A base station for use in a 1xEV-DV wireless network comprising: 1) a radio frequency (RF) transceiver for transmitting to mobile stations in voice traffic channels and in at least one packet data channel and 2) a power allocation controller for adjusting the total transmit power allocated to the voice traffic channels and the at least one packet data channel in response to changing conditions in the 1xEV-DV wireless network, the power allocation controller monitors and detects trends in the traffic channel transmit power requirements of the voice-user mobile stations and adjusts the total transmit power according to the detected trend.

Business and consumers use a wide variety of fixed and mobile wireless terminals, including cell phones, pagers, Personal Communication Services (PCS) systems, and fixed wireless access devices (i.e., vending machine with cellular capability). Wireless service providers continually try to create new markets for wireless devices and expand existing markets by making wireless devices and services cheaper and more reliable. To attract new customers, wireless service providers implement new services, especially digital data services that, for example, enable a user to browse the Internet or send and receive e-mail.
Code division multiple access (CDMA) technology is used in a variety of wireless networks, including wireless networks that comply with the 1xEV-DV standard. In a CDMA network, mobile stations (e.g., pagers, cell phones, laptop PCs with wireless modems) and base stations transmit and receive data in assigned channels that correspond to specific unique codes. For example, a mobile station may receive forward channel data signals from a base station that are convolutionally coded, formatted, interleaved, spread with a Walsh code and a long pseudo-noise (PN) sequence. In another example, a base station may receive reverse channel data signals from the mobile station that are convolutionally encoded, block interleaved, and spread prior to transmission by the mobile station. The data symbols following interleaving may be separated into an in-phase (I) data stream and a quadrature (Q) data stream for QPSK modulation of an RF carrier. One such implementation is found in the 1xEV-DV version of the IS-2000 standard.
A 1xEV-DV wireless network supports both voice service and data service, such as packet data service. In a 1xEV-DV wireless network, two types of interference limit the performance of the forward link (i.e., transmission link from base station to mobile station). When the mobile station is close to the base station, same cell interference due to multi-path reflections is the predominant type of interference. When the mobile station is at the outer edge of the cell site, neighboring cell interference is the predominant type of interference. Same cell interference is directly related to the transmit power of the base station. Since a 1xEV-DV base station continuously transmits at maximum power for packet data users, same cell interference may be extreme in a 1xEV-DV wireless network. Unfortunately, due to a number of constraints, conventional 1xEV-DV mobile stations do not implement any of the known interference cancellation techniques. As a result, 1xEV-DV cells typically maintain a maximum of only three or four voice calls while maintaining data sessions.
A conventional 1xEV-DV wireless network uses a fixed division of power between data users and voice users that is determined by network operator policy. In an exemplary implementation, a base transceiver station (BTS) first satisfies the power requirements of the voice users and then allocates the remaining power to the data users. The problem with this method is that a single voice user can dictate the data power allocation requirements and therefore throttle the data throughput. This is somewhat illogical, since data users typically pay higher rates than voice-only users.
In another exemplary implementation, the voice power level and the data power level are pre-allocated, whether or not there are active users of each service. This is not an optimal situation, since data users will not experience high throughput even in a cell with few or no voice users. On the other hand, if a cell carries a number of voice users and data users and the interference increases such that the voice users require more power than the pre-allocated power level, the BTS may randomly drop voice calls, or even ALL the voice calls, because the BTS may not be able to determine which voice user to drop in order to maintain the power allocation.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved 1x EV-DV wireless networks. In particular, there is a need for a 1xEV-DV wireless network that is capable of dynamically allocating power in the forward channel between voice users and data users.

Apparatus and method for optimal power allocation between data and voice in a 1xEV-DV wireless network


An electronic device comprises a sensor, a notifier and a controller. The sensor is urged to a test part side of an examinee and can detect pulsation at the test part. The notifier notifies information for a position of the sensor at the test part. The controller controls the notifier to notify information for a position of the sensor at the test part based on pulsation at the test part detected by the sensor.

Conventionally, electronic devices that are worn on the wrist of an examinee to acquire biological information of the examinee are known (see, for example, PLT 1 and PLT 2). In addition, an electronic device that facilitates stable estimation of the state of the carotid artery of the examinee has been disclosed (for example, PLT 3).


An exemplary embodiment sets forth an apparatus, including a non-collapsible single unit stair comprising: a pair of opposing side rails supporting at least a top step and a bottom step; a coupler adapted to couple the apparatus to an edge of a horizontal surface; and a height adjustable user-support arm, coupled to one of the side rails with a rotatable coupling, wherein the user-support arm is moveable between a support position and a storage position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ladders, and more particularly to a ladder suitable for use as a ladder for vehicles having a tailgate or flatbed, and as a general purpose free-standing ladder.
2. Related Art
Pickup tailgate-type vehicles, e.g., pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUV), and station wagons, in today's world have become a vehicle of choice for a variety of reasons that were not as apparent in the past. A vehicle with a tailgate was considered a "work" type vehicle used in construction, farming, and industry.
Now there are extended cabs, four-door models with luxurious interiors with many features that were previously only found in fine automobiles. Today's SUVs, vans, station wagons, and pick-up trucks are broadly used for tailgate parties, at car races, ballgames, outdoor concerts, beach parties, and many other outdoor activities in addition to their traditional work-related uses.
Unfortunately, accessing a tailgate or flatbed of a vehicle can be quite an obstacle for many people. A major challenge is accessing the bed of the vehicle. It can be very difficult to reach over the side rails of the bed of a vehicle in order to retrieve an object, or to climb into the truck bed without the aid of a step assembly. It is even more difficult to exit the truck bed, whether a person is carrying something or simply trying to get down, because of the height of the tailgate from the ground.
The use of step assemblies for tailgate access is known in the art. However, conventional step assemblies have various shortcomings that make them an imperfect solution to the problem of tailgate and truck bed access.
Some tailgate step assemblies are mounted permanently to a base on the inside of the tailgate, which always encumbers the tailgate. Users of such tailgate step assemblies often have to exercise additional care not to trip over the permanently mounted assembly. Others are mounted permanently to the outside of the tailgate, which exposes the ladder to damage and theft.
Most tailgates or flatbed type vehicles have a standardized distance from the ground to the tailgate or flatbed of approximately 28 inches, 30 inches, 33 inches, 37 inches, or 49 inches. Some conventional tailgate step assemblies have only a single step, which does little to bridge the height gap from tailgate to ground. Still other tailgate step assemblies have very narrow steps, or steps with large height separations, which are difficult for the elderly or disabled to use, as well as tiring for those using the assembly for an extended period of time. For example, virtually all types of ladders and staircase type assemblies in today's marketplace have a step or rung riser height of 9.5 inches to 12 inches, while typical building staircases have riser heights of around 6 to 8 inches.
Most conventional tailgate step assemblies have no support arms. In tailgate step assemblies that do have support arms, the support arms are very short. Short support arms are essentially useless, particularly when leaving the vehicle bed. Most support arms are not permanently attached to the step assembly, which makes them very easy to forget or misplace.
Still other tailgate step assemblies have many moving parts or are collapsible, which tends to make them less stable and prone to malfunction.
Further, no conventional tailgate step assemblies are useable as free-standing step assemblies. If the user of the tailgate step assembly also needs a ladder or step assembly, for example, at a job site, the user would have to bring an extra ladder for that purpose.
What is needed then is an improved tailgate step assembly that overcomes shortcomings of conventional solutions.

Compact truck tailgate and general purpose utility ladder


An air-conditioning apparatus includes a heat pipe, which performs heat exchange. The air-conditioning apparatus provides supply air in a set state (temperature, humidity) through a change in the flow passage of ventilation air and outside air by the selective opening/shutting of dampers, cooling the outside air by spraying mist, and cooling and humidifying the supply air. The cooling temperature and humidity of the supply air is controlled at a ratio of the ventilation air passing through a cooling coil and the ventilation air passing through a bypass passage. Using a bypass passage, ventilation air can directly move to an air supply block without the intervention of the cooling coil within a heat exchange block through which a ventilation air passes.

The present invention relates to a heat pipe air-conditioning apparatus and, more particularly, to a heat pipe air-conditioning apparatus using a bypass passage, wherein the cooling temperature and humidity of supply air are controlled at a ratio of the ventilation air passing through a cooling coil and the ventilation air passing through a bypass passage, without passing through the cooling coil.
In general, air-conditioning has an object of making people in a house, hotel, meeting hall, office, a computer center and a variety of types of industrial facilities in a comfortable state by maintaining comfortable indoor conditions, such as temperature, humidity, scent and air current, in a state suitable for intended purposes of the place. The state of the indoor air which is comfortable for people does not have a specific value because it is influenced by several conditions, such as climate, clothing, the standard of living and the health state of the people. In order for the places, such as the workshop of a factory, a warehouse, a laboratory and a computer center, to sufficiently achieve their intended functions, the indoor air must maintain a state most suitable for things produced, processed, stored or tested in the places or a variety of types of apparatuses operating in corresponding places.
For example, air-conditioning is used so that quality of a product is uniform and defective products are not generated. For example, humidity is relatively set high in a cigarette factory so that tobacco leaves are not cut into small pieces and overly dried into powder, temperature is set low in the chocolate factory so that chocolate does not melt to lose the original shape, dust is reduced to a minimum in a semiconductor fabrication factory, and the flow of air is made slow by considering the influence the air flow on living things in the physiological laboratory.
Examples of conventional air-conditioning apparatuses used in a computer center and for a computer rack include Korean Patent Nos. 10-0478755, 10-1103394, and 10-2010-0013312.
In conventional technologies, ventilation air and outside air are cooled by a heat exchanger using a refrigerant and provided as supply air.
Such conventional technology has a problem in that a lot of energy is consumed in order to cool the outside air and the inside air.
Furthermore, conventional technology has a problem in that the humidity (relative humidity) of supplied air is not maintained unless a separate reheat heat source is configured because all of ventilated air is cooled and humidified through a cooling coil and thus resulting in relative humidity of 85˜95%.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Heat pipe air-conditioning apparatus using bypass passage


Techniques for providing enhanced graphics in a user interface by efficiently using enhanced graphics resources. A computing device displays the enhanced graphics in an upper view of the user interface and the enhanced graphics resources identify a visual region in which the enhanced graphics are positioned. The computing device accesses the enhanced graphics resources to identify and store a hit test region based on the visual region. The hit test region is stored separately from the enhanced graphics resources for hit testing. When a hit is received in the user interface, the computing device determines whether the upper view or lower view will respond to the hit based on the hit test region that is stored separately from the enhanced graphics resources.

Computing devices commonly use Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) to enable the delivery of enhanced graphics such as video, animation, and the like. In addition, many modern applications use the GPU for other features, such as driving the display of complex user interfaces. These resource requirements can often lead to performance issues, especially with time-sensitive activities like video or animation rendering. For example, many complex user interfaces use overlapping views with transparent portions and require a large amount of GPU resources to render the multiple views, render the correct level of opacity, and also perform hit testing to interpret user interactions to determine which view is being targeted by user interactions, given the transparency. When the GPU is required to execute such tasks, the GPU and GPU resources that it uses can become overburdened resulting in visual degradation of the graphics and poor user interface performance. Therefore, a solution is needed to improve the performance of GPUs that are being required to execute a multitude of tasks to provide complex user interfaces.

Graphics performance for complex user interfaces


An electrical submersible pump comprising a fallback bearing protection system, the system comprising: locking member; boot pivotally connected to shaft of electrical submersible pump adjacent to locking member, wherein the boot comprises a sloped outer wall capable of forming a fluid boundary thereby diverting fallback fluid away from uppermost bearing of electrical submersible pump; ridge disposed on the sloped outer wall of the boot. A method for protecting uppermost bearings of electrical submersible pump, the method comprising: operating the electrical submersible pump; removing power supply from electrical submersible pump; allowing fallback fluid to flow from a tubing disposed above electrical submersible pump into the electrical submersible pump thereby rotating fallback bearing protection system pivotally connected to shaft within electrical submersible pump; allowing the rotating fallback bearing protection system to create a fluid boundary capable of radially diverting the fallback fluid away from uppermost bearings of the electrical submersible pump.

Many oil and gas production wells are eventually transitioned over to secondary lift techniques as their production rates decline. That is, their bottom hole pressures are no longer high enough to efficiently drive the produced fluids out of the wellbore. Secondary lift techniques may include installation of pumping equipment into the wellbore to increase pressure and/or lift fluids out of the wellbore. Suitable pumping equipment may include sucker rod/pump lift system, plunger lift system, and electrical submersible pump (ESP) system, among others.
When an electrical submersible pump system is shut down or turned off, deliberately or otherwise, the solids that have passed through the pump and that are trapped in the tubing can fallback into the pump. Solids in this case may refer to any solid particulate that may be entrained in the well fluid. The solids or abrasives can fill the running clearances of the hardened bearings especially of the top most pump in an Electrical submersible pump system. There may be a bearing at the top of every pump known as the discharge head. The discharge head of the top pump and its bearing may be exposed to the highest concentration of solids. This high concentration of solids may fill the running clearances and cause the Electrical submersible pump system to have hard starts and in severe cases the shaft may break leading to low production. This low production scenario often results in an operator pulling the well and replacing the pumps in an Electrical submersible pump system.


The present embodiment provides an apparatus for providing a search screen comprising: a data communication unit that performs a data communication with a storage medium in which at least one data is stored; a control unit that analyzes types of data for the at least one data provided through the data communication unit and sorts the provided at least one data based on the analyzed types of data; and a search screen generation unit that generates a search screen for the at least one data sorted based on the types of data, wherein the search screen generation unit generates virtual folders corresponding to the types of data and disposes the data corresponding thereto in the virtual folders for generated each type of data.

The present embodiment relates to a display apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for providing a search screen on which search and management for each data is facilitated by sorting a large amount of data using a virtual folder.
In recent, diverse sorts of contents such as TV broadcasting programs, video clips, music, e-mails and electronic books, etc. have been provided in a display apparatus. Also, there has been an explosive increase in the number of the provided contents.
The contents may have been provided from diverse sources and the applicability of the contents has also been considerably increased.
For example, the number of television channels that can be applied in most countries have been considerably increased for the past few years, and viewers can receive several tens or several hundreds of different TV broadcasting channels. Also, the TV broadcasting channels are provided from different broadcasting stations and sources, wherein these are communicated through diverse media including terrestrial wireless broadcasting, cable distributions or satellite broadcastings.
Similarly, there has been an explosive increase in the number of applicable wireless channels, wherein they are provided through different media such as satellite broadcastings, digital terrestrial broadcasting and cable distributions, and an internet.
Also, the contents may be provided from a non-broadcast related storage apparatus such as a CD (CD-DA), a video CD, and DVD-video, etc. Also, the increase in electronic communication causes an increase in distribution and change of electronic contents such as electronic books, e-mails, documents, and audio files, etc.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 1, a search screen generally provided is provided based on the sort conditions designated when data is originally stored. Here, the search screen includes a first region 100 on which the sort of storage media currently connected are displayed, a second region 101 on which icons of files and/or folders stored in a specific storage medium of the storage media displayed on the first region 100, selected by a user, are displayed, and a third region 102 on which information on specific files and/or folders of the files and/or folders displayed on the second region 101, currently highlighted, are displayed.
However, there has been an explosive increase in the amount of the applicable contents item, contents source and storage apparatus, an impractical problem arises in that a lots of time is rendered for searching a specific data from the search screen provided as above. Also, when a user stores a specific data in an incorrect folder, it may be difficult to find the corresponding data.
Therefore, there is a demand for a method to facilitate the search for specific data by efficiently sorting a large amount of data.

Apparatus and method for providing search screen


The present invention relates to a lighting module (20a, 20b, 20c), a modular lighting system (2) and a method of manufacturing such a lighting module. The lighting module comprises a board (21) having a central portion (24) and a peripheral edge (22) adapted to be coupled to the peripheral edge of the board of another lighting module, and a plurality of light sources (23) arranged at the board such that the pitch in proximity to the peripheral edge is larger than the pitch in proximity to the central portion. The present invention is advantageous in that it enables the realization of a modular lighting system whose luminance distribution is perceived as more homogenous. The pitch between the light sources of the board can be reduced while reducing the perception of any dark areas between neighboring lighting modules as illuminance interruptions (or discontinuities).

Modular lighting systems can be used to provide customized lighting. The number of lighting modules and their assembly can be varied to provide a certain desired illumination. In such lighting modules, a matrix of light sources, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), is arranged at a board with a certain pitch between the light sources. The pitch may be defined as the distance between the light sources from centre to centre. The smaller and more constant pitch the more continuous illumination is provided from the lighting module. With a smaller pitch, the light sources appear like a single light source (instead of several separate lighting points), when viewed at a shorter distance from the lighting module.
An example of a modular structure of an LED light source is disclosed in US2010/0123380. LEDs are arranged on a circuit board as regular hexagons, with an equal distance between every two adjacent LEDs, such that the modular structure of the LED light source provides uniform illumination.

Lighting module for a modular lighting system


Disclosed herein is a vertical light emitting type backlight module, for irradiating white light to the rear side of a liquid crystal display in the perpendicular direction. The vertical light emitting type backlight module comprises a) one or more LED array modules, each comprising a substrate having conductive patterns printed on upper and lower surfaces of the substrate, respectively, a plurality of LED devices mounted on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate, respectively, for emitting light toward the front of respective surfaces of the substrate with the LED devices mounted thereon, and a plurality of lenses formed to surround the LED devices, respectively, for directing the light emitted from the LED devices in a direction perpendicular to the LED while being within a predetermined angle from an axis parallel to a plane of the backlight module, the substrate being mounted perpendicular to the plane of the backlight module such that the light emitted from the LED devices is emitted in a direction approximately parallel to the plane of the backlight module, and b) a reflection plate for each of the LED array modules for reflecting the light spread in the horizontal direction to change path of the light to the perpendicular direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vertical light emitting type backlight module, which provides an image by directly emitting light from the underneath of an LED (Light Emitting Diode) panel, and more particularly to a vertical light emitting type backlight module of a liquid crystal display, which has reduced change of path of light, thereby decreasing light loss, while having a simplified lens structure, thereby allowing easy manufacturing and design.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a current developing trend in the electronic equipment industry, LCDs (Liquid Crystal Display) have been spotlighted as next generation display devices. However, since LCDs do not emit light on their own, an LCD panel for communication is provided, at the rear side thereof, with a backlight for emitting light.
The backlight enables colors of an image realized by the LCD panel to be reproduced nearly into real colors by emitting white light from the rear side of the LCD panel. As for the light source of the backlight, in the early days of the backlight, a CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) or an EEFL (External Electrode Fluorescent Lamp) was used. However, with the advent of highly efficient LEDs (Light Emitting Diode) having excellent physical and chemical properties, it has been suggested to employ LEDs as the light source for the backlight.
As for the backlight module employing the LED, there are a direct illumination type backlight module, which emits the light directly under the LCD panel, and a side emitting type backlight module, which is formed, at one side of the backlight module, with the light source, so that the light path is changed to direct light to the front side thereof using a reflection plate or a light guide plate.
The LED is a semiconductor light emitting device, which emits various colors of light, with the light source being constituted by compound semiconductors of various materials, such as GaAs, AlGaAs, GaN, InGaN and AlGaInP. As a standard for determining characteristics of the LED, colors, brightness, intensity of light, and the like, are used, and these are determined primarily by the compound semiconductor material used for the LED, and secondarily by the structure of the package for mounting LED chips. Accordingly, the package may have various structures according to requirements for applications of the LED.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an LED device suggested as a light source for a conventional side emitting type LCD backlight module. The LED device 10 comprises a lead line 12 for inputting or outputting an electrical signal, a package 11 made of a plastic material and being provided with a thermally conductive material therein, an LED chip 14 mounted in the package 11, and a lens 13 coupled to the package 11 on the top surface of the package 11 for changing the path of light generated from the LED chip 14 to the horizontal direction.
The lens 13 is optically designed such that respective light generated from the LED chip 14 and emitted in every direction may be refracted in the horizontal direction. Although the lens has a mortar-like shape in FIG. 1, there are problems in that, according to the emitting angle of the light generated from the LED chip 14, the lens may be more complicated, and in that the light deviated from ranges corresponding to an optical design thereof can be directed in the vertical direction without being refracted in the horizontal direction.
Additionally, when using the LED device 10 to realize the LCD backlight module, as shown in FIG. 2, the LED devices 10, each acting as a spot light source, are mounted in a line on a printed circuit substrate 21 having a predetermined length, thereby forming an LED array module 20 acting as a linear light source. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, after one or more LED array modules 20 are arranged in parallel and spaced predetermined distance apart, Each of the LED array modules 20 is provided, at either side of the LED array module 20, with a reflection plate 31 adapted to reflect the light emitted from the LED array module 20 in the horizontal direction to the vertical direction, thereby providing a backlight module 30.
As described above, with the backlight module 30 employing the conventional LED, the light initially generated by the LED chip 14 practically used as the light source is refracted in the horizontal direction by the lens 13, and is then reflected in the vertical direction by the reflection plate 31, whereby the path of the light is changed several times. As a result, there are several problems in that, firstly, the lens has a complicated structure in order to reflect the light generated by the LED chip 14 in the horizontal direction, thereby complicating the design and the manufacturing, in that, secondly, while initially generated light is forced to follow the path of the light changed several times, light loss can occur, in that, thirdly, when the light is refracted using the differences in refraction rates, since the light generated from the center of the LED device in a direction of an upper portion of the LED device is transmitted without having its direction changed, there can occur a hot spot at the center of the LED device, thereby requiring a shadow sheet for the backlight module 30 in order to prevent the hot spot from being generated.

Vertical light emitting type backlight module


A load test system includes a test bed frame which extends horizontally along a first axis and includes two rolling beams moveably mounted securely in the test bed frame for being moved to desired position. The rolling beams have plural attachment locations for attaching a test lift device. A hydraulic power station is located spaced perpendicular from the test bed frame along a second axis and includes a hydraulic cylinder with a line connected to the hydraulic cylinder at one end, which is connectable to a test device at another end for applying a load when the test device is attached to the test bed. Beam members connect the hydraulic power station and the test bed frame to form a rigid structure.

A "below-the-hook lifting device" is a sling, hook, magnet, or vacuum device, beam or fabricated structural device that is suspended from the hook of an overhead crane or hoisting device, and used to lift an object. They are also sometimes referred to as overhead lifting devices. Under current standards for the design and manufacture of "below-the-hook lifting devices," mandatory load testing is not required of the manufacturer. On the other hand, regulatory agencies such as OSHA in the United States, often demand testing and the burden of such testing often falls on the user to provide certification that the lifting device has been load tested prior to use. Failure to comply with testing can result in large fines being levied on the user.
Many manufactures of "below-the-hook lifting devices" (hereinafter "lifting device," "test device" or "test lift device") produce such lift devices in batches of several hundred in a single production run. In order to provide testing certification for end-user purchasers, the manufacturer may choose to load test random numbers of lift devices produced in a single production run. This practice does not guarantee that all produced lift devices satisfy the regulatory standards, and it is preferable that every lift device produced be load tested before delivery to a customer. Unfortunately, such a task has to date been prohibitably expensive.
For the above reasons, what is needed is a load test system which can be used by a manufacturer to test every lift device produced in a cost effective way, and with the ability to provide accurate certification to an end-user purchaser that the lift device purchased has been tested and satisfies regulatory standards.


A semiconductor device and a fabricating method thereof are provided. A PMD layer and at least one IMD layer are formed on a semiconductor substrate. A through-electrode penetrates through the PMD layer and the IMD layer, and a connecting electrode connects to the through-electrode.

Semiconductor devices are often fabricated in a SiP (System in a Package).
FIG. 1 shows a semiconductor device in a SiP shape. Ref erring to FIG. 1, the semiconductor device in a SiP shape according to the related art comprises an interposer 11, a first device 13, a second device 15, and a third device 17.
The three devices 13, 15, and 17 can, for example, each be any one of the following group: a central processing unit (CPU), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), Flash Memory, Logic large scale integration (LSI), a Power integrated circuit (IC), a Control IC, Analog LSI, mixed mode integrated circuit (MM IC), a complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RF-IC), a Sensor Chip, or a micro electro mechanical sensor (MEMS) Chip.
Between the first device 13 and the second device 15, and between the second device 15 and the third device 17, a connecting means is typically present for connecting signals between the respective devices.
A through-electrode is a common means for connecting signals between the devices. A through-electrode is an electrode that penetrates through the devices and can electrically connect the corresponding devices and any additional devices on or below those devices.
However, in a SiP semiconductor device, a solder is typically the only method used to electrically connect the devices using a through-electrode. Solder s often have difficulty ensuring bonding stability.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a stable bonding method to be used with devices in a SiP semiconductor device.

Semiconductor device and fabricating method thereof


A rotor blade assembly includes a rotor blade including one or more pockets and a housing located on the rotor blade within one or more pockets. The housing is secured to the rotor blade via one or more dovetail joints. A drive mechanism for a control surface of a rotor blade includes an actuator and a rocker operably connected to the actuator. At least one hinge rod is operably connected to the rocker and operably connected to a control surface at a control surface pivot. The drive mechanism translates substantially linear motion of the actuator into rotational motion of the control surface about the control surface pivot.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to rotary wing aircraft. More specifically, the subject disclosure relates to control devices for rotor blades of rotary wing aircraft.
Rotary-wing aircraft typically include passive blades which are controlled using a swashplate assembly that transfers motion of non-rotating control members to rotating control members. The transfer of motion occurs once per blade revolution (1/rev) and affects all blades in a similar fashion. On-blade control overcomes this limitation and allows for both the potential to control blades on an individual bases, and to transfer motion more than once per blade revolution. In order to perform on-blade control, blades can be equipped with one or more devices to control trim flaps, trailing edge effectors, and the like. These devices include actuators, etc, which are installed at or on the rotor blades. Installation of such devices can involve cutting holes in the rotor blade spar for routing of mechanical connections, hydraulic lines, electrical lines, etc. These holes compromise the baseline structural properties of the rotor blade, often resulting in redesign and additional strengthening of the blade to return it to baseline structural integrity. Further, the typical attachment of such structures to the blade can increase drag, noise, vibration, weight, and be intensive in maintenance time required to service, repair, or replace such devices. Finally, installation of such devices can require a complete redesign of the entire blade and limit the blade to only one particular active device. The art would well receive an improved control device and installation method thereof for control of rotor blades.

Modular integrated device for rotor blade control


Methods and systems for detecting capture using pacing artifact cancellation are described. One or more pacing artifact templates are provided and a cardiac signal is sensed in a cardiac verification window. Each of the pacing artifact templates may characterize the pacing artifact associated with a particular pacing energy level, for example. A particular pacing artifact template is canceled from the cardiac signal. Capture is determined using the pacing artifact canceled cardiac signal. Detection of fusion/pseudofusion beats may be accomplished by comparing a cardiac signal to a captured response template.

When functioning normally, the heart produces rhythmic contractions and is capable of pumping blood throughout the body. However, due to disease or injury, the heart rhythm may become irregular resulting in diminished blood circulation. Arrhythmia is a general term used to describe heart rhythm irregularities arising from a variety of physical conditions and disease processes. Cardiac rhythm management systems, such as implantable pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators, have been used as an effective treatment for patients with serious arrhythmias. These systems typically comprise circuitry to sense electrical signals from the heart and a pulse generator for providing electrical pulses to the heart. Leads extending into the patient's heart are connected to electrodes that contact the myocardium for sensing the heart's electrical signals and for delivering pulses to the heart in accordance with various therapies for treating the arrhythmias.
Cardiac rhythm management systems operate to stimulate the heart tissue adjacent to the electrodes to produce a contraction of the tissue. Pacemakers are cardiac rhythm management systems that deliver a series of pace pulses to the heart. Pace pulses are typically low energy electrical pulses timed to assist the heart in producing a contractile rhythm that maintains cardiac pumping efficiency. Pace pulses may be intermittent or continuous, depending on the needs of the patient. There exist a number of categories of pacemaker devices, with various modes for sensing and pacing the heart.
When a pace pulse produces a contractile response in a heart, the contractile response is typically referred to as capture, and the electrical waveform corresponding to capture is denoted the evoked response. Superimposed with the evoked response may be a post pace residual polarization waveform. The magnitude of the post pace residual polarization waveform, denoted herein as the pacing artifact waveform, is affected by a variety of factors including lead polarization, after potential from the pace pulse, lead impedance, patient impedance, pace pulse width and pace pulse amplitude, for example.
A pace pulse must exceed a minimum energy value, or capture threshold, to produce a contraction. It is desirable for a pace pulse to have sufficient energy to stimulate capture of the heart without expending energy in excess of a capture threshold. Accurate determination of the capture threshold is required for efficient pace energy management. If the pace pulse energy is too low, the pace pulses may not reliably produce a contractile response in the heart resulting in ineffective pacing. If the pace pulse energy is too high, the result may be patient discomfort as well as shorter battery life.
Capture detection allows the cardiac rhythm management system to adjust the energy level of pace pulses to correspond to the optimum energy expenditure that reliably produces a captured response. Further, capture detection allows the cardiac rhythm management system to initiate a back-up pulse at a higher energy level whenever a pace pulse does not produce a captured response.
A fusion beat is a cardiac contraction that occurs when two intrinsic cardiac depolarizations of a particular chamber, but from separate initiation sites, merge. When the heart is being paced, a fusion beat may occur when an intrinsic cardiac depolarization of a particular chamber merges with a pacer output pulse within that chamber. Fusion beats, as seen on electrocardiographic recordings, exhibit various morphologies. The merging depolarizations of a fusion beat do not contribute evenly to the total depolarization.
Pseudofusion occurs when a pacer output pulse artifact is superimposed upon a spontaneous P wave during atrial pacing, or upon a spontaneous QRS complex during ventricular pacing. In pseudofusion, the pacing stimulus is ineffective because the tissue around the electrode has already spontaneously depolarized and is in its refractory period.
During normal pacing, the presence of fusion and pseudofusion beats may be of little consequence except for wasted energy due to the generation of unnecessary pace pulses. However, detection of fusion and pseudofusion beats may be required during an automatic capture or threshold determination procedures. Fusion and pseudofusion beats may cause false detection of capture and may lead to erroneous capture threshold values.
Capture may be verified by detecting a cardiac signal indicative of an evoked response. However, the evoked response must be discerned from the superimposed post pace residual polarization, denoted herein as a pacing artifact. In addition, fusion or pseudofusion beats may further obscure the evoked response. It is desirable to detect the evoked response and thereby verify capture so that an effective pace pulse energy may be chosen and appropriate back up pacing delivered.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the present specification, there is a need in the art for a method and device that reliably and accurately detects capture in a patient's heart by sensing an evoked response in the presence of the post pace residual polarization and possible fusion or pseudofusion beats. There exists a further need for such an approach that is adaptive and accommodates changes in the patient's capture threshold over time. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.

Method and system for detecting capture with cancellation of pacing artifact


A method for determining instrument-dependent parameters of a surface plasmon resonance, SPR, biosensor system, and using those instrument-dependent parameters to measure the concentration of an analyte is provided herein. Also disclosed are methods of monitoring surface binding interactions of the analyte using the instrument-dependent parameters.

Analytical sensor systems (i.e., label-free systems) that can monitor molecular interactions in real time are gaining increasing interest. These systems are often based on optical biosensors and usually referred to as interaction analysis sensors or biospecific interaction analysis sensors. A representative biosensor system is the Biacore™ instrumentation sold by GE Healthcare Life Sciences, which uses surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for detecting interactions between molecules in a sample and molecular structures immobilized on a sensing surface. With the Biacore™ systems it is possible to determine in real time without the use of labeling not only the presence and concentration of a particular molecule in a sample, but also additional interaction parameters such as, for instance, the association rate and dissociation rate constants for the molecular interaction. The apparatus and theoretical background are fully described in the literature (see e.g., Jonsson, U., et al., BioTechniques 11: 620-627 (1991)). Normally, the technique involves the immobilization of a ligand to the special optical sensor surface of a sensor chip (flow cell), contacting the sensor chip with a flow of sample containing the analyte of interest, and then measuring the change in the surface optical characteristics of the sensor chip arising from the binding between the ligand and the analyte. For further details on SPR, reference is also made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,313,264, 5,573,956 and 5,641,640.
Calibration-free concentration analysis (CFCA) calculates the analyte concentration from the measured mass transport properties and values for the diffusion coefficient and molecular weight, provided as evaluation variables when the assay is run. The evaluation is based on fitting the sensorgram data to a model of interaction kinetics that contains a mass transport component. The mass transport parameters are calculated from the supplied diffusion coefficient, flow cell characteristics and molecular weight. With the analyte concentration set as a globally fitted variable the unknown concentration of the analyte can be determined.
The measurements, including CFCA, performed by SPR-based biosensor systems uses a system dependent constant that is dependent on chip used, flow cell characteristics and other instrument characteristics, and allows to convert measured response units into mass units.

Method in a surface plasmon resonance biosensor system


A computer based system for displaying and compressing video including a video capture card with a video compressor and a bus interface circuit that acts as a busmaster and outputs uncompressed video and compressed video to a computer bus for display of the uncompressed video on the computer monitor and storage of the compressed video on a memory of the computer. The system also includes a software virtual interrupt generator that uses timer events provided by a computer system service and a transfer status indicator to generate interrupts to initiate transfer of a new block of video; an overlay controller implemented in software that transfers video from the video capture card over the computer bus to a graphics subsystem for display in a window on the computer monitor in an overlay mode; a display controller implemented in software that causes display of uncompressed video from the video capture card or software decompressed video; a software controller that compresses audio in software and sends video data to be compressed across the computer bus to the compressor; a controller that is implemented in software and calibrates startup delay of the audio input subsystem and uses the delay to synchronize the audio and video; and a user interactive input mechanism for adjusting the rates of compression within a range of acceptable rates that varies as a function of the output target medium for compressed video.

The invention relates to a computer based video system.
Computers have been used to edit and create video programs using digitized video. Owing to the large amount of data involved in even a single frame of video, it is typical to compress the digitized data. One compression format that is used is JPEG, which involves compressing the data on a frame-by-frame basis, permitting edits to be easily made at frame boundaries on the compressed data. Another compression format that has been used is MPEG, which can be used to partially compress the video into so-called I-frames, which rely only on the information in a single frame, or to fully compress the video into IBP frames, which rely on the information in subsequent and prior frames. Full MPEG encoding achieves a higher level of compression, though edits cannot be easily made on the fully-compressed videos.
Some computer based video systems have relied on software compressors to compress video data while others have used compressors/decompressors implemented in integrated circuit chips.
In computer based video systems, a hardware frame buffer is often connected by a direct hardwire connection to a graphics subsystem for display of the frame buffer contents in a window on a computer monitor in an overlay mode.


A vehicle movement digital data analyzing apparatus according to the present invention is for processing moving conditions of a vehicle momentarily varying with time which are recorded and collected in a record medium, and capable of converting a portion thereof into an enlarged graph to be displayed on display device. The vehicle movement digital data analyzing apparatus includes an input device for inputting information for determining the starting time of a graph to be displayed on the display device and the terminating time of a graph to be displayed on the display device, a page input device for specifying the graph on the preceding page and the graph on the next page adjacent to the graph currently displayed on the display device, and a page scrolling device for performing a graph conversion turning the starting time of the graph currently displayed on the display device into the terminating time of the converted graph when the graph on the preceding page is specified by the page input device and performing a graph conversion turning the terminating time of the graph currently displayed on the display device into the starting time of the converted graph when the graph on the next page is specified by said page input device. The analyzing apparatus further includes a printing device for printing the graph displayed on the display device.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle movement digital data analyzing apparatus for recording and collecting digital vehicle movement data, indicative of moving conditions of a vehicle such as a speed and a travel distance, onto a record medium and analyzing the thus collected digital vehicle movement data.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, the vehicle movement digital data to be analyzed by a digital data analyzing apparatus of the described type is collected by recording the vehicle movement digital data indicative of moving condition of a vehicle in a recording medium such as an IC memory card removably mounted into an on-vehicle digital data recording apparatus, having such data subjected to a compression processing according to predetermined values. The vehicle movement digital data collected through the above described recording of data is read by a vehicle movement digital data analyzing apparatus provided in the office which controls the vehicle movement and subjected to an expansion processing, and then used for various analyses.
The recording of the data in the recording medium is performed according to the format, for example, as shown in FIG. 7.
Referring to FIG. 7, reference character M denotes a memory in which one word is structured of eight bits (one byte). In the memory, there are formed a data region M.sub.1 and an ID region M.sub.2. The data region M.sub.1 is further divided into a distance data recording region M.sub.11 partitioned into sections, each section corresponding to each vehicle movement used for successively recording therein the travel distance data compressed by a predetermined compression method, and a speed data recording region M.sub.12 also partitioned into sections, each section corresponding to each operation, used for successively recording therein the speed data compressed by the predetermined compression method. One movement is defined, for example, as the time interval between the mounting of an IC memory card into the vehicle movement digital data recording apparatus and the removing of the same from the recording apparatus.
In the ID region M.sub.2, there are also recorded such data as the allowance, resolution, and sampling time for each movement, and addresses in the regions M.sub.11 and M.sub.12 at which the final data of the travel distance data and the speed data for each movement are recorded. The aforesaid allowance represents the error range allowed at the time of recording, while the resolution and the sampling time are data related to precision of the collected speed data. The precision of the data obtained by the compression processing depends on the allowance, resolution, and sampling time in the speed data compression, and these data are absolutely essential for data expansion and analysis on the analyzing side.
In the speed data region M.sub.12 of the data region M.sub.1, there are recorded the starting time and the ending time at the start and the end of each movement. such time data are important when analysis is made with the speed data distributed over the period between the starting time and the ending time to thereby find out the state of speed at each point of time in-between.
The recording medium having the movement data recorded therein as described above is then removed from the vehicle movement digital data recording apparatus and mounted into the analyzing apparatus for analyzing vehicle movement digital data. Thereby, analyses of each movement are made. As one of the results provided by such analytical processing, the momentarily varying vehicle speed during each movement is arranged in the form of graph to be displayed on the screen of the CRT or printed in a sheet of paper so that the moving condition is seen at a glance.
More specifically, the vehicle movement data recording apparatus is constituted from a microcomputer. The microcomputer samples and receives an electric signal generated from a rotation sensor connected to a transmission of the vehicle by a suitable connecting means and having a period conforming to rotation of an axle of the vehicle and determines an instantaneous speed and a travel distance of the vehicle by calculation in accordance with the thus received electric signal. Then, in order to record the instantaneous speed and travel distance obtained by such a calculation as digital data onto a record medium loaded on a card writer, the microcomputer further executes data compression processing for decreasing the data length of the instantaneous speed and travel distance.
Meanwhile, the analyzing apparatus is constituted from a personal computer (PC) and a reader-writer (RW) connected to the personal computer. If the record medium is loaded into the read-writer, then vehicle movement data recorded on the record medium are read out by the read-writer and transmitted to and stored into a memory in the personal computer. The data thus stored in the memory are expanded and analyzed in accordance with an analyzing program and recorded onto a floppy disk (FD).
As one of the results provided by such analytical processing, the speed data, for example, subjected to expansion processing is graphically displayed on the screen of a CRT. If the data for 24 hours are all displayed on one screen, the details of the display become quite difficult to distinguish, and therefore, an enlarged display of a part of the data has come to be practiced. It is also practiced to have the 24-hour graphical display or the enlarged graphical displayed on the CRT screen printed on a sheet of paper using a printer.
In the case where the enlarged graph is printed, the graph printed on the printing paper is that of one screen. Therefore, when it is desired to view the entire graph in an enlarged state, the enlarged graphs immediately preceding and following the current enlarged graph are displayed and additionally printed. In such case, it becomes necessary to output the adjacent data onto the CRT continuously to the current data. To achieve this, the scrolling function has been conventionally used. The conventional scrolling function is such that causes the graph on the screen to be moved backward or forward in units of one dot (pixel) by manual operation.
When using the above described scrolling function, however, it is very difficult to bring the end or the start of one screen into coincidence with the start or the end of another screen adjacent thereto. Therefore, supposing that the screen shown in FIG. 8(a) is a preceding screen and the screen continuing thereto is as shown in FIG. 8(b), the screen actually obtained by shifting the screen by means of the scrolling function frequently becomes such as shown in FIG. 8(c), that is, the portion of the screen in the range D shown therein becomes missing; otherwise, screens having overlapping portions are obtained. Thus, there has been a problem that the graphs obtained by printing such screens produce discontinuity therebetween.

Vehicle movement data analyzing apparatus


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for creating an image similarity model. In one aspect, a method includes obtaining feature vectors for images in a set of images, and determining first similarity measures for unlabeled images relative to a reference image. The first similarity measures are independent of first similarity feedback between the unlabeled images and the reference image. The unlabeled images are ranked based on the first similarity measures, and a weighted feature vector is generated based, in part, on the ranking. Second similarity measures are determined, independent of second similarity feedback, for labeled images and a second reference image. The labeled images are ranked based on the second similarity measures. The weighted feature vector is adjusted based, in part, on a comparison of the ranking to a second ranking of the labeled images that is based on the second similarity feedback.

This specification relates to image processing.
The Internet provides access to a variety of resources such as web pages directed to particular topics, textual content, video content, and images. Many of the resources include images and some search systems provide the ability to search for images by either submitting a textual query or uploading an image that is similar to the images for which the user is searching. For example, a user can upload a picture of a movie star and submit the picture as an image query. Using the image query, the search system can identify online images that are considered similar to the image query and provide a search results page that includes the identified images.


This invention is intended to isolate and identify a vWF-specific cleaving protease. The vWF-specific cleaving protease cleaves a bond between residues Tyr 842 and Met 843 of vWF and comprises a polypeptide chain having Leu-Leu-Val-Ala-Val (SEQ ID NO: 1) as a partial sequence, and more preferably comprises a polypeptide chain having the partial N-terminal amino acid sequence of a mature protein, Ala-Ala-Gly-Gly-Ile-Leu-His-Leu-Glu-Leu-Leu-Val-Ala-Val (SEQ ID NO: 2), and having a molecular weight of 105 to 160 kDa in SDS-PAGE under reducing or non-reducing conditions. Isolation and identification of this vWF-specific cleaving protease have led to the possibility of replacement therapy for patients having diseases resulting from a deficiency of the protease, such as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

vWF is produced in vascular endothelial cells or megakaryocytes, and is a blood coagulation factor in which a single subunit comprising 2,050 amino acid residues (monomers of about 250 kDa) are bound by an S—S bond to form a multimer structure (with a molecular weight of 500 to 20,000 kDa). The level thereof in the blood is about 10 μg/ml, and a high-molecular-weight factor generally has higher specific activity.
vWF has two major functions as a hemostatic factor. One of the functions is as a carrier protein wherein vWF binds to the blood coagulation factor VIII to stabilize it. Another function is to form platelet plug by adhering and agglomerating platelets on the vascular endothelial subcellular tissue of a damaged vascular wall.
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a disease that causes platelet plug formation in somatic arterioles and blood capillaries throughout the whole body. In spite of recent advances in medical technology, the morbidity associated with this disease approximately tripled from 1971 to 1991. Pathologically, TTP is considered to result from vascular endothelial cytotoxicity or vascular platelet aggregation. Immunohistologically, a large amount of vWFs are recognized in the resulting platelet plugs, and vWF is considered to play a major role in causing them. A normal or high-molecular-weight vWF multimer structure is dominant in a TTP patient, and an unusually large vWF multimer (ULvWFM) or large vWF multimer (LvWFM) is deduced to play a major role in accelerating platelet aggregation or microthrombus formation under high shearing stress. In contrast, vWF was known to degrade at a position between residues Tyr 842 and Met 843 by the action of vWF-cleaving protease in the circulating blood of a healthy person under high shearing stress. Accordingly, TTP is considered to occur in the following manner. The protease activity in the plasma is lowered for some reason, and ULvWFM to LvWFM are increased to accelerate platelet aggregation. This forms platelet plugs in blood vessels.
Recently, Furlan et al. (Blood, vol. 87, 4223-4234: 1996, JP Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 2000-508918) and Tsai et al. (Blood, vol. 87, 4235-4244: 1996) developed a method for assaying vWF-specific cleaving protease. In their report, this protease activity was actually lowered in TTP. The aforementioned authors reported that this enzyme was metalloprotease in the plasma and partially purified. However, they have not yet succeeded in the amino acid sequencing which would specify the protease. There have been no further developments since then.

Von Willebrand factor (vWF)-cleaving protease

Juridical Foundation The Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute


A method is provided which permits accurate estimation of the neutral point of a steering wheel while a vehicle is traveling. In this method, a wheel angle is detected whenever a condition, wherein the car speed has reached a specified speed or higher, the working pressure of a hydraulic power steering has not virtually risen yet, and the steering wheel has not yet virtually steered, lasts for a specified time; the detection frequency distribution, which corresponds to the detected wheel angles, is determined; the weighted mean value of the wheel angles is calculated from the detection frequency distribution; and the weighted mean value is estimated as the neutral point of the steering wheel.

The present invention relates to a method and system for estimating the neutral point of the steering wheel of a vehicle while the vehicle is traveling.
In a vehicle provided with electronic control equipment which is controlled in accordance with a steering condition, the steering wheel, i.e., the steering shaft, is generally equipped with a wheel angle sensor. This wheel angle sensor functions to detect a wheel angle when the steering wheel is steered, for allowing a front-wheel steering angle to be determined from the detected wheel angle.
The steering angle of front wheels provides an important control factor for implementing, for example, rear-wheel steering control or the trace control and the like of a traction control system; therefore, the wheel angle sensor must be capable of detecting the steering angle of front wheels with high accuracy.
The wheel angle sensor is designed to detect a wheel angle when the steering wheel is steered to the right or left from its neutral point, i.e., the front-wheel steering angle. For this reason, a vehicle must be traveling straight ahead whenever the neutral point of the steering wheel is detected through the wheel angle sensor.
If, however, there is an error in the installation of a steering column or a wheel angle sensor, or if a play or the like develops in a steering system extending from the steering wheel to the front wheels as the vehicle is subjected to external forces, then the neutral point of the steering wheel fails to fully coincide with the straight-ahead travel of the vehicle.
Under such circumstances, the front-wheel steering angle detected through the wheel angle sensor becomes inaccurate, making it impossible to carry out optimum rear-wheel steering control or trace control as mentioned above.
As a prior example focusing on such a problem, Japanese Utility Model Applications Laid-Open H2-85675 U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,594, DE3942494, GB2228460) discloses a technology for correcting the neutral point of a wheel angle sensor output on the basis of the output of the wheel angle sensor obtained when the pressure difference between the right and left pressure chambers of a power steering unit is zero.
In an actual vehicle, however, the condition where the zero pressure difference between the right and left pressure chambers of the power steering unit takes place not only at a particular wheel angle but over a certain range of wheel angles. Therefore, the aforesaid method cannot ensure accurate correction of the aforesaid neutral point.
Theoretically, the problem with the above-mentioned prior example can be solved by using a device for accurately detecting whether front wheels are in the straight-ahead travel condition instead of detecting whether the aforementioned pressure difference is zero, however, no such convenient detecting device has been put in practical use.

Method and system for estimating the neutral point of a steering wheel

Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha


A cooking structure which provide for two or more side-by-side ovens separated by vertical, movable, hinged partition(s) whereby the oven structure may function as one large oven or as two or more smaller independent ovens, wherein for each oven a tangential fan blows air substantially evenly over upper electrical heating elements strung generally from side-to-side of the oven, wherein a flow director (baffle) structure functions as a radiant heat shield which is operator movable to either expose to or occlude from the oven cooking chamber the direct radiation from its heating elements, depending on the need to roast, bake, or broil the food product. Also provided are lower electrical heating elements positioned below a ceramic cooking surface for ensuring evenness of radiant heat transfer therefrom. Also provided is operator controlled top vs. bottom heating using a slide control that reciprocally affects the duty cycle of the top and bottom electrical heating elements, further allowing precision baking control.

1. Field
The present invention is directed to electrically heated convection baking ovens and the like and particularly concerns, in preferred embodiments, operator control of radiant heat emanating from heating elements and directed down into the oven cooking chamber, specially constructed and functional heated air circulating means for providing more uniform heat transfer throughout the cooking chamber, an upper heating element and a lower heating element with a ceramic or metal heat sink, specially designed partition or divider means for quickly and easily converting the oven cooking chamber from a single chamber to multiple chambers and vise versa, and in a most preferred embodiment uniquely functional electrical control means is provided for regulating heat output of the upper and lower heating elements in a reciprocal manner so as to accurately regulate the temperature of a particular are—sweet spot—within the oven cooking chamber which is most desirable for a particular product.
2. Prior Art
Conventional home ovens for the past 100 years have retained the basic cube configuration for the oven cooking chamber which is typically provided with horizontal interposed cooking racks. Other than the addition of "convection" provided by fan means and the substitution of electronic for electromechanical controls, little has changed. This basic configuration leaves considerable room for improvement.
Much oven usage involves baking, roasting or broiling of smaller size or number of food products whereby utilization of the large standard oven cavity becomes energy inefficient. Attempts at simultaneous precision baking on multiple racks is usually futile because of the unevenness in heat transfer excepting perhaps for ovens with "pure" or "European style" convection. Simply spoken, most ovens have one "sweet spot" or area that cooks with evenness and consistency for a specific product. Attempts have been made to "fine tune" this "sweet spot" by placing the racks at different heights, however, many conventional ovens still have a tendency to over cook or over brown the food product at the rear of the oven. This can be due to excessive air leaks in the oven door, excessive airflow over the product next to fan intake, or even opening the oven door multiple times to check on the product being baked.


A compact optical switching unit includes a polarization independent beamsplitter switch (PIBS) coupled to a delay path apparatus such that incident light beams are respectively selectively directed along either a direct path or a delay path dependent on the the manipulation of the polarization of polarized constituent light beams in the PIBS. The delay path apparatus is typically a mirror prism or fiber optic cable disposed such that light deflected onto the delay path traverses a longer distance than light passing along the direct path and thus a particular light beam can be selectively time delayed by controlling the PIBS to direct the beam into desired delay paths in a cascade of optical signal switching units. A compact and readily fabricated cascade of optical switching units includes PIBS blocks, a portion of which constitutes the PIBS in respective optical switching units sequentially optically coupled. Delay path apparatuses disposed along an axis orthogonal to both the axis of beams passing along a direct path through polarizing beam splitter switches on the direct path and the axis between respective optical switching units result in a compact optical architecture.

Optical signal processing systems are used to manipulate the characteristics of optical signals, or light beams, to enable information or signals to be processed. For example, the direction, intensity, polarization, phase, or a combination of these characteristics of a light beam may be manipulated by appropriate equipment so that the manipulated characteristics impart the desired processing of the optical signal. For example, optical signal processing systems can be advantageously used for controlling phased array radars. In such a system, differentially time-delayed optical signals can be generated to establish selected time delays between individual optical signal beams, and the optical signals can then be converted to electrical signals to drive the antenna array with the desired sequential actuation of the transmitting antenna elements.
An essential component in most optical processing systems, such as phased array antenna controllers, is an efficient light switch. A key characteristic of a light switch used in a signal processing system, in which the processed light must commonly pass through many switches, is the amount of optical loss or attenuation that the light beam experiences in passing through the switch. A commonly used light switch is a lithium niobate based switch that provides relatively fast switching times but typically also has about 3 dB light loss per switch. Thus, for example, if an optical signal passed through only seven switches in a signal processing system, it would lose 21 dB, that is the light amplitude of the output signal drops to 1/128th of the input amplitude.
One efficient, low loss, light switch includes a beam splitter and a liquid crystal array to selectively control the polarization of light beams entering the beams splitter. One example of switching using polarizing beam splitters (PBS) and liquid crystal arrays to selectively control the polarization of light entering the PBSs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,239 of N. Riza, issued May 26 1992 and which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference. For example, separate spatial light modulators (SLMs) comprising arrays of liquid crystals can be paired with sets of paired polarizing beam splitters in optical time delay units such that light passing through the unit passes along either a direct path or a delay path dependent on the polarization of the light.
Additionally, polarization-independent types of beamsplitter switches have been suggested that enable a non-polarized light beam to be selectively directed along a predetermined path. One example of such a polarization-independent switch is described by Wagner and Cheng in "Electrically Controlled Optical Switch For Multimode Fiber Applications," Applied Optics, Vol. 19, No. 17, September 1980, pp 2921-2925. In optical signal processing systems, use of polarization independent switches can be advantageous as the there is no reduction in light beam intensity (as may occur if a polarizer is used to polarize light to be used in a polarization-dependent system) and connections between modules of the signal processing system can be made with optical fibers that do not require polarization-maintaining fibers.
It is desirable that switching units in optical signal systems have relatively low attenuation, be of compact size, rugged, readily fabricated and adapted to processing a large number of separate signal light beams as would be necessary for operation of a phased array antenna system. It is further desirable, from the standpoint of manufacturing ease and efficiency, that each optical switch comprise as few optical devices, such as beamsplitters, as practicable. Additionally, it is desirable to have a switching unit that can readily be fabricated to produce a small time delay.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a polarization independent optical switching unit having relatively low light attenuation and that is readily adapted to use in a cascade of other optical processing devices.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a polarization independent optical switching unit that is compact and rugged and that can be readily fabricated in a cascade of similar devices.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide an arrangement for a polarization independent optical switching unit that is readily adapted to generating small time delays between respective optical signal beams.

Compact polarization independent optical switching units


The present invention provides shelf adjustment systems and methods that may be used in merchandiser display cases and other applications to accommodate changes in product offering, giving the user increased flexibility in the use of merchandiser display cases. The shelf adjustment systems of embodiments of the present invention provide methods and apparatus for coordinating shelf adjustment, such that adjusting the display angle of one shelf of the invention causes the display angle of another shelf or shelves to also be adjusted by the same amount as the adjusted shelf.

Food merchandiser cases are a common type of equipment used by grocery stores, convenient stores, and other retail and food service providers to display foods for sale to consumers and shoppers. Some of these cases feature angled food shelves that allow for better visual presentation of the product offered, such that the consumer or shopper is presented with a more complete view of the product, even from an elevated vantage point. In other situations, it is preferable to hold products on horizontal shelves (e.g., in the case of a food product that is fluid-like and will flow within its container). To accommodate these requirements, conventional food merchandiser cases typically provide horizontal shelves, or provide shelves that are set at a predetermined inclined angle. This limits the application of equipment to a specific purpose, and may require a food seller or provider to purchase multiple merchandiser cases for various product offerings.
The conventional merchandise cases create inefficiencies for the food product retailer, since the conventional merchandiser display cases are not adjustable and require the food product retailer to tailor his food product offerings to the kinds of shelf space he has in the merchandiser cases, to place food product offerings in inappropriate or suboptimal food display shelves (e.g., on an angled shelf, when a horizontal shelf should be used), to leave shelf space unused or over-crowded do to incongruity between the food product retailers current offerings and its display case shelf space, or some ad hoc approach to maximizing use of the display case shelf space.
There is a need for improved shelving systems for merchandiser display cases.

Shelving angle adjustment mechanism and related methods


An introducer system for use with a pacemaker lead includes a plastic sheath compatible for insertion within a body, a first end configured for insertion into the body with a second end extending out of the body. A central lumen of the sheath is configured to permit introduction of the lead and includes a flexible, kink-resistant section smooth on its outer surface with a helical pleat defining a helical groove enabling a conductor extending from the mapping probe to the pacing system analyzer to be received in the helical groove of the sheath. A mapping probe at the first end of the sheath is connectable to a pacing system analyzer for seeking a location on the myocardial surface of the heart or an endocardial location at which optimal pacing parameters can be achieved prior to implantation of the lead.

Although it will become evident to those skilled in the art that the present invention is applicable to a variety of implantable medical devices utilizing pulse generators to stimulate selected body tissue, the invention and its background will be described principally in the context of a specific example of such devices, namely, cardiac pacemakers for providing precisely controlled stimulation pulses to the heart. However, the appended claims are not intended to be limited to any specific example or embodiment described herein.
Pacemaker leads form the electrical connection between the cardiac pacemaker pulse generator and the heart tissue which is to be stimulated. As is well known, the leads connecting such pacemakers with the heart may be used for pacing, or for sensing electrical signals produced by the heart, or for both pacing and sensing in which case a single lead serves as a bi-directional pulse transmission link between the pacemaker and the heart or may be used to deliver defibrillation shocks to the patient. A typical transvenous type pacing/sensing lead, that is, a lead which is inserted into a vein and guided therethrough into a cavity of the heart, includes at its distal end an electrode designed to contact the endocardium, the tissue lining the inside of the heart. The lead further includes a proximal end having a connector terminal pin adapted to be received by a mating socket in the pacemaker. A flexible, coiled or cabled conductor surrounded by an insulating tube or sheath typically couples the connector terminal pin at the proximal end and the electrode at the distal end.
The implantable cardiac stimulation leads with which the present invention is concerned may take the form of pacemaker leads capable of pacing and sensing in at least one chamber of the heart. Indeed, the present invention, may relate to a programmable dual chamber pacemaker wherein the basic configuration of the pacemaker, e.g. unipolar or bipolar, can be changed, including the grounding configuration and ground potentials used within the pacemaker.
Generally, a heart stimulator, commonly known as a "pacemaker" or "pacer", uses one, two, or more flexible leads having one end connected to the pacer and the other end connected to electrodes placed in close proximity to the heart. These leads are used to stimulate or pace the heart. These leads are also used to sense the heart's electrical activity by sensing the heart's signals from their electrodes.
In order to properly pace or sense, the pacer has to be able to deliver a stimulating pulse to the heart or sense an electrical signal from the heart, and this requires that there be an electrical return path. If, within a given heart chamber, a unipolar lead is used—containing a single conductor—the return path is the conductive body tissue and fluids. The return path is connected to the pacer by connecting the pacer electrical common or ground to the pacer metal enclosure, typically referred to as the pacer case or housing. The case, in turn, makes contact with the body tissue and/or fluids. Then the current flows from the pacemaker through the lead's conductor, then through the lead's electrode, then through tissue, and finally to the pacer case.
An alternative solution to using a unipolar lead in a given heart chamber is to use a double lead/electrode in the heart chamber, known as a bipolar lead. In a typical bipolar lead, a second conductor coil or cable is spiraled over or positioned in a separate lumen and insulated from a first conductor along the length of the lead. At the distal end of the lead, one of the conductor cables or coils (inner) is connected to a first electrode, referred to as the "tip" electrode, and the second (outer) conductor coil is connected to a second electrode, referred to as a "ring" electrode. The ring electrode is generally situated about 10 to 20 mm from the tip electrode. The tip electrode is typically placed in contact with heart tissue, while the ring electrode is likely to be mostly in electrical contact with the blood. Because both body tissue and fluids are conductive, the ring electrode of a bipolar lead, in contact with the body fluids, serves as an electrical return for both pacing and sensing.
As indicated, pacing or sensing using the pacer case or enclosure as part of the electrical return path is known as unipolar pacing or sensing. Pacing or sensing using the lead ring electrode and an associated lead conductor as the electrical return path is known as bipolar pacing or sensing. There are numerous factors to consider when deciding whether unipolar or bipolar pacing and/or sensing should be used. Bipolar sensing is less prone to crosstalk, far field signals, and myopotential sensing than is unipolar sensing. Crosstalk generally refers to a pacer mistakenly sensing a heart activity in one heart chamber immediately after the other chamber is paced. Bipolar sensing reduces crosstalk resulting from a pacing stimulus in the opposite chamber. Bipolar pacing is also preferred as it minimizes the potential for pectoral or diaphragmatic stimulation.
Unipolar pacing and sensing offers the advantage, in general, of simpler circuitry within the pacemaker and a simpler, smaller diameter lead. In any event, cardiac pacing leads intended to be placed in the chambers of the heart, or nowadays, into the coronary venous system, are subjected to a series of tortuous bends that they must traverse. The leads must have the flexibility to follow these bends but have enough structural support to allow the leads to be pushed and twisted in order to navigate within these veins.
As earlier noted, the present invention has application to placing leads whose electrodes are either endocardial usage or epicardial usage. In the customary manner, a transvenous lead with an endocardial electrode provides an electrical pathway between the pacemaker, connected to the proximal end of the lead, and endocardial tissue in contact with the distal end of the lead. Endocardial tissue refers to a specific layer of tissue in the interior of the heart's chambers. In such a manner electrical pulses emitted by the pacemaker travel through the endocardial lead and stimulate the heart.
Transvenous leads with endocardial electrodes are often placed in contact with the endocardial tissue by passage through a venous access, such as the cephalic or subclavian veins or one of their tributaries. In such a manner transvenous leads offer as an advantage that their electrodes may be placed into contact with the heart without requiring major thoracic surgery. Rather, transvenous leads may be introduced into a vein and maneuvered therefrom so that their electrodes make contact with the endocardium of the heart.
A multi-step procedure is often used to introduce such leads within the venous system. Generally this procedure consists of inserting a hollow needle into a blood vessel, such as the subclavian vein. A wire guide is then passed through the needle into the interior portion of the vessel. The needle is then withdrawn and an introducer sheath and dilator assembly is then inserted over the wire guide into the vessel. The assembly is advanced into a suitable position within the vessel, i.e. so that the distal end is well within the vessel but the proximal end is outside the patient. Next, generally, the dilator and wire guide are both removed. It is also common to keep the wire guide in place, in case it is needed again. The introducer sheath is left in position and therefore offers direct access from outside the patient to the interior of the blood vessel. In such a fashion a transvenous lead can be easily passed into the vessel through the introducer sheath and ultimately be positioned within the heart. Finally the introducer sheath is removed from the body. With respect to pacemaker leads, however, which typically have a relatively bulky connector pin assembly at the proximal end, the introducer sheath is removed from the body by being split or slit apart. In such a manner the introducer sheath does not have to be large enough to be removed over the relatively bulky connector pin assembly at the proximal end of the lead.
An introducer sheath therefore, through its hollow lumen, provides access to the interior of a vessel. A transvenous lead introduced into the blood vessel may then moved along the blood vessel until properly positioned within the heart.
To provide such access an introducer sheath must be flexible. Specifically, flexibility permits the introducer sheath to bend and form to a curve compatible with the blood vessel. In such a manner the introducer sheath end is substantially parallel to the blood vessel and a lead which is introduced therethrough is properly oriented along the vessel interior. If the sheath did not conform to the vessel shape, a lead introduced would abut against the vessel wall, possibly injuring the patient and damaging the lead. One problem which may occur, however, due to the flexibility required of the introducer sheath is that the mid-portion of the sheath may form a kink.
Kinking within the introducer sheath may cause serious problems, especially with respect to pacemaker leads. Generally a kink within an introducer sheath is not detected until a lead is attempted to be introduced therethrough. At that time the lead, and in particular the delicate electrode at the distal end of the lead, strikes the kinked section and is blocked. Continual pushing on the lead may cause damage to the electrode as well as damage to the conductor and insulative sheath of the lead body. Because such damage may not be readily apparent, implantation of a damaged lead may result, in turn, creating the possibility of serious harm to the patient.
A further problem exists in pacemaker patients who have had multiple leads implanted over time. Scar tissue at the site of implantation has been found to create difficulties with past lead introduction systems. Specifically the relatively tough scar tissue hinders the introduction of a dilator and introducer sheath assembly. Many times, only through use of larger incisions than are otherwise desirable is such an assembly able to be inserted.
Others have proposed introducer systems that feature a sheath having a kink resistant section allowing the sheath to be bent in that region and still allow a lead to be introduced therethrough. The kink resistant section comprises a series of bellows or pleats. The bellows or pleats may be further arranged to form a screw about a portion of the sheath to thereby permit the sheath to be screwed into body tissue. The sheath preferably is constructed to readily split in a longitudinal direction and thus permits the system to be removed from the venous system without having to withdraw the sheath over an end of the pacemaker lead.
It was in light of the foregoing that the present invention was conceived and has now been reduced to practice.

Kink resistant introducer with mapping capabilities


The invention relates to a white emitting light source with an improved luminescent material of the formula (AEN2/3)*b(MN)*c(SiN4/3)*d1CeO3/2*d2EuO*xSiO2*yAlO3/2 wherein AE is an alkaline earth metal chosen of the group of Ca, Mg, Sr and Ba or mixtures thereof and M is a trivalent element chosen of the group of Al, B, Ga, Sc with d1>10*d2. In combination with a UV to blue light generating device this material leads to an improved light quality and stability, especially an improved temperature stability for a wide range of applications.

For illumination purposes high CRI light sources are generally preferred. White LEDs based on a single YAG:Ce luminescent colour converter usually reach Ra values in the 70s with very bad colour rendering in the red spectral region. Therefore strong pressures exist for the development of efficient illumination grade white LEDs with excellent colour rendering over the entire visible spectral region. The obvious measure to improve colour rendering is the addition of a red emitting luminescent material (i.e. disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,717,353). However fabrication of white LEDs becomes more cumbersome due to the added degrees of freedom. Thus single phosphor options are deemed to be favourable if not superior.
However, there is still the continuing need for novel emitting luminescent materials which are usable within a wide range of applications and especially allow the fabrication of white phosphor converted LEDs (pcLEDs) with correlated colour temperature below 6000 K, optimized luminous efficiency and color rendering.

White emitting light source and luminescent material