There is presented a system for managing digital media content, the system comprising a media server accessible over a communications network, the media server including a server processor. The server processor is configured to identify a first container data structure, the first container data structure including the digital media content encoded in a first encoding format. The server processor is also configured to use a digital media profile, and to extract a media file including the digital media content encoded in the first encoding format, from the first container data structure, according to the digital media profile. The server processor is further configured to assemble the media file in a second container data structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the management of digital media content. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for containing and distributing digital media content.
2. Background Art
Films, television programming, entertainment trailers, and the like, are examples of content that lends itself to distribution in the form of digital media files. Typically, such media content is prepared for distribution in three general steps. First, the content may be encoded in any of a number of available encoding formats to address the diversity of distribution platforms and the devices on which the media are to be played back. For example, media content may be encoded in conformity with Windows Media Video (WMV), Moving Picture Experts Group compression standards such as MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, On2 VP6, and other formats supported by consumer playback devices including cable and satellite set-top boxes, online video via the Internet, and portable playback devices such as mobile handsets and mobile video players. Second, the encoded media may be inserted into, i.e., "wrapped in", one of many different container formats, for example, QuickTime, Advanced Systems Format (ASF), or MP4. Third, metadata associated with the media typically is produced separately, and is commonly replicated many times over for each distribution platform. In addition, in some cases, other content or applications such as interactive menus, games, and other programs associated with the core media content may be produced by another set of third party contributors.
Because the described packaging process utilizes data and protocols created by independent parties, there may be little or no compatibility between the different elements within a media package. As a result, the wrapping is often a complex and costly process. Producers and distributors of the core media content being distributed in this manner usually must carry a multitude of instantiations of the same core media content to service the myriad device environments in use. For example, in the mobile space alone there are many dozens of instantiations that need to be created simply to address the majority of the mobile telephones in use. Moreover, there are a multitude of different combinations of encoding format/metadata scheme/container format, and in most cases a single such combination targets a single device or a limited subset of devices, thus hindering media interoperability across multiple devices.
As a result, a consumer may be limited in their ability to experience the entire aesthetic impact of the media content, as conceived by its producers, due to constraints on the combination of encoding format, metadata scheme, and container format targeted to their particular playback device. For example, a number of the presently available container formats address specific platform requirements, e.g., QuickTime, MP4, and ASF, but these container formats may lack the flexibility to do complete justice to the richness and diversity of elements that may be relevant to the core media content. In addition, existing container formats are typically unsuitable environments for storage or assembly of more than one version of an item of core media content, such as multiple versions of the same core media content in different encoding formats.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a solution for managing digital media content that provides an integrated and substantially comprehensive storage of the many different content elements relevant to, or associated with a core media content.

System and method for managing digital media content


A repeater station having circularly polarized antennas. A diamond panel antenna and a panel antenna are positioned in a back-to-back relationship. Each antenna is circularly polarized. The antennas use "tunnel technology" for isolating the antennas. A chassis forming a recessed portion is provided. A dielectric board is inserted into the recess. Patch elements mounted on a board are inserted into the recess and connected to the dielectric board. The width of the boards are such that a "tunnel" is formed about the periphery thereof. Absorber material is then inserted into the tunnel around the boards. A radome is placed over the recess enclosing the boards and elements.

The use of repeaters in various types of wireless communications systems (e.g., cellular and PCS) generally is known. Wireless communications systems typically include a base station and one or more fixed or mobile subscriber units.
Repeaters are bi-directional devices which relay signals from a cellular or PCS base station to the mobile or fixed subscriber units and from subscriber units to the base station. The repeater extends the base station signals to provide a stronger signal in areas which have little or no signal. The repeater includes a donor antenna, which relays signals between the repeater and the base station, and a subscriber antenna, which relays signals between the base station and the mobile or fixed subscriber units.
The operation of the repeater is based, in part, on the isolation obtained between a donor/subscriber antenna pair. The greater the isolation, the better the performance. Currently, isolation is obtained by physically separating donor and subscriber antennas either vertically or horizontally. To achieve a desired amount of isolation, a relatively substantial distance is required between the antennas. This distance requirement both increases the cost of the repeater and decreases the aesthetics of the repeater site.
Many existing repeaters use vertically polarized antennas. This approach suffers from various drawbacks including the need to physically space the antennas a relatively large distance apart to achieve an acceptable level of isolation and these systems are highly susceptible to relatively poor performance due to multipath, fading, and other factors. Multipath occurs, for example, when signals reach the same point via different paths.
Additionally, using vertical polarization often causes a relatively significant problem with hand-held antenna tilt. The vertically polarized signal received by the hand-held unit is rarely vertical due to normal transmission fluctuations. The amount of tilt of the hand-held unit varies with the particular operator and the conditions and environments prevailing. Losses from the antenna position and the received signal polarization angle mismatch can be significant (e.g., above 10 dB). Furthermore, vertical polarization is not entirely successful in eliminating interference.
These and other problems can lead to distortion, cancellation, and loss of signal strength.
These and other drawbacks exist in previously known systems.

Antenna system for wireless comunication systems


Device for providing pipette tips including a refill pack which includes a perforated plate with a plurality of holes, pipette tips inserted into the holes, a container covering the pipette tips at the bottom with a stiffness of up to 300 N/mm and a removable cover, covering the pipette tips from the top and a holder with a receiver for inserting the refill pack, a laterally protruding upper bearing edge being present between the refill pack and holder for supporting the refill pack when said refill pack is inserted into the receiver.

The invention relates to a device for providing pipette tips.
Pipette tips are small tubes made of plastics material which serve for receiving samples of fluid, preferably in quantities of approximately 0.1 μl to 100 ml, in the laboratory. At the bottom they comprise a through-opening for fluid and at the top a through-opening for air, the cross section of the pipette tips generally increasing from the lower to the upper through-opening. For metering fluid, the upper end of the pipette tip is connected, for example, to a piston-operated pipette, so that the upper through-opening is attached to a device for displacing air from the pipette. To this end, the pipette tip with the through-opening is clamped onto an attachment of the pipette or clamped into a hole of the pipette. A channel opens into the front face of the attachment and/or into the bottom of the hole, said channel being connected to the displacement device of the pipette. By means of the displacement device, an air cushion is displaced so that a defined quantity of fluid is received into the pipette tip and is ejected therefrom. The metered quantity of fluid depends on the displacement of the displacement device. The pipettes may have uniform displacement, as fixed volume pipettes, or adjustable displacement, as variable pipettes. Moreover, the pipettes may be piston-operated pipettes or direct displacement pipettes. After use, the pipette tip is detached from its seat on the pipette, for which the pipette may comprise an ejector which upon actuation forces the pipette tip away from its seat. Afterwards, the pipette is able to receive a new pipette tip. Spillages of samples of fluid between successive meterings are thus avoided.
Filter pipette tips comprise a filter in the vicinity of their upper end which prevents aerosol or fluid from the pipette tip from entering into the pipette, and contaminating said pipette. Filter pipette tips generally have to be packaged in a sterile manner until used.
For attaching pipette tips to the seat of a pipette, pipette tips are provided on holders for pipette tips. Said holders comprise a perforated plate made of plastics, also called a "tray" or "wafer", with a plurality of holes in a matrix arrangement. The perforated plate generally has 96 holes in 8 rows and with 12 slots. Pipette tips are inserted from the top into the holes, said pipette tips not falling through due to an upwardly widening diameter or a collar.
The perforated plate is, for example, connected integrally to a downwardly protruding peripheral frame which prevents inserted pipette tips from coming into contact with the support surface. Such a holder is described in DE 102 45 961 B4, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Moreover, holders for pipette tips exist in which perforated plates are able to be inserted releasably into a stackable frame. Such a holder for pipette tips is described in DE 197 42 493 C1, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Also known are holders for pipette tips which are configured as boxes or frames which are closed at the bottom. A perforated plate provided with pipette tips is able to be positioned on the upper edge of the holder, so that the pipette tips protrude into a receiver of the holder.
The pipette tips may be removed from a holder by pressing the seat of a single channel pipette or the seats of a multi-channel pipette from the top onto the upper ends of the pipette tips individually or a plurality thereof at the same time. In this case, considerable pressing forces may act, which the holder has to withstand so that the pipette tip is fixed sufficiently securely to its seat on the pipette. Accordingly, the holder or the sub-assembly consisting of the tray and holder have to be of stable configuration.
Holders in the form of boxes or frames are known which are discarded and/or reused after the removal of all pipette tips. The reusable holders are able to be filled by means of refill packs comprising fresh pipette tips. The refill packs may comprise a plurality of perforated plates which are filled with pipette tips. For example, refill packs are known in which one or more perforated plates filled with pipette tips are arranged in folding cardboard boxes or cardboard frames. Said refill packs are not sufficiently protected against contamination from dust, etc. Thus, it is not possible for sterile pipette tips to be made available.
In further known refill packs, a perforated plate filled with pipette tips is fastened releasably to the upper edge of the plastics container, the pipette tips protruding into the container. A further perforated plate is arranged thereover, the pipette tips thereof protruding into the pipette tips of the lower perforated plate, and which at the edge is releasably fastened to the lower perforated plate. Further plates with pipette tips are accordingly arranged thereover and the arrangement is covered from the top by a plastics cover which is releasably fastened to the uppermost perforated plate.
Refill packs of the type described above are disclosed, for example, in WO 92/01514 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,088 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,678 B1, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments of said refill packs are also known in which the lid is used for moving the perforated plates filled with pipette tips from the refill stack into the holder. The perforated plate is latched in the holder and the cover may be pulled off and to protect the opened refill pack from contamination is positioned onto the upper perforated plate of the refill stack.
Said refill packs have the drawback that they have to be opened for moving perforated plates with pipette tips held therein onto a holder. In this case, the pipette tips are at least partially accessible from the outside, so that they are not protected from contamination. In particular, when moved, the pipette tips may come into contact with the holder or other objects and as a result become contaminated.
The "Tip SystemBox" (product name from Sarstedt AG & Co, Nümbrecht, Germany) is a box with a folding lid made of autoclavable material into which, optionally for autoclaving, pipette tips are able to be inserted in a tray or in a stack consisting of trays filled with pipette tips (called "Tip StackPack") in order to obtain a non-slip pipette position which is secure from tipping up. Optionally, there is the possibility of inserting so-called "Biosphere® Boxes" without contamination into the Tip SystemBox. The Biosphere® Boxes are stable boxes closed at the bottom which at the top carry a tray with pipette tips. A lid is positioned from the top onto the tray. In this application, the Tip SystemBox serves as a holder which is intended to prevent the downwardly tapering Biosphere® Box from tipping over when a pipette receives pipette tips. The stable Biosphere® Boxes are relatively costly disposable articles.
Sterile pipette tips have hitherto been generally handled in stable disposable boxes for processing and not in refill packs for moving into a box or frame. In contrast to reusable boxes, said disposable boxes are discarded after the removal of all pipette tips. The design thereof is costly in terms of material so that they are expensive to manufacture and produce waste packaging in large quantities for the user. Frequently, the components of said disposable boxes are not able to be dismantled easily enough. The user often compresses the remaining packaging in order to reduce the volume of waste. In this case, the conventional disposable boxes do not always permit the use of automated methods during manufacture.
The material consumption is correspondingly high for the packaging of sterile pipette tips and the quantity of waste produced during use.
Proceeding therefrom, the object of the invention is to provide a device for providing pipette tips which may be easily refilled, the risk of contamination of the pipette tips being reduced and the packaging waste being reduced. Moreover, the object of the invention is also to propose the use of a refill pack which permits easier refilling of pipette tips, the risk of contamination of the pipette tips being reduced and the packaging waste being reduced. Finally, the object of the invention is to provide a method for producing a refill pack which is suitable for use in a device according to the invention for providing pipette tips.


In one embodiment, a method of managing assets for stabilizing anticipated periodic payments, allocating the assets to first and second pools; at periodic intervals, comparing the current value of the assets in the first pool to a present value of the remaining payments; and, when the current value is less the present value, reallocating a portion of the assets from the second pool to the first pool so that the first asset pool has a current value representing the present value. In another embodiment, a method for managing assets for stabilizing anticipated periodic payments includes allocating the assets into first and second pools; establishing a first payment amount; determining a first trigger value; assessing a current value of the assets; and reallocating assets from the second pool to the first pool to increase the first payment amount in response to the current value being greater than the first trigger value.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of investment management and, in particular, to a system, method and computer program product for providing stabilized annuity payments and control of investments in a variable annuity.
2. Description of Related Art
A continuing challenge of investment management is to provide options that match an investor's objectives. In retirement, investors often need to receive a stream of periodic payments from their investments in order to pay their living expenses.
Annuities are a common form of investment vehicle for providing the stream of payments. An annuity is funded with an initial principal amount, commonly termed a contract amount. Periodic payments are provided to the annuitant, based on the contract amount, and the number of payments that are anticipated to be made from this annuity. Annuities are available in many forms. The distributions may be made for a predetermined definite period, as in an annuity certain, or for as long as the person lives, as in a life annuity. Payments under a life annuity may terminate on the annuitant's death, as in a straight life annuity, or may continue to a beneficiary for a specified period after the annuitant's death, as in a life annuity with period certain. The payments under an annuity may be set to begin one payment after purchase of the annuity, as in an immediate annuity, or after a specified amount of time, as in a deferred annuity. Finally, the cash value of an annuity is the commuted value of benefits payable irrespective of whether the annuitant is still alive.
As with most investments, there are risks associated with annuities. In a life annuity, in which payments are made until the death of the annuitant, there is a risk to the entity providing the annuity that the annuitant will live longer than anticipated, which results in a reduction in the amount of periodic payments driven by a continuing reduction of the principal amount to provide these payments. In a life annuity, there is also a risk to the investor of the annuitant living a lesser time than anticipated and not receiving a sufficient number of payments to have justified the initial investment.
These risks are further compounded by the risks associated with future economies. In a booming economy, the principal amount may provide a return-on-investment that exceeds the rate at which the periodic payments diminish the principal amount. In an inflationary economy, the value of the periodic payments may be insufficient to meet the intended need for these payments. Similarly, in a depressed economy, the return-on-investment may not be sufficient to match the rate at which the periodic payments diminish the principal amount.
In a conventional fixed life annuity plan, the provider or guarantor of the annuity plan assumes most of the long-term risks. The annuitant is guaranteed a level payment amount for the duration of the annuitant's life or, if there are multiple annuitants, for the duration of the annuitants' lives. If the guarantor is able to invest the contract amount at a higher rate-of-return than the rate-of-depletion of the principal by the periodic payments, the guarantor earns a profit. If the annuitant dies before the principal is depleted, the guarantor also earns a profit. If the principal is depleted before the annuitant dies, the subsequent periodic payments are borne by the guarantor, at a loss to the guarantor. Fundamentally, a fixed annuity alleviates the investor of the risk of outliving the source of income from the investment. For ease of reference, the terms investor and annuitant are used herein interchangeably, although it is recognized that one person, the investor, may purchase an annuity for another, the annuitant.
Although the typical investor might desire to shift the long-term risk to the guarantor via a fixed annuity plan, the investor is typically unwilling to assume the risk of losing the investment based on the short-term risk of dying prematurely. In other words, in a fixed life annuity, when the investor dies, the investor's beneficiaries are deprived of the investment amount, which they would have received if the annuity had not been purchased. To increase the marketability of a fixed life annuity, conventional fixed annuity plans offer a guaranteed minimum payment amount and duration (sometimes referred to as certain period or inheritance period), independent of the annuitant's life, to offset this reluctance on the part of the investor to assume the short-term risk of a loss of investment. If the annuitant dies prematurely, the guarantor continues to provide the guaranteed number of payments to the beneficiaries of the annuitant.
A fixed annuity, however, does not protect an investor from the long-term risk of inflation causing the periodic payments to lose purchasing value. To offset this risk, some conventional annuity plans offer a guaranteed payment amount that is dependent upon an annually determined inflation rate. To offset the assumption of this additional risk, the initial payment amounts are generally slightly less than the payment amounts of a conventional fixed life annuity plan.
In both the fixed life annuity and the annuity with inflation protection, the guarantor assumes the long-term risks, and, correspondingly, enjoys the benefits of any long-term gains. A typical annuity may be based, for example, on an effective annual interest rate of five percent (5%). If the guarantor is able to earn a long-term return-on-investment of eight percent (8%), this additional three percent (3%) is profit to the guarantor. Because of the relatively low guaranteed interest rate provided by a fixed annuity, compared to potential rates of return on investments, relatively few fixed annuity plans are sold during periods of high investment return potential.
To offset the loss of sales in fixed annuities during periods of economic growth, insurance companies and other institutions offer variable annuity plans. In a variable annuity plan, the investor chooses among a variety of investment options, such as mutual funds, and the periodic payment generally is based on the current value of each of the selected options. As such, the investor assumes the long-term market risks, and the provider of the annuity provides administrative services. In a conventional variable annuity, the payment amount is adjusted periodically, based on the current value of the investment.
Because the investor assumes all of the risks, all of the gains realized by a favorable market, if any, are credited to the investor. Correspondingly, all losses, if any, are deducted from the investor's principal. The periodic payments will vary depending upon increase or decrease in the value of the investments. The investor assumes the long-term risk of diminishing the principal to such an extent that the periodic payments are substantially decreased, and also assumes the short-term risk of reduced payments during periods of a depressed market. In a rapidly changing economy, the fluctuation in payment amounts can be disconcerting or, more significantly, may not provide the amount required to meet the needs for which the annuity was established.
Hybrid variable-rate annuities are available, at an additional cost to the investor, wherein the annuity is guaranteed not to decrease below a minimum payment amount. In such a plan, the guarantor is assuming some of the long-term risk in return for the additional cost to the investor. In a hybrid variable-rate annuity, the minimum payment amount is often substantially lower than the payment amount that is provided in periods of high investment return. The minimum payment amount provides a 'floor' below which the periodic payment will not drop, but having this floor does not eliminate the fluctuations in payment amounts that are based on the current profits or losses provided by the investment.
The fluctuations in payment amounts can be controlled somewhat by 'filtering' the present investment value that is used to determine the annuity payments. For example, a running average of the present value of the investment may be used to eliminate very short-term peaks and dips from the value used to determine the annuity payments. Generally, however, a running average "lags" the present investment value such that general increases or decreases are not immediately reflected in the running average. Hence, the increase or decrease in the annuity payment is delayed relative to the actual increase or decrease in the investment value. This can be particularly problematic, however, when investments are performing poorly, which results in the annuity payments being higher than the actual investment value warrants, thereby depleting the investment more quickly than the rate that the investment value can actually sustain.
Therefore, notwithstanding the available annuity products and options, there is a need for a system, method, and computer program product for providing stabilized annuity payments and control of investments in a variable annuity: (1) that can provide a cushion against market volatility, maintaining stable annuity payment amounts during periods of poor investment performance; (2) that can provide the annuitant with control of investments in the variable annuity, allowing the annuitant to shift investments among portfolios and other investment options; (3) that can provide the opportunity for increased annuity payment amounts during periods of favorable investment performance; (4) that can provide (in addition to annuity payments) full cash value liquidity by providing the annuitant with access to the full cash value of the variable annuity; (5) that can provide a death benefit for the annuitant's beneficiaries, allowing the annuitant's beneficiaries to receive the full cash value of the variable annuity as ongoing payments or as a lump sum; and (6) that can reduce the risk that the investment value of the variable annuity will be depleted by making annuity payments that are based on dated investment evaluations as a means of attempting to stabilize annuity payment amounts.

System, method, and computer program product for providing stabilized annuity payments and control of investments in a variable annuity

The Prudential Insurance Company of America


According to embodiments of the invention, an electrical connector for use with an electrical conductor having a terminal end includes a connector body and a stud member. The connector body includes a conductor engagement section and a stud mounting section. The conductor engagement section is configured to receive the terminal end of the conductor to mechanically and electrically connect the conductor to the connector. The stud mounting section includes a socket bore including a tapered bore section. The stud member includes an elongate stud section extending to a free end, and a tapered insertion section. The tapered insert section is received in the tapered bore section. The tapered insert section includes an internal cavity defined therein to permit deformation of the tapered insert section as the tapered insert section is forced into the tapered bore section.

Pin terminals or connectors are employed to provide convenient electrical connections between electrical components in electrical power distribution systems. For example, it is known to provide a pin terminal including an elongate stud and an integral connector body crimped onto the stud. An electrical power distribution cable may be terminated by securing a terminal end of the cable in the connector body. The cable can then be connected to another cable or electrical equipment by engaging the stud with a clamp, for example.

Electrical connectors and connection assemblies and methods including the same


Rotational intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging devices, systems, and methods are provided. The present disclosure is particularly directed to rotary transformers incorporating flex circuits that are suitable for use in rotational IVUS systems. In one embodiment, a rotary transformer for a rotational IVUS device includes: a rotational component and a stationary component. At least one of the rotational and stationary components includes a core formed of a magnetically conductive material and a flex circuit coupled to the core. In some instances, the flex circuit is coupled to the core such that a coil portion of the flex circuit is received within a recess of the core and an extension of the flex circuit extending from the coil portion extends through an opening of the core.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging is widely used in interventional cardiology as a diagnostic tool for a diseased vessel, such as an artery, within the human body to determine the need for treatment, to guide the intervention, and/or to assess its effectiveness. IVUS imaging uses ultrasound echoes to create an image of the vessel of interest. Ultrasound waves pass easily through most tissues and blood, but they are partially reflected from discontinuities arising from tissue structures (such as the various layers of the vessel wall), red blood cells, and other features of interest. The IVUS imaging system, which is connected to the IVUS catheter by way of a patient interface module (PIM), processes the received ultrasound echoes to produce a cross-sectional image of the vessel where the catheter is placed.
There are two types of IVUS catheters in common use today: rotational and solid-state, with each having advantages and disadvantages. The rotational IVUS catheter typically incorporates a rotating transducer element to direct an ultrasound beam in different directions in order to collect the echo data required to form an image, and a rotary transformer or other rotating electromechanical interface is needed to provide an electrical connection in order to maintain communication between the IVUS imaging system and the rotating transducer element. In contrast, the solid-state IVUS catheter uses electronic circuitry to steer an ultrasound beam in different directions, and hence it does not require a rotary transformer or other rotating electromechanical interface.
In a typical rotational IVUS catheter, a single ultrasound transducer element is located near the tip of a flexible driveshaft that spins inside a plastic sheath inserted into the vessel of interest. The fluid-filled sheath protects the vessel tissue from the spinning driveshaft while permitting ultrasound signals to freely propagate from the transducer into the tissue and back. In a side-looking IVUS device, the transducer element is oriented such that the ultrasound beam propagates generally perpendicular to the axis of the catheter. In a forward-looking IVUS device, the transducer element is oriented such that the ultrasound beam propagates distally from the tip at an oblique angle relative to the axis of the catheter. In either case, as the driveshaft rotates (typically at up to 30 revolutions per second), the transducer is periodically excited with a high voltage pulse to emit a short burst of ultrasound. Immediately following the ultrasound transmit burst, the transducer listens for the returning echoes reflected from various tissue structures, and the IVUS imaging system assembles a two-dimensional display of the vessel cross-section from a sequence of several hundred of these pulse/acquisition cycles occurring during a single revolution of the transducer/driveshaft.
Typically, the rotational IVUS catheter includes a driveshaft disposed within the catheter body, with the ultrasound transducer attached near the distal tip of the driveshaft. A single element piezoelectric transducer requires only two electrical leads, with this single pair of leads delivering the intermittent electrical transmit pulses to the transducer, and returning the received echo signals from the transducer to the receiver amplifier during the intervals between transmit pulses. The IVUS catheter is coupled to an interface module, which typically controls the rotation of the drive shaft within the catheter body and contains the transmitter and receiver circuitry. Since the catheter driveshaft and transducer are spinning (in order to scan a cross-section of the artery) and the transmitter/receiver circuitry is stationary within the interface module, an electromechanical interface must be provided where the electrical signal traverses the rotating mechanical junction. As commonly implemented in rotational IVUS imaging systems and further described in one the present applicant's previous patent application, U.S. Patent Publication Application No. 2010/0234736 A1, filed on Mar. 11, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, this can be accomplished via a rotary transformer that comprises two halves, separated by a narrow air gap that permits electrical coupling between the primary and secondary windings of the transformer while allowing relative motion (rotation) between the two halves. The spinning element (transducer, electrical leads, and driveshaft) is attached to the spinning portion of the rotary transformer, while the stationary transmitter and receiver circuitry contained in the interface module are attached to the stationary portion of the rotary transformer. This allows the transmit pulses to be delivered to the transducer and the received echo signals from the transducer to be return across the rotating interface to the imaging system by way of a patient interface module (PIM). The IVUS imaging system then processes the echo signals and assembles the data into a cross-sectional image of the vessel.
Current rotational IVUS PIMs typically incorporate a rotary transformer constructed from hand-wound wire coils. With these hand-wound coils, it is difficult to precisely control the geometry of the coils and the alignment of coils between the two halves of the rotary transformer. These difficulties translate into transformers that are expensive and complex to manufacture, suffer from poor coupling efficiency and/or narrow bandwidth, and exhibit significant variability among devices. This variability among transformers leads to inconsistent performance for the associated IVUS imaging systems, and the poor coupling efficiency and/or narrow transformer bandwidth degrades the image quality that should theoretically be available from the IVUS imaging system. Further, due to the complexity and expense of manufacturing traditional transformers, they do not lend themselves to disposable or one-time use applications.
While existing rotary transformers used with conventional rotational IVUS catheters deliver useful diagnostic information, there is a need for an improved rotary transformer design with improved coupling efficiency and wider bandwidth to provide greater signal-to-noise ratio and increased depth of penetration for more refined insight into the vessel condition. Furthermore, there is a need for a consistent, low-cost method for manufacturing rotary transformers to support the particular needs of IVUS applications where the rotary transformer is included as a part of the sterile, disposable IVUS catheter assembly. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved electromechanical interfaces for use in rotational intravascular ultrasound systems.

Rotary transformer and associated devices, systems, and methods for rotational intravascular ultrasound


A microscopic spectrometer having a separate optical path for masking light from a sample for spectrometric measurements. In the preferred embodiment, a beam splitter is disposed behind an object lens to form two branched optical paths. One of the optical paths is provided with masks at a point of focus along the path, allowing part of the image to be masked. The second optical path allows optical throughput and observation of the entire image. These two optical paths are rejoined, and a final image is obtained for visual inspection by synthesizing the two optical paths.

A conventional microscopic spectrometer is shown in FIG. 4. Therein, light from a light source 1 is incident upon a sample 2. The light transmitted through sample 2 is focused by an object lens 3 to form an enlarged image on an image surface 4. The image surface 4 is enlarged and focused into a second image through a relay lens 5, which allows the image surface 4 to be observed by an eyepiece 6.
When the spectrometric measurement is conducted, the light is introduced into the spectrometrical measurement system 8 by placing a mirror 7 between the image surface 4 and the relay lens 5. The mirror 7 changes the optical path so that the light travels through the spectrometrical measurement system 8, thereby allowing a spectrometric analysis and the production of a display 9.
An example of an object to be spectrometrically measured is illustrated in FIG. 5. The sample 2 may include several areas A, B, and C. Oftentimes the user does not wish to spectrometrically measure the entire sample 2, but prefers to merely measure the area A alone.
The spectrometrical measurement is made by masking the image surface 4. This masking operation is shown in FIG. 5. The image surface 4 is provided with masks 10 and 11 which are disposed one on top of the other. The masks 10 and 11 are opaque and provide an optical throughput only where neither mask 10 nor mask 11 have a portion. Masks 10 or 11 used in combination mask out all portions of the sample 2 which are not meant to be measured.
As shown in FIG. 6, masks 10 and 11 are movable along axes which are respectively perpendicular. Thereby, any area A within the sample may be selected, and the rest of the sample 2 is masked. The masks 10, 11 provide an optical throughput and thereby allows a measurement to be conducted.
Because the conventional microscopic spectrometer depicted in FIGS. 4-7 mask all areas of the sample 2 other than the area A to be measured, it is impossible to reconfirm a positional relation of the area A with respect to the entire image of the sample 2 through simple visual observation. Since the physical masks 10, 11 block out sample 2 except for the area A, the positional relationship of the area A is lost. This difficulty becomes further exaggerated as the object to be measured becomes more minute or complicated, i.e., in a semiconductor chip or cellular tissue.
In order to reconfirm the positional relationship of an area A which is being measured, the masks 10, 11 must be removed or the slit allowing optical throughput must be moved. Once the mask is removed or the slit is moved, it is extremely difficult to reproduce the exact position of the masks 10, 11, and thereby reproduce the exact measurement that is being taken. Thus, the accuracy of the spectrometrical measurement is greatly decreased.


An endofluorescence module is utilized with an interventional device insertible in a body to provide at least one fluorescence excitation source. The module can be attached to the distal end of an endoscope, cystoscope or other optical imaging device. One or more filters are utilized to enhance the fluorescence response from the tissue under examination. A light shutter controls the exposure of an optical channel during operation. The adaptability and small size of the module correspond with low cost and disposability.

Fluorescence-enhanced endoscopic examination of tissue typically involves an endoscope having a light source (e.g., a laser) and imaging sensors, which include filters that pass specific wavelengths associated with displasia or cancerous tissue. First, an operator obtains a white light image to locate a general area of tissue to be examined. Next, the operator actuates a second light source to illuminate the tissue with light having the appropriate wavelength(s) to produce a desired fluorescent emission from the tissue. Such endoscopes are necessarily more complex and costly than conventional endoscopes in that they require additional light sources, external control electronics and display systems, and light guides capable of transmitting ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths that are often important for fluorescence tissue spectroscopy purposes. Also, such endoscopes are inherently costly and must be carefully recycled and cleaned after each use. Recycling places a burden upon hospitals to maintain multiple endoscopes so that at least one of the various styles, lengths and types can be available for use at a given time.

Endofluorescence imaging module for an endoscope


Apparatus for creating video test patterns for outputting to a video test pattern generator enables individual lines to be built from standard components with appropriate parameters. Completed lines are held in a form which is television standard-independent and can be edited numerically or graphically. A test pattern is built from a set of lines and a part or fully completed pattern can be displayed to an operator in a picture representation which simulates the appearance of the test pattern when displayed on a television receiver.

This invention relates to the creation and generation of video test signals.
It is essential in the design, testing, maintenance and calibration of high quality video equipment to have access to precise test signals. The nature of the test signals that are required will vary widely from application to application and, whilst a large number of standard test patterns are available, there is a continual need for fresh test patterns to be created for specific applications.
Historically, the more complex test patterns were created optically and scanned whenever a test signal was required. More recently, digital test pattern generators have become available, and the more useful of these are programmable. Test signals are then created and stored as digital data files. The test pattern generator stores one or more such files and converts any one of them into a video signal corresponding to a stationary video test pattern or signal. A particularly useful form of test pattern generator is disclosed in WO-A-93/20659.
Software systems have been devised to simplify the creation of test signal data files. Existing systems may permit the user to specify the signal level at various sample sites along the video line or may allow him to construct a video line from a number of basic signal components such as sine waves, cosine.sup.2 pulses, colour bars and the like. Such systems may also allow the user to work at a terminal which displays a representation of the waveform enabling interactive amendment of the line signal. Once one or a number of line signals have been satisfactorily created, the corresponding data file is transferred to a test pattern generator and the test signal displayed on a video monitor. If the resulting test pattern is unsatisfactory, the data files can be re-loaded for editing in the software-driven creation system.
It will be recognised that the creation of a complex test pattern can be a time-consuming exercise even with the benefit of existing software tools.

Apparatus for the creation of video test signals


Disclosed is an approach to implement a light emitting device with remote wavelength conversion. Lighting arrangements are disclosed which provides consistent color despite inconsistent light path lengths for phosphor light conversions.

Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in lighting. The color temperature of a light source is the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that of the light source. Color temperature is conventionally stated in the unit of absolute temperature, the kelvin, having the unit symbol K.
Typically, the color temperature of a white light source is determined predominantly by the mechanism used to generate the light. For example incandescent light sources typically have a relatively low color temperature around 3000K, called "warm white". Conversely, fluorescent lights have a higher color temperature around 7000K, called "cool white". The choice of warm or cool white is determined when purchasing the light source or when a building design or construction is completed. In many situations, such as street lighting, warm white and cool white light are used together.
Recently, white light emitting LEDs ("white LEDs") have become more popular and are rapidly being used to replace conventional fluorescent, compact fluorescent and incandescent light sources. White LEDs generally include one or more photoluminescent materials (e.g., one or more phosphor materials), which absorb a portion of the radiation emitted by the LED and re-emit light of a different color (wavelength). The phosphor material may be provided as a layer on, or incorporated within a wavelength conversion component that is located remotely from the LED. Typically, the LED generates blue light and the phosphor(s) absorbs a percentage of the blue light and re-emits yellow light or a combination of green and red light, green and yellow light, green and orange or yellow and red light. The portion of the blue light generated by the LED that is not absorbed by the phosphor material combined with the light emitted by the phosphor provides light which appears to the eye as being nearly white in color. Such white light LEDs are characterized by their long operating life expectancy (>50,000 hours) and high luminous efficacy (70 lumens per watt and higher).
For such white LEDs, light is emitted by photoluminescence rather than thermal radiation. Thus, the emitted radiation does not follow the form of a black-body spectrum. These sources are assigned what is known as a correlated color temperature (CCT). CCT is the color temperature of a black body radiator which to human color perception most closely matches the light from the lamp.
One concern with many white LED configurations is that they may generate light having inconsistent color emissions. For example, consider the lighting configuration shown in FIG. 1 which includes a blue LED light source 104 and a remote phosphor component 102. It can be seen that the remote phosphor component 102 has a tall and narrow aspect ratio, such that there are unequal distances from the LED 104 to different portions of the remote phosphor component 102. In operation, blue excitation light interacts with the phosphor material in component 102 to generate photoluminescence light. However, differing portions of the component 102 may receive differing levels of blue light and may also interact to different extents. This is due to many possible reasons. One possible reason is that, given the tall and narrow profile of the component 102, there exists many different distances for the conversion paths to convert the blue LED light into phosphor light. In addition, the angles at which the blue light is emitted from LED 104 causes at least some of the blue light to strike the inner surface of the component at angles above the critical angle thereby reflecting such light upwardly towards the top of the component 102 rather than coupling into the component and interacting with the phosphor. In contrast, at locations closest to the LED 104 blue light strikes the component at angles equal to or less than the critical angle thereby coupling into the component and interacting with the phosphor to generate converted light. Additionally differences in conversion path distances (i.e. the effective distance that light can travel through the component) can cause a shift in color over the length of the component 102.
Moreover, differing levels of emitted phosphor light from the component 102 contribute to shifts in color. Due to the isotropic nature of the photoluminescence process, photoluminescence light is emitted equally in all directions, resulting in converted light re-entering the interior of the component. In this way, light which is converted at one location on the component 102 may be "recycled" before being emitted from the lighting device at a different location on the component.
These problems potentially exist with any LED-based lighting architecture that may include long light paths from an excitation light source to a remote phosphor component. FIG. 2 illustrates how a light pipe 202 having side emission chambers 206 may generate shifts in color over the length of the component due to long light paths. Color shifts occur in the light pipe 202 due to excitation light not being evenly distributed from the LED source 204 due to the length of the light pipe. The unequal conversion paths may also be caused by indirect light paths from the LED 204 caused by reflective light off reflective surfaces 214 within the light pipe 202. The interior of the light pipe 202 may be filed with either air or an optical medium.
FIG. 3 illustrates a planar remote phosphor component 302 mounted over a wide mixing chamber 306, where the configuration includes a central excitation source 304. Color shifts occur due to excitation light not being evenly distributed from the center-only source 304 across the width of the planar phosphor component 302, both due to unequal length light paths directly from the LED 304 to the component 302, as well as unequal length reflective light paths caused by reflection off reflective surfaces 314 within the mixing chamber 306.
This problem is most visible in high aspect ratio configurations. Uniform components (such as domes and spheres) generally do not have this issue.
In many cases, visible inconsistencies in color over a lighting product can detrimentally affect the aesthetic appearance and usefulness of that product. Therefore, it is important for a light manufacturer to be able to construct a lamp having a consistent, advertised color.

Methods and apparatus for implementing color consistency in remote wavelength conversion


A laser processing apparatus including a workpiece holding unit for holding a workpiece and a laser beam applying unit for applying a laser beam to the workpiece held by the workpiece holding unit. The laser beam applying unit includes a laser oscillator for oscillating a laser beam, a focusing unit for focusing the laser beam oscillated by the laser oscillator onto the workpiece held by the workpiece holding unit, and an optical system provided between the laser oscillator and the focusing unit for transmitting the laser beam oscillated by the laser oscillator. The laser beam applying unit further includes a wavelength converting mechanism provided between the optical system and the focusing unit for converting the wavelength of the laser beam oscillated by the laser oscillator into a short wavelength.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus for performing laser processing to a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor device fabrication process, a plurality of crossing division lines called streets are formed on the front side of a substantially disk-shaped semiconductor wafer to thereby partition a plurality of regions where a plurality of devices such as ICs and LSIs are respectively formed. The semiconductor wafer is cut along the streets to thereby divide the regions where the devices are formed from each other, thus obtaining a plurality of individual semiconductor chips. Further, an optical device wafer is provided by forming a plurality of optical devices including photodetectors such as photodiodes and light emitting devices such as laser diodes on the front side of a sapphire substrate. The optical device wafer is also cut along the streets to obtain the individual optical devices divided from each other, such as photodiodes and laser diodes, which are widely used in electric equipment.
As a method of dividing a wafer such as a semiconductor wafer and an optical device wafer along the streets, there has been proposed a method of applying a pulsed laser beam having an absorption wavelength to the wafer along the streets to thereby form laser processed grooves by ablation, thus dividing the wafer along the streets.
As another method of dividing such a wafer as mentioned above, there is a method including the steps of applying a pulsed laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the wafer in the condition where the focal point of the pulsed laser beam is set inside the wafer in an area to be divided, thereby continuously forming modified layers inside the wafer along the streets and next applying an external force along the streets where the modified layers are respectively formed to be reduced in strength, thereby dividing the wafer along the streets.
Such laser processing is performed by using a laser processing apparatus including workpiece holding means for holding a workpiece and laser beam applying means for applying a laser beam to the workpiece held by the workpiece holding means. The laser beam applying means is composed of laser beam oscillating means for oscillating a laser beam, focusing means for focusing the laser beam oscillated by the laser beam oscillating means onto the workpiece held by the workpiece holding means, and an optical system provided between the laser beam oscillating means and the focusing means and including power adjusting means for adjusting the power of the laser beam and a beam expander for adjusting the diameter of the laser beam (see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-108478, for example).


A physical shield placed on the face of a high intensity focused ultrasound transducer for medical applications is described. The shield may be shaped or angled to match a particular pattern of mechanical or acoustic energy that may damage the transducer during operation. The shield may be ablative, replaceable or modified as needed. Methods of manufacturing a transducer with a shield are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high intensity focused ultrasound transducer for medical applications, the transducer generally having a shield physically attached to the transducer face.
2. Description of the Background Art
High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) transducers are finding increased usage in medical procedures. Similar to their cousins in diagnostic imaging, HIFU transducers share many of the same structural components. In HIFU transducers, the piezoelectric material is selected and crafted to produce the desired frequency, intensity, and total power to produce HIFU levels sufficient to lyse targeted tissue. Once a piezoelectric material has been selected and shaped, the piezoelectric material is coated with an electrically conductive material (a metallization layer) on both the front and back faces of the transducer. The piezoelectric material is 'poled' by applying a strong electric potential between the electrodes, activating the piezoelectric material. An electrode is connected to each metalized surface, and connected to an electrical power generator. A periodically varying potential difference is applied between the electrodes causing the piezoelectric material to vibrate longitudinally at the alternation frequency. The back transducer face generally interfaces with air or a low acoustic impedance absorber-backing; a front transducer face interfaces with the acoustic load, sometimes through an intermediate impedance matching material layer. This configuration causes an ultrasound wave front to be propagated longitudinally through the front face. Although the transducer face may be flat or shaped, in HIFU applications the front face is generally "bowl" shaped to provide spherical focusing.
In medical high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) applications, transducers are generally coupled to a patient using fluids. The frequency, intensity, and power used in HIFU therapy is such that reflections from the patient interface are sufficient to induce cavitation and micro-streaming of coupling agent particles (including water molecules) that can cause damage to the face of the transducer. Damage to the face of the transducer produces a number of undesirable side effects, including delamination of the matching layer from the piezoelectric ceramic, erosion of metallization on the piezoelectric material, loss of proper focus of ultrasound energy (which leads to attenuation and thermal build-up in areas that may pose a health risk to a patient), and physical destruction of the piezoelectric material used to make the transducer.
Various attempts to solve this problem have thus far proved to be unsatisfactory. In some HIFU applications, transducer shielding is sometimes found in the form of an acoustic lens placed across the transducer face. The acoustic lens provides the dual functionality of providing a degree of focusing of the ultrasound energy while simultaneously protecting the piezoelectric material from damage. Damage may come from accidental contact of the transducer face with foreign objects, or from mechanical effects of HIFU reflections in the medium used to couple the transducer to a target surface. The use of an acoustic lens has several disadvantages.
One disadvantage of this solution is that the lens also acts as a boundary layer between the transducer "stack" (piezoelectric material plus any matching layers and backing) and the target tissue. Ultrasound energy is lost through attenuation in the lens. Reflection and refraction of ultrasound energy are also problems which must be dealt with. As power and intensity increase in a HIFU transducer, the associated difficulties accompanying the use of a lens can become too great to overcome.
Thus there remains a need for a HIFU transducer that can withstand the disturbances created when the transducer is activated.
There is further a need for a HIFU transducer to be operable at extremely high operating intensities and total power levels.
There is still another need for extending the useful life of a transducer that has been damaged by disturbances.


A method of operating an automated external defibrillator, the method being implemented by circuitry and one or more processors of the defibrillator, comprising monitoring a pulse signal from the patient; monitoring an ECG signal from the patient; determining whether it is appropriate to deliver a defibrillation shock to the patient, the determination being based at least in part on the content of the ECG signal and on the content of the pulse signal.

The pulse is a very important parameter that is used to aid users of automated external defibrillators in determining whether or not to administer a defibrillation shock to and/or to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a victim who appears to be in cardiac arrest. Such a victim may actually be in need of cardiac resuscitation (including defibrillation and/or CPR), or may be suffering from a condition for which such treatment would be unsuitable, e.g., a stroke, seizure, diabetic coma, or heat exhaustion. It is very important to the safety of the victim that the presence or absence of a pulse be determined quickly and accurately. However, it is often difficult for trained medical personnel to take a victim's pulse accurately in the field during a crisis situation, and may be impossible for a minimally trained or untrained lay rescuer to do so. In many cases, it will take the person assisting the victim a considerable time (on the order of one minute or more) to find the victim's pulse. If a pulse is not found, the caregiver is left unsure as to whether the victim does not have a pulse, or whether the caregiver simply cannot find the victim's pulse.
Another parameter that is used in determining whether to administer a defibrillation shock is an ECG analysis of the victim's heart rhythm that is provided by the automated external defibrillator. Based on the ECG analysis, many automated defibrillators will provide the user with a message indicating whether a shock should be administered (i.e., whether or not ventricular fibrillation is present).
Generally, the ECG analysis systems in most commercially available automated external defibrillators display only two options to the user: "Shock Advised" or "No Shock Advised." When "Shock Advised" is output, this means that the patient is in ventricular fibrillation or wide complex ventricular tachycardia above 150 BPM, conditions which are effectively treated by defibrillation. When "No Shock Advised" is output, this means that the patient's heart rhythm is not treatable by defibrillation therapy.
If the message indicates that a shock is not appropriate, this does not necessarily mean that the victim is not in danger. There are two ECG rhythms, generally referred to as asystole and pulseless electrical activity, which should not be treated with defibrillation (and thus will trigger a message not to shock) but nonetheless are extremely serious in that they suggest that the patient's heart rhythm has deteriorated beyond fibrillation (i.e., the patient is close to death). These conditions are treated by administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), in an effort to provide blood flow to the heart and vital organs in the hope that with improved blood flow and oxygenation, the heart muscle will recover from its near death state and possibly begin to fibrillate again, thus making defibrillation treatment a viable option.
Thus, when a "No Shock Advised" analysis is output, the caregiver does not know whether this result is caused by a normal heart rhythm, an abnormal but perfusing heart rhythm (i.e., the patient was never in cardiac arrest or the last shock treatment returned the patient's heart rhythm to normal), or a grossly abnormal (non-perfusing) ECG rhythm requiring CPR treatment. Because of this uncertainty, the normal medical protocol when "No Shock Advised" is output is to check the patient for a pulse and if no pulse is detected to start CPR. If a pulse is detected, then the patient's heart is effectively pumping blood and neither CPR nor defibrillation is warranted. If the victim does not have a pulse, CPR should be started immediately; if a pulse is present, then CPR should not be administered. Because CPR, even if properly administered, can result in broken ribs or other injury to the victim, it is undesirable to administer CPR if it is not actually necessary. Thus, it is again vitally important that an accurate determination of the presence or absence of a pulse be made by the caregiver.
A similar situation of uncertainty occurs after the third defibrillation shock is delivered in the three-shock protocol recommended by the American Heart Association. In this case, if the patient's fibrillation has not been "cured" after delivery of three shocks, the caregiver is instructed to perform CPR on the patient. Because automated external defibrillators generally do not perform an ECG analysis immediately after the third shock, the caregiver does not know whether the third shock provided effective treatment. Therefore, the caregiver must determine whether the patient has a pulse in order to determine whether CPR is needed or whether the patient is out of danger.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention provides an image processing apparatus including: an image reading section for reading a document image; a particular image determining section for determining whether or not a particular image is included in image data read by the image reading section; an image processing section for processing the image data; and a resolution converting section for changing a resolution of the image data to be transferred to the particular image determining section, wherein the resolution converting section lowers a pixel frequency of the image data to be transmitted to the particular image determining section so as to perform simple processing. The lowered pixel frequency slows down processing speed of the image data and thereby improves determination accuracy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which limit processing such as copying, facsimile communication and data transmission based on a particular image included in image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image processing apparatus performs processing of inputting image data and outputting it by copying, facsimile communication or data transmission. If a particular image is included in the image data, the processing to be executed is limited, such as inhibition of processing. It is thereby possible to prevent unauthorized use of the inputted image data.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-218044 describes an image input-output apparatus including: an input section for inputting image data; a dividing section for dividing the image data inputted by the input section into small areas; a determining section for determining whether or not a predetermined image is included in each of the small areas; a control section for controlling output of the image data in the case where the determining section determines that the predetermined image is included; and a converting section for converting a resolution of the image data, wherein the determining section makes a first determination by using the image data of which the resolution is lowered by thinning pixels from the image data with the converting section, and makes a second determination by using the image data of which the resolution is higher than that of the image data used for the first determination in the case where it cannot be determined by the first determination whether or not the predetermined image is included in the image data so as to reduce a load due to a determination process of a particular document and securely prevent counterfeiting action.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-167267 describes that density of a read image is converted by multiple density converting sections, and one of output images thereof is selected so that a characteristic amount comparing section recognizes whether or not a particular document image is included in the selected output image so as to improve a recognition rate.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-218044 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-167267, the load due to the determination process of a particular image is reduced. However, further measures for reducing the load are presently demanded. And further improvement in accuracy of the determination process is presently demanded.
In view of the problem, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which can further reduce the load due to the determination process of a particular image and improve the accuracy of the determination process.


A method for calculating a compensation value for use in a correction of a liquid landing position in a liquid ejection device provided with a first head for ejecting a first colored liquid and a second head for ejecting a transparent liquid includes, when forming a test pattern on a medium, forming the test pattern by feeding the first colored liquid to the second head and causing the second head to eject the first colored liquid, and obtaining a compensation value for a correction of a landing position of a liquid ejected by the second head on the basis of the test pattern formed on the medium.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for calculating a compensation value.
2. Related Art
Ink jet type printers which form images by ejecting ink have been developed. In such an ink jet type printer, in order to compensate landing position errors of ink, a series of measures of performing printing of a test pattern, reading in this test pattern by using a scanner, detecting landing errors, and performing control of ejection timing points on the basis of the detected landing errors have been implemented.
In JP-A-2004-338275, there is disclosed a method of performing a test print, reading in an image of this test print and correcting landing positions of ink on the basis of the read-in image.
Such ink jet type printers include ones which are of a type provided with a function of ejecting a clear ink. In this case, however, it is difficult for a scanner to exactly read in landing positions of the clear ink because the clear ink is transparent. For this reason, just an application of such a landing position correction method described above has been insufficient to enable correction of landing position misalignments with respect to the clear ink. Accordingly, even in the case where a transparent ink is ejected, a method of appropriately correcting landing positions thereof is desired.

Method for calculating compensation value


Disclosed are transgenic animals and transfected cell lines expressing a protein associated with Alzheimer's Disease, neuroectodermal tumors, malignant astrocytomas, and glioblastomas. Also disclosed is the use of such transgenic animals and transfected cell lines to screen potential drug candidates for treating or preventing Alzheimer's disease, neuroectodermal tumors, malignant astrocytomas, and glioblastomas. The invention also relates to new antisense oligonucleotides, ribozymes, triplex forming DNA and external guide sequences that can be used to treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease, neuroectodermnal tumors, malignant astrocytomas, and glioblastomas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of genetic engineering and molecular biology. In particular, the invention is directed to transgenic animals and transfected cell lines expressing a protein associated with Alzheimer's Disease, neuroectodermal tumors, malignant astrocytomas, and glioblastomas. This invention is also directed to the use of such transgenic animals and transfected cell lines to screen potential drug candidates for treating or preventing Alzheimer's disease. The invention also relates to new antisense oligonucleotides, ribozymes, triplex forming DNA and external guide sequences that can be used to treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease.
2. Related Art
Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Khachaturian, Z. S., "Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease," Arch. Neurol. 421:1097–1105 (1985)) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and the most common cause of dementia in the Western hemisphere. AD neurodegeneration is characterized by prominent atrophy of corticolimbic structures with neuronal loss, neurofibrillary tangle formation, aberrant proliferation of neurites, senile plaques, and βA4-amyloid deposition in the brain (Khachaturian, Z. S.). Approximately 90 percent of AD occurs sporadically. The cause is unknown, but the most important overall risk factor is aging (Takman, A., "Epidemiology of Alzheimer's Disease. Issues of Etiology and Validity," Acta Neurol. Scand. Suppl. 145:1–70(1993)). The apolipoprotein ∈4 genotype (Corder, E. H. et al., "Gene Does of Apolipoprotein E Type 4 Allele and the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease in Late Onset Families, Science 261:921–923 (1993)) and a family history of Trisomy 21 Down syndrome (Lai, F. and Williams, R. S., "A Prospective Study of Alzheimer Disease in Down Syndrome," Arch. Neurol. 46:849–853 (1989) increase risk or accelerate the course of sporadic AD. Familial forms of AD, which account for 5 to 10 percent of the cases, have been linked to mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene (Kennedy, A. M. et al., "Familial Alzheimer's Disease. A Pedigree With a Mis-Sense Mutation in the Amyloid Precursor Protein Gene (Amyloid Precursor Protein 717 Valine→Glycine," Brain 309–324 (1993); Peacock, M. L. et al., "Novel Amyloid Precursor Protein Gene Mutation (Codon 665Asp) in a Patient with Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease," Ann. Neurol. 35:432–438 (1994); Tanzi, R. E. et al., "Assessment of Amyloid Beta-Protein Precursor Gene Mutations in a Large Set of Familial and Sporadic Alzheimer's Disease Cases," Am. J. Hum. Genet. 51:273–282 (1992)) located on Chromosome 21 (Robakis, N. K. et al., Chromosome 21q21 Sublocalization of Gene Encoding Beta-Amyloid Peptide in Cerebral Vessels and Neuritic (Senile) Plaques of People with Alzheimer Disease and Down Syndrome," Lancet 1:384–385 (1987)), or presenilin genes located on Chromosomes 1 and 14 (Levy-Lahad, E. et al., "Candidate Gene for the Chromosome 1 Familial Alzheimer's Disease Locus," Science 18:973–977 (1995); Sorbi, S. et al., "Missense Mutation of S 182 Gene in Italian Families With Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease," Lancet 346:439–440 (1995); Sherrington, R. et al., "Cloning of a Gene Bearing Missense Mutations in Early-Onset Familial Alzheimer's Disease, Nature 375:754–760 (1995); Rogaev, E. I. et al., "Familial Alzheimer's Disease in Kindreds With Missense Mutations in a Gene on Chromosome 1 Related to the Alzheimer's Disease Type 3 Gene," Nature 376:775–778 (1995); Barinaga, M. et al., "Candidate Gene for the Chromosome 1 Familial Alzheimer's Disease Locus," Science 269:973–977 (1995)). Over-expression and abnormal cleavage of APP may promote AD neurodegeneration since all individuals with Trisomy 21 Down syndrome who survive beyond the fourth decade develop AD with extensive central nervous system (CNS) accumulations of βA4-amyloid (Lai, F. and Williams, R. S., "A Prospective Study of Alzheimer Disease in Down Syndrome," Arch. Neurol. 46:849–853 (1989)), and experimentally, βA4-amyloid is neurotoxic and apotogenic (LaPerla, F. M. et al., "The Alzheimer's A Beta Peptide Induces Neurodegeneration and Apoptotic Cell Death in Transgenic Mice," Nat. Genet. 9:21–30 (1995). In addition, missense mutations in persenilin 1, as occurs in nature, cause vasculopathy and massive accumulations of peptides in the brain (Lemere, C. A. et al., "The E280A Presenilin 1Alzheimer Mutation Produces Increased Aβ42 Deposition and Severe Cerebellar Pathology," Nature Med. 2:1146–1150 (1996); Mann, D. M. et al., "Amyloid Beta Protein (Abeta) Deposition in Chromosome 14-Linked Alzheimer's Disease: Predominance of Abeta42(43)," Ann Neurol. 40:149–156 (1996)).
Central nervous system biochemical and molecular abnormalities identified in AD include: 1) increased phosphorylation of tau and other cytoskeletal proteins in neurons (Grundke-Iqbal, I. et al., "Abnormal Phosphorylation of the Microtubule-Associated Protein π (tau) in Alzheimer Cytoskeletal Pathology," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83:4913–4917 (1986)); 2) aberrant expression of genes modulated with neuritic sprouting such as the growth associated protein, GAP-43 (de la Monte, S. M. et al., "Aberrant GAP-43 Gene Expression in Alzheimer's Disease," Am. J. Pathol. 147:934–946 (1995)), constitutive endothelial nitric oxide synthase (de la Monte, S. M. and Bloch, K. D. "Aberrant Expression of the Constitutive Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Gene in Alzheimer's Disease," Molecular and Chemical Neuropathy 29: (in press)) transforming growth factor β (Peress, N. S. and Perillo, E., "Differential Expression of TGF-beta 1, 2, and 3 Isotypes in Alzheimer's Disease: a Comparative Immunohistochemical Study With Cerebral Infarction, Aged Human and Mouse Control Brains," J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 54: 802–811 (1995)), and metallothionine-3 (Aschner, M. "The Functional Significance of Brain Metallothioneins," Faseb. J. 10:1129–1136 (1996)); 3) increased expression of genes associated with glial cell activation, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (Goodison, K. L. et al., "Neuronal and Glial Gene Expression in Neocortex of Down's Syndrome," J. Neuropathol. Exp. Nerol. 52:192–198 (1993)) and alpha-1 antichymotrypsin (Pastemack, J. M. et al., "Astrocytes in Akizheimer's Disease Gray Matter Express Alpha 1-Antichymotrypsin mRNA," Am. J. Path. 135:827–834 (1989); and 4) altered expression of genes that protect neurons from either cytotoxic or programmed cell death, including sulfated glycoprotein-2 (May, P. C. et al., "Dynamics of Gene Expression for a Hippocampal Glycoprotein Elevated in Alzheimer's Disease and in Response to Experimental Lesions in Rat," Neuron 5:831–839 (1990), cathepsin D (Cataldo, A. M. et al., "Gene Expression and Cellular Content of Cathepsin D in Alzheimer's Disease Brain: Evidence for Early Up-Regulation of theEndosomal-Lysosomal System," Neuron 14:671–680 (1995)), superoxide dismutase 1 (Somerville, M. J. et al., "Localization and Quantitation of 68 kDA Neurofilament and Superoxide Dismutase-1 mRNA in Alzheimer Brains, Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res. 9:1–8 (1991), mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase (Chandrasekaran, K. et al., "Impairment in Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Gene Expression In Alzheimer Disease," Brain Res. Mol. Brain. Res. 24:336–340 (1994)), C1q component of complement (Fischer, B. et al., "Complement C1q and C3 mRNA Expression in the Frontal Cortex of Alzheimer's Patients," J. Mol. Med. 73:465–471 (1995)), Calbindin D28k (Yamagishi, M. et al., "Ontogenetic Expression of Spot 35 Protein (Calbindin-D28k) in Human Olfactory Receptor Neurons and its Decrease in Alzheimer's Disease Patients," Ann. Ontol. Rhinol. Laryngol. 105:132–139 (1996), and bcl-2 (O'Barr, S. et al., "Expression of the Protooncogene bcl-2 in Alzheimer's Disease Brain," Neurobiol. Aging 17:131–136 (1996).
In previous studies, we demonstrated increased immunoreactivity in AD brains using a polyclonal antisera prepared against a pancreatic protein (Ozturk, M. et al., "Elevated Levels of an Exocrine Pancreatic Secretory Protein in Alzheimer's Disease Brain," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86:419–423 (1989); de la Monte, S. M. et al., "Enhanced Expression of an Exocrine Pancreatic Protein in Alzheimer's Disease and the Developing Human Brain," J. Clin. Invest. 86:1004–1013 (1990); WO90/06993). Using such polyclonal antibodies, we isolated the AD7c-NTP cDNA from an AD brain expression library (WO94/23756). In WO94/23756, this clone is also referred to as AD10-7, which was deposited in DH1 cells at the ATCC under accession no. 69262. The nucleotide sequence of this cDNA is shown in FIG. 16R of WO94/23756. However, this sequence comprises numerous errors. See also WO96/15272 (Seq. ID No. 120, pages 168–170), which also comprises numerous errors. As a result, the predicted amino acid sequence (Seq. ID No. 121; WO96/15272) is also wrong.

Transgenic animals and cell lines for screening drugs effective for the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer's disease


Methods are provided for producing a composition comprising carbonates, wherein the methods comprise utilizing waste sources of metal oxides. An aqueous solution of divalent cations, some or all of which are derived from a waste source of metal oxides, may be contacted with CO2 and subjected to precipitation conditions to provide compositions comprising carbonates. In some embodiments, a combustion ash is the waste source of metal oxides for the aqueous solution containing divalent cations. In some embodiments, a combustion ash is used to provide a source of proton-removing agents, divalent cations, silica, metal oxides, or other desired constituents or a combination thereof.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have been identified as a major contributor to the phenomenon of global warming CO2 is a by-product of combustion and it creates operational, economic, and environmental problems. It is expected that elevated atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases will facilitate greater storage of heat within the atmosphere leading to enhanced surface temperatures and rapid climate change. In addition, elevated levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are also expected to further acidify the world's oceans due to the dissolution of CO2 and formation of carbonic acid. The impact of climate change and ocean acidification will likely be economically expensive and environmentally hazardous if not timely handled. Reducing potential risks of climate change will require sequestration and avoidance of CO2 from various anthropogenic processes.

Methods and systems for utilizing waste sources of metal oxides


A synthesis gas is produced from a carbon-containing starting material such as a coal; a CO-containing gas is separated from the resultant synthesis gas, whereby obtaining a gas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen; a methanol- and/or dimethyl ether-containing gas is produced from the resultant gas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen; meanwhile, a H2-containing gas is produced from the CO-containing gas and the H2O-containing gas separated from the lower-paraffin-containing gas by a shift reaction; a lower-paraffin-containing gas containing propane or butane as a main component of hydrocarbons contained therein is produced from the methanol- and/or dimethyl ether-containing gas and the H2-containing gas; and a H2O-containing gas is separated from the resultant lower-paraffin-containing gas, whereby obtaining a liquefied petroleum gas.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a liquefied petroleum-based or natural-gas-based hydrocarbon which is gaseous at an ambient temperature under an atmospheric pressure by compression while optionally cooling, and the main component of it is propane or butane. LPG is advantageously transportable because it can be stored or transported in a liquid form. Thus, in contrast with a natural gas that requires a pipeline for supply, it has a characteristic that it can be filled in a container to be supplied to any place. For that reason, LPG comprising propane as a main component, i.e., propane gas has been widely used as a fuel for household and business use. At present, propane gas is supplied to about 25 million households (more than 50% of the total households) in Japan. In addition to household and business use, LPG is used as a fuel for a portable product such as a portable gas burner and a disposable lighter (mainly, butane gas), an industrial fuel and an automobile fuel.
Conventionally, LPG has been produced by 1) collection from a wet natural gas, 2) collection from a stabilization (vapor-pressure regulating) process of crude petroleum, 3) separation and extraction of a product in, for example, a petroleum refining process, or the like.
LPG, in particular propane gas used as a household/business fuel, can be expected to be in great demand in the future. Thus, it may be very useful to establish an industrially practicable and new process for producing LPG.
As a process for producing LPG, Patent document 1 discloses that a synthesis gas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide is reacted in the presence of a mixed catalyst obtained by physically mixing a methanol synthesis catalyst such as a Cu—Zn-based catalyst, a Cr—Zn-based catalyst and a Pd-based catalyst, specifically a CuO—ZnO—Al2O3 catalyst or a Pd/SiO2 catalyst with a methanol conversion catalyst composed of a zeolite having an average pore size of about 10 Å (1 nm) or more, specifically a Y-type zeolite, to give a liquefied petroleum gas or a mixture of hydrocarbons similar in composition to LPG.
Furthermore, as a process for producing LPG, Non-patent document 1 discloses that, using a hybrid catalyst consisting of a methanol synthesis catalyst such as a 4 wt % Pd/SiO2, a Cu—Zn—Al mixed oxide {Cu:Zn:Al=40:23:37 (atomic ratio)} or a Cu-based low-pressure methanol synthesis catalyst (Trade name: BASF S3-85) and a high-silica Y-type zeolite with SiO2/Al2O3=7.6 treated with steam at 450° C. for 1 hour, C2 to C4 paraffins can be produced in a selectivity of 69 to 85% via methanol and dimethyl ether from a synthesis gas.
On the other hand, Non-patent document 2 discloses a process for producing LPG, using at least one selected from the group consisting of methanol and dimethyl ether as a starting material. Specifically, a starting gas, whose composition is methanol:H2:N2=1:1:1, was passed through the two-layered catalyst layer consisting of ZSM-5 as the former layer and Pt—C as the latter layer (ZSM-5/Pt—C Series) or a mixed catalyst layer consisting of ZSM-5 and Pt—C (ZSM-5/Pt—C Pellet-mixture), under a slightly increased pressure, at a reaction temperature of 603 K (330° C.) and at a methanol-based LHSV of 20 h−1, to carry out an LPG production reaction.

Process for producing liquefied petroleum gas


An anti-shake device for positioning an image-capturing unit in an optical instrument. A base includes a shaft pillar. A clamp unit includes a first clamping arm and a second clamping arm. The first and second clamping arms pivot to the shaft pillar of the base and detachably clamp the image-capturing unit. A drive unit is connected to the base and includes a driven member driving the first and second clamping arms of the clamp unit to rotate and shifting between a first mode and a second mode. The first and second clamping arms are separated from each other and the image-capturing unit when the driven member is in the first mode. The first and second clamping arms close and clamp the image-capturing unit when the driven member is in the second mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an anti-shake device, and more particularly to an anti-shake device for an optical instrument that provides positioning functions with a clamping manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional anti-shake digital camera, a driving circuit drives a floating image-capturing unit to move at a high speed in two directions on a plane perpendicular to an optical axis, suppressing a blurred image or preventing a blurred image from occurring due to shakes during image capture, and further providing anti-shake functions.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a conventional anti-shake device 1 is employed to quickly position an image-capturing unit A which has been moved at a high speed. The anti-shake device 1 comprises a cam 11, a transmission unit 12, a positioning member 13, and a torsion spring 14. The transmission unit 12 is connected to the cam 11. The positioning member 13 is abutted between the cam 11 and the image-capturing unit A. The torsion spring 14 is disposed on a fulcrum 131 of the positioning member 13. The transmission unit 12 drives the cam 11 to rotate, thereby driving the positioning member 13 to rotate between a fixing position and a separating position around the fulcrum 131. The torsion spring 14 persistently presses the positioning member 13 toward the image-capturing unit A, such that the positioning member 13 rotates in a curved way, similar to movement of a seesaw, around the fulcrum 131.
When the image-capturing unit A is positioned, the transmission unit 12 drives the cam 11 to rotate, shifting the positioning member 13 to the fixing position. The torsion spring 14 then presses the positioning member 13 to the image-capturing unit A, positioning the image-capturing unit A. On the contrary, when the image-capturing unit A is to move freely, the transmission unit 12 also drives the cam 11 to rotate, enabling the positioning member 13 to shift to the separating position in a clockwise way along a curved line B.
Nevertheless, the conventional anti-shake device 1 has the following drawbacks. As the positioning member 13 is displaced and rotated in a curved way, positioning deviation easily occurs. To suppress the positioning deviation, the manufacturing and assembly precision of the positioning member 13 must be enhanced, thus increasing manufacturing costs and assembly time of the anti-shake device 1. Moreover, because the positioning member 13 abuts only one side of the image-capturing unit A, the other side of the image-capturing unit A is easily raised, causing inclination of the image-capturing unit A. Thus, an imaging surface of the image-capturing unit A cannot be symmetrical to the optical axis, causing aberration of imaging. Additionally, as the positioning member 13 must securely press the image-capturing unit A, a high coefficient of elasticity is required for the torsion spring 14. Therefore, to effectively separate the positioning member 13 from the image-capturing unit A, a driving force from the transmission unit 12 must be increased, increasing consumption of electric power.
Hence, there is a need for an anti-shake device for an optical instrument with reduced manufacturing costs, aberration of imaging, and power consumption.

Anti-shake device for optical instrument


An electric vehicle charger includes a power supply and a controller. The power supply is for supplying electric power over a charging connection to an electric vehicle. The charging connection employs charging conductors to supply electric power from the power supply to the electric vehicle for charging. The power supply is adapted to send data to and receive data from the electric vehicle over the charging conductors according to a power-line communications protocol. The controller coupled to the power supply to control supply of electric power to the electric vehicle, The controller is adapted to, prior to initiating supply of electric power by the power supply to the electric vehicle for charging, communicate with the electric vehicle to identify a payment method associated with the electric vehicle and with the payment network to authorize the payment method for payment for electric power supplied to the electric vehicle for charging.

Electric vehicles typically include an energy storage device such as, for example, a battery that can be used to power the vehicle. Such energy storage devices can be charged using external power sources. An electric vehicle charger is an external power source providing electric power.
Electric vehicles may be charged at a home location such as, for example, an owner's home. Electric vehicles may also be charged away from a home location such as, for example, in a commercial parking lot. In either case, it may be required to pay for the power supplied to the electric vehicle while charging. At home, the power may be included in metered power supplied to the home and may be included in a power bill for the home. Away from home, payment may be collected such as, for example, by way of a point-of-sale terminal associated with or integrated into a charger. For example, a user may be required to use a payment card (e.g., a credit or debit card) to prepay for power before charging or to pay for power after charging.
Like reference numerals are used in the drawings to denote like elements and features.

Electric vehicle charger and related methods


A guide rail for a linear bearing has a longitudinal axis, a first and second diametrically opposed lateral surface and a top lateral surface, running surfaces provided on the first and/or second lateral surfaces and extending parallel to the longitudinal axis, for a guide carriage of the linear bearing, and an incremental dimensional standard for a position measuring device provided on one of the lateral surfaces, wherein an absolute dimensional standard is provided on another lateral surface, which is scanable by the position measuring device together with the incremental dimensional standard in order to determine an absolute position.

The present invention relates to a guide carriage for a linear bearing.
A guide rail for a linear bearing is made known in EP 1 052 480 A1. FIG. 1 of that publication shows a linear bearing, which is composed of a guide rail 3 and a guide carriage 7. The guide carriage is movably supported on the guide rail by four rows of rolling elements 21. To this end, the guide rail includes running surfaces 23 for the rolling elements on its diametrically opposed lateral surfaces. An incremental dimensional standard 29 for a position measuring device is provided on a lateral surface. The dimensional standard is formed by a metal strip, which is provided with a large number of similar, periodically located openings. A sensor 31 for scanning the dimensional standard is provided on the guide carriage.
Reference marks are also provided on the guide rail, in order to specify absolute positions, which serve as starting points for the position determination. The reference marks are designed as separate recesses 41 in the incremental dimensional standard, or as bore holes 41′ in the guide rail. In order to determine the absolute position of the linear roller bearing, the guide carriage must be moved—after the position measuring device has been started up—until the reference sensor detects a reference mark. With each subsequent motion of the guide carriage, the absolute position may be ascertained by adding the change in length—which is determined using the incremental dimensional standard—to the absolute position of the reference mark, with appropriate consideration for the sign.
Publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,408 makes known a further position measuring device with an incremental dimensional standard. Instead of the reference marks, a separate, absolute dimensional standard is used, which is located in parallel with the incremental dimensional standard on a single, combined dimensional standard. The absolute dimensional standard is provided with a chain code, i.e., a bit sequence, with which a predetermined number of adjacent bits results in an identification that occurs in only one position of the chain code. A predetermined absolute position of the position measuring device is therefore assigned to each identification. The bits of the identification are read by several adjacent sensors, so that the position measuring device may ascertain its absolute position after start-up, without changing its position.
It should be pointed out that an incremental dimensional standard makes it possible to perform position determination in a substantially more accurate manner than is possible with an absolute dimensional standard, since it uses an interpolation method in combination with the same separation. For example, with an incremental dimensional standard with a separation of 1 mm, the position may be determined exactly up to 0.001 mm. An interpolation method of this type is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,408. According to FIG. 2, a separation period of the incremental dimensional standard is subdivided into eight parts.
To ensure that the incremental and absolute dimensional standards interact flawlessly, they must have the same separation that is exactly synchronous across the entire length of the dimensional standard, thereby ensuring that an absolute marking is unequivocally assigned to every incremental marking. This exact synchronization may only be attained, in a cost-favorable manner, when the absolute and incremental dimensional standards are designed as single pieces, as a combined dimensional standard.

Guide rail with an absolute dimensional standard


A centralized test apparatus is provided for an ATM exchange system. The test apparatus monitors cells transmitted through a specified line connected to an office unit of the exchange system or through a specified path in the exchange system, and measures the traffic of the specified line or path. The test apparatus has an instruction unit for issuing an instruction to test a cell transmitted through the specified line or path, a destination changer arranged in the office unit, for changing the destination header of the cell according to an instruction from the instruction unit, so that the destination header indicates a tester, a switching unit for guiding the cell to the tester according to the header, and the tester fixed in the exchange system, to centrally monitor and test the cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ATM (asynchronous transfer anode) exchange system, and particularly, to a centralized test apparatus for an ATM exchange system, capable of centrally monitoring and testing cells transferred through a given line or path of the exchange system, or measuring the traffic of the line or path.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the methods of testing an ATM exchange system is a loop test. The loop test employs a test cell generator that generates a test cell. The test cell is looped by a loop unit and is guided to a target route in the exchange system. Thereafter, the test cell is received by a receiver, which checks the test cell to see whether or not the target route is sound.
This kind of loop test is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. H05-177822 "Loop Test Method of ATM Exchange System," No. H02-243841 "Conduction Test Method of ATM Exchange Channel," and No. H02-336400 "Loop Test Method."
In addition to the function of testing channel conductivity, the ATM exchange system must have an OAM function of monitoring the quality of connection in an ATM layer, The details of this function are being studied in ITU-T (previous CCITT), To monitor a line, it is usual to connect a measuring device to a digital signal cross connector (DSX) of the exchange system.
A console is used to enter various instructions to maintain and operate the exchange system. When testing a given line of the exchange system, the console is used to enter test conditions. Then, the cross connector that physically terminates subscriber optical fiber lines is manipulated to open the target line, and the measuring device is connected to the target line.
The console is usually far from the cross connector, and therefore, a maintenance person must come and go between them when inspecting a given line, In this way, the prior art is inconvenient for maintenance persons.
In addition, the prior art is slow and inefficient because disconnecting a target line at the cross connector and connecting the measuring device to the target line need a lot of manpower.

Centralized test apparatus for ATM exchange system