An accumulation-type image pickup device having first and second accumulation periods receives light relfected from an eye illuminated by a light beam from an illumination device. A memory for storing a signal from the image pickup device stores an image signal of the eye generated in one of the two accumulation periods of the image pickup device. The illumination device emits light in only one of the two accumulation periods. A differential signal generation circuit generates a differential signal between an image signal generated by the image pickup device during the first accumulation period and an image signal generated in the second accumulation period. The visual axis of the eye is determined on the basis of the signal from the differential signal generation circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a visual axis detection apparatus, and especially to a visual axis detection apparatus which detects an axis in an observation point direction of a viewer (photographer) or a so-called visual axis when the viewer observes an observation plane (imaging plate) on which an object image is formed by a photographing system in an optical system such as a camera, by utilizing a reflected image (eyeball image) formed when an eyeball of the viewer is illuminated with an infrared ray.
2. Related Background Art
Various visual axis so as detection apparatuses for detecting the visual axis to detect a position on a view plane which the viewer (examined person) views have been proposed.
For example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2-264632, an infrared light beam from a light source is projected to an anterior part of the eye in an eye to be examined and an axis of vision (observation point) is determined by utilizing a cornea reflected image on the basis of light reflected from a cornea and a focus-imaging point on a pupil.
In a camera disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 61-61135, a the direction of metering by a focus detection apparatus is mechanically controlled on the basis of an output signal from a visual axis detection means to adjust a focal point state of a photographing system.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a visual axis detection apparatus proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2-264632, FIG. 6 is a graph of an output signal from one line of an image sensor of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of a finder system when the visual axis detection apparatus of FIG. 5 is applied to a single eye reflex camera.
Numeral 101 denotes an eyeball of an examined person (observer), numeral 1 denotes a cornea of the eyeball of the examined person, numeral 2 denotes a sclera, and numeral 3 denotes an iris. O' denotes a center of rotation of the eyeball 101, O denotes a center of curvature of the cornea 1, a and b denote ends of the iris 3, and e and f denote positions where cornea reflected images are formed owing to light sources 4a and 4b to be described hereinafter. Numeral 4a and 4b denote light sources which may be light emitting diodes or the like for emitting infrared rays which are unpleasant for the examined person. The light source 4a (4b) is arranged closer to a projection lens 6a (6b) than to a focal plane of the projection lens 6a (6b). The projection lenses 6a and 6b are applied for widely illuminating the cornea 1 defining a light beam from the light sources 4a and 4b as diverged light beam.
The light source 4a lies on an optical axis of the projection lens 6a and the light source 4b lies on an optical axis of the projection lens 6b, and they are arranged symmetrically along a z-axis direction with respect to an optical axis aX.sub.1.
Numeral 7 denotes a light receiving lens which forms the cornea reflected images e and f formed near the cornea 1 and the ends a and b of the iris 3 on an image sensor plane 9. Numeral 10 denotes an arithmetic means which calculates the visual axis of the examined eye by using the output signal from the image sensor 9. aX.sub.1 denotes an optical axis of the light receiving lens 7 and it matches the X axis in FIG. 5. aX.sub.2 denotes an optical axis of the eyeball which makes an angle .theta. with respect to the X axis.
In this example, the infrared ray emitted from the light source 4a (4b) passes through the projection lens 6a (6b) and thereafter widely illuminates the cornea 1 of the eyeball 101 in a diverging state. The infrared ray which passes through the cornea 1 illuminates the iris 3.
The cornea reflected images e and f based on the light beam reflected by the surface of the cornea 1 of the infrared rays for illuminating the eyeball are reformed at points e' and f' on the image sensor 9 through the light receiving lens 7. In FIGS. 5 and 6, e' and f' denote projection images of the cornea reflected image (virtual images) e and f formed by a set of light sources 4a and 4b. The centers of the projection images e' and f' substantially match to the projection point on the image sensor 9 of the cornea reflected image formed when the illumination means is arranged on the optical axis aX.sub.1.
The infrared ray which is diffusion-reflected by the surface of the iris 3 is directed to the image sensor 9 through the light receiving lens 7 to form the iris image.
On the other hand, the infrared ray transmitted through the pupil of the eyeball to illuminate a retina has the wavelength of the infrared range and the illuminated area is an area of a low view cell density which is apart from a center area, so that the examined person cannot recognize the light sources 4a and 4b.
The ordinate in FIG. 6 represents an output I along the z-axis direction of the image sensor 9. Since most of the infrared rays transmitted through the pupil are not reflected back, there is no difference in the output at the boundary between the pupil and the iris 3. As a result, the iris images a' and b' at the ends of the iris can be detected.
When an area sensor having a two-dimensional photo-sensor array is used as the image sensor 9 of FIG. 6, two-dimensional light distribution information of the reflected image (eyeball image) is obtained from the front eye as shown in FIG. 8.
In FIG. 8, numeral 141 denotes a light receiving area of the image sensors, E' and F' denote cornea reflected images of the light sources 4a and. 4b, A' denotes a boundary between the iris and the pupil, and G' denotes a boundary between the sclera 2 and the cornea 1. Since the reflectivities of the sclera 1 and the iris 3 are not substantially different from each other in the infrared range, the boundary G' can not be clearly discriminated by a naked eye. J' denotes an image of a lower eyelid, K' denotes an image of an upper eyelid and L' denotes an image of eyelashes.
In order to detect the direction of the visual axis from the eyeball image of the front part of the eye, it has been known to calculate the relative relation between the cornea reflected images E' and F' (or an intermediate image of E' and F') and the position of the center of pupil. Various methods for determining the center of pupil have been known. For example, an output of one particular line of the image sensor is sampled to calculate a center point of the pupil edge positions a' and b' of FIG. 6. Alternatively, the output information of the area sensor may be used to sample a number of pupil edge points and thereafter determine the center point by a least square approximation.
Optional equipment having a finder system such as a still camera or a video camera is frequently used in out-of-door conditions. When such optical equipment is used out-of-doors, the eyeball of the photographer is illuminated by an external ray. Thus, an image forming light beam received by the image sensor 9 includes not only the image of the front part of the eye illuminated with the light sources 4a and 4b but also a complex image affected by the disturbance by the external ray.
The external ray causing the most problems is a direct light incident on the front part of the eye from the sun. The energy of sunlight is very strong and includes a large amount same spectrum components as those emitted by the light sources 4a and 4b. Accordingly, it is difficult to fully eliminate the external ray by spectrum means such as a visible ray cut filter.
When the front part of the eye is illuminated by sunlight, a variety of disturbances are generated in the image and the external ray component is stronger than the infrared component. As a result, a pattern (eyeball image) cannot be substantially discriminated. When the external ray exists, the brightness in the pupil which should be at a lowest brightness level of luminescence (between a' and b' in FIG. 6) becomes higher or declines so that the detection of the pupil edges and hence the position of the center of the pupil cannot be correctly determined.
When the neighborhood of the boundary of the sclera and the iris is strongly illuminated, an obscure edge, which inherently seems unclear, rises to the surface or declines therein, so that the pupil edges are misdetected. When the eyelashes grow downward, they are illuminated by the external ray, so that they may be misdetected as the pupil edge. Since the eyelashes extend out of the face in contrast to the eyeball, they are easily subject to the illumination by the external ray.
Such a misdetection occurs not only for the pupil edge but also for the cornea reflected images e and f of the light sources 4a and 4b. When the ends of the eyelashes are directly illuminated by the sunlight, they become strong brilliant points, which are misdetected as the cornea reflected images. When eyeglasses are put, on dust deposited on the eyeglasses may be highlighted.
Besides sunlight, a downwardly directed light having high luminescence and various artificial light sources may form also an external e ray. When eyeglasses are put, on a distance between the eyepiece portion in the finder system and the eyeball generally becomes separated so that the external ray easily enters into the eye. Further, the reflection coming from the lens surfaces of the eyeglasses is adversely affected.
When the visual axis is to be detected by using the image signal from the image sensor, an accumulation-type image sensor is frequently used in view of the sensitivity requirements for the system. As a result, there has been a problem that DC noise elimination by an AC coupling or a period detection system which is usually used in a single sensor cell cannot be used.


A trust level of an account is determined at least partly based on a degree of the memorability of an email address associated with the account. Additional features such as those based on the domain of the email address and those from the additional information such as name, phone number, and address associated with the account may also be used to determine the trust level of the account. A machine learning process may be used to learn a classification model based on one or more features that distinguish a malicious account from a benign account from training data. The classification model is used to determine a trust level of the account, and/or if the account is malicious or benign, and may be continuously improved by incrementally adapting or improving the model with new accounts.

Online transactions usually require online accounts. Each online account contains information related to the user of account, such as email address, name, home address, phone numbers, etc. To avoid being caught and increase success rate, malicious users usually use an account for illegal usage for a short time and then switch to another account, thereby needing a lot of accounts. The accounts used for illegal transactions may be compromised accounts of other legitimate users, or may be created by the malicious users. Automatic programs (i.e., bots) may be used to generate a large amount of email addresses to register such fraudulent accounts. For example, such fraudulent accounts may be associated with some stolen or illegal credit cards to make fraudulent transactions online. The information associated with an account, such as the associated email address, is reviewed manually for identification of malicious accounts, which is costly, labor intensive, and time consuming.

Machine-learning based classification of user accounts based on email addresses and other account information


A catalytic gasification process and system for producing medium grade BTU gas including a gasification reactor having an inner air gasification zone, an outer steam gasification zone, a synthetic coal reaction zone, and an upper lime treating zone. The process and system of the present invention further includes a synthetic coal heating vessel which provides superheated recycled synthetic coal to the gasification reactor and a limestone treating vessel which provides superheated air and CO.sub.2 to the gasification reactor. The novel process and system of the present invention provides for the production of a medium grade BTU gas and several commercially valuable by-products with virtually no solid or liquid waste products.

The present invention relates to an improved process and apparatus for producing a useful gas from carbonaceous fuels. Specifically, the invention relates to a novel process and apparatus for producing a medium grade BTU clean gas from carbon-based fuels, such as coal, petroleum coke and residual petroleum fuels, without the use of manufactured oxygen. Moreover, the novel process and apparatus provides for the production of other products, such as iron carbide, iron, and dry gas, having direct commercial utility with virtually no solid or liquid waste.
Coal is the world's most abundant fuel resource. However, coal has not been suitable in many commercial applications as an energy source due to its practical limitations such as difficulties of transport and incompatibility with power generating devices.
Coal gasification processes have been developed which attempt to transform the coal from a carbonaceous solid fuel to a gas fuel which has much more practical utility. Such a system, for example, was disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,249 for "Process for Gasification of Coal and Organic Solid Wastes" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,839 for "Process for Gasification of Coal and Organic Wastes" the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Generally, gasification processes provide a means for converting combustible organic materials such as coal, residual petroleum, wood, tar sand, shale oil, and municipal, agriculture or industrial waste into a gas end product typically consisting of hydrogen or methane gas. The gas end product is then commonly utilized in a downstream phase of the process. For example, the gas product may be used to produce steam for the production of electricity or heating by passing the hot gases through a steam generation zone. Moreover, the production gases are often utilized in a downstream chemical process for further production. If the gas which is produced is a high grade gaseous stream it may be recovered for direct commercial use as a fuel energy source.
In order to produce a gaseous end product which has direct commercial utility--for example to drive a gas turbine or as a clean compression fuel source for use in an automobile engine--the gas end product must have a useful BTU level or grade. In this, a clean high BTU grade gas (viz., approximately 300 BTU per cubic foot (hereinafter "BTU/C.F.")) is most preferable. However, a clean medium BTU grade gas (viz., approximately 200-275 BTU/C.F.) is also sufficient as an energy source for direct commercial uses. Significantly, however, a low BTU gas (viz., approximately 125-175 BTU/C.F.) is not a useful gaseous product in direct commercial applications. Moreover, a gas product of any grade is not acceptable if it contains contaminates which adversely affect its combustion properties. For example, a gas end product which contains large amounts of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide ("sulfur gas") cannot be used as a direct energy source for commercial applications. A gas end product having large amounts of contaminates is not acceptable in direct commercial applications, for example in gas turbines, because it will produce flame-out and stoppage. Moreover, the combustion by-products of a contaminated gas will produce environmentally unsafe by-products (e.g., So.sub.x gas, No.sub.x gas, particulate, etc.) which are unacceptable in commercial applications.
Common to all gasification techniques is the need for in process oxygen to carry out the necessary reactions (viz., to react with the carbon of the carbonaceous solid fuel). As a general matter, if the source of in-process oxygen for the gasification process is derived from manufactured oxygen, then the gaseous end product will be a high grade BTU gas. Conversely, if the source of in-process oxygen for the gasification process is derived from air or steam, then the gaseous end product will be a low grade BTU gas. For example, certain gasification processes currently employed by Texaco, Dow, and Shell require a high amount of in-process oxygen in order to produce a useful BTU gas end product. Although the gas end products of the Texaco, Dow, and Shell processes are high grade BTU gases (viz., approximately 300 BTU/C.F.), the processes require the use of manufactured oxygen. A gasification process currently employed by British Gas uses air and steam as a source of in-process oxygen, but the gas end product is a low grade BTU gas having limited commercial utility. The problem with utilizing manufactured oxygen as the source of in-process oxygen is that it has a commercially prohibitive cost. Manufactured oxygen can be one of the most significant costs in a gasification process. Manufactured oxygen is typically produced through a cryogenic method wherein a volume of air is reduced to extremely low temperatures--in the order of 360.degree. F. below zero--whereby the O.sub.2 is liquidized and removed in a pure liquid form. Current market rates for manufactured oxygen are approximately from five times the cost of on-site coal. Moreover, an oxygen gasification process requires about one ton of oxygen for every ton of coal. Accordingly, the high cost of manufactured oxygen adversely affects the economic efficiency of a gasification process. A common denominator of all gasification systems is that they must be economical to operate. Gasification systems have large initial capital investment cost and as a result, a low process efficiency is unacceptable to gasification management teams. In this, coal deposit owners are discouraged from using gasification techniques which are capable of producing a high BTU gas for direct commercial applications--for example to drive a gas turbine or as a clean compression fuel source for use in an automobile engine--which prevents the expansion of use of clean energy sources by the public. For example, a ready and cost effective source of compressed hydrogen would encourage automobile manufacturers to develop some hydrogen fueled automobiles. As noted, in order to effectively operate gas turbines, a medium to high grade BTU gas is required. Electrical power producers are discouraged by the high cost of coal gasification and have in the past almost exclusively utilized natural gas sources.
Manufactured oxygen has been the preferable source of process oxygen because it not only provides the necessary reaction content for the creation of a high grade BTU gas, but an excess amount of non-reacted O.sub.2 is burned in order to create additional and necessary process heat. In order to eliminate the need for manufactured oxygen attempts have been made to use a process catalyst which accelerates the process reactions in order to provide beneficial temperature affects. One such attempt has been made by Exxon Research and Engineering Co. wherein the process reactions are carried out in the presence of a carbon-alkali metal catalyst. However, this Exxon gasification process and reaction catalyst have proven ineffective and problematic. The carbon-alkali metal catalyst of the prior art consist of an alkali metal (e.g., Na) with impregnated carbon. The alkali and carbon, however, are not chemically bonded, but merely coexist in their respective forms. Typically, the catalyst, in liquid form, is sprayed onto a fine coal and delivered to a reaction vessel. The inherent problem with the prior art catalyst is that once the gasification reactions are complete, the catalyst must be separated from the reaction products, such as coal, for disposal and/or recycling. This separation step involves the use of complex reactor designs and additional hardware which not only increase the complexity of the system, but increase capital cost significantly. As such, the prior art gasification systems which utilize reaction catalysts have proven to be commercially unacceptable. The prior art gasification systems have failed to provide a recycle reagent which serve as a process catalyst while providing superior recycling and density properties.
Prior art gasification methods and systems have proven disadvantageous for several other significant reasons. First, the prior art thermal gasification systems and methods require very high operating temperatures--approximately 2500.degree. to 2800.degree. F.--in order for the process reactions to occur. At these extreme operating temperatures, the iron based reaction vessels will melt if cooling mechanisms are not in place. Typically, such mechanism include complex and expensive vessel insulation schemes and/or heat exchanger cooling. Moreover, the high reaction temperatures require the use of expensive iron alloys--such as 310 Cr/Ni stainless steel as fabrication material for the reaction vessels.
The prior art methods and systems have relatively low thermal process efficiencies. The prior art methods and systems have been unable to maximize the extent of gasification which occurs during the process thereby obtaining relatively low conversion efficiencies. The prior art methods and systems produce environmentally unsafe by-product waste which requires costly post process handling. The prior art techniques have been unable to produce commercially useful by-products from the gasification process. The prior art gasification methods and systems require the manufacturing of special process modules and hardware which increase production cost and make it more difficult to relocate from one mine site to another as resources change. The prior art systems which utilize manufactured oxygen in the production of high grade BTU gas, produce a product gas having very high exit temperatures which cannot be directly used in gas turbines.
The difficulties and limitations suggested in the preceding are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather are among many which demonstrate that although significant attention has been devoted to solid gasification methods and systems, such methods and systems appearing in the past will admit to worthwhile improvement.

Catalytic gasification process and system


A cat entertainment box including a box with a front face, a left face, a right face, and a rear face, a top. The edges of the top and floor and four faces are coupled together at their edges to form an integral rectilinear configuration. A hole is located in the top adjacent to the front face and essentially spaced from the side faces with indicia on the top with a top hole. The top hole allows entrance and egress of a cat into and out of the box. A design is on the front face, left face, right face and rear face. An aperture is formed in the front, left and right faces centrally located between the adjacent side edges and closer to the top edge than the bottom edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cat entertainment box and more particularly pertains to providing entertainment to cats as well as to the care providers of the cats.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of toys for pets of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, toys for pets of known designs and configurations heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of providing entertainment to pets and their owners through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,326 to Markowitz, issued Jun. 11, 1996 discloses an interactive game between pet and owner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,223 to Holland et al., issued Jul. 5, 1983 discloses a cardboard house for pets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,761 to Bellocchi, Jr., issued Dec. 11, 1979 discloses a pet play house. U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,516 to Leonard, issued Aug. 12, 1969 discloses a frame doghouse construction. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 1,665,996 to Adams et al., issued Apr. 10, 1928 discloses a device for propagation of clams. Also of interest are foreign patents EP 0 577 457 Al to Eustache et al., Issue/Priority Date Jun. 16, 1993 which discloses a package, especially for industrial products and WO 87/04046 to Mohr, Issue/Priority Date Jul. 16, 1987 which discloses a toy for entertaining a cat.
In this respect, the cat entertainment box according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing entertainment to cats as well as to the care providers of the cats.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved cat entertainment box which can be used for providing entertainment to cats as well as to the care providers of the cats. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.

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A PUCCH collision processing method and a terminal are provided, and the method includes: transmitting, in a case that a first PUCCH and a second PUCCH overlap in a first slot, one of the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH within the first slot according to a configuration of at least one of the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH, wherein, the first PUCCH is configured as multi-slot PUCCH repetition transmission, and a carried content in the first PUCCH includes one of Channel State Information CSI and a Scheduling Request SR, the second PUCCH is configured as single-slot or multi-slot PUCCH repetition transmission, and a carried content in the second PUCCH includes one of CSI and an SR; the first slot is one or more slots.

In new radio (New Radio, NR) systems, PUCCHs having various lengths are introduced, such as a short PUCCH (short PUCCH) and a long PUCCH (long PUCCH), where a length of the short PUCCH is one or two orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM) symbols, a length of the long PUCCH is four to fourteen OFDM symbols. In addition, in order to increase coverage, some PUCCHs in an NR system may support multi-slot PUCCH repetition (multi-slot PUCCH repetition) transmission, that is, PUCCH may be repeatedly transmitted in multiple continuous or discontinuous slots (slot). In this way, since the PUCCH is repeatedly transmitted in multiple continuous or discontinuous slots (slot), there is a possibility that the PUCCH may collide with another PUCCH. Here, the collision may refer to a collision of two PUCCHs in a time domain within a slot, that is, the two PUCCHs overlap in time, and may partially or completely overlap in time. It may be seen that PUCCH collision is a problem to be solved urgently.

PUCCH collision processing method and terminal


A semiconductor device provided with a first semiconductor chip having a first functional surface formed with a first functional element and a first rear surface, a second semiconductor chip having a second functional surface which is formed with a second functional element, the second functional surface having a region opposed to the first functional surface of the first semiconductor chip and a non-opposed region defined outside the opposed region, a connection member electrically connecting the first functional element and the second functional element, an insulation film continuously covering the non-opposed region of the second semiconductor chip and the first rear surface of the first semiconductor chip, a rewiring layer provided on a surface of the insulation film, a protective resin layer covering the rewiring layer, and an external connection terminal projecting from the rewiring layer through the protective resin layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multichip module including a plurality of semiconductor chips.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, there has been a demand for higher density integration and size reduction of a semiconductor device. To this end, a multichip module (MCM, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-188369) and a chip scale package (CSP, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-118224) have been developed which satisfy the aforesaid demand.
FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view illustrating the construction of a prior art semiconductor device having a multichip module structure.
The semiconductor device 81 includes a wiring board 82, a semiconductor chip 83 disposed on the wiring board 82, and a semiconductor chip 84 disposed on the semiconductor chip 83. The semiconductor chips 83, 84 each include a functional element 83a, 84a formed in one surface thereof. The semiconductor chip 83 is bonded onto the wiring board 82 with its face up, i.e., the surface of the semiconductor chip 83 formed with the functional element 83a faces away from the wiring board 82. The semiconductor chip 84 is bonded onto the semiconductor chip 83 with its face up, i.e., the surface of the semiconductor chip 84 formed with the functional element 84a faces away from the semiconductor chip 83. An interlevel insulating material 86 is interposed between the semiconductor chips 83 and 84.
The semiconductor chip 83 is greater in size than the semiconductor chip 84 as seen perpendicularly to the surfaces formed with the functional elements 83a, 84a, so that the surface of the semiconductor chip 83 on which the semiconductor chip 84 is bonded has a peripheral area not opposed to the semiconductor chip 84. Electrode pads 83b connected to the functional element 83a are provided on the peripheral area of the semiconductor chip 83. Electrode pads 84b connected to the functional element 84a are provided on a peripheral area of the surface of the semiconductor chip 84 formed with the functional element 84a.
The wiring board 82 is greater in size than the semiconductor chip 83 as seen perpendicularly to the wiring board 82, so that the surface of the wiring board 82 on which the semiconductor chip 83 is bonded has a peripheral area not opposed to the semiconductor chip 83. Electrode pads not shown are provided on the peripheral area of the wiring board 82, and connected to the electrode pads 83b, 84b via bonding wires 87, 88, respectively.
The semiconductor chips 83, 84 and the bonding wires 87, 88 are sealed in a mold resin 89.
Metal balls 85 serving as external connection members are provided on a surface of the wiring board 82 opposite from the surface on which the semiconductor chip 83 is bonded. Electrode pads (not shown) of the wiring board 82 are rewired in and on the wiring board 82 and respectively connected to the metal balls 85.
The semiconductor device 81 is connected to a second wiring board via the metal balls 85.
FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view illustrating the construction of a prior art semiconductor device having a chip scale package structure.
The semiconductor device 91 includes a semiconductor chip 92. The semiconductor chip 92 includes a functional element 92a formed in one surface thereof, and an insulation film 93 covering the functional element 92a. The insulation film 93 has openings formed in predetermined portions thereof.
Rewiring layers 94 each having a predetermined pattern are provided on the insulation film 93. The rewiring layers 94 are connected to the functional element 92a through the openings of the insulation film 93. Columnar external connection terminals 95 project from predetermined portions of the rewiring layers 94, and metal balls 96 serving as external connection members are respectively bonded onto distal ends of the external connection terminals 95.
The insulation film 93 and the rewiring layers 94 on the surface of the semiconductor chip 92 formed with the functional element 92a are covered with a protective rein layer 97. The external connection terminals 95 each extend through the protective resin layer 97. Side surfaces of the semiconductor chip 92 are flush with side surfaces of the protective resin layer 97. With the provision of the protective resin layer 97, the semiconductor device 91 has a generally rectangular prism outer shape. Therefore, the semiconductor device 91 has substantially the same size as the semiconductor chip 92 as seen perpendicularly to the semiconductor chip 92.
The semiconductor device 91 is connected to a wiring board via the metal balls 96.
In the semiconductor device 81 of FIG. 8, however, the wiring board 82 should have a greater size than the semiconductor chip 83 to provide an area for the connection with the bonding wires 87, 88. Therefore, the semiconductor device 81 (package) is greater in size than the semiconductor chips 83, 84, particularly, as measured parallel to the wiring board 82. Accordingly, the semiconductor device 81 requires a greater mounting area on the second wiring board.
Where a lead frame is used instead of the wiring board 82 (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-9223), a similar problem occurs.
On the other hand, the semiconductor device 91 of FIG. 9 includes no wiring board. With this construction, it is impossible to incorporate a plurality of chips (semiconductor chips 92) in the semiconductor device. In order to mount a plurality of semiconductor chips 92 on a wiring board, a plurality of such semiconductor devices 91 should be arranged laterally on the wiring board, requiring a greater mounting area. In addition, the semiconductor chips 92 are connected to one another via the wiring board, so that the total wiring length is increased. This makes it difficult to increase the signal processing speed of the overall system.


A system, method, and apparatus for identifying a speaker of an utterance, particularly when the utterance has portions of it missing due to packet losses. Different packet loss models are applied to each speaker's training data in order to improve accuracy, especially for small packet sizes.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to an algorithm for improving speaker identification in lossy channels. Particularly, the present invention is preferably directed to an algorithm that trains a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) with several packet loss rate models for each known speaker, and the best speaker match is identified over all the loss model sets.
2. Description of Related Art
Note that the following discussion refers to a number of publications by author(s) and year of publication, and that due to recent publication dates certain publications are not to be considered as prior art vis-a-vis the present invention. Discussion of such publications herein is given for more complete background and is not to be construed as an admission that such publications are prior art for patentability determination purposes.
An objective of speaker identification algorithms is to determine which voice sample from a set of known voice samples best matches the characteristics of an unknown input voice sample. This involves extraction of speaker dependent features from the known voice samples, model building for each known sample, and eventual matching of the features extracted from the unknown voice sample.
Speaker identification systems typically work as follows: prior to speaker identification, the system must first be trained, i.e. create a table associating each individual speaker with a distinguishing set of parameters based on the individual's speech signal; afterward, a new speech signal from an unknown user is acquired and a parameter set is determined; finally, a comparison is made with the unknown individual's parameter set and the entries in the table in order to determine a closest "match" and subsequent identification of the speaker.
Of various speaker identification techniques, the Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based speaker identification algorithm has shown to be remarkably successful in identifying speakers from a large population. The GMM approach provides a probabilistic model where an implicit segmentation of the speech into phonetic sound classes prior to speaker model training takes place. It is further known that the performance of the GMM-based method is near 100% up to a population size of 630 speakers using the TIMIT speech database (clean speech) with about 24 seconds of training and 6 seconds of test utterances, (see D. Reynolds and R. Rose, "Robust Text-Independent Speaker Identification Using Gaussian Mixture Speaker Models," IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 72-83, January 1995). However, the performance degrades significantly for telephone-quality speech and is near only 60% for a similar size population.
Recently, there has been an interest in studying the performance of speaker identification algorithms in the context of mobile wireless channels. It is well known that in order to achieve high transmission efficiency, speech signals in such systems undergo speech coders and decoders which modify the original voice signal. In addition, the uncertain connection strength of wireless channels can cause data packet loss during deep fading periods. Each data packet contains a fixed number of speech samples and the loss of a packet results in the loss of the speech samples contained in the packet. For small packet sizes, these losses can result in degraded accuracy of the speaker identification system.
The effect of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) coders on speaker recognition has previously been investigated, (see L. Besacier, S. Grassi, A. Dufaux, M. Ansorge, and F. Pellandini, "GSM speech coding and speaker recognition," in Proc. IEEE ICASSP'00, June 2000.). It has been shown that the usage of GSM coding significantly degrades performance. By extracting features directly from the encoded bit stream, Besacier et al. were able to improve the performance of the system. However, the effects of packet loss due to the mobile wireless channel has a significant impact on such systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,392, to Pawlewski et al. discloses a speaker recognition system which makes use of an algorithm which itself relies on Mel Frequency Cestrum Coefficients, overlapping Hamming Windows, Fast Fourier Transforms, and logarithmically spaced triangular band pass filters. The prior art, including that disclosed by Pawlewski et al., fails to teach a system which can be trained with several packet loss models. Further, Pawlewski et al. rely on pattern recognition rather than on statistical analysis for identification. There is thus a need for an invention which improves speaker identification in the presence of packet losses, particularly those losses associated with wireless channels and Voice over IP (VoIP) internet environments.

Speaker identification in the presence of packet losses


As a means for applying a random mottled or hammered appearance to a textile material, this invention provides a process which comprises the steps of: (a) applying to the textile material an aqueous solution having a water insoluble dye dispersed therein and an ionic component in the form of a dispersant in sufficient quantities to disperse the dye; (b) subsequently applying to the textile material an aqueous flocculent solution including a counter-ionic component, thereby electro-chemically reacting with the ionic dispersant such that the dye is precipitated from solution in non-uniform concentrations; and (c) fixing the dye to the textile material, preferably by heat. A textile material dyed according to the process is also provided.

Use of pigment or dye dispersions to dye textile materials is well known. Typically the goal in such dyeing operations is to effect a uniform appearance across the surface of the material being dyed. Such uniform dyeing is addressed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,697 to Morrill et al., entitled "Dye Composition And Method Of Dyeing", the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. In particular, the '697 patent to Morrill et al., discloses a dye composition comprising a water-insoluble pigment, a cationic flocculating agent and a dispersant with the possible addition of a binder resin to enhance crock-fastness.
In applications where uniform coloring has not been the desired outcome, the goal has typically been the impartation of a definite pattern to the textile material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,214 to McBride et al. (incorporated by reference) discloses a dyeing process wherein a textile material is printed in a manner such that an anionic component and a cationic component come into contact with one another when the dye solution is applied to the textile material. The ionic interaction which occurs during such contact forms a water-insoluble, dye impermeable skin around individual droplets to effectively control the undesired migration of the dye. This lack of dye migration permits greater precision in the ultimate pattern imparted to the textile material.
As disclosed in the '214 patent to McBride et al., the interaction of the cationic component with the anionic component may be accomplished by applying one of the components to the textile materials prior to application of the dye solution in the desired pattern and then applying the corresponding counter-ionic material as a component of the dye solution. Thus, according to the '214 patent, if the cationic component is first applied to the textile material as a component of an aqueous solution, the anionic component may be applied as a component of the dye solution. In like manner, if the anionic component is first applied to the textile material as a component of the aqueous solution, the cationic component may be applied as a component of the dye solution.
It can thus be seen that the prior art has recognized specific processes and practices to achieve uniform dyeing of textile materials as well as materials and processes for enhancing the pattern dyeing of textile materials through the ionic interaction of separately applied components. The present invention relates to a process for generating a mottled or hammered look on a textile material through the ionic interaction of a dye and a subsequently applied counter-ionic flocculation solution to generate a substantially random pattern across the surface of the textile material and thus represents a useful improvement over the present art.


The present invention is a mounting bracket used to attach a compressed gas system to a lower side surface of a paintball gun. The mounting bracket positions the compressed gas system in relation to the paintball gun such that it lowers the vertical profile of the paintball gun system and shortens its overall length with respect to the user's body, and prevents the compressed gas system from obstructing the user's arm when grasping the paintball gun. The mounting bracket positions the tank such that a considerable portion of the paintball gun system's weight is borne by the user's shoulder, and makes the paintball gun system easier to stabilize while in motion or at rest.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for securing a compressed gas system to a paintball gun of the type that uses a compressed gas cylinder to propel paintballs from the paintball gun. In particular, this device positions the compressed gas cylinder, at an angle, on the shoulder of the user to lower the vertical profile of the paintball gun, shorten the paintball gun's effective length, reduce the effective weight of the paintball gun on the user's arms, and prevent the compressed gas cylinder from obstructing the user's hands, wrists and/or arms while grasping or manipulating the paintball gun.
A paintball gun, paintball loader, compressed gas system, the present invention, and any other item attached to the aforementioned elements during the course of normal operation comprise a "paintball gun system" and will be referred to as such in this specification.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several different structures have been developed for the purpose of mounting a compressed gas system to a paintball gun. When the paintball industry began promoting the benefits of compressed air over carbon dioxide as the ideal propellant, (namely, greater shot-to-shot consistency and superior cold weather performance), the issue of conveniently and ergonomically mounting a compressed gas system to a paintball gun became a more difficult task. In general, carbon dioxide cylinders are 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and are cumbersome yet manageable obstacles as regards the grasping, aiming, and firing of a paintball gun. Compressed air cylinders however, range from 4 to 5 inches in diameter, and make the paintball gun much more awkward to manipulate. There are 3 basic methods/devices (in the public domain) for attaching a compressed air system to a paintball gun, which were all developed successively to account for particular shortcomings in the previous designs, but each of these designs introduced other undesirable elements that adversely affected the ergonomics of the paintball gun system. There are other, related examples of prior art contained in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,950,611, 5,927,261, 6,732,726, that have also attempted to overcome some of the shortcomings of those aforementioned products within the public domain.
The first paintball guns used small, disposable, 12-gram carbon dioxide cartridges. These cartridges were capable of providing the necessary propellant for 10–20 paintballs before depletion. These first paintball guns used a "pump action" in that the gun would require a manual re-cocking after each firing cycle. The rates of fire on these paintball guns were rather slow, and they typically used 10-round magazines. As the sport progressed, so did the state of the art of paintball equipment. Larger magazines and larger compressed gas sources were developed that allowed the paintball player to shoot more paintballs, faster, before requiring a re-load of paintballs and a re-fill of the compressed gas cylinder. The first paintball guns to use the larger, refillable compressed gas systems (then known as "Constant Air", but which actually used carbon dioxide) typically attached the cylinder to the paintball gun by means of strapping to the forestock, rearstock or barrel. This was not an ideal configuration, and was used primarily as a retrofit to adapt the new technology of Constant Air to the existing, available paintball guns.
The next major innovation in this field involved the use of a male-threaded pin valve attached to the compressed gas cylinder, and a corresponding female-threaded fitting at the rear of the paintball gun called the Air Systems Adapter (ASA). This allowed the compressed gas cylinder to be screwed into the rear of the receiver of the gun so that the cylinder could also function as a gunstock. This was an effective means of stabilizing the paintball gun for aiming and firing purposes, but it placed the gun so far in front of the player that it was often exposed to returned fire. (In the game of paintball, if a player's paintball gun is hit by a paintball, then that player is typically eliminated from play.) This method of mounting a compressed gas system to a paintball gun is nearly obsolete and is rarely seen anymore. The next development was an intermediate step in the evolution of the compressed gas cylinder mounting apparatus. The female ASA element was moved from directly behind the paintball gun receiver to just below the bottom of the trigger frame of the paintball gun. This shortened the overall length of the gun by perhaps an inch, but it also raised the gun up by three or four inches. The ultimate result of this was that the paintball loader of the paintball gun, which is generally attached to the top of the paintball gun via a feed tube, was exposed well above the player's head, which made it an easy target. Shortly after this development, a device known as the "drop forward" was created. This was a mounting bracket that further lowered the compressed gas system and moved it forward. This noticeably shortened the length of the gun, but if the gun were still to be shouldered in the traditional sense, it would place the hopper several inches above the player's head. As a result, many players began to "shoulder" the paintball gun in their armpits, rib cages or stomachs to lower the effective height of the paintball gun system. This was uncomfortable, and made the paintball gun system difficult to stabilize.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,726 describes a paintball gun with a front mounted gas cylinder. This produces an effect very similar to what the "drop forward" accomplishes and, as expected, encounters the same problems. It also mentions other advantages not related to the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,611 describes a paintball gun with a moveable compressed gas tank. This device mounts the gas tank to a rotating attachment member. When the device is in its nadir position, the device functions identically to a "drop forward." However, the device may be rotated such that the tank is placed laterally outward from the gun, in effect, removing the forearm obstruction and lowering the vertical profile of the gun. However, when switching the gun to the opposite hand, a reconfiguration of the device is required to achieve the same effect, else the forearm obstruction is amplified. Since paintball is a fast-paced game where mere seconds often mean the difference between winning or losing, a paintball player simply cannot afford to waste time reconfiguring his or her paintball gun each time he or she wishes to shoot from a different side of his or her body. U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,261 describes an adjustable gas cartridge mount that also laterally displaces the gas cylinder, with an effect similar to, but via a different method than U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,611. However, reorientation of the gas cylinder with this device is a cumbersome effort requiring tools to accomplish. The tank could not feasibly be reconfigured during a paintball game without violating a rule of most paintball games which states that tools are not allowed on the field during game play.
All of the aforementioned systems assume that the butt end of the compressed gas cylinder be abutted to the shoulder of the user, which has made the solution to the problem of how to ergonomically mount a large, awkward, propellant source to a paintball gun an elusive one. These systems also require the user to forcibly hold the butt-end of the compressed gas cylinder to the shoulder in the same manner one would use when firing a hunting rifle. This is difficult to do while running or walking since the various components of the human body do not move in unison with respect to each other when the body is in motion. This makes holding the compressed gas cylinder to the body while shooting and running (a valuable capability in the game of paintball) a difficult endeavor. Until now, each of these solutions has managed to solve certain aspects of the problem, but have also managed to introduce new or worsen other, existing aspects of the problem. The present invention offers a solution to all of these aspects.
3. Objects and Advantages
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of my invention are:
                a) to provide a mounting bracket which allows for the compressed gas system of a paintball gun to be placed roughly on top of the user's shoulder, transferring a portion of the total weight of the paintball gun system to the user's shoulder and reducing the amount of weight borne by the user's arms;        b) to provide a mounting bracket which allows for the compressed gas system of a paintball gun to be placed roughly on top of the user's shoulder, so that the user may operate the gun while in motion without the compressed gas system slipping from its point of contact on the user's body;        c) to provide a mounting bracket which allows for the compressed gas system of a paintball to be tilted in such a way that it allows for the approximate center of the compressed gas cylinder to rest on the user's shoulder, thereby reducing the effective length of the paintball gun system;        d) to provide a mounting bracket which allows for the compressed gas system of a paintball to be positioned in such a way that the compressed gas system does not obstruct the hands, wrists, or arms of the user, and that does not require a reconfiguration of the mounting bracket or compressed gas system in order to operate the paintball gun with the opposing hand;        e) to provide a mounting bracket which allows for the compressed gas system of a paintball gun system to be positioned in such a way that the vertical profile of the paintball gun system is reduced, and that does not require a reconfiguration of the mounting bracket or compressed gas system in order to achieve this effect;        f) to provide a mounting bracket which allows for all of the previously outlined objects and advantages to be employed simultaneously and without reconfiguration of any element of the paintball gun system.Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.

Device for securing a compressed gas system to a paintball gun


Each of a plurality of sense amplifiers in a sense amplifier drive circuit of a DRAM includes a PMOS sense amplifier drive transistor and an NMOS sense amplifier drive transistor. The source of each of the PMOS sense amplifier drive transistors is connected to a first common power line and to multiple independent power lines orthogonal thereto. The source of each of the NMOS sense amplifier drive transistors is connected to a first common power line and to multiple independent power lines orthogonal thereto. Therefore, charging current and discharging current are distributed to the multiple power lines arranged in mesh-like pattern. Therefore, in sensing operations, the charging and the discharging currents in bit lines are distributed so that interference between the sense amplifiers can be suppressed and the data read-out speed can be increased.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and more specifically to an improved sense amplifier drive circuit thereof.
In general, a DRAM stores a small electric charge in a section referred to as a memory cell, and holds an electric charge as data of logic xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or data of logic xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. The memory cells are arranged in an array. Any memory cell can be selected by inputting a row address and a column address externally. The row address is decoded by a row decoder to select any bit line pair, whereas the column address is decoded by a column decoder to select any word line. The memory cell is located at each intersecting point of the word lines and the bit lines.
In a data read-out operation, an arbitrary word line is activated, whereby data with a small electric charge in all the memory cells connected to the word line are read out in respective bit lines connected to the memory cells, and amplified by sense amplifiers connected to the bit lines. To amplify the data with a sense amplifier, two bit lines, i.e., a bit line pair is required because a potential of a bit line in which data is not read out is used as a reference potential.
A read-out operation includes the operations of selecting any bit line pair from a plurality of bit line pairs for which an amplifying operation has been performed by a sense amplifier, extracting data from the selected bit line pair into a global data line, further amplifying the data with a main amplifier and transmitting the data to the outside of the DRAM through an interface.
The present invention is directed, in particular, to a drive circuit of the sense amplifier, among the elements constituting a DRAM.
A typical example of a conventional sense amplifier drive circuit will be described with reference to FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, MA is a memory array that has multiple memory cells MC arranged in an array. WL is a word line, and BL106 and /BL107 are bit lines. SA101 is a CMOS sense amplifier that has an NMOS amplifier 108 having two NMOS transistors N1 and N2, and a PMOS amplifier 109 having two PMOS transistors P1 and P2. QSDN102 is an NMOS sense amplifier drive transistor, which turns on when it receives a sense amplifier activating signal SAN at the gate thereof and connects a grounding power line VSS to the source of the NMOS amplifier 108. QSDP103 is a PMOS sense amplifier drive transistor, which turns on when it receives a sense amplifier activating signal SAP at the gate thereof and connects a power line VDD of a predetermined potential to the source of the PMOS amplifier 109. Both reference numerals 104 and 105 are sense amplifier driving lines, each of which has a wiring resistance r. A plurality of CMOS sense amplifiers SA are connected in parallel to these sense amplifier driving lines 4 and 5. Hereinafter, the operations of the sense amplifier drive circuit will be described briefly.
When a word line WL is activated, a small potential of a memory cell MC connected to the word line WL is read out in one bit line of a bit line pair consisting of the bit lines BL106 and /BL107 that are precharged to the midpoint potential (potential that is a half of a predetermined potential of the power line VDD). Then, when the sense amplifier drive transistors QSDN102 and QSDP103 are turned on by the sense amplifier activating signals SAN and SAP, respectively, the sensing operation starts in the sense amplifier SA. By means of this operation, the other bit line of the bit line pair is charged to a predetermined potential by the PMOS sense amplifier drive transistor QSDP103, whereas the other bit line is discharged to a ground potential by the NMOS sense amplifier drive transistor QSDN102. By means of this operation, a small potential of a memory cell MC can be amplified. Furthermore, in this amplifying operation, the charging current flows into the sense amplifier driving line 105 and the discharging current flows into the sense amplifier driving line 104.
However, in the conventional sense amplifier drive circuits having a configuration in which the charging or the discharging current from multiple sense amplifiers SA101 concentrates on one sense amplifier driving line 104 or 105, a significant voltage drop occurs because of the wiring resistance r of the sense amplifier driving lines 104 and 105 themselves, and it takes a long time to charge and discharge the bit lines BL106 and /BL107. As a result, the data readout speed may be reduced, or data may not be read out correctly.
A cause of this problem will be described by taking the operation of the NMOS amplifier 108 side as an example. (Herein, since the PMOS amplifier 109 side is symmetrical to the NMOS amplifier 108 side with regard to the principle of the operation, description thereof will be omitted.) When a word line WL is activated and a small potential is read out from an arbitrary memory cell MC of the memory cell array MA into one bit line of a bit line pair (e.g., BL106), then sense amplifier activating signals SAP and SAN allow the sense amplifier drive transistors QSDN102 and QSDP103 to turn on, respectively, so as to activate a sense amplifier SA101, and the amplifying operation starts.
At this time, when the PMOS amplifier 109 turns on and the potential of the bit line BL106 increases, the gate potential of the NMOS transistor N2 of the NMOS amplifier 108 connected to the bit line BL106 increases. Therefore the impedance of the NMOS transistor N2 becomes low and allows more current to flow therethrough. As a result, when the current flowing from the other bit line /BL107 that makes a pair with the bit line BL106 into the sense amplifier driving line 104, i.e., the discharging current becomes higher than the current capacity of the sense amplifier drive transistor QSDN102, or when a voltage drop caused by the wiring resistance r of the sense amplifier driving line 104 is significant, a source potential (bottom potential) of the NMOS amplifier 108 rises and floats. Accordingly, a voltage Vgs between the gate and the source of the NMOS transistor N2 of the NMOS amplifier 108 becomes low, and therefore, the current capacity of the NMOS transistor N2 drops and it takes a long time to discharge. As a result, the data amplifying operation takes longer time and the read-out speed is reduced, and thus the data can not be read out correctly.
Furthermore, when some transistors among the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 of the sense amplifier SA101 have a higher threshold voltage due to non-uniformity during the manufacturing process, it becomes more difficult for these NMOS transistors to be ensured the threshold voltage because of the increase of the source potential. Therefore, the operation of turning the NMOS transistor on becomes even slower and the data read-out speed is reduced more significantly.
The reduction in the read-out speed due to floating of the source potential of the NMOS amplifier 108 can occur in the following cases. For example, the read-out speed depends on the pattern of data to be read out (which indicates in the read-out operation what data is read out in each of the multiple bit line pairs that are subjected to the read-out operation), and the speed at which the sensing operation is performed varies depending on the pattern. The pattern resulting in the lowest operation speed is to read out xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d from one bit line pair and data xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d from all of the remaining bit line pairs. More specifically, the bit line from which xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is read out has a precharge potential+.V of a small voltage at the beginning of the amplifying operation. This voltage provides the gate potential for one of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 of the sense amplifier, and discharge is performed by this transistor. On the other hand, in the bit line pair from which xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d is read out, discharge is performed by the transistor having the gate provided with the precharge potential serving as a reference potential. Thus, the gate voltage of the transistor for discharge is higher when xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is read out. Therefore, the sense amplifier SA101 that reads out xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d starts the sensing operation earlier than the sense amplifier SA101 that reads out xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. Then, since the source potential floats because of the discharging current, the voltage Vgs between the gate and the source of the NMOS transistor N1 or N2 of the sense amplifier SA101 that reads out xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d becomes lower, and thus, the current capacity decreases and it takes a long time to discharge.
As described above, when the sense amplifier driving lines 104 and 105 are common, the sense amplifier SA101 interferes with each another, which causes difficulties in speeding up the sensing operation.
Furthermore, conventionally, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Tokkai) No. 5-62461 discloses a semiconductor memory device having a configuration in which an N- and a P-channel drive transistors are provided for every two of the sense amplifiers and these drive transistors are connected to a power line having a predetermined potential and a power line having a ground potential. Even in this configuration, however, since a power line having a predetermined potential and a power line having a ground potential (sense amplifier driving lines)are also shared by the plurality of sense amplifiers, individual sense amplifiers also interfere with one another and it is difficult to speed up the sensing operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor memory device in which a high-speed sensing operation is realized by minimizing interference between sense amplifiers.
In order to achieve this object, in the present invention, a plurality of sense amplifier driving lines are provided instead of one sense amplifier driving line to be shared so that the charging current to multiple sense amplifiers can be supplied dispersively via the plurality of sense amplifier driving lines, and the discharging current from the multiple sense amplifiers can be drained dispersively via the plurality of sense amplifier driving lines.
More specifically, a semiconductor memory device of the present invention includes a plurality of CMOS sense amplifiers each of which including both PMOS and NMOS transistors; a PMOS sense amplifier drive transistor that is provided for every predetermined number of the plurality of CMOS sense amplifiers, connected to sources of PMOS transistors of the corresponding predetermined number of the CMOS sense amplifiers and driven by a sense amplifier driving signal; an NMOS sense amplifier drive transistor that is provided for every predetermined number of the plurality of CMOS sense amplifiers, connected to sources of NMOS transistors of the corresponding predetermined number of the CMOS sense amplifiers and driven by another sense amplifier driving signal; multiple first power lines for supplying a given power source to the plurality of CMOS sense amplifiers through the respective PMOS sense amplifier drive transistors; and multiple second power lines for supplying another given power source to the plurality of CMOS sense amplifiers through the respective NMOS sense amplifier drive transistors.
Moreover, in the semiconductor memory device of the present invention, one PMOS and one NMOS sense amplifier drive transistors are provided for every two of the CMOS sense amplifiers.
Furthermore, in the semiconductor memory device of the present invention, each of the PMOS and the NMOS sense amplifier drive transistors is shared by every two of the CMOS sense amplifiers, and a substrate contact for connecting the first and the second power lines to a substrate is formed near one of the two CMOS sense amplifiers in an area where the sense amplifier drive transistors are not arranged.
In addition, in the semiconductor memory device of the present invention, the multiple first power lines include a first common power line extending in a column direction of the CMOS sense amplifiers and connected to each of the PMOS sense amplifier drive transistors, and multiple first independent power lines connected to the common power line. The multiple second power lines include a second common power line extending in a column direction of the CMOS sense amplifiers and connected to each of the NMOS sense amplifier drive transistors, and multiple second independent power lines connected to the common power line.
Moreover, in the semiconductor memory device of the present invention, each one of the multiple first power lines and each one of the multiple second power lines are provided for every predetermined number of the CMOS sense amplifiers; and one first and one second power lines are used exclusively for the corresponding predetermined small number of the CMOS sense amplifiers.
Furthermore, in the semiconductor memory device of the present invention, each one of the multiple first independent power lines and each one of the multiple second independent power lines are provided for every two of the CMOS sense amplifiers, and between the first independent power line and the second independent power line corresponding to any set of two CMOS sense amplifiers, a global data line to which data amplified by either one of the two CMOS sense amplifiers is output is arranged so as to extend in parallel with the first and the second independent power lines.
In addition, in the semiconductor memory device of the present invention, between the first power source and the second power line that are used exclusively for a predetermined small number of CMOS sense amplifiers, a global data line to which data amplified by any one of the predetermined number of CMOS sense amplifiers is output is arranged so as to extend in parallel with the first and the second independent power lines.
Thus, in the present invention, the charging current charged from a given power source to the CMOS sense amplifiers via the PMOS sense amplifier drive transistors is supplied using multiple first power lines. The discharging current discharged from the CMOS sense amplifiers to the given power source via the NMOS sense amplifier drive transistors is released using multiple second power lines. Therefore, concentration of the charging and the discharging currents as seen in a conventional configuration in which the sense amplifier driving line is shared can be alleviated. As a result, potential rise of each source of the PMOS transistors and the NMOS transistors constituting the CMOS sense amplifiers and interference between the sense amplifiers due to this potential rise can be suppressed effectively so that a high-speed sensing operation can be realized.
In particular, according to the present invention, sense amplifier drive transistors are shared and areas in which these transistors are not arranged can be effectively utilized to form, for example, substrate contacts for the first and the second power lines therein. Thus, extra areas for the substrate contacts and the like are unnecessary and a compact layout can be obtained.
Moreover, the present invention includes power lines used exclusively for every predetermined number of the sense amplifiers, so that charging and discharging currents to the sense amplifiers can be distributed reliably, and therefore, interference between the sense amplifiers can be further minimized and data write speed can be increased more significantly.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, a global data line is located in parallel between the first power line and the second power line so that the global data line can be shielded by these power lines. Therefore, noise caused by interference occurring between the plurality of global data lines can be reduced, so that the reliability of data read-out and write can be improved.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A sabot is used for enclosing a payload, such as a missile or projectile, during launch. The sabot includes a series of panels that are held together prior to launch by engagement with a cap having protrusions or delay pins that maintain the panels in a closed condition. When the launch is initiated, the cap begins to slide out of engagement with the panels. The cap is configured such that the disengagement does not occur immediately upon movement of the cap; instead the protrusions are sized to delay opening of the panels until the sabot and missile have cleared the launcher. Then the panels rotate outward and drop away from a base the sabot, for example using self-releasing hinges. The base of the sabot may be configured to disengage from the payload by introduction of pressurized gases into a space between the base and an aft end of the missile.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of launchable devices that include a sabot, and a payload such as a projectile or missile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Projectiles, such as high density anti-armor darts, have been launched from launchers, such as gun tubes, using sabots. Sabots contain the projectile, for example providing a shape that conforms to a cross-sectional shape of the launcher, and separate from the missile or projectile after launch. Such sabots may also center the projectile in the launcher barrel, and provide an obturator function to retain pressurized gasses behind the sabot during launch.


The invention relates to a method of vaccinating a domesticated bird against coccidiosis comprising administering in ovo an effective immunizing dose of live Eimeria sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof.

The present invention relates to a method of vaccinating domesticated birds against coccidiosis. In particular, the invention relates to the in ovo administration of live Eimeria spp sporocysts or oocysts, or mixtures thereof, into the developing eggs of domesticated birds in order to immunize the hatched chicks against coccidiosis.
Coccidiosis is an enteric disease of domesticated birds caused by infection with intracellular protozoan parasites of the genus Eimeria. Coccidiosis is the most economically devastating parasitic disease of domesticated birds. It is estimated that anticoccidial medications and losses due to coccidiosis cost the poultry industry hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
Various attempts to vaccinate domesticated birds against coccidiosis have been reported since the early 1950""s. Current vaccination methods include administering live Eimeria oocysts to birds through feed or water. These methods, however, are inconvenient and inefficient because not all birds get the intended oocyst dose and many are either unprotected by the vaccine or receive a pathogenic infection.
In J. M. Sharma and B. R. Burmester, Avian Dis. 26: 134-149, 1981, the authors reported that chickens vaccinated in ovo with herpesvirus of turkey developed immunity against subsequent challenge with Marek""s disease virus. In European patent publication no. 291173, an immunization process is referred to wherein a nonreplicating immunogen is administered in ovo. The immunogens specifically referred to in the European patent are a genetically engineered Eimeria antigen and an Eimeria oocyst extract. The European patent specifically excludes live parasite stages such as those used in the vaccination method claimed herein.
The present vaccination method involves in ovo administration of live Eimeria sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof, into the developing eggs of domesticated birds. The available literature suggests that such a vaccination method would be ineffective in ovo and should be applied post-hatch. In T. K. Jeffers and G. E. Wagenbach, J. Parasit. 56(4): 656-662, 1970, the authors reported that in ovo injection of E. tenella sporozoites on day 10 of incubation provided no significant immunological protection against subsequent challenge with E. tenella oocysts. In fact, they reported that chicks that received no treatment had a greater survival rate against subsequent challenge with E. tenella oocysts than chicks that had been treated in ovo with sporozoites. In K. L. Watkins et al., Proc. VI th. International Coccidiosis Conf., Abstract E1-2, Ontario, Canada, 1993, the authors described in ovo inoculation with live E. maxima sporocysts and sporulated oocysts, although they did not indicate when the inoculation was done during incubation of the egg. Watkins et al. concluded that their study provided no evidence that in ovo exposure protects against subsequent coccidial challenge with E. maxima oocysts 10 days post-hatch. They also concluded that significant immunological protection is provided if inoculation is done soon after hatch rather than in ovo. Contrary to this teaching, the in ovo vaccination method of the present invention provides unexpected immunity that protects the hatched birds against subsequent coccidial challenge.
The present invention, also referred to herein as the xe2x80x9cpresent vaccination methodxe2x80x9d, relates to a method of vaccinating a domesticated bird against coccidiosis comprising administering in ovo, during the final quarter of incubation, an effective immunizing dose of live Eimeria sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof.
The term xe2x80x9cdomesticated bird(s)xe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, includes chickens, turkeys, ducks, game birds (including, but not limited to, quail, pheasants, and geese) and ratites (including, but not limited to, ostrich).
The term xe2x80x9cin ovoxe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means into a domesticated bird egg containing a live, developing embryo.
The term xe2x80x9cadministering in ovoxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cin ovo administrationxe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means administering the vaccine described herein to a domesticated bird egg containing a live, developing embryo by any means of penetrating the shell of the egg and introducing the vaccine. Such means of administration include, but are not limited to, injection of the vaccine.
The term xe2x80x9cfinal quarter of incubationxe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means the final quarter of incubation of a developing egg of a domesticated bird.
The term xe2x80x9cEimeriaxe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means one or more species of the genus Eimeria that infect domesticated birds. Such Eimeria species include those that are found in chicken, including E. tenella, E. acervulina, E maxima, E. necatrix, E. mitis, E. praecox, and E. brunetti, and also those that are found in turkeys, including E. meleagrimitis, E. adenoeides, E. gallopavonis, E. dispersa, E. meleagridis, E. innocua, and E. subrotunda, and also Eimeria species that infect other domesticated birds as defined above. The term xe2x80x9cEimeriaxe2x80x9d also includes all strains of the foregoing species of Eimeria, including, but not limited to, precocious strains, and attenuated strains, which includes strains that have been irradiated, or otherwise treated, so that they fail to complete development. The term Eimeria also includes any newly-discovered strains or species of Eimeria that infect domesticated birds as defined above.
The term xe2x80x9csporocystsxe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means live Eimeria sporocysts.
The term xe2x80x9coocystsxe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means live Eimeria sporulated oocysts or a mixture of sporulated and unsporulated oocysts.
The term xe2x80x9ceffective immunizing dosexe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means a number of sporocysts or oocysts, or, when mixed, a number of sporocysts and oocysts, sufficient to provide immunological protection in the hatched birds that is greater than the inherent immunity of non-immunized birds. As used herein, the terms xe2x80x9cimmunizexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cvaccinatexe2x80x9d are synonymous and are used interchangeably.
A preferred dose to be administered in accord with the method of the invention comprises 102 to 108 sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof wherein the total number of said sporocysts and oocysts ranges from 102 to 108.
A more preferred dose comprises 102 to 107 sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof wherein the total number of said sporocysts and oocysts ranges from 102 to 105.
Another preferred dose comprises 105 to 107 sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof wherein the total number of said sporocysts and oocysts ranges from 105 to 107.
Another preferred dose comprises 104 to 106 sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof wherein the total number of said sporocysts and oocysts ranges from 104 to 106.
Another preferred dose comprises 103 to 106 sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof wherein the total number of said sporocysts and oocysts ranges from 103 to 106.
A preferred domesticated bird to be vaccinated in accord with the method of the invention is a chicken.
A preferred dose to be administered in ovo to chicken eggs comprises sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof, of two or more species of Eimeria selected from the group consisting of E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. necatrix, E. mitis, E. praecox, and E. brunetti.
Another preferred domesticated bird to be vaccinated in accord with the method of the invention is a turkey.
A preferred dose to be administered in ovo to turkey eggs comprises sporocysts or oocysts, or a mixture thereof, of two or more species of Eimeria selected from the group consisting of E. meleagrimitis, E. adenoeides, E. gallopavonis, E. dispersa, E. meleagridis, E. innocua, and E. subrotunda.
Other preferred domesticated birds to be vaccinated in accord with the method of the invention are game birds, ducks and ratites.
The method of the invention further comprises, in combination with present vaccination method, administering in ovo an immune stimulant at any time during incubation.
A preferred method of administering the immune stimulant is simultaneously with the in ovo administration of a dose of sporocysts or oocysts, or mixture of said sporocysts and oocysts, during the final quarter of incubation.


Methods and compositions for reducing the permeabilities of subterranean formations or zones are provided. The methods of the invention are basically comprised of introducing an aqueous composition into the formation or zone comprised of water, a water soluble organic polymer, an organic gelling agent for cross-linking the organic polymer and a gel retarder comprised of a chemical compound that hydrolyzes or thermolyzes to produce one or more acids in the composition and then allowing the aqueous composition to form a cross-linked gel in the formation or zone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and compositions for reducing the permeabilities of subterranean formations or zones penetrated by well bores.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When wells penetrating hydrocarbon producing formations or zones are produced, water often accompanies the hydrocarbons, particularly as the wells mature in time. The water can be the result of a water producing zone communicated with the hydrocarbon producing formations or zones by fractures, high permeability streaks and the like, or the water can be caused by a variety of other occurrences which are well known to those skilled in the art such as water coning, water cresting, bottom water, channeling at the well bore, etc. It becomes an economic necessity to reduce the water production such that recovery of remains cost effective.
In enhanced recovery techniques such as water flooding, an aqueous flood or displacement fluid is injected under pressure into oil containing subterranean formations or zones by way of one or more injection wells. The flow of the aqueous fluid through the formations or zones displaces hydrocarbons contained therein and drives them to one or more producing wells. However, the aqueous displacement fluid often flows through the most permeable formations or zones whereby less permeable formations or zones containing hydrocarbons are bypassed. This uneven flow of the aqueous displacement fluid through the formations or zones reduces the overall yield of hydrocarbons therefrom. Heretofore, enhanced recovery problems in subterranean hydrocarbon containing formations or zones caused by permeability variations therein have been corrected by reducing the permeabilities of the subterranean flow paths having high permeabilities and low hydrocarbon content. As a result, the subsequently injected aqueous displacement fluid is forced through flow paths having low permeability and high hydrocarbon content. The techniques utilized to accomplish this high flow path permeability reduction, referred to in the art as "conformance control techniques", have included injecting aqueous solutions of polymers and gelling agents into the high permeability flow paths whereby the polymers are gelled and cross-linked therein. For example, water soluble polymers including copolymers of acrylamide and acrylic acid cross-linked with transition metal ions have been utilized heretofore. However, when such fluids are utilized in subterranean formations or zones having temperatures above about 200° F., the cross-linkers containing metals or the polymers become unstable. This has resulted in uncontrolled cross-linking rates which cause cross-linker precipitation, polymer degradation, etc. While other non-metal cross-linking agents have been developed and used, they have also suffered from very rapid cross-linking at temperatures above about 200° F. and instability problems brought about thereby. As a result of the short cross-linking times of the conformance control polymers and gelling agents utilized heretofore in high temperature formations or zones, it has been common practice to cool the formations or zones such as by injecting water into the formations or zones prior to introducing the conformance control polymer and cross-linking gelling agent therein. While cooling the subterranean formations or zones has allowed successful placement by injection conformance control, the cool down process is time consuming and expensive to carry out.
Thus, there are needs for improved methods and compositions for reducing the permeabilities of subterranean formations or zones without the requirement of cooling the subterranean formations or zones prior to introducing conformance control displacement fluids therein.

Methods and compositions for reducing subterranean formation permeabilities


According to one or more method and apparatus embodiments taught herein, network base stations reduce temporal variations in the interference perceived by mobile stations operating within the network by slowing down the rate at which they change or otherwise update the linear precoding settings applied to their transmitted Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) signals in comparison to the rate at which the base stations perform link adaptation. That is, the precoding-related component of measured interference (e.g., other-cell interference) at the mobile stations is made quasi-stationary with respect to channel quality reporting and link adaptation intervals by fixing the preceding settings used by each base station over time intervals substantially longer than the channel reporting/link adaptation intervals.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to wireless communication networks, and particularly relates to a method and apparatus for linearly preceding downlink transmissions to reduce temporal variations in interference.
2. Background
Linear preceding, where different weighting vectors are applied to different signal components to control their transmission from multiple transmit antennas, has been shown capable of improving downlink throughput in wireless communication networks. The improvements, however, largely depend on the availability of instantaneous channel quality information with respect to the receiving mobile stations. Instantaneous channel quality information allows the supporting network transmitter(s) to adapt its (theirs) transmission to a given mobile station based on currently prevailing interference conditions at the mobile station.
In practice, however, network transmitters do not operate with instantaneous channel knowledge because there always is some delay between the time that mobile stations measure interference and report channel quality, and the time that a transmitter adapts a given mobile station's transmit link in response to the last reported channel quality. That delay means that the transmitter's link adaptations lag actual reception conditions at the mobile station, meaning its link adaptations are inappropriate to the extent that reception conditions at the mobile station change over the lag.
The particular linear precoding settings in use at a given base station, i.e., which Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) subcarriers are precoded with which weight sets, strongly influence the characteristics of interference caused by the base station's transmissions at nearby mobile stations. Thus, to the extent that these precoding settings change rapidly, the interference conditions at individual mobile stations also change rapidly.

Method and apparatus for linearly precoding downlink transmissions to reduce temporal variations in interference


A uterine tissue collector including a cannula which has an aperture formed therein through which tissue material can be sucked into a lumen formed in the cannula, at least one guide wire attached to a distal portion of the cannula, wherein movement of the at least one guide wire flexes the distal portion of the cannula, and a suction device operative to suck tissue material into the lumen, characterized by the suction device comprising a syringe comprising a distal barrel which extends from a proximal barrel, the proximal barrel having a larger diameter than the distal barrel.

The present invention relates to gynecological instruments generally, and particularly to a uterine tissue collector which scrapes a uterus and collects scraped uterine material by suction.
Obtaining samples of cervical and uterine tissue is normally performed in the art by one of three methods: dilation of the cervix and curettage of the endometrium, known as D and C; suction without dilation of the cervix via a small diameter tube, known as aspiration; or by suction curettage. D and C and suction curettage are capable of collecting as much cervical or uterine material as required, but require anesthesia. Aspiration with a small diameter tube does not normally require anesthesia but is not capable of obtaining amounts of tissue comparable to those obtainable with D and C. In order to obtain amounts of tissue comparable to those obtainable with D and C, aspiration must be performed with a large tube which requires anesthesia.
An endometrial suction curette, called the Pipelle de Cornier, manufactured by PRODIMED of France, may be used to scrape endometrial material with the distal end of a sheath of the curette. However, the scraping area is limited by the relatively small diameter of the sheath and the xe2x80x9cspaghetti-like limpnessxe2x80x9d of the curette.
There are several instruments in the patent literature for scraping a uterus and/or collecting scraped material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,488 to Neuffer describes a biopsy needle insertable into a body with a deformable strip which can cut tissue and which protrudes laterally outwards of the needle. The strip does not move back and forth but rather cuts when the user rotates the needle about its axis. The strip is manually pushed laterally outwards of the needle by turning a screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,166 to Farr describes a rotatable cutter for penetrating into and cutting tissue in a lumen (body cavity). The cutting tool includes two spaced external segments of a conical generally hollow portion with cutting surfaces at their edges. A vacuum is applied to remove fragments of cut tissue. Again the cutter cuts by rotating, not by moving back and forth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,479 to Shuler describes a rotary surgical cutting instrument which cuts with an inner member rotating inside an outer member. The inner member is provided with two symmetric rows of triangular cutting teeth and the outer member has a distal cutting aperture. Here, too, the instrument cuts by rotating, not by moving back and forth.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,066 to Shah describes an endometrial sampling device including a cannula which has a transverse slot with scraping edges and a sharp point, and which is insertable into the cervix. By manually moving the cannula and scraping with the scraping edges, one can collect endometrial tissue. The cutter cuts by manually moving the cannula and scraping material, and not by moving back and forth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,671 to Clement describes a surgical assembly for removal of body tissue including a movable cutter inside a cannula which is insertable into a desired location in a patient. The cutter is rigid and cuts by shearing against an aperture in the cannula. A vacuum may be provided for removing cut material. The cutter cuts by shearing in one direction, not by moving back and forth.
Applicant/assignee discloses in PCT Patent Application PCT/US96/02702 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/607,901, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, a uterine tissue collector including a deformable scraper which is capable of being deformed from an undeformed configuration to a deformed configuration. The scraper scrapes a uterus while moving between the undeformed configuration and the deformed configuration. This uterine tissue collector has already enjoyed much success in clinical trials.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved uterine tissue collector which preferably includes a pair of guide wires that can be used to bend or flex a cannula of the tissue collector to and fro. The cannula is flexible or is constructed with notches or a thin-walled section, so that the cannula tip is bendable. The distal ends of the guide wires are attached to a distal portion of the cannula, and the proximal ends of the guide wires are attached to a finger or hand controlled lever. By pulling on the lever to the right or left, the distal portion of the cannula is accordingly bent or flexed, thereby significantly increasing the area which may be scraped and/or raked. The guide wires may be passed through lumens formed in the cannula or may be internal or external to the cannula.
The present invention also provides a suction device constructed as a two-stage syringe. The syringe has a double barrel, a distal barrel which extends from a proximal barrel, the proximal barrel having a larger diameter than the distal barrel. A plunger sealingly slides in the distal barrel like any conventional plunger. When the plunger is completely pulled proximally through the distal barrel and enters the proximal barrel, the distal tip of the plunger is pulled into engagement with a plunger element so that the plunger element is fixed to the distal tip of the plunger. The plunger element now acts as a new tip of the plunger in its travel in the proximal barrel. Since the proximal barrel has a larger area than the distal barrel, the amount of material which can be collected with the syringe is significantly greater than a conventional syringe of the prior art which has only one barrel of the size of the distal barrel of the present invention, and yet the smaller diameter of the distal barrel allows entry of the syringe of the present invention into smaller openings than possible with syringes of the prior art which have a single barrel of the size of the proximal barrel. Additionally, the arrangement of the proximal and distal barrels ensures a very efficient discharge of all the material collected by the uterine scraper when the plunger is pushed distally to expel the collected material for examination purposes.
As mentioned before, the scraping swath of prior art curettes is significantly limited by the limpness of the curette. In contrast, the combination of the larger diameter proximal barrel and smaller diameter distal barrel provides a structure which is significantly stiffer than the single-diameter curettes of the art. For example, if the distal barrel is one-half the length of a prior art curette, the distal barrel is 8 times stiffer in bending. Of course, the distal barrel is not so rigid that it cannot be bent at all. Rather the combination of the guide wires which flex the distal barrel plus the greater stiffness of the distal barrel, provides a significantly larger scraping swath than was ever possible heretofore in the art.
It is noted that throughout the specification and claims, the term xe2x80x9cuterine tissuexe2x80x9d refers to any material in the cervical canal and uterine cavity, e.g. uterine layering, cervical mucosa, gestational products, endometrium or tumoral substances. In the specification and claims, the term xe2x80x9cuterusxe2x80x9d encompasses the cervical canal and uterine cavity.
There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a uterine tissue collector including a cannula which has an aperture formed therein through which tissue material can be sucked into a lumen formed in the cannula, and at least one guide wire attached to a distal portion of the cannula, wherein movement of the at least one guide wire flexes the distal portion of the cannula.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the at least one guide wire is disposed through a lumen formed through the cannula.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the lumen constrains movement of the at least one guide wire in a direction generally along a longitudinal axis of the cannula.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a proximal portion of the at least one guide wire is pivotally attached about a fulcrum to a lever such that movement of the lever flexes the distal portion of the cannula.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a pair of such guide wires are provided, wherein generally proximal movement of one of the guide wires causes flexing of the distal portion of the cannula in a direction generally opposite to that caused by generally proximal movement of the other guide wire. Preferably each guide wire is disposed in a separate lumen formed in the cannula.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the at least one guide wire is sufficiently stiff so as to be able to push as well as pull the distal portion of the cannula.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a uterine tissue collector including a cannula adapted for insertion into a uterus, the cannula including a scraper for scraping the uterus, and a suction device which sucks material scraped by the scraper, characterized by the suction device including a syringe including a distal barrel which extends from a proximal barrel, the proximal barrel having a larger diameter than the distal barrel, a plunger element disposed about a tube inside the proximal barrel, the plunger element being adapted to sealingly slide inside the proximal barrel, and a plunger that passes through the tube and the plunger element, wherein when the plunger is pulled proximally and starts to enter the proximal barrel, a proximal face of a distal end of the plunger abuts against a shoulder formed in the tube, such that when the plunger is pulled further proximally, the plunger moves together with the tube and the plunger element serves as a new distal end of the plunger during sliding travel in the proximal barrel. Preferably the tube guides and supports the plunger during its travel in the distal barrel. Preferably the uterine tissue collector of the present invention combines both the steering feature and the double barrel suction device feature.