A protected device is provided which may normally operate in a first state of normal operation. A first event may cause the protected device to go into a second state of alert where the protected device still operates normally but additionally provides warnings to a user. For example, during the second state of alert a user may be warned that an access code needs to be entered to prevent degradation or altering of the operation of the protected device. The first event may be triggered or may depend on one or more sub-events some of which may occur with some probability and some of which may automatically occur or may be deterministic. If a second event occurs prior to the user providing an access code then the protected device would transition from the second state (normal operation with warnings) to a third state in which the operation of the protected device would be altered or degraded. The second event may be based on one or sub events some of which may be probabilistic and some of which may be deterministic. If the user enters the correct access code during either the second state (warnings) or the third state (altering or degradation of operation), then the protected device would go back to the first state (normal operation, no warnings and no degradation).

This invention relates to improved methods and apparatus of providing theft protection particularly for electronic or optical devices.
Given that devices, such as electronic or optical devices, are becoming smaller and smaller, and more common in society, it is likely that theft of such devices will be an increasing problem for consumers, and insurance companies. Theft is motivated by the anticipated value of the device to a thief, or to a person who buys the device from the thief. Therefore, a mechanism that lowers the anticipated value of a stolen device without lowering the value to its rightful owner will work as a theft deterrence.
Traditional theft deterrence mechanisms are typically visible (e.g., locks, inscriptions of the owner""s name, etc). These traditional mechanisms have at least two drawbacks. Firstly, if they can be removed (such as a lock), then a buyer of the stolen merchandise can verify that the article does not have the protection. Secondly, if the mechanism cannot practically be removed (such as an inscription of the owner""s name) then this may lower the value of the device to the rightful owner, as it may reduce his ability to honestly resell the device.
The present invention in one or more embodiments provides a mechanism for disabling or altering the normal operation of a protected device if a code, such as an access code or a personal identification number, is not entered by a user after being requested by the protected device or by a central device. The protected device may periodically and/or randomly, with some probability, request entry of the code to continue normal operation. The invention may be thought of as providing xe2x80x9cinvisiblexe2x80x9d protection against theft of protected devices, which may be for example electronic or optical devices. A potential purchaser of a potentially stolen protected device, will be less likely to purchase, if there is a high probability that the device will eventually disable itself, unless a proper code is entered. In this manner the present invention in several embodiments generally reduces the value of the protected device to a thief, but not to a rightful owner.
The protected device may normally operate in a first state of normal operation. A first event may cause the protected device to go into a second state of alert where the protected device still operates normally but additionally provides warnings to a user. For example, during the second state of alert a user may be warned that an access code needs to be entered to prevent degradation or altering of the operation of the protected device. The first event may be triggered or may depend on one or more sub-events some of which may occur with some probability and some of which may automatically occur or may be deterministic.
If a second event occurs prior to the user providing an access code then the protected device would transition from the second state (normal operation with warnings) to a third state in which the operation of the protected device would be altered or degraded. The second event may be based on one or sub events some of which may be probabilistic and some of which may be deterministic. If the user enters the correct access code during either the second state (warnings) or the third state (altering or degradation of operation), then the protected device would go back to the first state (normal operation, no warnings and no degradation).
In one or more embodiments the present invention provides an apparatus comprising means for altering the operation of a protected device and means for receiving an access code. The means for altering the operation of the protected device alters the operation of the protected device if the access code is not received prior to an occurrence of a particular event. The apparatus may be further comprised of means for providing one or more warnings prior to the occurrence of the particular event, wherein each warning indicates that the operation of the protected device will be altered unless the access code is provided to the means for receiving the access code. Warnings may be provided in a random manner when, for example, a randomly generated numbers falls within a first range.
The present invention in one embodiment discloses an apparatus comprising a memory; a processor; a user interface device, and an operation controlling mechanism. The operation controlling mechanism controls the operation of a protected device. The protected device may for example be a computer, a cellular telephone, a camera, a television, a compact disc player, a Personal digital assistant (xe2x80x9cPDAxe2x80x9d), for example a PALM PILOT (trademarked), or a video cassette recorder.
The processor may provide a warning to a user that the operation of the operation controlling mechanism will be altered unless an access code is entered into the user interface device. The access code may be, for example, a password or a personal identification number (xe2x80x9cPINxe2x80x9d). If the access code is not entered into the user interface device, the processor alters the operation of the operation controlling mechanism and thereby alters the operation of the protected device. The processor may provide randomly periodic or periodic warnings to the user that the operation of the operation controlling mechanism will be altered unless a code is entered in the user interface device. The warnings may be generated when a periodically randomly generated number falls within a given range.
The operation of the protected device may be altered or degraded in a gradual fashion. For example, if the user does not enter the correct access code prior to a first event (such as within twenty-four hours) then one of the functions of the protected device may be disabled (such as the rewind function of a video cassette recorder. If the user further does not enter the correct access code prior to a second event (such as within forty-eight hours after the first warning), then the entire protected device may be completely disabled.
In one embodiment, a central device may alter service for a protected device. For example a central device may prevent long distance calls from a particular cell phone device (which in this example would be the protected device), unless an access code is entered into the cell phone.
Generally, the access code or personal identification code (xe2x80x9cPINxe2x80x9d) may be stored in memory in the protected device. The access code may be changed by a user having knowledge of the code. The access code may also be stored in a central device in the case where a central device alters service for the protected device.


An interlabial pad is provided that can be easily worn in the interlabial space. A wrapping body is provided that contains the interlabial pad. In the interlabial pad, a finger insertion cavity is formed along the longitudinal direction of a back side sheet between a mini-sheet piece and the side opposite to body on the back side sheet. An opening of the finger insertion cavity for inserting a finger leads to a finger insertion restriction portion which farther restricts the insertion of the finger.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an interlabial pad which can be easily worn to the interlabial space with precision and a wrapping body for wrapping the interlabial pad with a wrapping container.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, a sanitary napkin and a tampon are used generally as female sanitary products. Here, there have been great efforts to prevent the leak of menstrual blood from gap caused by poor adhesion near the ostium vaginae as for the sanitary napkin. Moreover, as for the tampon, there have been great efforts for relieving the foreign feeling and the discomfort when wearing the sanitary products and intervaginal wearing trouble due to the nature of those products.
Under such situation, sanitary products of the interlabial pad have attracted people as a sanitary product positioned between the sanitary napkin and the tampon in recent years.
The interlabial pad, fixed by inserting it between the labia, has characteristics that it is difficult to cause the leak of menstrual blood because of higher adhesion to the body than that of the sanitary napkin and psychological resistance thereof on wearing is lower than that of the tampon which is inserted into the vagina.
However, interlabial pads have a drawback that it is more difficult to wear them than sanitary napkins because interlabial pads are wrapped in the interlabial space whose visual check is difficult. Further, if an interlabial pad is not worn to an appropriate point, menstrual blood leakage results in immense damage because the interlabial pad is smaller than the sanitary napkin. Furthermore, the interlabial pad is more likely to be mis-worn than the tampon.
With regard to the present inventions for dissolving wearing troubles in interlabial pads, PCT International Publication No. WO99/56689 discloses a pad having a structure that a projection is formed on the opposite side to the body-contacting surface. With this structure, a wearer can wear a pad by taking the projection with fingers. It is supposed that that this kind of pad can be worn more readily than a pad without a projection. (refer to FIG. 31)
It is required to take the projection of a pad with at least two fingers such as a thumb, a forefinger or others for wearing such a interlabial pad. So, balls of fingers (fingerprint sides) having a fineness of perception are used to take the projection and positioned on the side face of the projection. More specifically, the wearer should detect the wearing point with the tips of her nails when fixing an interlabial pad. So, actually, a wearer should trust her intuition and it is rather difficult for her to detect an appropriate wearing point. Especially, females often let their nails grow long or wear artificial nails. So, in some cases, it is almost impossible to fix conventional interlabial pads shown above to an appropriate point.
As just described, easy wearing through correct detection of a wearing point, reduction of mis-wearing and sufficient adhesion onto the pubic region have not been realized by the conventional interlabial pads shown above. Further, there are still cases where menstrual blood adheres to fingertips when fixing a pad, causing psychological oppositions to use an interlabial pad.
Furthermore, conventional interlabial pads shown above are likely to be misaligned to the interlabial space because the position of fingers to take pads is not stable, resulting in a risk of mis-wearing.


An optical isolator, which has: a medium through which a light transmits and in which a dynamic diffraction grating that periodically repeats a refractive index distribution is formed; wherein the dynamic diffraction grating causes a propagation loss difference between an incident light which is supplied into the medium and a returning light which is supplied into the medium in a direction reverse to the incident light.

Semiconductor lasers are widely used as a light source for ultra-high speed and long distance optical fiber communication. However, due to a little reflecting-back light from an optical fiber, there occurs a noise in conventional semiconductor lasers. Because of this, an optical isolator needs to be always used as an optics component for removing the reflecting-back light to the semiconductor laser.
In general, conventional optical isolators comprise a magnetooptic crystal with Faraday effect and two polarizers which are disposed sandwiching the magnetooptic crystal and have polarization planes shifted 45.degree. to each other, in the conventional optical isolators, light emitted from a semiconductor laser is transmitted through the first polarizer, entered into the magnetooptic crystal, where the polarization plane is rotated 45.degree. in a predetermined direction, then transmitted through the second polarizer without being attenuated. On the other hand, reflecting-back light is transmitted through the second polarizer, entered into the magnetooptic crystal, where the polarization plane is further rotated 45.degree. in the predetermined direction. Thereby, the polarization plane of the reflecting-back light is shifted by 90.degree. to the polarization plane of the first polarizer, therefore the first polarizer can prevent the reflecting-back light from entering into the semiconductor laser.
However, in the conventional optical isolators, it is required to prepare at least four elements including a magnet and fabricate them, therefore they are very costly.
Moreover, it is, in fact, difficult for the conventional optical isolator to be monolithically integrated with the semiconductor laser.


A driving circuit for display elements, comprises a modulation circuit that outputs a modulating signal to be applied to wiring to which display elements are connected; and an output circuit that serializes modulation data including height value data for determining a height value of at least part of waveform of the modulating signal and pulse width data for determining a pulse width of at least part of waveform of the modulating signal so that the modulation data can be transmitted to the modulation circuit by transmission paths, the number of which is smaller than the number of bits of the modulation data, and outputs the serialized modulation data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the driving circuit of a display element and, in particular, is suitably applied to a driving circuit for making a light emitting device emit light of brightness corresponding to gradation data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 2003-316312 (see FIG. 12) as a related art are described a driving method by which a driving circuit for driving a light emitting device by a stepwise driving waveform of a combination of pulse width modulation and amplitude modulation can be constructed with ease and at low cost, and the driving circuit thereof.

Driving circuit of display element, image display apparatus, and television apparatus


A semiconductor apparatus is provided herein for buffering of nets routed through one or more areas associated with a first power domain that is different from a second power domain associated with the buffers and the buffered nets by limiting placement of these buffers in patterned areas associated with the second power domain. This provides for the routing of the buffered nets to be determined not only based on the shortest distance to travel from Point A to Point B, but also takes into account routing congestion on the semiconductor apparatus. Consequently, if an area on the semiconductor apparatus is congested, the buffered nets may be routed around the congestion. As such, although a path taken by a particular signal through the integrated circuit is not a direct route, it may still be of a distance to support a speed at which the particular signal needs to be transferred.

Semi-conductor apparatuses, such as integrated circuits, are constructed from electronic components formed on semiconductor materials and interconnected with circuit wiring. A network of these circuit wirings may connect a group of components and provide the components with power at a particular voltage level. An integrated circuit may have more than one group of components, where each group of components is designed to operate at a different voltage level. For example, a first group of components may be designed to operate at a first voltage level, and a second group of components may be designed to operate at a second, different voltage level. Integrated circuits that are designed with groups of components operating at more than one voltage level are said to have multiple power domains, where each power domain is associated with a particular voltage level. In operation, a particular power domain may be selectively powered up or down by controlling power to the network of circuit wirings connecting the group of components in that power domain.
The network of circuit wirings described above may be formed during a typical integrated circuit manufacturing process, where conductive material is deposited in a pattern onto a surface of a semiconductor material to electrically connect components such as circuit elements formed using the semiconductor material. Multiple layers of these patterns of conductive material, referred to as "metal layers," are often required to connect all pins of the circuit elements.
Before any integrated circuit can be manufactured, a layout of the integrated circuit must be created. Typically, an algorithm in a software program referred to as a router is used to create the layout. The layout also includes placement information for each component in the integrated circuit in addition to their respective interconnecting nets. In operation, the router is provided with a set of pins that are the input/output for the components, where each pin is associated with a net. The task of the router is to then plan the routing of the network of circuit wirings that will be deposited during manufacturing so that pins for components associated with the same net and power domain can be electrically linked.
As the amount of functionality demanded of integrated circuits used in modern devices such as smart phones continues to increase, designers are challenged to ensure that a layout that includes placement of all components and routing of all nets will obey manufacturing and design rules and constraints. One such constraint is related to a minimal distance a signal may travel before it deteriorates. For example, a signal originating at one location of an integrated circuit may need to be propagated along a net that has been routed across the integrated circuit. Typically, the propagation is achieved by using buffer circuits to receive and regenerate the signal at various locations along that net. In terms of functionality, the buffer circuit referred to herein may be thought of as a repeater because the buffer circuit is configured to regenerate a received signal that may have deteriorated because of the distance it has traveled before reaching the buffer circuit. Without buffering, the signal may only be able to travel a portion of the net because of degradation.
An issue that arises in multi-power domain integrated circuit designs is the buffering of nets that must be routed through an area having circuit elements belonging to a first power domain, where the nets to be buffered belong to a second, and different power domain. The nets may need to be so routed because of timing, transition and wire length constraints demanding a shortest path through a particular region of the integrated circuit. These nets can be buffered by placement of second power domain buffers in the area of the first power domain. However, routing congestion is significantly increased because the circuitry needed to power these buffers at the second power domain are routed in the same area needed for routing of circuitry associated with the first power domain. Furthermore, it is very difficult to allocate and use resources efficiently in this approach.
Accordingly, there is a need for an approach of buffering nets that belong to a second voltage or power domain in co-existence with circuit blocks operating at a first voltage or power domain in order to meet time, transition and wire length requirements for signals traveling over these nets as well as preventing routing congestion due to buffering requirements.

Methods and apparatus for congestion-aware buffering using voltage isolation pathways for integrated circuit designs with multi-power domains


A method of and apparatus for compensating a received signal's phase compensates for the distortion caused by the asymmetrical characteristics of a voltage limiter. This compensation allows the received signal to be sampled at the positive and negative zero-crossings reducing the requirements of a local oscillator in a radiotelephone system. First, the phase of the received signal is sampled at the positive and negative zero-crossings, forming a corresponding positive-crossing and a negative-crossing phase value for the received signal. Second, the negative-crossing and positive-crossing phase values are combined, forming a first difference signal. Third, an estimated error signal is formed using the first difference signal. Fourth, the estimated error signal is combined with the positive or negative zero-crossing phase signals, substantially eliminating the asymmetrical distortion.

In a conventional radio system utilizing a digital or analog phase modulation scheme, the phase of the received signal can be extracted using zero-crossing information. Specifically, the received signal at an intermediate frequency (IF) is applied as an input to a voltage limiter. Next, the system transforms the output of the voltage limiter into digitally encoded phase information. One way to digitize the limited received signal is to sample the signal at the zero-crossing levels. Typically, the system samples the voltage limited received signal at either the positive or the negative zero-crossings levels. FIG. 6 illustrates a received signal 701 and a voltage limited signal 705. A voltage limiter has an internal voltage threshold V.sub.t 703. The output signal of the voltage limiter is specified by the following input-output characteristic EQU V.sub.h if V.sub.in >V.sub.t EQU V.sub.out = EQU V.sub.L if V.sub.in <V.sub.t
where V.sub.h and V.sub.L are the high and low logic levels, respectively. For an ideal limiter Vt is equal to zero. However, ideal voltage limiters are difficult to manufacture in large volumes due to differences in make tolerance and the variation of the part over temperature. When the voltage threshold V.sub.t is not equal to zero, the positive and negative zero-crossings will not be exactly 180 degrees out of phase, and the limiter output signal becomes asymmetric. The asymmetry causes a discrepancy in the phase at the positive zero-crossings relative to the phase at the negative zero-crossings. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the time T1 707 is less than time T2 709. In a system using positive and negative zero-crossings to sample the phase of the received signal, the difference in time results in distorted phase information. Most conventional systems resolve this problem by sampling only at the positive zero-crossings of the voltage limited signal. However, it is a desirable feature of a phase demodulating system to be able to sample at both the positive and negative zero-crossings. By doing so, the phase quantization portion of the system can operate at one-half the frequency typically required to extract phase information.
To quantify the discrepancy in phases at the positive and negative zero-crossings, the received intermediate frequency signal can be represented as EQU s(t)=A(t)sin[2.pi.fi t+.theta.(t)]
where .theta.(t) is the phase modulation to be recovered. At the IF zero-crossings s(t) will be zero, and the phase signal .theta.(t) can be represented as EQU .theta..sub.+ (t)=[-2.pi.f.sub.i t.sub.k +asin(V.sub.t /A(t))].sub.mod 2.pi. at positive zero-crossings EQU .theta..sub.- (t)=[-2.pi.f.sub.i t.sub.k +.pi.-asin(V.sub.t /A(t))].sub.mod 2.pi. at negative zero-crossings.
When the phase modulation is constant, .theta..sub.+ (t) and .theta..sub.- (t) should differ by exactly .pi. radians; however, a non-zero limiter threshold V.sub.t results in an average phase error term equal to EQU .epsilon.=E{.theta..sub.+ (t)-.theta..sub.- (t)+.pi.}=2asin[V.sub.t /A(t)]
To compensate for the deleterious effects of asymmetric limiting, this phase error term must be removed.
The implementation of phase demodulator systems which sample at both positive and negative zero-crossings allows a reduction of the intermediate and reference oscillator frequencies by one-half. The result is a decrease in current drain, which translates into extended battery life in a portable product. Therefore, it would be advantageous to develop a method of digitally compensating for voltage limiter asymmetries.


A battery temperature control unit 1 for controlling a temperature of an internal space 21 of a module case 22 is provided. The battery temperature control unit 1 includes a unit case 3 which is arranged in the internal space 21 of the module case 22 and includes an air flow passage 4 inside the unit case 3. The battery temperature control unit 1 further includes a heat exchanger 11 arranged in the air flow passage 4. The unit case 3 includes a module opening sealing portion 31, which seals a module opening 24 formed in a wall surface of the module case 22. A module sealing surface 32 is formed in the module opening sealing portion 31, which closes the module opening 24 from an internal space 21 side. A first communication hole 36 and a second communication hole 37 are also formed in the module opening sealing portion 31, which allow the outside of the module case 22 and the inside of the unit case 3 to communicate with each other.

A battery for driving a vehicle mounted in an electric vehicle or a hybrid automobile is controlled at a predetermined temperature using a temperature control device such as a heat exchanger for optimizing a charge and discharge function of the battery.
It is often the case that a battery is mounted on a vehicle as a module configured including the above-mentioned temperature control device or the like. As a specific example of the battery mounting case, there has been known a battery cooling device which includes a case which defines a circulatable cooling passage; a battery which is partially or wholly exposed in the cooling passage; an evaporator which is arranged in the cooling passage; a refrigerant bypass passage which is connected to a compressor and a condenser of a refrigerating cycle of an air conditioning device, and is constituted of at least an expansion means and the evaporator; and a blower which is arranged in the cooling passage (see PTL 1).
There may be also a case where batteries are mounted on the vehicle in a state where a plurality of batteries are mounted in one module for obtaining a higher voltage. To be more specific, there has been known a battery cooling system for a vehicle where a plurality of battery packs which are arranged parallel to each other in the horizontal direction are accommodated in a battery box, and the battery packs are cooled by cooling air flown into the battery box, wherein air ducts which spray cooling air to the battery packs are incorporated in the battery box, and the air ducts are arranged parallel to the battery packs in the horizontal direction (see PTL 2).

Battery temperature control unit including heat exchanger arranged in air flow passage of unit case


The present invention relates to a method of extracting tacrolimus in a test blood sample to use in a tacrolimus quantification assay. The method of the present invention extracts tacrolimus in non-precipitating, non-denaturing aqueous environment, avoiding cumbersome manual pretreatment procedures or the use of organic solvents. The method of the present invention permits full automation of tacrolimus quantification assays.

Tacrolimus (also known as ProGraf® and FK506) is a macrolide lactone antibiotic with potent immunosuppresive properties isolated from the soil fungus Streptomyces tsukubaensis. Tacrolimus exhibits its immunosuppressive effect by inhibiting the calcineurin pathway (which ultimately inhibits T-cell proliferation) through the formation of a pentameric complex between tacrolimus, FK binding protein (FKBP), calmodulin, and calcineurins A and B (McKeon et al., Cell Vol. 66, pages 823-6 (1991)). Tacrolimus binds tightly to FKBP (Kd˜0.4 nM), and is also known to bind to cyclophilin (Handschumacher et al., Science Vol. 226, pages 544-547 (1984)), albumins, and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (Wong, Clinica Chimica Acta Vol. 313, pages 241-253 (2001). Tacrolimus, used in combination with other immunosuppressants, has gained broad acceptance for the treatment of tissue rejection following organ transplantation.
Extreme inter-patient variability between drug dosage and drug blood levels leads to its potential for toxicity, making therapeutic monitoring of tacrolimus levels in patients undergoing tacrolimus immunosuppressive therapy a standard practice.
Tacrolimus is extensively sequestered in erythrocytes (red blood cells or RBCs), bound to FK binding protein (FKBP; therefore, whole blood samples are a preferred matrix for therapeutic blood monitoring of tacrolimus, even if it can be extracted form biopsies samples, bone marrow and other body fluids. Tacrolimus also forms complexes with other blood plasma constituents such as immunophilins, albumin and lipoproteins. In order to determine the presence of tacrolimus and its concentration in a human blood sample, RBC's present in the sample must be lysed to release the tacrolimus/protein complexes. Then the tacrolimus/protein complexes must be dissociate to release tacrolimus.
Tacrolimus has limited solubility in aqueous solutions. Consequently, all available tacrolimus assays use organic solvents to extract the drug for assay. Organic solvents (eg., ethyl-acetate, methanol, methylene chloride) have been used routinely to lyse the red blood cells, to denature proteins and to extract tacrolimus in preparation for its quantification.
The use of organic solvent-based procedures suffer form several significant disadvantages. For example, organic solvents are highly volatile, highly flammable, and involve hazardous materials that must be properly disposed of in accordance with environmental guidelines.
The volatility of organic solvents can also interfere with accurate quantification of tacrolimus on account of the accumulative evaporation of the volatile solvents. Excessive evaporation at each step of extraction, and during sample assay incubations, can result in the detection of artificially elevated levels of tacrolimus.
All current procedures for tacrolimus extraction require a complex manual sample preparation. Current procedures require a sample denaturation/extraction step, a centrifugation step and a supernatant decantation step. Currently used manual tacrolimus extraction procedures are slow, labor intensive processes. They typically involve precision pipetting of four components: the sample, the denaturant agent, the extraction agent and the extracted sample. Manual precision pipetting is time consuming and potentially unreliable. Consequently these procedures are expensive in terms of the costs associated with staffing. They are also technically limited in terms of analytical throughput and tacrolimus quantification accuracy.
The use of organic solvents along with denaturation, centrifugation, and decantation steps, required with current sample pretreatment procedures preclude the full automation of tacrolimus quantification assay. For full automation of quantification to be possible, all of the reagents and samples must remain in an aqueous form. Denaturation (lysis) and centrifugation of the blood sample would no longer be required. The use of aqueous solutions would also eliminate the excessive evaporation effects, and the risks associated with the use of volatile, flammable, potentially explosive conditions in an electrical device.
Accordingly, there is a need for and interest in the art of devising a fully automated method for tacrolimus quantification that eliminates the need for elaborate and cumbersome sample pretreatment. Such a method would represent a considerable improvement over current methods known in the art in terms of cost per test. The elimination of the manual interaction of the user with the samples would also improve method reproducibility by eliminating human errors, which can affect the drug extraction (and hence, the subsequent result).
The present invention provides a method of extracting tacrolimus in a non-precipitating, non-denaturing aqueous environment, which not only eliminates the use of organic solvents and centrifugation, but also fulfills the requirements for full automation of tacrolimus quantification assays.

Method of tacrolimus extraction and quantification using aqueous detergents


A method for the preparation of hydrophobic precipitated silicas which are useful, for example, as reinforcing fillers in rubber compositions. The method comprises two steps, where in the first step an aqueous suspension of precipitated silica is contacted with an organosilicon compound in the presence of a catalytic amount of an acid to effect hydrophobing of the precipitated silica. In the second step the aqueous suspension of the hydrophobic precipitated silica is contacted with a water-immiscible organic solvent at a solvent to silica weight ratio greater than 5:1 to effect separation of the hydrophobic precipitated silica from the aqueous phase.

The present invention is a method for the preparation of hydrophobic precipitated silicas which are useful as reinforcing fillers in rubber compositions. The method comprises two steps, where in the first step an aqueous suspension of precipitated silica is contacted with an organosilicon compound in the aqueous phase in the presence of a catalytic amount of an acid to effect hydrophobing of the precipitated silica thereby forming an aqueous suspension of a hydrophobic precipitated silica. In the second step the aqueous suspension of the hydrophobic precipitated silica is contacted with a water-immiscible organic solvent at a solvent to silica weight ratio greater than 5:1 to effect separation of the hydrophobic precipitated silica from the aqueous phase. In a preferred process the hydrophobic precipitated silica has a surface area within a range of about 100 m.sup.2 /g to 750 m.sup.2 /g.
Although hydrophobic precipitated silicas prepared by the present method are useful in many applications such as reinforcing and extending filler in natural rubbers, thermal insulation, and as filler in floatation devices, they are particularly useful as reinforcing fillers in silicone rubber compositions. It is well known that silicone rubbers formed from the vulcanization of polydiorganosiloxane fluids or gums alone generally have low elongation and tensile strength values. One means for improving the physical properties of such silicone rubbers involves the incorporation of a reinforcing silica filler into the fluid or gum prior to curing. It is known to use treated pyrogenic silica as a reinforcing filler in such silicone rubbers. However, pyrogenic silica has the disadvantage of being expensive. Therefore, it would be advantageous to replace at least a portion of the pyrogenic silica used in such applications with a precipitated silica.
Attempts to substitute precipitated silica for pyrogenic silica in curable silicone rubber compositions have not been entirely successful for a number of reasons. Precipitated silica has in common with pyrogenic silica the tendency to interact with the polydiorganosiloxane fluid or gum causing a phenomenon typically referred to as "crepe hardening". A great deal of effort has been made in the past to treat the surface of reinforcing silica fillers, both pyrogenic and precipitated silica, with organosilanes or organosiloxanes to make the surface of the silica hydrophobic. This surface treatment reduces or diminishes the tendency of the compositions to crepe harden and improves the physical properties of the cured silicone rubber. Processes for treating precipitated silica have typically been difficult to conduct on a commercial scale. The present method is one that can economically be conducted on a commercial scale to make hydrophobic precipitated silica.
Treblinger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,787, describe the treatment of a precipitated silica in aqueous suspension with an organohalosilane at a temperature within a range of 15.degree. C. to 70.degree. C. The hydrophobic precipitated silica is filtered, washed, dried, and tempered by heating in the range of 200.degree. C. to 500.degree. C.
Reinhardt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,031, describe a process where a precipitated silica in powdered form is heated to a temperature of about 200.degree. C. to 300.degree. C. with agitation to fluidize and then treated dropwise with an organosilane which is stable and boils below 300.degree. C.
Reinhardt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,796, describe a process where an acidic wet suspension of precipitated silica at a temperature of about 50.degree. C. to 90.degree. C. is hydrophobed with a prepolycondensed organohalosilane or a prepolycondensed mixture of organohalosilanes. The hydrophobed precipitated silica is filtered, washed, dried, and tempered at about 300.degree. C. to 400.degree. C.
Nauroth et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,316, U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,589 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,074, describe the treatment of dried precipitated silica with organosilicon compound hydrophobing agents in a ratio of 10:0.5 to 10:3. The product obtained thereby is tempered for 60 to 180 minutes, preferably 70 to 130 minutes, at a temperature of 200.degree. C. to 400.degree. C.
Parmentier et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,874, describe a method for making a hydrophobic, essentially spheroidal precipitated silica, useful as a reinforcing filler in silicone elastomers. In a first step the precipitated silica in aqueous suspension is hydrophobed with an organosilicon compound. In a second step a water immiscible organic solvent is added to effect separation of the hydrophobic precipitated silica from the aqueous phase. The water immiscible organic solvent is added to the process at a volume(L) to weight (Kg) ratio of silica of from 1 to 5 and preferably from 1.5 to 4.5.

Method of preparing hydrophobic precipitated silica


The invention relates to a portable module for recording the cardiac activity of a person with the aid of a device delivering an ECG signal. The device includes a main energy source connected to a second energy source supplying a temperature sensor by a controlled circuit, a unit that picks up and processes an ECG signal, having an ECG signal filter stage, connected to two integrators with different time constants. The integrator outputs are connected to a comparator delivering a signal (E.sub.3) representing cardiac cycles. The device also includes a mechanism for placing the ECG signal pickup and processing unit in operation and a processor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the technical area of recording physiological and physical data of a patient so that, in particular, monitoring, screening, or diagnosis can be performed. The invention relates in particular to recording the electrical activity of the heart muscle of a patient and the temperature of the patient.
2. Description of Related Art
In the above technical area, numerous instruments are known that take the patient's temperature and, by use of cells placed on the body of a patient, send an electrocardiogram signal, known as ECG, corresponding to the electrical currents produced by heart muscle contractions. A range of instruments have been developed, with the drawback of being fixed and with limited independent operation, requiring data to be acquired at times that do not necessarily respond to a characteristic phase of the heart rhythm. Moreover, data are recorded when the person is under conditions that do not exactly reproduce actual situations in the patient's daily life. It thus appeared that an ambulatory device was needed, adapted to a patient, and designed for picking up both physical and physiological data over a period of several days to several weeks.
One of the drawbacks of ambulatory devices is their inaccuracy, because they cannot follow the instantaneous heart rate. Moreover, these devices have a short power supply life, limiting their utilization time.

Module for recording the instantaneous heart rate and portable module for working same


A vending machine having an anti-pilferage door mechanism with a delivery door interconnected through linkage to an anti-pilferage door and a rear door which come together to close off the opening for the product storage area to the product dispensing chamber when the delivery door is opened by a customer thus preventing any opening which would allow a pilferage device such as a wire to be inserted through the delivery door opening up into the product storage area. The linkage which connects the delivery door to the anti-pilferage door and rear door is on one side of the dispensing chamber and a spring biasing mechanism is mounted on an opposite side of the chamber and assists in biasing the delivery door closed while providing a force reduction exerted by the spring as the door is opened.

The present invention relates to a vend door mechanism for a vending machine and more particularly to such a mechanism that is intended to prevent pilferage of product from the vending machine through the vend door area.
Certain types of vending machines, such as packaged snack vending machines which have a large glass front for viewing product stored in a product storage area, utilize a dispensing chamber below the glass and into which product is dropped by anyone of a number of dispensing mechanism designs. Typically such machines have an opening in the bottom of the product storage area through which product is dropped into the dispensing chamber. The dispensing chamber is accessible to a customer through a delivery door in the front of the machine. Such a delivery door is commonly hinged at the top. The customer generally pushes the door open to access any snack that is in the dispensing chamber. As the delivery door is pushed open a mechanism coupled to the door closes an anti-pilferage door over the opening between the product storage area and the dispensing chamber so that a person accessing the chamber cannot reach up into the storage area and remove product that has not been paid for. These mechanisms move the anti-pilferage door quickly so that opening of the delivery door a few degrees completely closes the anti-pilferage door. However, in many such designs there is sufficient clearance between the delivery door and the front of the machine and between the anti-pilferage door and the opening in the storage area when the delivery door is only slightly moved to allow a tool to be inserted and remove product from the storage area. Also, because there is a desire to vend larger and larger product, the opening between the storage area and dispensing chamber needs to be enlarged which, in turn, requires a larger anti-pilferage door and larger dispensing chamber. Thus, the mechanisms of the above described past designs have proven unsatisfactory because of the large size of the door that must be moved rapidly with very little force.
An alternative to such a design is a rotary vend door which as the customer rotates the door to provide access to the delivery chamber the back side of the cylindrical chamber moves to cover the opening between the storage area and the chamber. Such a device is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,737, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. However, with the desire to increase product size to be vended from vending machines the size of the cylindrical rotary vend door must also be increased which provides space, size and weight problems for such designs.

Anti-pilferage door system for a vending machine


A roof ridge ventilator made of a flexible unitary plastic panel adjustable to the configuration of various roof pitches having: Z-shaped and Y-shaped supports spaced from and alternating each other supporting the panel over the roof; ventilation means of rows of vent slots and slats running longitudinally on the two sides of the panel in which the slots and slats have trapezoidal configurations; vertical exterior baffles integral with the vent slats and running parallel thereto; and baffle extenders integral with the exterior baffles and at an angle of from about 130.degree. to about 160.degree. from the plane of the vertical exterior baffles.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to roof ridge ventilators. More particularly, the invention relates to plastic roof ridge ventilators comprised of a one-piece polymeric material having longitudinally oriented vent panels wherein the vent panels comprise alternating slots and slats each having a trapezoidal configuration.
2. Reported Developments
Ventilators for attics of buildings are perforated or baffled vent openings in the underside of the eaves of an overhanging roof or facia and on the roof ridge overlaying the open roof along the length of the roof. The vent openings allow outside air to flow into the attic to equalize the interior attic temperature and pressure with that of the outside environment. This equalization helps to prevent degradation of the roof structure, reduces the accumulation of condensation in the insulating material covering the floor of the attic thereby increasing the efficacy of heating/cooling of the living space in the building covered by the roof structure.
The ventilator system of the prior art is typically comprising: a roof ridge ventilator and a soffit ventilator. The roof ridge ventilator overlays the open roof along the length of the roof for exhausting the air from the space below the roof and the ceiling of the attic, i.e., as the air entering the attic through the soffit vent mixes with the warmer air in the attic, it has to be expelled through an opening in the roof ridge where the lighter, warmer air accumulates. Desirably, the volume of air intake through the soffit ventilator should be balanced by the volume of air exhaust through the roof ridge ventilator. In an optimum soffit ventilator/roof ridge ventilator system there is a balance between the net free open area presented by such system. The terminology "Net Free Open Area" or NFA means the cross-sectional area of a ventilator system which is open for passage of air therethrough. The appropriate balance of the net free open area of a soffit ventilator and roof ridge ventilator is imperative. Thus in many existing and newly built buildings there is a potential for an out of balance soffit/roof ridge ventilation system.
Ventilation systems should also provide against insects entering into the attic space of buildings. While large perforations in the soffit and roof ridge ventilation panels would render the desired flow of air through the attic space, they would also allow ingress to insects therein to form insect colonies.
In addition to having good ventilation of the attic space and preventing ingress of water, snow and insects into the attic space, the desiderata in a ventilation system includes: structural strength and stability to withstand the effects of the elements, such as high wind; strong structural support against collapse or warping, such as occurs by the accumulation of snow or ice or by the weight of the installers accidentally stepping on the roof ridge ventilator; easy handleability on installation; and low costs.
The present invention is directed to roof ridge ventilators which preferably are used in conjunction with an adequate soffit ventilator of the prior art.
Illustrative examples of the prior art directed to roof ridge ventilators are as follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,734 discloses a ridge cap roof ventilator applied in roll form comprising a corrugated plastic sheet material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,147 relates to a roof ridge ventilator comprising: a one piece cover member including a pair of flaps and a hinge unitary with the flaps to allow for installing the ventilator on roof ridges of different angles. Vents are located under the flaps. The vents also have an interior baffle structure to deflect air flow and to limit entry of foreign particles through the roof ridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,399 discloses a roof ventilator comprising a corrugated plastic sheet material which may be mounted transversely across any roof ridge regardless of its contours or roof angles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,920 discloses a ridge top vent for roofs which vent includes grill portions flexibly located longitudinally along the lateral edges. The grill portions have at their distal end a set of flexible teeth adapted to fit on shingles and down between shingles in the gaps therebetween, so as to prevent passages between the grills and the shingles of any debris, insects or vermin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,506 discloses a roof vent which includes a sheet-like cover having an inverted V-shaped cross-section. A pair of baffles are disposed on the lower surface of the cover and include a plurality of spaced partitions for supporting the baffles rigidly against the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,810 discloses a roof ridge ventilation system comprising: a ridge vent composed of two panel portions joined together and forming an inverted V-shaped configuration which fits over the peak of the roof. A plurality of V-shaped baffles support the panels. Ventilation ribs are included extending downwardly from each side of the panels to allow passage of air into and out of the openings in the roof. An angled flange is also provided on both sides of the ridge vent to deflect air upwardly and over the roof to create negative air pressure which in turn helps to exhaust stagnant air from the attic space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,538 discloses a roof vent comprising a one-piece plastic body. A plurality of transverse supports are provided for the one-piece plastic body. The system includes a wall to deflect entry of snow and rain. There are also drain openings to allow moisture to escape.
Although the prior art has provided various ventilation systems to address the desiderata, we have found that the balance of the Net Free Open Area for a soffit ventilator and roof ridge ventilator is not always adequately achieved for the reason that the roof ridge ventilators do not allow the passage of sufficient amounts of attic air to pass therethrough while preventing entry of snow, rain, ice and insects.
We believe that the performance of such roof ridge ventilators may be improved by a baffle in which the rows of vent openings run longitudinally along the sides of the roof ridge ventilator panel. In preferred embodiments, the rows of individual slots and slats have a trapezoidal, rectangular or elliptical configuration. Other longitudinal configurations are possible.

Building Materials Corporation of America


The present invention includes a method, kits, and assays for identifying a human subject as having an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease, or a human subject with multiple sclerosis caused by elevated soluble Interleukin 7 receptor (sIL7R), by obtaining a biological sample and detecting or measuring in the biological sample an amount of a soluble Interleukin-7 receptor (sIL7R) and an amount of an RNA Helicase DDX39B, whereby a lower expression of DDX39B and a higher secretion of sIL7R identifies the subject from which the biological sample was obtained as having an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease, when compared to a human subject not having an autoimmune disease. The present invention also includes a method of modifying a treating of subjects based on the lower expression of RNA Helicase DDX39B alone or in combination with an increase in sIL7R.

Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with multiple sclerosis.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by self-reactive T cell-mediated damage to neuronal myelin sheaths in the central nervous system (CNS) that leads to axonal demyelination, neuronal death and progressive neurological dysfunction. Up to date, there is no cure for the disease and available treatments can only slow down disease progression, often by suppressing the immune system. Unfortunately, patients are normally diagnosed after manifestation of clinical symptoms, at which time the patient has suffered substantial neuronal damage and this cannot be reverted with current approved treatments. Therefore, there is an unmet need for early detection and diagnosis of MS.
The breach of immunological tolerance that leads to MS is thought to originate from complex interactions between environmental and genetic factors. Under this view, the genetic background of an individual could generate an environment permissive for the survival of self-reactive lymphocytes, which could be subsequently activated by the presence of an environmental trigger, usually in the form of viral or bacterial infection. Accordingly, methods for genetic screening of variants associated with increased MS risk could provide a valuable tool to identify individuals at higher risk to develop MS.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,158,344 shows that a driver of increased MS risk is the soluble form of the interleukin-7 receptor alpha chain gene (sIL7R), produced by alternative splicing of IL7R exon 6. The present inventors and others have previously shown that the variant rs6897932 (C/T, where C is the risk allele) within IL7R exon 6 is strongly associated with increased MS risk (Gregory et al., 2007; International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics et al., 2007; Lundmark et al., 2007). Furthermore, the present inventors showed that the risk 'C' allele of this variant increases skipping of the exon (Evsyukova et al., 2013; Gregory et al., 2007), leading to up-regulation of sIL7R (Hoe et al., 2010; Lundstrom et al., 2013). Importantly, sIL7R has been shown to exacerbate the clinical progression and severity of the disease in the Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model of MS, presumably by potentiating the bioavailability and/or bioactivity of IL-7 cytokine (Lundstrom et al., 2013). Collectively, these data link alternative splicing of IL7R to the pathogenesis of MS, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,158,344 describes methods for screening based on the effects of IL7R rs6897932.

Method to identify subjects at higher risk to develop an autoimmune disease based on genetic and/or phenotypic screening for epistatic variants in DDX39B (RS2523506) and IL7R (RS6897932)

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System

The Regents of the University of California


A heat exchanger, in particular an exhaust gas heat exchanger for a motor vehicle, has tubes through which a first fluid can flow and around which a second fluid can flow, and a headpiece. The headpiece includes a dual-walls structure in at least a part thereof and a distribution chamber that communicates with the tubes.

It is known for exhaust gas to be fed back to an internal combustion engine, in order to reduce emissions from the internal combustion engine. Owing to the high exhaust gas temperatures, the exhaust gas is first of all passed through a heat exchanger, which is in the form of an exhaust gas cooler, in order to cool the exhaust gas down to a temperature level which is good for combustion.
DE 197 50 588 A1 describes an apparatus for exhaust gas feedback for an internal combustion engine which has an exhaust gas cooler such as this. The exhaust gas cooler in this document has an elongated shape, and, at each of its ends, has a header plate in which the ends of a large number of tubes are inserted, which are arranged at a distance from one another. The tube bundle that is formed in this way is surrounded by a casing which is provided with connections through which the coolant is fed in and out.
The header plate at one end of the exhaust gas cooler is connected to a distribution chamber or header which tapers approximately in the form of a funnel and communicates with a large number of tubes. On the side opposite the header plate, the distribution chamber merges into a flange, which is connected to an exhaust gas pipe that further continues.
When a hot fluid is passed into the distribution chamber during operation of heat exchangers such as these, from where it flows into the tubes, the distribution chamber or a wall which surrounds the distribution chamber is heated to a greater extent than, for example, the casing which surrounds the tube bundle and through which coolant flows. The resulting thermal stresses between the distribution chamber wall and the casing in some circumstances cause leaks, in particular, at a contact point between the distribution chamber wall and the casing. Such leaks have a negative influence on the life of the heat exchanger.


A simple and cost effective method of forming a fully silicided (FUSI) gate of a MOS transistor is disclosed. In one example, the method comprises forming a nitride hardmask overlying a polysilicon gate, forming an S/D silicide in source/drain regions of the transistor, oxidizing a portion of the S/D silicide to form an oxide barrier overlying the S/D silicide in the source/drain regions, removing the nitride hardmask from the polysilicon gate, and forming a gate silicide such as by deposition of a gate silicide metal over the polysilicon gate and the oxide barrier in the source/drain regions to form a fully silicided (FUSI) gate in the transistor. Thus, the oxide barrier protects the source/drain regions from additional silicide formation by the gate silicide metal formed thereafter. The method may further comprise selectively removing the oxide barrier in the source/drain regions after forming the fully silicided (FUSI) gate.

It can be appreciated that several trends presently exist in the electronics industry. Devices are continually getting smaller, faster and requiring less power, while simultaneously being able to support and perform a greater number of increasingly complex and sophisticated functions. One reason for these trends is an ever increasing demand for small, portable and multifunctional electronic devices such as cellular phones, personal computing devices, and personal sound systems are devices which are in great demand in the consumer market.
Accordingly, there is a continuing trend in the semiconductor industry to manufacture integrated circuits (ICs) with higher device densities by scaling down dimensions (e.g., at submicron levels) on semiconductor wafers. To accomplish such high densities, smaller feature sizes, smaller separations between features and layers, and/or more precise feature shapes are required, such as metal interconnects or leads, for example. The scaling-down of integrated circuit dimensions can facilitate faster circuit performance and/or switching speeds, and can lead to higher effective yield in IC fabrication processes by providing or 'packing' more circuits on a semiconductor die and/or more die per semiconductor wafer, for example.
One way to increase packing densities is to decrease the thickness of transistor gate dielectrics to shrink the overall dimensions of transistors used in IC's and electronic devices. Transistor gate dielectrics (e.g., silicon dioxide or nitrided silicon dioxide) have recently been reduced considerably to reduce transistor sizes and facilitate improved performance. Thinning gate dielectrics can have certain drawbacks, however. For example, a polycrystalline silicon ("polysilicon") gate overlies the thin gate dielectric, and polysilicon naturally includes a depletion region where it interfaces with the gate dielectric. This depletion region can provide an insulative effect rather than conductive behavior, which is desired of the polysilicon gate since the gate is to act as an electrode for the transistor.
By way of example, if the depletion region acts like a 0.8 nm thick insulator and the gate dielectric is 10-nm thick, then the depletion region effectively increases the overall insulation between the gate and an underlying transistor channel by eight percent (e.g., from 10 nm to 10.8 nm). It can be appreciated that as the thickness of gate dielectrics are reduced, the effect of the depletion region can have a greater impact on dielectric behavior. For example, if the thickness of the gate dielectric is reduced to 2 nm, the depletion region would effectively increase the gate insulator by about 40 percent (e.g., from 2 nm to 2.8 nm). This increased percentage significantly reduces the benefits otherwise provided by thinner gate dielectrics.
Metal gates can be used to mitigate adverse effects associated with the depletion region phenomenon because, unlike polysilicon, little to no depletion region manifests in metal. Interestingly enough, metal gates were commonly used prior to the more recent use of polysilicon gates. An inherent limitation of such metal gates, however, led to the use of polysilicon gates. In particular, the use of a single work function metal proved to be a limitation in high performance circuits that require dual work function electrodes for low power consumption. The work function is the energy required to move an electron from the Fermi level to the vacuum level. In modern CMOS circuits, for example, both p-channel MOS transistor devices ("PMOS") and n-channel MOS transistor devices ("NMOS") are generally required, where a PMOS transistor requires a work function on the order of 5 eV and an NMOS transistor requires a work function on the order of 4 eV. A single metal may not be found, however, which can produce a metal gate that provides such different work functions. Polysilicon gates are suited for application in CMOS devices since some of the gates can be substitutionally doped in a first manner to achieve the desired work function for PMOS transistors and other gates can be substitutionally doped in a second manner to achieve the desired work function for NMOS transistors. However, polysilicon gates suffer from the aforementioned gate depletion.
Fully silicided (FUSI) gates eliminate the problem of polysilicon depletion. FUSI gates also reduce the gate conductance that can further improve device performance. A FUSI gate can be formed by depositing a metal layer (such as Ni, Ti, Co, etc.) over an exposed polysilicon gate region, pre-annealing to provide the required diffusion, removing the unreacted metal, and then annealing the semiconductor structure to form a more stable silicide phase. The deposited metal reacts with the exposed polysilicon gate to transform the polysilicon gate fully into a silicided gate. FUSI gates normally have a work function near the middle of the silicon band structure. However, CMOS devices normally require a conductive gate with a work function near the band edge; i.e., near the conduction band for an NMOS device and near the valence band for a PMOS device, respectively. Thus, for CMOS technologies with FUSI gates, the different work functions required for each of the NMOS and PMOS portions of the CMOS device may also need to be provided by the substitutional doping process.
In addition, the doped silicide gate electrodes of the MOS devices are typically formed to be much thicker than the depth of the silicide formed in the source/drain (S/D) regions. Because of these differing thicknesses, the gate silicidation is usually formed separate from the S/D silicidation, typically separated by a complex and costly CMP process.
Consequently, it would be desirable to be able to form a fully silicided gate of a MOS transistor using a simple and cost effective process that may be employed in the fabrication of high density MOS devices.

Formation of fully silicided gate with oxide barrier on the source/drain silicide regions


For the purpose of rigid connection of the cutter holder (9) to the tool carrier (5), the tool carrier (5) has a driving key (11) on its end side, which driving key is inserted into a corresponding transverse groove (13). The driving key (11) has a specified excess size compared to the transverse groove (13), such that when a setscrew (10) is tightened the tool carrier (5) and the cutter holder (9) are elastically deformed. Laterally next to the transverse groove (13) the surface of the cutter holder (9) is supported on the tool carrier (5).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connection between a cutter holder and a tool carrier of an internal-turning head with a fine-adjustment mechanism, having a setscrew for releasably connecting the cutter holder to the tool carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connection of this kind is known from Swiss Patent No. CH-A-641,706. In this case, the cutter holder is inserted into a recess in the tool carrier, which recess runs obliquely to the adjustment direction of the tool carrier and is fixed by a screw. Similar connections have been disclosed in the prior art by European Patent No. EP-A-0,478,239 and by German Patent No. DE-A-35 08 434. Moreover, an internal-turning head is known in which the tool carrier and the cutter holder are connected to one another by means of a serration as an anti-rotation safeguard. Moreover, an internal-turning head is known in which the tool carrier has an end face which runs obliquely to the adjustment direction of the tool carrier and against which the cutter holder, which is provided with a correspondingly oblique face, is pressed by means of a setscrew.
The abovementioned known internal-turning heads in each case have a main body in which the tool carrier is radially displaceable for the purpose of setting the diameter of the bore to be machined. The displacement is effected via an adjustment screw which is mounted in the main body and has a fine thread. The cutter holder, on which a cutting tip, for example a throw-away cutting tip made of sintered carbide, is releasably mounted, is arranged on the tool carrier. Worn cutters or a damaged cutter holder can easily be replaced. The practical requirements for the connection between the cutter holder and the tool carrier are that it should be reliable, as rigid as possible, secure against rotation and able to be positioned unambiguously. Moreover, the cutter holder should be simple to replace. The known connections satisfy these requirements only partially or unsatisfactorily. This is particularly true when considered in conjunction with the trend towards very hard and heat-resistant cutting materials leading to ever higher metal-removal rates. This trend is increasingly leading to higher cutting speeds. Since the internal-turning head forms the linking element between the cutter and the work spindle of a machine tool, the performance of the machine tool must be transmitted optimally to the cutter. The connection of the cutter holder to the tool carrier is decisive in achieving a satisfactory machining result.

Connection between a cutter holder and a tool carrier of an internal-turning head


A cassette-detection device for use in magnetic tape apparatuses which is provided with a first detection means for detecting the difference in thickness between a cartridge and a cassette shell in order to judge which cassette tape is loaded, an analog cassette tape or a digital cassette tape, and a second detection means for detecting the recessed section of the cartridge of an analog cassette tape in order to judge which side is up with respect to the analog cassette tape. In accordance with the above arrangement, by providing a simple structure, judgement is made as to which cassette tape is loaded, an analog cassette tape or a digital cassette tape, and judgement is also made as to which side is up when an analog cassette tape is loaded.

Recently, such tape recorders which can handle both the analog compact cassette tapes (hereinafter, referred to simply as C-cassettes) and digital compact cassette tapes (hereinafter, referred to simply as D-cassettes) have come to be known in the art. In the C-cassettes, information is recorded and reproduced using an analog signal, while in the D-cassettes, information is recorded and reproduced using a digital signal.
The shapes of the C-cassettes and D-cassettes used in such tape recorders are described as follows.
As illustrated in explanatory drawings, FIGS. 2(a) and (b), a C-cassette 1 is composed of a cassette-half of A-side (hereinafter, referred to as "A-side 2"), a cassette-half of B-side (hereinafter, referred to as "B-side 3"), and a magnetic tape, not shown.
On the A-side 2, a machine-screw hole 6 is provided in the center of a raised portion 10, which will be described later. Through the machine-screw hole 6, a machine screw 7 puts together the A-side 2 and the B-side 3. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the machine screw does not penetrate through the surface of the B-side 3. Further, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 (a) and (b), the C-cassette 1 is provided on both sides with raised portions 10 and 11, each of which is formed with a trapezoid-like shape as seen from its cross section. Here, both of the A-side 2 and the B-side 3 of the C-cassette 1 are made of a non-conductive resin.
The C-cassette 1 contains a magnetic tape 8 which has two upper and lower tracks formed thereon. When the C-cassette 1 is loaded in a tape recorder with the A-side 2 seen by the user, recording and reproducing are executed on and from the lower track in the forward mode. On the other hand, in the reverse mode recording and reproducing are executed on and from the upper track.
Conversely, as illustrated in FIGS. 6(a) and (b), a D-cassette 15 is provided with a cassette shell 12 made of a non-conductive material. On a surface 16 of the cassette shell 12, a paper label 17 is adhered so that it covers most of the surface thereof. This D-cassette 15 is normally loaded in a tape recorder with the label 17 side up as seen by the user; therefore, in most cases, the D-cassette 15 does not have the definition of A-side and B-side. If the D-cassette 15 is loaded with the label down as seen by the user, it is misloaded.
Further, the D-cassette 15 differs from the C-cassette 1 in that it is provided with a slider 18 made of a metallic material, which reciprocally moves and slides in the directions indicated by arrows C-D at the front portion of the D-cassette 15. As illustrated in FIGS. 7(a) and (b), the slider 18 is constituted of an upper bent portion 18a, a slider front portion 18b and a lower bent portion 18c, virtually forming a U-shape. The depth dimension L2 of the upper bent portion 18a is shorter than the depth dimension L3 of the lower bent portion 18c. Here, in the cassette shell 12 of the D-cassette 15, there is no machine-screw hole and no machine-screw is used.
The D-cassette 15 contains a magnetic tape 8 which has two upper and lower tracks as in the C-cassette 1; yet, the track closer to the surface 16 is used in the forward mode and the other track further therefrom is used in the reverse mode, which makes it different from the C-cassette 1. Therefore, in the case of the D-cassette 15, unless the user improperly loads the cassette, recording and reproducing are executed on and from the track in the forward mode when the user specifies the forward mode, and are executed on and from the track in the reverse mode when the user specifies the reverse mode.
In such magnetic tape apparatuses, in the case of recording or reproducing the C-cassette 1 in the automatic reversing mode, if it is loaded in the apparatus with the A-side 2 up, recording or reproducing is executed on or from the predetermined track in the forward mode or the reverse mode with respect to the A-side 2. However, if it is loaded in the apparatus with B-side 3 up, recording or reproducing is also executed on or from the predetermined track in the forward mode or the reverse mode with respect to the B-side 3. Thus, the forward-use track of the A-side 2 coincides with the reverse-use track of the B-side 3, while the reverse-use track of the A-side 2 coincides with the forward-use track of the B-side 3. Therefore, the user may become confused unless he or she takes notice of the side of the C-cassette 1 to be loaded in the apparatus. However, in most of the car-use tape recorders and portable tape recorders, it is difficult to confirm which side is on with respect to the cassette that has been loaded.
In order to solve the above problems, such systems have been developed; for example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-55896 (55896/1991) discloses a system wherein judgement is made as to which side is up by providing a means for detecting a machine screw hole 6 or a machine screw 7 on the A-side 2 in the C-cassette 1 and the necessary operation is carried out based on the results of the judgement.
In the case of the D-cassette 15, generally, the tape recorder main body is provided with an appropriate function in order to avoid misloading. More specifically, if the D-cassette 15 is misloaded, the main body will not be able to find a recessed section for use in opening and closing of the slider at a predetermined position and thus the member for opening and closing the slider will not be able to make a proper action, thereby indicating a misloading.
Moreover, as to which cassette is loaded, C-cassette 1 or D-cassette 15, since the C-cassette 1 does not have a recessed section for use in opening and closing of the slider, which is provided in the D-cassette 15, the detection is made as to which kind of cassette is loaded by utilizing the difference of the travelling distance of the member for opening and closing the slider, or the detection is made by using switches or other devices by utilizing the difference of shapes between the C-cassette 1 and the D-cassette 15.
As described above, in a tape recorder that can handle the recording and reproducing functions thereon and therefrom of both the C-cassette 1 and the D-cassette 15, it is necessary to provide means to meet the following requirements:
(1) the ability to detect which cassette is loaded, C-cassette or D-cassette. PA1 (2) the ability to judge which side of the cassette facing up in the case of recording or reproducing information on or from the C-cassette 1 in the automatic reversing mode. PA1 (3) the ability to prevent misloading of the D-cassette 15 or to detect a misloaded D-cassette 15.
However, conventional cassette-detection devices for use in magnetic tape apparatuses, although they are provided with means for handling the above requirements individually, have not succeeded in satisfying all the requirements by the use of simple means.
More specifically, for example, it is extremely difficult to simultaneously satisfy the requirements (1) and (3) by utilizing the member for opening and closing the slider 18, and it is inevitable that a complicated structure is needed to satisfy all these requirements.
Further, if all the requirements (1), (2) and (3) are to be satisfied by providing proper electric circuits, switches or other devices that meet the respective requirements should be installed, resulting in the necessity of complicated wiring.

Cassette-detection device for use in magnetic tape apparatuses


A system is disclosed that accepts portable power feed drilling equipment and enables the mechanical determination of an existing hole vector and duplication of the hole on the same vector in a new production part. The system allows for extremely accurate match drilling of parts with multiple, variable hole vectors. In addition, the system is adjustable in the Z-axis, which allows infinite and precise drill tip positioning prior to drilling to increase accuracy and manage chip exit. Interchangeable drill adaptors internal to the quill sleeve allow for a wide size range of drills to be used.

When repairing an aircraft, machine, or other assembly of parts, a part may be removed and replaced with a new part. If the part to be replaced includes a drilled hole pattern, it is typically desirable to replicate the hole pattern as closely as possible on the new part in order for the new part to fit with existing parts. During duplication of the hole pattern, the vector (i.e., orientation) of each hole should be reproduced precisely, even variation from hole to hole. In addition, the size, relative position, and orientation relative to the part surface(s) of each hole should be duplicated in the new part, if possible.
Various known methods exist for performing hole pattern duplication. For example, a computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine or a jig bore can be used to transfer a hole pattern from one part to another. However, such machines typically require a reliable power source and a trained operator. Even then, the accuracy of duplication may vary from one operator to another. In certain parts of the world, such as remote locations or locations without a reliable power source (i.e., grid) and/or trained operators, CNC machines and jig bores are not practical to use for repairs.


An overvoltage protection apparatus for a matrix converter has nine bidirectional power switches which are arranged in a 3xc3x973 switch matrix. The overvoltage protection apparatus has three varistors on both the network side and the load side, which are each connected, in delta, to input and output connections of the matrix converter. A result, the overvoltage protection apparatus has considerably reduced physical volume, as a result of which the component costs for the overvoltage protection apparatus are very low.

The invention relates to an overvoltage protection apparatus for a matrix converter having nine bidirectional power switches arranged in a 3xc3x973 switch matrix.
A matrix converter is a self-commutated direct converter. This self-commutated direct converter is a frequency converter without an intermediate circuit. The three input phases are connected to the three output phases by means of an arrangement of electronic power switches in a 3xc3x973 switch matrix. Such a self-commutated direct converter offers the advantage that, by virtue of the topology, it has a feedback capability and produces sinusoidal mains currents by means of appropriately defined control. The bidirectional switches in the switch matrix can be semiconductor switches integrated in a diode bridge, or can be two back-to-back, series-connected semiconductor switches. The two back-to-back series-connected semiconductor switches in a bidirectional power switch of the switch matrix can be configured using either a common emitter mode topology or a common collector mode topology. An insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is preferably used as the semiconductor switch. The actuation of the semiconductor switches in the power switches of the switch matrix in each case produces a current path in a direction governed by the arrangement of the semiconductor switches. If both semiconductor switches are actuated, current is allowed to flow in both directions, such that a reliable electrical connection is produced between an input phase and an output phase. If only one semiconductor switch of the bidirectional power switch of the switch matrix is actuated, then this results in a connection in only one preferred current direction. One phase of the matrix converter is an arrangement of three bidirectional power switches, which produces a connection from the three main phases to a respective one of the output phases.
Since the matrix converter does not have any passive freewheeling circuits, as in the case of an intermediate-circuit voltage converter, the inductances which are present in the circuit can cause high reverse voltages to occur across the semiconductor switches, particularly in the event of a pulse interruption generated on the basis of an EMERGENCY OFF (disconnection of the actuation pulses from all the semiconductor switches). These overvoltages can also occur as a consequence of an incorrectly initiated commutation sequence or due to the failure of the actuation of bidirectional power switches. In the aforementioned situations, the output circuit is always interrupted. The interruption of the output circuit in conjunction with the inductances which are present in the circuit causes the overvoltages, which can lead to destruction of the semiconductor switches.
An overvoltage protection apparatus is known from the publication xe2x80x9cNovel Solutions for Protection of Matrix Converter to Three Phase Induction Machinexe2x80x9d printed in the Proceedings of the xe2x80x9cIEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meetingxe2x80x9d, New Orleans, La., Oct. 5-9, 1997, pages 1447 to 1454. FIG. 1 shows a matrix converter 2, with this known overvoltage protection apparatus 4, in more detail. This overvoltage protection apparatus has two 6-pulse diode bridges 6 and 8 which are linked to one another on the DC-voltage side by means of a capacitor 10. On the AC-voltage side, the 6-pulse diode bridge 6 is connected to the input connections R, S, T of the matrix converter 2. On the AC-voltage side, the diode bridge 8 is connected to the output connections U, V, W of the matrix converter 2. A resistor 12 is connected electrically in parallel with the capacitor 10, and discharges the capacitor 10. An LC filter 14 is also connected to the input connections R, S, T of the matrix converter 2 and is linked on the input side to a three-phase main system 16. This LC filter 14, which is also referred to as the input filter, keeps pulse-frequency harmonics away from the main system 16. The size of this filter 14 depends on the pulse frequency of the matrix converter 2.
The matrix converter 2 has nine bidirectional power switches 18 which are arranged in a 3xc3x973 switch matrix. The bidirectional power switches 18 may be, firstly, a semiconductor switch 22 integrated in a diode bridge 20 and, secondly, two back-to-back series-connected semiconductor switches 24 and 26. The two back-to-back series-connected semiconductor switches 24 and 26 are configured using the common emitter mode topology. An asynchronous machine 28 is connected to the output connections U, V, W of the matrix converter 2.
Any overvoltages which occur are rectified by the diode bridges 6, 8 and are passed to the capacitor 10. This capacitor 10 thus absorbs the commutation energy. This overvoltage protection apparatus 4, which is also the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,230, requires an initial charging circuit for the capacitor 10. This initial charging circuit is required in order that no overvoltages at double or triple the main voltage occur when the matrix converter 2 is switched on. Such overvoltages can cause high surge currents, which must be accommodated by the diodes in the diode bridge 6. The resistor 12 is designed such that a predetermined amount of energy is discharged from the capacitor 10. This amount of energy is dependent on a predetermined difference between the main voltage and the capacitor voltage.
The cited publication also describes a further overvoltage protection apparatus. This further overvoltage protection apparatus is based on the principle that the existing diodes in the bidirectional power switches can also be used for an overvoltage protection apparatus in order to allow reduction of the number of diodes connected to the connections R, S, T and U, V, W of the matrix converter. The publication also discusses an overvoltage protection apparatus for a matrix converter 2, which in each case has two back-to-back series-connected semiconductor switches 24 and 26 which serve as bidirectional power switches 18. The publication discusses this overvoltage protection apparatus for a matrix converter 2 in which bidirectional power switches 18 each use a semiconductor switch 22 integrated in a diode bridge 20. This overvoltage protection apparatus saves 6 diodes in comparison to the previously described overvoltage protection apparatus 4.
An overvoltage protection apparatus is likewise known from the publication xe2x80x9cPerformance of a two Steps Commutated Matrix Converter for AC-Variable-Speed Drivesxe2x80x9d printed in the proceedings of the EPE ""99, Lausanne, September 1999, pages 1 to 9. The apparatus described in this publication has two 6-pulse diode bridges. Each of these two diode bridges has a capacitor on the DC-voltage side. The two capacitors are electrically connected in parallel. A zener diode and a pulse resistor are electrically connected in parallel with these two capacitors and are used to limit the voltage across the capacitors to a predetermined value. Furthermore, each bidirectional power switch has a varistor and a zener diode, which are used to limit the overvoltages across the bidirectional power switch.
The publication xe2x80x9cA Matrix Converter without Reactive Clamp Elements for an Induction Motor Drive Systemxe2x80x9d by Axel Schuster, printed in IEEE, 1998, pages 714 to 720, discusses the use of a number of varistors as the overvoltage protection apparatus. A varistor is connected electrically in parallel with each semiconductor switch in each bidirectional power switch in a 3xc3x973 switch matrix. These 18 varistors protect the 18 semiconductor switches in the nine bidirectional power switches against overvoltages.
It is an object of the invention to provide an overvoltage protection apparatus having low component costs.
In accordance with the invention, this object is achieved by an overvoltage protection apparatus, comprising: (1) nine bidirectional power switches arranged in a 3xc3x973 switch matrix; (2) first, second, and third varistors on a network side of a matrix converter, each of the first, second and third varistors being connected electrically in parallel with at least one of two input and output connections of the matrix converter; and (3) fourth, fifth, and sixth varistors on a load side of the matrix converter, each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth varistors being connected electrically in parallel with the at least one of the two input and output connections.
Since one varistor is in each case connected electrically in parallel with two input and output connections of the matrix converter, only six varistors are now required. When the load currents for the fed-back energy from the asynchronous machine are interrupted, this arrangement of the varistors offers a path for dissipating this energy. Furthermore, this arrangement of the varistors in the overvoltage protection apparatus protects two bidirectional power switches in the matrix converter against overvoltages, so that only six varistors are now required instead of eighteen. Thus, the overvoltage protection apparatus in accordance with the invention, which includes delta-connected varistors at the input and output connections of the matrix converter, has very low component costs. In comparison to conventional overvoltage protection systems, no additional diodes and no additional initial charging circuits are required for the novel system disclosed herein. Each additional component not only increases the cost of a matrix converter, but also enlarges its physical volume. Furthermore, the circuitry of the additional diodes increases the value of the inductances which are present in the circuit, resulting in a higher overvoltage.
The varistors can be of a commercially available type, and are inactive during normal operation. Only the parasitic capacitances of the components are significant. The losses produced by the charge-reversal processes in this case are insignificant.
In one advantageous embodiment of the overvoltage protection apparatus, a voltage clamping circuit is connected electrically in parallel with each semiconductor switch in the bidirectional power switches in the 3xc3x973 switch matrix. This voltage clamping circuit protects the semiconductor switches in the bidirectional power switches against overvoltages by clamping the voltage across the semiconductor circuit to a predetermined value. This protection measure results in a switched-off semiconductor switch being controlled in a desaturation region. This results in losses being produced in the semiconductor switch, which are acceptable for a short-term load. Overvoltages are thus prevented from occurring across any of the semiconductor switches in bidirectional power switches.
Commercially available varistors do not offer a suitable resistance behavior until close to or beyond the maximum permissible control voltage of the semiconductor switch to be protected. When the reverse state is attained, an asymmetric reverse voltage split could occur between the semiconductor switches in the two bidirectional power switches, which could lead to the destruction of a semiconductor switch in one of the two bidirectional power switches. The use of a voltage clamping circuit in the semiconductor switches in each bidirectional power switch in the 3xc3x973 switch matrix in the matrix converter limits any overvoltage which might otherwise occur across a semiconductor switch in a bidirectional power switch. There is a further increase in the reverse voltage across two series-connected bidirectional power switches which are protected by means of a varistor. During this voltage rise, either the voltage clamping circuit of one semiconductor switch in the second bidirectional power switch responds, or the varistor becomes conductive. If the varistor becomes conductive, the current is commutated from the semiconductor switches in the two bidirectional power switches onto the varistor, so that the power loss now occurs in the varistor. Furthermore, the reverse voltage is split approximately symmetrically between the two actuated semiconductor switches in the two bidirectional power switches.
This additional voltage clamping circuit does not enlarge the physical volume of the matrix converter since the voltage clamping circuit for each semiconductor switch is integrated in the associated drive unit for the semiconductor switches. The combination of the delta-connected varistors and the input and output connections of the matrix converter and of the voltage clamping circuits allows the operating range of the varistors to be shifted to preferable regions of their respective operating characteristics. In this configuration, the varistor operates at a voltage which may be above the maximum permissible reverse voltage of a semiconductor switch which is used. Each semiconductor switch in the bidirectional power switches in the matrix converter provides some additional protection, because such switches have the thermal property of absorbing energy, at least to a minor extent.

Overvoltage protection apparatus for a matrix converter


The present invention is directed to a zoom lens which includes, in order from an object side: a first lens group having a negative refractive power; a second lens group having a positive refractive power; and a third lens group having a positive refractive power. While zooming from a wide-angle position to a telephoto position, the distance between the third lens group and an image side is greater at the wide-angle position than at the telephoto position. The zoom lens satisfies the following conditional expression:

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens. More specifically, the present invention relates to a zoom lens for cameras using an image pickup device such as a charge-coupled device (CCD).
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, the use of electronic still cameras and video cameras employing a CCD or a solid-state image pickup device has been expanding rapidly, while the needs for miniaturization and weight/cost savings have also been increasing. Miniaturization and weight/cost savings are needed for zoom lenses that are built into cameras.
An optical system using a solid-state image pickup device employs a crystal filter so as to prevent moiré caused by the periodical structure of the image pickup device. Therefore, the thickness and location of the crystal filter must be taken into consideration in designing optical systems to secure a long retrofocal length. In particular, the telecentricity of an incident ray to the image side to face an image-forming plane is an important factor of the design.
Conventional optical systems using a solid-state image pickup device include: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. SHO 56-123512, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. SHO 63-292106, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. PYUNG 6-94996, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. PYUNG 5-173071, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. PYUNG 11-84243; and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-14284.
The zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. SHO 56-123512 comprises, in order from the object side, a first lens group having a negative refractive power, and a second lens group having a positive refractive power. The second lens group is moved to perform zooming. The first lens group is moved to compensate for the movement of an image point caused by the zooming. The first and second lens groups are moved along the optical axis during the zooming, so the overall length of the optical system is greatly changed to increase the structure complexity of the lens barrel. This makes it difficult to achieve a zoom ratio of greater than 2× and particularly to realize miniaturization of the optical system.
The zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. SHO 63-292106, is a lens system that does not change its overall length while zooming. This lens system may include a first lens group having a negative refractive power and remaining fixed while zooming, a second lens group having a positive refractive power and moving along the optical axis while zooming, and a third lens group having a positive refractive power. The second and third lens groups are moved towards the object side while zooming from the wide-angle position to the telephoto position, so the overall length of the optical system must be increased to achieve a performance correction at a wide angle. This increases the size of the optical system, and the miniaturization of the system becomes difficult.
The zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. PYUNG 6-94996 is a three-group zoom lens that includes a third lens group having a negative or positive refractive power on a second lens group to enhance the zoom ratio and realize a compact optical system in the two-group zooming system. In the zoom lens, the first and second lens groups move along the optical axis to perform a zooming with the third lens group fixed. However, this may change the overall length of the optical system and attain a zoom ratio of only about 2×.
The zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. PYUNG 5-173071 comprises, in order from the object side, a first lens group having a negative refractive power, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, a third lens group having a negative refractive power, and a fourth lens group having a positive refractive power. The respective lens groups are moved while zooming, so the configuration of the lens barrel is too complex.
The zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. PYUNG 11-84243 comprises, in order from the object side, a first lens group having a negative refractive power, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, and a third lens group having a positive refractive power. The zooming is performed in the direction of decreasing the distance between the first and second lens groups and the distance between the second and third lens groups. In this structure, the distance between the second and third lens group decreases towards the telephoto position, so the focusing according to the distance from the object must be performed with the first or second lens group. But, the number of lenses to be moved during the focusing is increased, because the first and second lens groups have many more lenses than the third lens group. This increases focusing errors, and makes the miniaturization of the optical system more difficult due to the large size of the movable parts.
The zoom lens disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-14284 comprises a first lens group having a negative refractive power, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, and a third lens group having a positive refractive power. In the zoom lens, the first, second and third lens groups are moved to perform a zooming, achieving a zoom ratio of 2× to 3× with 5 to 8 lenses. However, the number of lenses increases with an increase in the zoom ratio, making it difficult to attain a miniature zoom lens with a high zoom ratio.

Abstract: 1.0  ≤            L      II                                f          W                                  f          T                      ≤  1.5where fW denotes the total focal length at the wide-angle position; fT denotes the total focal length at the telephoto position; and LII denotes the moving distance of the second lens group from the wide-angle position to the telephoto position.