A skin wash composition intended for topical application to water-wetted skin comprising an xcex1-hydroxy acid active ingredient formulated in a mild and non-irritant detergent base consisting of a mixture of a non-ionic alkypolyglucoside surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant.

The present invention relates to compositions for topical application to the skin surface, in particular to skin wash compositions which are applied to water-wetted skin and subsequently rinsed off with water. Specifically, the present invention relates to skin wash compositions comprising an xcex1-hydroxy acid as an active ingredient formulated in a mild and non-irritant detergent base.
The class of compounds generally known in the field of cosmetic and therapeutic skin treatments as xcex1-hydroxy acids includes compounds such as salicylic acid, lactic acid and glycolic acid. These compounds constitute the active ingredients of a number of commercially available products which are applied to the skin in order to confer a beneficial effect with respect to appearance and skin condition, in particular smoothness and suppleness. Salicylic acid for example has been shown to have keratolytic and comedolytic activity as well as anti-bacterial efficacy and has been used in the treatment and prevention of mild to moderate acne for more than 100 years. Lactic acid has a beneficial effect on skin hydration and is a constituent of a number of skin tonic and moisturising products.
xcex1-Hydroxy acids, whilst conferring a beneficial effect on the skin, may cause local irritation when applied to sensitive areas of the skin, in particular the face. Moreover, local irritation may be exacerbated by the carrier system in which the active ingredient is formulated. For example, skin wash compositions and in particular face wash compositions which are generally formulated with a soap-free detergent base selected for effective cleansing and foaming, may confer an irritant effect due to the use of ionic surfactants commonly employed in such detergent systems.
A further problem associated with formulating compositions containing xcex1-hydroxy acids arises because of the desirability to formulate the composition at an acid pH at which the most efficacious free-acid form of the xcex1-hydroxy acid will predominate. For skin wash compositions, this problem is exacerbated by the difficulty of obtaining a detergent base system at sufficiently low pH. A skin wash composition described as having a gentle yet effective cleanser for acne treatment and containing 2.0% w/w salicylic acid in a detergent base comprising a mixture of anionic and amphoteric surfactants is commercially available. Analysis of this product shows that it has a pH of 5. It follows, having regard to the pKa of salicylic acid which is attributed the value 2.97, that the free-acid form of the xcex1-hydroxy acid does not predominate in this product and that its efficacy is accordingly not fully optimised.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a skin wash composition containing an xcex1-hydroxy acid and a detergent base which has good cleansing and foaming characteristics, is mild and non-irritant and wherein the pH of the composition approaches the pKa of the xcex1-hydroxy acid such that the efficacy of the xcex1-hydroxy acid is enhanced. This object is achieved according to the present invention which is based on the unexpected finding that a detergent base comprising a mixture of a non-ionic alkylpolyglucoside surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant not only has the desired cleansing and foaming characteristics and is mild and non-irritant when applied to the skin but also enables compositions to be formulated at low pH.
According to the present invention there is provided a skin wash composition comprising from 0.1 to 10% w/w of an xcex1-hydroxy acid and a detergent base consisting of a mixture of a non-ionic alkylpolyglucoside surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant wherein the pH of the composition is in the range 3.0 to 4.5.
Suitable xcex1-hydroxy acids for incorporation into skin wash compositions of the invention include salicylic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, glycolic acid, malic acid, maleic acid, pyruvic acid and hydroxy-octanoic acid. Preferred xcex1-hydroxy acids are salicylic acid, lactic acid and glycolic acid, especially salicylic acid and lactic acid. Salicylic acid will suitably be present in compositions of the invention at a concentration in the range 0.2 to 5.0% w/w, more suitably in the range 1.0 to 3.0% w/w. A preferred concentration for salicylic acid is 2.0% w/w. Lactic acid will suitably be present in compositions of the invention at a concentration in the range 0.1 to 5.0% w/w, more suitably in the range 0.5 to 2.5% w/w. A preferred concentration for lactic acid is 1% w/w. Glycolic acid will suitably be present at a concentration in the range 2.0 to 10.0% w/w.
As used herein, the term alkylpolyglucoside surfactant means a non-ionic surfactant derived from common natural organic monomer units as found in starch, fats and sugars, and most suitably derived from D-glucose monomer units. Alkylpolyglucosides derived from D-glucose are acetal compounds in which the alkyl residue has a carbon chain length of from 8 to 16 carbon atoms and the degree of glucosidation (or polymerisation), i.e., the average number of glucose units per alkyl radical, is between 1.1 and 6. A range of suitable alkylpolyglucosides are commercially available either individually or as mixtures or blends. Compositions according to this invention will generally contain mixtures or blends of different alkylpolyglucosides. Preferred alkylpolyglucosides for use in the present invention include decyl glucoside and lauryl glucoside and mixtures thereof. Alkylpolyglucoside surfactants generally comprise up to 20% w/w of the skin wash composition, suitably from 2.0 to 15.0% w/w and preferably from 4.0 to 10.0% w/w of the composition. It will be appreciated that the amount of alkylpolyglucoside will be determined to some extent by the nature and amount of amphoteric surfactant present in the composition.
In principle, any amphoteric surfactant which is acceptable for topical application to the skin may contribute, with the alkylpolyglucoside surfactant, to the detergent base but, in view of their inherent mildness and good foaming performance, the preferred amphoteric surfactant will belong to the class of compounds known as betaines. Structurally, betaine compounds contain a carboxylate functional group and a quaternary nitrogen function separated by a methylene moiety. They include n-alkyl betaines such as cetyl betaine and behenyl betaine, and n-alkylamido betaines such as cocoamidopropyl betaine. The amphoteric surfactant component of the detergent base for compositions of the present invention may be a single compound or a mixture of blend of two or more different substances. A preferred amphoteric surfactant is cocoamidopropyl betaine. Amphoteric surfactants will generally comprise up to 10% w/w of the skin wash composition, suitably from 2.0 to 8.0% w/w and preferably from 2.5 to 6.0% w/w of the skin wash composition. The amount of amphoteric surfactant will to some extent be determined by the alkylpolyglucoside surfactant component of the detergent base.
Typically, the detergent base consisting of the mixture of non-ionic alkylpolyglucoside surfactant and amphoteric surfactant will constitute up to 30% w/w of the skin wash composition. Suitably the detergent base will constitute from 5.0 to 20.0% w/w and more suitably from 8.0 to 18.0% w/w of the skin wash composition.
Control of pH to within defined limits is an essential feature of the present invention. A pH within the desired range 3.0 to 4.5 is conferred partly by the inherent properties of the xcex1-hydroxy acid and specific surfactants and quantities thereof making up the detergent base and partly, where required, by use of a suitable neutralising agent for the xcex1-hydroxy acid. Any topically acceptable neutralising agent which is compatible with the other components of the composition can be used. It has been found that the neutralising agent tromethamine is particularly suitable for skin wash compositions containing xcex1-hydroxy acids. Other suitable neutralising agents include sodium hydroxide and triethanolamine. The amount of neutralising agent will be determined by the acid/base properties of the other ingredients which make up the composition and the pH selected for the composition.
The skin wash compositions of the invention may also contain additional topically acceptable skin conditioning and soothing agents, for example in the form of anti-inflammatory agents and vitamins or vitamin derivatives, typically at low concentrations, for example in the range 0.01 to 2.0% w/w of the total composition. Examples of topically acceptable anti-inflammatory agents include allantoin and bisabolol. A preferred vitamin derivative is vitamin E acetate which has anti-inflammatory properties.
The skin wash compositions of the present invention may also contain topically acceptable polymers for increasing deposition of the active ingredient on and in the upper layers of the skin. Advantageously such polymers serve to prolong activity of an active ingredient(s) by enhancing skin substantivity, i.e., resistance to wash off. The deposition aiding polymers that are useful herein are urethane polymers including the hydroxy-terminated urethane polymers that are generally described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,971,800; 5,051,260 and 5,045,317 all issued to Chess et al. These polymers are represented by the general formula
wherein:
R and R1 are independently selected from an optionally substituted alkylene or alkenylene radical having from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, or a cycloalkylene or cycloalkenylene radical containing from 5 to 10 carbon atoms, or a mononuclear or fused ring arylene radical containing from 6 to 10 carbon atoms;
within the definition of alkylene is cycloalkylene, e.g., dicyclohexyl methylene;
preferably R1 is an alkylene radical such as propylene radical linked in the 1,2 position;
R2 is hydrogen or a methyl or ethyl group; preferably R2 is hydrogen; m is a number in the range 0 to 6, preferably 1 to 4; and n is an integer preferably in the range 8 to 51.
Preferred hydroxy-terminated polymers useful herein are those designated by the following CAS names:
Poly[oxy(methyl-1,2-ethanediyl)],xcex1-hydro-xcfx89-hydroxy polymer with 1,1xe2x80x2methylene-bis-[4,isocyanatocyclohexane] and Poly (oxy(1,2-ethanediyl),xcex1-hydro-xcfx89-hydroxy polymer with 1,1xe2x80x2 methylene-bis-[4,isocyanatocyclohexane].
Especially preferred polymers are those known by their CTFA designations as Polyolprepolymer-2, Polyolprepolymer-14 and Polyolprepolymer-15, and in particular water-insoluble polyolprepolymers such as the aforementioned Polyolprepolymer-2 and Polyolprepolymer-14. These polyolprepolymers are commercially available as Topicare Delivery Compounds(copyright) from Penederm Inc, 320 Lakeside Dr., Ste.A, Foster City, Calif. 944404-1146.
The urethane polymers described herein may generally comprise up to 10% w/w of the skin wash composition, suitably from 1 to 8% w/w, and preferably 2 to 5% w/w of the skin wash composition. Suitably compositions comprising the urethane polymer(s) may further comprise a stabilizing agent, suitably in an amount ranging from 0.01 to 2% w/w, preferably from 0.1 to 0.5% w/w. In principle any stabilizing agent may be used which is acceptable for topical application to the skin and suitable for use within the pH range of the invention e.g. an acrylic acid/vinyl ester copolymer, available as Stabylen 30, from 3V Sigma S.P.A., Third Floor, Clarendon House, Stamford New Road, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 1BY.
Additionally, compositions of the present invention will suitably contain pharmaceutically and cosmetically acceptable additives or excipients conventional in the field of topical medicines and cosmetics, including for example thickeners, moisturisers, re-fatting agents, preservatives, conditioners, chelating agents, colouring agents, fragrances, UV filters and/or emulsifiers. The additives or excipients used in any given composition will be compatible both with each other and with the essential ingredients of the composition such that there is no interaction which would impair the performance of the active ingredients. All additives or excipients must of course be non-toxic and of sufficient purity to render them suitable for human use.
Suitable thickeners include polymeric high molecular weight, non-ionic surfactants consisting of a long chain (C12 to C18) polyethylene glycol fatty acid or fatty acid residue. Examples include PEG 200 hydrogenated glyceryl palmitate, PEG 55 propylene glycol oleate, PEG 150 distearate and PEG 200 glyceryl tallowate. Suitable low molecular weight thickeners include cocamide DEA, laureth-3 and glyceryl monolaurate. A thickener comprising a polyurethane resin, propylene glycol and water sold under the trade name Acrysol 44 also performs well in detergent base skin wash compositions. A thickener will suitably comprise up to 10.0% w/w of the composition, more suitably from 2.0 to 5.0% w/w. Preferred moisturisers include glycerin, propylene glycol, sorbitol and polyethylene glycol. A moisturiser may comprise up to 15% w/w of the composition, more generally from 2.0 to 6.0% w/w of the composition. Suitable re-fatting agents generally comprising 0.5 to 5.0% w/w of the composition, preferably 0.75 to 2.0% w/w include polyethylene glycol 7 and glyceryl cocoate. Suitable preservatives generally comprising 0.01 to 1.00% w/w of the composition and suitably 0.10 to 0.30% w/w, include phenoxyethanol and methyl dibromo glutaronitrile and mixtures thereof. Suitable conditioners, generally comprising 0.1 to 5.0% w/w of the composition and suitably 1.0 to 3.5% w/w include hydroxycetyl hydroxyethyl dimonium chloride and polyquaternium 39. Suitable chelating agents, generally comprising up to 1.0% w/w of the composition and suitably 0.1 to 0.3% w/w include ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), hydroethylene diamine triacetic acid (HEEDTA), diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid (DPTA) and cyclohexane diamine tetra-acetic acid (CTDA).
The balance of the composition is typically water and/or other non-alcohol solvent so as to make up 100% w/w of the composition. The preferred solvent is water which will generally constitute more than 50% w/w of the skin wash composition. Other suitable non-alcohol solvents which may be included to aid solution of the xcex1-hydroxy acid include glycols such as propylene glycol and macrogols.
The skin wash compositions of the invention may be prepared by methods well known in the art and readily available to the skilled formulator. Generally the xcex1-hydroxy acid and the surfactants making up the detergent base, together with any additives, are dissolved in solvent, the pH of the resulting mixture is checked and adjusted if appropriate and the viscosity of the composition is set to the desired level by addition of thickening agents. The present invention extends to a process for preparing a skin was composition as hereinbefore defined comprising the admixture of the xcex1-hydroxy acid with the detergent base in an aqueous solvent system and adjusting the pH as required such that the pH of the composition is in the range 3.0 to 4.5.
The present invention additionally encompasses the use of a skin wash composition as hereinbefore defined wherein the xcex1-hydroxy acid is salicylic acid for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of acne. The use of compositions of the present invention as hereinbefore defined as a cosmetic treatment for improving the appearance and condition of human skin also forms part of the invention.


A method of repeatedly rendering to a page a group of objects represented by edges, by identifying a first occurrence of the group in a display list by an identifier, associating the identifier with a display list representation of the group, using the identifier to determine locations on the page where the group is to be repeated, determining if the display list representation of the group is to be used to repeat the group at the locations, repeating in the display list the occurrence of the display list representation of the group, the repeated display list representations comprising (a) transformations of the starting locations of the edges making up the group, shared by each of the repeated edges, and (b) fill and level information accessed by reference associated with each of the edges.

Computer software systems such as word processors, page composition programs and the like are generally configured to render, into device pixels, collections of graphical objects such as bitmap images, photographic images, text, and filled shapes. In these systems it is common to receive instructions from the page description file (typically referred to by the acronym "PDL"), which may be PDF, PostScript, GDI or the like, to render a sequence or group of objects over and over again. The term PDL may refer in this specification either to the page description file, or to the Page Description Language used to produce the page description file.
The instruction to render an object repeatedly may occur as an explicit instruction to create a region tiled with these objects at a regular spacing, or the instruction may require that a group be printed once and then again at a different unrelated location, possibly after being processed by a spatial transform. Either of these cases involves repeated use of CPU time and memory, which systems in the art have attempted to reduce in various ways.
For example, a tiled region may be painted by rendering its constituent objects to pixels at device resolution and then allowing the final page render to tile the image by wrapping it modulo the image size. Rendering the objects to pixels at device resolution presents difficulties due to large memory usage when the repeated tile is large, and also cannot always produce correct results when the tiled group uses some compositing operations with its background.
Other systems have attempted to represent the repeated image more compactly by using an intermediate format such as run-length encoding or filled trapezoids, but these schemes have been limited to upright tiles and simple integer pixel translations of the tile, which do not satisfy the requirement of all PDL's.
Alternatively, a system may re-use or repeat the objects simply by replaying them from the PDL, but this method can suffer from performance degradation when the objects making up the group contain complex operations such as color conversions and the like, which are then executed many times for the same input data. Also with some PDL's it is not feasible to replay objects on request.

System and method for fast manipulation of graphical objects


A method and apparatus for providing full duplex asynchronous communication between two transceivers in a communication system is disclosed. First each bit period is divided in half creating a transmit half bit period and a receive half bit period wherein each transceiver can transmit data during the transmit half bit periods and can receive data during the receive half bit periods. The bit periods of the two transceivers are synchronized so that the transmit half bit periods of each transceiver are aligned with the receive half bit periods of the other transceiver.

A common way to asynchronously transmit data over serial links is by impressing a stream of "bits" onto a medium. A character like the letter "A", which is represented by the set of bits "01000001" in the ASCII table, is transmitted as shown in FIG. 1. The set of bits are transmitted least significant bit (LSB) first and is preceded by a start bit. A `1` is represented by a mark or positive level and a `0` is represented by a space. The serial stream is recovered with the help of a pacing clock at the receiver end. The marks and spaces occupy the entire bit period and separate paths are required for full duplex data exchanges.
When the medium is free space and light pulses are used to transmit data, the serial bitstream may appear as illustrated in FIG. 2. In this system, a `1` is represented by the absence of light and a `0` by a short light pulse falling within a given time window. As before, a clock at the receiver is used to recover and stretch the bits so that the recovered bitstream appears like the bitstream illustrated in FIG. 1. For the case illustrated in FIG. 2, since the transmit and receive paths are the same medium, i.e., free space, the transceiver typically shuts down its receiver when transmitting full blocks of bits and refrains from transmitting when receiving blocks of bits. Thus, the system is half duplex since the data communication devices must take turns to transmit through the medium. Bandwidth used by one device is unavailable to the other. It would thus be advantageous to provide a method and a system for full duplex communication where only half duplex communication was originally possible.
Simultaneous bi-directional communication systems are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,763 illustrates two separate unipolar transmitters which transmit pulses of the same polarity are utilized with a two-wire connecting system. Inverting transformers are interposed between the transmitter and the receiver at each end so that the received pulses are inverted for recognition and to avoid interference with positive pulses being simultaneously transmitted at the same end. However, a ground connection is also shown and can be inferred as being a three-wire connection between the transmitter and receiver and this ground connection introduces the possibility of ground loop interference which is most undesirable.
Other illustrative patents showing two-wire simultaneous bi-directional communication are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,012,590, 4,112,253, and 4,117,277. These patents show alternative approaches to the basic problem but utilize other communication techniques in which the current or voltage levels are compared or differentiated or in which special encoding and decoding operations are conducted to accommodate the bi-directional simultaneous communication.
One of the problems with these systems is the need to provide proper synchronization between transmitting and receiving. U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,287 discloses placing a phase locked loop at each receiver to extract the clocking information from the transmitted signals for synchronizing the return transmission to avoid overlap of pulses and for determining whether a received bit is a 1 or a 0. One problem with phase locked loops is they are relatively complex and expensive. The phase locked loop is usually tuned to a particular frequency and requires retuning when changing baud rates.

Asynchronous full duplex communications over a single channel


The present disclosure provides a baseband chip and a baseband chip management system. The baseband chip comprises an application processor, an interface module, a channel encoder, a digital signal processor, and a modem module group. The modem module group includes an integrated modem module and a power module. The integrated modem module comprises at least two modems. The application processor is connected to the interface module, the channel encoder, the digital signal processor, and the power module respectively. The baseband chip management system comprises a baseband chip and a radio frequency integrated system. The radio frequency integrated system comprises at least two radio frequency module systems.

The baseband chip refers to a chip used to integrate the baseband signal to be transmitted or to decode the received baseband signal. The currently used baseband chip is divided into 5 sub-blocks: a Multimedia Application Processor (MAP for short), a channel encoder, a digital signal processor, a modem, and an interface module. The modem of the current baseband chip either processes a group of data signals from the radio frequency module system or a group of data signals from an application processor. Coping with the increasing requirement on technical equipment from the modern world, a radio frequency module system gets to be more innovative and to be developed as a radio frequency integrated system. The radio frequency integrated system which is composed of more than two sets of radio frequency module systems, is an integrated system with a plurality of radio frequency modules system, cater to the needs of users performing multiple modes or multiple tasks on one device concurrently. Current baseband chip management system and its technology method limit the applicable scenarios, and are unable to fulfill the needs of processing the modulation and demodulation tasks of multiple data signals on one device in parallel simultaneously.

ZJD baseband chip and ZJD baseband chip management system


Systems and methods are disclosed for determining locations visited by a mobile device. In an embodiment, a first location point is identified from a plurality of location points associated with the mobile device. The first location point may be combined with one or more of the plurality of location points to construct a time block. A time block may indicate a continuous period of time when the mobile device is in the same location. An aggregate location is calculated for the time block based on the plurality of points in the time block. One or more time blocks may be grouped based on the aggregate location of each time block, and a spatial clustering procedure is applied to transform the aggregate locations of time blocks in the group into one or more locations of interest.

1. Field
This field is generally related to mobile device tracking.
2. Background
Mobile devices typically track a user's location through location data derived from various data sources, such as global positioning system (GPS), cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connections. Location data may include a number of location points that provide a user's geolocation at a particular point in time.
A mobile device may record thousands of location points each day. Several points may refer to the same location, but provide different geographic coordinates due to inaccuracies of location data or subtle movements of a mobile device. As such, a single visited location may appear as multiple locations in the location history due to slightly different coordinates of each location point. Additionally, chronologically consecutive location points may not be recorded as a single visit to a location due to varying coordinates of each point. User assistance is often required to correct these issues in order to provide useful service.
The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit or digits in the corresponding reference number. In the drawings, like reference numbers may indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

Clustering location data to determine locations of interest


A clamping jaw for gripping wire stock used in nail production machines includes a quick change system that allows efficient replacement of a removable tool insert. The clamping jaw includes a main body that is partially split so as to define a gap between first and second opposing clamping fingers having a recess portion there between for receiving and retaining the insert. The main body includes a top surface, a bottom surface, a central bore that extends between the first and second surfaces, and a countersunk cavity formed in the bottom surface. A tapered projection formed from the first and second clamping fingers extends into the countersunk cavity. A clamping member, having a tapered recess for receiving the projection, is positioned in the countersunk cavity. A fastener is tightened to draw the clamping member onto the projection to close the clamping fingers in order to grip the insert.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of tool holders used in machines for the production of nails and, more particularly, to a quick change mechanism that enables replacement of an insert in the tool holder without requiring removal of the tool holder from the machine.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Nails are generally produced by feeding wire stock into a clamping punch and cutter. Clamping jaws hold the wire stock in position between opposing clamping surfaces while the cutter forms a pointed end of the nail and the clamping punch forms a head portion of the nail. Currently, nail manufacturing machines incorporate reciprocating clamping jaws that can produce in the order to 600 nails per minute. The clamping jaws are typically subjected to tremendous forces during the manufacturing process. Over time, the forces applied to the clamping jaws result in wear to the clamping surfaces. Once the clamping surfaces become worn, the wire stock is no longer held in a manner that enables the proper operation of the clamping punch and cutter.
In recognition of this problem, the clamping surfaces are typically defined by removable inserts. The removable inserts are positioned at end portions of the clamping jaws to grip the wire stock and are subjected to the same forces that were previously applied directly to the clamping surfaces. Thus, once the removable inserts become worn, they can be replaced with new inserts. In this manner, the manufacturer can save the costs associated with replacing entire clamping jaws. The prior art contains various examples of clamping jaws having removable inserts.
Two common types of clamping jaws incorporating removable inserts include wedge type and pinch type clamping jaws. In general, wedge type clamping jaws force the removable insert against a front portion of the clamping jaw through the use of a wedge block. The wedge block is accessible from a top portion of the clamping jaw and thus does not require that the entire clamping jaw be removed from the machine when replacing inserts. Pinch type clamping jaws employ a screw or other device, positioned in a side portion of the clamping jaw, to draw two clamping fingers, which are spaced by a longitudinal gap, together to hold the insert. Unfortunately, the screw is not accessible without removing the clamping jaw from the machine. While removing the clamping jaw is not a time consuming process, the replacement of inserts results in costly down time. Therefore, any time that can be eliminated from the replacement process would be a considerable benefit to a manufacturer.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a more efficient method of clamping a removable insert in a pinch type clamping jaw. More specifically, there exists a need in the art for a quick change clamping jaw that allows removal and replacement of a tool insert in a pinch type clamping jaw without requiring the clamping jaw itself to be detached from the nail producing machine.

Nail manufacturing tool holder having a quick change mechanism


The invention relates to an adjustable impression tray (1) comprising a trough (2) in the form of an arch with a straight central portion (7) extended by two lateral branches (8,9), essentially matching the form of a dental arch and comprising several integral zones which may be deformed at the temperature of use in the form of a multi-directional extension means (12), for example an accordion-like bellows arrangement (13 to 16). The impression tray, preferably for single usage, advantageously comprises splitting zones (17, 18) which allow the production of impression trays of differing sectors, which by comprising one or several deformation zones are equally adjustable. The invention is of interest to dentists and prosthetic dentists and more generally to producers and users of dental equipment.

In the field of dentistry, it is often necessary to manufacture and install prostheses. These refer to bridges and, dental apparatuses of various types or similar. Prior to the manufacture of these prostheses, it is essential to take an impression of the denture of the patient. This impression makes it possible to subsequently manufacture a dental prosthesis with specific measurements in a laboratory.
For this purpose, the expert uses a device called an impression tray. This is made of a gutter approximately in the shape of a horseshoe and which matches the shape of a dental arch. The dentist fills this gutter with a pasty substance for impression taking. The impression tray is then introduced into the mouth of the patient. The patient bites the paste to leave an impression of the trace of his or her teeth.
To ensure that the impression is usable, all teeth must be correctly pressed into the paste. It is obvious that the dimensions of the impression tray are decisive. They must be adapted to the morphology of the dental arches of the patient.
In order to be able to adapt to the many morphologies in various patients, experts are currently obliged to possess a wide range of impression trays in various sizes. In each case, they must choose the model to be used.
The aim of the invention is to provide a universal impression tray which may be adapted to all dentures.
This universal impression tray must be able to be easily and quickly adapted to all sizes of dentures. This process should not require a specific resource or a specific particular substance, in addition to those constituting the impression tray.
In addition, this impression tray must be easy and inexpensive to manufacture. It must also be simple, rapid and practical to use.
Moreover, it is advantageous that this impression tray can be used in several parts in order to obtain a sectoral impression tray intended for one section of the denture of the patient only.
To solve this technical problem, several previous devices existed in former dentistry.
To adapt to the morphology of the denture of the patient, one of the former techniques involved adjusting the dimensions of an adaptable impression tray to the size of the denture of the patient prior to taking the impression. Another technique consisted in assembling an impression tray comprising several elements so as to be adapted to the size of denture.
With regard to the formation of a sectoral impression tray, the solution usually used involves assembling elements forming the segment side of the impression tray (U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,812 in the name of JAMES F JOHNSON) or using dividable lines in a traditional impression tray of fixed size made of plastic. However, these solutions are seldom compatible with the former techniques allowing for adaptation of the size of the impression tray.
According to the first technique, we could take, for example, the device described in PCT disclosure No. WO 00/09032 published in the name of INTERNATIONAL DENTSPLY Inc. This is a malleable impression tray whose form is adaptable during a preliminary adjustment process. This preliminary process consists of heating the impression tray, which is made of a thermoformable material, stretching it and modelling it in a suitable way. This process then involves cooling the thermoformable material to obtain solidification in the desired configuration. This solidarisation is carried out before filling the impression tray of paste and carrying out the impression-take.
The European patent application No. EP 0074182 published in the name of WAGNER, mentioned a dental impression tray formed by heating deformable thermoplastic material sheet. The conformation of this sheet is carried out on a test model of the edge of the jaw of the patient, followed by cooling in a mainly rigid state.
These two devices cannot be used directly. They require preliminary working according to a long and difficult to apply process. This process requires the use of expensive additional and specific equipment. These devices thus are not suitable for the technical problem raised. They only allow for limited adaptation to varying morphologies. Moreover, they do not allow for the creation of a sectoral impression tray.
The second method of adaptation is illustrated, for example, by the French patent application No. FR 2551654 by DECROB LOUIS. This application describes an adjustable metal impression tray using a bolt or a central rivet. This bolt or rivet will allow for the articulation of the gutter of the impression tray, in two symmetrical parts, using the level of a clevis pin.
Another example is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,308 issued in the name of JOSEPH F CUKJATI. This patent describes an impression tray made up of several elements assembled in an adjustable way to the size of denture of the patient.
Nevertheless, devices of this type are expensive and not very practical. They must be assembled and mounted using tools before being able to be used. They cannot generally apply to all sizes of denture. They are, moreover, difficult to clean. In addition, they are not designed to be split for sectoral impression trays.
On the contrary, the impression tray described in the invention makes it possible to solve this technical problem in a particularly simple, fast, practical and inexpensive way.

Adjustable impression tray with variable geometry


A coupling is provided between a hose and a fitting, such as can be used to connect to an air conditioning system. The coupling has a stem with a channel extending between first and second ends. The first end of the stem is provided with a nut for securing to the fitting, which fitting can be on the air conditioning system or on a service unit. The second end has a socket for receiving a ball and end of a nipple. The nipple is secured to the hose. The ball and socket arrangement allows the nipple and the hose to rotate 360 degrees around a longitudinal axis of the stem, as well as pivot with respect to the stem.

Automotive air conditioning systems often need to be recharged with refrigerant. To recharge, hoses are coupled to an air conditioning system by way of fittings. The hoses typically couple the air conditioning system to a service unit. The service unit contains a supply of refrigerant, as well as pressure gauges and valves for controlling the flow of refrigerant.
The fittings in an automobile can be difficult to couple hoses to. The fittings are typically threaded and the hoses are provided with nuts that are screwed onto the fittings. Many engine compartments are cramped, with the fittings located in hard to reach places. It can be difficult to thread a nut onto a fitting, which nut is on the end of a hose, especially in a cramped location. Frequently, only one hand can be used.
In the prior art, one type of coupling that alleviates some of the problems associated with coupling to a fitting in a cramped place is a bent barb coupling shown in FIG. 1. One end of the hose is connected to the barbed section. The nut is threaded onto the fitting of the air conditioning system. The barbed section is angled about 45 degrees from the nut section. This bent coupling eases the connection of the hose to a fitting in many instances.
The prior art bent coupling suffers from many disadvantages. For instance, when the nut on the coupling is tightened, the hose may twist and kink. This is caused by the end of the hose rotating with the nut. Untwisting the hose is difficult, especially in a cramped space. Furthermore, the hose may be at an awkward angle, pointing away from a desired path. To reorient the hose, the nut be loosened, and the hose angle adjusted. Loosening the nut causes some refrigerant to escape into the atmosphere. It is widely believed that refrigerants cause damage to atmospheric gasses.
Manufacturing the prior art bent coupling presents problems as well. The passageway through the center of the coupling is difficult to machine on center. Also, the coupling is machined in a straight configuration. After being machined, it is bent to form the angle. Bending the coupling requires the coupling to be heat treated (900 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour), followed by a bright dip operation. Bright dipping utilizes copper sulfate, which presents disposal problems due to environmental concerns (copper sulfate is a heavy metal). Furtherstill, bending the coupling can cause failure of the coupling. About 5-10% of the couplings that are bent crack and leak. These cracks are usually detected at the final check of the couplings. These couplings must be thrown away. Sometimes, the cracks manifest themselves after the final check and during operation.


The embodiments described herein provide improved sensor devices and methods that facilitate improved sensor devices. Specifically, the devices and methods provide capacitive image sensors that require only two layers of conductive elements formed on a single substrate. The ability to provide an image sensor using only a single substrate with two layers of conductive elements may substantially reduce the cost and complexity of the capacitive image sensor. In one embodiment, an input device is provided that comprises a first substrate having a first and second side. Each of the second array of second sensor electrodes comprises a plurality of isolated components disposed on the first side and a plurality of connectors disposed on the second side. The connectors and isolated components of the second sensor electrodes are arranged such that adjacent pairs of connectors along the first direction are separated by a distance substantially greater than the first pitch.

Input devices including proximity sensor devices (also commonly called touchpads or touch sensor devices) are widely used in a variety of electronic systems. A proximity sensor device typically includes a sensing region, often demarked by a surface, in which the proximity sensor device determines the presence, location and/or motion of one or more input objects. Proximity sensor devices may be used to provide interfaces for the electronic system. For example, proximity sensor devices are often used as input devices for larger computing systems (such as opaque touchpads integrated in, or peripheral to, notebook or desktop computers).
Proximity sensor devices may typically incorporate either profile capacitive sensors or capacitive image sensors. Capacitive profile sensors alternate between multiple axes (e.g., x and y), while capacitive image sensors scan multiple transmitter rows to produce a more detailed capacitive "image" of "pixels" associated with an input object. While capacitive image sensors are advantageous in a number of respects, there is a continuing need to improve the performance of such devices. For example, there is a continuing need to reduce the cost and complexity of capacitive image sensors while maintaining good performance.
Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.


A device may determine to adjust from a first state for an existing communication between the device and another device. The first state may be associated with utilizing a first audio and/or video configuration for communication. The device may determine a second state associated with a second audio and/or video configuration for the communication. The second audio and/or video configuration may be different from the first audio and/or video configuration. The device may provide state information associated with the second audio and/or video configuration via a first session initiation protocol message. The first session initiation protocol message may include directionality information associated with the second audio and/or video configuration. The device may receive confirmation information via a second session initiation protocol message based on providing the state information. The device may adjust from the first state to the second state, during the communication, based on receiving the confirmation information.

A communication between a first user device and a second user device may be associated with a particular state, such as a one-way video call state, a two-way video call state, an inactive state, a hold state, or the like. A session initiation protocol (SIP) message may be utilized for establishing one or more initial audio and/or video parameters associated with the communication.

Managing complex video call scenarios in volte calls


A data processing system renders a real-world object on a display device to represent a storage space of the data processing system. The real-world object is displayed with various labels and indicators to provide information about the internal contents of the storage space represented by the object as well as the storage space itself. Such visual indicators allow an external user to access information about the contents of a storage space without actually opening the storage space or delving into the depths of the user interface to determine additional information. In addition to providing information about the storage space represented by the real-world metaphor, the data processing system also allows the external user to selectively name the storage space represented by the object in a useful manner.

As computers have developed to provide greater capabilities at greater speeds, the techniques for interacting with computers have also become much simpler. For example, icons provide pictorial representations of functions which may be executed by a computer and which allow a user to easily access a function with a simple click of a mouse or a stroke of a keyboard key. Icons, while providing an understandable interface, still require the user to perform a step of opening a window before additional information may be gained or functions may be performed. Furthermore, while icons provide pictorial representations of an application or even a memory sub-system, such as a disk drive, an icon is not able to provide additional information about an object with which it corresponds. To access such information, an external user must open a window corresponding to the icon and pull down a menu which allows for an eventual disclosure of the information, or type "dir" to determine information about the application or object referred to by the icon.
In addition to icons, many current software programs use realistic representations of objects to take advantage of a user's experience with the physical world. Therefore, rather than present the user with a series of panels and window frames or pull-down menus, a software program for implementing an application may present a realistically-rendered object which is placed directly on a desktop or other environment. While such realistic representations enable a user to more easily interface with the computer, the applications which implement the realistically-rendered objects are limited by the protocols required by a development system in which the object is implemented.
These limitations are especially apparent in filing systems in an operating system. Most filing protocols implemented in data processing systems require a number of steps to be executed before a certain file or information concerning a file may be accessed. Stated another way, when an object is filed in a storage space of a data processing system, the storage space must often be opened and the user must delve several levels into the interface before the object may be accessed. Users must also perform multiple steps to access information about the stored objects. An example of this is illustrated by the steps the user must perform before a user is able to determine how much disk space is currently available. In today's implementations, a user is forced to either select a "drive space manager" which is several levels deep in the interface or access a command line, type "dir", and wait for the contents of a directory to scroll by on a display device before being able to determine how much disk space is left within that directory. Each of the steps required to obtain access to a storage space or information about a storage space is time intensive and requires an external user to execute an undue number of steps before receiving a desired outcome.
Additionally, current data processing implementations may implement a "status line" mechanism to allow an external user to access information regarding memory in the data processing system. Examples of such implementations are "File Manager" in Windows by Microsoft and "Windows Explorer" by Microsoft. However, like the information accessing mechanisms previously discussed, use of the status line requires several steps and may only be accessed after delving several layers deep in the graphical user interface in which it is implemented. As previously described, this requirement is often time intensive and requires a significant number of steps for a user to perform.
Therefore, a need exists for a filing system in a data processing system which does not require a user to traverse several levels of an interface before they receive the information they desire. Rather, a filing system which is more closely analogous to a real-world object which allows for immediate access of information should be provided.

Data processing system and method for implementing an informative container for a file system

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and apparatus of measuring a server's network load based on information available in standard IP datagrams transmitted by a server from observations at the client. In the described embodiment, the IPID value in the standard IP datagram is used to calculate the number of IP datagrams transmitted by the server. A calculation may then be carried out to determine the rate of transmission and to provide comparisons with historical transmission rates and transmission rates for other servers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer networks and more particularly to methods and apparatus for determining the load on a server in a distributed network such as the internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Determining network loads on devices such as servers in a network is an integral function of network management. Traditionally, the load on a particular server in a network may be determined by proprietary network management software designed to manage the particular server. This information is available to a network administrator responsible for the server, but is not easily discoverable by any interested person.
It is desirable to discover server load information without access to specialized network management software designed for a particular server. If this information was available, it might be used, for example to explain delays in receiving responses at a client.
Network servers operating in accordance with standard IP protocols send IP datagrams to clients. The IP datagrams include an identification field (referred to herein as the IPID field) which provides a monotonically increasing value assigned to each IP datagram transmitted by the server. The IPID is designed to be used to allow for reassembly of packets. In certain cases, IP datagrams may have to be broken up or fragmented due to their overall length. All IP data fragments associated with a particular datagram are assigned the same IPID. Reassembly of the fragments is based on IPID.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical transmission session between server and a client using the IP network layer protocol. Systems that originate IP datagrams must ensure that IPID is carefully selected to facilitate reassembly. One common practice is to start IPID at a random value in the range of 0 to 65,536 and increment the IPID by one for each IP datagram that is transmitted by the system. All intermediate devices which transmit the IP datagram are required to preserve the IPID field.
In one prior art approach, the IPID is utilized to perform offline analysis of a network.

Method and apparatus determining the load on a server in a network


A welding horn for a secondary battery, used in ultrasonic welding includes a body portion having coupling portions respectively provided at one and the other ends thereof; and a tip portion provided at a central portion of the body portion and having protruding portions provided on a surface thereof. In the welding horn, a nitride is coated on at least one surface of the welding horn.

1. Field
An aspect of the present embodiments relates to a welding horn for a secondary battery, and more particularly, to a welding horn for a secondary battery, which improves welding performance and increases lifespan.
2. Description of the Related Technology
In general, a secondary battery is a battery which can be charged/discharged numerous times, and demands on secondary batteries which can be easily employed as power sources of portable devices have recently been increased with the development of electrical, electronic and computer industries. Studies on secondary batteries have been conducted in various fields in order to improve performance and safety as the use pattern and quantity of the secondary batteries.
Such a secondary battery includes an electrode assembly having a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate and a separator interposed between these electrode plates, and an electrolyte helping the movement of ions. The secondary battery can be reversibly charged and discharged by an electrochemical reaction between the positive and negative electrode plates. The secondary battery is connected to a battery case by an electrode tab provided to each of the positive and negative electrode plates so as to be electrically connected to an external device. In this case, various studies on the electrode tab have been conducted to improved productivity while being firmly connected to each of the positive and negative electrodes.


A system and process that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, an interference monitor configured to detect occurrences of unintended signals within a communications link. A communications link may carry a down-converted format of a satellite signal from an earth terminal to an integrated receiver and decoder for further network distribution. Depending upon the nature of any such detected unintended signals, the communications link can be “swapped out” for a redundant communications link carrying a down-converted format of the same satellite signal obtained by way of a redundant earth terminal. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Satellite earth terminals receive downlink streams from one or more satellite transponders, for example, operating in the C/Ku frequency bands. High bandwidth signals, such as multimedia signals, are generally received from a satellite using a high gain antenna. An example of such an antenna includes a dish reflector directing energy into a feed horn. The received broadcast signals, or streams, are generally grouped according to satellite transponders, with each transponder assigned a respective non-overlapping portion of the spectrum, or bandwidth. The received satellite signals are amplified and down converted, for example, by a device commonly referred to as an LNB—a combined Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) and block down converter. The LNB is typically located as close as possible to the satellite feed horn, down converting a group of transponder signals (e.g., sixteen) to an intermediate frequency. It is common in video broadcast applications for the intermediate frequency to be located within a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum referred to as L-band.
L-band represents a crowded region of the electromagnetic spectrum, supporting many activities, such as aeronautical radio-navigation, radio astronomy and maritime mobile satellite. Use of this region of spectrum, as described herein, related to video broadcast satellite applications, is not considered by frequency management organizations, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the allocation of authorized users. Use of the L-band by video broadcast satellite users, is considered unnecessary, as they are referred to as "wired carriers." Although over-the-air signals are received in the C and Ku bands, the L-band intermediate frequency signals are transported from the LNB using cables or waveguides. Since the intermediate-frequency signals are protected from exposure to the ambient electromagnetic environment, it is presumed that sufficient protection from any radiated signals in the same frequency band will be provided by the wired carrier's cable or waveguide shielding. Unfortunately, problems can occur due to breaches in the cable or waveguide. Such breaches may result from corrosion, loose interconnections or water ingress. Such conditions left untreated would allow for ingress of ambient electromagnetic energy, which could, depending upon such features as amplitude, frequency and modulation, interfere with operation of the video broadcast satellite receiver system.
Fortunately, most of authorized L-band uses are relatively low power, such that any unwanted interference that happens to fall within the L-band may not result in perceptible interference to the video broadcast system. It may go undetected altogether. However, as utilization of the electromagnetic spectrum grows, it is likely that new applications may operate at higher levels. In particular, one potential application is 4G wireless broadband communications network that may operate terrestrial communications within the L-band (e.g., at 1525 and 1559 MHz). Such operations would likely operate at relatively high power, such that interference would result in perceptible interference.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Detection and mitigation of ingress interference within communication links


A hydraulic servo door closer in which the fixed coupling between the energy storage mechanism and the door piston has been neutralized. The fixed coupling is neutralized by the use of spring pistons which are pressurized by the closing spring, in addition to the door pistons which are conventionally present. The additional pressure chambers which are thereby formed, compared to a conventional door closer, are connected to one another on one hand by fixed channels, but on the other hand by controlled channels and/or throttles for the damping medium which is present in the door closer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic servo door closer which has different translation ratios as a function of travel and direction. The different translation ratios thereby significantly improve the ease of operation of a door equipped with the present invention.
The present invention preferably includes a door piston which is guided in a housing, whereby the drive shaft of the door piston can be connected to a door by means of a linkage. There can also be an energy storage mechanism in the form of a spring, which spring can store energy during the opening of the door and can release it again for a subsequent automatic closing process.
The servo door closer can have at least two different translation ratios, as a function of direction and of the distance travelled, whereby simultaneously, the fixed or solid coupling between the opening force and the closing force is preferably neutralized by the fact that, between the spring and the door piston, there can be at least one hydraulic transmission which can include at least one spring piston, the door piston and an inner piston inside the door piston, as well as the chamber which is defined by this inner piston and a housing which surrounds the inner piston.
During the closing phase, the door piston can be moved away from the spring piston. This movement is preferably achieved because the damping medium can penetrate between the door piston and the spring piston via a pocket which can be located in the housing.
2. Background Information
A process and a device for controlling the force of a closing device is described in German Patent No. 35 35 506 A1. The door is connected to the door frame by means of a closing device, which closing device is in the form of a door closer, and by means of linkage arms which are capable of pivoting in relation to one another. The control system for the different force required for the opening and subsequent automatic closing of the door is modified by the displacement of the end of the linkage which is at some distance from the door closing device, to appropriately modify the torque exerted by the closing device on the door in separate phases of the opening and closing of the door. This known system is a device which requires the input of outside energy, i.e. there is an electric motor which displaces a bar or translating part and simultaneously defines the position of the bar in a guide element. The motor control is accordingly set as a function of the desired opening angle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,261 discloses a door closer with a variable coupling position. As a result of a gear wheel which is fastened to the closer shaft, which gear wheel rolls along the door, the engagement point of the linkage and thus of the entire moment curve is changed automatically. As a result of the use of the mechanical means described above, there is a reduction of the opening force and a simultaneous increase of the closing force.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,637 discloses a device which makes possible the rapid opening of a door.
A device which uses a linear force to open a door is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,192. In this device, a corresponding lever system is used in connection with an outside energy source in the form of an electric current to achieve an approximately linear curve of the force on the door as a function of the opening angle.
A door closer which works with two pistons is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,144. This system also works with outside energy in the form of air.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,786 describes a system by means of which the force required to open a door in normal door opening situations is reduced. In this system, a door closer is used. As a result of the displacement of the far end of the linkage which is connected to the door closer, the force ratio is changed, below a defined opening angle, by the use of additional spring forces and a hydraulic or pneumatic control system. It is thereby possible to change the torque exerted on the door by the door closer by means of the articulated linkage system. This system is very complicated, and cannot be used universally or be adapted for all different types of operation.
A device in the form of a door closer which is described in Swedish Patent 469 342 consists of a housing in which two pistons are arranged so that they can move. There are also two springs, with each spring corresponding directly to a respective piston, wherein the two springs act in the same direction on the pistons. One piston is connected to a piston rod, the rear end of which piston rod is located in a sealed manner in a central boring in the other piston. The two pistons have different diameters. The fluid flow of the damping medium through the piston is controlled by means of various channels in connection with valves. As a result of these measures, the force required to open the door is small, although a large force is still provided for the final phase of the closing process.
To reduce the opening moment, German Laid Open Patent Application No. 32 34 319 discloses a device in which the required greater closing force is applied by means of an outside energy source to provide a spring bias. In this known device, the additional spring bias can be generated both by an electric motor and by a piston with a hydraulic circuit which is powered by outside energy.


A drawer for storage is positioned within a wheel well of a vehicle. A bottom panel of the drawer has an arcuate or faceted shape to accommodate the wheel over which the drawer sits. The drawer is movable between a closed and an open position on slides received within guide rails mounted either directly on the vehicle or on panels of a cabinet which encloses the drawer, the cabinet being mounted on the vehicle.

There is never enough storage space on emergency vehicles such as fire engines, ambulances and the like. Designers of emergency vehicles go to great lengths to provide convenient storage compartments for gear, tools and supplies. However, there are areas of vehicles which, due to the shape of their internal volume and/or their location on the vehicle, have traditionally been underutilized or neglected altogether for storage purposes. There is clearly an opportunity to use hither to ignored internal spaces of a vehicle for storage.


Methods and systems for updating subscriber service parameters in a communications network wherein a central provisioning unit automatically locates subscriber ports having subscriber service parameters that require updating and automatically issues commands for updating the subscriber service parameters of the ports requiring updating.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for updating subscriber service parameters in a communications network.
2. Background Art
In a data or voice communications network it may be necessary to perform mass-updates that change subscriber services. For data networks, the subscriber service parameters associated with data circuits are typically changed using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or a Command Line Interface (CLI). When the network serves a moderate number of users, these interfaces are adequate. However, in large networks supporting thousands or millions of subscribers, changing the subscriber service parameters cannot be efficiently done through manual processes using these interfaces.
In a data network that provides Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services, for example, it may be necessary to perform mass updates based upon a set of specific selection criteria. These criteria may include specific circuits or circuits having a common characteristic. Typical of this type of update is changing Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) parameters representing DSL characteristics such as data speeds, noise margins, channel interleave delays, power spectral densities, etc., from one set of values to another. The changes may be the result of new services or may be required to enhance network performance.
Because it is not feasible to perform these changes one at a time or in any manual mode using known utilities, a utility is needed that overcomes these deficiencies.

Automated method and system for selectively updating communications parameters representing subscriber services in telecommunications networks


A method of producing sub-images for use in forming a larger image from a series of the sub-images. The method includes printing each of the sub-images of the series of sub-images and a portion of the larger image surrounding the sub-image on a separate sheet of material. Each sub-image is printed on the same location on the respective sheet. Then the sheets are cut to the size and shape of the sub-images. When the sub-images are positioned to form the larger image, the sub-images are in a non-overlapping and contiguous relationship.

While there are many uses for large printed images, especially for advertising, there are no satisfactory and inexpensive methods for accurately producing them without a special purpose printing press which is generally expensive.
One method used for printing large images, is to use a specialized printing press capable of handling large sheets of paper. The image is divided up into parts, each as large as the press can handle, or the entire image is printed on one sheet. Generally a press which can handle media having a width equal to the width of the final image is used so that matching need be done in only one direction. The different parts of the image are then printed and the image is created by accurately manually cutting or matching each page along premarked lines and then assembling the parts together manually.
There are several shortcomings to using this method. First, a large special purpose printing press, capable of handling large sheets of printing media must be used. Second, the media must be accurately cut and fitted together manually in order to create the very large sizes of printed images. The reason manual cutting and fitting is needed is that most printing methods leave an unprinted margin around the printed portion of the media. The width of the unprinted margin and the exact placement of the image is unknown before the actual printing.
Another method that can be used to print large images is to use a regular printing press, and then fit together a very large number of small pieces which are cut from the printed images which make up a large image. This method is uneconomical owing to the large amount of work needed to register, cut and paste the pieces together, and the resulting large image is seldom satisfactory.


A dual-band input transceiver block is formed to operably receive one of a 2.4 GHz radio frequency signal or a 5.0 GHz radio frequency transceiver signal in a manner that minimizes duplication of circuitry and creates a combined circuit path for RF front end input stages for much of the input stage. More specifically, the embodiments of the present invention include separate amplification and mixing stages whose outputs are combined by a stabilized load with circuitry for removing a common mode feedback signal. As such, downstream components, such as amplifiers, filters, analog-to-digital converters, and other input path circuit elements, are not duplicated and may be used regardless of whether the dual-band transceiver is operating in a first or second frequency band. Operation is, in the described embodiment, only one frequency input at a time though the invention is not limited to such operation. More specifically, a first input section is operably coupled to receive a first local oscillation input and a first frequency band signal input. A second input section is coupled to receive a second local oscillation input and a second frequency band signal input. Outputs of the first and second input sections are produced to a stabilized load with a common mode feedback block for removing a common mode feedback signal. As such, an output signal is produced having a regulated DC level and having any common mode feedback signal eliminated there from.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed in general to wireless communication systems. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a method and system for controlling the bandwidth properties of an adaptive mixer in a wireless communication device.
2. Related Art
Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire-lined communications between wireless and/or wire-lined communication devices. Such communication systems range from national and/or international cellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-home wireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, and hence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards. For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS), multi-channel-multi-point distribution service (MMDS)
Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wireless communication device (such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptop computer, home entertainment equipment, etc.) communicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communication devices. For direct communications (also known as point-to-point communications), the participating wireless communication devices tune their receivers and transmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g., one of the plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system) and communicate over the tuned channel(s). For indirect wireless communications, each wireless communication device communicates directly with an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or an associated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wireless network) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connection between the wireless communication devices, the associated base stations and/or associated access points communicate with each other directly, via a system controller, via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), via the Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.
Wireless communication devices typically communicate with one another using a radio transceiver (i.e., receiver and transmitter) that may be incorporated in, or coupled to, the wireless communication device. The transmitter typically includes a data modulation stage, one or more intermediate frequency stages and a power amplifier. The data modulation stage converts raw data into baseband signals in accordance with a particular wireless communication standard. The intermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or more local oscillations to produce RF signals. The power amplifier amplifies the RF signals prior to transmission via an antenna.
In direct conversion transmitters/receivers, conversion directly between baseband signals and RF signals is performed. The receiver is typically coupled to an antenna and includes a low noise amplifier, one or more intermediate frequency stages, a filtering stage and a data recovery stage. The low noise amplifier receives inbound RF signals via the antenna and amplifies them. The intermediate frequency stages mix the amplified RF signals with one or more local oscillations to convert the amplified RF signal into baseband signals or intermediate frequency (IF) signals. The filtering stage filters the baseband signals or the IF signals to attenuate unwanted out of band signals to produce filtered signals. The data recovery stage recovers raw data from the filtered signals in accordance with the particular wireless communication standard.
Wireless communication devices for multimedia audio and video applications generally require a higher data rate than is currently available with devices operating under the 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g standards. Several draft standards (such as the 802.11n draft standard) have been proposed to implement faster data rates for wireless devices. Wireless devices operating under these standards will be capable of providing data rates of up to 200 Mbps. Since these standards have not been finalized, they will be referred to generically as 802.11x herein.
As new designs are developed to achieve these higher data rates, there also exists a desire to maintain backwards compatibility for a plurality of beneficial reasons, including enabling new generation host devices to communicate with older generation access points. Moreover, there is a continuing trend and desire to reduce the footprint size of the dye, notwithstanding ever-increasing levels of circuit complexity. Thus, it is possible to design a single integrated circuit radio transceiver that includes two complete radio circuits to maintain backwards compatibility with older systems while providing the benefits of the newer systems. Such an approach goes against the desire for decreasing the size of the dye, as well as the power consumption of the dye. Accordingly, what is needed is a new generation integrated circuit radio transceiver that provides the high data rates of the newer systems, provides backwards compatibility, and minimizes any increases in the size of the dye to accommodate said functionality.


A method and apparatus for producing enhanced quality full color prints in an electrophotographic printing machine. In a electrophotographic printing machine in which multiple color separations are imaged and developed on a photoconductive member, a user selectable enhanced print mode is provided. In the enhanced print mode, each color separation is imaged and developed on the same imaging panel of the photoconductive member. This avoids a degradation in image quality due to physical variations and defects in the photoconductive member. The enhanced mode decreases machine productivity somewhat and is user selectable in situations when very high quality prints are desired.

This invention relates generally to a document quality option for an electrophotographic printing machine, and more particularly concerns a user selectable device to produce high quality color prints.
In a typical electrophotographic printing process, a photoconductive member is charged to a substantially uniform potential so as to sensitize the surface thereof. The charged portion of the photoconductive member is exposed to selectively dissipate the charges thereon in the irradiated areas. This records an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive member. After the electrostatic latent image is recorded on the photoconductive member, the latent image is developed by bringing a developer material into contact therewith. Generally, the developer material comprises toner particles adhering triboelectrically to carrier granules. The toner particles are attracted from the carrier granules to the latent image forming a toner powder image on the photoconductive member. The toner powder image is then transferred from the photoconductive member to a copy sheet. In the case of color electrophotography, each of the color separations must be independently developed on the photoconductor before it can be transferred, either directly to the sheet, or more commonly to an intermediate transfer belt. The toner particles are then heated to permanently affix the powder image to the copy sheet.
For purposes of reliability, it is desirable to provide a photoconductive drum or belt which is large enough to accommodate several image containing pitches or panels. It is the nature of these photoconductive materials to contain electrical properties which tend to vary as a function of position. Therefore it is to be expected that each panel on a photoconductive element will have properties that differ slightly from the adjacent panels. Because the accurate rendering of color images depends on very precise control of the electrostatic potentials throughout the image, it is to be expected that the very best quality will be obtained when the same physical panel is used to develop all of the color separations for a given image. It is desirable to enable a user to select a standard or an enhanced color quality (CQ)mode of operation. This can be done by means of a user interface. In the enhanced CQ mode, each color separation of a given image is developed on the same photoreceptor panel. This entails waiting for as many as N-1 wasted pitches for an N pitch photoreceptor, but at the same time it improves image uniformity since the effect of panel to panel variations are significantly reduced. In the standard CQ mode, each separation is developed on the subsequent panel which significantly improves productivity but adds non uniformity to the image.
The following disclosures may relate to various aspects of the present invention:
EP-A 0,665,676 PA1 Inventor: Winter, et al. PA1 Filed: Jan. 27, 1994 PA1 EP-A 0,665,677 PA1 Inventor: Winter, et al. PA1 Filed: Jan. 27, 1994 PA1 EP-A 0,665,675 PA1 Inventor: Naik, et al. PA1 Filed: Jan. 27, 1994
Some portions of the foregoing disclosures may be briefly summarized as follows:
EP-A 0,665,676 describes a printer in which different print quality modes invoke different color rendering options for a particular object to be printed in a composite document having objects of differing types in a color inkjet printer.
EP-A 0,665,677 describes a method of using a printer system for identifying one or more different types of color objects in a document, selecting a preferred rendering option such as halftoning and/or color matching for each one of such different color object types, respectively, and then printing the document in accordance with the rendering options selected for each of such different color object types, in a printing system such as an inkjet color printer.
EP-A 0,665,675 discloses in a color printer system such as a color inkjet printer, an interactive user interface allows a choice between one-button automatic control of color output or multibutton control of color output, with both automatic and manual options providing independent control for color halftoning and for color correction based on the types of objects to be printed.

Selectable quality control and productivity in a color reprographic printing machine


An apparatus for the constrained drying and/or heat treating of a continuous or roll of, web stock of film. This apparatus includes a mechanism which grasps a film by its edges and moves said film through a drying zone, with said mechanism holding said film taut without substantial stretching of said film in the drying zone, and a means to remove the evaporated solvent from said apparatus. The apparatus is particularly useful for drying film of polybenzoxazole, polybenzothiazole and copolymers thereof, as well as molecular composite films. A method of drying/heat treating film is also disclosed.

This invention relates to the constrained drying and/or heat treatment of a continuous web stock of film.
In the production of continuous rolls of film it is sometimes necessary to separate the film from its solvent. This separation process is known as drying of the wet film. Drying of wet film often causes the film to shrink. As this shrinkage is normally undesirable, it is necessary to constrain the drying film so that it retains a usable shape. Another process step in the production of continuous rolls of certain types of film is to heat treat a dry film to improve certain of the film's properties. Heat treatment may also result in film shrinkage. In order to dry and/or heat treat a roll of continuous film it is necessary to be able to move the roll of film in a continuous, non-interrupted manner.
Current equipment that exists to handle ("handle" meaning to move or to dry or to stretch or to heat treat) continuous rolls of film or other web stock materials involve either intricate and/or expensive clamping means to hold the film (U.S. Pat. No. 3,571,846) or a gripping means that involves puncturing the film (U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,340). U.S. Pat. No. 3,240,412 describes an arrangement for moving tensioned webs of foil where the foil has flanged edges.
There is a need for a simple, inexpensive apparatus for the drying and/or heat treating of a continuous web stock of film (with up to 99% solvent in the wet film) while the film is in an unpunctured and constrained, though unstretched, state.

Apparatus to dry/heat treat continuous web stock of film


A cladding layer on the core of an optical waveguide is subjected to a rapid thermal annealing process preferably either: in a multi-stage furnace in which the waveguide substrate can be transported rapidly on a carriage between stages at different temperatures; or in a quartz chamber adjacent a bank of quartz halogen lamps of low thermal inertia and easily switched rapidly between different intensities of thermal radiation through the chamber.

An annealing procedure in the production of a planar wave guide cladding can be critical because the precursor materials for the deposition, i.e. the plasma creating substances (typically hydrides and nitrous oxide), are liable to create unwanted chemical substances such as radicals with bonded hydrogen in the films. The annealing procedure may expel the undesired elements in such a combination, but the sites of the expelled elements are then likely to contain voids, gaps and other imperfections in the structure of a deposited wave guide layer. These imperfections may not only detract from the strength and dimensional predictability of a wave guide so treated, but may lead to inhomogenities in its refractive index, thus prejudicing its optical operation. Since a typical operating wavelength may be 1.55 microns, and the operation of a planar wave guide may depend on such small differences in refractive index as 0.7% between the cladding and the core and the buffer on which it rests, even minor errors in refractive index are unacceptable.
Annealing tends to reduce any imperfections, and to consolidate or density the material deposited by a PECVD process, but an annealing procedure can take a long time, and arrangements to be described below provide a reliable improvement in a structure without the employment of an unduly long annealing time. Previously proposed methods of annealing deposited layers, especially thick layers usually involved slow heating in attempts to avoid the disadvantage, even when layers are produced by means other than a PECVD process, of a tendency to cause stresses and cracking. The films deposited by PECVD, low pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) or by atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) are coherently bonded, hard and stable, unlike the films deposited by previous flame hydrolysis techniques which are soot-like, soft and porous. The properties of these PECVD, LPCVD or APCVD deposited films provide a reduced tendency to cracking or blistering during an annealing process. The cracking probably results from a physical mismatch between the wave guide core, its substrate, the intermediate buffer layer which is usually present, especially with thick films, and the deposited cladding. With a PECVD process, the precursor materials used are of such a nature, as explained above that they tend to add to the problems of annealing.
Many materials such as those of interest herein can also be deposited in layers by spin coating from liquid sources generally referred to as Solgel. Such a technique is described for example by R A A Syms and A S Holmes in J. Non-crystalline Solids, 170, 1994, pp. 223 to 233. However, the resulting layers are severely limited in thickness, and each layer may take three minutes or so to produce. Therefore there is no substantial advantage in techniques for their rapid annealing. With the more rapid PECVD process, need for rapid annealing is much more significant.
Fast rate annealing of very thick (.gtoreq.15 micron) borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) cladding layers which have been deposited using PECVD (the cladding oxide may be undoped or contain dopants such as germania) was carried out by first removing unstable products, such as bonded hydrogen and water vapours at low temperatures e.g. 700.degree. C. and then step by step raising the temperature till the cladding layer fills up the gaps between and around the etched core layers. The annealing time and temperatures are determined by the composition of the cladding layer. Annealing temperature-time combination is critical for controlling all the requisites for a low loss cladding layer such as refractive index homogeneity across the thickness of the film, and also around the channel wave guides.
As an example, one prior proposed cladding process consists of depositing 1, 3, 6 and 6 microns thick BPSG film by PECVD. Each of the layers is separately annealed. This prior proposed annealing is carried out by slowly ramping a resistively heated furnace containing the wafers, from 300.degree. C. to 1000 or 1050.degree. C. The total time for annealing each layer is around 16 hours, thus making the total time of anneal for a 15 microns thick layer up to 64 hours. The slow ramping was believed to be necessary to prevent cracking or degradation of the film, which may occur if the film is suddenly exposed to temperatures close to the flow temperatures of the BPSG. Such long annealing times are undesirable for manufacturing of planar wave guide devices, as this will slow down the product throughput.
Rapid annealing of phosphosilicate and borophosphosilicate glasses for the purposes of integrated circuit application has been described for example by R Thakur et al. in Proceedings of 11th VMIC Conference, California, Jun. 7-8, 1994, pp 117 to 119. The glass film, typically .ltoreq.2 microns in thickness in the case of IC technology is used as an interlayer dielectric where the key requirement of the material is its electrical insulation rather than any optical properties. In planar wave guide applications as envisaged herein, the glass thickness is not only significantly greater, typically .gtoreq.16 microns, but the control of the refractive index of the film across the substrate, and more importantly through the thickness of the film, needs to be accurate to about 0.002 of the refractive index value to provide a high quality device. An accurate control of this nature is not a feature of the processes employed to form an IC interlayer dielectric film.


A memory system or flash card may include memory maintenance scheduling that improves the endurance of memory. Certain parameters, such as temperature, are measured and used for scheduling maintenance. For example, memory maintenance may be performed or postponed depending on the ambient temperature of the card. The memory maintenance operations may be ranked or classified (e.g. in a memory maintenance queue based on priority) to correspond with threshold values of the parameters for a more efficient scheduling of memory maintenance. For example, at a low temperature threshold, only high priority maintenance operations are performed, while at a higher temperature threshold, any priority maintenance operation is performed.

Non-volatile memory systems, such as flash memory, have been widely adopted for use in consumer products. Flash memory may be found in different forms, for example in the form of a portable memory card that can be carried between host devices or as a solid state disk (SSD) embedded in a host device.
As the non-volatile memory cell scales to smaller dimensions with higher capacity per unit area, the cell endurance due to program and erase cycling, and disturbances (e.g. due to either read or program) may become more prominent. The defect level during the silicon process may become elevated as the cell dimension shrinks and process complexity increases. Accordingly, memory meeting high endurance requirements may be more difficult, which may further increase research and development costs for the technology scaling.
Memory undergoes write/erase cycles due to both host writes and non-host writes. Non-host writes may include memory maintenance and/or background operations performed by/on the memory card. The memory recycling due to this memory maintenance may significantly reduce the card life. Memory maintenance may be performed whenever there is idle time and certain solutions attempt to reduce the number of write/erase cycles due to memory maintenance.

Temperature based flash memory system maintenance


The invention refers to a decomposed platelet concentrate containing ≤50% intact platelets and optionally ≥200 pg/ml RANTES and specifically to its use in the prevention or treatment of hair loss and/or for promoting hair growth. The invention further refers to a composition comprising the decomposed platelet concentrate and body fat cells and the use of said composition for reconstructive and aesthetic and curative surgery and pain relief treatment.

Whole blood is made up of various cellular components such as red cells, white cells and platelets suspended in its liquid component, plasma. Whole blood can be separated into its constituent components (cellular or liquid), and one separated component can be administered to a patient in need of that particular component.
Platelets or thrombocytes are blood cells that play a critical role in wound healing and in the generation of new tissue. Platelets promote the formation of blood clots and they act as a physical barrier at the site of rupture of a blood vessel, thereby preventing infection and avoiding further blood loss. Additionally, platelets and the proteins and peptides therein have the capacity to stimulate angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels) and increase collagen formation, cell division and cell growth.
Enriched platelet concentrates, i.e. serum containing more platelets/μl compared to normal blood, are known to possess advantages in wound healing and formation of new tissue. The use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) in surgical sites has been shown to rapidly enhance both hard and soft tissue regeneration and repair.
PRP has attracted attention to several medical fields because of its ability to promote wound healing and formation of new tissue. In the field of hair restoration, existing evidence demonstrates PRP therapy as a promising treatment option to promote hair growth.
While PRP is in the early stages of scientific research in hair restoration, according to the state of the art, PRP is at present not meant to replace current therapies such as DHT blockers and Minoxidil but rather to complete it when it failed or showed to be insufficient.
The platelets in PRP or platelet concentrates have granules that contain a multitude of growth factors (e.g., PDGF, TGF-β, and others), which aid in accelerating angiogenesis (wound healing), osteogenesis (bone growth) and cartilage restoration. PRP/platelet concentrate, when combined with thrombin, may also be used adjunctively to control bleeding (hemostasis), to seal wounds, and as a vehicle for the delivery of drugs and/or biological agents. Further, the handling characteristics of certain organic materials, such as bone powder, can be improved by combining them with PRP/platelet concentrate, with or without the addition of thrombin. Such a combination also provides more secure placement of organic materials. Some properties of PRP/platelet concentrate and thrombin (e.g., hemostasis and wound sealing) are similar to those of fibrin glue, except that fibrin glue has a greater adhesive property because of its concentration of fibrinogen above baseline levels.
PRP has also attracted attention to plastic surgery and dermatology because of its potential use during various aesthetic procedures, reconstructive surgery and regenerative procedures like breast reconstruction, breast augmentation, various lipophilling procedures, skin-rejuvenating procedures and hair restorations.
Hair loss or baldness is technically known as alopecia and is a loss of hair from the head or body. Baldness can refer to general hair loss or androgenic alopecia (male pattern baldness). Some types of baldness can be caused by alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder. The extreme forms of alopecia areata are alopecia totalis, which involves the loss of all head hair, and alopecia universalis, which involves the loss of all hair from the head and the body.
Baldness and hypotrichosis can have many causes, including fungal infection (tinea capitis), traumatic damage, such as by compulsive pulling (trichotillomania), as a result of radiotherapy or chemotherapy, and as a result of nutritional deficiencies such as iron, and as a result of autoimmune phenomena, including alopecia areata and hair loss associated with systemic lupus erythematodus.
Androgenic alopecia, a hereditary and androgen-dependent progressive thinning of the scalp hair in a defined pattern, is a common dermatological disorder affecting more in men and occasionally in women, with significant negative impact on their social and psychological well-being. It commonly begins by 20 years of age and affects nearly 50% of men by the age of 50 years. Its etiopathogenesis is mainly androgen-dependent and modulated via the testosterone metabolite dihydro-testosterone, the expression of hair follicle-related androgen receptor; and genetic factors also have been implicated.
PRP has also shown to be a useful adjunct to fat for enhancing the take of lipofilling, specifically in aesthetic and reconstructive surgery. Autologous fat grafting enables repair and augmentation of soft tissues and is increasingly used in surgery. Autologous fat tissue is been considered to be an ideal filler for augmentation of soft tissue, because it is biocompatible, versatile, natural-appearing, non-immunogenic, inexpensive and readily obtainable. The main limitation of fat grafting is its unpredictable take. One approach for take-enhancement is to mix the fat graft with PRP before transplantation, however quite large amounts of PRP are needed. Specifically, state of the art procedures recommend at least 20% of PRP to be added to the transplanted fat in order to achieve the best possible enhancement of the take. This may lead to high discomfort for patients who need to repeatedly undergo blood donations for PRP enrichment if more than 100 ml of fat are to be grafted.
Murillo et al. (J. Plastic. Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, 2010, 63, e818-e822) describes the use of platelet rich plasma for increased survival of fat grafts in rabbits. Therein an ideal concentration of platelets in platelet rich plasma is recommended to be at least 1 mio platelets/μl.
Cervelli V. et al recommends even 40% of PRP to be added to fat (Biomed Res Int. 2013, 2013, 43491, 10.1155/2013/434191).
Most commonly, platelets are collected by continuously or intermittently introducing whole blood from a donor into a centrifuge chamber wherein the whole blood is separated into its constituent components, including platelets, based on the densities of the different components. In the separation of platelets, sometimes referred to as plateletpheresis or thrombozytapheresis, the platelets are often concentrated to form a layer of packed platelets with some residual plasma.
Fekete N. et al. (Cytotherapy, 2012, 14, 540-554) report platelet lysate from whole blood-derived pooled platelet concentrates for expansion of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells. It is further disclosed that high platelet content is mandatory for successful application.
For storage and/or transfusion to the patient, it is always pointed out that the platelet concentrate must be resuspended in liquid medium such as plasma and that platelets should not be frozen to avoid platelet lysis.
WO2014027362A1 and WO2014027363A1 describe growth factor concentrates from human platelets free of cellular debris which can be used for treatment of hair loss.
Murphy B. M. et al. (Biomaterials, 2012, 33, 5308-5316) report the use of platelet-rich plasma for stem cell proliferation.
Thus there is a constant need for providing optimized platelet concentrates that can be used for aesthetic and reconstructive treatments, specifically for the treatment of hair loss, and in plastic surgery which can overcome the disadvantages of the presently available platelet rich plasma or platelet concentrates. Further there is a further need in providing sufficient amounts of optimal concentrations and amounts of platelet rich plasma as the actual approaches implicate the loss of considerable volumes of blood.

Platelet concentrate for increase of cell regeneration and cell growth