An ultrasonic surgical instrument having a handle with a finger actuator, and more particularly, an ultrasonic surgical device adapted to be held by a surgeon and fingers-operated with precise movements while opening and closing an ultrasonic instrument while meeting the ergonomic requirements of the surgeon with regard to comfort and imparting the surgeon with an enhanced dextral control for easy maneuverability of the instrument. The instrument incorporates a thimble-shaped lever at the distal end of the handle for actuating the clamp arm of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, and votator structure for selective rotation of the surgical device whereby the ergonomic thimble-shaped lever and pencil grip provide the physician with an improved degree of control, greater comfort in manipulating the instrument, and the ability to perform blunt dissections.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic surgical instrument with a finger actuator, and more particularly, relates to an ultrasonic surgical device adapted to be held by a surgeon and operated with precise movements while opening and closing an ultrasonic instrument while meeting the ergonomic requirements of the surgeon with regard to comfort and imparting the surgeon with an enhanced dextral control for easy maneuverability of the instrument.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Presently, a wide variety of surgical instruments of the type under consideration are disclosed in the state-of-the-technology which are intended to provide diverse kinds of actuating mechanisms in the use of ultrasonic surgical instruments by surgeons and other medical practitioners for the treatment of patients.
Vaitekunas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,335, which is commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses an ultrasonic surgical instrument having an actuating element in a handle portion which is operatively coupled to at least one of two effector elements located at a distal end of the instrument. The actuating element is arranged to move at least one effector element towards the other effector element so as to engage tissue of a patient between the first and second effector elements. A cutting element is coupled to the distal end of an inner shaft in order to cut and/or cauterize tissue which is engaged by the first and second effector elements. Pursuant to the present invention, the actuating element possesses the form of a thimble-shaped lever in which a finger is inserted, whereas the patent discloses the actuating element as a sliding lever. In the present invention, the actuating element moves up and down, in the same direction as a clamp arm to provide for logical and convenient movement of the effector element, whereas the patent has an actuator which slides distally to proximally and then reveresly proximally to distally. Accordingly, pursuant to the inventive actuating element, the surgeon is provided with a more logical and ergonomically convenient actuator which moves in an entirely new way and direction in comparison with the prior art.
Shibata Yoshikiyo Japanese Unexamined Patent Application 2000-41990 discloses an ultrasonic surgical instrument with a thumb activated actuator which is located on the distal end of a handle. The handle is held with the palm down using the fingers to support the underside leaving the thumb free to work the actuator. When the actuator is pushed up by the thumb, the clamp assembly is opened away from the fixed blade, whereas upon the actuator being pushed down by the thumb, the clamp closes. A skid pad is present on the actuator to reduce slippage of the physicians thumb. In contrast, the present invention is designed to alleviate the problem of physician fatigue caused by other hand held instruments from having the fingers held awkwardly during lengthy surgery. The present invention uses a pencil grip rather than the palms down grip providing the surgeon with a more familiar grip which may be held for long periods of time. The ribbed slip guard effectively reduces fatigue while increasing surgical accuracy, and additionally the actuator of the present invention is thimble shaped, and provides for the more versatile pencil grip with the actuator worked by the index finger. Smith et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,873 discloses an ultrasonic surgical device where selective, indexed rotational positioning of the clamping mechanism and end effector is achieved by the provision of a detent mechanism incorporated into a clamp drive mechanism of the apparatus. Rotation is facilitated by a rotational knob located at the distal end of the handle portion of the ultrasonic instrument. Contrastingly, in the present invention, the rotation knob is located towards the center of the handle inside the handle, with the rotational knob being exposed through the two indents. Consequently, the rotation of the knob and therefore of the tip/clamp assembly is facilitated by the positioning of the rotation knob within and towards the center of the handle. The center position is more desirable because it allows the surgeon to rotate the knob with the same hand he is holding the ultrasonic surgical instrument with. Due to the pencil-grip which is used with this instrument, the surgeons do not need to use a second hand to rotate the knob, he merely uses the thumb and ring fingers of the hand holding the instrument.
Young et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,081 discloses a surgical instrument control means for selecting between a first mode of operation in which the advancement of a surgical clip from a storage into the jaw members is initiated by the user, and a second mode in which the advancement of the surgical clips is initiated independently of the user. This instrument it is not ultrasonic, and does not use a finger operated lever to actuate a tip assembly. Although the instrument has a finger operated slide, this slide functions as a selector between two different modes of the function, and does not actuate the tip assembly. The finger slide more closely resembles a slide on a rifle used to choose automatic or semi-automatic rather than the clamp actuator pursuant to the present invention. L""Esperance, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,988 discloses a surgical instrument in which a lever system is utilized in order to actuate the forward displacement of a sleeve over a port. Pushing down on the level actuates the sleeve over the port, whereas a spring automatically biases the lever to its upright return position and resultingly exposes the port. In contrast, the present invention uses a lever system to open and close a clamp arm rather than to slide a sleeve into a closed position. This in effect, allows a surgeon to apply force to the lever in both the upward and downward direction for greater control of the clamp, unlike the prior art which can only be pushed down by the surgeon. The patent also fails to disclose an ergonomically shaped thimble-lever to provide more comfort to the surgeon, nor does it display a pencil-grip which offers ergonomic comfort and greater maneuverability to a user. In the patent, the instrument is held with the palm down, requiring the thumb to actuate the lever, whereby the palm-down position decreases both comfort and maneuverability in operating the instrument.
The foregoing drawbacks and limitations which are encountered in the prior art are clearly obviated by the present inventive ultrasonic surgical instrument by providing a finger actuated mechanism which meets the ergonomic requirements of a surgeon or medical practitioner.
Pursuant to the invention, the surgical instrument essentially consists of an ultrasonic surgical device with a blade-like tip and clamp arm, which is held with a handle by the physician or surgeon with a pencil grip. The instrument incorporates a novel thimble-shaped lever at the distal end of the handle for actuating the clamp arm of the ultrasonic surgical instrument, whereby the ergonomic thimble-shaped lever and pencil grip provide the physician with an improved degree of control, greater comfort in manipulating the instrument, and the ability to perform blunt dissections.
The present invention features a surgical instrument of the type described, possessing a pencil grip which provides the physician or surgeon using the ultrasonic surgical device with a familiar grip which allows for finer and more precise motor movements, and therefore an enlarged degree of control in using the instrument. The present invention also employs a thimble-shaped lever which allows the physician or surgeon to apply force to both open and close the clamp arm, in contrast with many prior art devices which function in a spring-loaded operating mode. This imparts the physician with an improved control over the instrument, and also allows him to perform blunt dissections by employing the thimble-shaped lever. The ergonomic design of the thimble-shaped lever results in a greater degree of comfort to the surgeon by reducing stress on the pressure points on the hand of the surgeon. This unique aspect, combined with the fact that the surgeon or practitioner does not have to apply pressure against a spring-loaded actuating system, decreases the occurrence and intensity of any fatigue encounter during lengthy operating procedures utilizing the present ultrasonic surgical instrument.
A handle in the form of a shroud for an ultrasonic surgical instrument incorporating a clamp and blade device is held by a surgeon or medical practitioner like a pencil with a thimble-shaped operating lever being located at the distal end of the handle, whereby the surgeon or practitioner, i.e. physician or nurse, positions an index finger into the lever interior while using the instrument.
Moving the finger, and consequently the lever in an upward direction relative to the longitudinal axis of the instrument, results in the clamp assembly opening upwardly. The lowering of the finger then lowers the clamp arm into a closed position with the fixed blade, as a consequence of which the clamp arm moves in the same direction as the finger operating the lever. The handle is also ergonomically designed to meet the needs of the surgeon or practitioner operating the ultrasonic device, and wherein the pencil grip of the handle provides surgeons with a familiar gripping position to facilitate an increased accuracy in the use of the instrument. The surgical instrument also enables the surgeon or physician to perform blunt dissections by applying force which is adapted to both open and close the instrument, whereas blunt dissection cannot be readily accomplished by means of instruments which possess a spring-loaded actuating lever. The design of the inventive ultrasonic surgical instrument focuses on imparting surgeons with a greater degree of dextral control by enabling them to use large muscle groups to grippingly hold and support the instrument, and fine motor skills to precisely operate the thimble-shaped lever.
In addition, pursuant to a further inventive feature, enabling concurrent rotation of a rotator arrangement located within the handle which enables selective rotational movement of the clamp arm, and resultingly clamp and blade device, about the longitudinal axis of the instrument.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic surgical instrument which is operable by a surgeon or medical practitioner through a finger-actuated lever mechanism while held in a pencil-like gripped position.
Another object is to provide an ultrasonic surgical instrument of the type described which facilitates precise selective clamping and/or rotational operation of cooperating cam and blade component while meeting the ergonomic requirements of the surgeon or medical practitioner employing the instrument.
A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a method for the utilization of an ultrasonic surgical instrument which includes thimble-shaped finger-operated lever mechanism in conformance with the ergonomic needs of a surgeon or medial practitioner.

Ultrasonic surgical instrument with finger actuator


Disclosed is a method of treating problems or disorders of the human nervous system or a method of imparting an anaesthetic effect, by applying to a patient in need of such treatment a pharmaceutical composition adapted for topical application to human skin, comprising. (A) as an effective ingredient, a mixture comprising PA1 (B) a physiologically acceptable carrier.. (1) an antibiotic medication; PA2 (2) an antihistamine; and

The present invention is related to a topical composition which may be applied to skin for the purpose of treating problems or disorders of the nervous system in human patients and for imparting an anaesthetizing effect to a human patient.
Many compositions for treating problems or disorders of the nervous system and anaesthetic compositions are known in the art. But commonly their effectiveness is quite limited. It appears in most instances that the human body's own immune system actually defends the infected area of the body, thereby reducing the amount of composition which passes through the barrier of the immune system and reach the infection. By reducing the free transfer of the disease from the affected area to the healthy areas, the body prevents or reduces the spread of the disease. But this function has the drawback of impeding the transfer of composition to affected areas where they may perform their intended function.
The present inventor has found that by suppressing the immune system, a freer transfer of effective agent can be achieved; the more the immune system is suppressed, the more effective the agent becomes.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a composition which may be applied to human skin where it will successfully address problems or disorders of the nervous system in human patients, without causing adverse side effects.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a composition which may be applied to the skin of a human patient, to impart an anaesthetisizing effect to that patient.
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention.

Pharmaceutical composition and methods for using it


A method is disclosed for controlling the amount of compressed data. One or more viewing condition parameters are specified, and a quantizer step size for each frequency subband is determined that minimizes an amount of data that must be encoded for a compressed representation of the image by using one or more viewing condition parameters and a model that characterizes the human visual system. The image is compressed using the quantizer step size for each frequency subband to produce an amount of compressed data. The presence of a pre-specified maximum amount of compression data is determined. The amount of compressed data is compared to the pre-specified maximum amount. Subsequent discarding of least visually relevant compressed data reduces the amount of compressed data.

JPEG2000 is a sophisticated image compression technique that offers a rich set of features to meet the needs of different applications. These features can be achieved, because of the properties of the various components that form a JPEG2000 compression system. A brief description of these components is provided in the following, and a more complete description can be found in the paper by M. Rabbani and R. Joshi entitled, "An overview of the JPEG 2000 still image compression standard," Signal Processing: Image Communication, Vol. 17, pp. 3-48, 2002.
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic components in a JPEG2000 compression system. The original image data is initially sent to a pre-processor 10, where several modifications to the original image data may take place. One possible modification is a color transformation known as the irreversible color transform (ICT). This transform is designed to convert red-green-blue (RGB) image data into a single luminance (Y) and two chrominance (Cb, Cr) components for improved compression performance. The pre-processed data is then transformed using a discrete wavelet transform 12, which converts the spatial image data into wavelet coefficients that correspond to a plurality of spatial frequency subbands. The wavelet coefficients are quantized with a uniform quantizer 14 that includes a deadzone. Quantization is a many-to-one mapping that reduces the amount of data that is used to represent the wavelet coefficients, at the expense of errors in the image that is reconstructed from the quantized wavelet coefficients. The degree of quantization for each frequency subband is determined by a quantizer step size (denoted as Q(f) in FIG. 1) that is associated with the subband. It is common in JPEG2000 systems to specify a single base step size for quantization, and then derive a set of quantizer step sizes that correspond to the various frequency subbands by using properties of the wavelet transform (i.e., from the band gain factors for each of the frequency subbands). Alternatively, it is possible to specify an explicit set of quantizer step sizes for the frequency subbands for more precise control of the quantization.
The quantized wavelet coefficients are then partitioned into small codeblocks, and the quantized coefficients from each codeblock are encoded as bitplanes using an adaptive binary arithmetic encoder 16. This step is referred to as Tier-1 coding. Finally, the compressed codestream is produced by arranging the encoded codeblock data in various ways using a bitstream organizer 18. This step is referred to as Tier-2 coding. In Tier-2 coding, it is possible to discard encoded data corresponding to one or more bitplanes of the quantized wavelet coefficients, which will reduce the amount of compressed data at the cost of increased error in the decompressed image. The discarding of a bitplane from a given wavelet coefficient is equivalent to coarser quantization of that coefficient. If the quantizer step size that is initially applied to a coefficient is denoted as Δ, the effective quantizer step size after discarding k of the least significant bit planes is 2k·Δ. This relationship between the discarding of coefficient bit planes and the resulting degree of quantization is described by Joshi et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,782.
The flexibility that is achieved in JPEG2000 comes at the price of high computational complexity, and it is desirable to reduce this complexity while still providing a desired level of image quality. This high computational complexity is particularly a problem in motion imaging applications, where there can be a large number of frames in a sequence that must be encoded with high throughput for the encoding system so as to be economical in time and computing resources. A significant part of the computational load in a JPEG2000 encoder occurs during the Tier-1 coding, in which quantized wavelet coefficients are encoded using an arithmetic coder to form compressed data. After Tier-1 coding, it is common to discard a significant amount of the compressed data during Tier-2 coding to achieve a pre-specified size for the compressed codestream, or alternatively to achieve a pre-specified level of distortion in the image that is reconstructed during decompression. This process of varying the amount of compressed data is known as rate control.
One common rate control method for JPEG2000 is post-compression rate-distortion optimization (PCRD-opt). Some variation of PCRD-opt is found in most JPEG2000 software and hardware encoders, and a complete description can be found in the book entitled JPEG2000 Image Compression Fundamentals, Standards and Practice, D. S. Taubman and M. W. Marcellin, pp. 339-348, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Mass., 2002. A typical goal in applying PCRD-opt is to achieve a fixed size for the compressed codestream, regardless of the image content. Compression systems that produce a constant compressed size are known as constant bit rate (CBR). In a typical JPEG2000 implementation, using PCRD-opt, the wavelet coefficients are finely quantized, which produces a large amount of compressed data during Tier-1 coding. A PCRD-opt algorithm determines which data should be discarded to meet the pre-specified size by analyzing the impact of discarding the data on the compressed codestream size and the resulting distortion that is incurred in the decompressed image. The goal is to minimize the overall distortion subject to achieving the desired final size of the compressed data. The advantage of using finely quantized wavelet coefficients with a PCRD-opt algorithm is that it is possible to precisely control the amount of compressed data, so that the codestream size is as close as possible to the pre-specified limit without exceeding the limit. However, this approach is also time-consuming, because the formation of the compressed data from the finely quantized coefficients in Tier-1 coding requires significant computations, yet much of it is discarded in the subsequent rate control process. This is the problem of overcoding. Note also that the evaluation of the excess compressed data also increases the processing time during Tier-2 coding.
Although a PCRD-opt algorithm is typically used to minimize the overall distortion subject to a constraint on the maximum compressed codestream size, it is also possible to use variations of a PCRD-opt algorithm to minimize the compressed codestream size subject to a constraint on the overall distortion. Such a system produces an approximately constant distortion and the compressed codestream size fluctuates with the image content. Compression systems that attempt to produce constant quality by allowing the compressed size to vary with the image content are known as variable bit rate (VBR). VBR systems are generally preferred over CBR systems, because VBR systems typically produce a smaller average compressed size than CBR for comparable image quality over an ensemble of images that vary in content. However, from a computational point of view, VBR systems still suffer from the problem of overcoding, if the transform coefficients are finely quantized prior to the arithmetic coder in Tier-1 Coding.
One method for minimizing the amount of overcoding is taught by Becker et al. (US Application 2005/0100229) for motion image sequences. However, this method requires accurate estimation of certain parameters and requires additional logic as a replacement for, or as an extension of, PCRD-optimization. Most JPEG2000 encoders would need modifications to practice the method taught by Becker et al., and the method is also not appropriate for compressing individual image frames. More importantly, this method may fail when image content changes rapidly, such as occurs at scene boundaries in motion sequences.
Another limitation in current systems, whether CBR or VBR, is the distortion metric that is commonly used to quantify image quality, i.e., mean-squared error (MSE). MSE is a measure of the numerical difference between pixel values of the original image and the pixel values of the decompressed image. A related metric to MSE is peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), which is specified using deciBell (dB) units. These metrics are mathematically convenient, but it is well known that they do not always correlate with perceived quality. As a result, even if a specific MSE or PSNR is obtained, there is no assurance of a given level of perceived image quality. For many applications, the goal may be visually lossless quality, i.e., the decompressed image appears to be identical to the original image when both are viewed by a human observer under specified viewing conditions. Knowledge of the MSE or PSNR for a compressed image does not provide any information about the viewing conditions under which visually lossless quality will be obtained.
For example, given a compressed image with a PSNR of 40 dB, it is impossible to know a priori what viewing conditions will yield visually lossless quality for the image. It may be that the perceived quality is not visually lossless under specified viewing conditions, or it may be that visually lossless quality is obtained, but more compressed data was used than was necessary to achieve that quality. The first scenario results in lower perceived image quality than desired, while the second scenario results in a larger compressed codestream than is necessary for visually lossless quality. Thus, it is not sufficient to rely strictly upon MSE or PSNR as a quality metric. This is particularly the case for VBR systems, where one wants to produce a known level of perceived image quality, while also compressing the image to the minimum amount of data that is needed for the desired quality.
Another issue that arises in some JPEG2000 applications is the need to satisfy a maximum compressed codestream size for each image. One such application is in Digital Cinema (DCinema) compression. The Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI), a consortium of the major US studios, has recently developed a set of specifications to ensure a certain level of interoperability among DCinema equipment manufacturers. One specification calls for a constraint on the maximum compressed codestream size for each image, with additional restrictions on the maximum amount of compressed data that can be used to represent each color component in an image. The DCI constraint on the maximum compressed codestream size is 1,302,083 bytes per frame for each image frame in an image sequence having 24 frames per second. This constraint on the maximum codestream size can be equivalently specified as a maximum compressed data rate of 250 Megabits/sec (Mbps). The amount of compressed data for each color component in an image frame can be a maximum of 1,041,066 bytes, which is equivalent to a compressed data rate of 200 Mbps for an image sequence having 24 frames per second. These specifications are driven mainly by the capabilities of current JPEG2000 decompression systems. While CBR systems could always meet these data constraints through a rate control algorithm such as PCRD-opt, it is not a preferred solution, because of the typically larger average codestream sizes for CBR as compared to VBR systems. Thus, it is desirable to have a VBR system that provides constant perceived quality to the greatest extent possible, while still meeting any constraints on the maximum amount of compressed data for each image.
Thus, there is the need for a JPEG2000 compression system that: (1) minimizes the amount of overcoding so that computational complexity is reduced for both CBR and VBR systems; (2) produces compressed codestreams that meet constraints on the maximum amount of compressed data for both CBR and VBR systems; and (3) produces constant perceived image quality for VBR systems, while minimizing the amount of compressed data to achieve that level of image quality.

Method for controlling the amount of compressed data


An electronic switch to be used in BiCMOS circuitry when CMOS stages are controlled by logic output from (bipolar) TTL stages. Its purpose is to avoid the static leakage current I.sub.cct which can occur in a CMOS stage when the pulldown transistor is turned on while the pullup transistor is not completely turned off. This is a problem which arises when CMOS and TTL stages are coupled; the logic-high output from a TTL stage is sufficient in magnitude to turn on the CMOS pulldown transistor but not to turn off the CMOS pullup transistor. The present invention introduces an ancillary input to the subcircuit encompassing the CMOS input stage and also an ancillary output from one of the CMOS stages of the subcircuit (typically an output buffer) encompassing the TTL output stage. The ancillary output is chosen so as to provide a CMOS logic-high signal whenever the TTL stage is outputting a TTL logic-high signal. The ancillary input is connected to the control node of a switching transistor interposed between V.sub.cc and the CMOS input stage's pullup transistor. In this manner, the source of I.sub.cct is interrupted immediately after the CMOS stage is switched from pull-up mode to pull-down mode. The invention has particular applicability to latched transceivers, where the CMOS input stage is located in the latch circuit and the TTL in the tristate output buffer circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to logic circuits combining TTL (bipolar transistor-transistor logic) stages with CMOS stages. More particularly, it relates to attempts to overcome the problems arising from mismatch between the amplitude of binary logic-high voltages for the two different types of stages. More particularly yet, it is directed at minimizing the leakage current (I.sub.cct) arising in CMOS gates controlled by TTL-stage outputs, the logic-high voltages of which are inadequate to completely turn off PMOS pullup transistors. Most particularly, it relates to BiCMOS I/O pins for latched or clocked parts, where inputs must always be active (available to receive data).
2. Prior Art
In recent years great improvements have been made in logic circuitry through the development of completely integrated BiCMOS circuits able to exploit the advantages specific to both CMOS logic circuits-high input impedance, low power demand--and bipolar (TTL) logic circuits-high current sourcing/sinking capacity and speed. One of the consequences of combining CMOS and TTL is that, at one or more points in the operating circuit, output from a TTL stage may be the input to a CMOS circuit, at which point the disparity between the binary logic-high voltages of CMOS and TTL circuits, respectively, can give rise to difficulties.
CMOS binary logic voltages range rail to rail, i.e. GND to V.sub.cc. For CMOS and BiCMOS circuitry, V.sub.cc is typically 5 volts so that, for CMOS circuitry, logic-low is typically 0 volts and logic-high is typically 5 volts. In contrast, logic-high for a TTL stage is typically V.sub.cc -2 V.sub.BE, where V.sub.BE is the voltage drop across a forward-biased p-n junction. Since V.sub.cc -2 V.sub.BE is insufficient voltage to turn off a PMOS pullup transistor coupled to the high voltage power rail, a problem arises when the output from a TTL stage is used to control (i.e., turn on and turn off) a CMOS stage. (With a V.sub.cc of 5 volts, V.sub.cc -2 V.sub.BE is generally around 3.4 volts; nevertheless, depending on temperature and/or specific TTL output stage design, it can actually be less than 3 volts.) Thus, when the input to a CMOS stage is TTL-stage output, a logic-high signal-which should turn on a pulldown NMOS transistor while turning off a pullup PMOS transistor-will do the former while only incompletely turning off the pullup transistor. This results in a wasteful leakage current from V.sub.cc to GND passing through the pullup and pulldown transistors. This can be appreciated by reference to FIG. 1 (Prior Art), which shows the output portion of a BiCMOS buffer to the left and a CMOS input stage of another subcircuit to the right. The output signal from the (boxed) Darlington Pair comprising the current-sourcing part of the output stage of the TTL circuit to the left becomes the input data signal for the CMOS stage to the right when the left circuit is in its active mode. Binary logic-high for TTL output is V.sub.cc reduced by the forward drop of two diodes, for reasons that can be seen from FIG. 1. I.e., when the two transistors of the Darlington Pair are both conducting, V.sub.out is connected to V.sub.cc across a conducting bipolar transistor coupled to V.sub.cc across a forward biased Schottky diode. The combined circuit depends on this logic-high output turning off the PMOS pullup transistor QPX and turning on the NMOS pulldown transistor QNX. However, with the source and substrate of QPX tied to V.sub.cc, as shown, the TTL logic-high signal (V.sub.cc -2V.sub.BE) will be insufficient to turn QPX completely off. It will, however, be sufficient to turn on QNX, with the result that there will be a coupling between V.sub.cc and GND through QPX and QNX while the TTL output/input is high. This wasteful leakage current is referred to by various names: "quiescent current," "static high current," and "static current I.sub.cct." Its magnitude depends upon the channel sizes of QPX and QNX. Since it may be occurring simultaneously in many CMOS input stages, it can reach very high levels, extending into the milliamp range.
There are several prior art approaches to resolving the I.sub.oct problem. Two involve modifying the CMOS input stage and then using a multi-CMOS-stage translating sequence, so that the TTL input signal can be translated ultimately into a CMOS logic output signal in spite of the modification of the input stage. For example, a reduction in the effective high potential rail for the CMOS input stage enables the TTL logic-high to completely turn off the pullup transistor of the input stage. The effective reduction in the high potential side of the input stage can be accomplished by interposing several forward-biased diodes between V.sub.cc and the source node (and the bulk) of the input pullup transistor-which results in the input stage being coupled between a high potential of V.sub.cc -2V.sub.BE and GND. With this expedient, a TTL high applied at the input is sufficient to completely cut off the input pullup transistor. The price paid, however, is that when a TTL low is input to the CMOS input stage, the resulting logic-high output to the next CMOS stage is only V.sub.cc -2V.sub.BE, and insufficient to turn off the pullup transistor of that next stage. In other words, the I.sub.cct problem has just been deferred from the initial CMOS stage to the next CMOS stage. (Because of performance specifications requiring that the ultimate output range is full rail-to- rail--GND to V.sub.cc --it is not possible to simply lower the voltage of the high potential rail for the entire CMOS buffer.) The fix is indeed to lower the high potential side of the second CMOS buffer, but not by a full 2V.sub.BE. For the CMOS stage after that, the high potential rail is then back to V.sub.cc or close to it. Unfortunately, the series of translating stages and the potential-lowering diodes used in this approach introduce serious delays, significantly increasing the propagation time between the initial input to the first stage of the buffer and the final output. This elimination of I.sub.cct has been achieved at the cost of increasing the propagation time T.sub.p.
The other prior art "sequential" approach is to accept a non-zero, though reduced, level of I.sub.cct in exchange for maintaining a better T.sub.p. The high potential side is left untouched and the I.sub.cct of the initial stage is reduced by reducing the channel width of the input pulldown transistor. This ensures a small I.sub.cct in the CMOS input stage and also a full-scale logic-high output from this first stage. The problem created by this approach is that it is necessary to ultimately have large conduction channels in the pullup (and pulldown) transistors at the buffer output. Since it is impracticable to have a large channel width increase from one stage to the next, it is necessary to have a series of stages over which the width increases (by about a factor of three each time) until it is at the level required by the output stage. Consequently, the cost of dealing with I.sub.cct is again the need to have a sequence of CMOS stages. Furthermore, in this approach, I.sub.cct leakage has not been eliminated-only reduced, a residual I.sub.cct being accepted in a tradeoff for tolerable T.sub.p.
An additional prosaic prior art approach to the I.sub.cct problem is to modify the TTL output stage, in a compromise intended to boost the TTL logic-high while still retaining some of the advantages of the bipolar output stage. It involves replacing the standard Darlington pair of bipolar transistors, in which by design the logic-high output is V.sub.cc -2V.sub.BE, with a single-transistor output. In order to compensate for the reduced current gain imposed by this change, the single transistor is chosen to be much larger than either of the two transistors in the Darlington pair. Even with this size increase, the output current available from this one-transistor stage is reduced considerably. (One problem is that the stage has a current gain of only .beta., compared with .beta..sup.2 for the standard Darlington pair.) More seriously, these modifications result in increased noise-associated in part with the need to discharge a much higher capacitive energy at the bipolar transistor junction with and in increased demands on the limited space available on the die.
A variant on the "V.sub.cc reduction" approach reduces the high potential rail for the first CMOS stage, then introduces a feedback transistor to effectively boost the logic-high output for that stage to V.sub.cc, thereby avoiding the use of a series of CMOS stages with varying logic-high levels. This approach is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,841 (Rogers, 1992). As depicted in FIG. 2 (Related Art) with which sets out a circuit meant to receive TTL-stage output into V.sub.IN with the solution of Rogers is to combine the input-stage high-potential-rail reduction with a feedback loop. With the high potential rail for the input stage reduced to V.sub.cc -2V.sub.BE, the logic-high TTL output (V.sub.cc -2V.sub.BE) is sufficient to completely turn off the input-stage pullup transistor P1, eliminating I.sub.cct. On the other hand, when the input stage is turned on (by a logic-low TTL signal at V.sub.IN) P1 outputs a logic-high of only V.sub.cc -2V.sub.BE, which turns on the second-stage pulldown transistor N2 but is insufficient to completely turn off the second-stage pullup transistor P2. Nevertheless, once pulldown transistor N2 is turned on, the second stage output V.sub.2 is pulled to ground and the feedback connection from that output back to the control node of the PMOS feedback transistor QF turns QF on and boosts the input signal to the second stage up to V.sub.cc, resulting in P2 being turned off completely. Thus, in contrast to the circuit without the feedback transistor, where the reduced logic-high output from the input stage is unable to completely turn off the pullup transistor of the second stage--thus deferring the I.sub.cct leakage to that point--the design set out in FIG. 2 both eliminates I.sub.cct from the first stage--by lowering the high potential power rail voltage for that stage--and turns off the second stage pullup transistor completely. Unfortunately, for those applications which need extreme speed the 0.5 nsec or so lag time caused by the two junctions interposed between the high-potential power rail and the input stage stage is intolerable.
What is needed, then, is a method of completely eliminating I.sub.cct while: (1) not sacrificing T.sub.p, (2) introducing no additional noise, and (3) not changing the structure of the TTL output stage.


An earring for pierced ears including a post that is slidably mounted in a vertical slot on the main body or frame of the earring so that the main frame, and the ornamentation carried thereon can be adjusted upwardly or downwardly in reference to the ear lobe and the post projecting therethrough.

This invention relates to an improved earring construction, and particularly, to a slidably adjustable earring post for users with pierced ears.
1. Field of the Invention
Reference is made to my co-pending patent application Ser. No. 07/717,282, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,032 entitled Adjustable Earring Post wherein the advantages of providing a means for adjustably raising and lowering an earring relative to the lobe of a pierced ear is explained.
2. Description of the Relevant Prior Art
As explained in my co-pending application conventional earrings for mounting to pierced ears consist basically of a frame to which is rigidly and immovably mounted an inwardly projecting post to project through the pierced lobe in conjunction with a suitable locking device for mounting on the inner end of the post after it is projected through the pierced lobe. The locking device functions to prevent the post from slipping or falling out of the lobe during ordinary wear.
According to conventional design, the post is fixed in one location to the back of the main body or frame of the earring. From this fixed location, the post projects generally perpendicularly inwardly for projection through the pierced ear lobe. Because of both the fixed location of the post, and its fixed perpendicular angularity in reference to the vertical plane of the body or frame of the earring, the same earring may properly fit or "hang" from one person's ear lobe but not from another's. The reasons for this are that all ear lobes are of different shapes, sizes and dimensions, and that the pierced post receiving hole of one person may be located much higher or lower on the ear lobe than the location of the hole in the lobe of another person making desirable the ability to move the earring display relatively up or down in reference to the lobe. Also, people's lobes depend downwardly from the ear at different angles of vertical inclination making up or down adjustment desirable.


A golf swing training apparatus is provided for generally improving a golfer's golf club swing technique. A rigid hand grip is connected to one end of a flexible, tubular shaft. The other end of the shaft is connected to a ball. The device has a required overall length as to just fit between a vertical aligned with the outside of one arm of the golfer, the arm resting at the golfer's side, and the wrist of the golfer's other arm when the other arm and hand are jointly stretched horizontally. A threaded shaft-length adjustment connector is included at a point along the shaft for adjusting the overall length of the shaft. In use, the overall length, the flexibility of the tube, and the weight of the ball combine to result in a swing action such that on each correctly executed backswing the ball gently touches one side of the golfer just below the golfer's other arm. Likewise, on each correctly executed foreswing follow-through, the ball gently touches the other side of the golfer just below the one arm of the golfer. However, on each incorrectly executed backswing or foreswing, the ball touches the golfer contrariwise, either more forcefully or less forcefully than with a correctly executed swing, so that the golfer receives a tactile feedback indication of the correctness of each swing and is thus able to improve swing technique.

Weighted golf club training devices are well known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,063 to Rhodes on Jun. 25, 1991, discloses a golf club with a shaft having at one end a hand grip, and at the other end having a weight. Such a device is swung by a golfer in a conventional way, whereby the weighted end causes the shaft to flex considerably more than a conventional golf club would. Such flexing of the shaft results in an exaggerated tactile feel, giving the golfer an improved awareness of the feel of a proper golf swing. Miyamoto, in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,033 issued on Oct. 3, 1978, discloses a similar device, as does Atkinson in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,325 issued on Feb. 18, 1969. Such devices, while perhaps well suited to certain golf club swinging styles and golfers, do not account for an optimized shaft flexibility and length. Indeed, the flexible shaft of the Atkinson device is designed to stretch to varying lengths during the swing.
An improved device, taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,788 to Wendt on Jul. 29, 1986, includes a stack of weights on the end of a conventional shaft. A retaining means holds the weights in place, and allows for a variable number of weights to be secured to the end of the shaft. As such, the optimal weight for a particular golfer at a particular time in the golfer's skill development may be set on the shaft. Clear advantages are seen in such a device, yet such a device still does not provide for variable shaft length. As such, while an optimal weight may be set for a particular golfer, the shaft length cannot be changed in such a device. Such variable shaft length can be useful when concentrating on and learning particular aspects of the golf swing. Further, such a device has the disadvantage that the rigid weights at the end of the shaft, which may be moving at considerable speeds during a golf swing, may cause injury if striking the golfer or a bystander.
Providing for adjustable shaft length has the advantage of allowing the golfer to set the length of the shaft as to optimize the effectiveness of the device. For example, with the overall length of the device set to just fit between the outside of one arm and the wrist of the extended other arm, and with the shaft flexibility and end weight set accordingly, the end of the club lightly touches the golfer at the backswing and foreswing follow-through of a properly executed golf swing. Clearly, then, there is a need for a golf swing training device that allows for variable shaft length and teaches the proper shaft length for each individual golfer. Such a needed device would allow for relatively quick adjustment, and would provide an optimal shaft flexibility and weight. Further, such a needed device would not cause injury if aggressively contacting another person, and would provide additional feedback means for the golfer. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.


A motorcycle footpeg assembly comprising a footpeg mount having a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is adapted to attach to a motorcycle. The footpeg assembly also includes a footpeg coupled to the second portion with a fastener such that the fastener is not visible from the exterior of the footpeg.

The present invention generally relates to motorcycles, and particularly to footpegs used to support the feet of the motorcycle rider and/or the motorcycle passenger.
Motorcycles generally include a pair of footpegs that extend laterally away from the motorcycle. The footpegs provide a convenient footrest for the rider. In addition, many motorcycles provide an additional pair of footpegs similar to the first pair for use by a passenger.
Generally, the footpeg is formed from a single piece and is attached to the motorcycle frame using a fastener such as a bolt or clamp. The footpeg commonly pivots between retracted and extended positions. Other footpegs may include a footpeg mount that attaches to the frame of the motorcycle. A footpeg attaches to the footpeg support using a bolt or other fastener that is visible on the exterior of the footpeg. It is also common for footpegs to include a rubber portion that dampens vibrations from the motorcycle to the rider and provides a high friction surface to support the foot of the rider. The rubber portion is commonly glued, bolted, or molded onto the more rigid footpeg.

Harley-Davidson Motor Company Group, Inc.


A machine includes a component. The machine may also include a position-sensing system with a plurality of sensor elements that each generate a signal related to proximity of the sensor element to the component by generating the signal based at least in part on the magnetic permeability of the space adjacent the sensor element and a time-varying magnetic field generated by an electric circuit of the position-sensing system. The machine may also include one or more information-processing devices that determine a positional relationship between the component and the plurality of sensor elements based on a plurality of the signals generated by the sensor elements.

Many machines include one or more components that move relative to one another. Some such machines include a position-sensing system with a single sensor element that generates a signal related to proximity of the sensor element to some portion of one of the components between which relative motion occurs. For example, a position-sensing system may have a single sensor element that generates a signal related to proximity of the sensor element to some projection of the component, such as a gear tooth. The machine may use the signal from the sensor element as an indication of the positional relationship between the components.
Unfortunately, a number of factors may cause significant variation in the relationship between the proximity of the sensor element to the component and the value of the signal generated by the sensor element. For example, temperature variations, variations in the characteristics of the sensor element, and variations in the characteristics of electricity supplied to the sensor element may all increase or decrease the sensor signal value. Because of variation in such parameters, a position-sensing system employing a single sensor element may indicate the positional relationship between components with undesirably low precision for some applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,421 to Tokumoto ("the '421 patent") discloses a position-sensing system that uses two sensor elements to determine the rotational position of a gear. Each of the two sensor elements sits radially outward of the teeth of the gear. The gear is constructed of magnetic material. As the gear rotates adjacent the sensor elements, the gear teeth pass the sensor elements, and the sensor elements sense the density of the magnetic flux generated by the gear. Thus, the value of the signal generated by each sensor element cycles up and down as the gear teeth pass the sensor element, thereby providing an indication of the position of the gear relative to the sensor elements.
The '421 patent discloses that the position of the gear and the signal from each sensor element may have a nonlinear relationship in certain ranges. To address this, the '421 patent discloses positioning the two sensor elements so that their sensor signals are out of phase by an amount that prevents the nonlinear operating ranges of both sensor elements occurring at the same time. Thus, at all times, at least one of the sensor elements provides a sensor signal linearly related to the position of the gear.
Although the rotary position-sensing system of the '421 patent uses two sensor elements to sense the position of the gear, certain disadvantages persist. For example, while using two sensor elements positioned as disclosed in the '421 patent addresses nonlinear operating ranges of the sensor elements, it does not address variations in operating parameters that may change the value of both sensor signals. Additionally, in some applications it may prove impractical or imprudent to construct the sensed component out of magnetic material and sense the magnetic flux generated by the sensed component, as disclosed by the '421 patent.
The position-sensing system and methods of the present disclosure solve one or more of the problems set forth above.


The invention relates to a system for electromagnetic processing of an input wave involving receiving a modified signal derived from two or more signals that represent the input wave when combined; and regulating the modified signal using at least one analog signal containing a characteristic of the two or more signals. Embodiments of the invention may utilize in-phase and quadrature phase signals, where the magnitude portion of the signals may be used for regulating the modified signal. The modified signal may be created by modulating a characteristic of the I, Q signals, such as their sign, with an RF or other frequency carrier wave.

Electromagnetic waves may be transferred from place to place through a conductor. In wired transmission, the conductor is usually a wire or other solid substance. In wireless transmission, the conductor is usually an ambient substance, such as air, water, etc. In wireless connections a transmitter is usually used to transfer a wave and a receiver to receive a wave. A transceiver combines the functions of both transmitter and receiver in one system. A transmitter typically converts electrical energy into a signal, which is then broadcast via an antenna to a receiver's antenna. Repeaters, middle stations, etc. may be used as intermediates in the transmission to sustain the integrity of the transmitted wave.
The electrical energy input into a transmitter usually is modulated into a basic transmission or carrier signal by overlaying some intelligence upon the energy—speech, data, etc.—in the form of an information signal, and the receiver typically demodulates the modulated carrier signal, once received, into a copy of the initial intelligence sent by the transmitter.
In order to accomplish their function, transmitters and receivers are comprised of various building block components. The information signal, for example, may be generated or modulated by one or more transducers, such as a microphone. It may also be generated by a modulator, such as an analog modem. The modulation of the information signal onto the carrier signal may be done by a mixer and the energy or carrier wave itself is usually generated by an oscillator. An amplifier is usually used at one or more places in the transmitter circuitry to boost the signal strength, to provide power to active components, etc. Similarly, one or more filters are usually used as well, to clean up the input wave, the outputted signal, etc. An antenna is used to broadcast the signal, and a power supply will supply power as needed.
The components of a receiver are similar, and indeed, as noted above, transceivers combine both transmitters and receivers. In a transceiver, separate components may be used for the transmitter and receiver, or, one or more devices providing for switching are used to turn on respective transmitter and receiver components as needed.
Various techniques may be used to actually transfer the intelligence. For example, electromagnetic waves representing the information signal in wireless transmission may be modulated into carrier signals by varying wave characteristics such as amplitude, frequency and phase, in an analog manner.
Transmitters, receivers, and transceiver for modulating waves have been implemented in a number of ways. For example, analog and digital based systems have been used to processed, or modulate, some aspect of the electromagnetic wave, such amplitude, frequency, and/or phase with a carrier wave. Some of these modulation schemes include, for example, GMSK used in GSM, GFSK used in DECT and Bluetooth, 8-PSK used in EDGE, OQPSK and HPSK used in IS-2000, π/4 DQPSK used in TDMA and OFDM used in 802.11.
In many of these modulations schemes, the intelligence, or baseband signal, is processed into a plurality of signal in quadrature with each other. The in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) signals combined represent the original baseband signal. Modulating these baseband components signals provides benefits over other modulation systems in terms of the amount of energy required to transmit a given amount of information (e.g, bits), bandwidth requirements, and a reduced probability of error in the received signal.
Because of drawbacks in conventional systems, however, it would be desirable to provide more efficient and precise transmitter, receiver and transceiver systems, methods and articles of manufacture.

Electromagnetic wave transmitter, receiver and transceiver systems, methods and articles of manufacture


A belt transfer section for use in a right angle carton blank feeder. The belt transfer section nips the leading edge of articles leaving a feeding mechanism and moves them to another feeding mechanism operating at right angles to the first mechanism. The belt transfer section moves the articles along a diagonal path connecting the paths of movement on the other feeding mechanisms. Articles are moved by the belt transfer section at a speed greater than the speeds of the other feeding mechanisms according to the ratio of the length of the diagonal path, considered as the hypotenuse of an imaginary right triangle, to the other legs of the triangle.

In fabricating cartons from flat carton blanks, a stream of blanks is commonly fed into a forming machine along a first path and glue is applied from glue applicators to edge portions of the blanks that are parallel to the direction of movement. The blanks are then moved along a second path at right angles to the first path and glue is applied from glue applicators to edge portions of the blanks that extend transversely of the first path and are now parallel to the new direction of movement. All the portions of the blanks to be glued are thus exposed to glue applicators.
A conventional way of changing the direction of movement of the blanks involves the use of speed-up rolls at the end of the first path of movement. The first feed means delivers the blanks to the speed-up rolls which accelerate them to a pocket. Moving chain lugs engage the blanks in the pocket and deliver them to the second feed means in order to move the blanks at right angles to their first direction of movement.
One of the problems noted with this conventional method of transferring blanks is that the speed-up rolls tend to wear faster than the other feeding elements, requiring expensive periodic replacement. Another problem is that the number of blanks which the machine is capable of handling per unit of time is limited by the rate at which the transfer section can transfer blanks from the first feed path to the second feed path. Because presently available transfer sections are relatively slow, it would be very beneficial to be able to transfer blanks from one path of movement to the other at a faster rate. It would also be desirable to be able to employ a transfer mechanism which does not utilize speed-up rolls, thus eliminating the problem of excessive maintenance.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a new means for transferring blanks or other articles from a first path of movement to a second angled path which overcomes the noted deficiencies of conventional equipment.

Belt transfer section and method of use for right angle blank feeder


One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for tagging search results, organizing tagged search results for later access from various devices, public sharing of tagged search results, and/or providing targeted content based upon search results tagged by a user. That is, a user may tag a search result (e.g., a website, an image, a social network profile, etc.), such as through a one-click user input, with a tag to create a tagged search result. The tagged search result may be organized into a public tag collection for sharing and/or exploration of tagged search results by other users. The tagged search result may be organized into a personal tag collection for later access by the user from any device. Because the tagged search result may be indicative of an interest of the user, targeted content associated with the tagged search result may be provided to the user.

Many users discover, explore, and/or interact with content exposed by a search engine (e.g., search functionality associated with websites, email services, social networks, databases, image sharing services, app stores, marketplaces, file systems, and/or other content sources). In an example, a user may search for a particular email using search functionality of an email application. In another example, a user may search for pictures, videos, and/or other user content shared by friends through a social network. In another example, a user may search for content, such as images, videos, articles, websites, and/or a wide variety of other content, through a search engine such as a search engine app or a search website. In this way, a search engine may provide search results corresponding to content that may be relevant to a search query submitted by a user. A user may perform a search task over multiple search sessions using one or more devices (e.g., the user may search for vacation destinations using a work laptop Monday morning, the user may search for vacation resorts using a tablet device Monday night, the user may search for sightseeing information using a mobile phone Thursday at lunch, etc.). Because search engines may not adequately retain and/or organize search queries or search results for later access, the user may have to manually save and organize search results, otherwise the user may lose track of search results (e.g., on Saturday, the user may desire to see a particular sightseeing search result from Thursday, however, the user may be unable to remember the exact search query that resulted in the search engine providing the particular sightseeing search result). The inability to save and recall search results from any device for personal consumption and/or the inability to share such search results between users may result in a diminished user experience.


A catalyst system useful in the production of polyurethane and/or polyisocyanurate foams using hydrohaloolefin blowing agents.

Polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams have utility in numerous insulation applications including roofing systems, building panels, building envelope insulation, spray applied foams, one and two component froth foams, insulation for refrigerators and freezers, and so called integral skin used to produce, e.g., automotive or aerospace cabin parts.
It is known in the art that rigid or semi-rigid polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams are produced by reacting a polyisocyanate with one or more polyols in the presence of a blowing agent, catalyst, and, optionally, other ingredients. Typically, the components for such polyurethane or polyisocyanurate foams are in pre-blended formulations referred to as an "A side" and a "B side". The A side comprises one or more polyisocyanates and, optionally, one or more isocyanate-compatible ingredients. The "B side" generally comprises: (i) one or more polyols, (ii) one or more catalysts, (iii) one or more blowing agent, and, optionally, (iv) one or more auxiliary components such as, for example, surfactants, flame retardants, colorants, compatibilizers, and solubilizers. The B side is also often referred to as a "polyol premix".
Polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams are prepared by bringing the A and B sides together by either hand mixing (for small preparations) and/or using machine mixing techniques to form, e.g., blocks, slabs, laminates, spray applied foams, froths, and pour-in-place panels and other items. Optional ingredients such as fire retardants, colorants, auxiliary blowing agents, and other polyols can be added when mixing rather than being premixed into the A side or B side.
Historically, liquid blowing agents such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have been used to make polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams due to their ease of use and ability to produce foams with beneficial mechanical and thermal insulation properties. However, due to a concern that CFCs and HFCs are bad for the environment, a new generation of halogenated hydroolefinic blowing agents (also referred to as "hydrohaloolefins") have been developed to replace CFCs and HFCs. Without intending to be bound to a specific theory, it is generally thought that such hydrohaloolefins have an inherent chemical instability in the lower atmosphere resulting in a low global warming potential (GWP) and zero or near zero ozone depletion potential (ODP), thereby rendering hydrohaloolefins better for the environment than CFCs and HFCs.
Among the category of hydrohaloolefin blowing agents are certain hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) of particular interest, including, for example, trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (1234ze(E)) and 1,1,1,4,4,4-hexafluorobut-2-ene (1336mzzm(Z)). Also among the category of hydrohaloolefin blowing agents are certain hydrochlorofluoroolefins (HCFOs) of particular interest, which include, for example, 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene (1233zd) (including both cis and trans isomers and combinations thereof). Processes for the manufacture of trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,230,146 and 7,189,884, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety (to the extent that they do not contradict the instant disclosure). Processes for the manufacture of trans-1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,844,475 and 6,403,847, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety (to the extent that they do not contradict the instant disclosure).
The use of HFOs and HFCOs in polyol premixes for polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams has been described in numerous applications such as U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2012/0220677, 2015/0197614, and 2016/0376397, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety (to the extent that they do not contradict the instant disclosure). However, it has been found that when polyol premixes (i.e., B sides) containing a hydrohaloolefin blowing agent and a typical amine catalyst are aged prior to mixing and reacting with a polyisocyanate (i.e., an A side), deleterious effects can occur. For instance, it has been found that such formulations, when aged, can produce a foamable composition which has an undesirable increase in reactivity time (i.e., a delay in reaction completion) and/or undesirable properties.
In order to avoid such deleterious effects, it was previously discovered that certain combinations of amine catalysts, solvents, and/or other components like, e.g., tetraalkylguanidine as disclosed in US Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0220677, could help stabilize hydrohaloolelfin blowing agents in the presence of amine catalysts. It has been recently found, however, that when polyol premixes containing such stabilizing combinations are contacted with an isocyanate, the components in such combinations can negatively impact the front end reactivity of the catalysts contained therein.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a catalyst system that is capable of adequately stabilizing the catalysts used in a polyol premix that contains hydrohaloolefin blowing agents, yet allow the catalysts in the polyol premix to have improved front end reactivity over comparable catalysts/polyol premixes used to make, for example, polyurethane and/or polyisocyanurate foams.

Catalyst system for polyol premixes containing hydrohaloolefin blowing agents


A tire inflation apparatus and method involves first evacuating a seated pneumatic tire via a vacuum pump and then inflating the tire with a purified, dried gas under pressure, such as pressurized nitrogen, without allowing any ambient air to reenter the evacuated tire. The apparatus includes a three way valve which attaches to the source of compressed dry gas, to the tire valve, and to the vacuum pump with a micron vacuum gauge provided for monitoring the state of vacuum within the evacuated tire.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tire inflation apparatus and method, and, more particularly, to such a method in which pneumatic tires are first evacuated via a vacuum pump and then inflated with a purified, dried gas under pressure, such as pressurized nitrogen without allowing any ambient air to reenter the evacuated tire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pneumatic tires for automobiles, aircraft and other vehicles have traditionally been inflated by compressed ambient air. Compressed air works generally well with bicycle tires, tractor tires and even standard automobile tires run at relatively low speeds where exacting tire balance and consistent tire pressure is not critical. In the case of uses such as race cars, dragsters, and high altitude aircraft, compressed ambient air is not a satisfactory medium for inflating tires for a variety of reasons. When compressed air is introduced into a tire via a compressor open to the ambient atmosphere, water vapor and other impurities are introduced into the tire in the same proportions as they occur in the ambient air. With all of the moisture and other impurities present, air volume in the tire fluctuates fairly widely with temperature, particularly due to the moisture changing from liquid to vapor form and vis-versa as temperatures in the tire change. As a rule of thumb, tires inflated with compressed ambient air will change about 1 psi for every 10 degree Fahrenheit change in temperature. Thus, a tire inflated at 60 degrees Fahrenheit will be substantially under inflated at 20 degrees due the combined effects of temperature in reducing gas pressure and moisture condensing out of the air within the tire. Conversely, as temperatures increase to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the tire will be substantially overinflated due to the water being vaporized and the attendant increase in air pressure due to temperature. These under or over inflation conditions can adversely affect rolling friction of tires on pavement, thus decreasing gas mileage. Tire wear is also substantially increased when tires are not inflated to the manufacturer's recommendations. Water vapor within tires can also induce rust within steel belted radials, which further reduces tire life. Furthermore water vapor introduced into a tire in a high altitude jet airplane, for example, will condense and then freeze and form ice crystals which generally fall to the bottom of the tire as it lies stationary in the wheel well of the airplane. When the airplane lands, the ice crystals can create a substantial imbalance in the tire, which must accelerate virtually instantly from rest to 150 or more miles per hour. As the tire accelerates, the ice crystals are thrown around the rolling tire by centrifugal force, leading to further imbalance, increasing internal wear, and also increasing the likelihood of tire blow-outs. In the case of race cars and dragsters, since the water vapor introduced into the tire condensed and vaporizes at unpredictable times, condensed water within the tire lags behind the column of air within the tire as the tire is rapidly accelerated. It is believed by the inventor that this is the cause of much of the "tire chatter" which is such a problem in dragsters and other racing cars, as water within the tire drags relative to the tire rotation, the tire becomes unevenly pressurized around its perimeter, thus inducing up and down movement or chatter. Furthermore, as the race car tires spin at high speed, considerable heat builds up in the tires themselves, thus considerably increasing the internal tire pressure due to the expansion of the water vapor.
In order to reduce or eliminate these problems, race car owners, space shuttle transport vehicles, earthmoving and mining equipment and commercial and military high altitude aircraft often inflate their tires with compressed nitrogen. Nitrogen is an ideal gas for such a purpose since it is chemically inert, non-combustible, non-flammable and non-corrosive, and, when dry, is relatively stable in volume through a wide range of temperatures. For example, the specific volume of a quantity of dry nitrogen gas at 1 atmosphere of pressure varies less than 13% in a range of -10 degrees F. to +116 degrees F. Thus, the use of nitrogen to inflate a pneumatic tire offers a large reduction in fluctuations of internal tire pressure due to temperature variations over those which occur when moisture laden compressed ambient air is used. Furthermore, since nitrogen is stored in pressurized tanks under controlled conditions, the nitrogen gas can be dried and purified as it is placed into the tank, thus minimizing moisture and other impurities transferred into the tire.
However, when new or repaired tires are first placed on a wheel, they must be inflated under high pressure to get the tire bead to seat on the wheel rim. In order to accomplish this, even in race car and high altitude aircraft tires, compressed ambient air is used. Once the tire is inflated and properly seated on the wheel rim, the compressed air is bled off via the tire's Schrader spring loaded valve and a source of compressed nitrogen is then attached to the tire valve and the tire is reinflated. With this method, the tire's internal pressure is simply returned to ambient pressure before being filled with nitrogen. This leaves a quantity of air at ambient pressure in the tire which air quantity, at ambient pressure, is equal to the internal volume of the tire. Along with the quantity of air left in the tire, moisture and other gaseous impurities are present in the tire in the same proportion as they are found in the ambient atmosphere. When the dry, purified nitrogen is introduced into the tire under pressure, it mixes with the air, moisture and other impurities already present in the tire as the tire is being inflated. The inflated tire is thus filled with a quantity of air including attendant moisture and other impurities and a larger quantity of nitrogen, thus repeating, albeit at a reduced level, the problems associated with the use of ambient compressed air.
It is clear, then that a need exists for a tire inflation apparatus and method which avoids these problems of the prior art. Such a tire inflation apparatus should preferably inflate tires with compressed, purified and dried gas, such as nitrogen, to the manufacturer's recommended tire pressure while minimizing or eliminating moisture and other impurities in the tire.

Tire evacuation and inflation apparatus and method


A process for recovering copper from an acid aqueous solution containing cupric chlorides and alkali metal and/or alkali earth metal chlorides by a solvent extraction with a cation-exchange extractant, comprising the step of processing a solvent extraction in the presence of sulfate ions.

A leaching technique employing a sulfate media has been established as a hydrometallurgical technique for the recovery of copper from copper ores or copper concentrates and the like. Industrial-scale plants using the SX-EW process (combining solvent extraction and electrowinning) are in current commercial use.
The leaching of copper by sulfate media, however, is generally used for ores anchored by oxide ores. This technique is applied to only a part of a sulfide ore because of many problems it has, such as its low-rate reaction of leaching, impossibility of recovering precious metals and the like. Furthermore, in a copper concentrates wherein the grade of copper is improved by mineral processing and the like, the leaching of copper by the sulfate media is not practical, not only because of its low reaction rate but also because of its low leaching rate of copper and the difficulty of recovering precious metals.
Also, the above-described hydrometallurgical process is problematic in that it needs to be conducted at high temperatures and pressures to improve the leaching rate of copper. Therefore, a process of leaching copper from ores of sulfide by chloride media using an aqueous chloride solution has been developed, being a process which does not require high temperatures and pressures (Patent document 1). Patent document 1 discloses the process of electrowinning monovalent copper by leaching copper from the ores of sulfide as Cu+ with a Cl—Br base acidic electrolyte that is produced by electrowinning of copper, has a high oxido-reduction potential, and includes Cu2+. This process, however, involves a haloid (halex, typically BrCl2—) that is difficult to treat in leaching and that is poisonous. Additional problems include an increase in cost for the reason that the copper produced by leaching with the chloride media needs refining because of its low grade and difficulty in control because of the complicated facilities which it necessitates.
To solve these problems, a process was developed which produces high grade copper by processing the copper concentrate and the like with chloride media, extracting copper ions from the chloride media into an organic solvent by solvent extraction, separating an organic phase from an aqueous phase, converting divalent copper extracted by contacting the organic phase with sulfuric acid to copper sulfate, and conducting electrowinning of copper by an existing sulfate media (Patent documents 2, 3). However, the extraction performance of copper is not be very high in this process, and there is no choice but to increase the amount of the solution treated in the process in order to increase the throughput of copper. As a result, the construction cost of a plant for carrying out that process is increased due to the scale of the facilities necessary to leach copper, and the operating cost is increased because the energy necessary to heat the solution is substantial. (Patent documents 2 and 3 were not yet open to the public on the filing date of the present application.    (Patent document 1) Australian Patent No. 669906 (Production of metals from minerals).    (Patent document 2) Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-84597.    (Patent document 3) Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-84934.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process for recovery of copper from copper-containing chloride media


The invention relates to a universal double-sided belt buckle, which comprises a buckle body, a mounting member and a buckle pin, the left end of an upper sheet body and the left end of a lower sheet body are both integrally formed with extension sheets extending downwards, a clamping interval is arranged between the free ends of the two extension sheets, the left side of the mounting member, at the position corresponding to the first end of the buckle pin, is concavely provided with an accommodating recess which is communicated with the through concave cavity and used to accommodate the part of the buckle pin positioned at the mounting member and make it be able to rotate. Compared with the prior art, the buckle body is detachably connected with the mounting member, so that the utilization rate of the buckle body is improved.

The invention relates to a clothing wearing accessory, in particular to a belt buckle applied to trousers.
The structure of the existing belt consists of a belt body and a belt buckle, wherein the belt buckle has a buckle body, a mounting member and a buckle pin, the buckle body is a square frame body enclosed by a four-rod body, one end of the buckle pin is movably hung outside one rod body of the buckle body, the other end of the buckle pin extends towards the opposite rod body direction, the rod body with the buckle pin, the rod body being on the buckle body is fixedly connected with the mounting member. One side of the mounting member, which is back to the buckle body, is concavely provided with a containing groove for one end of the belt body to extend into the containing groove, and when in use, the other end of the belt body extends into the hollow cavity of the buckle body, and the buckle pin passes through the perforation of the belt body, then the belt can be enclosed into a closed-loop ring body, thereby achieving girdling waist of human body by the belt.
In case of the existing belt buckle, in order to avoid the movement of the belt body when in use, the buckle body or the mounting member will be fixedly provided with a belt loop for the other end of the belt body to pass through and limit the belt body. The belt loop is basically a portal frame structure formed by two vertically arranged side rods and an upper cross rod integrally formed with the upper ends of the two side rods in an enclosing way, and the upper cross rod is positioned above the belt buckle. As is well known, the short service life of the existing belt is the abrasion of one surface of the belt body, the other surface of the belt body cannot be damaged, but the belt loop is fixed, so that the buckle body cannot be used on two sides, causing that the belt buckle with the belt loop cannot be used on two sides, and the buckle body, the mounting member and the buckle pin are fixedly matched, so that the style of the belt buckle can only be fixed, and the universality and the use flexibility are poor.
In view of the above, the present inventors have conducted intensive studies to solve the above problems and have made the present invention.


A surgical knife for carpal tunnel surgeries having a housing with an adjacent light source and a light transmitting blade holder transmitting the light from the housing around the blade. The light illuminates the surgical site and assists the surgeon in precisely locating the cutting blade.

Known carpal tunnel knives have a handle with a blade holder. The blade holder has two finger-like prongs extending forwardly above and below the blade. An example of this type of surgical knife is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,222 issued to Strickland.
The prongs extend beyond the blade and straddle the targeted tissue to be cut. The prongs assist in guiding the blade only through the targeted carpal ligament during carpal tunnel release surgery. One prong may be longer than the other, with the longer prong guided below the carpal ligament in an attempt to protect the median nerve and other tissues from unwanted damage.
The surgical blade is positioned between the two prongs and is wide enough to cut the entire thickness of the targeted tissue, but not endanger surrounding tissue. A common width is 3 mm, which roughly corresponds to the thickness of most adults' carpal tunnel ligaments.
However, with the known carpal tunnel knives inserted into the patient's hand, it is still difficult to locate the exact position of the instrument and its cutting blade. Surgeons must still locate the instrument in the patient's hand by feel, mainly by the resistance experienced by the cutting blade and the distance the knife is inserted into the patient's hand. While the knife is inserted, it obstructs light entry into the surgical wound thus interfering with the surgeons ability to see the surgical site.


NFC communications from a mobile phone to an information handling system initiates an inventory by a management controller of the information handling system. The inventory is provided to the mobile telephone with a second NFC communication so that an end user can see a visual depiction of the interior of the information handling system before opening the chassis of the system.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system operational management, and more particularly to information handling system operational management through near field communication device interaction.
Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are often disposed in data centers that maintain a suitable environment for the systems to efficiently run, such as an environment with adequate power and cooling resources. A typical data center includes multiple racks that each supports multiple information handling systems. Generally, information handling systems interface with each other through a network defined by network addresses that interconnect through switching and routing devices. A typical data center has information handling systems that perform a variety of functions, such as servers that support websites and information storage. Often, the functions performed within a data center are distributed across multiple information handling systems with virtualization and related techniques. For example, a particular website with a defined Internet Protocol (IP) address is presented by a virtual machine flexibly executing on various physical information handling systems in a data center so that physical processing resources are efficiently utilized. Generally, communication with virtual network addresses is supported by mapping of the virtual systems to their physical resources.
The increased size of data centers and the increased use of virtualization have made management of physical information handling system resources more difficulty. For instance, failure of an end user application, such as a website or database, often has little relationship to any particular physical processing resource. Fortunately, if a physical resource fails virtualization typically includes fail over so that applications move from failed physical processing resources to operational processing resources. Similarly, redundant storage systems used by storage area networks and other networked based storage help to ensure that information remains accessible through back-up sources even if a particular physical storage device fails. Thus, data center information technology specialists are typically provided time to fix or replace failed physical resources without substantial impact on processing operations.
One difficulty faced by information technology specialists is identifying physical processing resource failures, locating the actual failed devices in a data center and properly configuring replacement devices with appropriate network and physical addressing information. Generally, management of physical resources within an information handling system is performed by a management network that parallels the data center's end user operational network. Physical devices deployed in a data center include management controllers that monitor physical operating parameters and report the parameters through the management network to a data center manager. For instance, information handling systems typically include a baseboard management controller (BMC) that provides remote power up and power down of the information handling system through an out-of-band management network. The BMC often interfaces with the management network through a chassis management controller (CMC) disposed on the rack that supports the information handling system. CMC's manage physical resources at a rack level, such as by allocating power and cooling resources to information handling systems disposed in the rack. Often, management controllers are included at very low level components to monitor operations and identify failures, such as switches, routers, power supplies, cooling fans, storage devices, etc. . . . .
Larger data centers will often have a "crash cart" that moves between racks to fix physical resources as failures occur and are reported through the management network. Indicators at racks and devices within racks provide information technology specialists with an indication of the location where repairs are needed, such as by illuminating an LED at the front and or rear of a rack. In a busy data center, ongoing maintenance may result in a good number of indicators being illuminated leading to confusion as to the physical resources in need of attention. Further, as devices in a data center are repaired and replaced, tracking an inventory of devices that are currently in use—versus originally installed—can present a substantial challenge. Replacing or installing existing devices with incompatible devices or incorrectly configured devices can result in additional failures and suboptimal data center performance.

Information handling system physical component inventory to aid operational management through near field communication device interaction


A method for navigation by road users in the area of a traffic congestion, includes the steps of determining a group of road users in the area of the traffic congestion, who are users of a predetermined service, the capturing of travel data of the members of the group, the determining of driving maneuvers for the members of the group based on the captured driving data and the outputting the driving maneuvers to the associated members of the group. The driving maneuvers are coordinated with one another, in order to reduce the effects of the traffic congestion for the members of the group.

Different navigation systems are known for the navigation by road users from a current position to a specified destination position. In them, the present position of the road user is usually determined and, based on the traffic resistances on sections of the road network on which the road user is located, as advantageous a route as possible is determined and output for the road user. For the determination of the route, current traffic data, for instance, with respect to a temporary traffic obstacle, may also be processed. The road user usually includes a motor vehicle, particularly a passenger car.
A determination device for determining the routs may be provided onboard the motor vehicle or at a central location. In the first case, the current traffic data may be transmitted to the road user in a wireless manner, and in the latter case, the acquisition of current traffic data may take place in any desired manner, and transmission between the road user and the central determination device usually takes place in a wireless manner.
If a traffic interference occurs, the traffic flow in the region of the traffic interference is usually difficult to predict. In particular, the traffic volume in the small and smallest space about the traffic congestion may be affected by the individual decisions of the drivers of the motor vehicles affected by the traffic congestion, it being unknown what information base these drivers have available to them.

Method and device for cooperatively based navigation


An optical scanning device includes a light source having a plurality of light-emitting portions, a deflector for deflecting a plurality of light beams emitted by the light source, optical elements for guiding the plurality of light beams emitted by the light source toward the deflector and an imaging element for guiding the plurality of light beams deflected by the deflector onto a surface to be scanned. A polarization limiting element is inserted in an optical path between the light source and the deflector so as to limit directions of polarization of the plurality of light beams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical scanning device and, more particularly, to an optical scanning device suitable for an apparatus such as a laser beam printer (LBP) or the like, which records an image by optically scanning a photosensitive body surface as the surface to be scanned with a plurality of light beams (bundles of rays), which are emitted by a plurality of light-emitting portions of a light source means, and are guided toward the photosensitive body surface via a light deflector such as a rotary polygonal mirror or the like.
2. Related Background Art
As a conventional optical scanning device for attaining high-speed printing, a multi-beam optical scanning device has been proposed and manufactured. Such multi-beam optical scanning device has a plurality of light-emitting portions (laser tips) as a light source means, and simultaneously optically scans a recording medium surface with a plurality of beam spots which are formed on the recording medium surface by imaging a plurality of light beams emitted by the plurality of light-emitting portions by an imaging lens via a light deflector.
In order to attain high-speed printing using only one beam spot (light beam), the number of times of optically scanning the recording medium surface per unit time must be very large, and as a consequence, the rotational speed of the light deflector, image clocks, and the like cannot follow such large number of times of optical scanning. Accordingly, if the number of beam spots that simultaneously scan the recording medium surface is increased, the rotational speed of the light deflector, image clocks, and the like decrease in inverse proportion to the number of beam spots.
As the most efficient method of forming a plurality of beam spots, a laser element serving as a light source has a plurality of light-emitting points (light-emitting portions) which can be driven independently. Such laser element having a plurality of light-emitting point s is generally called a "monolithic multi-beam laser element". When the monolithic multi-beam laser element is used, various optical elements arranged after the light source can be commonly used by the plurality of light beams, thus providing large merits in terms of cost, working, adjustments, and the like.
The monolithic multi-beam laser elements include, e.g., a so-called surface-emission laser (surface-emission type semiconductor laser).
The surface-emission laser emits a light beam in a direction parallel to the direction of thickness of a silicon layer, while a conventional semiconductor laser emits a light beam in a direction perpendicular to the direction of thickness of the silicon layer, and the surface-emission laser has the following feature. That is, the conventional semiconductor laser emits divergent light, which has an elliptic section and suffers large variations in divergent angle, while the surface-emission laser can emit a circular beam having a stable divergent angle.
However, the surface-emission laser has a problem, i.e., has an unstable direction of polarization of the output light beam. Although the direction of polarization can be controlled to some extent by the manufacturing method, the direction of polarization fluctuates depending on variations in units of light-emitting points, ambient temperature, and outputs.
Normally, the reflectances, transmittances, and angle characteristics of optical elements that build the optical scanning device, e.g., a polygonal mirror as a light deflector, a scanning lens (f-.theta. lens) as an imaging optical system, a return mirror for changing the optical path, and the like change depending on the direction of polarization of the input light beam.
For this reason, when a monolithic multi-beam laser element comprising a surface-emission laser is used as the light source of the optical scanning device, a plurality of beam spots that optically scan the recording medium surface have different intensities in correspondence with the different directions of polarization of the individual light-emitting points, and such differences in intensity appear as pitch nonuniformities on an image, thus considerably deteriorating the image quality.


A pneumatic tire comprises a tread portion provided with at least two circumferential grooves and lateral grooves extending from the circumferential grooves so as to form blocks which are circumferentially divided by the lateral grooves and arranged in at least three circumferential rows axially divided by said at least two circumferential grooves. Each of the lateral grooves is provided with a tie-bar rising from the groove bottom to a certain height as to connect the opposite groove walls with each other. The tie-bars in the lateral grooves extend towards the adjacent circumferential grooves but terminate before the circumferential grooves so as to provide certain distances therebetween, and the distances are gradually decreased from the axially outside to the axially inside of the tread portion. The inclination angles of the lateral grooves are gradually decreased from the axially outside to the axially inside of the tread portion.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire, more particularly to a tread structure suitable for all-season heavy duty tires.
All-season tires for the use in areas that receive moderate levels of snowfall, are usually provided with block-type tread patterns in order to provide good traction.
Such all-season tires are becoming popular even in heavy duty vehicles, e.g. trucks, buses and the like because a level of traction can be obtained throughout the entire year and also because of the convenience of avoiding a tire changeover.
In general, a block-type tread pattern is made up of blocks arranged in a plurality of circumferential rows, for instance as disclosed in the Japanese patent application publication JP-A-2002-67624. Since the blocks are separated from each other by tread grooves, the rigidity thereof is relatively low. Thus, during running, the blocks in the ground contacting patch are liable to move against the road surface, causing uneven wear such as so-called heel-and-toe wear.
Incidentally, the heel-and-toe wear is a state of uneven wear of a block, namely, such a state that the toe-side edge and heel-side edge of a block are worn out more than the other portions of the block. Usually, wear starts from the corners of the block and expands into heel-and-toe wear. If the heel-and-toe wear is large, the wear of the entire block becomes rapid.
In general, on the other hand, the ground pressure of a heavy duty tire has a tendency to increase gradually from the tread shoulders to the tread center due to a round tread profile. Therefore, as the position of a block becomes closer to the tread center, the block suffers from a larger wear.

Pneumatic tire with tread having lateral grooves provided with tie bars