A liquid flow rate detector and controller having a microprocessor that senses the rate of drops falling in a monitoring balloon on a fluid tube. A light emitter/detector diode pair detects drops as they fall in the balloon, which are timed by the microprocessor. The device has first and second switches manufactured in a single small unit made of thin laminates. Each switch comprises an electrode and a contact point, mutually facing across a gap in the layers. The lamina on at least one side of each switch is elastic. External force flexes the elastic layer, causing it to bend across the gap, causing the electrode and the contact point to touch. A fluid tube is inserted in a narrow channel between the first switch and a movable wedge. A stepper motor under control of the microprocessor moves the wedge to press the fluid tube against the first switch until the contacts close. This indicates that the fluid tube is completely flattened and closed. The microprocessor then retracts the wedge a predetermined distance from the closed point and monitors the rate of drops falling in the drip balloon. The movement of the wedge is precisely controlled by the microprocessor to achieve a desired drop rate. The second switch senses the presence of a fluid tube in the narrow channel to allow initialization of the process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to liquid flow rate control devices, especially intravenous feeding control devices used in hospitals to control the flow rate of medical fluid.
2. Description of Prior Art
The feed rate of medical fluids during intravenous feeding is controlled by a device that automatically monitors and controls the flow rate in a feed tube. Such devices control the start time, feed rate, and stop time of the flow.
One method of flow control is to controllably squeeze the flexible feed tube with an electronically controlled clamp. However, it is very difficult to set the flow rate of a fluid precisely by clamping a flexible tube. The response of the flow to variations in constriction of the tube is extremely delicate. The clamp must be adjusted in steps of 0.001 mm, to provide adequate control. Medical fluid must be injected very slowly when a patient is in poor condition, and the flow must be controlled very precisely. For slow flow, the fluid tube must be flattened until it is barely open.
Prior apparatus for providing such delicate control is relatively complicated, large, and heavy. Prior devices are too heavy to hang on the medical tube without support, so attachment of the controller to a stand is required.
An example of a prior intravenous feeding control device having a wedge to squeeze a medical fluid tube for flow rate control is disclosed in the Patent Abstracts of Japan No. 1996-8317974.
The main objective of this invention is provision of a small, lightweight intravenous feeding control device capable of controlling the flow rate medical fluid very precisely. A further objective is an intravenous feeding control device that can be hung directly from a medical fluid feed tube without the need for attachment to a stand. Other objectives include simplicity of production, low expense, and high reliability.
The objectives are achieved in a liquid flow rate detector and controller having a microprocessor that senses the rate of drops falling in a monitoring balloon on a fluid tube. A light emitter/detector pair detects drops as they fall in the balloon, which are timed by the microprocessor. The device has first and second switches manufactured in a single small assembly made of thin laminates. Each switch comprises an electrode and a contact point, mutually facing across a gap in the layers. The lamina on at least one side of each switch is elastic. External force flexes the elastic layer, causing it to bend across the gap, causing the contact point to touch the electrode. A fluid tube is inserted in a narrow channel between the first switch and a movable wedge. A stepper motor under control of the microprocessor moves the wedge to press the fluid tube against the first switch until the contacts close. This indicates that the fluid tube is completely flattened and closed. The microprocessor then retracts the wedge a predetermined distance from the closed point and monitors the rate of drops falling in the drip balloon. The movement of the wedge is precisely controlled by the microprocessor to achieve a desired drop rate. The second switch senses the presence of a fluid tube in the narrow channel to allow initialization of the process.


A method is described which provides for managing intelligent equipment that is deployed remotely. The capabilities of managing such distributed assets include both infrastructural capabilities to establish and maintain connection through a variety of wired and wireless mechanisms and application modules that provide distributed asset management capabilities.

Monitoring the health of equipment in the field has been a complicated and inaccurate endeavor. Previous patents have covered simple mechanisms such as the existence of electrical power to the equipment and the electromechanical actions of physical sensors. None of these methods has provided a detailed view of the health of the equipment, only an external view of its connectivity and mechanical properties. For convenience, we use "asset" to describe any equipment, item or article an aspect of which can be monitored or controlled remotely.
A system for automatically monitoring a copier is known in the art from U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,834. This device monitors a number of copying machines utilizing a number of sensors placed on the copier for sensing various operating parameters such as the number of copies made by the machine, machine malfunctions and the amount of toner remaining in the machine. Signals representing these parameters are transmitted to a centralized processor. The count value is transferred to the central processor at predetermined intervals. One of the disadvantages of this system is that it requires a dedicated interface having a complex structure receiving input signals from a plurality of distinct sensors provided within each machine. It also fails to notify a user of specific information such as preventive maintenance and contract termination dates. This system is not suitable for installation in existing machines not expressly designed for the system.
A second photocopier system is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,037 and includes a plurality of terminal devices provided at each copying machine and a central managing unit for managing the terminal devices. Each of the terminal devices receives input signals indicative of a plurality of user identifications of the copying machine and a second input signal indicative of utilization associated with each user at each copying machine. These data signals are stored and later transmitted to a central managing unit. The terminal receives a signal from the copying machine to which it is connected representing the number of copies made by the copying machine and which user made the copies. This information is transmitted to a central unit at a later date. One of the disadvantages of this system is that it does not monitor operating malfunctions of the copier or notify a service center when preventive maintenance is required.
Another monitoring system is known in the art from U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,582. This counter counts the number of papers processed by the copier producing a count signal. A monitoring system computer receives the count signal and increments a count value over a predetermined period. An interface circuit monitors the operation of the copier by monitoring the internal diagnostic signals of the copier as displayed on a photocopier display device associated with each copier. The interface circuit signals a central station when a malfunction of the copier has occurred, indicating the nature of the problem by translating the diagnostic signal and transmitting a translated diagnostic signal. A modem receives the accumulative count and diagnostic signals from the monitoring system computer and transmits each signal to the appropriate party at the central station.
The disadvantage of this prior art is its reliance on the mechanical counter interface and capturing the signals intended for the photocopier display device. In modern digital copy/print/fax/scan devices, commonly referred to as multi-function devices, these mechanical and display device interfaces are either non-existent or grossly inadequate to accurately capture performance and usage information from the device. The present invention overcomes this disadvantage by providing a direct digital interface through software, able to access device status, fault, usage, and log information that is not available mechanically.
As depicted in FIG. 1, the A2B software includes a Device Framework component [110 and 120] that can be connected through a digital interface to the device [Adjacent Deployment—130] or installed directly on the processor within the device to be monitored [Embedded Deployment—140]. A centralized Enterprise System [150] coordinates activities and provides user access to asset management applications. Communications between components occur through a variety of media, including wired Internet, dial-up telecommunications, and wireless.
Intelligent devices have grown in their own ability to self-diagnose and alert local users to fault situations through a control panel. In most cases, though, this information is only available to users or repair technicians physically at the location of the device. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,848, a system is described for recording data within the asset. Upon reaching a trigger point, an email is automatically sent to a number of email addresses containing a specially formatted data record of data that was previously recorded. The shortcomings of this approach include the limited flexibility in data retrieved, scheduling of transmissions, and reliance on email. The present invention allows for dynamic changes to the information retrieved, allowing greater or lesser visibility in to the functioning of the asset—saving data transmission costs when not necessary and providing additional detail when required. The current invention allows this to be configured from a centralized enterprise system and then directed to the specific asset without human interaction with that specific asset. In addition, the prior art established these parameters on the asset, requiring a physical presence at the asset to make changes. The current invention again allows a centralized enterprise system to control and update these parameters at any time.
For some recent computer-based equipment, remote computer control software has been used to allow the console of the equipment to be remotely located. This has progressed through the prior art from rudimentary text-based dialup terminal emulation to more sophisticated remote control systems that include the capability for graphics. Carbon Copy 32 from Compaq and LapLink from Traveling Software utilize "hooks" in the display subsystem of the remote computer to capture drawing requests and enabling a graphical user interface of the remote computer to be displayed at a user's local computer. PCAnywhere produced by Symantec of Cupertino, Calif. is an additional remote control program requiring server software on the remote computer in order to transfer graphics between computers of the same operating system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,212 discloses a system in which the video, keyboard and mouse ports of a remote computer are connected to a host unit and the video raster signal is converted to digital form. U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,895 discloses a system to provide control of a remote computer independent of the operating system by capturing the signals sent to and from peripheral devices such as the keyboard and display. In all of these previous cases, the intent of the invention was to allow a user to have access to a remote PC. The present invention does not require the presence of a user in order for monitoring information to be collected, transmitted, analyzed, and acted upon. It also does not require the remote access to be a personal computing device but instead has been designed to operate on a wide variety of specific operating systems, including Windows, Unix, and embedded real-time operating systems.
For computer to computer interaction that does not require a user to be present, the prior art includes the concept of a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism to communicate the invocation of server procedures. This approach worked well within the bounds of a business because the network communications were all trusted. To communicate with other businesses, or to communicate in any way across the public Internet, required a special security setup to create "holes" in the firewall protecting information systems. Most firewalls do permit HTTP traffic, the protocol used by browsers to retrieve web pages. This has given rise to a new model of RPC, known as Web Services. Based on text messages formatted with eXtensible Markup Language (XML), a new standard has emerged to package requests as messages. These standards, including WSDL (Web Service Description Language), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), and XML, are gaining popularity for the interconnection of business systems—B2B (Business to Business) commerce—but have not been applied to the interconnection of individual intelligent assets.

Method and apparatus for managing intelligent assets in a distributed environment


A polycarbonate lubricating oil composition which is resistant to decomposition of the polycarbonate and the generation of carbon dioxide gas. The lubricating oil composition contains a polycarbonate lubricant, at least one compound selected from the group of epoxy compound, phenol compound, sulfur compound and amine compound, and optionally a triester phosphite or a triester phosphate compound as inhibitors to the generation of carbon dioxide gas. The lubricating oil composition are stable, have excellent lubricating properties, cleaning properties, and electrical insulating properties, and their viscosity at low temperature can readily be lowered.

Lubricating oils include, for example, industrial gear oils, engine oils, lubricating oils for refrigerators, lubricating oils for textile industry and lubricating oils for rolling mills.
Recently, the industrial gear oils have been desired to keep the lubricating properties and the detergency at higher temperature regions, as the environmental conditions under which various industrial machines are used have come to be more severe. Especially in baking paint process or baking food process, those oils have been desired to have higher performances in the lubricating properties and the detergency. In those areas, lubricating oils of synthetic hydrocarbon type, carboxylic ester type or glycol type have been conventionally employed.
The synthetic hydrocarbon type oils and carboxylic ester type oils, however, have such problems that they are insufficient in the lubricating properties and they cannot function as the lubricating oils at high temperatures because they are carbonized when heated for a long period of time. On the other hand, the glycol type lubricating oils have such a merit that they are hardly carbonized even when heated for a long period of time, but they are , insufficient in the lubricating properties and have high moisture absorption properties (hygroscopicity), so that these oils are desired to be improved in the lubricating properties and the resistance to moisture absorption.
The engine oils have been required to have lubricating properties and detergent-dispersing properties at higher temperatures for a long period of time, in accordance with enhancement in the performance of the automobile engines. In the case of using additives to comply with those requirements, the additives are necessarily used in a large amount, and hence a precipitation of a curdy (mayonnaise-like) sludge takes place. Further, a co-use of the synthetic hydrocarbon type oil or carboxylic ester type oil and a mineral oil as a base oil has been conventionally tried. However, the engine oil thus obtained is insufficient in both the lubricating properties and the detergent-dispersing properties at high temperatures for a long period of time.
Differently from the above-mentioned lubricating oils for automobile engines, namely, those for four-cycle engines, the lubricating oils for two-cycle engines are added to gasoline and subjected to combustion in the two-cycle engines, so that the detergency is particularly important for the lubricating oils for two-cycle engines. As the lubricating oils for two-cycle engines, there have been heretofore used a caster oil, polybutene, etc., but they are not sufficient both in the lubricating properties and the detergency.
The automobile gear oils, particularly gear oils for ATF, are necessary to be decreased in the friction coefficient and moreover to be reduced in a change of the friction coefficient with time. Therefore, an anti-friction agent or a friction-adjusting agent has been conventionally added to decrease the friction coefficient. However, the automobile gear oils containing these additives involve such a problem that a friction coefficient becomes larger during use.
As the lubricating oils for textile industry, those of carboxylic ester type or glycol type have been heretofore used, but they are not satisfactory both in the lubricating properties and the detergency.
As the lubricating oils for rolling mills, those containing beef tallow as the host component have been conventionally used. Such lubricating oils show good lubricating properties and excellent rolling efficiency. However, the detergency of these oils is markedly bad, so that a step of washing off the residual beef tallow is essential. Also used as the lubricating oils for rolling mills are those of carboxylic ester type, but these oils show poor lubricating properties, resulting in poor practicability, although they are very excellent in the detergency.
With the alteration of a refrigerant gas for refrigerators to R-134a (CH.sub.2 F--CF.sub.3) which is nondestructive to the ozone layer, mineral oils or alkylbenzene compounds having been heretofore used as the lubricating oils for refrigerators have become unusable, because they have no compatibility with the refrigerant gas. Hence, glycol ether type lubricating oils have been now developed as the lubricating oils for refrigerators using the above-mentioned refrigerant gas.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,316 discloses a composition for a compression refrigerator which comprises tetrafluoroethane and polyoxyalkylene glycol having a molecular weight of 300 to 2,000 and a kinematic viscosity at 37.degree. C. of about 25 to 150 cSt.
However, there are pointed out such defects that this glycol ether type lubricating oil is generally insufficient in heat stability and high in hygroscopicity, and moreover it shrinks a rubber sealing material such as NBR to increase the hardness.
In refrigerators for automobile air conditioners a through-vane type rotary compressor which can make a size of the compressor smaller and increase power thereof has been used in recent years. As the lubricating oils for the through-vane type rotary compressor, those having a high viscosity is more desired than those having sealing properties and friction resistance. However, when compounds having glycol ether structure are increased in the molecular weight to have a high viscosity, the compatibility thereof with the ozone layer-nondestructive R-134a is generally deteriorated, so that such compounds cannot be employed from the structural viewpoint.
Further, carboxylic ester type lubricating oils called "polyol ester" and "hindered ester" have been developed recently as the lubricating oils for refrigerators where the ozone layer-nondestructive hydrogenated fluorocarbon (HFC) is used as a refrigerant. However, these lubricating oils are hydrolyzed or heat-decomposed to produce a carboxylic acid, and thus produced carboxylic acid causes a phenomenon of corrosion and abrasion of metals or a phenomenon of copper plating in the refrigerator. Therefore, an endurance of the refrigerator comes to be a problem in the case of using the lubricating oils stated above. Moreover, a part of the carboxylic acid produced by the hydrolysis or the heat decomposition is further decomposed under severe use conditions to generate a carbon dioxide gas. This carbon dioxide gas has non-condensation properties in an ordinary refrigerator system where fluorocarbon, chlorofluorocarbon or hydrogenation product thereof is used as a refrigerant, and hence decrease of refrigeration efficiency and temperature rise in the compression step are induced.
The ozone layer-nondestructive hydrogenated fluorocarbon (HFC) also includes concretely R-152a as well as the aforesaid R-134a. Also employable as the refrigerant is hydrogenated chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) having a small destructive force to ozone, and this hydrogenated chlorofluorocarbon includes concretely, for example, R-22, R-123 and R-124. These hydrogenated chlorofluorocarbons are used singly or in combination with the hydrogenated fluorocarbons (HFC).
The present inventors have earnestly studied for the purpose of obtaining lubricating oils which are excellent in lubricating properties, detergency, electrical insulation properties and compatibility with both the hydrogenated fluorocarbons (HFC) and the hydrogenated chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC), and further which can prevent generation of the carboxylic acid and carbon dioxide gas. As a result, the present inventors have found that lubricating oil compositions excellent in the above-mentioned various properties can be obtained by blending a specific polycarbonate and at least one compound selected from the group consisting of an epoxy compound, a phenol compound, a sulfur compound and an amine compound in the specific amounts, or by blending a specific polycarbonate derived from sugars and a phosphorous triester compound in the specific amounts, and they have accomplished the present invention.


A variable control apparatus and method of the amount of regenerative braking of a vehicle using a paddle shift are provided. The method includes sensing, by a controller, positive (+) and negative (−) shifting in a manual mode based on a signal from a shift-operating unit during regenerative braking with a drive (D) gear engaged while the vehicle travels. A regenerative braking torque map that corresponds to a selected gear is selected based on the signal from the shift-operating unit. In addition, regenerative braking of a driving motor is adjusted based on the torque value calculated from the selected regenerative braking torque map.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method of controlling regenerative braking of an eco-friendly vehicle, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method which variably controls the amount of regenerative braking based on shifting from a drive gear by a driver while driving.
(b) Background Art
Currently, internal combustion engine vehicles that use fossil fuel such as gasoline or diesel have problems including environmental contamination caused by exhaust gases, global warming by carbon dioxide, and respiratory diseases due to generation of ozone. Accordingly, eco-friendly vehicles such as an Electric Vehicle (EV) that runs by operating an electric motor, an Hydraulic Electric vehicle (HEV) that runs using an engine and an electric motor, and a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) that runs by operating an electric motor, using power generated by a fuel cell have been developed.
As known in the art, eco-friendly vehicles run a regenerative braking (RB) mode that collects braking or inertia energy through electricity generation of an electric motor and charge a battery with the energy during braking or coasting by inertia of the vehicles. Since the eco-friendly vehicles collect energy, using an electric motor (e.g., driving motor) and charge a battery during braking or coasting by inertia, fuel efficiency may be improved and energy may be used more efficiently. On the other hand, one regenerative torque map is set for the drive (D) gear in eco-friendly vehicles of the related art, to obtain a constant amount of regenerative braking energy during coasting with the D-gear engaged, due to the regenerative braking torque map.
Obtainable optimum regenerative braking energy depends on the features of roads, and accordingly, the optimum regenerative braking energy may not be achieved only by the D-gear according to the known techniques. For example, more regenerative braking energy may be obtained on a steep slope compared to a gentle slope (e.g., a less inclined road) and the optimum regenerative braking energy may not be obtained only by the D-gear according to the known techniques, in regenerative braking with the shift lever at the D-gear.
Although substantial energy may be recovered in some gears compared to the D-gear, such as, an E-gear (e.g., an eco-gear used for driving in an economical mode) or a B-gear (e.g., used with an engine brake operating) with different torque maps, most drivers do not use the gears since it is cumbersome to operate the shift lever while driving. In particular, when the B-gear is used for deceleration, it may be possible to obtain large regenerative braking energy, but it may be difficult to use the gear frequently since the feeling of deceleration of a vehicle is substantial when the gear used for all of road conditions to recover substantial energy.
The above information disclosed in this section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Control apparatus and method for regenerative braking of eco-friendly vehicle


Antibacterial coatings and methods of making the antibacterial coatings are described herein. A first branched polyethylenimine (BPEI) layer is formed and a first glyoxal layer is formed on a surface of the BPEI layer. The first BPEI layer and the first glyoxal layer are cured to form a crosslinked BPEI coating. The first BPEI layer can be modified with superhydrophobic moieties, superhydrophilic moieties, or negatively charged moieties to increase the antifouling characteristics of the coating. The first BPEI layer can be modified with contact-killing bactericidal moieties to increase the bactericidal characteristics of the coating.

The present invention relates generally to antibacterial coatings for preventing and treating bacterial and microorganism colonization, biofilm formation, and infection involving an implantable medical device. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for forming chemically modified and crosslinked branched polyethylenimine (BPEI) coatings. The present invention also relates to systems and methods for forming negatively charged polymer coatings. The present invention also relates to systems and methods for negatively charging a surface of a device using an electrode.
The accumulation of microorganisms on wetted surfaces, or biofouling, is a ubiquitous problem for materials in a broad range of applications such as medical devices, marine instruments, food processing, and even domestic drains. Generally, bacteria initiate biofouling via the formation of biofilms, which are formed of highly ordered adherent colonies, most frequently within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance.
The use of implantable devices (such as prosthetic joints, heart valves, artificial hearts, vascular stents and grafts, cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, nerve stimulation devices, gastric pacers, vascular catheters and ports (e.g., Port-A-Cath)) is growing, and so is the number of immunocompromised patients, as a result of advanced therapeutics. Infection is a problem for implanted medical devices. The surfaces of implanted materials and devices represent immunocompromised local areas in which bacterial colonization and subsequent biofilm formation is difficult to diagnose and treat. Biofilms are the main culprit for persistent infections, owing to their treatment resistance, the potential release of harmful toxins, and the ease with which the microorganisms spread, which can lead to malfunction of implantable devices on which they develop (e.g. catheter occlusion) or septic emboli seeding microorganisms in remote sites.
Extreme measures such as removal of the infected implanted device from the patient's body are often the only viable management option. Although disinfection techniques and prophylactic antibiotic treatment are used to prevent colonization during procedures, this practice is not 100% effective in preventing perioperative bacterial colonization. Moreover, the risk of bacterial colonization on a prosthetic joint is present long after its implantation. For example, with S. aureus bacteremia, the risk for colonization on a prosthetic joint approaches 25%.
Antibiotic treatments to eliminate colonization and infection associated with implantable substances and devices are limited in their ability to eradicate bacteria and fungi involved in these processes. There are multiple reasons for this, including reduced antibiotic concentration deep inside the biofilm due to limited diffusion, inability of antibiotics in general to eliminate "the last" pathogen cells (usually accomplished by the immune system, which does not function well in the setting of implantable devices), and the ability of microorganisms to persist, i.e., become metabolically inactive and thus functionally relatively resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance makes treating device-associated infections even more challenging. In fact, antibiotic resistance is frequently encountered with microorganisms that cause device-associated infections (e.g., Enterococci, Staphylococci).
Consequently, considerable efforts were dedicated in recent years to developing antibacterial surfaces. Such surfaces can be classified into two categories: (i) antifouling surfaces that prevent the adhesion of microorganisms and (ii) bactericidal surfaces that trigger bacteria killing. Typical strategies for the design of antibacterial surfaces involve either supramolecular (non-covalent) coating of the surface or modification of the surface (i.e., chemical modification or structuring). Antifouling properties can be obtained by the incorporation of α,ω-diamino-functionalized poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG, molar mass of 4,600 g/mol) to increase hydrophilicity to resist bacteria attachment, while bactericidal characteristics can be gained by functionalization with releasable bacteria-killing substances, such as silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and antibiotics, or by decoration with contact-killing bactericidal moieties like quaternary ammonium salts. Current technologies, however, suffer from poor long-term antibacterial performance and stability, the undesirable development of bacterial resistance, or limited scalability to an industrial setting.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology


An electrical system that is operable to selectively provide electrical power to power a load includes an ultra-capacitor that selectively stores and discharges electrical power and a control module that determines an operating ratio based an ON power state and an OFF power state of the ultra-capacitor. The control module calculates a voltage limit of the ultra-capacitor based on the operating ratio and regulates operation of the ultra-capacitor based on the voltage limit.

Electric, fuel cell, and hybrid vehicles include electric drive motor(s) that selectively drive wheels of the vehicle. An energy storage device is provided to store energy that is used to power the electric drive motor(s). Energy storage devices such as ultra-capacitors may be used to provide short bursts of power that may be required during vehicle operation. For example, energy stored in an ultra-capacitor may be used for engine start and stop operation, launch assist and/or regenerative braking.
When implementing an ultra-capacitor, it is important to determine the remaining useful life of the ultra-capacitor energy storage device. FIG. 1 shows an exemplary plot of the instantaneous projected life (Y) of an ultra-capacitor cell as a function of the cell voltage (V) for varying cell temperatures (T). The exemplary plot includes Y at temperatures of 15° C., 25° C., 35° C., 45° C., 55° C. and 65° C. These plots can be expressed according to the following relationship:Y(V,T)=10(aT+bV+c)  [1]where a, b, and c are constants. When Y(T,V) is expressed in years, V in volts and T in ° C., a=−0.03333333, b=−3.33333333 and c=10.1666666666 are useful values.
While the above expression is useful in providing a snapshot of projected lifespan for a variety of specific cell conditions, it does not reflect a projected life based on the cumulative effects of history of operation, nor present time varying cell conditions. Further, neither FIG. 1, nor the expression it represents, defines the method for limiting the ultra-capacitor voltage for the purpose of achieving a desired operating lifespan. Thus a need continues to exist for an improved means and method for optimizing the useful voltage range of an ultra-capacitor power source while achieving a desired operating lifespan over varying in-use operating intervals, especially as an energy storage device for vehicles.

Bi-modal voltage limit control to maximize ultra-capacitor performance


A valve is provided with a means for determining the operability of the valve without causing it to change fluid conduction state. A spool member is axially moveable within a valve housing in response to pressure changes caused by the plunger of a pilot valve. The plunger is moved in response to an electromagnetic field induced by a solenoid coil. The coil is sequentially actuated at ever increasing intervals of time while the movement of the spool member is monitored by observing an output from a magnetically sensitive device which can be affected by the presence of a permanent magnet within its zone of detection. The permanent magnet is attached for movement with the spool member and the magnetically sensitive device, such as a Hall effect element, is attached to a stationary portion of the valve at a predetermined location. When the interval of deactuation of the coil is sufficient to cause the spool member to move the permanent magnet into the zone of detection of the magnetically sensitive device, a signal is provided and the valve is determined to sufficiently move the spool member to indicate its operability. None of the actions described immediately above result in a change in fluid conduction state of the valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to valves and, more particularly, to a valve which is provided with the capability of determining the operative state and condition of the valve without changing its actuation state.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many different types of valves are known to those skilled in the art. One particular type of known valve is a spool valve in which a spool member is moved axially in response to pressure provided by a pilot valve and the axial movement of the spool member changes the interconnection between various ports formed in a valve body.
In certain applications, valves of the type described above are used in applications where they are intended to remain in a constant state of actuation for very long periods of time. During those extended time periods, the spool member of the valve does not move and the fluid interconnection between valve ports does not change. This continual sedentary state can lead to possible dangerous conditions when the valve is of the fail safe type and the sedentary state is in the actuated position. Under these circumstances, a failure in the valve's ability to return safely to its rest position can lead to disastrous consequences. When a valve, or any other mechanical device, is left in one condition for extended periods of time, the components which are intended to be moveable relative to each other can seize together and become frozen in their actuated position.
As an example of the above problem condition, a valve can comprise a solenoid operated pilot valve which controls the position of a spool member. In the actuated position, an electric current is continually provided to a solenoid coil of the pilot valve which causes a plunger of the pilot valve to move to and remain in an actuation position. This actuation position connects a motor portion of the spool member in fluid communication with a pressure source. This continuous pressure causes the spool member to remain in its actuation position. Both the spool member of the main valve and the plunger of the pilot valve are typically provided with spring return mechanisms that return them to their unactuated positions when the pressure is removed from the spool member because the current is removed from the solenoid coil. If a power failure occurs and the solenoid coil is deprived of electrical current, the valve is designed so that the lack of power will cause the springs in the pilot valve and main valve to urge the plunger and spool member back to their unactuated positions. Applied in this way, a power failure will result in the valve returning to its fail safe condition. Any equipment, such as pneumatic actuators, which are connected to the valve would typically be arranged in such a way that the return of the valve to its fail safe condition would result in all associated equipment being placed in a safe condition. The fail safe techniques described above depend completely on the return of the spool member to its unactuated position in response to the force provided by an internal spring. However, as is well known to those skilled in the art, when a valve is maintained in a constant position for an extremely long period of time, it can possibly remain permanently frozen in that position even after the actuation force provided by the solenoid pilot valve is removed. This seizure of the spool member within the valve housing can result from several causes. First, any two materials that are placed in intimate contact with each other for long periods of time can adhere to each other. This can result from molecular exchange between the materials or the build up of corrosion at the interface between them. In addition, the elastomeric seals which are typically used in valves can adhere to the surface of the spool member with which they are in contact. Regardless of the numerous reasons why the spool member can stick to associated components and remain in its actuated position after the pilot valve solenoid has been de-energized, it should be understood that a failure of this type can be catastrophic. It should also be understood that failures of this type are insidious because they do not become evident until after they occur. A valve which has been in an actuated position for an extended period of time can appear to be in perfect operating condition as long as it is actuated, but it can also be in a condition wherein the spool member is actually seized in its actuated position and will not respond by returning to its unactuated position if a power failure occurs or if the solenoid pilot valve is manually deactuated. These types of latent failures can also be very expensive to detect by manually turning the valve off for a moment and then back on. The process which is controlled by the valve may be one that does not lend itself to manual interruption in this manner.
Another expensive solution to this problem is to provide dual valve configurations in which the failure of one valve will not defeat the fail safe arrangement. However, this technique also has a serious drawback in that a failure of one of two redundant valves will not be readily evident as long as the other one of the two redundant valves is operating properly. This technique therefore merely delays the catastrophic failure.
In view of the above discussion of the problems related to valves which remain in an actuated position for long periods of time, it can be seen that it would be significantly beneficial if a means for testing the operability of an actuated valve is provided wherein the operating state of the valve need not be affected.

Valve with dynamic function checking capability


‘Capitola’ is a new variety of calla lily plant having red-purple colored spathes that are positioned above the foliage. The flower stems are strong and long lasting. The leaves are green with no maculations present.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of calla lily, botanically known as Zantedeschia sprengeri and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Capitola'.
'Capitola' is a product of a planned breeding program having the objective of creating Zantedeschia varieties for pot flower production in a wide range of colors and classic flower shapes. 'Capitola' was selected in 2008 in Moss Landing, Calif. as an inbred seedling selected from an open-pollinated population and self-pollinated for many generations. As such, its exact parentage is unknown and comparisons thereto cannot be provided.
The new variety was first asexually reproduced through tissue culture shoot propagation in October of 2011 in Moss Landing, Calif. Asexual reproductions of 'Capitola' have demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new variety are retained and reproduced true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following observations, measurements and comparisons describe plants grown in 15 cm pots at 65 days from planting in 't Zand, The Netherlands under greenhouse conditions which approximate those generally used in horticultural practice. Color references are made to The 2001 R.H.S. Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society of London, 4th Edition, except where general color terms of ordinary significance are used.
The present invention has not been evaluated under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variations in environment without a change in the genotype of the plant.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and determined to be basic characteristics of 'Capitola' which, in combination, distinguish this calla lily as a new and distinct cultivar:                1. Red-purple colored spathes;        2. Inflorescences are positioned above the foliage; and        3. Firm, long-lasting peduncles.
Table 1 provides a comparison of 'Capitola' to similar Zantedeschia sprengeri varieties 'Garnet Glow' (unpatented), 'California Red' (unpatented), and 'Flirt' (unpatented).
TABLE 1Comparison Differing ComparisonPresent varietyvarietytrait(s)expressionexpression'Garnet Glow'Peduncle Early flower Erect peduncles withstrengthnoddingno nodding observedat 21 days'California Red'Spathe Red Group Between Red-PurplecolorRHS 46AGroup RHS 59A-59BFlowering 78 days to 68 days to flowertimeflower'Flirt'Leaf PresentNone presentmaculations


A switch device for a network element includes a transfer system (110) for transferring data from ingress line interfaces of the network element to egress line interfaces of the network element in accordance with control information associated with the data. The transfer system includes a control section (111) configured to compare data traffic load to capacity available to the data traffic load at one of the egress line interfaces so as to generate a congestion indicator expressing whether a data flow (113) representing the data traffic load is a potential cause of congestion at the one of the egress line interfaces. The control section is further configured to direct a congestion control action to the data flow if the data flow is a potential cause of congestion. Thus, the congestion management related to the ingress and egress line interfaces can be carried out by the switch device.

In many cases a network element comprises one or more ingress line interfaces for receiving data from data transfer links of a data transfer network, one or more egress line interfaces for transmitting data to data transfer links of the data transfer network, and a switch device for transferring data from the ingress line interfaces to the egress line interfaces in accordance with control information associated with the data. The network element can be for example an internet protocol "IP" router, an Ethernet switch, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode "ATM" switch, and/or a Multi-Protocol Label Switching "MPLS" switch. Each data transfer link of the data transfer network can be for example a fiber link, a copper link, or a radio link. A commonly used construction of a network element of the kind described above is such that the network element comprises a frame and plug-in units which are installed in plug-in unit slots of the frame. Electrical or optical connectors in a plug-in unit make galvanic or optical contacts with corresponding electrical or optical connectors in the frame when the plug-in unit is inserted in the plug-in unit slot of the frame. One or more of the plug-in units may constitute the above-mentioned switch device, and other ones of the plug-in units can be line interface modules which comprise the above-mentioned ingress line interfaces and egress line interfaces. Furthermore, there can be one or more plug-in units which constitute a control and/or monitoring device and/or one or more plug-in units which constitute a power supply device.
Network elements of the kind described above should not constitute bottle necks of data transfer in order that the capacity of the data transfer links between the network elements could be effectively utilized. This requirement can be fulfilled when the data transfer capacity from the ingress line interfaces of a network element to the egress line interfaces of the network element is sufficiently high with respect to the data traffic load arriving at the ingress line interfaces and the queuing of data takes place in front of the egress line interfaces. The inherent drawback of the queuing at the egress line interfaces is that also such data which is discarded by the queue management and thereby not forwarded to the data transfer network consumes the above-mentioned data transfer capacity from the ingress line interfaces to the egress line interfaces. The virtual output queuing "VOQ" is a known technique for remedying the above-mentioned drawback. In the virtual output queuing, data is arranged to queue not only at the egress line interfaces but also at the ingress line interfaces prior to being transferred by a switch device to the egress line interfaces. The situations prevailing at the egress line interfaces are signaled to the ingress line interfaces so that the queue management is able to de-queue data from an appropriate queue at an appropriate ingress line interface and to allow the switch device to transfer the data to an appropriate egress line interface when there is room for the data in the buffer of the egress line interface under consideration. In a case of congestion, data is discarded at an ingress line interface. Thus, the data transfer capacity from the ingress line interfaces to egress line interfaces is not wasted on data that will be discarded. On the other hand, the virtual output queuing corresponds functionally to the real output queuing where the queue management is run at the egress line interfaces.
The virtual output queuing of the kind described above is, however, not free from challenges. Some of the challenges are related to the need to signal the queuing situations prevailing at the egress line interfaces to the ingress line interfaces. Especially in cases where the number of ingress line interfaces and/or the number egress line interfaces is/are high, the signaling is complex and it may represent a significant overhead in the data transfer between the ingress and egress line interfaces.

Switch device for a network element of a data transfer network


A system and method for selecting and combining satellite communication signals from multiple antennas. The system includes at least two signal paths, each coupled to a separate antenna, and a combiner for combining signals from the two paths for processing by a signal processor. At least one of the two paths includes a signal delay unit. The signal processor can distinguish a signal received from a source on one of the antennas from that signal received from the source on the other antenna based on a signal delay produced by the signal delay unit. Each signal path includes a variable attenuator for selectively coupling each signal path to the signal processor. The signal processor determines the quality of the signals received along the signal paths, and provides data regarding signal quality to a control processor, which manipulates the attenuators to couple the signal path having the highest quality signal to the signal processor.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to satellite communication systems and more particularly to detecting and selecting satellite communication signals using multiple antennas.
II. Description of the Related Art
A variety of multiple access communication systems and techniques have been developed for transferring information among a large number of system users. However, spread spectrum modulation techniques, such as those used in code division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems provide significant advantages over other modulation schemes, for example, especially when providing service for a large number of communication system users. Such techniques are disclosed in the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, which issued Feb. 13, 1990 under the title Spread Spectrum Multiple Access Communication System Using Satellite or Terrestrial Repeaters, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/368,570, filed under the title Method and Apparatus for Using Full Spectrum Transmitted Power in a Spread Spectrum Communication System for Tracking Individual Recipient Phase Time and Energy, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
The above-mentioned patents disclose multiple access communication systems in which a large number of generally mobile or remote system users each employ at least one transceiver to communicate with other system users or users of other connected systems, such as a public telephone switching network. The transceivers, also referred to as user terminals, can communicate through gateways and satellites, or terrestrial base stations (also sometimes referred to as cell-sites) or other relay terminals.
Base stations cover regions (also sometimes referred to as cells), while satellites have footprints on the surface of the Earth. In either system, capacity gains can be achieved by sectoring, or subdividing, the geographical regions being covered. Cells can be divided into "sectors" by using directional antennas at the base station. Similarly, a satellite's footprint can be divided geographically into "beams," through the use of beam-forming antenna systems. These techniques for subdividing a coverage region can be thought of as creating isolation using relative antenna directionality or space division multiplexing. In addition, provided there is available bandwidth, each of these subdivisions, either sectors or beams, can be channelized. One way to channelize these subdivisions is to assign multiple CDMA channels through the use of frequency division multiplexing (FDM). In satellite systems, each CDMA channel is referred to as a "sub-beam," because there may be several of these per "beam."
In communication systems employing CDMA, separate links are used to transmit communication signals to and from a gateway or base station. A forward link refers to communication signals originating at the gateway or base station and transmitted to a system user. A reverse link refers to communication signals originating at a user terminal and transmitted to the gateway or base station.
In one type of spread-spectrum communication system, one or more preselected pseudo-noise (PN) code sequences are used to modulate or "spread" user information signals over a predetermined spectral band prior to modulation onto a carrier for transmission as communication signals. PN spreading, a method of spread-spectrum transmission that is well known in the art, produces a signal for transmission that has a bandwidth much greater than that of the data signal. In the base station- or gateway-to-user terminal communication link, PN spreading codes or binary sequences are used to discriminate between signals transmitted by different base stations or over different beams. These codes are typically shared by all communication signals within a given cell or sub-beam.
A pair of pseudonoise (PN) code sequences can be used to modulate or "spread" information signals. Typically, one PN code sequence is used to modulate an in-phase (I) channel while the other PN code sequence is used to modulate a quadrature-phase (Q) channel. This PN modulation or encoding occurs before the information signals are modulated by a carrier signal and transmitted as communication signals. The PN spreading codes are also referred to as short PN codes because they are relatively "short" when compared with other PN codes used by a communication system.
A common goal in the design of such multiple-access communications systems is to achieve the highest possible user capacity, that is, to enable the largest possible number of users to access the system simultaneously. System capacity can be limited by several factors, such as the number of user codes and CDMA channels available. However, spread spectrum systems are "power limited", that is by the total amount of power allowed by all users to prevent unacceptable interference, and generally it is the amount of power required to maintain forward link communications to system users that limits system capacity the most. If the amount of power required to maintain just a few of these links is large enough, the total power allocation is consumed well before the number of codes or frequencies available for more users are exhausted.
Therefore, it is generally necessary to minimize the power required to "connect" each user or maintain their forward link in order to leave power for other users and increase system capacity. This can be accomplished by increasing the ratio G/T of antenna gain G to receiver noise temperature T for each user. The higher this ratio or the antenna gain for each user, the less power required by that user for a link. When the gain of each user antenna is high then a sufficiently low amount of power is required to maintain the forward link and power is available for others.
In satellite communication systems, another design goal is to track or acquire and communicate with multiple satellites simultaneously. One reason behind this goal is the desire to improve signal reception using signal diversity. Another reason is to accommodate communications with satellites which are in range, or in view, for relatively short periods of time. A common approach to achieving these goals is to optimize antenna design.
One such design optimization is to utilize large, steerable, highly directional antennas. Another such design optimization is to combine the signals of multiple antennas to form a steerable beam. One disadvantage of these approaches is that the manufacture and integration of such antennas is both complex and expensive.
Another such design optimization is to use multiple antennas, such as "patch" or helical antenna elements, that each cover a different sector of the sky. That is, each antenna has a radiation pattern that is optimized to cover a specific region of the sky or of a satellite constellation orbital pattern. This results in increased directivity and increased gain or G/T per antenna. A significant advantage of this approach is that less expensive antennas can be used. Unfortunately, the primary barrier to the use of multiple inexpensive antennas is the difficulty of detecting and selecting the appropriate signals from the antennas.

Multiple antenna detecting and selecting


The present invention stacks integrated circuit packages into circuit modules. In a preferred embodiment, solder paste and primary adhesive respectively are applied to selected locations on the flex circuitry. Supplemental adhesive is applied to additional locations on the flex circuitry, CSP, or other component. The flex circuitry and the CSP are brought into proximity with each other. During solder reflow operation, a force is applied and the CSP collapses toward the flex circuitry, displacing the primary adhesive and the supplemental adhesive. The supplemental adhesive establishes a bond providing additional support to the flex circuitry. In another embodiment, CSPs or other integrated circuit packages are bonded to each other or to other components with a combination of adhesives. A rapid bond adhesive maintains alignment of the bonded packages and/or components during assembly, and a structural bond adhesive provides additional strength and/or structural integrity to the bond.

A variety of techniques are used to stack packaged integrated circuits. Some methods require special packages, while other techniques stack conventional packages.
The predominant package configuration employed during the past two decades has encapsulated an integrated circuit in a plastic surround typically having a rectangular configuration. The enveloped integrated circuit is connected to the application environment through leads emergent from the edge periphery of the plastic encapsulation. Such "leaded packages" have been the constituent elements most commonly employed by techniques for stacking packaged integrated circuits.
Leaded packages play an important role in electronics, but efforts to miniaturize electronic components and assemblies have driven development of technologies that preserve circuit board surface area. Because leaded packages have leads emergent from peripheral sides of the package, leaded packages occupy more than a minimal amount of circuit board surface area. Consequently, alternatives to leaded packages known as chip scale packages or "CSPs" have recently gained market share.
A commonly used style of CSP provides connection to a packaged integrated circuit through a set of contacts (often embodied as "bumps" or "balls") arrayed across a major surface of the package. Instead of leads emergent from a peripheral side of the package, contacts are placed on a major surface and typically emerge from the bottom surface of the package.
The absence of "leads" on package sides renders most of the conventional stacking techniques devised for leaded packages inapplicable for CSP stacking. Frequently, CSP stacking provides one or more flex circuits interconnecting the contacts of respective CSPs. Also, CSP stacking may more often dispose one CSP bonded to another CSP of the stack. Conventional stacking techniques devised for leaded packages also often are inadequate for stacking integrated circuits packaged in different forms, such as a stack comprising both CSPs and leaded packages.
A variety of previous techniques for stacking CSPs and mixed integrated circuit packages may present complex assembly problems. Therefore, a technique and system is needed for stacking CSPs that provides a thermally-efficient, reliable structure allowing efficient production at reasonable cost with readily understood and managed materials and methods.


A method and system for allowing end users to create a database and a user interface to interact with database data are provided. The database management system provides a database abstraction layer that hides the complexities of a database and vendor-specific implementation details from the end user, while still allowing the end user to perform powerful database tasks. The database management system allows an end user with little or no knowledge about databases to create, edit, and maintain a database without understanding the details behind the database. The database management system also provides a facility for the easy creation of web pages to access the database to provide features such as searching, data entry, and browsing data stored in the database.

Databases are used in a variety of different computer systems today for a vast number of purposes. For example, databases can be used to manage contact information such as first names, last names, and phone numbers. Databases are also used on a variety of scales. For example, a database can be used by an individual user to store that user's list of friends and relatives, or by a corporation to store employee, customer, or financial information. Databases are also used for electronic commerce to store item descriptions and the state of transactions with customers, and to manage inventory.
Despite the widespread use of databases, the creation and maintenance of databases has remained a task for specialized engineers and designers. For instance, to create a table in a database a specialized person needs to know the data types provided by the database for database fields, any limitations on the length of data that can be stored for each data type, the precision available for numeric data types, and whether a particular data type is indexable, just to name a few examples. Moreover, since the features and requirements of databases delivered by different vendors vary substantially, a specialized person typically specializes in the database products of only one vendor. Some database products, for example, have strict requirements for field names, such as that field names be limited to 30 characters in length, start with a letter, and only contain letters and numbers without spaces or other symbols. Some database products support data types that others do not, and some allow operations that others do not, such as renaming fields or tables after they are created.
The differences in database implementations and the inherent complexities in databases increase the difficulty of working with databases and restrict the number of users qualified to create and maintain databases. This prevents a large number of users from being able to benefit from the power of databases to store and organize their information for a variety of purposes.
Another problem with traditional databases is the difficulty of creating user interfaces to interact with database data. Providing meaningful interaction with a database to end users generally requires the creation of a custom client application using one of several database communication protocols. These protocols vary based on the database vendor and require programming skills to create an application to use them. More recent databases have allowed access from the web using a standard web browser, but they still require the skills of a web developer to create web pages that pull information from the database and format it for display in the browser. The creation of a database and a user interface to access it often requires a skilled team of specialized programmers and operations personnel. Since many organizations do not have such a skilled team, many opportunities for use of such a database to improve the efficiency of the organization are not realized.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


The invention concerns a method for generating calibration signals for calibrating spatially remote signal branches of antenna systems. In accordance with the invention, a base signal is generated by mean of a timer and is fed to a distributor unit for distribution of the base signal to amplifier circuits on the signal distribution lines respectively allocated to them. At the output of the amplifier circuits, a calibration signal is generated respectively via amplification of the base signal within a specifiable upper amplitude limit and a specifiable lower amplitude limit, which is fed to the respective feed-in point of the signal branch to be calibrated that is allocated to an amplifier circuit.

The invention concerns a method for generating calibration signals for calibrating spatially remote signal branches of antenna systems.
In calibrating signal branches of antenna systems, the calibration signals are usually centrally generated with the corresponding frequency at which the calibration should be conducted. Here it is problematic that the distributor lines have a dispersive behavior over the frequency. That is, the signal transit times are frequency and temperature-dependent, wherein the dependency is greater the higher the absolute frequency. Moreover a signal line has varying damping as a function of frequency, temperature, bending radius of the lines, and age.
Due to imprecise adaptations to impedance, standing waves arise in connection with known methods, resulting in a wave-like amplitude behavior of the signals. A calibration is consequently made difficult.
Known calibration measuring devices are usually stationarily incorporated into the antenna system to be gauged. The disadvantages here are the large amount of space required for the measuring devices and the complicated and changing environmental conditions, for example, when installing measuring devices in the wing tips of an airplane.
A further disadvantage is that with known systems, frequency-selective filters are used, which leads to an insufficient timing accuracy due to frequency-specific group transit times. Furthermore, these group transit times are temperature and age-dependent. Nonetheless, a high level of timing accuracy is required for certain measuring methods since time differences in the arrival of received signals at the various signal branches of the antenna system are relied upon for ascertaining the direction of reception. This is also referred to as the delta time of arrival method. The direction of reception is moreover an important criterion for localizing senders.

Method for generating calibration signals for calibrating spatially remote signal branches of antenna systems


A balloon comprising first and second balloon sheets and a self-sealing valve positioned between the balloon sheets. Each balloon sheet has a body portion and a stem portion extending outwardly from the body portion and terminating at a stem end. The balloon sheets are bonded together generally around their peripheries to define a balloon body and balloon stem. The stem portion of the first balloon sheet is shorter than the stem portion of the second balloon sheet so that the stem end of the second balloon sheet extends beyond the stem end of the first balloon sheet to define an extended portion of the second balloon sheet. The valve comprises first and second valve sheets each having an inlet end, an outlet end, and an intermediate region between the inlet and outlet ends. The inlet end of the second valve sheet extends outwardly beyond the inlet end of the first valve sheet to define an extended portion of the second valve sheet. The valve is disposed between and bonded to the balloon sheets generally at the balloon stem with the inlet end of the second valve sheet overlying the extended portion of the second balloon sheet. The extended portion of the second balloon sheet and the extended portion of the second valve sheet combine to form a guide tongue for facilitating insertion of a gas supply nozzle into the valve during inflation of the balloon.

This invention relates to balloons and, in particular, to a balloon having a self-sealing valve.
Exemplary of presently existing self-sealing balloons is the balloon shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,167 having a valve positioned in and bonded to the stem of the balloon. The valve is formed from two valve sheets bonded together to define a valve inlet and a valve outlet, and the valve is so positioned in the balloon that the valve inlet extends outwardly beyond the balloon stem. The inside surface of one of the valve sheets is coated with a bond-resistant coating to prevent bonding of the valve sheets together during bonding of the valve to the balloon. The valve sheets are generally thin and therefore often difficult to separate at the valve inlet, making it difficult to insert a gas supply nozzle to inflate the balloon. Also, although the self-sealing valve functions to resist leakage of gas out the stem of the balloon without permanently sealing the stem, in some circumstances it is desirable to permanently close the valve by a heat-seal across the balloon stem after inflation of the balloon. This cannot be accomplished in the aforementioned prior art balloon since the bond-resistant coating on the valve prevents heat-sealing of the valve in the stem area of the balloon.
In another prior art balloon, the valve lies entirely within the balloon and extends from a portion of the stem adjacent the body of the balloon into the body. A disadvantage of this balloon is that the valve is not visible when the balloon is assembled. If the valve is not properly positioned in the balloon during assembly--e.g., due to a malfunction in the assembly process--the defect in the balloon cannot be visually detected. Also, since the valve is not positioned in the end of the stem, the thickness of the stem is no greater than the thickness of the balloon sheet. Thus, a string tied to the end of the stem may tear the stem because the stem is not reinforced.

Balloon having a self sealing valve and method of making same


A device for cooking food, in particular a grilling or baking device, includes a system for heating the air, optionally a grate, and hollow sections through which a coolant flows, arranged on two different levels above the air-heating system. The hollow sections on at least one of levels have upper faces in the form of channels which act as drainage channels for the juices from the food being cooked. The hollow sections on the two different levels are horizontally mutually offset and means are provided to prevent the juices from the food being cooked from reaching the glowing grate.

The invention relates to a device for cooking food, in particular a grilling or baking device of a type having a heating unit for heating the air, preferably a grate, and hollow sections through which a coolant flows and which are arranged on two different levels above the heating unit and are horizontally offset from each other, wherein channels for draining the juices from the food being cooked are formed on the upper faces of the hollow sections on at least one of the levels.
In known devices of this type, for example in grilling devices, heated air flows directly to the lower face of the grate and through its members to the food being cooked. However, juices from the food, especially fat, may drip down. This is especially disadvantageous when the device heating the air includes a glowing nest or glowing rods, since in this case the juices from the food, in particular the fat, will scorch and the residue of combustion carried by the heated air can contaminate the food being cooked.
DE-C-156 208 proposes a grilling device having two rows of grate rods arranged on two different levels above the heating system, such that the dripping fat is collected by the members on the lower grate and channeled to a container for collection.


A child's playhouse includes interfolded panels arranged for ease of assembly relative to one another, including hinged interconnection, wherein the top wall includes a pop-up plate having an accordion pleated member extending between the pop-up plate and the top wall to provide for ease of projection of a structure relative to the top wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to child playhouse structure, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved child's playhouse wherein the same is arranged for ease of construction and interfolding during periods of non-use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Child's playhouse structure of various types are utilized throughout the prior art and exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,964,249; 4,190,978; and 4,112,635.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by providing for a playhouse structure including adornments and accessories arranged for ease of projection relative to the playhouse structure and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


Described herein is a method of removing an organic-containing material from an exposed surface of a large substrate (at least 0.25 m2). The substrate may comprise an electronic device. The exposed surface is treated with a stripping solution comprising ozone (O3) in a solvent, where the solvent comprises acetic anhydride. The stripping solvent used to form the stripping solution may comprise a mixture of acetic anhydride with a co-solvent selected from the group consisting of a carbonate containing 2-4 carbon atoms, ethylene glycol diacetate, and combinations thereof. In some instances, the stripping solution may contain only acetic anhydride and ozone, where the ozone concentration is typically about 300 ppm or greater.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of removing organic-containing materials such as photoresists, high temperature organic layers, and organic dielectric materials from a substrate surface of a flat panel display or solar cell array or other large scale substrate (a substrate which is typically larger than about 0.5 meter by 0.5 meter).
2. Brief Description of the Background Art
The information in this Background Art portion of the application is provided so that the reader of the application can better understand the invention which is described subsequently. The presence of information in this Background Art portion of the application is not an admission that the information presented or a that a combination of the information presented is prior art to the invention.
The fabrication of electronic device structures is complicated by the number of different materials which are used, both to provide the elements of the functional device, and as temporary process structures during fabrication of the device. Since most of the devices involve the formation of layers of inter-related, intricate, patterned structures, photoresists and high temperature organic masking materials are commonly used during patterning of underlying layers of material which are present over large area (typically about 0.25 m2 or greater) surfaces. A patterned photoresist is one of the temporary processing structures and must be removed once work on the underlying structure through openings in the photoresist is completed. Therefore, there is a need for an efficient and inexpensive method of removing, stripping, or cleaning of organic photoresists, as well as other organic layer residues, from large substrate surfaces. Due to the varying composition of a substrate underlying a photoresist, for example, it is important that a method used to remove the photoresist not be reactive with (corrosive to) surfaces underlying the photoresist. One problem has been the presence of metallic materials and the tendency of these materials to oxidize and dissolve the oxidized layer.
To be useful in processing of large surface areas, it is helpful to have the stripping and cleaning material be a non-corrosive fluid. The fluid should be minimally affected by the presence of an ambient atmospheric condition. It is also helpful when the removal process can be carried out at room temperature, or at least below about 80° C. Finally, it is always desirable that the fluid used for removal of the organic material be environmentally friendly.
In order to remove an organic material such as a photoresist for example, and specifically to strip photoresist from large substrate surfaces, a number of techniques have been used. Representative techniques for removing photoresists, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, are described below.
A Piranha solution, which consists of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), typically in a volumetric ratio of 4:1, works well for photoresist removal, but cannot be used on substrate surfaces which include exposed metal, because it will etch the metal. Also, because it is very viscous, the Piranha solution is difficult to rinse off a substrate surface after a photoresist removal process. Further, the H2SO4/H2O2 solution cannot be recovered or re-used many times, as it decomposes rapidly. Finally, the solution needs to be applied at relatively high temperatures of at least 70° C., and typically about 120° C.
Several other techniques for removal of organic photoresists are based on the use of organic solvent-based strippers, such as monoethanolamine (MEA), dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA), ethyl lactate, and methylethylketone (MEK). Unlike the Piranha solution, these organic solvent strippers can be used when metals are present. However, these organic solvent strippers cannot be easily recovered after saturation with dissolved photoresist, because the photoresist is difficult to separate from the organic solvent. Therefore, the saturated organic solvent strippers must be disposed of, creating an environmental problem, or recovered for recycling using a distillation technique which is cumbersome and expensive. Like the Piranha solution, these solvents are typically heated prior to use, but to somewhat lower temperatures than the Piranha solution, typically around 50-65° C.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 59125760, of Tanno et al., published Jan. 10, 1986, describes dissolving ozone in an organic acid (such as formic acid or acetic acid) and using the ozonated organic acid to remove contamination from semiconductor substrates. Any heavy metal on the wafer is said to form a formate or an acetate, and any organic contaminant is decomposed by ozone, so that stains on the surface of the substrate can be removed.
T. Ohmi et al., in an article entitled "Native Oxide Growth and Organic Impurity Removal on Si Surface with Ozone-Injected Ultrapure Water" (J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 140, No. 3, March 1993), describe the use of ozone-injected ultrapure water to remove adsorbed organic impurities from a wafer surface prior to other wafer cleaning procedures. Ozone concentration in the water was 1-2 ppm. The process described by Ohmi et al. was said to be capable of effectively removing organic contaminants from the wafer surface in a short time at room temperature. Processing waste from the process was said to be simple, and the chemical composition of the ozone-injected ultrapure water was said to be easily controllable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,480, issued Nov. 7, 1995, to Matthews et al., and entitled "Process and Apparatus for the Treatment of Semiconductor Wafers in a Fluid", describes a process for removing organic materials from semiconductor wafers using chilled deionized water (1° C. -15° C.). The amount of ozone dissolved in the water is temperature-dependent. Lowering the temperature of the water is said to have increased the concentration of ozone in the water and to have increased the photoresist strip rate using the ozone/chilled water solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,847, issued May 27, 1997, to Ohno et al., and entitled "Film Removing Method and Film Removing Agent", describes a method of removing a film (e.g., an organic or metal-contaminated film) from a substrate surface by injecting ozone into an inorganic acid aqueous solution (e.g., a mixed solution of dilute HF and dilute HCl) and bringing bubbles formed by the ozone injection into direct contact with the film. Each bubble is said to be composed of an inside ozone bubble and an outside acid aqueous solution bubble. The Ohno et al. reference recommends an acid aqueous solution of 5 weight % or less, kept at room temperature, where the ozone concentration is within a range from 40,000 ppm to 90,000 ppm. Ozone has also been dissolved in sulfuric acid for use in cleaning semiconductor surfaces, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,917,123 and 5,082,518.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,747, issued Nov. 25, 1997, to Doscher, and entitled "Method for Removing Photoresist with Solvent and Ultrasonic Agitation", describes a method for removing photoresist using liquid organic solvents which include at least one polar compound having at least one strongly electronegative oxygen (such as ethylene diacetate) and at least one alicyclic carbonate (such as ethylene carbonate).
European Patent Publication No. 0867924, of Stefan DeGendt et al., published Sep. 30, 1998, and entitled "Method for Removing Organic Contaminants from a Substrate", describes the use of an agent to remove the organic contaminants, where the agent comprises water vapor, ozone, and an additive acting as a scavenger. Use of a liquid agent comprising water, ozone, and an additive acting as a scavenger is also discussed. The additive is recommended to be an OH radical scavenger, such as a carboxylic or phosphoric acid or a salt thereof. Preferred examples are acetic acid and acetate, as well as carbonate and phosphate. Although carboxylic acids as a whole are mentioned, there is no data for any carboxylic acid other than acetic acid. The authors describe how the ozone level of an aqueous ozone solution increases upon the addition of acetic acid to the water-based solution. They also disclose that photoresist strip rate increases upon the addition of acetic acid to an aqueous ozone solution. This publication is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,531, issued Jun. 27, 2000, to Carter et al., and entitled "Organic Removal Process" describes a method of photoresist removal in which a treating solution of ozone and bicarbonate (or other suitable radical scavenger) is used to treat a substrate for use in an electronic device. The concentration of bicarbonate ion or carbonate ion in the treating solution is said to be approximately equal to or greater than the ozone concentration. The method is said to be suited to removal of photoresist (as well as other organic materials) where metals such as aluminum, copper, and their oxides are present on the substrate surface.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002/025971, published Jan. 25, 2002, and assigned to Seiko Epson Corp. and Sumitomo Precision Prod. Co., teaches the use of ozonated water with acetic acid and ultraviolet radiation to remove photoresist. Ozonated water containing acetic acid is continuously supplied to the center portion of a rotating substrate. The ultraviolet rays from a UV lamp are irradiated onto the substrate to remove resist adhering to the surface of the substrate. The process is said to remove organic substances such as resist adhering onto the substrate without need for high temperature heat treatment.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0066717 A1, of Verhaverbeke et al., published Jun. 6, 2002, and entitled "Apparatus for Providing Ozonated Process Fluid and Methods for Using Same", describes apparatus and methods for wet processing of electronic components using ozonated process fluids. Verhaverbeke et al. teach that it is desirable to have as high an ozone concentration as possible to achieve rapid cleaning of electronic components. Verhaverbeke et al. achieved ozone concentrations in water up to 300 g/m3 by using a closed vessel with recirculated ozonated liquid, which is supplied under pressure. Verhaverbeke et al. describe the use of various chemically reactive process fluids which may be used in combination with ozone, including inorganic acids, inorganic bases, fluorinated compounds, and acetic acid. The Verhaverbeke et al. reference also provides an overview of the literature on the use of ozonated deionized water for photoresist removal from electronic component surfaces. This published patent application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0173156 A1, of Yates et al., published Nov. 21, 2002, and entitled "Removal of Organic Material in Integrated Circuit Fabrication Using Ozonated Organic Acid Solutions", describes the use of organic acid components to increase the solubility of ozone in aqueous solutions which are used for removing organic materials, such as polymeric resist or post-etch residues, from the surface of an integrated circuit device during fabrication. Each organic acid component is preferably said to be chosen for its metal-passivating effect. Such solutions are said to have significantly lower corrosion rates when compared to ozonated aqueous solutions using common inorganic acids for ozone solubility enhancement, due to a surface passivating effect of the organic acid component.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,409, issued Apr. 22, 2003, to DeGendt et al., and entitled "Method of Removing Organic Contaminants from a Semiconductor Surface", describes a method for removing organic contaminants from a semiconductor surface, where the semiconductor is held in a tank which is filled with a gas mixture comprising water vapor and ozone. DeGendt et al. teach that the use of gas phase processing, where the substrate surface is contacted with an ozone/water vapor mixture, enables an increase in ozone concentration near the wafer surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,674,054, issued Jan. 6, 2004, to Boyers et al., and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Heating a Gas—Solvent Solution", describes a method of quickly heating a gas—solvent solution from a relatively low temperature T1 to a relatively high temperature T2, such that the dissolved gas concentration at T2 is much higher than if the gas had originally been dissolved into the solvent at T2. The example of gas—solvent solution is an ozone gas in water solution. The objective is to heat a cold ozone—water solution using an in-line heater just prior to application of the solution to a substrate surface, to increase the reaction rate at the substrate surface. Table A in Col. 33 shows the solubility of ozone gas in water as a function of temperature and pressure. This '054 patent is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,696,228, issued Feb. 4, 2004, to Muraoka et al., and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Removing Organic Films", describes a method and apparatus for removing an organic film such as a resist film from a substrate surface using a treatment liquid which can be recycled and re-used. The treatment liquid is typically formed from liquid ethylene carbonate, liquid propylene carbonate, or a mixture thereof, and typically contains dissolved ozone. Since ethylene carbonate is a solid at room temperature, this photoresist removal method requires the use of elevated temperatures, in the range of about 50-120° C.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,330, issued Mar. 2, 2004, to Muraoka, and entitled "Method of Removing Contamination Adhered to Surfaces and Apparatus Used Therefor", describes a method of removing surface-deposited contaminants from substrates for electronic devices. The method includes bringing an ozone-containing treating solution into contact with the surface of a treating target (such as a semiconductor substrate) on which contaminants have deposited. The ozone-containing treating solution comprises an organic solvent having a partition coefficient to ozone of 0.6 or more, where the partition coefficient refers to a partition or division of gaseous ozone between an organic solvent that is in a liquid phase at standard temperature and pressure and an inert gas in a gaseous phase which comes in contact with the organic solvent. Any organic solvents are said to be useful in the invention, so long as they provide the desired partition coefficient. Preferably organic solvents are fatty acids, including acetic acid, propionic acid, and butyric acid. Enabling embodiments are provided for acetic acid. Ozonated acetic acid is used in a closed system with a constant ozone partial pressure above the system to keep a high concentration of ozone in the acetic acid and to minimize evaporation of the acetic acid.
Although high concentrations (≧200 ppm) of ozone can be obtained in acetic acid, and ozonated acetic acid may provide a rapid photoresist strip rate (≧1 μm/min), there are major drawbacks to the use of ozonated acetic acid for photoresist removal. One of the primary considerations is corrosivity. The presence of acetic acid has been observed to cause corrosion in metals, in particular, copper and molybdenum. These metals are commonly used in the flat panel display industry. Further, acetic acid is a solid at temperatures below about 16.7° C., which can cause problems under some desired processing conditions.
In view of the above, there is a need for an improved method of stripping and cleaning organic materials from electronic device surfaces, particularly when metals are present. In particular, there is a need for a stripping and cleaning method which has universal applicability with respect to the surface composition of the substrate. Due to the common presence of metals in semiconductor device substrates, flat panel display substrates, and solar cell arrays, methods of stripping and cleaning organic materials which are harmful when metals are present are not attractive.
Further, with respect to the manufacture of large flat panel substrates (such as those used for AMLCD or AMOLED panels, and in some instances solar panels), there is a need for a stripping and cleaning solution that can be applied over a stationary object or on an object that is moving on a conveyor belt in an atmospherically exhausted environment.
In addition, it would be highly desirable if the stripping and cleaning solution could be re-used over multiple processing cycles, without the need for frequent replenishment or filtering of the solution. It would also be advantageous if such an improved method for the removal of organic materials could be performed at room temperature.

Stripping and removal of organic-containing materials from electronic device substrate surfaces


An optical communication system for obtaining transmission of information with a pumping light beam acting as carrier, in addition to transmission of information with a signal light beam. This optical communication system includes an optical fiber amplifier amplifying a signal light beam by having the signal light beam and a pumping light beam propagated through a rare-earth-doped fiber, and a modulating circuit for modulating the pumping light beam with a high-frequency modulating signal having a period shorter than the life span of fluorescence resulting from an excited state. When the signal light beam and the pumping light beam are propagated in the same direction through the rare-earth-doped fiber, the transmission of information with the pumping light beam acting as a carrier constitutes a transmission of a supervisory signal for an optical repeater, and when the signal light beam and the pumping light beam are propagated in directions opposite to each other through the rare-earth-doped fiber, a two-way transmission is achieved by the transmission of information with the signal light beam and the transmission of information with the pumping light beam.

The present invention relates to an optical communication system provided with an optical fiber amplifier and, more particularly, to an optical communication system provided with an optical fiber amplifier constituted of a rare-earth-doped fiber which is with a rare earth element.
Optical amplifiers which are capable of amplifying an optical signal directly without using an electric circuit, are being intensively studied in many research institutions as a key device in the optical communication system in the future because of their characteristic, readiness to provide large capacity, and capability of amplifying multiple channels en bloc. Optical communication systems including such optical amplifiers have been proposed such that employ the optical amplifier as an optical power booster for compensating for branching or insertion loss and increasing the transmission power, that use the optical amplifier as an optical preamplifier for improvement of reception sensitivity, that use the optical amplifier as an optical repeater whereby miniaturization of the repeater is achieved and reliability on the repeater is enhanced, and so on. Research is being conducted for optimized arrangement of such systems.
Optical amplifiers that are the objects of the research conducted so far are broadly classified into: (a) optical amplifiers using an optical fiber doped with a earth element such as Er, Nd, and Yb (hereinafter referred to as "rare-earth-doped fiber", this term covering a wide range of waveguide structures including a waveguide doped with a rare earth element); (b) optical amplifiers of a semiconductor laser type; and (c) optical amplifiers making use of the non-linearity within an Of these, the optical amplifier (a) above, i.e., that uses a rare-earth-doped fiber, has advantageous characteristics such that it has no dependency on polarization, produces low noise, and incurs a small loss at its coupling with the transmission line.
When an optical amplifier is used as an optical repeater, a supervisory control function for the optical amplifier is indispensable. As a supervisory the optical amplifier (b) above, i.e., the one being of a semiconductor laser type, there is known a system disclosed, for example, in Ellis, A. D. et al.: Supervisory system for cascaded semiconductor laser amplifier repeaters, Electron. Lett., Vol. 25, No. PP. 309-311 (Mar. 2, 1989). However, since the for the semiconductor laser-type optical amplifier is such that the injection current to the semiconductor laser type optical amplifier is detected therein, the same system as above cannot be applied to the optical communication system provided with an optical fiber amplifier. In other words, there is found no prior art supervisory control system suitable for optical fiber amplifiers.

Optical amplifier and optical communication system provided with the optical amplifier


An implantable medical apparatus delivers, in order to induce or terminate a tachyarrhythmia in a heart, a sequence consisting of several stimulation pulses having a time interval T.sub.t between each stimulation pulse. The first stimulation pulse is delivered after the lapse of a time interval T.sub.t, triggered by a spontaneous heart event If a detector in the apparatus detects a spontaneous heart event during any of the time intervals T.sub.t between the stimulation pulses during the attempt of inducing or terminating, the next stimulation pulse will be delivered after the lapse of the time interval T.sub.t from the detected spontaneous heart event. The apparatus also limits the duration of the sequence.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an implantable medical apparatus for stimulating a heart, of the type having a stimulation pulse generator which generates and delivers stimulation pulses, a detector which, when activated, detects spontaneous heart events and a control device which controls the stimulation pulse generator and the detector, which apparatus for inducing or terminating a tachyarrhythmia delivers a sequence consisting of a predetermined number of stimulation pulses with a time interval between each stimulation pulse, which sequence is released at a detection of a spontaneous heart event.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An apparatus of the type described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,043 which describes a cardioverter/pacemaker. The cardioverter/pacemaker delivers, during an electrophysiology study (EP study) on a heart, a group of stimulation pulses for inducing a tachyarrhythmia. The purpose of inducing the tachyarrhythmia is to determine, under controlled circumstances, the most efficient way of terminating a tachyarrhythmia. The known cardioverter/pacemaker comprises a stimulation pulse generator, a detector for detecting the heart R-waves, a control unit, a transmitting and a receiving unit for radio waves transmitted to and from an external programmer. When an EP-study is desired the operator sets the programmer and signals are transmitted to the cardioverter/pacemaker, causing the detector to be disconnected and the stimulation pulse generator to be activated into VVT mode. Via the external programmer a sequence of pacing signals is transmitted to the stimulation pulse generator which delivers stimulation pulses to the heart synchronously with the pacing signals of the sequence. During the study the transmitting unit is also activated and transmits ECG information to the external programmer.
The sequence is mostly brief; a sequence consisting of five stimulation pulses with a time interval of 250 ms between each stimulation pulse will last just over one second. As the detector of the known cardioverter/pacemaker is disconnected during the EP-study and as the stimulation pulse generator delivers stimulation pulses controlled by the signal sequence from the programmer, the study will be fulfilled unregarding any events during the study. The stimulation pulses may not, for instance, provoke a reaction from the heart tissue and the attempt to induce a tachyarrhythmia thereby fails. It may also happen that a tachyarrhythmia with a shorter time interval than that of the sequence is induced. In such a case it would be unfortunate to deliver any further stimulation pulses to the heart.

Implantable medical apparatus for stimulating a heart


This disclosed invention relates to a dry paint transfer laminate, comprising: a dry paint film layer comprising a binder and a pigment, the dry paint film layer having an upper surface and a lower surface; an adhesive layer overlying the upper surface of the dry paint film layer; and a release liner overlying the lower surface of the dry paint film layer.

Conventional painting using liquid paint requires set up steps involving masking off areas not to be painted and the spreading of drop cloths. Conventional painting also requires messy clean up of brushes, rollers, and the like, the problem of spills, exposure to fumes, and delays while the paint dries. When special effects such as faux finishes are desired, additional time and effort is required to apply additional coats.
The present invention provides a solution to these problems. With the present invention it is not necessary to mask off areas that are not to be painted and it is not necessary to use drop cloths. The messy clean up of brushes, rollers, and the like is avoided. Spills and exposure to fumes are avoided. Delays waiting for paint to dry are avoided. Special effects such as faux finishes can be accomplished with a single application.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.