Embodiments relate to novel vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV-related diseases, including multiple types of cancers. The HPV vaccines are composed of anti-human dendritic cell (DC) surface receptor antibodies, including CD40, and E6/7 proteins of HPV 16 and 18. The technology described is not limited to making vaccines against HPV16- and HPV18-related diseases and can be applied to making vaccines carrying E6/7 from any type of HPV. The HPV vaccines described can target DCs, major and professional antigen presenting cells (APCs), and can induce and activate potent HPV E6/7-specific and strong CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses. The HPV vaccines can be used for the prevention of HPV infection and HPV-related diseases as well as for the treatment of HPV-related diseases, including cancers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of medicine. More particularly, it concerns new and novel vaccines against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and HPV-related diseases, including multiple types of cancers.
2. Description of Related Art
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually-transmitted pathogens. Current HPV prophylactic vaccine have shown significant clinical efficacy in the prevention of HPV infection, but it exhibits no efficacy in the treatment of infected patients and HPV-related cancers. HPV infection causes virtually all cervical cancers, and many anal, vaginal, vulvar, penile, and oropharyngeal (throat) cancers. Thus, the development of safe and effective vaccines for patients who are infected with HPV and have HPV-related cancers are in high demand. HPV infection also causes HIV-related malignancy and cancers.
Current HPV vaccines are recombinant virus-like particles made of capsid (L1) proteins of HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18. These vaccines can elicit strong antibody responses and thus can prevent HPV infection. To suppress viral replication and to eradicate HPV-related cancers, vaccines need to evoke strong T cell responses, particularly cytotoxic CD8+ lymphocytes (CTLs) that can kill virus-infected cells followed by the inhibition of HPV replication as well as HPV-related tumor cells.
Several types of vaccine models (including peptides, proteins, and DNA-based vaccines and vaccines carried by live-attenuated vectors) have been tested, but these vaccines have drawbacks either in efficacy or safety particularly in immunodeficient patients. This gap necessitates developing safe and potent immunotherapeutic vaccines against HPV-associated cancer.
A wealth of evidence has led to the conclusion that virtually all cases of cervical cancer are attributable to persistent infection by a subset of HPV types, especially HPV type 16 (HPV 16) and HPV type 18 (HPV 18). These HPV types also cause a proportion of other cancers of mucosa, including vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile, and oropharyngeal cancers. HPV 16 is the predominant type in squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, and HPV 18 is the second most common type with prevalence ranging from 12.6% in Central/South America to 25.7% in South Asia. In addition, HPV 18 has been implicated in rapidly developing and potentially more aggressive cervical carcinomas. However, subclinical infections are the most common manifestation of HPV infection. Different studies reported between 15% and 36% of subclinical infections in sexually active adults.

Vaccines against HPV and HPV-related diseases


A new and improved lawn sprinkler apparatus includes a portable, nonrotating body assembly which includes an adaptor assembly for connecting to a water source. The body assembly includes an internal water flow path. A rotatable sprinkler head assembly receives water from the water flow path and dispenses water through a plurality of water nozzles supported by the rotatable sprinkler head assembly. A rotatable, water-tight connection assembly connects the rotatable sprinkler head assembly to the water flow path of the body assembly. A rotatable decorative assembly is connected to the body assembly. The decorative assembly includes a paddle wheel which is driven by water flowing in the water flow path. The body assembly simulates a helicopter body; the rotatable sprinkler head assembly simulates a main helicopter rotor; and the decorative assembly simulates a helicopter tail rotor. A fertilizer containment chamber assembly is supported by and is contained within the body assembly and is placed in-line with the water flow path. The rotatable, water-tight connection assembly includes a stationary sealing surface connected to the body assembly and includes a rotatable sealing surface connected to the rotatable sprinkler head assembly. A simulated helicopter ground-contacting assembly is connected to a bottom side of the body assembly for supporting the body assembly on a ground. A ground-penetrating spike is connected to the body assembly for penetrating into a portion of ground for preventing the body assembly from moving along the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lawn watering devices and, more particularly, to a lawn sprinkler device that includes rotating sprinkler heads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To water a lawn a number of options are possible, and a very popular technique involves the use of sprinkler devices which employ rotating sprinkler heads. The rotating sprinkler heads water a circular portion of the lawn with the rotating sprinkler heads at the center of the circle. Aside from watering, sprinkler devices are often also used for distributing water soluble fertilizer along with the water.
Throughout the years, a number of innovations have been developed relating to lawn sprinklers, and the following U.S. Pat. Nos. are representative of some of those innovations: 4,033,509; 4,870,991; 5,031,838; 5,096,123; and 5,111,993. More specifically, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,033,509, 4,870,991, and 5,096,123 disclose lawn sprinkler devices that both water a lawn and spread a water soluble fertilizer dissolved in the water. U.S. Patent Nos. 5,031,838 and 5,111,993 disclose other lawn sprinkler devices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,993 is of special interest for its disclosure of a lawn sprinkler that is in the form of a fire hydrant.
The patents cited above, except for U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,993, disclose sprinkler devices that are purely utilitarian in design and construction. Since a lawn sprinkler is dearly visible to neighbors and passers by when placed on a lawn, it would be desirable if a lawn sprinkler device had both utilitarian and decorative features. Such a lawn sprinkler is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,993 which discloses a simulated fire hydrant. Although the fire hydrant lawn sprinkler has decorative features and may be moved to different lawn locations, a real fire hydrant is a substantially static and stationary structure. Such a substantially static and stationary structure may be deemed to be an uninteresting decoration. In this respect, it would be desirable if a lawn sprinkler device were provided which simulated a moving object.
Generally, with lawn sprinklers that have rotating sprinkler heads, the rotating sprinkler heads are the only portions of the lawn sprinkler that visibly rotate. In this respect, it would be desirable if a lawn sprinkler device were provided which had rotating ornamental elements that rotated in conjunction with the rotating sprinkler heads.
Not only would it be desirable for a lawn sprinkler to have rotating ornamental portions that rotated in conjunction with the rotating sprinkler heads, it would also be desirable if the rotating sprinkler heads and the rotating ornamental elements formed part of the same simulated device.
In lawn sprinklers having rotating sprinkler heads, water pressure from a water source is what drives the rotating heads. More specifically, water exits from one side of a rotating head. Equal and opposite reaction forces cause the rotating head to rotate in a direction opposite to the direction of water exit. The flow of pressurized water can also be used to rotate a decorative rotating element without using reactive forces to water emission. That is, the rotating decorative element can be caused to rotate by forces generated by internal water flow.
When a lawn sprinkler is placed on a lawn, it is desirable that the sprinkler remain in the location that it is placed. However, a number of factors may tend to cause the lawn sprinkler to move or shift. One factor is the wind. Another factor is the reactive forces of the water flowing from the rotating sprinkler arms. In this respect, it would be desirable if a lawn sprinkler device were provided with features that assured that the device remained in a particular position on the lawn on which the device is placed.
In a lawn sprinkler device that also dispenses a water soluble lawn fertilizer, it would be desirable for the device to be readily filled with the fertilizer. Moreover, to assure complete dispersal of the fertilizer, it would be desirable for a fertilizer receiving chamber to be in-line with the path of water flow in the lawn sprinkler device.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use rotating lawn sprinklers, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a rotating lawn sprinkler apparatus which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) has both utilitarian and decorative features; (2) simulates a moving object; (3) has rotating ornamental elements that rotate in conjunction with rotating sprinkler heads; (4) has rotating sprinkler heads and rotating ornamental elements which form parts of the same simulated device; (5) has a rotating decorative element which is caused to rotate by forces generated by internal water flow; (6) is provided with features that assure that the device remains in a particular position on the lawn on which the device is placed; (7) is readily filled with fertilizer; and (8) has a fertilizer receiving chamber which is in-line with the path of water flow in the lawn sprinkler device. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique lawn sprinkler apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.


The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a film having an oxygen transmission rate in the range of from 1 cc/m2/24 h to 500 cc/m2/24 h according to ASTM D-3985, at a relative humidity of more than 50% at 25° C., or higher than 75% at 25° C., or higher than 85% at 25° C., wherein the method comprises the steps of: providing a first suspension comprising a microfibrillated cellulose, wherein the dry content of the suspension is in the range of from 0.1 to 10% by weight, adding a wet strength additive to said first suspension, at an amount of from 0.1 to 10 weight-% based on the amount of microfibrillated cellulose (dry/dry), thereby forming a mixture of the microfibrillated cellulose and the wet strength additive, applying said mixture to a substrate to form a fibrous web and drying said web to form said film. The present invention also relates to a film produced according to the method.

Today, films comprising microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), have proven to give excellent barrier properties (see e.g. Aulin et al., Oxygen and oil barrier properties of microfibrillated cellulose films and coatings, Cellulose (2010) 17:559-574, Lavoine et al., Microfibrillated cellulose—Its barrier properties and applications in cellulosic materials: A review, Carbohydrate polymers 90 (2012) 735-764, Kumar et al., Comparison of nano- and microfibrillated cellulose films, Cellulose (2014) 21:3443-3456), whereas the gas barrier properties are very dependent on the moisture or the relative humidity in the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is quite common that MFC films have to be coated with a polymer film to prevent moisture or water vapor to swell and disrupt the MFC film.
The lack of gas barrier properties such as oxygen or air, at high relative humidity has been investigated and described although most of these solutions are expensive and difficult to implement in industrial environment. One route is to modify the MFC or nanocellulose such as disclosed in JP2554589A1 where MFC dispersion was modified with silane coupling agent. The EP2551104A1 teaches the use of MFC and polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) and/or polyuronic acid with improved barrier properties at higher relative humidity (RH). Another solution is to coat the film with a film that has high water fastness and/or low water vapor transmission rate. The JP2000303386A discloses e.g. latex coated on MFC film, while US2012094047A teaches the use of wood hydrolysates mixed with polysaccharides such as MFC that can be coated with a polyolefin layer. In addition to this chemical modification, the possibility of cross-linking fibrils or fibrils and copolymers has been investigated. This improves water fastness of the films but also water vapor transmission rates. EP2371892A1, EP2371893A1, claims cross-linking MFC with metal ions, glyoxal, glutaraldehyde and/or citric acid, respectively.
However, many of the above solutions require either a post-treatment step or high dosages in order to be effective. Many of the disclosed solutions also limit the production of a MFC film and particularly re-pulping of the same.
There is thus a need to find a simpler solution of producing such films, preferably something that could be used on a paper or paperboard machine, or modified versions thereof, where a subsequent coating or impregnation step can be avoided, since the number of coating stations usually is limited on a paper machine.

Method for producing a film having good barrier properties


A method detects if an image is compressed. The method determines a block grid within the image and establishes blocks from the determined grid. The method then computes differences between samples inside the established blocks and differences between samples across the established blocks. The method determines that the image is compressed based on characteristics derived from statistics of the computed differences.

Data compression is required in data handling processes, where too much data is present for practical applications using the data. Commonly, compression is used in communication links, where the time to transmit is long, or where bandwidth is limited. Another use for compression is in data storage, where the amount of media space on which the data is stored can be substantially reduced with compression. A device showing either or both of these cases is a digital copier where an intermediate storage is used for collation, reprint or any other digital copier functions. Additionally, digital copiers often allow the printing of externally received data. Generally speaking, scanned images and print masters, i.e., electronic representations of hard copy documents, are commonly large, and thus are desirable candidates for compression.
The method disseminated by the JPEG committee for still image compression is described in detail in "JPEG: Still Image Compression Standard", by W. Pennebaker and J. Mitchell, published by Van Nostrand Reinhold in 1992. We will refer to the lossy compression modes based on the discrete cosine transform and it will be called JPEG compression in this application. JPEG compression is a lossy system that reduces data redundancies based on pixel to pixel correlations. Generally, in images, on a pixel to pixel basis, an image does not change very much. An image therefore has what is known as "natural spatial correlation". In natural scenes, correlation is generalized, but not exact. Noise makes each pixel somewhat different from its neighbors.
Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, a JPEG compression and decompression system is illustrated. A more complete discussion may be had by referencing U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,522 to Eschbach and U.S. Pat. No.5,359,676 to Fan. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,522 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,676 are hereby incorporated by reference.
Initially provided is tile memory 10 for storing an M.times.M portion of the image. From the portion of the image stored in tile memory, the discrete cosine transform (DCT), transformer 12 forms a frequency space representation of the image. Hardware implementations are available, such as the C-Cube Microsystems CL550A JPEG image compression processor, which operates in either the compression or the decompression mode according to the proposed JPEG standard. As will be described below, the implementation of the invention can be in either in software or hardware.
A divisor/quantization device 14 is used, from a set of values referred to as a Q-Table, stored in a Q table memory 16, so that a distinct Q table value is divided into the DCT value, returning the integer portion of the value as the quantized DCT value. A statistical encoder 20 often using Huffman codes is used to endcode the quantized DCT values to generate the compressed image that is output for storage, transmission, etc.
Discrete cosine transforms are well known, and hardware exists to perform the transform on image data, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,991 to Niihara, U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,559 to Gonzales et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,705 to Puri.
To decompress the now-compressed image, and with reference to FIG. 1, a series of functions or steps are followed to reverse the process described. Huffman encoding is removed at decoder 50. The image signal now represents the quantized DCT coefficients, which are multiplied at signal multiplier 52 by the Q table values in memory 54 in a process inverse to the compression process. At inverse transformer 56, the inverse transform of the discrete cosine transform is derived, and the output image in the spatial domain is stored at image buffer 58.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,522 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,122 to Eschbach, U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,676 to Fan, the standard process described in FIG. 1 is varied. The original image is compressed; the compressed representation is decompressed. The decompressed image is additionally filtered to improve appearance, but in doing so, it may be forced outside the range of images that are possibly derived from the original image. The DCT representation of the image is therefore altered, in order to force the image into the acceptable range of images. The processes may be used iteratively.
Some image formats that involve compression such those using JPEG inflict degradation to the image. When a system invokes to print one of these compressed images, the incoming image may receive special processing to remove those artifacts. First, however, one has to determine whether the image was compressed beforehand.
The present invention proposes a method to identify whether the image was compressed in the past. Moreover, the present invention proposes a method to identify whether the image was JPEG compressed in the past. By enabling identification of compressed images, the present invention will enable the printing system to steer a compressed image towards a cleaning image processing operation, thereby enabling the printing system to clean-up the image from any undesirable artifacts.
The method of the present invention is based on the analysis of subtle blocking discontinuities that are present and readily discernible in compressed images. For example in producing JPEG compressed images, the image is divided into blocks that are transformed, quantized, and compressed virtually independently. Thus, discontinuities across block boundaries (blocking effects) account for the most noticeable compression artifact caused by JPEG compression. The higher the compression the higher the blocking. The present invention performs an analysis of the blocking discontinuities as an indicative of compression history.

Blocking signature detection for identification JPEG images


An improved downdraft furnace wherein two combustion grates are used, with the lower one being maintained completely covered with glowing coals, which totally oxidize combustion gases and particles passing through, with the result that the exhaust is free of smoke.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to furnaces and heating devices. Specifically in this case an object of the invention is to provide complete combustion of the material used as fuel therein, so that no dirty smoke results from the fire.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Furnaces have been built in many forms in the past. A basic form involves an arrangement wherein solid fuel is burned on a grate. Depending on the actual fuel used, and its particulate size or granularity, combustion of fuel resting on a single grate is almost invariably incomplete, resulting in unburned particles, which produce smoke and ash. When the particles or pieces of fuel are reduced to a size smaller than the openings in the grate, they will fall through into an ash pit or fire pit where they will probably smolder or burn even less completely.
In a typical updraft furnace, where the combustion air flows up through the layer of fuel on the grate, the fuel will burn unevenly so that unburned particles of fuel are carried off out the chimney or flue, resulting in incomplete combustion and creating dirty, dark smoke.
Particular forms of furnaces have been devised to attempt to provide more complete and efficient combustion of the fuel, for the purpose primarily of achieving greater heat production by the more efficient use of the fuel, and also in some cases with the additional purpose of reducing smoke.
For example, a U.S. Patent to Roell, issued in 1907 (U.S. Pat. No. 843,105) was entitled Smoke Consuming Heater. In this invention after the fire is burning, air is led through passages around the firepot to heat it (the air) further, and, per the teaching of the patent, increase the heat output and reduce the smoke in the exhaust.
An earlier patent (U.S. Pat. No. 464,425, 1891, to C. R. Burr) involves an improved furnace which is intended to achieve complete combustion of the fuel by the use of dual grates, one above the other, the upper one intended to serve as a fuel feed for the lower. In this design, the grate bars are hollow and diverge from front to rear. Intake air passes partly through the upper grate's hollow bars, and is led down into the space between the grates, to provide a downward draft through the fuel on the lower grate into the ashpit below and to a following combustion chamber. Part of the intake air also passes through the hollow bars of the lower grate and mixes subsequently with the other intake combustion air. Fuel is put on the upper grate, the bars of which diverge from front to rear, providing a greater spacing between the bars at the front than at the rear. During combustion, the fuel on the upper grate must be raked or agitated so that it falls through the grate onto the lower one, supplying it with fuel already burning or pre-heated. In this design, it does not appear that the means chosen will assure that the lower grate is completely covered with fuel, so that unburned gas can pass through the grate and final combustion must occur in the ashpit or its associated chamber. Such combustion is unlikely to be complete enough to prevent the emission of a significant amount of smoke.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 1,954,923, to Eichhorn (1934), describes a furnace which may be operated in either a downdraft or updraft mode. This, however, is a single grate furnace with a shelf below the grate having an opening into an ashpit, so that fuel falling through the grate will be caught on the shelf or fall into the ashpit, in both cases to smolder and burn incompletely, with smoke resulting. While Eichhorn provides for auxiliary air passages to provide pre-heated air for the downdraft mode, the patent states that in the downdraft mode an upper damper should be partially open, permitting accumulated smoke to be drawn off from above the coal bed into a smoke box, from which it apparently exhausts.
In equipment so basic as a furnace, many other designs for both updraft and downdraft operation have been proposed.


The invention relates to a wheelchair which comprises: a underframe (1) to which front steerable wheels (6) and rear drive wheels (7) are fixed at a distance from one another; a sealing frame (3) which is height-adjustably fixed to said underframe (1), mounted so as to be able to pivot about a rotational axis (D), and which can be incline-adjusted with regard to the horizontal line (H) as well as height-adjusted; and a backrest frame which is connected to the seating frame (3) consisting of two longitudinal tubes (9) lying opposite each other and at least one transverse tube (10) which interconnects these longitudinal tubes (9); a) said seating frame (3) being connected to the underframe (1) by means of at least two telescopic tubes (2) each formed from one lower (2b) and one upper (2a) tube; b) the lower ends of these lower tubes (2b) being rigidly fixed to said underframe (1), and the invention being characterised in that; c) the upper ends of the upper tubes (2a) are connected to the seating frame (3) in the rotational axis (D); d) a detent plate (14) is arranged on each of the longitudinal tubes (9) and connected to the upper tubes (2a), for the purpose of adjusting the incline of the seating frame (3); and e) the rotational axis (D) is provided above said scaling frame (3).

Such a wheelchair is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,928 A.
DE 10 2009 049 536 A1 makes known a wheelchair where the seat is adjustable in height and inclination. The seat frame serves for receiving the seat shells or orthopedic seats (which are to be understood as synonymous in the following text) and together with said seat shells forms the seat system for persons who are unable to sit independently as a result of a disability. Seat shells and orthopedic seats are produced individually for said persons because, as a rule, they have serious physical limitations. The seat system is to compensate possibly for existing deformations of the skeleton (for example aligning the pelvis horizontally). As in the case of all sitting persons, the body weight is absorbed to a great extent in the ischium region. In the case of persons with movement limitations, the continual pressure load can result in decubitus. To reduce the risk of decubitus, the body weight has to be distributed over a larger support surface. This is achieved as a result of the inclination of the seat system, the inclination of the seat system being adjusted as a result of an inclination of the seat frame.
In particular when the adjustable region of the inclination is large, for example up to 50°, and the weight of the person utilizing the seat system is heavy, it is necessary for the actuating forces in the case of a change in inclination to be low in order to make the optimum adjustment easier for a carer. The simplest way to reduce the actuating forces is to displace the rotational axis into the common center of gravity of the seat system and the user (patient).
In the case of the wheelchair known from US 2009/0045599 A1, the rotational axis of the seat system is provided in the vicinity of the center of gravity of the user in order to realize angles of inclination of the seat system of up to 50°. Said wheelchair is structurally very expensive. The adjustability of the seat system or of the seat frame can certainly be made easier by means of a telescopic cylinder, the mechanism connected thereto makes the wheelchair more expensive, increases its weight, as a result of which the handling characteristics are impaired, and it is additionally susceptible to faults.
DE 89 08 374 makes known an interchangeable device for a seat which can be connected to an underframe. Said underframe can be a baby-stroller or a wheelchair for children. To this end, the seat is mountable so as to be rotated by 180° such that the line of vision of the person received by the seat is either directed forward or rearward. The seat is fastened on the underframe by means of an adjustable safety lock.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,986,200 discloses a wheelchair where the seat is able to be pivoted from a vertical into a horizontal position in order to be able to transport disabled persons not only sitting but also lying. The seat can assume the function of a bed in the horizontal position.
DE 10 2004 045 388 B4 makes known an electric wheelchair where the seat is adjustable automatically in its inclination such that the seat always remains in the horizontal even when going up and down. Two guide rails, which are mounted in each case in four rollers which are fixed to the chassis, are fastened to the driver's seat for this purpose. If the vehicle travels uphill, the seat is pivoted about a virtual pivot point which is situated in the vicinity of the mass pivot point of a person sitting on the seat.

Wheelchair comprising a height-adjustable and incline-adjustable seat


A resource analyzer selects a resource (e.g., document) from a grouping of resources. The grouping of resources can be any type of social tagging system used for information retrieval. The selected resource has an assigned uncontrolled tag and an assigned controlled tag. The controlled tag is a term derived from a controlled vocabulary of terms. Having selected the resource for analyzing, the resource analyzer identifies a first set of resources in the grouping of resources having also been assigned a same value as the uncontrolled tag as the selected resource. Similarly, the resource analyzer identifies a second set of resources in the grouping of resources having also been assigned a same value as the controlled tag. With this information, the resource analyzer then produces a comparison result indicative of a similarity between the first set of resources and the second set of resources.

It is well known in the information retrieval community that humans can be inconsistent when assigning keywords to resources (e.g., documents, Web sites, bookmarks, audio files, images, etc.). That is, given a resource, different people will tend to assign different keywords to the resource. One way to improve this human inconsistency (and therefore human query capability) is to use a controlled vocabulary of terms.
A controlled vocabulary is a finite and predetermined set of textual terms that have been compiled in order to assist in classifying groupings of resources. An uncontrolled vocabulary, on the other hand, is an open set of textual terms for defining a corresponding resource. For example, an uncontrolled vocabulary can include terms already in a controlled vocabulary, terms not in the controlled vocabulary but that can be found in a standard dictionary, and/or sui generis terms created by human users which have meanings specific to those users.
In conventional information retrieval systems, the manual application of keywords from a controlled vocabulary to resources can be costly and time consuming. Social tagging systems such as those provided by "del.icio.us" (i.e., a social book-marking Web site) provide a way for users to easily apply tags (e.g., keywords typically from an uncontrolled vocabulary) to such resources (e.g., Web sites). As a result, resources can be tagged with (and then queried by) terms from both controlled and uncontrolled vocabularies.

Relating similar terms for information retrieval


A lofty, nonwoven material having a nonwoven web having a plurality of substantially continuous fibers oriented in a z-direction of the nonwoven web and a method for producing the lofty, nonwoven material from as-formed z-direction fibers. The method is fast, having no mechanical manipulation of the fibers to slow it down, easily adjustable and allows for in-line processing. The material can be varied from preponderantly open to preponderantly closed in its web structure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lofty, nonwoven material produced from continuous fibers in which the lofty character of the nonwoven material is the result of the fibers comprising the web being oriented in a z-direction, that is outside of the plane of the orientation of the web, of the nonwoven material. These materials are particularly suitable for use in a broad range of applications including fluid management (surge), air and liquid filtration, acoustic and thermal insulation, packing material, absorbents, and cleaning materials. More particularly, these materials are suitable for use as surge, spacer layers, filtration materials and absorbent layers in personal care absorbent products including disposable diapers, incontinence garments, and feminine care products such as sanitary pads and napkins, and in face masks, surgical gowns, sterile wraps and surgical drapes. In addition, this invention relates to methods for producing such lofty, nonwoven materials.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Absorbent personal care articles such as sanitary pads and napkins, disposable diapers, incontinent-care pads and the like are widely used, and much effort has been made to improve their effectiveness and functionality. These articles generally include a liquid absorbent material backed by a liquid-impervious barrier sheet. To enhance the sense of comfort, the absorbent material has a facing of a material which masks at least the body-facing surface of the product. The purpose of this cover material is to help structurally contain the absorbent material and to protect the wearer from continuous direct contact with moisture from previously wetted absorbent material. The cover material is typically of relatively low basis weight nonwoven fabric. Improved product performance has been obtained in these products through the incorporation of a surge management material disposed between the cover material and the absorbent material. The surge management material is made from a relatively high basis weight, low density, that is, thick, nonwoven web material.
In nonwoven webs, the fibers comprising the web are generally oriented in the x-y plane of the web and the resulting nonwoven web material is relatively thin, that is lacking in loft or significant thickness. Loft or thickness in a nonwoven web suitable for use in personal care absorbent articles promotes comfort (softness) to the user, surge management and fluid distribution to adjacent layers.
In order to impart loft or thickness to a nonwoven web, it is generally desirable that at least a portion of the fibers comprising the web be oriented in the z-direction. Conventionally, such lofty nonwoven webs are produced using staple fibers. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,067 which teaches a nonwoven thermal insulating batt comprising structural staple fibers and bonding staple fibers which are entangled and substantially parallel to the faces of the batt at the face portions and substantially perpendicular to the faces of the batt, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,114 which teaches a batt including a major percent of thermo-mechanical wood pulp fibers stabilized by the inclusion of a minor percent of thermoplastic fibers including staple length thermoplastic fibers. Alternatively, conventional high loft forming processes rely on pre-forming processes such as fiber crimp formed on a flat wire or drum, and post-forming processes such as creping or pleating of the formed web.
In contradistinction to the known art, the present invention does not first form a web of material and pleat it. Rather, fibers are looped, or bent, on themselves without being first being formed into a material web. These fiber level loops, running between the major surfaces of the resultant web, are aggregated in the cross machine direction to form structures running in the cross machine direction which are herein sometimes called xe2x80x9cwavesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cfoldsxe2x80x9d to distinguish them from xe2x80x9cpleatsxe2x80x9d which refer to structures in preformed web or mesh material that has been folded on itself.
Accordingly, it is one object of this invention to provide a high loft, low density nonwoven web material comprising substantially continuous fibers as opposed to staple fibers traditionally used in the manufacture of such nonwoven materials.
This and other objects of this invention are addressed by a lofty, nonwoven material comprising a nonwoven web comprising a plurality of substantially continuous fibers, which may be crimped or linear, oriented in a z-direction of the nonwoven web. The substantially continuous fibers are preferably spunbond and/or meltblown. In accordance with one embodiment of this invention, a support structure may be attached to at least one face of the nonwoven web, thereby providing strength to the high loft nonwoven web. This laminate structure provides support for the high loft structure, strength for winding, converting, etc., and a boundary layer to either enhance or retard fluid flow into the lofty absorbent structure in products such as disposable diapers, incontinence garments, and absorbent feminine care products including sanitary pads and napkins.
The lofty, nonwoven material of this invention is produced in accordance with one embodiment of this invention by a process in which a plurality of substantially continuous fibers are directed into a variable nip, resulting in bending of the fibers and formation of a nonwoven web. Within the nip the fibers may be subjected to a vacuum from both sides of the nip, either equally or differentially, producing a lofty, nonwoven web having a plurality of the substantially continuous fibers oriented in a z-direction.
In accordance with another embodiment of this invention, the lofty, nonwoven material is produced by directing a plurality of continuous, substantially linear, filament fibers through a slot formed by two opposed surfaces whereby the substantially continuous fibers bend from contact with the two opposed surfaces, which may be differential speeds or vacuum, or both, thereby forming a lofty, nonwoven web having a plurality of as-formed z-direction fibers.

Controlled loft and density nonwoven webs and method for producing


Protective garments include a flame resistant fabric that is strong and yet has a soft hand. The fabric is made from a combination of filament yarns and spun yarns. The filament yarns and spun yarns are woven together such that the filament yarns are separated by from about 2 to about 5 spun yarns in both the warp direction and the fill direction. The spun yarns may contain polybenzimidazole fibers in combination with other fibers, such as aramid fibers. The filament yarns may comprise para-aramid fibers. In one embodiment, the filament yarns may have a size larger than the spun yarns.

Various different types of protective garments exist that are intended to provide protection to the wearer. In certain embodiments, for instance, the protective garments are designed to provide protection from heat and flame so as to prevent burn injuries. Such protective garments, for instance, are typically worn by firefighters, other service providers, and military personnel. Military personnel, for instance, wear such garments to provide protection against incendiary devices and the like.
Such garments should be fire resistant while also being as light as possible, strong, abrasion resistant, rip and tear resistant, flexible, and should encumber the wearer as little as possible.
Conventional firefighter garments, for instance, are generally constructed having a number of discrete layers. Typically, these layers include an outer shell, a moisture barrier layer, a thermal barrier layer, and an inner lining. The layers are generally made from appropriate thermally-resistant materials to provide protection against heat and flame.
Protective garments for firefighters that are also water resistant are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,581,260, which is incorporated herein by reference. The '260 patent discloses various garments and fabrics that have made great advances in the art.
Improvements, however, are still needed in designing fabrics for protective garments that are intended to provide fire resistance. In particular, a need exists for lighter fabrics that provide the same or better physical properties than current commercial products. A need also exists for a fabric that has a soft hand, meaning that the fabric is flexible and easy to maneuver in when worn.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Flame resistant fabric and garments made therefrom


A system and corresponding method for improving set-top box boots up efficiency while, at the same time, reducing the memory allocation required for set-top box boot-up is disclosed. The boot-up method includes performing a vertical direct memory access transfer of relevant program instructions from a system non-volatile memory to system main memory. The transferred program instructions are then rearranged into consecutive locations within the main memory.

The present invention generally relates to microprocessor based media systems and, more particularly, to a system and method of improving the boot-up time of set-top boxes.
Set-top boxes are microprocessor-based controllers that control the operation of media systems. Known set-top boxes include cable converter boxes or satellite system converter boxes. Set-top boxes are used to control the conversion of the media signal transmitted from a content provider into the images and sounds that are provided by a corresponding media display device.
Set-top boxes generally include a processor, a non-volatile memory (i.e. EPROM, NVRAM, ROM, etc.) for storing program instructions that controls media signal conversion when the set-top box is off, and a main memory (i.e. SDRAM, DRAM, etc.) which provides fast processor access to the program instructions when the set-top box is on. In operation, viewing media system programming (e.g. cable television programs) requires that the set-top box be turned on. Upon being turned on, the set-top box xe2x80x9cboots upxe2x80x9d by first performing a series of internal self tests and then transferring the program instructions residing in the non-volatile memory to the main memory. Once the program instructions and any necessary data have been transferred to main memory, the processor then starts executing the program instructions.
A drawback associated with conventional set-top boxes is that the boot-up time is extremely slow. During boot-up, the program instructions are copied from the non-volatile memory to the main memory in a byte-by-byte fashion. The copy process includes performing the following steps in an iterative fashion per byte of memory: (1) writing a start memory address of the non-volatile memory to begin copying from; (2) transfering the byte of instructions stored in the memory location identified by that address; and (3) initiating a reset cycle in order to clear the data bus before the writing of a subsequent memory address and data transfer therefrom. This boot-up process generally takes 4-5 seconds to complete since non-volatile memory (e.g. ROM) is usually arranged in 8-bit data paths and the corresponding processor executes from a 32-bit RAM.
Another drawback associated with conventional boot-up of set-top boxes is that it requires a large amount of available main memory space. As discussed above, the transfer of media system control instructions is performed in a byte-by-byte fashion until completion. Since the processor executes 32-bit transfers, but the non-volatile memory only performs 8-bit transfers, 3 bytes of unused or invalid information are stored in main memory per transfer. This unused or invalid data quickly fills up and essentially wastes valuable main memory space; thereby, requiring a larger amount of memory to boot-up the media system.
The aforementioned and related drawbacks associated with conventional boot-up of set-top boxes are substantially reduced or eliminated by the present invention. The present invention is directed to a system and corresponding method that enhances media system performance by reducing set-top box boot-up time while requiring less memory space during initial data transfer. According to the present invention, set-top box boot-up begins with a direct memory access (DMA) block transfer of program instructions from a non-volatile memory to main memory. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the main memory is implemented as a 32-Mbyte synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) which provides for fast access. After the DMA transfer, the bytes of program instructions are then horizontally and vertically re-arranged within the main memory space.
More specifically, the method of efficiently booting up a set-top box according to the present invention comprises the steps of: block transferring instructions stored in the addressed location of non-volatile memory into main memory; and re-configuring the transferred instructions within the main memory. The re-configuring of the transferred instructions is performed directly within the main memory. Thus, the main memory arrangement is completed very quickly.
An advantage provided by the present invention is that it enhances set-top box efficiency by greatly reducing boot-up time.
Another advantage provided by the present invention is that it requires less memory to be used during boot-up.
A feature of the present invention is that it can be implemented in conjunction with any embedded system.

System and method to improve speed and reduce memory allocation for set top box boot-up


Novel expression vectors are provided for expressing a fusion glycoprotein. The fusion glycoprotein contains the N-terminal globular domain of a retroviral env surface protein linked to a selected glycopeptide. Truncation glycoproteins as well as insertion glycoproteins are expressed using the vectors.

It has been shown for retroviral, influenza, and herpes viral glycoproteins that removal of N-linked glycans dramatically reduces immune reactivity (Alexander and Elder, 1984, Science, 226:1328-1330; Sjobloom et al., 1987, J. Gen. Virol. 68:549-554; Olofsson et al., 1990, J. Virol. 71:889-895). Considerable evidence has also accumulated suggesting that N-linked glycosylation is necessary for proper immunoreactivity or immunogenicity of human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) gp120. For example, an extensive study comparing the immunogenicity of native glycosylated gp120 to that of env 2-3, a nonglycosylated form of the protein produced in yeast, was performed in baboons (Haigwood et al, 1992, J. Virol. 66:172-182). In this study, glycosylated gp120 induced high titers of neutralizing antibodies against the homologous and related viruses, and weak neutralizing titers against more distant viruses, while the nonglycosylated protein yielded only low neutralizing titers directed solely against the homologous virus. In addition, whereas the glycosylated protein was able to bind to CD4, the nonglycosylated protein was not. Other studies have shown that removal of N-linked glycans from native or recombinant gp120 reduces or abolishes binding activity of gp120 to CD4 and diminishes infectivity of HIV-1 (Matthews et al, 1987, PNAS 84:5424-5428; Fenouillet et al, 1989, J. Exp. Med. 169:807-821; Fenouillet et al, 1990, J. Virol. 64:2841-2848). Recent data show that removal of specific carbohydrates from recombinant gp160 reduced both its immunoreactivity with hyperimmune antisera and its immunogenicity in rabbits (Benjouad et al, 1992, J. Virol. 66:2473-2483). Finally, the epitopes of strongly neutralizing MAbs that have been isolated are destroyed by removal of N-linked glycans from the viral proteins (Fung et al, 1992, J. Virol. 66:848-856). These results demonstrate an important role for N-linked glycans in gp120 immunoreactivity and immunogenicity. These glycans may be acting either indirectly, by achieving the correct conformation of gp120, or directly by determining the formation of immunoreactive or immunogenic sites.
A major difficulty in the production of isolated gp120 domains is the fact that all of these domains are highly glycosylated. Considerable evidence suggests that glycans are needed either to achieve correct conformations or for the formation of the epitopes themselves.
The invention described here is intended to address this problem, but can also be used for the expression of non-gp120 glycopeptides whose immunogenicities or biological activities are dependent on correct glycosylation or conformation.

The Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York, Inc.


The invention provides a method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade comprising a spar and at least one airfoil section, where both the spar and the airfoil section comprise an outer surface which forms part of an aerodynamically active surface of the blade. The method comprises steps of providing a support structure, placing the spar at the support structure, providing a clamp adapted to be fixed to the outer surface of both the spar and the airfoil section, arranging the airfoil section relative to the spar, fixing the clamp to the outer surface of the spar and the airfoil section, and assembling the at least one airfoil section an the spar by a process including adhesion.

Modern wind turbines comprise a plurality of wind turbine rotor blades, typically three blades, each blade today having a weight of up to 15 tons and a length of up to 55 meters.
Traditionally, a blade comprises two shell parts, one defining a windward side shell part and the other one defining a leeward side shell part. To reinforce such a blade a box-shaped, longitudinal and tubular element, i.e. a spar, can act as a reinforcing beam. The spar is located in the cavity between the two wind turbine shell parts and extends substantially throughout the shell cavity in order to increase the strength and stiffness of the wind turbine blade.
As the size of wind turbines and thus wind turbine blades are still growing, the production facilities and the transport means must be upgraded to handle blades of the required size. This also increases the demand on logistics and increases the associated costs.

Assembly tool and a method of manufacturing a blade


Battery management circuitry for an implantable medical device such as an implantable neurostimulator is described. The circuitry has a T-shape with respect to the battery terminal, with charging circuitry coupled between rectifier circuitry and the battery terminal on one side of the T, and load isolation circuitry coupled between the load and the battery terminal on the other side. The load isolation circuitry can comprise two switches wired in parallel. An undervoltage fault condition opens both switches to isolate the battery terminal from the load to prevent further dissipation of the battery. Other fault conditions will open only one the switches leaving the other closed to allow for reduced power to the load to continue implant operations albeit at safer low-power levels. The battery management circuitry can be fixed in a particular location on an integrated circuit which also includes for example the stimulation circuitry for the electrodes.

Implantable neurostimulator devices are devices that generate and deliver electrical stimuli to body nerves and tissues for the therapy of various biological disorders, such as pacemakers to treat cardiac arrhythmia, defibrillators to treat cardiac fibrillation, cochlear stimulators to treat deafness, retinal stimulators to treat blindness, muscle stimulators to produce coordinated limb movement, spinal cord stimulators to treat chronic pain, cortical and deep brain stimulators to treat motor and psychological disorders, and other neural stimulators to treat urinary incontinence, sleep apnea, shoulder subluxation, etc. The description that follows will generally focus on the use of the invention within a Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) system, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,227. However, the present invention may find applicability in any implantable neurostimulator.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a SCS system typically includes an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG) 100, which includes a biocompatible device case 30 formed of a conductive material such as titanium for example. The case 30 typically holds the circuitry and battery 26 necessary for the IPG to function, although IPGs can also be powered via external RF energy and without a battery. The IPG 100 includes one or more electrode arrays (two such arrays 102 and 104 are shown), each containing several electrodes 106. The electrodes 106 are carried on a flexible body 108, which also houses the individual electrode leads 112 and 114 coupled to each electrode. In the illustrated embodiment, there are sixteen electrodes on array 102, labeled E1-E16, and sixteen electrodes on array 104, labeled E17-E32, although the number of arrays and electrodes is application specific and therefore can vary. The arrays 102, 104 couple to the IPG 100 using lead connectors 38a and 38b, which are fixed in a non-conductive header material 36, which can comprise an epoxy for example. In another example, the IPG 100 can include four lead connectors supporting four electrode arrays each having eight electrodes.
As shown in FIG. 2, the IPG 100 typically includes an electronic substrate assembly including a printed circuit board (PCB) 16, along with various electronic components 20, such as microprocessors, integrated circuits, and capacitors mounted to the PCB 16. Depending on the design and the type of batteries used, two coils (more generally, antennas) may be present in the IPG 100: a telemetry coil 13 used to transmit/receive data to/from an external controller 12; and a charging coil 18 for charging or recharging the IPG's battery 26 using an external charger 50. The telemetry coil 13 is shown mounted within the header 36 of the IPG 100 as shown, and may be wrapped around a ferrite core 13′. However, the telemetry coil 13 may also be placed inside the case 30. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Publication 2011/0112610, which is incorporated herein by reference.
As just noted, an external controller 12, such as a hand-held programmer or a clinician's programmer, is used to wirelessly send data to and receive data from the IPG 100. For example, the external controller 12 can send programming data to the IPG 100 to dictate the therapy the IPG 100 will provide to the patient. Also, the external controller 12 can act as a receiver of data from the IPG 100, such as various data reporting on the IPG's status. The external controller 12, like the IPG 100, also contains a PCB 70 on which electronic components 72 are placed to control operation of the external controller 12. A user interface 74 similar to that used for a computer, cell phone, or other hand held electronic device, and including touchable buttons and a display for example, allows a patient or clinician to operate the external controller 12. The communication of data to and from the external controller 12 is enabled by a coil (antenna) 17.
The external charger 50, also typically a hand-held device, is used to wirelessly convey power to the IPG 100, which power can be used to recharge the IPG's battery 26. The transfer of power from the external charger 50 is enabled by a coil (antenna) 17′, which generates a magnetic charging field. The external charger 50 is depicted as having a similar construction to the external controller 12, but in reality they will differ in accordance with their functionalities as one skilled in the art will appreciate.
The IPG 100 can also communicate data back to the external charger 50 during charging by modulating the impedance of the charging coil 18. This change in impedance is reflected back to coil 17′ in the external charger 50, which demodulates the reflection to recover the transmitted data. This means of transmitting data from the IPG 100 to the external charger 50 is known as Load Shift Keying (LSK), and is useful to communicate data relevant during charging of the battery 26 in the IPG 100, such as whether charging is complete and the external charger can cease. LSK communication from an IPG 100 to an external charger is discussed further in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0179618 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,577,474.
Wireless data telemetry and power transfer between the external devices 12 and 50 and the IPG 100 takes place via inductive coupling, and specifically inductive coupling. To implement such functionality, both the IPG 100 and the external devices 12 and 50 have coils which act together as a pair. In case of the external controller 12, the relevant pair of coils comprises coil 17 from the controller and coil 13 from the IPG 100. In case of the external charger 50, the relevant pair of coils comprises coil 17′ from the charger and coil 18 from the IPG 100. As is well known, inductive transmission of data or power can occur transcutaneously, i.e., through the patient's tissue 25, making it particularly useful in a medical implantable device system. During the transmission of data or power, the coils 17 and 13, or 17′ and 18, preferably lie in planes that are parallel, along collinear axes, and with the coils as close as possible to each other. Such an orientation between the coils 17 and 13 will generally improve the coupling between them, but deviation from ideal orientations can still result in suitably reliable data or power transfer.
This disclosure is directed to improved battery management circuitry for an implantable medical device and related battery management schemes.

Battery management for an implantable medical device

Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation


An image communicating apparatus comprises:. an input device to input image data; PA1 a dividing circuit to divide the input image data into a plurality of blocks each of which is constructed by a predetermined number of pixels, an encoder to encode the image data on a unit basis of the blocks divided by the dividing circuit; PA1 and a transmission unit for allocating the data divided and encoded by the dividing circuit and the encoder to an arbitrary channel among a plurality of information channels on a block unit basis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communicating apparatus for communicating image data through a fundamental interface of a digital communication network such as an ISDN or the like and, more particularly, to an image communicating apparatus for communicating image data by using a plurality of information channels.
2. Related Background Art
In an image communicating apparatus for communicating image data through an ISDN fundamental interface, for example, in the case where the image data is divided into a plurality of blocks and encoded and compressed and the compressed image data is communicated by using two B channels in order to raise the communication speed, since the ISDN fundamental interface doesn't support the bulk transmission using two B channels, the following method is considered. Namely, as shown in FIG. 10, data of a block 1 is first compressed, the compressed data of the block 1 is further divided into two blocks 1a and 1b, the compressed data divided into two blocks 1a and 1b is distributed to each of the two B channels (B.sub.1 channel and B.sub.2 channel) and communicated, and processings similar to those mentioned above are also repeated with respect to the blocks 2, 3, 4, . . . .
According to the above method, however, on the reception side, until both of the compressed data of the blocks 1a and 1b which were distributed to two B channels are obtained, they cannot be expanded. Therefore, in the case where there is a speed difference between two B channels, the case where there is a difference between the arrival times of the two compressed data divided from one block, the case where an error ratio of one B channel is high, or the like, there occurs a problem such that the compressed data cannot be expanded or confirmed at a high speed.


A pixel substrate has a plurality of scanning lines and a plurality of reference signal lines which are arranged parallel with each other. A counter substrate includes a plurality of signal lines. Moreover, the pixel substrate has a connecting line for connecting the plurality of the reference signal lines to each other. The connecting line is provided in each of two regions outside of two sides among the peripheral sides of a region where a plurality of pixel electrodes are formed, the two sides being perpendicular to the reference signal lines. In this structure, a reference signal is input from both ends of the reference signal line. It is therefore possible to provide a liquid crystal display device which reduces the occurrence of a short circuit between the lines on the substrate and decreases the signal delay due to the load capacitance.

The present invention relates to liquid crystal display devices for use in, for example, monitors for personal computers and OA (office automation) and FA (factory automation) equipment, and display panels for portable information terminals.
Conventionally, liquid crystal display devices using nematic liquid crystals have been widely used as segment type liquid crystal display devices for use in watches and electronic calculators. In recent years, such a liquid crystal display device has expanded its market and been used as various types of displays for word processors, personal computers, navigation systems, etc., because of its thin, light weight, low power consuming characteristics. In particular, an active matrix liquid crystal display device in which active elements such as TFTs (thin film transistors) are used as switching elements and pixels are arranged in a matrix, has been noted.
Compared to, for example, a CRT (cathode ray tube), the above-mentioned liquid crystal display devices have advantages that they can be made much thinner (in depth), achieve a full color display easily, and consume less power. Therefore, such liquid crystal display devices are suitably used as displays of notebook type personal computers, portable television sets, digital cameras, digital video cameras, and so on.
A conventional transmissive type active matrix liquid crystal display device includes a light transmitting active matrix substrate, a counter substrate having a common electrode formed thereon, and a liquid crystal. An active matrix circuit constituted by a TFT is formed on the active matrix substrate. The counter substrate is disposed to face the active matrix substrate, and a liquid crystal is sandwiched between the active matrix substrate and the counter substrate.
FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram showing schematically an example of the active matrix circuit on the active matrix substrate. A plurality of pixel electrodes 31 are arranged in a matrix on the active matrix substrate. Usually, several hundred pixel electrodes 31 are arranged respectively in rows and columns.
Besides, a common electrode 32 is formed on the counter substrate so that the common electrode 32 faces the pixel electrodes 31 with a liquid crystal layer therebetween. A voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer by the pixel electrodes 31 and common electrode 32. In general, the common electrode 32 is formed on the substantially entire surface of the counter substrate.
Moreover, TFTs 33 as active elements functioning as switching means for selectively driving the pixel electrodes 31 are formed on the active matrix substrate and connected to the pixel electrodes 31. Furthermore, in order to provide a color display, a color filter layer (not shown) including, for example, red, green and blue filters is placed on the counter substrate or the active matrix substrate.
Scanning lines 34 are connected to the gate electrodes of the TFTs 33, while signal lines 35 are connected to the source electrodes thereof. The scanning lines 34 and signal lines 35 are arranged such that they run around the pixel electrodes 31 arranged in a matrix and cross each other at right angles. By inputting gate signals through the scanning lines 34, the TFTs 33 are driven under control. Further, when the TFTs 33 are driven, data signals are input to the pixel electrodes 31 through the signal lines 35. Incidentally, scanning signal input terminals 34a are connected to the end sections of the scanning lines 34, and data signal input terminals 35a are connected to the end sections of the signal lines 35.
Besides, the drain electrodes of the TFTs 33 are connected to the pixel electrodes 31 and the accumulation capacitors 36. The accumulation capacitors 36 are connected to reference signal lines 37, respectively. The accumulation capacitors 36 perform the function of maintaining a voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer.
In the active matrix liquid crystal display device as described above, the liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the active matrix substrate and counter substrate has a thickness of usually between 4.3 and 4.5 xcexcm on average, and a liquid crystal capacitor is formed by the pixel electrodes 31, common electrodes 32 and liquid crystal layer. Additionally, the accumulation capacitors 36 are connected to the liquid crystal capacitor in parallel.
In the above-mentioned structure, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the liquid crystal capacitor and the accumulation capacitor 36 are connected to the reference signal line 37 in series. Here, the capacitance of the liquid crystal capacitor is represented by Clc, and the capacitance of the accumulation capacitor 36 is represented by Cs. Then, the series capacitance of the liquid crystal capacitor and the accumulation capacitor 36 per pixel is given by (Clcxc3x97Cs)/(Clc+Cs).
For instance, in the case of a liquid crystal display device with a 13.3-inch display and XGA (extended graphics array) of (1024xc3x97768), the series capacitance per pixel is around 0.33xc3x97Clc. When N pieces of such a series capacitance are provided for each reference signal line 37, the total load capacitance per reference signal line 37 is around 0.33xc3x97Nxc3x97Clc.
Such a load capacitance would cause a signal delay. In order to reduce the signal delay, a connecting line 38 for connecting the reference signal lines 37 to each other may be provided as shown in FIG. 11.
Here, the structure of the TFT 33 will be explained in great detail. FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view showing a schematic structure in the vicinity of the TFT 33. A gate electrode 40 is formed on a transparent insulating substrate 39, and a gate insulating film 41 is formed to cover the gate electrode 40. A semiconducting film 42 is formed on the gate electrode 40 with the gate insulating film 41 therebetween. A channel protecting film 43 is formed at the top center of the semiconducting film 42. A source electrode 44s made of a microcrystal n+ silicone layer is provided on the source side of the channel protecting film 43 and semiconducting film 42. Similarly, a drain electrode 44d made of a microcrystal n+ silicone layer is provided on the drain side thereof.
A metallic layer 45s serving as a source line is connected to the source electrode 44s, while a metallic layer 45d for forming a drain line is connected to the drain electrode 44d.
The surface of the TFT 33 having the abovementioned structure is covered with an inter-layer insulating film 46. Further, a transparent conductive film for forming a pixel electrode 31 is placed on the inter-layer insulating film 46. The pixel electrode 31 is connected to the metallic layer 45d as the drain line of the TFT 33 through a contact hole 47. Moreover, on the pixel electrodes 31, although it is not shown in the drawings, an alignment film for aligning the liquid crystal is formed substantially uniformly over the entire display area.
As the inter-layer insulating film 46, an inorganic thin film such as SiN has been conventionally used. The SiN film is deposited with a film thickness of more than around 300 nm by, for example, a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method.
Moreover, as an example of a liquid crystal display device having a structure different from the above-mentioned structure of the liquid crystal display device, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. (Tokukaihei) 7-128687 (published on May 19, 1995) discloses a liquid crystal display device in which the signal lines are formed on the counter substrate. In this liquid crystal display device, since the scanning lines and the signal lines are formed on different substrates, they do not intersect each other on a single substrate. As a result, the rate of occurrence of defects due to a short circuit between the scanning line and the signal line is reduced, thereby achieving an improved yield.
FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram showing schematically an example of a circuit formed on the pixel substrate of the liquid crystal display device including the signal lines formed on the counter substrate. A plurality of three-terminal switching elements 48 made from amorphous silicone semiconductors are arranged in a matrix on the pixel substrate. One terminal of each switching element 48 is connected to a scanning line 49, one of the other terminals is connected to a reference signal line 50, and the remaining terminal is connected to a pixel electrode 51.
Incidentally, counter electrodes 52 and signal lines 53 are formed on the counter substrate.
Each scanning line 49 has a scanning signal input terminal 49a at one of the end sections thereof. Moreover, the reference signal lines 50 are connected to each other with a connecting line 54. Furthermore, a reference signal input terminal 50a is connected through a leading line 55 connected to the connecting line 54.
In order to prevent the connecting line 54 from crossing the scanning lines 49 and reference signal lines 50, the connecting line 54 is arranged on a side opposite to the side whereon the scanning signal input terminals 49a are positioned. Besides, for the purposes of simplifying the packaging, the reference signal input terminal 50a is provided at an end of a line into which the scanning signal input terminals 49a are arranged.
In the above-mentioned structure, when the switching element 48 is in an ON state, a liquid crystal capacitor is connected to the reference signal line 50 as shown in FIG. 8. Note that, similarly to the above, the capacitance of the liquid crystal capacitor is denoted as Clc. When N pieces of liquid crystal capacitors are connected to a single reference signal line 50, the load capacitance per reference signal line 50 is around Nxc3x97Clc. Thus, the load capacitance is larger than that of the above-mentioned liquid crystal display device having the structure shown in FIG. 7.
On the other hand, when the switching element 48 is in an OFF state, the liquid crystal capacitor and a capacitor between adjacent pixels are connected in series to the reference signal line 50 as shown in FIG. 9. The capacitor between adjacent pixels means a capacitance between adjacent pixels in the proximity of the reference signal line 50, and the value of the capacitance is denoted as Cbp. In this case, the series capacitance of the liquid crystal capacitance and the capacitance between adjacent pixels per pixel is given by (Clcxc3x97Cbp)/(Clc +Cbp).
For instance, for a liquid crystal display device with a 13.3-inch display and XGA (1024xc3x97768), the series capacitance per pixel is around 0.03xc3x97Clc. Besides, when N pieces of such series capacitors are connected to a single reference signal line 50, the total load capacitance with respect to the single reference signal line would be around 0.03xc3x97Nxc3x97Clc.
In a liquid crystal display device having the structure shown in FIG. 11, when the inter-layer insulating film 46 is formed by depositing a transparent insulating film such as SiNx, SiO2, and TaOx, by the CVD method or sputtering method, the irregularity on the surface of the metallic film as the under layer reflects on the inter-layer insulating film 46 as shown in FIG. 10.
In addition, since the scanning lines 34 and signal lines 35 are arranged to intersect each other on the insulating substrate 39, an extremely large number of intersections of the scanning lines 34 and signal lines 35 are present on the insulating substrate 39.
Therefore, at the large number of intersections of the scanning lines 34 and signal lines 35, the signal lines 35 are placed on the scanning lines 34, so that a difference in level is produced. Thus, in such an intersection, the inter-layer insulating film 46 tends to be cracked, and the signal line 35 above the interlayer insulating film 46 tends to be cut during the production. Alternatively, in the event where a pinhole-like defect is present in the inter-layer insulating film 46, a short-circuit occurs between the signal line 35 as the upper layer and the scanning line 34 as the lower layer, resulting in a lowered yield.
Moreover, there are possibilities that a new crack is produced at such an intersection with the passage of time and the crack produced during the production becomes larger, due to the influence of a film deposition residual force and so on. Thus, there is a possibility that defects occur in the products after putting the products on the market, resulting in a lowering of the reliability.
Furthermore, in order to decrease the signal delay, for example, it is preferred to arrange the line width of the reference signal line 37 to be wider than the line width of the scanning line 34. However, if the line width of the reference signal line 37 is increased too much, the aperture ratio of the liquid crystal display device is lowered and the brightness is lowered. The reason for such a lowering is that the reference signal line 37 is formed by a light blocking metallic material with low resistivity as so to achieve a low resistance.
Alternatively, the signal delay cay be decreased by providing the connecting line 38 as described above. However, since the load capacitance with respect to the reference signal line 37 is substantially uniform at a relatively high value irrespective of whether the TFT 33 is in an ON state or an OFF state. Thus, the provision of the connecting line 38 is insufficient to produce the effect of decreasing the signal delay.
In contrast, in a liquid crystal display device having the structure shown in FIG. 12, since the signal lines 53 are formed on the counter substrate, defects such as a short-circuit between the signal lines 53 and the scanning lines 49 do not occur. However, none of Japanese laid-open patent publication No. (Tokukaihei) 7-128687 (published on May 19, 1995) and other prior art documents disclose anything about the change in the load capacitance of the reference signal line 50 according to the ON or OFF state of the switching element 48 and the structure of arranging the connecting line 54 in light of the change in the load capacitance.
Objects of the present invention are to provide a liquid crystal display device capable of reducing the occurrence of a short circuit between lines on a substrate and decreasing the signal delay due to a load capacitance, and a method for producing a liquid crystal display device at an excellent yield.
In order to achieve the above object, a liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes:
a pixel substrate having a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix, a plurality of reference signal lines connected to the pixel electrodes through switching elements, and a plurality of scanning lines, each of the scanning lines having a scanning signal input terminal at one of ends thereof, each of the switching elements being switched according to a scanning signal input through the scanning signal input terminal;
a counter substrate disposed to face the pixel substrate, the counter substrate being provided with a plurality of counter electrodes arranged to face the pixel electrodes and a plurality of data signal lines that intersect the scanning lines with a liquid crystal layer therebetween;
a first connecting line for connecting the reference signal lines to each other, the first connecting line being located outside of a region where the pixel electrodes are arranged and in proximity of the other end of each of the scanning lines; and
at least one second connecting line for connecting the reference signal lines to each other, the second connecting line being located outside of the region where the pixel electrodes are arranged and in proximity of the scanning signal input terminals.
According to this structure, the pixel substrate faces the counter substrate with the liquid crystal layer therebetween, the pixel electrodes, scanning lines and switching elements are formed on a substrate different from a substrate having the data signal lines formed thereon, and the scanning lines and data signal lines cross each other with the liquid crystal layer therebetween.
The switching element is switched according to a scanning signal applied to the scanning line through the scanning signal input terminal. As a result, a reference signal is supplied to the pixel electrode, while a data signal is supplied to the counter electrode through the data signal line. Thus, by supplying the reference signals and data signals to the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes, respectively, a liquid crystal display according to the data signals is provided.
By the way, in the case where only a single connecting line for connecting the reference signal lines to each other is provided (where the reference signals are supplied through only a single line), the load capacitance of the reference signal line varies according to a switching state (ON or OFF) of the switching element, and therefore the reference signal is delayed due to the charging of the load capacitance.
Hence, in the above-mentioned structure, the first connecting line arranged in the proximity of the other end of each scanning line and the second connecting line arranged in the proximity of each scanning signal input terminal are positioned outside of the region where the pixel electrodes are formed. The first and second connecting lines are positioned on the opposite sides with respect to the region where the pixel electrodes are formed. Therefore, the reference signal is supplied to each reference signal line through both connecting lines (first and second connecting lines).
In this case, the signal delay becomes maximum in the vicinity of the center of each reference signal line. In the case where only a single reference signal line is provided, the signal delay becomes maximum at an end of each reference signal line located on the opposite side to the reference signal input side. Thus, when the reference signal is supplied through the first and second connecting lines, the resistance and electrostatic capacitance from the input terminals (first and second connecting lines) of the reference signal are reduced to about xc2xd of those when the reference signal is supplied through only a single connecting line. Consequently, the signal delay due to the charging of the load capacitance of the reference signal line is decreased to about xc2xc.
The load capacitance of the reference signal line is much larger when the corresponding switching element is switched ON than when the switching element is switched OFF. However, according to the abovementioned structure, switching elements in the OFF state are connected to reference signal lines located on each side of a reference signal line connected to a switching element in the ON state, and these three reference signal lines are connected to each other with the first and second connecting lines. Hence, the load capacitance of the reference signal line connected to the switching element in the ON state is decreased on the whole, and the signal delay due to the load capacitance can be certainly reduced by an amount corresponding to the decrease in the load capacitance.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the ensuing detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Liquid crystal display device and method for producing the same


A method for determining temperature information for a plurality of tubes in a furnace where one or more digital images provide temperature information for imaged tubes, and temperature information for non-imaged tubes is determined from the temperature information for the imaged tubes and measured temperatures of combined effluent from the imaged and non-imaged tubes.

The present disclosure is directed to temperature data acquisition on process tubes in a furnace.
A steam methane reformer is an example of a furnace containing a plurality of process tubes. One type of furnace for steam methane reforming can utilize numerous process tubes (including one configuration that has more than 400 process tubes) containing a catalyst (for example, a reforming catalyst) for transporting a process fluid (for example, steam and a hydrocarbon) and reacting the process fluid therein. The furnace, in one example, can include vertically extending process tubes positioned in parallel rows with about 30 to 60 tubes in each row. The distance between two rows of tubes is about 2 to 3 meters. The tubes can extend vertically about 12 meters and have an outer diameter of 100 to 150 millimeters. The tubes can be positioned in the row with a center-to-center spacing of 250 to 500 mm. About 10 to 20 burners can be positioned between each set of two rows of tubes. A total of eight or more rows of tubes and nine or more rows of burners can be included in the furnace.
Generally, energy efficiency for industrial processes, such as steam methane reforming, is becoming more important. For many processes, the efficiency of the process is related to the ability to monitor/maintain certain temperatures of the process tubes. More precise monitoring of the temperature of the process tubes can permit improved energy efficiency by permitting more accurate data to be used for process control.
One way to improve the efficiency of a furnace is to maintain uniform temperatures among the process tubes at a predetermined elevation in the furnace. Thus, the measuring or monitoring of the temperature of each of the process tubes at a predetermined location or elevation can be needed to obtain the desired efficiency improvement. In addition, the process tubes of a furnace can be under very high internal pressures (up to about 50 atmospheres) and at very high temperatures (up to about 950° C.). Thus, a slight change in temperature can reduce the operational life of a process tube. For example, operating at about 10° C. above the design temperature for the tube can reduce the operational life of the tube by as much as one half. The cost of repairing and/or replacing the tubes can be high due to the use of special alloys in the tubes that are needed to permit the tubes to survive the operational conditions of the furnace. In addition, the loss of production due to repairing the tubes results in lost revenue. As such, furnace operators also measure/monitor the tube temperatures to avoid exceeding the tube design temperature in addition to trying to obtain efficiency improvements.
In one method of measuring/monitoring the temperature of process tubes, an operator may use an optical pyrometer. When using the optical pyrometer, the operator aims the device at a predetermined location on a process tube and then activates the device. Upon activation, the optical pyrometer measures thermal radiation and displays or records a corresponding temperature for the predetermined location on the process tube and the operator logs the measured temperature for each tube. The operator repeats the process for each of the tubes. The use of the optical pyrometer has several drawbacks in that high temperature exposure may occur, the same predetermined location may not be used for all tubes, the temperature of a selected tube may not be measured, the same tube may be inadvertently measured twice instead of the desired adjacent tube, and the process may take too long resulting in temperature fluctuations for the tubes.
More recently, thermal imaging devices have been implemented to measure/monitor the temperature of the process tubes. An example of a thermal imaging device and method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,300,880 B2, incorporated herein by reference. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,300,880 B2, a single imaging device is moved from viewport to viewport to collect a plurality of images and temperature information is obtained for most or all of the process tubes. This approach has the advantage of being able to obtain temperature information for all of the process tubes but the disadvantage of requiring the operator to move the imaging device from viewport to viewport.
A thermal imaging device suitable for obtaining temperature information of process tubes is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/963,644, incorporated herein by reference. In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/963,644, an imaging device that can be fixed to the viewport door is disclosed. Multiple imaging devices, each mounted to a different viewport door, can be used to obtain temperature information for most or all of the process tubes in the furnace. This approach has the advantage of being able to obtain temperature information for all of the process tubes without requiring the operator to move the imaging device from viewport to viewport. This approach also has the advantage of being capable of providing repeated periodic temperature measurements in a somewhat continuous manner. This approach has the disadvantage of requiring many thermal imaging devices, which may be expensive.
Industry desires to obtain temperature information for a plurality of process tubes in a furnace without requiring an operator to move from viewport to viewport to capture the temperature information.
Industry desires to determine temperature information for a plurality of process tubes in a furnace with a reduced number of fixed thermal imaging devices, i.e. without requiring a full complement thermal imaging devices where each and every process tube is thermally imaged.
Industry desires repeated periodic temperature measurements for process control.


A medical ultrasonic probe includes an ultrasonic probe having a probe head and a connector. The connector includes a fluid cooling system comprising a pump configured to pump a cooling fluid between the connector and the probe head. A damper including a housing has a first portion defining a cavity receiving the cooling fluid and a second portion including a gas that is separated from the first portion by a membrane.

Medical ultrasonic probes may host a plurality of electronics in the probe handle. Thermal management may become a challenge in the presence of electronics with considerable power consumption in the probe handle. In some cases, the heat generated by this power consumption is not sufficiently removed by means of natural convection via the probe surface. In such cases an additional cooling system such as the liquid cooling systems taught in U.S. Pat. No. 8,475,375, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, may be employed.


In a case connection structure for connecting connection end portions of both case members, a boss portion is formed in one of the connection end portions to protrude to the other one of the connection end portions, and a recess portion into which the boss portion is fitted is formed in the other one of the connection end portions. A slit is provided in the boss portion, and a press-fitting portion is provided in the recess portion to be press-fitted into the slit. While the boss portion is fitted into the recess portion, the press-fitting portion is press-fitted into the slit to expand the boss portion to an outer side, so that an outer surface of the boss portion press-contacts the recess portion.

This application is related to Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-374291 filed on Dec. 8, 2000, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case connection structure for integrally connecting plural division case members. The case connection structure is suitably used for a case of vehicle air conditioner.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional vehicle air conditioner, plural division case members are separately formed by resin, and are integrally connected for constructing a case of a cooler unit, a heater unit or a blower unit. However, because air-conditioning components are disposed within the division case members, the connection operation becomes difficult. For example, for accommodating an air mixing door, a heater core and mode switching doors in the heater unit case (the case of the heater unit), an assembling operation of the heater unit case is divided into a first assembling step and a second assembling step, and the first assembling step and the second assembling step are independently performed using suitable methods and equipments, respectively. When the heater unit case is divided into both upper and lower division case members for accommodating the air-conditioning components, it is necessary to temporally assemble both the division case members in the first assembling step by using screw members after the components are accommodated in the division case members. When both the division case members are not temporally connected in the first assembling step, a connection between both the division case members is removed while the temporally assembled body is moved to a place where the second assembling step is performed, and a regular assembling position of the air-conditioning components may be shifted.
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a case connection structure in which an assembling state between both division case members can be held without a fastening operation such as a screw fastening connection and a spring clip connection.
According to the present invention, in a case connection structure for connecting a first case member having a first connection end portion and a second case member having a second connection end portion corresponding to the first connection end portion of the first case member in a connection direction, a boss portion is provided to protrude from one of the first and second connection end portions toward the other one of first and second connection end portions in the connection direction, and a recess portion is provided in the other one of the first and second connection end portions. By fitting the boss portion into the recess portion, a fixing position of both the connection end portions of the first and second case members can be performed. In the case connection structure, a press-fitting portion is provided in the recess portion, and a slit is provided in the boss portion. When both the first and second case members are connected in the connection direction, the boss portion is fitted into the recess portion, and the press-fitting portion is press-fitted into the slit to press-expand the boss portion to an outer side, in such a manner that an outer wall surface of the boss portion press-contacts an inner wall surface of the recess portion. Accordingly, a friction force is applied between an outer wall surface of the boss portion and the inner wall surface of the recess portion, and an assembling state between both the first and second division case members can be held without performing a fastening operation such as a screw fastening connection or a spring clip connection.
Preferably, the press-fitting portion has a taper portion for increasing a press-expanding amount of the boss portion to the outer side, and the press-fitting portion is tapered toward the boss portion. Therefore, even when the dimension difference of the boss portion is caused in a manufacturing step, the outer surface of the boss portion can accurately press-contact the inner wall surface of the recess portion. Accordingly, a sufficient friction force can be obtained between the outer wall surface of the boss portion and the inner wall surface of the recess portion, even when the dimension difference of the boss portion or the recess portion is caused in the case members.


A storage cabinet with a plurality of drawers has an interlocking mechanism which prevents more than one drawer being opened at any time. A vertical U-shaped support rail is located in the back of the cabinet, and vertical locking bars are disposed therein. Each locking bar pivots between two angular positions, and at least one shuttle mounted in the support rail confines the locking bars to a restricted range of pivoting, and requires that their pivoting be simultaneous. A spring bias on the shuttle forces the locking bars into one of two spring-biased pivot positions. In a first position, all the drawers are closed, and are free to be opened. The opening of a drawer causes a camplate attached to the drawer to shift the locking bars from the first pivot position to the second pivot position. In the second position, the unopened drawers are locked due to the obstruction of the camplates of the unopened drawers by one of the locking bars. Upon the opened drawer being closed, the camplate of the open drawer engages the locking bars and moves them back to the first pivot position, thereby removing the obstruction. Side supports of the camplates reinforce the stress on the support rail caused by deflection of one of the locking bars when a drawer is pulled on while in the locked position. A single cabinet locking mechanism and a gang-locking mechanism are also provided to allow manual cabinet locking.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of storage cabinets and, more specifically, to storage cabinets with drawer interlocking mechanisms that prevent the simultaneous opening of more than one cabinet drawer.
2. Description of the Related Art
The benefits of having an interlocking mechanism on a cabinet of drawers which prevents more than one drawer from being opened at the same time has long been recognized. Without such a mechanism, the opening of two drawers could move the center of gravity of the cabinet forward to the point that the cabinet tips over. Because this would most likely occur as a drawer was being opened, the danger of having the cabinet fall forward onto a person opening the drawer is high.
One type of locking system which prevents more than one drawer from being opened at a time uses a vertical, rectangular latch bar at the rear of the cabinet which is pivotable about one of its vertical sides. Each of the drawers has a cam plate affixed to its rear surface. The vertical bar is typically spring-biased such that it remains in one of two angular positions between which it can pivot.
With the cabinet drawers in the closed position, the bar is adjacent to the cam plate of each drawer in a first angular position. As one of the drawers is opened, a camming surface of the cam plate of the drawer being opened engages the vertical bar and pivots it past a centerpoint of its spring bias. This camming action is sufficient to move the bar to a second angular position. In this second position, the bar is still adjacent to the cam plates of the unopened drawers, but physically obstructs the cam plates of the closed drawers such as to prevent their being opened. When the opened drawer is closed, a second camming surface of the cam plate engages the vertical bar and pivots it back to the first angular position, in which the bar no longer obstructs the opening of the other drawers.
Each of the drawers of this prior art cabinet engages the vertical bar in the same manner, such that the opening of any of the drawers results in the pivoting of the bar and the locking of the other drawers. Although this design is somewhat effective, it suffers from some problematic side effects. Because the vertical bar is the element which must restrict the opening of the locked drawers, it is necessary to make it sturdy enough to resist the force of someone yanking on a locked drawer. In addition, because the bar must be free to pivot along its entire length, it is generally connected only at the top and bottom of the cabinet. Thus, for a relatively large cabinet, the bar may be up to six feet long, and must resist lateral forces from the drawers with support only at its two ends. For this reason, the bar is made out of a relatively high-gauge metal, typically steel.
Because the locking bar described above is made of a heavy, sturdy material, it has a significant amount of inertia. As a result, a problem occurs when one of the cabinet drawers is slammed shut. The slamming of the drawer causes the cam plate of the open drawer to strike the vertical bar with a great deal of force which, in turn, causes the bar to pivot with a relatively high angular velocity. When the bar reaches the second pivot position, the inertia of the heavy bar causes it to bounce back against the force of the spring bias. If the drawer is slammed hard enough, the bar bounces back to the position typically occupied only when one of the drawers is opened. Instead, however, the drawer which was slammed shut is in the closed position, along with the others, and the position of the bar obstructs the cam plates of all of the drawers, preventing any of them from being opened.
The "lock-up" situation described above is a problem which has plagued cabinets which use this type of design. In a cabinet which also has a key lock, this "lock-up" situation can be remedied by turning the key in the lock to return the bar to its unlocked position. However, if the key happens to be in one of the drawers, as is often the case, or is otherwise unavailable, a cabinet owner who suffers from this problem must wait for a trained service person to travel to the site of the cabinet and correct the problem. In the interim, materials inside the cabinet drawers are inaccessible. Because of the risk of this problem, there has been reluctance to use this type of cabinet design for industries where access to the contents of the drawers may be of critical importance, such as the medical industry.