A CPP giant magnetoresistive head includes lower and upper shield layers with a predetermined distance therebetween, and a giant magnetoresistive element (GMR) including pinned and free magnetic layers disposed between the upper and lower shield layers with a nonmagnetic layer interposed between the pinned and free magnetic layers. A current flows perpendicularly to the film plane of the GMR. The magnetoresistive head further includes an antiferromagnetic layer (an insulating AF of Ni—O or α-Fe2O3) provided in the rear of the GMR in a height direction to make contact with the upper or lower surface of a rear portion of the pinned magnetic layer which extends in the height direction, and an exchange coupling magnetic field is produced at the interface with the upper or lower surface, so that the magnetization direction of the pinned magnetic layer is pinned by the exchange coupling magnetic field in the height direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a CPP (Current Perpendicular to the Plane) giant magnetoresistive head in which a sensing current flows in the thickness direction (perpendicularly to the film plane).
2. Description of the Related Art
Giant magnetoresistive (GMR) elements used for hard disk devices and magnetic sensors are roughly divided into a CIP (Current in the Plane) type in which a sensing current flows in parallel with the film plane of each of layers constituting an element, and a CPP (Current Perpendicular to the Plane) type in which a sensing current flows perpendicularly to the film plane of each of the layers constituting an element.
FIG. 55 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the structure of a CPP-GMR head using a conventional CPP-GMR element. A CPP-GMR head 100 comprises a lower shield layer 110 extending in the X direction shown in the drawing, a lower nonmagnetic metal film 120 formed on the lower shield layer 110 at its center in the X direction, and a free magnetic layer 131, a nonmagnetic metallic material layer 132, a pinned magnetic layer 133, an antiferromagnetic layer 134, and an upper nonmagnetic metal film 140, which are laminated on the lower nonmagnetic metal film 120. The CPP-GMR head 100 further comprises an upper shield layer 150 formed over the upper nonmagnetic metal film 140 to extend in the X direction, hard bias layers 163 formed in contact with parts of the free magnetic layer 131 and both sides of the nonmagnetic layer 132, insulating layers 161 filling in the respective spaces between the hard bias layers 163 and the lower shield layers 110, and insulating layers 164 filling in the respective spaces between the hard bias layers 163 and the upper shield layer 150. Furthermore, bias underlying layers 162 are disposed between the hard bias layers 163 and the insulating layers 161.
In the CPP-GMR head having the above-described construction, a sensing current also flows through the antiferromagnetic layer 134 comprising, for example, Pt—Mn. The antiferromagnetic layer 134 has a resistivity of about 200 μΩ·cm which is significantly higher than those of the nonmagnetic metal films 120 and 140, the free magnetic layer 131, and the pinned magnetic layer 133. Also, the antiferromagnetic layer 134 must be thickly formed for maintaining antiferromagnetic characteristics. For example, when the distance between the upper and lower shields is about 600 Å, the thickness of the antiferromagnetic layer 134 is about 200 Å. When the thick antiferromagnetic layer 134 having high resistivity is provided, the antiferromagnetic layer 134 has high resistance and thus generates heat when the sensing current flows therethrough. Since the temperature of the whole of the head is increased by the generated heat (Joule heat), the reliability and high-frequency characteristics of the head deteriorate. Also, the thick antiferromagnetic layer 134 causes a difficulty in decreasing the shield distance between the upper and lower shield layers, thereby causing an disadvantage to increasing the recording density.
Therefore, it has been recently proposed to omit the antiferromagnetic layer 134. However, in order to stabilize magnetization of the pinned magnetic layer 133 without using the antiferromagnetic layer 134, the material used for forming the pinned magnetic layer 133 is greatly limited, and it is thus difficult to improve a change (ΔR·A) in magnetoresistance per unit area. Also, when the magnetization of the pinned magnetic layer 133 is stabilized without using the antiferromagnetic layer 134, the magnetization of the pinned magnetic layer 133 is weakly pinned. Therefore, when the direction of a sensing current magnetic field generated by passing the sensing current is different from the direction of a magnetic moment of the pinned magnetic layer 133, the sensing current magnetic field has the problem of fluctuating the magnetization direction of the pinned magnetic layer 133.
In a CIP-GMR head, only about 10 percent of a sensing current flows through an antiferromagnetic layer, and the sensing current never flows through shield layers, thereby causing none of the above problems.

CPP giant magnetoresistive head having antiferromagnetic film disposed in rear of element


The spray gun is subdivided into a first body (4), in ternally of which a cavity (6) is afforded, and a second body (5) which is perpendicular to the first body (4) and internally afforded a through hole (25) communicating with the cavity (6). An obturator (14) is present internally of the cavity (6), on which obturator (14) elastic means (21) act. Means for activating (26) are located internally of the through hole (25), which activate the obturator (14) and open into the cavity (6) and are in contact with the obturator (14).

Intercept valves are generally located in a conduit and when activated by means for activating are able either to allow or interrupt passage of a fluid flowing internally of the conduit, with a simple on-off mechanism of either complete opening or complete shutting.
In the field of spray guns in water spray equipment, the fluid crossing the valves is conveyed under very high pressure, which can be up to 350 bar. Consequently the design of the valves is such that much attention has been paid not only to guarantee good operation at pressures which can go above the above-mentioned reference values, but also to provide a long working life. The prior art includes, for example, European patent No. EP0572237, which teaches a spray gun provided with a double-acting valve activated by a trigger. This solution is not adaptable to the field of water-spray guns, since the latter operate at high pressure and delivery rates and must marry simplicity of assembly with low weight, and also offer very good leak-proof characteristics. Another known solution is U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,505, which includes a lever system of on-off activation of the valve.
This system too, which exhibits coaxial fluid inlet and outlet, cannot be applied on water spray guns since it has the drawback of being constructionally very complex, having a high number of components and being rather unwieldy. Further, a spray gun fitted with a device of this type for fluid interception would lose its characteristic of ready response to valve opening and closure.
Also known in the prior art are fluid passage regulation valves, such as for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,359, which with a discrete movement of a pivot on an obturator the fluid can be regulated in output.
This solution is not usable on water guns because apart from the fact that they do not exhibit coaxial fluid inlet and outlet, limiting the load losses, in this type of gun a sharp interception of the fluid is required, a characteristic which is unobtainable with a discrete movement of a pivot on an obturator.
The Applicant designed an intercept valve with a spherical obturator, in Italian patent application no. RE2002A000102.
This valve, which is interpositioned between a tube from which the jet of fluid exits and a further supply tube, coaxial to the first, exhibits an internal cavity in which an spherical obturator is arranged, which obturator abuts on a fluid passage seal and is subjected to the action of a manually-operated pushing element.
The hydrostatic force of the pressurised fluid causes a thrust on the spherical obturator which favours closure of the conduit on which the valve is located, while the activation of the pusher, by acting on the obturator, enables the conduit to open.
Following prototype construction and testing the Applicant's product displayed some drawbacks.
The continuous dragging of the obturator, which is made of metal, on the seal, which is made of plastic, following opening and closing of the valve, causes wear and leads to damage on the contact surface of the seal.
This phenomenon is made worse when the fluid contains suspended abrasive substances.
Taking into account that spray guns for washing apparatus are usually capable of working at high and low fluid pressures, wear on the seal can present a further drawback.
Though at high pressure the hydrostatic force generated by the fluid enables closure of the obturator on the albeit worn seal, at low pressure the hydrostatic force generated is not sufficient to guarantee a perfect seal of the obturator on the worn seal, the result being a loss of fluid even when the valve is closed. The main aim of the present invention is to adapt a fluid intercept valve which is provided with an obturator that does not generate wear on the seal it abuts. A further aim of the present invention is to provide a fluid intercept valve which is provided with an obturator that can reduce the force needed to commute the valve from the open position to the closed position in comparison with other valves.
A further aim of the invention is to provide a fluid intercept valve which enables a variation of the force needed to displace the obturator into the open position during design stage, by modifying the point of application of the pushing element and consequently the longitudinal development of the obturator.
The technical objective and set aims are all attained by the fluid intercept valve, which is characterised in that it comprises one or more of the technical solutions claimed herein below.

Intercept valve for spray guns for water cleaner apparatus


For calibration and stabilization of the discharge product from extruders it is known to use tubular calibration units both for calibration of the product diameter and for cooling of the product for initial stabilization of the product, whereby the calibration pipe should have a noticeable length. For a current exact calibration it may be desirable to effect small changes of the calibration diameter, yet with associated problem in exchanging the calibration pipe. The apparatus provides for a calibration pipe (14) with adjustable diameter, viz. in that the pipe is made of a number of split rings (16), which are juxtaposed with random locations of the splits (18), such that the pipe when seen in its axial direction is entirely unbroken. The rings (16) may be collectively radially compressed in a controlled manner by means of axially extending wedge clamp rods (24, 26) for a uniform adjustment of the diameter of the pipe (14) as a whole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tubular calibration unit for calibrating the outer or inner diameter of extruded plastic string bodies such as pipes.
2. Description of Related Art
In the production of extruded plastic pipes it is customary that the hot plastic compound is forced through an extruder nozzle, the diameter of which is somewhat larger than the desired pipe diameter, the extrusion taking place to a calibration tube unit, at the inlet of which the plastic pipe is narrowed to the diameter of this unit, this diameter corresponding fully or almost to the desired pipe diameter. The metallic calibration tube is cooled by cold water such that during its throughflow the plastic compound solidifies sufficiently to be stabilized with a corresponding pipe diameter as it leaves the unit. Thereafter the pipe is passed through a cooling zone, normally of a length larger than that of the calibration tube, such that at the outlet from this zone the pipe is stabilized sufficiently for co-operation with a pulling station effecting the pull out of the pipe from its initial formation in the calibration tube. Thereafter the pipe can be passed further to be reeled or cut into desired lengths.
Normally, the production tolerances should be rather narrow, both for satisfying certain minimum requirements and for achieving this without overdosage of plastic.
In practice it happens that for several reasons changes in the process conditions may occur, such that for the desired optimizing of the produced pipe it may be required to use a slightly changed calibration diameter. In such cases it is necessary to stop the process and replace the calibration tube by another such tube with a diameter deviation of, maybe, only one or half a millimeter.
Such a change, therefore, implies a production stop and often scrapping of many meters of produced pipe, so it would be highly desirable if it was possible to use calibration tubes with adjustable diameter, such that required adjustments could be effected currently, during operation.
The problem has earlier been considered in connection with narrow calibration rings, confer GB-1,349,436, where it has been possible to use a split ring with such a pronounced screw shaped split that the ring, seen in the direction of throughflow, will be unbroken annular, whether it is squeezed to a more or less advaced closing of the oblique split. Also, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,025 is known a construction comprising a row of mutually widely separated calibration rings provided at the outer end portions of funnel shaped elements and being controllable to undergo a more or less pronounced, resilient expansion or contraction.
These solutions, however, are unusable when it is a condition that the calibration unit be a heat/cold transferring, regular tube, preferably having a length up to several times its diameter. This is confirmed by practice, where it has been necessary to effect the said problematic total change out of the calibration tubes.

Tubular calibration unit for machines for extruding plastic strings such as pipes


The invention concerns a microcircuit card comprising means (RX) for receiving a command and means for modifying at least one performance of the card capable of being implemented after a step of personalization of the card.

The present invention concerns a microcircuit card whereof the performance can be modified after a step of personalization of the card, and a method for configuring this kind of card.
In the remainder of this document, the term "customization" (personalization) will be understood in the sense in which it is routinely used by the person skilled in the microcircuit card art, or as defined by W. Rankl and W. Effing in the document "Smart Card Handbook, Second Edition, Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd." in the following terms:
"The term customization, in its widest sense, means that the data specific to a card or to a person is entered in the card. This data may for example, be a name, an address, and also includes keys associated with the card. The only thing that is important is that this data is specific to this card."
The invention finds one special but nonlimiting application in the field of mobile telecommunication microcircuit cards such as SIM cards conforming to the GSM standard and cards conforming to similar standards such as the CDMA, TDMA or UMTS standards. In this context, the invention enables modification of the performance of a customized mobile telecommunication card already allocated to a user subscribing to a mobile telephone service.
Modifying the clock frequency of a microcircuit card before the step of personalization of the card is already known to the person skilled in the art.
This kind of process is used in particular during the phases of developing a microcircuit card, during which the cards are tested at different clock frequencies, the clock frequency of the card then being fixed before the end of the personalization process.
However, in the prior art, the performance of the card cannot be modified after the personalization of the card.
It would nevertheless be desirable to be able to modify the performance of a microcircuit card after personalization, in particular after it is sold, or more generally after it has been allocated to a user.

Microcircuit card whereof the performances can be modified after personalization


Systems and techniques for reduced host sleep interruption are described herein. A first packet received via a receive chain may be placed into a buffer. The first packet may be of a first preliminary type. The first packet may be processed from the buffer without communication with the host machine. The first packet may also be of a first secondary type. Processing the first packet may include an operation chosen from the group of dropping the packet and responding to the packet. A second packet received via the receive chain may be placed into the buffer. The second packet may be of a first preliminary type and a second secondary type. The second packet may be communicated from the buffer to the machine. A third packet received via the receive chain may be communicated to the machine. The third packet may be of a second preliminary type.

Network interfaces for a machine may couple a host machine to a network. Example network interfaces may include network interface cards (NICs) or similar hardware. The network may be wireless or wired. A network interface may include a receive chain. A receive chain may include components such as an antenna or a wired connector to connect the host network interface to the network. The network may be a packet (e.g., frame) based network. A packet based network may have broadcast, multicast, and unicast packets.
The machine may have an idle mode all the way down to various sleep modes where the lowest sleep mode provides the greatest energy benefit has the longest exit latency. Generally, the idle or sleep modes may cause most of the host machine's components to power down or to operate in a low power mode. Generally, when in a powered down or a low power mode, the components can process wake events and nothing else.
Generally, packets received by the network interface are communicated to the machine. This communication wakes an idle or sleeping machine.

Network interface for reduced host sleep interruption


Uncured adhesive elastomeric compositions are provided comprising an unsaturated polymeric dicarboxylic acid or derivative adduct and an elastomer. These compositions are capable of adhesion to a broad, general range of materials and are useful for bonding elastomers to other elastomers, to plastic materials, to metal, fabrics, fibers, paper and miscellaneous substrates. These materials can also be bonded to each other using a film or spreadable liquid comprised of a composition of this invention and curing said film or liquid in contact with said substrates.

Many methods have been published in the scientific and technical literature describing means for achieving improvement in the adhesive bond between elastomers and various substrates. While this effort has led to many patents and some significant improvements in this adhesive bond, there is still a considerable need for better bonding techniques. A particularly fruitful modification of natural rubber and certain synthetic elastomers has been incorporation of carboxylic acid functionality into the rubber chain through copolymerization or grafting techniques with such monomers as acrylic and methacrylic acid or the esters of these acids, which may later be converted to carboxylic acid functionality by saponification of the esters. These techniques have resulted in useful elastomers with significant bonding capabilities, but these methods have not received general acceptance for the reason that the elastomers formed by such techniques are usually viscous and hard to handle, the polymerization chemistry is complicated and difficult, and the products are not compatible with a wide range of other elastomers. To a limited extent, maleic acid, fumaric acid, itaconic acid and the anhydride derivatives of maleic acid and itaconic acid have been used to graft or adduct solid elastomers with carboxylic acid functionality (Trivedi, B.C. Culbertson, B.M. (1982) "Maleic Anhydride," Plenum Press). Again these methods suffer from mechanical difficulties associated with handling the high molecular weight solid elastomer during the chemical reaction sequences.
A more desirable possibility from the standpoint of the rubber compounder who needs the flexibility to compound almost any elastomer specifically for an adhesive requirement would be the addition of lower molecular weight carboxylic acids or derivatives to the rubber compound during mixing of the rubber compound. While in some special applications this has been achieved, this method has not received general acceptance because most carboxylic acids and derivatives do not behave well in the mixing step due to high melting points or low solubility in rubber compounds. These materials are not usually compatible with the finished unvulcanized elastomer, and indeed, also tend to interfere with the vulcanization step.
In part, the difficulty with adhesion of elastomers to a variety of substrates lies in the generally non-polar nature of most natural and synthetic elastomers which do not contain bonding species which can react or coordinate with the generally polar bonds at the interface with a mineral, fiber or metal surface. In addition, those surfaces that do not contain polar bonding surfaces are inert to most kinds of reactions which might provide adhesive interface with non-polar bonds. There are physical problems also in that the adhesive interface for this type of bond rarely contains bonding elements having the same coefficient of expansion, or the same elastic modulus, for example.
Methods to bring about satisfactory bonds have involved the following types of transformations:
a. Chemical methods to modify the elastomer interface by chemically altering the surface of the elastomer with polar bonds. This approach is exemplified by chlorination of the elastomer surface with sodium hypochlorite solutions or other forms of chlorine containing treatments as described by Schidrowitz, P. and Redfarn, C.A. (1935) J. Soc. Chem. Ind. 54:263T. Another approach is exemplified by treatment of the surface of polytetrafluoroethylene with sodium napthalide which is said to abstract fluorine from the surface leaving acetylide linkages which are more compatible surfaces for metal bonding. (Nelson, E.R. et al. (1958) Ind. Eng. Chem. 50:329.) PA1 b. Chemical methods to modify the substrate interface by chemically altering the surface of the substrate with non-polar bonds. This approach is exemplified by treating the metal surface with primer systems designed to impart a bonding surface which is more compatible with non-polar elastomers. There are many commercial primer systems which are applied to a wide variety of bonding applications which use this technique. For example, see literature describing Lord Elastomer Products ChemLok.RTM. 205 Rubber-to-Metal Adhesive Primer. PA1 c. Physically modifying the substrate interface with a coating which bonds to both elastomeric and substrate surfaces with greater bonding energy than either alone can be made to bond. For example, sputter coated brass on steel wire, bonded with sulfur-cured rubber (Von Ooij, W.J. (1979), "Fundamental Aspects of Rubber Adhesion to Brass-Plated Steel Tire Cords," Rubber Chem. Technol. 52:605-675). PA1 d. The combination of several of these techniques at once. Because bonding various surfaces is fraught with technical difficulties, combinations of methods is frequently used in commercial systems. These techniques may involve as many as seven treatment steps. For example, directions for the use of Lord Elastomer Products ChemLok.RTM. 252 describes these steps. PA1 a) adhesion of elastomers to other elastomers; PA1 b) adhesion of elastomers to plastic materials; PA1 c) adhesion of elastomers to metal substrates, e.g., adhesion of natural, polybutadiene or styrene butadiene rubber to brass-coated steel wire; PA1 d) adhesion of elastomers to fabrics, fibers, paper and miscellaneous substrates; and PA1 e) adhesion of elastomers to glass, mineral fillers and coarse mineral substrates. PA1 (a) reacting an unsaturated polymer as described above with a dicarboxylic acid or derivative to form an unsaturated polymeric dicarboxylic acid adduct wherein said acid or derivative moiety comprises at least about three weight percent of said adduct; and PA1 (b) adding said adduct to an uncured elastomer in an amount between about 2 and about 50 weight percent of said uncured adhesive elastomeric composition.
The various bonding techniques described briefly above have been applied to these bonding problems in a bewildering array of methods, but in general have failed to provide either a truly satisfactory or a generally useful method. Several successful approaches have used some of the chemical reactions which occur during vulcanization to bring about a corresponding or similar reaction at the bonding surface. An example is the use of sulfur and sulfur donors Which are principally added to participate in the vulcanization reactions to also participate with metal oxide or metal sulfide bonds on the substrate surface. This technique is described repeatedly in the scientific literature, for example in elastomer to brass coated wire adhesion. See, e.g., van Ooij, J. (1984) Rubber Chem. Technol. 57:421-456.
A milling process has been described, where chemical bonds have been broken between rubber fragments by mechanical shear forces which have reformed during milling in the presence of maleic anhydride to give a maleinized rubber. Such processes have found useful applications as described in Bacon, R.G.R. and Farmer, E.H. (1939) Rubber Chem. Technol. 12:200-209. An anhydride adducted rubber was described in 1944 for bonding natural rubber to artificial silk. (Kambara, S. et al. (1944) Soc. Chim. Ind. Japan 45:141-143; CA. 43, 1595 (1949)). The problem with this approach is that it is very difficult to obtain higher concentrations of chemically bound maleic anhydride in the rubber compound, the mechanical mixers used to obtain high mixing energy do not contain the odorous and toxic vapors of maleic anhydride in a satisfactory way, thus causing unsafe working conditions around the mixer, and the mixing energy needed to mechanically break rubber chains to bring about this reaction is unfortunately great.
Maleic adducts have long been known to the coatings industry where such natural oils as linseed and soya oil have been successfully maleinized and used commercially for many years. These natural drying oils have limited unsaturation content however, such that such vegetable oils cannot be highly maleinized. Most of these oils contain a maximum of three unsaturation sites which can be maleinized. Maleinized vegetable oils have been used as additives to rubber compositions, but the results have not been generally applicable or remarkable to adhesive bonds. Partly, these materials have limited solubility in rubber compounds, and this appears to limit their usefulness. These maleinized vegetable oils have proven useful in coatings, where the presence of the maleinized products have shown good film adhesion and have exhibited other useful coating properties.
Low molecular weight polybutadienes and other highly unsaturated polymers have been maleinized and used as chemical intermediates for the production of air dried coatings and electrodepositional primer coatings, and these products have been very useful for these purposes. Good adhesion properties are typically observed with these coatings. Medium molecular weight resins of this type have not been much in demand for the coatings industry partly due to the high viscosity of these systems, and have thus not been readily available. It is precisely this medium molecular weight range however which is most useful in the context of this invention.
A maleinized polyisoprene resin is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,349 assigned to Kuraray, Ltd of Japan and is used in a sulfur cured natural rubber blend to provide improved green strength of the natural rubber compounds and, incidentally, to provide improved adhesion to metal. No mention of the adhesive property of such compounds with other elastomers and with other cure systems is given, except for blends with natural rubber comprising less than 35% of total rubber content of synthetic elastomer of greater than 300,000 molecular weight. A similar material is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,046 also assigned to Kuraray, Ltd of Japan for use as a constituent of a pressure sensitive adhesive, but no description is given of this resin compounded with elastomers of any kind (compounds referred to as tackifiers, which are not considered to be elastomers, are described).
Kuraray Pat. No. 4,218,439 teaches that the physical properties and processability of the vulcanizate are decreased with excessive amounts of maleic anhydride. Applicants have observed that adhesion can be doubled or better over that of the Kuraray patent and that the more dicarboxylic acid (e.g., maleic acid) moiety present, the better the adhesion. In light of the Kuraray teachings it was surprising to find that both natural and synthetic rubber compositions could be prepared which retained physical properties and processability.
None of the foregoing disclosures teach an adhesive elastomeric composition comprising a polymeric dicarboxylic acid adduct wherein the polymer has a cis-1,4 content less than 70%, or wherein the polymer has a molecular weight less than 8,000. Moreover, none of the foregoing disclosures teach an adhesive elastomeric composition using synthetic rubber and not containing natural rubber, which comprises a dicarboxylic acid adduct.


A drive mechanism of a drug delivery device is presented having, a piston rod to operably engage with a piston of a cartridge containing a medicament, a first functional component and a second functional component whose position or orientation relative to each other is unambiguously correlated to a predefined axial position of the piston rod, wherein the first and/or the second functional component comprise at least one engaging portion to inseparably and to adhesively engage the first and the second functional component with each other for rendering the drive mechanism inoperable when the predefined axial position of the piston rod has been reached.

Drug delivery devices for setting and dispensing a single or multiple doses of a liquid medicament are as such well-known in the art. Generally, such devices have substantially a similar purpose as that of an ordinary syringe.
Drug delivery devices, in particular pen-type injectors have to meet a number of user-specific requirements. For instance, with patient's suffering chronic diseases, such like diabetes, the patient may be physically infirm and may also have impaired vision. Suitable drug delivery devices especially intended for home medication therefore need to be robust in construction and should be easy to use. Furthermore, manipulation and general handling of the device and its components should be intelligible and easy understandable. Moreover, a dose setting as well as a dose dispensing procedure must be easy to operate and has to be unambiguous.
Typically, such devices comprise a housing adapted to receive a cartridge at least partially filled with the medicament to be dispensed. The device further comprises a drive mechanism, typically having a displaceable piston rod which is adapted to operably engage with a piston of the cartridge. By means of the drive mechanism and its piston rod, the piston of the cartridge can be displaced in a distal or dispensing direction and may therefore expel a pre-defined amount of the medicament via a piercing assembly which is to be releasably coupled with a distal end section of the housing of the drug delivery device.
Among different types of pen injectors there exist disposable drug delivery devices which are intended to be discarded in their entirety once the medicament provided in the cartridge is used up. With these devices, empty cartridges are not to be replaced. Instead, a new drug delivery device with a filled cartridge readily arranged therein should be purchased and applied by the patient or user.
Disposable drug delivery devices may be frequently subject to misuse, in particular in combination with counterfeited medicaments. Hence, original drug delivery devices may be disassembled and an empty cartridge may be replaced by a filled one while resetting the drive mechanism intended to interact with the cartridge.
Such illegitimate manipulation of a drug delivery device implicits an undue risk of health of the patient using such a device.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an anti-counterfeiting means to inhibit illegitimate manipulation of disposable drug delivery devices after their intended use. The anti-counterfeiting means should be implementable into existing drug delivery devices as smooth and easy as possible and should come along with negligible cost- and implementation efforts.

Drive mechanism for a drug injection device comprising adhesive to block drive at end of device life to prevent reuse


A dental vacuum assembly utilizes a rotary vane vacuum pump. The pump is operatively connected to a vacuum reservoir and driven by an electric motor commonly mounted with the pump on a vibration-isolated platform. The vacuum reservoir is operatively connected to a number of different dental stations, each including a dental aspirator tip. The vacuum reservoir is supported by a support component which receives a drain valve in the bottom of the vacuum reservoir, and has a false bottom connected to a drain pipe section which extends through a side wall of the support component for easy connection to a sewer.

Modern dental care facilities usually include multiple operatories and a central vacuum system. Dental aspirator tips are provided at each operatory for disposition in the patient's mouth to remove aerosols, liquids, solid debris, and odors from the patient's mouth. Typical conventional dental vacuum systems have been far from ideal from the standpoints of noise output, vacuum intensity and flow rate charateristics, efficiency, and reliability. Typical commercially available dental vacuum systems include water ring or turbine vacuum pumps, and a back-up pump is normally specified because of the known unreliability of such pumps.
According to the present invention a dental vacuum system is provided that overcomes most of the drawbacks associated with conventional commercially marketed systems. The system according to the present invention has little noise, excellent efficiency, and ideal vacuum intensity and flow rate characteristics. The system also has excellent reliability and is easy to install and utilize in a central facility serving a number of dental operatories.
The system according to the invention includes a vacuum reservoir operatively connected to a rotary vane vacuum pump. The rotary vane vacuum pump, in the system combination, provides an effective vacuum intensity within a desirable range, irrespective of the practical number of operatories connected thereto. Additionally, the pump in the system of the invention may be operated by a small motor, such as a one horsepower electrical motor, yet it can effectively serve the same number of operatories served by a much larger power source in conventional dental vacuum facilities. The pump is preferably continuously lubricated utilizing an oil reservoir directly mounted thereon, and the pump and the motor are mounted on a common small platform in side-by-side relationship. A V-belt interconnects pulleys of the pump and motor to provide force transmission therebetween and elastomeric material feet are provided on the platform to facilitate desired noise control.
The vacuum reservoir, which is operatively connected to dental aspirator tips in a plurality of dental operatives, preferably comprises a cylindrical tank with a drain valve means, such as a rubber flap valve, disposed at the bottom thereof. A support and drain assembly provides for the ready connection of the vacuum reservoir to a drain. The support and drain assembly include a cylindrical support having a first end interior diameter slightly larger than the exterior diameter of the vacuum tank, with abutment portions of the tank and support and drain assembly operatively engaging to limit the penetration of the tank into the support and drain assembly. A false bottom is provided in the support and drain assembly immediately below the rubber flap valve, and a drain pipe extends from an opening formed in a center lowpoint of the false bottom through a side wall of the support and drain assembly, the drain pipe being readily connectable to the dental office's sewer system. The second end of the support and drain assembly supports the vacuum tank on a horizontal surface in a generally upright position.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an efficient and effective dental vacuum system. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.


The present invention relates to a process for suppressing the foaming which may occur at the time of the preparation of a solution or a suspension. Particularly, the present invention relates to pharmaceuticals, foods, and the like wherein the foaming at the time of the preparation of a solution or a suspension, which may cause any disadvantage, is suppressed.

The compound (compound 1) of formula:
is a medicament for treating acute cerebro-vascular accidents such as intracerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, and subarachnoid hemorrhage, and Japanese Patent Publication (kokai) No. 53484/1995 describes the same and related compounds as well as their preparations.
Compound 1 as described above is considered to be administered via intravenous infusion. In this case, a lyophilized formulation sealed closely in vials is first reconstituted or suspended in a water for injection or an infusion liquid therein, and then the solution or the suspension is mixed with an additional infusion liquid (about 100 to 500 ml, pH about 6 to 7) before use. However, vigorous mixing at the time of the dissolution/suspension in vials may cause the foaming, which has been recognized to lead to problems that it is difficult to transfer the whole contents of an effective ingredient into an additional infusion liquid, which would bring about a margin of error in dose, and that the foaming prevents from the reconstitution of the present compound when the dose is increased up to about 300 mg. Although it is possible to conduct the stirring smoothly on a table for example, such stirring would be an unpractical means in medical applications, showing that the suppression of foaming has been interested.


A signal matrix provides high speed interconnections using optoelectronic elements by detecting wavelength dependent photonic signals at each element of a matrix and re-emitting the detected photonic signals for transmission to an intended destination. Applications include telecommunications and computing, and particularly, cross bar switches and fiber optic bundles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to integrated circuit optoelectronic devices and, more particularly, to matrices of such devices.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
High speed integrated circuit devices are well known and widely used in computing and telecommunications. The constant demand is for ever increasing speed, capacity and component density. Integrated circuit photonic devices are seen as an important part of the future of high speed circuits because they have the advantage of minimizing high frequency electromagnetic interference problems found in electrical circuits. Although photonic devices still convert signals to and from electrical signals, the electrical signal lines can be shortened, and the electromagnetic problems can be significantly reduced. In such circuits, passive optical components must be assembled with the active optoelectronic components in order to make a complete device.
One of the more significant applications which can substantially benefit from the minimized electromagnetic interference of optoelectronic components is that of telecommunications. In particular, switching functions provide complex and difficult signal routing issues which are very susceptible to electromagnetic interference. Attempts to apply matrices of optoelectronic elements have had limited success and have been challenged by the electrical signal routing necessary for such devices.
For the above reasons, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a high speed signal matrix in which integrated optoelectronic devices are used.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a signal matrix in the form of a cross bar switch in which any of N inputs can be connected to any of M outputs.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a signal matrix wherein the optical components may be constructed by efficient fabrication methods.
Accordingly, the one form of the present invention provides an optoelectronic signal matrix for selectively connecting any of N inputs to any of M outputs, including: an integrated circuit matrix having N rows by M columns of optoelectronic matrix elements, with each matrix element including a detector and emitter pair adapted to detect first photonic signals and to re-emit the detected first photonic signals as second photonic signals; one or more input emitters for each N input, adapted to transmit a first photonic signal along a separate respective N matrix row, wherein the first photonic signals transmitted thereby have one or more wavelengths corresponding to one or more respective M outputs; one or more output detectors for each M output, adapted to receive second photonic signals from a separate respective matrix column; a waveguide located adjacent the matrix and adapted to provide a transmission medium along individual rows and along individual columns of the matrix; a separate diffraction grating associated with the waveguide over each detector of each matrix element and adapted to provide wavelength dependent diffraction of the first photonic signals traveling in the waveguide along each N row into the matrix element detector of wavelength respective M columns; and a separate optical distribution element associated with the waveguide over each emitter of each matrix element and adapted to distribute second photonic signals emitted from each matrix element emitter into the waveguide and along the respective M column; wherein the signal matrix is adapted to receive signals at each N input intended for any M output, transmit the received signals through the waveguide as first photonic signals at a wavelength corresponding to the intended M output, diffract the transmitted first photonic signals for detection by the matrix element of the corresponding M column, re-emit the detected signal from the detecting matrix element as a second photonic signal, distribute the second photonic signal into the respective M column and detect the distributed second photonic signal at the respective M output detector.
In another form, the present invention provides a method for connecting electrical signals from any one of N inputs to anyone of M outputs, including; emitting a first photonic signal representing an electrical signal from an N input at a photonic wavelength corresponding to an intended M output, conveying the emitted first photonic signal adjacent a separate row of an integrated circuit matrix of N rows by M columns of optoelectronic matrix elements, detecting the conveyed first photonic signal at a matrix element corresponding to the intended M output, re-emitting the detected first photonic signal as a second photonic signal from the corresponding matrix element, conveying the re-emitted second photonic signal along the respective M column, and detecting the conveyed second photonic signal in the respective M column at the respective M output.
In yet another form, the present invention provides an optoelectronic signal matrix for sending input photonic signals over a fiber optic bundle, including: an integrated circuit matrix having at least N rows of optoelectronic matrix elements, with each matrix element including a detector and emitter pair adapted to detect input photonic signals and to re-emit the detected input photonic signals; a waveguide located adjacent the matrix and adapted to provide a transmission medium along individual rows of the matrix, the waveguide including optical elements for directing input photonic signals into the matrix element detectors from the waveguide; and means for coupling re-emitted photonic signals from the matrix element emitters into a fiber optic bundle; wherein the switch matrix is adapted to detect input photonic signals in the waveguide at each matrix element and re-emit the detected input photonic signals into the optical fiber bundle.
In still another form, the present invention provides an optoelectronic signal matrix for receiving photonic signals from a fiber optic bundle, including: a integrated circuit matrix having at least N rows of optoelectronic matrix elements, with each matrix element including a detector and emitter pair adapted to detect photonic signals and to re-emit the detected photonic signals; means for coupling photonic signals from the fiber optic bundle to the matrix element detectors; and a waveguide located adjacent the matrix and adapted to provide a transmission medium along individual rows of the matrix, the waveguide including optical elements for directing optical signals along the waveguide from the matrix elements emitters; wherein the signal matrix is adapted to detect photonic signals present in the fiber optic bundle and to re-emit these detected photonic signals into the waveguide.

Integrated circuit photonic signal matrix

BAE Systems Information and Electronic System Integration Inc.


A multi-color liquid toner electrophotographic apparatus includes an image bearing surface, a developing apparatus for developing an image on the image bearing surface using a plurality of liquid toners of different colors and a transferring apparatus for transferring the developed image from the image bearing surface to a substrate. The developing apparatus includes a plurality of colored liquid toner reservoir volumes each for a different color which are separated by a barrier which prevents pigmented particle communication therebetween and permits communication of carrier liquid therebetween.

Liquid toner compositions for use in liquid toner imaging systems normally comprise a carrier liquid and toner particles. These two components deplete at different rates from a liquid toner supply reservoir which is normally part of such systems. The relative component depletion rates are dependent on the percent coverage of the images produced by the imaging system and on other factors.
Imaging systems, be they printers or copiers, generally produce a variety of images having a wide range of print coverage. In general, the relative depletion rates of the various components of liquid toner will depend on the print coverage. It is well known that the balance between the various components of a liquid toner can have a strong effect on the quality of printed images, therefore most imaging systems have replenishment systems. These systems include replenishment with toner concentrate, having a relatively high percentage of particles and also containing carrier liquid, and with carrier liquid free of toner particles. One or both of these replenishment components may have charge director added thereto, or charge director may be supplied in a separate charge director replenishment solution.
Toner concentrate is added whenever the liquid toner becomes depleted of toner particles. The concentration of toner particles may be determined by measuring the optical density of the liquid toner composition in the reservoir. Carrier liquid is supplied whenever the total amount of liquid toner in the reservoir falls below a certain level. Charge director may be added when the conductivity of the solution is reduced.
An exemplary system for the replenishment of liquid toner components is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,924 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The liquid carrier supply generally includes apparatus for the measurement of the liquid level in the reservoir, and a series of pumps and or valves which are operated in response to a signal from the measurement system to replenish the carrier liquid in the reservoir by pumping or otherwise transporting carrier liquid from the carrier liquid replenishment supply.
In color systems, liquid toners of different colors are required, each having a separate replenishment system for toner particle concentrate and for carrier liquid, including separate measurement and supply systems. These separate systems add to the expense and complication of such systems and reduce their reliability.


The genomes of two novel human papillomavirus (HPV) types, HPV68 and HPV70, were cloned from a low grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and a vulvar papilloma, respectively, and sequenced. Both types are related to HPV39, a potentially oncogenic virus. HPV68 and HPV70 were also detected in genital intraepithelial neoplasia from three patients and one patient, respectively. Comparison with sequence data in the literature indicates that the subgenomic ME180-HPV DNA fragment, cloned from a carcinoma cell line, corresponds to an HPV68 subtype and that several HPV DNA fragments amplified by PCR from genital neoplasia represent worldwide distributed variants of HPV68 and HPV70.

The invention relates to the DNAs of papillomaviruses HPV68 and HPV70 and variants of these papillomaviruses, to immunogenic proteins of these viruses, to expression vectors encoding these proteins, and to products genetically or immunologically related to these papillomaviruses.
More than 30 types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) infecting the genital tract have been identified so far (7, 17). The expression "papillomavirus" covers a large number of viruses having in common the role of being held responsible for several forms of viral infections ranging from relatively benign warts of the skin and mucous membranes to hyperplasias capable of degenerating into intra-epithelial neoplasias and cutaneous cancers. Among papillomavirus infections, mention should also be made more particularly of cutaneous warts (in particular common warts and plantar warts epidermodysplasia verruciformis, plane or intermediary skin warts), intra-epithelial neoplasias and cutaneous cancers, the cancers of the epidermodysplasia verruciformis, genital neoplasias, and cancers of the uterine cervix condylomas and papillomas.
The papillomaviruses are found associated with squamous intraepithelial lesions of the uterine cervix, known as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), which may regress, remain stable, or progress into invasive squamous cell carcinomas (23, 31). It is likely that the variability of the clinical evolution of CIN reflects the diversity of the associated HPV types (3, 23).
Therefore, the identification of all genital HPV types is an important issue to understand fully the role of HPVs in the natural history of invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix, which is the second most frequent cause of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide (31). Obviously, such knowledge would be of significant help to clinicians for the management of patients.

Genital human papillomavirus type 68a (HPV-68a), related to the potentially oncogenic HPV-39

Institut Nationale de la Sante Et de la Recherche Medicale


A reflection element 3 disposed in an optical waveguide element 2 returns a part of light to a semiconductor laser diode element 1 so that the semiconductor laser diode element 1 oscillates in a coherent collapse mode, and a semiconductor light amplifier 7 is optically coupled to the optical waveguide element 2, and amplifies an optical output from optical waveguide element 2, so as to provide a high-power fundamental-wave light source.

In recent years, a light source which emits rays of light of blue, green, and red which are three primary colors, each ray of light having an optical output of several watts, has been required with increase in the sizes of display devices. By the way, semiconductor laser diode elements which can emit a ray of blue or green light having a high power of several watts will not be able to be implemented in the near future. Therefore, the most realistic method of providing a ray of blue or green light having a high power of several watts is a method of performing wavelength changing on a high-power fundamental wave produced by a solid state laser device using a nonlinear optical crystal (referred to as a wavelength changing element from here on) having a periodic polarization reversing structure in a state of quasi phase matching. However, these days, because the cost of such a solid state laser device which emits light having a high power is very expensive, a wavelength converter which converts a fundamental wave produced by a semiconductor laser diode element directly into a second harmonic wave using a wavelength changing element is considered to be promising, and therefore research and development of a high-power fundamental-wave light source and a wavelength converter using this light source have been continued.
An example of prior art wavelength converters which uses a monolithic integrated MOPA (an abbreviation of Master Oscillator Power Amplifier) element as a fundamental-wave light source, and which generates a second harmonic wave of about 100 mW from a fundamental wave having an optical output of about 1 W using a wavelength changing element is disclosed. In this MOPA element, a master oscillator having a DBR (Distributed Bragg Reflector) structure which outputs light in a single transverse mode and light in a single longitudinal mode, and a flared semiconductor light amplifier which amplifies the light beams while maintaining their beam quality are integrated on the same semiconductor substrate. As applications of MOPA elements, a combination of a MOPA element and a wavelength changing element provided with a multimode optical waveguide and an example of structure in which a diffraction grating is placed on a rear face of a tapered semiconductor light amplifier are also disclosed (for example, refer to patent reference 1).
Furthermore, there has been disclosed a prior art wavelength converter including a master oscillator in which a resonator in which a diffraction grating is placed at the back of a semiconductor laser diode element is formed, the master oscillator oscillating in a single longitudinal mode, a first optical isolator which prevents light from returning to the master oscillator, a tapered semiconductor light amplifier, and a second optical isolator which prevents light from returning to the semiconductor light amplifier, the prior art wavelength converter generating a stable optical output (for example, refer to patent reference 2).
In addition, there has been disclosed a prior art wavelength converter including a resonator in which a diffraction grating is placed in the front of a semiconductor laser diode element, a master oscillator which oscillates in an injection locking mode by RF-modulating the above-mentioned semiconductor laser diode element, and a tapered semiconductor light amplifier which is a stage located behind the master oscillator, the prior art wavelength converter emitting light having a pulse-shaped waveform (for example, refer to patent reference 3).
Furthermore, there have been disclosed some prior art wavelength converters in which a gain medium in which the reflectivity of a front surface of a semiconductor laser diode is reduced is formed, an external resonator is constructed of a Bragg diffraction grating (referred to as an optical fiber grating from here on) formed in an optical fiber and the semiconductor laser diode element, and the semiconductor laser diode element is made to oscillate in a single longitudinal mode. In addition, there has been disclosed a structure in which light emitted out of such a prior art wavelength converter is optically coupled to a wavelength changing element. Furthermore, there has been disclosed a structure in which the single transverse mode of a semiconductor laser diode is maintained by using a polarization-maintaining optical fiber (for example, refer to patent reference 4).    [Patent reference 1] U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,718 (see the 6th to 12th columns, and FIGS. 5, 7 to 8, and 10)    [Patent reference 2] U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,284 (see the 3rd to 8th columns and FIG. 1)    [Patent reference 3] U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,676 (see the 3rd to 5th columns and FIGS. 1, and 7 to 10)    [Patent reference 4] Japanese patent application laid-open disclosure No. 11-509933,A (see pp. 2 to 12 and FIG. 1)
However, for example, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters (Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 504-506, 1998) discloses that a monolithic integrated MOPA element as disclosed in above-mentioned patent reference 1 has a problem that its spectrum and optical output vary due to a slight amount of externally reflected light, and also discloses a method of solving the problem. Especially, in a case in which such a monolithic integrated MOPA element is applied to a wavelength changing element, because remaining of slight variations in the spectrum causes a variation in the phase matching with the wavelength changing element and this results in a variation in the wavelength conversion efficiency of the wavelength changing element, it is necessary to insert an optical isolator into the output of the MOPA element so as to remove the externally reflected light. Another problem is however that such an optical isolator which is so designed as not to get optically damaged even if it accepts a fundamental wave of the order of watts is very expensive.
A wavelength converter as disclosed in, for example, patent reference 2, has an advantage of being able to use a cheap and general optical isolator because light having a small power from a master oscillator is simply inputted to the optical isolator. However, a problem with semiconductor light amplifiers is that, as disclosed in, for example, Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 7, No. 5, and pp. 470-472, a slight amount of return light from outside causes variations in the light distribution in a plane horizontal to the active layer, and therefore an expensive optical isolator which prevents return light is also needed at the outputs of the semiconductor light amplifiers.
In addition, in, for example, the wavelength converter disclosed in patent reference 3, because the resonator consists of a semiconductor laser diode element and a diffraction grating, and a proper high-frequency signal is applied to the semiconductor laser diode element so that it oscillates in an injection locking mode, while the wavelength converter has an advantage of eliminating the necessity to have an expensive optical isolator, a high-frequency generating circuit is needed, a time domain pulse optical output is generated, but no continuous wave is acquired.
Furthermore, the semiconductor laser diode element disposed in the wavelength converter shown in patent reference 4 has a width limit of about 4 micrometers in order to maintain the single transverse mode in the optical waveguide having the active layer therein. Therefore, while a measure of providing a window structure or the like so as to reduce the optical density is taken in order to prevent an optical damage to the emergence end surface of the semiconductor laser diode element, the optical output is quite small, the frequency of chance failures resulting from optical damage caused by defects which occur in the end surfaces and active layer of the semiconductor laser diode element increases when the optical output from the semiconductor laser diode element exceeds 1 W, and the life of the semiconductor laser diode element is shortened remarkably. In addition, in this conventional example, an antireflection film is formed on the front surface of the semiconductor laser diode element so that the semiconductor laser diode element serves as a gain medium, the resonator is constructed of a diffraction grating (referred to as an optical fiber grating from here on) disposed in the optical fiber, and the semiconductor laser diode element, and the semiconductor laser diode element is made to oscillate in the single longitudinal mode. Therefore, another problem is that the spectrum varies again if return light from outside the resonator is incident upon the resonator.
The present invention is made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to a fundamental-wave light source which reduces variations in the optical output thereof and variations in the spectrum of the optical output which are caused by external reflection to a master oscillator thereof, and which reduces variations in the light distribution of a semiconductor light amplifier in a lateral direction which are caused by the external reflection, and a wavelength converter light source which can carry out wavelength changing efficiently using the wavelength changing element, and which can output a high-power continuous wave in a short wavelength range.

Fundamental-wave light source and wavelength converter


An electric ice planer includes a bottom base, a frame base, a transmitting mechanism, a stationary cap, a lift cap, a plane base, a fit cylinder, and an ice container. The transmitting mechanism rotates the ice container, so small ice blocks placed in the ice container may be guided to move on a helical guide member in the ice container to a plan of the plane base and then planed into small bits of ice and then drops down into a container on a receptive surface of the bottom base below the plane base for use. So the electric ice planer saves time and labor, not wasting ice blocks and simple to assemble and disassemble for convenience of washing and cleaning.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric ice planer, particularly to one provided with a transmitting mechanism for rotating an ice container so as to let small blocks of ice guided by an ice guide member to move to a plane so that the small ice blocks may be planed to become very small bits of ice. The ice planing saves time, labor, not wasting ice blocks and facilitating disassembling, washing and cleaning.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional ice planers are generally manually moved for ice blocks placed in an ice planer to be planed to become comparatively small bits of ice for use, and ice blocks have to be selected for suiting the size of an ice holder for putting them in the ice planer.
Then a large ice block is pressed by a pressing member with sharp teeth on the bottom tightly pressing it, with the bottom of the ice block contacting an upper surface of the container. Then a swinging rod is rotated to force the pressing member rotate so that the ice block on the container may also rotate and be planed by the plane on the upper surface of the container to become small bits of ice and fall down in a container below the ice container. Then the small bits of ice received in the container can be used.
However, the conventional ice planer requires not a little time and labor, and moreover, an ice block may not be planed totally, leaving a small dimension impossible to be planed and to be discarded, making up some waste, and in addition, it needs rather a large block of ice instead of small blocks.


An electronic price label (EPL) system which is capable of displaying price information in terms of a plurality of different currencies. The system includes an EPL and a computer. The EPL includes a display, and a control circuit which causes the display to display price information based upon a plurality of different currencies. The computer sends messages to the EPL instructing the EPL to display predetermined price information based upon a predetermined currency.

The present invention relates to electronic price label systems, and more specifically to an electronic price label system which displays prices in multiple currencies.
Electronic price label (EPL) systems typically include a plurality of EPLs for each merchandise item in a transaction establishment. EPLs typically display the price of corresponding merchandise items on transaction establishment shelves and are typically attached to a rail along the leading edge of the shelves. A transaction establishment may contain thousands of EPLs to display the prices of the merchandise items. The EPLs are coupled to a central server from where information about the EPLs is typically maintained in an EPL data file. Price information displayed by the EPLs is obtained from the PLU file.
In some transaction establishments it would be desirable to display prices in multiple currencies, particularly in countries in which multiple currencies are in use. Multiple prices may easily be displayed using conventional paper shelf tags. Given the many advantages of EPLs over conventional paper shelf tags, it would also be desirable to provide an electronic price label system which displays prices in multiple currencies.

Electronic price label system which displays prices in multiple currencies


A method and unit for applying labels to products fed by a conveyor along a conveying path; a number of pickup heads are fed along a feed path to withdraw the labels successively from a feeder and apply the labels successively to respective products on the conveyor; and, in the event of stoppage or malfunctioning, the pickup heads are fed along a reject path, adjacent to the feed path, to transfer at least some of the labels on the pickup heads to a collecting device.

Known methods of applying revenue labels to packets of cigarettes comprise feeding the packets of cigarettes along a conveying path and through a labelling station; withdrawing a revenue label from a store by means of a pickup head; feeding the pickup head along a feed path through the labelling station; and applying the revenue label to a respective packet of cigarettes at the labelling station. Along the feed path and between the store and the labelling station, there are normally provided a cutting station, where each revenue label is cut to form a tear line, and a gumming station, where an inner surface of each label is coated with glue.
One example of a unit of the above type for applying revenue labels to packets of cigarettes is described in Patent Application EP 1502861 A1.
In known units of the above type for applying revenue labels to packets of cigarettes, when the unit is stopped on account of stoppage of the packing machine of which the unit forms part, the revenue labels on the pickup heads, i.e. the revenue labels withdrawn from the store but not yet applied to the packets of cigarettes, must be rejected. In particular, it is essential that the gummed revenue labels not yet applied to the packets be rejected, on account of the glue inevitably drying while the machine is idle, and so making the revenue labels unusable. It is also advisable to reject the revenue labels withdrawn from the store and not yet gummed, on account of the unit being easier to restart from a standard completely empty condition. In this connection, it should be pointed out that, though the revenue labels withdrawn from the store and not yet cut or gummed may theoretically be fed back into the store, this must be done manually, is a long, complex job, and is therefore economically unfeasible for the sake of salvaging one or two revenue labels.
In known units of the above type for applying revenue labels to packets of cigarettes, whenever the unit is stopped on account of stoppage of the packing machine of which the unit forms part, the revenue labels withdrawn from the store and not yet applied to the packets of cigarettes must be rejected manually by the operator opening the casings on the packing machine and manually removing the revenue labels from the pickup heads. Moreover, given their revenue value, the reject revenue labels cannot be disposed of, but must be applied to a cancellation ledger. Manually rejecting the revenue labels withdrawn from the store and not yet applied to the packets of cigarettes is therefore a relatively time-consuming job which, given the revenue value of the labels, must be performed by a trained, trusted operator.

Method and unit for applying labels to products and collecting reject labels


Systems and methods for treating a retinal disease in a human include locating and defining one or more zones of vision within the human's visual system and defining a treatment area which is located within at least one of the zones. The method of this embodiment may also include treating the human's retinal disease by presenting visual stimuli to the treatment area at a specified location and with a specified definition and recording changes in specified characteristics of the human's visual system. The method of this embodiment may also include reiterating the previous steps so as to improve the human's overall visual system.

The present invention relates to the treatment of retinal diseases, and in particular, to the treatment of retinal diseases using vision restoration therapy (VRT).
Damage to the visual system, as used herein, is defined as impairment of any structure (or of all structures) involved in the processing of vision. These structures include, but are not restricted to, the nervous system tissue from the level of the retina, including the retina up to the optic nerve and all brain structures involved in process of vision. Such damage leads to visual deficits or even a loss of visual functions, which may lead to partial or more or less complete blindness. This damage may come from many sources and may include damage to the retina. Damage to the retina may be caused by various diseases including, but not limited to, retinal diseases such as glaucoma, age related macula degeneration, or retinitis pigmentosa. The retina may also be damaged by retinal detachment or laser damage. In addition, the retina may become or originate damaged based on inflammation, inherited genetic defects, metabolic issues or other causes. Damage to the retina shall be referred to herein as "retinopathies."
Retinopathies in general have not been deemed amenable to reversal using the inherent plasticity of the central nervous system (CNS), and only surgical or pharmacological interventions have been considered. That is, damage to the retina, either by disease or other means, typically requires surgery for the patient to have any restoration of vision that may have been lost.

System and methods for the treatment of retinal diseases


An optical communication system includes a transceiver with a light source, a transition lens and an optical medium. Each of the light source, the transition lens and the optical medium define a corresponding axis. The light source defines a normal launch axis. The transition lens defines an optical axis. The optical medium defines a longitudinal axis. A relative misalignment from a coaxial alignment of the corresponding axes of at least one the light source, the transition lens and the optical medium is used to reduce a back reflection incident at the light source. Such misalignments can be achieved by one or both of angular adjustments and offsets of the axes.

A conventional optical communication link includes at least one optical transmitter at a first end of the link, such as a laser, one optical receiver at a second end of the link, such as a photodiode, and at least one optical waveguide interconnecting the transmitter and receiver. Such optical communication links are in wide use in today's data centers and supercomputers.
The desire for increased data throughput in data centers and supercomputers leads to the desire to further increase data rates in optical communication links. As the data rate is increased in links supported by today's optical fibers the link power budget tightens. Thus, in order to achieve reliable data signal transfers at faster data rates, one or both of source signal power must increase and signal attenuation in the optical communication link must decrease.
However, conventional low cost optical coupler designs and source devices render it problematic to increase optical signal power and to decrease attenuation in the optical path. For example, a conventional arrangement of a source, a transition lens and an optical fiber end are illustrated in FIG. 1. To maximize coupling tolerance the source 10, transition lens 20 and optical medium 30 are arranged along a shared axis 7. The transition lens 20 is arranged with a convex surface that faces the source 10 and a convex surface that faces an end face 31 of the optical medium 30. The transition lens 20 is separated from both the source 10 and the end face 31 of the optical medium by respective air gaps. These gaps create interfaces at which there is a mismatch between indexes of refraction. Consequently, such interfaces refract or redirect an incident optical signal.
As illustrated schematically in FIG. 1, the optical signal, as represented by ray 12, is emitted from the source 10 in the direction of the transition lens 20. The ray 12 is emitted at a launch angle α with respect to the common axis 7. Due to the difference in the index of refraction of air and the material used to produce the transition lens 20, when the ray 12 reaches the left-facing convex surface of the transition lens 20, the ray 12 is refracted (i.e., redirected). The redirected optical signal, represented by ray 14, is further redirected when it reaches the air gap between the right-facing convex surface of transition lens 20 and the end face 31 of the optical medium 30. A portion of the twice redirected optical signal, represented by ray 16, incident at the end face 31 enters the optical medium 30, which conveys the optical signal to an opposed end of the optical medium (not shown).
As further shown schematically in FIG. 1, a remaining portion of the twice redirected optical signal incident at the end face 31, represented by ray 32, is reflected toward transition lens 20. The reflected optical signal is redirected by the right-facing convex surface of transition lens, as represented by ray 34, and redirected again, as shown by ray 36, when ray 34 encounters the interface between the left-facing surface of transition lens 20 and air. As described in further detail below, this reflected optical signal (i.e., ray 36) can be returned to the source 10. The ray 36 is received or incident at the emitter of the source 10 at an angle of incidence β with respect to the common axis 7. As indicated in FIG. 1, the launch angle α of the emitted optical signal approximates the angle of incidence β of the reflected portion of the optical signal. As also indicated in FIG. 1 transition lens 20 is implemented with a material that exhibits a one-way signal attenuation of about 5 dB to limit the amount of reflected optical signal power that is returned to source 10.
A multi-mode optical fiber is an often preferred optical waveguide for communication links in the range of about 1 to 300 meters. Today's electronics can effectively support desired data rates in excess of about 14 Gbps using vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) as the light source. VCSELs are often preferred by end-users because of their high coupling efficiency with optical fibers absent a beam shaping correction as is required by other light sources.
The communication standards for such communication links call for optical fibers with flat and polished end surfaces. In use, these optical fibers reflect about 4% of the incident light energy back toward the VCSEL. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the reflected optical signal can be coupled back into the VCSEL. Over relatively short separation distances between the VCSEL and the fiber end, the reflected signal is still coherent with the emitted optical signal. It is well known that such coherent feedback can lead to destabilization of the emitted optical signal. Destabilization of the optical signal can lead to an increase in data errors. In many conventional communication links, the VCSEL produces more light energy than the link requires. To ensure stable operation of the VCSEL optical attenuation is introduced via filters or absorptive lens materials. As the reflected optical signal is attenuated twice (i.e., once on the way to the fiber end and once after the reflection), the total power reflected back to the VCSEL is usually very small. For example, for a lens with 5 dB of attenuation over a single pass the reflected power that makes it back to the VCSEL is no more than 0.4% of the emitted optical signal power.
Based on the above, an increase in optical signal power can increase the susceptibility of the VCSEL to undesirable feedback from the reflected optical signal. In addition, a reduction in attenuation in the optical path would also increase the likelihood of coupling undesirable feedback into the VCSEL.

Optical communication systems and methods for minimizing reflective feedback

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A method for resolving domain names, where a name server is configured to receive a query for a domain name system (DNS) record from a stub resolver, where a public key or certificate held by the stub resolver matches a private key of the name server. The name server runs the query for a DNS record by executing code in a trusted execution environment. Instead of recursively resolving the query for a DNS record as is common practice, the name server reads the DNS record corresponding to the query from a ledger. At last the name server prepares an authenticated response to the stub resolver by authenticating the response comprising the read DNS record with its private key, wherein the private/public key pair or alternatively private key and matching certificate are protected and distributed with the at least another name server via the common ledger.

The present domain name system (DNS) is a hierarchical system comprised of a set of root servers (with fixed Internet Protocol (IP) addresses), top level domains servers (TLDs) and name servers. Most prominently, it translates more readily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for locating and identifying computer services and devices with the underlying network protocols. This process of translation is called resolution of domain names. By providing a worldwide, distributed directory service, the DNS is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet. A typical resolution process starts with a stub resolver (SR), typically residing on a desktop used for browsing the internet, asking a recursive resolver (RR), which is typically a service provided by an internet service provider (ISP) for a specific DNS record. The RR traverses the DNS tree, starting from a root server, follows the references down in the relevant TLDs and name servers until it encounters the authoritative name server for the requested domain, which provides the actual answer to the DNS queries such as—mail server IP address or web site IP address. The RR sends this record back to the SR enabling the browser of the user's desktop to connect with the provided server address and display the sought after content in the browser of the user's desktop. Moreover, the RR also stores all DNS records it encountered in its cache, which can be used for future resolution requests as long as the time to live (TTL) of the records has not passed.
A fundamental problem with the DNS is the integrity of the results.
DNS servers are often a target for attacks, since this enables directing website traffic to malicious servers, which is used for account/credential collection.
Governments may control traffic to websites by instructing all ISPs to redirect specific DNS lookups, as was done in 2014 to Twitter.com traffic in Turkey.
A centralized DNS service might experience service downtime, especially under massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, as was the case in the attack on Dyn.com, which resulted in users unable to access NETFLIX, AIRBNB, and other sites for more than 2 hours.
One scheme has been devised to address above problems.
DNSSEC, which stands for DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), is a suite of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications for securing certain kinds of information provided by the DNS as used on IP networks and was devised to answer the integrity issue. With DNSSEC, DNS records are signed by keys whose trust can be traced back to the DNS root servers, thus establishing a chain of trust. For DNSSEC-signed zones, supporting RRs can perform this validation as part of resolution process, thus insuring the integrity of the result.
However, there are two problems with this approach. Firstly, only a fraction of DNS zones are DNSSEC signed, so this technique does not provide enough coverage. Secondly, the SR (the client) is provided with only the answer—the required DNS record and a flag stating, whether the result has been DNSSEC-verified. But it does not receive any evidence to the fact that the validation has indeed happened, or that this answer is authentic, meaning that it was provided by the RR and not by some man in the middle. Therefore, DNSSEC can detect fabricated records, but cannot guarantee a successful resolution.
The authenticity problem has two existing solutions—DNSCrypt and DNS over Transport Layer Security (TLS).
In DNSCrypt the RR signs the answers with a private key so that any calling SR can verify the authenticity of the result. In DNSCrypt an SR has to have the public DNSCrypt key of that specific RR it wants to query. If multiple resolvers should be used—multiple keys should be held, which not only lowers security (that is, by trusting too many may cause to trust no one), but also complicates the administration of key distribution (for new devices or upon periodic key rollover). Sticking to a single key, or even just a few, usually conflicts with the need to use the nearest DNS service available to reduce latency, or just to transparently use whatever DNS service the current network being connected to is pointing my device at (ISPs, WI-FI networks, virtual private networks (VPNs), etc.). Therefore, DNSCrypt ensures authenticity but not integrity, since the RR can be hacked, or its DNSCrypt key can be stolen.
DNS over TLS has similar advantages and disadvantages. Here a certificate is distributed to clients, matching a single RR. If multiple RRs are to be trusted—multiple certificates should be distributed to and held by the clients, and oftentimes a complete collection of certificates authorities is trusted to minimize the management overhead while increasing the security risk.
DNS on blockchain, such as Ethereum NameService, Namecoin or Blockstack answers the centralization problem of the DNS service in order to avoid censorship exhibiting the following advantages.
Decentralized DNS can prevent censorship.
Poisoning a single DNS server can be detected via the blockchain.
Distributed ledger makes the DNS service highly available even under massive DDoS attacks.
Poisoning the DNS records is harder, because the data is replicated across the blockchain. Moreover, since the data is distributed downtime risk due to e.g DDoS attacks is mitigated. In current solutions, the miner provides proof to its peers either via proof-of-work, which adds latency to DNS modification transactions, or via the mere fact that all miners are owned by a single organization. In this case the miner population is relatively small and the advantages of decentralization are lost. In addition, miners offer reliable answers for domains they are authoritative for, however any other domains may be resolved by them but without guarantee.
However, all above techniques suffer from the following drawbacks.
Not all RRs can be trusted.
Protection and distribution of security keys to ensure authenticity of RRs is cumbersome.

Device and method for resolving domain names


There are provided novel miscible blend compositions comprising (a) a cellulose ester and (b) a vinylphenol containing polymer. The blends do not exhibit large scale phase separation and provide properties which are essentially intermediate between those of either cellulose ester or vinylphenol containing polymers. The blends are useful for both molded and film applications as well as for coatings.

Cellulose, a polyhydroxy compound, forms esters with organic acids, anhydrides, and acid chlorides. Cellulose esters of almost any organic acid can be prepared.
Although the different types of cellulose esters are useful in many applications, cellulose esters are generally restricted in their usefulness by their moisture sensitivity, limited compatibility with other synthetic resins, and relatively high processing temperatures. Cellulose esters of higher aliphatic acids (for example, propionates and butyrates) circumvent these shortcomings with varying degrees of success.
Discovering methods to assist in making the cellulose esters more versatile for a wider variety of uses is desirable. Blending the cellulose esters with other classes of polymers is an option. In the majority of polymeric blends, however, the components tend to phase separate to form heterogeneous, immiscible blends. Only in a limited number of cases do polymers blend to form one-phase, miscible blends. Few miscible blends of cellulose esters with other polymers are known.
Blended polymers are not useful for many applications unless the blend is miscible. This is because immiscible blends have low physical attractive forces across the phase boundaries and suffer from delamination at the phase boundaries. Immiscible blends tend to be turbid which excludes them from many applications. Miscible polymer blends, on the other hand, are desirable because of their optical clarity and strength since they are not phase separated and thus stratification of the polymeric components during or after processing is generally avoided. Consequently, miscible blends are useful in many applications. The miscibility of polymer blends can be identified by many different techniques. For example, the properties of optical transparency (in the absence of crystallinity) and a single glass transition temperature are indicative of miscible blends. Additionally, nuclear magnetic resonance, transmission electron microscopy, and excimer fluorescence are methods by which blends may be examined for miscibility (as discussed in Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Engineering, Ed. J. I. Kroschwitz, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990, pp.629-632). As used herein, a miscible blend is defined as a blend of two or more polymers that behaves as a single, homogeneous (solid or liquid) material, exhibiting a single glass transition temperature (hereinafter "T.sub.g ").
It would be highly desirable to find a polymeric component that forms a miscible blend with cellulose ester polymers, thus broadening the range of usage of cellulose esters.

Miscible blends of cellulose esters and vinylphenol containing polymers


The optical element in the form of a beam splitter which is used preferably in interplay with optical measurement systems for determining the characteristics on machine tools, or for other measurement purposes. A combination of five-edged prisms which are cemented or glued to one another is provided. The cement surface borders the partial mirroring (50%). The beam splitter is combined with at least one optoelectronic detector. With the latter the point of incidence of the light beam can be determined. A measurement system is formed of a plurality of units, each of which has a machine-mountable housing that encloses such an optical element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical element in the form of a beam splitter which is used preferably in interplay with optical measurement systems for determining the characteristics of machine tools, or for other measurement purposes.
2. Description of Related Art
Optical elements of this type are known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,938 to which reference is made to avoid excess description.

Beam splitter for optical measurement systems for determining the characteristics of machine tools