A gaming machine has a housing and a top panel which extends over an open top of the housing. A display is mounted to the top panel and a gaming controller is located within the housing beneath the display. Cooling air is drawn through one or more intakes in a front of the housing and expelled through one or more exhausts in a rear portion of the top panel at a location above the air intakes. The cooling air passes through a space between the gaming controller and the display, cooling those components.

A wide variety of devices exist which are configured to present one or more games. These devices include the well known slot machine and video poker machine, each of which is configured to present at least one gambling or wager-type event. By gambling event, it is meant a game which requires a player to place a bet, such as a monetary wager, for the opportunity of winning an award if the outcome of a presented game is a winning outcome.
Slot and video machines have a wide variety of configurations. Commonly, these machines comprise upright cabinets or housings which support game implementing hardware, such as controllers, a video display, lights, buttons, a coin hopper, bill validator and cash box, and/or a wide range of other devices. The housing is generally taller than it is wide, and occupies substantial vertical space. Generally, the housing is sufficiently tall that when the gaming machine is placed on a short support or stand, the gaming machine may be used by a player who is standing.
In some instances, this normal configuration of a gaming machine is undesirable. For example, it is desirable to provide games for play at a bar. Generally, a bar is configured to include an upwardly extending wall. A bar surface is supported at the top of the wall. The bar surface is a generally horizontal, planar surface for supporting served drinks and food. A customer sits on one side of the wall, and a server such as a bar tender is located at an opposing side of the wall. Generally, the bar surface extends or overhangs over the wall some distance in both directions. This permits a customer's legs to be positioned under the bar surface while the bar surface is located close to the remainder of their body. Food and drink service elements may be stored under the bar surface at the opposing server's side of the wall. Shelves may be provided under the bar surface for supporting glasswear. Often, one or more refrigerated units are located under the bar surface, these units used to house cooled beverages.
In this setting, a conventional gaming machine has numerous drawbacks. First, the height of the gaming machine is such that if it is placed on the bar surface, it is positioned too high to be used by a customer. If placed upon the floor, the gaming machine would be too low, and be located under the bar surface. The size of the gaming machine also prevents it from being integrated into the bar, as such would displace the space for customer's legs or food and drink service elements.
As a result of these drawbacks, bar top units have been developed. In general, existing bar top units comprise a housing supporting a horizontally-mounted display which faces upwardly. A mounting hole is formed in the bar surface. A trim member is placed about the periphery of the bar top unit. Screws are extended parallel to the bar surface through the trim member and into the material forming the bar surface. The bar top unit housing is lowered into the bar surface until it rests upon the trim member. The bar top unit housing is then attached to an inwardly extending lip of the trim member with fasteners.
The configuration of current bar top units has numerous drawbacks. A first drawback is the method of mounting the unit to the bar surface. As mentioned, this requires mounting a trim member to the opening in the bar surface. Then, the unit must be lowered into the opening defined by the trim member and then be connected to the trim member with a second set of fasteners.
Current bar top units also often still suffer from drawbacks relating to their application. First, the depth of these bar top units is still quite great, and does not permit the units to be placed in a location of the bar where a cooler is located under the bar surface.
Another problem is that the units are not arranged to be readily serviceable. First, some bar top gaming units are not configured for easy service by a technician in the event of a malfunction. Components of the unit maybe layered upon one another within the housing, making it difficult for the technician to reach components positioned deep within the unit. To address this problem, in many instances the gaming unit is very deep and includes a large front panel which is removable. By providing a large front removable panel and spaced apart components, the technician can access all of the components. On the other hand, the depth of the unit is very large, preventing it from being used in many locations.
Also, the units are not configured for simple and secure service by a gaming operator, such as to empty a coin hopper or remove a full cash box. It is necessary to ensure that when the inside of the bar top unit is accessed by a technician, the coin hopper/cash box and the like remain secure. On the other hand, it is necessary that a gaming operator be able to readily remote coins or cash to service the machine without difficulty.

Air cooling configuration for gaming machine


Systems and methods according to one or more embodiments are disclosed to provide a dynamic variable shape optical element for wavefront correction. In an embodiment, a variable shape optical element assembly includes an optical element having a front surface and a back surface with specified curvature characteristics. The variable shape optical element assembly also includes back knife edges having a designated shape disposed on the back surface of the optical element and front knife edges having a designated shape disposed on the front surface of the optical element. The variable shape optical element assembly further includes a mechanical arrangement adapted to apply a dynamic mechanical force to create the specified curvature characteristics.

All high power solid-state lasers experience some distortion of the laser beam due to temperature and stress-induced changes in the refractive index of the lasing material. In the case of cylindrical geometry lasers, the non-uniform temperature distribution is radially parabolic, resulting in a thermal lensing of the beam. Although a fixed focal length spherical optic can correct this aberration at one operating point, the degree of thermal lensing generally varies in proportion to the level of optical pumping, or heat dissipated. Therefore, a variable powered optic is sometimes necessary to avoid mode instabilities that can result in poor mode/gain overlap and intra-resonator focusing of the beam, which can damage optics.
In long, thin solid-state gain elements, like rods, temperature dependent refractive index is the primary aberrating mechanism. However, in very thin gain elements, like disks, thermal bending of the lasing medium due to stress buildup is predominant although it is still largely a parabolic wavefront distortion in nature. This effect is compounded when multiple rods or disks are used serially in the resonator. A variable power optical element is therefore used for high power solid state lasers and amplifiers to correct thermal focus aberrations.
Outside of a laser cavity there often exists the need to dynamically change the shape of a laser beam wavefront. For example, aberrations in the wavefront due to temporally varying thermal effects inside or outside of the laser cavity can lead to decreased system performance unless the wavefront is dynamically corrected. In another application, it may be desirable to dynamically vary the radius of curvature of a laser beam wavefront in order to focus on a target whose range is varying with time.
A commonly employed method of adaptive optics consists of many individually controlled mirror segments. This method is characterized by a large optical surface area, necessitating the incorporation of large and expensive beam expanders and telescopes into the beam train. Other methods of adaptive optics, such as bimorph mirrors, may not operate with high wavefront quality at the high flux levels required for high power applications.
Many existing methods of dynamic wavefront control employ numerous addressable elements which may need to be addressed individually to achieve proper operation. Although a large number of individually addressable elements are necessary for control of wavefronts with rapid spatial variation, this presents a higher cost and unnecessary complication for applications in which the aberrations are low-order (spatial variation of the wavefront is slow). Other existing methods that perform only low-order wavefront correction suffer from low dynamic bandwidth or poor wavefront quality. Yet other approaches to wavefront correction of high power beams may employ active cooling or other heat removal methods, which can also add complexity and increase costs.


Magnetic resonance apparatus includes a main magnet system (1) for generating a steady magnetic field, a magnet system (3) for generating gradient fields, an RF transmitter coil (9) and an RF receiver coil system (13) which includes first and second RF coil systems (47, 49) for detecting resonance signals generated in respective first and second regions of an object to be arranged on a supporting face (43), said regions being adjacently situated in a first direction (57), each of the first and second RF coil systems comprising at least a surface coil. The apparatus is intended notably for the examination of the spine of a patient arranged on the supporting face (43), the first region containing the thoracic segment of the spine (T-spine) and the second region containing the lumbar segment (L-spine). In order to enable easy adaptation of the position of the second RF coil system (49) to the location of the L-spine of an individual patient, the first RF coil system (47) is arranged to be stationary relative to the supporting face (43) in a first coil plane (53) extending substantially parallel to the supporting face, whereas the second RF coil system (49) is arranged to as to be displaceable in the first direction (57) in a second coil plane (61) which extends parallel to the first coil plane (53).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a magnetic resonance apparatus having a first and second RF coil systems for the detection of resonance signals generated in respective first and second regions of an object, which regions are adjacently situated in a first direction, each of said first and second RF coil systems including a surface coil.
2. Background of the Invention
An apparatus of this kind is known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,438. Apparatus of this kind is particularly suitable for the examination of a comparatively long object which cannot very well be studied in its entirety because its dimensions are greater than the diameter of the uniform part of the steady magnetic field. An example of such an object is the human spine. The known apparatus comprises two adjacently situated RF coil systems, the first of which serves for the examination of the thoracic segment of the spine (T-spine), the second coil system being used for the examination of the lumbar segment (L-spine). It is a drawback of the known solution that the fact that the overall length of the spine may vary strongly from one patient to another is not taken into account sufficiently. Notably the location of the transition from the T-spine to the L-spine differs substantially in small patients (for example children) and large patients. Examination of such different patients by means of the known apparatus, therefore, is very difficult, because for each patient a new position of the two RF coil systems must be found, implying a comparatively intricate readjustment of the apparatus. When the RF coil systems are positioned anew, the patient must each time be lifted off the patient table.

Magnetic resonance apparatus comprising adjacently arranged RF coils systems


A wafer etching apparatus and a method for controlling an etch bath of a wafer is provided. The wafer etching apparatus includes an etching tank comprising an etch bath, an etch bath recycle system connected to the etching tank, a real time monitor (RTM) system connected to the etching tank, and a control system coupled with the RTM system and the etch bath recycle system. The wafer etching apparatus and the method for controlling an etch bath of the wafer both control the silicate concentration in the etch bath to stable an etching selectivity with respect to silicon oxide and silicon nitride.

In semiconductor manufacture, silicon nitride plays an important role as a masking layer or as an insulator layer in semiconductor devices. Typically, a film of silicon nitride is formed over a semiconductor substrate upon which semiconductor devices are being fabricated. As semiconductor manufacturing process continues to advance, devices being designed and built on a single wafer surface area are significantly increasing and miniaturized, which results in a new set of processing issues, such as selectively etching silicon nitride with respect to underlying silicon oxide films.
One way to etch a silicon nitride layer is a wet chemical etching. The wet chemical etching use H3PO4 to remove or to pattern the silicon nitride layer on the wafer in an etching tank. During the wet chemical etching of the silicon nitride layer, silicate forms and inhibits the subsequent etching of silicon dioxide. The silicon oxide etching rate becomes dramatically lower as the silicate concentration in the etch bath increases. As a result, the etch bath has an etching selectivity with respect to silicon oxide and silicon nitride.

Wafer etching apparatus and method for controlling etch bath of wafer

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


An image pickup device is characterized by including a plurality of pixels having a plurality of photoelectric conversion units, convex interlayer lenses with respect to incident light, the convex interlayer lenses being arranged correspondingly to a photoelectric conversion devices and color filters being arranged for each color on the interlayer lenses correspondingly to the photoelectric conversion devices, wherein the color filter is formed to match the shape of the interlayer lens and the top surface thereof is substantially flat. This configuration reduces the amount of light which is incident on the gaps between adjacent microlenses and passes through the color filters at the boundary of pixels, decreasing color mixture of camera image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup device and a camera equipped with a color filter for imaging color picture.
2. Related Background Art
A color image pickup device used in a color video camera, a color still camera and the like is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-148549. A red, green and blue three-primary-color filters, a cyan and magenta complementary filters or others are formed on photoelectric conversion elements serving as photoelectric conversion units. Light passing through color filters is caused to be incident on the photoelectric conversion elements and is separated into an image signal of each color. A color signal can be obtained by synthesizing an image signal separated into each color. Such color filters formed on the photoelectric conversion elements are designated as "on-chip color filter".
A general example of an image pickup device with a conventional on-chip color filter is described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a general cross section showing the structure of an image pickup device with an on-chip color filter. A photoelectric conversion unit 110 for generating signal charges according to the amount of incident light is formed on a semiconductor substrate 100. The photoelectric conversion units 110 are arranged in a lattice shape and provided for each of pixels.
A driving circuit (not shown) for creating a pixel signal corresponding to a signal charge generated by the photoelectric conversion unit 110 and transferring it to a horizontal scanning circuit in response to a controlling signal from a vertical scanning circuit provided around the photoelectric conversion unit 110 is provided on each pixel.
A gate electrode 109 of a transistor constituting the abovementioned driving circuit is formed on the silicon semiconductor substrate 100. A plurality of layers of wirings is formed thereon depending on a circuit configuration of the driving circuit. Incidentally, FIG. 1 shows an example of a configuration in which double layers of wirings are formed. An impurity diffusion region serving as a source and a drain of a transistor is formed on the semiconductor substrate 100.
Wirings 105 and 107 are patterned in a desired shape using aluminum and the like, and formed. The interlayer insulation films 106 and 108 consisting of, for example, SiO2 and the like insulate between the wirings 105 and 107 and between the gate electrodes. The topmost wiring layer 105 is insulated with a passivation film (not shown) made of, for example, SiN.
A first planarized film 104 made of, for example, acrylic resin is formed immediately on the passivation film. Color filters 103 corresponding to the pixels are provided on the first planarized film 104. Color filters 103 are formed by using, for example, photoresist containing pigments of the three primary colors: red, green and blue. The color filter is covered with any one of red, green or blue pigment for each pixel.
A second planarized film 102 with optical transparency is formed on the color filter 103. A microlens 101 for effectively converging incident light on the photoelectric conversion unit 110 is formed on the second planarized film 102. The microlens 101 is sometimes not disposed.
FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are cross sections showing a sequence for forming the conventional color filter described in FIG. 1.
When the color filter shown in FIG. 1 is formed, to begin with, the first planarized film 104 is formed on the surface of the passivation film (not shown). Thereafter, a negative color resist in which, for example, a green pigment is scattered is coated on the surface of the first planarized film 104. Subsequently, an ultraviolet ray of a wavelength of, for example, 365 nm is irradiated on a position where a green color filter is formed (hereinafter referred to as "filter G") using a mask to develop a color resist. Thereby a filter G 103G is formed on the first planarized film 104 as shown in FIG. 2A.
In the next place, as shown in FIG. 2B, a negative color resist 103A in which, for example, a red pigment is scattered is coated on the entire surface of the first planarized film 104 so as to cover the filter G 103G. Subsequently, an ultraviolet ray of a wavelength of, for example, 365 nm is irradiated on a position where a red color filter is formed (hereinafter referred to as "filter R") using a mask to develop a color resist, thereby forming a filter R 103R as shown in FIG. 2C.
Furthermore, a negative color resist in which, for example, a blue pigment is scattered (not shown) is coated on the entire surface of the first planarized film to cover the filters G and R. Thereafter, an ultraviolet ray is irradiated as is the case with the filters G and R to develop a color resist, thereby forming a blue color filter (hereinafter referred to as "filter B").
As shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, the second and following color filters to be formed are slightly elevated at the end portion of the pixels by the color filter previously formed. The color filter which is thus formed is formed substantially evenly in thickness inside the pixel.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are cross sections showing a sequence for forming a microlens illustrated in FIG. 1. When the microlens shown in FIG. 1 is formed, firstly, for example, a positive transparent resist is coated on the surface of the second planarized film 102. Secondary, an ultraviolet ray of a wavelength of, for example, 365 nm is irradiated to develop the transparent resist using a mask on which light shielding portions are formed except for the boundaries between the pixels. Thus, a rectangular-parallelepiped structure 101A is formed as shown in FIG. 3A. Thereafter, the rectangular-parallelepiped structure 101A is thermally fused to form a microlens 101 as shown in FIG. 3B.
A configuration on a color filter is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-012814, in which microlenses in a color image pickup device equipped with microlenses are formed to be equal in curvature and thickness for each pixel, and the three-primary-color thin filters are provided on the surface thereof, thereby enabling providing a high color reproduction.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-281911 has disclosed a configuration on an on-chip color filter formed to be embedded between wiring layers in an image pickup device with multi-layered wirings. Such a configuration suppresses eclipse of an oblique incident light caused by a wiring layer to improve sensitivity shading, dependence of sensitivity on F-number and color mixture. FIG. 4 shows a regular octagon microlens as one example of a microlens. A gap between adjacent microlenses is designated as a "microlens gap 101B". It is desired that the microlens gap 101B is formed as narrowly as possible to improve sensitivity in a sensor and to suppress a color mixture.
The microlens gap 101B, however, is larger in the direction of 45 degrees than in the parallel direction with respect to a pixel arrangement direction. Even though the microlens gap in the parallel direction with respect to the pixel arrangement direction is reduced close to zero, it is technically difficult to reduce the microlens gap in the direction of 45 degrees with respect to the pixel arrangement direction.
The following is a description of color mixture.
Light beams "a" and "b" are incident on an image pickup device, for instance, through optical paths shown in FIG. 5. The light beam "a" passed through a microlens 101, a second planarized film 102, color filter 103, a first planarized film 104. Further it is transmitted through a plurality of interlayer insulation films 106 and 108 and reaches the photoelectric conversion unit 110.
The light beam "b," on the other hand, is incident on the boundary between the pixels, that is, the gap between the adjacent microlenses. The light beam repeats reflections, scattering, refraction, and diffraction at the boundary between the adjacent color filters and in the wiring layers 107 and 105, straying, and in part reaching the photoelectric conversion unit. Even in a case where the microlenses are not provided, light beams incident on the boundaries between the pixels stray similarly.
Stray light components sometimes cause a problem with color mixture because of their reaching the photoelectric conversion units of pixels which stray light components should not reach. The major part of the stray light components are transmitted through the boundaries between the color filters of the adjacent pixels, and reflected by the wiring layers. These components will be transmitted through any of the color filters if there are no boundaries between adjacent color filters. When the incident light is white light, its components reflected by the wiring layers are attenuated to at least about one third by transmitting them through the color filters. Therefore, in order to reduce the stay light components it is important to transmit light beams through the color filters with the gaps lessened between adjacent color filters.
For example, when light beams from a red subject are incident on a blue pixel, most of light beams incident on the microlens are absorbed by the filter B. However, stray light components incident on gaps between adjacent microlenses are incident both on the filter B and on the filter G formed next to the former. These components incident on the filter G are incompletely absorbed, and partly transmitted. Thereafter, the components repeat reflections, scattering, refraction, and diffraction and partly reaching the photoelectric conversion unit of a blue pixel. Color mixture is thus caused by information from a red subject reaching the photoelectric conversion unit of a blue pixel which it should not reach. As described above, to decrease a color mixture it is important to reduce the amount of light transmitted through color filters at the boundaries between pixels.
In the configuration described in the aforementioned patent publication, however, the amount of light transmitted through color filters at the boundaries between pixels is not decreased, so that color mixture is liable to be caused by light beams being transmitted through gaps between microlenses or through adjacent incorrect color filters and being incident on the photoelectric conversion unit.

Image pickup device with color filter arranged for each color on interlayer lenses


This invention provides compositions derived from the sequences encoding the variable light and/or variable heavy regions of monoclonal anti-idiotype antibody 3H1 and methods for using these compositions.

In spite of extensive medical research and numerous advances, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. While the traditional modes of therapy, such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, are widely used and are in many instances successful, the still existing high death rate from cancers such as colorectal compels the need for alternative modes of therapy.
The immunotherapy of human cancer using tumor cells or tumor-derived vaccines has been disappointing for several reasons. It has been consistently difficult to obtain large quantities or purified tumor-associated antigens which are often chemically ill-defined and difficult to purify. In addition, there remains the problem of immunobiological response potential against tumor antigens, or in other words, the question of whether a cancer patient can effectively mount an immune response against his or her tumor. Tumor-associated antigens (TAA) are often a part of "self" and usually evoke a very poor immune response in a tumor-bearing host due to tolerance to the antigens, such as T cell-mediated suppression. Immunobiologists have learned that a poor antigen (in terms of eliciting an immune response) can be turned into a strong antigen by changing the molecular environment. Changes of hapten carrier allow T cell helper cells to become active, making the overall immune response stronger. Thus, changing the carrier can also turn a tolerogenic antigen into an effective antigen. McBridge et al. (1986) Br. J. Cancer 53:707. Often the immunological status of a cancer patient is suppressed such that the patient is only able to respond to certain T-dependent antigens and not to other antigen forms. From these considerations, it would make sense to introduce molecular changes into the tumor associated antigens before using them as vaccines. Unfortunately, this is impossible to accomplish for most tumor antigens, because they are not well defined and are very hard to purify.
The network hypothesis of Lindemann ((1973) Ann. Immunol. 124:171–184) and Jerne ((1974) Ann. Immunol. 125:373–389) offers an elegant approach to transform epitope structures into idiotypic determinants expressed on the surface of antibodies. According to the network concept, immunization with a given tumor-associated antigen will generate production of antibodies against this tumor-associated antigen, termed Ab1; this Ab1 is then used to generate a series of anti-idiotype antibodies against the Ab1, termed Ab2. Some of these Ab2 molecules can effectively mimic the three-dimensional structure of the tumor-associated antigen identified by the Ab1. These particular anti-idiotypes called Ab2β fit into the paratopes of Ab1, and express the internal image of the tumor-associated antigen. The Ab2β can induce specific immune responses similar to those induced by the original tumor-associated antigen and can, therefore, be used as surrogate tumor-associated antigens. Immunization with Ab2β can lead to the generation of anti-anti-idiotype antibodies (Ab3) that recognize the corresponding original tumor-associated antigen identified by Ab1. Because of this Ab1-like reactivity, the Ab3 is also called Ab1′ to indicate that it might differ in its other idiotopes from Ab1.
A potentially promising approach to cancer treatment is immunotherapy employing anti-idiotype antibodies. In this form of therapy, an antibody mimicking an epitope of a tumor-associated protein is administered in an effort to stimulate the patient's immune system against the tumor, via the tumor-associated protein. WO 91/11465 describes methods of stimulating an immune response in a human against malignant cells or an infectious agent using primate anti-idiotype antibodies. However, not all anti-idiotype antibodies can be used in therapeutic regimens against tumors. Moreover, since different cancers have widely varying molecular and clinical characteristics, it has been suggested that anti-idiotype therapy should be evaluated on a case by case basis, in terms of tumor origin and antigens express.
Anti-Id monoclonal antibodies structurally resembling tumor-associated antigens have been used as antigen substitutes in cancer patients. Herlyn et al. (1987) PNAS 84:8055–8059; Mittleman et al. (1992) PNAS 89:466–470; Chatterjee et al. (1993) Ann. N.Y. Acad. 690:376–278. It has been proposed that the anti-Id provides a partial analog of the tumor-associated antigen in an immunogenic context.
Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a 180,000-kiloDalton glycoprotein tumor-associated antigen present on endodermally-derived neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract, such as colorectal and pancreatic cancer, as well as other adenocarcinomas such as breast and lung cancers. CEA is also found in the digestive organs of the human fetus. Circulating CEA can be detected in the great majority of patients with CEA-positive tumors. Specific monoclonal antibodies have been raised against CEA and some have been radiolabeled for diagnostic and clinical studies. Hansen et al. (1993) Cancer 71:3478–3485; Karoki et al. (1992) Hybridoma 11:391–407; Goldenberg (1993) Am. J. Med. 94:297–312. As with most tumor-associated antigens which are seen as self-antigens by the immune system, cancer patients are immunologically "tolerant" to CEA, possibly due to its oncofetal origin. Studies to date on patients with CEA-positive tumors have not demonstrated the ability to generate immunity to CEA. Thus, immunotherapy based on CEA has heretofore not been possible.
CEA nonetheless is an excellent tumor-associated antigen for active immunotherapy with anti-idiotype antibody. CEA is typically present at high levels on the tumor cell surface. CEA is also one of the most well-characterized antigens, as its gene sequence is known and its three dimensional structures have been identified. CEA is a member of the immunoglobulin supergene family located on chromosome 19 which is thought to be involved in cell-cell interactions.
Inasmuch as some of the epitopes on CEA are shared by normal tissues, immunization with intact CEA molecule might trigger potentially harmful autoimmune reactions. An immune reaction against a tumor associated epitope, on the other hand, would be desirable. A number of investigators have generated anti-idiotype antibodies in rats, mice, baboons and humans that mimic CEA. See, e.g., Hinoda et al. (1995) Tumor Biol. 16:48–55; Losman et al. (1994) Int. J. Cancer 56:580–584; Irvine et al. (1993) Cancer Immunol. Immunother. 3:281–292. However, given the size of CEA (and likely numerous epitopes), and the fact that CEA is expressed on some normal tissues, it was not known whether anti-idiotype antibodies would be effective in eliciting an anti-CEA response that effects anti-tumor immunity.
Carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract are often not curable by standard therapies. Thus, new therapeutic approaches for this disease are needed. The present invention overcomes the deficiencies in the prior art by providing polynucleotide and polypeptide sequences for a monoclonal anti-idiotype antibody (3H1) which escapes immune tolerance and induces an anti-CEA immune response in gastrointestinal cancer patients with advanced disease.
All references cited herein, both supra and infra, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Murine monoclonal anti-idiotype antibody 3H1 sequences for human carcinoembryonic antigen

Board of Trustees of the University of Kentucky


An actuator for use with a fluid channel structure comprises: a stator assembly including stator yokes, and a coil; and a rotor assembly including a housing shaped in a circular hollow-cylinder, an output shaft inserted through the housing, a sleeve, a magnet fixedly attached to the sleeve, and a rotor case. In the actuator described above, the housing includes first and second sealing units having elasticity and disposed at the outer circumference of the circular hollow-cylinder. The first sealing unit makes elastic contact with a wall of a fluid channel of the fluid channel structure, and the rotor case has a cup-like configuration and has an open end portion thereof engaging with the circular hollow-cylinder portion of the housing and pressing on the elastic second sealing unit. Thus, hermetic structure is surely achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator to control flow of fluid flowing in a channel, and more particularly to an actuator provided with a seal structure to prevent leakage of fluid.
2. Description of the Related Art
A shutoff valve is used in a channel of a gas supply equipment, and a flow control valve is used for control of gas flow and for switching control of refrigerant gas channel for air-conditioning. The flow control valve is driven by an actuator such that a rotary motion of a motor shaft is converted into a linear motion of a valve by means of a pinion gear or a screw structure.
FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of a conventional actuator 40 adapted to drive a flow control valve as described above (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-285100). The actuator 40 is constituted by a stepping motor and includes: stator yokes 41a and 42a coupled together so as to form a squared C-shape in axial cross section and to shape, in radial plan view, an annular configuration with a center hollow space c1 for housing a rotor assembly; stator yokes 41b and 42b coupled together in the same way as the stator yokes 41a and 42a; coil bobbins 43a and 43b formed by molding, having a squared C-shape cross section so as to form respective coil spaces a1 and b1 therein, and lodged inside respective squared C-shapes formed by the stator yokes 41a and 42a, and by the stator yokes 41b and 42b; coils 45a and 45b made of respective wound magnetic wires 44a and 44b and housed respectively in the coil spaces a1 and b1; a cup-like case 46 to house all the components described above; a lid plate 47 to cover the case 46; rubber packing members 48 and 49 sandwiched respectively between the stator yoke 42b and a bottom 46a of the case 46, and between the stator yoke 41a and the lid plate 47 with a bearing 58; and a rotary shaft 50 having a screw portion 50a formed toward its distal end.
FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of a relevant portion of a gas meter incorporating the actuator of FIG. 5. The actuator 40 is fixedly attached to a frame 52 of the gas meter by screws 54 such that the screw portion 50a of the rotary shaft 50 is screwed into a center screw hole of a shutoff valve 51, and that a ring-like rubber packing member 53 is sandwiched between the lid plate 47 and the frame 52. A gas flow control is conducted such that the shutoff valve 51 is linearly moved upward (in the figure) by the rotation of the rotary shaft 50 and with guidance of a guide rod 59 and is brought in touch with a valve seat 56 so as to clog up an open mouth 57 of a gas channel 55 thereby shutting off gas flowing through the gas channel 55. Also, gas, which flows into the inside of the actuator 40 through a hole of the bearing 58, specifically through a gap between the bearing 58 and the rotary shaft 50, is shut off by the cup-like case 46, the lid plate 47, the coils 45a and 45b, and the rubber packing members 48 and 49 thus preventing the gas from leaking out.
FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of another conventional actuator 60 and a gas meter incorporating the actuator 60 (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-030356). The actuator 60 includes: a rotor 61 composed of a rotary shaft 62, a sleeve 63 having the rotary shaft 62 inserted through its center, and a magnet 64 disposed at the outer circumference of the sleeve 63 and provided with magnetic poles; a stator 65 having coils 66 and disposed outside the rotor 61 so as to have its inner circumferential surface oppose the magnetic poles of the magnet 64; a transmission unit 62a constituted by a screw which is formed at the outer circumferential surface of the rotary shaft 62 and which is adapted to screw together with a screw hole of a moving block 67; and a rotation stopper 68 adapted to prohibit the moving block 67 from rotating together with the rotary shaft 62. A flow control block 69 is connected to the moving block 67 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and is brought in touch with a valve seat 71 of a fluid channel 70 to thereby control the flow amount of fluid. A bulkhead 72 including a flange 72a is provided. The bulkhead 72 is made of a non-magnetic material, shaped into a circular hollow-cylinder with one end blinded, and hermetically partitions off the stator 65 from the rotor 61 and the flow control block 69 connected to the rotor 61 via the moving block 67. A mounting plate 73 is provided, to which the flange 72a of the bulkhead 72 and the stator 65 are attached. An O-ring 74 as a sealing unit is disposed between the flange 72a and the mounting plate 73, and an O-ring 75 as a sealing unit is disposed between a flange 70a of the fluid channel 70 and the mounting plate 73.
FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of still another conventional actuator 80 and a gas meter incorporating the actuator 80 (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-322274). The actuator 80 is used as a solenoid valve and functions to press a valve plug against a valve seat for controlling the flow amount of fluid. The actuator 80 constituting a solenoid is disposed in a gas meter body 100, and activates a pilot valve 87 thereby controlling the flow amount of fluid. The solenoid (the actuator 80) includes: a sleeve 81 having its upper end portion engagingly fitted into a hole formed in the body 100; a plunger 82 disposed in the sleeve 81 so as to be movable in the axial direction; a core 83 shaped hollow-cylindrical and engagingly fitted in the lower end of the sleeve 81; a shaft 86 having its one end portion supported by a bearing 84 formed in the body 100 and the other end portion supported by a bearing 85 disposed in the hollow of the core 83; a spring 88 disposed between the plunger 82 and the bearing 85 and functioning to press the aforementioned pilot valve 87 by way of the shaft 86 for clog-up operation; a magnet coil 89 disposed outside the sleeve 81; a yoke 90 disposed so as to surround the magnet coil 89; and a plate 91 disposed around the sleeve 81 so as to form a magnetic circuit between the yoke 90 and the sleeve 81. The core 83 has its one open end clogged by an insert member 92, and then the tip ends of the core 83 and the insert member 92 are sealed up by a welded joint 92a. An O-ring 93 is disposed in an open space defined by the body 100, the sleeve 81, and the plate 91. The actuator 80 is fixed to the body 100 such that an end portion 90a of the yoke 90 is bent inward so as to catch a flange 100a of the body 100.
In the first example described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, the actuator 40 constituted by a stepping motor must be attached to the gas meter such that the actuator 40 is set to the gas meter, the ring-like rubber packing member 53 is put between the lid plate 47 and the frame 52, and the actuator 40 is fixed to the frame 52 of the gas meter by the screws 54 thus taking time for screwing work, which results in deterioration of workability. Also, if there is variance in tightening torque to drive the screws 54, gas flowing in the gas channel 55 can leak out through a gap possibly formed between the lid plate 47 and the frame 52. Further, since the position of the actuator 40 is shifted with respect to the axial direction according to the strength to tighten the screws 54, the axial play of the rotary shaft 50 cannot be duly controlled. And, gas which gets through a gap between the rotary shaft 50 and the bearing 58 and flows inside is supposed to be prevented from exiting out by means of members functioning as sealing unit, such as the case 46, the lid plate 47, the coils 45a and 45b, the rubber packing members 48 and 49, and the bearing 58, and it is difficult to coordinate so many members properly.
In the second example described with reference to FIG. 7, since a sealing structure is formed such that the O-ring 75 is disposed between the mounting plate 73 of the actuator 60 and the wall of the fluid channel 70, the mounting plate 73 must be screwed to the flange 70a of the fluid channel 70 thus taking time for screwing work, which results in deterioration of workability. And, if there is variance in tightening torque to drive the screws, it can happen that gas flowing in the gas channel leaks out through a gap possibly formed between the flange 70a of the fluid channel wall 70 and the mounting plate 73.
In the third example described with reference to FIG. 8, gas flowing into the inside of the actuator 80 through a gap between the bearing 84 and the shaft 86 is prevented from leaking out by the core 83 and the insert member 92 welded to the core 83, thus taking time for welding work to form the welded joint 92a, which results in deterioration of workability. And, the actuator 80 is fixed to the body 100 of the gas meter such that the end portion 90a of the yoke 90 is bent inward so as to catch the flange 100a formed at the bottom portion of the body 100, thus requiring dedicated tools for bending work, which hinders simple attachment and detachment of the actuator 80.

Actuator including rotor case and housing with sealing unit for hermetic structure


A circuit may include a memory cell. The memory cell may include a first memory element, a second memory element, a first transistor, and a second transistor. The first memory element may be connected to a bit line. The second memory element may be connected to a select line. The first transistor may be connected to a first word line. The second transistor may be connected to a second word line. The first memory element may be programmed by applying a first write voltage to the bit line, applying a second write voltage to the second word line, applying a first intermediate voltage to the select line, and applying a second intermediate voltage to the first word line. The select line may be connected to a high impedance. The first write voltage may be a positive supply voltage, the second write voltage may be a negative supply voltage.

The present invention relates generally to a memory array structure and a method of programming the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a memory array structure that includes an enhanced state dual memory cell.
Deep learning is a machine learning method based on artificial neural networks inspired by information processing in biological systems. Deep learning may be used in a wide spectrum of applications, including image processing, machine translation, speech recognition, and many others. In each of these domains, deep neural networks achieve superior accuracy through the use of very large and deep models. These deep models may include reduced-precision methods for data representation and computation.

International Business Machines Corporation


In a broadband cable data network, a method and system for automatically allocating network resources such as IP addresses to control access to the network utilizes at least one DHCP server, and a common network database formed from a LDAP directory for storing respective user configuration parameters, hardware address registration, and current binding information. A DHCP server can add new hardware address registrations to the LDAP using an "unregistered" service class. The DHCP server sends a DHCP reply tailored for unregistered devices, such as by allocating a privately-allocated IP address with no Internet access, or an IP address for a self-provisioning web server. A DHCP server views IP address allocation as indefinite, while a user will view an IP address allocation as having a short duration. Thus, if the IP network configuration does not change, the user terminal will continue to receive the same allocated IP address due to the DHCP server's perception of an indefinite lease. The consistency of the IP addresses simplifies many operational concerns about dynamic addresses, such as minimizing DNS (domain name service) hostname updates, mapping IP addresses to user terminals during security incidents, etc.

Generally, network resources such as Internet protocol (IP) addresses are allocated by DHCP servers using one of three methods: (1) "automatic allocation"; (2) "dynamic allocation"; and (3) "manual allocation". In automatic allocation, a DHCP server assigns a permanent IP address to a user or subscriber terminal. In dynamic allocation, a DHCP server assigns an IP address to a user terminal for a limited period of time, or until the user explicitly relinquishes the address. In manual allocation, an IP address is assigned to a user terminal by a network administrator, and a DHCP server is merely used to convey the assigned address to the user. Conventional networks can use one or more of these methods, as determined by the policies of the network administrator.
However, none of these three methods of allocating IP addresses has proven fully satisfactory because of an inability to both ensure automatic, uninterrupted operation of a DHCP server while also maximizing flexibility in DHCP operation and service. In addition, a major function of a DHCP server is to balance the use of limited network resources so that all users will have an opportunity to gain access to the network. The above described IP allocation methods are inherently inefficient in providing such balancing of network use. For example, automatic allocation is inefficient because allocation of IP addresses is not based on actual use or need. Manual allocation is inefficient with respect to management of the network (manual allocation) because of the requisite human interaction. Finally, dynamic allocation is too conservative in IP allocation to truly support an "always-on" type network service, i.e., a network where users do not have to continually log-on and off to gain access to the desired network services.

Method and system for automatic allocation of resources in a network


An opening/closing structure for an automatic umbrella contains: a shaft assembly, a frame, a notch, a first runner, a second runner, a driving mechanism, and a handle. The shaft assembly includes a first tube and a second tube. The frame couples with the notch and the second runner. The driving mechanism includes a screw rod and a push post. The push post has a drive portion and inner threads. The push post is connected with the first tube by inserting a joining element into the second tube, and the second tube has a slot longitudinally formed on an outer wall thereof. The joining element moves upwardly or downwardly along the slot. The push post has the drive portion, a coupling portion, and a deforming portion. The deforming portion is sufficiently rigid to shaft itself in an axial direction and deforms and recovers its original shape in a torque direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an umbrella and, more particularly, to an opening/closing structure for an automatic umbrella which is opened and closed completely.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional umbrella is employed to shield rains in a rainy day and contains a frame manually pushed to a certain position to expand the umbrella. To improve over manually expanding the umbrella, an automatic umbrella is developed and contains a button fixed on a handle to be pressed to expand the automatic umbrella automatically. However, such an automatic umbrella cannot be retracted automatically, i.e., the automatic umbrella is retracted manually, so a user will get wet during manually retracting the automatic umbrella.
However, when a driving structure drives a first tube to move upwardly relative to a second tube, a shaft assembly causes vibration, so a user cannot hold the automatic umbrella comfortably. In other words, when a screw rod of the driving mechanism drives a push post to move upwardly toward a complete opening position, inner threads on a lower end of the push post actuate the first tube to rotate relative to the second tube. Then, the shaft assembly vibrates after receiving a rotating force of the first tube, thus reducing the service life of the automatic umbrella.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

Opening/closing structure for an automatic umbrella


A system and method for displaying advertising. A movable medium moves continuously and displays an image. An object is disposed in front of the movable medium. The movement of the image displayed on the movable medium in relation with the object creates the effect that the object is moving in relation to the image.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to advertising and, specifically, to an apparatus and a method for displaying advertising relating to a product or service.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known in the art to utilize moving images in the display of advertising. European Patent Application No. 0 403 721 A1 (xe2x80x9cthe EP ""721 Applicationxe2x80x9d) discloses a device used to animate scenes, forms, or figures. The EP ""721 Application, at Col. 1, lines 30-32, notes that the device has applicability to, among other things, xe2x80x9cluminous signs with advertising appeals by writings or forms or figures differently combined in sequence.xe2x80x9d In operation, light radiated by at least one light source L passes through a transparent film P and a transparent screen S, which is positioned in front of the transparent film P to create animated effects on the scenery of a slide D. The description corresponding to FIG. 2 of the EP ""721 Application indicates that moving forms on the transparent film P slide in relation to fixed forms of the transparent screen S to produce animation on the scenery of the slide D. In the device of the EP ""721 Application, the immovable slide D is not made to appear to be in motion relative to either of the films P or S. Rather, it is the relative motion of the films P and S that creates the appearance of motion or animation within a scene provided by the slide D. The film S can be immovable, but the film S is not made to appear to be in motion relative to the film P.
United Kingdom Patent Application No. 2 289 973 A (xe2x80x9cthe UK ""973 Applicationxe2x80x9d) discloses a device and method for displaying encrypted images. The device is described as being useful for entertainment, advertising or security purposes. The device comprises a set of at least two patterned templates, at least one of which is at least partially transparent. At least one of the templates in the set has a pattern that is wholly unrelated to any desired image, and the patterns on the other templates represent the desired image in an encrypted form. The desired image is then formed by superposing the templates. The templates move independently of one another so that the combined superposition of the templates forms the desired image. The UK ""973 Application also discloses that the invention disclosed therein may be employed to form a succession of desired images to create an animation effect, e.g., to produce an animated film. The UK ""973 Application does not teach one skilled in the art to create the effect that a fixed one of the patterned templates moves in relation to another, movable patterned template.
European Patent Application 0 267 453 A1 (xe2x80x9cthe EP ""453 Applicationxe2x80x9d) discloses a device to display advertising. The invention in the EP ""453 Application is directed to the horizontal movement of advertising pictures or posters. The advertising pictures or posters are provided on a medium that is moved intermittently to display the different advertising pictures or posters that are provided thereon. The device disclosed in the EP ""453 Application attempts to achieve a rapid transition from one advertising picture or poster on the medium to the next advertising picture or poster to be displayed. The idea underlying the invention disclosed in the EP ""453 Application is that a rapid transition from one advertising picture or poster to the next creates a more effective psychological effect on the spectator.
The system disclosed in the EP ""453 Application is not directed to creating the effect of relative motion, but rather is concerned with the rapid transition to successively displayed images. The only pictures in the system of the EP ""453 Application are contained on the band 2, and it does not appear that the pictures displayed on the band 2 need be related, thereby suggesting that the pictures are discrete images and that the rapid transition to succeeding images is not being done to create the effect of motion or animation. Even so, the EP ""453 Application does not appear to disclose any immovable object or picture that would appear to be moving in relation to the pictures displayed on the band 2.
The prior art thus does not disclose an apparatus or a method for displaying advertising by creating the effect that a foreground object is moving with respect to a background image. There is a need in the art for such an apparatus and method to better and more effectively promote products and services to consumers.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and a method that satisfies the need for an apparatus and method to better and more effectively promote products and services to consumers.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for displaying advertising comprises: a movable medium which moves continuously and which displays an image; and an object disposed in front of the movable medium, whereby the movement of the image in relation with the object creates the effect that the object is moving in relation to the image.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, a method for displaying advertising comprises the steps of: moving a movable medium in a continuous manner; displaying an image on the movable medium; and disposing an object in front of the movable medium, whereby the movement of the image in relation with the object creates the effect that the object is moving in relation to the image.
The above, and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate the same elements.

System and method for displaying advertising


A tyre for a vehicle wheel includes a carcass structure, belt structure, tread band, and at least one pair of sidewalls. The carcass structure includes at least one first carcass ply and at least two annular reinforcing structures. The at least one first carcass ply includes elongated sections circumferentially distributed around the tyre's geometric rotation axis. Each elongated section extends in a U-shaped configuration around a cross-section outline of the carcass structure to define two side portions and one crown portion. Each elongated section substantially lies in a plane parallelly offset relative to a meridian plane of the carcass structure. The crown portion of each elongated section is oriented, relative to a radial reference plane passing through a transition region between the crown portion and at least one corresponding side portion, at an angle having a different value from an inclination of the at least one corresponding side portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a carcass structure for vehicle wheel tyres, comprising the steps of: making at least one carcass ply by deposition of elongated sections circumferentially distributed on a toroidal support, each of said elongated sections extending in a U-shaped configuration around the cross-section outline of the toroidal support, to define two side portions mutually spaced apart in an axial direction, and one crown portion extending at a radially outer position between the side portions; applying annular reinforcing structures to a region close to the inner circumferential edges of said at least one carcass ply.
The present invention also relates to a carcass structure for vehicle wheel tyres to be obtained by the above method, said carcass structure comprising: at least one carcass ply comprising elongated sections circumferentially distributed around a geometric rotation axis, each of said elongated sections extending in a U-shaped configuration around the cross-section outline of the carcass structure, to define two side portions mutually spaced apart in an axial direction, and one crown portion extending at a radially outer position between the side portions; at least two annular reinforcing structures located close to respective inner circumferential edges of said at least one carcass ply.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manufacture of tyres for vehicle wheels involves formation of a carcass structure essentially consisting of one or more carcass plies substantially shaped in a toroidal configuration and having their axially-opposite side edges in engagement with respective annular circumferentially-inextensible reinforcing elements, usually referred to as "bead cores".
Applied to the carcass structure, at a circumferentially outer position, is a belt structure comprising one or more belt strips in the form of a closed ring, essentially made up of textile or metallic cords suitably oriented with respect to each other and the cords belonging to the adjacent carcass plies.
Then a tread band usually consisting of a strip of elastomer material of appropriate thickness is applied to the belt structure at a circumferentially external position thereof.
It is to point out that, to the aims of the present invention, by the term "elastomer material" it is intended a rubber blend in its entirety, that is the assembly made up of at least one base polymer suitably amalgamated with reinforcing fillers and/or process additives of various types.
Finally, to the opposite sides of the tyre being manufactured a pair of sidewalls are applied, each of them covering a side portion of the tyre included between a so-called shoulder region, located close to the corresponding side edge, of the tread band, and a so-called bead located at the corresponding bead core.
In accordance with traditional production methods, essentially the above listed tyre components are first made separately from each other, to be then assembled during a tyre-manufacturing step.
For instance, for making the carcass ply or plies to be associated with the bead cores to form the carcass structure, production of a rubberized fabric comprising longitudinally-disposed continuous textile or metallic cords, through an extrusion and/or calendering process, is first required. This rubberized fabric is submitted to a transverse-cutting operation to produce lengths of predetermined sizes that are subsequently joined together so as to give rise to a continuous ribbon-like semifinished product having transversely-disposed parallel cords.
Then this article of manufacture is to be cut into sections the length of which is correlated with the circumferential extension of the carcass to be made.
Production methods have been also proposed which, instead of resorting to the production of semifinished products, make the carcass structure directly during the tyre-manufacturing step.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,140 herein quoted as an example of the most pertinent state of the art, discloses a method and an apparatus forming a carcass ply starting from a single cord previously wound around a reel.
According to the method and apparatus described in the above patent, at each operating cycle of the apparatus the cord drawn from the reel by power-driven idler rollers and maintained taut by a pneumatic tensioning system is cut to size to obtain a section of preestablished length.
The cord section is picked up by a pick-up element mounted on a belt looped around power-driven pulleys, to be then laid down transversely on the outer surface of a toroidal support.
The section ends are then engaged by bending members of the belt type operating on opposite sides of the toroidal support for radially applying the cord section to the toroidal support by means of slide elements acting like fingers along the side portions of the section.
Repetition of the above described operating cycle leads to deposition of a number of cord sections circumferentially disposed in side by side relationship until the whole circumferential extension of the toroidal support has been covered.
Necessarily, the toroidal support is previously coated with a layer of raw rubber having a dual function, i.e. that of adhering to the cords deposited thereon so as to conveniently hold them in a fixed positioning, and that of constituting an air-proof inner liner in the finished tyre.
Tyres obtained by this production method have a carcass structure in which the carcass ply or plies consist of individual cords each having two side portions axially spaced apart from each other and oriented radially of the rotation axis of the tyre, and one crown portion extending at a radially outer position between the side portions.
Within the scope of the carcass structure manufacture, it is also known that close to each of the tyre beads, the opposite ends of the individual cords forming a carcass ply are placed, in an alternating sequence, at axially opposite positions relative to an annular anchoring element constituting said bead core, made in the form of a crown consisting of thread coils radially superposed upon each other, as disclosed in Patent EP 0 664 231 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,548.
In the above quoted art however, all cords forming the carcass ply or plies are substantially disposed along the neutral axis of resistance to bending of the respective bead. Under this circumstance, the structural strength of the beads must necessarily rely on the stiffness of the filling inserts of very hard elastomer material incorporated into the bead structure, the behaviour of which is affected by temperature changes due both to environmental factors and stresses produced during usual operation.
Proposed in Patent FR 384 231 is accomplishment of a carcass structure by deposition on a toroidal support of a series of rectangular bands of rubberized fabric circumferentially arranged close to each other and disposed in radial planes relative to the geometric axis of the support drum itself. Deposition of the bands is carried out in such a manner that the end flaps of two non-consecutive bands are partly covered with the end flaps of the band interposed between them. Spaces existing between the end flaps covered with the bands are occupied by trapezoidal inserts applied to the end flaps of the band overlapping the end flaps themselves. Deposition of the bands is carried out in different superposed layers, the number of which is correlated with the thickness to be given to the carcass structure. The presence of said trapezoidal inserts causes thickening of the carcass structure at the bead regions, so that a thickness which is twice that detectable at the crown is achieved.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,287 a method is disclosed according to which for formation of the carcass structure it is provided that a plurality of layers each formed of radial strips made up of rubberized threads and circumferentially disposed in side by side relationship should be laid down on a toroidal drum. When deposition is completed, two bead cores are applied to the bead region and the end flaps of the carcass layers formed by the radial strips are turned up around them.
The Applicant has found that important advantages can be achieved both in terms of simplification of the production processes and in terms of improvement of the behavioural features of the tyre, if the carcass ply or plies are made by conveniently laying down strip-like sections on a toroidal support, each of said sections comprising a plurality of cords parallel to each other which are incorporated into an elastomer layer.
In this connection the Applicant has already developed different manufacturing methods being the object of respective European Patent Applications.
For instance, in European Patent Applications No. 97830731.2 and No. 97830733.8 a manufacturing method and a tyre are respectively described in which the carcass structure is obtained by making a first and a second carcass plies each obtained by strip-like sections laid down sequentially in mutual circumferential side by side relationship.
Tyres obtained in accordance with the description of these patent applications have the end portions of the strip-like sections belonging to the first and second carcass plies disposed on opposite sides respectively relative to the annular reinforcing structures of the bead.
This expedient, in combination with the respectively crossed orientation of the strip-like sections belonging to each of the plies offers important advantages in terms of structural strength of the tyre close to the beads and sidewalls.
In the European Patent Application No. 98830472.1 in the name of the same Applicant as well, accomplishment of a carcass ply is proposed which is made by laying down a first and a second series of strip-like sections in an alternating sequence, in which sections belonging to the first and second series terminate on respectively opposite sides relative to the reinforcing structures at the beads.
Thus, advantages can be achieved in terms of structural strength at the tyre beads and sidewalls even in the presence of a single carcass ply.
In the European Patent Application No. 98830662.7, still in the name of the same Applicant, the presence of two carcass plies each formed of two series of strip-like sections laid down in an alternating sequence is provided. The sections of each ply have a crossed orientation relative to those of the other ply and terminate at respectively opposite sides of a respective portion of the reinforcing structure at the bead, to give the tyre exceptional qualities in terms of mechanical resistance to stresses produced during the acceleration and deceleration steps, as well as during a slip running.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Compositions for the treatment of wounds and skin injuries are described. The compositions, which include gellan gum, increases in viscosity once applied to the wound to form an immobile gel. The composition may be in sprayable form or dispersed in an aqueous solution. Methods of making and using the compositions are also described.

A variety of gels and ointments are available for application to wounds for a variety of purposes. They may, for example, be used to clean a wound, to promote healing of the wound or to prevent infection. In certain circumstances, the gel or ointment may include an active ingredient which is administered to the patient by topical application of the gel or ointment.
One example of a commercially available wound gel is Intrasite® produced by Smith and Nephew Ltd. This gel contains hydrated carboxymethyl cellulose as a main ingredient and is packaged and applied to wounds in gel form as a primary treatment in order to debride the wound. The gel may also assist in preventing the wound from drying out, thereby promoting healing.
Wound gels are generally in gel form at the time of application to the wound and are usually applied by being squeezed from a tube or other suitable container by hand or by other suitable means. Since gels are mobile they offer the advantage of intimate contact with the often irregular surface of a wound, something that is often not achieved with a more rigid wound dressing. The advantage of good contact is however tempered by the conflicting needs of making the gel sufficiently mobile that it can be applied to the wound but not so mobile that it runs out of the wound under the influence of gravity. Gels currently in use suffer from the disadvantage that they can run out of the wound. Thus, there is a need in the art for a composition for topical application to a wound which forms an immobile gel when in contact with the wound or skin injury.


The present invention provides extended precision in SIMD arithmetic operations in a processor having a register file and an accumulator. A first set of data elements and a second set of data elements are loaded into a first vector register and a second vector register, respectively. Each data element comprises N bits. Next, an arithmetic instruction is fetched from memory. The arithmetic instruction is decoded. Then, a first vector register and a second vector register are read from the register file. The present invention then executes the arithmetic instruction on corresponding data elements in the first and second vector registers. The result of the execution is then written into the accumulator. Then, each element in the accumulator is transformed into an N-bit width element and stored into the memory.

Today, most processors in computer systems provide a 64-bit datapath architecture. The 64-bit datapath allows operations such as read, write, add, subtract, and multiply on the entire 64 bits of data at a time. This added bandwidth has significantly improved performance of the processors.
However, the data types of many real world applications do not utilize the full 64 bits in data processing. For example, in digital signal processing (DSP) applications involving audio, video, and graphics data processing, the light and sound values are usually represented by data types of 8, 12, 16, or 24 bit numbers. This is because people typically are not able to distinguish the levels of light and sound beyond the levels represented by these numbers of bits. Hence, DSP applications typically require data types far less than the full 64 bits provided in the datapath in most computer systems.
In initial applications, the entire datapath was used to compute an image or sound values. For example, an 8 or 16 bit number representing a pixel or sound value was loaded into a 64-bit number. Then, an arithmetic operation, such as an add or multiply, was performed on the entire 64-bit number. This method proved inefficient however, as it was soon realized that not all the data bits were being utilized in the process since digital representation of a sound or pixel requires far fewer bits. Thus, in order to utilize the entire datapath, a multitude of smaller numbers were packed into the 64 bit doubleword.
Furthermore, much of data processing in DSP applications involve repetitive and parallel processing of small integer data types using loops. To take advantage of this repetitive and parallel data process, a number of today's processors implements single instruction multiple data (SIMD) in the instruction architecture. For instance, the Intel Pentium MMX.TM. chips incorporate a set of SIMD instructions to boost multimedia performance.
Prior Art FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary single instruction multiple data instruction process. Exemplary registers, vs and vt, in a processor are of 64-bit width. Each register is packed with four 16-bit data elements fetched from memory: register vs contains vs0!, vs1!, vs2!, and vs3! and register vt contains vt0!, vt1!, vt2!, and vt3!. The registers in essence contain a vector of N elements. To add elements of matching index, an add instruction adds, independently, each of the element pairs of matching index from vs and vt. A third register, vd, of 64-bit width may be used to store the result. For example, vs0! is added to vt0! and its result is stored into vd0!. Similarly, vd1!, vd2!, and vd3! store the sum of vs and vd elements of corresponding indexes. Hence, a single add operation on the 64-bit vector results in 4 simultaneous additions on each of the 16-bit elements. On the other hand, if 8-bit elements were packed into the registers, one add operation performs 8 independent additions in parallel. Consequently, when a SIMD arithmetic instruction, such as addition, subtraction, or multiply, is performed on the data in the 64-bit datapath, the operation actually performs multiple numbers of operations independently and in parallel on each of the smaller elements comprising the 64 bit datapath.
Unfortunately however, an arithmetic operation such as add and multiply on SIMD vectors typically increases the number of significant bits in the result. For instance, an addition of two n-bit numbers may result in a number of n+1 bits. Moreover, a multiplication of two n-bit numbers produces a number of 2n bit width. Hence, the results of an arithmetic operation on a SIMD vector may not be accurate to a desired significant bit.
Furthermore, the nature of multimedia DSP applications often increases inaccuracies in significant bits. For example, many DSP algorithms implemented in DSP applications require a series of computations producing partial results that are larger or bigger, in terms of significant number of bits, than the final result. Since the final result does not fully account for the significant bits of these partial results, the final result may not accurately reflect the ideal result, which takes into account all significant bits of the intermediate results.
To recapture the full significant bits in a SIMD vector arithmetic operation, the size of the data in bits for each individual element was typically boosted or promoted to twice the size of the original data in bits. Thus, for multiplication on 8-bit elements in a SIMD vector for instance, the 8-bit elements were converted (i.e., unpacked) into 16-bit elements containing 8 significant bits to provide enough space to hold the subsequent product.
Unfortunately however, the boost in the number of data bits largely undermined the benefits of SIMD vector scheme by reducing the speed of an arithmetic operation in half. This is because the boosting of data bits to twice the original size results in half as many data elements in a register. Hence, an operation on the entire 64-bit datapath comprised of 16-bit elements accomplishes only 4 operations in comparison to 8 operations on a 64-bit datapath comprised of 8-bit elements. In short, boosting a data size by X-fold results in performance reduction of (1/.times.)*100 percent. As a result, instead of an effective 64-bit datapath, the effective datapath was only 32-bits wide.
Thus, what is needed is a method and system for providing extended precision in SIMD vector arithmetic operations without sacrificing speed and performance.

Method for providing extended precision in SIMD vector arithmetic operations


A medical dose information management apparatus according to an embodiment includes a dose measuring unit, a dose graph generation unit, a dose graph generation unit, a display mode setting unit and an output unit. The dose measuring unit acquires dose information including an area dose in X-ray irradiation. The dose graph generation unit generates, based on the dose information, a dose graph indicating area doses respectively corresponding to imaging operations associated with the X-ray irradiation. The display mode setting unit sets a display mode for the dose graph in accordance with each of imaging schemes corresponding to the imaging operations included in the dose information. The output unit outputs the dose graph accompanied by the set display mode.

Conventionally, in X-ray imaging using an X-ray diagnostic apparatus, exposure information (dose information) of an object is stored as additional information together with an acquired image. Acquired images and exposure doses accompanying the acquired images are often managed upon being linked to each other. In addition, acquired images and exposure doses accompanying the acquired images are sometimes sent to an external server or the like. At this time, the server manages dose information concerning each object.
However, dose information is handled as additional information of an acquired image, and hence is not effectively used for exposure management for an object during an examination. For example, in an X-ray examination of an object, it is difficult for the operator to grasp a change in exposure dose for an object accompanying a plurality of X-ray imaging operations. It is also difficult for the operator to grasp a reference for a radiation dose permitted for an object with respect to a predetermined value of a total exposure dose.

Medical dose information management apparatus, X-ray diagnostic apparatus, and medical dose information management method


Systems and methods for providing active noise cancellation in an RFID tag reader are described. In one aspect, the method features increasing the signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio of a radio frequency tag response. The method includes receiving, with a first antenna element of a radio frequency tag reader, a radio frequency tag response having a noise-plus-interference portion and a response portion, receiving a noise-plus-interference signal with a second antenna element of the radio frequency tag reader, and processing the received radio frequency tag response and the noise-plus-interference signal to increase a signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio of the received radio frequency tag response.

In traditional RFID reader systems, each reader consists of one transmitter and one receiver. In a typical configuration, the transmitter and the receiver are attached to a multiplexer. This configuration allows for the transmitter and receiver to be connected to independently to selected antenna elements (e.g., "switched bistatic" or "multistatic" configurations). Alternatively, in a "switched monostatic" configuration a circulator or directional coupler is used to separate transmit and receive paths from one of a number of switched antenna elements. The signals received from RFID tags are coupled from the tag, through the air, to a single receiving antenna element. However, noise is also present at the receiving element and reduces the sensitivity of the reader's receiver.
There are four main sources of noise present in the reader's receiver. A first source of noise is generated by active elements in the receiver. Examples include, but are not limited to, receiver local oscillator phase noise, mixer resistive (Johnson) noise, and 1/f noise present in the receiver's baseband chain.
A second source of noise is produced in the RFID reader's transmitter section and coupled to the receiver by virtue of the finite transmit-receive isolation dependent on the chosen antenna configuration (e.g., monostatic or bistatic). This noise consists of the reader's transmitted composite noise, consisting of local oscillator phase noise, modulation DAC quantization noise, transmit modulator noise, and the noise contributions of the amplifiers needed to generate the final transmitted power.
A third source of noise is backscatter noise from external source. The backscatter noise is caused by time-varying reflections in the environment. This noise is often produced by fluorescent lighting, rotating machinery, etc, and is effectively environment dependent in nature and composition. In some instances, this noise occurs at multiples of the AC power line frequency (in the case of noise backscattered by rotating machinery) or at the high frequencies used for fluorescent lighting ballasts.
A fourth source of noise is jammer noise that is received in the receiver antenna from external transmitters, especially other RFID reader transmitters or other users of the RFID band. This noise is often the dominant contributor to the observed signal-to-noise ratio in the reader's receiver path.

Systems and methods for active noise cancellation in an RFID tag reader


A system and method for risk object identification via causal inference that includes receiving at least one image of a driving scene of an ego vehicle and analyzing the at least one image to detect and track dynamic objects within the driving scene of the ego vehicle. The system and method also include implementing a mask to remove each of the dynamic objects captured within the at least one image. The system and method further include analyzing a level of change associated with a driving behavior with respect to a removal of each of the dynamic objects. At least one dynamic object is identified as a risk object that has a highest level of influence with respect to the driving behavior.

Risk object identification may be an essential step towards driver centric risk assessment. Human drivers may have the capability to identify risk objects and assess their risk in order to drive safely. For instance, while turning left at an intersection, drivers may be able to efficiently attend to relevant objects (e.g., oncoming vehicles or crossing pedestrians) and assess their risk for decision making.
In intelligent automated driving systems, it may be crucial to enable systems with such ability. To achieve the ultimate goal, existing works for risk object identification includes labeling risk objects in a noisy and time consuming fashion by receiving numerous inputs while utilizing high amounts of processing power and provide no explicit reasoning for identifying risk objects.

System for risk object identification via causal inference and method thereof


A modular/convertible toddler climb unit is disclosed. This unit can be used independently in a variety of different ways as well as combined with other units to form a dynamic and physical skill development structure for children. The unit includes a base with adjacent steps and a slide formed on an upper sloping surface. Upper fixed side fences are provided on opposite sides of the adjacent steps and slide with upstanding mountable side fences cooperating with at least one of the upstanding fixed side fences in order to serve as boundary around at least part of an upper generally horizontally directed upper surface of the base. The mountable side fences can be positioned on the base in a number of different ways as well as the generally horizontally directed upper surface of two adjacent bases for cooperative interaction between such adjacent bases. Other play units can be associated with the toddler climb and slide unit to provide various play experiences for children.

The present invention relates to a modular/convertible toddler climb and slide unit that can be used independently in a variety of different ways as well as combined with other units to form a dynamic and physical skill development structure.
Existing toddler climb and play systems are complex in design and are made from a number of different parts. This results in significant product and labor costs during manufacture as well as substantial labor costs during assembly of such systems. Further, such existing play systems are single use play systems, and thus not readily capable of being used and/or combined with a variety of different play structures for different play experiences.
As compared to existing prior art toddler climb and play systems, the present invention provides a modular/convertible toddler climb and slide unit that can be used independently in a variety of different ways to provide different play structures. In addition, the modular/convertible toddler climb and slide unit can be combined with other play units to form other play structures. As a result, the modular/convertible construction provides a unique design which overcomes the aforenoted problems of prior art designs while achieving a variety of different play structures.


A pew including a bench. At least two discrete seating portions are removably positioned on the bench. Each of the seating portions has a predetermined width.

The present invention relates to a pew. More specifically, the invention is directed to a pew having discrete or individual seating portions.
A pew is one of the benches fixed in rows in a church. A pew provides seats for several persons. In the past, pews have consisted of long, continuous and undivided benches. Prior art pews have been both unpadded and padded. If the pews were padded, the padding corresponded to the long, continuous and undivided nature of the benches. The padding was fixedly attached to the benches. These prior art pews have created many problems. For example, the seating capacity of a prior art pew cannot be maximized because the long, continuous and undivided nature of the pew encourages persons occupying the pew to spread out along the pew instead of occupying only one seat. Further, individual seats cannot be numbered for concerts or special events to be held at the church in which the pew is placed. Prior art pews do not allow ushers or other attendants to easily identify an available seat or seats along the pew. Further, the selection of fabrics for prior art pew cushions is limited to, for example, solid fabrics because fabrics having, for example, stripes are difficult to match over the long, continuous and undivided length of the pew. It has also been found that it is difficult and expensive to repair or replace the fabric of prior art pew cushions.
In an attempt to overcome the above-identified problems associated with prior art pews, various alternatives have been developed. For example, a prior art pew body has been combined with a plurality of self-rising seats that include raised arm rests. These types of seats are known as "theater" seats. The problems associated with pews having theater seats are as follows: maintenance is difficult underneath the seats because the individual arm rests extend to the floor; arm rests make for cramped and confined seating for persons occupying the seats; theater seats are noisy, especially when persons rise from the seats; it is difficult for children to sit in theater seats; the mechanical devices used to make the seats self rising are difficult and costly to maintain; and theater seats are not aesthetically pleasing in traditional churches.
Another alternative to prior art pews has been the use of raised dividers that have been positioned along the back of a pew above the surface of the pew seat. These types of pews restrict the seating capacity of the pew to exactly the number of seats defined by the dividers because persons cannot sit on the dividers. Further, parishioners do not appreciate the "physical" division created by the individual dividers. Finally, these types of pews still retain the long and continuous nature of the seat thereby resulting in the fabric selection, repair and replacement problems described above.
Individual chairs have been used as an alternative to prior art pews. The chairs are usually separate. However, in some applications the chairs have been attached. While chairs are appropriate in some situations, it has been found that maintenance is difficult underneath the chairs because of the chair legs. Further, chairs are not aesthetically pleasing in churches where traditional pews are desired.
In view of the foregoing, it has been found that there is a clear need for a pew having discrete seating portions wherein each of the seating portions has a predetermined width that defines an individual seat. The present invention satisfies this need.


Processes are provided for producing bismuth-containing oxide thin films by atomic layer deposition. In preferred embodiments an organic bismuth compound having at least one monodentate alkoxide ligand is used as a bismuth source material. Bismuth-containing oxide thin films can be used, for example, as ferroelectric or dielectric materials in integrated circuits and as superconductor materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to bismuth-containing oxide films. In particular embodiments, the present invention concerns novel processes for manufacturing bismuth-containing oxide thin films by atomic layer deposition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bismuth is a component of several technologically important binary and multicomponent oxide thin film materials, particularly the ferroelectric oxides Bi4Ti3O12, (Bi,La)4Ti3O12, BiFeO3 and SrBi2Ta2O9, and the superconducting oxide Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x. The ferroelectric bismuth oxide films have great potential for use in ferroelectric memories. Such memory devices are likely to be provided with capacitors in the form of 3-D structures, which means that good conformality of the ferroelectric film will be important for proper function of the memory.
Atomic layer deposition ("ALD") refers generally to vapour deposition-type methods in which a material, typically a thin film, is deposited on a substrate from vapour phase reactants. ALD is based on sequential self-saturating surface reactions. ALD is described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,058,430 and 5,711,811, incorporated herein by reference.
According to the principles of the ALD, the source chemicals (also known as "reactants" or "precursors") are separated from each other, such as by inert gas, to prevent gas-phase reactions and to enable the above-mentioned self-saturating surface reactions. Surplus source chemicals and reaction by-products, if any, are removed from the reaction chamber before the next source chemical is introduced into the chamber. Undesired gaseous molecules can be effectively expelled from the reaction chamber, for example, by keeping the gas flow speeds high with the help of an inert purging gas. The purging gas can be used to push the extra molecules towards a vacuum pump, which is also used for maintaining a suitable pressure in the reaction chamber. ALD provides controlled film growth as well as outstanding conformality.
Based on its general properties, ALD is a potentially attractive alternative for deposition of bismuth-containing oxide thin films. The main problem in the art has been finding appropriate bismuth—oxygen source chemical combinations for depositing bismuth oxide.


In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, there are provided systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing a GPS directional swimming watch for the eyesight impaired. For example, according to one embodiment there is a wearable navigational apparatus including: a mechanical input to receive coordinates for a first location located at an end of a first fixed segment originating from an starting point in a first single cardinal direction; a mechanical input to receive coordinates for a second location located at the end of a second fixed segment originating from the first location in a second single cardinal direction perpendicular to the first cardinal direction, in which the first and second fixed segments form a selected route; a haptic feedback motor having a magnetized compass integrated therein to signal a wearer directional information relative to the first and second locations set, in which the hepatic feedback motor signals the wearer to change direction upon any of: (i) reaching the first location, (ii) reaching the second location, and (iii) deviating from any point along the selected route during bidirectional navigation; and a return function to signal to the wearer, via the haptic feedback motor, directional information relative to the starting point from any point along the selected course. Other related embodiments are described.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to embodiments of the claimed inventions.
Swimming is a sport that athletes and others of varying athletic skill can adapt to, and is less demanding on the muscles and joints than many other sports. However, swimmers who are blind or otherwise visually impaired face special challenges that can significantly limit their generally otherwise unrestricted ability to swim. Depending on the level of an athlete's visual acuity, adaptations are often necessary to compete in swimming. Conventionally, visually impaired athletes rely upon a "tapper," such as a person to tap on the athlete's shoulder with a tennis ball attached to a mobility cane to signal the visually impaired athlete to make a flip turn or change direction. One reason for using a tapper is that while visually impaired individuals may use a support cane or "white cane" with sensors to detect objects in their path above or below knee-level while walking, the use of such a cane while swimming is not practical as holding onto a cane while swimming obviously impairs an individual's swimming performance and ability.
Problematically, the conventional use of a "tapper" leaves the swimmer athlete dependent upon another person not only during competitions but also during practice and training sessions. Furthermore, a "tapper" is wholly infeasible for visually impaired swimmers attempting to swim or train in open waters, such as oceans, lakes, or large rivers, as there simply is nowhere for the tapper to stand within reach of the swimmer. Furthermore, having a tapper swim alongside a visually impaired swimmer, especially during competitions, is not practical.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from the systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing a GPS directional swimming watch for the eyesight impaired as is described herein.

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing a GPS directional swimming watch for the eyesight impaired


A manufacturing machine for rod-shaped articles comprises a wrapping section (4) for forming a rod-shaped article by wrapping a filler material in a wrapper. The wrapping section has a forming bed (6) for guiding a garniture tape (10), which is used to form the rod-shaped article, in travel. The manufacturing machine further comprises a cooling system for cooling the forming bed (10). The cooling system is provided with cooling passages (43, 45, 47, 49, 143, 145, 149) formed in portions 6A to 6D of the forming bed (6) and a circuit for supplying a coolant to the cooling passages.

A manufacturing machine for rod-shaped articles of this type includes a wrapping section. The wrapping section forms a rod-shaped article by continuously wrapping a filler material, such as cut tobacco or a filter material, in a wrapper as the filler material and the wrapper, along with an endless garniture tape, pass through the wrapping section.
More specifically, the garniture tape runs sliding on a forming bed that forms the lower side part of the wrapping section, while the filler material and the wrapper run sliding on a plurality of forming molds that form the upper side parts of the wrapping section. As the manufacturing operation of the manufacturing machine is speeded up, therefore, the respective traveling speeds of the garniture tape, filler material, and wrapper also increase. The sliding contact of the garniture tape with the forming bed and the sliding contact of the filler material and the wrapper with the forming molds generate substantial frictional heat in the wrapping section, thereby overheating the wrapping section.
Overheating of the wrapping section shortens the lifetime of the garniture tape. More specifically, manufacture of a conventional garniture tape includes a process of connecting the opposite ends of a band made of linen fibers, a process of applying an adhesive agent to the band, and a process of then hot-molding and elongating the band to a given length. Therefore, overheating the garniture tape lowers the bond strength of the adhesive agent between the linen fibers. Thus, the lifetime of the garniture tape is supposed to be shortened as the tensile strength of the garniture tape is quickly reduced to an allowable level or below.
More specifically, if the manufacturing machine is operated at manufacturing speeds of 4,000 cigarettes, 8,000 cigarettes, or 14,000 cigarettes per minute in the case where the manufacturing machine is applied to the manufacture of cigarette rods, the garniture tape has lifetimes of 12 to 16 hours, 6 to 10 hours, or 3 to 6 hours, respectively. Thus, the higher the manufacturing speed of the manufacturing machine, the higher the frequency of change of the garniture tape is, and the lower the operating efficiency or production capacity of the manufacturing machine is.
If the filler material is cut tobacco, moreover, overheating of the wrapping section positively causes the flavor and taste of the cut tobacco itself to worsen.
The object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing machine for rod-shaped articles, designed so that a wrapping section in the manufacturing machine can be effectively prevented from overheating if the manufacture of the rod-shaped articles is speeded up.

Machine for manufacturing rod-like article