A method of printing a decoration on a substrate includes applying an ink coating in a predetermined design on the substrate by inkjet printing. The ink coating is cured to form a cured ink coating, and a portion of the cured ink coating is trimmed. Residual ink particles generated by the trimming are cleaned off the substrate. A printed substrate includes a substrate and a decoration printed on the substrate. The decoration comprises at least one layer of an inkjet-printed ink coating free of a saw edge and having a thickness in a range from 1.5 μm to 5 μm.

In recent years there has been an explosive growth in the use of glass as cover lens for consumer electronic devices with displays, such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptop computers. Part of the reason for this explosion is due to increased resistance of glass cover lenses to damage as a result of improvements in glass manufacturing processes and compositions. Glass cover lenses also improve the tactile feel of touch display operation while enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the devices.
Glass cover lenses typically have decorations printed on them for various reasons. One use of decorations is to mask the electronic components in the interior of the device from the view of the user. Another use of decorations is as logos that distinguish one product or brand from another. Decorations may also function as icons that indicate the status of the device or location for touch buttons. Decorations may also be used to simply enhance the aesthetic appeal of the device.
Decorations are typically in the form of ink coatings on the surfaces of the cover lenses. To be suitable for the uses mentioned above, the ink coating should have sufficient optical density to effectively block light and have no visible defects such as pinholes and saw edges. The ink coating should maintain adhesion and color under all environments where the device is expected to operate. The coating should also be compatible with other functions of the device, such as being thin enough not to interfere with assembly of the cover lens to the touch display module of the device and having high enough electrical resistance not to interfere with the function of the wireless antennae of the device.
The current state of the art is to print decorations on glass cover lenses using screen printing. For repeatedly printing the same design on a large number of cover lenses, screen printing is a mature process with relatively fast cycle time and low cost. However, there are some challenges with screen printing. The screen printing process is constantly changing due to evaporation of solvents in the ink during printing, wear in the screen emulsion and squeegee, and loss of tension in the screen. Any environmental contamination of the screen during printing would prevent ink from being deposited onto the substrate in the contaminated areas, causing pinhole defects. These pinholes can be reworked by manually applying ink at the defect location or by printing an additional layer of the same ink over the existing ink layer to cover the defects or by stripping all the ink from the glass part and reprinting. Each of the rework methods increases cost of fabrication and risk of other defects being introduced during the additional processing.
The screen printing process is also limited in the type of patterns that can be fabricated. When applying multiple colors on the cover lens, each color has to be printed in a separate layer, with each layer being cured in between applications. The multiple steps greatly lengthen the overall processing time, increase cost of fabrication with each additional layer printer, as well as increase the rate of yield loss due to extra processing. These challenges restrict the options available to device designers for design of the cover lens. To date, device cover lenses typically have no more than six different colors, and usually only two to four different colors. Each new color used in the decorative design requires a new ink. The required customization slows the response time from new design orders to finishing of cover lenses. Accordingly, there is a need for a method of applying decorations having a plurality of patterns and/or colors, without the drawbacks of traditional printing methods, such as screen printing.

Method of printing decorations on substrates


A circuit arrangement (4) for the operation of electrical lamps, with a printed circuit board (5), on which electrical components (14) and conductor strips (7; 19; 20) are arranged, whereby potential changes that are rapid over time occur on printed circuit board (5), has an equipotential surface (6) for reducing the radio interference caused by these potential changes. For this purpose, equipotential surface (6) with resting potential relative to the rapid potential changes is connected onto printed circuit board (5). In particular, the equipotential surface is produced by a copper layer (6) on the upper side of printed circuit board (5). The advantage is a simple-to-produce arrangement that can be automated for reducing radio interference.

The given circuit arrangements produce undesired radio interference, among other things, during operation, if suitable countermeasures are not present. Causes for this are for the most part rapid changes in potential--referred to in the following as HF potential for brevity--on the printed circuit board, e.g., by rapid switching transistors, relative to the grounded housing (devices of safety class I) or relative to the environment or ground (devices of safety class II). Electrical HF fields associated with rapid changes in potential can influence, by capacitive couplings, in-phase interference currents, which flow, for example, on the mains input lines. The current loop is thus essentially closed between the circuit arrangement and ground via parasitic capacities. An in-depth description of the formation of radio interferences is found, for example, in W. Hirschmann and A. Hauenstein: "Switching network components", Siemens AG, Berlin, 1990, pp. 72 ff. With respect to the limiting values for radio interference, particularly in the case of electrical operating devices for lamps, VDE 0875, which corresponds to the international standard CISPR 15, must be upheld.
A common measure for suppressing in-phase interference currents consists of connecting an anti-interference filter, e.g., a current-compensated choke in the mains input lines of the circuit arrangement. The design of current-compensated chokes, is explained, for example, in O. Kilgenstein: "Switching network components in practice", Vogel Buchverlag, Wurzburg, 1986, pp. 355 ff. Its effect is based on the fact that the actual current of the mains frequency can pass unattenuated. In-phase interference currents of high frequency, on the other hand, are filtered out by the high inductivity of the current-compensated choke. Of course, limits are placed on a compact construction, since the anti-interfering effect of a current-compensated choke is reduced or even can be reversed into an opposite effect, particularly due to magnetic interference fields, by directly adjacent component parts and their interference signals.
In devices of safety class I, Y capacitors can also be connected from the mains input line toward safety or ground conductors, whereby at least part of the in-phase interference currents can flow out to ground. In apparatuses of safety class II, this is not possible.
EP Patent 0 264 765 describes an electronic converter for the operation of low-volt halogen bulbs, which has a current-compensated choke for radio interference. In addition, the secondary side of the power transformer--this also serves as a decoupling circuit, which transforms the phased voltage of the switching part to the nominal voltage of the connected low-volt halogen bulb--is also connected to the plus or minus pole of the mains rectifier via a capacitor. In this way, an HF short circuit is produced, which minimizes interference voltages by means of the power transformer. Of course, this measure is limited to electronic converters.
In DE 41 37 207 A1, an HF-anti-interference is disclosed, which is also based on an HF short circuit and can be utilized in principle both for ELB's as well as in electronic converters. For this purpose, an HF signal, for example, in the case of an ELB, is decoupled from the serial resonance circuit of the discharge lamp and is connected with an anti-interference choke connected in the mains input line via a high-pass filter. With an optimal dimensioning of the high-pass filter, almost no interference currents flow over the mains input lines. Of course, the HF impedance of the anti-interference choke varies as a function of the value of the input voltage flowing through it. In this way, the anti-interference effect is sensitively modified with the connected load.

Electrical circuit arrangement having equipotential surface for reduced high-frequency interference

Patent-Treuhand-Gesellschaft fuer elektrische Gluehlampen mbH


A method of modulating data supply time includes steps of deriving a light transmittance versus time characteristic during a change of each gray level to another gray level in a liquid crystal display panel, deriving a transition time when each gray level is changed to another gray level on a basis of light transmittance versus time characteristic, and modulating a supply time of data supplied to the liquid crystal display panel in accordance with the transition time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for driving a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices control light transmittance of individual liquid crystal cells in accordance with a video signal to displaying image. For example, an active matrix LCD device includes thin film transistors formed at each liquid crystal cell for displaying moving images.
As shown in equations 1 and 2, a response time of an LCD device is slow due to inherent physical characteristics of liquid crystals, such as viscosity and elasticity.τr∝γd2/Δε|V2a−V2F|  (1)
wherein, τr represents a rising time when a voltage is supplied to the liquid crystals, Va is a supplied voltage, VF is Freederic transition voltage at which liquid crystal molecules begin to perform an inclined motion, d is a cell gap of the liquid crystal cells, and γ represents a rotational viscosity of the liquid crystal molecules.τf∝γd2/K  (2)wherein, τf represents a falling time at which the liquid crystals returned to an initial position by elastic restoring force after a voltage supplied to the liquid crystals is removed, K is the inherent elastic constant of the liquid crystals, and γ represents a rotational viscosity of the liquid crystal molecules.
Twisted nematic (TN) mode liquid crystals may have different response times due to physical characteristics of the liquid crystal material and a cell gap. For example, the TN mode liquid crystals commonly have a rising time of about 20 to 80 ms and a falling time of about 20 to 30 ms. Since the liquid crystals have a response time longer than one frame interval, i.e., 16.67 ms, in a NTSC system, of a motion picture, a voltage charged within the liquid crystal cell progresses to the next frame prior to arriving at a target voltage. Therefore, the motion blurring phenomenon in which the screen image of the motion picture is blurred out would be caused.
FIG. 1 is a waveform diagram of brightness variation in accordance with data in a liquid crystal display according to the related art. In FIG. 1, since a display brightness BL corresponding to a data VD cannot achieve a desired brightness due to slow response speed when the data VD is changed from one level to another level, an LCD device cannot display desired color and brightness. Accordingly, a motion-blurring phenomenon appears when images are in motion, and display quality deteriorates due to a reduction in contrast ratio. In order to overcome the slow response time, several devices have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,265 and PCT International Publication No. WO 99/055678, which are hereby incorporated by reference, have suggested modulating data in accordance with a presence or absence of change in the data by using a look-up table, i.e., high-speed driving method. The high-speed driving method allows the data to be modulated as shown in FIG. 2. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,265 and PCT International Publication No. WO 99/055678, which are hereby incorporated by reference, have suggested modulating data in accordance with a presence or absence of change in the data by using a look-up table, i.e., high-speed driving method. The high-speed driving method allows the data to be modulated as shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram of brightness variation in accordance with data modulation in a high-speed driving method according to the related art. In FIG. 2, a high-speed driving method modulates input data VD and supplies the modulated data MVD to a liquid crystal cell, thereby obtaining a desired brightness MBL. The high-speed driving method increases proportionally according to the term |Va2−VF2| from Equation 1, wherein response time of the liquid crystals reduces rapidly. Accordingly, the LCD device employing such a high-speed driving method compensates for the slow response time of the liquid crystals by modulating the data value in order to alleviate a motion-blurring phenomenon in moving images, thereby displaying images having undesirable color and brightness.
FIG. 3 is a diagram representing an example of the high speed driving method using 8-bit data according to the related art. In FIG. 3, the high-speed driving method detects a variation in most significant bit data through a comparison of most significant bit data MSB of a current frame Fn with most significant bit data MSB of a previous frame Fn−1. If the variation in the most significant bit data MSB is detected, a modulated data corresponding to the variation is selected from a look-up table so that the most significant bit data MSB is modulated. The high-speed driving method modulates only a part of the most significant bits among the input data for reducing the memory capacity when implemented as hardware.
FIG. 4 is a block schematic diagram of a high-speed driving apparatus according to the related art. In FIG. 4, a high-speed driving apparatus includes a frame memory 43 connected to a most significant bit output bus line 42 and a lookup table 44 connected to the most significant bit output bus line 42 and an output terminal of the frame memory 43.
The frame memory 43 stores most significant bit data MSB for one frame period and supplies the stored data to the lookup table 44. Generally, the most significant bit data MSB are high-order 4 bits among 8 bits of the source data RGB.
The lookup table 44 makes a mapping of the most significant bit data of the current frame Fn input from the most significant bit output bus line 42 and the most significant bit data of the previous frame Fn−1 input from the frame memory 43 into a modulation data table, such as Table 1 or Table 2, to select modulated most significant bit data Mdata. Such modulated most significant bit data Mdata are added to a non-modulated least significant bit data LSB from a least significant bit output bus line 41 before output to a liquid crystal display. As shown in Table 1, a lookup table 44 compares the uppermost 4 bits, i.e., 24, 25, 26 and 27, of the previous frame Fn−1 with the uppermost 4 bits, i.e., 24, 25, 26 and 27, of the current frame Fn and selects a modulated data Mdata in accordance with the compared results.
When the most significant bit data are limited to have 4 bits, the lookup table 44 of a high-speed driving method is implemented as shown in the following Tables 1 or 2.
TABLE 101234567891011121314150023456791012131415151515101345678101213141515151520024567810121314151515153001356781011131415151515400134678911121314151515500123578911121314151515600123468910121314151515700123457910111314151515800123456810111214151515900123456791112131415151000123456781012131415151100123456789111314151512001234567891012141515130012334567810111315151400123345678911121415150001233456789111315
TABLE 2016324864809611212814416017619220822424000324864809611214416019220822424024024024016016486480961121281601922082242402402402403200326480961121281601922082242402402402404800164880961121281601762082242402402402406400164864961121281441761922082242402402408000163248801121281441761922082242402402409600163248649612814416019220822424024024011200163248648011214416017620822424024024012800163248648096128160176192224240240240144001632486480961121441761922082242402401600016324864809611212816019220822424024017600163248648096112128144176208224240240192001632486480961121281441601922242402402080016324848648096112128160176208240240224001632484864809611212814417619222424024000016324848648096112128176176208240
In Tables 1 and 2, the leftmost column is for a data voltage VDn−1 of the previous frame Fn−1 while an uppermost row is for a data voltage VDn of the current frame Fn. Table 1 shows lookup table information in which the most significant bits, i.e., 20, 21, 22 and 23, are expressed by the decimal number format. Table 2 shows look-up table information in which weighting values, i.e., 24, 25, 26 and 27 of the most significant 4 bits are applied to 8 bit data. Modulating only most significant bit data MSB of 4 bits reduces the memory capacity of the lookup table 44. However, the method of comparing 4 bits is problematic in that picture quality deteriorates for an uneven variation among grays and skips. For preventing deteriorating picture quality, the width of the modulated data on the lookup table 44 must be broad enough and input source data must be compared by unit of full bits, i.e., 8 bits.
Table 3 illustrates a lookup table, which has a modulated data of 8 bits and compares source data by unit of full bits of 8 bits.
TABLE 3
When the lookup table compares data by unit of full bits of 8 bits and has previously stored modulated data Mdata of 8 bits, the display quality is excellent for uneven variation of gray values, while a memory capacity rapidly increases. For example, if a lookup table compares data by unit of 8 bits and has modulated data Mdata of 8 bits, its memory capacity extends to 65536×8=524,288 bits. Accordingly, the first term 65536 of the left side is a product of 8-bit source data (256×256) in the previous frame Fn−1 and the current frame Fn, respectively. The second term, 8, is the width, 8 bits, of the modulated data on the lookup table 44. In order to implement red, green, and colors RGB, the lookup table needs a memory capacity of as much as 65536×8×3=1,572,864 bits. Accordingly, if the lookup table adopts an 8-bit comparison method for the high-speed driving, a chip size that stores the lookup table increases and manufacturing costs increase in accordance with the increases of the memory capacity.

Method of modulating data supply time and method and apparatus for driving liquid crystal display device using the same


An electronic stringed instrument applicable to an electronic guitar, violin etc., picks up string vibrations to produce a direct sound. The direct sound is combined with additional sound which is produced by processing the picked-up signal. The direct sound and the processed sound are controlled according to string vibrations. The picked-up signal is converted into a digital signal which is then processed to produce the processed sound whose characteristic is controlled depending on the amplitude and/or pitch of the picked-up signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic stringed instruments applicable to musical instruments such as electronic guitar and violin, and particularly to an electronically operated stringed instrument with sampling function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electronic stringed instrument which pickes up string vibrations, extracts level (amplitude) and fundamental period (pitch) of the string vibrations from the picked-up signal and controls an internal or external electronic tone generator based on the extracted results to produce a synthesized sound is known as guitar synthesizer. Despite such electronic function guitar players often prefer guitar sound (direct sound) caused by vibrations of strings themselves. Accordingly, many guitar synthesizers are designed to provide both synthesized and direct sounds.
However, simultaneous sounding and playing of synthesized and direct sounds is rare in practice; play is usually performed selecting and using either synthesized sound or direct sound presumably because of the difference in sound quality between the synthesized sound and the direct sound, and limited controllability of the synthesized sound.

Electronic stringed instrument with digital sampling function


A sensor includes an electrode and a seed structure. The electrode is configured to measure current due to movement of particulate matter relative to the electrode. The seed structure is deposited on the electrode. The seed structure includes a plurality of elongated members extending outward from the surface of the electrode. The elongated members are configured to promote charge transfer to particles and/or agglomerates of the particulate matter during operation of the sensor.

Internal combustion engines (e.g. diesel engines) typically generate an exhaust flow that contains varying amounts of particulate matter (PM). In general, particulate matter is small particles of solid matter (i.e., soot) that are suspended in exhaust gasses. The amount and size distribution of particulate matter in the exhaust flow tends to vary with engine operating conditions, such as fuel injection timing, injection volume, injection pressure, or the engine speed to load relationship. Adjustment of these conditions may be useful in reducing particulate matter emissions and average particle size in the particulate matter from the engine. Reducing particulate matter emissions from internal combustion engines is environmentally favorable. In addition, particulate matter measurements for diesel exhaust is useful for on-board (e.g., mounted on a vehicle) diagnostics of PM filters and reduction of emissions through combustion control.
On-board (in situ) sensors for particulate matter typically fall into two categories:
1. Accumulative sensors
2. Real-time sensors
Accumulative sensors make use of the effect that exhaust particulates, especially soot particulates, tend to stick to surfaces exposed to exhaust gas. In an accumulative sensor, soot is allowed to accumulate on an exposed surface as a layer. A property of that soot layer is measured, either by vibrating the body (of which the surface is part) at its resonance frequency and then measuring the resonance frequency change that results from the accumulation of soot, or by measuring the resistance of the accumulated soot or its capacitance. When a certain threshold of the measured quantity is reached, the accumulation surface is heated to a high temperature to burn off the accumulated soot and the accumulation process starts anew. The frequency of repetition of this process is then used as a measure of the average particulate (or soot) content of the exhaust gas. Accumulative sensors are simple in construction, small enough to be installed like other exhaust sensors and relatively inexpensive. However, they have, due to their operating principle, a relatively slow response speed (not real-time) and suffer reliability issues when particles are accumulated that cannot be readily burned off.
Real-time sensors have response speeds in the millisecond range and typically make use of electrostatic effects on particulates, or use optical effects.
These sensors fall into four categories:                a. Natural charge detectors        b. Ionizing induced charge sensors        c. Contact charge sensors        d. Optical sensors
Natural charge detectors try to detect the natural charge of particles produced during the production process. These sensors require very sensitive charge electronics and suffer from the fact that the natural charge of particles and/or their polarity can change on their way through the exhaust system.
Ionizing induced charge sensors create ions in the exhaust gas path through the sensor using a very high voltage on an electrode of a high surface curvature, like a thin wire or needle tip. Voltages are typically in the 2-15 kV range. This voltage causes a corona discharge in the particle carrying gas. Soot particles flowing through the corona discharge field acquire an electric charge. These charged particles are then collected by a collection electrode and the charge transfer rate of the collection electrode is measured. The collection electrode and the necessity to prevent charged gas ions to also transfer a charge to the collection electrode requires a fairly large and complicated apparatus that cannot be easily reduced to the size of a typical exhaust sensor.
Contact charge sensors typically use much lower voltages than ionizing induced charge sensors. In contact charge sensors soot particles coming in contact with a high voltage electrode acquire a surface charge that is determined by the surface charge density of the high voltage electrode. Typical voltages for the high voltage electrode are in the 500V to 3 kV range. These charged particles then deposit their acquired charge to grounded parts of the exhaust system or to a secondary detection electrode. The charge loss from the high voltage electrode is typically proportional to the particle concentration in the exhaust gas and is measured. However, because the resulting current (charge transfer per second) is very small, it is very difficult to isolate the high voltage electrode sufficiently to prevent current leakage. Any current that flows through an imperfect isolation to ground also creates a charge loss on the high voltage electrode and therefore causes a false sensor signal. As a way around that problem, a second collection electrode, essentially at ground voltage level, is placed in close proximity to the high voltage electrode and the charge accumulation on that electrode is measured. However, this necessitates an additional electrical connection that has to be well insulated from the high voltage supply to the electrode. For the typical temperatures encountered in the exhaust system of internal combustion engines it is very hard to find insulating materials that can withstand those temperatures and still maintain the high electrical insulating properties required.
The current detected by contact charge sensors is proportional to the particle content of the exhaust gas, but also proportional to the area of the electrodes. For the areas possible for a typically sized exhaust sensor the currents are in the low picoAmpere range for the typically encountered soot levels, which are very difficult to detect in the electrically noisy environment where internal combustion engines operate. Furthermore, the low currents require the use of electrometer grade amplifiers to detect and amplify the sensor signal. Due to limitations of current semiconductor technology, these amplifiers typically can maintain their specifications only over a narrow temperature range, which is much smaller than the typical temperature range required for vehicular applications (typically −40 to +125 degrees Celsius).
Optical sensors consist of a light source and a light detector. They measure either the opacity of the gas stream containing particles or measure light that is scattered by particles in the light path of the light source.
Common to all described real-time sensor methods is that soot accumulation on the sensor parts has a detrimental effect on the sensor performance and it is attempted to be remedied by various methods, depending on the embodiment. Either by diluting the exhaust gas with clean air, flowing compressed filtered air periodically past the electrodes (or optical parts in case of optical sensors) to blow off accumulated particles, or by heating the electrodes (or lenses in case of optical sensors) to a temperature where accumulated soot particles burn off, but not high enough to burn contacting soot particles immediately.
Further common to the described real-time sensors is that they have reaction times in the low millisecond range and can therefore for example detect changes in the soot concentration of the exhaust gas on a cylinder by cylinder basis for internal combustion engines.
Because of the above described limitations of the state-of-the-art particulate sensors for in-situ applications there is a need for a sensor that overcomes some of the limitations.
The sensor described in this invention combines certain aspects of the accumulative and the contact charge sensors in such a way as to increase the measured current by several orders of magnitude compared to a contact charge sensor, and by requiring soot accumulation on the electrodes to operate.
This allows this sensor to be scaled to the size of a typical exhaust sensor and makes it possible to use common insulators for the electrodes. In addition the sensor described in this invention does not require any special remedies to prevent soot accumulation on the sensing electrode. Compared to other real-time sensors, the sensor described in this invention has a slower response time, typically slower than 100 milliseconds, but faster than 5 seconds, which is sufficient for most applications.

Agglomeration and charge loss sensor with seed structure for measuring particulate matter


A storage controller uses a stripe-aligned metadata to describe data buffers in the storage controller's cache. A stripe buffer list and other metadata structures are aligned to stripe boundaries on storage media. Each stripe buffer list references data buffers in the cache memory of the storage controller that are dedicated to storing the data associated with a given disk stripe during a storage transaction. A stripe buffer descriptor table associates each stripe buffer list with the corresponding disk stripe through a virtual block address range and logical disk identifier. A stripe buffer list “present bits” table and a stripe buffer list “dirty bits” table maintain a record of the state of individual data buffers. With these metadata structures, data buffers in cache memory are effectively aligned with virtual disk stripes of the storage media, making for a simpler and more efficient storage transaction.

Typical computing systems comprise input devices, output devices, one or more central processing units (e.g., CPUs), and storage capacity. The storage capacity may take form in many different types of data storage devices, such as semiconductor memory, magnetic disk drives, and optical drives. An operating system provides an application environment and a file system that allocates or de-allocates storage capacity as files are created, modified, or deleted. Data storage systems, such as data storage arrays, also employ a file system for allocating storage capacity that is accessed through a network or other connection. Servers and storage arrays are serviced by storage controllers that support data storage formats, such as a redundant array of independent drives (RAID), which distribute (e.g., "stripe") stored information across a plurality of data storage devices.
One or more storage controllers typically manage the storage/retrieval of data files to/from one or more storage devices. As files are communicated through a storage controller, the storage controller must direct the data to/from the appropriate locations on the physical storage media. In some storage controllers, this requirement leads to complex caching and mapping constructs to make certain the right data is communicated to the right place. Data that describes the manner in which the data is mapped to cache memory within a storage controller and mapped to proper locations on physical storage media is termed "metadata".
The structure of metadata can significantly impact storage system performance, particularly across different components in the storage system (e.g., host bus adapter (HBA), storage controller, and storage device). One existing implementation employs a scatter-gather list (SGL). For example, in a write operation, an SGL identifies memory buffers to which data is to be written (i.e., "scattered"), and in a read operation, an SGL identifies memory buffers from which memory is to be read (e.g., "gathered"). SGLs are commonly used in Direct Memory Address (DMA) reads and writes. However, simple SGLs are not optimized for use in a striped storage environment, thereby complicating the processing and slowing the performance of each transaction request.


An optical arrangement, e.g. projection lens, for EUV lithography, provided with: a first optical element (22) having a reflective surface (31a) and a first substrate (32) composed of TiO2-doped quartz glass, which has a temperature-dependent coefficient of thermal expansion having a zero crossing at a first zero crossing temperature (TZC1), and a second optical element (24) having a reflective surface (36a) and a second substrate (37) composed of TiO2-doped quartz glass, which has a temperature-dependent coefficient of thermal expansion having a zero crossing at a second zero crossing temperature (TZC2), which is different from the first. A gradient of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the first substrate (32) at the first zero crossing temperature (TZC1) and/or a gradient of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the second substrate (37) at the second zero crossing temperature (TZC2) have/has a negative sign.

The invention relates to an optical arrangement for EUV lithography, in particular a projection lens, and to a method for configuring such an optical arrangement.
Materials which are used as substrates for reflective optical elements in EUV lithography on account of the extremely stringent requirements made of geometrical tolerances and stability which exist particularly in projection lenses of EUV lithography apparatuses, are permitted to have only a very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the temperature range used there. The substrate materials used there typically comprise two constituents, the coefficients of thermal expansion of which have a mutually opposite dependence on temperature, such that the coefficients of thermal expansion mutually compensate for one another virtually completely in the range of the operating temperature.
A first group of materials that meets the stringent requirements of the CTE for EUV applications comprises doped silicate glasses, e.g. silicate or quartz glass doped with titanium dioxide, which typically has a silicate glass proportion of more than 80%. One such silicate glass that is commercially available is sold by Corning Inc. under the trade name ULE® (Ultra Low Expansion glass). TiO2-doped quartz glass can, if appropriate, also be doped with further materials, e.g. with materials that reduce the viscosity of the glass, as is presented e.g. in US 2008/0004169 A1, wherein alkali metals are used, inter alia, in order to reduce the effects of striae in the glass material.
A second group of materials suitable as substrates for EUV mirrors comprises glass ceramics, in which the ratio of the crystal phase to the glass phase is set such that the coefficients of thermal expansion of the different phases virtually cancel one another out. Such glass ceramics are offered e.g. under the trade name Zerodur® from Schott AG or under the trade name Clearceram® from Ohara Inc.
The dependence of the thermal expansion (change in length) of the above-described materials on temperature is parabolic in the relevant temperature range, that is to say that there exists an extremum of the thermal expansion at a specific temperature. The derivative of the thermal expansion of zero expansion materials with respect to temperature, i.e. the coefficient of thermal expansion, is approximately linearly dependent on temperature in this range and changes sign at the temperature at which the thermal expansion is extremal, for which reason this temperature is designated as zero crossing temperature. Consequently, the thermal expansion is minimal only for the case where the operating or working temperature of the substrate coincides with the zero crossing temperature. In the case of small deviations from the zero crossing temperature, although the coefficient of thermal expansion is still low, it increases further with increasing temperature difference with respect to the zero crossing temperature.
It is known that the zero crossing temperature of TiO2-doped quartz glass can be altered by the setting of the titanium dioxide proportion during the production of the quartz glass (at temperatures above the softening point). In the case of conventional TiO2-doped quartz glass, the gradient of the coefficient of thermal expansion in the vicinity of the zero crossing temperature typically lies in the range of between approximately 1 ppb/K2 and 3 ppb/K2.
It is known from US 2011/0048075 A1 that the zero expansion temperature of TiO2-doped quartz glass (without exceeding the softening point) can be set to a specific value within a predefined range of values by means of a final heat treatment step. In this way, a plurality of substrates having different zero expansion temperatures can be produced from partial volumes of one and the same boule (quartz glass block having an (approximately) constant TiO2 proportion). The temperature range within which the zero expansion temperature is intended to be able to be set by means of the additional heat treatment step is approximately +/−10° C. or approximately +/−5° C. The gradient of the coefficient of thermal expansion in the vicinity of the zero expansion temperature is intended not to vary or to vary only slightly in this case.
It is likewise known that through a suitable choice of the temperature/time curve during a heat treatment process for the glass, the fictive temperature of the glass and thus not only the zero crossing temperature but also the gradient of the coefficient of thermal expansion at the zero crossing temperature can be set. Thus, by way of example DE 21 40 931 C3 has disclosed a method for setting the coefficient of thermal expansion of a TiO2—SiO2 glass consisting of 12% (by weight) to 20% (by weight) TiO2, wherein the sign of the coefficient of thermal expansion can be changed from negative to positive by subjecting the glass to a thermal treatment at a temperature of from 700 to approximately 900° C.
Given a high TiO2 content of the quartz glass of e.g. more than 10%, the problem can occur that there is a tendency for Ti-rich particles to crystallize out, which can adversely influence the polishability of the quartz glass. US 2011/0052869 A1 discloses applying, to a quartz glass base body having high TiO2-doping (10% or more) a layer composed of a more weakly doped quartz glass, which can be polished to a higher surface quality than the quartz glass base body.
EP 1 608 598 B1 has disclosed a TiO2-containing quartz glass which is intended to have a fictive temperature of at most 1200° C., a concentration of OH groups of at most 600 ppm and a coefficient of thermal expansion of 0+/−200 ppb/K between 0° C. and 100° C. During production, the quartz glass is held for a predetermined time period at a temperature which exceeds 500° C., and the temperature is subsequently decreased at an average cooling rate of at most 10° C./h to 500° C.
US 2007/0035814 describes a projection lens for wavelengths of less than 157 nm, which comprises at least two optical elements composed of different materials, which differ in the region of the zero expansion temperature in terms of the gradient, more particular in terms of the sign of the gradient of the coefficient of thermal expansion. Examples of the different materials specified include firstly glass ceramics, in particular Zerodur®, and secondly amorphous titanium silicate glass, in particular ULE®.
WO 2004/015477 A1 discloses setting the zero crossing temperature in the material of an optical component such that this substantially (except for approximately +/−3 K) corresponds to a maximum temperature to which the optical component is heated. Image aberrations of an optical system are intended to be minimized in this way. US 2003/0125184 describes a method for producing a glass ceramic having a zero crossing temperature that deviates from a desired temperature by at most +/−10° C.

Optical arrangement for EUV lithography and method for configuring such an optical arrangement


A method for operating a cooperating user equipment (CUE) includes receiving a plurality of video packets that are hierarchically modulated (HM), with each video packet corresponding to a separately encoded video layer that is encoded with a rateless code, and decoding the plurality of video packets. The method also includes generating one or more supplemental packets to assist in the decoding of the plurality of video packets, and transmitting the one or more supplemental packets.

Video is one of the main sources of network traffic in current and future mobile communication systems. Due to the increasing data size of high definition video content, video is one of the most demanding applications of user equipment, such as smart phones, display devices, and the like. Video traffic already accounts for more than half of total network traffic and is expected to continue to increase year after year. The streaming of video also utilizes a significant amount of communications system resources. Therefore, an efficient video streaming system is important for next generation communications systems.

System and method for video multicasting


Random sequence oligonucleotides that have antiviral activity are described, along with their use as antiviral agents. In many cases, the oligonucleotides are greater than 40 nucleotides in length. Also described are methods for the prophylaxis or treatment of a viral infection in a human or animal, and a method for the prophylaxis treatment of cancer caused by oncoviruses in a human or animal. The methods typically involve administering to a human or animal in need of such treatment, a pharmacologically acceptable, therapeutically effective amount of at least oligonucleotide that does not act by a sequence complementary mode of action.

The following discussion is provided solely to assist the understanding of the reader, and does not constitute an admission that any of the information discussed or references cited constitute prior art to the present invention.
Many important infectious diseases afflicting mankind are caused by viruses. Many of these diseases, including rabies, smallpox, poliomyelitis, hepatitis, yellow fever, immune deficiencies and various encephalitic diseases, are frequently fatal. Others are significant in that they are highly contagious and create acute discomfort such as influenza, measles, mumps and chickenpox, as well as respiratory or gastrointestinal disorders. Others such as rubella and cytomegalovirus can cause congenital abnormalities. Finally there are viruses, known as oncoviruses, which can cause cancer in humans and animals.
Among viruses, the family of Herpesviridae is of great interest. The Herpesviridae are a ubiquitous class of icoshedral, double stranded DNA viruses. Of over 100 characterized members of Herpesviridae (HHV), only eight infect humans. The best known among these are Herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1), Herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2), Varicella zoster (chicken pox or shingles), cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The prevalence of Herpes viruses in humans is high, affecting at least one third of the worldwide population; and in the United States, 70-80% of the population have some kind of Herpes infection. While the pathology of Herpes infections are usually not dangerous, as in the case of HSV-1 which usually only causes short lived lesions around the mouth and face, these viruses are also known to be the cause of more dangerous symptoms, which vary from genital ulcers and discharge to fetal infections which can lead to encephalitis (15% mortality) or disseminated infection (40% mortality).
Herpes viruses are highly disseminated in nature and highly pathogenic for man. For example, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is known to cause infectious mononucleosis in late childhood or adolescence or in young adults. The hallmarks of acute infectious mononucleosis are sore throat, fever, headache, lymphadenopathy, enlarged tonsils and atypical, dividing lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. Other manifestations frequently include mild hepatitis, splenomegaly and encephalitis. EBV is also associated with two forms of cancer: Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) and the nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In endemic areas of equatorial Africa, BL is the most common childhood malignancy, accounting for approximately 80% of cancers in children. While moderately observed in North American Caucasians, NPC is one of the most common cancers in Southern China with age incidence of 25 to 55 years. EBV, like the cytomegalovirus, is also associated with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, which is a potentially fatal complication of chronic immunosuppression following solid organ or bone marrow transplantation.
Other diseases are also associated with HSV, including skin and eye infections, for example, chorioretinitis or keratoconjunctivitis. Approximately 300,000 cases of HSV infections of the eye are diagnosed yearly in the United States.
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. There are currently approximately 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. A total of 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS related causes in 2002. The ultimate goal of anti-HIV drug therapy is to prevent the virus from reproducing and damaging the immune system. Although substantial progress has been made over the past fifteen years in the fight against HIV, a cure still eludes medical science. Today, physicians have more than a dozen antiretroviral agents in three different drug classes to manage the disease. Typically, drugs from two or three classes are prescribed in a variety of combinations known as HAART (Highly Active AntiRetroviral Treatment). HAART therapies typically comprise two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors drugs with a third drug, either a protease inhibitor or a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. Clinical studies have shown that HAART is the most effective means of reducing viral loads and minimizing the likelihood of drug resistance.
While HAART has been shown to reduce the amount of HIV in the body, commonly known as viral load, tens of thousands of patients encounter significant problems with this therapy. Some side effects are serious and include abnormal fat metabolism, kidney stones, and heart disease. Other side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and insomnia are less serious, but still problematic for HIV patients that need chronic drug therapy for a lifetime.
Currently approved anti-HIV drugs work by entering an HIV infected CD4+ T cell and blocking the function of a viral enzyme, either the reverse transcriptase or a protease. HIV needs both of these enzymes in order to reproduce. However, HIV frequently mutates and become resistant, rendering reverse transcriptase or protease inhibitor drugs ineffective. Once resistance occurs, viral loads increase and dictate the need to switch the ineffective agent for another antiretroviral agent. Unfortunately, when a virus becomes resistant to one drug in a class, other drugs in that class may become less effective. This phenomenon known as cross-resistance, occurs because many anti-HIV drugs work in similar manners. The occurrence of drug cross-resistance is highly undesirable because it reduces the available number of treatment options for patients.
There is therefore a great need for the development of other antiviral agents effective against HIV that work through other mechanisms of action against which the virus has not developed resistance. This is becoming especially important in view of recent data showing that 1 out of 10 patients newly diagnosed with HIV in Europe, is infected with a strain of HIV already resistant to at least one of the approved drug on the market.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes upper and lower respiratory tract infections. It is a negative-sense, enveloped RNA virus and is highly infectious. It commonly affects young children and is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract illness in infants. RSV infections are usually associated with moderate-to-severe cold-like symptoms. However, severe lower respiratory tract disease may occur at any age, especially in elderly or immunocompromised patients. Children with severe infections may require oxygen therapy and, in certain cases, mechanical ventilation. According to the American Medical Association, an increasing number of children are being hospitalized for bronchiolitis, often caused by RSV infection. RSV infections also account for approximately one-third of community-associated respiratory virus infections in patients in bone marrow transplant centers. In the elderly population, RSV infection has been recently recognized to be very similar in severity to influenza virus infection.
Influenza (INF), also known as the flu, is a contagious disease that is caused by the influenza virus. It attacks the respiratory tract in humans (nose, throat, and lungs). An average of about 36,000 people per year in the United States die from influenza, and 114,000 per year require hospitalization as a result of influenza.
In all infectious diseases, the efficacy of a given therapy often depends on the host immune response. This is particularly true for herpes viruses, where the ability of all herpes viruses to establish latent infections results in an extremely high incidence of reactivated infections in immunocompromised patients. In renal transplant recipients, 40% to 70% reactivate latent HSV infections, and 80% to 100% reactivate CMV infections. Such viral reactivations have also been observed with AIDS patients.
The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a DNA virus that belongs to the Hepadnaviridae family of viruses. HBV causes hepatitis B in humans. It is estimated that 2 billion people have been infected (1 out of 3 people) in the world. About 350 million people remain chronically infected and an estimated 1 million people die each year from hepatitis B and its complications. HBV can cause lifelong infection, cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer, liver failure, and death. The virus is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids. This can occur through direct blood-to-blood contact, unprotected sex, use of unsterile needles, and from an infected woman to her newborn during the delivery process. Most healthy adults (90%) who are infected will recover and develop protective antibodies against future hepatitis B infections. A small number (5-10%) will be unable to get rid of the virus and will develop chronic infections while 90% of infants and up to 50% of young children develop chronic infections when infected with the virus. Alpha-interferon is the most frequent type of treatment used. Significant side effects are related to this treatment including flu-like symptoms, depression, rashes, other reactions and abnormal blood counts. Another treatment option includes 3TC which also has many side effects associated with its use. In the last few years, there has been an increasing number of reports showing that patients treated with 3TC are developing resistant strains of HBV. This is especially problematic in the population of patients who are co-infected with HBV and HIV. There is clearly an urgent need to develop new antiviral therapies against this virus.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common chronic bloodborne infection in the United States where the number of infected patients likely exceeds 4 million. This common viral infection is a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer, and is now the leading reason for liver transplantation in the United States. Recovery from infection is uncommon, and about 85 percent of infected patients become chronic carriers of the virus and 10 to 20 percent develop cirrhosis. It is estimated that there are currently 170 million people worldwide who are chronic carriers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic hepatitis C causes between 8,000 and 10,000 deaths and leads to about 1,000 liver transplants in the United States alone each year. There is no vaccine available for hepatitis C. Prolonged therapy with interferon alpha, or the combination of interferon with Ribavirin, is effective in only about 40 percent of patients and causes significant side effects.
Today, the therapeutic outlook for viral infections in general is not favourable. In general, therapies for viruses have mediocre efficacies and are associated with strong side effects which either prevent the administration of an effective dosage or prevent long term treatment. Three clinical situations which exemplify these problems are herpesviridae, HIV and RSV infections.
In the case of herpesviridae, there are five major treatments currently approved for use in the clinic: idoxuridine, vidarabine, acyclovir, foscarnet and ganciclovir. While having limited efficacy, these treatments are also fraught with side effects. Allergic reactions have been reported in 35% of patients treated with idoxuridine, vidarabine can result in gastrointestinal disturbances in 15% of patients and acyclovir, foscarnet and ganciclovir, being nucleoside analogs, affect DNA replication in host cells. In the case of ganciclovir, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia are reported in 40% of AIDS patients treated with this drug.
While there are many different drugs currently available for the treatment of HIV infections, all of these are associated with side effects potent enough to require extensive supplemental medication to give patients a reasonable quality of life. The additional problem of drug resistant strains of HIV (a problem also found in herpesviridae infections) usually requires periodic changing of the treatment cocktail and in some cases, makes the infection extremely difficult to treat.
The treatment of RSV infections in young infants is another example of the urgent need for new drug development. In this case, the usual line of treatment is to deliver Ribavirin by inhalation using a small-particle aerosol in an isolation tent. Not only is Ribavirin only mildly effective, but its uses is associated with significant side effects. In addition, the potential release of the drug has caused great concern in hospital personnel because of the known teratogenicity of Ribavirin.
It is clear that for any new emerging antiviral drug being developed, it would be highly desirable to incorporate the three following features: 1—improved efficacy; 2—reduced risks of side effects and 3—a mechanism of action which is difficult for the virus to overcome by mutation.
Several attempts to inhibit particular viruses by various antisense approaches have been made.
Zamecnik et al. have used ONs specifically targeted to the reverse transcriptase primer site and to splice donor/acceptor sites (Zamecnik, et al (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:4143-) (Goodchild & Zamecnik (1989) U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,463).
Crooke and coworkers. (Crooke et al. (1992) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 36:527-532) described an antisense against HSV-1.
Draper et al. (1993) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,670) have reported antisense oligonucleotides having anti-HSV activity containing the Cat sequence and hybridizing to the HSV-1 genes UL13, UL39 and UL40.
Kean et al. (Biochemistry (1995) 34:14617-14620) have tested antisense methylphosphonate oligomers as anti-HSV agents.
Peyman et al. (Biol Chem Hoppe Seyler (1995) March; 376:195-198) have reported testing specific antisense oligonucleotides directed against the IE110 and the UL30 mRNA of HSV-1 for their antiviral properties.
Oligonucleotides or oligonucleotide analogs targeting CMV mRNAs coding for IE1, IE2 or DNA polymerase were reported by Anderson et al (1997) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,720)
Hanecak et al (1999) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,490) have described modified oligonucleotides having a conserved G quartet sequence and a sufficient number of flanking nucleotides to significantly inhibit the activity of a virus such as HSV-1.
Jairath et al (Antiviral Res. (1997) 33:201-213) have reported antisense oligonucleotides against RSV.
Torrence et al (1999) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,602) have reported compounds comprising an antisense component complementary to a single stranded portion of the RSV antigenomic strand (the mRNA strand), a linker and a oligonucleotide activator of RNase L.
Qi et al. (Zhonghua Shi Yan He Lin Chuang Bing Du Xue Za Zhi (2000) 14:253-256) have reported testing antisense PS-ODNs in Coxsackie virus B3.
International publication WO9203051 (Roizman and Maxwell) describes methylphosphonate antisense oligomers which are complementary to vital regions of HSV viral genome or mRNA transcripts thereof which exhibit antiviral activity.
Guanosine/thymidine or guanosine-rich phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides (GT-PS-ODNs) have been reported to have antiviral activity. The article stated that "several different PS-containing GT-rich ODNs (B106-140, 1100-12, and G106-57) all 26 or 27 nt in length, were just as effective at reducing HIV-2 titers as GT-rich ODNs consisting of 36 (B106-96, B106-97) or 45 nt (Table 4)." (Fennewald et al., Antiviral Res. (1995) 26:37-54).
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,184,369, anti-HIV, anti-HSV, and anti-CMV oligonucleotides containing a high percentage of guanosine bases are described. In preferred embodiments, the oligonucleotide has a three dimensional structure and this structure is stabilized by guanosine tetrads. In a further embodiment, the oligonucleotide compositions of the invention have two or more runs of two contiguous deoxyguanosines The patent claims a G-rich ODN that includes at least two G residues in at least two positions.
Cohen et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,264,423 and 5,276,019) described the inhibition of replication of HIV, and more particularly to PS-ODN analogs that can be used to prevent replication of foreign nucleic acids in the presence of normal living cells. Cohen et al describe antiviral activity of antisense PS-ODNs specific to a viral sequence. They also describe testing polyA, polyT and polyC PS-ODN sequences of 14, 18, 21 and 28-mers and indicate an antiviral effect of those PS-ODNs.
Matsukura et al. (Matsukura et al (1987) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84:7706-7710) later published the result described in Cohen et al, US patents above.
Gao et al (Gao et al (1989) J Biol Chem 264:11521-11526), describe the inhibition of replication of HSV-2, by PS-ODNs by testing of polyA, polyT and polyC PS-ODN sequences in sizes of 7, 15, 21 and 28 nucleotides.
Archambault, Stein and Cohen (Archambault et al (1994) Arch Virol 139:97109) report that a PS-ODN polyC of 28 nucleotides is not effective against HSV-1.
Stein et al (Stein et al. (1989) AIDS Res Hum Retrovir 5:639-646), published results concerning additional data on anti-HIV ODNs, generally of 21-28 nucleotides in length.
Marshal et al. (Marshall et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:6265-6269) describe anti-HIV-1 effect of phosphorothioate and phosphorothioate poly-C oligos of 4-28 nucleotides in length.
Stein & Cheng (Stein et al. (1993) Science 261:1004-1012), in a review article, mention the antiviral activity of non specific ODNs of 28 nucleotides, stating that "the anti-HIV properties of PS oligos are significantly influenced by non-sequence-specific effects, that is, the inhibitory effect is independent of the base sequence."
In a review article Lebedeva & Stein (Lebedeva et al (2001) Annul Rev Pharmacol 41:403-419) report a variety of non-specific protein binding activity of PS-ODNs, including viral proteins. They state that "these molecules are highly biologically active, and it is often relatively easy to mistake artifact for antisense".
Rein et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,190) reported a GT rich ON decoy linked to a fusion partner and binding to the HIV nucleocapsid, which can be used as an antiviral compound. Similarly, Campbell et al. (Campbell et al (1999) J. Virol. 73:2270-2279) reported PO-ODN with a TGTGT motif binding specifically to the nucleocapsid of HIV but with no references to an antiviral activity.
Feng at al. (Feng et al. (2002) J. Virol. 76:11757-11762) described A(n) and TG(n) PO-ODNs binding to the recombinant HIV nucleocapsid but with no data nor references to an anti-HIV activity.
Antisense ODNs developed as anticancer agents, antiviral agents, or to treat others diseases are typically approximately 20 nucleotides in length. In a review article (Stein, C A, (2001) J. Clin. Invest. 108:641-644), it is affirmed that "the length of an antisense oligonucleotide must be optimized: If the antisense oligonucleotide is either too long or too short, an element of specificity is lost. At the present time, the optimal length for an antisense oligonucleotide seems to be roughly 16-20 nucleotides". Similarly, in another review article (Crooke, S T (2000) Methods Enzymol. 313:3-45) it is stated that "Compared to RNA and RNA duplex formation, a phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide has a Tm approximately −2.20 lower per unit. This means that to be effective in vitro, phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides must typically be 17- to −20-mer in length . . . ".
Caruthers and co-workers (Marshall et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:6265-6269) reported anti-HIV activity of phosphorodithioate ODNs (PS2—ODNs) for a 12 mer polycytidine-PS2—ODN and for a 14 mer PS2—ODN. No other sizes were tested for anti-HIV activity. They also reported the inhibition of HIV reverse transcriptase (RT) for 12, 14, 20 and 28 mer polycytidine-PS2—ODNs. Later, (Marshal et al (1993) Science 259:1564-1570) reported results showing sequence specific inhibition of the HIV RT. The same group published data for PS2—ODNs in several patents. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,218,103 and 5,684,148, PS2-ODN structure and synthesis is described. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,452,496, 5,278,302, and 5,695,979 inhibition of HIV RT is described for PS2—ODNs not longer than 15 bases. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,750,666 and 5,602,244, antisense activity of PS2 ODNs is described.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Antiviral oligonucleotides targeting HBV


An in-flight hose-and-drogue refueling system has the capability of steering the drogue using four thrusters which are energized by pressurized air. The system measures the drogue's 3-dimensional position relative to either the refueling aircraft or the probe on the receiver aircraft. A control system utilizes the measurements of the drogue's 3-dimensional position to activate the thrusters so as to either minimize the excursions of the drogue due to turbulence, thus enabling easier hook-up, or alternatively, to track the receiver's probe and automatically guide and contact the drogue to the probe.

The usefulness of air refueling became apparent to the military almost as soon as they started using aircraft. The main advantage of air refueling is obvious: it enables aircraft to stay airborne longer. Since most aircraft are incapable of taking off with maximum fuel and full payload, without in-flight refueling there is always a balance to be struck between range, payload, and fuel. Air refueling is more than just a range stretcher: it allows one to carry out missions with a smaller number of sorties, or alternatively, fewer aircraft.
Currently, two major systems are used in mid-air refueling. One is the "flying boom" method in which the tanker has a tail boom equipped with aerodynamic control surfaces, which are commanded by the boom operator. The operator, who is located at the rear section of the tanker aircraft, utilizes a steering device to guide the boom into a hatch or receptacle in the receiving aircraft's upper structure.
The second common method is the hose-and-drogue system, in which a drogue attached to the fuel hose is extended from the refueling aircraft's belly or wings. The receiver aircraft is equipped with a fixed or retractable probe. In the latter method the receiving aircraft's pilot flies the aircraft "into" the drogue.
The advantages of the hose/drogue system are the following: (a) up to three receivers can take fuel simultaneously; (b) if one hose/drogue unit (HDU) becomes unserviceable, the tanker still can offload its fuel; (c) the HDU is inherently safer than the heavy, rigid boom, which is restricted in its movements; (d) it is easier to install on non-purpose-built aircraft; and (e) it is compatible with most receivers, e.g., fixed wings, as well as rotorcraft.
There are, however, two disadvantages to the hose and drogue system: it has lower fuel transfer rates than the boom system, and the drogue is uncontrollable and is susceptible to winds and gusts. In bad weather conditions and particularly in low level refueling situations the hookup process is very difficult and demands excessive receiving aircraft pilot maneuvers. Since the aircraft &o be refueled is likely to be already low on fuel, excessive maneuvering may result in the necessity to abandon the aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,861 to Newman, for "Microwave Rendezvous System for Aerial Refueling," relates to a microwave rendezvous system for use on a tanker aircraft for aerial refueling of a receiver aircraft. The system comprises a microwave transmitter signaling directional data towards the receiver aircraft, providing a larger rendezvous envelope in space between the tanker and receiver aircraft, and thereby requiring less tedious navigation and attention during a refueling operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,125 to Newman, for "Light Array for Providing Passive Rendezvous Guidance between Closing Aircraft Spacecraft and the Like," relates to a light array disposed along the ventral centerline of a lead aircraft to provide passive rendezvous guidance to a closing aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,376 to Newman, for "Advanced Fuel Receptacle Lighting System for Aerial Refueling," relates to a lighting system mounted on a tanker aircraft for enhancing a boom operator's visual view of a fuel receptacle area on the receiver aircraft during nighttime operations.
U.S. Pats. Nos. 4,519,560 and 4,231,536 to Ishimitsu et al. both relate to a ruddevator assembly comprising a pair of airfoil configurations mounted on a boom, whose movements are controlled by creating aerodynamic forces in the vertical and horizontal directions by deflecting the airfoils with respect to the flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,845 to Fisness et al. for "Aerial Refueling Receptacle Floodlights-Spoiler and Fuselage, Nose Mounted," relates to a floodlight illuminating system for use at night in combination with an aircraft having receptacle surfaces mounted on its nose section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,885 to Neuberger, for "Guidance-Light Display Apparatus and Method for In-Flight Link-up of Two Aircraft," relates to a light system for mounting on a lead aircraft so as to be visible to a pilot of a trailing aircraft for guiding such pilot in flying the trailing aircraft into predetermined in-flight link-up position with respect to the lead aircraft. The apparatus comprises an array of guidance lights arranged on the body of the lead aircraft and sensor means for producing an electrical signal representing the instantaneous position and velocity of the trailing aircraft relative to the lead aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,283 to Weiland, for "Aerial Refueling Boom Articulation," relates to a flying refueling boom for an aerial tanker airplane, with a mechanism for moving the boom about different axes. The motion of the boom is obtained by deflecting a pair of aerodynamic surfaces mounted on it. The motion of the aerodynamic surfaces is controlled using a cable system that allows their deflection with respect to the air stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,193 to Pond et al., for "Apparatus Suitable for Use in Orienting Aircraft In-Flight for Refueling or Other Purposes," and U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,196 to Pond et al., for "Apparatus Suitable for Use in Orienting Aircraft Flight for Refueling or Other Purposes," both relate to a system capable of measuring both receiver aircraft and refueling boom locations relative to the tanker. This information is used either to automatically orient the two aircraft and the boom and nozzle or to generate displays suitable for both pilots in order to ease the refueling process.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,544 to Chope et al. for "Mid-Air Refueling System," relates to a system in which a nuclear radiation source is mounted on the probe of the receiving aircraft and a directional sensitive detector is mounted on the tanker, enabling the measurement of the relative elevation and azimuth of the drogue to the probe. The above measurements are used mainly to generate displays for the pilots of the aircraft for easier engagement, although the possibility of providing drogue-steering capability by means of an aerodynamic rigid rudder and stabilizer attached to the drogue is mentioned.

Controllable hose-and-drogue in-flight refueling system


An organic compound having excellent heat resistance, an excellent amorphous nature, an excellent ability to transport charges, highly excited singlet and triplet states, and excellent solubility in an organic solvent is an organic compound represented by Formula (I):

Electroluminescent devices including organic thin films have been developed. Typically, electroluminescent devices each including an organic thin film, i.e., organic electroluminescent devices, each have an anode, a cathode, and an organic layer including at least a light-emitting layer and provided between the electrodes, on a substrate. The organic layer may include a hole-injection layer, a hole-transport layer, a hole-inhibition layer, an electron-transport layer, an electron-injection layer, and the like in addition to the light-emitting layer. Typically, organic electroluminescent devices each include these layers stacked on top of one another. Hitherto, organic electroluminescent devices have utilized fluorescent emission. To increase light-emission efficiency of devices, attempts have been made to utilize phosphorescent emission instead of fluorescent emission. So far, however, even if phosphorescent emission has been utilized, sufficient light-emission efficiency, luminance, and lifetime have not been obtained.
In order to increase the solubility of polyaniline, which is a conductive polymer, Patent Document 1 discloses Polymer Compound (C-1) shown below.

However, polymer materials such as Compound (C-1) have disadvantages as follows:
it is difficult to control the degree of polymerization and molecular-weight distribution of a polymer materials;
degradation due to terminal residues occurs during continuous driving; and
impurities are contained therein because the materials are difficult to purify.
To induce charge transportability in Compound (C-1), it is necessary to dope a protonic acid after oxidation. It is speculated that Compound (C-1) as a charge-transporting material for an organic electroluminescent device has disadvantages because the doped protonic acid and counter anions may diffuse.
Patent Document 1 discloses Compound (C-2) shown below as a model compound of Compound (C-1).

However, Compound (C-2) has secondary amine moieties and thus has inferior heat resistance and a poor amorphous nature. Hence, an organic thin film containing Compound (C-2) has disadvantages in that the film readily deteriorates due to crystallization, aggregation, and the like. Furthermore, Compound (C-2) disadvantageously has inferior charge transportability because the HOMO is localized at the secondary amine moieties.
Patent Document 1 proposes that Compound (C-3) be used as a charge-transporting material for an electrophotographic photoreceptor.

However, compounds such as Compound (C-3) have low heat resistance because each of the groups bonded to the nitrogen atoms of the 1,3-dihydroimidazol-2-one ring has only a single aromatic ring. Thus, compounds such as Compound (C-3) may be disadvantageous when the compounds are used as the charge-transporting materials for organic electroluminescent devices.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a material having an excellent ability to transport charges in addition to excellent heat resistance and an excellent amorphous nature.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-246973
[Non-Patent Document 1] Macromolecules 2003, 36, p.p. 4368-4373

Organic compound, charge-transporting material, composition for charge-transporting material and organic electroluminescent device

Abstract: wherein Ar1 represents an optionally-substituted aromatic hydrocarbon group, an optionally-substituted aromatic heterocyclic group, or an optionally-substituted alkyl group; Ar2 represents an optionally-substituted aromatic hydrocarbon group or an optionally-substituted aromatic heterocyclic group; R1 and R2 each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent, and R1 and R2 may be bonded to each other to form a ring; and Q is represented by Formula (I-1) or (I-2):

Abstract: wherein Ar3 to Ar5 each represent an optionally-substituted aromatic hydrocarbon group or an optionally-substituted aromatic heterocyclic group, and Ar3 and Ar4 may be bonded to each other to form a ring.


A system and method communicates data from a web content provider to a wireless computing device (e.g., a PDA, a cellular phone) via a proxy server. The proxy server transforms web content “on-the-fly” into a streamlined format, optimizes it for display, and delivers it to the device, where it is progressively rendered by a browser installed on the device.

Until recently, the vast majority of internet users accessed the World Wide Web via personal computers and workstations. Web designers could safely assume that the devices accessing their sites would have similar display capabilities, processor speed, and connection bandwidth. With careful design, it was possible to produce a single version of a web site that displayed satisfactorily in nearly all browsers. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible. The number and variety of so-called "network appliances" has exploded. Millions of internet users now log on via set top boxes, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cellular telephones. Analysts have predicted that more people will soon access the web via network appliances than via personal computers. Now, web designers must take into account that browsers accessing their sites may display just a few words of text at a time, or they may display hundreds. Other browsers have no display at all and instead read the content to the user through a telephone. Processor speeds and bandwidth may vary by an order of magnitude. To make matters worse, different devices support different sets of file formats, often with no intersection at all.
Web content providers that need to support users on all these devices typically have to provide multiple versions of their sites. Amazon.com currently has three versions of its site: the conventional HTML version; an HDML version for display on first generation cell phone browsers; and a "web clipping" version for certain handheld computing devices. A fourth version will be for WML capable cell phones. Only content providers with the deepest pockets can afford to author so many different versions of their sites. Even for giants like Amazon.com, this approach is clearly not scalable as the variety of network appliances continues to increase.
As with many problems in computer science, this dilemma can be at least partially solved by adding a level of indirection. In internet terms, the level of indirection between a browser and a web server is called a proxy server. The model is simple. When a browser needs to retrieve a document from the web, it sends a request to the proxy server using the browser's native protocol. The proxy then retrieves the document from the server. If the document happens to be in a format that the browser is capable of displaying, the proxy will simply forward it along. This is where the process ends for most, if not all, traditional proxy servers.

Apparatus and method for supplying electronic content to network appliances


A device for producing pressed articles with a main cylindrically-shaped elements and secondary helically-shaped element from powdered material, especially powdered metal, with a female mold and with at least one top punch, which is supported so as to be rotatable about its longitudinal axis, and at least one bottom punch, which is supported so as to be rotatable about its longitudinal axis. The top and bottom punches are movable axially relative to the female mold by means of motor drives and the top punch, of which there is at least one, is driven in rotation about its longitudinal axis to achieve a helical movement in addition to its axial drive the bottom punch, of which there is at least one, is also driven in rotation. Rotary motor drives of the punches are mechanically uncoupled from the drives for the axial movement of the punches and may be regulated separately by an electronic control.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a device for producing compacted or pressed articles with a main cylindrically-shaped element and a secondary helically-shaped element from powdered material such as powdered metal, and in particular for producing helical gearwheels in which the helical gearing or toothing is the secondary element.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional device as described in European Patent Publication 0 528 761 A1 produces pressed articles, e.g., helical-toothed gearwheels, from metal powder. This known metal powder press has a linearly movable upper ram in which is supported a top punch which is rotatable about the longitudinal axis in the pressing direction and a bottom ram which is also moveable linearly against a bottom stop and in which a bottom punch is rotatably supported. A die plate forms a mold cavity and is movable linearly in the pressing cycle. The rotatable bottom punch and the rotatable top punch each have a toothing profile corresponding to the toothing profile or helical toothing of the mold shell or casing, i.e., the mold cavity. The bottom punch which is supported so as to be freely rotatable is constantly engaged with the profile of the mold cavity and therefore rotates compulsorily in a corresponding manner when linear relative movements occur between the bottom punch and die plate during the press cycle. In contrast, a rotational movement corresponding to the helical toothing is externally forced upon the top punch during the press cycle corresponding to its penetration depth in order to reduce the friction between the outer surfaces of the top punch and mold cavity of the female mold. The toothed-wheel mechanism provided for this purpose is driven via a mechanical linkage control corresponding to the desired helical toothing of the pressed article. The linkage control contains linkage cores, rigidly connected to a guide plate and guided in a positive engagement and in a sliding manner in the coaxially arranged driving wheels of the toothed-wheel mechanism. During the press cycle, the guide plate is temporarily rigidly coupled with the die plate and moves jointly therewith. A withdrawal process is used to remove the produced pressed articles from the mold.
This known metal powder press gives rise to considerable costs with respect to mechanical construction and also retooling since for every different pressed article a set of linkage cores corresponding to this pressed article must be prepared and exchanged, aside from the special tool set including the female mold, top punch and bottom punch. Added to this is the cost of the guide plate and the mechanically operated locking device for rigidly coupling the guide plate to the die plate. There also remains the problem of friction between the bottom punch with respect to its rotational movement and the female mold, the bottom punch not being positively driven externally. This not only results in increased tool wear in this region, but also leads to an uneven density distribution in the pressed article.
A press with electronically controlled movements which is used for the rotary press process is described in the publication entitled "Quality control through process monitoring of rotary forming press", Metal Powder industries Federation, Volume 6, May 6-11, 1994, 125-137. A press of this type is used for subsequent treatment of already sintered molded articles produced by powder metallurgy in order to give them a density in the range of 95% to 98% of the theoretically possible density of the material in question. The special construction of these presses makes it possible to generate extremely high local pressing pressures in the pressing tool with a comparatively low overall pressing force of the press. The special construction for this purpose includes an upper punch die that moves in a gyrating and rotating manner and applies locally defined extremely high pressing forces on the workpiece in order to compact the latter in directed manner. This reference contains no suggestion that the top punch and bottom punch, which participate directly in the shaping of the helically shaped secondary element of the article to be pressed, may be controlled with respect to their movement in the mold cavity of the female mold by electronic means for the purpose of producing compact with main cylindrically shaped elements and secondary helically shaped elements from powdered material.


An apparatus for filling a produce tray with agricultural produce includes a tray loading station with a fill hopper for receiving the agricultural produce, a produce compression station including at least one tuck finger platen, and a conveyer including a plurality of tray carriers for moving the produce tray from the tray loading station to the produce compression station. Some embodiments of the invention also include a split chute for transferring the agricultural produce from the fill hopper to the produce tray and a trolley for selectively positioning the split chute under the fill hopper or tuck finger platen. Another embodiment of the invention includes a tuck finger platen for compressing agricultural produce near the center of the tray less than agricultural produce near the interior walls of the produce tray. Yet another embodiment of the invention includes steps in a method for loading agricultural produce into a produce tray.

A produce tray is a container for agricultural produce such as fruit and vegetables. Many different sizes and shapes of produce trays are available. Produce trays, also referred to as a produce tills, protect their contents during shipping and handling by preventing contact between the produce within and foreign contaminants, sealing the contents to maintain freshness, and limiting crushing and bruising damage to the produce. Damaged or contaminated produce may have reduced economic value, impaired flavor, poor visual appeal, or present health risks to consumers. A produce tray may be sealed with a polymer film attached to the top of the tray by heat welding, ultrasonic welding, or by a sealing band. Some produce trays use a snap-on cover. Other produce trays have a clamshell cover formed as part of the tray.
A bulk supply of agricultural produce may be subdivided into smaller portions and loaded into produce trays in a continuous process. Produce trays to be filled may be placed on the input end of a conveyer comprising one or more continuous belts, chains, or moving frames. The conveyor may have shaped apertures, pockets, cleats, pins, etc. to hold produce trays securely and with a predetermined tray-to-tray spacing. The conveyer moves produce trays to sequential processing stations, for example hoppers for transferring produce to individual produce trays, equipment for closing loaded produce trays, weighing equipment, and so on. Filled and sealed produce trays are removed from the output end of the conveyor. Conveyers known in the art are configured to hold a selected size and shape of produce trays and may need substantial modification to hold trays having a different size and shape.
Produce trays may be filled with a weighed portion of agricultural produce. A large amount of air may be trapped between pieces of produce in a weighed portion. For example, about half of the volume of a mound formed by dumping a portion of leafy vegetables such as spinach or lettuce into a produce tray may be air trapped in spaces between leaves. Because of the trapped air or because pieces of produce may be dumped into a disorganized mound in the tray, the top of the mound may extend above the top of the tray. Before sealing a produce tray it may therefore be necessary to compress the produce in the tray until the top of the mound is below the top of the tray.
A plunger may be used to compress the mound of produce in a tray or workers may apply hand pressure to compress the mound. A plunger may have a relatively flat compression face, i.e., the side of the plunger that contacts produce in a tray. Produce may adhere to a flat compression face when the plunger is removed from a tray, possibly resulting in underweight portions being sealed into produce trays, unwanted transfer of produce from one tray to another, or produce dropped on the floor. Produce may be blown out of a tray by air expelled during compression with a flat plunger. Produce trapped between an outer edge of a plunger and an interior side wall of a produce tray may be crushed or torn. Produce expelled from the tray during compression may fall on an upper surface of the produce tray and may interfere with sealing of the tray. Or, spilled produce may accumulate on the floor or on handling equipment and must be cleaned up to prevent safety and sanitation problems.
A mound of produce dumped in a tray is usually higher toward the center of the tray than near the tray edges. A flat plunger may over-compress the raised center of the mound and cause bruising or crushing of some of the produce in the tray. Some plungers have stepped compression faces to reduce adhesion by surface tension and suction between the plunger's compression face and pieces of produce. Plungers with stepped compression faces may have improved performance compared to plungers with flat compression faces, but problems associated with produce adhesion, over-compression, and expulsion of produce by spillage and airflow during produce compression remain. More than one compression operation may be needed before tray sealing since produce compressed with either a flat or stepped plunger may re-expand to a substantial fraction of its original volume after each compression step. For example, some agricultural produce approximately doubles in volume after being compressed by a flat or stepped plunger. It may therefore be necessary to install more than one compression station along a conveyor, resulting in increased amounts of damaged produce and higher equipment cost, facility cost, and operating cost. It may also be necessary to have workers monitor produce trays after each compression step and manually finish each tray. Each additional person needed for tray processing not only raises labor costs but introduces additional risk of human injury from working in close proximity to moving machinery and risk of biological contaminants being transferred from workers to food in produce trays.


An instrument for implanting radioactive and/or thermal seeds in body tissue for radiation and/or heat therapy comprises a tubular hypodermic needle barrel affixed to a pistol-grip shaped handle incorporates a reciprocally movable push rod for stripping one such seed from a cartridge containing a plurality of seeds and advancing it to the end of the barrel. Actuation of a trigger in the pistol grip handle causes the barrel to retract relative to the push rod, causing the seed to be deposited in the channel in the body tissue created by the original puncturing thereof by the instrument's barrel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a surgical instrument useful in injecting thermal and/or radioactive seeds percutaneously into a body organ, and more particularly to an instrument of the type described which is effective to deposit such seeds in a desired axial alignment.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the Paulus et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,583, there is described a seed of a ferromagnetic material which when injected into body tissue and subsequently exposed to an oscillating magnetic field produces localized heating of the tissue surrounding the seed for therapeutic purposes. For example, if the seeds are injected into the prostate gland, the heating may be used to shrink the prostate gland in addressing BPH. Radioactive seeds have also been injected into tumorous tissue so that the resulting radiation given off by the seeds will destroy the cancerous tissue.
Pending application Ser. No. 08/864,486, filed May 28, 1997, describes a method for manufacturing a combination ferromagnetic/radioactive seed whereby both radioactive emissions and heat can simultaneously be applied to selected tissue structures.
When it is considered that to achieve optimum magnetic coupling between implanted ferromagnetic seeds and an external magnetic field producing coil, there must be appropriate alignment of the applied field to the implanted seeds, an instrument is required that can be used to inject such seeds so as to be aligned along a desired axis so that the patient's body can be appropriately oriented with respect to the external field coil.
The Scott U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,402,308 and 5,242,373 describe medical instruments for percutaneously injecting radioactive seeds into tumorous tissue. Generally, they comprise a tubular hypodermic needle into which radioactive seeds may be fed. A push rod is provided for effectively forcing the seeds out of the distal end of the tubular needle. However, the device tends to be difficult to manipulate and often results in misaligned seeds following their implantation.
Thus, a need exists for an instrument that allows precise deposition of thermal/radioactive seeds into body tissue with the seeds being aligned with a predetermined axis.

Radioactive and/or thermal seed implantation device


A catheter assembly and method for constructing same comprises the engagement of a substantially hollow proximal tubular member, which is at least partially coated with at least one polymeric material, to a substantially distal outer tubular member. The proximal tubular member and the distal outer tubular member define at least one continuous central lumen therethrough. At least a portion of the distal outer tubular member is disposed about at least a portion of an inner tubular member. A portion of the inner tubular member is engaged to a portion of the proximal tubular member. A portion of the inner tubular member is engaged to a portion of the end region of the distal outer member. An end region of the proximal tubular member extends distally into the distal outer tubular member adjacent to the inner tubular member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a variety of embodiments. At least one embodiment of the invention is directed to the field of intravascular medical devices, and more particularly to the field of catheters such as angioplasty, neurological and guide catheters, among others, which may be used in various medical procedures such as percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) as well as in procedures involving the placement of medicines and medical devices within the body.
Some embodiments of the invention are directed to all forms of catheters which may be advanced through a body lumen or vessel. Some examples of catheters are over-the-wire (OTW) catheters, such as are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,045; single-operator-exchange (SOE) balloon catheters, such as are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,594 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,552. Other examples of catheters which may incorporate the unique features of the present invention include rapid-exchange style balloon catheters, MONORAIL® dilatation catheters available from SciMed Life Systems, Inc. of Maple Grove, Minn., etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Intravascular diseases are commonly treated by relatively non-invasive techniques such as PTA and PTCA. These angioplasty techniques typically involve the use of a balloon catheter. In these procedures, a balloon catheter is advanced through the vasculature of a patient such that the balloon is positioned proximate a constriction in a diseased vessel. The balloon is then inflated and the constriction in the vessel is opened. In other uses a catheter may be used to deliver an endoprosthesis such as a stent, graft, stent-graft, filter or other implantable or optionally implantable device or devices herein after collectively referred to as a stent or stents. Where a stent is to be delivered into a body lumen the catheter may include one or more inflatable portions or balloons. Typically, the stent is retained in the predelivery state about the catheter shaft, or a portion thereof such as a balloon, by crimping and/or through the use of a retaining mechanism such as sleeve, sheath or sock.
Balloons and balloon catheters may be particularly useful for the delivery of stents. Stents and catheters used in their delivery are commonly used and as such their structure and function are well known.
Many rapid exchange catheters, including some types of balloon catheters, comprise a proximal portion, often include a hypotube which can be constructed from a variety of non-thermoplastic and/or metallic material(s). This hypotube is joined to a distal outer shaft portion of the catheter at a port area by using a mid-shaft tube that connects the catheter sections together. Typically, the outer shaft is at least partially constructed of a polymer substance. The port area is the area of the catheter where the proximal guide wire exits the catheter assembly such as is shown in the PRIOR ART drawing labeled FIG. 1. A core wire or other member can aid in support of the mid-shaft area.
A goal of the present invention is to provide a more simplified and efficient catheter assembly design that avoids the necessity of a mid-shaft tube to link the distal outer to the hypotube, as well as to avoid the use of a core wire.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.


A substrate processing system includes a substrate processing apparatus and a switching timing creation support device, wherein the switching timing creation support device includes: an acquisition part configured to acquire, for each of a plurality of properties of particles contained in a gas in the substrate processing apparatus during a processing for a substrate, a measured value of an amount of the particles from a measuring device; a selection part configured to select properties of a predetermined number of the particles in descending order of temporal variations in the amount of the particles; a determination part configured to determine an operation expression and a switching condition for determining a switching timing based on a temporal change in the amount of the particles for each of the selected properties of the particles; and an output part configured to output the operation expression and the switching condition to the substrate processing apparatus.

In manufacturing a semiconductor device, various processes such as a film forming process, an etching process, and the like are performed on a substrate. Further, in an etching process of a substrate having multi-layered films, process conditions such as an etching gas or a pressure may differ from one another among the films forming the respective layers. Therefore, when the etching process of a certain layer is completed, it is necessary to switch the process conditions in order to etch a film of a layer below the certain layer. However, it is difficult to check a state of a substrate while the substrate is being processed. Therefore, the switching of the process conditions is performed by estimating a degree of progress of an etching process based on a change of a gas component in a chamber accommodating the substrate.

Substrate processing system, switching timing creation support device,switching timing creation support method, and substrate processing apparatus