Processes to produce ethylene copolymers using pyridyldiamido transition metal complexes, a chain transfer agent, and an activator are disclosed.

Pyridyl amines have been used to prepare Group 4 complexes which are useful transition metal components for use in the polymerization of alkenes, see for example US 2002/0142912; U.S. Pat. No. 6,900,321; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,657, where the ligands have been used in complexes in which the ligands are coordinated in a bidentate fashion to the transition metal atom.
WO 2005/095469 shows catalyst compounds that use tridentate ligands through two nitrogen atoms (one amido and one pyridyl) and one oxygen atom.
US 2004/0220050A1 and WO 2007/067965 disclose complexes in which the ligand is coordinated in a tridentate fashion through two nitrogen (one amido and one pyridyl) and one carbon (aryl anion) donors.
A key step in the activation of these complexes is the insertion of an alkene into the metal-aryl bond of the catalyst precursor (Froese, R. D. J. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, pp. 7831-7840) to form an active catalyst that has both five-membered and a seven-membered chelate rings.
WO 2010/037059 discloses pyridine containing amines for use in pharmaceutical applications.
US 2010/0227990 A1 discloses ligands that bind to the metal center with a NNC donor set instead of an NNN or NNP donor set.
WO/0238628 A2 discloses ligands that bind to the metal center with a NNC donor set instead of an NNN or NNP donor set.
Guerin, F.; McConville, D. H.; Vittal, J. J. Organometallics 1996, 15, p. 5586 discloses a ligand family and group 4 complexes that use a NNN-donor set, but do not feature 7-membered chelate ring or either of dihydroindenyl- and tetrahydronaphthalenyl-groups.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,973,116, U.S. Pat. No. 8,394,902, US 2011-0224391, US 2011-0301310 A1, and U.S. Ser. No. 61/815,065, filed Apr. 23, 2013 disclose pyridylamido transition metal complexes that do not feature dihydroindenyl- or tetrahydronaphthalenyl-groups.
References of interest also include: 1) Vaughan, A; Davis, D. S.; Hagadorn, J. R. in Comprehensive Polymer Science, Vol. 3, Chapter 20, "Industrial catalysts for alkene polymerization"; 2) Gibson, V. C.; Spitzmesser, S. K. Chem. Rev. 2003, 103, 283; 3) Britovsek, G. J. P.; Gibson, V. C.; Wass, D. F. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 428; 4) WO 2006/036748; 5) McGuire, R. et al. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, Vol 254, No. 21-22, pages 2574-2583 (2010); 6) U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,753; 7) U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,794; 8) P. Chem. Rev. 2013, 113, 3836-38-57; 9) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 9913-9923; 10) Lub. Sci. 1989, 1, 265-280; 11) Lubricant Additives, Chemistry and Applications, pages 293-327, CRC Press, 2003; 12) Chemistry and Technology of Lubricants, 3rd edition, pages 153-187, Springer, 2010; 13) US2013-0131294.
U.S. Ser. No. 61/904,551, filed Nov. 15, 2013 discloses pyridyldiamide catalyst compositions that, the instant inventors have found, produce polymers useful in viscosity modification applications.
Lubrication fluids are applied between moving surfaces to reduce friction, thereby improving efficiency and reducing wear. Lubrication fluids also often function to dissipate the heat generated by moving surfaces.
One type of lubrication fluid is a petroleum-based lubrication oil used for internal combustion engines. Lubrication oils contain additives that help the lubrication oil to have a certain viscosity at a given temperature. In general, the viscosity of lubrication oils and fluids is inversely dependent upon temperature. When the temperature of a lubrication fluid is increased, the viscosity generally decreases, and when the temperature is decreased, the viscosity generally increases. For internal combustion engines, for example, it is desirable to have a lower viscosity at low temperatures to facilitate engine starting during cold weather, and a higher viscosity at higher ambient temperatures when lubrication properties typically decline.
Additives for lubrication fluids and oils include rheology modifiers, such as viscosity index (VI) improvers. VI improving components, many of which are derived from ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers, modify the rheological behavior of a lubricant to increase viscosity and promote a more constant viscosity over the range of temperatures at which the lubricant is used. Higher ethylene content copolymers are thought to efficiently promote oil thickening and shear stability. However, higher ethylene content copolymers also tend to flocculate or aggregate in oil formulations leading to extremely viscous and, in the limit, solid formulations. Flocculation typically happens at ambient or subambient conditions of controlled and quiescent cooling. This deleterious property of otherwise advantageous higher ethylene content viscosity improvers is measured by low temperature solution rheology. Various remedies have been proposed for these higher ethylene content copolymer formulations to overcome or mitigate the propensity towards the formation of high viscosity flocculated materials.
It is anticipated that the performance of VI improvers can be substantially improved, as measured by the thickening efficiency (TE) and the shear stability index (SSI), by appropriate and careful manipulation of the structure of the VI improver.
One proposed solution is the use of blends of amorphous and semi-crystalline ethylene-based copolymers for lubricant oil formulations. The combination of two such ethylene-propylene copolymers allows for increased thickening efficiency, shear stability index, low temperature viscosity performance and pour point. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,402,235 and 5,391,617, and European Patent 0 638,611, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
There remains a need, however, for novel rheology modifier compositions comprised of ethylene and alpha-olefin-based comonomers suitable for use in VI improvers which have unexpectedly good high temperature thermal-oxidative stability, high temperature corrosion resistance, low frictional property, low cold crank viscosity, and low gelation property while still having excellent low temperature solution rheological properties. The present invention meets this and other needs.

Process to produce polymers from pyridyldiamido transition metal complexes and use thereof


A device for selectively connecting and disconnecting plastic tubes includes a welder. A carriage is located in the welder for conveying a heated wafer through the welder. A pair of arms is mounted in the welder with each arm having a tube holding pocket which extends across its respective arm. The arms are movably mounted to generally align the pockets with a gap therebetween. Each of the arms has a clamp for selectively clamping a tube in its pocket. A wafer removal station is in the welder downstream from the arms. The carriage is driven to the wafer removal station so that the wafer first passes through the gap to contact the tubes and then the wafer passes into the removal station so that it may be removed from the carriage and the carriage may be returned to its starting location. The welder includes a computer for controlling the operation and synchronizing the timing of the carriage and the arms to automate the welder.

The above noted parent applications, deal with various techniques for the total technique welding of plastic tubes where no contaminants can enter or leave the tube lumen. In general, the welding techniques involve an axially aligned melt/wipe process where the ends of the tube sections are melted to be rendered into a molten state and then pressed together to become integral.
The above techniques are particularly desirable for wide spread uses including CAPD, blood processing and other techniques where it is necessary to replace used consumables. In such practices it is necessary to cut the tube leading from the used bag to the patient and then weld a new tube section from a fresh bag to the tube section leading from the patient. It would be desirable if the tube cutting or disconnect procedure or the tube joining or connect procedure could be made as simple as possible in order to avoid difficulties in performing these procedures.
The prior art devices for connecting and disconnecting plastic tubes requires the manual actuation of various switches to individually control the operation of the different components. It would be desirable if such a device could be automated in its operation.
It would also be desirable if such a device for performing the above procedures could include various safety mechanisms to assure proper operation of the device.

Total containment device for connect/disconnect of plastic tubes


A subtraction MRA image is formed by subtracting a mask image formed from diastolic MR image data from an angiographic image formed from systolic MR image data. To permit acquisition of diastolic MR image data during regurgitation of arterial bloodflow, a saturation slab is established immediately adjacent the slice of interest and slightly overlapping it on its arterially downstream side.

The invention relates to magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and more particularly relates to subtraction MRA. In its most immediate sense, the invention relates to the suppression of non-blood tissue, e.g. fat and/or bone marrow, in ECG-triggered MRA of the leg and foot.
In certain MRA studies, it is important to suppress the contribution of fat, bone marrow and other non-blood tissues. This can be done by using subtraction MRA. In subtraction MRA, a mask image to which blood makes little or no contribution is subtracted from an angiographic image to which blood makes a major contribution. The resulting subtraction image emphasizes the image contribution of the blood and thereby makes it easier for the radiologist to visualize the patient's blood vessels.
It is known to form a subtraction image of a thin slice of interest by using a mask image acquired during the diastolic phase of the patient's heart cycle (when bloodflow is slow) and an angiographic image of the slice of interest acquired during the systolic phase of the patient's heart cycle (when bloodflow is rapid). However, it is difficult to obtain a high-quality subtraction image from a subtraction MRA study of a patient's leg.
One reason for this difficulty is that in peripheral regions of the body such as the legs, regurgitated arterial bloodflow (i.e. arterial bloodflow that is reversed in direction) exists. Such regurgitated arterial bloodflow may be unsaturated, and therefore may contribute to (and consequently contaminate) the mask image of the slice of interest. It is conventional to reduce or eliminate the signal from bloodflow in the direction opposite ordinary arterial bloodflow (e.g. venous bloodflow) by creating a saturation slab on the arterially downstream side of the slice of interest. However, in instances where bloodflow is regurgitated, such measures are not sufficient. This is because it is impractical to create a sharply-defined region in space that is fully saturated, while the surrounding region is fully unsaturated. Such an idealized fully saturated region is said to have a rectangular slice or saturation profile. Likewise, it is impractical to select the slice of interest in such a way as to create a rectangular slice profile. All practical saturation slabs and slices of interest are non-rectangular, i.e. all saturation slabs have transition zones of partial saturation at their upstream and downstream ends. Thus, while the signal from regurgitated arterial blood could be eliminated by means of a rectangular saturation profile precisely mated to a rectangular slice profile so as to eliminate any gap between them, this is impractical. To avoid saturating the blood within the slice of interest, it is common to space the slice to be imaged apart from the saturation slab and to thereby form a gap. Arterial blood within this gap will be partially saturated or unsaturated, and regurgitation of such blood may cause contamination of the mask image. A contaminated mask image will, as discussed below, produce a degraded subtraction image.
Another reason why it is difficult to produce a high quality subtraction MRA image of the leg has to do with the shortness of the relevant part of the patient's cardiac cycle. It is desirable to collect as much diastolic as systolic data within each heart cycle, so that angiographic and mask images of the same resolution may be acquired rapidly. The post-regurgitation duration of diastole does not last very long. Unless the patient has a very slow heart rate, or unless the amount of data collected during systole and diastole is unreasonably reduced, the post-regurgitation duration of diastole is not long enough to acquire a mask image of the same resolution as the angiographic (systolic) image. For this reason, it is presently impractical to begin acquiring the mask image after regurgitated bloodflow has ceased.
Hence, as explained above, in a subtraction MRA study of the leg, it is difficult to make sure that the mask image has sufficient resolution and is free from contamination. And, while it might be possible to improve the quality of the mask image by acquiring the mask and angiographic image data in separate acquisitions, this is also impractical. This would double the time required for the MR study. Furthermore, the patient would be more likely to move in the meantime, and such movement between acquisition of the images would degrade the diagnostic value of the resulting subtraction image.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide method and apparatus for producing a subtraction MR angiographic image of a slice of interest in a living patient in which diagnostically adequate and equivalent amounts of systolic and diastolic MR image data could be acquired during each cardiac cycle, and in which the diastolic MR image data would be uncontaminated by regurgitated arterial blood.
One object of the invention is to provide method and apparatus for producing a subtraction MR angiographic image of a slice of interest in a living patient, which would be suitable for use in peripheral MR studies, and particularly MR studies of the foot and lower leg.
Another object of the invention is to provide such method and apparatus in which equal amounts of MR mask image data and MR angiographic image data could be acquired during each cardiac cycle.
Still a further object of the invention is, in general, to improve on known methods and apparatus of this general type.
In accordance with the invention, a saturation slab is established immediately adjacent the slice to be imaged, and slightly overlapping the slice on its arterially downstream side. This prevents the existence of any gap between the slice and the saturation slab, and therefore insures that all regurgitated blood is saturated and does not contribute to the mask image. Significantly, this saturation slab is not established before each acquisition of MR image data during the cardiac cycle; this would partially saturate the systolic blood and reduce its contribution to the angiographic image. Likewise, this saturation slab is not established repeatedly during acquisition of diastolic MR image data; this would diminish the MR signal produced from the stationary tissues and would thereby degrade the mask image. Such a degraded mask image would produce an incomplete subtraction from the angiographic image acquired during systole and would consequently fail to suppress the image contribution from the stationary tissues.
Advantageously, and in accordance with the preferred embodiment, the patient's cardiac cycle is monitored and MR image data are acquired from the slice of interest during the systole phase of a particular cardiac cycle to form an angiographic image. Further in accordance with the preferred embodiment, the above-mentioned saturation slab is temporarily established at the end of the antegrade bloodflow during systole (i.e. before the beginning of regurgitated bloodflow during diastole) and diastolic MR image data are acquired immediately after such establishment has ceased, to form a mask image. Because this saturation slab is turned off while diastolic MR image data are acquired, the tissue within the slice of interest that is partially (or completely) saturated by the saturation slab recovers much of the magnetization previously lost to saturation. This increases the brightness of the stationary tissue in the mask image, and reduces the brightness of this tissue in the subtraction image. (As is conventional, the pulse sequences used to acquire MR image data may--and advantageously do--contain conventional RF saturation pulses. These have nothing to do with the referenced saturation slab.)
To achieve the best possible subtraction image, i.e. to establish an image in which the contribution of the stationary tissues has been eliminated as completely as possible, it is advantageous to match the intensity of the stationary tissues in the angiographic image to the intensity of the stationary tissues in the mask image. To do this, the saturation slab may additionally be temporarily established at an earlier point in the cardiac cycle, namely, just prior to acquisition of systolic MR image data. In this preferred embodiment, the stationary tissues are similarly partially saturated not only during diastole, but during systole as well.
Because the saturation slab eliminates the MR signal from regurgitated arterial blood, acquisition of diastolic MR image data for the mask image can begin immediately after the saturation slab has been established. This permits the acquisition of MR image data to take place over a sufficiently long time that the resolution of mask image can be equivalent to the resolution of the angiographic image.

Method and apparatus for cardiac-synchronized peripheral magnetic resonance angiography


Provided is a stator for a rotary electric machine, capable of reducing a space on an end surface of a stator core on an inner diameter side to reduce a size in an axial direction to realize a compact size by maintaining an insulating distance corresponding to a potential difference. In the stator for a rotary electric machine according to the present invention, a coil portion includes a coil main-body portion (21) and a second connecting wire (23). The second connecting wire (23) includes a first bent portion (24) and a second connecting-wire end portion (23A). The second connecting wire (23) is configured so that a differential value of a length z in the axial direction of the stator to a length r in the radial direction of the stator is Δz/Δr≧0.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stator for a rotary electric machine, including a stator core and a stator winding provided to the stator core, which is configured by electrically connecting a plurality of coil portions formed by winding conductors around teeth to terminal members through connecting wires of the coil portions, and a method for manufacturing the stator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A rotary electric machine used as a driving source of electric automobiles and hybrid automobiles generally includes a ring-shaped stator core which has a plurality of teeth, each projecting in an inner-diameter direction, provided at constant intervals in a circumferential direction. A coil portion formed by winding a conductor is mounted to each of the teeth of the stator core (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 4340740).
For the stator as described above, the coil portions are formed into a unit in advance in accordance with the shapes of the respective teeth so as to facilitate assembly. Then, each of the coil portions is inserted over a corresponding one of the teeth to manufacture the stator.
In this case, after the coil portions are respectively inserted over the teeth, predetermined ones of the coil portions are required to be electrically connected to each other.
The coil portions are connected to each other by connecting a connecting wire of a terminal member provided on the outer diameter side of the stator core and a connecting wire of each of the coil portions on the inner diameter side. Of the two connecting wires, the connecting wire drawn from an innermost diameter portion of a coil main-body portion of the coil portion has a concave bent portion which is recessed in a direction closer to an end surface of the stator core.
The stator for the rotary electric machine described in Japanese Patent No. 4340740 includes the connecting wire having the concave bent portion recessed in the direction closer to the end surface of the stator core. On the inner diameter side of the stator core, however, the connecting wire bulges outward in an axial direction. Therefore, there is a problem in that a space for the bulge is required to be ensured on the end surface of the stator core.
Moreover, a portion of each of the coil portions on the outer diameter side of the stator core is located at a high position as compared with a portion of each of the coil portions on the inner diameter side of the stator core. In addition, the concave bent portion of the connecting wire is formed on the outer diameter side of the stator core.
Therefore, in order to ensure an insulation property between the connecting wires and the coil portions, an insulating distance is required to be ensured on the outer diameter side of the stator core, on which a potential is high. On the inner diameter side of the stator core, on which the connecting wire necessarily bulges outward in the axial direction, the insulating distance becomes longer than needed. Therefore, there is a problem in that the space for providing the connecting wire is required to be increased on the end surface of the stator core.

Stator for rotary electric machine and method for manufacturing the stator


A sliding part has a film of an Ag-In alloy comprising 25 to 35 wt. % of In and the balance Ag and inevitable impurities and formed on a surface of a stainless steel main body thereof which surface is slidable on other stainless steel part. The Ag-In alloy has a close-packed hexagonal crystal structure of .zeta. phase.

The present invention relates to sliding parts, for example, for use as threaded parts such as a nut and a screw for providing a screw-fastening type pipe joint which are adapted for screw-thread engagement with each other, a sliding bearing and a shaft thereby supported, two platelike members slidable on each other, etc.
For example, the nut and screw of a screw-fastening type pipe joint are each made of stainless steel for use in the piping for semiconductor production equipment, piping for atomic power plants and piping for chemical plants. When the nut is screwed on the screw to provide the pipe joint, a great load acts on the threaded portions of the two members, so that the joint has the problem that seizure occurs between the threaded portions since no lubricant is usable.
Accordingly, an Ag plating layer is conventionally formed on the surface of threaded portion of the nut to preclude such seizure. Since Ag forms no alloy with Fe, Ag is unlikely to cause seizure when the nut is rotated on the screw, further exhibiting the advantage that the fastening torque is low and stable owing to reduced frictional resistance.
However, Ag is a metal liable to gall. The Ag plating layer wears away to produce a large amount of particles owing to the sliding contact between the threaded portions when the nut is driven on the screw to provide a pipe joint of the screw-fastening type. Further when the connected pipes are separated by removing the pipe joint and then connected together again by the joint, the particles produced are likely to ingress into the piping. When the particles ingressing into the piping are not smaller than 50 .mu.m in size and adhere to the seat of a valve provided at an intermediate portion of the piping, a leak is likely to occur while the valve is closed even if the seat is made of a resin having a relatively high sealing property. If the seat is made of metal, a leak will occur from the closed valve even when the particles are about 10 .mu.m in size. Especially the piping for semiconductor production equipment encounters the problem that the particles ingressing into the piping, even if about 0.1 .mu.m in particle size, adhere to wafers, causing short-circuiting or resulting in altered characteristics.

Sliding parts and process for producing same


A menu displaying apparatus includes a display which has a menu display region for displaying a plurality of main items and at least one sub item, and a message display region for displaying various messages. Normally the sub massages are displayed within the menu display region, however, if the number of the sub items is larger than the available number of the lines of the menu display region, the apparatus enables the undisplayable sub item to be displayed in the message display region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a menu displaying apparatus for a word processor, and more particularly to a menu displaying apparatus wherein a sub menu is displayed in a menu display region set in a menu display as well as in a message display region in a state in which the sub menu is overrun. 2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, for example, English language word processors are provided with displays having a plurality of display lines and with a number of functions intended to make it easier to perform a process for inputting document data and a process for editing the input document data.
Where it is desired to execute a desired function out of these many functions which have heretofore used, for example, a character decoration function such as an underline, a main menu comprising a plurality of main items with "character decoration" included therein is displayed on a display in response to operation of a menu key. When a desired main item "character decoration" is selected out of these main items displayed thereon, a plurality of sub items including "underline" and "boldface character" related to the selected main item "character decoration" are displayed on the display as a sub menu. Therefore, a desired sub item "underline" to be executed is selected out of these sub items.
Meanwhile, in a normal word processor equipped with a display having a small number of display lines, a main menu is displayed on the top line of the display, and one line or two lines from the bottom of the display are always maintained as a message display region for displaying the operation for selecting either the main item or sub item and for displaying guide messages relating to the execution of various functions. Thus, the respective sub items are displayed on the display at a time corresponding to the displayable number of lines one by one in a direction in which they approach from the second line on the display to the message display region. When an undisplayable sub item which cannot be displayed because of the presence of the message display region is selected, a cursor down-movement key is operated to scroll the sub items, thereby displaying the sub items in that region.
As described above, in the conventional word processor, problems arise in that the number of the sub items displayable at a time is reduced due to the fact that the message display region interferes with their displays. The scrolling operation for displaying the sub items undisplayable due to the interference by the presence of the message display region is thus cumbersome.

Menu displaying apparatus for a word processor


Forming systems and assemblies as disclosed herein comprise a composite material comprising a structural component and a resin component combined with the reinforcing component. A forming element is disposed within the composite material and has a coefficient of thermal expansion that is greater than that of the composite material. The forming element is positioned to provide a desired integral structural reinforcement and/or surface feature to the composite. The composite material may comprise one or more passages extending from a surface thereof to the forming element. The composite material may be cured by heat to take a set configuration and then allowed to cool. The cooling of the composite material and the forming element enables the forming element to contract relative to the composite material and become delaminated therefrom to facilitate easy removal, and thereby provide an improved method and assembly for making structural reinforcing features in composite structures.

Light weight, high strength structures typically formed from Carbon Graphite, Kevlar, E-glass or other reinforcing materials are mixed with resin or pre-impregnated with the resin to act as a bonding agent. Such composite materials are used to form structures which when cured create lightweight, high strength components in applications including those found in the aerospace industry, e.g., for making such parts as aircraft wings, tail structures, control surfaces and fuselages or body panels. Such structures may also be used to form components in applications including those found in the automobile industry, e.g., for making chassis components and the like, and may be used to form components in other industries for other similar types of applications, i.e., applications calling for light weight, high strength structures. An advantage of such composite materials in constructing such components is their desired high strength to weight ratio as compared to other more typical materials and/or methods of manufacturing.
A challenge that exists is to further increase the physical properties of the structures formed from such composite materials without adding significant additional weight. It is, therefore, desired that a method be developed for further increasing the physical properties of light weight, high strength structures in a manner that does not add significant weight, and that does not add complexity to the method of manufacturing composite structures.

Composite structure reinforcement utilizing thermal properties of forming elements


An integrated lead flexure having a spring metal layer, a dielectric insulating layer on a side of the spring metal layer, a conductor layer on the side of the insulating layer opposite the spring metal layer and a coverlay on the side of the conductor layer opposite the insulating layer. The flexure further includes base region, a gimbal region extending from the base region, and a tail region extending from the base region opposite the gimbal region. The conductor layer includes terminal pads at the tail region and head bond pads at the gimbal region. Traces in the conductor layer extend between the terminal pads and the head bond pads across the tail, base and gimbal regions. One or more spring metal windows in the spring metal layer at the tail region are adjacent to substantial portions of at least some of the traces. One or more coverlay windows in the coverlay at the tail region are adjacent to substantial portions of the tail region spring metal windows.

Integrated lead or wireless disk drive head suspensions are well known and disclosed, for example, in the Shirashi et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,700 and the Bennin et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,193. Theses devices generally include a flexure mounted to a spring metal load beam. The flexure typically includes a spring metal layer with a plurality of conductors or traces extending between terminal pads on opposite ends of the suspension. A layer of insulating material separates the traces from the underlying spring metal layer. A coverlay or cover coat layer is formed on the side of the traces opposite the insulating layer.
Subtractive and/or additive processes can be used to manufacture these devices. Subtractive manufacturing processes as disclosed, for example, the Bennin et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,193 uses photolithography and etching processes to form the flexure from laminate material stock having a spring metal layer and conductor layer separated by an insulating layer. Additive manufacturing processes as disclosed, for example, in the Matsumoto et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,717 use photolithography, deposition and etching processes to add the insulating layer, conductor layer and other structures to the spring metal layer.
The spring metal layer of the flexure acts as a ground plane for the traces. For a number of reasons, including the relatively thin nature of the insulating layer, the traces and spring metal layer can be electrically coupled. These electrical characteristics can reduce the signal performance characteristics of the traces. Approaches for compensating for the impact of the spring metal layer on the signal performance characteristics are known. For example, the Shirashi et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,700 discloses holes through the spring metal layer of the flexure below the conductors to lower parasitic capacitance. In another example, the Morita et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,493 discloses removing the coverlay from between adjoining conductive lines to reduce capacitance between the lines and improve the high-frequency characteristics of the circuit pattern.
There remains, however, a continuing need for integrated lead structures providing improved signal performance. To be commercially viable any such structures must be capable of being efficiently manufactured.

Aligned coverlay and metal layer windows for integrated lead suspensions


In a method and apparatus for determining the height of a plurality of spatial positions on a surface of a specimen, a light beam is projected on the surface. The surface is scanned along an optical axis in different scanning positions. The light reflected by the surface is detected in scanning positions with a spatial pattern having corresponding spatial pattern positions. From the detected light for each spatial position of the surface, an envelope curve of intensity values corresponding to scanning positions is determined. A maximum of the envelope curve and its corresponding scanning position being representative of the height of the spatial position of the surface is selected. The spatial pattern is moved in a sequence of 2n steps (n>2) in a first and a second spatial direction over a distance of ¼ and 1/n pattern wavelength, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of microscope systems, and more specifically to a method and system for structured illumination microscopy. In particular, the invention relates to an improved method and system for providing a 3D height map of a specimen.
2. Description of Related Art
EP 2 327 956 A1 discloses an optical sensor which is used to determine the range (distance) of individual features of a three-dimensional structure. The sensor has a spatially modulating periodic patterned light source which illuminates the specimen. An array of detector elements is used to detect images of the projected pattern. While the specimen is moved through the focal position, the pattern is varied for at least three spatial modulation phases when moving the spatial periodic light pattern in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical sensor, parallel to the direction in which the periodic pattern is periodic. Analyzing the output signal of the detector includes for each spatial position of the detector the determination of the amplitude of the signal detected during the scanning and determining the scanning location where the amplitude has a maximum.
US 2010/0135547 A1 discloses systems and methods for optical sectioning microscopy with structured illumination. A light source generates a light beam with a spatial pattern for successively illuminating a sample at each phase of a plurality of phases. A sinusoidal pattern in multiple directions is used. The pattern is moved in both the x- and y-direction at a single Z-location, and the patent gives an evaluation method for obtaining an axially sectioned image.
US 2012/0140243 relates to methods for forming a three-dimensional image of a test object. The methods include directing light to a surface of best-focus of an imaging optic, where the light has an intensity modulation in at least one direction in the surface of best-focus. The test object is scanned relative to the imaging optic so that a surface of the measurement object passes through the surface of best-focus of the imaging optic as the test object is scanned. For each of a series of positions of the test object during the scan, a single image of the measurement object is acquired using the imaging optic. The intensity modulation of the light in the surface of best-focus is different for successive images. A three-dimensional image of the test object is formed based on the acquired images. The sequence and evaluation of the images are not disclosed.
In the prior art, no solution is provided for the creation of a 3D height map of a specimen with good Z resolution, and highly independent of the surface structure, where neighboring points may have a different height and reflectivity, and local slopes may be present.

Image sequence and evaluation method and system for structured illumination microscopy


An automatic water faucet in which the neck portion can be easily attached to the sink, after a common base for receiving the faucet has been attached. To achieve such a purpose, the automatic water faucet comprises a water faucet seat and a neck portion. The water faucet seat is constructed to engage with the neck portion by inserting the neck portion into the water faucet seat and rotating the former repeatedly to the latter so as to assemble them together.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a water faucet for a sink or washstand, particularly to an automatic water faucet of the sensor type and how the faucet is attached to the sink.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, water faucets are attached to sinks (or washstands) as follows: First, a hole is bored near the sink. Next, the base of the faucet is lowered into the hole. A nut is then screwed onto the screw formed on the outside of the base of the faucet and tightened until the facet flange presses tightly against the sink. Then, a tap is attached to the pipe providing water to the sink and a further pipe is connected between this tap and the faucet.
Such taps are attached to allow the water to be turned off when the faucet is being repaired while still allowing the other taps in the house to be used, thereby preventing other users of the water in the building from being affected.
FIG. 18 shows a conventional domestic-use faucet, and indicates the mouth 1, the shut-off valve 2, the attachment flange 3, the threaded portion 4, and the connecting portion 5. This faucet is fixed to the sink by a nut 7 screwed over a washer onto the threaded portion 4. The water supply pipe is connected to the end of this.
FIG. 19 is an explanatory view of a conventional sensor type automatic water faucet attached to a sink. The structure of this faucet differs from that of the conventional faucet as shown in FIG. 18 in that a sensor 8 for detecting hands is provided near the mouth and an electric cable 9 with a connector 10 is provided for connecting the sensor with the controller. Since this water faucet is an automatic type, there is no water shut-off valve 2 as shown in FIG. 18. The electric cable 9 is enclosed in a flexible metal pipe (spiral tube) to prevent it from being cut in an act of vandalism.
The washer 6 is not flat but of a conal shape. This cone-shaped washer 6 is used to allow the electric cable 9 to pass through the washer 6 when the nut 5 is tightened. Reference numeral 13 indicates the thickness of the sink. The O ring 11 serves to prevent water leaking through gap between the mouth and the sink. Although it is not indicated here, an O ring is also used in the faucet in FIG. 18.
FIG. 20 shows a conventional sensor type automatic water faucet with the sensor and controller attached. The controller section 14 contains an electric circuit for processing the signal from the sensor, an electromagnetic valve for turning the water ON or OFF and a battery which supplies power to these components. The inlet 15 for the electromagnetic valve provided on the underside of the controller section 14 is connected to a pipe 17 leading to the water line by a cap nut 16.
When replacing an ordinary faucet with an automatic type, in most cases, the old faucet is replaced with a faucet with a built-in sensor. An electromagnetic valve is then connected between the faucet and the water shut-off valve, and the controller which processes the signal from the sensor and drives the electromagnetic valve is attached to the lower side of the sink.
In many battery-powered automatic water faucets, the battery is housed within controller section. The controller, electromagnetic valve and sensor of such faucets are usually housed in water-proof structures to prevent entry of water.
When the controller is attached to a wall, it is secured by screws. However, if the wall is a tiled surface, holes have to be drilled in the tiles, which is time consuming and the tiles may also break. For this reason, some automatic water faucets are configured so that the electromagnetic valve and the controller portion are integrated. Such faucets is connected between the faucet and the water supply, or is connected to a water stop valve.
Such configuration has been made possible because the mechanics of the such water faucet have become compact and much lighter. This reduction in size is the result of smaller batteries (made possible because of lower power consumption), the development of compact batteries and the miniaturization of the electric circuits in the controller with greater use of integrated circuit.
Many automatic water faucets are configured so that an electromagnetic valve opens to release water when a hand is detected near the faucet. For this reason, the detector is located near the mouth of the faucet to set to cover the area below the mouth. The signal from the detector is transmitted to the controller by a cable. The electric cable connected to the detecting section passes through the inside of the spout and emerges from the water supply pipe. A connector is attached at the tip of the cables. This connector is connected to the receiving connector which leads to the controller.
The holes in sinks for passing through faucets do not have to be adjusted for sensor faucets as sensor faucets are the same size as ordinary faucets. Often, the faucet hole is larger than the water supply pipe.
To allow for easy connection of the electric cable to the controller, the electric cable is made longer than the section of pipe extending below the faucet in which a screw thread has been cut. When attaching the faucet, the electric cable is first passed through the hole in the sink for attaching faucet from the upper side of the sink. The threaded section of pipe is then passed through the same hole. The special washer for allowing the cable to pass is then screwed onto the threaded section of pipe to firmly hold the faucet in place. A nut is then tightened over the top of this washer. If the special washer is not used, the cable would get in the way, which would prevent the nut from being sufficiently fastened. Accordingly, it is necessary to allow the electric cable to pass between the space provided by the thickness of the special washer. Once the faucet has been fixed to the sink it is connected to the electromagnetic valve.
As the result of the configuration as stated above, when an ordinary manual faucet is exchanged with a sensor type faucet, the manual faucet first has to be removed. This work can be difficult and time-consuming as most sinks are installed up against a wall, with little or no gap between the sink and the wall and positioned near the floor.
Moreover, because of such attachment structure, the exchanging of an old faucet with one of new design or the replacing of a broken sensor is never an easy operation.
In addition, there are many instances where design of the neck portion is chosen in accordance with the interior and/or atmosphere of the room. This means that the faucet is often shipped from the factory with the neck unattached. Thus the ratio of factory-assembled faucets cannot be increased.


A medical instrument for dissecting tissue in the human or animal body comprises a shaft. At least one movable tool is arranged at a distal end of the shaft. At least one movable grip element is arranged at a proximal end of the shaft. A force transmission element extends along the shaft, which force transmission element is movable relative to the latter and transmits thrust and/or tension forces and whose proximal end is non-positively joined to the at least one movable grip element and whose distal end is non-positively joined to the at least one movable tool. The shaft is further provided with a bend at least one point between the distal end and the proximal end. The force transmission element is configured, at least in the region of the bend, as a flexible tubular element conforming to the bend, which is guided in contact with the shaft. According to a second variant, a flattened and flexible configuration is given to the force transmission element in the region of the bend, at least locally transversely to the plane of curvature of the bend, and the force transmission element extends continuously in axial direction, transversely to the plane of curvature, at least over the inner diameter of the shaft in the region of the bend.

The present invention relates to a medical instrument for dissecting tissue in the human or animal body.
An instrument for dissecting tissue is one used for cutting and for grasping tissue, for example a punch, a pair of scissors or a forceps.
Instruments of this kind are used in the context of minimally invasive surgery for dissecting tissue in the human or animal body, usually under endoscopic monitoring. To this end, instruments of that kind comprise an elongated shaft which has at least one movable tool arranged at its distal end, which usually coacts with another movable or immovable tool, arranged at the distal end of the shaft, for dissecting the tissue. For operating the at least one movable tool, such instruments are further provided, on the proximal end of the shaft, with at least one movable grip element through which the axially movable force transmission element, transmitting thrust and/or pull forces, is non-positively connected with the at least one movable tool so that any movement of the movable grip element is translated by the force transmission element into a movement of the movable tool.
Especially for operations in the region of the ear, nose and throat one normally uses instruments with a shaft having at least one bend in order to permit the tool or tools arranged on the distal end to be advanced to positions that are accessible only with difficulty, for example into niches in the frontal or the maxillary sinus.
An instrument with a bent shaft, especially if the bending radius is small, presents the problem that the force must be transmitted by the force transmission element from the movable grip element through the bend to the movable tool. This is rendered difficult especially in view of the aim to have a slim instrument, i.e. one with a thin shaft.
In order to be able to adapt itself to the bend, the force transmission element must, therefore, be flexible in the region of the bend of the shaft.
DE 44 44 025 A1 discloses, for example, a force transmission element for a medical instrument in the form of a flexible wire element, which is capable of adapting itself to such a bend. However, a flexible wire can transmit only tensile or pull forces, but is not suited for transmitting thrust, or even high thrust. For, if the force transmission element is subjected to thrust, the wire will buckle so that only small, or no thrust can be transmitted to the at least one movable tool for actuating the latter for the purpose of dissecting tissue.
Considering, however, that such instruments are also used for cutting hard tissue, for example cartilage or bone tissue, the nature of the force transmission element must be such to permit even very high forces, especially high thrust forces, to be transmitted to the movable tool without any buckling of the force transmission element, and this, of course, although the transfer of forces must be effected through the bend of the shaft, which means that the force transmission element must be capable of adapting itself to the bending radius during its axial movement.
DE 195 20 717 C2 proposes to solve this problem with the aid of a tubular-shaft instrument with a tubular shaft provided with a bend, where the force transmission element is arranged inside the tubular shaft. In the bent portion of the tubular shaft, the force transmission element is configured as a bar made from a flexible material, which is in contact with the inner wall of a surrounding rigid sleeve, extending concentrically to the shaft, and whose cross-section is reduced, in the region of the bend, by a number of circumferential grooves arranged one beside the other in axial direction. The before-mentioned sleeve may be constituted also by the tubular shaft as such. The circumferential grooves are formed to extend over the full circumference of the bar. Thus, the bar is locally reduced in thickness to sort of a wire with circular cross-section in the region of the circumferential grooves. In the intermediate sections between the grooves, the diameter of the bar is not reduced so that the outer surfaces of the intermediate sections serve as guide surfaces to guide the force transmission element in the region of the bend in contact with the inner wall of the sleeve and/or the tubular shaft.
Although such a force transmission element permits high thrust forces to be transferred through the bend to the movable tool, this known instrument nevertheless must be regarded as disadvantageous with that configuration of the force transmission element.
Considering that such instruments are used in minimally invasive surgery, it is another demand that must be placed on such instruments that their diameter in the region of the shaft be as small as possible to permit the instrument, together with the shaft, to be introduced into an incision or natural opening in the body which should be as small as possible. In the case of such miniaturized instruments with a shaft diameter of a few millimeters only, this means for the known instrument that the force transmission element has an extremely small diameter in the reduced regions of the circumferential grooves, whereby the stability of the force transmission element is reduced because the material thickness of the force transmission element is reduced to very small wire cross-sections in the region of the circumferential grooves. Therefore, the force transmission element may buckle or break in the region of the circumferential grooves extending over the full circumference when high thrust or sudden thrust is transferred, or may fracture when high pull forces are transferred, whereby the operating safety of the known instrument is reduced.
DE 43 00 064 A1 discloses a punch for dissecting tissue having an outer shaft and an inner shaft, at a distal end of which an opening having a blade is provided, which coacts with a counter blade at the distal end of the outer shaft in such a way that, upon actuation of the punch, tissue which protrudes through said opening in the inner shaft, is cut off by the blades moved against each other. The inner shaft is formed rigid, is straight in the proximal region and merges distally into a curved course, and the outer shaft, which forms the force transmission element of this instrument, is at least in the region of this curvature deformable. The deformability of the outer shaft is made possible by that the outer shaft is provided with recesses which face each other on the radius of the curvature of the inner shaft. The recesses in form of radial incisions or notches only leave a narrow bridge of material between themselves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,772 also discloses a medical instrument, the shaft of which comprises a bend. The force transmission element comprises a plurality of notched or recessed sections in the region of the bend of the shaft. Between the recessed sections of the force transmission element a plurality of ribs are formed, the thickness of which substantially conforms to the thickness of the remaining body of the force transmission element. The ribs are formed in direction of one side of the force transmission element only, whereas the force transmission element is configured continuously flat in the region of the bend on the opposite side of the ribs. The force transmission element and the ribs thereof are guided in an elongated slot inside the shaft, which slot is provided in the concave inner side of the bend of the shaft. In another embodiment, the ribs are omitted so that, in this case, the force transmission element is configured in the region of the bend as a flat band, which, however, is not guided in this case.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,745 further discloses a medical stapler, which comprises a force transmission element disposed within said shaft, wherein the force transmission element is configured in form of a flat band, so that the force transmission element is flexible. The flat band itself consists of three sheets of thin bands. In the region of a bend of the shaft, the flat band is guided along a spacer element, in order to achieve that the flat band maintains its central position in the shaft in the region of the bend, if the flat band is under tension, i.e. in order to prevent the flat band from becoming straight in the region of the bend of the shaft. The spacer element is provided with ball bearings for reducing the friction between the force transmission element and the space element.
Now, it is the object of the present invention to improve a medical instrument of the before-mentioned kind in such a way that high pull and/or thrust forces can be transferred to the at least one movable tool by means of the force transmission element, through the bend of the shaft, without any buckling of the force transmission element and without any reduction in stability of the force transmission element being encountered in the region of the bend.

Medical instrument for dissecting tissue


An electrosurgical instrument is provided for cauterization and/or welding of tissue of varying impedance, thickness, compressibility, density, vascularity, etc., especially in the performance of endoscopic procedures. The instrument provides two electrodes of different electrical potentials. One electrode is moveable with respect to the other electrode to vary the distances between the electrodes and thus the impedance of the tissue as presented to the generator. The electrode distances may be varied by an automated or user controlled device.

Surgical procedures requiring cutting of tissue can cause bleeding at the site of the cutting. Various techniques have been adapted to control bleeding with varying degrees of success such as, for example, suturing, applying clips to blood vessels, and stapling, as well as electrocautery and other tissue heating techniques. Advances in tissue joining or welding, tissue repair and wound closure also have permitted surgical procedures previously not possible or too risky.
Surgical staplers have been used for tissue security, joining and approximation, and to provide hemostasis in conjunction with tissue cutting. Such devices include, for example, linear and circular cutting and stapling instruments. Typically, a linear cutter has parallel rows of staples with a slot for a cutting means to travel between the rows of staples. This type of surgical stapler secures tissue for improved cutting, joins layers of tissue, and provides hemostasis by applying parallel rows of staples to layers of surrounding tissue as the cutting means cuts between the parallel rows.
Electrocautery devices have been used for effecting improved hemostasis by heating tissue and blood vessels to cause coagulation or cauterization. Monopolar devices utilize one electrode associated with a cutting or cauterizing instrument and a remote return electrode, usually adhered externally to the patient. More recently, bipolar instruments have been used because the cauterizing current is generally limited to tissue between two electrodes of a tissue treating portion of an instrument.
Bipolar forceps have been used for cutting and/or coagulation in various procedures. Generally, bipolar forceps grasp tissue between two poles and apply electrical current through the grasped tissue. Bipolar forceps, however, have certain drawbacks, some of which include the tendency of the current to arc between poles when tissue is thin or the forceps to short when the poles of the forceps touch. The use of forceps for coagulation is also very technique dependent and the forceps are not adapted to simultaneously cauterize a larger area of tissue. Furthermore, forceps tend to cause areas of thermal spread, i.e., dissipation of heat outside of area defined by grasping or engaging surfaces of the forceps.
When using RF energy in electrosurgical devices, there may be an optimal range of tissue impedances that results in the best or optimal energy delivery for the output characteristics of the particular generator to which the impedance load is presented.
Generally, the optimal range is related to the principal that where the source and load impedances are matched, the transfer of power from the source to the load is maximized. Further, the power output for a given generator decreases at a predictable rate as impedance of the load, i.e., tissue, falls off of the source impedance.
The optimal range is defined herein as the range of load impedances at which the power transfer from the generator is sufficient to achieve the intended result, i.e., controlled coagulation, cauterization, or tissue welding. The optimal range may vary from application to application or from generator to generator.
It is believed that tissue impedance varies depending on a number of parameters which may include: tissue type, liquid content, tissue condition (i.e., coagulated or uncoagulated), tissue thickness, the amount of tissue compression, the size and length of the flow path of electrical current through the tissue, and energy frequency applied to tissue.
Additionally, for a given area or volume of tissue,-the impedance model of the tissue is dynamic due to the fact that tissue impedance changes as tissue is heated and begins to coagulate, thus effecting the current flow pattern through the area or volume of tissue as coagulating current is delivered to the tissue. It is also believed that the tissue thickness typically changes as it is electrosurgically treated, because, for example, as water escapes in the form of steam or vapor the volume of the material grasped by the instrument is reduced. Depending on the specific end effector configuration, this could provide an additional variable in the impedance model of the tissue if in the particular end effector tissue thickness were to effect the length of the current path and/or the amount of compression applied to the tissue.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an electrosurgical device which can efficiently provide hemostasis in multiple tissue types and thicknesses, e.g., in fleshy or vascular tissue areas, and high, low or combination impedance tissues. Hemostasis is used herein, generally, to mean the arresting of bleeding including by coagulation, cauterization and/or tissue joining or welding.
It is further desirable to provide a device which adapts to the changing impedance and/or tissue thicknesses as the tissue is being treated, so that the impedance presented to the generator is within an optimal range.

Electrosurgical hemostatic device with adaptive electrodes


A passive infrared sensor uses two detectors having elements of different configurations such that each element outputs a respective frequency when an object moves in front of it. Based on the presence of two frequencies with similar peak and/or slope characteristics, a motion signal is output to, e.g., activate an alarm. In another embodiment the detectors have plural elements with the elements of one detector being wired in a dimension that is orthogonal to the dimension in which the elements of the other detector are wired. The signals from the detectors are combined to determine motion and size of object. The detector elements can also be configured differently from each other as in the first embodiment, and the polarities of signals can be used to determine direction of motion.

Motion Sensors are used in security systems to detect movement in a monitored space. One type of sensor is a passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor, which detects changes in far infrared radiation (8-14 micron wavelength) due to temperature differences between an object (e.g. a human) and its background environment. Upon detection, motion sensors generally transmit an indication to a host system, which may in turn activate an intrusion "alarm", change room lighting, open a door, or perform some other function.
One way to provide motion sensing capabilities is to provide an infrared camera. Motion in the monitored space can be tracked easily by observing the output of the camera. However, such cameras are expensive. Hence, the need for simple, relatively inexpensive PIR motion sensors, using, e.g., simple pyroelectric detectors. Because the detectors can be a significant part of the cost (5-10%) of a typical PIR motion sensor, most PIR motion sensors employ only one or two such detectors.
To monitor a large space with only one or two detectors, a typical PIR motion sensor is designed with multiple optical components (e.g. lenses or mirrors). Each component of such "compound optics" focuses the infrared radiation from objects within a respective sub-volume of the monitored space into an image appearing over the detector. The monitored sub-volumes can be interleaved with non-monitored sub-volumes, so that a radiation producing target (e.g., a human) passing from sub-volume to sub-volume causes a "target radiation/background radiation/target radiation" pattern at the detector. In the case of humans, this pattern causes changing IR radiation at the detector.
While effective, it happens that simple PIR sensors using a minimal number of detectors can generate false alarms from time to time, due, for example, to incident radiation of wavelength outside of the 8-14 micron band. Such false alarms may nonetheless precipitate unneeded responses by, e.g., security personnel. Accordingly, to reduce the likelihood of false alarms, optical filters have been added as detector windows to screen out white light and near IR light. Also, coatings (in the case of mirrors) and additives (for lenses) have been added to prevent the focusing of white and near infrared light onto detectors to reduce the possibility of PIR motion sensors producing false alarms due to, e.g., automobile headlights shining through windows.
To further reduce the chance of false alarms, detectors can include a pair of equally sized elements of opposing polarities. Non-focussed out-of-band radiation is equally incident on both elements, thus causing the signals from the equal and opposite elements to roughly cancel one another. Further, equal elements of opposite polarity also reduce false alarms from shock and temperature change. In addition, as disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,025, incorporated herein by references, two pair of elements can be interleaved and separately connected to generate motion signals that are shifted in time relative to one another. This facilitates differentiation between moving targets and stationary but otherwise problematic sources such as varying-intensity white lights.
The present invention recognizes, however, that the computational requirements for processing the time-shifted signals in the '025 patent are considerable. The present invention critically recognizes the need to reduce false alarms in simple PIR sensors while minimizing processing requirements. Moreover, it is recognized herein that it is desirable that a simple PIR motion sensor be capable of discriminating smaller moving targets, e.g., animals, from larger targets such as humans, so that an alarm will be activated only in the presence of unauthorized humans, not pets. The present invention addresses one or more of these critical observations.


A method and system for creating named relations between classes in a dynamic object-oriented programming environment via mappers is disclosed. The mapping objects dynamically bind to the class interfaces of the classes being related. These connections between classes are defined within a visual environment. The relationships can be programmatically attached by name to object instances during program execution. Because these relationships are stored in a resource and are dynamically bound by name to the objects, they can be created and modified without requiring the source code of the objects being associated to be changed. This eliminates hard coded dependencies between objects that impede reuse of the objects in other contexts. The invention requires and takes full advantage of, meta-data, full dynamic binding and probing support in the objects being connected with the invention.

Object-oriented programming
Human intellectual capacity is exceeded by the complexity of most modern systems. This creates the need for computers and software. The fundamental task of software developers is to create the illusion of simplicity--to shield users from vast and often arbitrary external complexity. Programming transfers the routine handling of complexity from those who work with real-world systems to programmers who simulate these systems within computers. The problems are made no less complex by being moved inside of a computer. Only complex computer programs can solve problems that are complex in the real world.
When creating complex software systems, programmers suffer the same intellectual limits as other humans. It is therefore essential for programmers to decompose complex systems into smaller and smaller parts or modules, each of which may then be understood and refined independently. The fundamental task for developers of software tools then is to control and contain the inherent complexity of software.
Structured programming and top-down design typify the previous generation of modular program design. Using this approach, processes or algorithms are broken down into simpler and simpler sub-processes. These processes are then implemented and strung together like beads on a string to accomplish the complex overall task.
Object-oriented programming (OOP) also strives to decompose complex systems into more manageable sub-systems. Object-oriented programmers, however, view the world as a set of autonomous agents that collaborate to perform some higher level behavior. Only through the construction of meaningful collections of these agents is higher-level functionality achieved. When the behavior of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts this is emergent behavior. This gestalt is a powerful benefit of OOP. Simple collections of disconnected objects have little value. The valued added by a system comes from the relationships between the parts, not from the parts per se. Because of its method of non-linear decomposition, OOP is better suited to the random input encountered in a mouse and windows type interface.
More information on object-oriented design and programming is given in "Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications--2.sup.nd ed.", by Grady Booch, (The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1994. ISBN: 0-8053-5340-2) which is incorporated herein by reference.
Code Reuse
Because of the expense and effort involved in creating objects from scratch, reusing pre-built objects is highly desirable. In fact, the goal of programming complex applications by assembling reusable building blocks is nearly as old as computer science itself Attempting to emulate the reusability of erector sets, "Lego.RTM.", "Tinker-Toys.RTM." and electronics components, computer scientists have endeavored to create generic components from which more elaborate structures can be built up. While there has been some success in reuse, most programmers believe that there is still a long way to go.
Object-oriented programming has grown out of an effort to create computer languages that can more accurately model the way people naturally think about real world systems and objects. When objects in programs more accurately reflect objects in the real world, then the programming objects are more likely to be reusable in other contexts for which models of those real world objects are required. When programming objects contain elements that are extraneous to the real world object being modeled, then those extraneous portions may impede object reuse by creating dependencies that are not germane to the model.
Dependencies
An object in isolation is intensely uninteresting. To produce satisfactory emergent behavior, objects must collaborate. Objects collaborate through relationships called links. A link is a physical or conceptual connection between objects. A link denotes the specific association through which one object (the client) petitions the services of another object (the server). For each link, there is a client (the object that requests the transaction) and a server (the object that services the client's requests).
The server object must be visible to the client. This is typically accomplished in one of four methods: 1) The server object is global to the client, 2) The server object is a parameter to some operation of the client. 3) The server is part of the client or 4) The server is a locally declared object in some operation of the client.
Whenever one object passes a message to another across a link, the two objects are said to be synchronized. Synchronization of objects through links is the heart of an object-oriented program and the source of emergent behavior.
It is important to note that all four types of links mentioned above require the client object to write code calling the application programming interface (API) of the server object. In other words, clients are not independent of servers. In practical terms, this means that the client cannot be reused without also reusing the server. This reduces the reusability of the client object. Typically, an object will rely on the utilities of several server objects. Connecting to multiple servers has a cumulative effect of reducing reusability even further. This is because it becomes more likely that at least one of the servers will not be desirable in the new context. When servers are also clients, a web of dependencies is created throughout the program.
The impact of these dependencies on the code of the client objects can be reduced through the use of callbacks and virtual functions.
Callbacks are functions with a generic interface, often involving void pointers, that allow for the server to call the client back when something of interest happens. Callbacks keep the server from developing a dependency on the client since the client sets it up.
Virtual functions allow a subclass server to specialize the behavior of a base server without the client creating a dependency on the subclass server. Nevertheless, the client still has a dependency on the base class server. Callbacks and virtual functions can increase reusability of classes, but cannot entirely address the problem of dependencies without Herculean efforts. The end result is that reusability of these objects is impacted negatively because clients are required to be cognizant of servers to be able to access their services.
The Tradeoff
The desire to maintain object independence is strong for those wishing to employ object reuse. Most objects that are reused today are server objects. Many objects are both clients and servers. These objects cannot be reused as servers without bringing along all of the other objects on which they depend as clients. It is therefore desirable to reuse a client object as a server in another context without requiring that its servers be brought along.
In practice, reuse is made more difficult because linking object together is required in order to achieve the promised emergent behavior. Unfortunately, in today's most popular object-oriented languages, such as C++, all of these links must be hard coded, creating dependencies. The tension between object collaboration and object reuse is only partially resolvable, and then only by highly skilled object-oriented programmers. Most programmers aren't fully aware that the problem exists, even fewer can elucidate it, and virtually none address it on a daily basis. This is due mostly to limitations in the programming languages and paradigms that are commonly used and taught today.
Desirable Object-Oriented Features
C++ supports popular object-oriented features such as single and multiple inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, messaging, and data abstraction. These features are well described elsewhere so there is no need to redefine them here. Refer to "The C++ Programming Language (2.sup.nd edition)" by Bjarne Stroustrup (Addison Wesley--ISBN 0-201-53992-6) or "C++ Primer (2.sup.nd edition)" by Lippman, Stanley B. (Addison Wesley--ISBN 0-201-54848-8) which are incorporated herein by reference. These object-oriented language features are useful for solving large classes of common problems faced by programmers, however, they don't go far in averting the hard coded links between classes indicated previously. The hard coded dependencies required for object collaboration in C++ reduce the opportunity for object reuse.
Four features not currently available in C++, but implemented in some other object-oriented languages (and required as prerequisites for this invention) are:
meta-data (also referred to as introspection, reflection or run-time type information (RTTI)), PA1 full dynamic binding (also referred to as run-time or dynalink binding), PA1 probing (also referred to as left-monitored variables or write barriers), and PA1 instantiation of default objects by class name (also referred to as a generic factory method).
While not necessarily completing the object oriented programmer's dream list, these object oriented language enhancements enable powerful programming techniques to be applied that are not feasible without them. These enhancements used together with a system such as that described herein enable objects to collaborate without sacrificing their independence, facilitating object reuse and reducing program complexity.
Meta-Data is a database available at runtime (during program execution) that describes the classes used to build the program. It enables objects to be "self-describing" at runtime. When meta-data is extensible this creates an opportunity to have class wide read-only data that may be application specific. This application specific meta-data is called properties, and is an important language feature that is fully utilized in the invention. However, in language systems lacking extensible meta-data, property information can be easily stored in other data structures.
Full dynamic binding means that an object can be manipulated at runtime using only the names of its members. For example, attributes (fields or member fields in C++) can be set and queried, and functions can be called by name. Normal linking reduces the name to a machine address, and the name is lost from use to the program.
Probes are callback functions that are invoked when data (typically an object attribute) changes.
The ability to instantiate objects by name is also necessary for the complete implementation of the invention although this is easily implemented in languages that do not support it as a built in feature. Appendices A, B, C and D contain more lengthy discussions of these four object-oriented language features. Patent application Ser. No. 08/421,400 describes a method for enhancing languages (such as C++) that lack these features without changing the definition of the language and is incorporated herein by reference.
Together, these language features provide objects with the ability to have dynamically reconfigurable input and output during program execution without requiring special behavior on the part of the objects themselves. The term "dynamic language" is defined to mean a language that supports, or has been enhanced to support meta-data, full dynamic binding and probes.
Object Systems
There are many systems for creating dynamic "objects". These systems are referred to as "component-based" systems. There are platform object systems such as OLE (comprised of Microsoft's COM and OLE Automation) and OpenDoc (comprised correspondingly of IBM's SOM and Apple's Open Scripting Architecture) for the desktop, and Hewlett Packard's ORB+, Iona's ORBIX, NeXT's PDO and Sun's DOE for distributed applications. There are language based systems such as ViewSoft's Enhanced Object System (EOS), StepStone's Objective C and various SmallTalk implementations. There are dynamic linking systems such as Microsoft's DLLs and various flavors of unix shared libraries. There are also dynamic object systems designed for specialized requirements (e.g.--Lotus Notes for groupware and the SQL3 object model for databases). Finally, there are object systems that come built into applications such as Microsoft's VBX object system, Powersoft's PowerBuilder object system, the Novell AppWare Bus, etc.
In all of these systems, a "component" is a server object that is accessible via a dynamic interface during program execution. In most of these systems, the client must be especially written with the component system in mind, although in some of them (EOS, SmallTalk, PDO, DLL) client code is no different than when accessing another normal language based object; the system takes care of dynamically linking to the object. Often the dynamic linking is implemented in a language independent fashion, although they tend to do things as an object-oriented language would.
Some component systems allow callback architectures so that a client can install itself as a server for the component; in this way bi-directional communications may be established although the client typically has to provide a callback function, code to initialize the server with the callback and, in some cases, messages from the server must be decoded and dispatched by the client. Nevertheless, the rising popularity of these dynamic component based systems validates the basic approach of dynamically linking to components.
The ease with which one can create clients and components (server objects) in these systems ranges from trivial to fairly difficult.
Creating synchronizing links between two pure server components, (ie. comunication from one server to another server) requires creating client code that knows about both server objects. If the communication between the server objects is to be bidirectional, it requires the client to establish callbacks from both the servers or less elegantly code to poll the servers periodically. This client code is very specific to the task at hand, and is almost certainly non-reusable. If the client needs to transform information in order to make it suitable for both server objects, additional code will need to be written.
What is universally lacking in these component systems is a consistent method for creating generic clients that can dynamically attach to two server objects in such a way that the servers synchronize without creating dependencies on one another.
Client/Server Networking
Individual PCs or workstations connected via networking hardware and software such as local area networks (LANs) such as is incorporated in Microsoft's Windows 95.RTM. and Novell Netware, or on wide area networks (WANs) such as the internet are commonly available at this time. Many programs are made more efficient and useful by being distributed over networks. That is, if some of the objects in a program were on one machine and other objects were on a plurality of other machines, then the processing power of the network can be brought to bear more efficiently.
Often, programs are divided in two, a client and a server. The client program will typically be a GUI (Graphical User Interface) front end for a program running on the server, for example, a database server. Many such systems support multiple simultaneous clients. Network client/servers should not be confused with the client/server relationships between objects within a single program. Network client/server relationships are usually API (Application Programming Interface) based communications between programs rather than objects. These connections can be made via RPC (Remote Procedure Calls), sockets, or other commonly available APIs. RPC allows for code on one machine to call a function on another machine. This approach is good for flow of control, but the data sharing capabilities are somewhat limited. Sockets, in contrast, transfer data well, but are limited in program flow control.
The X-Windows system automates the separation of a GUI client from a processing server by automatically sending a bidirectional event stream over the network. This is a limited, but useful, architecture for distributing user interfaces for server programs over the network, but the network bandwidth required is quite high. Still, this level of network automation is deserving of emulation.
Networking Objects
Further division beyond a typical multiple client/single server architecture is also useful in many cases. Unfortunately, distributing programs with current API approaches is tedious for the programmer due to the fact that it is not normally integrated into the development environment or language. The learning curve for programmers to create robust client/server programs is typically quite large.
The current state of the art in distributed object systems are represented by Corba, DSOM, ORB+, ORBIX, PDO and DOE. These object systems are good at the data sharing and flow of control but are highly API based. Switching objects from one system to another is quite difficult due to the dependencies created between the program's objects and the object systems. That is, code specific to the object system must be written to connect and synchronize the objects across the network. Most of these systems also oblige the programmer to climb a steep learning curve.
Some object systems (notably PDO) have reached the point of having individual objects within programs address each other directly via name based dynamic binding. That is an object on machine A can access an attribute, or call a function of another object via dynamic binding by name on machine B. Creating connections directly between objects reduces the impedance mismatch between programming on one machine and programming in a distributed environment. I n other words, when objects within programs communicate directly over the network, no networking APIs need be employed because proxy objects handle the networking aspects without affecting the code within the objects themselves. This is a significant advancement in distributed programming as it frees the programmer from most of the effort of distributing the application over the network. It should be noted, however, that in this case, the client object must be aware of the public interface (API) of the server object and thus dependencies are created just as in client/server relationships between objects in the same program.

Method for managing dynamic relations between objects in dynamic object-oriented languages


A fluid filter device with a housing defining a cavity, the housing including a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, a filter unit including a filter substrate and arranged within the cavity such that the filter unit and the housing define, within the cavity, a first chamber in fluid communication with the fluid inlet and a second chamber in fluid communication with the fluid outlet. The filter unit is movable relative to the housing between a first position and a second position such that in the first position, the first chamber is in fluid communication with the second chamber through the filter substrate, and in the second position, the inlet is in fluid communication with the outlet through a bypass line.

Numerous examples of fluid filter devices of the aforementioned kind are known in the art. During operation of such a fluid filter device, the filter substrate may become clogged due to the accumulation of particulate matter on or within the filter substrate. This may lead to a compromised function of a connected fluidic system and/or damage to system components.
Various different solutions to this problem have been proposed, typically involving a bypass mechanism that allows fluid to bypass the filter substrate when the filter substrate is clogged. For example, document US 2008/0053879 A1 discloses an oil bypass device comprising a filter fixed to an engine block by screwing it to an attached connecting sleeve. The connecting sleeve contains a bypass valve in the form of a tubular piston sliding in a through-passage and pushed against an intermediate shoulder by a spring. By sliding, the piston opens or closes a radial passage establishing direct communication between the inlet passage and the through-passage of the device. If the filter element of the filter is clogged, the pressure rise in the inlet passage causes the piston to move and the radial passage to open to reduce the pressure rise and ensure a satisfactory flow of oil.
Conventional approaches to providing a bypass mechanism, such as the approach described in the aforementioned document, may introduce many additional parts, in particular movable parts, and—correspondingly—lead to additional complexity and increased size of the fluid filter device. Consequently, such devices may be expensive to produce, of limited durability, difficult to service, and/or difficult to adapt to standardized form factor sockets or connections of common hydraulic systems.
Accordingly, a problem to be solved by the present disclosure is to provide a fluid filter device that avoids or reduces the aforementioned shortcomings.
This problem is solved by a fluid filter device according to the described embodiments.
A fluid filter device according to the described embodiments comprises a housing defining a cavity, the housing comprising a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, and a filter unit comprising a filter substrate and arranged within the cavity such that the filter unit and the housing define, within the cavity, a first chamber in fluid communication with the fluid inlet and a second chamber in fluid communication with the fluid outlet.
The housing may be formed integrally or comprise multiple components. The housing and/or components of the housing may comprise or be composed of a rigid, pressure-resistant and/or corrosion-resistant material such as a metal or a polymer. The housing and/or components of the housing may be produced, for example, by a casting process and/or a molding process and/or a machining process.
The first chamber may be defined by a first inner surface of the housing and a first surface of the filter unit. The second chamber may be defined by a second inner surface of the housing and a second surface of the filter unit.
The filter substrate may be any type of substrate suitable for allowing a fluid to pass through while retaining particulate matter of a certain size range. For example, the filter substrate may comprise a porous material, in particular a sintered material, such as sintered bronze.
The filter unit is movable relative to the housing between a first position and a second position such that in the first position, the first chamber is in fluid communication with the second chamber through the filter substrate, and in the second position, the inlet is in fluid communication with the outlet through a bypass line.
The proposed fluid filter device thus provides a simple bypass mechanism with a small number of movable parts. The complexity, size, and/or production cost of the fluid filter device may be reduced; its durability may be improved. Maintenance of the fluid filter device may be simplified by making the filter unit itself—which is typically an easily replaced consumable—the main moving part of the bypass mechanism.
A fluid filter device of the proposed kind is particularly easy to adapt to standardized form factors. For example, it may be possible to provide a standard hydraulic power pack housed in a die-cast housing with a fluid filter device of the proposed kind, which is easily adapted to fit into typically available ports without the need to need a dedicated adapter manifold.
Typically, the fluid filter device is configured to allow for a fluid, in particular a liquid such as oil or water, to flow through the cavity from the fluid inlet to the fluid outlet.
More particularly, at least when the filter unit is in the first position, a flow path may be provided in which the fluid enters the first chamber through the fluid inlet, passes through the filter substrate into the second chamber and exits the second chamber through the fluid outlet.
Moreover, at least when the filter unit is in the second position, an additional bypass flow path comprising the aforementioned bypass line may be accessible such that fluid may flow from the first chamber to the fluid outlet (with or without first passing through the second chamber) through the bypass line, without passing through the filter substrate.
When the filter unit is in the second position, the bypass flow path may be partially or fully disconnected from the first chamber such that fluid contained in the first chamber is prevented from flowing into the bypass line. The bypass flow path being partially disconnected means that a small amount of fluid leakage from the first chamber into the second chamber without passing through the filter substrate may be possible. The bypass flow being fully disconnected means that such a leakage is prevented.
The filter unit may be movable between the first position and the second position by a fluid pressure differential between the first chamber and the second chamber. In this way, activation of the bypass mechanism may be provided in response to a pressure buildup in the first chamber, which typically accompanies clogging of the filter substrate.
The filter unit may be movable from the first position to the second position when an over pressure in the first chamber with respect to a pressure in the second chamber exceeds a threshold pressure differential. With an appropriate value of the threshold pressure differential, a good balance of proper functioning of the fluid filter device and a low risk of damage to the device or a system connected to the device may be ensured.
The filter unit may be movable between the first position and the second position by a linear motion. Such a linear degree of freedom of the motion of the filter unit allows for a particularly simple and robust construction of the fluid filter device. Alternatively, the filter unit may be movable between the first position and the second position by a motion different from a linear motion, such as a circular motion, a spiral motion, a tilting motion, or a combination of different types of motion.
The filter unit may be movable between the first position and the second position along a first axis. The filter unit may have a first surface portion and a second surface portion opposite the first surface portion. A surface area of the first surface portion may be larger than a surface area of the second surface portion, such that the fluid pressure differential between the first chamber and the second chamber causes a first force acting on the first surface portion and a second force acting on the second surface portion, wherein a component of the first force parallel to the first axis is larger than and opposite to a component of the second force parallel to the first axis.
The fluid filter device may comprise a biasing member configured to bias the filter unit towards the first position. Providing the fluid filter device with such a biasing member ensures that during normal operation, i.e. when the filter substrate is not clogged, the filter unit is in the first position.
A biasing force or biasing strength of the biasing member and/or a ratio of the surface area of the first surface portion and the surface area of the second surface portion may be chosen to determine the value of the aforementioned threshold pressure differential.
The housing may comprise a plug portion projecting outward from an outer portion of the housing. In particular, the plug portion may comprise the fluid inlet and/or the fluid outlet and/or be complementary in shape and size to a standard fluidic port, such as a two-way cavity of a hydraulic system, such that the fluid filter system is easily adapted to many applications. An outer surface of the plug portion may comprise a threaded portion. The threaded portion may be configured to mate with a threaded portion of a fluidic port or connector, contributing to the versatile application and simple replaceability of the fluid filter device.
The plug portion may comprise a fluid channel, the fluid channel fluidly connecting the second chamber with the fluid outlet. The plug portion may—alternatively or additionally—comprise at least part of the second chamber.
The housing may comprise an inwardly protruding portion, the inwardly protruding portion protruding into the cavity formed within the housing. The inwardly protruding portion may comprise a fluid channel, the fluid channel fluidly connecting the second chamber with the fluid outlet. For example, the inwardly protruding portion may be formed as an extension, e.g. a coaxial extension, of the plug portion, in particular such that the fluid channel of the inwardly protruding portion is an extension of the fluid channel of the plug portion.
The filter unit may be slidably mounted on the inwardly protruding portion of the housing. This way of constructing the fluid filter device has several advantages. For example, the motion of the filter unit between the first position and the second position may be implemented as a simple sliding motion. Moreover, the slidable mounting may provide a particularly simple way of attaching and replacing the filter unit. Finally, when the inwardly protruding portion is parallel to the first axis and inserted into an opening in the second surface portion, the resulting arrangement provides a simple way of reducing the surface area of the second surface portion to enable the pressure differential between the first chamber and the second chamber to drive a motion of the filter unit along the first axis as described above.
The bypass line may extend at least partially through the inwardly protruding portion of the housing and may be in fluid communication with the fluid channel. The filter unit may comprise a support element connectable or connected to the filter substrate, wherein the bypass line extends at least partially through the support element. The bypass line extending at least partially through the inwardly protruding portion of the housing, especially in combination with the bypass line extending at least partially through the support element, provides a simple way of closing or opening the bypass line depending on whether the filter unit is in the first position or the second position.
The filter substrate may be cup-shaped. The support element may form a lid of the filter substrate. Such a cup-and-lid structure of the filter unit adapts a common form factor of standard filter units to the proposed fluid filter system, making it possible to use the fluid filter system in combination with many existing systems without requiring major modifications.
The inwardly protruding portion of the housing may be received or configured to be received within an opening of the support element, providing a simple and robust implementation of the protruding portion being inserted into an opening in the second surface portion as described above.
The fluid filter device may comprise a status indicator configured to indicate, on an outside portion of the housing, whether the filter unit is in the first position or in the second position. A status indicator of this kind provides a simple way to determine from the outside whether the filter substrate is clogged and may need to be replaced.
The status indicator may comprise, for instance, a pressure gauge configured to indicate whether the pressure in the first chamber with respect to the second chamber exceeds the threshold pressure differential.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.
Recurring features in FIGS. 1-3 are provided with identical reference numerals and may be partially omitted where these features are not referred to, in the following, with reference to a given drawing. Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components. FIGS. 1-5 are shown approximately to scale, according to some embodiments. FIGS. 1-5 are shown with components in proportional size with one another, according to some embodiments.