Dental bleaching compositions that include a high concentration of bleaching agent and a bleaching agent stabilizer that maintains the potency of the bleaching agent over time. The dental bleaching compositions of the present invention may be one-part, pre-mixed compositions that do not require mixing at the time of treating a patient's teeth but which remain stable over time. The bleaching agent may consist of hydrogen peroxide, either in aqueous form or complexed with urea (carbamide peroxide) or sodium perborate. The bleaching agent stabilizer includes an impurity scavenger that binds or ties up impurities, such as errant or residual metal ions, that can cause decomposition of the bleaching agent. The bleaching agent stabilizer may include a carboxylic acid chelator or a tin salt. The bleaching composition may include a thickening agent to achieve a selected viscosity and a neutralizing agent to adjust the pH and a carrier to help provide selected consistency and potency. The dental bleaching compositions may be adapted to be loaded into and delivered from a syringe.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dental bleaching compositions and methods for treating tooth surfaces. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a stable one-component viscous/gelled dental bleaching composition that has a high concentration of bleaching agent. The dental bleaching compositions of the present invention can optionally include a radiant-energy and/or heat-energy absorbing substance which can absorb these forms of energy and cause the bleaching agent to more quickly bleach the tooth surfaces.
2. The Relevant Technology
The use of certain foods and tobacco, the process of aging, diseases, trauma, medications, some congenital conditions, and environmental effects can cause teeth to become discolored. Because white or whitened teeth are usually considered to be aesthetically superior to stained or discolored teeth, there has been a heightened level of interest of late in developing compositions and methods for bleaching teeth.
A tooth is comprised of an inner dentin layer and an outer hard enamel layer that is slightly porous. The natural color of the tooth is opaque to translucent white or off-white.
Some dentrifices, like toothpastes, gels, and powders, contain active oxygen or hydrogen peroxide liberating bleaching agents. Such bleaching agents include peroxides, percarbonates and perborates of the alkali and alkaline earth metals or complex compounds containing hydrogen peroxide. Also, peroxide salts of the alkali or alkaline earth metals are known to be useful in whitening teeth.
The most commonly used dental bleaching agent is carbamide peroxide (CO(NH.sub.2).sub.2.H.sub.2 O.sub.2), also called urea hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide carbamide, and perhydrol-urea. Carbamide peroxide has been used by dental clinicians for several decades as an oral antiseptic. Tooth bleaching was an observed side effect of extended contact time. Over-the-counter compositions of 10% carbamide peroxide are available as "GLY-OXIDE.RTM." by Marion Laboratories and "PROXIGEL.RTM." by Reed and Carnrick. An extended-contact application of bleaching gel held in a dental tray is available as "OPALESCENCE.RTM." by Ultradent. Other bleaching agents such as peroxyacetic acid (CH.sub.3 C.dbd.OO--OH) and sodium perborate, are also known in the medical, dental and cosmetic arts.
Patients who have desired to have their teeth whitened have typically done so by applying a bleaching composition to the teeth by means of the dental tray for repeated treatments, or they had to submit to conventional in-office bleaching techniques that required from 4 to 10 visits to the dental office before clinically significant results were achieved. Less effective teeth whitening was also done by the use of toothpastes or polishes that were applied by brushing. Clinically significant results are quantifiable such as by measuring gray scale, L*, and as to yellowness or blueness, b*, in the CIE.RTM. system of color measurement or by equivalent methods.
Bleaching compositions have been manufactured in one-part and two-part systems. A one-part system consists of a compound in which the active bleachant is dispersed into inert components to form an emulsion or gel. One-part systems can also further consist of mixtures in which stabilizers are used to prevent premature decomposition of the peroxide in the bleaching composition. The advantage of a one-part system is ease of use and convenience. The main disadvantage is that prior art one-part viscous/gelled bleaching compositions generally contain relatively low concentrations of peroxide. High concentrations in pre-mixed gells have not been stable. Thus, current one-part systems have a low potency and are slow to react. Most one-part systems in the past have included active peroxide in a range of up to about 3.5% by weight. Due to the relatively low concentration of active bleaching agent in one-part systems, about 10 applications on average are necessary for effective bleaching.
In a two-part system, aqueous hydrogen peroxide is mixed with other components to achieve a preferred higher viscosity. These components are mixed just prior to bleaching due to the incompatibility of the other components with hydrogen peroxide. The main advantage of a two-part system is that it allows for much higher concentrations of active peroxide that cannot exist stably as a one-part system for incidental off-the-shelf use. This results in faster bleaching of the patient's teeth due to the higher peroxide concentration. Faster bleaching is desirable, especially where patient compliance with longer bleaching regimens is problematic, or if only one or a few teeth need individual bleaching.
Another example of a two-part system is microencapsulation of the bleaching agent and a stabilizer. The microcapsules would separate the bleaching agent from the carrier and other materials and would rupture only upon physical shear caused by a tooth brush. The dental bleaching effect of the microencapsulation system is only visible after prolonged use due to its low peroxide concentration or low activation rate.
Although positive results using the foregoing techniques have been reported, the effectiveness of the techniques depends upon such factors as type and intensity of the stain, bleaching agent contact time on the teeth, the amount of available active bleachant in the bleaching agent, and the persistence of the individual in applying the treatment until the desired result is accomplished.
Notwithstanding the foregoing advantages, there remain some important disadvantages to current one-part and two-part systems. A disadvantage to the two-part system is that the bleaching composition must be mixed on-site in the operatory immediately before application to the patient's tooth. Mixing requires additional time by the dental professional, which lowers efficiency and represents an extra preparatory procedure. Mixing in proper amounts is also important in order to yield consistent results.
Another disadvantage where high peroxide concentrations are used is that bleaching compositions that must be mixed on-site in the operatory subject the dental professional to the possibility of burns due to mixing splatter. Additionally, high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide are strong oxidizers.
Another disadvantage with two-part bleaching compositions is that, once mixed, the bleaching compositions must be used soon, since they are unstable and tend to decompose through the release of oxygen from the peroxide moieties. Often, the constituents of the bleaching compositions themselves accelerate decomposition rates. While such accelerants are useful in promoting faster bleaching, they yield a composition having a very short lifespan. Because known accelerants are chemical in nature, they cannot be added until bleaching is to commence. Otherwise the premature release of active oxygen will quickly decrease the potency of the bleaching composition. Moreover some accelerant(s) or peroxide indicators are unstable in that they themselves are consumed by the peroxide. The tendency of prior art accelerants or indicators to be themselves consumed has the effect of reducing the concentration of both the peroxide and the accelerant over a short period of time, thus reducing the effectiveness of each.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that what is needed in the art are stable, one-part, pre-mixed viscous/gelled bleaching compositions and methods for treating tooth surfaces that allow for greatly increased bleaching rates compared to existing one-part systems.
Additionally, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide stable, one-part, pre-mixed viscous/gelled dental bleaching compositions for treating tooth surfaces that included means for accelerating the release of active oxygen from the bleaching agent when needed but which do not cause premature decomposition of the active dental bleaching agent or destruction of the bleaching agent activator.
It would still be a further advancement in the art to provide stable, one-part, pre-mixed viscous/gelled dental bleaching compositions that included higher concentrations of bleaching agent compared to existing one-part compositions that are made at the time of manufacture.
Such stable, one-part, pre-mixed dental bleaching compositions and methods for bleaching tooth surfaces are disclosed and claimed herein.

Dental bleaching compositions with high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide


A joint is provided for unfolding systems, e.g. for satellite solar generators that permits sufficiently large unfolding torque, low weight and small dimensions. A drive on one joint half acts on a small pulley to wind a cord on it. The other end of the cord is tautly connected to a large pulley that rotates on the hinge pin and is fixed to the second joint half. The large pulley rotates in the opposite direction of the small pulley when the cord is wound so that the second joint half folds away from the first joint half on the hinge pin into an unfolded state and is held in this state by a stop against the tension of the cord. The joint is used, for example, for unfolding joints for satellite solar generators that consist of two joint halves, a hinge pin and a drive.

The invention concerns a joint for unfolding systems such as satellite solar generators. Preferred embodiments include joints with two joint halves, a hinge pin and a drive.
Unfolding systems such as large-area satellite solar generators consist, for example, of individual flexible segments that unfold after being transported into space.
The unfolding can be brought about by spring or motor-actuated unfolding joints that can be directly connected to the individual segments or connected to rigid extension arms that act on the segments.
To unfold large-area segments by means of springs, unfolding joints must be used that have large springs to provide sufficient unfolding torque. Such unfolding joints weigh a great deal, are large, and are therefore not very useful or useless in extreme cases for satellite solar generators.
A problem of the invention is to create a joint for unfolding systems that has sufficient unfolding torque, does not weigh much, and has small dimensions.
The problem is solved according to the invention by providing a joint for an unfolding system, which joint includes first and second joint parts, a hinge pin pivotally connecting the first and second joint parts, a large pulley rotatably mounted at the hinge pin and fixed to the first joint part, a small pulley disposed on the second joint part at a spacing from the large pulley, a cord partially wound on both the large and small pulleys, and a drive. The drive, when in use, operates to rotate the small pulley to wind the cord thereon. The cord is operable to rotate the large pulley and unfold the first and second joint parts with respect to one another into an unfolded state with said joint parts held in the unfolded state by a stop.
The invention has the advantage that small and light springs or motors can be used to generate a large amount of torque to better exploit the available installation area of such unfolding systems.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention will be further described in the following with reference to the drawing. An example of an unfolding joint for satellite solar generators with a spring drive will be described.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Unfolding joint for satelite solar generators


A liquid crystal display apparatus is disclosed which can prevent occurrence of flicker for a long time. The apparatus comprises a liquid crystal modulation element which includes a first electrode, a second electrode made of a material different from that of the first electrode, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first and second electrodes, a first alignment film disposed between the first electrode and the liquid crystal layer, and a second alignment film disposed between the second electrode and the liquid crystal layer. The apparatus also comprises a controller which changes at least one of the potential to be applied to the first electrode and the central potential of the potential to be applied to the second electrode, which periodically changes between positive and negative with respect to the central potential, such that flicker is suppressed within a certain range.

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus using a liquid crystal modulation element, such as a liquid crystal projector.
Some of the liquid crystal modulation elements are realized by putting nematic liquid crystal having positive dielectric anisotropy between a first transparent substrate having a transparent electrode (common electrode) formed thereon and a second transparent substrate having a transparent electrode (pixel electrode) forming pixels, wiring, switching elements and the like formed thereon. The liquid crystal modulation element is referred to as a Twisted Nematic (TN) liquid crystal modulation element in which the major axes of liquid crystal molecules are twisted by 90 degrees continuously between the two glass substrates. This liquid crystal modulation element is used as a transmissive liquid crystal modulation element.
Some of the liquid crystal modulation elements utilize a circuit substrate having reflecting mirrors, wiring, switching elements and the like formed thereon instead of the abovementioned second transparent substrate. This is called a Vertical Arrangement Nematic (VAN) liquid crystal modulation element in which the major axes of liquid crystal molecules are alignment in homeotropic alignment substantially perpendicularly to two substrates. The liquid crystal modulation element is used as a reflective liquid crystal modulation element.
In these liquid crystal modulation elements, typically, Electrically Controlled Birefringence (ECB) effect is used to provide retardation for a light wave passing through a liquid crystal layer to control the change of polarization of the light wave, thereby forming an image from the light.
In the liquid crystal modulation element, which utilizes the ECB effect to modulate the light intensity, application of an electric field to the liquid crystal layer moves ionic materials present in the liquid crystal layer. When a DC electric field is continuously applied to the liquid crystal layer, the ionic materials are pulled toward one of two opposite electrodes. Even when a constant voltage is applied to the electrodes, part of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer is cancelled out by the charged ions to substantially attenuate the electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer.
To avoid such a phenomenon, a line inversion drive method is typically employed in which the polarity of an applied electric field is reversed between positive and negative for each line of arranged pixels and is changed in a predetermined cycle such as 60 Hz or the like. In addition, a field inversion drive method is used in which the polarity of an applied electric field to all of arranged pixels is reversed between positive and negative in a predetermined cycle. Those drive methods can avoid the application of the electric field of only one polarity to the liquid crystal layer to prevent the unbalanced ions.
This corresponds to controlling the effective electric field to be applied to the liquid crystal layer such that it always has the same value as the voltage to be applied to the electrodes.
The variations of the effective electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer, however, are caused not only by the abovementioned movement of the ionic materials but also by other factors. One of the other factors causes trapping of charges of electrons or holes in a non-conductive film such as a liquid crystal alignment film made of an insulating material, a reflection enhancing film, and an inorganic passivation film for preventing dissolution of metal. The trapping causes charge-up on the interface of the film, and that electrostatic charge changes the effective electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer with time.
The charging phenomenon may be seen due to the shape in the transmissive liquid crystal modulation element and occurs prominently in the reflective liquid crystal modulation element including opposite electrodes formed of different materials (mirror metal and indium tin oxide (ITO) film).
To avoid the charging phenomenon, the following technique has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-49817. In the method disclosed therein, a work-function adjusting film layer is formed on a reflecting pixel electrode to control the work function of the reflecting electrode to be ±2% or less relative to the work function of a transparent electrode (ITO film electrode) opposite thereto, thereby reducing charge-up on an interface layer of the liquid crystal to avoid occurrence of flicker or image sticking on the liquid crystal modulation element (or the liquid crystal display apparatus with the same).
In addition, trapping of charges requires excitation hopping of the energy potential of the insulating film. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-49817, the probabilities of the excitation hopping from the metallic mirror electrode and the ITO transparent electrode are made substantially equal to each other, thereby generating charge-up due to charge trapping of the same amount on both electrode sides.
This results in a shift in potential of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer in the field inversion drive method whereas a change in magnitude of the electric field does not occur. Since the electric field generated in the liquid crystal depends on the relative value between the opposite electrodes, the operation of the liquid crystal does not change.
However, only providing a film for adjusting the difference of the work functions between the opposite electrodes to the liquid crystal modulation element is not sufficient to ensure reliability thereof in a long term. The charges charged up in the liquid crystal layer are gradually accumulated with operating time of the liquid crystal modulation element, and thereby the potential difference between the mirror electrode and the ITO electrode reaches a few hundred millivolts in operating time from a few thousand hours to a few tens of thousand hours. This phenomenon occurs more often as the photon energy entering the liquid crystal modulation element and total amount of light energy increase.
The potential difference between the mirror electrode and the ITO electrode causes the difference of retardation modulation of liquid crystal depending on the polarity of the electric field applied on the liquid crystal layer, and thereby the light modulation intensity oscillates at 60 Hz in the case of driving at 60 Hz by the field inversion drive method. The oscillation of the light intensity at 60 Hz cannot be sensed by human eyes.
When the amplitude of the oscillation increases such that the potential difference between the opposite electrodes exceeds more than 200 mV, a low frequency component of the oscillation increases, thereby causing a large oscillation of the light intensity which is visible to a human eye as flicker. The visibility thereof is high particularly when a 50 percent intensity modulation is performed in which a gradation gamma changes drastically.
Furthermore, the potential difference between the mirror electrode and the ITO transparent electrode due to the charge-up on the liquid crystal interface layer causes an additional problem. Specifically, the constant DC electric field is continuously applied to the liquid crystal layer, so that ionic materials present in a small amount in the liquid crystal layer is pulled toward one of the opposite electrodes. The ionic material may be pulled toward the interfaces on both sides of the liquid crystal layer depending on the polarity of the charge of the ion.
Since the ions attached to the interface of the electrode are moved in accordance with the amplitude of a drive potential in the field inversion drive, the attachment state of the ions varies with the level of the amplitude of the drive potential. This results in variations of the effective electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer at different positions in a display area, which causes sticking. When the same image is displayed for a long time and then a different image is displayed, the previous image is seen as an afterimage. This is called the image sticking (or simply, sticking).


An integrated lead disk drive suspension including a load beam and one or more conductive leads. The load beam has a mounting region on a proximal end, a head bonding platform on a distal end, and one or more spring regions connecting the head bonding platform to the mounting region. The conductive leads are integrated with and insulated from the load beam by an adhesive dielectric layer, and extend between the head bonding platform and the mounting region. The leads are adapted to reduce mechanical effects of the leads and/or dielectric layer on spring characteristics of the spring regions. One embodiment of the leads includes at least a first compensating portion which extends off the load beam and traverses a nonlinear path around at least a portion of one or more of the spring regions. In another embodiment the portions of the conductive leads extending between the distal end of the load beam and the head bonding platform are substantially free from the dielectric layer. In yet another embodiment the width of portions of the dielectric layer is about equal to or less than the width of adjacent portions of the conductive leads.

Suspension assemblies are spring structures in disk drives that position a read/write head assembly nanometers away from the rapidly spinning surface of a rotatable disk or other data storage device. The suspension assembly presses the head toward the disk surface with a precise force applied in a precisely determined location. The head assembly "flies" over the irregular (at this scale) surface of the disk at a height established by the equilibrium of the suspension assembly downward force and the increasing lift force of the air stream generated by the spinning disk as the head nears the disk.
A head suspension assembly (HSA) includes the suspension assembly, the head assembly, and an interconnect assembly. The interconnect assembly is a collection of transmission elements designed to transmit data to and from the head assembly. HSAs are used in magnetic hard disk drives, the most common today, or other type of drives such as optical disk drives.
The suspension assembly includes two spring structures, a load beam and a gimbal, each a carefully balanced combination of rigid regions and flexible spring regions. The load beam is a resilient spring plate designed to provide lateral stiffness and calibrated to apply the necessary load on the head assembly. The gimbal is a spring positioned at the distal end of the suspension assembly and of the load beam. The gimbal holds the head assembly at an appropriate orientation (flying attitude) and at a constant distance over the contours of the disk, even if the load beam flexes and twists. The head assembly is attached to the gimbal and includes a "head," a highly sensitive read/write transducer, attached to an air bearing slider. The head assembly also includes electrical terminals configured for interconnection to the interconnect assembly for receiving and relaying data (read and write signals).
A magnetic write transducer transforms electrical write signals into small magnetic fields. The magnetic field magnetize patterns on a magnetic disk. The order of the magnetic fields and their subsequent orientation defines a bit code representing the stored data. A magnetic read transducer "reads" these magnetic fields as it flies over them and converts them back into electrical signals.
The suspension assembly can be attached at its proximal end to a rigid arm or directly to a linear or rotary motion actuator. The actuator rapidly moves (and then abruptly stops) the HSA over any position on a radius of the disk. The radial HSA movement and the rotation of the disk allow the head to quickly reach every location above the disc. The rapid stop and go movement causes very high stresses on the HSA.
The closer the head assembly can fly to the surface of a magnetic disk, the more densely information can be stored (the strength of a magnetic field varies proportionally to the square of the flying distance, thus the smaller the head's flying clearance the smaller the magnetic "spot" of information). Manufacturers of disk drives strive to reach flying clearances close to 100 nanometers=0.1 micrometers (a human hair is about 100 micrometers thick). However, the head assembly must not touch the disk ("crash"), since the impact with the spinning disk (rotating at about 3600 rpm or faster) can destroy both the head, the surface of the disk, and the stored data.
Amplifying and control electronic circuits process, send, and receive the data signals to and from the head assembly. Signal transmission requires conductors between the dynamic "flying" head and the circuitry. Traditional head assemblies complete a read/write circuit loop with two conductors, usually copper wires encapsulated in a plastic sheeting. Newer magneto-resistance head assemblies require four or more independent conductors. The interconnect assembly includes the conductors and accompanying insulators and connectors.
Designers and manufacturers of HSAs face competing and limiting design considerations. During operation, the suspension assembly should be free of unpredictable loads and biases which alter the exact positioning of the head assembly. The suspension assembly should respond instantaneously to variations in the surface topology of a disk. Alterations to the flying height of the head can significantly affect data density and accuracy and even destroy the system in a crash.
Rigidity and stiffness increase in relation to the third power of cross-sectional thickness. To respond to air stream changes and to hold the flying head at the appropriate orientation, suspension assemblies are very thin and flexible, specially around the sensitive spring and gimbal areas. Interconnect assembly conductors have a large effect on suspension assembly performance. Conductor stiffness alone greatly affects the rigidity of the spring regions and flight performance. A standard conductor placed atop of a thin suspension can more than double a spring region's stiffness and detract from the ability of the spring region to adjust to variations in the surface of the disk, vibrations, and movement. The effect of the conductors on a gimbal region, the thinnest and most delicate spring in the suspension assembly, is even more pronounced. Conductors placed over spring regions must not plastically deform (become permanently bent) when the spring regions flex, since such deformation hinders the return of the spring to its normal position and applies a load on the suspension assembly.
The ideal HSA comprises components low in mass. Excessive inertial momentum caused by excessive mass can cause overshoot errors. Overshoot errors occur when momentum carries the whole HSA past the intended stopping point during positioning movement. Low-in-mass HSAs are also easier to move, resulting in power savings in multiple platter disk drives.
The manufacture of HSAs, like that of any commercial product, must be efficient. Reduction of manufacturing steps is desired. Damaged or misaligned components introduce biases and loads and drastically diminish the manufacturing useful output yield. Complex shaping and mounting processes are costly and decrease the reliability of the whole HSA manufacturing process.
To avoid defects and unpredictable loads and biases, exacting tolerances are necessary. During the HSA manufacturing and assembling process, the buildup of deviations from tolerance limits causes planar deviations that can affect the flying attitude of the head assembly. The parameters of static roll and static pitch torque in the final HSA result from these inherent manufacturing and assembly tolerance buildups.
Mounting and placement of current interconnect assemblies is usually done by hand. Hand mounting is imprecise and costly. Precise conductor placement is specially critical in the delicate gimbal region. As the industry transitions to smaller slider/transducer sizes to increase data storage density, limitations of the current interconnecting devices increase the potential for read/write errors and impose ceilings on data storage density.
Using current interconnect technology, workers bond two to five lengths of wire to the head assembly, using fixturing to manage the wires while adhesively bonding the head assembly to a stainless steel suspension. Next, the lengths of wire are shaped by hand, using tweezers and tooling assistance to form a service loop between the head assembly and the suspension assembly and to position the wire along a predetermined wire path on the suspension assembly. The wires are tacked to the suspension using adhesive or wire capture features formed into the suspension. Special care is taken to avoid pulling the service loop too tight or left too loose. A tight service loop places an unwanted torque on the slider causing flying attitude errors. Loose service loops allow the wire to sag down and scrape on the spinning disk. Both conditions are catastrophic to drive performance. Through-out the process of handling the slider and wires there is a risk of damaging the wires or the delicate load beam and gimbal. Load beams or gimbals accidentally bent during the manufacturing operations are scrapped. Often the head assembly also cannot be recovered, adding additional losses to the scrap pile.
Another type of suspension assembly interconnect utilizes plastic compounds acting as integral spring elements in the suspension assembly. Use of plastic materials as spring elements in load beam and gimbal construction presents performance problems since plastic materials do not possess optimal mechanical spring qualities. As the flying height and head size continually decrease in the progression towards greater disk storage density, the accuracy and control needed to align the transducer to the correct data track upon the disk surface becomes more critical.
During operating conditions the drive temperature operating ranges can span 80 degrees Celsius. Plastics expand and contract more than metals during temperature changes. The use of thermally expansive plastics as principal spring structural elements of the load beam or gimbal region affects the dimensional stability of the suspension assembly. The expansion and contraction of integral plastic spring elements introduces loads and stresses on the metal components. Additionally, because of their mechanical characteristics, integral plastic spring elements traditionally only have been used in suspension assemblies that resist the pull of negative pressure sliders, sliders that create a vacuum that pulls them toward the disk.

Hygrothermal load compensating structures in an integrated lead suspension


Various examples are provided related to processing and handling of products. In one example, among others, a material product holding system includes a product holding assembly and a structure supporting the product holding assembly, the structure coupled to the positioning assembly. The product holding assembly can include support arms and a positioning assembly that can adjust positioning of the support arms with respect to each other to engage with at least a portion of a product supported by the support arms. In another example, a method include engaging support arms with a surface of at least a portion of a product, the support arms tensioning the product, positioning the support arms to load the product on a workstation, contracting the support arms to remove the tension, processing the product, re-engaging the support arms after completion of the processing, and unloading the product from the workstation.

In the production of garments or other products, loading and unloading the garments or other material products precisely on and off processing equipment for sewing, printing or other production operations is a critical, time consuming, and repetitive process that may pose dangers to a human operator due to exposure to moving machinery. For example, it is required to maintain precise positioning, orientation, and alignment of a garment relative to the processing equipment during loading for a sewing or embellishment operation as these factors can directly influence the quality output of the operation. Therefore, it is desirable for an automated solution to address these concerns.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to implementations of the claimed technology.

Material product holding systems and methods


An open electromagnet for use in MRI apparatus includes a pair of field coils which respectively comprise juxtaposed poles between which an imaging volume of substantially homogeneous magnetic field is defined. A support structure, which serves rigidly to support the field coils in spaced apart relationship, includes two steel plates between which the field coils are positioned. The relative position of the field coils and the plates is selected such that forces of magnetic attraction between the field coils are at least partly counter-balanced by forces of attraction between the plates and the field coils. In this manner, the force on the field coils and their associated support structure due to the forces of attraction between the poles is significantly reduced or nullified.

This invention relates to electromagnets for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems and in particular to magnets which are open, i.e., magnets in which an imaging volume wherein that portion of a patient being imaged is positioned, is not surrounded by the magnet.
A special requirement for MRI is a strong uniform magnetic field, typically 0.2 to 2 Tesla, with a field homogeneity of a few parts per million in the imaging volume, typically a sphere of 30 cm to 50 cm in diameter. Most commonly such a field is produced by an electromagnet having a solenoid construction but this necessitates a patient being surrounded by the magnet and enclosed within a tube, which can cause a feeling of claustrophobia. However by using open magnets, to which this invention particularly relates, this problem is overcome.
Open electromagnets for use in MRI systems are well known. One known form of electromagnet comprises a pair of juxtaposed magnetic poles of opposite polarity between which the imaging volume is defined, which poles are linked and supported by a yoke which provides a magnetic flux return path and which principally comprises a generally C-shaped iron frame. Because large amounts of iron are required, these known C-shaped magnets are very heavy, especially for high field magnets which require many tonnes of iron to define the flux return path.
Another known form an open electromagnet, often described as a `split pair`, comprises a pair of juxtaposed sets of coils, which are generally of a solenoid construction and may include a bore tube around the axis. The sets of coils are held apart by a support structure so that access may be gained to the imaging volume between them along any of the principal axes of the system. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 5,381,122 and in a paper by Laskaris et al, entitled `A Cryogen-Free Open Superconducting Magnet for Interventional MRI Applications` published in IEEE Transactions in Applied Superconductivity, Volume 5, Number 2, June 1995.
The magnetic force between the juxtaposed magnetic poles of known open magnets is very large, and accordingly this imposes large forces on a structure used to support the poles. Moreover, in superconducting electromagnets, wherein field windings which define the poles are contained in a cryostat, mechanical design problems arise due to the requirement for supporting, within the cryostat, windings which are subjected to this very large magnetic force. In known `split-pair` systems, this problem is overcome by arranging that the supporting structure which resists this magnetic force is connected directly between the windings and is therefore maintained at the same low temperature as the windings. However this requires large structural components which extend across the gap between the juxtaposed poles, severely restricting the openness of the system and requiring a very complex and expensive arrangement for the cryostat.
An alternative approach is to transmit forces acting on the cryostatically contained juxtaposed windings mechanically to `warm` parts of the clryostat structure, and to provide a support frame which serves to hold the two cryostats apart. Conventionally, `cold` components within a cryostat are supported by means of rods or bands made from material with a low thermal conductivity and high strength, such as glass fibre reinforced plastics material. However the magnetic forces between the poles are many times greater than forces due to their weight, with the result that supporting bands or rods must have a much larger cross-section to transmit these forces and consequently they allow a much larger flow of heat into the `cold` parts of the system. In a system cooled by liquid helium this results in a high rate of evaporation of the liquid, and in a system cooled by a cryogenic refrigerator this results in excessive power consumption.
It is known that the use of large amounts of iron in close proximity to the coils will substantially modify the forces acting on the coils. For example, in Danby et al, PCT WO88/04057, the forces on the coils in an iron shielded magnet are reduced by more than an order of magnitude by suitable positioning of the coils relative to the iron. However, this does not address the weight issue, which in the case described results in a system weighing in excess of 100 tonnes in order to limit the stray field to a reasonable value.


A power management unit for a non-volatile memory device is proposed. The power management unit includes means for providing a reference voltage, resistive means for deriving a reference current from the reference voltage, means for generating a plurality of operative voltages from a power supply voltage, and means for regulating the operative voltages; in the power management unit of the invention, for each operative voltage the means for regulating includes means for deriving a scaled reference current from the reference current according to a scaling factor, further resistive means for deriving a rating voltage from the scaled reference current, means for deriving a measuring voltage from the operative voltage and the rating voltage, and means for controlling the operative voltage according to a comparison between the measuring voltage and the reference voltage.

Non-volatile memory devices require a number of different operative voltages for performing read/write operations on their memory cells (for example, relatively high voltages are needed to program and/or erase the memory device). Typically, the memory device includes a power management unit, which generates the different operative voltages from a single power supply voltage; in this way, it is possible to avoid the need of providing multiple external power supply voltages.
For each operative voltage, the power management unit generally includes a charge pump that boosts the power supply voltage to the desired value. The charge pump is coupled with a corresponding regulator, which maintains the operative voltage substantially constant under changing load conditions (in order to avoid any damage to the memory cells).
Several solutions are known in the art for implementing the regulator of each charge pump. For example, a circuit scheme based on a resistive divider is routinely used when a high accuracy of the operative voltage is required (such as for the programming operation). In this case, a measuring voltage is derived from the operative voltage, through a resistor that is biased by a current obtained from the reference voltage (through a further resistor); the measuring voltage is compared with a reference voltage (for example, provided by a band-gap circuit), and the charge pump is controlled accordingly. Therefore, the regulation only depends on the reference voltage (being accurate in its nature) and the ratio between two resistances (which ratio can be controlled with high accuracy when the memory device is realized as an integrated circuit).
Different solutions for the regulator are based on diode dividers or current measures. Those solutions find application when a lower accuracy of the operative voltage is acceptable (for example, for the reading operation).
A drawback of the power management units known in the art is that each charge pump is regulated independently.
Therefore, it is not possible to ensure a common level of quality in the regulation.
Moreover, each regulator must be trimmed individually to provide the desired accuracy.
Such a trimming operation is very time-consuming, and then reduces the throughput of a corresponding manufacturing process of the memory devices.
In any case, the accuracy of the reference voltage must be very high to ensure that any error in the operative voltages remains within an acceptable range. For example, in most applications the error of the reference voltage cannot exceed ±40 mV. The above-described requirement is quite stringent, and adversely affects the yield of the manufacturing process.

Power management unit for a flash memory with single regulation of multiple charge pumps


The disclosure relates to a method for triggered acquisition of a measured data set by a magnetic resonance system, to a corresponding computer program, to a corresponding data memory and to the corresponding magnetic resonance system. In the method, a cyclical signal is detected, which describes a cyclical change in a target object to be imaged. Cycles are automatically identified in this cyclical signal. Furthermore, at least one property of the cyclical signal is automatically determined. It is then automatically determined whether triggering of a single measurement for acquisition of some of the measured data set is permitted in an identified cycle of the cyclical signal. This determination is made as a function of the at least one determined property of the cyclical signal and a specified reference value of an acquisition parameter.

With triggered acquisition of measurement data, triggered measurement or triggered operation of a magnetic resonance system therefore, measurements are not carried out continuously, measurement data recorded or acquired therefore, and instead only once certain conditions (e.g., trigger conditions) are met or a particular event (e.g., trigger event) has occurred in each case. Measuring, a respective acquisition of measurement data therefore, is then triggered, activated, or induced. An application of this is, for example, to synchronize the acquisition of measurement data with the breathing of a patient.

Method for triggered acquisition of a measured data set by a magnetic resonance system, computer program, data memory, and magnetic resonance system


A system to collect and control the flow of fuel vapor within a vehicle fuel system. In one embodiment, a vapor control unit mounted in the fuel tank permits fuel vapor to be drawn into a tank fill pipe when liquid fuel is being added to the fuel tank to condense at least a portion of the fuel vapor. In a second embodiment a diaphragm actuated valve permits fuel vapor flow from the fuel tank into the tank fill pipe when liquid fuel is being added to the tank to condense at least a portion of the fuel vapor. By condensing the fuel vapor the system reduces the total amount of fuel vapor within the fuel system while preventing the escape of fuel vapor which is hazardous to the environment.

As concern for the environment increases, regulations for preventing the escape of volatile hydrocarbon vapors to the atmosphere are being promulgated by governmental agencies. One source of hydrocarbon vapors is the fuel tanks of vehicles using gasoline or other hydrocarbon fuels of high volatility. With current automotive fuel tank designs, fuel vapor can escape during the filling of the tanks and usually even after the tank is filled.
The use of an on-board vapor storage container to remove excess fuel vapor from the fuel tank is one solution to this problem. Some of these devices use a high capacity or high flow rate valve to control the flow of vapor from the fuel tank to a vapor storage canister. From the storage canister, the vapor is fed into the intake manifold of the engine to be consumed by the engine.
Current on-board vapor recovery systems send essentially all of the fuel vapor removed from the fuel tank to the vapor canister. This can produce a high flow rate of fuel vapor to the vapor canister requiring a large vapor canister which increases the cost of the vapor recovery system.


The heat dissipation of a circuit assembly is improved. A circuit assembly includes: a relay that includes a terminal and generates heat when energized/as a result of energization/due to being energized; a base member to which the relay is attached and in which a through hole is formed; a heat dissipation member that is provided on a side of the base member opposite to a side on which the relay is attached; a first busbar that is connected to the terminal of the relay at a position spaced apart from the base member; and a heat transfer member that is inserted into the through hole so as to be movable in a direction along the axial direction of the through hole, and that comes into contact with the first busbar and the heat dissipation member.

Conventionally, techniques for dissipating the heat of an electronic component mounted to a substrate are known. The electronic unit disclosed in JP 2002-176279A includes a power circuit body to which a relay is attached, and the power circuit body includes a heat dissipation plate formed by an aluminum alloy plate, a busbar that is provided on the heat dissipation plate and to which a relay terminal is soldered, and an insulating heat conduction sheet that is interposed between the heat dissipation plate and the busbar and integrates the heat dissipation plate and the busbar into one piece. The heat dissipation plate includes a pair of side wall portions that are bent at substantially right angles, and the pair of side wall portions are fixed to a case. The heat generated by the relay is transferred from the relay terminal to the busbar, and is dissipated to the outside via the heat conduction sheet and the heat dissipation plate.
JP 2002-176279A is an example of related art.


The invention discloses a capacitive pressure sensor and a method of fabricating the same. The capacitive pressure sensor includes a fixed plate configured as a back plate, a movable plate configured as diaphragm for sensing pressure, wherein a cavity is formed between the fixed plate and the movable plate, an isolation layer between the fixed plate and the movable plate and electrical contacts thereof for minimizing the leakage current, plurality of damping holes for configuring the contour of the fixed plate as the deflected diaphragm when pressure is exerted, a vent hole extending to the cavity having resistive air path for providing equilibrium to the diaphragm and an extended back chamber for increasing the sensitivity of the capacitive pressure sensor. The capacitive pressure sensor is also configured for minimizing parasitic capacitance.

A sensor is a device that senses a specific media and converts the property of that media into a readable value through electrical signal. This type of sensors is also known as transducers. The present invention relates to a sensor for detecting various ranges of pressures, especially low pressures in the range of a few Pascal. Generally there are three different transduction mechanisms used to measure pressure such as piezoresistive, piezoelectric, and capacitive. However, the capacitive method has certain advantages over the other transduction mechanisms, particularly in low-pressure measurement. This is due to the percentage change in capacitance over pressure.
However, there are two major disadvantages in a capacitive pressure sensor such as parasitic capacitance and leakage current between the plates of the capacitor. Parasitic capacitance is the peripheral capacitance outside the main capacitance area. This is caused as a result of the parallel plates being attached at all parts of their respective surface. The leakage current between two plates deteriorates the capacitance and also degrade the resolution and operating frequency range of the sensor. Therefore, these two unwanted parameters are required to be either completely eliminated or substantially reduced in order to have very minimum impact in the sensor performance. Although ideally these two parameters should be zero, however, in reality, there is always some minimal value exist based on the design features and fabrication techniques.
Therefore in light of the above discussion, there is a need to provide an improved design features and fabrication techniques which can eliminate above mentioned disadvantages and produce a capacitive pressure sensor with minimum parasitic capacitance and leakage current.

Capacitive pressure sensor and a method of fabricating the same


A rotating element with embedded permanent magnets is provided that includes: a rotor core adapted to be within the diameter direction of a stator; first permanent magnets embedded near the exterior circumference face of the core, and orthogonally extending with a d axis; and second permanent magnets embedded on both sides of each of the first magnets, and extending along a q axis. The rotating element further includes gaps formed in the core away from both circumference direction ends of the first magnets. The gaps further include exterior end parts at the furthermost exterior side with respect to the diameter direction of the core, and interior end parts at the furthermost interior side with respect to same. The magnetic pole faces of the first magnets are located between the exterior and interior end parts of the gaps.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, a permanent-magnet reluctance rotating electrical machine 90 disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a stator 92 having a plurality of armature coils 91, and a rotor 93 arranged inwardly of the stator 92 in the radial direction.
The rotor 93 includes a cylindrical rotor core 94. The rotor core 94 is provided with a plurality of magnetic poles. A plurality of pairs of first hollows 95 in a rectangular shape are formed in the direction along each magnetic pole axis of the rotor core 94 with a clearance by what corresponds to a magnetic pole width. Each pair of the first hollows 95 are formed at locations holding each magnetic pole therebetween from both sides of the circumferential direction. A first permanent magnet 96 is embedded in each first hollow 95. Moreover, second hollows 97 in a rectangular shape are formed between respective magnetic poles substantially along the outer circumference of the rotor core 94. A second permanent magnet 98 is embedded in each second hollow 97.
The first permanent magnets 96 and the second permanent magnets 98 provided in the rotor core 94 increase reluctance torque. Hence, the permanent-magnet reluctance rotating electrical machine 90 has increased torque.

Rotating element with embedded permanent magnet and rotating electrical machine


The present invention deals with the electrochemical synthesis of electrically conductive polymers in supercritical fluids, for example supercritical CO2. The use of the supercritical fluid as a solvent results in the reduction or elimination of hazardous reagents and environmentally hazardous waste, which was generated in the prior chemical synthesis techniques. The electrochemical approach eliminates the need to add a charge transfer agent as the electrode serves this purpose. The resulting polymers are characterized by high conductivities and distinctive surface morphology, which suggests that they may be more appropriate than the previous materials for certain applications (e.g., corrosion inhibition, optical applications, etc.).

Conducting polymers (also referred to as conductive polymers) have recently become more important because of their use in, for example, electrochemical devices, chemical and optical sensors, and light emitting devices.
In the past, conductive polymers were traditionally synthesized by either chemical or electrochemical oxidation. The former is accomplished through the use of a charge transfer agent while the latter does not. Both processes can be carried out in aqueous and nonaqueous media, which incorporate hazardous and potentially environmentally damaging materials (e.g., sulfuric acid or acetonitrile).
Recently, DeSimone demonstrated that chemical oxidation can be carried out in supercritical fluids (U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,819). However, their method required the use of charge transfer agents and produced conductive polymers that exhibited poor electrical conductivity (ca. 10−5 S/cm). During the same time period, several researchers demonstrated that direct electrochemical oxidation and reduction of small molecules was possible in supercritical solvents. (Abbott, A. P.; Harper, J. C. J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans. 1996, 92, 3895–3898. Olsen, S. A.; Tallman, D. E. Anal. Chem. 1994, 66, 503–509. Olsen, S. A.; Tallman, D. E. Anal. Chem. 1996, 68, 2054–2061. Niehaus, D. E.; Wightman, R. M.; Flowers, P. A. Anal. Chem. 1991, 63, 1728–1732. Niehaus, D.; Philips, M.; Michael, A.; Wightman, R. M. J. Phys. Chem. 1989, 93, 6232–6236. Cabrera, C. R.; Bard, A. J. J. Electroanal. Chem. 1989, 273, 147–160. Sullenberger, E. F.; Michael, A. C. Anal. Chem. 1993, 65, 2304–2310. Dressman, S. F.; Michael, A. C. Anal. Chem. 1995, 67, 1339–1345.)
Until the development described herein, there had been no synthesis of conducting polymers utilizing solely safe components.
Furthermore, the morphology of conducting polymers synthesized in the past was such that it limited its utility, for those applications which are impacted by morphology, e.g., corrosion inhibition and dielectrics.

Electrochemical synthesis and processing of conducting polymers in supercritical media


An earphone device having composite functions at least has an earphone shell body, a loudspeaker, and an adjustment component. Several outer sound holes are disposed on the outer side of the earphone shell body. The loudspeaker is fixed in the earphone shell body. The loudspeaker is arranged outwards. The adjustment component is disposed on the earphone shell body. There are several adjustment holes corresponding to the outer sound holes of the earphone shell body on the adjustment component. The adjustment holes of the adjustment component can be controlled to be opposite to or be staggered with the outer sound holes of the earphone shell body. The earphone device is comfortable for use and can reduce pathological changes in ear and hearing decay to keep the human body healthy. Moreover, the earphone device has the functions of earphone, sound amplifier, and sound box.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to, an earphone device having composite functions and, more particularly, to an earphone device capable of keeping a human body healthy and having the functions of earphone, sound amplifier, and sound box.
2. Description of Related Art
Using an earphone to hear sound has become an indispensable life style in modern lives of people. An earphone can be exploited for listening to music on an airplane or for using a walkman, a radio set or a mobile phone in everyday life.
As shown in FIG. 1, in a conventional earphone 9, an inward loudspeaker 92 is disposed in each earphone shell body 91. The loudspeaker 92 is connected with a signal line 93. When the signal is sent to the loudspeaker 92, the loudspeaker 92 emits sound inwards to the ear of a user.
The above conventional earphone or an earphone of another type adopts the design of inward loudspeaker. Sound emitted by the loudspeaker is directly transmitted inwards to the ear of a user. In addition to causing discomfort of the eardrum of the user, the earphone may even cause pathological changes in the ear and hearing decay, hence having an adverse affect on the health of the human body.
Moreover, the conventional earphone generally has only the single function of earphone and provides no other function. Along with development of the information and multimedia technologies, earphones with a single function can no longer meet the requirements of people. In particular, use of a sound amplifier or a sound box requires a separate purchase of earphones, hence resulting in much inconvenience of the user.

Earphone device having composite functions


Apparatus and method for mounting on an existing x-ray simulator and calculating a back projected computed tomographic image. The detector array is linear and outputs signals from the photodiodes mounted therein to a preprocessor for smoothing, correcting and filtering and subsequent processing to transform the signal from that produced by an x-ray originating from a fan beam source, e.g., in a polar coordinate system, into the signal which would have been produced by a detector in an array on which a parallel beam is incident on a Cartesian coordinate system. The transformed data is converted to a gray scale value for a picture element having a specific position in the Cartesian coordinate system and output to an appropriate display. Data is taken at each incremental angle as the beam source and detector array rotate around a target object.. The method of reconstructing this back projected image involves correcting and smoothing the output signals, scaling those corrected and smoother signals, and convolving the scaled signals into data characterizing the ray which is incident on each individual detector element into the equivalent intensity data had the incident ray originated from a parallel beam source. Also provided are methods of correcting for off-center rotation of x-ray source and detector array.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to the use of a detachable x-ray detector array in combination with an existing radiation therapy x-ray simulator to produce computed tomographic (CT) image reconstructions. In more detail, the present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a CT scan from the width-collimated fan beam produced by an existing x-ray simulator and to a method for transforming the data produced by the detector array of the simulator into a back projected image of the target object. More particularly, this invention pertains to a method for reconstructing x-ray projection data to form CT images from divergent x-ray beams. The method can utilize noisy x-ray projection data, for example, data resulting from poor x-ray power supplies, and correct for geometrical errors resulting from mechanical defects in the motion of the beam projector that cause the central projection ray to move about the center of the detector array as a function of the angle of beam projection.
2. Introduction
X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a technique for obtaining cross-sectional reconstructions of three dimensional objects using x-rays. In the simplest example of CT imaging, a narrow beam of penetrating x-rays is scanned across an object or patient in synchrony with a radiation detector on the opposite side of the patient. If the beam is monoenergetic or nearly so, the transmission of x-rays through the patient is given by the equation EQU I=I.sub.0 exp(-.mu.x) [1]
where the patient is assumed to be a homogeneous medium with the attenuation coefficient .mu.. If the x-ray beam is intercepted by two regions with attenuation coefficients .mu..sub.1 and .mu..sub.2 and thicknesses x.sub.1 and x.sub.2, the x-ray transmission is characterized as EQU I-I.sub.0 exp-(.mu..sub.1 x.sub.1 +.mu..sub.2 x.sub.2) [2]
This formula is generalized to many (n) regions with different linear attenuation coefficients with the argument of the exponent ##EQU1## Separate attenuation coefficients cannot be determined with a single transmission measurement because there are too many unknown values of .mu..sub.i in the equation. However, with multiple transmission measurements at different orientations of the x-ray source and detector, the separate coefficients can be distinguished so that a cross-sectional display of coefficients is obtained across the plane of transmission measurements. By assigning gray levels (see below) to different ranges of attenuation coefficients, a display is obtained that represents various structures in the patient with different x-ray attenuation characteristics. This gray scale display of attenuation coefficients constitutes a CT image.
The numbers computed by the reconstruction algorithm are not exact values of attenuation coefficients. Instead, they are integrals, termed CT numbers, which are related to attenuation coefficients. On most newer CT units, the CT numbers range from -1,000 for air to +1,000 for bone, with the CT number for water set at 0. CT numbers normalized in this manner are termed Hounsfield units and provide a range of several CT numbers for a one percent (1%) change in attenuation coefficients.
To portray the CT numbers as a gray scale visual display, a CRT is used. The CRT includes a contrast enhancement feature that superimposes the shades of gray available in the display device (i.e., the dynamic range of the display) over the range of CT numbers of diagnostic interest. Control of image contrast with the contrast enhancement feature is essential in x-ray computed tomography because the electron density, and therefore the x-ray attenuation, is remarkably similar for most tissues of diagnostic interest. These electron densities vary from 3.07.times.10.sup.23 elec/cc for fat tissue to 5.59.times.10.sup.23 elec/cc for the densest tissue, bone. Lung tissue has a much lower electron density, 0.83.times.10.sup.23 elec/cc, because of the alveolar and bronchial spaces.
The first CT systems were introduced in approximately 1971 by the EMI Corporation of England. These early systems used an x-ray source mounted in a gantry with detectors. The patient was inserted between the x-ray source and the detectors and the joined x-ray source and detectors were moved about the patient to obtain projection rays through the patient. These values were fed to a computer which then reconstructed a cross sectional image of the plane through which the pencil beam of x-rays passed. During this translational scan of perhaps 40 cm in length, multiple (e.g., 160) measurements of the x-ray transmission were obtained. Next, the angular orientation of the scanning device was incremented one degree and a second translational scan of 160 transmission measurements was performed. This process was repeated at one degree increments through an arc of 180 degrees so that 28,800 x-ray transmission measurements were accumulated. Those measurements were then transmitted to a computer equipped with a mathematical algorithm for reconstructing an image of attenuation coefficients across the anatomical plane defined by the scanning x-ray beam.
Although this approach yielded satisfactory images of stationary objects, considerable time (4-5 minutes) was required for data accumulation and the images were subject to motion blurring. Soon after the introduction of pencil beam scanners, fan-shaped x-ray beams were introduced so that multiple measurements of x-ray transmission could be made simultaneously. Fan beam geometries, with increments of a few degrees for the different orientations (e.g., a 30-degree fan beam and 10-degree angular increments), reduced the scan time to 20-60 seconds and improved the image quality by reducing the effects of motion. Computed tomographic scanners with x-ray fan beam geometries and multiple radiation detectors constituted the second generation of CT scanners.
In late 1975, the third generation of CT scanner was introduced. These scanners eliminated the translational motion of previous scanners, using rotational motion of the x-ray tube and detector array or rotational motion of the x-ray tube within a stationary circular array of 600 or more detectors. With these scanners, data accumulation times as fast as two seconds are achievable.
Both stationary and rotating anode x-ray tubes are used in CT scanners. Many of the translation-rotation CT scanners have an oil-cooled, stationary anode x-ray tube with a focal spot on the order of 2.times.16 mm. The limited output of these x-ray tubes necessitates a sampling time of about 5 msec for each measurement of x-ray transmission. This sampling time, together with the time required to move and rotate the source and detector, limits the speed with which data can be accumulated with CT units using translational and rotational motion.
To reduce the sampling time of 2-3 msec, most fast-scan CT units use rotating-anode x-ray tubes, often with a pulsed x-ray beam, to achieve higher x-ray outputs. Even with rotating-anode tubes, the heat-storage capacity of the anode may be exceeded if cooling periods are not observed between sets of successive images.
After transmission through the patient, the x-ray beam is collimated to confine the transmission to a slice with a thickness of a few millimeters and to reduce scattered radiation to less than one percent (1%) of the primary beam intensity. The height of the collimator defines the thickness of the CT slice. This height, when combined with the area of a single picture element (pixel) in the display, defines the three-dimensional volume element (voxel) in the patient corresponding to the two-dimensional pixel of the display. A voxel encompassing a boundary between two tissue structures (e.g., muscle and bone) yields an attenuation coefficient of the two structures. This "partial volume artifact" may be reduced by narrowing the collimator to yield thinner slices. However, this approach reduces the intensity of the x-rays incident upon the detector and the detector signals are subject to greater statistical fluctuations, thus introducing more noise into the displayed image.
To reduce the detector response time, all detectors used in CT scanning are operated in current rather than pulse mode. Also, rejection of scattered radiation is assigned to the detector collimator rather than to pulse height analyzers. Detectors for CT scanning are chosen on the basis of detection efficiency (greater than 50%), short response time and stability of operation, and are either gas-filled ionization chambers or solid scintillation detectors. With any detector, the stability of response from one transmission measurement to the next is essential for the production of artifact-free reconstruction images. With a pure rotational source and detector geometry, for example, detector instability gives rise to ring-shaped artifacts in the image. Minimum energy dependence of the detector over the energy range for the CT x-ray beam also is important if corrections for beam hardening are to be applicable to all patient sizes and configurations.
All of the early CT systems were designed and built only to perform CT studies. The concept of using other types of radiation sources that had not been specifically designed for CT imaging was initiated in the mid 1970's.
Several of these efforts utilized existing x-ray therapy simulators. An x-ray simulator is a device that duplicates a radiation treatment unit in terms of its geometric, mechanical and optical properties, but uses a diagnostic x-ray tube as the source of radiation to simulate the properties of the treatment beam. A simulator allows the beam direction and the treatment fields to be determined while encompassing the target object with the simulator's irradiation. Since the simulator's emissions are generally less intense and less energetic than the emissions of therapy devices, there is a reduction in the target object's exposure to radiation.
The combination of a detector system and an x-ray therapy simulator provides the necessary front end of a CT system. Application of the requisite information processing techniques and algorithmic reconstruction processes in combination with the simulator cum detector system enable production of CT images.
In another type of radiography, known as panoramic radiography, the x-ray source and detector lie in the same plane just as is the case for an x-ray simulator, but they are rotated in a plane that is transverse to the plane containing the source and detector. In panoramic x-ray devices such as those used to produce images of the maxillo-facial region, the center of rotation of the source and detector moves along an elliptical path, the output signal of the detector being read periodically and then conditioned to produce a panoramic x-ray image of the target object. In contrast with a CT scanner, such devices typically scan only approximately 230.degree.-240.degree. about the target object.

Method and apparatus for computing tomographic scans


An electric strike assembly includes a housing including a mounting device and defining an internal longitudinal cavity, a keeper pivotally arranged in the housing, and a selectively locatable component including a locking device to cooperate with the mounting device to secure the component at a predetermined incremental position along the length of the removable cavity. In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, an electric strike assembly includes a housing defining an internal longitudinal cavity, a keeper pivotally arranged in the housing, and a keeper shim assembly, including a shim, slidably engaged with the keeper to position the shim at a predetermined position along a length of the cavity. A method of securely capturing a latch bolt mounted in a door includes mounting an electric strike assembly in an associated door jamb and positioning a shim at a predetermined position in the cavity.

Electric strikes, also known as electric door openers, electric releases and electric release strikes, are part of a locking mechanism conventionally used to control access to buildings or areas, for example. An electric strike assembly is typically mounted into a door jamb and receives a locking feature, such as a latch bolt and/or a dead bolt, which is part of a locking mechanism typically mounted in a door. An actuation means (e.g., an electrically driven motor or solenoid) is used to either block or release a rotatable keeper to either prevent or allow release of a door's latch bolt, to lock the door or allow it to be opened.
There is a wide variety of lock sets available in the market, with different lock sets often having locking features that engage the strike assembly at different positions with respect to a strike center. Conventional strike assemblies thus include faceplates having a hole(s) provided at a set position for receiving the locking feature(s). As such, when a different lock set is desired and/or exchanged for a replacement lock set, often the faceplate and/or the entire strike assembly must be simultaneously replaced to accommodate the dimensions of the new lock set. Due to this lack of interchangeability, conventional lock sets and strikes are often sold together as a packaged set even if only one component may be desired. The result is an increase in the cost of the product to the consumer as well as an increased cost for the associated installation of the packaged set. There is a need and desire for an electric strike assembly that is adjustable to accommodate dimensional differences in the locking features of corresponding lock sets.
Furthermore, for conventional electric strike assemblies to include certain optional devices, such as a latch monitor module, for example, the optional device must be built into the strike assembly. As such, a consumer must decide up front whether to include or exclude the optional feature or face the prospect of having to entirely replace the strike assembly and/or lock set if the optional feature later becomes desirable or, conversely, is no longer required. Accordingly, there is a need and desire to improve the form, fit and function of electric strike assemblies by providing an electric strike assembly having interchangeable and adjustable optional components that may be easily and efficiently installed or removed.


An improved latching mechanism for a rocking chair having an extensible leg rest assembly is disclosed. The latching mechanism is operable to releasably lock the chair frame in a rearwardly tilted position upon extension of the leg rest assembly while permitting unrestricted rocking action when the leg rest assembly is protracted. The improved latching mechanism is a pawl and ratchet latching mechanism having a spring-biased pawl member operable to lockingly engage a toothed ratchet sector for retaining the chair frame in its rearwardly tilted position. A unique actuation arrangement is disclosed having a release member that functions to pull the spring-biased pawl member to a released position. The actuation arrangement is also operable to prevent the release member from exerting any compressive biasing loading on the pawl member when the pawl member is in locked engagement with the ratchet teeth.

The present invention relates generally to rocking chairs and, more particularly, to a rocking chair having an extensible leg rest assembly and an improved latching mechanism operable for releasably retaining the chair on a rearwardly "tilted" position following extension of the leg rest assembly.
Most rocking chairs typically include an upholstered chair frame supported from a stationary base assembly in a manner permitting the chair frame to "rock" freely in forward and rearward movements with respect to the base assembly. In order to provide enhanced comfort and convenience, many rocking chairs also include a "reclinable" seat assembly and/or an "extensible" leg rest assembly. For example, combination platform rocking/reclining chairs, as disclosed in Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,096,121 and 4,179,157, permit reclining movement of the seat assembly and actuation of the leg rest assembly independently of the conventional "rocking" action. The leg rest assembly is operably coupled to a drive mechanism for permitting the seat occupant to selectively move the leg rest assembly between its normally retracted (i.e., "stowed") and elevated (i.e., "extended") positions. The drive mechanism is manually-operated and includes a handle which when rotated by the seat occupant, causes concurrent rotation of a drive rod for extending or retracting the leg rest assembly.
As an additional comfort feature, a latching mechanism may also be provided for releasably retaining the chair frame in a rearwardly rocked or "tilted" position on the base assembly following extension of the leg rest assembly to its extended position. In this manner, normal "rocking" action of the rocking chair is inhibited until the leg rest assembly is returned to its normally "stowed" position. Applicant's above-mentioned U.S. Patents each disclose the use of a "one-way" pawl and ratchet type latching mechanism having a pawl member supported for pivotable movement from the base assembly and a toothed ratchet sector fixed to the chair frame. An elongated U-shaped spring link is used to couple the pawl member to a drive link fixed to the drive rod. Movement of the pawl member between positions of engagement and disengagement with the toothed sector is caused in response to movement of the leg rest assembly between its extended and retracted position respectively. More particularly, when the handle is slightly rotated for partially extending the leg rest assembly, concurrent rotation of the drive rod and the drive link causes the spring link to forcibly pivot the pawl member toward the ratchet sector until its locking tip is positioned in locked engagement with the teeth of the ratchet sector. Thereafter, continued rotation of the drive rod and drive link for completely extending the leg rest assembly causes "elastic" flexure of the elongated spring link for applying a compressive force on the pawl member. However, the magnitude of the compressive force exerted by flexure of the spring link can vary since the displacement between the drive rod and sequential ratchet points on the ratchet sector vary in response to rearward tilting movement of the chair frame. Therefore, the flexure of the elongated spring link must be sufficient to ensure that the compressive force exerted on the pawl member is sufficient to maintain locked engagement between the pawl member and the teeth of the ratchet sector throughout the entire range of rearward "tilting" movement of the chair frame.
While such conventional latching mechanisms have generally performed satisfactorily, they are inherently noisy due to the spring link exerting a large compressive force on the locking tip of the pawl member at it "ratchets" over the the ratchet sector upon rearward tilting movement of the chair frame. In addition, the cyclical flexural requirements of the spring link may lead to premature fatigue fallure which could possibly cause unintentional release of the chair frame from its rearwardly tilted position.


A mobile communication device with a human body recognition function includes sensing pad and a sensor. The sensing pad is electrically connected to the sensor. When a target object approaches the mobile communication device, an induction signal is generated between the sensing pad and the target object. The sensor receives the induction signal, and the sensor includes a first sensitivity and a second sensitivity. When no target object approaches the mobile communication device, the sensor is set at the first sensitivity. When the sensor receives the induction signal, the first sensitivity is switched to the second sensitivity. The induction signal is converted into a first signal and the first sensitivity is compared with a default value. If the first signal is greater than the default value, the target object is determined as a human body and a power adjustment unit is adjusted to reduce an output power.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mobile communication device and, more particularly, to a mobile communication device with a recognition function.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to comply to the safety standards of specific absorption rate (SAR) formulated by the government, a proximity sensor and an antenna are set on a conventional mobile communication device to detect whether a non-human object or a human an body approaches the mobile communication device.
Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between the operation of a conventional sensor and a power of a mobile communication device. When a target object approaches the mobile communication device, no matter a target object is a non-human object or a human body, an induction signal is generated between the target object and the sensing pad, and the sensor inside the mobile communication device receives the induction signal and transmits a control signal to a power transmitter of the mobile communication device to reduce an output power of the mobile communication device, so as to reduce the measurement of the specific absorption rate (SAR).
Conventionally, when the target object, includes a non-human object or a human body, approaches the mobile communication device, the power transmitter of the mobile communication device is adjusted to reduce the output power of the mobile communication device. In other words, although the conventional method ensures that the output power can be reduced when a human body approaches the mobile communication device for a lower SAR measurement comply to. However, when a non-human object approaches, the adjustment of the output power also reduces, thus alters the communication quality, and the power consumption becomes larger.

Mobile communication device with human body recognition function


Various embodiments provide methods of making ceramic articles and cold-set plugs for ceramic honeycomb bodies. The methods of making ceramic articles include providing a ceramic honeycomb body and applying an aqueous composition to the ceramic honeycomb body to form a cold-set plug. The aqueous composition includes a refractory filler, an inorganic binder, and an organic binder. The refractory filler includes particles having a d50 ranging from about 10 μm to about 40 μm, a d10 greater than about 2 μm, and a d90 less than about 110 μm. Embodiments also provide methods of making the cold-set plug that include preparing the aqueous composition and forming the cold-set plug by applying the composition to the ceramic honeycomb body.

The production of honeycomb articles, such as, for example, diesel particulate filters, often involves the application of ceramic cements (also referred to as pastes or sealants) onto pre-formed honeycomb bodies. These cement compositions may be applied to the honeycomb body, for example to form plugs for the cell channels of the honeycomb, to form artificial skin (also known as "after-applied skin"), or to bond several smaller honeycomb segments together to make a larger honeycomb body.
Plugging of diesel particulate filters to force exhaust gas to flow through porous walls has historically been accomplished using one of two composition types. The first composition type is typically very similar to the raw material of the honeycomb body. For example, for a cordierite honeycomb filter, the first composition may include clay and talc, and firing to a temperature sufficient to convert the raw materials into cordierite. In various applications, this first composition type provides favorable rheology for plugging, due to the presence of clay and talc, which are platy raw materials (that is, flat and plate-like structures found in soils) with high surface charge. The second composition type may consist of pre-reacted, ground cordierite powder and both organic and inorganic binders. Without the inclusion of organic binders, the second composition type does not exhibit sufficient plasticity. Thus, to achieve favorable rheology for plugging, the second composition type is typically mixed with organic binder(s) (included for rheology) and then fired to about 1000° C. in order to remove those organic components and react the inorganic binders (included for structural strength after the organic components are burned off).
The second composition type has been modified to provide methods that do not require a firing process as described above. However, the second composition type still presents some challenges for commercialization, particularly in view of the rheological behavior of the composition which has been found to be prone to syneresis (that is, liquid separation from solids). For example, when the second composition type is used as a plugging application, the target plug depths often cannot be achieved because batch liquids wick into the porous ceramic walls and the cement dries out to a stiff state within a few millimeters. Although attempts have been made to modify the undesired behavior, to date the success has been limited.
One such attempted solution to try to improve flow in a cement batch has been to decrease particle size. However, decreasing particle size has been found to increase the level of voids and dimples in the plug material, which are typically considered undesirable for the plugging application. Another attempted solution for improving plug depth has been to increase the amounts of methylcellulose and/or water in the cement composition. However, this approach has also been found to increase voids and dimples in the plug material. Thus, a need still exists to find a composition, and method of making a composition that will exhibit acceptable rheology for application to ceramic honeycomb bodies, such as for use as a plug composition, while reducing voids and dimples in the plug.

Method for making cold-set plug for ceramic honeycomb body


Consistency for replicating data storage subsystem configurations in accordance with a “golden” configuration file. A data storage subsystem comprises a blade system with a plurality of slots, the blade system configured to support a plurality of blades and a storage system, each arranged in a predetermined slot of the blade system. The storage system arranges a logical configuration of the server blades in accordance with a “golden” configuration file. The server blade slot versus WWN information is collected and provided to the storage system. The storage system converts the “golden” configuration file slot information to WWNs. The server blades are enabled for access to said storage system as they log on with WWNs in accordance with the “golden” configuration file.

Data storage subsystems, such as subsystems comprising numbers of hard disk drives, for example, in blade and in RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) arrangements, may be configured manually by or for customers who want particular files or logical volumes to be available for particular circumstances.
In one example, a customer with retail centers across the country or world may wish to have several applications that access certain files of the data at each retail center. Examples include a real time transaction application, a back up application, an inventory application, etc., and all will own some of the logical volumes stored by the data storage subsystem. The customer may also want the logical volumes and applications to be consistent across the country or world.
In accordance with the incorporated '166 Application, a blade system may now comprise the storage system and servers in the form of blades.
To meet the consistency criteria, a manual boot up may be conducted at each blade system instead of a normal boot up which may follow a particular sequence, such as slot number, in a blade arrangement, and the storage system and files manually configured with respect to the servers.

Consistent data storage subsystem configuration replication

International Business Machines Corporation


An illumination module including a first light-emitting element, a first heat dissipation element, a first heat conducting unit, a second light-emitting element, a second heat dissipation element, and a second heat conducting unit is provided. The first light-emitting element is capable of emitting a first color light beam. The first heat conducting unit is connected between the first light-emitting element and the first heat dissipation element. The second light-emitting element is capable of emitting a second color light beam. The second heat conducting unit is connected between the second light-emitting element and the second heat dissipation element. The first heat dissipation element and the second heat dissipation element are disposed separately. The first heat conducting unit and the second heat conducting unit are also disposed separately. The heat dissipation characteristic of the illumination module is better. A projection apparatus having the illumination module is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination module, and particularly to an illumination module with good heat dissipation characteristic.
2. Description of Related Art
Light-emitting diodes (LED), having advantages of long lifespan, small volume, power saving, low pollution, high reliability, and mass production, etc. are used as a light source in illumination modules. However, LEDs are sensitive to temperature. When the temperature is too high, the light-emitting efficiency of LEDs deteriorates, and the wavelength of the light beams emitted by LEDs shifts (i.e. the color of the light beams shifts). Accordingly, the illumination module using LEDs must have a good heat dissipation design to conduct the heat generated by LEDs when emitting lights, so as to keep LEDs working at a lower temperature to maintain an optical quality of the light beams emitted by LEDs.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional LED illumination module 100 includes a plurality of red LEDs 110a, a plurality of green LEDs 110b, a plurality of blue LEDs 110c, a heat conducting block 120, a plurality of heat pipes 130, and a heat dissipation element 140. The red LEDs 110a, the green LEDs 110b, and the blue LEDs 110c are disposed on a surface of the heat conducting block 120. The heat pipe 130 is connected between the heat conducting block 120 and the heat dissipation element 140, and the heat generated by the red LED 110a, the green LED 110b, and the blue LED 110c when emitting light beams is dissipated through the same heat conducting block 120, the heat pipe 130, and the heat dissipation element 140 sequentially. The heat dissipation element 140 has a plurality of heat sinks 142, so that the heat dissipation element 140 has a larger heat dissipation area.
Generally speaking, as the red LED 110a is more sensitive to temperature as compared with the green LED 110b and the blue LED 110c, a conductivity of the heat generated by the red LED 110a must be high enough to avoid the deterioration of the light-emitting efficiency and the shift of the color of the emitted light beam resulting from over-high temperature. However, in the conventional LED illumination module 100, as the heat generated by the red LED 110a, the green LED 110b, and the blue LED 110c is dissipated to the environment through the same heat dissipation element 140, the heat generated by the LEDs of three colors influences one another, which makes the heat conductivities being identical, thus leading to the difficulty in improvement of the conductivity of the heat generated by the red LED 110a. In this manner, although the heat conductivity is sufficient to maintain the blue LED 110c and the green LED 110b working at a normal working temperature, for the red LED 110a, the thermal conductivity is insufficient, thus leading to the problems of the deterioration of the light-emitting efficiency and the shift of the color of the red LED 110a.

Illumination module and projection apparatus


The present invention provides compositions and methods of decreasing the nitrogen loss in a mammal which is normally associated with the administration of isocaloric solutions. Specifically, the present invention provides compositions comprising from about 4% to 10% dextrose and from about 1/2% to 2% glutamine. Such compositions, when administered to a mammal, reduces dehydration and nitrogen loss to approximately 25% of that found when no solution is administered.

The transition from the fed to the fasting state is accompanied by several important metabolic changes. Glucose is the preferred energy source of the brain, red blood cells, and the renal medulla. Muscle and liver stores of glycogen are rapidly depleted and this leaves the fasting individual with two sources of body fuel: protein (primarily from skeletal muscle), and fatty acids (which are deposited in adipose tissue). Despite large triglyceride energy stores, fatty acids cannot be converted into glucose; although the glycerol moiety of triglycerides can be converted into glucose, this supply is quite limited. The only remaining sources of glucose are the gluconeogenic amino acids derived from the breakdown of protein.
Protein is essential to the organism and consists of either functional or structural cellular elements. Protein-containing tissue is referred to as the body cell mass (BCM), and it is this tissue that is active and functional and thus maintains the organism (Moore, F., The Metabolic Care of the Surgical Patient, W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, Pa. (1959)). The utilization of protein for endogenous fuel results in a gradual erosion of the BCM, which eventually results in dysfunction. Unfortunately, the energy derived from the oxidation of endogenous fat stores is not sufficient to maintain the BCM. In his classic study of fasting subjects on a life raft in the 1940s, Gamble demonstrated that by providing 100 grams of glucose to the fasting subjects, he could decrease protein loss by 50% (Gamble, J. L., Harvey Lectures 42: 247 (1946-1947)). Based on his work, 5% dextrose has become the universal intravenous fluid used in the hospital. Two or three liters of this solution provide 100-150 g dextrose (50 g/L) which reduces net nitrogen breakdown and excretion by one-half.
A variety of studies have been performed in an attempt to further decrease the nitrogen loss in patients who cannot or do not eat. First, it should be noted that Gamble added 40 g protein to the 100 g of carbohydrate and did not observe improvement in nitrogen retention. Others have administered varying amounts of glucose and/or amino acids in a similar attempt to reduce protein loss. The most comprehensive data comes from Moore's Laboratory (Wolff, B. M., et al., Ann. Surg. 186: 518 (1977)) and is shown below.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Total Total Nitrogen Nitrogen Calories carbohydrates intake balance Diet kcal/day calories, kcal/day g/m.sup.2 /day g/m.sup.2 /day ______________________________________ Starvation 0 0 0 -6.44 Low-dose 568 568 0 -4.14 glucose High-dose 2278 2278 0 -3.06 glucose Amino acids 378 0 6.8 -3.22 Amino acids 888 540 7.4 -0.68 + low-dose glucose ______________________________________
As noted from the above table, the administration of calories alone has an effect of reducing negative nitrogen balance. The same is true with the administration of nitrogen; when the two nutrient sources are given together, there is an additive effect which greatly reduces the net negative nitrogen balance.
Glutamine is a nonessential amino acid that is the most abundant amino acid in whole blood and accounts for 60% of the total amino acid pool in skeletal muscle (Bergstrom, J., et al., J. Appl. Physiol. 36: 693-696 (1974)). Glutamine has a central role in several metabolic pathways. It contains two nitrogen groups which are readily transferred among tissues, provide a substrate for ammoniagenesis in the kidney, and enhance its role as a precursor for nucleotide synthesis (Marliss, E. B., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 50: 814-817 (1971); Pitts, R. F., Am. J. Med. 36: 720-742 (1962); Levintow, L., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 227: 929-941 (1957)). In addition, glutamine is actively consumed by dividing cells such as lymphocytes and intestinal epithelial cells. During catabolic states, glutamine plasma concentrations may be markedly decreased, intracellular stores may be decreased by 50% while whole plasma levels fall 20-30% (Askanazi, J., et al., Ann. Surg. 192: 78 (1980)). This depletion persists long after recovery from the catabolic process (Askanazi, J., et al., Ann. Surg. 191: 465 (1980)). Glutamine concentrations in skeletal muscle have been found to correlate well with the rate of protein synthesis (MacLennan, P. A., et al., FEBS Lett. 215: 187-191 (1987)) and its administration has been found to inhibit muscle protein breakdown in rats and dogs (MacLennan, P. A., et al., FEBS Lett. 237: 133-136 (1988)). This protein loss is not prevented by administering standard total parenteral nutrition (TPN) which is devoid of glutamine (Vinnars, E., et al., JPEN 4: 184-187 (1980)). Studies utilizing muscle biopsies in patients undergoing elective surgery have shown that glutamine-supplemented TPN diminished the decline of intracellular glutamine in muscle and counteracted the decrease in protein synthesis (Hammarqvist, F., et al., Ann. Surg. 209: 455-461 (1989)).

Intravenous solution that diminishes body protein loss


A PLL circuit is described. The PLL circuit includes: a signal generator and at least one divider coupled to the signal generator, where the at least one divider is programmable in user mode. In one embodiment, the PLL circuit includes a memory device associated with the at least one divider, where the memory device receives settings data and provides settings data to the at least one divider in user mode.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic circuits and, in particular, to phase locked loop and delay locked loop circuits used in electronic circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
For certain applications, it is desired to change the frequency of a phase locked loop (PLL) or delay locked loop (DLL) output clock signal based on some configuration such as, for example, changing Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) standards. In the past, this required the user to have separate programming object files (POF's) with different settings for each of the different frequencies. In order to change counter and delay settings using POF, the user needs to load the entire new POF for the programmable logic device (PLD) of which the PLL or DLL is a part. Thereafter, the user needs to wait until the PLL or DLL re-acquires lock (i.e., PLL or DLL has phase and frequency locked onto the reference clock.)
The present invention addresses this and other disadvantages of the existing PLL and DLL circuits.

Phase locked loop (PLL) and delay locked loop (DLL) counter and delay element programming in user mode