An indoor or outdoor induction cook top system with integrated downdraft or telescoping ventilator uses cross flow or centrifugal blower technology. The system is controlled by an electronic or mechanical controller through a touch device, a slide, or knob. These provide precise control and an efficient way of removal of gases/fumes. A smooth glass cook top incorporates the induction hobs and a downdraft. The ventilator's blower assembly has a fan and a filter. The system uses sensors to detect temperature, fire, effluent, filter change requirements, fan speed, power, and voltage. The system has programmable operations and numerous set points.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to cooking appliances and, more particularly, to an induction appliance integrating a ventilation system having a fixed or adjustable ventilator and an adjustable blower.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Many different types of cooking appliances produce smoke, steam, or other gaseous contamination during use. Often, it is considered beneficial to utilize some type of ventilation system to evacuate the air borne contamination, either upward through a venting hood or downward into a draft flue. In kitchens, most known venting arrangements take the form of a hood which is fixed above a cooking surface and which can be selectively activated to evacuate the contaminated air. Downdraft vent arrangements are also widely known in the art wherein a cooking surface will incorporate a vent opening that is positioned between different sections of the cooking surface or extends along a back of the cooking surface. These downdraft vents can either be fixed relative to the cooking surface or can be raised relative to the cooking surface to an operating position.
The vertical distance between the cooking surface and a vent hood is typically fixed between 24 and 30 inches. When in an operating position, downdraft vent arrangements known in the art are also limited in this respect. Depending upon the food being cooked and even the particular height of the individual doing the cooking, it may be desired to vary the distance between the cooking surface and the vent hood. On a cooking surface, it is considered beneficial to arrange a vent closer to the cooking surface in order to increase the removal of contamination. On the other hand, it is often desirable to raise a vent hood relative to a cooking surface in order to more easily access different portions of the cooking surface.
Downdraft blowers are multiple speed fans, having a low speed and a high speed. Blowers are typically controlled by mechanical multi-position switches, potentiometer, or rheostat type controls, which set the speed of the fan. For removal of normal cooking odors, steam, and other effluents and contaminates, low speed operations of the downdraft blower has been adequate. However, when using such items as a grill, a blower set at high speed has been better able to withdraw all of the grease laden air from a kitchen and duct it to the outside environment. In cooking systems, such as cook tops and grills with optimized proximity ventilation, cooking gases, vapors and odors are drawn into an exhaust inlet and are better exhausted into the atmosphere. Usually, the exhaust inlet is located adjacent the cooking surface and the inlet to a flow path which serially includes a plenum, a blower, an atmospheric exhaust, and interconnecting ductwork. The flow path to the atmosphere normally extends through a wall or floor of the room in which the cooking system is located, but can also be exhausted into a room if filtered.
The blower/fan is frequently a separate unit from the rest of the cook top and is installed prior to the installation of the unit into a counter top. Some blower systems are provided with a pair of brackets, which permits the selective mounting of the blower to the floor or the appliance itself for discharge either through a wall or through the floor, as required by the installation. Conventional downdraft venting system configurations with an exhaust air inlet located at cook top level work well with electric surface units. However, when used in combination with gas on glass surface units, the downdraft induced air flow at the cook top surface tends to interfere with the gas flame.
A cook top using induction heating for cooking purposes is normally constructed of a metal housing supporting a glass or other cooking surface upon which there is located a number of induction heating coils sandwiched in-between. The housing normally contains an electronic package for use in supplying electric power to the coils. This package consists of a group of interconnected electronic components. The package is connected to the coils with wires that are mounted within the housing. This package is sometimes called the generator and the entire induction system is sometimes called a cooking cartridge.
Because of the heat generated by the induction coil package and the electronic circuitry for operating the induction coil, both of which are located below the cooking surface within the cooking cartridge, it is necessary to provide some form of cooling for the induction coil and its associated circuitry. The fan has been found to be the least expensive and most reliable cooling solution. The known drawback here, though, has been the sensitivity of the air flow, disruption of which causes failure or reduced energy for operation of the induction system.
In order to operate for a prolonged period without the induction system breaking down/turning off, it is necessary then to use a fan that circulates air throughout the interior of the cook top housing so as to maintain the proper temperature for the electronic components employed. Failure to keep the generator cool results in loss of power to the cooking product all the way to a complete unit shutdown. Normally, such a fan or blower is connected into the circuit used to supply power to the electronic components and, thus, is automatically turned on each time the cook top induction element/generator is turned on. However, to avoid overheating, the fan remains on after shutdown of the cooking elements so that heated air within the cook top housing can be removed until a proper safe heat level is obtained.
While the use of a fan in this manner is desirable in preventing heat-caused damage to the electronic components employed, it is also considered a disadvantageous. The use of a fan has two issues when used for cooling an induction cook top. When a fan is used in this manner, noise associated with the fan's operation is present whenever a cook top with induction of the type is used. Too many users find this noise to be objectionable. Further, the use of a fan alone is considered a problem because if air flow is blocked, the unit must be completely shut down for safety reasons. However, a user does not take into consideration whether or not there is heat buildup present within a housing, rather only noting that the unit failed to operate.
Although it is possible to use other methods to keep the temperature down, e.g., by the use of thermostats and various related known temperature sensing apparatus for controlling the flow of current in an electrical circuit, it is known that such expedients are undesirable for any of a variety of reasons, including effectiveness, cost, and reliability.
It has also been shown that a particular air flow path may be helpful, e.g., whereby an internal fan draws cooling air directly into a cooking cartridge, across the induction heating components, out an opening in the bottom of the cartridge, and then exhausts the heated air above the cook top surface through a gap all around the cartridge between a support flange on the cook top surface. There also has been development of a modular cooking cartridge where the internal fan draws cooling air into the interior of the cooking cartridge through the cartridge top, over the induction heating components, and out through exhaust openings in the cartridge top by way of an air flow path including an opening in the cooking cartridge container and an exhaust conduit formed by the cartridge container and an auxiliary housing fixed to the container.
As noted, many conventional cook tops often have integrated downdraft ventilators. Present designs are long rectangular boxes extending below the glass or metal cook top. They extend below the cook top housing as much as 30 inches below the surface or countertop. Attached to this box or plenum is the blower assembly extending outward from the box. The plenum does not in some cases provide any sealing to prevent the drawing of air from the box. Included in the typical downdraft assembly are the blower housing assembly, squirrel cage housing assembly, centrifugal wheel, blower motor assembly, plenum chamber assembly, and a passage between the cook top and the plenum chamber for removal of air from the top surface of the appliance. The box is often of a single-walled or a double-walled construction if you include the cook top box/housing with insulating air in between the plenum and cook top housing. An opening is provided to the interior of the box for exhausting. The centrifugal type fan/blower may be housed in the squirrel cage housing assembly and attached to the plenum. Such a single fan blower may also be attached to the side of the plenum with air flow at 90 degrees from the side of the plenum.
Blowers have been generally designed to draw air downwardly with the use of a centrifugal type fan, and thus remove contaminated air from a cook top surface, remove the interior air of the box, and exhaust it outside or return to the room. A centrifugal fan creates higher pressures than that of an axial flow fan. In such conventional systems, the air flow stream is pulled from the front and sides of the work area to the middle where the ventilator is. The air stream has to then turn 90 degrees downwardly, once inside the plenum chamber. The air stream has to then turn 90 degrees again into a small diameter opening when compared to the size of the ventilator's plenum chamber. The air stream then enters the blower flow efficiency and usually is redirected downwardly again for exhausting. With all this bending of the air stream, air is lost. Thus, large amounts of draw/vacuum/suction are needed to overcome all these losses. With the need for more draw/vacuum/suction comes a larger fan/blower motor, which increases costs, noise, size, and weight.
Present centrifugal fans consist of a wheel with small blades on the circumference and a shroud to direct and control the air flow into the center of the wheel and out at the periphery. The blades move the air by centrifugal force, literally throwing the air out of the wheel at the periphery, creating a vacuum/suction inside the wheel. There are two basic design types of wheel blades in centrifugal blowers—forward curved blades and backward inclined blades.
Forward curved wheels are operated at relatively low speeds and are used to deliver large air volumes against relatively low static pressures. However, the light construction of the forward curved blade does not permit this wheel to be operated at speeds needed to generate high static pressures. Thus, this type is generally not used in downdraft ventilators.
The backward inclined blade blower wheel design has blades that are slanted away from the direction of the wheel travel. The performance of this wheel is characterized by high efficiency, high cubic foot per minute (CFM) operation and is usually of rugged construction making it suitable for high static pressure applications. The maximum static efficiency for these types is approximately 75 to 80%. A drawback to this type is that it must be designed for twice the speed, which increases the cost of the unit.
To date, axial flow fans are not used for such cook top venting. Myths of why include: they cannot provide the static pressures needed for drawing/vacuum/suction, size, and spacing requirements. Axial flow fans come in three basic types of fans. The propeller fan (e.g., the household fan), the tube axial fan, and vane axial fan (cross flow or tangential). The first of these is the most familiar. The propeller fan consists of a propeller blade and a so-called "aperture" to restrict blowback from the sides. Without the aperture, the fan is not truly a propeller fan, since it cannot positively move air from one space to another. The aperture is usually sheet metal/plastic designed to fit closely around the periphery of the propeller. The tube axial fan (found in computers) is literally a propeller fan in a tube. In this case, the tube replaces the aperture. The tube axial fan generally increases flow quantity, pressure, and efficiency due to the reduced air leakage at the blade tips. The vane axial fan (cross flow or tangential) is a tube axial fan with the addition of vanes within the tube to straighten out the air flow. Here, the air flow changes from helical flow imparted by the propeller into a more nearly straight line flow and in the process increases the suction or draws pressure and efficiency while reducing noise. In general, the propeller fan operates at the lowest pressure. The tube axial fan is somewhat higher, and the vane axial fan supplies the highest-pressure output of the three. Vane axial fans are noted for use when available space for installation is limited, such as that of computers. Static efficiencies of 70 to 75% are achieved with vane axial fans. The CFM's and static performance ranges of the vane axial fan are similar to that of a centrifugal fan. Horsepower requirements are about the same for both designs.
The present downdraft ventilator designs also present problems when integrated into a cook top. Because of the low profile, spilled food and liquids can enter the grate and removal of the items that are not captured by the filter cannot be removed easily. This is due to the required depth of the plenum and the narrow box size.
The present design of ventilators is also often large and bulky. Examples would be downdraft ventilators built into a cabinet or used on an island counter top. There, the space below the unit is not available for a user to use for storage due to the centrifugal blower below and the size of the plenum presently used. Large size also limits the downdraft ventilator from being placed in other areas or used with other products below the cook top. This also limits the downdraft ventilators from being used as a freestanding unit, as a mobile unit, used in a cabinet (e.g., suspended), or in areas that do not have the ability to support a large structural frame below.
A document from Osaka Gas Company entitled "Research on Required Exhaust Flow Rate in Commercial Kitchens in the case of Gas-Fired and Induction-Heating Cooking Equipment" illustrates some problems when using ventilators for removal of contaminated air. For example, with the use of induction heating cooking stoves, even a weak side draft caused the cooking contaminants to move outside the exhaust vent because there was not enough energy to raise the air up for the collection to take place. These results show that when induction-heating cooking equipment was used in a real commercial kitchen environment where the room air was disturbed, oil smoke or other cooking contaminants were not fully removed by the exhaust vent.
Present day induction coils are made to a critical temperature of 200° C. beyond which they undergo damage to the insulation between the wires. There have been attempts to do other things in the coils, especially at the center of the coil, by providing for a temperature sensor, for example a thermistor, to prevent the overshooting of temperature limits. However, this type of localized sensor has very localized action and does not take into account the entire surface area of the generators/inductor. If the sensor does not work properly, there are situations in which the critical temperature may be reached and even exceeded causing damage. This is especially so when an empty pan is placed above the element supplied with current, or when food to be cooked has to be deep-fried. The results of these attempts ended with fans being added to keep the temperature in the proper operating range.
The below-referenced U.S. patents disclose embodiments that were at least, in part, satisfactory for the purposes for which they were intended. The disclosures of all the below-referenced prior United States patents in their entireties are hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application for purposes including, but not limited to, indicating the background of the present invention and illustrating the state of the art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,875 is directed toward controlling operation of an internal electric fan for cooling an induction heating apparatus. A thermistor is located near the induction heating apparatus and controls the operations of a fan. The thermistor, in this invention, is in series with a variable resistor and a capacitor. When the capacitor is charged to a predetermined voltage through the thermistor and variable resistor, it will fire a signal through a component to allow current to flow through an electronic component and operate the fan motor. This invention also shows a plurality of air inlets and outlet holes in the walls of the housing so that the fan may randomly pull air in one side and exhaust it out the other side of the housing after it passes over the induction heating apparatus. This patent notes the critical nature for the air flow to be undisturbed when cooling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,788 describes an induction cartridge having a forced air cooling system where a fan draws air into the cartridge cavity, circulates it around the induction heating components, and exhausts it out an opening in the bottom of the cartridge. This patent discloses exhausted air being returned to the kitchen environment through an exhaust gap around the periphery of the cartridge between the housing top and the bottom of a support flange. It also suggests that a separate drop in cartridge be made to isolate the air stream to the induction elements from any other source of blockage.
Another approach to protecting the components within induction cooking was illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,062. This invention includes a relatively complex thyristor gating circuit for precisely establishing the recharge period between conductive cycles of the inverter to cause the reapplied forward voltage across the thyristor to be insensitive to the loaded or unloaded condition of the work coil. However, it was found that this approach was incapable of protecting the inverter when loaded with a highly conductive utensil due to the heat buildup. A second circuit was illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,577, which was included in the appliance based upon establishing a pedestal of predetermined length initiated by the start of a conductive cycle and assuring that commutation occurred within the period set by the pedestal. Again, issues still remained as to the cooling requirements needed with different types of loads.
Other known induction cooking appliances in prior patents, (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,781,505 and 3,820,005) have attempted to protect the inverter by utilizing constant duty cycle controls for measuring the conductive interval of the inverter and adjusting the length of the recharge period to maintain an approximately constant duty cycle. As such, controls increase the operating frequency in response to a decreased conductive interval (as is normally caused by loading of the inverter) and they are not particularly suited to protecting the inverter from improper loads. In certain instances, presenting a highly conductive utensil to the work area causes a substantially shortened conductive interval, which, in turn, causes the constant duty cycle control to raise the operating frequency even higher, thus further aggravating the situation. The end result is increased temperature and the need for more air flow to cool the unit down.
Air flow systems have been generally utilized for control protection purposes in induction and other cook tops. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,499 discloses an air flow system for heat-cleaning ranges in which room air is drawn through air inlets located along the sides and top of an oven opening. The air passes through a space between the range's outer casting and the inner oven cabinet. A blower draws air into the upper air flow passageway during an oven heat-cleaning cycle. The blower exhausts air to the atmosphere through a vented splash panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,875 discloses a fan for circulating air through an induction cook top housing and maintaining the temperature of the electronic components. The fan includes a conventional electronic motor to circulate air both in and out of the housing through various openings provided in the housing. The speed of the electric fan is proportional to the degree of induction heating of the heating elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,052 discloses a cooling system for an induction, cooking cartridge. This system includes an internal fan for cooling the various induction heating components. The cooking construction has a unique air flow, which enters a mounting recess in at least two areas and enters the cartridge cavity at the bottom and the top. The air flow is directed over the induction heating circuitry for cooling and is exhausted through the fan to an exhaust conduit.
However, as the above attempts are lacking, there exists a need for a state-of-the-art induction cook top with integrated downdraft or a telescoping ventilator using cross flow or centrifugal blower technology to accurately control speed, venting, reduce noise and size, and better remove contaminates. There also exists the need for an accurate method of controlling the operations and a need for the user to be able to view/see the operations, speeds, set points, functions, and view the contents on the cook top. There is also a need for a proper vent design so that drawn air does not improperly remove air at the burner and a need for a system that is easy to clean and maintain.
Further, there is a need for controls to be less susceptible to the environment. There also is a need for a remote control, a need to accurately apply and control heat output as it is returned to the room, and a need for a new design that can be used in a variety of places and spaces.

Induction cook top system with integrated ventilator


An explosion power-operated setting tool includes a setting piston (15) for driving in fastening elements in constructional components, and a resetting device (30) having a lever-shaped resetting member (31) for returning the setting piston (15) from its end position (26) into its initial position (25), a bearing section (43) for supporting the lever-shaped resetting member (31), and a damping member (43) for damping the lever-shaped resetting member (31) upon the resetting member (31) impacting the bearing section (43), with the damping member (44) having a bearing surface (46) which the rear surface (36) of the lever-shaped resetting member (31) abuts and which has a profile substantially corresponding to a profile of the rear surface (36) of the lever-shaped resetting member (31).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an explosion power-operated setting tool for driving fastening elements in a structural component and including a housing; a piston guide arranged, at least partially, in the housing and having a guide chamber; a setting piston displaceable arranged in the guide chamber of the piston guide, and a resetting device including a lever-shaped resetting member for returning the setting piston from its end position facing in the setting direction in its initial position and having a rear surface, a bearing section for supporting the resetting member, and a damping member adjoining the bearing section for damping the resetting member upon the resetting member impacting the bearing section and having a bearing surface which the rear surface of the resetting member abuts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Setting Tools of the type described above are driven, e.g., with solid fuels in form of cartridges, which are filled with an explosive powder, or in form of pellets which are formed of a compressed explosive powder. The setting tools includes a housing, a piston guide arranged, at least partially in the housing, and a setting piston displaceably arranged in the piston guide. In these setting tools, the setting piston is driven by combustion gases of the fuel. With the setting piston, fastening elements such as nails, bolts, etc. are driven in constructional components. After completion of each setting process, the setting piston should return into its initial position.
German Publication DE-19749027A1 discloses a hand-held, explosive powder charge-operated setting tool which includes a setting piston resetting device. The resetting of the setting piston is effected with a spring-biased, lever-shaped resetting member which forms part of the resetting device and which pivots relative to the housing in a plane extending in the setting direction. The lever-shaped resetting member projects through a side opening of the piston guide into the interior of the piston guide and cooperates therewith a driving surface of the setting piston facing in the setting direction. The resetting member pivots about a rotational axle supported in the setting tool housing. The biasing spring, which cooperates with the resetting member is supported, on one hand against the housing and, on the other hand, against a stop or rear surface of the lever-shaped resetting member. Upon displacement of the setting piston in the setting direction, the lever-shaped resetting member pivots up to a stop on a damping member and, thereby, the spring becomes preloaded. After the completion of a setting process, the spring is relaxed, providing for pivoting of the resetting member in a direction opposite to the setting direction until the setting piston is returned to its initial position.
The drawback of the known setting tool consists in that the lever-shaped resetting member is subjected to strong bending forces upon impacting the damping member. This accelerates the material fatigue and brings into open the defects of the lever-shaped resetting member.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a setting tool of the type described and in which the foregoing drawback is eliminated, and the resetting device has an improved service life.


A motor controller that controls energization of a motor in which a plurality of coils U1 to W2 that applies torque to a rotor is arranged in a circular pattern includes: a rotation speed detection sensor that detects a rotation speed of the motor; and an energization control unit that controls energization of the plurality of coils U1 to W2 using the detected rotation speed. The energization control unit sequentially energizes the plurality of coils U1 to W2 in all energization patterns if the detected rotation speed is outside of predetermined conditions and sequentially energizes the plurality of coils U1 to W2 in remaining energization patterns (for example, U→V phase, V→W phase, V→U phase, W→U phase, and W→V phase) excluding a partial energization pattern (for example, U→W phase) of all energization patterns if the detected rotation speed is within the predetermined conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor controller capable of suppressing resonant vibration (in this specification, vibration resulting from resonance phenomenon will be referred to as resonant vibration) occurring in a motor at a specific rotation speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to cool down a computer, a cooling fan that takes in the ambient air into a casing is attached to the casing that accommodates the computer such as a CPU.
As an example of cooling fans, JP 5-95063 A discloses a variable speed cooling fan that changes a rotation speed according to the temperature of the casing.
However, in the variable speed cooling fan, a switching frequency of current supplied to a motor coil and a mechanical resonance frequency of the motor influence each other in a specific rotation speed region. As a result, the motor itself oscillates and vibration occurs, which may increase the noise of the cooling fan.


Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a gas distribution system which distributes the gas more uniformly into a process chamber. In one embodiment, a gas distribution system comprises a gas ring including an outer surface and an inner surface, and a gas inlet disposed at the outer surface of the gas ring. The gas inlet is fluidicly coupled with a first channel which is disposed between the outer surface and the inner surface of the gas ring. A plurality of gas outlets are distributed over the inner surface of the gas ring, and are fluidicly coupled with a second channel which is disposed between the outer surface and the inner surface of the gas ring. A plurality of orifices are fluidicly coupled between the first channel and the second channel. The plurality of orifices are spaced from the gas inlet by a plurality of distances, and have sizes which vary with the distances from the gas inlet as measured along the first channel, such that the size of the orifice increases with an increase in the distance between the orifice and the gas inlet as measured along the first channel.

This invention relates generally to semiconductor processing and, more particularly, to an improved gas distribution system, for instance, for a chemical vapor deposition chamber to provide improved transient phase deposition.
One of the primary steps in the fabrication of modem semiconductor devices is the formation of a thin layer on a semiconductor substrate by chemical reaction of gases. Such a deposition process is referred to generally as chemical-vapor deposition ("CVD"). Conventional thermal CVD processes supply reactive gases to the substrate surface where heat-induced chemical reactions take place to produce a desired layer. Plasma-enhanced CVD ("PECVD") techniques, on the other hand, promote excitation and/or dissociation of the reactant gases by the application of radio-frequency ("RF") energy to a reaction zone near the substrate surface, thereby creating a plasma. The high reactivity of the species in the plasma reduces the energy required for a chemical reaction to take place, and thus lowers the temperature required for such CVD processes as compared to conventional thermal CVD processes. These advantages are further exploited by high-density-plasma ("HDP") CVD techniques, in which a dense plasma is formed at low vacuum pressures so that the plasma species are even more reactive. "High-density" is understood in this context to mean having an ion density that is equal to or exceeds 1011 ions/cm3.
Particular applications that lend themselves to effective use of HDP-CVD techniques include shallow-trench isolation ("STI"), premetal dielectric ("PMD") applications, and intermetal dielectric ("IMD") applications. One issue that affects deposition properties in various such applications is diffusion between adjoining layers that have different compositions, which can adversely affect certain desired properties of the resulting layer structure. One approach that has been used to prevent such diffusion includes deposition of an additional intermediate barrier layer. For example, when doped silicon oxide is deposited in IMD applications, diffusion of the dopant to metal lines may cause the formation of undesirable chemical species at the oxide/metal interface, resulting in poor adhesion between the oxide and the metal. Deposition of a silicon-rich liner on the metal prior to depositing the doped silicon oxide layer acts to prevent dopant diffusion. Including the barrier layer has the beneficial effect of improving adhesion in the structure. It is almost routine now in many applications to deposit barrier layers when forming certain structures. For example, a silicon-rich oxide liner is commonly formed on a substrate prior to deposition of a layer of fluorine-doped silicon oxide in fluorosilicate-glass ("FSG") applications using HDP-CVD.
The deposition of an initial deposition layer or liner is a key component in preventing plasma damage in HDP-CVD reactors. There is substantial difficulty in achieving a uniform liner due to the nonuniform gas distribution in the transient phase of initial deposition. One current approach to deposit a uniform liner employs a low pressure strike which involves gas mixing in the chamber without plasma. During the mixing step, the substrate is cooling without the plasma, thereby lowering the deposition temperature of the liner. The liner precursor gases typically may include oxygen and a silicon-source gas such as silane, and perhaps also a fluorine-containing gas such as SiF4. Striking of the plasma after the premixing step may proceed by a low-pressure strike such as described in the copending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/470,819, filed Dec. 23, 1999, entitled "LOW PRESSURE STRIKE IN HDP-CVD CHAMBER." Use of low pressure strike also avoids plasma instability during the plasma stage ignition period, which might otherwise contribute to inconsistent film quality.
On the other hand, maximizing the deposition temperature has been demonstrated to be a key gapfill component in a HDP-CVD reactor. By lowering the deposition temperature using low pressure strike, the gapfill characteristics will tend to suffer.

Gas distribution system for improved transient phase deposition


The invention relates to a synchronization device for synchronizing head-mounted displays (22) in an amusement ride (10), comprising at least one head-mounted display (22) with which a virtual reality generated by a VR device (30) can be displayed, and a display position detection device (28) for detecting the position and orientation of the head-mounted display (22), the synchronization device (12) being set up in such a way that the virtual reality is synchronized with the head-mounted display (22), taking into account the position and orientation of the head-mounted display (22) detected by the display position detection device (28), as soon as a selectable start criterion is met. Furthermore, the invention relates to an amusement ride having a synchronization device of this type. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for operating an amusement ride of this type.

In particular, due to the increasing processor performance of computers and the increasing amount of data that can be transmitted wirelessly, the concept of virtual reality (VR) can be transferred to more and more areas of application. A special area of application is amusement rides which make it possible to combine movements that take place in virtual reality with real movements in a particularly extensive way, which results in a particularly extensive immersion and a correspondingly intense ride experience for the passenger. Amusement rides of this type are known, for example, from EP 2 138 213 B1, JP 2001 062 154 A, U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,619 B1 and EP 3 041 591 B1.
In order to make the virtual reality accessible to the passenger, head-mounted displays such as VR glasses are typically used, which in many cases communicate wirelessly with VR devices that generate the virtual reality. However, it is also quite possible that the VR device is integrated in the head-mounted display. The head-mounted displays are usually issued at the amusement rides to the passengers before the start of the journey and collected again after the journey has ended. The issue and collection of the head-mounted displays takes place at a station in the amusement ride, where the passengers get in and get out of the vehicle. After the passengers have entered the vehicle, the head-mounted displays must be synchronized with the virtual reality so that the virtual reality matches the current position and the current orientation of the head-mounted display and satisfactory immersion is ensured. Since the passenger places the head-mounted display on his head, the position of the head-mounted display corresponds to the position of the passenger and the orientation of the head-mounted display corresponds to the orientation of the head of the passenger.
With known amusement rides, synchronization is carried out by letting the passenger look in a certain direction, usually in the direction of travel, and in doing so starting the representation of virtual reality on the head-mounted display. The position and orientation of the head-mounted display during synchronization are used as a reference. The representation of virtual reality depending on the position and the orientation of the head-mounted display during the journey therefore relates to the position and the orientation of the head-mounted display during synchronization. The more exactly the actual position and that assumed by the VR device when generating the virtual reality and the orientation of the head-mounted display match, the higher the immersion. For this purpose, the passengers should focus on a certain point during synchronization, with their head held in the direction of travel. The exact orientation of the head during synchronization is of crucial importance. In order to achieve this, an explanation or instruction by the personnel is usually necessary. However, incorrect operations cannot be ruled out, which means that several synchronizations have to be carried out. As a result, the synchronization is associated with an increased personnel and time effort.
It is therefore the problem of an embodiment and a design of the present invention to provide a remedy for the situation described above and in particular to create a synchronization device and an amusement ride with which a synchronization of a head-mounted display with virtual reality is made possible independently of the orientation of the passenger's head. In addition, a design of the invention is based on the object of providing a method which enables a head-mounted display to be synchronized with the virtual reality independently of the orientation of the head of the passenger.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Synchronization device for synchronizing head-mounted displays with a virtual world in an amuse-ment ride, amusement ride having a synchronization device of this type, and method for operating an amusement ride of this type


A technique is disclosed for reducing an error in a controlled variable via model predictive control. A predicted error in the controlled variable is determined for a forward-looking control horizon based upon measured or computed variables. The integral of the predicted error is computed. If the error or the integral exceed a tolerance for a determined time period, the model predictive control algorithm is modified to drive the error or the integral to within a tolerance. The modifications to the control algorithm may include changes to coefficients for terms based upon the error and/or the integral of the error.

The present invention relates generally to control systems, and more particularly to model predictive control employing novel techniques for driving a steady state error to within a desired tolerance.
Many applications are known throughout industry for various types of control systems, and various control system designs fill such applications. In general, feedback control systems provide for sensing one or more detectable parameters of a process, and drive a controlled variable to a desired level on the basis of the sensed parameters. The basis for such control system design may be parametric models, neural networks, linear and non-linear models, to name only a few. In model predictive control systems anticipated trajectories or future values for measured and controlled variables may be made based upon prior knowledge, and control may be designed to obtain desired values of these predicted variable trajectories.
A particular problem with existing control systems, and particularly with model predictive control systems is the tendency to maintain or permit a sustained steady state error. That is, under normal conditions, the control system will drive the controlled variable to a desired level over time. However, because the system may be designed to avoid very rapid changes in variable levels, relatively constant errors may exist between the actual level of a controlled variable and the desired level. The controlled variable itself may consist of any variable susceptible to control, such as temperatures, pressures, flow rates, or any other variable whatsoever in the process. Various techniques may be used to drive the controlled variable to the desired level, including the use of offsets, correction factors, and so forth. However, there is a need for a simple and effective technique for reducing such steady state errors, particularly in model predictive control systems that avoids the "temporary fix" type solution offered by offset corrections and similar approaches.

Model Predictive control system and method for reduction of steady state error


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for a watermark-based message queue. One of the methods includes receiving a first connection request for messages associated with a user device. A first connection session is established with the user device. A message queue of messages associated with the user device is identified, each message in the message queue is associated with a respective timestamp, and the message queue is associated with a current watermark that identifies a first timestamp. An oldest message in the message queue at the time the first connection session was established is identified. An updated watermark that identifies a second timestamp associated with the oldest message is associated with the message queue. One or more messages that have a timestamp newer than or equal to the first timestamp identified by the current watermark is provided to the user device.

This specification relates to message queues.
User devices, e.g., mobile devices, can receive messages, e.g., text messages, e-mail messages, or other messages from other user devices or computer systems over a network, e.g., the Internet. The received messages can be stored by a server system and can be provided to a user device when the user device provides a request to receive messages. The server system can then provide stored messages for receipt by the user device.


A hearing system for a person, comprising: an input device for providing electrical signals produced from sound, a signal processor for processing said electrical signals for producing audio signals, a digital text storage for storing digital text received from a source of digital text, a converter for converting digital text from said digital text storage into audio signals, and an output transducer for converting audio signals into a stimulation of a person's hearing. The hearing system is designed to be worn at least partly within the person's ear canal or behind the person's ear or is designed to be at least partially implanted within the person's skull.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hearing system for a person, comprising input means for providing electric signals, signal processing means for processing the electrical signals for producing audio signals and output transducer means for converting audio signals into a stimulation of the person's hearing. The invention also relates to a method for operating a hearing system.
2. Description of Related Art
From WO 97/01314 a hearing system is known which comprises a microphone, a microprocessor for signal processing and a cochlear electrode array disposed adjacent to the basilar membrane. These components may be integrated within an implanted housing or the microphone and the microprocessor may be integrated within a separate external unit which is connected to the electrode array via a wireless link. The system further includes an external remote control keypad connected to the microprocessor via a wireless link. The keypad serves to enter commands for controlling operation of the hearing system. The system further includes a message source consisting of a message memory and a speech synthesizer for transmitting messages to the user of the system. The messages are entered into the system via the microphone and are processed by a speech processor prior to being stored in the message memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,783 discloses a hearing system comprising an ear piece which is to be arranged in the ear canal and a remote processor unit which can be concealed under clothing and which communicates with the ear piece via a wireless link. The ear piece comprises a microphone, a transmitter and a speaker, while the remote processor unit provides for processing of audio signals. The remote processor unit may be connected to a remote-site computer via a secondary wireless link for exchanging both digital data and speech signals. Thereby the hearing system facilitates text-to-speech translation of electronic mail messages and faxes where information is received via the secondary link and processed by the digital signal processor of the remote processor unit.
U.S. 2002/0012438 A1 relates to a hearing system comprising a speech recognition module and a speech synthesis module as the signal processing unit between the input transducer and the output transducer, with the output of the speech recognition module being input into the speech synthesis module, whereby an effective reduction of noise is achieved.
It is an object of the invention to provide for a hearing system which is able to provide external information, such as messages, shopping lists etc. to the user without requiring large memory capacities. It is a further object to provide for a corresponding method for operating a hearing system.

Text to speech conversion in hearing systems


A dampening water supply device is capable of reducing spoilage upon initiation of printing after temporary stop when accumulated printing operation before temporary stop is large. The spray type dampening water supply device includes actuation signal output means for outputting an actuation signal corresponding to rotating operation of a rotary portion associated with operation of the printing press, counting means for counting a signal output from the actuation signal output means and outputting a signal at every predetermined number of count, nozzle operation control means set a plurality of control modes determined for differentiating supply amount of the dampening water from initiation of printing to a predetermined operating condition, for controlling operation of the nozzle means, control mode designating means for selectively designating the control mode of the nozzle operation control means at every occurrence of temporary stop and initiation of printing of operation of the printing press corresponding to an accumulated count value on the basis of the signal output from the counting means. Upon initiation of printing after temporary stop, the supply amount of the supply amount of the dampening water from initiation of printing up to a predetermined printing condition, is greater than a necessary amount for normal printing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dampening water supply device in an offset printing press, and relates to a spray type dampening water supply device employing a spray nozzle. More specifically, the invention relates to a dampening water supply device which can supply dampening water in an amount exceeding a necessary amount in normal printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the recent years, a large number of proposals have been presented for spray type dampening water supply devices in an offset printing press for improvement of precision of a spray nozzle, no contamination of the dampening water by an ink and easiness and relatively high precision of control of a supply amount. On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 52-152309, for example, it has been well known that dampening water in an amount. exceeding a necessary amount in normal printing has to be supplied in order to suppress occurrence of spoilage upon starting of a printing operation.
On the other hand, in Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. 2-19229, there has been disclosed a dampening water supply device which can supply the dampening water in an amount exceeding a necessary amount in the normal printing.
The dampening water supply device disclosed in the latter publication is provided with an electric-pneumatic converter performing electric-pneumatic conversion by an electric signal from speed detecting means of a rotary press to vary an air pressure in a water stage vessel connected to a spray nozzle adapting to variation of motion speed of a printing press so that supply of dampening water adapting to the motion speed of the printing press becomes possible. Furthermore, as another control current source for the electric-pneumatic converter, a constant current circuit is provided for performing electric-pneumatic conversion by a constant current for applying a desired air pressure to the water storage vessel for supplying a large amount of the dampening water upon initiation of printing operation.
On the other hand, in the printing operation, it is possible to temporarily stop the printing press in certain cases. For example, in newspaper printing, it is possible to vary a content of news, such as to include more detailed information or so forth, as time goes by, and/or to provide a page having news adapting to local delivery areas. Whenever printing of a predetermined volume is completed, the printing press is temporarily stopped to exchange the relevant plates. Particularly, in recent newspaper printing operations, plates are exchanged at high frequency in order to satisfy readers' demands by providing fresh information and information relevant to the readers as much as possible.
It has been recognized and considered to be a problem that if the dampening water is supplied in the completely same manner as at the initial starting of the printing operation whenever printing is resumed after a temporary stop for exchanging of the plate or so forth, the amount of spoilage to be caused upon resumption of the printing after the temporary stop can be greater after a greater accumulated period of printing operation before temporary stop.
While the true cause is not clear, it has been considered that according to increasing of accumulated period of the printing operation, the temperature of the ink and the plate rises and the hydrophilic property of the non-image portion is lowered due to wearing of the plate and so forth are combined reasons to make the ink to be easily deposited on the non-image portion of the plate.


A system and method for generating an adjusted profile for a device in response to a specified aim, where the aim may include parameters established in response to a user's specifications, for device emulation, etc.

Device profiles provide color management systems with the information necessary to convert color data between native device color spaces and device independent color spaces. The International Color Consortium (ICC) profile specification (e.g., the current Specification ICC. 1:2003-09; File Format for Color Profiles (Version 4.1.0) [REVISION of ICC. 1:2001-12]) classifies color devices as: input devices, display devices and output devices. For each device class, a series of base algorithmic models are described in the ICC which perform the transformation between color spaces. These models provide a range of color quality and performance results that provide different trade-offs in memory footprint, performance and image quality.
The device profiles obtain their openness by using a well-defined reference color space and by being capable of being interpreted by any ICC operating system or application that is compliant with the specification. In combination with profiles for other devices color transformations may be determined that enable colors captured on one device to be reproduced satisfactorily on many others.
The ICC Profile Format supports a variety of device-dependent and device-independent color spaces divided into three basic families: 1) CIEXYZ based, 2) RGB based, and 3) CMY based (including CMYK). A subset of the CIEXYZ based spaces are also defined as connection spaces. Vendors of device color profiles use a wide variety of algorithms for constructing output device profiles. There are variations in the underlying algorithms used to derive the calibration and characterization. More importantly, the gamut-mapping algorithms used in the various rendering intents can be vastly different. This can lead to two problems: i) a user may not be satisfied with the color reproduction obtained with a given vendor's profile; and ii) there is a greater chance for inconsistencies in color reproduction even with a single device or family of devices. In addition, if the user changes the digital front-end (DFE) configuration, jobs that were printed satisfactorily earlier either require significant re-work or a restoration of the configuration. For example, a user of one DFE may adopt a different DFE for a new purchase, but may wish to preserve the "look and feel" of the original DFE for jobs previously rendered on that DFE.
Disclosed herein is a system and method for adjusting a device profile according to a user-specified aim. The desired aim can be specified in one of several ways: i) "Custom parametrics aim", which uses parameters and profiling algorithms as set by the entity; ii) an industry standard aim, e.g. Specification for Web Offset Publications (SWOP) or sRGB; iii) an aim profile; or iv) a graphical user interface to interactively adjust one or more color images, whereby the resulting adjustments collectively define the desired aim. In one embodiment, the user uploads the device profile to a website, and specifies a desired aim. A web-based profile adjustment service derives a new profile that meets the desired aim, and makes it available to the user for downloading at the same site. The profile adjustment service may additionally communicate with a profile discovery service to assist the user in specifying the aim.
The system and method advantageously enable the user to incorporate a desired aim or "look-and-feel" into an existing 3rd party profile without the need for additional measurements, calibration or characterization. They can be used to adjust multiple profiles associated with different vendors and different devices towards a common aim. Finally the system and method can be used for device emulation by specifying, as the aim, a profile for the device being emulated. The invention is easily enforced via the user interface to the service, as well as the resulting adjusted profiles, which are an outcome of a unique combination of original profile and user-specified aim.
One aspect of the system and method described herein is based on an observation of problems with conventional rendering systems, and the difficulty in modifying such system to achieve a preferred output consistency. This aspect is based on the discovery of a technique that alleviates these problems by providing a user with the ability to alter profiles and/or emulate the operation of alternative output devices through profile adjustment. This technique can be implemented, for example, using automated, on-line or local, adjustment of profiles in response to user-specified aims for a color reproduction device. The techniques described herein are advantageous because they provide a range of alternatives, each of which is useful in appropriate situations. As a result of the system and method described in detail below, a user is provided a way in which to adjust a device profile to meet the user's aim.
The following written description includes a preferred embodiment, however, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the scope of the invention to the embodiment described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the description and the appended claims.

Method and apparatus for adjusting color profiles to meet a desired aim


The present invention provides for improved vectors for use in gene therapy. Utilizing the cancer specific DF3/MUC1 promoter to drive a replication essential gene, vectors are made conditionally replication-competent, permitting wider infection and expression of tumor cells. In addition, therapeutic genes and adjunct therapies further increase anti-tumor efficacy.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of oncology and molecular biology. More particularly, it concerns targeting of cancer cells expressing DF3/MUC1 antigens using a DF3/MUC1-regulated viral expression construct.
II. Description of Related Art
Recombinant adenoviruses have been used as highly efficient vectors for in vitro and in vivo gene transfer. Adenovirus-mediated gene transduction has been achieved in a broad spectrum of eukaryotic cells, and is independent of cell replication (Haj-Ahmad et al., 1986; Bett et al., 1994). In addition, E1 gene-deleted, replication-defective adenoviruses can accommodate large DNA inserts (Haj-Ahmad et al., 1986; Bett et al., 1994).
However, limitations of this vector system for cancer therapy have resulted in the non-selective delivery of therapeutic genes to both normal cells and tumor cells. Moreover, replication-defective adenoviruses are limited by their inability to infect and then spread to neighboring tumor cells. Strategies to circumvent these limitations involve the use of promoters or enhancers that are specific to or selective for tumor tissue in order to direct replication of the adenovirus in the desired target cells (Heise et al. 2000). In this context, the minimal promoter/enhancer from the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) gene has been used to drive E1A expression and thereby create an adenovirus, designated CN706, that selectively replicates in PSA-positive cells (Rodriguez et al., 1997). A similar strategy using the albumin promoter has been used to develop a herpes simplex virus that selectively replicates in hepatoma cells (Miyatake et al. 1999). Other tissue specific promoters include carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha-feto protein (AFP).
Tissue specific promoters have also been used to drive the expression of therapeutic genes. For example PSMA, a type 2 membrane protein expressed in the prostate, is a useful target for prostate cancer therapy. The PSMA construct has been used to drive the suicide gene cytosine deaminase (Uchida et al., 2001). Another group has directed gene therapy specifically to vascular wall for treating vascular disease and cancer using the PPE-1 promoter (Varda-Bloom et al., 2001). The various types of tissue specific promoters/enhancers are described elsewhere in the specification.
In spite of these efforts, there remains a need in the art to construct vectors that can exploit the benefits of tissue specific gene expression in cancer cells.

Use of DF3/MUC1 regulated expression in gene therapy


A computer system with a speech recognition component provides a method and apparatus for instructing and evaluating the proficiency of human users in skills that can be exhibited through speaking. The computer system tracks linguistic, indexical and paralinguistic characteristics of the spoken input of users, and implements games, data access, instructional systems, and tests. The computer system combines characteristics of the spoken input automatically to select appropriate material and present it in a manner suitable for the user. In one embodiment, the computer system measures the response latency and speaking rate of the user and presents its next spoken display at an appropriate speaking rate. In other embodiments, the computer system identifies the gender and native language of the user, and combines that information with the relative accuracy of the linguistic content of the user's utterance to select and display material that may be easier or more challenging for speakers with these characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The area of the present invention relates generally to interactive language proficiency testing systems using speech recognition and, more particularly, to such systems which track the linguistic, indexical and paralinguistic characteristics of spoken inputs.
2. Background Art
Many computer systems support a function whereby a human user may exert control over the system through spoken language. These systems often perform speech recognition with reference to a language model that includes a rejection path for utterances that are beyond the scope of the application as designed. The speech recognition component of the application, therefore, either returns the best match within the language model designed for the application, or it rejects the speech signal. A good description of a variety of systems which incorporate such methods can be found in "Readings in Speech Recognition," edited by Alex Waibel and Kai-Fu Lee (1990).
Computer assisted language learning (CALL) systems for second language instruction have been improved by the introduction of speech recognition. Bernstein & Franco, ("Speech Recognition by Computer," Principles of Experimental Phonetics, Ch. 11, pp. 408-434, 1996)and the references therein show some examples. In most cases, the speech recognition component of the CALL system has been used as best match (with rejection) or as a scored performance for testing and skill refinement, either for non-native speakers of the target language or for hearing-impaired speakers.
Prior laboratory demonstration systems have been designed to offer instruction in reading in the user's native language. Two systems have emulated selected aspects of the interaction of a reading instructor while the human user reads a displayed text aloud. One system based its spoken displays on the running average of poor pronunciations by the reader (See, e.g., WO 94/20952 by Rtischev, Bernstein, and Chen), and the other system developed models of common false starts, and based its spoken displays on the recognition of the occurrence of these linguistic elements. (See J. Mostow et al., "A Prototype Reading Coach that Listens," Proc. 12th Nat. Conf. Artificial Intelligence, AAAI-94, pp. 785-792, 1994)
Expert teachers and other human interlocutors are sensitive not only to the linguistic content of a person's speech, but to other apparent characteristics of the speaker and the speech signal. The prior art includes systems that respond differentially depending on the linguistic content of speech signals. Prior art systems have also extracted indexical information like speaker identity or speaker gender, and calculated pronunciation scores or speaking rates in reading. However, these extra-linguistic elements of human speech signals have not been combined with the linguistic content to estimate the global proficiency of a human user in a spoken skill in order to estimate the human user's skill level and thus to control the operation of the computer system in a manner appropriate to the human user's global skill level. Such control of computer-based graphic and audio displays is useful and desirable in order to facilitate fine-grained adaptation to the cognitive, verbal and vocal skills of the human user.

Method and apparatus for combining information from speech signals for adaptive interaction in teaching and testing


A diagnostic device for and method of detecting the presence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in a patient including a detector device for detecting a presence of at least one marker indicative of HNSCC, the detector device including a panel of markers for HNSCC. A diagnostic device for and method of staging HNSCC in a patient including a detector device for detecting a presence of at least one marker indicative of stages of HNSCC, the detector device including a panel of markers for HNSCC. Markers for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma selected from the markers listed in Table 5. Methods of personalized immunotherapy, making a personalized anti-cancer vaccine, and predicting a clinical outcome in a HNSCC patient. A method of making a panel of HNSCC markers.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an assay and method for diagnosing disease. More specifically, the present invention relates to an immunoassay for use in diagnosing cancer.
2. Background Art
It is commonly known in the art that genetic mutations can be used for detecting cancer. For example, the tumorigenic process leading to colorectal carcinoma formation involves multiple genetic alterations (Fearon, et al. (1990) Cell 61, 759-767). Tumor suppressor genes such as p53, DCC and APC are frequently inactivated in colorectal carcinomas, typically by a combination of genetic deletion of one allele and point mutation of the second allele (Baker, et al. (1989) Science 244, 217-221; Fearon, et al. (1990) Science 247, 49-56; Nishisho, et al. (1991) Science 253, 665-669; and Groden, et al. (1991) Cell 66, 589-600). Mutation of two mismatch repair genes that regulate genetic stability was associated with a form of familial colon cancer (Fishel, et al. (1993) Cell 75, 1027-1038; Leach, et al. (1993) Cell 75, 1215-1225; Papadopoulos, et al. (1994) Science 263, 1625-1629; and Bronner, et al. (1994) Nature 368, 258-261). Proto-oncogenes such as myc and ras are altered in colorectal carcinomas, with c-myc RNA being overexpressed in as many as 65% of carcinomas (Erisman, et al. (1985) Mol. Cell. Biol. 5, 1969-1976), and ras activation by point mutation occurring in as many as 50% of carcinomas (Bos, et al. (1987) Nature 327, 293-297; and Forrester, et al. (1987) Nature 327, 298-303). Other proto-oncogenes, such as myb and neu are activated with a much lower frequency (Alitalo, et al. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, 4534-4538; and D'Emilia, et al. (1989) Oncogene 4, 1233-1239). No common series of genetic alterations is found in all colorectal tumors, suggesting that a variety of such combinations can be able to generate these tumors.
Increased tyrosine phosphorylation is a common element in signaling pathways that control cell proliferation. The deregulation of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKS) through overexpression or mutation has been recognized as an important step in cell transformation and tumorigenesis, and many oncogenes encode PTKs (Hunter (1989) in oncogenes and the Molecular Origins of Cancer, ed. Weinberg (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), pp. 147-173). Numerous studies have addressed the involvement of PTKs in human tumorigenesis. Activated PTKs associated with colorectal carcinoma include c-neu (amplification), trk (rearrangement), and c-src and c-yes (mechanism unknown) (D'Emilia, et al. (1989), ibid; Martin-Zanca, et al. (1986) Nature 3, 743-748; Bolen, et al. (1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84, 2251-2255; Cartwright, et al. (1989) J. Clin. Invest. 83, 2025-2033; Cartwright, et al. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 558-562; Talamonti, et al. (1993) J. Clin. Invest. 91, 53-60; and Park, et al. (1993) Oncogene 8, 2627-2635).
Mutations, such as those disclosed above can be useful in detecting cancer. However, there have been few advancements which can repeatably be used in diagnosing cancer prior to the existence of a tumor. Approximately 40,500 new cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) will be diagnosed in the United States and 11,170 Americans will die from this disease in the year 2006. Worldwide, HNSCC is the sixth most common malignancy with incidence of 644,000 new cases a year. Despite progress in diagnostic and treatment modalities in the past 30 years, long-term survival for patients affected by HNSCC has not significantly improved. One major impediment to improving survival in this patient population is the failure to detect this cancer at an early stage. More than two-thirds of patients with HNSCC are diagnosed at an advanced stage when the five-year survival is less than 40%. In many cases, these patients are offered radical treatments that often result in significant physical disfigurement as well as dysfunction of speech, breathing, and swallowing. The plight of these patients with advanced stage disease is in distinct contrast to that of patients who are diagnosed early. Early stage HNSCC patients have an excellent five-year survival rate of more than 80% and experience significantly less impact on their quality of life after treatment with single modality therapy. This dramatic difference in survival and quality of life underlies the importance of early detection in this disease.
Early detection can be achieved by screening patients at high risk for development of cancer. Although the American Cancer Society has issued guidelines for screening of breast, colon, prostate, and uterine cancers, no such guideline exists for HNSCC. This is especially unfortunate given that patients at increased risk for development of HNSCC can be easily identified (history of excess alcohol and/or tobacco use) and targeted for screening. Early detection can also be improved by reducing diagnostic delays, reported to be between 3 to 5.6 months. Misdiagnosis at initial presentation to primary care physicians is common (44% to 63%) and may be due to the nonspecific nature of presenting symptoms (sore throat, hoarseness, ear pain, etc) as well as the technical difficulty of examination in the head and neck region. The delay in diagnosis and referral to specialist has a significant negative impact on patient outcome and survival. Thus, there exists a need for a simple, noninvasive, and inexpensive test, widely accessible to physicians in the primary care setting, which can be used to screen (in asymptomatic patients) and diagnose (in symptomatic patients) HNSCC in high risk population to improve early detection.
Methods for detecting and measuring cancer markers have been recently revolutionized by the development of immunological assays, particularly by assays that utilize monoclonal antibody technology. Previously, many cancer markers could only be detected or measured using conventional biochemical assay methods, which generally require large test samples and are therefore unsuitable in most clinical applications. In contrast, modern immunoassay techniques can detect and measure cancer markers in relatively much smaller samples, particularly when monoclonal antibodies that specifically recognize a targeted marker protein are used. Accordingly, it is now routine to assay for the presence or absence, level, or activity of selected cancer markers by immunohistochemically staining tissue specimens obtained via conventional biopsy methods. Because of the highly sensitive nature of immunohistochemical staining, these methods have also been successfully employed to detect and measure cancer markers in smaller, needle biopsy specimens which require less invasive sample gathering procedures compared to conventional biopsy specimens. In addition, other immunological methods have been developed and are now well known in the art that allow for detection and measurement of cancer markers in non-cellular samples such as serum and other biological fluids from patients. The use of these alternative sample sources substantially reduces the morbidity and costs of assays compared to procedures employing conventional biopsy samples, which allows for application of cancer marker assays in early screening and low risk monitoring programs where invasive biopsy procedures are not indicated.
For the purpose of cancer evaluation, the use of conventional or needle biopsy samples for cancer marker assays is often undesirable, because a primary goal of such assays is to detect the cancer before it progresses to a palpable or detectable tumor stage. Prior to this stage, biopsies are generally contraindicated, making early screening and low risk monitoring procedures employing such samples untenable. Therefore, there is a general need in the art to obtain samples for cancer marker assays by less invasive means than biopsy, for example, by serum withdrawal.
Efforts to utilize serum samples for cancer marker assays have met with limited success, largely because the targeted markers are either not detectable in serum, or because telltale changes in the levels or activity of the markers cannot be monitored in serum. In addition, the presence of cancer markers in serum probably occurs at the time of micro-metastasis, making serum assays less useful for detecting pre-metastatic disease. Serological analysis of recombinant cDNA expression libraries (SEREX) of tumors with autologous serum is a well established technique which has been used successfully to identify many relevant tumor antigens. However, many of the SEREX antigens identified from a specific cancer patient reacted only with autologous serum antibodies from that particular patient and tend to recognize antibodies only at a low frequency in sera from other cancer patients. Thus, clinical tests based on these SEREX antigens that are patient-specific rather than cancer-specific are insufficient for early detection of cancer.
In view of the above, an important need exists in the art for more widely applicable, non-invasive methods and materials to obtain biological samples for use in evaluating, diagnosing and managing breast and other diseases including cancer, particularly for screening early stage, nonpalpable tumors. A related need exists for methods and materials that utilize such readily obtained biological samples to evaluate, diagnose and manage disease, particularly by detecting or measuring selected cancer markers, or panels of cancer markers, to provide highly specific, cancer prognostic and/or treatment-related information, and to diagnose and manage pre-cancerous conditions, cancer susceptibility, bacterial and other infections, and other diseases.
Autoantibodies against cancer-specific antigens have been identified in cancers of the colon, breast, kidney, lung, ovarian, and head and neck. Immune response with antibody production may be elicited due to the over-expression of cellular proteins such as Her2, the expression of mutated forms of cellular protein such as mutated p53, or the aberrant expression of tissue-restricted gene products such as cancer-testis antigens by cancer cells. Because these autoantibodies are raised against specific antigens from the cancer cells, the detection of these antibodies in a patient's serum can be exploited as diagnostic biomarkers of cancer in that particular patient. Further, the immune system is especially well adapted for the early detection of cancer since it can respond to even low levels of an antigen by mounting a very specific and sensitive antibody response. Thus, the use of immune response as a biosensor for early detection of cancer through serum-based assay holds great potential as an ideal screening and diagnostic tool.
With specific regard to such assays, specific antibodies can only be measured by detecting binding to their antigen or a mimic thereof. Although certain classes of immunoglobulins containing the antibodies of interest can, in some cases, be separated from the sample prior to the assay (Decker, et al., EP 0,168,689 A2), in all assays, at least some portion of the sample immunoglobulins are contacted with antigen. For example, in assays for specific IgM, a portion of the total IgM can be adsorbed to a surface and the sample removed prior to detection of the specific IgM by contacting with antigen. Binding is then measured by detection of the bound antibody, detection of the bound antigen or detection of the free antigen.
For detection of bound antibody, a labeled anti-human immunoglobulin or labeled antigen is normally allowed to bind antibodies that have been specifically adsorbed from the sample onto a surface coated with the antigen, Bolz, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,151. Excess reagent is washed away and the label that remains bound to the surface is detected. This is the procedure in the most frequently used assays, or example, for hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus and for numerous immunohistochemical tests, Nakamura, et al., Arch Pathol Lab Med 1122:869-877 (1988). Although this method is relatively sensitive, it is subject to interference from non-specific binding to the surface by non-specific immunoglobulins that can not be differentiated from the specific immunoglobulins.
Another method of detecting bound antibodies involves combining the sample and a competing labeled antibody, with a support-bound antigen, Schuurs, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,090. This method has its limitations because antibodies in sera bind numerous epitopes, making competition inefficient.
For detection of bound antigen, the antigen can be used in excess of the maximum amount of antibody that is present in the sample or in an amount that is less than the amount of antibody. For example, radioimmunoprecipitation ("RIP") assays for GAD autoantibodies have been developed and are currently in use, Atkinson, et al., Lancet 335:1357-1360 (1990). However, attempts to convert this assay to an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay ("ELISA") format have not been successful. The RIP assay is based on precipitation of immunoglobulins in human sera, and led to the development of a radioimmunoassay ("RIA") for GAD autoantibodies. In both the RIP and the RIA, the antigen is added in excess and the bound antigen:antibody complex is precipitated with protein A-Sepharose. The complex is then washed or further separated by electrophoresis and the antigen in the complex is detected.
Other precipitating agents can be used such as rheumatoid factor or C1q, Masson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,935; polyethylene glycol, Soeldner, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,242; and protein A, Ito, et al., EP 0,410,893 A2. The precipitated antigen can be measured to indicate the amount of antibody in the sample; the amount of antigen remaining in solution can be measured; or both the precipitated antigen and the soluble antigen can be measured to correct for any labeled antigen that is non-specifically precipitated. These methods, while quite sensitive, are all difficult to carry out because of the need for rigorous separation of the free antigen from the bound complex, which requires at a minimum filtration or centrifugation and multiple washing of the precipitate.
Alternatively, detection of the bound antigen can be employed when the amount of antigen is less than the maximum amount of antibody. Normally, that is carried out using particles such as latex particles or erythrocytes that are coated with the antigen, Cambiaso, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,849 and Uchida, et al., EP 0,070,527 A1. Antibodies can specifically agglutinate these particles and can then be detected by light scattering or other methods. It is necessary in these assays to use a precise amount of antigen as too little antigen provides an assay response that is biphasic and high antibody titers can be read as negative, while too much antigen adversely affects the sensitivity. It is therefore necessary to carry out sequential dilutions of the sample to assure that positive samples are not missed. Further, these assays tend to detect only antibodies with relatively high affinities and the sensitivity of the method is compromised by the tendency for all of the binding sites of each antibody to bind to the antigen on the particle to which it first binds, leaving no sites for binding to the other particle.
For assays in which the free antigen is detected, the antigen can also be added in excess or in a limited amount although only the former has been reported. Assays of this type have been described where an excess of antigen is added to the sample, the immunoglobulins are precipitated, and the antigen remaining in the solution is measured, Masson, et al., supra and Soeldner, et al., supra. These assays are relatively insensitive because only a small percentage change in the amount of free antigen occurs with low amounts of antibody, and this small percentage is difficult to measure accurately.
Practical assays in which the free antigen is detected and the antigen is not present in excess of the maximum amount of antibody expected in a sample have not been described. However, in van Erp, et al., Journal of Immunoassay 12(3):425-443 (1991), a fixed concentration of monoclonal antibody was incubated with a concentration dilution series of antigen, and free antigen was then measured using a gold sol particle agglutination immunoassay to determine antibody affinity constants.
There has been much research in the area of evaluating useful markers for determining the risk factor for patients developing IDDM. These include insulin autoantibodies, Soeldner, et al., supra and circulating autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase ("GAD"), Atkinson, et al., PCT/US89/05570 and Tobin, et al., PCT/US91/06872. In addition, Rabin, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,318 describes numerous assay formats for the detection of GAD and pancreatic islet cell antigen autoantibodies. GAD autoantibodies are of particular diagnostic importance because they occur in preclinical stages of the disease, which can make therapeutic intervention possible. However, the use of GAD autoantibodies as a diagnostic marker has been impeded by the lack of a convenient, nonisotopic assay.
One assay method involves incubating a support-bound antigen with the sample, then adding a labeled anti-human immunoglobulin. This is the basis for numerous commercially available assay kits for antibodies such as the Syn ELISA kit which assays for autoantibodies to GAD65, and is described in product literature entitled "SynELISA GAD II-Antibodies" (Elias USA, Inc.). Substantial dilution of the sample is required because the method is subject to high background signals from adsorption of non-specific human immunoglobulins to the support.
Many of the assays described above involve detection of antibody that becomes bound to an immobilized antigen. This can have an adverse affect on the sensitivity of the assay due to difficulty in distinguishing between specific immunoglobulins and other immunoglobulins in the sample, which bind non-specifically to the immobilized antigen. There is not only a need to develop an assay that avoids non-specific detection of immunoglobulins, but there is also the need for an improved method of detecting antibodies that combines the sensitivity advantage of immunoprecipitation assays with a simplified protocol. Finally, assays that can help evaluate the risk of developing diseases are medically and economically very important. The present invention addresses these needs.

Neoepitope detection of disease using protein arrays


Method and apparatus for synchronizing two different types of modulators in an optical transmission system includes a first modulator generating an optical pulse train, a second modulator encoding data onto the optical pulse train, an optical filter resolving upper and lower modulation sidebands of the optical data and an analyzer measuring the optical power of modulation sidebands and converting the received optical power of the sidebands into a control signal for synchronizing the two modulators. A wedged etalon is the filter element selecting the USB and LSB from the optical data spectrum. The analyzer contains photo-detectors measuring the optical power of the filtered USB and LSB and an electronic differential amplifier producing a control signal based upon photo-detector output. The phase shifter, in response to the control signal, adapts the temporal delay of the first modulator to reduce differences between the power levels of the upper and lower sidebands.

High bit-rate (LH and/ULH) dense wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) transmission systems require reliable, compact, and economical transmitters. FIG. 1 depicts a typical transmitter 100 for ON-OFF-keying, Return-to-Zero (RZ) transmission and consists of a semiconductor distributed-feedback (DFB) laser 102 followed by a pulse carver modulator (PCM) 104 and an electroabsorption data modulator (EAM) 106. The order of the EAM and PCM is reversible. The PCM is driven by an electronic clock 108 running at the line rate of the system (10 GHz, for example) and produces a train of RZ pulses from the DFB laser output to act as a carrier for data. A phase shifter 112 is also typically placed between the clock 108 and the PCM 104 to initialize transmitter timing. An electronic data pulse stream to be transmitted (consisting of, for example, a series of square electric pulses representing 1's and 0's of binary data D from data module 110) modulates the optical transmission of the EAM, and the data is encoded into an optical pulse train. The final output of the two modulators is an optically modulated data pulse train.
Two problems associated with such transmitters are maintaining the stringent requirements of the output wavelength and power stability and maintaining the correct timing between the two modulators for the pulse carving and data modulation. Temperature fluctuation in the field and the aging of the electronic devices cause the RF group delays of the drive circuits of the modulators to drift, resulting in timing misalignment. This timing misalignment increases the penalties in the data transmission and needs to be addressed for optimal performance of the optical communication systems. For example, one aspect of the penalties that may arise in system 100 is seen by inspection of the graphs shown in FIGS. 2A–2D. FIG. 2A depicts a case in which the optical pulse from the PCM enters the EAM too early and leads the data pulse. In such a circumstance, a positive chirp is introduced into the data (a change in frequency Δω and as seen by the dotted line above the data and timing curves in FIG. 2A). The spectral analysis of the timing conditions of FIG. 2A is shown in FIG. 2B wherein a center frequency (CF) is flanked by asymmetrical lower sideband (LSB) and upper sideband (USB). The reverse conditions (wherein the optical pulse lags behind the data pulse is seen in FIG. 2C. In this condition, spectral analysis (as shown in FIG. 2D) reveals that the asymmetry of the upper and lower sidebands still exists, but is reversed from the previous condition. In an optimal and desired condition, the data pulse and the pulsed optical output of the PCM share a common center point with respect to time (denoted by (x) in FIGS. 2A and C). In such a condition, chirp is minimized and the spectral analysis reveals symmetrical upper and lower sideband modulation levels. The timing drift in real devices tends to be random and thus the optical data will suffer from random chirping without an active management of the timing between the PCM and EAM.
Therefore, it is desired to have an apparatus for LH and ULH DWDM transmission that is capable of synchronizing the pulse carver modulator and electroabsorption data modulator and a concomitant method for establishing such operational conditions.

Method and apparatus for synchronizing a pulse carver and a data modulator for optical telecommunication


A cleaning method of an immersion liquid includes supplying an immersion liquid on a surface of a cleaning substrate. The immersion liquid is to be used in a liquid immersion lithography apparatus. The cleaning substrate has a substrate and an organic film laminated on a top face side of the substrate. The immersion liquid is allowed to move on the substrate to remove contaminants from the immersion liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning method of an immersion liquid, an immersion liquid cleaning composition, and a substrate.
2. Discussion of the Background
In manufacture of semiconductor devices, microfabrication by lithography carried out using a chemically amplified resist composition has been conventionally carried out. A pattern formation method used in the microfabrication generally includes: a step of forming a resist film on a substrate; a step of exposure by irradiating the resist film with an actinic ray such as ultraviolet ray through a mask; a step of development of the exposed resist film; and a step of etching using the obtained resist pattern as a protective film.
In recent years, enhanced integration of semiconductor devices has progressed, and thus further miniaturization of resist patterns in lithography has been demanded. Accordingly, as a method for forming a resist pattern that meets such demands, a liquid immersion lithography process in which a liquid immersion medium (immersion liquid) such as e.g., ultra pure water or a fluorine based inert liquid is filled between an exposure lens and the resist film to carry out the exposure (see, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. H10-303114) has been increasingly utilized. The liquid immersion lithography process is advantageous in that the numerical aperture (NA) of the lens can be increased, whereas the focal depth is less likely to be decreased even if NA is increased, and a high resolving ability can be attained.
Furthermore, in techniques for improving the liquid immersion lithography process, providing a liquid immersion upper layer film on the resist film for the purpose of suppressing elution of the resist film components into the immersion liquid, and the like, is proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2006-91798, and PCT International Publication No. 2008/47678 and 2009/41270).
However, also when the liquid immersion upper layer film is provided, the immersion liquid may be contaminated with slight amounts of resist film components and liquid immersion upper layer film components, or with dust present in the liquid immersion lithography apparatus during a formation step of a resist pattern carried out using a liquid immersion lithography process. Thus, due to the contaminants immixed in the immersion liquid, the exposure may be defective, and the resolving ability of the formed resist pattern may be deteriorated; therefore, development of a cleaning method of an immersion liquid, a composition for cleaning an immersion liquid, and a substrate which enable an immersion liquid containing such contaminants to be readily and efficiently cleaned to permit reuse has been desired.

Cleaning method of immersion liquid, immersion liquid cleaning composition, and substrate