An astronomical display apparatus for providing a 3-dimensional view of a plurality of scaled astronomical bodies, wherein the bodies may be elevated (to float) upon a column of air while being slowly rotated. The display apparatus includes a base having an upper, preferably flattened deck surface. The base further includes an air supply inlet tube that is coupled to air cups mounted on the deck surface to enable a source of pressurized air emitted from the air cups to form the columns of air. The apparatus may be provided with several interchangeable deck surfaces wherein each deck surface may represent a distinct collection or grouping of astronomical bodies, such as stars, planets, and or moons.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to display and presentation devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a scaled astronomical display apparatus to provide a simulated 3-D rendering of a group of astronomical bodies, such as stars, planets, moons, and the like.
2. Background and Objects of the Invention
Simple and effective display apparatus are essential for introducing new subject matter to students and other unfamiliar persons. As the theory of science can be somewhat dry, educators and lecturers often turn to devices and apparatus that capture the essence of a subject, as well as an on-lookers attention. Next, after an overview has been presented via a display apparatus, and or other suitable means, the theory and associated topics may be presented and discussed.
When considering astronomical simulators and demonstration apparatus, a typical prior art display-type device is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,011 to Alnafissa, which discloses a `Solar System Simulator`. The Alnafissa invention is a complicated mechanical simulation device of a scaled representation of Earth and our solar system. This apparatus enables the relative circumferential motion of the planets around the sun in simulated orbits while floating on air. This invention also includes a plurality of blower devices to aid in powering and elevating the simulated planets and the sun, and further requires internal gears, wheels, and a variety of other structures. This device is not a low cost device, and may be prone to mechanical failure. Further, this device is limited to only being able to simulate Earth and our solar system.
The art presently lacks a low cost display apparatus having a simple construction that will still capture the interest of one or more individuals during a lesson, lecture or seminar. Objects of the present invention are, therefore, to provide new and improved astronomical display apparatus (e.g., simulators) having one or more of the following capabilities, features, characteristics, and/or advantages:
display device capable of presenting an arrangement of simulated astronomical bodies; PA1 simple base unit design with rotating deck surface; PA1 configured requiring only a means to supply (or to produce) a source of pressurized air; PA1 easily constructable using many plastic low-cost parts; PA1 scaled astronomical bodies may be provided in a foam material or substance, and preferably may be covered with a self-illuminating or glow-in-the-dark type of covering; PA1 may include a plurality of easily changeable deck surfaces simulating differing arrangements of stars, planets, moons, etc.; and PA1 having a simple low cost construction.
The above listed objects, advantages, and associated novel features of the present invention, as well as others, will become more clear with a careful review of the description and figures provided herein. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings and the associated description are illustrative only, and variations are certainly possible.


A periscopic beam director is disclosed. The periscopic beam director can be configured with a hemispheric field of regard, in a volume that minimizes external structure or dome size when mounted on a host vehicle (e.g., airplane or UAV). One embodiment combines a Risley Prism refractive beam steering arrangement with an angled azimuthal mount. By using refraction in combination with reflection for changing the beam direction within an optical unit, a substantially more compact periscopic beam director can be realized.

Periscopic beam directors have generally been designed as all-reflective systems, for applications that must handle a wide spectral range. Example such applications include a beam-director mounted on the surface of a host vehicle. In such applications, the beam director typically is mounted proximate a cutout in the frame of the host vehicle.
An optical dome is mounted over the cutout, so as to allow the beam director to extend beyond the cutout, so that the beam director can view its field of regard. The optical dome also operates to protect the optics, and to maintain host vehicle pressure seal (e.g., for high altitude deployment).
In order to fold the light around within the outer dome, periscopic beam directors generally require a dome with an inner diameter at least 4 to 5 times the diameter of the clear aperture (sometimes referred to as free aperture or objective aperture) of the optical beam. As is known, the clear aperture is the opening in the mount of an optical system that restricts the extent of the rays incident on the given surface. The clear aperture is typically circular and specified by its diameter.
What is needed, therefore, is a periscopic beam director with a hemispheric field of regard, in a volume that minimizes external structure or dome size when mounted on a host vehicle.

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


A communication system of a motor vehicle includes: a first image recording apparatus arranged in the motor vehicle and oriented toward a driver, a first evaluating module for determining a detected viewing direction of the driver from the image recorded by the first image recording apparatus, a determining unit that determines a point of intersection of the detected viewing direction and a windshield of the motor vehicle, and a projection device, connected to the determining unit, for projecting a marking onto the windshield. The position of the marking includes the point of intersection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication system of a motor vehicle for vehicle-to-vehicle communication.
2. Related Art
Systems for communication from vehicle to vehicle are already known. Such systems which are also referred to as C2C or C2X systems. The communication is generally carried out via a short-range radio link in ad-hoc networks. These systems make it possible to transmit an item of information from one vehicle to a plurality of adjacent vehicles. The information may, for example, be a hazard message, a hazard being detected via sensors in a first vehicle and a corresponding hazard message being created and transmitted. Thus, it is possible, for example, to inform vehicles about slippery roads or a traffic jam. In addition, WO 2008/049868 A1 discloses a method for establishing a communication link with one or multiple vehicles in a targeted manner. Here, the link is established with the aid of telematics units in the respective vehicles. The link is established after entering a registration number of the vehicle to be called.
In addition, various information and assistance systems for vehicles are known.
In so-called head-up systems, important information for the driver is projected onto a windshield of a vehicle with the aid of a projection device. This information, for example, relates to the speed or to navigation information.
Furthermore, so-called night vision systems are known, in which the road course in front of the vehicle is monitored with the aid of an infrared camera or with the aid of radar, whereby persons or animals can be detected and a corresponding warning can be projected onto the windshield with the aid of the head-up display.
In addition, eye tracking systems are known, in which the eye movement of a person is detected with the aid of a camera and a viewing direction is determined.


An optical module including a temperature measurement module and an optical part having a temperature dependency. The module includes a temperature control part mounted directly or indirectly on the optical part and the temperature measurement part for controlling a temperature of the optical part and the measurement part by thermal contact. An adjustment system is also provided for adjusting a difference of the temperature of the optical part and the measurement part by controlling the heat flow into/out of the optical part or the measurement part.

In WDM communication, an increase of transmission volume, a higher density multiplexing technique with a narrower wavelength band is adopted, wherein laser sources with accurately controlled wavelength have been required. Generally, it is required that a wavelength of an optical signal is stable for long period of time in high density WDM. Therefore, a wavelength monitor is needed for monitoring a change of wavelength of an optical signal and used for controlling to stabilize it. An optical module equipped with a conventional wavelength monitor is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2000-56185 as an example.
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a configuration of an optical module having a conventional wavelength monitor. As shown in FIG. 15, the conventional optical module comprises:
a laser diode 50 which emits a laser at predetermined oscillation wavelength;
an optical fiber 51 which is optically connected to the laser diode 50 and transmits a laser that emitted from a front portion (In FIG. 15, right-hand side) of the laser diode 50;
an optical filter 52 which allows to pass only the laser beam of a predetermined wavelength;
a beam splitter 53 comprising a half mirror which divides into two directions the laser beam (monitoring light) emitted from a rear portion (In FIG. 15, left-hand side) of the laser diode 50;
a 1st photodiode 54 which receives one of laser beam after divided by the beam splitter 53 and passed the optical filter 52;
a 2nd photodiode 55 which receives another laser beam after divided by the beam splitter 53;
a Peltier module 56 which controls a temperature of the laser diode 50;
and a control unit 57 which controls the Peltier module 56 to control the wavelength of laser diode 50 responding to a PD current generated by the 1st photodiode 54 and the 2nd photodiode 55.
A focusing lens 58 for coupling the laser emitted from the front portion of the laser diode 50 into the optical fiber 51 is placed between the laser diode 50 and the optical fiber 51. In addition, a collimator lens 59, which makes a parallel ray of the laser emitted from the rear portion of the laser diode 50, is placed between the laser diode 50 and the beam splitter 53.
The laser diode 50, the focusing lens 58, and the collimator lens 59 are mounted on the LD career 60. The 1st photodiode 54 and the 2nd photodiode 55 are mounted on the 1st PD career 61 and the 2nd PD career 62 respectively.
The wavelength monitor 63 is composed by the beam splitter 53, the optical filter 52, the 1st photodiode 54, the 2nd photodiode 55, the 1st PD career 61, and the 2nd PD career 62.
The laser diode 50 and the wavelength monitor 63 are placed within the package 64. And a ferrule 65 holding a tip of the optical fiber 51 is fixed to the side of the package 64 by a sleeve 66.
The laser beam emitted from the front portion of the laser diode 50 is focused by the focusing lens 58 and carried incident upon the optical fiber 51 held by the ferrule 65 and transmitted outside.
On the other hand, the laser emitted from the rear portion of the laser diode 50 is made to a parallel light ray by the collimator lens 59 and divided by the beam splitter 53 into two directions, whereof Z-axis direction (transmission direction) and X axis direction perpendicular to the Z-axis direction (reflection direction). The laser beam in the Z-axis direction is filtered in wavelength by the optical filter 52 and sensed by the 1st photodiode 54. The laser beam in the X-axis direction is sensed by the 2nd photodiode 55. The PD current from the 1st photodiode 54 and the 2nd photodiode 55 are fed to the control unit 57, and the control unit 57 controls the Peltier module 56 for controlling a temperature and maintaining a wavelength of the laser diode 50 corresponding to the PD current.
Furthermore, a laser module without such a wavelength monitor has been traditionally used as well, but even for such a conventional laser module, accurate controlling of temperature is needed for a semiconductor laser in order to improve its accuracy of the wavelength control. Refer to Japanese Patent Provisional Publication-No. 1992-75394.
The optical filter 52 furnished in the wavelength monitor 63 described above is made of, for example, Etalon having a temperature dependency in the optical transmission characteristics. One optical filter shows a shifting of 0.01 nm/degree C. for the wavelength dependency of transmission characteristics to the shorter wavelength side. Also, the heat transfers to the optical filter 52 by thermal radiation from the outside of the package 64, therefore the optical filter 52 has a temperature dependency on the case. So the wavelength of the optical signal may not be controlled well accurately in some cases due to a temperature change of the optical filter 52 with the conventional type wavelength monitor 63. Refer to Japanese Patent Provisional Publications No.2002-335036, No.2001-308444.
Furthermore, a laser diode of oscillator has a temperature dependency in the lasing wavelength, for example, a wavelength of a certain semiconductor laser shifts by 0.08 nm/degree C. Utilizing this, a variable wavelength type is made in some cases, however it is needed to control the temperature being constant in order to maintain the wavelength stabilized during its operation.
There are several methods for controlling a wavelength. One method is controlling a temperature by a temperature control unit while monitoring a change of the wavelength by a wavelength monitor, another is controlling a temperature by a temperature control unit while measuring a change of the temperature of the laser diode measured by a temperature sensor such as a thermistor.
As the ambient temperature changes, the amount of heat flow from the package into the laser diode through the bonding wire or the gas changes. In this situation, even if the temperature control for the laser diode and the thermistor is conducted on the same career, in some occasion the control may not follow the rapid change of the surrounding temperature, or when a temperature difference between the laser diode and the thermistor is produced, accurate measurement of the temperature is not taken. Consequently, it may cause a problem that the lasing wavelength cannot be stabilized.
In addition, the laser diode is cooled down to approximately 0 degree C. in order to have a wider variable range of the wavelength, while it may located where ambient temperature reaches 70 degree C. approximately at some conditions, wherein the amount of heat flow from the package becomes larger and hence it is likely to cause a large temperature difference between the laser diode and the thermistor.

Optical transmission module with temperature control


A communication information registering unit (11) acquires communication information that contains a sender, a receiver, and a sending time of information communicated between users that are communicating, and stores the communication information in a storage unit (12). A response time calculation unit (13) finds response time of the users from the communication information. A threshold value setting unit (14) finds a threshold value for determining the statuses of the users from distribution of frequencies of the response time. A current status determination unit (15) determines the status of a counterpart user from the response time by using the threshold value. A notification unit (16) notifies a user of the current status of its counterpart user.

As informatization advances, a communication tool such as e-mail becomes necessary for our daily life. Communication through a telephone is immediate and can convey the feeling of an information sender, but constrains the receiver to a call. Meanwhile, although communication through e-mail has limitations about conveying the feeling, information can be sent and received in a short time, and has an advantage of no need to worry about the receiver's inconvenience, unlike communication through a telephone.
However, in interaction through these communication tools, there may be inconvenience since it cannot be known whether a receiver can communicate now or wants to communicate later. In addition, where an information receiver forgets to respond due to mixture in a large amount of information, it may be difficult for an information sender to determine to resend information since the information sender cannot grasp in which situation the information receiver is in: having failed in passing, issuing or sending a message, being unable to respond, forgetting to respond, or the like.
With respect to forgetting to reply to an e-mail, Patent Literature 1 discloses an art to extract an unanswered e-mail; Patent Literature 2 discloses an art to previously set whether an e-mail needs to be replied to or not; and Patent Literature 3 discloses a system to set a reply alarm to an e-mail that needs to be replied to, thereby performing notification.
Patent Literature 7 discloses an art to store a schedule that urges to respond to a received e-mail, to generate a notification mail on the basis of the stored schedule, to receive the notification mail in a pseudo manner, and to store the received notification mail as an e-mail.
Patent Literature 8 discloses an e-mail processing support device configured to analyze an e-mail by using a basic dictionary and user dictionary and to find the sum of priority points. This enables the e-mail processing support device disclosed in Patent Literature 8 to display the order of processing of e-mails in a list in order of priority or in order of tasks to be processed or in a calendar.
Patent Literature 4 discloses an art to search, data that is expected to be required by a user, from status data and an important word, on the basis of a status of the user and change of the status. Patent Literature 5 discloses an art to use a general-purpose formula for analyzing performance thereby to predict a web page access response time distribution in a plurality of assumed network. Patent Literature 6 discloses an information distribution method: including deciding order to distribute information to users on the basis of response time until an access destination specified by address information receives an access from a user; and distributing an e-mail to users according to the decided order to distribute.

Communication support system, communication support method, and recording medium


An Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) distance acceleration device accelerates data transfers between an iSCSI initiator and an iSCSI target over a network, such as the Internet or a wide area network (WAN). The acceleration device resides in a communication path between the iSCSI initiator and the iSCSI target. The acceleration device receives an iSCSI protocol data unit (PDU) targeted to the iSCSI target by the iSCSI initiator. The acceleration device forwards the iSCSI PDU over the network to the iSCSI target and transmits a response to the iSCSI PDU that anticipates a response to be generated by the iSCSI target upon receiving the iSCSI PDU.

Internet protocol (IP) networks are ubiquitous in businesses and enterprises and local area networks (LAN) are commonplace. Expertise with LANs and LAN components is also widespread. Many LAN components are readily available in the market and readily deployable, and various high performance LAN components (e.g., 1 Gb/sec) are becoming increasingly available. Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) is an emerging technology capable of capitalizing on these industry conditions to produce high performance storage networks at a relatively low cost in terms of capital expense and human resources. In general, iSCSI is a transport protocol for establishing and managing connections between IP-based storage devices, hosts, and clients. The iSCSI protocol provides a mechanism for encapsulating SCSI commands for transmission over an IP network.
FIG. 1 illustrates a simple example of the iSCSI protocol in operation. In this example, an iSCSI initiator device 10 is attempting to store data at an iSCSI target device 14 across over a network 18. The initiator 10 sends a protocol data unit (PDU) encapsulating a SCSI write command. In reply, the target 14 queues the command, prepares buffers, and sends a PDU encapsulating a ready-to-transmit (R2T) message to the initiator 10. When the initiator 10 receives the R2T PDU, it begins to transmit a data PDU. When the target 14 receives the data, it buffers the data and replies with another R2T message. The initiator 10 and target 14 may exchange additional data and R2T PDUs until the initiator 10 sends the final SCSI data. The target 14 then replies with a Status PDU indicating that the transfer of the data was successful.
Another emerging trend is the implementation of storage networks over Wide Area Networks (WAN) using long distance communication lines. Long distances between initiator and target devices, however, can result in low performance during storage transmission. The cause is latency: the time required for the commands, data, status, and other iSCSI PDUs to complete a round trip between the initiator and the target. Depending upon the distance and the particular communication paths taken by the iSCSI PDUs through the WAN, latency for a single request and response can be in the order of tens to hundreds of milliseconds. In addition, data transfers can involve several request and response transactions, which operate to magnify the overall latency for a full write transaction. Consequently, such latency can be an impediment to the adoption of iSCSI for storage networks implemented across WANs.

Internet small computer systems interface (iSCSI) distance acceleration device


The present invention provides devices, methods, and systems for coupling a rational agent to a quantum process. In particular, the present invention provides rational agents configured to influence a quantum process, or to derive information from a quantum process, and methods and uses thereof.

The fields of cognitive science, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence (AI) have long sought an answer to the question of how conscious thoughts and intentional desires control a body embedded in the physical world. This is the mind-body problem: how does conscious Will affect the quantum processes controlling neuronal activity in the brain (e.g. synaptic vesicle release, etc.) to produce behavior consistent with the intent? Because the macroscopic world is deterministic, the model necessarily posits that a Mind can interact with matter, without violating conservation of energy principles, only by manipulating the fundamentally-random (acausal) processes at the level of quantum mechanics (Larmer, 1986; Morowitz, 1987; Penrose, 1996; herein incorporated by reference in their entireties). A model of this process has been developed wherein conscious intent not only affects the behavior of particles inside a brain, but also affects quantum events outside the brain (Herman and Walker, 1972; Jahn and Dunne, 1986; Jibu and Yasue, 1995; Schwartz et al., 2005; Stapp, 1993; Stapp, 1999; herein incorporated bu reference in their entireties). Such experiments use a device known as a quantum random number generator (qRNG). A qRNG is a device that uses quantum-mechanical events, which are in principle unpredictable and thus not physically determined to produce a stream of random bits (e.g. a stream of 1's and 0's). It has been demonstrated that conscious intent of a human subject or animal can deviate the statistical distribution of the qRNG's output. An extensive body of work and statistical analysis demonstrate that a human or animal operator can deviate the output of a calibrated qRNG (e.g., cause it to produce more 1's than it otherwise would produce). (Franklin et al., 2005; Jahn et al., 1997; Peoch, 1988; Peoch, 1995; Schmidt, 1971; herein incorporated by reference in their entireties).
In quantum mechanics, wave function collapse (also called collapse of the state vector or reduction of the wave packet) is the phenomenon in which a wave function, initially in a superimposition of several different possible eigenstates, appears to reduce to a single one of those states after interaction with an observer. It is the reduction of the physical possibilities into a single possibility as seen by an observer (J. von Neumann (1955). Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton University Press; herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.). A branch of quantum mechanics posits that the consciousness of an observer is the demarcation line that precipitates collapse of the wave function, independent of any realist interpretation. Commonly known as "consciousness causes collapse", this interpretation of quantum mechanics states that observation by a conscious observer is what makes the wave function collapse. The interpretation identifies the non-linear probabilistic projection transformation that occurs during measurement with the selection of a definite state by a mind from the different possibilities that it could have in a quantum mechanical superposition. In other words, creatures' minds somehow cause microscopic-scale probabilities to become reality. Such an interpretation follows strict predictable laws—it can be studied, and tamed (e.g., as inventions like CD players demonstrate) by appropriate technology, despite the lack of understanding of the mechanisms that underlie it (as is true for much of quantum mechanics).
In using human or animal subjects, the experimenter has very little control over the functioning of this complex intentional system (a biological mind-brain). Because of the ethical impossibility of making radical changes in human consciousness, and the lack of current knowledge about relevant aspects of brain/mind function, scientists have been unable to determine precisely what aspects of information processing, or other events, in their living subjects enable interfacing to quantum-mechanical processes in the real world. Moreover, because of these difficulties and the fundamental uniqueness of all biological forms (which prevents parallelizing the effect to increase its power because individual animals' influences cancel out and are not simply additive), useful applications of this effect have not been produced.

Coupling of rational agents to quantum processes


A cordless telephone with no control channels which makes connection possible even when the handset or the base unit is within the area of another cordless telephone. When effecting connection between the handset and base unit through a pair of communication channels, connection request data is transmitted from one to the other of the handset and base unit by using one of a pair of communication channels paired with the other which is available as seen from the transmitting side. From the other side, on which the communication request data is received, data indicating whether the communication channel through which the connection request data has been transmitted is busy or not is sent. The transmission of connection request data is repeated through different communication channels until the data sent back indicates an available channel. When the data sent back indicates an available channel, connection is effected from then on between the handset and base unit through this available pair of channels.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for allocating channels when effecting connection in a cordless telephone.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the United States, 10 communication channels for communication are authorized for use in the cordless telephone by the FCC (the Federal Communications Commission). However, as the penetration into general usage of the cordless telephone increases, a shortage of communication channels has become a problem. In view of this, another 15 channels are scheduled to be added to the 10 channels mentioned above, which means 25 channels in total are due for use in the near future.
Every one of these channels is duplex, with up and down channels paired with each other.
As in the case of the extremely-low-power system adopted in Japan, the cordless telephone system in the United States is provided with no control channels; it only has communication channels, with the result that problems can be generated at the time of calling out from the handset.
Suppose, for example, a base unit B1 and a handset H1, which is associated therewith, are connected to each other by using a third channel, as shown in FIG. 3.
Further, suppose, at this time, the reachable area of the down-channel radio wave transmitted from the base unit B1 is AB1, which, as indicated by the solid line, is a substantially circular area, with the base unit B1 at the center thereof. The handset H1 is situated within this area AB1. Further, suppose the reachable area of the up-channel radio wave transmitted from the handset H1 is AH1. This area AH1, indicated by the broken line, is a substantially circular area, with the handset H1 at the center thereof. The base unit B1 is situated within this area AH1.
Further, suppose another base unit B2 is situated outside the reachable area AB1 of the radio wave of the base unit B1 and within the reachable area AH1 of the radio wave of the handset H1. Suppose, further, a handset H2, associated with the base unit B2, is situated outside the areas AB1 and AH1. Actually, however, the base units B1 and B2 are fixed stations, which means they are situated from the beginning at the positions shown in the drawing, with the handsets H1 and H2 having moved to their positions shown.
In this condition, suppose the handset H2 has sent a call-out request (request for connection) to the base unit B2 through the third up-channel. When seen from the handset H2, the third third up-channel paired with the down-channel is an available channel.
However, when seen from the base unit E-2, the third up-channel is busy, so that it cannot be used for communication according to the rules laid down by the FCC. Thus, the base unit B2 cannot open an up-channel for communication with the handset H2.
Similarly, when the base unit sends a call-in request to the handset, the down-channel may be busy when seen from the handset although the up-channel is available when seen from the base unit. In this case also, it is impossible, under the circumstances, to open a communication channel.

Apparatus and method for allocating channels in plural communication units


The present invention provides a semiconductor device in which a first conductive layer included in a stack having a transistor and a second conductive layer over a substrate are electrically connected. The semiconductor device provides a conductive layer for electrically connecting the first conductive layer included in the stack having the transistor (for example, a conductive layer provided on the same layer as a gate electrode included in the transistor, a conductive layer provided on the same layer as a source wiring or a drain wiring connected to a source or drain of the transistor, a conductive layer provided in the same layer as the wire connected to the source wiring or the drain wiring, or the like) and the second conductive layer (for example, a conductive layer functioning as an antenna or a connection wire) provided over the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a transistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, semiconductor devices capable of transmitting and receiving data wirelessly have been developed. Such semiconductor devices are called an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), an RF chip, an RF tag, an IC chip, an IC tag, an IC label, a wireless chip, a wireless tag, an electronic chip, an electronic tag, a wireless processor, a wireless memory (for example, refer to Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-282050) and the like, and have already been introduced into some field.
The semiconductor device capable of transmitting and receiving data wirelessly uses an antenna, and is classified roughly into two categories: a semiconductor device including a substrate over which both of a transistor and an antenna are provided is used, and a semiconductor device including a first substrate provided with a transistor and a second substrate provided with an antenna are used. These two types of semiconductor devices are used properly in accordance with a frequency band in many cases. In addition, it is necessary to increase the space for an antenna in order to lengthen the communication distance of such a semiconductor device. Therefore, the first substrate provided with the transistor and the second substrate provided with the antenna are often used to increase the space for the antenna.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd


A cutting blade holder assembly has a first subassembly attachable to a machine frame and a second assembly coupled to the first subassembly and removable therefrom. A cutting tool having a circular outer contour is mounted on the second subassembly, and only one of the opposing sides of the cutting tool is supported via the first assembly such that the assembly is of narrower overall width permitting narrower strips to be slit from a web. A force applying mechanism acts between the first and second subassemblies for maintaining the subassemblies in a side-by-side relationship.

This invention relates generally to a cutting blade holder assembly which includes a first subassembly attachable to a machine frame, and a second subassembly coupled to the first subassembly and being removable therefrom, a cutting tool having a substantially circular outer contour being mounted on the second subassembly.
A pair or pairs of cooperating blades are used to process substrates, for example, relatively wide webs of paper, film, fabric, metal, plastic or the like, by slitting or perforating the webs in the longitudinal direction to form narrow strips. After such operation, the resulting slitted strips travel together to another processing machine, such as a winding machine at which the cut strips are wound into rolls. The cutting tool usually comprises one or more cutting pairs including an upper circular cutting blade and a lower circular interacting knife blade designed as a counter-tool.
The substrate to be machined, for example, a web of paper, may bear against a lower rotatable cylinder for effecting the longitudinal slits. During the machining operation the cutting tools must interact with one another so that a desired machining quality can be obtained. Thus, if during a scissor cut effected with rotary upper and lower knives, the interacting edges to not interact well with one another during the cutting operation, unclean cut edges of the paper web will result which can lead to problems during the subsequent winding operation of the cut strips. Similar undesired consequences can occur if the web of paper, film, fabric, plastic, metal or the like is not cleanly perforated during the machining operation.
The cutting tool or tools are mounted in a holder or holders side-by-side on a guide or the like so that several strips lying side-by-side can be cut simultaneously from an endless web.
In order to maintain the cutting tools aligned during the machining operation, they are supported by such holders mounted on the processing machine. Such a holder is disclosed in European Patent No. 0 333 001 which includes a first holding device which can be inserted into and attached to the machine frame. A second holding device is coupled to the first device and is removable therefrom, the cutting tool in the shape of a circular knife blade or perforated knife or the like being attached to the second holding device. In such manner the cutting tool can be removed, when necessary, and replaced by another tool. The first and second holding devices of the prior art holder are, however, designed in such manner that the knife blade is rotatably supported on opposite sides. Thus, the cutting tool holder must be relatively long in the direction of the axis of rotation of the cutting tool. And, the distance between individual knives arranged side-by-side in the machine can be arranged only as short as the overall design of the holder permits. Since this known holder is of such relatively wide dimension in the axial direction of the knife blade, only relatively wide strips can be cut from a substrate.


A method and apparatus for filtering microorganisms from a sample and culturing the microorganisms employs a membrane filter (3) in a filter holder (10) in which holder the membrane filter is supported on an absorbent support (26) which is maintained in an expansible compressed state against the membrane filter so that any expansion of the membrane filter when wetted by a sample does not cause bubbling of the membrane filter away from its support entrapping air bubbles and so preventing supply of nutrient from culture medium supplied to the support from reaching the microorganisms on the membrane filter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the filtration of micro-organisms from a sample and the culture of the micro-organisms in situ on the filter used in the filtration.
2. Description of the Related Art
As discussed in EP0150775, it is known to capture micro-organisms for culture by the membrane filtration of a sample through a sterile membrane placed on a porous holder. After filtration the membrane may be removed and deposited on to a gelatinous culture medium contained in a Petri dish. The Petri dish may then be incubated at a suitable temperature for the time necessary for the micro-organisms to be able to develop and multiply sufficiently to form colonies visible to the naked eye to permit them to be identified and counted.
Even slightly contaminated samples may be evaluated as the micro-organisms are concentrated on the membrane, and it is possible to filter a significant volume of sample to collect a sufficient number of micro-organisms. However, disadvantages which arise in this method are first that the colonies can run out of nutrients in the local area of the agar medium, which in circumstances where there are large numbers of bacteria on the membrane can result in suppression of growth of individual colonies. Also, care must be exercised in placing the membrane filter on the culture medium to avoid entrapping any air bubbles between the culture medium and the membrane which would prevent contact between the culture medium and a portion of the surface of the membrane, thereby opposing diffusion of the culture medium and inhibiting micro-organism development.
In an alternative procedure, it has been proposed to place the membrane containing the filtered bacteria on to a filter paper wick to conduct nutrient medium to the membrane. However, the amount of medium added to the wick has to be carefully controlled in order that the membrane filter does not become too moist such that confluent growth is observed rather than the growth of individual colonies.
Also , these techniques generally involve the transfer of the membrane from the filtration apparatus to the culturing operation and this additional step has the potential to introduce contamination as the membrane is exposed to the air. It also means that culturing cannot start until the samples have travelled from the sampling site to the laboratory, which take a period of several hours.
As further disclosed in EP-B-0150775, it has been proposed to remedy some of these inconveniences by the use of apparatus consisting of a sterile box with circular elements nested into one another and a removable cover. The box includes an inlet and an outlet disposed on both sides of a holder on which an absorbent pad and a filtration membrane lie, clamped at the periphery of the holder by one of the circular elements. After filtration, a culture medium is introduced through the outlet, that is counter currently to the filtration operation, to saturate the absorbent pad. The box can be placed in an incubator to permit the collected micro-organisms to develop. This avoids the need for any transfer operation after filtration and before culturing and permits samples to be directly taken on the site at which the liquid is collected. However, as stated in EP-B0150775, this method still has serious draw-backs. In particular, the membrane diameter increases when the membrane becomes wetted and since the membrane and the absorbent pad, which are clamped at their periphery to the sterile box, are kept dry prior to use, upon filtration of the sample the wetting of the pad and the membrane may cause the membrane filter to part from the absorbent pad. This will prevent contact between the membrane and the pad saturated with the culture medium and thus disturb the development of the micro-organisms upon incubation.
EP-B0150775 proposes an elaborate solution to this problem which involves sealing a membrane filter across the bottom of a tubular holder such that the holder can be pressurised with air to bulge the membrane outwardly prior to mating it against the surface of a gelled nutrient medium in a cup. This reintroduces the danger of contamination of the system during the manipulation involved. Any micro-organism contamination of the interface between the nutrient medium and the filter membrane is likely to interfere with the growth of the micro-organisms on the opposite face of the membrane filter. Furthermore, the apparatus depicted in EP-B0150775 is unduly elaborate and cumbersome to manufacture and to use.
We have now appreciated that the problem outlined in EP-B0150775 is capable of a substantially simpler solution which avoids reintroducing the draw-backs inherent in the earlier prior art.
Accordingly, the present invention now provides a method for filtering micro-organisms from a sample and culturing the micro-organisms, which method comprises filtering a sample containing micro-organisms through a membrane filter in a filter holder in which holder the membrane filter is supported on an absorbent support, and then supplying culture medium to the micro-organisms on the membrane filter in the filter holder by absorbing the medium into the absorbent support, characterised in that the absorbent support is maintained in an expansible compressed state against the membrane filter.
By virtue of the absorbent support being compressed against the membrane filter, if expansion of the membrane filter takes place any tendency of the membrane filter to expand away from the absorbent support is countered by the absorbent support being able to expand and maintain contact with the membrane filter.
There is therefore no need to remove the membrane filter from the absorbent support after the filtration operation and to mate the surface of the membrane filter against a gel of nutrient medium. Instead, sterile nutrient medium may be applied directly to the compressed absorbent support in the filter holder.
The absorbent support is preferably of reticulated foam. Suitable polymer foams are available made from a wide variety of plastics materials such as polyethers, polyesters, polypropylene, polyvinylchloride and polyurethanes. Preferred polymer foams are of from 50 to 200 ppi (pores per inch) (equivalent to 20 to 80 pores per centimeter) e.g. Approximately 100 ppi (equivalent to 40 pores per centimeter).
Suitably, the absorbent support takes the form of a block of such reticulated foam having a free uncompressed thickness of 0.5 to 3 cm, e.g. about 1 cm and presenting a major face on which the membrane filter may be placed directly or, more preferably, with a layer of a wick material such as filter paper between the membrane filter and the absorbent support.
Preferably, the absorbent support is compressed to a is thickness of from 7/8ths to 1/10th of its free uncompressed thickness. The degree of compression need not be uniform over the whole area of the absorbent support. For instance, if the compression is actually applied at the edges of the absorbent support, the compression in the centre of the absorbent support may well be significantly less.
Preferably, between the membrane filter and the absorbent support of reticulated foam there is an intermediate compression spreading support layer transmitting compression forces applied to the edges of the assembly of the membrane filter, compression spreading layer and absorbent support of reticulated foam so that the centre of the assembly is also under compression. Such a compression spreading layer may conveniently be provided by a sheet of filter paper. Other suitable materials may be employed. They should preferably be flexible and porous. Preferably, such a compression spreading material also serves as a wick to draw culture medium from the absorbent support and to supply it to the membrane filter. It should not obstruct expansion of the absorbent support to match expansion of the membrane filter. It may be chosen to expand as much as the membrane filter when wetted.
A liquid sample to be filtered can be placed in a sample chamber above the membrane filter and can be drawn through the membrane filter by suitable means such as a vacuum pump or syringe. The filtered liquid will be withdrawn through an outlet from the filter holder. Preferably, the culture medium is supplied to the absorbent support for the membrane filter through this same outlet. To facilitate this, the apparatus may be inverted at this stage. Preferably, the culture medium is initially contained in a sealed container in which it can be maintained in a sterile condition and the container of culture medium is connected to the outlet of the filter holder prior to the seal being broken to release the culture medium on to the absorbent support.
The invention includes apparatus for use in filtering and culturing micro-organisms comprising a filter holder defining a flow-path for fluid to be filtered, a filter member in said flow-path comprising a membrane filter supported on an absorbent support, and means compressing said absorbent support against the membrane filter.
Preferably, the filter holder may comprise telescopically interfitting first and second sections, said first section having a floor containing an outlet for filtered fluid and a peripheral wall, said membrane filter and said absorbent support therefore being received in said first section on said floor with said membrane filter further away from said floor, and said second section of the filter holder being received in said first section and compressing said membrane filter and said absorbent support against said floor.
The outlet in the floor of the first section of the filter holder may be bridged by a porous support surface underlying the absorbent support of the membrane filter.
Suitably, the outlet in the floor of the first section of the filter holder is adapted for connection to a syringe by a standard syringe fitting.
The apparatus further includes an assay kit comprising apparatus as described above together with a container of sterile liquid culture medium for introduction on to the absorbent support.
Preferably, said container of culture medium is adapted to mate with the outlet of the first section of the filter holder to allow introduction of the culture medium therethrough on to the absorbent support.
Preferably, means are provided at the outlet of the first section of the filter holder for co-operating with the seal of the container of culture medium to break said seal and release the culture medium after a connection has been established between the container of culture medium and the filter holder.

Filtration and culture methods and apparatus


Games of skill or chance which provide a player, who has received a wild indicia during one game, with the opportunity to reserve that wild indicia for use in a subsequent game.

The present invention is directed to games and, more particularly, to novel games which provide a player with the opportunity to reserve a xe2x80x9cwildxe2x80x9d indicia from one play for use in a subsequent play.
Games utilizing playing cards are popular throughout the world. Many people get hours of enjoyment and relaxation from playing cards. In certain parts of the world, wagering adds an additional dimension of excitement to the game. Whether in xe2x80x9ccard roomxe2x80x9d games where the players play against each other or in a traditional xe2x80x9ccasinoxe2x80x9d game environment where an employee of the house acts as a banker, wagering adds excitement to many forms of card games.
Players involved in card games with wagering often enjoy new games with relatively simple rules that can readily be learned by a beginner or casual player.
Typical card games involve a dealer providing a plurality of cards to each player. Each player then gathers the cards and tries to form the best possible hand according to some predetermined hierarchy of hand values. For example, a standard poker hierarchy is, in descending order, Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and High Card. In some games, players are permitted to discard certain cards and receive new cards in an effort to form a better hand.
It is also common to designate one or more cards as xe2x80x9cwildxe2x80x9d cards which can have any one of a predetermined number of values at the option of the player(s) receiving such wild cards. In this manner, the designation of wild cards within a deck can significantly increase the chances of a player attaining a particular hand. In known games which utilize wild cards, players must use the wild card in the hand in which the wild card is received. Therefore, if a player has a card hand of low or no value, the wild card may not be sufficient to allow that player to form a winning hand. For example, if the payout schedule for a given game starts at a pair of jacks, and the player has the following hand: 2, 4, 5, 10 of different suits and a wild card, the best poker hand that the player could form with one wild card would be a pair of 10""s. This hand would not qualify for a winning payout.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a card game which increases the player""s excitement and enjoyment, as well as the level of player participation by providing a player with an opportunity to maximize the impact of receiving a wild card.
It is also desirable to provide wagering games other than cards with an exciting, new feature which comprises a wild indicia and novel methods of using that wild indicia.
It is also desirable to provide novel games readily adaptable to wagering which are relatively simple to learn for new players.
It is also desirable to provide games which provide one or more players with opportunities to modify the player""s winning payout by using such a wild indicia, received during one play, with a subsequent play.
The various embodiments of the present invention are directed to games which provide a player who has received at least one wild indicia during one play with the opportunity to reserve that wild indicia for use in a subsequent play. The advantages of the present invention are applicable to a wide variety of games including xe2x80x9ccardxe2x80x9d games and other conventional games of chance or skill including keno, bingo, gaming devices, such as reel slots, dice games and lotto. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9ccard gamexe2x80x9d is intended to include conventional table/board type games wherein one or more persons deal actual playing cards to one or more players, as well as any type of mechanical or electronic devices which display indicia of playing cards.
The wild indicia of the present invention may take any form desired by the players or the establishment conducting the game. For example, when playing a card game, the wild indicia will typically comprise a wild card. While jokers may be utilized to indicate a wild card, it is also within the scope of the present invention to use one or more other indicia such as one of the other cards of a deck or non-conventional indicia to indicate a wild card. Similarly, in games other than card games, any form of wild indicia may be utilized. In all forms of the present invention, a player is provided with the possibility of utilizing a wild indicia when it is most advantageous for the player to do so, i.e., when the player will maximize a winning payout. When a player receives a wild indicia, the player can use that wild indicia immediately or may reserve the wild indicia for use in a subsequent play. For example, a player may use a wild card in a subsequent hand or may use a wild indicia received during the play of one game of bingo in a subsequent game.
One preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a gaming device having an electronic touch-sensitive screen which is controlled, at least in part, by a player touching images on the screen.
Another embodiment of the present invention comprises a gaming device wherein input from a player is supplied to a device through actuation buttons.
A still further embodiment of the present invention comprises a game table designed for use by a dealer and a plurality of players. Along with conventional indicia on the game table including betting areas for each player, each player area is also provided with a reserve area wherein a player may place a wild card if that player decides not to use the wild card in the hand in which he receives the wild card and prefers to use the wild card in a later hand.
Each of the embodiments of the present invention provides one or more players with opportunities to maximize the beneficial effect of a wild indicia.
These and other embodiments are described in greater detail with reference to the drawings.


A truck bed storage device including a back support having a right end, a left end, a top side, and a bottom side. A bottom support having a top surface and a bottom surface, each of the top surface and the bottom surface having a front edge and a rear edge. The rear edge of the top surface of the bottom support is continuously disposed on the bottom side of the back support from proximal the right end to proximal the left end. A plurality of a pair of ladder hooks wherein each pair comprises a forwardly facing ladder hook and a rearwardly facing ladder hook. A bottom edge of each of the forwardly facing ladder hooks disposed within the top side of the back support. A bottom edge of each of the rearwardly facing ladder hooks disposed within the top surface of the bottom support.

Various types of storage devices for truck beds are known in the prior art. However, what has been needed is a truck bed storage device having a back support, a bottom support, and a plurality of a pair of ladder hooks. What has been further needed is for a rear edge of a top surface of the bottom support to be continuously disposed on a bottom side of the back support from proximal a right end to proximal a left end. Lastly, what has been needed is for each pair of the ladder hooks to comprise a forwardly facing ladder hook and a rearwardly facing ladder hook, with a bottom edge of each of the forwardly facing ladder hooks disposed within a top side of the back support and a bottom edge of each of the rearwardly facing ladder hooks disposed within the top surface of the bottom support. The bottom support is disposed on a bottom of a truck bed, and each of the right end of the back support and the left end of the back support are configured to slidably engage a right interior wall and a left interior wall of the truck bed, respectively. Thus, the truck bed storage device allows a user to securely store buckets, materials, equipment, groceries, and bags using at least one of the forwardly facing and rearwardly facing ladder hooks.


The present invention provides a highly durable chain guide which is simply configured, easy to assemble, and low in material cost, and in which vibration and tilting are suppressed, enabling reductions in noise, wear, breakage, and so on. A guide shoe includes a plate housing portion which is formed on a rear surface side of a travel guiding portion, and into which a plate can be inserted from below, and in at least one location of an attachment portion or a tensioner contact portion, the plate housing portion constitutes a plate end holding portion formed to be capable of supporting an end portion of the plate from below such that the plate can be inserted therein from a direction other than from below.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chain guide having a guide shoe that guides a traveling chain by sliding against the traveling chain, and a plate that reinforces the guide shoe in a chain travel direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
A chain guide having a guide shoe that guides a chain traveling between sprockets by sliding against the chain is commonly used conventionally to stabilize the traveling chain and maintain an appropriate level of tension.
As shown in FIG. 19, for example, in a conventional timing system for an engine, in which a transmission chain CH such as a roller chain wound endlessly between sprockets S1, S2 provided respectively on a crankshaft and a cam shaft in an engine room E is caused to travel, the timing chain CH is wound endlessly between a drive sprocket S1 attached to the crankshaft in the engine room E and a pair of driven sprockets S2 attached to the cam shaft, and the timing chain CH is guided by a swinging chain guide (a swinging guide) 500 and a chain guide (a fixed guide) 600.
In this conventional timing system, the fixed guide 600 is fixed within the engine room E by two fixing attachment shafts Q, while the swinging guide 500 is attached within the engine room E to be capable of swinging about a swinging attachment shaft P in a winding plane of the timing chain CH.
A chain tensioner T maintains a tension of the timing chain CH at an appropriate level and suppresses vibration of the timing chain CH by pressing the swinging guide 500.
The chain guide (swinging guide) 500 and chain guide (fixed guide) 600 used in this conventional timing system are formed integrally from synthetic resin, and therefore, to secure sufficient rigidity and durability in the chain guides, respective guide main bodies thereof must be increased in size to realize improvements in the rigidity and durability. In so doing, however, it becomes difficult to achieve a compact design for the engine room E.
Therefore, in a conventional configuration (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-2810, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-130156, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-266964, and so on), as shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, a chain guide 500 is provided with a guide shoe 510 that guides a traveling chain by sliding against the traveling chain and a plate 520 that reinforces the guide shoe 510 in a chain travel direction, a slit groove 512 serving as a plate housing portion into which the plate 520 can be inserted from below is provided on a rear surface side of a travel guiding portion 511 of the guide shoe 510, and the highly rigid and durable plate 520 is inserted into the slit groove 512 from below. With this configuration, strength, rigidity, and durability required of the chain guide 500 as a whole are secured while reducing an amount of space occupied thereby.


Mammography units comprising a compression device, a light transparent panel displaced from a compression surface, and a bolster, as well as compression paddles for use with mammography units are described. Methods for their use in reducing patient discomfort during mammography are also described.

Mammography is the process of obtaining x-ray images of the human breast for diagnosis or surgery. It involves positioning a patient's breast in a desired orientation against a cassette holder (also known as a "bucky") of a mammography unit, compressing the breast with a compression device (e.g., a compression paddle), and then exposing the breast to x-rays to create a latent image of the breast on an image receptor. After exposure, the compression device is released. The image receptor is usually a film in contact with an intensifying screen contained within a cassette. The cassette is inserted into a cassette holder before every image is taken and removed after every image. The film is removed from the cassette and developed to produce a radiographic image of the breast.
A complete mammographic study usually involves at least two x-ray exposures of each breast. One exposure is a craniocaudal view in which the breast is compressed in a superior-inferior direction, i.e., from the direction of the patient's head downward, against a tube-side surface of the cassette holder. The plane of the tube-side surface of the cassette holder is parallel to the floor and the x-ray beam is directed vertically downward. A second exposure is a lateral or oblique view in which the breast is compressed mediolaterally, i.e., from the direction of the patient's midline sidewise, against the tube-side surface of the cassette holder which is angled, along with the axis of the x-ray beam, relative to the floor.
The compression device includes a rectangular flat plate, called a compression paddle or a compression plate, which is attached to the mammography unit between an x-ray tube assembly and the cassette holder (also known as a "bucky"). The edges of the paddle or plate are turned upward away from the cassette holder to provide a smooth curved surface for patient comfort. The compression paddle is usually made of thin, light-transparent, plastic that absorbs only a small fraction of the incident x-ray beam. The compression paddle is moved either manually or by power drive to apply a compression force to the breast, thereby flattening the breast against the cassette holder to a near uniform thickness. U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,583 issued to the present inventor discusses methods and apparatus for measuring compression force in mammography. During compressing and imaging, parts of the patient's body come into contact with the compression paddle. After x-ray exposure, the compression force is released for patient comfort. Sometimes, pads that are not light transparent are used in conjunction with compression paddles, but by doing so, the visible light that reaches the tube-side surface is blocked which hinders proper placement of the breast.
To properly position the patient's breast in a desired orientation, a technologist is guided by a light beam originating from the x-ray tube assembly that passes through a collimator and the compression paddle and illuminates the area of the cassette holder that will be exposed to x-rays, i.e., the imaging area. As is well known in the field, to properly position the breast, the patient's chest wall or other regions of the body, depending on the desired view, are brought into tight contact with the rigid surfaces of the cassette holder, its edges, and corners. This procedure has the effect of forcing the patent's anatomy to contour to the shape of the cassette holder, which often causes patient discomfort and pain.
Oftentimes, overlapping internal structures are present within the breast tissue that can obscure their delineation in a radiographic image. As a result, it is often necessary to reposition the breast slightly in order to arrive at a diagnosis. This requires repositioning the patient for each view with the attendant discomfort.
During positioning, compressing, and imaging, parts of the patient's body come into contact with the cassette holder. The cassette holder is a rectangular, box-like device that has a flat tube-side surface against which the breast is compressed, a flat outer surface along one edge of the tube-side surface which contacts the patient's chest wall or torso, and two flat side surfaces opposite each other along the other edges that can come into contact with other parts of the patient's anatomy such as the underarm and axilla. Each of the side surfaces has an opening, typically rectangular, to a cassette tunnel. The openings are used for insertion and removal of the cassette. The tube-side surface includes an imaging area, which is transparent to x-rays, located directly above the cassette as it resides in the cassette holder, and where the breast is positioned during imaging, and a solid section which is not transparent to x-rays. Within the cassette holder is an antiscatter grid assembly. The cassette holder is held in position on the x-ray unit by slidably engaging to a support member. Because the surfaces of the cassette holder may come into contact with blood or other infectious material, they must be able to withstand contact with the chemical agents usually used for disinfecting purposes. Cassette holders come in different sizes depending on the size film to be used.
It is well known that many women find the procedure for obtaining a mammogram to be uncomfortable and for some, even painful. Methods to provide patient comfort during the examination involve adding cushioning material to the surfaces of the cassette holder and/or the compression paddle.
It is well known to those in the art that image quality of a mammogram is highly dependent on beam quality, which is a function of several factors including the kilovoltage (kVp) impressed across the anode and cathode of the x-ray tube, the material of the x-ray target (e.g., molybdenum), the inherent filtration of the tube (e.g., beryllium), and the material and thickness of added filtration (e.g., molybdenum). Beam quality is measured in terms of half value layer in aluminum (HVL). Adding material in the path of the x-ray beam has a similar effect to adding filtration, for example, HVL increases. Most modern mammography units automatically adjust x-ray exposure factors, including kVp, according to HVL. Increasing kVp decreases image contrast, and thus reduces image quality.
The degree to which HVL is increased by the addition of a material in the path of the x-ray beam depends on its linear attenuation coefficient, "μ," and thickness, "t,". Linear attenuation coefficient is related to physical density. For example, material described as being made of foam can have a density that varies over a wide range. For example, polyurethane foam can have densities of between about 1.8 and about 2.6 pounds per cubic foot.
Moreover, foam cushioning comes in various thicknesses. The firmness of foam is measured in units of Indentation Force Deflection (IFD). which is determined by indenting (compressing) a foam product 25% of its original height. The amount of force, measured in pounds, required to compress the foam is its 25% measurement. The IFD of cushioning foam can range from between about 21 and about 45 pounds.
With respect to the thickness of the foam, it is known in the art that the sharpness of a radiographic image depends on the object to film distance. The shorter the distance the sharper the image. This is an important consideration when attempting to identify images of breast calcifications which are probably the most important diagnostic indicator of early breast cancer. Interposing cushioning material between the breast and the surface of the cassette holder increases the distance between the calcifications and the film and decreases the sharpness of their images.
Since different kinds of foam can be supplied with varying thicknesses and firmnesses, the application of equal compression force to different cushioning materials can drastically impact arriving at a proper diagnosis. Without intending to be bound by theory, this is likely caused by different distances between the calcifications and the film depending on the cushioning material used which result in different degrees of image sharpness. Knowing exactly what outside factors have impacted a mammogram can be an important consideration in arriving at a correct diagnosis.
Subject to a woman's family health history, women are encouraged to obtain their first mammogram at around age 40 and annually thereafter. In reading and analyzing mammograms, images of a current examination are compared with previous examinations. A radiologist or other medical professional looks for the appearance of and/or changes in diagnostic markers such as micro-calcifications and other internal structures. The difficulty in reading mammograms is that changes in these images can be very subtle and depend in large measure on image quality. Other factors that affect image quality are motion of the breast during x-ray transmission and the range of optical contrast in the image. Motion of the breast is inversely affected by the magnitude of compression force applied by the compression paddle, a larger force reduces movement of the breast. If less compression force could be used, however, then the examination would be less uncomfortable for the patient.
The range of optical contrast in the image depends on several factors including the level of x-ray exposure. For patients with dense breasts, the peripheral region of the breast is often too dark, making it difficult to identify diagnostic features in this area. The usual method to improve visibility in this region is to bright light the film, i.e. increase the light intensity behind the film, but this can reduce contrast perception. Other methods to overcome this problem have been suggested including the use of different kinds of x-ray attenuators positioned between the compression paddle and the breast or under the breast, e.g. a water bag or a solid, elastic, unit density plastic, but these devices are sometimes difficult to implement. Other methods have been described including, for example, the use of different kinds and shapes of x-ray filters positioned between the x-ray tube and image receptor and adjusting the quality and/or the intensity of the x-ray beam using sensors and computers to determine the attenuation and shape of the breast. For a variety of reasons none of these other methods are in general use.
Since a wide variety of cushioning materials may be used in mammography, including some that can have a negative effect on image quality, there is a need for a viewer, e.g., a technologist or a radiologist or other medical professional, be able to determine from the mammogram, for example, that cushioning material was used and the type of cushioning. There is also a need that the mammogram contain a permanent record regarding the nature of the cushion material used.
Further, there remains a great need for comfort devices for use during mammography which can minimize or eliminate the pain and discomfort experienced by the patient. To be useful in clinical practice such devices must also not add significantly to the cost of the examination. There remains a great need to provide an indication on a mammogram to alert the viewer that the quality of the breast image may have been compromised by the use of a comfort device. There also exists a need to provides information to a medical professional, e.g. a technologist or radiologist, regarding the use of comfort devices without compromising the cushioning effect of the materials. In addition, there is a need for comfort materials for compression devices that still allow visible light to be transmitted to allow for proper positioning of a breast. There is a need for a device and method to limit motion of the breast without excessive compression force. And there remains a need for a quick, simple, inexpensive way to improve the visibility of the peripheral region of the breast on mammograms.

Mammography cushioning devices and methods


A golf club head according to one or more aspects of the present invention may include a strike face, a rear wall behind the strike face, and a perimeter-weighting element at least partially surrounding the rear wall. The club head may further include a preload spacer associated with the rear wall and a resilient component associated with the perimeter-weighting element. The preload spacer engages the resilient component to provide positive reinforcement of the coupling between the resilient component and the perimeter-weighting element.

Iron-type golf club heads may generally be classified into "blade" and "perimeter-weighted" categories. Perimeter-weighted iron-type club heads may have a substantial concentration of mass distributed behind the striking face in the form of at least one peripheral wall, sometimes called the perimeter-weighting element. A perimeter-weighted iron-type golf club head may also be referred to as a "cavity-back" iron head, or simply a "cavity-back", because the perimeter-weighting element generally delimits a cavity in the rear portion of the club head opposite the striking face.
An important performance aspect of cavity-back irons is the tactile feedback communicated to the player at ball impact. To reduce undesirable dynamic excitation synonymous with mishit shots, the perimeter-weighting element of a cavity-back club head may be provided with a complimentary vibration-damping member. A secure coupling of the vibration-damping member to the club head may require that features for retention of the vibration-damping member be integrally incorporated into the head. The added weight of these retention features may adversely affect the mass properties of the club head, negatively impacting performance. Moreover, potentially complex geometries of the retention features may increase manufacturing complexity and cost.


An exercising device which includes a cuff and a mitt usable separately or together. The cuff being a body of flexible material arranged with a central opening therethrough, and including an inner surface of an elastic material to be placed against the skin of a user, an outer surface of an elastic material, the inner and outer surfaces being joined but spaced apart to form a space. There is a flexible ballast material disposed in the space between the inner and outer surfaces and an elastic material. There is a separation disposed along the body, including a strong VELCRO strap, and a flexible attachment, and there is webbing of an elastic material disposed at the inner surface and outer surface as well as an O-ring attached to the outer surface.

The generally continual rise in fitness awareness has led many millions of Americans to appreciate the benefits of exercise. Presently, there is a strong emphasis on muscular toning and cardiovascular conditioning along with injury prevention.
Rehabilitation has also been experiencing explosive growth quite parallel to the fitness, probably due to the awareness of the importance of health maintenance and injury prevention brought about by the fitness industry.
Rehabilitation, along with fitness, focuses on muscular toning and cardiovascular enhancement, but, in many musculoskeletal and neuromuscular dysfunctions, resulting from traumatic or overuse injury and disease, neuromuscular proprioceptive facilitation of awareness, control, and quality or level of finctional capacity and training is important to aid in the restorative process to impaired joints within the extremities, torso, head and neck.
Approximately ten years ago aquatic exercise for rehabilitation and fitness emerged until it is now the fastest growing sector within the fitness market, and is the latest development in rehabilitation. There has also been an explosive proliferation of aquatic exercise devices during the past decade.
There are numerous patents which pertain to an aquatic glove for swimming and/or aquatic exercise. U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,278 issued May 17, 1994, discloses a swimming glove which extends over the front-half portion of the forearm of the wearer.
An exercise glove is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,227 which allows for retaining a weight on a user's hand and comprises a support having a backhand portion with an insert pocket disposed on the backhand portion, for receiving the weight. A strap arrangement is mounted across the insert pocket for removably securing the weight within the insert pocket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,418 allows for retaining a weight on a user's palmar surface.
There is also another, of many web glove designs with variations in functional intent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,496. This is a glove with an elongated finger portion intended to accommodate the little finger of a swimmer and the swimmer's distal elongated thumb portion. The purpose of this glove design is to allow one to maintain an outstretched hand while swimming.


A MIG welder and method of controlling a MIG welder which includes a wire speed selector that is used to generate a control signal which controls both the wire feed speed of a consumable electrode and the output current level of the power supply.

There are many types of welding power supplies used for a variety of welding processes. Welding power supply typically includes a wire feeder, a power source, a torch or gun, a wire feeder controller, and a power source controller to control the various components. These components of the welding power supply may share a housing, or be encased in separate housings. The power source of the welding power supply typically includes the power circuitry of the welder (e.g., rectifiers, switches, transformers, SCRS, etc.) that process and provide the output power of the welding power supply. The power source controller of the welding power supply typically includes digital and/or analog circuitry, discrete and/or integrated circuitry, microprocessors, DSPS, etc., software, hardware, and/or firmware which are used to control a welding process, or a device such as a power source and/or wire feeder.
Arc welding power supply sources used for MIG welding normally include at least two welding controls. One of the welding controls is for control of arc voltage and the other welding control is for control of wire feed speed. It is not uncommon for the MIG welders to include additional controls to enable more precise control for the welding process. Indeed, some welding applications are so demanding that the welding power source includes several welding controls to achieve the required results for a particular welding application. There are, however, many "simple" welding applications which do not require precise control for the welding process. MIG welders that are designed for such applications include fewer welding controls and are typically priced lower than the more complex models. Although these welding machines designed for simple welding applications are less complex in design, these welding machines still include a plurality of welding controls for the arc voltage and/or current level of the output current of the welder and for wire feed speed. As a result, these welding controls must be properly selected in order to obtain an acceptable weld in even these simple welding applications. The required setting of two or more welding controls adds additional complexity to a welding process and increases the incidence of an improper weld being formed for a particular application.
In view of the prior art, there is a need for an arc welder that is low cost, that is simple to operate and which generates a desired current level for a particular wire feed speed by use of fewer user controlled inputs.


A system and method for identifying, managing, and synchronizing delivery and storage of promotional material to computing devices associated with a user. The system and method are configured to receive a request from one or more of the user's computing devices to synchronize the delivery of the promotional material to at least a portion of the user's device portfolio. Advantageously, tile action triggering the sending of the synchronization request may include an interaction with the promotional material or an interaction with a web service application.

Cloud computing is well known as an Internet based computer technology, whereby dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Advantageously, users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.
Cloud computing is based upon web-based Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) known as web services. Without web services, cloud computing would not exist. Web services are an embedded part of consumer applications such as Facebook, Twitter, eBay®, and Amazon.com.
One drawback to conventional cloud computing is that not all activity can be performed "in the cloud." A large percentage of web services require local computation and offline persistence (storage or caching of data) on computing devices (e.g., desktop computer, mobile smartphone, video game consoles). The requirement of offline persistence can create problems for web services as the number of people utilizing multiple computing devices increases. Problems can occur when an individual uses more than one computing device to access web services that require data to be stored or cached on the computing device. Often, the data required by the web service will become out of sync as the individual user switches back and forth between his or her different computing devices.
Synchronization is commonly thought of as a means to keep contact and calendar information consistent between a mobile device (e.g., mobile phones, personal digital assistants) and a computer. Synchronization is now being used to support other types of applications such as social networking, online shopping and online auctions. Synchronization manages the interactions between the plurality of mobile devices and at least one personalized application that have enabled access via web services (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, E-Bay, Amazon.com).
Providing promotional material (e.g., advertisements, loyalty card programs, coupons, rebates) "in the clouds" has been problematic as well. Google's Internet search-based advertisements model is viewed as a value to users when searching the Internet and it has proved to be a successful and profitable advertisement mechanism. However, users have not shown the same positive reaction to advertisements when displayed in web services (e.g., social networking websites). As a result, many cloud web services relying on revenue from promotional material still struggle to yield a profit.
One advertising challenge faced by certain web services is that it is not only necessary to target the user, but it is also necessary to target the computing device or devices utilized by the user. As an example, promotional material for a new downloadable video game may be received by a user on his or her smartphone, but not received by the user's video game console, where it is appropriate and desirable. A user interested in the video game advertised in the promotion at the time he or she views the promotional material on his or her smartphone may later forget about the advertisement or lose interest in the game if the promotional material is not also received on the user's video game console. However, the same user is more likely to consider and act on the same promotional material if it were available at the video game console, thereby increasing the likelihood that the promotion will be effective.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and system for efficiently and effectively identifying, managing and delivering promotional material to computing devices.

Method and system for synchronizing delivery of promotional material to computing devices


Disclosed is a semiconductor device including an organic material substrate, a semiconductor chip flip chip connected to substantially a center of one surface of the organic material substrate, and a semiconductor package mounted on another surface of the organic material substrate in a manner to avoid a position opposing to the flip chip connected semiconductor chip. Additionally, disclosed is a semiconductor device including an organic material substrate, a semiconductor chip flip chip connected to substantially a center of one surface of the organic material substrate, and a semiconductor package having a connection terminal and mounted on another surface of the organic material substrate via the connection terminal in a manner that an overlap with the flip chip connected semiconductor chip occurs, at least a part of the connection terminal in the overlap being a dummy terminal not used for transmission of an electric signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having an organic material substrate as a member, and particularly to a semiconductor device on both sides of whose organic material substrate a semiconductor chip and a semiconductor package are respectively mounted.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one aspect of a semiconductor device (semiconductor package), there is a semiconductor device using a substrate of an organic material such as a glass epoxy resin as a substrate of a package, to almost a center of one surface of which a semiconductor chip is flip chip connected while on the other surface of which another semiconductor package such as a LGA (land grid array) is secondarily mounted. Such an aspect is one of semiconductor packages called Package-on-Package (PoP).
A solder joint portion of the substrate surface on which the other semiconductor package is secondarily mounted is called a secondary mounting portion. In the PoP, reliability of the secondary mounting portion depends on many elements such as, and a cross relationship of: a standoff, size, material, and thickness of the secondarily mounted package; presence/absence of an underfill resin under the secondarily mounted package, and a material thereof; a material, size, thickness of a substrate of the PoP side; and size, position, thickness and the like of a semiconductor chip which is flip chip mounted on the one surface of the substrate.
The reliability of the secondary mounting portion is generally enhanced by providing the underfill resin between the secondarily mounted package and the substrate of the PoP side under the secondarily mounted package. Also, connecting the secondarily mounted package and the PoP side substrate via a solder ball is generally effective in enhancing the reliability. It is because stress occurring to the secondary mounting portion becomes small by the solder being provided therein so that the standoff of the secondarily mounted package becomes large. However, in the former, addition of the underfill resin leads to an increase in process steps and a high cost, and in the latter, due to an increase in a height as a PoP package, there is a problem when a thin package is required in such a case of application to a cellular phone and the like.
Incidentally, as examples of the PoP, there are semiconductor devices disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 2004-15068 and in International Publication No. WO 01/026155 pamphlet, though constitutions thereof are different from that of the semiconductor device according to the present invention.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 2004-15068
[Patent Document 2] International Publication No. WO 01/026155 pamphlet


Compositions and methods for treating disordered and/or prodromal stage tissue infected with by a virus in a mammal by co-administering a systemic anti-virus drug and topically administered anti-infective composition. The systemic anti-virus drug is internally administered and disrupts or inhibits virus replication systemically within the mammal. Examples include nucleoside analogs, nucleoside analog precursors, and nucleotide analogs. The topically administered anti-infective composition includes at least one anti-infective agent, such as an organohalide (e.g., benzalkonium chloride), and is formulated to penetrate below the skin surface and allow the anti-infective agent to kill viruses at a treatment site. The topical anti-infective composition enhances efficacy of the systemic anti-virus drug and reduces the time and/or number of dosages otherwise required for the systemic anti-virus drug to treat the viral infection. The topical anti-infective composition can be more beneficial than the systemic anti-virus drug in killing viruses and can reduce or eliminate post-herpetic neuralgia.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to kits and methods for treating disordered tissue and/or prodromal stage tissue caused by a virus, such as herpes virus, that combine systemic and topical treatments.
2. The Relevant Technology
Tissue disorders caused by viruses, particularly those which impact epithelial tissue, include Herpes simplex virus types I and II, herpes zoster, varicella-zoster, cytomegalovirus, and HHV-8, which causes Kaposi's Sarcoma, and Ramsay Hunt syndrome. Such viruses can cause painful, disfiguring and/or highly infectious disordered tissues (e.g., blisters or lesions), which are physically and psychologically debilitating. Disordered tissues caused by viruses are often difficult to treat and the resulting damage can last a lifetime.
Herpes simplex virus types I and II and herpes varicella-zoster, commonly referred to as "herpes virus" or "herpes," are infectious diseases which have reached crisis proportions nationally with estimated numbers of infected people at 70%-80% of U.S. population as reported by the American Social Health Association (ASHA) and growing annually by 500,000 people or more.
Herpes can enter the human body through minuscule breaks in the epidermal tissue, orally, through the eye, or body fluid, usually by contact with an infected host, and is marked by eruption of one or more vesicles, usually in groups, following an incubation period of approximately four to ten days. Typically the course of the infectious outbreak initiates with the prodromal stage, in which prodromal stage tissue can be associated with paresthesia (or abnormal tingling or pricking sensation), advancing to vesicular eruption, followed by ulceration, coalescing, resolution, and latency period. The outbreak can last for several weeks and, on average, lasts two to three weeks. In some immune compromised individuals, outbreaks can last for months. The lesions caused by varicella-zoster (shingles) can last 21 days or longer. The vesicles can appear anywhere on epithelial tissues including the skin or mucosa, typically appearing on the lips as cold sores, glands, oral mucosa, conjunctiva and cornea, genitalia, anal mucosa and perianal tissue.
Herpes symptoms include: paresthesia, inguinal swelling, pain, fever, malaise, headaches, muscle aches, and swollen glands. Some individuals with oral herpes, which impacts the trigeminal nerve, have excruciating facial pain, difficulty swallowing, eating and facial swelling. Individuals with the herpes that impacts the sacral nerve have severe upper leg pain, swelling, and great difficulty walking.
Herpes is recurring, residing in the nerve ganglia, followed by recurrences due to some, not fully understood, stimulus mechanism. Recurrent herpetic infections can be precipitated by almost anything, including overexposure to sunlight, nutritional deficiencies, stress, menstruation, immunosuppression, certain foods, drugs, febrile illness, suppression of the immune system, and the like.
Herpes infections pose serious health threats, often causing blindness, increased cancer risk of the cervix, aseptic meningitis and encephalitis, neonatal deaths, viremia, the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and the like. The devastating effects of herpes diseases go well beyond the medical scope of human suffering. Herpes can be responsible for serious psychological and emotional distress as well as substantial economic loss. Other viral diseases are transmitted in different manners and may have different symptoms but can be as painful emotionally and physically to a patient.
The most common FDA-approved therapeutic treatment of herpetic or other viral disorders is through systemic treatment, such as using nucleoside analogs or other drugs that inhibit or interrupt replication of the virus causing the tissue disorder. Systemic treatments can be taken orally or intravenously and can prevent or inhibit outbreaks. Systemic treatment generally inhibits or disrupts the reproductive cycle of the target virus. However, systemic treatment can take a significant amount of time to metabolize and convert into the active form. Once in active form, the systemic medication must be delivered throughout a patient's entire body to curtail virus replication. During the time required to deliver the medication to the patient's body, the patient can still experience outbreaks that cause significant discomfort while the patient waits for the medication to take effect. In addition, the stratum basal layer can prevent medication from passing through to the epidermis so that infected regions of the epidermis continue to experience the outbreak cycle. Hence, systemic treatments may be ineffective in treating an existing outbreak of skin lesions, including the pain and discomfort experienced by the patient. Furthermore, a person can re-infect themselves by touching an infected outbreak area (even while taking a systemic medication) and exposing another area of their body with the virus.
In contrast to systemic treatments, topical treatments are intended to reduce the pain and severity associated with disordered tissues caused by herpes or other viruses. They can be soothing as a salve over the tender surface of the disordered tissue. However, they rarely if ever provide actual therapeutic treatment of the underlying cause of the disorder, which is the system-wide existence of virus in the person's body.
In view of the widespread nature of herpes and other viral caused disordered tissues, coupled with the general ineffectiveness of existing treatments, there exists an ongoing need to develop effective treatments that can shorten, reduce or eliminate outbreaks of disordered tissues.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Combined systemic and topical treatment of disordered and/or prodromal stage tissue


The present disclosure relates to a method for testing a brake fluid sensor of a vehicle braking system, wherein the brake fluid sensor can indicate the fluid level in the fluid reservoir, wherein the method has the following steps: (1) Altering the fluid level in at least one region of the at least one fluid reservoir by means of at least one braking force generating device; and (2) Detecting whether the at least one brake fluid sensor emits a signal indicating the modified fluid level in the at least one region of the at least one fluid reservoir.

The present disclosure relates to a method for testing a brake fluid sensor for a vehicle braking system. The present disclosure moreover relates to a vehicle braking system which is suited for the performance of such a method. The present disclosure additionally relates to a fluid reservoir for such a vehicle braking system.