Light is directed between the arms of a forceps to illuminate an area under debridement of foreign material with a color selected to enhance contrast of foreign material that needs to be removed. The light comes from a multicolor source such as an LED chip having RGBW dies and is transmitted by a light transmitting element such as an elongated waveguide or a light pipe to illuminate the area under examination. The color is selectable so as to obtain a color that has good contrast for the foreign material. The apparatus has a docking station to install the forceps so that it is properly located with respect to the illumination. A camera can be part of the apparatus to transmit imagery to a display.

Traumatic wounds contain devitalized tissue, bacteria and associated bodies, grass, soil and bone fragments depending on how and where the injury occurred. Wounds caused by blast impact are usually more severe, and are contaminated with an even greater variety of foreign bodies. The debris can include weapon shells, fabric, gravel, ceramic shards and shrapnel. The wound also will contain devitalized skin and muscle tissue The speed and quality of wound debridement in the initial treatment stage are crucial to prevent the type of infections that lead to mortality and morbidity.
A surgeon tending to such wounds, as a rule, presently uses visual observation and mechanical methods (hand, forceps and scalpel) to identify and remove the objects and devitalized tissue. Although ceiling and head mounted lights are often used for illumination, the light scattered from wet tissue and shadows from the surgical instruments dramatically reduce the visual contrast necessary for locating and removing such objects.

Illumination for enhanced contrast in debridement apparatus and method


A data line driving circuit 200 has a shift resistor unit 210 in which respective shift resistor unit circuits Ua1 to Uan+2 are in cascade connection with each other, and an output signal control unit 220 comprising respective operational unit circuits Ub1 to Ubn+1. A NAND circuit 514 controls an enabling period of a negative sampling signal based on an output signal from a NAND circuit 511 in an subsequent-stage operational unit circuit.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an output control circuit for use with a transfer device in which a number of unit circuits that shift a starting pulse sequentially in synchronization with a clock signal are in cascade connection with each other, a driving circuit, an electro-optic apparatus, and an electronic instrument.
2. Description of Related Art
A driving circuit for an electro-optic apparatus, for example, a liquid crystal apparatus, can be formed by a data line driving circuit and scan line driving circuit that supply a data line signal and scan signal in, a predetermined timing, to data lines and scan lines wired in an image display area. A sampling circuit can be provided in a later stage of the data line driving circuit. The sampling circuit samples an image signal and supplies the image signal to each of the data lines based on each of sampling signals supplied from the data line driving circuit.
The conventional data line driving circuit generally has a shift resistor that shifts the starting pulse and an output control circuit that generates the sampling signals based on an output signal of each stages in the shift resistor.
Although it is ideal that each of the sampling signals becomes sequentially active exclusively, an enabling period of a sampling signal may overlap with an enabling period of a subsequent sampling signal by delay in a logic circuit forming the data line driving circuit.
To solve such problem, it can be considered that an enabling signal for enabling the sampling signals output from the output control circuit or an inhibiting signal for inhibiting the sampling signals is supplied, thereby pulse width of the sampling signals are controlled. However, when the data line driving circuit has a high operating frequency, since the period for inhibiting an adjacent sampling signal is shortened, the enabling signal and the inhibiting signal include an extremely high frequency component. On the other hand, since wiring for supplying the enabling signal and inhibiting signal has a floating capacitance, there is a certain limit in transmitting a high frequency signal through such wiring. Therefore, there has been a problem that when the data line driving circuit has a high operating frequency, the enabling signal and inhibiting signal cannot be transmitted adequately, resulting in overlap among the adjacent sampling signals.
Even when the enabling signal and inhibiting signal can be transmitted and the pulse width of the sampling signal can be limited, the reduced pulse width of the sampling signal causes a following problem. That is, while the image signal is supplied to the data line during an active period of the sampling signal, since the data line has a capacitance in itself, when the active period of the sampling signal is shortened, the image signal cannot be written in the data line adequately. This point becomes a more significant problem as the operating frequency of the data line driving circuit is increased.

Output control circuit, driving circuit, electro-optic apparatus, and electronic instrument


A adapter for wireless networking provides for reconfigerable media access control and data packet formats. The flexible adapter comprises a modem interface for controlling an RF modem for transmitting data signals to and receiving data signals from another RF modem; a media access control circuit; and a computer system interface circuit. The computer system interface circuit provides an interface between a host computer system, the modem interface circuit and the media access control circuit.

Advances in technology have enabled high speed wireless communication and spurred the growth of wireless, and now mobile computing systems. This technology has enabled many new wireless services and systems including wireless LANs. Wireless LANs are the first step toward a mobile computing environment.
Several systems for mobile and wireless computing have been disclosed. Xerox's tab system uses a small hand-held device, called a tab, as a terminal which then interacts with a surrounding network which contain the intelligence. This allows the users to pick up and use an arbitrary tab and immediately have access to their environment. The tab system has an infra-red link for transmitting and receiving data which allows communication in office size cells that are connected to an installed backbone network.
The Infopad system uses an approach similar to a terminal device, and is connected by a high speed RF modem for access of interactive data. The Infopad relies on the surrounding network to provide the intelligent resources, while acting as a terminal for the data.
An intermediate approach splits the intelligence between the device and the network. Some of the computation can be carried out using powerful processing resources in the backbone network instead of on the mobile system which has limited processing resources as well as a limited power budget. Applications typically utilize as much communications bandwidth as is available by adaptively altering the amount of processing on the backbone network verses at the mobile system.
A third approach places the intelligence in the mobile system and utilizes the backbone network to access other devices on a peer to peer basis. This approach is similar to the current model of networked computing, and is supported by wireless LAN systems running Mobile IP. Mobile IP allows the definition of a mobile subnetwork having many mobile systems associated with it. When communicating with a mobile system, data is first sent to any one of several fixed hosts associated with that subnetwork. The fixed hosts either know where the mobile system is, which base station the mobile system is communicating with, or can determine this by quering a set of other base stations.
The WaveLAN system is a wireless LAN system that allows wireless extension of existing Ethernet networks. The WaveLAN has been used as the physical layer for several mobile computing systems.
Wireless untethered computing allows continual connection of mobile systems to the network backbone as users move around their office, corridors and conference rooms. The system should support several models of access, from terminals to intelligent mobile hosts. In order to support this model, mobile systems must be equipped with suitable wireless interfaces, wireless base stations must be installed and the backbone network must be enhanced to support mobile users. Existing wireless designs were unsuitable to allow flexible and innovative handoff and MAC schemes.
Although considerable progress has been made with the use of wireless technology and broadband networks, many technical problems remained to be solved before a vision of omnipresent tetherless access to multimedia information can be realized. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a flexible hardware architecture which is reconfigurable for different protocols and different radio modem control.

Wireless adapter architecture for mobile computing


A kit for assembling a variety of dental devices using a plurality of delivery tips that differ from one another as to either size or type. The kit also includes a plurality of differently sized syringes each being releasably attachable to any one of the plurality of delivery tips. An organizer displays the syringes and delivery tips in such way that the size and type of syringe and delivery tip desired is easily identifiable. The kit may include adapters which connect any of the plurality of delivery tips to either a vacuum source or to an air bulb. The delivery tips may be color coded such that the size and type of delivery tip is indicated by the color code of the delivery tip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to kits for assembling various dental devices. More particularly, the present invention is related to kits for assembling various dental devices wherein different sizes of syringes, delivery tips, and other dental components are coordinated and readily available to be combined for different uses.
2. Prior State of the Art
A wide variety of different types of dental equipment is used in today's dental practice. For best results, a particular size and type of device is used for each different process. For example, one type of syringe may be needed for irrigation of the teeth, while another type of syringe may be needed for expressing material such as a bonding agent onto teeth surfaces. When several procedures are used in one sitting, many different devices may be needed.
Unfortunately, trying to assemble and keep together all the various devices that may be needed in one compact area is often frustrating and very time consuming. The various pieces are usually not organized in a convenient fashion, and the dentist is not always able to obtain each desired piece of equipment quickly and easily. It is often difficult for the dentist to be able to instantly identify from his supply of equipment the correct size and type of device needed, and then be able to conveniently obtain the correct device once it is identified.

Endodontic dental kit with color-coding means


A linear CCD (charge-coupled device) including: a photodiode-array having a plurality of photodiodes for converting incident light plural charges, respectively; and a charge transfer part for transferring the charges of the photodiodes during a first phase of a first and second clock signal and for moving the charges during a second phase of the first and second clock signals. The charge transfer part includes: plural first shift electrodes connected to the photodiodes, respectively, for forming potential wells that receive charges from the photodiodes, respectively, during the first phase of the first and second clock signals; and plural second shift electrodes located between the first shift electrodes, respectively, for forming potential wells that receive the charges from the potential wells of the first shift electrodes during the second phase of the first and second clock signals. No shift gates are needed between charge outlets of the photodiodes and the first shift electrodes.

The present invention relates to a charge-coupled device (CCD), and more particularly, to the structure of a linear CCD and a method of operating the same, in which the structure of the connecting part of a photodiode and a charge transfer part and the transfer method of a signal charge are improved to be suitable for a high speed linear CCD.
A CCD is an imaging device in which, with a pulse voltage applied to a gate electrode, a potential well is formed in the vicinity of the surface of a semiconductor to move charges that exist in the well.
As one example of conventional linear CCDs, a schematic layout is shown in FIG. 1. This conventional linear CCD comprises a photodiode-array 10, charge transfer parts (horizontal analog shift resistors) 13 and 14 located on both sides of the photodiode-array, shift gates 11 and 12 for transferring a charge generated from the photodiode 10 to the charge transfer parts 13 and 14, an output gate (OG) 15 for transmitting the charge transferred from charge transfer parts 13 and 14 to an output terminal, and a floating diffusion (FD) 16 receiving the charge transferred in a floating state to transmit it to a sense amp 17.
According to the operation of this linear CCD, when shift gate 11 or 12 is in the ON state, a signal that is photoelectrically-converted in a corresponding photodiode (PD) of the array 10 is transferred to one of the charge transfer parts 13 and 14. The photodiode array is divided into even numbers and odd numbers to transfer the signal to the charge transfer parts located above and below, respectively, in zigzags. For example, if the charge of the odd photodiodes is transferred to the upper part, that of the even photodiodes is transferred to the lower part.
Then, after transferring the signals accumulated in the charge well in the direction of the right side in FIG. 1 by the clock of the charge transfer parts 13 and 14, the signals are extracted by FD 16 and sense amp 17.
FIG. 2 shows in greater detail the portion AA of FIG. 1. FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view taken along view-line III--III in FIG. 2. FIG. 3B shows the potential in this section.
A photodiode (photo cell) 20 forms a P-N junction with a channel stop region 26 and one side of a shift gate 21 as the boundary, in a P-type substrate 30. Shift electrodes (P1, P2) 23 of a charge transfer part, e.g., 13 or 14, are formed on the N-type doped substrate region with an insulating layer 31 imposed therebetween, respectively. Between shift electrodes 23 and photodiode 20, a shift gate 21 is formed on the substrate, with insulating layer 31 imposed therebetween. Channel stop region 26 is formed on the other side of shift gate 21. The part excluding photodiode 20 is covered with a light-shielding film 32 and an insulating layer 31' interposed therebetween.
Considering the operation of such conventional linear CCD, when a signal voltage is applied to shift gate (11 and 12 in FIG. 1 or 21 in FIG. 2 because only part of one side is shown), the potential 21' below shift gate 21 is lowered as shown in dotted line in FIG. 3B. Thus, charges 20' accumulated in the photodiode (shown in a slash mark for convenience sake of explanation) pass under the shift gate and transfer to a well region 23' formed below shift electrode 23. After once transferring the charge of the photodiode to the well 23', the applied voltage of the shift gate is made low immediately to thereby shield the path of the charge.
To shift charges to electrodes P1 and P2 of the charge transfer part, two values of "low" (of "0" V) and "high" (of a certain positive voltage of "H" V) are applied. That is, a pulsed clock repeating a high-low waveform is applied to transfer the charge to the output side.
In other words, for transferring the charge from the photodiode to the well below the shift electrode, in a state that no clock is applied to the shift gate (i.e., in an OFF state as compared to a switch), if applying the high (+V) voltage to the shift electrode and applying the high pulse to shift gate 21, the charge path under the shift gate is opened (is similarly to be turned on in case of switch). Thus, the charges accumulated in the photodiode are transferred to the potential well under the corresponding shift electrode of the charge transfer part that is in contact with the outlet side of the photodiode.
If the movement of the signal charge to the charge transfer part is done, the shift gate enters an OFF state to thereby isolate the photodiode and the channel of the charge transfer part. The clock of the charge transfer part is applied to the shift electrode, thereby transferring the signal charge in the direction of the OG and FD.
According to such a conventional linear CCD, since two shift gates should be utilized between the photodiode-array and the upper and lower charge transfer parts, the structure is complicated. In addition, it is attended with inconvenience that an external pin should be installed in the CCD package in order to apply the pulse to the shift gate.
Further, since the clock pulse of the charge transfer parts utilize the voltage between 0 to +H volt, the surface of the channel of the charge transfer part is not in the accumulation state. Thus, there is a problem that a leakage charge generated in the surface flows.
Since the shift gate 21 should be formed of polysilicon, in order to isolate it from the polysilicon of the charge transfer part, e.g., 13 or 14, the length of the region 30' of the substrate 30 where the photodiode communicates with the charge transfer part should be enlarged. Thus, when the shift gate enters the ON state, the distance that the signal charge should be passed is large, so that it takes a long time. Accordingly, the image lag phenomenon is liable to be caused. In order to prevent this phenomenon, the potential step of the photodiode and the charge transfer part should be enlarged.

Linear charge-coupled device having improved charge transferring characteristics


The present application is directed to cleaner units and methods for removing waste toner from a transfer member within an image forming device. The device may include a blade that is positioned against the transfer member to remove the waste toner. The blade directs the waste toner into a cleaner house where the waste toner is removed. The cleaner unit is positioned within the image forming device to prevent contact with the media sheets moving along the media path. The cleaner unit may also be positioned to utilize existing elements to facilitate the removal of the waste toner from the transfer member.

The present application is directed to image forming devices and, more particularly, to devices and methods for removing waste toner from a transfer member within an image forming device.
Image forming devices, such as color laser printers, produce images on print media that pass along a media path. The images are formed by one or more toner images that are formed on a transfer member and then transferred to the media sheets. During transfer of the toner images to the media sheets, some of the toner is not transferred and remains on the transfer member. This non-transferred toner, or waste toner, should be removed from the transfer member. Waste toner that remains on the transfer member may be inadvertently transferred to a subsequent media sheet resulting in a print defect.
A cleaner unit should remove the waste toner to an extent to prevent or greatly reduce the likelihood of print defects. Preferably, the cleaner unit should be constructed to not greatly increase the overall cost of the device. The current market for image forming devices is extremely competitive and price points may drive a purchasing decision for consumers. It is preferable that the device be able to produce high quality images and still be competitively priced.
The transfer member may move around a series of rollers as it receives the toner images and transfers them to the media sheets. The cleaner unit may be positioned opposite from one of the rollers to provide good contact with the transfer member. Prior art devices have positioned the cleaner unit in a manner for gravity to assist in the removal of the waste toner from the transfer member.

Cleaner units and methods for removing waste toner within an image forming device


An emitter for atomizing and discharging a liquid entrained in a gas stream is disclosed. The emitter has a nozzle with an outlet facing a deflector surface. The nozzle discharges a gas jet against the deflector surface. The emitter has a duct with an exit orifice adjacent to the nozzle outlet. Liquid is discharged from the orifice and is entrained in the gas jet where it is atomized. A method of operating the emitter is also disclosed. The method includes establishing a first shock front between the outlet and the deflector surface, a second shock front proximate to the deflector surface, and a plurality of shock diamonds in a liquid-gas stream discharged from the emitter.

Devices such as resonance tubes are used to atomize liquids for various purposes. The liquids may be fuel, for example, injected into a jet engine or rocket motor or water, sprayed from a sprinkler head in a fire suppression system. Resonance tubes use acoustic energy, generated by an oscillatory pressure wave interaction between a gas jet and a cavity, to atomize liquid that is injected into the region near the resonance tube where the acoustic energy is present.
Resonance tubes of known design and operational mode generally do not have the fluid flow characteristics required to be effective in fire protection applications. The volume of flow from the resonance tube tends to be inadequate, and the water particles generated by the atomization process have relatively low velocities. As a result, these water particles are decelerated significantly within about 8 to 16 inches of the sprinkler head and cannot overcome the plume of rising combustion gas generated by a fire. Thus, the water particles cannot get to the fire source for effective fire suppression. Furthermore, the water particle size generated by the atomization is ineffective at reducing the oxygen content to suppress a fire if the ambient temperature is below 55° C. Additionally, known resonance tubes require relatively large gas volumes delivered at high pressure. This produces unstable gas flow which generates significant acoustic energy and separates from deflector surfaces across which it travels, leading to inefficient atomization of the water. There is clearly a need for an atomizing emitter that operates more efficiently than known resonance tubes in that the emitter uses smaller volumes of gas at lower pressures to produce sufficient volume of atomized water particles having a smaller size distribution while maintaining significant momentum upon discharge so that the water particles may overcome the fire smoke plume and be more effective at fire suppression.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A fishing reel includes: a reel body attachable to a fishing rod; a spool rotatably supported by the reel body; a handle disposed at a side portion of the reel body for rotating the spool to winding a fishing line on the spool; and an auxiliary operating member for auxiliary winding the fishing line on the spool provided at a position in which the auxiliary operating member can be operated by a finger of an angler's hand holding the fishing rod to which the reel body is attached.

The invention relates to a fishing reel of a type that a spool, on which a fishing line is to be wound, is rotatably supported between the two side plates of a reel main body and, in particular, to a fishing reel suitable for lure fishing.
Conventionally, as one of fishing methods, there is known lure fishing in which an artificial bait referred to as a lure is given actions to thereby catch fish; and, in the lure fishing, there is used a fishing reel having such a structure as shown in Japanese Patent No. 3009074 and Japanese Patent No. 3025172. In the lure fishing, normally, in the light of the fact that fish will not show an interest so much in an object moving steadily with a constant speed, the lure is given various actions; for example, it is stopped and moved by operating a rod or a reel.
As an example of operations to be executed in this case, there is know an operation in which a rod is pulled up after casting to give the lure some actions and the fishing line is taken up onto the spool by an amount corresponding to the pulled-up amount of the rod by operating and rotating a handle while holding down the rod in such a manner that the fishing line can be prevented from loosening. And, a fisherman repeats this series of lure actions (inducing operations for reeling up the fishing line) a required number of times according to the conditions of fishing spots and waits for a bite.
By the way, in carrying out the lure fishing using the above-structured fishing reel, the fisherman must carry out the lure action operations while using properly the rod operation by the fisherman's hand gripping and holding the reel and the reeling operation by the opposite hand. In other words, in a state where the arm for operating the rod after performing the casting operation is stretched full, or in a state where the handle faces downward (due to the relation thereof, the handle held together with the rod by the hand is easy to face downward), the other hand is situated at an unnatural position, which makes it hard to perform an easy and delicate handle rotation operation, that is, an easy and delicate reeling operation.
Further, when the fisherman holds an obstacle in the fishing spot or something with the handle-side hand, or when the fisherman supports the fishing rod with one hand and holds a landing net for taking fish therein with the other hand, both hands are used, which disables the fisherman to carry out the reeling operation with the handle-side hand.


A seat-floor assembly for a vehicle comprises a floor element and at least one monobeam seat fixed to the floor element by a beam. A seat cushion and a seat backrest fixed to the beam. The floor element comprises a stiffened panel structure, one face of which forms a top sole of at least one floor crossmember. The floor element further comprises a housing receptacle open on the top sole and fixed to the top sole and/or to the at least one floor crossmember. At least one monobeam seat is fixed to the beam. An aircraft fuselage comprises a floor with such seat-floor assemblies and reinforced by the structure of the floor elements.

In the field of transport vehicles it is known practice to fix seats intended for the passengers or for crew members to the structure of the vehicle.
In the known way, the seats are often fixed to the floor of the vehicle either at fixed predetermined locations or on rails secured to the floor that allow each seat to be positioned at various locations without having to rework the floor structure and the fixing points.
The latter solution is widely used in the case of aircraft where it allows very different configurations to be set out according to the type of comfort desired by the aircraft operator.
The latter solution can also, as illustrated in FIG. 1, be used in the case of a seat 10 with what is referred to as a monobeam structure, in which a seat cushion and backrest assembly 11 is secured to a substantially vertical beam 12, inclined to a greater or lesser extent, generally towards the rear of the seat, with respect to the vertical.
The beam 12 is then secured to a support structure 13 comprising fixing points which are set out for being fixed to the rails 14 of the floor 15.
In these solutions it is necessary to have mechanical clearances which are needed for absorbing defective positioning of the fixing points caused by manufacturing tolerances or caused by deformations in the structures, whether these fixing points are directly on the structure or whether they are on rails. These required clearances therefore lead to feelings of instability for the occupants of the seats and to noises when the seat is in a vibrational environment, as, in vehicles, it often is.
Furthermore, the seat is generally required to have comfort settings which, when the seat is fixed to the floor, allow the seat cushion and the backrest to be moved, usually longitudinally, vertically and in terms of inclination. These adjustments when desired on the seat entail additional mechanisms independent of the means of fixing to the floor and which, leaving aside their complexities and cost, increase the mass of the seat, notably in the upper parts of the seat, the consequences of this being that the structure has to be reinforced in order to meet crash testing requirements, something which particularly in aeronautical applications proves to be penalizing. The clearances necessary for fixing the seat are also a source of defective operation in the sliding parts of the seats.


An industrial truck and a method for its delivery are proposed, the mobile base of the industrial truck being transported to the delivery destination on a load transport vehicle. At the delivery destination, an operating device that is also supplied is used as a mobile operating device for issuing control instructions for the traction operations of the base vehicle, in order to drive the base vehicle with its own drive units off the load transport vehicle over a ramp or the like and thus to set it down.

The invention relates to an industrial truck, in particular a stacker vehicle, for the movement and handling of loads, having a mobile base, a driver's station for the operator, a load handling device and an electric control device for controlling the traction operation and/or the load handling operation of the industrial truck, the control device having an operating device which is normally installed in the driver's station and by means of which the operator can issue control instructions.
Industrial trucks of the type mentioned above are in use in many designs, for example as high-bay order picking stackers. High-bay order picking stackers can be constructed, for example, as electric order picking/three-sided stackers which, on the mobile base, have a telescopic lifting frame and, adjustable vertically on the latter, the driver's station. Provided on the driver's station, as a load handling device, are a lateral thrust device having an additional lifting mast and a fork carrier that is adjustable vertically on the latter and has loadbearing forks. The additional lifting mast can be rotated about a vertical axis, so that the load carrying forks can be oriented in the straight-ahead direction of travel or transversely with respect thereto. The lateral thrust device is able to displace the additional lifting mast and the load carrying forks laterally, for example to pick up a pallet or the like from a high-bay rack. In the driver's station of such a high-bay stacker, an operating desk having an operating console is usually provided as an operating device and, for example, has a steering wheel, control switches for diverse operating functions of the high-bay stacker and at least one display.
High-bay stackers are in use in which the telescopic lifting frame has a height of 6-7 m when retracted and can be extended to a height of 12-13 m.
Because of these large dimensions, such high-bay stacker vehicles are normally transported from the manufacturer to the customer in the not yet completely assembled state. In this case, the lifting mast is normally transported as a transport unit lying on a load transport vehicle. Further transport units are the base vehicle with drive units, the driver's station and subassemblies of the load handling device. At the customer, the industrial truck is then put together from the transport units and commissioned as intended. In the usual way, a loading crane is required on site at the customer in order to unload the base vehicle and the further transport units from the load transport vehicle and to bring the lifting frame into the vertical mounting position, which frame can then be installed on the base vehicle. The unloading and mounting operation for the commissioning of the industrial truck delivered is therefore not without effort.


A band-gap spectral filter is made of a nanochannel glass structure having a two-dimensional array of parallel dielectric rods arranged in a matrix material. The materials for the dielectric rods and the matrix material are selected so that the difference between the refractive index of the dielectric rods and the refractive index of the matrix material is equal to or less than about 0.5.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to periodic dielectric structures and, in particular to optical notch filters made of nanochannel glass material having a two-dimensional array of rods in a matrix.
2. Background of the Related Art
Currently, notch filters are generally made by vacuum deposition of multilayer dielectric films on a transparent substrate. These filters have very limited useful acceptance angles since the spectral properties are angle-dependent; in fact, they are generally useful only for collimated light sources, especially when the notches in the transmission are narrow. In addition, the multilayer dielectric film filters are very sensitive to environmental factors such as heat, humidity and mechanical contact, and their optical properties degrade easily. They are particularly difficult to clean since some of the materials used for the thin-film layers are soft and easily damaged by scratching. Finally, the multilayer dielectric film filters are easily damaged by high-power sources, such as many lasers.
A dielectric filter comprising a two-dimensional lattice structure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,943, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The structure is formed by boring holes in a high dielectric material or by stacking and aligning sheets of high dielectric material having holes bored therein. Therefore, the frequency range that can be filtered by such a structure is necessarily limited by the size of the holes that can be drilled.
A two-dimensional photonic band structure consisting of a triangular lattice of circular air rods (∈1=1.0) in a matrix of microchannel Pbxe2x80x94O glass (∈2=2.6) is described in Inoue et al xe2x80x9cFabrication of Two Dimensional Photonic Band Structure with Near-Infrared Band Gapxe2x80x9d Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 33 (1994) pp L 1463-L 1465.
It is an object of the invention to provide spectral filters having band gaps from the infrared to the ultraviolet.
It is another object of the invention to provide band-gap spectral filters comprising periodic dielectric elements wherein the size, shape, separation and index of refraction of the periodic dielectric elements can be selected to control the width, depth and sharpness of the band gap.
It is another object of the invention to provide band-gap spectral filters that are rugged and resistant to damage from environmental conditions.
It is another object of the invention to provide band-gap spectral filters that are insensitive to the direction of propagation of light.
It is another object of the invention to provide band-gap spectral filters that are highly sensitive to the direction of propagation of light.
The above objects are accomplished by a band-gap spectral filter comprising a nanochannel glass structure having a two-dimensional array of parallel dielectric rods having a first refractive index, arranged in a matrix material having a second refractive index, wherein the difference between the first refractive index and the second refractive index is equal to or less than about 0.7.

Optical notch filters based on two-dimensional photonic band-gap materials

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


According to certain embodiments, a method for use in a network node comprises broadcasting system information to wireless devices. The system information indicates a set of configured random access carriers. The method further comprises selecting, from the set of configured random access carriers, a random access carrier to be used by a wireless device when performing random access transmissions, and indicating the selected random access carrier to the wireless device.

Machine Type Communication (MTC) generally refers to devices that communicate without human interaction, i.e., devices built into machines. MTC is part of the even more general discussion of Internet of things (IoT), where it is envisioned that all devices that can benefit from being connected will be connected. Predictions for coming years point toward there being a very large number of MTC devices. Many of these devices such as narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices will probably be fairly stationary, e.g., the device is located in a vending machine and perhaps even built into walls. These devices are meant to last many years and operate without chargers. For example, the NB-IoT system which is based on existing LTE systems and addresses optimized network architecture and improved indoor coverage for massive number of devices is designed for following characteristics:                low throughput devices (e.g., 2 kbps)        low delay sensitivity (˜10 seconds)        ultra-low device cost (below 5 dollars)        low device power consumption (battery life of 10 years)
It is envisioned that each cell (˜1 km2) in this system will serve many thousand devices such as sensors, meters, actuators, and the like. In order to be able to make use of existing spectrum for, e.g., GSM, a fairly narrow bandwidth has been adopted for NB-IoT technology (e.g., 180 KHz bandwidth, same as one LTE Physical Resource Block (PRB)).
For FDD mode of NB-IoT (i.e., the transmitter and the receiver operate at different carrier frequencies) only half-duplex mode needs to be supported in the UE. In order to achieve improved coverage, data repetition is used both in uplink (UL) and/or downlink (DL). The lower complexity of the devices (e.g., only one transmission/receiver chain) means that some repetition might be needed also in normal coverage. Further, to alleviate user equipment (UE) complexity, the working assumption is to have cross-subframe scheduling. That is, a transmission is first scheduled on a Physical DL Control Channel (NPDCCH) and then the first transmission of the actual data on the Physical DL Shared Channel (NPDSCH) is carried out after the final transmission of the NPDCCH. Similarly, for UL data transmission, information about resources scheduled by the NW and needed by the UE for UL transmission is first conveyed on the NPDCCH and then the first transmission of the actual data by the UE on the Physical UL Shared Channel (NPUSCH) is carried out after the final transmission of the NPDCCH. In other words, for both cases above, there is no simultaneous reception of control channel and reception/transmission of data channel from the UE's perspective.
Furthermore, not all the subframes are available for dedicated data communication in DL in an NB-IoT cell. The amount of available subframes in the DL is dependent on one of the three operation modes (i.e., Stand-alone, In-band, and Guard-band) NB-IoT is deployed in. For all operation modes, a UE needs to rate-match around the following non-available subframes (or parts of subframe):                The NB-IoT primary and secondary synchronization channels (NPSS, and NSSS), where NPSS is transmitted every radio frame and NSSS transmission cycle is every other frame. In NB-IoT, the radio frame length is the same as in LTE, i.e., 10 ms consisting of 10 subframes. NPSS is transmitted in subframe number 5.        The NB-IoT broadcast channel (NPBCH) containing the Master Information Block (MIB) occupies subframe 0 in every radio frame.        The NB-IoT system information blocks broadcast on NPDSCH (e.g., NSIB1 broadcast in subframe 4 of every other radio frame)        DL gaps when configured        NB-IoT reference symbols (NRS)And in addition, in the case in-band operation mode, LTE reference symbols such as CRS and PRS, and LTE MBSFN subframes.
Due to the nature of NB-IoT with half-duplex communication, cross-subframe scheduling, low bandwidth, the available amount of subframes, and the amount of UEs to be served, it becomes evident that, as all other communication systems, NB-IoT will naturally benefit from utilizing more spectrum for efficient operation, especially if such spectrum is already available (e.g., in an in-band operation mode during low traffic hours when LTE carrier is not fully used). Therefore, in 3GPP Rel-13, NB-IoT multi-carrier operation has been adopted where the UE operating in an NB-IoT anchor carrier is configured through higher layer signaling (Layer 3 RRC) to operate on an NB-IoT non-anchor carrier1 during connected mode operation. At the end of the connected mode operation, the UE autonomously returns back to the anchor carrier (when released/suspended by the eNB to idle mode). According to 3GPP Rel-13, in connected mode, all Random Access (RA) attempts are to be performed on the anchor carrier until after the contention resolution (Msg4) where either the UE goes back to the carrier that was serving it autonomously or the NW provides an explicit configuration to the UE steering it to another carrier. 1 Note that the non-anchor carrier does not have the requirement to be deployed on the 100 kHz raster; i.e., any LTE in-band PRB can be used as non-anchor
Based on the agreement in [R1-161548],2 "The UE in RRC_IDLE camps on the NB-IoT carrier on which the UE has received NB-PSS/SSS, NB-PBCH and SIB transmissions", an DL Anchor PRB or carrier in this invention is defined as where the NB-PSS/SSS, NB-PBCH and SIB transmissions take place. 2 R1-161548, "RAN1 agreements for Rel-13 NB-IoT", source WI rapporteur (Ericsson), 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #84, St. Julian's, Malta, Feb. 15-19, 2016
Based on the agreement in [R1-161548],3 "For initial access, the NB-IoT DL/UL frequency separation is configured by higher layers (SIBx) and is cell-specific", and "After the initial random access procedure success, there can also be a UE specific configuration for the NB-IoT DL/UL frequency separation.", a UL anchor PRB or carrier is defined as the UL frequency that is signaled to the NB-IoT device via higher layer signaling. Notice, based on the agreement in [R1-161548],4 the UL anchor PRB can be but not necessary different from the PRB where the initial random access takes place. 3 Id.4 Id.
For Rel-14 it has now been proposed to extend this multi-carrier operation and according to one of the Rel-14 work item objectives, unlike release-13 operation, UEs shall be able to both monitor paging and perform Random Access on non-anchor carriers.5 5 RP-161324, New work item proposal: Enhancements of NB-IoT, source Vodafone, Huawei, HiSilicon, Ericsson, Qualcomm, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #72, Busan, Korea, 13-16 Jun. 2016.
FIG. 1 illustrates the center frequency offsets of LTE PRBs for even and odd system bandwidths. The DC carrier is placed in between of two PRBs (even number of PRBs) or in the middle of the middle PRB (odd number cases). As discussed in [R1-160082] and [R1-160022],6 if a 100 kHz raster is used, not all PRBs can be used for NB-IoT in-band deployment. For the guard-band operation, though the granularity does not need to be 1 PRBs, in order to maintain orthogonality to the legacy LTE system and limited the offset to ±2.5 kHz or ±7.5 kHz from 100 kHz raster grid, only several positions in the LTE guard-band can be used for the NB-IoT downlink carriers.7 In the evaluations in [R1-160080] and [R1-160021],8 ±2.5 kHz and ±7.5 kHz offset from the 100 kHz grid can be accommodated by the cell search process. 6 R1-160082, NB-IoT Channel Raster, source Ericsson, 3GPP TSG-RAN1 NB-IOT Ad Hoc 18-20 Jan. 2016, Budapest, Hungary; and R1-160022, Channel raster design, source Huawei, HiSilicon, 3GPP TSG-RAN1 NB-IOT Ad Hoc 18-20 Jan. 2016, Budapest, Hungary7 R1-160082, NB-IoT Channel Raster, source Ericsson, 3GPP TSG-RAN1 NB-IOT Ad Hoc 18-20 Jan. 2016, Budapest, Hungary8 R1-160080, NB-IoT—Synchronization Channel Evaluations, source Ericsson, 3GPP TSG-RAN1 NB-IOT Ad Hoc 18-20 Jan. 2016, Budapest, Hungary; and R1-160021, Synchronization signal evaluation, source Huawei, HiSilicon, 3GPP TSG-RAN1 NB-IOT Ad Hoc 18-20 Jan. 2016, Budapest, Hungary
To be more specific, for the guard-band operation, as shown in [R1-160082],9 for an LTE system with 10 or 20 MHz system bandwidth, it is possible to find NB-IoT downlink carrier frequency that is 2.5 kHz off the 100 kHz frequency raster. For other LTE system bandwidth, the offset to the 100 kHz raster is 52.5 kHz. Therefore, in order to get within the same ±7.5 kHz to the 100 kHz grid, 3 guard subcarriers are needed. One guard carrier is 15 kHz width and placed in the same FFT grid at the legacy LTE system that gives orthogonality to the legacy LTE PRB. However, there are no other solutions to put the NB-IoT downlink carriers on the exact 100 kHz raster grids on the LTE guard-band without losing orthogonality to the legacy LTE system. Therefore, for a NB-IoT DL carrier that contains synchronization signal and system information, it can only be put on a frequency that is near the 100 kHz grid point. 9 R1-160082, NB-IoT Channel Raster, source Ericsson, 3GPP TSG-RAN1 NB-IOT Ad Hoc 18-20 Jan. 2016, Budapest, Hungary
In order to achieve coverage requirement of the NB-IoT systems, compared to the average LTE data channel transmit power, a 6 dB power boosting is preferred for the downlink of the in-band and guard-band deployment.10 The power boosting is with respect to the legacy data channel. But due to spectrum requirement, this 6 dB power boosting cannot be applied at arbitrary places in the guard band. To be more specific, it is stated in [RP-161324],11 that "Feasibility of boosting for transmission in the guard band depends on the system bandwidth, spacing between NB-IoT and LTE, and also the amount of boosting. When NB-IOT is not very close to the edge of the system bandwidth and with proper design of base station equipments, power boosting of up to 6 dB would be feasible."10 RP-161324, New work item proposal: Enhancements of NB-IoT, source Vodafone, Huawei, HiSilicon, Ericsson, Qualcomm, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #72, Busan, Korea, 13-16 Jun. 2016.11 RP-161324, New work item proposal: Enhancements of NB-IoT, source Vodafone, Huawei, HiSilicon, Ericsson, Qualcomm, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #72, Busan, Korea, 13-16 Jun. 2016.
Certainly by increasing the number of repetitions, NB-IoT devices without good coverage can still be reached when the transmit power is not high enough. But this is at an expense of the system capacity. This can be very problematic when the network traffic is heavier than usual, e.g., for the case of software and firmware update. Therefore, multi-PRB operations are proposed in Rel-13 NB-IoT to help to alleviate the problem. In Rel-13 when multi-PRB is configured, an NB-IoT listens to the anchor carrier for system information, but its data transmission in connected mode can be done on other UL/DL carriers referred sometimes to secondary PRBs or non-anchor carriers. The non-anchor carrier position(s) can be sent to the NB-IoT devices explicitly, e.g., by RRC configuration or via system information, as described in U.S. Patent Application 62/292,053. Accordingly, the positions of the non-anchor carrier in the downlink are not constrained to near the 100 kHz grid. In this way, NB-IoT devices in good coverage can be moved to non-anchor carriers with lower power, and NB-IoT devices in bad coverage can be served by carriers/PRBs with higher power boosting.
For the uplink operation, the deployment is more flexible, as it is not necessary to put the UL carrier in a position that is near the 100 kHz grid. That is the NB-IoT device can get the downlink and uplink carrier duplex distance via system information (can be configured on an individual UE basis as described in [R1-161548]12), if the default duplex distance is not applied. Therefore, the placement of the uplink NB-IoT anchor carrier has more flexibility. For the downlink operation, only 15 kHz subcarrier spacing is used for the NB-IoT system. But for the uplink, two different numerologies, i.e., 3.75 kHz and 15 kHz, of the uplink subcarrier spacing are defined in NB-IoT, for the single tone uplink transmission. For uplink with multi-tone transmission, only 15 kHz subcarrier spacing is used. 12 R1-161548, "RAN1 agreements for Rel-13 NB-IoT", source WI rapporteur (Ericsson), 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #84, St. Julian's, Malta, Feb. 15-19, 2016.
In the current Rel-13 NB-IoT system, paging and NB-IoT physical random access channel (NPRACH) can only be carried on the anchor carrier, even when multi-carriers are configured for NB-IoT. As the number of the UEs in the cell increases, the needs of paging and NPRACH resources also increase. Therefore, in [RP-161324]13 it is proposed to study sending paging and random access requests on non-anchor NB-IoT carriers 13 RP-161324, New work item proposal: Enhancements of NB-IoT, source Vodafone, Huawei, HiSilicon, Ericsson, Qualcomm, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #72, Busan, Korea, 13-16 Jun. 2016.


A compact force multiplying actuator 10 and its associated valve 20 are disclosed. The actuator 10 and valve 20 include piston heads 31 and 32 and force multiplying load beams 52 and 53. Belleville springs 81 and 82 are disposed axially between the piston heads 31, 32 and the load beams 52, 53. The Belleville springs 81 and 82 act through an output member 71 to retain a valve member 88 in a closed position. When pneumatic pressure is applied against the piston heads 31 and 32, movement of the piston heads 31 and 32 is transferred through a force transfer member 45 and through the force multiplying load beams 52 and 53 to move the output member 71 against the bias of the Belleville springs 81 and 82 to allow the valve member 88 to open.

Pneumatic actuators are motion control devices that are used to cause and control motion. Such actuators commonly include a pneumatic chamber to which pneumatic pressure is selectively connected and vented, and a piston head in the chamber that is acted upon and moved by the pneumatic pressure. The movement of the piston head is transferred to an output member that is to be moved.
One type of pneumatic actuator includes a spring that biases the output member to a first or normal or at rest position. When the pneumatic pressure is connected to the pneumatic chamber so that it acts against and moves the piston, this movement of the piston causes the output member to move against the bias of the spring to a second or actuated position.
For certain uses of pneumatic actuators of this type, it is desirable to provide a high spring bias force and a resulting high output force of the output member. This high output force is able to move large loads to a first position and hold those loads in that position for indeterminate lengths of time without pneumatic pressure input. It is also desirable for pneumatic actuators of this type to overcome the bias of the high spring force, and cause and control movement of the output member to a second position, with low, readily available pneumatic pressure (commonly called shop air pressure). Furthermore, it is desirable to provide such a pneumatic actuator that is compact in size for use in confined spaces.
One application for pneumatic actuators of the general type described above is to operate high pressure valves that control the flow of high pressure fluid. In this application, the pneumatic actuator may be secured to a standard mounting arrangement on the high pressure valve, and the output member may control the operation of the valve. The spring biased first position of the output member holds the valve in one position, and movement of the output member to its second position by operation of pneumatic pressure on the piston head allows the valve to move to another position.

Compact force multiplying pneumatic actuator


In the particular embodiments described in the specification, a sprinkler guard is formed from eight U-shaped wire members arranged uniformly about a sprinkler axis and joined at one end to a ring and at the other end to two opposed base plates which each receive four of the U-shaped members, leaving an opening through which a conventional sprinkler head can be inserted into the guard. The base plates have downwardly projecting portions with opposed surfaces to engage flat outwardly facing surfaces on the conventional sprinkler head and also have outwardly facing surfaces for receiving a wrench to mount the sprinkler head after the guard has been assembled on it.

This invention relates to sprinkler guards for protecting sprinkler heads, especially those having thermally responsive elements.
Fire protection sprinklers normally include a thermally responsive element designed to release a closure to permit water to be passed through the sprinkler when the temperature exceeds a selected level and a deflector to distribute the water. The thermally responsive element may, for example, be a glass bulb or a eutectic solder composition normally maintaining an assembly of components which support a cap so as to prevent release of water through the sprinkler head. Such thermally responsive elements and sprinkler deflectors may be subject to damage or destruction if struck by objects being moved in the vicinity of the sprinkler head.
Heretofore, sprinkler guards in the form of wire cages have been mounted on a sprinkler head, either before or after the head is assembled to a water supply line, but such prior art arrangements have certain disadvantages. In the patent to Gray et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,746, for example, a sprinkler guard assembled from wire members is mounted on a sprinkler head by two of the wire members which embrace the sprinkler head in the region adjacent to the threaded portion by which the sprinkler head is mounted in a threaded receptacle. The wire members form two opposed loops which engage oppositely directed flat surfaces on the sprinkler head arranged to receive a wrench for use in mounting the sprinkler head in a threaded receptacle.
Consequently, with this arrangement it is necessary to mount the sprinkler head in a threaded receptacle connected to a water line before the sprinkler guard can be affixed to the head. This requires the guard to be assembled to the head when the head is in an inconvenient position adjacent to a ceiling, for example, or disposed over storage racks.
The Fenske et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,339 discloses a sprinkler guard which avoids the foregoing problem by providing a sprinkler head having a special structure which includes a first region adjacent to the threaded end of the sprinkler head which is shaped to receive a wrench to mount the sprinkler in a threaded receptacle and a second region on the opposite side of the first region from the threaded end which is designed to receive a base portion of a sprinkler guard. With this arrangement, a sprinkler guard can be assembled to a sprinkler head before the head is mounted in a threaded receptacle of a water line but, in order to accomplish this, a specially designed sprinkler head is required.

The Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Co., Inc.


A pedometer sensor outputs a detecting signal in correspondence with the moving motion of a person to a CPU via a variable filter circuit that has a variable passing frequency band. In a walking state, when a voltage comparing circuit determines that the signal level of the detecting signal is equal to or higher than a predetermined level and a period of the detecting signal from the filter circuit set to a band for running is at a period within a predetermined range, the CPU determines that the moving motion is changed from walking to running, maintains a state in which a frequency switching circuit sets a passing frequency band of the filter circuit to a band for running, and calculates a number of steps based on the detecting signal passing the filter circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pedometer for measuring a number of steps by detecting walking or running of the human body, particularly relates to a pedometer having a step number measuring function in walking and in running.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a background art, a pedometer capable of measuring the number of steps in walking and in running has been developed.
For example, according to JP-A-2004-101346 (paragraphs through [0032], FIG. 4 through FIG. 6) and JP-A-2005-283340 (paragraphs [0023] through [0040], FIG. 1 through FIG. 4), a walking vibration is detected by a piezoelectric element included in a main body of a wristwatch and a number of steps is counted by amplifying a signal necessary for detecting walking by an amplifying circuit and a filter circuit.
However, a characteristic of the filter circuit is optimized for measuring the number of steps in walking, and therefore, in running, not a signal by a landing impact but only a signal of arm swinging can be detected to pose a problem that a number of steps in running cannot be measured accurately.
JP-A-5-142363 (paragraphs [0008] through [0016], FIG. 1, FIG. 2) discloses an invention disclosing a radio wave correcting timepiece for detecting a radio wave having a previously set frequency and the strongest electric field by switching a tuning circuit and a selecting circuit for correcting time based on time information included in the detected radio wave, and a filter circuit is switched in accordance with the received radio wave. However, Patent Reference 3 does not describe a correlation in the pedometer for measuring walking or measuring running, and therefore, Patent Reference 3 cannot simply be applied to a pedometer.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2712269 (page 3 through page 4, FIG. 4 through FIG. 6), JP-A-8-77322 (paragraphs [0011] through [0023], FIG. 9, FIG. 13) and JP-A-7-144039 (paragraphs [0013] through [0016], FIG. 1, FIG. 3) disclose an invention for measuring the step of numbers by detecting a plurality of moving motions of walking, running and the like. However, the invention described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2712269, JP-A-8-77322 and JP-A-7-144039 is provided with only a function of simply controlling a gain of an amplifying circuit in accordance with a moving motion, and therefore, the problem is posed in an measurement accuracy.
Further, although JP-UM-A-2-612 (page 1, FIG. 4, FIG. 5) is constituted to change a processing of calculating the step of numbers in accordance with a kind of a moving motion, the kind of the moving motion is set by an external operation, and therefore, a problem that the operation becomes complicated is posed.
It is a problem of the invention to dispense with an operation of selecting a measuring mode and enabling to measure the number of steps highly accurately when the number of steps is measured in walking and in running.


Dual-sided daylight redirecting films include an optical substrate with two solar light redirecting layers disposed on the major surfaces of the optical substrate. The light redirecting layers are microstructured surfaces forming a plurality of prism structures. At least one of the microstructured surfaces is an ordered arrangement of a plurality of asymmetric refractive prisms, and the two solar light redirecting layers are not identical or mirror images. Articles may be prepared that include the dual-sided daylight redirecting film and one or more glazing substrates.

A variety of approaches are used to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Among the approaches being considered and applied is the more efficient use of sunlight to provide lighting inside buildings. One technique for supplying light inside of buildings, such as in offices, etc. is the redirection of incoming sunlight. Because sunlight enters windows at a downward angle, much of this light is not useful in illuminating a room. However, if the incoming downward light rays can be redirected upward such that they strike the ceiling, the light can be more usefully employed in lighting the room.
A variety of articles have been developed to redirect sunlight to provide illumination within rooms. A light deflecting panel is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,952 (Edmonds). These panels are prepared by making a series of parallel cuts in sheets of transparent solid material with a laser cutting tool. Examples of daylighting films include European Patent No. EP 0753121 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,285 (both to Milner) which describe optical components that include an optically transparent body with a plurality of cavities. Another daylighting film is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,565 (Ruck et al.), which describes a light deflecting panel or plate which is formed of a plurality of parallel identically spaced apart triangular ribs on one face. Examples of films that have a plurality of prism structures are described in US Patent Publication No. 2008/0291541 (Padiyath et al.), and pending US patent application Ser. No. 61/287,360, titled "Light Redirecting Constructions" filed Dec. 17, 2009 (Padiyath et al.), and Ser. No. 61/287,354, titled "Light Redirecting Film Laminate" filed Dec. 17, 2009 (Padiyath et al.). Constructions that incorporate both light redirection and light diffusion include the pending U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/469,147, titled "Hybrid Light Redirecting And Light Diffusing Constructions" filed Mar. 30, 2011 (Padiyath et al.), and Canadian Patent Publication No. 2,598,729 (McIntyre et al.).


Statements of a computer program expressed using a first source natural language are made meaningful to a programmer familiar with a second target natural language. The first source natural language of the computer program is determined from the programmer, or through analysis, and the second target natural language desired by the programmer is selected. Textual constructs may be parsed, with reference to stored coding conventions to determine meaningful lexical tokens. Such tokens are translated with a translation engine, and displayed to the programmer, desirably using a graphical user interface feature of an integrated development environment (IDE) for computer programming in a particular programming language.

A computer programming language has a predefined syntax that allows programmers to express logical statements of in a universal manner. In any computer program, there is an intimate link between the universal and predetermined nature of a computer language in which the logical statements of the computer program are encoded, and the arbitrary semantic constructs from a particular human language, such as English, French, German etc., in which those statements are expressed. For example comments, and the names of variables and functions, are often derived from the programmer's first natural language, or "native tongue".
Thus, while a computer program may rely upon a universally understood grammar, the semantic content of that computer program may in many cases be difficult to comprehend for programmers who do not share the author's natural language.
As an example, consider a team of German programmers which has produced a large software project. The computer code is commented using commentary in the German language, with which all of the German programmers are familiar. Accordingly, each of the German programmers can readily understand each other's work and can contribute to their peers' work as informed observers. The software project is deployed in many countries and in, for example, Canada, a major rewrite of the project is required to comply with local regulations.
As the Canadian programmers understand one or both of English and French, but rarely German, the Canadian programmers are at a distinct disadvantage. While the grammar of the language is entirely familiar, and the meaning of the code can be deduced from logical statements and their structural context, the semantic context upon which a full understanding so heavily relies is largely indecipherable to the Canadian programmers.
With the advent of reliable global data communications, computer software projects are simultaneously conducted in various geographical locations using programmers that have different competencies in different natural languages. Similarly, computer code originating in one country is commonly deployed in many other countries, as in the hypothetical example given above.
Accordingly, in view of the above observations, a need clearly exists for an improved manner of allowing the semantic content of computer programs to be accessible to those who do not understand the natural language from which this semantic content derives.

International Business Machines Corporation


A duplex fitting including a radius cast on transition for effectively stopping advancement of the armor layer of one or more inserted cables while at the same time enabling easy passage of the conductors to the outbound end. Two inbound bores transition to a single outlet bore within the fitting. The duplex fitting includes a one-piece connector body having a leading end with a nose portion and a trailing end with two bores therein. Tubular cable retainers secured within the inbound bores snap-in connection of electrical cables to the trailing end. A fastening arrangement on the nose portion of the duplex fitting enables snap fit connection to a knockout hole in a panel or an electrical box.

Duplex electrical fittings are used for wiring electricity in residential and commercial buildings. The duplex fitting enables connecting of one or two electrical cables through a single knockout aperture in an electrical box. In order to properly ground the outer layer of armored electrical cable, duplex fittings are typically constructed of conductive metal and include an inbound end to accept the insertion of electrical cables and an outbound end for connection to an electrical box. Duplex fittings typically include an internal bore that transitions from two bores at the inbound end of to one bore at the outbound end. There is typically scant space available surrounding an electrical box, thereby limiting the length of the duplex fitting as the fitting must fit within the cramped spaces between the electrical box, the walls, and the surround joists or similar structural members.
Although many prior art duplex fittings have been heretofore proposed, one shortcoming of the prior art cables is the difficulty in advancing the conductors thorough the internal structure of the fitting. Accordingly, what is needed is a duplex fitting that provides an easy pathway for advancing the electrical conductors of two inserted electrical cables to the outbound end of the fitting.

Duplex electrical connector with one-piece connector body and radius cast on transition


This invention provides compositions and methods for generating components of protein biosynthetic machinery including orthogonal tRNAs, orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and orthogonal pairs of tRNAs/synthetases. Methods for identifying orthogonal pairs are also provided. These components can be used to incorporate unnatural amino acids into proteins in vivo.

Proteins carry out virtually all of the complex processes of life, from photosynthesis to signal transduction and the immune response. To understand and control these intricate activities, a better understanding of the relationship between the structure and function of proteins is needed.
Unlike small organic molecule synthesis wherein almost any structural change can be made to influence functional properties of a compound, the synthesis of proteins is limited to changes encoded by the twenty natural amino acids. The genetic code of every known organism, from bacteria to human, encodes the same twenty common amino acids. These amino acids can be modified by post-translational modification of proteins, e.g., glycosylation, phosphorylation or oxidation, or in rarer instances, by the enzymatic modification of aminoacylated suppressor tRNAs, e.g., in the case of selenocysteine. Nonetheless, polypeptides, which are synthesized from only these 20 simple building blocks, carry out all of the complex processes of life.
Both site-directed and random mutagenesis, in which specific amino acids in a protein can be replaced with any of the other nineteen common amino acids, have become important tools for understanding the relationship between the structure and function of proteins. These methodologies have made possible the generation of proteins with enhanced properties, including stability, catalytic activity and binding specificity. Nevertheless, changes in proteins are limited to the 20 common amino acids, most of which have simple functional groups. See Knowles, J. R. Tinkering with enzymes: what are we learning? Science, 236:1252-1258 (1987); and, Zoller, M. J., Smith, M. Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of DNA fragments cloned into M13 vectors, Methods Enzymol, 100:468-500 (1983). By expanding the genetic code to include additional amino acids with novel biological, chemical or physical properties, the properties of proteins, e.g., the size, acidity, nucleophilicity, hydrogen-bonding, hydrophobic properties, etc., can be modified as compared to a protein composed of only amino acids from the 20 common amino acids, e.g., as in a naturally occurring protein.
Several strategies have been employed to introduce unnatural amino acids into proteins. The first experiments involved the derivatization of amino acids with reactive side-chains such as Lys, Cys and Tyr, for example, the conversion of lysine to Nε-acetyl-lysine. Chemical synthesis also provides a straightforward method to incorporate unnatural amino acids, but routine solid-phase peptide synthesis is generally limited to small peptides or proteins with less than 100 residues. With the recent development of enzymatic ligation and native chemical ligation of peptide fragments, it is possible to make larger proteins, but such methods are not easily scaled. See, e.g., P. E. Dawson and S. B. H. Kent, Annu. Rev. Biochem., 69:923 (2000). A general in vitro biosynthetic method in which a suppressor tRNA chemically acylated with the desired unnatural amino acid is added to an in vitro extract capable of supporting protein biosynthesis, has been used to site-specifically incorporate over 100 unnatural amino acids into a variety of proteins of virtually any size. See, e.g., V. W. Cornish, D. Mendel and P. G. Schultz, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 1995, 34:621 (1995); C. J. Noren, S. J. Anthony-Cahill, M. C. Griffith, P. G. Schultz, A general method for site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins, Science 244 182-188 (1989); and, J. D. Bain, C. G. Glabe, T. A. Dix, A. R. Chamberlin, E. S. Diala, Biosynthetic site-specific incorporation of a non-natural amino acid into a polypeptide, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 111 8013-8014 (1989). A broad range of functional groups has been introduced into proteins for studies of protein stability, protein folding, enzyme mechanism, and signal transduction. Although these studies demonstrate that the protein biosynthetic machinery tolerates a wide variety of amino acid side chains, the method is technically demanding, and yields of mutant proteins are low.
Over 50 years ago, it was found that many analogs of natural amino acids inhibit the growth of bacteria. Analysis of the proteins produced in the presence of these amino acid analogs revealed that they had been substituted for their natural counterparts to various extents. See, e.g., M. H. Richmond, Bacteriol. Rev., 26:398 (1962). This occurs because the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, the enzyme responsible for the attachment of the correct amino acid to its cognate tRNA, cannot rigorously distinguish the analog from the corresponding natural amino acid. For instance, norleucine is charged by methionyl-tRNA synthetase, and p-fluorophenylalanine is charged by phenylalanine-tRNA synthetase. See, D. B. Cowie, G. N. Cohen, E. T. Bolton and H. de Robichon-Szulmajster, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1959, 34:39 (1959); and, R. Munier and G. N. Cohen, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1959, 31:378 (1959).
An in vivo method, termed selective pressure incorporation, was later developed to exploit the promiscuity of wild-type synthetases. See, e.g., N. Budisa, C. Minks, S. Alefelder, W. Wenger, F. M. Dong, L. Moroder and R. Huber, FASEB J., 13:41 (1999). An auxotrophic strain, in which the relevant metabolic pathway supplying the cell with a particular natural amino acid is switched off, is grown in minimal media containing limited concentrations of the natural amino acid, while transcription of the target gene is repressed. At the onset of a stationary growth phase, the natural amino acid is depleted and replaced with the unnatural amino acid analog. Induction of expression of the recombinant protein results in the accumulation of a protein containing the unnatural analog. For example, using this strategy, o, m and p-fluorophenylalanines have been incorporated into proteins, and exhibit two characteristic shoulders in the UV spectrum which can be easily identified, see, e.g., C. Minks, R. Huber, L. Moroder and N. Budisa, Anal. Biochem., 284:29 (2000); trifluoromethionine has been used to replace methionine in bacteriophage λ lysozyme to study its interaction with chitooligosaccharide ligands by 19F NMR, see, e.g., H. Duewel, E. Daub, V. Robinson and J. F. Honek, Biochemistry, 36:3404 (1997); and trifluoroleucine has been inserted in place of leucine, resulting in increased thermal and chemical stability of a leucine-zipper protein. See, e.g., Y. Tang, G. Ghirlanda, W. A. Petka, T. Nakajima, W. F. DeGrado and D. A. Tirrell, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 40:1494 (2001). Moreover, selenomethionine and telluromethionine are incorporated into various recombinant proteins to facilitate the solution of phases in X-ray crystallography. See, e.g., W. A. Hendrickson, J. R. Horton and D. M. Lemaster, EMBO J., 9:1665 (1990); J. O. Boles, K. Lewinski, M. Kunkle, J. D. Odom, B. Dunlap, L. Lebioda and M. Hatada, Nat. Struct. Biol., 1:283 (1994); N. Budisa, B. Steipe, P. Demange, C. Eckerskorn, J. Kellermann and R. Huber, Eur. J. Biochem., 230:788 (1995); and, N. Budisa, W. Karnbrock, S. Steinbacher, A. Humm, L. Prade, T. Neuefeind, L. Moroder and R. Huber, J. Mol. Biol., 270:616 (1997). Methionine analogs with alkene or alkyne functionalities have also been inserted efficiently, allowing for additional modification of proteins by chemical means. See, e.g., J. C. M. van Hest and D. A. Tirrell, FEBS Lett., 428:68 (1998); J. C. M. van Hest, K. L. Kiick and D. A. Tirrell, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 122:1282 (2000); and, K. L. Kiick and D. A. Tirrell, Tetrahedron, 56:9487 (2000).
The success of this method depends on the recognition of the unnatural amino acid analogs by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, which, in general, requires high selectivity to insure the fidelity of protein translation. Therefore, the range of chemical functionality accessible via this route is limited. For instance, although thiaproline can be incorporated quantitatively into proteins, oxaproline and selenoproline cannot. See, N. Budisa, C. Minks, F. J. Medrano, J. Lutz, R. Huber and L. Moroder, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 95:455 (1998). One way to expand the scope of this method is to relax the substrate specificity of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, which has been achieved in a limited number of cases. For example, it was found that replacement of Ala294 by Gly in Escherichia coli phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (PheRS) increases the size of substrate binding pocket, and results in the acylation of tRNAPhe by p-Cl-phenylalanine (p-Cl-Phe). See, M. Ibba, P. Kast and H. Hennecke, Biochemistry, 33:7107 (1994). An Escherichia coli strain harboring this mutant PheRS allows the incorporation of p-Cl-phenylalanine or p-Br-phenylalanine in place of phenylalanine. See, e.g., M. Ibba and H. Hennecke, FEBS Lett., 364:272 (1995); and, N. Sharma, R. Furter, P. Kast and D. A. Tirrell, FEBS Lett., 467:37 (2000). Similarly, a point mutation Phe130Ser near the amino acid binding site of Escherichia coli tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase was shown to allow azatyrosine to be incorporated more efficiently than tyrosine. See, F. Hamano-Takaku, T. Iwama, S. Saito-Yano, K. Takaku, Y. Monden, M. Kitabatake, D. Soll and S. Nishimura, J. Biol. Chem., 275:40324 (2000).
The fidelity of aminoacylation is maintained both at the level of substrate discrimination and proofreading of non-cognate intermediates and products. Therefore, an alternative strategy to incorporate unnatural amino acids into proteins in vivo is to modify synthetases that have proofreading mechanisms. These synthetases cannot discriminate and therefore activate amino acids that are structurally similar to the cognate natural amino acids. This error is corrected at a separate site, which deacylates the mischarged amino acid from the tRNA to maintain the fidelity of protein translation. If the proofreading activity of the synthetase is disabled, structural analogs that are misactivated may escape the editing function and be incorporated. This approach has been demonstrated recently with the valyl-tRNA synthetase (ValRS). See, V. Doring, H. D. Mootz, L. A. Nangle, T. L. Hendrickson, V. de Crecy-Lagard, P. Schimmel and P. Marliere, Science, 292:501 (2001). ValRS can misaminoacylate tRNAVal with Cys, Thr, or aminobutyrate (Abu); these noncognate amino acids are subsequently hydrolyzed by the editing domain. After random mutagenesis of the Escherichia coli chromosome, a mutant Escherichia coli strain was selected that has a mutation in the editing site of ValRS. This edit-defective ValRS incorrectly charges tRNAVal with Cys. Because Abu sterically resembles Cys (—SH group of Cys is replaced with —CH3 in Abu), the mutant ValRS also incorporates Abu into proteins when this mutant Escherichia coli strain is grown in the presence of Abu. Mass spectrometric analysis shows that about 24% of valines are replaced by Abu at each valine position in the native protein.
At least one major limitation of the methods described above is that all sites corresponding to a particular natural amino acid throughout the protein are replaced. The extent of incorporation of the natural and unnatural amino acid may also vary—only in rare cases can quantitative substitution be achieved since it is difficult to completely deplete the cognate natural amino acid inside the cell. Another limitation is that these strategies make it difficult to study the mutant protein in living cells, because the multi-site incorporation of analogs often results in toxicity. Finally, this method is applicable in general only to close structural analogs of the common amino acids, again because substitutions must be tolerated at all sites in the genome.
Solid-phase synthesis and semi-synthetic methods have also allowed for the synthesis of a number of small proteins containing novel amino acids. For example, see the following publications and references cited within: Crick, F. J. C., Barrett; L. Brenner, S. Watts-Tobin, R. General nature of the genetic code for proteins. Nature, 192:1227-1232 (1961); Hofmann, K., Bohn, H. Studies on polypeptides. XXXVI. The effect of pyrazole-imidazole replacements on the S-protein activating potency of an S-peptide fragment, J. Am. Chem., 5914-5919 (1966); Kaiser, E. T. Synthetic approaches to biologically active peptides and proteins including enzymes, Acc. Chem. Res., 47-54 (1989); Nakatsuka, T., Sasaki, T., Kaiser, E. T. Peptide segment coupling catalyzed by the semisynthetic enzyme thiosubtilisin, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 109:3808-3810 (1987); Schnolzer, M., Kent, S B H. Constructing proteins by dovetailing unprotected synthetic peptides: backbone-engineered HIV protease, Science, 256(5054):221-225 (1992); Chaiken, I. M. Semisynthetic peptides and proteins, CRC Crit. Rev. Biochem., 11(3):255-301 (1981); Offord, R. E. Protein engineering by chemical means? Protein Eng., 1(3):151-157 (1987); and, Jackson, D. Y., Burnier, J., Quan, C., Stanley, M., Tom, J., Wells, J. A. A Designed Peptide Ligase for Total Synthesis of Ribonuclease A with Unnatural Catalytic Residues, Science, 266(5183):243-247(1994).
Chemical modification has been used to introduce a variety of unnatural side chains, including cofactors, spin labels and oligonucleotides into proteins in vitro. See, e.g., Corey, D. R., Schultz, P. G. Generation of a hybrid sequence-specific single-stranded deoxyribonuclease, Science, 283(4832):1401-1403 (1987); Kaiser, E. T., Lawrence D. S., Rokita, S. E. The chemical modification of enzymatic specificity, Rev. Biochem., 54:565-595 (1985); Kaiser, E. T., Lawrence, D. S. Chemical mutation of enzyme active sites, Science, 226(4674):505-511 (1984); Neet, K. E., Nanci A, Koshland, D. E. Properties of thiol-subtilisin, J. Biol. Chem., 243(24):6392-6401 (1968); Polgar, L. B., M. L. A new enzyme containing a synthetically formed active site. Thiol-subtilisin. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 88:3153-3154 (1966); and, Pollack, S. J., Nakayama, G. Schultz, P. G. Introduction of nucleophiles and spectroscopic probes into antibody combining sites, Science, 242(4881):1038-1040 (1988).
Alternatively, biosynthetic methods that employ chemically modified aminoacyl-tRNAs have been used to incorporate several biophysical probes into proteins synthesized in vitro. See the following publications and references cited within: Brunner, J. New Photolabeling and crosslinking methods, Annu. Rev. Biochem., 62:483-514 (1993); and, Krieg, U. C., Walter, P., Hohnson, A. E. Photocrosslinking of the signal sequence of nascent preprolactin of the 54-kilodalton polypeptide of the signal recognition particle, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, 83(22):8604-8608 (1986).
Previously, it has been shown that unnatural amino acids can be site-specifically incorporated into proteins in vitro by the addition of chemically aminoacylated suppressor tRNAs to protein synthesis reactions programmed with a gene containing a desired amber nonsense mutation. Using these approaches, one can substitute a number of the common twenty amino acids with close structural homologues, e.g., fluorophenylalanine for phenylalanine, using strains auxotrophic for a particular amino acid. See, e.g., Noren, C. J., Anthony-Cahill, Griffith, M. C., Schultz, P. G. A general method for site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins, Science, 244:182-188 (1989); M. W. Nowak, et al., Science 268:439-42 (1995); Bain, J. D., Glabe, C. G., Dix, T. A., Chamberlin, A. R., Diala, E. S. Biosynthetic site-specific Incorporation of a non-natural amino acid into a polypeptide, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 111:8013-8014 (1989); N. Budisa et al., FASEB J. 13:41-51 (1999); Ellman, J. A., Mendel, D., Anthony-Cahill, S., Noren, C. J., Schultz, P. G. Biosynthetic method for introducing unnatural amino acids site-specifically into proteins, Methods in Enz., 301-336 (1992); and, Mendel, D., Cornish, V. W. & Schultz, P. G. Site-Directed Mutagenesis with an Expanded Genetic Code, Annu. Rev. Biophys. Biomol. Struct. 24,435-62 (1995).
For example, a suppressor tRNA was prepared that recognized the stop codon UAG and was chemically aminoacylated with an unnatural amino acid. Conventional site-directed mutagenesis was used to introduce the stop codon TAG, at the site of interest in the protein gene. See, e.g., Sayers, J. R., Schmidt, W. Eckstein, F. 5′, 3′Exonuclease in phosphorothioate-based oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis, Nucleic Acids Res., 16(3):791-802 (1988). When the acylated suppressor tRNA and the mutant gene were combined in an in vitro transcription/translation system, the unnatural amino acid was incorporated in response to the UAG codon which gave a protein containing that amino acid at the specified position. Experiments using [3H]-Phe and experiments with α-hydroxy acids demonstrated that only the desired amino acid is incorporated at the position specified by the UAG codon and that this amino acid is not incorporated at any other site in the protein. See, e.g., Noren, et al, supra; and, Ellman, J. A., Mendel, D., Schultz, P. G. Site-specific incorporation of novel backbone structures into proteins, Science, 197-200 (1992).
In general, these in vitro approaches are limited by difficulties in achieving site-specific incorporation of the amino acids, by the requirement that the amino acids be simple derivatives of the common twenty amino acids or problems inherent in the synthesis of large proteins or peptide fragments.
Microinjection techniques have also been use incorporate unnatural amino acids into proteins. See, e.g., M. W. Nowak, P. C. Kearney, J. R. Sampson, M. E. Saks, C. G. Labarca, S. K. Silverman, W. G. Zhong, J. Thorson, J. N. Abelson, N. Davidson, P. G. Schultz, D. A. Dougherty and H. A. Lester, Science, 268:439 (1995); and, D. A. Dougherty, Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 4:645 (2000). A Xenopus oocyte was coinjected with two RNA species made in vitro: an mRNA encoding the target protein with a UAG stop codon at the amino acid position of interest and an amber suppressor tRNA aminoacylated with the desired unnatural amino acid. The translational machinery of the oocyte then inserted the unnatural amino acid at the position specified by UAG. This method has allowed in vivo structure-function studies of integral membrane proteins, which are generally not amenable to in vitro expression systems. Examples include the incorporation of a fluorescent amino acid into tachykinin neurokinin-2 receptor to measure distances by fluorescence resonance energy transfer, see, e.g., G. Turcatti, K. Nemeth, M. D. Edgerton, U. Meseth, F. Talabot, M. Peitsch, J. Knowles, H. Vogel and A. Chollet, J. Biol. Chem., 271:19991 (1996); the incorporation of biotinylated amino acids to identify surface-exposed residues in ion channels, see, e.g., J. P. Gallivan, H. A. Lester and D. A. Dougherty, Chem. Biol., 4:739 (1997); the use of caged tyrosine analogs to monitor conformational changes in an ion channel in real time, see, e.g., J. C. Miller, S. K. Silverman, P. M. England, D. A. Dougherty and H. A. Lester, Neuron, 20:619 (1998); and, the use of a-hydroxy amino acids to change ion channel backbones for probing their gating mechanisms, see, e.g., P. M. England, Y. Zhang, D. A. Dougherty and H. A. Lester, Cell, 96:89 (1999); and, T. Lu, A. Y. Ting, J. Mainland, L. Y. Jan, P. G. Schultz and J. Yang, Nat. Neurosci., 4:239 (2001).
However, there are limitations microinjection method, e.g., the suppressor tRNA has to be chemically aminoacylated with the unnatural amino acid in vitro, and the acylated tRNA is consumed as a stoichiometric reagent during translation and cannot be regenerated. This limitation results in poor suppression efficiency and low protein yields, necessitating highly sensitive techniques to assay the mutant protein, such as electrophysiological measurements. Moreover, this method is only applicable to cells that can be microinjected.
The ability to incorporate unnatural amino acids directly into proteins in vivo offers the advantages of high yields of mutant proteins, technical ease, the potential to study the mutant proteins in cells or possibly in living organisms and the use of these mutant proteins in therapeutic treatments. The ability to include unnatural amino acids with various sizes, acidities, nucleophilicities, hydrophobicities, and other properties into proteins can greatly expand our ability to rationally and systematically manipulate the structures of proteins, both to probe protein function and create new proteins or organisms with novel properties. However, the process is difficult, because the complex nature of tRNA-synthetase interactions that are required to achieve a high degree of fidelity in protein translation. Therefore, improvements to the process are needed to provide more efficient and effective methods to alter the biosynthetic machinery of the cell. The present invention addresses these and other needs, as will be apparent upon review of the following disclosure.

Methods and composition for the production of orthogonal tRNA-aminoacyltRNA synthetase pairs

The Regents of the University of California


In an aspect of the disclosure, a three dimensional (3D) printing system includes a printhead and an ink supply subsystem. The printhead is for ejecting drops of phase change ink to define a three dimensional article of manufacture. The ink supply subsystem includes an ink tube, a helical resistor, a return conductor, and an outer tube. The ink tube has an inside surface for contacting and transporting the phase change ink and an outer tubular surface. The resistor is helically wound around the outer tubular surface of the ink tube. The return conductor is helically wound around the resistor and has a resistance that is lower than that of the resistor. The outer tube surrounds and protects the resistor and the return conductor and provides insulation to the heated ink transport component.

Three dimensional (3D) printing systems are in rapidly increasing use for purposes such as prototyping and manufacturing. One type of 3D printer utilizes an inkjet printhead to selectively deposit a material to form a three dimensional (3D) article of manufacture. In some embodiments the 3D printer utilizes phase change inks. However, utilizing phase change inks introduces some challenges.
One challenge is the transport of the phase change inks from an ink supply to the inkjet printhead. For some embodiments the inks must remain in a liquid phase between a fixed ink supply station and a moving printhead. Conduits transporting the ink must be able to flex back and forth as the printhead moves but must also incorporate a means to keep the ink in a liquid state. This presents design challenges for the conduit including thermal efficiency and an ability to withstand the flexural stress.

Thermally efficient transport system for phase change inks in a three dimensional printing system


Systems and methods are provided for generating accurate current ratios from a current mirror including an array of output transistor and a corresponding array of switches. Each switch couples in series with its corresponding output transistor. A control logic circuit controls the switches to cancel mismatches for the output transistors.

PNP bipolar transistors are readily produced in CMOS integrated circuits as parasitic substrate devices. This is quite advantageous as bipolar transistors have an emitter-to-base voltage (Veb) that varies predictably with regard to temperature. The temperature of integrated circuits may thus be readily monitored using a bipolar transistor as a temperature transducer. Because a bipolar transistor may be inexpensively embedded with the circuits it monitors, bipolar transistor temperature transducers are attractive options to a circuit designer.
Although bipolar transistor temperature transducers are inexpensive, they suffer from a number of problems. For example, it is known that if the collector current for a bipolar transistor is changed from a first collector current value IC1 to a second collector current value IC2, a resulting change in emitter-to-base voltage (ΔVeb) is directly proportional to a product of the absolute temperature T and the logarithm of a ratio of the collector currents (IC2/IC1). If IC2 equals N*IC1, then the temperature is proportional to ΔVeb divided by the logarithm of N. This logarithm of N may be stored in memory such that the temperature measurement merely requires mapping ΔVeb by some proportionality factor.
The accuracy of the temperature measurement is thus a function of the accuracy for the collector current ratio generation. Generation of the varying collector currents involves the use of a current source and matched transistors. Ideally, the matched transistors are perfectly identical in order to generate accurate current ratios. Nevertheless, in a real circuit, the matched transistors are not perfectly identical and include slight variations that result in deviations in current outputs. The deviations in the current outputs caused by the slight mismatching among the matched transistors may cause inaccurate current ratios that adversely affect the temperature measurements of the bipolar transistor temperature transducer.
One conventional approach to mitigate the variations in the current outputs of matched transistors is to increase the area of the transistors. For example, the trend for transistor matching is closely approximated by 1/√(the device area). Thus, a device size that leads to 1% matching would need to grow 100 times in size to meet a 0.1% matching requirement. As such, this conventional approach is prohibitively expensive due to the increase in silicon area required in the transistor device.
Other approaches may include methods of random dynamic element matching. In particular, pure random and data-weighted methods are typically used in systems including Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs). In order to match currents in both absolute and relative values, all possible combinations of elements that may create the necessary output quantity are required to be involved in the process. As such, a large sample of the combinations must be implemented during the operation of interest, e.g., temperature measurement, so that the true mean of the population of device combinations may be realized. Thus, this approach increases design complexity and lengthens the temperature measurement cycle.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an array of matched transistors that generate accurate current ratios.
Embodiments of the present invention and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures.

Transistor matching for generation of precise current ratios


An organic light-emitting diode display panel and a manufacturing method therefor, and a display apparatus are provided. The organic light-emitting diode display panel comprises: a base substrate; an anode and an auxiliary electrode arranged on the base substrate, wherein the anode and the auxiliary electrode are insulated from each other, a pixel definition layer arranged on the anode and the auxiliary electrode, wherein the pixel definition layer has a pixel opening region exposing the anode and a via exposing the auxiliary electrode; and the luminescent layer and a cathode sequentially arranged on the pixel definition layer, wherein the cathode is electrically connected to the auxiliary electrode arranged in the via.

Among different types of flat display panels, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panels have been widely recognized due to their advantages of self-luminescence, fast response, wide viewing angle, high brightness, bright colors, and thin thickness and light weight.
Generally, for a top emission type OLED light-emitting device, in order to increase light transmittance ratio thereof, a cathode needs to be made with a thin transparent conductive material. However, the thinner the transparent cathode is, the larger square resistance it will have, and the larger voltage drop will occur when current flows through the cathode. Therefore, the farther pixels are located from the power supply point, the smaller cathode voltages will be applied on the pixels, which results in that the display brightness of such pixels are lower than the display brightness of the pixels closer to the power supply point, and thereby a brightness uniformity of the OLED display is deteriorated.

Organic light-emitting diode display panel and manufacturing method therefor, and display apparatus


A water-soluble copolymer having alkyl-modified carboxyl groups which is able to produce a neutralized viscous liquid in which although its viscosity is very low when no electrolyte exists, the viscosity greatly increases when electrolytes are added, which has a sufficiently high viscosity and a very high transmittance and which has moist textures without stickiness even in the presence of a relatively high concentration of electrolytes, and a thickening agent comprising the same.

A variety of copolymers are known as copolymers of (meth)acrylic acid and alkyl(meth)acrylate, which are used in thickening agents for cosmetics and the like; moisturizers for cataplasms and the like; emulsifiers; suspension stabilizers for suspensions; and the like. For example, a copolymer obtained by reacting a specific amount of olefin-based unsaturated carboxylic acid monomers and a specific amount of alkyl(meth)acrylate (a carbon number of the alkyl group is 10-30) (See Patent Document 1), a copolymer obtained by reacting a specific amount of olefin-based unsaturated carboxylic acid monomers and a specific amount of alkyl(meth)acrylate (a carbon number of the alkyl group is 10-30) and a cross linking agent (See Patent Document 2), a copolymer obtained by reacting olefin-based unsaturated carboxylic acid monomers and alkyl (meth)acrylate (a carbon number of the alkyl group is 8-30) (See Patent Document 3) and the like are known.
These copolymers of (meth)acrylic acid and alkyl(meth)acrylate are used in the above applications usually after dissolving into water and the like and neutralize with alkali to form a neutralized viscous liquid at a concentration of about 0.1 to 1 weight %.
This neutralized viscous liquid had a problem that their viscosity or transmittance reduces and a part of the copolymer precipitates when electrolytes used as various raw materials for products or additives coexist even at relatively low concentrations.
In particular, recently, in a field of cosmetics and the like, cosmetics containing high amounts of minerals and the like in order to differentiate from other products as well as various properties, for example, good appearances such as transparency, non-sticky texture and the like are in the spotlight. Therefore, it is desired to invent a thickening agent which can form a neutralized viscous liquid having a high viscosity and a high transmittance even in the presence of a relatively high concentration of electrolytes.    [Patent Document 1] JP 6190/1976A    [Patent Document 2] JP 232107/1984A    [Patent Document 3] U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,598

Water-soluble copolymer having alkyl-modified carboxyl groups