A hearing aid device includes a signal transforming unit for converting an analog sound signal received by a signal receiving unit to a digital signal; a memory unit for temporarily storing the digital signal; a sound processing module for reprocessing the sound signal stored in the memory unit via a microprocessing unit according to parameters set by a user; a sound control module for receiving the sound signal processed by the sound processing module and adjusting an output volume via the microprocessing unit; and a signal output unit for receiving and outputting the sound signal adjusted by the sound control module. By such arrangement, a speed, tone and/or volume of an output sound can be controlled using the hearing aid device to thereby help the user to receive and recognize the sound signal.

The operation of human brain relies on processing different signals and data received from an outside environment by different sensory organs. Sources of the signals and data are mainly obtained via visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses. Thus these senses are critical for communication between people or between people and objects. Especially for children before school age, receiving external stimuli or signals via the auditory sense is of the same importance as that via the visual and kinesthetic senses. For example of learning speech, if a child is deaf and cannot successfully receive external sound signals, he or she fails to repeat the sound signals to learn speech. Moreover, loss of hearing for an adult also causes inconvenience in communication and may put this person in unconscious danger since humans usually rely on hearing to receive external sound signals and determine environmental changes. For example, a car accident may occur when a pedestrian who is hard of hearing is unable to receive the sound signals and notice a car coming behind.
In a medical aspect, hearing loss includes conductive hearing loss, sensory-neural hearing loss, mixed hearing loss and central hearing loss. Many hearing loss cases can be solved by internal medical methods, and most cases of conductive hearing loss can be treated through surgery. The sensory-neural hearing loss is usually screened during a child health examination to be diagnosed and treated in an early stage. Alternatively, a hearing aid device or various ways of language rehabilitation such as learning of lip language, oral language, sign language and auditory training so as not to impair the language development and learning of knowledge.
Therefore, For some of the hearing loss people especially those having the sensory-neural hearing loss, the hearing aid device is an essential auxiliary tool. The hearing aid device is actually a small loudspeaker, which amplifies the sound signals originally not detectable for the hearing loss people and transmits the amplified sound signals to a hearing center of the brain through the very weak hearing of the hearing loss people so as to allow them to receive the sound signals. An electronic hearing aid device has been used since early of the twenty century, and its basic structure including a microphone, an amplifier, a receiver and a power source always remains similar. However, the hearing aid device becomes reduced in the size of its component parts, and has gradually improved sound quality, as well as provides more control options. The microphone is to collect sounds and converts the collected sounds to voltage. The amplifier increases the voltage intensity. The receiver converts the increased voltage back to a sound wave. The power source supplies power for operating the hearing aid device. A housing is also provided for encapsulating and protecting the hearing aid device.
Although the foregoing hearing aid device can desirably allow some of the hearing loss people to receive the external sound signals, it functions simply to amplify the sound signals and clarify the amplified sounds, which may not be useful for all hearing loss people. Particularly, the hearing loss for the elders with increase in age is caused by aging of villi of hair cells in their inner ears by which the external sound signals are less likely to stimulate auditory nerves and to be perceived by the hearing center of the brain.
Once the villi became aged, the hearing loss people are not only unable to recognize soft sounds but also unable to recognize sounds with close sequential cues from extremely close words of fast speech. Furthermore, a tone level of a speaker also influences recognition by a listener especially for one who is hearing impaired. However, the currently available hearing aid devices do not relate to this problem nor solving it.
Therefore, the problem to be solved here is to provide a hearing aid device that can improve an auditory condition for hearing loss people according to causes of the hearing loss.


According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wind instrument apparatus, comprising: an attachment element configured to attach the apparatus to a wind instrument, a spring structure attached to or comprised by the attachment element, and a support bar. The support bar is partially insertable into the elastic structure and the apparatus comprises a fastening mechanism configured to selectively fasten the support bar in relation to the elastic structure, so that the flexibility of the attachment element is adjustable in relation to the support bar.

Generally, a wind instrument is a wind instrument in which generates sound by vibrating air in a tube by a player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece. Clarinets, oboes, and English horns are examples of wind instruments.
Supporting the weight of the wind instrument by hand, e.g. by musician's thumb, is burdensome and may cause physical issues and trouble over time. Pain and physical conditions may be caused for musicians over time when the weight of the instrument is on the thumb. Such continued strain is problematic particularly for younger musicians, and may lead to reduced playing time or incorrect playing positions. Breathing and blowing may suffer from inappropriate playing position or undue strain. Neck supports have been developed, but they can reduce the weight only to some extent. Wind instrument supports leaning against floor or chair have also been developed. However, there is a need for improvements in supporting wind instruments, which cause minimal effects or limitations when playing the instrument.


A method of conducting a Hangman type of lottery game includes offering a number of games to play. A number of letter combinations are defined, wherein each of the combinations has at least two letters. A player plays a game by selecting a letter combination or by prompting the lottery game system, by using their mobile electronic device, to randomly select the letter combination having at least two letters. The amount of letters included in the letter combination determines which of the games is played by the player. The selected letter combination is compared with the winning group of letters. A winning mode is defined wherein a predetermined amount of letters in a winning group of letters coincides with the letters included in the selected letter combination. Finally, the player receives a message on the player's mobile device, for example, whether the selected letter combination satisfies the winning mode.

This invention generally relates to a lottery game, and more particularly, to a lottery game based off of the well known Hangman game.
Known lottery games may have a wager-selection feature wherein a player may select and then change his wager. Moreover, there are lottery games which allow a player to enter into multiple draws with a single lottery ticket purchase. There are also games wherein a user may select an amount of numbers on which to wager, wherein the numbers must match numbers chosen by a gaming device in order to win.
In another aspect, the traditional Hangman game has been enjoyed by many players for years. In the traditional Hangman game, one player selects a word or phrase and presents it to another player with some or all of the letters in the word or phrase displayed as blanks. The second player then guesses letters which are then entered into the appropriate blanks, if applicable. The second player is given a limited number of misses (i.e., letter guesses which are not present in the word/phrase). If the maximum number of misses is reached before the second player deciphers the word/phrase, the first player wins.
There are no lottery games in the prior art which combine all these desirable or similar features along with other unique features to arrive at an interesting and enjoyable lottery experience for the player that reminds one of the popular word-based Hangman game.


A magnetic conductor substrate produced for mounting to an antenna includes a sheet of dielectric lattice material having a length, a width and a thickness that is less than the length and less than the width. Within the sheet of dielectric lattice material is disposed an array of dielectric elements.

An antenna assembly whose antenna operates effectively, regardless of the location/environment where the assembly is placed, is referred to as placement-immune. By building an antenna on a substrate of magnetic conductor material, the radiated field will be positively reinforced in the desired radiation direction instead of being negatively affected by the environment. This approach, which has been discussed thoroughly in theoretical research, presents a difficult problem, namely, how to build magnetic conductor materials necessary for in-phase field reflections without requiring substantially thick substrates at low frequencies.
The magnetic conductor substrate must be carefully designed to suit the antenna's frequency dependent needs. Such a substrate is also referred to herein as an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) substrate, or simply an AMC. AMCs have been created with internal electrically conductive metal components (metal inclusions) to create inductor-capacitor based surface resonances for in-phase reflection of electromagnetic waves. These metal inclusions limit the minimal thickness of the substrate. Sievenpiper style high-impedance surfaces have been used to artificially create magnetic conductors at specific frequencies by making an open circuit boundary condition on the surface of a substrate for incoming electromagnetic waves. The Sievenpiper AMC requires via holes and capacitive patches above a ground plane to act as resonant inductor-capacitor circuits, and its minimal thickness is limited by the interior metal required to create the resonant circuits. Other types of AMCs have been produced by embedding curved metal strips into dielectrics such that the metal strips create resonant inductor-capacitor circuits.
It is desirable in view of the foregoing to provide for an AMC that is thinner and more flexible than conventional AMCs.

Metal-free magnetic conductor substrates for placement-immune antenna assemblies


A reflective type optical signal distributor comprising, in a housing (2), a plurality of optical input/output units (3) functioning as input and output terminals for an optical signal, an optical circuit assembly (6) for reflecting and separating the optical signal, and a plurality of guide optical fibers (8) for connecting the plurality of optical signals entering any one of the plurality of optical input/output units (3) and the optical circuit assembly (6), whereby an optical input/output units (3) is substantially equally distributed to all other ones of the plurality of optical input and output units (3), the optical circuit assembly (6) comprising an optical circuit in which a plurality of independent branched optical waveguides (22) merge into a single main optical waveguide (21), a reflective surface (4) formed at an end of the main waveguide (21), and the plurality of guide optical fibers (8) being connected to the corresponding plurality of independent branched optical waveguides (22).

The present invention relates to optical signal distributors for use with an instrumentation system of an optical transmission type, and more particularly to an optical signal distributor for use with a field instrumentation system of an optical transmission type in which information from an plurality of field instruments installed on the field side is sent through an optical fiber transmission path and an optical signal distributor to a processor in a centralized control room.
Generally, a field instrumentation system applied to a chemical plant, a petroleum or a gas plant is comprised of a plurality of field instruments (for example, including pressure, flow and temperature measuring instruments and actuators such as openable/closable valves) installed in the field (spot) to send data between those field instruments and the central processing unit (controller) installed in the centralized supervision room or between those field instruments to supervise and control the respective plants. In order to send data in the system, optical fibers which (1) are not greatly influenced by electromagnetic noise, (2) exhibit high resistance to thunder (high insulation) and (3) are free from a danger of explosion are used as transmission paths, and an optical star coupler (especially, of a reflective type) is used as an optical signal distributor to send data (optical signal) between the central processing unit and each of the field instruments and between the field instruments.
FIG. 10 shows the structure of a system which uses a reflective type star coupler employing a mixing rod as an example of a conventional field instrumentation system. Reference numeral 90 denotes a controller; 97 a reflective type optical star coupler (optical signal distributor); 92 (92a-n) a field instrument; 93 and 94 (94a-94n) an optical fiber. Data transmission is possible between the controller and each of the field instruments and between the field instruments, using the reflective type optical signal distributor, various control operations are performed at high speed in a decentralized processing manner, and the system is fabricated at a low cost.
The reflective type optical signal distributor using the mixing rod will be described next in detail.
FIG. 11A is a perspective view of an example of the conventional reflective type optical signal distributor using the mixing rod.
The distributor 97 includes a flat mixing rod 96 which has thereto connected a plurality of optical fibers 8 at one end and a reflective plate 4 at the other end. Light entering the mixing rod 96 through any one of the optical fibers 8 is reflected by the reflective plate 4 and distributed to all the optical fibers 8. The mixing rod 96 has the functions of mixing the propagation modes of the incident light and reflected light from the reflective plate 4, and smoothing an optical intensity distribution at a cross section thereof, in other words, the function of equalizing an optical intensity distribution at a cross section of the mixing rod 96 to the utmost.
However, this conventional distributor has the defect that it will produce a large loss, which will next be described with reference to FIG. 11B which is a cross sectional view schematically indicative of connection of the mixing rod and the optical fibers.
In the reflective type optical signal distributor using the mixing rod, optical fiber claddings 73 of the optical fibers 8 are arranged so as to contact one to the other. The size of the cross section of the mixing rod 96 is designed so as to cover all the cores 72 of the optical fibers 8 to minimize a connection loss between the optical fibers 8 and the mixing rod 96. However, even when the connection loss is minimized so, most of light emitting from the fiber cores 72 enters the mixing rod 96, as shown in FIG. 11B, whereas a portion of the light exiting from the mixing rod 96 to the optical fibers 8 and impinging on the fiber claddings 73 and entering fiber spacings 98 are leaking components. Thus, such distributor necessarily has the defect that it will produce a large loss.
The mixing rod is not necessarily be flat, as described above, but may, for example, have a circular cross section. Even if the mixing rod may take any cross-sectional configuration, it is difficult to avoid leakage of light from the spacings between the optical fibers and from the fiber claddings.
Since in the optical transmission using the optical fibers, the optical fibers themselves produce an optical loss proportional directly to their length, their transmittable length is limited. Thus, when the distributor produces a large loss, the usable length of the optical fibers is shortened accordingly and the distance between field instruments connectable to the optical signal distributor is reduced. The conventional reflective type optical signal distributor using the mixing rod produces large leaking light and, hence, a large loss, so that its range of applications is limited.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, low-loss, high branching accuracy, optical signal distributor for use in a field instrumentation system, the distributor (1) having an optical performance ever stabilized even when the temperature and humidity of its environment may change, (2) having an optical performance which is not or less deteriorated in an environment which contains a large amount of dust, organic substances, and/or corrosive gases, (3) having high environment resistance characteristic, (4) having high resistance to mechanical stresses such as vibrations and/or impacts, and (5) being easy to place on the spot.


A circuit includes first and second electronic switches, first and second excitation circuits, and first and second inductors. The first and second electronic switches are electrically coupled in series. The first and second excitation circuits are used for respectively controlling the first and second electronic switches to be turned on and turned off and are configured to synchronously switch the first and second electronic switches. The first inductor is electrically coupled between the first excitation circuit and the first electronic switch, for transmitting the switch control signal of the first excitation circuit to the first electronic switch. The second inductor is electrically coupled between the second excitation circuit and the second electronic switch, for transmitting the switch control signal of the second excitation circuit to the second electronic switch.

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to a circuit comprising at least two electronic switches which are electrically coupled in series and where the circuit is capable of synchronously switching the at least two electronic switches.
AC motors are commonly supplied with electrical power from a DC supply bus, to the terminals of which there are connected the different phases of the motors via an inverter which is constituted by switch units whose state is controlled by an appropriate control system.
For example, for high power pump or compressor motor drives, large amount of electrical power is converted by the switch units to provide the electrical energy for the motor drives. Typically, the switch units are constituted by multiple transistors of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) type for example. For avoiding damaging the IGBTs because of the high levels of electrical power, it is advantageous to couple in series at least two IGBTs as a single switch unit such that the voltage stress of the series connected IGBTs can be reduced.
The at least two IGBTs which are thus coupled in series should be controlled with complete synchronization so that they correspond to a single switch unit in terms of function. Synchronization errors between IGBTs result in the excessive voltage sustained by only one of the IGBTs, which may bring about the damage thereof. Taking into account the production tolerances of the IGBTs and the precision of the control system, the synchronization of the operation of the IGBTs is difficult to be achieved. Sophisticated electronic control solutions have been developed, however, these solutions require the use of specific integrated circuits which are very costly and complex.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for simpler and low cost circuit designs which are capable of synchronously switching.

Circuit for synchronously switching series connected electronic switches


A process for controlling the cone tilt angle of a tilted smectic liquid crystal composition comprises the step of combining (a) at least one liquid crystal composition comprising at least one smectic or latent smectic liquid crystal compound comprising (i) an aliphatic fluorocarbon terminal portion comprising a terminal fluoroalkyl or fluoroether group and an alkylene group having at least two carbon atoms and containing at least one catenary ether oxygen atom, (ii) an aliphatic hydrocarbon terminal portion, and (iii) a central core connecting the terminal portions, wherein the alkylene group of the aliphatic fluorocarbon terminal portion is directly linked to the central core by a moiety selected from the group consisting of a covalent bond, --CH.dbd.CH--, and --C.tbd.C--; and (b) at least one liquid crystal composition comprising at least one smectic or latent smectic liquid crystal compound; with the provisos that at least one of the compositions (a) and (b) comprises at least one chiral liquid crystal compound and that the combining of compositions (a) and (b) provides an optically active, tilted chiral smectic liquid crystal composition. The process enables control of cone tilt angle and thereby control of the brightness characteristics of liquid crystal display devices.

Devices employing liquid crystals have found use in a variety of electrooptical applications, in particular those which require compact, energy-efficient, voltage-controlled light valves, e.g., watch and calculator displays, as well as the flat-panel displays found in portable computers and compact televisions. Liquid crystal displays have a number of unique characteristics, including low voltage and low power of operation, which make them the most promising of the non-emissive electrooptical display candidates currently available.
One of the most important characteristics of a liquid crystal display device is its response time, i.e., the time required for the device to switch from the on (light) state to the off (dark) state. In a ferroelectric or anti-ferroelectric device, response time (.tau.=.eta.sin.sup.2 .eta./P.sub.s E) is proportional to the rotational viscosity (.eta.) of the liquid crystal compound(s) contained within the device, is also proportional to the square of the sine of the cone tilt angle (.eta.) of a tilted smectic mesophase of the compounds, and is inversely proportional to the polarization (P.sub.s) of the compounds and to the applied electric field (E). Thus, response time can be reduced by using compound(s) having high polarizations and/or low viscosities and/or low cone tilt angles, and such compounds are greatly desired in the art.
Other important characteristics of a liquid crystal display device are its brightness and contrast ratio. High brightness and contrast ratios provide enhanced optical discrimination and viewing ease and are therefore preferred. Brightness is related to the intensity of light transmitted through a device, which for a surface-stabilized ferroelectric device (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,924, the description of which is incorporated by reference herein) with two polarizers can be represented by the equation I=I.sub.o (sin.sup.2 (4.eta.)) (sin.sup.2 (.pi..DELTA.nd/.lambda.)), where I.sub.o =transmission through parallel polarizers, .eta.=liquid crystal cone tilt angle, .DELTA.n=liquid crystal birefringence, d=device spacing, and .lambda.=wavelength of light used. The maximum transmission is obtained when both the terms sin.sup.2 (4.eta.) and sin.sup.2 (.pi..DELTA.nd/.lambda.) are at a maximum (each term equals one). Since the first term is at a maximum when the liquid crystal composition in the device has a cone tilt angle of 22.5 degrees, liquid crystal compounds which have cone tilt angles close to 22.5 degrees (or which can be mixed with other liquid crystal compounds to form compositions having cone tilt angles close to 22.5 degrees) are also highly desired in the art.
In particular, since many fluorine-containing liquid crystal compounds have cone tilt angles which exceed the optimum value of 22.5 degrees, materials and methods for reducing cone tilt angle are needed. Although hydrocarbon liquid crystal compounds have low cone tilt angles (below 22.5degrees), they generally cannot be used for this purpose due to their incompatibility with fluorine-containing liquid crystal compounds (which generally leads to loss of the active mesophase).
In addition to fast response times and optimized tilt angles, liquid crystal compounds should ideally possess broad smectic temperature ranges (to enable operation of a display device over a broad range of temperatures) or should be capable of combination with other liquid crystal compounds without adversely affecting the smectic phase behavior of the base mixture.

Compounds and process for controlling cone tilt angle in mixtures of smectic liquid crystal compounds

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


Wear rings for electric submersible pump (ESP) stages are provided. An example ESP has one or more running clearance seals reinforced with high-hardness wear rings. Ceramics and carbides may provide the high hardness for the wear rings, but such substances are more brittle than metals and have different coefficients of thermal expansion than metals. For protection, each high-hardness wear ring may be mounted with an elastic cushioning scheme. The elastic mounting preserves each wear ring from shock, stress, and breakage from thermal expansion and contraction of an adjacent pump part. Each high-hardness wear ring may also have a low-stress driving mechanism that cushions the rotational force imparted to the wear ring when the ESP pump is being powered. In some implementations, the elastic mounting scheme may also serve as the low-stress driving mechanism for the high-hardness wear ring.

Artificial lift operations using electric submersible pumps (ESPs) to recover hydrocarbons often utilize multistage centrifugal pumps. Each pump stage includes a spinning impeller and a stationary diffuser, most often made of metal. To limit leakage recirculation within a stage, a running seal between the impeller and the diffuser is incorporated into the design, by providing a close clearance between certain proximate features of these components. A running seal may be created by closely mating the outside-diameter surfaces of spinning impeller skirts to the stationary inside diameter bores of diffuser skirts, at both ends of the impeller, to form the running seals. Other similar features may also be closely mated instead, to form a running seal. Over time, these closely mated features are subject to abrasive wear, especially due to sand and other abrasive particles that occur in the well fluids being pumped. The abrasive wear leads to losses of head, flow, and efficiency due to increased leakage recirculation from the impeller back through the running seal to the suction input of the pump stage.
Conventionally, metal wear rings can be used to repair or replace the running seal faces in worn ESP stages. However, wear rings that are even harder than conventional metal wear rings have not been used to refurbish the running seals in ESPs, because the extreme conditions inside the ESP damage such unconventional wear rings. High-hardness wear rings have not been used to strengthen the running seals of ESPs because it is difficult to protect them within the harsh ESP environment.

Wear rings for electric submersible pump stages


Methods for abrasive cleaning, existing pipes before coating interior surfaces which extends the life of piping systems such as copper, steel, lead, brass, cast iron piping and composite materials. The method can include the steps of generating pressurized gas into pipes to generate a moving air stream, intermittently injecting separate spaced apart bursts of abrasive particles into the moving air stream with different cumulative amounts of the intermittent bursts of the abrasive particles that vary based on different piping diameters, cleaning interior wall surfaces of the pipes with the intermittent bursts of the particles, reducing at least one of burrs or interior lips in the interior wall surfaces of the pipes, with the intermittent bursts of the particles and removing abrasive particles and debris caused by each one of the separate burst shots of the abrasive particles.

Over time building piping systems such as those used in commercial buildings, apartment buildings, condominiums, residential homes and the like, that have a broad base of users commonly develop problems with the building pipes such as with their water and plumbing pipes, and the like. Presently when a failure in a piping system, such as a leak occurs the repair method can involve a number of separate repair applications. Those repair applications often involve a specific repair to the area of failure such as replacing that section of pipe or the use of a clamping devise and a gasket. However, these popular types of repair applications can cause additional problems with the building piping system.
Problems such as low water flow, or discolored water can result from build-up of materials, and the like occurring inside the pipe that has not been properly cleaned. Additional problems associated with installing a cut pipe that has not been reamed or deburred can cause water turbulence as the water flows over an unreamed burr or lip left inside the pipe. Such problem can be a prime cause of erosion corrosion inside the pipes which quickens the deterioration and lifespan of the pipes.
Traditional techniques to correct for a potential leak, an actual leak, buildup or blockage or reducing or removing an unreamed lip or burr have included replacing some or all of a building's pipes. In addition to the large expense for the cost of the new pipes, additional problems with replacing the pipes can include the immense labor and construction costs that must be incurred for these projects. In addition the down time to the piping systems undergoing the repairs adds extra expense and discomfort to those needing to use the piping systems.
There are additional complications since most piping systems are located behind finished walls or ceilings, under floors, in concrete or underground. From a practical viewpoint simply getting to the problem area of the pipe to make the repair can create the largest problem. Reaching to the pipe for making repairs can require tearing up the building, cutting concrete and/or having to dig holes through floors, the foundation or the ground. These labor intensive repair projects can include substantial demolition of a buildings walls and floors in order to access the existing piping systems. For example, tearing out of the interior walls to access the pipes is an expected result of the demolition necessary to fix existing pipes.
Additionally, there are usually substantial time-consuming costs for removing the debris and old pipes from the worksite. With these projects both the cost of new pipes, the ancillary repair to the building and the additional labor to install these pipes require expensive and time consuming expenditures. Further, there are additional added costs for the materials and labor to replumb these new pipes along with the necessary wall and floor repairs that must be made after the repairs to clean up for the demolition effects.
Under current repair applications, just reaching at and fixing a pipe behind drywall is not completing the repair project. The drywall or wall covering surfaces must also be repaired, and just these types of repairs can be extremely costly. Additional expenses related to the repair or replacement of an existing piping system will vary depending primarily on the location of the pipe, the building finishes surrounding the pipe and the presence of hazardous materials such as asbestos encapsulating the pipe. Furthermore, techniques for making piping repair take considerable amounts of time which results in lost use and lost revenue from tenants and occupants of commercial type buildings since tenants cannot use the buildings until the repairs are done.
Finally, the current pipe repair techniques are usually only temporary. Even after encountering the cost to repair the pipe, the cost and inconvenience of tearing up walls or grounds and if a revenue property the lost revenue associated with the repair or replacement, the repaired and/or new pipe(s) will still be subject to the corrosive effects of water type fluids that flow through the pipes.
Governments and municipalities are now beginning to recognize and deal with corrosive effects of metal building piping systems. On Sep. 30, 2005, the State of California recognizing the negative effects of corrosive water on metallic piping systems signed into law Assembly Bill 1953, which reduces the allowable amount of lead in potable water delivery systems (such as through metal pipes) to 0.25%. The bill states: "No person shall introduce into commerce, for use in California, any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, or fixture intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking water or cooking that is not lead free, as defined in subdivision (e). This includes kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, and any other end-use devices intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking or cooking."
Over the years many different attempts and techniques have been proposed for cleaning water type pipes with chemical cleaning solutions. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,352 to Mueller; U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,629 to Ludwig et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,395 to Smith; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,632 to Ludwig et al. However, these systems generally require the use of chemical solutions such as liquid acids, chlorine, and the like, that must be run through the pipes as a prerequisite prior to any coating of the pipes.
Other systems have been proposed that use dry particulate materials as a cleaning agent that is sprayed from mobile devices that travel through or around the pipes. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,427 to Stolz; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,016 to Rose. However, these traveling devices generally require large diameter pipes to be operational and cannot be used inside of pipes that are less than approximately 4 inches in diameter, and would not be able to travel around narrow bends. Thus, these devices cannot be used in small diameter pipes under 2 inches in diameter that also have sharp and narrow bends.
In some cases, compressed air carrying particles of abrasive material is blown through the pipe. Such a method is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,209 to Naf and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,461 to Naf. In the Naf U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,461 the abrasive cleaning method described involved the use of compressed air alone with a continuous feed of abrasive material. And in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,209 to Naf, the interior of the pipe is subsequently coated with an adhesive resin, such as an epoxy resin, which is also applied by use of compressed air to blow it through the pipe.
The Naf patents described continuously blowing, large amounts of sand (approximately 200 Kg) that required extensive amounts air volume and pressure. Pre-drying took approximately 30 minutes, and a special separator was installed at the conduit outlet; the fine solid material exiting (apparently mainly calcium deposits and rust) entered a special separator. Then a feeding device for the abrasive medium (dry regular sand with a grain size of 2 to 4 mm) was installed in the conduit between the compressor and the air inlet. A separator with a cyclone separator with pressure gauge and regulating valve was installed at the air outlet. Then work was done for approximately 8 minutes at a mean overpressure of approximately 1 atmosphere at highest compressor output and greatest abrasive medium feed. At the end of blowing approximately 200 kg of abrasive medium had been blown through the conduit to be cleaned. At the end of blowing, the air exiting at the separator had a temperature of −50.degree. C. These elaborate blowing processes using great amounts of abrasive material are prone to problems.
These processes of using compressed air in this way can only be used on relatively small diameter pipes, and this cleaning technique easily results in blocking of the pipe, or major leaks in the pipe when weakened after cleaning by constant high pressure and large amounts of abrasive material being used. Also, the pipes are often not be adequately cleaned by such a processes when major frictional resistance occurs in the pipe system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,913 of Reimelt attempts to overcome these problems by using a suction at one end of a section of pipe. Reimelt specifically discusses the problems with NOT wanting to use compressed air supplies for renovating pipes since they result in damage to the interior of the pipes, blockages in the pipes and result in pollution. See column 2, lines 39-62. However, the Reimelt technique of only using a suction (low pressure) at one end of a pipe section can also result in blockages and other problems. When an abrasive agent is repeatedly moved back and forth, it will gradually become mixed with the debris removed from the pipe surface, diluting or reducing the cleaning effect. Additionally, the Reimelt techniques require the use of heating devices such as wires that must be pulled or towed through pipe sections which adds additional expense and can also result in the dragged heating device damaging the interior of the pipes or even getting stuck in the pipes. Also, the Reimelt technique cannot be used with cleaning entire piping systems having bends and t-branches cannot be cleaned unless every pipe section is potentially taking apart and separately cleaned. Also, Reimelt cannot be used with small pipes that need to be cleaned since the suction and heating devices cannot easily pass through pipes smaller than approximately 2½ inches in diameter.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems where providing a processes of abrasive cleaning in small diameter pressurized pipes, up to 2 inches in diameter, that can be deburred, cleaned effectively and efficiently, in-place, without clogging the pipe during the cleaning process, with minimal damage to the pipe and without large quantities of abrasive material being used. A further application of a barrier coating and sealing leaks is accomplished in piping systems in a single operation, further protecting the piping system and all it's components from the effects of corrosion, thereby reducing the leaching of heavy metals such as lead into the water supply.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for abrasive cleaning and barrier coating/sealing of pipes


A magnetic revolution counter, and method for determining a predefinable number n of revolutions to be determined of a rotating magnetic field, generated by a magnetic system includes a revolution sensor, which includes magnetic domain wall conductors composed of open spirals or closed, multiply-wound loops, which are formed by a GMR layer stack or a soft magnetic layer comprising locally present TMR layer stacks and in which magnetic 180° domain walls can be introduced and located by measuring the electrical resistance of predefinable spiral or loop sections, wherein a single domain wall is, or at least two magnetic domain walls are, introduced into the domain wall conductors such that the at least two domain walls are brought into a defined separation of greater than 360° with respect to one another, based on the change in location thereof from a first to a second position, with a rotation of the outer magnetic field by the angle of greater than 360°, and are permanently thus spaced apart from one another, and electrical contacts, which are disposed in a defined manner on the domain wall conductors, are provided.

The invention relates to a magnetic revolution counter, and to a method for determining numbers of revolutions of an outer magnetic field ascertainable by way of this revolution counter, which can advantageously be used in multifaceted fields of technology, and in particular in automotive engineering and transmission manufacturing, since such revolution counters can have a miniaturized design and be operated without current.
In principle, revolution counters for the non-contact and powerless counting of revolutions, using magnetic domain walls (DW), are known per se and described in detail, for example, in DE 10 2008 063 226 A1, DE 10 2010 022 611 A1, DE 10 2011 075 306 A1 and DE 10 2013 018 680 A1.
The revolution counters disclosed in the above documents have the following in common:
The sensor systems used are composed of at least one sensor element and at least one outer magnetic field, wherein either the sensor element is moved past the magnetic field or rotated, or the magnetic field is moved past the sensor element or rotated, in a non-contact manner. The sensor element at least partially has a layer composition, composed of at least one hard magnetic layer and at least one soft magnetic layer, these being separated by a non-magnetic layer. During operation of the sensor system, rotating or moving the magnetic field past the sensor element (or vice versa) can change only the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer, and not the magnetization of the hard magnetic layer. In this way, the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer in the sensor element will be oriented entirely or partially substantially parallel or substantially anti-parallel to the magnetization of the hard magnetic layer. This differing orientation of the magnetizations results in a difference in the electrical resistance in different conductor sections, which can be read out by way of the GMR (giant magnetoresistive) or TMR (tunnel magnetoresistive) effect.
Within the soft magnetic layer, two differently magnetized regions are separated from one another by a magnetic domain wall (DW).
During operation of the sensor system, a change in position of the outer magnetic field, for example due to rotation, in the sensor element results in a powerless movement of the magnetic domain walls that exist in the sensor element.
The read-out DW positions are assigned to bijectively determined revolutions (numbers of revolutions) ascertainable by way of the specific revolution counter, and are ascertained in evaluation electronics. In preferred embodiments, multiple sensor elements or multiple parts of a sensor element are electrically interconnected with one another to form Wheatstone bridges or Wheatstone half bridges, whereby the influence of the temperature on the magnetoresistive signal is suppressed.
The revolution counters according to DE 10 2008 063 226 A1 are geometrically formed by a rhombus-shaped spiral, which ends in a large surface area at one end. This large, preferably circular, surface area acts as a domain wall generator (DWG), and is formed of the same material layer combination as the spiral. After every 180° magnetic field rotation or 180° sensor element rotation, a so-called 180° domain wall is generated in this domain wall generator at the transition from the surface area to the spiral. This 180° DW migrates into the spiral. The generated 180° domain walls are transported to the spiral end with a direction of rotation of the magnetic field in the spiral direction of rotation, and the DW are transported toward the DWG with a direction of rotation opposite the spiral direction of rotation. In this process, the 180° DW arriving first at the DWG from the spiral annihilates with the 180° DW generated simultaneously in the DWG. By successive rotation of the magnetic field, the spiral can thus be incrementally deleted from domain walls. The movement of the sensor element to the magnetic system, which is mounted in a stationary manner, is equivalent to the rotation of the magnetic field at the stationary sensor element.
Revolution counters according to DE 10 2011 075 306 A1 are composed of two rhombus-shaped spirals comprising a respective DWG at each end having oppositely oriented directions of rotation, or of a combination of these two spirals comprising only one DWG at one end or in the center.
These revolution counters according to DE 10 2008 063 226 A1 and DE 10 2011 075 306 A1 have in common that, with each detected half revolution, the number of the 180° domain walls in each spiral changes by one.
This is different in the revolution counters that comprise at least one closed loop having at least one intersection (DE 10 2013 018 680 A1) or at least one closed loop having at least one bridge (DE 10 2010 022 611 A1). In these revolution counters, the two ends of a spiral were connected to one another to form a closed loop. With n windings, the direct connection intersects (n−1) windings. A two-turn spiral thus becomes a loop having one intersection, and a three-turn spiral becomes a loop having two intersections. Each winding can accommodate a maximum of two domain walls, so that a maximum of 2n domain walls can exist in a loop having n windings.
In a closed loop, no DW is generated or destroyed during regular counting operation. A destruction or generation of domain walls would result in a counting error and must be precluded. Revolution counters comprising at least one closed loop require an exact number of domain walls to be written to the sensor element during an initialization process.
Some embodiments of revolution counters comprising open spirals having DWG can be mechanically initialized. In a spiral having n windings, for example, this takes place by a movement of the sensor element or of the outer magnet of the sensor system by at least n revolutions, so as to fill the spiral completely with domain walls. A subsequent rotation in the opposite direction by n revolutions clears the spiral of domain walls. For applications counting clockwise and counterclockwise revolutions, the spiral is maximally filled with domain walls using n revolutions for an initialization in the center position, and thereafter is cleared except for n/2 domain walls using n/2 revolutions having the opposite direction of rotation.
In the revolution counters comprising closed loops, the initialization takes place, for example, by completely filling the closed loop with domain walls with the aid of a magnetic field pulse, the strength of which exceeds the nucleation field strength HNuk of the loop, and by subsequently deleting domain walls. The deletion of domain walls takes place by the annihilation of two domain walls at a time. For this purpose, a DW is fixed (pinned) beneath a conductor by a current-induced field, referred to as the Oersted field HOersted, during a magnetic field rotation, and a further DW is transported toward the pinned DW due to the field rotation, whereby the two domain walls annihilate. If, for example, the DW is transported to the conductor by a magnetic field pointing to the left, the current-induced magnetic field must point to the right so as to be oriented opposite to the DW movement. If the counter field is sufficiently large, the DW movement stops at the conductor, and the DW is pinned. If the Oersted field is maintained for the next at least 180° of the magnetic field rotation, a second DW is thereby transported to the conductor. This second DW annihilates with the first pinned DW. By successively continuing to rotate the acting magnetic field and by current-induced DW pinning, in this way two DW at a time can be consecutively deleted from a closed loop until the desired predefinable number of domain walls for operating the sensor system has been reached.
All above-described revolution counters have in common that the counting of revolutions takes place in a powerless manner by transporting domain walls in closed loops, or by transporting and generating or destroying domain walls in open spirals. The counted revolutions are also stored in a powerless manner by way of bijective DW positions and/or DW numbers in the sensor element.
In contrast, power is required for reading out the sensor element. In preferred embodiments, the giant magneto resistance (GMR) effect or the tunneling magneto resistance (TMR) effect is utilized for this purpose, wherein multiple sensor elements or parts of a sensor element according to the known prior art are interconnected to form Wheatstone half bridges or Wheatstone bridges.
Depending on the magnetization, a sensor element has differing electrical resistances or differing potentials in different sections, which can be read out if the sensor element, or a part of the sensor element, is interconnected in Wheatstone half bridges or Wheatstone bridges. For reading out the magnetization state, a measuring current is conducted through the sensor element (or the Wheatstone (half) bridge), and the measurement result is compared to defined threshold values. Depending on whether a drop below a threshold value occurs or the threshold value is exceeded, a decision can be made as to whether or not the measurement result corresponds, for example, to the state "a DW is present in this half bridge."
In revolution counters according to DE 10 2008 063 226 A1, a rhombus shape having individual contacting of half windings in Wheatstone half bridges was introduced for the first time. This particularly advantageous design having a square shape uses four webs at a 90° angle with respect to one another per winding. Two respective webs are connected to one another by quarter circles or quarter circle-like polygonal lines. The quarter circles are covered with electrical contacts, which additionally cover parts of the abutting webs so that the non-contacted parts of all webs between the electrical contacts are preferably equal in length. The four webs of each winding are interconnected to form two Wheatstone half bridges. The reference direction is in the diagonal of the rhombus or of the square and is perpendicular to the line between the VCC contact and the GND contact. In this way, bijective assignment to the counted revolution number using only one square (rhombus-shaped) spiral is always possible for every field angle. As presented in the publication "IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 45, No 10, pp 3792-3795, 2009," this allows bijective assignment of the magnetization to the counted revolution for all revolutions that can be counted by way of the sensor.
This geometry makes revolution counters having an ascertainable revolution number of n>10 possible. In the "RSM 2800" sensor system from Novotechnik, the technology of a square spiral for counting up to 16 revolutions is implemented.
All these revolution counters have in common that the field H of the magnet of the sensor system during operation must be located within a "magnetic window" between Hmin and Hmax, wherein Hmin must be larger than the maximum depinning field Hdepinn and Hmax must be smaller than the nucleation field HNuk of the sensor element:Hdepinn<Hmin≤H≤Hmax<HNuk
The maximum field Hmax and the minimum field Hmin are predefined by the application. All these revolution counters furthermore have in common that the sensor elements are suitably tested at the maximum field Hmax and the minimum field Hmin of the application regarding a certain error probability of less than 10−7, for example. Within this magnetic window, the domain walls are reliably transported.
To ensure a bijective assignment of the signals to the counted revolution number at all field angles, not all Wheatstone half bridges are read out in the case of the rhombus-shaped spiral comprising a DWG. It is sufficient here to consecutively read out all Wheatstone half bridges starting from the tip of the spiral until the winding is reached in which the first DW transported into the spiral is located. This is identified based on a level jump. However, it is absolutely essential in this regard to read out the respective half winding following the read-out Wheatstone half bridges, which is to say according to the state of the art the read-out always takes place with a 180° resolution.
It is advantageous that this sensor element is able to output half revolutions. The drawback, however, is that this necessitates contacting of all half bridges, such that a large chip surface is required, the size of which is thus essentially determined by the space requirement of the bond contacts, each of which requires space approximately on the order of magnitude of the actual sensor element.
The geometric areas in which the domain walls are located within the spiral or loop the majority of the time are hereafter referred to as domain wall positions (DW positions). In the case of square or rhombus-shaped spirals, these are the quarter circles or quarter circle-like polygonal lines connecting two respective straight webs to one another. For a DW to traverse a quarter circle, the outer magnetic field must be rotated by 90°, plus a hysteresis angle of typically 5° to 20°. As soon as the DW is transported to the transition from the quarter circle to the web, and the applied field depins the DW, the DW traverses the web at a speed of several 100 m/sec in a few 100 ns. Within this very short time, the rotation of the outer magnetic field is negligibly small.
There are four quarter circles per winding in the case of a square spiral (or a square loop), and thus four DW positions, which are covered with the electrical contacts of two Wheatstone half bridges. The VCC (higher voltage with respect to ground) contact is located above a DW position, the GND (ground) contact is located above the opposite DW position, and the two interposed DW positions are each covered with a center contact.
In all above-described revolution counters according to the known prior art, the DW positions contacted with a Wheatstone half bridge center contact have an angular separation of 180°.
By selecting the direction of the reference magnetization in the GMR layer stack, the Wheatstone half bridge is at the center potential when a DW in the DW position is positioned beneath the center contact, and it is at the high potential or at the low potential when the DW in the DW position is positioned beneath the VCC or the GND contact. The selection allows more variation for TMR layer stacks.
For each 180° magnetic field rotation, the domain walls stored in the sensor element are transported into the neighboring Wheatstone half bridge during error-free operation. In the revolution counters having a constant DW number, the DW arrangement thus shifts by the angular separation of 180° in the sensor element, and in the spiral comprising a DWG, additionally the number of the domain walls in the spiral changes by one DW. This movement is verified via the electrical read-out of the Wheatstone bridges or half bridges. Since the DW positions of two neighboring Wheatstone half bridges have an angular separation of 180° beneath the respective center contact, the read-out electronics thus uses a "180° read-out algorithm," which analyzes the revolutions using a 180° resolution, regardless of whether the read-out electronics outputs only integral revolution numbers or also half-integral revolution numbers. Reading out all Wheatstone half bridges requires all center contacts to be connected to bond contacts. This contacting pattern is referred hereafter as "180° contacting."
180° contacting is also used by the coprime sensor elements according to DE 102010022611 A1 and DE 10 2013 018 680 A1.
The crucial disadvantage of this 180° contacting is the required large chip surface of each sensor element so as to accommodate the necessary bond contacts, wherein, in particular in the case of revolution counters for numbers of revolutions greater than 10, the number of bond contacts decisively determines the chip surface, and thus the cost per chip.
The number of bond contacts can be reduced by a multiplexed power supply. In the case of a spiral including a domain wall generator (DWG) and 16 windings, a total of 34 contacts are required for a shared power supply of all 16 windings: one VCC contact, one GNG contact, and 16×2 center contacts for 32 Wheatstone half bridges. With quadruple multiplexing, in contrast, a total of only 16 contacts are ultimately required: four pairs of VCC and GNC contacts, and 4×2 center contacts, wherein each contact contacts four windings. By connecting the four VCC-GND pairs in rapid succession, the potentials of the four contacted windings can thus be individually consecutively read out at a center contact. In embodiments comprising a multiplexed power supply, not all Wheatstone half bridges are at the same potential, so that the potentials connected in parallel (here, of three windings or Wheatstone half bridges) can influence the measurement result during the measurement of a Wheatstone half bridge. In DE 10 2010 010 893 B4, revolution counters were combined with electrical circuits, which by way of reference bridges compensate for the effects that arise from the potentials connected in parallel. The advantageous connection using reference bridges requires an additional 17th contact for a spiral including a DWG and 16 windings.

Magnetic revolution counter and method for determining numbers of revolutions that can be determined by means of said revolution counter

LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUER PHOTONISCHE TECHNOLOGIEN E.V.


The conjugates of present invention are formed by the combination of rhein or their analogues with the organic bases or amino acids in molecular force between them. The methods for preparing the conjugates and their uses for manufacturing medicines in the treatment of diabetic nephrosis, recovery of gastrointestinal function and prevention of intestinal adhesion, as well as treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are also described. Rhein or their analogues as the left part of general formula (I) is selected from (1) the compounds of rhein or their analogues, in which one or two substituents of R2˜R3 and R6˜R7 are COOH at least two substituents of R1˜8 are —H; or (2) the rhein-containing extract derived from plants. In general formula (I), M represents nitrogen-containing organic bases or basic amino acids.

In prior arts, rhein or rhein analogues has been used in the preparation of various drugs, for instance, a rhein salt disclosed in Chinese patent 200410049948, which is shown in the following two general formulae respectively:
Where, M is alkali metal, alkaline-earth metal or organic alkali residues.
Rhein analogues are defined as matters extracted, refined or chemically modified form the rhein or rhein analogues such as rhubarb (Rheum palmatum L., Rheum tanguticum Maxim. Ex Balf. Or Rheum officinale Baill., Polygonum cuspidatum (Polygonum cuspidatum sieb. Et Zucc.), Folium sennae (Folium sennae), etc. The characteristic composition is rhein or rhein analogues -containing effective part, shown as the compounds with general formula (I).
According to patent search data from Chinese Pharmaceutical Abstracts (searching word "Rhein"), CNKI database (searching word "Rhein"), China patent (searching word "Rhein"), CA (Search "Accession No. 478-43-3"), US Patent (searching word "Rhein") and European Patent (searching word "Rhein"), the salts of rhein analogues include rhein sodium salt, rhein potassium salt (U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,818, CN97107137), and diacerhein [13739-02-1] (CN97192531, CN93101181, CA96: 193416) and diacerhein potassium salt (EP243968).
Diabetes is a systemic metabolic disease, despite many factors involved in the pathogenesis, insulin resistance (IR) and pancreatic β cell dysfunction are considered to be the two main components. Obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia and hypercoagulable state constitute IR clinical syndromes. IR often exists prior to the existence of reduction of sugar tolerance, which is not only the direct reason for the occurrence of diabetes, but also the basis of cardiovascular complications of diabetes. Diabetic nephrosis (DN) is a common complication of diabetes. Rhein has multiple functions in the aspects of sugar reduction, lipid adjustment, and improvement of insulin resistance and reduction of the urine protein excretion and so on; therefore, it can play a multi-target, multi-layered role in different phases of diabetic nephrosis, so as to achieve the purpose of prevention and treatment of diabetic nephrosis.
Abdominal surgery is the most common surgical operation. Generally the patients after operation have relatively weak gastrointestinal function; therefore, the recovery of gastrointestinal function after surgery has great significance on the patient's rehabilitation, including the recovery of diseases and reduction of complications such as intestinal adhesion, etc.
Postoperative intestinal adhesion is still an unresolved clinical surgical problem. The research reports in recent years show that 90%˜100% of patients of abdominal surgery will produce postoperative intestinal adhesion [Luijendijk R W, etal Foreign material in postoperative Adhesions AnnSurg, 1996,223(3):242; Scott Coombers D.etal Human intraperitoneal fibrinolytic respond to elective surgery BrJSurg, 1995,82:414]. Among the patients of adhesions, more than 80% of patients will form adhesions between wounds and omentum, and 50% of cases involve in small intestine [Menxies D, etal Intestinal obstruction from adhesions: How big is the problem? AnnR Coll Surg Engl, 1990, 72 (1): 60]. And the occurrence of intestinal adhesion is related to post-operative peritoneal exudation and weak enterokinesia. Reduction of exudation or improvement of enterokinesia will reduce the occurrence of adhesions. Currently the gastrointestinal dynamic drugs have strong action on the stomach and intestines, especially on the stomach, which will easily cause abdominal discomfort and vomiting. Although the medicines promoting enterokinesia can accelerate the enterokinesia, it cannot reduce the inflammatory reaction and the exudation of inflammatory substances and fibrins.
Neostigmine Bromide can cause the obvious anastalsis in the clinical application, and patients have obvious pain feeling, which cannot actually allow the recovery of gastrointestinal function [Liqishen, et al. The clinical observation of the use of rhubarb on the intestinal function recovery of postoperative patients of diffuse peritonitis, Chinese Journal of Coal Industry Medicine, 1998, 1 (4): 372)]. Clinically raw rhubarb liquid is administered [Ge Hengwen et al, clinical effect observation of recovery of postoperative gastrointestinal function of raw rhubarb liquid, Journal of Hubei Medical Staff College, 2002,15 (2), 19], or rhubarb and other traditional Chinese drug are decocted and orally administered [Huang Honghan, Clinical application study of intestinal adhesion soup, Traditional Chinese Medicine Journal 2006,5 (2), 42]. However, the clinical dose is difficult to control, and administration is inconvenient, so it is subject to restriction for clinical use.
Osteoarthritis, rheumatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are higher incidence of arthrosis. Taking the former as an example, the incidence rate is about 10 percent of the total population, and for patients over 60 years old, over 50 percent of patients are affected, and for women under 45 years old, 45-60 years old and over 65 years old, the incidence rate is 2%, 30% and 68% respectively; for men, the rate is 3%, 24.5% and 58% respectively. With the ageing of the population, the morbidity is becoming more and more in the total population. At present, the main drugs for treatment of osteoarthritis mainly include steroid and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs. The adverse reaction of steroid anti-inflammatory drugs is generally known for the public. For the non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase inhibitor (COX) also has many adverse reactions, for instance, oral administration and injection will cause alimentary tract hemorrhage, and especially old people may produce adverse reactions, which is unfavorable for the diseases of high incidence for old people such as osteoarthritis.
Because rhein analogues are indissoluble in the water and cannot be completely absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract, the bioavailability becomes low which makes restriction on the application of the rhein. The salt formation by combination of rhein analogues and metal ion increases the water solubility of rhein compounds, improves the bioavailability of oral administration; because the rhein sodium salt, rhein potassium salt (U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,818, CN97107137), and diacerhein [13739-02-1] (CN97192531, CN93101181, CA96: 193416) and diacerhein potassium salt (EP243968) are strong base- weak acid salt, the solution presenting basicity, if made into hydro-acupuncture, the pH value is higher, which is unacceptable for human physiology; while if decreasing the pH value, the stability of the preparation is bad.

Rhein conjugates, preparation method thereof and their uses in producing medicines for treating diabetic nephrosis, intestinal adhesion and osteoarthritis


An application system comprising an application server configured to run first version software for an application and second version software for the application. The application system further comprises a staging database server configured to initially interface with the second version software to populate a staging database system with second data for the application generated by the second version software. The application system further comprises a production database server configured to initially interface with the first version software to populate a production database system with first data for the application generated by the first version software, synchronize the first data with the second data to replicate the second data to the production database system, cease interfacing with the first version software and begin to interface with the second version software to populate the production database system with the second data generated by the second version software.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to software update processes, and in particular, to high availability upgrading with staging software running on production application servers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Implementing new hardware and software applications or upgrading existing configurations typically requires a staging system and a production system. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates application system 100 in the prior art. Application system 100 includes production system 101 and staging system 102. Production system 101 includes production application server 110, version one software 111, and a database system 112. Staging system 102 includes staging application server 120, version two software 121, and database system 122.
At times, it is required to update version one software 111 with a new version, such as version two software 121. FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of application system 100 in an example of the prior art whereby version one software 111 is updated with version two software 121.
To begin, version two software 121 is installed on staging application server 120 (Step 210). Next, version two software 121 is tested to ensure its operations (Step 220. The tests are analyzed to determine if version two software 121 is successful (Step 230). If not, version two software 121 can be modified (Step 240), and the process repeated until version two software 121 is considered successful. If the tests are successful, production application server 110 is taken out of operations for upgrading (Step 250). Version two software 121 is then installed on production application server 110. Lastly, Production application server 110 is put back in service running version two software 121.
Problematically, prior art upgrade processes require taking live production application servers out of service. This can be detrimental of overall operations. For instance, customers desiring to access a e-commerce application server will be prohibited from making any purchases. Further problematically, the only way to know if version two software 121 will actually run correctly and successfully on production application server 110 is by taking the chance of running the upgraded system live.

Application server production software upgrading with high availability staging software


An image storing apparatus for storing at least one image based on an image data generated by an imaging apparatus is provided. The image storing apparatus includes a receiving unit, a processor, and a storage device. The receiving unit is configured to receive the image data. The processor is configured to prepare image-relating information and prepare a data set including the image-relating information and the image data following the image-relating information. The processor prepares leading information leading to the image data as part of the image-relating information. The storage device is configured to store the data set.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image storing apparatus that prepares a data set including image-relating information and an image data. The present invention also relates to an image display apparatus, an imaging apparatus and an information processing apparatus, each of which prepares a data set including image-relating information and an image data. The present invention further relates to a method of preparing a data set including image-relating information and an image data, and still further to a computer readable medium on which is stored a program module for preparing a data set including image-relating information and an image data.
2. Discussion of the Background
Various types of imaging apparatus which generates, creates, produces, or the like (hereinafter referred to as generates) are used for various purposes. For example, medical images are generated in a medical imaging apparatus such as, for example, an X-ray diagnosis apparatus, an X-ray computed tomography apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a CT apparatus), a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an MRI apparatus), a nuclear medicine diagnosis apparatus, an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, or an endoscope. The generated medical images may be used for diagnosis, therapy, treatment, finding of affected part (or tumor), or the like. The generated medical images may be transmitted to and stored in an image filing server.
Typically, image data for one or more medical images are accompanied by several kinds of information of a patient imaged and an imaging condition. Such accompanying information is usually referenced by a doctor who interprets, diagnoses, or observes the images as useful information.
When the image data and the accompanying information are transmitted through a network, stored in the image filing server, or the like as a data set, the accompanying information is often placed first and the image data may be follow the accompanying information. Consequently, in order to display the one or more images, a display apparatus usually accesses and analyzes the accompanying information first and then finds the image data after the completion of the analysis. This delays the image display. In other words, it takes time to accomplish an actual display of the images after the doctor has operated to instruct the image display. This delay may annoy the doctor.
This problem may also apply to a well-known format called DICOM (digital imaging and communication in medicine) format. Although Japanese Application Publication No. P2002-41550 describes an easier display technique of a DICOM format data set, this technique requires additional processing and still causes delay in an original image display.

Apparatus that prepares information relating to image data


A servo track writing apparatus (10, 210) for writing servo tracks (16) on a media disk (14) of a disk drive assembly (12), the servo track writing apparatus (10, 210) having a laser interferometer (30) for positioning a remote servo track positioning arm (48, 248) with a second cube corner retroreflector (46) attached thereto. A relationship determining apparatus (56, 256) determines the physical relationship between the track positioning arm (48, 248) and a head positioning arm (22) or linear head actuator (220) using a light emitting device (58) and a photosensitive diode array (60). A third light beam (62) from the light emitting device (58) is reflected from the head positioning arm (22) or linear head actuator (220) onto the photosensitive diode array (60) and variations in the position of the third light beam (62) on the photosensitive diode array (60) cause a head positioning arm servo motor (68) to move the head positioning arm (22) or linear head actuator (220)head positioning arm (22) or linear head actuator (220) as required.

When manufacturing magnetic hard disk computer storage devices it is necessary to magnetically "write" servo tracks on the disks, which servo tracks constitute the references from which other positions on the disks are located. Given the very high track density of modern hard disk media, it is critical that these servo tracks be accurately located and, therefore, it is necessary to position the servo track writing apparatus over the disk as precisely as possible during this process. Laser interferometry has been widely used in this endeavor due to the high resolution, high repeatability, great accuracy and fast signal updating rate of this technology. A typical prior art configuration has included a retroreflector mounted on the head positioning arm of the disk drive with the beam of the laser interferometer directed into the retroreflector such that movement of the retroreflector may be detected and measured by the interferometer. In this prior art method, the head positioning arm has an aperture into which a pin may be placed for moving the arm to properly locate the head for writing the servo track. This method has worked perfectly well for most existing hard disk media. However, the demand for smaller and smaller hard disk media has now resulted in the desire to produce hard disk media smaller even than two inches in diameter. Currently, there exists media of 1.8 inches and smaller in various stages of production and preproduction planning. With such very small media disks, not only is it increasingly critical that the servo tracks be accurately placed (since the actual physical track density is increased as the size of the media is decreased) the problem is also introduced that an arm for positioning the write head must be so small that it is difficult to attach a retroreflector thereto. Furthermore, the entire hard disk mechanism is so small that it is not possible to introduce any bulky equipment into the area of the servo writing mechanism to position the arm.
It is known in the art to use a laser interferometer to position devices in a non-invasive manner. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,184, issued to Brown et al., teaches a variation of the method of using a reflective surface of a device to gauge the position of that device with a laser interferometer.
Clearly, it would be desirable to provide a noninvasive means for positioning a servo track writing device using a laser interferometer. However, to the inventor's knowledge, no prior art device has been readily adaptable to control a very small head positioning arm while providing the same degree of accuracy found in the prior art direct reading interferometer having the retroreflector mounted on the head positioning arm. All prior art non-invasive means for determining the position of a head positioning arm have either required a larger reflective surface than is available in this application, or else have sacrificed accuracy by being highly dependent upon the flatness of the reflective surface, or else have not provided sufficient resolution for the writing of servo tracks on very small media. No prior art device, to the inventor's knowledge, has provided both a means to accurately determine the position of a very small head positioning arm and also a means for adjusting such position.

Non-contact servo track writing apparatus having read/head arm and reference arm


For bonding pure beryllium to a copper alloy, a beryllium-copper material comprising a single layer or multiple layers having a thickness of 0.3-3.0 mm and containing at least 50 atomic % of Cu is inserted between the pure beryllium and the copper alloy to prevent bonding strength from degrading in the bonding process or during operation of a nuclear fusion reactor, by effectively mitigating formation of brittle intermetallic compounds and generation of thermal stress at the bonding interface.

In nuclear fusion reactors, beryllium is considered a promising plasma-resistant material due to its excellent heat resistance and suppressed absorption of tritium. However, beryllium lacks sufficient thermal conductivity and may thus undergo an inside heat accumulation. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, beryllium is designed to be bonded to a pure copper or copper alloy as a heat conductive material.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a pure beryllium, 2 a pure copper or copper alloy, and 3 a cooling pipe.
Conventionally, vacuum silver soldering has been mainly used as the bonding method though it is pointed out that this method may adversely affect plasma and that it lacks reliability in actual plant level.
That is to say, in the case of vacuum silver soldering, as silver is transformed into cadmium by nuclear reaction, it is highly likely that silver is mixed in plasma as impurities thereby adversely affecting it. Moreover, there may occur a chemical reaction between the solder material and bonded material; therefore, it is difficult to obtain achieve reliable bonding.
Thus, diffusion bonding method has been studied as a new bonding technique, though a satisfactory result has not yet been achieved.
That is to say, in the case of diffusion bonding, it is highly likely that intermetallic compounds are formed between pure beryllium and pure copper or copper alloy. Moreover, there is a significant difference in thermal expansion coefficient between pure beryllium and pure copper or copper alloy. In view of the above, there has been no effective solution for a problem of decreased bonding strength which is caused by thermal stress occurring during the bonding process or during operation of the nuclear fusion reactor.


Disclosed is a process for supplying cold to at least one refrigerated enclosure particularly an open enclosure for the display and sale of fresh products in a supermarket, characterized in that:. a) in the sales point are disposed said open enclosures provided in manner known per se with cold air dispensing and recovery nozzles, passing through the interior of the enclosures, the air streams sweeping the products displayed and the air heating up by taking calories exchanged from the products; PA1 b) there is positioned in a zone offset with respect to said enclosures and chosen for its convenient access, an air cooling plant principally comprising an evaporator of refrigerant liquid-gas and a ventilator, this plant is furthermore supplied with refrigerant by a refrigerating unit; PA1 c) the cold air coming from the evaporator of said plant is entrained by forced circulation through appropriate pipes towards said enclosures, the cold air coming from the air cooling plant being delivered to cold air dispensing nozzles serving the enclosures, air recovery nozzles being connected via recycling pipes to said plant for returning the air reheated by passage in the enclosure and returned towards said evaporator to be cooled therein.

In super- or hypermarkets, cabinets of the shelving type are known, which comprise a back from which issue superposed shelves are surmounted by a top and rest on a base, the assembly which constitutes an open enclosure through which a flow of cold air passes to ensure refrigeration and good conditions for conservation of the products.
Display furniture is also known, particularly for products of the "delicatessen" type, which comprises a display surface completed by a window preferably curved rearwardly. This surface has a flow of cold air passing thereover, as hereinabove, to maintain the products at a low temperature compatible with good conditions of conservation.
In presently known systems, a decentralized refrigerating unit is used, for example in service premises, which, in conventional manner by compression (condensation) and expansion (evaporation), is able to take from the outside environment the calories necessary for the latent heat of vaporization of the refrigerating liquid and consequently, the production of cold. The condensation unit is connected by appropriate conduits to each of the containers to which it sends the refrigerating fluid in the liquid state, with the interposition of an electrovalve controlled by a thermostat, the electrovalve being opened or closed as a function of the needs of cold in the assembly which the enclosures served.
The refrigerating fluid passes from the liquid phase to the vapor phase via an evaporator which has a constantly circulating air flow passing therethrough. The air flow passes over the finned tubes of the evaporator towards the back and the top of the cabinet from which it is distributed via orifices and nozzles to sweep all the products located in the open enclosure. The air is recovered at the base of the cabinet and reheated by passage over the stored products which are returned on the evaporator.
As the temperature on the wall of the evaporator is lower than 0.degree. and the circulating air is laden with humidity, this results in the formation and accumulation of frost which must be periodically eliminated with the aid of electric resistors. During the periods of defrosting, with production of calories by the electric resistors, circulation of the refrigerating liquid and ventilation is interrupted. This brings about an undesirable rise in the temperature within the cabinet and of the products that it contains.
According to another method, defrosting is obtained by maintaining ventilation and by stopping the circulation of the refrigerating fluid, for example, for 30 to 45 minutes every 6 hours.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings schematically shows a cabinet 3 which comprises a plurality of shelves 3a, 3b, 3c and which is supplied with refrigerant from a refrigerating unit.
The latter comprises a compressor 1a, a coil 1b for evacuating the heat resulting from the compression and a store 1c of refrigerating fluid in the liquid state (high pressure).
This refrigerating fluid reaches the cabinet 3 via appropriate conduits, after passage via an electrovalve 2 as a function of needs of cold as indicated hereinabove. The refrigerating fluid then passes through the pressure reducing valve 4 controlled by the thermostatic train 5 to arrive at the evaporator 6 where cold is produced by passage of the refrigerating fluid from the liquid phase to the gaseous phase.
Although this technique has certain advantages, it does present several drawbacks:
(1) Each cabinet presents a large number of refrigerating components, which increases their cost and in the event of momentary breakdown, makes necessary interventions on these components difficult. In the case of a breakdown, the cabinets must be emptied and the interventions must be carried out at night or on Sundays, which represents long and expensive handling operations thereby handicapping the conditions for exploitation.
(2) It is not possible to monitor the concealed components directly and visually because they are generally located behind the rear face or in the back of the cabinet.
(3) The system does not allow for filtration of the circulating cold air.
(4) The possibilities of change in the arrangements and architecture of the interior decoration of the stores are reduced and also expensive.
(5) Finally, the periodic defrostings cause undesirable rises in temperature which increase the refrigerating balance of the exploitation and are detrimental to the conservation of the products.

Process for supplying cold to an open refrigerated enclosure for display and sale of fresh products in a supermarket


Apparatus for interactive display of any portion of a spherical image preferably comprises a personal computer or other digital processor apparatus for storing digital data representative of at least one image having a 180 degree or greater field of view (or hemispherical image). In order to view a selected image portion without warp or distortion at the seam between opposite hemispherical images, edge filtering is applied to eliminate a halo effect. Moreover, an opposite hemispherical image may either be obtained by creating a mirror image of a first hemispherical image or by capturing a second hemispherical image by means of an oppositely directed camera and storing the digital image. Equations for image transformation are based on a lens' characteristics including the lens' radius R. An input interface preferably comprises a display including a magnification region and a directional cursor for pointing the direction to a next spherical image. "Hot spots" can be linked to audio, text, graphics, or other media or trigger a charge for a pay event or identify program links to the next spherical image.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to the field of image processing systems and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for displaying a portion of a spherical image field that is created from one or two 180 degree or greater hemispherical images, generated from either a still photograph, rendered image, or a motion picture or video input. Specifically, the present invention relates to a system where desired portions of one or two 180 degree images are used to create a dewarped and perspective-corrected window into the image or images. The method involves the use of a mathematical transformation to remove distortion associated with a fisheye or other wide angle lens, correct perspective associated with changes in the direction of view, and select which hemisphere of the original images a given picture element resides. In addition, the method creates an environment that totally fills a spherical environment resulting in no boundaries, thus, creating a so-called immersive image viewing experience. It does so preferably by combining two images into a complete sphere (i.e. permitting continuous navigation without any boundaries in the spherical image). The image can be composed of a single half image with the second half composed of the mirror image of the first image or a second hemispherical image that is captured by a camera directed in the opposite direction of the first. The preferred system includes a computational device for implementation of the corrective algorithms (personal computer, TV settop device, or hardware for computation of the transformations), an input device (a computer mouse, touchscreen, keyboard or other input device), a display monitor (a television, computer monitor or other display device), and image data that is collected from either one or two 180 degree or greater (for example, fisheye) images that are still, rendered, motion or video.
2. Background Art
The discussion of the background art related to the invention described herein relates to immersive image viewing. "Immersive image viewing" as used in the context of this application means the concept of permitting a viewer to be totally immersed in an image by allowing the user, for example, to focus on a particular object in an object plane and selectively having that image displayed in an image plane without warping or distortion as if the user had seen the object with his or her eyes.
One goal of the present invention is to create an immersive image environment and another to provide a means for the user to experience such a totally immersive image environment, providing full freedom in the viewing direction inside of a complete sphere composed of one or two combined hemispherical images. As a result, there are no bounds on the user's freedom to view in any direction.
Some virtual reality approaches have been developed that use multiple images to capture a cylindrical representation of an environment from a composition of numerous still images (Apple Computer's QuickTimeVR) or a cylindrical image from a mechanized panoramic camera (Microsoft Corporation's Surround). Apple's QuickTimeVR may be described by Chen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,583. These methods suffer from at least two constraints: 1) the capture of the image requires precise methods and equipment not amenable to consumer application, and 2) the playback to the user is limited by the cylindrical composition providing a 360 degree panorama all the way around but a limited tilt in the vertical (up/down) direction.
In parent U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,667, an approach is described which uses a single image and allows navigations about the single image. The described method involves the capture of a single wide angle image (not a complete spherical image) and is thus limited in the effect on the user by having limits set at the edge of the wide angle field of view, thus constraining the user to a region of view direction.
Other methods (for example, a system under development at Minds Eye View of Troy, New York) are expected to use image projection to create alternative perspectives from dual fisheye images and process these images in a manual manner to create a composite of images that can be videotaped to create the sense of movement through environments. These alternative perspectives are combined, frame by frame, offline and, consequently, due to the computational complexity of the approach, real-time interaction has not been possible. This approach offers no interactive potential to allow the user to direct his own view and lacks accuracy at the seam between perspectives to automatically combine images without manual touch up (editing) of the original fisheye images.
Approximations based on bilinear interpolation (Tararine, U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,102) as applied to a distorted image allow for computational speed increases, but are limited to a fixed viewing perspective and to a single source of input data (hemisphere) instead of an entire sphere of input for total immersion which requires additional logic to determine from which source to obtain the information.
Still other approaches provide a higher resolution in the video domain by combining numerous narrow angle imaging devices in an approximately seamless manner (McCutchen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,725), but these devices require the combination of numerous signals into a composite image and also are only piecewise continuous having issues (distortions) at the intersection of various sensors (parallax).

Method and apparatus for the interactive display of any portion of a spherical image