An interconnect device receives encrypted high quality media content from a protected interface of the source device and decrypts the encrypted high quality media content to recover the high quality media content. For remote monitoring, the decrypted high quality media content is processed to reduce the quality of the high quality media content to generate the reduced quality media content. The reduced quality media content may be generated by further compressing the high quality media content, reducing the resolution of the high quality media content, downscaling the high quality media content or the like. The decrypted high quality media content is also re-encrypted and delivered to the protected media interface of the destination device.

Parents are often in a battle to control the information provided to their children. Adult content is available through virtually all media outlets, with television and the Internet being the largest culprits. Since parents are unable to constantly be with their children and monitor everything that is being viewed by their children, there is a need for a way for parents to remotely monitor the media content being presented to their children. However, certain measures currently being taken by copyright owners to protect high quality media content will make it virtually impossible for parents to remotely monitor protected media content.
Copyright owners are in a constant battle against piracy of their media content. In the current digital world, high quality copies of digital content can be readily made and distributed without permission of the copyright owners. With the increasing availability of high definition video content and no or low compression audio content, the need to prevent unauthorized copies of audio and video content is greater than ever. In response to these needs, various digital rights management (DRM) techniques have evolved. DRM is a broad term that is used for various techniques used by copyright owners and authorized publishers to control access to and restrict use of media content on associated electronic devices.
High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of DRM that was developed by Intel Corporation and is widely used to control the delivery of audio and video media content from one electronic device to another. For HDCP, a source device is able to restrict the playback quality of otherwise high definition media content to DVD (Digital Video Disk) quality, or standard definition, when a destination device does not have an HDCP compliant media interface. Two common HDCP compliant media interfaces include the HDCP compliant High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and the HDCP compliant Digital Video Interface (DVI). When the destination device does have an HDCP compliant media interface, the high definition media content is generally encrypted by the source device and delivered to the destination device in a secure fashion.
For HDCP, the media interfaces of the respective source and destination devices are able to communicate with each other and play pivotal roles to ensure that the media content is protected. The media interface of the source device will authenticate the media interface of the destination device, and the respective media interfaces will exchange any encryption information to facilitate encryption of the media content by the media interface of the source device and decryption of the encrypted media content by the media interface of the destination device. Notably, this functionality is generally provided in the hardware at the media interfaces and not in the higher level control systems of the respective electronic devices. Other DRM techniques, such as the Advanced Access Content System (AACS), operate in a similar fashion.
The media content that is generally protected by DRM restrictions is high quality media content, such as high definition video and high quality audio, which has little or no compression and is provided at high resolutions. For example, high definition video is lightly compressed and supports resolutions up to 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels or higher, as compared with standard definition video that is 720 pixels by 480 pixels or lower. Notably, high quality media content is generally the only restricted content wherein playback of reduced quality content is generally not restricted.
As such, the high quality media content that is subject to the DRM restrictions is securely passed from one compliant interface at the source device to another compliant interface at the destination device. The DRM restrictions generally prevent access to the high quality media content outside of the source and destination devices, and prevent the high quality media content from being delivered to or from a non-compliant interface of any type of device. Accordingly, the high quality media content that is presented to a destination device, such as display device, cannot be delivered to another device for monitoring, unless the monitoring device has a compliant media interface. In reality, many devices that could be used for remote monitoring will not have a compliant media interface or otherwise be able to comply with the DRM restrictions associated with the high quality video content. Further, the ability to transfer high quality media content to remote devices, especially over a packet-based network, where likely monitoring devices will reside, is generally bandwidth limited.
Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to remotely monitor media content that is being delivered to a destination device, such as a display device. There is a further need for a technique to remotely monitor such media content when the media content is high quality media content that is associated with DRM restrictions. There is yet a further need to remotely monitor such media content over a packet-based network, such as a local area network or wide area network, like the Internet.

Remote monitoring of media content that is associated with rights management restrictions


Embodiments of the present invention help to increase yaw stiffness while achieving higher peel stiffness and lower roll stiffness and pitch stiffness in a suspension supporting a head slider. A gimbal according to an aspect of the present invention has a securing point where the gimbal is secured to a load beam in the front and securing points where the gimbal is secured to the load beam in the rear. The gimbal tongue pivots on a dimple contact point. A front ring is secured at the securing point to support the gimbal tongue. The rear ring is secured at the securing points to support the gimbal tongue. The rear ring provides the gimbal tongue with higher yaw stiffness than the front ring. The front ring provides the gimbal tongue with higher peel stiffness than the rear ring.

A hard disk drive (HDD) spins a magnetic disk of a recording medium at high speed and reads and writes data with a head slider flying and moving over the magnetic disk. An actuator supports a head slider and swings across the magnetic disk to move the head slider along the radial direction of the spinning magnetic disk.
The actuator comprises a suspension secured at the tip of an arm and the suspension supports the head slider. As shown in FIG. 9, a typical suspension 9 comprises a plurality of members and comprises a load beam 91 and a gimbal 92 secured to the magnetic disk side of the load beam 91. The load beam 91 positions the head slider at a specific track in accordance with the operation of the actuator and generates a pressing force to press the head slider toward the magnetic disk. The head slider flies at a specific spacing from the magnetic disk surface under the balance between the pressing force of the load beam and the lift force from the air bearing which is caused by the viscous airflow between the air bearing surface (ABS) and the magnetic disk surface.
The gimbal 92 is generally made of a thin stainless steel and comprises a gimbal tongue (921 in FIG. 10). The head slider is secured to the gimbal tongue. The back side of the gimbal tongue contacts a projected dimple of the load beam 91, and the gimbal tongue and the head slider thereon pivot on the contact point with the dimple. The pivoting motion is known as the pitch and roll motion or the gimbal motion. This movement keeps the spacing and the attitude of the head slider to the magnetic disk surface.
The roll motion is a motion in the direction denoted by R in FIG. 9; specifically a pivot movement on the X-axis which is the longitudinal direction of the suspension 9. The pitch motion is a motion in the direction denoted by P in FIG. 9; specifically a pivot movement on the Y-axis which is perpendicular to the X-axis and included in a surface parallel to the disk surface. The characteristics of the pitch motion and the roll motion are determined by the structure of the entire suspension. Lower pitch stiffness and roll stiffness of the gimbal tongue achieve better track following performance and better flight attitude control.
While a head slider is flying above a track and performing a following motion, the gimbal needs to support the head slider flexibly so that the head slider can maintain the following motion responsive to changes in shapes of the magnetic disk surface. Therefore, it is important to reduce the pitch stiffness and roll stiffness of the gimbal tongue. On the other hand, an HDD is required to have more shock resistance. An HDD with the ramp loading and unloading scheme lifts up the head slider from above the disk surface in unloading and lifts it down to above the disk surface in loading.
To improve the shock resistance of the device and to achieve stable operation where the head slider does not contact the magnetic disk in loading/unloading, it is necessary to take peel stiffness into account in addition to the pitch stiffness and the roll stiffness. The peel stiffness is a vertical stiffness when applying a force to the gimbal tongue normal to the disk surface, which is desirably higher for the shock resistance or loading/unloading operation.
The gimbal 92 functions as a spring mechanism for supporting the slider on the securing point to the load beam as a support point. In a typical structure of a gimbal, if the peel stiffness increases, the pitch stiffness and the roll stiffness increase together, so that a gimbal with higher peel stiffness and smaller pitch and roll stiffnesses cannot be accomplished no matter how parameters for the stiffnesses are adjusted.
In this regard, gimbals having the spring structure with lower pitch and roll stiffnesses and higher peel stiffness have been proposed (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-326891 "Patent Document 1"). FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a part of such a gimbal. The gimbal 92 is secured to a load beam at two securing points 922a and 922b sandwiching a gimbal tongue 921 between at the front and at the rear. The securing points 922a and 922b are typically welded by beam welding. Hereinafter, the direction viewing a head slider from the swing shaft of the actuator is defined as frontward and the direction viewing the swing shaft from the head slider is defined as rearward.
In the gimbal 92 of FIG. 10, support arms 923a and 923b protrude from the middle of the side edges of the gimbal tongue 921. The support arms 923a and 923b are connected to the extending frontward main arms 924a and 924b, respectively. The two main arms 924a and 924b join together in the front and the main arms 924a, 924b and the support arms 923a, 923b are continuous. The main arms 924a, 924b and the support arms 923a, 923b form a ring shaped spring structure for supporting the gimbal tongue 921. The main arms 924a and 924b form a path like a big ring swelling vertically to the center line of the gimbal 92.
Moreover, the support arms 923a and 923b are connected to extending rearward sub arms 925a and 925b, respectively. The sub arms 925a and 925b join to a support body 926 in the rear. The sub arms 925a, 925b, the support arms 923a, 923b, and a part of the support body 926 are continuous to form a ring-shaped spring structure for supporting the gimbal tongue 921. The sub arms 925a and 925b extend from the rear toward the front substantially in parallel to the center line of the gimbal 92, then swell, and join to the main arms 924a, 924b and the support arms 923a, 923b.
In the gimbal, the stiffness of the front ring-shaped spring structure (a main ring MR) including the main arms 924a and 924b is higher than the one of the rear ring-shaped spring structure (a sub ring SR) including the sub arms 925a and 925b, and the main ring MR functions dominantly in supporting the gimbal tongue 921. The pitch stiffness and the roll stiffness of the gimbal tongue 921 (head slider) depend on the shape of the main ring and the sub ring SR contribute to them little.
Specifying parameters of the dominant main ring MR leads to determining the values of the stiffnesses of the gimbal tongue 921, substantially ignoring the sub ring SR's contribution to the stiffnesses. Specifically, reduction of the distance between the gimbal tongue and the securing points achieves higher peel stiffness. Besides, adjustment of values such as the path length, the path shape, and the widths of the main ring achieves smaller pitch and roll stiffnesses, maintaining the higher peel stiffness.
The sub ring (sub arms) affects the stiffnesses a little and it is not the element to determine the values of the above three stiffnesses. The sub arms 925a and 925b are needed in producing a suspension. The sub arms 925a and 925b maintain the entire gimbal in a stable shape in assembling the gimbal and the load beam to improve workability.
The suspension disclosed in the Patent Document 1 achieves lower roll and pitch stiffnesses and higher peel stiffnesses concurrently. This is because, as described above, the sub ring supports the gimbal tongue in an auxiliary manner, and the main ring can dominantly provide the gimbal tongue with stiffness.
The gimbal design in the Patent Document 1, however, considers the pitch, roll, and peel stiffnesses of the gimbal tongue, but does not yaw stiffness. The yaw stiffness is the stiffness to a yaw motion of the gimbal tongue (head slider). The yaw motion is a pivoting motion in the direction denoted by YAW in FIG. 10. Specifically, it is a pivoting motion on the normal to the head slider mount surface (main surface) of the gimbal tongue and is a pivoting motion within the ABS.
Data track pitch significantly decreases with increase in storage capacity of an HDD. Accordingly, a head slider's slight yaw motion causes a head element portion to shift radially from a target position to raise a read/write error. Especially, it has been found that, if the roll stiffness and the pitch stiffness are reduced without considering the yaw stiffness as in the Patent Document 1, the yaw stiffness decreases together to cause oscillation in a yaw mode at low frequency easily.
Increases in the roll stiffness and the pitch stiffness can increase the yaw stiffness, which reduces the following performance of the head slider responsive to change in shape of the magnetic disk surface, however. Accordingly, a suspension is desired that has higher yaw stiffness while keeping higher peel stiffness and lower roll and pitch stiffnesses.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Netherlands, B.V.


A device for cracking eggs is provided. The device has a generally flat blade portion secured to an arched base portion. The generally flat blade portion is used to cut or crack the egg. The generally flat blade portion is perpendicularly secured to the arched base portion wherein the arched base portion mirrors the arc of the exterior surface of an average egg. A user uses the generally flat blade portion to strike the egg. The arched base portion stops the generally flat blade portion from penetrating the egg past a predetermined point. In some embodiments, a padded attachment or a spring loaded contact surface may be secured to the arched base portion and may prevent the device from over-cutting or cracking the egg. In alternative embodiments, the back of the arched base portion has a loop for securing a finger. Finally, a handle may be secured to the arched base portion to easily grasp the device.

A device for cracking eggs is provided. The device has a generally flat blade portion secured to an arched base portion. The generally flat blade portion is used to cut or crack the egg. The generally flat blade portion is perpendicularly secured to the arched base portion wherein the arched base portion mirrors the arc of the exterior surface of an average egg. A user uses the generally flat blade portion to strike the egg. The arched base portion stops the generally flat blade portion from penetrating the egg past a predetermined point. In some embodiments, a padded attachment or a spring loaded contact surface may be secured to the arched base portion and may prevent the device from over-cutting or cracking the egg. In alternative embodiments, the back of the arched base portion has a loop for securing a finger. Finally, a handle may be secured to the arched base portion to easily grasp the device.
Over the years, attempts have been made to provide an efficient egg cracking device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,779 to Dolub discloses a device for cracking open an egg, having egg-size sensing means for determining the size of an egg positioned in the device, thereby providing for automatic calibration of the device to the specific size of an egg to be cracked. The calibration determines how much would the distance between the piercing members and the imaginary longitudinal axis of the egg be reduced before the piercing members stop their advancing towards the egg and start moving apart for cracking its shell open. The device can thus open eggs of different sizes, e.g. having widths between 40 and 50 millimeters, accurately without requiring special preparation or manual calibration. A method for cracking open an egg based on said device is also shown.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,508 discloses Banks et al discloses an egg cracking device which includes two formations which are adapted to move towards a central portion of an egg thereby to pierce the shell of the egg and then to move apart to crack the egg shell into the halves.
Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,584 to Talbot discloses an egg cracking device, which includes a pair of complementary egg support container parts. A pair of hingedly connected elongated handle arms are provided, one of each being connected to its egg container part, and being arranged to be moved from a closed position, in which the egg container parts abut against each other, to an open position, in which the egg container parts are moved apart. The device further includes biassing means urging the handle arms into the closed position; and a pair of egg cutter members connected to the egg container parts, and abutting against each other when the egg container parts are in the closed position. The egg cutter members are adapted each to grip a part of a cut egg shell and to keep the egg shell parts apart when the handle arms are pressed against the biassing means for opening the egg container parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,838 to Warren discloses an egg breaking machine in which a plurality of cooperating egg cracking heads and separators carried by a drive means, such as a roller chain, automatically crack and drain eggs and separate the liquid egg yolk and white. The drive chain carries the cracking head and separator combinations through egg loading, cracking, draining, and yolk and white separating positions. An improved cracker head is disclosed which operates in three automatically controlled positions including a fully closed, partially opened, and a fully opened position whereby the initial and subsequent shell drainage are facilitated. Additionally, an improved cracking head and separator mounting and spacing control means is disclosed for improving the drainage from the egg to the separator.
However, these patents fail to describe an egg cracking device which is easy to use and efficient as is described in the present application. Further, these patents fail to provide an egg cracking device which may break an egg in a predetermined fashion.


An absorbent article comprises a three-dimensional liquid permeable topsheet. The topsheet comprises a first layer comprising a hydrophobic material and a second layer comprising a hydrophilic material. The first layer is joined to the second layer. The topsheet comprises a plurality of recesses, a plurality of projections, and a plurality of land areas. The land areas surround at least a majority of the plurality of projections and a plurality of the recesses. The absorbent article comprises a liquid impermeable backsheet, an acquisition material, an absorbent core disposed at least partially intermediate the acquisition material and the liquid impermeable backsheet, and an indicia. The indicia is on the acquisition material or the liquid permeable topsheet. The indicia is visible from a wearer-facing side of the absorbent article. The indicia is different color than the acquisition material or the liquid permeable topsheet.

Absorbent articles are used to absorb and contain bodily exudates (e.g., urine, menses, BM). The absorbent articles are often configured as diapers, pants, adult incontinence articles, or sanitary napkins, for example. Consumers in some markets desire three-dimensional substrates on wearer-facing surfaces of the absorbent articles, such as topsheets. These three-dimensional substrates create depth in absorbent articles and thereby provide consumers with the impression of better absorbency and reduced skin exposure to bodily exudates. The three-dimensional substrates also provide improved softness or the impression of improved softness relative to planar substrates. The impressions of better absorbency, reduced bodily exudate exposure to skin, and softness, however, are not the only attributes that consumers desire. Consumers also desire absorbent articles that are visually appealing and that enhance the impression that the absorbent articles will lock away bodily exudates, reduce skin exposure thereto, and provide the impressions of depth and improved softness. What is needed are absorbent articles that provide, or provide the impression of, depth, improved softness, and reduced skin exposure to bodily exudates, but that also provide indicia and/or color in an aesthetically pleasing manner to further bolster these impressions or attributes and communicate the same to consumers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Absorbent articles having three dimensional substrates and indicia


A standard cell, placed between a power rail and a ground rail in an integrated circuit, has active areas with connecting arms that extend beneath the power rail and ground rail. The connecting arms conduct current between the power and ground rails and the source regions of transistors in the active areas. The connecting arms include segments extending from these source regions to points beneath the power and ground rails, and segments running longitudinally beneath the power and ground rails. The connecting arms replace metal wiring that would otherwise be required, enabling the size of the standard cell to be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a standard cell useful in the fabrication of a semiconductor integrated circuit on, for example, a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Standard cells are widely used in the design of semiconductor integrated circuits. A conventional standard two-input NAND cell and a conventional two-input exclusive OR (XOR) cell will be described below. Descriptions of conventional two-input NAND cells can also be found in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-94054 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,972 to Sei et al.
A standard two-input NAND cell is shown as a circuit diagram in FIG. 1 and a circuit symbol in FIG. 2. The two-input NAND cell performs a NOT-AND logic operation on two input signals a, b to generate an output signal y. The constituent elements of the cell are a p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistor 1 and an n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistor 3 connected in series to a power supply (vdd) rail, a PMOS transistor 2 connected in parallel with PMOS transistor 1 between the vdd rail and the drain electrodes of PMOS transistor 1 and NMOS transistor 3, and an NMOS transistor 4 connected in series with NMOS transistor 3 between the source electrode of NMOS transistor 3 and a ground (gnd) rail. Input signal a is applied to the gate electrodes of transistors 1 and 3, input signal b is applied to the gate electrodes of transistors 2 and 4, and the output signal y is taken from drains of transistors 1, 2, and 3. The output signal y goes to the low logic level when both inputs a, b are at the high logic level, because both NMOS transistors 3, 4 are turned on and both PMOS transistors 1, 2 are turned off. When at least one of the inputs a, b is low, the output signal y goes to the high logic level, because at least one of the NMOS transistors 3, 4 is turned off and one of the PMOS transistors 1, 2 is turned on.
The conventional two-input XOR cell is shown as a circuit diagram in FIGS. 3 and 4 and a circuit symbol in FIG. 5. The two-input XOR cell performs an exclusive logical OR operation on two input signals a, b to generate an output signal y. The constituent elements of the cell are three inverters 11-12, 12-22, 16-26, an analog switch 13-23, and a tri-state inverter 14-25. Inverter 11-12, which inverts input signal a and outputs the inverted signal /a, comprises a PMOS transistor 11 and an NMOS transistor 21 connected in series between the vdd rail and the ground rail. Inverter 12-22, which inverts input signal b and outputs the inverted signal /b, comprises a PMOS transistor 12 and an NMOS transistor 22 connected in series between the vdd rail and the ground rail. The analog switch 13-23, which opens and closes the electrical path between the output of the inverter 12-22 and the input of the inverter 16-26 in response to input a, comprises a PMOS transistor 13 and an NMOS transistor 23 connected in parallel. The tri-state inverter 14-25, which generates an output at the b logic level when input a is high and is in the high-impedance state when input a is low, comprises PMOS transistors 14, 15 and NMOS transistors 24, 25 connected in series between the vdd rail and the ground rail. The final-stage inverter 16-26, which generates the output signal y by inverting the output of the tri-state inverter 14-25 when input a is high and the output of the analog switch 13-23 when input a is low, comprises a PMOS transistor 16 and an NMOS transistor 26 connected in series between the vdd rail and the ground rail. When the inputs a, b are at matching logic levels (both high or both low), the output signal y goes to the low logic level. Otherwise (when the input logical levels do not match), the output signal y goes to the high logic level.
A conventional layout of the standard two-input NAND cell shown in FIG. 1 is shown in plan view in FIG. 6 and in a schematic sectional view in FIG. 7, which is taken through line Y1-Y2 in FIG. 6.
Referring to FIG. 6, the conventional standard two-input NAND cell is outlined by a rectangular cell boundary 30 with two opposite sides (the upper and lower sides in the drawing) disposed below the vdd rail 31 and ground rail 32. The vdd and ground rails 31, 32 are metal. A p-type (p+) semiconductor active area 33 and an n-type (n+) semiconductor active area 34 are disposed in the upper and lower parts, respectively, of the space between the rails 31, 32. An input terminal 35 for input signal a, an input terminal 36 for input signal b, and an output terminal 38 for the output signal y are aligned between the active areas 33, 34. PMOS transistor 1 occupies the left side of the p+ active area 33 and PMOS transistor 2 occupies the right side. NMOS transistor 3 occupies the right side of the n+ active area 34 and NMOS transistor 4 occupies the left side.
PMOS transistor 1 has a gate electrode 1g, a source region 1s, and a drain region 1d. The gate electrode 1g is a strip of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) extending generally vertically in the drawing across the p+ active area 33. The source region 1s and drain region 1d are highly doped p-type regions, referred to as p+ diffusion regions, disposed to the left and right, respectively, of the gate electrode 1g. The gate electrode 1g is connected through a contact plug to input terminal 35; the source region 1s is connected through a contact plug 31c to a short metal wire or stub 31a extending from the vdd rail 31 to a point above the source region is; the drain region 1d is connected through another contact plug and a metal wire 37 to the output terminal 38.
In the drawings, metal is indicated by hatching that slants toward the upper right, and polysilicon is indicated by hatching that slants toward the upper left.
PMOS transistor 2 has a gate electrode 2g, a source region 2s, and a drain region 2d. The gate electrode 2g is another strip of polysilicon extending generally vertically in the drawing across the p+ active area 33. The source region 2s and drain region 2d are p+ diffusion regions disposed to the right and left, respectively, of the gate electrode 2g. The gate electrode 2g is connected through a contact plug to input terminal 36; the source region 2s is connected through a contact plug 31c to another metal stub 31b extending from the vdd rail 31; the drain region 2d coincides with the drain region 1d of PMOS transistor 1 and is thus connected to the output terminal 38.
NMOS transistor 3 has a gate electrode 3g, a source region 3s, and a drain region 3d. The gate electrode 3g is a strip of polysilicon extending generally vertically in the drawing across the n+ active area 34. The source region 3s and drain region 3d are highly doped n-type regions (n+ diffusion regions) disposed to the left and right, respectively, of the gate electrode 3g, which is continuous with the gate electrode 2g of PMOS transistor 2. The drain region 3d is connected through a contact plug and the metal wire 37 to the output terminal 38.
NMOS transistor 4 has a gate electrode 4g, a source region 4s, and a drain region 4d. The gate electrode 4g is a strip of polysilicon extending generally vertically in the drawing across the n+ active area 34. The source region 4s and drain region 4d are n+ diffusion regions disposed to the left and right, respectively, of the gate electrode 4g, which is continuous with the gate electrode 1g of PMOS transistor 1. The source region 4s is connected through a contact plug 32c to a metal stub 32a extending from the ground rail 32. The drain region 4d coincides with the source region 3s of NMOS transistor 3.
As shown in FIG. 7, the standard two-input NAND cell is formed on an SOI wafer 40 comprising a silicon supporting substrate 41, a thick insulating film 42, and a thin silicon semiconductor film 43. The thick insulating film 42 is an oxide film, also referred to as a buried oxide or BOX film because it is buried between the silicon films 41, 43. The source and drain diffusion regions of the transistors 1, 2, 3, 4 are formed by implantation of impurity ions into the thin silicon semiconductor film 43, which is also referred to below as the SOI layer. Only source regions 1s and 4s are visible in FIG. 7. The diffusion regions are covered by an interlayer dielectric film 44 through which the source contact plugs 31c, 32c and other contact plugs mentioned above extend. The vdd rail 31, ground rail 32 and their stubs 31a, 31b, 32a, the input and output terminals 35, 36, 38, and the metal wire 37 are disposed in a lowermost metal wiring layer on the surface of the interlayer dielectric film 44.
FIG. 8 is a plan view of an exemplary conventional layout of the two-input XOR cell in FIG. 3. The layout includes a vdd rail 51 and a ground rail 52, which are metal strips disposed on two opposite sides (the upper and lower sides in the drawing) of the rectangular cell boundary 50. The lateral size of the cell boundary 50 in FIG. 8 is eight 'grids', that is, eight times the distance between adjacent lines in the grid of lines used to align the cell components when the cell is designed on, for example, a computer screen. The grid is indicated by vertical and horizontal lines in the drawing. The input and output terminals 55, 56, 58 are centered on grid intersections.
A p+ active area 53 and an n+ active area 54 are disposed in the upper and lower parts, respectively, of the space between the rails 51, 52. An input terminal 55 for input signal a, an input terminal 56 for input signal b, and an output terminal 58 for the output signal y are disposed in the space between the active areas 53 and 54. The PMOS transistors 11 to 16 and NMOS transistors 21 to 26 constituting the inverters 11-21, 12-22, analog switch 13-23, tri-state inverter 14-25, and final stage inverter 16-26 are formed in the active areas, PMOS transistors being formed in the p+ active area 53 and NMOS transistors in the n+ active area 54. The output terminals of the tri-state inverter 14-25 and analog switch 13-23 are connected through a metal wire 57 to the input terminal of the final stage inverter 16-26.
PMOS transistors 11 and 14 share a common source region that is connected through a contact plug to a metal stub 51a extending from the vdd rail 51. PMOS transistors 12 and 16 share a common source region that is connected through a contact plug to another metal stub 51b extending from the vdd rail 51. Similarly, NMOS transistors 21 and 24 share a common source region that is connected through a contact plug to a metal stub 52a extending from the ground rail, and NMOS transistors 22 and 26 share a common source region that is connected through a contact plug to another metal stub 52b extending from the ground rail 52. The vdd and ground rails 51, 52, their stubs 51a, 51b, 52a, 52b, the input and output terminals 55, 56, 58, the metal wire 57, and other metal interconnecting wires are all disposed in the same (e.g., lowermost) layer of metal wiring.
With the increasing density of semiconductor integrated circuits comes an increasing demand for reduced cell size. This demand can be met by reducing the sizes of the transistors constituting the standard cells, but only to a limited extent, because the driving capability of a transistor decreases when its size is reduced. An alternative method is to find a more compact layout, but in conventional standard cells described above, the compactness of the layout is limited by the following factors.
(i) The standard cell in FIG. 6 requires metal stubs 31a, 31b, 32a to connect the vdd rail 31 and ground rail 32 to the source regions of the PMOS transistors 1, 2 and NMOS transistor 4. These source regions 1s, 2s, 4s must be enlarged to make room for the contact plugs 31c, 32c below the stubs and to allow for alignment error.
(ii) The metal stubs 51b, 52b that connect the vdd and ground rails 51, 52 to the source regions of PMOS transistor 16 and NMOS transistor 26 in the final stage inverter 16-26 in FIG. 8 must fit into the space between the gate electrodes of these transistors 16, 26 and the metal wire 57 that connects those gate electrodes to the outputs of the tri-state inverter 14-25 and analog switch 13-23. Space must be left between this metal wire 57 and the metal stubs 51b, 52b, because they are disposed in the same metal wiring layer. As a result of these spacing requirements, the source areas 16s, 26s of transistors 16, 26 must have large lateral dimensions, making it hard to reduce the total width of the cell to less than the eight grids shown in FIG. 8.


A system and method directed to the guided processing of recipes distributed by a server to a local store environment is described. A recipe may include at least two ingredients and recipe actions. A computing device may include a recipe processing application that generates a display on a user interface. The display including data associated with one or more portions of or a full control panel of an appliance (or multiple appliances) that processes the recipes is provided. The associated data presented on the user interfaces may or may not be operable to receive data in the same manner as the control panel on the appliance(s).

One common method of preparing foodstuffs is to utilize recipes. Each recipe may include a list of ingredients and actions for executing the recipe. The actions may be based on the recipe ingredients and instructions for processing the ingredients. For example, after adding the ingredients to a container in which they will be processed, the instructions may further detail the processing, such as mixing, blending, frying, sautéing, baking, or similar. The processing may include one or more appliances. Generally, a person preparing the foodstuff (or executing a recipe, hereinafter referred to as a user), measures and adds one or more ingredients to a mixing container and, where applicable, identifies an appliance that may be used to process the ingredients. The selection and operation of the appliance may impact the quality of the foodstuff. For example, in the case of a recipe for a blended beverage (such as a protein shake or a frozen coffee beverage), the selection and operation of a blender with which to process the blended beverage may impact the quality of the beverage.
Generally, the execution of recipes in a commercial setting adds complexity to preparing foodstuffs. There may be a variety of recipes, with each recipe being prepared in multiple serving sizes. The recipe instructions also may differ as a function of the selected serving size. A user may prepare a recipe repeatedly with different serving sizes. A user similarly may prepare multiple unique recipes, with each recipe once again being executed with different serving sizes. A commercial setting may have advertised or expected characteristics of the recipes as processed, for example, a given density, consistency, thickness or ingredient integration for a blended beverage or individual ingredients, such as crushed ice, or similar. These characteristics may require consistent execution by users, supported by additional guidance in the selection and/or operation of appliances.
Appliance operation also may have competing characteristics from the standpoint of foodstuff preparation. On the one hand, a basic blender with simple data entry for operation, such as start and stop buttons and several blender push-button modes (such as, for example, stir, chop, mix, puree, liquefy, pulse mode, crushed ice, or similar) may offer limited button operations. However, they may be inadequate on a more sophisticated operational level as may be needed in a commercial setting in order to rapidly and repeatedly prepare foodstuffs with varying serving sizes and pre-advertised features (such as density, thickness or consistency of ingredient integration, or similar). On the other hand, more sophisticated blenders with a variety of control panel options, multiple operational steps and/or multiple phases of operation (such as, for example, pulsing with or without push-button modes, or altering blender speeds and time periods per phase) may produce a more precise and sophisticated variety of beverages in a commercial setting, yet be more difficult for the user to execute. As a result, there is a need to improve the optimal selection and operation of appliances for foodstuffs, with an attendant reduction in the complexity required of the user in a commercial setting.
In some commercial settings, therefore, users may be provided with training or additional actions or instructions in preparing recipes. Examples of additional training are visual depictions or written instructions that are in greater detail than traditional recipe instructions, as well as photos, audio or videos related to appliances used to process recipe ingredients, or similar. However, this additional guidance may be limited in that it may not take into account the specific selection of appliances, one or more portions of the control panels for the appliances and/or data entry options on the one or more portions of the control panels for the appliances, or similar. There is a need to provide additional guidance to users in foodstuff preparation which takes into account the specific selection of appliances, one or more portions of the control panels for the appliances and/or data entry options on the one or more portions of the control panels for the appliances, or similar. There is a further need to provide guidance to users in the selection of appliances for the repetitious preparation of recipes with different serving sizes, particularly in a commercial setting.
While implementations are described herein by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations are not limited to the examples or drawings described. The drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims.
When appropriate, like reference materials and characters are used to designate identical, corresponding, or similar components in different figures. The figures associated with this disclosure typically are not drawn with dimensional accuracy to scale, i.e., such drawings have been drafted with a focus on clarity of viewing and understanding rather than dimensional accuracy.
The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean including, but not limited to. In addition, the use of directional terms such as "upper," "lower," "above," "underneath" or similar, are intended to describe the positions and/or orientations of various components of the invention relative to one another as shown in the various figures and are not intended to impose limitations on any position and/or orientation of any embodiment of the invention relative to any reference point external to the reference.

System and method for providing appliance operation instructions and data entry during the preparation of a recipe


A tool of the type having a drive stud for receiving and releasing a tool attachment includes an opening in the drive stud and a locking pin movably mounted in the opening. The opening defines first and second ends, and the first end of the opening is located at a portion of the drive stud constructed for insertion into the tool attachment. An actuating member is movably positioned on the drive stud, and the actuating member defines a sliding surface that engages the pin. A first spring biases the sliding surface toward the pin, and a second, weaker spring biases the pin toward the sliding surface. The first spring reacts against a ring that is disposed between the spring and a shoulder formed on the tool. The shoulder extends away from the longitudinal axis of the drive stud by a lesser distance than the spring or the ring.

This invention relates to torque transmitting tools of the type having a drive stud shaped to receive and release a tool attachment, and in particular to an improved quick release mechanism for securing and releasing a tool attachment to and releasing it from the drive stud.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,958 describes an effective quick release mechanism for securing tool attachments such as sockets to torque transmitting tools such as wrenches and extension bars. In the disclosed mechanism, the tool includes a drive stud which defines a diagonally oriented opening, and a locking pin is positioned within the opening to move in the opening. In its engaging position, a first end of the locking pin engages a recess in the socket to lock the socket positively in place on the drive stud. When the operator moves the pin in the opening, the first end of the pin is moved out of contact with the socket, and the socket is released from the drive stud.
In the disclosed mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,958, the locking pin is biased downwardly by a spring that bears against a large shoulder 52 on the extension bar. This approach requires that the extension bar under the spring be machined or otherwise formed to a substantially smaller diameter than the relatively large-diameter portion of the extension bar immediately above the shoulder 52.

Quick release mechanism for tools such as socket wrenches


For a three-dimensional region including a treatment target site of a patient, a puncture needle scanning region R1 having a slice thickness d1 is set with reference to a cross section (a puncture cross section) including an insertion direction of a puncture needle. Subsequently, in the y-direction substantially perpendicular to the puncture cross section, two treatment target scanning regions R2 (R21 and R22) each being adjacent to the puncture needle scanning region R1 and having a slice thickness d2 are set. Then, based on volume data in the puncture needle scanning region R1 acquired by first three-dimensional scan with ultrasound waves and volume data in the treatment target scanning regions R2 acquired by second three-dimensional scan performed at a lower volume rate than the first three-dimensional scan, image data is generated for the purpose of supporting puncture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasound imaging apparatus that generates image data for supporting treatment and examination using a puncture needle, and also relates to a method for generating an ultrasound image.
2. Description of the Related Art
The mortality rate for cancer, which is one of the three major diseases, has been increasing yearly, and early diagnosis and treatment of cancer is strongly desired. For example, liver cancer accounts for approximately 10% of all cancers, and the percentage has been increasing. On the other hand, advancement of the technology of medical image diagnosis apparatuses such as an ultrasound imaging apparatus, an MRI apparatus and an X-ray CT system is remarkable, and medical image diagnosis apparatuses has been essential for early detection of various cancers including liver cancer mentioned above.
To be specific, three-dimensional imaging by an X-ray CT system, which is combination of high-speed rotation helical scan with a multi-detector of, e.g., 64 rows, has been in practical use. Moreover, owing to increase in performance of gradient magnetic field systems, high-frequency magnetic field systems and RF coil systems, three-dimensional imaging by an MRI apparatus capable of high-speed imaging has been in practical use.
Observation of volume rendering image data, etc., obtained by these three-dimensional imaging methods has significantly increased the diagnostic ability as compared with a conventional two-dimensional imaging method.
On the other hand, an ultrasound imaging apparatus allows real-time observation using two-dimensional image data by a simple operation of making an ultrasound probe in contact with a body surface. Besides, a method of acquiring three-dimensional B-mode image data and color Doppler image data in real time by using an ultrasound probe in which transducers are one-dimensionally arranged and mechanically oscillating the transducers has been developed. Moreover, another method of acquiring three-dimensional B-mode image data and color Doppler image data in real time by using a so-called 2D array probe in which transducers are two-dimensionally arranged has been developed.
As a method for treating liver cancer mentioned above, (a) anticancer agent injection into the liver artery, (b) transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE), (c) minimally invasive therapy, (d) laparotomy, etc., are common. In recent years, the minimally invasive therapy with a simple procedure and less burden on a patient is particularly remarkable. The minimally invasive therapy includes the PEIT (Percutaneous Ethanol Injection Technique) and microwave ablation. A puncture needle used in these therapies is inserted into a patient with observation of an image displayed in real time.
Further, in recent years, RFA (Radio Frequency Ablation) has been attracting attention as one of the ablation therapies, and clinical application thereof has already begun. In this RFA, Cool Tip, which is a single needle, or RITA, which is an expandable needle, is used as the puncture needle. The puncture needle is usually inserted into a tumor percutaneously from the body surface with observation of an image, but may be inserted with observation of the surface of the liver by a laparoscope. Moreover, the puncture needle may be inserted with observation of an ultrasound image acquired by a special small ultrasound probe placed on the surface of the liver.
By performing the abovementioned puncture therapy with observation of two-dimensional image data acquired in real time by an ultrasound imaging apparatus, the efficiency of the therapy and the safety of the therapy have been drastically increased. Besides, in recent years, various puncture therapies performed with observation of a three-dimensional image have been proposed (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-125169 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-215672).
With the method according to the conventional art of performing the puncture therapy with observation of three-dimensional image data acquired in real time by an ultrasound imaging apparatus, it is possible to three-dimensionally grasp the insertion direction of a puncture needle, the position of the tip, or the like. Therefore, it is possible to further increase the accuracy of insertion of a puncture needle into a treatment target site as compared with the puncture therapy performed with observation of two-dimensional image data.
However, it is difficult to acquire three-dimensional image data representing a wide range that satisfies both high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution (real-time property). Therefore, with the method according to the conventional art described above, in the case of acquiring image data representing a relatively wide treatment target site including liver cancer or the like, and image data representing a puncture needle inserted into this treatment target site and an area surrounding the puncture needle, it is difficult to simultaneously acquire image data representing a treatment target site that requires high spatial resolution and image data representing a puncture needle and an area around the puncture needle that requires high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution in order to track the tip of the puncture needle.

Ultrasound imaging apparatus and method for generating ultrasound image


An exercise apparatus having a body including a top surface configured for being stood on by a user, a bottom surface configured for partially resting on a ground surface, a pair of oppositely located side surfaces, a front portion curving in a direction away from the ground, and a back portion oppositely located from the front portion and curving in a direction away from the ground, wherein the bottom surface is configured for enabling rotational and lateral movement of the apparatus relative to the ground.

The present application relates to exercise equipment, and more particularly, to a stand-on exercise apparatus for simulating boarding sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing.
Surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and other similar boarding activities are popular outdoor sports which generally require a user to stand on a top surface of the board body and use his legs, arms and abdominal core to maintain balance and turn the board in the desired direction. However, surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding are seasonal sports in most locations and generally cannot be performed during their respective off-seasons (i.e., winter for surfing and skateboarding, summer for snowboarding) without traveling to sites where the sports are in-season, increasing user cost. Also, surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and the like are typically not performed in inclement weather, further limiting the user's ability to exercise and train in their respective field.
To address this issue, indoor exercise apparatuses have been developed that attempt to simulate such boarding sports. Such conventional apparatuses typically include a flat or planar board having a dowel or similar roller attached to a bottom surface of the board. The user stands on the board and rocks back and forth by shifting his weight between the front foot and the back foot, exercising his arms, legs and abdominal core.
One problem with these conventional apparatuses is that they provide limited exercise by typically only enabling front to back movement. Such limited movement does not fully simulate the acts of surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding, which generally require the user to move the board not only from front to back, but also side-to-side and in some cases, in a rotational orientation. Accordingly, by not adequately simulating the actions of a surfboard, skateboard or snowboard, current exercise boards cannot sufficiently train the user to compete or participate in such sports. Another issue with conventional exercise boards is that because they typically include a dowel or roller device, they can generally only be used on hard or smooth surfaces, such as hardwood floors, cement, or the like.
Conventional exercise boards are also generally relatively heavy and therefore difficult to transport because they are manufactured from wood or other similar, laminate board materials. Further, because of these materials, current exercise boards are generally expensive to produce, increasing the final cost to the user. Also, although the dowel/roller used in current exercise boards is typically manufactured of a weather-resistant alloy or metal, because the boards themselves are manufactured from wood or laminate board, they can warp, breakdown or crack after continued use and exposure to sun, rain and other elements, requiring replacement.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved exercise apparatus that can be used year-round, that more completely simulates surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding, and is more cost effective and resilient than current exercise boards.


The invention relates to a wireless communication device that is coupled to an energy source, such as a battery, capacitor, or solar cell. The wireless communication device is coupled to a slot in the energy source to form a slot antenna for wireless communication. The slot antenna receives communication signals from an interrogation reader or other communication device. The wireless communication device may be attached to a device or container for purposes such as communicating information regarding identification, manufacturing, tracking, and the like. The wireless communication device may also be coupled to the energy source for power.

It is often desired to provide wireless communication on electronic devices. One example of such an electronic device is known as a personal digital assistant (PDA). PDAs are small computing devices that are most often powered by batteries and can store electronic information, such as contacts, emails, to-do lists, memos, notes, etc. Many electronic devices are equipped to communicate wirelessly with other electronic devices to transfer information. These devices are equipped with infrared communication ports. Some PDAs require line of sight communications that is subject to interference from surrounding light sources, but others use omni-directional radio-frequency communication.
Radio-frequency communication requires transmission and reception circuitry. Often, this circuitry is provided in the form of a radio-frequency identification device (RFID) and antenna. RFIDs are becoming smaller in size with advances in technology and are therefore able to be placed in smaller electronic devices. Many electronic devices provide enough space to include a RFID, but do not provide sufficient space for an accompanying antenna. Depending on the RFID operating frequency, antenna size varies and can be much greater in size than the RFID. Even if an electronic device provides enough space to include an antenna, designers of such electronic devices are still faced with design issues surrounding placement of the antenna.
Therefore, a need exists to provide an easier method of including an antenna for a RFID in an electronic device, and especially in a smaller electronic device, that conforms to packaging and/or size constraints.

Energy source communication employing slot antenna


In one example, an apparatus includes an extreme ultraviolet illumination source and an illuminator. The extreme ultraviolet illumination source is arranged to generate a beam of extreme ultraviolet illumination to pattern a resist layer on a substrate. The illuminator is arranged to direct the beam of extreme ultraviolet illumination onto a surface of a photomask. In one example, the illuminator includes a field facet mirror and a pupil facet mirror. The field facet mirror includes a first plurality of facets arranged to split the beam of extreme ultraviolet illumination into a plurality of light channels. The pupil facet mirror includes a second plurality of facets arranged to direct the plurality of light channels onto the surface of the photomask. The distribution of the second plurality of facets is denser at a periphery of the pupil facet mirror than at a center of the pupil facet mirror.

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is an optical lithography technique in which the scanner uses light in the extreme ultraviolet region (e.g., spanning wavelengths of approximately one to one hundred nanometers). A light source is configured to emit EUV radiation. For instance, the light source may vaporize a molten metal such as tin into a highly ionized plasma that emits the EUV radiation. The EUV radiation is subsequently guided, using a series of optics (e.g., including multilayer mirrors), into the scanner. In the scanner, the EUV radiation is used to project a pattern, which is etched into a photomask, onto a semiconductor wafer. The EUV process can be used to fabricate a high resolution pattern of features onto the semiconductor wafer, potentially at a scale of seven nanometers or beyond.

Tunable illuminator for lithography systems

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


An image processing device determines whether or not a data size per page of a received print job is greater than a preset threshold. When it is determined that the data size is greater than the threshold, the image processing device estimates a first RIP time per page, which is the time required to RIP process when a resolution of an image of the print job is not optimized, an optimization time per page, which is the time required to optimize, and a second RIP time per page when the resolution of the image of the print job is optimized. Then, the image processing device optimizes the resolution of the image of the print job on the basis of the first RIP time, the optimization time, and the second RIP time so that the rates of decreasing the resolution in each image after conversion are substantially the same.

Printing devices which permit receiving and printing data in the PDF (Portable Document Format) format (hereinafter referred to as "PDF data") have become available in recent years. For example, the time required for rasterizing (hereinafter referred to as "RIP (Raster Image Processor) processing") increases significantly in PDF data which has a large size per page, such as PDF data including a high-resolution image. In other words, the throughput of RIP processing becomes reduced as the data size per page becomes larger.
In PDF data with many pages such as business forms, for example, productivity is greatly reduced when throughput of RIP processing is less than throughput of a printer engine.
For example, there is provided in Patent Document 1 a method to solve this problem. The method described in Patent Document 1 is compressing of an image of a page to be processed when RIP processing of the page is not completed before starting of printing of the page so as to reduce the time required to RIP processing of the page.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-277466


The devices are manufactured by replacement gate process and replacement sidewall spacer process, and both tensile stress in the channel region of NMOS device and compressive stress in the channel region of PMOS device are increased by forming a first stress layer with compressive stress in the space within the first metal gate layer of NMOS and a second stress layer with tensile stress in the space within the second metal gate layer of PMOS, respectively. After formation of the stress layers, sidewall spacers of the gate stacks of PMOS and NMOS devices are removed so as to release stress in the channel regions. In particular, stress structure with opposite stress may be formed on sidewalls of the gate stacks of the NMOS device and PMOS device and on a portion of the source region and the drain region, in order to further increase both tensile stress of the NMOS device and compressive stress of the PMOS device.

With the development of the semiconductor technology, integrated circuits with higher performance and more powerful functions require greater element density. Thus, the sizes of the components need to be scaled further.
However, with the continuous reduction of the sizes of the integrated circuit, the constant material properties and physical effects for the operation of the transistor and other elements are inevitably impaired. Accordingly, in order to maintain the performance of the components, many new innovations in the design of transistors have been worked out.
The carrier mobility is a critical factor to maintain the performance of field effect transistors. When an voltage is applied to the gate isolated from the channel by a very thin gate dielectric, there are some negative influences on the current or charge flowing in the channel of the doped semiconductor caused by the carrier mobility.
It is known that the mechanical stress in the channel region of the FET may, depending on the type of carriers and the direction of the stress, significantly increase or reduce the carrier mobility. In the FET with channels usually formed along 110 orientation, the tensile stress along the direction of the source/drain region may improve the mobility of electrons while reducing the mobility of holes, which may advantageously improve the performance of the NMOS. The compressive stress along the direction of the source/drain region may improve the mobility of holes while reducing the mobility of electrons, which may advantageously improve the performance of the PMOS. A large amount of structures and materials have already been proposed in the prior art to generate tensile stress or compressive stress in semiconductor materials. For example, US2006/0160317 has already proposed a solution for improving the carrier mobility in the channel by depositing a stress layer on a MOSFET device, and then selectively etching the entire or partial gate layer.
However, the carrier mobility is typically changed by the stress layer or stress interface in prior art, which is disadvantageous to continuously reduce the size of the device and may lead to a complicated manufacturing process. Moreover, with the reduction of the size of the semiconductor device currently, the corresponding channel region is decreased accordingly. As a result, for the stress material applied to the source and/or drain regions on both sides of the channel region, when the stress material expands, the corresponding increase of the stress is very limited, which may not advantageously improve the performance of the MOSFET transistor (e.g. on-off current ratio). As a result, the COMS circuit formed by the above-mentioned method has a poor performance. Therefore, it requires a new method for manufacturing the semiconductor device, which may advantageously improve the carrier mobility at the channel region of the NMOS and/or PMOS device, and at the same time reduce the size of the device and simplify the manufacturing process.

Field effect transistor device with improved carrier mobility and method of manufacturing the same

INSTITUTE OF MICROELECTRONICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


The present invention generally relates to a keg trolley including a movable catch for catching hold under a lip of a keg. Preferably, the catch is movable so as to engage under different lips at various heights, when kegs are of different heights or placed on different types of pallets. In the preferred embodiment, the keg can be readily repositioned on a pallet by engaging the catch and moving the keg, without the need to actually touch the keg.

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.
Beer keg trolleys are used to transport unwieldy and heavy beer kegs to and from pallets.
A known type of beer keg trolley has a fixed hook for catching in a hand hole of a keg's chime lip. Undesirably, the heavy beer kegs often need to be manually handled to align the hand hole and hook, or to stabilize a rocking keg during transport, which presents work and safety issues.
Further, ramps often need to be employed when transporting elevated kegs to and from a pallet or step to align the hand hole and hook. Even so, it is often difficult to align the hook to engage within the hand hole when kegs are of different height or placed on different types of pallets.
The preferred embodiment provides an improved beer keg trolley.


For the removal of trace quantities of iodine-containing contaminants from corrosive liquid feed streams, an adsorbent with distinct advantages over prior-art materials is provided. The treatment method involves the use of a metal phthalocyanine compound where the metal selected from the group consisting of silver, mercury, copper, lead, thallium, palladium, or mixtures thereof. Such metals are known to be reactive with the iodine-containing contaminants in the feed stream. Furthermore, the metal phthalocyanine is deposited on a carrier material selected from the group consisting of an activated carbon, a phenolic polymer, and an inorganic refractory metal oxide. Such adsorbent materials have proven substantially insoluble even in corrosive liquid feed streams associated with the invention. Reactivation and regeneration techniques, which are generally incompatible with prior-art adsorbent materials, are also disclosed.

Methanol carbonylation, the reaction of methanol with carbon monoxide, is used to produce a significant share of the world's acetic acid and represents the basis for virtually all new acetic acid capacity. The fundamental process, whereby methanol and carbon monoxide are reacted in the presence of a rhodium catalyst and methyl iodide promoter, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,329 and has become well-known as the "Monsanto process". Although numerous improvements have since been developed, the use of an iodine-containing promoter, either as an organic iodide or metal iodide salt, has proven necessary to obtain industrially-competitive reaction rates and production economies.
Unfortunately, the use of any suitable iodine-containing promoter invariably results in the incorporation of trace iodine and organic iodide impurities into the final acetic acid product. These contaminants result from numerous transformations (thermal cracking, recombination, isomerization, etc.) of the iodine-containing catalyst promoters which occur not only in the reactor but also in downstream equipment, such as distillation column reboilers and recycle lines. A resulting array of C.sub.1 to C.sub.10 organic alkyl iodide species is produced, which are removed from the acetic acid product with varying degrees of effectiveness via the standard distillation steps used in downstream purification. Additionally, iodine may be present in the acetic acid product in the form of hydrogen iodide or iodide salts. Ultimately, without supplemental treatment to remove trace iodine-containing contaminants, product acetic acid made using methanol carbonylation technology with even the most careful fractionation steps, will still contain a small amount, typically below about 100 parts per billion (ppb) of total iodine (both organic and inorganic) by weight.
The interest in a process for essentially complete removal of iodine-containing contaminants from acetic acid stems from the large share (about 40 to 50%) of its use as a precursor for vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) synthesis. Current methods of VAM production rely on a catalyst which is intolerant to even minute levels of iodine-containing compounds in the acetic acid feedstock. Therefore, the VAM production costs associated with reduced catalyst life increase dramatically with increasing feed iodine concentration.
Several disclosures in the prior art present techniques for the selective removal of iodine-containing species from process streams such as nuclear reactor containment environment off gases as well as emissions from spent nuclear fuel reprocessing operations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,467 addresses the removal of radioactive iodine-containing materials from the gaseous waste streams generated either during normal nuclear fuel reprocessing operations or even in the event of a fuel element cladding failure whereby radioactive methyl iodide is formed in significant amounts. The solution proposed in the '467 patent is a zeolite X molecular sieve exchanged with silver for treating the gaseous waste stream. All cited examples referring to the adsorptive ability of this formulation are based on performance in a dry air stream contaminated with trace radioactive methyl iodide. The structures of X-type zeolites are known to have aluminosilicate frameworks with maximum silica to alumina molar ratios of about 3 and pore openings typically in the range of 7 to 8 .ANG..
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,786, an alternate solution for filtering radioactive iodine-containing compounds from nuclear facility exhaust gases in the event of an accident is proposed. In offering an improvement over the prior art, the '786 patent recognizes the practical deficiencies of silver-exchanged zeolite X adsorbent for this service under high humidity conditions. The improvement offered is a different type of adsorbent, characterized as a high silica to alumina molar ratio pentasil zeolite. The adsorbent specified is exemplified by the well-known ZSM-5 type material, which is clearly described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,886 as having ten-member rings forming medium-sized pores in the range of 5.1 to 5.6 .ANG.. The teachings and specific examples of the '786 patent are restricted to pentasil zeolites having silica to alumina molar ratios in the range of 15 to 100, preferably 20 to 50.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,850, another solution for methyl iodide removal from gaseous streams is presented, whereby a silver-exchanged "binderless" zeolite material, composed of 80 to 90% zeolite X and 10 to 20% zeolite A, is used. Among the possible candidates for zeolite X materials, those having the faujasite structure are of particular interest. As mentioned previously, zeolite X formulations generally have a maximum silica to alumina molar ratio of 3. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,084, the progress of treating radioactive iodine-containing gas streams is continued, where the problem of the proposed silver-exchanged zeolite material catalyzing the highly exothermic reaction of hydrogen and oxygen and, in the extreme case, causing catalytic ignition of hydrogen, is solved. According to the '084 patent, this undesired side reaction is suppressed when a heavy metal such as lead is added to the silver-exchanged adsorbent. The underlying zeolite compositions of the preferred materials in this patent and the previously-mentioned '850 patent are identical.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,737, gaseous radioactive methyl iodide removal is further addressed in a multi-step treatment procedure where the initial gas purification is performed with a silver-exchanged zeolite exemplified by zeolite X. After iodine-compound breakthrough, regeneration and concentration steps are undertaken, which involve i) withdrawing the spent adsorbent from contact with the gaseous waste stream, ii) subjecting the adsorbent to desorption conditions with a hydrogen-rich stream to produce a hydrogen iodide containing off gas, and iii) treating this effluent gas with a lead-exchanged zeolite to re-adsorb and concentrate the desorbed hydrogen iodide. Lead-exchanged zeolite X is specifically cited as achieving the desired result for the final adsorption step. The advantage of the multi-step treatment is that the long-term storage of the contaminated material is less expensive for the lead-exchanged zeolite, compared to a silver-exchanged material.
In spite of these continuing developments and improvements in trace iodine and organic iodide removal from gaseous effluent streams, the methods employed have been found unsuitable for the more difficult problem of iodine-containing compound adsorption from corrosive liquids, such as commercial acetic acid product streams. Adsorbent carrier materials of the prior art such as zeolite X and zeolite A, which are classified as having low silica to alumina molar framework ratios (typically below 5), have experimentally been proven to be unstable in acetic acid. This means that the dissolution (or leaching) rate of framework components into the liquid is sufficiently large to render such materials ineffective for iodine-containing compound adsorption service in corrosive liquid media. Depending on the specific silica to alumina framework molar ratio, the pentasil zeolites, exemplified in prior art gas-phase iodine-containing compound removal using ZSM-5, are significantly more stable in acetic acid than zeolite types X and A. However, the pore sizes of pentasil zeolites, as determined by their molecular aluminosilicate crystal channel width, are too small to effectively allow passage of the straight- and branched-chain C.sub.3 to C.sub.8 alkyl iodides which are generally present as contaminants in commercial acetic acid product streams. In contrast, the iodine-containing compounds present in industrial nuclear power plant waste gases are normally radioactive molecular iodine and methyl iodide only.
Other teachings more specifically apply to iodine-compound removal from corrosive liquid media, where the principal area of concern, as described previously, is in the manufacture of carboxylic acids such as acetic acid via a process which results in a product stream contaminated with trace amounts of iodine-containing byproducts. Thus far, techniques such as adsorptive distillation, iodine scavenger addition, alkyl iodide oxidation to molecular iodine, and others have not achieved practical utility, because such methods not only fail to achieve the extremely low levels of iodine-containing compounds demanded industrially but also require additional purification steps. For this reason, far greater emphasis has been placed on the development of solid materials capable of adsorbing essentially all iodine-containing compounds from acetic acid streams.
For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,230, the use of activated carbon fiber is contemplated for this purpose. However, the examples demonstrate the removal of molecular iodine and hydrogen iodide only and fail to specifically disclose the level of iodine-containing compounds in the treated acetic acid stream. In the case of iodine-compound removal from acetic acid, it is the ability of the invention to provide a treated product with only extremely minute levels of total iodine which primarily determines its practical utility. It is known in the art that activated carbon alone can neither remove iodine-containing compounds from commercial acetic acid streams to single parts per billion levels, nor can it effectively remove organic iodide species, such as methyl iodide and hexyl iodide which are commonly present in these product streams, without the use of an iodine-reactive metal.
Recently, considerable development efforts in acetic acid purification technology have focused on resins containing iodine-reactive metals such as silver, mercury, copper, lead, thallium, palladium, or combinations of these metals known to react with iodine-containing compounds to form insoluble complexes. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,806, the removal of these impurities is achieved with a macroreticulated strong acid cation-exchange resin which is stable in the organic medium and has at least one percent of its active sites converted to the silver or mercury form, presumably by cation-exchange. The use of macroreticulated resins is claimed as an advance over the prior art formulations, which are generally characterized as gel-type ion-exchange resins, for this service. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,981, other silver-exchanged resins are offered, along with a novel technique for preparing such resin compositions. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,058, a performance benefit is claimed, whereby the subject resin contains thiol functional groups, compared to the prior art sulfonate functional groups, which are exchanged with the iodine-reactive metal. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,524, the resin degree of crosslinking is decreased somewhat, resulting in improved silver utilization. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,685, the iodine-reactive metal is coordinated, as a salt, with a polymeric resin, rather than being ionically-bound to a cation-exchange resin. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,976, a resin guard bed without the iodine-reactive metal is placed upstream of the metal-exchanged resin to scavenge any metal cations in the acetic acid stream which would otherwise potentially displace the iodine-reactive metal. Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,279, an improved method of operating the iodine-compound removal step is disclosed in order to reduce the amount of leaching of the iodine-reactive metal into the treated acetic acid effluent stream. As noted in this reference, the dissolution of the iodine-reactive metal is acknowledged as a problem for iodine-compound removal techniques of the prior art whereby metal-exchanged resins are applied.
While the invention of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,806 patent and other modified resin-based formulations have been used commercially with some success, resins in general suffer some disadvantages, in addition to the previously-mentioned metal loss, when used in the acetic acid environment of the present invention. More specifically, resins, even those characterized as "stable" are known to "swell" or increase in diameter by as much as 50% when exposed to an organic medium, making bed design difficult. Resins are also vulnerable to decomposition at relatively mild conditions and are furthermore susceptible to chemical attack by corrosive reagents. These factors additionally complicate the use of a resin-based material for the purification of acetic acid.
Also associated with the application of resins in this service is a narrowly-limited range of acceptable operating temperatures due to decomposition, softening, loss of strength, or other detrimental structural changes resulting from thermal effects. Typically, resins begin to chemically decompose at 100 to 200.degree. C., resulting in destruction of their fundamental networks and ion-exchange sites. For example, the preferred resin of the '806 patent is essentially a sulfonated copolymer of styrene and divinylbenzene, and at relatively mild temperatures the acid exchange sites are susceptible to acid-catalyzed desulfonation which leads to release of not only metal cations but also sulfur-containing compounds into the liquid effluent stream. Such materials interfere with further chemical processing of this product. As noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,279, operation of the iodine-compound removal step in an acetic acid medium at elevated temperature is beneficial in terms of improving the rate of the desired reaction, which leads to the formation of insoluble metal iodides. However, the resin-based materials traditionally employed for the treatment of acetic acid streams are generally incompatible with high temperature operation.
The problem therefore addressed by the present invention is to provide an adsorbent for use in removing iodine-containing compounds from commercial acetic acid feed streams where the adsorbent is free of the substantial temperature restrictions, chemical exposure effects, and swelling problems associated with the typical organic materials used in the prior art. There are significant teachings in the prior art associated with the use of non-resin adsorbents that point away from their utility in this treatment service. In particular, in the comparative example recited in U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,806 (column 6, lines 36 to 49), a silver-exchanged zeolite, characterized as 1/16 inch 5A molecular sieve pellets, was tested in acetic acid for contaminant methyl iodide removal and found to be unstable as evidenced by the continuous silver leaching from the adsorbent and the finding of a yellowish precipitate in the treated effluent. Given this discouraging result, it is remarkable that a suitable non-resin adsorbent for use in this corrosive environment has been discovered.
The adsorbent material is a metal phthalocyanine compound deposited on a solid carrier which is substantially insoluble in the acetic acid solution. The metal phthalocyanine compound contains any iodine-reactive metal which is capable of immobilizing the iodine-containing compound reactants onto the adsorbent. The metal phthalocyanine also contains any suitable phthalocyanine derivative, such as the sulfonate- or carboxylate-substituted forms. The solid carrier includes various well-known adsorptive materials used general as catalyst supports. Such carriers must be capable of substantially retaining the metal phthalocyanine compound during the process of treating the iodine-compound contaminated feed. Furthermore, the carrier must suffer from neither unacceptable dissolution in corrosive acetic acid feed streams nor any significant swelling or thermal degradation effects. Specific carriers which are suitable for this application include activated carbon and phenolic polymer, as well as inorganic refractory metal oxides such as silica, titania, zirconia, and others.

Method for treating a liquid stream contaminated with an iodine-containing compound using a solid absorbent comprising a metal phthalocyanine


A device for the inflation of an inflatable life vest, notable in that it includes a storage casing containing at least two cartridges of pressurized gas which are arranged side-by-side and touching one another to form a row, and a release casing comprising at least one striker device that makes it possible, in the event of activation, to puncture each of the said cartridges simultaneously or in succession to release the gas they contain in gaseous form to the outside of the inflation device through at least one orifice made on the release casing, the said storage and release casings being in the overall shape of a flattened hollow parallelepiped and joined together removably and in a manner that is gastight with respect to the gas contained in the said cartridges.

With the democratisation of horse riding and skiing, and in particular skiing called "extreme skiing", such as off-piste skiing, it has been sought to develop systems intended to protect, during falls, motorcyclists, horse riders or skiers, and more specifically, the most exposed parts of their bodies such as, for example, the neck, the chest, the spine, the abdomen and the hips.
Thus, protections called "smart protections" have been developed. This type of protection is conventionally constituted of a very compact inflatable life vest, and capable of being inflated very quickly by a gas, during the fall of the wearer, to avoid the latter from violently impacting the ground. The functioning of this vest is similar to the functioning of airbags installed in vehicles.
Thus, the inflatable vest comprises a sealed airbag pocket capable of being inflated and being integrated in a textile and distributed around the body of the user so as to protect certain zones of the body previously identified, said pocket could be itself integrated in the form of lining of a jacket. Said inflatable vest also comprises an inflatable device connected to the two wheels or horse by a strap and capable of making it possible to release a gas, conventionally carbon dioxide CO2, contained in a liquefied gas cartridge.
One of the main problems encountered during the development of these active protections is to make it possible for the quick and complete deployment of the inflatable life vest, said active protections furthermore not having to cause additional injuries to the users.
Yet, currently, according to the size of the inflatable vest, the gas cartridge can be large. Indeed, current inflatable devices are composed of a cylindrical CO2 cartridge of diameter of 30 millimetres, and of a length of 140 millimetres. The inflatable device also comprises a striker device to puncture said cartridge and release the gas that it contains, the assembly thus obtained thus having generally the following dimensions:                length=210 to 230 millimetres,        width=40 to 45 millimetres,        thickness=35 to 40 millimetres.
Moreover, this type of inflatable devices is conventionally placed at the front of the inflatable vest, just under the chest, and can cause a discomfort, in particular for average-sized people (less than 1.70 metres) during taking part in motorcycling or riding. Indeed, the inflatable device can create compression points at the level of the groin and under the chest of the motorcyclist or rider, as the latter is very often in a slightly curved position towards the front.
In addition, at the level of appearance, the height and the thickness of these types of inflatable devices makes the clothes asymmetrical and therefore ungainly.
For these two reasons in particular, these types of inflatable devices are not very suitable for taking part in motorcycling or horse riding.
Moreover, during a fall onto the front of the wearer of the vest, the inflatable device is found "compressed" between the ground and the wearer, and can, given the dimensions of the cartridge, create a localised punching force at the level of the chest and/or of the abdomen and lead to lesions.
Finally, during the release of the gas (CO2) which is stored in liquid state in the pressurised cartridge, the depression leads to the vaporisation of the CO2. However, the vaporisation phenomenon requires a heat quantity input with the outside of the cartridge. In the absence of this heat input, the vaporisation is slowed down, even incomplete, which has the effect of a slower, even partial inflation of the vest, and therefore an increased risk of injuries for the wearer, during a fall.
Also, inflation devices such as those described, in particular in patent applications BE 337 871, GB 1 122 864 or also U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,863 are known, but the latter are complex to implement and lack reliability.


A flexible anchor member comprising a member for placement about a body part; at least one substantially inextensible textile element circumscribing the member and secured to itself or the member; and a force transfer coupler coupling a portion of the at least one substantially inextensible textile element to an actuator such that the substantially inextensible textile element constricts about the member for a duration of an applied force. Another flexible anchor member comprising an outer member including a substantially inextensible textile material configured for directing a force applied by an actuator to act upon all or a portion of the body part; an inner member for positioning between the body part and the outer member, a first surface of the inner member configured for frictionally engaging the body part or intervening clothing; and at least one coupler for coupling the outer member and the inner member.

Many exosuits, joint braces, and other wearable systems and devices configured for supporting and/or assisting motion of the body face challenges in terms of both securely and comfortably interfacing with the body. Flexible materials are often used so as to not inhibit natural motion of the body; however, it can be difficult to securely anchor such materials to body parts without the constant use of uncomfortably high levels of compressive forces. Natural motion of the body, as well as cyclical relaxation and contraction of underlying musculature, often causes such wearable systems and devices to migrate from desired positions on the body, which can reduce effectiveness and cause wearer discomfort and annoyance. Further, applied forces such as those generated by an actuator or passive element (e.g., a spring), may cause migration as well as potentially deform (e.g., scrunch up or stretch) flexible materials used in these wearable systems. According, an improved design is needed for both comfortably and securely engaging the body with wearable systems and devices.

Flexible members for anchoring to the body

President and Fellows of Harvard College


An image forming apparatus including a transmission mechanism transmitting a driving force in a transmission direction from a driving source to an output unit, the transmission mechanism including a movable gear configured to move between a transmission position where, when the driving source generates the driving force in a first rotational direction, and a clutch is in a rotating state, the movable gear is allowed to rotate without contacting a lock member, and a restriction position where, when the driving source generates the driving force in a second rotational direction, the clutch is in an idling state, the movable gear is restricted from rotating by contact with the lock member.

1. Technical Field
The following description relates to one or more aspects of an image forming apparatus configured to perform image formation in an electrophotographic method.
2. Related Art
As an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a tandem type printer has been known that includes a plurality of development units corresponding to a plurality of colors such as yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, respectively.
As the tandem type printer, a printer has been proposed that is configured to collectively establish and break power transmission connections for driving image carrying bodies of the development units for yellow, magenta, and cyan, by switching a state of an electromagnetic clutch between a hold state and an open state. Thereby, the printer is allowed to switch its recording mode between full-color recording and monochrome recording.


A load retainer assembly includes a pair of lower and upper plates pivotably mounted on a main shaft, and an inverting mechanism provided between the lower and upper plates that, as the lower plate is driven to pivot, causes the upper plate to pivot in the opposite direction to the pivoting direction of the lower plate. The load retainer assembly further includes a first retaining member for interconnecting distal end portions of a pair of links pivotably connected to one end of the lower plate and one end of the upper plate, respectively, and a second retaining member for interconnecting distal end portions of another pair of links pivotably connected to the other end of the lower plate and the other end of the upper plate, respectively. A suction pad is attached to each of the retaining members to retain a load by suction. The first and second retaining members are movable toward and away from each other by causing the upper plate to pivot in the opposite direction to the pivoting direction of the lower plate, and with this arrangement the load retainer assembly can be moved between folded and unfolded positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to load retainer assemblies and load retaining apparatus which retain a load, such as a workpiece, by means of a plurality of suction pads to carry the thus-retained load to a desired place, and more particularly to an improved load retainer assembly and load retaining apparatus which allow the individual suction pads to be adjusted in position as desired.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known various apparatus for retaining a load by means of suction pads to carry the load to a desired place, an example of which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI-7-206211 under the title of "Load Carrier Apparatus". The disclosed carrier apparatus includes a beam-shaped carrier body, and a pair of retaining frames connected to the carrier body in such a way that the retaining frames are movable, via associated electric motors, along the length of the body so as to adjust a distance between the two. On each of the retaining frames is mounted a suction pad holder for sliding movement on and along the retaining frame, and a disk-shaped suction pad is attached to each of the holders for adhering to and retaining a load by suction. Also, drive means, such as feed screws or motors, are provided on the retaining frames in order to move the respective suction pad holders.
However, in the disclosed carrier apparatus arranged as above, the retaining frames are each fixed in length (i.e., have an invariable length), and the retaining frames would often strike a wall or the like in a small working place, making the load carrying operations considerably difficult. Further, because the drive means, such as feed screws or motors, for moving the suction pad holders are provided on the retaining frames and the motors for adjusting the distance between the retaining frames are mounted on the carrier body, the carrier apparatus has a relatively great total weight, which would give a very heavy load on the driving and supporting mechanisms of the apparatus.

Load retainer assembly and retaining apparatus


A bias current servo loop for a magneto-resistive recording head detects distortion in the read signal from the MR head, and adjusts the operating point for the head to minimize the distortion. The distortion is detected by monitoring the second harmonic of a digitized sample of the read signal. A running average of the digitized amplitude of the second harmonic is generated by a digital bandpass filter. The root mean square of the running average of the digitized amplitude of the second harmonic is estimated. The estimated RMS value is compared against a reference value indicative of minimum distortion and the difference between the estimated RMS value and the reference value is used to adjust the bias current.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a method and apparatus for reading and writing on magnetic recording media with a magneto-resistive head. More particularly, this invention relates to linearizing the transfer characteristic of the magneto-resistive head.
2. Description of Prior Art
The transfer characteristic of Magneto-Resistive (MR) recording heads in reading or writing signals on magnetic media is very dependent on the bias current applied to the recording head. The bias current sets the operating point of the head. If the operating point is in the most linear portion of the resistance variation with magnetic field, then the transfer characteristic from sensed magnetic field to output signal from the head will be substantially linear and free of distortion.
The prior art teaches various bias circuits for MR heads that are designed to set the optimum bias current for an MR head. U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,086 by J. D. Harr, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,144 by K. B. Klassen are each directed to a bias circuits for MR heads. The circuits are designed to set the bias current to compensate for manufacturing variations in the resistance of the heads. U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,775 issued to T. A. Schwarz uses an additional MR element and a bias circuit to compensate the MR head and its bias current for thermal drift.
The prior art compensates for manufacturing tolerances in the heads, it compensates for slow variations in the heads such as thermal drift, but the prior art does not teach a solution to the problem of controlling the MR heads dynamically in real time to keep them operating at the correct bias current for optimum performance.

Bias servo loop for magneto-resistive read/write head

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of inducing bone growth in a living animal consists of implanting in the soft tissue or bone of the animal a bone morphogenetic protein-free, ceramic consisting of a calcium phosphate which is at least partially resorbable, and leaving the ceramic in place until new bone growth is induced.

It is known that osteogenin and other bone morphogenic proteins when implanted into the soft tissue of an animal, such as a rabbit, a rat or a dog, induce the formation of new bone. Such compounds are considered osteoinductive. It also is known that ceramics, especially calcium hydroxyapatite and other calcium phosphates and mixtures thereof, are osteoconductive (i.e., when placed next to viable bone they provide a framework for the rapid incorporation of connective tissue and subsequent bone ingrowth).
The ceramics are inorganic and do not normally cause an immunological reaction. However, the bone morphogenic proteins may cause an undesirable immunological response.
It obviously would be desirable to have a method of inducing bone growth in animals, including humans, without using bone morphogenic proteins that might cause an undesirable immunologic response in the animals.