An automatically analyzing apparatus includes a plurality of reaction containers for reacting a sample with a reagent, and a reaction container washing unit for washing the reaction containers through a plurality of washing steps. The reaction container washing unit includes a plurality of storage parts in each of which washing liquid containing therein reacted substance is reserved. The plurality of storage parts are sorted with different reacted substance concentrations. A supply part of the reaction container washing unit selects washing liquid of a desired reacted substance concentration among the plurality of storage parts in accordance with respective washing conditions of the reaction containers and supplies the selected washing liquid into the reaction containers for washing the respective reaction containers.

The present invention relates to an automatically analyzing apparatus for quantifying a concentration of a substance solved in liquid, and in particular, to an automatically analyzing apparatus for analyzing components of biological fluid or water.
There have well-known many automatically analyzing apparatus. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H6-160398 discloses an automatically analyzing apparatus in which a sample and a reagent are reacted with each other in a reaction container so as to analyze thus obtained reacted liquid, thereafter, the reaction container is washed, and then, a next sample and the reagent are again reacted with each other in the container for next analysis. Accordingly, this apparatus includes a washing mechanism which washes several reaction containers one by one by the following steps:
Reacted liquid in a first reaction container after measurements, is sucked up by a nozzle, and is discharged into a disposal container. Then, detergent liquid is sucked up by a nozzle from a detergent container and is then discharged into the reaction container.
Next, the detergent liquid in the reaction container is sucked up, and is then discharged as waste liquid.
Then, detergent liquid is sucked up by the nozzle from the detergent container, and is then discharged into the reaction container. Thereafter, the detergent liquid is sucked up and then, is discharged as waste liquid. With the repetitions of the above-mentioned steps, and during fifth cycle, the liquid is sucked up until the reaction container is dried.
The washing device in the automatically analyzing apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H6-160398, is adapted to discharge and suck up the detergent liquid by 5 times in total. With the use of the washing process, pure water, alkaline washing agent, acid washing agent or the like is selected as detergent liquid in accordance with reacted liquid in order to enhance the efficiency.
Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. S60-53850 discloses a washing device for a medical microplate, in which high pressure washing liquid is jetted onto the microplate formed therein several reaction containers in a matrix-like pattern, so as to wash the several reaction containers or cells in the microplate at substantially the same time. The washing mechanism in this apparatus carries out the following steps:
Pre-washing step: High pressure washing liquid is jetted so as to wash out reacted liquid; and
Disinfecting step: Antiseptic liquid is jetted in so as to disinfect the microplate.
Main washing step: High pressure washing liquid is jetted so as to wash out the antiseptic liquid.
Since high pressure washing liquid is jetted, the reacted liquid is sufficiently cleaned off from the reaction containers at the pre-washing step, and accordingly, substantially no reacted substance is solved in the antiseptic liquid in the next disinfecting step. Accordingly, the antiseptic liquid used at the disinfecting step can be repeatedly used. That is, the antiseptic liquid sucked up from an antiseptic liquid tank and used for disinfecting the microplate is returned into the antiseptic liquid tank after use, and is then used repeatedly. At the final main washing step, only wash-out of the antiseptic liquid is carried out, and at this step, substantially no reacted substance is solved in the washing liquid. Thus, the washing liquid used at the main washing step can be reused at the pre-washing step.
Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H5-240866 discloses an automatically analyzing apparatus in which a cell blank after washing is measured, and the thus measured cell blank is compared with a cell blank measured during next washing so as to carry out analysis.
The purpose of the washing is to completely remove reacted substance remaining in the reacted liquid in the reaction container in order to prevent reacted liquid after completion of analysis from causing affection during next analysis.
The washing mechanism in the automatically analyzing apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. H6-160398, repeats the discharge and suction of washing liquid by four times. In this case, the quantity of reacted substance remaining in the reaction container is decreased successively each time when washing liquid is discharge and sucked up, and when the washing liquid is sucked up at the final fifth step, substantially no reacted substance remains in the reaction container, and accordingly, there is no affection in next analysis.
In other words, the quantity of reaction substance solved in the washing liquid is decreased successively each time when the washing liquid is discharged and sucked up, and the quantity of reacted substance solved in the washing liquid becomes less as the washing steps are progressed.
Meanwhile, since reacted liquid would remain by an extremely slight quantity in the reaction container after the reacted liquid is sucked up from the reaction container at the first washing step, not only washing liquid which does not contain reacted substance but also clean washing liquid which has been used at one of the posterior steps, such as fourth or fifth washing step, may be discharged to clean the reaction container by a substantial degree, and further, if pure water is used at the final fifth washing step, it is possible to expect satisfactory washing effect.
Further, a washing mechanism in an automatically analyzing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open patent Publication No. H-616039, uses clean washing liquid containing no reacted substance at every of washing steps, and waste liquid obtained after reacted liquid and washing liquid are sucked up is discarded through one and the same flow passage. Accordingly, at the first one of washing steps, washing liquid which is cleaner than that required, is used, and at the posterior washing steps, washing liquid having a high washing capability, which does not substantially contain reacted liquid, are wastefully discarded.
Further, in the washing device for medical microplates, disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. S60-53850, washing liquid obtained after the main washing is reused in order to reduce the consumption of washing liquid. However, the washing of reacted liquid has to be completed at the pre-washing step, and accordingly, it is required to jet high pressure washing liquid, causing consumption of a huge quantity of washing liquid, and further, washing liquid used at the pre-washing step is all discarded.
Further, the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H5-240866 discloses the measurement of a cell blank only for enhancing the accuracy of analysis, but fails to disclose the reuse of washing liquid.
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatically analyzing apparatus incorporating a washing mechanism which can reduce the consumption of washing liquid without deteriorating the washing capability, by reusing washing liquid having different concentrations of solved reacted substance, selectively, for washing steps.
The above-mentioned object can be attained by the provision, in a reaction container washing means, of a plurality of storage containers in which washing liquid having different concentration of solved reacted substance are temporarily reserved, respectively, and a washing liquid supply means for selectively supplying washing liquid from the storage containers into a part which requires washing.
Alternatively, in such a case that the reaction container washing means incorporates a reacted liquid suck-up means for sucking up reacted liquid from a reaction container and a washing liquid supply means for supplying washing liquid into a reaction container, the above-mentioned object can be attained in such a way that washing liquid used for washing at a certain washing step is used as washing liquid for a washing step which is anterior to this certain step.
Alternatively, it is solved in such a way that. washing liquid sucked up by the reacted liquid suck-up means is supplied into a reaction container which is arranged at an opposite direction of movement of the reaction containers.
Alternatively, it is solved in such a way that after washing liquid is sucked from a reaction container by a washing nozzle, the reaction container is moved while the washing nozzle retains therein the sucked-up washing liquid, and then, the washing liquid is discharged into another reaction container from the washing nozzle.
Alternatively, it is solved in such a way that after washing liquid is sucked from a reaction container by a washing nozzle, the washing liquid is temporarily reserved in storage parts, and after the reaction containers are moved, the washing liquid temporarily reserved in the storage parts is discharged into the reaction containers.
Alternatively, in the case of the provision of a washing pump for sucking up reacted liquid or washing liquid from a reaction container, it is solved in such a way that the washing pump is provided with a storage means in which sucked up reacted liquid or washing liquid is temporarily reserved, and a washing pipe connecting between the storage means and the reaction container washing means, for allowing reacted liquid or washing liquid to flow therethrough, a connection part of the washing pipe on the storage means side, being provided in the storage means at a level which is below the liquid surface of reaction liquid or washing liquid.
Alternatively, in the case of the provision of the above-mentioned storage means, it is preferable to set the capacity of the storage means which is larger than at least a quantity of washing liquid which is required for once washing the reaction container.
Alternatively, it is preferable to carry out measurements of a cell blank for a plurality of reaction container during washing in order to evaluate a concentration of washing liquid.


A process for reducing the protein content and preserving the capsular polysaccharide content in a complex cellular Streptococcus pneumoniae lysate broth prior to purification is described. Utilizing pH reduction after cellular lysis has resulted in a purified polysaccharide that consistently meets the protein specification, and higher recovery yields of polysaccharide during the purification process.

This invention relates to methods for removing excess soluble protein from cellular lysates of Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) serotypes used in the production of pneumococcal polysaccharides.
The capsular polysaccharide for each S. pneumoniae serotype utilized for vaccine products is produced by growing the organism in a complex liquid medium. The population of the organism is often scaled up from a seed vial to seed bottles and passaged through one or more seed fermentors of increasing volume until production scale fermentation volumes are reached. The end of the growth cycle can be determined by one of several means, at which point the cells are lysed through the addition of a detergent which aids in the cell wall breakdown and release of autolysin which causes cellular lysis when the cells reach stationary phase. The lysate broth is then harvested for downstream (purification) processing. This purification includes several column chromatography and diafiltration steps to recover the capsular polysaccharide that surrounds the bacterial cells. The polysaccharide, when conjugated with a high molecular weight protein, such as CRM197, and formulated into a vaccine containing conjugates of multiple serotypes, helps confer immunity (to S. pneumoniae) when injected into the target population, such as, for example, infants and young children.
Specifications have been set for the protein content in the purified polysaccharide of each serotype to reduce the risk of adverse events from the vaccine. For instance, in the currently marketed 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate (7vPnC) vaccine (Prevnar®), the specification for protein content in the purified serotype 4 polysaccharide is not more than 3%, and for the purified serotype 6B polysaccharide it is not more than 2% on a dry weight basis.
In some instances, it has proven difficult to remove the residual protein that is still present after the entire purification process. Efforts made to address this issue through changes in the purification processing of the cell lysate met with only moderate success.
It was therefore decided to attack this issue at the upstream side of the process. The key contaminant proteins were determined to be critical for cellular growth and integrity. Therefore, the remaining options available to reduce the total protein consisted of altering growth and/or harvest conditions.
The fermentation process is fairly straightforward. The cells (seed) are expanded in bottles of soy-based media, then passed through one or two seed fermentors, and finally passaged to a production scale fermentor. At each step the temperature and pH are closely monitored with pH being controlled by the addition of a base material (20% sodium carbonate). When the growth reaches a certain point, the run is ended by the introduction of a detergent, such as deoxycholate (DOC) sodium, which initiates a cell lysis process. After a hold period, the pH of the lysate broth is adjusted to 6.6 to precipitate the deoxycholate and cell membrane complexes. This material is held until processing by centrifugation and filtration can be carried out to remove the solids.
Much of the protein, however, remains solubilized in the clarified lysate, causing the residual protein content in the purified polysaccharide to exceed specification. Thus, there is a need to reduce the soluble protein levels in several pneumococcal serotypes during either the fermentation or purification process.


The invention relates to an optically biaxial film comprising an anisotropic material with deformed helically twisted structure and locally varying birefringence, to methods and materials for its preparation, to its uses as retardation or compensation film in optical devices like liquid crystal displays, and to compensators and liquid crystal displays comprising such a biaxial film.

Optical compensators are used in prior art to improve the optical properties of liquid crystal displays (LCD), such as the contrast ratio and the grey scale representation at large viewing angles. For example in uncompensated displays of the TN or STN type at large viewing angles often a change of the grey levels and even grey scale inversion, as well as a loss of contrast and undesired changes of the colour gamut are observed.
An overview of the LCD technology and the principles and methods of optical compensation of LCDs is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,352, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated into this application by way of reference. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,352, to improve the contrast of a display at wide viewing angles a negatively birefringent C-plate compensator can be used, however, such a compensator does not improve the greyscale representation of the display. On the other hand, to suppress or even eliminate grey scale inversion and improve the grey scale stability U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,352 suggests to use a birefringent O-plate compensator. An O-plate compensator as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,352 includes an O-plate, and may additionally include one or more A-plates and/or negative C-plates.
The terms 'O-plate', 'A-plate' and 'C-plate' as used in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,352 and throughout this invention have the following meanings. An 'O-plate' is an optical retarder utilizing a layer of a positively birefringent (e.g. liquid crystal) material with its principal optical axis oriented at an oblique angle with respect to the plane of the layer. An 'A-plate' is an optical retarder utilizing a layer of uniaxially birefringent material with its extraordinary axis oriented parallel to the plane of the layer, and its ordinary axis (also called 'a-axis') oriented perpendicular to the plane of the layer, i.e. parallel to the direction of normally incident light. A 'C-plate' is an optical retarder utilizing a layer of a uniaxially birefringent material with its extraordinary axis (also called 'c-axis') perpendicular to the plane of the layer, i.e. parallel to the direction of normally incident light.
Negative birefringent C-plate retarders in prior art have been prepared for example from uniaxially compressed films of isotropic polymers, by vapour deposition of inorganic thin films, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,953, or from negatively birefringent liquid crystal materials. However, stretched or compressed polymer films often show only moderate birefringence and require high film thickness, vapour deposition requires complicated manufacturing procedures, and negatively birefringent liquid crystal materials are often less easily available and more expensive than positively birefringent materials.
To overcome these disadvantages, it has recently been suggested, for example in WO 01/20393 and WO 01/20394, to use a cholesteric liquid crystal film with short pitch, typically with its Bragg reflection band in the UV region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such a film exhibits negative birefringent C-type retardation for wavelengths greater than its reflection maximum. The refractive index ellipsoid of this type of film approximates to that of a vertically aligned liquid crystal with negative birefringence. Such a retardation film can be used for example to cancel off-axis retardation in the homeotropically driven dark state of a TN-LCD, and thus significantly improve the viewing angle of the LC display.
WO 01/20393 discloses a compensator that is a combination of a planar A-plate, an O-plate and a negative C-plate, wherein the negative C-plate comprises a short-pitch cholesteric LC film. When used for example in a TN-LCD, this combination provides excellent contrast at horizontal viewing angles and reduces unwanted changes of the colour gamut. However, its performance at vertical viewing angles is limited. Furthermore, the use of multiple retardation films is expensive and raises manufacturing and durability problems.
One aim of the present invention is to provide an optical compensator which has improved performance for compensation of LCDs, is easy to manufacture, in particularly for mass production, and does not have the drawbacks of prior art compensators as described above. Another aim of the invention is to provide an improved method for its preparation. Other aims of the present invention are immediately evident to the person skilled in the art from the following detailed description.
The inventors have found that the above described problems can be solved, and an optical compensator with superior performance can be obtained, by combining multiple films in a single layer and by using a biaxial C-plate retarder. It was found that a biaxial negative C-plate retarder in its optical properties approximates to a combination of a planar A-plate and a negative C-plate, but shows better optical performance than such a combination. The in-plane anisotropy of the biaxial negative C-plate retarder (Δnxy) approximates to the A-plate and the out-of-plane anisotropy (Δnxz and Δnyz) to the negative C-plate. Simulations have shown that the optical performance of the biaxial negative C-plate retarder is surprisingly superior to that of the A-plate and negative C-plate stacked sequentially, and shows exceptionally good viewing-angle performance for liquid crystal displays. Furthermore, the use of a single biaxial film instead of two stacked films reduces costs and manufacturing problems.
Moreover, the inventors have found a new and improved method of preparing such a film, by using a polymerisable chiral liquid crystal material comprising a photosensitive compound and a dichroic photoinitiator, and irradiating the material with polarised UV light, leading to a change of shape or structure and thus a birefringence change of the photosensitive compounds in some parts of the film, which is then frozen in by polymerisation.
WO 03/01544 discloses a cholesteric biaxial film having a deformed helix structure with an elliptical refractive index and a method of preparing such a film from a polymerisable cholesteric material comprising a dichroic photoinitiator. However, it does not disclose a biaxial film with varying birefringence obtained by the methods and from materials comprising a photosensitive compound as claimed in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,998 discloses a compensator comprising a transparent substrate and a film formed from rod-like liquid crystal molecules, wherein said film has three different principal refractive indices and the liquid crystal molecules are oriented in cholesteric alignment. However, it does not disclose a biaxial cholesteric film reflecting in the UV range and having a periodically varying birefringence obtained by the methods and from the materials as claimed in the present invention.
Definition of Terms
The terms 'photoreactive', 'photosensitive' and 'photoreaction' refer to compounds which change their structure or shape upon photoirradiation by reactions including, but not limited to, photoisomerisation, photo-induced 2+2 cycloaddition, photo-fries arrangement or a comparable photodegradation process. Photopolymerisation reactions are not included in these meanings. However, the photoreactive or photosensitive compounds as described in this invention can in addition also be polymerisable or photopolymerisable.
The term 'film' includes rigid or flexible, self-supporting or free-standing films with mechanical stability, as well as coatings or layers on a supporting substrate or between two substrates.
The term 'liquid crystal or mesogenic material' or 'liquid crystal or mesogenic compound' means materials or compounds comprising one or more rod-shaped, board-shaped or disk-shaped mesogenic groups, i.e. groups with the ability to induce liquid crystal (LC) phase behaviour. LC compounds with rod-shaped or board-shaped groups are also known in the art as 'calamitic' liquid crystals. LC compounds with a disk-shaped group are also known in the art as 'discotic' liquid crystals. The compounds or materials comprising mesogenic groups do not necessarily have to exhibit an LC phase themselves. It is also possible that they show LC phase behaviour only in mixtures with other compounds, or when the mesogenic compounds or materials, or the mixtures thereof, are polymerised.
For the sake of simplicity, the term 'liquid crystal material' is used hereinafter for both mesogenic and LC materials.
Polymerisable compounds with one polymerisable group are also referred to as 'monoreactive' compounds, compounds with two polymerisable groups as 'direactive' compounds, and compounds with more than two polymerisable groups as 'multireactive' compounds. Compounds without a polymerisable group are also referred to as 'non-reactive' compounds.
The term 'reactive mesogen' (RM) means a polymerisable mesogenic or liquid crystal compound.
The term 'director' is known in prior art and means the preferred orientation direction of the long molecular axes (in case of calamitic compounds) or short molecular axis (in case of discotic compounds) of the mesogenic groups in an LC material.
In films comprising uniaxially positive birefringent LC material the optical axis is given by the director.
The term 'cholesteric structure' or 'helically twisted structure' refers to a film comprising LC molecules wherein the director is parallel to the film plane and is helically twisted around an axis perpendicular to the film plane.
The term 'homeotropic structure' or 'homeotropic orientation' refers to a film wherein the optical axis is substantially perpendicular to the film plane.
The term 'planar structure' or 'planar orientation' refers to a film wherein the optical axis is substantially parallel to the film plane.
The term 'tilted structure' or 'tilted orientation' refers to a film wherein the optical axis is tilted at an angle θ between 0 and 90° relative to the film plane.
The term 'splayed structure' or 'splayed orientation' means a tilted orientation as defined above, wherein the tilt angle varies in the direction perpendicular to the film plane, preferably from a minimum to a maximum value.
The average tilt angle θave is defined as follows
      θ    ave    =                    ∑                              d            ′                    =          0                d                                    θ          ′                                  (                      d            ′                    )                      d  wherein θ′(d′) is the local tilt angle at the thickness d′ within the film, and d is the total thickness of the film.
The tilt angle of a splayed film hereinafter is given as the average tilt angle θave, unless stated otherwise.
For sake of simplicity, an optical film with twisted, planar, homeotropic, tilted or splayed orientation or structure is hereinafter also referred to as 'twisted film', 'planar film', 'homeotropic film', 'tilted film' or 'splayed film', respectively.
Tilted and splayed films are also referred to as 'O plate'. A planar film is also referred to as 'A plate' or 'planar A plate'.
"E-mode" refers to a twisted nematic liquid crystal display (TN-LCD) where the input polarisation direction is substantially parallel to the director of the LC molecules when entering the display cell, i.e. along the extraordinary (E) refractive index. "O-mode" refers to a TN-LCD where the input polarisation is substantially perpendicular to the director when entering the display cell, i.e. along the ordinary (O) refractive index.

Biaxial film having local birefringence that varies periodically


A blood pressure related information display apparatus includes a blood pressure measurement cuff configured to be worn by being wrapped around a measurement site of a measurement subject. An acceleration sensor attached integrally to the cuff is included. An orientation detection unit for detecting an orientation of the measurement subject during blood pressure measurement based on an output of the acceleration sensor is included. A display control unit for performing control for displaying an orientation of the measurement subject detected by the orientation detection unit as an illustration on a display screen is included.

Conventionally, as this type of blood pressure related information display apparatus, a blood pressure related information display apparatus has been known which obtains an altitude difference between a blood pressure measurement site and a heart using an altitude sensor, an acceleration sensor, or the like, corrects the measured blood pressure values based on the altitude difference, and displays, on a display device, information relating to the altitude difference and whether or not it is appropriate, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 (JP 2014-68825A) and Patent Document 2 (JP 2014-54648A), for example. Accordingly, the accuracy of measuring the blood pressure values is increased, and measurement in an appropriate orientation is prompted.

Blood pressure related information display apparatus


In aspects of enhanced network access-control credentials, a network access device includes a network interface for data communication with network-connected devices via a network. The network access device implements an access control manager that receives a network access request from a requesting device to access the network, where the network access request includes authentication credentials. The access control manager can then modify the network access request to generate a modified network access request, and initiate communication of the modified network access request to an authentication server that authenticates the requesting device to the network based on the modified network access request.

The Background described in this section is included merely to present a general context of the disclosure. The Background description is not prior art to the claims in this application, and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Computing and/or communication devices, such as computers, mobile phones, tablet devices, and many other types of wired and wireless devices are designed to access and connect to computer and data networks, such as local-area-networks (LANs), intranets, and the Internet. The devices are generally implemented to communicate and exchange data over a network via a wired or wireless gateway device, access point, switch, router, or any type of similar network access device. A common task of a network access device is network access control, and determining whether a user and/or device will be allowed to connect to a network and access controlled resources. A network access device can be implemented to allow access to a network, or a subset of the network, to potential users and devices that have authorized access.

Enhanced network access-control credentials


The present invention relates to a voice coil module (VCM), and more particularly, to a VCM used for lens fixation and displacement measurement in order to prevent and control power consumption. Accordingly, in the VCM, power is not additionally consumed in order to maintain a specific position of the lens in a state that a focus of the lens is adjusted. Further, the lens is not moved and an optical axis is not distorted when a vibration occurs while an image is captured. Furthermore, the lens can be accurately controlled by measuring the present position of the lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voice coil module (VCM), and more particularly, to a VCM used for lens fixation and displacement measurement in order to prevent and control power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
A voice coil module (VCM) generally includes a permanent magnet and a coil. An attractive force or a repulsive force is produced between an induced magnetic field generated by a current flowing through the coil and a magnetic filed generated by the permanent magnet. Displacement of a lens occurs due to a spring force as well as the attractive force or the repulsive force.
The VCM advantageously has a simple structure and a low manufacturing cost. Therefore, the VCM is widely used in a driving unit of an automatic focusing device provided to a small image sensor. The driving unit of the automatic focusing device may be implemented with a stepping motor or an ultrasonic motor.
Manufacturing of a small stepping motor requires a high cost and a difficult technique. Therefore, a small automatic focusing device is generally driven by using the ultrasonic motor or the VCM.
FIG. 1 illustrates a structure of a conventional VCM.
A lens 110 is fixed to a vertically movable lens barrel 120. A coil 140 that generates a magnetic field in response to an input current is disposed to the lens barrel 120. The lens barrel 120 is connected with a casing 130 and a spring 150. A permanent magnet 160 is fixed to the casing 130. A current 180 is supplied to the coil 140 through an input terminal 170 while changing its direction and magnitude. In this case, the lens barrel 120 moves to an equilibrium point between a spring force and a magnetic force exerted between the permanent magnet 160 and the coil 140.
According to the magnitude and direction of the input current, a displacement 190 of the lens barrel 120 is regulated. In the VCM having this structure, a current having a constant magnitude and direction has to be continuously provided so that the lens 110 can maintain a constant position, resulting in a significant amount of power loss.
That is, although the VCM can be manufactured in a small size due to its cost competitiveness, simply operation, and simple structure, the conventional VCM has a demerit in that power loss is more significant than the ultrasonic motor since, in order to fix the lens 110 to a specific position, a constant current has to be continuously supplied to a driving coil. Such power loss is a major stumbling block when it comes to put the VCM to the market for a small-sized product using a battery.
Furthermore, the conventional VCM is not provided with a method for determining whether the VCM is correctly controlled and for measuring a present position of the VCM. Therefore, a problem lies in that it is difficult to accurately control the VCM, and an erroneous operation cannot be prevented.


When a first fluid supply of a fluid-ejection device is empty and a second fluid supply of the device has a non-empty fluid amount less than a threshold, the device performs an action related to the second fluid supply. After the action has been performed and both the first and second fluid supplies have been replaced, the device primes the first and second fluid supplies. The action can include emptying the second fluid supply, and then messaging that both the fluid supplies require replacement. The action can include messaging that both fluid supplies require replacement although the second fluid supply is not empty. The action can include not messaging even that the first fluid supply requires replacement until the second fluid supply also becomes empty.

Fluid-ejection devices can include inkjet-printing devices. Inkjet-printing devices selectively output ink onto media like paper to form images on the media. Inkjet-printing devices can have ink of the constituent colors of a color space, as well as black ink, to form full color images on media. For example, the ink supplies of an inkjet-printing device can include cyan ink, magenta ink, yellow ink, and black ink so that the device can print full-color images.

Replacement and priming of fluid-ejection device fluid supplies

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method is for generating a key from the fixed pattern noise (FPN) of a CMOS image sensor to be used in generating a digital authentication signature. The key may be generated by temporarily disabling the FPN cancellation circuit that is conventionally included in the system, and generating a substantially “black” image to produce a digitized FPN signal. The key may then be generated from characteristics of the FPN, such as by comparing pairs of pixels, for example.

There are many situations in which it is desirable to prove that a still or video image has been produced by a particular image sensor. Moreover, with the widespread availability of digital imaging technology, it may be necessary to prove that the image in question is original and has not been digitally manipulated after being captured.
There are a number of prior art proposals for improving the security and authenticity of images, some of which are based on the use of encryption keys, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,499,294; 5,799,082; and 5,828,751, for example. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,294, a process is disclosed in which a unique key is calculated for each sensor and this key is stored in the sensor during manufacture in a specially provided ROM. Such methods thus require additional circuitry that is programmable, and correspondingly require a programming step to be carried out during manufacture, both of which may result in increased costs.

Method for generating unique image sensor identification, and image sensor system for use therewith


A mover stabilizing and stator cooling arrangement includes an upper sleeve surrounding the mover of the linear motor, a lower sleeve, a thermoconducting sleeve surrounding the stator and axially connected between the upper sleeve and the lower sleeve. The arrangement further includes a thermal grease filled in the space defined between the upper sleeve and the mover, the space defined between the thermoconducting sleeve and the stator, and the space defined between the lower sleeve and the outer tube for quick dissipation of waste heat. A stabilizer ring is set between the upper sleeve and the mover to stabilize axial movement of the mover. A piston and multiple one-way valve sets are mounted in the space between the lower sleeve and the outer tube for allowing adjustment of the volume in the thermoconducting sleeve responsive to expansion/contraction of the thermal grease due to temperature changes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crude oil production system and more specifically, to a mover stabilizing and stator cooling arrangement used in a 3-phase linear motor of a submersible oil pump to stabilize reciprocating movement of the mover and to dissipate heat from the stator during operation of the motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The best way to dissipate heat during operation of a motor is the utilization of natural air convection. Electric fan may be used to provide forced air, enhancing heat dissipation.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,316,270 discloses an oil pumping unit using a submersible oil pump driven by a synchronizing three-phase linear motor. According to this design, the oil pumping unit comprises a motor 10 and a pump 20. The motor 10 comprises a casing 13, a stator 12, and a mover 11. The mover 11 comprises a center tube 14. The pump 20 comprises a barrel 23, a suction pipe 21, an upper chamber 25, a piston 26, and a lower chamber 27. The suction pipe 21 is connected to the mover 11 for synchronous reciprocation to suck in a fluid from the oil well.
According to this design, natural air or forced air cannot reach the inside of the linear motor 10 to dissipate heat from the linear motor 10. When the pump is pumping the fluid, the running fluid passing through the center tube 14 carries heat away from the mover 11. However, the air gap between the mover 11 and the stator 12 does not transfer heat easily, therefore heat tends to be accumulated at the stator 12. Further, the mover 11 of the linear motor 10 is relatively quite long, therefore off axial motion can easily happen during its reciprocating motion. An improvement is necessary to facilitate heat dissipation of the stator 12 and to stabilize the axial reciprocating motion of the mover 11.

Mover stabilizing and stator cooling arrangement of a 3-phase linear motor of a submersible oil pump


A methods and device for accessing virtual machine (VM) data are described. A computing device for accessing virtual machine comprises an access request process module, a data transfer proxy module and a virtual disk. The access request process module receives a data access request sent by a VM and adds the data access request to a request array. The data transfer proxy module obtains the data access request from the request array, maps the obtained data access request to a corresponding virtual storage unit, and maps the virtual storage unit to a corresponding physical storage unit of a distributed storage system. A corresponding data access operation may be performed based on a type of the data access request.

A virtual machine (VM) is a computer system that simulates functions of a complete hardware system by using software, and operates in an isolated environment. By implementing VM technologies, a physical computer may emulate one or more virtual computers. Like a physical computer, a VM may, for example, install operating systems as well as applications and accesses the Internet resources.
In general, data of a VM is stored in a virtual disk of the VM. The virtual disk is stored in a physical disk of a local physical computer in the form of mirror documents, logic virtual volumes, logic disks or logic disk partitions. The VM may access the data by accessing the physical disk of the local computer. This may present problems, for example, when the local computer is shut down or damaged.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus of accessing data of virtual machine


A variable delay circuit that delays an input signal for a desired time and outputs the delayed signal includes N (N is an integer of 2 or more) load transistors and N control transistors for controlling the load transistors respectively connected in pairs in series to form N load transistor pairs. The load transistor pairs are connected in parallel to form a load transistor group. A switching transistor that is turned on or off according to an input signal input to a gate, and the load transistor group are connected in series between first and second power supplies. The input signal is delayed according to control signals that are respectively input to the control transistors, and a delayed signal is output from a connection node of the load transistor group and the switching transistor. Since no selector is required, a delay circuit operation due to differences in delay times between paths in a selector is avoided, thereby obtaining a variable delay circuit having minute resolution and a good yield.

A variable delay circuit has a function of delaying an input signal by a certain time and outputting the delayed signal. Delay time can be set by data input from the outside. Such a variable delay circuit is employed for making timing adjustments in such as instruments and communication apparatus, and it can have a variety of structures depending on the variable width and variable resolution of delay time. For example, a variable delay circuit of a digital circuit system having minute variable resolution of several tens of ps (pico seconds) is described below.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a prior art four-value digital variable delay circuit having minute resolution. As shown in FIG. 10, this variable delay circuit comprises a common gate 10 for separating input signals V.sub.IN, wirings 25, 26, 27 and 28 having lengths successively lengthened from the wiring 25 to the wiring 28, driving gates 21, 22, 23 and 24 having outputs that are respectively connected to the wirings 25, 26, 27 and 28, and a selector 29 for selecting the outputs of the driving gates 21, 22, 23 and 24. The gate delay times vary according to the lengths of the wirings 25, 26, 27 and 28 that are respectively connected to the outputs of the driving gates 21, 22, 23 and 24. Utilizing these various delay times, delay signals respectively having slight time differences are produced to select a desired signal out of the delay signals with a control signal V.sub.CONT of the selector 29, whereby a desired variable delay output is obtained. In the prior art variable delay circuit, by appropriately selecting the lengths of the wirings 25, 26, 27 and 28 that are respectively connected to the driving gates 21, 22, 23 and 24, delay time difference of several tens of ps to several ps is produced and, in theory, it is possible to obtain a variable delay circuit having delay resolution of several tens of ps to several ps.
However, the prior art variable delay circuit has the problems described below.
More specifically, since the prior art variable delay circuit selects one of the driving gate outputs with the selector, delay resolution desired for the whole delay circuit cannot be obtained due to the delay time differences between paths in the selector. For example, even when the lengths of the wirings 25, 26, 27 and 28 are designed so that the delay times of the outputs of the driving gates 21, 22, 23 and 24 successively increase by 25 ps, if there is delay time difference of about 50 ps between the paths in the selector, a variable delay of 25 ps for the whole delay circuit is not produced.
Further, the delay between the paths in the selector is mostly due to the differences in threshold voltage V.sub.th between transistors constituting the selector. Therefore, the delay time difference between the paths in each IC chip is different, whereby it is impossible to correct the differences by circuit design, so that the prior art variable delay circuit is poor in yield.


A first movable portion has a cutting blade and configured to move between a first retracted position and a first cutting position. A first operating portion is a movable body configured to move in conjunction with a rotation drive portion. The first operating portion is configured to cause the first movable portion to move toward the first cutting position, and to cause the first movable portion to move toward the first retracted position. A drive stopping portion is configured to stop the rotation of the rotation drive portion, when the first movable portion reaches the first cutting position. A position holding portion is configured to hold a position of the first operating portion, when the first movable portion reaches the first cutting position.

The present disclosure relates to a cutting device that is configured to cut a medium, and a printer.
In known art, a printer is known that is provided with a mechanism to cut a medium. For example, a known cutting device is provided with a first cutting mechanism for fully cutting the medium, a second cutting mechanism for half cutting the medium and a single cutter motor that drives the first and second cutting mechanisms.
In the first cutting mechanism, a movable blade moves to a position at which it intersects with a fixed blade due to the driving of the cutter motor in a forward rotational direction. The medium is fully cut by the intersecting movable blade and fixed blade. In the second cutting mechanism, the movable blade moves to a position at which it comes into contact with a receiving base due to the driving of the cutter motor in a reverse rotational direction. The medium is half cut by the movable blade that is pressed against the receiving base while a pressing load is controlled by a torque limiter.

Printer with cutting device having holding portion for holding blade in cutting position


A large-sized plasma generator is suited to various surface shapes and has a longer service life and improved energy conservation. An example of the plasma generator (1-1) has a dielectric layer (3), first and second electrodes (4, 5) that are formed within the dielectric layer, an alternating-current power supply (6), and a first metal layer (7). The dielectric layer (3) is composed of polymer resin layers (31, 32) that are formed of a polyimide resin. The electrodes are arranged side by side within the dielectric layer. The first metal layer is formed of a metal having a sterilization effect, and has a plurality of pores (71) in the surface. The first metal layer spans between supporting parts (33, 34) of the polymer resin layer (32), and faces the whole of the electrodes. A gap (S) is formed between the first metal layer and the polymer resin layer.

The dielectric barrier discharge is such that electric discharge is generated in gases by applying an alternating voltage between electrodes via a dielectric, and by the plasma, sterilization, surface modification, deodorization, and cleaning can be performed.
As a type of such dielectric barrier discharge, there is a surface discharge technique in which two comb-shaped or two flat-plate electrodes are provided side by side within a single dielectric and an alternating voltage is applied between these two electrodes to electrically discharge (see PLT 1 and 2, etc., for example).
It is common in a plasma generator using such dielectric barrier discharge that ceramic is used for a dielectric layer and electric discharge at high voltage is performed.


Analysis, planning and interrelated modifications of a software system across modular architectural, language and documentation levels are automated and facilitated by use of the Change Assistant (CA). CA automatically analyzes the impact of the intended change on all levels, identifying related changes that may be needed to achieve the programmer's goal. When the plan is finalized and approved, CA automatically performs the change, modifying the code, as needed, to make it consistent with the changed architecture. Thereby, the need for human intervention in maintaining software is significantly reduced and the possibility of error minimized.

The maintenance of large and long-lived software systems is difficult and costly. Such software systems have been increasing in their size, number, and complexity. It has been estimated that up to 60% of the total cost of a software life cycle can be attributed to maintenance. This cost will increase as software assumes an ever more important role in products of all types. Software maintenance is difficult because it requires a high level of understanding of the system from a maintainer working in an unfavorable environment. The understanding process is hindered by the lack of design documentation. When such documentation is available, it is often incomplete or out of date. For a large system, it is a tedious and menial task to consider all the relevant details, even when they are complete and accurate.
Software maintenance includes activities such as documenting the system; enhancing existing functionality; finding and correcting bugs; rewriting, restructuring, and adapting software; and many other activities including testing and configuration management. One common characteristic of all the facets of software maintenance is "change." Changing large software systems is often tedious, error-prone and time-consuming. Even a simple modification request may result in many inter-related changes to a variety of software artifacts. For example, renaming a function requires checking for name conflicts, renaming all of the function's occurrences in code, design documents, related test routines and user manuals. These activities are tedious because a large number of similar, low level changes must be performed using only a text editor which often results in overlooked, required changes necessitating reiterative work at a later time. Moreover, there may be many alternative ways to fulfill a modification request. Each of these alternatives needs to be evaluated in terms of cost, the scale of its impact on other parts of the system and users, its relation to future modification requests and project management. This process is often informal and incomplete. It is also error-prone because software maintainers frequently do not understand all of the software artifacts and their interrelationships. Finally, performing the selected set of changes requires coordination among many project members and must be planned and managed for maximum effectiveness. Automation of the often tedious process of analyzing, planning and performing such changes is likely to reduce human error and improve productivity.
Further complicating such activities are the many interconnected types of architecture to which thought must be given when engaging in software maintenance. Conceptual architecture describes the system in terms of components representing its major design elements, and connectors representing interrelationships between components. The module interconnection architecture organizes the system into subsystems, modules and layers with details of exported and imported interfaces. The execution architecture describes the run-time architecture of the system in terms of tasks, threads, processors, and networks. The code architecture organizes code into files, directories, program libraries, and executables. Consideration of impacts on all of these areas is required when changes in software are contemplated.
Many advances have occurred in the field of software maintenance and editing. For example, efforts have been undertaken to enhance the composing, changing and integration of modules in a complex computer system comprised of multiple modules assembled within one framework and even between different frameworks, as disclosed in the patent to Lark, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,932). But, this patent does not address the need for an efficient method for making modifications to one such module in a complex architecture and incorporating that change throughout the software system by automatically making changes in the architecture itself and, ultimately, in the source code of the originally changed and other modules to ensure that the resulting software is error-free. Of course, expert systems which incorporate a self-modifying reasoning capability, such as the patent to Ulug (U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,620), are known, but, again, such systems have not been successfully applied to the problem of modifying both the architecture and source code of complex modular computer software. The problem of source code modification in executing software in a distributed application architecture which is only partially heterogeneous was recognized in EP0420461A2, but the solution adopted was avoidance of the necessity of source code modification by packaging load modules and recompiling them at their target. Although all of these disclosures add significant improvements in their respective fields, they all suffer from either limited applicability to the problems solved by the subject invention or the requirement of substantial and repeated user intervention. What is needed is a software maintenance system which minimizes human intervention, thereby substantially reducing the cost, time and errors associated with previous efforts in this area.

Automated software modification facilitator


An optical modulator device (100), in particular for a spatio-temporally light modulated imaging system (200), comprises a light modulating micro-mirror device (110) comprising an array of mirror elements (111) arranged in a modulator plane (112), wherein each of the mirror elements (111) can be switched individually between first (111a) and second (111b) states with first and second tilting angles, resp., relative to a modulator optical axis (113) perpendicular to the modulator plane (112), and a first optical relaying device (120) being arranged for relaying light between the mirror elements (111) in the first (111a) state and a first optical axis (121) deviating from the modulator optical axis (113), wherein the first optical relaying device (120) includes a first group of imaging elements (122, 123, 124) being formed such that a planar light field (114) perpendicular to the modulator optical axis (113) is relayed to a first planar light field (125) perpendicular to the first optical axis (121). Furthermore, the spatio-temporally light modulated imaging system (200), in particular for confocal imaging an object (1) to be investigated, which includes the optical modulator device (100), and a method of confocal optical imaging using the imaging system (200) are described.

Microscopic imaging of an object to be investigated with direct optical sectioning can be obtained with a plurality of confocal microscopy techniques. All known confocal microscopy techniques use point or pattern scanning systems with conjugate pairs of illumination and detection apertures for collecting light generated in response to an illumination in a focal plane within the object. Scanning systems using spatial light modulators like a micro-mirror device (or: "DMD", digital mirror device) provide a plurality of advantages in terms of data acquisition speed, spatial resolution and optical efficiency. The DMD provides an illumination of the object with a pattern sequence of illumination spots focused to conjugate locations in the focal plane of the object while simultaneously collecting detection light from the conjugate locations with a detector camera (see e.g. EP 911 667 A1 and EP 916 981 A1).
An example of a conventional spatially light modulated imaging system for confocal imaging an object 1′ is schematically illustrated in FIG. 7 (prior art, see FIG. 3 of EP 911 667 A1). The conventional programmable confocal microscope 200′ comprises a light source device 210′, an imaging optic 220′, a detector device 230′ including two detector cameras 231′, 232′ and an optical modulator device 100′, which is arranged for directing illumination light from the light source device 210′ to the object 1′ and for relaying detection light from the object 1′ to the detector device 230′. To this end, the optical modulator device 100′ includes a micro-mirror device 110′ and first and second optical relaying devices 120′, 130′.
The micro-mirror device 110′ comprises an array of mirror elements 111′, which can be tilted between two different tilting states resulting in first and second tilting angles relative to a normal of the micro-mirror device 110′. In the first tilting state 111a′, the mirror elements 111′ create illumination spots focused at conjugate locations in the object 1′ and direct detection light from conjugate locations (conjugate image) via the first optical relaying device 120′ to the first detector camera 231′. Simultaneously, the remaining mirror elements 111′ in the second tilting state 111b′ collect detection light from non-conjugate locations (non-conjugate image) in the object 1′, which is directed via the second optical relaying device 130′ to the second detector camera 232′. Both of the conjugate and non-conjugate images collected with the first and second detector cameras 231′, 232′ are used for obtaining a optically sectioned image of the object 1′.
The first and second optical relaying devices 120′, 130′ each consist of a plane mirror, which relays the detection light from the mirror elements 111′ in the first (111a′) and second (111b′) states to optical axes 121′, 131′, resp. The optical axes 121′, 131′ are parallel to each other and to the axis from the imaging optic 220′ to the micro-mirror device 110′. Due to the tilting of the mirror elements 111′, the images from the conjugate locations and non-conjugate locations in the object 1′ are not perpendicular but tilted relative to the optical axes 121′, 131′. For preserving the image focus across the image, the detector cameras 231′, 232′ are rotated (tilted) relative to the optical axes 121′, 131′.
The conventional optical design with rotated detector cameras results in a plurality of disadvantages, which may restrict the quality of confocal microscopic images. Firstly, due to the slanted incidence, directing the conjugate and non-conjugate images onto rotated detector cameras results in trapezoidal distortions ("keystoning") as well as increased reflection losses. This may represent a problem in particular with regard to the conjugate image inherently having a low intensity. Furthermore, the effective area of the detector camera is reduced due to the projection on the tilted detector camera. A further disadvantage may result from the fact that the conventional technique requires the provision of two separate detector cameras. Imaging both conjugate and non-conjugate images on a common detector camera would require complex optical elements, which again would reduce the light intensity. Using separate detector cameras may have disadvantages in terms of calibrating different sensitivities and resolutions relative to each other and rendering the system more expensive and complex.
The above disadvantages do not only occur with the example of FIG. 7 (prior art), but also with all other optical designs of conventional programmable confocal microscopes with micro-mirror devices as well as with other applications of micro-mirror devices, like e.g. for depletion microscopy methods.

Optical modulator device and spatio-temporally light modulated imaging system

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN E.V.


A housing contains a PTC element which can be easily inserted and removed. Conductive metal retaining elements of the housing are secured to the base of the housing, and retain the PTC element with a generally planar portion parallel to the electrodes of the PTC component. The retaining elements also have slidable contact between the elements and the top of the housing so as to modify the elastic deformation of the element and allow for insertion and removal of the PTC element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to PTC conductive polymer devices.
2. Introduction to the Invention
Many electrical devices comprise two laminar electrodes and, sandwiched between them, a laminar resistive element which exhibits PTC (positive temperature coefficient) behavior, in particular circuit protection devices. The PTC resistive element may be composed of conductive polymer (this term being used to denote a composition comprising a polymer and, dispersed or otherwise distributed therein, a particulate conductive filler) or a ceramic, e.g. a doped barium titanate. When a conductive polymer is used, such devices are generally prepared by stamping (or otherwise cutting) a plurality of the devices out of a laminate of a sheet of the conductive polymer between two metal foils. When a ceramic is used, such devices are usually prepared by applying liquid electrode material to the major surfaces of a preformed laminar resistive element, and solidifying the liquid electrode material.
Devices of this kind are sometimes installed between two separate resilient retaining members which bear on opposite faces of the device. Typically, there are two metal retaining members which are directly opposite to each other and which bear on the outer faces of the electrodes. More specialized installations are described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,924,204 (Uchida) and 5,451,921 (Crawford et al.) the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Care is needed to ensure that an appropriate pressure is generated and maintained between the retaining members and the PTC device.
One disadvantage of some of the known installations is that the retaining members are secured to a larger structure, e.g. a motor housing, in a way that is difficult to accomplish and/or permits the retaining members to move relative to each other, thus changing the pressure that they exert on the PTC device. In other installations, the retaining members extend from the PTC element in the form of terminals (which may be male or female) and these terminals are connected to complementary connectors which are fixed to a circuit board or other rigid substrate.


Oxygen sensor for measuring resistance as a function of oxygen partial pressure, made of alkaline-earth-doped perovskitic lanthanum ferrites with the general formula EQU La.sub.1-x Me.sub.x FeO.sub.3-.delta.. where Me is one of alkaline earth metals, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba, x is a degree of doping of the lanthanum ferrites. The oxygen sensor oxygen deficit of anion is 6=0 to 0.25, and the degree of doping of the lanthanum ferrites is x=0.1 to 0.3 and is selected to provide a temperature independent resistance property to the oxygen sensor in a lean range.

Oxygen sensors that contain strontium ferrate, barium ferrate, or strontium-barium ferrate are known (U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,494). In these materials, the central iron atoms of the ferrate lattice are replaced by one to seventy atom-percent of an element from the group composed of titanium, cerium, tantalum, or niobium. The chemical stability limit of these materials is at a temperature of 850.degree. C. with an O.sub.2 partial pressure of pO.sub.2 =10.sup.-18 bar, i.e. these materials decompose during prolonged operation in a reducing atmosphere, in a rich exhaust mixture for example.
The transition from p- to n- semiconducting sensor material in the materials of U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,494 takes place at a relatively high O.sub.2 partial pressure (>10.sup.-10 bar). This results in ambiguity of the sensor signal or insufficient signal at a gas change between rich and lean exhaust. In addition, the materials exhibit a clearly different temperature dependence for different O.sub.2 partial pressure ranges.
An oxygen sensor is known (Chem. Abstr. 112 (1990), reference number 126, 210t) whose sensor material consists of an alkaline-earth-doped lanthanum ferrite. However, this sensor material is not used to measure the change in resistance based on the recorded oxygen partial pressure, but the thermo electric force. In these sensor materials, a significant temperature dependence prevails. To compensate for this temperature dependence, additional measures must be adopted, temperature-regulating measures or precise settings of currents and/or voltages for example. This document therefore contains technical prejudice against oxygen sensors that use the resistive properties of the sensor material. The thermo electromotive force is measured instead.

Oxygen sensors made of alkaline-earth-doped lanthanum ferrites and method of use thereof

Heraeus Electro-Nite International, N.V.


An optical blur filter having a substantially conical shape is used in imaging apparatus to limit high spatial frequencies incident upon an image sensor, and thereby to reduce undersampling artifacts. By having a conical shape, the filter images a circular blur pattern upon an array of adjacent photosites. A conical shape with a distinct vertex images an annular pattern, and a flattened vertex fills in the central region of the pattern.

An electronic imaging system typically produces a signal output corresponding to a viewed object by spatially sampling an image of the object in a regular pattern with an array of photosensitive elements, such as, for example, with a charge-coupled device (CCD) solid-state image sensor. In such an imaging system, it is well-known that detail components in the object which contain frequencies too high to be analyzed within the sampling interval of the sensor contribute to the amplitudes of lower frequency components, and thereby produce imaging errors commonly referred to as aliasing or undersampling artifacts. In particular, if spatial detail being imaged contains a high frequency component of a periodicity smaller than the pitch (periodicity) of each neighboring photosensitive picture element of the solid state image sensor, the subsequent detection of this high frequency component tends to result in a spurious signal due to aliasing.
In general, the electronic imaging system can minimize aliasing if its optical section has a frequency response that cuts off, or filters out, the higher frequency content of the object. As a result, the optical section generally employs an optical low pass filter to substantially reduce the high frequency component contained in the spatial detail of the image received by the image sensor. It is thus well-known in the prior art that the design of electronic imaging systems involves a trade-off between image sharpness and the susceptibility of the imaging system to aliasing distortions or undersampling artifacts.
To limit these artifacts, an optical filter such as, for example, a birefringent blur filter has become a common component in consumer color video cameras. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,101,929 and 4,896,217 show typical examples of such filters. Such a filter is typically placed between a lens and the image sensor to provide a low-pass filter function which reduces the spatial frequency content of the object at frequencies above the Nyquist frequency of the photosensitive elements. This makes the imaging system less susceptible to aliasing distortion. For example, for many available sensors wherein equal pixel densities in each of the sensed colors provide that each of the sensed colors have the same Nyquist frequency, an achromatic low-pass, or "blur", function is effective in minimizing aliasing distortion. Such a function can readily be provided by a birefringent filter.
The birefringement blur filter is typically composed of filter plates manufactured from a crystalline material like quartz that exhibits a dual refraction effect when the crystal axes of the filter plates are oriented at an angle with respect to the plate surface. In this orientation, a randomly polarized ray of light passing through such a filter plate emerges as two separated polarized rays. The combination of several of such plates produces a multiple spot pattern from each incident point in the image. If this spot pattern distributes light energy over multiple photosensitive elements, then the effect of a blur is obtained. This will limit the optical transfer function of the system at spatial frequencies above the Nyquist frequency of the photosensitive elements. However, this type of filter suffers from the drawback that it is costly and complicated to manufacture. In addition, a practical birefringent filter tends to be rather large and thick. Indeed, the thickness required to achieve the desired blur requires a lens with a long back focal length in order to make room for the blur filter in the optical path. Space limitations often do not allow such an optical structure, and lens design becomes unduly complicated. Finally, since such a filter requires randomly, or nonpolarized, light, a polarizing filter cannot be allowed in such a system to obtain well known photographic polarizing effects.
It is also well known in the art to use a phase diffraction grating as a frequency selective filter to produce an image blur. For example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,800, the periodicity of an image of a diffraction grating projected onto a solid state image sensor is selected to be a multiple of the periodicity of the photosensitive picture elements, and a blurred image is obtained. This type of filter, however, suffers from the drawback that, instead of producing a tightly controlled pattern over a few photosensitive elements, it spreads light over many interference fringes (orders) theoretically out to infinity. In addition, it is difficult to control the energy distribution in the fringes in order to obtain an acceptable blur function covering a designated number of pixels. Moreover, the energy distribution is dependent upon wavelength.
As can be appreciated from the foregoing remarks, there is a need in the art for a physically small blur filter that is inexpensive and relatively simple to manufacture, yet producing a tightly controlled blur pattern that is not dependent upon polarization techniques. As an alternative to the birefringent blur filter and the phase diffraction grating, U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,959 discloses a pyramidal structure comprised of four wedges which divide incident light into four quadrants so that light from the same image point impinges, on the average, on several photosensitive elements in the image sensing device. A concern with such a pyramidal filter is the manufacturing process, which would be required to produce four abutting facets at identical angles on a single piece of material. One facet would ordinarily be machined or ground into a single piece of material, the piece would then be cut into sections, and the sections glued together to form a piece shaped like a pyramid. This is a difficult process to execute with the needed precision. While there are optical benefits in using a pyramidal blur filter as compared to other blur filters known in the prior art, the manufacture thereof remains a complicated and costly process.

Conical blur filter for reducing artifacts in imaging apparatus


A catheter assembly is disclosed comprising a catheter and a receptacle enclosing said catheter. The receptacle has a first part and a second part, which parts are foldable over each other. Further, at least one sticky adhesive area is arranged on the surface of one of the parts of the receptacle in such a way that the sticky adhesive area is covered by the other part when the receptacle is in a folded disposition, and exposed to the environment when the receptacle is in an unfolded disposition.

Catheters find their use in many different medical applications, such as urinary catheters for bladder drainage. Each catheter is normally pre-packed in a receptacle by the manufacturer, in order to maintain the catheter in a clean and preferably sterile condition.
A urinary catheter in general need to have a lubricant applied to the outer surface thereof to facilitate insertion into the urethra. Especially, for lubrication purposes, a hydrophilic urinary catheter may have a hydrophilic outer surface coating or layer which should be wetted by a fluid such as water for a certain time period prior to insertion of the catheter into the urethra of a patient. In order to facilitate the use and to improve cleanliness of the catheter, the assemblies have in recent years developed to comprise a rupturable wetting fluid pouch or container as well. Such assemblies are disclosed in e.g. WO 97/26937, WO 01/43807 and WO 98/11932.
However, a common problem for most known catheter assemblies is that they are rather complicated to handle. For example, the handling requires normally opening the sealed package by peeling or tearing, introducing a wetting fluid into the package by pouring water into an opening or opening a wetting fluid container already present within the package, holding the package during the activation period, which is typically about 30 seconds, extracting the wetted catheter and introducing it into the urethra, and all preferably without spilling the released liquid. Further, it could also be necessary that the catheter is reintroduced into the package after use for disposal of the catheter. This could naturally be difficult for any patient, and for the patients being e.g. paraplegics or disabled, the task becomes particularly demanding. Further, water on the receptacle surface or on the patients fingers normally makes the receptacle slippery, which makes proper handling even more problematic.
In order to facilitate the handling of the catheter assemblies, it has been proposed in the art to use a small area of sticky adhesive on the outer surface of the receptacle, close to one of the corners. Said sticky adhesive is during storage protected by a protective sheet. In the use situation the sheet is removed, and the adhesive could then be used for holding the receptacle onto a wall or the like. Such catheter assemblies are e.g. disclosed in WO 03/064279 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,374.
However, in practice these known measures have proven insufficient and inadequate to effectively alleviate the above-related handling problems. Still further, the protective sheet need to be small and relatively firmly adhered to the sticky adhesive in order not to fall off involuntarily during production, storage and transportation. However, this requirement makes the operation of removing the protective sheet upon use in itself a rather tedious and cumbersome task for the user. Further, there is still an unavoidable risk that the protective sheet will fall of unintentionally. If this happens during production, which it in practice often does, it will normally result not only in damaged products, but also in significant disturbances in the production process and contamination of the production site, which of course incurs greater production costs etc. Accordingly, a proper compromise between an adequate fastening of the protective sheet and an easy removal of the same has proven difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.
Accordingly, there is still a need for an improved catheter assembly which alleviates the above-discussed problems of the prior art.

Folded catheter assembly with adhesive grip


An ion conducting device having a plurality of solid electrolyte plates arranged into a stack, each electrolyte plate having electrode material adherent to a significant portion thereof. A plurality of individual spacers are disposed between adjacent electrolyte plates in the stack, each spacer spacing successive electrolyte plates apart, and defining a plurality of chambers in the spaces between adjacent electrolyte plates. The electrode material on the electrolyte plates is electrically connected whereby electrode material on every other successive plate is connected in series, from one end of the stack to the other, whereupon the electrical path wraps around the stack and extends back along the stack and connects in series the electrodes not previously connected.

1. Field
The present invention generally relates to ion conducting devices, and more particularly to current based ion conducting devices arranged into a stack of electrically interconnected solid electrolyte plates.
2. State of the Art
Ion conducting devices based on solid electrolytes are typically constructed according to two basic designs Passive ion conducting devices detect the electromotive force potential across the solid electrolyte due to the Nernst voltage generated when different ion concentrations exist on opposite sides of a membrane. Passive devices are used in a variety of applications including automotive sensors and process gas analyzers. Current based ion conducting devices depend on the transport of ions through the electrolyte due to either a pressure differential across the electrolyte, or from an applied electromotive force. Current based devices are more complex in construction and operation, but have a wider range of applications. Well known applications for current based devices include fuel cells, inert gas purifiers, oxygen concentrators, and steam electrolyzers.
An electrode material is attached to the electrolyte surfaces, the composition of which depends on the intended application and operating conditions. Reactant gases contacting the electrode undergo a reaction whereby an ion species is generated which migrates through the electrolyte. For example, in an oxygen concentrator the ion species is O.sup.-2 , and is formed according to the following reaction: EQU O.sub.2 (from air) +4e .fwdarw.2O.sup.-2
The O.sup.-2 migrates through the electrolyte due to an applied electromotive force. Pure oxygen may be collected on the opposite side of the electrolyte according to the following reaction
: EQU 2O.sup.-2 .fwdarw.2O.sub.2 +4e .sup.-
In a fuel cell, an electrical potential is produced between a cathode and anode in contact with different concentrations of ions. When the electrodes are connected in an electrical circuit, the electrons released at the anode furnish an electrical current.
Several U.S. patents teach solid oxide electrolytes arranged in various structural configurations. U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,987 (Isenberg) teaches a fuel cell arrangement utilizing a tubular configuration for the solid oxide electrolyte. U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,562 (Yoshida et al.) teaches a flat plate solid oxide electrolyte configuration. Several U.S. Patents teach fuel cell assemblies comprising a stack of solid oxide electrolyte elements. Notable among these patents are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,069,987; 5,049,459; 5,034,288; and 4,950,562. In each of these arrangements, successive electrolyte elements are separated from the elements above and below it by an inert interconnector plate, or separator. The interconnector plates prevent reactants and products from mixing, yet permit the reactants to come in contact with the electrode surfaces. U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,506 (Fee et al.) teaches an oxygen pump employing a stack of solid oxide electrolyte elements, and utilizing inert interconnector plates between successive elements.
The interconnectors in these current based devices are part of an electrical circuit, and must be either constructed from an electrically conductive material, or include an electrical pathway through the interconnector. Electrically conductive materials suitable for incorporation into a flat plate ion conducting device are less expensive than the electrolyte material. The interconnectors may be constructed from the expensive electrolyte material, in which case the electrical pathway is either incorporated into the interconnector, or attached to the exterior. If the solid electrolyte is used, extremely expensive material is used for inert plates comprising approximately 50% of the stack. If an electrically conductive material is used, dissimilar materials are incorporated into the stack.
Several problems inherent in these stacked arrangements make them unreliable, inefficient, and expensive. A typical operating temperature range for solid oxide ion conducting devices is 800-1000.degree. C. Substantial thermal expansion of materials occurs when materials are heated to these high temperatures. The different rate and extent of thermal expansion between dissimilar materials can cause cracks and distortions in the stack. Leaks may develop between the electrolyte and interconnectors, allowing reactant gases to escape before contacting the electrode. Product gases may also escape through cracks in seams or materials. These factors severely reduce the efficiency and reliability of the device. If delamination between stack components is severe enough, total failure of the device may result. Another disadvantage of using dissimilar materials is the difficulty in maintaining an intact electrical interconnect system. Problems with contact resistance frequently result when the interconnects are bonded to different materials. The different coefficients of thermal expansion tend to crack and destroy the conductive material. These problems are obviously undesirable in space applications, where the device must remain reliable for an extended period of time, while exposed to extreme thermal and vibration stresses.
Interconnectors also significantly reduce the efficiency of a stack of electrolyte elements. Because the plates are inert, approximately 50% of the components of the stack are inactive. The interconnectors also must seal against the electrolyte plates. Wherever the interconnector contacts the electrode, gas transport through the electrode to the electrolyte surface tends to be limited. The reactive electrolyte area available for ion conduction is thus potentially reduced through the use of inert interconnectors.
Interconnectors made from electrolyte material contribute significantly to the cost of an ion conducting device. The material itself is very expensive, and approximately one interconnector is required for every active electrolyte plate. Complex manufacturing methods are also required to produce an interconnector with a typical dual ribbed structure. These factors make manufacture of ion conducting devices with interconnectors more difficult and complicated, which increases both cost and manufacturing time.
There is a need for an improved solid oxide electrolyte ion conducting device which overcomes the aforementioned problems.


A hybrid forwarding apparatus and method for cooperative relaying in an OFDM network are provided. In a hybrid forwarding apparatus in a relay terminal, a forwarding scheme selector selects a forwarding scheme for transmission. An amplify and forward (AF) block amplifies data received from the forwarding scheme selector, if an AF scheme is selected. A decode and forward (DF) block decodes and encodes data received from the forwarding scheme selector, if a DF scheme is selected. A multiplexer provides the output data of the AF block and the DF block to an OFDM modulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) network, and in particular, to a hybrid forwarding apparatus and method for cooperative relaying using relay terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Increased frequency utilization and improved Quality of Service (QoS) performance are requisite for the evolution of mobile communication systems from 2nd Generation (2G) and 3G systems to 4G systems.
A Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) scheme is not practical due to its limited frequency use in fulfilling requirements for data rate and stability.
New transmission strategies are required to satisfy QoS requirements. Multiple antenna techniques, such as a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) scheme, are one of these transmission strategies, which increases system capacity.
MIMO has the benefit of huge spectral efficiency in rich-scattering environments. As long as the number of receive antennas is greater than or equal to that of the transmit antennas, capacity increases linearly with the number of transmit antennas.
MIMO provides multiple signatures of the same transmitted signal to the receiver simultaneously through multiple antennas. Each signature is referred to as a diversity branch in the present invention.
As the diversity branches of the same transmitted signal increases, the probability that all the diversity branches will be in deep fade is reduced, leading to an increase in the reliability at the receiver. However, the MIMO technology requires a plurality of antennas at the transmitter, increasing hardware complexity and cost.
Performance improvements through conventional MIMO techniques may not be achieved all the time because the system performance depends strongly on the number of antennas, scattering environment, spatial fading correlations between transmit antennas and receive antennas, and the distance between network elements.
The above-described advantages of the conventional multiple antenna techniques can be achieved through cooperative communications which create a Virtual Antenna Array (VAA). The VAA is created with the help of relay terminals that assist with the communication of any source-destination pair. The term "cooperative communications" refers to the relaying of communication signals between the source terminal and the destination terminal via the relay terminal. Thus, the concept of the VAA achieves the benefits of multiple antenna techniques produced even in the SISO environment.
The virtual antenna role of the VAA in the source terminal or the destination terminal brings an increase in link reliability and the coverage of the system. As a consequence, the outage probability and Bit Error Rate (BER) of communications between the source terminal and the destination terminal can be reduced.
Furthermore, the VAA increases robustness against environmental changes, thereby increasing data rate. For the same data rate, power consumption is reduced.
One of the primary targets of cooperative communications is to increase the reliability of communications between the source terminal and the destination terminal. To achieve the reliability increase, a forwarding scheme that extracts the diversity offered by the VAA needs to be designed.
"Amplify and Forward (AF)" and "Decode and Forward (DF)" are two main forwarding schemes widely used in relay networks.
A relay terminal employing AF amplifies a received signal, prior to forwarding, whereas a relay terminal employing DF decodes, re-encodes and forwards a received signal.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional OFDM relay terminal employing AF. While the following description is made in the context of OFDM, the same is applicable to Time Division Duplex-Code Division Multiple Access (TDD-CDMA) or Time Division Duplex-Time Division Multiple Access (TDD-TDMA).
Referring to FIG. 1, in the OFDM relay terminal, a receiver includes a Radio Frequency (RF) processor 122, an OFDM demodulator 120, and a buffer 124. The OFDM demodulator 120 has an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) module, an OFDM demodulation module, and a decoding module.
The RF processor 122 converts an RF signal received through an antenna to an analog baseband signal.
The ADC module in the OFDM demodulator 120 converts the analog signal received from the RF processor 122 to a digital signal. The OFDM demodulation module converts time-domain sample data received from the ADC module to frequency-domain data by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The decoding module decodes the frequency-domain data using a predetermined demodulation method and a predetermined coding rate and stores the decoded data in the buffer 124.
A transmitter of the OFDM relay terminal includes an RF processor 112, an OFDM modulator 110, and an AF module 114. The OFDM modulator 110 has a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) module, an OFDM modulation module, and a coding module.
The AF module 114 performs gain amplification for each subcarrier loaded from the buffer 124. The amount of gain amplification is determined according to the Channel State Information (CSI) of the channel where the relay terminal receives data.
In the OFDM modulator 110, the coding module encodes the gain-amplified data using a coding rate and a modulation scheme corresponding to a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level. The modulation scheme can be Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), 16-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16QAM), or 64QAM. The OFDM modulation module converts the coded data to time-domain sample data (i.e. an OFDM symbol) by Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). The DAC module converts the sample data to an analog signal.
The RF processor 112 converts the analog signal to an RF signal and transmits the RF signal through the antenna. An RF switch 130 switches the signal received through the antenna to the receiver, and for data transmission, switches the transmitter to the antenna.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional OFDM relay employing DF. While the following description is made in the context of OFDM, the same is applicable to TDD-CDMA or TDD-TDMA.
Referring to FIG. 2, in the OFDM relay, a receiver includes the RF processor 122, the OFDM demodulator 120, a detector 240, a decoder 270, and a buffer 280. The OFDM demodulator 120 has an ADC module, an OFDM demodulation module, and a decoding module.
The RF processor 122 converts an RF signal received through an antenna to an analog baseband signal. The ADC module in the OFDM demodulator 120 converts the analog signal received from the RF processor 122 to a digital signal. The OFDM demodulation module converts time-domain sample data received from the ADC module to frequency-domain data by FFT. The decoding module decodes the frequency-domain data using a predetermined demodulation method and a predetermined coding rate.
The detector 240 detects the signal it receives based on the CSI of the channel on which it receives data.
After detection, if the source terminal employs channel coding, the decoder decodes the data received form the detector 240 and stores the decoded data in a buffer 280.
A transmitter of the OFDM relay includes the RF processor 112, the OFDM modulator 110, a subcarrier symbol mapper 230, and an encoder 260. The OFDM modulator 110 has a DAC module, an OFDM modulation module, and a coding module.
The encoder 260 re-encodes data loaded from the buffer 280, if the data was decoded in the decoder 270. The subcarrier symbol mapper 230 maps the re-coded data to subcarriers and provides the mapped data in parallel to the OFDM modulator 110.
In the OFDM modulator 110, the coding module encodes the mapped data using a coding rate and a modulation scheme corresponding to an MCS level. The modulation scheme can be BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM. The OFDM modulation module converts the coded data to time-domain sample data (i.e. an OFDM symbol) by IFFT. The DAC module converts the sample data to an analog signal.
The RF processor 112 converts the analog signal to an RF signal and transmits the RF signal through the antenna. The RF switch 130 switches the signal received through the antenna to the receiver, and for data transmission, switches the transmitter to the antenna.
Coding in the encoder 260 and decoding in the decoder 270 are optional and represented by dotted boxes.
AF is normally affected by noise enhancement at the relay terminal and DF is significantly influenced by the error propagation at the relay terminal. As the OFDM subcarriers undergo independent fading, some subcarriers may provide better results for AF protocol and some other subcarriers may provide better results for DF protocol. Sometimes the direct transmission may provide better results than the relaying with AF and DF.
Thus, there is a need for a technique which selects the AF for those subcarriers which provide better results for AF, select DF for those subcarriers which provide better results for DF and selects the direct transmission for some subcarriers for which it provides better results in a hybrid fashion for a OFDM system over frequency selective fading environment.

Hybrid forwarding apparatus and method for cooperative relaying in an OFDM network