A filter retrieval device having an actuatable dilator tip for retrieval of an intravascular filter from a body lumen is disclosed. An outer shaft coupled to a distal sheath is advanced along a filter wire to desired point within the vasculature. An intravascular filter such as a distal protection filter can be advanced along the filter wire to a point distal a lesion to collect debris dislodged during a medical procedure. Disposable in part within the distal sheath is an actuatable dilator tip adapted to retrieve the filter at least in part within the distal sheath. Actuation of the dilator tip may be accomplished by any number of means, including a resilient member such as a spring coil, or by a reduced inner diameter portion disposed on the distal sheath adapted to engage a plurality of recessed surfaces disposed on the dilator tip.

Intravascular filters such as embolic protection filters are generally placed within a body lumen, such as an artery or vein, downstream of a site where a therapeutic device will be used. Examples of procedures employing such filters include angioplasty, atherectomy, thrombectomy and stent placement. These procedures typically involve transluminally inserting and delivering within the artery or vein, a filter wire and filter to a location distal a coronary lesion. Once in place, a therapeutic device such as an angioplasty balloon or an atherectomy catheter can be advanced to the site of the lesion to perform the procedure. During the procedure, embolic material such as plaque or thrombus become dislodged from the walls of the body lumen, and flow downstream where they are collected by the filter. After the procedure is performed, the therapeutic device and filter containing the debris, if any, can be removed from the body.

Intravascular filter retrieval device having an actuatable dilator tip


A process for making fine and ultra-fine metallic fibers is disclosed comprising arranging a multiplicity of metallic wires to form an assembly of the metallic wires. The assembly of the metallic wires is wrapped with a wrapping material to form a wrapped assembly. A plurality of the wrapped assemblies are inserted into a tube for providing a cladding. The cladding is drawn for reducing the outer diameter thereof and for reducing the cross-section of each of the multiplicity of metallic wires within the cladding to transform the multiplicity of metallic wires into a multiplicity of fine or ultra-fine metallic fibers. The cladding is removed for providing the multiplicity of fine or ultra-fine metallic fibers. In one example, the metallic wires are coated with a coating material formed from the same material as the wrapping material and the cladding material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to metallic fibers and more particularly to an improved method of making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers through a new cladding and drawing process.
2. Background of the Invention
In recent years, the need for high quality, small diameter metallic fibers has grown as new applications for such fibers are developed by the art. High quality, small diameter metallic fibers have been used in diverse applications such as filtration media as well as being dispersed within a polymeric material to provide electrostatic shielding for electronic equipment and the like. This need for high quality, small diameter metallic fibers has produced various new ways and processes for making these high quality metallic fibers for the various uses in the art.
Typically, high quality metallic fibers may be characterized as small diameter metallic fibers having a diameter of less than 50 micrometers with a substantially uniform diameter along the longitudinal length thereof. Typically, the fibers are produced in a fiber tow and severed to have a longitudinal length at least 1,000 times the diameter of the metallic fiber.
The metallic fibers as set forth herein are typically manufactured by cladding a metallic wire with a cladding material to provide a first cladding. The first cladding is drawn and annealed for reducing the diameter of the first cladding. A plurality of the first claddings are clad to provide a second cladding. The second cladding is subjected to a multiple drawing and annealing process for reducing the diameter of the second cladding and the corresponding diameter of the first claddings contained therein. Depending upon the desired end diameter of the first cladding, the plurality of second claddings may be clad to provide a third cladding. Multiple drawings of the third cladding reduces the diameter of the first and second claddings to provide metallic fibers within the first claddings of the desired diameter. After the desired diameter of the metallic fibers within the first cladding is achieved, the cladding materials are removed by either an electrolysis or a chemical process thereby providing metallic fibers of the desired final diameter.
Ideally, the metallic fibers are made of a stainless steel and are produced by a drawing process. The drawing process comprises cladding a stainless steel wire with a cold roll steel clad material to produce a first cladding. The first cladding is subjected to a series of drawing and annealing processes for reducing the diameter thereof. Thereafter, a plurality of the first claddings are encased within a second cladding material such as cold roll steel for producing a second cladding. The second cladding is subjected to a series of drawing and annealing processes for further reducing the diameter of the second cladding. After the second drawing process, the original wires of the first cladding are reduced to a diameter of 10 to 50 microns that is suitable for some applications. For applications requiring finer metallic fibers, a plurality of second claddings are clad with a third cladding material to provide a third cladding. Third cladding is subjected to a series of drawing and annealing for further reducing the diameter of the original metallic wires. A triple cladding process can produce final wires having a diameter of as low as 6 microns in diameter.
The cladding material is removed by subjecting the finally drawn cladding to an acid leaching process whereby the acid dissolves the cladding material leaving the metallic fibers. The metallic fibers may be severed to produce metallic sliver or cut metallic fibers or may be used as metallic fiber tow.
Although the foregoing process of making fine metallic fibers has been found satisfactory in the prior art, the process has certain disadvantages for some applications. The first disadvantage is the requirement of incorporating a three cladding process in order to produce metallic fibers in the range of 6 microns in diameter. Another limitation is the initial diameter of the metallic wire must be of a sufficient size in order to clad carbon steel thereto. Another disadvantage of the aforementioned process includes the incomplete removal of the cladding material from the metallic fibers during the leaching process.
Another disadvantage of this prior art process is the diffusion of impurities of the carbon steel into the metallic fibers during the drawing process. A substantial amount of heat and pressure are produced during the drawing process causing a fusion of undesirable materials from the carbon steel upon the surface of the metallic fibers. These undesirable materials such as carbon, hydrocarbon materials such as oils and the like remain on the surface of the metallic fibers through the leaching process and reside thereon in the end product. In certain applications, these undesired impurities are detrimental to the application and the use of the metallic fibers. For example, these undesirable impurities may be detrimental when the metallic fibers are used in a filtration process or the like.
Some of the prior art have attempted to use copper as a cladding material for producing fine metallic fibers. U.S. Pat. No. 2,050,298 to Everett discloses a method for producing filaments from a rod, which comprises the steps of bundling the rods side by side in a matrix, drawing the bundle, removing the matrix, and separating the wires. The matrix serves to separate the elements, limiting distortion during drawing and preventing adjacent elements from becoming attached to each other. Two embodiments of matrix material given are metal powder and individual metal sheaths, or a combination of the two. The sheath may be dissolved off with acid. An example given consisted of stainless steel fibers having a copper matrix and a tubular casing of high carbon steel, the removal of which was effected by a hot acid bath. An alternative method for stainless steel fibers consisted of encasing the fibers in separate copper tubes and then packing a number of these in a copper tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,077,682 discloses a process for the production of fine wires, strips, thin sheets or the like by reduction from elements of larger cross-section which comprises assembling inside a tubular casing a plurality of metal elements composed of alloy steel comprising 0.05% to 0.20% carbon, 6% to 14% nickel and 10% to 20% chromium, and subjecting the encased elements as a unit to reducing operations to reduce the cross-section area of all the elements, simultaneously, and then removing the casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,384 discloses a method of making from 80xe2x80x3 wide to 160xe2x80x3 wide thin sheets of a metal which is difficult to roll selected from the group consisting of stainless steel, ferrous alloys, titanium, zirconium and their alloys, which consists in assembling a pack of plates of the metal with weld-preventing material therebetween, placing the pack within a box welded up from steel top and bottom plates and steel side and end bars with the top and bottom plates overlapping the side and end bars, providing vent holes in all of the bars, hot rolling the resulting pack-in-a-box first by cross rolling and then by rolling longitudinally, thereby reducing the first-mentioned plates to sheets, then subjecting the sheets while still confined within the box to heating and cooling stages in predetermined order thereby developing desired physical properties in the sheets, roller leveling the hot-rolled pack while still in the box, and then opening the box and removing and separating the sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,326 discloses a method of making a fused energy-conducting structure having a multiplicity of juxtaposed long and thin energy-conducting guides extending from one end toward the other end thereof utilizing a rolling mill, the method comprising the steps of placing a multiplicity of energy-conducting fibers each clad with a glass having a relatively low softening temperature and coefficient of expansion in side-by-side bundled relationship longitudinally within a tubular supporting member formed of a metal having a substantially higher softening temperature and coefficient of expansion than the glass, the fibers being in such number and of such diameter as to substantially fill the supporting member, there being undesired interstices containing air and gases extending longitudinally between the fibers, heating the assembly of the supporting member and fibers to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse claddings together and rolling the heated assembly under compression progressively from one end toward the other end thereof to a reduced cross-sectional size, the reduction in size being of an amount at least sufficient to effect substantially complete closure of the interstices progressively along the length of the assembly and simultaneous longitudinal extrusion of air and gases therein immediately prior to adjoining and fusion of portions of the claddings along the interstices as the assembly is rolled.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,564 discloses a method of forming a tow of substantially bare filaments comprising the steps of sheathing each of a plurality of elongated drawable metal elements from which the filaments are to be formed with a tubular sheath formed of a material having characteristics permitting the sheaths to be pressed together to form a substantially monolithic body and differing chemically substantially from those of the elements to permit separation of the sheath material from elements. The sheathed elements are bundled in a substantially parallel relationship. The bundled sheathed elements are mechanically worked in at least one working step to reduce the cross-section of the elements to a preselected filament cross-section of less than approximately 10 microns maximum transverse dimension and to cause the sheath material to form a matrix extending substantially continuously in cross-section thereby to preclude separation of individual sheathed filaments. The sheathing material is substantially completely removed while maintaining the filaments in bundled relationship to provide a tow of substantially bare separate filaments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,916 discloses a method of process for the production of superconducting niobium-zirconium alloy wire comprising heat-treating a niobium-zirconium material containing a second phase constituent and having a substantially non-dendritic refined crystal structure substantially free of high concentrations of impurities, in a temperature range of 1000xc2x0-1250xc2x0 C. under inert conditions for 30-120 minutes, whereby the second phase is placed in solution with the material. The process includes quenching the material as quickly as possible to retain the second-phase constituents in solution and working the material at a temperature below 500xc2x0 C. to reduce its cross section and removing any surface defects which may be present. The material is heat-treated at a temperature in the range of 750xc2x0 C.-825xc2x0 C. under inert conditions for 15-130 minutes and is enclosed within a sheath of different material having substantially similar working properties to the material regarding ductility, rate of work-hardening and hardness. The material is deformed within the sheath together to the required final cross-section of the material. The sheath is dissolved and the material is copper plated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,213 discloses a method of forming fine filaments, such as filaments of under approximately 15 microns, in long lengths wherein a plurality of sheathed elements are firstly constricted to form a reduced diameter billet by means of hot forming the bundled filaments. After the hot forming constriction, the billet is then drawn to the final size wherein the filaments have the desired final small diameter. The material surrounding the filaments is then removed by suitable means leaving the filaments in the form of a tow.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,200 to Roberts et al. provides a method of forming a twisted bundle of filaments wherein a plurality of sheathed filaments are bundled together, sheathed or embedded in a matrix, and constricted by being drawn through a constricting die. Then the bundle is fed onto a roll, with a twist imparted to the filaments at the same time.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,114 discloses a method of forming fine filaments formed of a material such as metal by multiple end drawing a plurality of elongated elements having thereon a thin film of lubricant material. The plurality of elements may be bundled in a tubular sheath formed of a drawable material. The lubricant may be applied to the individual elements prior to the bundling thereof and may be provided by applying the lubricant to the elements while they are being individually drawn through a coating mechanism such as a drawing die. The lubricant comprises a material capable of forming a film having a high tenacity characteristic whereby the film is maintained under the extreme pressure conditions of the drawing process. Upon completion of the constricting operation, the tubular sheath is removed. If removed, the lubricant may also be removed from the resultant filaments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,247 discloses carbon filaments being coated with a metal by electro-deposition, electroless plating or chemical plating. Preferably the carbon filaments are subjected to an oxidizing treatment under strong oxidizing conditions before being coated with the metal. Metal coated filaments are incorporated in the metal matrix by electroforming, powder technology techniques, casting or by subjecting the coated filaments to a combination of heat and pressure to coalesce them into a composite material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,349 discloses a method of fabricating a unitary superconducting multistrand conductor. The method includes coating a plurality of fine superconducting wires with a normal metal having ductility characteristics similar with those of the superconducting metal, assembling the coated wires in a close-packed array, and swagging the array so that the metal coatings of the wires form a conductive continuous matrix in which the wires are solidly embedded.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,025 discloses a process for producing long continuous lengths of metallic filaments which comprises securing four flat plates of a first metal to each of the elongated sides of a billet of a second metal and having a cross section in shape of a rectangle, by edge welding each of the plates. The resulting assembly is essentially void free. The rectangular cross section of the billet is reduced while being elongated by hot rolling. The resulting elongated rectangular structure, having a core of the second metal and a cladding of the first metal over the elongated sides, is divided into a plurality of elements of the same lengths. The elements are inserted into a hollow metal tube open at both ends having a rectangular cross section in a manner to essentially eliminate the voids and with their longitudinal axes and the longitudinal axis of the tube essentially parallel. Ends of the tube are sealed and the sealed unit is reduced in cross section and elongated by hot rolling. The other materials are removed from the resulting filaments of the first metal yielding materials suitable for weaving into metal cloth.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,036 discloses a method of producing fine metallic filaments by covering a bundle of a plurality of metallic wires with an outer tube metal and drawing the resultant composite wire, wherein the outer tube metal on both sides of the final composite wire obtained after the drawing step is cut near to the core filaments present inside the outer tube and then both uncut surfaces of the composite wire are slightly rolled thereby to divide the outer tube metal of the composite wire continuously and thus separating the outer tube metal from fine metallic filaments. The separation treatment can be effected by a simple apparatus within a short time. This reduces the cost of production, and enables the outer tube metal to be recovered in situ.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,026 discloses a method of producing a yarn of fine metallic filaments at low cost, which comprises covering a bundle of a plurality of metal wires with an outer tube metal to form a composite wire, drawing the composite wire and then separating the outer tube metal from the core filaments in the composite wire, wherein for ease of the separation treatment, the surfaces of the metal wires are coated with a suitable separator or subjected to a suitable surface treatment before the covering of the outer tube metal, thereby to prevent the metallic bonding of the core filaments to each other in the subsequent drawing or heat-treatment of the composite wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,447 discloses a number of wires gathered together and wrapped with an armoring material in the shape of a band. The wires in this condition are drawn by means of a wire drawing apparatus having dies and a capstan. A plurality of bundles of such wires are gathered together and wrapped in the same way as in the foregoing to form a composite bundle body, which is further drawn, and these processes are repeated until at least filaments of a specific diameter are obtained in quantities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,046 discloses a collimated hole structure formed by constricting a plurality of tubular elements each provided with a core for supporting the tubular element during the constricting operation. The bundle of elements is constricted to a point where the elements effectively fuse into a substantially monolithic body. The cores are then removed, leaving a plurality of extremely small diameter, generally parallel passages in a solid body. The tubular elements may be arranged in any desired array, and thus the passages may be provided similarly in any desired array. The passages may have high aspect ratios and may be closely juxtaposed. In one illustrative application, the collimated hole structure is provided with dielectric film and utilized as an anode portion of an electrolytic capacitor. In another illustrative application, the collimated hole structure is utilized as a tip for a drilling device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,845 discloses a method of forming a tow of filaments and the two formed by the method wherein a bundle of elongated elements such as rods or wires, is clad by forming a sheath of material different from that of the elements about the bundle and the bundle is subsequently drawn to constrict the elements to a desired small diameter. The elements may be formed of metal. The bundle may be annealed, or stress relieved, between drawing steps as desired. The sheath may be formed of metal and may have juxtaposed edges thereof welded together to retain the assembly. The sheath is removed from the final constricted bundle to free the filaments in the form of tow.
U.S. Pat. No. RE 28,526 to Ziemek discloses a copper band formed around an aluminum core wire and the single seam in the sheath material is welded without bonding of the sheath and core, care being taken that all surfaces are clean and maintained free of oxides. The copper tube is reduced to the diameter of the aluminum core. This composite wire is then passed through a plurality of drawing dies which reduce the diameter of the wire, preferably at least 50 percent, care being taken to prevent the copper sheath from tearing. The drawing operation produces, depending on the reduction rate, an initial or a complete bond between the core and sheath. Subsequently, the clad wire is either subjected to a limited diffusion heat treatment, conditions of the heat treatment being controlled to produce a complete and flawless bond between the sheath and core but, at the same time, avoiding the formation of an CuAl2, a phase which is brittle or is annealed to get the required grade. Generally, the diffusion layer on either side of the sheath-core interface is limited to about 10xcexc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,564 to Webber et al teaches a method of forming a tow of substantially bare filaments comprising the steps of sheathing each of a plurality of elongated drawable metal elements from which the filaments are to be formed with a tubular sheath formed of a material having characteristics permitting the sheaths to be pressed together to form a substantially monolithic body and differing chemically substantially from those of the elements to permit separation of the sheath material from elements when desired. The sheathed elements are bundled in substantially parallel relationship. The bundled sheathed elements are mechanically worked in at least one working step to reduce the cross-section of the elements to a preselected filament cross-section of less than approximately 10 microns maximum transverse dimension and to cause the sheath material to form a matrix extending substantially continuously in cross-section thereby to preclude separation of individual sheathed filaments. The sheathing material is completely removed while maintaining the filaments in bundled relationship to provide a tow of substantially bare separate filaments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,375,569 to Eichinger et al teaches a method of making porous structures comprising the steps of winding a first row of wire on a winding support, the row having a large number of wire turns therein and having a predetermined pitch, winding subsequent rows of wire on the first row with each subsequent row having the same pitch as the first row so that each of the wire turns contacts substantially all of the immediately adjacent ones of the wire turns, bonding each of the turns to substantially all of its adjacent turns, and cutting sections from the turns generally transversely of the winding direction, the sections corresponding in thickness to the desired thickness of the porous structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,675 to Klebl et al discloses a copper clad steel wire being continuously produced by forming a copper sheet into a tube around the wire and welding the copper tube, at the edges, to produce a longitudinal seam. The diameter of the welded copper tube is reduced to the diameter of the wire, and the composite heated to a temperature of at least 850xc2x0 C., at which temperature the cross sectional area of the composite wire is reduced by at least 10 percent to bond the copper to the steel wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,555 Schmidt discloses a manufacturing process for a solid or hollow shaft consisting of aluminum or titanium with beryllium reinforcing therein. Beryllium rods are either clad with aluminum or titanium or, in the alternative, holes are drilled in an aluminum or titanium block which beryllium material is thereafter inserted into the holes. The preform with a hard steel central mandrel around which the beryllium rods are positioned is placed within a steel can and heated to a predetermined temperature. Pressure is then uniformly applied to the outer circumference of the can to ensure uniform deformation of the beryllium reinforcement. The uniform exterior pressure on the outer surfaces of the beryllium rods and the interior pressure on these rods caused by the hard steel mandrel against the under surfaces of the rods as a result of a reduction process causes the beryllium rods to assume an arcuate ribbon configuration. For hollow shafting, the mandrel at the center of the preform may later be removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,870 to Wolber discloses a multiorifice structure and a method of making the multiorifice structure. The structure is made by fusing a plurality of parallel rods stacked in a regular geometric pattern. The interstices between the fused rods form a plurality of small orifices of a noncircular configuration which are ideally suited for atomizing a pressurized fluid. In the preferred embodiment, the multiorifice structure is a fuel atomizer for atomizing the fuel ejected from an automotive type fuel injection valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,500 to Yoshida et al teaches a method of producing a copper clad steel wire comprising the steps of preparing a 5 to 15 mm diameter steel rod and a 21 to 66.7 mm width copper tape; continuously supplying the steel rod and the copper tape separately and cleaning the surfaces thereof; forming the copper tape in tubular form such that the copper tape can cover the steel rod while supplying the steel rod and the copper tape in parallel, and welding the edges of the copper tape in a non-oxidizing atmosphere; sinking the tubular copper tape sufficiently for the copper tape to substantially come into contact with the steel rod to form a copper clad steel rod; cold-drawing the copper clad steel rod and/or hot working the clad rod at a temperature of 400xc2x0 to 800xc2x0 C. to reduce its cross-sectional area by more than 20%; and then annealing the copper clad steel rod at a temperature of 300xc2x0 to 1050xc2x0 C.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,564 to Wolber discloses a multiorifice structure and a method of making the multiorifice structure. The structure is made by fusing a plurality of parallel rods stacked in a regular geometric pattern. The interstices between the fused rods form a plurality of small orifices of a noncircular configuration which are ideally suited for atomizing a pressurized fluid. In the preferred embodiment, the multiorifice structure is a fuel atomizer for atomizing the fuel ejected from an automotive type fuel injection valve.
In our prior invention set forth in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/190,723 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,395, we disclosed a novel apparatus and method for making fine and ultra-fine metallic fibers. The apparatus and process included the cladding of multiple coated wires with a tube to form a cladding. The cladding was drawn to reduce the outer diameter thereof and for reducing the cross-sectional area of the multiple coated wires within the cladding. The multiple coated wires within the cladding were transformed into fine metallic fibers. The cladding was mechanically removed for providing a remainder comprising the fine metallic fibers disposed within the coating material. In one alternative of the invention, the remainder was chemically treated to remove the coating material to provide the fine metallic fibers.
In a second alternative of the invention, the remainder was drawn to further reduce the cross-sectional area of the fine metallic fibers disposed within the remainder. The fine metallic fibers within the remainder were transformed into very fine metallic fibers. The remainder was chemically treated to remove the coating material to provide very fine metallic fibers.
In a third alternative of the invention, the remainder was drawn to further reduce the cross-sectional area of the fine metallic fibers disposed within the remainder. The fine metallic fibers within the remainder were transformed into very fine metallic fibers. A plurality of the remainders were clad with a tube to form a second cladding. The second cladding was drawn to reduce the outer diameter thereof and for reducing the cross-sectional area of the plurality of the remainders within the second cladding. The very fine metallic fibers within the second cladding were transformed into ultra fine metallic fibers. The second cladding was mechanically removed for providing a second remainder comprising the ultra fine metallic fibers disposed within the coating material. In this alternative of the invention, the remainder was chemically treated to remove the coating material to provide the ultra fine metallic fibers. In a fourth alternative of the invention, the second remainder was drawn to further reduce the cross-sectional area of the ultra metallic fibers dispose within the second remainder. A plurality of the second remainders were clad with a tube to form a third cladding to be processed as set forth above.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method which provides an alternative to the apparatus and method set forth in our U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,395.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers incorporating a metallic copper coating and a metallic copper cladding that requires only a single removal process.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers incorporating only a single continuous cladding process for a multiple continuous cladding process.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers incorporating a wrapping process for wrapping a multiplicity of wires to facilitate the cladding process.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers incorporating a wrapping process for increasing the number of wires that may be inserted within a preformed cladding tube.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers incorporating a wrapping process for maintaining the position of the multiplicity of wires during the process of cladding the multiplicity of wires.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers wherein the metallic fibers can be produced with a simple chemical leaching process or electrolysis process whereby the material removed is totally reusable within the process.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers whereby the leaching or electrolysis process is simple and efficient, fast and economical to operate.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers whereby fibers in the nanometer range can be obtained in commercial quantities.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and a fine metallic fibers that provides high quality metallic fibers of low impurities at an economical manufacturing cost.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers that incorporates a process that produces only products that may be reusable byproducts or environmentally safe disposable byproducts.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed as being merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention with in the scope of the invention. Accordingly other objects in a full understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the detailed description setting forth the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention is defined by the appended claims with specific embodiments being shown in the attached drawings. For the purpose of summarizing the invention, the invention relates to a process for making fine metallic fibers comprising arranging a multiplicity of metallic wires to form an assembly of the metallic wires. The assembly of the metallic wires is wrapped with a wrapping material to form a wrapped assembly. A plurality of the wrapped assemblies are inserted into a tube for providing a cladding. The cladding is drawn for reducing the outer diameter thereof and for reducing the cross-section of each of the multiplicity of metallic wires within the cladding to transform the multiplicity of metallic wires into a multiplicity of fine metallic fibers. The cladding is removed for providing the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers.
In a more specific example of the invention, the multiplicity of metallic wires are arranged in a tight assembly with the multiplicity of metallic wires being in contact with adjacent metallic fibers.
In another example of the invention, the wrapping material includes a stranding wire for wrapping the assembly of the metallic wires. The assembly of the metallic wires is helically wrapped with the stranding wire to maintain the assembly of the metallic wires in a tightly stranded wrapped assembly. Preferably, the stranding wire is wrapped under tension for tightly wrapping the wrapped assemblies. In another example of the invention, the stranding wire is interposed between the assembly of the metallic wires and the tube for reducing friction between the wrapped assembly and the tube to facilitate the movement of the wrapped assemblies inside the tube.
In another embodiment of the invention, the plurality of the wrapped assemblies are simultaneously inserted into the tube. The plurality of the wrapped assemblies are inserted into a preformed tube. In the alternative, the tube is formed about the plurality of the wrapped assemblies.
In another example of the invention, the cladding is mechanically removed for providing the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers. In the alternative, the cladding is chemically removed for providing the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers.
The invention is also incorporated into a process for making ultra fine metallic fibers comprising coating a multiplicity of metallic wires with a coating material. A multiplicity of metallic wires are arranged in a substantially parallel configuration to form an assembly of the metallic wires. The assembly of the metallic wires is wrapped with a stranding wire to form a first wrapped assembly. A plurality of the first wrapped assembly are inserted into a first tube for providing a first cladding. The first cladding is drawn for reducing the outer diameter thereof and for reducing the cross-section of each of the multiplicity of metallic wires within the first cladding and for diffusion welding the coating material within the first cladding to form a substantially unitary coating material with the multiplicity of metallic wires contained therein. The first cladding is removed to provide a first remainder comprising the diffusion welded coating material with the multiplicity of metallic wires contained therein. The first remainder is drawn for reducing the diameter thereof and for reducing the corresponding cross-section of each of the multiplicity of metallic wires contained therein to transform the multiplicity of metallic wires into a multiplicity of fine metallic fibers. A plurality of the drawn first remainders are assembled in a substantially parallel configuration to form an assembly of the drawn first remainders. The assembly of the drawn first remainders are wrapped with a stranding wire to form a second wrapped assembly. A plurality of the second wrapped assemblies are inserted into a second tube for providing a second cladding. The second cladding is drawn for reducing the outer diameter thereof and for reducing the cross-section of each of the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers within the second cladding and for diffusion welding the coating material within the second cladding to form a substantially unitary coating material with the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers contained therein. The second cladding is removed to provide a second remainder comprising the diffusion welded coating material with the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers contained therein. The second remainder is drawn for reducing the diameter thereof and for reducing the corresponding cross-section of each of the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers contained therein to transform the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers into a multiplicity of ultra fine metallic fibers. The diffusion welded coating material is removed from the second remainder for providing the multiplicity of ultra fine metallic fibers.
The invention is also incorporated into the process of making the fine or ultra-fine fibers comprising the steps of coating a multiplicity of metallic wires with a coating material. The multiplicity of metallic wires are assembled and wrapped with a wrapping material to form a wrapped assembly with the wrapping material being the same material as the coating material. A plurality of the wrapped assemblies are clad with a cladding material for providing a cladding with the cladding material being the same material as the coating material. The cladding is drawn to transform the multiplicity of metallic wires into a multiplicity of fine or ultra-fine metallic fibers. The coating material and the wrapping material and the cladding material are removed simultaneously for providing the multiplicity of fine metallic fibers.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the more pertinent and important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood so that the present contribution to the art can be more fully appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiments disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Process for making fine and ultra fine metallic fibers

Pall Filtration and Separations Group Inc.


A light adjusting apparatus including first and second substrates that include openings and are disposed parallel to each other at a predetermined distance, a rotating shaft member rotatably attached to the first and second substrates, a drive section that rotates the rotating shaft member, an incident light adjusting section that has a light adjusting function and is joined to the rotating shaft member so as to rotate integrally therewith, and a ring-shaped protruding portion for increasing a junction area of a joint portion between the rotating shaft member and the incident light adjusting section, in which the incident light adjusting section is rotated by the drive section via the rotating shaft member to be displaced to an inserted position located in the optical path of the incident light that passes through the openings or a retracted position to thereby adjust the incident light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light adjusting apparatus that adjusts light by inserting/retracting an incident light adjusting section into/from an optical path of incident light.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image pickup devices having an image pickup function are widely used in a variety of fields, among which there is a field of small image pickup devices having a relatively small shape. Some examples of such a small image pickup device include an electronic endoscope, an optical microscope provided with an image pickup function, a portable device provided with an image pickup function or a micro video scope.
Since priority is given to miniaturization in conventional small image pickup devices, a fixed focus lens, a fixed opening diaphragm, a fixed characteristic filter or the like are adopted as optical elements such as a lens, a diaphragm and an optical filter.
In contrast, high image quality had been also required for these small image pickup devices in recent years, and there has been a growing demand for adopting a focus lens, a variable diaphragm, a variable characteristic filter or the like as optical elements of the aforementioned light adjusting apparatus, that is, a demand for functions as a light adjusting apparatus that adjusts light.
Thus, many techniques are being proposed which seek to reduce sizes of light adjusting apparatuses so as to be applicable to small image pickup devices.
As an example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 10-20360 describes a configuration in which a coil body (5) is interposed between an upper cover (1) and a lower cover (7) and a rotor (4) polarized into two poles by a magnetic field generated by the coil body (5) is rotated. A diaphragm blade member (2) is attached to this rotor (4) so as to rotate integrally therewith via a shaft (3), and when the rotor (4) rotates, the diaphragm blade member (2) protrudes or retracts on the optical axis so as to adjust incident light. The configuration in which the diaphragm blade member (2) for adjusting light is attached to the rotor (4) which is a member from which a rotary drive force is first generated so as to rotate integrally therewith is considered particularly suitable for miniaturization of light adjusting apparatuses and miniaturization in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis.
There is a demand for further slimming down of the incident light adjusting section such as the aforementioned diaphragm blade when trying to implement a smaller, slimmer and lighter light adjusting apparatus. Since the configuration described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 10-20360 is one in which the shaft (3) is inserted into an orifice perforated in the diaphragm blade member (2) and joined, if the diaphragm blade member (2) is slimmed down, the junction area of the joint portion also becomes smaller.
This aspect will be described with reference to FIG. 17 and FIG. 18. FIG. 17 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of an incident light adjusting section in a conventional light adjusting apparatus and FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the configuration of the incident light adjusting section in the conventional light adjusting apparatus. Note that FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 show adjustment by a diaphragm as an example of light adjustment.
An incident light adjusting section (106) is a frame member (106b) having an optical opening (106a) which serves as a diaphragm opening. This frame member (106b) has a holding portion (106c) protruding from part of its perimeter in a diameter direction and a columnar rotating shaft member (111) is joined to a circular orifice (106d) provided in this holding portion (106c) so as to rotate integrally therewith. Therefore, the joint portion becomes a part where a circumferential surface (111a) of the rotating shaft member (111) contacts the circular orifice (106d) of the holding portion (106c).
To be more specific, as shown in FIG. 18, when the diameter of the rotating shaft member (111) is R0 and the thickness of the incident light adjusting section (106) is D0, a junction area S0 of the incident light adjusting section (106) and the rotating shaft member (111) is as shown in following equation 1.S0=π×R0×D0   [Equation 1]
Therefore, when the thickness D0 decreases, the area of the joint portion also decreases in proportion thereto.


A system and method for graph cut image segmentation using a shape prior is provided. In this method, an initial shape is applied to a portion of an image to be segmented. A narrowband is formed around a border of the shape, and a minimized graph cut is calculated for a portion of the image within the narrowband. The shape is then adjusted using the shape prior to fit the minimized graph cut. This method can be iteratively performed so that the shape evolves to segment an object from an image. The shape prior can be a parametric shape, such as an ellipse, or a statistical shape eigenspace calculated based on one or more training shapes.

The present invention relates to image segmentation, and more particularly, to graph out image segmentation using a shape prior.
Image segmentation is used to distinguish and partition an object or region (foreground) of a digital image from the background of the digital image. Image segmentation is commonly used, for example, in medical image analysis. Another popular use for image segmentation is in digital photograph editing.
Segmentation is a fundamental task in image processing and numerous methods have been developed to attempt to accurately segment an image. Some image segmentation methods rely on energy minimization in order to partition an image into multiple regions. Such methods include active contour image segmentation methods and graph cut image segmentation methods.
In an active contour method, the energy is typically comprised of image terms, which are regional and/or boundary based, as well as intrinsic regularization terms. An initial contour, or closed curve, is formed on the image, and based on energy minimization, the initial contour iteratively deforms to move to the region or object of interest. Active contour methods, however, can be sensitive to the initialization of the contour, since the energy minimization is subject to local minima. Active contour methods can also be subject to "leaking", which occurs when due to noise, clutter, poor contrast, etc., the image data does not provide enough information to stop the contour at the desired location.
In a graph cut image segmentation method, an energy minimization is performed on a graph. The graph is typically generated using vertices representing pixels of the image, as well as edges connecting the vertices, often using 4 or 8 neighborhood connectivity. It is also possible that the vertices of the graph could represent the connectivity of pixels in the image, while the edges of the graph represent the edges of the image. The energy in a graph cut image segmentation typically includes a region term that assigns penalties based on labeling a pixel as foreground or background, as well as a boundary term that assigns a penalty based on the dissimilarity of adjacent pixels. Edges connecting the pixels are cut so that each pixel is associated with either the foreground or the background of the image. The energy function to be minimized is typically the summation of weights of the edges that are cut. Conventional graph cut methods are not iterative, and typically achieve global minimization for an energy function. However, in conventional graph cut image segmentation methods, "leaking" can occur when an object has a weak boundary condition or is grouped together with another object having a similar intensity.

System and method for graph cuts image segmentation using a shape prior


The invention discloses system and method of temporary secure boot process of an electronic device. The method comprises: generating a first token according to an identification data of the electronic device; sending a request along with the first token to a service provider, the request corresponding to a boot package; receiving a second token and a boot package from the service provider; verifying the second token and the boot package; and executing the boot package according to verification result.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to system and method of temporary secure boot process of an electronic device. More particularly, the invention relates to a temporary secure boot process by use of unique device information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic devices are installed with an operating system. Normally in a boot up process, a bootloader would initiate components of the electronic device and load the operating system so that a user may operate the electronic device to perform various functions. Some user specific data or user-installed programs are also controlled by the operation system. However, when the electronic device encounters error or is sent to the care center for examination, user might not wish to reveals personal data/files during examination, or the electronic device may not be able to boot up as normal.

System and method for temporary secure boot of an electronic device


A raster operations (ROP) unit interleaves read and write requests for efficiently communicating with a frame buffer via a PCI Express (PCI E) link or other system bus that provides separate upstream and downstream data transfer paths. One example of a ROP unit processes pixels in groups, performing read modify writeback sequences for each group. The read requests associated with pixels in a second group are advantageously interleaved with the writeback requests for pixels in the first group prior to sending the requests on the system bus.

The present invention relates in general to updating pixel data in a frame buffer and in particular to a raster operations unit with interleaving of read and write requests using PCI Express (PCI-E) or a similar communication link.
Graphics processors are used to render images in many computer systems. In a typical rendering process, the graphics processor receives primitives (e.g., points, lines, and/or triangles) representing objects in a scene. In accordance with instructions provided by an application program, the graphics processor transforms each primitive to a viewing space, then determines which pixels of the image are covered by the primitive. For each pixel that is covered, the graphics processor computes a color and depth (or Z) value, e.g., by executing a pixel shader program provided by the application program. The color and depth values computed for each pixel are provided to a raster operations (ROP) unit, which stores the image pixels in a frame buffer. As the ROP unit receives new depth and color values for a pixel, it compares the new depth value to a previous depth value stored in the frame buffer and determines whether to write new data for that pixel to the frame buffer. If new data is to be written, the ROP unit updates the depth and color values in the frame buffer based on the new data. A typical ROP unit can perform a variety of color blending operations between existing pixels and new pixels.
The ROP unit generates many data transfer requests to and from the frame buffer for each image. To execute the process described above, each time the ROP unit receives a new pixel, it reads the old pixel (at least the depth value) from the frame buffer. If the pixel is to be changed, the color must also be read from the frame buffer so that it can be modified, and in the end, the modified color and depth are written back to the frame buffer. In some graphics systems, bandwidth between the ROP and the frame buffer can become a bottleneck, limiting system performance.
In one common approach to eliminating this bottleneck, the frame buffer is implemented in a memory device that is local to the graphics processor and dedicated to graphics use (referred to herein as a "graphics memory"). In these systems, the graphics processor is usually connected to the frame buffer by a wide, high-speed dedicated data path. This approach can be relatively expensive, requiring a large number of input/output (I/O) pins and consequently a large chip area.
For some low-cost or physically compact systems, it is desirable to avoid the extra cost associated with providing graphics memory. In these systems, sometimes referred to as "unified memory architectures" (UMA), the graphics processor generally uses an area of system memory to store the frame buffer. In a UMA system, the ROP unit communicates with the frame buffer using the bus that connects the graphics processor to the rest of the computer system.
Conventionally, buses for graphics devices have been implemented using protocols such as Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). These protocols provide a "reversible" data path, with data moving "upstream" from the graphics processor to system memory via the same physical path as data moving "downstream." Data can move in only one direction at a time. Generally, some amount of overhead is associated with bus "turnaround," i.e., switching between upstream and downstream data transfers. For the repeated read-modify-write sequence of operations on the frame buffer performed by a typical ROP unit, this overhead can be considerable.
Consequently, in UMA systems using conventional bus protocols, the ROP unit is usually designed to minimize the number of times the bus is turned around. In one typical implementation, the ROP unit receives pixels to be processed in groups (e.g., 256 or 512 pixels). The ROP unit executes all of the read operations for the group and defers the writeback operations for the group until the last read is completed. The bus is turned around only twice per group (from read to write, then from write to read), reducing the overhead.
More recently, the PCI Express (PCI-E) "bus" protocol has been introduced. Unlike conventional buses, which provide reversible data transfer paths that are often shared by multiple devices, PCI-E provides each device with a dedicated "bidirectional" link that includes separate upstream and downstream data paths. Thus, on a PCI-E link data can flow in both directions at once. ROP implementations that are optimized for reversible data paths, which allow data to flow in only one direction at a time, use the PCI-E link in a relatively inefficient manner. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a ROP unit that made more efficient use of a link protocol such as PCI-E.

Raster operations unit with interleaving of read and write requests using PCI express


An energy discrimination radiography system includes at least one radiation source configured to alternately irradiate a component with radiation characterized by at least two energy spectra, where the component has a number of constituents. At least one radiation detector is configured to receive radiation passing through the component and a computer is operationally coupled to the detector. The computer is configured to receive data corresponding to each of the energy spectra for a scan of the component, process the data to generate a multi-energy data set, and decompose the multi-energy data set to generate material characterization images in substantially real time. A method for inspecting the component includes irradiating the component, receiving a data stream of energy discriminated data, processing the energy discriminated data, to generate a multi-energy data set, and decomposing the multi-energy data set, to generate material characterization images in substantially real time.

The invention relates generally to energy discrimination radiography for inspection of industrial components and, more particularly, to energy discrimination digital radiography for material characterization of industrial components.
Nondestructive evaluation (or testing) continues to gain prominence for the inspection of industrial components, such as turbine blades, castings, welded assemblies, and aircraft fuselage frames. The objectives of nondestructive testing include detecting, quantifying and locating inclusions and corrosion in metallic components and assessing the relative and absolute amounts of two or more materials in components of simple or generally complex geometry. Examples of such applications include determination of the amount and location of water in aluminum honeycomb, determination of the amount and location of corrosion in metallic aircraft structures, and determination of the amount and location of residual ceramic core in cast aeroengine turbine blades.
Radiographic imaging is a useful tool for the nondestructive evaluation of industrial components, such as turbine blades. However, despite recent advances in digital radiography technology, the radiographic detection of one material, particularly small amounts of that material, residing in a complex structure of another material remains problematic. Moreover, corrosion can be difficult to detect and quantify using conventional radiographic techniques. This is especially true for minor corrosion. Significant corrosion often results in reduced material in the region of interest, which in turn reduces the X-ray absorption during inspection, such that the significant corrosion can be detected using conventional radiographic inspection techniques. However, minor corrosion products can remain on the structure, and the added oxidized component of the corrosion can actually increase the absorption of X-rays during inspection. In the resulting image, the minor corrosion can appear much like an adhesive used to bond parts of the structure, thereby masking the presence of the corrosion and inhibiting its detection using conventional radiographic techniques. Other issues arise where the added X-ray absorption of the corrosion oxidizers offsets the reduction in the metal structure from lost corrosion products, making detection and quantification of the corrosion difficult using conventional radiographic techniques.
These limitations of conventional radiographic techniques stem from the fact that conventional radiographic imaging of industrial components consists of single spectrum imaging, which is limited by complex overlapped features, as well as feature shape-dependent and contrast-dependent algorithms. Consequently, material characterization of industrial components, including the detection and quantification of minor corrosion, is complicated by conventional radiographic techniques.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a radiographic imaging technique with enhanced material characterization capabilities. In addition it would be desirable to provide a radiographic imaging technique for imaging complex, multi-constituent industrial components. It would further be desirable for the radiographic techniques to increase the speed of detectability, as well as the quantifiability of the amounts of different materials in an industrial component.

Energy discrimination radiography systems and methods for inspecting industrial components


An apparatus for feeding and engaging bar stock into an automatic screw machine having at least one clamp, at least one linear actuator, an apparatus for feeding material into the clamps, and a mechanism for facilitating opening and closing the clamps. The clamps include a base portion, pivotally mounted first and second clamping members, and a cam member extending through the base portion which engages the first and second clamping members. The clamps are mounted to a tubular support which rotates in conjunction with the spindle carrier of the automatic screw machine. The mechanism for facilitating opening and closing of the clamps engages an end portion of the at least one linear actuator to displace the cam member. The cam member disengages the clamping members causing the clamping members to open such that the bar stock can be fed into the clamping members and closed thereafter in a positive locking arrangement.

Automatic screw machines with single spindle and multiple spindle lathes are provided with a bar stock feeding apparatus which feeds bar stock to the machine. Bar stock can be formed in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most common type of bar stock is circular in shape. Square and hexagonal bar stock may also be machined in automatic screw machines. However, most conventional bar stock retaining mechanisms cannot be easily adapted to engage and feed different shapes and sizes of bar stock.
Two common clamping arrangements are used for automatically engaging and feeding bar stock to an automatic screw machine. The first type of clamping arrangement comprises an endless belt and pulley arrangement for feeding bar stock. An example of this type of arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,491 issued to Uehara et al., which discloses an apparatus for automatically feeding bar stock material into a machine tool with a plurality of bar stock clamping members. Each bar stock clamping member has a pair of bar engaging jaws with a set of guide pulleys and a drive pulley. An endless belt connects the guide pulleys and drive pulley to create an isosceles triangle gripping arrangement. The pair of jaws is rotatably mounted on a swingable arm which is attached to a support plate. The clamping jaws are rotated into contact with the bar stock to keep the bar stock aligned with the spindle of the lathe. This arrangement is particularly susceptible to mechanical breakdowns and endless belt failures.
The second type of clamping arrangement consists of a movable clamping portion and a fixed clamping guide portion. U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,864 to Cucchi et al. discloses an automatic feeder for a multi-mandrel lathe. The '864 patent provides a plurality of clamping members having a fixed clamping element and a movable clamping element. Each clamping element has an elastomeric coating on the interior surface. The movable clamping element is pivotally attached to an adjacent fixed clamping element of another clamping pair by a hinge. The movable clamping element pivots about the hinge to open to receive a length of bar stock.
The arrangement disclosed in the '864 patent is not an efficient method of clamping bar stock when a multiple spindle lathe is operated at high speeds. Changing bar stock using this arrangement may cause machine down time of up to 30%. Also, if one of the clamps is damaged during operation, the entire clamping arrangement must be replaced. In addition, the clamping arrangement disclosed in the '864 patent does not positively lock the clamping portions around the bar stock. Bar stock may work loose in such a clamping arrangement because the clamp is not positively locked.
Another problem associated with the '864 patent is loading and feeding bar stock into the clamping members. Sections of bar stock are typically are 8 to 12 feet in length and may range in weight to over 200 pounds. The arrangement in the '864 patent requires the operator to load the bar stock at the top of the bar feeding apparatus so the bar stock can be gravity loaded into the clamping members. This loading arrangement is unwieldy and requires heavy loads to be lifted 4 or more feet off the ground.

Apparatus for feeding bar stock to an automatic screw machine


A machine learning (ML) module that analyzes multiple language-influencing factors to correct textual content in a more meaningful and efficient manner. In the context of product support, the ML module considers the factors such as a customer's persona that shapes the words a customer chooses while speaking/writing to a customer support agent, current social trends that create new words in the social media/social platforms related to the customer's support issue, and the device used by the customer to input the textual content because different words may be input by the customer when using a smart phone versus a desktop/laptop personal computer with a traditional keyboard. The ML module also may analyze the agent's persona to modify agent's response to the customer because the agent's persona can influence the content of the agent's text. The ML module automatically corrects textual content in real-time before it is sent to the relevant recipient.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems (IHS). An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Modern information handling systems include many different types of consumer and commercial electronic devices such as, for example, personal computers (e.g., desktops or laptops), tablet computers, mobile devices (e.g., personal digital assistants (PDAs) or smart phones), corporate (or small business) server and data processing systems, and the like. These devices may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. In any event, almost all of these modern devices are equipped with relevant hardware and software to allow their users to access the Internet to perform various online activities such as, for example, browsing different websites, carrying out online business transactions, playing online games, participating in online meetings or chat sessions, and so on.
In today's increasingly virtual world, when a customer support issue arises for an information handling system, the user of the system almost invariably turns to online resources—such as, for example, online discussion forums, the device manufacturer's support website, or a chat session with a customer service agent—to find a solution to the problem afflicting the user's system. Such online support mechanism primarily involves textual inputs/queries from the user in a specific language to search for available solutions online or a textual communication with a customer service agent in the form of back-and-forth exchange of chat messages.

AI driven content correction built on personas


A method of agglomerating oil-containing steel mill waste includes the step of combining a first steel mill waste component with a second steel mill waste component to form a mixture. The first waste component includes substantially dry non-oily steel mill waste and the second waste component includes oil-containing steel mill waste. The first waste component and the second waste component are agglomerated.

Waste that contains iron values is generated at various locations of a steel plant during the processing of iron and steel. This waste material, which is commonly known as "revert," consists primarily of iron oxides. It is highly desirable that this waste be recycled to recover its iron value content, which may exceed 40 percent by weight. The dusts and sludges from the blast furnace and the basic oxygen furnace, and the sludges and mill scale from the rolling mill are particularly desirable for recycling purposes.
It is advantageous to convert steel mill waste into usable iron, inert slag and a relatively small amount of waste. This is not economically feasible unless all waste material that is generated in the plant is used, including oil laden sludge generated from flat rolling operations. Non-oily waste from the steel plant may be prepared in a sinter plant for use in a blast furnace. However, it is difficult to recycle oily steel mill waste. Steel mill waste that contains relatively large quantities of oils and greases cannot be recycled using sinter plants because volatilized oils and greases are not permitted for release to the atmosphere under EPA regulations and can cause fires in electrostatic precipitators used in the sinter plants.
Rolling mill scale when contaminated with oil from machinery is the primary source of oily waste in the steel mill. Such waste can be especially valuable in that it may contain about 60 to 75 percent by weight of iron. However, this residue is difficult to recycle due to its oil content. The oil in contaminated mill scale comprises about 10% of all the lubricants brought into a steel mill, and only about half of all oily sludge (contaminated and uncontaminated) can be processed by the sinter plant. Filippi, Removal of Organics from Recycled Materials, Conservation & Recycling, Vol. 8, No. 3/4, pp. 377-381, 1985.
In a hot strip rolling mill, a heated slab, sheet, bloom, billet or bar is passed between a series of rolls to reduce the thickness of the steel. In the rolling mill the hot steel is exposed to oxygen in the air as well as pressurized wash water on the entire surface of the steel as it is being rolled. This forms a layer of oxides on the steel, which must be removed before each successive rolling. Coarse scale removed at this stage is referred to as "mill scale."
As the steel is rolled in cold reduction a scale layer is mechanically broken away from the steel or is chemically removed by acids in a pickling process. The layer of scale is replaced by another layer every time the size or the shape of the steel is changed. When the scale is removed from the steel, it falls into a sewer in which high velocity water is flowing. Lubricating greases and oils from the rolling machinery and other mill debris join the water and scale material in the sewer to form an oily sludge.
Steel plants have disposed of oily steel mill waste, for example, by dumping it on-site in a controlled or regulated area or by shipping it to a waste site. Collection facilities have been used including settling pits and basins for removing oily waste from sludge so that water from the sludge can be reused or discharged. This conventional approach has limited prospects for reusing the oily waste and has created environmental problems in landfills.
Various methods have been proposed for recycling the oily sludge. For example, deoiling methods have been proposed that include a thermal kiln deoiling technique and a washing technique. The products of these processes are used in sintering operations. Solvent washing systems for removing the oil from the waste have also been proposed. Researchers are currently investigating the use of microwaves to separate oil from sludges. These methods are disadvantageous in that they have limited effectiveness, are generally not cost effective and may create new environmental problems.
Attempts have been made to recycle oily sludge by combining the oily sludge with sludges having substantially no oil or a low oil content. However, all of these attempts have been unsuccessful in mixing oily and substantially non-oily sludges together to form pellets of sizes amenable for use in various reduction processes.
To recover iron values from revert material, the material is agglomerated mechanically in a rotating disc or drum pelletizer in a manner known to those skilled in the art, in order to produce pellets of a particular size for the various reduction processes. The iron oxides in the pellets are then reduced to iron by one of a number of processes known to those skilled in the art.
One such reducing process commonly known as FASTMET uses a rotary hearth furnace to produce a direct reduced iron product. Coal is used as the reductant. The coal is added to the revert material to provide the reductant within the pellet. In another process known as cold bonded agglomeration, a bond for the revert material is provided by cement or a combination of cement and other material. In this agglomeration process no elevated temperatures are used, thus no lead, zinc, or other materials are eliminated from the revert. The agglomerated material is reduced in the blast furnace. Thus, the bond fails in the high temperature reducing atmosphere of the blast furnace.
Yet another example of a process used for reducing revert material is known as the INMETCO process. While the revert material normally contains carbon from the blast furnace waste, additional amounts of carbon in the form of coke may need to be added during the pelletizing process. The pellets are processed in a reducing atmosphere in a rotary hearth furnace for removal of tramp elements that are unwanted for iron and steel production, such as zinc, lead, chlorides and alkalis. The details of the INMETCO process are provided by the following publications, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety: Recycling of Iron and Steelworks Wastes Using the INMETCO Direct Reduction Process, Reprint from MPT-Metallurgical Plant and Technology, No. 4/1990; Pargeter et al., Ironmaking Using the INMETCO Process and Related Technologies, Ironmaking Proceedings, Vol. 44 1985; and Pargeter et al., Recycling of Waste and Flue Dust from the Steel Industry into Hot Metal Using the INMETCO Process, Proc. 44th Electric Steelmaking Conf., ISS-AIME Dallas, pp. 403-408 1986.
The INMETCO process will now be described by the following text from the article, Bauer et al., Recycling of Iron and Steelworks Wastes Using the Inmetco Direct Reduction Process, Reprint from MPT-Metallurgical Plant and Technology, No. 4, pp. 1-6 (1990).
"Recycling of high iron content iron and steelworks wastes to achieve reusable products is technically and economically feasible using the Inmetco direct reduction process. A solution achievable at relatively short notice is therefore now available for the urgent problems of waste management.
In this process, all oxidic dusts, sludges and oil-containing scale occurring in iron and steelworks are processed to green, carbon-containing pellets and then reduced to a high iron and low tramp element containing sponge iron at temperatures of around 1250.degree. C. in a rotary hearth furnace. Zinc, lead and cadmium are expelled nearly completely and converted to a highly-concentrated heavy metal containing secondary dust. These heavy metals can be recovered from this dust without any further concentration in the appropriate metallurgical processes. The hot sponge iron can be melted directly in a submerged arc furnace in its specific slag to achieve a low-sulphur hot metal suitable for charging into the LD steelmaking plant.
Iron-containing wastes occur in the production of hot metal and crude steel and in the processing of the crude steel to finished products. Such wastes comprise:
filter dusts and sludges from blast furnaces, steel plants and foundries; PA1 oil-containing scales from continuous casters and hot rolling mills; PA1 grinding dusts, sludges and pickling residues from steel treatment and processing; PA1 iron shot from slag separation. PA1 no thermal hardening of the pellets is necessary; PA1 the wustite stage is traversed very quickly. The principal cause of sticking is thus absent; PA1 the extremely high reduction temperatures result in correspondingly high degrees of metallization and practically complete evaporation of the heavy metals with exceptionally short reduction times, which, for their part, give rise to high specific throughputs; PA1 reduction conducted in a motionless bed avoids fines formation (abrasion). The waste-gas dust ("secondary dusts") thus contains the evaporated heavy metals at high concentration levels; PA1 the ash from the carbon sources cannot be removed from the product by magnetic separation. Therefore, it is not necessary to cool the sponge iron. Rather, the Inmetco product can be further processed `in a single heat` in an energy-saving fashion. The occurrence of char requiring dumping is avoided; PA1 the rotary hearth process is `thermally and chemically decoupled`. The heat supply in the gas space determines heating-up and reduction rates without the latter having a feed-back influence on heat transmission and thus on the further course of reduction. The ease of access to the process cycle offered by the motionless furnace and short processing times permit simple process monitoring and control.
These fine-grained dusts and sludges contain heavy metals, alkalis, sulphur compounds and, to a certain extent, oil. It is possible either only to a very limited extent or, not at all, to recycle them via the primary production processes, since their aggregate state and the impurities contained would impose on such primary processes burdens ranging up to complete impracticability. At present, the majority of such wastes is still dumped. In future, special hazardous waste landfills will become necessary, due to the environmentally harmful tramp elements contained, such as zinc, lead, cadmium, chromium (6+) and oil; such facilities, however, do not offer an acceptable solution in the long term. Recycling of such wastes back into the primary processes will thus become mandatory. It is, furthermore, rational in terms of materials recovery.
The Inmetco direct reduction process is a suitable method for the solution of this problem. It is currently in use for recycling and recovery of chromium and nickel from steelworks wastes produced in the stainless steel industry, but can also be universally applied for the reprocessing of bulk steelworks wastes.

Method of agglomerating oil-containing steel mill waste


An active front-wheel vehicle steering control system that employs open-loop control that includes an adaptive compensation sub-system that compensate for changes in vehicle dynamic parameters. The control system includes a dynamic parameter estimation sub-system that provides an estimated understeer coefficient based on a front-wheel steering angle signal, a vehicle lateral acceleration signal, a vehicle yaw rate signal and a vehicle speed signal. An open-loop control sub-system generates a steering angle control signal for controlling steering of the front wheels using a combination of a nominal open-loop steering angle control signal and a corrected open-loop steering angle control signal that is based on a real-time estimated understeer coefficient.

Open-loop front-wheel steering provides a certain amount of front-wheel steering assist depending on the amount of front-wheel steering provided by the vehicle operator. Closed-loop front-wheel steering provides feedback in the event that the vehicle is not following the steering path commanded by the vehicle operator. For example, slippery road conditions may prevent the vehicle from turning in the desired direction because the wheels may slip along the road surface. Further, the vehicle's rear quarter may "fish-tail," also providing a different turn angle than was intended. Closed-loop front-wheel steering assist systems sense the actual vehicle yaw rate and the commanded yaw rate, and generate a gain signal that provides the steering assist by the front wheels if the vehicle yaw rate and the commanded yaw rate are not the same. In these types of active front-wheel steering control systems, the open-loop control is always active and the closed-loop control is only activated if enhanced handling and stability are desired.
Vehicles are designed so that the vehicle handling response complies with certain design specifications. Vehicle dynamic parameters define the vehicle handling response, where nominal parameters define a nominal vehicle handling response. The vehicle dynamic parameter of understeer coefficient is the most dominant vehicle dynamic parameter used in an open-loop control system for determining the stability and dynamic handling behavior of a vehicle. The understeer coefficient defines the vehicle yaw rate or turning radius for a particular steering angle. This parameter varies according to different vehicle loading, tire pressure, tire wear, and vehicle-to-vehicle variations of suspension characteristics, etc.
The control gains for front-wheel steering control systems, including both open-loop and closed-loop control, are optimally determined based on "out-of-factory" vehicle dynamic parameters. During operation of the vehicle over its lifetime, however, the factory-tuned vehicle parameters change as a result of short-term vehicle variations, such as vehicle loading and tire pressure changes, and long-term variations, such as tire wear and vehicle suspension age. When the vehicle dynamic parameters change from their original settings, the original steering control gains are no longer optimal, resulting in a different vehicle handling feel and vehicle stability degradation.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/863,956, titled Real-Time Vehicle Dynamics Estimation System, filed Jun. 9, 2004, assigned to the assignee of this application and herein incorporated by reference, discloses a system that determines vehicle parameter estimates as a vehicle ages. It would be desirable to use such estimated dynamic parameters in an open-loop front-wheel active steering system to improve the open-loop steering gain as the vehicle ages and is subjected to different conditions. By modifying the open-loop gain schedule in response to estimated vehicle dynamic parameters, the handling feel and directional stability of the original vehicle can be maintained over the lifetime of the vehicle.

Method and system for adaptively compensating open loop front-wheel steering control


A color machine vision system with two or more differently colored light sources and one black and white photoelectric sensor (BW sensor). The light sources are employed to separately illuminate a target object with a different color, e.g., red, green, blue, magenta, yellow, and cyan. The BW sensor senses the reflection of colored light off the target object from each light source. A separate measurement is generated by the BW sensor for the reflected colored light from each light source and stored for further processing to render a color image of the target object. A calibration is performed to enable the BW sensor to sense reflected colored light from the target object in a linear mode, not the non-linear (saturated) mode. Since calibration enables the BW sensor's electronic components to operate (sense reflected primary colored light) in a relatively linear mode, the sensor is relatively accurate and fast in alternatively sensing/measuring reflected primary colored light from each of the light sources.

Machine vision has become pervasive in many different applications, including industrial processes, manufacturing and consumer electronics. Black and White machine vision systems, which can only generate black and white images of a target object tend to be relatively simple and inexpensive. In contrast, Color machine vision is typically provided by relatively complex and expensive systems. Due in part to their relative simplicity and low cost, Black and White machine vision systems are well suited for many applications. However, there are many other applications where Color machine vision systems are preferable and often necessary. Unfortunately, the relatively high cost and complexity of Color machine vision systems has prevented their wide spread adoption.

System, apparatus and method for color machine vision with black and white photoelectric sensor


A watch for displaying time in hours and hundredths of an hour. The watch includes a housing assembly being designed for being worn by the user. A timing assembly is positioned in the housing assembly and operationally coupled to a power supply. The power supply supplies power the timing assembly. The timing assembly is designed for providing a pulse every second when the power supply supplies power to the timing assembly. A processing assembly is positioned in the housing assembly. The processing assembly is operationally coupled to the power supply for supplying power to the processing assembly. The processing assembly is operationally coupled to the timing assembly to receive the pulse from the timing assembly and process the pulse into a time to be displayed on a display member operationally coupled to the processing assembly. The processing member displays minutes calculated by the processing assembly in hundredths of an hour.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to time conversion devices and more particularly pertains to a new watch for displaying time in hours and hundredths of an hour.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of time conversion devices is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,423 describes a device for converting one form of time measurement into another form of time measurement such as from civilian to military time or aviation time. Another type of time conversion device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,628 having a device for permitting a user to determine the time in any of the times of the world. U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,740 has a timepiece for converting between military time and civilian time.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device that has certain improved features to display the minutes in the hundredths of an hour.


A system and methods use music features extracted from music to detect a music mood within a hierarchical mood detection framework. A two-dimensional mood model divides music into four moods which include contentment, depression, exuberance, and anxious/frantic. A mood detection algorithm uses a hierarchical mood detection framework to determine which of the four moods is associated with a music clip based on the extracted features. In a first tier of the hierarchical detection process, the algorithm determines one of two mood groups to which the music clip belongs. In a second tier of the hierarchical detection process, the algorithm then determines which mood from within the selected mood group is the appropriate, exact mood for the music clip. Benefits of the mood detection system include automatic detection of music mood which can be used as music metadata to manage music through music representation and classification.

The recent significant increase in the amount of music data being stored on both personal computers and Internet computers has created a need for ways to represent and classify music. Music classification is an important tool that enables music consumers to manage an increasing amount of music in a variety of ways, such as locating and retrieving music, indexing music, recommending music to others, archiving music, and so on. Various types of metadata are often associated with music as a way to represent music. Although traditional information such as the name of the artist or the title of the work remains important, these metadata tags have limited applicability in many music-related queries. More recently, music management has been aided by the use of more semantic metadata, such as music similarity, style and mood. Thus, the use of metadata as a means of managing music has become increasingly focused on the content of the music itself.
Music similarity is one important metadata that is useful for representing and classifying music. Music genres, such as classical, pop, or jazz, are examples of music similarities that are often used to classify music. However, such genre metadata is rarely provided by the music creator, and music classification based on this type of information generally requires the manual entry of the information or the detection of the information from the waveform of the music.
Music mood information is another important metadata that can be useful in representing and classifying music. Music mood describes the inherent emotional meaning of a piece of music. Like music similarity metadata, music mood metadata is rarely provided by the music creator, and classification of music based on the music mood requires that the mood metadata be manually entered, or that it be detected from the waveform of the music. Music mood detection, however, remains a challenging task which has not yet been addressed with significant effort in the past.
Accordingly, there is a need for improvements in the art of music classification, which includes a need for improving the detectability of certain music metadata from music, such as music mood.


Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media are provided for determining individual item-level details associated with a transaction. A plurality of purchase transactions associated with different merchants may be displayed via a user interface. Responsive to a user selection of a first transaction, of the plurality of transactions, a camera may capture an image of at least a portion of a user receipt associated with the first transaction. The image of the user receipt may be analyzed using one or more optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms to convert the image of the user receipt into textual data. One or more character strings associated with line item-level details may be extracted from the textual data associated with the first transaction. Additional information associated with the line item details may be determined and the line item details and the additional information may be displayed via a user interface.

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the impact companies and corporations are making on the world, from the environment to politics to social policies. Consumers are also aware of the influence they have on such companies through their purchasing power. Many consumers want to spend their dollars with businesses whose values and practices align with their own and avoid businesses whose values and practices are contrary to theirs. However, it is not always apparent to consumers which company they are spending their money with, as branded products and services often obscure the underlying corporate entity that manufactures, produces, manages, or owns the product or service. Moreover, when companies are subsidiaries of or affiliated with another company, it is often not apparent what company is the parent or the co-affiliate company. Having such knowledge about parent companies and/or affiliate companies associated with a particular product or service purchased by the consumer would provide the consumer with the ability to make more informed buying decisions. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that enables consumers to access deeper information about their spending.

Item level data determination device, method, and non-transitory computer-readable media


An engine control device for controlling an exhaust gas recirculation operation includes a variable-capacity turbo supercharger, an EGR valve, a supercharging pressure controller, an EGR controller, and an EGR correction amount calculator. The variable-capacity turbo supercharger varies a flow through an exhaust turbine to change a supercharging pressure. The EGR valve adjusts an exhaust reflow amount of gas flowing from an exhaust passage to an air intake passage. The supercharging pressure controller drives the supercharger to control the supercharging pressure. The EGR controller drives the EGR valve to control the exhaust gas recirculation operation. The EGR correction amount calculator calculates an EGR correction amount according to a change in the exhaust gas recirculation operation. The EGR controller performs a feedback control operation on the EGR valve in accordance with a deviation between an EGR control amount corrected by the EGR correction amount and a target EGR control amount.

In some diesel engines having variable-capacity turbo superchargers that adjust an inlet area (nozzle opening degree) of an exhaust turbine via an adjustable nozzle to change a supercharged pressure characteristic, an EGR operation is implemented for directing a part of an exhaust gas to the flow of intake air to reduce NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions.
The amount of exhaust gas (exhaust reflow amount) flowing to the intake airflow by operation of the EGR is adjusted by an EGR valve. Specifically, the EGR valve is subjected to a feedback (F/B) control loop in accordance with a deviation between a target fresh air amount set on the basis of operational conditions of the diesel engine (the rotational number of the engine, the injection amount, etc.) and an actual fresh air amount detected by an air flow meter so that the target fresh air amount and the actual fresh air amount closely coincide.
If the nozzle opening degree of the turbo supercharger is changed when the EGR operation is carried out, the exhaust pressure is increased and the pressure difference between the front and rear sides of the EGR valve is increased so that the exhaust reflow amount for the same opening degree of the EGR valve is increased. As a result, the fresh air amount influences the EGR control.
On the other hand, in a diesel engine in which the EGR rate is controlled to be greater than one of a gasoline engine (for example, the EGR rate is increased so that the EGR amount and the fresh air amount are nearly equal to each other), the exhaust reflow amount is greatly varied in accordance with the variation of the EGR rate so that exhaust energy acting on an exhaust turbine greatly influences a supercharged state.
Accordingly, when both the EGR and the turbo supercharger are independently and substantially simultaneously adapted to the optimum F/B gain and subjected to the F/B control operation, a problem occurs in that the control operations interfere with each other and changes occur in the control parameters (fresh air amount and supercharging pressure).
Japanese Patent document JP-A-2001-140652 discloses a well known technique for preventing interference between EGR and turbo supercharger controls. It describes that a prohibiting area for prohibiting the F/B control operation of the turbo supercharger is set in connection with an operating area in which the EGR operation is carried out. The turbo supercharger is switched to open control in the prohibiting area.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent document JP-A-2001-003796 describes that the exhaust pressure is estimated by using a physical model. The operation amount of the EGR valve is determined in anticipation of an effect on the EGR amount by a variation in the exhaust pressure caused by the operation of the turbo supercharger.
In the well-known technique described above in JP-A-2001-140652, the turbo supercharger is switched to the open control in the F/B prohibiting area so that dispersion occurs in the supercharging pressure due to dispersion among turbo supercharger products. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, dispersion occurs in the EGR rate so that dispersion of NOx is intensified. Furthermore, in the F/B prohibiting area of the turbo supercharger, it is impossible to carry out such F/B adaptation such that the operational performance of an actuator for driving an adjustable nozzle is conducted at a maximum level. This lengthens a steady-state deviation attenuating time needed to converge the supercharging pressure to a target value and the steady-state deviation cannot be attenuated. As a result, the response of the supercharging pressure is delayed or the target value of the supercharging pressure cannot be achieved. Accordingly, in the diesel engine, a sufficient amount of air cannot be taken and it is required to restrict the maximum value of the injection amount in order to prevent smoke such that sufficient acceleration performance cannot be achieved.
On the other hand, in the well-known technique described in JP-A-2001-003796, the physical model for estimating the exhaust pressure is complicated and a large load is imposed on the operation processing of a microcomputer such that this technique is costly. Furthermore, since the operation amount of the EGR valve is determined in anticipation of the effect of the exhaust pressure variation on the EGR amount, the control index (fresh air amount) of the EGR is stabilized. However, the supercharging pressure cannot be stabilized because no attention is paid to the effect of the operation result of the EGR valve on the supercharging pressure.
The present invention has been implemented in view of the foregoing problems and has an object to provide a control device for a diesel engine that can avoid mutual interference between an EGR control operation and a supercharging pressure control operation, control an EGR so that the EGR satisfies a target value even when the opening degree of an adjustable nozzle is varied, and also control the supercharging pressure so that the supercharging pressure satisfies a target value even when the opening degree of an EGR valve is varied.