A blanking device for multi charged particle beams includes a plurality of individual blanking mechanisms configured to individually deflect a corresponding beam of multi charged particle beams so as to control ON/OFF of the corresponding beam, and a common blanking mechanism configured to include a plurality of electrode groups, each composed of facing electrodes, where an array pitch of a plurality of electrode groups is smaller than or equal to a pitch of the multi charged particle beams, and to collectively deflect the multi charged particle beams in order to control an exposure time.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a blanking device for multi charged particle beams, and a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus, and more specifically, to a blanking device mounted in a multi-beam writing apparatus, for example.
Description of Related Art
The lithography technique that advances miniaturization of semiconductor devices is extremely important as a unique process whereby patterns are formed in semiconductor manufacturing. In recent years, with high integration of LSI, the line width (critical dimension) required for semiconductor device circuits is decreasing year by year. The electron beam writing technique, which intrinsically has excellent resolution, is used for writing or "drawing" a mask pattern on a mask blank with electron beams.
As an example employing the electron beam writing technique, a writing apparatus using multiple beams (multi-beams) can be cited. Compared with the case of writing a pattern by using a single electron beam, since it is possible to emit multiple beams at a time in multi-beam writing, the throughput can be greatly increased. For example, in a writing apparatus employing a multi-beam system, multi-beams are formed by letting portions of an electron beam emitted from an electron gun pass through a corresponding hole of a plurality of holes in the mask, each of the beams is blanking-controlled, and each unblocked beam is diminished by an optical system to reduce a mask image and deflected by a deflector so as to irradiate a desired position on a target object or "sample".
In the multi-beam writing, when performing highly precise writing, the dose of an individual beam is individually controlled by an irradiation time in order to give a specified dose onto each position on a target object. For highly accurately controlling the dose of each beam, it is necessary to carry out blanking control at high speed to perform a beam ON/OFF control. Conventionally, in a writing apparatus of a multi-beam system, a blanking control circuit for each beam is placed on a blanking plate where each blanking electrode of multi-beams is arranged. Controlling is independently performed for each beam. For example, a trigger signal for causing a beam to be ON is sent to control circuits of all the beams. In responsive to the trigger signal, the control, circuit of each beam applies a beam-ON voltage to an electrode, and simultaneously, starts counting the irradiation time period by a counter. Then, when the irradiation time has been completed, a beam-OFF voltage is applied. In performing such a control, a ten-bit control signal has been used, for example. However, since the space for placing a circuit on a blanking plate and the amount of current to be used are restricted, there is no other alternative but to have an uncomplicated circuit for the amount of information of control signals. Therefore, it has been difficult to build in a blanking circuit that can perform an operation of high speed and high precision. Further, installing a blanking control circuit for each beam on a blanking plate restricts narrowing the pitch of multi-beams. By contrast, when placing a control circuit for each beam outside the blanking plate and connecting them by wiring in order to secure a space for installing the circuit, since the wiring becomes long, there is a problem that crosstalk increases and writing precision degrades.
In order to solve the above problem, there is proposed a mechanism where, in addition to individual blanking electrodes for respective beams, deflectors are provided outside the ends of the multi-beams, in the latter part of the optical path, in a manner such that the deflectors sandwich the entire multi-beams so as to control the exposure time by collectively deflecting the entire multi-beams at high speed by the deflectors (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. 2014-112639).

Blanking device for multi charged particle beams, and multi charged particle beam writing apparatus


A camera washing device has an air pump, a wash water tank storing wash water, an injection nozzle with an injection part, a junction joint having a high-pressure air passage and a wash water passage, and an electromagnetic valve. The air pump generates and supplies high-pressure air to the high-pressure air passage. When the control part instructs the electromagnetic valve to be switched to an open state, the wash water and the high-pressure air are mixed in the junction joint to generate water particles. The generated water particles are supplied to the injection nozzle. When the electromagnetic valve is switched to the open state after injecting the high-pressure air only to a lens of a rear camera, the injection part injects the water particles to the lens of the camera.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to camera washing devices capable of washing and cleaning a camera lens, for example, of an in-vehicle rear camera, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various types of camera washing devices. For example, a conventional patent document, Japanese patent laid open publication No. JP 2001-171491 discloses a conventional camera washing device which washes a front glass or lens of an in-vehicle camera mounted on a motor vehicle. The conventional camera washing device is equipped with a high pressure air generation part. The high pressure air generation part generates high-pressure air. The conventional camera washing device generates high-pressure wash water by using high-pressure air, and sprays the high-pressure wash water on the surface of the front glass or lens of the in-vehicle camera in order to wash and clean the surface of the front glass of the in-vehicle camera.
However, because the structure of the conventional camera washing device consumes a lot of wash water in order to spray wash water on the surface of the front glass of the in-vehicle camera, it is necessary to frequently supply wash water into a water tank. Because the conventional camera washing device has the structure to spray wash water onto the front glass of the in-vehicle camera for a long period of time, the driver of a motor vehicle cannot see the image detected by the in-vehicle camera until sprayed wash water is completely evaporated and dried.


The subject invention relates to segmented fluoropolymers of the A-B-A type where A is a crystallizable fluoropolymer segment, and B is a base-resistant elastomeric fluoropolymer segment, the segmented fluoropolymers being useful as thermoplastic fluoroelastomers which are highly resistant to attack by bases. The fluoroelastomers are useful, for example, in O-rings and shaft seals in internal combustion engines using aggressive oils and in oil well applications.

Fluoroelastomer copolymers based on vinylidene fluoride, for example copolymers with hexafluoropropylene and, optionally, tetrafluoroethylene, are well-known, commercially available materials which possess unusually high chemical, thermal, and oxidative stability. They are readily cured by the use of diamines or by polyhydroxy compounds in combination with phase transfer agents such as quaternary ammonium or phosphonium salts. These crosslinking processes are possible because of the inherent susceptibility of vinylidene fluoride-containing polymers to attack by base. However, this sensitivity to base attack necessarily limits the utility of such fluoroelastomers to applications not requiring high resistance to base. Likewise, peroxide-curable fluoroelastomers based on vinylidene fluoride that also contain a peroxide-reactive curesite monomer, such as are described by Apotheker and Krusic in U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,565, are similarly reactive to basic materials In practice there are many applications, for example, in o-rings and shaft seals of internal combustion engines using aggressive oils and in oil well applications, in which resistance to base is required.
For these uses, special-purpose, base-resistant, peroxide-curable fluoroelastomers have been developed that do not contain vinylidene fluoride at all, (or if present, only in small amounts) and are based instead on tetrafluoroethylene. Such fluoroelastomers require either incorporation of special curesite monomers or treatment prior to peroxide cure to create radical-reactive sites. Thus copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene and propylene are known (U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,635) but require heat treatment (U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,982) for creation of unsaturation to facilitate peroxide cure. Random copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene, ethylene, perfluoroalkyl perfluorovinyl ethers and a curesite-monomer are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,045. U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,259 and Japanese Examined Patent Kokoku 19325/1985 describe copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene and propylene that also contain vinylidene fluoride comonomer in low concentrations (5-30 mole percent), such that reactivity to base is not as severe as in the more highly fluorinated polymers described above.
Tatemoto, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,678 describe the preparation of segmented thermoplastic fluoroelastomers, terminated by iodo-groups, that are composed of polymer or copolymer sequences, connected chemically, in the order of (1) a high-melting, crystallizable, fluorine-containing sequence, (2) a fluorine-containing elastomeric copolymer sequence based on vinylidene fluoride and at least one other fluorine containing monomer, and (3) a crystallizable, fluorine-containing sequence, wherein the iodo groups are liberated during emulsion polymerization carried out in the presence of chain transfer agents having the formula RI.sub.n where R is a fluorocarbon or chlorofluorocarbon residue having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and n is 1 or 2. These materials may be formed into useful molded objects by typical thermoplastic processing procedures, such as extrusion and injection molding, and do not require chemical crosslinking steps, as do thermoset fluoroelastomers. However, because the elastomeric sequence of the segmented thermoplastic elastomer is based on vinylidene fluoride, these polymers suffer the same sensitivity to attack by strong base as do thermoset fluoroelastomers based on vinylidene fluoride.

Fluorinated thermoplastic elastomers with improved base stability


To provide a simple process for economically preparing a dihydropyrane compound at a high productivity and a high reaction yield.. To use a compound selected from the group consisting of a base and a compound (VIII) having a weaker coordination power to the Lewis acid than the aldehyde compound and having an activity to dissolve the Lewis acid, coordinated by the compound (VIII), in a solvent as a co-catalyst in reacting aldehyde with a diene compound in the presence of a Lewis acid to prepare a 5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrane compound represented by formula (III): ##STR1## in which R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, aryl group which may be substituted with alkyl group, having 6 to 12 total carbon atoms; R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms.

A dihydropyrane compound is an important industrial raw material for perfumes. For example, .alpha.-phenyl-dihydropyrane can be converted to 5-phenylpentanol which is particularly important as perfume by reductive ring opening of the pyrane ring (Swiss Patent 655932). Further, dihydropyrane compounds such as 6-phenyl -4-methyl-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrane, 6-phenyl-2,4-dimethyl-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrane and 6-butyl-2,4-dimethyl-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrane are useful themselves (U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,263 and Arm. Khm. Zh. (1976), 29 (3), p. 276 to 277).
As described in the literatures described above, these dihydropyrane compounds can be obtained in the form of a mixture of the double bond isomers by reacting aldehyde compounds such as benzaldehyde and valeraldehyde (pentanal) with 3-butene-1-ol compounds such as isoprenol in the presence of a catalytic amount of an acid. However, 3-butene-1-ol compounds are expensive, and therefore a method for preparing these dihydropyrane compounds from readily available and inexpensive raw materials has been desired.
A method by a hetero Diels-Alder reaction of aldehyde compounds with conjugated diene compounds is known as such a method. In this case, conjugated diene compounds such as isoprene and 2-methylpentadiene are readily available. In general, however, in this kind of the hetero Diels-Alder reaction, the products have been able to obtain at practical reaction yield only when high reactive aldehyde compounds such as glyoxylic ester and trichloroacetaldehyde are used (Comprehensive Organic Synthesis, Vol. 5, p. 431 Pergamon Press 1991).
A reaction of aldehyde compounds with diene compounds using a Lewis acid as a catalyst is available as an improving method thereof. For example, a method in which aluminum chloride or tin tetrachloride is used as a Lewis acid catalyst and an aliphatic or aromatic nitro compound is further used as a co-catalyst is known (JP-A 1-238578). In this method, however, wastes are produced in large quantities after the reaction, and the reaction yield is as low as about 50%. Accordingly, this method has not yet been sufficiently satisfactory in the viewpoint of reaction yield and productivity. In recent year, known as well is a method in which rare earth metal perfluoroalkanesulfonate such as scandium perfluorate as a catalyst is used to carry out the hetero Diels-Alder reaction (New Journal of Chemistry, 1995, vol. 19, 707). However, this method uses an expensive catalyst and therefore is uneconomical and industrially unsuitable.
Tetrahedron Letters vol. 38, No. 14, pages 2569-2572, published on, Apr. 7th, 1997, discloses reaction of an aromatic aldehyde with an excess amount of a diene with a catalsyt of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a simple process for preparing a dihydropyrane compound by the hetero Diels-Alder reaction of an aldehyde compound with a diene compound, in view of a high productivity, a high reaction yield and an economic save.

Process for preparing dihydropyrane compound


An electrically-variable transmission includes an input shaft, an output shaft, two electric motor/generators, and four nodes between which three parallel power paths are defined. Two of the power paths are mechanical and one of the power paths is electrical. The electric motor generators provide continuously variable speed ratios; manipulation of the power paths at the nodes provides a plurality of continuously variable operating modes for increased efficiency and smaller motor size. The transmission also provides an equal forward/reverse system with an input split.

An electrically-variable transmission (EVT) splits mechanical power between an input shaft and an output shaft into a mechanical power path and an electrical power path by means of differential gearing. The mechanical power path may include clutches and additional gears. The electrical power path may employ two electrical power units, each of which may operate as a motor or as a generator. With an electric storage battery, the EVT can be incorporated into a propulsion system for a hybrid electric vehicle.
The hybrid vehicle or hybrid propulsion system uses an electrical power source, such as batteries, as well as an engine power source. The batteries are connected with the electrical drive units through an electronic control unit (ECU), which distributes the electrical power as required. The ECU also has connections with the engine and vehicle to determine operating characteristics, or operating demand, so that the electrical power units are operated properly as either a motor or a generator. When operating as a generator, the electrical power unit accepts power from either the vehicle or the engine and stores power in the battery, or provides that power to operate another electrical device or another electrical power unit on the vehicle or on the transmission.
There have been a number of electrically-variable transmissions proposed for vehicle operation. Examples of proposed electrically-variable transmissions are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,589 issued to Schmidt on Sep. 24, 1996, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention; U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,005 issued to Schmidt et al. on Jul. 8, 2000, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,757 issued to Schmidt on Aug. 3, 1999, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The above-identified U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,757 defines the structure and operation of a variable two-mode, input-split, electro-mechanical transmission for a parallel hybrid electric propulsion system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,589 discloses a two-mode, compound-split, electro-mechanical vehicular transmission, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,595 issued to Schmidt et al. on Sep. 24, 1996, discloses a one-mode, input-split transmission. These and other patents describe various electrically-variable type transmissions.
One of the benefits of having an electrically-variable transmission incorporating more than one mode of operation is that each mode of operation will generally incorporate at least one mechanical point where one of the electrical power units is stationary, thereby reducing the electrical power input and providing a pure mechanical power flow path which is, of course, more efficient than a pure electrical power flow path.
Other hybrid type power transmissions are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,058 issued to Schmidt on Nov. 5, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,973 issued to Schmidt on Nov. 26, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,173 issued to Sherman on Sep. 24, 1996; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,175 issued to Sherman on Sep. 24, 1996, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

Dual path electrically-variable transmission


A braking band for a disk-brake disk which is capable of exceptionally quiet braking comprises at least two plates connected to one another by connecting elements, in which the space between the plates forms an internal air-duct for the cooling of the braking band. At least one of the plates has, in one of its surfaces defining the air-ducts, at least one groove which extends along at least a portion of an orbit around the axis of symmetry of the disk and the cross-section of which becomes wider towards the air-duct.

The subject of the present invention is a braking band for a self-ventilated disk-brake disk.
A known type of disk-brake disk with a self-ventilated braking band comprises basically a support bell for connection, for example, to a vehicle wheel hub. The braking band, which cooperates with the calipers in order to exert the braking force on the vehicle, is connected to the bell by means of a connector. The braking band typically comprises at least two parallel plates separated by connecting elements which fix them together. The space between the plates forms an air duct. By virtue of the circulation of air between the plates, the disk is cooled, both on the outer sides of the braking band, as for a solid disk, and also on the inner sides of the braking band.
As is known, during the braking operation, the disks may be subject to vibrations which translate into annoying squeals. A known approach for preventing this noise due to the vibrations of the brake disk consists in the formation of grooves which are produced in the braking surfaces of the braking band by turning and extend throughout the thickness of the plates. If the stiffness of the brake disk is thus changed locally, its dynamic characteristics are changed so as to move the natural frequencies of the brake disk away from the frequencies which are excited during braking.
However, these grooves in the braking surfaces of the braking band lead to technological and structural disadvantages which relate to the acoustic behaviour, to the production, and also to the mechanical behaviour of the disk, as well as to the type of pad required by a partially interrupted braking surface.
In fact, the production of a surface with a plurality of grooves produced by turning requires considerable expenditure in terms of time and cost.
When the aforementioned grooves which extend as far as the space between the two plates are produced by machining, starting from the outer surface, sharp edges are formed in the connecting elements between the plates and may introduce dangerous notching effects which in turn constitute stress raisers. Moreover, the connecting elements are weakened because of the inevitable removal of material from their ends when, during the machining of the through-grooves, starting from the outside and continuing towards the space between the plates, breakthrough takes place into the space.


Non-aggregating resorbable calcium phosphosilicate nanoparticles (CPNPs) are bioconjugated to targeting molecules that are specific for particular cells. The CPNPs are stable particles at normal physiological pH. Chemotherapy and imaging agents may be integrally formed with the CPNPs so that they are compartmentalized within the CPNPs. In this manner, the agents are protected from interaction with the environment at normal physiological pH. However, once the CPNPs have been taken up, at intracellular pH, the CPNPs dissolve releasing the agent. Thus, chemotherapeutic or imaging agents are delivered to specific cells and permit the treatment and/or imaging of those cells. Use of the bioconjugated CPNPs both limits the amount of systemic exposure to the agent and delivers a higher concentration of the agent to the cell. The methods and principals of bioconjugating CPNPs are taught by examples of bioconjugation of targeting molecules for breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and leukemia.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the formation and use of bioresorbable calcium phosphosilicate nanoparticles bioconjugated to molecules that selectively target cells in vitro and in vivo.
2. Description of the Art
The early diagnosis of cancer is the critical element in successful treatment and long term favorable patient prognosis. The high mortality rate, in particular, for pancreatic cancer is primarily attributed to the tendency for late diagnoses as symptoms typically occur after the disease has metastasized as well as the lack of effective systemic therapies. For breast cancer, late diagnosis is often associated with the lack of timely sensitive imaging modalities. The promise of nanotechnology is presently limited by inability to simultaneously seek, treat, and image cancerous lesions.
Despite many new advances in the arsenal of antineoplastic agents, drug resistant, highly metastatic cancers continue to ravage patients21. As examples, breast cancer is still the second leading cause of death in American women with an estimated 192,370 cases diagnosed in 2009. In this year alone, about 40,610 women will die from breast cancer in the United States. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States. Approximately 42,470 Americans were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the past year, and nearly 100% will succumb to this disease21. It is clear that new modalities must be developed that have the capabilities to both improve diagnosis and treatment of cancers. The term "theranostic" has been coined to describe modalities that can simultaneously diagnose and treat.
As described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/835,520 and 11/142,913, calcium phosphosilicate nanoparticles (CPNPs) have been engineered to be a resorbable non-toxic vehicle for the delivery of a diversity of therapeutic and imaging agents in biological systems1-4. Previous studies have shown that encapsulation within CPNPs improved the lifetime and quantum properties of fluorescent dyes1, 4. Initial in vivo imaging trials demonstrated that CPNPs, functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) moieties, accumulated within solid tumors via an enhanced permeation retention (EPR) effect2. While EPR serves as an effective passive targeting strategy, particular interest lies in the ability to actively target cancerous cells to deliver antineoplastic agents, thereby decreasing effective dosage and limiting off-target toxicity.
CPNPs are nontoxic, colloidally stable, resorbable, non-aggregated nanoscale vehicles that deliver chemotherapeutics, gene therapy, and imaging agents. Two exciting aspects of CPNPs as drug delivery vehicles include enterohepatic biliary excretion that minimizes hepatic toxicity and pH-triggered release of active agents. At pH 7.4, the CPNPs are sparingly soluble, but the CPNPs dissolve in the late stage endolysosomes at pH 4 to 51,4. The pH response of CPNPs has two distinct advantages. First, it permits a decrease in the effective dose of chemotherapeutic drugs, which are often toxic, required for optimal therapeutic benefit by increasing the efficiency of drug delivery into cancer cells3. Second, sequestering the drug in the CPNPs decreases the effective concentration of free drug present in the extracellular fluid where the pH is maintained at approximately 7.4 by physiological buffers. This compartmentalization feature for drug delivery is a distinct advantage since acute systemic toxicity to normal cells is limited. Moreover, off site cytotoxicity may be further ameliorated with target and tissue-specific CPNPs.
Scientific investigations have identified cancer cell specific markers with unique phenotypes that can be exploited to target tumors as will be described in this patent document. Of particular interest is the prevalence of transferrin receptors (CD71) on cancerous cells, including breast cancer5-9. The transferrin receptor is responsible for transporting iron, via interaction with transferrin, into cells as demanded by metabolic need5, 6 Accordingly, transferrin receptors are found predominately on proliferating cells with elevated metabolic levels, including many cancerous cells, as well as brain capillary endothelial cells, and hematopoietic cells10, 11. In a manner similar to CD71, gastrin receptors have a predominate prevalence within certain tissues, specifically the gastrointestinal and central nervous systems12-14. The hormone gastrin binds to a family of G-protein-coupled receptors, also known as the cholecystokinin-2 (CCK2 or CCK-B) receptor family14, 15, and is typically known as a key mediator of stomach acidity16 and growth of the gastrointestinal tract17. Intriguingly, CCK2 receptor expression is often increased in many cases of gastrointestinal cancer14, 18 including pancreatic cancer19 and, in particular, an increase in expression of a specific splice variant (CCK2i4sv or CCK-C) of the receptor20.
The inventive bioconjugated particles and bioconjugation approaches taught in this patent document may also be used with non-solid tumors. Leukemia is one of the most common and aggressive adult cancers as well as the most prevalent childhood cancer. Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) have been hypothesized to be responsible for cancer development, relapse, and resistance to treatment, and new therapeutics targeting these cellular populations are urgently needed. Recently, studies have indicated that LSCs reside within a lineage −Sca-1+ CD117 cellular population in human patients and animal models of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and therefore present a target for intervention.
Accordingly, as outlined above, there is a significant medical need in the field of disease treatment for nanoparticle compositions capable of targeted systemic delivery of imaging and/or therapeutic agents as well as imaging and treatment methods employing such nanoparticles.

Bioconjugation of calcium phosphosilicate nanoparticles for selective targeting of cells in vivo


A concentration controlling apparatus is provided for controlling the toner concentration of a developer contained in a developer unit. The developer contains a plurality of components including toner to be transferred to a photosensitive body for forming an electrostatic latent image. The concentration controlling apparatus includes a toner concentration detector for detecting the toner concentration of the developer, a supply determiner for determining a need for toner supply in response to detection output from the toner concentration detector, and a toner supplier for supplying a dose of the toner to the developer unit in accordance with the determination by the supply determiner. The supply determiner determines the need for toner supply at a higher toner concentration in a print-off state than in a print-on state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner concentration controlling apparatus for controlling the toner concentration of a two-component developer for use in an electrophotographic printer for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a demand increases for a high-speed computer system operating with high-reliability, a printer capable of printing at a high speed while also providing good printing results is also increasingly demanded. Such a high-speed printer generally uses a developer consisting of a plurality of components including toner. For example, use may be made of a two-component developer consisting of toner and carrier (magnetic particles).
In a printer using such a two-component developer, the toner concentration of the developer stored in a developer unit decreases as the printing operation proceeds, so that an additional dose of the toner need be supplemented to the developer unit. The toner supply may be performed under the control of a toner concentration controlling apparatus.
A toner concentration controlling apparatus typically incorporates a sensor for detecting the toner concentration of a developer. When the sensor outputs a detection voltage which exceeds a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the toner concentration has dropped to a level which requires additional toner supply. Thus, an additional amount of the toner is supplied to the developer unit.
With such a toner concentration controlling apparatus, the toner is supplied regardless of whether the printer is in a print-on state or in a print-off state in performing intermittent printing. However, immediately after the toner is supplied to the developer unit, the additional dose of the toner is not sufficiently mixed with the developer remaining in the developer unit, so that an excessive amount of the toner may adhere onto a recording paper. Here, by the term xe2x80x9cintermittent printingxe2x80x9d is meant any mode of printing (other than a continuous job of printing a large number of pages) where a certain pause exists between jobs of printing.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a toner concentration controlling apparatus which is capable of reducing the likelihood that a dose of the toner is supplied in a print-on state in performing intermittent printing.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a concentration controlling apparatus for controlling toner concentration of a developer contained in a developer unit, the developer comprising a plurality of components including toner to be transferred to a photosensitive body for forming an electrostatic latent image. The concentration controlling apparatus comprises a toner concentration detector for detecting the toner concentration of the developer, a supply determiner for determining a need for toner supply in response to detection output from the toner concentration detector, and a toner supplier for supplying a dose of the toner to the developer unit in accordance with the determination by the supply determiner. The supply determiner determines the need for toner supply at a higher toner concentration in a print-off state than in a print-on state.
In a first embodiment, the supply determiner determines the need for toner supply by comparing the detection output with different threshold values in the print-on state and in the print-off state, respectively. Preferably, the supply determiner compares the detection output with a higher threshold value in the print-on state while comparing the detection output with a lower threshold value in the print-off state.
In a second embodiment, the supply determiner adjusts the detection output of the toner concentration detector produced in either one of the print-on state and the print-off state, and the supply determiner determines the need for toner supply by comparing the adjusted detection output with a common threshold value in said one of the print-on state and the print-off state while comparing the non-adjusted detection output with the common threshold value in the other of the print-on state and the print-off state. Preferably, the supply determiner multiplies the detection output of the toner concentration detector by a constant of greater than one only in the print-off state, and the supply determiner compares the multiplied detection output with the common threshold value in the print-off state while comparing the non-multiplied detection output with the common threshold value in the print-on state.
In a third embodiment, the toner concentration detector is supplied with a voltage to produce a detection output which varies in accordance with the voltage applied to the toner concentration detector even if the toner concentration does not change, and the controller further comprises a voltage controller for applying different voltages to the toner concentrating detector in the print-on state and in the print-off state, respectively. Preferably, the toner concentration detector is supplied with a higher voltage in the print-off state than in the print-on state.
In a fourth embodiment, the toner concentration controlling apparatus also comprises an agitator provided in the developer unit for agitating the developer, wherein the detection output of the toner concentration detector varies in accordance with the agitating speed of the agitating device. The apparatus further comprises an agitating speed controller for providing different agitating speeds of the agitator in the print-on state and in the print-off state, respectively.
In the fourth embodiment, the agitating speed controller preferably causes the agitator to agitate at a lower speed in the print-off state than in the print-on state. In this case, the toner concentration controlling apparatus may further comprise a development bias controller for providing a higher development bias in the print-off state than in the print-on state.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments given with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Toner concentration controlling apparatus


An initiation of a network device on a host system may be detected and an IP address may be assigned to the network device. Furthermore, a network gateway may be associated with the IP address. In some embodiments, a network may be assigned to the network device. The network may be configured to route outgoing data from the network through the network gateway as opposed to a default network gateway.

A gateway may be a node (e.g., a router) on a network that serves as an access point between the network and another network. For example, a gateway may be a node on a network that is as an entry point and an exit point for the network. Data may enter the network through the gateway and return data may exit the network through the gateway.

Reactive source routing associated with a network


Encoding parameters of picture and higher layers of importance to a number of applications, and encoding parameters of slice and lower layers of no importance to all applications are converted into auxiliary packets inserted respectively into a V-blanking area and an H-blanking area of a video-data signal output by a history-information-multiplexing apparatus employed in a video-decoding system. On the other hand, a video-encoding system extracts back the auxiliary packets superposed on the V-blanking area and the H-blanking area from an input base-band video signal. As a result, a technique of superposing information on data can be changed in accordance with the importance of the information and required information can be fetched with ease.

The present invention relates to an information-processing apparatus, an information-processing method and a recording medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information-processing apparatus, an information-processing method and a recording medium of a transcoding system that allow information to be transmitted in such a way that necessary information can be extracted from the transmitted information with ease in dependence on the degree of information importance, and allow information to be read out from the information-recording medium wherein the picture quality does not deteriorate even if decoding and encoding processes are carried out repeatedly to modify the structure of an encoded bit stream completing an encoding process based on an MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) standard.
In recent years, in a broadcasting station for producing and broadcasting television programs, an MPEG technology is generally adopted to carry out processing to compress and/or encode video data. In particular, the MPEG technology is becoming a de-facto standard for recording video data into a random-access recording medium material or a tape and transmitting video data through a cable or by way of a satellite.
The following description briefly explains typical processing carried out at a broadcasting station up to transmission of a video program produced at the broadcasting station to homes. First of all, an encoder employed in a cam-coder encodes source video data and records the encoded data onto a magnetic tape of a VTR (Video Tape Recorder) A cam-coder is an apparatus comprising a video camera and the VTR, which are integrated to form a single body. At that time, the encoder employed in the cam-coder encodes the source video data into codes with a recording format suitable for the magnetic tape of the VTR. For example, in a GOP (Group of Pictures) structure of an MPEG bit stream recorded onto the magnetic tape, 1 GOP consists of 2 picture frames. Thus, an MPEG bit stream is a sequence of picture frames such as I, B, I, B, I, B and so on where notations I and B represent picture frames with different types. An MPEG bit stream is recorded onto a magnetic tape at a bit rate of 18 Mbps.
Then, edit processing is carried out at a main broadcasting station to edit the video bit stream recorded on the magnetic tape. In order to carry out the edit processing, the GOP structure of the video bit stream recorded on the magnetic tape is converted into a GOP structure suitable for the edit processing. In a GOP structure suitable for the edit processing, 1 GOP comprises 1 frame and all pictures are I pictures. This is because, in order to carry out the edit processing in frame units, the I picture is most suitable since the I picture has no correlation with other pictures. In an actual edit operation, the video bit stream recorded on the magnetic tape is first decoded, being restored to base-band video data. Then, the base-band video signal is re-encoded so as to convert each picture into an I picture. By carrying out decoding and re-encoding processes in this way, it is possible to generate a bit stream having a GOP structure suitable for the edit processing.
Next, in order to transmit an edited video program obtained as a result of the editing described above from the main broadcasting station to a local broadcasting station, the GOP structure and the bit rate of the bit stream of the edited video program are converted into a GOP structure and a bit rate that are suitable for transmission processing. A GOP structure suitable for transmission between stations is a GOP structure in which 1 GOP consists of 15 picture frames such as I, B, B, P, B, B, P and so on where notation P represents a picture frame of a certain type different from the picture frames I and B. On the other hand, a desirable value of the bit rate suitable for transmission between stations is at least 50 Mbps. This is because a dedicated transmission line having a high transmission capacity is generally used for transmission between stations. To put it concretely, the bit stream of the video program obtained as a result of the edit processing is first decoded, being restored to base-band video data. Then, the base-band video data is re-encoded to convert the GOP structure and the bit rate of the base-band video data into a GOP structure and a bit rate that are suitable for the transmission processing.
At a local broadcasting station, edit processing is carried out to insert commercials unique to the geographical area of the local broadcasting station into the video program received from the main broadcasting station. That is to say, much like the edit processing described above, the video bit stream received from the main broadcasting station is first decoded, being restored to base-band video data. Then, the base-band video signal is re-encoded so as to convert each picture into an I picture. By carrying out decoding and encoding processes in this way, it is possible to generate a bit stream having a GOP structure suitable for the edit processing.
Next, in order to transmit an edited video program obtained as a result of the editing described above from the local broadcasting station to homes, the GOP structure and the bit rate of the bit stream of the edited video program are converted into a GOP structure and a bit rate that are suitable for transmission processing. A GOP structure suitable for transmission from a local broadcasting station to homes is a GOP structure in which 1 GOP consists of 15 picture frames such as I, B, B, P, B, B, P and so on. On the other hand, a desirable value of the bit rate suitable for transmission from a local broadcasting station to homes is about 5 Mbps. To put it concretely, the bit stream of the video program obtained as a result of the edit processing is first decoded, being restored to base-band video data. Then, the base-band video data is re-encoded to convert the GOP structure and the bit rate of the base-band video data into a GOP structure and a bit rate that are suitable for the transmission processing.
As is obvious from the above description, during transmission of a video program from the main broadcasting station to homes, decoding and encoding processes are carried out repeatedly a plurality of times. In actuality, processing carried out at a broadcasting station includes various kinds of necessary signal processing other than the signal processing described above and, for each signal processing, decoding and encoding processes must be performed.
Unfortunately, however, encoding and decoding processes based on the MPEG standard are not 100% reversible processes as is generally known. That is to say, video data obtained as a result of a decoding process is not 100% the same as base-band video data prior to an encoding process. To be more specific, the picture quality deteriorates due to the encoding and decoding processes. To put it in detail, when the encoding and decoding processes are carried out repeatedly as described above, there is raised a problem that the picture quality inevitably deteriorates each time a process is performed. In other words, each time the decoding and/or encoding processes are repeated, the picture quality deteriorates cumulatively.
In order to solve this problem, there has been proposed a technique for preventing the picture quality from deteriorating by transmission of an encoding history of transmitted video data along with the video data and execution of encoding and decoding processes by using the encoding history.
In the execution of the decoding and encoding processes, however, a transcoding system may not require all parameters in some cases in dependence on the application to process pictures. Since an area in which required data is located is not known, nevertheless, it is necessary to design such hardware that all data is accessible to the transcoding system. For this reason, the hardware becomes unavoidably complicated and, as a result, the information-processing apparatus inevitably becomes large in scale. In addition, if a packet is lost due to an effect of a noise, restoration of data including and following the lost packet becomes difficult so that it is feared that much data is unavoidably lost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method and recording medium


A high-strength steel sheet comprises, by weight, not less than 0.25% and not more than 0.5% of C, not less than 4% and not more than 14% of Mn, not less than 6.5% and not more than 9.5% of Cr, and not less than 0.3% and not more than 3% of Si. The high-strength steel sheet satisfies formulas 1 and 2, formula (1) being 12≦2.0Si+5.5Al+Cr+1.5Mo≦25 and formula (2) being 13≦30C+0.5Mn+0.3Cu+Ni+25N≦17, and mainly consists of austenite, and the high-strength steel sheet has yield strength of not less than 1000 MPa and total elongation of not less than 20%. In formulas 1 and 2, each element in the above formulas indicates the content, in weight %, of the element.

Recently, safety in collisions has become an important issue regarding automobiles, and technology has been developed for the body of the automobile so as to ensure that a space for occupants will remain to ensure the survival and protection of the occupants in the impacts in automobile collisions. In actual collisions of automobiles, collisions may occur from the front, the sides, the rear, etc. Specifically, the collisions from the sides are important from the standpoint of the protection of the occupants. This is because a structural part of an automobile body, in this case, a center pillar is close to the car occupants.
Accordingly, a steel sheet in which strength, specifically, yield point thereof, is increased is used for structural parts of an automobile body, such as a center pillar, which may be important when a side collision occurs. The yield point of a material is an important characteristics of parts that may deform in side collisions because the parts should be prevented from deforming as much as possible when a collision occurs.
In general, when a steel sheet is strengthened, ductility thereof is decreased, and press formability is thereby decreased. Accordingly, the cross sectional shape of a part should be simple, and a steel sheet having relatively low strength should be used instead of the above steel sheet having very low press formability.
Currently, various steel sheets prescribed in JFSA2001 "Cold rolled steel sheets and strip for automobile use", standardized by The Japan Iron and Steel Federation, are widely used for automobile bodies. Specifically, steel sheets having a grade of tensile strength of 590 MPa or 780 MPa are widely used for parts, such as a center pillar, which may receive the impact in side collisions. Therefore, if a steel sheet having higher strength can be used, the deformation of the automobile body that may occur in a collision is reduced. In addition, the steel sheet can be reduced in weight by decreasing sheet thickness thereof. However, this method is not easily performed. A steel sheet having a grade of tensile strength of 780 MPa as described above, that is, a steel sheet having a sheet thickness of 1 mm and prescribed by JSC780Y in JFSA2001, the total elongation is 14 to 27%, and the average value of the total elongation is approximately 21%. Therefore, if a steel sheet does not have an elongation of approximately 20% or more, the steel sheet cannot be substituted for a part that is made of a material prescribed by JSC780Y in the present circumstances.
A steel prescribed by JSC1180Y is a type of a steel having the highest strength of steel prescribed by JFSA2001. In a case of the steel prescribed by JSC1180Y and having a sheet thickness of 1 mm, the yield point is 825 to 1215 MPa but the total elongation is only 6 to 17%. In practice, the inventors performed tensile tests by using a test specimen of type of No. 5 that was prescribed by JIS Z 2201 and was made of a steel with grade of JSC1180Y, and the total elongation was approximately 8%. The steel having total elongation of such a degree cannot be used as a substitute steel sheet for a steel with grade of JSC780Y.
In the present techniques for steel sheet for automobiles, a steel having both high strength and high ductility is not easily produced because metal structure is strengthened by quenching so as to improve the strength of a steel. Since it is difficult to improve the yield point to be not less than 1000 MPa when a steel has a ferrite, a steel sheet may be quenched so as to have a structure mainly consisting of martensite. In this case, elongation of the steel sheet is deteriorated because the martensite has high strength but has low ductility.
A steel sheet having both high strength and high formability has been required, but such a steel may not be formed as long as a steel is mainly consisting of ferrite as described above. A typical austenite stainless steel consisting of austenite has relatively high strength and has a superior elongation compared to a steel consisting of ferrite. In this case, austenite stainless steel requires a large quantity of Ni and Cr, and alloy cost is thereby increased. Recently, a technique for providing both high strength and high ductility to a steel has been the subject of research. In this technique, in order to reduce the alloy cost, a steel having austenite is formed by reducing Ni and adding a large amount of Mn instead.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2002-507251 (WO99/001585) discloses a steel sheet having characteristics of TWIP (twining-induced plasticity) and TRIP (transformation-induced plasticity). This steel sheet is made of austenite steel including approximately 25% of Mn by weight and not more than 12% of the total of Si and Al by weight. This steel sheet has a yield point of not less than 400 MPa, a tensile strength of 1100 MPa, a uniform elongation of 70%, and a maximum elongation of 90%. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2005-504175 (WO03/029504) discloses a duplex steel or a triplex steel including 0.5 to 2% of C by weight, 18 to 35% of Mn by weight, and more than 12% of the total of Al and Si. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2006-509912 discloses a production method for a steel, in which a steel including 7 to 30% of Mn and 3.5 to 12% of the total of Al and Si is used, and yield strength of the steel is improved by forming at 2 to 25% at room temperature.
Every raw material of a steel sheet described in the above conventional techniques has austenite that is produced by adding a large amount of Mn thereto, and ductility is thereby improved. However, the above techniques have the following problems.
The steel sheet disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2002-507251 (WO99/001585) has high elongation and has a yield point of not less than 400 MPa. Although parts for receiving an impact of side collisions, such as a center pillar as described above, require a high yield point, the yield point of this steel sheet is insufficient. This steel sheet has a tensile strength of 1100 MPa, but this degree of tensile strength is insufficient because a much higher tensile strength is required so as to ensure a space for occupants in an automobile body.
In the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2005-504175 (WO03/029504), a steel does not have a metal structure of a single phase of austenite, but has a mixed structure of ferrite and austenite, or a mixed structure of ferrite, austenite, and martensite. This steel sheet has a characteristic in which flow stress is more than 400 MPa, and a cold strip of the steel has strength of 900 MPa and maximum elongation of 70%. The strength of this steel sheet is insufficient for the required strength, which is the same as the case of the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2002-507251 (WO99/001585).
The technique disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2006-509912 is a production method for improving yield strength and tensile strength by forming an austenite steel sheet including a large amount of Mn at room temperature. As a practical example, Table 1 in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2006-509912 shows material characteristics of a steel that includes 25.9% of Mn and was cold rolled at different rolling reductions. When the rolling reduction was 50%, flow stress at 0.2% was increased to 1051 MPa, but elongation was substantially decreased to approximately 5%, and this steel is therefore inappropriate for press forming. In the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2006-509912, the rolling reduction should be decreased so as to ensure the elongation of not less than 20%, and the flow stress at 0.2% is thereby less than 1000 MPa.

High-strength steel sheet and the method for production therefor


The present disclosure relates trailer hitch devices for towing a trailer behind a vehicle. The present disclosure provides a hitch and associated structures which provide an anti-sway function. More specifically, the present disclosure provides an anti-sway trailer hitch including an anti-sway device for the hitch, wherein the anti-sway device includes: a sway bar attachment member having a cammed surface; and a sway controller having a bias mechanism adapted to bias a travel axis of the trailer toward a travel axis of the towing vehicle through an interaction between the cammed surface of the sway bar attachment member and the bias mechanism.

Because a typical trailer hitch couples a trailer to a towing vehicle at a spot behind the rear axle of the towing vehicle, any substantial (or even slight) lateral movement of the forward end of the towed trailer can result in simultaneous lateral shifting of the forward end of the towing vehicle. Lateral movement in the trailer that is not induced by the operator of the towing vehicle can be exceedingly dangerous. Such lateral movement might be caused by, for example, the impact of a strong crosswind on a trailer having a large side cross-sectional area. Similar dangerous movements may be caused by a slipstream impact from a large passing vehicle. These effects can be exacerbated if the trailer is not properly loaded, such as when the center of gravity of a trailer load is disposed forward of the wheels of the trailer and a substantial proportion of its mass rests on the hitch.
Trailer hitches having no anti-sway function provide no resistance to lateral loads induced by trailer movement. Trailer hitches having an anti-sway function provide some resistance to lateral loads, but known hitches do not have the capability to actively correct sway. Known devices also are not capable of automatically releasing anti-sway corrective forces when they are no longer needed, such as when a user maneuvers a towing vehicle and a trailer in tight spaces and lateral movements of the trailer are desired.


A semiconductor memory having a plurality of memory cells arranged in rows and columns includes a bank of sense amplifiers disposed in a first generally rectangular region having a length parallel to said rows, with each sense amplifier in the bank disposed in a sense amplifier region between a pair of complementary bit lines of an associated column. An MDQ switch being located in a sense amplifier region occupying a corresponding row-wise space to the at least one driver to provide space efficient placement thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor memories such as large capacity dynamic random access memories (DRAMs). In particular, the invention relates to a semiconductor memory having a space-efficient layout by placing (master data line) MDQ switches into sense amplifier regions.
2. Description of Related Art
Large capacity memories typically contain sense amplifier banks between memory cell arrays. The sense amplifier banks occupy space on the surface of the chips. With demand for higher capacity memory chips, available surface area has become increasingly important to conserve and use as efficiently as possible. Memory chips are arranged in a plurality of rows and columns. A reduction in the size of a column, for example, could have a large impact on the size of the chip.
Referring to FIG. 1, a typical memory array 10 is shown. A sense amplifier bank 12 contains a plurality of sense amplifiers 14 for a column 16 of memory cells 18. Each column 16 of memory cells 18 includes a pair of complementary bit lines 20. During operation, a sense amplifier 14 "senses" a differential voltage between pair of complementary bit lines 20. During sensing the differential voltage, sense amplifier 14 amplifies the differential voltage to a bit line high voltage on one bit line of the pair and the other bit line is grounded. Either line can be driven high (bit line high) or low (ground) as required. This allows the memory cells in that column to store either a high or low bit as needed. A region 22 is shown containing three sense amplifiers 14 and a portion of a stitch-region 23, where no memory cells are located. Further in a segmented word line architecture, a local word line driver may be located in a corresponding free region.
Referring to FIG. 2, sense amplifier 14 usually contains large transistors used for driving the two separated halves of sense amplifier 14. The two halves of sense amplifier 14 include a P-amplifier 24 and an N-amplifier 26. Stitch-region 23 generally runs adjacent to columns 16, and stitch-region 23 has the same basic orientation as columns 16. Stitch-region 23 is an intermittent space, free of bit lines 20, hence creating space in which it is convenient to place necessary components. Regions for a multiplexing circuit containing isolation transistors are located in MUX regions 28 and 30. A bit line equalizer circuit containing equalization transistors are located in EQ regions 32 and 34. EQ regions 32 and 34 can be shared if one EQ is located between MUX regions 28 and 30. Both the MUX and EQ regions are allocated towards the ends of the sense amplifier bank 12 (FIG. 1).
P-amplifier 24 is located in the P-amplifier region 36 and N-amplifier 26 is located in the N-amplifier region 38. The transistors located in the stitch-region 23 include a PFET transistor (PFET) driver and an NFET transistor (NFET) driver 42. As mentioned, sense amplifier 14 includes an N-amplifier 38 and a P-amplifier 36. N-amplifier 38 is controlled by signal NFET driven by an NFET driver 42, and P-type amplifier 40 is controlled by signal PFET driven by a PFET driver 40. PFET 40 and NFET 42 drivers are usually used to drive a plurality of P-amplifiers or N-amplifiers as the case may be. PFET drivers 40 and NFET drivers 42 tend to be relatively large. A common placement location for PFET driver 40 and NFET driver 42 is within stitch-region 23 since there is space available for such placement. However, as demand increases this space becomes inadequate for placement of these devices. Further, PFET driver 40 requires placement over an N-well while NFET driver requires placement over a P-well. This further limits placement of PFET driver 40 to an area adjacent P-amplifier region 24 within stitch region 23 and NFET driver 42 adjacent to N-amplifier region 26, EQ regions 32 and 34 or MUX regions 28 and 30 within stitch region 23.
It is advantageous to be able to place a portion of PFET driver 40 and NFET driver 42 within regions 24 and 26, respectively, in order to better accommodate PFET driver 40 and NFET driver 42. Having drivers 40 and 42 within their respective amplifier regions will reduce RC time delays. However, such placement may cause bit lines to be rerouted due to contacts required to sources, gates and drains of PFET driver 40 and NFET driver 42.
Referring to FIG. 3, bit lines 20 are shown routed around contacts 46, 48 and 50. Contacts 46 and 50 extend downward to an active area AA through layer M0 which is the layer in which bit lines 20 are located. Metal lines 54 and 56 are used for connecting source 58 and drain 60 of NFET driver 42. N-amplifier 26 is shown schematically. Contact 48 of NFET driver 42 must also be avoided by bit lines 20. The rerouting of bit lines 20 reduces the available chip area reducing the space efficiency of the chip layout which is in direct conflict to the desire to reduce chip size.
Referring to FIG. 4, bit lines 20 are shown routed around contacts 46', 48' and 50'. Contacts 46' and 50' extend downward to an active area AA through layer M0 which is the layer in which bit lines 20 are located. Metal lines 54' and 56' are used for connecting source 58' and drain 60' of PFET driver 40'. P-amplifier 24 is shown schematically. Contact 48' of PFET driver 40 must also be avoided by bit lines 20. Again, the rerouting of bit lines 20 reduces the available chip area reducing the space efficiency of the chip layout which is in direct conflict to the desire to reduce chip size.
Space-efficient layouts have attempted to place devices such as master data line switches (MDQ switches) adjacent to sense amplifier bank to reduce overall chip layout area. MDQ switches are generally sparsely distributed across a chip. It is, therefore, desirable to place such devices in available free spaces to conserve layout area on a semiconductor memory chip.
Therefore, a need exists for placing MDQ switches within available space to create a more space-efficient layout without having to significantly reroute bit lines which could impact the overall size of the chip.

International Business Machines Corporation


An automatic speed control system continually adjusts the speed of an implanted cardiac assist blood pump to an optimum level for the varying physiological needs of the patient. It does this by periodically iteratively incrementing the speed setpoint of the pump. When the system detects the imminence of a ventricular collapse at diastole, it decrements the speed setpoint by a predetermined safety margin. An alarm condition is provided if the setpoint decrease results in an insufficient blood flow rate through the pump. The flow rate and imminence of ventricular collapse are computed in real time as functions of only the pump's motor current and speed setpoint.

Implantable blood pumps for chronic left ventricular assist have been and are being developed in a number of forms. For example, an implantable, transcutaneously powered electric axial flow pump is shown in application Ser. No. 08/424,165 entitled Implantable Electric Axial-Flow Blood Pump. Inasmuch as the blood flow requirements of the human body vary substantially and unpredictably with posture, stress, activity, ambient temperature and other physiological and psychological factors, it is necessary to continually adapt the pump's flow rate to the patient's needs.
Two factors limit the usable speed range of, e.g., the axial flow pump of Ser. No. 08/424,165. At the lower end, the speed must be sufficient to produce enough blood flow to deliver essential substances to the vital issues and remove products of metabolism, as well as cool the bearings and prevent thrombus formation. At the upper end, the pump speed must not be so high as to produce a zero or negative pressure within the inlet during diastole (i.e. it must never cause suction in the ventricle). The pump is most effective when operating close to the upper end of the range.
In an ambulatory patient, it is not practical to directly measure the pressure and flow rate information necessary for pump control, because the necessary sensors would complicate the pump's electronics and present unnecessary failure risks.
It has previously been hypothesized, as pointed out in the article entitled "In Search of Chronic Speed Control for Rotary Blood Pumps" in the Proceedings of the Waseda International Congress of Modeling and Simulation Technology for Artificial Organs in Tokyo, Japan on 01-03 Aug. 1996, that the pump motor current, voltage and speed may contain information from which pressures and flow rates may be determined. However, no practical way of evaluating that information in real time and putting it to use in a physiological environment has been determined to date.

Speed control system for implanted blood pumps


A system for acquiring images during a medical procedure and using the acquired images includes a storage device for storing, for each one of a plurality of users of the system, or for each one of a plurality of medical procedures, or for each one of a plurality of input or output devices, information that indicates one or more processing operations to be performed on images obtained by an input device. A system processor responds to an identity the user who is currently using the system by performing processing operations on the obtained images and applying the images to an output device based on the stored information that corresponds to the current user.

This invention relates to managing information in an endoscopy system, and in particular to controlling the acquisition, processing, storage, and display of endoscopic images.
During an endoscopic surgical procedure, the surgeon typically uses a video camera (or other suitable device, such as a video arthroscope) to capture images of the surgical site. The images are generally applied to a display device (such as a television monitor) for observation. In some cases, the images are stored on video tape (by, e.g., a VCR) or are converted to digital files for storage in memory or on a disk drive. Different physicians often use the video equipment in different ways.

Managing information in an endoscopy system


A system/assembly for delivery and deployment of an inflation expandable stent within a vessel, comprising a catheter having proximal and distal ends; a stent, inflation expandable from a delivery diameter to a deployment diameter, such that the delivery diameter is reduced from the deployment diameter for conforming the stent to the catheter, such that the stent, in its delivery diameter, is coaxially mounted on the catheter near the catheter distal end; an expandable inflation means coaxially mounted on the catheter axially within the stent, for expansion of the stent from the delivery diameter to the deployment diameter upon application of fluid deployment pressure to the inflation means; and a securement component coaxially mounted on the catheter, axially within the expandable inflation means, the securement component designed and adapted to provide a securement pressure to the stent in the delivery diameter to maintain the stent in position on the catheter during delivery to the deployment site.

Stents and stent delivery assemblies are utilized in a number of medical procedures and situations, and as such their structure and function are well-known. A stent is a general cylindrical prosthesis introduced via a catheter into a lumen of a body vessel in a configuration having a generally reduced diameter and then expanded to the diameter of the vessel. In its expanded configuration, the stent supports and reinforces the vessel walls while maintaining the vessel in an open, unobstructed condition.
Both self-expanding and inflation expandable stents are well-known and widely available. Self-expanding stents must be maintained under positive external pressure in order to maintain their reduced diameter configuration during delivery of the stent to its deployment site. Inflation expandable stents (also known as balloon expandable stents) are crimped to their reduced diameter about the delivery catheter, positioned at the deployment site, and then expanded to the vessel by diameter by fluid inflation of the balloon positioned between the stent and the delivery catheter. The present invention is particularly concerned with enhanced stent securement and safer stent loading in the delivery and deployment of balloon expandable stents.
In angioplasty procedure, there may be restenosis of the artery, which either necessitates another angioplasty procedure, a surgical bi-pass procedure, or some method of repairing or strengthening the area. To prevent restenosis and strengthen the area, a physician can implant an intravascular prosthesis for maintaining vascular patency, i.e. a stent, inside the artery at the lesion. The stent is expanded to a larger diameter for placement in the vasculature, often by the balloon portion of the catheter. Stents delivered to a restricted coronary artery, expanded to a larger diameter as by a balloon catheter, and left in place in the artery at the site of a dilated lesion are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,207 to Kreamer; U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,926 to Derbyshire; U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,665 to Palmaz; U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,377 to Burton et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,548 to Lau et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,399 to Lau et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,426 to Lau et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,664 to Pinchuck; U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,090 to Martinez et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,227 to Savin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,341 to Solar; U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,416 to Ryan et al.; and European Patent Application No. 707837A1 to Scheiban, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. A stent particularly preferred for use with this invention is described in PCT Application No. 96/03092-A1, published Feb.8, 1996, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In advancing a balloon expandable stent through a body vessel to the deployment site, there are a number of important considerations. The stent must be able to securely maintain its axial position on the delivery catheter. The stent, particularly its distal and proximal ends, are sometimes protected to prevent distortion of the stent, and minimize trauma to the vessel walls. Balloon expandable stent delivery and deployment assemblies are known which utilize restraining means that overlay the stent during delivery. U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,227 to Savin et al., relates to a balloon expandable stent delivery system in which a sleeve overlaps the distal or proximal margin (or both) of the stent during delivery. During inflation of the stent at the deployment site, the stent margins are freed of the protective sleeve(s) and the sleeves then collapse toward the delivery catheter for removal. A number of balloon expandable stent delivery and deployment assemblies do not use overlaying restraining members, such as the Savin sleeves, to position the stent for delivery. European Patent Application No. EP 055 3960A1 to Lau et al., uses an elastic sheath interspaced between the balloon and the stent. The sheath is said to act as a barrier to protect the balloon from the stent, allow uniform stent expansion, decrease balloon deflation time, prevent undesirable balloon flattening upon deflation and provide a friction substrate for the stent. The Lau sheath can be positioned on the inside or outside of the balloon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,495 to Osborne, similarly uses an elastic sleeve or sheath surrounding and in contact with the balloon for controlling the balloon radial expansion. In addition, Osborne is said to use restraining bands or a pair of balloons to achieve controllable stent expansion characteristics. U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,341 to Solar, relates to stent delivery and deployment assembly which uses a retaining sheath positioned about opposite ends of the compressed state. The retaining sheaths of Solar are adapted to tear under pressure as the stent is radially expanded, thus releasing the stent for engagement with the sheaths. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,416 to Ryan et al. describes a stent introducer system which uses one or two flexible end caps and annular socket surrounding the balloon to position the stent during introduction to the deployment site. The content of all of these patents is incorporated herein by reference.
In positioning a balloon expandable stent on the delivery catheter over the fluid expandable balloon, the stent must be smoothly and evenly crimped to closely conform to the overall profile of the catheter and the unexpanded balloon. It has been noted that, due to physical properties of the material used in manufacturing the stent (typically a shaped memory metal, such as stainless steel or Nitinol.TM.) there is a certain amount of "recoil" of the stent despite the most careful and firm crimping. That is the stent evidences a tendency to slightly open up from the fully crimped position and once the crimping force has been released. For example, in the typical stent delivery and deployment assembly, if the stent has been fully crimped to a diameter of approximately 0.0035", the stent has been observed to open up or recoil to approximately 0.0037". This phenomenon has been characterized as "recoil crimping". Due to recoil crimping to this slightly enlarged diameter, it can be understood that the stent tends to evidence a certain amount of looseness from its desired close adherence to the overall profile of the underlying catheter and balloon. That is, the stent tends to have a perceptible relatively slack fit in its mounted and crimped position. During delivery, the stent can thus tend to slip and dislocate from its desired position on the catheter or even become separate from the catheter, requiring further intervention by the physician.
According to the present invention, a securement device is secured over the inner catheter beneath the balloon to compensate for the undesired looseness or slack that due to recoil crimping and to aid in securing the stent to the balloon, as well as protecting the balloon material from being sandwiched between the stent and any metal or protruding item which may be mounted on the inner shaft/guide wire lumen, for delivery of the stent. The securement devices secure the stent during tracking and delivery and provide a good friction fit to the stent and insure good contact between the stent and underlying balloon and catheter, instead of merely crimping the stent onto the balloon and the underlying catheter and relying on the bulk of the flaccid balloon to hold the stent on.
The art referred to and/or described above is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is "prior art" with respect to this invention. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. .sctn.1.56(a) exists.

Stent delivery system having stent securement apparatus


Disclosed is a general model and method for computing performance bounds in multi-hop wireless networks. Rather than focusing on computing asymptotic performance bounds under assumptions of homogeneity or randomness in the network topology and/or workload, the present invention accommodates any given network, technology, interference model, routing paradigm, and workload. Using a conflict graph to formally characterize the impact of wireless interference on the performance of multi-hop wireless networks, methods for computing upper and lower bounds on the capacity of a given wireless network are detailed. Besides computing network capacity, the model and method disclosed can also enable or benefit other applications including maximizing fairness and minimizing maximum link utilization.

Multi-hop wireless networks have been the subject of much study over the past few decades. Much of the original work was motivated by military applications such as battlefield communications. More recently, however, some interesting commercial applications have emerged. One example is "community wireless networks", where a multi-hop wireless network, perhaps based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, is used to provide the "last-mile" to peoples' homes. A very different example is sensor networks where the scale and environment make a multi-hop wireless network the only feasible means of communication.
A fundamental issue in multi-hop wireless networks is that performance degrades sharply as the number of hops traversed increases. As a simple example, in a network comprising nodes with identical and omni-directional radio ranges, going from a single hop to two hops halves the throughput of a flow because wireless interference dictates that only one of the two hops can be active at a time.
The performance challenges of multi-hop networks have long been recognized and have led to much work on new and better solutions for the medium access control (MAC), routing, and transport layers of the protocol stack. However, in recent years, there has also been a focus on the fundamental question of what the capacity of a multi-hop wireless network is. The seminal paper by Gupta and Kumar (see Gupta, P., and Kumar, P. R., "The capacity of wireless networks," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 46, 2 (March 2000)) showed that in a network comprising of n identical nodes, each of which is communicating with another node, the throughput capacity per node is Θ(1/√n log n) assuming random node placement and communication pattern and Θ(1/√n) assuming optimal node placement and communication pattern. Subsequent work has considered alternative models and settings, such as the presence of relay nodes and mobile nodes, and locality in inter-node communication, and their results are less pessimistic.

Model and method for computing performance bounds in multi-hop wireless networks


A system and device, including reconfigurable physical unclonable functions (‘RPUFs’) and threshold cryptography, use cryptographic and physical means of security. A plurality of reconfigurable physical unclonable functions (‘RPUFs’) and a memory are connected to a processor that is configured to derive information associating the RPUFs with cryptographic shares of a sensitive value, store such information in the memory, and reconfigure a RPUF upon powering up of the device such that information stored in the memory is not valid for the reconfigured RPUF.

A physical unclonable function or 'PUF' is a physical entity capable of generating an output ('response') to a given input ('challenge') that is unique to that particular PUF such that it can be regarded as a 'fingerprint.' This capacity is typically arrived at by devising the PUF in such a way that its output depends upon features that differ randomly in each device due to minor manufacturing variations. Thus a PUF cannot be readily replicated with the correct fingerprint, even with full knowledge of its circuit layout.
Typical PUF-based protocols fall into two broad categories: (1) a simple challenge-response provisioning process like the one described below in Protocol 1, or (2) cryptographic augmentation of a device's PUF response such that the raw PUF output never leaves the device. These approaches may require external entities to handle auxiliary information (e.g., challenges and their associated helper data) that is unsupported or superfluous in existing public key cryptography standards, and/or involve a hardware device authenticating to a challenge applied during an initial enrollment process, and/or are premised on the hardware device always recovering essentially the same response to a given challenge.
One challenge facing PUF-based systems is side channel attacks, which seek to observe and analyze auxiliary environmental variables to deduce information about sensitive information, such as cryptographic key material or the PUF output.
A reconfigurable PUF or 'RPUF' is a PUF that can be altered to generate a new set of responses to the same challenges. A PUF's set of responses and challenges is often called a 'mapping,' and the new mapping after reconfiguration of a RPUF is preferably fully different from and unrelated to the RPUF's other challenge-response mappings. RPUFs can be reversibly configurable such that after reconfiguration the RPUF can be reconfigured again to a prior configuration, or irreversibly configurable such that it is not possible to restore a prior challenge-response mapping. Logically-reconfigurable PUFs ('L-RPUFs') utilize a programmable feature to change configurations and are typically reversible, and physically-reconfigurable PUFs ('P-RPUFs') are reconfigured by imposing a physical change and are typically irreversibly configurable.

System and device including reconfigurable physical unclonable functions and threshold cryptography


A resonance tapped transformer circuit in which the effective turns ratio of the transformer is dependent on the frequency of the input signal. The transformer selectively connects one or more primary coils of the transformer in series and/or in parallel where the connection type is dependent on the line frequency. This changes the transformation ratio of the transformer.

DC--DC converter techniques which are known in the art include pulse width modulation (PWM) DC--DC converters and resonant series and parallel converters. Such methods are known to be susceptible to switching losses, particularly in the former case, and conduction losses.
In a conventional PWM DC--DC converter using switching transistors, the switches have an inherent capacitance which results in a residual voltage across the switch when the switches are alternately open and closed. Accordingly, it is desirable to delay switching to allow discharge of the capacitance by placing an inductor in series with the load resistance. This will resist the change in the current flow due to the residual field in the inductor. With no inductance, the power factor is close to unity. If an inductor is added in series with the load the power factor lags and soft switching is provided.
Ideally the current and voltage in a circuit element will be in phase. However, if there is a slight phase difference there will be instants where the current is positive and the voltage negative (or vice versa). In this situation the instantaneous power will be negative and the power transmitted will be effectively reduced. Thus the power transmission is less for the same time averaged values of voltage and current.
To obtain the same or a desired level of power transmission, the voltage must be increased but this increases the current correspondingly which leads to increased I.sup.2 R losses (or conduction losses). The traditional method of reducing output voltage in a PWM converter is to reduce the duty cycle. But as the duty cycle is reduced, the peak current is increased if the same average current is to be maintained. However, as the peak current is increased the I.sup.2 R losses become disproportionately high.
In presently known resonant circuits, it is possible to reduce the voltage by putting a reactance in series with the load. However, this may significantly impair the power factor. The present invention avoids the need for such a reactance and further provides an inductance to effect a lagging power factor (or soft switching). The present invention further provides for a converter where the turns ratio may be varied (and therefore the conversion ratio adjusted) while retaining the use of all of the primary windings.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least mitigate some of the disadvantages inherent in the prior art or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.


A cell culture device includes a storage tank having one or a plurality of cell culture units. Each of the cell culture units includes a first liquid storage chamber having an airtight structure in which a liquid is to be stored, a second liquid storage chamber in which the liquid is to be stored, a culture liquid storage chamber having a culture liquid storage space in which a culture liquid of cells is to be stored, a permeable membrane having one surface to which the cells are able to adhere, said one face facing the culture liquid storage space, and a liquid lead-out flow path that introducing the liquid from a space on the other surface side of the membrane into the second liquid storage chamber, the first liquid storage chamber being set as a supply source of the liquid.

As described in Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2, development cost for pharmaceutical products in recent years has increased exponentially, and the success rate of clinical trials has decreased year by year. In addition, the cost for developing chemical products such as cosmetics has similarly increased. As the reason for this, for example, due to the species difference between animals and humans, results of animal experiments cannot be directly extrapolated to clinical trials. In addition, in the development of chemical products such as cosmetics, in some cases, it is difficult to use experimental animals, especially in Europe. Under such circumstances, there are increasing expectations for in vitro cell assays of pharmaceutical candidate compounds and chemical products in which human-derived cultured cells are used.
On the other hand, monolayer culture used in cell assays in the conventional art is often problematic in that the environment surrounding cells is greatly different from the in vivo environment, and therefore, many functions expressed in a body are lost in cultured cells. Advances in a micro-processing technique and three-dimensional culture techniques in recent years have overcome this problem, and it is expected that throughput and reliability of cell assays will be simultaneously improved (for example, Non-Patent Documents 3 and 4). In particular, the concept of organ-on-a-chip, which handles a microfluidic device that reproduces a physiological three-dimensional culture environment in vitro as an organ, has expanded, and research considering application to development of pharmaceutical products is being globally developed (for example, Non-Patent Documents 5 and 6). Furthermore, the concept of body-on-a-chip, which aims to reproduce an individual response by connecting a plurality of organ models reconstituted in vitro with each other through micro flow paths or the like, has also been proposed and has been rapidly attracting attention (for example, Non-Patent Document 7).
As described above, it is expected that the reliability of cellular assays will be improved by reconstituting an organ model formed of human-derived cultured cells in vitro and reproducing physiological functions.
Most organs constituting a living body have a membrane type structure. For example, nutrients are absorbed across the mesentery in the small intestine, and metabolites and waste products are excreted in the kidneys via renal tubular epithelial cell membranes. In addition, oxygen or nutrients are supplied to surrounding tissues through the vessel wall even in blood vessels circulating in the whole body, and waste products are excreted. Membrane type culture containers such as BOYDEN CHAMBER and TRANSWELL have been used to reconstitute functions of such membrane type organs in vitro. However, in these culture containers, a liquid cannot flow on one surface side and the other surface side of the membrane. Therefore, there are problems in that a physiological function is not exhibited, the conditions of cells in the lower portion of the membrane are deteriorated, and the culture containers cannot be applied to body-on-a-chip in which a plurality of organs are linked to each other.
In order to solve these problems, organ-on-a-chip in which a membrane is disposed in a micro flow path has been reported. For example, in vitro models for the intestines (Non-Patent Documents 8 and 9), the kidneys (Non-Patent Document 10), and encephalic blood vessels (Non-Patent Document 11) have been reported. In order to use organ-on-a-chip including such a membrane for drug discovery as an alternative to animal experiments, a system that can simultaneously evaluate many kinds of compounds is necessary. On the other hand, a syringe pump or a peristaltic pump is used for liquid transfer in the above-described prior research, and therefore, it is difficult to parallelize the culture system.
The present inventors or the like have already developed a "pressure-driven type perfusion culture micro-chamber array" capable of conveniently handling a large number of drug solutions in studies so far (Non-Patent Documents 12 and 13). Then, they have developed a circulation culture system with a convenient platform and performed a user evaluation for practical use (Non-Patent Document 14 and Patent Document 1).

Cell culture device and cell culture method


The subject invention pertains to a method and apparatus utilizing one or more spiral coils, such as spiral birdcage coils, spiral saddle coils, Helmholtz coil pairs, and other spiral volume and spiral surface coils. The spiral coils of the subject array can be substantially isolated from each other while covering nearly the same volume or surface. For cylindrical geometrics, isolation can be enhanced by having the rotation, or change in direction from one end of the coil to the other, be 2nπ, where n is an integer.

The present invention relates to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. Receiving coils are used in MRI systems to intercept the radio frequency magnetic field generated by a human subject or object in the presence of a main magnetic field. Many coil designs exist for use in MRI systems, including what is often referred to as a "birdcage" coil. The birdcage coil has been described in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance (1985) 63:622-628 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,548 to Edelstein et al. FIG. 1 shows a standard birdcage coil having four conductive connection members connecting two circular conductive loops. Although four conductive connection members have been shown in FIG. 1, other numbers of conductive members can be used, such as two, six, or eight members. Each coil can be viewed as a separate quadrature coil system.
A spiral volume coil was introduced in April 1998 at the ISMRM meeting in Sydney, Australia by David Alsop and others from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. This new spiral volume coil replaced the straight conductive connection members of the standard birdcage with spiral conductive connection members. Others have utilized this spiral volume coil to achieve improved uniformity.

Method and apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging incorporating a spiral coil