Techniques for estimating a body voltage of one or more transistors which form digital partially depleted silicon-on-insulator circuit, and for using estimated voltages to analyze electrical properties of the circuit, are disclosed. In one technique, device models are obtained and abstracted to generate simplified electrical descriptions of the transistors. The circuit topology is checked to generate sets of accessible states for the transistors that are indicative of whether a connection between a source or a drain of a transistor and either a power supply or ground exists. Next, sets of reference state body voltage minima and reference state body voltage maxima are determined for each of the transistors based on corresponding simplified electrical descriptions and corresponding sets of accessible states. Finally, a target state body voltage minima and a target state body voltage maxima are ascertained, one for each transistor, based on the determined sets of reference state body voltage minima and reference state body voltage maxima.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to partially depleted silicon-on-insulator technology, and more particularly to techniques for estimating the body voltage of digital integrated circuits and partially depleted silicon-on-insulator ("PD-SOI") technology.
II. Description of the Related Art
Silicon-on-insulator ("SOI") technology has long been used for radiation-hardened or high-voltage integrated circuits. In more recent years, SOI has also been considered for us as a technology for high-performance, low-power deep-submicron digital integrated circuits. For digital applications, fully-depleted devices have been largely abandoned in favor of partially-depleted technology, because of the difficulty in controlling the threshold voltage of fully-depleted thin-film transistors. Partially-depleted SOI ("PD-SOI") technology has two main advantages for digital applications: the reduction of parasitic source-drain depletion capacitances and the reduction of the reverse-body effect in stack structures and pass-transistor logic.
At the device and circuit level, however, the floating body effect in PD-SOI has posed and continues to pose major challenges in the successful use of this technology. As discussed in Pong-Fei Lu et al., "Floating-body Effects in Partially Depleted SOI CMOS circuits, 32 IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits 1241 (1997), there is a parasitic bipolar effect which can result in noise failures if not correctly considered. In addition, there can be large "uncertainties" in the body potential, and consequently the threshold voltage, of devices due to unknown past switching activity. For many circuits, the design margining required to protect against this uncertainty erodes all of the potential performance advantage under nominal operation. In addition, for many circuit styles in which noise margin is strongly determined by threshold voltage (e.g. dynamic circuits), considerable overdesign for noise can also result from conservative body-voltage margining.
Several circuit design techniques, such as those described in D. H. Allen et al., "A 0.20 μm 1.8 V SOI 550 MhZ 64b Power PC Microprocessor with Cu Interconnects," Digest Tech. Papers, ISSCC, pp. 438–39 (1999), and C. T. Chuang et al., "SOI Digital CMOS VLSI—A Design Perspective," 36th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Concerence, pp. 709–714 (1999), attempt to contain the noise impact of the parasitic bipolar current and the delay and noise-margin variation due to the floating body. Some of these design techniques, such as predischarging internal nodes of the nFET pulldown stack in domino logic to avoid parasitic bipolar currents, are quite counter to design practice in bulk.
In addition, previous circuit-level modeling work on PD-SOI has focused either on device issues, or on delay and noise effects due to the floating-body effect evident for particular circuits under periodic stimulus, such as pulse stretching, frequency-dependent delay time. See, for example, J. Gautier et al, "On The Transient Operation of Partially Depleted SOI NMOSFET;s," 16 IEE Electron Device Letters 498 (1995), and R. Puri et al, "Hysteresis Effect in Pass-Transistor-Based Partially-Depleted SOI CMOS Cirsuits," Proc. Int'l SOI Conf. 1998. However, neither such modeling work nor the circuit design techniques discussed above are able to accurately estimate the upper and lower bounds of the body voltage of PD-SOI circuits in order to characterize the important electrical characteristics of the circuit. Accordingly, there exists a need in the field to accurately estimate the upper and lower bounds of the body voltage of PD-SOI circuits, taking into account the past history of the circuit, so that certain important electrical characteristics, such as delay and noise margins, of the circuit can be properly considered without requiring excessively long simulatrons.

Methods for estimating the body voltage of digital partially depleted silicon-on-insulator circuits

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


Disclosed is an ink jet recording apparatus and an ink jet head which ejects an ink droplet from an ink chamber via an orifice in response to transformation of a piezoelectric member. The ink jet head has a non-piezoelectric member having a groove; a film provided on the non-piezoelectric member to cover the groove, a space formed between the groove and the film being used as the ink chamber; and a piezoelectric member provided on the film corresponding to the ink room. The piezoelectric member has a plurality of surfaces one of which is fixedly connected with the film corresponding to the ink room and other of which are facing to air.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet head of an ink jet recording apparatus that records onto a recording medium such as paper by ejecting ink droplets in response to an image signal.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an ink jet head that ejects ink droplets from a nozzle has been used in a recording apparatus such as a printer. In this ink jet head, in response to an image signal a voltage is applied to a piezoelectric body which is provided corresponding to an ink chamber. The piezoelectric body is deformed based on the application of voltage after which the ink is pressurized based on this deformation of the piezoelectric body ejecting the ink from the nozzle. In this recording apparatus, the ink droplets from the nozzle are propelled onto a medium to be recorded such as paper to form an ink image on the recording medium.
For this type of ink jet head, for example, the ink jet head shown in FIG. 1 has been proposed in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open patent Hei 6-143563. This ink jet head 70 has a construction in which an elastic membrane 73 is joined to the top of a flowpath substrate 72. In the flowpath substrate 72, concave portions 71 are formed in parallel on the surface where the elastic membrane 73 is joined. The space formed between this concave portion 71 and elastic membrane 73 is used as an ink chamber 74. On the top of this elastic membrane 73 are arranged a plurality of layered vibrators for the drive 76 and two layered vibrators for the dummy 77. Each of the vibrators for the drive 76 and the vibrators for the dummy 77 is a layered piezoelectric body which is superimposed thin piezoelectric layers and thin electrode layers alternatively. The vibrators for the drive 76 and the vibrators for the dummy 77 are attached onto a substrate 75. The vibrators for the drive 76 and the vibrators for the dummy 77 are bodies which were separated by a slit process after attaching a flat plate of one piezoelectric vibrator to the substrate 75. Then, the integrated unit comprising flowpath substrate 72, elastic membrane 73, piezoelectric vibrator layers 76, 77 and the substrate 75 are held by two rigid fixing plates 78, 79.
In an ink jet head 70 constructed this way, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle by means of applying a voltage to the vibrator for the drive 76 which deforms the vibrator and by changing the capacity of the ink chamber 74 via the elastic membrane 73 to pressurize the ink.
Furthermore, in the above-mentioned ink jet head 70, there is solid attachment of the entire surface between each of the vibrators for the drive 76 and the substrate 75 which extend in the depth direction (i.e., a direction orthogonal to the paper plane in FIG. 1). Therefore, the vibrations of the separated vibrators 76 propagate to the adjacent vibrators 76 through the substrate 75 also causing a coupled displacement to occur. Because of this, there is a possibility that problems will occur in which there is an unnecessary discharge of ink droplets from the ink chamber 74 as well as irregularity in the ink flow inside the ink chamber 74 even though the ink does not discharge resulting in undesired diameter of the ink droplets at the subsequent discharge. In other words, a mutual interference in the ink discharge characteristics which is called "cross talk" occurs resulting in poor printing quality.
Further, as a form of another ink jet head, a Kayser system ink jet head that has a vibration plate arranged in the ink chamber that is filled up with ink is well known. This vibration plate has a bimorph construction in which two or more layers of a piezoelectric member such as PZT and a metal plate are cemented (for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,398). In an ink jet head using the Kayser system, a voltage is applied to the vibration plate which deforms the vibration plate and then based on this deformation, the ink is pressurized and subsequently discharged.
The vibration plate in ink jet head using the above-mentioned Kayser system is comprised by a piezoelectric member. Moreover, this piezoelectric material has a construction such that it makes direct contact with the ink. Therefore, there are problems such as ink soaking into the piezoelectric material, the effective voltage applied to the piezoelectric body dropping, and the inability to obtain sufficient discharge of ink droplets.


A network failure simulation tool provides simulation of a network failure suitable for automated software testing under software control. The tool intercepts packets being sent or received by a computer on a network by redirecting the packets from a network I/O architecture to substitute packet handlers. The tool also resumes normal network operation by again directing packets through actual packet handlers of the computer's network I/O architecture. Commands are provided for controlling suspension and resumption of network operation by the tool from an automated software testing program.

Computer software which is developed for commercial release typically is subjected to multiple rounds of testing during its development. Testing helps the developer verify that the software has the desired functionality, and to identify errors or lack of compatibility with various hardware configurations or other software. The software can then be redesigned and any errors or lack of compatibility corrected while the software is still in development and not yet released for commercial sale.
Robust operating systems, such as Microsoft Corporation's Windows NT operating system, must be capable of tolerating intermittent failures of the underlying network communications connecting two or more computers in a network. Such network failures are common in the typical, complex network topologies of today's corporate environment. Accordingly, from a testing perspective, it's important to verify at the development stage that the operating system correctly tolerates intermittent network failures.
A brief network failure can be simulated by manually unplugging the network wire connection from a computer for some duration, then manually plugging the connection back into the computer. This test methodology, however, is unsuitable for large scale automated testing.
The present invention is a software test tool and method for simulating a network failure under software control. In accordance with the invention, the software test tool and method simulates a network failure by temporarily redirecting calls intended for actual send and receive handlers in a network operating system to "substitute" handler functions. These substitute handler functions operate to intercept data being sent to or received from the network. In one embodiment of the invention, the substitute handler then returns a status datum to its caller indicating successful sending or receiving of the data, but does not actually send or receive the data. This effectively cuts off the sending and receiving of data from the network at the substitute handlers. Since no data can be sent or received, the computer is effectively disconnected from the network, as if the network connection were unplugged. The test tool and method resumes network operation by again directing calls to the actual send and receive handler functions.
In alternative embodiments, the substitute handlers can return a status datum to indicate other conditions, such as a network failure. Further, the substitute handlers in some alternative embodiments can intermittently return a status datum indicative of successful sending or receiving, and another status datum indicative of network failure.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, commands are provided for controlling the test tool and method from software. A "suspend network" command causes the test tool and method to simulate network failure. A "resume network" command causes the test tool and method to restore network operation. In some embodiments of the invention, the commands include options for specifying a particular network adapter card and/or network transport protocol which is to be suspended or resumed. Accordingly, through use of these commands, a software procedure can exercise deterministic control over simulated network failures. Further, network failure simulations can be automated for large scale or repetitive testing.
Software controlled simulated network failures according to the invention are beneficial in a number of testing applications, as shown by the following examples. For network domain log in tests, the primary log in server computer can be temporarily "suspended" so the client log in request is handled by a backup log in server rather than the primary server. For file transfer tests, one of the two computers can have its network operation briefly "suspended" and then "resumed" for a duration long enough to cause some network packets to be re-transmitted. For system stress testing, randomized brief network failures cause retry-disconnect-reconnect logic to execute in various system components, exposing logic paths that might otherwise not be executed except by physical failure of the underlying network. There are numerous other uses for this tool to simulate network failures.


The invention provides a system and method for remotely diagnosing and repairing a plurality of device platforms. A remote service technician utilizes a computing system having browsing software that communicates with a network of platform devices.

Automatic Data Collection ("ADC") device platforms, such as ADC device platforms equipped with bar code readers, have received increasing commercial attention in the past few years. ADC device platforms, such as hand-held data collection terminals, or hand-held personal computers, have been widely implemented in the retail marketplace and have garnered increasing utilization in a diverse range of application areas. The ever-decreasing cost and size of ADC device platforms has facilitated their entry into a wide variety of commercial, institutional, and governmental settings.
An ADC device platform having a bar code reader adeptly accesses and retrieves data stored in the form of a bar code label. Data representing virtually any product or service found in the marketplace may be encoded in a bar code label for later access by an ADC device platform having a bar code reader. For these reasons, ADC device platforms are now actively used for planning, controlling, producing, and analyzing most aspects of commerce. Bar code readers include laser scanners as well as other means of collecting product information, such as a bar code wand, still camera or area imager. In addition to bar code labels, other ADC data formats include Radio Frequency ("RF") tags, magnetic strips, Optical Character Recognition ("OCR"), speech input, and any symbol having encoded data therein.
In a conventional ADC device platform environment, the recipient of ADC data either physically manipulates the ADC device platform itself to retrieve the ADC data or receives the ADC data through a local, and probably proprietary, network. Thus, a typical ADC device operator is limited both in terms of the distance from which the operator may be located away from the actual device and by the complexity and versatility of the elements that comprise the ADC device network which the operator utilizes. The operator suffers from still further limitations due to the fact that many conventional ADC device platforms are not readily configurable for new ADC devices, or even for ADC devices other than those attached to the ADC device platform when it is initially sold. Yet another limitation in a conventional ADC device platform arises when an operator wishes to add a new ADC device to one of the few ADC device platforms that will accept new ADC devices. This limitation stems from the fact that many ADC devices operate using proprietary communications protocols, and even when the communications protocols are non-proprietary, the communications protocols are typically non-standard. Thus, the operator cannot simply attach a new ADC device to an existing ADC device platform and expect that the new combination will function properly. The operator typically must either return the device to the manufacturer for re-fitting with the new ADC device or request that a service technician of the new ADC device's manufacturer visit the operator's location and perform the installation on site. Finally, the above limitations, both separately and together, hinder an ADC operator's ability to diagnose and make repairs to an ADC device platform.
ADC device platforms are primarily intended for technically unsophisticated operators. The typical ADC device operator has neither adequate training nor a rudimentary understanding of the basic principles upon which the ADC device platform operates. Consequently, when a typical ADC device operator encounters an anomaly or apparent anomaly with regard to the ADC device platform, the typical ADC device operator cannot diagnose the anomaly and make any required adjustments to the ADC device platform to restore its functionality. Some apparent ADC device platform anomalies result from the typical ADC device operator's unsophistication. Some manufacturers have found that fully half of the ADC device platforms returned to them as defective, in fact, contain no defects at all. ADC device platform manufacturers are understandably eager to reduce the number of ADC device platforms returned to them as inoperable and the number of on-site service calls, especially when the ADC device platforms are in proper working condition.

Remote anomaly diagnosis and reconfiguration of an automatic data collection device platform over a telecommunications network


Provided is a fluorescence imaging device comprising: a light source for irradiating a subject with a laser for exciting a fluorescent dye; a condensing lens that receives light from the light source, an endoscopic probe comprising an image fiber and a lens that is disposed on the distal end of the image fiber; a photodetector that detects return light from the subject; and an oscillating element that is connected to the image fiber or the condensing lens and that, upon application of a voltage, causes the image fiber or the condensing lens to oscillate. With this configuration, a lattice pattern of fiber elements, which appears in an image of a subject, can be cancelled in real time by oscillating the oscillating element.

An image fiber composed of a bundle of optical fibers is used for an endoscopic probe, which is an image transmission portion of an optical imaging device. Since an image fiber with a small number of pixels must be used for small-diameter endoscopes that enable a cellular level of observation, the lattice pattern of individual fiber elements affects visibility.
To reduce the lattice pattern of fiber elements, Patent Literature (PTL) 1 discloses a fluorescence imaging device that processes an acquired image using software to smooth the image, thus making this lattice pattern less visible and making the image of an object more visible.
Patent Literature (PTL) 2 discloses an observation and/or imaging device for endoscopes, which comprises a transparent plate accommodated in a frame body between a lens and an image guide in an endoscope, and piezoelectric oscillators that are fixed to the frame body and in contact with 4 portions of the transparent plate, which are on the upper, lower, right, and left peripheral edges of the transparent plate, whereby the fiber displacement pattern is removed by vibrating the piezoelectric vibrators.
Patent Literature (PTL) 3 discloses an endoscopic system having a shift mechanism, which causes a piezoelectric element formed on the outer periphery of an incident end of an image guide to oscillate the incident end of an image guide and periodically shifts the incident end of the image guide relative to the image formed by an objective optical system.


A method of regulating a crankshaft position in a hybrid electric vehicle includes deactivating cylinders of an internal combustion engine, driving a crankshaft of the internal combustion engine using an electric machine, and determining a target crankshaft position when a rotational speed of the crankshaft crosses a first threshold. The crankshaft is driven towards the target crankshaft position at a nudge rotational speed, and rotation of the crankshaft is braked using the electric machine when a brake crankshaft position is achieved at the target rotational speed. Rotation of the crankshaft is arrested at the target position.

Hybrid vehicles are driven by multiple powerplants including, but not limited to an internal combustion engine and an electric machine. The electric machine functions as a motor/generator. In a generator mode, the electric machine is driven by the engine to generate electrical energy used to power electrical loads or charge batteries. In a motor mode, the electric machine supplements the engine, providing drive torque to drive the vehicle drivetrain.
In hybrid electric vehicles, the engine is often stopped and started to improve fuel economy. Acceleration and deceleration of the engine crankshaft should be controlled during engine stop and starts to reduce driveline oscillations and other vibration inducing events that diminish the vehicle drivability. The crankshaft should also be parked in a desirable rotational position to further improve the stop-start characteristics of the engine.

Crankshaft stop positioning control system


A connecting system for connecting a cable including at least one wire for a building work structure and an element of the structure. The connecting system comprises a clamping device which is connected to the element of the structure, and a load transmitting device which transmits a clamping load of the clamping device to the cable and which houses the at least one wire of the cable. The at least one wire is bonded into the load transmitting device.

The present invention relates to a connecting system for connecting a cable for a building work structure and an element of this structure, the cable comprising at least one wire.
The present invention relates in particular to cables made up of a certain number of strands themselves combining several wires, which are stressed particularly in tension in building work structures Such as offshore platforms of the tension-leg type, or suspension or cable stayed bridges.
Connecting systems are needed to anchor the cables, for example, in the sea bed. These systems are not always easy to access, which makes them expensive to install.
It is an object of the invention to provide a connecting system in which the wires are firmly anchored to withstand in particular tensile loadings and to do so using means which are simple, effective and inexpensive.
To this end, according to the invention, a connecting system of the kind in question is essentially characterized in that it comprises:
a clamping device which is connected to the structure element, and
a load transmitting device which transmits the clamping loads of the clamping device to the cable and which houses said at least one wire of the cable, and in that said at least one wire is bonded into the load transmitting device.
Thus, by virtue of these provisions, each wire of the cable is firmly and simply held when this wire is tensioned.
In preferred embodiments of the reinforcement according to the invention, recourse is further had to one and/or another of the following provisions:
the clamping device comprises at least two keys of a jaw assembly, which bear against the load transmitting device and means for compressing the jaw assembly;
the compressing means comprise a sleeve, the interior wall of which converges toward one end of the sleeve, the keys of the jaw assembly being of a shape that complements that of said interior wall and being mounted in the sleeve so that they can be clamped in the sleeve by a wedge effect;
the keys have an approximately triangular longitudinal cross section;
the transmitting device comprises at least two plates, each of the plates carrying at least one channel of a shape that complements at least part of the shape of the cross section of the wire, the plates being mounted facing each other so that the channels in the plates form at least one passageway in which said at least one wire is housed;
a number of wires is housed in a number of passageways themselves delimited by a number of plates (11) which are stacked one upon the other to form at least one strand;
the keys entirely cover the exterior surface of a portion of the strand;
the transmitting device comprises at least one cylindrical sleeving in which said at least one wire is housed;
said at least one wire is forced into said at least one sleeving;
a number of sleevings are mounted adjacent to one another in the keys;
the wires are made of a carbon-fiber-based composite; and
the wires are solid wires.

System for connecting a structural cable to a building work structure


A charged particle beam exposure method is used to draw a pattern on a substrate which is carried on a continuously moving stage by deflecting a charged particle beam. The method includes moving the stage in a direction parallel to an axis of a coordinate system of the substrate; generating first deflection data D.sub.1 in a coordinate system of the stage by obtaining a position coordinate of an reference position of a pattern region including the pattern to be drawn relative to a target position of the stage, and for obtaining second deflection data D.sub.2 in a coordinate system of the substrate describing a position coordinate of the pattern to be drawn from the reference position of the pattern region to which the pattern belongs; carrying out with respect to first deflection data D.sub.1 a first correcting operation including correction of pattern distortion inherent to a charged particle beam exposure apparatus, and for carrying out the first correcting operation and a second correcting operation with respect to second deflection data D.sub.2 after making a coordinate conversion to the coordinate system of the stage, where second correcting operation corrects a rotation error component relative to the stage caused by movement of the substrate; obtaining third deflection data D.sub.3 ' which describes a position coordinate of the pattern to be drawn from the present position of the stage by adding corrected first deflection data D.sub.1 ' and corrected second deflection data D.sub.2 '; and controlling a deflector based on third deflection data D.sub.3 '.

The present invention generally relates to charged particle beam exposure methods and apparatuses, and more particularly to a charged particle beam exposure method which draws a pattern by deflecting a charged particle beam when a stage moves continuously and to a charged particle beam exposure apparatus which employs such a charged particle beam exposure method.
The integration density and functions of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) are continuously improved and the IC technology is expected to form the core technology in technological progress for industry in general, including technical fields such as computers, communication systems and mechanical control systems. The integration density of the IC has increased by four times in the last couple of years, and in the case of a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), for example, the memory capacity has improved from 1 Mbit, 4 Mbit, 16 Mbit, 64 Mbit and 256 Mbit to 1 Gbit.
Such high integration density of the IC was made possible by improved technique in forming fine patterns. Due to improvement in the photolithography technique, it has become possible to form a pattern having a size of only 0.5 .mu.m. However, there is a limit in reducing the size of the pattern by the photolithography technique, and a pattern having a size of approximately 0.4 .mu.m is the smallest pattern that can be formed by the photolithography technique. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee an accuracy of 0.15 .mu.m or less when forming windows for contact holes and aligning a pattern to an underlayer.
The charged particle beam exposure method was developed as an exposure method which can form a pattern which is finer than that formed by the photolithography technique. This charged particle beam exposure uses a charged particle beam typified by an electron beam. According to the charged particle beam exposure method, it is possible to form a finer pattern at a higher speed and with a higher reliability when compared to the photolithography technique. However, there are demands to further improve the accuracy of the charged particle beam exposure method.
In a charged particle beam exposure apparatus, a charged particle beam is deflected depending on a drawing pattern which is related to a pattern which is to be drawn on a substrate. The pattern is drawn on the substrate which is placed on a stage by irradiating the deflected charged particle beam on the substrate. The method of driving the stage can be divided into a step-and-repeat method and a continuously moving method.
According to the step-and-repeat method, the stage is stationary until the drawing of the pattern for one cell ends. The stage is moved when starting to drawn the pattern for the next cell. The patterns are drawn by repeating the operations of stopping the stage to draw one pattern and moving the stage before drawing the next pattern. But it takes considerable time to repeat the operations of stopping and moving the stage. On the other hand, according to the continuously moving method, the pattern is drawn while continuously moving the stage, and the drawing of the pattern is not stopped while the stage moves. In addition, it is unnecessary to align and connect the patterns between adjacent exposure regions as in the case of the step-and-repeat method because the pattern is drawn continuously. Therfore, compared to the step-and-repeat method, this continuously moving method can improve the speed and the accuracy of the exposure process. For this reason, the continuously moving method is the more desirable method for driving the stage.
When the substrate is placed on the stage, the coordinate system on the stage and the coordinate system on the substrate usually do not match. The main reasons for the difference in the two coordinate systems are the positioning error, which occurs when the substrate is placed on the stage, and the error in the position of a reference mark (or alignment marker), which is provided on the substrate. This reference mark is provided to measure the rotation of the substrate relative to the stage when the substrate is placed on the stage.
The positioning error which occurs when the substrate is placed on the stage is inevitable due to the error in the dimensions of a holder which fixes the substrate on the stage, because the dimension error and the like are inevitably introduced during the production process. In addition, the error in the position of the reference mark inevitably occurs when the reference mark is formed on the substrate. Accordingly, when carrying out the exposure process, it is necessary to correct the amount of deflection of the charged particle beam by taking into consideration the difference in the two coordinate systems.
For example, the patterns are drawn by assuming that chips CH.sub.1 through CH.sub.8 shown in FIG. 1 (A) are arranged on a substrate. Each of the chips CH.sub.1 through CH.sub.8 are a collection of cells CE shown in FIG. 1 (B). A column of cells CE along the stage moving direction is called a frame F.
For example, each cell CE has a size of approximately 2 mm square, and corresponds to a range in which a main deflector of the electron beam exposure apparatus can deflect the electron beam. The cell CE is a collection of sub fields SF shown in FIG. 1 (C). For example, each sub field SF has a size of approximately 100 .mu.m square, and corresponds to a range in which a sub deflector of the electron beam exposure apparatus can deflect the electron beam. One row made up of the sub fields SF arranged in a direction perpendicular to the stage moving direction as shown in FIG. 1 (B) is called a band B.
As shown in FIG. 1 (C), the sub field SF is made up of patterns P.sub.1 through P.sub.4. In this example, there are four patterns, but it is of course possible to include an arbitrary number of patterns in the sub field SF. Each of the patterns P.sub.1 through P.sub.4 are made up of a plurality of shots S. For example, the shot S has a maximum size of approximately 3 .mu.m square, and the size of the shot S can be varied arbitrarily by a slit deflector of the electron beam exposure apparatus.
FIG. 2 (A) shows a case where the coordinate system of the substrate such as that shown in FIG. 1 matches the coordinate system of the stage. FIG. 2 (A) shows a drawable range R.sub.1 on the stage, in which the electron beam can be deflected by the main deflector, and a cell CE.sub.1 on the substrate. In this case, a stage moving direction M matches the Y-axis of the coordinate system. A deflection data (vector) D.sub.3 of the main deflector can be obtained from a vector sum of a deflection data (vector) D.sub.1 from a column center position O.sub.1 of the drawable range R.sub.1 to a center position CO.sub.1 of the cell CE.sub.1, and a deflection data (vector) D.sub.2 which indicates a position coordinate of the main deflector of the sub field to be drawn from the cell center position CO.sub.1.
FIG. 2 (B) shows a case where the coordinate system of the substrate such as that shown in FIG. 1 does not match the coordinate system of the stage. In this case, if a wafer which is used as the substrate is relatively small and the difference between the two coordinate systems is relatively small, all of the main fields in each column fall within the drawable range R.sub.1 as shown in FIG. 3 (A) as the stage moves in the stage moving direction M. Hence, it may be regarded that the electron beam exposure can be carried out with a high accuracy if the amount of deflection of the electron beam is corrected by taking into consideration the difference between the two coordinate systems.
However, even when the difference between the two coordinate systems is relatively small, there is a problem in that not all main fields in each column fall within the drawable range R.sub.1 as the stage moves in the stage moving direction M as shown in FIG. 3 (B) if the substrate is relatively large. In other words, due to the difference between the two coordinate systems, there exists main fields for which the exposure process cannot be carried out, and as a result, the efficiency of the exposure process becomes poor. In the case where the difference between the two coordinate systems is relatively large, it only becomes possible to carry out the exposure process with respect to an extremely limited number of main fields of the substrate.

Charged particle beam exposure method and apparatus


Provided are a diamond composite body capable of shortening a separation time for separating a substrate and a diamond layer, the substrate, and a method for manufacturing a diamond, as well as a diamond obtained from the diamond composite body and a tool including the diamond. The diamond composite body includes a substrate including a diamond seed crystal and having grooves in a main surface, a diamond layer formed on the main surface of the substrate, and a non-diamond layer formed on a substrate side at a constant depth from an interface between the substrate and the diamond layer.

Diamond has many excellent properties such as high hardness, high heat conductivity, high light transmittance, wide bandgap, and the like. Accordingly, diamond is widely used as a material for various tools, optical components, semiconductors, and electronic components, and is expected to become more important in the future.
As industrial applications of diamond, in addition to naturally produced diamonds, artificially synthesized diamonds having a stable quality are mainly used. Most of artificial diamond single crystals are industrially synthesized at present in an environment having a temperature of about one thousand and several hundred degrees Celsius to two thousand and several hundred degrees Celsius and a pressure of more than or equal to several tens of thousands of atmospheres, which are conditions under which diamond is stably present. Since a ultrahigh-pressure container which generates such high temperature and high pressure is extremely expensive and is also limited in size, the synthesis of a large-sized single crystal by a high-temperature high-pressure synthesis method has a limit. As for type Ib diamond which contains nitrogen (N) as an impurity and assumes a yellow color, 1 cm-diameter class diamonds are manufactured by the high-temperature high-pressure synthesis method and sold. However, the size of this level is considered as a substantial upper limit. Further, as for type IIa diamond which is free of an impurity and is colorless and transparent, the high-temperature high-pressure synthesis method only allows the synthesis of much smaller diamonds having a diameter of less than or equal to about several millimeters.
On the other hand, besides the high-temperature high-pressure synthesis method, a chemical vapor synthesis method (hereinafter also referred to a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method) has been established as a method for synthesizing a diamond. This method allows the formation of a relatively large synthetic diamond having a diameter of about 6 inches, which is typically a polycrystalline film. However, when a diamond is used for a ultraprecision tool or an optical component which requires a particularly smooth surface among applications of diamond, a semiconductor which requires precise control of impurity concentration and high carrier mobility, or the like, a single crystal diamond should be used. Accordingly, a method for obtaining a single crystal diamond through epitaxial growth by the chemical vapor synthesis method has been conventionally considered.
Generally, epitaxial growth includes homoepitaxial growth in which a growing substance grows on a homogeneous substrate, and heteroepitaxial growth in which a growing substance grows on a heterogeneous substrate. Of these, homoepitaxial growth is considered to be more practical for the synthesis of a single crystal, because the obtained single crystal has an excellent crystallinity.
By homoepitaxial growth, a type IIa single crystal diamond larger than a type IIa diamond obtained by the high-temperature high-pressure synthesis method can be obtained by epitaxially growing a high-purity diamond from a vapor phase on a type Ib diamond substrate obtained by high-temperature high-pressure synthesis.
However, when homoepitaxial growth is adopted to synthesize a diamond, problems are posed as to how to remove a substrate and how to reuse the substrate. When a type IIa diamond film is obtained by chemical vapor synthesis using a type Ib diamond or the like as a substrate, it is necessary to remove the type Ib diamond substrate from a grown diamond layer by a certain method. As such a method, a method for separating an epitaxial film and a substrate can be adopted, and laser slicing is a typical method. However, as a diamond has an increased area, the diamond should have a thicker thickness in order to be subjected to slicing, and slicing becomes less successful.
Accordingly, PTD 1 (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2008-031503) has proposed a method for separating/delaminating a diamond substrate and a diamond layer without damaging them, by growing the diamond layer on the diamond substrate by a chemical vapor synthesis method, implanting ions from a growth surface with energy high enough to hardly deteriorate the crystallinity of an outermost surface to form an ion implantation layer directly on the diamond substrate, and thereafter etching the implantation layer by an electrochemical technique. However, with the technique of PTD 1 (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2008-031503), it takes as long as 12 hours to separate a 4 mm-square diamond single crystal substrate and a diamond grown thereon, prolonging the manufacturing process.
PTD 2 (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2011-195407) and PTD 3 (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2011-195411) have proposed a method for separating, in a structural body made of diamond in which a diamond layer, an electrically conductive non-diamond layer obtained by implanting ions into diamond, and a diamond layer are alternately stacked, the diamond layers in a relatively short time by using an etching solution having predetermined pH and electric conductivity as an etching solution for the non-diamond layer.

Diamond composite body, substrate, diamond, tool including diamond, and method for manufacturing diamond


A printer and receiver supply tray adapted to sense amount of receiver therein, and method thereof. The printer comprises a print head for printing an image on the receiver and a supply tray associated with the print head for holding a plurality of cut sheets of the receiver, the cut sheets defining a stack of sheets having a predetermined height. A sheet feeder engages the stack of sheets for sequentially feeding sheets from the tray and to the print head, such that height of the stack of sheets decreases as the sheets are fed therefrom. A platen is movably connected to the tray for continuously supporting the stack of sheets in the tray as height of the stack of sheets decreases. An indicator is connected to the platen and movable therewith for indicating height of the stack of sheets as the height of the stack of sheets decreases. The indicator has a surface area thereon of a predetermined light reflectance associated with the amount of sheets in the tray. A sensor is optically coupled to the indicator for sensing light reflected from the surface area thereof, the sensor being adapted to cast light on the surface area and sense the light reflected therefrom.

The present invention generally relates to printer apparatus and methods and more particularly relates to a printer and receiver supply tray adapted to sense amount of receiver therein, and method thereof.
Thermal printers form a color print by successively printing with a dye donor onto individual sheets of a dye receiver (i.e., paper or transparency). The print head of such a thermal printer commonly provides a print line of thermal resistive elements that can be individually heated in order to transfer dye from the donor to the receiver. Such print heads can take any of several forms including resistive element, resistive ribbon and laser print heads.
More specifically, a typical color thermal printer includes the previously mentioned print head and a platen. A picker mechanism "picks" individual sheets of the receiver from a stack of cut sheets of the receiver and feeds the individual sheets into a nip area defined between the print head and platen. The donor is positioned between the print head and platen. The print head is then lowered, so that the donor and receiver sheet are sandwiched between the print head and platen. An image is printed on the sheet by selectively heating the elements of the print head in order to transfer a first dye to the receiver sheet. The receiver sheet is then repositioned to receive a second color of the image, and the donor is positioned to provide a second dye color. These steps are repeated until all colors of the image are printed and the completed print is ejected from the printer.
Moreover, a receiver cassette tray loaded with the stack of cut receiver sheets is removably inserted into the printer. However, the height of the tray is usually limited in order to reduce the overall height of the printer, so that the printer may fit within confined spaces, such as are found in shelving and equipment racks. However, limiting height of the tray also limits number of receiver sheets that can be stored in the tray. This limitation in number of receiver sheets in turn causes the printer to run-out of sheets relatively quickly, thereby necessitating frequent replenishment of receiver sheets. However, it is inconvenient for the printer to run-out of receiver sheets during a production run, which may occur if the tray is low in receiver sheets at the start of the production run. It is therefore desirable to avoid starting a production run when the number of sheets in the tray is low. Therefore, the prior art printers mentioned hereinabove suffer from a problem of running-out of receiver sheets during a production run due to low receiver sheets being present in the tray at the start of the production run.
In addition, the receiver tray may include a cardboard plaque at the bottom of the stack of receiver sheets for supporting the stack of receiver sheets. When the stack of receiver sheets is depleted, the previously mentioned picker attempts to "pick" the cardboard plaque; however, the picker cannot pick the cardboard plaque due to the weight and stiffness of the cardboard plaque. When this occurs, some printers generate an error code shown on a display attached to the printer, which error code erroneously informs an operator of the printer that the printer has malfunctioned and is unable to pick receiver sheets. It is desirable to avoid display of the error code, which occurs when the picker attempts to pick the cardboard plaque. Therefore, another problem in the art is generation of an error code due to the picker attempting to pick the cardboard plaque at the bottom of a stack of receiver sheets.
Printers having low paper detection systems are known. An image production device having a paper supply "low" detection system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,672 titled "Low Paper Detection System" issued May 13, 1997 in the name of Stephen S. Brown, et al. This patent discloses a paper image reproduction device having a cabinet which in turn has at least one paper cassette therein bearing a supply of stacked paper sheets. A detector is disposed in the cabinet for sensing a partial supply of paper in the paper cassette. However, the Brown et al. disclosure requires use of a cabinet in addition to the paper cassette. This cabinet is an additional bulky component that must be inserted into the printer. This is undesirable because use of an additional bulky component increases cost of the printer and may decrease printer reliability. Also, use of such an additional major component necessarily increases the "footprint" or even height of the printer. Therefore, yet another problem in the art is addition of a bulky component to detect a paper supply "low" condition, which additional bulky component necessarily increases "footprint" and height of the printer.
Therefore, there has been a long-felt need to provide a suitable printer and receiver supply tray adapted to sense amount of receiver therein, and method thereof.

Printer and receiver supply tray adapted to sense amount of receiver therein and method thereof


The present invention is for a cartridge insert valve to limit excess flow through a pipe which is part of a piping system. The cartridge insert valve includes a cylindrical housing and an inlet cap with an inlet opening defined therein. The inlet cap is positioned on a cylindrical housing first end. The cartridge insert valve also includes a seat cap with an orifice defined therein. The seat cap is positioned on a cylindrical housing second end opposite the cylindrical housing first end. The cartridge insert valve is located in the pipe such that a fluid flowing through the pipe normally enters the inlet cap, flows through the cylindrical housing and exits the seat cap. The cartridge insert valve also includes a piston assembly that shuts off flow through the valve in response to an excess flow through the valve.

Safety valves or excess flow valves have been developed in the past for installation in gas piping systems to shut down the flow of gas whenever there is an excess flow of gas that may indicate a leak or other problem. For new gas piping systems, the system can be easily designed to accommodate the safety valves. However, to retrofit a safety valve into an existing gas piping system, the installation requires cutting the existing pipe and installing the safety valve in place of a length of pipe in the piping system.
Replacing sections of pipe can be cumbersome, particularly when the pipe is located in an inconvenient location. Furthermore, replacing sections of pipe can add a significant amount of labor cost to the installation. Thus, it is desirable to install the safety valve without having to replace sections of pipe in the piping system.
It is to solving these problems and others that the present invention is directed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A full duplex communication processor simultaneously sends and receives frames of data and commands. Separate transmit and receive protocol engines are controlled by separate sequencers. This enables frames of data to be received and transmitted simultaneously without involving a host CPU on a frame-by-frame basis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for transferring data in computer networks, and more particularly to a device for receiving, generating and transmitting frames of data across a computer network boundary.
2. Description of Related Art
The number of computers and peripherals has mushroomed in recent years. This has created a need for improved methods of interconnecting these devices. A wide variety of networking paradigms have been developed to enable different kinds of computers and peripheral components to communicate with each other.
There exists a bottleneck in the speed with which data can be exchanged along such networks. This is not surprising because increases in network architecture speeds have not is kept pace with faster computer processing speeds. The processing power of computer chips has historically doubled about every 18 months, creating increasingly powerful machines and bandwidth hungry applications. It has been estimated that one megabit per second of input/output is generally required per "MIPs" (millions of instructions per second) of processing power. With CPUs now easily exceeding 200 MIPs, it is difficult for network architecture to keep up with these faster speeds.
Area-wide networks (e.g., LANs and WANs) and channels are two approaches that have been developed for computer network architectures. Traditional networks offer a great deal of flexibility and relatively long distance capabilities. Channels, such as Enterprise System Connection (ESCON) and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), have been developed for high performance and high reliability. Channels typically use dedicated short-distance connections between computers or between computers and peripherals.
Features of both channels and networks have been incorporated into a new network standard known as "Fibre Channel". Fibre Channel systems combine the speed and reliability of channels with the flexibility and connectivity of networks. Fibre Channel products currently can run at very high data rates, such as 266 or 1062 Mbps. These speeds are sufficient to handle quite demanding applications such as uncompressed, full motion, high-quality video.
There are generally three ways to deploy Fibre Channel: simple point-to-point connections; arbitrated loops; and switched fabrics. The simplest topology is the point-to-point configuration, which simply connects any two Fibre Channel systems directly. Arbitrated loops are Fibre Channel ring connections that provide shared access to bandwidth via arbitration. Switched Fibre Channel networks, called "fabrics", yield the highest performance by leveraging the benefits of cross-point switching.
The Fibre Channel fabric works something like a traditional phone system. The fabric can connect varied devices such as work stations, PCs, servers, routers, mainframes, and storage devices that have Fibre Channel interface ports. Each such device can have an origination port that "calls" the fabric by entering the address of a destination port in a frame header. The Fibre Channel specification defines the structure of this frame. (This frame structure raises data transfer issues that will be discussed below and addressed by the present invention). The Fibre Channel fabric does all the work of setting up the desired connection, hence the frame originator does not need to be concerned with complex routing algorithms. There are no complicated permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) to set up. Fibre Channel fabrics can handle more than 16 million addresses, and so are capable of accommodating very large networks. The fabric can be enlarged by simply adding ports. The aggregate data rate of a fully configured Fibre Channel network can be in the tera-bit-per-second range.
Each of the three basic types of Fibre Channel connections are shown in FIG. 1, which shows a number of ways of using Fibre Channel technology. In particular, point-to-point connections 10 are shown connecting mainframes to each other. A Fibre Channel arbitrated loop 11 is shown connecting disk storage units. A Fibre Channel switch fabric 12 connects work stations 13, mainframes 14, servers 15, disk drives 16 and local area networks (LANs) 17. The LANs include, for example, Ethernet, Token Ring and FDDI networks.
An ANSI specification (X3.230-1994) defines the Fibre Channel network. The specification distributes Fibre Channel functions among five layers. As shown in FIG. 2, the five functional layers of the Fibre Channel are: FC-0--the physical media layer; FC-1--the coding and decoding layer; FC-2--the actual transport mechanism, including the framing protocol and flow control between nodes; FC-3--the common services layer; and FC-4--the upper layer protocol.
While the Fibre Channel operates at relatively high speed, it would be desirable to increase speeds further to meet the needs of faster processors. One way to do this would be to eliminate, or reduce, delays that occur at interface points. One such delay occurs during the transfer of a frame from the FC-1 layer to the FC-2 layer. At this interface, devices linked by a Fibre Channel data link receive Fibre Channel frames serially. A protocol engine receives these frames and processes them at the next layer, the FC-2 layer shown in FIG. 2. The functions of the protocol engine includes validating each frame; queuing up DMA operations to transfer each frame to the host; and building transmit frames.
The high bit speeds of the Fibre Channel data link places extreme demands on the protocol engine. Hence, some protocol engines can only operate in half-duplex mode, which means that the protocol engine can process data in only one direction at a time. This significantly slows down the speed of the data transfer since either the transmit or the receive task must wait while the other task is performed.
Full-duplex protocol engines can process both received and transmitted frames simultaneously. Hence full-duplex protocol engines significantly improve data throughput. However, in full-duplex protocol engines, usually two microprocessors, each with local RAM, are required to respectively handle transmit and receive operations. The use of dual microprocessors for these functions greatly increases the cost of the protocol engine.
Conventional approaches to handling frames generally rely on the involvement of a host CPU on a frame-by-frame basis. For example, validation of received frames and setting up direct memory access (DMA) operations and acknowledgments typically involve the host CPU, which limits frame transmission and reception rates and prevents the host CPU from performing other tasks. Further, a host CPU with software protocol "stacks" cannot keep up with fast networks such as Fiber Channel.
In view of the foregoing, objects of the invention include: increasing data transfer processing speeds in high speed networks such as the Fibre Channel network; providing a technique that can speed up a protocol engine's processing of data frames; providing a protocol engine that can perform high speed full duplex processing of data without involving the host CPU on a frame-by-frame basis; minimizing data traffic between a protocol engine and a host CPU and system memory; and generally offloading protocol processing from a host CPU.

Full-duplex communication processor which can be used for fibre channel frames


There are provided novel and optically active 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxin-4-ones which are useful as starting materials for physiologically active compounds, functional materials or the like. Provided are optically active 5,6-epoxyhexanoic acid esters and novel optically active 6-substituted tetrahydropyran-2-one derivatives. That is, optically active 6-chloromethyltetrahydropyran-2-one can be synthesized by lactonizing optically active 2,2-dimethyl-6-(3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl)-1,3-dioxin-4-one to form optically active 6-chloromethyltetrahydropyran-2,4-dione; reacting the thus formed compound with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to obtain optically active 6-chloromethyl-4-hydroxytetrahydropyran-2-one; subjecting this compound to a dehydration reaction, thereby obtaining optically active 6-chloromethyldihydropyran-2-one; reacting this compound with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to form optically active 6-chloromethyltetrahydropyran-2-one; and then treating this compound under basic conditions to prepare an optically active 5,6-epoxyhexanoic acid ester represented by the formula (6) ##STR1## (wherein the symbol * represents an asymmetric carbon atom, and R is a methyl group or an ethyl group).

(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optically active 1,3-dioxin-4-Ones which are useful as starting materials of physiologically active compounds, functional materials and the like, and a method for preparing the same.
(ii) Description of the Prior Art
As compounds of 1,3-dioxin-4-ones, racemic compounds represented by the formula ##STR2## are described in B. Damin., J. Org. Chem., 46 (17), 3552 (1981) and N. A. Petasis., J. Chem. Soc., Chem, Commun., 11, 836 (1990), but optically active compounds analogous to these compounds have not been known.
On the other hand, in order to obtain physiologically active compounds, functional materials and the like, optically active compounds are necessary as starting materials. For example, in the case that the physiologically active compound, the functional material or the like has asymmetric carbon atom, plural isomers are present, but usually one of these isomers has advantageous characteristics Therefore, when a racemic modification or a compound having a low optical purity is used as the starting material, the resultant product cannot exert sufficiently physiological activity or functional properties. Thus, it is desired that the compound which will be fed as the starting material also has the sufficiently optical purity.

Optically active 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxin-4-ones and method for preparing same and method for preparing optically active compound for synthesis of physiologically active substance and optically active intermediate compound


A coating comprising a first surface and a second surface is provided. The coating includes a plurality of growth domains. An orientation of at least one growth domain of the plurality of growth domains is non-vertical with respect to the first surface of the coating. One or more growth domains of the plurality of growth domains comprise a plurality of at least partially melted and solidified particles.

The invention relates to thermal barrier coatings and thermal barrier coating systems for high temperature applications, such as gas turbine assemblies.
The design of modern gas turbines is driven by the demand for higher turbine efficiency. It is widely recognized that turbine efficiency may be increased by operating the turbine at higher temperatures. Typically, various techniques are used to apply bondcoats and thermal barrier coatings to airfoils and combustion engine components of the turbine, such as transition pieces and combustion liners, to assure a satisfactory life span at these higher temperatures.
Usually, the thermal barrier coatings are configured to tolerate strain in the underlying component without detaching from the component. The thermal barrier coatings are usually made of ceramic materials, which have relatively lower inherent ductility than their underlying metallic components; hence, various microstructural features are typically incorporated into the thermal barrier coating to provide the thermal barrier coating with improved strain tolerance. For instance, the thermal barrier coatings deposited by plasma spray processes typically incorporate significant porosity, vertical microcracks, or both, as a means to enhance the ability of the thermal barrier coating to tolerate strain. By way of example, thermal barrier coatings deposited by vapor processes, such as physical vapor deposition (PVD), typically are fabricated under conditions that encourage nucleation and growth of discrete, tightly packed, columnar grains, which provides a compliant microstructure with a relatively high degree of strain tolerance.
Although PVD processes provide coatings with suitable strain tolerance on relatively small components as compared with plasma spray processes. However, compared to the plasma spray processes the PVD processes require expensive set-up including a vacuum chamber and supporting equipment. On the other hand, conventional thermal spray processes tend to produce coatings with lower strain tolerance and substrate adhesion than PVD processes, and generally require ancillary surface preparation processes, such as grit blasting and deposition of rough bondcoats, to provide adequate adhesion to the underlying component.
The bondcoats are typically used to promote adhesion of the thermal barrier coating layer to the underlying component and inhibit oxidation of the underlying component during high temperature exposure of the component. Typically, bondcoats having aluminide coatings are used in thermal barrier coating systems to provide oxidation resistance to the substrate and to enhance adhesion of the thermal barrier coatings. In order to have adequate adhesion, plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings are typically deposited on bondcoats with rough surfaces such as overlay MCrAlY bondcoats. Relatively smoother bondcoats, such as those formed by vapor phase aluminide (VPA), often are not considered suitable candidates for depositing thermal barrier coatings deposited by plasma spray methods.
Therefore, there is a need for thermal barrier coatings that exhibit high strain tolerance, high adhesion, and reduced need for surface preparation processes that can be applied via comparatively inexpensive and scalable processes such as plasma spray processes.

Thermal barrier coating systems and methods of making and using the same


An annular combustor for a gas turbine engine having a rotatable fuel slinger has a first plurality of effusion cooling holes for directing air flow radially inwardly toward said fuel slinger and circumferentially in the direction of rotation of the fuel slinger and a second plurality of effusion cooling holes on the opposite side of the fuel slinger for directing air radially inwardly and circumferentially in the direction of rotation of the fuel slinger, thereby to produce a pair of annular axially spaced helical air flow patterns having a confluence in the direction of fuel flow radially outwardly from the fuel slinger.

Effusion cooling of the combustor walls of a turbine engine, as taught in EPC Application No. 0-486-226-AP, published May 20, 1992, has heretofore been employed to maintain a desired wall temperature in the combustor. Effusion cooling may be defined as a pattern of small, closely spaced holes serving to direct a flow of cooling air onto the walls of a gas turbine combustor. The cooling holes are generally 0.15 to 0.35 inches in diameter, and are angled relative to the combustor wall so that the hole centerline forms an angle of approximately 20 degrees with a tangent to the hot gas side of the combustor wall surface. Individual hole shape is generally cylindrical, with minor deviations due to manufacturing method i.e. edge rounding, tapers, out-of-round or oblong, etc.
Such known effusion cooling systems exhibit a two-fold cooling effect, namely (a) convectively cooling the combustor wall as the air passes through the holes, and (b) providing a continuously replenished surface cooling film. Orientation of the holes with respect to the direction of bulk gas flow in the combustor has heretofore been undisciplined. Thus, while such known effusion cooling systems result in greatly enhanced combustor wall cooling compared with typical louvered film cooled designs, the combination of effusion cooling with purging of near-injector recirculation, as well as cooling film flow geometry over the combustor liner so as to augment fuel distribution and start performance has not been addressed.
More specifically, known effusion cooling systems do not contemplate or solve problems relating to radial outflow combustor geometry. The effect of effusion cooling hole groupings, patterns and orientations on control of local combustor aerodynamics must be considered as well as cooling effectiveness.
Gas turbine combustor liners have heretofore employed various forms of louvers or thumbnail-style surface film distributors that are circumferentially distributed in spaced relation at discrete intervals. Also, it is known to provide specific aerodynamic treatment in the form of air guides adjacent fuel slingers to purge local, fuel rich, fuel/air mixture recirculation. Such methods generally attenuate the efficiency of film cooling air to control local over-temperature conditions of the combustor walls with resultant erosion and reduced durability. Moreover, known techniques of purging the near-injector area of the combustor often result in build-up of carbon or localized flame holding, interfering with fuel injection and reducing starting performance and durability.

Fuel/air distribution and effusion cooling system for a turbine engine combustor burner


A transmission system is disclosed for use with a machine. The transmission system may have a first clutch configured to transfer power in a first direction, a second clutch configured to transfer power in a second direction, a brake, and an interface device configured to generate a first signal indicative of a desire to shift power transfer directions. The transmission system may also have a controller configured to cause disengagement of the first clutch in response to the first signal, to cause the brake to apply a retarding torque to a traction device, and to determine an amount of the retarding torque being applied to the traction device. The controller may also be configured to selectively transfer the retarding torque to the second clutch when a capacity of the second clutch to provide retarding torque is about equal to the amount of the retarding torque being applied by the brake.

A mobile machine, such as a wheel loader, a track-type-tractor, a motor grader, or a haul truck, includes a transmission that transfers rotational power from an engine of the machine to wheels or other traction devices. A typical transmission includes two directional clutches (e.g., a forward clutch and a reverse clutch) that are selectively engaged to alter a power flow path between the engine and the wheels. During forward travel, only the forward clutch should be engaged to transfer mechanical rotation from the engine through the wheels in a forward direction. During reverse travel, only the reverse clutch should be engaged to transfer the same mechanical rotation through the wheels in a reverse direction. During a directional shift change (i.e., when shifting between the forward and reverse directions), a first of the two directional clutches will release at about the same time as or before the second of the directional clutches engages.
If the directional shift change is attempted while the machine is moving, significant momentum aligned with the first travel direction must first be dissipated before the machine can begin accelerating in the second and opposite travel direction. This momentum is generally dissipated via friction material inside the engaging clutch. That is, the second clutch will generally slip until sufficient power has been dissipated to avoid shock-loading and damage to the remaining drivetrain components of the machine. During slipping, some of the friction material of the second clutch is worn away. In some situations, an operator of the machine may attempt to manually brake the machine during shifting between travel directions to reduce the amount of momentum that must be absorbed by the friction material of the second clutch. By doing so, the lives of the clutches may be prolonged and/or the directional shift may be completed more quickly and/or at higher speeds. It can be difficult, however, for the operator to use the right amount of braking and to properly time engagement/disengagement of the clutches to allow for smooth and efficient shifting without causing undue wear or damage of the drivetrain components.
An exemplary transmission system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,880,303 of Ishikawa et al. that issued on Nov. 4, 2014 ("the '303 patent"). The transmission system of the '303 patent includes a vehicle control unit that detects a vehicle travel speed and prevents a shift change in a direction opposite to a vehicle traveling direction, as long as the vehicle travel speed is faster than a first speed. Specifically, when the vehicle control unit detects that a user has selected a shift range in a direction opposite to the vehicle traveling direction, while the vehicle travel speed is faster than the first speed, the vehicle control unit carries out a compulsory deceleration via hydraulic brakes to stop the vehicle instead of permitting the shift change. The shift change is only then permitted after the vehicle is stopped and the engine of the vehicle is in an idle state. Since the vehicle control unit ignores an erroneous shift change in a direction opposite to the vehicle traveling direction during high speed travel, a breakdown of the vehicle is prevented.
Although the shift strategy employed by the vehicle control unit of the '303 patent may have some effect on vehicle component life, the focus of the strategy is accommodating operator error. In particular, the vehicle control unit may do little to improve shift quality during a desired high-speed shift. In addition, the vehicle control unit may not be applicable to situations where the operator has not made an error in requesting a directional shift change.
The disclosed transmission system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.

Transmission system implementing automated directional shift braking


A system and method for building three dimensional objects may adjust data used to build the objects to, for example, improve quality or correct for defects. A printer may, for example, accept data representing the object and modify the data according to an adjustment parameter; the printer may build the object according to the parameter. The parameter may be, for example, fixed in the printer, user entered, and/or calculated by the printer. In one embodiment, a support pedestal may be built of deposited material before the object is built.

Rapid prototyping includes many techniques used to produce 3-D objects from computer data representing the 3-D objects. The 3-D data may be referred to as Computer Object Data (COD); other 3-D data may be used. Some specific formats of COD data which may be used are STL data and CAD data; other formats may be used. A common example of COD is Computer Aided Design (CAD) data. The machine's controller converts the data to the form as required by the object building components of the machine. Most of the RP techniques use fluid or fluid-like interface material, which is solidified to produce the solid object. The interface material is usually referred to as build material (BM) or model material. Building the object is usually performed by producing thin layers corresponding to the data and solidifying the layers one upon the other. Solidifying the layers may be achieved in different ways, such as by cooling the layers, in case of using molten wax-like materials, by exposing the BM to electromagnetic irradiation of appropriate wave-length, in case of using a photopolymer as BM, or other methods, such as chemical curing.
Various systems for computerized 3-D printing have been developed. For example a system from 3-D Systems, Inc. of California USA operates on the basis of stereolithography (SL) where a focused ultraviolet laser is scanned over the top of a bath of photopolymerizable liquid polymer material. Specified sections of the surface of the bath are polymerized or cured by contact with the UV laser beam creating a solid plastic layer at or just below the surface of the material. The beam location and thus curing location may be controlled by a printer controller or computer. One method of stereolithography is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,884 issued Oct. 3, 2000 to Kerekes et al. Another technique for building a 3-D model in layers is described by Cima et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,380. A layer of powdered material is deposited followed by the deposit of binding material in selected parts of the powder deposit to form a layer of bound powder in these parts. These steps are repeated for successive layers to form a desired component.
In one technique, the controller of the printer receives, for example, COD data and converts it to the format applicable for the printing process (for example, sliced COD data). The technique is typically based on dispensing typically two materials (other numbers may be used) from, typically, ink-jet heads. The materials are, for example, BM and support material (SM). The BM is dispensed at those locations the object is to be built. The SM is dispensed at other places, provided it is needed there. The BM and SM are typically dispensed simultaneously according to the computer data.
The BM may be a specially formulated photopolymer, which is typically cured by a source of electromagnetic irradiation, for example a flood or wide area of light, which is usually UV, but other wavelengths may be used. The SM is also typically a photopolymer, which is used to support the BM prior to, during and/or after building. The SM is so formulated as to be easily disposed of or removed at the conclusion of the object building process.
The size of the object actually built may differ from the size of the prototype model desired to be built, or from the size as defined by the input data. Even if the inaccuracy is minimal, the error may have serious consequences when, for example, two or more pieces are meant to fit together, and a minor difference in size may render a close, exact fit impossible. An accuracy of, for example, ±0.2 mm may be acceptable in the art of 3-D printing. Larger inaccuracies are less acceptable.
Such inaccuracies may result from various factors, such as material shrinkage or inaccuracies in leveling layers of material. Various other aspects of 3-D printing may reduce quality of printed objects. If more than one material is used, materials may diffuse into each other. Materials may alter their shape after deposition due to, for example, thermal contraction, the tendency of materials to merge, or the chemical reaction of the interface materials to curing. Materials may not be deposited accurately due to, for example, defective or missing print head nozzles or the velocity of the print head. Other factors may cause object creation inaccuracies.
Therefore, there is a need for a device, system and method that reduces inaccuracies in three dimensional printing.

System and method for accurate printing of three dimensional models utilizing adjustment parameters


A surgical fastener comprising a fastener member and a retainer member is disclosed. The fastener member comprises a base and a pair of substantially parallel prongs extending substantially perpendicularly from the base in substantially the same direction, each prong being spaced inward from its respective end of the base, and having a prong tip configuration that allows for improved tissue penetration and thereby minimizes splaying of the prongs. Preferably, the base is the same length as the retainer member. Preferably, the prongs are substantially equidistant from the transverse centerline of the base. Also in accordance with this invention is a surgical fastener having a prong tip which maintains its improved ability to penetrate tissue after annealing of the surgical fastener.

This invention relates to surgical fastener for fastening body tissue, and more particularly to a fastener having improved tip structures for better penetration of the tissue to be fastened. This invention also relates to an improved tip which retains good penetration characteristics even after shrinkage due to annealing of the fastener. Additionally, an improved fastener with a trocar tip is disclosed.
Surgical fastening devices allow a surgeon to fasten body tissue by applying surgical fasteners. The fasteners, usually arrayed in rows, may be applied sequentially or simultaneously depending on the type of fastener applying instrument and the requirements of the surgical procedure. Surgical fasteners are often made of inert metals such as titanium and stainless steel. Metal fasteners are generally U-shaped staples, the legs of which are crimped for fastener closure when the staple is driven through the body tissue and into an anvil with staple crimping depressions.
Non-metallic fasteners are also known and may be preferable to metal fasteners in some procedures. Non-metallic fasteners may be made of polymeric material, and preferably bioabsorbable synthetic polymers. Bioabsorbable polymers offer a significant advantage in that they remain in the body tissue only as long as is necessary for tissue healing. After that the bioabsorbable fastener gradually degrades. A separate procedure for its removal is not required.
Polymeric materials generally do not possess the strength and ductility of metals. Hence, closure of the polymeric fasteners is achieved without crimping the fastener structure. Typically, polymeric fasteners are fabricated as two-part structures: a generally U-shaped fastener portion, and a corresponding retainer portion which engages and interlocks with the legs of the fastener portion. The legs or prongs of the fastener member are driven through one side of the tissue to be fastened and the retainer member interlocks with the prongs of the fastener member on the other side of the tissue to hold the entire fastener structure in place.
Surgical fasteners and fastener applying apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,060,089; 4,402,445; 4,534,352; 4,610,250; 4,667,674; 4,728,020; 4,932,960; Des. 280,931; Des. 280,932; Des. 286,180; Des. 286,441; and Des. 286,442, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
A frequent goal in fastening tissue is achieving hemostasis along the fastener line. Hemostasis is achieved by exerting pressure on the tissue from both sides. If metal staples are used, that pressure (hereinafter referred to as "hemostatic pressure") is exerted by and between the base of the staple on one side of the tissue and the crimped legs on the other side of the tissue. In typical crimped metal staples no part of the staple extends beyond the ends of the base. Therefore, a second staple can be applied very close to the first staple, so that the bases of the two staples are in a line. In that case the gap between staples can be quite small so that hemostatic pressure is applied uniformly along the entire staple line.
In contrast, when two-part polymeric fasteners are used, hemostatic pressure is exerted by and between the retainer member and the backspan or crosspiece of the fastener member. In known two-part polymeric fasteners the prongs of the fastener member extend from the ends of the backspan. The retainer member is typically longer than the distance between the prongs and, therefore, must extend beyond the fastener member backspan. Accordingly, the backspans of adjacent fastener members lying in a line are separated by at least the sum of the distances by which adjacent retainer members extend beyond the associated fastener member backspans. Thus, there are gaps between adjacent fastener members. Full hemostatic pressure is not exerted on the tissue in these gaps.
One way to make up for the above-mentioned gaps in a line of polymeric fasteners is to provide fasteners with a crosspiece which extends beyond the span of the prongs so that the fasteners can be applied nearly touching each other such as disclosed, for example, in Korthoff et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,674, issued May 26, 1987. Another way to make up for the above-mentioned gaps in a line of polymeric fasteners is to apply the fasteners in two parallel rows, with a linear offset between the rows so that the gaps in one row are opposite the bases of the fastener members of the other row.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,960 to Green et al. discloses a bioabsorbable two-part fastener having a fastener portion and a retainer. The fastener portion includes a locking surface oriented in the direction of the lengthwise extension of the fastener backspan, therein designated as an "X direction".
To facilitate the placement of multiple rows of fasteners it is desirable to have fasteners which are as narrow as possible. However, the narrower one makes a fastener of any given length and shape the weaker it is because there is simply less structural material. For this reason, the structural features of surgical fasteners which compensate for the lack of material by distributing or reducing stress become increasingly important as the fastener size is reduced.
In particular, stresses are created when the fastener portion is driven through body tissue. The fastener member prongs may tend to splay or spread apart as the prongs are forced through the tissue. Since the prongs must be precisely aligned and spaced apart in order to engage the corresponding apertures in the retainer portion, deformation of the prongs can cause failure of the faster and retainer portions to lock together, thereby resulting in bleeding from the loss of hemostasis and tissue holding.


An apparatus and method for compacting a material sample, such as soil or paving material, including a mold for receiving the material sample and a ram mounted for movement into a first open end of the mold to provide an axial compressire force thereto. The compacting apparatus also includes a base for supporting a second end of the mold. In operation, the mold is gyrated simultaneously with the application of the axial compressire force by the ram. Gyration is provided by tilting the mold from an initial neutral position in which the center longitudinal axis of the mold is collinear with the axis of compression to a tilted operative position in which the central longitudinal axis of the mold is angularly offset from the axis of compression. The base is thereinafter rotated relative to the mold so as to revolve the center of the second end of the mold about the axis of compression, thus, gyrating the axially compressed material sample. Such simultaneous gyration and axial compression simulates the rolling of a vehicle tire or other compaction device over a material surface.

In order to measure physical properties of soils or paving materials, such as density, moisture content and compressire strength, loose samples of the soil or paving material are formed into compacted test specimens under reproducible conditions using laboratory compaction machines.
Laboratory compaction machines employing tamping as the compaction method are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,980,978 to Marshall (hereinafter the "'978 patent"). The apparatus of the '978 patent employs repetitive tamps to axially compress a sample of soil or paving material. The tamps are provided by a hamer which repetitively impacts the sample. The compaction provided by the apparatus of the '978 patent, however, is solely limited to axial compaction.
In addition compaction machines which provide axial compression while gyrating the sample of soil or paving material so as to effectively knead the sample are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,972,249, 3,478,572, 4,942,768 and 5,036,709 to McRae (hereinafter the "'249, '572, '768 and '709 patents", respectively) as well as a publication entitled Gyratory Shear Compacting Press By Materials des Laboratoires des Ponts et Chaussees (hereinafter the "MLPC publication"). The gyratory action, in conjunction with the axial compression of the sample, more closely simulates actual road conditions in which vehicle tires or other compaction device roll over the pavement. The McRae patents as well as the MLPC publication disclose a laboratory compaction apparatus for compressing a sample along an axis of compression while gyrating the confined sample. The gyratory effect is provided by an angular offset of the axis of compression from the central longitudinal axis of the mold which confines the sample during its gyration.
In particular, the '249 and '572 patents as well as the MLPC publication disclose a compaction apparatus utilizing a pair of oppositely disposed hydraulically actuated rams for axially compacting the sample. The use of two hydraulically actuated rams requires duplicative hydraulic systems which accordingly increases the complexity of the system as well as the likelihood of malfunctions in the hydraulic system, such as leaks in the hydraulic lines.
Furthermore, the gyrating mechanism for the compaction apparatuses disclosed by the '249 and '572 patents includes two oppositely disposed rollers mounted adjacent opposing faces of a outwardly extending flanged upper lip of the rotating mold. This gyrating mechanism and its associated drive means are mounted above the mold containing the specimen. The position of the gyratory mechanism above the mold may increase the difficulty of loading and unloading of the specimen and the mold. In addition, safety procedures must be rigidly adhered to by the operator to insure that all personnel are clear of the mold and gyratory mechanism prior to commencing compaction.

Method and apparatus for compacting material samples


According to the present invention, there is provided a liquid discharging device for discharging liquid stored on a bottom wall of an interior of a compressed natural gas tank of a vehicle, comprising a liquid discharging pipe for discharging the liquid from the compressed natural gas tank to an outside of the compressed natural gas tank. The liquid discharging pipe has an open end which is open into the interior of the compressed natural gas tank at a position adjacent to an inner face of the bottom wall of the compressed natural gas tank. Further, the liquid discharging device comprises a liquid discharging control valve arranged in the liquid discharging pipe to discharge the liquid due to the pressure of the natural gas when the liquid discharging control valve is opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a liquid discharging device for discharging liquid stored on a bottom wall of an interior of a compressed natural gas tank of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an engine of a vehicle using natural gas as fuel has been developed since an engine using natural gas generates less NO.sub.x and CO.sub.2 which cause a public hazard. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-284821 discloses a compressed natural gas engine (CNG engine) which stores an amount of compressed natural gas in a compressed natural gas tank (CNG tank), extracts the compressed natural gas from the CNG tank, and reduces the pressure of the compressed natural gas by a regulator to use the natural gas as the fuel for the engine.
Water included in the natural gas is stored for a long time in the CNG tank which has a cylindrical central portion and opposed end portions connected to the central portion. Further, oil, from a compressor to the CNG tank when the compressor is activated to fill the CNG tank with the natural gas at high pressure, is mixed with the natural gas and is stored in the CNG tank. When the liquid such as water or oil included in the natural gas enters into the regulator, the liquid freezes due to the reduction in pressure of the natural gas by the regulator to cause damage to the regulator. At present, for the safety of the CNG tank, a liquid discharging opening for draining the water or oil cannot be provided in the bottom wall of the central portion of the CNG tank. Therefore, a complex operation of removing the CNG tank from the vehicle to discharge the liquid from the CNG tank is necessary.

Liquid discharging device for discharging liquid stored on a bottom wall of an interior of a compressed natural gas tank of a vehicle


The present invention provides compounds of the class of thienopyrimidines, processes for preparing such compounds, their use in the treatment of obesity, psychiatric disorders, cognitive disorders, memory disorders, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and related conditions, type II diabetes, Metabolic syndrome and neurological disorders such as dementia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's chorea, Alzheimer's disease, and pain related disorders, and to pharmaceutical compositions containing them.

Melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) is a cyclic peptide that was first isolated from fish over 15 years ago. In mammals, MCH gene expression is localised to the ventral aspect of the zona inserta and the lateral hypothalamic area (Breton et al., Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences, 1993, vol. 4, 271-284). The latter region of the brain is associated with the control of behaviours such as eating and drinking, with arousal and with motor activity (Baker, B., Trends Endocrinol. Metab., 1994, 5, 120-126). Although the biological activity in mammals has not been fully defined, recent work has indicated that MCH promotes eating and weight gain (U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,708). Thus, MCH and its agonists have been proposed as treatments for anorexia nervosa and weight loss due to AIDS, renal disease, or chemotherapy. Similarly, antagonists of MCH can be used as a treatment for obesity and other disorders characterised by compulsive eating and excessive body weight. MCH projections are found throughout the brain, including the spinal cord, an area important in processing nociception, indicates that agents acting through MCHr1, such as compounds of formula I, will be useful in treating pain.
Two receptors for MCH, MCH receptor 1 (MCHr1) (Shimomura et al., Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 1999, 261, 622-6) and MCH receptor 2 (MCHr2) (Hilo et al., J Biol. Chem., 2001, 276, 20125-9) have been identified in humans, while only one (MCHr1) is present in rodent species (Tan et al., Genomics, 2002, 79, 785-92). In mice lacking MCHr1, there is no increased feeding response to MCH, and a lean phenotype is seen, suggesting that this receptor is responsible for mediating the feeding effect of MCH (Marsh et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2002, 99, 3240-5). In addition, MCHr1 antagonists have been demonstrated to block the feeding effects of MCH (Takekawa et al., Eur. J. Pharmacol., 2002, 438, 129-35), and to reduce body weight & adiposity in diet-induced obese rats (Borowsky et al., Nature Med., 2002, 8, 825-30). The conservation of distribution and sequence of MCHr1 suggest a similar role for this receptor in man and rodent species. Hence, MCHr1 antagonists have been proposed as a treatment for obesity and other disorders characterised by excessive eating and body weight. Also, it has been reported that MCHr1 antagonists exhibit antidepressant and anxiolytic-like effects in rodent tests, suggesting a role for MCHr1 in depression and anxiety as well as in other psychiatric disorders (reviewed in Hervieu, G. J., Expert Opin. Ther. Targets, 2006, 10, 211-229).
WO 2003/033476, WO 2004/092181 and WO 2005/042541 discloses 3-phenyl-thieno-pyrimid-4-one derivatives as MCHr1 antagonists for the treatment of obesity and other diseases.
WO 2005/103039 discloses e.g. 3-(pyridin-3-yl)-thienopyrimid-4-one, 6-(pyrid-3-yl)-thienopyridazin-7-one and 6-(pyridin-3-yl)-thienopyran-7-one derivatives as MCHr1 antagonists for treatment of obesity, anxiety, depression and other diseases.
WO 2005/047293 discloses 3-(pyrrolidin-3-yl)-thienopyrimid-4-one derivatives as MCHr1 antagonists for treatment of obesity, anxiety and depression.
Substituted quinoline analogs, containing a chlorophenyl substituted thienopyrimidinone ring system, are presented as MCHr1 antagonists in Warshakoon, N. C. et al., Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2006, doi:10.106/j.bmcl.2006.07.006.
Pyrimidine fused bicyclic metalloproteinase inhibitors are disclosed in WO 2004/014916.
Thienopyrimidin-4-one derivatives are disclosed as angiotensin II receptor blockers in WO 93/03040.
Thienopyrimidin-4-one derivatives are disclosed as MCHr1 antagonists for the treatment of obesity in WO2006/118320.
There is an unmet need for MCHr1 antagonists that are more efficacious, more selective (e.g. vs ion channels), more chemically stable, more soluble, more bioavailable and which produce less side effects than known compounds in this field.

Thienopyrimidine compounds and uses thereof


The present disclosure relates to a surgical navigation system for the alignment of a surgical instrument and methods for its use, wherein the surgical navigation system may comprise a head-mounted display comprising a lens. The surgical navigation system may further comprise tracking unit, herein the tracking unit may be configured to track a patient tracker and/or a surgical instrument. Patient data may be registered to the patient tracker. The surgical instrument may define an instrument axis. The surgical navigation system may be configured to plan one or more trajectories based on the patient data. The head-mounted display may be configured to display augmented reality visualization, including an augmented reality position alignment visualization and/or an augmented reality angular alignment visualization related to the surgical instrument on the lens of the head-mounted display.

Computer-assisted surgery, including surgical navigation systems, is a growing trend in the medical field. The surgical navigation system, in combination with pre-operative images and/or patient data may be utilized during a surgical intervention to support the surgeon in executing a medical procedure. For that purpose, image guidance surgical navigation systems are used for open and minimally-invasive surgical interventions, such as spine, joint, and/or neuro surgery. The aim of such surgical navigation systems is to determine the position of a surgical instrument used by the surgeon that can be illustrated or visualized in the pre-operative images and/or patient data corresponding to the patient's anatomy. Continuous detection of the position and/or orientation (i.e., pose) of the patient and/or the surgical instrument (so-called navigation data) are necessary to provide an accurate spatial representation of the surgical instrument relative to the patient.
The surgical navigation system may also visualize the position and/or alignment of a medical device or implant to the surgeon, such as the position and alignment of a pedicle screw for multiple vertebra fixation in the context of spine surgery. During operation, the surgical navigation system may provide a visualization to the surgeon, allowing the surgeon to see an overlay of the position of the surgical instrument and/or the medical device/implant projected exactly on an image or visualization of the patient.
Taking existing solutions into account, it is to be noted that known surgical navigation solutions do not sufficiently address the surgical navigation system guidance and alignment of surgical instruments. A further disadvantage of existing solutions is that the visualization is detached from the surgical site, forcing a deviation of attention of the surgeon.
Thus, there is a need for new surgical navigation systems addressing these disadvantages.