An engine intake valve timing control apparatus includes a fuel injection control section, a valve open timing control section, and a valve timing change rate setting section. The fuel injection control section is configured to control a fuel injection quantity of fuel injected from a fuel injector into an intake port of an engine in accordance with an operating condition of the engine. The valve open timing control section is configured to control an open timing of an intake valve to a target open timing. The valve timing change rate setting section sets a change rate at which the open timing of the intake valve is changed from a current open timing to the target open timing when the target open timing is updated, the change rate being set using a parameter relating to a vaporization rate of the fuel adhered to the intake port.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine valve timing control apparatus that controls the open timing of an intake valve of an engine.
2. Background Information
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-349301 discloses an example of known mechanisms for changing the open/close timing of an intake valve of an engine in order to achieve both good torque performance in low to medium vehicle speed regions and good output power in high vehicle speed regions. If the valve open/close timing is changed too abruptly, then it is possible that the engine will stall. The above mentioned reference addresses this issue by limiting the valve timing change rate at which the valve open/close timing is changed based on the engine speed and the direction in which the open/close timing is being changed (i.e., advanced or retarded).
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved engine intake valve timing control apparatus. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Engine intake valve timing control apparatus


Collection containers (17) are heated by head conduction from a container rack (18) with a heater (19) as the heat source. When an eluting solvent is supplied into a trap column (7) by a pump (5), an eluate containing a target compound exiting from the column (7) flows through a preparative separation passage (13) and drips from a solution nozzle (13a), and this solution is separated into fine droplets by a gas stream blowing from a gas ejection nozzle (15a). When a droplet touches an inner wall of the container (17), the volatile solvent immediately vaporizes, leaving the target compound precipitated in solid forms on the inner wall. Thus, the process of vaporizing and drying the eluate to collect the target compound is completed within a short period of time. This process can be performed online and hence is suitable for laborsaving.

For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, preparative separation/purification systems utilizing liquid chromatographs are used to collect samples of a variety of chemically synthesized compounds in order to store those samples in a library or analyze them in more detail. Conventional examples of the preparative separation/purification system are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
In these conventional apparatuses, target components (compounds) in a sample solution are temporally separated by a liquid chromatograph. The separated target components are then respectively introduced into different trap columns and temporarily captured therein. Subsequently, a solvent is supplied into each trap column to quickly elute the component from the trap column and collect it in a container. Thus, a plurality of solutions each containing one target component at a high concentration are respectively collected in a plurality of containers. These separately collected solutions are then subjected to a vaporizing and drying process to remove the solvent and collect the target components in solid forms. The vaporizing and drying process normally includes heating the collected solutions or centrifuging them under a vacuum.
According to the aforementioned conventional method, however, a single vaporizing and drying process requires a long period of time of, for example, several hours to one day. In the pharmaceutical industry, various efforts have been made to improve the efficiency of searching for a large number of synthetic compounds for medicinal compounds; for example, the analysis time has been reduced by using faster analysis apparatuses or optimizing the analytical methods. Reducing the time required for the vaporizing and drying process is a critical issue since this process consumes, within the entire process, the longest period of time.
Performing an additional process, such as a vacuum centrifugal separation, further lowers the efficiency since it requires an additional task, such as setting an eluate collected by the preparative separation into a vacuum centrifugal separator.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H2-122260
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-149217


A piezoelectric material contains a first component that is a rhombohedral crystal that is configured to have a complex oxide with a perovskite structure and Curie temperature Tc1 and a second component that is a crystal other than a rhombohedral crystal that is configured to have a complex oxide with the perovskite structure and Curie temperature Tc2, in which |Tc1−Tc2| is equal to or less than 50° C.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric material used in piezoelectric elements, or the like mounted in various devices such as actuators, ultrasonic devices such as ultrasonic oscillators, ultrasonic motors, pressure sensors, and pyroelectric elements such as IR sensors, a piezoelectric element using the material, a liquid ejecting head, a liquid ejecting apparatus, an ultrasonic sensor, a piezoelectric motor, and a power generator.
2. Related Art
A piezoelectric material, which is used as a piezoelectric layer (piezoelectric ceramics) constituting a piezoelectric element, or the like mounted in various devices such as actuators, ultrasonic devices such as ultrasonic oscillators, ultrasonic motors, pressure sensors, and pyroelectric elements such as IR sensors is required to have a remarkable piezoelectric characteristic, and as a representative example thereof, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is exemplified.
However, from an environmental sensitivity point of view, a piezoelectric material whose lead content is suppressed is desired. As such a lead-free piezoelectric material, there are a piezoelectric material that includes an alkali metal such as KxNa(1-x)NbO3, and (Ba, Na)TiO3, a piezoelectric material such as BiFeO3—BaTiO3, and the like.
With regard to such a piezoelectric material, it is known that a remarkable piezoelectric characteristic can be obtained by using a composition near a Morphotropic Phase Boundary (MPB). However, in a phase diagram that employs compositions for the horizontal axis and temperatures for the vertical axis, the MPB line of PZT is substantially parallel to the temperature axis or positioned vertical to the composition axis, but an MPB line of a lead-free piezoelectric material is generally inclined with respect to the temperature axis (for example, refer to FIG. 1 of JP-A-2009-215111, or the like). When the MPB line is inclined as described above, even if a composition positioned on the MPB line at a specific temperature, for example, room temperature according to a desired characteristic is selected, it is set away from the MPB line on the composition-temperature state diagram when the environmental temperature changes, and thus, there is a problem in that there is a temperature area in which a piezoelectric characteristic, and dielectric characteristic of an element deteriorates due to changes in environmental temperature, generation of heat during usage, or the like.
Thus, from a desire that the MPB line is erect if possible in the phase diagram described above and a desire that a piezoelectric material has a remarkable piezoelectric characteristic and dielectric characteristic at around a normal temperature (room temperature) and can be used even at a temperature as high as possible, a piezoelectric material that has Curie temperature (Tc) as high as it can be, which is generally inversely proportional to the piezoelectric characteristic, has been demanded.
For this reason, technologies for improving temperature dependency by laminating a plurality of piezoelectric materials having different compositions have been proposed (refer to JP-A-2003-277143 and JPA-2011-181764), but the fact that the plurality of different piezoelectric materials should be used is a problem.
As described above, currently, there is no lead-free piezoelectric material compared to PZT, and thus, introduction of a lead-free piezoelectric material having a remarkable piezoelectric characteristic and dielectric characteristic in a wide use environment temperature range and having a high Curie temperature has been greatly desired.
Note that such a problem also arises not only in ink jet-type recording heads but also in other liquid ejecting heads that discharge droplets other than ink, and also arises even in piezoelectric elements used in devices other than such liquid ejecting heads.

Piezoelectric material, piezoelectric element, liquid ejecting head, liquid ejecting apparatus, ultrasonic sensor, piezoelectric motor, and power generator


A method for reproducing a PCB strip for semiconductor packages, wherein a poor quality PCB unit included in the PCB strip is replaced with a normal quality one, thereby achieving a reduction in the amount of package materials used and an improvement in the process efficiency. The invention also provides a method for fabricating semiconductor packages using the PCB strip reproduction method. A desired portion of a poor quality PCB unit included in a PCB strip is cut out in such a manner that a cutting opening having a peripheral edge extending along the singulation line of the poor quality PCB unit or along a region defined between the singulation line and anti-bending slots of the poor quality PCB unit. In the cutting opening, a separate good quality PCB unit member having the same shape and size as the cutting opening is then fitted. Thus, it is possible to simply and efficiently replace PCB units determined to be of poor quality with separate good quality PCB unit members, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for reproducing a printed circuit board (PCB) for semiconductor packages including poor quality PCB units and a method for fabricating semiconductor packages using the reproduced PCB. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for reproducing a PCB strip for semiconductor packages having a plurality of PCB units including at least one poor quality PCB unit, wherein the poor quality PCB unit is replaced with a normal quality one, thereby achieving a reduction in the amount of package materials used and an improvement in the process efficiency. The present invention also relates to a method for fabricating semiconductor packages using the above PCB strip reproduction method.
2. Related Art
Generally, PCBs are circuit boards mounted with electronic circuits such as semiconductor chips. Such PCBs are fabricated by forming strip-shaped thin conductive lines (conductive traces), which are to be electrically connected to input/output pads of, for example, a semiconductor chip, on a rigid or flexible insulating plate using a printing, plating or etching technique. In accordance with the arrangement of conductive lines, PCBs are classified into a one-sided type, a double-sided type and a multilayered type.
Such PCBs use a substrate comprised of a resin insulating plate coated with a conductive metal thin film. The coating of the conductive metal thin film is carried out using an etched foil method, in which a circuit pattern consisting of conductive traces is formed using an etching process, or an additive method, in which a conductive metal thin film is plated on a selected portion of the resin insulating plate where conductive traces are to be formed, thereby forming a circuit pattern.
Where PCBs are used, high density and high reliability of circuit lines are expected. In this regard, such PCBs sufficiently satisfy requirements for integrated circuits (IC) and large scale integrated circuits (LSI) using a large number of input/output terminals. For this reason, PCBs are widely used for a variety of semiconductor packages such as ball grid array packages, pin grid array packages and chip size packages.
Since the above-mentioned semiconductor packages, which use PCBs, have the same basic structure, the following description will be made in conjunction with only semiconductor packages of the ball grid array type which is a typical type for semiconductor packages. Ball grid array semiconductor,packages are semiconductor packages which have a structure typically including a PCB, at least one semiconductor chip mounted on the upper surface of the PCB, and an array of solder balls disposed on the surface of the PCB opposite to the surface attached with the semiconductor chip and adapted to transfer input and output signals associated with the semiconductor chip. Such ball grid array semiconductor packages are mainly used for multi-pinned devices having 200 pins or more, integrated circuits of very large scale integration (VLSI) and microprocessors.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view illustrating a typical ball grid array semiconductor package.
As shown in FIG. 5, the ball grid array semiconductor package, which is denoted by the reference numeral 1, includes a PCB 11a comprised of a resin substrate 18. A plurality of upper and lower conductive traces 13 are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the resin substrate 18, respectively. The upper and lower conductive traces 13 are electrically connected through via holes 14. Upper and lower solder masks 19 are formed on the upper and lower surface of the PCB 11a, respectively. The upper solder mask is arranged on the outer portion of the upper surface of the PCB 11a except for the finger portions of the upper conductive traces. The lower solder mask is arranged on the entire lower surface of the PCB 11a except for solder ball pads adapted to fuse solder balls 40. However, the arrangements of the solder masks 13 are not limited to the above-mentioned case. The PCB 11a has a chip mounting region 12 at its central portion. At the chip mounting region 12, the PCB 11a is also provided with a plurality of through holes 12a adapted to easily discharge heat generated during the operation of the semiconductor chip 30. The through holes 12a also serve as ground or power via holes for the semiconductor chip 30. However, the provision of the throughout holes 12a is optional. At the chip mounting region 12, the resin substrate 18 may be exposed or coated with a metal thin film having a desired pattern.
The fabrication of the ball grid array semiconductor package 1 having the above-mentioned structure is carried out as follows. That is, the semiconductor chip 30 is first mounted on the central portion of the PCB 11a corresponding to the chip mounting region 12 by means of a silver-filled epoxy resin 33 which is an adhesive exhibiting a superior thermal conductivity (semiconductor chip mounting step). Thereafter, bond pads (not shown) of the mounted semiconductor chip 30 are electrically connected to the conductive traces 13 formed on the PCB 11a by bonding wires 31 (wire bonding step). A resin encapsulate 32 is then molded on the PCB 11a to protect the semiconductor chip 30 and bonding wires 31 from the environment (resin seal molding step). A plurality of solder balls serving as input/output terminals are then fused on the lower surface of the PCB 11a (solder ball fusing step). The solder balls 40 are electrically connected to the bond pads of the semiconductor chip 30, respectively. Although FIG. 5 illustrates the case having a simple PCB configuration in which one PCB sheet is used, a multilayer PCB configuration may be used which uses a plurality of laminated PCB sheets to obtain an increased solder ball density per unit area.
The PCB 11a, which is used to fabricate a ball grid array semiconductor package, is available from a PCB strip. Such a PCB strip is illustrated in FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, the PCB strip, which is denoted by the reference numeral 10, has a plurality of PCB units 11 arranged on a single plane in the form of a strip. After the completion of the solder ball fusing step, the PCB units 11 of the PCB strip 10 are cut along the cut lines 16 so that they are separated from one another, thereby producing individual semiconductor packages 1. This step is called a "singulation step".
Each PCB unit 11 is defined with a chip mounting region 12 at the central portion of its upper surface. Each PCB unit 11 is also provided at its upper surface with a plurality of conductive traces 13 respectively having via holes 14. The conductive traces 13 are arranged around the chip mounting region 12. The conductive traces 13 are plated with gold or silver at their inner portions (that is, finger portions) to achieve an easy wire bonding to the bond pads of a semiconductor chip mounted on the PCB unit 11. Optionally, heat-discharging through holes 12a are formed in the portion of the PCB unit 11 corresponding to the chip mounting region 12. In FIG. 6, the thin broken line 15 indicates a resin encapsulate molding region where a resin encapsulate is molded whereas the thick broken line indicates a singulation line 17 along which semiconductor packages, obtained after the completion of the resin encapsulate molding and solder ball fusing steps, are cut so that they are separated from one another. Generally, singulation-assistant holes 17a are provided at the four corners of each singulation line 17 which has a square shape. The PCB strip 10 is also provided at both side portions thereof with slots 17b for receiving feeding pins, respectively. By virtue of such slots 17b, the PCB strip 10 can be accurately fed along a required process line while being easily fixed at an accurate processing position. An anti-bending slot 17c is formed in the PCB strip 10 between adjacent PCB units 11. The anti-bending slot 17c serves to prevent the PCB strip 10 from being permanently bent under high temperature and/or high pressure conditions involved in the resin adhesive curing, wire bonding and molding processes.
The reason why such a PCB strip is used in the fabrication of ball grid array semiconductor packages is to improve the process efficiency in the fabrication of semiconductor packages. The use of such a PCB strip enables an accurate feeding of semi-processed products to accurate positions for required processes and a simultaneous and multiple processing for a plurality of PCB units. For this reason, in the manufacture of semiconductor packages, the process flow thereof is conducted for every PCB strip.
Where such a PCB strip is used for the fabrication of ball grid array semiconductor packages, it is necessary to check individual PCB units of the PCB strip in order to find poor quality PCB units involving a short circuit or a degraded appearance. Such poor units should be distinguished from good units by marking those poor units with a particular sign so as to prevent the poor units from being mounted with expensive semiconductor chips or from being subjected to the wire bonding process. Practically, the rate of poor quality PCB units in one PCB strip is relatively high. Where only the good PCB units are subjected to the processes for the fabrication of semiconductor packages, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing costs.
However, poor quality PCB units or semi-processed product units involving a degradation during the processing thereof are processed along with good quality PCB units or semi-processed product units involving no degradation, until the fabrication of semiconductor packages is completed. As a result, the waste of package materials and processing efforts occurs. Poor quality semiconductor packages resulting from such poor quality PCB units or semi-processed product units are sorted only after the fabrication of semiconductor packages is completed. However, this sorting is also troublesome. This work rather results in a reduction in the throughput and productivity of semiconductor packages.

Method for reproducing printed circuit boards for semiconductor packages including poor quality printed circuit board units and method for fabricating semiconductor packages using the reproduced printed circuit boards


Techniques for generating and transmitting actions prompts based on attribute affinity between users of a social networking service are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method comprises: determining a first set of attributes of a first profile of a first user; determining a second set of attributes of a second profile of a second user; selecting action prompts based on corresponding criteria of the action prompts being satisfied by the first set of attributes and the second set of attributes; generating a first ranking of the action prompts for a first presentation channel based on a first ranking model; generating a second ranking of the action prompts for a second presentation channel based on a second ranking model; selecting at least one of the action prompts based on the first ranking; and displaying the selected action prompt(s) on a computing device of the first user via the first presentation channel.

Online services, such as social networking services, often suffer from inefficient and unsuccessful prompting of users to take action via the online service. As a result, the online services waste electronic resources when generating these prompts, such as by consuming processing power during generation, as well as when transmitting these prompts, such as by consuming bandwidth during transmission.

Action prompt transmission based on attribute affinity


This disclosure relates to oligonucleotides, compositions and methods useful for reducing PCSK9 expression, particularly in hepatocytes. Disclosed oligonucleotides for the reduction of PCSK9 expression may be double-stranded or single-stranded, and may be modified for improved characteristics such as stronger resistance to nucleases and lower immunogenicity. Disclosed oligonucleotides for the reduction of PCSK9 expression may also include targeting ligands to target a particular cell or organ, such as the hepatocytes of the liver, and may be used to treat hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, and/or one or more symptoms or complications thereof.

Cholesterol is one of three major classes of lipids manufactured by animal cells and used to construct cell membranes. Cholesterol is water insoluble and transported in the blood plasma within protein particles (lipoproteins). Any lipoprotein (e.g., very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL)) may carry cholesterol, but elevated levels of non-HDL cholesterol (most particularly LDL-cholesterol) are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (e.g., coronary artery disease). This type of elevated cholesterol is known as hypercholesterolemia. Hypercholesterolemia can lead to the deposition of plaques on artery walls, known as atherosclerosis. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin-9 (also known as PCSK9) is a serine protease that indirectly regulates plasma LDL cholesterol levels by controlling both hepatic and extrahepatic LDL receptor (LDLR) expression at the plasma membrane. Decreased expression of the PCSK9 protein increases expression of the LDLR receptor, thereby decreasing plasma LDL cholesterol and the resultant hypercholesterolemia and/or atherosclerosis as well as complications arising from the same.

PCSK9 targeting oligonucleotides for treating hypercholesterolemia and related conditions


A method for multibeam coverage of a region of the surface of the Earth includes the generation, by a telecommunications payload embedded on a satellite, of a plurality of radiofrequency beams, called elementary beams; the formation of a plurality of radiofrequency beams, called composite beams, exhibiting footprints on the ground of different sizes, each the composite beam being obtained by the grouping of one or more elementary beams; and the transmission or the reception of data through the composite beams, identical data being transmitted or received through all the elementary beams forming one and the same composite beam.

The search for high transmission capacities in the satellite communications systems dictates the use of antennas with multiple beams for producing so-called "multibeam" coverages of a region of interest of the surface of the Earth. Such coverage takes the form of a juxtapositioning of geographically distinct individual coverages, contiguous or not contiguous, generally of circular or elliptical form and corresponding to the footprints on the ground of different beams generated by a telecommunications satellite. It should be noted that the term "beam" can cover two distinct realities: when considering a downlink, this effectively concerns beams of electromagnetic radiation being propagated from the satellite to the ground; in the case of an uplink, on the other hand, "beam" denotes a lobe of the reception pattern of the antenna system of the satellite.
The multibeam coverages generally allow for the re-use of the frequency according to a so-called "N-colour" scheme. According to such a scheme, in order to avoid interferences, two adjacent beams have a different "colour", each "colour" corresponding to a pairing of frequency and polarization state.
The disparity in data traffic means between different parts of the region of interest can be very significant; it is therefore necessary to vary the size of the beams serving these different parts. Thus, it is common practice to use fine beams of minimal angular aperture in the zones with high user density, and wide beams of large angular aperture in the zones with low user density. As an example, FIG. 1 shows a multibeam coverage of Australia having very wide beams in the unpopulated zones from the centre to the north and very much finer beams in the coastal regions of the south west and of the south east.
In a satellite adapted to produce a multibeam coverage, the beams are generally generated by antenna systems comprising feed antennas (or simply "feeds"; they are generally horns or sets of horns) and reflectors. Typically, each feed antenna generates a respective beam, while one and the same reflector can contribute to the generation of several distinct beams. The size of a beam depends both on the characteristics of the feed antenna and on those of the reflector; furthermore, a reflector is optimized for a feed having certain characteristics. In practice, different feeds can generate beams of slightly different size using one and the same reflector, but the mismatch between feed and reflector rapidly becomes problematic. Consequently, to be able to generate a multibeam coverage comprising beams of very different sizes (ratio between the surface areas of the footprints on the ground being able to reach, even exceed, a factor of 4) it is necessary to use several different reflectors. That leads to complex and costly antenna systems.
Moreover, the beams of large dimensions exhibit transmission pattern slopes that are a lot less steep than the more directional beams; in other words, their intensity decreases more progressively on moving away from the centre of the beam. Consequently, the "tails" of the beams of large size tend to interfere with the smaller beams.

Method for multibeam coverage by the grouping of elementary beams of the same colour, and telecommunications payload for implementing such a method


A centrifugal particle separator includes a first vane assembly and a second vane assembly. The first vane assembly includes a centrally positioned hub, a collar encircling the hub and a plurality of first vanes. Each first vane can have an inner end connected to the hub and an outer end connected to the collar, wherein a trailing edge of at least one of the plurality of first vanes can extend past an edge of the collar. The second vane assembly includes a centrally positioned hub, a collar encircling the hub and a plurality of second vanes circumferentially disposed about the hub. Each second vane can have an inner end connected to the hub and an outer end connected to the collar, wherein a leading edge of at least one of the plurality of second vanes can extend past an edge of the collar. When the first and second vane assemblies are secured together, at least one of the plurality of first vanes protrudes into the second vane assembly.

The present invention generally pertains to centrifugal particle separators. More particularly, the invention relates to a construction which improves the functional, structural and volumetric characteristics of molded or cast inlet vane assemblies of centrifugal particle separators.
Generally, air precleaners are used for removing particulates from the air prior to introducing the air through an air cleaner or filter of an internal combustion engine. The function of the air precleaner is to remove as many contaminants from the air as possible before it flows into an air filter medium upstream from the internal combustion engine.
Precleaners operate on the principle of centrifugal separation. Outside air, with its entrained contaminants, is drawn into the precleaner by the vacuum created by the engine. The air and contaminants traverse a set of fixed, static, vanes which cause the air to circulate at a great speed. Centrifugal force throws the contaminants and moisture towards the outer wall of the precleaner. The contaminants follow the wall until they reach an opening where they are discharged back into the atmosphere or collected. Clean, dry air is then allowed to enter the air filter and subsequently the internal combustion engine.
Undesirable contaminants in the atmosphere include particulate matter such as dirt, dust, sand, snow and the like. While most engines include air filters which are meant to remove such contaminants from the air that feeds the engine, engine precleaners are also used in order to extend the life of the air filter and extend the engine's life.
As air precleaners work on centrifugal separation, greater air flow velocity will result in better separation between air and contaminants. As the velocity of air flow decreases, the centrifugal force on the contaminants also decreases reducing the separation efficiency of the precleaner.
Several different designs of air precleaners are commercially available in the marketplace. In one design, a precleaner uses a rotatable impeller or spinner to separate particles from air, discharge the dirty air and particle mixture circumferentially from a housing and direct the clean air to the air intake structure of an engine. The clean air moves centrally through a stack to the engine in response to a vacuum pressure on the air moving to the engine. Known air precleaners have also included a design in which air flows into the top of the precleaner and flows axially downwardly through the precleaner and into the intake stack of the engine. Also, some air precleaners are only useable when positioned in one orientation, i.e. positioned on a vertical axis or positioned on a horizontal axis.
Typically, air precleaners of molded construction utilize a centrifugal particle separator having a one-piece inlet vane. This inlet vane generally has a gap between each blade on the vane for tooling clearances. This gap (commonly referred to as a "shut-off" clearance) allows a portion of the air to pass axially through the particle separator, effectively bypassing the intended swirling route established by the vane blades. This "shut-off" clearance increases as the designed maximum flow of the precleaner increases. This necessitates a particle separator of an undesirably large axial and circumferential volume, having a narrow operational flow range and less than optimum separation efficiency.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved centrifugal particle separator incorporating overlapping inlet vanes assemblies which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.

Inlet vane for centrifugal particle separator


A steering column for a motor vehicle includes a case with a steering gear-side end and a steering wheel-side end. The case includes an outer casing tube in which an inner casing tube is arranged telescopically and in which a steering spindle is mounted rotatably about a longitudinal axis. The steering spindle includes a hollow shaft in which a steering shaft is arranged telescopically. The steering spindle is mounted rotatably in a rear bearing in the steering wheel-side end portion. A safety element may be arranged between the steering gear-side end of the case and the rear bearing between the case and the steering spindle, which leaves a circumferential radial safety distance between the case and steering spindle which is smaller than the radial distance between the case and steering spindle outside the safety element between the steering gear-side end of the case and the rear bearing.

In the case of length-adjustable steering columns, the steering wheel attached to the rear end of the steering spindle in terms of the direction of travel can be positioned in the vehicle interior by a length adjustment in the longitudinal direction, i.e. in the direction of the steering column longitudinal axis, and as a result adapted to the driver position. The adjustability can be realized in that the casing unit comprises a coaxial arrangement of casing tubes which are displaceable in the direction of the longitudinal axis, i.e. which is axially telescopic, and in the case of which inner casing tube is received axially displaceably in an outer casing tube. Like the casing unit, the steering spindle arranged coaxially therein is also formed to be length-adjustable in that a steering shaft is also received telescopically in a hollow shaft. For transmission of the steering torque, the hollow shaft and the steering shaft are connected to one another in a torque-locking manner by positive engagement.
A further advantage is that, in the event of a vehicle crash, if the driver hits the steering wheel, the steering column can be pushed together in the longitudinal direction. As a result, the steering column can be effectively prevented from penetrating further into the interior of the passenger compartment and leading to injuries to the occupants. Moreover, the impact energy in the crash can be reduced in a controlled manner by energy-absorption apparatuses arranged between the telescopic casing tubes or between the casing unit and a support unit of the steering column in order to reduce the risk of injury.
In the event of a crash, the forces introduced into the steering spindle practically always have a force component transverse to the longitudinal axis, which leads to a radial deflection of the steering spindle, in particular in the case of what is known as an offset crash, in the case of which the body strikes the steering wheel at an angle to the longitudinal axis. The deflection of the steering spindle can lead to the steering shaft not, or only with greatly increased axial force, being pushed into the hollow shaft, as a result of which the axial force required to telescope the steering column, what is known as the crash level, is increased in an uncontrolled manner up to locking of the steering column. A safety risk arises as a result of this.
A generic steering column in the case of which the steering shaft should be stabilized is known, for example, from US 2007/0126222 A1. Therein, the hollow shaft of the steering spindle is mounted on one side in a front anti-friction bearing, which is fitted in the front end of the outer casing tube, and on the other side the steering shaft which is telescopic in the hollow shaft is mounted in a rear anti-friction bearing, which is fitted in the rear, steering wheel-side end of the inner casing tube. In this known steering column arrangement, the steering spindle is additionally mounted in the casing unit at an intermediate position in the longitudinal region between the front and rear bearing in a third bearing. This intermediate bearing is also formed as an anti-friction bearing and defines an additional coaxial support of the hollow shaft in the outer casing tube. The rigidity of the steering spindle should be reduced and the transmission of vibrations to the steering wheel should be reduced by the additional, radial play-free support in the intermediate bearing.
It is, however, disadvantageous that the breakaway torque of the steering spindle is increased by the additional bearing as a result of the bearing friction. In particular, the third bearing is, as a result of the overdetermined arrangement between the front and rear bearing, particularly sensitive with respect to tolerances of the steering spindle, and can be impaired in terms of its function or damaged, which can lead to a higher breakaway torque. The high tolerance requirements further result in a correspondingly high manufacturing and assembly outlay. High forces are furthermore required for telescopic adjustment since a steering spindle is moved with an already small radial runout by the telescoping into a forced position as a result of the additional bearing.
Thus a need exists for an improved steering column which offers higher functional safety and requires little outlay.


An intelligent power system includes one or more common power sources and one or more subsystem components interconnected with the common power sources. Each common power source includes an unregulated bus, a plurality of power source regulated buses, each regulated bus originating at a common power source and terminating at a respective one of k load subsystems, a power source, first, second, third and fourth groups of switches, a regulator having a plurality of outputs and an energy storage element. The regulator is configured to provide a time-shared mode of operation to provide power sequentially to one or more of the k load subsystems, such that the time intervals when the regulator is connected to any one of the k load subsystems do not overlap, and where the regulator is configured to switch in supplemental power from the energy storage, if necessary, to ensure that an average power delivered by the regulator does not exceed the average power consumed by all of the k load subsystems.

Conventional power distribution systems typically include multiple power sources and storage elements and are known by those of reasonable skill in the art. Despite the relative simplicity and wide acceptance of this conventional power distribution architecture, the conventional architecture suffers from several disadvantages. With few exceptions, unregulated energy sources are incompatible with parallel connection to a common bus. One problem of the conventional approach is that the architecture requires power regulators to interface incompatible sources to the bus. If such unregulated sources such as batteries are connected to the common bus, the unregulated source with the highest voltage will back-feed other sources thereby generating circulating currents. The magnitude of these currents depends on the voltage difference between the various sources and the total resistance of the current path. Because the source and bus resistances are low, the circulating currents will degrade system efficiency and may even damage components and wiring.
Another problem associated with this power system architecture is its susceptibility to single point failures. If the common bus, the load, or the output of a single voltage regulator is shorted, the whole system can be disabled. Still another problem associated with conventional power system architectures is the systems inability to control the power flow. Because there is only one bus that connects all loads and all power sources, this architecture does not allow delivering power to a section of the load from selected sources. The conventional architecture lacks flexibility, i.e., failed elements or bus segments cannot be isolated and disconnected from the system.


A scraper blade for a conveyor belt cleaner is provided. The scraper blade being adapted, when appropriately tensioned against a conveyor belt, to maintain a plurality of predetermined cleaning angles, relative to the conveyor belt, as the scraper blade is progressively worn down through contact with the conveyor belt, the scraper blade having a first blade section and a second blade section. The first blade section is proximate a distal end of the scraper blade, the first blade section being configured to maintain a first predetermined cleaning angle relative to the conveyor belt. The second blade section substantially adjacent the first blade section, the second blade section being configured to maintain a second predetermined cleaning angle, relative to the conveyor belt, after the first blade section is worn away through contact with the conveyor belt. The second predetermined cleaning angle is different than the first predetermined cleaning angle. The first blade section and the second blade section each define a profile which approximately corresponds to a volute of a circle. Processes and computer implemented processes for designing outer profiles and inner profiles of primary scraper blades and secondary scraper blades are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to scraper blades which are used to remove residual material clinging to the return run of a conveyor belt and, in particular, to primary scraper blades used in pre-cleaner applications located at the head pulley of the conveyor belt. The present invention also relates to processes and methods of designing both primary and secondary scraper blades.
2. Background Art
Scraper blades were previously made such that just the scraping edge of the blade face surface initially engaged the conveyor belt, rather than the entire or full blade face surface, when installed. This edge contact type of blade design cleans with high efficiency when new, but after the blade wears for a short period of time cleaning effectiveness is lost. Scraper blades that provide full-face contact between the face surface of the blade and the conveyor belt, such as those of the present invention, can be designed to maintain constant cleaning efficiency over their wear life. Full-face contact blades extend the life of the blade, particularly on high speed conveyors because a full-face contact blade has more mass to absorb the heat of friction generated with the rotating belt. Full-face blades also eliminate a problem known as feathering which occurs with primary cleaner blades when just the scraping edge engages the belt.
During operation, the scraping edge and the scraping surface of each scraper blade wears due to its scraping engagement with the rotating conveyor belt. The tensioner rotates the cross shaft and the scraper blades to maintain the scraper blades in biased scraping engagement with the conveyor belt. As the scraper blades wear and are rotated into continuing engagement with the conveyor belt, the orientation of the scraper blades with respect to the conveyor belt changes, which typically causes a change in the cleaning angle between the surface of the conveyor belt and the front surface of the scraper blade at the scraping edge, and a change in the scraping pressure with which the scraper blade engages the conveyor belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,231 is owned by the applicant herein and is incorporated herein by reference and discloses a constant angle conveyor belt cleaner. A scraper blade is disclosed having a curvilinear scraping face and a rear face. A tip face extends between rear face and the scraping face. The tip face and the scraping face meet at a scraping edge. The scraper blade, belt and pulley define a cleaning angle. The cleaning angle is the tangent angle formed between the tangent of the belt at the point of contact by the scraper blade, and the line extending from a distal end of the scraper blade in a direction toward the belt and head pulley. The scraper blade maintains a constant cleaning angle throughout the wear life of the blade. U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,373 is assigned to the instant assignee herein and is incorporated herein by reference and discloses a constant angle and pressure conveyor belt cleaner and tensioning arrangement. A scraper blade is disclosed having a front surface, a rear surface, and a blade face surface. The blade surface is curved to conform to the curvature of the conveyor belt such that the entire blade face surface will engage the belt in full-face contact. The blade provides a curve which defines an involute of a circle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,575 is assigned to the instant assignee herein and is incorporated herein by reference and discloses a self-locking pin mounting arrangement for conveyor belt cleaner scraper blades. U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006/0108200, 2006/0108201, 2006/0108202, and 2006/0108203 show various methods of coupling a scraper blade to conveyor belt cleaner, and are incorporated herein by reference.
It is an object of the present invention to provide scraper blades that last longer in operation than many prior art scraper blades. It is also an object of the present invention to provide scraper blades which accommodate smaller size pulleys and yet provide satisfactory wear life. In applications with smaller pulleys where the mounting distance is approximately ¼ of the diameter or less, the shape of the blade with just a single cleaning angle often becomes unusable. In this application, smaller pulleys are considered pulleys having a diameter of approximately between 1 inch to 16 inches. It is also an object of the present invention to provide methods and processes for automating the design of the profile of scraper blades.

Constant pressure and variable cleaning angle scraper blade and method for designing same


To prevent errors in a PC pursuant to downloading new software to a wireless communication device through a USB port, when it is time to reset the wireless communication device, the registers in its processor that are associated with the USB are not reset, and the USB transceiver is maintained on. Also, the USB-related values in RAM are maintained during the reset, and flash memory is maintained in a normal mode. In this way, the wireless communication device does not appear to the PC to abruptly sever the connection at the USB port upon download completion, which might otherwise cause errors in applications running on the PC.

I. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to downloading software to wireless communication devices.
II. Background
Wireless communication devices have become ubiquitous. Devices such as wireless telephones include so-called mobile station modems (MSM) that essentially are wireless communication computers which, like all digital computers, execute software to undertake the functions desired by the user.
Improvements in a wireless communication system sometimes entail changes to the software that is executed by the mobile devices in the system. For instance, changes to or additions to a system's base stations might require updated software be provided to wireless devices in the system.
Updated software can be provided to a wireless device from a computer such as a system computer operated by technical personnel by downloading the necessary software into the device through a wired or wireless path. In many devices, the incoming software is received through a wire that is connected to a personal computer (PC) having the new software. The wire terminates in a connector that mates with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port on the wireless device.
At or near the end of a software download, many if not most MSMs execute a restart to use the new software. Among other things, a restart involves resetting processor registers and memory to default values. When a restart occurs, it appears to the downloading PC that the wireless device has been abruptly removed from the USB connection, despite the fact that the physical connection remains. While this may not be a problem from the wireless device side, it can cause problems for certain applications hosted by the PC, particularly the application attempting to complete the download process.

System and method for software download to wireless communication device


An electrically-energized rotary actuator includes an annular stator ring having a plurality of slot-like magnetic flux obstructions spaced around the ring circumference. An associated rotor has two permanent magnets that are polarized along the rotor diameter to form a south pole at one point on the rotor periphery and a north pole on a diametrically-opposed point on the rotor periphery. Two pole pieces are located at diametrically spaced points on the stator ring, each pole piece having a magnetic winding so that, when the windings are energized, a north pole and a south pole will be established for interaction with the poles formed by the rotor magnets. The flux obstructions in the stator ring cause the rotor to be deflected in steps so that the rotor has various discrete positions centered on the flux obstructions. The rotor can maintain a stable position uninfluenced by minor variations in the current applied to the stator windings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary electric actuator that functions as a torque motor. The rotor of the actuator is deflected in discrete increments in accordance with the current level applied to a coil.
2. Description of Prior Developments
U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,198 discloses a stepper motor wherein a permanent magnet rotor is rotated through a distance of one hundred eighty degrees in response to the application of a current pulse to a field coil. When the current pulse is removed, the rotor rotates through an additional one hundred eighty degree distance so as to assume its starting position.
The additional one hundred eighty degree motion is made possible by a second permanent magnet mounted on the stator frame so as to generate a magnetic flux moving in a reverse direction to the flux generated by the field coil. When the current pulse is removed from the coil, the magnetic flux generated by the second permanent magnet interacts with the poles of the rotor magnet to rotate the rotor an additional one hundred eighty degrees.
U.S Pat. No. 4,447,793 discloses a two-position rotary actuator that includes a rotor comprising a permanent magnet encircling a rotary shift. An electrical stator includes an annular magnetic housing and three radial pole pieces extending toward the rotor axis. An electrical winding encircles each pole piece. The windings are energizable so that current flow in one direction causes the permanent magnet to be aligned with one pole piece and a gap formed between the other two pole pieces. Current flow in the reverse direction causes the permanent magnet to be aligned with a second pole piece and a gap formed between the remaining pole pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,162 discloses a stepper motor that includes a permanent magnet rotor and an annular stator encircling the rotor. The stator includes two semi-cylindrical pole pieces and a field coil concentric with the rotor axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,237 discloses an engine air intake valve operated by a rotary electrical actuator. An electrically conductive wire is wound around an annular cylindrical stator to define two diametrically-opposed magnetic poles. A rotor disposed within the cylindrical stator carries two permanent magnets that are polarized in a plane passing through the rotor axis.
When the electrical winding on the stator is energized by a D.C. voltage, the rotor is deflected in accordance with the magnitude of the applied voltage and current flow through the winding. The rotary electrical actuator is thus enabled to control the position of the associated air intake valve so as to obtain a range of different air flows through the valve.
U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 882,787, filed May 14, 1992, discloses a variation of the above-described electrical actuator wherein the magnetic poles on the stator ring are formed by rod-shaped pole pieces extending radially from the stator ring. The pole pieces include electrical windings which, when energized, establish two diametrically-opposed magnetic poles on the stator ring. The rod-shaped pole pieces and electrical windings can be low cost, commercially available solenoid coil assemblies.
In the above-described electrical actuator constructions shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,237 and copending patent application, Ser. No. 882,787, the rotor deflection exhibits essentially a straight line or linear relationship with the applied current. Slight variations in the applied current thus produce corresponding variations in the rotor position.
There are some situations where it is desired that the rotor move stepwise to a predetermined deflected position and remain in that position even though the value of the applied current fluctuates slightly. The present invention is concerned with an electrical actuator having such a characteristic.

Dual flux ring multiple position rotary actuator


A growth adjustable diaper for newborn babies is adjustable in length by use of a foldable absorbent panel at the front edge of the diaper, and is adjustable about the waist of the baby by means of ear members that can overlap and attach to each other or not overlap and attach to the front section of the diaper. Cushion barriers are provided at the crotch section and back waist edge to protect the newborn's sensitive, tender skin.

This invention pertains to a disposable article, and more particularly to a disposable absorbent article that is adjustable in length and attachment to accommodate the relatively fast growth of a newborn baby.
Currently, disposable absorbent articles find widespread use in infant and child care, and have generally replaced reusable cloth absorbent articles. A typical disposable absorbent article generally comprises a composite structure including a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorbent between the topsheet and backsheet. These articles usually include some type of fastening system for fitting the article onto the wearer.
Although current disposable baby diapers have been generally accepted by the public, these diapers still have need of improvement in specific areas. For example, mothers of newborns between the age of zero and generally about four months are aware of the irritation that current disposable diapers cause with the umbilical cord during the first month of the newborn's existence. Naturally, any irritation of the umbilical cord is a discomfort to the newborn and of anxious concern to the mother. Another serious concern to mothers is the tenderness of the newborn's skin and thus its sensitivity to even slight pressures or rubbing actions that can cause irritation and red marking. With current diapers, this irritation or pressure is caused by leg elastics that press the diaper tightly against the newborn's skin to prevent urine leakage. It also can occur at the waist area where the back ears of the diaper are adhesively attached tightly to the front section of the diaper. Thus, it can be appreciated that current diapers do not provide an optimum absorbent article for newborn babies.
In addition to concerns for the newborn's healing umbilical cord area and tender, sensitive skin is the relatively rapid growth of the newborn between the time when he or she is born to approximately the age of four months. During this time the newborn will grow in length and weight from about six pounds to about fifteen pounds, thus posing a problem to the mother since the diaper the mother was first using was sized for the baby at birth, while the next size diaper may not be appropriate to a newborn during this rapid growth stage. Thus, it would be desirable to have a diaper exclusively designed for a newborn between the age of zero and about four months that provides adjustability in size to accommodate this rapid growth.

Newborn's growth adjustable absorbent diaper having variable overlapping and non-overlapping ears


A controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink is a variety of hyperlink that is directed to a redirection facility when selected. The hyperlink redirection facility is a redirection facility for directing the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink in a modified format to a service provider. The controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink may be embellished and encapsulated in a “controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink.” The hyperlink redirection facility makes a determination of which service provider to use to service the request associated with the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink by examining user preferences, if any. The controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink is then passed onto a service provider, which translates the request into an appropriate format for a selected service provider that has been identified by the hyperlink redirection facility. The service provider processes the request and returns results to the user.

Services for providing digital content may generally be classified into two categories: subscription-based or non-subscription-based. With subscription-based services, the user must first subscribe to the service, which often entails payment of a subscription fee or payment on a per use basis. The content provided by subscription-based services may vary and may include contents such as journal articles, databases, financial information and the like.
Non-subscription-based services do not require that a user have a subscription in order to access information provided by the service. Search engines, such as those provided by Yahoo and Netscape, are examples of non-subscription based services. A user may submit a request to the search engine and receive search results that contain a number of hyperlinks to content available on the Internet without having a subscription.
One current difficulty facing users is that content provided by subscription-based services and content provided by non-subscription based services are distinct and must be queried separately. For example, if a user is interested in information about astronauts, the user must first submit a query to the subscription-based service to obtain search results. Subsequently, the user must submit a separate query to the non-subscription-based service.
Another difficulty concerns hyperlinks within documents. A hyperlink within a document works well so long as the reader of the document has access to the content referenced by the hyperlink. Difficulties may arise where the hyperlink references content that is not accessible to the reader. In many instances, the hyperlink refers purely to content that is freely accessible and, thus, is unduly limiting in its scope.

Retrieval of digital objects by redirection of controlled vocabulary searches

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.


An electric mirror control device is provided which can prevent generation of a clutch noise by stopping slipping of a clutch provided at an actuator as quickly as possible while preventing narrowing of an allowable range of a tilting angle of a mirror surface. In controlling an electric mirror, a control device clamps a voltage value of a voltage applied to a motor detected by a mirror surface angle detection circuit to a predetermined upper limit value and a predetermined lower limit value at a clamp circuit. Stop control of the motor is performed based on the voltage value clamped to the upper limit value and the lower limit value in this way.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric mirror control device and particularly to an electric mirror control device in which mirror surface adjustment and electric storage are carried out in an automobile electric mirror.
2. Related Background Art
As an automobile electric mirror to be mounted on an automobile, there is a type providing a mirror main body and a case for containing this mirror main body. In this type of electric mirror, the mirror main body often includes such an arrangement that a mirror surface angle is adjustable with respect to the case, and some electric mirrors are equipped with an actuator for adjusting the mirror surface angle. This type of electric mirror is arranged so that the mirror surface angle can be adjusted by driving the actuator.
In this type of electric mirror, a moving range of the mirror main body with respect to the case has an allowable range. If the mirror main body attempts to move beyond this allowable range, a clutch provided between the actuator and the mirror main body slips. Thus, by slipping of the clutch, the mirror main body is prevented from moving to a position beyond the allowable range. However, in case that the clutch is slipping, clutch noise is generated, which might give unpleasantness to a driver. Therefore, there is a problem that such a clutch noise should be eliminated or finished as soon as possible even if it is generated.
Also, in some automobile electric mirrors, use state and fold state are defined and when the electric mirror is opened with respect to a vehicle, the mirror is defined to be in use state and when closed, to be in fold state. Further, in such electric mirrors, an actuator for rotationally driving the case is provided, and positions can be switched between the use state and fold state by driving the actuator. In this type of the automobile electric mirror, the above problem of the clutch noise is also generated.
In order to cope with these problems, conventionally there is an electric mirror control device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-200783. This electric mirror control device is provided with a tilting means to tilt a mirror surface, and a control means to control tilting and stop tilting of the mirror surface by this tilting means. The control means is arranged so that an angle detecting means determines that a detected angle limit is reached when a detected angle value of the mirror surface becomes constant while the mirror surface is tilted by the tilting means.
However, with the electric mirror control device disclosed in the above Patent Document 1, it is determined that the detected angle limit is reached when a detected angle value of the mirror surface becomes constant. Here, if the detected angle value to determine that the detected angle limit is reached is set low, the determination is made that the detected angle limit is reached before reaching an allowable range, and as a result, there is a fear that the allowable range of a tilting angle of the mirror surface might be narrowed. On the other hand, if the detected angle value is set high, though the allowable range of the tilting angle is widened, excessive tilting beyond the allowable range is promoted, which brings about a problem of more frequent clutch slipping.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide an electric mirror control device which can stop slipping of a clutch disposed in an actuator as quickly as possible while preventing the allowable range of a tilting angle of a mirror surface from being narrowed, and can prevent generation of clutch noise.


Dual axis retroreflective articles and methods of using them are disclosed. The retroreflective articles may combine dual axis retroreflection with three axis retroreflection to provide a steady glow due to the three axis retroreflective portions of the article and also provide intermittent or flashing retroreflection as the plane of retroreflection from the dual axis retroreflector passes through or near the light source. The retroreflective articles may also include dual axis retroreflective structures in combination with sparkling reflective structures, as well as dual axis retroreflective structures in combination with both three axis retroreflective structures and sparkling reflective structures. Methods of use include moving the dual axis retroreflective structures to obtain intermittent or flashing retroreflection.

Nighttime visibility of objects and people is continuing problem, particularly for the operators of vehicles such as trucks and automobiles. Approaches to increasing the nighttime visibility of objects and people can be either passive or active. Active systems provide conspicuity by providing a steady light source, flashing light source, or a combination of steady and flashing light sources. Although active systems do provide conspicuity, they must be provided with energy, typically electrical energy, to provide the desired light. Energy sources are not always available or they may be depleted such that the light sources will not operate. As a result, active systems find limited application for providing long term conspicuity of objects and people.
Passive systems for providing conspicuity include diffuse reflectors and retroreflectors. Retroreflectors can return a significant portion of incident light back towards a light source, such as the headlights of a car or truck. Retroreflectors are typically constructed of beads (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,025,159 to McGrath; 4,983,436 to Bailey et al.; and 5,066,098 to Kult et al.) or they can include cube corner elements (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,562 to Coderre and 5,450,235 to Smith et al.). With many retroreflectors, the amount of returned light can make the retroreflective article appear as though it included a light source of its own when, in reality, at least a portion of the light directed at the retroreflector from the light source is merely being returned towards the source. Although retroreflectors return a significant portion of light, the incident light is typically from a steady source such as headlights. Steady incident light yields generally steady returned light from the retroreflectors, i.e., the intensity of the returned light does not appreciably vary.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A covalent conjugate of a 4′-hydroxyazobenzene-2-carboxylic acid derivative (HABA) and an avidin-type molecule, of the formula:

Avidin and streptavidin are tetrameric proteins that, due to their strong interaction with biotin, have become widely useful as extremely versatile, general mediators in a broad variety of bioanalytical applications, including chromatography, cytochemistry, cell cytometry, diagnostics, immunoassays and biosensing, gene probes and drug delivery (Wilchek and Bayer, 1990). The reason for their popularity is based on the basic principle of the avidin-biotin technology, namely, that the interaction between avidin and biotin is not affected when biotin is covalently bound to macromolecules or to insoluble carriers (matrices). The biotin moiety can be recognized by the native avidin molecule or derivatized avidin, which contains desired reporter groups.
Avidin (from egg-white) and streptavidin (from Streptomyces avidinii) are two related proteins that bind biotin with similar dissociation constants of about 10−15M. In addition to the binding of biotin, many of their physical properties are quite similar. Both, for example, are constructed of four non-covalently attached identical subunits, each of which bears a single biotin-binding site. The subunit Mr values are also very similar. Moreover, several short stretches in the sequences of the two proteins are preserved, particularly two Trp-Lys stretches that occur at approximately similar positions.
Despite these similarities, several differences exist between the two proteins. Avidin is a disulphide-bridged glycoprotein containing two methionine residues, whereas streptavidin is not glycosylated and is devoid of sulphur-containing amino acid side chains. Another significant difference is in the tyrosine content. Avidin has only one tyrosine residue (Tyr-33), whereas streptavidin has six tyrosine residues at positions 22, 43, 54, 60, 83 and 96. Interestingly, the single tyrosine residue of avidin is located in a region which contains a sequence identical with that of one of the streptavidin tyrosine residues (Tyr-43 in the stretch Thr-Gly-Thr-Tyr).
Each avidin monomer binds one molecule of biotin. The unique feature of this binding, of course, is the strength and specificity of formation of the avidin-biotin complex. The resultant affinity constant, estimated at 1.6×1015 M−for avidin and 2.5×1013 M−1for streptavidin, is the highest known for a protein and an organic ligand. It is so strong that biotin cannot be released from the binding site, even when subjected to a variety of drastic conditions such as high concentrations of denaturing agents at room temperature, e.g., 6 M guanidinium hydrochloride, 3 M guanidinium thiocyanate, 8 M urea, 10% β-mercaptoethanol or 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate. Under combined treatment with guanidinium hydrochloride at low pH (1.5) or upon heating (>70° C.) in the presence of denaturing agents or detergents, the protein is denatured, and biotin is dislodged from the disrupted binding site.
Avidin recognizes biotin mainly at the ureido (urea-like) ring of the molecule. The interaction between the binding site of avidin with the sulfur-containing ring of the valeric acid side chain of the vitamin is of much lower strength. The relatively weak interaction between the carboxy-containing side chain of biotin and avidin means that the former can be modified chemically and attached to a wide variety of biologically active material; the biotin moiety of the resultant derivative or conjugate is still available for interaction with avidin. In turn, the avidin can be derivatized with many other molecules, notably "probes" or reporter groups of different types.
This is the crux of avidin-biotin technology (Wilchek and Bayer, 1990). Thus, a biologically active target molecule in an experimental system can be "labeled" with its biotinylated counterpart (a binder), and the product can then be subjected to interaction with avidin, either derivatized or conjugated with an appropriate probe.
The use of the egg-white avidin in the avidin-biotin technology is sometimes restricted due to the high basicity (pI 10.5) and presence of sugar moieties on the avidin molecule, which may lead to nonspecific or otherwise undesired reactions. In recent years, the bacterial protein, streptavidin, has largely replaced egg-white avidin for most applications in avidin-biotin technology. However, the problems with streptavidin High cost and biotin-independent cell binding) have prompted renewed interest in egg-white avidin as the standard for avidin-biotin technology. For this purpose, modified avidins exhibiting improved molecular characteristics both over the native protein (and previous derivatives thereof) as well as over streptavidin, have been prepared, such as N-acyl avidins, e.g., N-formyl, N-acetyl and N-succinyl avidins. These derivatives of avidin reduce the charge of the protein, but they are all prepared via covalent attachment to the available lysines of avidin, and the consequent blocking of the free amino groups hinders subsequent preparation of other types of conjugates (notably protein-protein conjugates such as avidin-labeled enzymes) which are often prepared by crosslinking via lysine residues using bifunctional reagents (e.g. glutaraldehyde).
A more useful and effective alternative to lysine modification is the modification via arginines. In this case, the pI of the protein is efficiently reduced and the lysines are still available for subsequent interaction. Two different derivatives of avidin which are modified in this manner are commercially available. One, ExtrAvidin®, can be obtained in various functionally derivatized or conjugated forms from Sigma Chemical Company (St. Louis, Mo.). A second , NeutraLite Avidin™ (a product of Belovo Chemicals, Bastogne, Belgium) is additionally modified and can be purchased in bulk quantities.
Although the reduction of the pI of egg-white avidin solves one of the problems, the presence of the oligosaccharide residue remains a serious source of nonspecific (biotin-independent) interaction which restricts its application. The return of egg-white avidin as the standard for avidin-biotin technology has been contingent upon the removal of its sugars. The possibilities for removing a sugar from a glycoprotein are quite limited; it is possible to do so either chemically or enzymatically. The chemical methods currently available, e.g., using HF or periodate oxidation, are either destructive or inefficient. The well known enzymatic method, which employs N-glycanase, is usually very expensive and not very effective for avidin when conventional methodology is used. Eventually, a viable procedure for deglycosylation was established and the resultant product was subsequently modified chemically via the arginines and is known under the trade mark NeutraLite Avidin™ (Belovo Chemicals).
In spite of all these improvements, one of the main problems in the several applications of the avidin-biotin technology is the lack of an appropriate labeled avidin to permit the follow up of the binding of avidin to biotinylated compounds.
In addition to its interaction with biotin, avidin is known to associate non-covalently also with 4′-hydroxyazobenzene-2-carboxylic acid at the same biotin-binding site of the protein, but with a lower affinity (˜10−5–10−6 M) (Green, 1965). This non-covalent association is accompanied by a change in color from yellow to red (350 nm to 500 nm), thus allowing determination of avidin and its free binding sites.
Derivatives of 4′-hydroxyazobenzene-2-carboxylic acid and conjugates thereof with oligo and macromolecular carriers (HABAylated molecules) are the subject of copending application of Applicants filed at the same date as the present application.

Abstract: wherein A is (CH2)n or —CH═CH—, wherein n is an integer from 0–10; B is (CH2)n wherein n is an integer from 2 to 10; m is zero or 1; and Av is the residue of an avidin-type molecule selected from the group comprising native egg-white avidin, recombinant avidin, deglycosylated avidins, bacterial streptavidin, recombinant streptavidin, truncated streptavidin and other derivatives of said avidin-type molecules. These HABAylated avidins are red colored in the quinone configuration and can be used in many applications in the avidin-biotin technology.


A boundary scan tester is provided for testing logic devices. The boundary scan tester includes a boundary scan register, a data decompressor, a data compressor, and a derived boundary scan register. The boundary scan register registers the applied test vectors and test responses of a logic device, and the data decompressor is coupled to an input of the boundary scan register for decompressing the applied compressed test vectors. The data compressor is coupled to an output of the boundary scan register for compressing the test responses, and the derived boundary scan register is coupled to an input of the decompressor and an output of the compressor for storing and shifting in/out the compressed test vectors and test responses.

Boundary scan testing is well known. Boundary scan testing uses boundary scan shift registers that are built into each integrated circuit. FIG. 1 shows a conventional IC device 13 including boundary-scan register 11 interposed between the device I/O pins 12 and core 10, which may be programmable memory latches in the case of programmable devices. Data can be directly transferred between memory latches and the boundary scan register through interconnect 15.
FIG. 2 depicts a conventional IEEE 1149.1 compliant device architecture 31 that is referred to as a "boundary-scan architecture". Boundary-scan architecture 31 includes a Test Access Port (TAP) 30, a TAP controller 20, an instruction register 26, instruction decode logic 25, a data register bank 24, and an output stage comprising a multiplexer 27, a flip-flop 28, and a tristate buffer 29. Although instruction decode logic 25 is shown as being separate from instruction register 26, instruction decode logic 25 may also be considered to be part of instruction register 26. Data register bank 24 includes the boundary-scan register 22 described above, and a bypass register 21. Bypass register 21 is a single bit shift register not associated with the IC core logic (memory latches) or I/O pins. Its purpose is to provide an alternate serial path between TDI and TDO pins of a JTAG-compliant device. As described below, only one of the registers in data bank 24 forms the serial path between TDI and TDO at any given time.
The TAP 30 is the interface between the boundary-scan architecture 31 and the five IC device pins required by IEEE 1149.1: test data in (TDI) and test data out (TDO) pins described above, test clock (TCK) pin, test mode select (TMS) pin, and one optional pin test reset (TRST) pin.
FIG. 3 depicts all possible states of the TAP controller 20, which is a sixteen-state state machine driven by the TCK and TMS signals asserted at the respective TCK and TMS pins of the IC device. The TAP controller 20 transitions from an existing state to one of the two possible states at the rising edge of the TCK signal based on the level of the TMS signal. Of the sixteen TAP controller states, one state is used to reset the test logic "Test-Logic Reset", and another state is an idle state "Run-Test/Idle" from which either an instruction register scan or a data register scan can be selected. Of the remaining fourteen states, seven are used to perform a data register scan (from "Select DR Scan" to "Update DR") and seven are used to perform an instruction register scan (from "Select IR Scan" to "Update IR").
Instruction register scan and data register scan are symmetrical operations consisting of cycling the TAP controller 20 through a sequence of states to perform sample, shift, and transfer operations within the indicated register. In the case of an instruction register scan, the TAP controller 20 enters into a "Capture IR" state in which it issues an instruction register control signal to cause the instruction register to sample device status information. Then, in a "Shift IR" state, the device status information is shifted out of the instruction register via the TDO pin while a sequence of bits representing a new instruction is concurrently shifted into the instruction register via the TDI pin. After the new instruction has been shifted into the instruction register, it is transferred to a bank of output elements included in the instruction register 26 during an "Update IR" state of the TAP controller 20.
The instruction transferred to the bank of output elements in instruction register 26 is decoded by instruction decode logic 25 to select one of the registers in data register bank 24 to form a serial path between the TDI and TDO pins of the IC device through multiplexer 23, which is controlled by signals coming from instruction decode logic 25, to pass the output of either the boundary scan register 22 or the bypass register 21 to the output stage. As discussed below, the instruction in instruction register 26 is also decoded by instruction decode logic 25 to select the source of data shifted into the boundary scan register.
When the TAP controller 20 is sequenced through a data register scan, the TAP controller 20 issues control signals to each of the data registers included in data register bank 24. As discussed above, only one of the data registers from data register bank 24 is selected to form the serial data path between TDI and TDO at any given time, and the non-selected register is not disturbed during the data register scan. When the bypass register 21 is selected, the serial data path of the device is reduced to a single storage element, and data shifted through the bypass register 21 does not interfere with the normal operation of the device.
When the boundary scan register 11 in FIG. 1 is the data register selected to form the serial path between the TDI and TDO pins of the IC, sample, shift, and update operations similar to those performed in the instruction register 26 in FIG. 2 are performed. First, in a "Capture DR" state, the boundary scan register 11 samples the parallel data from the I/O 12 of the programmable device, if that portion of the boundary scan register is programmed as input, or samples the parallel data through interconnect 15, between boundary scan register 11 and memory latches 10, if that portion of the boundary scan cell is programmed as output. Then, in a "Shift DR" state, the boundary scan register 11 shifts a sequence of bits via TDI while concurrently shifting the values sampled during the "Capture DR" state out of the boundary scan register 11 via TDO. Finally, during the "update DR" state, the boundary scan register transfers the data to a bank of elements within the boundary scan register 11.
To comply with IEEE 1149.1, in FIG. 2 the boundary scan architecture 31 must be capable of carrying out three instructions: BYPASS, SAMPLE/PRELOAD, and EXTEST. The BYPASS instruction is used to select the bypass register 21 to form a serial path between TDI and TDO. The SAMPLE/PRELOAD instruction is used to select the boundary scan register 22 to form a serial path between TDI and TDO, and to permit the parallel data to be sampled in the boundary scan register 22 without interfering with the normal operation of the IC. The SAMPLE/PRELOAD instruction further permits the boundary scan register 22 to be loaded with a sequence of bits to be later output at the parallel output of boundary scan register 22. This operation is called "preload".
During the EXTEST instruction, the external data coming to the device at the input pins, which is the response of the applied test vector from other ICs on the same board to test the interconnects between ICs, is captured in boundary scan register 22 in the "Capture DR" state of TAP controller 20 and shifted out from boundary scan register 22 in the "Shift DR" state of the TAP controller 20 through the TDO pin and at the same time a new test vector is shifted into the boundary scan register 22 through the TDI pin to apply it on output pins in the "Update DR" state of the TAP controller 20.
The main problem with the existing IEEE 1149.1 architecture is the use of an excessive number of clock (TCK) cycles, which is equal to the number of boundary scan cells present in boundary scan register 22. To apply one test vector and receive one response, one has to travel the full length of boundary scan register. There is always a need to reduce clock cycles and thus to reduce testing time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,801 provides a design to communicate with a plurality of tristate output buffers that are configured to receive a control signal and a data signal from an associated one of the plurality of data output boundary scan cells in order to reduce adverse timing impacts of conventional boundary scan cells. However, it employs large circuitry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,369 speeds the testing of high-speed core logic circuitry by transferring the test program to a special test data register, which downloads the program to the logic circuitry under test, and uploads the results. However, it uses large numbers of user's I/Os and also does not reduce the scan path.


It is an object of the present invention to provide an infusion device that can be easily inserted into the body and that when inserted into a blood vessel reliably ensures the flow of blood. The infusion device is provided with a needle-shaped tube member having a sharp tip in any one lumen of the three lumens provided within a tubular member that can be inserted into the body in such a manner that it can move axially, an extrusion aperture provided in the tubular member through which the needle-shaped tube member is extruded, and a reagent supplier for supplying a predetermined reagent into the needle-shaped tube member. Additionally, recessed portions extending axially are formed in an outer circumferential surface of the tubular member in such a manner that the cross sectional shape perpendicular to the axial direction of the tubular member is a shape in which at least a portion of the outer circumference of an annular shape has been recessed radially inward.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the structure of infusion devices for infusing a predetermined reagent to lesion portions, for example, in body tissue.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, medical devices such as catheters have been introduced into tubular organs in the body such as blood vessels, the alimentary canal, and the ureters to perform various treatments, tests, and procedures, for example. More recently, treatment and procedures in which infusion devices such as infusion catheters have been used to infuse a predetermined liquid medicine into lesion portions in body tissues have been performed (see JP 2001-104487A and JP 2001-299927A).
That is, as is well known in the art, such infusion catheters are constituted by a tubular catheter member into which a needle-shaped tube member made of a narrow tube capable of conducting a predetermined reagent and having a sharp tip portion is inserted and disposed in such a manner that it can move in the axial direction of the catheter member. The catheter member of such an infusion catheter is then inserted into a blood vessel and pushed through the vessel until reaching the site of a lesion in a body tissue, at which point the needle-shaped tube member is moved longitudinally. The needle-shaped tube member is thereby passed through a tip opening or an aperture portion provided in the tube wall of the catheter member and the needle portion of the tip of the needle-shaped tube member is extruded to the outside to penetrate a lesion portion of the body tissue, and in this state a predetermined reagent is infused into the lesion portion through the needle-shaped tube member.
One type of an infusion device, such as an infusion catheter, has a structure in which at least three lumens are provided inside the tubular member, these being a needle-shaped tube member lumen into which the needle-shaped tube member is movably inserted, a guide wire lumen into which a guide wire is inserted, and a balloon lumen for conducting fluid for expanding a balloon that is attached to the outside of the tubular member.
In infusion devices having such a structure, it is not possible to keep the cross sectional area of the tubular member perpendicular to its axial direction from becoming large. For that reason, when using such infusion devices there is the concern that depending on the site in the body to which it is to be inserted it may be difficult to insert the tubular member into the body, even if the tubular member has an annular profile perpendicular to its axis such that it can be inserted into the body as smoothly as possible. Moreover, there is also a concern that the flow of blood may be arrested when the tubular member has been inserted into a blood vessel, for example.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Various embodiments of a virtualization system and method are provided herein, wherein computer resources are emulated and simulated by a hypervisor system. In order to provide improved signalization within a virtual computer system, various embodiments may use a virtual CPU for signalizing an external event, wherein the virtual CPU is used temporarily by a signalization routine for processing the signalization of the event.

The various embodiments described herein relate to the field of computer technology, particularly to the area of virtualization, wherein computer resources are emulated and simulated by a hypervisor system in order to offer the possibility of replacing computing resources such as storage, applications, and computational resources of a workstation with virtual computing resources. These virtual resources are backed by the hypervisor using real physical resources that are available on network or local systems. The hypervisor can multiplex physical resources for more efficient use of computing facilities. More specifically, method and system embodiments are provided for operating a hypervisor system in a hypervisor system environment comprising at least one guest system having an operating system, wherein an external event (e.g., from system timers, disks input/output (I/O), power-off signals, sensing key-presses, etc.) is signalized from the hypervisor system to a respective guest system.
"Virtualization" in virtualized environments is a general and broad term that refers in the context of computer science to the emulation and simulation of computer resources. Whereas abstraction usually hides details, virtualization pertains to creating illusions. Instead of hiding the physical characteristics of computing resources from the way in which other systems, applications, or end users interact with such resources, these are usually emulated and simulated in order to behave in a virtualized environment in the same way as they would on native hardware.
The interfaces and resources of a virtualized system are mapped onto the respective interface and resources of a real physical system.
FIGS. 1A and 1B schematically show the main components in a hypervisor environment for two different implementation types. The primary components include the hardware 10, a host operating system 12, a hypervisor software module 14, a guest operating system 16, and guest processes 18. As depicted in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a component can use interfaces and resources, particularly physical central processing units (CPUs) 15 and virtual (guest) CPUs 17.
Typical resources are processors (depicted as CPUs in FIGS. 1A and 1B), processor time (not depicted), and memory (not depicted). For example, in FIG. 1A, the hypervisor 14 uses hardware interfaces such as CPU operation codes (opcodes) and hardware resources such as installed memory. The guest operating systems 16 use hypervisor interfaces and hypervisor resources. The guest programs invoke the respective different processes 18 using interfaces and resources of the respective guest operating systems 16.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate two different types of prior art hypervisor implementations. The first type—shown in FIG. 1A—is to have the hypervisor 14 use the hardware interfaces 15 directly. This variant provides virtual machines 17 as interfaces to its guest operating systems 16. The guest operating systems 16 use these virtual machines 17 for their processes (applications or programs).
The second implementation type for hypervisor systems is outlined in FIG. 1B. In this scheme, the real physical hardware 10 is driven by a host operating system 12. A hypervisor 14 is a program that uses interfaces from the host operating system 12. This scheme is used in prior art hypervisor systems such as VMWARE, KVM and others. A hypervisor 14 then provides virtual machines 17 to its respective guest operating system 16. A guest operating system 16 uses one or more virtual machines 17 for its processes (applications or programs).
Signalization mechanisms, such as interrupt handling and the various other embodiments described herein, may occur at the hypervisor/guest operating system interface (see arrow 30 in FIG. 2) and thus may work on both types of hypervisors. In order to increase clarity of the disclosure, a simplified component stack will be used that describes both implementation types. More specifically, instead of using the terms "hypervisor" or "host operating system plus hypervisor," the term "host" is used for both implementation types.
FIG. 2 illustrates the simplified component stack.
Inter-system signalization of runtime events is performed in prior art either using interrupt handling or polling. Typical interrupt uses include system timers, disks I/O, power-off signals, sensing key-presses, etc.
FIG. 3 illustrates the most important state changes of host and guest code that run on a processor. The prior art interrupt delivery is a standard way of notifying an operating system about external events, as briefly mentioned above. Control flows that can run independently on different physical processors are separated by dotted boxes in FIG. 3.
With the prior art interrupt delivery, the program flow is interrupted, the status information is saved, and the control flow continues at a predefined location. An interrupt handler coordinates the execution of an interrupt routine. In hosted environments there are two types of interrupt handlers. Host interrupts are handled by a host interrupt handler, which is part of the host code. Guest interrupts are handled by the guest interrupt handler, which is part of the guest operating system.
Both handler modules are part of one of the controlling programs (guest operating system or host program) and handle the respective prior art signaling. The interrupt handler runs and triggers actions in the operating system. At the end of the interrupt handler, the control flow returns to the interrupted code and continues it.
On real hardware, I/O devices use a physical processor interface to trigger the interrupt. The physical processor saves the old instruction pointer and sets the instruction pointer to the interrupt handler.
In prior art virtualized environments, there are at least two levels of notifications, including notifications for the host program and notifications for the guest operating systems. Interrupts can be used for both types of notifications.
The host interrupt works almost identically to the physical hardware interrupt. A device or processor component triggers the host interrupt using a processor interface. The processor then saves the old instruction pointer and changes the control flow to the host interrupt handler. The host interrupt handler processes the notification and subsequently returns to the interrupted instruction.
The implementation of guest interrupts is a different one in prior art. The host program is responsible for guest interrupts. The host program decides if and when a guest receives an interrupt for notification.
With reference again to FIG. 3, there are steps in the control flow which are specific to a prior art hosted (virtualized) environment. The processor can execute host code 35 and 36 and guest code 33 and 34. Step 2 in FIG. 3 illustrates the moment when the host code starts/continues a guest by letting the processor execute guest code. At some point in time, the processor stops executing guest code and executes host code instead (step 1 in FIG. 3). The transition can be initiated voluntarily by the guest or involuntarily by an event. The transitions in step 1 and step 2 in FIG. 3 are quite common and happen regularly in hosted environments. A host interrupt is one of the events that triggers step 1 in FIG. 3.
If the host program needs to notify a guest, it emulates an interrupt to the guest. The host program chooses an eligible guest CPU for interrupt delivery. Subsequently, the chosen guest CPU is prepared for interrupt delivery. If the guest CPU is currently running, the host must stop this guest CPU (step 5 in FIG. 3). When the guest CPU is no longer running, the host eventually gains control (step 1 in FIG. 3) and then delivers the emulated interrupt.
In order to emulate an interrupt, the host saves the instruction pointer of the guest in the same way as physical hardware would do. Afterward, the instruction pointer is set to the address of the guest interrupt handler 31, 32 (step 4 in FIG. 3), and the guest CPU is restarted. Eventually, the guest interrupt handler 31, 32 finishes and returns to the address that is specified by the saved instruction pointer (step 3 in FIG. 3).
Another alternative used in prior art for signalization purposes is the so-called "polling procedure". During polling, a guest is active and requests status information from the host in predefined time periods. However, such polling technique is disadvantageous in that it leads to significant loss of computing resources. Furthermore, such polling technique generates delays when external events are processed.
It is thus an objective of the present disclosure to provide improved signalization within a virtual computer system.

Signalizing an external event using a dedicated virtual central processing unit

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