An optical digital external modulator having a cascaded arrangement of interferometers is provided. The optical modulator includes an electrode structure for applying an electric field to each interferometer in the cascade and biasing circuitry coupled to the electrode structure for biasing each interferometer at a predetermined bias point. In particular, each predetermined bias point is selected to be above quadrature and for providing improved transmission performance of digital data signals. Preferably, the modulator has a reflective design that helps to increase the modulation bandwidth, lower the drive voltage, and reduce size.

Optical modulators are currently used in optical communication systems to convert electrical signals representing data or voice into modulated optical signals. Optical modulators are typically based on direct or external modulation. With direct modulation, the optical source is turned on and off at intervals. With external modulation, the optical source is operated continuously and its output light is modulated using an optical external modulator.
Optical external modulators are superior to direct modulation in many ways. For example, optical external modulators are suitable for many high-speed applications and do not typically affect the wavelengths carrying the data signal as much as direct modulation. Furthermore, optical external modulators are often based on electro-optic, magneto-optic, acousto-optic, and/or electric field absorption type effects, thus providing additional design flexibility.
One example of a particularly successful optical external modulator is a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator, which is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator 10 includes an optical waveguide 20 formed on an electro-optic substrate 30, which for exemplary purposes is lithium niobate (LiNbO3). The optical waveguide 20 includes a first Y-branch 22, a first interferometer arm 24, a second interferometer arm 26, and a second Y-branch 28. A traveling-wave electrode structure 40 is provided near/adjacent the optical waveguide 20. The exact position and design of the electrode structure 40 relative to the optical waveguide 20 is typically dependent on the crystal axis of the lithium niobate substrate 30. For example, when the lithium niobate substrate 30 is x-cut, as shown in FIG. 1, the electrode structure 40 is positioned such that the first interferometer arm 24 is disposed between ground electrode 42 and hot electrode 46, while the second interferometer arm 26 is disposed between ground electrode 44 and hot electrode 46.
In operation, light is input into the modulator 10 from the left side and is output on the right. More specifically, the input light propagates through the optical waveguide 20 until it is split at the first Y-branch 22, where it then propagates equally along the two isolated paths corresponding to the two interferometer arms 24, 26. When a time varying voltage is applied to the traveling-wave electrode structure 40, an electric field is produced that propagates down the electrode structure 40, which is constructed to form a microwave waveguide. The electric field at least partially overlaps the two interferometer arms 24 and 26. In accordance with the electro-optic effect, the electric field causes the relative velocity of the light propagating through the two interferometer arms to change, thus creating a phase shift and producing constructive or destructive interference at the second Y-branch 28. The constructive and/or destructive interference produces an amplitude modulated optical signal, wherein the modulation corresponds to a modulated RF data signal used to produce the time varying voltage.
FIG. 2a illustrates a transfer function of the electrical to optical conversion for a typical Mach-Zehnder optical modulator, such as that shown in FIG. 1. The transfer function is a theoretically sinusoidal curve that represents the points at which the optical modulator will transition from no output to maximum output. For example, when the applied voltage is near a first value −Vπ/2 the modulator output is at a minimum. As the applied voltage approaches 0 the modulator output approaches 50% transmission. When the applied voltage is near a second value Vπ/2, the modulator output is at a maximum. The value Vπ is known as the "peak-to-peak" or "switching" voltage. The point A, which is approximately half way between the maximum and minimum peaks of the transfer function, is known as a quadrature point. To achieve maximum modulation efficiency, it is usually preferred that the time varying voltage (i.e., an AC type voltage) includes a maximum amplitude of Vπ and that the optical modulator be biased at quadrature (i.e., a DC bias voltage is set at the quadrature point). Accordingly, the time varying AC voltage is continuously swung around the DC bias voltage in a balanced fashion.
Optical external modulators, such as the Mach-Zehnder optical modulator discussed with respect to FIG. 1, have been found useful in both analog systems, such as cable television and/or radar networks, and digital systems, such as today's long-haul-terrestrial and submarine optical networks. When used in analog systems, the applied voltage is usually between −Vπ and Vπ, but does not typically reach the extremes of this range. When used in digital systems, such as with a traditional two-level digital data signal, the applied voltage is swung between 0 and Vπ and/or 0 and −Vπ, so as to generate the digital 1's and 0's in the optical domain. As a result, optical analog external modulators and optical digital external modulators are generally associated with different performance concerns, and thus designs.
In optical analog external modulators, the primary performance concern appears to be the lack of linearity in the transfer function. One solution to this problem is to cascade two optical modulators in series. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,534 to McBrien et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,503 to Skeie, U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,243 to Skeie, U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,864 to Hofmeister, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,320 to Burns, all hereby incorporated by reference.
In optical digital external modulators, the primary performance concern appears to be the high drive power required to switch between 0 and Vπ and/or 0 and −Vπ (i.e., the high driving voltage). Various attempts to lower the drive power of optical digital external modulators have been proposed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,685, Burns teaches etching the lithium niobate substrate, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,184, Ho et al. teach including a resonator near one of the arms of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,158, Betts et al. teach using a specific combination of crystal axis orientation, waveguide structure, electrode structure, and biasing of a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator to lower the required drive voltage.
A second performance concern of optical digital external modulators is the breadth of the modulation bandwidth. Modulation bandwidth is typically limited by the fact that the RF signal travels more slowly through the electrodes than the optical signal travels through the optical waveguide. Prior art methods of correcting velocity mismatch have included varying the electrode width, gap and thickness and/or varying the choice and thickness of a buffer layer deposited on the substrate.
A third performance concern in optical digital external modulators is the quality and/or integrity of the optical digital signal after it has been transmitted by the optical modulator (i.e., this factor determines the distance separating the transmitter from the receiver in use). The integrity of a digital optical signal is often characterized by an eye diagram, where a clear and symmetric eye diagram with well defined lines is associated with high transmission performance (e.g., minimal bit errors).
Referring to FIG. 2b, there is shown an eye diagram for an ideal, two-level digital signal. The eye-diagram is a superimposed plot of normalized amplitude versus time, for all the optical signals produced by the optical modulator. In other words, it shows where the digital 1's and 0's of all the bits overlap in one plot (the plot in FIG. 2b is actually two bit periods wide). The X's in the eye diagram are caused by the overlap of all the 1→0 and 0→1 transitions. The center of the X's determine the eye crossing level, which is shown having the ideal value of 50%. The digital signal is understood to be ideal in all properties except for finite (30 psec) rise and fall times.
Further discussion with respect to the quality of the digital signal and eye diagrams is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,451 to Sikora, hereby incorporated by reference.


A locating method for an optical touch device to calculate a position of a light blocking object is provided. The optical touch device includes a number of image detecting components. Each of the image detecting components includes a number of pixels arranged in a straight line. In the locating method, the pixels of each of the image detecting components are at least divided into a first group and a second group. When the first group detects a dark point caused by the light blocking object, the position of the dark point is calculated using a first calculating method. When the second group detects the dark point, the position of the dark point is calculated using a second calculating method. The locating method can determine the position of the light blocking object accurately. An optical touch device that is suitable for using the locating method is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch device, and particularly to a locating method of an optical touch device and an optical touch device that is suitable for using the locating method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, a touch function has been one of necessary functions of many electronic devices. A touch device is an important component to achieve the touch function. Generally, a familiar type of the touch device is, for example, a resistive touch device, a capacitive touch device or an optical touch device. The electronic devices can be equipped with various touch devices in accordance with the various demands.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional optical touch device. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional optical touch device 100 includes a light guide module 110, a light source module 120 and an image detecting module 130. The light guide module 110 includes three light reflecting bars 112a, 112b and 112c arranged along three sides of a rectangle. The light reflecting bar 112a faces to the light reflecting bar 112c and the light reflecting bar 112b is connected between the light guide bar 112a and the light reflecting bar 112c. The area in the rectangle defines a detecting area 114. The light source module 120 includes two light emitting components 122a and 122b. The light emitting component 122a is disposed at an end of the light guide bar 112a far away from the light guide bar 112b, and the light emitting component 122b is disposed at an end of the light guide bar 112c far away from the light guide bar 112b. The light source module 120 is configured for emitting light to the three light reflecting bars 112a, 112b and 112c. The three light reflecting bars 112a, 112b and 112c are configured for reflecting the light from the light source module 120 to irradiate the detecting area 114. The image detecting module 130 includes two image detecting components 132a and 132b. The image detecting component 132a is disposed at the end of the light reflecting bar 112a far away from the light reflecting bar 112b, and the image detecting component 132b is disposed at the end of the light reflecting bar 112c far away from the light reflecting bar 112b. Each of the two image detecting components 132a and 132b includes a number of pixels 135 arranged in a straight line. The pixels 135 are configured for detecting a light blocking object (i.e., a touch point) in the detecting area 114, thereby calculating a position (i.e., coordinates) of the light blocking object in accordance with the information detected by the pixels 135.
In detail, a field of view (FOV) of the image detecting component 132a covers the light reflecting bars 112b and 112c. That is, the pixels 135 of the image detecting component 132a are configured for detecting the light reflecting bars 112b and 112c. When the light blocking object is located in the detecting area 114 and a dark point caused by the light blocking object is located at the light reflecting bar 112b, the light reflecting bar 112c, or a connecting portion of the light reflecting bar 112b and the light reflecting bar 112c, the dark point can be detected by some pixels 135 of the image detecting component 132a. Similarly, a field of view of the image detecting component 132b covers the light reflecting bars 112a and 112b. That is, the pixels 135 of the image detecting component 132a are configured for detecting the light reflecting bars 112a and 112b. When the light blocking object is located in the detecting area 114 and a dark point caused by the light blocking object is located at the light reflecting bar 112a, the light reflecting bar 112b, or a connecting portion of the light reflecting bar 112a and the light reflecting bar 112b, the dark point can be detected by some pixels 135 of the image detecting component 132b.
Generally, the conventional optical touch device 100 calculates the position of the dark point caused by the light blocking object using either a medium center calculating method or a gravity center calculating method, thereby determining the position of the light blocking object. However, positions of the dark points caused by all light blocking objects in the detecting area 114 can not be calculated accurately using either the medium center calculating method or the gravity center calculating method. For example, in the case of using the medium center calculating method to calculate the position of the dark point, the detecting area 114 of conventional optical touch device 100 has an insensitive area 114a. If the light blocking object is just located in the insensitive area 114a, the calculated position of the dark point will generate an inaccuracy due to a large offset angle of the light. In addition, if the position of the dark point is calculated using the gravity center calculating method and the dark point caused by the light blocking object is just located at the connecting portion of two neighboring light reflecting bars, the calculated position of the dark point will generate an inaccuracy.
Referring to FIG. 2, the medium center calculating method is described in detail by using the image detecting component 132b as an example. A light blocking object A is located in the insensitive area 114a, and the image detecting component 132b is configured for detecting a dark point A1 caused by the light blocking object A. The dark point A1 is located at the light reflecting bar 112a. During a process of detecting the dark point A1, the dark point A1 can be detected by some pixels 135, for example, from the n-th pixel 135n to the r-th pixel 135r, of the image detecting component 132b. The calculated center position of the dark point A1 using the medium center calculating method is equal to (n+r)/2. That is, the center of the dark point A1 corresponds to the (n+r)/2-th pixel 135m. But, in fact, a straight line L passing through the center of the light blocking object A and the center of the dark point A1 is connected to the pixel 135m′. In other words, the accurate center of the dark point A1 should correspond to the pixel 135m′ rather than the pixel 135m. Similarly, the image detecting component 132a has the above-mentioned problem. Therefore, when the position of the dark point caused by the light blocking object in the insensitive area 114a is calculated using the medium center calculating method, the calculated position of the dark point will generate an inaccuracy.
Referring to FIG. 3, the gravity center calculating method is described in detail by using the image detecting component 132a as an example. A light blocking object B is located in the detecting area 114, and the image detecting component 132a is configured for detecting a dark point B1 caused by the light blocking object B. The dark point B1 is located at the connecting portion of the light reflecting bar 112b and the light reflecting bar 112c. During a process of detecting the dark point B1, the dark point B1 can be detected by some pixels 135, for example, from the x-th pixel 135x to the y-th pixel 135y, of the image detecting component 132a. A calculating formula of the gravity center calculating method is as follow:
  Cg  =                    ∑                  w          =          x                y                                                                        bg                                            [                w                ]                                      -                          img                                            [                w                ]                                                              ×        w                            ∑                  w          =          x                y                                                        bg                                      [              w              ]                                -                      img                                      [              w              ]                                      
In the formula, w represents the w-th pixel, bg[w] represents a background brightness of the w-th pixel, img[w] represents an image brightness of the image detected by the w-th pixel, and Cg represents the calculated gravity center position of the dark point B1 caused by the light blocking object B. However, the conventional optical touch device 100 has poor light irradiation at the connecting portion of the light reflecting bar 112b and the light reflecting bar 112c. When the dark point B1 is located at the connecting portion of the light reflecting bar 112b and the light reflecting bar 112c as shown in FIG. 3, the background brightness and the image brightness detected by the pixels 135 of the image detecting components 132a are inaccurate. Therefore, a large error between the calculated position of the dark point B1 and the actual position of the dark point B1 will generate.
As mentioned above, the conventional locating method can not accurately calculate the position of the dark point caused by the light blocking object located in any area of the detecting area 114. Thus, the conventional optical touch device 100 can not determine the position of the light blocking object accurately.

Locating method of optical touch device and optical touch device


Methods and systems for low emission power generation in combined cycle power plants are provided. One system includes a gas turbine system that stoichiometrically combusts a fuel and an oxidant in the presence of a compressed recycle stream to provide mechanical power and a gaseous exhaust. The compressed recycle stream acts as a diluent to moderate the temperature of the combustion process. A boost compressor can boost the pressure of the gaseous exhaust before being compressed into the compressed recycle stream. A purge stream is tapped off from the compressed recycle stream and directed to a C02 separator which discharges C02 and a nitrogen-rich gas which can be expanded in a gas expander to generate additional mechanical power.

This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section should be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of prior art.
Many oil producing countries are experiencing strong domestic growth in power demand and have an interest in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to improve oil recovery from their reservoirs. Two common EOR techniques include nitrogen (N2) injection for reservoir pressure maintenance and carbon dioxide (CO2) injection for miscible flooding for EOR. There is also a global concern regarding green house gas (GHG) emissions. This concern combined with the implementation of cap-and-trade policies in many countries make reducing CO2 emissions a priority for these and other countries as well as the companies that operate hydrocarbon production systems therein.
Some approaches to lower CO2 emissions include fuel de-carbonization or post-combustion capture using solvents, such as amines. However, both of these solutions are expensive and reduce power generation efficiency, resulting in lower power production, increased fuel demand and increased cost of electricity to meet domestic power demand. In particular, the presence of oxygen, SOX, and NOX components makes the use of amine solvent absorption very problematic. Another approach is an oxyfuel gas turbine in a combined cycle (e.g., where exhaust heat from the gas turbine Brayton cycle is captured to make steam and produce additional power in a Rankin cycle). However, there are no commercially available gas turbines that can operate in such a cycle and the power required to produce high purity oxygen significantly reduces the overall efficiency of the process. Several studies have compared these processes and show some of the advantages of each approach. See, e.g. BOLLAND, OLAV, and UNDRUM, HENRIETTE, Removal of CO2 from Gas Turbine Power Plants: Evaluation of pre- and post-combustion methods, SINTEF Group, found at http://www.energy.sintef.no/publ/xergi/98/3/3 art-8-engelsk.htm (1998).
Other approaches to lower CO2 emissions include stoichiometric exhaust gas recirculation, such as in natural gas combined cycles (NGCC). In a conventional NGCC system, only about 40% of the air intake volume is required to provide adequate stoichiometric combustion of the fuel, while the remaining 60% of the air volume serves to moderate the temperature and cool the flue gas so as to be suitable for introduction into the succeeding expander, but also disadvantageously generate an excess oxygen byproduct which is difficult to remove. The typical NGCC produces low pressure flue gas which requires a fraction of the power produced to extract the CO2 for sequestration or EOR, thereby reducing the thermal efficiency of the NGCC. Further, the equipment for the CO2 extraction is large and expensive, and several stages of compression are required to take the ambient pressure gas to the pressure required for EOR or sequestration. Such limitations are typical of post-combustion carbon capture from low pressure flue gas associated with the combustion of other fossil fuels, such as coal.
Accordingly, there is still a substantial need for a low emission, high efficiency power generation and CO2 capture or manufacture process.

Low emission triple-cycle power generation and CO


A beach wagon has a motor and gear box which operates the rear axle and wheels of the wagon through use of an on-board power source. The motor is controlled by a switch and throttle lever located within the handle of the wagon. The switch and throttle lever communicate with the motor using electrical wiring which runs through the handle and along the underside of the wagon. The handle is connected to a pair of front wheels which are affixed to one (1) pivoting caster. The frame of the wagon is centrally hinged at a line which runs parallel to the rear axle.

The transportation of beach necessities such as chairs, towels, umbrellas, sandals, buckets, and similar goods is burdensome requirement for most beach goers. Often times, a long walk is required to get to and from a desired location on the beach all the while trying handle a combination of beach paraphernalia and in many cases, children. Since relaxation time on the beach is coveted by many beach-goers it is therefore desirable to spend less time transporting beach necessities to a location on the beach. To accomplish this task, many beach-goers make use of a wheeled cart or wagon to transport their beach paraphernalia.
Most beach carts and wagons available today are similar to child wagons or shopping carts and do not provide motorized propulsion. These carts and wagons are generally supported by two (2) wheels, bulky, unwieldy and usually require manual transportation. In addition to these concerns, a chief drawback of such transportation devices is that maneuvering a wheeled cart on a beach is very strenuous due to the resistance of the sand. A need therefore exists to provide safe, efficient means of moving beach necessities from a vehicle or residence to and from the beach without multiple trips or over-exertion.
Various attempts have been made to solve problems found in foldable motorized beach cart systems art. Among these are found in: U.S. Pat. No. 8,286,739 to John Oliphant; U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,363 to Seven L. Hirschfield; U.S. Pat. No. 7,210,545 to Jerry Paul Waid; U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,691 to Sheng-Kuai Lu; U.S. Pat. No. 8,746,377 to Chris T. Dunbar; U.S. Pat. No. 8,511,406 to Stephen A. Anasiewicz. These prior art references are representative of motorized and foldable beach carts and wagons.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed. Thus, a need exists for a reliable and foldable motorized beach cart system to obviate the above-mentioned problems.


A clutch race is formed from multiple layers of stampings which are joined together. Each of the stampings has a plurality of semi-perfs which include a protrusion on one side and pocket on the opposing side. The protrusions of one layer are interconnected with the pockets of an adjacent layer. The stampings forming the individual layers may either define a complete circle or an arcuate segment of a circle, which arcuate segments, when assembled, form a circular layer to be joined with adjacent layers.

The present application is directed to a laminated race for a one-way clutch. Stacks of laminations are assembled to form the clutch race.
One way clutches (OWC) of the type used in automotive transmissions and other applications are constructed using inner and outer races. The inner and outer races provide a number of features such as radial and axial bearing surfaces, clutch engagement surfaces, lubricating channels, axial parts retention, inside and outside torque transfer splines and engagement springs. One-way clutches are currently made using varied construction of the inner and outer races. Such varied construction includes wrought-machined steel, powdered metal (forged and conventional) and the like. These types of construction for the inner and outer races are costly and require secondary processing for the drilling of oil holes and other features.
The present invention provides OWC inner and/or outer races using a laminated stack of stamped material such as steel. Laminated stampings for such races allows the use of lower cost material, high-speed stamping and automatic assembly techniques. The use of a plurality of layers joined together to form laminates for such races minimizes or eliminates secondary finishing operations further contributing to the low cost. Various features can be incorporated into the stamping operation such as spring pockets stamped into single or multiple layers of laminate, springs stamped into a single or multiple layers of laminate and oil supply holes stamped in layers of the laminates. Each of the layers of the laminate used for such races can be stamped or otherwise manufactured in a plurality of arcuate sections which are assembled or manufactured as a complete annular (circular) unit.


A processor includes a plurality of nodes arranged two dimensionally in the X-axis direction and in the Y-axis direction, and each of the nodes includes a processor core and a distributed shared cache memory. The processor also includes a first connecting unit and a second connecting unit. The first connecting unit connects adjacent nodes in the X-axis direction among the nodes, in a ring shape. The second connecting unit connects adjacent nodes in the Y-axis direction among the nodes, in a ring shape. The cache memories included in the respective nodes are divided into banks in the Y-axis direction. Coherency of the cache memories in the X-axis direction is controlled by a snoop system. The cache memories are shared by the nodes.

In recent years, the number of processor cores (hereinafter, described as "cores") as arithmetic processing units integrated on a chip of a central processing unit (CPU) is increasing in order to improve the performance of the CPU and suppress an increase in the power consumption due to a high frequency clock. Furthermore, as a technology for connecting the cores on the same chip, a ring network and a mesh network for example are known.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-174289
Patent Document 2: Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2004-538548
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-339348
However, in the related technology as described above, it is impossible to improve the performance with an increase in the number of cores.
For example, when the number of cores increases, it is desirable to increase the bisection bandwidth (Bisection Bandwidth). However, if the cores are connected in a single ring, a communication distance between the cores increases, so that the bisection bandwidth is not increased even when the number of cores increases.
Furthermore, in the mesh network in which a storage area is divided into banks, when a core accesses a storage area other than the storage area managed by itself, the core accesses a cache memory of an external core. Therefore, when the core frequently accesses the cache memory of the external core, latency is increased. Moreover, if a number of cores access storage areas other than the storage areas managed by themselves, load on the communication network between the cores increases. The increase in the latency or the load on the communication network between the cores occurs not only in the mesh network but also in any structure in which a storage area is divided into banks.

Processor and control method for processor


A photographic film cassette which has not been exposed has its film leader completely housed within the cassette. When a film is rewound after taking photographs, a stop hole in the film is engaged with a stop claw formed on a film passage mouth, so that the film rewinding operation is intercepted, with the film leader being slightly protruded from the cassette shell. A film removing slit is formed in a film feeding slit of a cassette holder of a camera. Therefore, when pulling out the film cassette in the axial direction, the film leader protruded from the cassette is bent and passed through the slit. If an exposed film cassette is attempted to be loaded, the loaded operation is intercepted because the open end of the film removing slit is positioned different from the film feeding slit in the vertical direction. When the cassette holder takes a closed position, an operation pin registers at a first lock section so that the cassette holder is locked at the closed position where the cassette holder enters the camera body. As a coupling member is moved, the cassette holder moves from the closed position to the open position by the force of a biasing member. At this time, the operation pin moves through a first guide section from the first lock section to a second lock section, so that the cassette holder is locked at the open position where the cassette holder protrudes out of the camera body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic film cassette of the type that the leading section of a photographic film strip is advanced out of the cassette by rotation of a spool, and to a camera using such a photographic film cassette.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known a photographic film cassette having the structure wherein a photographic film strip (hereinafter simply called a film) is entirely housed within the cassette, and a film leading section (called a film leader) is advanced via a film passage mouth out of the cassette by rotation of a spool (e.g., refer to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,834,306 and 4,832,275, and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2-124564). This film cassette, different from a conventional film cassette having a film leader protruded beforehand out of a film passage mouth, has advantages in that the film loading operation using the film leader does not require a certain amount of skill and manual dexterity.
Such a film cassette is used for a camera having a cassette holder described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,319. The cassette holder is formed with a cassette receiving chamber into which a film cassette is inserted in the axial direction. The cassette holder is arranged to swing or pivot between an open position where the cassette holder is pulled out of the camera body, and a closed position where the cassette holder enters into the camera body. It is necessary for the construction of such a swingable cassette holder to lock the cassette holder at both the open and closed positions. In this context, the camera described in the above-cited U.S. Pat. No. '319 has a stopper mounted on the camera body, the stopper protruding within the rotation locus of the cassette holder to stop the cassette holder at the open position.
Generally speaking, an exposed film is completely rewound on the cassette after taking photographs. Therefore, for the above-described film cassettes, it is impossible to visually discriminate between unused (unexposed) film cassettes and used (exposed) film cassettes. There arises therefore a risk of reloading an exposed film cassette into a camera.
The above-described camera has a stopper for stopping the cassette holder at the open position, the stopper being formed integrally with the camera body. Therefore, the stopper is likely to hinder the operation of mounting the cassette holder on the camera body, posing a problem of mounting operability. Furthermore, a mechanism for holding the cassette holder at the open position and a mechanism for locking it at the closed position are separately provided, thereby increasing the number of components.

Photographic film cassette and camera using the same


A rotating frame animal trap has a specific form of frame design for insuring that the maximum clamping force between the jaws is developed at a jaw opening which corresponds to the dimension of a target animal. This frame design also produces generally increased clamping forces compared with known traps over a range of jaw openings smaller than the target opening.

This invention relates to rotating frame animal traps of the type comprising a pair of similar frames pivotally connected at adjacent ends for relative rotation about a common axis and forming at their sides two pairs of co-acting jaws.
Such traps are conventionally provided with at least one actuator in the form of a pair of arms urged apart by a coil spring, each arm terminating in an actuator ring which encircles one set of adjacent ends of the frames and urges the jaws towards a closed position. To set the trap, the actuator arms are pressed towards each other against the spring action and the frames are relatively rotated to open the jaws. In the open position of the trap adjacent jaw forming sides of the respective frames are held in close proximity by a trigger and latch means and the frames themselves serve to hold the actuator rings against the spring force in positions adjacent and on opposite sides of one of the frame pivots.
When the trap is sprung, through movement of the trigger means by a target animal, the frames are released, allowing the actuator rings rapidly to move out along the encircled frame ends and force the trap jaws towards one another.
The extent to which the jaws can close on one another (the ultimate jaw opening) depends on the size of an animal trapped between the jaws. This size can vary considerably and different size traps are generally provided to trap different species and sizes of target animals.
Further, it is desirable for such traps to operate in as efficient and humane a manner as possible. This implies that the maximum force available from the trap should be brought to bear on the animal at the moment of impact of the jaws and immediately thereafter so that the animal can be killed as rapidly as possible.
It is an object of the present invention in an animal trap of the type described, to provide means whereby the optimum available force of the trap can be brought to bear on a target animal at and subsequent to the moment of impact of the trap jaws with the animal.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an animal trap of the rotating frame type which provides an increased impact force and increased holding power subsequent to impact compared with comparably sized prior art traps.
A further object of the invention is to provide a rotating frame animal trap having increased holding power compared with similar prior art traps at relatively small jaw openings.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a rotating frame animal trap having a novel form of frame design which significantly improves the trap performance compared with comparable prior art traps particularly in regard to increased holding power at the point of impact with the target animal and subsequently thereto.


Radially expandable endoprostheses or stents are provided, as well as their method of manufacture. These stents include a plurality of adjacent generally circumferential sections that are substantially axially positioned with respect to each other. At least one of the generally circumferential sections has a generally circumferentially disposed expandable segment that imparts circumferential and radial expandability to the stent.

The present invention generally relates to endoprosthesis devices, to a procedure for making same, and to the use thereof. More particularly, the invention relates to a generally tubular endoprosthesis that is radially expandable between a generally unexpanded insertion circumference and an expanded implantation circumference which is greater than the unexpanded insertion circumference. Included are a plurality of generally circumferential sections, one or more of which includes one or more expandable segments that are bendable members which are generally collapsed when the endoprosthesis is in its generally unexpanded insertion orientation and which are generally opened when the endoprosthesis is in its expanded implantation orientation.
Endoprostheses are known for treating stenoses, stricture, aneurysm conditions and the like. An endoprosthesis device of this type, which is at times referred to as a stent, is typically placed or implanted by a mechanical transluminal procedure. Often a device of this type is percutaneously implanted within the vascular system to reinforce collapsing, partially occluded, weakened or abnormally dilated localized sections of a blood vessel or the like. Stents of this type can also be used in the urinary tract, the bile tract, the intestinal tract and the like. When endoprostheses or stents are used to treat a stenosis condition, typically such is done in association with a dilation element such as an angioplasty balloon. In this instance, the dilation element or balloon device opens the constriction, and a stent or the like is positioned thereat in order to prevent or at least substantially slow re-formation of the stenosis.
One attribute of a stent is that it is radially compressible and expandable so that it will easily pass through a blood vessel or the like when collapsed and will expand to its implanted size after the stenosis, aneurysm or the like has been reached. It is also desirable that a stent be generally flexible throughout its length so that it is easily maneuverable through bends and curves of the blood vessel or the like. It is typically desirable that a stent or endoprosthesis have a substantial amount of open space so as to allow for endothelialization along its length, to minimize the foreign body response, and to minimize interference with collateral blood vessels and the like. While it is important that a stent or endoprosthesis lodge securely into place at the desired location, it can be advantageous to have a stent that is removable through a transluminal percutaneous procedure, should removal be needed.
Various currently known stent products have structures that are essentially coiled springs. When this type of spring stent is tightly coiled, its diameter is relatively small for insertion through a blood vessel or the like. When the coil is sprung or coiled more loosely, the stent assumes its expanded, implantation orientation. Maass et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,545 is illustrative of this type of coiled spring stent or endoprosthesis. Multihelix or braided stents are also known. Stents of this general type suffer from poor maneuverability, and they are relatively thick walled and three dimensional. They are also difficult to remove once implanted, and they may exhibit numerous exposed, relatively sharp or jagged ends. Palmaz U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,665 is representative of an expandable stent of this general type. Gianturco U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,568 illustrates a percutaneous endovascular stent formed of stainless steel wire that is arranged in a closed zig-zag pattern somewhat in the nature of a bookbinder spring. Such a structure is somewhat unsymmetrical, and it may be subject to reocclusion due to the very large open space that is typically present between the wires of this type of device. Another type of stent is known as a Statz stent, and it includes a hypodermic tube with longitudinal slots etched into its body. While such a device has a high ratio of unexpanded to expanded diameter, it is a comparatively rigid, sharp-edged device which is difficult to maneuver through a tortuous path and is not easily removed in a transluminal manner.
With many of these currently known stent structures, the axial length of the stent decreases as the circumference of the stent increases, which is typically a disadvantage. For example, any such length reduction must be taken into consideration in selecting proper stent sizing for a particular implantation procedure. Also, this attribute of many prior stents requires the passage through the blood vessel or the like of a stent which is longer than the length actually needed for the implantation procedure being performed. This is a particularly difficult problem for procedures in which the stent must be passed through a pathway having twists or turns, especially for a stent structure that is not easily bendable.
The present invention avoids the various deficiencies of these types of prior art structures and provides important and advantageous features of endoprostheses or stents and the use thereof. In summary, the endoprosthesis of this invention includes a plurality of generally circumferential sections that are generally adjacent to one another along their respective opposing generally circumferential edges. At least one of these generally circumferential sections has an expandable segment that imparts radial expandability to the generally circumferential section. The expandable segment is a bendable, elbow-like member that is bendable between a generally collapsed or closed orientation and a generally opened orientation and is capable of assuming bending orientations between one that is fully closed and one that is fully opened. By this structure, the endoprosthesis or stent has an unexpanded insertion circumference and an expanded implantation circumference, which is greater than the insertion circumference. In addition, this variation in circumference is achieved without substantially changing the axial length of the endoprosthesis or stent. The stent is made by a procedure that is relatively uncomplicated, and, generally speaking, the stent can be transluminally explanted if necessary.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved radially expandable, axially extending endoprosthesis of the type that can be transluminally implanted.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved endoprosthesis or stent that can be constructed to have very large radial expansion capabilities.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved radially expandable axially extending endoprosthesis that is extremely maneuverable and capable of moving through a tortuous path.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved radially expandable axially extending endoprosthesis that can, if desired, be transluminally explanted by means of, for example, a snare lead or catheter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved radially expandable axially extending endoprosthesis which includes members that can be spaced apart or pointed in a manner that enhances lodging of the endoprosthesis at its implanted site.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved axially extending endoprosthesis that can be constructed in order to be radially expandable by an expanding member or balloon of a catheter device and/or can be radially expandable due to spring-like properties of the endoprosthesis.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved procedure for making an axially extending and/or generally tubular endoprosthesis that is radially expandable.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved procedure and system for transluminally explanting an axially extending radially expandable endoprosthesis or stent.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved radially expandable endoprosthesis that substantially avoids the presentation of any frayed edges and that generally maintains its axial length throughout various radial expansion positions.
These and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.

Method of making a radially expandable prosthesis


An adjustable-voltage Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch provides data signals and output electrical powers to a multiple number of output PoE ports. The adjustable-voltage PoE switch has an output voltage-adjusting interface, allowing a user to select a specific power level or a specific output voltage for the particular output PoE port. The adjustable-voltage PoE can also include a conventional IEEE 802.3af-compliant power mode for further utilizing PoE in communicating and powering up external devices. A plurality of light indicators corresponding to the multiple number of output PoE ports provides further convenience by indicating a specific power level or a specific output voltage for a particular output PoE port using a particular color in each color-changing light indicator.

Modern communications and network equipment often necessitates supplying of electrical power to a multiple number of electrical devices connected to a single electrical hub which provides data connection to the multiple number of electrical devices. In one example, the electrical hub can connect a network equipment (e.g. a network switch, a router, a server, and etc.) with one or more local area network (LAN) data line input and multiple LAN outputs to the multiple number of electrical devices.
A traditional way of supplying power to an electrical device is using a dedicated power supply connection from a DC or AC source to a power input of an electrical device. Sometimes a power adapter plays an intermediary role to convert AC power to DC power before an acceptable input power is supplied to an electrical device. This traditional power supply connection usually requires cumbersome and inconvienient wiring and maintenance, especially if electrical devices are mounted on top of a communication tower (i.e. cellular macro/micro/pico-cell towers, IEEE 802.11-compliant data access points, surveillance cameras, and etc.) or somewhere outdoors.
"Power-over-Ethernet," commonly known as "PoE" in shorthand, is a useful concept which is gaining recognition in the telecommunications and electronic industries today. Instead of requiring dedicated power supply lines, Power-over-Ethernet delivers a useful electrical power using a conventional RJ45-based Ethernet cable while simultaneously supplying required data as an Ethernet cable to an electrical device.
An industry standard, commonly known as IEEE 802.3af, has formed around the Power-over-Ethernet technology several years ago. The IEEE 802.3af standard allows power sourcing equipments to provide desired power via conventional Ethernet cables to electrical devices. The IEEE 802.3af standard operates based on a device-compliance detection scheme. In one example, an IEEE-802.3af-compliant powered device places a 25 k-ohm resistor between powered pairs of an Ethernet input connector.
If an IEEE 802.3af power sourcing equipment detects a resistance that substantially exceeds or underperforms the required 25 k-ohm resistance at the powered pairs of an electrical device connected by an Ethernet cable, the power source equipment realizes that the electrical device is not IEEE 802.3af-compliant and no power is supplied via the Ethernet cable. On the other hand, if the IEEE 802.3af power sourcing equipment detects a resistance of approximately 25 k-ohm at the powered pairs of an electrical device connected by an Ethernet, then the power source equipment realizes that the electrical device is IEEE 802.3af-compliant and begins to supply power to the electrical device. The IEEE 802.3af standard also supports a "power class" detection scheme, which allows powered devices to indicate their power requirements by changing the sense resistance at higher voltages.
In practice, the IEEE 802.3af standard brings several real-life drawbacks for both power souring equipment and powered devices. Many Ethernet-powered devices and their manufacturers today are reluctant to implement IEEE 802.3af standard due to a relatively high cost of standard integration into their devices, which make their products more expensive than competitors. Furthermore, the IEEE 802.3af-compliance detection scheme makes maintenance and debugging difficult for connected devices to a power sourcing equipment. For instance, if a power sourcing equipment is a PoE network switch with a multiple number of input ports and a multiple number of output PoE ports, it is difficult to troubleshoot an IEEE 802.3af-mode-only powered device which may or may not suffer from a faulty power requirement detection scheme based on the IEEE 802.3af standard. Moreover, for outdoor power applications which needs to supply a relatively high amount of power (e.g. for wireless LAN access points, micro/pico cellular towers, surveillance cameras, and etc.) to Ethernet-powered devices than IEEE 802.3af standard's power supply limitations, relying solely on the IEEE 802.3af is undesirable. Therefore, a new type of power sourcing equipment is desired for Power-over-Ethernet applications which resolves or mitigates the drawbacks of relying entirely on the IEEE 802.3af standard.

Adjustable-voltage power-over-ethernet (PoE) switch


Heterocyclically substituted amides of the general formula I

The present invention relates to novel heterocyclically substituted amides, which are inhibitors of enzymes, in particular cysteine proteases, such as calpain (=calcium-dependent cysteine proteases) and its isoenzymes and cathepsins, for example B and L.
Calpains are intracellular, proteolytic enzymes from the so-called cysteine proteases group and are found in many cells. The enzyme calpain is activated by an increased calcium concentration, a differentiation being made between calpain I or xcexc-calpain, which is activated by xcexc-molar concentrations of calcium ions, and calpain II or m-calpain, which is activated by m-molar concentrations of calcium ions (P. Johnson, Int. J. Biochem. 1990, 22(8), 811-22). The existence of further calpain isoenzymes is postulated today (K. Suzuki et al., Biol. Chem. Hoppe-Seyler, 1995, 376(9), 523-9).
It is suspected that calpains play an important part in various physiological processes. These include cleavage of regulatory proteins such as protein kinase C, cytoskeletal proteins such as MAP 2 and spectrin, muscle proteins, protein breakdown in rheumatoid arthritis, proteins in the activation of platelets, neuropeptide metabolism, proteins in mitosis and others which are listed in M. J. Barrett et al., Life Sci. 1991, 48, 1659-69 and K. K. Wang et al., Trends in Pharmacol. Sci., 1994, 15, 412-9.
Increased calpain levels have been measured in various pathophysiological processes, for example: ischemia of the heart (e.g. cardiac infarct), of the kidney or of the central nervous system (e.g. xe2x80x9cstrokexe2x80x9d), inflammations, muscular dystrophies, cataracts of the eyes, injuries to the central nervous system (e.g. trauma), Alzheimer""s disease etc. (see K. K. Wang, above). A relationship of these diseases with increased and lasting intracellular calcium levels is suspected. As a result, calcium-dependent processes are overactivated and are no longer subject to physiological regulation. Accordingly, overactivation of calpains can also initiate pathophysiological processes. It was therefore postulated that inhibitors of the calpain enzymes can be useful for the treatment of these diseases. Various investigations confirm this. Thus Seung-Chyul Hong et al., Stroke 1994, 25(3), 663-9 and R. T. Bartus et al., Neurological Res. 1995, 17, 249-58 have shown a neuroprotective action of calpain inhibitors in acute neurodegenerative disorders or ischemias, such as occur after cerebral stroke. Likewise, after experimental brain traumata, calpain inhibitors improved recovery from the memory power deficits and neuromotor disorders which occurred (K. E. Saatman et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1996, 93, 3428-3433). C. L. Edelstein et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1995, 92, 7662-6, found a protective action of calpain inhibitors on kidneys damaged by hypoxia. Yoshida, Ken Ischi et al., Jap. Circ. J. 1995, 59(1) 40-8, were able to show favorable effects of calpain inhibitors after cardiac damage which was produced by ischemia or reperfusion. Since calpain inhibitors inhibit the release of the xcex2-AP4 protein, potential use as a therapeutic for Alzheimer""s disease was proposed (J. Higaki et al., Neuron, 1995, 14, 651-59). The release of interleukin-1xcex1 was also inhibited by calpain inhibitors (N. Watanabe et al., Cytokine 1994, 6(6), 597-601). It was furthermore found that calpain inhibitors show cytotoxic effects on tumor cells (E. Shiba et al., 20th Meeting Int. Ass. Breast Cancer Res., Sendai Jp, Sep. 25-28, 1994, Int. J. Oncol. 5(Suppl.), 1994, 381).
Further possible uses of calpain inhibitors are listed in K. K. Wang, Trends in Pharmacol. Sci., 1994, 15, 412-8. Calpain inhibitors have already been described in the literature. These are mainly, however, either irreversible or peptide inhibitors. As a rule, irreversible inhibitors are alkylating substances and have the disadvantage that they react non-selectively in the body or are unstable. Thus these inhibitors often show undesirable side effects, such as toxicity, and are accordingly restricted in their use or unutilizable. Among the irreversible inhibitors can be included, for example, the epoxides E 64 (E. B. McGowan et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1989, 158, 432-5), xcex1-haloketones (H. Angliker et al., J. Med. Chem. 1992, 35, 216-20) or disulfides (R. Matsueda et al., Chem. Lett. 1990, 191-194).
Many known reversible inhibitors of cysteine proteases, such as calpain, are peptide aldehydes, in particular dipeptide and tripeptide aldehydes such as, for example, Z-Val-Phe-H (MDL 28170) (S. Mehdi, Trends in Biol. Sci. 1991, 16, 150-3) and the compounds from EP 520336.
Peptide ketone derivatives have also been disclosed as inhibitors of cysteine proteases and in particular calpain. However, only ketones, in which, on the one hand, leaving groups in the xcex1-position cause an irreversible inhibition and, on the other hand, a carboxylic acid derivative activates the keto group, were found to be effective inhibitors (see M. R. Angelastro et al., see above; WO 92/11850; WO 92,12140; WO 94/00095 and WO 95/00535). However, of these ketoamides and ketoesters, hitherto only peptide derivatives have been described as effective (Zhaozhao Li et al., J. Med. Chem. 1993, 36, 3472-80; S. L. Harbenson et al., J. Med. Chem. 1994, 37, 2918-29 and see above M. R. Angelastro et al.).
Until now, it has never been shown that nonpeptide ketones are also potent, reversible calpain inhibitors. The aim is thus to obtain nonpeptide inhibitors which are derived from carbonyl compounds and improve the general problems of peptides (metabolic stability, poor crossing of the cell membranes etc.).
Ketobenzamides are already known in the literature. Thus the ketoester PhCOxe2x80x94Abuxe2x80x94COOCH2CH3 was described in WO 91/09801, WO 94/00095 and 92/11850. The analogous phenyl derivative Phxe2x80x94CONHxe2x80x94CH(CH2Ph)xe2x80x94COxe2x80x94COCOOCH3 was found in M. R. Angelastro et al., J. Med. Chem. 1990, 33, 11-13 to be, however, only a weak calpain inhibitor. This derivative is also described in J. P. Burkhardt, Tetrahedron Lett., 1988, 3433-36. The significance of the heterocyclically substituted amides, however, has never been investigated until now.
On the other hand, there are attempts to find reversible nonpeptide calpain inhibitors. Thus in JP 8183759, JP 8183769, JP 8183771 and EP 520336 aldehydes derived from dipeptides have already been described, saturated carbocyclic rings, for example cyclohexanes, or saturated heterocyclic rings, for example piperidines, being incorporated into these peptide inhibitors instead of an amino acid and novel aldehydes being obtained as calpain inhibitors.
In the present invention, substituted nonpeptide heterocyclically substituted amide derivatives are described. These compounds are new and surprisingly have the possibility of obtaining potent nonpeptide inhibitors of cysteine proteases, such as, for example, calpain, by incorporation of rigid structural fragments.
The present invention relates to heterocyclically substituted amides of the general formula I
and their tautomeric and isomeric forms, possible enantiomeric and diastereomeric forms, as well as possible physiologically tolerable salts, in which the variables have the following meanings:
A is piperazine, homopiperazine, piperidine or pyrrolidine, which can additionally carry a radical R5 and
B is a phenyl, pyridine, pyrimidine, pyrazine or pyridazine ring and
R1 and R2 independently of one another are hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, Oxe2x80x94C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, OH, Cl, F, Br, I, CF3, NO2, NH2, CN, COOH, COOxe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl, NHCOxe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl, NHCO-phenyl, CONHR9, NHSO2xe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl, NHSO2-phenyl, SO2xe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl and SO2-phenyl and R1 and R2 can be a chain xe2x80x94CHxe2x95x90CHxe2x80x94CHxe2x95x90CHxe2x80x94, which can additionally carry one or two substituents R6, and
R3 is C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched and which can additionally carry an Sxe2x80x94CH3 radical, cyclohexyl, cyclopentyl, cycloheptyl, phenyl, pyridyl, pyrimidyl, pyridazyl, pyrazyl, indolyl, thienyl or naphthyl ring, where the rings are substituted by at most two radicals R7, and R7 is hydrogen, C1-C4-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, Oxe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl, OH, Cl, F, Br, I, CF3, NO2, NH2, CN, COOH, COOxe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl, CONHR9, NHCOxe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl, NHCO-phenyl, NHSO2xe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl, NHSO2-phenyl, SO2xe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl and SO2-phenyl, and
R4 is hydrogen, xe2x80x94COR8, where R8 can be xe2x80x94OR9 and xe2x80x94NR9R10 and
R5 is hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, which can additionally carry a substituent R11, or R5 can be a phenyl, pyridyl, pyrimidyl, pyridazyl, pyrazinyl, pyrazolyl, naphtyl, thienyl, piperidinyl, pyrrolidinyl or imidazolyl ring, which can additionally carry one or two substituents R6 and
R6 is hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, Oxe2x80x94C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, OH, Cl, F, Br, I, CF3, NO2, NH2, CN, COOH, COOxe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl or C1-C4-alkyl-NR9R13 or two radicals R6 can be a bridge OC(R9)2O and
R9 is hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, and
R10 is hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, which can additionally be substituted by a phenyl ring which can additionally carry a radical R12, and by
xe2x80x83and
R11 can be a phenyl, pyridyl, pyrimidyl, naphtyl, thienyl, furyl, pyridazyl, pyrazinyl, pyrazolyl, pyrrolyl or imidazolyl ring which can additionally carry one or two substituents R6, and
R12 is hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, Oxe2x80x94C1-C6-alkyl, which is branched or unbranched, OH, Cl, F, Br, I, CF3, NO2, NH2, CN, COOH, COOxe2x80x94C1-C4-alkyl and
R13 is hydrogen, a C1-C4-alkyl chain and C0-C4-alkylphenyl, where the phenyl ring can additionally carry one or two radicals R12 and
x is 0, 1 or 2.
The compounds of the formula I can be employed as racemates or as enantiomerically pure compounds or as diastereomers. If enantiomerically pure compounds are desired, these can be obtained, for example, by carrying out a classical racemate resolution with the compounds of the formula I or their intermediates using a suitable optically active base or acid. On the other hand, the enantiomeric compounds can likewise be prepared by use of commercially available compounds, for example optically active amino acids such as phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine.
The present invention also relates to compounds which are mesomeric or tautomeric with compounds of the formula I, for example those in which the keto group of the formula I is present as an enol tautomer.
The invention also includes the acid addition salts of the compounds of the formula I with physiologically tolerable acids. Suitable physiologically tolerable organic and inorganic acids are, for example, hydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, oxalic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid, adipic acid and benzoic acid. Further utilizable acids are described in Fortschritte der Arzneimittelforschung, Volume 10, pages 224 ff., Birkhxc3xa4user Verlag, Basle and Stuttgart, 1966.
The amides according to the invention can be prepared in various ways, which have been outlined in the synthesis schemes 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The carboxylic acid esters III are obtained by reaction of the carboxylic acid esters II, where X is a leaving group such as chloride, bromide, iodide or tosylate, with the correseponding piperazine or piperidine derivatives. This reaction is carried out under customary conditions from the sodium or potassium amide of the secondary amines in solvents such as THF, DMF, toluene or benzene or in the presence of a Cu catalyst (see C. R. Larock, Comprehensive Organic Transformations, VCH Publisher, 1989, p. 397). In the examples in which B is a nitrogen-containing aromatic, the reaction is preferably carried out at elevated temperature in solvents such as DMF or THF, if appropriate in the presence of a base such as triethylamine, NaH or potassium carbonate and a crown ether. In the examples in which B is a phenyl ring and A a piperidine derivative and the Axe2x80x94B bond is established under Cxe2x80x94C bond linkage, Suzuki couplings (Suzuki et al., THL 1986, 27, 6369) or couplings with tin organyls are carried out (see C. R. Larock, Comprehensive Organic Transformations, VCH Publisher, 1989, p. 64).
The carboxylic acid esters III are converted into the acids IV using acids or bases such as lithium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide in aqueous medium or in mixtures of water and organic solvents such as alcohols or tetrahydrofuran at room temperature or elevated temperatures, such as 25-100xc2x0 C. Acids IV are linked to an xcex1-amino acid derivative, customary conditions being used, which are listed, for example, in Houben-Weyl, Methoden der organischen Chemie [Methods of Organic Chemistry], 4th Edition, E5, Chap. V, and C. R. Larock, Comprehensive Organic Transformations, VCH Publisher, 1989, Ch. 9.
The carboxylic acids IV are converted into xe2x80x9cactivatedxe2x80x9d acid derivatives Rxe2x80x2xe2x80x94COOL, where L is a leaving group such as Cl, imidazole or N-hydroxybenzotriazole, and are then converted into the derivative V by reaction with an amino acid derivative H2Nxe2x80x94CH(R3)xe2x80x94COOR. This reaction is carried out in anhydrous, inert solvents such as methylene chloride, tetrahydrofuran and dimethylformamide at temperatures from xe2x88x9220 to +25xc2x0 C.
The derivatives V are converted into the ketocarboxylic acids VI analogously to the hydrolysis described above. The ketoesters Ixe2x80x2 are prepared in a reaction analogous to that of Dakin-West, the reaction being carried out according to a method of Zhaozhao Li et al., J. Med. Chem., 1993, 36, 3472-80. In this process, carboxylic acids such as VI are reacted with oxalic acid monoester chloride at elevated temperature (50-100xc2x0 C.) in solvents, such as, for example, tetrahydrofuran, and the product thus obtained is then reacted with bases such as sodium ethoxide in ethanol at temperatures of 25-80xc2x0 C. to give the ketoester Ixe2x80x2 according to the invention. The ketoesters Ixe2x80x2 can be hydrolyzed as described above, for example to ketocarboxylic acids according to the invention.
The reaction to give ketoamides Ixe2x80x2 is also carried out analogously to the method of Zhaozhao Li et al. (see above). The keto group in Ixe2x80x2 is protected by addition of 1,2-ethanedithiol under Lewis acid catalysis, such as, for example, boron trifluoride etherate, in inert solvents, such as methylene chloride, at room temperature, a dithiane being obtained. These derivatives are reacted with amines R8xe2x80x94H in polar solvents, such as alcohols, at temperatures of 0-80xc2x0 C., the ketoamides I (R8xe2x95x90NR9R10) being obtained.
An alternative method is shown in scheme 2. The carboxylic acids IV are reacted with aminohydroxycarboxylic acid derivatives VII (for preparation of IV see S. L. Harbenson et al., J. Med. Chem. 1994, 37, 2918-29) under customary peptide coupling methods (see above, Houben-Weyl), amides VIII being obtained. These alcohol derivatives VIII can be oxidized to the ketocarboxylic acid derivatives I according to the invention. Use can be made for this of various customary oxidation reactions (see C. R. Larock, Comprehensive Organic Transformations, VCH Publisher, 1989, page 604 f.) such as, for example, Swern and Swern-analogous oxidations, preferably dimethyl sulfoxide/pyridine-sulfur trioxide complex in solvents such as methylene chloride or tetrahydrofuran, if appropriate with addition of dimethyl sulfoxide, at room temperature or temperatures of xe2x88x9250 to 25xc2x0 C. (T. T. Tidwell, Synthesis 1990, 857-70) or sodium hypochloride/TEMPO (S. L. Harbenson et al., see above).
If VIII are xcex1-hydroxy esters (X=O-alkyl), these can be hydrolyzed to carboxylic acids IX, the reaction being carried out analogously to the above methods, but preferably using lithium hydroxide in water/tetrahydrofuran mixtures at room temperature. The preparation of other esters or amides X is carried out by reaction with alcohols or amines under coupling conditions which have already been described. The alcohol derivative X can be oxidized again to give ketocarboxylic acid derivatives I according to the invention.
The aldehydes of the formula I according to the invention (R5=hydrogen) can be prepared analogously to Synthesis Scheme 3.
Carboxylic acid derivatives IV are linked to suitable aminoalcohols XI to give the corresponding amides XII. Use is made here of customary peptide coupling methods, which are mentioned either in C. R. Larock, Comprehensive Organic Transformations, VCH Publisher, 1989, page 972f. or in Houben-Weyl, Methoden der organischen Chemie [Methods of Organic Chemistry], 4th Edition, E5, Chap. V. The reaction is preferably carried out using xe2x80x9cactivatedxe2x80x9d acid derivatives of III, the acid group COOH being converted into a group COL. L is a leaving group such as, for example, Cl, imidazole or N-hydroxybenzotriazole. This activated acid is then converted to the amides XII using amines. The reaction is carried out in anhydrous, inert solvents such as methylene chloride, tetrahydrofuran and dimethylformamide at temperatures from xe2x88x9220 to +25xc2x0 C.
These alcohol derivatives XII can be oxidized to the aldehyde derivatives I according to the invention. It is possible to use various customary oxidation reactions for this (see C. R. Larock, Comprehensive Organic Transformations, VCH Publisher, 1989, page 604 f.) such as, for example, Swern and Swern-analogous oxidations (T. T. Tidwell, Synthesis 1990, 857-70), sodium hypochloride/TEMPO (S. L. Harbenson et al., see above) or Dess-Martin (J. Org. Chem. 1983, 48, 4155). Preferably, here the reaction is carried out in inert aprotic solvents such as dimethylformamide, tetrahydrofuran or methylene chloride using oxidants such as DMSO/pyridinexc3x97SO3 or DMSO/oxalyl chloride at temperatures from xe2x88x9250 to +25xc2x0 C., depending on the method (see above references).
Alternatively, carboxylic acids IV can also be reacted with the esters or amides XIII. The resulting amides XIV can be converted into the aldehydes I according to the invention by reduction. These processes are listed in R. C. Larock, Comprehensive organic Transformations, VCH Publisher, 1989, page 619-26.
Analogously to the last process, benzoic acid IV can be reacted with the aminohydroxamic acid derivatives XVI to give the amides XVII. In this case use is made of the same reaction procedure as in the preparation of XII. The hydroxamic acid derivatives XVI are also obtainable from the protected amino acids XV by reaction with hydroxylamine. In this process, use is also made here of the amide preparation process which has already been described. The removal of the protective group Y2, for example Boc, is carried out customarily, for example using trifluoroacetic acid in methylene chloride. The benzamidohydroxamic acids XVII thus obtained can be converted into the aldehydes I according to the invention by reduction. In this process, use is made, for example, of lithium aluminum hydride as a reductant at temperatures from xe2x88x9260 to 0xc2x0 C. in inert solvents such as tetrahydrofuran or ether.
A further alternative which is suitable for the examples in which A is a piperazine derivative and B a pyridine derivative is described in scheme 4. The individual synthesis steps of this very short route have already been explained in detail in the previous remarks.
The ketobenzamides I contained in the present invention are inhibitors of cysteine proteases, in particular cysteine proteases such as the calpains I and II and cathepsins B and L. The inhibitory action of the ketobenzamides I was determined using enzyme tests customary in the literature, a concentration of the inhibitor at which 50% of the enzyme activity is inhibited (xe2x95x90IC50) being determined as a scale of action. In some cases a Ki value was also determined. The benzamides I were measured in this manner for inhibitory action of calpain I, calpain II and cathepsin B.
The cathepsin B inhibition was determined analogously to a method of S. Hasnain et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1993, 268, 235-40.
2 xcexcL of an inhibitor solution, prepared from inhibitor and DMSO (final concentrations: 100 xcexcM to 0.01 xcexcM) are added to 88 xcexcL of cathepsin B (cathepsin B from human liver (Calbiochem), diluted to 5 units in 500 xcexcM buffer). This mixture is preincubated at room temperature (25xc2x0 C.) for 60 minutes and the reaction is then started by addition of 10 xcexcL of of 10 mM Z-Arg-Arg-pNA (in buffer with 10% DMSO). The reaction is monitored at 405 nM in a microtiter plate reader for 30 minutes. The IC50s are then determined from the maximum gradients.
The testing of the inhibitory properties of calpain inhibitors is carried out in buffer using 50 mM tris HCl, pH 7.5; 0.1 M NaCl; 1 mM dithiotreithol; 0.11 mM CaCl2, the fluorogenic calpain substrate Suc-Leu-Tyr-AMC (25 mM dissolved in DMSO, Bachem/Switzerland) being used. Human xcexc-calpain is isolated from erythrocytes and, after several chromatographic steps (DEAE-Sepharose, phenyl-Sepharose, Superdex 200 and Blue Sepharose), enzyme having a purity of  greater than 95%, assessed according to SDS-PAGE, Western blot analysis and N-terminal sequencing, is obtained. The fluorescence of the cleavage product 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) is monitored in a Spex-Fluorolog fluorimeter at xcexex=380 nm and xcexem=460 nm. In a measuring range of 60 min, the cleavage of the substrate is linear and the autocatalytic activity of calpain is low if the experiments are carried out at temperatures of 12xc2x0 C. The inhibitors and the calpain substrate are added to the experimental batch as DMSO solutions, where DMSO should not exceed 2% in the final concentration.
In an experimental batch, 10 xcexcl of substrate (250 xcexcM final) and then 10 xcexcl of xcexc-calpain (2 xcexcg/ml final, i.e. 18 nM) are added to a 1 ml cuvette which contains buffer. The calpain-mediated cleavage of the substrate is measured for 15-20 min. 10 xcexcl of inhibitor (50-100 xcexcM solution in DMSO) are then added and the inhibition of the cleavage is measured for a further 40 min.
Ki values are determined according to the classical equation for reversible inhibition:
Ki=I/(vo/vi)xe2x88x921
where
I=inhibitor concentration,
vo=initial velocity before addition of the inhibitor;
vi=reaction velocity in equilibrium.
The velocity is calculated from v=release of AMC/time i.e. height/time.
Calpain is an intracellular cysteine protease. Calpain inhibitors must pass through the cell membrane in order to prevent the breakdown of intracellular proteins by calpain. Some known calpain inhibitors, such as, for example, E 64 and leupeptin, only cross the cell membranes with difficulty and accordingly show, although they are good calpain inhibitors, only a poor action in cells. The aim is to find compounds having better membrane accessibility. As a demonstration of the membrane accessibility of calpain inhibitors, we use human platelets.
After the activation of platelets, the tyrosine kinase pp60src is cleaved by calpain. This was investigated in detail by Oda et al. in J. Biol. Chem., 1993, Vol 268, 12603-12608. It was shown in this context that the cleavage of pp60src can be prevented by calpeptin, an inhibitor of calpain. The cellular effectiveness of our substances was tested following this publication. Fresh human blood treated with citrate was centrifuged at 200 g for 15 min. The platelet-rich plasma was pooled and diluted 1:1 with platelet buffer (platelet buffer: 68 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 0.5 mM MgCl2xc3x976 H2O, 0.24 mM NaH2PO4xc3x97H2O, 12 mM NaHCO3, 5.6 mM glucose, 1 mM EDTA, pH 7.4). After a centrifugation and washing step with platelet buffer, the platelets were adjusted to 107 cells/ml. The isolation of the human platelets was carried out at RT.
In the test batch, isolated platelets (2xc3x97106) were preincubated at 37xc2x0 C. with different concentrations of inhibitors (dissolved in DMSO) for 5 min. The platelets were then activated with 1 xcexcM ionophore A23187 and 5 mM CaCl2. After incubation for 5 min, the platelets were briefly centrifuged at 13000 rpm and the pellet was taken up in SDS sample buffer (SDS sample buffer: 20 mM tris-HCl, 5 mM EDTA, 5 mM EGTA, 1 mM DTT, 0.5 mM PMSF, 5 xcexcg/ml leupeptin, 10 xcexcg/ml pepstatin, 10% glycerol and 1% SDS). The proteins were separated in a 12% strength gel and pp60src and its 52 kDa and 47 kDa cleavage products were identified by Western blotting. The polyclonal rabbit antibody anti-Cys-src (pp60c-src) used was purchased from the company Biomol Feinchemikalien (Hamburg). This primary antibody was detected using an HRP-coupled second antibody from goats (Boehringer Mannheim, FRG). The Western blotting was carried out according to known methods.
The quantification of the cleavage of pp60src was carried out by densitometry, the controls used being nonactivated platelets (control 1: no cleavage) and platelets treated with ionophore and calcium (control 2: corresponds to 100% cleavage). The ED50 value corresponds to the concentration of inhibitor at which the intensity of the color reaction is reduced by 50%.
Glutamate-induced Cell Death in Cortical Neurons
The test was carried out as in Choi D. W., Maulucci-Gedde M. A. and Kriegstein A. R., xe2x80x9cGlutamate neurotoxicity in cortical cell culturexe2x80x9d. J. Neurosci. 1989, 7, 357-368.
The halves of the cortex were dissected from 15 day-old mouse embryos and the individual cells were obtained enzymatically (trypsin). These cells (glia and cortical neurons) are inoculated into 24-well plates. After three days (laminin-coated plates) or seven days (ornithine-coated plates), the mitosis treatment is carried out using FDU (5-fluoro-2-deoxyuridines). 15 days after the cell preparation, cell death is induced by addition of glutamate (15 minutes). After the removal of glutamate, the calpain inhibitors are added. 24 hours later, the cell damage is determined by means of the determination of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the cell culture supernatant.
It is postulated that calpain also plays a part in apoptotic cell death (M. K. T. Squier et al. J. Cell. Physiol. 1994, 159, 229-237; T. Patel et al. Faseb Journal 1996, 590, 587-597). Therefore, in a further model, cell death was induced with calcium in the presence of a calcium ionophore in a human cell line. Calpain inhibitors must pass into the cell and inhibit calpain there in order to prevent the induced cell death.
Calcium-mediated Cell Death in NT2 Cells
Cell death can be induced in the human cell line NT2 (Stratagene GmbH) by means of calcium in the presence of the ionophore A 23187. 105 cells/well were plated out into microtiter plates 20 hours before the experiment. After this period, the cells were incubated with various concentrations of inhibitors in the presence of 2.5 xcexcM ionophore and 5 mM calcium. 0.05 ml of XTT (cell proliferation kit II, Boehringer Mannheim) was added to the reaction batch after 5 hours. The optical density is determined approximately 17 hours later, according to the instructions of the manufacturer, in the Easy Reader EAR 400 from the company SLT. The optical density at which half of the cells have died is calculated from the two controls with cells without inhibitors, which were incubated in the absence and presence of ionophore.
In a number of neurological diseases or psychological disorders, increased glutamate activity, which leads to states of overstimulation or toxic effects in the central nervous system (CNS), occurs. Glutamate mediates its effects by means of various receptors. Two of these receptors are classified by the specific agonists as NMDA receptor and AMPA receptor. Substances which weaken these glutamate-mediated effects can thus be employed for the treatment of these diseases, in particular for therapeutic administration against neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington""s disease and Parkinson""s disease, neurotoxic disorders after hypoxia, anoxia, ischemia and after lesions, such as occur after stroke and trauma, or alternatively as antiepileptics (cf. Arzneim. Forschung 1990, 40, 511-514; TIPS, 1990, 11, 334-338; Drugs of the Future 1989, 14, 1059-1071).
Protection Against Cerebral Overstimulation by Excitatory Amino Acids (NMDA or AMPA Antagonism in Mice)
As a result of intracerebral administration of excitatory amino acids (EAA), such a massive overstimulation is induced that in a short time this leads to spasms and to the death of the animals (mice). These symptoms can be inhibited by systemic, e.g. intraperitoneal, administration of centrally active active compounds (EAA antagonists). Since the excessive activation of EAA receptors of the central nervous system plays an important part in the pathogenesis of various neurological disorders, a conclusion can be drawn from the demonstrated EAA antagonism in vivo on a possible therapeutic utility of the substances against CNS disorders of this type. As a measure of the efficacy of the substances, an ED50 value was determined at which 50% of the animals are symptom-free as a result of a fixed dose of either NMDA or AMPA as a result of the prior i.p. administration of the standard substance.
It has already been shown that calpain inhibitors also show protective action against the cell death induced by EAA in cell cultures (H. Cauer et al., Brain Research 1993, 607, 354-356; Yu Cheg and A. Y. Sun, Neurochem. Res. 1994, 19, 1557-1564). The calpain inhibitors contained in this application are surprisingly active even against the spasms induced in vivo (mouse) by EAA (e.g. NMDA or AMPA) and thus indicate a possible therapeutic use in the abovementioned CNS disorders.
The heterocyclically substituted amides I are inhibitors of cysteine derivatives such as calpain I or II and cathepsin B or L and can thus be used for the control of diseases which are associated with an increased enzyme activity of the calpain enzymes or cathepsin enzymes. The present amides I can accordingly be used for the treatment of neurodegenerative processes which occur after ischemia, trauma, subarachnoid hemorrhages and stroke, and of neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple infarct dementia, Alzheimer""s disease, Huntington""s disease and of epilepsies and furthermore for the treatment of damage to the heart after cardiac ischemia, damage and reperfusion after vascular occlusion, damage to the kidneys after renal ischemia, skeletal muscle damage, muscular dystrophy, damage which occurs due to proliferation of the smooth muscle cells, coronary vasospasms, cerebral vasospasms, cataracts of the eyes, restenosis of the bloodstreams after angioplasty. Moreover, the amides I can be useful in the chemotherapy of tumors and metastasis thereof and for the treatment of diseases in which an increased interleukin-1 level occurs, such as in inflammations and rheumatic disorders.
In addition to the customary pharmaceutical auxiliaries, the pharmaceutical preparations according to the invention contain a therapeutically efficacious amount of the compounds I.
For local external application, for example in powders, ointments or sprays, the active compounds can be contained in the customary concentrations. As a rule, the active compounds are contained in an amount from 0.001 to 1% by weight, preferably 0.001 to 0.1% by weight.
In the case of internal administration, the preparations are administered in individual doses. 0.1 to 100 mg are provided in an individual dose per kg of body weight. The preparation can be administered daily in one or more doses depending on the nature and severity of the disorders.
According to the desired type of administration, the pharmaceutical preparations according to the invention contain the customary excipients and diluents in addition to the active compound. For local external application, pharmaceutical auxiliaries such as ethanol, isopropanol, ethoxylated castor oil, ethoxylated hydrogenated castor oil, polyacrylic acid, polyethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol stearate, ethoxylated fatty alcohols, paraffin oil, petroleum jelly and wool fat can be used. For internal administration, for example, lactose, propylene glycol, ethanol, starch, talc and polyvinylpyrrolidone are suitable.
Antioxidants such as tocopherol and butylated hydroxyanisole as well as butylated hydroxytoluene, flavor-enhancing additives, stabilizers, emulsifiers and lubricants can additionally be contained.
The substances contained in the preparation in addition to the active compound and the substances used in the production of the pharmaceutical preparations are toxicologically acceptable and compatible with the respective active compound. The pharmaceutical preparations are produced in a customary manner, for example by mixing the active compound with other customary excipients and diluents.
The pharmaceutical preparations can be administered in various administration procedures, for example, orally, parenterally such as intravenously by infusion, subcutaneously, intraperitoneally and topically. Thus preparation forms such as tablets, emulsions, infusion and injection solutions, pastes, ointments, gels, creams, lotions, powders and sprays are possible.

Heterocyclically substituted amides used as calpain inhibitors

Abstract: wherein the variables as defined in the specification are useful in pharmaceuticals for the treatment of diseases in which increased interleuken-1 levels occur.


A circuit includes a sensing circuit, a control circuit, and a programmable delay circuit. The sensing circuit generates delay compensation signals that change in response to variations in at least one of a process and a temperature of the circuit. The control circuit generates dynamic control signals in response to the delay compensation signals. The programmable delay circuit is configurable to delay a signal transmitted through an external terminal of the circuit by a delay that is selected by the dynamic control signals.

The present invention relates to electronic circuits, and more particularly, to techniques for generating programmable delays.
A delay-locked loop is circuit that generates an output clock signal in response to an input reference clock signal. A typical delay-locked loop circuit includes a phase detector that compares a phase of the input reference clock signal with the phase of a feedback signal generated from a delay chain.

Techniques for generating programmable delays


A method for processing a first part of an immersive video content, for example the part to be displayed, on a client device. As to incite a user to look toward a reference part in the immersive video content, the method comprises determining a distance between the first part or subparts of the first part and at least a reference part, and processing a visually degraded version of the first part or its subparts, the greater the distance, the higher the level of the visual degradation.

An immersive video content is a video content that is made to be displayed around a user, so that the user has the feeling to be in the middle of the content. Immersive video content is typically rendered in geodes or caves. In such apparatus, the content is entirely projected on wall screens and the user discovers the content by rotating his/her head.
Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) are display devices, worn on the head or as part of a helmet, that have a small display optic in front of one eye (monocular HMD) or each eye (binocular HMD). They are advantageously adapted to consume immersive content. In such a device, only a part of the video is displayed. The displayed part of the video content is updated according to the user head pose by the mean of an integrated Motion Unit Measurement (including a gyroscope) for instance.
Such devices were initially proposed some decades ago, but recently, due to the progress screens especially, their prices as well as their performances have been dramatically changed. The advent of such devices allows the user to watch a 4π steradians content by the mean of head rotations. If such a new feature may appear as a real improvement in terms of immersion in the content, as the user is watching at only a part of the content, he/she may not look at the direction he/she should look at a given moment. Indeed, as the user can gaze all around him/her, he/she may miss some important highlights of the narration because he/she is watching at another part of the content at the moment the narrative event happens.
According to the background art, it is known that forcing a virtual camera panning in order to make the user look toward the direction he/she has to look to, is a very efficient solution. However, it is well known that this solution has the drawback to make most of people sick and, as a consequence, to deteriorate the user's quality of experience.

Method and device for processing a part of an immersive video content according to the position of reference parts


A bodily information measurement apparatus includes a band-shaped belt to be wrapped around a measurement site; a main body that is connected to a base end portion in the lengthwise direction of the belt and on which a pressure detection unit and a fluid supply unit are mounted; and a fastening unit for fastening the base end portion and the leading end portion of the belt. The belt is formed by stacking an outer circumferential layer and a fluid bladder for compressing the measurement site. The bodily information measurement apparatus is attached to the measurement site due to the base end portion and the leading end portion being fastened by the fastening portion in a state in which the fluid bladder and the leading end portion of the belt overlap.

In recent years, requirements of wrist-type blood pressure monitors have been increasing. For example, Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose watch-type blood pressure measurement devices with an arm-wrapping belt (band) to which a cuff (air bladder) is attached, the arm-wrapping belt being attached to both sides of a main body and being fixed to the arm using an adjustment belt. Also, Patent Document 4 discloses a watch-type blood pressure monitor in which the leading end of a belt (band) made of cloth that extends from one end of a blood pressure monitor main body portion is passed through a band ring provided on the end portion on the opposite side of the main body portion, is folded over, and is fixed with Magic Tape (registered trademark). A cuff is constituted such that an air bladder composed of a nylon upper portion and a nylon lower portion is stored inside of the band (cuff case) of the watch-type blood pressure monitor. Here, the cuff is formed so as to be short enough to cover the blood pressure measurement portion and the pump portion so that the cuff is located near the artery, and the main body portion (includes the blood pressure measurement portion and pump portion) is rotated inward of the wrist during blood pressure measurement.

Bodily information measurement apparatus


A scanner which is connected via network or locally connected to a printer for realizing a copying function by outputting a scanned image to the printer as a copy job, the scanner, comprises a menu display that displays an operation menu of the copying function on a display portion; a capability information reception unit that receives capability information from the printer; an available setting item determination unit that determines print setting items relating to the copying function that can be provided, based on the capability information; and a display controller that selectively displays display contents of the operation menu displayed by the menu display, based on the setting items determined by the available setting item determination unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanner that is connected via network or locally connected to a printer to realize a copying function by outputting a scanned image to the printer as a copy job, and to a control method for the display of an operation menu thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a scanner that is designed to improve its usability by selectively displaying the display contents of an operation menu that can be operated based on capability information of the printer, and to a control method for the display of an operation menu of such scanner.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has recently been proposed a system to realize a copy function without using a personal computer. In this system, a printer is connected to a scanner via a network, and an image scanned by the scanner is transmitted to the printer as a copy job.
In such system, a variety of models of printers having a variety of functions may be connected to the scanner.
In such system, even if a user sets several setting items on the scanner's operation menu to realize desired copy functions, some of those functions may not be available or may be restricted on the printer side, resulting in that the user cannot obtain his/her desired print-out, or, in some cases, the user may receive an error message.
The UI (User Interface) that is displayed on an operation panel as an operation menu for the copying functions is typically several examples of paper size enlargement and reduction, whereby selectable scaling factors are determined based on the regular paper sizes supported by the scanner and the regular paper sizes supported by the printer which prints out the scanned image.
If the scanner is a color scanner, selectable items are restricted for the functions available on a monochrome printer compared to the functions available on a color printer.
This makes it necessary to change the display contents on the side of the scanner according to the model of the printer connected thereto.
Further, it is also required to change the designation of the print out pattern when performing both-side printing, depending on whether or not an original document to be scanned by the scanner is both-side printed, and depending on whether or not the printer has a paper feed mechanism for both-side printing.
Thus, in order to realize a copying function in the configuration in which a scanner and a printer connected to the printer, the operation menu for various functions relating to the copying function need to be changed according to the capability of the equipment and types of original documents to be scanned.
Conventionally, there has been known a technique relating to a copying function to use a printer to print out an image scanned by a scanner, and this technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-345974, titled "Device for Information Processing and Method for Image Processing, Storage Medium, and Program".
The invention disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-345974 aims to facilitate, when utilizing the copying function, the setting operation for reading an image and the setting operation for printing the read image without depending on the configuration of the equipment, wherein input setting information relating to image reading processing for the copying function and output setting information relating to print processing are prestored in a memory, so that image processing is performed in an image processing mode selected by the operator.
According to the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-345974, however, setting information corresponding to capabilities of possibly connected equipment models need be previously registered in the memories of both the scanner and the printer. Moreover, the setting information need be changed every time the connection configuration is changed.
Furthermore, another problem is posed that any other equipment than those whose setting information has previously been registered cannot be used.

Scanner and control method for display of operation menu thereof