A semiconductor device, in which four pieces of strip-shaped electrodes, whose longitudinal directions are the same, are formed in each layer of a plurality of wiring layers that are provided by a same design rule with each other, simultaneously with regular wirings. In each wiring layer, two pieces each of first electrode and second electrode are formed parallelly with each other, alternately, and remote from each other. Then, the first electrodes formed in each layer are connected to each other by a first via, the second electrodes formed in each layer are connected to each other by a second via, a first structure body formed by connecting the first electrodes and the first via to each other is connected to a ground wiring, and a second structure body formed by connecting the second electrodes and the second via to each other is connected to a power source wiring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device equipped with an MIM (Metal-Insulator-Metal) capacitor, particularly to a semiconductor device whose manufacturing process has been simplified.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, as disclosed in the literature M. Armacost, et. al. "A High Reliability Metal Insulator Metal Capacitor for 0.18 μm Copper Technology" IEDM2000 pp. 157–160′, a lower electrode, a capacitance insulating film, and an upper electrode are laminated on a substrate in this order to form the MIM capacitor when forming a capacitor in the semiconductor device conventionally.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a semiconductor device equipped with a conventional MIM capacitor. As shown in FIG. 1, in the conventional semiconductor device, an oxide film 102 is provided on a substrate 101, and a lower electrode 103 made of metal is provided thereon. Then, a capacitance insulating film 104 is provided on the lower electrode 103, an upper electrode 105 is provided on the capacitance insulating film 104, and a cap film 106 is provided on the upper electrode 105. The upper electrode 105 is connected to wiring 109 via an underlying layer 107 and a via 108, and the lower electrode 103 is connected to wiring 111 via the underlying layer 107 and a via 110. Thus, the lower electrode 103, the capacitance insulating film 104, and the upper electrode 105 form an MIM capacitor 112. Further, the lower electrode 103, the capacitance insulating film 104, the upper electrode 105 and the like are buried in an interlayer insulating film 113.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-222934 publication, for example, discloses a technique where the capacitance insulating film and the upper electrode are formed so as to cover the lower electrode and the MIM capacitor is formed by using not only the top surface but also the sides of the lower electrode.
FIG. 2A is a plan view showing the semiconductor device equipped with the conventional MIM capacitor. FIG. 2B is a sectional view by D—D line shown in FIG. 2A. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a silicon substrate 121 is provided for the conventional semiconductor device, and a diffusion layer 122 is formed on a part of the surface of the silicon substrate 121. Further, an interlayer insulating film 123 is provided on the silicon substrate 121, and a plug 124 connected to the diffusion layer 122 is formed in the interlayer insulating film 123. Moreover, a lower electrode 125 is provided on the interlayer insulating film 123 so as to connect to the plug 124, and a barrier insulating layer 126 and a high-permittivity film 127 are provided so as to cover the lower electrode 125. Then, the barrier insulating layer 126 and the high-permittivity film 127 form a capacitance insulating film 128. Further, an upper electrode 129 is provided so as to cover the capacitance insulating film 128. Consequently, the lower electrode 125, the capacitance insulating film 128, and the upper electrode 129 form a capacitor 130. According to this prior art, the capacitor can be formed not only on the top surface but also to the sides of the lower electrode 125.
However, the above-described prior art has the following problems. As described above, in the case of forming the capacitor by laminating the lower electrode, the capacitance insulating film, and the upper electrode in this order, the lower electrode can be formed in the wiring layer of the semiconductor device simultaneously with other wiring. However, when a regular interlayer insulating film is used as the capacitance insulating film, the capacitance insulating film becomes too thick because the thickness of the interlayer insulating film is approximately 0.3 to 1.0 μm, and the capacitance value of capacitor is reduced. For this reason, an insulating film having the thickness of approximately 50 nm is specially formed as the capacitance insulating film, and the upper electrode is formed on the capacitance insulating film. As a result, special process for forming the capacitance insulating film and the upper electrode is necessary, the number of masks increases by about 1 to 2 pieces and additional etching process is also required comparing to the case where the capacitor is not formed. Consequently, the manufacturing process of semiconductor device becomes complicate, which leads to an increased manufacturing cost.

Semiconductor device with wiring layers forming a capacitor


Depending on the diameter of the wire wound into coils on a stator core, it is desirable to adjust the distance that the wire exit nozzle of a stator needle tip is spaced from the longitudinal axis of the winding head. An adjustable winding head comprising a needle head and one or more needle tips pivotally mounted on the needle head. Pivotal movement of the needle tips relative to the needle head changes the distance that the wire exit nozzles thereof are spaced from the longitudinal axis of the needle head. Adjustment is carried out preferably while the winding spindle is stationary, requires only simple tools, and does not require removal of the needle tips from the needle head.

Coils of magnet wire are typically wound onto a stator core by way of a winding ram or spindle which is reciprocated through the bore of the stator core along a fixed horizontal axis and oscillated about the horizontal axis adjacent each end of the reciprocal stroke of the winding spindle. Magnet wire is drawn from a source of wire under tension through the winding spindle and through a winding head, which comprises one or more wire-guiding needle tips projecting outwardly from a needle head secured at one end of the winding spindle. As the winding spindle is reciprocated and oscillated, the magnet wire pays out through a wire exit nozzle of each needle tip to form coils of wire around pole pieces on the stator core.
In certain circumstances, a stator manufacturer may desire to wind wires having different diameters onto identically configured stator cores in order to achieve different electrical characteristics from the resulting stator coils. However, in order to wind different sizes of wire onto the stator cores using a single winding machine, it is often necessary to adjust the length of the needle tips, i.e. the distance that the wire exit nozzles thereof are spaced outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the winding spindle, to a proper length for a given wire diameter. Fine wire pays out of a needle tip with a sharp, sometimes ninety degree bend at the wire exit nozzle of the needle tip and thus casts a relatively small arc as it exits the needle, whereas heavy wire pays out of the needle tip at a less severe angle and casts a larger arc. Because it is desirable for the wire exiting the needle tip to follow a path as close as possible to the inner surface of the stator core, a needle tip having a greater length is required for winding fine wire onto a stator in comparison to the needle length required for winding heavier gauge wire onto the same stator core.
The length of a needle tip in a conventional winding head is typically adjusted by removing the needle tip and replacing it with a different needle having an appropriate length, which requires significant down time and attention from an operator. There are known stator winding machines which permit the length of the needle tip to be adjusted, but such machines are intended to be adjusted during coil winding operations in order to obviate the need for coil winding shoes or forms. As a result, adjustment of the needle length is synchronized with the reciprocal and oscillatory motion of the winding spindle, which requires a complex and expensive construction.

Adjustable stator winding head and method for adjusting the same


Depending on the degree of microfabrication requested for each wafer lot, transfer of wafers is controlled. A substrate processing apparatus includes a plurality of PMs 400 and an LLM 500 and is controlled by an EC 200. The EC 200 includes a selection unit 255 and a transfer control unit 260. The unit 255 selects the PM to which the next wafer is to be transferred, and selects, for each lot, whether the wafers are transferred to the same PM in one-lot units or in one-substrate units depending on the degree of the microfabrication requested for each lot. When the wafer transfer in lot units is selected, the unit 260 sequentially transfers the wafers included in the lot to the selected PM. Otherwise the unit 260 sequentially OR transfers the wafers included in the lot from the selected PM to a different PM one by one.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for controlling a substrate processing apparatus that performs a specified process on a substrate, and to a storage medium that stores the control program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for controlling the transfer of the substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent substrate processing apparatuses installed in the semiconductor factory mostly include a transfer mechanism transferring a substrate and two or more processing chambers performing a specified process on the substrate. In the substrate processing apparatus including a plurality of processing chambers, it is important to transfer a large number of substrates to the processing chambers in a way to increase the throughput of the substrate process and increase the productivity of the products.
Some of the conventional substrate processing apparatuses operate as follows. Different substrates are processed in different processing chambers at the same time. The processing is done after sequentially transferring the different substrates to the different processing chambers through different transfer paths for the different substrates (hereinafter this transfer method is also referred to as "OR transfer"). Alternatively, the transfer paths for the different substrates are controlled so that the substrates are sequentially processed via two or more processing chambers (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 63-133532). The substrates may thus be processed efficiently.
Others of the conventional substrate processing apparatuses refer to a signal indicating which processing chamber is operatable, and transfer the substrate only to a group of the operatable processing chambers (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 11-067869). If any of the processing chambers cannot operate due to a failure or the like, other processing chambers may be used to process the substrate efficiently.

Device and method for controlling substrate processing apparatus


A snowboard binding (100) is disclosed having a base plate (102) with a highback (120) pivotally attached. A locking lever (130) is disposed on the back of the highback for locking the highback in a generally upright position with a desired maximum forward lean. A flexible member such as a strap (140) or a panel (202), cord guide (204), and cord (206) attached to the highback and to the locking lever to facilitate moving the lever between an open position and a locked position. In an embodiment of the invention, the base plate includes a pair of oppositely-disposed, pivotable sidewalls (104) and the highback is attached to the base plate with a heel loop (112) that pivotably engages the sidewalls, such that straps (108, 110) mounted to the sidewalls move to engage the boot (90) when the highback is moved to an upright position.

Gliding boards, primarily for sporting activities, are well known in the art and in the sporting world, including snowboards, snow skis, water skis, and the like. Various types of bindings have been developed to allow the user to engage the gliding board. The present disclosure is described with reference to the currently preferred snowboard binding embodiments, although the present invention may readily be adapted for other gliding board applications.
Conventional snowboard binding systems used with soft snowboard boots are generally categorized as either strap bindings that typically include a rigid highback piece against which the heel of the boot is placed and one or more straps that secure the boot to the binding, or step-in bindings that typically utilize one or more strapless engagement members into which the rider can step to lock the boot into the binding. Strap bindings are the original and most popular type of snowboard bindings and are adjustable, secure, and comfortable. Step-in bindings allow the user to more easily engage and disengage from the snowboard.
Both strap bindings and step-in bindings usually include a pivotable, highback ankle support that extends upwardly from the snowboard. The back ankle portion of the rider's boot abuts against a curved forward surface of the highback, essentially providing leverage by which the rider can control the snowboards heel edge. Alpine riders who need to perform high-speed turns generally prefer a taller and stiffer highback for greater edge control, wherein freestyle riders generally prefer a shorter highback for better flexibility. The angle that the highback forms with the snowboard, referred to herein as the maximum forward lean, is important to the feel and control of the snowboard. Generally, the maximum forward lean can be adjusted by the rider and will be set to a particular angle, depending on a variety of factors, including the type of snowboarding to be undertaken, the snow and slope conditions, and the like.
The mechanism for positioning the highback at a desired maximum forward lean typically includes a movable block that is locked into the desired position with a lever mechanism disposed on the back surface of the highback. Many bindings have a screw to remove and/or adjust the position of the lean block, while some utilize toolless adjustment, such as a lever or cam. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,797, to Bowles, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a snowboard binding assembly with a forward lean highback and having a lever-type quick release locking mechanism attached to a slideable block on the back of the highback. Similarly, a popular snowboard binding marketed by the assignee of the present application under the Cinch™ trademark utilizes a highback-mounted locking lever that also engages a cable connecting to pivotable sidewalls, such that the assembly simultaneously moves the highback and the instep strap into position about a rider's boot.
It will be appreciated that a rider must typically engage and disengage the binding many times over the course of a day of snowboarding, generally while the rider is on the slopes and, typically, with gloved hands. The binding is typically engaged and disengaged using a lever disposed on the back of the highback. The engagement lever is positioned on the rear surface of the highback and accessibility may be further limited by other gear and ice on the rider's gear. Each of these aspects increases the difficulty of moving the lever between the released and the locked position.
In addition, the lever can be difficult for the rider to grab because its position in the unlocked position is very low to the ground, near the surface of the snowboard. Therefore, it can be difficult to physically reach to the end of the lever to engage the binding. It will also be appreciated that it is desirable that the binding engagement lever have a low profile with respect to the highback, e.g., flush or minimally extending, when the lever is locked. The low-profile shape is not ideal for grabbing onto the lever for engagement or disengagement of the binding.
Prior art efforts to alleviate these difficulties include the user of larger, longer levers and/or adding rubber grips to the levers. These efforts, however, have proved ineffective or impractical. For example, larger levers add to the weight and expense of the binding and tend to expose the mechanism to external forces that may cause the lever to inadvertently disengage, and rubberized levers do not adequately address difficulties associated with accessing the lever.
Therefore, there remains a need to provide a lever locking mechanism for snowboard bindings that is easy to move to and from the locked position while on the slopes and with gloved hands.


A threaded coupling assembly is provided for interconnecting the ends of first and second fluid-carrying conduit members in fixed releasably locking relationship. First and second coupling members are circumferentially engageable with the ends of the conduit members to hold them in fluid communication. The coupling members are rotatable in a locking direction and in an opposite unlocking direction. The first coupling member has a peripheral facing surface with a pair of annular slots, each of a different length and width. The second coupling member has a lock ring longitudinally slidable thereon with a facing surface having a pair of annular raised locking tabs. Each locking tab is of a predetermined height but of a different length and width which corresponds to the respective length and width of the annular slots. A resilient annular spring urges the lock ring toward the first coupling member so that the locking tabs engage their respective slots when the coupling is tightened to a predetermined extent during rotation in the locking direction to releasably and positively lock the coupling. An indicator stripe is provided on the peripheral edge of the first coupling member which is exposed before the locking tabs and slots are engaged. The indicator stripe is no wider than the height of the locking tabs so that it is covered by the lock ring when the lock ring snaps into locking engagement to provide a visual indication to the mechanic that the coupling assembly is positively locked.

Aircraft fuel systems include a large number of couplings which must be easy to connect, must provide a positive lock when connected and should include means for visually determining whether or not the coupling is secure. Also, because of the tight space constraints within an aircraft, the mechanic preferably should be able to lock and unlocked the coupling assembly with one hand. Various couplings have been developed with one or more of these objectives in mind.
Nadsady U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,472; Gale et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,117 and Gale et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,202 each disclose a coupling device in which the tightening of the coupling parts is readily accomplished but accidental loosening is restrained by spring fingers carried by one of the coupling parts which engage indentations or notches on the other coupling part in such a manner as to favor relative rotation of the coupling parts in the tightening direction while restraining with greater force the rotation of the coupling parts in the opposite unlocking direction.
Cannon U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,825; Filippi U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,937; Mahoff U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,786 and Gale U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,428 each disclose a coupling with one or more toggle latches which snap into a positive locking position.
Spinner U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,564 discloses a coaxial plug connector wherein a first ring of axially pointed teeth is provided around the circumference of a cap ring. A first connector has a ring with teeth for engaging the teeth on the cap ring. The cap ring is withdrawn axially against the force of a biasing spring when the coupling is rotated to a different position. The cap ring is released and the spring urges it into locking engagement with the tooth ring. Thus, accidental rotation of the cap ring relative to the first connector is prevented.
Runkles et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,760 discloses a coupling with locking tines having visible indicia for determining whether or not the tines are in locked position.
Runkles et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,070 discloses a coupling with spring biased rotatable locking tines.
Although each of the prior art references is suitable for its intended purpose, none meet the need for a positive lock on a threaded coupling which is easy to secure with one hand, and, on the other hand, provides a positive but releasable locking connection which has indicia to indicate whether or not the positive lock feature is engaged.


A hand-held laser weapon including: a laser module for generating a laser light; a telescope module fiber optically coupled to the laser module for focusing the laser light on a target; a burst power module, including a storage capacitor, for storing electrical energy capable of a rapid release in the form of a current; a trickle power module including a battery for providing said electrical energy to the burst power module; a drive circuit for driving the laser module with the stored electrical energy to generate the laser light; a trigger module for providing the stored electrical energy to the drive circuit; and a structure for coupling at least the laser module, the telescope module, the drive circuit and the trigger module together.

Conventional firearms, such as gunpowder and ballistic projectile based rifles are typically loud, generate a visible flash, show up in Forward looking infrared (FLIR) imagery as hot sources after usage, generate a recoil kickback, have bullet drop trajectories that are impacted by wind and gravity over long distances, consume ammunition that must be carried and cannot be replenished in the field from renewable sources, and may send bullets that travel past the intended target and strike unintended targets out of sight of the user. It is difficult to use these devices without drawing attention, even with flash and noise suppressors, and dangerous to use in an urban setting without possible unintended targets being injured or killed by stray fire. Also, mounting such a device on a small robot or miniature unmanned flying machine can unbalance them if they are used, or disturb the pointing of a lightweight pan-tilt platform.


A receiver, method, terminal device, visible light transmissive structure and system for decoding light signals and light signals received in an area of overlap of light rays emanating from different lighting devices, each transmitting unique ID data. Light rays (45, 46, 47) entering the receiver (39) are optically spread apart in longitudinal direction (x) of an array of photodetectors (21). The thus spread light rays (45a, 46a, 47a) are optically diverged and spread further over the radiant active surface (29) of a particular photodetector (22-28), thereby optimizing the amount of light received at a respective photodetector (22-28).

Visible Light Communication, VLC, in particular VLC based positioning, is emerging as an attractive indoor positioning technology for determining the positioning of mobile terminals.
VLC can be installed with existing and new lighting devices or luminaires, such that the lighting equipment not only serves the purpose of lighting but also provides data communication. Accordingly, VLC provides an efficient power consumption, as the light signal emitted contributes to both lighting and communication.
Since VLC does not cause or suffer from radio or electromagnetic interference, it may replace Radio Frequency, RF, communication and RF based positioning in hospitals or other areas prone to RF radiation or where RF data transmission is even forbidden.
In a VLC based positioning system, typically a light source of each lighting device, such as a Light Emitting Diode, LED, light source transmits a modulated light positioning signal representing Identification Data, ID, identifying the lighting device. The modulation is carried out at such a high frequency not causing visible flicker.
In a proximity only VLC system, for example, wherein each lighting device transmits its own, unique ID, a mobile terminal device, for example, comprising a visible light receiver, from processing the ID of light signals received while moving through an area covered by the VLC system, and additional positioning information of the respective lighting devices and associated ID, may calculate its position in the area. The additional positioning information and associated IDs may be stored in the terminal device or received from a central database or node, for example.
In present indoor visible light positioning systems, for example, several processing algorithms are proposed for more accurately calculating the geographical position or coordinates of a visible light receiver, such as using the Received Signal Strength, RSS, Time of Arrival, ToA, Time Difference of Arrival, TDoA, and Angle of Arrival, AoA, information gained from a received light signal, and triangulation, fingerprinting by using specific characteristics of the light signals at a particular location, probabilistic methods, data correlation techniques, and vison analysis using detection camera's, for example.
In a typical scenario, wherein each or a plurality of adjacent lighting devices transmit their own, unique ID light signal, such as lighting devices mounted a the ceiling of a building, in an area of overlap of two or more lighting devices, a visible light receiver comprised of a single photodetector, for example, is not able to decode the light signals received from different light sources.
International patent application WO2016/086276 A1, for example, discloses on optical receiver, having an anterior light entrance surface comprising one or a plurality of apertures and an oppositely spaced posterior light receiving surface comprising a two-dimensional array of optical receiving elements or photodetectors, such as photodiodes. In this way, light rays obliquely incident at an anterior entrance surface aperture are spread apart over a distance at the posterior light receiving surface, i.e. the array of photodetectors, for decoding the light signals.
This solution, however, works only well for light rays of different light sources incident at a relative large angle with respect to the surface normal of the light entrance surface, and the angles of incidence of which substantially differ from each other. Light rays from different light sources in an area of overlap incident at the light entrance surface, in particular overlapping light rays having a relative small angle with respect to the normal at the light entrance surface, or light rays that just slightly differ with respect to each other will, however, by such apertures not be sufficiently spread apart at the posterior surface, for distinguishing same for decoding purposes.
Further, the amount of light that is received at a particular optical element depends on the angle of incidence of a light ray.
US patent application 2009/0123156 A1 discloses a relatively expense, bulky and complex motor driven two-dimensional array of photodetectors, arranged for moving the array in a position to maximize the amount of light received at a particular photodetector from a converging lens mounted in front of the array, viewed in the direction of propagation of the incident light rays.
Maximizing the amount of light received at a photodetector is beneficial for keeping the active area size of a photodetector, such as a photodiode or phototransistor, for example, as small as possible, thereby decreasing internal resistance, resulting in a decreased time constant and hence an increased operational speed of the photodetector, which is advantageous for position based VLC applications.

Receiver, method, terminal device, light transmissive structure and system for visible light communication


A printing apparatus capable of performing wireless communication with an information processing apparatus includes a display unit configured to display a connection screen for enabling, on the screen, specification of print settings of print data received from the information processing apparatus using the wireless communication, and reception of an instruction for executing connection processing for establishing the wireless communication, a storage unit configured to store the print settings specified via the connection screen, a connection unit configured to execute the connection processing with the information processing apparatus when the instruction for executing the connection processing is received via the connection screen, a reception unit configured to receive print data from the information processing apparatus using the wireless communication established by the connection processing, and a printing unit configured to print the print data received by the reception unit based on the print settings stored in the storage unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to printing and, more particularly, to a printing apparatus, a method for controlling a printing apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing apparatuses having a wireless local area network (LAN) function such as printing apparatuses, personal computers (PCs), and portable terminals, have been increasing. The information processing apparatus having the wireless LAN function connects as a client to an access point, and via the access point, communicates with an external device.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has established a standard called Wi-Fi Direct (registered trademark). Wi-Fi Direct has defined a protocol for determining whether an information processing apparatus such as a printing apparatus and a PC operates as an access point or a client. Execution of the protocol automatically determines an information processing apparatus which is to be the access point and an information processing apparatus which is to be the client. The use of Wi-Fi Direct eliminates requirement for preparation of a specific access point, and enables direct wireless communication between the information processing apparatuses.
FIG. 1 simply illustrates a processing sequence in Wi-Fi Direct. Each of the printing apparatus and the portable terminal is an example of the information processing apparatuses that support Wi-Fi Direct.
In step S101, each of the printing apparatus and the portable terminal performs a device search to identify a communication partner. In step S102, the printing apparatus and the portable terminal identify the communication partners respectively, and the printing apparatus and the terminal determine which one is to be an access point (Group Owner) and which one is to be a client (Client). The processing in step S102 is called a role determination. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that as a result of the role determination in step S102, it is determined that the printing apparatus is to be the Group Owner, and the portable terminal is to be the Client.
In step S103, using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) specified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the printing apparatus acting as the Group Owner provides parameters for communication to the portable terminal acting as the Client to share the parameters between the printing apparatus and the portable terminal. In step S104, using the parameters, the printing apparatus and the portable terminal perform secure connection.
When the secure connection is completed, in step S105, the printing apparatus and the printing terminal perform addressing for carrying out Internet Protocol (IP) communication. In this step, the printing apparatus acting as the Group Owner, operates as a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, and assigns an IP address to the portable terminal acting as the Client.
The execution of the above-described processing establishes wireless communication between the printing apparatus and the portable terminal. The use of the wireless communication enables the printing apparatus and the portable terminal to directly communicate with each other without preparing a specific access point. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-199884 discusses transmission and reception of audio data and photographic data using Wi-Fi Direct.
When the communication partner in Wi-Fi Direct is a printing apparatus, it is possible to send print data to the printing apparatus, and instruct the printing apparatus to print the print data. In performing the printing, various print settings, for example, color printing, two-sided printing, and N-up printing, are to be made. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-199884, however, there is no mention of a way how users perform the print setting.

Printing apparatus, method of controlling printing apparatus, and storage medium


Herein we provide cDNA extracted from tumor cells, normal cells or treatment resistant tumor cells that have been transduced with virus capable of altering self and/or tumor associated antigens (VASTA) fused recombinantly to nucleic acids encoding wild type superantigens, superantigens, superantigen homologues and superantigen-tumor specific targeting molecules and further linked to a costimulatory molecule. The extracted cDNA is linked to a VASTA and delivered to tumor bearing hosts parenterally wherein they induce a tumoricidal response. These agents are also incorporated into a tumor tropic cell carrier for protected delivery to tumor.

Therapy of the neoplastic diseases has largely involved the use of chemotherapeutic agents, radiation, and surgery. However, results with these measures, while beneficial in some tumors, has had only marginal effects in many patients and little or no effect in many others, while demonstrating unacceptable toxicity. Hence, there has been a quest for newer modalities to treat neoplastic diseases.
The Staphylococcal enterotoxins are a representative of a family of evolutionarily-related extracellular products of Staphylococcal aureus that belong to a well recognized group of proteins that have common physical and chemical and biologic properties known as superantigens. These proteins are which are the most powerful T cell mitogens known capable of activating 5 to 30% or the total T cell population compared to 0.01% for conventional antigens. Moreover, the enterotoxins evoke strong polyclonal T cell proliferation at concentrations 103-fold lower than conventional T cell mitogens. The most potent enterotoxin, Staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA), has been shown to stimulate DNA synthesis in human T cells at concentrations of as low as 10−13 to 10−16M. Enterotoxin-activated T cells produce a variety of cytokines, including IFNγ, IL-2 and TNFα. The Staphylococcal enterotoxins share common physicochemical properties such as heat stability, trypsin resistance, and solubility in water and salt solutions. Furthermore, the Staphylococcal enterotoxins have similar sedimentation coefficients, diffusion constants, partial specific volumes, isoelectric points, and extinction coefficients.
The enterotoxins are composed of a single polypeptide chain of about 30 kilodaltons (kD). SEA, SEB, SEC, SED, Staphylococcal toxic shock-associated toxin (TSST-1 also known as SEF), and the Streptococcal exotoxins share considerable nucleic acid and amino acid sequence homology. All staphylococcal enterotoxins have a characteristic disulfide loop near the middle of the molecule. SEA is a flat monomer consisting or 233 amino acid residues divided into two domains. Domain I comprises residues 31-116 and domain II of residues 117-233 together with the amino tail 1-30. In addition, the biologically active regions of the proteins are conserved and show a high degree of homology.
T cell recognition of SAgs, such as SEs, via the TCR Vβ region is independent of other TCR components and T cell diversity elements in a manner distinct from conventional antigens. Unlike conventional polypeptide antigens T cell activation by these molecules does not require antigen processing by an antigen presenting cell. They activate T cells by a biochemical signaling pathway distinct from conventional peptide antigens.
Single amino acid positions and regions important for SAg-TCR interactions have been defined. These residues are located in the vicinity of the shallow cavity formed between the two SE domains. (Lavoie P M et al., Immunol. Rev. 168: 257-269 (1999). SEB and the SEC bind only to the MHC class II β chain whereas SEA, SEE and SED, also interact with the MHC class II α chain in a zinc dependent manner. Substitution of amino acid residue Asn23 in SEB by Ala has demonstrated the importance of this position in SEB/TCR interactions. This particular residue is conserved among all of the SE's and may constitute a common anchor position for SE interaction with TCR Vβ structures. Amino acid residues in positions 60-64 of SEA contribute to the TCR interaction as do the Cys residues forming the intramolecular disulfide bridge (Kappler J et al., J. Exp. Med. 175 387-96 (1992)). For SEC2 and SEC3, the key points of interaction in the TCR Vβ region are located in the CDR1, CDR2 and HRV4 regions of the TCR Vβ3 chain (Deringer J R et al., Mol. Microbiol. 22: 523-534 (1996)). Hence, multiple and highly variable parts of the Vβ region contribute to the formation of the TCRs SE binding site. This distinctive binding mechanism of enterotoxins which bypasses the highly variable parts of the MHC class II and TCR molecules allows them to activate a high frequency of T cells resulting in massive lymphoproliferation, cytotoxic T cell generation and TH1 cytokines cytokine induction. Hence a given can activate up to 30% of resting T cells compared to 0.01% for conventional antigens.
Thus far, no single, linear consensus motif in the TCR vβ displaying a high affinity interaction with particular enterotoxins has been identified. A significant contribution of the TCRα chain in SE-TCR recognition is acknowledged (Smith et al., J. Immunol. 149: 887-896 (1992)). Unlike peptide binding in the groove between the MHCII alpha and beta chain, the SEs bypass the highly variable parts of the MHC class II and bind instead on the outer face of the groove. This distinctive binding to non-polymorphic regions of the MHCII endows them with their ability to activate such a high frequency of T cells and cause massive proliferation, cytokine induction and cytotoxic T cell generation. These properties are shared by several other proteins produced by various infectious agents. Together, these proteins form a well recognized family of molecules, SAgs, because of their aforementioned biological effects. Summary of the superantigen sequences that bind MHCII and vβ TCR regions is provided in Papageorgiou, A. C. et al. EMBO J. 18:9-21 (1999))
Wild type SEs and SE homologues and fusion proteins are known to induce anti-tumor effects. Administration of SEB produced antitumor effects against established tumors in two animal species, rabbits and mice, with tumors of five different histologic types: rabbit VX-2 carcinoma (Terman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,945; Terman, U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,461), murine CL 62 melanomas (Penna C. et al., Cancer Res. 54: 2738-2743 (1994)), murine A/20 lymphoma (Kalland T. Declaration in U.S. Ser. No. 07/689,799 (1992)), murine PRO4L fibrosarcoma (Newell et al., Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. 88: 1074-1079 (1991)) and human SW 620 colon carcinoma (Dohlsten et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 21: 1229-1233 (1991)). In these studies, parenterally-administered SEB induced objective anti-tumor effects at primary and metastatic sites. SEB was used ex vivo to stimulate a population of T cells pre-exposed to tumor, which, upon re-infusion into host animals with established pulmonary metastases, induced a substantial reduction of metastases. SEB activated T cell anti-tumor effect was specific for the immunizing tumor; the SEB stimulated T cells produced IFNγ which was thought to be an important mediator of the anti-tumor effect (Shu S et al., J. Immunol. 152: 1277-88 (1994)). Fusion polypeptides comprising SEA fused to a tumor specific monoclonal antibody (mAb), designated "SEA-mAb," induced tumoricidal responses in the murine B16 melanoma model (Dohlsten M et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci 91:8945-9 (1994); Dohlsten M et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88:9287-91(1991). A summary of antitumor effects of superantigens is provided in Terman et al Clin Chest Med 27: 321-334 (2006).
The instant application provides a heretofore undescribed role for superantigens of boosting the tumoricidal response when fused recombinatly to a tumor associated antigen (TAA). Because superantigen and conventional antigens are aligned in geometrically different conformations on MHC II molecules required for activation of T cells such a fusion molecule would sterically interdict the binding of one of both its components to the MHCII receptor. Surprisingly, as shown herein in Example 1 and U.S. application Ser. No. 10/428,817 (of which the instant application is continuation in part) a nucleic acid construct encoding a superantigen fused to a weak TAA (papilloma viral epitope) abolished the outgrowth of squamous cell carcinoma in rabbits whereas nucleic acids encoding a superantigen or the viral epitope alone were ineffective. Further, parenteral delivery of tumor cells transduced with superantigen and a costimulatory molecule produced a tumoricidal response whereas mock transfected tumor cells similarly administered were ineffective (PCT/IS99/08399). Similarly, Bridle et al., (Mol Ther 18: 1430-1439 (2010) showed that immunization and boosting with a viral-nucleic acids encoding tumor associated antigen (TAA) construct resulted in a potent T cell response to the TAA and a tumoricidal effect that was not seen with the virus or tumor antigen alone. These results suggest that both superantigens and certain viruses (selected to induce altered self antigens) can combine with tumor associated epitopes to augment their immunogenicity in the host leading to an antitumor effect.
Thus, in the present invention nucleic acids encoding superantigens are fused to virus or viral genomic DNA (VASTA) capable of altering both tumor associated and self antigens upon transfection into tumor cells and normal cells of similar histologic type. This construct is used to transduce both tumor cells and normal cells of the same histologic type as the tumor. The cDNA from these cells is extracted from such cells and linked recombinantly to the original virus or a new VASTA and administered parenterally to the host. The final product consists of nucleic acids encoding a library of superantigen- and viral-altered normal and tumor cell associated antigens some of which are expressed as fusion proteins with the virus or superantigen. We hypothesize that the extracted cDNA containing nucleic acids encoding viral and/or SAg altered tumor associated self antigens is rendered highly immunogenic in the host by structural modification and/or fusion with the virus and the SAg. Systemic delivery of SAg-viral based nucleic acid libraries induce a broad repertoire of individually weak T cell responses against multiple TAAs resulting in a cumulatively powerful anti-tumor effect.
The present invention therefore exploits the ability of some viruses such as vesicular stomatitis virus to alter self antigens and render them immunogenic. cDNA from normal cells are used because cells transduced with virus express altered self antigens that when exposed to the host induce an immune response to antigen loss variants of tumor derived from these normal cells (Sanchez-Perez L et al., Caner Res 65: 2005-2017 (2009)). In addition, the present invention provides cDNA extracted from treatment resistant tumor cells because these cells express additional tumor epitopes such as cadherin and adhesion molecules not present on the original tumor or normal cells of the same histologic type or the primary tumor cells.
This unique therapeutic nucleic acid constructs derived from VASTA-SAg transfected tumor cells and normal cells of the same histologic type differs from viral constructs previously reported to treat cancer. Schlom et al discloses tumor cells transduced with nucleic acid construct comprising a virus-tumor associated antigen and costimulatory molecules that are administered directly into the tumor bearing host. In contrast to the instant invention, this nucleic construct does not contain a superantigen, is not extracted from transduced tumor cells and normal cells of the same histologic type, does not contain a library of superantigen/viral altered normal and tumor associated self antigens and uses an intact tumor cell as the therapeutic agent. Terman et al. (U.S. application Ser. No. 10/428,817) disclose administration of tumor cells transduced with nucleic acids encoding a superantigen and costimulatory molecules which differs from the instant invention in that it does not contain a virus and uses the transduced tumor cell as the therapeutic agent instead of cDNA extracted from VASTA-SAg transduced tumor cells and normal cells used in the instant application. Dow S W et al., (J Clin Invest 101:2406-43(1998) and Thamm D H et al., (Cancer Immunol Immunother 52:473-80 (2003)) disclose lipid complexed plasmid DNA encoding SEB and either granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor or IL-2 but this construct does not comprise tumor or normal cell-derived cDNA and is devoid of a virus selected to induce altered self antigens. To treat cancer, others have used fusion genes consisting of one or defined group of tumor/self antigens while some have used plasmid vectors that encode tumor antigens as in-frame chimeric fusions with other immune proteins (Englehorn et al., Mol. Ther. 16: 773-781 (2008)). None of these fusion agents however, use a superantigen in the fusion construct and none employ a complete cDNA library of modified self and tumor antigens extracted from tumor cells transduced with nucleic acids encoding SAg and VASTA.
In contrast to all of the above art, the cDNA extracted from tumor cells and normal cells and delivered to tumor bearing host contains not only nucleic acids encoding VASTA-SAg but also nucleic acids encoding self and tumor associated epitopes altered by VASTA-SAg. The immunogenicity of the altered TAAs and self epitopes are thereby augmented sufficiently to evoke a tumoricidal response. Unlike previous reports, the host is presented directly with the nucleic acids encoding a complete library of highly immunogenic self and TAAs together with the potent T cell adjuvant effects of SAg and a virus (VASTA) selected to induce altered self antigens in tumor cells and normal cells. To our knowledge, these nucleic acid therapeutic constructs encoding a library of altered self and tumor epitopes together with viral-superantigen-costimulatory molecules have not been previously employed to treat tumors.

Compositions and methods for treatment of neoplastic disease


A flake ice machine (10) including a rotatable cooling member (12) defining cooling surfaces (20) and a plurality of internal refrigerant flow passages (76). The machine includes a spray tube (18) for introducing liquid material onto a portion of the cooling surfaces of the cooling member. A refrigerant supply system (30) supplies an excess of evaporative liquid refrigerant to the inlets (78) of the refrigerant flow passages, so that a portion of the liquid refrigerant evaporates within each passage to freeze the liquid material introduced onto the cooling surface, and a remaining portion of the refrigerant flows from the outlet (80) of each passage in the liquid state. Resilient removal blades (38) mounted adjacent each cooling surface remove frozen material from the cooling surface to form solid flakes of material. The flake ice machine further includes an automatic salinity control system (56, 58, 63) to automatically control the salinity of the liquid material being applied to the cooling surfaces of the cooling member.

Machines that continuously and automatically produce large quantities of flake ice for use by the food processing industry, for cooling concrete in construction, and other uses are well known. A common type of conventional ice-making machine utilizes a stationary cylindrical drum that has an outer surface exposed to a coolant or a refrigerant and an inner surface onto which water is introduced. The water is frozen on the inner surface of the drum and removed by a rotating array of blades to form large flakes of ice. Such machines are capable of producing substantial quantities of ice, but are relatively large and expensive to construct.
Flake ice machines have also been developed that utilize a rotating cooling disk, rather than a drum, for more efficient production of ice. One such example is the disk machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,462 to Treuer. A non-evaporative refrigerant flows through a pair of geometrically complex flow passages formed within the disk. Water is applied to a portion of the planar outside surfaces of the rotating disk, is subcooled, and is then removed by a series of radially spaced blades positioned adjacent the outer disk surfaces.
Other conventional rotating disk ice machines use a greater number of internal flow passages of generally equal length in an attempt to provide uniform cooling of the entire outer disk surface. Refrigerant flowing into the disk is channeled to provide each passage with a substantially equal amount of refrigerant. However, in practice it has been found that slight differences in the length of the passages, manufacturing variations in the cross-sectional dimensions of the passages, and varying refrigerant pressure losses associated with different passage contours results in an uneven degree of cooling from each passage.
Refrigeration circuits for conventional disk machines supply refrigerant to the disk at a flow rate that is limited to ensure that all refrigerant is evaporated within the disk. Substantially all refrigerant leaves the disk as a super-heated vapor. This type of construction and operation of a disk cooling system results in the most cooling-efficient flow passages within the disk not being fully utilized. The refrigerant flow rate must be restricted to a rate corresponding to the rate of evaporation within the passage with the least cooling capacity to ensure substantially all refrigerant is evaporated within that least efficient passage. But flow passages with more efficient rates of evaporation (i.e., that absorb more heat from the liquid material being frozen) are also limited to the flow rate corresponding to the less efficient passages, and thus are underfed refrigerant.
In addition to the capacity limitations of conventional ice-making machines, another drawback of conventional drum and disk machines is the variation in quality of the ice produced. In order to assure proper separation of the ice from the machine's cooling surfaces, to prevent the ice flakes from sticking together, and to produce ice flakes of a desirable large size, it is necessary to add a small quantity of salt to the water that is being frozen. Conventional machines rely on the manual addition of salt at periodic intervals to a water reservoir. This batchwise addition of salt results in a fluctuation of the salt concentration in the water, and inconsistent quality of the ice produced.
Additionally, the ice removal blades used in conventional machines of either the disk or drum type must be mounted spaced away from the machine's cooling surfaces to accommodate rotational run-out of the cooling member without causing the cooling surfaces to wear.


A method is provided for designing and optimizing a pattern by considering heterogeneous cloud environments. Building blocks within the pattern can be deployed into different cloud environments and different cloud providers, depending on where the pattern fits users need best. Further, building block configuration within the pattern can be optimized by target environments, along with runtime bursting among multiple environments.

The present invention relates generally to the field of cloud computing and service, and more particularly to virtual machine pattern design.
Cloud computing, often referred to as simply "the cloud," is the delivery of on-demand computing resources—everything from applications to data centers—over the Internet on a pay-for-use basis. The cloud may include a public cloud, a private cloud, and/or a hybrid cloud. A public cloud is owned and operated by companies that offer rapid access over a public network to affordable computing resources. A private cloud is infrastructure operated solely for a single organization, whether managed internally or by a third party, and hosted either internally or externally. A hybrid cloud uses a private cloud foundation combined with the strategic integration and use of public cloud services.
In the cloud computing, a pattern is used to describe cloud service models and cloud deployment types in an abstract form to categorize the offerings of cloud providers. A pattern can be thought of as a recipe that combines all of the knowledge an organization acquired during years of complex infrastructure management tasks for optimizing and automating software deployment. A pattern describes, in a logical way, a repeatable solution that is based on specific sets of virtual images, middleware, applications, and runtime configurations. The result of deploying a pattern is a configured, tuned, and optimized application environment.

Pattern design for heterogeneous environments

International Business Machines Corporation


For the metered feed of coarse granular material into an air jet mill an injector 3 operated by propellent air is used, the coarse material being fed continuously to a closed injector hopper 6 provided on the injector 3. In the injector hopper 6, the pressure is measured at a product-free point and, by resetting the propellent air mass flow at the injector 3 is held constant at a preselected setpoint partial vacuum value. Said setpoint value is preferably set so low that at said pressure there is only just no return flow from the injector 3 into the injector hopper 6. The apparatus for effecting said method comprises a control loop having a pressure sensor 16 for measuring the flow in the closed injector hopper 6, a motor-adjustable valve 4, 5 as an actuator for varying the supplied propellent air mass flow and a loop controller, which compares the actual pressure value with a preselected setpoint value and supplies a control signal for operating the actuator 4, 5.

Jet mills are operated by compressed air, inert gas or steam as a propellant. For the sake of simplicity, it is always compressed air which is mentioned as a propellant (by way of example) in the following description. When charging product by means of injectors into jet mills and, in particular, into spiral jet mills, blow-back may occur, for example, when the injector collecting nozzle (Venturi meter) builds up an insufficient counterpressure compared to the mill internal pressure or is caked with product. The mill internal pressure is dependent upon the milling chamber hold-up. During no-load operation, a high internal pressure has to be overcome. In many cases, this calls for collecting nozzles with a small mixing stage diameter. The mill internal pressure drops dramatically as soon as there is product in the milling chamber. In said state, it would be perfectly possible to select an injector collecting nozzle with a larger diameter. What actually often happens in practice is that a jet mill is operated with collecting nozzles which are as large as possible in order to facilitate the charging of products which are difficult to fluidize or which bake on. In said case, a continuous product feed has to be ensured because otherwise a return flow into the injector and into the product charging apparatus arises (blow-back). This calls for careful supervision by the attendant. Manufacturers of jet mills and, in particular, of spiral jet mills have not, up till now, offered automated supervision to prevent blow-back of the charged product at upstream injector metering devices.

Method and apparatus for the metered feed of coarse granular material into an air jet mill


Negatively charged luminescent CdSe—ZnS quantum dots (QDs) were successfully incorporated into novel luminescent glyconanospheres averaging around 190 nm in diameter through electrostatic interactions with carboxymethyldextran (CM-dextran) and polylysine. The glyconanospheres preferably contain as well carboxyl-modified iron oxide nanocrystals. In addition to electrostatic attraction between the negatively charged dextran, the negatively charged CdSe—ZnS QDs (and negatively charged iron oxide nanocrystals, if present), and the positively charged polylysine, covalent amide bonds were introduced to cross link the QDs (and negatively charged iron oxide nanocrystals, if present) with the polysaccharide matrix to further stabilize the glyconanospheres. The dextran residues on the surface of the nanospheres show high affinity toward the glucose binding protein-Concanavalin A (Con A). As a result, these luminescent CdSe—ZnS QD incorporated glyconanospheres are a useful tool for studying carbohydrate-protein interactions that are critical steps in bacterial and viral infection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to markers. More particularly, the present invention relates to luminescent markers.
2. General Background of the Invention
Luminescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have been intensely studied due to their unique optical properties, including sharp emission spectra with full width at half-maximum (fwhm) as narrow as 25 nm, high photostability, and tunable size dependent emission peaks.1-5 Incorporation of luminescent semiconductor quantum dots into nanospheres has been explored as a way to prepare bright biological labels and functional composite luminescent materials. For example, Barbera-Guillem successfully encapsulated luminescent CdSe QDs and other metal oxide nanocrystals in nanometric liposomes for potential biological labeling applications.6 Rogach et al. encapsulated CdSe QDs in 40-80 nm silica nanospheres and proposed to use them as building blocks to form 3D colloid crystal microstructures.7 Moffitt et al. encapsulated CdS QDs in water-soluble block copolymers to form large compound micelles (LCM) that averaged 65 nm in diameter.8
Electrostatic interactions of polyelectrolytes have been widely applied in layer-by-layer procedures to prepare thin films since Decher et al. introduced this unique technique in the early 1990s.10-11 Using this technique, Anai et al. successfully incorporated the highly charged protein avidin into a thin film and used it to immobilize biotinylated molecules.12 Caruso et al. immobilized enzymes on the surface of polystyrene microspheres to fabricate micrometric biocatalyst carriers using the same layer-by-layer approach.13 Goldman et al. prepared bioinorganic conjugates by using negatively charged CdSe—ZnS QDs and positively charged avidin. They used these new particles for luminescence immunoassay applications.14 In their study, the concentrations of QDs and avidin were limited to minimize aggregation due to electrostatic attractions.
The following U.S. Patents are incorporated herein by reference:    6,773,823 Sequential synthesis of core-shell nanoparticles using reverse micelles    6,699,723 Organo luminescent semiconductor nanocrystal probes for biological applications and process for making and using such probes    6,630,307 Method of detecting an analyte in a sample using semiconductor nanocrystals as a detectable label    6,548,171 Fluorescent nanocrystal-embedded microspheres for fluorescence analyses    6,447,887 Electrostrictive and piezoelectric thin film assemblies and method of fabrication therefor    6,322,901 Highly luminescent color-selective nano-crystalline materials.
The following articles (and all references mentioned herein) are incorporated herein by reference:    Decher, G.; Hong, J. D. Makromol. Chem. Macromol. Symp. 1991, 46, 321;    Decher, G.; Hong, J. D.; Schmitt, J. Thin Solid Films 1992, 210/211, 831;    Caruso, F.; Trau, D.; Mohwald, H.; Renneberg, R.; Langmuir 2000, 16(4), 1485;    Goldman, E. R.; Balighian, E. D.; Mottoussi, H.; Kuno, M. K.; Mauro, J. M.; Tran, P. T.; Anderson, G. P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 6378.

Synthesis of nanoassemblies containing luminescent quantum dots and magnetic nanoparticles

University of New Orleans Research and Technology Foundation, Inc.


A gear transmission adapted for use in an engine-driven automotive vehicle includes a mainshaft and a countershaft, a transmission casing having axially spaced bearing support structures, meshing gear elements on the mainshaft and countershaft to establish torque flow paths, and a support having first and second bearing openings therein through which the mainshaft and countershaft extend whereby the mainshaft and countershaft are supported intermediate the ends of the mainshaft and countershaft so that center distance between the shafts is maintained as is the center distance of meshing gears notwithstanding gear tooth separating forces acting transversely with respect thereto.

Conventional manual transmissions have gearing adapted to establish multiple torque ratios in a driveline for an automotive vehicle. These transmissions typically have two or more shafts, such as a mainshaft and at least one countershaft. Torque delivery gears are mounted for rotation about the mainshaft axis and gear elements are mounted for rotation about the countershaft axis. As the number of possible torque ratios has increased, with many transmissions having five forward speed ratios and one reverse ratio, shaft lengths have increased to accommodate an increased number of gears.
Initially, these long shafts were supported only by their ends. Under the gear loads encountered during rotational gear engagement, these shafts tend to torsionally deflect and bend. This deflection and bending adversely affects proper gear mesh. This contributes to gear tooth wear, gearing inefficiency and gear noise. To solve this problem, some prior art transmissions include a bearing support mounted on the transmission case between the end shaft supports to provide additional shaft support and thus to reduce deflections and stabilizing the shafts. Some of these supports are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,628,768; 2,227,589; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,887,560.
The use of such a center bearing support, however, requires precise alignment between the shaft end supports and the center bearing support. This, in turn, requires machining tolerances of an exacting nature and an impractical, idealized transmission case. In actual practice, shafts supported by a fixed center support and the associated gearing may self-destruct at high speed because of improper alignment.

Manual transmission shaft center control support device


An endoscopic biopsy forceps instrument includes a distal jaws assembly detachable from a proximal handle assembly. The proximal handle assembly includes a centrally slotted shaft and a spool having a laterally seated cross block which passes through the central slot. The distal jaws assembly includes jaws mounted on a clevis at the distal end of a coil and coupled to a pull wire which extends through the coil to its proximal end. The proximal end of the coil is provided with a connecting sleeve provided with a frustoconical portion having double-helical threads for removably coupling the coil to a shaft having a distal frustoconical portion having double-helical threads. The proximal end of the pull wire is provided with a grooved mating member and the spool is provided with a locking assembly having a springbiased push button latch for releasably engaging the grooved mating member. The grooved mating member has an elongate cylindrical distal portion, a central cylindrical portion having a relatively larger diameter, a proximal cylindrical grooved portion, and a proximal conical portion having a rounded apex. The elongate distal portion has a bore into which the pull wire is secured. The mating member end of the pull wire can be snapped into the locking assembly and the coil can be quickly and securely coupled to the shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to surgical instruments. More particularly, this invention relates to endoscopic surgical instruments having detachable proximal handles.
2. State of the Art
Endoscopic surgery is widely practiced throughout the world today and its acceptance is growing rapidly. In general, endoscopic surgery involves the use of a camera or magnifying lens inserted through a tube, while a cutter, dissector, or other surgical instrument is inserted through another tube for purposes of manipulating and/or cutting an internal organ or tissue under view of the surgeon. In endoscopic biopsy procedures, typically, the camera is located in one lumen of a flexible endoscope while the biopsy cutter is placed through another lumen thereof.
Most endoscopic instruments have similar configurations with a proximal handle, an actuation mechanism, and distal end effectors coupled by a flexible tube or coil through which the actuation mechanism extends. The end effectors take many forms such as grippers, cutters, forceps, dissectors and the like.
Initially, endoscopic surgical instruments were very expensive, partly because they must be very small but still durable and reliable and the materials and manufacturing methods necessary to provide these features are expensive. Recently, however, a number of "disposable" endoscopic instruments have been introduced and their use is now widely accepted. One of the advantages of disposable endoscopic instruments over reusable instruments is that because they are used only a single time, there are no sterilization problems, (i.e., no risk of cross-contamination between patients) and no concerns about the dulling or nicking of blades or wearing of parts. However, in order to justify disposing of instruments after a single use, the instruments have to be much less expensive than the reusable tools. In order to manufacture the instruments less expensively, the disposable instruments therefore use less expensive materials. As a result, the disposable instruments potentially are less durable than the reusable instruments. It is recognized, however, that the less durable components of the disposable instruments are most often parts of the distal end effectors and that the proximal handle portion of a disposable instrument is substantially as durable as the proximal handle portion of a reusable instrument. Moreover, the distal end effectors are not so fragile that they can only withstand a single use. Despite manufacturer's recommendations to the contrary, some surgeons will sterilize disposable instruments and reuse them a few times in order to reduce "per procedure costs". Ultimately, however, it is the distal portion of the instrument which wears or breaks and mandates disposal of the entire disposable instrument.
Among the disposable endoscopic instruments in use today are a number of different types of biopsy forceps devices. These devices most often include very sharp opposing jaws for grasping and tearing tissue for biopsy. The jaws are mated with one another about a clevis pin which is mounted in a clevis. The clevis extends into a housing which is crimped to the distal end of a relatively long flexible coil. The proximal end of the coil is coupled to a handle having means for articulating the jaws. The handle generally includes a central slotted shaft about which a spool is disposed. A pull wire from the jaws extends through the coil and is attached to the spool while the coil is attached to the central shaft of the handle. Movement of the spool relative to the central shaft moves the pull wire relative to the coil and thus articulates the jaws at the distal end of the coil. In use, the jaws and coil are inserted through a flexible endoscope which is already in place in the patient's body. The surgeon guides the coil and jaws to the biopsy site while a nurse holds the handle. When the surgeon has located the jaws at the appropriate place, the nurse is instructed to operate the handle to articulate the jaws and grasp a biopsy sample. At the conclusion of the biopsy procedure, the entire forceps apparatus is either disposed of or cleaned and sterilized for re-use.
The known endoscopic biopsy forceps devices of the art have the drawback that the jaws wear out long before the useful life of the handle has expired. Thus, the entire instrument must be discarded when it is only a small portion of the instrument which is inoperative.
An endoscopic biopsy forceps device with detachable proximal handle and distal portions is known and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,668 to Macek et al. It is a disadvantage of the Macek et al. detachable biopsy forceps device that attachment and detachment of the proximal and distal portions requires the screwing in and out of screws and an awkward rotation of a sleeve which makes the attachment and detachment procedures cumbersome.
Co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,297 to Slater et al. discloses laparoscopic instruments having detachable proximal handle and distal portions. These instruments have a distal assembly insertable and removable from a proximal handle assembly in one step actions. The distal assembly includes a tube, end effectors coupled to the tube, and a push rod coupled to the end effectors and slidable through the tube. The proximal handle assembly includes a tube sleeve for receiving the tube, manually operable actuating means, and a latch for coupling the push rod to the actuating means. The tube sleeve is provided with a ball or blade lock for holding the tube securely in place and the tube is provided with a circumferential groove for engaging the ball or blade lock. The latch is spring loaded, hinged, and has an inclined surface for quick coupling with the push rod and an unlatching surface which when biased by an unlatching member uncouples the push rod. The push rod is provided with a mating tip which engages the latch so that the manually operable actuating means causes reciprocal movement of the push rod within the tube to operate the end effectors. Coupling and uncoupling the proximal and distal assemblies is quick, one step, and substantially automatic. However, the coupling of the tube to the lock is complicated and expensive to manufacture.
Co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,378 to Palmer et al. discloses endoscopic instruments also having one step coupling and uncoupling. The handle assembly of the instrument includes coupling devices for removably coupling the handle to a coil and to pull wires. The proximal end of the coil is provided with a mating sleeve having a circumferential groove, and the proximal ends of the pull wires are provided with a mating tip assembly. The handle assembly includes a central slotted shaft carrying a spool having a cross block which passes through the central slot of the shaft. The distal end of the shaft is provided with a spring biased latch for engaging the circumferential groove of the mating sleeve of the coil. The cross block of the spool is provided with a pair of spring biased sliders for engaging the mating tip assembly of the pull wires. The mating sleeve has a tapered proximal end so that when it is inserted into the distal end of the handle shaft, the biased latch is moved open until the sleeve is inserted to the point where the circumferential groove is engaged by the latch. The cross block is provided with an internally tapered guide and the mating tip assembly of the pull wires is tapered to be received and guided by the guide. The sliders have angled faces for receiving the mating tip and locking around it. The coil and pull wires are thus coupled to the handle in a single motion by inserting the proximal end of the coil and pull wires into the distal end of the handle shaft. The mating sleeve and mating tip assembly automatically engage-the latch and the sliders respectively and "snap" into place. During disengagement, the latch is operated by a push button at the distal end of the handle shaft. By pushing the push button, the latch releases the coil and the circumferential groove of the mating sleeve can be slid out of engagement with the latch by pulling the coil. Pulling the coil from the handle also pulls the pull wires which are coupled to the cross block containing the sliders, which in turn results in a pulling of the cross block of the spool. As the cross block moves proximally along the slotted shaft, a collar is engaged by a mechanism attached to the proximal end of the slotted shaft. The collar in turn engages angled extensions of the sliders, and forces the sliders apart, thereby releasing the mating tip assembly of the pull wires, and thus the handle from the distal assembly. While the instrument has proven effective in providing an endoscopic instrument having a handle separable from the distal assembly, the spool and shaft couplings each have a large number of parts and are expensive and complicated to manufacture. In addition, re-assembly of distal assembly into the handle requires precision alignment of the coil and pull wires relative to the spool and shaft couplings, which is time consuming.
In Europe, an endoscopic biopsy device having a detachable handle assembly is currently being marketed by Karl Schad. The device has a relatively simpler construction. The handle assembly includes a central slotted shaft carrying a spool having a cross block which passes through the central slot of the shaft and coupling devices for removably coupling the handle assembly to a coil and to a pull wire. The proximal end of the coil is provided with a substantially cylindrical connecting sleeve having internal threads and the distal end of the shaft is provided with external threads such that the connecting sleeve and the shaft are coupled together at their respective threads. The proximal end of the pull wire is provided with a mating tip assembly. The spool is provided with a spring biased latch which engages the mating tip assembly. The mating tip assembly is engaged by depressing the latch, inserting the mating tip assembly into a hole provided in the latch, and releasing the latch. While the Karl Schad device presents a viable method of constructing an endoscopic instrument having detachable handle and distal assemblies, the device is not ideal. In order to couple the handle assembly to the pull wire and to the coil, a cumbersome two step operation is required. First, the spring biased latch must be depressed in order to receive the mating tip assembly and released to engage the mating tip assembly. This is an inconvenient manner of coupling the pull wire to the spool. Next, the connecting sleeve must be inserted over the shaft and rotated many times relative to the shaft so that a secure threaded coupling is accomplished between the connecting sleeve and the shaft. This coupling method is time consuming.

Biopsy forceps having detachable handle and distal jaws


An identity guessing game includes a plurality of identities to be guessed. Each identity is provided on a media in a manner permitting selection of one identity by a player for a round of play. The game also includes a plurality of clue sets, each clue set having multiple clues relating to a respective one of the identities. Each clue within each clue set is provided on a media so as to be presentable one at a time to a player during the round of play. A game can be played by selecting or providing a first identity to be guessed and a first set of clues each relating to the first identity. A first player is presented with at least one clue of the first set of clues. The first player can then determine whether to guess the first identity and move to the next step or to be presented with another of the first set of clues. The first player guesses the first identity when all of the first set of clues have been presented or when the first player decides to guess the first identity having been presented fewer than the entire first set of clues.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to games, and more particularly to an identity guessing game and methods of playing the game.
2. Description of Related Art
Guessing games and trivia games are known in the art. These games often include cards, a game board, or both. The cards or the game board often offer a correct answer, one or more clues, one or more questions, and/or a plurality of selectable answers from which players can chose in order to determine the correct answer. The players will typically hear or read the information and try to guess the correct answer. A limitation of most of these types of games is that a relatively small maximum number of players can play the game at any given time. This limitation results from a fixed number of game board positions, game tokens, and/or cards that are available to play the game. Many of these games also require the players to learn a complex set of rules of play.
Guessing games are also known in the art. One such game is available for play on the internet. A player enters a website and is asked to choose a secret identity of a celebrity. A computer program is designed to ask the player a number of YES or NO questions. Upon compiling the answers, the program then guesses the players secret identity. This game is located at www.student.com under the address http://guessthecelebrity.student.com.
Another identity guessing game is known as "Times UP!" and is available from R&R Games. This game is a party game played by multiple players formed in teams. A deck of cards is provided with celebrities identified on the cards. The game is played in rounds. In a first round, the deck is passed around from team to team. Each team has a time limit with the deck on each turn. Clue-givers on each team give clues and teammates try to guess the identity of the celebrity on a given card. No clues are provided on the cards as a part of the game. Each team keeps the cards for the celebrities that they guess correctly. The deck is passed until the cards are gone and the team with the most cards wins the round. Successive rounds are played in a similar fashion, but the clue-givers become more limited in what they can say and do while offering clues.

Identity guessing game and methods of playing


A computer system includes a predictor engine, an extractor engine, and an acquirer engine. The predictor engine obtains resource data and stack ranks the data based on an expenditure amount each resource consumed. Resources are categorized into a tree structure. The predictor engine compiles a list identifying predicted performance enhancements and generates a notification detailing the list. In response determining that the predicted performance enhancements satisfy a threshold, the extractor engine generates an inventory of resources and rearranges the inventory based on the categories. The inventory is used to generate a baseline contrasting performance requirements with performance usages. The acquirer engine selects a resource to be used for a category based on the baseline, a list of potential resources, and the performance requirements. The acquirer engine generates or modifies an executable document. The computer system modifies these operations based on feedback to iteratively improve this transactional flow.

Companies often have personnel (e.g., buyers) available to source and buy supplies or resources from different suppliers. Sometimes, these buyers have a large amount of negotiation leverage (e.g., because they are attempting to place a large order) while other times, perhaps even a majority of times, these buyers are subject to the whims of the suppliers. To clarify, it seems as though many buyers have substantially less negotiation leverage than the suppliers, and thus those buyers are often faced with potentially abusive contract/document terms or an asymmetric and imbalanced relationship.
Another problem buyers have relates to concerns about the quality of market data. In many instances, suppliers intentionally decline to publicize their prices in an effort to skew the market in their favor. Due to this lack of accurate and detailed information, there is a substantial asymmetry or imbalance between the amount of knowledge a buyer and a supplier may have. As a consequence, buyers may never really know what is considered a "good" deal, a "moderate" deal, or a "bad" deal as compared to other buyers. Indeed, it is often the case that buyers have to rely on the knowledge of the suppliers, who have a clear interest in maintaining the highest possible margins so as to increase their own profitability. Accordingly, buyers face a serious problem in the market as a result of the asymmetry between buyers and suppliers in terms of available market knowledge.
Yet another problem is the tendency for suppliers to try to structure inflexible, rigid procurement plans with buyers. For instance, many suppliers structure their contracts in a manner so as to reduce the maneuverability of the buyer in being able to "shop" elsewhere or in being able to identify and substitute compatible units. In essence, the buyer essentially becomes hooked to a particular supplier. Releasing that hook may be so difficult that the buyers may simply continue with their current suppliers even though substantial reductions in price or increases in quality may be found elsewhere.
Yet another problem relates to the number of available suppliers a buyer may be involved with. Often, buyers cast a so-called "net" to communicate with suppliers, but that net is usually quite small and only a small number (e.g., 3-4) of suppliers end up being connected with the buyer. Using a reduced number of suppliers has the adverse effect of limiting potential opportunities to leverage suppliers against one another to obtain improved cost savings.
With that understanding, there are a number of problems currently facing the technical field. For instance, buyers (aka "clients") are often not fully aware as to what exactly they are getting themselves into when signing on with a particular supplier. Buyers often do not fully understand how much the resulting costs will actually be, and they do not fully understand the options currently available in the market. Buyers are also deficient in the amount or accuracy of information they have about what pricing is. Furthermore, buyers typically follow an impromptu, unstructured process to negotiate and generate contracts. Such problems often cause buyers to end up with only marginal or token benefits or cost savings. What is needed, therefore, is a structured program flow that can be modified over time in response to learned improvements in order to maximize or at least increase efficiency in obtaining any type of resource.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Machine learning feedback loop for maximizing efficiency in transaction flow


A system and method are provided to receive a search query from a user, typically via a web browser, the Internet, and a web server. A search engine obtains a set of potential search results based on the search query. For each Internet domain or web site mentioned in the search results, a set of data sources is accessed to obtain information concerning the legitimacy of the business associated with the Internet domain or web site. The legitimacy information is used to reorder or to change or to augment the appearance or presentation of the search result for the Internet domain or web site. The processed search results are returned to the user.

The present invention relates to the field of search engines. More particularly, one embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for improving a user search experience by identifying and reordering search results based on measures of business identifiability and integrity.
Internet search engine technology is now more than a decade old. Search engines began as a form of straightforward indexing. Today, they reflect an ongoing battle between "search engine optimization" companies trying to promote products and services, and search companies trying to produce search results resistant to attempts to "game" the search system.
Existing search engines for web pages use, primarily, information from web pages themselves, including the links between them, to determine which search results should be presented first. This is referred to herein as "intrinsic" information. In contrast, as referred to herein, "extrinsic" information is obtained from sources other than the web pages being indexed. Some extrinsic sources have substantially higher information reliability than intrinsic sources, and can potentially be used to validate information from the web pages themselves.
There have been tentative steps towards the use of extrinsic information by others, typically involving "blacklists" of "bad" web sites and "white lists" of "good" ones. The criteria for such lists have typically been ideological, rather than being based on an evaluation of the business. Such lists have typically covered only a small fraction of the existing web sites, and typically require considerable manual maintenance and attention. Such approaches have generally been deployed as site-blocking tools, rather than being used as a component of a search system. Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 7,082,429 discloses a system using lists of web sites.
Schemes for "spam filtering" in search engines have also been proposed, but these typically borrow from the recognition techniques for obvious spam used for spam filtering. Such approaches are susceptible to the same techniques which are in widespread use to evade spam filters. Some such approaches require search users to manually identify "spam," rather than performing the task automatically. Brewer, U.S. Patent Application No. 20060248072 discloses such an approach.
Schemes for allowing Internet users to vote on site ratings have been tried repeatedly, but such methods require much active effort by users and are susceptible to "ballot stuffing." Manual rating efforts and systems requiring user feedback or user surveys create demands on the end user's time which are not commercially competitive outside of narrow areas, such as hotel and restaurant ratings. The disclosures in Sundaresan, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,080,064 and 7,099,859, which rely on a "ranking system for receiving any of users' (off-line or on-line) surveys or feedback about businesses," are examples of that approach. In contrast, the various embodiments of the present invention do not require the search system to conduct surveys or solicit user feedback.
Some specialized systems exist for the automated evaluation of intellectual property portfolios, typically by searching multiple databases for potential infringement, but this is a specialized application which relies on the formal structure of patent documents and claims, and is an unsuitable approach for general web search. Adler, U.S. Patent Application No. 20060173920 and Poltorak, U.S. Patent Application No. 20040158559 disclose such systems.
The various embodiments of the present invention overcome many of these limitations by automatically performing "due diligence" on Internet domains or web sites, using extrinsic data sources which are difficult for non-legitimate businesses to manipulate.

System and method for improving integrity of internet search


Methods for concealing audible distortions resulting from changes in jitter buffer size include receiving an audio stream, storing the audio stream in a jitter buffer, and determining a pitch period associated with the audio stream. To expand the jitter buffer, a method includes inserting additional audio data that has a duration corresponding to an integer multiple of the pitch period into the audio stream. To contract the jitter buffer, a method includes removing a portion of the audio stream having a duration corresponding to an integer multiple of the pitch period.

Voice-over-packet technology has become prevalent in recent years. One drawback of voice-over-packet technologies is that network performance can become unreliable due to component failure, network delays, and a variety of other factors. To compensate for this variance in network performance, many voice communication systems include a jitter buffer which stores information before playback, allowing time for packets to arrive. The jitter buffer size can be modified as necessary based on changes in network jitter. However, changing the size of the jitter buffer during playback may produce audible distortions.

Method and apparatus for concealing jitter buffer expansion and contraction


A wafer transfer system is described for transferring a wafer while at substantially the same time another wafer is being processed. The wafer transfer system comprises, in one embodiment, a transfer chamber having a wafer transfer blade, a load lock chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, an atmospheric robot for loading and unloading the wafer into the load lock chamber, and a slider coupled to the wafer transfer blade for moving the wafer transfer blade between the transfer chamber and the load lock chamber. According to a preferred embodiment, the slider utilizes a magnetic coupling mechanism and a plurality of plasma sources are coupled to the transfer chamber. The plurality of plasma sources are arranged in a plurality of pairs of plasma sources. Each plasma source in a pair of plasma sources share the other plasma source's induction coils.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of our invention relates generally to semiconductor manufacturing, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for stripping resist from a substrate in a transfer chamber, while at substantially the same time, another substrate is being transferred between a load lock chamber and the transfer chamber of the system. Therefore, throughput is increased because processing and transferring of the substrate occurs in parallel instead of as two separate events.
2. Description of Related Art
During the process of semiconductor fabrication, photoresist, a light sensitive film, is often deposited on a wafer surface and then "exposed" using high intensity light through a mask. The exposed photoresist is then dissolved off the wafer with developers. The pattern of photoresist remaining after development will prevent subsequent etch or implant operations in some areas while allowing etching or implant in other areas. Once the etch or implant operation is completed, the remaining photoresist is removed or stripped from the wafer surface.
A prior art chemical vapor deposition system 100 that can be adapted to remove photoresist from a wafer is illustrated in FIG. 1. The prior art system comprises a load lock chamber 125 and a transfer chamber 105. A complicated robot 130 with one platen 135, a first cassette 140 for holding wafers and a second cassette 150 are disposed within the load lock chamber 125. The transfer chamber 105 includes six fins (110a-110f) mounted to a common center 120 on one end of each fin. The other end of each of the fins (110a-110f) is coupled to a processing stage (115a-115f). There are six processing stages (115a-115f) in the transfer chamber 105.
Under the prior art system 100, the tact time was defined as the sum of the process time (typically about 15 seconds) plus loading time (typically about twenty-seven seconds) for a total of forty-two seconds. The process time is defined as the time that a wafer spends at each stage (e.g., 115a) in the transfer chamber 105 and the loading time is defined as the amount of time spent transferring a new (meaning "unprocessed" by system 100) or processed wafer between the load lock chamber 125 and the transfer chamber 105. Under the prior art system, when a wafer was being processed, a wafer could not be loaded. The converse was also true; when a wafer was being loaded, another wafer could not be processed. Thus, the wafer processing time and the wafer loading time were two separate events in the prior art system 100.
A typical loading sequence would comprise the following actions. For the sake of simplicity, only the movement of one fin is discussed as opposed to the entire fin assembly (which includes all the fins 110a-110f). Fin 110a would move up while the robot 130 would move with its platen 135 toward the fin 110a. The fin 110a would move down and transfer the processed wafer on to the platen 135 of the robot 130. The robot 130 would then retract and rotate toward a first cassette 140 or a second cassette 150. Assuming that the robot rotated toward first cassette 140, the robot 130 would then extend its platen 135 toward first cassette 140. The robot 130 would index and transfer the processed wafer back into the first cassette 140. After doing this, the robot 130 would retract and then index forward to the next wafer slot on the first cassette 140. The robot 130 would extend its platen 135 toward the first cassette 140. The robot 130 would index so that a new wafer is transferred onto the robot's platen 135. The robot 130 would then retract and rotate toward fin 110a. The robot 130 would then extend the platen 135 toward the fin 110A. The fin 110a (including the fin assembly) would move up to receive the new wafer. The robot 130 would retract after the wafer was transferred to the fin 110a. The fin 110a would then rotate towards processing stage 115b and then move down so that fin 110a is now located where fin 110b was located. In other words, all six fins (110a-110f) have moved in a counterclockwise direction since all six fins (110a-110f) are attached to a common center 120. Thus, fin 110a will then move down so that the wafer is now on processing stage 115b. The entire sequence of events typically takes about 27 seconds to unload a processed wafer from the transfer chamber to the load lock chamber and then back into a cassette (140 or 150) and to load a new wafer into the transfer chamber. During this transfer sequence, all processing stops.
Once a new wafer is introduced into the transfer chamber 105, processing of the wafer resumes. The processing time usually takes about 15 seconds. While a wafer is being processed in the transfer chamber 105, the robot 130 is inactive and no wafers are being loaded or unloaded between the load lock chamber 125 and the transfer chamber 105.
When a second wafer is introduced into the transfer chamber 105, the first wafer which was on processing stage 115b will be moved to processing stage 115c so that the new wafer may be placed on processing stage 115b. However, during the loading and unloading sequence, the processing of the wafers inside the transfer chamber 105 must cease. Thus, throughput is greatly reduced because the wafers cannot be processed in parallel with the wafers being loaded and unloaded between the load lock chamber 125 and the transfer chamber 105.
It was a common belief that if one sacrificed one of the process stages in the transfer chamber to act solely as a loading and unloading station, then a loss in throughput would occur. Therefore, all the previous solutions continued to utilize all six wafer stages as processing stages and to separate the processing of wafers from the transferring of wafers into two events. It was also believed that if one introduced a complicated mechanism inside a process environment, it would create a contamination problem for the wafers. Thus, most of the complicated robotic mechanisms used were in the load lock chamber and not in the transfer chamber where the processing occurred.
Thus, what is needed is a wafer transfer mechanism inside the transfer chamber that will allow the wafer loading time to substantially parallel the wafer processing time in order to increase throughput at a reduced cost and without introducing contamination concerns into the process environment.

Wafer transfer system and method of using the same


A remotely-controllable self-cleaning roof gutter preferably has a selectively inflatable and deflatable bladder extending longitudinally along the interior of the roof gutter. The bladder has an interior chamber connected to a fluid conduit which extends downwardly from the gutter so that the inflation or deflation of the bladder can be controlled manually by a person standing on the ground. When the gutter is to be cleaned, the normally deflated bladder is inflated by introducing pressurized fluid into the conduit which causes the bladder to lift debris toward the top of the gutter and dump it over the top of the gutter onto the ground by gravity. Thereafter, the bladder is deflated and the gutter is restored to normal usage. Preferably, a fluid-permeable screening member is mounted immediately above the gutter drain and is liftable by the inflated bladder in unison with the debris so that debris surrounding the screening member is likewise removed by gravity.

The present invention relates to a system for cleaning debris from roof gutters. More particularly, the invention relates to a remotely-controllable self-cleaning gutter system which can be operated from ground level quickly and with negligible effort.
Cleaning debris, such as leaves, twigs, evergreen needles, etc. from roof gutters normally requires climbing a ladder to the elevation of the gutter and performing the cleaning by hand. Such a task is dangerous, difficult and time-consuming, with the result that the task is often neglected causing gutter drains and their downspouts to become obstructed by debris. This in turn causes the gutters to overflow, resulting in water damage to buildings and landscaping.
Because of the dangerous and difficult nature of gutter cleaning by such conventional methods, many different pole-type gutter cleaning implements have been proposed to enable the user to remain on the ground while cleaning a gutter. However these devices are laborious and time-consuming to use, and are of questionable effectiveness particularly if a gutter contains a large amount of debris. Moreover, they are difficult or impossible to use for gutters located at relatively high elevations above the ground.

Remotely-controllable self-cleaning roof gutter system and method