A bristle cluster stuffing tool ram is used for pressing a strip-shaped holding element, preferably an anchor, into a borehole that is arranged in a brush head and serves for accommodating a bristle cluster. The end face of the ram comprises a pressing surface for pressing in the holding element. The pressing surface is defined by longitudinal sides and face sides. The rain has end face regions that penetrate into the material of the brush head when the holding element is pressed in. The cross section of the ram that lies outside the end face regions and penetrates into the borehole is wider than the end face regions.

DE 195 28 762 C1 discloses a ram that has a rectangular cross section, the thickness of which essentially corresponds to the individual force-fitting surfaces of the vertically packed staples that are generally referred to as holding elements or anchors. The ram severs the anchors from a metal strip that extends perpendicular to the longitudinal axis A of the ram. The longitudinal axis of the ram extends parallel to the center lines of the bores in the toothbrush head, i.e., when a borehole is stuffed with a bristle cluster, its center axis is aligned with the longitudinal axis of the ram. The pressing surface of the ram is referred to as the end face. The ram has wider longitudinal sides and narrower face sides that form a rectangle and the cross section of which essentially corresponds to the cross section of the holding elements.
A bristle cluster extends perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the ram, wherein this bristle cluster is subsequently pressed into a borehole and deformed into the shape of a U while being pressed into the borehole. The lateral edges of the holding element actually cut into the edge of the borehole in the brush head during this process. The ram presses the holding element into the edge material of a borehole in the brush head until the anchor no longer protrudes from the surface of the brush head. The slot produced in the borehole wall by the anchor while it is pressed into the borehole presses against the edges of the longitudinal sides of the anchor with such intensity that the anchor is rigidly fixed in the brush head and the bristle cluster is immovably anchored in the borehole.
EP 1 088 495 A also discloses a stuffing tool ram that is used for driving a strip-shaped holding element into a borehole that accommodates a bristle cluster. A thin metal wire extending perpendicular to the ram is inserted into the stuffing tool. The free end of the wire perpendicularly protrudes into the channel guiding the ram. When the ram is displaced in the direction of the toothbrush, it shears off a section of wire that is then transported in the direction of the toothbrush head along the channel and ultimately forms the holding element. During the displacement of the ram, the holding element collects a bristle cluster consisting of numerous filaments, wherein the holding element centrally deforms the bristle cluster into the shape of a U. The bristle cluster is then pressed into a borehole in the toothbrush together with the anchor in this fashion. The holding element is pressed into the borehole until it is no longer accessible from outside and the free end of the bristle cluster protrudes from the borehole by a predetermined distance. The end face regions of the holding element carve into the wall of the borehole such that grooves are formed. Due to the elastic material of the brush head, these grooves firmly press against the lateral faces of the holding element and thusly hold the holding element in the borehole. The bristle cluster can be reliably anchored in the borehole in this fashion.
In modern toothbrushes, the bores frequently are no longer aligned with the longitudinal axis of the ram, i.e., the bores are inclined relative to this longitudinal axis such that the bristle clusters do not perpendicularly protrude from the surface of the toothbrush head, but rather with a certain incline. Practical experience showed, however, that this frequently leads to damages to the pressing surfaces or to the end of the ram breaking off. This is associated with significant installation and repair expenditures because the ram needs to be removed from the stuffing tool, trimmed and contoured anew. In addition, this also leads to significant production losses because no toothbrush heads can be stuffed during these repair procedures.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide a ram with a service life that is not only extended when it is used in connection with bores that are aligned with the longitudinal axis of the ram, but also bores that are inclined relative to the longitudinal axis of the ram, wherein this ram is also not subject to a premature fractures or other damages. It is also desirable that the holding elements or anchors can be neatly and precisely pressed into the boreholes in order to reliably hold the bristle clusters in the boreholes.

Bristle cluster stuffing tool ram and method of use


A connection structure capable of coping with thermal expansion and shrinkage of a cable/pipe bed is disclosed. There are also disclosed a connector panel (30) and a connector belt or wire (40) to be utilized in the connection structure. A cable/pipe bed which utilizes the present invention comprises a plurality of cable/pipe bed sections (10a, 10b) each comprising two side rails (20a, 20b) and a floor (51, 52). Each side rail comprises an outer engagement protrusion or protrusions (21) to engage an inner engagement protrusion or protrusions (31) of the connector panel (30). The connector panel (30) holds two such side rails (20a, 20b) in longitudinal alignment, one (20a) securely and the other (20b) slidably to cope with thermal expansion and shrinkage of the side rails. Accidental separation of the side rails (20a, 20b) is adequately prevented by use of the connector belt or wire (40).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a connection structure for a cable/pipe bed for laying flexible linear bodies such as communication cables, electric power cables, water or gas pipes, and cable protection pipes, and connector means to be utilized in the connection structure. More particularly, this invention relates to a connection structure and connector means to be utilized in the connection structure, which can adequately cope with longitudinal thermal expansion and shrinkage of a cable/pipe bed.
2. Background Art
Cables and/or flexible pipes are conventionally installed in a factory or power station often on an elongated metal or aluminum cable/pipe bed which comprises a plurality of cable bed sections connected together in longitudinal alignment by means of connectors, which is usually suspended from ceilings or attached to walls.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 7-193938 (application filed by the present applicant) discloses a cable/pipe bed as shown in FIG. 10 (prior art), comprising a plurality of cable bed sections 120 each of which comprises a pair of side rails 120a each having a plurality of engagement protrusions 121, and rungs 120b mounted in parallel between the side rails 120a. The side rails 120a of two adjacent bed sections 120 are correspondingly connected in longitudinal alignment with two connector panels 200 respectively mounted over the adjoining ends of the side rails 120a.
Each connector panel 200 comprises a panel body 201 having a plurality of engagement protrusions 111 which firmly engage the corresponding engagement protrusions 121 of the side rails 120a by means of aslant fastening between the corresponding engagement protrusions 111 and 121 by means of a plurality of threaded bolts 130 securely screwed into corresponding threaded bolt holes 112 formed aslant in the panel body 201 onto longitudinal aslant surfaces 120c formed on the side rails 120a.
The engagement between the corresponding engagement protrusions 121 and 111 of the side rails 120a and the connector panels 200 is provided very securely since the bolts 130 are screwed aslant through the aslant threadedbolt holes 112 against the aslant surfaces 120c, as taught in said Japanese patent application, which will be readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art.
Each two longitudinally adjoining side rails 120a (usually made of aluminum, cast aluminum or aluminum alloy) are firmly connected in contact with each other, end to end, hardly providing leeway to accommodate to longitudinal thermal expansion in summer or shrinkage in winter of the side rails 20, which tends to awkwardly wind the cable/pipe bed or forcibly break the alignment and connection of the longitudinally aligned side rails 120a, possibly causing accidents.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a connection structure for such a cable/pipe bed to adequately cope with longitudinal thermal expansion and shrinkage of the cable/pipe bed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide connector means to be utilized in the connection structure of the present invention.
Other objects of the present invention will be readily appreciated from the following descriptions.

Connection structure and connector means for a cable/pipe bed


A chemical vapor deposition method for forming a fluorine-containing silicon oxide film comprises introducing a gaseous mixture of alkoxysilane or its polymers as a source gas with fluoroalkoxysilane added thereto into a reaction chamber and performing decomposition of the gaseous mixture to deposit the fluorine-containing silicon oxide film onto a substrate. During the formation of the fluorine-containing silicon oxide film, at least one of compounds containing phosphorus or boron such as organic phosphorus compounds and organic boron compounds may be evaporated and introduced into said gaseous mixture, thereby adding at least one of phosphorus and boron to said fluorine-containing silicon oxide film. The fluorine-containing oxide film may be formed by effecting the decomposition of the gaseous mixture in the presence of ozone gas, or under ultraviolet radiation, or gas plasma.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chemical vapor deposition method, and more particularly to a method for forming a silicon oxide film.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been a conventional chemical vapor deposition method where a silicon oxide film is formed by using tetra-ethyl orthosilicate, Si(OC.sub.2 H.sub.5).sub.4, as a source gas and decomposing it at atmospheric pressure. For example, tetra-ethyl orthosilicate as a source gas and trimethoxy phosphate, PO(OCH.sub.3).sub.3, and trimethoxyboron, B(OCH.sub.3).sub.3, as doping gases are introduced into a chamber, mixed with an ozone gas produced by an ozone generator, and decomposed to form a silicon oxide film doped with phosphorus and boron. Alternatively, the formation of silicon oxide films is performed without using any doping gas [Journal of Electronic Materials. Vol. 19. No. 1 (1990) pp. 45-49].
The conventional method of forming the silicon oxide films in the presence of ozone gas as described above has the following problems. First, it cannot be said that the resultant films are of good quality in spite of so high temperature for forming the films as in the range of 350.degree. to 400.degree. C. This may be attributed to the high decomposition temperature of the source gas rendering the condensation polymerization insufficient, and therefore, even such a temperature as in such range cannot allow production of a high quality silicon oxide film. Secondly, the silicon oxide films produced according to the prior art have a strong internal tensile stress of about 1.times.10.sup.9 dyn/cm.sup.2, and because of the high film forming temperature of 350.degree. to 400.degree. C., a thick film or a multilevel film formed is susceptible to cracks due to thermal stress so that they are unsuited to practical use. Thirdly, owing to the high film forming temperature, for example, when the films are produced on the top of an aluminum wiring, protrusions so-often called hillocks may be produced on the surfaces of the aluminum wirings causing electrical shorts between the wiring and the overlying one, thereby markedly lowering production yield.

Chemical vapor deposition method for forming fluorine containing silicon oxide film


The present disclosure provides an air duct assembly of a refrigerator, comprising: a main body, the main body being provided with an air inlet toward one side of the main body, a plurality of air outlets formed in areas of two sides of the main body, and an air-uniformizing partition plate provided on the main body and located above the air inlet, and the air-uniformizing partition plate divides the air entered from the air inlet into the areas of two sides of the main body and the air is discharged via the plurality of air outlets.

For refrigerators and other refrigeration products, there is a common problem: the internal temperature of the refrigerator is uneven, and there are two main reasons for the temperature unevenness: one is heat losses; the other is uneven flow of an air supply port.
At present, the cooling capacity inside the refrigerator is in the form of cold air which flows through the evaporator and is transported to various functional areas via the air duct. In this process, there are two parts of losses in the cooling capacity transported. One is the loss from the air duct, and the other is the heat loss caused by heat exchange with the wall after the cooling capacity enters the refrigerator. The uneven flow of the air supply port is caused by the unreasonable design of the air duct structure. A common problem is that there is uneven flow among different air supply ports on the left and right sides of the refrigerator, as well as the total air volume on the left and right sides of the refrigerator. This causes the cooling capacity carried by the cold air on the two sides to be inconsistent, resulting in uneven temperature inside the refrigerator body. Uneven temperature can adversely affect the food being stored, reducing the shelf life of the food, thereby seriously damaging the user's experience. Due to the size and internal functional structure, most of the air ducts are asymmetric. This will also result in uneven distribution of flow, resulting in temperature fluctuations and temperature differences, and causing many problems such as follows:
Disadvantage 1: Due to the asymmetric air duct structure, the air supply volume of each branched flow channel is uneven, resulting in a temperature difference inside the refrigerator;
Disadvantage 2: Due to the asymmetric air duct structure, the flow among symmetric air supply ports of each branched flow channel are uneven, resulting in a temperature difference inside the refrigerator;
Disadvantage 3: Due to the asymmetric air duct structure, an unreasonable air supply duct design will lead to increased flow resistance and obvious temperature fluctuations.
Disadvantage 4: Due to the asymmetric air duct structure, it is easy to generate aerodynamic noise.


A method and apparatus for receiving, organizing and presenting program information to a display device in a home from at least two outside sources such as CATV, telephone companies (TELCOs) and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is disclosed. A distribution network is established within the home using, for example, a consumer electronics bus (CEBus). First, a plurality of signals each from a different outside source and each being associated with information for constructing a program information database for the respective source are received. Next, the separate streams of program information for each outside source are integrated into a single merged database, entries of which can be accessed as a function of user supplied criteria. Additionally, information may be appended to each record of the entries in the separate streams of program information which indicate source and/or cost, and, finally, the information contained in the merged database is presented via the CEBus to a user for viewing and function selection.

Currently, homes in North America either depend on cable systems to deliver entertainment programs, or they use an antenna or a satellite dish to receive broadcast television signals. The trend is such that the cable industry will ultimately be connected to about 85-90% of the homes in the United States.
Present practice in most cable systems is to place an interface on each television receiver that is connected to the system. The interface descrambles protected programs. The interface, in its present implementations, creates difficulties for the consumer who wants to use certain features. In particular, it may be difficult to time-shift and record scrambled programs because the VCR cannot control the descrambler.
The cable industry is presently in the process of investigating new technology to increase the number of programs that can be delivered to the home. This is being done via two technologically strategic moves. The first is to increase the bandwidth of the cable plant to 1 GHz (which provides for 150 6 MHz channels). The second is to use video compression to carry up to 10 programs in one 6 MHz wide channel. Typical numbers that are used in the industry are about 500 programs can be delivered to the home in such a fashion.
Obviously, it is a considerable problem for subscribers to search through 500 channels to find a program they wish to watch. Therefore, these new systems will have electronic menus that present the programming on the system in easy-to-read on-screen menus. This menuing system will have its own remote control to provide cursor control for easy selection of a program.
Some advanced systems, such as the Starsight product made by Insight Systems, now being brought to market increase the sophistication of the remote controller so that it becomes a video cassette recorder (VCR) programmer at a system level: when an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) signals that a desired program is starting, it turns on the VCR, sets it to record, turns on the descrambler and tunes it to the correct channel. If the program is being delivered in compressed fashion, the video decompressor is turned on and tuned to the correct program in the correct channel. In the case where there are multiple television receivers in the home connected to the cable system, each receiver is desirably equipped with an EPG remote control.
Other businesses are competing with the cable industry in delivering entertainment and other services to U.S. homes. The telephone companies ("TELCOS"), for example, have announced their intentions, as have at least two companies which have announced that they will deliver entertainment services via Direct Broadcast Satellite ("DBS"). Each of these delivery services would also broadcast its own EPG, possibly using different transmission protocols. In addition, there are companies competing with Starsight such as TV Guide On-line.
One patent known in this field is U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,578 issued to Reiter et al. This patent is directed to an electronic television programming information display system which enables the user to control the format and content of that display. The main components of the system, as shown in FIG. 2, include microcontroller 60, mixer 70, and program schedule information receiving means 67. In the presently developing environment of program service providers, however, the Reiter et al. system is limited because Reiter only receives a single source of program schedule information.
Some of the potential problems that may be encountered when these systems are used are: 1) each service will have to have its own terminal on each TV, 2) the subscriber will have to choose the correct remote control to operate a particular services' program guide, and 3) each service program guide may use a different user interface protocol (e.g., highlight and click, enter a number, etc.) for function selection.

Method and apparatus for managing multiple outside video service providers


Described are methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products for authoring a virtual representation of a data center. An identity of a first IT component is determined. First position data indicating a position of the first IT component in the data center is received. The associated identity of the first IT component and the first position data is stored as a first part of the virtual representation of the data center. An identity of the second IT component is determined. Relative position data indicating a position of the second IT component relative to the first position data is received. Second position data indicating a position of the second IT component in the data center is determined. The associated identity of the second IT component and the second position data is stored as a second part of the virtual representation of the data center.

In some implementations, a data center can provide computer processing and/or storage resources. A data center can support performing one or more prescribed processing tasks. In some common applications, for example, a data center can be used to implement any kind of network-accessible service (such as an Email service, search service, etc.). In some common applications, a data center can be used to implement storage, backup, and/or archival functionality.
A data center can include various physical resources to support and provide, e.g., computer processing and/or storage. A data center can include IT components, such as racks, servers, data storage devices, disk drives, networking equipment, and uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs). Data centers can include supporting resources, such as HVAC units, chillers, cooling equipment, generators, and battery backup systems. In some cases, the physical resources of a data center can be housed in an enclosure, such as a room or building. For a large-scale service, a data center can require a large number of physical resources occupying one or more buildings.
There have been recent developments in mobile computing devices such as laptops, smart phones, and tablets. In particular, mobile computing devices can provide a variety of functions such as a digital camera capable of functioning as an optical code scanner. Mobile computing devices can provide accelerometers, GPS receivers, and other sensors.
Optical code scanners can be used in applications that rely on optical codes, such as bar codes, Quick Response (QR) codes, or other matrix codes, to store information. Industries such as retail, airline, self service, automotive, parcel delivery, pharmaceutical and healthcare use optical codes to provide inventory control, customer identification, item tracking and many other functions. Optical code scanners scan or read an optical code that is typically attached to or printed on an object. A typical optical code is comprised of a number of bars or modules. Information is encoded in an optical code by the arrangement of bars or modules. When an optical code is placed within the field of view of a scanner, the scanner can read the bars or modules comprising the optical code and then use this data to decode the information encoded in the optical code. This operation is called decoding an optical code. The information produced by decoding an optical code can take the form of an alphanumeric string, numeric string, or binary string.


This invention provides compositions which are 1,3-oxazinan-2-one compounds of formulae (I) and (II), and oxazolidinone compounds of formula (III): wherein R is a hydrocarbyl group, a heterocyclic group, a hydrocarbyl group having at least one substituent, or a heterocyclic group having at least one hydrocarbyl substituent, wherein the substituent on the hydrocarbyl group or heterocyclic group is selected from the group consisting of a heterocyclic group, an azo group, a cyano group, a nitro group, a fluoro group, a chloro group, a bromo group, an alkoxy group having up to 15 carbon atoms, and a hydrocarbyl group having up to 15 carbon atoms; and R′ and R″ are each independently hydrogen, an alkyl group, an aryl group, a methylaryl group, a carbonyl group, a hydrocarbylamido group, a sulfonyl group, a sulfonamoyl group, a heterocyclic group, a heterocyclic group having at least one substituent, or an aryl group or methylaryl group having at least one substituent, where the substituent on the heterocyclic group, aryl group, or methylaryl group is selected from the group consisting of a heterocyclic group, an azo group, a cyano group, a nitro group, a fluoro group, a chloro group, a bromo group, an alkoxy group having up to 15 carbon atoms, and a hydrocarbyl group having up to 15 carbon atoms. For the oxazolidinone compound of formula (HI), there is a proviso that when one of R′ or R″ is a (3-fluoro)-(4-morpholinyl)-phenyl group, the other of R′ or R″ is not an acetamido group.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem that threatens human health globally. Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) (see Pootoolal, J., et al., Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 2002, 42, 381; and Raad, I. I., et al., Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2004, 48, 3583) are very dangerous and can be life threatening especially for patients whose immune systems have been compromised due to HIV, surgery or other illness. During the recent decades, the effort of discovering novel antibacterial agents has slowed down; in fact, oxazolidinones are the only new class of synthetic antibacterial agents over the past 30 years that possess totally new structures compared to existing antibacterial agents. See in this connection Brickner, S. J., Curr. Pharma. Design 1996, 2, 175; Diekema, D. J. and Jones, R. N., Lancet 2001, 358, 1975; Hollingsworth, R. I. and Wang, G., Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Dec. 19, 2003; and Bozdogan, M. and Appelbaum, P. C., Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents 2004, 23, 113. The first compound of this class, Linezolid 1 (FIG. 1), was approved in 2000 for the treatment of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections including diseases caused by MRSA, VRE and Streptoccus pneumoniae. Oxazolidinones bind to the 50S subunit of the bacterial ribosome and inhibit protein synthesis at a very early stage by preventing the initiation of mRNA translation. Because they target the bacterial protein synthesis at an early stage, drug resistance was expected to be rare; however resistance to Zyvox (Linezolid) has already been reported (see Barbachyn, M. R. and Ford, C. W., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2003, 42, 2010; and Hutchinson, D. K., Curr. Top. Med. Chem. 2003, 3, 1021).
Some structures of the existing small molecule antibacterial agents are shown in FIG. 1. These include Linezolid (1), Ciprofloxacin (2), Sulfonamide (3) and Chloramphenicol (4). The very general features of these agents are that they all contain aromatic and/or heterocyclic structures and they have heteroatom substituents such as halo, amino and/or hydroxyl groups. Linezolid has oxazolidinone as its core structure, which is important for its activity. Ciprofloxacin is one example of the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics. See in this connection Higgins, P. G., et al., Curr. Drug Targets 2003, 4, 181; Zhanel, G. G., et al., Drugs 2002, 62, 13; Drlica, K. and Malik, M., Curr. Top. Med. Chem. 2003, 3, 249; Chen, Y.-L., et al., J. Med. Chem. 2001, 44, 2374; Hu, X. E., et al., J. Med. Chem. 2003, 46, 3655. They kill bacteria by inhibiting DNA gyrase enzyme which is essential for DNA replication. The structure of ciprofloxacin contains a fused aromatic ring with a fluorine substituent and a polar piperazine substituent. Sulfonamide contains phenyl sulfonyl phenyl amines. The sulfonamides are inhibitors of the bacterial enzymes required for the synthesis of tetrahydrofolate (see Masters, P. A., et al., Arch. Internal Medicine 2003, 163, 402), an essential nutrient for bacterial growth. Chloramphenicol contains substituted nitrophenol with dichloromethyl acetamido functional groups. It also inhibits bacterial protein synthesis and is a broad spectrum antibiotic for both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, but chloramphenicol has some serious side effects (see Mitscher, L. A., et al., Med. Res. Rev. 1999, 19, 477).
Many new antibacterial agents are designed based on modification of the existing structural classes; since the antibiotic assay is easy to carry out, the modes of action of the agents often are discovered after finding them active.
It would be desirable to have a novel class of compounds which shows antibacterial activity, and especially compounds that show a high level of antibacterial activity.

University of New Orleans Research and Technology Foundation, Inc.


A physical networking/virtual infrastructure management integration system includes a physical networking infrastructure management system providing physical networking infrastructure management subsystems, a virtual infrastructure management system providing virtual infrastructure management subsystems, and a network integration system. The network integration system identifies at least one affiliation between service endpoints provided by the physical networking infrastructure management subsystems and the virtual infrastructure management subsystems, and generates an affiliation graph that identifies each of the service endpoints and each affiliation between pairs of the service endpoints. The network integration system then converts the affiliation graph to a bipartite graph that includes a controller group including a first subset of the service endpoints and a controlled group including a second subset of the service endpoints, and launches a respective service container for each of the first subset of the service endpoints in the controller group.

The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to integrating physical infrastructure and virtual infrastructure provided by information handling systems.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems may be utilized to provide a Software Defined Datacenter (SDDC) including a combination of physical infrastructure and virtual infrastructure that is integrated to provide a variety of SDDC functionality known in the art. For example, network integration systems such as the OpenManage Network Integration (OMNI) system available from DELL EMC® Inc. of Hopkinton, Mass., United States, may be utilized with an SDDC in order to automate and manage the integration of physical networking infrastructure management systems and virtual infrastructure management systems utilized in the SDDC. Typically, any changes in the configuration of virtual infrastructure (e.g., changes to a virtual networking configuration) in an SDDC would otherwise require a network administrator to perform a variety of inefficient and cumbersome operations to configure (or reconfigure) underlying physical infrastructure (e.g., physical networking component(s)), and networking integration systems attempt to alleviate the need to manually perform such operations by monitoring the virtual infrastructure for changes and, in response to such changes, automatically synchronizing the physical infrastructure to support the virtual infrastructure changes. For example, the OMNI system discussed above accomplishes the functionality discussed above by integrating with virtual infrastructure management subsystems in the SDDC (e.g., the VCENTER® centralized management utility available from VMWARE® of Palo Alto, Calif., United States), and physical networking infrastructure management subsystems in the SDDC (e.g., SMART FABRIC SERVICES (SFS)® available from DELL EMC® Inc. of Hopkinton, Mass., United States).
However, network integration systems like the OMNI system discussed above are often deployed as virtual appliances with the automation features discussed above provided as micro-services deployed as containers ("service containers"), which can create some issues, particularly as the number of virtual infrastructure management subsystems and physical networking infrastructure management subsystems integrated by the network integration system increase. For example, in order to provide comprehensive network automation coverage in an SDDC, network integration systems like the OMNI system discussed above launch a service container for each combination of virtual infrastructure management subsystem and physical networking infrastructure management subsystem (each virtual/physical infrastructure management subsystem pair), thus providing [(#of virtual infrastructure management subsystems)×(#of physical networking infrastructure management subsystems)] service containers. Once a particular service container is launched, that service container identifies changes in its corresponding virtual infrastructure management subsystem, and modifies physical network attributes on its corresponding physical networking infrastructure management subsystem to synchronize the virtual network provided by the virtual infrastructure management subsystem with the physical network provided by the physical networking infrastructure management subsystem.
However, network integration systems (e.g., the virtual machine providing that network integration system) have limited resources that can only support a maximum number of service containers, and the growing number of virtual infrastructure management subsystems and physical networking infrastructure management subsystems presents a scalability issue. For example, if a network integration system is required to support 10 simultaneous virtual infrastructure management subsystems and 20 physical networking infrastructure management subsystems, "zero-touch" automation of network integration will require that network integration system to provide 200 service containers. Furthermore, management of the growing number of automation services provided by such service containers is also an issue, as each automation service produces corresponding logs, alerts, events, notifications, and/or other service container information known in the art, which provides an additional load on system resources and can result in an undesirable user experience.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a network integration system that addresses the issues discussed above.

Physical infrastructure/virtual infrastructure integration system


The present invention provides a method for producing a magneto-optical recording medium capable of optical intensity modulation direct overwriting, which method enables to easily form an initialization layer having an excellent stability against the magnetization inversion during the optical intensity modulation direct overwriting.. When producing a magneto-optical recording medium at least a memory layer 1 which is magnetized according to a recording signal, a recording layer 2 whose magnetization direction is temporarily changed according to a recording signal during a recording, a switch layer 3 which is temporarily demagnetized during a recording, and an initialization layer 4 whose magnetization direction is not changed during a recording; the memory layer 1 is formed by forming at least a first magnetic layer 1a having a residual magnetization Mr smaller than a saturation magnetization Ms and a second magnetic layer 1b having a ratio Mr/Ms between the residual magnetization Mr and the saturation magnetization Ms greater than that of the first magnetic layer. Moreover, when forming the second magnetic layer 1b, an external magnetic field is applied almost in the vertical direction to the film surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a magneto-optical recording medium capable of recording a recording signal by the optical intensity modulation direct overwriting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of magneto-optical recording and reproduction, a request for a higher transfer rate has been raised. In order to answer this request, various techniques have been developed and are being implemented in practice. Among them, there can be named a technique of light-intensity modulation direct overwriting.
When recording data on an magneto-optical recording medium with a light-intensity modulation method, normally, a weak DC magnetic field is applied to the magneto-optical recording medium and a laser beam is radiated while modulating the beam depending on the presence/absence of a signal. Consequently, when re-recording a data on a already recorded area by using a conventional magneto-optical recording/reproduction apparatus of the light-intensity modulation method, it is necessary to erase the recorded area prior to the re-recording. That is, it is impossible to directly overwrite on the already recorded area.
Thus, most of the magneto-optical recording/reproduction apparatuses which have been implemented in practice require an erase operation prior to recording a new data. This means that the magneto-optical recording medium should rotate by at least two turns for recording a signal, which has prevented to provide a high transfer rate.
In order to solve such a problem, there has been designed the light-intensity modulation direct overwriting technique which employs the light-intensity modulation method and enables direct overwriting.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Sho 62-175948 discloses a light-intensity modulation direct overwriting method which employs an magneto-optical recording medium made from two magnetic layers layered having different magnetic characteristics and layered so as to be connected to each other by exchange interaction; and an magneto-optical recording and reproduction apparatus including: an optical system capable of radiating a beam controlled to two values, i.e., a high level and a low level, during a recording; a recording magnetic field generating apparatus which is used in an ordinary magneto-optical recording and reproducing apparatus; and a so-called initialization magnet, i.e., an external magnetic field generating apparatus capable of inverting only one of the two layers at a room temperature.
However, in order to realize a light-intensity modulation direct overwriting by using this technique, the initialization magnet should an initialization magnetic field in the order of several kOe, which is a problem in designing the magneto-optical recording and reproduction apparatus.
In order to cope with this, reduction of the initialization magnetic field has been tried such as in a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Hei 1-185853. Such efforts have reduced the initialization magnetic field in the order of 2 kOe, which is still a significantly great value if compared to the recording magnetic field in the order of 300 Oe. This initialization magnetic field is still a problem and this method is not yet implemented in practical use.
On the other hand, separately from the examination for reduction of the initialization magnetic field, a research has been made to enable the light-intensity modulation direct overwriting without using any initialization magnetic field. As a result, there has been designed an magneto-optical recording medium disclosed in Japanese Patent Sho 63-268103 and further in Japanese Patent Hei 3-219449.
This magneto-optical recording medium basically consists of the magneto-optical recording medium disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Sho 62-175948 with addition of a magnetic layer which serves as an initialization magnet by the exchange interaction force. This magnetic layer is prepared in such a manner that its magnetization will not change during a recording and is called an initialization layer. As can be understood from its role, the initialization layer is once magnetized in a predetermined direction after preparation of the medium, and after that its magnetization direction should not be inverted.
Consequently, in order to satisfy the condition that the initialization layer does not invert its magnetization direction during a direct overwriting, the initialization layer should have magnetic characteristics that the Curie temperature is sufficiently high and the product of the coercive force Hc and the saturation magnetization Ms is sufficiently great. As a material satisfying such magnetic characteristics, there can be exemplified TbFeCo (Co content is 50 atomic % or above) or the like. Examination has been made on a magneto-optical recording medium using such a material as the initialization layer.
The aforementioned initialization layer should be once magnetized in a predetermined direction after preparation of the medium, and it should satisfy the requirement that it can be polarized at a room temperature. For this, the initialization layer should have a coercive force Hc of ten and several kOe at a room temperature.
The TbFeCo which has been examined as the material of the initialization layer satisfies the conditions that the Curie temperature is sufficiently high and the product of the coercive force Hc and the saturation magnetization Ms is sufficiently great. However, there arise various problems when these magnetic characteristics are to be obtained simultaneously with satisfying the requirement that the coercive force Hc is ten and several kOe or below at the room temperature.
An amorphous of a rare earth element and a transition metal element such as TbFeCo shows at the compensation composition the infinite coercive force Hc, and the coercive force Hc is reduced when changing the composition ratio of the rare earth element and the transition metal element. In general, the composition containing an increased ratio of the rare earth element compared to the compensation composition is called RE-rich, whereas the composition containing an increased ratio of the transition metal element is called TM-rich. In other words, the coercive force Hc is reduced when the compensation composition is changed into any of the directions, i.e., into the RE-rich direction or into the TM-rich direction. Consequently, the composition satisfying the requirement that the coercive force Hc is ten and several kOe or below at the room temperature exists both in the RE-rich side and in the TM-rich side.
On the other hand, in the amorphous of rare earth and transition metal containing a plenty of Co such as TbFeCo containing 50 atomic % of Co or above, the Curie temperature greatly depends on the ratio between the rare earth element and the transition metal element, i.e., the Curie temperature is increased as the ratio of transition metal element is increased. If this situation is considered, in order to simultaneously satisfy the conditions that the Curie temperature is sufficiently high and the coercive force Hc is ten and several kOe at the room temperature, it is considered to select a composition of TM-rich having a coercive force Hc of ten and several kOe at the room temperature.
However, as this material shows the Curie temperature which is very high, in the composition of TM-rich satisfying the condition that the coercive force Hc is ten and several kOe at the room temperature, the magnetic anisotropy is lowered at a higher rate compared to the magnetization increase as the temperature increases, i.e., the magnetization direction is put into disorder below the Curie temperature. For this, conventionally, when using the amorphous of rare earth and transient metal such as TbFeCo as the initialization layer, there has been no other selection than to use a composition of RE-rich having a coercive force Hc of ten and several kOe at the room temperature.
Note that the Curie temperature is generally increased when the Co content is increased, and it is also considered to compensate the Curie temperature which has been lowered, with addition of Co. However, addition of Co which exhibits a great effect in the TM-rich composition exhibits only a small effect in the RE-rich composition. For this, addition of Co cannot sufficiently increase the Curie temperature of the initialization layer.
As has thus far been described, in the magnet-optical recording medium capable of light intensity modulation direct overwriting by providing the initialization layer, the initialization layer should simultaneously satisfy the conditions that the Curie temperature is sufficiently high, the product of the coercive force Hc and the saturation magnetization Ms is sufficiently great, and the coercive force Hc at the room temperature is ten and several kOe or below. However, it has been difficult to satisfy these conditions and to obtain an initialization layer having a high stability against the magnetization inversion during the light intensity modulation direct overwriting.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a magneto-optical recording medium capable of light intensity modulation direct overwriting, the method enabling to easily form an initialization layer having an excellent stability against the magnetization inversion during the light intensity modulation direct overwriting.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention provides a method for producing a magneto-optical recording medium comprising: at least a magnetic layer which is magnetized according to a recording signal; a magnetic layer whose magnetization direction is temporarily changed according to a recording signal during a recording; a magnetic layer which is temporarily demagnetized during a recording; and a magnetic layer whose magnetization direction is not changed during a recording; wherein the magnetic layer which is magnetized according to a recording signal consists of at least a first magnetic layer in which residual magnetization Mr is smaller than saturation magnetization Ms, and a second magnetic layer in which a ratio Mr/Ms between a residual magnetization Mr and a saturation magnetization Ms is greater than that of the first magnetic layer; and an external magnetic field is applied in an almost vertical direction to a film surface at least when preparing the second magnetic layer on the first magnetic layer. Here, the aforementioned external magnetic field is preferably applied when the second magnetic layer has reached 0.5 nm thickness or above.
As has been described above, according to the present invention, an external magnetic field is applied in a vertical direction to a film surface when forming the second magnetic layer on the first magnetic layer. Thus, the magnetic layers are polarized. The magnetic layers which are formed afterwards are successively connected by exchange interaction and accordingly, the magnetization direction in each of the magnetic layers is not in disorder but oriented in a particular direction. Consequently, according to the present invention, the magnetic layer whose magnetization direction is not changed during a recording, i.e., the initialization layer is polarized in a particular direction regardless of its composition.

Magneto-optical recording medium production method


A method of data placement and control in a block-divided distributed disk array is provided. At first, data to store is divided into logical blocks, and each of the divided logical blocks is further divided into a plurality of data blocks. Then, a parity block is created through performing an XOR operation on the data blocks of each logical block in a unit of a strip, and the parity block is arranged at the first block of a strip unit. Then, parity blocks are arranged at a next block of a previous logical block's the last data block through a left/right shifting for uniformly arranging the parity blocks through out all disks in order to fill an empty block between the logical blocks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of data placement and control in a block-divided distributed parity disk array.
2. Description of the Related Art
A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) is one of representative data storage devices. The RAID is a high performance and mass storage device that provides single virtual disk using multiple physical disks, and the RAID is a safety device that recovers data by replicating data and storing replicated data in the multiple physical disks. The RAID device has a characteristic that the performance thereof becomes decreased if the reliability of the RAID increases. In the RAID, a disk level is classified according to a method of placing data and parity information in a disk. The RAID has different characteristics according to each of the disk levels.
A RAID 0 level is used to configure a high performance mass storage device without replicating data. In this case, the reliability thereof is degraded in proportional to the number of disks.
A RAID 1 level is a method of creating an exact copy of a set of data on two or more disks. The RAID 1 level provides high performance and superior reliability, but wastes the disk space.
A RAID 5 level is a method of enabling one parity block to recover one disk error through a disk. When a lot of physical disks are managed through the RAID 5 level, the performance is lowered, the reliability is degraded, and the safety problem is arisen.
In the RAID 5 level, a strip is arranged at each disk. In order to write one block, the RAID 5 level writes a new parity block and a new data block through performing an XOR operation on related blocks. Since two write operations are performed for writing one block, the RAID 5 level is inefficient.
If the write operation is performed through delay-writing that gathers blocks composing one strip and writes the blocks of one strip, an overhead occurs for buffering the blocks. The RAID has a disk error recovering function using multiple disks. However, the RAID is inefficient to process large data or multimedia data because the RAID was developed to process on general data.

Method of data placement and control in block-divided distributed parity disk array

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A transmission point device, user equipment, and method of reporting phase offsets between signals received from a serving cell and neighbor cells in a communication system are disclosed. The method comprises steps of: quantizing the phase offsets using a predetermined number of bits; utilizing another bit to indicate constellation of the phase offsets; reporting the quantized phase offsets and the constellation to transmission point. The present disclosure may improve the signal combining gain from multiple transmission points with minimum overhead increasing.

The cooperation between transmission points is an important means to mitigate inter-cell-interference in cellular systems, and it is being intensively discussed in the fourth generation of wireless communication system standardizations. One transmission method of transmission point cooperation is the joint transmission, namely a User Equipment (UE) would receive data signal from multiple transmission points.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the operation for joint transmission between two transmission points.
As shown in FIG. 1, the UE #A receives signals from the node (transmission point) #1 and node #2 at the same time, and the UE #B also receives signals from the node #1 and node #2 at the same time. The node #1 and node #2 share data and schedule information through backhaul.
To support the joint transmission, the UE needs to measure the channel from each transmission point, and then report those channels (i.e., Pre-coding Matrix Indices (PMI)/Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)/Ranking Indicator (RI) corresponding to each transmission point). Moreover, to ensure the signals from each transmission point are combined coherently at the UE (but not cancel each other), the UE also reports a phase offset (co-phasing factors) between two PMIs. The transmission point can apply the phase offset on the transmitted data signals to strengthen the signal power received at the UE. In general, the phase offset is quantized before being sent back to the transmission point, for example they are quantized to [1 −1] or [1 j −1 −j].
Moreover, in certain cellular environments, such as interference-limited environments, the UE may receive signals from more than two transmission points, e.g., three transmission points.
FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are diagrams showing the reporting of multiple phase offsets, in which FIG. 2A shows a situation of homogeneous deployment, and FIG. 2B shows a situation of heterogeneous deployment.
As shown in FIG. 2A, a UE receives signals from three transmission points (cells). In this case, two phase offsets are needed, one of which corresponds to the phase offset φ1 between the serving cell and the neighbor cell 1, and the other of which corresponds to the phase offset φ2 between the serving cell and the neighbor cell 2.
When the UE reports multiple phase offsets, the signal combining gain from multiple transmission points may be cancelled due to the quantization. For example, two phase offsets with similar values may be quantized to completely different values.
FIG. 3 shows an instance that two phase offsets with similar values are quantized to completely different values.
As shown in FIG. 3, both the phase offsets φ1 and φ2 are close to π/2, they have the similar values, and the corresponding signal combining gain should be high. However, if the quantization is [1 −1], for example φ1 is quantized to "1", and φ2 is quantized to "−1", the signal combining gain from the multiple transmission points are zero since φ1 and φ2 are quantized to opposite values "1" and "−1".
FIG. 4 shows an instance that two phase offsets with similar values are quantized to completely different values.
As shown in FIG. 4, the phase offsets φ1 and φ2 are close to phase zero, they have the similar values, and the corresponding signal combining gain should be high. However, if the quantization is [j −j], for example φ1 is quantized to "j", and φ2 is quantized to "−j", the signal combining gain from the multiple transmission points are zero since φ1 and φ2 are quantized to opposite values "j" and "−j".
When the transmission point applies the phase offsets in downlink transmission, the signals from the two neighbor cells may cancel each other due to such quantization.

Method of reporting phase offsets, user equipment and transmission point device using the method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA


A projector comprises a light source, an Ultraviolet/Infrared Radiation (UV/IR) filter, a color wheel and means for guiding the light beam reflected by the color wheel toward directions away from the light source. The light source is for providing a light beam. The UV/IR filter is disposed with a tilt angle ranging from 13 degrees to 30 degrees. The color wheel for receiving the light beam transmits a primary color light beam of the light beam in a predetermined time section, and the other color light beam of the light beam is reflected by the color wheel. The means for guiding the light beam reflected by the color wheel toward directions away from the light source further guide a invisible light beam of the light beam reflected from the UV/IR filter.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a projector, and particularly relates to a projector for reducing a temperature of a light source.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG. 1A, which is illustrating a conventional projector 2. The conventional projector 2 comprises a light source 4, an Ultraviolet/Infrared Radiation (UV/IR) filter 6, a color wheel 8, an integration rod 10, a light valve 12, and a projection lens 14.
Please refer to FIG. 1B, which is illustrating a light path of the conventional projector according to FIG. 1A. The light source 4 comprises a lamp 402 for providing a light beam and a lamp reflector 404. The lamp reflector 404 guides the light beam toward the UV/IR filter 6. The UV/IR filter 6 transmits a visible light beam of the light beam and reflects an ultraviolet (UV) and an infrared radiation (IR) of the light beam.
The visible light beam-passes through the UV/IR filter 6 and the color wheel 8. The color wheel 8 comprises different filters for several primary colors, such as red, green and blue. While the color wheel 8 rotates, a primary color light beam of the light beam passes through the color wheel 8 in a predetermined time section, and the other color light beam of the light beam is reflected by the color wheel 8.
Following, the primary color light beam passing through the color wheel 8 passes through the integration rod 10 for uniforming the light beam to project on the light valve 12. After modulated by the light valve 12, the primary color light beam passes through the projection lens 14 to display images on a screen.
A weighty issue of the projector is a heat from the light source 4. The UV and IR reflected from the UV/IR filter 6, and the visible light beam reflected from the color wheel 8 are reflected back to the light source 4 so as to raise a temperature of the light source 4. This high temperature causes a damage on the light source 4 and harms the display performance of the projector 2.


A three dimensional memory enabling both pixel and bit slice data to be stored and retrieved through different ports. A memory circuit (30) is divided into a lower memory block (32a) and an upper memory block (32b). Each memory block is organized into 256 rows .times.16 groups (pixel planes) of eight columns (bit planes). Eight bits of pixel data are stored at a selected row and pixel plane of the upper or lower memory block, and sixteen bits of pixel data are stored at a selected row and bit plane of the upper or lower memory block. Address bits determine the location of pixel data and bit slice data. A bit plane port is used to access data in the bit slice format and another port is used to access data in the pixel format. Bit slice data input through the bit plane port and stored in the memory circuit can be read as pixel data through the pixel port, and vice versa. By enabling image data stored in the memory circuit to be accessed as either pixel or bit slice data, retrieval of the image data in either representation is achieved without the need for an external serial-to-parallel or parallel-to-serial converter, greatly enhancing the speed by which the data stored in one representation is retrieved in the other.

One of the more important applications for integrated circuit memory devices is in the field of image processing. In an image processing system, a video sensing device (e.g., an array of charge coupled devices or a video camera) typically produces image data as an analog signal that is digitized by an analog-to-digital (A-D) converter and stored in a memory circuit in a pixel representation, as a two-dimensional array of gray scale values. Efficient processing of the image data is often best implemented on bit-serial arithmetic units (processors), which offer the advantages of variable sized arguments and a small number of input/output pins. The bit-serial processors require the image data to be read one bit (bit plane) at a time so that their input is a serial data stream, starting with the least significant bit (LSB) and proceeding through the most significant bit (MSB) by taking successive bit slices of the pixels. By using one bit-serial processor for each column of the image, one row of a bit plane image can be read at a time, as each bit-serial processor simultaneously receives a bit of the same significance (e.g., the fifth bit of all of the pixels on a row). Unfortunately, use of bit-serial processors requires that information comprising the image data be converted from the pixel representation to the bit plane representation, and then back to pixel representation, for display on a monitor.
For example, the pixel representation of image data may comprises a 128.times.128 array of eight-bit pixels. In contrast, the corresponding bit plane representation of this image data would be eight bit planes, each including a 128.times.128 array of one-bit data.
Clearly, the pixel representation and the bit plane representation of image data are different formats that require accessing the bits of the image data differently. Thus, a typical image processing system uses a number of serial-to-parallel and parallel-to-serial converters to convert image data between the two representations. Provision of a memory circuit that eliminates the need for such conversions and allows both pixel and bit slice data to be stored and retrieved as parallel data would thus contribute a significant improvement to the current state of the art by enhancing the speed with which the image data are stored and accessed, particularly for the bit plane representation.
Presently, memory devices are not commercially available that can access data stored in memory selectively in either a pixel or a bit plane representation. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,282, a memory system is disclosed for use in a display or printing system for processing graphics data. The memory system has a plurality of memory planes, each provided with an operation circuit that performs logical operations on the picture data stored in each memory plane and simultaneously writes the results in the memory planes. However, there is no provision for reading the memory planes as gray scale data, i.e., there is no access to the data in a parallel format, in pixel representation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,990, a single-array memory includes a storage cell providing dual read/write access via either an "A" side or a "B" side. Thus, the memory cell allows the same data to be accessed through two ports, but only in the same format or representation. The idea is extended in U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,004, which discloses an integrated circuit having two read ports and two write ports, again allowing data to be accessed in the same format or representation through multiple ports; the device enables data to be accessed at different addresses according to the phase of an "A" side or "B" side clock.
Bit slice data are written to a plurality of memory devices and then accessed in pixel representation in U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,043. One or more bit planes selected to constitute a group define a "surface," and similarly, another group of one or more bit planes defines another surface. The priority of the surfaces is identified so that one surface appears to overlie the other. Multiple ports are not provided in the memory device and therefore, access of the image data selectively in either bit plane or pixel representation through different ports is precluded.
A multi-dimensional parallel storage device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.4,570,236. An address computing circuit is provided for each multi-dimensional element produced by scanning an image according to a scanning pattern, enabling the recursive computation of a storage element or a reference array point for a linear storing function to occur after shifting of a window in the displayed image. The data are processed as vectors, allowing multiple storage elements to be simultaneously accessed in vector form, but through only one part.
Advantages of the present invention over the prior art in permitting data stored in an integrated circuit memory circuit to be accessed selectively in bit plane or pixel representation through different ports will be apparent from the attached drawings and the Description of the Preferred Embodiment that follow.


An electrosurgical probe with internal cooling for use in systems and methods for lesioning in bone and other tissue is disclosed. The probe includes tubular electrodes configured such that the inner surface of the lesioning electrodes are cooled, directly or indirectly, while keeping the electrodes electrically isolated. One embodiment includes an electrosurgical probe having at least two electrically isolated electrical conductors, including an inner electrical conductor and an outer electrical conductor. The inner electrical conductor defines a lumen for the circulation of a cooling fluid therein. An inner electrical insulator is disposed between the electrical conductors to electrically isolate the electrical conductors. The electrical insulator has sufficient thermal conductivity to allow for cooling of the inner and outer electrical conductors when the cooling fluid is circulating within the lumen of the inner electrical conductor.

US application 20070016185 to Tullis et al is for an electrosurgical system. It discloses an electrode assembly for lesioning that includes an electrode surrounded by layers of insulation and tubing but does not disclose cooling of the lesioning electrode.
Desinger et al (US 2004/0167517) discloses a probe having two distal region electrodes with the distal electrode tip having a cone shape that extends distally. Fluid in the lumen of the probe is spaced apart from the furthest point of the distal tip electrode.
Fay et al (US 2009/0156981) discloses a flexible catheter having a plastic tip and a plastic shaft tube with electrodes attached to it.
Some prior art bi-polar probes, such as those described in US application 2004/0167517 to Desinger et al and in US application 2009/0156981 to Fay et al, have configurations that allow cooling fluid to contact both the active electrode and the return electrode. As cooling fluid often has some conductivity, the flow of coolant between the electrodes will cause some energy to be transmitted within the probe rather than to surrounding tissue, resulting in a loss of effectiveness and possible safety concerns. The stray energy can also affect impedance measurements, causing further problems for devices that measure impedance.


Apparatus and methods are provided for recanalizing stented regions within the vasculature which have become restenosed. A shearing body is displaced within the stented region in order to dislodge the stenotic material from an interface envelope defined by the inner surface of the stent. Usually, the shearing body will be compliant and sized slightly larger than the stent in order to remove stenotic material substantially uniformly around the entire interface envelope. The shearing body may be in the form of a brush, helical row, spaced-apart disks, solid compressible body, or a variety of other specific configurations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for removing occluding material from stented regions within blood vessels which have restenosed. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods for shearing the occluding material from around an interface envelope defined by the stent.
Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) procedures are widely used for treating stenotic atherosclerotic regions of a patient's vasculature to restore adequate blood flow. Catheters having an expansible distal end, usually in the form of an inflatable balloon, are positioned in an artery, for example a coronary artery, at a stenotic site. The expansible end is then expanded to dilate the artery in order to restore adequate blood flow to regions beyond the stenosis. While PTA has gained wide acceptance, it suffers from two major problems: abrupt closure and restenosis.
Abrupt closure refers to rapid reocclusion of the vessel within hours of the initial treatment, and often occurs in patients who have recently suffered acute myocardial infarction. Abrupt closure often results from rapid thrombus formation which occurs in response to injury of the vascular wall from the initial PTA procedure. Restenosis refers to a re-narrowing of the artery over the weeks or months following an initial apparently successful PTA procedure. Restenosis occurs in up to 50% of all PTA patients and results at least in part from smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration.
Many different strategies have been proposed to ameliorate abrupt closure and reduce the restenosis rate. Of particular interest to the present invention, the implantation of vascular stents following PTA has become widespread. Stents are thin-walled tubular scaffolds which are expanded in the arterial lumen following the PTA procedure. Most commonly, the stents are formed from a malleable material, such as stainless steel, and are expanded in situ using a balloon. Alternatively, the stents may be formed from a shape memory alloy or other elastic material, in which case they are delivered in a radially constrained configuration and allowed to self-expand at the PTA treatment site. In either case, the stent acts as a mechanical support for the arterial wall, inhibiting both abrupt closure and restenosis.
While stents have been very successful in inhibiting abrupt closure and reasonably successful in inhibiting restenosis, a significant portion of the treated patient population still experiences restenosis over time. Most stent structures comprise an open lattice, typically in a diamond or a spiral pattern, and cell proliferation (often referred to as hyperplasia) can incur in the interstices between the support elements of the lattice. As a result, instead of forming a barrier to hyperplasia and restenosis, the stent can become embedded within an accumulated mass of thrombus and tissue growth, and the treatment site once again becomes occluded.
To date, proposed treatments for restenosis within previously stented regions of the coronary and other arteries have included both follow-up balloon angioplasty and directional atherectomy, e.g. using the Simpson atherectomy catheter available from Guidant Corporation, Sunnyvale, Calif. Neither approach has been wholly successful. Balloon angioplasty can temporarily open the arterial lumen, but rarely provides long-term patency. Directional atherectomy can successfully debulk the lumen within the stent, but rarely removes the material in a symmetric pattern. Moreover, it has been found that the atherectomy cutting blades can damage the stent, leaving protruding metallic pieces in the blood vessel lumen. Such discontinuities can act as sites for further thrombus formation.
For these reasons, it would be desirable to provide improved methods for treating restenosis within regions of the vasculature which have previously been implanted with stents. More particularly, it would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods for removing stenotic material from within the stents in a uniform and symmetric manner to provide a recanalized vascular lumen which is less likely to suffer from further restenosis. The apparatus and methods will preferably be capable of both dislodging the stenotic material and subsequently capturing and removing the dislodged material from the blood vessel lumen. Desirably, the apparatus will be able to dislodge and remove the stenotic material from along an interface envelope which is defined by the stent which has become embedded within the stenotic material. Removal will preferably be effected in a short amount of time, preferably using only a single or limited number of passes through the restenosed region within the stent. The apparatus and methods will be relatively easy to implement, present acceptable risks to the patient, and be readily performed by physicians who are familiar with balloon angioplasty and other conventional intravascular treatments. At least some of these objectives will be met by the various aspects of the present invention described below.
2. Description of the Background Art
Post-angioplasty restenosis is discussed in the following publications: Khanolkar (1996) Indian Heart J. 48:281-282; Ghannem et al. (1996) Ann. Cardiol. Angeiol. 45:287-290; Macander et al. (1994) Cathet. Cardiovasc. Diagn. 32:125-131; Strauss et al. (1992) J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 20:1465-1473; Bowerman et al. (1991) Cathet. Cardiovasc. Diagn. 24:248-251; Moris et al. (1996) Am. Heart. J. 131:834-836; Schomig et al. (1994) J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 23:1053-1060; Haude et al., "Treatment of In-Stent Restenosis," in Endoluminal Stenting 1996, Chapter 52, pages 357-365; Gordon et al. (1993) J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 21:1166-1174; and Baim et al. (1993) Am. J. Cardiol. 71:364-366. These publications include descriptions of follow-up angioplasty and atherectomy as possible treatments for restenosis.
Thrombectomy and atherectomy catheters having rotating brush and filament structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,578,018; 5,535,756; 5,427,115; 5,370,653; 5,009,659; and 4,850,957; WO 95/29626; DE 39 21 071 C2; and Netherlands 9400027.
Representative atherectomy catheters are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,273,128; 4,445,509; 4,653,496; 4,696,667; 4,706,671; 4,728,319; 4,732,154; 4,762,130; 4,790,812; 4,819,634; 4,842,579; 4,857,045; 4,857,046; 4,867,156; 4,883,458; 4,886,061; 4,890,611; 4,894,051; 4,895,560; 4,926,858; 4,966,604; 4,979,939; 4,979,951; 5,011,488; 5,011,489; 5,011,490; 5,041,082; 5,047,040; 5,071,424; 5,078,723; 5,085,662; 5,087,265; 5,116,352; 5,135,483; 5,154,724; 5,158,564; 5,160,342; 5,176,693; 5,192,291; 5,195,954; 5,196,024; 5,209,749; 5,217,474; 5,224,945; 5,234,451; 5,269,751; 5,308,354; 5,314,438; 5,318,576; 5,320,634; 5,334,211; 5,356,418; 5,360,432; 5,376,100; 5,402,790; 5,443,443; 5,490,859; 5,527,326; 5,540,707; 5,556,405; 5,556,408; and 5,554,163.

Apparatus and method for removing stenotic material from stents


A self-contained cell culture apparatus and method of use in which a cell culture may be stored frozen for an extended period, then thawed, incubated and grown in a closed system without additional processing or added constituents. The apparatus and method readily lend themselves to automated handling and analysis by MEMS devices, and find particular application in micro gravity and/or high radiation environments. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope of the claims.

The in vitro cultivation or culturing of eukaryotic cells is well known. Presently, repositories for cell cultures world wide contain more than 5,000 different eukaryotic cell types which may be grown in vitro in appropriately selected liquid media. The European Collection of Cell Cultures (ECACC), for example, maintains cultures of more than 50 cell types from over 40 species. Many other eukaryotic cell lines available to investigators are listed in the catalogues of the ATCC American Type Culture Collection, DCTDC Tumor Repository, DSMZ Human and Animal Cell Cultures, ICLC Interlab Cell Line Collection, Istituto Giannina Gaslini, IZSBS Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale and NIA National Institute of Aging Cell Repository.
Cell culture is a powerful approach originated over a century ago to study the behavior of different cells under physiological conditions as well as stress. In vitro cell culture is greatly influenced by an environment that favors the spreading, migration and proliferation of cells. The cell culture environment includes: the nature of the substrate or phase on or in which cells grow that may be a solid surface, as in monolayer growth, or a liquid, as in a suspension culture; the physiochemical and physiological composition of the medium; the constitution of gas phase; and the incubation environment, including temperature and humidity. A wide variety of liquid media suitable for the maintenance and growth of mammalian cells for in vitro culture have been formulated and are commercially available.
Conventional cell culture cannot be performed in the absence of a cell culture facility staffed by well-trained and experienced personnel. In addition, conventional methods require removal of a cryoprotectant from cryopreserved cells upon cell revival. This removal of cryoprotectant (e.g., DMSO, glycerol) from cryopreserved cells involve multiple. steps and is usually performed by an experienced personnel. As soon as cryopreserved cells ate thawed 37° C., they are carefully transferred drop wise into a 10 ml centrifuge tube containing Hanks balanced salt solution or phosphate buffered saline. This gradual dilution process is particularly important when DMSO is used as the cryoprotectant, with which sudden dilution can cause severe osmotic damage and reduce cell survival. The 10 ml tube containing cells is centrifuged at 230 g for 4:30 minutes. The DMSO in the supernatant is aspirated and the cells are recovered and transferred to the cell culture flask in the presence of prewarmed growth medium which is conventionally prewarmed at 37° C. for 15 minutes prior to cell culture. The cell culture flask is kept at 37° C. in a CO 2 incubator, and cell growth and viability are observed. Therefore, it would be useful to the industry to have a system for performing cell culture that does not require well-trained and experienced personnel.
Further, it would be advantageous to perform cell cultures without the need to remove cryoprotectant upon cell revival. Therefore, due to the enormous applicability and utility of cell culture in biology, it is desirable to have a self-contained system capable of performing cell culture without human manipulation. The present invention addresses these needs by providing a completely self-contained cell culture system that can be stored for extended periods of time. When required, this system may be thawed and incubated at the desired temperature to carry out cell culture without the need to remove the cryoprotectant.

Self-contained cell culture apparatus and method of use

The Regents of the University of California


A motor includes a magnet rotating together with a rotor about a central axis, a substrate on which a sensor to detect a position of the magnet is installed, a housing to hold a stator to drive the rotor, a bearing assembly including a bearing holder, and a conductor assembly between the housing and the bearing assembly. The conductor assembly includes a conductor including a first conductor electrically connected to the sensor through the substrate and a conductor holder covering the conductor. The substrate is fixed to the conductor holder. In the radial direction, a gap is located between an outer side surface of the bearing holder and an inner side surface of the conductor holder, and at least a portion of the magnet is located in the gap.

With the miniaturization of a device, a demand for the miniaturization of a motor mounted on the device is also increasing. When components of the motor are assembled, the components are often mounted in an axial direction in an overlapping manner, so that dimensions in an axial direction are likely to be large. Thus, for example, in a related art, a sensor magnet configured to detect a rotational position of a rotor is installed in an outer side of a bearing support in a radial direction, and a position sensor is installed on an outer side surface of the bearing support, thereby suppressing an increase in dimensions of the motor in the axial direction. Further, in a related art, a Hall integrated circuit (IC) formed on a front end plate and a sensor magnet installed on a magnet fixing member are disposed on an outer side in a radial direction of a bearing, which supports a shaft.
However, when the number of components of a motor increases, the number of assembly processes increases so that the work efficiency is likely to be lowered. In addition, when the components are arranged in a radial direction, the structure of the motor is also complicated, so that the assembling is more likely to be difficult.


A pass through oven system using a microwave oven with doors and a conveyor belt passing through the oven cavity. A sensor system detects the food item on the conveyor belt and identifies the food item. A controller in response to the sensor system moves the conveyor so that the food item is positioned within the cavity of the microwave oven, automatically engages the oven for a preset duration depending upon the identity of the food item and then moves the conveyor to remove the food item from the cavity.

In the commercial or fast food restaurant business it is common practice to pre-prepare various food items in anticipation of customer demand. However, it is also desirable that each customer receive the ordered food item in an appropriate warm and palatable condition. To facilitate this goal, many commercial or fast food operations precook at least a portion of the various food items on the menu and upon receiving an order from a customer, heat or rethermalize the prepared portion, complete the assembly of the final food item and deliver it to the customers. The heating or cooking or rethermalization typically requires the operator to place the precooked food item into a conventional microwave oven and then select an appropriate intensity and duration setting. Such a system is labor intensive and is conducive to operator error. If the food item is heated for a unnecessary long period of time the final product may be overcooked or soggy either of which diminishes its general acceptability to the customer. If the food item is heated for a period of time that is too short, the final product may be undercooked or not warm which also diminishes its general acceptability to the customer. Thus, the prior known systems rely upon operator discretion in selecting the appropriate intensity and duration for the heating of each food item. Since the intensity and duration of the heating is at the operator's discretion it is difficult to assure consistent quality of food items to the customers. In addition, the individual heating process is both labor intensive and time consuming which both increases the cost and delays the delivery of the food item to the customer.
There are known microwave ovens which use conveyor belts to deliver the food item within the oven cavity. However, these systems do not have doors on the microwave oven which requires the oven to be sufficiently large to prevent microwave energy from escaping or require special chokes to contain the microwave energy. These known systems also require operator interface with the oven to set the appropriate intensity and duration of each cook cycle. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a pass through oven system which identifies each food item to be rethermalized, uses a conveyor belt to properly position each food item within the oven, automatically sets the cooking cycle of the oven to correspond to the identified food item and then removes the food item after rethermalization.

Rethermalization pass through oven system


The present invention is directed to a system and method of testing using a data image cache. An image server is coupled to one or more test beds to perform testing and/or debug operations on one or more components. Each test bed has one or more test slots to receive the one or more components. The test bed is preferably a motherboard. The motherboard may be in normal operation or may be placed in sleep mode during testing or debugging.

The assembly and manufacture of information handling systems and components is extremely competitive, even slight advantages return significant gains when multiplied over the vast quantities of units sold. One important factor in the purchase of an information handling system by a consumer is the reliability of the system. To insure this reliability, manufacturers and assemblers test components and systems for operability within desired parameters. For example, unit testing of individual information handling system components, such as peripheral component interconnect (PCI) components and the like, typically involves installing a driver for the component and rebooting. This may be prone to inconsistent results caused by a poor or incorrect installation, remnants of other drivers and installations, and the like. These inconsistent results may cause an inoperable information handling system and/or components being shipped, thereby greatly increasing the cost to the manufacturer in the return and repair of the system as well as resulting in great inconvenience to the consumer.
One way to promote efficient and effective testing of the components is to create a data image for each test. The data images may be stored for access by devices needing the data image, such as on a master system that is accessible by each testing device in a device testing system. However, due to the size of the data images, for example, a data image size may be 100-500 MBs and greater, it may take a considerable amount of time to transmit the data images over a network.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an image system and method that may reduce the time and network traffic required in transferring a data image during testing or debugging operations.


Methods and apparatus are disclosed to improve security of a virtual private mobile network. An example method includes identifying a request to initialize the virtual private mobile network, identifying a number of subgroups to associate with the virtual private mobile network, generating a virtualized slice count value based on the number of subgroups, and initializing network elements with a number of virtualized slices based on the virtualized slice count value.

In recent years, mobile network service providers have developed, expanded and maintained a mobile network infrastructure to support a rapidly growing customer base. Wireless telephones that depend on the mobile network infrastructure may communicate more than voice traffic. For example, virtual devices may communicate video, data, text and/or electronic mail (e-mail) messages. Such an expanded suite of wireless telephone functionality provides users with an opportunity to manage work e-mail, work data servers and/or other work related services, personal e-mail and/or personal finance services (e.g., web-based banking) on the same or multiple mobile devices.
The robust functionality of recently commercialized wireless telephones (e.g., smart phones such as the iPhone and/or Android), when supported by appropriate mobile network infrastructure, facilitates legitimate access to work related information, legitimate access to personal information and/or legitimate access to financial access information. However, the robust functionality of the wireless telephone also introduces a degree of risk to such work related information, personal information and/or financial information in the event that the mobile network infrastructure is compromised.

Methods and apparatus to improve security of a virtual private mobile network


Disclosed herein are systems and methods for choosing the size of the control region of a downlink subframe. For example, an apparatus for selecting the size of the control region based on a set of one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) is disclosed. The apparatus, in some embodiments, includes: a module configured to determine, for each of at least two or more control region sizes included in a set of two or more control region sizes, a subset of PDCCHs from said set of PDCCHs that can be assigned to a control region having a size equal to the control region size; and control region size selector for selecting a control region size for the subframe, wherein the control region size selector is configured to make the selection based, at least in part, on information pertaining to the subset of PDCCHs that can be assigned to a control region having a size equal to the selected control region size.

A radio access technology standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is referred to as long term evolution (LTE). Only the packet-switched (PS) domain is supported by LTE. LTE is based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in the downlink and single-carrier frequency domain multiple access (SC-FDMA) in the uplink.
In the time domain, one subframe of 1 ms duration is divided into 12 or 14 OFDM (or SC-FDMA) symbols, depending on the configuration. One OFDM (or SC-FDMA) symbol consists of a number of sub-carriers in the frequency domain, depending on the channel bandwidth and configuration. One OFDM (or SC-FDMA) symbol on one sub-carrier is referred to as a resource element ("RE").
In LTE, no dedicated data channels are used. Instead, shared channel resources are used in both downlink and uplink. These shared resources, which are referred to as DL-SCH and UL-SCH, are each controlled by a scheduler that assigns different parts of the downlink and uplink shared channels to different communication devices (a.k.a., user equipments (UEs)) for reception and transmission respectively.
The assignment information for the DL-SCH and the UL-SCH are transmitted in a control region covering n OFDM symbols (n<=4) in the beginning of each downlink subframe. The DL-SCH is transmitted in a data region covering the rest of the OFDM symbols in each downlink subframe. The size of the control region (i.e., n) is set per subframe. The size is signalled to the UE for each subframe on a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH). The PCFICH occupies a certain minor, pre-determined part of the control region, thereby making it independent of the number of OFDM symbols currently used for the control region.
Each assignment for DL-SCH or UL-SCH is transmitted on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) located in the control region. There are typically multiple PDCCHs in each subframe, and each UE is required to monitor the PDCCHs to detect the assignments directed to it. A PDCCH is mapped to a number of control channel elements (CCEs). A PDCCH consists of an aggregation of 1, 2, 4 or 8 CCEs. These four different alternatives are herein referred to aggregation level 1, 2, 4, and 8 respectively. Each CCE may only be utilized on one aggregation level at the time. The variable size achieved by the different aggregation levels is used to adapt the coding rate to the required block error rate (BLER) level for each PDCCH. The total number of available CCEs in a subframe will vary depending on several parameters, some of which are static (bandwidth and number of antennas), some are semi-static (physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) size and PHICH duration) and one is dynamic (number of OFDM symbols used for the control region). Each CCE consist of 36 REs. However, in order to achieve time and frequency diversity for the PDCCHs, each CCE and its' corresponding REs are spread out, both in time over the OFDM symbols used for PDCCH, and in frequency over the configured bandwidth. This is achieved through a number of operations including interleaving, and cyclic shifts etc.
The CCE mapping in the control region is also restricted in order to simplify the UE implementation. Depending on a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI), subframe number and CCE aggregation level, only a limited set of CCEs need to be searched for PDCCHs by a UE. These CCE sets are referred to as common search spaces and UE-specific search spaces depending on if the PDCCH is aimed at a group of UEs or to a specific UE. The UEs recognizes PDCCHs aimed at them by the RNTI tag that is attached to each PDCCH.
The PDCCHs are mapped on the control region of the subframe, which can consist of from one up to four OFDM symbols. If more than one OFDM symbol is used for the control region (e.g., two, three or four), then the available capacity for DL-SCH will be reduced correspondingly because there are only a fixed number OFDM symbols available per subframe (i.e., 12 or 14 OFDM symbols for normal and extended cyclic prefix respectively). Hence, the control region is an overhead that steals resources from the DL-SCH (i.e., the downlink peak throughput is affected if the control region is larger than what is absolutely required to carry the control channels). On the other hand, should the number of OFDM symbols for control not be set large enough to carry all PDCCHs required for both DL and UL assignments, then it may not be possible to send all DL and UL assignments to the UEs. This may result in the DL and/or UL throughput being degraded due to the limited capability to assign DL-SCH and UL-SCH resources to the UEs. Accordingly, it is not optimal to use a fixed control region size for each downlink subframe.
What is desired, therefore, are systems and methods for selecting, for each downlink subframe, the size of a control region for the downlink subframe.

Systems and methods for selecting the size of a control region of a downlink subframe


A unique organic toothpaste characterized by the use of saponin as the cleansing/foaming agent. The saponin is a refined product derived from the bark of the Quillaja and/or Yucca tree and its content may form up to 10% by weight of the toothpaste. Other organic products for whitening teeth, soothing irritated gums or other tissues, and fighting microbes are also provided.

The vast majority of oral care products on the market today are synthetic or comprise a majority of synthetic ingredients. Some synthetic ingredients are carcinogenic when presented in high dosages or concentrations. Others induce allergic reactions in many people. In some instances, ingredients can substantially increase the occurrence of apthatos ulcerations. Accordingly, there is a trend toward natural, organic products not only in foods but also in oral care products such as mouthwash and toothpaste. The present invention relates to a new and unique organic toothpaste or dentifrice which performs as well or better than synthetic toothpastes but contains none of the risks inherent with artificial and synthetic oral care products. The product described contains significant levels of natural substances that will help to control the oral bacteria that are associated with many larger health issues (heart disease, stroke, abnormal pregnancy outcomes, etc.) The toothpaste according to the invention contains saponin which acts as a surfactant to produce adequate foaming for cleansing the teeth.
xe2x80x9cNaturalxe2x80x9d toothpastes are well known in the oral care industry. For example, toothpaste containing baking soda has been used for many years. A major drawback of the prior xe2x80x9cnaturalxe2x80x9d toothpastes is that they do not perform satisfactorily. That is, a high concentration of baking soda is required to provide adequate cleaning. However, such high concentrations are distasteful and overly abrasive, thus the baking soda toothpastes on the market have insufficient quantities of cleaning agent and high concentrations of flavoring to make them acceptable to consumers.
It is known to use saponins in personal care products such as cosmetics as shown by the Grollier et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,080 and scalp lotions as shown by the Cecic et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,714. In addition, it is known to use yucca extract as a deodorizing breath composition as disclosed in the Michel U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,559. However, it is not known in the relevant art to use saponins as the primary cleansing ingredient in toothpaste.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an organic toothpaste comprising a mixture of natural ingredients and 0.01-10% by weight of saponin as a surfactant foaming agent. The saponin is preferably derived from Quillaja or Yucca and is refined to a content of 50-100% from Quillaja or 30-100% from Yucca.
According to a further object of the invention, the toothpaste includes 30-60% by weight of vegetable glycerine as a moisturizer.
According to a more specific object of the invention, the natural ingredients include one or more of the following: calcium carbonate for a whitener/mineralizer, distilled water for a moisturizer, aloe vera for soothing irritated gums, silica for a whitener/mineralizer, baking soda for an acid neutralizer, Irish moss for a thickener and to soothe irritated gums, peppermint for flavor and breath freshener, Manuka oil for an anti-bacterial agent, grapefruit seed extract for an anti-microbial agent, and green papaya for a cleanser,