An apparatus for the horizontal continuous casting of profiles includes a receptacle for molten metal and an ingot mold connectable to the receptacle by a ramming frame. The ingot mold forms a casting gap having a refractory lining that cannot be wetted by the molten metal. An oscillation drive oscillates the ingot mold in a casting direction and is supported on the receptacle and on the ingot mold. A sliding guide associated with the receptacle and extending in the casting direction supports the ingot mold, and a web is arranged in a transition area between the receptacle and the ingot mold, the web being prestressed with a minimum pressure corresponding to the hydraulic pressure of the molten metal and consisting of refractory fibers that cannot be wetted by the molten metal, to provide a seal against the molten metal.

The invention relates to an apparatus for the horizontal continuous casting of profiles, in particular of metal strips, comprising a receptacle for the molten metal, preferably a holding furnace, an ingot mould connectable to the receptacle via a ramming frame, where the forming casting gap of said ingot mould has a refractory lining that cannot be wetted by the molten metal, and comprising an oscillation drive for the ingot mould in casting direction.
For casting metal strips in a horizontal continuous casing process, the ingot mould defining the forming casting gap is connected to a receptacle for the molten metal via a ramming frame, which receptacle either consists of a holding furnace or can be charged with the molten metal via a holding furnace. With its usually ceramic ramming compound, the ramming frame provides a refractory lining in the transition area between the receptacle and the ingot mould, so that the metallic housing of the ingot mould can detachably be connected to the receptacle in a comparatively easy way. Since advantageous continuous casting conditions require a reciprocating oscillation of the ingot mould in casting direction with respect to the casting strand in the vicinity of the casting gap, it is necessary in these known horizontal continuous casting apparatuses to provide an oscillatory support of the ingot mould together with the receptacle and to connect the, same with an oscillation drive, which not only involves a considerable constructional effort, but also control problems, as in dependence on the respective casting program an excitation of oscillations with predetermined frequencies and amplitudes must be predetermined.
It is therefore the object underlying the invention to provide an apparatus for the horizontal continuous casting of profiles as described above such that an excitation of oscillations of the ingot mould with predeterminable frequencies and amplitudes can be ensured.
This object is solved by the invention in that the ingot mould is mounted on a sliding guide associated to the receptacle and extending in the casting direction, that the oscillation drive is supported on the one hand on the receptacle and on the other hand on the ingot mould, and that in the transition area between the receptacle and the ingot mould there is provided a web of refractory fibers, which has been prestressed with a minimum pressure corresponding to the hydraulic pressure of the molten metal and consists of refractory fibers that cannot be wetted by the molten metal, to provide a seal against the molten metal.
Due to the sliding guide for the ingot mould, which is associated to the receptable and extends in the casting direction, and the oscillation drive operating between the receptacle and the ingot mould, the mass to be moved in an oscillating way is substantially restricted to the small mass of the ingot mould as compared to the receptacle, which represents an advantageous condition for a precise oscillation control with frequencies and amplitudes that can be predetermined under program control. Such oscillatory support of the ingot mould with respect to the receptacle can, however, only be effected when between the oscillating ingot mould and the stationary receptacle, in which a seal can be provided, which can withstand all mechanical, metallurgical and thermal loads during an operating period adapted to the lifetime of the ingot mould. Such a seal will also include a fibrous web, which is prestressed with a minimum pressure corresponding to the hydraulic pressure of the molten metal, so that this fibrous web cannot be urged away from a sealing surface by the molten metal. This prestressing of the fibrous web thus ensures the close abutment of the web against the sealing surfaces, where the inherent elasticity of the web easily provides for the absorption of the oscillations of the ingot mould when a corresponding dimensioning of the fibrous web is ensured. The fibers of such web should be refractory and must not be wetted by the molten metal. These conditions are advantageously satisfied by carbon fibers, although other fibrous materials may also be used.
The fact that the web fibers cannot be wetted by the molten metal does, however, not exclude a penetration of the molten metal into the pores between the fibers of the web, just as prestressing the fibrous web cannot prevent a penetration of the molten metal. It is therefore recommended to apply a protective gas onto the fibrous web under a minimum pressure which corresponds to the hydraulic pressure of the molten metal, so that the protective gas filling the pores of the fibrous web effectively prevents the molten metal from penetrating into the fibrous web. The additional effort required for applying the protective gas onto the fibrous web can be kept small in view of the fact that it is common practice to also apply such protective gas onto the ramming compound of the ramming frame.
For the arrangement of the fibrous web as a seal against the molten metal, two advantageous solutions are provided. In accordance with the one solution, the ingot mould fixedly connected with the ramming frame can resiliently be braced against the receptacle by clamping the fibrous web between the ramming frame and an ingot mould connecting surface of the receptacle. In this case, the elastic properties of the fibrous web are particularly utilized, because the fibrous web is arranged substantially vertical with respect to the oscillating direction of the ingot mould. The resilient prestressing of the fibrous web is achieved by means of the resilient bracing of the ingot mould against the receptacle, where the oscillation drive must operate against this spring load.
According to the other possible solution, the ingot mould is movably supported with respect to the ramming frame fixedly connected with the receptacle, where in the fibrous web, which surrounds the lining of the casting gap associated to the ingot mould and engaging in the ramming frame, is pressurized by the ramming compound of the ramming frame and urged against the lining of the casting gap. The lining of the casting gap is thus oscillatingly reciprocated inside the fibrous web, which surrounds the same and is retained by the ramming frame, where between the lining and the fibrous web a sliding friction is produced. The prestressing of the fibrous web by means of the ramming compound of the ramming frame in connection with the inherent elasticity of the fibrous web again effects a safe abutment of the fibrous web against the sealing surface, which in this embodiment is formed by the lining of the casting gap.
It can thus be seen that by prestressing the fibrous web the oscillating ingot mould can easily be sealed against the receptacle by utilizing the inherent elasticity of the fibrous web, so that the advantage of an ingot mould oscillating with respect to a stationary receptacle can be utilized for the horizontal continuous casting process.

Device for the continuous horizontal casting of profiled members, in particular of metal strips


Apparatus for producing a tubular centerfilled food product having a rigid, friable baked outer shell and a core of edible filling material by a continuous, straight-through process. A semi-liquid batter having a relatively high content of mono-and/or disaccharides is carried between a pair of spaced apart heated moving surfaces and baked to form a continuous, elongated flat thermoplastic sheet having a controlled thickness. The continuous thermoplastic sheet is rolled around its longitudinal axis while warm and pliable to form a continuous tube having a closed longitudinal, non-overlapping seam. As the baked sheet is rolled around its longitudinal axis, a viscous edible filling material is injected into the core of the continuous tube as it is formed. The filled tube is cooled until the outer shell becomes rigid and is then cut into pieces of a desired length.

This invention relates to apparatus for the continuous production of a novel centerfilled food product. More particularly, the invention is directed to apparatus for producing a tubular centerfilled food product, having a rigid, friable, thermoplastic baked outer shell and a core of edible material surrounded by the shell, in a continuous, straight-through process.
A number of methods and apparatus have been used heretofore to provide cylindrical centerfilled food products. Such prior methods frequently have involved extrusion apparatus for extruding a mixture of a farinaceous material and water through a restricted orifice into a tubular configuration, under conditions such that the tubular product is puffed or expanded as it emerges for the orifice. The tubular product is cut to length and cooled, and a desired filling is injected into the core of the puffed tubular body. Such apparatus and methods suffer from the disadvantage that a number of separate steps are involved, each requiring separate handling of the fragile expanded tubular product. Also, because of the high temperatures and pressures to which the mix is subjected in the extruder, the ingredients which may be used in the mix are limited. For example, if the mix has a sugar content of above about 10%, the product tends to scorch or burn during passage through the extrusion apparatus. As a result, such expanded, extruded products must have a shell which consists essentially of cereal.
Another procedure which has been disclosed heretofore involves mounting a plurality of cylindrical molds on an endless conveyor, each of the molds having a rod extending horizontally into its interior. A dough is filled into the mold, and the mold carried into an oven for baking. The baked dough tubes are then stripped from the rods and held in a suitable manner to permit filling. This procedure also suffers from the disadvantage that separate shell forming and filling steps are required, each requiring separate handling of the product.
It is readily apparent that a process and apparatus for making baked centerfilled food products in which the shell is filed simultaneously with its formation would be desirable for it would reduce the number of handling steps involved. Heretofore the only procedure disclosed for such a simultaneous shell forming and filling operation involves a co-extrusion operation in which a shell of cereal dough is extruded around a core of a filling material. However, as noted above, due to the temperatures and pressures to which materials are exposed in the extruder, the ingredients which can be used in such a co-extrusion operation are restricted to thereby limit the type of products produced.

Apparatus for producing a centerfilled food product


A projection type image-display apparatus includes a write signal processor for modulating the write signal transmitted to an optical modulator, a projected light quantity controlling for controlling the quantity of light transmitted or reflected by the optical modulator, and a control signal generator for controlling the write signal processor and the projected light quantity controller. The control signal generator is adapted to control the operation of controlling the quantity of projected light of the projected light quantity controller and that of modulating the write signal of the write signal processor on the basis of the brightness level of the input image signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a projection type image-display apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
With the advent of the so-called multimedia age in recent years, image-display apparatus are found in various scenes of life. Particularly, since projection type image-display apparatus are adapted to be used with a large display screen, they are currently very popularly used in various applications including presentations such as sales presentations, for which those of the front projection type may be adequate, and home theaters, for which those of the rear projection type are suited.
While CRTs are conventionally used as optical modulators of such projectors, liquid crystal panels and DMDs (digital mirror devices) adapted to modulate the quantity of light by modifying the angle of the mirror are currently in the main stream because they can meet the requirement of enhanced brightness and high definition. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-78550 describes a DMD. A projection type image-display apparatus comprising a liquid crystal panel or a DMD is so designed that the liquid crystal panel or the DMD is illuminated with light from a light source and an image is formed on the display screen by transmitted or reflected light coming to it by way of a projection optical system.
Meanwhile, projection type image-display apparatus have not got to the level of direct-viewing type CRT image-display apparatus in terms of image quality particularly from the viewpoint of the texture of the displayed image. The expression of xe2x80x9cimage quality (texture)xe2x80x9d as used herein refers to dynamic range (contrast and gradation of images). Direct-viewing type CRT image-display apparatus realize a dynamic range higher than 10,000:1 for black and white images on the display screen.
On the other hand the dynamic range of a projection type image-display apparatus is principally determined by the performance of the optical modulator and approximately 300 to 400:1 in the case where a liquid crystal panel is used and approximately 600 to 800:1 in the case where a DMD is employed. Such a low dynamic range is partly due to the fact that, when a transmission type liquid crystal panel is used, leaking light is projected onto the screen showing one or more than one black areas and, when a reflection type liquid crystal screen or a DMD is used, scattered light is projected onto the screen also showing one or more than black areas.
In view of this problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-84553 proposes a projection type image-display apparatus comprising a scattering type liquid crystal panel. According to the above identified patent document, the projection optical system is provided with a large diameter aperture and a small diameter aperture, which are selectively used depending on the type of the input image to improve the dynamic range of the displayed image.
However, while an apparatus described in the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-84553 can display an image with an improved dynamic range, the brightness of the image is low to make the image poorly sharp.
Under the above identified circumstances, it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a projection type image-display apparatus that can show a sharp image with a high dynamic range or a high image quality.
According to the invention, the above object is achieved by providing a projection type image-display apparatus comprising:
an optical modulator for displaying a gradational image by controlling the condition of transmission or reflection of light;
a lighting unit for irradiating said optical modulator with light;
a projection optical system for projecting the light emitted to and transmitted or reflected by said optical modulator;
a write signal processing means for modulating a write signal transmitted to said optical modulator;
a projected light quantity control means for controlling the quantity of light transmitted or reflected by said optical modulator; and
a control signal generation means for controlling said write signal processing means and said projected light quantity control means;
said control signal generation means being adapted to control the operation of controlling the quantity of projected light of said projected light quantity control means and that of modulating the write signal of said write signal processing means on the basis of the brightness level of the input image signal.


An image discrimination apparatus includes an inter-frame distance calculating unit 2 for calculating an inter-frame distance which is a distance between features from the feature of a current frame extracted by a feature extracting unit 1 and the feature of an immediately-preceding frame stored in a feature buffer 3, and a cut-point-determination data calculating unit 4 for calculating statistics values of inter-frame distances and calculating a threshold for determination of cut points from the statistics values. The image discrimination apparatus compares the inter-frame distance of the current frame with the threshold for determination of cut points to determine a cut point from the comparison result.

There has been proposed an image discrimination apparatus which divides an image signal into parts in units of each shot by detecting cut points of the image, and which discriminates an important shot from the plurality of shots.
As a process of detecting cut points, there is a method of detecting, as cut points, points at each of which the brightness of the image changes between adjacent frames and the difference in the brightness between the frames is larger than a fixed threshold, as disclosed by, for example, the following nonpatent reference 1.
Furthermore, as disclosed in the following nonpatent reference 2, there is a method of evaluating a difference between frames using an evaluation function and detecting, as cut points, points at each of which the difference between frames is larger than a threshold which is preset by learning other image contents.    [Nonpatent reference 1] Nikkei electronics No. 892 2005.1.31, pp. 51    [Nonpatent reference 2] "Shot Change Detection from Partially Decoded MPEG Data", the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers paper magazine Vol. J81-D2 No. 7 (July, 1998), written by Yasuyuki Nakajima, Kiyono Ujihara, Akio Yoneyama, published by the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, pp. 1564 to 1575.
Because the conventional image discrimination apparatuses are constructed as mentioned above, while points at each of which the brightness of the image changes between adjacent frames and the difference in the brightness between frames is larger than a fixed threshold are detected as cut points, a problem is that because the threshold is fixed even though any kind of image signal is inputted, the accuracy of the detection of cut points degrades.
Another problem is that because in the case of using the threshold which is preset by learning other image contents, the learned results change according to the contents which are learning objects, cut points cannot be correctly detected unless the contents which are applied to an image signal inputted are learned, and therefore the method cannot be used for general purposes.
The present invention is made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image discrimination apparatus which can detect cut points correctly even when any kind of image signal is inputted.


Finely divided particles of II type ammonium polyphosphate (APP) which, when added to polyolefin resins, etc., afford products having a small reduction in the mechanical characteristics, a reduced particle diameter and an increased specific surface area and nevertheless, having bleed resistance and flame retardancy similar to those of conventional products, and a process for producing the particles are provided,. the particles being characterized in that 80% by weight or more thereof have a particle diameter of 10 .mu.m or less and 5% aqueous solution thereof dissolved in 80.degree. C. water has 500 cps or more, and the process being a process for producing the particles by reacting ammonium phosphate with P.sub.2 O.sub.5, each in a nearly equimolar quantity, in a NH.sub.3 gas atmosphere and at an elevated temperature, comprising PA1 a first reaction step carried out in N.sub.2 gas atmosphere without feeding NH.sub.3 gas, a second reaction step of instantaneously feeding NH.sub.3 gas or a NH.sub.3 -generating substance when hot, in 3 to 90% of the stoichiometrical quantity, and a third reaction step of slowly adding NH.sub.3 gas in a quantity or more of the remainder of the stoichiometric quantity and aging therewith, to crystallize the resulting II type APP.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to finely divided particles of ammonium polyphosphate (APP) having a II type crystalline structure, the particle diameter of 80% by weight or more of the particles being 10 .mu.m or less, and the surface of the crystals being plain, and a process for producing the particles.
More particularly, the present invention relates to finely divided particles of APP which, when added or impregnated into the inside of polyolefin resins, molded products or fibers, afford products having a small reduction in the mechanical characteristics of polyolefins, molded products, fibers or the like, a reduced particle diameter and an increased specific surface area, and nevertheless having bleed resistance and flame retardancy similar to those of conventional products, and a process for producing the particles.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been well known that APP is obtained by heat-condensing a mixture consisting of a phosphate-containing substance and an ammoniating-condensing agent. However, when conventional APP is added or impregnated into polyolefin resins, molded products, fibers or the like, in order to impart flame retardancy, the following disadvantageous problems are raised:
1. Unevenness of flame retardancy and reduction in the mechanical strengths, due to large particle diameter; PA1 2. reduction in the bleed resistance due to I type crystalline structure; PA1 3. reduction in the bleed resistance due to straining of the crystalline surface of APP, brought about by excess mechanical grinding; PA1 4. reduction in the bleed resistance due to insufficient viscosity of a suspension solution of 5% APP in hot water; etc. PA1 (1) Finely divided particles of synthesized ammonium polyphosphate (hereinafter abbreviated to APP) having a II type crystalline structure, 80% by weight or more of said particles having a particle diameter of 10 .mu.m or less. PA1 (2) Finely divided particles of APP according to item (1), wherein a 5% aqueous solution of said particles obtained by dissolving them in hot water at 80.degree. C. has a viscosity of 500 centiposes or more. PA1 (3) In the process for producing finely divided particles of APP by reacting ammonium phosphate with phosphorous anhydride, each in an equimolar quantity, in an ammonia gas atmosphere and at an elevated temperature, PA1 (4) A process for producing finely divided particles of APP according to item (3), wherein said ammonia-generating compound is a substance generating ammonia gas by heating urea, ammonium carbonate or ammonium carbamate, mixtures of the foregoing or aqueous solutions of the foregoing. PA1 (5) In the process for producing finely divided particles of ammonium polyphosphate by reacting ammonium phosphate with phosphorous anhydride, each in a nearly equimolar quantity, in an ammonia gas atmosphere and at an elevated temperature, PA1 (6) A production process according to item (5), wherein in said first reaction step of feeding no ammonia gas in nitrogen gas atmosphere, the reaction temperature is kept at 250.degree. to 320.degree. C. for 10 minutes or longer. PA1 (7) A production process according to item (5), wherein in the second step of instantaneously feeding ammonia or an ammoniating agent in 90% or less of the stoichiometric quantity, the time necessary for the feeding is made 5 to 30 minutes. PA1 (8) A production process according to item (5), wherein in the third reaction step of slowly adding ammonia gas and aging therewith, an atmospheric temperature of 240.degree. C. or higher is applied for 30 minutes or longer.
For example, according to Japanese patent publication No. Sho 53-11280, particles of APP having particle diameters as large as 63 .mu.m or less (average particle diameter: 15 .mu.m) occupy 94% by weight of the total particles; thus, when the particles are mechanically ground in order to finely grind them, the crystalline surface is strained to thereby raise the disadvantages described above in items 1 and 3. Further, according to Japanese patent publication Nos. Sho 53-15478 and Sho 49-30356, the resulting APPs have I type crystalline structure.
The object of the present invention is to provide finely divided particles of APP having solved the above-mentioned disadvantageous problems and a process for producing the same.

Process for producing finely divided particles of II type ammonium polyphosphate


A vehicle such as a missile (20) includes an aerodynamically shaped missile body (22) having a longitudinal centerline, a set of control surfaces (26) joined to the missile body (22), and, preferably, a propulsion system (28) operable to drive the missile body (22) forwardly. A cylindrical rotational bearing (32) is mounted on the missile body (22) with its cylindrical axis parallel to the longitudinal centerline (24) of the missile body. A flexible band wing (38) is supported from the rotational bearing (32). The flexible band wing (38) may rotate about the centerline (24) of the missile body (22) responsive to aerodynamic forces exerted on the missile body (22) and the flexible band wing (38) to aid in making maneuvers without requiring the missile (20) to bank to align the flexible band wing (38) with the direction of the maneuver.

This invention relates to the flight control of winged vehicles, and, more particularly, to the control of missiles utilizing a flexible band wing.
Missiles typically have an aerodynamically shaped body, a propulsion system, and some approach for controlling the direction of movement of the missile. Control may be achieved in any of several ways, such as movable control surfaces mounted directly or indirectly to the body, gimballed engines, or thrusters. Some missiles rely solely upon the lift of the body and the thrust of the engines to achieve flight, while others have wings to provide lift.
One type of wing useful on missiles that must be stored in a limited space before launch is the flexible band wing. The wing includes a flexible band that is mounted to the body of the missile with hinged, collapsible struts. When the missile is carried aboard a launch vehicle such as an aircraft, the struts are collapsed against the body of the missile and the flexible band is wrapped around the body of the missile to conserve space. The flexible band is held in place with a retention mechanism, such as a releasable strap. Upon launch, the strap is released and the mechanical stresses incurred by wrapping the wing around the body cause the band to unwrap itself, so that it pulls it away from the body of the missile. The strut hinges open outwardly to extend the struts. The flexible band is thereby supported and constrained to lie on a generally semicircular arc around the body of the missile, generating upward lift as the missile flies. The lifting force is transmitted into the body of the missile through the struts. The flexible band wing can provide significant benefits to flight of the missile, such as extended range due to the increased lift provided by the flexible band wing, at little size penalty when stored.
To turn a missile having a flexible band wing, control surfaces at the nose or tall of the missile are operated responsive to a controller system. The flexible band wing itself has no control surfaces. The control surface movements generate aerodynamic forces which tend to push the nose or tail of the missile to the side. The result is that the tail or nose, respectively, of the missile is pushed in the desired direction to initiate the turn.
The presence of the flexible wing, however, may adversely affect the ability of the missile to turn responsive to the control forces. It is observed that in many flight orientations the missile with the flexible band wing turns more sluggishly than a comparable missile not having the flexible band wing. The presence of the flexible band wing, while contributing to missile fight characteristics such as range, may therefore have an adverse effect upon other characteristics such as maneuverability.
There is a need for an improved approach to achieving the benefits of the flexible band wing while retaining good maneuverability of the missile. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.


An electrical capacitor includes an organic electrolyte to provide high power, high energy density, and broad operating temperature range. The capacitor includes electrodes and an electrolyte system comprising a salt combined with a solvent containing a nitrile. The electrolyte system is selected to be relatively nonreactive and difficult to oxidize or reduce so as to produce a high electric potential range. As examples, the electrolyte may include a solvent selected from the group consisting of acetonitrile, succinonitrile, glutaronitrile, propylene carbonate, and ethylene carbonate; a salt cation selected from the group consisting of tetraalkylamonium (R.sub.4 N.sup.+) and alkali metals; and an anion selected from the group consisting of trifluoromethylsulfonate (CF.sub.3 SO.sub.3.sup.-), bistrifluoromethylsulfurylimide (N(CF.sub.3 SO.sub.2).sub.2.sup.-), tristrifluoromethylsulfurylcarbanion (C(CF.sub.3 SO.sub.2).sub.3.sup.-), tetrafluoroborate (BF.sub.4.sup.-), hexafluorophosphate (PF.sub.6.sup.-), hexafluoroarsenate (AsF.sub.6.sup.-), and perchlorate (ClO.sub.4.sup.-).

The basic components of electrical capacitors include conductive electrodes connected to an electric power supply and a dielectric material separating the electrodes. Electrolytic capacitors and electrochemical double layer capacitors also have an electrolyte. In an electrolytic capacitor, the dielectric is provided by an oxide layer formed on a metal foil and the electrolyte provides electrical contact to the opposite electrode. The inherently high resistance of electrolytic capacitors is generally mitigated by rolling a large sheet of the material into a roll. In an electrochemical double layer capacitor, the dielectric is provided by the electrolyte. In this type of capacitor, the resistance of the electrolyte is a significant factor in the total device resistance. In capacitors that use electrolytes, the electrolyte also has a major influence on the temperature performance of the capacitor.
Electrochemical double layer capacitors capable of high energy density, known as "supercapacitors," have been assembled from a variety of materials. In general, it is desirable to construct supercapacitors with light-weight materials and electrolytes that are stable and nonreactive, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,855 issued to Kaschmitter et al., the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference. This type of supercapacitor incorporates electrodes based on carbon foams that may be prepared from organic gels. Several types of foams can be produced, including aerogels, xerogels, and aerogel-xerogel hybrids. These low density carbon foams are electrically conductive, dimensionally stable, and machinable. Capacitors based on carbon foam electrodes are capable of delivering very high specific capacitance and very high power.
Electrochemical double layer capacitors, including supercapacitors, typically comprise electrodes, electrical contacts to a power supply, separators for electrodes and/or cells, an electrolyte, and environmental seals. As mentioned above, a key component of electrolytic and electrochemical double layer capacitors is the electrolyte, which typically comprises a combination of a salt and a solvent. Desirable electrolytes are typically liquid with low viscosity, low density, and high conductivity over a range of ambient temperature conditions. They should also be commercially inexpensive, chemically and electrochemically stable, and compatible with carbon. Aqueous electrolyte systems have been used extensively, but certain organic liquid systems are less prone to form gas and can be more effective in providing higher energy densities over a wider usable range of temperature and potential. A need exists for improved electrolyte systems that provide optimum capacitance for capacitors to achieve high power density, high energy density, a wide temperature range, and a long lifetime without memory effects.

Capacitor having an electrolyte containing a mixture of dinitriles


A mechanical fastener is disclosed that includes a thermoplastic backing and multiple, upstanding fastening elements that have a post with a proximal end attached to the thermoplastic backing and a distal end comprising a cap larger in area than a cross-sectional area of the post. The basis weight of the mechanical fastener is in a range from 25 grams per square meter to 75 grams per square meter, and the height of the multiple, upstanding fastening elements is up to 300 micrometers. Fastening systems and disposable absorbent articles including the mechanical fastener are also disclosed.

Mechanical fasteners, which are also called hook and loop fasteners, typically include a plurality of closely spaced upstanding projections with loop-engaging heads useful as hook members, and loop members typically include a plurality of woven, nonwoven, or knitted loops. Mechanical fasteners are useful for providing releasable attachment in numerous applications. For example, mechanical fasteners are widely used in wearable disposable absorbent articles to fasten such articles around the body of a person. In typical configurations, a hook strip or patch on a fastening tab attached to the rear waist portion of a diaper or incontinence garment, for example, can fasten to a landing zone of loop material on the front waist region, or the hook strip or patch can fasten to the backsheet (e.g., nonwoven backsheet) of the diaper or incontinence garment in the front waist region. Mechanical fasteners are also useful for disposable articles such as sanitary napkins. A sanitary napkin typically includes a back sheet that is intended to be placed adjacent to the wearer's undergarment. The back sheet may comprise hook fastener elements to securely attach the sanitary napkin to the undergarment, which mechanically engages with the hook fastener elements.
Hook and loop fastening systems can include at least two engagement strength characteristics: peel strength and shear strength. Peel strength corresponds to the force required to disengage the fastening members from one another by peeling one fastening member upward and away from the other fastening member. Shear strength corresponds to the force required to disengage the fastening members from one another by pulling at least one of the fastening members away from the other in a plane that is parallel to the fastening members. Typically, the engagement strength of the fastening members is higher in shear than in peel. While the peel strength may be a factor when the fastening members are intentionally separated, typically, the shear strength is responsible for holding the fastening members together during normal use.

Mechanical fastener, fastening system, and disposable absorbent article


A cooperative diversity method and apparatus that can minimize interference and maximize an efficiency of a transmission channel between terminals of a cooperative diversity pair, the method including: determining a pair of terminals to be a cooperative diversity pair according to a spectrum sensing result of a cognitive radio (CR); selecting a subchannel through which data is exchanged between the pair of terminals; and transmitting the data between the pair of terminals through the selected subchannel.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a cooperative diversity method and apparatus in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As wireless multimedia services become more common, there is a greater need for wirelessly transmitting high speed information. In order to transmit more information, more frequency bands are needed. However, because there are restrictions on usable frequency bands, a multi-antenna system according to a related art maximizes the transmission capacity of a system in a restricted frequency band.
The multi-antenna system can be divided into a method of increasing a multiplexing gain by increasing a transmission capacity of a channel, and a method of increasing a diversity gain by improving a reliability of a link without reducing a transmission capacity. In particular, the method of increasing the diversity gain uses a multi-antenna to generate a plurality of independent fading channels and obtaining the gain.
Also, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) method is a parallel type data transmission method using an orthogonality of each subcarrier. The OFDMA method has a high usage efficiency of a frequency, a characteristic appropriate for a multi-channel environment, and a simple structure of a channel compensator. Accordingly, the method of using the multi-antenna and the OFDMA method are selected as basic transmission methods in a system requiring high speed data transmission. Combining the OFDMA method with the multi-antenna system can increase a transmission capacity or reliability of a link.
However, when the multi-antenna is used, a minimum distance between antennas is required to maximize performance. Accordingly, transmission diversity is generally used in only a base station rather than in a terminal. A cooperative diversity technology is provided in order to solve this limitation. The cooperative diversity technology is expected to obtain a diversity gain similar or proportionate to a gain when a multi-antenna is used by binding different and independent mobile phones or terminals and generating a plurality of independent fading channels in each mobile phone or each terminal.
However, a cooperative diversity technology according to a related art has the following problems. First, since an optimum method of selecting a mobile phone or a terminal to be operated in a cooperative diversity mode is not provided in the related art, the diversity gain cannot be maximized. Second, since a wireless resource is additionally allocated for data exchange between terminals to be operated in a cooperative diversity mode according to the related art, an efficiency of a frequency or time resource is reduced.

Method and apparatus for managing a cooperative diversity system


Occupancy of a railroad track detection zone by one or more trains is determined using sensor devices located at gateways into and out of the track detection zone. Each sensor device has a sensing range that includes a portion of the railroad track in the detection zone and the sensor device generates data used to uniquely identify each train passing through a gateway and thus the sensing range of one or more sensor devices. Data from the detection zone's sensor device array is collected and evaluated to monitor or track the status of any detected trains and the occupancy of the zone. In some embodiments, the sensor devices utilize anisotropic magnetoresistive sensor elements whose analog waveform data is the basis of magnetic flux peak detection and mapping to generate unique train identification signature data that is transmitted to and evaluated by a detection zone processor, which in some cases can control crossing signals and/or other control apparatus related to the railroad track detection zone. The unique train identification signature data can include digitized amplitude peaks and their sequence for each train, based on that train's generated analog waveform data.

Train detection is the fundamental task of railroad signal and other systems. All other functions of a railroad signal system depend upon the system's ability to always and reliably detect a train moving within the limits of the system. The system must guarantee that a train moving within the limits of the system will be detected. Moreover, the system must be designed to verify that it is functioning as intended. In the event that an element of the system cannot perform its intended function, the system must revert to its safest condition. Information provided to train crews and motor vehicles by a signal system when it is at its safest or most restrictive condition is the message "STOP." Signal engineers call devices and systems that incorporate these design requirements vital devices and describe them as fail-safe, meaning that they revert to their safest condition when they fail to or are unable perform their intended function. A fundamental principle of vital design for signal system electrical circuits is the closed circuit principle, which requires that the power source and return connections to an electrical device must be isolated and separate and any intervening control points within the circuit must treat both paths of the energy circuit. This assures that disruption/failure of either path will not violate the fail-safe principle. This essence of the closed circuit principle is that any element of a vital circuit must function separately and independently from other circuit elements—vital circuits may not share circuit elements that afford alternative energy or logic paths that would allow the system to violate the fail-safe principle. Microprocessor-based signal system elements satisfy the closed circuit principle by using hardware that is operationally independent and application logic that requires redundant and independent processing of all data necessary to the fail-safe operation of the device. If the direct physical connection cannot comply with the closed circuit principle, it must comply with a vital communications protocol. A vital communications protocol can be used to verify the integrity and operational status of the elements of the communication means. Verification must be sufficient to ensure that, in the event of a communications failure, the communicating devices will not violate the fail-safe principle.
Apparatus, methods, systems, techniques, etc. that provide vital, reliable, and efficient train detection that is independent of the track structure would represent a significant advancement in the art. It would be a further advancement to have such the elements of such detection systems communicate with each other using vital wireless communication protocols. It would be a further advancement to have the elements of such detection systems be power efficient, small size, modular, capable of rapid installation and easily reconfigurable. It would be a further advancement to have such detection systems combine magnetic field sensing, power efficient microprocessors, and wireless communications to detect train event data sequences and determine unique train identification signatures based upon the distortion of the local magnetic field by railcars moving within range of a sensor. It would be a further advancement in the art to identify individual trains, to recognize complex movement patterns and to verify identity, location and movement of individual trains over a variety of locations. Such advances will improve safety, and enhance the operation of train control signal systems and highway crossing signal devices.


A method implemented by a network device acting as a border gateway protocol (BGP) speaker, of exposing a maximum segment identifier depth (MSD) value of the network device is described. The method comprises encoding the MSD value into a BGP Link State (BGP-LS) extension message. The BGP-LS extension message includes a type, a length and a MSD value. The type indicates the type of the MSD value, the length indicates the length of the MSD value and the MSD value indicates a lowest MSD value supported by the network device for enabling segment routing. The method continues with transmitting the BGP-LS extension message including the type, the length, and the MSD value to a network controller, where the network controller is to use the MSD value to compute a segment routing path including the network device.

Segment Routing (SR) is a packet forwarding technology based on source routing. A variety of use-cases for SR have been described in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft "draft.filsfils-rtgwg-segment-routing-use-cases," which is hereby incorporated by reference. An abstract routing model for SR is described in an IETF draft "draft.filsfils-rtgwg-segment-routing," which is hereby incorporated by reference. The IETF draft "draft.filsfils-rtgwg-segment-routing" describes the instantiation of SR using Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) or Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Using border gateway protocol to expose maximum segment identifier depth to an external application


An image forming apparatus includes a registration unit, a first paper feeding unit, a second paper feeding unit, and a control unit, which performs a primary paper feeding for conveying a paper sheet to a registration position, finishes the primary paper feeding at timing when the paper sheet reaches the registration position, and then after operating a target paper feeding unit until a preceding feeding time elapses, performs a secondary paper feeding for conveying the paper sheet to the printing position. The control unit sets different values of the preceding feeding time for the case where the first paper feeding unit is the target paper feeding unit and the case where the second paper feeding unit is the target paper feeding unit.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus that prints an image on a paper sheet.
Conventionally, there is known an image forming apparatus in which a paper sheet is conveyed along a paper conveying path, and an image is printed on the paper sheet that is being conveyed.
The conventional image forming apparatus is equipped with a paper feeding unit such as a paper feed roller, which feeds a paper sheet stored in a paper cassette to a paper conveying path so as to convey the paper sheet to a registration position. In addition, a registration unit such as a registration roller is disposed at the registration position so as to convey the paper sheet from the registration position to a printing position. Then, an image forming unit prints an image on the paper sheet that is being conveyed when the paper sheet passes the printing position.


Methods of nighttime administration of amantadine to reduce sleep disturbances in patient undergoing treatment with amantadine are described, as well as compositions of extended release amantadine that are suitable for nighttime administration.

Amantadine is indicated for various conditions that can be treated by NMDA receptor antagonists including the treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (Paralysis Agitans), post-encephalitic Parkinsonism, and symptomatic Parkinsonism which may follow injury to the nervous system by carbon monoxide intoxication. Amantadine also has activity as a viral M2 channel inhibitor and is used for the prophylaxis and treatment of infection of viral diseases, especially influenza A virus.
Levodopa, the most commonly prescribed and effective drug treatment for symptomatic relief in Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with dose-limiting motor side-effects, including abnormal involuntary movements known as levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID). With continued levodopa treatment, and as PD progresses to moderate and severe stages, dyskinesias can become severely disabling and have been associated with a decrease in the quality of life. Encarnacion, E. V. and Hauser, R. A., Levodopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease: etiology, impact on quality of life, and treatments. Eur Neurol, 2008. 60(2): p. 57-66. There are currently no medications approved for the treatment of LID, thus there is a significant unmet medical need.
LID may require a reduction in the levodopa dose causing patients to receive sub-optimal PD treatment. The treatment of LID that becomes severely disabling resulting in a decrease in the quality of life is an unmet medical need. Encarnacion et al., supra.
Amantadine HCl (amantadine) is a weak, non-competitive N-methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that promotes release of dopamine. Guttman, M., Kish, S. J., Furukawa, Y., Current concepts in the diagnosis and management of Parkinson's disease. Cmaj, 2003. 168(3): p. 293-301. Amantadine has shown efficacy in animal models of LID and is used off-label by neurologists and movement disorder specialists to treat LID in patients with PD. Blanchet, P. J., Konitsiotis, S., Chase, T. N., Amantadine reduces levodopa-induced dyskinesias in parkinsonian monkeys. Mov Disord, 1998. 13(5): p. 798-802. Fox, S. H., Lang, A. E., Brotchie, J. M., Translation of non-dopaminergic treatments for levodopa-induced dyskinesia from MPTP-lesioned nonhuman primates to phase IIa clinical studies: keys to success and roads to failure. Mov Disord, 2006. 21(10): p. 1578-94.
A number of small studies with different designs and outcome measures in PD patients have shown amantadine (IR formulation) to be effective in the treatment of LID. At amantadine doses of 200 mg/day, an approximately 25% reduction in LID was reported (da Silva-Junior, F. P., Braga-Neto, P., Monte, F. S., et al., Amantadine reduces the duration of levodopa-induced dyskinesia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Parkinsonism Relat Disord, 2005. 11(7): p. 449-52; Snow, B. J., Macdonald, L., Mcauley, D., et al., The effect of amantadine on levodopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Clin Neuropharmacol, 2000. 23(2): p. 82-85) and at doses of 300 mg/day, the reduction of LID was reported to be ˜40% (Luginger, E., Wenning, G. K., Bosch, S., et al., Beneficial effects of amantadine on L-dopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord, 2000. 15(5): p. 873-8; Paci, C., Thomas, A., Onofrj, M., Amantadine for dyskinesia in patients affected by severe Parkinson's disease. Neurol Sci, 2001. 22(1): p. 75-6; Thomas, A., Iacono, D., Luciano, A. L., et al., Duration of amantadine benefit on dyskinesia of severe Parkinson's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 2004. 75(1): p. 141-3.) In one study conducted at 300 to 400 mg/day, the reduction was reported to be ˜60% (Metman, L. V., Del Dotto, P., Lepoole, K., et al., Amantadine for levodopa-induced dyskinesias: a 1-year follow-up study. Arch Neurol, 1999. 56(11): p. 1383-6.) In general, the reduction in LID appears to increase with increasing amantadine dose.
Despite amantadine's reported utility in the treatment of LID, the drug has not been extensively studied in well-controlled clinical trials that meet regulatory standards of acceptance, nor has the optimal dose for this indication been established. Moreover, while amantadine has shown benefits in treating the symptoms of early PD, it has been shown to have no effect on motor fluctuations (i.e., ON/OFF) in later stages. (Luginger E, Wenning G K, Bösch S, Poewe W., "Beneficial effects of amantadine on L-dopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease." Mov. Disord. 2000 September; 15(5):873-8.) Doses of 200 mg/day of amantadine (IR formulation) have been generally tolerated by the majority of PD patients. However, at this dose level, amantadine efficacy in LID is sub-optimal for many patients. Doses of 300 mg/day or higher amantadine IR produce greater reduction in LID symptoms but are associated with central nervous system (CNS) side effects including hallucinations, insomnia, nausea and dizziness (lightheadedness) (Jackson et al., supra; [Hayden, Jackson]. Currently marketed forms of amantadine are immediate release formulations that are typically administered two or more times a day. Amantadine's use is limited by dose related CNS side effects including dizziness, confusion, hallucinations, insomnia and nightmares (Gracies J M, Olanow C W; Current and Experimental Therapeutics of Parkinson's Disease; Neuropsychopharmacology: the Fifth Generation of Progress pp 1802; American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2002), which can be particularly exacerbated when amantadine is administered late in the day (Jackson et al., Bull Pan Am Health Org, 147, 595-603 (1967)); Jackson, JAMA, 235(25), (1976), 2739-2742; and Hayden, AAC, 23(3) 1983, pp. 458-464).
It is known that immediate release amantadine can act as a stimulant, causing insomnia and sleep disturbance. Therefore, the last dose is typically administered no later than 4 pm in order to minimize these side effects. Such dosing of amantadine results in peak plasma amantadine concentrations occurring in the evening or night, and very low plasma concentrations in the morning.
Extended release forms of amantadine have been described in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,721, to Guittard et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,905, to Edgren et al., each disclose an oral osmotic dosage form comprising an antiviral or anti-Parkinson's drug, respectively, where in each case amantadine is listed as a possible drug to be utilized in the dosage form. U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,000, to Smith et al., discloses analgesic immediate and controlled release pharmaceutical compositions utilizing NMDA receptor antagonists, such as amantadine, as the active agent. U.S. Patent Appl. Publication Nos. US 2006/0252788, US 2006/0189694 (U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,578), US 2006/0142398, US 2008/0227743, and US2011/0189273 (U.S. Pat. No. 8,741,343), all to Went et al., each disclose the administration of an NMDA receptor antagonist, such as amantadine, optionally in controlled release form.


A graph analysis system provides a variety of graph analysis tools for analyzing graphs, such as an overall characteristics report, an entity types graph, an ego entity type graph, various histograms, and graph comparison reports. The graph analysis tools also include tools for calculating a similarity score for graphs based on characteristics and weights selected by a user.

Data relationships are often modeled as a graph with the vertices of the graph representing entities or non-entities, such as literals, and the edges of the graph representing relationships between the entities or literals. The vertices representing entities are referred to as entity vertices, and the vertices representing non-entities are referred to as literal vertices or non-entity vertices. Each entity vertex has an entity type indicating the type of entity that the entity vertex represents and an entity identifier uniquely identifying that entity vertex, each literal vertex has a value that is a literal, and each edge has an edge type. For example, in the medical field, a graph may have entity vertices representing people, procedures (e.g., appendectomies), hospitals, prescriptions, and so on. If a physician, John Smith, has written 100 prescriptions, then the graph may contain one entity vertex for John Smith with the entity type of person and an entity identifier that is a unique identifier, such as "John Smith" or his Social Security number. The graph also contains one entity vertex for each of the prescriptions with the entity type of prescription and an entity identifier that uniquely identifies the prescription, such as a globally unique Rx number. The graph also contains 100 directed edges with each edge connecting an entity vertex representing a prescription to the entity vertex representing John Smith. Each edge may have the edge type of "prescribed by" to indicate that John Smith prescribed that prescription. The graph may also include a literal vertex with a literal of "Jan. 1, 1964" and include an edge with an edge type of "date of birth" that connects the entity vertex representing John Smith to that literal vertex indication that John Smith's date of birth is Jan. 1, 1964. As another example, in the electronic commerce field, a graph may have entity vertices representing customers, web sites, products, purchases, and so on. If a customer visits a web site, the entity vertex representing that customer may have an edge going to the entity vertex representing that web site with an edge type of "visited."
Data relationships can also be modeled as a property graph with the vertices of the graph representing only entities and with non-entity information stored as attributes or properties of an entity vertex. For example, the entity vertex representing John Smith would have a date of birth property with the value of "Jan. 1, 1964." In the following, the term "graph" encompasses both a property graph and a non-property graph. A non-property graph is a graph that includes non-entity vertices for storing non-entity information. Also, the context surrounding the use of the term "graph" will make it clear whether a non-property graph or a property graph is being described.
Large collections of data can store data for hundreds of different types of entities with hundreds of different types of relationships. These collections can store data for millions of entities. In the medical field example, a collection may store information for 100 million people, 200 million prescriptions, and 500 million office visits, and the number of relationships between the entities may number in the billions. The graph corresponding to these collections may have billions of entity vertices, even more literal vertices, and billions of edges.
Collections of data representing relationships between entities, such as these large collections, may be referred to as instances of semantic data models that allow the relationships to be modeled as "facts." The facts are often represented as triples that have a subject, a predicate, and an object. For example, one triple may have the subject of "John Smith," the predicate of "is-a," and the object of "physician," which may be represented as                <John Smith, is-a, physician>.This triple represents the fact that John Smith is a physician. Another triple may be        <John Smith, graduate of, University of Washington>representing the fact that John Smith graduated from the University of Washington. Yet another triple is        <John Smith, degree, MD>representing the fact that John Smith has an MD degree. The fact that prescription P1 was prescribed by John Smith may be represented by the following triple:        <P1, prescribed by, John Smith>.
With such a semantic model, the subjects are entities, the predicates are relationships, and the objects are entities or literals representing attributes of entities, referred to as entity objects and literal objects. For example, John Smith and the University of Washington are entities, and "physician" and "MD" are attributes of John Smith. In a graph model of a collection of triples, the graph contains an entity vertex for each entity, a literal vertex for each attribute value, and an edge for each triple. The edge representation of a triple connects the entity vertex corresponding to the subject to the entity vertex or literal vertex corresponding to the object, with the edge having an edge type corresponding to the predicate, Some collections of data may store triples that are from different sources and that correspond to different graphs. For example, one collection may have triples collected from the U.S. Center for Disease Control ("CDC") and from various medical insurance companies. For such a collection, each triple may be part of a quadruple that includes an identifier of the source that represents a separate graph. For example, if the data from Blue Cross and the CDC both contain the following triple                <P1, prescribed by, John Smith>,then the collection may contain the following quadruples        <CDC. P1, prescribed by, John Smith> and        <BC, P1, prescribed by, John Smith>.
The first element in the quadruples identifies the graph of which the corresponding triple is part. The triples for Blue Cross and the triples for the CDC represent separate graphs stored as part of the same collection.
Semantic data models can be used to model the relationships between any pairs of types of entity, such as web pages, people, companies, products, meetings, celestial objects, proteins, purchases, telephone numbers, telephone calls, and so on. One semantic data model, referred to as the Resource Description Framework ("RDF"), has been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium ("W3C") to model web resources, but it can be used to model any type of resource. The triples of a semantic data model may be stored in a semantic database that may include a fact table containing the triples representing the facts.
These large collections of data may contain a wealth of information. Various data mining techniques have been developed to assist in extracting useful information from these large collections. The data mining techniques may use classification and clustering techniques (e.g., Bayesian classification), pattern analysis techniques, and so on. If a researcher "understands" the data of a collection, the researcher could select the appropriate data mining tool to extract useful information, realize that the collection lacks sufficient data and augment the collection, realize that two separate collections are incompatible in some way and try to make them compatible, and so on. But without this "understanding," the researcher is at a disadvantage and may spend significant time and computational resources extracting information that may not be particularly useful.

Processing of a generate entity type graph component of a graph analysis system

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


13-thia prostaglandins are useful in the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension. Also disclosed are ophthalmic, pharmaceutical compositions comprising said prostaglandins.

The present invention relates to the use of certain prostaglandin analogs for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension. As used herein, the terms "prostaglandin" and "PG" shall refer to prostaglandins and derivatives and analogs thereof, except as otherwise indicated by context.
Naturally-occurring prostaglandins, especially prostaglandins of the F series (such as PGF.sub.2.alpha.), are known to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) after topical ocular instillation, but can cause conjunctival hyperemia and/or edema as well as inflammation. Many synthetic prostaglandins have been observed to lower intraocular pressure, but most such compounds also produce the aforementioned side effects which significantly limit their clinical utility.
Various attempts have been made to overcome these well-known side-effects. Some have synthesized or searched out derivatives of naturally-occurring prostaglandins in an attempt to design out selectively the side effects while maintaining the IOP-lowering effect. See, e.g., Bishop et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,383) Stjernschantz et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,422,368, 5,321,128, and 5,296,504), Woodward et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,329), Chan et al. (WO 92/08465 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,041). Others, including Ueno et al. (EP 330 511 A2) and Wheeler (EP 435 682 A2) have tried complexing prostaglandins with various cyclodextrins.
Certain sulfur containing prostaglandin derivatives are known in the art. Glutathione-prostaglandin conjugates and related compounds have been reported in the literature relating to the cytotoxicity of PGA and PGD. See e.g. Cagen, Fales and Pisano, J. Biological Chemistry 251, 6550-54 (1976); Cagen and Pisano, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 573, 547-51 (1979); Honn and Marnett, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Comn. 129, 34-40 (1985); Atsmon et al., Cancer Res. 50, 1879-85 (1990); Parker and Ankel, Biochemical Pharmacology 43,1053-60 (1992); Ohno, et al., Eicosanoids 5, 81-85 (1992). However, the biological effects of these compounds, other than cytotoxicity or the lack thereof, have not been reported. Stjernschantz et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,796) disclose ring substituted thioprostaglandins and thioprostagiandin-like compounds for the treatment of glaucoma or ocular hypertension. 7-Thioprostaglandin derivatives may inhibit chemokine-induced cell migration (Kataoka et al. (WO97/01534)) and have been disclosed for the treatment of skin disease (see Hanahima et al. CA Selects: Prostaglandins, 125:185911p (1996)). Also, compounds which are derivatives of 13-thiaprostenoic acid have been reported to lower blood pressure (see, e.g., Radunz et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,441)).

13-Thia prostaglandins for use in glaucoma therapy


A method of measuring the amount of substance associated with a material in the presence of a contaminant comprises choosing a first band of radiation which lies outside the absorption band of the substance but within the absorption band of the contaminant. The first band is directed at the material; a first detector is positioned to receive the radiation after impinging the material. The first detector converts the radiation received into a first electrical signal. A second band of radiation, which is chosen to lie within the absorption band of the substance, is also within an absorption band of the contaminant. The second band is directed at the material; a second detector is positioned to receive the radiation after impinging the material. The second detector produces a second electrical signal in response to the radiation received. The second electrical signal is subtracted from the first electrical signal.

The present invention relates to a method for measuring the amount of substance associated with a material in the presence of a contaminant, and more particularly to a method for measuring the amount of water associated with a paper material in the presence of carbon.
Methods for detecting moisture in paper material are well known in the prior art, see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,450. Typically, an infrared source emits two bands of electromagnetic radiation. A first band (usually 1.8 microns--so called reference channel) is insensitive to absorption by the moisture. A second band (usually 1.94 microns--so called measure channel) is sensitive to absorption by the moisture. The two bands of radiation are directed at the paper material. Detectors are positioned to receive the bands of radiation after they have been reflected from the paper or transmitted through the paper. The detectors convert the radiation received into electrical signals. The ratio of the signal of the reference channel to the measure channel is indicative of the moisture content of the paper material. A fundamental assumption of this method is that neither the reference channel nor the measure channel is sensitive to absorption by other compounds in the paper material.
As ecological demands increase, the use of recycled paper also increases. This has occurred most frequently in the news print industry. Used newspaper is recycled with new pulp to produce fresh news print. The use of recycled news print in the manufacturing process introduces contaminant, namely carbon from the printing ink, into the process. The presence of carbon affects the measurement of moisture of the paper material in that the bands (both reference channel and measure channel) of electromagnetic radiation are absorbed by the carbon. Thus, the ratio of the signals of the reference channel to the measure channel would not be determinitive of the moisture content of the paper material.
Heretofore, one way to correct for the presence of carbon is to determine a priori the influence of carbon on the ratio of the signals for a particular moisture level. For example, at 7% level of moisture for a particular paper material, a ratio of the signals without carbon was determined to be 2.2 and as carbon was introduced the ratio of the signals detected, for the same level of moisture, became 2.0.
For a different level of moisture, the ratio of the signals would also vary as the amount of carbon present in the paper material. In this manner, a family of curves was pre-determined and usually stored in a computer. The amount of carbon present in the paper material was determined from the change in the signal strength of the reference channel. Since the reference channel was insensitive to the presence of water, the change in signal strength of the reference channel could be attributed to the presence of carbon. With knowledge of the ratio of the signals and the amount of deviation of the signal strength in the reference channel, indicating the amount of carbon present, the moisture level of the paper material could thus be calculated from the family of pre-determined curves. The drawback of this method, of course, is that a large amount of data had to be pre-determined and stored in a medium which is easily and quickly accessible. Moreover, the method that was developed was based upon empirical results and not upon theoretical basis. As a result, it was limited in its accuracy and in its range of application.

Method of measuring the amount of substance associated with a material in the presence of a contaminant


Described is a filter and a method for preparing the filter that includes a porous filter media that is bonded to an end cap using a two-part, isocyanate-based adhesive. The adhesive is free of inorganic pigments and fillers and is the reaction product of at least one polymeric polyol component and at least one polyisocyanate component. The polyol component includes a high MW triol having sufficiently different intrinsic reaction rates to generate phase separation during curing. The components react and cure to form a product having an L* white value greater than about 60.

It is known that two-part isocyanate-based adhesives can be used to bond natural and synthetic materials including paper, metals and plastics. The two-part adhesives generally consist of polyols and polyisocyanates, often mixed immediately before the bonding process, which cure to form polyurethane-based adhesives. Several references are described below:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,852 (Shah) discloses polyurethane-based elastomers comprising the reaction product of 4,4'-methylenebis (phenyl isocyanate), polyethylene glycols and aliphatic straight chain diols. The elastomers are formed using a one-shot procedure in which all the reactants are brought together simultaneously before the bonding process. Shah has found that by controlling the proportion of polyethylene glycol to extender within very carefully defined limits and by employing certain extenders in combination with the polyethylene glycols, it is possible to obtain thermoplastic polyurethanes that possess all the desirable structural strength properties of those elastomers currently available. U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,852 (Shah) fails to teach or suggest two-part isocyanate-based adhesive compositions, using a one-shot procedure, which phase-separate during the curing process to form highly-opaque white polyurethanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,316 (Henn) discloses phase separating polyurethane prepolymers and elastomers prepared by reacting a polyol having a molecular weight of 600-3500, isocyanate and a low molecular weight chain extender wherein the ratios of reactants have an isocyanate index of greater than or equal to 1.1. The prepolymers phase separate and form a highly-opaque white solid having excellent storage stability. Henn further describes a method for the preparation of polyurethane elastomers wherein the prepolymers are reacted with low molecular weight chain extenders. In the most preferred embodiment, the prepolymers of the invention are prepared by slow addition of polyol to liquid diisocyanate in such a manner as to favor a narrow molecular weight distribution of isocyanate terminated prepolymer, followed by the addition of the deficiency of chain extender. The two-part isocyanate-based adhesive compositions require a complicated and costly pre-formation of a solidified prepolymer which requires a melting process prior to its application.
German Patent application DE 42 08 862 A1 (Boehnke) discloses a filter element and a process for its production wherein the adhesive is preferably a hot melt adhesive, but can also be a two-component or a one-component adhesive; materials exemplified are polyamide or polyurethane adhesives. This reference does not disclose any details of how the two-component polyurethane adhesive is formed or any of its physical properties.
Other related patents which describe the preparation of filters include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,067 (Evans, Jr.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,953 (Wasielewski etal.); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,857 (Solomon).
In the manufacture of bonded filters, it is desirable to have an adhesive which closely matches the white appearance of the filter media. Adhesives having a highly-opaque white appearance are often formed by the addition of inorganic pigments and/or fillers. Examples of commonly used inorganic pigments and/or fillers include titanium dioxide, antimony oxide, zinc oxide, magnesium silicate (talc), calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, zinc borate, anhydrous sodium potassium alumina silicate, calcium sulfate and calcium carbonate. Such materials are not, however, desirable for the adhesives' appearance and processing characteristics. Specifically, these materials often settle, prior to the meter-mix process, making the adhesive appear less uniform in color. Although sedimentation may be controlled by the addition of thickening agents, such additives can further adversely affect the flow characteristics, resulting in reduced fiber penetration and bond strengths. Another disadvantage associated with white adhesives having inorganic pigments and/or fillers relates to the adhesives' abrasive characteristics in that such materials often wear down mechanical parts within the meter-mix and/or dispensing equipment.
The present inventors have now discovered a two-part polyurethane adhesive system that possesses a white-opalescent appearance without the addition of any filler or pigments.

Filter and method of preparing a bonded filter that includes a white-opalescent adhesive

H. B. Fuller Licensing & Financing, Inc.


An electron gun for use in a cathode ray tube (CRT) includes a cathode, a low voltage beam forming region (BFR), and a high voltage deflection focus lens disposed in the beam deflection region of the CRT's magnetic deflection yoke for simultaneous and coincident focusing and deflection of the electron beam on the CRT's display screen. The deflection lens includes a plurality of first focus grids disposed in the CRT's neck portion including a spaced first pair of grids (G42, G44) having respective beam passing apertures disposed horizontally off-center in opposed directions relative to the electron beam axis, and a second pair of grids (G46, G48) having respective beam passing apertures disposed vertically off-center in opposed directions relative to the axis. Other grids disposed on opposed sides of each of the first and second pair of grids have respective beam passing apertures centered with respect to the electron beam axis and are maintained at a fixed focus voltage. A first dynamic focus correction voltage source (275) and a second dynamic focus correction voltage source (277) which vary with the electron beam deflection are respectively applied to each of the first and second pair of grids for compensating for asymmetric off-axis electron beam defocusing at all points on the CRT's faceplate. This dynamic off-axis defocusing correction is equally applicable in a single beam, monochromatic deflection lens CRT, as well as in a multi-beam, color deflection lens CRT.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a longitudinal sectional view of a prior art color deflection lens (DFL) CRT 50. A single beam, monochrome DFL CRT is described and claimed in co-pending application, Ser. No. 07/874,043, filed Apr. 27, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,044, and entitled "Electron Beam Deflection Lens for CRT," while a multi-beam, color DFL CRT is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,585, issued Apr. 20, 1993, and entitled "Electron Beam Deflection Lens for Color CRT." The present invention is applicable to the inventions described and claimed in the aforementioned patent application and issued patent, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in the present application.
CRT 50 is of the multi-beam, or color, type and includes a sealed glass envelope 68 having a generally cylindrical neck portion 68a, a frusto-conical funnel portion 68b, and a display screen 54. Disposed in a sealed manner on an aft portion of the glass envelope's neck portion 68a is a plug-like connector 58 comprised of a plastic housing 64 and a plurality of conductive pins 72 extending in a sealed manner through a distal end of the glass envelope's neck portion. Disposed on an inner surface of display screen 54 is a phosphor layer 56 responsive to an electron beam incident thereon for providing a video image. The phosphor layer 56 is in the form of a large number of discrete phosphor elements arranged in groups of three for each of the primary colors, i.e., red, green and blue. A charged metal shadow mask 82 having a large number of apertures therein is disposed immediately adjacent to the phosphor layer 56. Each of the apertures in shadow mask 82 is aligned with a respective one of the aforementioned phosphor elements in phosphor layer 56 for allowing an electron beam to be incident upon the phosphor element as the electron beams are swept across the inner surface of display screen 54 in a raster-like manner. The charged shadow mask 82 serves as a color selection grid, ensuring that each of the three electron beams 52a, 52b and 52c (shown in dotted-line form) lands only on its assigned phosphor elements, or deposits.
Disposed within DFL CRT 50 is a multi-grid electron gun 51 including, in proceeding toward display screen 54, a low voltage beam forming region (BFR) 74, a prefocus lens 76 and a high voltage deflection focus lens 78. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the various charged grids of electron gun 51. Energetic electrons are emitted by three heated cathodes K.sub.R, K.sub.G and K.sub.B for each of the primary colors of red, green and blue. BFR 74 is aligned with the three cathodes to receive the energetic electrons and form these electrons into the aforementioned three electron beams 52a, 52b and 52c. BFR 74 includes a G.sub.1 control grid, a G.sub.2 screen grid and a facing portion of a G.sub.3 grid. The three electron beams 52a, 52b and 52c are then directed to the prefocus lens 76 which includes a G.sub.5 grid, a G.sub.4 grid and a facing portion of the G.sub.3 grid. The electron beams then are directed through the deflection focus lens 78 which includes a G.sub.6 grid and a facing portion of the G.sub.5 grid. Disposed about and engaging the G.sub.5 grid is a support, or convergence, cup 60. Attached to support cup 60 about its periphery are a plurality of contact clips, or bulb spacers, where two such contact clips are shown as elements 62a and 62b in FIG. 1. Contact clips 62a and 62b engage an adjacent inner surface of the neck portion 68a of the CRT's glass envelope 68 upon which is disposed a resistive coating 84. The combination of support cup 60 and contact clips 62a and 62b as well as a plurality of glass beads attached to each of the grids (which are not shown in the figure) provide secure support for electron gun 51 in CRT 50.
Within the deflection focus lens 78, the G.sub.6 grid may be in the form of either a conductive layer disposed on the inner surface of the glass envelope's frusto-conical funnel portion 68b, or may be in the form of a frusto-conical metallic element disposed immediately adjacent to the inner surface of the frusto-conical funnel portion 68b of the CRT's glass envelope 68. The G.sub.6 grid is maintained at a high anode, or accelerating, voltage, while the remaining grids in electron gun 51 are maintained at various lesser voltages for focusing the three electron beams 52a, 52b and 52c on the CRT's faceplate 54. The three electron beams 52a, 52b and 52c also pass through a beam deflection region 80 defined by a magnetic deflection yoke 66 disposed about the CRT's glass envelope 68 generally where its neck portion 68a meets its frusto-conical funnel portion 68b. Deflection yoke 66 displaces the three electron beams 52a, 52b and 52c across display screen 54 in a raster-like manner, executing a beam retrace following a complete scan of the display screen. By positioning one or more grids of the CRT's main focus lens on, or in closely spaced relation to, an inner surface of the CRT's glass envelope 68, the main focus lens may be positioned within the deflection yoke's magnetic field so as to locate the deflection center of the beams within the focal point of the main focus lens in forming a beam deflection lens. The deflection lens not only focuses the beams on the CRT's display screen 54, but also increases beam deflection sensitivity as the beam is deflected by the magnetic deflection yoke 66. Co-locating the CRT's main focus lens and beam deflection region 80 also reduces lens spherical aberration of the beams and allows for shorter CRT length as described in the aforementioned co-pending application and issued patent.
As the electron beams are deflected across the CRT's display screen 54, they are displaced from the CRT's longitudinal axis A-A'. Deflection of the electron beams from the CRT's axis gives rise to an imbalance in the symmetrical electrostatic forces applied to the beams by the various charged grids of the CRT's electron gun 51. This effect is shown in the simplified schematic diagram of FIG. 3 of a CRT 90 having a glass envelope 92 with a neck portion 92a, a funnel portion 92b and a display screen 92c. Electron beam 96 is generated and directed onto display screen 92c by an electron gun as described above which is not shown in the figure for simplicity. Electron beam 96 is disposed along the CRT's longitudinal axis B-B' in the neck portion 92a of the CRT's glass envelope 92. The deflection focus lens in CRT 90 is shown in the figure in dotted-line form as element 91 and is located in the CRT where the electron beam 96 is magnetically deflected. As electron beam 96 is deflected across faceplate 92c by a magnetic deflection yoke 94, an unsymmetrical force is applied to the electron beam in the direction of, or toward, the CRT's longitudinal axis B-B'. For example, where the electron beam is deflected upward above axis B-B' as shown for the case of electron beam 90a, a downward force F is exerted on the electron beam as shown in the figure. Similarly, where the electron beam is deflected downward below axis B-B' as shown for the case of electron beam 96b in dotted-line form, an upwardly directed force F' is exerted on the electron beam urging it toward the CRT's axis B-B'. The force exerted on the electron beam is unsymmetrical and increases with the deflection of the beam from axis B-B'. Thus, when the beam is fully deflected adjacent to an edge of display screen 92c, the axis-directed force exerted on the beam is maximum. This unsymmetrical, off-axis force gives rise to defocusing of the electron beam and an unsymmetrical electron beam spot on the CRT's display screen 92c. For example, in the case of the upwardly deflected electron beam 96a, downwardly directed force F gives rise to a teardrop-shaped electron beam spot 98a having a tail directed toward axis B-B'. Similarly, for the downwardly directed electron beam 96b, upwardly directed force F' gives rise to a teardrop-shaped electron beam spot 98b on the CRT's faceplate 92c with a tail directed toward axis B-B'. Although this discussion of beam defocusing and beam spot distortion is in terms of beam vertical deflection, a similar defocusing effect occurs when the electron beam 96b is horizontally deflected to the right and left of the CRT's axis B-B'.
FIG. 4 is a simplified plan view of the CRT's display screen 92c illustrating the manner in which defocusing of the electron beam causes electron beam spot distortion with off-axis deflection of the electron beam. For example, electron beam spots 102 and 104 which lie on the horizontal centerline of display screen 92c are teardrop-shaped with a tail directed inwardly toward the center of the display screen. Similarly, electron beam spot 100 which lies on the vertical centerline of the CRT's faceplate 92c is teardrop-shaped with a tail directed downward toward the center of the display screen. Electron beam spots 106 and 108, which are off-axis, similarly are teardrop-shaped having tails directed toward the display screen's center. Only electron beam spot 110 has the desired circular shape because it is located at the center of the CRT's display screen 92c and is undeflected from the CRT's axis.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned limitations of the prior art by providing dynamic off-axis defocusing correction for a deflection lens CRT. The present invention incorporates an unsymmetrical correction focus lens in the CRT's electron gun to correct for off-axis defocusing and provide a well defined, circular electron beam spot over the entire surface of the CRT's faceplate.

Dynamic off-axis defocusing correction for deflection lens CRT


A coating for a thermoplastic film includes an acrylic copolymer, a finely divided wax in the amount of 30 to 150%, preferably 30 to 60%, by weight based on the total weight of the copolymer, a finely divided inorganic solid selected from the group consisting of silica, diatomaceous earth, calcium silicate, bentonite and finely divided clays in the amount of 5 to 25% by weight based on the total weight of the copolymer and either talc or Syloid in the amount of 0 to 1% based on the total weight of the copolymer. The coated film has a low haze, non-blocking and consistently low coefficient of friction for good machinability. The coating is applied to a surface of the film as an aqueous dispersion preferably by a gravure coater placed between the machine direction orienter and the transverse direction orienter in an extruding system for the film. This film can be laminated to another film such as glassine or a plastic film.

Polypropylene films are widely used in the packaging industry because of their superior physical properties, such as high tensile modulus and stiffness, excellent optical clarity, and good moisture barrier characteristics. However, unmodified polypropylene has the disadvantage of having a high inherent coefficient of friction and film-to-film destructive blocking on storage. In the past, the coefficient of friction characteristics of polypropylene and other thermoplastic films have been beneficially modified by the inclusion in the polymer of fatty acid amides. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,176,021 for such a modified material. The effectiveness of the amides relies upon their ability to migrate to the surface of the films in order to reduce the coefficient of friction. While such amides do improve the coefficient of friction of the films, the value of the coefficient of friction is subject to wide variation depending upon the heat history which the film experiences during shipping, storage, and certain converting processes. In addition, the presence of such amides on the film surfaces can adversely affect the film's appearance as manifested by an increase in haze, a decrease in gloss and the presence of streaks. The presence of such amides on the surface can also adversely affect the wettability and adhesion of solvent and water-based inks, coatings, and adhesives.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,509 to L. J. Gust et al, issued Aug. 6, 1985, entitled LOW COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION FILM STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,527 to R. H. Doyen, issued Oct. 21, 1986 entitled GOOD MACHINABILITY FILM STRUCTURE, there is described a multi-layer structure comprising a comparatively thick base layer of an optically clear thermoplastic resin and a comparatively thin surface layer containing a finely divided inorganic material in a proportion sufficient to thereby impart anti-block characteristics and decrease film-to-film coefficient of friction. The resulting film has non-blocking and improved slip characteristics which are stable regarding heat history without any adverse effects on appearance, wetting and adhesion as typically experienced with amide-modified films. However, when laminated to other films, e.g. glassine paper, such structures exhibit significantly higher coefficient of friction values and do not perform flawlessly on conventional form, fill and seal machines.

Low coefficient of friction material and plastic films coated therewith


Techniques are described herein that are capable of using relevant objects to add content to a collaborative repository. The relevant objects are selected from URI-addressable objects based on each relevant object satisfying one or more relevance criteria. The relevant objects are recommended via a user interface. A determination is made that a specified relevant object is selected from the relevant objects. In one example, the content may be added to (e.g., created in) the collaborative repository based on the specified relevant object. In another example, the specified relevant object may be used to represent a new object type in a new content menu. For instance, the new object type may be selectable to cause an object of the new object type to be created in the collaborative repository.

A collaborative repository is a repository that is configured to enable multiple users to perform collaborative operations with regard to content. For instance, the collaborative repository may enable the users to collaboratively edit the content. The collaborative repository may have additional functionality, such as tracking (e.g., version history tracking), managing, and securing the content and synchronizing the content across multiple devices.
Regardless whether a user creates a new collaborative repository or attempts to use a collaborative repository that is created by someone else, the user typically wants to store content in the collaborative repository so that other users may collaborate with the user regarding the content. If the content already exists, the user often clicks through folders in a file system to locate the content, right-clicks the content to initiate a copy or move operation, navigates back to a folder that represents the collaborative repository, and right clicks in the folder to paste the content therein. If the content does not yet exist, the user often starts from scratch to generate the content.

Using relevant objects to add content to a collaborative repository


A computerized tomography (CT) system includes a stationary frame, an annular rotating frame and apparatus that includes a phase splitter for supplying first and second modulated carrier constituents being 180.degree. out-of-phase between one another while maintaining a uniform amplitude over the bandwidth for the modulated carrier. A transmission line is attached to the rotating frame and is positioned around the annular rotating frame. The transmission line comprises individual segments having first and second conductors respectively coupled to the he phase splitter to receive the first and second modulated carrier constituents. A coupler is attached to the stationary frame and is positioned sufficiently near the transmission line for establishing radio coupling therebetween to receive the first and second modulated carrier constituents being applied to any individual segment. The apparatus further includes a power combiner having first and second input ports for receiving the first and second modulated carrier constituents supplied by the coupler. The power combiner is designed for combining the 180.degree. out-of-phase first and second modulated carriers to form a combined modulated carrier supplied through an output port of the power combiner. The power combiner preferably includes matching resistors for cancelling any in-phase input signals which can be received through the first and second input ports of the power combiner due to externally-generated electromagnetic interference.

The field of the present invention is generally related to computerized tomography (CT) and, particularly, to a transmission line using an accurate, wideband power combiner for high data rate communication in a CT system.
CT systems typically employ a rotating frame or gantry to obtain multiple x-ray images, or views, at different rotational angles. Each set of images is referred to in the art as a "slice ". A patient or inanimate object is generally positioned in a central opening of the rotating frame on a table which is movable axially, thus enabling respective slices to be obtained at multiple axial positions as well. Each of the slices obtained is then processed in a computer according to predetermined algorithms to produce enhanced images for diagnostic or inspection purposes.
The rotating frame includes an x-ray source, a detector array and electronics necessary to generate image data for each view. A set of stationary electronics is employed for processing raw image data into the enhanced form. Thus, it is necessary to provide for communication of the image data between the rotating frame and a stationary frame of the CT system.
The data rate for communication between the stationary and rotating frames is an important factor because it is desirable to obtain the desired views as fast as possible to reduce patient discomfort and/or to maximize equipment utilization. In current CT systems, a single view typically comprises about 800 detector channels with a 16 bit representation for each individual detector channel output (i.e., 12.8 Kbits per view) and is typically repeated 1,000 times per second, yielding a net data rate requirement of approximately 13 Megabits per second (Mbit/sec) for image data alone. Future CT systems capable of simultaneously constructing multiple image slices by employing four, eight, or sixteen times as many detector channels will increase the data rate requirement to beyond 150 Mbit/sec for image data alone.
Prior CT systems have employed brushes and slip tings for electrically linking the rotating frame to the stationary frame. However, in general, CT systems utilizing brushes and slip rings for communications have generally suffered from significant limitations in the data rates which can be achieved. This is due to the substantial time required to propagate the signals around the circular slip rings. At the desired data rates, the electrical path length around the rings is an appreciable fraction of a bit period, so that electromagnetic waves propagating around the rings in opposite directions may arrive at a reception point at substantially different times in a bit period, causing garbled reception.
US. Pat. No. 5,208,581 issued to A. K. Collins, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and herein incorporated by reference, is another type of gantry in which brushes and slip rings are employed for communication. Although the design of Collins provides relatively high speed communication between the stationary and rotating frames, the fact remains that the use of contacting brushes and rings inherently carries certain disadvantages. For example, the mechanical contact between the brushes and tings causes wear which requires such brushes and rings to be periodically replaced in order to maintain reliable communication. Furthermore, the slip-ring design of Collins does not support the higher data rates needed for multiple-slice CT systems.
Other CT systems have employed an optical data link for communication between the stationary and rotating frames. Although an optical data link design avoids typical drawbacks of slip rings and brushes, such optical design requires optics which must be fabricated under tight specifications and which in operation require substantial spatial alignment in order to achieve reliable optical coupling along the relatively long circumference of the rotating frame. This leads to high costs and, thus, it is desirable to provide in a CT system an improved communication link which at a low cost provides reliable high data rate communication between the stationary and rotating frames of the CT system.
It is further desirable to provide a communication link between the stationary frame and the rotating frame which is robust with respect to electromagnetic radiation interference such as is typically produced in a hospital environment by cellular telephones, defibrillating devices, surgical saws and even electrical noise produced by any given CT system. Furthermore, it is also desirable to reduce the level of electromagnetic energy which is radiated from such communication link in order to comply with governmental regulations such as regulations imposed by the Federal Communications Commission and/or foreign governments. As disclosed in US patent application Ser. No. 08/307,120, a transmission line and a coupler or probe provide means for implementing such high data rate communication link. As further disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/307,130, a U-shaped structure is effectively employed for substantially reducing electromagnetic radiation from the transmission line while providing a passage which allows for the coupler to readily access the transmission line. Although such U-shaped structure effectively shields the transmission line, it is desirable to reduce electromagnetic radiation which escapes or leaks around the coupler. It is also desirable to reduce sensitivity of the coupler to externally produced electromagnetic energy which can interfere with coupler operation.

Transmission line using a power combiner for high data rate communication in a computerized tomography system