An apparatus and method for controlling a mechanism for positioning video cameras for use in measuring vehicle wheel alignment includes optical targets for mounting to the wheels of a vehicle, at least one video camera for viewing said optical targets and producing at least one image thereof, a computer system for measuring said at least one image and for using said measurements to compute vehicle wheel alignment information, a positioning system for positioning said at least one video camera such that said optical targets are visible to said at least one video camera and such that said at least one video camera can produce said at least one image of said targets, and a controller for controlling said positioning system such that a user of said apparatus can cause said at least one video camera to be positioned in at least one desired position and such that said user can further cause said controller to remember said at least one desired position so that any user can, at a later time, cause said controller to recall said remembered position and move said at least one video camera to said remembered position.

None.
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates to vehicle wheel alignment, and more particularly to vehicle wheel alignment systems which embody movable video cameras and wheel mounted optical targets.
Two such vehicle wheel alignment systems are presently available in the marketplace. One, sold by Hunter Engineering Company and labeled as the DSP-400(trademark), is generally described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,675,515, 5,870,315, 5,724,128, and 6,064,750. The other vehicle wheel alignment system, sold by Industrial Diagnostics Selling Co. (IDSC) under the trade name John Bean, and labeled as the Visualiner 3D(trademark), is generally described by U.S. Pat Nos. 5,535,522, 5,724,743, 5,809,658, and 5,943,783.
These systems operate by using video cameras to generate video images of optical targets which are mounted to the wheels of a vehicle. These video images may be in either analog or digital format. Computers are then used to measure the generated images and relate the measurements obtained thereby to corresponding known information about the optical targets. This allows the positions and orientations of the optical targets to be computed, from which the alignment angles of the wheels of the vehicle are computed.
The design of such a system involves tradeoffs, as does the design of any wheel alignment system. One such tradeoff is between focal length and vertical movement of the vehicle lift rack. It is desirable to make the focal lengths of the cameras short enough that the wheel mounted optical targets are in the fields of view of the cameras when the vehicle lift rack is raised to allow the technician to work under the vehicle. In general, the desired working height of the lift rack can be anywhere from xe2x80x9call the way downxe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9call the way upxe2x80x9d, which is a range of some six feet or so in height. If the focal lengths of the cameras are made short enough to accomplish this, the targets appear so small in the image that measurement of the image becomes difficult and inaccurate, if not actually impossible. The tradeoff is to make the focal length as long as is necessary for the required accuracy and accept the limited range of movement for the vehicle lift rack which this imposes. The result is that measurements of the vehicle wheel alignment can be made only with the vehicle lift rack in a smaller range of vertical positions such that the cameras can view the targets and measure the images produced, and this range of vertical positions is generally smaller than desired. The system must be very accurate to be of commercial use, and achieving the required accuracy is quite difficult, therefore achieving the required accuracy wins the tradeoff and the vehicle wheel alignment can be measured with the vehicle lift rack in only a limited range of vertical positions.
This can be made easier by using a video camera design which embodies CCD detectors having a larger number of pixels. For example, instead of using a CCD detector having pixels in a 640xc3x97480 format, one could use a 2000xc3x971000 format. Unfortunately, such CCD detectors are currently much too expensive for use in such a system. Further, using such a design places extreme demands on the quality of the lenses used by the video cameras, thereby further increasing their costs. Such a solution, while possible, is not currently economically practical.
One solution to this problem is to mount the cameras to a mechanism which pivots so as to allow the cameras to point more downward when the vehicle lift rack is in a lower position, and more upward when the vehicle lift rack is in a higher position. While possible, this is not very practical due to the wide range of sizes of vehicles which such a system must be capable of measuring, and due to the wide range of orientations of the targets relative to the cameras.
A practical solution to this problem is to design the system such that the cameras can be raised up or down to match the corresponding change in height of the vehicle lift rack. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,675,515 and 5,870,315, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The Visualiner 3D(trademark), as sold by IDSC, optionally embodies such a design. In the Visualiner 3D(trademark) version, a vertical post is mounted to the floor. A horizontal beam is mounted to a traveler which is free to move vertically along this vertical post. The video cameras are mounted to the ends of the horizontal beam such that they are aimed generally down the sides of the vehicle and can see the targets mounted to the vehicle wheels. A counterweight inside the vertical post is connected by cables to the traveler such that the traveler and horizontal beam can be raised or lowered to any desired position, thereby allowing the cameras to be positioned to work with any height of the vehicle lift rack.
In the Visualiner 3D(trademark) version, a conventional chain-and-cable type garage door opener is used to provide the motive force to move the horizontal beam and control its position. The garage door opener is mounted with the motor above the vertical post and the boom of the opener textending down inside it. The traveler of the garage door opener is connected by a cable to the traveler of the horizontal beam, such that the garage door opener provides both the motive force to move the cameras up or down and the operating controls to allow the technician to move the cameras and stop at a desired position.
This garage door opener operates exactly as it would if it were connected to a garage door. If the alignment technician presses and releases the control pushbutton, the cameras move up or down, whichever is the opposite of the direction they last moved. If then left alone, the cameras move until a built in limit switch trips, at which point the cameras stop moving. If the technician presses the pushbutton while the cameras are moving, the response depends on the direction of movementxe2x80x94if the movement is up, the cameras stop moving; if the movement is down, the cameras reverse direction and move up, exactly as would a garage door. This means that the technician can stop the cameras at a desired position only when the cameras are moving up, unless the desired position is where a limit switch stops the movement.
While functional, the Visualiner 3D(trademark) camera lift mechanism is clumsy to use. The technician is able to stop the cameras at a desired vertical position only when the cameras are moving up. If the cameras are moving down, pressing the pushbutton causes them to reverse direction and move up. This can make small adjustments in the camera position difficult and clumsy to accomplish. The lift mechanism moves the cameras up or down rather quickly, which some might call an advantage, but it makes stopping the cameras at a precise location very difficult, as there is a noticeable lag between the pushing the pushbutton and the cameras stopping. A remote control is available (a conventional garage door remote control), but using it is even more difficult, as there is about a one second lag in time between when the button is pushed and the motor responds, which is longer than with the conventional pushbutton.
There exists a clear need for apparatus and methods which allow easy and simple control of a camera positioning system to move the cameras to a desired position.
Among the various objects and features of the present invention may be noted the provision of improved apparatus and method for controlling the position of video cameras in a wheel alignment system embodying a camera positioning system.
Briefly, the apparatus of the present invention includes optical targets for mounting to the wheels of a vehicle, at least one video camera for viewing said optical targets and producing at least one image thereof, and a computer system for measuring said at least one image and for using the measurements to compute vehicle wheel alignment information. A positioning system is included for positioning the at least one video camera such that the optical targets are visible to the at least one video camera and such that it can produce the image of said targets. A controller is further included for controlling the positioning system such that a user of said apparatus can cause the at least one video camera to be positioned in at least one desired position. The controller is further configured such that the user can direct the controller to store or xe2x80x9crememberxe2x80x9d the at least one desired position, and such that any user can, at a later time, direct the controller to recall the stored position and move the at least one video camera to the stored position.
Briefly, the method of the present invention for controlling camera position in a wheel alignment system having optical targets mounted to the wheels of a vehicle, at least one video camera configured for viewing said optical targets and producing at least one image thereof, a computer system configured for measuring said at least one image and for using said measurements to compute vehicle wheel alignment information, and a positioning system configured for positioning said at least one video camera such that said at least one video camera can produce said at least one image of said targets is described. The method comprises the steps of positioning the at least one video camera in at least one desired position, and storing the at least one desired position in a controller such that a user can, at a later time, cause said controller to recall said stored position and cause the positioning system to position the at least one video camera at the stored position.
Briefly, a further method of the present invention is that in response to a desired position being identified by a user, the camera positioning system be controlled to cause the at least one video camera to move to the identified position.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention as well as presently preferred embodiments thereof will become more apparent from the reading of the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Apparatus and method for controlling a mechanism for positioning video cameras for use in measuring vehicle wheel alignment


A microelectronic device tester has a mounting member (for mounting a device), a drive shaft connected to the mounting member, and a vibration shaft mechanically in communication with the drive shaft. The drive shaft and vibration shaft are non-coaxial, and the drive shaft has a drive shaft proximal end and a drive shaft distal end. The drive shaft proximal end is connected to the mounting member, and the drive shaft distal end terminates proximal of the entire vibration shaft.

Microelectronics device manufacturers often must test their components before delivering them to a customer for integration into a larger system. For example, MEMS gyroscopes, which measure rotation, often are integrated into a number of safety critical systems, such as the stability control system of an automobile. If the gyroscope of a stability control system malfunctions, it can cause the automobile to lose control and crash. Accordingly, testing is important, and often critical, prior to implementation in such a system.
As known by those in the art, there is a continuing demand to produce more sensitive and precise microelectronic components. Continuing with the gyroscope example, space or military system integrators currently require gyroscopes with measurement ranges up to 40,000 degrees per second over a wide range of vibration frequency, from 10 Hz to 1000 Hz, or cycles per second. Current testers known to the inventors, however, are incapable of accurately testing gyroscopes at such extreme test conditions. For example, reasonably accurate gyroscope testers known to the inventors can test only up to 10,000 degrees per second and at constant rotational rate only, i.e. DC . This leaves a significant unknown in the performance of high rate gyroscopes.

Microelectronic device testing apparatus and method


A wire dress cover for an electrical connector. The wire dress cover includes a rear wall with heat dissipating openings which extend therethrough. Side walls and end walls extend from the rear wall. At least one wire receiving opening is provided in the side walls or the end walls. Guards are positioned proximate the heat dissipating openings. The guards have guard side walls with side wall openings which extend therethrough. Top walls of the guards extend from the guard side walls. The top walls extend over at least a portion of the heat dissipating openings. The heat dissipating openings and the side wall openings allow for heat generated inside the wire dress cover to be dissipated to the outside of the wire dress cover, while the top walls of the guards deter material from entering the inside of the wire dress cover.

Many electrical connectors are employed in environments where forces may be exerted on the wires which extend from the electrical connectors. These forces can damage the electrical terminations of the wires to the terminals in the housings of the connectors. Electrical connectors with a large number of wires are particularly susceptible to having damaged electrical terminations within the connector housing. For example, wires from one connector may tangle with wires from other connectors such that the movement of any one connector may damage the termination of wires in other connectors. The tangling of wires can also make the tracing of wires during troubleshooting operations difficult to achieve.
Prior art electrical connectors have employed covers, boots or the like on the connector housing to orient or dress the wires. Some prior art wire dress covers define a unitary member having an aperture through which the plurality of wires pass. Covers of this type generally are effective, but complicate the termination and assembly process. More particularly, the cover may have to be mounted over the wires prior to termination and prior to inserting the terminated wires into the housing. Repairs or replacement of damaged or defective leads after termination and insertion is similarly complicated by the need to extract one lead from the aperture in the cover and insert another lead therethrough. This is particularly difficult if the cover tightly engages the wires to contribute to either sealing or strain relief.
The prior art further includes wire covers that can be mounted to the connector after termination and after proper seating of the terminals in the connector. These prior art connectors have included a unitary cover effectively defining a channel mounted to the rear end of the electrical connector housing. Other prior art connectors have included multi-component housings including a plurality of components for engaging the wires passing into the electrical connector housing.
Other prior art connectors include wire dress covers which are easily inserted and removed from the housing of the connector. One such wire dress cover is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,802. The connector includes a channel on the rear face into which the wire dress cover is slidably engagable. The wire dress cover includes a rib for slidable engagement in the channel and a locking projection for lockingly engaging the housing after a full seating thereon. The wire dress cover includes a slot extending centrally therein to enable the cover to be pinched for disengaging the locking projections from the housing. In certain embodiments the wire dress cover is defined by a pair of wire dress cover shells which are lockingly engagable with one another.
While the wire dress covers of the prior art are effective for organizing wires and for preventing damage to the electrical terminations, in order to provide maximum protection from the environment, the wire dress covers are often molded as a one-piece, solid member which prevents any type of unwanted material, such as water or solid particles, from entering the wire dress cover and adversely effecting the electrical terminations. However, as electronic devices and connectors become more sophisticated, more current and more electrical terminations are required, thereby generating more heat in the wires and at the electrical terminations. Most of these prior art wire dress covers have not been constructed to provide sufficient heat exchange or heat dissipation.
It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide a wire dress cover which would allow for heat to be dissipated from the wires and the electrical terminations. It would also be beneficial to provide such a heat dissipating wire dress cover which provides protection against unwanted material, such as water, from effecting the electrical terminations.


A turbo-generator has a tapering cooling part positioned between a vapor turbine part and a generator part, and casings of these parts are combined together to form a sealed single-boundary structure. A turbine shaft in the vapor turbine part, a rotary shaft in the cooling part and a generator shaft in the generator part are combined unitarily and are supported by bearing parts in such a way that the unitary shaft does not pass from the boundary structure. The tapering cooling part has a smaller diameter at the side of the generator part, and the inner circumferential surface of the cooling part forms a labyrinth structure to separate the atmospheres of the vapor turbine part and the generator part.

The present invention relates to a turbo-generator in which a vapor turbine part and a generator part are formed unitarily so that a casing therefor does not have any rotary shaft-passed part, whereby leakage of a turbine working fluid is prevented. This turbo-generator has a maintenance-free feature, and can be utilized not only in a gravitational field but also in space (gravity-free field).
In a conventional generating system using a vapor turbine, a vapor turbine part and a generator part are formed independently of each other and are separated definitely. A rotational force is transmitted mechanically between the turbine part and the generator part via their rotary shafts passed through their respective casings and connected together. Accordingly, slidable components, such as bearing and sealing mechanisms are provided in the vapor turbine part and the generator part, so that the generating system requires periodic maintenance. Therefore, the reliability of this generating system with respect to its continuous long-term use is low. Especially, the part of the generating system which is on the vapor turbine part side has a problem that vapor, a turbine working fluid, leaks to the outside through the bearings and sealing mechanisms, and this causes an absolute quantity of the working fluid in the system to decrease. In the case where the turbine working fluid consists of a radioactive fluid, the diffusion thereof has a very serious influence upon the environment.
A turbo-generator in which a vapor turbine part and a generator part are formed unitarily with a rotary body driven in a floated non-supported state has been proposed as a turbo-generator capable of solving these problems (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 299439/1990). In this apparatus, a plurality of cup-shaped pressure-receiving buckets are provided at a circumferentially peripheral portion of a disc-like rotary body, and the rotary body is driven by the working fluid jetted against these buckets in a balanced state of the rotary body. Conductors or permanent magnets are fitted to the rotary body, and stationary permanent magnets or stationary conductors are so arranged as to face the conductors or permanent magnets fitted to the rotary body, whereby electric power is generated.
This prior art turbo-generator has succeeded in achieving the reduction of dimensions and weights thereof and obtaining a leakage-free and maintenance-free structure owing to the unification of the turbine and generator elements and to the no-bearing structure, and constitutes epochal techniques in these respects.
However, this prior art turbo-generator has many problems to be solved, which will be described below, before putting it to practical use. The turbine element has a cup-shaped pressure-receiving bucket structure, in which the rotating pressure-receiving buckets can be set only in a single stage, so that the turbine efficiency is low. In the generator element, a coil is wound only partially on a region in which electric power is generated, and a casing member is provided in a magnetic circuit. Therefore, it is difficult to raise the generating efficiency to a higher level. The stability of the rotary body is determined by only the interaction between the jetted vapor and cup-shaped pressure-receiving buckets, and so it is difficult to increase the stability. The temperature of the turbine working fluid is restricted by the acceptable temperature of the permanent magnets stably used in the generator part for a long period of time, which is currently around 200.degree. C. Thus, it is impossible at present to increase the working fluid temperature above the mentioned level.
Both the turbine element of a cup-shaped pressure-receiving bucket structure and the generator element of a partially coil wound structure provided with a casing-interposed part are wholly novel structures. In order to improve the generating efficiency it becomes necessary to newly develop the whole system because there is no experience in the designing and manufacturing such elements. Consequently, the time and money required for the development of the prior art turbo-generator described above necessarily becomes enormous.


A method and a circuit for reading an electronic charge retention element for a temporal measurement, of the type including at least one capacitive element whose dielectric exhibits a leakage and a transistor with insulated control terminal for reading the residual charges, the reading circuit including; two parallel branches between two supply terminals, each branch including at least one transistor of a first type and one transistor of a second type, the transistor of the second type of one of the branches consisting of that of the element to be read and the transistor of the second type of the other branch receiving, on its control terminal, a staircase signal, the respective drains of the transistors of the first type being connected to the respective inputs of a comparator whose output provides an indication of the residual voltage in the charge retention element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic circuits and, more specifically, to the forming of a circuit enabling controllably storing electric charges for a time measurement.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In many applications, it is desired to have data representative of a time elapsed between two events, be it an accurate or approximate measurement. An example of application relates to the time management of rights of access, especially to media.
The obtaining of such data representative of the elapsed time conventionally requires a time measurement by an electronic circuit powered, for example by means of a battery, to avoid losing the history of the data when the circuit is not used.
It would be desirable for a time measurement which operates even when the electronic measurement circuit is not powered to be available.
International patent WO-A-03/083769 describes a time-measurement secured transactional electronic entity in which the time elapsed between two successive transactions is determined by measuring the charge of a capacitive component exhibiting a leakage from its dielectric spacer. The component is charged when the circuit is powered and its residual charge, after interruption of the power supply, is measured when the circuit is powered back on. This residual charge is considered as representative of the time elapsed between the two circuit-powering times.
The electronic entity is based on a MOS transistor having its gate connected to a first electrode of a capacitive component which has its other electrode grounded along with the transistor source. The transistor drain is connected to a power supply voltage by means of a current-to-voltage conversion resistor. The voltage measured across the resistor is a function of the drain current in the transistor, and thus of its gate-source voltage, hence of the voltage across the capacitive component. A time interval is initialized by charging the capacitive component by application of an electric power source on its electrode common with the transistor gate.
The solution provided by this document has several disadvantages.
First, the measurable time range is limited by the possibilities of intervention on the capacitive component dielectric.
Then, the charge of the capacitive component generates an electric stress on its dielectric, whereby the measurements drift along time.
Further, the provided structure requires forming of a specific component. In certain applications, it would be desirable to associate the time measurement element with a memory to condition the access to the data or programs contained in this memory. The known solution of the above-mentioned document is not easily compatible with the memory manufacturing steps.
Further, the interpretation of the residual charge in the capacitive component requires calibration steps to generate charge-to-time conversion tables.

Circuit for reading a charge retention element for a time measurement


A lens moving apparatus includes a housing, a bobbin disposed in the housing, a first coil disposed on the bobbin, a magnet configured to move the bobbin in a first direction parallel to an optical axis by an electromagnetic interaction with the first coil, an elastic member coupled to the bobbin, and a second coil disposed on the housing. A first portion of the second coil is coupled to the housing. The second coil generates an induction voltage resulting from an inductive interaction with the first coil when the bobbin moves in the first direction.

It is difficult to apply technology related to a voice coil motor (VCM) used in a conventional general camera module to a low-power-consumption-type subminiature camera module. For this reason, research related thereto has been actively conducted.
The demand for electronic products, such as a smartphone and a cellular phone equipped with a camera, and the production of such electronic products have increased. A camera for cellular phones has been developed so as to have a large number of pixels and to be realized in miniature. As a result, an actuator has also been developed so as to have a small size, a large diameter, and multiple functions. In order to realize a high-resolution camera for cellular phones, an improvement in the function of the camera for cellular phones, auto focusing, the reduction of shutter shaking, and additional functions, such as a zoom function, are required.

Lens driving apparatus, and camera module and optical device comprising same


A DNA sequence encoding a novel human growth factor receptor referred to as a type III receptor tyrosine kinase is described. The amino acid sequence of the receptor is also described. The receptor has a sequence which is similar to that of the kinase domains of known type III receptor tyrosine kinases, but which is unique in its kinase insert domain sequence. The receptor binds specifically to the vascular endothelial cell growth factor.

Growth factors are small molecules which regulate normal cell growth and development through interaction with cell surface receptors. The receptors for a number of growth factors are referred to as tyrosine kinases; that is, binding of growth factor to the receptor stimulates an increased phosphorylation of tyrosine amino acids within the receptor; this is turn leads to cellular activation (Bibliography 1).
There is increasing evidence that genetic alterations affecting the expression of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) can contribute to the altered cell growth associated with cancer. This conclusion is supported by the frequent identification of RTK as products of the oncogenes for many of the acutely transforming retroviruses (e.g., 2,3,4) and the overexpression of RTK in certain cancers (5). The identification of a novel RTK may lead to a better understanding of cell growth under both normal and transforming circumstances.
The amino acid sequence in the catalytic domain of all tyrosine kinases has been conserved (6). Detailed analysis of the amino acid sequences within the catalytic and noncatalytic domains of RTK indicates the existence of distinct structural subtypes. One group of RTK (designated type III) includes the ckit proto-oncogene and the receptors for platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) and colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1).
The most unusual feature of this subtype is that its catalytic (kinase) domain is interrupted by a long insertion sequence of 12-102 amino acids (the kinase insert domain) The two peptides constituting the kinase domain are conserved between the receptors, while the sequence of the kinase insert domain is unique for each receptor.
Several approaches have been tried in order to identify novel RTK, including low-stringency screening of cDNA libraries with previously characterized DNA probes (7). More recently, a technique has been developed that is capable of greatly facilitating the identification of novel genes for which some sequence data are known. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been used to identify novel members of several gene families including those of guanine nucleotide regulatory proteins (8) and protein phosphatases (9). PCR has been used to identify novel tyrosine kinase genes (10), though the primers used in that study were designed from DNA segments contained in all tyrosine kinases, rather than being specifically directed against RTK. It is a continuing goal to identify receptors for growth factors.
The elucidation of the growth factors, as well as their receptors, involved in regulating endothelial cell function is critical for the understanding of how new blood vessels are formed (angiogenesis). Angiogenesis plays a significant role in both normal and pathological events such as embryogenesis, progression of ocular diseases, and wound healing (11). In particular, angiogenesis is an important process for the growth of tumors (11). Angiogenesis is a complex process involving endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and tissue infiltration. These events are stimulated by growth factors which either (i) act directly on endothelial cells (12,13), or (ii) act indirectly by inducing host cells to release specific endothelial cell growth factors (11). One member of the first group is vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF), also known as vascular permeability factor (14-16). Besides its angiogenic activity, VEGF displays the physiological function of increasing the permeability of capillary vessels to different macromolecules (14).

Recombinant kinase insert domain containing receptor and gene encoding same


The present disclosure provides a crystalline form of grapiprant selected from the group consisting of Form X, Form X2, Form X3, Form F, Form K, Form L, Form M, and Form N. Also provided is a pharmaceutical composition, the composition comprising at least one crystalline form of grapiprant, and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable excipient, wherein the crystalline form of grapiprant is selected from the group consisting of Form X, Form X2, Form X3, Form F, Form K, Form L, Form M, and Form N. Other aspects of the disclosure provide a process for preparing a substantially pure crystalline Form A of grapiprant. The process comprises contacting grapiprant at ambient temperature with a solvent comprising dichloromethane and acetone to form a saturated or a near saturated solution. Crystals of the substantially pure crystalline Form A of grapiprant are formed.

Solids exist in either amorphous or crystalline forms. In the case of crystalline forms, molecules are positioned in three-dimensional lattice sites. When a compound recrystallizes from a solution or slurry, it may crystallize with different spatial lattice arrangements, and the different crystalline forms are sometimes referred to as "polymorphs." The different crystalline forms of a given substance may differ from each other with respect to one or more chemical properties (e.g., dissolution rate, solubility), biological properties (e.g., bioavailability, pharmacokinetics), and/or physical properties (e.g., mechanical strength, compaction behavior, flow properties, particle size, shape, melting point, degree of hydration or solvation, caking tendency, compatibility with excipients). The variation in properties among different crystalline forms usually means that one crystalline form may be more useful compared to other forms. For example, Form A, Form D, and Form J of grapiprant are known to exhibit different physical properties from one another.
Because grapiprant exhibits several advantageous therapeutic properties, improved forms of the compound are desired, particularly with regard to enhanced solubility, bioavailability, ease of synthesis, ability to be readily formulated, and/or physical stability. Thus, there is a need for improved crystalline forms of grapiprant and methods for preparing the different forms.


The present invention provides a honeycomb structured body containing a ceria-zirconia composite oxide and being less susceptible to ring-off cracking. The honeycomb structured body of the present invention includes a honeycomb fired body in which multiple through-holes are arranged longitudinally in parallel with one another with a partition wall therebetween, wherein the honeycomb fired body contains ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles and inorganic fibers, and a b-axis thermal expansion coefficient measured in a direction along a b-axis representing a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the honeycomb structured body is higher than an a-axis thermal expansion coefficient measured in a direction along an a-axis representing the longitudinal direction of the honeycomb structured body.

Exhaust gas discharged from internal combustion engines of automobiles and the like contains harmful gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbons (HC). An exhaust gas catalytic converter that decomposes such harmful gases is also referred to as a three-way catalytic converter. A common three-way catalytic converter includes a catalyst layer that is formed by wash-coating the slurry containing precious metal particles having catalytic activity on a honeycomb-shaped monolithic substrate made of cordierite or the like.
Patent Literature 1 discloses an exhaust gas catalytic converter including a monolithic substrate containing ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles and θ-phase alumina particles, wherein noble metal particles are supported on the monolithic substrate.


Various embodiments of the present technology generally relate to smarter copy and paste tools. More specifically, some embodiments relate to an intelligent cut and paste tool that includes functionality for tables where headers/labels are automatically determined and incorporated in the copied cells even if those headers/labels were not selected for copying. For example, in response to a request to copy selected data within the first table, a set of corresponding cells that includes labeling information for the data from the one or more cells can be identified. Once identified, the labeling information and the selected data can be copied to a clipboard. Then, in response to a request to paste the data from the clipboard, a second table can be created having cells that include the labeling information and the selected data.

Many users of electronic devices routinely utilize some type of personal productivity software that often includes a variety software applications. These software applications can include word processors, spreadsheet applications, e-mail clients, notetaking software, presentation applications, and others. The applications available in these software suites are often used by individuals in school and business to create documents, presentations, and various reports. These applications can also be used to perform calculations, produce charts, organize data, receive and send e-mails, and the like.
In many cases, users are copying portions of data within one of the software applications and pasting that data to a new location within the same or different software application. However, quickly copying portions of tables can leave subsequent readers without context for the data provided by headers because copying and pasting the interior cells of a table does not include the column headers that often provide important metadata or context labeling of the table's content or data values. The contents of a spreadsheet, for example, can be the output of a function whose inputs and therefore the meaning of the value may get lost when it is pasted to a destination application such as a word processor text document or another spreadsheet. Traditionally, in order to resolve this issue, users often have to manually add in additional headers to the pasted data or subsequently copy and paste the headers in addition to the data. These multiple copy and paste steps and possibly additional formatting and labeling operations to describe the data make the task difficult.
Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Upon reading the following, other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A kickstand puck were it's thickness matches the gap between the frame and isolation pad of a motorcycle floorboard. The two end shapes are formed to match the inside form of the outboard side of a floorboard frame. A groove down the center of one side of the puck is at a width and depth to match the full form of the inboard side of a floorboard frame.

Came up with this invention while watching motorcycle riders fumble around when holding their motorcycle up and trying to reach what ever they were going to place under the kickstand to keep it from sinking into the soft soil. I have seen many items used for this but all seem to be carried in an inconvenient place or not carried at all because of inconvenience.


An optical system and method are presented for use in a multi-photon microscope. The system comprises an imaging lens arrangement, and a pulse manipulator arrangement. The pulse manipulator arrangement comprises a temporal pulse manipulator unit which is accommodated in an optical path of an input pulse of an initial profile, and is configured to affect trajectories of light components of the input pulse impinging thereon so as to direct the light components towards an optical axis of the lens arrangement along different optical paths, said temporal light manipulator unit being accommodated in a front focal plane of the imaging lens arrangement, thereby enabling to restore the input pulse profile at an imaging plane.

Laser-scanning microscopy, confocal or multiphoton based microscopy, provides for performing optical sectioning.
The confocal microscope, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,467, utilizes optical sectioning of microscopic samples, i.e. the rejection of out-of-focus scattering, by using a confocal pinhole in front of the detection system.
The field of confocal microscopy relies on the idea of point-by-point illumination of a sample and using mechanical scanning (i.e. displacing the light beam and/or the sample) in order to collect an image. The imaging is thus a time consuming process, which is typically limited to a few tens of milliseconds per section in current commercial systems, a limit set by the speed of mechanical scanning devices. This is an inherent limitation of the confocal method, which significantly limits its utility for fast time-resolved imaging.
Multiphoton microscopes offer a different mechanism for optical sectioning. Here, a need for rejecting out-of-focus scattering is practically eliminated due to the nonlinear dependence of the measured signal on the illumination intensity. A multiphoton process, most commonly two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF), is efficient only when the peak intensity of the illuminating light is high, i.e. at the focal spot [Denk, W., Strickler, J. H., Webb, W. W., Two-photon laser scanning fluorescence microscopy, Science 248, 73-76 (1990)]. Due to the high energy densities required for inducing nonlinear processes, multiphoton microscopes require the use of a short pulsed laser. However, acquisition of an image still requires scanning of either the sample or the laser beam, resulting in a similar restriction of the image frame rate.
Numerous methods have been developed to increase the image acquisition rate in both confocal and multiphoton microscopes. Most of these methods involve multi-point illumination and scanning in a single spatial axis. Common examples are single-axis scanning and the use of line illumination [Sheppard, C. J. R., Mao, X. Q., Confocal microscopes with slit apertures, J. Mod. Optics 35, 1169-1185 (1988); Brakenhoff, G. J., Squier, J., Norris, T., Bliton, A. C., Wade, M. H., Athey, B., Real-time two-photon confocal microscopy using a femtosecond, amplified, Ti:Sapphire system, J. Microscopy 181, 253-259 (1995)]; and rotation of a patterned disk (in confocal microscopy) [Egger, M. D., Petran, New reflected-light microscope for viewing unstained brain and ganglion cells, Science 157, 305-307 (1967)] or a lenslet array (in multiphoton microscopy) [Buist, A. H., Muller, M., Squier, J., Brakenhoff, G. J., Real-time two-photon absorption microscopy using multipoint excitation, J. Microscopy 192, 217-226 (1998); Bewersdorf, J., Pick, R., Hell, S. W., Multifocal multiphoton microscopy, Opt. Lett. 23, 655-657 (1998)]. Others have used chromatic multiplexing [Tearney, G. J., Webb, R. H., Bouma, B. E., Spectrally encoded confocal microscopy, Opt. Lett. 23, 1152-1154 (1998)]. Overall, however, frame rates have not been reduced significantly beyond video-rate imaging.
The use of a rotatable microlens array in a microscope is also disclosed in Minoru Kobayasky et al. "Second-harmonic-generation microscope with a microlens array scanner", Optics letters, Vol. 27, No. 15, Aug. 1, 2002. According to this technique, the microlens array is located in the optical path of a collimated input laser beam, and splits the laser beam into a plurality of beamlets, which are collimated again and are incident upon a water-immersion objective lens. This way, a multiple number of foci illuminating a specimen are used. Each focus spot is timely separated from adjacent spots, preventing interference between neighboring focal fields from causing degradation in 3D resolution. By rotation of the microlens array disk, each focal spot on the specimen is scanned simultaneously.
Yet another technique, disclosed in L. Saconi et al., "Multiphoton multifocal microscopy exploiting a diffractive optical element", Optics letters, Vol. 28, No. 20, Oct. 15, 2003, utilizes a miniature diffractive optical element in tandem with galvo scanners to produce neat multispot grids with high diffraction efficiency and provides a high degree of uniformity in focal intensity. Here, several telescopic lens pairs are used for pivoting the grid on galvo scanners.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,591 discloses a two-photon fluorescence microscope with plane wave illumination. This technique is aimed at eliminating the need for moving parts to effect lateral scanning of the laser beam as well as creation of a three-dimensional image, in a two-photon fluorescence microscope. This microscope employs two laser beams having pulses of respective wavelengths λ2 and λ3, which cause two-photon emission of a fluorophore when the pulses are spatially and temporally overlapping. The pulses of the two beams of wavelengths λ2 and λ3 are combined at some crossing angle θ within the specimen, causing two-photon absorption within a line-shaped region during each instant of overlap. As the pulses pass through each other, the overlapping line-shaped region moves such that a slice of the fluorophore-containing specimen is excited by two-photon absorption during the overlap period. Lateral scanning is effected without moving parts by adjusting the relative delay of the pulses in the two beams. When the crossing angle θ is set to 0, i.e. when the two beams are directed along the same axis, the pulses of the two beams form a pancake-shaped volume in which two-photon excitation occurs as the pulses spatially and temporally overlap while traveling in opposite directions. A two-dimensional detector, such as a two-dimensional charge coupled device (CCD) array, can be used to detect a two-dimensional portion of the specimen at one time without lateral scanning. A three-dimensional image can be produced by adjusting the time delay between the two pulses, thereby changing the location of the "pancake" volume created by the intersection of the two pulses.
The conventionally used laser-scanning microscopy, be it confocal or multiphoton microscopy, although being capable of performing optical sectioning, requires a long image acquisition time, of an order of tens of milliseconds, due to the scanning process [Wilson, T., Confocal Microscopy, Academic press, London (1990)].


User data is read from a medium having servo data and user data encoded thereon. The user data is read with a read/write head that is operable in a write mode and a read mode. Servo data is read in a time window following a transition from write mode to read mode, with a frequency passband that has a first low frequency corner. User data is read from the medium after expiration of the time window, with a frequency passband that has a second low frequency corner that is lower than the first low frequency corner.

The present invention relates to a system and method for reducing the recovery time required following transitions between write and read modes in a perpendicular recording disk drive system.
A hard disk drive (HDD) preamplifier has two primary modes, read mode and write mode. A critical and challenging specification for an HDD preamplifier is the time required to switch from the write mode to the read mode and to recover the reader output baseline. This write-to-read time is affected by transient signals injected into the preamplifier that come both internal and external sources. The effect of transient signals on the write-to-read time is greatest in perpendicular recording systems. Perpendicular recording systems require the ability to pass very low frequency data, which requires a reduction the preamplifier's low frequency corner from conventional longitudinal system requirements. A reduction in low frequency corner extends the amount of time needed to recover from transients. This increases the sensitivity to transients, which can increase the baseline wander and therefore the write-to-read recovery time. Baseline wander is also undesirable for the read channel data recovery system because it makes it more difficult for the variable gain amplifier (VGA) to track the servo data.
In the past, a great deal of effort has been focused on reducing transient injection from internal and external sources. Other attempts have tried to reduce the transients while still remaining hypersensitive to them. This creates unreasonable requirements on the system that creates the transients and adds risk due to system unknowns. Further improvements in dealing with transients would improve the state of the art.

Reduced recovery time for perpendicular recording systems


A false lock filter circuit for a pulsed altimeter is provided. The circuit includes a low pass filter having a relatively low bandwidth (LBW LPF), a low pass filter having a relatively high bandwidth (HBW LPF) and a false lock controller. The LBW LPF has an input that is coupled to receive a detector output. The HBW LPF has an input that is coupled to receive the detector output. The false lock controller is coupled to receive outputs from the LBW LPF and HBW LPF. Moreover, the false lock controller is configured to sample an output of the HBW LPF and apply a statistical analysis on the samples to determine if a valid target has been detected.

Altimeters are used to determine distances between an aircraft in flight and the ground or a target. A typical altimeter has a transmitter that transmits a signal at a select frequency toward the target. A gate detector is used to detect the signals reflected off of the target. Based on the knowledge of the rate of travel of the signal and the time that passed between the transmission and the receipt of the reflected signal, the distance from the aircraft to the target can be determined. In a typical altimeter, once a reflected signal is detected as a valid target, the altimeter switches from a search mode to a track mode. In the track mode a narrower gate may be used that focuses on a range around where the target was detected. In the search mode, a low pass filter (LPF) is applied to the gate detector having an absolute or square function to rectify the signal. From the LPF, a signal level can be determined. Every detector system will have an inherent noise level. Hence, a typical system will set a threshold level that is a little above the noise level that indicates when a valid target is detected. A LPF that has a low bandwidth (LBW) is typically used that reduces the fluctuations in the detected noise level and hence provides good sensitivity. Therefore, the threshold that indicates a valid signal can be set very close to the average noise level.
Jamming signals and mutual interference from other altimeters limit the efficiency of the above described altimeter system. Although the LBW LPF provides excellent sensitivity, random high energy noise spikes from jamming signals or mutual interference can cause the gate detector to indicate a target even if one is not present (a false target). The LBW LPF will tend to average a noise spike with the background noise so that the system thinks a valid weak target has been detected. In response to the false target the system will mistakenly switch from the search mode to the track mode.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an efficient and effective method of preventing the switching from a search mode to a track mode based on false target detections in an altimeter system.

False lock filter for pulsed radar altimeters


A hair treatment composition comprising an aqueous dispersion of composite particles, said particles comprising: i) a clay with a net surface charge, and ii) a charged organic molecule comprising at least 6, preferably at least 11, more preferably at least 17 carbon atoms, wherein the charge on the charged organic molecule is opposite to the net surface charge of the clay, said hair treatment composition further comprising one or more suitable hair treatment ingredients.

The way their hair feels is very important to consumers of hair products. Desirable feel characteristics for hair include smoothness, softness, slippery feel when wet, ease of comb (both in the wet and dry states), no static, moisturisation and cleanness.
Compositions which provide improved feel to the hair are well known in the art and include rinse off products such as conditioners, shampoos, shower-gels, lotions and the like. These compositions improve feel characteristics of hair by depositing one or more of a wide variety of benefit agents, such as conditioning agents, onto the hair. However, such compositions can also lead to the hair looking and feeling heavy, greasy, dull and lifeless, due to the presence and/or accumulation of benefit and/or deposition agents on the surface of the hair. The clean feel of the hair can then be restored by removing these agents, for example by use of a so-called cleansing shampoo. However, the hair can then feel difficult to comb, harsh and lacks the benefits bestowed by the benefit agents just removed. In particular, such shampooing can leave the hair in a tangled and generally unmanageable state. Once the hair dries, it is often dry, rough, lustreless, or frizzy due to removal of the hair's natural oils and other conditioning and moisturizing components. The hair can further be left with increased levels of static upon drying, which can interfere with combing and result in a condition commonly referred to as "fly-away hair", or contribute to an undesirable phenomena of "split ends", particularly for long hair.
There remains a clear need for hair treatment compositions which are capable of imparting smoothness, moisturisation, ease of comb, etc, whilst also leaving the hair feeling clean, light and airy.

Hair treatment composition comprising composite particles of clay and charged organic molecule

Unilever Home & Personal Care USA division of Conopco, Inc.


The invention provides for a metallic cutting ring for a screw connection for sealingly connecting a tube to an attachment part, which metallic cutting ring has a tube abutment section and a cutting section which adjoins the tube abutment section in the axial direction. The cutting section having a stop which points radially outward from the outer periphery of the cutting ring and has a stop face, which runs transversely with respect to the cutting ring longitudinal axil, for the attachment part. The stop for the attachment part has an annular peripheral stop edge which projects beyond the stop face.

Screw connections having similar rings are known from DE-B 1 167 608, DE-B 1 175 639, GB 1 117 987 A and U.S. Pat. No. 2,406,488, in all of which screw connections, however, the stop for the stop part is situated on the end side of the cutting ring.
For example, DE-B 1 167 608 describes a threaded attachment joint for tubes comprising an attachment piece which has an end face which runs perpendicular to the tube axis and a similarly-running annular face for supporting the tube end. In addition, the threaded joint comprises a sleeve nut which encloses the tube end and can be screwed onto the attachment piece, and a hardened sealing ring, which is arranged on the tube end. As the sleeve nut is tightened, the hardened sealing ring bites with a radially inward aligned cutting edge, which is arranged in the region of its rear end, into the tube outer face. The hardened sealing ring also bites with an end-side annular cutting edge, which can also be regarded as a stop, into the end face of the attachment piece, with that part of the sealing ring being guided, with little play, at the outside by the wall of the cylindrical bore adjoining the end face, and at the inside by the outer face of the tube end.
DE-B 1 175 639 describes a method for producing a sealing ring for tube connections. The sealing ring is between the receiving cone of an attachment piece and a press-in piece, which interacts with said attachment piece, and bites with a hard cutting edge into the outer casing of the tube. This outer casing is to be attached as said press-in piece is axially displaced, with the front part of the sealing ring being altered from a cylindrical shape into a conical shape by means of rotating rollers until a lug is formed, which projects beyond the outer edge of the front part.
GB 1 117 987 A describes a tube coupling with which, as a tube is attached, the tube end can be expanded. Serving this purpose is a ring, referred to as a "tube-flaring sleeve", which fixedly holds the tube which is to be expanded by means of a radially inwardly aligned cutting edge when, during attachment, the end of said tube is pressed against a conical, centrally arranged expanding body, referred to as a "flaring member". At the end side, the expanded tube portion comes into contact with a radially outer conical face of a mating bore. The ring, at the end side which faces towards the expanding body and the mating bore, has a radial cutting edge and axially outwardly and inwardly aligned inclined faces which have different bevel angles and are matched to the conical faces of the expanding body and the mating bore.
A tube connection having a cutting ring is also recited in U.S. Pat. No. 2,406,488. The cutting ring has a flange which points obliquely radially inward and, during attachment, is bent back, by an attachment piece which bears against it, from an original inclined position into a position aligned approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the connection, and thereby cuts into the casing of the tube which is to be connected. The cutting ring also has on an end face, an axially aligned annular rib which, during attachment, comes into contact as a stop against the attachment piece and thereby stops the bending movement of the flange.
A metallic cutting ring which corresponds to the type specified in the Background Section is known from DE 33 41 726 A1. Said document describes a screw connection for sealingly connecting a tube to a tube connecting part or screw-in part, composed of a body. The body has a bore which narrows conically in a continuous fashion from an end face to the interior of the body. A nut, which can be screwed onto the body, has a bore, which narrows conically away from the body. A intermediate ring is provided with its end facing the body with a plurality of radially inwardly aligned cutting edges and is held in a clamped fashion between the conical bore in the body and the conical bore in the nut. This is intended to achieve the object of providing, with the intermediate ring, a cutting ring which, while having a high degree of axial strength, has a low degree of deformation work in the radial direction. This is achieved in that axially aligned ribs are arranged so as to be uniformly distributed on the periphery of a solid region of the cutting ring. It is possible by means of a targeted formation of the ribs to provide the cutting ring with an elastic behavior, which is matched to the respective requirements. In order to additionally provide that assembly process is complete, the nut-side conical stop faces of the solid region and the rib region are offset against one another in a defined way. In the known cutting ring, an annular bead is provided on the nut-side end with the ribs being situated on the outside of said annular bead. Also, a tube abutment section is formed in the region of said annular bead. Where an inner lateral surface of said region encloses, in a positively engaging manner, the outer lateral surface of the tube, which is to be connected.
The tube abutment section is adjoined in the axial direction towards the body by a cutting section, which has a stop that points radially outward from the periphery of the cutting ring and runs transversely with respect to the cutting ring longitudinal axis for the attachment part. In one embodiment, a stop face of the stop runs perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the ring, and in a further embodiment, obliquely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the ring, and in each case merges into said ribs, which are situated further radially outward. The stop face acts as a tightening limiter as the nut is tightened. That is to say, when the stop face comes into firm contact with the attachment part, the tightening torque increases abruptly, thereby signaling the end of the assembly process.
In contrast to DE-B 1 167 608, the cutting ring of DE 33 41 726 A1, permits a limitation of tightening during assembly, and the arrangement of an additional sealing edge in the front ring region.


A control arm is coupled to a control shaft of a hydraulic pump. A friction shaft extends parallel to the control shaft and is slidably moveable within an arcuate-shaped hole in the control arm. A stop plate is movably supported by the control shaft and the friction shaft. When the stop plate is in the operating position, a friction pad supported by the friction shaft is biased by a pressure plate and a spring against the control arm. When the stop plate is in the braking position, a sloping region of the stop plate engages a pin extending from the pressure plate such that the friction pad is spaced from the control arm and arcuate-shaped grooves in the stop plate engage pins extending from the control arm in a neutral position. The present invention also includes a hydrostatic transmission and a vehicle incorporating the cruise control and neutral return mechanism.

The use of hydrostatic transmissions ("HSTs"), including integrated hydrostatic transmissions ("IHTs"), are well known in the art for use with self-propelled vehicles such as tractors, riding lawn mowers, self-propelled lawn mowers, and the like. HSTs are fully described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,819,537, 5,335,496 and 5,163,293, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Generally, an HST includes at least one hydraulic pump and at least one hydraulic motor, each having a cylinder block with reciprocating pistons. The pistons of a hydraulic pump are fluidly connected to the pistons of a hydraulic motor, for example through hydraulic fluid lines or a center section on which one or more of the pump and motor are mounted. The pump is generally driven by a prime mover, such as a typical combustion engine. The pump transfers power to the hydraulic motor which is coupled to one or more axles of a vehicle, such as those described above. A movable swash plate abuts against the tops of the pump pistons which controls the movement of the pistons within the cylinder block. The slant of the swash plate controls the amount and direction of hydraulic fluid discharged from the pump to the motor. When the swash plate is moved in a first direction, the discharged hydraulic fluid is channeled to the motor in a first direction, which in turn drives the wheels of the vehicle in a first driving direction. When the swash plate is moved in a second direction, the discharged hydraulic fluid is channeled to the motor in a second direction, which in turn drives the motor in a second driving direction opposite of the first driving direction. The swash plate also has a neutral position, wherein the swash plate is not tilted. In this neutral position, the pump does not discharge hydraulic fluid, the motor does not operate and the wheels do not move, even though the prime mover is powering the hydrostatic transmission. The movable swash plate is tilted by a trunnion arm which is connected to a control shaft for controlling the position of the movable swash plate, and thus the speed and direction of the hydraulic motor. The control shaft is usually turned by a control arm linked to an input device, such as a lever or pedal for a user to operate the vehicle.
As a safety precaution, HSTs conventionally have an automatic return-to-neutral mechanism, such as a spring-loaded control arm. When the operator is not physically moving the input device, the control arm is automatically returned to a neutral position and the vehicle is stopped. However, when the vehicle is being used for an extended period of time, it can be arduous for a user to hold the input device in an operating position in order to overcome the automatic return-to-neutral feature.
Thus, various cruise control devices have been developed to keep a control arm in an operating position for an extended period of time. However, many of these cruise control devices are very complex and require the cruise control device to overcome or to disable the force of a return-to-neutral system in order to hold the control arm in position. Also adding to the complexity, braking systems are necessary to disable the cruise control feature such that the conventional automatic return-to-neutral mechanism will return the control arm to a neutral position and thus stop the operation of the vehicle.
Thus, a more simple apparatus is desired to hold a control arm in position and to stop the operation of a vehicle when desired.

Cruise control and neutral return mechanism for a hydrostatic transmission


Phase shifted frequency components of wide bandwidth, composite signals are ocused for analysis with high resolution by circuitry which includes both a Chirp-Z and a superheterodyne signal analyzer. An interface between the analyzers synchronizes the outputs therefrom relative to each phase shifted frequency component. Preferred embodiments are disclosed with the analyzers generally arranged in either parallel or series and replicating circuitry may be included in the latter to sustain the integrity of the phase shifted frequency components for some predetermined period of time.

The present invention relates generally to signal analysis and more particularly to analysis regardinq phase shifted frequency detection, such as in regard to doppler signals.
Electromagnetic signals such as those found in communications and radar applications, are a composite of many frequency components. In these applications, it is the individual frequency components which are analyzed. Signal analyzers of various types are very well known in the art. However, all such analyzers are of limited performance in that either wide bandwidth, low resolution analysis or narrow bandwidth, high resolution analysis is possible therewith. Usually the sweep rate of a local oscillator in the analyzer determines how the performance thereof will be limited, with rapid sweep rates resulting in wide bandwidth analysis and slow sweep rates resulting in high resolution analysis. High resolution analysis is even a greater problem when phase shifted frequency components are evaluated using those signal analyzers which are capable of detecting such components over a wide bandwidth.
The inventor of the invention disclosed and claimed herein, is a coinventor of the invention for which U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,740 was issued on Feb. 19, 1991. This patent discloses and claims arrangements of Chirp-Z analyzers which are capable of detecting frequency components over a wide bandwidth, with high resolution.

Wide bandwidth, high resolution circuitry for phase shifted frequency detection

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


Provided is a light source assembly including: a frame including a device region; a radiator mounted on the device region and detachable therefrom; and a light source including a light emitting device disposed at a position corresponding to the device region above the radiator.

1. Field
Apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a light source assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Related art light emitting device modules having an electrical field and heat sink structure have been manufactured in various shapes and sizes corresponding to various automobile models. In order to manufacture a light emitting device module and a heat sink structure suitable for a corresponding automobile model, new molds are manufactured. As a result, there have been issues such as an increase in investment costs including molding costs, expenditures for jigs, and the like, and an increase in manufacturing costs, molding management expenditure consumption, and the like.
In particular, in the case of a light emitting device module using a high power light emitting device, a heat sink plane for heat emission or the like is additionally used, or an assembly in a portion at which an internal volume is relatively small is not easy. Therefore, as a scheme for solving such defects, standardization of at least one of a heat sink structure and a fixing method thereof has been demanded.


A method and system for monitoring utility meter status, and transmitting a status message via an output device connected to a universal communications interface in the event that the utility meter status meets a predetermined condition. Typically, the predetermined condition is a power loss, signified by a drop in voltage or current. The system is connected to a utility meter, such as an electric meter. The voltage level of the electric meter is monitored through a voltage input interface. An analog-to-digital converter transforms the voltage waveform into a series of digital is data packets, which are then transmitted to a microprocessor. The microprocessor monitors the digital signal for a power loss indication, or other predetermined condition. Once a predetermined condition is met, the microprocessor transmits a status message across a universal serial bus to a universal communications interface. The universal communications interface is connected to at least one slot, which contains at least one output device. The universal communications interface is further able to determine the proper signal format employed by the output device for information transmission. Upon receipt of the status message, the universal communications interface converts the status message to the signal format employed by the output device, and passes the converted status message to the output device via the slot. The output device may then transmit the status message to a remote receiver in order to quickly and accurately update distant locations regarding the utility meter.

Automated meter reading (AMR) devices are often configured to transmit data relating to utility usage parameters to a remote location, such as a utility company. An AMR device may be a retro-fit device or a solid-state device. A retro-fit AMR device attaches to an existing utility meter and includes functionality to read the existing utility meter, transform the meter reading into usable data and transmit the data to a remote location. Solid-state AMR devices are designed to replace the existing utility meter and are attached directly to the utility line to measure utility usage data.
A significant drawback of prior art AMR devices is that they are functionally limited in their communications options and are thus not generally adaptable to evolving communications technology. AMR devices are typically constructed with hardware and/or software components for transmitting and receiving AMR data over a single communications medium. Some prior AMR devices may be equipped with components for transmitting and receiving AMR data over a finite number of communications media. However, as communications technology advances and new and different communications mediums are selected for the transmission of AMR data, incompatible AMR devices must be replaced at great expense to the utility companies. Unfortunately, the cost of replacing incompatible AMR devices is often passed on to the consumer.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for an AMR device that is able to adapt to evolving communications technology by being operable to transmit and receive AMR data via any communications medium.

Method and system for monitoring and transmitting utility status via universal communications interface


A circuit for controlling a valve assembly in applications where electrical isolation of the two control signal supply lines is required to prevent damage of control circuits caused by a reverse polarity feedback signal or other transient signal. The circuit includes a solenoid having a coil. The coil has a first end and a second end. The circuit also includes a first switching circuit electrically connected to the first and second ends of the coil to allow current to pass therethrough in a first direction to move a permanent magnet against a pushpin a first axial direction. The circuit further includes a second switching circuit electrically connected to the first and second ends of the coil to allow a current to pass therethrough in a second direction to move the permanent magnet away from the pushpin in a second axial direction. Further, when either switching circuit is allowing current to flow through the coil, it electrically isolates one negative control source from the other. The use of a pair of switching circuits electrically connected to the coil results in a relatively low voltage drop across the circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to solenoid actuated valves and, more specifically, to control circuits for operating same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solenoids are well known electromechanical devices used to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and particularly into short stroke mechanical motion. As such, solenoids have long been employed to actuate valves in response to an electrical signal. For example, it is known in the related art to employ a solenoid to bias a valve member in one direction against the biasing force of a return spring. When power to the solenoid is interrupted, the return spring biases the valve member back to its first position.
In certain applications, valve members must be positively maintained in different predetermined positions to control the flow of fluids, such as air, through the valve. One embodiment employed in the related art to achieve this results eliminates the return spring employed to bias the valve member to a specific location and replaces it with a second solenoid. The second solenoid is powered to positively move the valve member to a predetermined position and maintain it there until the second solenoid is de-energized and the first solenoid is energized to move the valve member back to the other position. However, this approach suffers from the disadvantage that double solenoid operated valves increase the size, weight, cost and complexity of the valve. Further, in the case of poppet-type valves, at least one coil must be powered at all times to ensure that the valve member is properly seated in the predetermined position. An unexpected, inadvertent or even planned shut down of power to the solenoid results in a loss of control of the valve. Additionally, in applications where the efficiency of the solenoid is of concern, such as where there is a limited source of electrical power, solenoids which must be continually powered to hold a valve member in a specific position or double solenoid actuated valves are generally unacceptable.
To decrease the power dissipated by the solenoid, and particularly in applications where the solenoid is to be retained in the actuated position for significant time periods, latching mechanisms are employed in the related art to hold the mechanical output of the solenoid in one position or the other without continuous power required to the solenoid. To this end, conventional self-latching solenoids known in the related art typically employ a movable pole piece and a fixed permanent magnet which are subject to an electromagnetic flux to bias a valve member. Usually, current flowing through the coil in one direction causes the pole piece to move away from the permanent magnet and to be attracted to another stationary element in the solenoid thereby actuating the valve member. Power to the coil is then interrupted but the latent magnetic force acting on the movable pole piece causes it to remain magnetically attracted to the stationary portion of the solenoid or xe2x80x9clatchedxe2x80x9d in its last position.
Control circuits are used to reverse the direction of current through the solenoid coil thereby reversing the direction of electromagnetic flux. Reversing the direction of current through the coil reverses the xe2x80x9cpolarityxe2x80x9d of the movable pole piece, driving it in the opposite direction toward the permanent magnet where it again becomes xe2x80x9clatchedxe2x80x9d after the power to the solenoid has been interrupted. The return spring is then typically free to bias the valve member in the opposite direction. In this way, the valve member may be moved to, and maintained in, any predetermined position by actuation of the solenoid after a relatively short pulse of electrical current through the solenoid coil.
While the self-latching solenoid actuated valves known in the related art have generally worked well for their intended purposes, there continues to be a need for smaller, faster acting self-latching solenoid actuated valves having low power consumption. This is especially true for small pneumatic valves used, for example, to control small air cylinders. In addition, there continues to be a need for control circuits which result in lower power consumption than those circuits known in the related art.
The present invention overcomes these deficiencies in the related art in a circuit for controlling a valve assembly. This circuit is necessary in applications where electrical isolation of the two control signal supply lines is required to prevent damage of control circuits caused by a reverse polarity feedback signal or other transient signal. The circuit includes a solenoid having a coil. The coil has a first end and a second end. The circuit also includes a first switching circuit electrically connected to the first and second ends of the coil to allow current to pass therethrough in a first direction to move a permanent magnet against a pushpin in a first axial direction. The circuit further includes a second switching circuit electrically connected to the first and second ends of the coil to allow a current to pass therethrough in a second direction to move the permanent magnet away from the pushpin in a second axial direction. Further, when either switching circuit is allowing current to flow through the coil, it electrically isolates one negative control source from the other.
In addition, the use of a pair of switching circuits electrically connected to the coil results in a relatively low voltage drop across the circuit when compared with conventional circuits known in the related art.

Control circuit for solenoid valve assembly


A load test system performs a load test of an emergency generator. The load test system includes a plurality of chargers having an AC/DC conversion function being connected in parallel, to which AC power generated from an emergency generator is inputted, and a storage battery to which AC power inputted to the plurality of chargers having the AC/DC conversion function being connected in parallel is converted into DC power of a predetermined output voltage and then inputted at an input voltage being set to substantially the same value as or lower than the output voltage.

Among conventional load test apparatuses, there has been known a so-called dry load test apparatus capable of performing a load test in response to the output of a power source of a generator or the like by selectively switching connection conditions of serial connection and/or parallel connection of a plurality of load resistors (see Patent Literature 1).


A male urinary incontinence control device comprising dorsal and ventral arms is presented. The dorsal clamping portion is configured for engaging a dorsal surface of a user's penis. The ventral clamping portion is configured for engaging a ventral surface of a user's penis. The device also comprises an adjustable hinge connecting the hinge end of the dorsal arm clamping portion to the hinge end of the ventral arm clamping portion. The adjustable hinge comprises a pivot fixed to one of the ventral and dorsal arms and about which the other of the ventral and dorsal arms can be selectively rotated between a closed position wherein the dorsal arm clamping portion is in opposition with the ventral arm clamping portion and an open position. The location of the pivot relative to the other of the ventral and dorsal arms is selectively adjustable to establish a desired spacing between the ventral and dorsal arms when in the closed position.

Urinary incontinence is the involuntary excretion of urine from one's body. In many instances the release results from one or more underlying medical conditions. Male incontinence is a problem that results in distress, embarrassment and inconvenience for many men suffering from the involuntary excretion of urine. To deal with this problem, invasive procedures are sometimes used. In other circumstances, non-invasive devices have been created to address male incontinence, such as diapers and penis restricting mechanisms.
The urethra is a tube which connects the urinary bladder to the outside of the body for purposes of excreting urine. In the human male, the urethra is typically about 20 cm (7.9 inches) long and opens at the end of the penis. Along this tract, the final portion of the urethra leading to the outside is commonly known as the spongy urethra (or penile urethra). This section runs along the length of the penis on its ventral (underneath) surface. Although varying, it is normally about 15-16 cm (5.9-6.3 inches) in length, and travels through the corpus spongiosum.
Generally, the goal of penis restriction devices is to somehow close, or partially restrict flow through, the urethra at some area along the spongy urethra. This in turn helps prevent the involuntary excretion of urine. Due to the unique anatomy of a penis, these external restriction devices that are clamped or otherwise secured to a penis can be effective in controlling urine flow through the spongy urethra. A given level of pressure applied to the spongy urethra will collapse or narrow the passageway and prevent or reduce urine from flowing through. These restriction devices have been used in the art to prevent involuntary voiding of a bladder and accordingly to prevent urine leakage.
Existing restriction devices can generally be divided into encirclement devices that typically have relatively flexible members designed to surround the penis shaft and clamp devices that typically have rigid or semi-rigid hinged clamping members. While many of these devices allow for a certain degree of adjustability, they do not account for the myriad variations in cross-sectional shape that may be encountered. The result may be user discomfort or inadequate or misplaced application of pressure and consequent leakage.


An analog filter circuit in which filter characteristic deviation can be adjusted with simple circuitry and its adjustment method can be provided. The analog filter circuit includes a low pass filter and a high pass filter and output signals of both filters are input to a comparison and adjustment section from which an adjustment signal is fed back to the low pass and high pass filters and also input to a predetermined-band pass filter having predetermined correlation to the low pass and high pass filters. The low pass and high pass filters are tuned so that the frequency-gain characteristic line in an attenuation band of the low pass filter linearly falls, while that line of the high pass filter linearly rises, both the lines crossing at a reference frequency. When filter characteristic deviation occurs, it is adjusted to compensate gain difference between the output signals produced by filtering the reference signal with a reference frequency and, accordingly, the predetermined-band pass filter is adjusted to its desired filter characteristic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to analog filter circuits and, in particular, to an analog filter circuit capable of automatic adjustment of filter characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
A Gm-C filter circuit disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. H09(1997)-83294 is shown in FIG. 15, wherein the Gm-C filter 100 is adjusted by turning the switches 170 and 190 on and the switches 160 and 180 off. When the center frequency of the Gm-C filter 100 is lower than its ideal frequency, the phase of the filter output lags behind the ideal phase. Based on a phase lag signal output from a phase comparator 110, the count value of an up/down counter 120 is incremented by one. The output current of a fine-adjusting bias current generating circuit 130 is determined by the counter output 270 and an adder 150 adds the output current of the fine-adjusting bias current generating circuit 130 to the output current of a bias current generating circuit 140 and outputs the sum as its output current 310. Here, given that the Gm-C filter 100 is designed so that its center frequency increases by an increase of the bias current, the filter is adjusted by the bias current to decrease the phase lag. By repeating the counter action, eventually, the filter center frequency is adjusted to the ideal filter frequency.

Analog filter circuit and adjustment method thereof


There is provided an integrated exclusion filter and pressurizing device which prevents leakage of unfiltered fluid across the interface area between a rotating filtering apparatus and non-rotating bulkhead. The exclusion filter utilized is of the type which utilizes Boundary Layer Momentum Transfer methodology to achieve filtration, and which includes a cylindrical stack of substantially flat annular plates. A pressurizing device is utilized downstream from the exclusion filter to repressurize filtered fluid and direct the filtered fluid toward the interface area. Either all the filtered fluid or only a portion may be repressurized, and some of the filtered fluid may be directed toward the bulkhead itself to aid pressurization by creating a local stagnation region. The pressurizing device may utilize flow diverting blades in a housing, including blowers, pumps, compressors, and fans. The housing design may be modified to improve fluid flow and multistage pressurizing means designs may be used to enhance repressurization. External vanes may also be added to the filtering apparatus to disperse particles ejected by the exclusion filter, reduce the particle density of the unfiltered fluid surrounding the exclusion filter, cool the system served by the filtering apparatus, or dilute the exhaust of the system served by the filtering apparatus.

The removal of particulates from working or moving fluids is vital to the prevention of the fouling or erosion of heat, mass and momentum transfer surfaces. In the particular case of electronics enclosures, contaminants in the cooling airflow may foul heat sinks and prevent proper cooling of electronic components. In the past, working and moving fluids were either sealed in a closed environment and, if necessary, cooled by the use of heat exchangers, or conventional screening filters were employed. Conventional filters require periodic maintenance, however, and heat exchangers are relatively expensive. An affordable, maintenance-free, self-cleaning filter system represents an appealing solution to the problem of particulate contamination.
Exclusion filters are a relatively new development in the field of particulate filtration. Exclusion filters utilize a cylindrical stack of evenly-spaced flat annular disks which rotates about the stack's central axis. The stack is capped on one end, and the disk's concentric holes form a central core within the stack. When operating, fluid pressure is reduced within the core and unfiltered fluid enters the rotating stack's periphery though the spaces between the disks. The fluid exits the stack through the uncapped end of the central core. Exclusion filters operate on Boundary Layer Momentum Transfer methodology. The rotation of the disks establishes a boundary layer on each side of each disk in the stack. A pressure drop across the disk stack (from outer to inner perimeter) is caused by the frictional drag losses of outside fluid traversing the boundary layers between the disks. Angular momentum transfer from the rotating disks via the inter-disk boundary layers in the device causes any particles above the critical cut-off size that are entrained in the incoming fluid to be immediately expelled away from the device perimeter. The fluid itself passes easily through the device. Exclusion filters are capable of filtering particulates and liquid droplets from a gas, or of filtering particulates from a liquid.
Prior exclusion filter systems have suffered from leakage problems. Specifically, in prior exclusion filter systems unfiltered fluid has a tendency to leak into and contaminate previously filtered fluid by way of the interface area between the rotating exclusion filter and the non-rotating bulkhead which separates the filtered fluid from the unfiltered fluid. This leakage of unfiltered fluid also contributes to the deterioration of sealing measures which may be located within the interface area, to the binding of bearings in the interface area, and to the general fouling and clogging of the interface area. Properly functioning exclusion filter systems represent an affordable, maintenance free, and self-cleaning alternative to existing filter systems, and could be used to remove particles from a moving or working fluids. A need exists for a properly functioning exclusion filter system which does not suffer from such leakage problems.

Integrated exclusion filter and pressurizing means


A heat-conductive connection arrangement for connecting a printed circuit board to a cooling body. The connection arrangement has a carrier which is flat. At least part of the carrier includes at least one balloon body which faces away from the carrier and is connected to the carrier. The balloon body includes an envelope which encloses an interior, and the interior is at least in part filled with a preferably free-flowing, in particular viscous, heat-conducting substance. The envelope is configured so as to tear open under the influence of pressure and to thus release the heat-conducting substance.

The invention relates to a heat-conductive connection arrangement or means for connecting a printed circuit board to a cooling body. The connection means has a carrier which is configured so as to be flat.
In connection arrangements which are known from the prior art, comprising a power semiconductor and a cooling body, the power semiconductor is connected to the cooling body in a heat-conducting manner by means of a free-flowing heat-conducting means, for example a heat-conducting paste or a heat-conducting adhesive. To this end, the heat-conducting means is applied onto a surface of the semiconductor or the cooling body by means of a dispensing device. The power semiconductor, or a printed circuit board which is connected to the power semiconductor, is then brought together with the cooling body, wherein the viscous heat-conducting means forms a heat-conducting bridge between the power semiconductor, the printed circuit board, and the cooling body.


A method and a device for determining a recirculation during a dialysis on the basis of the response of the dialysis system to an alteration of a system-related operating value are described. Recirculation may be determined by establishing, at the side of the dialysis liquid, a reference parameter that represents the concentration of uremic toxins from the extracorporeal circulation, and calculating a target parameter for a system-related target operational value from the reference parameter, presetting the system-related target operational value and establishing an actual parameter related to the system-related target operational value, determining an actual comparative value from the actual parameter and the reference parameter related to the system-related target operational value and comparing the actual comparative value with a system-specific target comparative value related to the system-related target operational value, and converting the comparison result into a recirculation degree.

The dialysis is an extracorporeal blood purification method which is used as a substitution method in case of renal failure. Apart from a kidney transplant, dialysis is one of the most efficient and thus most important renal substitution therapies in case of chronic renal failure and one of the treatment options for acute renal failure. The term "dialysis" or, in general, "blood purification" of this kind is to be understood as an exchange of substances through a membrane, with blood/plasma being present on the one membrane side and a dialysis liquid being present on the other side of the membrane or flowing along it.
During a treatment, blood is pumped out of the patient via a patient access (shunt), is conveyed past a dialysis membrane in the dialyzer (filter) and returned to the patient in cleaned condition. Any poisonous substances (metabolic degradation products) and uremic toxins consisting of small and medium-sized molecular substances (which are able to penetrate the membrane) are transported in a hemodialysis or hemofiltration or hemodiafiltration operating mode (treatment mode) of the dialysis apparatus from the blood mainly by diffusion and/or convection via the membrane to the other filter side into the dialysis liquid solution and are removed in this way. With the exception of the hemofiltration, there is a constant flow of fresh dialysis liquid through the dialyzer (preferably approximately 500 to 800 ml/min), with the preferred flow direction of the dialysis liquid in the dialyzer being countercurrent to the blood flow.
Usually, a hemodialysis treatment is carried out for approximately 4 to 5 hours (dialysis overnight up to 8 hours) for every treatment and at least three times a week (depending on the body weight, renal residual function, cardiac output). Patients who perform the hemodialysis at home avoid the problematic, longer treatment interval at the weekend and carry out the dialysis more frequently, as a rule every second day or even daily.
An important factor of influence on the quality of the dialysis is the blood flow. Generally speaking, the higher the blood flow, the better the result of the treatment. However, it may happen that problems occur in the dialysis shunt implanted in the patient for taking blood and returning the cleaned blood (e.g. restricted or insufficient flow due to wrong/imperfect positioning in the patient, damage etc.), in particular if the blood flow is high in the extracorporeal system. The specific level of the blood flow at which these problems will occur depends on the quality of the patient access and on the blood flow through the shunt as well as its integrity (no stenosis or aneurysm).
The problem/phenomenon of a so-called "recirculation" in the shunt may occur both with a low flow of blood through the shunt and in the state in which the shunt flow is still significantly higher than the preset blood flow. This means that already cleaned blood from the venous needle applied to the patient is sucked in by the arterial needle likewise applied to the patient and mixed with the blood still to be cleaned. This reduces the cleaning performance and the treatment results are perhaps not satisfactory. The same may happen if the arterial and venous needles are swapped by mistake when connecting the patient to the dialysis apparatus. In this case, the venous needle is upstream of the arterial needle and a recirculation effect occurs, too. Similarly, with low shunt quality fluidic effects result in recirculation.

Method and device for determining a recirculation state