A rotatable shelf for use in a refrigerator that may include a support bracket configured to support a turntable but is not required. A bearing ring may be disposed between the support bracket and the turntable, wherein the bearing ring is configured to facilitate the rotation of the turntable relative to the support bracket. The support bracket may further be configured to be installed into an interior space of a refrigerator such that the rotatable shelf assembly is oriented in a substantially horizontal direction. A user may then place items onto the turntable and manually or automatically rotate the turntable to access the items. Sensors may be configured to receive user input.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to shelving and storage space suitable for use in refrigerators. More specifically, some embodiments of the invention relate to refrigeration shelving and storage space that may be rotatable, removable, easily installable, or cleanable. Some embodiments may also include structures for supporting such shelving and storage space and may provide more convenient access to items stored thereon or improved temperature distribution.
2. Background
Traditional shelving used in conventional refrigerators is static, with such shelving and storage space generally shaped into squares or rectangles designed to follow the outer dimensions of the refrigerator. This configuration of square or rectangular fixed shelving may appear to maximize storage space within the refrigerator.
Traditional refrigerators include a refrigeration compartment located at the front of the refrigerator and accessible through a door. They also include another space, separate from the refrigeration space, which contains the mechanical components necessary to generate the refrigerated air that maintains the required cool temperature in the refrigeration compartment. This space for the mechanical components is typically rectangular and occupies most of the rear portion of the refrigerator. In some refrigerators, this space may occupy the entire rear three to four inches of the refrigerator. The refrigeration space is also typically rectangular or square, and generally contains rectangular or square shelving and/or drawers dispersed throughout. This arrangement has typically been viewed as maximizing the internal storage space of the refrigerator.
This fixed storage arrangement may, however, lead to several undesirable effects. Items stored on fixed shelving are continuously pushed towards the rear of the refrigerator as additional items are added to the shelf before the original items are removed or used. Thus, over time, the items first placed onto the shelf become inaccessible because the items placed in front of them block access. Further, not only may it be difficult to access the items that have been pushed towards the rear of the shelf, it may also be difficult to even visually see those items. The items pushed towards the rear of the shelf may become visually blocked by both the items placed in front of them and by the other shelves or structures of the refrigerator itself, especially when viewed from an angle above the shelf, as may be typical of a user standing in front of a refrigerator.
Often, this lack of visibility and/or accessibility leads to such items being forgotten about by the user. Because many items stored in a refrigerator are food items with limited shelf life, forgotten items have a greatly increased risk of expiring before being used.
Additionally, food items that have been pushed to the rear of a static shelf, and that have consequently become hard to see and access, and that have expired, may create undesirable odors within the refrigerator. The expired food items may also create increased health risks associated with bacterial growth.
Another disadvantage to the conventional static shelving used in traditional refrigerators results from the imperfect temperature distribution within refrigerators. Traditional refrigerators likely include fixed cooling vents located at the rear of the refrigerator. The fixed nature of these vents causes an unequal temperature distribution within the refrigerator, where temperatures are likely colder closer to the vents and warmer farther from the vents.
Thus, in a traditional refrigerator containing static shelving, items placed closer to the vents are stored at a colder temperature than items stored farther from the vents. The foods stored at the colder temperatures are more likely to freeze, which may be undesirable, while the foods stored at the warmer temperatures may be more likely to spoil, which also may be undesirable.
The static nature of traditional refrigerator shelving exacerbates this problem because the stored items, once placed on the shelf are subject to whichever temperature zone they happen to occupy, either warmer or colder. Further, the shelving itself creates a static obstacle that obstructs the cold air coming into the refrigeration compartments from the vents from easily mixing with the air already inside the refrigeration space, leading to increased variance in temperature throughout the refrigerator.

Apparatus and method for accessing refrigerated items


A method of processing an image to form an image pyramid having multiple image levels includes receiving a base level image comprising pixel values at pixel locations arranged in rows and columns; determining sample locations for a next level image in the pyramid such that the sample locations are arranged in a regular pattern and the sample locations exceed the range of the pixel locations of the base level image; determining the pixel values of the next level image by interpolating the pixel values of the base level image using an interpolation filter at the sample locations; and treating the next level image as the base level image and repeating steps of determining sample locations and pixel values until a predetermined number of pyramid image levels are generated, or until a predetermined condition is met.

It is well known that the dynamic range of an image captured with an image capture device (such as a photographic negative) is often greater than the dynamic range of the output medium (such as a photographic paper or CRT monitor). The result of this incongruity is that a good deal of scene content is lost in the output image. For this reason, in an image processing environment, a tone scale function may be used to reduce the scene dynamic range in order to map more information onto the output medium, in a process called dynamic range modification or dynamic range compression. The dynamic range compression modifies the tone scale characteristics of the image.
There exist many processes for creating a tone scale function on an image dependent basis; e.g. see U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,987 issued Dec. 5, 1995 to Nakazawa et al. Each of the conventional tone scale function processes examines certain statistical characteristics of the image under consideration in order to automatically generate the tone scale function. In addition, the tone scale function may be generated with manual interactive tools by a human operator.
After the tone scale function has been generated, there exists the question of how to apply the tone scale function to the digital image. The goal of dynamic range compression is to adjust the overall dynamic range of the image, rather than to affect the contrast of any given object in the image. In essence, a tone scale function should be applied to an image in such a way as to minimize the effect to the scene texture. To that end, it is known to apply a tone scale function to a low frequency sub-band of the image, preserving the higher frequency sub-band(s) that are considered image texture; e.g. see U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,333 issued Apr. 30, 1991 to Lee et al.
Lee et al. describe a procedure for preserving the high frequency detail of an image by blurring the image neutral channel in order to create a low-pass signal. Subtracting the low-pass signal from the image neutral channel produces a high-pass signal. The processed image is generated by applying the tone scale function to the low-pass signal and adding the result to the high-pass signal. This procedure preserves a segment of the image frequency spectrum; however, artifacts are generated at object boundaries in the image. Gallagher et al. build on this work; see U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,521 issued Nov. 13, 2001. More specifically, Gallagher et al. incorporate an artifact avoidance scheme along with a single standard FIR filter to generate the texture signal. While this improvement reduces the occurrence of artifacts in the final image, the artifacts can still be visible.
Several methods for achieving dynamic range modification of an image by decomposing the image into multiple resolutions have been proposed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,404 issued Nov. 14, 1995, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,721 issued Sep. 8, 1988, Vuylsteke et al. teach a method of decomposing an image into a pyramid having multiple resolution versions of the image and using a pre-determined nonlinear amplitude compression function for the high frequency component in each resolution. A deficiency of this method is that the amplitude at each resolution does not adequately identify whether the signal is part of a large amplitude edge or an image texture. A similar approach was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,791 issued Feb. 10, 1998 to Labaere et al., which describes a similar dynamic range compression scheme using an image pyramid generated using wavelet filters to generate the multiple resolutions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,642 issued May 25, 1999, Ito describes a method of image enhancement based on processing the detail signals of an image pyramid. Ito describes suppressing the magnitude of detail signals in situations where the next lower detail signal has small magnitude. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,457 issued Nov. 23, 1999, Ito describes a method of generating several band pass detail image signals that are modified by application of non-linear functions to modify the dynamic range of the image.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,798 B1 issued Sep. 4, 2001, Lee describes yet another dynamic range compression method using a pyramid representation of an image. Lee describes a method of using wavelet filters to create a plurality of coarse signals and detail signals, modifying the detail signals in accordance with contrast gain signals created by detecting the edges of the coarse scale edges, and adding the modified detail signals to the coarse signals to obtain an output image.
In each of these dynamic range compression techniques using a pyramid image representation, the high frequency (e.g. edge or band pass) components of the pyramid image representation are modified to affect the image dynamic range. However, it is often inconvenient to operate on the high frequency component of the pyramid image representation. In addition, the characteristics of the high frequency signals vary as a function of the level within the pyramid image representation. This variability requires a complicated parameter tuning in order to achieve optimal dynamic range compression without producing objectionable artifacts (such as the aforementioned overshoot and undershoot artifact) using a pyramid representation of the image.
Pyramid methods as a means of representing images as a function of spatial resolution for image processing, has a long history. Burt and Adelson, described a method of representing a digital image by a series of residual images and a base digital image in their journal article "The Laplacian Pyramid as a Compact Image Code" IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. Com-31, No. 4, Apr. 1983. However the method taught by Burt et al. was designed for image compression applications and cannot be used for enhancing the tone scale of a digital image.
The prior art methods described for handing the borders of an image pyramid are inefficient. Vuylsteke, LaBaere, and Ito each describe generating lower resolution base image pyramid levels by filtering then sampling every other pixel. This method throws away image information whenever the image has an even number of rows, as the samples of the lower resolution base image span (cover) all but one of the image rows. In addition, the sampling method does not preserve phase between the resolution levels. For example, consider an 8×8 pixel image. Omitting the blurring filter, after 4 pyramid levels have been generated, the image is represented as a single pixel. The value of the single pixel is the same as the pixel of the 8×8 image in the upper left position (assuming sampling of every other pixel.) Thus a phase shift of several pixels has occurred. Because of this phase shift, the pyramids used by Vuylsteke, Labaere and Ito are sub-optimal.
In addition, Gendel describes an image pyramid in U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,459, issued Oct. 31, 2000. Gendel describes a method of forming an image pyramid to handle the image borders so that a smoothing filter will provide valid results. However, Gendel's solution of padding the image is inefficient and the method does not ensure that image information is not lost due to the span of the lower resolution base image being smaller than the starting base image.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved method of forming image pyramids and in particular an improved method for processing image pyramid borders. Specifically, there is a need to improve the method of processing image pyramid borders when using an image pyramid to modify the tone scale of a digital image.

Method of processing an image to form an image pyramid


This invention provides a method for producing a magneto-optical recording medium with a laminated film composed of a plurality of magnetic layers made of alloys of rare earth metals-transition metals such as a magneto-optical recording medium allowing direct overwriting through light intensity modulation and a magneto-optical recording medium allowing magnetically induced recording with super resolution, or a method for stably producing a magneto-optical recording medium excellent in performance.. The method consists of using, as vaporizers to form the laminated magnetic film, three or more vaporizers including one or more vaporizers containing mainly rare earth elements and one or more vaporizers containing mainly transition metals. Then, particles ejected from a vaporizer containing mainly a rare earth metal and from two or more vaporizers containing mainly transition metals are allowed to continue to impinge onto the surface upon which the laminated film is to be formed, throughout the formation of the laminated film.

This invention relates to a method for producing a magneto-optical recording medium which, like a magneto-optical disk allowing overwriting through light intensity modulation, has a laminated structure composed of a plurality of magnetic layers made of alloys of rare earth metals-transition metals.
Recently, in the field of magneto-optical recording, demands for higher functions such as high rate of data transmission and high density of recorded data are increasingly growing. To meet such demands, various techniques have been put into practice. For example, a representative technique enabling such high rate of data transmission includes overwriting through light intensity modulation, and another technique enabling such high density of data recording includes magnetically induced recording with super resolution (MSR).
These techniques can be put into effect when a laminated magnetic film is realized, instead of a conventional magneto-optical disk composed of a single magnetic layer, which includes a plurality of magnetic layers made of alloys of rare earth metals-transition metals alternately place one over another.
Such laminated magnetic film is usually produced with a sputtering apparatus which contains a plurality of shooters in a single filming chamber. During operation, materials different in composite elements are charged into individual shooters, and a substrate is placed opposite to those shooters one after another. Particles shot from individual shooters are deposited one over another on the substrate, to form a magnetic disk with a laminated structure having a plurality of layers of different compositions.
For a laminated film to be made by sputtering as described above, conventionally, a plurality of substrates are mounted onto a circular plate, and the plate is rotated such that the substrates mounted thereupon are placed opposite to the shooters one after another, and that all the substrates develop films on their surface at the same time. The composition of a given magnetic layer is adjusted after the shutter placed in front of a shooter has been opened or closed, or after driving powers delivered to the shooter have been adjusted appropriately.
As described above, techniques such as direct overwriting through light intensity modulation or magnetically induced recording with super resolution can be put into effect only after they are applied to a laminated magnetic film with a plurality of layers made of alloys of rare earth metals-transition metals, and different in composition from one another. However, even if a magneto-optical recording medium with such laminated magnetic layers is actually produced, it will not always give the properties as have been theoretically expected stably.
To put it more specifically, even if a magneto-optical recording medium with such laminated structure is actually produced, the properties necessary for the expected high performance will be often present unevenly on the interfaces of laminated structure. Or, if a large number of magneto-optical recording media are produced, the properties in question of individual media will show a wide variation. These problems form the reason why conventional magneto-optical recording media with a laminated structure whose properties are sufficiently good to allow high grade recording have never been stably produced.

Method for producing a magneto-optical recording medium


A method of detecting occlusions in a solution pumping system includes monitoring and analyzing pressures within the system during selected portions of a pumping cycle. The pumping system of the illustrated embodiment includes a positive displacement pump operated by a reciprocable pump piston, with analysis of pressures within the system identifying those conditions which reflect the presence of an occlusion either upstream or downstream of the positive displacement pump. A suitable signal or alarm can then be activated to alert operating personnel.

Healthcare facilities require preparation and administration of very large numbers of parenteral solutions for patients. Such solutions are administered for both nutritional and therapeutic purposes, and thus efficient liquid-handling systems are required for cost-effective preparation of such solutions, and their administration to patients.
To this end, positive displacement fluid pumping devices have been developed for both preparation and administration of parenteral solutions. Such devices permit precise control during pumping of solutions, thus facilitating solution administration and preparation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,639,245, to Pastrone et al., 4,818,186, to Pastrone et al., and 4,842,584, to Pastrone, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference, disclose a positive displacement fluid infusion pumping device and components thereof, which have met with widespread acceptance by the healthcare industry. This pumping system includes a combination of a pump driver and an associated removable and disposable pump cassette. The pump cassette includes a self-contained positive displacement pump device, which is operated by a reciprocable pump plunger or piston of the associated pump driver. The pump driver includes selectively operable valve actuators, which cooperate with valve mechanisms provided in the pump cassette for accurate and highly automated administration and infusion of parenteral solutions.
Commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/444,459, filed Dec. 1, 1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,774, discloses a solution pumping system generally-of the above type, including a disposable pump cassette, and an associated pump driver. The system of this application is particularly configured for automatic compounding and preparation of parenteral solutions, for subsequent infusion to a patient. This application is hereby incorporated by reference.
Solution pumping systems of the above type employ preassembled, disposable pump cassettes. Typically, such pump cassettes include a cassette body having juxtaposed front and rear body members, between which is positioned a membrane-like elastomeric diaphragm. The diaphragm cooperates with the front body member to provide valve mechanisms at various inlets and outlets defined by the front body member, with openings in the rear body member exposing the diaphragm for operation of the valve mechanisms by valve actuators of the associated pump driver.
Additionally, the front body member of the cassette defines a pump chamber, which, together with the internal diaphragm, provides the self-contained positive displacement pump of the cassette. The rear body member defines an opening through which a reciprocable pump piston of the associated driver is movable for operating the cassette, whereby liquid can be pumped through the cassette.
During the use of the above type of pumping systems for preparation or administration of parenteral solutions, various tubing sets, containers, clamp mechanisms and the like, are employed for handling and controlling liquid flow. Proper operation of the system requires that liquid is able to flow throughout the various tubing sets, in and out of the various containers, and through the pump cassette itself. Kinking or excessive bending of the tubing material can restrict fluid flow, thus detracting from efficient and accurate operation of the system. Similarly, inadvertent blockage of a container, a container vent, or flow path of the pump cassette can result in improper system operation.
The present invention contemplates a method of operating a solution pumping system which facilitates monitoring occlusions or blockages in the system, with suitable alarms or like devices provided to alert operating personnel of a system occlusion.

Method of detecting occlusions in a solution pumping system


Transgenic mice express increased levels of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) in epithelium when their ancestors are microinjected with the NT-3 gene. The NT-3 growth factor expressing transgenic mice are useful in the study of neurodegenerative disorders of the brain such as Parkinson's syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, of the spinal cord motor neurons such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and for testing drug candidates for the treatment of these diseases.

Neurotrophin proteins support survival and differentiation of developing neurons. Target tissues such as skin produce limited amounts of neurotrophins during critical periods of development that act to rescue neurons from programmed cell death. Though target-derived influences of nerve growth factor (NGF) have been well documented, effects of other neurotrophins are less clear.
During development of the vertebrate nervous system up to half of all neurons generated undergo a process of naturally occurring cell death (See Ard, M. D., Morest,
D. K. (1984),; Intl. J. Dev. Neurosci. 2, 535-547; and Oppenheim, R. W. (1991). Ann. Rev. Neurosci. 14, 453-501).
Neuronal death typically occurs shortly after neurons make functional connections within their target field. Survival during this period of innervation is thought to be dependent on the synthesis by the target tissue of a limited quantity of neurotropic substances. (See Thoenen, H. and Barde, Y. A. (1980), Physiol. Rev. 60, 1284-1334; Oppenheim, R. W. (1989), Trends in Neurosci. 12, 252-255; and Davies, A. M., Larmet, Y., Wright, E., Vogel, K. S. (1991), J. Cell Sci. 15, 111-116)).
The competition for target field-derived neurotrophic factors is thought to serve at least two functions: to ensure that an appropriate number of synaptic contacts are made at the target and to eliminate inappropriate neuronal projections. (See Oppenheim, R. W. (1981),. In Studies in Developmental Biology (ed. W. M. Cowan) p 74-133. Oxford University Press; and Cowan, W. M., Fawcett, J. W., O'Leary, D. D. M., and Stanfield, B. B. (1984), Science 225, 1258-1265)).
This concept is referred to as the neurotrophic hypothesis and predicts that the number of neurons in the adult could be increased if a higher concentration of neurotrophic factor(s) was available during the critical time when synaptic contacts are being established.
The NT-3 neurotrophin appears to have a role in neuron survival and maintenance. NT-3 is a member of the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)/nerve growth factor (NGF) neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) gene family. The development and maintenance of the nervous system depends on these proteins known as neurotrophic factors. Widespread neuronal cell death accompanies normal development of the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system, and plays a crucial role in regulating the number of neurons which project to a given target field (Berg, 1982, Neuronal Development, 397-331; Cowan et al., 1984, 225:1258-65).
Ablation and transplantation studies of peripheral target tissues during development have shown that neuronal cell death results from the competition among neurons for limiting amounts of survival factors (neurotrophic factors) produced in their projection fields. These observations led to the identification of nerve growth factor (NGF), which remains by far the best characterized neurotrophic molecule (Levi, Montalchini, and Angeletti, 1968, Physiol. Rev., 48:534-69; Thoenen and Barde, 1980, Rev. 60:1284-335).
Because NGF supports only a limited set of neuronal populations, the existence of additional neurotrophic factors has long been postulated (Varon, S. and Adler, R., 1981, Adv. Cellular Neurobiology, 2: 115-63; Barde et al., 1987, Prob. Brain Res., 71:185-9). While it is now clear that other neurotrophic factors exist, their extremely low abundance has impeded their molecular characterization. Nevertheless, purification of small amounts of two such proteins, namely brain derived neurotrophic factor and ciliary neurotrophic factor have recently permitted their cloning and sequencing (Leibrock et al., 1989, Nature, 341:149-52; Stockli et al., 1989, Nature, 342:21-28; and Lin et al., 1989, Science, 246:1023-25).
There have been numerous reports of neurotrophic factor activity in extracts of a great variety of tissues and in conditioned culture media of many different cell types. Progress in characterizing these activities and purifying the compounds has been hampered by the fact that such activities are present in extremely small amounts, the range of picograms and nanograms per gram of tissue.
Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a prototypical target-derived neurotrophic substance that has been shown to be essential for the survival and differentiation of neural crest-derived sensory neurons, sympathetic neurons, and forebrain cholinergic neurons. (See Levi-Montalcini, R. and Booker B. (1960), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 46, 384-391, and Hefti, F. (1986) J. Neurosci. 6, 2155-2161; Williams, L. R., Varon, S., Peterson, G., Wictorin, K., Fischer, W., Bjorklund, A. & Gage, F. H. (1986), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83, 9231-9235).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,820 to Barde et al. discloses nucleic acid sequences encoding brain derived neurotrophic factor of humans. U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,500 to Barde et al. claims pharmaceutical compositions including purified isolated nucleic acid sequences encoding brain derived neurotrophic factor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,764 to Shooter et al. discloses and claims a nucleic acid molecule encoding a chimeric protein which has neurotrophic activity and consists of a chimeric protein including two neurotrophic factors selected from brain derived neurotrophic factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin-3 and nerve growth factor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,043 to Collins et al. discloses and claims a method for folding human mature nerve growth factor recombinantly expressed in E. coli wherein the protein maintains substantially full biological activity. U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,094 to de La Valle discloses a nominal neurotrophic factor isolated from mammalian brain tissue. U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,056 to Panayotatos discloses and claims a modified human ciliary neurotrophic factor. U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,769 to Rosenthal et al. discloses neurotrophic factor-4, isolated nucleotide sequences. U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,026 to Kovesdi et al. discloses human MK protein which is homologous to humor- and heparin-binding neurotrophic factor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,063 to Chan et al. discloses and claims a method of producing biologically active mature human .beta.-nerve growth factor in insect cells.
International Publication WO 91/03568 to Hyman et al. discloses a derived neurotrophic factor and claims recombinant DNA molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding brain derived neurotrophic factor.
International Publication 91/03569 to Hohn discloses neurotrophin-3. The publication claims a recombinant DNA molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding neurotrophin-3 or subsequences thereof. This international publication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Various transgenic mice have been patented. U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,866 to Leder et al. discloses a transgenic non-human eukaryotic animal whose germ cells and somatic cells contain an activated oncogene sequence introduced into the animal or an ancestor of the animal at an embryonic stage. The embryo of the mice were microinjected with approximately 500 copies of the RSV-S107 c-myc plasmid. The injected eggs were transferred to pseudopregnant foster mothers and allowed to develop to term. The plasmid contains a Rous Sarcoma Virus enhancer and promoter sequence. The resultant mice showed expression of the c-myc gene in the salivary gland, spleen, testes, lung, brain, and preputial gland and intestinal tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,383 to Leder et al. discloses a male transgenic mouse containing germ cells and somatic cells which contain a recombinant gene which is a vertebrate gene in the Int-2/FGF family which is capable of promoting benign prostatic hyperplasia or hypertrophy. The fusion gene which is injected into the mouse embryonic tissue comprises a promoter sequence controlling transcription of the recombinant gene such as a promoter derived from the mouse mammary tumor virus and cytomegalovirus. The recombinant gene is preferably substantially homologous with (i.e., greater than 50% homologous in terms of encoded amino acid sequence) a naturally occurring, vertebrate gene in the Int-2/FGF gene family of murine growth factor encoding genes or their vertebrate counterparts, including the murine acidic or basic fibroblast growth factor genes, the murine FGF-5 gene, the murine epidermal growth factor gene, the murine insulin-like growth factor-1 and -2 gene, the murine .alpha.-transforming growth factor gene with a murine hst/KS3 gene. The transgenic mice of Leder et al. exhibit prostate hyperplasia and give sterile offspring.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,571 to Leder et al. discloses a non-human eukaryotic animal whose germ cells and somatic cells contain an activated oncogene. The embryo of the mice were microinjected with approximately 500 copies of the RSV-S107 c-myc plasmid. The injected eggs were transferred to pseudopregnant foster mothers and allowed to develop to term. The plasmid contains a Rous Sarcoma Virus enhancer and promoter sequence. The resultant mice showed expression of the c-myc gene in the salivary gland, spleen, testes, lung, brain, and preputial gland and intestinal tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,384 to Krimpenfort et al. discloses transgenic mice having a phenotype characterized by the substantial absence of mature T-lymphocytes. The mouse is produced by introducing a transgene into a zygote of a mouse which comprises gene fragment which encodes a T-cell antigen receptor polypeptide variant which is incapable of mediating T-cell maturation in the transgenic mouse.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,385 to Wagner et al. discloses the production of a transgenic mouse with enhanced viral resistance which is transmissible to its offspring. The transgenic mouse is prepared by introduction of a gene encoding a human interferon having anti-viral activity into a host mouse. The plasmid of Wagner et al. contains a methallothionein-1 promoter and the genomic human beta interferon gene. When these mice were injected with pseudorabies virus they showed an increased resistance to the virus and although many mice died they died considerably later than did the control animals.
Vassar et al., in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 86, pages 1563-1567, March 1989, disclose "Tissue-specific and Differentiation-specific Expression of a Human K14 Keratin Gene in Transgenic Mice". This publication discloses that Vassar et al. used a plasmid containing a K14 keratin promoter and a K14 keratin gene sequence tagged with a sequence from the neuropeptide substance P and determined the expression of the plasmid and K14 keratin tagged substance P in the skin of transgenic mice.
Vassar et al. in Gene & Development, Volume 5, pages 714-727, (1991) disclose "Transgenic Mice Provide New Insights into the Role of TGF-.alpha. During Epidermal Development and Differentiation". This publication discloses the construction of transgenic mice using a plasmid which contains the K14 keratin promoter and the TGF-.alpha. gene. Vassar et al. disclose that the TGF-.alpha. gene belongs to the epidermal growth factor family of proteins and shows structural homology with the epidermal growth factor. These transgenic mice showed gross phenotypic abnormalities in their skin including flaky outer epidermal layers with stunted hair growth and wrinkling. The plasmid used to create this transgenic mouse also included human growth hormone fusion gene.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,742 discloses transgenic mice which exhibit amyloid brain deposits characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.
PCT Publication WO 93/00909 is directed to a method of treating neurotrophin-expressing tumors by administering a sequence complementary to at least a portion of a RNA transcript of brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene.
Heretofore there has been no convenient method to investigate how neurotrophic factors such as NT-3, affect neuron survival and development of the peripheral nervous system or provide a practical model for testing drug candidates for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders of the brain such as Parkinson's syndrome and Alzheimer's disease and assessing the effect of drug candidates on the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS).
The present invention overcomes the deficiency by providing transgenic mice which express increased levels of Neurotrophin-3 in the epidermis and other stratified, keratinized epithelium. The transgene DNA construct injected into the mouse embryos contain a human K14 keratin promoter and enhancer region linked to the coding sequences of mouse Neurotrophin-3 gene. The mice can be used to study the role of NT-3 in supporting neuronal survival and in neurodegenerative disorders of the CNS and PNS.

Transgenic mice which overexpress neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and methods of use

University of Kentucky Research Foundation


A system and method for initiating calls via electronic calendar is disclosed. A call list is associated by a user to a particular time and day within the electronic calendar. When the particular day and time arrives, the call list is forwarded to a service which executes the call list, and subsequently contacts the members of the call list. The system may initially query the callees through a prerecorded voice messaging system to determine which callees are present, and then establish a telephone connection based on responses to the queries. Once a connection is established, the user and the members of the list are linked to a conference bridge.

With computer and communication technology advances over recent years, the need for effectively merging scheduling capabilities with communication capabilities has become great. While present calendar systems allow clients to draw information and schedules from their calendar, these systems are limited in their ability to facilitate communication between an individual and a group or list of callees. Clients requiring group meeting capabilities like teachers, managers, brokers, etc. have particular problems in arranging and executing calendar calls to lists of callees.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A thermally differentiable pattern such as hot melt adhesive is monitored in a production line system. An electrical output from a thermopile radiation sensor is applied to a detection circuit which processes the sensor electrical output to perform an inverse to the sensor transfer function and to perform a differentiation which provides a pulsed output at rising and falling edges of the sensor signal. Comparators provide respective output pulse signals representing the respective rising and falling edges. An adjustable amplifier in the circuit adjusts pulse threshold relative to sensed radiation.

Temperature detection has become a significant measurement in product and process quality control. Radiation detectors are particularly useful because they provide a non-contact measurement which allows continuous measurement of an ongoing process such as product moving along a conveyor belt. Radiation sensors also provide a relatively fast response in the order of 100 milliseconds.
Temperature detection systems compare detected radiation with a reference. A difficulty arises where the background radiation in the system is not constant, thus requiring frequent recalibration of the system. For example, the radiation detector may view a continuous or intermittent bead of hot adhesive which has just been laid on a package to confirm that the adhesive is being laid properly. In a hot environment, the adhesive may only be a few degrees higher in temperature than the surrounding packaging, so a change in environmental temperature of only one or two degrees may place the detector out of calibration.
A solution to the problem of changing background temperature was presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,258. In that system, two radiation sensors are provided to view adjacent target surfaces and provide a differential output. Accordingly, the reference level to which the principal radiation sensor is compared is that of the radiation from the surrounding environment. In a typical application, the principal radiation sensor would view a continuous or intermittent bead of adhesive while the reference sensor views an adjacent surface, the two sensors being positioned in line perpendicular to the direction of movement of the product being monitored.
Although the differential approach has been very successful, the 100 millisecond time constant of thermal radiation sensors, those such as thermopiles which convert radiation to thermal energy and thermal energy to electrical output, has limited their application to systems where the hot target to be sensed is very long or where the conveyor moves very slowly. Due to thermal time constants, the response of a thermal radiation sensor begins to fall at about 1.5 hertz. At higher frequencies more complex and expensive quantum photoelectric systems, which convert radiation directly to electrical output, have been required.


A smoking article holder that is lightweight, inexpensive and can be used to retain a player's smoking article during a round of golf. The holder comprises a generally oblong member for receiving and retaining the smoking article, a pin extending from the oblong member and a retractable clamp attached to the oblong member which retains the smoking article against the oblong member. While the holder may be placed in the ground, the pin extending from the oblong member is designed to fit snugly in one of the tee holder holes provided in the dash of a golf cart.

The field of the invention relates generally to holders for smoking articles, and more particularly, to holders which can be used while playing golf.
It is currently trendy to smoke cigars while engaged in sporting activities; the most popular of which appears to be golf. On the golf course, players have ample time to enjoy a smoke while waiting on their opponents or partners and while traveling to their next shot. However, there is no good place to leave one's cigar when hitting or engaging in other activities. As such, the golfer is typically forced to place the cigar on the ground. Placing the cigar on the ground often leads to contamination of the cigar with dirt, chemicals and insects, or the ground is so wet that the lit cigar is extinguished. Additional, some individuals may tend to forget their cigars when placed on the ground.
Previous efforts have been made to provide a smoking article holder that holds a player's cigar while he or she is engaging in a sporting activity. One such holder is disclosed in Photakis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,448. U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,448 discloses a holder having a slot on its underside for receiving a tee. The tee can then be placed in the ground and a cigar or other smoking article can then rest on the holder. Unlike the present invention, this device does not have a clamp means for securing the cigar against the holder nor is the device adapted to fit in the dash of a golf cart; it can only be used in the ground.


A temperature compensated pressure sensor network for providing an output sensing signal representative of an applied pressure includes a reference oscillator circuit for providing a reference signal having an associated reference frequency. The oscillator circuit includes a first inductor pair electrically coupled in series, wherein the reference frequency is a predetermined function of a first inductance associated with the first inductor pair. The sensor network further includes a sensor circuit for providing a sensing signal having an associated sensing frequency. The sensor circuit includes a second inductor pair and a sensing capacitor electrically coupled in series, wherein the sensing frequency is a predetermined function of a second inductance associated with the second inductor pair and the applied pressure. The sensor network also includes a processor for receiving the reference signal and the sensing signal, and producing the output sensing signal. The output sensing signal is a predetermined function of the reference signal and the sensing signal. The first inductor pair is oriented with respect to the second inductor pair so as to minimize effects of inductive coupling, and temperature variation, between the first inductor pair and the second inductor pair. The first inductor and the second inductor are preferably electrically coupled in series opposition, and the third inductor and the fourth inductor are preferably electrically coupled in series opposition. The first inductor pair is preferably oriented substantially orthogonal to the second inductor pair.

Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present invention relates to pressure sensors, and more particularly, to pressure sensor networks that include temperature compensation mechanisms so as to be relatively insensitive to variations in ambient temperatures.
Prior art pressure sensor networks related to the present invention generally include a transducer component and a driver output component. A block diagram of an exemplary prior art pressure sensor network 10 is shown in FIG. 1. The transducer component 12 includes a capacitive or inductive pressure sensor 14 that produces a varying parameter 16, either capacitance or inductance, as a function of an applied pressure 18. For example, a capacitive transducer may incorporate a flexible, electrically conductive diaphragm positioned parallel to a stationary, electrically conductive plate at a nominal distance d. In this case, the variable parameter 16 includes the capacitance across the diaphragm and the stationary plate. Pressure applied to the flexible diaphragm causes the distance d to change, thus causing the capacitance to change.
The driver component 20 uses this varying parameter 16 as a component of a resonant tank circuit 22, such that the resonant frequency of the tank circuit varies as a function of the applied pressure 18. The driver component 20 produces a pressure signal 24 corresponding to the magnitude of the applied pressure 18. The pressure signal 24 may simply be the raw signal that the resonant tank circuit 22 generates, such that the frequency of the pressure signal 24 conveys the information regarding the applied pressure 18.
Alternately, the driver component 20 may perform a frequency-to-voltage or frequency-to-current conversion on the raw signal from the tank circuit 22, such that the voltage or current, respectively, of the pressure signal 24 conveys the information regarding the applied pressure 18. The pressure sensor network 10 may further include a processor 26 for receiving and converting the pressure signal 24 into a form that is more useful to a particular application. For example, the processor 26 may sample the pressure signal 24 and convert the embedded pressure information into a digit format that is useful to other processing components.
Due to physical characteristics of the pressure sensor 10, the relationship between the applied pressure 18 and the pressure signal 24 may vary as a function of external conditions that produce a change in the physical dimensions of pressure sensor 10. One exemplary external condition that can produce such a change is the ambient temperature, although other external conditions (e.g., humidity) can also produce such changes. For example, in a pressure sensor that incorporates a capacitive transducer as described hereinbefore, temperature variations typically cause dimensional variations to the diaphragm and conductive plate, which in turn modify the relationship between the applied pressure and the pressure signal. This relationship between the sensor temperature and the pressure to output relationship is commonly referred to as the temperature sensitivity of the sensor. Schemes to compensate for such temperature sensitivity typically involve characterizing temperature sensitivity over the operating temperature range, measuring the temperature of the transducer in real time and applying a compensating factor to the pressure signal 24 according to the characterized temperature sensitivity at the measured temperature.
One disadvantage to such compensation schemes is that in order to measure the transducer temperature in real time, additional components such as thermistors, thermocouples, etc., along with associated sensing circuitry, must be added to the pressures sensor. These additional components add cost and complexity to the sensor, and reduce overall reliability.
Another disadvantage to such compensation schemes is that often the transducer portion of the pressure sensor is physically removed from the driver portion, such that their respective temperatures may be different. When the driver portion of the sensor includes components that are also subject to temperature sensitivities, the different temperatures tend to compound the overall temperature sensitivity of the sensor, further complicating the compensation problem.
It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome the above-identified disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art.
The foregoing and other objects are achieved by the invention which in one aspect comprises a temperature compensated pressure sensor network for providing an output sensing signal representative of an applied pressure. The sensor network includes a reference oscillator circuit for providing a reference signal having an associated reference frequency. The oscillator circuit includes a first inductor, wherein the reference frequency is a predetermined function of a first inductance associated with the first inductor. The sensor network further includes a sensor circuit for providing a sensing signal having an associated sensing frequency. The sensor circuit includes a second inductor and a sensing capacitor electrically coupled in series, wherein the sensing frequency is a predetermined function of a second inductance associated with the second inductor pair and the applied pressure. The sensor network also includes a processor for receiving the reference signal and the sensing signal, and producing the output sensing signal. The output sensing signal is a predetermined function of the reference signal and the sensing signal. The first inductor pair is oriented with respect to the second inductor pair so as to minimize effects of inductive coupling, and parametric variation, between the first inductor and the second inductor. The parametric variation may include a variation in one or more physical dimensions due to temperature, humidity, and other external conditions or combinations of conditions. In an alternate embodiment, the first inductor includes an inductor pair electrically coupled in series, and the second inductor includes an inductor pair electrically coupled in series.
In another embodiment of the invention, the first inductor and the second inductor are electrically coupled in series opposition, and the third inductor and the fourth inductor are electrically coupled in series opposition.
In another embodiment of the invention, the first inductor pair is oriented substantially orthogonal to the second inductor pair.
In another embodiment of the invention, the first inductor pair including a first planar inductor and a second planar inductor disposed in a plane along a first axis, the second inductor pair including a third planar inductor and a fourth planar inductor disposed in the plane along a second axis.
In another embodiment of the invention, the first axis and the second axis are substantially orthogonal, and the first axis intersects the second axis at a point substantially equidistant between the first planar inductor and the second planar inductor.
In another embodiment of the invention, the first planar inductor produces a first flux in a direction substantially orthogonal to the plane, the second planar inductor produces a second flux in a direction substantially parallel but opposite to that of the first flux, the third planar inductor produces a third flux in a direction substantially orthogonal to the plane, and the fourth planar inductor produces a fourth flux in a direction substantially parallel but opposite of the third flux.
In another embodiment of the invention, a first distance from a center of the first planar inductor to a center of the third planar inductor is substantially equal to a second distance from a center of the second planar inductor to a center of the third planar inductor.
In another embodiment of the invention, a first distance from a center of the first planar inductor to a center of the fourth planar inductor is substantially equal to a second distance from a center of the second planar inductor to a center of the fourth planar inductor.
In another embodiment of the invention, the processor executes a sequential procedure using the reference signal as a sequencing timebase and the sensing signal as an input, such that a variation in the reference frequency compensates for a variation in the sensing frequency.
In another embodiment of the invention, the sensing capacitor is characterized by an associated capacitance that varies as a predetermined function of the applied pressure.
In another aspect, the invention comprises a method of providing an output sensing signal representative of an applied pressure. The method includes the step of providing a reference signal having an associated reference frequency and being generated by an oscillator circuit including a first inductor pair electrically coupled in series. The reference frequency is a predetermined function of a first inductance associated with the first inductor pair. The method further includes the step of providing a sensing signal having an associated sensing frequency and being generated by a sensor circuit including a second inductor pair and a sensing capacitor electrically coupled in series. The sensing frequency is a predetermined function of a second inductance associated with the second inductor pair and the applied pressure. The method also includes the step of producing the output sensing signal being a predetermined function of the reference signal and the sensing signal. The method further includes the step of orienting the first inductor pair with respect to the second inductor pair so as to minimize effects of inductive coupling, and parametric variation, between the first inductor pair and the second inductor pair. The parametric variation may include a variation in one or more physical dimensions due to temperature, humidity, and other external conditions or combinations of conditions.
Another embodiment of the invention further includes the step of orienting the first inductor pair substantially orthogonal to the second inductor pair.

Temperature compensated pressure sensor network


A fluctuation torque cancellation apparatus which positively cancels a torque fluctuation developing on an input shaft or an output shaft of a motion conversion apparatus for converting a continuous rotational motion of the input shaft into a predetermined-type rotational motion, such as intermittent rotational motions of the output shaft, and includes a torque compensation cam, fixedly mounted on a rotation shaft for rotation therewith and has a cam surface, formed on a peripheral surface which reciprocally moves a slider in a cylinder while rotating a cam follower and with a coil spring, mounted within the cylinder, being compressed and expanded, so that the magnitude of pressing force of the cam follower against the torque compensation cam is varied, thereby cancelling a fluctuation torque applied to the rotation shaft, thus effecting a torque compensation for the motion conversion apparatus and including a source of pressurized air supplied to an air chamber in the cylinder to selectively vary the pressing force, so that the compensation torque is exerted on the rotation shaft, using both the spring pressure and the air pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fluctuation torque cancellation apparatus which can be connected to a rotation shaft (i.e., an input shaft or an output shaft) of a motion conversion apparatus for converting a continuous rotational motion of the input shaft into a special rotational motion of the output shaft, such as an intermittent rotational motion and a swinging rotational motion, or a predetermined-type motion of the output shaft such as a combination of such rotational motions, and also can be connected to an input shaft of a pressing machine incorporating a motion conversion apparatus for converting a continuous rotational motion of the input shaft into a reciprocal linear motion of a slide.
2. Related Art
In a motion conversion apparatus for converting a continuous rotational motion of an input shaft into a predetermined-type rotational motion of an output shaft through a cam mechanism such as an intermittent indexing device, a torque, acting on the output shaft during the operation, varies continuously, and a reaction force of this torque acts as a fluctuation torque on the input shaft. This torque, acting on the input shaft, prevents a uniform rotation of the input shaft, and causes vibrations during the operation and an operation error resulting therefrom. The influence of this torque is great particularly during high-speed rotation of the apparatus, and therefore in order to achieve a high-speed design of the apparatus, it is necessary to suppress this fluctuation torque to a low level as much as possible.
In order to suppress this fluctuation torque, a fluctuation torque cancellation apparatus is proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 60-4665. In this apparatus, a follower, to which a cam follower, engaged with a fluctuation torque-cancelling compensation cam mounted on a continuously-rotating shaft (e.g. a cam shaft), is fixedly secured, is reciprocally moved in accordance with a cam curve of the compensation cam, so that a coil spring, provided to urge or press the follower, repeatedly accumulates and releases energy in accordance with a torque fluctuation of the continuously-rotating shaft. More specifically, during a step in which the accumulated energy is released, there is produced a torque acting in a direction to assist the rotation of the continuously-rotating shaft, whereas during a step in which the energy is accumulated, there is produced a torque acting in a direction to prevent the rotation of the continuously-rotating shaft. With this operation, at an acceleration section at which the rotation tends to become low, the acceleration torque is promoted, whereas at a deceleration section at which the rotation tends to become high, the braking torque is promoted, and by doing so, the fluctuation torque can be suppressed to a low level, and the stable motion can be obtained.
However, the above conventional fluctuation torque cancellation apparatus with the mechanical spring, when mounted on the motion conversion apparatus, is usually used, considering the rotational speed (to be used) of a motion conversion apparatus body, and in some cases, the intended effects have not been obtained outside this predetermined rotational speed range. For example, in an apparatus which is designed for high rotational speed, and serves to cancel a fluctuation torque due to an inertia load, a cam curve is so determined that a very large cancellation torque can be produced during acceleration, and when this apparatus is used during low-speed rotation, the produced inertia load is smaller than during the high-speed rotation, and therefore the promoting torque of a level more than necessary is exerted during the acceleration, while the braking torque of a level more than necessary is exerted during deceleration, and in contrast with the intention, an unnecessary torque fluctuation is produced. And besides, when assembling such a fluctuation torque cancellation apparatus, the assembling operation must be effected while holding the coil spring in a considerably-compressed condition, which results in a problem that the efficiency of the operation is poor.

Fluctuation torque cancellation apparatus


A reflective liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) display comprises a transparent substrate, a reflective substrate, and liquid crystal fluid between the substrates. The LCOS display further comprises a matrix of pixels, arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, wherein an intersection of a row and a column defines a position of a pixel in the matrix. The LCOS display has tilt angles sufficient to overcome disclinations due to fringe fields, and, at the same time, achieves high contrast. The surface azimuthal direction of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid is either substantially parallel or perpendicular to the direction of polarization of incoming incident linearly polarized light. Light leakage is minimal because the effective birefringence as seen by the incoming incident linearly polarized light is substantially zero and does not depend on the pretilt of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid. Between the transparent substrate and the reflective substrate, the twist of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid may vary from about 0 degrees to about 90 degrees when in the “OFF” state.

Liquid crystal display technology has reduced the size of displays from full screen sizes to minidisplays of less than 1.3 inches diagonal measurement, to microdisplays that require a magnification system. Microdisplays may be manufactured using semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) process technologies, e.g., liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS). The LCOS microdisplays consist of a silicon substrate backplane with a reflective surface, a cover glass and an intervening liquid crystal layer. The LCOS microdisplays are arranged as a matrix of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, wherein an intersection of a row and a column defines a position of a pixel in the matrix. To incident light, each pixel is a liquid crystal cell above a reflecting mirror. By changing the molecular orientation of the liquid crystal in the layer, characterized by a tilt angle and a twist angle of the liquid crystal director at any point in the layer, the incident light can be made to change its polarization. The silicon backplane is an array of pixels, typically 7 to 20 micrometers (μm) in pitch. Each pixel has a mirrored surface that occupies most of the pixel area. The mirrored surface is also an electrical conductor that forms a pixel capacitor with the liquid crystal display cover glass electrode which is a transparent conductive coating on the inside face (liquid crystal side) of the cover glass. This transparent conductive coating is typically Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). As each pixel capacitor is charged to a certain voltage value, the liquid crystal fluid between the plates of the pixel capacitors changes its molecular orientation which affects the polarization state of the light incident to the pixels (reflections from the pixel mirrors).
The reflective LCOS microdisplays have a high aperture ratio, and therefore can provide greater brightness than transmissive liquid crystal displays. Major applications of these LCOS microdisplays are in home theater applications, e.g., projectors, and front and rear projection televisions (large screen). For these applications, high contrast is very important. High contrast depends upon the liquid crystal optical mode being used in the liquid crystal display. Typically, a Vertically Aligned Nematic (VAN) mode is one of the optical modes that can achieve a very high contrast and many liquid crystal display manufacturers are beginning to use this particular optical mode in their displays.
The pretilt angle is defined as the tilt angle of the liquid crystal director at the boundary surface. In VAN mode liquid crystal displays, the pretilt angle is small, so the orientation of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid are nearly perpendicular to the substrate surfaces when there is no electric field applied across the display. Therefore, incoming linearly polarized light, perpendicular to the display substrates, sees a small birefringence as it passes through the layer. Hence this normally incident linearly polarized light experiences little phase retardation when going through the liquid crystal fluid, including being reflected back from the bottom reflective substrate of the display. This provides a very dark "OFF" state when using crossed polarizers (e.g., polarizing beam splitter—PBS), thus very high contrast is achieved. Upon application of an electric field across the liquid crystal fluid, the molecules in the bulk of the liquid crystal fluid orient themselves toward a direction defined by alignment layers on the substrate surfaces, thereby increasing the retardation of the layer of the liquid crystal fluid. Therefore, linearly polarized incident light starts to experience a phase retardation when going into the liquid crystal fluid and then being reflected back from the bottom reflective substrate of the display. As a result of this, the polarization state of the out-going light (reflected light) will be elliptical and some light starts to pass through the crossed polarizers. Increasing the electric field increases this effect until the brightest state is achieved.
In a typical VAN mode, the orientations of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid at the substrate surfaces are defined by the alignment layers on each of the substrate surfaces. This orientation is described by a pretilt angle and a surface azimuthal direction, which is parallel to the projection of the liquid crystal director onto the plane of the substrate. The azimuthal direction of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid proximate to the top alignment layer is opposite to the azimuthal direction of the molecules of the liquid crystal fluid proximate to the bottom alignment layer, i.e., anti-parallel. The azimuthal directions defined by the alignment layers are at a 45 degree angle with the direction of polarization of the incoming linearly polarized incident light, as shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b. Usually the pretilt angle of the molecules in a VAN mode display needs to be kept small, e.g., less than 4 degrees, to achieve a very dark "OFF" state, hence the high contrast. Although this pretilt angle is large enough to prevent reverse tilt domains in the display, it is not possible to overcome the defects that occur due to fringe fields between neighboring pixels. Fringe fields become very significant when the pixel size becomes small as is typical in LCOS microdisplays. For example, the size of an LCOS microdisplay may measure one inch diagonally and have a pixel size of approximately 12 μm×12 μm. When high resolution is required, e.g., digital cinema applications, pixel size may be further reduced to approximately 9 μm×9 μm or even smaller. In such situations fringe fields are quite pronounced and the liquid crystals do not align along the direction defined by the tilt direction of the alignment layers. Ultimately this will create defects at the pixel boundaries, usually known as disclinations. This is quite apparent when one pixel is in an "ON" state and an adjacent pixel is in an "OFF" state, wherein the fringe fields are very strong.
To overcome the above problem, it is necessary to increase the pretilt angle generated by the alignment layers on the substrate surfaces. Experimentally it has been determined that the pretilt angle has to be at least 8 degrees to overcome the fringe field effects. However, the dark state of a VAN mode liquid crystal display with a pretilt angle of this magnitude has a significant amount of light leakage through the crossed polarizers and the light contrast it can achieve is not that high. Therefore, the inherent property of VAN displays, the very dark "OFF" state, cannot be fully achieved. This is due to the non-zero birefringence seen by the linearly polarized incident light due to the high pretilt angle of the liquid crystal fluid. Heretofore, it has been necessary to use other methods such as attaching external retarders to stop this light leakage. Generally, this is the current method used by all the VAN liquid crystal display manufactures to solve the above problem.

Vertically aligned nematic mode liquid crystal display having large tilt angles and high contrast


The technology provides a hybrid local/remote hosted MapReduce framework and infrastructure comprising systems and methods for improving setup, configuration, controllability, debuggability, and integration of a compute job and systems and methods for increasing programmer productivity. The system applies an interpreted programming language for the programmer's custom Map and Reduce algorithms, such that those algorithms can execute identically on both the hosted service as well as locally (e.g., on the programmer's local computing system or device) for development and debugging purposes. Furthermore, the system delivers this service—a hosted MapReduce infrastructure—in a simple and transparent web service.

MapReduce is a programming model and an associated implementation for processing and generating large data sets and which is applicable to a broad class of compute tasks. A map function processes input data to generate sets of intermediate key/value pairs and a reduce function that merges all intermediate values associated with the same intermediate key. There are also multiple MapReduce infrastructures that implement the MapReduce framework. Some of the infrastructures are self-deployed, requiring the user to own the vast number of computers required; but most new implementations are hosted, such that the computational resources are borrowed via a web service for the time span of the compute job.
MapReduce is being applied to an increasing range of "big data" analysis tasks in fields involving web traffic, advertising, financial data, medical research, census data, etc.
In the MapReduce paradigm, the user supplies computer code for two simple algorithms—Map and Reduce—that are specific to the compute task. The MapReduce infrastructure then deploys the custom Map and Reduce algorithms on a large number (e.g., thousands) of machines, monitoring them to completion and restarting as needed, and delivering, sorting, and collecting input/output data from the machines as required by the typical MapReduce paradigm.
The compute job is said to be "sharded," with "shards" (portions) of data being fed to compute shards (machines (e.g., computer systems or devices) executing multiple instances of the custom Map and Reduce algorithms).
A MapReduce infrastructure allows the programmer to accomplish the custom compute task by programming the custom and relatively simple Map and Reduce algorithms, without needing to manage the execution and coordination of the large number of required computers.
The MapReduce framework is described by Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat in their paper titled "MapReduce: Simplified Data Processing on Large Clusters" (published in OSDI'04: Sixth Symposium on Operating System Design and Implementation, San Francisco, Calif., December 2004), which is available at research.google.com/archive/mapreduce.html and which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The Apache Software Foundation developed and offers an open-source MapReduce implementation called Hadoop.
Today, several hosted MapReduce services exist as businesses. The most prominent is Amazon Web Service's Elastic MapReduce (Amazon EMR), which offers Hadoop within its hosted compute service. Information regarding Amazon EMR can be found at the following URL: aws.amazon.com/elasticmapreduce/.
Other hosting companies with large data centers, such as Google of Mountain View, Calif. and Microsoft of Redmond, Wash., are offering their own hosted MapReduce solutions.
MapR Technologies, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. offers a hosted Hadoop infrastructure on Google's compute engine (www.mapr.com/).
Hadapt, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. offers a hosted Hadoop infrastructure and connects it to a relational database model (www.hadapt.com).
Datameer, Inc. of San Mateo, Calif. is another Hadoop integrator (www.datameer.com/).
There also exist some interpreted and/or in-browser MapReduce implementations, but these are mostly demonstration or teaching tools. Unlike the described disclosed system, these are not backed by an actual scaled MapReduce infrastructure that can be applied to high-volume compute jobs or to managing or debugging those jobs. An example is mapreduce-js, described as an "educational framework" (code.google.com/p/mapreduce-js/).

Hybrid local/remote infrastructure for data processing with lightweight setup, powerful debuggability, controllability, integration, and productivity features


A stent with axial flexibility, in a preferred embodiment, has a longitudinal axis and comprises a plurality of longitudinally disposed bands, wherein each band defines a generally continuous wave along a line segment parallel to the longitudinal axis. A plurality of links maintains the bands in a tubular structure. In a further embodiment of the invention, each longitudinally disposed band of the stent is connected, at a plurality of periodic locations, by a short circumferential link to an adjacent band.

A stent is commonly used as a tubular structure left inside the lumen of a duct to relieve an obstruction. Commonly, stents are inserted into the lumen in a non expanded form and are then expanded autonomously (Tihon et al. (1994) U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,423) or with the aid of a second device in situ. Although a number of designs have been reported, these designs have suffered from a number of limitations. These include; restrictions on the dimension of the stent (Cardon et al. 1995 U.S. Pat. No 5,383,892). Cardon et al. describes a stent that has rigid ends (8 mm) and a flexible median part of 7-21 mm. This device is formed of multiple parts and is not continuously flexible along the longitudinal axis. Another stent design that has rigid segments and flexible segments has been described by Pinchasik et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,373 (1995).
Other stents are described as longitudinally flexible (Lau et al.(1995) U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,955 also EP application 540290 A2, A3) but consist of a plurality of cylindrical elements connected by flexible members. This design has at least one important disadvantage, for example, according to this design, protruding edges occur when the stent is flexed around a curve raising the possibility of inadvertent retention of the stent on plaque deposited on arterial walls. This may cause the stent to embolize or move out of position and further cause damage to the interior lining of healthy vessels. (see FIG. 1(a) below).
Thus, stents known in the art, which may be expanded by balloon angioplasty, generally compromise axial flexibility to permit expansion and provide overall structural integrity.


In some implementations, a processor is configured to receive a current pending packet number representing a number of packets of data that currently remain to be transferred between two devices, determine whether to adjust a priority of a thread based on the current pending packet number, a previous pending packet number, and a priority pending packet number, and adjust or maintain the priority of the thread based on determining whether to adjust the priority of the thread. The thread is to be executed by the processor to perform a transfer of the packets of data between the two devices, the previous pending packet number represents a number of packets of data that previously remained to be transferred between the two devices, and the priority pending packet number corresponds to the current priority of the thread.

Along with the rapid development of technology, devices with data transmission speeds of more than 100 Mbps can be implemented on modern processors. For high speed devices, thread scheduling may affect transmission throughput. In a system with a light workload, a thread may be scheduled such that the thread is executed at a minimum of every 30 μs. In a system with a higher workload, however, a thread may have to wait 100 μs or longer before being executed. The lowest priority threads may even have to wait an indefinite amount of time. To minimize the wait time, a thread may be assigned a higher priority. A thread assigned a high fixed priority, however, may preferentially occupy and use system resources even when the thread is idle, e.g., when the thread is not responding to a time-critical event.
For example, a system may include a high speed interface (HSI) that supports data, transmissions at a speed of more than 100 Mbps. The HSI may transfer 1250 bytes of a 1500-byte Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) packet during a period of time for which the HSI is allocated system resources, e.g., a time slice. If the HSI has to wait more than 100 μs for its next time slice, the wait time may negatively impact the performance of the HSI. To minimize the wait time, a thread associated with the HSI may be assigned a higher priority. However, assigning a higher priority to a thread associated with the HSI may cause the HSI to preferentially occupy and use system resources even when the HSI is not performing a data transmission.

Adjusting thread priority to improve throughput between peer-to-peer (P2P) devices


A method and apparatus are disclosed for controlling a hybrid energy system including a method of storing energy within a hybrid energy system. The hybrid energy system includes a traction load and a first energy consuming system configured to maintain a first criteria within a first operating range. The method includes receiving energy into the hybrid energy system from the traction load and distributing a first energy to the first energy consuming system when the first criteria is within the first operating range.

Hybrid energy systems typically include a an engine having its prime mover, e.g., a crankshaft, mechanically decoupled from one or more loads, e.g., a vehicle traction device load. Hybrid energy systems usually also include an energy storage device configured to store energy received from either the engine during an engine overpowering mode or from a traction device during a vehicle dynamic braking mode. The engine and storage device are often electrically coupled to loads, e.g., via a motor-generator, allowing the engine to also operate as an energy source rather than a conventional drive mechanism and allowing the storage device to recover the energy regenerated from the dynamic braking device. The amount and frequency of regenerated energy is usually independent of the capacity limit for energy stored within the storage device and often exceeds the capacity limit. Over charging the storage device may cause damage thereto and the regenerated energy may be undesirably wasted as heat to avoid or reduce the damage.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0005737 ("the '737 application") filed by Kumar discloses a hybrid energy storage method. The '737 application includes an energy management processor to determine present and upcoming travel path situation information to determine power storage requirements as a function of the capacity of energy that a primary storage device can store and/or receive. Based on these determinations, the energy management processor further determines which of a plurality of energy sources such as the regenerated energy, the prime mover, or a secondary storage device should be used to charge the energy storage device. The '737 application also includes routing energy that the primary storage device is unable to receive and/or store to an optional energy source such as a secondary storage device. The '737 application further includes routing energy that the secondary storage device is unable to receive and/or store to braking grids for dissipation as heat energy.
Although, the '737 application may determine power storage requirements as a function of upcoming travel path information and selectively determine which of a plurality of energy sources should charge the primary energy storage device, it may undesirably waste regenerated energy through heat dissipation.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the shortcomings set forth above.

System for controlling a hybrid energy system


A computer program product is for use with a computer system that executes methods. Scope permission setting computer readable program code includes access request reception computer readable program code for receiving a request from a first method, executing at a first security level, to be dynamically empowered to access methods to be executed at a second security level, wherein the second security level is higher than the first security level. Dynamic capability activation computer readable program code is responsive to the access request reception code and includes static capability determination computer readable program code for determining if the first method is statically capable of accessing security methods generally and dynamic capability indication computer readable program code, responsive to the static capability determination code, for indicating in the activation record for the first method that the first method has been dynamically empowered to access security methods generally. Dynamic capability determination computer readable code, responsive to a request by the first method to access a particular security method, is for determining whether the activation record created for the first method includes an indication that the first method is capable of accessing security methods generally.

Java is an object-oriented language that provides for building "applets" (pieces of networked software included, for example, in hyper-text markup language documents) and standalone applications. Java software consists of objects, where every "object" belongs to a "class". A class defines a template for the object. That is, from a class definition, multiple objects can be instantiated. Each instance of an object retains its own internal states (e.g., states of local variables) and interfaces.
Referring to FIG. 1, the Java methods are typically executed on a local computer (e.g., local client #1 150a; local client #2 150b; and local client #3 150c), connected to a server computer 102 of a computer network 100 (such as the internet). The server computer 102 has its own storage 104, and the local computer also has its own storage (e.g., local client #1 150a has local storage 154a; local client #2 150b has local storage 154b; and local client #3 150c has local storage 154c).
Class definitions are loaded into a Java system executing on the local computer using a class loader. (The discussion will use local client #1 150a as an example local computer.) When a new class is loaded into the Java system executing on the local computer 150a of the network 100, the class is associated with either the local computer 150a, or with the network 100 generally. Typically, objects of classes associated with the local computer 150a are located on the local hard drive 154a, and their classes are accessed without a class loader. Objects of classes accessed without a class loader have "superpowers" that allow these objects unrestricted access to the resources of the local computer 150a. A significant resource of the local computer 150a to which these objects have access is the file system on the local hard drive 154a.
This is in contrast to objects whose classes are loaded via a universal resource locator (URL) definition (even those classes on the local hard drive loaded via a URL that includes "file://"), whose access privileges are regulated by the AppletSecurity class of the Java system. The AppletSecurity class is a class that throws an exception when Java security policy has been violated. Specifically, classes that are loaded via the Java "class path" (i.e., located in the local file system at a location defined by the CLASSPATH environment variable) are loaded without a class loader, and objects of these classes have unrestricted access. As a result, the objects of classes accessed via the CLASSPATH may accidentally subvert the Java security policy. Many (if not all) of the Java "system library" classes are located via the CLASSPATH environment variable. By contrast, objects of classes loaded via a universal resource locator, or "URL", do not have these superpowers.
The task of ensuring that the classes accessed via the CLASSPATH environment variable do not violate the Java security policy, even if only accidentally, is an ergonomic nightmare. Not only must the "security" code (i.e., code that accesses important system resources) be checked for violations but, code that calls the "security" code must also be checked.


The present disclosure provides a method for fabricating an integrated circuit (IC). The method includes receiving an IC layout having active regions, conductive contact features landing on the active regions, and a conductive via feature to be landing on a first subset of the conductive contact features and to be spaced from a second subset of the conductive contact features; evaluating a spatial parameter of the conductive via feature to the conductive contact features; and modifying the IC layout according to the spatial parameter such that the conductive via feature has a S-curved shape.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced exponential growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased.
ICs may include a plurality of standard cell circuits each formed by various logic components, such as transistors, capacitors, or the like, to provide a Boolean logic function or a storage function. Interconnect structures, such as vias and power rails, are then formed over the plurality of standard cell circuits to provide connections between the standard cell circuits and/or to provide connections to external devices. However, as the size of standard cells progressively become smaller, gaps and clearance between the power rails and the other electronic components may decrease which may increase the risk of shorting. Attempts to reduce the size of the power rails, however, may suffer from increased resistance and may induce speed degradation. Accordingly, what is needed is a circuit structure and a method of making the same to address the above issues.

Method and IC design with non-linear power rails

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD


An apparatus and method for dynamically constructing electronic and printable documents and forms. An entity reference is read from a document instance and compared to entity identifiers provided in a catalog containing a plurality of entity identifiers. Each of the entity identifiers in the catalog is associated with an entity resolution process. An inference engine or other entity resolving processor is invoked to effectuate the resolution process associated with a matching entity identifier. The inference engine or entity resolving processor resolves the entity reference to a resolved entity, such as a component of text or graphics to be included in a document. Linking between the document, entity reference, and resolved entity provides for detailed auditing of the entity resolution process. A resolved entity may contain one or more embedded entity references which are similarly resolved. The dynamic document construction methodology may be implemented using a distributed networking approach, or on a stand-alone computer system. A significant advantage of the present invention concerns the re-usability of textual, graphical, and other components, thereby providing for the construction of any arbitrary document type having any arbitrary number of presentation formats. In one embodiment, the inference engine used to resolve entity references is converted to an executable form to enhance portability. A document or form constructed in accordance with the present invention may be published in printed or electronic form, such as in the form of a World Wide Web (Web) page.

Document production systems that insert customer-specific content into a pre-fabricated form are known. During a first phase of a conventional document production procedure, a computer-based editor is typically employed to produce a boilerplate document or form. The boilerplate document is then reviewed and revised by a document developer, and stored in a storage device, such as a hard disk drive of a computer. The boilerplate document is then made available for use to an end-user, such as a bank or loan officer. During a second phase, the end-user retrieves the boilerplate document, such as a loan application form, from the storage device and enters customer-specific content into the form. The customer-specific content is then inserted into specified locations on the form, and the completed form is then printed.
An improved insurance document production system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,653 (hereinafter referred to as "Miller"). The system disclosed in Miller improves upon the above-described procedure by employing a conventional relational database scheme to test customer-specific input information against a table of rule sets which, in turn, are directly linked to various boilerplate clauses. A rule set is assigned to each insurance policy clause and each endorsement clause. The insurance and endorsement clauses and rule sets are stored in a memory coupled to the main processor. Each rule set includes at least one rule that must be satisfied in order to include the associated clause in the document. After entering customer-specific parameters into the computer, such as desired insurance coverages and policy holder's state of residence, each and every rule in each and every rule set is evaluated to determine whether a particular clause is to be included in the document. In order to print a document, a printer database containing a redundant copy of each insurance and endorsement policy clause is utilized to supply the appropriate clauses when printing the final document.
Although the system disclosed in Miller provides for some degree of improvement when automating an insurance document production procedure, there remains a keenly felt need for a system that provides the capability to construct the structure and content of the entire form or document, and one that is not limited to simply inserting limited boilerplate content, such as the policy and endorsement clauses of Miller, into a limited number of locations on an otherwise modified version of a pre-fabricated boilerplate document. There exists a further need for a document production system that provides for a high degree of content re-use, such that a base of content can be used to construct any number and type of document. Moreover, there exists a need for a flexible inferencing capability that dynamically determines content to be included in a document, wherein direct linkage between content and content determining rules is obviated. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.

Apparatus and method for dynamically creating a document


The present invention provides new methods, employing a nucleotide integrase, for cleaving double-stranded and single stranded DNA substrates at specific sites and for attaching nucleic acid molecules to the cleaved DNA substrates. One method uses a nucleotide integrase to cleave one strand of a double-stranded DNA and to concomitantly attach a nucleic acid molecule to the cleaved strand. Another method uses a nucleotide integrase to cleave both strands of a double-stranded DNA substrate and to attach a nucleic acid molecule to one strand of the DNA substrate. Another method uses a nucleotide integrase to cleave both strands of a double-stranded DNA substrate and to attach an RNA molecule to one strand of the substrate and for attaching a cDNA to the other strand of the substrate. Another method cleaves single stranded DNA with the concomitant insertion of a nucleic acid molecule at the cleavage point. The nucleotide integrase comprises an RNP particle which comprises a group II intron RNA bound to a group II intron encoded protein. The present invention also relates to purified and reconstituted RNP particles and reconstituted RNP that cleave DNA substrates.

In recent years, a number of methods and biomolecules have been developed for manipulating DNA. Some of these biomolecules are used to cut or cleave DNA, which in some instances renders the substrate DNA nonfunctional. Other biomolecules are used to facilitate insertion of new pieces of nucleic acid into the cleavage site of the DNA substrate. The insertion of new segments of nucleic acid into the cleavage sites of the DNA substrate changes the characteristics of the RNA or protein molecules encoded by the substrate DNA molecules. Accordingly, the biomolecules which catalyze the cleavage of DNA substrates or the insertion of new nucleic acid molecules into the DNA substrates are useful tools for genetic engineering, for analytical studies and for diagnostic studies. One such molecule used for cleaving DNA substrates is the restriction endonuclease.
Restriction endonucleases are enzymatic proteins that cleave double-stranded DNA. Such endonucleases recognize specific nucleotide sequences in double-stranded DNA, and cleave both strands within or near the specific recognition site. Such specificity renders the restriction endonucleases important tools in the controlled fragmentation of double-stranded DNA. Restriction endonucleases are also useful analytical tools for determining whether certain sequences are present in substrate DNA and in genomic sequencing studies.
However, restriction endonucleases only cleave DNA substrates; they do not insert new nucleic acid molecules into the cleaved DNA substrate. Accordingly, another biomolecule is needed to insert new pieces of DNA or RNA into the double-stranded DNA.
Ribozymes are catalytic RNA molecules that cleave RNA and, in certain circumstances, that insert new pieces of RNA into the cleavage site of the RNA substrate. Unfortunately, ribozymes have not been particularly useful for cleaving DNA. Ribozymes cut only single-stranded DNA and only under extreme conditions of elevated temperatures and high concentrations of magnesium. The ribozymes have not been found to cleave double-stranded DNA. Ribozymes can be used to cleave double-stranded DNA only after the DNA is denatured and separated into two pieces of single stranded DNA.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a tool that cleaves double stranded DNA at specific sites and simultaneously inserts a new nucleic acid molecule into the cleavage site of the double-stranded DNA.

Method of making an RNA particle for use in cleaving nucleic acid molecules and inserting a nucleic acid molecule into the cleavage site


A treatment mechanism for keratin, including hair and epidermis, in which a chemical is applied in a substantially dry state. The chemical is adapted to release sulfur from said keratin, thereby softening it. The keratin is then rinsed with water, preparing the keratin to be exfoliated from the skin or, in the case of hair, cut or shaved. The preferred chemical is a salt of fluoric acid being either tin or sodium based.

This invention relates generally to the cosmetic field and more particularly to additives which assist in the permeability of the cosmetic.
A wide assortment of creams, cosmetics, soaps, and medicines are applied to the topical layer of the skin with the intended affect of addressing a condition of the skin. Some examples of treatments include conditions of dry skin and acne.
The effectiveness of the treatment is directly related to the permeability of the material to the user's skin. If the active ingredient is unable to reach beneath the skin, the affect of the active ingredient is, at best, limited.
One such active ingredient is keratin which is used for the treatment of a variety of skin conditions and is also incorporated into soaps and creams to improve the user's skin. Unfortunately, keratin does not readily permeate the skin layer, hence, the vast majority of the keratin applied is simply washed or worn off without having the desired affect.
It is clear there is a need for improved cosmetic permeability.

Keratin softening technique and apparatus


A system and apparatus for automatically dispensing a paper product mounted on a gravity-assisted holder through a dispenser. The apparatus includes an electric motor, a main product roller for automatically rolling a predetermined amount of the paper product from the holder, exit guide rollers for guiding the paper product through a front cover of the dispenser, and a series of interconnected gears that are driven by the electric motor to activate the main product roller and exit guide roller and operate both the main roller and exit roller at the same speed. Operating the rollers at the same speed prevents paper or tissue jamming inside the dispenser. The system monitors usage of each paper product dispenser with each dispenser having a microprocessor controller for determining a corresponding paper product status for the dispenser. Each paper product dispenser communicates with a master network device preferably mounted on a ceiling plane. Paper product status messages are transmitted between each dispenser and master network device unit using a standard data communications protocol. The master network device communicates the paper product status for each individual dispenser to an independent building automation and control network. A central control console that is interoperable with the building automation and control network monitors the status of each paper product dispenser through signals communicated from a master receiver/transmitter unit to the central control console.

The present invention relates generally to systems for dispensing and, more particularly, to intelligent systems for automatically dispensing measured amounts of paper products and monitoring usage.
The dispensing of paper products has resulted in many different types of dispensing devices for controlling quantities dispensed as well as for determining how efficiently the paper products are dispensed. Primarily, these dispensers use mechanical paper feeding mechanisms, actuated by the user physically touching the dispenser equipment to deliver a fixed length of paper. This bodily contact can raise concerns over hygiene when such dispensers are located in public restroom facilities. Additionally, out of paper or paper jam conditions have to be determined by visual inspection, requiring periodic inspections by custodial staff.