There is provided an improved putting training apparatus and method wherein a golfer may observe, analyze, and record their putting swing. A putter supports two detachable, vertically aligned lasers, each adapted to selectively cast a beam towards a target disposed substantially perpendicular to the face of the putter. A first laser is momentarily illuminated when the putter head address the golf ball. The second laser is illuminated continuously both during the preparation for and during the putt. The second laser records on the target a complete transition of the club head during the time it is illuminated. A camera connected to a computer records the first and second laser traces on the target and provides feedback to the golfer regarding his putting swing. Putter head velocity is thereby easily determined. The lowest point in the arc may be readily compared to the actual point of impact with the ball.

Many consider a good, squarely-aligned, repetitive putting stroke to be one of the most difficult strokes for a golfer to master and one that is equally difficult to teach. Recreational golfers may lose valuable stroke that would otherwise significantly improve their scores, by taking three and four putts per green. Even professional players are greatly affected by their ability (or inability) to putt. Good or even proficient putting may make the difference between a professional attaining or retaining his or her tour privileges, making or missing a cut in a tournament, or even winning or losing a tournament.
One way in which golfers can improve their putting stroke is to use an alignment system. One such alignment is the subject of one of the inventors' previously-filed patent application Ser. No. 10/367,013. The claimed subject matter of patent application Ser. No. 10/367,013 is, however, directed at aligning the face of a putter with a golf ball (i.e., aiming the putter). While aiming, of course, is critical to good putting, the putting swing is equally critical.
The present invention provides a method for developing a consistent, appropriate golf swing.
A portion of a commercially available Greenpeed Chart, ©2004 by Robert W. McCarthy and reproduced by permission, is provided as Table 1 hereinbelow. It will be recognized than an obvious question is: how does a golfer train him or herself to strike the ball at 6.36 ft/sec? The apparatus and method of the instant invention provide an answer to this question.
TABLE 1STIMPMETER READING 12NEGATIVE ACCELERATION 2.56FEETV2½VPUTTER VHT. (IN)WORK22101.62.013163152.02.466324202.32.849485262.53.18 12646312.83.4815807363.03.7618978413.24.02211139463.44.272412910513.64.502714511563.84.723016112613.94.933317713674.15.133619314724.25.323920915774.45.514222516824.55.694524117874.75.864825718924.86.035127419974.96.2054290201025.16.3657306211085.26.5260322221135.36.6763338231185.46.8266354241235.56.9769370261335.87.2572386281436.07.5375402301546.27.797841321646.48.0581434341746.68.2984450361846.88.5387467381957.08.7790483
The information contained in Table 1 may be used as illustrated in the following example. It is known that if the distance from the ball to the cup, the speed of the green (i.e., Stimpmeter reading), and the elevational difference between the ball and the cup are known, then the velocity with which the putter must hit the ball may readily be calculated or easily read from an appropriate chart. For purposes of illustration, it is assumed that the ball lies 10 feet from the cup, the ball lies 6 inches below the cup (i.e., there is a 6 inch difference in elevation between the ball and the cup), and that the Stimpmeter reading for the green is 12. By consulting Table 1, it may readily be seen that for a distance in feet of 10 (Column 1), a corresponding V2 (i.e., square of the velocity) of 51 may be from Column 2 of Table 1. This is the square of the velocity with which the putting hear 102 must strike the ball 140 to sink a 10 foot put on a level green Stimping at 12. However, in the example chosen for purposes of illustration, the ball lies 6 inches below the cup. Again consulting Table 1, this time locating 6 inches in the height (i.e., HT. column 5), it may be seen that a work value of 32 may be read. To properly use Table 1, the V2 value of 51 previously read from Table 1 must be added to the work value of 32 just obtained giving a sum of 83. Returning to the V2 column (Column 2), the value 83 is located. If 83 falls between two values in Column 2, arithmetical interpolation may be performed to arrive at a more precise answer. However, in the case of the illustrative example, a value 82 is found in Column 2. The V2 value of 82 (i.e., roughly 83) corresponds to a 16 foot putt on a level green. In other words, the golfer must treat a 10 foot putt from 6 inches below the cup like a 16 foot putt on a level green (at least with respect to the force delivered by the putting face 104 to the ball 140). But in actuality, how "hard" must the golfer hit ball 140 on a green Stimping 12 to sink 1 16 foot putt? The apparatus and method of the present invention enable a golfer to answer that question and to practice putting strokes to determine the feel of club force necessary to reliably putt a golf ball.
The inventors are unaware of any other devices, systems, or methods which accomplish the intended purpose of his invention. Consequently, there remains a need for a putter and a swing training and development method that, when coupled with a suitable alignment system, provide a golfer with a removable (as per United States Golf Association rules and regulations), yet substantially error-free way of monitoring and improving his putting swing.

Apparatus and method for analyzing a golf swing


A honeycomb structure mainly composed of cordierite and obtained by forming and firing a forming material containing a layered clay mineral whose layer charge (X) is 0.2<X≦2 in addition to the cordierite forming material and an organic binder. A total amount of at least one element selected from a group consisting of sodium, potassium, and calcium contained in the layered clay mineral is set to 0.5% by mass or less in terms of oxide with respect to a total with the cordierite forming material, and a content ratio of the organic binder is set to 5 parts by mass or less with respect to 100 parts by mass in total of the cordierite forming material and the layered clay mineral.

Various devices or members such as honeycomb structures formed of ceramic superior in resistances to heat and corrosion have been used as a catalyst carrier for purifying an exhaust gas from viewpoints of environmental countermeasures such as atmosphere pollution prevention and global warming prevention in various fields including chemistry, electric power, iron and steel, and industrial waste disposal. As a method of manufacturing the honeycomb structure, for example, a method of manufacturing a honeycomb structure has been disclosed in which a cordierite forming material, water, organic binder and the like are kneaded, and a forming material whose plasticity has been enhanced is extruded/formed, dried, and fired (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-292616).
The organic binder imparts plasticity or shape retaining property in order to enhance a forming property of the honeycomb structure. When an added amount increases, the forming property is enhanced. To form a large-sized structure or a structure having a complicated cell structure which has been increasingly demanded in recent years, kneaded clay (clay) having a satisfactory forming property is required as compared with a case where a small-sized or simple honeycomb structure is manufactured. As a result, a large amount of organic binder has to be added.
However, when the added amount of the organic binder is large, the organic binder is burnt out during firing. Therefore, there has been a problem that a space occupied by the organic binder becomes a defect at a forming time, and mechanical strength of the structure drops. In a large-sized structure, there has been a problem that the inside of the structure is at high temperature by burning heat when burning the organic binder during the firing, defects such as cracks are generated because of thermal stress by an inner/outer temperature difference of the structure, the mechanical strength of the structure is lowered, and yield is largely lowered. Furthermore, CO2 or harmful gas is generated, and released to the atmosphere by the burning of the organic binder during the firing, and this has raised a problem in environmental respects such as pollution and global warming.
Moreover, there have been disclosed: a method (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-537217) in which kaolinite clay, and 0.1% to 15% by mass of smectite clay with respect to a dry mass of the kaolinite clay are used; synthetic clay for ceramic (Japanese Patent No. 3215839) comprising 30 to 65% by mass of amorphous silica, 30 to 65% by mass of alumina trihydrate, and 2 to 20% by mass of a mixture of one or two of sepiolite, palygorskite, and bentonite; a plasticity enhancing method (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-104563) of kaolinite particles, in which the kaolinite particles are brought into contact with an aqueous solution containing bivalent cations to thereby adsorb the bivalent cations onto kaolinite particle surfaces; a method in which smectite is added as a measure for enhancement of plasticity of clay or kaolin (Artificial Clay (see pages 175 to 178 of 10th Anniversary Journal of Artificial Clay Research Institute); and a method in which montmorillonite and hectorite are added to thereby enhance strength of a formed article in extrusion forming of alumina (see the Use of Montmorillonites as Extrusion Aids for Alumina, Ceram. Engi. Sci. Proc. 12 [1-2] pp. 33 to 48 (1991)).
However, as disclosed in the above-described patent or non-patent documents, main components of a clay mineral having plasticity, such as bentonite and smectite are SiO2, Al2O3, MgO and the like, and the mineral has sodium ions (Na+) and calcium ions (Ca2+) as interlayer cations. With respect to cordierite which is a main component of the finally obtained honeycomb structure, Na and Ca are impurities. Therefore, there has been a problem that low thermal expansion as one of characteristics of cordierite is inhibited, when a large amount of these impurities are contained.
The present invention has been developed in view of the above-described problem, and an object thereof is to provide a method of manufacturing a honeycomb structure, capable of preventing or reducing generation of CO2 or harmful gas during firing to thereby prevent or inhibit pollution and global warming, and capable of obtaining a honeycomb structure having few defects such as cracks and maintaining high strength and low thermal expansion, and a high-quality honeycomb structure obtained by this manufacturing method.

Method of manufacturing honeycomb structure and honeycomb structure


Enclosure devices for storage and transport of art pieces are shown and described. The enclosure devices include a flat base, first and second side panels substantially perpendicularly disposed relative to the flat base, first and second sloped panels disposed at an angle relative to the flat base and the first and second side panels, an art piece receiving space disposed between the first side panel, the second side panel, and the flat base, and a canopy space substantially disposed between the first sloped panel and the second sloped panel. The art piece receiving space is configured to retain the art piece as the flat base contacts a back surface of the art piece. The canopy space is configured to be disposed above a medium applied surface of the art piece.

The present disclosure relates generally to systems, devices, and methods for enclosing, transporting, and/or storing of substantially flat objects (e.g., flat art pieces, art canvases, etc.). In particular, systems, devices, and methods for enclosing, transporting, and/or storing of a flat art piece that limit contact of the device with a medium applied surface of the flat art piece are described.
Art piece carrying devices (e.g., canvas carrying devices) are used to transport and/or store art pieces. Currently used art piece carrying devices generally have parallel planar upper and lower panels that contact or are proximal to planar upper and lower surfaces of the art piece, including a medium applied surface of the art piece.
Known art pieces carrying devices are not entirely satisfactory for the range of applications in which they are employed. For example, existing art piece carrying devices may come into contact with the medium applied surface and cause damage to the medium applied surface (e.g., smudging, smearing, puncturing, tearing, etc.). Damage to the medium applied surface may decrease the value of the art piece. In some cases, damage to the medium applied surface may destroy the art piece.
In addition, some other conventional art piece carrying devices lack parallel planar panels and instead include a concaved panel configured to be proximal to the medium applied surface and require multiple attachment members to attach the concaved panel to a perimeter of the art piece. These other conventional art piece carrying devices have the disadvantage described above and have the additional disadvantage that they provide no panels or barriers to protect other sides of the art piece (e.g., perimeter edges, a non-medium applied surface, etc.).
Thus, there exists a need for systems, devices, and methods for enclosing, transporting, and/or storing of art pieces that improve upon and advance the design of known art piece carrying devices. Examples of new and useful systems, devices, and methods for enclosing, transporting, and/or storing of art pieces relevant to the needs existing in the field are discussed below.
Disclosure addressing one or more of the identified existing needs is provided in the detailed description below. Examples of references relevant to art piece carrying devices include U.S. Pat. No. 188,199, U.S. Pat. No. 295,030, U.S. Pat. No. 408,937, U.S. Pat. No. 641,283, U.S. Pat. No. 682,493, U.S. Pat. No. 728,450, U.S. Pat. No. 941,212, U.S. Pat. No. 1,175,070, U.S. Pat. No. 1,432,336, U.S. Pat. No. 2,221,024, U.S. Pat. No. 2,288,325, U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,933, U.S. Pat. No. 2,804,226, U.S. Pat. No. 2,875,934, U.S. Pat. No. 2,950,001, U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,985, U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,173, U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,235, U.S. Pat. No. 3,281,031, U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,432, U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,208, U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,224, U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,230, U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,119, U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,263, U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,498, U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,968, U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,849, U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,443, U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,504, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,254, U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,363, U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,771, U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,523, U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,147, U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,806, U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,570, U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,465, U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,838, U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,349, U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,141, U.S. Pat. No. 8,087,633, and Patent Application No. 20040232025. The complete disclosures of the above patents and patent applications are herein incorporated by reference for all purposes.

Systems, devices, and methods for enclosing, transporting, and/or storing art pieces


A laser machine tool for the machining of workpieces by laser ablation comprising a moveable dual laser head (4). The laser machine tool has a dual laser head (4) intended for the emission of laser beams, whereby the laser head (4) incorporates in its housing two or more laser sources (8), each laser source emitting a different type of laser beams and whereby the two or more laser sources (8) incorporated in the laser head (4) cannot operate simultaneously for the machining of the workpiece.

The present invention relates to a laser machine tool and laser heads for the machining of workpieces by laser ablation.
Laser machine tools for machining workpieces by laser ablation are generally known. The European patent application EP 2 301 706 A2 describes for instance a possible technical design for such an apparatus.
An imaginable configuration and design for such a known laser machine tool for machining workpieces by laser ablation is shown in FIG. 1. The laser head 1 of the displayed machine operates with 5 mechanical axes and allows the positioning of the laser focal point and the direction of the emitted laser beam on the surface of a three-dimensional solid workpieces situated within the machine (not shown). Several machine configurations are imaginable: For instance a workpiece-holder or—as shown in FIG. 1—a laser head which is linear movable in three axis (Cartesian X, Y, Z system). Preferably, allowing a higher accuracy and flexibility, the workpiece-holder or the laser head are in addition able to rotate with high precision on two rotational axes.
There is a growing demand for using the laser machining process on increasingly large workpieces (e.g. for the production of moulds for the manufacturing of dashboards or bumpers of cars and trucks). This made it necessary to design new laser machine tools of large dimensions.
Today there is also a demand in the aviation industry for turbine drilling applications with engraving of the port exhaust to optimize the vortices. Those applications require first the drilling under a drilling laser head and the subsequent laser engraving under a suitable laser engraving head. Due to very different required machine characteristics, it is not possible to accomplish both machining steps with the same laser head. So far, the laser drilling and the following laser engraving have always been conducted on separate laser machines tools by moving the workpiece first under the drilling laser head and subsequently to the next machine under its laser engraving head.
This practice is possible for smaller workpieces, which can be easily moved for instance pre-mounted on clamping devices from machine to machine. For bigger, bulky and heavier workpieces however, this practice gets laborious and might in addition negatively affect the manufacturing accuracy due to a the bigger risks of misalignment in view of the size of the workpieces to be machined.
Apart of this, two laser machine tools are necessary for the manufacturing, increasing therewith the necessary investments for the production line and, of course, the manufacturing costs.
The present invention aims therefore to solve this problem.


Color shifting retroreflective articles can provide features such as decorative effects, evidence of tampering, security authentication or positional information. In some embodiments, the color shifting retroreflective article includes a layer of microspheres, and a reflective coating that is disposed in optical association with the layer of microspheres. The reflective coating includes a spacer layer disposed between a semitransparent first reflective layer and a second reflective layer. The first reflective layer includes a reflective layer disposed adjacent the layer of microspheres. At least one layer of the reflective coating includes a non-uniform thickness associated with each of a plurality of microspheres such that light incident on the article from a first direction is retroreflected at a first color and light incident on the article from a second direction is retroreflected at a second color visibly different from the first color.

Retroreflective articles have the ability to redirect obliquely incident light back towards the light source. This unique ability has led to the wide-spread use of retroreflective articles on various substrates. For example, retroreflective articles can be used on flat inflexible substrates, such as road signs and barricades; on irregular surfaces, such as corrugated metal truck trailers, license plates, and traffic barriers; and on flexible substrates, such as road worker safety vests, a jogger's shoes, roll up signs, and canvas-sided trucks.
One type of retroreflective article includes beads. Such beaded articles commonly use a multitude of glass or ceramic microspheres to retroreflect incident light. Typically, the microspheres are partially embedded in a support film, and a specular reflecting material is provided between the layer of microspheres and the support film. The reflecting material can be a metal layer (for example, an aluminum coating as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,478 (Bingham '478) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,932 (Bailey)), an inorganic dielectric mirror made up of multiple layers of inorganic materials that have different refractive indices (for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,305 (Bingham '305) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,985 (Bingham '985)) or an organic reflective coating made up of multiple polymer layers that have different refractive indices (for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,810 B1 (Fleming et al. '810)).
Categories of beaded retroreflective articles include exposed lens, enclosed lens, and encapsulated lens types. Exposed lens beaded articles have a layer of microspheres, the front sides of which are exposed to the environment. Enclosed lens beaded articles have a protective layer such as a transparent polymer resin contacting and surrounding the front side of the microspheres. Encapsulated lens articles have an air gap surrounding the front side of the microspheres and a transparent film hermetically sealed to a support film to protect the microspheres from water, dirt, or other environmental elements.
Other references involving optical articles include U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,895 (Shaw et al. '895) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,628 (Yializis).

Color shifting retroreflector and method of making same


The apparatus has: electrodes (E.sub.1 to E.sub.6) which are to be attached to a predetermined region of a living body; a skin potential measuring unit (1) which detects the skin potential from the electrodes; a judging unit (3) which detects and stores the skin potential before administration of an anesthetic agent, which detects and stores that after administration of the anesthetic agent, which sets a threshold to be an arbitrary level, on the basis of a change from the stored skin potential before administration of the anesthetic agent to the stored skin potential after administration of the anesthetic agent, and which compares the time-varying skin potential with the threshold, thereby judging the depth of anesthesia; and an alarm unit (6) which raises an alarm in accordance with instructions from the judging unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for judging a depth of anesthesia and raising an alarm.
2. Related Art
When a patient in sickness is to undergo an operation or a test, anesthesia is previously given to the patient. Conventionally, there is no apparatus which can correctly measure or judge the depth of anesthesia. In fact, after anesthesia is given to the patient, therefore, the doctor measures parameters such as the blood pressure, and the respiration and empirically presumes the depth of anesthesia, and thereafter the patient undergoes the operation or the test.
From the standpoint of the patient, the judgement whether the depth of anesthesia is sufficient or not is important. When the depth of anesthesia is sufficient in general anesthesia, for example, the patient is unconscious and does not feel a pain due to incision by using a knife. Therefore, the patient cannot hear discussions between the doctor and the nurse, so that the patient does not feel apprehension about the discussions and their movement.
By contrast, when the depth of anesthesia is insufficient, the patient feels pain in the incision region, or the patient is conscious. Under this state, since the patient is conscious, the patient feels apprehension about the operation. During the operation, particularly, the patient is in the state where the patient cannot move and utter, and hence cannot tell the doctor or the nurse that the anesthesia is insufficient. It seems that, since the patient is conscious, the patient feels even fear under the state where the patient is very sensitive to surrounding discussions and movement of the doctor and the nurse engaging, in the operation. An instance in which an operation was carried out while the depth of anesthesia was insufficient and the patient was conscious has been reported.
Recently, in order to reduce the effect of administration of an anesthetic agent on a living body, there is a tendency to perform an operation with administration of an anesthetic agent of the minimum level. Consequently, an apparatus or a method which can correctly judge a depth of anesthesia will play an important role, and hence it is requested to early develop such an apparatus or a method.
As described above, however, an apparatus which can correctly measure or judge the depth of anesthesia in administration of an anesthetic agent is not available at present.

Method and apparatus for judging a depth of anesthesia


Telemetry data concerning web pages that users attempt to access containing fields prompting entry of personal information is received from many client computers over time. Based on the telemetry data, it is determined which fields prompting entry of personal information are expected to be present on specific web pages. The fields prompting entry of personal information on web pages users attempt to access are compared to the fields expected to be present. When a specific user attempts to access a specific web page in real-time, it can be adjudicated on-the-fly that the web page is suspicious, based on the web page containing at least one unexpected field. Correlations between web pages containing specific unexpected fields and the hygiene ratings of the users attempting to access the web pages when the unexpected fields are encountered can be tracked and taken into account in the adjudication of web pages.

There is a class of malware that injects extra fields over real web pages that contain forms requesting the entry of personal information, such as financial institution login screens. Typically, these new maliciously injected fields prompt the user to enter sensitive information, such as a credit card number, social security number, PIN, etc. When the user visits the page containing the web form (for example, the user tries to login into his or her actual bank account), these extra fields appear seamlessly on the otherwise legitimate website. However, even though the website itself is legitimate and familiar to the user, the added fields are actually fraudulent, and if the user fills them out, the entered information is transmitted to a remote server under the control of a malicious party. The malicious party can then leverage the user's personal information to financially defraud or otherwise exploit the user. Trojans generated by the infamous SpyEye botnot work this way.
Conventional techniques for detecting and removing malware can be very effective in many cases, but can fail to detect some malware. For example, scanning files for known signatures associated with malware can detect infection by previously identified threats and variations thereof that still contain a sufficiently similar signature. However, such signature based scanning can fail to identify new or sufficiently morphed malware. Likewise, heuristic based analysis of a program's behavior or other factors can detect malware that sufficiently confirms with known historically identified patterns, but can fail to identify new or modified threats that fall outside of these parameters.
It would be desirable to address these issues as they apply to malware that inserts malicious fields into legitimate forms.

Detecting malicious tampering of web forms


An optical modulator has a ridge optical waveguide and a modulation electrode. The modulation electrode is composed of a signal electrode to which a modulation signal is supplied, a first ground electrode, and a second ground electrode, the signal electrode has a wide portion having a width wider than the width of the uppermost portion of the ridge optical waveguide, the first ground electrode has a central portion ground electrode component provided on a first surface so as to extend along a first direction, and the second ground electrode has a central portion ground electrode component provided on a second surface so as to extend along the first direction. The central portion ground electrode components respectively have a first and a second through-holes, and these through-holes overlap the wide portion of the signal electrode as seen in a planar view.

Patent Literature Nos. 1 and 2 and Non-Patent Literature Nos. 1 and 2 below disclose optical modulators having a ridge optical waveguide. Each of the optical modulators disclosed in Patent Literature No. 1 and Non-Patent Literature No. 1 below has an overhang-shaped signal electrode provided on the ridge optical waveguide, and each of the optical modulators disclosed in Patent Literature No. 2 and Non-Patent Literature No. 2 below has a signal electrode having a mushroom shape.


A portable vibration monitoring probe is provided which comprises a housing, a probe and a transducer is provided. An analog to digital converter is coupled to the transducer output. The vibration monitor comprises an interface configured to transmit digital data comprising vibration parameters derived from the digitized analog signal to processing circuitry external to the housing. In some embodiments of the present invention, vibration monitors may be configured to store information in a memory located near the measuring point.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for the detection of bearing and other malfunctions in machinery. More specifically, the present invention relates to portable vibration monitors and vibration coupling studs for monitoring the vibrational and other characteristics of the machine.
II. Description of the Related Art
In order to properly maintain machinery used in manufacturing facilities, power generating stations, etc., it has become common to employ vibration monitoring equipment to detect variations in the vibration characteristics of the machinery while they are operating. This assists in the determination of appropriate intervals for machine maintenance, and as a warning of imminent machine failure. It can be appreciated that proper scheduling of maintenance can improve the operating efficiency of the facility, and that a warning of imminent machine failure can avoid catastrophic machine damage as well as danger to facility personnel.
Many systems have been developed to implement such a monitoring procedure. In some systems, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,663 to Judd et al., for example, transducers are fixed to machinery throughout a plant or other facility, and the electrical signals from the transducers are wired to a central computer system for monitoring. Another system of this nature is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,327 to Talmadge et al. In the system described by Talmadge, the analog transducer signal is pre-processed with programmable filtering circuitry located within the transducer housing. The central computer of the Talmadge et al. system can both store and retrieve transducer ID data and instructions directing signal pre-processing into and out of a memory located within the transducer housing at the measuring point.
Systems of this design have the advantage that all points of interest in the plant can be continuously and simultaneously monitored. However, such a system is expensive to implement, requiring a large number of dedicated vibration transducers as well as interconnecting wiring strung throughout the facility. Accordingly, such implementations are most useful in situations where machine failure may have especially serious consequences, such as in a nuclear power plant for example.
A less expensive alternative to such a system uses a portable monitoring probe having an internal transducer and signal processing circuitry. A system such as this is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,674 to Canada et al. In systems of this design, plant personnel will walk a generally predetermined route around a facility being monitored in order to apply a portable data collection device to measuring points at various locations on the machinery to be monitored. In the Canada et al. patent, for example, a technician carries a handheld probe which is connected to a separate portable data collection and processing device. One portion of the handheld probe is placed either in direct contact with the outside of the machine to be monitored, or in direct contact with a vibration coupling stud secured to the outside of the machine to be monitored. Mechanical vibration is thus coupled to an internal piezoelectric vibration transducer for creating an electrical signal indicative of the vibratory acceleration of the machine being monitored. The handheld probe then outputs an analog vibration signal to a separate data collection and processing device. Vibration parameters such as acceleration and velocity are calculated and stored for later analysis.
A commercially available device of this nature is the Picolog (TM) from SKF Condition Monitoring of San Diego, Calif. The Picolog system comprises a handheld probe capable of measuring and storing hundreds of separate vibration level measurements. These measurements are later uploaded to a host computer system for analysis. The Picolog (TM), however, does not provide a real-time output of the vibration measurement.
Although these systems are relatively inexpensive, they have several disadvantages. One fundamental disadvantage is that the technician must accurately record where and when each vibration measurement is taken. Although a specific route which is followed by all technicians when gathering vibration data may be established, but this increases the required training, and some transcriptional or other route errors are essentially inevitable.
Although some devices have been designed to alleviate this problem, significant potential for improvement remains. A system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,512 to Busch discloses a vibration data measuring probe which can read a measuring point code from a vibration coupling stud located at a particular measuring point. The coupling stud of this system includes a unique identifier such as a bar code, a specific arrangement of magnets, a ridge pattern, or other similar identifying characteristic. When the portable probe is applied to the coupling stud, a reader slides along the bar code, magnets, ridges, etc., thereby creating a signal which is transferred to a computer attached to the probe. This system is stated to allow the computer to identify the coupling stud the probe is attached to, thereby reducing or eliminating the need to manually transcribe information regarding the data point. However, the amount of information storable in the vibration coupling stud is very limited, and the probe required to read the code is mechanically complex.
What is needed in the art is therefore a vibration data collection system which incorporates increased capabilities for data storage at the measuring point, which is easy to use, and which is inexpensive to manufacture.


A housing for a backlight module is disclosed. The housing has a bottom casing and a side frame for holding a lighting unit, a light guide plate having a protrusion, and optionally a plurality of optical sheets. In particular, an indentation part is formed on the side frame for holding the protrusion, and a slit with unequal width is formed adjacent to the indentation part. A backlight module using the above-mentioned housing is also disclosed therewith.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight module of a liquid crystal display and, said backlight module having indentation part to absorb shock or import energy and to prevent the light guide plate from cracking.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, the precision electronics products have to pass some basic inspections before they enter the market so as to guarantee an acceptable extent of product quality as well as rights and interests of consumers. This is of course also true for notebook computers. Every notebook manufacturer certainly has a matured system of quality control in the production and inspection of devices so that the quality control can be implemented thoroughly. In particular, in the circumstance of a vigorously competitive market, the manufacturers tend to manifest the reliability of products by drawing up strict inspection criteria in order to gain the market identification. Therefore, each notebook computer has to pass a complete set of tests including those for endurance to shock and pressure, the opening and closing lifetime of the screen, high and low temperature environment, electric wave affection, static environment, severe operation, etc. Among the tests above-mentioned, the shock test is aimed to inspect the impact resistance of the interior of the notebook. By dropping the notebook vertically to a metal platform, the shock test can test the antishock capability of the notebook. In the shock test, strict scrutiny of the antishock capability of both the notebook body and the liquid crystal display device is carried out.
In the early stages of notebook computer testing, the requirement of shock endurance was comparatively low with respect to current criteria, hence the backlight module could pass the shock test without need for further refinement. However, more exacting standards developed since then have resulted in the lamp of the backlight module of the liquid crystal display device often breaking due to the impact of the light guide plate during the shock test. Thus, the original design of the backlight module can no longer pass the shock test. Therefore, current light guide plates are modified to have a pair of protrusions, which can be held by the corresponding indentation parts formed on the frame in order to prevent the light guide plate from impacting on the lamp. The trend of notebook computers to become increasingly compact has resulted in the need for the liquid crystal display devices to be made thinner. Hence, the thickness of the light guide plate of the backlight module, is correspondingly reduced. Simultaneously, the shock endurance testing for the notebook computer has become even stricter. Consequently, the thinned light guide plate with lower mechanical strength cannot endure that strong impact and, particularly, often cracks at the root of protrusions. The high scrap rate of the light guide plate is an economic burden for the manufacturers. Therefore, it was proposed in USP20030043312 to form a damping slit adjacent to the indentation part, as shown in FIG. 3. Because the lamp is located below the housing 100, a slit 120 with equal width is formed below the indentation part 110 of the housing 100 so that the structure strength around the indentation part 110 of the side frame is weakened, a buffer space for the deformation of the protrusion 130 caused by the impact of the light guide plate is provided, and the impact force can therefore be decreased. However, the width of the slot 120 is limited and must be less than the distance between the light guide plate and the lamp in order to mitigate the impact effectively and certainly prevent the lamp from being impacted by the light guide plate. However, in order to reduce the volume of the liquid crystal display device and enhance the lighting efficiency, the distance between the light guide plate and the lamp has become very short, so it is quite difficult in practice to make a mold for manufacturing such a narrow slit. Even though the mold can be made successfully, the lifetime of the mold is still very short because the structure strength of a narrow slit is weak and it can't endure a plastic injection process too many times, and thus again, overall manufacturing costs are too high.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a housing for a backlight module and a backlight module using the same to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Housing for a backlight module and backlight module using the same


Fuel port structure (10) of a fuel pump (20) includes a fuel port (12) having a periphery (14), an internal portion defining a fuel passage (16), and a free end (18). An electrically conductive grounding structure (22) has a first portion (24) disposed at least partially within the fuel passage and a second portion (26) extending from the free end. A fuel delivery tube (28) is coupled to the periphery of the fuel port at the free end thereof. The fuel delivery tube has an electrically conductive portion (30) in contact with the second portion of the grounding structure to provide a discharge path for static electricity created when fuel flows through the fuel passage.

Recently, there has been a greater focus on Electro Static Dissipation (ESD) in vehicle fuel supply systems. It is known that as fuel flows through various components of the fuel supply system, such as the fuel pump assembly, the fuel filter, and various valving and tubing, there is the potential for static electricity to be generated in the various conductive components of the fuel supply system. To dissipate this static electricity, fuel supply systems electrically ground the components through electrical interconnection. For example, some systems employ a separate cable harness which grounds through the pump negative. Other systems employ grounding clips that touch the inline filter.
There is a need to provide for ESD at an outlet of a fuel pump without requiring the fuel pump outlet port to be electrically conductive.

Electrostatic discharge solution for angled fuel port of a fuel pump


A semiconductor device includes a source and a drain formed in a device region of a semiconductor substrate, and an electrode withdrawal portion having an impurity concentration higher than that of the device region. The electrode withdrawal portion is formed so as to adjoin either one of the source and drain. An electrode for the source or drain adjacent to the electrode withdrawal portion is used jointly as an electrode for the electrode withdrawal portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device such as a MOS transistor or the like and a method of manufacturing it, and particularly to a compact semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing it.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a MOS transistor, a drain current that flows between a source and a drain thereof formed in a semiconductor substrate, is controlled according to the value of a gate voltage corresponding to a voltage applied to a gate formed in relation to the source and drain thereof.
A threshold voltage of the gate, which allows the drain current, varies according to a potential applied to the semiconductor substrate. Thus, in order to control the potential of the semiconductor substrate, an electrode drawing or withdrawal portion used for an element or device region is formed in the device region for the MOS transistor, in which the source and drain are formed. A substrate electrode is provided at the electrode withdrawal portion independent of respective electrodes for the source and drain.
In order to obtain an ohmic contact between the substrate electrode and a device region for the semiconductor substrate, the electrode withdrawal portion is supplied with an impurity concentration higher than that of the device region by an impurity of the same conduction type as in the device region.
When the MOS transistor is now used as a digital circuit component such as an inverter or the like, it is necessary to maintain the potential of the semiconductor substrate, i.e., a potential applied to a well when the MOS transistor is formed in the well corresponding to the device region for the semiconductor substrate, for example, at a predetermined value.
Therefore, the substrate electrode provided at the electrode withdrawal portion for the device region is electrically connected to either one of the source and drain electrodes by an external interconnection to hold the substrate electrode at the same potential as that applied to the source or drain electrode.

Semiconductor device having an improved structure and capable of greatly reducing its occupied area


In a non-volatile memory (NVM) persistence method, a memory controller maintains a plurality of memory write instruction sets that are locked separately for persistence of write operations. A credit value for monitoring a quantity of completed write instructions is configured for each of the plurality of memory write instruction sets, and a credit value is also configured for each of a plurality of medium write instruction sets maintained by a medium controller and corresponding respectively to the memory write instruction sets. After a memory write instruction set is locked in response to a persistence query, the credit value of a corresponding medium write instruction set is used as means for the memory controller to determine whether the write instructions in the locked memory write instruction set have been completed by the medium controller.

Data persistence indicates that data that has been successfully written into a persistent non-volatile memory NVM is not lost even when a system crash or a power failure occurs. For example, when data of an application program has a persistence attribute, the application program can be restored, based on data stored in an NVM, to a normal running state after a system crash or a power failure occurs. In current application, an NVM is usually used as a memory, so that running of an application program can be directly restored from the memory after a system crash or a power failure occurs. However, when the NVM is used as a memory, an existing double data rate (DDR) memory protocol cannot support data persistence confirmation. The reason is that in the existing DDR memory protocol, a write instruction is committed immediately after data is written into a central processing unit (CPU) cache, and the CPU and the application program cannot continue to track and learn whether data of the write instruction is really written into the memory.
To determine whether the data of the write instruction is written into the memory, a persistence confirmation solution is currently proposed, that is, a PCOMMIT instruction and a CLFLUSH instruction are used to implement persistence confirmation. The CLFLUSH instruction can be used to write back data specified in the CPU cache, and a write instruction is generated and sent to a memory controller. With the PCOMMIT instruction, all write instructions in the memory controller are forcibly written into the memory. In an execution process of the PCOMMIT instruction, the memory controller keeps blocking a new write instruction that is to enter the memory controller, until all the write instructions in the memory controller are sent to a memory chip. According to the foregoing method, it can be confirmed that the data is successfully written into the memory and persistence of the data is completed.
In the current persistence confirmation solution, the PCOMMIT instruction is used to instruct a persistence operation to be completed on all the write instructions in the memory controller. In the execution process of the PCOMMIT instruction, all write instructions to enter the memory controller are blocked. This reduces new write instructions sent to the memory controller, to avoid affecting execution of the PCOMMIT instruction. However, write instructions of all application programs cannot be sent to the memory controller for the moment while the foregoing effect is achieved. Therefore, an application program that invokes the PCOMMIT instruction greatly affects performance of other application programs, and overall system running efficiency becomes low.

Non-volatile memory persistence method and computing device


An LED light source module includes a base, an LED light source positioned on the base, an optical lens located on the light path of the LED light source and a diffusion plate positioned above the optical lens. An upper surface of the base is a light reflective surface. The optical lens defines a through hole aligned with the LED light source. A reflecting body is protruded from the diffusion plate toward the through hole of the optical lens. When the light emitted from the LED light source is projected to the reflecting surface of the light reflecting body through the through hole, the light is reflected by the reflecting surface to reach the upper surface of the base, and then is reflected by the upper surface of the base to reach the diffusion plate.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to light source modules, and more particularly to an LED (light emitting diode) light source module having a uniform distribution of light output, whereby the LED light source module is suitable for illuminating a planar display, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a sign box.
2. Description of Related Art
LEDs have been widely promoted as light sources of electronic devices owing to many advantages, such as high luminosity, low operational voltage and low power consumption. A traditional LED light source module commonly includes an LED light source and an optical lens covering the LED light source. However, the light intensity at the right top of the LED light source module is stronger than that of the peripheral area of the LED light source module, thereby causing the light field of the LED light source module to be not uniform.
Therefore, an LED light source module which is capable of overcoming the above described shortcomings is desired.

Light emitting diode light source module having uniform illumination


This invention provides a pair of downhill snow skis having deep side cuts which allow greater maneuverability and safety, particularly on steep slopes. Each ski is provided with two cutting edges on each side, as contrasted to one on each side in ordinary skis. The lower edge, on the bottom of the ski, is active when the angle between the ski and the slope ranges from near zero up to 52 degrees; the upper edge, near the top of the ski, is active at angles greater than 52 degrees. These edges provide ability to execute true carved turns of about one-tenth to one quarter the radii of turns executed by ordinary skis (about 20 to 45 feet as compared to about 200 feet).

The natural carved turn radius of a ski is determined by the relation between its length and side cut, and the angle theta formed between the ski and the slope during turns. The turn radius is not constant for a given ski, but decreases with increasing theta angle. Mathematically, the nominal turning radius of a ski is defined by the following equation (from "Skiing Mechanics" by John Howe, 1983, p. 102): r=(L.sup.z Cos theta)/8 sc, where r is the natural carved turn radius of the ski, L is the length of the ski, sc is the side cut of the ski, and theta is as defined above. The natural turning radius of skis is ordinarily 150 to over 200 feet. A much shorter turning radius is desirable, particularly on steep slopes, because this is the dominant factor in control of speed and balance. The long turning radius of conventional skis leads to unacceptably high speeds during turns, even on moderate slopes. Only expert skiers on especially designed slopes can make true carved turns; most skiers maintain only imperfect control as a result of these long turning radii. In addition to the danger to themselves and others resulting from this instability, they must side-slip the back of their skis to shorten the turn and thereby reduce speed to maintain control. Side-slipping results in effective loss of a significant portion of the ski edges with resulting loss of supporting "platform". Side-slipping requires unweighting of the skis, a maneuver many skiers never adequately learn and which in any case requires much energy. On steeper slopes, this side-slipping results in the formation of moguls.
Another advantage of a short turning radius is that lower speeds are possible without dropping below the speed necessary to overcome critical angle effects encountered at the beginning of turns. The critical angle is defined as that angle of traverse below which the skier is unstable when gravitational forces in the plane of the slope equal or exceed the centrifugal force generated by a turn. Since centrifugal force varies directly with the square of the velocity and inversely with the radius of the turn, skis with shorter turning radii generate much greater centrifugal force at a given velocity. For example, skis with a natural turning radius of 45 feet require a velocity of only 15 MPH to maintain stability on a slope of 20 degrees at the beginning of a turn, as compared to 30 MPH on skis with a turning radius of 190 feet (these figures are derived from equation 10-2, page 121 of the reference cited above).
Snowboards, being shorter than skis, and wider (which allows for side cuts on the order of 0.8 inch or more), have natural carved turn radii on the order of 30 to 40 feet. Conventional skis, by contrast, are constrained by their current design to side cuts on the order of only 0.3 inch.


A method and apparatus for correcting a color registration are provided for improving the quality of images of an image forming apparatus. A surface condition is estimated of an intermediate transfer belt used to correct a color registration. A determination is made as to whether an abnormal section exists on the intermediate transfer belt. Location information is stored regarding the abnormal section on the intermediate transfer belt, if the abnormal section exists. A mark for color registration correction is formed on a normal section, other than the abnormal section. The color registration is corrected using the mark. Accordingly, if a partially inferior section appears in the intermediate transfer belt and a mark is not normally formed, the color registration is successfully corrected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method for correcting a color registration. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method for correcting a color registration according to an intermediate transfer belt condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrophotographic printers such as color laser printers comprise four color photoconductive drums Dy, Dc, Dm, and Dk corresponding to four colors, such as, yellow, cyan, magenta, and black, respectively. A laser scan unit scans the four photoconductive drums Dy, Dc, Dm, and Dk with laser beams to form desired electrostatic latent images. A developing unit develops the electrostatic latent images using color developers. A transfer belt transfers a completed color image, which is obtained by overlapping the images developed on the photoconductive drums Dy, Dc, Dm, and Dk with one another to paper.
A single color image may be obtained by developing color images formed on the four photoconductive drums Dy, Dc, Dm, and Dk using color developers, overlapping the color images at the same position of the transfer belt, and transferring a completed color image to paper.
In order to accurately overlap the four-color images at the same position of the transfer belt and obtain a desired color image, four colors have to match in a transfer beginning position and a transfer ending position. If the images formed on the four photoconductive drums Dy, Dc, Dm, and Dk are all vividly developed, but are out of registration when being transferred to the transfer belt, a clear color image cannot be obtained.
Therefore, it is important to take into account a travel velocity of the transfer belt and match points of scanning time when the photoconductive drums Dy, Dc, Dm, and Dk are exposed to laser beams by the laser scan unit. The scanning time matching to overlap a plurality of color images accurately is referred to as "color registration".
If the scanning times are matched according to an initially set value, an error may still occur in the color registration as a printing operation progresses. The error occurring in the color registration may be caused by various reasons such as an error caused by inaccurate arrangements of a color developing unit, error occurring in the manufacturing of an optical lens, and error occurring in the driven transfer belt. Additional errors may occur if the printer has a serial structure composed of a plurality of developing units.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a system that adopts a conventional method for correcting color registration. Referring to FIG. 1, the system comprises a color registration sensor 10, intermediate transfer belt 20, controller 30, and laser scan unit 40.
The color registration sensor 10 comprises a light emitting unit 13 and a light receiving unit 17. The light emitting unit 13 emits a constant level of light toward the intermediate transfer belt 20. The light receiving unit 17 detects a reflection pattern of light reflected from the intermediate transfer belt 20.
The intermediate transfer belt 20 has a certain mark that is formed by the laser scanning unit 40, which is necessary to correct a color registration. The controller 30 receives the reflection pattern from the light receiving unit 17 and corrects the color registration based on the reflection pattern.
The laser scan unit 40 irradiates laser beams and selectively exposes charged photoconductive media to laser beams, thereby forming electrostatic latent images on surfaces of the photoconductive media, and simultaneously forms a certain mark on the intermediate transfer belt 20 by scanning the intermediate transfer belt 20.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional method for correcting a color registration. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the laser scan unit 40 forms a certain mark on the intermediate transfer belt 20 that is required to correct a color registration at operation S200. The certain mark may use various types of patterns including a total reflection or irregular reflection pattern.
Next, the light emitting unit 13 of the color registration sensor 10 emits light toward the intermediate transfer belt 20 at operation S210. The light receiving unit 17 of the color registration sensor 10 detects a reflection pattern. The reflection pattern is estimated as a voltage level by the light receiving unit 17 at operation S220.
The light receiving unit 17 transmits the estimated voltage level to the controller 30 and the controller 30 determines whether it is possible to correct a color registration based on the transmitted control level (voltage level) at operation S230.
If it is possible to correct a color registration, the controller 30 stores location information regarding the mark formed on the intermediate transfer belt 20 based on the voltage level at operation S240. According to the location information, an X offset, Y offset, width error, and skew are calculated.
The X offset indicates an error occurring in a direction of scanning, which is a direction where the color registration sensor 10 scans. The Y offset indicates an error occurring in a direction where the intermediate transfer belt 20 advances. The width error indicates an error occurring due to a difference between horizontal widths in an image area, and the skew indicates an error occurring due to tilted scanning lines.
The controller 30 corrects the color registration based on the above calculated data at operation S260. The controller 30 also controls the scanning times of the laser scan unit 40 based on the corrected color registration and performs a printing operation at operation S270.
However, if the intermediate transfer belt 20 has an uneven surface or a partially abnormal section appears due to the change in the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 20, it is impossible to correct the color registration accurately.
That is, according to the conventional method for correcting the color registration, the color registration is corrected regardless of the surface condition of the intermediate transfer belt 20. Since the color registration is corrected, print positions of respective color images are not accurately controlled due to the problem of the intermediate transfer belt surface. Accordingly, quality of images printed on paper deteriorates.

System and method for correcting color registration


A tracking control apparatus includes an A/D converter, an edge detection circuit, a latch circuit and a ROM to change a tracking error signal having a sinusoidal characteristic representing a relative position of a light beam and a track on a disk to have a sawtooth characteristic representing the relative position. Stable tracking control free from off-tracking due to a disturbance is attained even when amplitudes of the tracking error signal and a tracking sum signal are not equal.

An optical disk or a magneto-optical disk which uses an optical or magneto-optical signal recording system has recently been developed, and an optical recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing information to and from such a disk has also been developed. In such an apparatus, a tracking actuator is driven in accordance with a polarity and a level of a tracking error signal produced by an optical pickup to attain tracking control so that a track center is always followed without regard to an eccentricity of the disk.
On the other hand, in order to improve a data transfer speed from the disk to a processor, the rotation speed of the disk is increased and a relative speed between a light beam and the track has been increased in spite of the reduction of the eccentricity of the disk. If the relative speed is lower than a pull-in speed determined by a tracking control band, the light beam is pulled onto, a target track but if it is higher than the pull-in speed, the pull-in is unstable and the light beam may be pulled onto a different track. As a result, in an access operation which requires a jump over tracks, the light beam may be pulled onto a track which is far distant from the target track and reaccess operation is needed. Thus, an access time is long.
JP-A-63-181179 discloses a solution to the above problems.
In the disclosed method, tracking is properly attained when amplitudes of a tracking error signal and a tracking sum signal are equal, but the waveform amplitudes are not equal in a disk in which a track groove depth varies. Thus, the disclosed method is not applicable to such a disk.
In the disclosed method, an allowable range for the pull-in to the target track is .vertline.X.vertline.<P/2 when P is a track pitch and X is a deviation of the light beam in a radial direction, measured from the target track. Thus, the pull-in to the target track is not attained when .vertline.X.vertline.>P/2. (X represents an absolute value of X).

Tracking control apparatus for generating sawtooth tracking control signal from sinusoidal tracking error signal


A technique for joint repair employing a suture/button construct and an applicator designed to securely engage a button of the suture/button construct. The button of the suture/button construct securely engages two shafts of the applicator (i.e., an angled, non-vertical flat face of the outer shaft and a threaded region of the inner shaft). Engagement to and disengagement from the applicator is conducted without rotation of the button. The applicator with the secured button is introduced into the tissue (for example, soft tissue or a bone tunnel) and the button is passed through the tissue.

Suture/button constructs have been used for fixation of ankle syndesmosis (U.S. Pat. No. 7,235,091), acromioclavicular (AC) joint fixation (U.S. Patent Appl. Publ. No. 2007/0179531) and more recently, for small joint surgery, such as bunion repair (U.S. Pat. No. 7,875,058), or lisfranc repair (U.S. Pat. No. 7,901,431). In these small joint techniques, the suture/button construct is passed through a passage or tunnel (for example, a drilled hole) by employing a needle that pulls the button and the attached suture through the passage or tunnel. Pulling of the needle through the passage or tunnel, and subsequently out the skin, may be difficult, however, in certain circumstances, such as hallux valgus correction and lisfranc ligament repair. In addition, proper positioning of the buttons (for example, of the oblong and round button of the suture/button construct) may be difficult when the buttons are pulled through with suture and needle.
An instrument for pushing the buttons and attached suture through the drilled hole (instead of having to pull them through using the needle) is described in U.S. Patent Appl. Publ. No. 2009/0043318, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety herewith. As detailed in U.S. Patent Appl. Publ. No. 2009/0043318, the shaft of the instrument is provided with an engagement mechanism that securely engages a corresponding structure (for example, a cavity or recess) of the button of the suture/button construct. The cavity (recess) of the button has a diameter about equal to the diameter of the shaft to allow a tight fit of the button to the applicator during advancement of the button through soft tissue or bone hole. The button is secured to the instrument with suture.
An instrument that would be able to push the button and attached suture through the drilled hole, and allow the button to be screwed and unscrewed from the instrument without causing rotation of the button, is needed. Also needed are methods of positive control and release of buttons used in surgical procedures, particularly in orthopedic procedures.

Applicator for suture/button construct with positive retention and control


A reversible expansion locking element for selectively securing two tubes or rods in telescoping relationship with respect to one another wherein the element has oppositely oriented outwardly expandable conical threaded portions separated by a central protrusion. The expansion element is receivable within a first hollow tube and is adapted to receive a threaded end of the other tube or rod.

The present invention relates to the sector of household accessories and in particular concerns a locking device for the various elements of telescopic rods. Said telescopic units can be used to support brooms, flags, clothes-stands, hooks, curtains and any other object that can be manually moved and supported. In order to simplify the description, the application regarding brooms will be described here below, though this is not to be intended as a limitation. In fact, brooms are known, the handle of which is divided in two or more sliding telescopic tubes positioned one inside the other.
Obviously, it is necessary to adopt a system to lock the two tubes, so that the tubes cannot slide reciprocally and that the length of the broom can be adjusted according to the need.
These brooms are particularly practical to clean either floors and ceilings, even if very high, and walls, too. However, there are some problems with the assembly of such tubes one inside the other and with locking them. At present an external metal ring is used to tighten the two tubes reciprocally. Such metal ring screws on a threaded head of the outer tube, which is provided with slits, thus narrowing it and obtaining the locking on the inner tube. Such devices are expensive and not aesthetical in appearence.
At present also expansion elements are used, which comprise a cylindrical body with an internal, truncated cone-shaped thread on one side, while the other side is half closed and provided with one or more slits to facilitate the expansion of the element itself.
A separating device, integral with the inner tube, is inserted into the expansion element, which can slide in the outer tube. Such a separating device comprises a truncated cone-shaped point provided with a thread, which screws inside the expansion element, thus widening it and making it exert a certain pressure on the inner walls of the outer tube. In this way, through the rotation of the inner and outer tube in opposite directions, it is possible to obtain the screwing of the separating device on the expansion element, with consequent locking of the two tubes.
This system can obviously be applied to two or more telescopic tubes. The drawback of this system is that it is mono-directional and that it makes it necessary to decide during the assembly phase in which direction the tightening element made up by the expander must be installed. This system may lead to mistakes in the assembly, which make it necessary to put aside the rods assembled incorrectly, to disassemble them in order to reverse the expander and to reassemble the unit.
At the moment, these inconveniences can be avoided only by proceeding very slowly and carefully.


An ultrasonic processing method is disclosed wherein during the processing time interval the motional amplitude and engaging force of the resonating horn and thereby the power and engaging pressure to the workpiece is varied to improve weld strength and decrease weld cycle time. The variation in motional amplitude and engaging force may be in response to a process condition such as a change in dimensions of the workpiece, a sharp rise in the transducer power curve, or in response to the lapse of a predetermined time interval.

This invention concerns a method for processing workpieces by ultrasonic energy and, more specifically, refers to a method for processing thermoplastic workpieces using vibratory energy in the ultrasonic frequency range for bonding, sealing, or welding thermoplastic film and fabric materials as well as substantially rigid workpieces. Quite specifically, this invention concerns a method wherein the motional amplitudes and engaging forces of the ultrasonic transducer horn in contact with the workpiece are varied over particular profiles during the weld cycle, thereby varying the power transmitted from the horn to the workpiece and the engaging force during such cycle.
Ultrasonic welding is one of the most common techniques for joining thermoplastic sub-assemblies. Its primary advantages are its short cycle times and moderate capital costs. Typical manual cycle production times are less than three to five seconds, resulting in production rates above 500 units per hour. The traditional techniques of welding thermoplastic workpieces and plunge sealing film and fabric materials by ultrasonic energy are well known. The techniques work by applying relatively high stresses to the parts being joined to induce hysterisis heating at the bond line. During a weld cycle, the workpieces are supported on an anvil. A horn, dimensioned to be resonant, preferably as a one-half wavelength resonator or multiples thereof, for high frequency vibrations of predetermined frequency traveling longitudinally therethrough, is brought into forced engagement with the workpiece for the duration of the weld cycle, and responsive to the horn being rendered resonant, ultrasonic energy is transmitted to the workpieces, for causing a softening and flowing of the thermoplastic material.
Generally it is recognized that the ultrasonic energy or power transmitted to the workpiece is dependent on three factors, namely, the frequency of the electroacoustic transducer, the engaging force or clamping pressures applied to the workpiece by the horn, and the motional amplitude of the horn as it transmits the energy to the workpieces. It will be appreciated that, in general, in an ultrasonic welding machine, the frequency of the electroacoustic transducer is relatively constant, preferably within the range of 20-40 KHz. Similarly, in the past, it has been the common practice to retain the motional amplitude of the horn, i.e., the peak-to-peak mechanical excursion of the frontal horn surface in contact with the workpieces (measured in microns, and herein designated as ".mu.m.sub.pp "), constant during the entire weld cycle.
In the welding of rigid thermoplastic components, the ultrasonic energy transmitted to the weld surfaces from the horn propagates through the upper workpiece, and is concentrated at the weld surfaces by means of an "energy director," as described in the coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,516. The energy director is a molded-in stress concentrator which locally deforms under the motional force and stress induced by the ultrasonic energy. The local deformation of the energy director initiates heating and melting from the hysterisis losses of the thermoplastic. The average heating rate (Q.sub.avg) of the energy director is governed by the general equation: ##EQU1## where .epsilon..sub.O is the strain, which is proportional to amplitude; .omega. is the frequency; and E" is the complex loss modulus.
Once melting occurs, the molten energy director flows across the surface to be joined, forming a weld bead. The rate of flow is determined by a number of variables, but is primarily effected by the temperature of the melt and the engaging force applied to the parts. After the application of ultrasonic energy is discontinued, the melt solidifies under a continued engaging force to form a fused joint, thereby establishing a bond or weld between the workpieces. It can be seen in the average heating rate equation set forth above that the heating is proportional to the square of the applied strain, which is in turn proportional to the vibrational amplitude of the horn face. Thus, the bond line heating can be controlled by varying the motional amplitude. At higher amplitudes, the average bond line heating rate is higher, which in turn causes the temperature to rise to higher levels, resulting in the melt having a higher flow rate. High flows rates lead to a high degree of molecular alignment, but this alignment is orthogonal to the desired loading stress on the workpieces, and can result in fractures initiated at any discontinuities in the weld. An additional effect of high flow rates is significant flash, which is undesirable as a cosmetic consideration. On the other extreme, insufficiently high motional amplitude can result in a non-uniform melt initiation and/or premature solidification of the melt due to inadequate heating.
Similarly, it is seen that the strength of the resulting weld is generally inversely proportional to the engaging force. A higher engaging force promotes a high degree of molecular alignment within in the melt by forcing the molten material to flow and solidify under the higher pressures. This results in a weaker weld upon solidification, subject to fractures as described above. The level of the engaging force additionally is seen to effect the time required to complete the weld cycle. At the higher engaging forces, the melted material flows more rapidly, and is reduced to a thinner layer, allowing for a more rapid solidification. Lower engaging forces permit the melt to form a thicker layer, and decrease the flow rate. Accordingly, the weld cycle time is proportional to the engaging force.
Conventional methods of ultrasonic welding do not permit the simultaneous control and variation of the motional amplitude and engaging force during the weld cycle. Rather, it has been common practice to maintain the motional amplitude of the horn, i.e. the peak-to-peak mechanical excursion of the frontal horn surface in contact with the workpiece, constant at a rate sufficient to produce the desired flow rate in the molten material during the entire time interval of ultrasonic power transfer to the workpiece. Similarly, most welding systems are pneumatically driven by standard pressure regulators which hold the engaging force between the frontal horn surface and the workpiece relatively constant during the weld cycle. However, during an ultrasonic thermoplastic welding cycle, the workpieces transition through several different phases, each of which may benefit from different motional amplitudes and engaging forces to decrease weld cycle time and increase the quality of the weld in terms of strength, consistency, and cosmetics. Accordingly, the present invention discloses a method in which both the motional amplitude of the horn and the engaging force are varied during the weld cycle in response to a control signal which may be responsive, for instance, to a change in the power transmitted from the horn to the workpiece, a process related change of the workpiece dimensions, a process related timing signal, or some other process related parameter.
The invention, which will be described in detail hereinafter, has been made possible by the development of a method of varying motional amplitude during ultrasonic welding disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,863 issued to J. L. Frantz, dated Jul. 25, 1995, entitled "Method for Processing Workpieces by Ultrasonic Energy", which patent is specifically incorporated herein for reference. This method describes the process of reducing motional amplitude of the horn during a weld cycle, thereby varying the power delivered to the workpieces and producing a stronger weld.

Simultaneous amplitude and force profiling during ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic workpieces


The present disclosure relates to a method of calibrating a cochlea implant and present disclosure relates to a cochlea implant. Further, the present disclosure relates to use of cochlea implants and use of calibration method for cochlea implants. The methods, uses, and implants of the present disclosure provides improved auditory experience for the users of cochlea implants.

Cochlea implants use digital signal processing techniques to decompose an input signal into multiple frequency-filtered bands, which are then transmitted to an electrode array implanted in the scala typmani for direct stimulation thereof. While cochlea implants do deliver significant auditory functionality to patients with profound hearing loss, there are still problems with the cochlea implants.
For a healthy ear with functioning cochlea, there is a tonotopic mapping from frequencies in the sound signal that excites the round window to the place of excitation on the cochlea, and further to the auditory nerves that converts the motion of the basilar membrane at that point to nerve signals.
The cochlea performs the function of frequency dispersion by causing sound input at certain frequencies to vibrate at some locations and other frequencies to vibrate at other locations on the basilar membrane. It has been shown that high frequencies lead to maximum vibrations at the basal end of the cochlea coil and low frequencies lead to maximum vibration at the apical end and stimulation of the nearby auditory cells. The tonotopic organisation of the basilar membrane is therefore followed by a tonotopic organisation of the auditory nerves, which means that a given auditory nerve is associated with the frequency corresponding to its position on the basilar membrane.
When implanting the electrode array in the scala typmani the frequency mapping that associates each electrode with the frequency corresponding to the nearest auditory nerve is not known due to variations in length of basilar membrane, insertion depth, etc.
Cochlea implant bypasses the middle ear, basilar membrane and stimulates the auditory nerves directly. This means that electric signals may be transferred directly or indirectly to cochlear nerve and/or to auditory cortex of the user. Hence, the aforementioned tonotopic mapping provided by the basilar membrane is not available for cochlea implants, as the sound is not converted to nerve signals by the ear.
A Cochlear Implant typically includes i) an external part for picking up and processing sound from the environment, and for determining sequences of pulses for stimulation of the electrodes in dependence on the current input sound, ii) a (typically wireless, e.g. inductive) communication link for simultaneously transmitting information about the stimulation sequences and for transferring energy to iii) an implanted part allowing the stimulation to be generated and applied to a number of electrodes, which are implantable in different locations of the cochlea allowing a stimulation of different frequencies of the audible range. Such systems are e.g. described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,441 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,930.
In an aspect, the hearing device comprises multi-electrode array e.g. in the form of a carrier comprising a multitude of electrodes adapted for being located in the cochlea in proximity of an auditory nerve of the user. The carrier is preferably made of a flexible material to allow proper positioning of the electrodes in the cochlea such that the electrodes may be inserted in cochlea of a recipient. Preferably, the individual electrodes are spatially distributed along the length of the carrier to provide a corresponding spatial distribution along the cochlear nerve in cochlea when the carrier is inserted in cochlea.
For end-users with unilateral deafness, pitch mapping and other objective measures such as ASSR, can be used to obtain the mapping from acoustic frequency to electrode position. However, that is not possible for bilateral deafness as there is no healthy reference to which the mapping can be compared to.
Hence, an improved cochlea hearing system, in particular suitable for bilateral deaf people, further an improved method of operating a cochlea hearing system, would be advantageous. Bilateral deaf people may e.g. have two implants, one at each cochlea.
It is a further object of the present disclosure to provide an alternative to the prior art.
In particular, it may be seen as an object of the present disclosure to provide a cochlea hearing system and/or method for operating a cochlea hearing system, that solves, at least alleviates or provides an alternative the above mentioned problems of the prior art.

Calibration method for cochlear system and hearing system applying calibration mapping


A method of activating a lottery ticket at a mobile device, comprising: performing the following to a mobile device side: acquiring, by a camera of the mobile device, an image of a lottery ticket having an identification code and a visual security means; sending the identification code to a main server; receiving instructions to manipulate an interactive three-dimensional presentation from the main server; augmenting the interactive three-dimensional presentation in an image sequence imaging the lottery ticket, the image sequence is currently captured by the camera and displayed by the mobile device; receiving input from a user interacting with the interactive three-dimensional presentation using user interface of the mobile device; and manipulating the interactive three-dimensional presentation according to the instructions and in response to processing the input.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to activating a lottery ticket at a mobile device and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to activating a lottery ticket at a mobile device using augmented reality interface.
Many types of lottery tickets and methods of activating them are used by lottery companies. Some of these methods include physical altering of the ticket. Some of the methods use electronic devices, such as personal mobile devices, for scanning the lottery card.
To prevent counterfeit of lottery cards, many different measures exist, including, such as holographic prints and/or complex numbering system.


The present invention involves intermediates, including a 7α-substituted steroid (II),

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention includes a process for the transformation of a 3-enol ether Δ3,5-steroid to the corresponding Δ4,6-3-ketal steroid (I-P).
The present invention includes a process for the transformation of a Δ4,6-3-keto steroid or ketal thereof (I), to the corresponding Δ4-3-ketosteroid-7α-carboxylic acid (VI).
The present invention also includes a novel processes and novel intermediates to produce the pharmaceutically useful compound eplerenone.
Further, the invention includes processes for transformation of 11α-hydroxy-17-lactone (CI) or 11α-hydroxy steroids (CIV) to the corresponding Δ9(11)-17-lactone (CII) or Δ9(11)-steroids (CV) using a N-fluoroalkylamine reagents (CVI).
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to transform 3-keto-Δ4,6-steroids into the corresponding steroidal Δ4,6-3-ketals by acid-catalyzed ketalization. Yields are moderate and double bond deconjugation can be competitive. For example, Δ4,6-cholestadiene-3-one-3-cycloethyleneketal was prepared by ketalization of Δ4,6-cholestadiene-3-one in 64% yield, see J. Org. Chem. 26, 2549 (1961). Also, 17β-hydroxyandrosta-4,6-dien-3-one-3-cycloethyleneketal was prepared by ketalization of 6-dehydrotestosterone in 55% crude yield, see J. Am. Chem. Soc., 86, 2183 (1964). The steroidal Δ4,6-3-ketals (I-P) can be used as starting materials in the process to prepare eplerenone.
J. Org. Chem. 29, 601 (1964) reports that Δ3,5-3-alkoxy steroids react with DDQ in the presence of water to give the corresponding Δ4,6-3-keto steroids. The process of the present invention reacts Δ3,5-3-alkoxy steroids (3-alkyl enol ether) with DDQ in the presence of an alcohol under essentially anhydrous conditions to give the Δ4,6-3-ketal steroid (I-P). In addition, the prior art methods of producing the Δ4,6-3-ketal steroid (I-P) uses two steps, 6-dehydrogenation of an enol ether to a Δ4,6-3-keto steroid followed by ketalization whereas the present invention it a one step reaction.
Eplerenone, also known as epoxymexrenone, is a useful pharmaceutical agent and chemically is 9α,11α-epoxy-17β-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one-7α,21-dicarboxylic acid, γ-lactone, methyl ester.
International Publication WO98/25948 of PCT application PCT/US97/23090 discloses eplerenone and many different process to prepare eplerenone. In particular, see schemes 1 thru 10.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,754 discloses 19-nor steroids with 7α-aryl substitution. The 7α-aryl substituent included a number of groups including phenyl, thienyl, furyl, thiazolyl, pyrrolyl, oxazolyl, imidazolyl, pyrazolyl, triazolyl, tetrazolyl, isothiazolyl and isoxazolyl, pyridinyl, pyridazinyl, pyrimidinyl and pyrazinyl. Regardless of which group was used, the 19-nor compounds had antiproliferative, anti-estrogenic and/or estrogenic properties and are not useful intermediates to eplerenone because there are no practical methods for installing the to 19-methyl group into 19-nor steroids. The 7α-substituted steroids (II) of the present invention, are intermediates, not end products and do not have estrogenic properties because they are not 19-nor steroids.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,989 discloses a number of Δ11-steroidal-γ-lactones many of which are substituted in the 7α-position which have aldosterone antagonist activity. The 7α-substitution is 6α,7α-methylene-, 7α-trimethylacetylthio-, 7α-acetylthio- and 7α-benzoythio-, see claim 1. These compounds differ from the compounds of the invention in that the C-ring double bond is Δ11- and the 70-substitutents are such that the compounds cannot be used in the same way as the 7α-substituted steroids (II).
Het., 25, 399 (1987) and Bull Soc. Chim. Fr. 131, 900 (1994) disclose the use of boron trifluoride diethyl etherate to catalyze conjugate addition of non-steroidal 2-methylfuran to α,β-unsaturated ketones in ethanol/nitromethane. The process of the present invention, involves steroidal furans. In addition, the enone substrates in Het., 25, 399 (1987) and Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr. 131, 900 (1994) do not contain stereocenters, so the issue of stereocontrol does not arise.
Methods for conjugate addition of carbon nucleophiles to 9(11)-saturated-Δ4,6-3-keto steroids to give 9(11)-saturated-7α-substituted steroids stereoselectively are known. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 94, 4654 (1972) discloses conjugate addition of carbon nucleophiles to 9(11)-saturated-Δ4,6-3-keto steroids to give 9(11)-saturated-7α-substituted steroids stereoselectively. Tet., 49, 9955 (1993) and Tet Lett., 29, 1533 (1988) disclose stereoselective addition of allyltrimethylsilane to canrenone (titanium tetrachloride, methylene chloride, −78°) to give a mixture of two, difficult-to-separate products (7α-allyl-canrenone and the corresponding 6α,7α-fused silylcyclopentane) in poor yields (43-73% and 7-15%, respectively). Note that in these cases the steroid substrate is 9(11) saturated. All attempts to apply these methods or similar methods to 9(11) unsaturated steroid substrates have failed, due to lack of stereocontrol for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,332, Example 7, discloses that trimethylsulfoxonium iodide adds to Δ9(11)-canrenone (I) using sodium hydride in DMSO at room temperature to give exclusively 6β,7β-methylene-Δ9(11)-canrenone. Also, nitromethane adds to Δ9(11)-canrenone (I) in tetramethylguanidine at room temperature over 7.5 hrs.) to give exclusively the 7β stereoisomer (7β-nitromethyl-Δ9(11)-6,7-dihydrocanrenone.
Helv. Chim. Acta, 80, 566 (1997) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,332 disclose that reaction of Δ9(11)-canrenone with diethylaluminum cyanide to give 7α-cyano-Δ9(11)-6,7-dihydrocanrenone, but the crude product is described as a "brownish amorphous residue" that "was filtered through silica gel yielding amorphous" semipurified product "which was used without further purification in the next step." The ratio of 7-α to 7-β epimers is not disclosed.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 79, 3120 (1957), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 82, 6136 (1960), and J. Org. Chem. 27, 1192 (1962) disclose degradation of non-steroidal enediones to carboxylic acids through alkoxyhydroperoxide intermediates and not hydroxyhydroperoxide intermediates. The process of the present invention involves steroidal enediones.
The oxidative opening of furans to carboxylic acids, or carboxylic acid derivatives, by direct ozonolysis is known. However, the yields are usually quite poor. J. Org. Chem., 61, 9126 (1996), reported that a 2,5-disubstituted furan on ozonization underwent partial cleavage to an enol acetate rather than complete cleavage to the carboxylic acid. Het, 34, 895 (1992) reported direct ozonization of a 2-substituted furan gave, after esterification, the methyl ester in 59% yield. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 101, 259 (1979) reported direct ozonization of a 2-substituted furan gave, after esterification, the methyl ester in 55% yield. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 107, 7762 (1985) reported direct ozonization of a 2-sugar-substituted furan gave, after borane reduction, the primary alcohol in 50% yield. Tet. Lett., 34, 7323 (1993) reported direct ozonization of a 2-substituted furan gave, after esterification, the methyl ester in 60% yield. Carb. Res., 150, 163 (1986) reported direct ozonization of a 2-sugar-substituted furan afforded, after reduction with triphenylphosphine followed by lithium aluminum hydride, the primary alcohol in 11% yield. Tet. Lett., 22, 141 (1981) reported direct ozonization of a 2-substituted furan gave, after oxidative workup, the carboxylic acid in approximately 30% yield. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 109, 2082 (1987) reported direct ozonization of a 2-substituted furan gave, after esterification, the methyl ester in 77% yield. Tet. Lett., 39, 7013 (1998) reported direct ozonization of a 2-substituted furan gave, after esterification, the methyl ester in 78%-87% yield. J. Org. Chem., 54, 2085 (1989) reported direct ozonization of two 2-substituted furans gives the carboxylic acid in 89-95% yield, however, in this study, the 2-substituted furans were very simple (i.e., they did not contain any reactive functional group other than the furan). There is no disclosures of a two step furan opening and then oxidative cleavage to the carboxylic acid which results in high yields.
J. Org. Chem. 63, 7505 (1998) discloses the use of dibromatin, sodium bicarbonate and aqueous acetone to open non-steroidal furans to produce enediones. The process of the present invention involves steroidal furans.
Chem. Lett., 1771 (1983) discloses the use of hydrochloric acid in ether to catalyze the isomerization of non-steroidal cis-enediones to trans-enediones. The process of the present invention involves steroidal enediones.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 79, 3120 (1957), J. Am. Chem. Soc., 82, 6136 (1960) and J. Org. Chem., 27, 1192 (1962) disclose the degradation of enediones to carboxylic acids through alkoxyhydroperoxide intermediates by use of ozone and an oxidatively cleaving agent. The yields are not particularly high. For example, the yield of benzoic acid from trans-dibenzoylethylene was 54%. Following this process, methoxyhydroperoxide (IV-OOH) (where R7-2═—CH3) gave a 65.2(34.8 mixture of the desired carboxylic acid (VI) and α-ketomethylester where (Rb═OMe). The α-ketomethyl ester can not be transformed to an eplerenone useful compound and its production makes this process not commercially useful. By contrast, in the process of this invention, the enedione (III) is degraded to the carboxylic acid (VI) through the hydroxyhydroperoxide intermediate (IV-OH, where R7-2═—H), which surprisingly rearranges to the desired carboxylic acid (VI) in nearly quantitative yield. The process of the present invention uses ozone, a hydroperoxy-deoxygenating agent and then a oxidatively cleaving agent to avoid production of the α-ketomethylester and obtain increased yields.
Drugs of the Future, 24, 488 (1999) discloses conversion of the 5,7-lactone (VII) to the corresponding methyl ester (VIII) by treatment with "methyl iodide in basic medium,". The process of the present invention for methylation is a sequential process.
International Publication WO98/25948 generically discloses (5,7)-17-bislactones and 3 protected forms.
International Publication WO98/25948 discloses the transformation of a steroidal 7α-acid to the (5,7)-17-bislactone. This process requires an orthoester. The process of the present invention does not require an orthoester.
International Publication WO98/25948 discloses the transformation of a (5,7)-17-bislactone to the corresponding 7α-CO—OCH3 in one step. The present invention uses two steps but obtains better yields and consumes less reagent.
Eplerenone is 9(11)α-epoxy-17β-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one-7α,21-dicarboxylic acid, γ-lactone, methyl ester and as such contains a 7α-carbomethoxy substituent. From the standpoint of production, a major difficulty in the production of eplerenone is introduction of the 7α-carbomethoxy substituent. The present invention includes an improved proved process for the introduction of the 7α-substitutent.
It is known that a carboxylic acid can be obtained from a (substituted) furan in one step by ozonolysis. However, the yields are quite low. Further, it is known that furans can be opened to enediones. It is also known that enediones can be oxidized to carboxylic acids.
Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, 52, 3377-3380 (1979) discloses that N-(1,1,2,2,3,3,3)hexafluoropropyldiethylamine, "Ishikawa reagent" is used to replace a hydroxyl group with a fluorine atom or eliminate a hydroxyl group to an olefin. With cyclohexanol, a simple monocyclic system, the elimination product olefin was 78%. However, when the "Ishikawa reagent" was applied to a steroid, cholesterol, the corresponding fluoro-compound cholesteryl fluoride was obtained in 83% yield; no elimination product was reported.
J. Org. Chem., 2187-2195(1964) discloses the reaction of 11α-hydroxypregn-4-ene-3,20-dione with 2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluorotriethytamine to give the elimination product, pregna-4,9(11)-diene-3,20-dione, in 86% yield. The process of the present invention does, not use 2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluorotriethylamine also known as Yarovenko reagent. Further, use of 2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluorotriethylamine is a problem because it is not stable enough to make scale up practicable. In addition, it is derived from a chlorofluorocarbon and is not environmentally sound.
Tetrahedron Letters, 1065-1069 (1962) also discloses the reaction of 11α-hydroxypregn-4-ene-3,20-dione with 2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluorotriethylamine to give the elimination product, pregna-4,9(11)-diene-3,20-dione.
Steroids, 29, 2187 (1964) discloses the reaction of steroidal alcohols with 2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluorotriethylamine to replace the hydroxyl group with fluorine. The present invention does not use 2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluorotriethylamine, nor does it replace a hydroxyl group with a fluorine atom.
J. Fluorine Chem., 109, 25-31 (2001) describes and compares the use of 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl-N,N-dimethylamine as well as Yarovenko-Raksha and Ishikawa reagent as fluorinating and dehydrating agents. While the document discloses examples of elimination reactions in both aliphatic and cyclic systems, the primary use is as a fluorinating agent. The only steroid example was the reaction of 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl-N,N-dimethylamine with cholesterol which produced a product with fluorine at the C-3 position of cholesterol.

7 α-Enedione-substituted steroid compounds

Abstract: and processes which are used to prepare eplerenone, a useful pharmaceutical agent.