The present invention provides high-accuracy image input capable of correcting for uneven lighting due to the shape of the subject, its reflectivity, its positioning and ambient light conditions, without increasing the scale of the circuitry or its costs. The image input apparatus of the present invention has an LED that projects light onto the subject, a sensor including a plurality of pixels arranged two-dimensionally and that detects light reflected back from the subject, and a controller that changes the LED irradiation conditions in a cycle longer than that for a single screen.

Conventionally, an image processing apparatus deletes shading data from a picture signal of a subject generated by a sensor in order to form that picture signal into an easily recognizable, high-resolution picture.
For example, in an image verification apparatus such as a scanner, more accurate authentication is achieved by removing non-uniformities, in other words shading, within the output unique to that apparatus using a correction circuit.
It should be noted that there are actually two types of shading. Specifically, there is dark shading due to photoelectric converter noise and unevenness in the black output with respect to a reference level. Additionally, there is light shading due to unevenness in the sensitivity of the light source, the optical system and/or the photoelectric converters as well as the form and reflectivity of the subject.
In order to correct this type of shading, shading correction data is stored in the apparatus as default values or shading correction data is produced by photographing a white reference member prior to the actual shooting.
However, a drawback of this type of shading correction according to the conventional art is that it requires a memory for storing the shading correction data and circuits for performing correction calculations, which increases the scale of the circuitry and its cost.
Moreover, the conventional art cannot cope with the complexity of the shading correction unique to live subject verification systems such as objection verification and fingerprint authentication systems. For example, in correcting for uneven lighting due to the shape of the subject, its reflectivity, its positioning and ambient light conditions, such verification systems cannot even read the white reference for storing same as a default setting. Rather, it is necessary for such systems to detect differences in uniformity in lighting between the bright natural light of the outdoors in daylight and light sources at night or indoors, and to adapt to such changes in ambient light levels appropriately.
However, without shading correction, the tone of the darker areas within a non-uniform brightness within a picture becomes inadequate and image accuracy deteriorates. On the other hand, increasing the brightness of the light source or the output gain of the sensor in order to obtain the tone of the darker areas saturates the brightest areas of the picture, again producing inadequate tone and a consequent loss of image accuracy.

Image input apparatus, subject identification system, subject verification system and image input method


A bumpless assembly package mainly comprises a substrate, and a chip. The substrate has an upper surface and an opposite lower surface, a plurality of first contacts and a plurality of second contacts formed on the upper surface of the substrate, wherein one of the first contacts is electrically connected to one of the second contacts. The chip has an active surface and a boding pad formed on the active surface and is disposed in the opening, Moreover, an electrically conductive layer is disposed above the upper surface of the substrate and the active surface of the chip, and extended from the upper surface of the substrate to the active surface of the chip so as to electrically connect the chip and the substrate. In addition, a protective layer is provided to dispose above the electrically conductive layer and expose the second contacts so that the second contacts can electrically connect to external electronic devices.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor assembly package. More particularly, the present invention is related to a bumpless assembly package.
2. Related Art
Integrated circuit (chip) packaging technology is becoming a limiting factor for the development in packaged integrated circuits of higher performance. Semiconductor package designers are struggling to keep pace with the increase in pin count, size limitations, low profile, and other evolving requirements for packaging and mounting integrated circuits.
Originally, the electrical connection between the chips comprises wire bonding connection and flip chip connection. In wire bonding connection, a wire bonder is disposed above the chip and then the tip of the conductive wire is melting to shape into a ball. Next, the conductive wire is bonded onto the bonding pad of the chip. Then, the wire bonder is moved and disposed above another bonding pad of the chip, and then another conductive wire will be bonded onto the corresponding bonding pad of the chip in the same way as mentioned above. In flip chip bonding, a plurality of bumps are formed on the bonding pads of the chip, and then flipped and bonded to another chip by a reflow process.
Next, a well-known wire bonding method utilized in a convention assembly package will be disclosed as below. As shown in FIG. 1, it illustrates the cross-sectional view of the conventional assembly package with wire bonding connection. The assembly package comprises a substrate 10, a chip 12, a plurality of conductive wires 160, an encapsulation 18 and a plurality of solder balls 19, 107. The substrate 10, for example an organic substrate and a lead frame, has an upper surface 102 and an opposite lower surface 104, a die paddle 105, and a plurality of contacts 106. The die paddle 105 and the contacts 106 are formed on the upper surface 102, and the die paddle 105 is encompassed with the contacts 106. As mentioned above, the chip 12 has an active surface 122, a back surface 124 and a plurality of bonding pads 126 formed on the active surface 122. It is should be noted that the first chip 12 is mounted onto the die paddle 105 of the substrate 10 via an adhesive 109 and electrically connected to the substrate 10 via the conductive wire 160. Therein one end of the conductive wire 160 is bonded to the bonding pad 126 and the other end of the conductive wire 160 is bonded onto the contact 106 of the substrate 10. Besides, the encapsulation 18 encapsulates the chip 12, the upper surface 102 of the substrate 10 and the conductive wires 160.
In the above-mentioned assembly package, the chip 12 is electrically connected to the substrate 10 through the conductive wire 160. However, the cross-sectional area of the conductive wire 160 is small and the length of the conductive wire 160 is long so as to cause the characterization impedance to be mismatched and to cause the signal to be attenuated. Besides, when the high-frequency circuits are performed, the parasitics of the inductance and the capacitor will be induced to cause the signal to be reflected. In addition, the cross-sectional area of the conductive wire 160 for connecting the chip 12 is so small that the grounding connection will become worse. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, the chip 12 also can be bonded to the substrate 10 through flip chip bonding method and electrically connected to the substrate 10 via the bumps 162.
Therefore, providing another semiconductor assembly package to solve the mentioned-above disadvantages is the most important task in this invention.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.


An apparatus for providing fullness and a shape to the upper end of an elongated section of drapery fabric that selectably allows the drapery to be readily foldable when fullness is not needed. The apparatus may also connect the drapery to an overhead, transverse supporting rail such as through hooks and eyelets or pendants. The apparatus includes a generally heart-shaped header made of a flexible, resilient, relatively stiff material. The header is attachable to a mounting portion of the drapery fabric at an upper end of the drapery fabric. The header is designed to be capable of collapsing into a flat unit when sufficient pressure is applied to the header. The headers can be made to expand evenly when the drape is partially opened. The header is formed generally of a first leg and a second leg that are made of a flexible, resilient material. The first leg and the second leg meet and are connected at the front of the header. Ends of the first leg and the second leg extend toward the rear of the header. A connecting segment then connects the first leg to the second leg at the rear of the header.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to drapery and more particularly to an apparatus that can provide fullness and a shape to drapery and will also allow the drapery to be easily folded during transportation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many homes, apartments and other dwellings use some type of window covering. Draperies, vertical blinds and venetian blinds are examples of well-known window coverings. Draperies are often preferred by consumers over vertical blinds and venetian blinds because they have a softer appearance. Draperies are elongated sections of fabric which are supported at their upper end by a number of eyelets, hooks, pins or other supporting means which are spaced along the top of the drapery fabric. The support means often are connected to carriers that are movable along an overhead track as described below. In this way, the drapery may be moved laterally along the track.
Draperies are available in a variety of materials, but drapery materials are preferred that are more readily foldable as these materials have a more soft appearance and may naturally fold over when the drapery is moved laterally to one side of the window when the drapery is opened. However, such readily foldable materials tend to sag at the plurality of supports along the upper end of the drapery. For this reason and for aesthetic purposes i.e., to provide a more full appearance, draperies require stiffness along their upper end to prevent sagging at the supports.
Heretofore in the industry, stiffness has been provided to the upper end of drapery fabric by permanently affixing sections of materials, such as by sewing, to the upper end of the drapery fabric. Most often a continuous strip of material is sewn to the top of the drape in conjunction with a hem that may or may not wrap around the strip. Another method is to attach permanent extra sections of relatively stiff material between adjacent drapery fabric creases along the upper end of the drapery fabric. The extra sections of material are collectively referred to as "the header" of the drape. In this way, the drapery fabric may still fold along its creases but will maintain an unfolded, bowed, "full" appearance between creases.
The additional thickness imparted by this extra header makes folding, handling and shipping of the drapery fabric difficult. As with any other product, the transportation costs for drapery fabric are increased if each unit of product occupies a greater area during shipping. Thus, for shipping purposes, it would advantageous to be able to fold the drapery fabric into a compact unit and then box the folded drapery fabric. However, the header makes folding of the drapery fabric difficult. When conventional drapery is stacked together, the width of the top of the drapery with the header is several times wider than the width of the middle of the drapery. As a result, it is difficult to box draperies and draperies are usually transported on hangers. Therefore, shipping of conventional drapery over long distance is difficult and is not very cost effective. For this reason, a great amount of drapery is produced or assembled in the local area in which it is sold.
It is clear that there is a desire in the industry to provide a "soft", readily foldable drapery fabric and yet to provide a full, not readily foldable upper end of that fabric. Conventional methods of accommodating these conflicting goals has resulted in the providing of extra sections of material permanently to the upper end of the drapery fabric. This conventional solution has resulted in inefficient transportation of the drapery and difficulty and expense to clean the draperies. For this reason, such drapery is very often manufactured and/or assembled in the local area where it is sold and must be professionally cleaned.
It would be advantageous, therefor, to provide a means for making the upper end of the drapery fabric relatively stiff to provide the drapery fabric with a full appearance and support between carriers and to provide such a means that would selectably allow the drapery fabric to be readily folded, handled or washed when stiffness is not needed or desired. Such means should enable use of existing methods and apparatus for supporting the drapery fabric and for opening or closing the drapery system which typically utilize the upper end of the drapery fabric. Therefore, a discussion of these existing methods and apparatus for supporting the drapery fabric and for opening or closing the drapery system would be useful.
A perspective view of a drapery system of the type currently known in the industry is shown in prior art FIG. 1. The drapery system 10 is comprised of a section of drapery fabric 12 having a series of vertical creases 13 provided thereon. Each of the vertical creases 13 point in the same direction (toward the wall or window being covered by the drapery). The drapery fabric has an upper end 20 which is connected to and supported by an overhead supporting rail 14. A pull cord 16 is attached to a master carrier (not shown) that runs through rail 14 and is used to selectively open and close the drapery.
A preferred means of supporting the drapery fabric and opening or closing the drapery system already known in the art is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The overhead supporting rail 14 has two channels 15 and 17 disposed through its length. The slide channel 15 opens along the bottom of the supporting rail 14 substantially along the entire length of the supporting rail 14. A number of carriers 22 are disposed within the rail channel 15 so as to be movably engaged with the rail 14. Each carrier 22 has a generally H-shaped cross section that allows the carrier to slidably fit within the slide channel 15. Being H-shaped, the carrier has a wide slide portion 23 which is disposed within the rail channel 15. A spacer cord 11 runs between adjacent carriers 22.
A series of supporting means, which are typically pendants 18, are connected to the upper end 20 of the drapery fabric 12 and are also connected to the carriers 22. The pendants 18 can be connected to a strip 19 of nylon strap which is attached to the drapery fabric 20 by any convenient means such as by being snapped on, fastened with Velcro.TM. type fasteners, welded or sewn thereto. Each pendant has a body portion 24 which is affixed to the drapery fabric 12 and also has a head portion 26. The pendant head portion 26 is relatively enlarged and connects to the pendant body portion 24 by means of a relatively narrow neck 27.
The carriers 22 each have a base 30 having a mouth thereupon. The carrier mouth 28 is sized and configured so as to receive the neck 27 of the pendant 18, typically through a snap fit. The pendant head portions 26 prevent the pendant head 26 from moving vertically relative to the carriers 22 when the pendant head 26 is snap fit into the carrier 22. Yet, the pendant is free to rotate about a vertical axis through the neck.
In this way, each of the carriers 22 are connected through the pendant 18 to the drapery fabric upper end 20. The pull cord 16 is connected to the master carrier (not shown) which is connected to at least one of the carriers 22. Thus, the pull cord is able to move the carriers and thus the drapery fabric 12 along the rail 14. When the pull cord is pulled in one direction the master carrier pushes the other carriers closer together and causing the drapery fabric to fold over itself and to be gathered at one end of the rail. The drapery system is then said to be in the open position. When the pull cord is pulled in the opposite direction, master carrier pulls all the carriers until they are spaced fully apart from one another. Now, the drapery system is said to be in the closed position.
In addition to pendants, other supporting means, such as a hook and eyelet arrangement, are also used. The system functions similarly with these other supporting means. For, example, a series of eyelets may be provided along the upper end of the drapery fabric. Then, a number of hooks are provided so that each hook may engage an eyelet and connect to the carrier. Or, a series of hooks can be provided along the upper end of the drapery fabric. Each hook then engages an eyelet upon a carrier. Preferably, the hook or eyelet can rotate about an axis through the hook or eyelet.


Embodiments include a computer system for temporary pipeline marking for processor error workarounds, the computer system having a processor configured to perform a method. The method includes monitoring a pipeline of the processor for an event that is predetermined to place the processor in a stuck state that results in an errant instruction execution result due to the stuck state or repeated resource contention causing performance degradation. The pipeline is marked for a workaround action based on detecting the event. A clearing action is triggered based on the marking of the pipeline. The marking of the pipeline is cleared based on the triggering of the clearing action.

The present application relates generally to an improved data processing system and method. More specifically, the present application is directed to a system and method for temporary pipeline marking for processor error workarounds.
In modern processor design, especially in an out-of-order processor design, design flaws in a pipeline can result in control state information living beyond the instruction for which it is intended, resulting in incorrect processing of the next instruction in that pipeline. Hung state information (as this form of design error refers to) is one of the most difficult problems to find and solve during a design phase, and are often not found until later when the design is implemented in hardware.
As another example, one or more state values used by a state machine that manages a pipeline in a processor can have a hung or stuck state value if the pipeline is at least partially cleared by a pipeline flush or an instruction rescind. In the processor, conditions can occur which require instructions currently executing in execution unit hardware of the processor to be flushed. For example, branches, load operations that miss the cache, exceptions, and the like can result in a pipeline flush. When instructions are flushed, state machines and control sequencers may need to be reset for the next operation to be executed successfully.
Failure to properly flush state from the control hardware of an execution unit is a source of design errors in processor designs, particularly for cases where complex instructions iteratively run for many cycles in the execution hardware (divide operations, for example). If a design error that results in an incomplete state reset for a particular instruction or instruction type is caught early in the design process, the design can be fixed without substantial penalty. However, if the design error is not detected until late in the design process, developing a workaround can be difficult.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Temporary pipeline marking for processor error workarounds

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Methods and systems are provided for latency-oriented router. An incoming packet is received on a first interface. The type of the incoming packet is determined. Upon the detection that the incoming packet belongs to latency-critical traffic, the incoming packet is duplicated into one or more copies. Subsequently, the duplicated copies are sent to a second interface in a delayed fashion where the duplicated copies are spread over a time period. The duplicated copies are received and processed at the second interface.

The "last mile" or "last kilometer" is a widely used phrase in the telecommunications, cable television and internet industries to refer to the final leg of the telecommunications network's delivery components and mechanisms to retail end-users or customers. Specifically, the last mile is the common colloquialism referring to the portion of the telecommunications network chain that physically reaches the end-user's premises. Examples are the copper wire subscriber lines connecting telephones to the local telephone exchange, coaxial cable service drops carrying cable television signals from utility poles to subscribers' homes, and cell towers linking local cell phones to the cellular network. The word "mile" is used metaphorically; the length of the last mile link may be more or less than a mile.
Because the last mile connection between the end-user's router and Internet Service Provider (ISP) often uses relatively low-quality connections (such as poorly conditioned ADSL, or wireless), the last mile may be a significant source of lost packets, which in turn often causes significant delays (such as increased latency and/or jitter). The problem is exacerbated for some latency-critical services such as VoIP and game applications.
Additionally, there is a common misperception that the quality of a connection can be measured exclusively in terms of bandwidth and/or throughput. However, for many applications (such as VoIP and games) different parameters, such as latency and jitter, may be much more important.
As a result, traditional communication systems fail to provide an ideal user experience with optimal reliability, efficiency, and latency.
The embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, generally, like reference numbers indicate the same or functionally similar elements.

Systems, apparatuses and methods for network packet management


A heart stimulator has an evoked response detector which determines evoked response in the presence of polarization. To determine the magnitude of the polarization for different stimulation amplitudes, the electrode signals picked up by a lead after the delivery of a stimulation pulse having a selected amplitude are measured. A polarization signal is obtained from the picked up signals, and this polarization signal, with modification, is subtracted from signals picked up following subsequently emitted stimulation pulses. Dependent on the subtraction result, a determination is made as to whether an evoked response has occurred.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an evoked response detector for a heart stimulator for determining evoked response in the presence of polarization, the heart stimulator having a pulse generator and a control unit for controlling the pulse generator to produce stimulation pulses of varying amplitudes, and a lead being intended to be introduced into the heart of a patient and connected to the pulse generator for delivering stimulation pulses to the heart, and wherein the evoked response detector has a measuring and memory unit for measuring and storing the electrode signal picked up by the lead in response to delivered stimulation pulses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To reduce the energy consumption of heart stimulators an automatic threshold search function, a so called AUTOCAPTURE(trademark) function, is provided to maintain the energy of the stimulation pulses at a level just above that which is needed to effectuate capture, cf. e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,623. A reliable detection of the evoked response, which then is necessary, is, however, not a simple matter, especially when it is desired to sense the evoked response with the same electrode as the one delivering the stimulation pulse. This is because of the fact that the evoked response potential is small in amplitude compared to the residual polarization charge. The residual charge decays exponentially but tends to dominate the evoked potential for several hundreds of milliseconds after the stimulation. If the polarization is too high, it could be wrongly interpreted by the evoked response detector as a capture, i.e. contraction of the heart. The AUTOCAPTURE(trademark) algorithm could then by mistake adjust the output amplitude of the stimulation pulse to a value below the actual capture level, which will result in no capture. If the used pacing lead has significant polarization this could consequently disturb the AUTOCAPTURE(trademark) function and result in loss of capture.
Several attempts have been made to solve the lead polarization problems in connection with evoked response detection. One way of reducing these problems is to use special low polarizing leads.
Another method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,718, which discloses a system for maintaining capture wherein electrical post-stimulus signal of the heart, following delivery of a stimulation pulse, is compared to a polarization template, determined during a capture verification test. A prescribed difference between the polarization template and the post-stimulus signal indicates capture. Otherwise loss of capture is presumed and the stimulation energy is increased a predetermined amount to obtain capture.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,957 a method and an apparatus are described for extracting an evoked response component from a sensed cardiac signal by suppressing electrode polarization components. An autocorrelation function is then calculated according to an autocorrelation algorithm and applied to the sensed cardiac signal. The autocorrelated signal thus obtained and the sensed cardiac signal are normalized and the difference between these two normalized signals is formed to thereby extract the evoked response component if it is present.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,312 a method and an apparatus are described to determine stimulating threshold through delivery pulse pairs consisting of a first lower amplitude search pulse with variable amplitude and a second regular pacing pulse within 50-100 ms. Threshold search is executed by incrementing the amplitude of the search pulse until an evoked response is detected. Alternatively the period from regular pacing pulse to the T-wave is measured and capture on the search pulse is determined as a sudden shortening of this interval. U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,312 further discusses methods to minimize polarization by optimizing pulse parameters of a two- or triphasic pacing pulse. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,312 however, makes no attempt to determine the polarization free evoked response signal by subtracting polarization determined by the actual stimulation amplitude from the signal picked up by the electrode in response to a stimulation pulse.
There is mostly at least one significant slope in the bipolar measured IEGM signal, which makes it possible to discriminate the evoked response signal from slowly varying signals such as polarization signals. Thus in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,693 a method of verifying capture of the heart by a cardiac pacemaker is described. Observing that the non-capture potential is exponential in form and the evoked capture potential, while generally exponential in form, has one or more small-amplitude perturbations superimposed on the exponential wave form, these perturbations are enhanced for ease of detection by processing the wave form signal by differentiation to form the second derivative of the evoked response signal for analysis for the evoked response detection.
Unipolar detection of evoked response signals is however not possible by this technique. Abrupt slope changes or superimposed small-amplitude perturbations are leveled out if the measurements are made over the longer distance from the electrode to the stimulator casing.
The unipolar sensed evoked response signal thus differs from the bipolar sensed evoked response signal both in duration and amplitude, see Baig et al, xe2x80x9cComparison of Unipolar and Bipolar Ventricular Based Evoked Responsesxe2x80x9d, Br Heart J. 1992, 68: 398-402. The duration of the evoked QRS complex is a measure of total ventricular bipolarization time in the area of the heart subtended by a sensing bipole, and it depends on the extension of the bipole. This means that the unipolar evoked response signal measured between the electrode tip and the casing of the heart stimulator has a longer duration than the bipolar evoked response measured between tip and ring electrodes. This is illustrated in FIG. 1 herein in which the upper curve shows an unfiltered cardiac signal measured by a unipolar lead and the lower curve the cardiac signal sensed by a bipolar electrode. Known; evoked response detectors, the function of which is based on the detection of a slope of the evoked response signal, typically in a detection window of 15-60 msesc after the stimulation pulse, are therefore not suited for detection of evoked response by unipolar electrodes.
It has now appeared that the evoked response signal amplitude is, fairly constant, independent of the stimulation pulse amplitude, i.e. the evoked response signal amplitude does not vary with the amplitude of the stimulation pulse (provided that the stimulation amplitude is above the capture threshold). Further, it has been found that the electrode polarization is approximately linearly dependent on the stimulation pulse amplitude for a constant pulse duration, as disclosed in European Application 0906768.
An object purpose of the present invention is to provide a heart stimulator having an evoked response detector detector for determining evoked response based on the above circumstances which does not depend on any slope measurements of the sensed signal, which can be used with both low polarizing and high polarizing unipolar sensing electrode leads.
The above object is achieved in accordance with the principles of the present invention in a heart stimulator having a pulse generator which emits stimulation pulses and a lead connected to the pulse generator adapted for introduction into the heart of a patient for delivering the stimulation pulses to the heart, a control unit for varying the respective amplitudes of the stimulation pulses, and an evoked response detector for determining evoked response in the presence of polarization, the evoked response detector including a measuring and storage unit for measuring the electrode signal picked up by the lead in response to respective stimulation pulses and for storing the measurement. For determining the magnitude of the polarization for different stimulation amplitudes, in a first embodiment the control unit controls the pulse generator to emit stimulation pulses including a high amplitude stimulation pulse preceding a low amplitude stimulation pulse, the low amplitude stimulation pulse having an amplitude equal to a known stimulation threshold voltage plus a predetermined voltage step, and the high amplitude stimulation pulse having an amplitude above the amplitude of the low amplitude stimulation pulse. The measurement and memory unit measures and stores respective signals picked up by the electrode lead immediately after the high amplitude stimulation pulse and the low amplitude stimulation pulse, as well as respectively signals picked up by the electrode lead immediately following subsequent stimulation pulses which are emitted after the low amplitude stimulation pulse. A calculating unit in the evoked response detector determines a first difference between the respective signals picked up by the electrode lead immediately after the high amplitude stimulation pulse and the low amplitude stimulation pulse, and also calculates a second difference between the amplitude of the high amplitude stimulation pulse and the amplitude of the low amplitude stimulation pulse, and the calculating unit forms a quotient of the first difference and the second difference. An analyzing unit in the evoked response detector determines whether an evoked response has occurred to respective ones of the subsequent stimulation pulses by, for each subsequent stimulation pulse, determining a polarization signal by multiplying the amplitude of the subsequent stimulation pulse by the aforementioned quotient, and subtracting the polarization signal from the signal picked up by the electrode lead immediately following the subsequent stimulation pulse.
In a second embodiment, the control unit controls the pulse generator to emit a high amplitude stimulation pulse preceding a succession of lower amplitude stimulation pulses. The lower amplitude stimulation pulses have respective amplitudes which are successively lowered from the amplitude of the high amplitude stimulation pulse by a predetermined voltage step, so that the respective lower amplitude stimulation pulses have amplitudes equal to a known stimulation threshold voltage plus one or more of the voltage steps. The measuring and memory unit measures and stores respective signals picked up the electrode lead immediately after the high amplitude stimulation pulse and each of the lower amplitude stimulation pulses. The calculating unit, for each of the lower amplitude stimulation pulses, determines a difference between the signal picked up by the electrode lead after the high amplitude stimulation pulse and the signal picked up by the electrode lead and a respective lower amplitude stimulation pulse, and divides this difference by the number of voltage steps which were used to produce the lower amplitude stimulation pulse which was used to form the aforementioned difference. This result is stored as a magnitude of polarization per voltage step. The analyzing unit determines whether an evoked response has occurred to subsequent stimulation pulses, emitted after a last of the lower amplitude stimulation pulses, by determining a polarization signal by forming a quotient between the amplitude of the subsequent stimulation pulse and the voltage step, and multiplying this quotient by the polarization pervoltage step, and subtracting the polarization signal from the signal picked up by the electrode lead immediately following the subsequent stimulation pulse.
In a third embodiment, the control unit operates the pulse generator to deliver a stimulation pulse having an amplitude below the stimulation threshold value, and a calculating unit calculates the quantity POlstep=Umeaslow/m, wherein Umeaslow is the measured electrode signal obtained from the stimulation pulse having an amplitude below the threshold value, and m is the quotient of the low stimulation amplitude and the employed voltage step. The evoked response detector also includes an analyzing unit which determines evoked response signals by subtracting, from subsequently picked up electrode signals, a polarization signal having a magnitude equal to the quotient between the actual stimulation amplitude and the voltage step, multiplied by the stored polarization per voltage step Polstep.
Thus in the detector according to the invention the polarization arising after a stimulation pulse which is a problem for safe detection of evoked response, is reduced to such an extent that also unipolar detection can be performed reliably. This is an important advantage since unipolar leads are less complicated to manufacture and have longer working life than bipolar electrodes. The detector according to the invention also makes it possible to determine in a reliable way when the AUTOCAPTURE(trademark) function of a heart stimulator can be activated. Thus the use of such heart stimulators can be extended also to patients having unipolar leads. Another advantage of the detector according to the invention is that no extra stimulation pulses, resulting in extra current draining, are needed as in previously known techniques for measuring the polarization.
In an embodiment of the detector according to the invention the pulse generator is controlled to deliver at least one high amplitude stimulation pulse and one low amplitude stimulation pulse a number of times, and the measuring and memory unit measures the corresponding electrode signals picked up by the lead after each stimulation pulse for calculating the aforementioned quotient a corresponding number of times. The therefor; calculating unit forms an average quotient value of the number of quotients to be used for subsequent determination of the evoked response. The pulse generator can also be controlled to deliver a number of series of stimulation pulses, each series starting with a high stimulation amplitude pulse and ending with a low stimulation amplitude pulse, and the calculating unit determines the magnitude of the polarization per voltage step Polstep from electrode signals picked up from each series of pulses and forms an average value of the obtained number of polarization per voltage step Polstep, this average value being stored for use as the stored polarization per voltage step Polstep for subsequent determination of the evoked response signal. For determining the evoked response signal the measuring and memory unit can further be adapted to sample the electrode signal picked up by the lead with a predetermined sampling frequency during a predetermined time interval after the delivery of a stimulation pulse for calculating a mean value of these sampled values. By these determinations of mean or average values small variations and interferences in the measured evoked response and polarization signals are suppressed.
In a further embodiment of the invention, a measuring and memory unit measures the electrode signal picked up by the lead before the delivery of a stimulation pulse to determine a DC level to be subtracted from the electrode signal picked up after the delivery of a stimulation pulse. The measuring and memory unit means can be adapted to measure the electrode signals picked up by the lead before the delivery of each stimulation pulse of the high amplitude and the low amplitude respectively and the calculation unit can be arranged to determine the average value of these measured signals prior to the stimulation pulse as the DC level to be subtracted from measurement signals picked up after the delivery of stimulation pulses. By subtracting the DC level from the measured electrode signal in this way the real magnitude of this signal is obtained.
In a further embodiment, a comparison unit compares the determined evoked response signal with a predetermined limit to determine whether capture is present or not. The pulse generator can be controlled to deliver a plurality of stimulation pulses of high stimulation amplitude and a plurality of low amplitude stimulation pulses and the calculating unit forms an average value of the plurality of evoked response signals resulting from the stimulation pulses of high amplitude and an average value of the plurality of evoked response signals resulting from the low amplitude stimulation pulses, said average values being supplied to the comparison unit for comparison with the predetermined limit value. In this way it is possible to determine not only whether capture is present or not, but also if the AUTOCAPTURE(trademark) function of the heart stimulator can be activated or not.

Heart stimulator having an evoked response detector


A lens system for a folding reflex camera is provided. The system includes: (a) a first group on the object side of the system's stop which (i) has a positive dioptric power, (ii) includes an aspheric surface, and (iii) has a concave surface adjacent to the stop; and (b) a second group on the image side of the stop consisting of either a single positive component or the combination of a single positive component and one or more focusing elements. The system includes at least two elements made of materials differing in dispersive powers where at least one of the elements is of plastic. The system can comprise just two plastic elements and even with such a simple configuration achieves excellent optical performance including a relatively flat field, relatively low distortion, and at least partial correction for lateral chromatic aberration.

1. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous objective lens systems for cameras have been proposed. Examples employing two elements include Simpson, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,932,764 and 5,000,552, and Davis, U.S. Pat. No. 2,586,418. See also Aldis, U.S. Pat. No. 682,017, discussed below. A two element lens for use in a copying machine, as opposed to a camera, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-242608. Similarly, Rothe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,311, discloses a two element design including an aspheric surface for use in an optical scanner.
Three element designs include Bertele, U.S. Pat. No. 2,721,501, Grey, U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,287, De Jager, U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,884, and Sato, U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,961 in which an aspheric surface is used, as well as the early Cooke/Taylor triplet and variations thereof. See Kingslake, R., A History of the Photographic Lens, Academic Press, New York, 1989, pages 103-115.
The incorporation of a focusing element or group in an objective lens system is disclosed in the following patents: Westphalen, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,185,061 and 3,388,650, Laurent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,153, Yamada, U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,071, Owen, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,067, Wakabayashi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,848, Nishi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,441, Nakayama et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,474, Takase, U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,537, and Ogawa et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,038. A construction of this general type for use in a viewfinder is disclosed in Wakamiya, U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,470. A magnifying lens employing an aspheric surface for attachment to the objective of a camera is disclosed in Baker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,786, and the use of an auxiliary lens for short range work is disclosed in Noguchi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,566.
Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 697,959, dated Apr. 22, 1902 to Ernst Abbe. He discusses how an aspheric surface can be used to improve far off-axis performance of a landscape type lens (cemented doublet and stop).
Notwithstanding the variety of objective lens systems which have been previously proposed, there still exists a need for lens systems of relatively simple construction which can be mass produced at low cost. In particular, such systems are needed in the field of multiple purpose hand cameras which are used by individuals and families, as well as for commercial applications, such as in the preparation of advertisements and the like, where small scale photographs of good to excellent quality can be useful and economic.
The present invention addresses this need and provides objective lens systems which 1) contain a minimum number of elements, 2) can be manufactured at low cost, and 3) have optical and physical properties suitable for use in a mass produced camera.
2. Design Principles
As is known from basic optical principles, even a simple, single lens element with spherical surfaces possesses a paraxial image position conjugate to an object distance, and an equivalent focal length, which together comprise the element's "Gaussian" optics of first order magnitude. For a rotational lens system, the usual case for practical objectives intended for mass production, there are no second order aberrations.
The chromatic variations of both image location and image size, that is to say, longitudinal and lateral chromatic aberrations, can be construed as of third order in magnitude. For the monochromatic third order of approximation and, in particular, for the development of a power series which represent the x and y intercepts on the image surface of a light ray from an object point after transit through the optical system, there will be five independent mathematical coefficients of series terms which represent the conditions to be reduced essentially to zero or at least to optimized small non-zero values. These "Seidel" coefficients in physical meaning have to do with spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism, curvature of field, and distortion.
The development of the associated power series can be carried out in explicit formulations of object distance, curvature of the object surface if any, off-axis position of the object point, intercepts of a given ray in the entrance pupil, or the equivalent in image space, and the like. Thus, the x and y intercepts of a given ray on a desired image surface can be given as a power series in 5 variables, one of which is the wavelength, or in 4 variables monochromatically, or even in 3 if rotational relationships are employed. The variables may be simple, as for example the direction of the object point as seen from the center of the entrance pupil (2 variables), and the x and y intercepts of a ray from the object point on the entrance pupil, or in terms of selected functions of the simple variables. The design task if formulated in simplest terms is to bring all rays from an object point into sharp focus at an image point. The location of the image point may not be exactly where desired but may include a displacement in x, y and z according to allowable tolerances. For example, a lateral displacement in the image surface may be permitted to some degree, in the nature of distortion, one of the Seidel conditions.
In the fifth order of approximation one encounters nine monochromatic aberrations, plus chromatic variations of the five Seidel conditions, and secondary chromatic variations of the image position in longitudinal displacement, as well as secondary chromatic variations of magnification, or of the equivalent focal length if the object plane lies at infinity. Higher orders of power series approximation have been worked out by various theorists, but the complexities of solution are such as to confine the higher order formulas generally to analysis rather than to synthesis of optical structures.
The above mentioned power series contain the basic parameters of construction of the optical system, such as the radii of curvature of the multiple surfaces, the axial spacings of the surfaces, the indices of refraction of the media used, including the wavelength dependence in some mathematical form, and if any particular surface is aspheric, that is, nonspherical, the aspheric coefficients that define the shape of the surface according to the order of approximation. The object of the invention is thus to select a set of parameters which can be used to cost-effectively to produce an objective lens system which can be successfully employed for family or general purpose applications and the like.
3. Historic Lens Designs
In the past, so-called landscape lenses have combined a single meniscus lens element with spherical surfaces with a stop at an optimum location in the lens barrel, such that one can say that the meniscus is curved in a general sense about the stop. Even if the aperture-ratio is quite limited, as for example, f/16 or slower, such a landscape lens is afflicted with distortion. With the stop forward, the distortion is barrel in nature, and if the stop is rearward of the meniscus, the distortion is pin-cushion. If the stop is rearward, the overall length is accordingly reduced. In addition, compromises have to be made with curvature of field, chromatic aberrations, astigmatism and residual aberrations of spherical aberration and coma. Nevertheless, vast numbers of family photographs have been made by means of such simplified objectives, optimized as well as may be from the complex of considerations.
In accordance with the invention, it has been found that the optical performance can be improved even for a plastic material having a relatively low index and moderate dispersion characteristics by means of at least one surface of the meniscus becoming aspheric. Use of an aspheric of optimum shape has been found to reduce distortion and to reduce astigmatism to a level sufficient to flatten the mean image surface. By means of modern manufacturing techniques known in the art the use of at least one aspheric surface per plastic element is practical for mass production.
As discussed in detail below, the photographic objective of the present invention has two lens groups, one before a centrally located stop and one after. Thus, in general terms, it can be considered to resemble that of the Aldis lens (see Aldis, U.S. Pat. No. 682,017, issued Sep. 3, 1901).
Symmetrical or nearly symmetrical objectives of two meniscus elements enclosing a central stop are known in the art and have many uses, particularly for medium to wide angle performance where a "slow" lens may be used. The well-known "Hypergon", U.S. Pat. No. 706,650 by Carl Paul Goerz, which at a high aperture-ratio such as f/60 can cover very wide angle fields on a nearly flat image surface, uses this approach. The symmetry of the arrangement eliminates most of the coma even for an infinite object distance, although not entirely. The very restrictive central stop reduces the spherical aberration and longitudinal chromatic aberrations to manageable proportions and the rest of the residual coma as well. The effectiveness of the thin Hypergon menisci arises from the near optical cancellation of the convex and adjacent concave surfaces of the individual meniscus, the power, though low, coming partly from the separation of the convex and concave surfaces, that is, from the thickness of the individual meniscus. An optimization causes the tangential and radial image surfaces to lie close to a mean nearly flat image surface and to one another as well.
A difficulty with the more or less symmetrical double meniscus form is that the principal points and indeed the perspective center lie more or less within a rather long lens barrel. The overall length of the objective from front surface vertex to the axial point of the image surface is thereby greater than the equivalent focal length, resulting usually in a lack of compactness in the camera itself. Indeed, an important requirement of the modern hand camera is compactness. Another requirement is that the clear apertures of front and rear surfaces be relatively modest which means that the menisci cannot be very far from the central stop, front and rear, if an adequate field of view is to be covered.
Unsymmetrical objectives employing at least one strong meniscus component preceding the stop, which in some cases is only a single element, are also known in the art. This structure enhances several characteristics of the front element of the Hypergon. The inner concave surface opposed to and lying at a moderate axial distance from the stop provides to some extent for a reduced Petzval sum and reduction in astigmatism caused by the meniscus component as a whole, while at the same time a substantial thickness of the meniscus component preserves much of the net lens power needed for focusing the oncoming rays from a distance object. These historic designs, however, have not achieved the optical performance at low cost which the present invention achieves.


The present invention provides compositions, methods, and kits comprising one or more RORγ inhibitors, alone or in combination with one or more anticancer drugs, such as an anti-androgen drug, that are useful for treating cancer, e.g., prostate cancer, such as castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), and numerous other types of cancer including lung cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, bladder cancer, colon cancer, lymphoma, and glioma.

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the United States, and despite the development of various different treatment methods such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hormone deprivation therapy, there is no 100% effective cure to these diseases. One of the reasons current cancer treatment methods do not result in eradication of the cancerous tissue in afflicted individuals is through the development of drug resistance by the cancerous cells. Patients who exhibit drug resistance to a particular cancer drug will have tumors that no longer react to the drug and can continue growing despite continued treatment.
Because drug resistance can be a common outcome during the course of administering a particular cancer therapy, it is important to continue developing new drugs and to identify new targets to treat cancer. For example, advanced prostate cancers (PCa) such as metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancers (mCRPCs) are deadly diseases. The most effective therapeutics such as enzalutamide and abiraterone give only a few months of overall survival benefit in a subgroup of the PCa patients.
As such, there is currently a need in the art for new methods and compositions for treating cancer patients and patients with drug-resistant cancers. The present disclosure addresses these and other needs.

Methods for treating cancer with RORγ inhibitors

The Regents of the University of California


A plasma display module, which can effectively dissipate heat, is disclosed. In one embodiment, the plasma display module includes i) a plasma display panel that displays images using gas discharge, ii) a chassis located on one surface of the plasma display panel to support the plasma display panel and iii) a driving circuit unit which is located on a surface of the chassis opposite to the plasma display panel to generate electrical signals for driving the plasma display panel, and includes at least one integrated circuit, wherein the chassis includes at least one convex unit, and the at least one integrated circuit is located on the convex unit of the chassis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display module, and more particularly, to a plasma display module having an increased heat dissipation efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A plasma display module is a flat display device that displays an image using gas discharge, and has recently drawn attention since it can be used for a large thin screen having a wide viewing angle.
A plasma display module includes a plasma display panel composed of first and second panels, a chassis located on one side of the plasma display panel to support the plasma display panel, a driving circuit unit located on a side opposite to the chassis to generate an electrical signal that drives the plasma display panel, and a circuit mounting element that mounts the driving circuit unit on the chassis.
Electronic parts are located on the driving circuit unit, and generate a great deal of heat, particularly integrated circuits. If the heat is not appropriately dissipated to the environment, the integrated circuits deteriorate, and the performance of the driving circuit unit that includes the integrated circuits is diminished. Therefore, a heat sink for heat dissipation is generally located in close contact with each integrated circuit.
The integrated circuits can be classified into monolithic integrated circuits, in which a semiconductor chip is mounted on a patterned conductive layer, and intelligent power module (IPM) devices in which passive devices, such as individual resistors and capacitors, are mounted together with active devices such as semiconductor chips, on a patterned conductive layer. However, due to structural differences, the IPM device has a larger heat generating area, and accordingly generates more heat than the monolithic integrated circuit. Therefore, a heat sink alone, as in the conventional plasma display module, cannot provide effective heat dissipation from the IPM device.


A printing unit prints to a pre-folded substrate web. An intake unit is at an intake of a transport arrangement. A synchronization sensor is at the transport arrangement between an infeed roller and the printing unit. The synchronization sensor emits a synchronization signal when a fold of the web is present at the synchronization sensor for synchronization of a printing operation with feed of the web. A path between the synchronization sensor and a freely accessible point of the intake unit is designed such that a fold is present at the synchronization sensor when the printing substrate web has a fold at the accessible point. A relative humidity sensor is at the printing unit. A relative humidity measured by the sensor is compared with a relative humidity of an input stack. Given a deviation a length change of the web between the synchronization sensor and the accessible point is calculated, the web being displaced by the length change at the accessible point.

Ink printing apparatuses can be used for single-color or multicolor printing of a printing substrate, for example of a single sheet or of a web-shaped printing substrate made of the most varied materials (paper, for example). The design of such ink printing apparatuses is known; see for example EP 0 788 882 B1. Ink printing apparatuses that, for example, operate according to the Drop-on Demand (DoD) principle have as a printing unit a print head or multiple print heads with nozzle units comprising ink channels and activators, wherein the activators—controlled by a printer controller—can excite ink droplets in the direction of the printing substrate, which ink droplets are directed onto the printing substrate in order to apply print dots for a print image there. The activators can generate ink droplets thermally (bubble jet) or piezoelectrically.
The processing of a printing substrate web as a stacked good should be possible in an ink printing apparatus that prints with high print speeds (>=75 m/min). It is thereby to be taken into account that these ink printing apparatuses have a long printing substrate path (transfer-printing zone with multiple print bars, drying routes) that is typical of an inkjet. This applies in particular given processing of stacked goods in a full-color high-capacity inkjet printer.
A method to control a drive for a printing substrate web in a printing apparatus that prints to a pre-folded printing substrate web with marginal perforation is known from EP 1 047 559 B1. The printing substrate web is transported through the printing apparatus via a drive assembly controlled by a print controller. The printer controller receives signals from a sensor that are dependent on the feed of the printing substrate web. For this, a sprocket is provided whose spokes engage in the marginal perforation of the printing substrate web and is entrained by this. Depending on this, the sensor signals are generated from which the feed velocity of the printing substrate web can be calculated. This is compared with a desired velocity and, given deviations, the feed velocity of the printing substrate web is corrected. Upon insertion of a new printing substrate web, this is manually drawn in by the operator up to the drive assembly. A straight edge on which the printing substrate web can be aligned is arranged on a guide surface at the drive assembly. With a drive motor, the printing substrate web is moved until the beginning of a page rests on a marking on the straight edge. The printing substrate web can subsequently be moved through the printing unit with print velocity.
The feeding of a new printing substrate web into the printing apparatus can also take place in that the new printing substrate web is adhered to a printing substrate web that is already threaded into the printing apparatus and is pulled by this through the printing apparatus. In this case, a synchronization (for example at a fold of the printing substrate web) must take place in the printing apparatus with the aid of a synchronization sensor in order to establish the position of the print images on the printing substrate web. Since the synchronization sensor should be situated before the printing unit of the printing apparatus near its intake, this alignment of the printing substrate web must take place in the printing apparatus, thus at a point in the printing apparatus that is difficult to access. It is thereby to be taken into account that the length of a printing substrate web is dependent on the climate conditions in the region of the printing apparatus, is additionally different for different types of printing substrate web, and additionally can change before the insertion of the printing substrate web into the printing apparatus. A change of the length of the printing substrate web should thus be taken into account, meaning that the synchronization (for example at a fold of the printing substrate web) must be corrected in order to achieve a correct print image on the printing substrate web.

Ink printing apparatus, and method to control the driving of a printing apparatus


High green strength reactive hot melt adhesives are prepared using relatively low levels of reactive acrylic, and may be prepared with one or more difunctionals having cyclic or polycyclic structures.

Hot melt adhesives are solid at room temperature but, upon application of heat, melt to a liquid or fluid state in which form they are applied to a substrate. On cooling, the adhesive regains its solid form. The hard phase(s) formed upon cooling the adhesive imparts all of the cohesion (strength, toughness, creep and heat resistance) to the final adhesive. Curable hot melt adhesives, which are also applied in molten form, cool to solidify and subsequently cure by a chemical crosslinking reaction. An advantage of hot melt curable adhesives over traditional liquid curing adhesives is their ability to provide "green strength" upon cooling prior to cure.
The majority of reactive hot melts are moisture-curing urethane adhesives. These adhesives consist primarily of isocyanate terminated polyurethane prepolymers that react with surface or ambient moisture in order to chain-extend, forming a new polyurethane polymer. Polyurethane prepolymers are conventionally obtained by reacting diols with diisocyanates. Pure diols are favored for use, instead of polyols with higher functionality, to avoid excessive branching that can lead to poor pot stability. Methylene bisphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) is favored over lower molecular weight isocyanates to minimize volatility. Cure is obtained through the diffusion of moisture from the atmosphere or the substrates into the adhesive, and subsequent reaction. The reaction of moisture with residual isocyanate forms carbamic acid. This acid is unstable, decomposing into an amine and carbon dioxide. The amine reacts rapidly with isocyanate to form a urea. The final adhesive product is a crosslinked material held together primarily through urea groups and urethane groups.
The prior art discloses that that the performance of reactive hot melt adhesives for most applications may be substantially improved by the incorporation of acrylic polymers into conventional polyurethane adhesives, in particular reactive hydroxy-containing and non-reactive acrylic copolymers. Improvement in green strength may be obtained by adding higher molecular weight polymers (reactive or not) and/or incorporating crystalline diols, most commonly polyester diols.
These prior art adhesives are extremely tough, with outstanding low temperature flexibility, heat and chemical resistance, and specific adhesion to polar substrates. Adhesion to a wide range of other substrates may be obtained through the addition of adhesion promoters such as silane coupling agents. Despite these advances in the art, there remains a need for improvements in reactive hot melt technology to expand the application of such adhesives and their effectiveness in such applications. The present invention addresses this need.

Reactive hot melt adhesive with improved properties

National Starch and Chemical Investment Holding Corporation


The invention provides a gene transfer vector comprising a humanized nucleic acid sequence encoding an immunogenic portion of one or more exotoxins of Bacillus anthracis and a heterologous sorting signal. The invention also provides a method of producing an immune response against Bacillus anthracis in a host comprising administering to the host the gene transfer vector.

In the last 50 years, only 236 people have been infected with anthrax in the United States. Although primarily a veterinary disease, the recent anthrax bioterrorism threat suggests that the incidence of anthrax in humans likely will increase. The disease is initiated by contact with anthrax spores and manifests as inhaled, cutaneous, and gastrointestinal forms, all of which can be fatal. Inhalation anthrax, however, has the highest mortality, with a survival rate of only 60% in the recent U.S. bioterrorism incidents (see, e.g., Ingelsby et al., JAMA, 287, 2236-2252 (2002)).
The pathogenesis of many bacterial infections is dependent on extracellular proteins known as exotoxins. Exotoxins cause pathogenesis by a number of mechanisms, including tissue invasion, cell lysis, effects on neurotransmitter uptake and release, and disruption of cellular homeostasis. With respect to Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, pathogenesis is elicited by three exotoxins known as protective antigen (PA), edema factor (EF), and lethal factor (LF). PA is a proteolytically activated heptamer which binds to a specific cellular receptor and facilitates intracellular translocation of EF and/or LF. LF is a metalloprotease which acts on a variety of substrates including mitogen-activated protein kinase. EF induces fluid loss, possibly through elevation of intracellular cyclic AMP (camp) levels. Bacillus anthracis exotoxins are binary in that two Polypeptides are required for toxicity.
The anthrax vaccine that is currently available in the United States consists of a cell-free filtrate of a nonencapsulated attenuated strain of B. anthracis (Bioport Corporation, Lansing, Mich.), of which protective antigen is the major component (see, e.g., Puziss et al., J. Bacteriol., 85, 230-236 (1962), and Puziss et al., Appl. Microbiol., 11, 330-334 (1963)). The safety and efficacy of this vaccine in humans, however, remains the focus of intense investigation (see, e.g., Inglesby et al., supra). Indeed, several drawbacks associated with the vaccine have been reported, including the need for frequent boosters, the apparent inability to protect adequately against certain strains of B. anthracis, and occasional local immunogenicity (see, e.g., Ivins et al., Eur. J. Epidemiol., 4, 12-19 (1988)). In addition, an experimental vaccine based on recombinant PA with an Alhydrogel adjuvant is currently being developed by the U.S. Army, but has not yet been tested in humans (see, e.g., Ivins et al., Vaccine, 16, 1141-1148 (1998)).
Accordingly, there remains a need for alternative compositions and methods for protection against anthrax infection that elicit a rapid and efficient immune response in a broad spectrum of the population. The invention provides such a composition and method. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

Genetic vaccines directed against bacterial exotoxins


A household appliance, in particular a water-conducting household appliance, which can be connected to a power supply network of an energy supplier, includes a communication and/or control facility. A bidirectional signal connection connects the communication and/or control facility to the energy supplier for exchange and/or request information, in particular network electricity information relating to electricity tariffs of the energy supplier.

The invention relates to a household appliance, in particular a water-conducting household appliance, which can be connected to a power supply network of an energy supplier, and is fitted with a communication and/or control facility.
Energy supply companies can offer different electricity tariffs in their energy supply networks. These differ inter alia in respect of electricity price, availability period and in respect of the manner of electricity generation. One standard tariff is for example the night electricity tariff, which is known per se and with which the price of electricity is more favourable at night.
To this end power suppliers output ripple control signals by way of the power supply network, containing for example information about the start and end times of the night electricity tariff. It is possible to actuate household appliances automatically based on such ripple control signals, thereby utilising the more favourable night electricity tariff.


A method of building and transferring a tread 12 or a tread belt reinforcing assembly 14 on a building drum 10 is disclosed. The steps include applying at least one uncured tread component 12, 14 onto a radially collapsible building drum 10, inserting the at least one uncured tread component 12 and the radially collapsible building drum 10 into an open segmented mold 2 wherein a plurality of mold tread forming segments 4 are radially expanded; contracting the plurality of mold tread forming segments 4 pressing into the at least one uncured tread component 12, 14; collapsing the building drum 10; and removing the building drum 10 thereby transferring the at least one uncured tread component 12, 14 into the mold. The preferred building drum apparatus 10 has a portable radially expandable and axially rotatable support means 20; a drive means 30 for rotating the support means 20 about the axis, a plurality of arcuate or straight segments 22 slidably mounted over the support means, the plurality of arcuate or straight segments 22 forming an annular building surface 24; a means 40 for radially expanding and contracting the radially expandable and axially rotatable support means; a means for receiving and accepting the tread or tread belt assembly while mounted on the plurality of arcuate or straight segments 22 mounted onto the portable support means 20, the receiving means 2 being a segmented mold 2 with radially movable tread forming segments 4.

In the manufacture of pneumatic tires elastomeric components, some of which are reinforced by cords of textile or wire, are formed as long strips. These strips are assembled together to form a carcass subassembly in a first stage of assembly. This carcass typically has one or more cord reinforced plies, a pair of bead cores and an air impervious liner. Additional strips of material such as apexes, shoulder gum strips and chippers and chaffers may also be used in this first stage of tire assembly.
In a second stage the tread rubber and belt or breaker reinforcing structure is typically applied to the carcass after the carcass has been toroidally shaped on the tire building drum. The tread rubber can be of one homogeneous compound or more. Typically the tread is a sophisticated composite of many different rubber materials co-extruded to form a tread strip. The belt or breaker reinforcing layers generally include two layers or more of cross plies reinforced by equal but oppositely oriented cords of textiles, such as nylon or aramid or wire such as steel. Additionally, overlays or underlays of generally circumferentially oriented cords may be added as an additional layer.
Tires typically have been built using this two-stage assembly. Once assembled this uncured assembly of the components is placed in a mold to be vulcanized to form a finished tire.
High speed and efficient ways to manufacture tires require the processes to be reliable and fast. Accordingly, manufacturers of tires have experimented with and perfected many ways to improve on the basic two-stage assembly of tires.
One method described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,670 taught the use of an expansible and contractible transfer ring for conveying a breaker tread assembly from a building drum in a tire building machine to a tire carcass mounted on a tire shaping machine.
An improved but somewhat similar U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,720 also disclosed a separate tread breaker building drum designed to vary in size to accommodate different sizes of tires.
Similarly, the Charles E. Todd U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,669 also disclosed an expansible and contractible transfer ring for conveying a breaker-tread assembly.
Each of these prior art patents recognized that an assembly of a tread belt to a tire carcass can be accomplished off-line or separate from the carcass building machine. Once formed into a ring these tread breaker assemblies could be moved to encircle a tire carcass, the carcass inflated to contact the inner surface of the tread breaker assembly and then stitched together by a roller mechanism to form a green or uncured tire assembly to be placed into a mold.
While these assembly techniques provided efficiencies in production, none really changed the method for actually forming a tire assembly.
Conventional tire molds, whether two piece molds or segmented molds, form the tread surfaces by pressing groove forming ribs and sipe forming blades into the tread rubber as the tire is molded. As this is done the belt cords, particularly those directly under the groove-forming ribs deflect in small but noticeable undulations. These undulations create a variety of changes across the tread that actually can vary the surface or change the amount of tread rubber across the otherwise normal appearing tire. These non-uniformities can lead to mass imbalance issues, irregular wear and a variety of associated ride and handling performance issues. The goal in tire manufacturing is to minimize unpredictable non-uniformities in manufacturing while also building the tire in a very cost-efficient manner.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method that minimizes or eliminates the influence of the tread forming mold surfaces as the tire is molded.
A further object of the invention is to provide a more productive method of assembling the tread-belt or breaker reinforcing structure to the carcass.
Another objective is to change the method of how the tread forming surfaces engage the tread rubber.
Still another objective is to provide a novel apparatus for forming the tread-belt or breaker assembly and to employ that apparatus to a unique tire building system.


The present invention relates to a modified radial motion method for modifying lengthwise curvature of face-milling spiral bevel and hypoid gears, which is capable of modifying a locus of a cutter center into a curve, without changing a head cutter's geometry, by providing modified radial motion of the head cutter cooperating with rotation of a cradle. The modified radial motion method in accordance with the present invention completely solves the contradictions caused by the existing lengthwise curvature modification methods, which is able to increase the adjustability of the gear set without reducing the tooth contact.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a modified radial motion method for modifying lengthwise curvature of face-milling spiral bevel and hypoid gears, which is capable of modifying a locus of a cutter center into a curve, without changing a head cutter's geometry, by providing modified radial motion of the head cutter cooperating with rotation of a cradle.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
The purpose of lengthwise curvature modification is to change the contact pattern of the gear sets. The related existing methods are:
1) Changing the head cutter's geometry. Such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,127 proposes method to modify tooth form with modified grinding wheel.
2) Modifying the roll ratio between the cradle and the work-gear. Just as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,990.
However, adjustability of the gear set (V-H value) is accordingly changed after the lengthwise curvature modification in tooth surface. The main problem that the industrial sector confronts is the adjustability of the gear set decreases while the tooth contact pattern is increasing (decrease the Heizian contact stress). Adjustability of the gear set and tooth contact are the main index data indicating the quality of the gear, which usually contradict to each other. The primary object of the present invention is to solve the contradiction.
In recent years, CNC hypoid generator has taken the place of the conventional cradle type hypoid generator. The motion of CNC hypoid generator is holding-type-orthogonal motion. U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,402 discloses a Multi-axis bevel and hypoid gear generating machine having six flexibilities, which including three translational axes (x-axis, y-axis, z-axis) and three rotational axes (cutter-axis, work-gear-axis and machine-root-angle-axis). The three translational axes are arranged in mutually orthogonal directions. The spatial relationship between the cutter-axis and the work-gear-axis is described by the machine-root-angle-axis and the three translational axes (x-axis, y-axis, z-axis). Another hypoid generating machine disclosed by WIPO 02/066,193, which has six flexibilities, including three translational axes (x-axis, y-axis, z-axis) and three rotational axis (cutter-axis, work-gear-axis and machine-root-angle-axis). The three translational axes are arranged in mutually orthogonal directions. The spatial relationship between the cutter-axis and the work-gear-axis is described by the machine-root-angle-axis and the three translational axes (x-axis, y-axis, z-axis). The machine-root axis consists of cradle.
There are two lengthwise curvature modification methods existing in the industrial sector, one is head cutter's geometry change and the other is by modifying the roll ratio between the cradle and the work-gear. However, the head cutter's geometry change requires the resetting of the machine setting, which is time consuming. The cradle type hypoid generating machine being currently applied in the industrial sector is shown in FIG. 1, wherein cutter 1 is mounted on a rotation plate 2, on the cutter 1 is arranged with blade. The rotation plate 2 is mounted on an eccentric disc 3, the tilt of the head cutter is determined by rotation angles of i (rotation plate 2) and j (eccentric disc 3). The eccentric disc 3 is disposed on the cradle 5. When the head cutter is not tilt, i=0,j=0, cutter 1 is mounted on the cradle 5 directly. The radial setting SR is the shortest distance between cutter-axis b—b and cradle-axis a—a on the reference machine plane. The machine plane is fixed to the basement and the unit normal is the cradle-axis a—a. When the cradle rotates, the generating of tooth is achieved by taking use of the relative motion between the cutter and the work gear 4. The radial setting of the cradle type hypoid generating machined currently used in industrial sector is constant, in case of rotation of the cradle, the locus of the cutter center on the machine plane is a circular arc, rotation angle of the cradle q and the radial setting SR determine the position of the cutter center.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional lengthwise curvature modification methods.

Modified radial motion (MRM) method for modifying lengthwise curvature of face-milling spiral bevel and hypoid gears


A Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) network that stores, in real time, data, such as motion pictures, still images, audio sounds, etc., collected from outside of the home into a storage device located, preferably, in the home. In particular, a data collecting device requests a device search through the home network, receiving an acknowledgement from a storage device, requests device information from the storage device, receives the device information from the storage device, configures a storage path of the data collecting device using the device information, and stores data it collects into the storage device using the storage path. It is accordingly possible to allow the user to conveniently play back the data collected by the handheld device using the household appliances without additional manipulation for transferring the collected data, despite the limited storage capacity of the handheld device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) network and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for storing data (for example, motion pictures, still images, audio sounds, and etc.) collected from outside of the home into a storage device connected to the DLNA network in real time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various home automation solutions have been proposed and commercialized. Home automation is based on the home networking which allows homeowners to, from outside the house, control household appliances such as a personal computer (PC); communication devices, including a telephone and a television; audio and video (AV) devices, including a digital video disc (DVD) player and a digital camera. The early home automation concept is based on controlling the household appliances independently, using the telephone lines or infrared rays, i.e., without internetworking of the household appliances.
As the technologies developed, home automation has been implemented such that the household appliances and facilities are networked and integrally controlled by a controller. Such an integrally controlled system is called a "home network system."
In the home network system, the household appliances and facilities such as TV, laundry machine, microwave cookery, audio, air conditioner, heating boiler, lights, gas valve, and door locks are associated to a home gateway or a home server such that the household appliances and facilities can be controller by a handheld device (e.g., remote controller) through the home gateway or the home server.
Recently, home network system standardization has been progressed such that the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), especially, is a standard for controlling household appliances. The DLNA, established in June 2003 and formerly called the Digital Home Working Group (DHWG), is an alliance of industry-leading members including Microsoft (MS), International Business Machines (IBM), Hewlett-Packard (HP), Intel, Sony, Matsushita, Samsung, etc. Among the aims of the DLNA is aligning the companies, having industry standards that will allow products from all companies to be compatible with each other, and enabling a network of electronic devices such as TV, VCR, digital camera, and audio components in the home. The DLNA has also focused on the interoperability between networked entertainment and media devices for personal media uses involving imaging, audio and video.
The DLNA defines a PC Internet Network wherein PC and PC peripherals such as a printer communicate; a Mobile Network of multimedia mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) 1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) players, laptop computers, and similar devices that provides unparalleled connectivity and freedom of movement into and out of the home environment; and a consumer electronic (CE) network of set-top boxes and traditional consumer electronics. Also, to deliver interoperability in the digital home, DLNA has focused on industry collaboration, standards-based interoperability, and compelling products.
One of the especially key issues of the DLNA is media management and control which enable devices and applications to identify, manage, and distribute media contents across the stationary home network, or to transmit it to a mobile device. UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) Audio/Video (AV) technology addresses all of these needs for the home network and is the media management and control solution for devices developed according to the DLNA interoperability guidelines. Accordingly, DLNA has developed physical media, network transports, media formats, streaming protocols and digital rights management mechanisms on the basis of UPnP.
The internetworking for home network according to DLNA is based on Internet Protocol (IP), which provides underlying network communication for devices on the Internet and allows applications running over different media to communicate transparently.
For example, a PC or an advanced set top box (STB) may stream media contents to a TV in a master bedroom through an Ethernet cable to an 802.11 Access Point, and then wirelessly to the TV. With Internet Protocol (IP), all the DLNA devices can communicate with other devices located anywhere around the world through the Internet.
DLNA is likely to be implemented with a wired fast Ethernet (802.11u) and wireless Ethernet (802.11a/b/g) as the physical layer. Stability of the wired Ethernet has already been proved, and the use of wireless Ethernet, i.e., Wi-Fi, for wireless home networking has become widespread.
DLNA is implemented on the basis of UPnP AV architecture. It is also implemented according to UPnP Device architecture which is used for locating and controlling devices across the DLNA network, i.e., automatically configuring the IP address and recognizing other devices on the network with reference to the IP address, as well as checking and managing services to be provided.
The home network device category is made up of five Device Classes that share system usages in the home network. The five have the same media format and network connectivity requirements. Among them, Digital Media Server (DMS) devices assumes the role, like the Media Server Device in the UPnP AV specification, for providing media acquisition, recording, storage, and sourcing capabilities, as well as content protection enforcement as required. Digital Media Player (DMP) devices assume the role, like the Media Render Device (MRD) and the Media Renderer Control Point (MRCP), for finding, selecting, and controlling playback of contents exposed by a DMS.
Typically, the DLNA system enables the household appliances to share contents and to exchange the contents with outside devices through the Internet.
With the improvement of the transmission speed and quality, and deployment of the wireless communication networks, various wireless contents services have been commercialized with multimedia contents such as motion pictures, MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) files, mobile network games, etc. Also, the wireless contents services have made significant advances in the development of the handheld phone equipped with various functions such as a built-in camera module, which enables the taking of motion picture or photographs.
However, the handheld phone, which tends to become slimmer in design, is limited in its ability to store a large capacity of data. This becomes problematic for large multimedia files such as motion pictures and images.
Also, outputting the collected multimedia file using a household appliance like TV requires copying out the data stored in the handheld phone to that appliance. For example, the data collected by the handheld phone should be transmitted to the TV through an IEEE 1394 cable or a Universal Serial Bus (USB). The conventional method for outputting the data collected by the handheld phone through other electronic device therefore requires connecting the handheld phone with the target device and manipulating them to execute the several commands, resulting in inconvenience to the user.

Method and apparatus for storing data using DLNA network

Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea


The present invention provides heteropolycyclic compounds represented by General Formulae (1) and (2):

Colorants have heretofore been used as dyes or pigments, but with the progress of electronics technologies, they are increasingly used in various fields as key materials for information display and data recording systems. Accordingly, colorants are required to have various abilities, and the development of colorants having physical and functional properties suitable for many applications is demanded.
With respect to fluorescent colorants, high luminescence intensities, and appropriate optical absorption wavelengths and luminescence wavelengths are desired. Further, it is desired for fluorescent colorants to emit light, not only in solution but also in the solid state (this property is hereinafter referred to as "solid-state luminescence"), and to have excellent performance in terms of heat resistance, light resistance, solubility, dispersibility in resist materials, etc.

Abstract: wherein R1 is a straight- or branched-chain C1-C10 alkyl group or the like; R2 and R3 are the same or different and are each a straight- or branched-chain C1-C10 alkyl group or the like; R4 and R5 are each a hydrogen atom; X is —OH or the like; X′ is a straight- or branched-chain C1-C10 alkyl group or the like; and Z is —O— or the like. The heteropolycyclic compounds of the present invention have appropriate optical absorption wavelengths and fluorescence wavelengths and a high luminescence intensity, and can be advantageously used in various applications as colorants that have excellent performance in terms of heat resistance, light resistance, solubility, dispersibility in resist materials, solid luminescence, etc.