A control system for executing a control of the output torque of an automatic transmission on the basis of any of a plurality of running modes. This control system is given a route selecting function to select a route to be followed by the vehicle, with reference to the running characteristics of the running mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system capable of changing the running modes to be used for controlling the output torque of an automatic transmission, in accordance with the road situations of a route to be followed by the vehicle.
2. Related Art
As well known in the art, a stage type automatic transmission is provided with a gear transmission mechanism, frictional engagement units for changing the torque transmission routes of the gear transmission mechanism, and a lockup clutch. In order to control the running performance of the vehicle in accordance with the road situations under which the vehicle is to run, the automatic transmission of this type is preset with a plurality of kinds of running modes including a normal mode, an economy mode, a snow mode, a sport mode and a power mode, which can be changed by the operation of the driver.
On the basis of the running states, as detected during the run of the vehicle, such as the data including the vehicle speed and the throttle opening and the individual running modes (or shift diagrams), moreover, the frictional engagement unit and the lockup clutch are applied/released to control the output torque of the automatic transmission.
However, the running performance of the vehicle depends upon the conditions such as the hill climbing resistance of the road or the frictional resistance of the road to the wheels, and these conditions change moment by moment according to the situations of the road. Merely by changing the running mode by the manual operation of the driver, therefore, an output torque matching the road situations may be achieved to lower the running performance and the drivability.
In recent years, however, the navigation system has been mounted on the ordinary vehicle. This navigation system is constructed to hold maps as electronic data in a recording medium such as CD-ROM and to locate the position of the vehicle by the GPS (Global Positioning System) or the self-contained navigation (or dead reckoning navigation) utilizing artificial satellites so that the present position or moving locus of the vehicle or the route to be followed may be visually outputted to a display unit such as a CRT by combining those data, or so that the running direction may be guided by voices.
The electronic map to be employed in this navigation system can be stored with not only information such as the arrangement of roads, public facilities or rivers but also slopes of roads or legal regulations for road traffic. A variety of information such as the coefficients of friction of road surfaces, as obtained by the actual runs, can be additionally stored. As a result, the information, as obtained by the navigation system, not only guides the vehicle to the destination but also can be used for controlling the engine, the transmission, the brake and the suspension when the vehicle is to run on the route to be followed.
One example of an invention, in which the information obtained by the navigation system is thus applied for controlling the automatic transmission of the vehicle, is disclosed in JP-B-6-58141. The control system for an automatic transmission, as disclosed in the gazette, comprises: memory means (ROM) stored with shift patterns (or shift diagrams) for an economy run or a high output run; running state detecting means for detecting the running state of the vehicle; and control means for controlling the speed change of the automatic transmission on the basis of the shift patterns and the running states. Further comprised are: a navigation system for storing road information for guiding the running of the vehicle; present position detecting means for detecting the present position of the vehicle; and change means for changing the shift pattern to another in accordance with the road information concerning the environment of the present position.
According to the control system for the automatic transmission, this automatic transmission is controlled according to the shift pattern in the selected running mode. When the information of a curve of the road or an unpaved road is detected, the shift pattern is changed to another in accordance with the detected information so that the control of the automatic transmission is executed by the changed shift pattern. As a result, there are achieved the advantage that the shift is inhibited at the time of running on the curve or that the shift is inhibited at the time of running on a low surface friction road such as the unpaved road.
However, the control system for the automatic transmission, as disclosed in the aforementioned gazette, detects the road situations during the run of the vehicle and changes the shift pattern on the basis of the detected road situations. As a result, the running characteristics of the vehicle on the route to be followed to the destination are disadvantageously different from those, as intrinsically intended by the driver, that is, which of the mileage or the driving force is to be stressed. Moreover, the absence of the running mode of the running characteristics matching the situations of the route to be followed may lower the running performance or the drivability at the actual run.

Control system for automatic transmission having plural running modes


Disclosed is a method for producing cyclic esters by the conversion of hydroxy carboxylic acids and their derivatives to their respective cyclic esters. Such cyclic esters, including lactide or glycolide, are particularly useful for producing polymers which can be used to make biodegradable materials, such as biodegradable packaging material. Various methods of cyclic ester production are disclosed, including liquid phase and vapor phase reactions. Also disclosed are various methods for recovering cyclic esters from product-containing streams.

Cyclic esters, including cyclic esters of the general formula ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, and R.sub.4 can be either hydrogen or an aliphatic or substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic or aryl hydrocarbon having from 1 to about 10 carbon atoms, are a useful class of compounds that can be polymerized into polymeric materials. Such polymeric materials are particularly useful in the preparation of biodegradable plastic materials and plastic materials which dissolve when used in medical applications. Polymers made from the polymerization of such cyclic esters as lactide are particularly useful because they can be degraded over time by water hydrolysis under most environmental conditions. The resulting lactic acid units or oligomers of lactic acid are then readily taken up by organisms in the environment and converted to carbon dioxide and water. Cyclic esters are also useful as plasticizers and intermediates for production of surface-active agents and plasticizers.
In accordance with prior practice, the desired cyclic esters were prepared by first condensing hydroxy acids, typically .alpha.-hydroxy acids, to an oligomeric prepolymer of relative high molecular weight. The prepolymer was then depolymerized at high temperature and low pressure in a heated, evacuated reactor to a crude cyclic ester. Extensive purification processes were required to obtain cyclic esters of requisite purity sufficient to provide polymers of desired molecular weight.
The production of a cyclic ester from an oligomeric .alpha.-hydroxy acid prepolymer is sometimes referred to as a back-biting reaction since it involves the gradual removal of .alpha.-hydroxy acid components from the tail ends of the polymer to form the cyclic ester as illustrated below with reference to a lactic acid polymer. ##STR2##
U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,163 to Bellis is directed to a process which includes first making a prepolymer comprising a block polymer which includes a thermally stable polyether core with an .alpha.-hydroxy acid or its ester polymerized onto the core. Upon heating under vacuum conditions, the chain ends of the .alpha.-hydroxy acids are thermally degraded to form a cyclic ester which can be condensed under vacuum.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,293 to Bhatia is directed to a back-biting process which includes the use of an inert gas sweep which permits the process to be operated at or above atmospheric pressure. The inert gas intimately contacts the prepolymer, which is in the liquid phase, so as to create a large interfacial area between the prepolymer and the inert gas to vaporize the cyclic ester and sweep the vapors out of the reactor for subsequent recovery and purification.
As illustrated above, and as discussed in the referenced Bellis and Bhatia patents, back-biting depolymerization of an .alpha.-hydroxy acid can result in the production of a cyclic ester. However, the back-biting reaction is typically a slow one, and a batch operation which extends over significant time and which results in an undesirable high molecular weight byproduct heel which must be disposed of and the cyclic ester product must be separated from noxious discolored pyrolysis products.


A system for assisting the operation of a patient's heart. The system includes a muscle energy converter which is capable of connecting to a muscle of the patient for converting energy of the muscle into a mechanical force. The system also includes a ventricular assist device connected to the muscle energy converter for receiving the mechanical force from the muscle energy converter and compressing the heart of the patient. The assist device is capable of connection and operational engagement with the heart. A method for assisting the operation of a patient's heart. The method includes the steps of converting energy from a muscle to a mechanical force with a muscle energy converter. Then, there is the step of compressing the heart of the patient with an assist device with the mechanical force from the muscle energy converter.

The idea of using endogenous skeletal muscle as an energy source for cardiac assistance is not new. Many investigators have demonstrated that untrained skeletal muscle can provide circulatory support for short periods of time (minutes to hours). However, early studies were plagued by rapid muscle fatigue which discouraged the use of skeletal muscle as a long-term energy source for biomechanical assistance. This ultimately prompted researchers to explore the possibility of conditioning skeletal muscle via chronic electrical stimulation.
The ultimate objective of chronic myostimulation is to transform muscle to a fatigue-resistant state so that it performs much like the myocardium, which is an oxidative muscle capable of continuously pumping blood. Both cardiac and skeletal muscle contain contractile proteins which transform chemical energy into mechanical work, but skeletal muscle comprises several types of muscle cells with different physiologic and metabolic characteristics. These contractile fibers may be either glycolytic (fatigue-susceptible) or oxidative (fatigue-resistant). Slow-twitch muscle is generally oxidative, while more powerful fast-twitch muscle can be either glycolytic or oxidative. In order to utilize skeletal muscle for long-term circulatory assist, a conditioning scheme is needed to convert these fibers from glycolytic to oxidative metabolism.
The feasibility of converting fast-twitch muscle fibers to fatigue-resistant slow-twitch fibers was demonstrated by Salmons and Sreter in the mid-70s. (Salmons, S., and Sreter, F. Significance of impulse activity in the transformation of skeletal muscle type. Nature, vol. 263, 30-34, 1976). Since then, interest in skeletal muscle conditioning has increased and has become a major subject of current studies. (Sreter, F., Pinter, K., Jolesz, F., and Mabuchi, K., Fast to slow transformation of fast muscles in response to long-term phasic stimulation. Experimental Neurology, vol. 75, 95-102, 1982; Macoviak, J., Stephenson, L., Armenti, F., Kelly, A., Alavi, A., Mackler, T., Cox, J., Palatianos, G., and Edmunds, L., Electrical conditioning of in situ skeletal muscle for replacement of myocardium. J. Surgical Research, vol. 32, 429-439, 1982). Recently, both Frey and Dewar have shown that a short train or "burst" of pulses is effective in producing a sustained contraction with complete conversion of skeletal muscle to fatigue-resistant fibers. (Frey, M., Thoma, H., Gruber, H., Stohr, H., Huber, L., Havel, M., and Steiner, E. The chronically stimulated muscle as an energy source for artificial organs. Eur. Surgical Research, vol. 16, 232-237, 1984; Dewar, M., and Chiu, R. Cardiomyoplasty and the pulse-train stimulator. Biomechanical Cardiac Assist, Futura Publ. Co., 43-58, 1986).
This knowledge has led to a myriad of new techniques designed to utilize the transposition of conditioned contractile tissue. Applications include cardiomyoplasty, diastolic counterpulsation, and using the muscle as an energy source to drive cardiac assist devices. To date, most attempts to harvest this new power source have involved wrapping a muscle flap around the heart, aorta or prosthetic conduit, or shaping the muscle into a neo-ventricle. (Magovern, G., Park, S., Kao, R., Christlieb, I., and Magovern, Jr., G. Dynamic cardiomyoplasty in patients. J. Heart Transplantation, vol. 9, 258-263, 1990; Pattison, C., Cumming, D., Williamson, A., Clayton-Jones, D., Dunn, M., Goldspink, G., and Yacoub, M. Aortic counterpulsation for up to 28 days with autologous latissimus dorsi in sheep. J. Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery, vol. 102, 766-773, 1991; Mannion, J., Hammond, R., and Stephenson, L. Hydraulic pouches of canine latissimus dorsi; potential for left ventricular assistance. J. Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery, vol. 91, 534-544, 1986; Hammond, R., Bridges, C., DiMeo, F., and Stephenson, L. Performance of skeletal muscle ventricles: effects of ventricular chamber size. J. Heart Transplantation, vol. 9, 252-257, 1990).
These efforts have met with only limited success because of insufficient power generation, slow relaxation, muscle atrophy, and thromboembolism. Wrapping the muscle flap is an inefficient means for collecting muscle energy and requires complete mobilization of the muscle, which interrupts some of its blood supply and increases the development of fibrosis. It is apparent that muscle-wrapping techniques are not the best way to harvest useful work from skeletal muscle, and that alternative pumping schemes should be explored.
Previous studies have demonstrated that certain large skeletal muscles can produce high amounts of aerobic (steady-state) energy if the muscle is left in situ and allowed to contract linearly. For example, Ugolini recently published an article describing an energetic balance of the human psoas major that predicts a steady-state power capacity of 5.19 watts. (Ugolini, F. Skeletal muscle for artificial heart drive: theory and in vivo experiments. Biomechanical Cardiac Assist, Futura Publ. Co., 193-210, 1986). This power level would be more than sufficient to drive a hydraulic artificial heart (which has a typical power requirement of<1.2 watts) if a means could be devised to efficiently convert this energy into pumping power.
Logically, one of the most effective ways to harness muscular work for this purpose would be to employ a linear arrangement with the muscle tendon detached from its original insertion point and reconnected to a hydraulic energy converter. This hypothesis has recently been tested by Sakakibara (Sakakibara, N., Tedoriya, T., Takemura, H., Kawasuji, M., Misaki, T., and Watanabe, Y. Linear muscle contraction for actuation of a muscle-powered cardiac assist device (MCAD): an ex vivo pilot study. ASAIO Abstracts, vol. 21, p. 53, 1992), who evaluated the performance of latissimus dorsi (LD) muscle in three orientations: roll (wrap) type; compressive type; and linear type. This study showed that linear actuation produced a six-fold improvement in work output versus wrap-type, and a 50% increase over the compressive arrangement.
Another study, performed by Geddes at Purdue University (Geddes, L., Badylak, S., Tacker, W., and Janas, W. Output power and metabolic input power of skeletal muscle contracting linearly to compress a pouch in a mock circulatory system. J. Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, vol. 104, 1435-1442, 1992), utilized three different groups of muscles (contracting linearly) to compress a valved pouch in a hydraulic model of the circulation. Output power and metabolic input power were measured at contraction rates from 10 to 40 per minute. Muscle blood flow increased dramatically during periods of work, and fatigue was not a factor even though unconditioned muscles were used. Continuous power generation of over 2 watts was recorded for all groups, with an energy conversion efficiency approximating that of cardiac muscle (10%). Based on these data, Geddes concluded that an energy-conversation scheme should be sought in which linear shortening of skeletal muscle could be used to assist the circulation.
The concept of powering a pump with linearly contracting muscle appeared in the literature as early as 1964, when Kusserow and Clapp employed a quadriceps femoris muscle to drive a spring-loaded diaphragm pump. (Kusserow, B., and Clapp, J. A small ventricle-type pump for prolonged perfusions: construction and initial studies, including attempts to power a pump biologically with skeletal muscle. Trans. ASAIO, vol. 10, 74-78, 1964.) Since that time, a number of investigators have addressed this topic, yet no serious attempts to develop such a device were published until Sasaki in 1992. (Sasaki, E., Hirose, H., Murakawa, S., Mori, Y., Yamada, T., Itoh, H., Ishikawa, M., Senga, S., Sakai, S., Katagiri, Y., Hashimoto, M., Fuwa, S., and Azuma, K. A skeletal muscle actuator for an artificial heart. ASAIO Journal, vol. 38, 507-511, 1992.) His system employs a flexible rod, sheath, crank, and cam to transmit muscle power to a pusher-plate pump. This scheme was tested in dogs using an untrained latissimus dorsi muscle and a mock circulatory system. At 60 beats per minute, this device maintained 0.8-2.0 L/min for 200 minutes against an afterload of 75 mmHg. Output power was 2.5 mW/gram, and system efficiency approached 50%.
Most recently, Farrar and Hill developed a new muscle-powered, linear-pull energy converter for powering various implantable devices. (Farrar, D., and Hill, J. A new skeletal linear-pull energy convertor as a power source for prosthetic circulatory support devices. J. Heart and Lung Transplantation, vol. 11, 341-350, 1992.) This device consists of a metal cylinder which houses a piston-type actuator to which the muscle is attached. As the muscle contracts, up to 2 ml of hydraulic fluid is displaced into a transmission line leading to the blood pump. During relaxation, a spring is employed to assist pump filling and muscle lengthening. This device has problems, though. For instance, energy convertor components were purchased off the shelf, and no attempt was made to minimize energy losses. Consequently, the efficiency of this device was found to be only 22.5%.
Clearly, interest in muscle-powered assist devices is on the rise. However, efforts to date have produced systems that employ conventional mechanisms subject to frictional losses and component wear. Not only does this limit the lifetime of the prosthesis, but reduces the amount of work obtained from the muscle. Given the limited aerobic capacity of skeletal muscle, future research must focus on optimizing system efficiency in order to ensure long-term operation and effective muscle use.
Despite recent advances in both pharmacologic and surgical therapies for heart failure, about 250,000 Americans die each year from this condition. A totally-implantable ventricular assist device would be an effective treatment, but the complexities of transcutaneous power delivery and problems associated with blood contacting surfaces have severely limited this approach. The hydraulic ventricular assist device was developed as a means to utilize muscle power to aid the failing heart while avoiding direct contact with the bloodstream.
This method of cardiac assistance offers an attractive alternative to current long-term support schemes by eliminating the need for artificial power sources. Through this mechanism, external battery packs, power conditioning hardware, transmission coils, and internal power cells could all be replaced by natural biomechanical processes, serving to greatly enhance patient quality of life by improving reliability, eliminating external components, and reducing costs. Moreover, external cardiac compression avoids critical problems associated with man-made blood contacting surfaces (e.g., clotting and hemolysis).

Muscle energy converter activated assist system and method


The pump has a sleeve-like bearer. This contains a bush in which a piston is displaceable along an axis. The bearer inner surface and the bush outer surface are adjacent to one another in parts and are separated from one another in parts by an intermediate space. The inlet of the pump is connected through an intake chamber located at least partly inside the bush and through the piston, via a non-return valve, to a pump chamber, which is connected via another non-return valve to a primary outlet of the pump. The intermediate space connects the inlet and the intake chamber to a secondary outlet which is a distance away, along the axis, from the inlet and the intake chamber. During the operation of the pump, fluid flows from the inlet through the intermediate space to the secondary outlet and cools the bush.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a pump for pumping a fluid comprising a liquefied gas.
Such a pump, defined as a cryogenic pump, can be used, for example, for pumping a cryogenic fluid which at least partly comprises at least one liquefied gas--such as liquefied nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen or argon or liquefied air--and may also comprise gaseous fluid. The pump may also be used for pumping liquefied butane or propane. The pump can be formed, for example, for pumping fluid from a reservoir into a container or any apparatus and for increasing the pressure of the fluid from a value of, for example, at most 1.5 MPa to, for example, 15 to 50 MPa.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A pump disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,602 has a drive device with a support and a pump housing. This has an elongated, sleeve-like bearer, which is fixed to the support, and a bush which is partly inserted into said bearer and is closed at its end projecting from the bearer by an end member. A piston which is displaceable in the bush is connected to a movable part of the drive device by a piston rod. The inner surface of the sleeve-like bearer has annular grooves into which seals for sealing the piston rod fit. The largest part of the bearer, the bush and the end member are present in a container whose wall has a shell connected tightly and firmly in the vicinity of the drive device to the bearer and a shell which can be detached by means of screws and is connected by means of said bolts. The two shells have an inner wall, an outer wall and an evacuated intermediate space in between. The inlet of the pump is connected to a pump chamber which is present in the bush and adjacent to the end face of the piston by the inner space of the container and two flow paths each having a non-return valve. The pump chamber is furthermore connected to a primary outlet via a non-return valve. The container has a secondary outlet through which vaporized fluid flows out of the container during operation.
This pump has proved satisfactory per se. However, the production costs of the pump are increased by the production and assembly of the wall of the container containing the major part of the sleeve-like bearer and bush, which wall consists of a plurality of parts and has evacuated intermediate spaces. In addition, the maintenance of the known pump gives rise to a relatively large amount of work and long down times. If, for example, the bush and the piston are to be cleaned or one of the seals attached to the piston or in the sleeve-like bearer or a part of a non-return valve are to be replaced, it is necessary, inter alia, to separate the two shells of the container from one another and then connect them together again and to slacken a number of bolts and nuts and screw them together again afterwards.
The pump disclosed in German Examined Patent Application 1,169,973 and intended for pumping a liquefied gas possesses an elongated, hollow bearer, a bush present partly in the inner space of the bearer and displaceable piston. The bush has two collars adjacent to the inner surface of the bearer and, between said collars, is separated from the inner surface of the bearer by an intermediate space. A reservoir is connected via a feed pipe to the inlet opening into the intermediate space. The bush contains a pump chamber which is adjacent to the end face of the piston and is connected to a primary outlet of the pump via a non-return valve. The bearer is provided with a secondary outlet which is connected to the intermediate space and is connected via a return pipe to the reservoir. The piston is hollow and has, in its end face, an orifice which can be closed by means of an axially displaceable closure member and forms a valve together with the latter. The stated intermediate space is connected by radial holes in the wall of the bush and by elongated holes in the wall of the hollow piston to the cavity present therein. During operation of this pump, fluid flows from the reservoir through the feed pipe and the inlet into the stated intermediate space and from this into the cavity of the piston. If the piston is moved back and forth, fluid can pass from the cavity of the piston into the pump chamber and can be transported by the piston from there to the primary outlet. If the fluid present in the intermediate space is heated, it expands, fluid also vaporizing. Fluid can then flow from the intermediate space through the secondary outlet and the return pipe back into the reservoir.
In this known pump, that section of the bearer which contains the bush has an external diameter which is large in comparison with the diameters of the bush and of the piston, and a large outer surface adjacent to the environment of the pump. Furthermore, that section of the bush which contains the pump chamber projects from the bearer. Thus, a large amount of heat can flow from the environment of the pump through the bearer and the bush end section projecting from said bearer into the bearer and the bush. The cryogenic fluid is thus greatly heated so that a large amount of fluid vaporizes. Furthermore, the secondary outlet is in the same longitudinal section of the bearer as the inlet and is connected to this at the highest point of the intermediate space. Furthermore, the cross-sectional area of the intermediate space is very much larger than the cross-sectional area of the inlet passage. There is therefore no defined fluid flow in the intermediate space. The intermediate space can in certain circumstance therefore contain relatively warm liquid or gas bubbles at different points, and this warm liquid and these gas bubbles may remain for a long time in the intermediate space. In addition, the liquid flowing through the holes of the bush into the bush and the cavity of the piston is pushed back and forth during displacement of the piston, but the volume of the cavity remains constant and is permanently relatively large. Gas bubbles may therefore also enter the cavity of the piston and remain therein for a relatively long time. However, gas bubbles present in the intermediate space and in the cavity of the piston reduce the efficiency of the pump and may even cause breakaway of the liquid flow. This known pump therefore does not function reliably and in particular is scarcely suitable for continuous operation over long periods. The operational reliability of the pump according to German Examined Patent Application 1,169,973 could be improved at most by thermally insulating from the environment the bearer and the bush section projecting from it by means of an additional insulation. However, such an additional insulation is not disclosed and would furthermore probably have disadvantages similar to those of the shells of the pump disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,602.
The reservoir frequently also contains solid, fine impurity particles which are dispersed in liquefied gas and, for example, consist of a carbon compound and, together with the liquefied gas, may enter the bearer, the bush and the cavity of the piston. Since no defined, strong flow occurs in the intermediate space of the bearer and also in relatively large parts of the cavity of the piston of the pump according to German Examined Patent Application 1,169,973, impurity particles may accumulate in the interior of the bearer and in the piston, so that the pump frequently has to be dismantled and cleaned.
The piston rod which serves for moving the piston must be sealed somewhere. German Examined Patent Application 1,169,973 does not disclose any seals which serve this purpose. However, it appears probable that the changing of these seals which is required in practice usually after a certain number of operating hours necessitates a relatively long down time, similarly to the pump described above and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,602.

Pump for pumping a fluid comprising a liquefied gas and apparatus having a pump


There is provided a method and apparatus for optically filtering a communication signal. More specifically, in one embodiment, there is provided an apparatus comprising an optical filter having first and second input ports and first and second output ports, the optical filter being configured to transmit light in a target frequency range to the first output port in response to receiving light at the first input port and being configured to transmit light in the target frequency range to the second input port in response to receiving light at the second output port, and first and second photodiodes, the first diode being located to be illuminated by light from the first output port and the second photodiode being located to be illuminated by light from the second input port.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the filtering of communication signals
2. Discussion of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Since Nikola Tesla built the first radio over one hundred years ago, communication signals, such as electromagnetic ("EM") signals and/or radio frequency ("RF") signals have been used extensively for wirelessly transmitting information and/or data from one location to another. For most of the twentieth century, the primary applications for EM waves employed the lower frequency (under 1 gigahertz) signals, such as radio, television, and so forth. Over the past few years, however, higher frequency waves (1+ gigahertz), such as microwave transmissions, have become increasing common in communication applications.
In addition to having the capacity to carry a greater amount of digital information, these higher frequency EM waves are also particularly amenable to being combined and transmitted from point to point as a single "broadband" EM signal. More specifically, information and/or data can be modulated into a plurality of signals, each of which employs one of a plurality of carrier frequencies across a frequency range. For example, with a frequency range between 1 gigahertz and 10 gigahertz, one carrier frequency may use the 1 gigahertz band, another the 2 gigahertz band, and so forth. These single band transmissions (also referred to as "narrowband" transmissions) can be conglomerated together and transmitted together from one location to another as a broadband signal. At the receiving end, a wireless receiver can divide (e.g., filter) the broadband signal back into the plurality of narrowband transmissions, each of which can be demodulated and decoded.
There are a variety of different techniques for dividing or filtering the broadband signal into the one or more narrowband signals. One technique involves modulating the EM broadband signal onto an optical carrier (e.g., a laser) and then filtering out the desired narrowband region from the optical signal with an optical filter. However, optically carrying a broadband signal can introduce relative intensity noise ("RIN"). This RIN can decrease the signal to noise ratio of the narrowband signals, and, thus, can make it more difficult to demodulate and/or decode the narrowband signals. Some systems attempt to suppress the effects of RIN by splitting the optical signal into two parts and then employing a pair of optical filters to filter the signals. Disadvantageously, the two optical filters typically have to undergo a complex balancing and tuning process to work together efficiently. In addition, the pair of optical filters can also occupy a significant amount of space and draw a significant amount of power.
An improved system or method for optically filtering communication signals would be desirable.

Method and apparatus for optically filtering a communication signal


An aqueous electrolyte ozone generating system includes on electrolyte tank and liquid-vapor separator tank. Electrolyte tank has a liquid supply port located at its upper part which allows ozone gas-containing liquid (generated at an anode) to be supplied to the liquid vapor separator tank. Water at the bottom part of an separator tank flows back to the anode chamber of the electrolyte tank through a return port, and fresh water is replenished to the system simultaneously while the temperature of the water in the separator tank is controlled. Liquid-vapor separator tank is thin in horizontal width and long in the vertical direction. A heat exchanger wall is installed to and covers most of the surface area of at least one side of the separator tank. A temperature control, capable of providing a cooling effect, is integrally installed to the heat exchanger wall. As water is consumed by the electrolytic reaction, the water level in the separator tank is kept constant by the addition of replenishment water to the top of the tank. Both the recirculated and replenished water are cooled when they flow to the bottom of the separator tank, and temperature control is executed based on the temperature of the water at the bottom of the separator tank as monitored by a thermocouple.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an ozone generating system of the type utilizing an aqueous electrolyte.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,355 (1971) teaches an ozone generating system which uses an aqueous media as an electrolytic solution. Japanese Kokai Patent 49-120891 (1974) teaches an ozone generating system in which an electrolytic solution, including an ozone gas component, is drawn through a fan-cooled radiator and supplied to a liquid-vapor separator where the liquid component of the aforesaid solution is returned to the electrolyte tank. More specifically, this system uses an aqueous sulfate solution as the electrolyte and operates in a manner whereby the density of the sulfate solution is maintained at a specific level through the replenishment of water therein. However, there is an inherent and undesired instability in the operation of this system caused by a temperature fluctuation which occurs after the cooled electrolyte exits the radiator at the area where the water is replenished, and another temperature fluctuation which occurs where the gas and liquid are separated. The temperature of the media flowing back to the electrolyte tank depends on the amount and temperature of the replenishment water added, and thus results in non-uniform temperatures within the electrolyte tank. This temperature fluctuation has an adverse effect on the accuracy and stability of ozone generation.
Moreover, in cases where an aqueous electrolyte is employed to generate ozone, electrolysis inducing electrodes generate significant thermal energy as a result of the large amount of electric power required, thus necessitating a means to prevent overheating of the electrolyte tank. Direct cooling devices have been employed to cool the electrolyte tank, but these devices apply stresses to the tank which can result in adverse affects to the electrolytic reaction conditions and reduced service life of the tank itself. Reduced service life of the tank is highly disadvantageous, because the electrolyte tanks used in ozone generating systems are made from costly materials, such as platinum, titanium, fluorocarbon, etc.


The present invention relates to a multi-band antenna and, more particularly, to a sub multi-band antenna, in which a planer conducting part, which has a plurality of protruding portions, is inserted into a depression, which is formed on the surface of a body part formed through injection molding using a mold having a specific shape to surround first and second wire members, and the fitting depression of a fastening part, which is formed through the cutting or die casting of a metal material, and to a sub-band built-in chip antenna, in which sub radiation patterns having a predetermined length are formed on the interior surface of a body part, which is formed through injection molding using a dielectric material or is formed of a layered substrate a dielectric material.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the construction of a conventional surface-mount chip antenna 10.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional surface-mount chip antenna 10 includes a dielectric block 11 made of ceramic material or resin. The dielectric block 21 includes a ground electrode 14 formed on the first surface 12 thereof, a radiation electrode 18 formed on the second surface 13 thereof, and a feeding pattern 15 formed in a from a portion of the first surface 12 of the dielectric block 11 to a portion of one side of the dielectric block 11. The radiation electrode 18 is spaced apart from the feeding pattern 15 by a certain distance and is connected to the ground electrode 14 via two short circuit portions 16 and 17 that are respectively formed on two sides of the dielectric block 11. Furthermore, the radiation electrode 18 has a length of λ/4 at a resonance frequency.
The surface-mount chip antenna 10 described above forms a resonance circuit using capacitance between the ground electrode 14 and the radiation electrode 18 and the inductance of the radiation electrode 18, and adjusts the resonance frequency by coupling the radiation electrode 18 with the feeding pattern 15 using the capacitance between the feeding pattern 15 and the radiation electrode 18. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to provide multi-frequency band communication service because an electrode appropriate to a specific resonance frequency is formed through a certain pattern-forming process and is then used for only a single frequency band composed of one usable frequency band.
FIG. 2 is a view showing the construction of a conventional ceramic chip antenna.
As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional ceramic chip antenna includes a chip main body 20 formed by stacking a plurality of green sheets, which are made of a ceramic dielectric material, a first helical conductor 21 formed in the chip main body 20 in a helical form, and a second helical conductor 22 disposed in parallel with the first helical conductor 21 in the chip main body 20 and formed in a helical form. The first helical conductor 21 is formed using a plurality of horizontal and vertical strip lines in a helical form, and the helical rotational axis A of the first helical conductor 21 is parallel to the bottom and side surfaces 23 and 24 of the chip main body 20 made of ceramic. In the same manner, the second helical conductor 22 is formed using a plurality of horizontal and vertical strip lines in a helical form, and the helical rotational axis B of the second helical conductor 22 is parallel to the bottom and side surfaces 23 and 24 of the chip main body 20.
In this case, the first and second helical conductors 21 and 22 are independently formed without being connected to each other, the helical rotational axes A and B of the conductors 21 and 22 are parallel to each other, and the strip lines and the via holes in the respective green sheets are three-dimensionally connected to each other through precise alignment so that the first and second helical conductors 21 and 22 are formed.
Furthermore, voltage supply terminals 25 are formed at respective ends of the helical conductors 21 and 22 protruding outside the main body 20. In this case, if voltage is applied to the helical conductors 21 and 22 through the voltage supply terminals 25, a problem occurs in that the helical conductors 21 and 22 resonate in two different frequency bands.
Although the conventional ceramic chip antenna described above has recently been developed to a level at which it is possible to contain the antenna in a mobile terminal in the form of a small-sized chip, there are problems in that the characteristics of the antenna vary due to sensitivity to external environment factors and it is difficult to provide multiple frequency band radio communication service.
FIG. 3 is a view showing the construction of a conventional wireless Local Network Area (LAN) multi-band antenna.
The wireless LAN multi-band antenna is based on a well-known technology for reducing the size of an antenna, and employs a meander line.
As shown in FIG. 3, a portion of the upper surface of an insulating substrate is patterned to be formed in the shape of a meander line 32. In this case, a resonance frequency is determined according to the length of the meander line 32. That is, resonance occurs at a lower frequency as the length of the meander line 32 increases. The meander line 32 is designed to correspond to a first frequency range.
A portion of the lower surface of the insulating substrate 31 is patterned to be used as a ground 34, and thus resonance is induced at a third frequency band (that is, a frequency band of 5.8 GHz). In this case, the values of a frequency bandwidth and a resonance frequency vary with the area of the partial ground 34, that is, the length and size of the partial ground 34. When the area of the partial ground increases, the resonance occurs at a relatively low frequency. In contrast, when the area of the partial ground decreases, the resonance occurs at a relatively high frequency. A dual band (2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz) is realized using the meander line 32 and the partial ground 34 as described above, a back microstrip line 33 is attached above the partial ground 34 to increase the frequency bandwidth, and thus a broadband accommodating a second frequency (5.2 GHz) and the third frequency (5.8 GHz) is formed.
Although the conventional wireless LAN multi-band antenna described above is manufactured such that it can be provided in a mobile communication terminal, the amount of current flowing through the meander line and the back microstrip line is limited, so that problems occur in that the gain and radiation characteristics of the antenna are degraded.


Methods and systems for communicating in a wireless network may distinguish different types of packet structures by modifying the phase of a modulation constellation, such as a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) constellation, in a signal field. Receiving devices may identify the type of packet structure associated with a transmission or whether the signal field is present by the phase of the modulation constellation used for mapping for the signal field. In one embodiment, the phase of the modulation constellation may be determined by examining the energy of the I and Q components after Fast Fourier Transform. Various specific embodiments and variations are also disclosed.

In today's communications industry rapid advances in communication protocols and techniques are common. To facilitate widespread deployment of new systems, significant efforts are often made to ensure new communications techniques and systems are compatible with previous systems and devices, referred to herein as "legacy" systems or devices.
One problem associated with designing new generation systems is that, to be compatible with legacy systems, new generation systems often have to deal with limitations inherent in the legacy systems. For example, preamble training and signaling fields of packets for legacy wireless local area networks (WLANs) are already defined. To allow coexistence between legacy and new generation WLANs, it is desirable to preserve preambles having legacy compatible training and signaling fields. However, since legacy preambles may not be adequately designed to describe new generation packet structures, which may have longer lengths and/or require different training and signaling information, it can be challenging to quickly identify which type of packet structure, e.g., legacy or new generation, that follows a legacy compatible preamble.
Accordingly, a need exists to be able to quickly distinguish whether a packet having a legacy compatible preamble, may have a legacy packet structure or a newer generation packet structure. Solutions to allowing coexistence between legacy and new generation systems are therefore desired without significantly complicating or constraining the signaling in new generation packet structures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for signaling information by modifying modulation constellations


A stay-tight mechanism for a plug to be fixed with a union nut to a socket is provided. The mechanism has a first securing part having a flat engagement contour which engages with a flat of the union nut and having at least one recess. The mechanism has a second securing part having at least one recess and having an engagement contour which engages with an element on the connector when the first securing part is connected to the second securing part.

Magnetic resonance devices, in particular for examining patients using magnetic resonance tomography (MR, MRT) are known for example from DE10314215B4.
Modern magnetic resonance systems operate with coils for transmitting high-frequency pulses with nuclear resonance excitation and/or for receiving induced magnetic resonance signals. Normally a magnetic resonance system has a permanent magnet or (more frequently) a superconducting coil to generate a so-called basic magnetic field (BH0) as homogeneously as possible in an examination area, a large whole body coil (also called body coil or BC) installed at a fixed position in the MR device and a number of small local coils (also called surface coils or LC). To read out information from which images of a patient can be generated, selected areas of the object or the patient to be examined are read out with gradient coils for three axes (e.g. X, Y roughly radial to the patient, Z in the longitudinal direction of the patient). The local encoding in magnetic resonance tomography is usually realized with the aid of a gradient coil system with three independently controllable, magnetically orthogonal gradient field coil systems. By overlaying the three freely-scalable fields (in three directions X, Y, Z) the orientation of the plane to be encoded ('gradient field') can be freely selected.
Previously, according to the internal prior art, gradient current terminals were pulled with a fine thread onto gradient current sockets and secured using a union nut. So that coaxial connections to gradient coils do not work loose, self-locking systems of the terminal are known according to the internal prior art through a dished washer pretensioning and a fine thread.

Stay-tight mechanism for coaxial gradient coil terminals


Disclosed is the preparation of organic/inorganic hybrid particles comprising magnesium hydroxide cores and tethered copolymer chains whose composition can be selected to allow dispersion in targeted plastic materials, thereby providing improved mechanical, electrical and flame retardant properties. Processes for preparing the same are also disclosed.

The controlled radical polymerization (CRP) processes have gained increasing attention because CRP couples the advantages afforded by conventional free radical polymerization (RP) to (co)polymerize a wide range of monomers using various commercially viable processes with the ability to synthesize polymeric materials with predetermined molecular weight (MW), low polydispersity (PDI), controlled composition, site specific functionality, selected chain topology and incorporate bio- or inorganic species into the final product.
The three most studied methods of controlling radical polymerization are nitroxide mediated polymerization (NMP), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), and degenerative transfer with dithioesters via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT). Each of these methods relies on establishment of a dynamic equilibrium between a low concentration of active propagating chains and a predominant amount of dormant chains that are unable to propagate or terminate as a means of extending the lifetime of the propagating chains. The low concentration of active species reduces the probability of bimolecular termination reactions, leading to radical polymerization processes that behave as a "living" system. In order to control molecular weight and molecular weight distribution there should be quantitative fast initiation (Ri), at least as fast as propagation(Rp), (Ri<<Rp to Ri˜Rp controlling DPn (^[M]/[I]0) where [M] is the moles of monomer polymerized and [I] is the initial concentration of the added initiator).
However, since CRP processes are radical based polymerization processes some degree of termination reactions are unavoidable. In all radical polymerizations, biradical termination (kt) occurs with a rate which is dependent on the concentration of radicals ([P*]) to the power two, (Rt=kt[P*]2). Therefore, at the same polymerization rate (the same concentration of radicals), essentially the same number of chains would terminate, regardless if a conventional RP or a CRP system had been employed. This ignores to some degree the diffusion effect of macro-radicals since in a RP most chains are terminated by the reaction of a small radical with a growing polymer radical. In the case of SFRP, or ATRP, these initial termination reactions push the equilibrium to the left hand side, (increasing kdeact) as a consequence of forming an excess of dormant species, as a result of the persistent radical effect, [Fischer, H. Chem. Rev. 2001, 101, 3581-3610.] With the net result that in the conventional process, all chains are terminated, whereas in CRP, as a result of the greater number of growing chains, the terminated chains constitute only small fraction of all chains (˜1 to 10%). The remaining species are dormant species, capable of reactivation, functionalization, chain extension to form block copolymers, etc. Thus CRP behaves as a "living" system. [Greszta, D. et. al. Macromolecules 1994, 27, 638.] Additionally, relatively fast initiation, at least as fast as propagation, provides control over molecular weight (DPn=Δ[M]/[I]0; i.e. the degree of polymerization is defined by the ratio of concentrations of the consumed monomer to the introduced initiator) and narrow molecular weight distribution.
As used herein, "polymer" refers to a macromolecule formed by the chemical union of monomers, typically five or more monomers. The term polymer includes homopolymers and copolymers including random copolymers, statistical copolymers, alternating copolymers, gradient copolymers, periodic copolymers, telechelic polymers and polymers of any topology including block copolymers, graft polymers, star polymers, bottle-brush copolymers, comb polymers, branched or hyperbranched polymers, and such polymers tethered to particle surfaces or flat surfaces as well as other polymer structures.
ATRP is the most frequently used CRP technique with a significant commercial potential for many specialty materials including coatings, sealants, adhesives, dispersants but also materials for health and beauty products, electronics and biomedical applications. The most frequently used ATRP procedure is based on a simple reversible halogen atom transfer catalyzed by redox active transition metal compounds, most frequently copper.
ATRP is considered to be one of the most successful controlled/"living" radical processes (CRP) and has been thoroughly described in a series of co-assigned U.S. Patents and Applications, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,763,548; 5,807,937; 5,789,487; 5,945,491; 6,111,022; 6,121,371; 6,124,411; 6,162,882; 6,407,187; 6,512,060; 6,538,091; 6,541,580; 6,624,262; 6,624,263; 6,627,314; 6,759,491; and U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 09/534,827; 09/972,056; 10/034,908; 10/269,556; 10/289,545; 10/638,584; 10/860,807; 10/684,137; 10/781,061 and 10/992,249, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. ATRP has also been discussed in numerous publications with Matyjaszewski as co-author and reviewed in several book chapters. [ACS Symp. Ser., 1998, 685; ACS Symp. Ser., 2000; 768; Chem. Rev. 2001, 101, 2921-2990; ACS Symp. Ser., 2003; 854.] Within these publications similar polymerization procedures may be referred to by different names, such as transition metal mediated polymerization or atom transfer polymerization, but the processes are similar and referred to herein as "ATRP".
ATRP has certain advantages. Many commercially available initiators may be used and various macroinitiators, including wafers, inorganic colloids, glass, paper, and bio-active molecules including proteins, DNA, carbohydrates and many commercial polymers may be simply synthesized. Many polymers produced by ATRP allow facile functionalization or transformation of the end groups by replacing terminal halogens with azides, amines, phosphines and other functionalities via nucleophilic substitution, radical addition or other radical combination reactions. An abundance of (co)polymerizable monomers are available. This allows production of macromolecules with complex topology such as stars, combs and dendrimers, coupled with the ability to control composition and hence functionality in block, gradient, periodic copolymers etc. and even control polymer tacticity. The procedure is a simple procedure which may be carried out in bulk, or in the presence of organic solvents or in water under homogeneous or heterogeneous conditions, in ionic liquids, and in supercritical CO2.
Many commercial plastic materials are made non-flammable by the use of organohalogen type fire retardants. This method, however, poses problems such as toxicity of fire retardants, corrosion of equipment during melt processing, and emission of smoke and toxic fumes during processing and in subsequent fires. Therefore, much attention has been paid to replacing this type of fire retardant with inorganic materials such as aluminum hydroxide (ATH) and magnesium hydroxide (MDH), which are nontoxic and avoid the above-mentioned difficulties. This type of flame retardant is perhaps the most environmentally friendly type of flame retardant since both ATH and MDH release only water vapor during a fire. Released water can block the flame and exclude oxygen by diluting the presence of flammable gases in the contacting atmosphere. In addition, char formed on the surface of the polymer works as a heat insulating barrier so it interrupts the flow of flammable decomposition products. The additives can work alone or in the presence of other intumescent additives. However, ATH begins to dehydrate at about 180° C. and is hence unusable for use in thermoplastics resins, such as polyesters whose processing temperature is at least 200° C. MDH, on the other hand, has the advantage that its decomposition into MgO and H2O starts at a relatively high temperature (300-320° C.), thus allowing it to be melt compounded into plastics for which ATH is not sufficiently thermally stable.
Both ATH and MDH have some drawbacks. To be effective as a flame retardant, high filler loading (60 wt %) is necessary, resulting in a significant loss in mechanical properties, especially in elongation at break and stress whitening in bending deformation. Recently there has been a great demand to develop thermoplastic based resins as cable insulating materials for the cable industry. This is particularly true for automotive cable insulation applications where plasticized PVC and PE/EVA are the main polymers currently used. PVC, although a better fire retardant polymer than polyolefins, is a source of health and environmental problems due to PVC's potential for release of chlorine-containing chemicals.
The state of the current art for polypropylene composites filled with MDH particles has been provided by Hong et. al. [Hong, et.al: Journal of Applied Polymer Science 97: 2311-2318, 2005] In their summary of prior art, it is noted that the morphology, size, dispersion, and applied surface coating on particles influence the mechanical properties of MDH filled PP composites. It was found that the tensile yield strength decreased in proportion to the increase in the incorporated amount of MDH, because there was no adhesion between the filler and the polymer matrix. However, surface coating with sodium stearate was shown to enhance the compatibility with the resin, but did not afford a chemical bond between the filler and matrix. Further, surface coating with stearic acid led to the reduction in tensile yield strength of the composite compared to composites containing pure MDH, due to the lower thermodynamic work of adhesion. It was reported that PPgMA molecules were chemically bonded on the filler surface due to the acid-base interaction between carboxyl groups grafted on PPgMA and hydroxyl groups from the filler surface. While improvements were noted for PPgMA/MDH blends the surface interactions are fortuitous, different graft copolymers may have to be prepared for every matrix material. Three is no control over the molecular weight of fortuitously grafted to copolymers, hence the morphology of the final composite structure can not be controlled, nor can the amount of material attached to the MDH particle.
Therefore, there is a need for an environmentally benign flame retardant that can be efficiently dispersed in polyolefins, and other thermoplastic and thermoset plastics, to provide both flame retardancy and provide property enhancement. The present invention provides particles with attached polymer chains that are miscible in the matrix polymer. Since they are inherent nanocomposite particles, the attached polymer chains act to provide uniform dispersion of the particles throughout the matrix, thereby improving bulk physical properties such as stress behavior of the resulting alloy.

Synthesis of MDH-polymer hybrid particles


There is provided an image processing apparatus including a first storage unit for storing a first correction data for correcting a defective pixel signal outputted from a defective pixel of an image sensor, a detecting unit for detecting a defective pixel signal outputted from a defective pixel of the image sensor in accordance with a designation set by a user, a creating unit for creating a second correction data based on the defective pixel signal detected by the detecting unit, a determination unit for determining whether the second correction data is used with the first correction data, in accordance with a designation set by a user; and a correction unit for correcting a pixel signal output from the image sensor in accordance with a determination result of the determination unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a correcting process of an image picked-up by an image sensor, and in particular, relates to an extracting and correcting process of point defects generated by a defective pixel or a abnormality of dark current characteristics of an image sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been concerns about the increase in a defective pixel which outputs a defective pixel signal called a point defect as a result of an increase in the pixel number of an image sensor used by a digital camera. The point defect is generated according to leak by a structural failure of the pixel and a abnormality of dark current characteristics. There is a point defect which is generated regardless of an exposure time or a sensitivity setup and a point defect to which the necessity for correction comes out according to a shooting condition.
The following method is proposed as a correction process for data of the point defect. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-209506, black level data picked-up by the same exposure time as the exposure time at the time of a usual shooting is obtained, and the pixel which exceeds a predetermined level in the black level data is determined to be a point defect pixel. The position of the determined point defect pixel is stored, and data of the stored point defect pixel is corrected at the time of the usual shooting.
Also, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-59690, the data of the defective pixel is corrected based on position information of the defective pixel beforehand stored for a shooting image of a short exposure time. The defective pixel is detected for the shooting image of the long exposure time, and the data of the defective pixel is corrected based on the detection result.
However, with respect to the correction number of the point defect, there is a limit by restrictions of a cost and a system by a memory capacity, a correction time, etc. Since the generation state of the point defect changes according to a shooting condition, suitable correction of the point defect cannot be performed. Additionally, in a defect detection process of a usual production process, it is impossible to set up all the generation states for obtaining the correction data because of a process time, a restriction of memory capacity, etc. For the above reason, in cases where a user used an imaging apparatus in environments other than the presumed general operating environment, it is difficult to efficiently correct the point defect generated in the user's operating environment.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


The invention relates to a method for the exhaust-gas aftertreatment of an internal combustion engine (10), and to an internal combustion engine (10) having an exhaust-gas aftertreatment device for carrying out a method of said type. The internal combustion engine (10) is supplied with fresh air by way of a compressor (18), has an adjustable valve control means (12) for the inlet valves (14) and/or the outlet valves (16), and is connected to an exhaust duct (20), wherein, in the exhaust duct (20), there is arranged a first three-way catalytic converter (24), and an injection valve (26) for introducing fuel into the exhaust duct (20) is arranged, as viewed in the flow direction of an exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine (10), downstream of an outlet (22) of the internal combustion engine (10) and upstream of the first three-way catalytic converter (24). The method comprises the following steps:—operating the internal combustion engine (10) in a scavenging mode,—introducing a superstoichiometric exhaust gas into the exhaust duct (20),—metering fuel into the exhaust duct (20) upstream of the first three-way catalytic converter (24) such that a stoichiometric exhaust gas is realized at the inlet of the first three-way catalytic converter (24), and—performing aftertreatment of the stoichiometric exhaust gas by way of the first three-way catalytic converter (24).

The present invention relates to a method as well as to a device for the exhaust-gas aftertreatment of an internal combustion engine, according to the independent claims.
Legislation on exhaust-gas emissions is becoming ever-more stringent and also calling for the further optimization of fuel consumption, and consequently, the automotive industry has to meet these high requirements by taking appropriate steps to reduce the raw emissions of engines as well as by implementing appropriate exhaust-gas aftertreatment. Downsizing is being pursued in order to reduce fuel consumption, whereby smaller engines with less cubic capacity and/or fewer cylinders but which still yield a comparable performance are being used, so that the friction in the combustion chamber as well as the weight of the internal combustion engine can be reduced. The drop in performance that is primarily associated with this is often compensated for by supercharging the engine by means of a turbocharger. When it comes to small, supercharged engines, it becomes a challenge to achieve a high torque at low rotational speeds (the so-called low-end torque). Scavenging constitutes a method for increasing the torque. In this process, the opening times of the intake valves and exhaust valves overlap, so that, in the case of a positive scavenging gradient, some of the fresh air pushes the exhaust gas present in the cylinder into the exhaust manifold, as a result of which the filling of the combustion chamber is considerably improved in comparison to conventional modes of operation without valve overlapping. Owing to the increased mass flow in the exhaust gas duct, an increased rotational speed of the turbocharger allows a higher boost pressure to be established, especially at low rotational speeds. With an effective scavenging, however, a leaner-than-stoichiometric exhaust gas is established, that is to say, an excess of oxygen prevails in the exhaust gas duct, causing the function of the three-way catalytic converter to be impaired and leading to elevated nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx emissions). In view of the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) legislation currently under discussion, the operating points at low rotational speeds and high loads are likewise relevant for the certification and approval of engines and motor vehicles, making an exhaust-gas aftertreatment step necessary for the scavenging operation of an internal combustion engine.
German patent application DE 10 2013 202 196 A1 discloses a method for the exhaust-gas aftertreatment in a motor vehicle with a hybrid concept consisting of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor in which the internal combustion engine is operated in a scavenging mode, at least during certain phases, a process in which the oxygen from the leaner-than-stoichiometric exhaust gas is briefly stored in the three-way catalytic converter in order to prevent a breakthrough of nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx emissions), and the internal combustion engine is periodically operated with a rich, richer-than-stoichiometric mixture by closing the exhaust valves in order to remove the oxygen that has been stored in the three-way catalytic converter. However, this, in turn, reduces the positive effect of raising the torque at low rotational speeds.
Before this backdrop, the invention is based on the objective of raising the torque at low rotational speeds while, at the same time, making it possible to attain a highly efficient exhaust-gas aftertreatment by means of the three-way catalytic converter.

Method and device for the exhaust-gas aftertreatment of an internal combustion engine


A safety oriented article of giftware is provided by fastening a cushioning pad (15) to the coarse underside of a rectangular highway pavement lane delineator marker button (10), or a circular convex button (20). This modification structurally alters the function of buttons (10, 20) to serve as a safety catalyst for traversing the imaginary highway of life. Added structural accoutrements, such as a plaque (30), a conventional audio device (22), and a pen funnel (36) further modifies the buttons (10, 20) to provide a greater use of their safety stimuli. Also, caricatures, or images of famous or well-known persons, places and things may be used to provide a new tool and method of creating information, both visual and auditory, so that organizations can convey safety and quality assurance in products and services. Structurally modifying buttons (10, 20) greatly broadens the use of their normally passive, inert safety stimuli, and brings their catalytic safety qualities to the fore. Buttons (10, 20) provide the readily recognizable reference point for safety marking today's superhighway of life.

1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to giftware, and in particular, to an improved method and process of providing greater use of a normally passive and inert object.
2. Description of Prior Art
Generally, safety awards and inspirational, motivational giftware vary widely, with most being inappropriate to marginally adequate. Various gadgets and items have been marketed even though they are totally lacking in inspirational qualities, any connection to safety motivation, or any factors which capitalize on previously learned safety lessons.
Also, many references can be found in literature, poems, and songs mentioning an imaginary "Highway of Life". This highway can be more successfully traversed and navigated with guideposts and markings.
A common problem in today's fast paced mechanized society is how to foster, promote, and emphasize personal and occupational safety, safety management processes, and safety in services and products succinctly, with an overall prudent, cautionary, or "BE CAREFUL" approach to traveling life's modern-day superhighway. A reference point is needed that is readily recognizable to the majority of the population.
By way of example, today's heavy dependence upon the automobile requires motorists to think, perform, and cooperate in all traffic situations to avoid accidents.
Heretofore there has not been any safety reminder to the motorist when off the highway and participating in mundane tasks and work.
Eg., U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,120 (1987) to Roberts relates to a self-contained solar-powered illuminated reflector for improved visibility at a distance as a traffic safety aid which is adapted to be placed or mounted upon a highway pavement or vertical surface or wall. This device merely extends the visual safety capacities of reflective markers on the motoring highways, but does not provide any guidance to the motorist who is not on the road.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,416 (1978) to Taylor discloses an improvement on what is essentially a plunger type reflector residing in a sealed cavity housing. It requires a "region of resilient deformability", such as a spring or a foam material which allows the reflector assembly to return to its original position after the depressing force of a vehicle road wheel has been removed. In a preferred embodiment the region of resilient deformability comprises a sealed cavity formed at least in part by the body member of the stud. Thus the cavity may be formed wholly within the body member, or partly by the body member and partly by the surface of the road to which the body member is attached.
When a vehicle wheel contacts the road stud, part of it will be deformed into the cavity, and the reflector assembly will consequently be depressed. Upon removal of the depressing force, the cavity will resume its original shape and size and will restore the reflector assembly to its original position. This internal "region of resilient deformability" can be a spring completely within the housing, and that there is no need to protect a road surface. Indeed, Taylor further teaches a method of attachment to the road surface by means of nails, studs or spikes, and that used and worn out road studs may be burned off the road surface if the stud is required to be removed for example for resurfacing operations.
By providing a "means for wiping the reflecting surface when a road wheel of a vehicle passes over the road stud", and pointing out that, "the body of the shell contains a filler which is formulated to absorb impacts from traffic", it is evident that Taylor intended his safety devices to serve and expire on the road surface; i.e, to clearly be left in the street.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,818 (1975) to Boone shows a portable traffic sign and cast iron bases. It has a convex top with a round bottom and is adapted to be permanently mounted along (or within) the boundries of a vehicle roadway. The placement of this vertical traffic sign in proximity to a vehicle's path of travel enables the driver to see the displayed traffic sign among all the other regulating signs and commercial advertisements, etc., which compete for the driver's attention. Also, the device employs two wedge-shaped disks which are rotatably adjustable with respect to each other for permanently attaching the base to the ground. A base for the post enables the sign to stand vertically. The post will shear off when struck by an errant vehicle and will securely hold a traffic sign against substantially any anticipated wind load, e.g., up to about 100 M.P.H.
Boone suggests a cast iron base from approximately 155 millimeters (6 inches) to approximately 310 millimeters (12 inches) Such a base is cumbersome and is suited only for use on a roadway.
Boone makes a distinction between regulating traffic signs and commercial advertising which indicates his device is solely oriented towards motor traffic control.
Marker Supply Co., of Ontario, Calif., and Ray-O-Lite Co., of Heath Ohio, are two prominent manufacturers of highway safety equipment, including pavement delineator buttons.
Delineator buttons are manufactured to be readily seen and heard when passed over on the highway and still remain unobstructive to a vehicle's passage or clearance. They are structured to function as visual and auditory guides.
Their shapes, which are thin circular convex, or narrow rectangles or squares, inhibit and deter persons from handling and picking them up.
Generally, the most popular style of highway lane delineator buttons are approximately 102 millimeters (4 inches), circular or square, with almost flat sloping or slanting sides, and usually no higher than 19 millimeters (3/4 of an inch). They have a top surface area usually no greater than 64 millimeters (21/2 inches) to 77 millimeters (3 inches), by 26 millimeters (1 inch) to 52 millimeters (2 inches).
This small top surface area is usually blank or imprinted with model numbers. It may carry the manufacturer's trademark which is also imprinted into the marker and only seen or observed by the installer at the time of static installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,828 (1990) to Dods shows a trading card which includes a picture of a logo-bedecked racing car and driver, and information relating thereto, as well as a plain display stand that provides the ability for retaining the trading card above and behind a miniature replica of the race car. The dull and lackluster display stand in this application adds nothing to the overall visual setting of what is required in a winning car and driver combination.
A public service message produced by the U.S. Department of Transportation is a "Vince and Larry" story which is entitled, "YOU COULD LEARN A LOT FROM A DUMMY", and specifically pertains to preventing or minimizing injuries during automobile accidents "Vince and Larry" have been somewhat hobbled through their cartoon style portrayal of accidents and injuries as play and fun to young minds. ("Vince and Larry", Copyright 1991, U.S. Department of Transportation).
Further detracting from this somewhat positive approach, Tyco Industries, Inc., of Moorestown, N.J., 08057, markets toys, sold under the trademarks, "CRASH DUMMIES, CRASH CARS, CRASH CHOPPER AND CYCLE, CRASH AND BASH CHAIRS and CRASH TEST CENTER", for children, ages 4 and up. An examination of the illustrated and written advertising from the packages for these toys indicate a blurred message is being sent by visually depicting accidents and injuries as "play and fun". Advertising, "Slick Explodes On Impact", and "Dummy Flies Apart", indicates a better solution to raising safety awareness is called for.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,279 (1972) to Sharpless et al. discloses a variable color display or aesthetic devices and means for enhancing the variable color patterns produced by the device for entertainment, advertising, aesthetic or decorative effects or purposes, and mentions paperweight and desk-pen holders among the numerous possibilities of devices. While versatile, the Sharpless device is merely ornamental in nature, which is usually the case with desk-pen sets and paperweights.
None of these references provides a way of exploiting and capitalizing on previously learned safety lessons. None of these references provides any safety lessons or motivational guidance for traversing the highway of life.

Highway lane delineator buttons as motivational giftware


A television signal converting apparatus receives a high definition television signal which is processed approximately linearly on the transmission and receiving sides and whose transmission only is processed non-linearly. A non-linear level correction circuit is provided, which collectively simultaneously carries out two kinds of non-linear processes, namely, a transmission inverse gamma correction and a CRT gamma correction, which are executed on the transmission side, thus precisely reproducing the signal level of a luminance signal by using a small-scale circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a television signal converting apparatus for converting a high definition television signal into a conventional television signal and more particularly, to a television signal converting apparatus having a non-linear level correction means capable of precisely reproducing the signal level of a luminance signal of a high definition television signal which is transmitted non-linearly.
2. Description of the prior Art
A high definition television signal has a frequency band of at least 20 MHz, so that when it is transmitted by a direct broadcasting satellite or the like, it must be subjected to bandwidth compression by an appropriate method. As an effective technique to largely compress the frequency bandwidth of a high definition television signal, the MUSE (Multiple Sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding) method has been proposed. (See, for example, Y. Ninomiya, et al; "An HDTV Broadcasting System Utilizing a Bandwidth Compression Technique - MUSE", IEEE Trans. Vol. BC-33, No. 4 p. 130 (1987).)
The MUSE technique has adopted as a transmission system the so-called quasi constant luminance transmission system. In this system, an input video signal is encoded and decoded substantially linearly based on the MUSE method and transmitted non-linearly. By performing only the transmission of a video signal non-linearly, noise effects generated in transmission lines have been reduced. The quasi constant luminance transmission system is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open patent application No. 63-136790, entitled "Component Video Signal Transmission Method".
To receive a bandwidth-compressed MUSE signal, an appropriate receiver (MUSE decoder) must be used. However, such a receiver is expensive, so that it is estimated that it will take a considerably long period of time to make it popular for home use. As a result, in order to enjoy accepting the high definition television broadcasting service using a commercially available conventional television receiver, there is a signal converting apparatus available, which converts a MUSE signal into a conventional television signal. As a system to be used for this purpose, a circuit structure shown in FIG. 6 can be pointed out as an example. In FIG. 6, a signal converting circuit 2 receives from a MUSE signal input terminal 4 a MUSE signal which has been transmitted non-linearly to change the number of scanning lines thereof for generating a luminance signal and chrominance signal of the conventional television system and sends them to an inverse matrix circuit 3. The inverse matrix circuit 3 converts the luminance Y signal and the chrominance signals C1 and C2 outputted from the signal converting circuit 2 into red, green and blue (rgb) signals and sends them to a picture display device 5.
If a CRT is used as the picture display device 5, due to the difference between the non-linear characteristic that the CRT possesses and the non-linear level expansion characteristic carried out for non-linear transmission on the transmission side, a linear relationship cannot be established between an input signal level of a camera on the transmission side and a display signal level on the CRT display. As a result, the level of a luminance signal cannot be precisely reproduced on the receiving side.
In addition, as a signal converting apparatus for precisely reproducing the level of a luminance signal, a circuit structure as shown in FIG. 7 can be pointed out as an example. In FIG. 7, a transmission inverse gamma correction circuit 21 possesses such an input-output characteristic that the gradient of its curve is increased with an increase in the input signal level as shown in FIG. 8. Such an input-output characteristic is complementary to the non-linear level expansion characteristic to be carried out for the MUSE signal on the transmission side in order to transmit it non-linearly. By possessing the input-output characteristic as shown in FIG. 8, the transmission inverse gamma correction circuit 21 executes a transmission inverse gamma correction process for a MUSE signal supplied from a MUSE signal input terminal 4 for compressing the signal level thereof, thereby making the MUSE signal, which is transmitted under a state that the signal level is being expanded, into a linear signal. Then, the linear signal is sent to a signal converting circuit 2. The signal converting circuit 2 carries out the scanning line conversion of a video signal having 1125 scanning lines per frame sent from the transmission inverse gamma correction circuit 21 to generate a luminance signal Y and chrominance signals C1 and 2c of the conventional television system and sends them to a matrix circuit 3. The inverse matrix circuit 3 converts the chrominance signals C1 and C2 and luminance signal Y sent from the signal converting circuit 2 into rgb signals and sends them to a CRT gamma correction circuit 23. The gamma correction circuit 23 has an input-output characteristic as shown in FIG. 9. The gamma correction circuit 23 executes the CRT gamma correction process to expand the signal levels of the rgb signals outputted from the inverse matrix circuit 3 in response to the input-output characteristic as shown in FIG. 9 in order to correct for the non-linear characteristic that the CRT possesses, thereby sending the thus corrected RGB signals of the conventional television system to a picture display device 5.
The signal converting apparatus shown in FIG. 7 can reproduce precisely the signal level of a luminance signal. For this, however, it is necessary to have at least two kinds of non-linear processing circuits such as the transmission inverse gamma correction circuit 21 and the CRT gamma correction circuit 23. As a result, the circuit scale becomes large, which means that a problem arises in that the signal converting apparatus itself contributes to an increase in cost.

HDTV to conventional TV signal converting apparatus with non-linear level correction

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The invention includes means for, when welding a crater in a welding termination portion, moving a torch in a direction allowing the whole of the torch to part apart from a molten pool and, therefore, the invention can prevent all welding wires from coming into contact with the molten pool. Also, the invention can check not only the crater-welded welding wire but also all of the remaining welding wires for deposition and, if there is detected a deposited wire, can energize the deposition detected wire again to thereby be able to remove the deposition of the wire.

As a consumable electrode arc welding method for welding by feeding a wire in a torch, conventionally, there has been used a consumable single electrode arc welding method for welding by feeding a single wire in a torch. Also, recently, there has been also used a consumable multiple electrode arc welding method for welding by feeding two or more wires in a torch. Especially, in recent years, the consumable multiple electrode arc welding method has been applied to an automatic can manufacturing process, that is, because of its high deposition metal welding, it has been used as one of production efficiency enhancing means. Here, the term "high deposition metal welding" means the welding that forms molten deposition metal with high efficiency.
Also, in these consumable electrode arc welding methods, it is generally known that a weld bead recess called a crater is formed in the welding termination part, which makes it necessary to weld the welding termination part further for filling the crater in. To fill the crater in, in the consumable single electrode arc welding method for welding by feeding a single wire in a torch, the welding termination portion is welded by stopping the torch for a given time at the welding termination position while discharging an arc of a given condition to thereby fill the crater in. On the other hand, in the consumable multiple electrode arc welding method for welding by feeding two or more wires, due to the high molten metal welding thereof, a crater tends to be larger than in the consumable single electrode arc welding method. Because of this, simply by stopping the torch for a given time at the welding termination position for welding the crater, the crater cannot be filled in sufficiently.
Thus, conventionally, for example, in a tandem welding method which is one of consumable multiple electrode arc welding methods, there has been proposed a welding operation to be executed in the welding termination portion for filling such crater in. For instance, according to the JP-A-2002-361413 publication, there is disclosed a method in which, when a welding operation reaches a welding termination position, after the arc generation of a consumable electrode preceding in the welding proceeding direction is terminated, while keeping the arc generation of a consumable electrode following in the welding proceeding direction, the welding operation in the welding proceeding direction is continued for welding the welding termination portion. Also, in the JP-A-2002-361414 publication, when a welding operation reaches a welding termination position, after the arc generation of a consumable electrode following in a welding proceeding direction is terminated, while keeping the arc generation of a consumable electrode preceding in the welding proceeding direction, the torch is moved back in the opposite direction to the welding preceding direction for welding.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus, includes: transmission circuitry configured to transmit a first request of power feeding; power reception circuitry configured to receive a first wireless signal in response to the first request of power feeding, and charge a rechargeable battery with a power from the first wireless signal; and controlling circuitry configured to determine a transmission timing of a second request of power feeding, based on a reception history of the power reception circuitry.

Wireless power feeding is a technique of achieving power transmission without a cable, through electromagnetic induction, magnetic field resonance, radio waves or the like. Wireless power feeding does not require physical connection of devices. Accordingly, this technique has a high convenience. Furthermore, the risks of leakage and electric shock are reduced. Accordingly, safety can be ensured. According to these advantages, wireless power feeding is becoming widespread, specifically in the fields of mobile and vehicle-mounted devices.
Various schemes of wireless power feeding have been developed. There is, however, a problem of achievement of an efficient power feeding scheme, such as reduction in charging time and increase in transmissible power. Specifically, power feeding through a wireless scheme can feed power from one transmission device to multiple wireless terminals.
Consequently, such wireless feeding is expected to become further widespread.

Electronic apparatus and wireless communication method


The present invention provides a visual function disorder improving agent containing a compound having Rho kinase inhibitory activity, particularly (R)-(+)-N-(1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridin-4-yl)-4-(1-aminoethyl)benzamide, as an effective component. This agent has axon of the retinal ganglion cellal extension promoting action and optic nerve cell regeneration promoting action, and is useful for the treatment of a visual function disorder associated with various eye diseases caused by damage, defects, degeneration and the like in the retinal or optic nerve.

The retinal ganglion cell is a retinal output cell, and its-axon is also called an optic nerve fibers, runs in the retinal inner layer and the nerve fibers layer (nearest side to the vitreous body), gathers at the optic disc, leaves the eye ball, forms an optic nerve and undertakes a role of transmitting visual information to the cerebral cortex. Moreover, the retinal ganglion cell is distributed over the entire area of the retina. Accordingly, for example, a retinal damage due to inflammation and the like causes retinal neuropathy, retinal vascular occlusion, periphlebitis retinae, Eales' disease, ischemic ophthalmopathy, retinal arteriolar microaneurysm, retinopathy caused by hypertension, renal disease and blood disease, diabetic retinopathy, retinal dystrophy, macular dystrophy, chorioretinopathy, macular degeneration, macular edema, retinal pigment epithelium detachment, degenerative retinoschisis, retinoblastoma, retinal pigment epithelioma and the like, along with which a visual disorder occurs. Furthermore, degeneration and damage of the optic nerve causes the onset of optic neuritis, capillary angioma of optic disc, ischemic optic neuropathy, defects of retinal nerve fibers layer, retinal optic atrophy, neurotmesis of optic nerve, traumatic optic neuropathy, choked disc, coloboma of optic disc, optic nerve hypoplasia, toxic optic atrophy and the like, along with which a visual disorder occurs. It is further known that elevated intraocular pressure (glaucoma etc.) and the like cause atrophy and degeneration of the optic nerve, which in turn causes a visual disorder. For these visual disorders, a pharmaceutical agent capable of recovering the function of the visual information transmission pathway in the retina, particularly a pharmaceutical agent capable of neogenesis (regeneration) of the axon of retinal ganglion cell and promotion of extension thereof, and a pharmaceutical agent capable of neogenesis (regeneration) of the optic nerve cell are considered to be useful. While surgical efforts have been made in recent years such as retinal transplantation and retinal regeneration, in such efforts, too, it is highly useful to find a means and a pharmaceutical agent to promote neogenesis (regeneration) and extension of the optic nerve axon after transplantation.
On the other hand, as a compound having a Rho kinase inhibitory activity, a compound of the formula (I) to be mentioned later has been reported recently [WO98/06433 (corresponding patents: EP956865 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,410)]. Certain isoquinolinesulfonamide derivative and isoquinoline derivative are also reported to show a Rho kinase inhibitory activity (WO98/06433 and Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology 385(1) Suppl., R219, 1998). Furthermore, it has been reported that ethacrynic acid, certain vinyl benzene derivatives such as 4-[2-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorophenyl)-acryloyl]cinnamic acid and the like have a Rho kinase inhibitory activity [WO00/57914, JP-A-2000-44513 (corresponding patents: EP1094055 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,547)]. In addition, it has been reported that certain kinds of nitrogen-containing compounds, inclusive of N-[1-(3,5-dimethoxybenzyl)-tetrahydro-1H-3-pyrrolyl]-N-(1H-5-indazolyl)amine, have Rho kinase inhibitory activity (WO01/56988). It has been also reported that certain kinds of thiochroman compounds have Rho kinase inhibitory activity (WO01/68607).
The Rho kinase is a serin/threonine kinase activated along with the activation of Rho, and is known to function at the downstream of Rho and phosphorylate various substances, thereby controlling various physiological functions such as formation of stress fibers and desmosomes, contraction of smooth muscle, retraction of nerve axon and the like.
Inhibition of Rho kinase having such various physiological functions is considered to lead to the prophylaxis or treatment of various disease states, diseases and disorders. For example, as a pharmaceutical use of a compound having Rho kinase inhibitory activity, WO98/06433 widely discloses a therapeutic agent of hypertension, a therapeutic agent of angina pectoris, a cerebrovascular spasm suppressant, a therapeutic agent of asthma, a therapeutic agent of peripheral circulatory disturbance, a premature delivery preventive, a therapeutic agent of arterial sclerosis, an anticancer drug, an anti-inflammatory agent, an immunosuppressant, a therapeutic agent of autoimmune diseases, an anti-AIDS agent, a therapeutic agent of osteoporosis, a therapeutic agent of retinopathy, a cerebral function improver, a contraceptive drug, and a gastrointestinal tract infection preventive. In addition, WO01/56988 published after the earliest priority date of the present application describes that a specific compound having Rho kinase inhibitory activity is useful as a therapeutic agent of hypertension, asthma, angina pectoris, cerebrovascular contraction, peripheral circulation disorder, threatened abortion, glaucoma, tunnel vision, frequent urination, cancer, infiltration and metastasis of cancer, arteriosclerosis, retinopathy, immune response, inflammatory autoimmune disease, cerebral function disorder, osteoporosis, bacterial infection, chronic kidney failure, chronic nephritis, diabetic nephropathy, IgA nephropathy, a disease relating to the formation of thrombus, rheumatism, erectile dysfunction and fibrosis. Since it also has intraocular pressure lowering action, optic disc blood flow increasing action and aqueous humor outflow promoting action based on cilliary muscle relaxing action, its use as an agent for the prophylaxis or therapy of glaucoma has been reported [WO00/09162 (corresponding to EP1034793)]. WO00/57914 also describes its usefulness as an intraocular pressure lowering agent.
Furthermore, the compound of formula (I) has been already known to be useful as an agent for the prophylaxis or treatment of disorders of circulatory organs such as coronary, cerebral, renal, peripheral artery and the like (e.g., a therapeutic agent of hypertension, a therapeutic agent of angina pectoris, a therapeutic agent of renal and peripheral circulation disorder, a suppressive agent of cerebrovascular contraction and the like), which is potent and long lasting, and also as a therapeutic agent of asthma [JP-A-62-89679, JP-A-3-218356, JP-A-4-273821, JP-A-5-194401 (corresponding patents; EP641781 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,838), JP-A-6-41080 and WO95/28387 (corresponding patents; EP757038, U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,944 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,766)].
The isoquinolinesulfonamide derivative described in the above-mentioned WO98/06433 is known to be effective as a vasodilating agent, a therapeutic agent of hypertension, a cerebral function improver, an anti-asthma agent, a heart protecting agent, a platelet aggregation inhibitor, a therapeutic agent of neurologic manifestation, an anti-inflammatory agent, an agent for the prevention and treatment of hyperviscosity syndrome, a therapeutic agent of glaucoma, an intraocular pressure lowering agent, an improver of motor paralysis due to of cerebral thrombosis, an agent for prevention and treatment of virus infection and transcriptional control factor inhibitor [JP-A-57-200366, JP-A-61-227581, JP-A-2-256617, JP-A-4-264030, JP-A-6-56668 (corresponding patents; EP654266 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,507), JP-A-6-80569 (corresponding patent; WO94/05290), JP-A-6-293643, JP-A-7-41424, JP-A-7-277979, WO97/23222 (corresponding patents; EP868186 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,224), JP-A-9-227381, JP-A-10-45598 and JP-A-10-87491].
Moreover, the isoquinoline derivative described in the above-mentioned publication (Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology 385(1) Suppl., R219, 1998) is known to be useful as an agent for the prevention and treatment of brain tissue disorder due to vasospasm [WO97/28130 (corresponding patents; EP885888 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,608)].
However, there is no description disclosing that a compound having Rho kinase inhibitory activity has an action to improve visual function disorder or an action to improve visual function disorder caused by damage and/or degeneration of retinal nerve cell (the neural retina) or optic nerve (the nervus opticus), particularly an action to promote regeneration and extension of the axon of retinal ganglion cell.
The Rho-Rho kinase pathway is known to exhibit various functions in living organism as mentioned above, and involvement in the extension of nerve axon has been recently reported (The Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 141, 1625-1636 (1998), Neuron, 26, 431-441 (2000), The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 19(17), 7537-7547 (1999)). However, none of them directly teaches the role of Rho kinase in retinal ganglion cell or the effect afforded by a Rho kinase inhibitor, and there is no description to suggest the usefulness of the Rho kinase inhibitor in the recovery of the visual function.

Visual function disorder improving agents