production of microscale and nanoscale circuits, sensors, and other electronic devices.

Nanoelements have generated much interest due to their potential use in devices requiring nanoscale features such as new electronic devices, sensors, photonic crystals, advanced batteries, and many other applications (1,2). The realization of commercial applications, however, depends on developing high-rate and precise assembly techniques to place these elements onto desired locations and surfaces.
Different approaches have been used to carry out directed assembly of nanoelements in a desired pattern on a substrate, each approach having different advantages and disadvantages. In electrophoretic assembly, charged nanoelements are driven by an electric field onto a patterned conductor. This method is fast, with assembly typically taking less than a minute; however, it is limited to assembly on a conductive substrate (3). Directed assembly can also be carried out onto a chemically functionalized surface. For example, treatment to render a surface more hydrophilic can lead to selective assembly of nanoelements on the treated area (4,5). However, such assembly is a slow process, requiring up to several hours, because it is diffusion limited (6-9). Thus, there remains a need for a method of nanoelement assembly that is both rapid and not reliant on having either a conductive surface or a chemically functionalized surface.

High rate electric field driven nanoelement assembly on an insulated surface


A power conversion apparatus includes a switch circuit which drives switching elements based on a control signal, a feedback section which performs feedback control, a signal output section which outputs the control signal based on a controlled variable of the feedback control, an output value detecting section which detects an output value outputted from the switch circuit, and an operation determining unit which has an operation stop determination section which determines whether to stop operation of the switching elements based on a rate of change of the output value, and an operation start determination section which determines whether to start operation of the switching elements based on the controlled variable.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to a power conversion apparatus that includes a switch circuit, a feedback section and a signal generating section.
Related Art
In burst mode operation based on conventional art, switching frequencies that fall in an audible frequency band may cause audible noise. Therefore, a technique has been developed, aiming to avoid such frequencies that cause audible noise. For example, an invention dealing with such a technique is disclosed in patent document JP-B-4765081, entitled "Method and apparatus for reducing audible frequency in a switching power supply". According to the technique, control is exerted over periods corresponding to groups of switching cycles of a switch, and over non-switching periods corresponding to intervals between the groups of switching cycles of the switch.
Further, it is desirable that high efficiency is achieved at low cost over an entire range from a light load period to a heavy load period. For example, patent document JP-A-2003-324953 discloses an invention dealing with a technique for achieving high efficiency at low cost, entitled "Switching power supply apparatus". The control means in this invention stops the intermittent turn-on/off operation of the switching element when the first voltage detecting means has detected the increase of a first output voltage up to a first threshold. Further, the control means in this invention starts the intermittent turn-on/off operation of the switching element when a second voltage detecting means has detected the decrease of the first output voltage down to a second threshold.
However, despite the application of the invention disclosed in the patent document JP-B-4765081 to an apparatus, a response lag may be caused in the feedback control in the event that load current has drastically decreased, such as when an output connector has been disconnected. The response lag may lead to too much increase of the output voltage. Therefore, the output side is required to be provided with parts that can withstand high voltage (high-voltage parts), which would necessarily incur high cost.
Further, despite the application of the invention disclosed in the patent document JP-A-2003-324953 to an apparatus, the operation of the switching element is controlled on the basis of the first output voltage and the two thresholds (first and second thresholds). This may raise a problem that the average output voltage value varies between the two thresholds. Resultantly, there may be a range in which the average output voltage value is deviated from an instructed output voltage value and accordingly the output voltage cannot be controlled with high accuracy.


A double-lumen angioscopy catheter is provided which includes separate passageways for a guidewire and for an optic fiber bundle, which passageways are joined into a single tubular component for the portion of the catheter which enters the body. The passageways are separated from each other at the location external of the body whereby each of the guidewire and the optic fiber bundle can be inserted and removed in separate stages. An assembly can also be provided for passing flushing liquid through either or both of the passageways. The guidewire can be used to maneuver the distal end of the optic fiber bundle so as to accomplish controlled inspection within the body vessel. The angioscopy catheter facilitates a procedure whereby a single guidewire is inserted and remains in place throughout use of the angioscopy catheter, whether during pretreatment or posttreatment inspection. The same guidewire likewise remains in place and functions as a guidewire for a treatment catheter such as a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty catheter.

The present invention generally relates to angioscopy catheters and procedures. More particularly, the invention relates to a double-lumen catheter which is particularly intended for angioscopic uses. During use, the two-channel or double-lumen portion of the catheter is inserted into a patient. One channel accommodates a guidewire, while the other channel accommodates an optic fiber bundle, in particular a fiber bundle of an endoscope. The guidewire and the optic fiber bundle are capable of being inserted into and pushed through their respective channels. The guidewire and the fiber bundle can be fed in and manipulated separately of one another by way of single-lumen portions of the catheter proximal of the double-lumen portion of the catheter. In a preferred aspect of the invention, the transition from the single-channel catheter portions to an intermediate fork piece and from the intermediate fork piece to the two-channel portion of the catheter is uniform, there being no internally protruding edges which could make difficult the introduction of the guidewire and/or the optic fiber bundle in either direction, that is either into the distal end (double-lumen portion) or into the proximal end (either single-lumen portion).
During angioplasty treatments and the like, procedures are known and used whereby a lesion is located by means of x-ray based procedures which utilize radiopaque dyes and instruments having radiopaque areas which provide an image to assist the surgeon in diagnosing and treating diseased areas by transluminal procedures. While these approaches have met with reasonable success, it is believed that improvements in diagnosis and treatment can be attained by being able to actually view the lesion or other diseased area, rather than be limited to only images created by radiopaque materials. Actual viewing, such as through an optic fiber bundle, provides a three-dimensional view allowing an assessment of characteristics of the diseased area that cannot be attained by way of radiopaque images. It is also generally desirable to be able to view the lesion or other treated area after treatment, as well as before treatment. A procedure such as angioscopy allows for a direct look at a stenosis with the objective of being able to see the kind of material the stenosis is comprised of.
As is the case for any inner luminal procedure, minimizing the number of insertions and withdrawals of implements within body vessels is an objective to be sought. Also, difficulties can arise in attempting to properly position optic fiber bundles within vessels, particularly steering movement of the distal tip of optic fiber bundles to direct the viewing path as desired. Another difficulty which can be associated with fiber optic bundles when used within body passageways such as blood vessels is the accumulation of vision-obscuring materials such as blood and the like along the viewing pathway of the optic fiber bundle.
It has been found that the double-lumen angioscopy catheter and method in accordance with the present invention achieve the advantages of being able to manipulate an optic fiber bundle so that it is properly guided to the desired location for actually viewing a lesion or other diseased area prior to and/or after treatment of the diseased area. Included are means for flushing vision-obscuring materials such as blood and the like away from the field of view of the optic fiber bundle. At the same time, the invention requires only a single insertion of a guidewire to and beyond the diseased area, which guidewire can remain substantially in place throughout the duration of the procedure.
In summary, the present invention achieves these objectives and provides advantageous results along these lines by providing and using a double-lumen angioscopy catheter having a length of double-channel tubing positioned distally of a fork member which thereby connects the double-channel tubing to lengths of single-channel tubing whereby the double-channel tubing can be positioned within the body while the lengths of single-channel tubing are accessible from outside of the body. By this arrangement, access is provided in the form of continuous, separate passageways which are preferably smooth-walled from the distal tip of the double-channel tubing to a proximal portion of each length of single-channel tubing. One of these continuous passageways accommodates a guidewire, while the other accommodates an optical fiber bundle. The procedure for using the device includes inserting the guidewire at a location to the diseased area, such as distally beyond a lesion and substantially maintaining the guidewire in place at this location within the body. The double-lumen angioscopy catheter is then passed over and slidably guided by the guidewire whenever viewing of the diseased area is desired. Guidewire arrangements with respect to the optical fiber bundle facilitate steering at the distal tip of the optic fiber bundle. Preferably, flushing means are provided whereby this viewing operation can be accompanied by flushing of blood and the like away from the viewing pathway of the fiber optic bundle. Furthermore, the guidewire is usable, with the angioscopic device having been removed, for guiding an angioplasty catheter to the location for treatment.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved angioscopy catheter and method of its use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved angioscopic catheter having a double-lumen structure for accommodating both a guidewire and an elongated optic member generally longitudinally adjacent to one another.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved procedure for treating disease transluminally which permits an actual optic fiber viewing of the diseased area without requiring more than one insertion of a guidewire to the diseased area being treated.
Another object of this invention is a double-lumen angioscopy catheter and method for the production of a fork portion thereof which provides a uniform and smooth transition from single-channel parts to a two-channel catheter portion, without forming internally protruding edges along the transition area.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an assembly of a double-lumen angioscopy catheter having a guidewire with a curved portion at or near its distal or leading end whereby rotating the guidewire about its longitudinal axis orients the catheter, particularly the optic fiber bundle thereof in a desired direction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide means for the person administering treatment to see that the extremity of the double-lumen catheter is about to extend beyond the distal end of its guiding catheter.
These and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.


According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a heating section that heats an image on a sheet formed of decolorable color material; an image forming section that transfers the image formed of the decolorable color material to the sheet; a diagnosis image generating section that instructs the image forming section to generate a diagnosis image formed of a predetermined image on a sheet; a control section that controls the heating section to switch a fixing temperature for fixing the image formed of the decolorable color material on the sheet to a decoloring temperature for decoloring the image formed of the decolorable color material on the sheet; and a first transporting route that transports the sheet on which the diagnosis image of the decolorable color material is formed through the image forming section to the heating section maintained at the decoloring temperature.

A decoloring apparatus that decolors an image on a sheet, which is printed by decolorable color material, includes a heating section that heats the image at a decoloring temperature or higher and a pressing section that comes into pressing contact with the heating section. As a result, the image of the decolorable color material is heated and pressed at the decoloring temperature thereof or higher bypassing the sheet through a nip in which the heating section comes into pressed contact with the pressing section, and the image is decolored. The sheet in which the decoloring is performed is reused as a printing sheet. Decoloring means, in the context of this disclosure, changing the appearance of a colored image comprising a toner or the like, such that the toner or the like which constitutes an image which is visible to a human eye, becomes not readily visible to the human eye.
It is preferable that the image on the sheet be entirely decolored by the decoloring operation, but a portion of the image that is not decolored may remain.
Defects of the decoloring apparatus may be exemplified as one of causes of occurrence of the portions of the image not becoming decolored. As a defect of the decoloring apparatus, for example, a case where the pressure on the sheet carrying the image is not evenly distributed across as the sheet is passed through the nip may occur. If there is a portion in which the pressure of the nip is inadequate, the image coming into contact with that portion of the nip remains colored.
However, since the images, and the location and density of the images, that are printed on the sheets and are subjected to being decolored are generally different on each printed sheet, if sheets passing through the defective nip do not have images thereon in a region thereof passing through the defective nip, the defective decoloring of the sheet does not occur and the location in the nip of the defect of the decoloring apparatus cannot be determined.
Therefore, it is preferable that a state of a heating device which decolors the image of the decolorable color material printed on the sheet by heating and pressing the image, be capable of being evaluated.

Image forming apparatus, decoloring apparatus and method of evaluating a condition of a heating portion of an image processing apparatus


An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising at least one transceiver operable in a wireless personal area network (WPAN), wherein the at least one transceiver is equipped with the directional antennas adapted to point substantially vertically towards a horizontal reflecting surface, such as a ceiling, and with an antenna pattern specifically designed to control the interference levels.

The millimeter-wave (mmWave) wireless personal area networks (WPAN) communication systems operating in the 60 GHz frequency band are expected to provide several Gbps throughput to distances of about 10 m and will be entering into service in a few years. Currently, several standardization bodies (IEEE 802.15.3c, WirelessHD SIG, ECMA TG20) consider different concepts of the mmWave WPAN systems to define the systems which are the best suited for the multi-Gbps WPAN applications.
For the traditional WPAN approach, the signal is radiated isotropically or directionally to receiver as it is schematically shown in FIG. 1, generally as 100. With this approach, the signal level of the given WPAN transmitter decreases with the distance increase as a 1/R2 (free space approximation—only 6 dB attenuation increase as the distance doubles) or under similar polynomial law. So if the number of the WPAN users are significant and they are located close to each other, the mutual interference and the frequency reuse problems are prevalent.
Thus, a strong need exists for an invention that remedies the aforementioned shortcomings of existing WPAN systems, apparatus and methods.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

Techniques for wireless personal area network communications with efficient spatial reuse


The present invention is a process for modifying a fluorinated ion exchange membrane by irradiation of the membrane with a sufficient dose of non-spark-producing radiation to increase water absorption and/or ionic conductivity of the membrane. The membranes are particularly useful in fuel cells and chloralkali cells.

The state-of-the-art method for electrolyzing an alkali metal halide, especially sodium chloride (NaCl) or potassium chloride (KCl), is to use a fluorinated membrane to separate the anolyte and catholyte compartments of an electrolytic cell. The membrane permits the alkali metal cation to pass through to the catholyte, but severely restricts the undesirable passage of hydroxyl ion from the catholyte to the anolyte. State-of-the-art fuel cells also use fluorinated membranes to separate the anolyte and catholyte compartments of the cell. Fluorinated membranes are also useful in conventional chemical separations and facilitated transport processes. To make these membranes more attractive, water absorption and ionic conductivity of the membrane should be increased.
Many efforts have been made to improve the performance of these membranes, particularly membranes used in chloralkali cells or fuel cells, by a wide variety of treatments. Most of the efforts have been aimed at obtaining lower voltage, higher current efficiency or lower power consumption.
Water absorption is also an important factor. Increased water content of the ionomeric material usually increases the ion conductivity of the polymer membrane.
It is known that the irradiation of a fluorinated ion exchange membrane may improve cell voltage. U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,014 (Banerjee) discloses and claims a process for irradiating a fluorinated ion exchange membrane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,292 (Klotz et al.) also teaches irradiation of perfluorinated polymeric membranes in the presence of a monomer in order to facilitate cross-linking of the membrane to lower voltage in an electrolytic cell. U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,292 reduced cell voltage by treating fluorinated carboxyl membranes with corona discharge, a process in which an electrical discharge or spark is passed from one electrode to another through a gas and through the sample to be treated. Klotz et al. found that heating damaged the membrane. They chose to keep the temperature below 80.degree. C., preferably below +22.degree. C., and most preferably below -20.degree. C. To prevent heat damage, Klotz et al. exposed the sample to corona discharge 1000-5000 times, with cooling between exposures. Clearly, the need to use thousands of exposures is a severe limitation to the usefulness of this process.

Irradiation of polymeric ion exchange membranes to increase water absorption


A non-interlock blocking element adapted for use with a furniture unit having a plurality of drawers, a vertical guide for receiving a vertical stack of blocking elements which are slidably mountable in the guide for vertical translation therein, and a wedge element associated with each of the drawers which is reciprocable into the stack of blocking elements to effect interlocking relationships among the drawers is provided. The non-interlock blocking element allows such furniture units which are adapted for use with interlocking mechanisms, to be configured as non-interlocking furniture units, or as partially interlocking furniture units. The non-interlock blocking elements are generally similar to standard interlock blocking elements, but include a recess which allows unobstructed reciprocation of a wedge element associated with a drawer when the recess is in horizontal alignment with the wedge element, whereby the drawer can be opened irrespective of whether another drawer is already opened.

Furniture units with drawers are generally well known in the art, and typically include multi-drawer vertical files, such as those used in freestanding file cabinets, pedestals for desks, worksurfaces, computer support units, and other similar furniture applications. When the drawers in such furniture units are to be used for relatively heavy articles, such as document storage, the unit is preferably provided with some type of drawer interlock mechanism that will permit only one of the drawers to be opened at any given time, so as to avoid vertical instability, tipping, etc. Such interlock mechanisms are normally provided as a safety feature in freestanding vertical files.
Many people find the interlock system annoying and inconvenient at times, because it prevents more than one drawer from being opened at any given time, even when potential tipping hazards or vertical stability problems are non-existent. For example, a furniture unit, such as a desk pedestal, having a lower 12" file drawer and one or two upper 3" personal drawers, is not likely to tip if one of the upper 3" drawers is open when the file drawer is already open. The user of a furniture unit of this type may desire access to the contents of one of the 3" personal drawers while the file drawer is already opened, such as to get a pen to make a notation in the file before returning it to the file drawer. With a conventional interlock system, the file drawer must be closed before the personal drawer can be opened to obtain access to the contents thereof, and the personal drawer must be closed before the file drawer can be reopened. In many cases, it would be much more convenient to be able to simply open the personal drawer, such as to remove a pen, without having to first close the file drawer.
One way in which a furniture unit could be provided with a plurality of drawers which can be opened at the same time would be to simple eliminate the interlock mechanism. However, because the drawer interlock mechanism of conventional lockable furniture units generally cooperates with, and is integrated to, the interlock mechanism, it would be necessary to provide alternative locking means if it is desired to convert an existing furniture unit having lockable, interlocked drawers, into a furniture unit having lockable, non-interlocked drawers (i.e., drawers which can be opened irrespective of whether or not another drawer is already open). The use of alternative locking means would be particularly undesirable in situations where a manufacturer intends to manufacture both an interlocking version, and a non-interlocking version of a lockable furniture unit at the same manufacturing plant or production line, because excessive alternative manufacturing equipment, manufacturing processes, and inventory of parts would be required for the alternative locking means. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a means or device which is capable of converting a lockable furniture unit having an interlocking mechanism (for preventing a second drawer from being opened when a first drawer is already open) into a lockable furniture unit which allows a second drawer to be opened when a first drawer is already open, and which cooperatively interacts with an existing drawer locking mechanism, whereby the need for additional alternative locking means is eliminated.
Known furniture units with a plurality of drawers have either been of the interlocking type, wherein only one drawer can be opened at any given time, or of the non-interlocking type, wherein any or all of the drawers can be opened at any given time. Heretofore, partially interlocking drawer systems wherein at least one drawer can be selectively opened irrespective of whether other drawers are already opened, and wherein at least one other selected drawer cannot be opened if at least a third drawer is already opened, have not been sold or otherwise disclosed, nor have advantages thereof been described. However, a partially interlocking drawer system may be advantageous for certain types of drawer configurations, such as where it might be undesirable to have two or more large file drawers of a furniture unit opened at the same time, yet acceptable and desirable to have a small drawer opened at the same time that a file drawer is open. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a means or device for providing a furniture unit having selectable non-interlocking drawers and selectable interlocking drawers. Further, it would be desirable to provide such means or device which would allow such furniture unit to be reconfigured as interlocking, non-interlocking, or partially interlocking, as desired.

Drawer interlock to non-interlock conversion device


A burner (24) which is useful for operating a heat generator includes a first upstream swirl generator (17) capable of swirling a combustion air stream, a device for injecting at least one fuel into the combustion air stream from the upstream swirl generator (17), an exit ring (1) located at the downstream end of the burner (24) at the edge to the combustion chamber (2) where the fuel is burnt, and preferentially a mixing section (20, 21) downstream from the upstream swirl generator (17) having a downstream end, having at least one transfer duct (20) for transferring downstream a flow of combustion air and fuel formed in the upstream swirl generator (17), and having a mixing tube (21) downstream from the at least one transfer duct (20) and receiving flow from the at least one transfer duct (20), wherein the downstream end of the mixing section borders the combustion chamber (2) and is formed by the exit ring (1). Pilot mode operation of such a burner (24) is advantageously and economically made possible by providing a pilot burner system (8, 15, 28, 35) in the exit ring (1) for injecting liquid fuel (27) into the combustion chamber (2).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a burner useful for operating a heat generator including a first upstream swirl generator capable of swirling a combustion air stream, means for injecting at least one fuel into the combustion air stream from the upstream swirl generator, an exit ring located at the downstream end of the burner at the edge to the combustion chamber where the fuel is burnt.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Premixed burners are characterized by a particularly low emission of NOx if operated under lean conditions. Correspondingly, these burners are operated under lean conditions at standard load. If the load is reduced, these burners have the tendency to become unstable when the supply with fuel is reduced.
A premixed burner is e.g. proposed in EP 0 321 809 B1, comprising several conical wall portions which are shifted with respect to each other leaving entrance slots through which the combustion air is entering the interior of the burner. Liquid and gaseous fuels can be burnt in such a premixed burner, preferentially liquid fuel is injected by means of a central fuel nozzle located on the axis of the burner, while gaseous fuels can be added to the stream of combustion air at the entrance slots between the conical wall portions.
An alternative premixed burner, which is described in e.g. EP 0 704 657 A2, or in EP 0 780 629 A2, additionally comprises a mixing tube located downstream of a burner as described in EP 0 321 809 B1, wherein at the entrance of the mixing tube there are transfer ducts for a controlled entrance of the swirling combustion air into the mixing tube.
To allow reduction of the fuel supply without the above-mentioned problems, a so-called pilot mode is made possible for such burners by providing particular pilot nozzles at the central fuel nozzle or by providing particularly long central fuel nozzles. Alternatively, as described in EP 0 797 051 A2, pilot mode can be made possible by providing, next to the burner, on the backside wall of the combustion chamber and distanced from the exit of the burner, separate mixing elements for fuel and combustion air which can be used for pilot operation of the burner. Another possibility for pilot operation is described in EP 0 994 300 A1, where a burner according to EP 0 704 657 A2 or EP 0 780 629 A2 is provided with an exit ring comprising swirl generators, and where pilot gas is injected into the combustion chamber into the swirl formed by these swirl generators. Yet another alternative for pilot operation is described in EP 0 931 980 A1, where pilot gas is injected next to the exit ring into the combustion chamber after mixing it with combustion air. Additionally, means for igniting the pilot gas are described in this document.


Facial protective wear including a facial shield member having a substantially transparent portion for allowing visible light to pass to the wearer's eyes and a support coupled to the facial shield for supporting the facial shield on the wearer's head. The facial shield member further has a nose protective portion extending over and protecting substantially the wearer's entire nose from in front of and from above and preferably has side portions protecting the wearer's eyes in a direction from the sides of the wearer's head. The facial shield member transparent portion preferably substantially prevents ultraviolet solar radiation from reaching the wearer's eyes and facial features, such as the nose and cheeks, and also from reaching the eyes in a direction from the sides of the head. The facial protective wear also can be used to protect the wearer from the wind and from injury due to flying objects. Various embodiments are described, including embodiments that clip onto existing eyewear or headware. The nose protective portion can be made integrally with the transparent shield portion or removable.

The present invention relates to a facial shield, and particularly, a facial shield for protection from damaging radiation from the sun. The invention also has applications as a facial shield for protection from the wind and also from flying objects, i.e., as an industrial facial shield, but is particularly applicable as a facial shield for protection from solar rays. The present invention thus provides the function available from what is commonly known as sunglasses, but also fulfills additional facial protective functions such as protecting the very sensitive and easily sunburned areas of the face, such as the nose and cheeks. The present invention is useful particularly in situations where there is substantial risk of overexposure to the sun's rays, and thus is useful in preventing sunburns and skin cancers caused by such overexposure.
Various forms of sunglasses and protective eyewear have been developed in the past. Applicant is aware of the following patents relating to sunglasses and protective eyewear:
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,271,538; 4,976,530; 4,835,796; 4,507,809; 4,649,577; 4,991,952; 4,843,655; 4,527,291; Des. 314,391; Des. 294,952; Des. 314,001; Des. 321,703; Des. 322,616; 3,155,982; 3,233,249; 3,233,250; 3,384,903; 4,674,851; 4,730,915; 4,741,611; 4,824,233; 4,859,048; 4,867,550; 4,877,320; 4,951,322; 4,101,980.
None of these patents, however, provide a facial shield for protecting not only the eyes of the wear, but the other facial features which are at risk of receiving damaging radiation from the sun or at risk of being injured by flying objects or the wind.

Facial shield, particularly for protection from the sun


Method for producing soluble potassium sulfate by recrystallization of crude potassium sulfate wherein the crude potassium sulfate contains an amount of potassium, calculated as K2O, of about 15 wt % or higher, and the resulting potassium sulfate crystalline material conforms with the following characteristics: the amount of insoluble material is less than about 0.05 wt %, a 1 wt % solution of the potassium sulfate has a pH below about 6, and/or 1 pH unit lower than the pH of the crude potassium sulfate, the fraction obtained after crystallization has an average particle size within the following parameters: (i) d90<about 0.6 mm, (ii) d10>about 0.02 mm, and (iii) dust amounts to about 0.4 wt % or less, whereby the resulting potassium sulfate contains more than 51% potassium, calculated as K2O.

Fertilizers have long been in use. Generally the soil is provided with necessary components like nitrogen (urea, nitrate), phosphorous (phosphate), potassium (as a salt), sulfur (sulfate, thiosulfate or sulfite), or by providing organic fertilizers.
Dissolved fertilizers are often used in fertigation and in foliar sprays. In fertigation for example, fertilizers are used for irrigating plants (fertigation) in for example green houses, high value crops or densely grown areas. Fertigation is also increasingly used to limit the amount of fertilizer provided to an area, because the fertilizer is used in a more efficient way. It also has become clear that applying fertilizers on the leaves of plants may be advantageous, because components can directly be taken up by the plant. Such fertilizers are dissolved in water and applied by spraying, which is denoted as foliar spray. Application of fertilizer in dissolved form, for fertigation and foliar sprays require high quality standards to preclude clogging of spray nozzles, in particular in drip, bubbler and or micro-fertigation and foliar applications.
Potassium sulfate (often called Sulfate of Potash, abbreviated as SOP) is a commonly used fertilizer for foliar spray and/or for fertigation. Potassium sulfate fertilizer for foliar use is used for e.g. tobacco, vegetables and fruit. The foliar application of potassium sulfate for broad acre crops include tuber or root crops such as potatoes or sugar beet; cereals like maize, rice, wheat, barley, grain and the like; or oil crops, like soy bean, sunflower, rape-seed or peanut; or other crops like clover, cotton or mustard. Such use for broad acre crops is less common but of increasing importance. Crops for fertigation include fruits, like strawberry, citrus and stone or pomme fruits, vegetables like beans, Cucurbitaceae, tomatoes, tea, coffee, tobacco and the like.
Potassium sulfate can be produced in a large number of processes.
The most common method of producing potassium sulfate is the Mannheim process, which is the reaction of potassium chloride with sulfuric acid at high temperatures. The raw materials are poured into the center of a muffle furnace heated to above 600° C. Potassium sulfate is produced, along with hydrochloric acid, in a two-step reaction via potassium bisulfate. This method for creating SOP accounts for 40% to 50% of global supply.
Another method involves the reaction of potassium chloride with various sulfate salts to form a double salt that can be decomposed to yield potassium sulfate. Common raw material employed for this purpose include sodium sulfate, magnesium sulfate or other sulfate containing salts. Sodium sulfate, either in the form of mirabilite (also known as Glauber's Salt) or sulfate brine, is treated with brine saturated with potassium chloride to produce glaserite. The glaserite is separated and treated with fresh potassium chloride brine, decomposing into potassium sulfate and sodium chloride. Magnesium sulfate (Hartsalz and/or kieserite) can be processed in a comparable way. Double salts may already comprise potassium, and several of the processes use Schoenite as an intermediate double salt to obtain potassium sulfate. These methods of production are the second greatest source of global supply at 25% to 30%.
Some operations produce potassium sulfate from the salt mixtures harvested from natural brines. This method requires brines with high sulfate levels such as those found within certain salt lakes. The sulfate is typically present in the harvest salts in the form of the double salt kainite, which is converted to schoenite by leaching with sulfate brine. The leach process may be hampered by high sodium chloride content in the harvest salts and the halite is first removed by flotation. After thickening, the Schoenite is decomposed by adding hot water, whereupon the magnesium sulfate enters solution leaving potassium sulfate crystals.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,268,433 describes the production of potassium sulfate and alumina from Alunite. Alunite has an amount of potassium, calculated as K2O of about 11 wt %.
Taboada et al. in Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. (2005) 44:5845-5851 discloses several methods of recristallization of potassium sulfate, either through evaporation of water, or in a drowning-out crystallization using propanol.
The potassium sulfate is supplied or sold as a crystalline powder and will be dissolved before use. However, many of these processes do not consistently, or not at all, produce potassium sulfate of a quality that can easily be dissolved so that it can be used in spray equipment or other liquid fertilizer-supply equipment (micro irrigation systems). For use in spray equipment or other liquid fertilizer supply equipment it is important that the potassium sulfate crystalline compound dissolves quickly and completely.
CN 103896683 describes a process for improving the quality of potassium sulfate for use as a dissolved, liquid fertilizer. However, the examples provide for potassium sulfate with a potassium content below 52% (calculated as K2O), like for example 51.3, 51.5 and 51.8. Furthermore, the process requires addition of a number of compounds after crystallization.
K-Leaf™ is a foliar grade potassium sulfate product of Tessenderlo Group, having good solubilizing properties.
It is an object of the invention to provide a process for obtaining high quality, swiftly dissolving potassium sulfate from potassium sulfate having inferior dissolution properties.


A control system for adjusting the desired air pressure provided to one or more spray nozzles disposed to receive liquid and compressed air adjusts the amount of compressed air supplied to the spray nozzle based on various sensed operating parameters of the system.

Industrial production plants often generate hot or flue gases. Such flue gases must usually be cooled for proper operation of the production plant. In these applications, the flue gases are often passed through various portions of the production plant to provide a cooling effect. In other cases, however, additional cooling and conditioning systems must be utilized to produce the proper temperature. The flue gas is sometimes cooled by injecting an atomized liquid stream into the gas stream, such as through spraying water with very fine droplets into the gas stream. This operates to reduce the temperature of the gas stream.
There are typically various cooling requirements for a production plant of the general type described above. For example, the outlet temperature is typically required to be maintained at a particular temperature level or temperature set-point. Inasmuch as the flue gases typically raise the outlet temperature above the set-point value, the system is required to reduce the outlet temperature. In addition, complete evaporation of water contained within the exiting gas must be accomplished within a given distance (dwell distance). That is, all or substantially all of the liquid is required to be evaporated within a given distance of the location of the spray nozzle or nozzles to avoid undue wetting of the various components of the system. These usually include a filtration system, e.g., bag-house and other components.
For providing a liquid spray, such systems sometimes employ one or more bi-fluid nozzles. The nozzles use compressed air as an energy carrier to atomize a liquid, such as water, into fine droplets. In most systems today, the air pressure used for spray nozzles of this type is kept constant over the operating cooling range. The amount of constant air pressure required is usually calculated based on the maximum allowed droplet size for obtaining total evaporation, a parameter known to those skilled in the are as Dmax (i.e., maximum droplet size), within a given distance at the worst cooling conditions (usually at maximum inlet gas temperature and maximum inlet gas flow rate).
Of course, less liquid spray is required to cool the gas to the desired temperature when the inlet gas flow rate or inlet temperature decreases. Maintenance of a constant air pressure in these circumstances causes the air-flow rate to increase. This results in increased air consumption and in increased compressed air energy cost. For maintaining the cooling requirements of the system, it is often unnecessary to maintain the air pressure constant at lower cooling conditions. Thus, it would be desirable to closely monitor these parameters of the system to enable appropriate adjustment of air pressure provided to the atomizing spray nozzles as necessary or desired.

Method and apparatus for reducing air consumption in gas conditioning applications