A light emitting device includes a plurality of light emitting elements, a plurality of lead frames, and a package. The light emitting elements are mounted on the lead frames. The package is made of resin. The package has an opening. A part of the lead frames is embedded in an inner portion of the package and another part of the lead frames is exposed on a bottom surface of the opening. A resin bottom surface on which the resin is exposed is provided on the bottom surface of the opening of the package. The package includes a wall portion projecting from the bottom surface of the opening between the light emitting elements in the opening. The light emitting elements are connected by wire that straddles the wall portion.

In recent years, high-intensity and high-output light emitting elements and miniature light emitting devices have been developed, and used in various fields. These light emitting devices are made full use of the characteristics such as small size, low power consumption and low weight, and for example, have been utilized for application as a light source in a liquid-crystal backlight and mobile telephones, a light source for various types of meters, and various types of scanning sensors. Various techniques have been designed to realize higher intensity illumination and reduce size (for example, JP 2011-249807A and JP2008-153610A, etc.).
As an example, a metal member used as a lead frame or a wire used in wire bonding which are composed of silver or a silver alloy have been used as a metal member or a wire. In this manner, a method has been proposed to suppress absorption of light by the light emitting element, and efficiently reflect and extract light.
In order to prevent sulfuration of the silver or the silver alloy, various proposals have been made in relation to a resin and a package material to seal the light emitting element (for example, JP 2011-256326A and JP2011-178983A etc.).
However, in general, when silver and a silver alloy are used as a material for a lead frame and a wire or the like, sulfuration of such members occurs and therefore causes absorption of the light from the light emitting element, with the result that there is the problem that efficient reflection of light is hindered.
Moreover even when a resin having a composition that enables highly effective suppression of sulfuration of silver is used, such sulfuration starts as a result of air or moisture or the like that enters into the tiny gaps between the resin and the resin, or between the resin and the lead frame, and expands, with the result that efficient sulfuration suppression is not realized.


A nebulizer and cartridge structure thereof for use in a nebulization apparatus comprises a first cartridge accommodation space and a second cartridge accommodation space. The first cartridge accommodation space includes at least one connection bottom, and the second cartridge accommodation space includes at least one connection side. Moreover, the second cartridge accommodation space is disposed under a lower connection position of the first cartridge accommodation space. The connection bottom is connected to the connection side to form an included angle that can be a lead angle. The lead angle further includes a fillet angle or a chamfering angle. Accordingly, the nebulizer and the cartridge structure can efficiently reduce the residues of liquid medicament.

The atomization method is often used to treat respiratory diseases. The method can be achieved by using a nebulizer, and particles sprayed by the nebulizer are droplets that are about 3˜5 μm. For example, liquid medicaments can reach bronchus and lungs for therapy. The procedure is that aerosolized particles from liquid medicament are inhaled by the mouth and nose to enter bronchus, and the particles then are spread to the whole alveolus so that liquid medicament can be sufficiently absorbed by the human body. This way is better than oral administration. Currently, the atomization way adapted by nebulizers usually includes pneumatic atomization, ultrasonic atomization or electronic aerosol technology (e.g., piezoelectric nozzle method) for the operating mechanism of the nebulizer. As shown in FIG. 1, a cartridge structure 1 for accommodating liquid medicament for use in a conventional nebulizer comprises an accommodation space 11, a bottom 12, a side 14 and an opening 13. The bottom 12 is disposed to the bottom of the accommodation space 11, and the side 14 is vertically connected to the bottom, and the opening 13 is disposed to the position of the side 14 near the bottom 12. The opening 13 is an outlet for liquid medicament. When the opening 13 is at the position near the bottom 12, liquid medicament can be supplied by the accommodation space 11 to the opening 13.
Although residues of liquid medicament can be reduced through the opening 13 at the position near the bottom, it may be restricted by the entire structure of the accommodation space 11. Therefore, a portion of liquid medicament may be remained to the bottom of the accommodation space 11 to waste liquid medicament.
To overcome the foregoing shortcomings, the inventors of the present invention based on years of experience in the related field to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally invented a nebulizer and cartridge structure thereof as a method or a basis for overcoming the aforementioned problems.

Nebulizer and cartridge structure thereof


An apparatus for treating exhaust gases from a mobile internal combustion engine includes at least an exhaust pipe with a direction of extent, a honeycomb body having at least ceramic or extruded material, and at least one metallic fiber mat, which is at least partially disposed between the exhaust pipe and the honeycomb body. At least two zones with different functions are formed in the direction of extent by the at least one fiber mat. At least one first zone serves a function of mounting the honeycomb body, and at least one other zone serves a function selected from the group consisting of thermal insulation and forming a seal against gas. A vehicle having the apparatus is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for treating exhaust gases from a mobile internal combustion engine, having at least an exhaust pipe with a direction of extent, a honeycomb body including at least ceramic or extruded material, and at least one metallic fiber mat, which is at least partially disposed between the exhaust pipe and the honeycomb body. The preferred application area for the invention is vehicles, in particular automobiles.
The exhaust systems of mobile internal combustion engines are exposed to considerable thermal and dynamic stresses. They result on one hand from the combustion processes themselves and on the other hand also from the movement of the vehicle. The fluctuating load conditions in the internal combustion engine lead to differing exhaust gas temperatures, exhaust gas compositions, pressure surges, etc. The result thereof is that the components of the exhaust system are also subject to fluctuating thermal stresses. In particular, if the components of the exhaust system include different materials, the respective thermal expansion properties are constantly imposing new demands on the connection between those components and with a view to ensuring that the components remain at the intended position in the exhaust system in the long term. In that context, particular attention needs to be paid to the securing of a honeycomb body, which is produced from ceramic or extruded material, with respect to a usually metallic exhaust pipe.
With configurations of that type, it is known that different thermal expansion properties of the honeycomb body and the exhaust pipe can be compensated for by compensation layers which are disposed between the honeycomb body and the exhaust pipe. That usually involves the use of what are known as swellable mats, which have an ability to take up water. By taking up water contained in the exhaust gas, the mats swell and thereby prevent the assembly formed from the honeycomb body, the swellable mat and the exhaust pipe from coming loose. However, a problem with those swellable mats is that they do not generally satisfy the dynamic requirements in the long term, so that the swellable mat can become partially detached. There is also a risk of the constituents which are dissolved out of the swellable mat being volatilized, and the effect thereof on the environment has not yet been fully clarified.
Another known way of compensating for the different thermal expansion properties is to use spring elements, for example in the form of sleeves, spacers, etc., which are likewise positioned between the honeycomb body and the exhaust pipe. They may also form spaces which are provided with damping materials, such as for example high-temperature-resistant, free-flowing granules or powders. However, constructions of that type are somewhat complex to produce and in some cases are likewise unable to guarantee a long service life.
Moreover, it is also known that knitted metallic wire fabrics can be laid between a ceramic honeycomb body and a metallic exhaust pipe. Examples of such configurations include U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,037 and German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE 38 04 559 A1.

Apparatus having a fiber mat for mounting a honeycomb body in an exhaust pipe for treating exhaust gases from a mobile internal combustion engine and vehicle having the apparatus

Emitec Gesellschaft fuer Emissionstechnolgie mbH


Systems and methods for identifying threads of related messages. A computer can associate messages with threads by storing a thread identifier (thread ID) identifying a thread and associating the thread ID with a message identifier (message ID) of each known message that belongs to the thread. The computer can inspect a message to determine whether the message identifies a reference message. Before assigning a thread ID to the message or a reference message, the computer can determine whether a message ID for either message is stored in association with a thread ID. If a thread ID is stored for a message ID of either message, the computer can assign the thread ID to message IDs of other reference messages. If a thread ID is not stored for a message ID of either message or is different for either message, store a common thread ID in association with both messages.

The present disclosure relates generally to electronic messaging, and more specifically to identifying and managing information about related electronic messages.
Electronic messaging, or electronic message communication, generally refers to the communication of electronic messages from a sender to one or more recipients via a computing system. One widely used form of electronic message communication includes email. "A message" as used herein broadly refers to an electronic message (e.g., an email message) communicated via an electronic messaging system. Applications or client devices can communicate and access messages using a message service provider via a protocol such as a post office protocol (POP) or an Internet message access protocol (IMAP). Message service providers can include, for example, Google Mail®, Yahoo Mail®, Hotmail®, or other mail services. Messages, such as an email message, can include a header that can identify the message and that can identify other related messages. For example, a header in an email message can include a message identifier ("message ID") that represents a unique string which identifies the email message in a messaging system. The header can include a reply field (e.g., an "in-reply-to" field) that identifies a message ID of a predecessor (parent) email message that an email message including the message ID is in response, or reply to. A references field in the header can identify one or more message IDs for messages that are predecessors of a message.
Communication by email and other forms of electronic messaging has grown beyond a tool for corresponding to others to a tool for organizing and managing people's lives and businesses. Many people rely on messaging as a way to manage tasks. But as a seemingly ever-increasing amount of content is communicated over email, users struggle to manage the volume of messages that are received every day. Message services and client devices are also faced with the task of managing computing resources and access to the volume of messages. The increase in volume of messages challenges message service providers to find new ways to identify and associate messages into groups or threads to improve access and management of the messages. Client devices with reduced computing resources can be susceptible to machine crashes and unavailable, or limited computing resources to identify and store thread information.

Message thread identification and management


A divider including a quotient decision circuit for making a sign decision of a quotient bit from upper three bits of a partial remainder, a redundant binary adder for adding a divisor to the partial remainder, a redundant binary subtractor for subtracting the divisor from the partial remainder, and a selector for selecting one of the output of the redundant binary adder, the partial remainder, and the output of the redundant binary subtractor. All these circuits use redundant binary numbers in which a set of values (-1, 0, 1) taken by each digit of the redundant binary number is represented by (01, 00, 10). This makes it possible to solve a problem of conventional dividers in that the conversion of a redundant binary number was necessary before the quotient decision because the partial remainder computing section and the quotient decision section of the conventional dividers employed redundant binary numbers whose bit arrangements differ from each other, which hinders the conventional dividers from achieving fast division.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a divider carrying out division of binary numbers by means of hardware.
2. Description of Related Art
Division is achieved by sequential processing algorithm which iterates multiplication and decision of a result. Although various special hardware systems are proposed for shrinking processing time, they still demand much greater time than multiplication or addition, and hence a faster divider is desired. We will explain division algorithm below, in which X designates a dividend, Y designates a divisor, R.sup.i designates an i-th partial remainder, Q designates a quotient, q.sub.i designates an i-th digit of the quotient, Z designates a quotient converted into a binary number, and r.sup.i 1, r.sup.i 0, and r.sup.i -1 designates upper three bits of the i-th partial remainder R.sup.i. ##EQU1##
First, at step 1, the dividend X and the divisor Y are input which are normalized such that 1.ltoreq.X<2 and 1.ltoreq.Y<2. At step 2, the partial remainder R.sup.1 represented in a redundant binary number is obtained by setting to one the most significant digit q.sub.0 of the quotient Q. The partial remainder R.sup.1 can be obtained by subtracting the divisor Y from the dividend X. Since both the dividend X and divisor Y are a binary number here, the partial remainder R.sup.1 represented in the redundant binary number can be obtained by subtraction of respective digits without a carry. At step 3, upper three bits r.sup.i 1 r.sup.i 0. r.sup.i -1! of the generated partial remainder R.sup.i undergo successive decision whether they are negative, zero or positive for i=1, 2, . . . , n, so that the quotient q.sub.i is obtained by the number of digits required. Finally, at step 4, the quotient Q represented in the redundant binary number is converted into the quotient Z represented in the binary number, thus ending the processing.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing the divisor in its entirety using the redundant binary representation based on the foregoing division algorithm, which is disclosed, for example, in "A VLSI-Oriented High-Speed Divider Using Redundant Binary Representation", by Naofumi TAKAGI, Hiroto YASUURA, and Shuzo YAJIMA, The Journal D of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan, 84/4, Vol.J67-D, No. 4, pp.450-457. The divider is implemented by employing ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic) as its internal circuit. In FIG. 15, a double square designates a cell for deciding a quotient, and a single square designates a cell for carrying out redundant binary addition and subtraction. Each row of cells designated by the single squares forms a redundant binary adder and subtractor for the redundant binary addition and subtraction, and each row of cells consisting of the redundant binary adder and subtractor plus the single cell for making quotient decision designated by the double square carries out computation for one loop of step 3 in the foregoing division algorithm.
FIGS. 16 and 17 are block diagrams showing a quotient decision circuit and partial remainder generation and addition circuit constituting the divider using the redundant binary representation based on the foregoing division algorithm, which is disclosed, for example, in "High-Speed Multiplier and Divider using Redundant Binary Representation", by Takashi TANIGUCHI, Hisakazu EDAMATSU, Tamotsu NISHIYAMA, Shigeo KUNINOBU and Naofumi TAKAGI, Technical Research Report ED88-48 of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan. The quotient decision circuit and the partial remainder generation and addition circuit are implemented using a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) circuit.
The quotient decision circuit as shown in FIG. 16 makes a decision of the quotient q.sub.i from the upper three bits of the partial remainder R.sup.i as shown in step 3 of the foregoing division algorithm. The redundant binary representation of the upper three bits of the partial remainder R.sup.i and the quotient q.sub.i represents (1, 0, -1) by (10, 00, 01) using a pair of signals {z.sub.ip, z.sub.in }, so that the decision is easily made whether the value is positive or negative. This simplifies the configuration of the quotient decision circuit.
The partial remainder generation and addition circuit as shown in FIG. 17 is used for computing the partial remainder R.sup.i+1 at step 3 of the foregoing division algorithm. It is necessary for the generation of the partial remainder R.sup.i+1 at step 3 to subtract the product of the quotient q.sub.i and the divisor D from the partial remainder consisting of a redundant binary number which is shifted to the left by one digit. However, since the divisor D is a binary number, it is only necessary to consider computation between the redundant binary number and the binary number. Thus, the adder is arranged such that it adds the divisor D when the i-th digit q.sub.i of the quotient Q is -1, adds zero when q.sub.i is zero, and adds the two's complement of the divisor D when q.sub.i is one. In this way, only the addition of the redundant binary number and the binary number is required, which simplifies the configuration of the partial remainder generation and addition circuit because the carry is always non-negative. The partial remainder generation and addition circuit, however, uses a redundant binary representation different from that of the quotient decision circuit, where (1, 0, -1) is represented as (11, 10, 01) using a pair of signals {z.sub.is, z.sub.ia }.
Arraying the quotient decision circuits and the partial remainder generation and addition circuits thus arranged makes it possible to construct a divider with a regular cell arrangement, in which the quotient decision circuits as shown in FIG. 16 are placed as the quotient decision cells designated by the double squares in FIG. 15, and the partial remainder generation and addition circuits as shown in FIG. 17 are placed as the redundant binary addition and subtraction circuits designated by the single squares. The conversion of the quotient into a binary number by a redundant binary-to-binary converter can be carried out by subtracting the binary number consisting of q.sub.iN from the binary number consisting of q.sub.iP, which are output from the respective quotient decision circuits.
Thus, the conventional divider uses different redundant binary representations in the quotient decision circuit as shown in FIG. 16 and the partial remainder generation and addition circuit as shown in FIG. 17. Accordingly, it is necessary to unify the redundant binary representations by inserting a converter between the two circuits.
FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an example of such a converter which converts a redundant binary number in which (1, 0, -1) is represented by (11, 10, 01) into a redundant binary number in which (1, 0, -1) is represented by (10, 00, 01). More specifically, when (1, 1) representing +1 is input as z.sub.is and z.sub.ia, it is converted into z.sub.ip and z.sub.in of (1, 0), and its inverted signal (0, 1) is output. Likewise, when (1, 0) representing zero is input, it is converted to (0, 0) and its inverted signal (1, 1) is output, and when (0, 1) representing -1 is input, it is converted to (0, 1) and its inverted signal (1, 0) is output.
FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a quotient decision circuit, to which such converters are added to its input. The upper three bits r.sup.i 1 r.sup.i 2 r.sup.i -1! of the partial remainder R.sup.i generated by the respective partial remainder generator and addition circuits are converted by the converters from the redundant binary number in which (1, 0, -1) is represented as (11, 10, 01) to the redundant binary number in which (1, 0, -1) is represented as (10, 00, 01).
In the conventional divider with such a configuration, the conversion is needed before making a quotient decision because the subtraction cells (partial remainder generator and addition circuits) for computing the partial remainders and the quotient decision cells for making the quotient decision (quotient decision circuits) use different redundant binary representations. This presents a problem in that the converter is essential, which complicates the configuration of the divider, and hinders the processing time of the division from being reduced owing to the delay of the conversion.

Hardware implemented divider for binary numbers using a redundant binary representation


Providing category-specific electronic content includes receiving a request for electronic content. The request has an attribute. The attribute of the received request is compared to an attribute related to a query included in a log of search queries. An indication of a category that represents a search query from a log of search queries that is related to an attribute that matches the attribute of the received request is accessed, and electronic content that is representative of the identified category is accessed and provided.

When a user requests electronic content, the user may be directed to uninteresting electronic content. For example, conventional search engines retrieve a set of search results that correspond to a search query. Some search results may direct a user to Internet resources that do not interest the user, even though the search results match the search query. For example, this issue may arise when a query relates to multiple different topics, one or more of which being of relatively little or no interest to the query submitter, in which case search results are produced that are representative of each of the different topics. As another example, users may be presented with advertisements relating to subjects in which the user is not interested. As yet another example, a user may be provided with electronic content that is geared toward a demographic of user that does not represent the user.

Analyzing a query log for use in managing category-specific electronic content


A circuit for calibrating a data control signal includes a time-delay compensation circuit and a voltage-control delay circuit. The time-delay compensation circuit receives two complementary signals and a direct current voltage which has two voltage cross points with the two complementary signals respectively, and outputs a control voltage according to a time difference between the two voltage cross points. The voltage-control delay circuit delays a data control signal for a predetermined time according to the control voltage, thereby eliminating signal skew between the data control signal and a data signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a circuit and a method for calibrating a data control signal, and more particularly, to a circuit and a method for calibrating a data control signal of a DRAM memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a conventional memory controller 10 coupled to a double data rate (DDR) memory 12. The memory controller 10 utilizes a bi-directional data strobe signal DQS to write a data signal DQ into the DDR memory 12 or read the data signal DQ from the DDR memory 12. During writing operations, the memory controller 10 transmits the data strobe signal DQS and the data signal DQ to the DDR memory 12. In addition, during reading operations, the DDR memory 12 transmits the data strobe signal DQS and the data signal DQ to the memory controller 10.
According to DDR memory standard, the memory controller 10 and the DDR memory 12 sample data contained in the data signal DQ by each rising edge and each falling edge of the data strobe signal DQS. Therefore, it is relatively significant for the validity of the sampled data that the data strobe signal DQS is matched with the data signal DQ.
In the memory controller 10 or the DDR memory 12, the data strobe signal DQS can be outputted by an output driving circuit 14 as shown in FIG. 2. The output driving circuit 14 has at least one PMOS transistor 14a, one NMOS transistor 14b and an output terminal 15 for outputting the data strobe signal DQS. When the PMOS transistor 14a and the NMOS transistor 14b have the same driving ability, the output terminal 15 will output a data strobe signal DQS, as shown in FIG. 3, of which the rising time tr and the falling time tf are equal. However, due to the differences resulting from the manufacturing processes for the PMOS transistor 14a and the NMOS transistor 14b, they generally have different driving abilities such that the rising time tr and the falling time tf of the data strobe signal DQS are unequal. For example, if the driving ability of the PMOS transistor 14a is weaker than that of the NMOS transistor 14b, the rising time tr will be longer than the falling time tf. On the contrary, if the driving ability of the PMOS transistor 14a is stronger than that of the NMOS transistor 14b, the rising time tr will be shorter than the falling time tf.
Similarly, since the data signal DQ is also outputted by an output driving circuit, which is the same with the output driving circuit 14 shown in FIG. 2, the rising time and the falling time of the data signal DQ are also unequal.
In general, when the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor do not match (i.e. having different driving abilities), the skew between the data strobe signal DQS and the data signal DQ (i.e. DQ-DQS skew) is the smallest if both transition edges of the data strobe signal DQS and the data signal DQ are rising edges or falling edges at the same time. On the contrary, the skew between the data strobe signal DQS and the data signal DQ (i.e. DQ-DQS skew) is the largest if the transition edge of the data strobe signal DQS is opposite to the transition edge of the data signal DQ at the same time, meaning that one is a rising edge while the other is a falling edge. Taking FIG. 4 for example, if the PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor do not match with each other to cause the rising time to be shorter than the falling time in the data strobe signal DQS and the data signal DQ, the DQ-DQS skew is the smallest during the time interval from t1 to t2 and the largest during the time interval from t3 to t4. Therefore, the DQ-DQS skew during the time interval from t3 to t4 will limit the valid time interval for sampling the required data.

Circuit and method for calibrating data control signal


The present invention provides a scroll-type expander that simultaneously performs expansion and re-heating such that efficient expansion is realized and there is no reduction in efficiency caused by pressure loss occurring during the supply of an working fluid to the scroll-type expander, and that minimizes a difference in temperature between a stationary scroll member and a rotating scroll member, as well as a temperature distribution of a scroll wrap. The present invention also relates to a heat exchange system that uses a scroll-type expander to replace pistons in a conventional reciprocating Stirling engine or refrigerator with a pair of scroll-type compressor and expander such that the heat exchange system may be used as a Stirling engine or refrigerator. The present invention also provides a steam engine, in which a steam turbine in the conventional steam engine (Rankine system) is replaced with a scroll-type expander such that the steam cycle has both a re-heating cycle and a regeneration cycle.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scroll-type expander and a scroll-type compressor, and more particularly, to a scroll-type expander and a scroll-type compressor that include a stationary scroll member and a rotating scroll member to continuously perform expansion and compression of an working fluid. The present invention also relates to a scroll-type heat exchange system that includes a scroll-type expander and scroll-type compressor for use as a Stirling engine or refrigerator.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Scroll device offers many advantages including high efficiency, low noise, low vibration, small size, and light weight. Scroll devices are widely used as a result of these advantages scroll-type compressor In more detail, with reference to FIG. 1, a stationary scroll member 30 of involute form and a rotating scroll member 40 are provided at a 180° phase difference. As a result, a series of crescent-shaped pockets are formed within the scroll-type compressor. Gas flows into the scroll-type compressor through an intake passage located at a circumference of the stationary scroll member 30, and the crescent-shaped pockets move toward a center of the two scrolls 30 and 40 by the orbiting action of the rotating scroll member 40. A volume of the pockets is reduced through this operation such that the gas is compressed. The gas is then discharged through a discharge port formed in a center of the stationary scroll member 30. During each orbit, several crescent-shaped pockets are compressed simultaneously, so operation is continuous.
In the scroll-type expander, the scroll-type compressor is simply operated in reverse such that a gas is expanded. That is, a high pressure gas is provided to the center of the stationary scroll member 30 such that the orbiting scroll member 40 is displaced to realize expansion of the gas, which is then discharged through the circumferential opening of the stationary scroll member 30. Motive power is generated by the orbiting motion of the rotating scroll member 40.
Compared to other types of compressors, the scroll-type compressor requires less parts, is small and lightweight, and provides other advantages such as high efficiency, low vibration, and low noise. As a result, the scroll-type compressor is widely used as a refrigerant compressor and air compressor. The scroll-type expander, on the other hand, has not experienced widespread use.
As a conventional expander, U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,152 discloses a scroll apparatus with peripheral drive that can be used as a compressor and an expander, and a heat engine that combines a compressor, a burner, and an expander, and also discloses a Brayton cycle-type cooling cycle that combines a compressor and an expander. Also, EP Patent No. 0846843A1 discloses a heat engine that combines a compressor, a regenerator, a burner, and an expander. In addition, there has also been recently disclosed in the United States a steam cycle (Rankine system) that uses a scroll-type expander in place of a steam engine.
However, in patents and research related to scroll-type expanders disclosed up to now, high pressure gas or steam is supplied to a center area of the scroll-type expander to generate motive power as in conventional turbines. As a result, efficiency is reduced by pressure loss when supplying the gas or steam such that while compression efficiency reaches up to 90%, expansion efficiency is only about 60˜70%. Further, in the conventional scroll-type expander, a difference in temperatures between the stationary scroll member and the orbiting scroll member develops, and a temperature gradient occurs within the same scroll wrap itself. These factors result in a reduction in efficiency by the generated friction, leakage, and increased vibration.
A Stirling engine is an external combustion engine that includes a plurality of heat exchangers that heat and cool the enclosed charge gas. Most Stirling engines are external combustion engines of reciprocating piston types.
Because the Stirling engine is an external combustion engine, it may use various heat sources such as liquid fuel, gas fuel, solid fuel, industrial waste energy, solar energy, and LNG. The Stirling engine provides high efficiency due to a regenerator mounted between a heater and a cooler. Also, because the Stirling engine does not include valves and realizes smooth pressure changes, a low level of noise and vibration are generated compared to the internal combustion engine. Also, since continuous combustion occurs in the Stirling engine, combustion control is easy and the exhaust gas is relatively clean, thereby making the Stirling engine a possible candidate for widespread use in the future.
With reference to FIG. 8, which shows a basic structure of a conventional Stirling engine 200, an expansion piston 201 and a compression piston 203 are coupled to a common crankshaft with about 90° phase difference. An expansion space 205 and a compression space 207 are formed and connected to a regenerator 209 that is filled with thermal energy storage material having gas permeability. With this configuration, since it is difficult to realize sufficient heating and cooling of the working gas by a cylinder wall of a small heat transfer area, a cooler 212 and a heater 214 are provided to opposite sides of the regenerator 209 as shown in FIG. 9.
To simplify the mechanical structure and reduce vibration of the reciprocating-I Stirling engine, U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,040 discloses a configuration that uses two rotary Wankel rotors and provides for a phase difference as in the reciprocating Stirling engine such that compression and expansion are alternatingly realized.
Since two pistons reciprocate in cylinders synchronously but out of phase so that the working gas shuttles cyclically from one space to the other as the volume and pressure vary from maximum to minimum and go through the four processes of the Stirling cycle in order, the working fluid undergoes pressure loss due to the oscillating flow through the regenerator positioned between the compression cylinder and the expansion cylinder such that an increase in rotational speed results in the reduction in torque. In addition, because it is difficult to realize sufficient heating and cooling of the working gas by a cylinder wall of a small heat transfer area, the cooler 212 and the heater 214 are provided to opposite sides of the regenerator 209 as shown in FIG. 9, and it is necessary to use a gas having a low molecular weight such as hydrogen or helium as the working gas. However, in the case where a gas of a low molecular weight is used as the working gas, leakage easily occurs such that it is extremely important to use a high performance gas seal.
With reference to FIGS. 10 and 11, an ideal Stirling cycle includes isothermal compression (I–II) while in a low temperature compression section 223, constant volume heating (II–III) while passing a regenerator 221, isothermal expansion (III–IV) while in a high temperature expansion section 224, and constant volume heat rejection (IV–I) while passing the regenerator 221. However, the actual cycle is more like that shown in FIG. 12, which is significantly less efficient than the ideal case. The reasons for such a difference between an ideal Stirling cycle and the actual cycle, and the difficulties in realizing the ideal cycle, will be described as follows.
First, to realize the isothermal compression (I–II) and isothermal expansion (III–IV) sections of the ideal Stirling cycle, fast heat transfer must occur through the inside surface of the cylinder walls. However, even if a sufficient number of heat transfer pins are mounted outside the cylinder, since the area of the inside surface of the cylinder walls making contact with the working gas is limited, it is difficult for the working gas to be heated or cooled isothermally. This becomes increasingly problematic if the engine is made faster and to larger sizes, in which case the processes inside the cylinder becomes more adiabatic (no heat transfer) than isothermal (infinite heat transfer).
It is for this reason that the additional heater 214 and cooler 212 are mounted to opposite ends of the regenerator 209 to ensure effective heating and cooling of the working gas. Although the heater 214 and cooler 212 allow for the effective heating and cooling of the working gas to increase the specific power, the provision of such heat exchangers imposes some penalties as follows.
In particular, the increase in dead volume, which includes the heater 214, the regenerator 209, and the cooler 212, acts to decrease output. Further, it results in anomalies in which the expanded working gas picks up heat from the heater 214 before deposing its heat in the regenerator 209 and in which the compressed gas has to pass through the cooler 212 before going back through regenerator 209 to pick up heat. As a result, the flow resistance is increased and thermal efficiency is reduced. Further, the thermal stress to the structural parts increases such that care must be given in selecting the materials for the parts and other limitations are given to manufacture of the device.
In the ideal Stirling cycle as shown in FIG. 10, since the motions of the pistons 225 and 227 are discontinuous, only compression occurs in the low temperature compression section 223 and only expansion occurs in the high temperature expansion section 224. However, in an actual reciprocating Stirling engine shown in FIG. 9, the compression piston 203 and the expansion piston 201 are linked to move together such that during compression by the compression piston 203 of the low temperature section, compression occurs slightly also by operation of the expansion piston 201 of the high temperature section. Likewise, during expansion by the expansion piston 201 of the high temperature section, expansion occurs slightly also by operation of the compression piston 203 of the low temperature section. This is another main reason why the efficiency of the actual Stirling engine is significantly less than that of the ideal Carnot engine.
The steam cycle includes four successive changes. These include heating of the working fluid, evaporation, expansion, and condensation. The Rankine cycle is the ideal cyclical sequence of changes of pressure and temperature of the working I fluid, and is used as a standard for rating the performance of steam power plants.
With reference to FIG. 13, a steam engine 300 typically includes a water supply pump 303 (adiabatic compression), a boiler 305 and a re-heater 307 (isobaric heating), turbines 309 and 312 (adiabatic expansion), and a condenser 301 (isobaric heat radiation). A steam turbine is most commonly used by a power output device in the steam engine that is used as an external combustion engine. The steam turbine converts heat energy into kinetic energy such that high speed steam strikes a turbine to obtain a rotational force of the same.
As a way to improve efficiency in the steam cycle, referring again to FIG. 13, the re-heater 307 is used and the steam in the expansion stage is extracted to the outside of the turbine 309 before being saturated, and is made into superheated steam after being heated in the re-heater 307. The steam is again directed to the turbine 312 to use a re-heating cycle that expands the steam until reaching the output pressure. Thermal efficiency may be improved by increasing the number of re-heating stages. However, if the number of re-heating stages is increased, the fluid needs to be circulated between the boiler 305 and turbines 309 and 312, both the overall size of the assembly and equipment costs are increased, and operational control becomes complicated. Accordingly, re-heating is typically performed one or two times, which places a limitation on the efficiency of the steam cycle.
In the reciprocating piston or Wankel rotary device, which are conventional positive displacement expanders used as external combustion engines in place of the steam turbines 309 and 312, since the area of heat transfer through the cylinder walls decreases compared to volume as capacity is increased, efficiency reduces in proportion to increases in size of the device.

Scroll-type expander having heating structure and scroll-type heat exchange system employing the expander

Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials


A hand shower including a handle with a first waterway including an inlet portion and an outlet portion, the inlet portion configured to be fluidly coupled to a water supply. A shower head includes a second waterway having an inlet portion and an outlet portion. The inlet portion of the second waterway is fluidly coupled to the outlet portion of the first waterway, and the outlet portion of the second waterway includes a plurality of outlets configured to deliver water. The shower head is supported for rotation about a longitudinal axis of the handle between a first position and a second position angularly spaced from the first position.

The present invention relates to hand showers and, more particularly, to a hand shower including a rotatable shower head.
A variety of fluid delivery devices are known for use within a shower or bathtub, including fixed overhead shower heads, wall-mounted body sprays, and hand showers. Hand showers, or handheld shower heads, are typically connected to a water supply through a flexible conduit thereby permitting the hand shower to be moved for directing water flow as desired by the user.
The present disclosure relates to a hand shower including a handle having a first waterway including an inlet portion and an outlet portion. The inlet portion is configured to be fluidly coupled to a water supply. A shower head includes a second waterway including an inlet portion and an outlet portion. The inlet portion of the second waterway is fluidly coupled to the outlet portion of the first waterway. The outlet portion of the second waterway includes a plurality of outlets configured to deliver water at an oblique angle relative to the handle. The inlet portion of the second waterway is rotatably coupled to the outlet portion of the first waterway, such that the shower head rotates about a longitudinal axis of the handle between a first position and a second position angularly spaced from the first position.
According to another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a hand shower comprises a handle having a base portion and a connecting portion defining a longitudinal connector axis, and a shower head including a plurality of outlets configured to deliver water in a direction generally parallel to a water flow axis. A connector rotatably couples the shower head to the handle, wherein rotation of the shower head about the longitudinal connector axis alters the angular orientation of the water flow axis relative to the base portion of the handle.
According to a further illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a hand shower comprises a handle having a base portion and a connecting portion defining a longitudinal connector axis, and a shower head including a plurality of outlets configured to deliver water along a water flow axis. The shower head is operably coupled to the handle for rotation about the longitudinal connector axis between a first position and a second position angularly spaced from the first position. A detent device releasably secures the shower head in one of the first position and the second position.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.


The accelerator output stage circuit includes: a high side output device coupled to an output node; a low side output device coupled to the output node; a first logic gate coupled to a control node of the first high side output device; a second logic gate coupled to a control node of the second high side output device; a high side one-shot device having an output coupled to a first input of the first logic gate; a low side one-shot device having an output coupled to a first input of the second logic gate; and a feedback device coupled between the output node and a second input of the first logic gate, and between the output node and a second input of the second logic gate, and between the output node and the input to the high side resistor bypass device, and between the output node and the input to the low side one-shot resistor bypass device.

In circuits such as bidirectional level translators, the output driver may use an accelerator output stage to speed up the output transition. Traditionally, the accelerator output stage drivers are controlled by a one-shot with a fixed pulse width. Fixing the duration of the accelerator drive limits the maximum switching frequency and/or the maximum capacitive load that can be driven. If the duration of the accelerator drive is set longer to allow driving heavier capacitive loads, then the maximum switching frequency will decrease and vice versa.
Previous bidirectional translator circuits have used a one-shot with fixed pulse width to control the duration of the accelerator drive. In doing so, one must accept either a lower switching speed, lower load driving capability, or reduced signal integrity. With fixed duration one-shots, there is a trade-off between load driving capability, max switching frequency, and dynamic ICC current. On the high end of the one-shot duration, the maximum switching frequency (without contention between the upper and lower drivers) is limited. On the low end of the one-shot duration, the maximum bus capacitance that can be driven rail-to-rail is limited. One can allow some contention (overlap of P channel high-side driver and N channel low-side driver one-shot pulses) but dynamic ICC current goes up.

Accelerator output stage that adjusts drive duration to loading


Disclosed is a technique for data synchronization. A first identifier for a portion of data on a primary volume is determined, wherein a unique identifier is associated with each portion of data at the primary volume. A second identifier for a portion of corresponding data at a secondary volume is determined, wherein a unique identifier is associated with each portion of data at the secondary volume. The first and second identifiers are compared. When the first and second identifiers do not match, the portion of corresponding data at the secondary volume in a storage device is replaced with the portion of data at the primary volume.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to improved data synchronization.
2. Description of the Related Art
In typical disaster recovery solutions, data is housed at a primary site as well as at one or more secondary sites. These secondary sites maintain a synchronized copy of the data such that no data is lost in the case of a disaster at the primary site. If a disaster occurs, processing is either "failed-over" to one of the secondary sites or the data is copied from the secondary site back to the primary site. In order for disaster recovery to be effective, the secondary sites are typically far away from the primary site so that both sites are not affected by the same disaster.
Disaster recovery systems typically address two types of failures, a sudden catastrophic failure at a single point in time or data loss over a period of time. In the second type of gradual disaster, updates to volumes may be lost. For either type of failure, a copy of data may be available at a remote location. Such dual or shadow copies are typically made as the application system is writing new data to a primary storage device at a primary site. A storage device is a physical unit that provides a mechanism to store data on a given medium, such that the data can be subsequently retrieved. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), the assignee of the subject patent application, provides systems for maintaining remote copies of data at a secondary storage device, including extended remote copy (XRC®) and peer-to-peer remote copy (PPRC).
These systems provide techniques for recovering data updates between a last, safe backup and a system failure. Such data shadowing systems can also provide an additional remote copy for non-recovery purposes, such as local access at a remote site. The IBM XRC and PPRC systems are described further in z/OS V1R1.0 DFSMS Advanced Copy Services (IBM Document Number SC35-0428-00), April 2001, which is available from International Business Machines Corporation.
In such backup systems, data is maintained in volume pairs. A volume pair is comprised of a volume in a primary storage device and a corresponding volume in a secondary storage device that includes a consistent copy of the data maintained in the primary volume. Typically, the primary volume of the pair will be maintained in a primary storage control unit, and the secondary volume of the pair is maintained in a secondary storage control unit at a different physical location than the primary storage control unit. A storage control unit is a physical hardware unit that consists of a storage server integrated with one or more storage devices to provide storage capability to a host computer. A storage server is a physical unit that provides an interface between one or more storage devices and a host computer by providing the function of one or more logical subsystems. The storage server may provide functions that are not provided by the storage device. The storage server is composed of one or more clusters of storage devices. A primary storage control unit may be provided to control access to the primary DASD and a secondary storage control unit may be provided to control access to the secondary DASD.
It is important that all secondary data sites are synchronized and contain an exact copy of the primary site's data. Sometimes, however, errors occur that cause the system to not know whether the primary and secondary sites are synchronized. In typical disaster recovery solutions, if a secondary site loses certainty of synchronization with the primary site, all of the data must be copied from the primary site to the secondary site. For large systems that are typical for large corporations, the time required to resynchronize the two sites is enormous due to the tremendous amount of data that must now be copied. Besides the time it takes to carry out this copy, it must also be remembered that as a result of this recopy, the data link between the two sites is being used much more heavily than is typical. This also causes normal processing that continues to be impacted since the bandwidth necessary to continue may no longer be available.
In particular, in prior art systems, when two volumes lose synchronization for any reason, it is necessary for the primary site to send the entire volume of data to the secondary site. If many volumes are affected and/or the volumes are very large, this could take a considerable amount of time. Not only will it take a long time, but all the data being sent will increase the bandwidth used on the long distance data link tremendously. If the system does not have a good amount of extra bandwidth, and, typically, conventional systems do not, then this resynchronization would impact all other processing and disaster recovery mirroring currently happening in the system as well. Furthermore, in most cases of lost synchronization, very little of the data, if any, is actually out of synchronization. As a result, the entire volume of data will be recopied when only a few portions of data are actually not identical.
Thus, there is a need for improved data synchronization.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method, system, and program for data synchronization between a primary storage device and a secondary storage device by determining whether a first identifier and a second identifier match, where a unique identifier is associated with each portion of data


An axial plunger pump which does not need bellows by restricting fuel to a cylinder bore configuring a pump portion and by lubricating the other portion with oil. The high pressure fuel pump includes a plunger reciprocating according to a shaking movement of a swash plate, a cylinder block forming a pump chamber together with the plunger, and a sealing member provided between the plunger and a cylinder bore for sealing oil leaked from the pump chamber to a chamber surrounding the pump chamber, wherein oil in the oil chamber is supplied from the outside of the high pressure fuel pump.

The present invention relates to a fuel pump for supplying fuel to an internal combustion engine, particularly relates to a high pressure fuel pump used in a fuel injection system of so-called in-cylinder direct injection type of an internal combustion engine, the system directly injects fuel into a fuel chamber through a fuel injection valve attached to the fuel chamber.
A type of system which directly injects fuel to a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine requires a high pressure fuel pump for increasing a pressure of fuel to be supplied to a fuel injection valve up to the pressure of 3 MPa or higher.
Such a high pressure pump has been known from JP-A-9-236080 as an axial plunger pump. Conventionally, such a high pressure pump is configured so as to part a driving mechanism part lubricated with oil from a pump chamber compressing and discharging fuel by metal bellows.
Another conventional high pressure fuel pump is described in JP-A-9-250447. The pump is configured so as to circulate fuel up to the sliding part of the driving mechanism part, in the other word, lubricate the driving mechanism part with fuel. In this prior art, the sliding part is lubricated with fuel.
Such types of conventional high pressure pump have problems as follows;
(1) As for the former pump, the pomp has a large sized shape by using the metal bellows. In addition, the pump needs a sealing part at a mounting part of the bellows. Because of these points, the pump has a problem that it is difficult to miniaturize the pump.
(2) As for the latter pump, the bellows is not necessary. However, a lubricating condition of the driving mechanism part is hard since the sliding part is lubricated with fuel of a low viscosity.
The object of the present invention is to provide an axial plunger pump which does not need bellows and lubricates the driving mechanism part sufficiently.
Another object of the present invention is to allow the pump to use a rolling bearing for the driving mechanism.
In order to solve the problems, the present invention provides a high pressure fuel pump comprising a cup-shaped body; a cylinder block engaged with the cup-shaped body so as to close the opening side of the cup-shaped body; a rotation shaft supported at the bottom of the cup-shaped body and rotated by a driving source; a swash plate disposed in a driving mechanism chamber inside the cup-shaped body, which converts a rotating movement to a shaking movement; a plunger reciprocated in a cylinder bore formed in the cylinder block according to the shaking movement of the swash plate; a sealing element provided between the inside wall of the cylinder bore and the plunger; and an oil supply mechanism which supplies oil to the driving mechanism chamber.
According to further aspect of the present invention, it provides a high pressure fuel pump comprising: a cup-shaped body; a cylinder block engaged with the cup-shaped body so as to close the opening side of the cup-shaped body; a rotation shaft supported at the bottom of the cup-shaped body and rotated by a driving source; a swash plate disposed in a driving mechanism chamber inside the cup-shaped body, which converts a rotating movement to a shaking movement; a plunger reciprocated in a cylinder bore formed in the cylinder block according to the shaking movement of the swash plate; a sealing element provided between the inside wall of the cylinder bore and the plunger; an oil supply mechanism which supplies oil to the driving mechanism chamber; a low pressure side fuel passage formed in the cylinder block; and a low pressure fuel introducing passage formed in the plunger, which connects the low pressure side fuel passage with a pump chamber formed in the cylinder bore, the pump chamber varying its capacity according to the plunger reciprocating in the cylinder bore.
Moreover, the high pressure fuel pump may comprise a valve mechanism disposed between the low pressure side fuel passage and the pump chamber, which shut off the connection between the low pressure side fuel passage and the pump chamber when a pressure of the pump chamber is more than a defined pressure so that the sealing element is adopted to be acted by a pressure of the upper stream of the valve mechanism.
According to another aspect of the present invention, it provides 9 a high pressure fuel pump comprising: a shaft for transmitting a driving force from the outside; a cam converting a rotating movement of the shaft to a reciprocating movement; a plunger reciprocated by the cam; a cylinder bore formed in a cylinder block; a pump chamber formed by putting the plunger into the cylinder bore; a sealing element sealing a apace between the cylinder bore and the plunger; and an oil supply mechanism which supplies oil to the cam.


A hot-melt adhesive for use as a shoe last adhesive, particularly one in a form for use in a direct through feed adhesive dispensing system, made from a melt-blend of a copolymer of ethylene and carboxylic acid, a synthetic wax such as a Fischer-Tropsch wax, and an ethylene/unsaturated carboxylic acid wax having a melt index of at least about 5000 dg/min.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a hot-melt adhesive, particularly an adhesive made from a copolymer of ethylene and carboxylic acid blended with a synthetic wax such as a Fischer-Tropsch wax and a high-melt index ethylene/unsaturated carboxylic acid wax having a melt index of at least about 5000 dg/min. The adhesive is particularly useful in rod or strip form in direct, through-feed adhesive dispensers used for application of shoe last adhesive.
2. Background Discussion and Related Art
Direct, through-feed adhesive melting and applying systems have long been used in the manufacturing of shoes. These are systems in which solid adhesive material is supplied to a dispensing apparatus at the rate at which heat softened adhesive is applied to a workpiece and in which there is no reservoir or other substantial body of adhesive held in molten condition out of the direct line of flow from the entry to the exit of the dispensing apparatus. The adhesive for these systems are in the form of slender, flexible rods or stands. These rods must be sufficiently stiff to be fed longitudinally but adequately flexible to be coiled and uncoiled for use without cracking and without blocking or adhering to adjacent rod when coiled. To work effectively, the adhesive rod should have a combination of properties, particularly freedom from tack, dimensional stability, shape retention and resistance to degradation during storage so that the rod doesn't change from the shape required for cooperation with the softening and dispensing passageway.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,283,890 and 3,317,368, which are incorporated herein by reference, teach such systems. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,762,716 and 2,765,768 are cited in U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,890 as showing direct through-feed systems. U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,890 teaches rods of substantially uniform cross-section made by blending various ingredients. U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,368 teaches a composite thermoplastic adhesive rod having a longitudinally extending central portion and an external layer surrounding the central portion.
Polyamide rods have typically been used with direct through-feed systems for shoe last adhesives. The polyamides, however, tend to become brittle at low temperatures and have poor thermal stability.
It has been found that the polyamide rods for use on existing through-feed systems as shoe-last adhesives can be replaced with hot melt adhesives based on copolymers of ethylene and an .alpha., .beta.-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid if a combination of low viscosity, high stiffness, good elongation, fast set speed on a shoe line, and specific adhesion to a broad range of substrates (e.g., oily leather, synthetic leather, shoe board, and polyvinyl chloride) can be obtained. The ethylene copolymers alone do not meet these requirements. It has further been found that through proper selection of ethylene copolymers and by blending them with certain waxes, a shoe last adhesive that will run effectively on existing through-feed systems in place of higher cost polyamides results.


A communication system comprises a signal carrying apparatus having a first conductor portion (111) of which external shape is sheet-like and which serves as a conductor and a second conductor portion (121), and an interface device having a first electrode (1211) and a second electrode (1222) located near the first conductor portion (111), the normalized reactance derived from the reactance component of the sheet impedance in the signal carrying apparatus is not extremely smaller than 1, and the normalized distance derived from a distance between the signal carrying apparatus and the interface device made closer to substantially equal to 1 or less for transmitting the electromagnetic field in the leak region (141) between the signal carrying apparatus and the interface device and in the interval region (131) between the external shape of the first conductor portion (111) and the external shape of the second conductor portion (121).

Inventors of the present application have been proposing technologies for a sheet-like (cloth-like, paper-like, foil-like, plate-like, film-like, or mesh-like, two-dimensioned as a plane but having a thin thickness) communication device having a plurality of communication elements embedded therein. For example, the following literature discloses a communication device having a plurality of communication elements, embedded in a sheet-like member, hereinafter, a "sheet-like body", relay a signal without individual wirings, thereby carrying the signal.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2004-007448
According to the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 1, communication elements are disposed at respective vertexes of figures formed in a grid-like shape, a triangular shape, or a honeycomb-like shape on the surface of the sheet-like body. Each communication element utilizes a change in electric potential, which is generated by the communication element and propagates strongly nearby but attenuates distantly, and communicates another communication element.
By successively carrying a signal between individual communication elements through local communications, the signal is carried to a target communication element. The plurality of communication elements are hierarchized by a management function, and path data is set for each hierarchy, so that a signal is efficiently carried to a final-destination communication element.
On the other hand, developed through the research of the inventors is a technology such that an electromagnetic field is generated at an interval region sandwiched between sheet-like bodies facing with each other, and the electromagnetic field is made progress by changing the electromagnetic field through a change in a voltage between the two sheet-like bodies, and by changing the voltage between the sheet-like bodies through a change in the electromagnetic field, thereby performing communication.
To detect a voltage between the two sheet-like bodies, in general, a communication device is directly connected to both sheet-like bodies via wires, and the sheet-like body is provided with a connector which is to be connected to the communication device.

Communication system, interface device, and signal carrying apparatus


This disclosure is directed to tibial cutting guide assemblies for preparing a tibia for receiving an arthroplasty implant. Exemplary tibial cutting guide assemblies may include a tibial cutting block for making precise cuts in the tibia, and a slope setting pin for establishing a patient specific tibial slope. The tibial cutting guide assemblies allow for level resection while providing surgical control over internal/external rotation and varus/valgus alignment.

This disclosure relates to surgical devices, and more particularly to orthopedic surgical devices for performing arthroplasties.
Arthroplasty is an orthopedic surgical procedure performed to repair or replace diseased joints. For example, total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may be performed to treat patients with diseased knee joints. Specific tools and instruments are required for preparing knee bones for receiving arthroplasty implants.

Tibial cutting guide assemblies and associated instrumentation for performing surgical methods


A filter sector for a filter disk of a rotating filter having a plurality of such filter sectors includes two spaced plate-shaped elements formed from a relatively thin material and defining main planes. Protrusions outwardly extend from the main planes and are shaped out of the material of the plate-shaped elements. The protrusions are adapted to keep a filter cloth at a distance from the main plane. Interior bulbs shaped out of the material of the plate-shaped elements extend from the interior sides of the plate-shaped elements. The protrusions and the interior bulbs have a material thickness substantially corresponding to the material thickness of the main plane. The interior bulbs are adjoined at engaging contact surfaces to provide strength and torsional rigidity to the sector.

A great variety of filter sectors are known as disclosed, for instance, by GB-A-894 318, DE-B-24 07 218, U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,534, U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,722, U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,040 and U.S. Pat. No. 931,179. In operation, such filter sectors are exposed to large external pressures tending to press the plate shaped elements towards each other.
According to GB-A-894 318, in order to prevent this and also otherwise stiffen a filter sector, a plurality of spacing means is inserted between two plate-shaped elements of a laminated material impregnated with synthetic resin, said spacing means being kept in place by rivets or the like, which keep the two plate-shaped elements together.
For the same purpose, according to DE-B-24 07 218, the two plate-shaped elements are internally provided with integrated corresponding, radially directed support cams abutting each other and penetrated by screws keeping the two plate-shaped elements, which are cast from metal, together.
In the filter sector according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,534, the plate-shaped elements are formed in one piece of a plastic material. Solid posts integrated with the elements and keeping the elements apart extend between the elements. Further, the space between the elements is filled with a hardening, foam plastic material which further prevents compression of the elements and provides the entire sector with increased stiffness.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,722 discloses a filter sector comprising two identical plate-shaped elements formed from a plastic material, preferably polyurethane. On the insides of the elements are integrated solid spacing means which, when mounting the two elements, are connected to each other in order to keep the elements apart and together against external and internal pressures, respectively.
In the filter sector according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,040, a plurality of ribs extend substantially perpendicularly to the radial direction and is arranged between the plate-shaped elements which are made of pressed metal plate which is thin in comparison to the thickness of the filter sector.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,179 the space between the two plate-shaped elements, which are made of pressed metal plate which is thin in comparison to the thickness of a filter sector, is filled with a hardened compound adhering to the plate-shaped elements and keeping them spaced from each other while providing the filter sector with increased rigidity against distortion.
Some of the solutions mentioned require significant work to be performed when mounting a filter sector, such as making holes, fitting of spacers and riveting of the rivets thereof (GB-A-894 318), making holes, fitting of screws and tightening thereof (DE-B-24 07 218), fitting of ribs and attachment thereof to the two plate-shaped elements (U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,040) and filling of the space between the plate-shaped elements with hardening compound (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,917,534 and 4,931,179). In the solution according to GB-A-894 318 heat presses are also required for laminating the plate-shaped elements.
In other the solutions mentioned, expensive forms are required for casting (DE-B-24 07 218), or moulding the plate shaped elements (U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,722), or moulding a complete filter sector (U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,534). Further, the casting and moulding procedures are time consuming.
The present invention has its first object to provide a new solution to the problem of making a filter sector of the kind discussed above, in which the plate-shaped elements are thin in comparison to the thickness of the sector, resistant to compression of the two plate-shaped elements and rigid to other deformation.
Another problem associated with filter sectors, in which filtrate is introduced through holes in the plate-shaped elements into the space between the two plate-shaped elements to be discharged through an outlet, is that the volume of the space often is so great that filtrate therein does not leave the filter sector before it has rotated so far that filtrate flows back out through the filter cloth and re-wets filter cake deposited thereon.
In the filter according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,040 this problem is solved in that a certain volume of the space is shut off from the remainder by one of the ribs mentioned or in that a compound fills said volume of the space.
In the filter according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,179, the hardened compound provides filling of the volume of the space between the plate-shaped elements which is not used for a radial channel for leading to the outlet of the filter sector.
The present invention has as its second object to provide a solution to the problem of making the volume of space between the plate-shaped elements of a filter sector as small as possible.


An apparatus and method are disclosed for testing memory and display adapter components of a multi-tasking computer system. The apparatus obtains a memory block and sends a request to a memory virtual device driver (VxD) to reserve, commit and lock the memory block to a physical memory. In requesting the memory block, the apparatus computes the number of virtual memory pages spanned by the request, reserves the pages of virtual memory, commits the virtual memory to a physical memory, and locks the virtual memory to the physical memory. The apparatus then obtains a physical address for the physical memory and returns the physical address for testing. Next, the apparatus tests the memory block using a number of memory test procedures. After the testing completes, the apparatus decommits and unlocks the physical memory before it traverses to the next entry of the chain. This process is repeated until all entries in the virtual memory chain have been tested. The apparatus also tests the video memory by generating a pattern, writing the pattern to the video memory; reading the content of the video memory and comparing the pattern against the content of the video memory. In the event that the content of the video memory differs from the pattern, the apparatus indicates a defective video display adapter and otherwise indicates a good video display adapter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed in general to diagnostics for a computer system, and more specifically, to diagnostics for memory and display systems in the computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The continual reduction in size and cost of personal computers has been instrumental in the rapid acceptance of computer technology by corporations and consumers. Even with ultra large scale integration technology, which reduces the number of components in personal computers, these personal computers are still highly complex hardware assemblies. Thus, even computers assembled using high quality components and careful assembly procedures are still subject to occasional manufacturing defects and failures during use.
The costs associated with such defects and failures in terms of manufacturer warranty obligations and end user down time are relatively high. Hence, prior to the delivery of the computers to end users following the manufacture or subsequent repair, the computer circuit boards are normally subjected to functional tests to determine whether they operate properly. Furthermore, during use, the user may experience problems relating to either hardware problems or improper software configurations. To isolate the fault, the user may wish to subject his or her computer system to the functional tests to satisfy the user that the hardware or driver level software is not the culprit of the problems.
One type of diagnostic program is embedded into a non-volatile memory of the computer. In an IBM compatible personal computer, the test is called "Power On Self Test" (POST) and is arranged in personal computers as a portion of the basic input/output system (BIOS). Such BIOS-POST diagnostic program is executed automatically and mandatorily when the computer system boots. One problem that occurs with the placement of test codes in the BIOS-POST diagnostic program is the execution speed and the size of the actual code. First, users do not want to wait for an extensive diagnostic testing during each boot. Therefore, the POST-diagnostics routines cannot be as sophisticated and as thorough as possible. Furthermore, the POST diagnostics routine is constrained by very tight memory requirements, and therefore is limited to very simple and time-efficient tests without an easy to use graphical user interface inherently present in the Windows interface.
Another functional testing method deploys specialized diagnostics software which is transferred to the computer system under test via one or more disks. The testing software is typically loaded onto the computer to be tested and a technician or a user initiates the execution of the software for testing the computer. The diagnostic software is designed to test the operation and interconnection of the circuit board components and other hardware, and to provide graphic displays on the monitor indicating the nature of any identified faults. Diagnostic software of this type is commercially available for most computer system manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers. Additionally, after-market diagnostic software is also commercially available from independent software vendors. Unfortunately, these diagnostic software test procedures are relatively inefficient and time consuming for the user or technician to perform. These test procedures are also somewhat inaccurate since they generally do not stimulate the full range of operating environments in which the computers are exposed during operation by the end users. Thus, latent and intermittent faults can be especially difficult to detect using these test procedures.
Typically, each major portion of the computer is tested. In a modem personal computer, these portions include a microprocessor, a memory system, data storage devices, and input/output (I/O) devices such as a display, a keyboard, a mouse, and communication devices, among others. One important component for the computer is the processor, for the processor determines the processing capability of the computer. Another important component is the memory system. Typically, the memory capacity of a modem personal computer is in the range of 16 to 64 megabytes of data and is implemented using a plurality of single or dual-in-line memory modules (SIMMs or DIMMs). DIMMs are replaceable snap-in/snap-out components designed to allow computer users to replace or increase computer memory. The DIMMs typically comprise a small circuit board to which are attached one or two banks of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips. The DRAM chips contain the memory cells which are used for storage. The size of the DIMM varies, and is dependent upon the number and the size of the DRAMs used to construct them on the small circuit board.
Due to the large data capacity offered by current DRAM technology, the risk of memory failure can be high. As can be appreciated, a memory fault which results in a data error within a portion of the memory address space must be accurately identified and avoided. Historically, memory diagnostics programs are used to detect and identify faults or errors in memory subsystems of computers upon boot-up of the computers. These memory diagnostics programs test memory by writing specific data patterns to memory and then reading back these patterns for verification. These memory diagnostics programs generate specific patterns and write these patterns to the memory over whatever data is currently present in memory. This read/write testing process is referred to as destructive testing because it destroys the content of the memory being tested. The destructive testing process is not problematic as long as the computer is being booted-up or, after booting-up, the operating system of the computer under test executes only the test software. However, in multi-tasking systems such as Windows-95, many other processes may be running at the same time and may occupy the region of memory being tested. The destructive testing is unacceptable, because it also stops the other processes that may require access to the memory. Furthermore, it is difficult to perform the memory test in multi-tasking operating systems such as the Windows-95 environment because Windows-95 swaps memory in and out of swap files to optimize memory usage. In addition, Windows-95 also moves memory segments around to make room for other memory allocation, as necessary. To further complicate matters, when requesting memory for tests through allocation in conventional manner, the operating system only returns a pointer to the memory buffer available at the time of the request. Thus, the traditional memory allocation technique does not allow the user to specify the exact base memory address at which memory is to be allocated for testing purposes. For these reasons, the process of testing memory in a multi-tasking environment is particularly challenging. Nonetheless, the ability to perform diagnostics in a multi-tasking environment improves the efficiency of the computer system because the diagnostics can proceed in parallel with other tasks. This ability is especially helpful given the large memory capacity of the modern computer and the correspondingly longer testing periods.
Another significant component of the computer system is the component for delivering a visual interface for the user. This is normally performed by the video graphics adapter. Typically, the graphics adapter has a cathode ray tube controller (CRTC) which supervises the functions of the adapter. The CRTC is connected to a video RAM which stores the text or graphics the monitor is to display. The video RAM and the character ROM or RAM is provided to a character generator controlled by the CRTC for rasterizing character data into a bit-map. In one mode, the output of the character generator is provided to a shift register which serializes the bitmap and converts the serial data stream into suitable video signals. Furthermore, to improve the graphics rendering speed and to reduce the load on the processor, the graphics adapter can include its own graphics processor, or accelerator, to render lines, circles and other geometric shapes by itself.
Although the availability of higher capacity video RAM and accelerator devices improves the performance of the graphics system, the presence of these components also increases the complexity of the testing process. The assembly lines of the computer manufacturing plant use human operators to perform the quality check on the monitors. Although the subjective process or checking the quality of the display adapters driving the monitors is relatively simple, the manual verification of the quality of numerous display adapters driving the monitors can be monotonous. Thus, the human operators who assemble and test the display system of the computer can be lulled into a mode where they simply pass every display system assigned to them for quality assurance. Hence, a problem exists in ensuring that the assembly operators are actually checking each display adapter through the associated display monitor. Thus, what is needed is a method for prompting operators at the manufacturing plant to verify the functionality of each video adapter and the monitor the adapter drives.
In sum, users are demanding that their computer be reliable and be available at virtually any time. Computers, however, can experience problems associated with any one of their major components, such as the hard drive, the display, the memory, and the processor. It is important, therefore, to provide a diagnostic capability for the computer system that can test the operation of the computer in a multi-tasking environment to closely simulate the actual environment that the computer system operates in.


A tilting table device includes a first rotary member which is rotated by a rotation amount equivalent to that of a tilt shaft when rotation of the tilt shaft is transmitted; a second rotary member which has an axis parallel to that of the first rotary member and is rotated by a rotation amount equivalent to or substantially equivalent to that of the first rotary member in a direction opposite to that of the first rotary member when the rotation of the first rotary member is transmitted; two retaining members respectively provided at the first and second rotary members, in which when the center of gravity of a table is located at an uppermost position or a lowermost position, the retaining members are located on or near a line connecting rotation centers of the first and second rotary members, the retaining members are located at equivalent or substantially equivalent distances respectively from the rotation centers, both the retaining members are provided inside or outside the two rotation centers; and an urging device which causes a constant urging force to be applied between the two retaining members so as to reduce a torque applied to the tilt shaft by movement of the center of gravity from the uppermost position or the lowermost position as a result of the rotation of the tilt shaft.

In order to reduce a torque to be applied to a tilt shaft of a tilting table device, publications of Patent Documents 1 and 2 each disclose a configuration provided with a torque balance device. The torque balance device includes a first rotary member provided at the tilt shaft, a second rotary member provided at a body frame, a fluid-pressure cylinder device, and a crank mechanism which converts an urging force of the fluid-pressure cylinder device into a rotational force of the second rotary member. The rotary force of the second rotary member caused by the urging force of the fluid-pressure cylinder device via the crank mechanism is transmitted to the first rotary member through meshing of gears, or through a rotation transmitting device, such as a timing belt or a chain, so that a torque in an opposite direction to that of the torque caused by the gravity of the table is applied to the tilt shaft, thereby reducing a torque to be applied to the tilt shaft. Accordingly, when the table is elevated, a load to be applied to a driving motor or a manual handle is reduced, and the table is kept in resting state at an intermediate position between the uppermost position and the lowermost position. Thus, when the table is kept at a predetermined tilt angle, loads to be applied to a rotation transmitting device, such as a gear, a shaft, and a coupler, to the tilt shaft, and to a clamp device can be reduced. Accordingly, a driving motor of a smaller frame number may be used, and the manual handle can be rotated by a smaller force. Also, the margin of safety of the rotation transmitting device against breakage and wearing is increased to a level equal to or higher than the necessary level, and hence, a member having a smaller rigidity may be used. Also, the clamp device may be a device having a smaller clamping force. Further, torsion of the tilt shaft is reduced, thereby providing highly accurate indexing.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-301405
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-246522


In the indexing mechanism, for producing rotary indexing of a primary sprocket or pulley, a locking bracket is operable to alternately lock or unlock the primary sprocket or pulley. At the same time, the locking bracket alternately unlocks or locks an endless chain or synchronous belt at a locking location. The chain or synchronous belt passes around the primary sprocket or pulley and past the chain or synchronous belt locking location. The chain or synchronous belt has first and second loops between the primary sprocket or pulley and the chain or synchronous belt locking location, on opposite sides thereof. First and second secondary sprockets or pulleys are mounted on the ends of first and second cylinder rods respectively, each secondary sprocket having one of the loops passing over it. The locking bracket is moved between two positions, to lock either the sprocket or pulley, or the chain or synchronous belt at the locking location. The first and second cylinders are counter-actuated to increase the length of chain or synchronous belt in one loop while decreasing the length of chain or synchronous belt in the other loop by the same amount, so as to pull the chain or synchronous belt to rotate the primary sprocket or pulley while the chain or synchronous belt is locked at its locking location, and so as to return to a starting position when the sprocket or pulley is locked.

This invention relates to mechanical equipment generally, and particularly to index drives.
Index drives of the type in this invention are intended to produce step-by-step ("indexed") rotary motion of a sprocket or ribbed pulley or the like, via an endless chain or synchronous belt respectively. The sprocket or pulley may be connected in any desired conventional fashion to produce whatever indexed motion is actually required.
In the manufacturing of index drives, as in that of other mechanical equipment, the general situation is, the better the performance, the higher the cost.
Despite numerous past solutions, there remains a need for an improved index drives which is simple, robust, effective, and inexpensive. Existing index drives tend to be too expensive, too ineffective, or both.


The present invention relates to a crystal of bicalutamide having a defined form, as well as economical and industrially practical production methods of bicalutamide and a crystal thereof, which are superior in environmental benignity and safety.

Bicalutamide represented by the formula (I):
(hereinafter sometimes referred to as compound of the formula (I) or compound (I) in the present specification) has been reported to be useful as a compound having an antiangrogenic action (JP-B-4-32061, U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,505 and WO01/34563). As a synthetic method of the compound of the formula (I), for example, a method comprising a reaction of 4′-cyano-3-(4-fluorophenylthio)-2-hydroxy-2-methyl-3′-trifluoromethylpropionanilide represented by the formula (3):
(hereinafter sometimes referred to as compound of the formula (3) or compound (3)) in methylene chloride solution with m-chloroperbenzoic acid is known (Howard Tucker et al, J. Med. Chem., Vol. 31, 954–959 (1988), and WO01/28990). In this method, methylene chloride is used as a solvent. Halogenated organic solvents such as methylene chloride and the like are generally harmful for human body, and the possibility of carcinogenicity thereof has been suggested. Furthermore, they may produce dioxin during waste treatments. Halogenated organic solvents such as methylene chloride and the like are associated with the problems of economic burden for the cost of waste treatment after use, and of corrosion of incinerator used for the waste treatment.
In recent years, "Green Chemistry" has been drawing attention as one of the measures for risk reduction of chemical substances, and industrial application of environmentally benign type chemical reactions (or reaction not using substances potentially harmful to human body and the environment (e.g., halogen-containing substances etc.) as much as possible, and not emitting them as much as possible) has become a very important object. From this aspect, the above-mentioned production method using methylene chloride as an organic solvent is not entirely a preferable production method of bicalutamide. Therefore, the development of a production method of bicalutamide, which is superior in environmental benignity, is desired.
In addition, the above-mentioned method uses m-chloroperbenzoic acid as an oxidizing agent. m-Chloroperbenzoic acid is highly explosive and is not preferable for industrial processes. Furthermore, m-chloroperbenzoic acid is expensive and poses an economic problem.
Accordingly, industrial practice of the above-mentioned method at a large scale gives rise to the problems not only in environmental benignity, but also safety and economic aspect, due to the use of a halogenated organic solvent as the solvent and of m-chloroperbenzoic acid as the oxidizing agent.
At the moment, as a synthetic method of bicalutamide, which is free of the use of m-chloroperbenzoic acid as an oxidizing agent, the method described in, for example, WO01/00608 is known. According to this method, compound (3) is oxidized with aqueous hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent, in acetic acid or formic acid, for the synthesis of bicalutamide. Thus, this method is considered to be environmentally, economically and industrially superior. In this method, however, synthesis of precursor compound (3) requires many steps (at least 4 steps), which makes this method not an economically and industrially superior synthetic method for the total synthesis of bicalutamide. Furthermore, this method includes steps using a halogenated solvent (e.g., methylene chloride etc.) for the synthesis of compound (3). Thus, it is difficult to say that this method is sufficiently environmentally conscious.
As a synthetic method of bicalutamide free of use of m-chloroperbenzoic acid as an oxidizing agent, a method described in WO02/24638 is also known. The method described in WO02/24638 includes adding aqueous hydrogen peroxide to compound (3), cooling (e.g., −55° C.) the mixture, and adding trifluoroacetic anhydride to the mixture to give bicalutamide. However, this method uses expensive trifluoroacetic anhydride as a reagent, and requires cooling when trifluoroacetic anhydride is added, and is not an economically superior method. Furthermore, because of the corrosive and hygroscopic property of trifluoroacetic anhydride, the method is unsuitable for the industrial production of bicalutamide.
Accordingly, the development of an economical and industrially practical production method of bicalutamide, which is superior in environmental benignity and safety, is desired in this field.
For efficient granulation of a crystal in the field of the production of pharmaceutical drugs, it is desirable that the form of the crystal be defined. However, the form of the crystal of bicalutamide is not defined in any of the above-mentioned references, and therefore, those of ordinary skill in the art of the production of pharmaceutical drugs strongly desire provision of bicalutamide crystals having a defined form.

Crystal of bicalutamide and production method thereof

Abstract: Accordingly, the present invention provides a production method of bicalutamide represented by the formula (I):

Abstract: which includes at least a step of reacting a compound represented by the formula (3):

Abstract: with an oxidizing agent, a production method of a crystal of bicalutamide, as well as a crystal form of bicalutamide as defined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) or solid 13C NMR measurement.