For economical and assured separation of chromium, vanadium and titanium ions from acidic waste waters, which accrue in great quantities in preparation of titanium dioxide, the pH is first raised to around a value of 3 by addition of dolomite brick powder. Directly thereafter, the pH is fine tuned into the range of 4.3 to 4.7 through addition of calcium hydroxide and/or sodium hydroxide, and the hydroxides are separated with the aid of a flocculating agent. Since iron ions and calcium ions remain mainly dissolved in the waste water through such selective precipitation, only a relatively small volume of slush has to be disposed of.

The present invention relates a process for separating heavy metal ions from acidic sulfate and/or chloride containing waste water by addition of a magnesium compound and separation of the precipitate.
In the preparation of titanium dioxide according to the sulfate process by hydrolysis of titanyl sulfate solution, dilute acids and waste water accumulate. In addition to sulfuric acid, the accumulation contains the foreign substances contained in titanium ore, especially iron, but also at the very least traces of numerous other metal ions such as chromium, vanadium, aluminum. A part of the dilute acid can be returned directly into the process, in which case the metal ions under any circumstances do not interfere.
Various recovery processes have been developed, on one hand, through which the dilute acid, which contains 20-30% sulfuric acid, is concentrated to 60-70%, and the metal salts of the dilute acid for the most part are precipitated and recovered. See, e.g. DE 27 29 756A for the description of such process. On the other hand, the waste waters in the titanium dioxide preparation and also those which are obtained in the waste acid recovery, cannot as a rule be completely accommodated in the process. They contain relatively few components, e.g. 11 g sulfuric acid, 67 mg iron, and 1.2 mg chromium per liter. An economic recovery is thus not possible and up to now has not been required. Efforts toward the protection of the environment, however, have a present goal of additional lowering of the metal content, particularly chromium, vanadium and titanium, in the waste water of the titanium dioxide industry.
It is, for example, well known from DE 26 18 121A that in liquids which contain both chromium ions and sufficient iron ions, an effective reducing of the chromium ion concentration is possible through addition of lime and precipitation of the hydroxide. If waste waters from the titanium dioxide production are worked up according to this known process, calcium sulfate precipitates in addition to the collective hydroxides, therefore also iron hydroxide, so that a relatively large volume of slush ensues. The components of the slush are, moreover, relatively slowly filterable. Desirably, however, simply precipitation of the heavy metal ions which are undesired in the waste water such as chromium, vanadium and titanium takes place.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,286 discloses a two-stage process, in which titanium, aluminum, vanadium and chromium are precipitated by addition of ammonia in a first step, while the other metals still remain in solution. After an oxidation and fresh addition of ammonia in a second step, iron, manganese and magnesium precipitate as hydroxides. The precipitation of the metal ions in the first step is required, because only the separation or the diminishing of aluminum and titanium in the dilute acid leads to an iron oxide, the desired product, which can be filtered with justifiable expense. The goal of this process is to obtain iron oxide piqment and ammonium sulfate. The introduction of ammonia also results in a pH change. This process does not, however, provide encouragement to those skilled in this art for adhering to the lawfully prescribed maximum quantities of certain ions in waste water.
It is known to use magnesium hydroxide (technical grade) in the neutralization of acids. This has been proposed as especially advantageous compared to other industrially used neutralizing agents such as calcium hydroxide or sodium carbonate because, with use of magnesium hydroxide, a better control of the pH is possible, and the neutralization products are not too finely divided so as to be well filterable. Those skilled in this art also know that magnesium hydroxide is considerably more expensive than the known neutralizing agents and its availability is severely restricted.
It has now been found that heavy metal ions can be selectively separated from sulfate or chloride-containing waste water and that, via addition of a mixture of a calcium and magnesium compound, the waste water is pre-neutralized first of all roughly to a pH of around 3 and then a fine tuning of the pH in the range 4.3 to 4.7 follows with a well known neutralizing agent.
By virtue of the process according to the present invention, the elements chromium, vanadium and titanium are separable in a very high measure from the waste waters of the titanium industry via a selective precipitation. Of advantage in this regard is the use of relatively cheap chemicals and the good workability of the "ballast-free" slush containing no calcium sulfate and almost no iron hydroxide.
The natural product dolomite brick powder is an especially suitable calcium and magnesium compound.
In an especially favorable embodiment of the process according to the present invention, the rough adjustment of the pH takes place with the dolomite brick powder and for fine adjustment of the pH, takes place with calcium and/or sodium hydroxide.
A most favorable aspect of the process of the present invention is that, after the rough adjustment has taken place, the subsequent fine adjustment can be carried out at minor retention time.
A flocculatinq agent should be added for improvement of the filterability of the precipitated solids, e.g. a cationically active polyacrylamide.
The process of the present invention is especially suitable for treatment of large quantities of waste water obtained in the preparation of titanium dioxide and requiring a high degree of end purity.
It has been found that the ratio of calcium to magnesium, as it occurs in natural dolomite brick powder, is especially favorable in the chemical for pre-neutralization neutralization in the present invention. It is understood, however, that this ratio need not be exactly observed; for example, one could also use as a suitable product a combination of technical grade magnesium hydroxide and quicklime, in which fluctuations are tolerable.
The mixture of the two basic compounds, magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate, exhibits, in many respects, advantages in contrast to the use of individual compounds. Where the magnesium portion is too low, this can lead in the case of the waste waters to precipitation of calcium sulfate and, with that, to essentially greater volume of slush for the work up to detriment of the filtration properties. Also a post-precipitation of calcium sulfate, which makes the waste water unsightly in the form of a white turbidity, would not be able to be tolerated on environmental grounds. Too high a portion of magnesium in comparison to calcium would be disadvantageous because of the costs.
As explained below, a waiting time after the addition of the mixture of a calcium compound and a magnesium compound for rough adjustment of the pH range around 3 to the fine tuning is not required. This makes possible a continuous processing method.
Because of the selective precipitation, the second pH adjustment is relatively precisely carried out. Preferably sodium hydroxide and/or calcium hydroxide is used for the fine tuning.

Separation of heavy metals from waste water of the titanium dioxide industry


A positioning device for positioning an object includes a platform, a slide rail vertically extending from the platform, two standard units, and a retaining unit. The standard units are slidably mounted to the slide rail to abut against a first side of the object to cooperatively define a position reference plane for the object. The retaining unit includes a fixing block fixed to the high standard unit, a slide bar slidably mounted to the fixing block, a holding arm fixed to the slide bar to abut against a second side opposite to the first side of the object, and a spring to bias the slide bar to ensure that the holding arm abuts against the second side of the object.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to positioning devices, and more particularly to a positioning device to aid in positioning an object to be measured.
2. Description of Related Art
Often, in development environment, objects needing to be measured are manually held in position while measurements are taken. Manually handling the objects may distort or damage the objects leading to poor measurement accuracy.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


Apparatus and method for estimating a downhole fluid property using a carrier conveyable into a well borehole, one or more light sources carried by the carrier, the one or more light sources comprising at least one quantum cascade laser light source, a fluid sample cell that receives light emitted from the one or more light sources, and at least one photodetector that detects light emitted from the one or more light sources after the light interacts with a fluid in the fluid sample cell.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to well bore tools and in particular to apparatus and methods for downhole spectrometry.
2. Background Information
Oil and gas wells have been drilled at depths ranging from a few thousand feet to as deep as 5 miles. Wireline and drilling tools often incorporate various sensors, instruments and control devices in order to carry out any number of downhole operations. These operations may include formation testing, fluid analysis, and tool monitoring and control.
The environment in these wells present many challenges to maintain the tools used at depth due to vibration, harsh chemicals, and temperature. Temperature in downhole tool applications presents a unique problem to these tools. High downhole temperatures may reach as high as 200° C. (392° F.) or more, and sensitive electronic equipment may require cooling in order to operate properly in the downhole environment. An added problem is that space in the carrier assembly is usually limited to a few inches in diameter.
High resolution spectrometers, 1-2 nm bandpass for each optical channel for example, are typically completely located at a surface location with fluid samples being transported to the surface for analysis or they use optic fibers to carry light from the surface to a downhole sample. Some wireline tools use downhole spectrometers that analyze fluids in the downhole environment but generally at comparatively low spectral resolution of about 20-30 nm bandpass for each optical channel.

Methods and apparatus for estimating a downhole fluid property


An improved catheter is provided that is particularly useful for mapping the pulmonary vein and other tubular regions of or near the heart. The catheter comprises an elongated catheter body having a proximal end, a distal end and at least one lumen extending longitudinally therethrough. A mapping assembly is mounted at the distal end of the catheter body and comprises a stem and at least two spines. The spines are moveable between a collapsed position, where each spine has a distal end attached to the stem, and a free proximal end positioned generally against the stem, and an expanded position, where the free proximal end of each spine extends outwardly from the stem. Each spine carries at least one electrode.

Atrial fibrillation is a common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and a major cause of stroke. This condition is perpetuated by reentrant wavelets propagating in an abnormal atrial-tissue substrate. Various approaches have been developed to interrupt wavelets, including surgical or catheter-mediated atriotomy. Prior to treating the condition, one has to first determine the location of the wavelets. Various techniques have been proposed for making such a determination. One proposed technique provides for measurement of the activity within a pulmonary vein, coronary sinus or other generally-tubular structure in or around the heart, where the activity is simultaneously measured at multiple points about the inner circumference of the structure.
A catheter for performing such a technique is described in allowed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/551,467, entitled "Catheter Having Mapping Assembly." The catheter includes a generally-circular electrode assembly at the distal end of the catheter. The generally-circular electrode assembly is introduced into the pulmonary vein so that the outer circumference of the electrode assembly is in contact with an inner circumference of the pulmonary vein. Using electrodes arranged on the electrode assembly, the electrical activity all around that circumference can be measured. This method is much more effective and accurate than separately measuring individual points along the circumference, for example, with a standard straight catheter carrying only a single mapping electrode or mapping electrode pair.
However, the pulmonary vein can be somewhat irregular in shape. In such circumstances, a generally-circular electrode assembly as described above may not make sufficient contact with the inner circumference of the pulmonary vein. Accordingly, a need exists for a catheter that can take into account irregularities in the pulmonary vein and contact a sufficient portion of an inner circumference of the pulmonary vein to map multiple points along the circumference simultaneously.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Catheter and method for mapping a pulmonary vein


A fan speed control circuit includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generating circuit, a driving circuit and a phase compensation unit. The PWM signal generating circuit generates a PWM control signal with a sequence of alternating on-time and off-time, and the driving circuit outputs a driving signal according to the PWM control signal to a fan motor. The phase compensation unit is connected to the fan motor for delaying or advancing the PWM control signal by a phase angle to synchronize the acting period of the back electromotive force formed by the magnetic flux variation with the off-time of the PWM control signal. The present invention further provides a bi-power motor driving system including a motor rotating by receiving a first power from a first power generator, and a driving circuit for driving the motor according to a second power from a second power generator.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fan speed control circuit and, more particularly, to a fan speed control circuit capable of reducing vibrations and noises in a fan motor by using a phase control method.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Among conventional fan speed control technologies, pulse width modulation (PWM) control is the most common method used to control the speed of direct current (DC) motors.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a conventional PWM control method, an external PWM signal 102 is used to drive a bipolar transistor 104 and a driver IC 106 such that the terminal voltage of a stator coil 108 is controlled. Also, a hall element 110 whose output voltage is directly proportional to the magnetic field strength is used to sense the magnetic polarity of the rotor in a fan motor.
Referring to FIG. 2, the fan motor is "on-time" as the pulse level of the incoming PWM signal 102 is high (also called the duty cycle), while the fan motor is "off-time" as the pulse level is low. The sum of these two times is one period. Therefore, one can, for instance, decrease the on-time or increase the off-time of the fan motor in one period to lower the motor speed.
In a brushless DC motor, cogging torque is produced by the magnetic attraction between the rotor mounted on permanent magnets and the stator, and it is an undesired effect that makes precise positioning of the rotor impossible because the rotor tends to lock onto the position where it is aligned with the stator poles. Further, when the rotor rotates, the magnetic flux variation causes back electromotive force (back emf) effect, and the back emf effect in turn enhances the cogging torque to result in high values of output ripple, vibrations, and noises in the fan motor.
FIG. 3A shows a conventional motor driving system 1 mainly consisting of a driver 210 and a coil 211 wherein the coil 211 is electrically connected with the driver 210, and the driver 210 is electrically connected with a power generator 212 and receives a power Vcc from the power generator. The power Vcc provides the driver 210 with the necessary working voltage and the driver 210 outputs a driving current to the coil 211 based on the working voltage.
FIG. 3B shows another conventional motor driving system 1 differing from the aforementioned motor driving system 1 in that the driver 210 is electrically connected with a plurality of coils 211 (only two coils are shown in FIG. 3B).
In these two kinds of motor driving systems 1 mentioned above, the motor speed is controlled by varying the power Vcc. However, such kind of speed control technique is limited by the working voltage of the driver 210 thereby resulting in a narrow speed-control range, and therefore cannot satisfy the industry requirement, gradually.
FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B show a conventional motor driving system 2 wherein the driver 210 and the coil 211 of FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are applied as a fan motor 220. The fan motor 220 of FIG. 4A has one end electrically connected with a power generator 223 for receiving a power Vcc from the power generator and the other end electrically connected with a collector C of a transistor 221. The transistor 221 has an emitter E electrically connected with a ground terminal and a base B electrically connected with a PWM signal source 222. The motor driving system of FIG. 4B differs from that of FIG. 4A mainly in that the fan motor 220 has one end electrically connected with a ground terminal and the other end electrically connected with the collector of the transistor 221, and the emitter E of the transistor 220 is electrically connected with the power generator 223. In the motor driving systems 2 shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, the base B of the transistor 220 receives a PWM signal (Spwm) from the PWM source 222, and the transistor 221 is turned on or off according to the PWM signal thereby controlling the speed of the fan motor 220. In this kind of control method, the speed modulation of the fan motor 220 is achieved by performing the ON/OFF action. However, the driver (not shown) in the fan motor 220 also performs switching action while the ON/OFF action is performed, thereby producing on/off switching noise which in turn causes electric noise. Therefore, it is not a good design and needs to be improved.


This disclosure relates to a battery arrangement for an electrified vehicle. Among other things, the battery arrangement includes first and second battery modules, each of which includes a battery module housing. Adjacent surfaces of these battery module housings are interlocked such that the first and second battery modules are configured to slide relative to one another in a transverse direction of the electrified vehicle. Accordingly, this disclosure increases safety while saving space and without requiring undue reinforcements of the chassis structure, which would increase the weight of the vehicle and reduce the energy efficiency the vehicle. These and other benefits will be appreciated from the following description.

Electrified vehicles differ from conventional motor vehicles because electrified vehicles are selectively driven using one or more electric machines powered by a traction battery. The electric machines can drive the electrified vehicles instead of, or in addition to, an internal combustion engine. Example electrified vehicles include hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The traction battery is a relatively high-voltage battery that selectively powers the electric machines, and potentially other electrical loads of the electrified vehicle. The traction battery can include battery arrays each including a plurality of interconnected battery cells that store energy.
Batteries for electrified vehicles are often mounted in a vehicle below the passenger compartment floor, where the battery is protected by various structures such as cross members and side sills, which are stabilizing side frame structures that lie approximately at the height of the subfloor. The central subfloor region forms a relatively safe zone for a battery in the event of an impact.

Electrified vehicle with battery arrangement permitting relative transverse movement of individual modules


An SDN controller associated with a switch maintains unique tenant/port association data, and pushes to the switch per-tenant policies. A per-tenant information processing port (IPP) on the switch enables traffic sent to or from a tenant to be distinguished from that of another tenant, even with respect to packet processing devices (PPDs) that share a particular switch. With the described approach, the properties of a non-overlay SDN are leveraged to support multi-tenancy in an efficient manner, preferably by associating a specific tenant with a specific port (on the virtual switch) once, rather than continuously parsing tenant data from the information flow. The technique enables the application of tenant-specific policy to tenant-specific network flows in a multi-tenant network.

Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to protecting resources in a virtualized networking environment.
Background of the Related Art
An emerging information technology (IT) delivery model is cloud computing, by which shared resources, software and information are provided over the Internet to computers and other devices on-demand. Cloud computing can significantly reduce IT costs and complexities while improving workload optimization and service delivery. With this approach, an application instance can be hosted and made available from Internet-based resources that are accessible through a conventional Web browser over HTTP. An example application might be one that provides a common set of messaging functions, such as email, calendaring, contact management, and instant messaging. A user would then access the service directly over the Internet. Using this service, an enterprise would place its email, calendar and/or collaboration infrastructure in the cloud, and an end user would use an appropriate client to access his or her email, or perform a calendar operation.
Cloud compute resources are typically housed in large server farms that run network applications, typically using a virtualized architecture wherein applications run inside virtual servers, or so-called "virtual machines" (VMs), that are mapped onto physical servers in a data center facility. The virtual machines typically run on top of a hypervisor, which is a control program that allocates physical resources to the virtual machines.
Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new network paradigm that separates each network service from its point of attachment to the network, creating a far more dynamic, flexible, automated, and manageable architecture. Using this approach, administrators can easily move virtual resources throughout the network, create private virtual networks that meet specific performance and security needs, and use a host of other high-value applications. SDN abstracts flow control from individual devices to the network level. Similar to server virtualization, where virtual machines are de-coupled from the physical server, network-wide virtualization gives administrators the power to define network flows that meet the connectivity requirements of end stations and to address the specific needs of discrete user communities. SDN pulls the intelligence away from the hardware while still implementing rich feature sets. SDN uses a modular approach that is structured and layered to provide the same functions as a traditional network device, yet in a centralized and highly-available fashion.
SDNs address the administration requirements of large scale networks, both physical and virtual. Using an SDN, service providers that deliver network capability to multiple clients are able to manage their policy and event data distinctly and separately. This multi-tenant capability is an important value proposition to service providers and tenants alike.
There are two common mechanisms for information transmission in an SDN: "direct" and "overlay." Direct information transmission uses raw network frames and the information they convey; in contrast, overlay networks use encapsulation (tunneling) to transmit additional information (e.g., tenant identity) in addition to the encapsulated information. An SDN tunneling protocol associates a tenant-specific flow with a protocol tunnel, which contains tenant identification information. While both types of information transmission are commonly-used, there is significant overhead associated with processing flows encapsulated in tunneling protocols. As a consequence, the application of tenant-specific policy to tenant-specific network flows is difficult to carry out in a highly-performant manner.
There is need to provide for high performance tenant-specific processing using direct SDN properties, while avoiding overlay overhead that is incurred by the need to process tenant-specific flows encapsulated in tunneling protocols.

Packet processing in a multi-tenant software defined network (SDN)

International Business Machines Corporation


It is desirable to produce live vaccines, which are highly attenuated and which do only contain minimal or no animal-derived components. The production of highly attenuated live viruses can be better achieved when using specifically designed cell lines as producer substrate as opposed to using less defined primary cells. However, live viruses, thus produced comprise undesirable components from the cell lines and cell culture. The present invention relates to methods of production and purification of live enveloped viruses, which are suitable for vaccination.

Although vaccines are widely used and protect against a surprisingly broad spectrum of infectious diseases, protective or therapeutic immunity still cannot be raised against a number of latent and chronic pathogens including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus, and the Plasmodium protists causing malaria. Conventional approaches that mainly elicit antibody responses have not been successful in providing protective or therapeutic immunity. It is believed that this is due to the fact that epitopes are variable, frequently masked or protected by microbial decoys, or because the dynamic of the infectious cycle may seclude the pathogen into compartments not accessible to antibodies.
Compared to vaccination with inactivated virions or purified subunits, live vaccines induce a broad response that also involves the cellular compartment of the immune system. For safe limitation of a natural infection the vaccine strains are attenuated, but for certain viruses there is a risk of reversion to pathogenic strains (Zurbriggen et al. 2008 in Appl Environ Microbiol 74, 5608-5614) or potential residual virulence for some vaccinees or their contact persons (Marris 2007 in Nat Med 13, 517). In addition, compared to the smallpox eradication program of the 1970s, any pathogenic potential of a vaccine vector may be amplified by the increases in international travel and numbers of immunocompromized individuals. Thus, a greater degree of safety is highly desirable in any novel live vectors (Parrino and Graham 2006 in J Allergy Clin Immunol 118, 1320-1326).
Modern vectored vaccines (Excler et al. 2010 in Biologicals 38, 511-521; Plotkin 2009 in Clin Vaccine Immunol 16, 1709-1719) combine the advantages of live vaccines with the strong safety profile inherent to the highly attenuated vectors, and thus may provide novel therapeutic or protective approaches. Promising vectors are replication deficient alphavirus vectors and highly attenuated poxviruses including modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), fowlpox (such as strain FP9), and canarypox (ALVAC). These vectors do not replicate in human cells and can therefore be safely given even to immunocompromised recipients (for example (Cebere et al. 2006 in Vaccine 24, 417-425; Dorrell et al. 2007 in Vaccine 25, 3277-3283; Jin et al. 2002 in J Virol 76, 2206-2216; Webster et al. 2005 in Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102, 4836-4841). They can accommodate large inserts and provide a strong stimulation of the immune system against the vectored antigen (for example (Drillien et al. 2004 in J Gen Virol 85, 2167-2175; Liu et al. 2008 in BMC Immunol 9, 15; Ryan et al. 2007 in Vaccine 25, 3380-3390; Sutter and Moss 1992 in Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89, 10847-10851; Sutter et al. 1994 in Vaccine 12, 1032-1040).
Disadvantages are directly related to the beneficial properties: the high degree of attenuation necessitates very high numbers of infectious units per dose for full efficacy, and because host range is restricted production requires improved cellular substrates (in some cases from avian donors) or special packaging cell lines.
To illustrate the extent of the industrial challenge with precise numbers and MVA as an example (without limiting this application to MVA only):
Dose requirement is estimated at 108 infectious units of MVA per vaccination (Coulibaly et al. 2005 in Virology 341, 91-101; Gilbert et al. 2006 in Vaccine 24, 4554-4561). For global programs against complex infectious diseases such as HIV or tuberculosis hundreds of million of doses of the highly attenuated poxviruses may be required annually. For comparison, lesser attenuated strains also produced in avian cells include vaccines against measles, mumps and yellow fever; these require only 103, 2×104 and 5.5×104 infectious units per dose, respectively (information from the package inserts of YF-VAX from Sanofi Pasteur and M-M-R II from Merck). The protective dose of the vaccinia strain Dryvax in routine vaccination against smallpox is 2.5×105 pfu (Rotz et al. 2001 in MMWR Recomm Rep 50, 1-25; quiz CE21-27), 400 fold lower than the dose recommended for MVA.
However, production of MVA depends on avian cells. Currently, vaccine strains adapted to avian hosts are produced only in embryonated chicken eggs or on fibroblasts prepared from such eggs, a venerable technology but also associated with certain disadvantages. Because primary cells suffer senescence within few passages they have to be supplied continuously. Differences in timing and preparation may lead to lot variations (Monto et al. 1981 in J Clin Microbiol 13, 233-235; White and Fazekas De St Groth 1959 in J Hyg (Lond) 57, 123-133). The embryonated eggs as source for the fibroblasts are from expensive SPF (specific pathogen free) flocks. The SPF status requires elaborate husbandry, and transport of material across country borders complicates logistics and also cause shortages. Even with SPF precautions in place, contamination with extraneous agents cannot always be prevented. Because time from collection of the embryonated eggs to production of the vaccine is short, testing for extraneous agents is performed on the final bulk (Philipp and Kolla 2010 in Biologicals 38, 350-351). Occasionally, complete vaccine lots have to be discarded when contamination is confirmed by quality testing (Enserink 2004 in Science 306, 385).
Finally, with primary cells it is also not possible to stably express transgenes that may further enhance production of highly attenuated viruses or allow packaging of replication-deficient vectors.
The present inventors have immortalized primary cells from a muscovy duck embryo to replace primary cells as substrate (Jordan et al. 2009 in Vaccine 27, 748-756) and have developed a chemically defined production process for viral vaccines based on this cell line. They have also generated packaging cells based on this cell line (WO 2009/156155). With this technology available one can now expand the development towards vaccine production from a continuous culture in a chemically defined medium and infected with a modern viral vector.
The main challenge at this point is to meet health regulatory guidelines. One of the guidelines that applies here is the World Health Organization Technical Report Series 878 from the year 1998. It is suggested (see the section starting on page 26) that a level of 10 ng of DNA would be acceptable per dose of live vector.
To the knowledge of the present inventors, there are presently no approved live vaccines produced from continuous cell lines. Currently approved live vaccines are produced on primary cells such as chicken embryo fibroblasts (attenuated measles, mumps, yellow fever and influenza viruses), MRC-5 or WI-38 human diploid cell preparations (rubella and varicella viruses), and Vero cells (vaccinia virus and rotavirus). For these cell lines, regulatory procedures with respect to host cell derived components are less stringent, mainly due to the large body of experience that exist. However, as discussed above for chicken embryo fibroblasts, any primary cell preparation has considerable disadvantages and limits in supply. This also applies to Vero cells that may be considered a continuous cell line. However, this line is acceptable for vaccine production only at low cell passage levels (Manohar et al. 2008 in Biologicals 36, 65-72).
Modern continuous cell lines overcome many disadvantages of primary cells but introduce a new challenge, the requirement to define and then to minimize the risk that may be associated with host cell components carried over into the vaccine preparation. Accordingly, the present inventors provide methods of production and purification of live vaccines, which overcome problems of prior art vaccines and provide further advantages.

Depletion of host cell components from live vector vaccines


An analog front end for a multi-channel signal processor is provided. The analog front end includes a first stage that is operable to receive a plurality of channel inputs. The first stage includes a ping/pong capacitor array corresponding to each of the channel inputs and an operational amplifier that may be coupled successively to each of the ping/pong capacitor arrays.

Signal processors, such as image signal processors, typically employ an analog front end (AFE) to convert analog sensor information into digital code, which may then be manipulated by a digital signal processor. In some conventional AFEs, the sensor information is sampled by a correlated double sampler (CDS). To account for differences in channel gains, the output of the CDS is generally passed to a programmable gain amplifier (PGA) that can provide independent signal gain or attenuation to each channel. The resulting signal may then be provided to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for conversion into a digital signal.
The most common sensors for image signal processors produce signals for three colors: red, green and blue. Therefore, the AFE for such a system has to be able to process three colors simultaneously. To accomplish this in a conventional AFE, three completely separate analog channels, each with a CDS, a PGA and an ADC, are implemented in the AFE. If there are additional sensor outputs (e.g., even and odd for each color), the total number of CDS, PGA and ADC blocks increases proportionally. Each CDS block and each PGA block has an operational amplifier that consumes power even when the operational amplifier is not being used (e.g., when the block is sampling input signals). Therefore, as the number of these blocks increases, both the power being used for amplification and the power being wasted when no signals are being amplified also increases. In addition, as the number of ADC blocks increases, the amount of power consumed and the area requirements for the AFE increase as well.
Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term "or," is inclusive, meaning and/or; the term "each" means every one of at least a subset of the identified items; the phrases "associated with" and "associated therewith," as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term "controller" means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation, such a device may be implemented in hardware, firmware or software, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

System and method for reducing power consumption in a multi-channel signal processor


A valve for distributing fluids includes a housing, a bobbin disposed within the housing having a bore, a coil disposed on the bobbin wall, and an armature disposed within the bore of the bobbin. The armature includes a point region and a main body that is integral to the point region. The armature moves between a first position and a second position. The solenoid valve further includes a pole piece having a cylindrical bore and a valve body disposed within the cylindrical bore of the pole piece. The solenoid valve also includes a spool disposed within the valve body bore, and a spring member operatively disposed within the spool bore.

The present disclosure relates generally to valves for distributing fluids.
A solenoid valve is a valve which is opened by a plunger whose movement is controlled by an electrically energized coil; the valve may be closed by the action of a spring, by gravity, or by an electrically energized coil. The task of a solenoid valve is to control fluid flow, e.g., by shutting off release, dosing, distributing or mixing fluids. Typical automobiles include numerous systems that use one or more solenoid valves to control the flow of fluid within the system and to control the flow of fluid between systems. Many of these solenoid valves are three port solenoid valves that require hydraulic fluid to be isolated or modulated between supply, control, and exhaust ports. These valves often define a pressure chamber having an input port connected to a pressure source and an output port or control port. To vary the degree of pressure within the chamber and hence the degree of pressure available to the output port, fluid is introduced at a pressure that is different from that established by the source.
In order to properly isolate or modulate the flow of the hydraulic fluid, the geometry around a supply-to-control (S/C) valve seat and the geometry around a control-to-exhaust (C/E) valve seat are generally customized as a function of the poppet travel. In most cases, especially linear pressure control solenoid valves, poppet alignment and/or the presence of a spring in the hydraulic flow path may result in significant, undesirable variation in the functional performance of the solenoid valve.
A typical three port solenoid valve uses a rod and ball configuration to control the flow of fluid between the ports. The rod can have an area that interfaces a first seat, and a port that extends to push a ball away from a second seat. Moreover, the ball may have a spring behind it that helps keep it seated or in contact with the rod. This type of configuration produces two annular orifices with a radially floating ball that may be undesirably sensitive to component alignment during manufacturing and usage of the valve. Moreover, the use of a spring in the hydraulic flow path may in some instances result in undesirable variation in the performance of the solenoid valve.


There is provided a fixer for a fiber bragg grating (FBG) sensor, by which the FBG can be installed by any person to provide the FBG sensor with an accurate value, irrespective of a place to be installed, and the FBG sensor can be semi-permanently fixed and protected. The fixer includes a pair of fixing pieces 3 with a bottom surface adhered to the object, in which both ends of the FBG sensor S is inserted and adhered by an adhesive F, a tube 2 for spacing the pair of fixing pieces at regular intervals, in which the FBG sensor S is inserted into a hollow portion of the tube to protect the FBG sensor S from the exterior, and a member for fixing the fixing pieces 3 and the pipe 2, without producing an error of above 0.0002 mm.

Generally, a fiber bragg grating (FBG) sensor is a wavelength selective device created by forming a grating that periodically modulates an index of refraction in a glass core of an optical fiber to selectively reflect a specific wavelength.
Since the FBG sensor for measuring physical quantity has good physical properties, for example, it has an inherent wavelength and is not affected by an electromagnetic wave, the FBG sensor substitutes for a conventional electrical gauge. A field of application for the FBG sensor is abruptly increased in recent years.
In spite of a very small diameter of 125 mm, the FBG sensor has a large tension per unit area. Consequently, since the FBG sensor is easily ruptured by an external shock, it is required to exquisitely attach the FBG sensor to buildings or bridges.
In addition, the FBG sensor should be tightly installed to have proper tension, thereby measuring an accurate value. Since there is no proper fixer for the FBG sensor to a civil construction, an experienced engineer should directly set a value of the FBG sensor in a site, which is limited in space-time.
As such, although the FBG sensor has a good measuring performance, it is not widely used in various industrial fields, due to difficult installation and manipulation of the FBG sensor.
Meanwhile, the FBG sensor is directly attached to an object to be measured by an adhesive or an optional fixing piece. Therefore, the FBG sensor is likely to be exposed to external circumstances such as rain, wind, bugs or animals.
The FBG sensor exposed to the external circumstances may wrongly measure a strain, so that it is difficult to constantly inspect civil construction and maintain a measuring system.


A system and method for determining telephone status over a network. The system and method provides for off hook status to be determined by a switch or other monitor that then provides that information to a telephone status file. The telephone status file is accessible over the Internet by computer so that a calling party can first determine if the called party is on the telephone. Thus wasted time in making calls that cannot be completed is avoided. The system operates over normal PSTN""s, over cable systems, and over the Internet.

This invention relates generally to electronically determining the status of a telephone over a network. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for obtaining the status of a telephone (whether on-hook or off-hook) over a network in order to maximize the probability of reaching a desired party. It also provides a method and apparatus for sending an e-mail to the desired party for storage as a voice mail message.
Literally millions of times per day, parties attempt to contact one another, only to find that the party initiating the telephone call receives a busy signal or is put into the phone mail of the receiving telephone when that telephone is off-hook. Not only is this experience frustrating for the caller, but can result in lost business or social opportunities on the part of the receiving party who is on the line speaking with someone else. In addition, receiving busy signals and the inability to complete telephone calls results in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue both from the time expended by the caller in trying to reach the desired party, as well as lost opportunities for commerce or other social contact.
Telephone line activity monitoring has been the subject of invention in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,416 to Theis, et. al. describes a form of line activity monitoring for the purpose of obtaining information regarding statistics of line usage. This system detects the usage of the line, but not transmit status information to others in any current fashion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,899 to Norwich describes yet another monitoring system whose purpose is to notify an operator that a telephone line is open so that a desired message can be delivered by the operator to a receiving party. This system comprises an automatic dialer which attempts to reach individuals on a repetitive basis until a connection is made. Again, status of the telephone at any given point of time is not provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,931 to Bourg, et. al. describes an integrated calling directory comprising a personal computer that stores information about the numbers being called. It does not address the problem associated with the called party telephone being in an off-hook condition. This is not reported in any fashion to the initiator of the telephone call.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,740 to Irribarren, et. al. described a communication system comprising a voice message system for storing and retrieving voice messages and faxed data and for converting text into voice messages. This system does not deal with the issue of how to contact the party receiving the phone call but only leaves a message for that party in the event that the phone is in an off-hook condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,893 to Onosaka is yet another information processing system having a telephone and an informational processing device. Again this invention does not address the issue of whether a called party telephone is in an on-hook or off-hook condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,002 to Brunson describes a system for synchronization of mail boxes over a network. This system is designed to ensure that information in electronic mail is complete in a series of different mail boxes. The issue of providing information to a caller regarding the status of a called party""s telephone is not dealt with.
What is desired is a system whereby a calling party can pre-determine the status of a called party""s telephone (on-hook or off-hook) so as to maximize the opportunity for completing a telephone call to the desired party.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to maximize the probability that a calling party will actually contact a called party when a telephone call is made.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a status of the called party""s telephone (on-hook or off-hook) before the calling party makes the telephone call to the called party.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide telephone status information over a network.
It is a further objection of the present invention to continually monitor the status of a telephone in order to provide the telephone in order to provide the telephone status information desired.
It is a further objective of the present invention to store telephone line status in a file that can be accessed by others.
It is a further objective of the present invention to constantly update the telephone line status file so that callers accessing the file can have an up-to-date record of the status of a telephone to be called.
It is a further objective of the present invention to obtain the status of a called party""s telephone over cable systems connected to public switched telephone networks.
It is yet another objection to obtain the status of a called party""s telephone when both the called party and the calling party are connected to cable systems.
It is a further objective of the present invention to obtain the status of a called party""s telephone when the called party is connected to a cable system but the calling party is not.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to generally provide information concerning home and office equipment and functions to a file that can be accessed by networks external to the home, such as the Internet.
These and other objectives of the present invention will become apparent from a review of the general and detailed descriptions that follow. The present invention provides a method for a calling party to receive constantly updated information concerning the status of a telephone (on-hook or off-hook) to be called. For purposes of this specification this status will generally be called the xe2x80x9ctelephone status.xe2x80x9d The present invention also provides a way for a calling party to leave e-mail and voice mail to the called party as part of the determination of telephone status.
The present invention comprises a monitoring system which can constantly poll a series of telephones, and stores information concerning the telephone status in a telephone status file. Alternatively, the system switch simply records the off-hook status of a telephone of the system and provides a notation to a file that is accessible to others. Thus, a telephone is presumed to be on-hook unless it is determined to be off-hook. That file is one that, in a preferred embodiment, can be accessed over the Internet. When a calling party desires to maximize its probability of actually being connected with a called party, the calling party accesses the telephone""s status file over the Internet and receives a determination of whether the called telephone is on-hook or off-hook. When an off-hook condition is noted, the calling party will not attempt to place the telephone call. In addition, the calling party may elect to alert the called party that a call was attempted, to send an e-mail and have the e-mail delivered as a voice mail message, or to be signaled when the called party""s phone is on-hook. When the telephone status is noted as on-hook, the calling party can then make the telephone call with some reasonable assurance of reaching the telephone of the called party.
This system differs from existing private branch exchanges (PBX) in that a current PBX can have a xe2x80x9ccamp onxe2x80x9d feature that allows a use to place a phone call to a telephone on the PBX, note that the called telephone is off-hook and xe2x80x9ccamp onxe2x80x9d to the called party""s telephone line so that when an on-hook condition is noted, the PBX can automatically connect the calling party to the called party. The difficulty with such camp on systems is that they cannot be used by people outside the PBX. In addition, when using the camp on feature, the call is xe2x80x9ccampedxe2x80x9d only after is placed. The caller still has invested both time and money in exchange for a busy signal. In contrast to existing PBX camp on systems, the system and method of the present invention allows a user to be advised of the status of a telephone via network external to the location of the telephone to maximize the probability of actually making the desired connection.
An alternative embodiment of the present invention is to connect the calling party""s telephone to the computer at the calling party""s location. Thereafter, upon a determination by the calling party""s telephone is such that a call can be made, the user""s computer will then dial the user""s telephone prompting the user to pick that telephone up and thereafter dial the called party""s telephone thereby completing the telephone call in an automated fashion.
A further embodiment of the present invention is to use the computer connect to send the called party an e-mail and then have the e-mail delivered to the called party""s voice mail box.
It is also the case the telephone companies are seeking to expand their markets for both long distance and local services. This expansion has caused certain long distance to acquire cable companies in order to provide local service to customers. This cable-borne telephone is yet another way for long distance carriers to reach local users by virtue of the cable system infrastructure already in place. Where such cable infrastructure exists, it is also possible to obtain the telephone status of users telephones over the cable system.
Obtaining telephone status over the cable network occurs in a similar fashion to that already noted above. In a first embodiment, a called party""s telephone is either plugged into a set-top box or other interface through which telephone services are offered. Alternatively, the called party""s telephone is connected to a computer system which is in turn connected to a set-top box ore other telephone and/or data interface for those cable operations that offer Internet-over-cable service. The off-hook status of the telephone at the called party""s location is determined via a switch at the telephone company (telco). That off-hook status is provided to a file that is accessible over the Internet.
Thus, a calling party, desiring to obtain the status of the telephone at a location having cable service would again access the Internet and obtain information from the telephone status file which is constantly updated by the telco switch. Conversely, information concerning telephone status file over the cable network. In this manner, any user can obtain the telephone status via a computer system linked to the Internet via a cable operator. In addition, telephone status can be provided to a telephone status file over the Internet for those telephones that can use local cable operator infrastructure to connect to the public switched telephone network.
As noted above, a calling party at the cable location can also obtain the telephone status of the called party telephone by simply using the computer that is plugged into the set-top box or other telephony/data interface provided to go over the Internet to the telephone status file. This additional cable network thereby allows updating of the telephone status file and allows telephone status to be obtained in yet another fashion.
The present invention is more fully described by reference to the figures that follow.

Method and apparatus for obtaining telephone status over a network


A fuel injection valve of an internal combustion engine for a vehicle is comprised of a nozzle plate which has a plurality of nozzle holes. Fuel injection jets are injected from the nozzle holes and collided with each other. The thickness of the nozzle plate is equal to or greater than the diameter of the nozzle holes.

The present invention relates to a fuel injection valve which is preferably employed as a fuel injection valve of an internal combustion engine for a vehicle.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication 2001-27169 discloses a fuel injection valve. Nozzle plates of this sort of injection valve according to the related art can be divided into two groups. One group is colliding nozzle plates, wherein nozzle holes formed in the nozzle plate are inclined so as to collide jets of fuel ejected from the nozzle holes. Another group is non-colliding nozzle plates, wherein the nozzle holes are inclined so that fuel jets ejected therefrom are not-mutually collided.
In an instance of a non-colliding nozzle plate, an injection jet of fuel can be discharged in a wide area to promote atomization of fuel by setting the thickness of the nozzle plate smaller than the diameter of the nozzle holes.


Method, system and apparatus for monitoring target tissue temperatures wherein temperature sensors are configured as passive resonant circuits each with a unique resonating signature at monitoring temperatures extending below a select temperature setpoint. The resonant circuits are configured with an inductor component formed of windings about a ferrite core having a Curie temperature characteristic corresponding with a desired temperature setpoint. By selecting inductor winding turns and capacitance values, unique resonant center frequencies are detectable. Temperature monitoring can be carried out with implants at lower threshold and upper limit temperature responses. Additionally, the lower threshold sensors may be combined with auto-regulated heater implants having Curie transitions at upper temperature limits.

A beneficial response elicited by a heating of neoplastic tissue was reported by investigators in 1971. See the following publications in this regard:                (1) Muckle, et al., "The Selective Inhibitory Effect of Hyperthermia on the Metabolism and Growth of Malignant Cells" Brit J. of Cancer 25:771-778(1971).        (2) Castagna, et al., "Studies on the Inhibition by Ethionine of Aminoazo Dye Carcinogenesis in Rat Liver." Cancer Research 32:1960-1965 (1972).While deemed beneficial, applications of such thermotherapy initially were constrained to external surface heating. When external applications have been employed the resultant body structure heating has been described as having been uncontrolled in thermal localization resulting in temperature elevation of the whole body. Employment of diathermy has been reported with a resultant non-destructive inhibitory reaction. In general, no consensus by investigators as to the efficacy of thermotherapy with respect to tumor was present as late as the mid 1970s. See generally:        (3) Strom, et al., "The Biochemical Mechanism of Selective Heat Sensitivity of Cancer Cells—IV. Inhibition of RNA Synthesis." Europ. J. Cancer 9:103-112(1973).        (4) Ziet. fur Naturforschung 8, 6: 359.        (5) R. A. Holman, Letter "Hyperthermia and Cancer", Lancet, pp. 1027-1029 (May 3, 1975).
Notwithstanding a straightforward need for more effective techniques in the confinement of thermotherapy to localized internally located target tissue regions, investigators have established that tumor cells may be physiologically inhibited by elevating their temperatures above normal body temperature, for example, 37° C. for one major population, to a range exceeding about 40° C. The compromising but beneficial results further are predicated upon that quantum of thermal exposure achieved, based upon the time interval of controlled heat application. Thus, effective thermotherapies are characterized by an applied quantum of thermal energy established within a restrictive tissue periphery or volume of application with an accurately controlled temperature over an effective component of time.
One modality of thermotherapy is termed "hyperthermia" therapy, an approach to thermal treatment at temperatures elevated within somewhat narrow confines above normal body temperature. For instance, the elevation above a normal body temperature of 37° C. typically will fall within a range of 42° C. to 45° C. While higher temperature therapies have been described, hyperthermia therapy conventionally looks to affecting tissue to the beneficial effect of, for instance, negating neoplastic development, while avoiding denaturization, i.e., cell death or necrosis. It follows that an embracing of this therapeutic modality calls for the application of thermal control over specific tissue volumes.
Confinement of thermotherapy to a neoplasm-suspect target tissue volume internally disposed within the body without a generation of damage to healthy surrounding tissue has been considered problematic and thus the subject of diverse investigation. Experience in this field has revealed that achieving a controlled, thermo-therapeutic level of heat throughout a targeted tissue volume is difficult. In general, the distribution of induced heat across such tissue volumes can exhibit substantial variations. Vascularity and densities of heterogeneous tissues may impose such variations. For instance, the cooling properties of blood flow complicate the maintenance of a desired thermal dose at the target volume. A variety of approaches toward intra-body localized heat applications have evolved. Such efforts generally have been based upon the application of microwave energy (U.S. Pat. No. 4,138,998); the application of acoustic wave-based systems (ultrasound); the application of electric fields at RF frequencies (direct RF) from transmitting antenna arrays including an application subset utilizing inductive systems driven at relatively lower frequencies within the RF realm, and the utilization of infra red heaters.
Ultrasound is considered to be an acoustic wave above the normal range of human hearing, i.e., above about 20,000 Hertz. When employed clinically for thermo-therapeutic as well as diagnostic purposes, ultrasound system configurations perform in recognition of the acoustic impedance of investigated tissue. Acoustic impedance is the resistance to wave propagation through tissue, for example, due to absorbance, reflectance or molecularly induced scattering. Accordingly, the subject tissue volume will absorb some of the energy from the ultrasound waves propagated through it and the kinetic energy associated with the energy absorbed is converted into thermal energy to thus raise tissue temperature. See generally U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,044. When implementing ultrasound thermotherapy systems, careful control is called for to assure that minimum threshold tissue temperatures are reached and that maximum tissue temperature limits are not exceeded. Heretofore, temperature monitoring generally has been carried out by percutaneously injecting or otherwise inserting tethered temperature sensors such as thermocouples or thermistors into the targeted tissue region. Insertion of a tethered thermocouple may be accomplished by first inserting a hypodermic needle, then inserting a catheter through the needle with the sensor at its tip, whereupon the needle is withdrawn. Where hyperthermia therapy or heat induced immunotherapy are carried out, maintenance of relatively narrow temperature targets is sought, calling for a high level of control. For these thermotherapies, typically multiple therapy sessions are required, thus the generally undesirable injection or insertion of temperature sensors must be carried out for each of what may be many treatment sessions.
One approach has been advanced for ultrasound-based thermotherapy. In that approach, thermal localization is achieved by developing constructive wave interference with phased array-based wave guide applicators mounted to extend around the patient (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,251,645 and 4,798,215).
The microwave band generally is considered to extend from about 900 Mhz. Clinical studies have established that thermotherapy systems can be implemented with microwave radiating devices. Early endeavors utilizing microwave-based hyperthermia treatment evidenced difficulties in heating target tissue volumes at adequate depth while preventing surrounding superficial healthy tissue from incurring pain or damage due to hot spots exhibiting temperatures greater than about 44-45° C. However, later developments using adaptive phased array technology has indicated that relatively deeply located target tissues can be heated to thermotherapeutic temperatures without inducing the earlier difficulties. See generally the following publication:                (6) Fenn, et al, "An Adaptive Microwave Phased Array For Targeted Heating Of Deep Tumors In Intact Breast: Animal Studies Results" Int. J. Hyperthermia, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp 45-61 (1999).
Inductively-based approaches to thermotherapy systems have received important attention by investigators. The coil transmitted outputs of these systems generally are focused for field convergence toward the target tissue volume and the resultant, internally thermally affected tissue region has been monitored in situ by thermo-responsive sensors such as rod-mounted thermocouples and thermistors. Those tethered heat sensors are inserted percutaneously into the target tissue region, being coupled by extra-body electrical leads extending to connections with temperature monitoring readouts. As before, the invasiveness of the monitoring electrical leads extending into the patients' body for this procedure has been considered undesirable. This particularly holds where repetitive but time-spaced procedures are called for, or the therapeutic modality is employed in thermally treating tumor within the brain.
The radio (RF) spectrum is defined as extending from the audio range to about 300,000 MHz. However direct RF thermotherapy has been described in conjunction with the 80 MHz to 110 MHz range.
Another approach is described as performing as a focused radio frequency/microwave region system, the election between these spectral regions being determined with respect to the depth of the target tissue. See: htp://www.bsdme.com/.
Efforts to regionalize or confine therapeutic tissue heating to predefined borders or volumetric peripheries have included procedures wherein small wire or iron-containing crystals (U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,056) are implanted strategically within the tissue region of interest. Implantation is achieved with an adapted syringe instrumentality. Electromagnetic fields then are introduced to the region to inductively heat the implanted radiative-responsive heater components and thus evoke a more regionally controlled form of thermotherapy. In one such approach, ferromagnetic thermoseeds have been employed which exhibit Curie temperature values somewhat falling within the desired temperature range for an elected thermotherapy. This achieves a form of self regulation by operation of the system about those Curie transitions. For instance, as radiative inductive excitation drives the thermoseeds to temperatures to within the permeability based state change levels associated with attainment of a Curie temperature range, the thermoseeds become immune to further application of external excitation energy. (See generally U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,583). Unfortunately, the Curie transition temperature range of the thermoseeds is relatively broad with respect to the desired or target temperature. This expanded Curie transition range is, in part, the result of the presence of the ferrite-based seeds within relatively strong electromagnetic fields. The result is a somewhat broad and poor regulation temperature band which may amount 10° or more. As a consequence, the auto-regulated devices are constrained to uses inducing tissue necrosis or ablation, as opposed to uses with temperatures controlled for hyperthermia therapies.
See generally:
                (7) Brezovich, et al., "Practical Aspects of Ferromagnetic Thermoseed Hyperthermia." Radiologic Clinics of North America, 27: 589-682 (1989).        (8) Haider, et al., "Power Absorption in Ferromagnetic Implants from Radio Frequency Magnetic Fields and the Problem of Optimization." IEEE Transactions On Microwave Theory And Techniques, 39: 1817-1827 (1991).        (9) Matsuki et al., "An Optimum Design Of A Soft Heating System For Local Hyperthermia" IEEE Transactions On Magnetics, 23(5): 2440-2442, (September 1987).
Thermotherapeutic approaches designed to avoid the subcutaneous insertion of one or more temperature sensors have looked to the control of heating using modeling methodology. These approximating modeling methods are subject to substantial error due to differences or vagaries exhibited by the heterogeneous tissue of any given patient. Such differences may be due to variations in vascularity, as well as the gradual metamorphosis of a tumor mass. The latter aspect may involve somewhat pronounced variations in tissue physiologic characteristics such as density. See generally the following publication:                (10) Arkin, H. et al., "Recent Development In Modeling Heat Transfer in Blood Perfused Tissue." IEEE Transactions on Bio-Medical Engineering, 41 (2): 97-107 (1994).
Some aspects of thermotherapy have been employed as an adjunct to the use of chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of tumor. Because of the precarious blood supply or vascularity and of the high interstitial fluid presence, such agents may not be effectively delivered to achieve a 100% cell necrosis. Further the tumor vessel wall may pose a barrier to such agents, and resultant non-specific delivery may lead to significant systemic toxicities. Studies have addressed these aspects of chemotherapy, for instance, by the utilization of liposomes to encapsulate the chemotherapeutic agents to achieve preferential delivery to the tumor. However the efficiencies of such delivery approaches have been somewhat modest. Clinically, hyperthermia therapy has been employed as a form of adjunct therapy to improve the efficiency of more conventional modalities such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy. For the latter applications the thermal aspect has been used to augment bloodstream borne release agents or liposome introduction to the tumor site. Hyperthermia approaches have been shown to trigger agent release from certain liposomes, making it possible to release liposome contents at a heated site (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,490,840; 5,810,888). For any such thermotherapeutic application, an accurate temperature control at the situs of the release is mandated. See the following publications:                (11) Kong, et al., "Efficacy of Lipsomes and Hyperthermia in a Human Tumor Xenograft Model: Importance of Triggered Drug Release." Cancer Research, 60: 6950-6957 (2000).        (12) Chung, J. E., et al., "Thermo-Responsive Drug Delivery From Polymeric Micelles Using Block Co-Polymers of Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide-b-butylmethacrylate) and Poly (butylmethacrylate), Journal of Controlled Release (Netherlands), 62(2): 115-127 (Nov. 1, 1999).
Hyperthermia when used in conjunction with radiation treatment of malignant disease has been demonstrated as beneficial for destroying a specific tumor site. Clinical data has evolved demonstrating an improved efficacy associated with combined radiation and hyperthermia treatments as compared to radiation therapy alone. Such multimodal therapy concepts also have been extended to a combination of hyperthermia treatment with both radiation treatment and chemotherapy (radiochemotherapy). See generally:                (13) Falk et al., "Hyperthermia In Oncology" Int. J. Hyperthermia, 17: 1-18 (2001).
Biological mechanisms at the levels of single cells activated by heat became the subject of scientific interest in the early 1960s as consequence of the apparently inadvertent temperature elevation of an incubator containing Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies). These creatures, upon being heat shocked, showed the characteristic puffs indicative of transcriptional activity and discrete loci. See the following publication:                (14) Ritossa, "A New Puffing Pattern Induced By Temperature Shock and DNP in Drosophila." Experientia, 18: 571-573 (1962).These heat shock loci encoding the heat shock proteins (HSPs), became models for the study of transcriptional regulation, stress response and evolution. The expression of HSPs may not only be induced by heat shock, but also by other mechanisms such as glucose deprivation and stress. Early recognized attributes of heat shock proteins resided in their reaction to physiologically support or reinvigorate heat damaged tissue. (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,940). Perforce, this would appear to militate against the basic function of thermotherapy when used to carry out the denaturization of neoplastic tissue. However, heat shock phenomena exhibit a beneficial attribute where the thermal aspects of their application can be adequately controlled. In this regard, evidence that HSPs, possess unique properties that permit their use in generating specific immune responses against cancers and infectious agents has been uncovered. Additionally, such properties have been subjects of investigation with respect to boney tissue repair, transplants and other therapies. See generally the following publications:        (15) Anderson et al., "Heat, Heat Shock, Heat Shock Protein and Death: A Central Link in Innate and Adoptive Immune Responses." Immunology Letters, 74: 35-39 (2000).        (16) Srivastava, et al, "Heat Shock Proteins Come of Age: Primitive Functions Acquire New Role In an Adaptive World." Immunity, 8(6): 657-665 (1998).
Beneficial thermal compromization of target tissue volumes is not entirely associated with HSP based treatments for neoplastic tissue and other applications, for instance, having been studied in connection with certain aspects of angioplasty. Catheter-based angioplasty was first intentionally employed in 1964 for providing a transluminal dilation of a stenosis of an adductor hiatus with vascular disease. Balloon angioplasty of peripheral arteries followed with cautious approaches to its implementation to the dilation of stenotic segments of coronary arteries. By 1977 the first successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was carried out. While, at the time, representing a highly promising approach to the treatment of angina pectoris, subsequent experience uncovered post-procedural complications. While PTCA had been observed to be effective in 90% or more of the subject procedures, acute reclosure, was observed to occur in approximately 5% of the patients. Stenosis was observed to occur in some patients within a period of a few weeks of the dilational procedure and restenosis was observed to occur in 15% to 43% of cases within six months of angioplasty. See generally:                (17) Kaplan, et al., "Healing After Arterial Dilatation with Radiofrequency Thermal and Non-Thermal Balloon Angioplasty Systems." Journal of Investigative Surgery, 6: 33-52 (1993).
In general, the remedy for immediate luminal collapse has been a resort to urgent or emergency coronary bypass graft surgery. Thus, the original procedural benefits attributed to PTCA were offset by the need to provide contemporaneous standby operating room facilities and surgical personnel. A variety of modalities have been introduced to avoid post PTCA collapse, including heated balloon-based therapy, (Kaplan, et al., supra) the most predominate being the placement of a stent extending intra-luminally across the dilational situs. Such stents currently are used in approximately 80% to 90% of all interventional cardiology procedures. While effective to maintain or stabilize intra-luminal dilation against the need for emergency bypass procedures, the stents are subject to the subsequent development of in-stent stenosis or restenosis (ISR). See generally:                (18) Holmes, Jr., "In-Stent Restenosis." Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2: 115-119 (2001).Debulking of the stenotic buildup has been evaluated using laser technology; rotational atherectomy; directional coronary atherectomy; dualistic stent interaction (U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,209); repeated balloon implemented dilation, the application of catheter introduced heat to the stent region (U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,251); the catheter-borne delivery of soft x-rays to the treated segment, sonotherapy; light activation; local arterial wall alcohol injection; and ultrasound heating of a stent formed of an ultrasound absorptive material (U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,044).
See additionally the following publications with respect to atherectomy for therapeutically confronting restenosis:                (19) Bowerman, et al., "Disruption of Coronary Stent During Artherectomy for Restenosis." Catherization and Cardiovascular Diagnosis, 24: 248-251 (1991).        (20) Meyer, et al., "Stent Wire Cutting During Coronary Directional Atherectomy." Clin. Cardiol, 16: 450-452 (1993).
In each such approach, additional percutaneous intervention is called for. See generally the following publication:                (21) Vliestra and Holmes, Jr., Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co. (Mayo Foundation) (1987).
Other approaches have been proposed including the application of electrical lead introduced electrical or RF applied energy to metallic stents, (U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,736); the incorporation of radioisotopes with the stents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,187,037; 6,192,095); and resort to drug releasing stents (U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,916 B1). While non-invasive control of ISR has been the subject of continued study, the development of a necessarily precise non-invasively derived control over it has remained an elusive goal.
Another application of hyperthermia is in orthopedics, as a means to stimulate bone growth and fracture healing. There are several FDA approved devices for stimulation of bone growth or healing, each with limitations and side effects. Therapies include invasive electrical stimulation, electromagnetic fields, and ultrasound stimulation. Decades old research has claimed a stimulation of bone growth by a mild increase in temperature of the boney tissue. Previous researchers have used such methods as inductive heating of implanted metal plates, or heating coils wrapped around the bone. The utility of these methods is limited by the invasive nature of the surgery needed to implant the heating elements and the inability to closely control tissue temperature. Moreover, therapeutic benefits have been inconsistent between different studies and experimental protocols. For a summary of past work, see generally:                (22) Wootton, R. Jennings, P., King-Underwood, C., and Wood, S. J., "The Effect of Intermittent local Heating on Fracture Healing in the Distal Tibia of the Rabbit." International Orthopedics, 14: 189-193 (1990).
A number of protocols have demonstrated a beneficial effect of hyperthermia on bone healing. Several studies indicate temperature affects bone growth and remodeling after injury. Hyperthermia may both improve blood supply and stimulate bone metabolism and have a direct effect on bone-forming cells by inducing heat shock proteins or other cellular proteins. In one experiment, rabbit femurs were injured by drilling and insertion of a catheter. Hyperthermia treatments were given at four-day intervals for 2-3 weeks using focused microwave radiation. Bones which had suffered an insult as a result of the experimental procedure showed a greater density of osteocytes and increased bone mass when treated with hyperthermia. Injured bones treated with hyperthermia showed completely ossified calluses after two weeks, while these processes normally take four weeks in untreated injuries. One problem with microwave heating of bone mass is the difficulty in predicting heat distribution patterns and maintaining the target tissue within the appropriate heat range.
When tissue is heated at too high of temperature, there can be irreversible cytotoxic effects which could damage bone and other tissues, including osteogenic cells, rather than induce healing. Certain studies have shown that induction of mild heat shock promotes bone growth, while more severe heat shock inhibits bone growth. Therefore, control and monitoring of the temperature of the targeted bone tissue is imperative to achieve therapeutic benefit and avoid tissue damage.
See additionally the following publications with respect to hyperthermia for therapeutically promoting osteogenesis:                (23) Leon, et al., "Effects of Hyperthermia on Bone. II. Heating of Bone in vivo and Stimulation of Bone Growth." Int. J. Hyperthermia 9: 77-87 (1993).        (24) Shui et al., "Mild heat Shock Induces Proliferation, Alkaline Phosphatase Activity, and Mineralization in Human Bone Marrow Stromal Cells and Mg-63 Cells In Vitro." Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 16: 731-741 (2001).        (25) Huang, C.-C., Chang, W. H., and Liu, H.-C. "Study on the Mechanism of Enhancing Callus Formation of Fracture by Ultrasonic Stimulation and Microwave Hyperthermia." Biomed. Eng. Appl. Basis Comm. 10: 14-17 (1998).
Existing protocols for therapeutically promoting osteogenesis are limited by the invasive nature and concomitant potential for infection for instance with tethered electrical stimulators; poor temperature control, and potential for tissue injury or reduced therapeutic benefit, for instance with microwave heating or other induced electromagnetic fields; difficulty in effectively applying therapy to the injured bone because of targeting difficulties or low patient compliance with prescribed repetitive therapy.
The host immune system can be activated against infectious disease by heat shock protein chaperoned peptides in a manner similar to the effect seen against metastatic tumors. Heat shock proteins chaperoning peptides derived from both viral and bacterial pathogens have been shown to be effective at creating immunity against the infectious agent. For infectious agents for which efficacious vaccines are not currently available (especially for intracellular pathogens e.g. viruses, Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Plasmodium) HSP chaperoned peptides may be useful for the development of novel vaccines. It is expected that purified HSP chaperoned peptides (e.g. gp96 complexes) used as vaccines for diseases caused by highly polymorphic infectious agents would be less effective against genetically distinct pathogen populations. For a summary of past work on HSP vaccines against infectious agents, see generally:                (26) Neiland, Thomas J. F., M. C. Agnes A. Tan, Monique Monnee-van Muijen, Frits Koning, Ada M. Kruisbeek, and Grada M. van Bleek, "Isolation of an immunodonminant viral peptide that is endogenously bound to stress protein gp96/GRP94." Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA, 93: 6135-6139 (1996).        (27) Heikema, A., Agsteribbe, E., Wilschut, J., Huckriede, A., "Generation of heat shock protein-based vaccines by intracellular loading of gp96 with antigenic peptides." Immunology Letters, 57: 69-74 (1997).        (28) Zugel, U., Sponaas, A. M., Neckermann, J., Schoel, B., and Kaufmann, S. H. E., "gp96-Peptide Vaccination of Mice Against Intracellular Bacteria." Infection and Immunity, 69: 4164-4167 (2001).        (29) Zugel, U., and Kaufmann, S. H. E., "Role of Heat Shock Proteins in Protection from and Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases." Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 12: 19-39 (1999).
In commonly owned co-pending application for U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/246,347, filed Sep. 18, 2002 and entitled "System, Method and Apparatus for Localized Heating of Tissue", an approach to accurately carrying out an in situ elevation of the temperature of a target tissue volume is presented. Accuracy is achieved using untethered temperature sensor implants formed of ferromagnetic material which experiences an abrupt magnetic permeability state change within a very narrow temperature range. Temperature sensing is carried out by monitoring a very low level magnetic field extending through the position of the implant. For instance, the earth's magnetic field may be employed. Where inductively based heating is utilized, non-magnetic heaters may be implanted with the sensors and sensing is carried out intermittently in the absence of the inductably derived magnetic field.

System, method and apparatus for evaluating tissue temperature


The invention provides novel, improved wear indicating brush filaments and novel, improved coextrusion process for their manufacture. Essentially, the filaments of the present invention are coextruded filaments which include a longitudinal surface providing a boundary about the cross-sectional area of the filament and the longitudinal surface and/or the cross-sectional area presents a two colored region adapted to provide a visual signal indicative of wear in response to filament use. The filaments can be natural or synthetic materials. In filaments of the present invention, the colored region provides an initial color or color intensity viewable to the user. As wear is produced by continuing use of the filaments, the intensity of the colored region changes to a point which signals the user that the filament no longer provides the requisite performance characteristics for effectively performing its assigned function.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to filaments (or fibers) for brushes. More precisely, this invention relates to novel, improved filaments for oral care brushes and to oral care brushes including the novel improved filaments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Brushing the teeth is universally recommended as the most effective way to maintain oral hygiene. While there is disagreement as to the most suitable form of brushing, the toothbrush is acknowledged to be the most effective aid in cleaning the teeth. In turn, the cleaning effectiveness of a toothbrush is dependent on such factors as the brushing habits of the user, the frequency, intensity and duration of brushing and the quality of the brush filaments. There is considerable debate in the art relating to the features which provide a toothbrush having maximized cleaning effectiveness. These factors include the material, size, shape, strength and resiliency of the brush filament and the length, width and overall shape and area of the brushing surface. Other features affecting the cleaning effectiveness of a toothbrush include the number of tufts (bundles of individual filaments), the number of rows of tufts and the arrangement of the tufts on the brush head. However there is general agreement in the art that wear is a crucial factor which can dramatically diminish the effectiveness of a toothbrush in maintaining oral hygiene. For example, the art recognizes and acknowledges that diminished effectiveness of a toothbrush by wear can result in increased plaque accumulation and increased risks to periodontium tissue.
The degree of wear of a toothbrush is primarily a function of the properties of the filament and the mechanical force applied to the brush during brushing. The degree of wear can also be accelerated to some extent by abrasive materials normally contained in dentifrices. Brush wear results in tearing, splaying, expansion and fraying of the filaments and a decrease in strength and resiliency of the filaments which is manifested by single filaments deviating from their original direction. Moreover, wear is manifested by a change in the overall shape and size of the brushing surface area and by changes in the texture of the filament. While toothbrush wear varies from use to user, studies indicate that the average toothbrush subject to average use has a useful effective life from about eight to twelve weeks. Thereafter, wear causes sufficient deterioration of the filaments to warrant replacement of the brush in order to assure continued maintenance of effective oral hygiene.
Unfortunately, toothbrushes are not usually replaced regularly and often times are used far beyond their effective useful life. As mentioned, the dental profession has recommended replacement of toothbrushes after about three months of use. However, annual, toothbrush consumption figures indicate that toothbrush user replace their toothbrushes about once a year. The dental profession has made an earnest effort to educate the public about the need to assess the wear of a toothbrush being used to determine if it should be discarded and replaced. However, these efforts have had limited success since the user has the responsibility to remember the condition of a toothbrush which should be discarded and to remember to monitor and continually assess the condition of the toothbrush. Accordingly, a more effective approach is needed to provide reliable means to signal or warn a toothbrush user when a toothbrush has become sufficiently affected by the wear that it should be discarded and replaced.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,255 and Pending PCT application Ser. No. 92/04589, both incorporated herein by reference, describe brush filaments, particularly toothbrush filaments which include a colorant which is adapted to provide a color intensity which can change in response to increased use of the filament to provide a signal indicative of filament wear. A line of toothbrushes covered by the claims of these patents has been successfully marketed by Oral-B Laboratories, Redwood City, Calif. under the Indicator.sup.R brand. In the manufacturing methods of these patents, an outer color region is provided by ring dying monofilaments. In a ring dying process, the filament is contacted with a dye for a time sufficient to at least color the outer surface and to also penetrate into a portion of the cross sectional area.
Through a careful investigation of the Indicator.sup.R products we have discovered two previously unknown shortcomings or problems with the product. First, dye penetration is not uniform at different depths along the annular circumference of the bristle. As a result, the darker regions on the outside wear first, while lighter blue persists for a considerable period of time. It would be desirable to have a darker region which is uniform in color density for a fixed depth along the annular circumference of the bristle ring. This would result in a line of clear demarkation of dyed sheath material versus undyed core filament material. The second problem relates to overall dye intensity. During the ring dyeing operation if a high level of dye concentration is used, the resulting bristles are darker; however, the dye material penetrates into the core at a much greater degree. Thus, it is difficult to produce a dark colored, ring dyed material with a thin, dark ring coating.
The following background patents also relate generally to the present invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,328,998 to Radford, issued Sep. 7, 1943 discloses an attrition product, e.g., toothbrush filament including a co-mingled abrasive material. FIGS. 3 and 4 disclose a composite filament including a non-abrasive core with a co-mingled abrasive material. FIG. 8 shows a batch-wise apparatus for extruding the filament of FIGS. 3 and 4.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,554 to Peterson, issued Jan. 16, 1962 discloses a wire brush filament on to which a plastic coating, e.g., nylon, is extruded as a vibration dampening coating. This bristle is then dip coated with a thin epoxy protective layer. The nylon layer is said to have a general thickness about one half the diameter of the wire core plus or minus 50% (see column 2, lines 67 to 69).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,805 to Rossnan, issued Jul. 5, 1966 discloses a wear indicating toothbrush bristle comprised of a nylon filament which is entirely encased within a coating of colored rubber (see column 1, lines 30 to 37). This bristle is said to produce an erasing, instead of grinding, action in cleaning the teeth. Also, it states that the wear on the tips of the bristles gives a visual indication of warning when the brush is ready to be discarded.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,339, issued Jun. 27, 1967 and Re. No. 26,688, reissued Oct. 14, 1969 to Lemelson disclose composite plastic filaments formed by extruding different polymers one over the other and each imparting a different useful characteristic to the composite filament (see column 1, lines 11 to 15). The core member is said to be preferably a synthetic textile filament such as nylon. The outer jacket layer is described as a flexible cellular plastic material (see column 2, lines 37 to 41 and Column 4, lines 74 through column 5, line 7). FIGS. 3 and 4 show an element comprising a core made from a more rigid material than the surrounding jacket which is made by simultaneously extruding both the core and jacket as a unitary rod or filament (see column 3, line 74 to column 4, line 20). The jacket is said to comprise the major portion of the filament and is in the order of 0.005 inches to 0.030 inches or greater in outside diameter while the core element or thread is about 0.010 inches in diameter or less (see column 4, lines 70 to 74).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,070 to Lewis, issued Sep. 24, 1968, discloses a composite filament. These cellular foam filaments are said to be useful as bristles and mop fibers. The filament comprises an unoriented polyolefin shell and an inner core of polyurethane foam. The shell is described as a coating which has a radius to the annular wall thickness ratio of at least 4 to 1. Furthermore, Applicants believe this coated filament is not an extruded bristle due to the soft, foamy nature of the core material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,691 to Pakarnseree, issued Apr. 28, 1981, discloses a toothbrush bristle comprised of a stiff core made of a hard thermoplastic material such as nylon 6 or high density polyethylene and an outer elastomeric sheath. The sheath is said to be made of a soft thermoplastic such as ethylene vinyl acetate co-polymer, polyethylene, poly-vinyl chloride, or natural or synthetic rubbers. Regarding thicknesses, it is disclosed that if the diameter of the core is d and the outer diameter of the sheath is D, then the ratio d:D can be in the range of 1:1.01 to 1:2.5 (column 2, lines 10 to 13). FIG. 4 illustrates a filament of material produced by continuous extrusion molding of a substance suitable for the core and a substance suitable for the sheath of the bristle. The filament may be made into bristles with the stiff core exposed at the ends or with the ends of the stiff core covered by the sheath (see column 2, lines 14 to 28 and FIG. 7).
U K. patent application, Ser. No. 2,137,080, to Weihrauch, assigned to Coronet-Werk Heinrich Schlerf GmbH discloses plastic bristles or filaments for brushes which also change color in response to wear. The filaments disclosed in the U.K. Application are composite filaments and include a colored core completely surrounded by an outer cover material having a color different from the core color. The cover is injection molded directly onto the core. In the disclosed filaments, the core is a reinforcing element and is relatively hard and stiff to control the rigidity of the filament while the outer cover material is softer than the core material and is more susceptible to wear. In use, the cover material becomes worn in the area of the rounded end of the filament and peels or breaks off to expose the core color to signal that the brush should be discarded.
It is an object of the present invention to produce a composite toothbrush filament containing a colored outer sheath and a different colored inner core material which has a clear line of demarkation at a magnification of about 250X.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a wear indicating toothbrush filament with a greater degree of color intensity in the core and/or sheath.
It is another object of the present invention to produce striped wear indicating bristles as an alternative to ring dyed bristles.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a more efficient method of producing wear indicating bristles.
Still yet another object of the present invention to provide color-change type, wear indicating bristles with a more desirable color change.
These and other objects will be evident by the following:


An accelerating device includes a signal detector that converts a first input signal and a second input signal into a first converted input signal and a second converted input signal, respectively, and that generates a final zero-value flag signal, a first one-value flag signal, and a second one-value flag signal. The accelerating device further includes a processing element (PE) that processes the first converted input signal and the second converted input signal based on the final zero-value flag signal, the first one-value flag signal, and the second one-value flag signal and that skips a first arithmetic operation and a second arithmetic operation when the final zero-value flag signal has a first value. The first value of the final zero-value flag signal indicates that the first input signal, or the second input signal, or both have a value of 0.

The present disclosure relates to an accelerating device and a processing system including the accelerating device, and a method of controlling the accelerating device. In particular, some embodiments relate to a neural network accelerating device.
Various Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are effective tools for performing artificial intelligence (AI) tasks. For example, deep neural networks (DNNs) are used for AI tasks including computer vision, object and speech recognition, medical diagnosis, game play, and robotics. The DNNs include a convolutional neural network (CNN) having a plurality of convolutional layers, each of which generates a successively higher-level abstraction of input data. The DNNs also include a binarized neural network (BNN) having binary weights.
A neural network accelerating device (NNAD) is a microprocessor or a computer system designed for performing a specific AI task. For example, the NNAD may include a plurality of processing elements (PEs) that perform multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operations in parallel. Each of MAC operations requires a plurality of read operations from a memory (e.g., an off-chip DRAM) and a plurality of arithmetic operations, which may increase power consumption and reduce a data processing speed.

Neural network accelerating device and method of controlling the same