A method for recording and reproducing trick play data to and from a digital video tape is provided. In the recording method, an advanced television (ATV) signal which contains normal data used during a normal play mode and intra-frame data used during a trick play mode is input. Furthermore, the intra-frame data, which is capable of being independently decoded, is extracted from the ATV signal. Then, the size of the intra-frame data is adjusted to a predetermined picture size by partially decoding the intra-frame data to produce windowed intra-frame data, and the windowed intra-frame data is recorded as trick play data on the digital video tape. In the reproducing method, the ATV signal containing the normal and trick play data are reproduced from the digital video tape. Moreover, the trick play data is extracted from the ATV signal and formatted during a trick play mode, and the normal data is extracted from the ATV signal during a normal play mode. Then, the normal play data or trick play data is selectively output to a decoder. Accordingly, the method enables various types of video head scanners to record or reproduce the trick play data at a maximum multiple-speed (e.g. a 13-multiple-speed) or less than the maximum multiple-speed. In addition, a recording and reproducing apparatus which performs the method above is also provided.

A digital standard definition-video cassette recorder (SD-VCR) that is capable of recording and reproducing ATV signals on digital video tapes is currently being developed for consumer use. Furthermore, the SD-VCR is able to transmit data at 24.9 Mbits per second, and the ATV signal which is recorded or reproduced from the SD-VCR has a transmission rate of 19.3 Mbits per second. Consequently, the SD-VCR is capable of recording or reproducing additional data to and from the video tape at a rate of 5.6 Mbits per second.
In order to more fully utilize the unused area of the video tape, various methods are currently being tested in which trick play data is recorded in the unused area so that the ATV signal can be reproduced during a trick play mode (e.g. a high speed forward reproduction mode, a high speed reverse reproduction mode, or any other non-normal speed reproduction mode). Furthermore, developing an efficient process for recording and reproducing such trick play data is essential for enabling various types of scanners (i.e. video heads) to reproduce signals at a variety of speeds during the trick play mode. Furthermore, such method will also improve the image quality of video signals and remove noise from the video signals.
In order to provide a better understanding of the present invention, the composition of an ATV signal will be briefly described below in conjunction with FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, the ATV signal contains a transport bit stream which includes a series of groups-of-pictures (GOPs), and each GOP has a certain number of pictures (e.g. 12 pictures) arranged in a particular order. The various pictures contained in the GOP may include intra-coded pictures (I-pictures), predictive-coded pictures (P-pictures), and bidirectionally predictive-coded pictures (B-pictures).
The I-pictures are digitally represented by the greatest number of bits and have the most significant effect upon the image quality of the entire GOP and the capability of encoding the various P-pictures. Since the I-pictures, or intra-frames, contain a large number of bits, they can be independently coded and decoded.
The P-pictures are represented by fewer bits than the I-pictures and are coded or decoded based on the information contained in the various I-pictures. Specifically, the P-pictures are predicted frames which are encoded by compensating for the movement contained in the previous intra-frames or the previous predicted frames.
The B-pictures are represented by a smaller number of bits than the P-pictures and are coded or decoded in accordance with the information contained in the various I-pictures and P-pictures. In particular, the B-pictures are bidirectionally predicted frames which are encoded by compensating for the movement contained in the previous intra-frames, subsequent intra-frames, previous predicted frames, and/or subsequent predicted frames.
When all of the I-pictures, P-pictures, and B-pictures are encoded, they are arranged in a predetermined order to form the GOP. For instance, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the pictures are organized in the following order: I-B-B-P-B-B-P-B-B-P-B-B-I.
Each of the pictures are further divided into various segments. Specifically, each picture contains a certain number of slices, and each slice includes a predetermined number of macro blocks. In addition, each macro block comprises a number of discrete cosine transform (DCT) blocks.
Conventional apparatuses cannot appropriately record and reproduce normal video data and trick play data when the ATV signal is recorded or reproduced in accordance with a Moving Picture Expert Group (MPEG)-2 format. For example, when the ATV signal is recorded, the P-pictures and B-pictures can only be decoded after the I-pictures have been completely decoded. As a result, decoding the P-pictures and B-pictures and reproducing the ATV signal at a high-speed is impossible.

Method and apparatus for recording and reproducing trick play data to and from a digital video tape


A touch panel including a panel body and a gas passage provided in the panel body. The panel body includes a pair of electrode plates, and each electrode plate is provided with a conductive layer. The electrode plates are fixedly attached to each other so that conductive coats thereof are opposed to each other with a gap defined therebetween. The gas passage is configured to allow a gas existing in the gap to circulate in the panel body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch panel. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a touch panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a touch panel as an input device including a transparent panel body, it is known that a sheet-shaped cover layer (hereinafter referred to as a cover sheet) which functions as protection, decoration, polarization, etc., is disposed on the outer surface or touch-input side of the panel body.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-094798 (JP2004-094798A) describes a touch panel including a protection film bonded to the outer surface through a silicone rubber-based adhesive layer.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2008-192033 (JP2008-192033A) describes a touch panel including a polarization plate bonded to the entire outer surface by an adhesive.
In a touch panel including a cover sheet bonded to the entire outer surface of a panel body by an adhesive layer, it is preferred that the adhesive layer be prevented from trapping gas bubbles during a bonding process.

Touch panel and method of manufacturing the same


In order to propose a method of promptly judging movement of a train between block sections with a minimum number of transponders, an on-ground train control part for controlling operation of a train; an on-ground communication means capable of performing communication of information by coming within a specified range; and a sending-and-receiving part capable of sending the information received by the on-ground communication device to the on-ground train control part and receiving the information sent from the on-ground train control part, are provided, thereby, a position of presence of train is grasped by receiving a speed of the train using the on-ground communication means when the on-train communication means attached to the train comes near.

The present invention relates to signal safety of a transport system for performing transportation by a train moving on a rail, that is, railway and city traffic such as monorail, light rail transit (LRT), automated guided train (AGT) etc.
In a railway system using narrow-area wireless communication means, as a method of detecting a railway train, such as transponder, valise etc which are used as small-sized communication units installed on the ground and on a train (hereinafter, description will be made by taking the transponder as an example of the narrow-area wireless communication means), presence/absence of the train is judged by performing communications of the train ID between the ground and the train using the transponders discretely arranged along the rail. That is, the presence/absence of the train is judged through a check-in-check-out method in which receiving of the train ID by a transponder arranged in another region is regarded the train as not being present in a region having a transponder which the same train ID has previously been received from. This is that a confirmation of presence at one place leads an evidence of absence at the other places.
The details will be described below. Transponders for performing communication between a train and the ground are arranged on the train and on the ground. A block section is a section in which only one train is allowed to be present, but a set of transponder is arranged there in a conventional system(refer to patent reference 1 as shown later). It is provided that a train B bound for a station a is waiting for a train A to depart from the station a now. In the check-in-check-out method, presence/absence of the train in a block section is judged through the following processes. The train B departs from the station a, and enters into a neighboring block section, but the block section of the station a is not judged to be absent. It is not judged that there is no train in the block section of the station a, until a transponder provided in the station b detects that the train A reaches a neighboring block section. That is, the train detecting method is that the train A reaches the station b, and then, by receiving a signal of absence of train in the block section of the station a, the train B starts to proceed to the station a.
Because in this method, only one set of transponder is arranged in one block section (the train has one in the front and another in the rear of the train), absence of the train in the block section of a station can not be judged until the train reaches the neighboring station. In order to solve this problem, a configuration of transponders disclosed in non-patent reference 1 as shown later is employed. In this configuration, by arranging transponders individually at the entrance and at the exit of a block section, entering of a train departing from a station into the neighboring block section is promptly detected by the transponder provided at the entrance of the neighboring block section. More specifically, departure of the train A from the station a is certainly detected by the fact that the train A departing from the station a passes through the transponder provided in the exit side of the station, the following train B can promptly proceed to the station a by setting the block section of the station a to absent.
[Patent Reference 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-292255 (all pages)
[Non-patent Reference 1]
"Development of a block control system for IMTS", Transaction of The 2001 Joint symposium of Railway Technologies, pp. 255–258, published in 2001.

Signal safety method, signal safety apparatus and signal safety system


The application relates to a compound having Formula Ia or Ib: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, hydrate, or solvate thereof, which modulates the activity of EGFR, a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound, and a method of treating or preventing a disease in which EGFR plays a role.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR, Erb-B1) belongs to a family of proteins involved in cell proliferation. EGFR overexpression is present in at least 70% of human cancers, such as non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), breast cancer, glioma, and prostate cancer. The EGFR-TK is therefore widely recognized as a target for the design and development of therapies that can specifically bind and inhibit tyrosine kinase activity and its signal transduction pathway in cancer cells, and thus can serve as diagnostic or therapeutic agents.
EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are effective clinical therapies for EGFR mutant advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, the vast majority of patients develop disease progression following successful treatment with an EGFR TKI. The most common mechanism of acquired resistance is a secondary mutation T790M, which leads to an increase in ATP affinity, thus making it more difficult for reversible EGFR TKIs gefitinib and erlotinib to bind the EGFR TKI domain. Covalent EGFR inhibitors have emerged as strategies to inhibit EGFR T790M containing cancers. Afatinib is a potent inhibitor of both mutant and wild type (WT) EGFR, but is only effective in EGFR TKI naive EGFR mutant cancers, has a RR of <10% in patients with NSCLC resistant to gefitinib or erlotinib, and suffers from toxicities from inhibition of WT EGFR. Other irreversible EGFR inhibitors, such as WZ4002, CO-1686, and AZD9291, overcome many of the limitations of afatinib. They are not only more potent on EGFR T790M, but also selectively inhibit mutant over WT EGFR.
However, all current EGFR TKIs target the ATP binding site, and are rendered impotent by the C797S mutation arising in treated patients. Cetuximab, an anti-EGFR antibody that blocks receptor dimerization is not effective in EGFR-mutant NSCLC, because mutational activation of the kinase is effectively "downstream" of receptor dimerization. Hence, alternative strategies to inhibit EGFR are needed. Thus, there is a need for novel and potent small molecule EGFR inhibitors with alternative mechanisms of action targeting mutant EGFR. The present application addresses the need.

Inhibitors of EGFR and methods of use thereof


In equipment for recognizing misfire in an internal combustion engine, a first voltage waveform is obtained at an intermediate point (A) between a high impedance element (41) and a low impedance element (42). The first voltage waveform has a capacitive discharge component and an inductive discharge component during the spark and a voltage component after completion of the spark. The first voltage waveform is inversely amplified by a comparator (51) and divided by a shunt circuit (52) to obtain a second voltage waveform. In an integration circuit (53), a condenser (C1) is electrically charged by an output voltage from the comparator (51) to obtain a third voltage waveform. The second voltage waveform and the third voltage are compared by a comparator (54) to generate an output pulse. On the basis of the behavior of relatively short and relatively wide output pulse (d2, D2) and additional short output pulses (d3, d4) from the comparator (54), it is determined whether or not a misfire has occurred in the internal combustion engine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to equipment for recognizing in an internal combustion engine in which an ignition voltage is supplied to each spark plug in a prescribed order by means of a distributor.
With the demand of purifying emission gas and enhancing fuel efficiency of an internal combustion engine, it has been necessary to detect firing conditions in each cylinder of the internal combustion engine so as to protect the internal combustion engine against misfire. In order to detect the firing condition in each of the cylinders, an optical sensor has been installed within the cylinders on one hand. On the other hand, a piezoelectrical sensor has been attached to a seat pad of the spark plug.
In both of the cases, however, it is troublesome and time-consuming to install the sensor to each of the cylinders, thus increasing the installation cost, and at the same time, taking much time in checking and maintenance.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide an ignition detector of spark plug for use in internal combustion engines which is capable of precisely detecting a waveform of a secondary voltage applied to the spark plug installed to each cylinder of the internal combustion engine with a relatively simple structure.

Device for detecting misfire of an internal combustion engine by comparing voltage waveforms associated with ignition system


An Electrostatic Discharge protection circuit, the circuit includes a transient detecting circuit, a level adjusting circuit, a discharging circuit, and a sustaining circuit. The transient detecting circuit is coupled to a first pad for detecting an input signal at the first pad to generate a transient signal; the level adjusting circuit is coupled to the transient detecting circuit for adjusting an output voltage at an output terminal of the level adjusting circuit; the discharging circuit is coupled to the first pad and the output terminal of the level adjusting circuit for discharging the input signal of the first pad to a second pad when enabled by the output voltage; and the sustaining circuit is coupled between the level adjusting circuit and the transient detecting circuit, for selectively controlling the level adjusting circuit to sustain an enablement of the discharging circuit according to the transient signal.

The present invention relates to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, and more particularly, to an electrostatic discharge protection circuit allowing enough time to discharge an electrostatic signal, and a method thereof.
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a prior art electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit 10, which is utilized for protecting an integrated device 20 from being damaged by an electrostatic signal. The ESD protection circuit 10 comprises a low pass filter 11, which comprises a resistor R and a capacitor C; an inverter 12, which includes a PMOS transistor Mpa and an NMOS transistor Mna; and a discharging circuit 13, which comprises an NMOS transistor Mnb. The connection between the low pass filter 11, the inverter 12, and the discharging circuit 13 are shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore, a first pad 14 is coupled to a first terminal N1, and a second pad 15 is coupled to a second terminal N2.
Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a timing diagram illustrating the voltages Va, Vc, and Vd at respective terminals N1, N3, and N4 of the related art ESD protection circuit 10 shown in FIG. 1. Initially, the voltages Va, Vc, and Vd at terminals N1, N3, and N4 are set to zero respectively. In other words, the PMOS transistor Mpa, the NMOS transistor Mna, and the NMOS transistor Mnb are initially turned off. When the electrostatic signal, which is the voltage Va, is injected to the first pad 14 at time t1, which has a peak voltage of V1′, the PMOS transistor Mpa will suddenly be turned on at time t1 to discharge the voltage Va at the first pad 14. Therefore, the voltage Va will instantaneously decrease to a voltage V3′, as shown in FIG. 2. Furthermore, the voltage at the terminal N4 will also be charged instantaneously into a voltage V2′ at time t1. Therefore, the voltage V2′ will turn on the NMOS transistor Mnb for discharging the voltage Va. Meanwhile, the low pass filter 11 proceeds to perform low pass filtering upon the voltage Va to generate the voltage Vc. As shown in FIG. 2, the voltage Vc will increase gradually because of the low pass filtering characteristic of the resistor R and the capacitor C. After a time interval Δt′, the voltage Vc will reach a voltage V4′ and turn on the NMOS transistor Mna to discharge the voltage Vd of terminal N4. Then, the PMOS transistor Mpa and the NMOS transistor Mnb will be turned off. Please note that, in the time interval Δt′, the voltage Vc increases gradually and the voltage Vd of terminal N4 decreases gradually, i.e. the currents that are conducted by the NMOS transistor Mnb and the PMOS transistor Mpa decrease gradually, and the current that is conducted by the NMOS transistor Mna increases gradually. Therefore, the voltage Va at the terminal N1 may increase greatly after the NMOS transistor Mnb is turned off at time t2, as shown in FIG. 2. This means that the charge at the terminal N1 caused by the electrostatic signal cannot be totally discharged by the NMOS transistor Mnb within the time interval Δt′. According to related art, the increasing voltage at terminal N1 will affect the normal operation of the integrated device 20.

ESD protection circuit and method thereof


A prism array light redistribution apparatus for an eye imaging system including light transmitting fibers, light receiving fibers, and a micro prism array optically coupled to bridge the light transmitting fibers and the light receiving fibers. The array may be further configured to receive light having a bell-shaped angular distribution from the light transmitting fibers and refract the received light to enter the light receiving fibers such that a square-shaped angular distribution of light emits from a light emitting end of the light receiving fibers.

The present invention relates to ophthalmoscopes, operation microscopes and other instruments for viewing and imaging the interior of the human eye. More particularly, the invention provides an illumination apparatus and system serving to provide improved illumination over a large angular field of view for diagnostic and documentation purposes of the human eye, with the possibility of avoiding hazy or low contrast images, bright and/or dark illumination spots, and the need of large pupil dilation, therefore bypassing illumination difficulties due to, for example, a relatively small-dilated pupil.
Cameras for imaging the eye must meet several technical objectives. It is preferable, and for some clinical diagnoses required, to obtain color images of the eye. Also, in some instances such as fluorescence angiography, blue excitation induced fluorescence images are required. For some applications, an eye imaging camera should offer the option of providing very high spatial resolution for diagnosis of certain ocular diseases. For example, when examining the neural fiber layer, high resolution is required.
Moreover, wide field-of-view (FOV) images of the eye are necessary for evaluating some pathologies of the eye. Exemplar pathologies include, but are not limited to, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) where the demarcation line between avascular retina and vascularized retina occurs often on the peripheral region of the retina, and ocular tumors which, in many cases, lie on or spread to the periphery of the retina. When examining only the optical disk, a 30 degree wide FOV is sufficient. For studies of ROP and tumors located on the periphery of the retina and other optical disorders, a FOV of 120 degrees and even larger is preferred. The intensity of light required for imaging is also a consideration as light safety requirements need to be met. Scattering and reflection of the illumination light from ocular structures other than the retina can also substantially reduce the contrast of the image. Imaging using electronic array sensors such as Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) and charged coupled devices (CCD) instead of film is highly desired as well. Electronic sensor array-based cameras tend to be more sensitive than film, reducing the amount of illumination light required. Electronic sensors and displays also allow instant and live review of the image, in addition to possibly providing various image processing operations without a noticeable time delay.
As described in the art, in order to image the eye a system must optically relay the spherical concave retina onto a flat image sensor (2D) plane. Further to the above, in conventional systems background haze is created when the light used to illuminate the retina is reflected and/or scattered by the cornea and ocular lens such that they are channeled to the image sensor. These reflections are also known as Purkinje images. A "first Purkinje image" is the reflection from the outer surface of the cornea, the second is the reflection from the inner surface of the cornea, the third is the reflection from the outer surface of the ocular lens, and the fourth emanates from the inner surface of the ocular lens. As described in the art, the first Purkinje image may be mostly avoided with careful control of positioning of an imaging device near the patient's eye and with the use of optical coupling gel between the device and the cornea. Further, subsequent Purkinje images need to be removed in the post process phase and/or minimized from appearing on the image in the first place.
Systems have been developed to minimize the effect of Purkinje images during ophthalmic visualization. In one such system, the light emitted from the lenspiece of an ophthalmoscope is conditioned by a relatively large inner diameter optical fiber annular array ends through a micro-structured light guide or diffuser. However, this creates a side effect of reducing the amount of light transmitted and creating scattered light, which can negatively impact certain eye examinations, such as those for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in premature infants, which require a wide field of view. In addition, the larger diameter of the optical fiber array and the corresponding micro-structured light guide or diffuser imposes the need for a larger pupil size.
In addition, prior art related to illuminating a large angular field of view for uniform illuminator imaging includes the use of various micro-structured light conditioning optical elements arranged in between the front most optical element (the contact lens) of the imaging device and a circular array of optical fibers or free space optical designs to redistribute the illumination light before light enters an eye. Currently, most of the uniform illuminator viewing and imaging systems illuminate the interior of the eye through the pupil of the eye by a light source that is channeled to land as a ring around the imaging path near the cornea and is directed into the posterior segment of the eye.
Moreover, when used to obtain color images of the retina, these systems apply light sources that produce light containing blue (B), green (G), and red (R) wavelengths. Because the retina is illuminated through the pupil of the eye, these systems can suffer from light illumination reflections off the cornea, ocular lens, and its interface with the vitreous cavity. They need typically more than half of the pupil area for illumination, and when attempting to view portions of the interior of the eye more peripheral than the macula, the effective pupil size that is available becomes smaller and light is not transmitted through. As a result, standard uniform illuminator viewing and imaging systems depend strongly on clear ocular media and on wide pupil dilation and they are limited to a maximum of 60° field of view and cannot observe the periphery much beyond the posterior pole.
To avoid the unwanted illumination light reflections from landing on the image sensor, the illumination ring at the cornea and ocular lens region is generally arranged to land outside the imaging path. Polarization means has also been used to reduce these light illumination reflections. Examples of such systems include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,822,036, 8,836,778, 9,351,639, 9,872,618 and 10,258,232. A common issue associated with these designs is that the illumination on the retina has limited uniformity or limited field of view. In general, on the image sensor plane, a donut shaped illumination distribution is detected, leading to darker illumination at the peripheral and central regions than at mid field of view regions.
The problems associated with illuminating the interior of the eye through the pupil can be avoided when the interior of the eye is illuminated through the sclera (synchronized sequential color illumination), as first proposed by Pomerantzeff in U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,329. This system supports the use of a low cost monochrome image sensor and wide angle uniform illuminator imaging without demanding pupil dilation and while bypassing illumination difficulties that may rise due to obstruction and scattering from opacities in the anterior eye chamber and any other intervening ocular structures. Relatedly a system (Panoret-1000™ of Medibell Medical Vision Technologies, Ltd.) that is based on U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,196 (Svetliza, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,070 (Svetliza, et al.) has applied synchronized sequential color illumination according to the method disclosed in the '329 patent referenced above.
However, illuminating through the sclera requires much higher optical power or energy than illuminating through the pupil and there exists a possibility that the unsafe strong illumination light is transmitted through the pupil. This can happen when live imaging is ongoing while a handheld image capture unit is moved around relative to a patient eye while a live video display of the retina image is being monitored. In addition, blue light, which is much more hazardous to a patient eye, can be substantially more absorbed than red and green light by the sclera. As a result, more blue illumination light is needed, which is an even less safe circumstance for the patient.
Given the above-mentioned limitations and/or issues, there exists a need for improvement in illumination uniformity for wide angular field of view optical imaging systems. Accordingly, it is a first object of this invention to provide an eye-imaging apparatus and a system for obtaining images of the interior of the eye with improved illumination uniformity and substantially reduced background light noise. The uniformly illuminating eye-imaging apparatus and system described herein includes various light distribution conditioning means in addition to unique spectral illumination filters. In use, light is disposed along an illumination light path, ultimately forming uniformly illuminated images of a given eye locus on an image sensor plane. The uniformly illuminating eye-imaging apparatus and system employ either continuous or synchronized sequential color illumination in addition to other features resulting in redistribution of light.
It is another objective of the invention to employ a large numerical aperture (NA) optical fiber to output light with a large illuminating cone angle. Yet another embodiment employs a light re-distribution element at one or more locations along the illumination optical fiber such that the light output from the fiber end is converted from having a bell-shape intensity distribution to one having a hat-top intensity distribution. Still another approach directs the illumination light from each coordinated illuminator fiber end (i.e., an illumination optical fiber end) at a skewed angle to enter the eye such that illumination light reflections from the cornea and ocular lens optical interfaces are mostly directly away from the imaging path. As a result, the inner diameter of the annular fiber array can be smaller than that of the prior art, thus reducing the need for a relatively large pupil size. Each of the embodiments can be implemented independently or combined with other approach(es) known in the art. Further to the above, the present invention relies on various light distribution elements and uniquely-arranged aperture fibers.
The illuminator fibers may include a high numerical aperture and further include circular fiber array ends arranged at a skewed angle relative to the optical axis of the imaging path. Said skewed angle relative to the optical axis of the imaging path may be at least 30 degrees, 35 degrees, 40 degrees, or the like. Said light redistribution element may be a micro-prism array disposed along the optical fiber illumination light path. Said illuminator fibers (also referred to herein as "fibers" or "plastic fibers") are of at least 0.60 NA and include an illumination variation of less than or equal to at least twenty five percent variation in the preferred embodiment. Further, the invention may comprise an imaging device comprising one or more lenspiece(s) that can be mechanically connected to a common handpiece, and the handpiece may include a visual wavelength image sensor, an optical path length compensation window, a deep red and/or near infrared cut filter, and an axially movable lens combination for focusing and relaying a real image. Finally, the illuminator fibers may be shielded by a light blocking tube on the outside of the cladding or coated in black paint on the outside of the cladding and may be perpendicularly cut off at the illuminator fiber tips in some embodiments.

Prism array and apparatus for eye-imaging system


A data protecting method for protecting a sub-directory and at least one pre-stored file in a rewritable non-volatile memory module is provided. The method includes receiving a write command from a host system and determining whether a write address indicated by the write command is an address storing a file description block of the sub-directory. The method also includes, when the write address is the address storing a file description block of the sub-directory, determining whether a portion of data streams corresponding to the write command is the same as a corresponding content recorded in the file description block of the sub-directory. The method further includes, when the portion of data streams corresponding to the write command is not the same as the corresponding content recorded in the file description block of the sub-directory, transmitting a write failure signal to the host system.

1. Technology Field
The present invention is related to a data protecting method for data in a rewritable non-volatile memory module, and a memory controller and a memory storage apparatus using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
The rapid growth in the popularity of digital cameras, cellular phones, and MP3 players in recent years has brought about the escalated demand for storage media by consumers. Since a rewritable non-volatile memory (e.g., a flash memory) has several characteristics such as non-volatility of data, low power consumption, small size and non-mechanical structure, the rewritable non-volatile memory is the most suitable memory to be adopted in a portable multimedia device mentioned above.
Moreover, to increase the additional value of the memory storage apparatus, some specific files for specific application which can be accessed by the user or the corresponding application program may be stored in the memory storage apparatus in advance by the manufacturer while producing the memory storage apparatus.
For example, a program provided to an user for setting or removing the protecting password is stored in the memory storage apparatus initially. Another example is that, within the application of the Smart Card chip disposed in the memory storage apparatus, a communication file used for determining whether the data streams transmitted by the host is the command data unit of the Smart Card chip is pre-stored in the memory storage apparatus.
Therefore, the pre-stored files are very important to the usage of the memory storage apparatus. If the files are deleted by the user accidentally, the corresponding functions provided by the memory storage apparatus are unavailable, and the memory storage apparatus may not be used anymore. Thus, how to protect the pre-stored files is one of the major subjects in the industry.
Nothing herein should be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art of any portion of the present invention. Furthermore, citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention, or that any reference forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art.

Data protecting method, memory controller and memory storage apparatus


A heating system comprises an oven located above a solid fuel stove, a chimney for receiving combustion gases from the solid fuel stove, and a heat exchanger in the chimney for transferring heat from the combustion gases to a flow of water. A heat exchange passage adjacent a water tank receives combustion gases from the stove and transfers heat from the combustion gases to water in the water tank. A damper is adjustable for controlling the flow of the combustion gases to the chimney and to the heat exchange passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heating systems and, more particularly, to systems for heating dwellings and other buildings, and incorporating a solid fuel stove.
2. Description of Related Art
Stoves of numerous different types are presently in use, and have been utilized in the past, for heating buildings and also for cooking purposes, and it has also been well known to combine a solid fuel stove with an oven for this purpose and for cooking.
It is also well known to employ the heat from a solid fuel stove to provide a supply of hot water, in addition to heating a room.
It is usual to provide a wood stove with a chimney and with a damper for controlling the flow of combustion gases through the chimney. When the fire is first lit, the damper is opened to provide a good flow of air through the stove and up the chimney, in order to facilitate and encourage combustion of fuel. When combustion has been well established, the damper is then partially or fully closed, to reduce the flow of air into the stove and the flow of combustion gases from the stove.


Disclosed is a synchronous cross-connect system with an integrated 2.5 Gbps (STM-16) I/O link and a ring network interworking. The synchronous cross-connect system includes: first and second I/O portions for performing I/O function with respect to a plurality of STM-16 signals, including a backplane signal pattern which takes four units among the plurality of STM-16 signals performing a protection switching and transmission functions; a signal intercrossing portion for crossing/connecting signals of the first and second I/O portions; and synchronizing portion for generating clock signals necessary to the first and second I/O portions and the signal intercrossing portion. As a result, the synchronous cross-connect system performs a transmission function without an additional apparatus in the transmission link with interoffice transmission capacity of 2.5 Gbps (STM-16), and has a high survivability because of a real-time fault recovery function using the ring network interworking.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a synchronous cross-connect system among a terminal multiplexer, an add-drop multiplexer and a cross-connect system in digital transmission fields. More particularly, it relates to a synchronous cross-connect system with an integrated 2.5 Gbps input/output (hereinafter referred to as I/O) link and a ring network interworking.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In a conventional synchronous cross-connect system, synchronous signals were only flowing in an internal switch matrix, and I/O signals were mostly typical asynchronous DS-3 signals. In recent times, STM-1 signal and STM-4 signal have been used as a synchronous I/O signal. The above prior art is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,890, entitled "INTEGRATED MULTI-RATE CROSS-CONNECT SYSTEM".
In a conventional system, most I/O signals are not a transmission signal between stations (hereinafter referred to as an inter-office transmission signal) but an inter-office connection signal within a station. Accordingly, an apparatus having an optical transmission function should be additionally installed to transmit the intra-office transmission signal such as STM-16, and corresponding I/O signals should be add-dropped and connected to the cross-connect system.

Synchronous cross-connect system with the function of ring network interworking using backplane interconnection

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A shoe that includes a base layer, middle layer and top layer all having a top and a bottom surface. A first portion of the bottom surface of the middle layer is adhered to the top surface of the base layer, and the bottom surface of the top layer is adhered to the top surface of the middle layer. The base layer, middle layer and top layer cooperate to define a main body portion that includes a heel cup, an arch portion and a forefoot portion. The forefoot portion includes a part of the middle layer and a part of the top layer, but not a part of the base layer.

In general, shoe inserts or orthotics are devices used to correct an abnormal gait and to correct for optimal ambulation. Custom orthotics are typically provided by a doctor and can be expensive and cumbersome to obtain. The patient must visit the doctor, have the orthotic customized and ordered and then must return at a later time to pick up the orthotic.
Over the counter or store bought orthotics or shoe inserts are simply a general shell that gives some support or padding for the wearer when walking. Over the counter orthotics are not corrective, but are provided for comfort.
Accordingly, a need exists for an orthotic or shoe insert that provides correction to the wearer's gait or ambulation, but does not require a doctor's customization.


A lapping system data acquisition unit is disclosed for use in measuring resistances of multiple resistors embedded in a structure to be machined. Each of multiple independent current sources directs a current through one of the multiple resistors embedded in the structure during machining of a surface of the structure. Each of multiple voltage sensing devices couples to a separate one of the multiple resistors and provides a separate analog voltage output signal indicative of the resistance of the resistor. Each of multiple filters is coupled to a separate one of the multiple voltage sensing devices Analog-to-digital conversion circuitry coupled to the multiple filters generates a digitized signal for each of the filtered output signals.

The present invention relates generally to the batch fabrication of sliders which carry magnetoresistive (MR) and/or inductive transducers for data storage applications. More particularly, the present invention relates to the measurement of electrical lap guide (ELG) resistors which guide the lapping process such that the head sliders in a row or bar are machined to a specified transducer height.
Magnetic read/write transducers are produced using thin film deposition techniques. In a typical process, an array of transducers are formed on a common substrate. The substrate is sliced to produce bars, with one row of transducers in a side-by-side pattern on each bar. The bars are then machined or lapped to establish a desired MR transducer height (sometimes referred to as a stripe height SH) or a desired inductive transducer height (sometimes referred to as a throat height TH). After the air bearing surface pattern is formed on the bars, the bars are diced to produce individual head sliders which contain the magnetic transducers.
In order to establish adequate performance for high efficiency recording heads, it is desired to achieve the specified transducer height with very tight tolerance. ELGs for this and other purposes are well known in the art. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,991 entitled ELECTRICAL GUIDE FOR TIGHT TOLERANCE MACHINING, which issued to Alan Smith on Jun. 18, 1991. One common practice is to use ELGs and a feedback controlled bending mechanism to form a closed-loop lapping process. ELG measurement accuracy, noise and resolution directly affect finished slider SH and TH variation. As the data storage industry is continuously driven by higher density and lower cost requirements, the transducer height tolerance continues to decrease, while the number of head sliders per bar increases, leading to thinner and more flexible bars. To maintain and improve transducer height control during the lapping process, more accurate ELG measurement and monitoring techniques are required.
ELG's typically include three resistive components, but can contain a greater or lesser number if desired. Frequently, as many as 14 ELGs are included per bar. Therefore, a great number of resistances must be measured during lapping. Conventionally, data acquisition units (DAUs) for measuring the resistances of the large number of ELG components on a bar have included a single current source, a multiplexer, and a signal processing channel. To measure the resistance of an individual ELG resistive component, the single current source is directed by the multiplexer to excite the component. The corresponding voltage signal is connected to the signal processing channel by the multiplexer and is amplified, filtered and digitized The digitized resistance reading is then stored in the memory of the control computer. This procedure is repeated through time multiplexing, with the single current source exciting one resistive element at time, through switching or multiplexing, to read all of the ELG resistive elements.
These conventional DAU measurement systems and techniques introduce a number of problems. First, ELG resistance readings using conventional DAUs are not independent of other ELG resistance readings. To make the measurements at a desired sampling rate, the current source, voltmeter and filter have to be switched from resistive element to resistive element through multiplexing. Since the current source and the filters need time to settle after switching from one ELG measurement to the next, significant quantities of noise are introduced into the measurement signal if too many resistive elements are monitored, thus limiting the time available. Other sources of noise which effect the measurement accuracy are caused by the mechanical bending portions of the system. These and other disadvantages of prior art lapping systems are eliminated or reduced by the present invention.

Electrical lap guide data acquisition unit and measurement scheme


The present invention relates to a technology for producing the production of disinfectants by diaphragm electrolysis of the aqueous solution of sodium chloride. Disinfectants are used in agriculture, public health care and medical institutions, public water supply systems and elsewhere.

Estonian Patent application No. P201000069 describes a method for the production of disinfectants and an electrolyzer for the execution of the method disclosed therein, in which part of a fresh water flow is used both for cooling a cathode compartment and for the reduction of the concentration of active chlorine in a co-mixer of the electrolyzer. A drawback to this method is that the flow rate passing through the cathode compartment (0.4-0.8% of the disinfectant flow) remains below 2.4 liters per hour (L/h) in devices with a low capacity (up to 300 liters per hour) and it requires the attention of personnel or the use of pressure pumps. Patents RU 2297980 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,110 disclose methods using a cylindrical diaphragm electrolyzer and the solution of sodium chloride as an electrolyte. In the method disclosed in RU 2297980, the whole flow of fresh water is mixed with sodium chloride and after mixing, the flow is divided between anode and cathode compartments in a selected ratio, turning the flows into anolyte and catholyte, respectively. Anolyte functions as a disinfectant, while catholytehas often no applications. The pH value of the disinfectant is adjusted in a range from 2.5 to 5.5 by changing the ratio between the flows from the anode and cathode compartments.
In method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,110, the whole flow of fresh water is mixed with sodium chloride; after mixing, the whole flow is guided to a cathode compartment. After flowing out from the cathode compartment and the electrolyzer, some of the catholyte is guided to waste and the rest of the catholyte to the anode compartment. From the anode compartment comes out anolyte, which forms the disinfectant. The pH value of the disinfectant is adjusted in the range from 5.5 to 8.5 of the discharged catholyte, meaning changing the ratio between the flows passing through the anode and cathode compartments. A circumstance that arises from these known methods, and which could be considered a common drawback to methods disclosed in RU 2297980 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,110 is that the solution of sodium chloride passing through the anode compartment has a low level of mineralization (up to 8 g/l—a quantity equal with the quantity of the produced disinfectant), resulting in the consumption of over 30 W of electrical energy and 12 g of sodium chloride for the production of 1 g of active chlorine. What is needed is a method to reduce mineralization arises from the aspect that with the equal concentration of active chlorine and pH level, the best disinfectants by their bactericidal and corrosion preventive effect are substances with a lower content of sodium chloride. Reducing the consumption of sodium chloride per 1 g of active chlorine with the known methods disclosed in RU 2297980 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,110 would mean the reduction of anode and cathode flows, an increase in the electrical resistance between electrodes, a decrease in current intensity and a shortage of electrical energy for the production of the required quantity of active chlorine. Traditionally, these problems are solved by: increasing the voltage of electrodes, reducing the distance between electrodes and using a thinner membrane, multiple circulation of flows through the electrode compartments together with the use of external cooling equipment, and several consecutive electrolyzers to reduce the flow rate passing through one electrolyzer. The technical solutions for the reduction of the consumption of sodium chloride are described in more detail for example in patents RU 2130786, RU 2248940, RU 2350692, WO 2006098660 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,052; however, with all these solutions the electrolyzers, equipment and methods become substantially more complex.
The equipment necessary for the execution of the methods disclosed in RU 2297980 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,110 are described for example in patents RU 2079575 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,623. The parts of devices RU 2079575 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,623 are as follows: a cylindrical diaphragm electrolyzer with coaxially located anode, cathode and membrane; a source of electrical energy, a supply pipe for fresh water, a mixing unit for fresh water and sodium chloride, a supply pipe to feed sodium chloride to electrode compartments in a quantity that equals with the summed amount of produced disinfectant and disposed catholyte; and valves for adjusting the ratio of flows passing through the anode and cathode compartments. In the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,623 there is also a discharge for catholyte after flowing out from the electrolyzer and before the anode compartment. The drawback to these prior art devices is that each one of these is designed for realizing only one method—either the method disclosed in RU 2297980, which yields a disinfectant with the pH value from 2.5 to 5.5, or the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,110, which yields a disinfectant with the pH value from 5.5 to 8.5; at this the same consumer may need simultaneously disinfectants with different pH values in case of a different technology, obtained on the basis of the diaphragm electrolysis of sodium chloride. For example, a farmer is recommended to use a disinfectant with the pH value 3.0-3.5 in the pre-sowing treatment of grain seeds, a pH value 7.0-8.5 in disinfecting the milking equipment, a pH value 2.5-3.5 in the production of silage, and a pH value 6.0-7.5 in disinfecting the drinking water of animals for fattening, etc. Thereby, in practical activities, a relatively wide pH range is required. In addition, the design of electrolyzers used in the known methods of RU 2079575 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,623 does not allow the reduction of the consumption of sodium chloride without having applied external circulation and cooling circuits or supplementary electrolyzers. An additional drawback to the equipment used to employ these known methods is that external factors have a major impact on the execution of the method: a random increase in supply voltage entails a change in the quality of the disinfectant and failure of the device, switching on the device involves possible current surges and the supply may be automatically switched off, which may not always be noticed by the operator and the device produces to the collection tank, brine instead of the disinfectant.

Method and device for disinfectant production

Abstract: The purpose of the this invention is to provide the means for producing disinfectants with the adjusting range of the pH value from 2.5 to 8.5 by using devices with various capacities ranging from 1 to 600 g active chlorine per hour, while decreasing the consumption of electric energy and sodium chloride for the production of 1 g of active chlorine over two times compared to prototype methods, and reducing the consumption of fresh water for producing of waste catholyte. The purpose of the present invention is accomplished by processing the concentrated aqueous solution of sodium chloride in anode and cathode compartment at a lower flow rate, using the flow of fresh water through the inner space of tubular cathode for cooling the solution.


An apparatus for aiding escape of passengers having an impact detection unit for detecting an impact which is generated when a vehicle has come into collision, vehicle state detection units for detecting a state of the vehicle realized after the vehicle has come into collision, and operation control units for controlling operations of units mounted on the vehicle in accordance with the impact generated when the vehicle has come into collision and detected by the impact detection unit and the state of the vehicle realized after the vehicle has come into collision and detected by the vehicle state detection units.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for aiding escape of passengers to the outside of a vehicle if the vehicle comes into collision.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus has been known (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-139246) which detects stop of a vehicle and interruption of an engine, when the vehicle has come into collision, so as to unlock doors and release seat belts.
Another apparatus has been known (refer to Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-51267) which unlocks a child safety lock when the vehicle has come into collision. Note that the child safety lock is an apparatus for permitting the door to be opened only from the outside of the vehicle in order to prevent an accident that the door is unintentionally opened by a child.
Recently, vehicles are equipped with a power window, a sun roof, a trunk opener and an automatic driving position system in order to improve safety, enhance operation facility and realize comfortableness. The power window is an apparatus for moving the door windows by actuators so that the windows are opened/closed in accordance with the operations of corresponding switches. The sun roof is an apparatus for causing an actuator to move a sun roof lid disposed in the ceiling of the vehicle to open/close the sun roof lid in accordance with the operations of corresponding switches. The trunk opener is an apparatus for causing an actuator to move the trunk lid to open/close the trunk lid in accordance with the operations of corresponding switches. The automatic driving position system is an apparatus for moving the driver's seat rearwards and tilting up and contracting the steering wheel when the driver on the driver's seat gets off the vehicle to facilitate getting in and out of the vehicle. Moreover, after the driver gets in the vehicle, the automatic driving position system restores the seat and the steering wheel to the previously stored positions.
The vehicle equipped with the foregoing units are required to have a total system including a conventional unit for unlocking the door locks, the child safety lock and releasing the seat belts and an apparatus for aiding escape of the passengers when the vehicle has come into collision.

Apparatus for aiding escape of passenger


An apparatus for preventing abrasion in a reciprocal compressor, including a cylinder, a reciprocal motor having a stator and a mover, and generating a linear reciprocation driving force, a piston inserted into an inside space of the cylinder to be linearly movable, a piston rod coupled to the piston to be movable in the radial direction of the piston, and coupled to the mover of the reciprocal motor, for transmitting the linear reciprocation driving force of the reciprocal motor to the piston, and a concentricity control means coupled to a junction between the piston and the piston rod, for fixing the piston and the piston rod in the axial direction, and allowing a relative motion thereof in the radial direction. The apparatus prevents abrasion from being generated between the cylinder and the piston due to processing errors and assembly errors of components of the reciprocal compressor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reciprocal compressor, and more particularly to, an apparatus for preventing abrasion in a reciprocal compressor which can prevent abrasion from being generated between a cylinder and a piston linearly reciprocating in an inside space of the cylinder due to processing errors and assembly errors of components of the reciprocal compressor.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a compressor transforms an electric energy into a kinetic energy, and compresses refrigerants by the kinetic energy. The compressor is one of the major components of a refrigeration cycle system, and classified into a rotary compressor, a scroll compressor and a reciprocal compressor according to a compression mechanism for compressing refrigerants.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional diagram illustrating the reciprocal compressor. Referring to FIG. 1, the reciprocal compressor includes a casing 100 having a gas suction tube 110 and a gas discharge tube 120, a frame unit 200 disposed in the casing 100, a reciprocal motor 300 mounted on the frame unit 200, for generating a linear reciprocation driving force, a compression unit 400 for receiving the driving force of the reciprocal motor 300, and compressing a gas, and a resonant spring unit 500 for resonating the driving force of the reciprocal motor 300.
The frame unit 200 includes a front frame 20 for supporting one side of the reciprocal motor 300, a middle frame 220 for supporting the other side of the reciprocal motor 300, and a rear frame 230 coupled to the middle frame 220, for forming a space with the middle frame 220.
The reciprocal motor 300 includes an outside stator 310 fixed between the middle frame 220 and the rear frame 230, an inside stator 320 inserted into the outside stator 310 and fixedly coupled to the front frame 210, a mover 330 movably inserted between the outside stator 310 and the inside stator 320, and a winding coil 340 coupled into the outside stator 310. The mover 330 is comprised of a magnet 331 and a magnet holder 332 for supporting the magnet 331.
The compression unit 400 includes a cylinder 410 fixedly coupled to the front frame 210, a piston 420 having its one side movably inserted into an inside space of the cylinder 410, and its other side fixedly coupled to the mover 330, a discharge valve assembly 430 mounted on one side of the cylinder 410, for controlling discharge of refrigerants, and a suction valve 440 mounted on the end of the piston 420, for controlling flow of refrigerants sucked to the inside space of the cylinder 410.
The piston 420 is comprised of a cylindrical body unit 421 having a predetermined length and outer diameter, a flange unit 422 extended from the end of the cylindrical body unit 421 in the vertical direction, the magnet holder 332 of the mover 330 being coupled to the flange unit 422, and a suction passage 423 formed in the cylindrical body unit 421.
The discharge valve assembly 430 includes a discharge cover 431 for covering the inside space of the cylinder 410, a discharge valve 432 inserted into the discharge cover 431, for opening/closing the inside space of the cylinder 410, and a discharge spring 433 inserted into the discharge cover 431, for elastically supporting the discharge valve 432.
The resonant spring unit 550 includes a spring support means 510 fixedly coupled with the piston 420 and the mover 330, a front coil spring 520 coupled between the spring support means 510 and the middle frame 220, and a rear coil spring 530 coupled between the spring support means 510 and the rear frame 230.
Reference numeral 10 denotes a support spring and 411 denotes the inside space of the cylinder 410.
The operation of the reciprocal compressor will now be explained.
When power is supplied to the reciprocal compressor, the linear reciprocation driving force is generated by an electromagnetic interaction of the reciprocal motor 300, and transmitted to the piston 420 through the mover 330.
The piston 420 receives the linear reciprocation driving force from the mover 330, and linearly reciprocates in the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410. The suction valve 440 and the discharge valve 432 are operated due to the linear reciprocation of the piston 420 and a pressure difference between the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410 and the outside, for sucking refrigerants to the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410, compressing the refrigerants and discharging the compressed refrigerants. The discharged refrigerants are discharged from the reciprocal compressor through the discharge cover 431 and the discharge tube 120. The refrigerants are compressed by repeating the above procedure.
The front coil spring 520 and the rear coil spring 530 are contracted or relaxed by the reciprocation of the mover 330 and the piston 420, for elastically supporting the mover 330 and the piston 420 and generating resonance.
On the other hand, in order to improve compression efficiency of the refrigerants compressed in the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410, the reciprocal compressor must precisely maintain an assembly tolerance between the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410 and the piston 420 inserted into the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410.
However, as described above, in the reciprocal compressor, the mover 330, the piston 420 and the resonant spring unit 500 are assembled as one assembly and coupled to the other components. If processing or assembly errors of the components occur during the processes for processing each component of the assembly and the processes for coupling the components, as shown in FIG. 2, concentricity of the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410 is not identical to that of the cylindrical body unit 421 of the piston 420, and thus the inner walls of the inside space 411 of the cylinder 410 contact the cylindrical body unit 421 of the piston 420. Accordingly, the cylinder 410 and the piston 420 are abraded and the compressed refrigerants are leaked, which results in low compression efficiency.

Apparatus for preventing abrasion in reciprocal compressor


A display device for supporting a plurality of items such as frame molds comprising a frame housing having a plurality of internal open sections; a plurality of rotating panel members, each of which is situated within an internal section and each of which rotates relative to a central axis; and means for affixing frame molds to the rotating panel member.

In the retail custom framing business it is imperative to have a wide selection of moulding samples and designs. A well-equipped frame shop or store may have between one and three thousand moulding samples in inventory to provide a selection for every taste and budget. The problem faced by such retailers is how to display frames and moulding adequately within a limited space.
Traditionally, most shops place samples on a wall. To do that requires either a very large space or a smaller more limited selection. An alternative to wall mounting is to use a spinner rack, which has several sides and can accommodate a higher density of samples with a small footprint. The problem with spinners is that several racks put together create a cluttered appearance and are difficult for the customer to focus on and make a choice.
Another solution has been to have a sliding wall, similar to a sliding door on a garage, barn or hangar. However, the problem with this type of system is that it is cumbersome, awkward and difficult to move.
There have been a large number of patents issued which are directed to various retail display systems for a wide litany of products. U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,475 to Glanz, for example, discloses a display device for mounting to the front edge of a store shelf providing a sealed environment for display of an object. Preferably, the object is in a constructed craft item which may be assembled from a kit which is offered for sale and is located on the store shelf adjacent the display device. The displayed object serves as a promotional vehicle for the kit. The display device includes a bracket for mounting the display device to the shelf and a product display case mounted to the bracket. The product display case includes a shelf construction upon which the constructed object can be displayed and a protective dome surrounding the shelf construction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,343 to Franklin, et al, is directed to a stand-up, book-like jewelry display device that has a rectangular frame mounted upright on a horizontal bracket. Product panels that hold jewelry and graphics panels that depict the jewelry in use are rotatably mounted within the frame so that each panel swings about one of its edges, thereby giving the display the appearance of a book with pages to turn. Preferably, the product panels are alternated within the frame. In addition, the graphics panels are preferably narrower than the product panels such that, other than the graphics panel within the "leaf" being viewed, each graphics panel is obscured by the product panel above it so that it does not block from view any jewelry displayed on the product panel below it. In addition, the upright frame may be rotatably mounted to the horizontal bracket such that the frame can be rotated to allow the salesperson to change the displays without having to turn the bracket. The frame may be locked in place by a peg that extends downward through the bottom portion of one side of the frame into a recess in the bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,902 to Vlastakis discloses a merchandise display device which includes a vertically disposed rear wall having opposing side edges that are attached to a pair of opposing, vertically disposed side wall assemblies. Each side wall assembly includes an inner panel facing the display section of the device, an outer panel foldably connected to the inner panel and a spacer panel interposed between substantial portions of the inner and outer panels. The inner panels of the side wall assemblies include vertically spaced, cooperating openings to accommodate shelf support members associated with shelves installed in the device. The shelves are inclined to promote gravity feed of product to the front edges of the shelves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,261 to Mobley, et al., discloses a merchandising display device having an upright tubular housing and a removable decorative covering is disclosed. The housing has an open top for permitting access to merchandise contained in the housing. The covering is of a deflatably air-inflated sleeve structure and is disposed around the housing so as to cover the outside surface of the housing. The covering includes an outer wall which defines the outer perimeter of the sleeve structure. The covering is formed of air-impervious flexible sheet material such that the outer wall is bulged outwardly due to internal pressure of the covering to provide a contour different from the contour of the housing.
None of the patents of the prior art adequately maximize the display space and none are designed to cover an entire wall area. None of the patents identified disclose or suggest a system for maximizing space for frames, moulding and the like.
It would be desirable to provide a mechanism for displaying a multiplicity of frame molds in a compact and novel format.
It would be desirable to provide a display system which can support a substantial number of items such as frame molds in a rotatable and compact space.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the summary and detailed description which follows.

System for supporting picture frame moulding


Methods and chemical compositions for treating a gas stream comprising non-halogenated and halogenated organic compounds while suppressing halogenation of the non-halogenated organic compounds with the oxidation products of the halogenated organic compounds in the gas stream are disclosed. The gas stream in the presence of oxygen is contacted with the catalyst compositions of the invention to oxidize the non-halogenated and the halogenated compounds to form water, carbon dioxide, and halogen molecules (Cl.sub.2, Br.sub.2, etc.) and/or halogen acids such as HCl, HBr, etc. An advantage of the present compositions and methods is that halogenation or of the treated emissions is suppressed over a process operating temperature range 400 to 550.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and compositions for the catalytic oxidation of gaseous carbonaceous emissions, in particular, gaseous carbonaceous emissions that include halogenated compounds.
2. Description of Related Art
The treatment of gaseous emissions containing volatile organic compounds has been of increasing concern in recent years. Thermal incineration, catalytic oxidation and adsorption are commonly used for removing these pollutants. Thermal incineration requires high operating temperatures and high capital cost facilities. If the gaseous stream also includes halogenated compounds, thermal incineration can evolve toxic halogenated compounds under certain operating conditions. In some instances, adsorption by adsorbents such as carbon is an alterative; however, this process does not destroy the pollutants, but merely concentrates them. Furthermore, adsorption efficiency can be adversely impacted by fluctuating concentrations of the gaseous components.
Catalytic oxidation is an energy efficient and economical way of destroying gaseous organic emissions. It operates at significantly lower temperatures and shorter residence time than thermal incineration and requires smaller reactors made of less expensive materials.
Methods for the catalytic oxidation of non-halogenated organic and halogenated organic compounds are well known in the art. For example, in the article by G. C. Bond and N. Sadeghi, "Catalyzed Destruction of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons" J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 1975, 25, 241-248, it is reported that chlorinated hydrocarbons are converted to HCl and CO.sub.2 over platinum on gamma alumina catalysts.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,972,979 and 4,053,557 describe the decomposition of halogenated hydrocarbons by oxidation over chromium oxide or a boehmite supported platinum.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,059,675, 4,059,676 and 4,059,683 describe methods for decomposing halogenated organic compounds using catalysts containing ruthenium, ruthenium-platinum and platinum, respectively, in the presence of an oxidizing agent at a temperature of at least 350.degree. C.
The article by James J. Spivy, "Complete Catalytic Oxidation of Volatile Organics", Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 1987, 26, 2165-2180, is a review of the literature dealing with the heterogenous catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds.
The article by S. Chatterjee and H. L. Green, "Oxidative Catalysis by Chlorinated Hydrocarbons by Metal-Load Acid Catalysts", Journal of Catalysis, 1991, 130, 76-85, reports on a study of the catalytic oxidation of methylene chloride in air using supported zeolite catalysts H-Y, Cr-Y, and Ce-Y.
PCT international application No. PCT/US 90/02386 describes a catalytic process for converting or destroying organic compounds including organohalogen compounds using a catalyst which contains as a catalytic component titania. The preferred catalyst also contains vanadium oxide, tungsten oxide, tin oxide, and at least one noble metal selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, and rhodium characterized in that the vanadium oxide, tungsten oxide and noble metals are uniformly dispersed on the titania.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,041 (commonly assigned to assignee of the instant invention), hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an oxidation catalyst for treating a gas stream containing compounds selected from the group consisting of halogenated organic compounds, other organic compounds and mixtures thereof; the catalyst comprising a core material comprising zirconium oxide and one or more oxides of manganese, cerium or cobalt with vanadium oxide and, preferably, platinum group metal dispersed on the core material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,545 (commonly assigned to assignee of the instant invention), hereby incorporated by reference, relates to treatment of streams containing halogenated organic compounds and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with catalytic materials deposited on high acidity and/or low acidity supports.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,578,283 and 5,653,949, (commonly assigned to assignee of the present invention), hereby incorporated by reference, relate to treatment of gases containing halogenated organic compounds, non-halogenated organic compounds, carbon monoxide or mixtures thereof. Catalyst compositions useful in the treatment comprise at least one platinum group metal, zirconium oxide and at least one oxide of manganese, cerium or cobalt. A further composition disclosed uses the foregoing described components but which is substantially free of vanadium in a process for treating a gas stream containing at least one brominated organic compound.
While the foregoing references describe methods and compositions for treatment of streams containing carbonaceous compounds and halogenated organic compounds, there is no recognition of any problems which arise during the treatment of emission streams particularly those containing halogenated organic compounds and non-halogenated organic compounds such as methane and benzene. For example, emissions from production of terephthalic acid typically contain carbon monoxide, methane, methyl bromide, and hydrocarbons such as benzene and toluene. It has been observed that as catalysts age, their catalytic effectiveness decreases and to compensate for this decreased effectiveness, process temperatures are raised to complete the desired catalysis. However, for the case of terephthalic acid production, the increased process temperatures unfavorably results in bromination of methane and bromination of benzene. For example, it has been found that benzene bromination occurs at temperatures as low as 300.degree. C. and that methane bromination occurs at temperatures low as 420.degree. C. using a platinum-based catalyst. The bromination of methane has a deleterious effect on the overall conversion of methyl bromide. Additionally, bromination of benzene gives rise to bromobenzene, dibromobenzene, and tetrabromobenzene. The deleterious effects of forming these brominated benzenes is that these compounds are formed in the solid phase which cause plugging or blockage in process lines.
The present invention provides a solution to the aforesaid problems by offering methods and catalytic compositions which oxidize non-halogenated and halogenated organic compounds while suppressing halogenation of other gas stream compounds such as methane and benzene with the oxidation products of the halogenated compounds.

Catalytic compositions and methods for suppression of halogenation of organic compounds with oxidation products of halogenated organic compounds in gaseous emission streams


The invention concerns an in-vitro method for introducing a targeted genome modification into an oocyte or an egg and a method for performing a random insertion in the genome of a host cell.

The invention relates to the production of antibody formats and their immunological applications, more specifically in immunotherapy and immunodiagnostic. The inventors call to mind that antibody molecules are immunoglobulins (Ig) belonging to 5 classes: IgM, IgG, IgD, IgE and IgA. In general, these molecules comprise a heavy chain (H) and a light chain (L) that is either the kappa chain (κ), or the lambda chain (λ).
Each class of immunoglobulins comprises a specific type of H chain: μ chain for IgM, γ for IgG, δ for IgD, ε for IgE and α for IgA. Each chain is formed by domains, each with an inner disulphide bond. An L chain has two domains and an H chain has 4 domains. The sequence of the domain comprising the amine end of each chain is variable (VH and VL regions), that of other domains is constant (CH1, CH2 and CH3 of the H chain, and CL of the L chain). The variable regions V comprise regions of hypervariable sequences called CDR together determining the complementarity.
In the H chains, the first two domains (VH-CH1) are followed by a hinge region. In an immunoglobulin, the L chain is connected to the H chain by a disulphide bond to form a heterodimer. This heterodimer is connected to the same heterodimer by several disulphide bonds at the hinge region to form the immunoglobulin. By splitting with a protease at the level of the hinge, we obtain two fragments: fragment Fab (antigen binding domain, comprising the VL-CL and VH-CH1 domains) and fragment Fc (effector domain, comprising domains (CH2-CH3)2).
The invention more specifically refers to antibody fragments and different antibody formats created from these fragments, in particular formats of chimerised or humanised, multispecific and/or multivalent antibodies. The "antibody formats" as referred to in the invention correspond to different combinations of domains and regions of the types mentioned above.
By "chimerised antibody", the inventors refer to a VH domain of animal origin fused to constant regions of human immunoglobulin. By "humanised antibody", the inventors refer to a human VH domain on which hypervariable regions (CDRs) are grafted from a VH of animal origin, fused to constant regions of a human Ig.
These antibodies recognise the epitopes of targets corresponding to a given molecule. These epitopes may differ, and belong to different targets or the same target. Thereby "bispecific antibody" refers to a format with two different VH binding two different targets; "biepitopic antibody" refers to a format with two different VH binding two different epitopes on the same target. The "valence" corresponds to the number of times the same VH is found on the fragment considered.
The recognition specificity of antibodies to reach a determined target has been used for the diagnosis and treatment of different diseases and, in particular in oncology, where the target may be an antigen associated with a tumour, a growth factor receptor, an oncogene product or a muted "tumour suppressor" gene, or even a molecule linked to angiogenesis or a molecule also expressed on non-tumoural cells, but absent from progenitor cells (as in the case of CD20).
After over 20 years of experimental work, the immunotargeting of tumours by monoclonal antibodies is currently developing considerably. Thereby, the results of the different clinical studies have recently demonstrated the therapeutic possibilities of certain antibodies and have led to their approval by the FDA and the granting of a European AMM.
This progression is largely due to the use of so-called "second generation" recombinant antibodies: humanised antibodies, such as Herceptine, an anti-HER2/Neu antibody used in association with chemotherapy in certain breast carcinomas; and chimeric antibodies such as Rituximab, an anti-CD20 antibody used in the treatment of follicular B-cell lymphomas. Through gene engineering, it is possible to "graft" the variable or hypervariable regions of mouse antibodies on human Ig molecules. New techniques can now be used to obtain fully human antibodies either by selection of variable human domains expressed on phages (so-called "Phage display" technique), or by using transgenic mice producing human antibodies.
Moreover, the concept of bispecific antibodies has been used to stimulate the immune system and thereby favour the contact between the tumoural target cell and an effector cell. It consists in constructing an antibody endowed with a double specificity. This antibody should be able to bind a molecule produced at the surface of tumoural cells (such as CEA, HER2/Neu, GD2, etc.) and a molecule expressed at the surface of effector cells of the immunity, NK cells, killer T lymphocytes or CTL, polynuclear neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages (such as Fc receptors, etc.). A variant of this strategy consists of constructing an antibody linking a molecule produced at the surface of the tumoural cell and a molecule presenting direct or indirect properties of cytotoxicity (radio-element, toxin, prodrug).
Until now, most of the bispecific antibodies were developed by biochemically coupling 2 fragments of antibodies. However, this technique is rarely developed on an industrial scale. Several bispecific antibodies have been genetically developed, such as bispecific antibodies of the scFv type ("diabodies"). Unfortunately, they remain difficult to produce in E. coli in soluble form and they also are not very effective in terms of ADCC.
Within the search for candidate antibodies to generate antibody formats for immunotherapy and in particular to obtain multi-specific antibodies, the inventors directed their work towards specific antibodies, without a light chain, identified in the Camelidae (camel, dromedary, llama) (Hamers-Casterman et al., 1993).
Variable domains of heavy single chain antibodies from Camelidae (VHH), specifically recognising a type of antigen, were selected from immunised animals and were used to develop different formats of chimerised or humanised antibodies that may be produced from plasmid constructions. It turned out that the different formats were compatible to enable the production of any other VHH or humanised VHH, or human VH.
The invention aims at providing antibody formats comprising a part of the totality of VHH or humanised VHH, or human VH domains with properties to recognise the searched for targets and epitopes. It also aims at providing a method for the production of these different constructions. According to another aspect, the invention aims at immunotherapeutic and immunodiagnostic applications of the different formats provided. The invention also relates to antibody formats including a part or the totality of the VHH domains of Camelidae, in particular llamas and/or human VH, fused to constant regions of human antibodies.
According to a first means of achievement of the invention, the antibody formats are of Fab type and are characterised by the association of two identical or different VHH domains or two human VH domains, or two human VH domains on which are grafted the CDRs of the VHH, one of the domains being fused to the constant region Cκ or Cλ of a human immunoglobulin, the other to the constant region CH1 from a human immunoglobulin.
According to a second means of achievement of the invention, the antibody formats are of the Fab′ type and are characterised by the association of two identical or different VHH domains or two human VH domains, or two human VH domains on which are grafted the CDRs of the VHH, one of the domains being fused to the constant region Cκ or Cλ of a human immunoglobulin, the other to the constant region CH1 followed by a hinge region H from a human immunoglobulin. These chimerised or humanised antibody formats are of monospecific/bivalent, bispecific/monovalent and biepitopic/monovalent types.
According to a third means of achievement of the invention, the antibody formats are of F(ab′)2 type and are characterised by the association of two formats of Fab′ type as defined above. These chimerised or humanised antibody formats have a hinge region H, from a human immunoglobulin and allow for monospecific/tetravalent, bispecific/bivalent and biepitopic/bivalent combinations.
According to a fourth means of achievement of the invention, the antibody formats are of F(ab′)2 type and are characterised by the association of two Fab′ obtained by reduction of formats of the above F(ab′)2 type. These chimerised or humanised antibody formats have a hinge region H from a human immunoglobulin and allow for monospecific/tetravalent to tetraspecifique/monovalent or tetraepitopic/monovalent combinations, including all of the intermediate possibilities.
According to a fifth means of achievement of the invention, the antibody formats are of (HCH2CH3)2 type (H, representing the hinge region of a human immunoglobulin, CH2 and CH3, representing the second and third constant domain of a heavy chain from a human Ig, and are characterised by the association of two identical VHH or human VH, or two human VH on which are grafted the hypervariable regions of the VHH, each being fused at the region H—CH2-CH3 of a human Ig. These chimerised or humanised antibody formats allow for monospecific/bivalent combinations.
According to a sixth means of achievement of the invention, the antibody formats are of mAb* type (this type refers to variable domains of origin replaced by all or part of the VHH or humanised VHH or human VH domains, fused to constant regions of human antibodies) and are characterised by the association of two identical or different VHH or two human VH, or two human VH on which are grafter hypervariable regions of VHH, one being fused to the Cκ or human Cλ region, the other to the CH1-H—CH2-CH3 region of a human Ig. These chimerised or humanised antibody formats allow for monospecific/tetravalent and bispecific/bivalent and biepitopic/bivalent combinations.
In these different formats, the immunoglobulin is an IgG, corresponding to a human isoform IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 or IgG4, or a human IgA corresponding to an isoform IgA1, IgA2, or any other human Ig. The VHH may be replaced by human VH or humanised VHH by the grafting of CDRs from VHH on human VH.
In the examples of the above means of achievement of the invention, the VHH correspond to or comprise fragments of Camelidae VHH antibodies, in particular from llamas. In particular, it involves characteristic fragments in that it consists of a part or the totality of anti-carcinoembryonic antigen (anti-CEA in abbreviated form) or anti-receptor FcγRIII (anti-CD16 in abbreviated form) fragments.
The anti-CEA antibody fragments more specifically comprise an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of the sequences SEQ ID NO:77, SEQ ID NO:78, SEQ ID NO:79, SEQ ID NO:80 and SEQ ID NO:105. The anti-CD16 antibody fragments in a preferred manner comprise an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of the sequences SEQ ID NO:73, SEQ ID NO:74, SEQ ID NO:75, SEQ ID NO:76, SEQ ID NO:103 and SEQ ID NO:104. These fragments form new products and in this way also come into the scope of the invention.
The invention also includes the CDRs of these VHH fragments. The invention also includes a method for the production of chimerised or humanised, multispecific and/or multivalent antibodies for immunotherapy or immunodiagnostics, characterised in that it comprises the use of antibody formats defined above. The invention specifically aims at a method of said formats comprising anti-CEA and anti-CD16 Camelidae VHH, in particular llama VHH. More specifically, it refers to variable domains of anti-CEA and anti-CD16 VHH advantageously produced according to a protocol comprising: the immunisation of Camelidae, in particular of llamas with, as immunogen, a CEA or a CD 16; the purification of B lymphocytes obtained from blood; the construction of a VHH bank; and the isolation of VHH from the bank.
The construction of the bank comprises: the extraction of whole RNA from B lymphocytes; the reverse transcription of RNA to obtain the corresponding cDNA; the amplification by PCR of genes coding for the variable regions of single heavy chain anti-CD 16 and anti-CEA antibodies; and the ligation of VHH DNA fragments obtained by cutting, by enzymes, of DNA amplified with a phagemid. The VHH are isolated from banks by the phage display technique and are purified.
Said variable domains of anti-CEA and anti-CD16 VHH are advantageously produced according to a protocol comprising: the immunisation of Camelidae, in particular llamas with, as immunogen, a CEA or a CD16; the purification of B lymphocytes recovered from blood; the construction of a VHH bank; and the isolation of VHH from the bank.
In an advantageous manner, the construction of the bank comprises: the extraction of whole RNA from B lymphocytes; the reverse transcription of RNA to obtain the corresponding cDNA; the amplification by PCR of genes coding for the variable regions of single heavy chain anti-CD16 and anti-CEA antibodies; and the ligation of fragments of DNA VHH, obtained by cutting by enzymes of amplified DNA with a phagemid. The VHH are isolated from banks by the phage display technique and are purified. The different VHH have been validated in terms of specificity and affinity as illustrated by the examples.
According to the invention, the genes of the selected VHH are then introduced in expression vectors, in particular plasmids, to produce different chimerised multispecific and/or multivalent (anti-CEA/anti-CD16) antibodies, able to bind with tumoral cells expressing the CEA at their surface and recruit the effector cells from the immune system (monocytes, macrophages, NK, polynuclear neutrophils, et al.) that express CD16.
The invention also refers to expression vectors of the antibody formats defined above. It more specifically refers to expression vectors, in particular plasmids containing, between two unique sites of restriction enzymes, the promoters, the signal sequences, the nucleotide sequences able to code for the VHH domains defined above, and the constant regions of a human Ig, or for human VH domains, the CDRs regions of a VHH, and the constant regions of a human Ig.
The plasmids according to the invention are able to express high quantities of the antibody formats defined above, in soluble forms in bacteria and the regions coding for the antibody domains may easily be transferred to other systems of prokaryotic or even eukaryotic expression.
The invention therefore refers to plasmids pCκCH1γ1-TAG (SEQ ID NO:98 and SEQ ID NO:112) and pCκCH1γ1 (SEQ ID NO:100 and SEQ ID NO:114) allowing for the production of antibodies of Fab type according to a first means of achievement of the antibody formats defined above. These plasmids are more specifically characterised by the insertion of nucleotide sequences coding for the light region Cκ, and the constant heavy region CH1 of an Ig in the plasmid p55Flag/RBS/35cmyc6HisGS (SEQ ID NO:94 and SEQ ID NO:110).
The invention also refers to the plasmids pCκCH1 Hγ1-TAG (SEQ ID NO:99 and SEQ ID NO:113) and pCκCH1Hγ1 (SEQ ID NO:101 and SEQ ID NO:115) allowing for the production of antibodies of Fab′ and F(ab′)2 type according to a second, third and fourth means of achievement of the antibody formats defined above. These plasmids are more specifically characterised by the insertion of nucleotide sequences coding for the heavy chain CH1 and the hinge region (H) of an Ig in p55CκFlag/RBS/35cmyc6HisGS (SEQ ID NO:97 and SEQ ID NO:111).
The invention also refers to the plasmids pHCH2CH3γ1-TAG (SEQ ID NO:95) and pHCH2CH3γ1 (SEQ ID NO:96) allowing for the production of antibodies of (HCH2CH3)2 type according to a fifth means of achievement of the antibody formats defined above. These plasmids are more specifically characterised by the insertion of nucleotide sequences coding for the hinge region (H) and the constant regions CH2 and CH3 of an Ig in p55Flag/RBS/35cmyc6HisGS.
The invention also refers to plasmid pMabγI* (SEQ ID NO:102 and SEQ ID NO:116) allowing for the production of antibodies of mAb* type according to a sixth means of achievement of the invention. This plasmid is more specifically characterised by the insertion of nucleotide sequences coding for the constant heavy region CH1, the hinge region and the constant regions CH2 and CH3 of an Ig in pCκCH1γ1-TAG.
The diagrams of these plasmids are illustrated in FIG. 10B and their nucleotide sequences in FIG. 11. The intermediate plasmids used for the construction of the above plasmids also fall within the scope of the invention. More specifically, it involves plasmids p55PhoA6HisGS/N− (SEQ ID NO:89), p55PhoA6HisGS/NAB′ (SEQ ID NO:90), p55/MCS1 (SEQ ID NO:92), p55Flag/RBS/35 (SEQ ID NO:93 and SEQ ID NO:109), p55Flag/RBS/35cmyc6HisGS (SEQ ID NO:94 and SEQ ID NO:110) and p55CκFlag/RBS/35cmyc6HisGS (SEQ ID NO:97 and SEQ ID NO:111) constructed to develop the plasmids defined above. The domains CH1, CH2, CH3, H of an Ig in these plasmids belong to IgGI, IgG2, IgG3 or IgG4, or even IgA, or any other Ig.
The genes coding for the VHH or the human VH are introduced between the unique sites in the different plasmids. These genes may be replaced by genes coding for humanised VHH by grafting of CDRs of VHH on human VH. More generally, the plasmids used according to the invention may be designed to contain nucleotide sequences coding for VHH other than anti-CEA or anti-CD16 VHH, or for other human VH, or for other humanised VHH, able to bind on any molecule.
The invention also refers to plasmid p55PhoA6HisGS−/NAB− (SEQ ID NO:91) characterised in that it comprises the nucleotide sequences to produce human VH domains fused to alkaline phosphatase according to the diagram in FIGS. 10A and 11.
A method to select the variable human fragments of heavy chains of immunoglobulins (VH) and isolate the best produced and best secreted clones has been developed. Advantageously, these human VH are used as a matrix to graft the CDR from previously selected VHH in order to humanise the variable regions.
The antibody formats defined above are of great interest in immunotherapy and immunodiagnostics. They are able to recognise different molecules or bind two different epitopes on the same molecule, and also provide access to new epitopes that are not recognised by the concentional antibodies. They may also be humanised, which opens the way to advantageous prospects, to have antibodies of low immunogenicity after injection in man. The fact that they are obtained in a soluble form is an additional characteristic of interest for these antibodies. Their applications in immunodiagnostics and immunotherapy are also part of the invention.

Production of antibody formats and immunological applications of said formats

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-CNRS

INSERM (Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale)

Institut Regional du Cancer de Montpellier-Val d'Aurelle