A method for producing open-knit fabric with machines for knitting hosiery or other articles and an open-knit article obtained with the method. The method consists in producing in succession rows of knitting (A,B,C) by means of a plurality of needles (1,2), with openwork being performed which is constituted by holes, each of which is provided by means of a group of needles (1,2) in which a first needle (1), after taking part in the formation of a first row (A) of knitting, is freed from the loop (1a) of the first row (A) of knitting by transferring the loop to a second needle (2) that is contiguous to the first needle (1). The first needle (1) is actuated so as to resume knitting, forming a new loop (1b) of a row (B) of knitting that is subsequent to the first row (A). It is optionally possible to gradually free a plurality of needles, by transferring the corresponding loop to a contiguous needle, and/or to vary the number of rows of knitting after which the needles freed from the related loop resume knitting, and/or to varying the stitch that is produced by these needles when knitting resumes, so as to vary the dimensions and/or shape of the holes that constitute the openwork.

Machines for knitting hosiery or other articles are known which are capable of transferring a loop from the needle that formed it to a contiguous needle. A machine of this kind is disclosed for example in the published patent document no. WO 02/070799.
In the field of the production of knitted textile articles, in particular in the field of knitwear and hosiery, there is a constant demand for articles that are aesthetically enhanced by means of decorations, among which openwork is particularly appreciated. There is therefore a constant search, on the part of knitting experts, for new weaves of knitting in order to devise openwork with holes of various sizes and for new shapes to obtain innovative aesthetic effects.

Method for producing open-knit fabric with machines for knitting hosiery or other articles, and open-knit article obtained with the method


A flameless tracer and marker for small munitions and canon caliber projectiles incudes non-toxic, environmentally friendly chemiluminescent materials which are maintained in separate compartments is described. The munitions when fired glow intensely for several minutes and mark a target area upon impact.

This invention relates to munitions employed for training and tactical purposes more particularly, the present invention relates to novel small arms, mortar and canon caliber munitions including a flameless tracer containing chemiluminescent chemicals capable of providing flight path trace and site identification.
In both military and non-military organizations, it has been common practice in training and tactical exercises to employ materials capable of providing a visible trace of a projectile""s trajectory after firing from a weapon, so assuring that the projectile has been delivered to its desired target site and its flight path traced from gun tube to target. The tracer is required to be seen by the observer either during daylight or night time. The pyrotechnic compositions employed as tracers in such applications are typically loaded into the back end of the projectile and are made of pyrotechnic materials that burn and create light. After the projectile (round) is fired from the weapon, the tracer ignites (burns) and a visible light can be seen as the projectile travels to its target. The gunner and/or observer can actually see the trace of the projectile flight and, subsequently, adjusts the weapon so that the next round fired can impact the desired target location. Pyrotechnic compositions suitable for such purpose may be chosen from among those well known in the art such as strontium nitrate, magnesium powder, potassium nitrate, barium nitrate and the like.
Although such prior art methods have met with some degree of success, workers in the art have encountered certain difficulties. Thus, for example, tracer ammunition has frequently resulted in fires on training ranges which have been attributed to energetic material tracers contacting and burning surrounding brush and other ground material. This causes additional costs to be incurred in extinguishing the fires while interrupting training exercises. Furthermore, training exercises must be extended to replace time lost, thereby incurring more manpower costs. Additionally, tracers in current projectiles contain materials which are enviromentally unfriendly and often pose environmental hazards to training areas due to their toxic emissions into the atmosphere and as a result of such materials leaching into ground water. Still further, tracer materials commonly in use must be transported and the pyrotechnic nature and explosive properties add significant costs.
Recently, a new development in the preparation of powdered chemiluminescent materials meeting U.S. Army requirements occurred as a result of private research by the Omniglow Corporation of West Springfield, Massachusetts. These materials were obtained by mixing an oxalate ester in powdered form with a liquid peroxide to form a light emitting slurry. These chemiluminescent materials have been found suitable for use in tracer applications as well as for identifying and marking a target area with visible and/or infrared light sources. The materials so obtained are similar to conventional chemiluminescents, however, certain ingredients and manufacturing techniques were developed by them working in conjunction with the inventors herein to obtain the capability of long duration and high light intensity tracing and marking capability not available heretofore. The oxalate component employed was in powdered form which when mixed with a liquid peroxide yielded a non-toxic slurry which was found to be non-flammable and biodegradable.
The physical form of the chemiluminescent materials employed herein accounts for several advantages over the prior art, so permitting new applications. Thus, for example, the powdered form of chemiluminescent permits long term storage of materials without leakage. These compositions can readily be contained in a projectile, the powder being surrounded by one or more vials of liquid. Upon gun launch, the chemicals mix, so creating light and a trace of the path of the projectile which breaks apart at which time the material is scattered on the target area. This action effectively marks the target area with greater light intensity and for longer durations than those attainable using standard all liquid chemiluminescent chemical systems. The primary limitation with the all liquid systems has been that upon dispersal to the environment such as a ground or target impact area, the liquid chemicals tend to be absorbed by the impacted materials such as dirt, fabric, plants and the like. In marked contrast thereto, the described composition which is in the form of a powdered slurry when fully mixed is not absorbed into these impacted materials and is not miscible in water. Accordingly, these compositions will mark wet locations with ease. This is a significant advance in the art since it was common for the liquid chemiluminescent materials to be easily washed away, or, alternatively, react with the oxygen in the air, thereby limiting light output duration. The described compositions include components which preclude reaction with oxygen, so permitting marking of an area with longer and greater light intensity, so suggesting their use for marking, illuminating, training and site identification applications.
In order to fully appreciate the wide range of applications of the instant invention, the following environments have been found suitable:
(1) As an environmentally friendly tracer in projectiles using powdered chemiluminescent infrared and/or visible light source.
(2) As a flameless tracer in projectiles using powdered chemiluminescent infrared and/or visible light source which will not start fires.
(3) Projectiles containing powdered chemiluminescent chemicals can be used to identify and mark a target(ground location, enemy equipment or vehicles) with a chemiluminescent infrared light and/or visible light source of long duration and durability after impact and deposition of the chemiluminescent slurry on the object, so permitting identification of impact areas.
(4) Missiles and smart munitions which contain infrared seeking sensors can home in on an identified (chemiluminescent marked) target and thereby guide a munition to its target.
(5) Chemiluminescent light sources, visible and infrared, delivered by projectiles can be used to illuminate caves, equipment, booby traps, enemy vehicles, projectile impact areas and personnel. The chemiluminescent material is not flammable and will not ignite any dangerous explosive gases inside a cave. Infrared light source provided by these materials allows personnel to look into a cave with infrared (night vision) detection devices to a much greater depth than attained hereto fore. Current night detection devices are only capable of detecting temperature differences. Booby traps which are deeply embedded in a cave and would be at the same temperature as the cave would not be detected by night vision devices without marking with an infrared chemiluminescent chemical projectile.
(6) Directing a unit in battle to concentrate their projectiles into a marked area. This area would be marked by visible and/or infrared chemiluminescent light when dispersed from a projectile. This visual signal is an effective method to get the attention of soldiers during battle because battle noise interferes with communication. In this manner, the fighting unit is more efficient in defeating an enemy.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to fabricate novel tracer and marker ammunition including chemiluminescent materials capable upon mixture of creating intense displays visible over long ranges after gun launch.
It is also an object of the present invention to obtain an improved method for manufacturing tracer ammunition which is environmentally friendly and which imposes no burdensome shipping restrictions.
In accordance with the present invention, these prior art limitations have been effectively obviated by means of a novel flameless tracer and marker. More specifically, the invention involves the fabrication of a flameless tracer and marker for small munitions and canon caliber projectiles including non-toxic, non flammable, non-energetic, environmentally friendly chemiluminescent chemicals which are maintained in separate compartments or in a single compartment until light is needed.

The Government of the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A heat sink assembly includes a heat sink and a clip assembly. The clip assembly includes a clip and a pair of movable fasteners pivotally connected to the clip. The clip includes a main body, two pressing portions extending from two opposite ends of the main body and two locking arms extending oppositely from the two pressing portions, respectively. The movable fasteners each include a main body, a pair of receiving portions curved upwardly from the main body and receiving a corresponding locking arm therein and a hook extending downwardly from the main body and engaging with a clasp on a printed circuit board. A distance from each of the hooks of the movable fasteners to a corresponding clasp can be adjustable via rotation of the movable fasteners around the locking arms of the clip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat sink assembly, and more particularly to a heat sink assembly having a clip which can firmly secure a heat sink to a heat-generating component such as a central processing unit (CPU) mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
It is widely acknowledged that heat is produced during operations of electronic devices such as central processing units (CPUs). The produced heat must be quickly removed to ensure the CPUs working normally. Typically, a heat sink is disposed on the CPU mounted on the printed circuit board to dissipate the heat therefrom.
Typically, linear-type clips were widely used for securing of heat sinks. A linear-type clip, which is integrally made from a resilient metal wire, generally includes an elongated central pressing portion and a pair of locking arms extending from opposite ends of the elongated central pressing portion in opposite directions to thereby form a Z-shaped configuration. When assembled, the elongated central pressing portion of the clip abuts against a base of a heat sink, and the locking arms thereof are then resiliently pressed downwardly to engage with clasps provided on the printed circuit board to thereby secure the heat sink to the CPU.
However, in operation, the locking arms of the clip usually fail to have an appropriate length for properly engaging with the clasps formed on the printed circuit board, whereby the pressing portion cannot firmly press the heat sink toward the printed circuit board to enable the heat sink to have an intimate contact with the CPU. The length of the locking arms of the clip is either too long to easily disengage from the clasps on the printed circuit board when the clip is suffered vibration, or too short to become difficult to engage with the clasps on the printed circuit board.
What is needed, therefore, is a heat sink assembly having a heat sink and a clip securing the heat sink to an electronic device, wherein the clip has an improved structure so that the clip can firmly and accurately secure with clasps on a printed circuit board thereby to enable the heat sink to have an intimate contact with the electronic device.

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


Surgical eversion apparatus for preparing a conduit for anastomosis in a human patient includes an everting member having a loop shaped portion adapted to be inserted into an end portion of a conduit harvested from a human patient and configured to fold a portion of the conduit end portion over itself when moved proximally away from the end of the conduit and along the conduit while a portion of the conduit is held fixed relative thereto. A method of everting a graft includes positioning a graft in a support device such that an end portion of the graft extends therefrom; introducing a generally looped shaped member into the end portion of the graft extending from the support device; and moving the looped shaped member over the support device to fold at least a portion of the end portion of the graft over the support device.

The occlusion of the arteries can lead to insufficient blood flow resulting in discomfort and risks of angina and ischemia. Significant blockage of blood flow in the coronary artery can result in damage to the myocardial tissue or death of the patient. In most cases, occlusion of the artery results from progressive long term deposits of plaque along the artery wall. While such deposits may be concentrated and occlude the artery at a particular site, the deposits are most certainly present throughout the arteries and the vascular system.
Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is a surgical procedure performed in severe cases of coronary blockages. CABG procedures involve anastomosing an artery to a graft, such as a vascular graft, which restores the flow of blood by establishing another pathway around the occluded vasculature. During coronary artery bypass graft surgery, a vein or other conduit can be attached proximally to the patient's aorta. The other end is attached to the blocked artery, downstream from the obstruction, thus bypassing the coronary occlusion. CABG procedures can be done by placing the patient on a heart-lung machine and stopping the heart from beating or they can be done on a beating heart without a heart lung machine.
Vessel eversion apparatus have been disclosed to prepare vascular grafts for anastomosis. For example, vessel everting apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,161 to Kirsch, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,413 to Heck, et al. However, there remains a need to provide improved everting apparatus and methods.


This invention provides a medical device for delivering volumetric quantities of a first and a second biochemically reactive fluid comprising a first container having an opening, the first container being adapted to contain the first biochemically reactive fluid; a second container having a second fluid opening adjacent the first fluid opening, the second container being adapted to contain the second biochemically reactive fluid; a spray unit for separately atomizing the first and second biochemically reactive fluids into an aerosol with at least one energy source of a liquid energy, a mechanical energy, a vibration energy, and an electric energy; a fluid pressurizer for pressurizing the first and the second biochemically reactive fluids for delivery under pressure through the spray unit onto a surface; and wherein the first and second biochemically reactive fluids first mix on the surface.

One of the major problems in intra-abdominal surgery is the avoidance of post-operative adhesions. It is well-known that adhesions contribute to pain, immobility, retarded wound healing, and in particular to intestinal obstruction which even may be life-threatening. In the field of gynecological surgery, post-surgical adhesions involving female reproductive organs may result in infertility.
Each surgical procedure necessarily produces various forms of trauma where the abdominal cavity or other human cavity is opened for an inspection. Physiologically, the process of wound closure then starts when bleeding ceases upon formation of a hemostatic clot at the places where blood vessels are injured. The clot, at first comprising mainly platelets, is solidified by a fibrin network resulting from the activation of an enzyme cascade involving thrombin, factor XIII and calcium. Further steps on the way to the sealing of the wound are retraction of the hemostatic clot, invasion of various cell types including fibroblasts into the wound area and eventually the lysis of the fibrin network. Adhesions are thought to begin to form when the fibrin clot covering an injury comes into contact with an adjacent surface and the new connective tissue produced by the fibroblasts attach the two surfaces together.
The problems associated with adhesions often require a further operative procedure for removing/lysing the adhesions, called adhesiolysis, which, like the first operation, principally bears the risk of forming additional adhesions.
Accordingly, the prevention of adhesion formation is medically important. Among the different approaches for prevention of adhesion formation, one involves the use of materials as a physical or bio-mechanical barrier for the separation or isolation of traumatized tissues during the healing process. Both synthetic materials and natural materials have been used as a barrier to adhesion formation. Permanent, inert implants like Gore Tex.RTM. surgical membranes consisting of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) generally require a second operative procedure to remove them, while others such as surgical membranes of oxidized regenerated cellulose are biodegradable, but are thought to elicit an inflammatory response ultimately leading to adhesion formation (A. F. Haney and E. Doty, Fertility and Sterility 60, 550-558, 1993).
Fibrin sealants/glues are well-known in the art for use in hemostasis, tissue sealing and wound healing, and have been commercially available outside the United States for more than a decade. Fibrin glues have not been widely used for anti-adhesion purposes. Further, the practice of changing the concentrations of thrombin and fibrinogen to achieve a fibrin film having a desired pore size is also not widely practiced.
Fibrin glues mimic the last step of the coagulation cascade and are usually commercialized as kits comprising two main components. The first component is a solution comprising fibrinogen and factor XIII, while the second component is a thrombin calcium solution. After mixing of components, the fibrinogen is proteolytically cleaved by thrombin and thus converted into fibrin monomers. Factor XIII is also cleaved by thrombin into its activated form (FXIIIa). FXIIIa cross links the fibrin monomers to form a three-dimensional network commonly called "Fibrin Gel."
Previous attempts to provide a thrombin and fibrinogen delivery device are known.
For example, one such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,336 Which discloses a dual syringe system. A device made by the assignee of the '336 Patent, Hemaedics, Inc., is sold under the tradename DUOFLO. Each syringe distal end is attached to a common manifold 14 having a mixing chamber. Fibrinogen and thrombin solutions are mixed in the manifold 14 prior to application to a wound or other surface. The manifold has a discharge tip for delivering the mixed solution onto a surface. The shortcoming of this device is the propensity for the tip to clog. This occurs when solid fibrin is formed upon brief interruptions in the application process. Such interruptions are common in normal medical procedures. The likelihood of this occurring increases as the thrombin concentration increases especially thrombin concentrations of greater than 20 IU/ml. The '336 Patent acknowledges the clogging problem and suggests solving the problem by replacing the clogged tip. (Col. 3, line 4-Col. 4, line 2). However, replacing clogged tips is impractical and unacceptable for minimally invasive surgeries where a cavity of an animal body is accessed through a small surgical opening.
Other techniques provide for applying beads of a solution of thrombin and calcium and a solution of fibrinogen and Factor XIII adjacent and in contact with one another on a surface. In this case, the thrombin and fibrinogen react primarily along interfacing surfaces while the remaining portions of the solutions are generally isolated from one another by the solid fibrin formed between them. Thus, there is inadequate mixing of the solutions to provide for a suitable fibrin film. Also, the unreacted fibrinogen is available to react with thrombin supplied by the body to promote the formation of adhesions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,055 discloses another thrombin and fibrinogen delivery device having two syringes mounted in a holding frame 3 in parallel spaced relationship. A conical portion of a distal end each syringe is inserted into a connecting head. In one embodiment of the '055 patent, mixing of fluids contained in each syringe occurs inside the connecting head and in another embodiment the mixing of the fluids occurs outside the mixing head. The connecting head also includes a channel to supply medicinal gas under pressure. The medicinal gas contacts the fluids at a mouth of the connecting head and conveys the fluids contained in the syringes to a surface.
Product literature commenting on a dual syringe device for delivering fibrinogen and thrombin and sold by the Assignee of the '055 patent, reports that the device operates at gas pressures of about 30-65 psi. The momentum of the pressurized gas, especially when conveying entrained fluids, could possibly cause damage to tissue being treated by this device.
Finally, a device sold by Johnson & Johnson provided for applying a bovine thrombin and calcium chloride solution to a wound. In addition to possible issues raised by the use of bovine proteins, this procedure does not provide satisfactory hemostasis function in high blood flow situations. The thrombin is believed to be washed from the wound site by the flow of blood.
This invention overcomes these and other shortcomings in the prior art devices.

Fibrin delivery device and method for forming fibrin on a surface


An articulating massaging chair is provided that includes a support frame; a seat pivotally connected to the support frame by a seat pivot; and a backrest pivotally connected to the support frame by a backrest pivot.

Many "reclining" chairs have a seat and a reclining backrest that may be reclined to position a user in a more prone position for increased user comfort. Such reclining is particularly useful when the chair is a massage chair having one or more massaging devices. In such a case, when a user reclines the backrest of the chair, the user's weight distribution against the chair is altered, thus altering the massaging effect that is felt by the user. When so positioned, a larger portion of the user's weight is supported by the backrest and hence a massaging force transferred from a massaging device in the backrest to the user is increased.
However, typically the seat of such reclining chairs is generally horizontally positioned, approximately parallel to a ground surface, and is not angularly movable. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved reclining or articulating chair having a seat and a backrest that are each rotatable for increased user comfort.
In one embodiment according to the present invention, a generally horizontal seat of a chair rotates towards a more inclined position during a rotation of a backrest from a generally vertical position to a more prone position. This motion allows a user's legs to be rotated towards the backrest of the chair, causing the user's back to be less stretched out when the backrest is rotated to a more prone position, thus increasing user comfort. In addition, when such a chair is a massage chair the rotation of both the seat and the backrest allows for an altering of the weight distribution of the user against the chair and hence an altering of the massaging force transferred from the chair to the user.


A method of controlling a transmission includes selecting a target speed of a second shaft, and measuring a second speed of the second shaft and an output speed of an output shaft. The method includes detecting a rolling neutral condition wherein a first and second clutch are uncoupled from a torque generator and a synchronizer is mated to a predicted gear to apply a load in a direction, and one of a first condition wherein the output speed is decreasing and the target speed is less than the second speed and a second condition wherein the output speed is increasing and the target speed is less than the second speed. The method then includes translating the synchronizer away from the predicted gear, coupling and decoupling the second clutch to and from the torque generator, and mating the synchronizer to the predicted gear to again apply the load in the direction.

Dual clutch transmissions include two clutches that may be selectively and electronically controlled to transmit torque and provide power to driven wheels of a vehicle. During operation, a first clutch may engage or couple to a torque generator as a second clutch disengages or uncouples from the torque generator so that the dual clutch transmission smoothly shifts from a selected gear to a predicted gear.
As the dual clutch transmission shifts to the predicted gear, meshed components such as gears, synchronizers, and splined input and output shafts interact. Adjacent meshed components generally define a clearance or lash between one another to facilitate assembly of the dual clutch transmission, accommodate thermal expansion, allow for lubrication during operation, and permit deflection of the meshed components under load conditions.


The present invention provides a release coated film, an adhesive tape comprising a release coated film, and processes for preparing the same. The fluoropolymer release layer comprises a graft copolymer of (i) a base polymer containing polymerized units derived from monomers having terminal olefinic double bonds, and (ii) a moiety comprising a fluoroaliphatic group. The film may be coextruded and may subsequently be oriented in at least one direction. Alternately, the release coating can be extrusion coated onto a backing and may be subsequently oriented if the backing is orientable. Adhesives may be coated onto the release coated films either before or after orientation, or they may be coextruded along with the release coating and/or backing.

Articles which have release surfaces are used in a variety of applications. Pressure sensitive adhesive articles, such as tapes, die cuts, labels and the like often employ a release coating as a part of their structure, the coating oftentimes being referred to as a low-adhesion backsize (LAB). The purpose of the release coating is to provide a surface to which the adhesive coating does not permanently adhere. This is especially useful when the article is wound upon itself in roll form. In this form, the adhesive surface contacts the back surface of the article. The LAB prevents the adhesive from permanently adhering to the back surface of the article and allows that article to be unwound.
In the past, release coatings have been applied to surfaces by dissolving the release components in solvent, coating the solution onto a desired surface, and drying to evaporate the solvent. These solvent-based processes have become increasingly undesirable because of the environmental and safety considerations associated with the use of solvents.
This has led to accelerated interest in the use of hot melt extrusion coating of release compositions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,806 (Korpman) discloses preparation of pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes by a single step process of coextruding a backing film-forming composition and an adhesive composition. A solventless release agent may be incorporated into either the adhesive or backing, rendering unnecessary the coating of the backside of the tape with a release agent. Korpman states that suitable release agents for incorporation into backing film include synthetic and natural waxes and copolymers of stearyl methacrylate and acrylonitrile. U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,718 (Pedginski) discloses a pressure sensitive adhesive tape wherein a low-adhesion backsize and a pressure sensitive adhesive are applied to opposite sides of a backing that has been oriented in the machine direction. After application of the low-adhesion backsize and adhesive, the backing is oriented in the transverse direction by heating and cross-stretching in the transverse direction. Japanese patent SHO 581983!-113283 discloses a process for manufacturing a pressure-sensitive adhesive film comprising a substrate layer, pressure-sensitive adhesive layer and release layer wherein said pressure sensitive adhesive layer is the middle layer. The release layer may be either coextruded along with the other layers, or may be extruded separately and laminated to the adhesive layer of the two-layer film outside of the die.
Several references disclose coextrusion of a film backing and a silicone-containing release layer for pressure sensitive adhesive tape applications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,611 (Crass) discloses a tape comprising a coextruded, biaxially-oriented multilayer polypropylene support film and an adhesive layer, wherein the support film comprises at least two layers, the layer facing away from the adhesive comprising an anti-adhesive substance containing polydiorganosiloxane. U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,123 (Duncan) discloses a process for making an oriented polymer film in which a solventless, curable silicone release composition is applied to an extrudable, orientable polymer. The combination of the silicone material and the polymer is extruded as a sheet or film. The orientation process causes the silicone release composition to migrate to at least one surface of the sheet or film. The release composition is then cured to form a substantially continuous release layer on the oriented sheet or film. EPO application 0-484-093-A2 (Oy) discloses a polymer composition for forming release films. The film is formed of a reactive polyolefin that contains functional groups and a reactive silicone or other reactive release substance. The ingredients are caused to react by compounding them together in a molten state. The reactive compounding can be performed in connection with the film preparation to form a release film. The film can be prepared by means of a blown-film, cast-film or extrusion coating technique. German patent application DE 37-10-670 A1 discloses a pressure sensitive adhesive tape with a hand tearable backing that may have an anti-adhesive layer comprising polypropylene with 0.2-3 wt % added polydiorganosiloxane. The backing and anti-adhesive layer may be coextruded. U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,743 (Ohara) discloses a release agent formed by reacting an organopolysiloxane with a hydrocarbon compound having at lease one double bond. The release agent is said to be suitable for both coating and extrusion processing. Japanese Kokai Hei 3-229,776 (Kitamura) discloses a method of making pressure sensitive adhesive tape by coextruding a base material, for instance, polyolefin resin, and a resin layer incorporating a release agent formed from an organic silicone compound. The silicone compound possesses at least one hydrogen group and a hydrocarbon having at least one double bond that is capable of reacting with the hydrogen bond of the silicone compound. The coextruded multilayer film may be oriented in at least one direction before coating with adhesive, or alternately the adhesive may be applied to the coextruded multilayer film and then the entire construction oriented to form a tape.
Silicone-based release coatings, whether solvent or extrusion coated, often show increased transfer with aging. As a result, when used on tapes that are stored in roll form, the release material often transfers to the adhesive surface. Fluoropolymer release coatings are generally more stable and do not show increased transfer with aging. U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,017 (DeAntonis) discloses a multilayered coextruded film and coextrusion process wherein the coextruded film comprises at least one thermoplastic fluoropolymer layer, at least one thermoplastic polymeric layer adjacent to the thermoplastic fluoropolymer layer, and preferably a coextruded adhesive layer between each fluoropolymer layer and each polymeric layer. Each layer in the coextruded film is at least 0.05 mils thick. The coextruded film can be embossed or oriented in at least one direction without delamination, fibrillating or splitting.
The release coated films and articles of the prior art have not proven to be entirely satisfactory. Oftentimes a tie layer is needed to sufficiently adhere the release layer to the film. For example, flame or corona treatment is often employed to enhance said adhesion. In other cases, the release coating migrates upon aging despite the use of the tie layer. In still other cases, limitations exist as to suitable backing materials that may be employed with a given release coating.
A release coated film is therefore needed in which the release layer is stable with aging and extrudable onto a variety of backing materials without the use of additional treatment or a tie layer to enhance the adhesion of the release layer to the backing film. Preferably, the release coated layer can be coextruded with the backing layer without the use of solvents. It is also desirable that the release layer and backing layer be selectable from a wide variety of polymers so that the release coated film characteristics may be optimized for a particular application.
The present invention provides a stable release coated film wherein no tie layer or additional treatment is employed to improve the adherence of the release coating to the substrate surface. The present invention further provides a release coated film which may be made without the use of solvent processing techniques. The present invention also provides an adhesive tape in which minimal release material transfers to the adhesive layer when the tape is stored in roll form. Additionally, the release coated film and backing materials can be varied to optimize the release coated film for specific applications.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A covering material for a window covering assembly is provided that includes a plurality of formations, wherein an indicator marking is placed on the covering assembly at a known increment of the formations. The method of making the covering material includes, providing a web of material, printing a plurality of stripes on the web, and folding the web to create a window covering material having a plurality of formations. In one embodiment, the stripes are positioned such that a first face of the window covering material exhibits a color different than the remainder of the window covering material once folded. A longer stripe extends away from the first face to create the indicator marking. In another embodiment, the markings are made with a selectively observable material so that the covering material must be placed in a particular light to be viewed.

One type of window covering assembly includes a plurality of horizontally extending folds, or creases, formed on a face of a window covering material. These folds serve an aesthetic function, as well as corresponding to horizontally extending air pockets, or cells, in the window covering material. This type of window covering assembly offers a number of advantages, such as insulation, sound dampening and image distortion.
The desired number of cells in the window covering material varies depending on the dimensions of the window to be covered. Consequently, one of the steps in fabricating the window covering assembly requires counting the cells in the window covering material. Hand counting each of the cells without specialized equipment is time consuming and often inaccurate.
It is known to estimate the number of cells in the window covering material by measuring a dimension of the window covering material. This method is often ineffective because the number of cells will vary depending on the compression of the material. Attempting to expand the material or compress the material prior to measurement has proven ineffective in providing an accurate count of the cells. Further, it is particularly important to have an accurate counting of cells in window covering material used to cover adjacent windows. If the number of cells of adjacent window covering materials do not match, the appearance will not be aesthetically pleasing.

Window covering having indicator markings


The invention relates to frequency synthesizer circuits, and in particular to frequency synthesizer circuits characterized by a small channel spacing. Embodiments disclosed include a frequency synthesizer circuit for a radio receiver, the circuit comprising: a digitally controlled oscillator configured to generate an output signal with an output frequency on application of an oscillator enable signal; a delay module; configured to delay an input reference signal to generate a delayed reference signal; and a duty cycle module configured to modulate the oscillator enable signal based on a period of an input reference signal and the delay of the delayed reference signal, such that a ratio between the output frequency and the frequency of the input reference signal is a non-integer.

Phase locked loops (PLLs) are control systems that are common in high performance microprocessors and transceivers. A phase locked loop generates an output signal with a phase related to the phase of a highly accurate input signal (reference signal). A PLL is typically used to ensure that the clock frequencies of signal inputs of various registers and flip-flops match the frequency generated by an oscillator. Without a PLL, clock skew may become a problem resulting in the registers and flip-flops not receiving the clock at the same time.
Traditional analogue PLLs utilise a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) to provide an oscillating waveform with a variable frequency. The output of the VCO is compared to a reference input signal by a phase detector, which compares the phase of the input and output signals and adjusts the oscillator to keep the phases matched. This acts as a feedback loop.
The frequency of the output may be varied by introducing a divider that allows the output frequency to be a multiplied copy of the lower reference frequency, which is usually insensitive to process voltage and temperature variations. However, this provides the constraint that the oscillator frequency must be equal to an integer multiple of the reference frequency. Such analogue circuits are called integer-N frequency synthesisers.
This limitation may be overcome by introducing a modulator or dither to divide the value of the divider to achieve fractional divide values. The resulting variations are smoothed by the PLL using a loop filter. Such analogue PLL's are called fractional-N frequency synthesisers.
However issues with noise become apparent through the use of such analogue electronic components in modern digital electronics. For example, one problem with implementing a traditional analogue PLL is the difficulty in integrating this on a digital chip. Additionally, analogue PLLs are susceptible to noise and process variations.
Whilst digital components can be utilised in place of the analogue components, for example by using a digitally controlled oscillator, a counter, phase difference module and by controlling the components with digital command logic, such components tend to have a higher power requirements. This results in higher power consumption for the chip and therefore the chip being unsuitable for low power applications such as radio transceivers.
One route to reduce the power consumption is to duty cycle the digital PLL. Such an approach is described in WO2010/113108. Although this provides a reduced power consumption, this duty cycled all digital phase locked loop (DC-ADPLL) circuit operates as an integer-N frequency synthesiser.
There therefore exists a need to provide a duty cycled digital fractional-N frequency synthesiser. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to address one or more of the above mentioned problems relating to digital frequency synthesisers.
Summary
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention there is provided a frequency synthesiser circuit for a radio receiver, the circuit comprising: a digitally controlled oscillator configured to generate an output signal with an output frequency on application of an oscillator enable signal: a delay module configured to delay an input reference signal to generate a delayed reference signal; a duty cycle module configured to modulate the oscillator enable signal based on a period of the input reference signal and the delayed reference signal such that a ratio between the output frequency and the frequency of the input reference signal is a non-integer.
By providing a non-integer fractional ratio between the output signal generated by the digitally controlled oscillator and the input reference signal, a fractional-N frequency synthesiser can be provided. This allows a narrower range or channel spacing to be provided by the frequency synthesiser circuit because the frequency of the output signal can be more flexibly adjusted compared to an integer-N frequency synthesiser. Additionally, by modulating or duty cycling the oscillator enable signal, power consumption can be reduced. This control is achieved by providing control of the delay added to the reference signal which is then used to duty cycle the frequency synthesiser.
The signals described herein are typically digital signals and can be considered to comprise low and high levels and rising and falling edges.
The digitally controlled oscillator optionally comprises a ring oscillator and a digital to analogue converter configured to receive the (filtered) error signal and to provide a voltage signal to the ring oscillator that determines the frequency of the output signal and therefore also the delay of the ring oscillator stages. Ring oscillators are quicker to start up than LC oscillators and are generally suited due to the requirement that the output signal be stable at the start of each pulse.
The ring oscillator generally comprises a plurality of delay stages arranged in a closed loop (Nring). This allows the output frequency to be controllable by varying the input voltages applied to the delay stages.
In embodiments, the delay module comprises a delay module feedback loop configured to regulate the delay of the delayed reference signal compared to the input reference signal.
Providing a delay module feedback loop allows for a feedback mechanism between the output or wanted frequency and the delayed reference signal supplied by the delay module. Once the delay is settled, the delay of the delay module is stable and provides a ratio with the oscillator enable signal and with the output signal. In this manner, changes to the delay applied to the input reference signal are applied to the oscillator enable signal, which in turn alters the output signal and can be fed back into the delay module feedback loop.
An oscillator feedback loop is optionally connected to the digitally controlled oscillator, the oscillator feedback loop configured to regulate the output frequency. The feedback loop may be configured to count the number of rising and falling edges of the output signal to generate a feedback count value and to compare the feedback count value with a frequency control word (FCW). The difference between the feedback count value and FCW is an error signal. The frequency control word is used to program the wanted output frequency of the digitally controlled oscillator. More particularly, the feedback loop typically comprises a counter module and a phase difference module, the counter module being configured to count cycles of the output signal from the digital controlled oscillator while the digital controlled oscillator is configured to provide an output phase signal to the phase difference module, the phase difference module configured to compare the value of number of cycles counted by the counter module and the frequency control word, and to provide the error signal.
The feedback loop may comprise a first feedback loop configured to provide coarse control of the output frequency of the digital controlled oscillator and a second feedback loop configured to provide fine control of the output frequency of the digital controlled oscillator. The use of a second feedback loop for fine frequency control allows for fine tuning to align the last rising edge of the DCO output with the reference clock rising edge, reducing the total error and improving accuracy.
The delay module feedback loop may also be a signal generator circuit provided with feedback mechanism and components configured in a similar manner to the oscillator feedback loop described above.
The duty cycle module may comprise a timing unit to generate the oscillator enable signal based on the input reference signal and the delayed reference signal. The oscillator enable signal can be provided by a timing unit. The timing unit can accept the input reference signal and the delayed reference signal. For example, the oscillator enable signal may be the sum of the period of the input reference signal and the delay indicated by the delayed reference signal. The timing unit acts to modulate the oscillator enable signal based on the input reference signal and the delayed reference signal.
A timing unit alone tends to be non-high speed and cannot apply an offset or delay. Accordingly, it can be necessary to generate a separate reference delayed signal. Furthermore, the timing unit may be optimised to minimise uncontrollable delays, for example by tailoring the topography or by calibrating the unit. Furthermore, any error potentially introduced by the timing unit can be minimised by ensuring that an XOR is as accurate as possible.
The delay applied to the input reference signal by the delay module can be varied to generate a range of output frequencies of the output signal such that each output frequency within the range differs by a selected fractional channel spacing. By varying the delay, the timing of the oscillator enable signal is altered. This in turn alters the output signal and may also alter the output frequency. By controlling the delay, and therefore the timing of the oscillator enable signal, the output signal and output frequency can also be controlled. Because the delay applied to the input reference signal is incremental, an incremental range of output frequencies of the output signal can be generated.
In embodiments, a divider may be configured to reduce the frequency at which the delay module operates. Typically, the frequency at which the delay module operates is dependent upon a delay module input signal and a frequency control word of the delay module. The divider reduces the frequency of operation of the delay module by an integer value. In this case, the frequency of operation of the delay module can be an integer division of the output frequency. This frequency is based on a delay module input signal. The delay module input signal may be the output frequency. The delay module input signal may be the oscillator enable signal.
The divider can be configured to alter the frequency of adelay module input signal to be an integer division of the frequency of the output signal. For example, the divider can act to provide the frequency of the delay module input signal at a frequency ¼ that of the output signal. This exemplary configuration of the divider allows for a lower power consumption of the delay module and therefore of the circuit.
The divider may be a module configured to receive the output signal and to generate a delay module input signal input to the delay module.
The divider can act to provide the frequency of the delay module input signal at an integer division of the frequency of the output signal.
By introducing a divider, the operating frequency of the delay module can be an integer division of the output frequency.
The delay module may comprise a time delay oscillator, driven by an oscillator control voltage, and be configured to delay the delay module input signal by an amount based on the number of stages of the time delay oscillator.
The time delay oscillator may be configured to generate the delay based upon the input reference signal and on the delay module input signal. Additionally the delay module feedback loop can be connected between an output and an input of the signal generator. This ensures that the delay generated is stable.
In embodiments, the delay module comprises a multiplexer with a selectable channel input; and a copy time delay oscillator configured to be controlled by said oscillator control voltage and operable to delay the input reference signal to generate the delayed reference signal.
For example, by providing a multiplexer with a channel input, this provides versatility and allows a varying amount of delay to be chosen by selecting a channel that corresponds to the delay or channel spacing required.
By utilising a divider and/or a multiplexer and copy time delay oscillator, the delay of the delayed reference signal can correspond to a frequency channel spacing selected by modifying either one or both of the channel input and/or the integer.
In embodiments, the time delay oscillator is a ring oscillator and the stages are ring stages. The ring oscillator can be driven by a ring control voltage and operable to or configured to generate a signal based on the delay module input signal or the divided delay module input signal.
As noted above, ring oscillators are quicker to start up than LC oscillators and are suited due to the requirement that the output signal be stable at the start of each pulse. The ring oscillator generally comprises a plurality of ring stages arranged in a closed loop. This allows the frequency of the delay module input signal to be controllable by varying the input voltages applied to the ring stages or by selecting the number of ring oscillator ring stages. The overall control voltage required to generate the delay module frequency can then be determined.
Furthermore, in embodiments, the copy time delay oscillator is a copy ring oscillator with a number of copy ring stages, wherein the number of active ring stages is controlled by the channel input of the multiplexer.
Providing a copy ring oscillator couples the ring oscillator of the delay module and the timing unit. The ring control voltage for the copy ring oscillator is shared with the ring control voltage of the ring oscillator of the delay module. This effectively couples the ring oscillator of the delay module and the copy ring oscillator. As such, each delay stage of the copy ring oscillator provides a controllable amount of delay.
The number of ring stages of the copy ring oscillator can be selected to provide the needed delay for different fractional channels. The value of the channel input can determine the number of active copy ring stages. In this instance, the amount of delay applied to the input reference signal depends on the number of active copy ring stages.
In embodiments, the copy ring oscillator contains 2×Nring delay stages, where Nring is the number of ring stages of the ring oscillator. In embodiments, the copy ring oscillator is an exact copy of the ring oscillator. This allows for matching of the delay introduced to the reference signal by the copy ring oscillator. The copy ring oscillator can be controlled by the same control voltage as the ring oscillator.
The delay to the input reference signal is generated by a providing a signal having a frequency an integer division of that of the output signal as an input to the ring oscillator. Because the copy ring oscillator is driven by the same ring control voltage as the ring oscillator, by selecting the number of copy ring stages of the copy ring oscillator the input reference signal will be delayed by a fractional portion of the delay of the ring oscillator. In this manner, the delay of the input reference signal can be varied in steps corresponding to the output channel spacing.
The time delay oscillator can be considered to be a feedback system. As a delay is selected by the channel input on the multiplexer, the delay provided to the input reference signal by the copy time delay oscillator varies. This in turn is fed to the timing unit, which varies the frequency of the output signal. Because the delay module input signal is based on a feedback mechanism involving the output signal, the frequency of the time delay oscillator also changes. Due to the coupling between the time delay oscillator and the copy time delay oscillator, variations between the two outputs become reduced until the outputs synchronise or lock in.
Accordingly, the value of the channel input can determine the number of active copy ring stages, wherein the timing of the oscillator enable signal depends on the number of active copy ring stages. In this manner, variation in the delay of the input reference signal provided by the copy ring stages can correspond to a frequency channel spacing selected by the channel input and/or the integer. This allows the channel spacing between the frequencies of the output signal for different channel inputs to be controlled by controlling the selected channel and/or the value of the integer.
In the above described embodiments, the delay module may be considered to be a phase locked loop. In one embodiment, the delay module is a phase locked loop. In particular, an all digital phase locked loop. The phase locked loop may comprise: a frequency feedback loop connected between an output and an input of the ring oscillator, the frequency feedback loop configured to regulate the frequency of the delay module.
In an alternative embodiment, the time delay oscillator may be a delay line. In this embodiment, the stages are delay stages. The delay line may be configured to be driven by a line control voltage and configured to generate a delay in the input reference signal, wherein the delay module is configured to regulate the delay module input signal by altering the line control voltage. The delay module may comprise a delay line feedback loop connected between an output and an input of a delay line, the delay line feedback loop configured to regulate the delay module input signal.
Furthermore, the copy time delay oscillator may comprise a copy delay line with a number of copy delay stages, wherein the number of active delay stages is controlled by the channel input of the multiplexer. The copy delay line may be configured to be driven by said line control voltage and operable to generate the delay. Providing a copy delay line couples the delay module and the timing unit. The line control voltage for the copy delay line is shared with the line control voltage of the delay line of the delay module. This effectively couples the delay line of the delay module and the copy delay line, resulting in a fractional channel spacing.
The number of copy delay line stages of the copy delay line can be selected to provide the required phase shift or delay of the input reference signal. The value of the channel input can determine the number of active copy delay lines. In this instance, the delay applied to the input reference signal depends on the number of active copy delay lines.
Accordingly, the value of the channel input can determine the number of active copy delay line stages, wherein the delay depends on the number of active copy delay line stages. In this manner, variation in the delay between the copy delay line stages can correspond to a frequency channel spacing selected by the channel input and/or the integer. This allows the channel spacing between the frequencies of the output signal for different channel inputs to be controlled by controlling the selected channel and/or the value of the integer.
As noted above, in embodiments, altering the number of copy delay stages of the copy delay line may alter the phase of the delayed reference signal relative to the input reference signal. In this example, the spacing between the copy delay stages corresponds to a frequency or delay channel spacing selected by the channel input. When a delay line is employed, the delay module may be considered to be a delay locked loop
In such embodiments containing a delay line, the delay module can be considered to be a delay locked loop.
As noted above, the oscillator enable signal can be duty cycled for the period of the input reference signal plus the time introduced by the delay. Applying the delay to the period of the reference input signal allows the circuit to lock to a fractional channel frequency of the frequency of the input reference signal.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided a radio receiver comprising a frequency synthesiser circuit according to the first aspect of the invention. The various optional features of the first aspect may also be applied to the radio receiver of the second aspect.


A PLL circuit equipped with a loop gain detecting circuit that can suppress the change of the loop gain. When detecting the loop gain, the frequency of the input signal to the second input (IN-2) of the phase detector is first changed, and the response corresponding to the change is detected by the output of the voltage locked oscillator. The detection is performed by connecting the output of the voltage locked oscillator with the counter and connecting the output of the counter with the integrator. The phase locked loop characteristics are optimized by performing feedback for the detection result on the value of the charge pump current.

A transmitter circuit employing a PLL is described, for example, in non-patent documents 1 to 3. Each of them is a transmitter-receiver system, which calibrates a loop band-width with a fractional-N PLL.
Firstly, the transmitter-receiver system of non-patent document 1 inputs an 0101 pattern by the data signal from the base band as a signal for detecting the loop band-width, and inputs it into the fractional-N PLL. The loop band-width is detected by monitoring the output of a voltage controlled signal source.
In the transmitter-receiver system of non-patent document 2, the signal to detect the loop band-width utilizes the transmitting data signal. As for the detecting method, by monitoring the output of a voltage controlled signal source and digitizing the phase component, the signal is compared with the data signal from the base band, further integrated to detect the loop band-width.
The invention, according to non-patent document 3, is intended for the calibration system of the loop band-width in the fractional-N PLL. For the signal to detect the loop band-width, a step signal is input into the divider through a sigma delta modulator in the PLL. In this case, the feedback input signal has a phase transition in the phase detector.
On the other hand, in non-patent document 4, a transmitter-receiver system is disclosed which performs the calibration of the loop band-width in the Digital Frequency Locked Loop. In this case, the calibration of the loop band-width is conducted by using a charge pump type DA converter and loop filter, two different voltages being given to a voltage controlled power source, and detecting the gain in the voltage controlled power source by the frequency change therefrom.
Non-patent document 1: S. T. Lee et al., "A 1.5V 2.8 mA Fully-Integrated Fast-Locking Quad-Band GSM-GPRS Transmitter with Digital Auto-Calibration in 130 nm CMOS", IS SCC Dig. Tech. Papers, pp 188-189 (February 2004)
Non-patent document 2: D. R. McMahill and C. G. Sodini, "A 2.5-Mb/s GFSK 5.0-Mb/s 4-FSK Automatically Calibrated Sigma Delta Frequency Synthesizer" IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuit (January 2002)
Non-patent document 3: Yukinori Akamine et al., "A Loop Bandwidth Calibration System for Fractional-N System for Fractional-N Synthesizer and ΔΣPLL Transmitter" Session 17.4 ISSCC 2005 (February 2005)
Non-patent document 4: Bill Huff, "A fully-integrated Bluetooth synthesizer using digital pre-distortion for PLL-based GFSK modulation" 2003 IEEE RFIC symposium (June 2003)

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Phase locked loop circuits, offset PLL transmitters, radio frequency integrated circuits and mobile phone systems


The present invention relates to methods of treating ADAMTS-5-associated diseases and particularly osteoarthritis comprising administering an agent capable of modulating ADMATS-5 activity to a subject afflicted with the disease. The agent is preferably a biaryl sulfonamide compound. The invention is based, in part, on the discovery that transgenic animals that do not express functional ADAMTS-5 show a reduction in the degree of osteoarthritis after the induction of osteoarthritis as compared to WT animals. Furthermore, the ADAMTS-5 transgenic animals have reduced aggrecanase activity in articular tissue as compared to WT animals. These animals are good models for ADAMTS-5-associated diseases, and for screening of drugs useful in the treatment and/or prevention of these diseases. There are no other animal models in which the deletion of the activity of a single gene is capable of abrogating the course of osteoarthritis. Accordingly, these animals also show that osteoarthritis can be prevented and/or treated by administering to a subject an ADAMTS-5 inhibitory agent and particularly an agent capable of inhibiting the aggrecanase activity of ADAMTS-5.

Osteoarthritis is a pathologic condition in synovial joints characterized by cartilage extracellular matrix degradation. A major component of cartilage extracellular matrix is the proteoglycan aggrecan. Pathologic cleavage of aggrecan occurs at 2 primary sites within the interglobular domain of the protein backbone which results in release of the functional entity from the extracellular matrix. One site (N341-342F) is cleaved by matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), while a second, non-MMP cleavage site within aggrecan is at E373-374A. The E373-374A cleavage site has been identified as an important site of degradation in osteoarthritic synovial fluid samples (Lohmander, Neame and Sandy, 1993, Arthritis & Rhuem 36:1214) and cytokine stimulated cartilage cultures (Sandy et al., 1991, J. Biol. Chem. 266:8683). Several ADAMTS enzymes have been demonstrated to be capable of cleaving aggrecan at the E373-374A, or "aggrecanase" site (Kuno et al., 2000, FEBS Letters 478 :241; Rodriquez-Manzaneque et al., 2002, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 293:501; Somerville et al., 2003, Biol. Chem. 278:9503; U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,575). ADAMTS-4 and ADAMTS-5, or Aggrecanase-1 and Aggrecanase-2, respectively, appear to be the two enzymes capable of being synthesized by articular cartilage with by far (>1000 fold) the most efficient "aggrecanase" activity (Tortorella et al., 1999, Science 284:1664; and Abbaszade et al., 1999, J. Biol. Chem. 274:23443). However, it is not clear whether these enzymes, either collectively or independently, are responsible for the aggrecan degradation in osteoarthritis.
Evidence of ADAMTS-4 in joint disease is found in several reports of increased expression of ADAMTS-4 after stimulation of articular tissues with inflammatory cytokines. Bau et al., 2002, Arthritis & Rhuem 46:2648-2657; Curtis et al., 2000, J. Biol. Chem. 275:721-724; Tortorella et al., 2001, Osteoarthritis Cartilage 9:539-552; Little et al., 2002, Arthritis & Rhuem 46:124-129; and Yamanashi et al., 2002, J. Immunol. 168:1405-1412. In vitro findings indicate that ADAMTS-4 is one of the few enzymes that can efficiently cleave aggrecan at the site that is cleaved in naturally occurring disease. Tortorella et al., 2000, J. Biol. Chem. 275:18566-18573; Tortorella et al., 2002, Matrix Biol. 21:499-511.
In addition, aggrecanases are known to play a role in other disorders in which extracellular protein degradation or destruction occurs, such as cancer, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ("COPD"), atherosclerosis, age-related macular degeneration, myocardial infarction, corneal ulceration and other ocular surface diseases, hepatitis, aortic aneurysms, tendonitis, central nervous system diseases, abnormal wound healing, angiogenesis, restenosis, cirrhosis, multiple sclerosis, glomerulonephritis, graft versus host disease, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, shock, invertebral disc degeneration, stroke, osteopenia, and periodontal diseases.
The generation of the ADAMTS-4 knockout (KO) has previously been reported (Glasson et al., 2004, Arthritis and Rheum, 50:2547-2558). While many reports showed at least some evidence that ADAMTS-4 is involved in the development of osteoarthritis, surprisingly this mouse did not show any differences in the onset of osteoarthritis than wild-type (WT) and did not exhibit any difference in aggrecanase activity. Although, it is still possible that ADAMTS-4 is involved in osteoarthritis in other animals, including humans, to date, the aggrecanase activity associated with the pathological accumulation of aggrecan degradation products has not been identified.

Method for treating ADAMTS-5-associated disease


A method of forming a transistor comprises disposing a planar platform (or pedestal, or layer) of silicon atop a support structure of oxide which is atop a substrate; forming gate structures both atop and beneath the planar platform; and forming source and drain diffusions within the planar platform. The gate structures which are formed beneath the planar platform may smaller than the planar platform, and may be aligned with the gate structures which are formed atop the planar platform. A transistor formed by the method is also disclosed.

The invention relates to semiconductors and, more particularly, to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistor devices.
Transistors typically consist of three basic elements: the source, the gate and the drain. Current flows from the source to the drain when the gate is charged. Bipolar and MOS (metal-oxide semiconductor) are two basic types of transistors. CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) is an extension of MOS formed by joining two transistors and different dopants in the various regions. Because of the complementary behavior in CMOS, there is no current flow through the device except when it switches. CMOS circuits therefore consume less power when compared to Bipolar counterparts which leak current in their off state. MOS has become the mainstay of chip design.
Traditionally, transistors were fabricated on bulk silicon. More recently, they are being fabricated using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The difference between conventional MOS and Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) construction is a layer of insulating material separating the transistor's silicon junction area and the bulk silicon.
Double-gate transistors will help improve processor speed and power use by allowing better control of electrical flow across the transistor. Simply stated, transistors react to electricity and go to either an on or off state, providing the binary status necessary for computer operations. But as chips continue to shrink, single-gate transistors will experience increased electron leakage (which can keep transistors trapped in the on state), higher energy needs, and worsened electrical flow.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0192911 discloses Damascene double gated transistors and related manufacturing methods. This invention provides the structure and fabrication process of a completely planar, Damascene double gated transistor. The structure has a self-aligned, hyper-abrupt retrograde body and a zero-parasitic, end-wall gate-body connection. The structure provides for increased density and enables ultra low power to be utilized. The methods also provide for simultaneously making both four-terminal and dynamic threshold MOSFET devices.

International Business Machines Corporation


A data volume rebuilder reduces the time required to reconstruct lost data in a RAID protected data volume operating with a failed physical disk drive. A data volume rebuilder uses the remaining functioning physical disk drives in the RAID protected data volume operating with the failed disk to regenerate the lost data and populate a virtual hot spare store allocated in a separate RAID protected data volume. The recovered data is distributed across the physical disk drives supporting the virtual hot spare store. Once the virtual hot spare store is populated, the data volume can recover from a subsequent failure of a second physical disk drive in either RAID group. After replacement of the failed physical disk drive, the data volume rebuilder moves the recovered data from the virtual hot spare store to the new physical disk drive.

The acronym "RAID" is an umbrella term for data-storage schemes that can divide and replicate data among multiple hard-disk drives. When several physical hard-disk drives are set up to use RAID technology, the hard-disk drives are said to be in a RAID group. The RAID group distributes data across several hard-disk drives, but the RAID group is exposed to the operating system as a single logical disk drive or data storage volume.
Although a variety of different RAID system designs exist, all have two key design goals, namely: (1) to increase data reliability and (2) to increase input/output (I/O) performance. RAID has seven basic levels corresponding to different system designs. The seven basic RAID levels, typically referred to as RAID levels 0-6, are as follows. RAID level 0 uses striping to achieve increased I/O performance. The term "striped" means that logically sequential data, such as a single data file, is fragmented and assigned to multiple physical disk drives in a round-robin fashion. Thus, the data is said to be "striped" over multiple physical disk drives when the data is written. Striping improves performance and provides additional storage capacity. The fragments are written to their respective physical disk drives simultaneously on the same sector. This allows smaller sections of the entire chunk of data to be read off the drive in parallel, providing improved I/O bandwidth. The larger the number of physical disk drives in the RAID system, the higher the bandwidth of the system, but also the greater the risk of data loss. Parity is not used in RAID level 0 systems, which means that RAID level 0 systems are not fault tolerant. Consequently, when any physical disk drive fails, the entire system fails.
In RAID level 1 systems, mirroring without parity is used. Mirroring corresponds to the replication of stored data onto separate physical disk drives in real time to ensure that the data is continuously available. RAID level 1 systems provide fault tolerance from disk errors because all but one of the physical disk drives can fail without causing the system to fail. RAID level 1 systems have increased read performance when used with multi-threaded operating systems, but also have a reduction in write performance.
In RAID level 2 systems, redundancy is used and physical disk drives are synchronized and striped in very small stripes, often in single bytes/words. Redundancy is achieved through the use of Hamming codes, which are calculated across bits on physical disk drives and stored on multiple parity disks. If a physical disk drive fails, the parity bits can be used to reconstruct the data. Therefore, RAID level 2 systems provide fault tolerance. That is, failure of a single physical disk drive does not result in failure of the system.
RAID level 3 systems use byte-level striping in combination with interleaved parity bits and a dedicated parity disk. RAID level 3 systems require the use of at least three physical disk drives. The use of byte-level striping and redundancy results in improved performance and provides the system with fault tolerance. However, use of the dedicated parity disk creates a bottleneck for writing data due to the fact that every write requires updating of the parity data. A RAID level 3 data storage system can continue to operate without parity and no performance penalty is suffered in the event that the parity disk fails.
RAID level 4 is essentially identical to RAID level 3 except that RAID level 4 systems employ block-level striping instead of byte-level or word-level striping. Because each stripe is relatively large, a single file can be stored in a block. Each physical disk drive operates independently and many different I/O requests can be handled in parallel. Error detection is achieved by using block-level parity bit interleaving. The interleaved parity bits are stored in a separate single parity disk.
RAID level 5 uses striping in combination with distributed parity. In order to implement distributed parity, all but one of the physical disk drives must be present for the system to operate. Failure of any one of the physical disk drives necessitates replacement of the physical disk drive. However, failure of a single one of the physical disk drives does not cause the system to fail. Upon failure of one of the physical disk drives, any subsequent data read operations can be performed or calculated from the distributed parity such that the physical disk drive failure is masked from the end user. If a second one of the physical disk drives fails, the system will suffer a loss of data. Accordingly, the data storage volume or logical disk drive is vulnerable until the data that was on the failed physical disk drive is reconstructed on a replacement physical disk drive.
RAID level 6 uses striping in combination with dual distributed parity. RAID level 6 systems require the use of at least four physical disk drives, with two of the physical disk drives being used for storing the distributed parity bits. The system can continue to operate even if two physical disk drives fail. Dual parity becomes increasingly important in systems in which each virtual disk is made up of a large number of physical disk drives. RAID level systems that use single parity are vulnerable to data loss until the failed drive is rebuilt. In RAID level 6 systems, the use of dual parity allows a virtual disk having a failed physical disk drive to be rebuilt without risking loss of data in the event that a physical disk drive of one of the other physical disk drives fails before completion of the rebuild of the first failed physical disk drive.
A hot spare disk is a physical disk drive which is flagged for use if another drive in the RAID group fails. RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 3, RAID 5, and RAID 6 all support hot spare disks.
Normally if a physical disk drive fails that is a member of a RAID group, that array will run in a degraded mode. A RAID group operating in degraded mode is not operating at peak efficiency or performance, since not all physical disk drives are present or functioning.
When a hot spare disk is available, the RAID group can immediately start rebuilding stored data in the RAID group to the hot spare standby disk, without manual intervention. As soon as the rebuild completes, the RAID group operates at full functionality and performance. Thereafter, the failed physical disk drive can be replaced, and the new replacement drive becomes the hot spare disk.
FIGS. 1A-1D illustrate a known arrangement and method for using a hot spare disk to restore a data volume operating in a degraded mode. FIG. 1A shows a data volume 10 including a group of four physical disk drives. A data volume such as the data volume 10 is exposed to users of the data as a single logical drive. Physical disk drives D1 through D3 are designated for storing data. When the data volume 10 is supported by a RAID architecture that uses a dedicated parity disk drive, one of the physical disk drives D1-D3 is designated for storing parity information that is calculated from corresponding portions (e.g., similarly sized blocks) of the data in the other physical disk drives of the RAID group. The parity information is stored at a corresponding location in the dedicated parity disk drive. For example, in one RAID architecture or arrangement, D3 is a dedicated parity disk drive.
In the event of a physical disk drive failure of one of D1 or D2, the parity information stored in D3 can be used to regenerate the corresponding lost portion of either D1 or D2 that was used to generate the parity information. The physical disk drive labeled SPARE is provided as a hot spare or standby disk. When one of the physical disk drives D1 or D2 fails (i.e., data can no longer be written to and or read from the physical disk drive), as shown in FIG. 1B, the data volume 10a operates in a degraded mode using the data stored in D2 and the parity information stored in D3.
As further indicated in FIG. 1C, the data volume 10b, which is operating in a degraded mode due to the failure of physical disk drive D1, enters a data reconstruction mode, during which, data from physical disk drive D2 and corresponding parity information from D3 is used to calculate the lost data from D1 which is then transferred to populate corresponding locations in the hot spare or standby disk. During or after completion of the reconstruction process, the failed physical disk drive is removed. Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 1D, a new physical disk drive is inserted where the failed physical disk drive D1 was formerly located in the data volume 10c. The new physical disk drive becomes a hot spare or standby disk for the data volume 10c.
When the data volume 10 is supported by a RAID architecture that uses distributed parity information, each of the physical disk drives D1-D3 stores both data volume and parity information that is calculated from corresponding portions (e.g., similarly sized blocks) of the data volume information stored in the other physical disk drives of the RAID group. The RAID architecture dictates the location of the data volume information and the corresponding parity information.
As physical disk drive capacities continue to outpace improvements in input/output interface data rates, hot spare rebuild times become increasingly problematic. When a physical disk drive fails in a RAID group with a hot spare disk, the reconstruction algorithm steps through the data stored in the RAID group by reading a portion of data from the remaining functioning physical disk drives and reading the corresponding information from the parity disk and performing an exclusive OR logic operation over the data. The result of the exclusive OR operation is written to the corresponding location in the hot spare disk. Accordingly, all restored data must be written to the hot spare disk drive. Thus, the maximum sustainable write data transfer rate to the media of the hot spare disk drive becomes a critical factor in the time it takes to complete a hot spare rebuild. This is especially true for lower cost physical drives such as serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) drives, which have relatively slower input/output interfaces, larger data storage capacities and higher failure rates.
The time it takes to generate and write the data to the hot spare (i.e., the rebuild time) is critical to the overall reliability of the RAID group. While the hot spare is rebuilding, the RAID group has no redundancy and is vulnerable to a second physical disk drive failure in the data volume 10. For example, it can take many hours and in some cases days to rebuild a failed disk drive in a RAID group of SATA disk drives with terabyte data capacities that is still servicing input/output requests from computing devices.

Data volume rebuilder and methods for arranging data volumes for improved RAID reconstruction performance


An improved force transfer arrangement for use in a dual circuit master cylinder having a pair of nested concentric pistons for pressurizing a pair of respective fluid chambers, wherein the force transfer arrangement imparts an input force from an input piston on a pair of pistons such that the pair of pistons can move relative to each other to compensate for different travel lengths. The invention discloses three embodiments of the improved force transfer arrangement. A first embodiment includes a hydraulic fluid chamber in fluid communication with the input piston and the pair of pistons. A second embodiment includes a circumferentially arranged ball mechanism positioned between the input piston and the pair of pistons. A third embodiment includes a notched lever ring assembly positioned between the input piston and the pair of pistons.

This invention relates in general to vehicle hydraulic brake systems, and in particular to dual circuit master cylinders incorporated in such vehicle hydraulic brake systems.
Conventional vehicle hydraulic brake systems commonly have two hydraulic circuits: a primary circuit and a secondary circuit. For a vehicle having four wheel brakes in which there is a pair of front wheel brakes and a pair of rear wheel brakes, the primary and secondary circuits can be connected to the wheel brakes by various configurations, such as a diagonally split arrangement or a vertically split arrangement. In a diagonally split arrangement, the primary circuit is connected to one of the front wheel brakes and also to one of the rear wheel brakes on the opposite side from the connected front wheel brake. The secondary circuit is then connected to the other front wheel brakes and the other rear wheel brake on the opposite side of the connected front wheel brake. In a vertically split arrangement, the primary circuit is connected to, for example, the front wheel brakes, and the secondary circuit is connected to the rear wheel brakes. The use of two brake circuits helps to maintain a source for braking of the vehicle in case of failure of one of the brake circuits.
A dual circuit or tandem master cylinder is often used to supply pressurized fluid to each of the primary and secondary brake circuits. A tandem master cylinder generally includes a pair of pistons which are operatively connected to a brake pedal which is operated by the driver of the vehicle. Actuation of the brake pedal causes movement of the pistons which energize separate fluid chambers in fluid communication with the primary and secondary brake circuits, respectively.
Such tandem master cylinders, however, can have significant drawbacks if one of the brake circuits should fail. For example, upon failure of one of the brake circuits, the piston stroke of the master cylinder can rapidly increase, thereby causing the brake pedal to "drop" or travel an undesirable relatively large distance. This pedal drop can cause great alarm to the operator of the vehicle and possibly produce a panic situation for the operator. Thus, a relatively large pedal drop during a single circuit failure is an undesirable quality.
For this reason, it would be desirable to have a tandem master cylinder in which pedal drop reduced in the event that one of the brake circuits should fail.

Master cylinder having nested concentric pistons


A heat dissipation module includes an airflow generation device that generates airflow into an air channel in which a fin module is received and fixed. The fin module includes a plurality of fin plates substantially parallel to and spaced from each other to define air passages extending from an inlet to an outlet of the air channel. Each fin plate has a trailing section extending to the outlet and forming at least one inclined guide tab and an opening defined in the fin plate immediately close to the guide tab for switching at least a portion of the air between adjacent air passages on opposite sides of the fin plate. This increases the length of the path that the air flows through the air channel and thus raises the amount of heat exchanged between the fin plates and the air thereby enhancing efficiency of heat removal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a heat dissipation module comprising fins, and in particular to a finned heat dissipation module having guides for switching airflow between different air passages to enhance efficiency of heat dissipation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The development of computer technology makes the power consumption of a computer device dramatically increased. Thus, a heat dissipation module is commonly employed in the recent computer devices or other electronic devices to remove heat from the computer or electronic components that generate heat in order to maintain proper operation temperature of the computer or electronic devices. Some heat dissipation devices incorporate a fan that induces air streams flowing through the heat dissipation device to facilitate heat removal by forced heat convection.
Some conventional heat dissipation devices are comprised of fins arranged in rows with air passages formed therebetween. The air passages are often linear or straight to allow for easy flow of air therethrough. However, such a linear configuration limits heat exchange between the airflow and the fins for air flows through the fins quickly. As a consequence, the efficiency of heat removal is not optimal and the life span of the computer or electronic components is often reduced.
Factors that are often taken into consideration for overcoming heat removal problem include performance of the computer components, which leads to reduced energy consumption and generates less heat during the operation thereof, and geometric configuration, which enhances heat exchange rate between the heat generation component and a heat dissipation device for more efficient removal of heat.
A state-of-art heat dissipation module, generally employed in a notebook computer that requires more severe heat management than regular desktop computers, comprises a thermally conductive casing in physical contact with a surface of a heat source, such as a central processing unit of a notebook computer. The casing forms a fan chamber in which a fan is received and fixed and an air channel in which a plurality of fins is arranged to define a plurality of air passages through which airflow from the fan may pass to initiate heat exchange with the fins and thus removing heat from the fins, as well as the casing.
FIG. 1 of the attached drawings show an example of the conventional heat dissipation module housed in a casing. As mentioned above, the air channel of the heat dissipation module comprises a plurality of fin plates 100 parallel to each other to define a plurality of air passages 103 therebetween, each air passage extending from an inlet 101 to an outlet 102. Airflow 105 generated by a fan often moves in a direction that is not parallel to the passages 103. Thus, when the airflow enters the inlet 101, the air goes in an oblique direction and impacts the surface of the fin plate 100, which imparts a resistance to the airflow, causing a turbulence 105a. Also, a secondary turbulence 105b is formed by the airflow "reflected" by the fin plate to hit an adjacent fin plate. The turbulences 105a, 105b are then combined in a downstream location, forming a substantially unified air stream 105 that passes through the air passage 103.
Although heat can be effectively carried out by the heat dissipation module described above, the heat dissipation module cannot offer the optimum efficiency in removing heat and usually makes great noises.
Thus, the present invention is aimed to provide a heat dissipation module that overcomes at least some of the drawbacks of the conventional devices.

Finned heat dissipation module having flow guide


The present disclosure provides a handheld laser fluorescence spectrum probe assembly, which relates to the technical field of fluorescence spectrum detection, and is designed for solving the problem of low detection precision with fluorescence spectrum detection. The handheld laser fluorescence spectrum probe assembly includes a handheld pen-like tube, an optical fiber, and a tube sleeve, wherein a first end of the tube sleeve is detachably connected with a first end of the handheld pen-like tube; a first end of the optical fiber is inserted in the handheld pen-like tube from a second end of the handheld pen-like tube, the first end of the optical fiber is connected with a dodging lens, and a distance between an end face of an end of the dodging lens away from the optical fiber and an end face of a second end of the tube sleeve is 22-28 mm.

Generally, measurement of reflection or fluorescence or Raman signal plays a great role in biological medical applications, for example, for early diagnosis of specific changes of diseases at a molecular level.
Reflectance spectrometry is analysis of light reflected from tissues. Tissue reflectance spectrometry can be used to deduce information on molecules intensively absorbing light (e.g. tissue chromophores). It further can be used to deduce information on tissue scatterer, such as size and distribution of cell nucleus and mean cell density. Fluorescence spectroscopy is analysis of fluorescence emission from tissues. Natural tissue fluorophores (molecules emitting fluorescence when excited by light with a suitable wavelength) may be sensitive to chemical composition and chemical environment changes associated with transformation of diseases. However, existing fluorescence spectrum probes have relatively low detection precision.
Therefore, to provide a handheld laser fluorescence spectrum probe assembly with high detection precision becomes an important technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

Handheld laser fluorescence spectrum probe assembly

NANJING NUOYUAN MEDICAL DEVICES CO., LTD


Embodiments of a multi-radio wireless communication device having a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) radio module and a Bluetooth (BT) radio module and methods for communicating are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. In some embodiments, a WiMax active signal is asserted by a coexist controller of the WiMax radio module during receipt of a downlink subframe, and the BT radio module aligns a BT slot boundary of either master-to-slave or slave-to-master slot based on timing information conveyed by the WiMax active signal. The WiMax active signal may be de-asserted by the coexist controller during transmission of an uplink subframe by the WiMax radio module.

Multi-radio platforms are wireless communication devices with co-located transceivers that communicate using two or more communication techniques. One issue with multi-radio platforms is that interference between receptions and transmissions of the co-located transceivers may result in packet loss from collisions degrading the communication abilities of the radios. This is especially a concern in multi-radio platforms that include a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) transceiver and Bluetooth (BT) transceiver because their frequency spectrums can be adjacent. Out-of-band (OOB) emissions from one transceiver may interfere with the other transceiver.
Thus, there are general needs for multi-radio wireless communication devices and methods that coordinate activities between the transceivers of multi-radio platforms.

Multi-radio wireless communication device and method for coordinating communications between potentially interfering radios


A resin composition for a white marking, on which a white marking can be clearly developed by irradiation of laser beams, comprises an acrylic resin A, a styrenic resin B, and a black dye/pigment C. Use can be made of poly(methyl methacrylate) as the resin A, a rubber-modified styrenic resin such as an ABS resin as the resin B, and a carbon black as the black dye/pigment C. The proportion of the resin A to the resin B (the former/the latter, by weight) is about 1/99 to 99/1. The proportion of the black dye/pigment C is about 0.01 to 3 parts by weight relative to 100 parts by weight of the total amount of the resin A and the resin B. The resin composition may further comprise a white dye/pigment D such as titanium oxide in 0.01 to 10 parts by weight, relative to 100 parts by weight of the total amount of the resins A and B.

It is a common practice to print letters, designs, figures and the like on the surface of a moulded resin article. The printing is performed by a variety of known techniques, from those using paints such as pad printing and impregnation printing, to a printing technique by means of laser beam irradiation (hereinafter, mentioned as laser marking). Although the methods using a paint are most widely employed for such printing, the processes have disadvantages: high processing cost, fears of environmental pollution by solvents, less possibility of recycling, etc. On the other hand, laser marking is a cheaper and more efficient method than the painting techniques owing to its simple marking process. Laser marking ensures excellent durability of the printed materials, thus being highly valuable in industrial applications. As a result, many techniques have been suggested for laser marking. For instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 45926/1981 (JP-A-56-45926) teaches a technology for marking the surface of a moulded resin article made of a resin blended with a filler discolourisable by laser beam irradiation.
An example of the moulded articles to be printed with letters and figures by laser marking includes a keyboard of a personal computer. Main printing methods for the surface of a keyboard used to be pad printing onto an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (an ABS resin) and impregnation printing onto polybutylene terephthalate (a PBT resin). However, in consideration of environmental problems inclusive of recycling as well as the factor of the cost, the marking method comprising irradiation of laser beams by using an Nd:YAG laser or other lasers on an ABS resin has been replacing the above processes.
On the one hand, a black or dark-coloured marking is generally effective on a moulded article coloured in light gray, cream or other colours having a high brightness or lightness. On the other hand, the black-marking does not stand out on a black or dark-coloured article. In the case of the latter, letters and figures should be printed in white or a whitish colour (hereinafter, referred to as a white marking). However, it is usually impossible to develop a white marking on an ABS resin by irradiation of laser beams.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 47314/1990 (JP-B-2-47314) discloses a marking technique for resins. The technique comprises irradiating laser beams on the surface of a thermoplastic resin such as an acrylic resin, whereby the irradiated part foams and lifts up to form a white-marked section. As methods of making a white marking on the surface of resins, there are other known methods which comprise incorporating, into a resin, titanium black [Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 81117/1988 (JP-A-63-81117), and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 25806/1996 (JP-A-8-25806)], cordierite and/or mica [Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 267191/1992 (JP-A-4-267191)], aluminium hydroxide [Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 25317/1993 (JP-A-5-25317)], and other inorganic compounds. These methods are still impractical in terms of the whiteness and quality of the marked letters and figures, and also in terms of the impact resistance, which has decreased as a result of the incorporation of the inorganic compounds.