A patient monitoring apparatus employs transmitter and receiver units. The transmitter unit is typically mounted on the patient and is equipped with an inflatable blood pressure cuff having an associated acoustic stethoscope pickup piece for detecting the systolic and diastolic pressure related sounds which may be selectively and pneumatically coupled to the transmitter unit for radio broadcast to the receiver unit. The transmitter unit may also be selectively coupled to conventional stethoscope ear pieces and sound pickup pieces which can be either chest, esophagus, or otherwise mounted on the patient to detect the sounds generated by and/or associated with respiratory and cardiac functions. Thus, sounds related to either blood pressure determination or cardiorespirtory ausculation can be detected by the transmitter unit and broadcast to the receiver unit. The receiver unit is typically belt or pocket mounted on the attending anesthetist. Two switching systems are illustrated, either of which may be utilized to enable the anesthetist to automatically select which sound, i.e., blood pressure or cardiorespiratory, to monitor. On-off transmitter control as well as battery tests and channel confirmation functions are provided.

1. Field of the Invention:
The invention relates to apparatus for monitoring body conditions and more specifically to an electro-mechanical apparatus specifically useful for monitoring sounds related to systolic and diastolic pressure measurements as well as sounds related to the heartbeat and respiratory functions.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
During the course of a majority of surgical procedures, sterile drapes often limit the anesthetist's ability to observe the thorax and patency of the airway. For this and other reasons, anesthetists have come to rely heavily upon auditory monitoring, such as through a stethoscope sound pickup piece placed on the chest wall, precordial, or placed in the esophagus, esophageal, directly behind the trachea or "windpipe". Besides indicating heart rate, the amplitude and frequency of the heart sounds detected by the use of a stethoscope sound pickup piece placed on the chest or in the esophagus will also allow some estimate of the force of cardiac contraction. A stethoscope and associated sound pickup piece is also used to detect and transmit the low frequency and low amplitude sounds associated with conventional "indirect" systolic and diastolic blood pressure determinations. Thus, the stethoscope has become an important diagnostic tool and has gained importance in the course of anesthetic management during both major and minor surgical procedures.
Various electronic stethoscope systems are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,087,016; 3,160,708; 3,790,712; 3,985,121 and 3,989,895. It has also been known to provide electronic apparatus to monitor selected body conditions, develop corresponding electrical signals and broadcast such signals to a receiver unit to be heard by an anesthetist or for transmission to recording apparatus or the like. U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,381 describes an apparatus designed to automatically determine, transmit and display information concerning the patient's physiologic status. No means are provided by which the operator's senses may be used to aid in clinical assessment of the patient's physiologic response to anesthesia. Other shortcomings in the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,381 are also to be noted in that the electronic detector is required to be in intimate contact with the patient whereas it would be desirable to shield the fragile and expensive microphone sound detector from mechanical stress and damage as with the present invention.
Special note should be taken that medical institutions throughout the world have a very sizable investment in precordial, esophageal and pneumatic blood pressure cuff stethoscope equipment. Such institutions also have a substantial investment in assocaited inflation and pressure gauge apparatus. For example, the already owned inflation apparatus may incorporate expensive mechanical, electronic, automatic or semi-automatic components or combinations of the same. Additionally, substantial investments have been made in medical institutions in pressure gauge equipment which may involve expensive mechanical, electronic or fluidic components. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have a transmitter unit which could be utilized with any of the already owned and often expensive stethoscope equipment and inflation and pressure gauge apparatus. In this regard, it may be noted that none of the apparatus described in the mentioned United States patents are adapted to operate already available stethoscope, inflation and pressure apparatus. Play apparatus, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,196 is also noted.
Another deficiency in the prior art is to be noted in the fact that the prior art telemetry apparatus tends to produce artificial rather than natural biological sounds. British Pat. No. 1,008,027 published Oct. 22, 1965, for example, teaches a telemetry system in which the output of the microphone is amplified and manipulated to reproduce artificial and simulated low level biological sounds. However, medical practitioners have little desire or need for monitoring devices which artificially alter their perception of diagnostic information. What is needed is a portable system which allows for remote and faithful reproduction of biological sounds of diagnostic importance and the system, in effect, should be an extension of the operator's own senses. Further, the preferred system should not require the presence of an electronic pickup device in intimate contact with the patient as in the British patent or as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,381. Further, it would be desirable to have a portable system of the kind mentioned which allows for the intermittent detection of two biological sound sources, namely, heart and breath sounds as one source and blood pressure related Korotkoff sounds as another source and to accomplish the same automatically dependent upon inflation of a pressure cuff associated with the system. Compare, for example, the complex wired input telemetry of U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,606.
Recognition should also be made of another prior art device described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,664 and known as a Ploss automatic switch valve which has been uniquely incorporated in one form of the patient monitoring apparatus of the present invention. The Ploss automatic switch valve represents a commercially available pressure operated switching valve sold by Medical Production Division, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing company of St. Paul, Minnesota, and is conventionally sold for operation in conjunction with standard blood pressure cuffs and manometers and automatic cuff inflation systems. Such a Ploss valve has five tubular connections to the valve. One connection provides a sound output to the anesthetist's monaural or binaural earpiece. A second connection is used to receive pressure from a manometer or semi-automatic inflator whenever it is desired to inflate the cuff. A third connection receives blood pressure related sounds from a blood pressure acoustic pickup. A fourth connection provides an outlet for pressure going to the blood pressure cuff. The fifth connection provides means for receiving sounds from an acoustic precordial or esophageal stethoscope. While the Ploss valve provides a greatly improved system for monitoring either precordial or esophageal sounds, the anesthetist's mobility is physically restricted. In addition, the discomfort of wearing a binaural and/or specially fitted earpiece, the annoyance of a work area cluttered with tubing (e.g., stethoscopes, intravenous fluid lines, naso-gastric tubes, Foley catheters, et cetera) and the extraneous noises produced and amplified by the stethoscope lines getting tangled up and/or hitting other equipment can approach the point of being almost unbearable. Nevertheless, the Ploss-type valve offers many valuable features useful for remote monitoring. So far as is known, however, the Ploss-type valve has never heretofore been used advantageously in a radio-type monitoring system.
As will be noted from the later detailed description of the invention, advantage is taken of using a sound transmitting tube as a means for mounting and enclosing the antenna. In this regard, it may be noted that U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,822 teaches the practice of embedding an electric wire in a specially constructed sound tube associated with a stethoscope. However, this prior art construction has two noticeable disadvantages. First, a special tube is required to be molded and, secondly, if the embedded wire breaks, the entire tubing structure is rendered useless. Thus, it would be desirable in a stethoscope system to have a construction in which a radio antenna can be both mounted and loosely enclosed within the lumen of a sound tube without incurring either of these disadvantages.
As a final aspect of the prior art, the later detailed description of the invention involves the use of Velcro material as a fastening device for the transmitter unit. This aspect of the invention leads to the observation that the prior art telemetry and electronic stethoscope apparatus appears to have given essentially no attention to the rather important aspect of providing a means for releasably posistioning the transmitter unit near the patient but in a manner which allows the normal operating procedures to go on without interference by the transmitter location. A more specific observation can be made to the effect that the prior art has not heretofore taught or suggested a practical means for releasably securing the transmitter unit to the blood pressure cuff.
With the above brief description and limitations of the prior art in mind, there remains a need to provide a radio frequency transmitter-receiver patient monitoring system which allows the operator to selectively receive either blood pressure related sounds or heartbeat and respiratory related sounds and in a manner compatible with both normal operating procedures and patient care. The providing of such a system thus becomes the object of the present invention. Other objects will appear as the description proceeds.


The present invention is a vacuum housing for an image intensifier tube, wherein the vacuum housing is unistructurally formed from a dielectric material and retains a photocathode, microchannel plate (MCP) and anode within an evacuated environment. The vacuum housing is manufactured as a single, solid component, thereby having no seams which may leak and compromise the evacuated environment. The various electrically operative elements of the photocathode, MCP and anode engage separate metalized surfaces formed within the vacuum housing. The electrically operative elements of the photocathode, MCP and anode within the vacuum housing are empowered by coupling the various metalized regions to sources of electrical potential external for the evacuated environment.

Image intensifier devices multiply the amount of incident light they receive and provide an increase in light output, which can be supplied either to a camera or directly to the eyes of a viewer. These devices are particularly useful for providing images from dark regions and have both industrial and military applications. For example, image intensifier tubes are used for enhancing the night vision of aviators, for photographing astronomical bodies and for providing night vision to sufferers of retinitis pigmentosa (night blindness). Such an image intensifier device is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,780, entitled TELESCOPIC SIGHT FOR DAY/NIGHT VIEWING by Earle N. Phillips issued on Jan. 28, 1992 and assigned to ITT Corporation the assignee herein.
Modern image intensifier tubes include three main components, namely a photocathode, a phosphor screen (anode) and a microchannel plate (MCP), disposed between the photocathode and anode. All three components are formed within an evacuated housing thereby permitting electrons to flow from the photocathode, through the MCP and to the anode. In order for the image intensifier tube to operate, the photocathode and anode must be coupled to an electric source whereby the anode is maintained at a higher positive potential than is the photocathode. Similarly, the microchannel plate must be empowered to increase the density of the electron emission set forth by the photocathode. Furthermore, since the photocathode, MCP and anode are all held at different electrical potentials, all three components must be electrically isolated from one another when retained within the vacuum housing.
In some prior art image intensifier tubes, the vacuum housing of the tube is constructed by the juxtaposition of conductive elements and dielectric elements. When assembled, the photocathode, MCP and anode engage the conductive elements within the vacuum housing. As such, an electric potential can be supplied to the photocathode, MCP and anode within the vacuum housing through the material of the vacuum housing itself. The dielectric elements juxtaposed between the conductive elements, isolates the photocathode, MCP and anode from one another, while the assemblage of the conductive and dielectric elements create the overall evacuated chamber of the image intensifier tube. Since the vacuum housings of such prior art image intensifier tubes are formed of both conductive and dielectric elements, the prior art housings can not be manufactured from a single material. Rather, the conductive elements and dielectric elements of such prior art vacuum housings must be formed separately and later joined to form the needed structure. Such prior art image intensifier tube housings therefore require multiple manufacturing tools and procedures to form and assemble the various conductive and dielectric elements. Furthermore, the various conductive and dielectric elements must be joined in an air tight manner so as to form the needed vacuum integrity. The complex manufacturing process and assembly procedure needed to produce such prior art vacuum housings add significantly to the cost at which such prior art image intensifier tubes can be manufactured. Additionally, since multiple joints exist between the various conductive and dielectric housing elements, there exist many points at which a vacuum leak may occur. Consequently, forming image intensifier tube housings from several juxtaposed components reduces the overall reliability of the image intensifier tube.
In view of the prior art, there exists a need for an image intensifier tube that has a housing that is simple to manufacture, has a reliable vacuum integrity and electrically isolates the photocathode, MCP and anode from each other while allowing each to be coupled to a source of electrical potential outside of the assembled image intensifier tube.

Unistructural housing for an image intensifier tube


A switching fabric capable of supporting high bandwidth switching operations is disclosed. In one aspect, multiple switching chips and multiple links thereto are used to provide a high bandwidth switching fabric. In another aspect, payload data is transmitted following grant of its previously transmitted corresponding request. In yet another aspect, the switching fabric operates in a pipelined manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network switching devices and, more particularly, to high bandwidth switching devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today's communication markets continue to show strong growth as the bandwidth needed to satisfy the demands of the information age increases. In the carrier markets demand is being driven by the need for bandwidth-hungry data services alongside revenue-generating voice traffic. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology may boost access bandwidth by one or two orders of magnitude while the core is benefiting from the provisioning of high numbers of DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) circuits at higher bandwidths. Service providers are focusing their resources to create value-added intelligent edge services while the long haul and network core are seen as providing a low cost, high bandwidth interconnect. The metropolitan optical transport network with feeds from edge routers and switches must therefore support a broad variety of services and protocols.
Recent advances in switching have resulting in replacement of shared backplanes with switched backplanes because switched backplanes allow for the simultaneous transfer of multiple packets. See McKeown, "Fast Switched Backplane for a Gigabit Switched Router," Cisco Systems, Inc., White Paper. These switched backplanes or switch fabrics are use for routing, switching and optical transport markets. Unfortunately, these recent advances still have performance (e.g., bandwidth) constraints. One particular constraint is that current architectures are not readily scalable to support higher bandwidths. Therefore, scalable, higher performance switch fabrics are needed to support routing, switching and optical transport markets.

Switch fabric capable of aggregating multiple chips and links for high bandwidth operation


System for storing an internal combustion engine exhaust gas liquid additive, the said system comprising a tank for storing the additive and an “immersed” baseplate (1) positioned through an opening made in the bottom wall of the tank, the said baseplate comprising at least one orifice through which a system for injecting the said additive into the exhaust gases can be fed, and also incorporating at least one other active component of the storage system and/or of the injection system.

I. Field of the invention
The present application relates to an engine exhaust gas additive storage system.
II. Description of Related Art
Legislation concerning emissions from vehicles and heavy goods vehicles stipulate, among other things, a reduction in the amount of oxides of nitrogen NOx discharged into the atmosphere. One known way to achieve this requirement is to use SCR (selective catalytic reduction) which allows for reduction of the oxides of nitrogen by injecting a reducing agent, generally ammonia, into the exhaust system. This ammonia may originate from the thermolytic decomposition of a solution of an ammonia precursor, the concentration of which may be the eutectic concentration. An ammonia precursor such as this is generally a solution of urea.
Using the SCR method, the high levels of NOx produced in the engine during combustion at optimized efficiency are treated in a catalytic converter as they leave the engine. This treatment requires the use of the reducing agent at a precise concentration and extreme quality. The solution is thus metered accurately and injected into the exhaust gas stream where it is hydrolysed before converting the oxide of nitrogen (NOx) into nitrogen (N2) and water (H2O).
To do this, it is necessary for the vehicles to be equipped with a tank containing a solution of additive (generally urea) and with a device for metering and injecting the desired amount of additive into the exhaust system.
Various systems for storing and feeding reducing additives have been provided in the prior art, and these can be split roughly into two categories: those which withdraw the required amount of additive directly (and which therefore do not recirculate the additive solution) and those which do recirculate the additive solution.
In the 1st case, the metering device (which may be a pump or a metering valve) can be fed with additive simply under gravity, via a line starting in the bottom of the storage tank. U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,186 describes a system such as this.
In the 2nd case, where the outward and return flows are generally controlled using a pressure regulator, the additive is metered under pressure and recourse is generally had to a pump for generating this pressure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,350 describes a system such as this.
In order to be able to meter the solution of additive correctly into the exhaust gases, it is known practice to incorporate into the additive tank elements such as a level gauge, a temperature sensor, a quality sensor, a resistive heating element, etc. The aforementioned patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,350 proposes to group these various components together in the baseplate of the pump, positioned on the top wall of the tank. This approach makes it easier to incorporate the system into the vehicle (as all the connections are grouped together in the same place) and makes it possible to reduce the number of openings made in the wall of the tank. However, the fact that the baseplate is situated on the top wall of the tank has numerous disadvantages:                there are high points in the feed and return lines, where there is a risk that the gases resulting from a possible decomposition of the additive may accumulate;        it becomes necessary to provide a trap to prevent the pump from running dry and losing its prime;        gauging becomes somewhat inaccurate as a result of deformation of the end wall of the tank over the course of its life;        the components suffer prolonged exposure to additive vapours, even though these vapours are often corrosive (ammonia is present in the case of urea);        some components may become damaged in the event of freezing, because lumps of solid additive floating at the surface may, as they move around, strike the said components.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Engine exhaust gas additive storage system

PLASTIC OMNIUM ADVANCED INNOVATION AND RESEARCH


A UPROM circuit including a pair of UPROM devices arranged to provide a first output level when one of the pair of UPROM devices is programmed and a second output level when the other of the UPROM devices is programmed. The UPROM circuit is programmed by circuitry which selectively provides programming voltages to each of the UPROM devices. Apparatus is provided for sensing the condition of the UPROM devices and feeding back signals for disabling the circuitry providing programming voltages whenever one of the UPROM devices is already programmed.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to circuits for controlling programmable configuration circuitry and, more particularly, to circuitry for protecting a pair of UPROM memory cells against reprogramming once one of the cells has been programmed.
2. History Of The Prior Art
A UPROM based configuration circuit which utilizes a pair of UPROM devices is used in many digital circuits to provide a voltage of a predetermined value which may be used in an associated circuit as a logical one or a zero value. A UPROM device is essentially an electrically programmable read only memory device (EPROM device) with some means of protecting against its condition being changed once it has been placed in a particular condition. Typically the memory device is a floating gate field effect transistor capable of assuming a programmed condition or an erased condition. In the programmed condition, no current flows between the source and drain terminals of the transistor; while in the erased condition, the transistor conducts between these terminals. This type of UPROM circuit is utilized because it allows a programmable voltage value to be provided continuously at its output without drawing a significant amount of current. Consequently, the arrangement allows a given voltage to be maintained without a great deal of power consumption.
Such a circuit includes a pair of UPROM transistors with cross-coupled biasing means and circuitry for placing one or the other of the two UPROM transistors in the programmed state. If a first one of the UPROM transistors is programmed, then one voltage is provided constantly at the output. If the other one of the UPROM transistors is programmed, then another voltage is provided constantly at the output. These voltage values are, as pointed out above, used as logical one and zero values. Typically, such a circuit is programmed to a first output value at the factory and sold to be used for one purpose, or programmed to a second output value and sold to be used for another purpose.
It is possible that both such transistors of the UPROM circuit may be programmed (and consequently non-conducting) rather than just one transistor. For example, a test program may cause advertent programming of the UPROM transistors if the program is written incorrectly. In such a case, the output voltage provided by the UPROM circuit is indeterminate and depends to a great extent upon the characteristics of the individual biasing devices used in the circuit. Since in the present arrangement the voltage value established is the value which is used to configure the UPROM circuit to produce one of two output values which is to be used to establish a level for a logic value used in a digital circuit, a circuit which provides an indeterminate value can cause significant difficulties.
In prior art arrangements utilizing such UPROM devices to provide a selectable output voltage, it has been typical to provide an independent circuit which protects against the unprogrammed one of the two UPROM devices being programmed once the other UPROM device has been placed in the programmed condition. Typically, this independent circuit is a circuit similar to the circuitry which is itself programmed to produce the desired output. Such a circuit uses a number of components and, therefore, adds some substantial expense to the overall circuit. In prior art arrangements, however, the protection circuitry has typically been used to guard against the programming of a number of such UPROM cells; and, consequently, its expense has been relatively small when distributed over the cost of all of the circuits. In the desired use, however, only a single UPROM circuit is to be protected so the relative expense is much greater. Consequently, the use of the prior art protection circuit is less desirable.
Moreover, the prior art protection circuit only comes into operation once the UPROM circuit has been programmed. A time period exists after programming the first UPROM during which no protection exists, and it is possible to program the other UPROM during that period. Such programming would leave the UPROM circuit in the undesirable condition in which an indeterminate output voltage is produced.
For these reasons, it is desirable to provide improved protection against programming of the UPROM memory transistors once the appropriate programmed state for the UPROM circuit has been selected.


The present disclosure provides a method of producing a solid carbon material. The method comprises providing a carbon-containing material formed through the heat treatment of carbonaceous feedstock. The carbon-containing material is capable of undergoing polymerisation. The method further comprises mixing the carbon-containing material with a polymerisation agent to form a material mixture. In addition, the method comprises heating the material mixture to a temperature at which polymerisation of the material mixture occurs so as to produce the solid carbon material. The method also comprises adding a further material into the material mixture before polymerisation.

Carbonaceous feedstock such as coal and petroleum can be used to produce solid carbon materials. For example, coking coal, coal tar and coal tar pitch are typically used to produce the metallurgical coke or other types of carbon materials for the iron and steel industry or to produce the electrodes for the aluminium industry. However, a number of problems exist with the above-mentioned production of carbon materials.
In particular, some currently used raw feedstock, such as coking coal, is non-renewable and depleting. Coking coal represents only a small portion of available coal reserves. Unfortunately, other coals of lower or higher ranks than the coking coal, e.g. lignite, brown coal, sub-bituminous coal, low-caking bituminous coals and anthracite, do not possess the required caking properties to be suitable feedstock for making metallurgical coke.
Furthermore, the use of the carbon materials in the way described above leads to a significant emission of CO2 and other pollutants such as SO2 and NOx. In addition to the high sulphur content in the metallurgical coke produced from coking coal or petroleum, the ash yield is also relatively high, which creates many issues in their application in metallurgical industry.
In addition to the metallurgical industry, solid carbon materials with high strength are also required in other industries, e.g. wastewater treatment and gold mining and extraction. The solid carbon materials (e.g. activated carbon) must have good mechanic strength for use in these operations.
Biomass is the only renewable resource that can be directly used to make solid carbon materials. However, biomass-derived carbon materials are usually of insufficient quality to be a replacement for solid carbon materials such as metallurgical coke and high-strength activated carbon.
There is a need for high quality solid carbon materials produced from biomass or other relatively inexpensive low-caking carbonaceous feedstock.

Method of and system for producing solid carbon materials


A diagnostic test unit for deterministically measuring one or more parameters, such as dead band, dead time, response time, gain, or overshoot, of a process control device that is connected in a process control loop during operation of a process includes a switch controller, a signal generator, a switch, a response accumulator mechanism, and an analyzer mechanism. The switch controller monitors a process signal during operation of the process to determine whether the process signal is substantially stable. In the event that the process signal is substantially stable, the switch replaces a control signal with a diagnostic test signal generated by the signal generator. The response accumulator is in communication with the process control loop to obtain an indication of the response of the process control device to the diagnostic test signal. The analyzer unit then determines the device parameter from the test signal and the response indication.

Large scale commercial manufacturing and refining processes typically use a process controller to control the operation of one or more process control devices such as control valves which, in turn, control one or more process variables, such as fluid flow, temperature, or pressure within the process. Generally, a process control valve has an actuator controlled by a positioner that moves an associated control element, such as a valve plug, a damper, or some other alterable opening member, in response to a control signal generated by the process controller. The control element of a control valve may, for example, move in response to changing fluid pressure on a spring-biased diaphragm or a piston head or in response to the rotation of a shaft, each of which may be caused by a change in the control signal. In one standard valve mechanism, a control signal with a magnitude varying in the range of 4 to 20 mA (milliamperes) causes a positioner to alter the amount of fluid and thus, the fluid pressure, within a pressure chamber in proportion to the magnitude of the control signal. Changing fluid pressure in the pressure chamber causes a diaphragm to move against a bias spring which, in turn, causes movement of a valve plug coupled to the diaphragm.
Process control devices usually develop or produce a feedback signal indicative of the response of the device to the control signal and provide this feedback signal (or response indication) to the process control device for use in controlling a process. For example, control valves typically produce a feedback signal indicative of the position (e.g., travel) of a valve plug or other moveable valve member.
Even though control valves may use these feedback signals to perform functions within a process control loop, it has been discovered that poor control loop performance may still be caused by poor operating conditions at the control valve. In many cases, problems associated with the individual process control devices cannot be tuned out of the control loop by the process controller and, as a result, the poorly performing control loops are placed in manual or are detuned to the point where they are effectively in manual. In this case, the processes associated with these control loops require constant supervision by one or more experienced human operators, which is undesirable.
Poor control loop performance can usually be overcome by monitoring the operational condition or the "health" of the process control devices connected within a process loop, and repairing or replacing the poorly performing process control devices. The health of a process control device can be determined by measuring one or more parameters associated with the process control device and determining if the one or more parameters is outside of an acceptable range.
One process control device parameter that may be used to determine, and that is indicative of, the health of a process control device is dead band. Generally speaking, in process instrumentation, dead band is the range through which an input signal may be varied, upon reversal of direction, without initiating an observable change in an output signal. Dead band, which may be caused by the physical play between mechanically interconnected components, friction, and/or other known physical phenomena, is best observed when a control signal causes a reversal in the direction of movement of a moveable element of a process control device. During this reversal, the control signal undergoes a discrete amount of change (dead band) before the moveable element of the process control device actually exhibits movement in the new direction. Put another way, the difference between the value of the control signal at which movement of the process control device element in a first direction last occurred and the value of the control signal at which the movement of the process control device element first occurs in a second and different direction is a measure of the dead band of the process control device.
Referring to FIG. 1, rough estimates of the dead band have been obtained by applying a blocked sinusoidal signal to a process control device. The blocked sinusoidal signal includes periods of alternating steps of equal magnitude that increase in amplitude from period to period, such as 1%, 2%, 5%, and so on. Once movement of the valve element or the process variable occurs following a reversal of direction, the amplitude of the step (doubled) provides an upper bound on the dead band. The lower bound is provided by the amplitude of the steps in the preceding period.
Other device parameters that may be used to determine the health of a process control device are dead time, response time, gain, and overshoot. Dead time is associated with, and may be considered to be a measurement of the amount of time it takes the process control device to actually begin moving a moveable element in response to a change in a control signal. Response time is the amount of time it takes the moveable element of a process control device to reach a certain percentage, for example, 63 percent, of its final value in response to a change in a control signal. The gain of a process control device is indicative of the amount of amplification caused by a change in the control signal. The gain may be expressed as the ratio of relative change in valve travel to relative change in the control signal. The overshoot of a process control device indicates how much a valve travels beyond its eventual steady-state position.
If the dead band, dead time, response time, or other process control device parameter(s) of a process control device increase a significant amount over their nominal values, it may be necessary to repair or replace the process control device to establish adequate control within the process control loop. However, it is not usually very easy to measure process control device parameters, such as dead band, dead time, response time, gain, and overshoot to monitor the health of functioning process control devices when those devices are connected on-line within a control loop.
In the past, operators have had to remove a process control device from a control loop to bench test the device or, alternatively, control loops have been provided with bypass valves and redundant process control devices to make it possible to bypass a particular process control device to thereby test that device while the process is operating. Otherwise, operators have had to introduce significant perturbations into the process operation or wait until a process is halted or is undergoing a scheduled shut-down to test the individual process control devices within the process. Each of these options is time consuming, expensive, and potentially disruptive to the process, while still only providing intermittent measurement of the parameters of the individual process control devices required to determine the operating condition of those control devices.

Method of and apparatus for deterministically obtaining measurements


A tooth and gum cleaning tool for cleaning teeth and gums. The tooth and gum cleaning tool includes an elongate handle portion having first and second ends. A sponge portion is coupled to said first end of said handle portion. The sponge portion has an engaging face and a back face opposite the engaging face. The engaging face has a plurality of uniformly spaced ridges extending from it. Also disclosed is a sterilization device for sterilizing the tooth cleaning tool. The sterilization device comprises a housing that has an open top, a closed bottom, and an interior. A sterilizing pad is disposed in the interior of the housing and is porous and has a sterilizing fluid absorbed therein. A lid portion closes the open top of the housing. The sponge portion of the tooth cleaning tool is positionable on the sterilizing pad to permit absorption of the sterilizing fluid by the sponge portion from the sterilizing pad.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tooth cleaning tools and more particularly pertains to a new tooth and gum cleaning tool for cleaning teeth and gums.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of tooth cleaning tools is known in the prior art. More specifically, tooth cleaning tools heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,425; U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,190; U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,750; U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,820; U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,445; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,041.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new tooth and gum cleaning tool. The inventive device includes an elongate handle portion having first and second ends. A sponge portion is coupled to said first end of said handle portion. The sponge portion has an engaging face and a back face opposite the engaging face. The engaging face has a plurality of uniformly spaced ridges extending from it.
In these respects, the tooth and gum cleaning tool according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of cleaning teeth and gums.


An integrated circuit package with lead fingers with a footprint on the order of the integrated circuit footprint is provided. A lead frame may be made from a metal sheet, which may be stamped or etched. The lead frame provides a plurality of posts and a connecting sheet connecting the plurality of posts. Dice are adhesively mounted to the plurality of posts. The dice have a conductive side with a plurality of conducting pads where each conducting pad is electrically and mechanically connected to a post. An encapsulating material is placed over the dice and lead frame, with the connecting sheet keeping the encapsulating material on one side of the lead frame. Parts of the connecting sheet are then removed, electrically isolating the posts. The integrated circuit packages formed by the encapsulated dice and leads may be tested as a panel, before the integrated circuit packages are singulated.

An integrated circuit (IC) package encapsulates an IC chip (die) in a protective casing and may also provide power and signal distribution between the IC chip and an external printed circuit board (PCB). An IC package may use a metal lead frame to provide electrical paths for that distribution.
To facilitate discussion, FIG. 1 is a top view of a lead frame panel 100 made up for a plurality of lead frames that may be used in the prior art. The lead frame may comprise leads 108, die attach pads 112, ties 116 for supporting the die attach pads 112, and a skirt 120 for supporting the plurality of leads 108 and ties 116. The lead frame panel 100 may be etched or stamped from a thin sheet of metal. IC chips 124 may be mounted to the die attach pads 112 by an adhesive epoxy. Wire bonds 128, typically of fine gold wire, may then be added to electrically connect the IC chips 124 to the leads 108. Each IC chip 124 may then be encapsulated with part of the leads 108 and the die attach pad 112 in a protective casing, which may be produced by installing a preformed plastic or ceramic housing around each IC chip or by dispensing and molding a layer of encapsulating material over all IC chips 124. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of part of the lead frame panel 100 and IC chips 124. In a process described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/054,422, entitled "Lead Frame Chip Scale Package", by Shahram Mostafazadeh et al., filed Apr. 2, 1998, a tape 136 is placed across the bottom of the lead frame panel 100 and an encapsulating process is used to encapsulate the IC chips 124, the wire bonds 128, and part of the lead frame panel 100. The tape 136 prevents the encapsulating material 140 from passing through the lead frame panel 100. Once the encapsulating material 140 is hardened, the tape 136 may be removed. The encapsulating material 140 may be cut to singulate the IC chips 124 and leads 108. The resulting singulated IC chips have leads with a length 155 which is substantially parallel to the conductive surface of the IC chips 124.
It is desirable to provide an IC package process which does not require the steps of creating wire bonds between the die and leads, adding tape to the lead frame, and then removing the tape from the lead frame. It is also desirable to provide a process and lead frame that provides lead fingers and a chip scale footprint.


Provided is an adjustable spacing device configured to be placed between the spinous processes of at least two adjacent vertebrae, the device including a transverse member and at least one adjustable transverse member, which connect two parallel longitudinal legs one to the other and a method of using the device to treat spinal stenosis by restricting extension and allowing normal flexion of adjacent vertebrae relative one to the other.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to devices and methods for use in orthopedic spine surgery. In particular, the present invention relates to an adjustable spacing device configured to be placed between the spinous processes of at least two adjacent vertebrae and a method of using the device to treat spinal stenosis.
2. Background Art
The human spine is comprised of thirty-three vertebrae at birth and twenty-four as a mature adult. Between each pair of vertebrae is an intervertebral disc, which maintains the space between adjacent vertebrae and acts as a cushion under compressive, bending and rotational loads and motions. A healthy intervertebral disc has a great deal of water in the well hydrated nucleus pulposus, the center portion of the disc. The water content gives the nucleus a spongy quality and allows it to absorb spinal stress.
In a young healthy individual, the intervertebral disc also serves as a natural spacer between adjacent vertebrae thus allowing sufficient space in central spinal canal and intervertebral foramina to permit unimpeded nerve passage from the neural canal. In addition to injuries or disease of the intervertebral discs, the common condition of spinal stenosis can impinge upon neural and vascular structures leading to neurological compromise.
Spinal stenosis is a common condition resulting from the narrowing of the spinal canal, nerve root canals and intervertebral foramina causing nerve pinching which leads to persistent pain, lack of feeling and decreased physical activity. Spinal stenosis can be dynamic and postural in that the increased symptoms can be experienced during extension of the spine; such as during standing or walking, and during flexion of the spine, such as bending forward or sitting, can be lessen. Lumbar spinal stenosis is of two general types. The most common is degenerative stenosis, occurring in virtually the entire population as a result of the natural process of aging. It is a degenerative narrowing of the spinal canal, nerve root canals and intervertebral foramina caused by bone and/or ligament hypertrophy in local, segmental or generalized regions. The narrowing of nerve egress pathways from the vertebral column results in compression of spinal nerves and nerve roots, causing a constellation of symptoms, including lower back pain, neurogenic claudication and lower extremity pain. A second general type of spinal stenosis is congenital lumbar spinal stenosis, which is relatively rare and usually presents at an early age, often between 30 and 40. Acquired spinal stenosis is more common and general develops when patients are in their 60's or older. It is a condition that can neither be predicted nor prevented. It does not distinguish by sex, race, or ethnicity. Nor is it associated with any particular occupation or body type.
The most common indication for surgery in persons aged over 60 in the United States is lumbar spinal stenosis. Currently, it is estimated that as many as 400,000 Americans, most over the age of 60, may already be suffering from the symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis and this number is expected to grow as members of the baby boom generation begin to reach their 60s over the next decade. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, people over 60 will account for 18.7% of the domestic population in 2010 versus 16.6% in 1999. According to the United Nations' Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the trend is global with the number of persons aged 60 years or older estimated to be nearly 600 million in 1999 and is projected to grow to almost 2 billion by 2050, at which time the population of older persons will be larger than the population of children (0-14 years) for the first time in human history. The increasing prevalence of musculo-skeletal disorders and the cost to treat them led the World Health Organization and the United Nations to declare that 2000-2010 be the Decade committed to improving quality of life for people with bone and joint disease and injuries throughout the world.
It is this well recognized need to provide relief for a growing population of people suffering from spinal disease or injuries, particularly those suffering from spinal stenosis, that has prompted the increasing effort among orthopedic surgeons to find new methods and devices to provide that badly needed relief.

Adjustable spinous process spacer device and method of treating spinal stenosis


Depending on the size of the character sets, more steps may be designated with the same letters-followed-by-digits pattern. With the encoding system, an ideographic based language can be transcribed, or ciphered, into an easy-to-read stream of phonetic symbols and a discourse in the language can be input with commonly used computer keyboards. Since the system of encoding employs variable code length, it can be applied to much larger character sets by using longer codes. It also can be applied to character sets with different characteristics by appropriate reordering of the steps. The letters-followed-by-digits coding pattern is used for each characteristic of the ideographic symbols, independent of the symbols' relative graphic image locations in font tables and the size of character set, so that different configurations of the encoding can be software compatible across many character sets and languages.

A regular printed basic unit of a writing system is a glyph. In English, a glyph is a letter or a punctuation mark. Any segment of written or printed discourse ordinarily appearing between spaces or between a space and a punctuation mark in English is a word. A word has unique semantics in English. A glyph in Chinese is shaped as a square unit. In Chinese, a glyph with unique semantics in written or printed discourse is a character, sometimes referred to as an ideographic symbol. A glyph without semantics with only one mark or dash made by a single movement of a writing device is a stroke. A radical is a partial character. Some glyphs of the same stroke pattern are both a character and a radical, where they differ only in the overall circumference, and are referred to as stand-alone radicals. A radical may contain other radicals; the contained radicals are sub-radicals. In English, the basic building block of the writing system is the letter, and there is only one way to lay it down in a discourse. In Chinese, the basic building block of the writing system is the character. With the number of characters well into the thousands, typing a discourse using several thousands of symbols is far more difficult than typing in English. So the problem is how to represent characters with a small number of symbols in a fixed order linearly, so that it becomes possible to use a keyboard with about 55 keys to produce a Chinese discourse. Since the American invention of the typewriter, there have been countless attempts to design a better linear form for Chinese characters, as in the paper A Solution to the Ideographic Character Identification Problem, by George K. Kostopoulos and the PINXXIEE Formula, by Wen Tien.
In this document, a few conventions are used to describe a character. A pair of round parentheses, ( ), is used after each ideographic symbol to contain its pronouncation, with a digit in the pronouncation description to indicate its tone. For example, , (ma3), using the standard Pinyin pronunciation system with the third tone, Dip.
Three basic approaches are used in such a linear representation: phonetic based, stroke based and radical based. The phonetic approaches are mostly based on an existing phonetic standard, such as Pinyin system of Mainland China, Zhuyin system of Taiwan, Katakana of Japan. Although there are objections to such a standard pronunciation of a language, some computer software packages are able to feature some dialects based on the standard systems.
The stroke approach to Chinese character search is rooted in history. A basic stroke set contains 4 to 10 different stroke patterns, where each pattern is composed of one to three basic strokes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,926 has used 5 single-stroke patterns, PINXXIEE has defined 10 single-stroke patterns, U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,872 has used the Four Comer Code definition, which includes 4 single-stroke, 4 bi-stroke and 3 tri-stroke patterns. The standards are merging to 5 Stroke code and Four Corner Code.
For whatever representation methods are used, one fundamental question which cannot be avoided is how to break characters down into a manageable radical set. The stroke based methods have to deal with the issue, to make it is possible to organize many combinations of strokes. The phonetic based method has to deal with the issue to discriminate among homophones. Four problems are encountered in attempting to define a radical set. The first problem is how to decompose a character, that is, to decide which part of the glyph to consider as a building block, or root symbol. The second problem is to determine in what order these root symbols should be listed. The third problem is how to represent a root symbol and the fourth problem is deciding which parts of the representation to use in the encoding.
A typical radical set of an ordinary dictionary may include a single stroke pattern set of 5, a multiple stroke pattern set of about 50-60 and stand-alone radical set of 200-250, which totals to about 250-300 symbols. The majority of stand-alone radicals contain 4 or more single strokes. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,926 has devised two levels of radicals, the basic 5 stroke level and a root level. In the root level, four classes of radicals are defined: the key class has 25 stand-alone radicals, the stroke-root class has 44 members, the main-root class has 97 members and the derivative-root class includes 70 members. The total of the non-stand-alone radicals is about 120, which is twice as many as that of a typical dictionary. This is the reason for the shortened retention time and prolonged learning time for persons using the encoding system.
Conventionally, three objectives have directed efforts to achieve a satisfactory coding scheme. The first is to minimize the number of key strokes needed to express each ideographic symbol. The range of key strokes for each character is between 2 and 9. Two key strokes per character is readily attainable by trained operators. The second is to assure that no code sequence represents more than one ideographic symbol. The resulting encoding methods are often such that the shorter the average code length, the more encrypted the code, so that retention in human memory over time is poorer, as in the case of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,379,288, 4,531,119, 4,684,926 and The Natural Code.
Since the first two objectives will produce encoding schema with shorter retention times, the third objective has been emphasized: make the coding rules simple. The simpler the encoding rules are, the longer the retention time will be. The more easily learned methods often can be retained longer in human memory, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,196 and other phonetic based encoding, but each of the frequent occurrences of homophones requires the operator to stop typing and look for the correct character or word on the screen. After finding the desired symbols, the operator may either type the next key, or use a pointing device to select the correct entry from the screen. These incidents of typing--visual searching--selecting from the screen either with a pointing device or by typing the code are called session switches. The operator often has to type and select to choose the fight symbols, as is the case in U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,119. Another way to gain longer retention time is to design the key layout in a logical fashion, such as the effort made in U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,92.
Observing that frequent session switches reduces the speed of typing, the inventor introduces the fourth objective: minimize session switches in an encoding system. This objective has been used for Chinese dictionary indexing. For example, stroke number based indexing and phonetic based indexing are used in regular dictionaries. Stroke based indexing requires the operator to count the number of strokes. It is slow and inconsistent due to different ways of writing a character. Phonetic based indexing has very frequent session switches due to homophones, which U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,119 uses visual selection from the screen to resolve.
It is also noticed that all the prior encoding methods are based on coding one character at a time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,926 claims to include phrasal encoding, but its primary coding method is based on individual characters, and its phrasal encoding is extracted from its character encoding, and is limited to a small number of preselected frequently used phrases.


Systems and methods for performing web authentication using a client platform root of trust are disclosed herein. Website and user validity and integrity may be authenticated based on the user device's attempt to access the website. A user device may securely access the website once the user device is successfully authenticated with a server. In an embodiment, the user device may perform an authentication of the website to ensure the website is a valid entity.

Accessing personal information online has increasingly become common place, as it has become a convenient and efficient way to manage one's affairs. For example, users may access their bank accounts online to view balances and transactions, transfer money, pay bills, etc. Although the ability to access such information provides convenience, it also raises the potential of security threats to sensitive information.
One example of a threat to personal information is a phishing attack, in which a user may be taken to or redirected to a fake website to gather personal information such as a username, password, social security number, date of birth, credit card information, etc. For example, communications purporting to be from a popular social website, auction site, online payment processor, etc. may be used to lure an unsuspecting user into providing personal information.
Another example of a threat to personal information is a pharming attack, in which a user may be redirected to a fake website by a false domain name service (DNS) record, effectively redirecting the traffic from the intended website to a the fake website. For example, this may be done by changing a DNS host file after breaching the DNS server.
Some techniques for preventing these attacks may include browser-based website verification performed via a browser plug-in. However, these verification techniques may be unable to prevent pharming attacks. In some cases, phishing may be avoided by using secure socket layer (SSL) or transport layer security (TLS) with strong public key infrastructure (PKI) encryption (e.g., using public key certificates), where a uniform resource identifier (URI) (e.g., a uniform resource locator (URL)) for a website is used as an identifier. Generally, secure authentication using SSL or TLS and certificates may include indicating that a connection is in authentication mode, indicating which website a user is connected to, and indicating which authority (e.g., certificate authority) authenticates the identity of the website. However, this authentication process may be easy to circumvent, because the authentication is typically confirmed by the user, introducing user error. Additionally, because these current techniques for preventing attacks are purely software-based, they may be ineffective against some threats to personal information (e.g., if the user's own computer is compromised).

Web authentication using client platform root of trust


Method and system for bidirectional exchange of data with a mobile apparatus through at least one leaky optical fiber. An optical reception module of the mobile apparatus receives an incoming optical signal optically leaked from the leaky optical fiber. An optical to electrical conversion module of the mobile apparatus converts the incoming optical signal into an incoming electrical signal. A control unit of the mobile apparatus processes the incoming electrical signal to extract incoming data from the incoming electrical signal, and processes outgoing data to generate an outgoing electrical signal transporting the outgoing data. An electrical to optical conversion module of the mobile apparatus converts the outgoing electrical signal into an outgoing optical signal. An optical transmission module of the mobile apparatus injects the outgoing optical signal into the leaky optical fiber. For example, the fiber is positioned along a path of a rail-guided trolley travelling along a rail.

In the entertainment and show industries, the emergence of immersive and augmented reality technologies brings about an increased usage of mobile and high-speed data communications, to link in real-time user and the immersive or enhanced environment. For example, a rail-guided trolley travelling along a rail provides an interactive entertaining experience to its passengers. The rail-guided trolley is connected in real-time to a control computer, which generates and transmits dedicated content (e.g. images, sounds, control commands, etc.) for providing a digital and interactive environment to each passenger of the rail guided trolley. In order to allow this real-time connectivity between the control computer and the rail-guided trolley, information need to be communicated at high speed and in a safely manner between these two entities.
Technologies based on non-confined microwave signals are not adapted to this context, since they are prone to interferences and degradations of the quality of the microwave signals (due to the amount and variety of interfering microwave signals generally present in any particular location). Technologies such as a leaky coax (e.g. a Wi-Fi based leaky coax) or confined microwave signals (using waveguides) have also been used in this context for transmitting the information in real-time, but they are generally too slow.
Technologies based on leaky optical fibers have also been used in this context for transmitting the information in real-time. The optical fibers provide an environment less prone to external interferences, and further provide high-speed information transfer. However, so far, leaky optical fibers have been used for transmitting information from a control platform to a mobile apparatus. For example, US patent application US 2007/0274727 A1 published on Nov. 29, 2007 discloses a communications system implementing high-speed, high quality communications using a leaky optical fiber. However, the leaky optical fiber is only used for transmitting data from an original transmitter to a mobile receiver. In a particular embodiment of the communications system, the mobile receiver comprises a leaky optical fiber for emitting optical signals transporting data to be transmitted all the way back to the original transmitter. However, the emitted optical signals are received by fixed receivers positioned along the path of the mobile receiver, and forwarded by fixed relays (collocated with the fixed receivers) to the original transmitter via a fixed network. Thus, for the transmission of data all the way back from the mobile receiver to the original transmitter, the leaky optical fiber is used only for emitting optical signals.
There is therefore a need for a new system and method allowing a bidirectional exchange of data with a mobile apparatus through at least one leaky optical fiber.

System and method for bidirectional exchange of data with a mobile apparatus through at least one leaky optical fiber


An apparatus comprising an electrowetting display element comprising a radiation filter, a first support plate, a second support plate, a first fluid and a second fluid immiscible with the first fluid. The apparatus comprises at least one processor and at least one memory comprising computer program instructions operable to, with the at least one processor: determine, based on an input signal indicative of a characteristic of an input to the apparatus, that a predetermined condition for reduction of an exposure of the first fluid to incident light is satisfied; and, in response, generate an output signal to control the electrowetting display element to configure the first fluid in a retracted configuration with the first fluid at least partly overlapped by the radiation filter and with both the first fluid and the second fluid in contact with a surface of the first support plate.

Display devices with a matrix of electrowetting display elements are known to be controlled using the active matrix driving technique. This involves for example addressing rows of display elements consecutively, to apply a voltage for setting a desired fluid configuration of each display element of the row being addressed.
Active matrix driving is an efficient technique for driving a matrix of numerous display elements. However, for some driving requirements, it can be considered a complex driving technique.
It is desirable to devise an improved system for driving electrowetting display elements.

Electrowetting display element with radiation filter


A printer ribbon cassette mounting apparatus includes a pair of aligning posts and a pair of resilient latch members mounted on the lower surface of the cassette housing. The posts and latch members engage complementary openings in wall portions of the printer with which the cassette engages. Two restrainers extend from the lower surface of the cassette in parallel spaced relation to the latch members, and prevent excessive bending of said latch members.

This invention relates to printer ribbon cassettes, and more particularly relates to apparatus for mounting a printer ribbon cassette on a printer.
In present day printers, it is common practice to use a ribbon cassette carrying an endless ribbon which is caused to be driven past the printing station with the ribbon being either a pre-inked ribbon or a ribbon which is to be continuously or frequently re-inked during the printing operation. The ribbon cassette may be of the stuffing box type, wherein the ribbon is contained within the cassette in random manner and the ribbon is unfolded at the cassette exit and is caused to be driven past the printing station and then trained to enter the cassette to be folded in random manner therein. A ribbon may be utilized in a mobius loop configuration wherein the ribbon is in substantially continuous contact with an inking core or the ribbon may have a plurality of coils around a core for controlled inking thereof.
Ribbon cassettes are relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture. For example, they may be injection-molded from plastic. They must be periodically replaced on printers to provide a fresh ribbon for printing. It is therefore important that a ribbon cassette can be quickly installed on, and removed from, a printer without the need for special tools, and without an operator having to come into contact with the ribbon, which could cause a staining of fingers or clothing. Various types of devices have been utilized for securing a ribbon cassette to a printer, including magnetic latches and snap-type latches.

Printer ribbon cassette mounting apparatus


A power management module comprises one or more power converter chips that are mounted on a power management package substrate. First and second electrical contacts are disposed on opposing first and second sides of the power management package substrate. The power management module can be mounted on a processor module to supply power to one or more processor chips in the processor module. In one example, the processor chip(s) are mounted on a first side of a processor package substrate and the power management module is mounted on an opposing second side of the processor package substrate. The power management module and the processor module can be centered and aligned with respect to each other or they can be offset laterally from each other. In another embodiment, the processor chip(s) are embedded in the processor package substrate.

Switched inductor DC-DC power converters such as buck converters provide conversion of power from a high voltage potential to a low voltage potential. These types of converters are used in a broad and diverse set of applications. One typical application is the conversion and regulation of power supplies for microprocessors and other sensitive or high-performance integrated circuits.
In current microelectronic systems, the components of the power converter (e.g., power control integrated circuit, power switches, inductor(s), and capacitors) are mounted on a circuit board at a significant lateral and vertical distance from the processor, which consumes the power output from the power converter. This large distance results in significant power loss due to thermal conduction loss (P=I2R loss) in the interconnect that transfers electrical current to the processor chip from the power converter on the circuit board. Additional power loss is caused by the large AC impedance that typically exists in the interconnect from circuit board to the processor chip or die because dynamic changes in processor current consumption will cause significant supply voltage deviations, which necessitate inefficient supply voltage margins to ensure that the supply does not fall below a minimum required voltage potential for correct operation of the processor chip. For example, "if the minimum supply voltage for correct operation of a processor is 0.7 V, but a "worst-case" load-current transient can induce a transient error on the supply voltage of 100 mV across the impedance of the power delivery interconnect, then it is necessary to supply the processor chip with >0.8 V to ensure that, in the event of a "worst-case" load-current transient, the supply voltage does not fall below 0.7 V. This supply voltage margin results in greater than 15% additional power consumption for the processor chip. An example of such a known system is illustrated in FIG. 1.
Some attempts have been made to integrate the power converter onto the processor package substrate. In doing so, the resistance and AC impedance of the electrical interconnect between the power supply regulator and processor chip is reduced, allowing for reductions in thermal conduction loss and supply voltage margin loss. However, such attempts have been unable to realize efficient power converter implementations that are small enough to be integrated in the processor package, and often incur additional performance or functionality compromises for the system, such as the removal of electrical terminals from the processor package substrate, which reduces data bandwidth to/from the processor.
It would be desirable to overcome one or more of these and other deficiencies in the art.

Processor module with integrated packaged power converter


A simultaneous information and energy transfer method and system with a guard interval signal are provided. The method comprises the steps of generating, by a transmitting terminal, a controllable guard interval signal according to the current energy demand and environment conditions for channel transmission. The system comprises a transmitting terminal configured to generate a controllable guard interval signal. In the system and method, the guard interval time is fully utilized to transfer a guard interval signal with controllable amount of energy, which not only prevents intersymbol interference, but also provides controllable energy signals within the guard interval time at the same time, thus improving the energy transfer performance of the system and reducing the probability that the receiving terminal is unable to operate normally due to energy shortage. The present invention can be widely applied to a variety of simultaneous wireless information and energy transfer systems.

The simultaneous wireless information and energy transfer (i.e., simultaneous transfer of information and energy in a wireless mode) is a new communication technology integrating the wireless communication technology and the wireless energy transmission technology. With the development of science and technology, the integration of the energy technology and the communication technology becomes a trend, which can not only realize a high-speed and reliable communication, but also effectively ease the pressure on scarcity of energy and spectrum, thereby having important application value in industry, medical treatment, infrastructure development, etc.
The simultaneous wireless information and energy transfer breaks through the traditional wireless communication means, takes energy attributes into consideration at the same time and integrates the wireless communication technology with the wireless energy transfer technology, thus enabling a parallel and simultaneous transfer of information and energy and having wide application value and innovation significance.
The simultaneous information and energy transfer may be used in various wireless terminals or devices which rely on batteries of limited capacity for power supply based on its characteristics, and feed the wireless terminals or devices by harvesting energy from signals, thereby greatly prolonging the standby time, decreasing the device volume and cost, and reducing the battery throughput significantly. Therefore, the environmental pollution caused during manufacture and recycling of batteries is greatly reduced. Based on the characteristics of non-contact long-distance transmission, the power supplied by batteries or cables can be replaced, and the convenience of the power supply is greatly improved. Based on the characteristics of stability and sustainability, the conventional way of harvesting environmental energy (such as wind energy, solar energy and kinetic energy) by energy harvesters can be replaced. Meanwhile, the simultaneous wireless information and energy transfer is widely applied in the improvement of people's life and brings about great social benefits. In the medical field, there is a serious problem of shortage of battery energy in implanting medical devices such as cardiac pacemakers and cardiovascular robots, the assembly of the simultaneous wireless information and energy transfer technology can protect patients form severe secondary pains.
In the application documents "TRANSMITTING SYSTEM AND RECEIVING SYSTEM FOR MULTICARRIER BROADBAND SIMULTANEOUS INFORMATION AND ENERGY TRANSFER" (Application No. 201510133784.X), "TRANSMITTING METHOD AND RECEIVING METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS INFORMATION AND ENERGY TRANSFER" (Application No. 201510133428.8) and "MULTICARRIER BROADBAND SIMULTANEOUS INFORMATION AND ENERGY TRANSFER OPTIMIZATION METHOD" (Application No. 201510133789.2), the inventor(s) has (have) proposed a simultaneous information and energy transfer method, wherein baseband signals transmitted by the system contain information baseband signals and energy baseband signals, which are both simultaneously transmitted after being processed correspondingly, and sufficient electric energy is provided to a receiving terminal through the energy signals. The method can be widely applied in the digital communication and analog communication.
In a simultaneous information and energy transfer system, in order to eliminate the intersymbol interference, a guard interval is inserted between each signal symbol to prevent intersymbol interference. The above simultaneous information and energy transfer system has the following two drawbacks:
First, since useful signals cannot be transmitted during the time of a guard interval, time resources of this interval may not be fully utilized, causing waste of resources and degrading the system performance at the same time; and
Second, since a receiving terminal of the simultaneous information and energy transfer system can only acquire energy from energy signals, in case that the receiving terminal requires an additional energy source, the system is unable to configure or provide the additional energy source flexibly.

Method and system for simultaneous information and energy transfer with a guard interval signal

SOUTH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA


Catalyst based on silica and sulfuric acid and its use in the catalytic alkylation of isobutane and/or isopentane in the presence of at least one olefin having 3 to 6 carbon atoms per molecule. The catalyst may contain an additive, e.g., B(OH).sub.3, HBF.sub.4, H.sub.3 PO.sub.4, FSO.sub.3 H, CF.sub.3 SO.sub.3 H, SbF.sub.5, CF.sub.3 COOH and SO.sub.3.

The present invention relates to a catalyst based on silica and sulfuric acid and its use in the catalytic alkylation of isobutane and/or isopentane by means of at least one olefin, which makes it possible to obtain at least one product, e.g., in the group constituted by dimethyl butanes, trimethyl pentanes, trimethyl hexanes and trimethyl heptanes.
It is known that for the supply of internal combustion and controlled ignition engines and in particular those having a high compression ratio, it is particularly interesting to have high octane fuels, i.e., essentially constituted by highly branched paraffin hydrocarbons. The alkylation of isoparaffins (isobutane and isopentane) by olefins containing 3 to 6 carbon atoms per molecule makes it possible to obtain such products. This reaction requires the use of very acid catalysts, with the aim of reducing unwanted reactions, such as olefin hydride extraction and polymerization reactions, which supply only slightly branched hydrocarbons with a low octane number and unsaturated hydrocarbons, cracking reactions and disproportionation reactions.
Existing processes for the production of hydrocarbons by the alkylation of isobutane by olefins use either sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid as the catalyst. In these processes, the acid catalyst constitutes a liquid phase, which is contacted with the liquid olefin-isobutane mixture to form an emulsion. These processes are expensive and cause serious problems with regards to the safety of personnel and the environment. In order to obviate these problems, different catalytic systems of sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids in the liquid phase have been investigated.
In order to catalyze alkylation reactions of isoparaffins by olefins, a proposal has already been made to develop acid catalysts from numerous acid solids of various types. Among the families of acid catalysts, reference can be made to molecular sieves (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,762, U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,902, U.S. Pat. No. 3,644,565, U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,721, U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,161 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,015), macromolecular resins, optionally associated with BF.sub.3 (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,342, U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,343, U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,258 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,489), perfluor ine resins of the Nation type (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,578 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,213) Lewis and/or Bronsted acids deposited on various inorganic supports (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,299, U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,371 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,476), chlorinated alumina (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,240,840, U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,142, U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,859, U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,142, U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,716, U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,800 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,716) graphites intercalated by Lewis and/or Bronsted acids (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,885, U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,880, U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,596 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,714) and anions deposited on oxide supports such as ZrO.sub.2 /SO.sub.4 (e.g., JP-01288329, JP-01245953 and JP-61242641). These solids lead to the production of branched isoparaffins, but suffer from several major defects, including the use of often very high isobutane/olefin molar ratios in order to limit the extent of secondary reactions and low stability in time of the catalytic activity (inhibition of the catalyst by the deposition of unsaturated oligomers), so that said catalysts frequently have to be regenerated. Moreover, the limited acidity of certain acid solids, such as, e.g., molecular sieves, makes it necessary to use high reaction temperatures, which is prejudicial to the obtaining of high octane hydrocarbons.

Catalyst based on silica and sulfuric acid and its use for the alkylation of paraffins


A cassette loading device is compact, lightweight, thin and used in a video tape player or the like. An opening lever is pivotally mounted on a stand, and is engaged in a cam groove with a top plate. With this arrangement, the opening lever is accommodated within a longitudinal dimension of a cassette, and therefore the loading device in the direction of the longitudinal dimension of the cassette can be greatly reduced. The cassette is moved through the pivotal movement of the top plate and arms, and with this arrangement operating switches and so on can be easily mounted on a plane of projection of the top plate. Therefore, the positional stability of the cassette loading device can be achieved, and the number of component parts can be reduced, thereby achieving a compact, lightweight construction of the cassette loading device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cassette loading device for use, for example, in a video tape player for recording and reproducing video signals and the like using a magnetic tape.
2. Related Art
Recently, video tape players have been desired to be compact and lightweight, and therefore a cassette loading device which is one constituent element of the video tape player has also been desired to be compact and lightweight.
A conventional cassette loading device will now be described.
FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the conventional cassette loading device in a cassette loading/unloading position, FIG. 17 is a side-elevational view showing a tape guide portion in a cassette-down position of the conventional cassette loading device, FIG. 18 is an enlarged top plan view showing the positional relation between an opener of the cassette loading device and a cassette, and FIGS. 19 and 20 are a side-elevational view and a cross-sectional view of the cassette loading device in the cassette-down position, respectively. In FIG. 16, the cassette 101 has a lid 101a,and a cassette holder 102 releasably holds the cassette 101. Each of a first arm 103 and a second arm 104 is supported for pivotal movement at one end thereof and for sliding movement at the other end thereof, and the two arms 103 and 104 are pivotally engaged with each other generally at their central portions. A stand 105 has the axis of pivotal movement of the first arm 103, and a sliding groove for the second arm 104. A spring 106 is engaged with the first and second arms 103 and 104, and urges the cassette holder 102 from the cassette-down position (FIGS. 17 and 19) toward the cassette attachment/detachment position (FIG. 16). Biasing springs 107 are fixedly secured at their one ends to the cassette holder 102. An opener 108 is pivotally connected at one end 108a to the cassette holder 102, and is engaged with a slide pin 103a of the arm 103. A guide 109 serves to prevent a magnetic tape 100 from running on a cylinder 111 when the magnetic tape 100 is slack, thereby preventing the magnetic tape 100 from being damaged. An outer shell 110 pivotally supports the guide 109.
The operation of the conventional cassette loading device of the above construction will now be described. First, in the condition shown in FIG. 16, when the cassette 101 is inserted into the cassette holder 102 in a direction of arrow A, the distal end of the opener 108 is disposed between the cassette 101 and the lid 101a as shown in FIG. 18. When the cassette holder 102 is manually moved toward the cassette-down position (FIGS. 17 and 19), the slide pin 103a of the arm 103 moves along a slide groove in the cassette holder 102, and the engagement portion of the opener 108 is pivotally moved about its end 108a in a direction of arrow B in response to the movement of the slide pin 103a,thereby opening the lid 101a. Upon further movement of the cassette holder 102, if the magnetic tape 100 is slackened, the magnetic tape 100 moves toward the cassette-down position (FIG. 17) along the guide 109 without interfering with the cylinder 111. In the cassette-down position shown in FIG. 20, the cassette holder 102 is locked at a predetermined position of the device body by a lock mechanism (not shown), and the cassette 101 is engaged with positioning pins 112 on the device body, and is urged by the biasing springs 107 in the direction of arrow B, so that the cassette 101 is loaded and fixed at a predetermined position. At this time, the guide 109 is engaged with the cassette lid 101a,and is pivotally moved about a pivot axis 109a as shown in FIG. 17 to be disposed between the cassette lid 101a and the cylinder 111. Then, when the lock mechanism is released, the first and second arms 103 and 104 are pivotally moved by the biasing force of the spring 106, so that the cassette holder 102 is returned to the position shown in FIG. 16 where the cassette 101 can be attached to and detached from the cassette holder 102. At this time, the guide 109 is released from the bias of the cassette lid 101aand is returned to the initial position, and then the lid 101a is closed.
As regards a first problem of the above conventional construction, since the guide 109 is mounted on the outer shell 110, it is difficult to precisely position the guide 109 relative to the cylinder 111, and a gap between the guide 109 and the cylinder 111 must be secured, which results in a problem that the device can not be of a compact construction. And besides, the cassette lid 101a must be opened at an early timing, and a sufficient design margin of the opener 108 can not be obtained.
As regards to a second problem, the opener 108 must be provided on the outer side of the cassette holder 102, and therefore the number of the component parts arranged in the longitudinal direction of the cassette is increased, which results in a problem that the device can not be of a compact construction. Moreover, there has been encountered a problem that when the cassette holder 102 is moved down during the insertion of the cassette 101, the opener 108 fails to be engaged with the lid 101a. Further, if it is intended to solve this problem, a mechanism separate from the opener 108 must be provided, which results in a problem that the number of the component parts is increased, so that the device becomes heavy.
As regards a third problem, for example, in the case of a video tape player, the projected area ratio of the cassette loading device to the whole of the video tape player is made large when the overall construction is to become compact, and in this case it is desired to provide operating switches, including a recording switch, a playback switch and a stop switch, on the top surface of the cassette holder 102; however, since the cassette holder 102 is moved generally linearly, it is difficult to mount the wiring of such switches.
As regards to a fourth problem, when the cassette 101 is loaded, the reaction force of the biasing springs 107 acts on the cassette holder 102. When the cassette 101 is unloaded, the reaction force of the biasing springs 107 does not act on the cassette holder 102. Therefore, there has been encountered a problem that the position of the cassette holder 102 varies depending on whether or not the cassette 101 exists. Moreover, the pair of biasing springs 107 are needed for fixing the cassette 101 to the device body in the cassette-down position shown in FIG. 17, and besides a shaft 113 for aligning the right and left movements of the cassette holder 102 with each other is required, which results in a problem that the number of the component parts is increased. This is disadvantageous in making the device compact and lightweight. Further, if it is intended to overcome the above problem, a mechanism separate from the cassette holder is needed, and for example, in the case of the video tape player (final product), the number of the component parts is increased, and the video tape players becomes larger and heavier.

Compact cassette loading device with movable tape guide member

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Signal phase reversal as well as DC shift is avoided in the load current of a controlled-gain transistor amplifier of a type including: first and second transistors connected as a first emitter-coupled differential amplifier; means for applying an input signal voltage between the base electrodes of the first and second transistors; third and fourth transistors connected as a first current splitter, including an interconnection between the emitter electrodes of the third and fourth transistors to which the collector electrode of the first transistor connects; fifth and sixth transistors as a second current splitter, including an interconnection between the emitter electrodes of the fifth and sixth transistors to which the collector electrode of the second transistor connects; means for applying a control signal voltage between the base electrodes of the third and fourth transistors and between the base electrodes of the fifth and sixth transistors; means for applying an operating potential to a first interconnection, which is between the collector electrodes of the third and sixth transistors; and means for applying an operating potential to a second interconnection, which is between the collector electrodes of the fourth and fifth transistors, at least one of which means for applying an operating potential includes an output load. Signal phase reversal is avoided by an improvement which comprises: seventh and eighth transistors connected as a second emitter-coupled differential amplifier, means for applying the input signal voltage between the base electrodes of the seventh and eighth transistors, and means for connecting the collector electrodes of the seventh and eighth transistors to separate ones of the first and second connections.

The gain of an emitter-coupled differential amplifier connection of first and second transistors of a particular conductivity type can be controlled by supplying the collector current of the first transistor to a first controlled current splitter, by supplying the collector current of the second transistor to a second controlled current splitter identical to the first controlled current splitter, by controlling the first and second controlled current splitters using the same control signal, and by cross-coupling the current splitter output currents for application to the load, thereby to obtain constant quiescent load current despite change in gain responsive to change in the value of the control signal. Each controlled current-splitter comprises a respective pair of emitter-coupled further transistors receiving control voltage between their base electrodes, having the current to be split flowing through an interconnection between their emitter electrodes, and having the split portions of the current flowing through their respective collector electrodes. These third, fourth, fifth and sixth transistors are similar to each other in structure, are proximate to each other within an integrated-circuit, and are of similar conductivity type to the first and second transistors. The foregoing type of gain-controlled amplifier is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,311 issued Sep. 11, 1984 to Hirata and entitled "DETECTOR CIRCUIT HAVING AGC FUNCTION". The foregoing type of gain-controlled amplifier is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,074 issued May 22, 1990 to Sato et alii and entitled "AUTOMATIC GAIN CONTROL CIRCUIT".
A problem with this gain-controlled amplifier is that as the control voltage between the base electrodes is reduced to zero, any swing past zero causes the controlled-gain amplifier to exhibit increasing gain with an attendant phasing reversal. This characteristic is extremely unattractive in certain applications. For example, in an automatic gain control (AGC) system, under certain conditions this signal-phase-reversal characteristic can undesirably cause the AGC to increase gain rather than decrease gain under strong signal conditions. The just described shortcoming of the previously known gain-controlled amplifier with constant quiescent load current with changes in gain was noticed by the inventor, who sought a controlled gain amplifier in which this shortcoming was overcome without losing the feature of constant quiescent load current with changes in gain and without losing any range in the output voltage swing for given operating supply voltage.

Controlled-gain transistor amplifier without D-C shift or signal phase reversal in load current