A retrograde resection apparatus may include a cutting blade including a slot defined in the cutting blade, a recess defined in at least a portion of the slot, a screw, including a proximal end and a distal end defining a bore therethrough, a shaft having a distal end and a proximal end, wherein the shaft passes through the bore and the distal end is configured to be received in the recess, and a biasing device configured to bias the shaft against the cutting blade. In addition, the apparatus may include a tether, a first portion of which is affixed to the cutting blade and a second portion of which passes through the bore.

Articular joints may become damaged as the result of trauma, disease, wear, etc. Advancing damage to an articular joint may result in pain, loss of mobility of the afflicted joint, etc. Various techniques and systems may be used for repairing damaged articular joints in the human body. One common approach for repairing a defective joint is to replace the damaged region with a repair component. Generally a repair component may include a prosthetic device or a biological component.
A critical aspect of a repair procedure is the resection of at least a portion of the damaged articular cartilage and the underlying bone. Often the damaged articular cartilage is resected by opening the joint and directly drilling, cutting, or grinding away the damaged material. Such an approach typically requires at least partial separation of the joint. Separation of the joint necessary for resecting the damaged articular cartilage may result in attendant damage to ligaments and other connective tissues. Damage to the connective tissues of the joint may increase the recovery time, and perhaps limit the ultimate recovery.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Retrograde resection apparatus and method


A pair of multifocal contact lenses for a patient comprises a first corneal contact lens having a concave posterior surface and a convex anterior surface. The anterior surface is formed with a power curve having exactly two vision correction zones, namely, a circular distance vision correction zone and an annular intermediate vision correction zone contiguous with the distance vision correction zone. The intermediate vision correction zone of the first lens is concentric or coaxial with the distance vision correction zone. A second corneal contact lens of the pair also has a concave posterior surface and a convex anterior surface. The anterior surface of the second lens is formed with a power curve having exactly two vision correction zones: a circular near vision correction zone and an annular intermediate vision correction zone contiguous with the near vision correction zone. The intermediate vision correction zone of the second lens is concentric or coaxial with the near vision correction zone. The intermediate vision correction zone of the first lens and the distance vision correction zone have optical powers differing in magnitude by less than approximately 1.5 diopters. Similarly, the intermediate vision correction zone of the second lens and the near vision correction zone have optical powers differing in magnitude by less than approximately 1.5 diopters.

This invention relates to a multifocal contact lens. More particularly, this invention relates to paired multifocal contact lenses.
Bifocal contact lenses are designed to correct or compensate for a condition of advancing age known as "presbyopia." In a presbyopic eye, the ability to focus at near distances, such as the normal reading distance, and in some cases at intermediate distances, is diminished. The loss of focusing capability is due to hardening of the eye's natural crystalline lens material.
Generally, multifocal contact lenses (usually either bifocal, trifocal or aspheric) are concentric or segmented in configuration. In a conventional bifocal contact lens of the concentric type, a first, centrally located, circular correction zone constitutes either distant or near vision correction, while a second annular correction zone surrounding the first zone provides the corresponding near or distance vision correction, respectively. In a conventional bifocal contact lens of the segmented or translating type, the lens is divided into two somewhat D-shaped zones. Usually the upper area is for distance vision correction, whereas the lower area is for near vision correction. Such conventional segmented contact lenses require some sort of movement of the lens relative to the eye to achieve acceptable visual acuity for both distant and near vision.
It has been discovered that as a presbyopic patient ages, there is generally little change in the prescription for the patient's distance vision (in healthy eyes). However, the near vision prescription requires continual correction. At some point in monovision corrective lenses, when the near vision prescription strength is increased beyond a certain level, it appears that the distance vision of the patient suffers.


A rotisserie arrangement comprises a spit rod, a diverter pan and a ring assembly. The spit rod includes a single projecting pin at one end thereof and a pair of projecting pins at the other thereof. The diverter pan includes a bottom wall with upwardly extending side and end walls, and each end wall includes a hook portion. The ring assembly includes an annular groove and an end plate with a pair of spaced apart openings in the plate to receive the pair of pins on that end of the spit rod. The hook portions of the diverter pan hook over the single pin of the spit rod and the annular groove of the ring assembly. When the spit rod is secured to the spit wheels of a rotisserie, the diverter pan remains bottom wall down during rotisserie rotation.

The present invention relates to a diverter pan for placement under a spit rod in a rotisserie for the purpose of collecting and diverting the drippings from food product on the rod and thereby prevent intermingling of the drippings from one rod to the adjacent rods of the rotisserie.
Many commercially available rotisseries include a pair of spaced apart spit wheels that rotate in a heated environment for the purpose of cooking food products. Individual spit rods holding meat, poultry and the like are fitted to and between the peripheral regions of the spit wheels. In some instances the spit wheels include openings in the peripheral regions thereof that receive outwardly projecting pins at opposite ends of the spit rods. One particular rod includes a single axially oriented projecting pin at one end thereof and a pair of similar axially oriented projecting pins at the other end thereof. The single pin may include a bullet shaped end an annular undercut or groove that mates with the spit wheel when the rod is positioned between the wheels.
After the spit rods are loaded with meat, poultry and the like, the single pin at one end thereof with the bullet shaped end is pushed into and through a receiving opening on one of the spit wheels of the rotisserie. Initial insertion is such that the annular groove in that pin moves past the spit wheel. Next, the pair of spaced apart pins at the opposite end of the spit rod are fitted into receiving openings in the other spit wheel. The pair of pins is inserted until the annular groove on the single pin registers with the spit wheel to which it is attached. This three point connection of the spit rod to the spit wheels of the rotisserie prevents any relative movement between the rod and wheels as the wheels rotate during the cooking process. Also, registration of one of the spit wheels with the annular groove of the single pin prevents lateral movement of the rod relative to the wheels.
It has now been proposed to simultaneously cook food products with different seasonings and the like in a commercial rotisserie, but in order to do so it is important to insure that the drippings from the food on one spit rod do not fall onto and intermingle with the differently flavored food on the adjacent spit rods of the rotisserie.

Metal Masters Foodservice Equipment Co., Inc.


Disclosed is a float, notably for an offshore wind turbine including at least four columns, including a central column and three exterior columns that are connected to the central column by branches forming pontoons. The columns have a fixing-collar forming unit for fixing the columns to corresponding assembly portions of the branch forming pontoon, and the float includes a unit for centering the columns in the assembled position on the corresponding assembly portions of the branch forming pontoon.

The present invention relates to a float, in particular, of an offshore wind turbine.
Such floats are already known from the prior art, such as, for example, from WO 2014/031009 A1.
This document describes a float having at least four columns, for example of steel, including a central column, and three outer columns connected to the central column by branches forming pontoons, for example in concrete.
In this document, the outer columns are connected to the central column in a star configuration.
The outer columns and the branches forming pontoons of this float comprise ballasts for adjusting the buoyancy of the float.
For the construction of this type of float 1, the branches forming pontoons 8 and the columns 3, 12 are manufactured separately in a first step and then assembled on top of one another in a second step.
This float construction step then consists in assembling the columns 3, 12 with branches forming pontoons 8 on corresponding assembly portions of these branches 8.
But this type of float presents problems of assembly of the columns on the branches forming pontoons.
In particular, there is the problem of assembling columns quickly and securely on the corresponding branches.
For example, this assembly is carried out using machines such as handling cranes, which may not have all the required precision.
In addition, adverse weather conditions may also disrupt this assembly.

Float, notably for an offshore wind turbine


A Hall effect sensor and capacitor assembly includes leadless chip type capacitors employed as EMI shielding/ESD protection and bypass capacitors. In a first embodiment, a molded carrier structure provides a housing for mounting a Hall cell element as well as one or more EMI shielding or bypass capacitors. The carrier housing facilitates interconnection of the Hall cell and the chip capacitor. Additionally, this structure simplifies the manufacturing process for connection of the smaller leadless chip capacitor components. In an alternate embodiment, an insulated, molded encapsulation is applied and surrounds the chip capacitors and the connections to the Hall effect sensor leads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to the field of electronic component subassemblies. More specifically, the present invention is directed to improved structures and methods for forming Hall effect sensor elements with integral EMI shielding capacitors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic sensors are widely used in a variety of applications. The demand and use for these sensors is currently growing at a rapid rate. However, as with most electronic devices, there is an ever increasing demand for simplified manufacturing processes as well as decreasing the physical size of the device packages. Currently, typical Hall effect sensor elements overcome problems associated with electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electro static discharge (ESD) through the use of bypass capacitors appropriately connected to the Hall effect sensor elements. In these known designs, capacitors are connected by some method of soldering, welding, etc. to form an operational electronic subassembly to be used in the manufacture of automotive or other sensors.
During these known manufacturing processes, it is necessary that a device or person accurately grasps and positions each of the components during the connection process. Typically, epoxy clad radial lead capacitors are chosen for their desired packaging. However, the relatively large size of these components and their often irregular body shape make them less than optimal for achieving the goals of improving the manufacturing process and minimizing the overall size of the sensor package. Furthermore, in terms of performance, EMI suppression and ESD protection are enhanced by locating the capacitors physically closer to the Hall element than is typically possible with this type of capacitor package.
Due to the limitations imposed by the large capacitor bodies, the ability to achieve the desired results is limited in these prior systems. Although much smaller capacitor packages are currently available, their size is disproportionate to the equipment in the sensor assembly process and the fragile structure requires protection from damage by subsequent processing of the overall package. Thus, existing packaging solutions have limitation in their current requirement to use their relatively sized epoxy clad radial lead capacitors.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art to improve manufacturing processes of Hall effect sensor assemblies through decreasing the physical size of the overall assembly. Additionally, there remains a need in the art to improve the manufacturing process associated with Hall effect assemblies. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following summary and detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
In accordance with the present invention, in order to decrease the overall package size of the Hall effect sensor element and improve the manufacturing process, leadless chip type capacitors are employed as EMI shielding/ESD protection and bypass capacitors. The problems identified above that were associated with the use of these smaller components are overcome by the use of a carrier package in one embodiment of the present invention. In an alternate embodiment, an insulated, molded encapsulation is applied and surrounds the chip capacitors and the connections to the Hall effect sensor.
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a molded carrier structure provides a housing for mounting a Hall cell element as well as one or more EMI shielding/ESD protection or bypass capacitors. The carrier housing facilitates interconnection of the Hall cell and the chip capacitor. Additionally, this structure simplifies the manufacturing process for connection of the smaller leadless chip capacitor components.
In one exemplary embodiment, the Hall cell is cradled in extended arms of the carrier housing. Leads from the Hall cell are received within cavities of the carrier and one or more chip capacitors are received in a further cavity formed within the carrier housing. The carrier housing is comprised of a molded insulative body, preferably formed from heat resistant plastic. Although it is not necessary, it is preferred that a plurality of individual cavities be formed in order to facilitate the easy placement of each of the individual chip capacitor components as well as protection for the overall assembly. The Hall cell and leads and one or more leadless chip capacitors are placed in their appropriate cavities of the carrier housing during the manufacturing process. Subsequently, the necessary solder connections are formed to provide electrical contact between the Hall cell and EMI shielding/ESD protection bypass capacitors.
In one alternate embodiment of the invention, the chip carrier housing includes a spring pressure element which applies pressure between the leads of the Hall cell and the leadless chip carrier elements. This ensures better electrical contact between the respective elements. After the leadless chip capacitors have been soldered to the appropriate leads of the Hall cell, epoxy or other insulative material is applied to fill in the remaining spaces of the cavities thereby providing a more durable physical package.
In an alternate embodiment, the Hall cell has leads which protrude from its body on which one or more EMI shielding/ESD protection bypass capacitors are mounted. These bypass capacitors are desirably leadless chip type capacitors. Once the leadless chip type capacitors have been soldered to their respective leads from the Hall cell, an epoxy or other insulative encapsulation is applied, preferably within a mold to surround the chip capacitors and leads. The use of chip capacitors in either embodiment provides an overall smaller package for the Hall effect sensor.

Hall effect sensor assembly with cavities for integrated capacitors


A photographic image is divided into a central area and a surrounding area, and video signals for the central and surrounding areas are integrated by an area integrator circuit. When an operator of video camera attached to a notebook personal computer is to photograph himself/herself with an imager of the video camera pointing toward the operator, a control microcomputer causes the integration result for the former to be multiplied by a larger weighting before both are summed. The control microcomputer generates exposure information according to the result, and compares the exposure level indicated by this information with the reference level to control an electronic shutter of an imaging device and the gain of an amplifier circuit so that the exposure level matches the reference level. Thus, the exposure of the video camera can be adjusted to an appropriate level. If the imager points towards an object on the opposite side of the operator, exposure control is performed as usual.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the exposure of an electronic camera mounted on electronic equipment such as portable information terminal devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some electronic devices called portable information terminal devices, such as notebook personal computers and PDAs (personal digital assistants), are equipped with a video camera for capturing images of an operator of the electronic device or images of other objects and for displaying the images on a display screen of the electronic device. In such electronic devices, typically, an imager of the video camera is attached to an upper portion of a display so that the camera can be rotated in a plane orthogonal to the screen. The imager may be rotated as desired in order to photograph the operator of the electronic device or an object located on the opposite side of the electronic device. The electronic devices further include an exposure controller for the video camera for detecting the brightness of a captured image to automatically control the video camera to an appropriate exposure level.
Generally, outdoor photography often produces a backlighting problem because the sky is included in an upper portion of a photographic image, while indoor photography often produces an excessive front lighting problem because a ceiling light is included in an upper portion of a photographic image. A typical approach to photograph an object in a manner as real as possible during such conditions is to divide a single photographic image into an upper area and a lower area for exposure control so that the brightness detected in the lower area is more strongly reflected.
If the operator of the electronic device captures an image of himself/herself indoors with the imager of the video camera pointing towards the operator, however, a window or a light may often be behind the operator at an upper portion or a side portion in the image, thus causing a backlighting or excessive front lighting problem. In this case, the above-noted approach to detect the brightness in the upper and lower areas into which a photographic image is divided does not provide accurate exposure control, resulting in dim photography of the operator to produce an obscure image.

Exposure controller for camera attached to electronic equipment


A method is provided for determining the humidity and temperature of atmospheric air at selected distances along a field of view by passive IR spectrometry. An IR spectrometer is provided. A plurality of IR power densities values received by the spectrometer along the field of view at a plurality of discrete, selected IR wavelengths are measured. A set of equations which equate the measured IR power density to functions of temperature and humidity at the selected wavelengths is provided. From the set of equations the temperature and humidity of the atmospheric air along the field of view at selected range segments along the field of view are calculated.

The art has long sought to determine atmospheric disturbances which might adversely affect persons and property in or along the path of that disturbance. For example, the U. S. Forest Service has attempted to determine disturbances in the atmosphere which indicate the presence of a forest fire at some distant location. The U. S. Weather Service has attempted to detect the presence and movement of discontinuities in the atmosphere which indicate the presence or the likelihood of some hazardous condition, such as heavy rainfalls, hurricanes, tornadoes and the like. The U. S. Federal Aeronautics Administration has attempted to detect the presence or likelihood of discontinuities in the atmosphere in and around airports, which discontinuities indicate the presence or likelihood of weather conditions hazardous to aircraft landing or taking off from an airport, such as squall lines, wind shears and the like.
A number of different approaches for detection of such disturbances has been proposed in the art, but each of the approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, satellite pictures are useful in determining such hazards, but those pictures show only developed hazards and cannot show the likelihood of those hazards developing, especially in connection with transitory or very localized disturbances, such as tornadoes. Ground-observed or balloon-observed disturbances are detected, but in order to accurately detect and map the progress of such disturbances, a great number of such observations are required, and in many locations, such number of observations is simply not practical.
These difficulties in detecting such disturbances are particularly disadvantageous where the disturbances present imminent danger to property or persons, such as persons aboard an aircraft taking off or landing at airports. In this regard, the art has sought to detect the presence or imminent formation of such disturbances by a variety of methods, operated either from ground installations or from aircraft. Radar is a very common technique for such detection, but radar is able to detect, primarily, only developed hazards and then only when the developed hazards have sufficient reflectivity to make radar detection accurate. In addition, such radar installations are quite expensive, both for initial installation and for operation and maintenance, which makes such installations unsuitable for lower volume airports, in view of the cost thereof.
For a number of years, the art has sought to provide passive infrared radiation detection of such disturbances. Infrared radiation detection equipment is far less expensive than radar, for example, in terms of initial installation, maintenance and operation, but prior art infrared detection systems have suffered from considerable disadvantages. For example, an existing or developing wind shear near an airport can be detected by passive infrared spectrometry due to the difference in temperature between the ambient atmospheric air and the cooler air forming or about to form a wind shear. However, in order to make such detection accurate, it is necessary to very accurately measure the temperature of air at various azimuths, elevations and distances from the observation point. Particularly, for wind shear, that accuracy must be, preferably, within several degrees centigrade, and at least within about 8.degree. to 10.degree. C., or otherwise developing or present wind shears will not be detected or substantial numbers of false detections will occur.
One of the earliest passive infrared detection devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,586, issued on Sep. 10, 1963. This patent points out that prior methods for determining the distance or range of an object, e.g. an aircraft, by use of radar or radio-direction finding equipment but such techniques are susceptible to a variety of jamming techniques, as might be practiced, for example, by an enemy aircraft. The patent proposes that such an object, e.g. an aircraft, be detected and ranged by use of infrared radiation, emanating from that object, e.g. an aircraft, itself. The patent points out that such ranging method depends upon a determination of the concentration and distribution of infrared adsorbing gases in the air, but that the major constituents of air, i.e. oxygen and nitrogen, do not have absorption bands in the infrared. Therefore, the patent points out that the two other major gases in atmospheric air, i.e. carbon dioxide and water vapor, can be used for such ranging method. The method is applicable where the object of interest, or target, emits heat, and, hence infrared energy. The distance or ranging of that object can be theoretically determined from the fraction of infrared energy adsorbed by carbon dioxide or water vapor in the path of observation to the aircraft.
It is quite obvious, however, that in order for such a system to be accurate, the concentration and distribution of the carbon dioxide and water vapor in the path of observation must be known. Fortunately, as pointed out in that patent, the concentration and distribution of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is relatively constant up through about 100,000 feet. However, the concentration and distribution of water vapor in the atmosphere is quite variable. Therefore, unless one knows the concentration and distribution of water vapor in the path of observation, accurate ranging cannot be accomplished by infrared absorption of water vapor. For this reason, the art has concentrated on such ranging techniques by infrared absorption of carbon dioxide, since the concentration thereof is relatively constant. This approach, nevertheless, has the inherent accuracy of the absorption of infrared energy in the path of observation caused by water vapor therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,228, issued on Jan. 7, 1964, discloses that the accuracy of such ranging method, based on carbon dioxide absorption, may be improved. That improved accuracy is based on the discovery that there are spectral bands in which carbon dioxide preferentially absorbs infrared radiation, as opposed to other spectral bands. Thus, that patent proposes determining the distance of a hot object by detecting the infrared radiation from that hot object, e.g. an aircraft, by utilizing the property of selective atmospheric infrared attenuation.
With the realization that microbursts or wind shears are causes of past tragic aircraft crashes, particularly when landing or taking off from an airport, considerable effort was expended in the art to adapt the ranging techniques, discussed above, to the detection of microbursts or wind shears ahead of an aircraft or near an airport. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,912, issued on Aug. 3, 1982, discloses that air disturbances created by low level wind shear can be detected by air temperature gradients existing at different distances from the observer, e.g. an aircraft or airport. That patent points out that when using filters having different infrared frequency band passes, the effective sensed distance is different for each filter. Hence, the device is thus able to sequentially sense temperatures at different distances and, more particularly, sense temperature variations at different distances. Such different sensed temperatures can, therefore, be used to detect microbursts and wind shear. However, like the prior art, this method is also based on absorption by carbon dioxide and suffers from the disadvantage of the errors introduced by the infrared absorption of water vapor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,447, issued on Jun. 26, 1990, improves upon the method of the above-discussed patent in the discovery that two infrared bands of naturally occurring carbon dioxide, i.e. in the 13 to 15 micron region and in the 3 to 5 micron region, provide different sensitivities. In, particularly, the 4.15 to about 4.2 micron band, mainly, regularly spaced carbon dioxide trace lines, free of interfering spectral lines of nitrous oxide, methane, ozone, and water vapor, are found. Accordingly, temperature differences of a column of atmospheric air and ambient air are obtained by sequentially sensing the intensity of at least two spectral peaks in the 4.17 to 4.2 micron region. Changes in the relative intensity of the spectral peaks indicate a change in the temperature of air within the column of atmospheric air and ambient air. This change in temperature is indicative of an air disturbance, such as clear air turbulence or wind shear. A Fabry-Perot device is used for sequentially sensing the preselected wavelengths.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,572 points out that even though such infrared detecting devices, as described above, can measure air temperature gradients associated with wind shear, and the like, based on carbon dioxide absorption, the conclusion of a wind shear on the basis of the determined temperature gradients alone will not provide the degree of accuracy and reliability desired, in terms of minimizing both the number of instances of wind shear that are missed and the number of instances where wind shear is falsely indicated. That patent, therefore, proposed incorporating the data from such infrared detecting methods with other data associated with the aircraft for determining a hazard factor which is indicative of possible wind shear. To improve existing infrared sensing devices, the patent also proposes the use of a multi-spectral infrared spectrometer for controlling the infrared frequency band pass and, thus, the effective sensed distance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,573, issued on Oct. 23, 1990, seeks to further improve the detection of wind shear and the like, by use of a scanning, multi-spectral radiometer which sweeps an approximate 60.degree. path in front of an aircraft. The radiometer employs two rows of detectors that are slightly offset, i.e. about 7.degree. apart in elevation, resulting in two simultaneous measurements of IT attenuation, based on carbon dioxide absorption. That dual information allows the continuous measurement of atmospheric vertical temperature gradients, or lapse rate, for use in determining atmospheric stability and, hence, the probability of microburst occurrence.
While using carbon dioxide absorption as the basis of the method, this patent acknowledges that water vapor, in the atmosphere under observation, may cause errors in the measured absorption/extinction characteristics. To mitigate these errors, the patent uses two filters (and one reference filter) for measurement of a lapse rate when the humidity is low and a different set of two filters (and one reference filter) when the humidity is high. For this selection of sets of filters, the humidity at the aircraft is measured, and this information is used to determine which set of two filters and a reference filter to use. This method, however, assumes that the humidity along the entire line of sight to the wind shear (impending or in progress) is the same as the humidity measured at the aircraft. This assumption may be valid for short distances, e.g. 1 Km, but it is not valid for long distances, e.g. 20 Km. This assumption, also, leads to 10 to 20% error in range calculations (as indicated in the patent) due to uncertainty in the humidity distribution. Such errors are quite unacceptable for any reasonable method for establishing overall weather conditions and usually unacceptable for attempting to accurately locate local weather disturbances. For example, in mapping weather at ranges up to 20 Km, a 20% error will distort the map by 200 meters at 1 Km and 4 Km at 20 Km; this is an unacceptable error.
Thus, all of the prior methods for remote sensing and ranging of atmospheric air temperatures, as discussed above, are necessarily based on the assumption that the water vapor which exists between the point of observation and the weather event under observation is either constant along the entire path of observation or is insignificant. In reality, however, for example, water vapor in a 360.degree. observation and at up to a 20 Km radius for mapping purposes, is neither constant nor insignificant.
In commonly used absorption ranges, such as 10 to 14 microns, the water vapor may effect the absorption extinction as much as or even more than the carbon dioxide itself (depending upon the humidity levels), and, unlike carbon dioxide, water vapor is not evenly distributed in the atmosphere. Not considering the water vapor content can result in very substantial inaccuracies in both range and temperature calculations. For example, a 2 Km localized patch of high humidity in the direct line of sight under observation can lead to erroneous air temperatures, based on IR extinction of carbon dioxide alone, by as much as 35.degree. C. (where a 10.degree. to 20.degree. C. change in temperature gradient is enough to cause very serious weather events). This means that the prior art techniques, discussed above, are correct only in the special cases of no (or very low) humidity, or where the local humidity can be validly assumed to be the humidity along the path of observation. In all other cases, erroneous measurements, impaired detection probability and false alarms will result.
Unfortunately, while the art appreciated the above-discussed significance of water vapor in such determinations, the art could find no practical way of accounting for or calculating the water vapor in the path of observation. Under the circumstances, all of these prior art methods have been found to be too inaccurate for use in weather mapping at significant ranges or for accurately determining weather events.
Further, for any practical weather mapping, temperature, alone, is not sufficient, and a practical weather map must include humidity. Accordingly, these prior art methods are not useful for producing a weather map.
It would, therefore, be of substantial advantage to the art to provide a method with which the accuracy of such infrared measurements of atmospheric conditions is substantially improved and, particularly, where the water vapor content of a path of observation can be determined with distance so as to very substantially improve the accuracy of the determinations and provide weather mapping.

Method of determining the humidity and temperature of atmospheric air


A Wiegand token essentially is comprised of a disk-like token body that has two substantially flat surfaces, one of the flat surface including a groove, for example, a circular groove, therein, and a Wiegand wire is embedded within the groove of the token body. The Wiegand token may have multiple concentric grooves with a Wiegand wire embedded within each groove. In general, the Wiegand token is for use in a device having a read head that responds to a magnetic field change generated from a switch in state of the Wiegand wire as the token passes by the read head. When the token includes plural Wiegand wires therein, the read head responds separately to each magnetic field change generated from a switch in state of each Wiegand wire as the respective Wiegand wire passes by the read head. Moreover, the read head separately responds to magnetic field changes that are generated from a switch in state of two different segments of the Wiegand wire as the respective segment passes by the read head. A method of producing the Wiegand token involves forming a groove within a flat surface of a token body, and embedding a Wiegand wire within the groove of the token body to produce the Wiegand token.

This invention relates to a coin or token having a Wiegand wire therein, and is particularly directed to a coin or token having one or more Wiegand wires therein for use in coin-operated machines, such as gambling machines, which are capable of detecting the insertion of such coins/tokens.
The gambling industry incurs a substantial loss in revenue due to the existence and use of counterfeit tokens and counterfeit coins (often called slugs) in gambling machines. When mass produced, counterfeit coins and tokens are relatively inexpensive to manufacture since they generally only need to have the same dimensions and weight of the authentic coin/token.
While there have been previous attempts to manufacture a token that is difficult to counterfeit, such attempts have fallen short of industry requirements. Such requirements generally call for expected savings that far outweigh the cost of converting existing and new gambling machines to recognize and only accept the proposed "counterfeit proof" token.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a token which is impossible or, at least, exceedingly difficult to counterfeit.
It is another object of this invention to provide a token which is difficult to counterfeit, but which is relatively easy to manufacture.
Various other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


A digital single-lens reflex camera includes a first mirror for reflecting part of a light beam coming from a subject through a photographing optical system and transmitting the remaining light beam. The reflected light beam is used for detecting the focus state of an imaging light beam, and the transmitted light beam is used for performing live view display. For example, the first mirror can be configured as a movable mirror in the digital single-lens reflex camera. This enables continuous live view display using the transmitted light beam on condition that the movable mirror is down while detecting the focus state using the reflected light beam. In addition, phase-contrast AF can be adopted for detecting the focus state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital single-lens reflex camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional autofocus (AF) technique for digital single-lens reflex cameras, phase-difference type AF (phase-difference AF) is known (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-184952). This phase-difference AF can figure out the defocus amount of a photographing optical system in one-time focus detection operation to enable fast AF with a short release time lag.
In general, in a phase-difference AF system, a light beam that has passed through the photographing optical system is transmitted through a movable mirror and then reflected downward by a sub-mirror arranged behind the movable mirror so that the light beam will be guided to an AF sensor through an AF optical system arranged in the reflection direction of the sub-mirror. Then defocus amount is calculated from the output of the AF sensor. In the conventional single-lens reflex camera, since an image pickup device for capturing a subject image is arranged behind the movable mirror, any light beam for forming the subject image cannot be guided to the image pickup device during the phase-difference AF operation. Thus, since the image pickup device cannot capture a series of subject images continuously during the phase-difference AF operation, the camera cannot provide continuous display of the captured images, so-called live view display, on an LCD monitor or the like.
In other words, in order to display a live view on the LCD monitor or the like, it is necessary to change the position of the movable mirror to an up position retracted from the photographing optical path so that the subject image will be guided directly to the image pickup device. On the contrary, it is necessary to keep the movable mirror at the down position during phase-difference AF, and this makes it difficult to perform phase-difference AF while displaying a live view.
Therefore, a digital still camera is proposed, which can perform contrast type AF (contrast AF) in addition to phase-contrast AF so that either of AF systems can be selected according to the circumstances (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-272593). The contrast AF system is to achieve AF by driving the photographing optical system in such a manner that the contrast of a subject image captured by the image pickup device will become the highest. This contrast AF makes it possible to perform AF while displaying a live view.
However, even using the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-272593, live view display cannot be performed when phase-difference AF is selected. In other words, there is no other choice but to select contrast AF in order to perform live view display and AF simultaneously, and this makes it hard to achieve fast AF.


A device for carrying out a method of sugar-coating and/or film coating is provided with a partially perforated drum (48) which rotates about an axis (50). The inner space (47) of the drum can be exposed to a fluid flow (gas, fluid). The inner space (47) is associated with an element for guiding a gas flow which guides the gas flow as a controlled shell-shaped flow through the plane of the drum opening (43) and, with at least one longitudinal component with respect to the axis, through the inner space (47) of the drum (48).

Device with a drum for coating material which rotates about an axis, in particular for film and/or sugar-coating, the drum having an inner space which may be exposed to a fluid flow, wherein the inner space is associated with an element for guiding a gas flow which guides the gas flow as a controlled shell-shaped flow through the plane of the drum opening and, with at least one longitudinal component in the direction of the axis, through the inner space of the drum and wherein the element is formed by two cylindrical pipe sections which intermesh one another and delimit an annular gap between them.
A device of this type is known from EP-A-01 31 152.
In the case of the known device the drum rotates about an axis and the material to be coated inside the drum is exposed to a fluid flow. The fluid flow is guided via a distribution head at the end of the drum where the drive is provided into the inner space of the drum. Arms shaped like hollow bodies extend into the drum which comprise openings via which the fluid flow can be removed from the inner space of the drum.
Furthermore, a device for film or sugar-coating is known from the leaflet Hi-Coater WD 11.1982 SM/HICO-d 32.2000 under the term "Hi-Coater, the modern and economic system for the coating of tablets".
Devices of this kind are used in the pharmaceutical industry mainly for coating cores. The layers should be as uniform and smooth as possible and the revolving and rolling movements which cause the cores to be mixed with one another to a smaller or larger extent should be of such a nature that the wear, i.e. the shearing stress of the cores is kept small.
The sprayed cores should be dried as carefully as possible and the parameters specific to the method should be taken into consideration. The drying speed must be adjusted to the respective process in the best possible manner such that cracks in the coating of the core can be avoided for example.
In the case of the device known from the leaflet Hi-Coater WD 11.1982 SM/HICO-d 32.2000 the gas is guided to the drum in the area of the supply opening. The means by which the air is guided to the product bed are not very constructive. It immediately meets the surface of the supply opening opposite the air inlet opening. From there the incoming air moves towards the perforated pieces of sheet metal in the bottom area of the drum. Already in the inlet area the incoming air becomes turbulent and negative influences by a predetermined spray mist cannot be avoided. Furthermore the incoming air will preferably take the shortest way to the perforated pieces of sheet metal. This has the result that the heat and material exchange processes across the length of the drum are different.
In most cases, when the method steps are carried out one after the other or several at the same time, the drying process is the step during the entire method proceedings which determines the timing such that optimizing this is very advantageous. In addition thereto the drying process is also a method step in which the quality will be determined such that also from this point of view it is advisable to achieve that the cores are dried as uniformly as possible.
Considering the spraying device of the known device from WD 11.1982 SM/HICO-d 32.2000 it can be noted that the angle at which the spray jets are set with respect to the revolving product bed must be adjusted before a sugar-coating or film coating process can be started. Since the shape and the position of the cascade-like formation of cores that are carried upwards on the inside of the drum due to friction changes between the start of the process and a stationary state owing to mainly varying rotational speed of the drum, for optimizing the core treatment the setting angle of the spray jet with respect to the product bed would have to be changed also during the process.

Device for carrying out a sugar-coating and/or film coating method


A method for automatically regulating an oscillator is applicable to a low-speed USB interface connecting system and includes the steps of (a) providing a voltage-controlled oscillator in a USB interface for generating a controllable oscillating signal to a USB electronic device; (b) feeding back the controllable oscillating signal to a frequency comparing unit for comparing the controllable oscillating signal with a Keep Alive Strobe signal in the USB interface; (c) inputting an output signal of the frequency comparing unit to a frequency regulating unit for changing the frequency of the controllable oscillating signal according to a signal regulating voltage fed back from the frequency comparing unit; and (d) repeating (b) and (c) to synchronize the controllable oscillating signal with the Keep Alive Strobe signal in the USB interface; so that the USB interface connecting system and the USB electronic device may be quickly synchronized for data transmission at reduced cost.

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is one of the most noticeable products in the new generation of connecting interfaces at the end of year 1998, and has quickly become widely known in the market. The USB specification has actually long been established mainly by Intel in 1996.
However, most operating systems in the past did not support USB products because of the high cost when they were first introduced into the market, preventing the USB products from being widely accepted by users. Thanks to the introduction of iMAC, which uses USB interface, into the market and the built-in support provided by Windows 98, USB products eventually became the hottest products in the computer field.
Compared to the conventional expansion ports or slots USB largely simplifies connection to various kinds of expansion slots. It enables series connection of up to 127 devices to one computer (this is a theoretical value that may be reached depending on the cooperation between a USB hub and a signal cable; current experiments indicate that up to 111 USB devices may be series connected to one computer via the USB connector) and has the further advantages of enabling Hot Attach and Detach as well as plug-and-play. This means a user does not need to worry about the differences between various kinds of connecting ports nor does the user need to remove the external computer casing or wait for normal shutdown to install/unplug a peripheral. The user only needs to connect a new peripheral to an externally accessible, standard USB slot, execute the steps for installing a driver and the new peripheral can immediately operate normally. Theoretically speaking, any device adapted to transmit digital data may be designed to have a USB interface. Thus, a lot of devices, including loudspeakers, keyboards, mice, scanners, printers, digital cameras, etc., may be designed to connect to a computer via a USB interface. That is why the USB interface is so popular.
The USB is a standard connecting interface, which allows connection of an external apparatus to a computer without the need of re-allocating and re-planning the whole system, or the need of open the computer case to adjust the finger-tip controlled switch of the interface card. When a new peripheral is connected to a computer via the USB interface the computer will automatically identify the new peripheral and actuate an appropriate driver. The user does not need to change the computer settings. The starting point on the USB interface for connecting a USB device is referred to as the "host", which is a USB head for controller output. The USB head may be welded to a base plate or located at an external position. Currently, most base plates may support up to 4 USB plugs each. A regular high-speed USB cable must have aluminum foil and polyester shielding to prevent deterioration of signal during transmission via the cable. The cable internally includes four wires, two of which are positive and negative electrodes for electric power, and the other two are positive (D+) and negative (D−) electrodes for signal. It is important for the four wires to evenly fix inside the cable. The advantages of using a 4-wire cable are to reduce and simplify the plug connections and to enable easier control of the product hardware manufacturing costs.
When a personal computer (PC) mainframe issues a control signal all the devices and peripherals connected thereto receive the same signal via a root hub. However, after a comparison of the addresses allocated to these devices and peripherals, only one of them would respond to the signal correspondingly. This is somewhat similar to the network architecture. Therefore, it is necessary for a device or a peripheral not only to correctly receive the data sent from the mainframe but also to correctly issue a corresponding signal in response to the mainframe. For this reason a special encoding must be used for the differential data lines, D+ and D−, before sending the signal so as to solve the problems of signal delay and signal error associated with the USB cable. In this aspect the USB adopts a Non-Return to Zero Invert (NRZI) encoding method, which enables synchronous data access even without synchronous clock pulse signals. As a rule of the NRZI encoding data is not converted when a data bit is a "1"; data is converted when the data bit is a "0". Please refer to FIG. 3, that is an example explaining the NRZI encoding. A very severe problem exists during the encoding in this way. That is, when a plurality of the same "1" signals are repeatedly received the data are not converted for a long period of time and are thus accumulated, resulting in a "jamming" condition, which then causes serious mistakes in the sequence of reading data. Therefore, a bit-stuffing task must be executed during the NRZI encoding. FIGS. 4(a), 4(b), and 4(c) explain the process of NRZI decoding. Please refer to FIG. 4(a). When there are six consecutive "1" bits contained in an original serial data it is necessary to do the bit-stuffing task by stuffing a "0" bit after the sixth "1" bit, as shown in FIG. 4(b). And, in the process of NRZI encoding, data conversion is executed on these six consecutive "1" bits, as shown in FIG. 4(c).
Therefore, before data transmission at the sending end the tasks of bit stuffing and NRZI encoding must be executed. On the other hand, before data reception at the receiving end it is necessary to do NRZI decoding first and then proceed with the unBit-stuffing task.
The following are some of the features and advantages of the USB:                1. The USB interface unifies the connectors for various kinds of peripherals. All the communication interfaces, printer interfaces, display output, sound input/output devices, and storage devices use the same USB interface specification. The USB interface functions like a universal contact. A user needs only to insert a plug to complete all connections and setup (or whatever else).        2. The USB has the feature of plug-and-play and is able to automatically detect and allocate system resources. Moreover, the USB interface does not require system resources. That is, it is not necessary to arrange additional system resources in order to set up a USB device, such as interrupt request (IRQ), I/O address, and direct memory access (DMA).        3. The USB has the feature of Hot Attach & Detach. That is, a USB device may be plugged to or unplugged from the computer while the operating system is in a started and operating state. It is not necessary for the user to shut down the computer before connecting a USB device thereto.        4. The USB interface version 1.1 has a transmission speed of 12 Mbps that satisfies most user demands. Of course, the high-speed USB interface 2.0 provides an even better transmission rate.        5. One USB interface allows connection of up to 127 peripherals. Since the USB interface uses a 7-bit addressing field, it provides a total of 27=128 usable addresses. After deduction of one address, that is preset by the USB host for a peripheral first connected to the computer, there are still 127 addresses available for use. Therefore, up to 127 USB devices may be connected to a computer via the USB interface.
In brief, the overall function of the USB is to simplify the connection between external peripherals and the computer mainframe. With the USB only a single transmission cable is used for series connection of various kinds of peripherals, such as the parallel port for a printer or the serial port for a modem, and the confusing problem of having a large mass of tangled cables and wires behind the mainframe is solved.
However, in using the USB system for data transmission, a clock pulse synchronizing system is required between the mainframe and the peripherals to synchronize their signals. In 1932 a concept was developed to use a phase-locked loop (PLL) as a frequency synthesizer. According to this concept, an input reference signal, extracted from a signal received from a remote transmitter, generates a limited oscillating signal, so that the frequency of the oscillating signal changes with the input reference signal. The following are different accuracies that must be met by different USB specifications for different data transmission rates:    For high-speed USB specification: 480 MHz+/−0.05%    For full-speed USB specification: 12 MHz+/−0.25%    For low-speed USB specification: 1.5 MHz+/−1.5%
Therefore, each device must be provided with its own clock pulse (frequency) generator, which must meet the above-mentioned accuracy ranges specified for the clock pulse (frequency) signal to enable compatibility of the device with the USB system.
Generally, a clock pulse (frequency) signal is generated via a circuit on a chip and has an accuracy range about +/−3%. A well-known way for increasing the signal accuracy is to use additional quartz units. However, the following disadvantages are found in the circuit design with additional quartz units:    1. Expensive:            When an external quartz unit is used there must be one or two more connecting pins provided on the chip. Moreover, the quartz unit has a relatively high unit price that disadvantageously increases the cost of the USB device.            2. Bulky:            In a chip card the quartz should have limited size, so that the thickness thereof does not exceed 800 micrometers. However, it is impossible to manufacture quartz to meet this predetermined specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,705 discloses the use of a digital controlled oscillator (DCO) to generate an oscillating signal where the frequency is compared using a counter and then coarsely and finely adjusted. The adjusted oscillating signal is then input to the DCO again. These procedures are repeated until the frequency of the oscillating signal is adjusted to synchronize with the USB electronic device. In this manner, the use of expensive quartz units can be avoided. Nevertheless, the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,705 has the following shortcomings:    1. Prolonged frequency adjusting time:
The frequency is coarsely and finely adjusted using a whole packet signal instead of the Keep Alive Strobe signal initially generated by the USB system. This results in a prolonged frequency adjusting time.    2. High cost and power consumption:
The design provided by U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,705 requires additional computation power, time consumption and higher costs. Basically, the design involves the use of a counter circuit that is comprised of a calibration block and a look-up table. When the frequency of oscillation is not corrected, the value of the signal will begin a start/stop count, which may be repeated over a longer portion of the packet in order to greater resolution in the correction term. This process requires computation power, time consumption and costs more.
Because of the above mentioned problems, the inventor developed a method of regulating the frequency using the Keep Alive Strobe signal generated by the USB interface system so that the USB interface connecting system and the USB electronic apparatus may be synchronized within a very short time to enable data transmission.

Method for automatically regulating an oscillator


A method for destination and duration of stay determination in a geographically bounded area such as a smart home includes detecting movement by an identified individual in an origination location of a geographically bounded area and retrieving a contemporaneously generated pattern of movement for the individual. The method additionally includes comparing the pattern for the identified individual to a set of patterns in a pattern data store and predicting from a matching pattern both a destination location in the geographically bounded area and a duration of time at which the identified individual is to remain at the destination location. Finally, the method includes directing activation of a fixture at the destination location responsive to predicting the destination location, and directing deactivation of a fixture at the origination location responsive to predicting a duration of time that exceeds a threshold value.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pattern recognition and more particularly to home automation utilizing pattern recognition of occupant behavior.
Description of the Related Art
Pattern recognition is a computational algorithm used to classify raw, observed data. The term "pattern recognition stems from machine learning, but has been adapted by cognitive psychologists to describe various theories for how the human brain progresses from incoming sensory information to action selection. The various stages of pattern recognition include the sensing of an environment to detect source data, feature detection in the incoming data, data classification based upon features, and action selection based upon classification. Pattern recognition algorithms have been applied to the behavior of individuals and also to the movements of individuals and vehicles in order to enable predictive organizational systems—in particular traffic flow and management systems and in animal tracking studies.
In a traffic flow and management system, the movements of vehicles are observed over time in order to predict the route and timing of departure of different vehicles. Known formally as travel pattern analysis, the route and timing of departure of different vehicles can be tracked so that traffic patterns for entire communities can be predicted, road construction requirements planed, and traffic lights timed accordingly. In comparison, pattern analysis as applied to the movements of animals has be used scientifically to predict migratory patterns of animals in the wild.
Qualitatively, pattern analysis can be used to identify an individual. In this regard, when an individual repeats the same pattern of movement over time, and such movement is documented as a pattern, a person subsequently engaging in the same pattern of movement can be presumed to be the individual. Pattern analysis of the movement of individuals also finds application in homeland security with particular movements being associated with suspicious behavior. Notwithstanding, pattern matching appears not to have been widely utilized in the implementation of a smart home.

Destination and duration of stay determination in a geographically bounded area

International Business Machines Corporation


A process for preparing arylene sulfide polymers is provided, comprising contacting an initiator compound, a halothiophenol compound, an polar organic compound, and a base. Blends comprising the inventive polymers and polyamides or polyaramides provide improved mechanical properties.

This invention relates to poly(arylene sulfide) polymers, methods for their production, and blends employing the polymers.
Engineering resins commonly produced exhibit good stiffness and heat resistance, while elastomers display good flexibility and toughness. Work has been done to blend these polymers to produce polymer alloys with the desired combined characteristics. Often the polymers to be blended are immiscible materials and a compatibilizer is required.
It would be desirable to develop a process for preparing arylene sulfide polymers having non-equivalent functional end groups. Such polymers would be useful as compatibilizers in polymer blends, as surface active agents, or for the preparation of di- or tri- block arylene sulfide copolymers.

Method of preparing poly(arylene sulfide) polymers, polymers and polymer blends


An electrical switching circuit for controlling current flow to an electrical load from a primary power source with a first electrical potential difference relative to a circuit ground comprising a primary energy storage device with a low side coupled to the electrical load, a secondary electrical energy storage device with a high side and a low side, a controllable electrical switch that toggles the low side of the secondary energy storage device from the circuit ground to the low side of the primary energy storage device, a primary unidirectional current gate coupled between the high side of the secondary energy storage device and the high side of the primary energy storage device to let current flow from the secondary energy storage device to the primary energy storage device when the potential difference of the high side of the secondary energy storage device is higher than the high side of the primary energy storage device, a secondary unidirectional current gate coupled between a secondary power source with an electrical potential difference of at least the predetermined potential relative to the circuit ground and the high side of the secondary energy storage device to let current flow from the secondary power source to the high side of the secondary energy storage device when the potential difference of the secondary power source is higher than the high side of the secondary energy storage device, wherein periodic operation of the secondary electrical switch charges the secondary energy storage device when the secondary switch toggles its low side to the circuit ground and the secondary energy storage device charges the primary storage device when the secondary switch toggles its low side to the low side of the primary energy storage device.

MOSFET and IGBT switching devices suitable for high power applications such as electric motor control generally control the flow of power from sources of relatively high electrical potential in the range of hundreds of volts. These switching devices require gate-to-source turn-on potentials in the range of about 10 volts. Standard high side switch controllers for these switching devices generate the required 10 volt gate-to-source potential with a bootstrap capacitor. A charging circuit charges the bootstrap capacitor through a load for the switching device through a diode. This charging circuit is suitable for applications in which the switching device uses pulse width modulated (PWM) switching of a load with a reasonable value of resistance. In such applications, the charging circuit recharges the bootstrap capacitor during the OFF state intervals of the PWM switching cycle.
If the load is not present or it has a very high value of resistance the charging circuit cannot properly keep the bootstrap capacitor charged. If the switching device is switched on statically (without PWM), there is no OFF state interval in which to charge the bootstrap capacitor. In such instances, the bootstrap capacitor discharges and the switching device remains off.

Constant-ON state high side switch circuit


The cigar cutter object of the invention consists of a cutting blade (1) with an oblique cutting edge (2), this blade being able to move in an axial direction and in a guided form between two plates (3) and (3') which are duly fixed one to the other. The cutting blade (1) is fixed to a bridging piece (7) with a pair of pins equipped with springs (10) which push the piece (7), and consequently the cutting blade (1), into the non-operational position, that is, with the cutting edge (2) of the latter above the opposing orifices (4) of the plates (3) and (3'), through which is inserted the extremity of the cigar to be cut. The device is operated by manually depressing the piece (7) via an external push button (30) attached to the piece (7), resulting in the displacement of the latter and of the cutting blade (1) that will slice through the extremity of the cigar inserted into the space determined by the aligned orifices (4). The cigar cutter is completed with a noble metal cover or casing (21), in which are made the orifices (23) that line up with the orifices (4) in which the cigar is positioned, and also includes a locking mechanism (15-16-17) to retain the cutting blade (1) in the non-operational position, the mechanism being released by means of a push button (18).

Presently known, among others, is a type of cigar cutter based on a cutting blade that works like a guillotine, the said blade having an oblique cutting edge; the former slides in a guided manner inside a flat frame generally formed by two parallel-mounted, facing plates each of which has an orifice, the orifices being opposite each other and forming the space into which is inserted the extremity of the cigar to be cut, this extremity being that which is sliced by the guillotine blade which slides between the two plates, the movement being achieved by pushing manually from the exterior.
In this respect, and in relation with this type of cigar cutter, reference can be made to the Spanish Utility Models numbers 231.715; 260.436; 287.023; U-9101517 and U-9200936, all of which include the basic characteristics mentioned but which present problems and disadvantages, one of these consisting in the cigar cutter being of the pocket type and, as such, designed to be of reduced size, flat and elementary, which results in a poor guidance mechanism for the cutting blade, as well as progressive misalignment between parts, the device thereby loosing its operational effectiveness and, on occasions, becoming unserviceable.
On the other hand, the aforementioned cigar cutters were not designed to be devices which serve simultaneously as cigar cutters per se as well as decorative objects, nor were they designed to be quality products, both with respect to their structural characteristics and with respect to the materials that essentially constitute the parts or elements of which the cigar cutter is formed.


A process for converting lactose into carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide using catalytic wet oxidation. Oxygen gas and an aqueous solution of lactose are fed to a reactor comprising a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst, a Mn/Ce catalyst or a Pt/Mn—Ce catalyst, and the lactose is oxidized in the reactor at elevated temperature and pressure to produce at least one of small organic acids, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water and combinations thereof. The small organic acids may be further degraded by feeding the small organic acids and oxygen gas into a reactor containing a Mn/Ce catalyst and oxidizing the small organic acids to water and at least one of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and combinations thereof.

The present invention relates to a process for converting lactose to small molecules and/or value added lactose derivatives. Lactose or milk sugar, a disaccharide carbohydrate, is the ingredient of whey, the main by-product of cheese production in the dairy industry. Several million pounds of lactose are available annually as a by-product of cheese production; however, the numbers of subsequent uses are limited. Most of the lactose is disposed of in wastewater which leads to additional environmental problems. Therefore, it is desirable to minimize some of those wastes, either by converting lactose to smaller molecules more appropriate for disposal, or preferably, to a value added lactose derivatives.


Implementations described herein include a hoisting device and method for handling, coupling and recovery of tubular members such as drill string components. The hoisting device has a self-energizing gripping means configured to releasably engage a drill string component. In one aspect, the self-energizing gripping means can be operable to increase at least one of a radial biasing force and a contact friction force applied to a drill string component, causing the gripping means to increase the overall gripping force applied to the component with minimal effort exerted by a hoisting device operator.

The Field of the Invention
Implementations described herein relate generally to handling, coupling, and recovery devices for tubular members. In particular, implementations described herein relate to handling, coupling, and recovery devices for tubular members comprising a self-energizing gripping means.
Background
Oilfield, exploration, and other drilling technologies make extensive use of tubular members. For example, the process of drilling often involves handling, lifting, manipulating and otherwise using numerous pipes or rods that may be connected together to form a drill string, drill rod, fluid conduit, borehole casing, or other passageway. To move the pipes or other components into location, they are typically handled and lifted manually, by a machine, or a combination of the foregoing. In the case of manual lifting, for example and without limitation, the hoisting device can have a handle or the like for a user to grasp. In the case of machine lifting, for example and without limitation, the hoisting device can further comprise at least one of a threaded joint to mate with a threaded tubular member, a non-threaded flexible cable connection that can facilitate extended range machine lifting, or a drilling fluid supply connection having a bearing swivel configured for high-speed drilling rotation to support loads due to the hoisting device itself as well as the tubular members during addition or subtraction from the drill string, and the like.
Machine facilitated lifting can occur either at the surface to add or subtract tubular members from a drill string or deep within a hole to recover lost tubular members. When machine facilitated lifting is uses to recover a tubular member from within a hole, pipe handling and recovery devices commonly employ threaded recovery taps. Threaded recovery taps can engage a threaded component by tapping or threading into the threaded section of the component. However, the tapping operation can be difficult and unreliable. In one instance, the gripping capability of the threaded recovery taps can depend on how many turns of thread tap into the broken rod and, additionally or alternatively, on the tap thread cutting depth. In another instance, the tap thread can be unable to accommodate tolerance extremes that may be present on drill rod inner diameters or worn outer diameters. In drilling applications, drill rod wear against the drill hole can be significant. In yet another instance, the threaded recovery tap connection can be unable to accommodate the change in component dimensions that can occur as a result of load response during pullback experienced during recovery operations.
Additionally, in some cases a pipe or other component may have been precision manufactured to satisfy very tight tolerances, to ensure optimal fatigue strength, a leak-free seal or the like. Consequently, the introduction of even very small impurities into or creating defects in the pipe or pipe threads may have detrimental effects to the threaded connection of a pipe, the contents carried within the pipe, and the like. An operator that places his or hand inside or on the pipe may introduce impurities from the operator's hand or glove, and such impurities can be undesirable for certain applications.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved handling and recovery devices for tubular members that provide reliable gripping regardless of operator position or applied lift and that reduces or eliminates damage to tubular members during the handling and/or recovery operation.

Handling and recovery devices for tubular members and associated methods


An infant carrier is included in a child restraint that may also include a carrier-mount base adapted to be anchored to a passenger seat in a vehicle. The infant carrier includes a shell for holding an infant and a carry handle coupled to the shell and adapted to be gripped by a caregiver.

The present disclosure relates to child restraints, and particularly to child restraints that are used to restrain infant children. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to infant carriers that may be mounted on a base or a passenger seat in a vehicle and that can be separated from the base or passenger seat and used by a caregiver to carry the infant away from the vehicle.


Disclosed is a paint film which has excellent heat-radiating properties which comprises an undercoat paint film layer which contains from 1 to 20 mass % with respect to the total solid fraction of the paint film of carbon black and a top-coat paint film layer which contains 1 to 40 mass % with respect to the total solid fraction of the paint film of a pearl pigment and which does not contain aluminum powder and the paint film thickness of the top-coat paint film layer is from 11 to 50 μm.

With the progress which has been made with domestic electrical appliances in recent years the generation of heat has become a problem, and with personal computers the temperature reached as a result of the heat generated by the CPU has risen as higher levels of performance have been achieved. Methods involving the fitting of air-cooling fans have generally been adopted as a counter-measure, but because of miniaturization the fans must be small if they can be used at all, and a box which has a cooling effect even if a fan is not fitted is desirable.
Paint compositions for heat controlling purposes which are characterized by the inclusion of a film-forming component comprising a high condensate which does not include silanol groups of at least one type of compound selected from among the group comprising organosilicon compounds and low-condensates thereof, and mica of particle size not more than 40 μm in an amount of from 100 to 300 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of said film-forming component and titanium oxide of particle size not more than 1 μm in an amount of from 50 to 200 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of said film-forming component are known as paint compositions which control heating (for example, see Japanese Examined Patent Publication H6-96682).
However, when this paint is used the titanium oxide and mica are essential components and there is a problem in that they cannot be colored optionally. In particular there is a major weakness in that the provision of black and glitter cannot be achieved for providing design features with color which are essential in the field of domestic electrical appliances.
Furthermore, paint compositions which have excellent heat-radiating properties and electromagnetic wave absorbing properties which are characterized in that they contain as mass % of the solid fraction from 20 to 80% ferrite powder and from 3 to 60% of carbon black powder with the remainder comprising resin, and the amounts of ferrite powder and carbon black powder in the paint are such that 30%≦ferrite powder (%)+carbon black powder (%)≦90% are known as painted metal sheets which have excellent heat-radiating properties and electromagnetic wave absorbing properties (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid Open 2004-027064).
However, there is a weakness in that the paint film is black because of the carbon black which has been added and it cannot be colored optionally.
Furthermore, painted metal sheets which have excellent heat-radiating properties and coloring properties which have an organic coating layer which contains from 3 to 70 mass % of boron nitride of average particle size from 0.01 to 30 μm of thickness at least 1 μm on at least one side of a metal sheet are known as a means in which carbon black is not used in the top-coat paint. (For example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid Open 2005-139535) However, with this method the heat-radiating performance is provided by just the top-coat layer and the heat-radiation properties are poor when compared with a paint film which has a two-layer structure.
Furthermore, heat-radiating surface treated materials which are characterized in that an outer-layer paint film and an inner layer paint film are provided on a base material surface and the inner layer paint film contains from 0.03 to 70 mass % with respect to the dry mass of the inner paint film of a pigment of which the heat reflectance is at least 70%, such as carbon black, alumina, zirconia, titania, silica, zircon, magnesia or the like, are known (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid Open 2002-228085).
However, with this method there is a weakness in that the thermal emissivity is inevitably lowered by the top-coat paint film.
Furthermore, resin-coated metal sheets where a resin paint film which contains white pigment and/or glitter pigment is coated on one or both of the black colored surfaces of a black colored metal sheet of which one or both sides is black in color and the thickness of said resin paint film is from 0.5 to 10 μm and, moreover, the amount of white pigment and/or glitter pigment which is included in said resin paint film is in total from 1 to 25 mass % and of which the color as an L-value is from 44.0 to 60.0 are known as resin coated metal sheets which have excellent heat-radiating properties as well as scratch resistance and finger-marking resistance (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid Open 2005-238769).
However, with this method the film thickness of the second layer cannot be great and so there is a weakness in that the satisfactory covering properties which are needed for obtaining designs and multi-colors cannot be maintained.

Paint films which have excellent heat-radiating properties, and a method for their formation


Level shifting circuit (36) utilizes self-timed pulse generators (40, 46) to provide a series of pulses in response to an input signal. The pulses are used to create a pulse of specified duration at a predetermined voltage level at first and second nodes (44, 45). In response to the predetermined pulses, shifted inverters (50, 52) provide a voltage output of either V.sub.DDH or V.sub.DDL, one of two different voltages which exist in a system utilizing the level shifter (36). In one form, level shifting circuit (36) may be used in an output buffer (60) to interface an integrated circuit designed to operate at a low supply voltage with additional integrated circuits operating at a higher supply voltage which could damage the gate oxide of the transistors in the low supply voltage integrated circuit.

Semiconductor technologies continuously evolve such that leading edge semiconductors have decreased geometries of transistor sizes and decreased voltages for voltage supplies. The smaller transistors are now manufactured with very thin gate oxide material. As a result, the dielectric breakdown voltage for such transistors in the leading edge semiconductor products has decreased. Thus, the decreased voltage supply is both desirable in order to reduce power consumption and necessary in order to avoid damaging the very thin gate oxide material. Other semiconductor products coupled to the leading edge semiconductor products still have much higher breakdown voltage devices, and utilize higher supply voltages. For many years, semiconductor designers have dealt with the problem of translating between various levels of supply voltages. For example, when technology transferred between TTL (transistor to transistor logic) to MOS technology there was a need for voltage level shifting to be performed between the TTL and MOS technologies. Additionally, as supply voltages gradually decreased from 15 volts to 5 volts to 3 volts, designers created interface circuits which could operate between different voltage systems. However, most of those designs were focused on the issue of being able to just interface between one system operating at one voltage and a second system operating at a different voltage. Such systems typically did not have the problem of coping with breakdown voltages of transistors being threatened by the higher voltage system.
Some known voltage level shifters inherently consume DC power. That is, DC power is continuously consumed. As a result, such voltage level shifters are not acceptable for low power microprocessor designs, as well as other leading edge semiconductors which either require low power consumption or which address low power applications.
Because there are many chips and integrated circuits such as memories, memory controllers, and other peripherals that work with leading edge microprocessors, such peripherals and memories have not changed their supply voltages or reduced their voltage levels nearly as quickly as microprocessors have. In being able to interface between a peripheral circuit that has a much higher voltage than a leading edge integrated circuit, such as a microprocessor, designers often use a well biasing technique to try to minimize the impact in an integrated circuit of receiving a voltage signal much higher than the supply voltage intended for that integrated circuit. The well bias technique which is used eliminates a charge drain from the output node to an output stage power supply within the circuit. Prior circuits typically dealt with receiving higher voltage levels and using those voltage levels in a system operating at a lower voltage level. However, such systems did not typically worry about or have to compensate for transistor damage due to thin gate oxides. As technologies have evolved, the maximum voltage permitted across a transistor has decreased much faster than the decrease of supply voltages for the output bus. Therefore, a need exists for a circuit and method which is able to guarantee the integrity of transistors and transistor gate oxides when interfacing with very high supply voltages at the output bus. A known circuit for dealing with protecting gate oxides when coupling to an output bus having a higher supply voltage than the circuit supply voltage is illustrated in FIG. 1. An output buffer 10 has an input portion 11, an intermediate portion 12, and an output portion 13. In input portion 11, a p-channel transistor 15 has a source connected to a power supply voltage VDDH, a gate connected to a node 24, and a drain connected to a node 17. A p-channel transistor 18 has a source connected to the supply voltage VDDH, and a gate connected a drain thereof at node 17. An n-channel transistor 20 has a drain connected to node 17, a gate connected to supply voltage V.sub.DDL, and a source connected to a drain of an n-channel transistor 21. A gate of transistor 21 is connected to the data input terminal, and a source of transistor 21 is connected to a ground terminal. Intermediate portion 12 has an inverter 23 and an inverter 26 connected via a node 24 which is also connected to the gate of transistor 15. Inverters 23 and 26 are connected between supply voltage V.sub.DDH and supply V.sub.DDL. The output portion 13 comprises p-channel transistors 28 and 29 and n-channel transistors 31 and 32. P-channel transistor 28 has a source connected to supply voltage V.sub.DDH, a gate connected to the output of inverter 26, and a drain connected to a source of transistor 29. Transistor 29 has a gate connected to supply voltage V.sub.DDL, and a drain connected to a chip output terminal. N-channel transistor 31 has a drain connected to the chip output terminal, a gate connected to supply voltage V.sub.DDL, and a source connected to a drain of n-channel transistor 32. Transistor 32 has a gate connected to the complement of the "Data Input" signal, and has a source connected to the ground terminal.
In operation, circuit 10 is an output buffer with an input portion 11 which consumes DC power. Input portion 11 functions as a level shift stage. When the input data has a logic high level, node 17 is driven low by the input portion 11. However, node 17 does not assume a ground level potential, but rather node 17 is at a level which is driven below V.sub.DDL. Once node 17 is driven below V.sub.DDL, the first inverter 23 drives node 24 to the V.sub.DDH supply level. As a result, inverter 26 transitions the gate of transistor 28 to V.sub.DDL so that transistor 28 is made conductive. As a result, the chip output terminal is driven to the V.sub.DDH value. In the illustrated form, V.sub.DDL is a lower voltage magnitude than V.sub.DDH, and V.sub.DDH exceeds the maximum permitted voltage of the gate-to-source voltage, V.sub.GS, of each of the transistors of buffer 10. However, the difference between the V.sub.DDH voltage level and the V.sub.DDL voltage level is less than the maximum gate-to-source/drain voltage allowed in the technology in which buffer 10 is implemented.
When the data input is at a logic low level, transistor 21 isolates node 17 from the ground terminal, and node 17 transitions to the V.sub.DDH potential. As a result, inverter 23 transitions node 24 to supply voltage V.sub.DDL and inverter 26 transitions the gate of transistor 28 to V.sub.DDH which makes transistor 28 non-conductive. Furthermore, transistor 32 is conductive and thus the chip output signal transitions to the ground terminal potential. In summary, output buffer 10 operates to consume power in the input portion 11 when the input data signal is true. When the input data signal is not true, power is not consumed. Although the power consumption of output buffer 10 is a potential problem for many applications, output buffer 10 functions to allow the circuit to interface with a system having a higher supply voltage. Additionally, output buffer 10 does not permit a voltage between the gate to source electrodes of each transistor which would destroy the gate oxide of that transistor.

Static pulsed cross-coupled level shifter and method therefor


A digital device capable of recharging a rechargeable battery, comprising a consuming current detect unit for detecting a consuming current input to the digital device through an adapter, a control unit, a recharging current detect control unit for detecting the battery recharging current as the battery is recharged, and a recharging control unit for regulating the consuming current to the rechargeable battery in proportion to a pulse width modulation control signal output from the control unit and the battery recharging current detected by the recharging current detect control unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital device with a rechargeable battery, and more specifically, to a digital device and a method thereof that enables the digital device not only to be operated using a power supply from an adapter, but also to simultaneously recharge a battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a conventional portable digital device, such as a handheld PC, is designed to be supplied with power from a battery therein, generally a rechargeable battery, for operating the device, as it is moved about. After the battery is discharged, the device can be operated again by recharging the battery through an adapter for a predetermined time.
However, in the above referenced conventional portable digital device with the rechargeable battery, there is a problem in that the mode of the device should be converted to a recharge mode for recharging the battery when the digital device is supplied with power through the adapter. In addition, there is another problem in that an expensive integrated circuit (IC) is required to separately control battery recharging, and this increases production costs.
There is still another problem in the display means of the conventional portable digital device having the recharge and discharge function. The conventional portable digital device has such a simple display means for displaying the state of recharge or discharge, that it cannot display the various states of the digital device to a user as they occur during the recharge and discharge of the battery.

Digital device with rechargeable battery and recharging method thereof


Method of forming a multilayer interconnection structure that includes a contact hole for reliably connecting between layers, without damaging a substrate. A column shaped mask material is formed in a position for forming a contact hole using a resist, and an interlayer insulating film is applied to the whole surface of the substrate excluding the mask material. Then, the mask material is removed by a method such as peeling. As a result, a hole generated thereby is used as a contact hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a multilayer interconnection structure, and a manufacturing method for multilayer wiring boards, and more specifically, relates to a contact hole formation technique for connecting between wiring layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in electronic devices such as semiconductor devices and electro-optic devices, wiring is formed in multi layers in order to increase the degree of integration. In devices having such a multi-layer wiring structure, a contact hole (opening) is formed in an interlayer insulating film, in order to secure conduction between wiring layers laminated via the interlayer insulating film.
For example, in a field of electro-optic devices, one in which TFTs for pixel switching, data lines, and pixel electrodes are formed in multi layers has been developed (see Japanese Patent No. 2625268). In devices having such a structure, for example, TFTs are arranged on the bottom layer of the substrate, and data lines are arranged thereon via the first interlayer insulating film. The second interlayer insulating film is provided on the substrate so as to cover the data lines and the first interlayer insulating film, and pixel electrodes are arranged thereon. In order to secure conduction between these layers, the source region of the TFT is connected to the data line via a first contact hole penetrating the gate insulator and the first interlayer insulating film, and the drain region is connected to the pixel electrode via a second contact hole penetrating the gate insulator, the first interlayer insulating film and the second interlayer insulating film.
Conventionally, dry etching has been used for the step of forming such an opening.
However, when the contact hole is formed by etching, the obtained devices may have a difference in electric characteristics according to ununiformity in film thickness of the interlayer insulating film in which the contact hole is formed. For example, since over etching occurs in a portion where the film thickness is thin, the shape of the contact hole may be enlarged, or the wiring layer on the lower layer side may be made thin. Particularly in the case of dry etching, since the etching selection ratio between the insulating material and the conductive material cannot be sufficiently ensured, the degree of thinning of the film increases. Such thinning of the wiring layer on the lower layer side causes an increase in contact resistance or non-ohmic conduction characteristics, and sometimes causes insufficient conduction. The enlarged shape of the contact hole due to over etching causes an increase in leak current between adjacent conductive layers or a short circuit failure. The problem of leak current or short circuit becomes serious as the density of the wiring layer increases and the gaps between the adjacent wiring layers becomes narrower.
Moreover, in a portion where the film thickness is thick, the interlayer insulating film remains at the bottom of the contact hole due to insufficient etching, thereby causing insufficient conduction. In the step of etching described above, plasma etching is often performed, but in this case, plasma damage may occur in the substrate, thereby deteriorating the electric characteristics of the device. Furthermore, since a reaction product is generated in the plasma etching, the product adheres to the bottom and the side wall of the contact hole, thereby causing insufficient conduction.
In a device having the multilayer structure described above, as the gap between the wiring layers to be connected in the vertical direction increases (that is, the number of interlayer insulating films arranged between the layers increases, or the film thickness increases), the aspect ratio of the contact holes arranged between these increases, and hence it becomes difficult to form the opening with one step. Conventionally, therefore, a method has been employed where a relay electrode is provided between these wiring layers, so as to connect between the wiring layer on the lower layer side and the relay electrode, and between the relay electrode and the wiring layer on the upper layer side with separate contact holes (see Japanese Patent No. 2625268). However, with this method, since the relay electrode is formed, the degree of integration decreases, thereby preventing high performance of the device.

Method of forming multilayer interconnection structure, and manufacturing method for multilayer wiring boards


The present invention relates to compounds of formula (I)

The enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase IV (EC.22.214.171.124, abbreviated in the following as DPP-IV) is involved in the regulation of the activities of several hormones. In particular DPP-IV is degrading efficiently and rapidly glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which is one of the most potent stimulator of insulin production and secretion. Inhibiting DPP-IV would potentiate the effect of endogenous GLP-1, and lead to higher plasma insulin concentrations. In patients suffering from impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes mellitus, higher plasma insulin concentration would moderate the dangerous hyperglycaemia and accordingly reduce the risk of tissue damage. Consequently, DPP-IV inhibitors have been suggested as drug candidates for the treatment of impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (e.g. Villhauer, WO98/19998). Other related state of the art can be found in WO 99/38501, DE 19616486, DE 19834591, WO 01/40180, WO 01/55105, U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,949, WO 00/34241 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,155.
Furthermore, DPP IV contributes to the generation and modulation of a T cell immune response. DPP IV (also known as CD26) has an essential role in immune regulation as a T cell activation molecule and a regulator of chemokine function thus suggesting a role for DPP-IV in the pathophysiology of immune-mediated disorders as well as autoimmune diseases (Hosano O. et al., Modern Rheumatology 2003, 13(3), 199-204). Abnormal expression of DPP-IV is found in the case of autoimmune diseases, HIV-related diseases and cancer. Natural substrates for DPP-IV are involved in immunomodulation, psycho/neuronal modulation and physiological processes in general (Boonacker E.; Van Noorden C. J. F, European Journal of Cell Biology 2003, 82(2), 53-73). Furthermore, it has been shown that there is a correlation between DPP-IV and the key nuclear protein topoisomerase alpha (Aytac U., Dang, N. H., Current Drug Targets: Immune, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders 2004, 4(1), 11-18). Thus, DPP-IV inhibitors may be useful as medicaments for the treatment of various diseases in which DPP-IV is involved.

Abstract: wherein R1 is as defined in the description and claims, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. The compounds are useful for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of diseases which are associated with DPP-IV, such as diabetes, particularly non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, and impaired glucose tolerance.