An original feeding apparatus includes a sheet feeding tray for stacking an original; a feeding device for feeding the original stacked on the sheet feeding tray one at a time; a transport roller for receiving the original from the feeding means at a predetermined nipping position and transporting the original along an outer surface of the roller; a drive device for driving the transport roller; and a detection device for detecting that a predetermined fixed position on the outer surface of the transport roller matches the nipping position. The transport roller can be controlled such that the transport roller receives a leading edge of the original fed from the feeding means at the fixed position, i.e. an original transport starting position.

The present invention relates to an original feeding apparatus and an image reading apparatus provided with the original feeding apparatus. The image reading apparatus of the invention can be used for a device such as a copier, printer, facsimile machine or scanner.
An original feeding apparatus feeds an original or sheet stacked on an original feeding tray (original tray) one at a time to an original reading unit to read an image on the original. After the original reading unit reads the original, the original is discharged to a discharge tray.
In recent years, there has been increased a demand for an automatic document feeding apparatus with high quality reading performance. In such an automatic document feeding apparatus, a transport roller for transporting the original is required to transport the original linearly (without bending) relative to a transport direction without any variation. The demand for such transport performance has been increased in proportion to image quality.
FIGS. 7(A) to 7(C) are sectional views of a conventional original feeding apparatus with a large roller 131 (transport roller). Arrows shown in FIGS. 7(A) to 7(C) indicate positions on the original where the large roller 131 nips the original (position where an outer circumference of the large roller 131 contacts the original). As shown in FIGS. 7(A) to 7(C), in the conventional apparatus, the large roller 131 nips the original at various positions, at which the large roller 131 starts transporting the original. The conventional original feeding apparatus does not control the roller to contact the original at a constant position on the outer circumference thereof for reading the original.
FIG. 7(A) shows a nipping position of the large roller 131 on the original when nipping a first original. FIG. 7(B) shows a nipping position of the large roller 131 on the original when nipping a second original. FIG. 7(C) shows the nipping position of the large roller 131 on the original when nipping a third original. The nipping positions (contact positions of the outer circumference) of the large roller 131 for the respective originals vary and are inconsistent. Depending on when the large roller 131 starts rotating, the outer circumference of the large roller 131 contacts the original at a different position.
When a plurality of the originals is read consecutively, it is necessary to reduce variation due to eccentricity of the roller and to transport the originals in a constant manner (such as a constant transport speed and a constant feed amount). To this end, it has been tried to minimize the variation of the roller associated with rotation to improve precision of the transport roller. Specifically, it has been tried to improve circularity of the transport roller and the roller shaft, or prevent vibration of the roller caused by the rotation to increase the precision.
In the conventional original feeding apparatus described above, the large roller does not nip the original at a constant position (position of contact on the outer circumference) when the large roller starts transporting the original. In this case, when the roller does not have sufficient precision, the following problems may occur as the roller contacts the originals at different positions. For example, the original may be transported at a different speed. When one side of the roller has a transporting force different from that on the other side thereof in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction, it is possible to cause a variation in image alignment (such as a leading edge position, a side position and skew) for each original. Therefore, it is necessary to use a part with high precision to reduce the variation.
In order to improve the precision of the transport roller, it is necessary to implement advanced technology in a manufacturing process and quality control. For example, it may be necessary to add a process of polishing the outer surface of the roller after a process of molding the outer surface of the roller. The additional process increases the amount of work, thereby reducing the productivity of the part, increasing difficulty in the quality control, and increasing a cost of the part. Also, it is difficult to control the quality of a large quantity when the part has high precision.
In view of the problems described above, the present invention has been made, and the first object of the present invention is to provide an original feeding apparatus and an image reading apparatus in which an original is transported and read stably without using a part with high precision to reduce a variation when a plurality of the originals is processed continuously.
The second object of the present invention is to provide an original feeding apparatus and an image reading apparatus in which an operator can select a high quality mode for producing a high quality image and a non-high quality mode for reading the original at a high speed.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

Original feeding apparatus and image reading apparatus


The present invention relates to graft polymer which is characterized in that it is formed by graft polymerization of structural units containing. a quaternary ammonium group represented by general formula (A),

The present invention relates to graft polymer which can be applied to a polymer base material, and to moulded medical articles employing this graft polymer.
In the medical treatment field, infections which occur during the insertion/retention in the patient""s body of a medical device comprising a polymer material such as polyurethane constitute a complication and are regarded as a problem. Hitherto, in order to prevent infections accompanying the retention of a medical device, the medical device has either been disinfected just prior to use by immersion, or the like, in an aqueous solution containing an antimicrobial agent or disinfectant such as chlorhexidine or povidone-iodine, or frequent replacement has been carried out in the case of a medical device which can be replaced during treatment. However, because antimicrobial agents and disinfectants disappear from a medical devices surface with time, the disinfection effect does not persist and it is found that when a medical device is used over a long time, this effect gradually declines. Moreover, the frequent replacement of medical devices is a considerable burden to medical workers. Hence, as a further means for preventing infections, medical devices have been subjected to various antimicrobial treatments. Typical thereof are catheters coated on their surface with a layer containing an antimicrobial agent such as dhlorhexidine, or a. metal such as silver or copper or compound thereof. In the case of these catheters, a system is employed for slow release into the body of uniform quantities of the material with an antimicrobial action, and they show a good effect compared to the case where the catheter is disinfected just prior to use.
However, with a system of slow release of an antimicrobial agent, the period of use still has limits and a gradual decline in efficacy is unavoidable. Moreover, the metabolism following slow release of a metal such as silver or compound thereof is unclear, and injury to the body is conceivable. Again, where silver remains in the discarded medical device following use, recovery thereof or other special treatment is required at the time of disposal.
Hence, polymers with quaternary ammonium groups have been variously proposed as polymers which are not of the slow-release type but which have inherent antimicrobial character (Japanese Examined Patent Publication Nos 54-17797 and 54-18817). However, the processability of these polymers is poor, and they cannot alone be formed into moulded articles, so it is necessary either to coat them onto the surface of a moulded polymer which has excellent mechanical characteristics, or to carry out blending and moulding along with such a polymer. However, the better the mechanical characteristics of the base material polymer, the worse its compatibility with other polymers and, where compatibility is poor, a coated polymer peels away or cracks are produced. Now, there has been described in Japanese Unexamined Patent (Kokai) Publication No. 6-337378 a hydrogel containing a copolymer of hydroxypolyalkyleneglycol (meth)acrylate and monomer with a quaternary ammonium salt in a side chain, and again in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-256424 there is described a hydrogel containing a copolymer of a monomer possessing hydroxypolyalkyleneglycol, a monomer possessing a quaternary ammonium salt in a side chain and vinyl monomer. However, in neither case are graft copolymers described and, with these polymers, there are limits to the selective manifestation of the properties of the trunk and graft components. In other words, at present, no antimicrobial polymers are known with satisfactory compatibility to the base material polymer.
The present inventors have considered the problems of the prior-art and, as a result of extensive investigation to obtain an antimicrobial polymer which forms flexible films, such that it can be applied to medical devices of complex shape, and which also has good compatibility and adhesion to various polymers, they have discovered that polymer comprising moieties containing general formula (I) graft polymerized to polymer containing vinyl chloride has good compatibility and adhesion to various polymers and also has a strong antimicrobial action. It is on this discovery that the present invention is based. Thus, the present invention has the objective of offering polymer which can form flexible films and can be suitably applied to base materials of complex shapes; together with moulded medical articles employing this polymer.
The present invention relates to graft polymer which is formed by graft polymerization of structural units containing a quaternary ammonium group represented by general formula (A)
(R2 and R3 each represent an alkyl group with from 1 to 3 carbons, and R4 represents an alkyl group with from 3 to 18 carbons. X represents at least one type of ion selected from halogen, sulphate, hydroxide and carboxylic acid ions.),
preferably to graft polymer where the structural units containing a quaternary ammonium group represented by general formula (A) are structural units represented by general formula (I),
(R1 represents at least one species selected from hydrogen, the methyl group and the ethyl group, and n represents an integer in the range 1 to 12. A represents at least one species selected. from O, S and NR5. R5 represents hydrogen or an alkyl group with from 1 to 12 carbons.), or
to graft polymer formed by the graft polymerization of structural units containing a quaternary ammonium group and structural units containing an alkoxypolyalkylene glycol moiety represented by the general formula (B),
xe2x80x94(R5O)nR6xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(B)
(n represents an integer in the range 1 to 100. R5 represents a straight-chain or branched alkylene group with from 1 to 4 carbons, and R6 represents at least one species selected from hydrogen and straight-chain or branched alkyl groups with from 1 to 4 carbons.).
Furthermore, the present invention relates to moulded medical articles formed by coating aforesaid graft polymer onto a moulded medical article used for insertion into the body, or by blending the graft polymer therewith.
Next, the present invention is explained in further detail.
The graft polymer in the present invention has functional groups represented by formula (A), as stated above. As examples of the structural units with a functional group represented by formula (A), there are structural units wherein formula (A) is bonded to the main chain via an ester linkage, amide linkage, ureido linkage, ether linkage, alkylene group or phenylene group. Of these, from the point of view of ready availability of the precursor, it is preferred that the structural units with a functional group represented by formula (A) are structural units represented by the following formula (I).
(R1 represents at least one species selected from hydrogen, the methyl group and the ethyl group, R2 and R3 each represent an alkyl group with from 1 to 3 carbons, and R4 represents an alkyl group with from 3 to 18 carbons. n represents an integer in the range 1 to 12. A represents at least one species selected from O, S and NR5. R5 represents hydrogen or an alkyl group with 1 to 12 carbons. X represents at least one ion selected from halogen, sulphate, hydroxide and carboxylic acid ions.)
n represents an integer in the range 1 to 12, but it contributes to the degree of freedom of the antimicrobial functional group and if it is too short then the functional group does not move freely so, for example, it does not readily come into contact with bacteria, while if it is too long then the hydrophobic character is strengthened so that in an aqueous medium containing bacteria the antimicrobial functional group does not readily come into contact with the bacteria.
R2 and R3 are alkyl groups. As the number of carbons is increased, they become more strongly hydrophobic so contact between the antimicrobial functional group and bacteria becomes more difficult. Hence, the number of carbons is from 1 to 3, with the methyl group, which has the least number of carbons, being preferred.
R4 is an alkyl group with from 3 to 18 carbons, preferably with from 8 to 12 carbons. If the alkyl group is branched then movement is restricted, so it is preferred that it be a straight chain.
In the case where X is a sulphate ion, the sulphate ion is normally bivalent but, in the present invention, a monovalent ion may also be coordinated.
Furthermore, A represents at least one species selected from O, S and NR5.
As examples of the precursor vinyl compound used for the graft copolymerization of structural units containing a quaternary ammonium group represented by general formula (A), there are dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, dimethylaminoethyl acrylate, diethylaminopropyl methacrylate, dimethylaminoethyl acrylamide and diethylaminoethyl acrylamide, but on account of its ready availability the use of dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate is preferred. If the amount of functional groups in the graft polymer is too great, then the coating properties are adversely affected, and again there is a tendency for the compatibility to be lowered when trying to blend with other polymer. On the other hand, if the amount is too small, there is a tendency for the antimicrobial performance to be lowered. Consequently, it is preferred that, in the graft polymer, there be contained a proportion of at least 0.1 mmol but no more than 4 mmol, and preferably at least 0.5 mmol but no more than 4 mmol of the structural units containing an quaternary ammonium group represented by general formula (A) per 1 g of the graft polymer.
In the present invention, there are no particular restrictions on the grafted components other than that containing general formula (A), but there is preferably used a hydrophilic component to enhance the affinity of the material in terms of aqueous solutions and body fluids, etc. For example, there can be used a hydrophilic component containing structural units which include an alkoxypolyalkyleneglycol moiety represented by general formula (B), such as methoxypolyethyleneglycol, ethoxypolyethyleneglycol, methoxypolypropyleneglycol, ethoxypolypropyleneglycol or the like.
xe2x80x94(R5O)nR6xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(B)
(n represents an integer in the range 1 to 100. R5 represents a straight-chain or branched alkylene group with from 1 to 4 carbons, and R6 represents at least one species selected from hydrogen and straight-chain or branched alkyl groups with from 1 to 4 carbons.).
Of these, the moiety represented by the following general formula (II) is preferred in terms of ready availability and safety.
(Here, R1 represents hydrogen or a methyl group, and n represents an integer from 1 to 100. R7 represents a straight chain or branched alkylene group with from 1 to 4 carbons, and R8 represents at least one species selected from H and straight chain or branched alkyl groups with from 1 to 4 carbons. A represents at least one species selected from O, S and NR9 [where R9 represents hydrogen or an alkyl group with from 1 to 12 carbons].)
As specific examples of the vinyl compounds which are the precursors prior to graft copolymerization, there are methoxypolyethyleneglycol methacrylate, methoxypolyethyleneglycol acrylate and polyethylene glycol methacrylate. If the amount of the hydrophilic component in the graft polymer is too great, then the coating properties are adversely affected, or again the compatibility tends to be lowered when attempting to blend with other polymer.
On the other hand, if there is too little, then there is poor affinity with body fluids and the like, and the biocompatibility is lowered. Consequently, it is preferred that, in the graft polymer, there be contained a proportion of at least 0.01 mmol but no more than 5 mmol, and more preferably at least 0.1 mmol but no more than 1 mmol of structural units containing an alkoxypolyalkyleneglycol represented by general formula (B) per 1 g of the graft polymer.
There are no particular restrictions of the trunk polymer from which the graft copolymer is composed in the present invention, but one containing halogen atoms and in particular chlorine atoms in side chains is preferred. Specifically, there is preferably used polymer containing vinyl chloride. As well as polyvinyl chloride, there can be used various copolymers and blends, such as the copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, which may also include a third component, such as the copolymers with an acrylate, methacrylate, vinyl alcohol, styrene or acrylonitrile, or polymer in which vinyl chloride has been grafted to an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, or blends of these polymers, or mixtures of such polymers with plasticizers, stabilizers and the like. Where blending is carried out, the blending of, for example, polyurethane, natural rubber, silicone resin, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide or synthetic rubber, is preferably employed for moulded medical articles. In these copolymers and blends, the vinyl chloride content should lie in the range from 0.1 to 100%, and can be suitably selected according to the objectives.
The molecular weight of the graft polymer of the present invention is not particularly restricted, but in terms of its number average molecular weight it will be at least about 3,000, preferably from 5,000 to 1,000,000, and more preferably from 30,000 to 100,000 approximately.
Any method may be used for producing the graft polymer of the present invention, but the following example is provided for explanation.
Graft copolymer is obtained by subjecting the polymer which forms the main chains to a graft activating treatment, after which the precursor vinyl compound for the structural units containing formula (A) is added and polymerization carried out by a suitable method.
As the graft activating treatment method, there is preferably used for example the method of replacing chlorine atoms in a polymer containing vinyl chloride by dithiocarbamate groups which readily produce radicals by light irradiation or the like.
In order to obtain quaternary ammonium groups, conversion to the quaternary ammonium salt may be performed with an alkyl halide following graft polymerization using the precursor vinyl compound for the structural units containing general formula (A), but the graft polymerization may also be carried out using precursor vinyl compound which has already be converted into the quaternary ammonium form with an alkyl halide.
The graft polymer of the present invention is preferably used as a medical resin and, in particular, on account of its outstanding antimicrobial properties, it is preferably employed as an antimicrobial resin.
By surface coating, the graft polymer can be applied to any medical device where the prevention of microbial infection is required. Amongst medical devices, where application is made to moulded medical articles inserted into the body, this is particularly effective. Polyurethane, natural rubber, silicone resin, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, synthetic rubber and the like are preferably used as the material for the medical article inserted in the body.
Amongst moulded medical articles for insertion in the body, the graft polymer can be applied effectively for example to those left for a long period in the body such as catheters, stents, tubes (drainage tubes), cuffs, connectors (tube connectors), access ports, endoscope covers, drainage bags, blood circuits and the like. This because, in contrast to slow release system materials, the antimicrobial functional groups are fixed by covalent bonding to the graft copolymer, and so are safe to the body and their effect persists.
Again, moulded medical articles comprising a blend of the graft polymer of the present invention and an aforesaid polyurethane, natural rubber, silicone resin or the like, can also be effectively used in the same kinds of applications as the aforesaid catheters, stents, tubes and the like.

Graft polymer and moulded medical articles employing this

Abstract: preferably to graft polymer where the structural units containing a quaternary ammonium group represented by general formula (A) are structural units which are represented by general formula (I),

Abstract: (R1 represents at least one species selected from hydrogen, the methyl group and the ethyl group, and n represents an integer in the range 1 to 12. A represents at least one species selected from O, S and NR5. R5 represents hydrogen or an alkyl group with 1 to 12 carbons.) or

Abstract: By applying or incorporating the graft polymer to/in medical devices which are left in the body for a long period, it is possible to prevent microbial infection arising via these medical devices.


A dilating catheter is provided for introducing and inserting an expandable stent. The dilating catheter includes an inflatable balloon, which is applied on a distal section of said catheter and which can be wrapped, if empty, on the section in order to be applied there around a the contracted stent. The outer surface of the balloon is roughened by means of a supply of material or a deformation in order to offer greater interference and grip to the said stent contracted tightly around it.

Stents are tubular molds which are made of biocompatible materials and are contracted upon their introduction and then they dilate for their insertion into the desired duct or lumen. Some types of stents dilate mechanically, and they require for their insertion the use of an expandable element arranged along the introducing instrument and dilatable inside the stent.
As the instrument for the introduction of mechanically dilating stents, a catheter having an inflatable balloon at its distal end of the type already used may be used, e.g., for the dilation of arterial ducts or other lumina in a live body. Therefore, for the introduction operation, the balloon, empty, is wrapped tightly around a corresponding zone of the catheter, and the stent, in its turn, is arranged tightly around the balloon in order to remain fixed there during the introduction into a lumen.
However the requirements of a catheter for the simple dilation of ducts or lumina most often are incompatible with those of a catheter for the positioning of a stent, which is why specific catheters would be needed for one or the other operation.
A dilating catheter, for example, for angioplasty procedures, or the like, must have a small diameter, a highly resistant balloon, and a low coefficient of surface friction. On the other hand a catheter for positioning stents must have a remarkable friction at least at the balloon, must be made of a material with a moldable surface that is adapted to the interior of the closed, i.e., contracted stent, and must have a diameter of the balloon, when closed around the catheter, at least slightly greater than the internal diameter of the closed stent. All this is to interfere with the stent and to hold it, preventing its loss during the insertion in a duct or lumen.
In other words, the surface slipperiness of the balloon may be a cause of a loss of the stent.
In addition, a diameter in the zone of the catheter, including the closed balloon wrapped there, that is smaller than the internal diameter of the closed stent that is applied there may cause:
a so-called overlapping resulting from a corrugation and an overlapping of some parts of the stent with possible deformation of its structure, if the stent is contracted too tightly in order to make it adhere to such a zone; or
an improper fixation of the stent with the possibility still of losing it during the introduction if the stent, although suitably and correctly closed, does not adhere to the outer surface of the catheter plus closed balloon.

Dilating catheter for the introduction of expandable stents


An illumination system including a plurality of first light emitting elements, a wavelength-converting unit, a first reflector and a second reflector is provided. The first light emitting elements respectively emit a plurality of exciting beams. The wavelength-converting unit is disposed on transmission paths of the exciting beams and converts the exciting beams into a first color light beam. The first reflector is disposed on the transmission paths of the exciting beams, and disposed between the first light emitting elements and the wavelength-converting unit. The first reflector has a hole. The exciting beams from the first light emitting elements are reflected by the first reflector. The second reflector reflects the exciting beams, reflected by the first reflector, to the wavelength-converting unit. The exciting beam reflected by the second reflector is transmitted to the wavelength-converting unit through the hole. A projection apparatus is also provided.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an optical system and a display apparatus, and more particularly, to an illumination system and a projection apparatus.
2. Background
Recently, projection apparatuses using solid state light sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes have gradually held considerable market share. The luminescence efficiency of the LEDs is about 5% to 8%, and the LEDs have different spectrums available for selection, including red, green and blue spectrums. The LEDs have high spectrum peak value and narrow spectrum width and can be used as pure color light sources for projectors.
In addition, due to the luminescence limitation of the LEDs as light sources, conventional illumination systems of a projection apparatus use an exciting beam emitted by an exciting light sources, such as a laser light source, to excite a phosphor for producing light beams with higher intensity. In order to effectively excite the phosphor with the exciting beam, a cross-sectional area of the exciting beam is usually reduced, so that the exciting beam is focused to excite the phosphor. However, as conventional illumination systems using a plurality of lenses to reduce the cross-sectional area of the exciting beam, a distance is also required for reducing the cross-sectional area of the exciting beam to be suitable for exciting the phosphor, wherein the distance makes it difficult for reducing the volume of the illumination system. Additionally, when using a lens having a larger diameter to focus the exciting beam having a larger cross-sectional area, the cost of the illumination system may also be increased due to the increased cost of the lens.
US Patent Application Publication No. 20100328633 discloses a light source device including a light-source set and a first reflecting mirror set. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,754 discloses a laser video projector.

Illumination system and projection apparatus


An apparatus in one example comprises a call control component that sets a call category for a call to indicate that the call terminates at an announcement server component prior to connection with a called communication device. Upon receipt of an answer message from the announcement server component, the call control component drops the answer message based on the call category.

A call to a called communication device in one example terminates at an announcement server component prior to connection with the called communication device. The announcement server component plays an announcement to a calling communication device of the call. The announcement server component in one example comprises a customized ringback tone component. The customized ringback tone component allows a user of the called communication device to preselect a ringback tone or announcement to be played to the calling communication device. When the calling communication device calls the called communication device, a user of the calling communication device normally hears a traditional ringing sound before the called communication device answers the call. The customized ringback tone component replaces the traditional ringing sound with the ringback tone or announcement preselected by the user of the called communication device. The ringback tone component allows the user of the called communication device to customize the ringing sound that the user of the calling communication device hears upon calling the called communication device.
When involved on the call to provide an announcement, some announcement server components send answer messages to a call control component that supports the call and controls billing for the call. Upon receipt of answer messages, the call control component initiates billing for the call. For example, based on International Telecommunication Union ("ITU-T") Q.764 and American National Standards Institute ("ANSI") T1.113 standards, billing shall begin upon reception of an answer message, for example, a signaling system 7 ("SS7") Answer message. However, billing should not occur during an announcement or ringback tone phase of the call. As one shortcoming, if the announcement server component sends an answer message to the call control component, then the call control component may initiate billing for the call based on the answer message from the announcement server component. As another shortcoming, initiation of billing based on the answer message from the announcement server component causes billing during the announcement or ringback tone phase of the call.
One communication system that serves to prevent billing during the announcement or ringback tone phase employs a recent change mechanism to drop the answer message from the announcement server component. For example, the communication system activates the recent change mechanism for specific carrier trunks connected to the announcement server component. The recent change mechanisms in one example are individually set by customer support on the carrier trunks connected to the announcement server component. As one shortcoming, if the recent change mechanisms are set incorrectly by customer support, then the carrier trunks may mistakenly drop answer messages from the called communication device which would prevent proper billing for the call. As another shortcoming, customer support must modify each carrier trunk connected to the announcement server component with recent change mechanisms to drop the answer messages from the announcement server component.
Thus, a need exists for an enhanced capability to prevent an initiation of billing for a call based on an answer message from an announcement server component.

Call category for a call that terminates at announcement server component


A wrench is provided which has a worm gear and mating rack adjustable jaw positioning mechanism for placing a pair of jaws which are adjustable with respect to each other so that they may firmly grip various size nuts, with a mechanism responsive to torque applied in a first direction which causes the jaws to tighten and apply torque to the nut and also responsive to torque applied in a second direction which allows the jaws to separate and ratchet to a new position.

The instant invention relates generally to adjustable open-end wrenches and more specifically it relates to a ratcheting adjustable wrench.
Numerous adjustable open-end wrenches have been provided in the prior art in which each will contain one jaw which is stationary, one jaw which is adjustable and a handle. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,659,485 to Roth; 3,803,954 to Lenker and 4,924,735 to Lee all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purpose of the present invention as hereafter described.


The present invention is a recombinant vector encoding and expressing at least three or more costimulatory molecules. The recombinant vector may additionally contain a gene encoding one or more target antigens or immunological epitope thereof. The synergistic effect of these costimulatory molecules on the enhanced activation of T cells is demonstrated. The degree of T-cell activation using recombinant vectors containing genes encoding three costimulatory molecules was far greater than the sum of recombinant vector constructs containing one costimulatory molecule and greater than the use of two costimulatory molecules. Results employing the triple costimulatory vectors were most dramatic under conditions of either low levels of first signal or low stimulator to T-cell ratios. This phenomenon was observed with both isolated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. The recombinant vectors of the present invention are useful as immunogenes and vaccines against cancer and pathogenic micro-organisms, and in providing host cells, including dendritic cells and splenocytes with enhanced antigen-presenting functions.

The extent of the primary response of T cells, which involves their activation, expansion, and differentiation, is paramount to a successful immune response to an antigen. The initiation of an immune response requires at least two signals for the activation of naive T cells by antigen presenting cells (APC) (1–5). The first signal is antigen specific, delivered through the T-cell receptor via the peptide/major histocompatibility complex, and causes the T cell to enter the cell cycle. The second, or "costimulatory," signal is required for cytokine production and proliferation. At least three distinct molecules normally found on the surface of professional APC have been proposed as capable of providing the second signal critical for T-cell activation: B7.1 (CD80), Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1; CD54), and Leukocyte function-associated antigen-3 (LFA-3; human CD58; murine CD48) (2, 6, 7). The T-cell ligands for these costimulatory molecules are distinct. B7-1 interacts with the CD28 and CTLA-4 molecules, ICAM-1 interacts with the CD11a/CD18 (LFA-1/2 integrin) complex, and LFA-3 interacts with the CD2 (LFA-2) molecules. It is not known whether these costimulatory molecules perform equivalent functions or carry out specialized functions at specific stages of an induced immune response (2). These molecules have been individually shown to costimulate T-cell proliferation in vitro (6). However, because they may be expressed simultaneously on APC, it has been difficult to examine relative potencies of individual costimulatory molecules during the induction of T-cell proliferation (2).
As it has been proposed that both antigen and costimulatory molecules must be expressed in proximity to each other to properly co-engage the T cell and costimulatory receptors (8, 9), the admixture of several recombinant viruses could be utilized to explore the potential cooperation of costimulatory molecules. The disadvantage of this approach, however, is that the admixture of three or more viruses has a statistically diminished probability of co-infecting the same cell, thereby making a multi-gene construct much more desirable for use with multiple costimulatory molecule genes.
WO 91/02805, published Mar. 7, 1991, discloses a recombinant retrovirus vector construct which directs the expression of a target antigen, an MHC protein and other proteins involved in immune interactions which are missing or under-represented in a target cell.
Akagi, et al. 1997, J. Immunotherapy Vol. 20 (1):38–47 disclose an admixture of a recombinant vaccinia virus containing a modified MUC1 gene (rV-MUC1), and a recombinant vaccinia virus containing the gene for the murine costimulatory molecule B7 (rV-B7).
Cavallo, P. et al. 1995, Eur. J. Immunol., 25:1154–1162 disclose that transfection of B7-1 cDNA into three ICAM-1+ tumor cell lines is sufficient to induce rejection in syngeneic mice.
Chen, L. et al. 1994, J. Exp. Med., 179:523–532 disclose a recombinant retrovirus vector containing cDNA for murine B7 and the use of the vector in transducing various tumors.
Damle, N. K. et al 1992, J. Immunol Vol 148 (No. 7): 1985–1992 disclose the use of an antigen presenting cell (APC)-independent in vitro culture system consisting of immobilized combinations of monoclonal antibodies directed at the TCR/CD3 complex and soluble Ig chimeras (RG) of four distinct APC-associated costimulatory molecules to compare the abilities of these molecules to costimulate T cell proliferation.
Dubey, C. et al 1995, J Immunol 155: 45–57 disclose a study of the relative contribution of ICAM-1: LFA-1 and B7: CD28/CTLA-4 costimulatory pathways in naïve T cell activation, using either anti-CD28 antibody or fibroblast cell lines transfected with I-Ek, which express either no costimulatory molecules, ICAM-1 alone, B7-1 alone, or ICAM-1 and B7-1 together.
Fenton, R. G. et al, 1998 Vol. 21, No. 2, pp 95–108, disclose transfection of the costimulatory molecule B7-1 gene into three HLA-A2-expressing human melanoma cell lines, and their capacity to stimulate primary human T cells. The three melanoma lines also expressed detectable levels of the costimulatory molecules ICAM-1 (CD54) and LFA-3 (CD58).
Gjorloff Wingren, A. et al 1995, Critical Reviews in Immunol 15 (3 & 4): 235–253 disclose that with co-transfection of HLA-DR, B7 and LFA-3 into CHO cells, these molecules cooperate in activation of both naïve and memory T cells and allow responses at picomolar concentrations of the antigen, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB).
Goldbach-Mansky, R. et al 1992, International Immunol. 4(No. 12): 1351–1360 disclose that CD4+ T cells respond to staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) in the presence of the LFA-3, ICAM-1 and B7 positive erythroleukemic cell line K562, murine L cells, and human B7 transfected L cells.
Hodge, J. W. et al 1994, Cancer Research 54:5552–5555 disclose the construction and characterization of recombinant vaccinia viruses containing the murine B7.1 and B7.2 genes.
Hodge, J. W. et al 1995, Cancer Research 55: 3598–3603 Cancer Research 55:3598–3603 disclose an admixture of recombinant vaccinia murine B7.1 (rV-B7) plus recombinant vaccinia expressing the human carcinoembryonic antigen gene (rV-CEA) and the use of this admixture for anti-tumor activity.
Parra, et al 1993, Scand J. Immunol 38: 508–514, Parra, E. et al 1994, J. Immunol 153: 2479–2487, and Parra, et al. 1997, J. Immunol., 458:637–642 disclose CHO cells transfected with the human HLA-DR4 molecule (CHO-DR4); HLA-DR4 and B7 (CHO-DR4/B7), HLA-DR4 and LFA-3 (CHO-DR4/LFA3); HLA-DR4 and ICAM-1 (CHO-DR4/ICAM-1); or DR4, B7 and LFA-3 (CHO-DR4/B7/LFA-3) genes.
Thomas, R. et al. 1993 J. Immunol. 151:6840–6852 disclose that freshly obtained dendritic cells (DC) express similar densities of HLA-DR and the accessory molecules LFA-3, ICAM-1 and B7 as monocytes.
Uzendoski, K et al. May 1997, Human Gene Therapy 8:851–860 disclose the construction, characterization and immunological consequences of a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing the murine costimulatory molecule, ICAM-1.
WO 96/10419, published Apr. 11, 1996, of PCT/US95/12624 discloses subject matter relating to a single recombinant viral vector which has incorporated one or more genes or portion thereof encoding an immunostimulatory molecule and one or more genes or portion thereof encoding an antigen of a disease state.
Robinson et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,852 discloses a retroviral vector containing a polynucleotide sequence encoding a target antigen of an infectious agent and a polynucleotide sequence encoding a B7 costimulatory molecule.
The present invention is a vector containing foreign DNA encoding at least three costimulatory molecules, alone or in combination with foreign DNA encoding at least one target antigen or immunological epitope thereof which allows functional expression of each foreign DNA in an infected host cell.

Recombinant vector expressing multiple costimulatory molecules and uses thereof

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


A control system for a wind turbine includes a detecting system configured to determine at least one of a rotor load, a wind shear, a wind speed, and a load imbalance due to wind shear. An adjusting system is configured to adjust a shaft moment set point correction value based on at least one of the rotor load, the wind shear, the wind speed, and the load imbalance. A compensating system is configured to compute a shaft moment correction command based on the shaft moment set point correction value output from the adjusting system. A pitch system is configured to adjust a pitch of at least one blade of the wind turbine based on the shaft moment set point correction command, or a yaw system is configured to adjust the yaw position of a rotor based on the shaft moment set point correction command.

The disclosure relates generally to a wind turbine and more specifically to a system and method for adjusting the shaft moment set point correction based on environmental conditions resulting in wind turbine load imbalance.
Modern wind turbines operate in a wide range of wind conditions. These wind conditions can be broadly divided into two categories, below rated speeds and above rated speeds. To produce power in these wind conditions, wind turbines may include sophisticated control systems such as pitch controllers and torque controllers. These controllers account for changes in the wind conditions and accompanying changes in wind turbine dynamics. For example, pitch controllers (or pitch systems) generally vary the pitch angle of rotor blades to account for (or adapt to) the changes in wind conditions and turbine dynamics. During below rated wind speeds, wind power may be lower than the rated power output of the wind turbine. In this situation, the pitch controller may attempt to maximize the power output by pitching the rotor blades substantially perpendicular to the wind direction. Alternatively, during above rated wind speeds, wind power may be greater than the rated power output of the wind turbine. Therefore, in this case, the pitch controller may restrain wind energy conversion by pitching the rotor blades such that only a part of the wind energy impinges on the rotor blades. By controlling the pitch angle, the pitch controller/system thus controls the velocity of the rotor blades and in turn the energy generated by the wind turbine.
Along with maintaining rotor velocity, pitch controllers may also be employed to reduce tower oscillations. Tower oscillations or vibrations occur due to various disturbances, such as turbulence, inefficient damping, or transition between the two wind conditions. Moreover, the tower may vibrate along any degree of freedom. For example, the tower may vibrate in a fore-aft direction (commonly referred to as tower nodding), in a side-to-side direction (commonly referred to as tower naying), or along its longitudinal axis (commonly referred to as torsional vibration).
Tower nodding is usually caused by aerodynamic thrust and rotation of the rotor blades. Every time a rotor blade passes in front of the tower, the thrust of the wind impinging on the tower decreases. Such continuous variation in wind force may induce oscillations in the tower. Moreover, if the rotor velocity is such that a rotor blade passes over the tower each time the tower is in one of its extreme positions (forward or backward), the tower oscillations may be amplified. Typically, the oscillations in the fore-aft direction are automatically minimized due to aerodynamic damping. Aerodynamic damping relies on the fact that the top of the tower constantly oscillates in the fore-aft direction. When the top of the tower moves upwind (or forward), the rotor thrust is increased. This increase in rotor thrust pushes the tower back downwind. The downwind push in turn aids in dampening the tower oscillations. Similarly, when the top of the tower moves downwind, the rotor thrust may be decreased. This decrease in rotor thrust pushes the tower back upwind. The upwind push also aids in dampening the tower oscillations.
Typically, the pitch controller utilizes two separate control loops for the two functions, controlling the rotor velocity and reducing the tower oscillations. A rotor velocity control loop is employed to determine a pitch angle to control rotor velocity and a tower-damping control loop is used to compute a pitch angle to reduce tower oscillations. Often, these feedback loops operate relatively independently of each other. For example, the rotor velocity control loop may determine the pitch angle based on rotor velocity, wind speed, and current pitch angle. The tower-damping control loop, on the other hand, may determine the pitch angle based on tower deflection, tower top velocity, tower top acceleration, current pitch angle, and wind speed. Because of this independence, the currently available rotor velocity control loops may compute a pitch angle to maintain rotor speed that may disadvantageously induce tower oscillations instead of reducing them. Moreover, these rotor velocity control loops may cause energy amplification in the rotor near tower resonance frequencies. Such amplification may increase oscillations in the tower and increase the fatigue load placed on the wind turbine. Over time, such fatigue loads may reduce the life of wind turbine parts and increase the expenses associated with wind turbines.
Gravity tends to bend the rotor down. Positive wind shear tends to bend the rotor up, and usually is present (high cycle fatigue) and increases with increasing wind speed. At some operating points wind shear can equal the gravitational force but is opposite in direction and cancels the bending moment from gravity if not corrected. The thrust component also helps to combat the gravity load, since many wind turbines have a rotor tilt angle in the machine head, the rotor naturally tries to pick the rotor up and this bending moment also increases with wind speed. The bending moment is easily determined due to the geometry of the system and the thrust estimation. The bending moment can be accounted for when the amount of shear load is identified. For "standard" conditions (positive wind shear), the moment due to wind shear and thrust/tilt are complimentary and oppose gravity. There are some conditions "negative shear" coupled with the right wind speed so that achieve a balanced aerodynamic load, the nose down wind shear moment is equal and opposite to the nose up thrust/tilt moment so that all that remains in the moment due to gravity (probably seen only rarely).
Shear applies forces to the blades and hub and positive shear essentially transfers bending forces from the blades to the hub and shaft. The wind shear applies an asymmetric load across the rotor which results in a bending moment being transferred to the hub/shaft. Positive shear creates a nose-up bending moment and opposes gravity while negative shear creates a nose-down moment and compliments gravity. There is a limit on the amount of pitching the turbine is able to do to either overcome blade/hub forces or to compensate for gravity. When the shear controller is in a limit, it is also not able to respond to additional steady state or dynamic (relatively fast changes in shear). Being able to adjust for dynamic conditions can reduce fatigue and other dynamic stresses on the shaft and blade/hub assembly. Since the pitch system has limited capabilities, being able to balance the amount of compensation that is being done for both gravity and shear maintains a balance between the pitch system demand and the machine fatigue and ensure the wind turbine is always operating within a target zone (until the environment demands more than the machine can handle) while also constructing a balance between the amount of bandwidth that is being used for the steady state vs. dynamic compensation portions.
Imbalance load limitations such as environmental conditions including shear, gravity, turbulence, wind miss-alignments, etc., result in environmentally induced rotor imbalance. Other forms of rotor imbalance are self-induced due to control, manufacturing, and installation variation.

System and method for adaptive rotor imbalance control


An elastically deformable flange locator arrangement includes a first component having a first engagement surface. Also included is a second component configured to be mated with the first component. Further included is a first portion of the second component. Yet further included is a second portion of the second component extending relatively perpendicularly from the first portion proximate a perimeter of the first portion, the second portion having a second engagement surface, wherein the second portion is configured to elastically deform at a first interface upon contact between the first engagement surface and the second engagement surface.

Currently, components which are to be mated together in a manufacturing process are subject to positional variation based on the mating arrangements used to assemble the components. One common arrangement includes components mutually located with respect to each other by 2-way and/or 4-way male alignment features, typically upstanding bosses, which are received into corresponding female alignment features, typically apertures in the form of openings and/or slots. Alternatively, adhesives or welding processes may be employed to mate parts. Regardless of the precise mating arrangement, a clearance typically exists between at least a portion of the mated components, which is predetermined to match anticipated size and positional variation tolerances of the mating features as a result of manufacturing (or fabrication) variances. As a result, the occurrence of significant positional variation between the mated components, which contributes to the presence of undesirably large and varying gaps and otherwise poor fit may occur.

Elastically deformable flange locator arrangement and method of reducing  positional variation


A method for improving decomposition of digital signals using training sequences is presented. A method for improving decomposition of digital signals using initialization is also provided. A method for sorting digital signals using frames based upon energy content in the frame is further presented. A method for utilizing user input for combining parts of a decomposed signal is also presented.

In signal processing applications, it is commonplace to decompose a signal into parts or components and use all or a subset of these components in order to perform one or more operations on the original signal. In other words, decomposition techniques extract components from signals or signal mixtures. Then, some or all of the components can be combined in order to produce desired output signals. Factorization can be considered as a subset of the general decomposition framework and generally refers to the decomposition of a first signal into a product of other signals, which when multiplied together represent the first signal or an approximation of the first signal.
Signal decomposition is often required for signal processing tasks including but not limited to source separation, signal restoration, signal enhancement, noise removal, un-mixing, up-mixing, re-mixing, etc. As a result, successful signal decomposition may dramatically improve the performance of several processing applications. Therefore, there is a great need for new and improved signal decomposition methods and systems.
Since signal decomposition is often used to perform processing tasks by combining decomposed signal parts, there are many methods for automatic or user-assisted selection, categorization and/or sorting of said parts. By exploiting such selection, categorization and/or sorting procedures, an algorithm or a user can produce useful output signals. Therefore there is a need for new and improved selection, categorization and/or sorting techniques of decomposed signal parts. In addition there is a great need for methods that provide a human user with means of combining such decomposed signal parts.
Source separation is an exemplary technique that is mostly based on signal decomposition and requires the extraction of desired signals from a mixture of sources. Since the sources and the mixing processes are usually unknown, source separation is a major signal processing challenge and has received significant attention from the research community over the last decades. Due to the inherent complexity of the source separation task, a global solution to the source separation problem cannot be found and therefore there is a great need for new and improved source separation methods and systems.
A relatively recent development in source separation is the use of non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). The performance of NMF methods depends on the application field and also on the specific details of the problem under examination. In principle, NMF is a signal decomposition approach and it attempts to approximate a non-negative matrix V as a product of two non-negative matrices W (the basis matrix) and H (the weight matrix). To achieve said approximation, a distance or error function between V and WH is constructed and minimized. In some cases, the matrices W and H are randomly initialized. In other cases, to improve performance and ensure convergence to a meaningful and useful factorization, a training step can be employed (see for example Schmidt, M., & Olsson, R. (2006). "Single-Channel Speech Separation using Sparse Non-Negative Matrix Factorization", Proceedings of Interspeech, pp. 2614-2617 and Wilson, K. W., Raj, B., Smaragdis, P. & Divakaran, A. (2008), "Speech denoising using nonnegative matrix factorization with priors," IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, pp. 4029-4032). Methods that include a training step are referred to as supervised or semi-supervised NMF. Such training methods typically search for an appropriate initialization of the matrix W, in the frequency domain. There is also, however, an opportunity to train in the time domain. In addition, conventional NMF methods typically initialize the matrix H with random signal values (see for example Frederic, J, "Examination of Initialization Techniques for Nonnegative Matrix Factorization" (2008). Mathematics Theses. Georgia State University). There is also an opportunity for initialization of H using multichannel information or energy ratios. Therefore, there is overall a great need for new and improved NMF training methods for decomposition tasks and an opportunity to improve initialization techniques using time domain and/or multichannel information and energy ratios.
Source separation techniques are particularly important for speech and music applications. In modern live sound reinforcement and recording, multiple sound sources are simultaneously active and their sound is captured by a number of microphones. Ideally each microphone should capture the sound of just one sound source. However, sound sources interfere with each other and it is not possible to capture just one sound source. Therefore, there is a great need for new and improved source separation techniques for speech and music applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for improved signal decomposition


Shed-forming devices for weaving mechanisms which create three positions of the warp threads in a Jacquard loom. The shed-forming devices include moveable spindle catches capable of being vertically displaced by knives driven in oppositely reciprocally oscillating motion. Each shed-forming device includes four moveable spindle catches which are adapted to be displaced in pairs by the knives. A first spindle catch of each pair is adapted to be supported by a second spindle catch of each pair. Each shed-forming device also includes five pulleys which are vertically aligned and are connected to the catches by funicular elements such that the five pulleys may be separated from each other in a variable manner depending upon the position of the four spindle catches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weaving mechanism appropriate to create three positions of the warp threads of a Jacquard-type loom and to a Jacquard-type loom provided with such a weaving mechanism.
2. History of the Related Art
A loom comprising a weaving mechanism suitable to create three positions of the warp threads is used for the production of special fabrics, such as velvet or carpeting.
From patent application FR-A-2 647 473 in the name of the applicant is known a weaving mechanism of three positions, comprising two adjacent shed-forming devices, each of which device is provided with two moveable spindle catches. This device is effectual to place the warp threads at three different heights but it occupies a large space because the two sets of moveable spindle catches are arranged side by side, so that the minimum distance between two snap hooks of the extremities of the cords or of the control cables of the loom harness is of the order of 10 mm. Now then, in the case of a weaving mechanism constituted by a large number of cords, e.g., 10,000, the space occupied by a system of the heretofore known state of the art is such, that it is necessary to provide for two shed-forming machines and two adapted driving systems, which would be expensive and would increase the complexity of the machine and therefore the risks of breakdowns.


A spring array connector includes a unitary resilient layer of multiple springs having a layer of multiple electrically conducting lines, electrical contacts and electrical terminals. Each spring of the array is independently bendable and each of the conducting lines is electrically isolated from the other conducting lines. All of the springs in the spring array are fabricated simultaneously. Spring embodiments include sine, helix, cantilever and buckling beam shapes in sheet and wire forms.

The present invention relates to a spring array connector and specifically to a spring array connector which is mechanically unified but electrically segmented for interconnecting components and circuit boards in electrical apparatus.
Tape Automated Bonding or TAB is often used for surface mounted electrical components. Many electrical components are mounted on a tape roll with frames, similar to 35 mm movie film. At each frame on the roll, there is printed circuit wiring with a component attached. The wiring is used to bond the component to a printed circuit board.
The Harkon Pin Array is used in IBM mainframe computers to connect large electronic modules with a printed circuit board. This connector system uses an array of discrete pins, an array of discrete sockets, and a cam plate. The pins insert loosely into the sockets with almost zero force per pin. Then the cam plate forces the array sideways, which caused wiping and engagement of the electrical connections.
A Harkon Pin Array may have several thousand pins. Nevertheless, the total insertion force is moderate because the effect of having a large number of pins is cancelled by the near zero force per pin.
A Zebra Connector is used in some electronic watches. The connector includes an elastomeric sheet with densely spaced parallel wires penetrating the sheet. Each wire is electronically independent and separately bendable. The sheet is interposed between two arrays of electronic terminals.
Micro-coaxial cables are used to transmit high bandwidth electrical signals with little attenuation, reflection, and echoes. One example is a metal wire, with concentric dielectric coating, and concentric outer metal coating. This provides a well-controlled uniform AC impedance.
The Coil Chain Zipper is a well-known technology to mechanically connect two edges of cloth. Attached to each edge is a coil of metal or strong plastic. A sliding actuator engages these coils and interleaves the turns of the two coils. By sliding in the reverse direction, the actuator separates the turns of the two coils, and disengages the two edges.
The Canted Coil Spring is sold by Bal Seal Engineering Co., Santa Ana, Calif. This spring is a wire coil, shaped like a helix, but skewed parallel to its axis. When squeezed in a direction perpendicular to its axis, the spring bends with approximately constant force versus deflection. One application is a spring reinforced seal ring for low friction moving seals. Therefore, a skewed torroidal helix of wound wire is embedded inside an elastomeric seal ring.
The "banana plug" has long been used to connect a wire to a socket. The plug includes a springy metal sheet, shaped like a cross with four narrow legs. The sheet is bent over an end of a central rod so that the four legs bulge along the sides of the rod. At the base of the rod the legs are attached to a wire. When the plug is inserted into a socket, the springy legs bend to fit the socket.
Filed on the same date as this patent application is a patent application entitled "A Printed-Circuit-Like Array of Springs with Non-Linear Force vs Deflection", having an inventor in common with an inventor of this application, that teaches a class of sheet metal springs which buckle during bending which application is incorporated herein by reference. One example is a spring shaped in the form of Greek letter .OMEGA. Omega. When vertically squeezed, the force is rougly independent of deflection over a significant range. An array of many springs can be fabricated in parallel from a sheet of springy metal and a baseplate. The springy sheet is etched (like a printed circuit), then gang-folded (die-formed), and then attached to the baseplate. That same patent application describes a "pleay" shape spring which is closely related to an Omega spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,037 describes an electrical connector with a plurality of elongated flexible connectors, such as bowed wires, embedded in and extending between the surfaces of a block of elastomeric insulating material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,297 describes a substrate connector with a tubular spring body and wire connectors helix-wound around this tube. There is a longitudinal slot in the tubular spring body and the wound wires.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,424 describes a multi-contact spring interposer for board to board connections. The interpose has multiple contact elements, each with spring arms. There is a dielectric rigid support which applies a high contact pressure in spite of a wide deflection range.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,729 describes a flexible connector cable. There is a flat flexible printed circuit cable with raised soft metal bumps. The cable is interposed between a pair of flat circuit boards with matching connector areas.
The soft metal bumps are deformed under pressure to provide good electrical contact.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,876 describes a laminated connector for connections along the edge of a printed circuit board. A continuous row of spring conductor strips are located on an insulating web.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,519 describes an electrical interposer to connect arrays of conductive areas. The interposer has a dielectric housing with compartments having connector elements with cantilever spring arms.
The present invention is distinct from and provides an improvement over the above described connectors.

International Business Machines Corporation


A vulcanized fluoro rubber is provided by vulcanizing a composition comprising 100 parts by mass of mixture in which a raw fluoro rubber (A) in which appropriate amount of vulcanizing agent has been previously compounded and a raw fluoro rubber (B) in which the vulcanizing agent is not compounded are mixed at a rate of 8/2 to 3/7, 1 to 10 parts by mass of an acid acceptor and 0 to 5 parts by mass of another compounding agent which is compounded as needed. Number average molecular weight of each of the raw fluoro rubber (A) and the raw fluoro rubber (B) is 3.5×104 to 2.0×105.

Hot pressing is performed when an object product is formed or compression bonded in a process of manufacturing a precision equipment component having a laminated structure (referred to as the laminated board hereinafter) such as a printed circuit board such as a copper-clad laminated board, a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) and a multi-layer laminated board, an IC card, a ceramics laminated board, a liquid crystal display panel and the like.
According to the hot pressing, as shown in FIG. 4, a method in which laminated board material 17 which is an object to be pressed is interposed between hot platens 18 and a constant pressure and heat are applied thereto is used in general. In order to provide a laminated board with high precision, it is necessary to apply the heat and the pressure to the laminated board material 17 uniformly over an entire surface thereof. Thus, the hot pressing is performed using a cushion material 1 in the shape of flat plate interposed between the hot platen 18 and the laminated board material 17.
When the laminated board material 17 has fine irregularities of circuits on a surface such as an FPC or a multilayer board, or has relatively large irregularities such as a flex-build board which has a structure of integrated FPC and multilayer board, it is necessary for the cushion material 1 to follow the irregularities of the laminated board material 17 sufficiently. If the cushion material 1 does not sufficiently follow up the irregularities of the laminated board material 17, the heat and pressure cannot be uniformly applied to the entire surface of the laminated board material 17. As a result, a bonding defect is generated or air bubbles remain in the laminated board.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-52369 (patent document 1) discloses a hot-press cushion material in which fluoro rubber having high heat resistance and high durability is used. Particularly, a hot-press cushion material using a fluoro rubber having durometer hardness A60 is disclosed in the document in order to follow up the irregularities of the object to be pressed. However, since the printed circuit has become increasingly fine recently, the cushion material using the conventional fluoro rubber does not sufficiently follow up the irregularities. Therefore, in order to further improve following characteristics to the irregularities, the fluoro rubber having lower hardness has been required. However, the fluoro rubber has original characteristics in which it is not likely to be softened. When a method of lowering the hardness by compounding a lot of softener or plasticizer in the fluoro rubber is used, gas or bleeding is generated from the fluoro rubber at the time of the hot pressing. As a result, the pressing apparatus or the laminated board is contaminated, which causes a serious defect. Therefore, a low-molecular material such as the softener or plasticizer is not to be used as much as possible.
Meanwhile, as a method of lowering the hardness of the fluoro rubber, while preventing bleeding of the plasticizer, a method of compounding a liquid rubber such as a liquid fluoro rubber and the like in the fluoro rubber composition instead of the plasticizer is well-known in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-158458 (patent document 2), Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-53821 (patent document 3) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-116464 (patent document 4). However, in a case of the application of hot-press cushion material, the fluoro rubber compounding the liquid rubber is not preferable because it is expected that the liquid rubber bleeds at high temperature under high pressure.
In addition, a vulcanized fluoro rubber composition having low hardness of A50 or less is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-268357 (patent document 5). However, since a raw fluoro rubber disclosed in the patent document 5 is characterized by intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight distribution, it can be provided only by particular synthesis composition. As a result, it is difficult to obtain it from a commercially available raw fluoro rubber, so that a manufacturer who forms or processes the rubber products cannot easily implement it.
Thus, it is very hard to provide the vulcanized fluoro rubber which is suitable for being used as the hot-press cushion material and has durometer hardness lower than A60.

Vulcanized fluorine rubber and cushioning material for heat press containing same


An integrated telephony service can provide users with a single phone number and a single handset for use as a cordless device at a stationary location and for use as a mobile device. Incoming calls can be routed to the handset at the stationary location over a landline network. If unanswered at the stationary location, the calls can be routed to the handset via a service delivery point of presence over a wireless network. For outgoing calls from the handset, a switch within the handset can select cordless device operation when the handset is within range of a landline base station unit connected to the landline network and the handset can function as a cordless device in cooperation with the landline base station. If the handset is not within range of the landline base station, the switch can select mobile device operation and the call can be placed over the wireless network with the handset functioning as a mobile device.

The increase in cellular phones has resulted in phone system users having multiple phone numbers. For example, a user can have phone numbers associated with landlines for personal use and business use, and phone numbers associated with multiple mobile phones. In addition to requiring multiple entries in a contact folder or phone directory for the user, or requiring one to remember numerous numbers, those trying to contact the user may have to call each phone number to complete a call to the user.
Further, when a user changes residence, a new phone number can be assigned. The previous phone number can no longer be in service, which can result in lost contacts or calls until such time as others update the user's contact information. Some phone systems can have a call forwarding feature, such that phone calls to one number can be forwarded to another. For example, when a user is away from home, the user can program the system to forward incoming landline calls to the user's cellular phone number. However, calls will continue to be forwarded until such time as the call forwarding is disabled. Conversely, calls will not be forwarded unless the user remembers to initiate call forwarding. By relying on the user's memory to initiate or disable the call forwarding service, these services can provide less than optimal results.


A material which possesses both capacitive and inductive properties for suppressing electromagnetic interference is provided, wherein the material is a composite of a ferroelectric material and a ferromagnetic material. The ferroelectric-ferromagnetic composite material is formulated and processed so as to retain the distinct electrical properties of the individual constituents according to the relative quantities of the constituents present in the ferroelectric-ferromagnetic composite material. As a unitary composite element, the ferroelectric-ferromagnetic composite is readily formable to provide a compact electrical filter whose filtering capability is highly suitable for suppressing electromagnetic interference from sources internal and external to an automotive environment. The sintered composite has a very low porosity; interconnectivity between the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic phases; and has no chemical reaction between the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic phases to produce a third phase.

In an automotive environment, electromagnetic interference (EMI) is often present in the form of stray radio frequency noise, cross-talk between electrical devices, and noise created by such things as the making and breaking of circuits, spark discharges, poor or intermittent metallic contact between metal bonds and components, and atmospheric interference. It is well known that such EMI sources pose a serious threat to the electrical integrity of electrical circuitry and the function of electrical components. As the dependence on electrical circuitry by modern automobiles increases, there is an increased need for effective electrical filters to reduce electromagnetic interference between individual electrical components and circuits. The difficulty of reducing such extraneous noise is further complicated by the desire to produce automobile electronics in smaller modules. In addition, low level signals associated with on-board sensors and computer systems requires better EMI filtering as switching electronics operate at higher voltages.
Currently, the predominant method of EMI filtering is to install capacitors on an electronic circuit board using conventional manufacturing technology. At times, an inductor is added to provide "LC-type" filtering, such as when a block inductor is placed in series with one or more discrete capacitors. The use of LC-type filtering is often necessary in that a capacitor will exhibit inductance at high frequencies, producing resonance which can seriously impair the effectiveness of an electronic device. However, as electronic devices become more compact, these types of filters take up increasingly valuable space on the circuit board. Furthermore, these filters do not always provide a sufficient level of protection in that they are extremely sensitive to frequency and thus application dependent. As a result, it is often necessary to narrowly tailor the capabilities of such filters to perform well for very specific applications.
It is also known to locate EMI filters, such as feed-through filters, at electrical interconnects to suppress cross-talk and other extraneous noise at the connector pins. Simple forms of such filters include a dielectric, and more preferably a ferroelectric ceramic tube plated on its interior and exterior surfaces with a metallic coating that serves as a pair of electrodes. The interior electrode is in electrical contact with a connector pin while the exterior electrode is in electrical contact with ground. The capacitance of the filter depends upon the surface area and thickness of the tube and the dielectric constant, or permittivity, of the ceramic material used. While such filters are adequate for many applications, they are prone to exhibit the aforementioned resonance at very high frequencies.
It is known to form the ceramic tube from a ferromagnetic material such as ferrite, and then sinter a ferroelectric material, such as barium titanate, to the exterior surface of the tube. The ferromagnetic material, characterized by having high permeability, provides inductance while the ferroelectric material, characterized by having high permittivity, provides capacitance between the ferromagnetic material and ground. As a result, the ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials act together to provide an LC-type filter, wherein the inductive capability provided by the ferromagnetic material attenuates the resonance which otherwise occurs with the capacitive element at the higher frequencies. Examples of these types of EMI filters include U.S. Pat. No. 3,035,237 to Schlicke, U.S. Pat. No. 3,243,738 to Schlicke et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,263 to Fritz et al., and U.S. Pat. No. Re. 29,258 to Fritz.
While the above EMI filters have advantageous features in terms of electromagnetic interference attenuation, they are not altogether economical to manufacture for purposes of the quantities typically required in automotive applications. Furthermore, single versus multi-component connectors are simpler to assemble and are believed to be less expensive to manufacture and store.
Materials are known which exhibit both ferroelectric and ferromagnetic, or magnetoelectric, properties. One class of such materials consist of compounds having a single crystalline phase. However, the permeability and permittivity of this group of materials are generally inadequate for technical applications because the optimum magnetoelectric properties of these compounds exist only at temperatures well below room temperature.
A more recently discovered group of magnetoelectric materials are formed from composites of fine grain powders of ferrite and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) which have been sintered together for evaluating magneto-strictive and electro-strictive effects--i.e., the contraction or expansion of a material when subjected to a magnetic or electrical field. However, lead is reactive with the ferrite, yielding a composite having greatly diminished permeability and permittivity as compared to its individual constituent materials. Such losses in constituent properties are well known to those skilled in the art.
FIG. 15 is a schematic of the electrical components of a prior art filtered-header-connector including as the filter element a block inductor and discrete compacitors.
FIG. 16 is an illustration of such a prior art filtered-header-connector 180 which includes a plurality of connecting pins 182 inserted through a block inductor 184. Each connector pin includes an individual discrete compacitor 186 which is soldered to a pin and a ground 187. Such devices involve numerous manufacturing steps to assemble and are time consuming and labor intensive.
FIG. 17 is a plot of the attenuation of a filter illustrated in FIG. 16. As can be seen from the plot, the attenuation can be characterized as a band pass filter because of L-C resonance of the capacitor/conductor and limitations of the ferrite.
In the making of filtered-headed-connectors for electronic components such as those used in automotive applications or other electronic applications, a wish list of desirable properties and characteristics of such filters can be imagined. A high resistivity would prevent shorting between adjacent connector pins. A high dielectric constant material would provide improved capacitance. A high permeability material would produce inductive capabilities and, of course, mechanical strength would provide for durability. The high resistivity, dielectric constant, permeability, and mechanical strength suggests high sintering temperatures. No single material is known to provide all of these properties. A few properties may be provided by one material and the balance provided by another material. However, simply mixing two materials together will not produce a composite which achieves the desired properties because of high porosity. If the mixture is sintered to remove the porosity, the permittivity permeability can be relative low. This is because when the two materials are sintered at high temperatures to achieve the desired characteristics highlighted above, the materials chemically react with each other resulting in lower permittivity, permeability and resistivity.

Filter with ferroelectric-ferromagnetic composite materials


A source device executing the application can transmit the streaming content to the playback device. The size of the buffer can be changed during the playback of streaming content. To perform the change seamlessly, embodiments can cause the application to provide the streaming content at an increased or decreased rate, depending on how the size of the playback buffer is to be changed. The new buffer size (i.e., smaller or larger amount) can provide improved playback of the streaming content, e.g., based on a latency-reliability tradeoff as determined using various factors (e.g., quality of connection between the devices). The changed rate for providing the streaming content can be achieved by slowing down or speeding up a clock signal that is provided to the application.

Wireless headsets can play audio streamed from a source device (e.g., a smart phone) over a wireless interface. Variations in packet arrival time (called jitter) can occur because of interference in the wireless channel. This variation could cause the audio packets to arrive sooner or later than when the headset is ready to play the audio packets. Without any mechanism to compensate for this variation, the audio playback may skip or have moments of silence (e.g., glitches). Such problems can occur with other streaming content (e.g., video or haptic data) that may be provided by various applications on the source device.
Such a headset typically has a buffer (also referred to as a jitter buffer) to compensate for this variation, which can allow the streaming audio to play smoothly (e.g., avoiding skipping or moments of silence). Such a buffer does add latency, but provides the benefit of reliability. A tradeoff between latency and reliability exists for selecting a size (or occupancy) of the buffer.
Given that different environments have different connectivity challenges and different applications may have different demands, it can be difficult to determine a single buffer setting that is desirable for all contexts. Further, it is desirable to not affect the playback experience of the user.

Adaptive and seamless playback buffer adjustment for streaming content


In a document information system and a method for realizing such a system, document data are transferred and displayed at a high speed. In response to an operation made from a terminal apparatus, the document data which have been stored via communication apparatus into a data storage apparatus are read out, and the read document data are temporarily stored before being transmitted by employing the communication apparatus. In the terminal apparatus, the received document data are temporarily stored as display data, and additionally the display data are swapped to a secondary storage device in such a case that a total amount of the temporarily stored data exceeds a predetermined capacity. Then, the display data may be transferred from either the terminal apparatus, or the secondary storage device to a display buffer and then may be displayed in a unit of representation.

The present invention relates to a paperless document information system in which a user may observe a content of a document which has been stored in an electronic image form on a CRT (cathode-ray tube) of a terminal device such as a workstation. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for performing at a high speed, a transfer operation of document data from a data storage device to the terminal device, a display operation thereof on the terminal device, and a turning-page process operation for successively changing pages so as to be displayed thereon in a document information system having such a form that the data storage devices for electronically processing a large quantity of document data so as to be stored into a medium such as an optical disk, and also the terminal devices from which the user peruses this electronically processed document are distributively arranged and are linked by way of networks and the like.
As described in JP-A-61-255390, the conventional system is arranged by the frame memories having two pages so as to execute turning pages at a high speed. This frame memory stores not only page image data under display, but also page image data to be displayed subsequently for data utilization. With the above-described arrangement, since the turning-page operation may be realized by merely transferring the data between the frame memories, the page display change from the page under display to the subsequent page may be naturally executed.
When documents are represented as images, a total amount of image data become large. The aim of the above-described conventional system is to display image data from the frame memories at a high speed. However, no care is taken for such a point that the turning-page operation over the entire system, including the transfer operation of the document data from the storage device outside the terminal device to this terminal device, is performed at a high speed. Accordingly, more specifically in a large scale document information system where data storage devices, terminal devices and the like have been distributively arranged, there are some possibilities that a response time for a user may be prolonged since the user issues a display command until the data is actually displayed. Shortening such a response time to the display demand issued from the user may constitute an important and necessary element in order to make the system more comfortable. To achieve a large-scale document information system, both the transfer and display operations of the document data must be carried out at a high speed.
Furthermore, since the management information data used for managing the attributes or the like of the documents have been stored at the side of the data storage device in the conventional distributing document information system, the turning-page operation could not be performed at a high speed in such a manner that a selection is freely made between the turning-page operation physically designated by the user based upon the page number of the document data, and also the turning-page operation logically designated by the user based upon the content attributes of the document data, e.g., "claim" and "figure" of a patent document. As apparent from the foregoing descriptions, both of these turning-page operations must be provided to make document information systems more comfortable for any users.

Document information system and document data transfer and display method


A safety belt device is mounted on a support member that is formed with a positioning hole, and includes a belt, an anchor member that permits a first end portion of the belt to extend therethrough and that is retained removably on the support member at the positioning hole, and an elastic component connected to the anchor member and disposed to support a second end portion of the belt such that the elastic component deforms when a pulling force is applied on the second end portion of the belt and restores the belt to an initial state when the pulling force on the second end portion of the belt is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a safety belt device and a seat assembly incorporating the same, more particularly to a safety belt device that is suitable for application to different seat members, that can be automatically restored to an initial state when released from a fastened state, and that can be adjusted to suit different sizes of users to be seated on the seat member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional car safety seat 1 includes a seat base 11, a seat body 12 disposed on the seat base 11, and a safety belt device 13. The seat body 12 includes a seat portion 121, a pair of lateral portions 122 extending respectively from opposite lateral sides of the seat portion 121, and a backrest portion 123 connected to the seat portion 121 and the lateral portions 122. The safety belt device 13 includes a pair of spring sleeves 131 that are disposed spacedly on the seat portion 121 and that are respectively adjacent to the lateral portions 122, a pair of spring sleeves 132 that are disposed spacedly on the backrest portion 123 and that are respectively adjacent to the lateral portions 122, a pair of shoulder straps 133 each extending between a respective one of the spring sleeves 131 on the seat portion 121 and a respective one of the spring sleeves 132 on the backrest portion 123 and each provided with a buckle tongue 134, and a buckle 135 provided on the seat portion 121 to engage removably the buckle tongues 134.
In an unused state, the spring sleeves 132 on the backrest portion 123 and the spring sleeves 131 on the seat portion 121 extend upward to tauten the shoulder straps 133, as best shown in FIG. 1. When a child (not shown) is seated on the seat portion 121, the shoulder straps 133 can be brought over the shoulders of the child, and the buckle tongues 134 are subsequently fastened to the buckle 135. At this time, the spring sleeves 132 on the backrest portion 123 deform to bend downward and accumulate a restoring force, as best shown in FIG. 2. Thereafter, when the buckle tongues 134 are released from the buckle 135, the spring sleeves 132 release the restoring force accumulated thereby to once again tauten the shoulder straps 133.
However, since the spring sleeves 132 are fixed at one end on the backrest portion 123, the heights of the spring sleeves 132 on the backrest portion 123 cannot be adjusted in order that the shoulder straps 133 can suit different children to be seated on the seat portion 121. Moreover, in view of the fixed mounting design of the safety belt device 13, it cannot be removed for subsequent application to another seat.

Safety belt device and seat assembly incorporating the same


An apparatus for generating a microwave frequency energy includes a cathode for emitting electrons, a first grid for controlling and focusing the flow of electrons from the cathode, a choke structure for serving as a capacitor, wherein the cathode, the first grid and the choke structure define an input cavity functioning as a resonant circuit. The apparatus further includes a trimming resistor, one end of which is connected to the first grid and the other end thereof is connected the cathode, for inducing a bias voltage on the first grid, a second grid provided above the first grid and having a plurality of slots through which the electron beams passing through the slots of the first grid pass, an anode for receiving the electrons passing through the slot of the second grid, a voltage converting means for rectifying an AC input voltage and providing a DC driving voltage to the cathode and the anode, an antenna for extracting the microwave from an output cavity, the output cavity being defined by the second grid and the anode, and a feedback structure extending from the input cavity to the output cavity, for feeding a portion of the microwave frequency energy back to the input cavity.

There is shown in FIG. 1 a microwave oven including a housing 1, a power supply unit 2 having a high voltage transformer (not shown) and a high voltage condenser (not shown), a cylindrical magnetron 10 for generating a microwave frequency energy and a cooking chamber 3 for containing food therein. As shown in FIG. 2, the magnetron 10 is a cylindrical bi-pole vacuum tube and typically includes a cathode 11 arranged at the center thereof, a pair of magnets 12a, 12b disposed thereabove and therebeneath respectively, an anode 13 arranged around the cathode 11 and an antenna 14 connected to the anode 13.
When an operating voltage of, e.g., 4 KV, is applied to an input terminal 15 from the power supply unit 2, the cathode 11 is heated to emit electrons. The emitted electrons are received by the anode 13.
The magnets 12a, 12b generate magnetic fluxes which are, in turn, guided by guide members 16a, 16b to pass through a cavity 17 which is defined between the cathode 11 and the anode 13. The electrons emitted from the cathode 11 are first deviated by a magnetic field formed in the cavity 17 so that they revolve between the cathode 11 and the anode 13 prior to traveling to the anode 13 and being received thereat.
Revolving of the electrons between the cathode 11 and the anode 13 results in a resonant circuit being constructed in the anode 13, the resonant circuit generating microwaves to be emitted through the antenna 14. The emitted microwaves are guided to the cooking chamber 3 by a waveguide 5 and then spread in the cooking chamber 3 by a stirrer 6. The spread microwaves are incident on food contained in the cooking chamber 3 so that cooking of the food can be carried out.
In such a microwave oven, since the motion of electrons is controlled by the combined force of both electric and magnetic fields, a plurality of magnets are required, which, in turn, makes the microwave oven structurally complicated. Further, since the microwave frequency energy generating apparatus employed in the conventional microwave oven is of a bi-pole type, it is impossible to control the output of the microwave frequency energy.

Microwave frequency energy generating apparatus provided with a voltage converting means


Techniques and apparatus for remotely accessing debugging resources of a target system are described. A target system including physical compute resources, such as, processors and a chipset can be coupled to a controller remotely accessible over a network. The controller can be arranged to facilitate remote access to debug resources of the physical compute resources. The controller can be coupled to debug pin, such as, those of a debug port and arranged to assert control signals on the pins to access debug resources. The controller can also be arranged to exchange information elements with a remote debug host to include indication of debug operations and/or debug results.

Most modern processor components and embedded systems include a debug port. For example, many such hardware devices include an interface to provide debugging functionality, for example, instruction tracing, data tracing, etc. Access to the debug port, and the provided debug functionality, allows operators of the hardware devices to run control and observation resources on the hardware to monitor and/or address fault that may occur during operation of the hardware devices. However, existing paths to the debug port require physical access and proximity to the hardware being debugged. This is impractical for computing environments at scale, such as, data center deployments. Accessing the multiple thousands of individual debug ports in a data center is impractical for a variety of reasons. For example, security requirements can limit the number and/or individuals who are authorized to have physical presence in the data center which is needed to access the debug port on conventional systems. In some deployments, such as rack scale data centers, access to the debug port is not available as the chassis, or rack, is not open.

Remote debug for scaled computing environments


An entirely wearable electrical connector for power/data connectivity. The principal element of a modular network is the wearable electrical connector, which is integrated into a personal area network with USB compatibility. An embodiment comprises a non-conductive elastomeric environmental seal.

Electronic devices are being miniaturized for personal use, but no comprehensive connector technology exists to integrate them into clothing in order to integrate electronics into clothing in a body-conformable and comfortable fashion. The present invention comprises a wearable connector element and interconnects for it, satisfying the need for body conformability/comfort, specific environmental stability (to harsh weather and laundering) and mission-specificity, as well as a real-world architecture for military and non-military garments.
There is a need for a secure system to ensure that the integrity of a shipping carton within an intermodal shipping container (International Standards Organization) has not been compromised during shipment. Current carton security systems do not meet homeland security needs and require bulky electronics and specialized shipping cartons with hard cases and traditional switch-activated intrusion alarm systems.