Disclosed are intermediates of Sitagliptin, a preparation process thereof, and a process for synthesizing Sitagliptin using these intermediates. Sitagliptin is synthesized by using chiral amino compounds as a raw material, without having to build a chiral center with a chiral asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation, and high-pressure hydrogenation is avoided.

Chiral amino-compound fragments widely exist in natural products and active molecules. It has long been a target encouraging the organic synthetic chemists to try to build chiral amino groups with high performance and selectivity. In 1979, Professor Kozikowski at University of Pittsburgh found that the organometallic reagents could selectively catalyze the ring-opening of aziridine compound to synthesize amino-compound (J. Org. Chem., 1979, 44, 788-2790). In recent years, the selective ring-opening of aziridine compound to synthesize amino-compound has been developed prosperously (Org. Lett., 2011, 3, 2349-2351). The synthesis methods of chiral amino compound from natural chiral sources are characterized by their simplicity and customizing the chiral structures or the like, and thus have definite advantages over the methods of chiral induction and chiral resolution.
Sitagliptin phosphate is the first dipeptidyl peptidase-IV ("DPP-IV") inhibitor for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus which has been approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006. Sitagliptin phosphate shows remarkable hypoglycemic activity whether it is used alone or in combination with metformin or pioglitazone. In addition, it is safe, well-tolerated, and with few adverse effects. Sitagliptin phosphate was developed by Merck & Co., Inc. under the tradename JANUVITA. It was approved by the Ministry of Health in Mexico on Aug. 8, 2006 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus by once daily medication, and was approved by FDA on Oct. 16, 2006 in US. By now, it has been approved by more than sixty countries around the world. It was reported that the third quarter earnings in 2007 was USD 0.185 billion and the value of sales till 2009 would be up to USD 1 billion. The maximum value of its sales is expected to be USD 1.4 billion after its successfully coming into the market. Therefore, Sitagliptin phosphate, as a hypoglycemic drug, is the latest international "blockbuster" product with extremely high added value. That means the development of this medicine is of great significance. However, by now, there is no enterprise which has the capacity of industrially producing Sitagliptin phosphate in China because of the high technical difficulties in the production. The disclosed synthetic routes of Sitagliptin phosphate are all designed by Merck & Co., Inc., which are reviewed as follows.
(1) U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,871 discloses a synthetic route of Sitagliptin, which is a synthesis method on gram scale suitable for R&D departments. In the method, the chiral source is used to induce a chiral alpha-amino acid compound which is then subjected to a diazotization reaction for forming beta-amino acid compound which can be used to build the required chiral center. The cost of raw materials required in this route is relatively high, and the operation of reaction is relatively complicated. Further, it is hard to control the technical process and the products' quality during the industrialization process. The synthetic route is as described below.

(2) WO 2004087650 discloses the second generation synthetic route of Sitagliptin developed by Merck & Co., Inc. In this method, a chiral phosphorus ruthenium catalyst is applied to the asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of ketone to afford a chiral secondary alcohol which is then converted into a chiral secondary amine in order to obtain a chiral amine. However, in this route, Rh based catalyst is needed to be used in the key step of the asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation, thus the costs of this step is relatively high. In addition, during the industrialization, it is difficult to control the products' quality due to an apparent scaling effect when the reaction is performed in an amplified scale. The synthetic route is as described below.

(3) WO 2005003135 discloses the third generation synthetic method of Sitagliptin developed by Merck & Co., Inc. In this method S-phenylglycinamide is used as a chiral auxiliary for inducing catalytic hydrogenation to synthesize chiral amine. This route is relatively proper, however, the main problems of this method lie in that catalytic hydrogenations are needed twice and the Pt based catalyst used thereof is relatively expensive. Further, a large amount of Pd(OH)2/C is used to remove the protective group in the final step, thereby rendering high cost. The synthetic route is as described below.

(4) WO 2007050485 discloses the latest synthetic method of Sitagliptin developed by Merck & Co., Inc. In this method, a chiral rhodium catalyst is applied to the asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of enamine to build a chiral center. Due to fewer steps, this method is relatively simple. However, the expensive catalyst and chiral auxiliary are used in this method as well, and there still exists a scaling effect during the industrialization, which results in products of unstable quality. The synthetic route is as described below.

Owing to the shortcomings existing in the previous synthetic methods of Sitagliptin (i.e., low product yields, high costs, and not eco-friendly), a synthesis method with high yield, low cost and being eco-friendly would have a broad market prospect. Therefore, there is still a need of finding novel intermediates of Sitagliptin to develop new routes to improve the method for synthesizing Sitagliptin.

Intermediates of sitagliptin and preparation process thereof

ZHEJIANG HISOAR PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD.


Aqueous composition intended to form an antimigration and antiozone protective coating on the external surface of a tire, comprising an aqueous emulsion of at least: (a) a polymer called constituent I, said constituent I being a homopolymer or copolymer based on at least one monomer chosen from the group of acrylic, methacrylic and vinyl esters and having a glass transition temperature below 0.degree. C.; and (b) a constituent II chosen from the group consisting of a hydrophilic silica and a homopolymer or copolymer based on at least one monomer chosen from the group of acrylic, methacrylic and vinyl monomers, said homopolymer or copolymer having a glass transition temperature above 25.degree. C.

The invention relates to the surface state of tires particularly their protection against the consequences of the various antioxidants and antiozonants that they contain migrating to the surface.
It is known that certain polymers, in particular vulcanized rubber compositions based on diene polymers containing ethylenic double bonds in their main chain, are very sensitive to the action of ozone.
When an article made with such a diene elastomer composition is subjected to the action of a stress in the presence of ozone, the deleterious effect of the ozone is manifested by the appearance of surface cracks oriented perpendicularly to the stress direction. If this stress remains, or each time it occurs, the cracks grow and may cause complete failure of the article.
In order to limit this degradation, antiozone chemical compounds as well as waxes are commonly incorporated into elastomer compositions. The antiozone chemical compounds slow down the formation and propagation of the cracks under static and dynamic stressing conditions. The waxes provide additional static protection by forming a protective surface coating.
These means of combating degradation due to ozone have proved their effectiveness. However, the most effective antiozone compounds are also characterized by a very high tendency to migrate through their polymeric substrate and end up staining and coloring the adjacent surfaces. For example, yellowish or brown stains appear at the surface of the tire walls. This phenomenon is called "coloration". Surface migration of the waxes also modifies the external appearance of the surfaces of elastomer compositions, making them dull and gray. This phenomenon is called wax "efflorescence".
These migrations are particularly damaging in the case of "white-walled" tires but they may also seriously compromise the attractive appearance of "black-walled" tires whose external surfaces lose their shiny appearance and acquire a dull grayish one.
In order to preserve the attractive appearance of the white walls of tires up to the moment when they are put into service, protective coatings are usually employed. These coatings are applied to the walls after the tires have been manufactured. They are mainly based on polyvinyl alcohol ("PVA") flexibilized by plasticizers and contain "barrier" agents, for example mica particles, in order to slow down the migration of these chemical antiozonants and these waxes to the surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,591 describes one of these protective coatings. However, these coatings are visible, thick, have limited mechanical strength and must be removed before the tires are put into service. The present invention proposes to solve these problems.
The mechanical behavior of uncrosslinked polymers varies as a function of temperature, from a glassy region at low temperatures, where the behavior is glass-like, that is to say rigid and brittle, to a fluid-flow region at elevated temperatures. Between these two regions is a region called the "rubbery plateau" where the behavior is rubber-like, that is to say close to that of an elastomer, as long as the molecular weight of the polymer is high enough for there to be entanglements (see: "Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers", John D. Ferry, 3rd ed., John Wiley & Sons, 1980, especially Chapters 10, 12 and 13).
The temperature at which the mechanical behavior of the polymer changes from this glass-like, rigid and brittle behavior to this rubber-like behavior is called the "glass transition temperature" (or "T.sub.g ") of the polymer. This glass transition temperature is an essential characteristic of polymers.
The glass transition temperature is usually determined by differential enthalpy analysis (see "Introduction to Thermal Analysis: techniques and applications", Michael E. Brown, Pub. Chapman and Hall, New York, 1988). This technique, more commonly known by the initials DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry), consists in determining the variations in specific heat of a specimen whose temperature is being raised. It demonstrates the presence of transitions or reactions which are accompanied by the release of energy (exothermic transition or reaction) or absorption of energy (endothermic transition or reaction). The glass transition is an endothermic transition.

Aqueous composition for antimigration and antiozone protection of tires


The invention relates to a cermet body essentially free from nitrogen where the binder phase is Co in an amount of from about 5 to about 25 vol % Co, further comprising TiC and WC in amounts so that the atomic Ti:W ratio is from about 2.5 to about 10. The cermet body further comprising Cr in an amount such that the atomic Cr:Co ratio is from about 0.025 to about 0.14. The cermet body is free from nucleated of Ti—W—C cores. The invention also relates to a method of making a cermet body.

The present invention relates to a TiC-based cermet body with a reduced amount of pores and an increased hardness and also a method of making such cermet body.
Sintered bodies like cutting tool inserts, etc., are usually made from materials containing cemented carbides or titanium based carbide or carbonitride alloys, often referred to as cermets.
Materials like cermets usually contain one or more hard constituents such as carbides or carbonitrides of, e.g., tungsten, titanium, tantalum, niobium, etc., together with a binder phase. Depending on composition and grain size, a wide range of materials combining hardness and toughness can be used in many applications, for instance in metal cutting tools, in wear parts, etc. The sintered bodies are made by techniques common in powder metallurgy like milling, granulation, compaction and sintering. The binder phase in cermets is usually Co, Fe or Ni or mixtures thereof.
The first cermet materials developed were TiC-based. The cermet materials were then further developed and in the eighties, carbonitride-based cermets were introduced and a large part of the cermet materials developed since then are carbonitride-based.
For conventional cemented carbide, i.e., WC—Co based, fine grained particles after sintering can be obtained by adding chromium. However, when adding chromium to a carbonitride based cermet, little or no effect on the grain size can be seen.
CN 1865477 A discloses a guide roll, spool or valve seat of a TiC—WC based alloy comprising 30-60 wt % TiC, 15-55 wt % WC, 0-3 wt % Ta, 0-3 wt % Cr and 10-30 wt % of a binder phase being Co and Ni.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,217,390 describes a method of making an ultra-fine TiC-based cermet by obtaining mechano-chemical synthesis, e.g., high-energy ball-milling of powders of Ti, transition metal (TM), Co and/or Ni powders and carbon powders. Alternatively the Ti and transitional metals can be added as carbides. The transition metal, TM, can be at least one element of Mo, W, Nb, V or Cr. The high-energy ball-milling will form (Ti,TM)C.
However, high-energy ball-milling is a complicated process and it would be beneficial to be able to provide a fine-grained TiC-based cermet using conventional techniques.

Cermet body and a method of making a cermet body


A balustrade product for connecting to a support structure includes an elongated molded housing to form a synthetic material. An insert member is embedded within the molded housing to form a plurality of holes extending longitudinally through the molded housing. The insert member includes a plurality of supports having openings and a plurality of pipes extended through the openings. The plurality of supports each have a circumferentially spaced plurality of tabs that are sized to extend to an outer portion of the molded housing. The plurality of pipes are positioned in parallel relation to one another and in parallel relation to a longitudinal axis of the balustrade product. Each of the plurality of holes are configured to receive connecting pins for releasable connection with the support structure. The balustrade product is formed by centrifuge molding process with the insert member placed within the mold halves allowing the plurality of tabs to engage the mold halves to position and hold the insert member in place.

The present invention relates generally to a new and improved method of manufacture of a synthetic stone rail, apparatus for performing the method, and a balustrade product. More specifically, the present invention provides a by manufactured synthetic stone rail article in the form of a balustrade product containing holes for receiving a connecting structure.
In the past, it has been the practice to produce synthetic stone rails with connection holes at opposite ends by using a final drilling step. This method involved a rotatable centrifugal mold having first and second open halves and a cylindrical inner surface adapted to receive a slurry of synthetic stone material, pouring into said first open half of said rotatable mold a predetermined amount of the slurry of synthetic material composition, tightening the mold in a closed state, rotating on a generally horizontal axis the elongated tubular mold causing said substance to acquire the form of a cylindrical lining within said mold in response to the rotation of the mold and resultant centrifugal force. The predetermined amount of fluid material thereby becomes distributed in said cavity in the form of a rail or balustrade product. After opening the first and second halves of the mold and removing the balustrade product, the final step was to produce with a drill a plurality of holes in the balustrade product which are parallel to the balustrade product""s center horizontal axis. However, producing a hole in the balustrade product quickly, in a cost-effective manner, and with proper alignment can be difficult and problematic.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the method and apparatus of the present invention solves the aforementioned problems and employs a number of novel features and devices that render it highly advantageous over the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for forming a balustrade product. It is another object to provide a balustrade having a connection structure that allows for a quick and easy connection of a balustrade with a post or support structure.
As described later in more detail, the problem of producing a hole in the balustrade product quickly, in a cost-effective manner with proper alignment has been solved by my present invention. Further, the previous methods involving drilling in an end of the balustrade product have been obviated.
My present invention fulfills the need for a method and apparatus that produces the hole in the balustrade product quickly, using less steps and equipment, and giving a final product with a properly aligned hole. Specifically, my present invention reduces the time needed to manufacture by producing the necessary hole in the balustrade product during the molding process. More specifically, an insert member inside the mold is used. The insert member is properly aligned within the mold by a plurality of supports. The plurality of supports engage the inside cavity of the mold resulting in properly alignment of a plurality of pipes that engage the plurality of supports. Each pipe is positioned parallel with the mold""s center horizontal axis and produce the necessary hole in the balustrade product. The inside cavity of the pipe is sealed off from the slurry composition and leaves a cavity in the balustrade product after solidification. The plurality of holes are through holes that can be used for various functions including receiving fastener means to attach the rail to another member or fixed support.
Another problem with the known method is that additional equipment and steps were added to the method of manufacturing the balustrade product. First, the balustrade product was molded from a slurry composition by rotational molding. Next, the balustrade product was removed from the mold after solidification. The balustrade product would be then fixed in place while drilling equipment was used to produce the necessary hole in the ends of the balustrade product.
My present invention eliminates this drilling step completely. In addition, I found that the holes that resulted from my present invention had proper alignment with the balustrade product""s center horizontal axis. This solves a problem that existed with the known method. The known method of drilling the holes resulted in a larger number of improperly aligned holes. My present invention has reduced the number of improperly aligned holes. This is an important feature because if a balustrade product had improperly aligned holes, the entire balustrade product was rendered unusable.
In a preferred embodiment, the insert member used to position a plurality of pipes is made of a material that can easily become an integral part of the balustrade product. In addition, the plurality of pipes are made of a material that can become an integral part of the balustrade product, such as a PVC material that is low in cost. The supports are made of a material that becomes integral with the balustrade product including the same material as the slurry material and an inexpensive polymer material.
My present invention fulfills the need for an aesthetically quality balustrade product. I have designed a plurality of tabs located on each support in such a manner to not be visible upon solidification of the slurry product. Specifically the plurality of tabs are shaped and configured to become an integral part of the balustrade product in such a manner as to not be visible on an outside surface of the balustrade product after removal from the mold.
According to my present invention, I have provided a new and improved method for producing by centrifugal molding a synthetic stone rail article of manufacture in the form a balustrade product containing holes, including the steps of: providing a rotatable centrifugal mold having first and second open halves and a cylindrical inner surface adapted to receive a slurry of synthetic stone material, an apparatus in the form of an insert member, each insert member having a plurality of supports and a plurality of pipes, each support having a plurality of tabs, the plurality of tabs are shaped and configured to position each support inside the mold, each tab engages the mold at an inside surface, each pipe passes through the plurality of supports at a plurality of holes in each support, each pipe has an outside surface, each hole has an inside surface, the outside surface engages the inside surface, the plurality of supports positioning each pipe inside the mold, the apparatus in the form of an insert member being set into the mold, which is in an open state, so that the plurality of supports are arranged perpendicular to the mold""s center horizontal axis and the plurality of pipes are parallel with the mold""s center horizontal axis, pouring into said first open half of said rotatable mold a predetermined amount of the slurry of synthetic material composition, tightening the mold in a closed state and thereby pressing the insert member against inner surfaces of the mold and also thereby positioning the pipes, rotating on a generally horizontal axis, the elongated tubular mold causing said substance to acquire the form of a cylindrical lining within said mold in response to the rotation of the mold and resultant centrifugal force, the predetermined amount of fluid material becomes distributed in said cavity in the form of a rail with the insert member integral with the balustrade product, solidifying said fluid material in said rotating mold such as to form a blank hollow cylinder within the balustrade product, and opening the first half and the second half of the mold and removing the balustrade product.
The method for manufacture of a balustrade of synthetic material composition in a preferred embodiment further includes the mold being made from an extruded aluminum. The method for manufacture of a balustrade of synthetic material composition further includes the plurality of supports being made from the slurry material and the plurality of pipes being made from PVC material.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent upon reference to the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention.

Method for manufacture of a balustrade of synthetic material and apparatus thereof


There is provided a laminated glass excellent in sound insulating property. A laminated glass includes: a pair of glass plates facing each other; and an intermediate film sandwiched between the pair of glass plates, including alternately laminated at least one skin layer and two or more core layers, wherein the skin layer has a glass transition point of 15° C. or higher, and each of the core layers has a glass transition point of less than 15° C., and a ratio of a mass of the intermediate film with respect to a total mass of the intermediate film and the pair of glass plates is 14 mass % or more.

Since a laminated glass including an intermediate film made of resin or the like sandwiched between a pair of glass plates and compression bonded under heating is excellent in safety without scattering of fragments when broken, it is widely used for, for example, window glass of a vehicle such as an automobile, window glass for a building, and the like. In recent years, a laminated glass having various functions imparted according to required functions has been used by appropriately selecting an intermediate film, in addition to the safety such as scattering prevention. There is high desire for a laminated glass having sound insulating property among the functions, and it is therefore attempted to increase sound insulating performance of the laminated glass by using an intermediate film made by laminating resin films different in properties.
For example, Patent Reference 1 (International Publication Pamphlet No. 2010/095749) describes a laminated glass using an intermediate film having a constitution where two kinds of sound insulating layers containing a polyvinyl acetal resin and a plasticizer at different ratios sandwich an intermediate layer containing the polyvinyl acetal resin and the plasticizer and having a different acetyl group amount from the sound insulating layers, and further using an intermediate film having a constitution where the intermediate film is sandwiched with surface protection layers similar to the intermediate layer. The laminated glass described in Patent Reference 1 exerts a sound insulating property at a certain level or more at a temperature range of 10 to 60° C., but does not have a particularly excellent sound insulating property.


A connection component for making connections to a microelectronic element is made by providing leads on a surface of a polymeric layer and etching the polymeric layer to partially detach the leads from the polymeric layer, leaving a portion of each lead releasably connected to the polymeric layer by a small polymeric connecting element which can be broken or peeled away from the lead. Leads in a connecting element may be covered by an insulating jacket applied by a coating process, and the insulating jacket may in turn be covered by a conductive layer so that each lead becomes a miniature coaxial cable. This arrangement provides immunity to interference and facilitates operation at high speeds.

Certain techniques for making semiconductor chip assemblies and similar microelectronic assemblies employ releasably attached leads. One such process is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,964, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. In certain preferred embodiments described in the '964 patent, a first element such as a dielectric layer in a connection component is provided with a plurality of elongated, flexible leads extending along a surface of the element. Each lead has a terminal end permanently attached to the first element and has a tip end offset from the terminal end. The tip ends of the leads may be releasably secured to the first element. A second element such as a semiconductor chip having contacts thereon is engaged with the first element or connection component, and the tip ends of the leads are bonded to contacts on the chip or second element. The elements are then moved away from one another so as to deform the leads and provide vertically extensive leads extending between the first and second elements, i.e., between the chip and the connection component. A compliant material may be introduced between the chip and the connection component.
The resulting structure allows the chip to move relative to the connection component without substantial stresses on the leads, and thus provides compensation for thermal expansion. The preferred structures can be readily tested and can be mounted on a further substrate such as a printed circuit panel or the like. Preferred embodiments of the processes disclosed in the '964 patent can be used with chips or other microelectronic elements having large numbers of terminals. In the preferred processes, many leads can be deformed simultaneously. In particularly preferred processes according to the '964 patent, the leads on a given connection component or first element may be connected to contacts on a plurality of chips such as an array of several chips or numerous chips formed as part of a wafer, so that many leads are deformed simultaneously.
In certain embodiments disclosed in the '964 patent, the tip end of each lead is bonded to the surface of the first element by a small spot of a base metal such as copper interposed between the tip end and the surface. Typically, such a spot is formed by a process in which the leads are formed from an etch-resistant metal such as gold overlying a continuous layer of the base metal. The leads have wide portions at the tip and terminal ends. The component is then subjected to an etching process, as by exposing the component to a liquid etch solution which attacks the base metal so as to undercut the lead and remove the base metal from beneath the etch-resistant metal at all locations except at the terminal end and at the tip end. At the tip end, most, but not all of the base metal is removed from beneath the etch-resistant metal, leaving a very small spot of the base metal. The strength of the bond between the tip and the connection component surface is effectively controlled by the size of the spot. Thus, although the base metal may provide a relatively high bond strength per unit area or per unit length, it may still provide a weak attachment of the tip end of the lead end to the first element surface. Although structures such as frangible lead sections and small buttons can provide useful releasable attachments for the tip ends of the leads, some care is required in fabrication to form these features. Formation of spots of base metal of uniform size beneath the terminal ends of leads on a large connection component requires control of the etching process. Moreover, any variation in the strength of the bond between the base metal and the surface will result in a corresponding variation in the strength with which the tip ends of the leads are held to the surface.
As described in PCT International Publication WO 94/03036, the disclosure of which is hereby also incorporated herein by reference, a connection component may incorporate a support structure such as a polyimide or other dielectric layer with one or more gaps extending through such layer. Preferably, the support structure incorporates one or more flexible or compliant layers. The connection component may further include leads extending across the gap. Each lead has a first or terminal end permanently secured to the support structure on one side of the gap, and a second end releasably attached to the support structure on the opposite side of the gap. In preferred processes as taught by the '036 publication, the connection component is positioned on a semiconductor chip or other microelectronic element. Each lead is engaged by a bonding tool and forced downwardly into the gap, thereby detaching the releasably connected second end from the support structure. The leads are flexed downwardly into the gap and bonded to the contacts on the chip or the microelectronic element. Preferred connection components and processes according to the '036 publication also provide highly efficient bonding processes and very compact assemblies. The finished products provide numerous advantages such as compensation for thermal expansion, ease of testing and a compact configuration.
Other structures disclosed in the '036 publication and in the '964 patent employ frangible lead sections connecting the releasable end of each lead to another structure permanently mounted to the support structure or first element. Frangible sections can also provide useful results. However, such frangible elements are most commonly formed by using the photo-etching or selective deposition processes used to form the lead itself to form a narrow section. The minimum width at the narrow section, can be no less than the smallest width formable in the process. As the other portions of the lead adjacent the narrow section must be wider than the narrow section, these other portions must be larger than the minimum attainable in the process. Stated another way, the leads made by such a process generally are wider than the minimum line width attainable in the formation process. This limits the number of leads which can be accommodated in a given area.
In other embodiments disclosed in the '036 publication, the first or permanently mounted terminal end of a lead may have a relatively large area, whereas the second or releasably mounted end of the lead overlying the support structure may have a relatively small area, so that such second end will break away from the support structure before the first end when the lead is forced downwardly by the bonding tool. This arrangement requires control of the dimensions of the ends to control the area of the bond between the lead end and the support structure and also requires a lead wider than the smallest element formable in the process.
As described in the '036 publication, and as further described in commonly assigned International Publication WO 97/11588, the disclosure of which is also incorporated by reference herein, leads used in these and other microelectronic connection components may include polymeric layers in addition to metallic layers. The polymeric layers structurally reinforce the leads. For example, certain leads described in the '588 publication incorporate a pair of thin conductive layers such as metallic layers overlying opposite surfaces of a polymeric layer. One conductive layer may be used as a signal conductor, whereas the opposite conductive layer may act as a potential reference conductor. The composite lead thus provides a stripline extending along the lead. A stripline lead of this nature can provide a low, well-controlled impedance along the lead, which enhances the speed of operation of the circuit formed by the connection component and the associated microelectronic elements. The potential reference conductor also helps to reduce crosstalk or undesirable inductive signal coupling between adjacent leads.
Despite all of these improvements, still further improvements would be desirable.

Method of making components with releasable leads


An image capturing apparatus with a laser-framing viewfinder includes a housing, a laser source installed inside the housing for generating a laser beam, a first lens installed inside the housing for diverging the laser beam, a framing mask for masking the laser beam diverged by the first lens to form a laser-framing viewfinder, and a camera lens installed in the housing for capturing an object in the laser-framing viewfinder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus, and more specifically, to an image capturing apparatus with a laser-framing viewfinder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Digital cameras have become popular digital products and are positioned to eventually replace conventional film cameras due to low prices and compatibility with other electronic peripherals. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a front view diagram illustrating a conventional digital camera 10. The digital camera 10 includes a camera lens 12 for capturing an object, an optical viewfinder 14 composed of several lenses for users to view the image of an object refracted by the lenses, and a shutter button 16 for focusing and shooting. Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a rear view diagram of the digital camera 10. The digital camera 10 further includes an electrical viewfinder 18 providing users another option to view the image of the object, which can be a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) display. A control button set 20 is for users to browse and edit images or to set up parameters. The digital camera 10 differs from conventional film cameras by providing the electrical viewfinder 18. Users can view the image of the object on the electrical viewfinder 18 instead of the smaller optical viewfinder 14. In addition, the users can use the electrical viewfinder 18 to browse the images after shooting.
However, the image displayed on the electrical viewfinder 18 is limited by resolution and size and because it is a result of an image signal captured by an image sensor and then processed by a digital signal processor (DSP), distortion when compared to the actual image is observed. Users may discover blurry images due to nonfocusing or hand trembling that is not apparent when shooting them. Moreover, the electrical viewfinder 18 has high power consumption and has a limited angle of view.
Alternatively, users can view the object through the optical viewfinder 14. In this situation users are required to hold the camera close to their face, which is not only inconvenient but also slows down shooting. Additionally, the LCD or LTPS used in the electrical viewfinder 18 costs a significant amount and is not profitable on low-level digital cameras or small-size digital image capturing apparatuses. Thus, there is a need to design a lower cost viewfinder for small-size low-cost digital image capturing apparatuses.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image capturing apparatus with a laser-framing viewfinder


A zinc titanate reactive adsorbent comprising multiphase, polycrystalline nanofibers comprising ZnTiO3, ZnO, TiO2, and Zn2TiO4.

Roughly eighty percent of energy consumption in the United States is derived from fossil fuels. Conversion of these raw fuels to process streams that are more readily usable has long been possible, however, in recent decades due to more stringent environmental regulations, there has been increasing emphasis on also minimizing the presence of sulfur-containing compounds in the process streams. These sulfur compounds are present in fossil fuels, whether the fuel is liquid (crude oil), solid (coal), or gas (natural gas). Methods for removing sulfur, or converting it to more readily-processable forms are so important that it is sometimes necessary to operate entire refinery units specifically devoted to that purpose. For example, fluid catalytic cracking units, which process downstream derivative streams of crude oil, often pretreat their feed in hydrotreating units to convert sulfur-containing compounds to materials that do not boil in the gasoline range. In the treatment of natural gas or coal-derived syngas, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is found. Hydrogen sulfide not only presents environmental concerns, but is poisonous to catalysts and corrosive to metals, and therefore needs to be removed from the process streams. This is often achieved using metal oxides as reactive adsorbents, but such materials often perform poorly when subjected to repeated cycles of sulfidation and re-oxidation because of complex structural and chemical changes. Cyclic use of the adsorbent degrades its performance for a variety of reasons, including grain growth-led reduction in specific surface area (sintering), sorbent underutilization due to diffusion-limited gas solid reactions, mechanical spalling (adsorbent breakup) due to reaction and heat induced volumetric changes, and formation of non-regenerable, thermodynamically stable side products.
The bulk of research in this area has mainly focused on modifying sorbent chemical composition. However, because the overall gas-solid reaction is often controlled by diffusion, tuning chemical properties alone limits the number of possible solutions. Conventional pellet-based sorbent designs are transport limited in sulfur uptake, which exposes the outermost layers to disproportionately longer durations, in comparison to the pellet interior, leading to sorbent fragmentation. Nanosized H2S adsorbents, with their large specific surface areas and short diffusion lengths, would seem to be more appropriate when using such an approach. However, in addition to size, the choice of sorbent morphology is also important. Particulate-based adsorbents tend to aggregate and sinter together under high temperature cycling, causing diffusion barriers similar to bulk sorbents. Therefore, a sorbent morphology that promotes faster overall kinetics while simultaneously preventing progressive material underutilization is highly desirable.
Work has been ongoing to develop improved adsorbents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,907 discloses high temperature desulfurization of coal-derived gases using regenerable sorbents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,003 discloses durable, regenerable sorbent pellets for removal of hydrogen sulfide from coal gas. U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,469 discloses a dry, regenerable solid oxide process for converting SOx in flue gas streams to elemental sulfur without using a Claus unit. Nevertheless, a continuing need exists for reactive adsorbents with high levels of reactivity that are capable of withstanding multiple cycles of sulfidation/regeneration while maintaining activity. It has unexpectedly been found that zinc titanate based adsorbents with a nanofibrous morphology exhibit high sulfur removal capacity over multiple regeneration cycles, accompanied by rapid reaction rates. The nanofibrous morphology overcomes transport-related limitations, and enables complete material utilization by promoting reaction-controlled kinetics. In-situ nanoscale stabilization of the adsorbent's ZnS wurtzite phase and the growth of rate-enhancing hierarchical structures further facilitate sorbent regeneration.

Process for producing a regenerable oxide-based adsorbent

The Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois


An inkjet recording element having a support having thereon in sequence (a) a transparent, non-porous layer that can be swelled by water less than 0.67 of its original weight, and (b) a fusible, porous image-receiving layer. The inkjet recording element exhibits improved adhesion and excellent image quality. A method of inkjet printing is also disclosed.

In a typical inkjet recording or printing system, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle at high speed towards a recording element or medium to produce an image on the medium. The ink droplets, or recording liquid, generally comprise a recording agent, such as a dye or pigment, and a large amount of solvent. The solvent, or carrier liquid, typically is made up of water and an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol, or mixtures thereof.
An inkjet recording element typically comprises a support having on at least one surface thereof an ink-receiving or image-receiving layer, and includes those intended for reflection viewing, which have an opaque support, and those intended for viewing by transmitted light, which have a transparent support.
A desirable characteristic of inkjet recording elements is the capability to dry quickly after printing. To this end, porous recording elements have been developed which provide nearly instantaneous drying as long as they have sufficient thickness and pore volume to effectively contain the liquid ink. For example, a porous recording element can be manufactured by cast coating, in which a particulate-containing coating is applied to a support and is dried in contact with a polished smooth surface.
Inkjet prints, prepared by printing onto inkjet recording elements, are potentially subject to environmental degradation. They are especially vulnerable to damage resulting from contact with water and atmospheric gases such as ozone. The damage resulting from post-imaging contact with water can take the form of water spots resulting from deglossing of the top coat, dye smearing due to unwanted dye diffusion, and even gross dissolution of the image recording layer. Ozone bleaches inkjet dyes resulting in loss of density.
To overcome these deficiencies inkjet prints are often laminated. However, lamination is expensive since it requires a separate roll of material. Print protection can also be provided by coating a polymer solution or dispersion onto the surface of an inkjet element after the image is formed. The aqueous coating solutions are often polymer dispersions capable of film formation when water is removed. However, due to the wide variety of surface properties, it is difficult to formulate an aqueous polymer solution to be universally compatible to all inkjet receivers.
Numerous publications teach the concept of fusible organic particles as an overcoat layer of a inkjet recoding media in order to achieve fast ink absorption before fusing and image protection after fusing.
For example, EP 0858905 discloses the preparation of a recording medium comprising a porous outermost layer by coating and drying a particulate thermoplastic resin above its glass transition temperature (Tg), but below its minimum film formation temperature (MFFT). Heat treatment of the recording medium after printing renders the outermost layer non-porous or fusion-bonded. EP 0858906 discloses a recording media comprising a base material and a porous surface layer containing particles of a thermoplastic resin, wherein the breadth of the particle size distribution of the particles of the thermoplastic resin is within 3σ, and the proportion of particles having a particle size at most a fifth of the average particle size of the particles of the thermoplastic resin is 10% or lower.
The commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. Ser. No. 10/289,607, filed Nov. 7, 2002 by Yau et al., titled "Inkjet Printing Method" and U.S. Ser. No. 10/289,862, filed Nov. 7, 2002 by Yau et al., titled "Inkjet Recording Element," both hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, teach the use of high Tg monodisperse particles in combination with a low Tg hydrophobic binder in an ink-receiving layer to provide an inkjet media exhibiting rapid ink absorption. Fusing of such printed media converts the ink-receiving layer to a transparent water-resistant and stain-resistant layer. However, certain problems have been associated with an inkjet recording element in which a single layer of a fusible polymer-particle layer is placed on a substrate. First, poor adhesion of the fused layer to the support may occur and, second, the fused layer may turn hazy or lose gloss appearance with time due to the interaction or incompatibility with components from the applied ink, for example, humectants.
Inkjet recording elements having a multi-layer coating construction above a support are known. For example, EP 0858905, EP 0858906, EP 1160097 A3 (=U.S. 2002008747), EP1188574, JP59222381, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,114,020, and 6,357,871 all teach a porous ink-transporting topcoat of thermally fusible particles residing on a porous ink-retaining layer. Upon printing, the colorant in the inkjet ink is intended to pass through the topcoat and into an ink-retaining layer. The topcoat layer is then sealed to afford a water and stain resistant print. Such topcoats containing thermally fusible particles typically either contain a binder or are thermally sintered to provide a level of mechanical integrity to the layer prior to the imaging and fusing steps. The porous ink-retaining underlying layer is light diffusive and, therefore, is not suitable for transparency media. In addition, the optical density of the printed image on such multi-layer constructions, coated on a reflective support, is compromised when colorants penetrate into the porous ink-retaining layer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,785,313, 4,832,984, and 6,013,354 disclose recording media comprising a base, an ink-receptive layer that is transparent, and an overcoat layer of fusible fine particles. This type of multi-layer structure has the advantage of being suitable for both transmissive and reflective applications. Both layers are free of light scattering after fusing and, therefore, the image provides higher optical density than the multi-layer construction consisting of a porous ink-retaining layer as described in the previous paragraph. What has been experienced with such media, however, is that the composition of the transparent underlying layer can adversely affect the coating quality of the top fusible layer, the adhesion of the top layer to the substrate, and the image fastness on long-term keeping.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel porous inkjet recording element that absorbs inks instantly, and after imaging, provides an image which has good quality and is water and abrasion resistant. It is another object of the invention to provide a porous inkjet recording element that is resistant to delamination by customer handling and to image change from long-term keeping.


A MIMO transmitter capable of highly efficient power amplification over a wide dynamic range or for a high PAPR signal. In the MIMO transmitter (100), an amplifier (150) amplifies an input signal and outputs the amplified signal to an antenna (170). An amplifier (160) amplifies an input signal and outputs the amplified signal to an antenna (180). A peak detection part (130) detects an envelope of a first transmission sequence. A branch switching part (140) switches over to input all of the first transmission sequence to the amplifier (150) or to input part of the first transmission sequence together with a second transmission sequence to the amplifier (160) based on comparison results between the envelope detection result of the first transmission sequence and a threshold value. This constitution can reduce a peak of the input signal of the amplifier, and thus the amplifier can be efficiently used. As a result, the MIMO transmitter capable of highly efficient power amplification for a high PAPR signal and the like can be realized.

As mobile and stationary radio communication is promoted to broadbandaization in the future, a large-sized base station apparatus, or short duration and heat radiation of a mobile terminal's battery according to an increase in power consumption of a power amplifier become a big problem. For this reason, a power amplifier is required to be capable of amplifying a high speed signal having a wide bandwidth with low distortion and high efficiency.
Methods of realizing high-efficiency modulation and amplification include a Doherty amplification scheme, an ET (Envelope tracking) scheme, an EER (Envelope Elimination Restoration) scheme and so on.
Meanwhile, to increase the transmission capacity of a transmission signal, a M-ary modulation scheme such as QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) is adopted.
Further, to increase frequency spectrum efficiency, an OFDM scheme (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), whereby multicarrier signals are mapped densely in the frequency domain, is adopted.
Furthermore, large capacity transmission is possible by MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) transmission scheme using a plurality of antennas.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a transmitting apparatus adopting a 2×2 MIMO transmission scheme. As shown in the figure, transmitting apparatus 10 has two transmission systems each configured with power amplifier 1, antenna 2 and signal generator 3. Signal generator 3-1 receives transmission data 1 and performs radio processing including up-conversion on transmission data 1, to generate a radio signal sequence. Power amplifier 1-1 receives the radio signal sequence generated in signal generator 3-1 and amplifies this radio signal sequence. The amplified radio signal sequence is transmitted via antenna 2-1. The same processing is performed on transmission data sequence 2 in the other transmission system.
Incidentally, by employing the above M-ary modulation scheme and OFDM scheme, an envelop signal of a radio transmission signal sequence tends to fluctuate significantly. That is, the signal tends to be a wide dynamic range signal. This fluctuation width of this envelop signal is represented by an indicator referred to as "PAPR" (Peak-to-Average-Power-Ratio). Generally, when PAPR is high, it is necessary to increase the back-off of an amplifier, and therefore the efficiency of an amplifier decreases. For this reason, it is important to maintain the efficiency of an amplifier high even in a wide dynamic range signal.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a transmitting apparatus adopting the high-efficiency Doherty amplification scheme disclosed in Patent Document 1.
In this transmitting apparatus, a plurality of peak amplifiers 16 are disposed in parallel with one carrier amplifier 14. Splitter 17 splits a signal received as input into a plurality of signals. Further, splitter 17 changes the signal level ratio of a plurality of split signals. By this means, it is possible to set up different input levels in which a plurality of peak amplifiers 16 turn on between a plurality of peak amplifiers 16. In this way, different peak amplifiers are allowed to operate in a saturation mode according to signal levels, and this makes it possible to operate amplifiers with high efficiency even in a wide dynamic range.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Translation of a PCT Application Laid-Open No. 2005-525727


A Bluetooth master radio frequency unit addresses a slave radio frequency unit, to enable the slave to synchronize to the master, by sending poll packets and optionally null packets over an active link, the master being arranged so that receipt of a response from the slave unit to a poll packet is sufficient to maintain the active link. The slave unit does not have to respond to all of the poll packets. This approach can allow the slave to preserve more (transmit) power by going into a deep sleep mode in which a low power oscillator may be used while still allowing the master unit to detect whether the slave has resynchronized or not (and thus to update a Link Supervision Timer, for example).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods of obtaining low power operation for a telecommunications device using a telecommunications protocol, especially a wireless protocol, such as the Bluetooth protocol, to apparatus and software for carrying out such methods, and in particular to providing low power operation when a telecommunications device such as a Bluetooth slave device is has a radio link in Sniff mode.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Bluetooth is a well known short-range radio link intended to replace the cable(s) connecting portable and/or fixed electronic devices. Full details are available from Bluetooth SIG which has its global headquarters in Overland Park, Kans., USA. Key features are robustness, low complexity, low power, and low cost. Bluetooth operates in the unlicensed ISM band at 2.4 GHz. Frequency hopping is applied to combat interference and fading. A slotted channel is used with a nominal slot length of 625 μs. On the channel, information is exchanged through packets. In Bluetooth version 1.1 each packet is transmitted on a different hop frequency. In Bluetooth version 1.2 it is proposed that transmission and receive packets may be sent on the same frequency. The Bluetooth protocol uses a combination of circuit and packet switching. Slots can be used for asynchronous operation or can be reserved for synchronous packets. Descriptions of the Bluetooth standards can be found in "Discovering Bluetooth", M. Miller, Sybex, 2001; "Bluetooth: connect without cables", J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Prentice-Hall, 2001 as well as from the Bluetooth standards themselves.
Wireless Bluetooth devices are often battery powered and can support an HID (Human Interface Device) profile and can act as a slave device. Typically, such battery powered HID devices are:                Bluetooth wireless keyboard        Bluetooth wireless mouse        Bluetooth wireless game controller
The Bluetooth system can provide a point-to-point connection (only two Bluetooth units involved), or a point-to-multipoint connection. In the point-to-multipoint connection, the channel is shared among several Bluetooth units. Two or more units sharing the same channel form a piconet. One Bluetooth unit acts as the master of the piconet, whereas the other unit(s) acts as slave(s). Up to seven slaves can be active in the piconet. In addition, many more slaves can remain locked to the master in a so-called parked state. These parked slaves cannot be active on the channel, but remain synchronized to the master. Both for active and parked slaves, the channel access is controlled by the master. Units can also be in a hold mode or a sniff mode.
The best battery operated device dedicated for most applications is the one that has the lowest power consumption and so the longest battery life time without any degradation in functionality. Any possibility to save power consumption must be considered by the designer. The Bluetooth specification has defined a few low power modes. Possible BT low power modes are: hold, sniff and park.
Hold mode allows devices to be inactive for a certain time. It does not affect synchronous traffic. During hold mode all asynchronous traffic is stopped for a specified period of time. It is left entirely up to a held device if it switches off its receiver during the hold period. A parked device gives up its active member address and ceases to be an active member of a piconet. It cannot transmit in park mode nor can it be actively addressed by a master unit. It wakes up periodically to listen for transmissions from the master device at pre-arranged beacon instants. The master unit transmits to slave units using a periodic beacon. As the beacon messages receive no reply from parked slave units, the beacon is simply transmitted at regular intervals. The slave units use the beacon messages to synchronize their internal clocks. Both a master and a slave unit may send messages to end the park mode. A parked slave unit can sleep during beacon signals. This is set by the master which tells a slave unit how long it can sleep by specifying the number of beacon signals NBsleep it can sleep through. A parked unit may make use of a less accurate low power oscillator so the timing may drift away if the parked unit remains asleep too long. To make sure all parked slave units stay synchronized a master unit can unpark and park them at regular intervals.
Similar to the park mode, a slave in sniff mode periodically wakes up to listen to transmissions from the master and to re-synchronize its clock offset. For the HID profile, when devices are active (currently in use) the sniff mode is commonly used. The nature of HID devices are as such that a data flow might be required at each moment. For this reason the park and holdmode are not so suitable for these kind of devices, while the sniff mode is well suited. In the sniff mode, the duty cycle of the slave's listening activity can be reduced. If a slave participates on a link, it has to listen in every slot to the master traffic. With the sniff mode, the time slots where the master can start transmission to a specific slave is reduced; that is, the master can only start transmission in specified time slots. These so-called sniff slots are spaced regularly with an interval of Tsniff. Thus, the sniff mode may be described as the provision of periodic moments in time when communication from the master can occur, these times being at longer intervals than available during normal operation. The sniff parameters, interval and attempts, are always initiated by the slave HID device. The slave HID device will always select the sniff parameters. It must always choose the parameters such that the data rate it receives data is lower than the data rate it can report to the master and take care that the latency to sent the data is within the limits the application requires. So, the master starts polling the slave at the sniff interval for a number of sniff attempts. In case the slave device has got no data to send it replies with a NULL packet otherwise it replies with the data packet. The slave starts listening at the sniff slots for Nsniff attempt consecutive receive slots unless a packet with matching address is received. After every reception of a packet with matching address, the slave continues listening at the subsequent Nsniff timeout or remaining of the receive slots, whichever is greater. So, for Nsniff timeout>0, the slave continues listening as long as it receives packets with matching address. To enter the sniff mode, the master or slave can issue a sniff command message. This message will contain the sniff interval Tsniff and an offset Dsniff. The timing of the sniff mode is then determined. It is known to vary the parameters Tsniff and Nsniff according to backlogs of data to be transmitted between each of a number of different slaves, to save overall power consumption of the slaves. In Bluetooth version 1.2 the Nsniff timeout is used after the slave has transmitted a data packet. The Nsniff timeout is not used when only POLL/NULL packets have been exchanged.
NULL packets can be sent by a master and used by the slave to maintain synchronization. The POLL packet is very similar to the NULL packet. It does not have a payload either. In contrast to the NULL packet, it requires a confirmation from the recipient. Upon reception of a POLL packet the slave must respond with a packet. This return packet is an implicit acknowledgement of the POLL packet. The Poll packet can be used by the master in a piconet to poll the slaves, which must then respond even if they do not have information to send.
As mentioned, the master polls the slave. In the case that it didn't receive any reply within a link supervision time it will declare the link as lost—a link supervision timeout. Also at the slave, the slave replies to the poll packets. In the case it didn't receive any poll packet within the link supervision time it will declare the link as lost.
Synchronization is important for ad-hoc connections. In the Bluetooth system, each unit has a free-running native clock which has an accuracy of 20 ppm when the unit is active and 250 ppm when the unit is in a low-power mode. When a unit wants to page another unit, it can speed up the connection establishment when it knows the recipient's native clock. This clock information should be stored during a previous connection stage. A Bluetooth unit can thus have a list of unit addresses with corresponding native clocks it can use when paging one of those units. The clock information is stored as a time offset to its own native clock. When a piconet is in operation, it is the native clock in the master that determines the timing. The slaves add an offset to their native clocks in order to be hop synchronized to the master. The slave's native clock plus the offset with respect to the master provide the proper input to the hop selection scheme. Since the native clocks of the master and the slave are free-running, the offset in the slaves has to be adjusted continuously to compensate for drift. The reception of packets sent by the master is used to adjust the offset. The access code in front of the packet has the proper autocorrelation properties to enable a slave to derive the timing.
A master needs to send a poll packet occasionally, to maintain its awareness of other slaves within range, and to maintain synchronization of such slaves. The number of poll packets sent should be kept to a minimum to avoid the power cost of causing these slaves to have to transmit. Transmitting usually costs more power than receiving and so contributes to draining the batteries of units which are presumably trying to save power by being in the sniff mode. Where resources are scarce and must be used in an efficient way the ratio of the number of POLL and NULL packets to the number of data packets should be minimized. Besides this efficiency goal, a polling master in Bluetooth should also be fair. In the Bluetooth best effort case, fairness implies that slaves get the same fraction of their fair share of communication time where the fair share is determined by rules.
For scheduling POLL packets during Sniff mode, several scheduling algorithms are known and are in use in commercially available devices. The more advanced algorithms stop scheduling POLL packets (and start scheduling NULL packets) in the sniff attempts when the slave has synchronized (i.e. when the slave did respond with a NULL packet). In other words when the slave has synchronized, it is sufficient to send NULL packets for the remaining master Tx slots of the sniff attempts. This algorithm is not suitable for implementations that are using a "prescheduling algorithm". In "prescheduling implementations", Tx/Rx packet pairs are allocated in advance. For a master (using a prescheduling algorithm) of a Bluetooth link in sniff mode, this means that the master does not know in advance (i.e. at the time the actual scheduling occurs) when the slave will be synchronized. One possible solution to this problem is to send POLL packets in every Tx slot of the Sniff attempts, but this costs transmit power at the slave side (since the slave is obliged to respond to POLL packets).
A Bluetooth device has the lowest power consumption in the case where it can run on a low power oscillator clock, also referred to as the deep sleep mode. Unfortunately, activating or deactivating this power mode requires some time. The ideal situation is that the device can go into the deep sleep mode in between the sniff intervals. Unfortunately, for most devices the sniff interval is too short in active mode to allow such a power down. For this purpose a so-called inactivity timer is used. That is, the inactivity timer is restarted each time a data packet needs to be sent to the master. In case that the inactivity timer expires one will renegotiate the sniffed link to go into another sniffed link with a higher sniff interval. And perhaps that this sniff interval allows now the device to go into the deep sleep power mode. Driving the inactivity timer to the limit is thus a way to lower power consumption.
Changing sniff intervals during operation is not without risk. The inactivity timer is used to change sniff intervals into longer periods on expiration. In case that there is back application activity detected the device must go as fast as possible back to a sniffed link which meets the latency requirements. This usually means going into sniff mode with the smallest sniff interval. In the event that this negotiation time takes too long it might be that the device cannot report all the data it needs to. The Bluetooth specification doesn't provide any hard figures for response times to renegotiate the sniff parameters. Also, initiating a new sniffed link requires first to unsniff the existing link and next to sniff the link back. There is no other way to change the sniff parameters than this. The negotiation time on link manager level to go from a slow sniff to a fast sniff is implementation dependant. If this takes too long there is a risk that (since the device receives data that it needs to sent) the device has got no buffer space left anymore such that it needs to throw away valid data—this is the worst that can happen. This fact makes that interoperability testing for HID devices is still required.
In summary an HID device can go into several sniff states and low power modes so that making a good HID device with a very low power consumption is difficult. It requires a lot of device tuning, testing, debugging and interoperability testing.


A polarizing lens for sunglasses comprising a laminate having a polarizing thin layer and supporting layers made from polycarbonate-resin being laminated on both surfaces of the thin layer, and a method and an apparatus for producing said polarizing lens. The laminate used for the inventive polarizing lens is formed as a oblong in which polarizing axis is corresponded to the cross direction thereof, and is so curved as to have a non-spherical curved surface whose curve along the direction of polarizing axis is shaper than curve along the direction orthogonal to the polarizing axis.

The present invention relates to a polarizing lens mainly used for sunglasses and goggles. More particularly, this invention relates to a polarizing lens used for a sunglasses comprising a curved laminate which comprises a polarizing thin layer and supporting layers being made from polycarbonate-resin and formed on both surfaces of the thin layer, while the invention also relates to a method of producing said polarizing lens and an apparatus for executing the production method related thereto.
Conventionally, there are such sunglasses using polarizing lenses as the one shown in FIG. 18 for example. Taking fashionableness into account, the glasses exemplified in FIG. 18 are designed with a slim width. Both ends of a frame 110 are conspicuously curved by way of surrounding both sides of the bearer's face in order that the sunglasses not only functionally deal with front-directional incident light, but also deal with lateral-directional incident light as well. A pair of lenses 111 secured to the frame 110 are respectively formed with spherical surfaces, each having a small radius of curvature proportional to such a conspicuous curve provided for the frame 110.
In order to produce the above-preferred lens 111, initially, a polarizing lens 100 shown in FIG. 19 is produced from a laminate comprising a polarizing thin layer and supporting layers made from polycarbonate-resin and formed on both surfaces of the thin layer, via steps of pressing the laminate by applying a trimming die to form as a rectangular sheet, and curving the rectangular laminate. Next, the produced polarizing lens 100 are cut into the shape of the frame 110 as per dotted-line shown in FIG. 19 and a lens 111 fitting in with the frame 110 are eventually formed.
A pair of polarizing lenses 100 correctly fitting in with the curved sunglasses shown in FIG. 18, have spherical curved surfaces 2, each surface is so formed that curve 2A along the direction X of the polarizing axis and curve 2B along the direction Y being orthogonal to the polarizing axis are respectively 8R. 1R means that radius of curvature is 523 mm, and this numerical value designating degree of curvature "R" is inversely proportional to radius of curvature. Accordingly, the greater the radius of curvature, the gentler is the curve. Conversely, the greater the numerical value designating curvature, the sharper is the curve.
FIG. 20 exemplifies a method of producing a conventional polarizing lens 100 having an 8R.times.8R curved surface 2. In FIG. 20, the reference numeral 101 designates a lower mold having a concave surface 101A corresponding to the 8R.times.8R curved surface 2. The reference numeral 102 designates an upper mold having a convex pressing surface 102A correctly matching the form of the concavity of the surface 101A. The lower mold 101 is secured onto upper and lower supporting bases 104 and 105 and is subject to heating by a heater 103 built in the supporting base 104. The lower mold 101, supporting bases 104 and 105 are respectively provided with air-absorbing holes 10B, 104A, and 105A for sucking up a molded object by operating absorptive force inside of the concavity of the surface 101A of the mold 101. In addition, the reference numeral 106 shown in FIG. 20 designates a fixing member for integrally securing the upper-and-lower supporting bases 104 and 105.
In order to form a lens 100, initially, the lower mold 101 is heated at 143.about.144.degree. C. by operating the heater 103, and then a laminate 3 is horizontally set onto the surface 101A. In order to facilitate curving work, the laminate 3 is preheated by hot air heated at 140.degree. C. for 5 minutes until the laminate 3 itself is heated to 110.degree. C. Next, the upper mold 102 is lowered while operating absorptive force to the concave surface 101A by operating a vacuum unit (not being illustrated), the laminate 3 is curved between the pressing surface 102A of the upper mold 102 and the surface 101A of the lower mold 101. Next, while rising up the upper mold 102 with maintaining the absorption-activated state inside of the concavity of the surface 101A, shape of the molded object is stably formed via thermal treatment at 160.degree. C. for approximately 5 minutes. Consequently, a polarizing lens 100 provided with an 8R.times.8R curved surface 2 is completed. Finally, the completed lens 100 is drawn out of the concave surface 101A of the lower mold 101.
Nevertheless, in the case of the conventional polarizing lens 100 having an 8R.times.8R curved surface 2, substantial difference is generated between the curvature of the front-side supporting layer and the curvature of the backside supporting layer to cause refractive power of light to increase to generate substantial distortion in the lens. When using sunglasses made of the above-cited polarizing lenses 100, bearer's eyes will incur adverse effect. Refractive power of light can be contracted by way of minimizing difference between the curvature of the surface-side supporting layer and the curvature of the back-side supporting layer by restraining curved surface 2 of the polarizing lens 100 to be 6R.times.6R for example. On the other hand, if the curvature of the curved surface 2 were contracted, curve of the lens 111 become gentle to generate difficulty to properly fit in the lens 111 with the frame 110 having a conspicuous curved form as shown in FIG. 18.

Polarizing lens for sunglasses, method and apparatus for producing said lens


A medicine envelope feeder capable of feeding a sufficient quantity of medicine envelopes while preventing injection medicine containers from leaking out of the medicine envelopes even if the shape of a bucket is of a general type. One face of the medicine envelope (3) is supported by a support member (5), excluding a tolerance for bending starting from an upper end opening part. The other face of the medicine envelope (3) is guided by a guide part (26) of a vertically movable holding member (6), and the medicine envelope (3) is folded along the support member (5) and pressed by lowering a vertically movable pressing part (27) along the guide part (26). Since the coefficient of friction of the pressing part (27) is larger than that of the support member 5, only the medicine envelope (3) can be raised while being held between the guide part (26) and the pressing part (27) when the holding member (6) is raised.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medicine envelope feeder.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional device for feeding medicine envelopes storing injection medicine such as injection medicine in ampules to a bucket, there has been disclosed, for example in Japanese unexamined patent application No. H11-152113, a device structured such that medicine envelopes storing injection medicine containers can be fed to storage chambers formed in a bucket via a belt conveyer that is provided in a rotatable manner.
However, in the conventional structure, each storage chamber in the bucket needs to be formed such that the medicine envelopes could be accommodated upright and easily in each storage chamber so as to prevent the injection medicine containers stored in the medicine envelopes from leaking. This significantly suppresses the quantity of medicine envelopes than can be accommodated, and necessitates the provision of a bucket whose shape is of specific type. Moreover, without the use of such a specific type of bucket, it is impossible to prevent injection medicine containers from leaking out of the medicine envelopes.


Methods and systems for testing and diagnosis of weapon control systems are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus for testing a weapon control system includes an interface unit and a simulator unit. The interface unit is adapted to be operatively coupled to the weapon control system, and the simulator unit is operatively coupled to the interface unit. The simulator unit receives and analyzes a control signal, and transmits at least one of a first type of responsive signal indicative of a properly functioning component, and a second type of responsive signal indicative of a malfunctioning component.

One possible hazard of military activity is the danger to personnel posed by equipment malfunction. As the complexity of modem weapons systems continues to increase, the challenge of maintaining the reliability and safety of such weapon systems also increases. With regard to modem fighter aircraft, for example, the possibility of a malfunction may increase due to numerous factors, including the age of the aircraft, the number and severity of missions flown, the operational environment of the aircraft, and of course, the presence of hostile fire directed against the aircraft.
Among the possible types of equipment malfunctions that may occur are the type associated with the components within the aircraft associated with controlling the aircraft's weapons (e.g. electrical circuitry, hardware and software). The possibility of malfunction of an aircraft's weapons control system poses a hazard to personnel on board the aircraft, as well as the ground crew charged with properly equipping the aircraft with its stores of missiles or other weaponry. Although some aircraft may include limited self-diagnostic capabilities that attempt to detect malfunctions and alert an operator if a malfunction is detected, such self-diagnostic capabilities may not be perfect and may themselves be subject to malfunction. Therefore, a need exists for improved methods and apparatus for testing and diagnosis of weapon control systems for aircraft

Methods and apparatus for testing and diagnosis of weapon control systems


A method of delivering a protein, in particular insulin, to the lungs. The method is characterized in that an aerosolized mist of small particles is produced in an associated medicament delivery chamber, the distance from the chamber to the patient's mouth is set to slow the speed of aerosol particles entering the mouth and the flow rate through the chamber is regulated to a low rate of less than about 30 liters per minute. It has been found that administering insulin in accordance with the invention may advantageously produce a penetration of medication into the lungs of about 90%.

The physical discomfort associated with subcutaneous injection of insulin causes many type II diabetic patients to refuse insulin therapy entirely, while type I patients may refuse intensive treatment. A number of investigators have explored various alternative routes of administration of insulin in the hope of developing a substitute for injection.
Harrison and Cantab, "Insulin in Alcoholic Solution by Mouth", Br Med J, pp. 1204-1205 (1923), and Shichiri et al, "Increased Intestinal Absorption of Insulin in a Micellar Solution: water-in-oil-in-water insulin micelles", Acta Diabetol Lat, 15:175-183 (1978), examined the effect of delivering insulin enterically on blood glucose levels in humans and rabbits, respectively. Harrison et al. found that oral administration in alcohol would be too uncertain and too expensive to be of little therapeutic value in treating diabetics. Similarly, Shichiri et al. showed that the possibility of insulin absorption in a micellar form was impractical, since a reduction in blood glucose was only accomplished through intrajejunal administration and the required dose was 25-50 times that of an intramuscular dose.
Yamasaki et al, "The Effectiveness of Rectal Administration of Insulin Suppository in Normal and Diabetic Subjects", Diabetes Care. 4:454-458 (1981), tested the effectiveness of insulin administration by rectal suppository in normal and non-insulin-dependent non-obese diabetic subjects. They found that a dose 10 times the subcutaneous dose was necessary to lower blood glucose levels significantly, and some subjects complained of abdominal discomfort or a feeling of rectal urgency.
N. F. Fisher, "The Absorption of Insulin from the Intestine, Vagina, and Scrotal sac", Am J Physiol, 67:65-71 (1923), found that blood glucose levels in dogs were only temporarily reduced when insulin was administered through fistulae into the intestine or through vaginal administration. He found that scrotal administration of insulin resulted in a more sustained lowering of blood glucose in rabbits than with the other two routes of administration. However, this method of insulin delivery required injection into the scrotal sac and was not recommended for treatment of human diabetic patients.
Moses et al., "Insulin Administered Intranasally as an Insulin-bile salt Aerosol. Effectiveness and Reproducibility in Normal and Diabetic Subjects", Diabetes 32:1040-1047 (1983) reported that insulin administered intranasally as a bile-salt aerosol was effective in lowering blood glucose levels in diabetic subjects. Nevertheless, the amount of insulin absorbed through the nasal mucosa was approximately 10% of the dose delivered by intravenous injection and 2.5 times the subcutaneous dose was required to lower blood glucose. In addition, subjects reported nasal irritation and nasal congestion following administration, probably due to the presence of the bile acid.
Because of lower serum absorption and/or local irritation, none of these alternative routes of administration have been developed to replace insulin injection in the treatment of diabetes.
Creasia et al., "Efficacy of Inhaled Insulin: Effect of Adjuvant",FASEB J. 2: A537 (1988), and Almer et al. "Insulin Inhalation--at last a break-through", Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, XIII Congress of the International Diabetes Federation: Sydney, Australia, S163 (1988), demonstrated that insulin aerosol delivered through the rat lung was effective in lowering serum glucose. Wigley et al., "Insulin Across Respiratory Mucosae by Aerosol Delivery", Diabetes, 20:552-556 (1971), and Elliott et al., "Parenteral Absorption of Insulin from the lung in Diabetic Children", Aust Paediatr J. 23:293-297 (1987), showed that insulin delivered to the human lung as an aerosol crosses the respiratory mucosa and retains biologic activity, since plasma insulin levels increased after insulin inhalation and blood glucose levels were lowered. Nevertheless, only one patient in the Wigley study achieved a normal blood glucose level following insulin inhalation, and none of the patients in the Elliott study responded with lowering of the blood glucose to within the normal range. The authors concluded that variable and inefficient absorption of insulin across the lung mucosa could account for their results. The dose of insulin available for inhalation at the mouth and the distribution of the available dose within the respiratory tract were not quantified in either study.
All U.S. patents and publications referred to herein are hereby incorporated by reference.


A shock absorber including a cylindrical outer shell and a piston rod slidably inserted into the outer shell, the shock absorber includes a cylindrical dust cover that is coupled to the piston rod and that permits an entry of the outer shell to inside thereof, and a cylindrical bellows whose one end is attached to the outer shell and whose another end is arranged inside the dust cover at all times to cover an outer periphery of the piston rod.

A shock absorber includes an outer shell and a piston rod that is slidably inserted into the outer shell. When the piston rod moves relatively to the outer shell in the axial direction, the shock absorber exhibits damping force that suppresses the relative movement of the piston rod relative to the outer shell. Such a shock absorber is used by being interposed between a body and an axle, or between a cabin and the body in a vehicle, for example. Vibration of an object to be damped, such as the body, the cabin or the like, can be suppressed by the damping force exhibited by the shock absorber.
As the shock absorber like this is exposed to the outside for use, dirt, dust and mud (hereinafter referred to as "mud or the like") are easily adhered onto the piston rod. The mud or the like, adhered onto the outer periphery of the piston rod, is scraped off by a dust seal that seals the outer periphery of the piston rod, when the piston rod enters the outer shell. However, when the mud or the like is dried and adhered onto the piston rod stubbornly, it cannot be scraped off properly by the dust seal. This may facilitate deterioration in oil seal provided on an inner side of the dust seal. For this reason, according to the shock absorber as disclosed in JP2000-81071A or JP2010-175043A, a dust cover that covers the outer periphery of the piston rod is mounted so as to protect the piston rod from the mud or the like.


Systems and methods for lifting a wheelchair in non-residential indoor facilities. Guide rails extend from a wheeled-base and include a bearing and transmission system for raising and lowering a platform on which a wheelchair occupant travels. The bearing system is powered by a hydraulic cylinder with a cable or chain connected to the bearing system. The chain or cable traverses over idler pulleys at various positions about the guide rails and connects to the bearing system at one end and to one of the guide rails at another end. As the hydraulic cylinder is operated, the lifting cable translates the bearing system linearly through the guide rails, which in turn lifts the platform to a desired level. The platform may be adjusted to maintain a generally level orientation even as the guide rails are tilted to accommodate inclinations. Additional outriggers and/or supports may be provided to increase balance and stability of the lift. The weight of the wheeled-base is generally significantly greater than the combined weight of all other components of the lift in order to also provide increased balance and stability to the lift, especially when the guide rails are tilted to accommodate a staircase or other inclined situation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to systems and methods for lifting a person in a wheelchair. More particularly, the invention relates to a portable wheelchair lift that can negotiate a sheer change in elevation or inclination, and that is easily stored and maneuvered for use in non-residential indoor facilities.
2. Related Art
Commercially available wheel chair lifts have been developed to help mobility-impaired persons negotiate elevation differences encountered in indoor and outdoor environments. FIGS. 1-4 illustrate exemplary wheelchair lifts currently available.
FIG. 1 illustrates a portable wheelchair lift 100 provided by Ascention (www.wheelchairlift.com). The lift 100 is designed to provide a direct vertical lift so that a wheelchair occupant can access a platform or stage S. The lift 100 is not intended to negotiate stairs or inclined situations. The size, weight and bulky configuration of the lift pose storage and maneuverability problems. For example, the lift is not compact enough to fit through a standard doorway.
FIG. 2 illustrates a portable wheelchair lift 200 provided by Access Industries (www.accessind.com). The lift 200 can translate a wheelchair vertically 6 feet, but is not adaptable for stairs or other inclined situations. The primary use of the lift 200 is for transporting a wheelchair occupant to stages and elevated platforms.
FIG. 3 illustrates a portable wheelchair lift 300 available from American Access (www.wheelchairramps.com). Again, the lift 300 is adaptable to elevated platforms or other vertical rises, but is not intended for use with stairs or other inclined situations.
FIG. 4 illustrates a portable wheelchair lift 400 available from Adaptive Engineering Ltd. (www.adaptive.ab.ca). The lift 400 is very large and intended generally for outdoor use to board/de-board a disabled person from an aircraft. Due largely to its cumbersome size, the lift 400 is able to raise and translate an occupied wheelchair from ground-level to the aircraft, or vice-versa, thereby negotiating the incline of the boarding stairs by by-passing the stairs. The size of the outdoor lift 400 renders transport difficult and storage challenging.
Other conventional wheelchair lifts, such as those disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. No. D440,728, or U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,553,990, 6,585,474 and 6,086,314, for example, are either not portable, not intended for indoor use, or both. Still other known wheelchair lifts often comprise configurations that violate current ASME Safety Standards, however, with respect to non-residential indoor environments
In view of the above, a need exists for systems and methods that provide a compact, portable wheelchair lift that is easily maneuverable and storable for use in non-residential indoor environments. A need further exists for such systems and methods of providing a compact, portable wheelchair lift that enables a wheelchair occupant to negotiate elevation and inclination changes represented by stages, staircases, or other elevated and/or inclined surfaces.


A system for treating heart valve malfunction specifically including mitral regurgitation including a positioning structure operative to assume both expanded and contracted orientations and a retaining assembly positioned and structured to operatively dispose the positioning structure in moveably supporting lifting and/or positioning relation to the ventricular wall portion of the heart. The retaining assembly and the positioning structure are cooperatively disposed and structured to accomplish a shape variance of the heart upon a lifting or positioning force being exerted thereon substantially concurrent to the positioning structure being disposed in the expanded orientation. The force exerted on the heart at least partially defines a shape variance thereof to the extent of positioning of the leaflets of the mitral valve into a closed orientation which restricts mitral regurgitation.

Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an intra-pericardial surgically introduced positioning structure that is disposed and structured to repetitively assume an expanded orientation and a contracted orientation. As such, a repetitively and temporarily "lifting" or "shaping" force is exerted on the exterior of the myocardium in synchronization with the heartbeat thereby positioning the leaflets of the mitral valve to close to a sufficient degree to eliminate or restrict mitral regurgitation.
Description of the Related Art
As clearly disclosed in the prior art schematic representation of FIG. 1, the human heart is a four chambered pump that moves blood efficiently through the vascular system. During normal operation, blood enters the heart through the vena cava and flows into the right atrium. Thereafter, blood flows from the right atrium through the tricuspid valve and into the right ventricle. Upon contraction of the right ventricle, blood is forced through the pulmonic or pulmonary valve and into the lungs for oxygenation. The oxygenated blood returns from the lungs and enters the heart through the left atrium and passes through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. Upon contraction of the left ventricle the blood therein flows through the aortic valve and into the aorta and throughout the vascular system.
As indicated, the mitral valve is disposed in flow regulating communication between the left atrium and the left ventricle. The structural and/or operative components of the mitral valve comprises two valve leaflets, the mitral valve annulus, which forms a ring that supports the valve leaflets; papillary muscles, which tether the valve leaflets to the left ventricle wall, thereby preventing them from prolapsing back into the left atrium. Chordae tendineae serve to connect the mitral valve leaflets to the papillary muscles thereby further preventing the leaflets from prolapsing back into the left atrium. A dysfunction of any of the described mitral valve apparatus can cause "mitral regurgitation". Mitral regurgitation is a disorder of the heart in which the leaflets of the mitral valve do not close properly when the heart pumps out blood. This abnormal leaking of blood from the left ventricle, through the mitral valve and, into the left atrium when the left ventricle contracts, results in the "regurgitation" of blood back into the left atrium. It is generally recognized in the medical profession that mitral regurgitation is the second most common form of valvular heart disease.
As generally set forth above, when properly functioning, the anterior and posterior valve leaflets of the mitral valve overlap during contraction of the left ventricle and prevent blood from flowing back into the left atrium. This overlap of the two leaflets leaning upon each other is called the "coaptation" and absorbs most of the strain on the mitral apparatus during the ventricular contraction. However, when the mitral valve malfunctions, due to various cardiac diseases, the leaflets are no longer coapting resulting in the mitral valve remaining partially open during ventricular contraction. In turn this allows the aforementioned "regurgitation" of the blood back into the left atrium, as generally set forth above. When the mitral valve does not close hermetically during the ventricular contraction, the aforementioned back flow of blood to the atrium and the pulmonary vasculature, results in a deleterious condition. More specifically, this condition increases the work load to the heart and may lead to heart failure.
The mitral valve is intended to open fully so as to provide no resistance to the blood stream progressing from the left atrium (LA) into the left ventricle (LV) during diastoly (the ventricular relaxation phase) and to close fully during the systoly (the ventricular ejection phase) so as to prevent the blood from flowing back into the atrium and into the pulmonary venous circulation. The role of the mitral valve is therefore to ensure antegrade progression of the blood through the left cardiac chambers. It works in synchrony with the three other heart valves that are ensuring the same function between the right atrium (RA) i.e. the pulmonic valve and downstream to the mitral valve, between the left ventricle and the aorta i.e. the aortic valve at the junction.
From a mechanical standpoint the mitral valve has to face high gradients of pressure during the ventricular contraction to hold up against a pressure head of about 100 mm of mercury (Hg) or more, which is substantially the peak pressure in the LV being usually superior or equal to 110 mmHg and the one in the atrium around 8 mmHg. This strain is absorbed mostly by the coaptation of the two mitral leaflets when closed, leaning on each other with a contact height around 10 mm over the entire length of the mitral coaptation line. The coaptation of the leaflets depends on the adequate anatomy (integrity of their structures) and adequate function of 5 components, which are 1. the mitral annulus, 2. the anterior and posterior leaflets, 3. the mitral chordae, 4. the papillary muscles (PPM) and 5. the ventricular walls themselves. Any congenital malformation or acquired lesion of one or more of these components can lead to a mitral insufficiency—also known as mitral regurgitation (MR) or, as emphasized herein, a failure of the mitral valve to hermetically close during the ventricular contraction and the leaking of a variable amount of blood back into the LA.
This situation is correlated with a poor outcome for the patient, since it increases the workload to the heart, as well as it increases the left atrial and ventricular chambers volumes. Furthermore, the existence of severe mitral regurgitation and ventricular dilation generate a vicious cycle in which MR begets more MR. Indeed, when the ventricle increases in size the distance between the papillary muscles increases, tethering the mitral chordae and impeding their full motion up to the plane of the annulus. This pathophysiological continuum leads to heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, atrial fibrillation and ultimately death.
Known treatment for MR comprises the administration of pharmacological drugs and the fixing the regurgitation by either, a surgical repair (the vast majority of the cases >98%) including a surgical repair or replacement of the valve or in some selected cases, using an emerging percutaneous technology that is still under evaluation (the Mitraclip®). Although there is a considerable trend to fix the MR as early as possible in its natural course, the indication and timing of the intervention rely also on the etiology of the condition, as well as on the functional anatomy and structural damage to the valve and the ventricle.
One particular case of mitral regurgitation targeted by the present invention is called ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR). Ischemia to the heart relates to an insufficient blood supply to the myocardium because of narrowed (stenosed) coronary arteries. This condition is extremely prevalent and the number one killer in the USA. The natural history of coronary artery disease (stenosis) is to evolve towards acute vessel occlusion leading to acute myocardial infarction (myocardial necrosis i.e. cellular death secondary to cellular asphyxia in the territory irrigated by the occluded artery). The onset of mitral ischemia is a very bad prognostic factor in the acute phase of myocardial infarction.
Repairing ischemic mitral insufficiency poses particular problems and challenges that have been approached in different ways. However, many of such approaches have been disappointing on the very mid-term, with most studies reporting ≧40% of failure rate only two years after the surgery. Most of the proposed solutions are targeted towards the annulus and the leaflets although the mitral valve apparatus is anatomically normal and the functional problem is of ventricular origin. Indeed, the scar tissue replacing the death of the myocardium during the body repair process is immobile and remains distended in systoly. Therefore, by tethering as above-mentioned, the mobility of the entire mitral apparatus attached to it is impaired resulting in the PPM, the chordae and the leaflets being pulled "down" or away from the plane of the mitral annulus. This impeaches the leaflet (usually the posterior leaflet) to reach the point where it should coapt with its anterior counterpart. More technically, this mechanism corresponds to a type IIIb according to Carpentier's classification. It is an extremely frequent phenomenon.
Similarly other, "non-ischemic" etiologies leading to mitral regurgitation, such as for example idiopathic cardiomyopathy, could benefit from the implementation and practice of one or more to the embodiments of the present invention, as described in detail herein. An alternative solution allowing an easier, safer and possibly more durable reduction or disappearance of the mitral regurgitation has been sought, based on the premise that the IMR is a "ventricular disease" thereby suggesting a ventricular solution rather than concentrating on an approach to a normal annulus or normal leaflet.
Accordingly, there is a need in the medical arts for appropriate instrumentation, method and/or system of overcoming heart valve malfunctions, specifically including mitral regurgitation, as described above.

System for treating heart valve malfunction including mitral regurgitation