A catheter and catheter system for treatment of a blood vessel of a patient include an elongate flexible catheter body with a radially expandable structure. A plurality of electrodes or other electrosurgical energy delivery surfaces can radially engage material to be treated when the structure expands. A material detector near the distal end of the catheter body may measure circumferential material distribution, and a power source selectively energizes the electrodes to eccentrically treat of a body lumen.

Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to medical devices, systems, and methods. In an exemplary embodiment, the invention provides catheter-based remodeling and/or removal of atherosclerosis plaque built-up in an artery to improve blood flow, often without balloon angioplasty, stenting, and/or dilation. The structures of the invention allow image-guided eccentric atherosclerotic material remodeling and/or removal typically using electrosurgical energy, optionally using electrosurgical ablation, often in a controlled environment zone within the blood vessel, and ideally with a co-located intravascular imaging capability. Related embodiments have applications in a variety of body lumens, including urinary, reproductive, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary obstructive material removal, optionally for removing or decreasing tumors, cysts, polyps, and the like.
Physicians use catheters to gain access to and repair interior tissues of the body, particularly within the lumens of the body such as blood vessels. For example, balloon angioplasty and other catheters often are used to open arteries that have been narrowed due to atherosclerotic disease.
Balloon angioplasty is often effective at opening an occluded blood vessel, but the trauma associated with balloon dilation can impose significant injury, so that the benefits of balloon dilation may be limited in time. Stents are commonly used to extend the beneficial opening of the blood vessel.
Stenting, in conjunction with balloon dilation, is often the preferred treatment for atherosclerosis. In stenting, a collapsed metal framework is mounted on a balloon catheter which is introduced into the body. The stent is manipulated into the site of occlusion and expanded in place by the dilation of the underlying balloon. Stenting has gained widespread acceptance, and produces generally acceptable results in many cases. Along with treatment of blood vessels (particularly the coronary arteries), stents can also be used in treating many other tubular obstructions within the body, such as for treatment of reproductive, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary obstructions.
Restenosis or a subsequent narrowing of the body lumen after stenting has occurred in a significant number of cases. More recently, drug coated stents (such as Johnson and Johnson's Cypher™ stent, the associated drug comprising Sirolimus™) have demonstrated a markedly reduced restenosis rate, and others are developing and commercializing alternative drug eluting stents. In addition, work has also been initiated with systemic drug delivery (intravenous or oral) which may also improve the procedural angioplasty success rates.
While drug eluting stents appear to offer significant promise for treatment of atherosclerosis in many patients, there remain many cases where stents either cannot be used or present significant disadvantages. Generally, stenting leaves an implant in the body. Such implants can present risks, including mechanical fatigue, corrosion, and the like, particularly when removal of the implant is difficult and involves invasive surgery. Stenting may have additional disadvantages for treating diffuse artery disease, for treating bifurcations, for treating areas of the body susceptible to crush, and for treating arteries subject to torsion, elongation, and shortening.
A variety of modified restenosis treatments or restenosis-inhibiting occlusion treatment modalities have also been proposed, including intravascular radiation, cryogenic treatments, ultrasound energy, and the like, often in combination with balloon angioplasty and/or stenting. While these and different approaches show varying degrees of promise for decreasing the subsequent degradation in blood flow following angioplasty and stenting, the trauma initially imposed on the tissues by angioplasty remains problematic.
A number of alternatives to stenting and balloon angioplasty so as to open stenosed arteries have also been proposed. For example, a wide variety of atherectomy devices and techniques have been disclosed and attempted. Despite the disadvantages and limitations of angioplasty and stenting, atherectomy has not gained the widespread s use and success rates of dilation-based approaches. Still further disadvantages of dilation have come to light. These include the existence of vulnerable plaque, which can rupture and release materials that may cause myocardial infarction or heart attack.
In light of the above, it would be advantageous to provide new devices, systems, and methods for remodeling and/or removal of atherosclerotic material and other occlusions of the lumens of the body, and particularly from blood vessels. It would further be desirable to enable the removal of these occlusive materials without having to resort to the trauma of a dilation, and to allow the opening of blood vessels and other body lumens which are not suitable for stenting.

Selectable eccentric remodeling and/or ablation


An ink-jet printer using a small and a large line feeds has been disclosed. The ink-jet printer comprises a head on which B ink spraying nozzles are arranged at fixed nozzle intervals in the vertical scanning direction and a vertical scanning mechanism, wherein the nozzle interval is A times the dot pitch and the printing action is composed of a single printing scan in the main scanning direction, a small line feed printing that repeats an action (Cxc3x97Axe2x88x921) times, in which after a small line feed that relatively moves the recording medium in the vertical scanning direction by the amount of n times the nozzle interval plus one dot pitch ((Axc3x97n+1)xc3x97d) is performed, a single printing scan in the main scanning direction is performed, and a subsequent large line feed printing that performs a large line feed by the amount of (Bxc3x97Axe2x88x92(Axc3x97n+1)(Cxc3x97Axe2x88x921))xc3x97d.

The present invention relates to an ink-jet printer. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ink-jet printer which comprises a head in which plural ink injection nozzles (simply referred to as nozzles hereinafter) are arranged at substantially equal intervals in the vertical scanning direction and which performs small line feeds and large line feeds.
An ink-jet printer is a printer that sprays tiny droplets of ink, from a nozzle, onto a medium such as paper and creates an image by the attached droplets of ink. In the case of a monochrome printer, only one color of ink is used but, in the case of a color printer, four or more kinds of nozzles that spray four or more colors such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are used.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of an ink-jet printer. In response to the outset of printing, a send roller 11 starts to rotate and a medium (sheet of paper) stacked in a paper cassette 10 is sent out along a guide 12. The sent-out sheet of paper is sent to the part under a head 20 under a roller 13 and interposed between paper feed rollers 14 and 15. By driving the paper feed rollers 14 and 15 rotationally, it is possible to feed the sheet of paper by a desired amount. The head 20 comprises a nozzle 21 and ink is sprayed from the nozzle 21 by driving an actuator that is not shown. The head 20 can move along a guide 22 in the direction perpendicular to that in which the paper moves and, in general, the movement of the head is called the main scanning, its direction, the main scanning direction, and the direction perpendicular thereto, that is, the moving direction of the sheet of paper is called the vertical scanning direction. By spraying ink at the positions of dots to be printed during a single main scan, the dots of a row corresponding to a nozzle are printed. After printing by the single main scan, the sheet of paper is fed by the amount of a row and the dots of the row are printed again, then the dots of the next row are printed. By repeating the above-mentioned action, printing on the entire surface of the sheet of paper is achieved. The sheet of paper onto which printing has been completed is ejected to a tray 16. The part denoted by reference number 3 is a member to prevent the tip of the nozzle 21 from drying and clogging and covers the tip of the nozzle 21 when it is not printing.
If printing of the dots of a row is performed by only one nozzle during a single main scan, it is necessary to perform the main scanning many times in order to print a sheet of paper, bringing about a problem that a long time is required for printing, that is, that the printing speed is slow. Therefore, plural nozzles are arranged in the vertical scanning direction and printing speed is improved by printing plural dot rows simultaneously during the single main scan.
FIG. 2 is a diagram that shows an example of an arrangement of the nozzles on the head of a color ink-jet printer. FIG. 2 (1) shows an example in which each color nozzle is arranged in a column in the vertical scanning direction and a black ink head 31K, a cyan ink head 31C, a magenta ink head 31M, and an yellow ink head 31Y are arranged shifted to the right one by one in the main scanning direction. On each head, plural (m) nozzles 32-1 to 32-m are arranged at intervals of a whole number multiple of the dot pitch. In order to spray ink of each color to the same dot, ink is sprayed from each color head delayed by the time determined by the distance between heads in the main scanning direction and the speed of the main scanning.
It is necessary to provide a mechanism, which is composed of materials such as piezo elements, to spray ink from each nozzle, and as a result a space of a certain extent is required. Therefore, it is impossible to arrange nozzles adjacently so as to correspond to each dot, but the nozzles are arranged in the vertical scanning direction at fixed intervals. Printing actions in the case where nozzles are arranged as described above are described later.
FIG. 2 (2) shows an arrangement in which plural columns of nozzles arranged at fixed intervals in the vertical scanning direction are arranged so that the intervals between arranged nozzles in the vertical scanning direction are substantially reduced. Similarly to FIG. 2 (1), heads of four colors, black, cyan, magenta, and yellow are provided and two columns of nozzles 34-1 and 34-2 are provided. The two columns of nozzles are arranged in the vertical scanning direction, being shifted from each other by half the nozzle interval, and the nozzles of the two columns are arranged at equal intervals in the vertical scanning direction, when viewed from the main scanning direction. The interval is half the nozzle interval of one column of nozzles and this substantial interval is referred to as the arrangement interval in the vertical scanning direction. In order to spray ink onto the same dot column, ink is sprayed from the nozzle of each column, being delayed by the difference in time determined by the deviation in the main scanning direction and the main scanning speed. In this way, the same printing is achieved as that when nozzles are arranged at half the intervals of those of nozzles in each column. If the number of columns of nozzles is increased, the substantial arrangement interval can be reduced by the corresponding amount, and if, for example, six columns of nozzles, the arrangement pitch of which is six-dot, are provided, it is possible to print the adjacent dots simultaneously by a single main scan. The arrangement, however, in which nozzles are arranged densely in the vertical scanning direction, is difficult to realize, from the standpoints of the head size and cost. The present invention focuses on a head on which nozzles are arranged at intervals larger than a single dot in the vertical scanning direction. Although the head of a color ink-jet printer is shown in FIG. 2, the present invention can be applied to both a monochrome ink-jet printer and a color ink-jet printer. For simplicity, description is made below with reference to a monochrome ink-jet printer as an example, but the present invention is not restricted to this case.
FIG. 3 shows a head on which m nozzles 36-1 to 36-m are arranged at fixed intervals (four-dot pitch) in the vertical scanning direction, and indicates the relative movement during printing using this head between the head and the medium (paper) in the vertical scanning direction. Here, a case where a belt-shaped vertical line is printed, is described. The head performs the main scanning at the position denoted by 35a and dots in m rows are printed by the m nozzles. In this way, m horizontal lines with one-dot width are printed at a four-dot pitch and a space corresponding to three-dot width is left between two adjacent horizontal lines. Next, the head moves in the vertical scanning direction relative to the medium to the position denoted by 35b. This movement is called the small line feed. The main scanning is performed at the position and m dot rows are printed. The m dot rows printed at this time are downwardly adjacent to the m dot rows previously printed, and they form m horizontal lines with two-dot widths. This time, a space corresponding to two-dot width is left between two adjacent horizontal lines. Similarly, the head is moved to the position denoted by 35c by the small line feed, performs the main scanning, and m dot rows are printed. By this, they form m horizontal lines with three-dot width and a space corresponding to a one-dot width is left between two adjacent horizontal lines. Furthermore, the head is moved to the position denoted by 35d by the small line feed, performs the main scanning, and m dot rows are printed. In this way, a rectangle with 4xc3x97m dot width in the vertical scanning direction is printed. Then, the head is moved to the position denoted by 35e. This is called the large line feed. The amount of movement of the large line feed is (4xc3x97mxe2x88x923) times the dot pitch. Printing over the entire surface of the medium can be achieved by repeating the action described above.
As shown in FIG. 3, when the above-mentioned printing action is performed, the first four dot rows are printed by the ink sprayed from the first nozzle, the next four dot rows are printed by the ink sprayed from the second nozzle, and the last four dot rows of the 4xc3x97m dot rows are printed by the ink sprayed from the m-th nozzle, and this is repeated for each of the 4xc3x97m dot rows.
The nozzle is a fine hole and plural nozzles are formed simultaneously by processes such as a press working. Although the mold for press working is created precisely and nozzles are formed by a precise press working, it is impossible to create every nozzle so as to be perfectly identical to another, and it is unavoidable that deviations in the nozzle positions and in the spraying angles of ink are caused. The deviations in the nozzle positions lead to the deviations in the positions on the medium to which ink is sprayed. The deviations in the spraying angles of ink result in the deviations in the ink-sprayed positions by the amount of the distance from the nozzle tip to the medium multiplied by the deviation in the spraying angles. Therefore, the sum of the deviations due to these two factors is the actual deviations and in fact the deviations in the ink-sprayed positions are larger than those in the spraying angles.
FIG. 4 shows the case where the positions of the medium to which ink is sprayed from the three nozzles 37-1 to 37-3 are deviated to the positions denoted by 38-1 to 38-3 as shown schematically. In this case, it is shown that the deviations are supposed to occur only in the vertical scanning direction, but actually they deviate in every direction. It is assumed that the ink sprayed from the nozzles 37-1 and 37-3 is deviated upward and that from the nozzle 37-2 is deviated downward. If printing is performed by four dot rows using this head as shown in FIG. 3, the four dot rows deviate in the same direction by the same amount, therefore, there appears a white horizontal line (if the medium is white) between the four dot rows printed by the ink sprayed from the nozzle 37-1 and those printed by the ink sprayed from the nozzle 37-2, and a thick horizontal line appears between the four dot rows printed by the ink sprayed from the nozzle 37-2 and those printed by the ink from the nozzle 37-3 because two rows overlap each other. As a result, thick and white horizontal lines appear at four dot row pitch. If the spraying angle deviates in the main scanning direction, jitters appear in the vertical lines at a four dot pitch.
FIG. 5 is a diagram that illustrates how to manufacture the ink-spraying nozzles. As shown in FIGS. 5 (1) and (2), nozzles are manufactured by pressing a thin nozzle plate 41 by a mold 42 on which plural pins having a nozzle hole shape are arranged at fixed intervals. Since it is difficult to manufacture a mold that has many pins at the same intervals (nozzle pitch) as those of the actual nozzles, a mold with half the number (m/2) of nozzles of the actual number (m) of nozzles is manufactured at the intervals (2d) twice the actual nozzle pitch d. By pressing this mold, m/2 nozzle holes at intervals of 2d are manufactured as shown in FIG. 5 (3). Then, the relative position between the mold and the nozzle plate 41 is shifted by the nozzle pitch d as shown in FIG. 5 (4) and pressing is performed as shown in FIG. 5 (5). In this way, m nozzles arranged at intervals of d are manufactured as shown in FIG. 5 (6). It will be easier to manufacture a mold if the intervals between pins is set to 3d or wider, the number of pins is further decreased, and the number of pressing times is increased.
Different from the manufacturing method shown in FIG. 5, there can be another manufacturing method as shown in FIG. 6. As shown in FIGS. 6 (1) and (2), for example, a mold on which m/2 pins are arranged at intervals of d is first manufactured and m/2 nozzle holes are manufactured at intervals of d by pressing the nozzle plate 41. Then, the relative position between the mold and the nozzle plate 41 is shifted by dxc3x97m/2 and pressing is performed as shown in FIG. 6 (5). In this way, m nozzles arranged at intervals of d are manufactured as shown in FIG. 6 (6). In this method, however, distortion may be caused in the central part of the nozzle plate 41 as shown in FIGS. 6 (7) and (9) because a force is applied to each of the upper half and the lower half, respectively, during the two-time press working. Moreover, there is another problem that it is difficult to manufacture pins at narrow intervals, therefore, in general, the nozzle holes in the nozzle plate are manufactured by the method described in FIG. 5.
As described above, when nozzle holes are manufactured by pressing the nozzle plate with pins, the direction of the holes is deviated and the deviation in spraying angle is caused if, for example, the direction of the pin deviates from the perpendicular. When nozzle holes are manufactured by the manufacturing method described in FIG. 5, the spraying angles are almost the same because two adjacent nozzles are manufactured by pressing the same pin. Therefore, the thick and thin horizontal lines caused by the deviation in the spraying angles of each nozzle described in FIG. 4 appear at the double eight-dot pitch and become more conspicuous. If the interval between pins are made more than three times, the thick and thin horizontal lines appear at more than three times dot pitch, becoming still further conspicuous. On the other hand, when the spraying angle deviates in the main scanning direction and jitters appear in the vertical lines, they become more conspicuous because the intervals of the jitters are lengthened.
As explained above, when printing is performed by repeating the small line feeds and the large line feeds described in FIG. 3 using the head on which plural nozzles are arranged, a problem is caused that variations in printing density in the horizontal lines and the jitters in the vertical lines are caused to occur due to the deviation of the spraying angle of the nozzle and the image quality is deteriorated. In order to solve such a problem, U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,642 has disclosed the technique called the xe2x80x9cInterlaced methodxe2x80x9d. Moreover, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 11-28827, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 11-34398, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-11509, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-71009 have disclosed the improved techniques of the xe2x80x9cInterlaced method.xe2x80x9d
In the Interlaced method, integers N and k are selected so that they have no common divisor in the case where a head, on which N nozzles are arranged at intervals of k times the dot pitch, is used for printing, and a line feed by a fixed amount is performed each time a single main scan is completed, thereby the entire surface can be printed with an identical amount of line feed. When, however, printing is performed with the Interlaced method, it is necessary in general to limit the number of driven nozzles, not equally using every nozzle arranged on the head, or to vary the nozzle driving ratio for each nozzle. In the ink-jet printer, if the nozzle driving ratio differs from nozzle to nozzle, the state of nozzle changes, the change in ink viscosity due to the contact of ink with the external air at the nozzle portion and the variations in driving ability due to the difference in the nozzle driving ratio are caused to occur, resulting in a problem that the variations in the spraying characteristics of ink between nozzles are increased and that the printing speed is substantially lowered because of the limitation to the number of driven nozzles.
Therefore, in order to perform printing with the same driving ratio for all the nozzles mounted on the head of an ink-jet, the Interlaced method, in which printing is possible with a fixed amount of line feed as described above, cannot be used but it is necessary to perform the relative movement by combining the small line feeds and the large line feeds for printing. The above-mentioned method, however, in which the small line feeds and the large line feed are combined, has a problem that the image quality is deteriorated by the difference in the spraying angle between nozzles.
The present invention has been developed in order to solve these problems and the object of the present invention is to realize an ink-jet printer that can achieve a high quality image even when printing is performed with the method in which the small line feeds and the large line feeds are combined.
In order to realize the above-mentioned object, in the ink-jet printer of the present invention, the amount of the small line feed is a whole number multiple of the arrangement interval of nozzles plus one dot pitch and the thick and thin horizontal lines and the jitters in the vertical lines are made inconspicuous by causing them to occur at a fine pitch by printing adjacent dot rows with nozzles that have different spraying angles.
In other words, the ink-jet printer of the present invention comprises B (B is an integer) of ink spraying nozzles that spray the same ink, which are arranged at substantially fixed nozzle intervals in the vertical scanning direction, and a head that can move in the main scanning direction perpendicular to the vertical scanning direction, and a vertical scanning mechanism that relatively moves a memory medium in the vertical scanning direction with respect to the ink head, and is characterized in that the nozzle interval is A times (A is an integer) the dot pitch (d) and that printing is achieved by repeating a small line feed printing and a large line feed printing, wherein the small line feed printing is an action in which the single-time printing scanning (main scanning) in the main scanning direction and another single-time printing scanning, after a small line feed to relatively move the memory medium in the vertical scanning direction with respect to the ink head by the amount of n times (n is an integer) the nozzle interval plus one dot pitch ((Axc3x97n+1)xc3x97d) is performed, are performed (Cxc3x97Axe2x88x921) times repeatedly, and the large line feed printing is an action in which a large line feed of (Bxc3x97Axe2x88x92(Axc3x97n+1)(Cxc3x97Axe2x88x921))xc3x97d is performed.
FIG. 7 is a diagram that illustrates the principle of the present invention. As shown schematically, m nozzles 51-1 to 51-m are arranged at four-dot pitch. The spraying angle of each nozzle is assumed to be different from any other. First, the single-time printing scanning (main scanning) is performed in the main scanning direction at the positions of the leftmost nozzles 51-1 to 51-m. At this time, it is arranged that the dot row at the top end of an image is printed by the nozzle 51-4. Then, after the small line feed at five-dot pitch is performed, the single-time printing scanning is performed. The positions of nozzles 51-1 to 51-m at this time are shown at the second leftmost positions. The group of a small line feed and a single-time printing scanning is repeated three times. By this, the row consisting of the four dots 55-4 to 55-1 on the right-hand side is printed by the set of the nozzles 51-4 to 51-1 denoted by reference number 52, and similarly, the row consisting of the four dots 56-m to 56-m-3 on the right-hand side is printed by the set of the nozzles denoted by reference number 53. Since the set of the adjacent four dot rows is printed by the different nozzles, respectively, as described above, the difference, if any, in the spraying angle of ink from the nozzle is less conspicuous because the deviation occurs for each dot row.
When the set of the small line feed and the single-time printing scanning is repeated three times, the dot rows of 51-4 to 56-m-3 are printed densely. The dot rows of 57-m, 57-m-1, and 57-m-2 that correspond to the three nozzles located from the leftmost positions in the set of the nozzles denoted by reference number 54 are printed by the above-mentioned action, but the position that corresponds to 57-1 is left blank. The large line feed is performed so that the blank dot row is printed by the nozzle 51-1. Therefore, the amount of movement by the large line feed is (4xc3x97mxe2x88x925xc3x973). By repeating the same action, printing is performed on the entire surface.
Here, the above-mentioned action is represented using generalized expressions. For example, if the arrangement pitch of nozzles is A times the dot pitch d and the number of nozzles is B, the amount of movement by the small line feed is (A+1) d, and the total amount of movement by the small line feed is (A+1)(Axe2x88x921) d because the small line feed is performed (Axe2x88x921) times. The large line feed is performed so that the foremost nozzle in the initial state moves to the position next to the rearmost nozzle. The amount of movement required for the foremost nozzle to move to the position next to the rearmost nozzle is Bxc3x97Axc3x97d. As the total amount of movement by the small line feed is (A+1)(Axe2x88x921) d, as described above, the amount of movement by the large line feed is obtained as (Bxc3x97Axe2x88x92(A+1)(Axe2x88x921)) d by subtracting the total amount (A+1)(Axe2x88x921) d from Bxc3x97A.
In the example shown in FIG. 7, as the spraying angle of each nozzle differs from any other, the amount of movement by the small line feed is that of movement of the nozzle to the position one dot ahead. When nozzles are manufactured by the method described in FIG. 5, adjacent nozzles have the same spraying angle. When n adjacent nozzles have the same spraying angle, the movement to the position one dot ahead of the n-th nozzle is required for the small line feed. Therefore, the amount of movement by the small line feed is (Axc3x97n+1) d, and that by the large line feed is (Bxc3x97Axe2x88x92(Axc3x97n+1)(Axe2x88x921)) d. It is also possible to design that the small line feed causes a movement to the position one dot ahead of the nozzle that is a whole number multiple of n nozzles ahead.
In the above description, it is assumed that each dot row is printed by the single-time printing scanning (main scanning) by a single nozzle. In general, such an action is called a single-pass recording mode. On the contrary, such an action in which each dot row is printed by multiple-time main scanning by plural nozzles is called the multi-pass recording mode. This applies to the case of a monochrome head, and in the case of a color printer, an action in which a dot row is printed by the single main scan for each color is called the single-pass recording mode, and that in which a dot row is printed by the multiple-time main scanning for each color is called the multi-pass recording mode.
FIG. 8 is a diagram that illustrates the small line feed and the large line feed when the principle of the present invention is further generalized. As shown schematically, it is assumed that B nozzles are arranged at A dot pitch and n adjacent nozzles have the same spraying angle. Moreover, the printing is carried out in the multi-pass recording mode in which a dot row is printed by performing the main scanning C times. The amount of movement by the small line feed is (Axc3x97n+1) d and this is repeated (Cxc3x97Axe2x88x921) times, therefore, the total amount of movement by the small line feed is (Axc3x97n+1)xc3x97(Cxc3x97Axe2x88x921) d. As a result, the amount of movement by the large line feed is (Bxc3x97Axe2x88x92(Axc3x97n+1)(Cxc3x97Axe2x88x921)) d.
The printer can be one that operates in the single-pass recording mode or in the multi-pass recording mode, or one that can select either arbitrarily.
When adjacent nozzles spray ink simultaneously, a problem concerning crosstalk is caused, therefore, it is desirable to control so that adjacent nozzles are not driven simultaneously in the case of the multi-pass recording mode.
When plural dots are printed continuously also in the main scanning direction in the multi-pass recording mode, it is possible to randomly determine the dot positions to be printed in each time out of C times. In this way, the influence by the variations in the spraying direction of ink from the nozzle is made less conspicuous.


A lock fitting with at least two lock bolts for a sliding door, window, patio door or the like includes a sliding assembly which is mobile inside and in the longitudinal direction of a chamber of the section constituting the front upright of the door, window, patio door or the like. The sliding assembly comprises a first bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding first slot in the front wall of the chamber, receives the tail of a first bolt introduced from the outside of the chamber, if necessary in an adjustable manner. The sliding assembly is slidingly connected by an operating rod extending in the longitudinal direction of the section to at least one auxiliary bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding second slot in the front wall of the chamber, receives the tail of an auxiliary bolt, if necessary in an adjustable manner. The lock fitting includes at least one auxiliary cartridge which is introduced into the interior of the chamber of the section and fixed directly to the inside face of the front wall of the chamber by its front wall, which includes a slot similar to the corresponding second slot and bears on the inside face around the second slot. The auxiliary cartridge includes an interior cavity which receives the auxiliary bolt-carrier in sliding fashion, the interior cavity having on its inside surface and the auxiliary bolt-carrier having on its outside surface respective complementary conformations extending in the longitudinal direction and formed in the transverse direction of the front wall of the chamber of the section, which cooperate with each other to guide the auxiliary bolt-carrier in the longitudinal direction and to retain the bolt-carrier in the cavity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a lock fitting with at least two lock bolts for sliding doors, windows or the like.
The present invention is more particularly concerned with a fitting including a mobile assembly that slides longitudinally in a chamber of the section constituting the front upright of the window, door or the like and which comprises a bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding first slot in the front wall of said chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of a bolt inserted from the outside of said chamber, if necessary in an adjustable manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fixing to the lower end of the above assembly a rod adapted to inter-engage with a keeper on the section constituting the bottom cross-member on which the sliding window, door or the like slides is known per se. When the sliding assembly is slid downward to lock the window, door or the like by means of the bolt on the sliding assembly, the free end of the rod inter-engages with the corresponding keeper to complete the locking action.
However, the rod and the bolt can be released from their respective keeper merely by lifting the window, door or the like.
The demand for more secure sliding windows, doors or the like has lead to the need for lock fittings for sliding windows, doors or the like including at least two lock bolts.
This affects not only new installations, which have to be fitted with the required number of bolts at installation time, but also existing installations which are to be modernized by fitting them with auxiliary bolts in the most simple and economic fashion possible.
EP-A-0 757 146 describes a lock fitting of the aforementioned type in which the sliding assembly is slidingly connected by an operating rod extending in the longitudinal direction of the section to at least one auxiliary bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding second slot in the front wall of the chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of an auxiliary bolt, if necessary in an adjustable manner.
According to the above document, each auxiliary bolt is mounted on a support block mobile inside the chamber of the section and entrained by a rod that is also mobile inside the chamber of the section.
Each support block is held against the front wall of the chamber by a plate fixed to the wall by screws that pass through slots in the rod.
Each plate has a large slot through which the corresponding support block passes and in which it slides.
The slot formed in each plate to enable the support block to move considerably weakens the resistance of said plate to attempts to force the corresponding bolt.
What is more, all the components of the above lock must be introduced into the chamber at one end of the section, which is labor intensive and makes it difficult to fix the plates against the front wall of the chamber.
The aim of the present invention is to remedy the drawbacks of the prior art systems and to propose a lock fitting of the aforementioned type that is robust, reliable and economic and which can be fitted either when installing new equipment or when modernizing existing equipment of any kind, with minimum inconvenience and at the lowest cost.
The present invention consists in a lock fitting with at least two lock bolts for a sliding door, window, patio door or the like, the fitting including a sliding assembly which is mobile inside and in the longitudinal direction of a chamber of the section constituting the front upright of the door, window, patio door or the like and which comprises a first bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding first slot in the front wall of the chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of a first bolt introduced from the outside of the chamber, if necessary in an adjustable manner, the sliding assembly being slidingly connected by an operating rod extending in the longitudinal direction of the section to at least one auxiliary bolt-carrier the opening in which, facing a corresponding second slot in the front wall of the chamber, is adapted to receive the tail of an auxiliary bolt, if necessary in an adjustable manner, the lock fitting including at least one auxiliary cartridge adapted to be introduced into the interior of the chamber of the section and to be fixed directly to the inside face of the front wall of the chamber by its front wall which includes a slot similar to the corresponding second slot and which includes means for bearing on the inside face around the second slot, and said auxiliary cartridge including an interior cavity adapted to receive the auxiliary bolt-carrier in sliding fashion, the interior cavity having on its inside surface and the auxiliary bolt-carrier having on its outside surface respective complementary conformations extending in the longitudinal direction and formed in the transverse direction of the front wall of the chamber of the section adapted to cooperate with each other to guide the auxiliary bolt-carrier in the longitudinal direction and to retain the bolt-carrier in the cavity.
In this way, the auxiliary cartridge, which is fixed directly to the inside face of the front wall of the chamber, can easily be designed to withstand on its own account and to transmit to the front wall of the section under good conditions forces transmitted to the corresponding auxiliary bolt in the event of an attempt to force said bolt.
Also, the problems of fixing the auxiliary cartridge against the front wall of the chamber can be solved without taking the auxiliary bolt-carrier into account.
In parallel with this, the problems of guiding and retaining the auxiliary bolt-carrier in the cavity of the corresponding auxiliary cartridge can be solved without having to take account of the problems of fixing the auxiliary cartridge against the front wall.
In an advantageous version of the invention, the auxiliary cartridge includes a body having a substantially U-shaped cross section and surrounding the interior cavity, and a cover adapted to be fixed to the body so as substantially to close the interior cavity after introduction of the auxiliary bolt-carrier into the interior of the cavity.
Thus the auxiliary cartridge is prepared in advance and prefabricated, which limits the number of components that installers have to manipulate and fit on site when installing a sliding window, door or the like.
In an interesting version of the invention, the operating rod being adapted to be slidingly fixed outside and near the front wall of the chamber of the section, the front wall of the body adapted to be fixed against the inside face of the front wall of the chamber is opposite the cover and the cover has two internally screwthreaded bushes adapted to receive screws introduced from outside the chamber, through holes in the front wall of the chamber, to fix the body against the front wall of the chamber.
This is a very simple solution to the problem of fixing the auxiliary cartridge to the front wall of the chamber without having to take account of the conditions of entrainment of the auxiliary bolt and the corresponding bolt-carrier by the external rod.
In another beneficial version of the invention, the operating rod is adapted to be introduced into the interior of the chamber and extends parallel to the lateral walls of the chamber.
The auxiliary bolt-carrier is then in the general form of a flat elongate rod carrying projecting on one of its main faces a block of material in which is formed the opening of the auxiliary bolt-carrier, and the opening of the auxiliary bolt-carrier opens in front of a notch in at least one of the side walls of the body of the cartridge forming the front wall of the auxiliary cartridge.
In another aspect the invention consists in an auxiliary cartridge adapted to receive slidingly an auxiliary bolt-carrier itself adapted to receive an auxiliary bolt.
In accordance with the invention, the auxiliary cartridge is adapted to be fitted to a lock fitting constituting the first aspect of the invention.

Lock fitting with at least two lock bolts for sliding doors, windows or the like

Ferco International Ferrures et Serrures de Batiment


Collagen beads prepared by adding spherical droplets of an aqueous liquid of collagen to an aqueous solution of tannin. The collagen beads show a uniform grain size and have either a two-layered structure consisting of an aqueous liquid sustained inside a solidified outer surface or a completely solidified form.

Bead-type shaped articles produced by using biopolymers (for example, proteins, polysaccharides and the like) have been utilized as bead foods and as supports for immobilizing physiologically active substances.
As a bead-type food, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 79755/1976 proposes a process for producing a fish roe-like food which comprises gelatinizing cold-gelling and edible aqueous sol droplets (for example, gelatin) by cooling, further coating the gelatinized particles thus formed with a film-forming sol and contacting the same with a gelling agent to thereby form a gelatinized film layer. Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 11101/1970 proposes to provide gelatinized alginate particles by treating an alginate with a divalent metal ion which can be incorporated into the body of a living organism.
As a bead-type shaped article produced with the use of collagen, Japanese Patent Publication No. 1169/1989 describes a process for producing collagen beads which are usable as a support for immobilizing a physiologically active substance. This process comprises forming collagen spheres in an organic solvent which is hardly miscible or immiscible with water and then hardening the spheres.
However there has been developed no bead-type shaped collagen article which is applicable to foods.
In the conventional methods for producing collagen beads as described above, an aqueous liquid of a high concentration of a collagen material is employed and a hardly miscible or immiscible organic solvent is used during the production process. In general, many hardly miscible or immiscible organic solvents are harmful to human beings. Therefore, the production of beads with the use of such organic solvents suffers from problems of the contamination and remaining of the organic solvents in the beads. In the conventional methods, furthermore, aldehydes and metal salts such as chromium salts are used in order to harden or crosslink collagen. Therefore, the beads thus obtained are hardly applicable to foods.


Disclosed herein is an accelerometer and/or displacement device that uses a mass coupled to a rhomboidal flexure to provide compression to an optical sensing element preferably having a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The transducer includes a precompressed optical sensor disposed along a first axis between sides of the flexure. The top portion of the flexure connects to the mass which intersects the flexure along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. When the mass experiences a force due to acceleration or displacement, the flexure will expand or contract along the second axis, which respectively compresses or relieves the compression of the FBG in the optical sensing element along the first axis. Perturbing the force presented to the FBG changes its Bragg reflection wavelength, which is interrogated to quantify the dynamic or constant force. A temperature compensation scheme, including the use of additional fiber Bragg gratings and thermal compensators axially positioned to counteract thermal effects of the optical sensing element, is also disclosed.

Optical devices for the measurement of acceleration or displacement are known in the art. Such devices have utility in a number of different industrial applications, and specifically have utility in oil/gas applications such as seismology and well-deviation monitoring.
Typically, optical accelerometers or displacement devices operate through a connection of an optical element to a mass usually positioned inside of a housing. As a force acts on the mass, the mass moves within the housing, thereby imparting a stress to the optical element indicative of the force, be it a constant force like gravity, or a varying (dynamic) force as might be experienced in seismic detection. The optical element in such devices is typically an optical fiber, perhaps containing a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). A FBG, as is known, is a periodic or aperiodic variation in the effective refractive index of an optical waveguide, similar to that described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,725,110 and 4,807,950 entitled "Method For Impressing Gratings Within Fiber Optics," to Glenn et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,173, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Forming Aperiodic Gratings In Optical Fibers," to Glenn, which are incorporated by reference in their entireties. As the FBG is stressed by the force, the Bragg reflection wavelength of the FBG shifts accordingly, which may be interrogated to quantify the detected force. An example of such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,108, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Optical fiber accelerometers or displacement devices can also be interrogated by interferometric means. For example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/410,634, filed Oct. 1, 1999, and Ser. No. 10/068,266, filed Feb. 6, 2002, both of which are incorporated herein by reference, a coil of optical fiber is coupled to or around the mass. The length of this coil is bounded by FBGs, which essentially act as reflectors. By interferometrically assessing reflections from these FBGs, the length of the coil can be determined, which is indicative of the force experienced by the mass.
While these prior art approaches function well to measure acceleration (dynamic forces) or displacement (constant forces), they generally require that the optical element at issue (i.e., the FBG or coil) be pretensioned, as is it not desirable for the optical element to ever become "slack" against the mass during operation. Tensioning of the optical element can lead to shortened lifetimes of the device and raises general reliability concerns in some applications. Additionally, while interferometric interrogation is highly accurate to determine changes of length in optical waveguides, it also requires more extensive optical interrogation systems than does mere assessment of a Bragg wavelength shift from an FBG.
It is known that optical sensors are sensitive to temperature. For example, in an FBG based optical sensor, the FBG will expand or contract in response to increases or decreases in temperature in accordance with the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the (usually) quartz FBG element. Additionally, the index of refraction of the FBG (or other waveguide) will change with temperature. Changes in temperature will cause the spacing, Λ, of the grating in the FBG to expand or contract, and will also affect the index of refraction, both of which affects the Bragg reflection wavelength, λB, of the sensor. (As is known and as is explained in the incorporated references, λB ∝ 2neffΛ, where neff is the index of refraction of the core of the waveguide). These temperature-induced Bragg reflection wavelength shifts are preferably compensated for when measuring acceleration or displacement.
Accordingly, there is room for improvement in the art of optical accelerometers and/or displacement devices, and this disclosure provides an alternative approach to the prior art having significant advantages.

Optical accelerometer or displacement device using a flexure system


Methods and systems for observing/analyzing interactive behavior are presented. In one instance, the method for observing/analyzing interactive behavior includes interacting, using a robot, with a subject and obtaining data from interaction between the subject and the robot, the data from the data acquisition components, the data being used for diagnosis and/or charting progress. In one instance, the robot includes data acquisition components, interaction inducing components (such as, but not limited to, movable eyelids, movable appendages, sound generating components), a control component operatively connected to the interaction inducing components and a processing component operatively connected to the control component and the data acquisition components, the processing component being configured to obtain data from the data acquisition components, the data being used for diagnosis and/or charting progress. In one instance, the robot is integrated with a computer-aided system for diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy.

Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) are characterized by severe and pervasive impairment in several areas of development: reciprocal social interaction skills, communication or the presence of stereotyped behavior, interests, and activities. The qualitative impairments that define these conditions are distinctly deviant relative to the individual's developmental level or mental age. PDDs include Autistic Disorder, Rett's Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, and Pervasive Development Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities characterized by atypical development in socialization, communication and behavior. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that an average of 1 in 110 children in the U.S. has ASD (www.cdc.gov). A child classified as autistic must show delays in the development of: social interaction, communication and behaviors. Social interaction includes non-verbal behaviors such as eye contact or gaze, facial expression, body posturing and gestures that regulate social interaction. Children with ASD usually exhibit difficulty in responding appropriately to sensory messages.
Asperger's Syndrome differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development. It is much like autism in that those affected may have difficulty picking up on social cues, body language, and speech pitch and tone, and they may have difficulty overall with social situations. Other similarities include dislike of routine changes, fixation or hyper focus on specific interests, talking a lot and about only their own interests, and increased sensitivity of one or more of the five senses.
While there is currently no specific cure for Autism, there are biomedical, therapeutic and educational treatment plans to remediate the delayed development and ameliorate behaviors, Social interventions use structured and planned curricula to teach social behaviors to children with ASD. However, social interventions to date are limited in the extent to which they address socially coordinated interaction.
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) relies on one-on-one teaching that aims to modify the child's behavior by reinforcing the child to practice various skills. This type of program usually is done at the home of the child with an ABA therapist supervising. Because of these characteristics of the treatment, it can be exceptionally expensive, unaffordable by many families, and outside funding for such treatment can be very difficult to gain. Further, there are various levels of training and expertise in providing therapy. There is therefore a need to standardize level of care.
Treatments for ASD fall into two categories, cognitive and behavioral. The present embodiment of the invention is primarily for behavioral diagnosis and treatment therapy. Alternate embodiments or configurations of the invention may be utilized for cognitive therapy including academic exercises in addition to, or instead of, behavioral therapy.
Research has shown that early interventions can improve outcomes. Traditionally, autism is diagnosed by a clinician who directly interacts with the child. Due to the fact that the clinician cannot repeat the exact same actions each visit with the child and it takes several periods of interacting with the child to gain a diagnosis, the clinician could diagnose children differently each time. This present intention for diagnosis makes the tests more repeatable and accessible thus making the diagnosis more reliable. In an embodiment of the present invention, a low-cost portable robotic device may provide the ability expedite diagnosis in rural areas or other locations where direct access to clinicians is limited. A webcam may be used to telecommunicate between a doctor and children to improve the number of patients that can be assessed to speed diagnosis, this further enabling early intervention. The present invention may be used either for remote controlled interactions with manual assessment, or may be used to assist in automated or semi-automated diagnosis and therapy.
Technology is being used increasingly to help diagnose autism at earlier ages. Kozima et al. designed a 4 degree of freedom (DOT) interactive robot Keepon to interact with children with autism. This simple and adorable robot gave the children a playful and joyful mood and helped them to transfer the interpersonal communication learnt with Keepon to triadic play with adults or other children, Campolo et al. utilized sensors to detect abnormalities in infants targeting abnormalities that would point to autism. These sensors test the children's responsiveness to visual and audio cues, how they move their arms and legs, and how they handle and play with a ball.
Other authors investigated how a small minimally expressive humanoid robot can assume the role of a social mediator—encouraging children with autism to interact with the robot, to break their isolation and importantly, to facilitate interaction with other people. They demonstrate that the robot effectively helped to mediate and encourage interaction between the children and co-present adults.
The manifestation of PDDs such as autism spectrum disorder, the scarcity of evaluation of syndrome status, and the formidable high cost of clinical diagnosis necessitates the development of a low cost tool to aid the diagnosis and therapy of ASD for healthcare center, special education school and even home application.

System and method of pervasive developmental disorder interventions


The invention provides an organic/inorganic hybrid material with low optical loss at telecommunications wavelengths. Energy curable compositions of the present invention include condensed silica nanoparticles, a fluorinated silane coupling agent, an energy curable silane coupling agent, and a halogenated monomer or oligomer. Polymeric materials of the present invention include condensed silica nanoparticles having a mixture of organosilane coupling agents covalently bound to the exterior surface of the nanoparticles and a halogenated solid polymer matrix, wherein the mixture of organosilane coupling agents includes an at least partially fluorinated coupling agent, and a coupling agent covalently bound to the polymer matrix. The materials of the present invention are useful in making low-loss optical devices for telecommunications applications.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to curable organic-inorganic hybrid compositions having a low optical loss, methods of making and using such compositions, and polymeric materials and articles made from such compositions. The compositions of the present invention are useful in the field of fiber optic communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Very highly fluorinated polymeric materials have a low optical loss in the infrared, due to their low concentration of carbon-hydrogen, nitrogen-hydrogen, and oxygen-hydrogen bonds, all of which have a vibrational overtone absorption band around 1550 nm in wavelength. The common advantages of these materials are low optical loss, such as around 0.1-0.4 dB/cm at 1550 nm, and good thermal stability. While the highly fluorinated compositions can have a lower optical loss than the corresponding hydrogenated materials, they may also have a very low surface tension, poor compatibility with other materials, poor processability, poor wetting, and high shrinkage upon curing. Additionally, high fluorination also causes a significant depression in the refractive index of polymeric materials to a level down to below n=1.42 at 1550 nm.
Many efforts have been made to develop low optical loss organic-inorganic hybrid materials through the use of the sol-gel process. Although these hybrid materials are theoretically advantageous because of the optical clarity and hardness of the inorganic portion, the sol-gel process can result in materials with a high hydroxyl content. The hydroxide functional group has a strong vibrational overtone at around 1550 nm. Thus, in order to be useful in optical communications, sol-gel derived materials must be substantially dehydroxylated. However, the process of conventional dehydroxylation, requires a high temperature treatment and can damage the organic portion of the material, and can create cracking problems in films thicker than five microns and in monolithic materials. This cracking is due to high capillary pressure and the stress induced by shrinkage from the removal of water and alcohol through condensation reactions and evaporation. Further, the shrinkage of these materials makes them unsuitable for use in polymer microreplication processes. Another method for the incorporation of inorganics into processable polymer materials is the dispersion of silica or titantia particles prepared by the sol-gel process in fluorinated polyimide (ULTRADEL(copyright) 9020D) or polytetrafluoroethylene-derived (TEFLON(copyright)) organic polymers. One disadvantage of this method is the aggregation and/or agglomeration of particles due to the hydrophilicity of the surfaces of the particles.
One aspect of the present invention relates to an energy curable composition including condensed silica nanoparticles; an at least partially halogenated organosilane coupling agent; a halogenated energy curable monomer or oligomer; and an organosilane coupling agent containing an energy curable organic moiety.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to an energy curable composition including condensed silica nanoparticles; at least one coupling agent of the formula RfxRySiQ4xe2x88x92xxe2x88x92y wherein Rf is an at least partially fluorinated organic moiety bound to the silicon atom by a carbon atom, R is an organic moiety bound to the silicon atom by a carbon atom, Q is a hydrolyzable ligand selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, iodine, a C1 to about C10 alkoxy, and a C1 to about C10 acyloxy, x is 1, 2, or 3, y is 0, 1, or 2, and the sum of x and y is no greater than 3; at least one coupling agent of the formula RdxRySiQ4xe2x88x92xxe2x88x92y wherein Rd is an organic moiety having an energy curable functional group bound to the silicon atom by a carbon atom, R is an organic moiety bound to the silicon atom by a carbon atom, Q is a hydrolyzable ligand selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, iodine, a C1 to about C10 alkoxy, and a C1 to about C10 acyloxy, x is 1, 2, or 3, y is 0, 1, or 2, and the sum of x and y is no greater than 3; and at least one halogenated energy curable monomer or oligomer.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a polymeric material including condensed silica nanoparticles having a mixture of organosilane coupling agents covalently bound to the exterior surface of the nanoparticies and a halogenated solid polymer matrix, wherein the mixture of organosilane coupling agents includes an at least partially fluorinated coupling agent and a coupling agent covalently bound to the polymer matrix, and the condensed silica nanoparticles are homogeneously dispersed in the solid polymer matrix.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a planar optical device having a waveguide core and a waveguide cladding, wherein at least one of the waveguide core and waveguide cladding are made from the polymeric material of the present invention.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a thin film optical device having alternating layers of transparent materials with differing refractive indices, wherein at least one of the materials is the polymeric material of the present invention.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a monolithic optical element including the polymeric material of the present invention
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a process for making an energy curable composition by reacting condensed silica nanoparticles with a mixture of an at least partially fluorinated organosilane coupling agent and an organosilane coupling agent containing an energy curable organic moiety to yield nanoparticles with the mixture of the coupling agents covalently bound to the surface of the nanoparticles; and dispersing the nanoparticles so formed in at least one halogenated energy curable monomer or oligomer.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a process for making a polymeric material by reacting condensed silica nanoparticles with a mixture of an at least partially fluorinated organosilane coupling agent and an organosilane coupling agent containing an energy curable organic moiety to yield nanoparticles with the mixture of the coupling agents covalently bound to the surface of the nanoparticles; dispersing the nanoparticles so formed in at least one halogenated energy curable monomer or oligomer; and curing the composition so formed with a source of energy.
Another aspect of the present invention is a process for making an article of manufacture comprising the steps of reacting condensed silica nanoparticles with an at least partially fluorinated organosilane coupling agent and an organosilane coupling agent containing an energy curable organic moiety to yield nanoparticles with the coupling agent or agents bound to the surface of the nanoparticles; dispersing the mixture so formed in at least one halogenated energy curable monomer or oligomer; contacting the composition so formed with a mold surface; curing the composition in contact with the mold with a source of energy; and removing the article so formed from the mold surface.
The materials of the present invention have a low optical loss in the infrared, less than 1.0 dB/cm at 1550 nm, making them suitable for use in devices for optical communication. Low shrinkage upon cure is observed, and low coefficient of thermal expansion, low thermo-optic coefficient and low birefringence of the polymeric material are expected due to the high inorganic content of these materials. The materials of the present invention may be formulated to have higher refractive indices than their wholly organic counterparts due to the higher refractive indices of the inorganic constituents. The energy curable composition has good wettability, and the polymeric material has good release characteristics from nickel microreplication tools as well as good adhesion to silaceous substrates such as glass, silica, and silicon, making the materials of this invention well suited for use in polymer microreplication processes.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, and in part will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the written description or recognized by practicing the invention as described in the written description and claims hereof, as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are merely exemplary of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview or framework to understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed:
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate one or more embodiment(s) of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention.


A controlled release dosage form containing monomethyl fumarate, a compound that can be metabolized into monomethyl fumarate in vivo, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or combinations thereof, wherein the monomethyl fumarate, a compound that can be metabolized into monomethyl fumarate in vivo, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or combinations thereof is delivered to the subject. Also provided is a method of treating a disease or disorder (e.g., multiple sclerosis) by orally administering a controlled release dosage form containing monomethyl fumarate, a compound that can be metabolized into monomethyl fumarate in vivo, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or combinations thereof, wherein the monomethyl fumarate, a compound that can be metabolized into monomethyl fumarate in vivo, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or combinations thereof.

TECFIDERA™ has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). TECFIDERA™ contains dimethyl fumarate (DMF), which has the following structure:

The starting dose for TECFIDERA™ is 120 mg twice a day orally. After 7 days, the dose is to be increased to the maintenance dose of 240 mg twice a day orally. TECFIDERA™ can be taken with or without food.
There is currently no FDA approved once a day dosing regimen, i.e., QD dosing, for DMF. One objective of the present invention is to develop a formulation (e.g., a unit dosage form) that is suitable for once a day dosing.

Controlled release dosage form for once daily administration of dimethyl fumarate


Methods are provided for administering pirfenidone to a patient that has exhibited abnormal biomarkers of liver function in response to pirfenidone administration. The methods include administering to a patient pirfenidone at doses lower than the full target dosage for a time period, followed by administering to the patient pirfenidone at the full target dosage. The methods also include administering pirfenidone at the full target dose with no reduction and administering permanently reduced doses of pirfenidone.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to methods for reducing adverse effects associated with the treatment of diseases and disorders. More particularly, the disclosure relates to methods for reducing abnormal liver function associated with 5-methyl-1-phenyl-2-(1H)-pyridone ("pirfenidone") therapy.
2. Brief Description of Related Technology
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,974,281, 4,042,699, and 4,052,509 generally relate to pirfenidone administration. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,310,562, 5,518,729, and 5,716,632, all to Margolin and incorporated by reference herein, relate to pirfenidone administration.
Pulmonary fibrosis can be caused by a number of different conditions, including sarcoidosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, collagen vascular disease, and inhalant exposure. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a distinct entity, characterized by breathing difficulty, radiographic abnormalities, and progressive loss of lung function. It is invariably progressive, and carries a grave prognosis with a median life expectancy of 2-3 years.
Pirfenidone has been administered to IPF patients. In a compassionate-use study, Raghu et al. ("Treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with a new antifibrotic agent, pirfenidone: results of a prospective, open-label phase II study." Am J Respir Crit Care Med 159:1061-1069, 1999) reported administration of pirfenidone. No adverse events in hematology or blood chemistry were noted.
Nagai et al. conducted an uncontrolled, open-label study of pirfenidone in patients ("Open label compassionate use one year-treatment with pirfenidone to patients with chronic pulmonary fibrosis." Internal Medicine 41:1118-1123, 2002). During treatment, no liver dysfunctions, hematologic abnormalities, or allergic or shock reactions were reported.
Moises et al. "A double-blind, multicenter study comparing pirfenidone and prednisone for moderate-to-severe pulmonary fibrosis." Chest 124:116S, 2003 reported administration of pirfenidone.
Azuma et al. "Double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of pirfenidone in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis." Am J Respir Crit Care Med 171:1040-1047, 2005) describes administration of pirfenidone to a maximum of 1800 mg/day of pirfenidone, and reports a protocol for stepwise reduction and rechallenge with drug after an adverse event.
Abnormal liver function may manifest as abnormalities in levels of biomarkers of liver function, including alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, bilirubin, and/or alkaline phosphatase, and may be an indicator of drug-induced liver injury. See FDA Draft Guidance for Industry. Drug-Induced Liver Injury: Premarketing Clinical Evaluation, October 2007.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pirfenidone treatment for patients with atypical liver function


A bracket having a base having a mounting plate with upstanding flanges on opposite sides. The flanges each include an upper notch and a lower notch oppositely located therefrom. The lower notches are adapted for receiving a second member. An adapter has a second mounting plate and upstanding flanges extending from opposite sides of the second mounting plate. The flanges carry the first and second members. The first member is biased laterally by a spring to a fully outward position. The first member is movable between the fully outward position and an inward position. The second member is fixed laterally with respect to the flanges on the adapter. The upper and lower notches are positioned so their respective openings are closer than the outermost portions of the first and second members when the first member is in its fully outward position.

Mounting a flat panel television to a wall is often cumbersome due to awkward mounting hardware. There are presently many types of mounting brackets that can affix a television directly to a wall, however these often have a rather thick profile that offsets the television significantly from the wall because of the hardware between the television and the wall. Ideally, the profile of the mounting hardware would be relatively thin. One of the difficulties in making the mounting hardware thin is the fact that screws have to be driven both into the wall that will hold the television and into the television itself. Swing arm style mounts allow access to both, but large awkward pieces must be held against the wall during the process. There is a need for a more simple flat panel television mounting system.


A picture viewer having an enclosure including a housing or frame and a slider movable in the housing, the frame and slider defining a compartment for a pile of pictures, a separator bar or pile transporter in the enclosure, an individual picture transporter accomplishing loosening of an individual picture from the pile and transporting the individual picture away from the pile, the loosening being accomplished by surface retentive means engaging the face of the individual picture at an end of the pile, such retentive means taking any of a number of different forms including forms which adhere, apply suction, are magnetically or electrostatically attractive, or otherwise retentively related to the face of the individual picture, the surface retentive means, in several forms of the invention, accomplishing the transporting function as well as loosening function, and in other forms of the invention the transporting being accomplished by separate transporting devices.

Such devices have been known for many decades (German Patent Specification No. 179 675, German Patent Specification No. 224 700, German Patent Specification No. 873 908). They are all based on the following principle.
In a shallow housing having a viewing window which may, if desired, be covered by a transparent plate, there is a pile of pictures, the uppermost one of which is exposed to view through the viewing window and is supported at its edges. A pressure arrangement using a spring holds the pile pressed up against the window or the frame thereof. Laterally, the housing has an aperture through which a slider member may be pulled; the withdrawal movement of the slider member is limited by stops. Near to the housing aperture there is a member referred to here and hereinafter as a separator which extends the width of the aperture and which at the top and the bottom leaves clear a narrow slot for a picture to pass through. When the slider member is pulled out, the uppermost picture is pulled away through the upper slot by a hook-like transporter, the remainder of the pile being held back by the separator, and during the return movement of the slider member the picture is pushed through the bottom slot under the pile again or, more accurately speaking, between the pressure arrangement and the bottom-most picture of the pile. The second uppermost picture is now in front of the viewing window and the process can be repeated as often as desired.
This principle is extremely useful for perfectly flat thick plates, as mentioned in the first-named publications, because the transporter hook then engages sufficiently deeply on the edge of the plate and does not slip off. But with paper pictures, for instance photographic prints, having a thickness, for example of 1/4 mm or even less, there is a high probability that the hook, which itself must have a depth of penetration that is less than the smallest picture thickness, will slip off the edge of the picture or will not grip it at all, especially when the pictures have edges trimmed at an angle or if they are curved or distorted. The hook slipping off may lead to the hook scratching over the viewing side of the picture and damaging it. Furthermore, even when the carrier material of the picture is pliant, the hook will in the course of time wear down its clear-cut edge and will then be even less able to grip; in addition, the pliant picture carriers become deformed, twisted and possibly even torn at the side at which the hook engages, with the result that the device then no longer functions at all with these pictures.
It is an advantage in this design that the overall depth in the direction of the pile thickness is relatively small.
With a stereo viewer according to German Patent Specification No. 864,759, a picture is removed from a pile by means of a roller turned by hand and is conveyed beneath the pile again by means of a second roller. Admittedly, damage to the picture is here avoided, but the overall depth of the viewer is inevitably very much greater than in the case of the slider member design.


Pickup coils which generate vehicle wheel speed signals which include vibration frequency components of tires during vehicle cruising are provided. An electronic control unit extracts resonance frequencies of tires from the vehicle wheel speed signals and estimates tire pneumatic pressure based on the extracted resonance frequencies. When an estimated vehicle wheel pneumatic pressure falls below a predetermined critical pneumatic pressure, pneumatic pressure decline warnings are generated and displayed by a display unit. An update switch is provided and when this update switch is turned on when replacing tires, the electronic control unit adjusts and sets the value of the critical pneumatic pressure described above based on the resonance frequency extracted during this time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tire pneumatic pressure detector. More specifically, the present invention relates to a tire pneumatic pressure detector used for generating warnings or the like after detecting a decline in the tire pneumatic pressure.
2. Description of Related Art
Using the fact that tire radius changes according to pneumatic pressure, one known conventional method of detecting tire pneumatic pressure in real-time predicts tire pneumatic pressure by detecting different vehicle wheel speeds at the same vehicle speed. However, there are great differences in tire radii due to wear and tear, and tire radius is readily affected by such vehicle cruising states like turning or braking. Also, with radial tires or the like which have been in remarkably widespread use in recent years, the tire radius changes only by a minute amount, e.g., 1 mm, even if the pneumatic pressure decreases by 1 kg/cm.sup.2, and thus, for this reason accurate prediction of the pneumatic pressure from the change in the tire radius is difficult.
Accordingly, focusing on the fact that spring vibration frequency components include tire resonance frequency (caused by tire torsion vibration and coupled vibration of the front and back springs of suspensions), the inventors have previously proposed an apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 6-238920 which predicts tire pneumatic pressure from the resonance frequency or spring constant.
While the above proposed apparatus predicts tire pneumatic pressure more accurately than the conventional method based on tire radius, this method can be further improved.
There is room for improvement because the resonance frequency of the suspension system changes if the tires or wheels are replaced even for the same tire pneumatic pressure, and as a result, errors occur in the detection of pneumatic pressure and false warnings of abnormal pneumatic pressure are generated.
It must be noted here that abnormal pneumatic pressure refers to that state of tire pneumatic pressure that affects tire and vehicular functions such as contact of the tire with the ground, tire life, fuel consumption and the like.


A clutch assembly, including: a hub including a first radially disposed portion with a plurality of circumferentially aligned slots passing though the first radially disposed portion; and a ring gear carrier including a plurality of protrusions disposed in the plurality of circumferentially aligned slots and in compressive engagement with the hub to fixedly connect the hub to the carrier. Each slot in the plurality of circumferentially aligned slots extends further in a circumferential direction than in a radial direction. Each protrusion in the plurality of protrusions extends further in the circumferential direction than in the radial direction.

It is known to join a carrier and a hub for a transmission clutch assembly using welding, for example as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,056. However, welding is costly and can result in heat distortion of parts and contamination from splatter. It also is known to join a carrier and a hub for a transmission clutch using a spline and snap ring arrangement, for example as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,337. However, this arrangement increases the complexity of the assembly and requires an undesirable increase in the axial extent of the assembly.

Clutch assembly with a tab rivet connection and method thereof


The present invention relates to the use of garcinol as a nephroprotective agent. The present invention also relates to the use of garcinol as a therapeutic agent in renal disorders, in particular diabetic nephropathy, and to medicinal preparations containing garcinol. Further disclosed herein are method of treatment of renal disorders, in particular diabetic nephropathy by administration of garcinol.

Renal/kidney disorders involve an alteration in the normal physiology and function of the kidney. Renal disorders can result from a wide range of acute and chronic conditions and events, including physical, chemical, or biological injury, trauma, disease such as, for example, hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure, lupus, sickle cell anemia, and various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, HIV-associated nephropathies, etc. Renal/kidney disorders can lead to reduced kidney function, hypertension, and renal failure, seriously compromising quality of life, sometimes requiring dialysis and in certain circumstances, kidney transplantation.
Diabetes characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, is a disease as old as mankind. The number of people globally with diabetes mellitus is projected to rise to 439 million by 2030 (Chen et al., 2011). If incidence rates remain the same, the number of youth with type 2 diabetes in the U.S. is projected to increase by a staggering 49 percent over the next 40 years, while the number with type 1 is expected to climb 23 percent, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the December issue of the year 2012 of Diabetes Care. However, if incidence increases, the number of youth with type 2 could quadruple and the number with type 1 could triple by 2050. Chronic hyperglycemia leads to secondary complications that are more dangerous than hyperglycemia and hence demands constant medical attention and care.
Diabetic nephropathy is a progressive kidney disease caused by angiopathy of capillaries in the kidney glomeruli. It is characterized by nodular glomerulosclerosis due to longstanding diabetes and is a prime cause for dialysis. The syndrome can be seen in patients with chronic diabetes. The disease is progressive and may cause death two or three years after the initial lesions.
Diabetic nephropathy is the most common cause of chronic kidney failure and end-stage kidney disease. People with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are at risk. The risk is higher if blood-glucose levels are poorly controlled. However, once nephropathy develops, the greatest rate of progression is seen in patients with poor control of their blood pressure.
With increasing incidence of diabetes mellitus in rural population throughout the world and due to adverse effects of synthetic medicine, there is an urgent need for development of indigenous, inexpensive botanical sources for anti-diabetic crude or purified drugs.
Garcinia indica, is found in Guttiferae plants native to India and South East Asia. Its extract has been used as a food ingredient, cosmetic constituent, as well as a traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammation and other disorders. Its extract is also considered to be used to treat abdominal ailments. Decoction of the fruit of Garcinia indica has also been used in treatment of diabetes. Oral administration of Garcinia indica rind extract to streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats has been shown to be effective in decreasing both fasting and postprandial blood glucose.
Garcinol, a polyisoprenylated benzophenone derivative, is one of the major phyto-constituents obtained from a methanolic or hexane extract of rind from Garcinia indica. Garcinol is a potent antioxidant and anticancer agent among its other biological effects. Its structure makes it a very efficient scavenger of oxygen free radicals and an excellent inhibitor of nitric oxide. Also, in vitro studies (Baliga M, Bhat H P, Pai R J, Boloor R, Palatty P L. The chemistry and medicinal uses of the underutilized Indian fruit tree Garcinia indica Choisy (kokum): A review. Food Res Intl. 2011; 4: 1790-1799) have shown that garcinol suppressed the protein glycation in the bovine serum albumin/fructose system.

Effect of garcinol in delaying the progression of diabetic nephropathy

Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research


An electronic engine control unit for a motorcycle or other two-wheeled vehicle gradually decreases engine torque at the time of a failure so as to eliminate an uneasy feeling that an operator might experience if the engine torque were to be reduced abruptly. When a failure is detected, a throttle valve is closed gradually by initially closing the valve quickly and then slowly closing the valve so as to obtain a smooth decrease in engine torque. In addition, the ignition timing is changed gradually toward retardation to gradually decrease engine torque. Alternatively, the ignition pulses to the cylinders are thinned out gradually to cause a gradual decrease in engine torque. As a further alternative in the case of a multi-cylinder engine, the ignition pulses are stopped on a cylinder-by-cylinder basis to cause a gradual decrease in engine torque.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic control device for controlling an engine, and is suited particularly for controlling a fuel-injected engine to provide a safe engine shutdown procedure in response to a failure or an error in an engine management system or a vehicle sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two-wheeled vehicles (e.g., motorcycles) typically incorporate internal combustion engines to provide power to propel the two-wheeled vehicles in a variety of popular applications. In addition, the engines in two-wheeled vehicles incorporate sophisticated engine management systems to ensure maximum performance, increased fuel economy, and cleaner exhaust emissions. Various sensors within the engine management systems are used to measure conditions to provide requested engine torques efficiently.
Due to varying vehicle environments, engine management sensors can experience errors and malfunctions. Many engine management systems have duplicate sensors to ensure reliability. In addition, some engine management systems can abruptly reduce engine torque if sensors fail, to thereby provide operators with "caution" modes of operation on effectively less powerful vehicles.


A tire cord and a tire, wherein the tire cord comprises three inner steel monofilaments (FC) having a smaller diameter (dc) and seven outer steel monofilaments (FB) having a larger diameter (db), both the diameters (dc) and (db) being in the range of 0.15 to 0.28 mm, the inner and outer steel monofilaments being twisted in the same direction but at different pitches, and an average gap of at least 0.03 mm is provided between the adjacent outer steel monofilaments. The tire is provided with the cords as reinforcements, e.g. carcass cords, belt cords and the like.

The present invention relates to a cord for used as reinforcements or a tire, e.g. carcass cords, belt cords and the like, and a tire including the cords.
In tires for trucks and buses and tires for commercial vehicles, in particular as the tread reinforcements thereof, steel cords having a 1.times.12 structure shown in FIG. 6, a 3+6 structure shown in FIG. 5 or a 3+9 structure shown in FIG. 4 are usually used.
In the 3+6 structure, three inner filaments (FC) are twisted in a direction, and six outer filaments (FB) are twisted in the reverse direction to the twisting direction of the three inner filaments (FC). That is, if the outer filaments (FB) are in S-direction, the inner filaments (FC) are in Z-direction, or vice versa.
In the 1.times.12 structure, however, penetration of its topping rubber into the cord is less, and a separation failure from the rubber is liable to occur.
In the 3+9 structure, also penetration of its topping rubber into the cord is less, and the adhesion of the cord with the rubber is poor.
In the 3+6 structure, if a strength required under heavy duty use is provided, the cord diameter inevitably increases, and the tire weight is also inevitably increased.
Further, in the 3+9 structure and 3+6 structure, when the steel cord is used as pull-resistant members, e.g. belt cords and the tire is subjected to a severe service condition, such as a high pressure, heavy load and high speed, the steel filaments are liable to be fretted, and the cord is finally broken.


A rotor for a rotary electric machine includes a plurality of magnetic poles in a rotor core, a side barrier as a magnetic air gap, an air gap section as a magnetic air gap. Each of the plurality of magnetic poles includes a magnet insertion hole, a permanent magnet. The side barrier is provided at a portion adjacent to a circumferential end face of the permanent magnet and includes a projection barrier portion projecting radially outwardly from an extension line extending from an outer peripheral surface of the permanent magnet. The air gap section is provided at an area which is spaced apart from the projection barrier portion and the magnet insertion hole and faces a peripheral edge of a circumferentially central side of the magnetic pole with respect to the projection barrier portion and a circumferential end of the outer peripheral surface of the permanent magnet.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a rotor for a rotary electric machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known conventional rotor used for a rotary electric machine includes a plurality of magnetic poles which are circumferentially disposed inside a rotor core at predetermined intervals (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-278896).
As illustrated in FIG. 16, in the rotor 110 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-278896, outer peripheral portions of circumferential end faces of a permanent magnet 112 of a rotor core 111 are provided with radial flux barriers (magnetic flux blocking sections) 113, 114, respectively. In addition, radially outer ends of the flux barrier 113, 114 are provided with projection 113a, 114a, and the space 100L between the flux barriers 113 and 114 is shorter than the width 100W of the permanent magnet 112. Furthermore, iron cores 115 are provided between the permanent magnet 112 and the projections 113a, 114a of the flux barriers 113, 114.
This configuration is intended to reduce occurrence of a magnetic flux short circuit of the permanent magnet 112 and to optimize distribution of the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet 112 so as to improve the rotor torque.


There is disclosed a system and method for measuring arterial and venous blood pulse waveforms (BPWs) of a subject utilizing photoplethysmography (PPG). In an embodiment, the system and method comprises: providing a plurality of virtual sensors positioned to cover a desired field-of-view of the subject, each virtual sensor adapted to detect and measure a BPW signal from an area of the subject's body and provide a BPW signal output; processing the BPW signal outputs of the plurality of virtual sensors to compare the BPWs at multiple areas of the subject's body to perform spatial perfusion analysis; and displaying at least one aggregate output based on the spatial perfusion analysis. At least one aggregate output may include a visualization of one or more perfusion patterns overlaid on a photographic image of the subject, and aggregate statistics including subject heart rate and breathing rate. The system and method may use a signal from one of the virtual sensors as a reference waveform for cardiovascular monitoring in the generation of parametric maps for assessing BPW characteristics at various parts of the body simultaneously. The system and method may also include a contact photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor, which is connected to the DSP and provides a BPW as a reference waveform for improved cardiovascular monitoring in the generation of parametric maps for assessing BPW characteristics at various parts of the body simultaneously.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a technique that has been used since the 1930s for assessing cardiovascular function [1]. Its use has become widespread in hospitals due to its relatively low cost and ease of use. In its simplest form, it consists of two primary components: a light source and a light detector. The light source illuminates the tissue with constant optical power, and the light detector detects the amount of light transmitted through the tissue. The light output fluctuates with each blood pulse resulting from a cardiac cycle, resulting in the extraction of a blood pulse waveform or BPW.
PPG devices rely on the properties of light-tissue interaction. Light that penetrates the surface of the skin interacts with the underlying tissues in two primary ways: scattering and absorption. When perfectly reflected and scattered by a molecule, a photon of light changes direction and possibly polarization, but retains its original energy level. Alternatively, a photon of light may be absorbed by certain types of molecules called "chromophores" (such as hemoglobin and melanin), resulting in a fewer number of photons being re-emitted. Chromophores are thus characterized by spectral absorption profiles called "extinction coefficients". As an illustrative example, when the heart enters systole during a cardiac cycle, blood is pumped through the arterial system, causing a transient increase in blood volume at the traveling area of the pulse. This change in blood volume modifies the temporal illumination profile passing through the vasculature, resulting in a BPW that is displayed on PPG monitors.
The first known PPG imaging (PPGI) system was proposed in 2002 by M. Hulsbusch and V. Blazek [2] using a cooled near infrared CCD camera to assess wound healing. The authors used a wavelet transform to show noisy pulsatile components around an ulcer wound. They further demonstrated preliminary results using transmittance through a fingertip. However, their setup was expensive, did not produce real-time analysis, and produced noisy BPW signals.
In 2005, Wieringa et al. published a PPGI system and method for extracting blood pulse oxygen levels [3]. Their PPGI system was controlled and synchronized to an ECG and finger cuff using a footswitch and in-frame background light. They used a combination of a modified camera (since obsolete), and 300 LED ring light of wavelength 660 nm, 810 nm, and 940 nm. Regions of 10×10 pixels were averaged to reduce noise. Their low frame rates limited the real-time applicability. This experiment, like many others, was assessed in darkroom settings, void of ambient light. The "relative spectral power" map was calculated with a hardcoded heart rate, and limited to the hand/wrist region of a subject.
In 2007, Humphreys et al. published a PPGI system that extended on Wieringa's [4]. An 8×8 LED grid separate from the camera was used to illuminate the skin. Synchronization was done using electronic switches. Like Wieringa's system, a background light was used for synchronization. However, the results were restricted to forearm measurements of heart rate and blood oxygen metrics only.
Since these initial studies, there have been other PPGI systems proposed. However, most of these systems are restricted to measuring heart rate [15] over either the hand/wrist area [5] or the face [6] [7] [8], and many rely on limited methods for reducing noise, such as windowed averaging [9] [10]. Moreover, many are validated only in darkroom settings [11] [5] [7], which limit their applicability in real-world, clinical environments where darkroom settings may be difficult to establish.
More recently, Kamshilin et al. [12] used two identical green LEDs and a camera along with a synthetic BPW to construct a visualization of pixel-by-pixel perfusion and pulsing. However, once again, their findings were restricted to constrained environments of hand/wrist imaging, and the method required prerequisite knowledge of the heart rate, and could not detect heart rate automatically. What is needed is an improved system and method for spatial cardiovascular monitoring that overcomes at least some of the above described limitations in the prior art.

System and method for spatial cardiovascular monitoring


A method of fabricating a semiconducting device is disclosed. A carbon nanotube is formed on a substrate. A portion of the substrate is removed to form a recess below a section of the carbon nanotube. A doped material is applied in the recess to fabricate the semiconducting device. The recess may be between one or more contacts formed on the substrate separated by a gap.

The present disclosure relates to semiconductor devices and, in particular, to carbon nanotube transistors and methods of manufacturing carbon nanotube transistors.
Carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT FETs) can provide low-voltage performance with channel lengths scaled into the sub-10 nanometer (nm) regime. A self-aligned gate structure is used for CNT FETs in highly integrated digital applications. When considering a CNT FET for such applications, it is useful to get the voltage required to switch between ON and OFF states as low as possible. Decreasing this operating voltage improves the quality and applicability of the CNT FET for such applications.

Gate-all-around carbon nanotube transistor with selectively doped spacers

International Business Machines Corporation