Disclosed is a system for collecting, sorting, counting and consolidating an unorganized pool of solid or semi-solid articles such as pills for dispensation. Specifically, the articles are extracted from inside a bin using attraction points on a transport substrate and sorted into containers in finite quantities. The system consists of several components, preferably including a torque source, a counter and a vacuum source, which are uniquely integrated onto a single end-effector to reduce cost and redundancy by servicing several bins. Further, the system presents a method of attracting and carrying pills using negative vacuum pressure, gravity and centrifugal force. This centrifugal force holds articles to the local attraction points and is provided by the spinning of the transport substrate. Pills are collected from the bin or plenum at the local attraction points, counted, cleaved from the local attraction points and guided to a container or vial.

The market for automated pharmacy equipment is increasingly in need of a device that reliably, cost-efficiently, and rapidly automates the process of filling a prescription with minimal risk of contamination. This industry extends to both the retail and hospital markets.
Pricing pressures and shrinking margins have forced retail pharmacies to rely more on technological solutions to improve process efficiency, performance, and cost. The number of annual prescriptions continues to grow while a shortage of pharmacists remains. Consequently, the number of pharmacists in the workforce has fallen behind the increase in prescription demand.
Also, the increasing pressure from consumers to lower drug prices and fixed costs from pharmaceutical suppliers has led to decreasing margins. This trend is projected only to worsen in the future.
Further, professional skills in the hospital segment should be directed to primary care rather than pill-counting and a great need exists to replace obsolete technology to fill individual and outpatient prescriptions. Currently, both hospitals and nursing homes use products called "nursing stations," which generally contain a smaller version of the pharmacy contained within the institution. However, these products are cumbersome and outdated.
With regard to dispensing medication in the hospital and nursing home segment, prescriptions are dispensed in single doses. This market is in great need of convenience, security, and inventory control. Currently, hospitals use centralized pharmacies to prepare and dispense medications, which requires advance notice and sometimes results in delivery errors. Additionally, many hospitals store commonly dispensed medications in locked cabinets on a specified floor where they are commonly administered by nurses or doctors who retrieve the prescription in individual doses and administer it to the patient. A main issue with the nursing station units is that more than one dose is accessible at a time, which can lead to the problem of pill theft. To avoid this problem, many pharmacies monitor each unit on-line on a daily basis. This manages inventory and also prevents abuse. However, an automated pill counting design would result in a dramatic improvement in inventory control, efficiency and cost by eliminating overhead and the amount of time individuals must spend performing the steps currently involved in pill dispensation.
With regard to drugstores and other places where pharmaceuticals are sold, industry trends in prescription growth, store construction, and workforce shortages predict that stores without automated systems will face intense competition in terms of price and service from stores with more cost-efficient means of delivering prescriptions to their customers. Thus, a way to cut operational costs while maintaining a high level of customer service with a shortage of pharmacists and increasing prescription demand is to use technology to automate the prescription filling process.
Presently, a high-throughput approach to pill dispensation has involved the two steps of fluidization and singulation to extract individual pills from a bin. Additionally, this approach operates on a "per-bin" basis where individual bins contain every necessary subsystem component. Fluidization involves agitating, and at times levitating the pills to randomize their position and orientation. Fluidization must be continuously applied to ensure that pills have opportunities to match the singulation mechanism. Fluidization may be induced mechanically or pneumatically. Singulation involves extracting or ejecting individual pills from the fluidized bin. This generally requires an individual pill to assume a specific position at a particular point in space so that it can be aligned with the mechanism channel or port.
Many automated systems that utilize fluidization and singulation exist today in the marketplace. The McKesson Robot Rx is an automated system that uses Baker Cells, a robot retrieval arm, and a central dispensing interface. The pills are stored within the Baker Cell units and singulation extracts individual pills in a channel, through centrifugal force. A variation of this design is used in hospitals to load individual doses into plastic bags for daily administration. However, this process is slow due to the time required to retrieve each cell. Also, the equipment requires a large amount of floor space.
A design by Parata fluidizes and singulates pills using high pressure air, air ejectors, and solenoid control valves. A centralized vacuum circulates pills in the hopper while outbound jets use air flow to extract individual pills and drive them through a nozzle or spout. A separate pneumatic jet is used to redirect overcounts of pills back into the bin. Each bin contains a microprocessor, multiple solenoids, counting sensors, actuators, and a connection for network communications. These control components occupy a large volume of bin space, reducing the volume available for pills. A minimum number of pills are needed to support fluidization.
The known art includes attempts to use a vacuum source to attract pills and a torque source to rotationally transport pills for counting and dispensing purposes. Regarding this feature, two designs are noteworthy.
One design uses a vacuum drum pill counter used to count and dispense pills or tablets using a vacuum source. The device includes a counter housing containing a vacuum drum which includes a front wall, a rear wall and a perimeter wall. The front wall contains a plurality of pill apertures for attracting pills to the exterior front wall of the drum through a vacuum source that draws a vacuum through the inside of the drum to hold the pills in place. A torque source connected to the vacuum drum is used to rotate the vacuum drum. A pill separator removes pills attached to the pill apertures onto a pill shelf and a sensor attached to the housing detects the removal of the pills. A pill feeder is attached to the housing to regulate the amount of pills which come into contact with the drum. This prevents a large volume of pills from piling on the apertures of the drum and affecting the consistent retention of pills on the pill apertures.
Several disadvantages are associated with this design, namely, the placement of pill apertures on the exterior of the rotating drum requires that the vacuum source be strong enough to attract pills to the apertures and overcome the centrifugal force caused by rotation of the drum. Thus, as the drum increases speed to pick up pills more quickly, the centrifugal force works against the vacuum force. As a result, the vacuum force must be increased as well, requiring more power. Further, the use of an external pill feeder to regulate the amount of pills that come into contact with the pill apertures discourages the maximum possible number of pills from being collected and results in decreased efficiency.
Another design uses a flat disk with pill apertures located on the exterior flat surface. A vacuum drive wheel and vacuum source are applied to attract pills resting against the disk to the apertures. The disk rotates and carries the pills until they are separated one at a time by a separator wall. A photoelectric cell at the discharge opening counts each pill and a continuously feeding pill cassette positions pills against the flat disk. An agitator consisting of radial spokes turns with the conveying wheel to break up pills and prevent them from bridging together.
This design also attracts pills to the exterior flat surface of a solid flat disk, and thus, suffers from the same disadvantages in configuration, as previously discussed. This configuration works against centrifugal force, making it necessary to increase the power of the vacuum force in order to attract the pills. Further, this system relies on an agitator to cause fluidization of the pills using a series of spokes. This however, may cause the pills to chip, break or become damaged, in addition to creating large amounts of dust leading to cross-contamination.
Many known automated dispensing systems utilize several complex system components including a counter, a type of control circuitry, sensor, motor source, and chute or slide for dispensation. A disadvantage of these systems is that each bin is comprised of dedicated subsystems for dispensing, counting and controlling. This results in redundancy (e.g., high manufacturing and maintenance costs to replicate several bins) and a higher chance of leakage.
Thus, there is a clear need for an efficient vacuum pill collector and dispenser system that works with centrifugal force to attract and hold pills, maximizes the opportunity for pill capture, maximizes efficient usage of space, eliminates the need for fluidization or an agitator, and eliminates redundancy to reduce maintenance and manufacturing costs. There is a clear need for a pill collection and dispensing device that reduces the complexity of the collection and dispensation process, costs less than current systems, is reliable, fast, requires little maintenance, and has low contamination risk. The present invention is such a system.
The system of the present invention provides an effective method of pill collection, sorting, counting, and dispensing using a vacuum source, a rotating transport substrate, and a unique end-effector design for cost and space savings. An automated system such as the present invention can remedy many of the problems associated with manual and currently-known automatic pill dispensation. For example, it can increase counting accuracy, lower costs, expand the pharmacy's or hospital's capabilities, increase total pill volume, increase volume per bin, increase reliability and increase filling speed. The system is also easy to operate, can be integrated with other necessary systems, and has a low maintenance cost.
In short, the system of the present invention proposes a new approach to pharmacy automation, which allows a degree of scalability and modularity such that it meets the needs of customers in terms of size, cost and function. By utilizing fewer and simpler parts, the system is more cost-efficient, more compact, and more reliable.

Automated article dispensation mechanism


The invention relates to a pump intended to be mounted on a bottle so as to enable a liquid contained in said bottle to be dispensed, said pump including a pump body, an atomizer secured to a push button, a means for the elastic return of the translatory motion of said atomizer in said body, and a plunger mounted in frictional contact against the internal surface of said body so as to define a dosing chamber which is in communication with the liquid by means of a clack valve, wherein the plunger is mounted coaxially around the atomizer in an association zone, said association zone being arranged so as to enable sealed swiveling between the plunger and the atomizer.

Such pumps are known that typically include an atomizer which is activated in translatory motion in a body via a push button in a fluid dispensing and suction stroke respectively. Furthermore, to enable the liquid to be pressurised, a plunger is mounted on the atomizer so as to offer, depending on said pressure, a state where a dispensing path is blocked and a state where it is open.
To enable the system to be switched reversibly into these two states, two implementations are known from the prior art:
attaching the plunger to the atomizer, with switching from one state to the other being implemented by elastic deformation of said plunger;
mounting the plunger to slide on the atomizer and elastically constraining the movement of the one relative to the other, with switching from one state to the other then being dependent on the resultant of the constraints exerted by the constraint means and by the pressure respectively on the liquid.
In known embodiments, the plunger and the atomizer are mounted coaxially in a rigid way, typically by providing a contact zone of significant axial dimension, so as to guarantee coaxial movement of the atomizer-plunger assembly. However, these embodiments have the drawback of taking up space, which may prove restrictive when it comes to the implementation of pumps of reduced axial dimension.
Furthermore, the atomizer-plunger assembly is held coaxially in the body via a sealed support on two zones spaced apart axially, formed between the atomizer and a member secured to the body, and between the plunger and the inside of the body respectively. Consequently, the reliability of this holding arrangement and therefore of the tightness are conditioned by the spacing between the support zones, in other words by the axial dimension of the pump.

Compact pump with the capacity to swivel the atomizer relative to the plunger


A method and apparatus for forming a scrim with fibers oriented in the bias direction comprising of at least two belts and at least one plate which forms a three dimensional mandrel over which the bias scrim is formed. The plate is shaped so that any cross-section taken perpendicularly to the direction of travel of the scrim, the perimeter of the scrim formed by fibers wrapped around the machine in the plane of the cross-section is constant. This constant is equal to twice the final width of the scrim from selvedge to selvedge. The scrim is formed by wrapping fibers around the front of the assembly while the belts move toward the rear end of the machine. The movement of the belts carry the fibers to the rear of the assembly as they are wrapped around the assembly. The belts travel at substantially the same speed in opposite directions. The ratio of the speed that the fibers are wrapped around the assembly and the speed of the belts determine the fiber angle of the bias scrim. This fiber angle can be varied continuously from transverse to nearly longitudinal. The bias angle can be varied while the assembly is operating.

This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for forming a scrim with fibers oriented in the bias direction.
A scrim is defined as a fabric with an open construction used as a base fabric in the production of coated or laminated fabrics. Previously, machines utilized to form a scrim use a chain in which the fibers are passed through the links on the chain. This restricts the number of fibers to an even multiple to the number of links on the chain. Changing the number of fibers used requires adding or removing chain links and other adjustments for proper operation.
In addition, the previous machines utilized for forming a scrim require a chain to rotate with the creel. The linear velocity of the chain could become excessively large if the fibers in the scrim are nearly transverse.
Another major drawback to the previous machines utilized for forming a scrim is that when using a chain, there is a minimum limit to the number of chain links needed to form a continuous loop of chain as well as the length of each chain length is also constricted by a minimum value. As the length of chain is decreased, the chordal action of the chain around the respective sockets becomes more pronounced. The variation in velocity brought about by the chordal action of the chain can cause slack regions within the scrim.
The present invention solves the above problems in a manner not disclosed in the known prior art.

Method and apparatus for forming a scrim with yarns oriented in the bias direction


[Problem]

cGMP is an important intracellular messenger and is known to be involved in the regulation of various physiological phenomena such as relaxation and proliferation of smooth muscle cells, aggregation and adhesion of platelets, and signaling of nerve cells, through the control of a cGMP-dependent protein kinase, a phosphodiesterase, and ion channels. The cGMP is catalytically produced from guanosine triphosphate (GTP) by a guanylate cyclase in the response to various extracellular and intracellular stimulation. There have been reported two groups of guanylate cyclases to date, that is, particulate guanylate cyclases stimulated by peptidic messengers (for example, atrial natriuretic peptides, brain natriuretic peptides, and the like) and sGC stimulated by nitric oxide (NO).
With respect to the sGC, the following are known. That is, the sGC is one of the most important target molecules of NO that is a messenger which plays a very important role in maintaining homeostasis of the body, and forms an NO/sGC/cGMP pathway. It has been reported that this enzyme is constituted with two subunits, each of the heterodimer contains one heme, and the heme plays a central role in an activation mechanism. It is believed that when NO binds to the iron atom in the heme, the enzyme is changed to an active conformation. Therefore, there is no stimulation by NO with enzyme preparations containing no heme. Although carbon monoxide (CO) may also bind to the iron in the heme, but the stimulation by CO is significantly lower than that by NO.
The sGC is constituted with α and β subunits. Analysis of sGC from tissue-specific distributions and in different growth steps demonstrated multiple subtype with different subunit compositions. The distribution of the respective subunits have been studied with mammals including a human, and it has been widely known that α1 and β1 subunits are expressed in many tissues and the α1β1 forms have a pattern of a heterodimer that works functionally. α2 subunits have been also recognised, which exist fewer organs as compared to the α1. It has been reported that the α2 subunits are expressed more frequently than α1 in the brain, the lung, the colon, the heart, the spleen, the uterus, and the placenta. Subunits called α3 and β3 were isolated from the human brain, but are homologous to α1 and β1. In addition, according to recent studies, α2i subunits which contain an insert in the catalytic domain have identified. All of these subunits exhibit high homology in catalytic domain regions.
Under pathophysiological conditions, such as hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, or the like, it has been reported that there is inhibition of the production of or promotion of the degradation of sGC activating factors such as NO for the reasons of increased generation of free radicals, and the like. With a decrease in the sGC activating factors, NO/sGC/cGMP signals are attenuated, which causes, for example, increased blood pressure, platelet activation, or increased cell proliferation and cell adhesion. As a result, a variety of cardiovascular diseases, specifically, hypertension (including pulmonary hypertension), atherosclerosis, lumbar spinal canal stenosis, peripheral arterial diseases, intermittent claudication, critical limb ischemia, stable or unstable angina pectoris, heart failure, thrombosis, stroke, sexual dysfunction, and the like occur. Therefore, a new drug having a mechanism of activating sGC is expected to be useful for treating or preventing such diseases by normalizing cGMP production.
As the sGC activator, there have been known, for example, "heme-dependent activators" which activate sGC depending on heme groups, such as NO donors as described later and the like, and "heme-independent activators" which are independent on the heme groups (Non-Patent Document 1).
For the activation of sGC, a group of compounds called NO donors such as organic nitrates have been widely used so far. These compounds are heme-dependent activators which activate sGC by being metabolized in vivo to produce NO, which then binds to a central iron atom of a heme. However, the NO donors have critical disadvantages such as expression of a resistance, a decrease in the effects and the like is expressed in addition to side-effects, and therefore, there is a demand for a novel sGC activator that does not have these disadvantages.
For example, compounds of the following formulae (a) to (c) have been reported as compounds having sGC activating action (Patent Document 1).

(Compounds of the formula (a) are pyrazolo[3,4]fused bicyclic compounds, and compounds of formulae (b) and (c) are imidazo[1,5]fused bicyclic compounds. Further, Q means substituted heterocycle in any one of the formulae (a) to (c). For details, refer to the document.)
In this document, there is no disclosure or suggestion of compounds having an imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffold.
In addition, pyrazole derivatives or pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine derivatives are disclosed as the sGC activating compounds in International Publications WO 2000/06569, WO 2000/21954, WO 2001/83490, WO 2003/004503, WO 2003/095451, WO 2003/086407, WO 2003/097063, WO 2007/124854, WO 2007/128454, WO 2008/031513, WO 2008/061657, WO 2010/078900, WO 2010/079120, WO 2011/147809, WO 2012/004258, WO 2012/004259, WO 2012/010576, WO 2012/010577, WO 2012/010578, WO 2012/028647, WO 2012/059548, WO 2012/059549, WO 2012/143510, WO 2012/152629, WO 2012/152630, WO 2013/004785, WO 2013/030288, WO 2013/104597, WO 2013/104598, and WO 2013/104703. However, in any of these documents, there is no disclosure or suggestion of compounds having an imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffold.
Furthermore, compounds of the following formula (d) have been reported as sGC activators (Patent Document 2).

(wherein Z is O, S, or N(R7), R7 is H or alkyl, and R6 is aryl, arylalkenyl, heteroring, -(alkenyl)-(heteroring), or heterocycloalkyl. For details, refer to the document).
However, this document does not disclose or suggest compounds having an imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffold.
As other sGC activators, 1H-pyrazole-5-carboxylic acid derivatives (Patent Document 3), biaryl derivatives (Patent Document 4), and benzylindazole derivatives (Non-Patent Document 2) have been reported.
Furthermore, compounds having an imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffold, for example, compounds of the following formula (e) useful for the treatment of gastrointestinal ulcer as an H+/K+-ATPase inhibitors have been reported (Non-Patent Document 3).

(wherein R means substituted alkoxy group, R′ means H or phenethyl, R2 means H or lower alkyl, and R3 means substituted alkyl or the like. For details, refer to the document).
This document does not disclose or suggest sGC activators, and aminocarbonyl is not included in R3 of the compound of the formula (e).
Moreover, compounds of the formula (f) useful for the treatment of allergy, inflammation, pain, or the like as bradykinin antagonists have been reported (Patent Document 5).

(wherein R1 to R3 each mean hydrogen, lower alkyl, or the like, R4 means an aryl group which may have a suitable substituent, or the like, Q means O, NH, or the like, X1 means N or C—R5, Y1 and Y2 each mean a single bond or a lower alkylene group, and Ring A means 6-membered nitrogen-containing heterocycle. For details, refer to the document).
This document does not disclose or suggest sGC activators, and aminocarbonyl is not included in R1 of the compound of the formula (f).
Furthermore, compounds of formula (g) with H+/K+-ATPase enzyme inhibitory activities and useful for the inhibition of gastric acid secretion have been reported (Patent Document 6).

(wherein R1 is CH3 or CH2OH, R2 and R3 are each lower alkyl, R4 is H or halogen, R5 is H, halogen, or lower alkyl, and X is NH or O. For details, refer to the document).
This document does not disclose or suggest sGC activators, and aminocarbonyl is not included in R1 of the compound of the formula (g).
Moreover, compounds of formula (h) have been reported as cardiac ion channel modulators and as antiarrhythmic agents (Patent Document 7).

(wherein R2, R15, R16, and R18 are each Br, Cl, F, carboxy, H, —OH, hydroxymethyl, or the like, and R1 is H, C1-6 alkyl, aryl, benzyl, or the like. For details, refer to the document).
This document does not disclose or suggest sGC activators, and aminocarbonyl is not included in R16 of the compound of the formula (h).
In addition, compounds of formula (i) useful as a drug for treating bacterial infection, particularly tuberculosis, have been reported (Patent Document 8).

(wherein X, Y, and Z are each CH or the like, n is 0 to 3, m is 0 to 4, R1 is —C(O)N(R4)2 or the like, R2 is C1-10 alkyl or the like, R3 is —OR6 or the like, and R6 is C1-10 alkyl optionally substituted, or the like. For details, refer to the document).
This document specifically discloses a compound, in which X, Y, and Z are each CH, n is 0, R1 is —C(O)N(R4)2, R2 is C1-10 alkyl, m is 1, R3 is —OR6, and R6 is H, methyl, or difluoromethyl. However, this document does not disclose or suggest sGC activators.
In addition, compounds of formula (j) with sGC activity and useful for cardiovascular diseases, in particular intermittent claudication and critical limb ischemia accompanied with peripheral arterial diseases as well as hypertension, and the like, have been reported (Patent Document 9).

(wherein A1 is cycloalkyl which may be substituted, aryl which may be substituted or the like, R1 is H or the like, R2 is R0 or the like, R0 is lower alkyl, R3 is H or the like, R4 is —Y-A2 or the like, Y is C1-10 alkylene which may be substituted or the like, and A2 is heteroaryl which may be substituted. For details, refer to the document).

Abstract: [Problem]

Abstract: A pharmaceutical composition for treating or preventing various cardiovascular diseases, which have sGC activities based on improvement of cGMP signals, is provided.

Abstract: [Means for Solution]

Abstract: It was found that imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine compounds having a carbamoyl group at the 3-position and a particular cyclic group at the 8-position via a methyleneoxy group, or a salt thereof have sGC activation, and are useful as active ingredients of pharmaceutical compositions for treating or preventing various sGC-related cardiovascular diseases, in particular, peripheral arterial diseases, intermittent claudication, critical limb ischemia, hypertension, and pulmonary hypertension, thereby completing the present invention.


An air assist device comprising a slit shaped air intake formed in the inner wall of an intake duct around a throttle valve. The assist air is taken in from the air intake ports. A downstream side edge portion of the opening of the slip shaped air intake port is formed into an arc shape which extends along a downstream side edge portion of the outer peripheral end face of the throttle valve when the throttle valve is positioned at an idling position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air assist device of an engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
To atomize the fuel injected from a fuel injector, use has conventionally been made of an air assist device which arranges the fuel injector in the intake passage downstream of the throttle valve, branches off an assist air passage from the intake passage upstream of the throttle valve, and blows the assist air ejected from an assist air ejection port of the assist air passage against the fuel injected from the fuel injector. As such an air assist device, there is known an air assist device wherein a narrow rectangularly shaped air intake port is formed in the circumferential direction in the inner wall of the engine intake passage so as to take in the assist air to be supplied to the fuel injected from the fuel injector and the area of the opening of a rectangular opening portion of the air intake port is controlled by the outer peripheral end face of the throttle valve (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 6-213107).
In this air assist device, however, there is the problem that it is not possible to obtain the optimal amount of assist air for the operating state of the engine. That is, referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B showing the positional relationship between the throttle valve Y when at the idling position and the rectangularly shaped air intake port Z formed in the inner wall of the intake passage X, since a certain amount of assist air is required for idling operation, the part Za of the air intake port Z has to be made to open at the upstream side of the throttle valve Y. FIG. 10A shows the optimal area Za of the opening at this time.
On the other hand, a large amount of assist air becomes necessary as the throttle valve Y opens, the area Za of the opening of the air intake port opening at the upstream side of the throttle valve Y is made to gradually increase as the throttle valve Y opens. Next, when the throttle valve Y further opens, the entire air intake port Z is made to open to the upstream side of the throttle valve Y. At this time, however, it is not possible to secure a sufficient amount of assist air with the area of the opening of the air intake port Z shown in FIG. 10A.
If, therefore, the length of the air intake port Z in the circumferential direction is increase as shown in FIG. 10B so that a sufficient amount of assist air is obtained when all of the air intake port Z opens to the upstream side of the throttle valve Y, the bottom edge portions Zb of the two ends of the air intake port Z will open to the downstream side of the throttle valve Y. If the air intake port Z opens to the downstream side of the throttle valve Y, the air flowing to the air intake port Z due to the large negative pressure caused at the downstream side of the throttle valve Y will be drawn to the downstream side of the throttle valve Y, so almost no assist air will flow. Therefore, the air intake port Z cannot be made to open to the downstream side of the throttle valve Y.
If, accordingly, the position of the air intake port Z shown in FIG. 10B is shifted to the upstream side so that the air intake port Z does not open to the downstream side of the throttle valve Y, the area Za of the opening of the air intake port opening to the upstream side of the throttle valve Y during idling operation will end up becoming extremely large compared with the optimal value shown in FIG. 10A.
In this way, if the opening portion of the air intake port Z is formed in a rectangular shape, it will not be possible to secure the optimal amount of assist air for the engine operating state no matter how the dimensions, shape, or position of the air intake port Z are changed.


A digital modality modeling system includes a computer with a digital memory adapted for storing patient densitometry information, an input and an output. An input subsystem includes a pair of source/receptor units mounted on a signal positioning subsystem, which is adapted for moving the source/receptor units through predetermined paths of movement, which can be circular or linear. The resulting tomographic data is synthesized to form any 3-D model or image, which is output for further analysis. A digital tomosynthesis method includes the steps of moving a pair of sensor/receptor units relative to a patient. The resulting signals output by the receptor are digitized and synthesized to form a 3-D image or model. Multiple depths of penetration and multiple widths can be captured from single acquisitions using digital tomosynthesis signal processing techniques.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital modality modeling, such as tomosynthesis, and in particular to dental and orthopedic diagnosis, forensics, identification, biometrics and treatment applications of a densitometry modeling system and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The field of dental diagnostics is generally concerned with locating pathologies in the dental structure, i.e. the teeth and the surrounding tissue and bone. Some of the more common pathologies are: 1) caries associated with decay; 2) fractures; 3) apical abscesses, and 4) morphologies of pulpal chambers and canals. The system and method of the present invention are primarily, but not exclusively, concerned with detecting these pathologies and with orthopedics.
Early detection of dental pathologies is very important in minimizing damage. Conventional diagnosis procedures are generally performed using dental X-rays (both fixed beam and scanning beam), explorers, and other conventional equipment.
Incipient caries, particularly those located within the enamel surface, often go undetected with conventional equipment. When such caries are finally found, considerable damage to tooth structure may have already occurred. Subsurface, incipient caries are located entirely within the enamel layer of the teeth. They are particularly difficult to locate using conventional diagnostic equipment and procedures. By the time such incipient caries are located, the extent of the damage is often 17% to 23% greater than it would appear to be on a conventional X-ray negative.
Dental fractures can result from bruxism (teeth grinding), trauma, etc. The dental structure that has been weakened by various causes, such as decalcification, is particularly susceptible to fractures. Fractures can assume various configurations, including "craze", vertical, oblique and horizontal line patterns. Fracture patterns and configurations can be particularly difficult to locate using conventional X-ray equipment and procedures. For example, fractures which are generally parallel to the X-ray beam are often undetectable on an X-ray negative. Undetected, and hence untreated, fractures can provide direct paths through the enamel layer of the teeth whereby bacteria can invade the dentin and pulp layers. Pathologies in the dentin and pulp layers are often associated with considerable pain and tooth loss.
Apical abscesses comprise yet another dental condition which can be difficult to diagnose with conventional equipment, particularly in the early stages. Advanced apical abscesses can cause considerable pain because they involve the neurovascular bundles located in the root canals as well as the osseous tissue around the apex of the root. Early detection of apical abscesses can lead to appropriate, early-stage treatment, thus avoiding advanced disease processes with resultant pain, swelling, and other serious health consequences and complications.
Tomography or sectional radiography techniques using scanning X-ray beams have previously been employed for dental applications. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,188,537; 4,259,583; 4,823,369; 4,856,038; and 5,214,686 all relate to dental X-ray diagnosis utilizing scanning techniques and are incorporated herein by reference.
In the medical field, densitometry procedures are used for measuring bone morphology density (BMD) by utilizing scanning X-ray beam techniques. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,533,080; 5,838,765; and U.S. Pat. No. Re. 36,162, which are incorporated herein by reference. Medical applications of densitometry include the diagnosis and treatment of such bone diseases as osteoporosis. Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) utilizes x-rays with different peak energy levels for distinguishing soft and hard (e.g., muscle and skeletal) tissue structures based on their absorption of the x-rays at different energy levels.
The availability of relatively fast computers with large memories at reasonable costs has led to the digitalization of X-ray images for mapping BMD models in various formats. For example, BMD images use color to identify varying densities. Digital BMD patient models are also used for comparison purposes with standard models and with patients' own prior BMD histories. Age correction factors can be applied to patients' models for diagnosing and monitoring the onset and progress of such medical conditions as osteoporosis and the like. The present invention utilizes such densitometry modeling and mapping techniques for dental applications.
In addition to pathology detection and diagnosis, the present invention has applications in monitoring osseointegration, which occurs at the interface between bone structures and prostheses, such as implants and replacement joints. For example, dental implants osseointegrate with patients' dental structure. The application of tomographical densitometry techniques to osseointegration monitoring can provide the dental or medical practitioner with important information in evaluating the effectiveness of implant procedures.
Digital tomosynthesis utilizes computers for digitizing tomographic densitometry data and constricting 3-D models of patient and prosthetic regions of interest (ROIs). Using digital tomosynthesis techniques, partial rotation of source/receptor units and relatively few discrete exposures can produce sufficient information to construct 3-D models. By digitally processing the resulting images, tomographic slices at different depths and with different thicknesses can be reconstructed from individual data acquisitions, thus minimizing radiation exposure and procedure time. Digital tomosynthesis techniques have been utilized in mammography applications. The resulting 3-D digital tomosynthesis models are utilized for diagnostic, treatment, forensic and related purposes.
Other modeling and imaging modalities include computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, sonar, Doppler effect, photon emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanning. The present invention is adapted for medical and dental applications involving the acquisition of signals, which are digitized and further processed to produce 3-D models corresponding to patient regions of interest (ROIs) including both hard and soft tissue structures and prosthetics.
Heretofore there has not been available a system or method for applying digital tomosynthesis and related modalities to dental and medical applications such as the detection of caries and decalcification and the monitoring of osseointegration in connection with dental and medical prostheses, with the advantages and features of the present invention.

Digital modality modeling for medical and dental applications


A method for bonding two substrates that includes applying an autodepositable adhesive to one of the substrates and then bonding the substrates together. This method is especially useful for bonding elastomers to metals. According to a first embodiment, the autodepositable adhesive is a one coat adhesive having a low pH (approximately 1-3) and including (A) a flexibilizer or film-former, (B) optionally, an aqueous dispersion of a phenolic resin that includes water and a reaction product of a phenolic resin precursor, a modifying agent and, optionally, a multi-hydroxy phenolic compound wherein the modifying agent includes at least one functional moiety that enables the modifying agent to react with the phenolic resin precursor and at least one ionic moiety, and (C) an acid. According to a second embodiment, the autodepositable adhesive is a covercoat adhesive that includes a flexibilizer or film-former that is a latex that coagulates when exposed to metallic ions generated from the metallic substrate upon which the covercoat is applied. The covercoat preferably also includes a crosslinker as described above in connection with the one coat embodiment.

The present invention relates to an autodepositable adhesive, particularly an adhesive for bonding an elastomeric material to a metallic material.
It is generally known that the corrosion resistance of metal substrates can be improved by coating the substrate with an autodeposition composition that generally comprise an aqueous solution of an acid, an oxidizing agent and a dispersed resin. Immersion of a metallic surface in an autodeposition composition produces what is said to be a self-limiting protective coating on a metal substrate. The general principles and advantages of autodeposition are explained in a multitude of patents assigned to Parker Amchem and/or Henkel (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,414,350; 4,994,521; 5,427,863; 5,061,523 and 5,500,460). However, to the best of the inventors' knowledge these autodeposition compositions have not been successfully used as one coat adhesives or covercoat adhesives.
Elastomer-to-metal bonding is subjected to severe environmental conditions in many industrial and automotive assemblies. For example, many engine mounting assemblies that employ elastomer-to-metal bonding contain fluids in order to assist in damping of vibration of the engine. These fluid-filled engine mounting devices are being increasingly exposed to high temperatures such that the elastomer-to-metal adhesive bonds within the mounts are being exposed to very high temperature fluid environments. Many elastomer-to-metal assemblies, particularly those utilized in automobile applications, are routinely exposed to materials that contain corrosive salts or other corrosive materials that may act to degrade the elastomer-to-metal adhesive bond.
In light of the increasing regulations regarding volatile organic compounds (VOC), the use of traditional solvent-borne adhesives is becoming more problematic. Consequently, there is significant ongoing work to develop water-borne replacements. Current aqueous adhesives suffer from user drawbacks. Application of an adhesive by dipping the adherend in a bath of the adhesive is frequently preferred by the user due to its simplicity. However, dipping of aqueous adhesives leads to problems with controlling the film thickness and dripping.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A tissue closure apparatus having a collar, a pair of elastically deformable legs, and a flexible adjustment member is provided. The collar includes a collar wall defining a passage therethrough, along which are disposed a plurality of teeth extending outward into the passage. A pair of elastically deformable legs is connected to the collar, and each leg includes a lateral portion adjacent the collar and an engagement portion connected to the lateral portion. A flexible adjustment member is connected to the engagement portion of at least one of the elastically deformable legs. The flexible adjustment member is disposed within the passage of the collar and includes a plurality of teeth to engage the plurality of teeth of the collar.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wound closure devices and in particular to a self-opening skin staple used to close wounds on a patient.
2. Description of Related Art
Existing skin staples, when engaged to the skin of a patient, are proximate the upper surface of the patient's skin and require a special extraction tool to extract the staple. Extraction of these staples requires that the tool be placed under the staple so that the legs of the staple can be forced open. This operation frequently causes significant pain to patients who are often already experiencing pain due to a recovering wound proximate the staple. A need therefore exists for an apparatus that has the wound closure abilities of a traditional skin staple, yet reduces the pain caused to a patient upon removal of the device.


A method and apparatus for compensating for post-decision feedback equalization noise during decision feedback equalization. The method includes the steps of performing decision feedback equalization on a noisy signal, while isolating noise components of the noisy signal and filtering the isolated noise components to generate post-decision feedback equalization noise having desired spectrum and power. Preferably, the noisy signal is pre-filtered in a feedforward filter and the isolated noise components are filtered to compensate for noise enhancement that has resulted from filtration in the feedforward filter. The apparatus of the invention is a decision feedback equalizer including a quantizer and a noise filter circuitry for controlling the spectrum and power of the noise component of the signal received by the quantizer. The noise filter preferably has a transfer function B(z)/C(z), and the z-domain coefficients e'(z) of the noise received by the quantizer are e'(z)=[B(z)/C(z) ]e(z), where e(z) are the z-domain coefficients of the noise input to the noise filter circuitry. The noise filter circuitry preferably includes two filters whose transfer functions are B(z) and C(z), respectively, and the coefficients of B(z) and C(z) are selected to control the spectrum and power of the noise which interferes with the signal received by the quantizer. One class of embodiments employs a dummy quantizer to isolate the input noise received by a first filter of the noise filter circuitry.

Throughout this specification including the claims, the terms "post-decision feedback equalization noise" and "post-DFE noise" denote noise components of signals undergoing decision feedback equalization (before or after the decision feedback equalization operation has converged).
Also throughout this specification including in the claims, the terms "symbol" and "data symbol" are used to denote any characteristic of a signal. Examples of data symbols include amplitude of a digital voltage signal (whose amplitude can have any of a set of discrete values), phase of an electrical current signal, or an amplitude of a Fourier component of an electrical voltage pulse.
An inherent problem with transmission of data over a communication channel is that distortion and additive noise tend to interfere with proper reception of the transmitted data. Distortion during transmission of data pulses alters the received data symbols (e.g., the received pulse shape of each data pulse). This causes each symbol to interfere with several adjacent symbols, which inhibits the receiver from performing symbol detection and timing recovery. Additive noise further degrades the ability of the receiver to distinguish between received symbol levels.
Conventional receiver filtering techniques can counter distortion and additive noise effects to provide good symbol decision capability. For example, one type of conventional receiver (shown in FIG. 1) includes a linear feedforward filter followed by a nonlinear decision feedback equalizer (DFE). Conventional DFE circuits are nonlinear, due to quantizer circuitry therein which performs symbol decisions in the DFE feedback loop.
In the conventional circuit of FIG. 1, input signal s(n) has a z-domain representation s(z) (the parameter "n" can represent time, and "z" can represent frequency). Input signal coefficients s(z) propagate through the transmission channel identified as filter 2, which has z-domain transfer function H(z). Filter 2 typically has unknown characteristics. After propagating through the transmission channel (i.e., after being filtered by filter 2), the input signal is filtered by receive filter 4, which has z-domain transfer function R(z). As indicated in FIG. 1, the combined transfer function of filter 2 and receive filter 4 is A(z), and coefficients "t(z)" are the z-domain response of the combination of filters 2 and 4 to input coefficients s(z).
Additive noise (identified as "u(z)" in FIG. 1) typically becomes associated with the input signal during propagation through the transmission channel. To reflect this phenomenon, FIG. 1 indicates the presence of noise u(z) at the input of receive filter 4, and identifies the response of filter 4 to additive noise u(z) as filtered noise "w(z)." The combined response of filter 4 to noise u(z) and to filter 2's response to signal s(z) is identified as "x(z)" in FIG. 1. Combined response x(z) undergoes further processing (decision feedback equalization) in DFE components 8, 10, 12, and 14 of the FIG. 1 apparatus. Although FIG. 1 represents generation of combined response x(z) by summation of filtered noise w(z) with response t(z), it should be appreciated that an actual physical implementation of the FIG. 1 apparatus would include a single filter 4 whose single output x(z) has components w(z) and t(z), and that an actual physical implementation of the FIG. 1 apparatus would not include an actual summation circuit for summing together two distinct signals (corresponding to w(z) and t(z)) to generate response x(z).
As indicated in FIG. 1, the decision feedback equalization of response x(z) includes the steps of processing response x(z) in subtraction circuit 8, followed by processing of the output of circuit 8 in quantization circuit 10 and subtraction circuit 14, and generation of feedback coefficients x'(z) in filter 12 for subtraction from response coefficients x(z) in subtraction circuit 8.
To make the following description more definite, input signal s(n) is assumed to be a pulse whose amplitude can have only certain discrete values, i.e., the amplitude of s(n) is a member of a set of L discrete values Q={q.sub.1, q.sub.2, . . . , q.sub.L } for each value of "n." In response to such an input signal, the output signal x(n), having z-domain coefficients x(z), has the following form: ##EQU1## where the first summation represents signal t(n) (whose z-domain representation is t(z)), the second summation represents noise w(n) (whose z-domain representation is w(z)), M is the number of z-domain coefficients of transfer function H(z) of filter 2, and P is the number of z-domain coefficients of transfer function R(z) of receive filter 4. The first coefficient a.sub.0 s(n) of the first summation is indicative of input signal s(n). The other coefficients of the first summation represent intersymbol interference. Coefficients r.sub.k of receive filter 4 can be determined adaptively, or by some fixed criteria that determine one or more pulse shape characteristics.
The function of DFE loop components 8, 10, 12, and 14 of FIG. 1 is to cancel the inter-symbol interference and perform symbol detection (to generate a replica s'(n) of input signal s(n)). Practical embodiments of this DFE circuitry will equalize the lowest N z-domain coefficients of signal x(n), where N<M+P, while approximating the first N of above-mentioned coefficients a.sub.j. In such embodiments, the DFE circuitry can equalize part but not all of the response t(z) to combined filters 2 and 4. After the DFE circuitry has converged to a final version of replica signal s'(n), such final version of signal s'(n) will satisfy the following relationship: s'(n)-a.sub.0 s(n)=e(n)=w(n). In other words, the final version of signal s'(n) will differ from a scaled version of input signal s(n) by error signal e(n), where e(n) has z-domain coefficients e(z) which satisfy e(z)=w(z), where w(z) are the z-domain coefficients of filter 4's response to additive noise u(n). Before the DFE circuitry reaches convergence, quantizer 10 outputs (during each feedback iteration) replica coefficients s'(z), which in turn cause circuit 14 to generate error components e(z) of an error signal e(n) which satisfies e(n)=v(n)+(n) where v(n) represents residual inter-symbol interference and w(n) is a filtered additive error signal having z-domain coefficients w(z).
We next describe the operation of conventional DFE circuitry 8, 10, 12, and 14 in greater detail, with reference to FIG. 1.
In subtraction circuit 8, feedback coefficients x'(z) (replicas of coefficients x(z) generated by filter 12 in a manner to be described below) are subtracted from signal x(z) to generate difference coefficients y(z)=x(z)-x'(z). Quantization circuit 10 processes difference coefficients y(z) to generate replica coefficients s'(z) which define a replica signal s'(n) whose value is the member of the set {q.sub.k ; k=1, 2, . . . , L} which best approximates input signal s(n).
Replica coefficients s'(z) are subtracted from coefficients y(z) in subtraction circuit 14 (after coefficients y(z) are multiplied by coefficient a.sub.0 by means within circuit 14), to generate above-mentioned error coefficients e(z). In an embodiment in which filter 12 is an adaptive filter, replica coefficients s'(z) and error coefficients e(z) are fed back to filter 12. In response, filter 12 applies adaptively generated transfer function A'(z) to coefficients x(z), to generate a set of replica coefficients x'(z) during each iteration of the DFE operation. Error coefficients e(z) can thus be used to implement adaptive convergence and continuous coefficient updating within filter 12.
In other embodiments in which filter 12 has a predetermined transfer function A'(z) which matches the transfer function A(z), only coefficients s'(z) are fed back to filter 12, and in response to coefficients s'(z) only, filter 12 generate a set of replica coefficients x'(z) during each iteration of the DFE operation.
The present invention pertains to methods and apparatus for controlling (compensating for) the error coefficients w(z) which remain after the conventional apparatus of FIG. 1 has converged (as mentioned above, e(z)=w(z) at convergence).
Both before and after convergence, the power spectrum and power of a residual error signal generated during DFE processing depends not only on the unequalized channel coefficients v(z) convolved with the symbol alphabet {q.sub.k }, but also on receive-filtered noise coefficients w(z) (which are receive filter 4's response to additive noise u(z)). The inventor has recognized the desirability of controlling the coefficients w(z), primarily due to the following reasons.
A receive filter (such as receive filter 4 of FIG. 1) that is employed to process input data in a decision feedback equalizer will sometimes be referred to herein as a "feedforward" filter. A feedforward filter is typically designed to perform pulse shaping functions such as decreasing the rise time of each input pulse which it receives (for timing recovery purposes), or suppressing the tail of each input pulse which it receives to enable minimization of the number (N) of coefficients of a filter in a DFE feedback loop (e.g., filter 12 of FIG. 1). However, it is usually not possible for a practical feedforward filter to achieve such pulse shaping objectives while also achieving desired noise filtering objectives. For example, a high pass feedforward filter which sharpens the leading edge of a received pulse will also undesirably increase the power of the associated noise (assuming the noise is white noise or high frequency noise).
The present invention permits a feedforward filter (used with a decision feedback equalizer) to be implemented with a simple design for achieving desired pulse shape and length, while also controlling the residual noise present during decision feedback equalization. The invention accomplishes this by filtering the noise components of signals undergoing decision feedback equalization, for example to compensate for noise enhancement that has undesirably resulted from pulse shaping by the feedforward filter.

Method and apparatus for filtering post decision feedback equalization noise


This invention provides topical localized formulations comprising an isoxazoline compound and a pharmaceutically or veterinary acceptable liquid carrier vehicle comprising N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide as a solvent and an improved method for controlling, and preventing parasite infestation in animals.

A number of pests and parasites can infest or infect domestic animals such as cattle, horses, pigs, sheep and also companion animals such as cats and dogs. These pests and parasites are of great nuisance to both the animals and their owners.
Ectoparasites such as ticks, mites, lice, flies and fleas irritate the animals and can cause disease, either by themselves, or by carrying vector transmitted pathogens.
New economic methods and compositions for the prevention, treatment and control of parasites in warm-blooded animals are constantly being sought.
A new family of insecticide isoxazoline compounds has been described in various patent applications; for example, in US patent application US 2007/0066617, and International Patent applications WO 2007/079162, WO 2009/002809, WO 2009/024541, WO 2009/003075, WO 2010/070068, WO 2010/079077, WO 2011/075591 and WO 2011/124998.
As these isoxazoline compounds have been originally investigated for their use in the agricultural area it is necessary to identify specific formulations that allow their veterinary use, i.e. safe administration to control parasites in animals effectively.
One known and convenient way of administering an ectoparasiticide compound to an animal is the topical localized administration, e.g. as spot-on or pour-on.
However, prior art formulations and conventional topical localized ectoparasiticide formulations that use suggested solvents for isoxazoline compounds have difficulties applying effective amounts of isoxazoline compounds with acceptable cosmetic appearance. Particularly, high volumes of conventional topical localized formulations can result in product run-off and sodden appearances of the fur after administration and high concentration formulations can result in insolubility (crystallization) of the active ingredient, skin irritation as well as undesirable product characteristics, such as poor viscosity, insufficient spreading, poor evaporation and inadequate permeation.
Thus, what is needed in the art, are topical localized formulations of isoxazoline compounds, which avoid the drawbacks mentioned above.

Topical localized isoxazoline formulation


A base plate has a mounting surface on which a semiconductor element is mounted and a heat-radiation surface for radiating heat to a cooler. The cover has a portion that seals the semiconductor element on the mounting surface of the base plate. The cover has a projecting portion arranged outside the heat-radiation surface and projecting from a level of the heat-radiation surface in a thickness direction. The intermediate layer is arranged on the heat-radiation surface of the base plate, projects from the level of the projecting portion of the cover in a thickness direction, and is made of a thermoplastic material in a solid-phase state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same and, in particular, to a semiconductor device having a heat-radiation surface for radiating heat to a cooler and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Since a power module easily generates a large amount of heat, the power module is mounted on a cooler such as a cooling fin or a heat sink. Since efficient heat radiation cannot be achieved due to the presence of a gap between the power module and the cooler, in general, heat-conductive grease is applied between a metal base plate which the power module has and the cooler. In terms of an applying operation, grease having relatively high fluidity is generally used. As a material of the heat conductive grease, a material having relatively high heat conductivity can be selected. However, since the heat conductivity is lower than those of the materials of the base plate and the cooling fin, the grease is desired to properly bury the gap between the base plate and the cooling fin without an excessive amount. For this purpose, a technique for controlling a thickness distribution of the grease has been examined.
For example, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-58727, a technique for suppressing the thickness of grease to a low level at the center of the module has been examined. In this technique, projections are arranged on a peripheral side of mounting holes of a metal base. With this configuration, a moment is generated on the module by using a fastening force of a mounting screw, and the center of the metal base is brought close to the heat sink. As a result, the thickness of grease at the center is reduced.
According to the technique described in the publication, when a metal base (base plate) is mounted on a heat sink (cooler), the posture of the base plate with reference to the cooler is regulated by projections arranged on the peripheral side of the base plate. For this reason, the posture of a central portion possessing a large part of the base plate is only indirectly controlled through a moment of a module, and is not directly regulated. As a result, deviated stress easily occurs when the base plate is attached to the cooler. Due to the deviated stress described above, a thickness distribution of grease may be disturbed. Even though the thickness distribution of grease is proper immediately after the attaching operation, through a thermal cycle occurring with an operation of the power module, the thickness distribution of grease may be easily disturbed due to deviated stress. As described above, in the conventional technique, thermal and mechanical contacts between the base plate and the cooler may be easily insufficient.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A level adjustment system. The level adjustment system includes an adjustable pin chuck, an evacuation device, a level detection device and a length control device. The adjustable pin chuck includes a base and a variable pin to support a substrate. The base includes a recess and an evacuation channel connected thereto. The variable pin is disposed in the recess. The evacuation device is connected to the evacuation channel to evacuate the recess, such that the substrate is attached to the base and variable pin. The level detection device is disposed on the adjustable pin chuck to detect the horizontality of a target surface of the substrate. The length control device is electrically connected to the level detection device and variable pin. The length control device changes the length of the variable pin to adjust level of the target surface of the substrate according to the detected horizontality.

The present invention relates to level adjustment systems, and in particular to level adjustment systems that level substrates.
In semiconductor manufacturing, a wafer is usually supported by a pin chuck to enable, for example, exposure of photolithography.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional pin chuck 1 comprises a base 11, an evacuation channel 12, a plurality of hollow pins 13 and two interferometer mirrors 14. The hollow pins 13 are uniformly formed on the base 11. The evacuation channel 12 is formed in the base 11 and is connected to the hollow interior of each hollow pin 13. The interferometer mirrors 14 are respectively disposed on two sides of the base 11 to position a wafer W.
As shown in FIG. 1, when the wafer W is placed on the base 11 and hollow pins 13, a vacuum pump 15 evacuates the evacuation channel 12. The bottom surface of the wafer W is thus securely attached to the base 11 and hollow pins 13. Exposure can then be performed on the top surface of the wafer W.
Referring to FIG. 2, another conventional pin chuck 2 comprises a base 21, an evacuation channel 22, a plurality of solid pins 23 and two interferometer mirrors 24. The solid pins 23 are uniformly formed on the base 21. The evacuation channel 22 is formed in the base 21 and under the solid pins 23. The interferometer mirrors 24 are respectively disposed on two sides of the base 21 to position a wafer W.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the wafer W is placed on the base 21 and solid pins 23, a vacuum pump 25 evacuates the evacuation channel 22. The bottom surface of the wafer W is thus securely attached to the base 21 and solid pins 23. Exposure can also be performed on the top surface of the wafer W.
The pin chucks 1 and 2, however, encounter a problem during processing of the wafer W. Although the wafer W can be securely attached to the pin chucks 1 and 2, the surface of the wafer W is usually uneven, whereby exposure is adversely affected or cannot be applied thereto.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a step-and-repeat or step-and-scan projection printing device 3 is above the pin chuck 1 and comprises a light source and illuminator 31, a mask 32 and an imaging lens 33. When the step-and-repeat or step-and-scan projection printing device 3 performs exposure on a photoresist layer 4 disposed on the top surface of the wafer W, the pin chuck 1 (or the pin chuck 1 and step-and-repeat or step-and-scan projection printing device 3) moves transversely. A distance D between the imaging lens 33 of the step-and-repeat or step-and-scan projection printing device 3 and the photoresist layer 4 on the wafer W, however, is usually short, such as between 1 and 10 mm. The change of D due to an uneven chucked wafer surface may cause the photoresist layer to be out of focus of the imaging lens 33.

Level adjustment systems and adjustable pin chuck thereof

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A product and method for use with a turbocharger system may include a housing with a shaft rotatably supported by the housing. The shaft may extend in an axial direction. A bearing assembly may support the shaft in the housing. A wheel may be connected to the shaft and may rotate relative to the housing. A clearance opening may be defined in the axial direction between the wheel and the housing. A thrust washer may be engaged with the bearing assembly. The thrust washer may have an outer circumference and may be movable relative to the housing. An efficiency washer may be disposed around the outer circumference of the thrust washer and may determine the clearance opening by defining a space within which the thrust washer moves relative to the housing in the axial direction.

A turbocharger for use with an internal combustion engine may typically include a compressor that may be driven by a turbine or other rotation imparting device. The turbine may have a wheel connected to a compressor wheel by a common shaft that is supported for rotation by bearings. The bearing may be disposed in a housing that is situated between the turbine and the compressor. The shaft, the turbine wheel and the compressor wheel may rotate at speeds that approach hundreds of thousands of revolutions per minute. In addition, the turbine may be exposed to high temperature exhaust gases and the resulting heat may be transferred to other system components. Under these harsh, and increasingly demanding operating conditions, the lifespan of a turbocharger is expected to match that of the engine with which it operates. To accomplish that challenge, the design of a turbocharger and its components must be robust to survive as expected, while still being cost effective and competitive.

Method for reducing aero clearances with a ball bearing turbocharger


A handguard for a handle bar may include a body extending from a first contact point to a second contact point, a flexible member provided on the body, and a shock-absorbing member provided on the body. The flexible member and shock-absorbing member may be located at opposite ends of the body. The shock-absorbing member may include polyurethane. The shock-absorbing member may include a spring. The flexible member may be provided at the first contact point of the body and may include a rubber collar. The flexible member may be formed integral with the body and may include metal. The flexible member may be formed integral with the body and may include plastic. The flexible member may be integral to the handguard. The shock-absorbing member may be provided within the body at the second contact point of the body.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to handguards. More specifically, the present invention relates a handguards for use on off-road vehicles.
Description of Related Art
Several handguard devices are known in the prior art. Handguards are designed to protect riders of off-road or all-terrain vehicles, such as moto-cross bikes, all-terrain vehicles (ATV), trail bicycles, dirt bikes, etc.
These handguards protect the user's hands from debris, such as tree branches, brushes, rocks, or any other natural formations or foliage which can exist on an off-road path. The handguards of the prior art either provide no shock-absorption or provide ineffective shock absorption. For minor twigs and branches, the handguards without shock absorption may be suitable, but if something large is encountered, the impact between the handguard and the object is directly transferred to the rider's hands, causing potential injury to the rider. In other words, if a handguard collides with a rock at 15 miles per hour, the rider's hands will likewise impact the handle bar at 15 miles per hour. While the handguard may protect the rider's hands from the rock surface, the impact between the rock and the handguard may cause an injury to the rider's hands or arms.
The handguards of the prior art can also create dangerous conditions for other riders as well. An impact between the handguard and debris could jolt the handguard, forcing the handle bar to move out of position. In such an event, the vehicle will be forced into a new direction, which could cause a crash.
The handguards in the prior art with moveable parts are to protect the rider's hands in the case of a forward impact, meaning that the rider lets go of the handle bar and their hands extend towards the handguard. This protects the rider if his or her hands come off the handle bar, but does not provide shock absorption in the opposite direction. Therefore, a need exists for a handguard which protects the rider's hands from the debris itself, as well as lessening the impact on the handle bar caused by the debris.

Shock-absorbing handguards for handle bars


A method is disclosed for establishing a secure communication session using composite key cryptography. The method comprises generating a first plurality of secret keys all of which are known only to a first communicating party and each one of which is shared with exactly one of a plurality of stewards, and generating a second plurality of secret keys all of which are known only to a second communicating party and each one of which is shared with exactly one of the plurality of stewards. The first and second communicating parties each send information to the other through different stewards, each communication leg being encrypted using a secret key known only to the respective communicating party and steward. These communications are usable to distribute cryptographic seeds to the communicating parties for use in generating a temporary session key that can be used to encrypt direct communications between the parties.

Publicly available symmetric encryption algorithms (e.g., Triple DES, RC4, AES, etc.) are widely accepted as providing secure communications between any two parties who share a secret symmetric encryption key, hereinafter referred to as a "SecretKey." This SecretKey, known only to the two parties, may be used to create encryption sessions which allow the two parties to communicate securely across a public network with the assurance that no unauthorized third party will easily be able to eaves-drop on the plaintext protected by the encrypted communications. The stronger the encryption algorithm, the more difficult the challenge becomes to correctly decrypt into plaintext any ciphertext being exchanged by the two parties. An advantage of symmetric encryption is that each party is assured of the cryptographic identity of the other party by the successful decryption of received ciphertext into meaningful plaintext, provided that both parties and the protocols employed adequately protect the SecretKey from disclosure.
However, it is widely accepted that using only symmetric cryptography to provide secure communications between any two parties within a large community of registered members is impractical. This belief is based upon the well-documented mathematics used to calculate the number of different SecretKeys that must be generated, distributed and managed to support the entire community. In accepted practice, each member of a registered community must share a different SecretKey with every other member, the total number of SecretKeys being determined by the formula: (N×(N−1))/2, where N is the number of members in the community. Thus, for a community of 1,000 members, exactly 499,500 different SecretKeys would be required for each member to share a different SecretKey with every other member. Of course, this is the maximum number of required SecretKeys since all members in the community may not wish to communicate securely with all other members. Still, the key generation, management, and distribution logistics for managing and maintaining SecretKeys even for subsets of members within such a relatively small community is daunting, requiring complex security mechanisms to assure each member that no SecretKey has been disclosed to anyone other than the two parties sharing the key. For larger communities having millions of members, the potential number of SecretKeys is staggering. Such logistical problems led to the adoption of protocols (e.g. Transport Layer Security) that employ asymmetric encryption algorithms to secure internet communications.
In general, asymmetric encryption algorithms employ public-key/private-key pairs. Messages encrypted using the public-key may only be easily decrypted using the paired private-key. Clients wishing to establish a secure connection with a particular host server are supplied by the host with a public-key with which to encrypt initial connection-request messages. The host server is then able to use the private-key to decrypt such messages that typically contain session-specific information such as a temporary SecretKey, which may then be used to initialize a symmetric encryption algorithm to encrypt subsequent messages. However, assurances to either party as to the certified identity of the other party must be accomplished independently.
For client identification and authentication, secure host servers have adopted the use of usernames and passwords. However, password cracking has been developed into a science by the hacker community, making simple passwords inadequate. In consequence, more and more complex password constructs are now required, resulting in the practice of users having the same password for multiple sites or maintaining password lists near their computers. Both practices create serious security vulnerabilities that may be exploited. Also, a lost or forgotten password has now become a frequently recurring problem that must be dealt with using additional security measures.
For host identification and authentication, a trusted third party (certification authority) is required to assure a client that a published public-key is truly associated with the identity of a specific secure host website. Phishing sites with website displays similar to legitimate sites have been developed and successfully employed to steal username/password combinations from unsuspecting users who have been directed to these sites by redirection clicks within emails or by icons on illicit websites. Few users check to ensure that their web browser is displaying the secure lock icon or to carefully examine the website address displayed by the browser to assure that it is correct, particularly now that most website addresses have become so complex. As a counter-measure, some secure servers have adopted the practice of associating a client-selected icon with the username of each client. This icon is displayed on the password entry screen to reassure the client of the identity of the host. Many such adopted solutions are site-specific. Viewed as a whole, they impose a hodge-podge of security measures that inadequately address the security issue of dual-authentication while irritating and frustrating the user community. None of these measures approach the level of security offered by a secure protocol that uses only symmetric encryption.
Kerberos, a publicly available network authentication protocol developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one such protocol that uses only symmetric encryption. The Kerberos protocol, based upon the Needham-Schroeder symmetric encryption protocol, specifies the content of specific data packets and a sequence of data packet exchanges by the participating parties to establish a secure session using only symmetric encryption. The Kerberos protocol improves upon Needham-Schroeder by inclusion of a timestamp used to defeat packet replay attacks. The foundation of the Kerberos protocol security is the "Authentication Server," a trusted third party having a database containing a SecretKey for every registered user in the community. In general, using the appropriate SecretKeys within its database, the Authentication Server authenticates each of the two parties wishing to establish a secure session on the network, securely distributing a temporary SecretKey to both parties within encrypted message data packets. These data packets are encrypted using an encryption session initialized with the SecretKey shared by the Authentication Server with each party to encrypt that party's data packet. One practical drawback to this approach is the threat represented by insider access to the SecretKey database of the Authentication Server. Anyone illicitly obtaining the SecretKey of a single user would be able to successfully masquerade as that user. Of course, the compromise of the entire SecretKey database of an Authentication Server would wreak havoc, as demonstrated by the recent security breaches affecting well-known and widely used security systems (e.g., the compromise of SecurID keys of RSA Security in March 2011).

Method and system for establishing secure communications using composite key cryptography


Disclosed is a package for at least two substances which can be dispensed simultaneously. The package comprises a closure system comprising an inclined crown portion, at least two pouring spouts extending upwardly from the upper surface of the crown and a cover for securement to the crown portion, the cover being provided with depending plugs to close the closure. The inclined crown and the positioning of the spouts visually directs the user of the package to dispense the liquid so that premature mixing is avoided.

Dispensing packages, containers and the like have been proposed for dispensing two or more different substances or materials substantially simultaneously. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,539 there is disclosed a multiple chamber, dispensing container and closure in the form of a multi-compartment tube and cap. U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,553 discloses an effervescent composition packaged in a container having two compartments for storage of ingredients of the composition and from which the ingredients are said to be dispensed simultaneously and proportionately. U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,663 discloses an article for storage and delivery of a two-part dental preparation from which controlled quantities of the semi-solid preparation may be dispensed.
Multi-compartment packaging is generally employed when it is necessary to keep the components of a composition separated until used to prevent premature reaction.
A problem with multi-compartment packaging intended for dispensing and storing liquid components is that following use there is a tendency for one or a mixture of the components to drain back into the compartments and spoil the contents. A further problem is that the user of the package is given insufficient visual guidance on how to dispense the components from the package which can lead to unwanted premature mixing of the materials during pouring. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a package with improved pouring and draining capabilities. Further, it would be beneficial if the package could be provided with an easily operated closure system that could be mounted on or otherwise integrated with the container in which the components are stored.

Multiple chamber dispensing package with closure system

Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co., Division of Conopco, Inc.


A digitally controlled, integrated Sawyer motor forcer consists of a rigid mechanical housing containing one or more linear motor segments, integrated control electronics, cooling means, and optional feedback sensors. The integrated control electronics include digital processing circuits, an external host communication interface, power conditioning and supply circuits, forcer phase amplifiers, input/output circuits and optional feedback sensor circuits. The integrated controller also provides control, amplifier, input/output, and sensor circuits for additional external motor axes that may be attached to the forcer as needed for specialized machines. The forcer may be operated in an open-loop mode without feedback sensors, or in a closed-loop servo mode using integrated feedback sensors of various types. Cooling means are included in the forcer to reduce the temperature rise caused by power dissipation in the forcer coils and the integrated electronic elements. The invention greatly improves the safety of both linear and planar Sawyer motor systems by enabling the use of low voltage forcer coils, and by reducing electromagnetic interference. Forcer control performance is increased while system cost and complexity is reduced. The forcer is designed to work with standard Sawyer motor platens.

This invention relates to a class of linear motors and their associated control and drive electronics. Well known in the art are linear motor systems of the type known as Sawyer motors after the original inventor Bruce Sawyer. These systems consist of a flat strip or sheet of magnetic material, such as electrical grade steel, with periodic grooves cut or etched in the surface forming teeth, and an opposed mechanism with toothed electromagnetic elements. The steel strip or sheet is referred to as a platen, while the electromagnetic mechanism is referred to as a forcer. The combination of a forcer, a platen, and some bearing mechanism to provide a small air-gap between the two, constitutes a complete motor.
If the Sawyer motor operates in only one direction, it is a linear motor. The platen in this case is a strip with teeth cut in a direction orthogonal to the direction of motion. The forcer for a linear motor may contain only a single set of electromagnets, although multiple sets may be used to increase force. If the Sawyer motor operates in two directions it is a planar motor. The platen in this case is a sheet with teeth cut in two orthogonal directions forming a grid of intersecting grooves. The forcer for a planar motor must contain at least two sets of electromagnets, one for each axis of motion, although more electromagnets are typically used. In the following discussion the terms "Sawyer motor" or "motor" are used to refer to a complete motor combination, the terms "Sawyer motor forcer", "Sawyer forcer" and "forcer" refer to just the electromagnetic mechanism, while the terms "Sawyer motor platen", "Sawyer platen" and "platen" refer to just the toothed magnetic sheet or strip. Unless specifically noted, these terms apply to linear or planar Sawyer devices interchangeably.
The grooves formed in both the platen surface and the forcer electromagnets, are typically filled with a strong, stable epoxy, and both the platen surface and the toothed forcer surface are ground and lapped to provide an air-bearing quality surface. The forcer is provided with a flexible cable assembly, termed an umbilical, which contains the motor coil leads and a compressed air supply tube. Passages in the forcer mechanism convey the compressed air supplied by the tube to an arraignment of small orifices or air jets, releasing the air into a thin gap which forms between the forcer and the platen in opposition to the strong magnetic attraction between these two members. Planar Sawyer motors almost universally utilize air-bearings. Linear Sawyer motors may utilize air-bearings, ball or roller bearings, or recirculating ball slide units.
Since linear and planar Sawyer motor platens are totally passive, multiple Sawyer motor forcers may be operated on a single platen, provided they are controlled to avoid collisions. An industry standard tooth pitch of 0.040″ has developed, although both smaller and larger dimensions are encountered along with metric pitches. Platens and forcers are available independently from a number of vendors, and provided the tooth pitch is compatible, a forcer from one vendor will function correctly on a platen from any other vendor. While planar Sawyer motors typically incorporate an air-bearing within the forcer, this is not universal, an air-bearing may be incorporated in the platen, or a mechanical framework with air-bearings or rolling contact bearings may be used to mount the forcer in relationship to a platen. The latter approach is commonly used with linear Sawyer motors, the forcers and platens being sold without bearings, which are supplied as part of the specialized machines into which the Sawyer forcer and platen are incorporated. Thus Sawyer motor forcers, both linear and planar, are often sold independently of both platens and bearing supports, the latter objects being custom designed for particular applications, while the forcers are generally available in a small range of stock sizes offering varying force and load ratings. By analogy, rotary motors are available in so-called "open-frame" kits, which include a rotor and stator without bearings, the latter function being provided by the customer's machinery. The rotary analogy of buying only half a motor, either the stator or rotor, from one manufacturer for use with the complementary component purchased separately is lacking. In this respect, the commerce of Sawyer motors is clearly distinct from that of the more familiar rotary motors.
The invention is described in relationship to planar Sawyer motor forcers without regard to the platens. Although planar forcers are shown in all drawings and described in the detailed description and operation, the same principles may be applied to linear Sawyer motor forcers as well.
The arraignment of electromagnetic toothed elements in the planar Sawyer forcer usually consists of four independent but similar units each of which functions as a single axis linear motor referred to as a linear motor segment. Two linear motor segments typically provide motion in a first axis while being offset mechanically in the orthogonal direction, while the other two linear motor segments provide motion in the orthogonal axis while being offset mechanically in the first axis direction. Further, the mechanical placement of linear motor segments within the forcer mechanism is typically chosen to balance rotational torque about the forcer mechanism's center of mass.
The flexible umbilical connects the forcer to a remote controller that contains control processors and power amplifiers. The controller can drive the forcer in any arbitrary vector lying in the plane of the platen. A small rotation, typically +/−3 degrees, about a vector normal to the platen plane is also possible if the linear motor pairs of each axis are differentially controlled. The forcer and remote controller contain all the active elements of the system while the platen is completely passive. This allows multiple forcers to share a single platen provided they are controlled to prevent collisions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,376,578 to Sawyer described various 3-phase variable reluctance planar motors. This patent disclosed the now classic forcer design using air-bearings with four independent linear motor segments arraigned for balanced rotational torque and balanced distribution of normal force. U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,482 to Sawyer subsequently disclosed 2-phase hybrid variable reluctance designs that incorporated permanent magnets. Next Bruce Sawyer disclosed several methods (U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,835 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,428) for controlling such motors with higher precision using continuously variable currents in both open-loop and closed-loop methods. An additional hybrid linear motor segment design was also disclosed wherein one permanent magnet and two coils formed a functional linear motor segment, the most compact design to date. These early patents defined the class of magnetic designs which have become known as Sawyer motors.
Nocito, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,411) disclosed an improved linear motor segment design based on four of the previously disclosed single phase hybrid variable reluctance elements. This design spaced the hybrid variable reluctance elements in an optimal manner to form a linear motor segment capable of higher intrinsic positioning accuracy. This design is known as the 2/4-phase motor design since although four single-phase elements are used in each linear motor segment, the elements typically use coil windings coupled in a particular manner to allow 2-phase drive. Numerous variations of these early magnetic designs have been disclosed with alterations in geometry, materials, phase number, number and arraignment of linear motor segments, and construction methods. The most common systems continue to use four linear motor segments with each segment using a 2-phase or 3-phase hybrid variable reluctance design. Linear Sawyer motors typically use a single linear motor segment of the same basic designs used in planar Sawyer motors.
Most Sawyer motor systems are operated as open-loop stepper motors. In the 1990's a number of position sensor designs for planar Sawyer motors were disclosed in patents and technical publications. Miller at AT&T (U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,071) disclosed a capacitance-based sensor, Hollis, et al. at IBM (U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,504) disclosed an improved magnetic sensor, and Lampson at Yaskawa Electric America (U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,039) disclosed an optical sensor system. All of the above sensors are integrated into the forcer. Closed-loop systems using an external laser interferometer are available, but they are of limited use since they restrict the use of multiple motors on a platen, cannot deal adequately with motor rotation, and are very expensive. A number of additional patents and disclosures have been made for Sawyer motor position sensors, but the designs have not proven technically or economically viable. Linear Sawyer motors have long been operated with external linear position sensors such as are commonly available from a number of suppliers. There are typically optical or magnetic devices and have long been used on machine tools, a much larger commercial market than the linear motor market.
Electronic drive systems coupled to Sawyer forcers are microstepping drives, similar to conventional stepper motor drives. For pure variable reluctance designs, unipolar amplifiers are preferred. Hybrid variable reluctance designs use bipolar amplifiers. In the 1970's and 1980's bipolar linear amplifiers were preferred to obtain the best performance. These had very poor efficiency and were large and bulky. From the mid-1980's H-bridge pulse-width modulated (PWM) amplifiers became preferred for efficiency and cost benefits.
A disadvantage of Sawyer motors is the high total number of amplifiers required for two axes of motion. A minimum of eight H-bridge amplifiers with 16 motor phase leads is required for the standard 2-phase, four-segment forcer. Sawyer forcers are often used with platens having dimensions in the 1 to 2 meter size range, which results in umbilical lengths ranging up to 6 meters. Umbilical mass and orientation impart linear and rotational loads on the moving forcer, which degrades performance. Since the umbilical cannot be effectively shielded, the PWM amplifiers incorporate bulky, expensive and power inefficient output filters to reduce the radiated electromagnetic emissions. The limitations of current control systems and umbilical designs make it difficult to achieve safety certification.
Thus considerable time and expense has been devoted to developing controllers specifically tailored to the peculiar requirements of Sawyer motors while achieving high performance, reliability, safety and economic competitiveness. Only limited success has been achieved to date, consequently Sawyer motors have only a marginal market position.

Sawyer motor forcer with integrated drive electronics


A method of removing fines from a hydrocarbon-containing fluid can include preparing a bed media of particulate earthen material (12). The hydrocarbon-containing fluid having fines therein can be passed through the bed media (12) at a flow rate such that a portion of the fines are retained in the bed media (12) to form a filtered hydrocarbon-containing fluid. The flow rate is sufficient to maintain a wetting film of the hydrocarbon-containing fluid across at least a majority portion of the particulate earthen material which is contacted by the hydrocarbon-containing fluid. The filtered hydrocarbon-containing fluid can be recovered from the bed media (12) via a suitable outlet (16) having substantially reduced or eliminated fines content.

Many hydrocarbon recovery processes leave residual fines in the hydrocarbon product or outlet streams. The fines are most prominent in processes which involve direct production of hydrocarbon fluids from a mined material such as oil shale, coal or tar sands. Other sources of fines can include catalyst material used in hydroprocessing, hydrocracking and/or other upgrading processes. These fines are often detrimental to future use of such hydrocarbon fluids containing these fines. Typical approaches for removing fines from these fluids can include flocculation, settling, filtration and the like. However, effective removal of fines from these fluids remains a challenge. For example, extensive effort is made to remove fines from shale oil and other hydrocarbons refined from crude oils commonly using filtration. In tar sand recovery operations, a large volume of caustic tailings is produced. These tailings include caustic with some bitumen and fines suspended in the waste stream. Currently, these tailings are merely allowed to settle in large settling ponds. Effective settling of the suspended fines can take decades or centuries in some cases to dewater. Although some efforts are being made to improve options for treatment of caustic tailings, no economically effective options appear to be available.
For these and other reasons, the need remains for methods and systems which can enable substantial removal of fines from hydrocarbon-containing fluids in a cost effective manner.

Methods and systems for removing fines from hydrocarbon-containing fluids


A stent loading and delivery system, the delivery system comprising an inner elongate tubular member having a proximal end and a distal end, an intermediate elongate tubular member having a proximal end and a distal end in sliding relationship to said inner elongate tubular member and an external elongate tubular member having a proximal end and a distal end in sliding relationship to said intermediate elongate tubular member, said intermediate elongate tubular member comprising a stop mechanism at its proximal end, wherein the stop mechanism prevents the external elongate tubular member from being slid past the stop mechanism when the external elongate tubular member is slid in a proximal direction.

The present invention relates to an assembly for loading and delivering a stent.
An intraluminary prosthesis is a medical device used in the repair and/or treatment of diseases in various body vessels, for example, a stent. Stents are generally cylindrical shaped devices that are radially expandable to hold open a segment of a blood vessel or other anatomical lumen after implantation into the body lumen. For example, stents may be used in the coronary or peripheral vasculature, esophagus, trachea, bronchi colon, biliary tract, urinary tract, prostate, brain, as well as in a variety of other applications in the body. These devices are implanted within the vessel to open and/or reinforce collapsing or partially occluded sections of the lumen.
Stents may be formed of metallic materials as well as polymeric and biodegradable materials, either in total or in part. In many procedures, polymeric or bioabsorbable prostheses are preferred over metallic devices, for example, due to the relative ease of removing a device intended for temporary implantation, or the capacity to be absorbed into the body.
When maintained in the reduced-radius state under a constant load for any appreciable length of time, a prosthesis formed of polymeric or bioabsorbable material may, however, undergo permanent or plastic deformation. When released from the catheter or other delivery device, such prosthesis may radially self expand to a diameter considerably less than its relaxed-state diameter prior to preloading. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as stress relaxation or "creep". This phenomenon is aggravated when a polymeric or bioabsorbable prosthesis is exposed to elevated temperatures in its reduced-radius state, for example during a sterilization procedure, which may be performed prior the outset of the prosthesis deployment procedure.
To counteract this phenomenon of stress relaxation or creep, the polymeric or bioabsorbable prosthesis may be sterilized and/or stored in its relaxed state, i.e., not significantly reduced radial state, until just before it is to be used. When the physician is about to begin a procedure, he or she may load the polymeric prosthesis into the delivery system. Consequently, the prosthesis remains compressed in the reduced-radius state only for a short time, perhaps only several minutes. While such a procedure counteracts the problem of creep, the procedure is, however, more difficult and time consuming. Although it is common practice to load a stent into a sheath during assembly of a stent delivery system, such loading often involves numerous steps and often requires the use of multiple components (e.g., tools and fixtures) that are not part of the stent delivery system. For example, currently available stent delivery systems often require that a stent be loaded onto a delivery system by means of a funnel, basket or other similar device which are not part of the delivery system.
There remains a need in the art for an improved stent loading device that is permanently attached to a stent delivery system to allow loading of a stent into stent delivery systems at the time of use, while minimizing the risk of damaging the stent in the process.

Stent loading and delivery device having a loading basket lock mechanism