A direct network connection is established between a customer network and a service provider network. Computing resources are then provisioned in the service provider network in an automated fashion. The network connection between the service provider network and the customer network is also configured such that data can be transmitted from one of the computing resources to another one of the computing resources by way of at least a portion of the customer network. Test data is then transmitted from one computing resource to another computing resource by way of at least a portion of the customer network. One or more test results are then generated based upon characteristics of the transmission of the test data from one resource to the other resource by way of the customer network. The resources may be de-provisioned in an automated fashion following completion of the testing.

Network-based service providers exist that allow customers to purchase and utilize computing resources, such as virtual machine instances, on a permanent or as-needed basis. In addition to virtual machine instances, these types of services typically allow customers to purchase and utilize other types of computing resources. For example, customers might be permitted to purchase access to and use of block data storage services, database services, networking resources, and other types of computing resources. Utilizing these computing resources as building blocks, customers of such a service can create custom "solutions" that provide various types of functionality, such as application hosting, backup and storage, content delivery, World Wide Web ("Web") hosting, enterprise information technology ("IT") solutions, database services, and others.
In order establish private, dedicated connectivity between a customer network and a service provider network providing computing resources such as those described above, a direct network-to-network connection might be established between the customer network and the service provider network. Utilizing such a direct network-to-network connection between the customer network and the service provider network might provide various benefits to the customer including, but not limited to, reducing bandwidth costs by lowering the amount of data transmitted over the Internet, providing consistent network performance, and providing private connectivity to computing resources within the service provider network.
It can sometimes be challenging, however, to test the connectivity and performance of a direct network-to-network connection between a customer network and a service provider network. This challenge often stems from the fact that the individuals provisioning the direct network-to-network connection (e.g. individuals at a telecommunications company) are not the same individuals that will configure and utilize the computing resources provided by the service provider. The individuals provisioning the connection, therefore, might be unfamiliar with the configuration and use of the computing resources provided by the service provider. Moreover, testing the connectivity and performance of a direct network-to-network connection between a customer network and a service provider network often requires that trained individuals be present at both sides of the connection (i.e. one individual located at the customer premises and one individual located at the service provider premises). Having trained individuals at both sides of a network connection is not, however, always practical or economical.
The disclosure made herein is presented with respect to these and other considerations.

Automated testing of a direct network-to-network connection


System and method for filtering a misfire data stream having numerical values that indicate whether a firing of a cylinder was a misfire or a proper firing, to yield an optimum measurement misfire-rate for accurate and rapid determination of whether an engine is misfiring beyond a threshold level. The method includes measuring firings of the cylinder during operation of the engine to produce measured cylinder firing signals, processing the measured cylinder firing signals received to produce a current misfire detection data stream of first and second logic signals, wherein the first logic signals indicate a current misfire condition and the second logic signals indicate a current normal firing of the engine, combining the current misfire detection data stream with previously detected and stored measured data representing an engine misfire rate, replacing the previously stored measured data by the combined current and previously stored data to produce a misfire rate output measurement, storing threshold values, comparing the combined current and previously stored data and the stored threshold values, generating an actuation signal if the combined current and previously stored data signal exceeds the stored threshold values, and indicating a misfire condition in the engine upon receiving the actuation signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for filtering a misfire-detection data-stream received from a multi-cylinder combustion engine, and more specifically to filtering a misfire data stream received during engine operation to yield an optimum measurement misfire-rate for accurate and rapid determination of the extent to which an engine is misfiring.
2. Related Art
Most automobiles employ a catalytic converter to reduce the amount of pollutants in engine exhaust. However, when a cylinder misfires (i.e., no or an incomplete combustion occurs) unburned fuel escapes into the exhaust system. This causes two problems: 1) tailpipe emissions of pollutants increase; and 2) high amounts of unburned fuel enter the catalytic converter causing excessive heat, which can permanently damage or destroy the catalytic converter.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), as well as other state and federal agencies, have identified engine misfires as a contributor to vehicle emissions and a cause of poor catalyst performance. They have instituted regulations that require misfire detection systems be implemented in automobile on-board diagnostics to alert drivers (typically on the instrument panel), when a misfire measurement rate exceeds a threshold mandated by such agencies.
The aim of the regulations is to determine an accurate measurement of the misfire rate and to alert the driver as soon as possible when a misfire rate exceeds thresholds enumerated in the regulations. There are three important parameters to consider in order to carry out the regulations established by CARB and other agencies (hereinafter "CARB"). They are as follows: 1) threshold rate R.sub.th (set by CARB--the rate of misfire determined to cause emissions that are too high; 2) time constant (set by CARB--the length of a "window" over which measurements of the average misfire rate is taken); and 3) false alarm rate R.sub.fa, which represents a frequency of occurrence of normal firings which are incorrectly classified as misfirings. It should be noted that the false alarm rate R.sub.fa is calculated internally by misfire detection systems and should not be confused with false indications of failures, which occurs when a misfire detection system alerts an operator of a failure (that is, the misfire measurement rate exceeding the threshold) based on an incorrect determination that the misfire rate exceeds a predetermined threshold (such an incorrect determination, however, may be due to a high false alarm rate R.sub.fa).
CARB's desire to have the threshold rate (R.sub.th) as low as possible to minimize pollution is a basic competing interest with the automobile manufacturers' desire to have R.sub.th higher to avoid false indications of failure. Additionally, CARB prefers a short time constant (to obtain measurements quickly to avoid irreversible damage to the catalytic convert), whereas automobile manufactures prefer a longer time constant (to obtain accurate measurements). Long time constants provide measurements taken over a large number of samples and provide a more accurate estimation of the true misfire rate, but provide a slower response time when an unacceptable misfire rate occurs. Whereas short time constants provide a fast response time to unacceptable misfire rates, they often increase the likelihood of a false indication of failure. The reason is that to obtain a fast response a smaller measurement sample is used to evaluate misfire-rate. Temporary statistical fluctuations that occur during routine driving conditions are not filtered out of the true misfire-rate measurement and thus may appear to represent an unacceptable misfire rate. Whereas in-fact it is a false indication of failure.
Both the regulatory agencies and automobile manufacturers desire a low indication of failure. False indications are very costly to consumers and automobile manufactures in terms of unnecessary service costs (possible recall), wasted time, and so forth. Both regulatory agencies and automobile manufactures require a fast response time to misfire rates beyond threshold limits. Therefore, there is a need to measure misfire-rate accurately and rapidly to identify when engine misfire rates exceeds threshold limits.

System and method for filtering a misfire detecting data stream to yield optimum measurement of misfire rate


An adapter device for use in a combat training system communicates between an anti-personnel training device and a user monitoring device in a training exercise. The anti-personnel training device may be a simulated improvised explosive device including a trigger and an output arranged to output a simulated attack, for example light and sound representative of an explosion, in response to activation of the trigger. The user monitoring device, for example existing training products, such as the Stressvest™ system, the IR Tactical System™, or the MILES™ system, is worn by a user and includes an input which receives a hit signal indicative of the user being hit and an indicator output arranged to indicate the user has been hit. The adapter device has an input sensor to sense the simulated attack of the anti-personnel training device and a signal output to output a hit signal detectable by the user monitoring device.

There are numerous improvised explosive training devices designed to replicate actual Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). The training devices are similar to real LEDs in appearance and are designed to be activated in the same manner as a real IED. Once activated, a loud rapport is created by using either a pyrotechnic, electrical or compressed gas system. This rapport is designed to simulate the noise of an explosion. This creates a realistic stimulus to assist training students to defend against IED attacks.
Obviously, the environment that real LED's will be encountered are typically war zones or extreme high risk situations for law enforcement, such as active shooter events. As a result, IED's are almost exclusively found in arenas where the intended targets are soldiers or law enforcement officers who are armed with firearms. Trainers have recognized the importance of replicating the acute stress environment of combat in training.
"Research has shown that, for some tasks, normal training procedures (training conducted under normal, non-stress conditions) often do not improve task performance when the task was to be performed under stress conditions (Zakay & Wooler, 1984) These results suggest that, under certain conditions, the transfer of training from classroom conditions to operational conditions may be poor when there are no stress-inclusive simulations or training."—Cannon, J. A. & Salas, E. (1998). Making Decisions Under Stress. In Driskell, James E. & Johnston, Joan H. Stress Exposure Training (pp. 193) Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. This understanding has led to the development of several "force on force" training products that create a pain penalty to the student to create stress during training. Unfortunately, the training IED's being utilized in training do not create a pain penalty and as a result, does not create the level of stress required for adequate training.

Adapter for communicating between an anti-personnel training device and a user worn monitoring device


A tunnel connection is enabled between a user terminal and a service provider using a simpler network configuration.

A service provider that provides Internet services and a user terminal that uses the services have been conventionally connected to each other via a carrier network (or a wide area multi-service network).
FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system according to a conventional art.
This communication system 110 is configured to include user terminals (end user terminals) 120 such as a home gateway, service providers 130 that provide services using the Internet 132, and a carrier network 140 that connects these elements to each other (e.g., a line concentration carrier network provided by a telecommunications carrier).
The carrier network 140 is an IP network and is configured to include edge devices 142 (such as a router) that are connected to the user terminals 120, relay devices 144 (such as a router), and Point Of Interface (POI) terminals 146 (such as a gateway router) connected to the service providers 130.
Various methods can be contemplated for establishing a connection with the service provider network using the carrier network. Among these, when the following tasks in operation of the carrier network are considered, tunnel connection schemes are regarded as being particularly advantageous, and thus Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) with a user authentication function has been currently generally used (see, for example, Non Patent Literatures 1 and 2).
Examples of the tasks in operation of the carrier network that need to be taken into consideration include the following:
Achieving Flexibility for POI
Path changes (PO selections) in response to positional changes in a plurality of POls between the service provider network and the carrier network need to be supported.
More specifically, the following methods are, for example, used: a POI selection method in a case where a POI is provided independently for each service upon request from the service provider; and a PO selection method in a case where the same service provider is connected to a plurality of POIs for the sake of redundancy.
An example of a method for achieving this may include: selecting an appropriate POI by establishing a tunnel connection between an end user terminal and a PO terminal on the basis of a service according to the contract signed by a user; and further determining a POI to be connected by applying a POI selection algorithm in which the number of sessions and the like are taken into consideration.
Interconnection Between IPv6 and IPv4 Networks
To prepare for IPv6 to be used as the IP protocol of the carrier network in the future market, interconnection needs to be achieved between the carrier network (IPv6) and the service provider network operating with IPv4.
As a method for achieving this, v4 packets are transferred within the carrier network using IPv6 tunneling and the v6 tunneling is terminated at a POI (decapsulating), which enables v4/v6 interconnection.
Independent Communications for Each Contract Service
In the carrier network, communications need to be independently implemented for each service according to a contract signed by an end user to guarantee reliability.
Furthermore, the number of connections needs to be recognized for each service, and a user authentication function is also needed for the connection to the service.
As a method for achieving this, a tunnel may be separately provided for each service to make the communications independent. Furthermore, a PPPoE session management function, Radius (see Non Patent Literature 3), and the like are used in combination to achieve the safety such as user authentication.
In addition, in carrier networks, establishment and operation of a reliable network are required including network resource management such as a continuous increase in transfer capacity of the network for an increase in the traffic demand in the future and the like.

Network control device, user terminal, communication system, network control method, and network control program

Abstract: A communication system 10 includes a user terminal 20, a service provider 30, a carrier network 40 that connects the user terminal 20 and the service provider 30 to each other, and a network control device 50 that controls the carrier network 40. The network control device 50 sets respective virtual tunnel end points (VTEPs) for a POI terminal 46 that is on the carrier network 40 and that is connected to the service provider 30 and for the user terminal 20, and sets a virtual tunnel between the virtual tunnel end points. The user terminal 20 communicates with the service provider 30 via the virtual tunnel.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


A mechanical drive seal housing includes a lubricant reservoir to supplement the amount of available lubricant. The lubricant is used to cool a seal having two halves. The seal halves include complimentary textures configured to move and retain lubricant. A drive axle includes a stationary shaft and a wheel hub rotatably connected to the stationary shaft. A metal face seal is located at an interface between the stationary shaft and the wheel hub. A stationary seal half of the metal face seal is located in a mechanical drive seal housing which includes a lubricant reservoir to supplement the amount of available lubricant.

The present disclosure relates generally to lubrication systems, and more particularly to seal housings.
Many mechanical devices require lubrication systems to promote longevity of moving parts by reducing friction between parts moving relative to one another. Lubrication systems typically require seals to prevent or minimize leakage of lubricant and prevent intrusion of foreign material such as abrasives.
Mechanical drives on off-highway equipment such as dump trucks, backhoes, front end loaders, etc. are subject to abrasive media such as sand, mud, dust, etc. A metal face seal is typically used to dynamically seal mechanical drives whose undercarriages are exposed to adverse environmental conditions which occur during off-highway vehicle operations.
Some mechanical drives have high peripheral seal speeds due to the large diameter of the seals which can be greater than 500 mm. When the size of the equipment becomes very large, the peripheral speed of the rotating seal half increases and heat generation due to the high peripheral speed becomes a threat to the life of a polymer component of the seal.
In addition, for the seal to be cooled properly, it needs a constant supply of lubricant. In certain situations, the amount of lubricant supplied to a seal in mechanical drive is less than desired for optimal seal performance due to various design constraints. Also, when the seal spins, lubricant on the seal can be slung off of the seal. The lubricant slung out to the sides of the housing does not aid in cooling the seal. At high speeds, most of the lubricant is slung to the sides of the housing and very little lubricant is left on the seal.
The high peripheral seal speeds and less than desired amount of lubricant typically result in the generation of heat from friction as the seal moves relative to a sealing surface. The heat generated can be sufficiently high to shorten the life of the seal.

Controlled lubricant volume seal housing


A low cost rugged sealed fiber optic cable furcation unit is provided. The urcation unit has an outer heat shrink tube which encloses a protective tube. Within the protective tube, a spacer/fiber guide is located along with a sealant material. When installed and sealed, the sealed furcation unit includes fiber ends and cables. The furcation unit allows loose tube fiber optic cables or tube ducts within Air Blown Fiber (AEF) cables to be furcated into multiple single fiber cables. The furcation unit is compatible with both 250 micrometer and 500 micrometer coated optical fibers. The furcation unit is also compatible with common single fiber optical connectors and splices.

In recent years, electro-optical equipment has begun to replace electronic equipment for certain applications, such as telecommunication and data communication networks. This trend should continue because the electro-optical equipment has inherent advantages over purely electronic equipment. These advantages include a broader bandwidth for signal transmission, greater storage capability for data, and inherent immunity to electromagnetic interference. Given these advantages of electro-optical equipment, fiber optic cables have become increasingly important because they transmit information and signals between the various pieces of electro-optical equipment.
The appearance of these cables resemble electrical cables, but fiber optic cables are smaller in size and lighter in weight. Fiber optic cables comprise optical fibers and other cable elements which are protected from the external environment by an external jacketing. These cables may be of a traditional design with the fibers surrounded by strength members and protective elements in the cable core or of a more non-traditional, loosely-bundled type with the fibers contained loosely within tubes or ducts in a cable core.
Whether traditional or loosely-bundled, all types of optical fiber cables may contain groups of optical fibers with no individual protective jacketing or strength members. These fibers are typically 250 micrometers or 500 micrometers in diameter. At the ends of the fiber optic cables, the small unprotected fibers must be removed from the outer protective cable structure and inserted into fiber optic connection devices (connectors or splices). Due to the small size of the fibers and the lack of protective coverings over the individual fibers, connectorization and splicing is difficult. Special protective equipment must be used to organize the loose fibers and to protect the completed connections. In order to make the installation of fiber cables reliable and efficient, a furcation unit is needed which allows individual optical fibers to be easily handled, connectorized, and spliced. Further. in order to prevent degradation of the prepared fibers, the furcation unit must protect the fiber ends from moisture, dust, and other contaminants.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A system for medically treating/vaccinating an individual comprising a first syringe, containing an anticoagulant material therein, for drawing a sample of blood from the individual. A centrifuge is provided for centrifuging the sample of blood contained within the first syringe to obtain a buffy coat. A second syringe comprising a second plunger and at least one microtubule member containing one of a treatment agent and a vaccine antigen. At least one open end formed within the at least one microtubule member for drawing a portion of the buffy coat therein and exposing the buffy coat to one of the treatment agent and vaccine antigen. A second needle capable of being attached onto the second syringe for introducing the exposed sample into the individual to effect treatment/vaccination thereof. This system is capable of allowing a plurality of treatment agents and/or vaccine antigens to be simultaneously applied to an individual.

Immunization of individuals has long been a known technique for controlling diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis and, more recently, chicken pox. Conventional immunizations deliver either an attenuated live strain of a pathogen or a killed organism or an immunogenic antigen derived from the targeted pathogen or its products, or one produced using recombinant genetic technology. Classical immunization delivers the vaccine by injection or by the enteric route. This approach is very indirect, requiring the antigen to be taken up by immunocytes before or after dispersion from the injection site to the surrounding tissue. The immunocytes then migrate to lymphatic nodes or the spleen where antigen processing continues, or, for live vaccines, where the attenuated vaccine strain organisms multiply and are disseminated from. Exposure of immunocytes to the antigens or the attenuated pathogens triggers humoral and cellular mediated immune responses, which lead to absorption of antigens or elimination of attenuants followed by long lasting protection from disease caused by the respective pathogen(s).
The enteric route requires that the antigen or organism survive the numerous barriers posed by the gastric acid, digestive enzymes, competing microorganisms and biologically active lumenal or tissue substances, to reach a site from which the antigen or attenuated organism or products derived from an organism can be absorbed and can stimulate the immune system inducing a protective response. Other approaches, such as anti-idiotype immunization, or DNA injection, have been proposed but have not yet proven efficacious or safe in humans.
The routes of immunization for conventional vaccines have been parenteral (intramuscular, subcutaneous or intradermal) or oral/enteric. Evidence exists that other routes (rectal, aerosol/nasal, dermal, etc.) could be used, but various practical and safety limitations have blocked widespread applications via these routes. Direct administration of vaccines via the intravenous route has been avoided due to the possible risk of severe systemic allergies (anaphylaxis) in sensitive individuals, or the risk of embolization of vaccine components or of air.
In any case, all routes to date are modeled on the existing concept of multiple vaccinations, using individual (monovalent) or combination (polyvalent) vaccines. A reduction in the total doses needed for parenteral vaccines has been limited by the lack of lasting immune responses after only one dose of some vaccines, by interference between antigens when combined, and sometimes by safety or stability issues.
The expense of and barriers to vaccination are aggravated not only by the growing number of vaccines, doses, clinic visits for vaccinations, etc., but the need to manufacture multiple formulations free from adventitious organisms, noxious ingredients and/or contaminants or impurities. Additionally, the necessity of cold chain maintenance for many vaccines raises another barrier against vaccination in remote and impoverished areas. Also, relatively large volumes and large doses of most current vaccines are needed to ensure that some of the vaccine is injected into areas where it will come into contact with immunocytes within tissue, and to generate responses of protective magnitude.
Due to the increasing number of vaccines being introduced for disease control, an additional series of problems have arisen with the use of conventional vaccines. These problems include:
(a) Excessive expense for the vaccine products, vaccine administration, storage and clinic/office visits.
(b) Problems of compliance with costly and complex vaccination schedules.
(c) Unavailability of certain vaccines in impoverished areas.
(d) Growing dependence on health care workers for delivery of the vaccines.
(e) Lack of health care workers in many areas.
(f) Multiplicity of injections with complex schedules and injection site discomfort.
(g) Interference between certain antigens in polyvalent vaccines.
(h) Age restrictions for some vaccines.
(i) Production and supply limitations with frequent shortages.
(j) Safety concerns.
In view of the multiplicity of concerns associated with the administration of conventional vaccines, there is a need in the art for a new and revolutionary system and device for immunizing individuals, both humans and animals, which mitigates the problems enumerated above. There is also a need in the art for a new and revolutionary system and device for medically treating individuals, which would effectively deliver various types of treatment material throughout an individual's body.

System and device for medically treating an individual


Control unit for a load, in particular for a sliding sunroof control of a vehicle, having a microprocessor and having an integrated voltage regulator for generating the supply voltage of the microprocessor from the battery voltage of an on-board battery, in which case, in order to switch on the microprocessor the latter is fed its supply voltage by means of a wake-up pulse for a predetermined switch-on duration and said supply voltage is maintained as long as the microprocessor outputs trigger signals.

The invention relates to a control unit for a load, in particular, to a control unit comprising a microprocessor for controlling the load.
Control units for loads which execute various control functions, for example for drive motors of a sliding sunroof control in a vehicle, are predominantly equipped with microprocessors.
The invention is based on the object of designing such a control unit equipped with at least one microprocessor in such a way that it consumes as little quiescent current as possible and that the load is not damaged in the event of a fault in the microprocessor or the environment thereof.


A filter for use in engines or transmissions is provided comprising an inlet-side cover having a wave-like region along the periphery of the inlet-side cover, an outlet-side cover having a wave-like region along the periphery of the outlet-side cover where the outlet-side cover wave-like region is in a complementary alignment with the inlet-side cover wave-like region and filter media fixed in a non-planar configuration between the wave-like regions of the inlet-side and outlet-side covers.

In response to industry demand, transmission and engine manufacturers continue to optimize the size of their transmissions and engines. Accordingly, transmission and engine manufacturers have required smaller components from their suppliers. The imposition of smaller spatial constraints has introduced a number of challenges to suppliers of transmission and engine components, particularly in the area of filtration.
In many cases, spatial constraints have reduced the available footprint for a powertrain filter. The reduced filter footprint has reduced the available filter media surface area inside the filter. In some cases, the reduced surface area provided by conventional filter media and filter designs has introduced a number of problems including maintaining a low pressure differential across the filter during cold start-up as well as during high temperature operating conditions. As one skilled in the art will readily appreciate, maintaining a low pressure differential across the filter during cold start facilitates quick priming of the fluid pump. As one skilled in the art will also appreciate, maintaining a low pressure differential across the filter during hot operation prevents pump cavitation.
One approach to providing a low pressure differential across a filter, given a limited packaging space, has been to use less efficient filtration media. Less efficient media is less restrictive, which permits fluids to pass through the media more freely, resulting in a lower pressure differential. One drawback to this approach, however, is that using filter media that is less efficient allows larger contaminants to pass through the filter. Allowing larger contaminants to pass through the filter media is not desirable because the presence of large contaminants in the system may lead to poor shift quality or premature failure of the transmission. Another drawback to this approach is that as the filter gets smaller, the available media area also reduces causing the velocity through the media to increase resulting in lower filtration efficiency.
Another approach to providing a low pressure differential across a filter given a limited surface area has been to increase the surface area of the filter media by using it in a non-planar configuration. The most predominant non-planar media configuration that substantially improves surface area is pleating. Pleating the filter media provides a greater surface area than filter media used in a conventional bag or single layer filter configuration. The increased surface area of the filter media serves to lower the pressure differential across the filter media. One of the drawbacks to prior filter design approaches using pleated filter media is that these designs are expensive. Prior pleated filter designs have been more expensive to manufacture than a conventional transmission filter. One prior design approach requires several plastic joining operations whereas the manufacturing process for a conventional filter having media in single layer or bag format may only require one plastic joining or metal crimping operation. For example, one design of prior pleated filters requires a separate manufacturing process to form the filter media into pleats by creating a pleat-pack by way of over-molding or urethane casting. Once a pleat pack has been manufactured, the pleat pack is joined in a first plastic joining operation to a first cover and then joined to a second cover in a separate plastic joining operation. Another drawback to pleated existing non-planar media configurations is that they hold the media in a "saw-tooth" configuration in which the fluid cross-section, in the direction of fluid flow, decreases along the pleat until reaching a line at the apex of the pleat. This reduction in fluid flow area results in a higher pressure differential than would be provided by gradually reducing fluid cross-section as would be provided by more of a "trapezoidal wave" or sinusoidal non-planar fold media configuration. Some designs that make use of standard pleats hold the filter media folded at a very tight angle, perhaps as small as 15°. In such a design, the initial pleating operation may damage the media at the outset. Another drawback of such a design is that by holding the media at tight angles under high fluid velocities may result in media damage and cause lower filtration efficiency.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a transmission filter with a sufficiently low pressure differential across filter media within given spatial constraints without reducing the efficiency of the filter media, thereby permitting large contaminants to pass through the filter. It is also desirable to provide a transmission filter design with adequate filter media surface area without incurring the manufacturing expense or design drawbacks of prior pleated filter designs.

Non-planar media transmission filter apparatus and method


An image reading apparatus which includes a primary scanner for scanning an original X-ray image obtained using a grid and recorded on a recording medium with light in a primary scanning direction. A clock signal generator generates clock signals having a frequency N times as high as a frequency of pixel clock signals, wherein the pixel clock signals correspond to a desired pixel size, and wherein N is a positive integer. A converter converts a light beam from the recording medium into electric signals by a scanning operation of the primary scanner, and converts the electric signals into digital signals based on the clock signals. A low pass filter is provided which has at least one set of filter characteristics having a cut-off frequency between 1/3 and 2/3 of the frequency of the pixel clock signals for filtering the digital signals converted by the converter. A thinning mechanism thins out the filtered digital signals to 1/N in the primary scanning direction, and a memory stores a plurality of the filtering characteristics of the low pass filter. The plurality of the filtering characteristics includes the cut-off frequency of 1/3 of the frequency of the pixel clock signals, and the low pass filter has a filtering characteristic which is selected in relation to a grid density of the grid and at least one of the desired pixel size and the frequency of the pixel clock signals.

The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus used for reading images for medical use in which: an X-ray image for medical use recorded on a recording medium is subjected to 2-dimensional optical scanning using a light beam; transmitted light and stimulatively emitted light is converted into an electric signal; and the thus obtained electric signal is subjected to analog-digital conversion and sent out to a computer as image data.
In the case of taking an X-ray image for medical use, in order to remove X-rays diffused in the body of an patient, a filter referred to as a grid is frequently used. Therefore, an image of the grid is photographed on the X-ray image when the grid is used. The grid image is composed of longitudinal stripes disposed at regular intervals. Examples of the density of the stripes are: 34, 40, and 80 pieces/cm. That is, the intervals of the longitudinal stripes are various. When an image formed on a recording medium on which the grid is photographed is subjected to optical scanning so as to digitalize the image data, the following phenomenon appears. According to a relation between a sampling spatial frequency (F.sub.s) corresponding to the frequency of analog-digital conversion and a grid spatial frequency (F.sub.g) appearing when the grid image is optically scanned, aliasing is caused in the frequency region, so that a low frequency component, which is not on the original image, appears on the digital image. This is referred to as moire artifacts caused by aliasing. When a digitalized medical image is outputted onto CRT or film so as to make medical diagnosis, these moire strips are obstacles to success of medical diagnosis. FIGS. 9(a) to 9(d) are views showing a mechanism of generation of moire artifacts. In order to prevent the generation of moire patterns, F.sub.s and F.sub.g must satisfy the following inequality. EQU F.sub.s >2.multidot.F.sub.g ( 1)
The above is a well-known fact referred to as Nyquist's Sampling Theory. In order to realize this, for example, the following technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 198265/1990.For the purpose of satisfying the Nyquist Sampling Theory, an electric analog filter is applied to the image reading apparatus so that the maximum spatial frequency component (F.sub.max) in the image signal can satisfy the following equation. EQU F.sub.max =F.sub.s /2 (2)
As a result, after the amplitude of the grid image signal has been reduced, the A/D-conversion is carried out.
Recently, an image reading apparatus has been developed in which the pixel size can be variously changed in the process of digitalization. In this type of apparatus, F.sub.s can be made variable. In accordance with the above expression (2), it is necessary that the cut-off characteristic of the analog filter is made to be variable according to each F.sub.s. In the case of using an analog filter, for example, it is proposed that R and C in the apparatus are made to be variable and the cut-off frequency is controlled in accordance with the setting of CPU.
Problems caused in the above system are described as follows.
(1) Since this filter is realized in the analog circuit, the filter characteristic is changed in accordance with the environmental temperature and humidity. It is necessary to provide a complicated mechanism for the compensation of the change in the environmental temperature and humidity. Therefore, the reliability of the apparatus is deteriorated and further the cost of the apparatus is raised.
(2) Since the cut-off characteristic of an analog filter is very gentle, in order to make the amplitude at F.sub.g to be close to 0, it is necessary that the cut-off frequency (F.sub.c) of the filter is set at a point considerably lower than F.sub.g. FIGS. 10(a) to 10(c) are views showing the spectrum of an image signal obtained when an analog filter is used. When the analog filter shown in FIG. 10(b) is applied to the image shown in FIG. 10(a) in which the grid has been photographed, an amplitude of the image signal having no influence on moire artifacts is also suppressed. As a result, high frequency components of a digitalized image are reduced, so that the image sharpness is deteriorated as illustrated in FIG. 10(c).
There are two causes of moire stripes. One is aliasing of the spectrum described above, and the other is a phenomenon referred to as a beat. The phenomenon of a beat occurs when the following condition is satisfied. EQU F.sub.g .apprxeq.F.sub.s /2 (3)
As illustrated in FIG. 11(a), the amplitude of a digitized image is different according to a case in which the image signal is sampled at a position close to the top of the amplitude of the grid image and also according to a case in which the image signal is sampled at a position close to the center of the amplitude of the grid image, and as illustrated in FIG. 11(b), the envelope appears as an image of the frequency considerably lower than that of the grid image. According to the image density of the background, the degree of the influence of this phenomenon upon a human's eyes is different. In general, in a density range in which the background density is 0.6 to 1.2, human eyes are able to recognize the beat phenomenon as a problem. It is impossible to completely solve this problem by performing the filtering expressed by the above expression (2). Further, in the case of an analog filter, because of the above problem (2), it is very difficult to find the optimum condition for removing the beat phenomenon.
When the rotational speed R of the polygonal mirror is R=2000 rpm, the focal distance f of the F.theta. lens is f.theta.=380 mm and the pixel size (P.sub.size) is variable in the range from 100 to 200 .mu.m, the pixel clock F.sub.pix can be expressed by the following expression. ##EQU1##
Accordingly, the pixel clock F.sub.pix is variable in the range from 1.6 to 0.8 MHz. In this connection, the units are as follows. F.sub.pix is Hz!, R is rpm!, f is m!, and P.sub.size is m!. In this embodiment, the frequency that is 16 times as high as the frequency of the pixel clock is generated by PLL circuit in the clock generator (19), and the frequency is divided into 1/16 by the frequency divider, so that the pixel clock can be obtained. In order to make the pixel size variable, a large number of oscillators may be changed over. In the methods described above, the rotational speed of the polygonal mirror is constant, however, it is understood from the expression (4) that the pixel size can be changed even when the rotational speed of the polygonal mirror is variable. It is possible that both the pixel clock and the rotational speed of the polygonal mirror are made to be variable. Commonly, the pixel is square. Therefore, when the pixel size in the primary scanning direction is variable as described above, the medium conveyance speed in the subsidiary direction is changed at the same time, for example, by changing the pulse frequency of a pulse motor. In this way, the pixel size in the subsidiary scanning direction can be made to be variable.
The operation of cut-off of the stationary LPF (14) is fixed at 0.8 Mhz that is 1/2 of the maximum pixel clock (sample frequency) 1.6 MHz. In this case, if the pixel clock is used for A/D conversion as it is, in the case where the sampling is conducted at the minimum pixel clock 0.8 MHz, a turn is generated in the digitalized image data. As a result, there is a possibility that moire strips are caused on the image.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,006,708 and 5,028,784 disclose a means for solving the above problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,708 discloses the following means. There is provided a digital filter to cut frequency components higher than the Nyquist frequency (F.sub.s /2) for the purpose of removing noises at least in one direction of the recording sheet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,784 discloses the following means. There is provided a digital filter to cut frequency components higher than the turn component and the Nyquist frequency for the purpose of removing the moire caused by the grid at least in one direction of crossing the grid image. However, according to the above proposals, after the image information has been temporarily taken into the memory means, it is subjected to filtering processing. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an apparatus for storing the image information. Accordingly, the processing time is greatly increased. For the above reasons, it is desired to provide an apparatus having a simple structure by which the processing time can be reduced while moire artifacts generated by the grid are removed.

Image reading apparatus capable of eliminating moire on images


An imaging module and method of fabrication. The method comprises forming a first lens wafer with a plurality of outer negative lenses and forming a second lens wafer with a plurality of inner negative lenses The method further comprises bonding the first lens wafer and second lens wafer to create a bonded stack; forming a plurality of inner positive lenses on the second lens wafer and bonding a spacer wafer to the second lens wafer; and forming a plurality of outer positive lenses on the first lens wafer.

Conventional cameras use lens systems comprised of substantially spherical lenses. General design principles are applied to reduce aberrations and to achieve a desired image quality. When less aberration is desired, more lens elements are added. Examples of general structural design principles used in conventional camera lenses include symmetry around the system aperture, combining large diameter lenses with small diameter lenses, combining low dispersion (Abbe number >50) and high dispersion lenses (Abbe number <50), use of substantially spherical lenses, use of thin substrates to bend the lenses and use of artificial vignetting.
Lenses used in wireless telephones (e.g., cellular telephones) present a unique challenge because they must be compact, inexpensive, used with a digital pixel array and provide a high-quality picture. To achieve these goals, designers have used wafer-level optics (WLO), which involves packaging small lenses with the digital circuitry, including a pixel array. Currently, however, lenses used in wafer-level optics are highly aspheric, or "free form," often with aspheric coefficients of the 10th to 14th order, unlike lenses used in more traditional cameras.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a packaged lens system 101 used in a cell phone camera. Lens system 101 has an outer lens substrate 102 and an inner lens substrate 103, wherein inner lens substrate 103 is between outer lens substrate 102 and the image plane on a pixel array. Outer lens substrate 102 has one positive lens 107, and inner lens substrate 103 has two highly aspheric, or "free form" lenses 105, 106 separated by substrate 104. Outer lens substrate 102 may have a second lens as well. Lens system 101 includes a spacer 108 that is connected to inner lens substrate 103 and outer lens substrate 102 and fixes the lenses in the position shown in FIG. 1.
In current wafer-level lens designs such as the illustrated lens system 101, there is a lack of symmetry and thus strong ray bending (e.g., ray bundle W) to achieve a short total track of the imaging systems with a comparatively large focal length and small chief ray angle (CRA). Aberrations introduced by these strict specifications are reduced by introducing free form lenses 105, 106 with high aspheric coefficients. These free form lenses actually cause an increase in aberrations if, by the influence of fabrication tolerances, the ray bundles do not follow their expected path through the lenses. To reduce size, lens system 101 requires lens 106 be separated from the image plane by distance d, which also requires that lens 106 have a larger diameter than would be required if lens 106 were farther from the image plane. Moreover, fabrication of free form structures can be complicated.
Accordingly, a new fabrication method for lens systems and wafer-level lens systems is desired.

Imaging module with symmetrical lens system and method of manufacture


A method for manufacturing an inkjet print head with ink channels formed on a member including a piezoelectric body, and where ink is jetted from each of the ink channels by applying a voltage to electrodes provided on the piezoelectric body for each of the ink channels thereby driving the piezoelectric body. The method has the steps including adsorbing a catalyst onto the channel plate with the ink channel grooves; removing a part of the catalyst by a laser beam; and plating at least one side surface and a bottom surface of the channel plate to form a layer which serves as the electrodes, on the catalyst which has not been removed by the laser beam.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an ink jet print head of a shear mode type using a piezoelectric element and having a high image quality, a high speed, and a high density. An ink jet print head of a shear mode type has ink channels formed in a polarized piezoelectric substrate by cutting and grinding, and has electrodes formed on the partition walls of the channel grooves; it jets ink drops when an electric field is applied to these electrodes to cause the partition walls of the grooves to be deformed to become dog-legged shape by a shearing force, to apply a pressure to ink in the grooves. For this ink jet print head, electrodes in the grooves and connection electrodes outside the grooves which transmit a signal to the electrodes are necessary. The present invention is a new method of forming the electrodes and the connection electrodes, using a laser and an electroless plating process without using a conventional photosensitive resist.
A fundamental structure of a conventional print head will be explained by referring to FIG. 14. For example, according to the publication of the examined patent application H6-61936, a polarized piezoelectric substrate is coated with a photosensitive resist by a spinning method. In another way, a photosensitive dry film is laminated on it. Subsequently, mask exposure and development is carried out to form a pattern of ink channels. Next, grooves are formed by cutting and grinding along this pattern. Each of these grooves is not uniformly formed over the whole length, but by stopping the cutting and grinding operation on the way, a straight groove portion 100, a shallow groove portion 101 having its depth made gradually smaller, and an uncut portion 102 which is not cut and ground at all are successively formed. Subsequently, aluminum is coated by evaporation coating from an oblique direction to the grooves, to cause electrodes to be formed on the partition walls of the grooves, connection electrodes to be formed on the shallow groove portions and uncut portions. By connecting the ends of these connection electrodes to a drive circuit by flexible cables, a signal can be sent to the electrodes. However, because these shallow groove portion and uncut portion is not scarcely deformed by the application of an electric voltage, they cannot contribute to the jetting of ink drops. While this ink jet print head is driven, owing to the hysteresis loss of the piezoelectric element caused by the application of a high-frequency signal voltage, it generates heat remarkably because the electric voltage is applied also to these portions that do not scarcely contribute to ink jetting. In particular, because the uncut portions 102 do not come into direct contact with ink and is not cooled by ink, the temperature rise in these portions is large. Depending on the print pattern, it sometimes occurs that some channels do a larger number of times of ink jetting and other channels do a smaller number of times of ink jetting. Because heat generation is larger in channels of a larger number of times of ink jetting, the viscosity of ink in those channels gets lowered and the speed of jetted ink drops becomes faster. As described in the above, if the speed of jetted ink drops varies from one channel to another channel depending on the print pattern, fluctuation of the landing position of the ink drops landing on a medium which is moving at a constant speed with respect to the print head is produced, which lowers image quality remarkably. This is called a cross-talk depending on the print pattern. Because this print head has a shape such that a piezoelectric element is kept between electrodes, it has the same structure as a capacitor, which makes the portions that do not contribute to ink jetting have a large capacitance; therefore, the deformation of the partition walls by a shearing force cannot respond to a high-frequency signal. That is, the structure of a conventional print head is not suitable for a head to have a high image quality, a high speed, and a high density.
A print head of the present invention is characterized by having only straight grooves from which portions not to contribute to jetting are removed. As compared to the conventional one, heat generation is small, and high-frequency response is good. However, because it has neither shallow groove portions nor uncut portions, there no space to form connection electrodes. Connection electrodes must be formed in such a cubic way that they are made to turn around the side surface to the rear surface, where they are connected to flexible cables.
The present pattern formation technology employing a photosensitive resist can form a planar pattern, but cannot form a cubic pattern. Cubic wiring used in a print circuit board or in a dashboard of automobiles is such a coarse one as to have a pitch of mm order. Cubic wiring in the present invention should be such one that, for a 300 DPI head, 70 to 520 stripes of electrodes are formed at a pitch of 80 μm in a cubic way.
The present invention provides a new method of forming a cubic pattern using an electroless plating process and a laser without using a resist.
For a high-speed print head of a high image quality, it is essential to form straight grooves having no useless portions as described in the above. However, if straight grooves are formed, a conventional method of patterning by means of a photosensitive resist cannot be used, because connection electrodes must be formed in a cubic way.
Concerning a technology to form cubic connection electrodes in an ink jet print head, for example, in a technology disclosed in the publication of the unexamined patent application H7-132589 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,661), straight horizontal grooves are formed and vertical grooves are formed from one end of them respectively. Next, after processing of electroless plating, the vertical surface is ground to remove the plated metal, but plated metal layer remains in vertical grooves to become a part of connection electrodes. Because the piezoelectric element is very hard and fragile, and further, because a high-density head has a wall thickness of 50 μm or under, the partition walls of the grooves are easy to be chipped when the horizontal and vertical grooves are cut and ground.
In the publication of the unexamined patent application 2000-141653, it is disclosed a method in which the rear wall of a print head having straight grooves is masked by a photosensitive resist in a pattern shape, and then electrodes and wiring are formed by evaporation coating. However, because the thickness of the head is as thin as 2 to 10 mm, it is difficult to form a minute pattern by coating a photosensitive resist in this portion to be exposed and developed. In the publication of the unexamined patent application H10-766669, it is disclosed a technology to form a part of connection electrodes by providing a through hole in the bottom of each groove, filling it with a conductive substance. In manufacturing piezoelectric elements, even though exact holes are formed in a green sheet, when it is sintered, expansion and contraction occurs remarkably, which makes it difficult to form holes having a diameter of several tens μm with an accuracy of several μm. Further, when grooves are worked with their position adjusted to coincide with these via holes, it is produced a problem that the positions are deviated for example. In the publication of the unexamined patent application 2000-168094, it is disclosed a method in which the whole of a head having straight grooves is plated, and then, a part of the plating layer is removed by a laser beam, to form connection electrodes. In the publication of the unexamined patent application H8-300667, it is disclosed a method in which electrodes are formed on the inner surfaces of grooves and electrodes formed on the bottom surface of the grooves are removed by a YAG laser. Because a plated metal, for example, nickel is very hard, a large laser power is necessary in order to remove it by evaporation; because laser working is pulse application for a short time of several hundreds nS or under, only the surface layer is rapidly heated to evaporate nickel, and influence to the part under the surface layer is small. However, if the film thickness is large, repeated irradiation is necessary, and there is a possible risk of the deterioration of the underlying piezoelectric element which is weak against heat.
The present invention is a method in which straight channels are formed in a piezoelectric substrate, and there are formed electrodes inside the channels and a cubic wiring for connection outside the channels by an electroless plating process or by an electrolytic plating process and a laser. It is a new method to form electrodes and cubic connection electrodes using plating and a laser without using a photosensitive resist.
The present invention is a new method of forming electrodes and cubic connection electrodes in an ink jet print head by electroless plating or by electrolytic plating and a laser. Up to now, for example, according to the publications of the unexamined patent applications 2000-168094 and H8-300667, after the whole of a print head is plated in an electroless way, unnecessary portions of the plating layer are removed by a laser beam; however, because the plated metal, for example, nickel is a very hard metal, a large laser power is necessary, and there is a possible risk of the underlying piezoelectric element being overheated. When a piezoelectric element is heated to the Curie temperature or over, for example 200 to 300° C., it loses the polarization to be brought into a state of exhibiting no piezoelectricity. Hence, it is necessary to suppress the temperature rise under the half of the Curie temperature. It sometimes happens that when a hard nickel layer on a piezoelectric element is evaporated by a laser beam, the temperature of the piezoelectric element reaches several hundreds degrees locally.
These prior arts are all methods of forming a pattern by evaporating useless parts of plated metal by a laser beam after the metal is plated in an electroless way. Because, in the present invention, a pattern is formed by a laser before electroless plating or on the way of electroless plating, only a low laser power is required, and no excessive heat is applied to the underlying piezoelectric element.
Electroless plating is a method of depositing a metal layer on a support body having no electrical conductivity by chemically reducing a solved metallic salt. Because it is not based on electrolytic reduction which occurs in electrolytic plating, reduction ability is not so strong, that a metal is not deposited solely by it; therefore, it is necessary to make a plating catalyst adsorbed beforehand on a supporting body. By electroless plating, metal can be deposited only on a plating catalyst layer, but once metal is deposited, the plating layer grows because the metal has a self-catalyzing function. The outline of a method of forming electrodes and connection electrodes and a method of assembly of a head based on a conventional technology will be explained by referring to FIG. 15(a) and FIG. 15(b). A plurality of straight grooves 110 are formed in a polarized piezoelectric substrate. Next, a plating catalyst is adsorbed by this head substrate, and electroless plating is carried out. In this state, the whole of the head substrate is uniformly plated. By grinding the front end 111 of the head substrate, that is, the surface to which a nozzle plate is bonded, the plated metal is removed. Next, by applying a laser beam to the part passing from the roof 112 of the partition walls of the grooves, through the rear end of the head 113, to the bottom surface of the head 114, the plated metal on the above-mentioned line-shaped area is removed; thus, electrodes 115 and connection electrodes 116 which are independent for each of the grooves can be formed. Subsequently, by bonding a top plate with an adhesive, the grooves are covered, and by bonding a nozzle plate, an ink inlet plate and a manifold, and connecting flexible wires to the bottom surface of the head, an ink jet print head is completed. In another way, the plated metal on the part of the roofs 112 of the partition walls may be removed by grinding. The present invention is an improvement of this process. Because a part of a plating film is removed before the thick layer is formed or on the way of plating not after the thick film has been formed, it is a method in which only a small power for a laser beam is necessary for a short time, and thermal influence to the piezoelectric element is small.
It is an object of the present invention, by eliminating the various defects of conventional technologies, to provide a method of manufacturing an ink jet print head which is capable of manufacturing at a low cost a high-density print head having a high image quality, a high printing speed, and little cross talk and being small-sized and capable of being driven by a low electric current.


The present invention is directed to a bi-stable coupling for controlling the depth of a tool insertion, such as drilling, and similar processes. The bi-stable coupling can be used to penetrate (e.g., drill or push) through a material layer of unknown thickness without plunging the tool into the adjacent layer. In accordance with the invention, in a first state, force is applied to the tool to initiate penetration and a reactive force maintains the device in the first state during penetration and when tool penetrates the material, the reactive force is diminished enabling the device to transition to a second state in which the tool becomes retracted. In medical applications, the invention allows for drilling through bone of unknown thickness without plunging into the adjacent soft tissue.

Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to controlling the penetration of instruments such as drills and needles being inserted into either hard or soft material. Specifically, the invention is directed to penetrating a material layer of unknown thickness without plunging into the adjacent material layer. In medical applications, the invention allows for drilling through bone without plunging into the adjacent soft tissue or for inserting a needle through one tissue layer (e.g. skin) without plunging into the adjacent softer tissue or body cavity.
Description of the Prior Art
In general, there are three forms of controllable drills found in the prior art: mechanical-control drills, electrical-control drills and ultrasonic drills. In medicine, cranial drills are used to drill through patients' skull to give direct access to the brain. Current cranial drills can be further divided into three categories: Mechanical-control drills (Drills without electronic control circuits; can be with or without auto-stop mechanism); Electrical-control drills (Drills that are automatically stopped with the use of sensors, presumably with control feedback); and Ultrasonic drills (Drills that vibrate a stationary or rotational cutting tool at a high frequency in the axial direction to chip away at hard surfaces, but have no effect on soft materials).
Mechanical Drills
Currently, physicians are using a variety of cranial drills in surgery. The drill can be manual or powered, with or without automatic stop. An experienced physician can, in general, safely use a drill without auto-stop mechanism, so normal drills are still popular in hospitals (although even the most experienced clinicians could make mistakes). Nevertheless, drills with safety mechanisms are necessary for areas without trained neurosurgeons to reduce the possibility of mistakes during operations. U.S. Pat. No. 2,842,131 appears to be the oldest patent about the automatic stop cranial drill, followed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,456,010, 4,699,550, 4,803,982, 4,362,161, 4,600,006, and D596,743. Besides these, there are also other ways to make a drill safe: U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,250 uses an external stop to prevent drills from penetrating too far;
U.S. Pat. No. 2,842,131, entitled "Automatic Drill" describes a system of two concentric drill bores that have a clutch allowing them to spin in unison or not. The inside bore rotates and moves axially whereas the outer bore does not. This allows the inside bore to be compressed, engaging the rotational drive train, and the outer bore spins to create a shelf in the bone. When the inner bore breaks through the surface of the skull the clutch mechanism is released and both bores stop spinning. At this point, the outer bore rests on the shelf and the inner bore cannot proceed any farther. Products embodying this design are available from Acra-Cut. This product is used widely in operating room procedures where clinicians need access to the inside of the skull, but there are several limitations:
The size of the drill bits available by Acra-Cut are extremely limited. The outer bore cuts away extra bone unnecessarily. Further, the Acra-Cut tool must be powered by a pneumatic drill, which connects to an air hose and air compressor. Furthermore, if drilling with the Acra-Cut tool stops before penetration through the bone, then the rotation cannot recommence and thus a surgeon has to find an alternative means to finish penetrating the skull. These items are not easily made portable in emergency situations outside of the controlled operation room.
Additional patents using the same or similar concept of concentrically rotating drill bores that create a shelf for safety and contain a clutch mechanism include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,362,161, 4,600,006, 4,803,982, 4,884,571, 5,135,532.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,250, entitled Cranial Drill Stop, describes a hard stop that is set to the correct depth based on the thickness of the skull at the point of drilling. The interlocking spacers will make sure that only the proper length of drill bit is exposed. This could be a very effective safety method if the exact skull thickness is known at a certain anatomical location a priori. However skull thickness has been shown to vary widely across individual skulls and across race and gender. Thus if the stop is not adjusted correctly, it is not effective and potentially dangerous.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,215, entitled Cranial drill with sterile barrier, describes a sterile barrier system that can protect an MRI-compatible drill from coming in contact with patient fluids. The drill described in the patent is gas powered, much like the Acra-Cut, so that it cannot be used in emergency settings.
Currently there are no small caliber drills which have an automatic stop after penetrating bone. The only drill that stops automatically is the Acra-Cut, which cannot be used for small hole penetration. It is designed to create larger holes in the skull and there are many important procedures for which large holes are not necessary.

Methods and devices for safely penetrating materials

BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER, INC.

PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE


An apparatus useful for electrostatic deposition (ESD) of aerosol particles and methods of depositing the aerosol particles onto a substrate are disclosed. The ESD apparatus and the method of the present invention are useful for electrostatically depositing nanoparticles produced by gas-phase synthesis onto a substrate where the velocity of the flow of aerosol can be controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrostatic deposition (ESD) of aerosol particles and more particularly to an apparatus useful for ESD and methods of depositing the aerosol particles onto a substrate.
2. Technical Background
Over the years, there has been rapid progress in the areas of electronics, materials science, and nanoscale technologies resulting in, for example, smaller devices in electronics, advances in fiber manufacturing and new applications in the biotechnology field. The ability to generate and collect increasingly smaller, cleaner and more uniform particles is necessary in order to foster technological advances in areas which utilize small particulate matter. The development of new, efficient and adaptable ways of producing small particulate matter and subsequently collecting or depositing the small particulate matter onto a substrate becomes more and more advantageous.
The size of a particle often affects the physical and chemical properties of the particle or compound comprising the particle. For example, optical, mechanical, biochemical and catalytic properties often change when a particle has cross-sectional dimensions smaller than 200 nanometers (nm). When particle sizes are reduced to smaller than 200 nm, these smaller particles of an element or a compound often display properties that are quite different from those of larger particles of the same element or compound. For example, a material that is catalytically inactive in the macroscale can behave as a very efficient catalyst when in the form of nanoparticles.
The aforementioned particle properties are important in many technology areas. For example, in optical fiber manufacturing, the generation of substantially pure silica and germanium soot particles from impure precursors in a particular size range (about 5-300 nm) has been key in providing optical preforms capable of producing high purity optical fiber. Also, in the field of pharmaceuticals, the generation of particles having certain predetermined properties is advantageous in order to optimize, for example, in vivo delivery, bioavailability, stability of the pharmaceutical and physiological compatibility. The optical, mechanical, biochemical and catalytic properties of particles are closely related to the size of the particles and the size of the compounds comprising the particles. Gas-phase methods of particle generation are attractive, since gas-phase methods typically yield large quantities of high purity particles which are within a desirable size range.
Particle generators such as aerosol reactors have been developed for gas-phase nanoparticle synthesis. Examples of these aerosol reactors include flame reactors, tubular furnace reactors, plasma reactors, and reactors using gas-condensation methods, laser ablation methods, and spray pyrolysis methods.
In particular, flame spray pyrolysis has proven adept for soot particle generation for silica preform production in optical fiber manufacturing, for example, those described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,979,185 and 6,260,385, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Hot wall tubular furnace reactors have also proven adept for soot particle generation for silica preform production in optical fiber manufacturing, for example, those described in commonly owned US Patent Application Publications 2004/0187525 and 2004/0206127, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Induction particle generators are examples of hot wall tubular furnace reactors using inductive heating elements to heat the reactor walls. Examples of such induction particle generators are described in patent application Ser. No. 11/502,286, filed on Aug. 10, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, may be used to produce a flow of aerosol containing aerosol particles dimensionally in the nanometer range.
Enhanced surface area is an enabling physical property for many applications, such as custom spotted microarrays, high display of surface area for catalysis, high display of luminescent elements and the like. Conventional methods of producing enhanced surface area, such as the method described in PCT Publication No. WO0116376A1, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, ball milled Corning 1737™ glass particles of size range from 0.5 μm to 2 μm. These ball milled particles are sintered onto Corning 1737™ glass substrates. Deposits of nanoparticles provide optimum surface area. However, particles in this nanometer size range are difficult to produce and deposit onto a substrate.
One method of depositing aerosol particles onto a substrate currently being explored is electrostatic deposition (ESD) for various applications, for example, in electrostatic scrubbers for pollution abatement and in electro-painting. U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,579 for example, describes a process of preparing an amorphous metal alloy body from elemental metal powders by dispersing and mixing the elemental powders in the aerosol state, collecting them either electrostatically or using a cyclone and compaction using an isostatic hot-press. U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,979 describes a method for depositing particles in the micron range onto a dielectric substrate using an alternating electric field.
Another challenge of depositing aerosol particles onto a substrate is overcoming the velocity of the flow of the aerosol from the particle generator such that the electric field used in ESD can overcome the velocity of the flow of the aerosol and the aerosol particles are deposited onto the substrate.
It would be advantageous to have an apparatus and a method for electrostatically depositing nanoparticles produced by gas-phase synthesis onto a substrate where the velocity of the flow of aerosol can be controlled.

Apparatus and method for electrostatically depositing aerosol particles


Implementations disclosed herein provide for dynamically mapping logical block addresses (LBA) of unfinished data blocks to unused data blocks during an in-the-field finishing process of a storage medium. Such dynamic mapping creates an impression that the storage medium operates at an advertised capacity before the effective capacity is equal to the advertised capacity.

A series of "finishing processes" may be executed to logically define boundaries of data blocks of a storage medium and to associate the data blocks with corresponding logical addresses. Executing such finishing processes on an individual storage medium can take several hours. Therefore, manufacturing costs could be reduced by "finishing" a storage medium while the storage medium is in possession of an end user (i.e., "in the field"), rather than at a factory. However, a storage medium cannot operate to a full, advertised capacity until such finishing processes are fully executed. Therefore, finishing a storage medium in the field inconveniences the end user by denying the end user access to unfinished locations on the storage medium while the finishing processes execute.

Dynamic address mapping for finish in the field


Disclosed are systems, methods and computer program products for detecting and preventing spread of malware in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. The system includes a P2P server receiving from a peer client computer a request for a metadata object and determining if the requested metadata object is associated with one of a verified clean data object, a verified malicious data, or an unverified data object. If the requested metadata object is associated with a verified clean data object, transmitting the requested metadata object to the peer client computer. If the requested metadata object is associated with an unverified data object, determining if the peer client computer has an antivirus software for testing the unverified data object for malware. If the peer client computer has an antivirus software, transmitting to the peer client computer the requested metadata object, otherwise denying client' request.

The popularity of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks has grown significantly due to ever-increasing demand for digital content, such as data file, movies, music, videogames and software applications. P2P networks allow peer client computers to share content with each other directly rather than through a central server. BitComet® and μTorrent™ are examples of popular P2P networking applications. P2P networks usually use BitTorrent® protocol or other type of peering protocol for communication. These protocols allow a peer client computer to send/receive requests for data objects, such as files, to/from other peer client computers in the same P2P network. The requestor peer client computer then downloads the requested data objects in pieces from multiple source peer client computers and reassembles the data object. This architecture of the P2P networks provides enhanced scalability and service robustness.
However, unregulated nature of P2P networks and the ever-growing number of the users makes these networks very vulnerable to the spread of malware, such as viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, etc. The malware may be planted into file archives containing necessary network information or inserted into popular data objects, such as free software applications, which are shared among peer client computers. Since not all peer client computers have antivirus applications and those that do may not be updated with the latest antivirus definitions, the P2P network is extremely vulnerable to spread of malware. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to detect and prevent spread of malware in the P2P networks.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for preventing spread of malware in peer-to-peer network


To permit elimination of dampening rollers or an entire dampener in a lithographic, preferably offset printing machine, the printing form is formed as a cylindrical sleeve or jacket (3) fitted over a core (2), in which the cylindrical sleeve or jacket is formed with a plurality of interconnected pores (5), essentially uniformly distributed over the surface (4) and forming, within the sleeve or jacket, a connected pore fluid transfer network. Dampening fluid is then applied to the interior of the sleeve or jacket, for example from a chamber (6) between the cylindrical core (2) and the inner surface of the sleeve or jacket. The outer surface (4) can be imaged with oleophilic substances, for example by a thermal transfer process. To remove the images, for re-use of the printing form without removal from a printing machine, hot gases for example steam can be applied to the interior of the sleeve or jacket, so that the oleophilic substances at the outside will loosen for easy removal, or spall off.

German Patent 36 36 129, and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,065, Mayrhofer et al, assigned to an associated company of the assignee of the present application, describe a form cylinder which has a cylinder sleeve with a surface from which printing is to be effected, which surface has heat insulating properties and, generally, is hydrophilic. The sleeve, applied for example over a core or shaft, or the form cylinder itself can be associated with an image or printing subject matter transfer unit, located within the printing machine, over which imaging or subject matter information can be transferred to the surface of the form cylinder, in the form of oleophilic surface elements. The image information, that is, the oleophilic surface elements can be erased so that the form cylinder can be re-imaged without removal from the printing machine, and a new printing subject matter or printing image can be applied thereto. The oleophilic regions are inked as usual in the printing machine, for example prior to transfer of the image information to a blanket or offset cylinder; dampening fluid is supplied from a customary dampener, for example by dampener application rollers and the like, or, for example, by a combination inker-dampening fluid application roller.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,663, Metcalf, describes an unengraved metering roll made of porous ceramic material for depositing measured amounts of liquid as a coating on a substrate, such as a metal can. The pores in the ceramic accept the ink and replace the engraved pattern previously used on the outer surface of the roll. Manufacture of such a porous ceramic cylinder is known, and the referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,663, Metcalf, describes, in detail, how such a porous cylinder or roll can be made. The size and number of the pores is determined by organic fillers added to the ceramic mass. Upon firing the ceramic mass, the organic fillers burn off and what is left is a porous ceramic body. Suitable organic fillers or additives are, for example, walnut shell flour, sawdust, straw dust, fish oil or the like.
Another method to make porous ceramic bodies, in form of a ceramic lattice or skeleton, is described in German Patent 38 40 137, Burger et al. A plastic foam, for example a polyurethane foam, is dipped into a ceramic suspension. Upon firing of the ceramic, the plastic foam burns out, and what is left is a foam or porous ceramic. The dimensions of the pores, for example pore diameters or average diameters, between 3 and 100 micrometers can be obtained, and the relative sizes of the pores can be controlled. A porosity of between 2% and 90% is obtainable, in dependence on the control of the process and the initial foam substance.

Combined dampening and lithographic form cylinder and method of imaging


In a method for detecting facial expressions of a portrait photo by an image capturing electronic device, a face captured in the portrait photo is detected. The position and range of the opened and closed facial features are detected, and the facial features within an identified range are magnified according to a specific proportion. A patch of facial features and their surroundings within a specific range is cut according to the magnified identified range, so that the patch can show a change of facial expressions and a specific range of their surroundings. A facial feature classifier is trained by a specific number of opened and closed facial feature samples based on the Adaboost algorithm and used for detecting the facial features in the patch to determine whether the facial feature is situated at an opened state or a closed state.

As the digital camera technology advances rapidly in recent years, various electronic devices (such as digital cameras, camcorders, notebook computers and mobile phones, etc) with an image capturing device are introduced constantly to the market. Not only the quality becomes increasingly higher, but the volume of products also becomes increasingly smaller, and their market price becomes lower gradually. These electronic image capturing devices available in the market become popular, and thus finding a way of designing an electronic device having a smart image capturing function to meet the image capturing requirements of the extensive consumers and compensate their deficient photographic skills is an important subject for electronic image capturing device designers and manufacturers to study and provide feasible solutions.
A portrait photo is the most popular type of photos taken by a traditional electronic image capturing device by consumers. When a portrait photo is taken, a series of searches is performed to capture the most appropriate transient scene, so that the portrait photo taken shows the best appearance of the photographed person. What is the best acceptable appearance recognized by a vast majority of consumers? Perhaps, the answer is an appearance of a photographed person with a smile face and opened eyes. Therefore, we usually expect a photographer to take our portrait photo at the moment when we are showing a smile face. Unfortunately, the photographed person does not know the exact time when the photographer presses the shutter due to a lack of communication or unspoken consensus and thus they usually close their eyes or mouth unintentionally while the photographer is taking their portrait. Even worse, the facial expression becomes unnatural or stiffed when the photographed person is told to maintain a smile face for a long time, but the person cannot keep still so long. Sometimes, the photographed persons may show a serious facial expression or blink their eyes after such a long smile while the photographer is taking the picture. Such unexpected situation gives rise to a portrait of a person with unnatural and stiff facial expressions, which is unsatisfactory or unacceptable to most photographed persons.

Method for detecting facial expressions of a portrait photo by an image capturing electronic device


Using CTL epitopes to the Ebola GP, NP, VP24, VP30, VP35 and VP40 virion proteins, a method and composition for use in inducing an immune response which is protective against infection with Ebola virus is described.

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility application Ser. No. 10/696,633, filed Oct. 29, 2003 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,504, issued Jan. 10, 2006), which is a continuation application of U.S. utility application Ser. No. 09/337,946, filed Jun. 22, 1999 (now abandoned), which claims priority from U.S. provisional application 60/091,403 (filed Jun. 29, 1998). This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility application Ser. No. 10/384,976, filed Mar. 10, 2003 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,823, issued Sep. 11, 2007), which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. utility application Ser. No. 09/337,946, filed Jun. 22, 1999 (now abandoned), which claims priority from U.S. provisional application 60/091,403 (filed Jun. 29, 1998). The entire contents of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Ebola viruses, members of the family Filoviridae, are associated with outbreaks of highly lethal hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. The natural reservoir of the virus is unknown and there currently are no available vaccines or effective therapeutic treatments for filovirus infections. The genome of Ebola virus consists of a single strand of negative sense RNA that is approximately 19 kb in length. This RNA contains seven sequentially arranged genes that produce 8 mRNAs upon infection (FIG. 1). Ebola virions, like virions of other filoviruses, contain seven proteins: a surface glycoprotein (GP), a nucleoprotein (NP), four virion structural proteins (VP40, VP35, VP30, and VP24), and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (L) (Feldmann et al. (1992) Virus Res. 24, 1-19; Sanchez et al., (1993) Virus Res. 29, 215-240; reviewed in Peters et al. (1996) In Fields Virology, Third ed. pp. 1161-1176. Fields, B. N., Knipe, D. M., Howley, P. M., et al. eds. Lippincott-Raven Publishers, Philadelphia). The glycoprotein of Ebola virus is unusual in that it is encoded in two open reading frames. Transcriptional editing is needed to express the transmembrane form that is incorporated into the virion (Sanchez et al. (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 3602-3607; Volchkov et al, (1995) Virology 214, 421-430). The unedited form produces a nonstructural secreted glycoprotein (sGP) that is synthesized in large amounts early during the course of infection. Little is known about the biological functions of these proteins and it is not known which antigens significantly contribute to protection and should therefore be used to induce an immune response.
Recent studies using rodent models to evaluate subunit vaccines for Ebola virus infection using recombinant vaccinia virus encoding Ebola virus GP (Gilligan et al., (1997) In Vaccines 97, pp. 87-92. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), or naked DNA constructs expressing either GP or sGP (Xu et al. (1998) Nature Med. 4, 37-42) have demonstrated the protective efficacy of Ebola virus GP in guinea pigs. (All documents cited herein supra and infra are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference thereto.) Additionally, Ebola virus NP and GP genes expressed from naked DNA vaccines (Vanderzanden et al., (1998) Virology 246, 134-144) have elicited protective immunity in BALB/c mice. There has been one study that showed protection in nonhuman primates with a high dose DNA prime/high dose adenovirus boost and a 6 pfu challenge. However, this study provides limited benefit for humans or non-human primates because such high dosing is unlikely to be given to humans due to high inherent risks and other factors.
VRPs are one platform currently being evaluated for the filoviruses. VRP constructs expressing six Ebola virus proteins (GP, nucleoprotein, VP24, VP30, VP35 and VP40) are efficacious in mice. VRP expressing GP induced protective antibody responses and were used to generate protective monoclonal antibodies (Wilson et al. Science 2000.). In contrast, the other proteins induce protective cytotoxic T cell responses. The involvement of cytotoxic T cells in protection presents an immunologic issue (major histocompatibility complex restriction of the presentation of epitopes) not present for pathogens cleared by antibodies.
Non-human primate studies using VRPs to protect against filovirus challenge have had different results. The successful protection of vaccinated cynomolgus macaques against Marburg Musoke virus was the first published success of any filovirus vaccine approach. In one published study, a vaccination schedule (1×107 ffu on days 0, 28 and 56) using the VRP expressing Ebola Zaire GP induced rather modest antibody titers and the macaques did not survive challenge with 1000 pfu.
So there still exists a need for a human vaccine which is efficacious for protection from Ebola virus infection.

Immunogenic compositions and vaccines for Ebola

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


An exemplary method for determining quality of an image, includes segmenting the image into sections, generating quality measures for each section, and combining the quality measures of the sections to form a quality measure for the image. An exemplary system for determining quality of an image includes a memory for storing the image, and a processor for segmenting the image into sections, generating quality measures for each section, and combining the quality measures of the sections to form a quality measure for the image, and for storing the quality measure for the image in the memory.

In the past research has been done in which quality of an image is extracted from the overall image by looking at contrast, color, and sharpness of the image. It would be advantageous to provide an enhanced method for determining or discerning the quality of an image, for example to use in selecting a subset of a plurality of images for a slide show.

Method and system for image quality calculation

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An image forming device includes a device body, a cartridge detachably attached to the device body so as to accommodate material which includes one of consumable material and waste material, a sensor configured to emit and receive sensing light and give a detection value corresponding to an amount of the material in the cartridge which amount is detected based upon an intensity of the sensing light received thereby, a received light changing member configured to change the intensity of the sensing light received by the sensor, and a judging unit configured to judge based upon a change of the detection value given by the sensor whether the cartridge is a new one.

1. Technical Field
The following description relates to one or more image forming devices and cartridges detachably attached thereto.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, for an image forming device provided with a waste toner box for collecting therein waste material generated in an image forming operation, there has been known a technique to optically check whether an amount of the waste material in the waste toner box reaches a predetermined value (for example, see Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2002-139971). In addition, there has been known as a technique similar to the above technique, a technique to optically detect an amount of toner left in a toner cartridge.
Before the waste toner box is filled with the waste material, or the toner cartridge is vacant, the above techniques can notify a user that the waste toner box or toner cartridge (hereinafter referred to as a cartridge) is replaced with a new one, and induce the user to replace the cartridge with a new one. When the cartridge is replaced with a new one, there are executed initializing operations such as initializing of a counter for counting the number of printed papers (which counter is provided to estimate a usage history of the cartridge) and abort of a display for inducing the user to replace the cartridge with a new one.

Image forming device and cartridge in which an amount of developer is detectable