A joint-sealing element is useful for fireproof sealing of building-structure joints, especially for fireproof sealing of a joint between a first building part and a second building part, with a carrier element and a sealing profile disposed on this carrier element, wherein the disposed sealing profile contains an intumescent material.

Connecting joints are usually formed when different building parts meet. Connecting joints are found in the region of connection to the inter-story ceiling, to the floor and to massive walls. Due to weight loading and/or thermal influences, the ceiling in buildings may be forced upward or downward. To prevent damage to the drywall, the upper connecting joint in this case is made as an expansion joint. Thus joints for creating discontinuities in building parts in order to prevent stress cracking are known as expansion joints. The ceiling profile is made in such a way that a relative movement between ceiling profile and the vertical wall components is possible.
Furthermore, optical requirements are imposed on this connecting joint, since the joint is intended to remain visible after completion of the building construction and/or of the building structure and to complete the architectural building style with integrated fire-protection requirements.
In general, a channel profile, which is part of the studwork, is fastened to the connection building parts of the building construction and/or of the building structure. The gypsum boards themselves are attached at a well-defined spacing to the connecting building part. Usually sealing of the system is provided in the gap between gypsum board and ceiling. For this purpose, either a suitable sealing compound is introduced or else the gap is filled with mineral wool and provided at the surface with a sealing layer. In both cases, the material present in the joint presents relatively strong resistance to movement, with the consequence that comparatively large joint widths are necessary in order to achieve adequate movement absorption.
In particular, sealing of the gap with sealing compound has some disadvantages. It is particularly laborious, and in the course of time the sealing tends to crack when overloaded. Furthermore, sealing can be performed only after the gypsum boards have been mounted, and it requires access to the finished drywall from both sides. Furthermore, this procedure is error-prone, since the user himself or herself must dose the correct quantity of material in order to seal the gap adequately. Above and beyond this, the drywall builder must make the width of the joint correspond to the material and expansion properties of the sealing compound. During installation of the sealing compound, nothing but the joint can be filled. During expansion of the gap, it must be ensured that the sealing compound adheres sufficiently strongly to the underlying surface and that it is able to absorb the tensile forces that develop. Frequently this not the case, and the danger exists that the sealing compound will become detached from the underlying surface or that the sealing compound itself will be overloaded and tear. In the case of a narrower gap, the sealing compound can be compressed to only a limited extent, because of its material properties, and the danger exists that it will be forced out of the gap if the joint is incorrectly dimensioned. Due to the limited expansion and compression capability of the sealing compound (max. +/−25%), it is very important to ensure adequately large dimensioning of the spacing between gypsum board and ceiling. This is frequently underestimated, and so adequate imperviousness often cannot be guaranteed during use of customary sealing compounds.
Some further approaches exist for sealing of joints, especially joint cords or joint sprays, which to some extent suffer from the same disadvantages as have been described for sealing compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,905 B1 describes a movable joint-sealing element, but this is not suitable for fireproof sealing of a connecting joint. U.S. 2013/0091790 A1 describes a joint-sealing element that is fastened between channel profile and gypsum board, but due to the geometric configuration and complex mounting is not suitable for application in a visible joint. U.S. Pat. No. 7,654,049 B2 describes a plastic profile as a cover trim for a ceiling joint, but without fire-protection function. Furthermore, prefabricated solutions exist for fireproof sealing of connecting joints, for example in the form of dry-construction profiles with adhesively bonded intumescent tapes or in the form of intumescent strips, which are laid on the profile. A disadvantage in the use of joint-sealing elements of intumescent materials is that the polymer is influenced in ways that depend on the additives. Accordingly, changes occur in the color and elasticity of the base material. In the case of cover trims, a second product, such as, for example, a fireproof sealing compound, must be further additionally installed for the fire-protection function.
However, all of the systems mentioned above have the disadvantage that they can be used only for fireproof sealing of a connecting joint or only as a visible joint. None of the systems known from the prior art provides a joint-sealing element as a perfect visible joint that is suitable for absorbing movement and has an additional fire-protection function, and that in addition is easier and safer to use, simplifies the mounting of further building parts, ensures good sealing as soon as it is applied and ensures excellent imperviousness with maximum absorption of movement.
The object of the invention is therefore to provide a joint-sealing element that avoids the disadvantages of the known systems, that in particular is easier and safer to use, simplifies the mounting of further building parts, ensures good sealing as soon as it is applied and ensures excellent imperviousness with maximum absorption of movement, and at the same time completes the architectural building style as a visible joint with integrated fire-protection requirements. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a joint-sealing element which is suitable for fireproof sealing of a joint on a building construction and/or on a building structure, especially for fireproof sealing of a joint between a first building part and a second building part, which can be readily compressed and deformed, with which improved evening out of irregularities, improved installation, and improved sealing can be achieved and which functions at the same time as a visible joint.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for fireproof sealing of a joint, which can be accomplished simply, is reliable with little work effort and leads without defects to sealing of a joint, especially a visible joint, between two juxtaposed building parts of a building construction and/or of a building structure.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement which, in the event of fire, permits better sealing of a joint, such as a visible joint, between two building parts, especially between a drywall and a connecting building part, such as a wall, a ceiling or a floor, and thus provides better and durable sealing against smoke and better and durable fire protection, and can be mounted reliably and free of defects with little work effort.
This and further objects that will become apparent from the description of the invention hereinafter are solved by the present invention, as described in the independent claims. The dependent claims relate to preferred embodiments.

Joint-sealing element and sealing arrangement with such a joint-sealing element


Devices and techniques for a dynamically adjusting a garbage collection workload are described herein. For example, memory device idle times can be recorded. From these recorded idle times, a metric can be derived. A current garbage collection workload can be divided into portions based on the metric. Then, a first portion of the divided garbage collection workload can be performed at a next idle time.

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computers or other electronic devices. There are many different types of memory, including volatile and non-volatile memory.
Volatile memory requires power to maintain its data, and includes random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM), among others.
Non-volatile memory can retain stored data when not powered, and includes flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), static RAM (SRAM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), resistance variable memory, such as phase-change random-access memory (PCRAM), resistive random-access memory (RRAM), or magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM), among others.
Garbage collection is a process whereby invalid data segments are removed to free up the hardware holding the invalid data segments for new data. In memory devices with NAND storage arrays, garbage collection often involves copying valid (e.g., good) data in an erase segment—a unit that can be erased, such as a block—to a new location and erasing the erase segment. Once erased, the erase segment can then be used for new data. Thus, garbage collection plays an important role in maintaining free space on the NAND memory array.

Dynamically adjusted garbage collection workload


An inputting apparatus including: a detecting portion which detects an approach-touch area of a detecting area, the approach-touch area being an area detecting an approach or a touch of an input object; a first judging section which judges whether the approach-touch area has been moved in a direction other than a first direction in which the approach-touch area has initially started to be moved; a first-display-moving-amount determining section which determines, where the approach-touch area has been moved in the direction other than the first direction, a first display moving amount for moving an image to be displayed on a display portion, on the basis of a movement of the approach-touch area after the judgment of the first judging section; and a first-movement-display commanding section which provides a command for moving the image by the first display moving amount in a predetermined direction specified on the basis of the first direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inputting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a pen input/output device in which where a user wants to change a date displayed on an input screen from "1992.7.17" to "1992.8.12", the user slides and reciprocates a stylus rightward and leftward in a state in which the stylus is touching an input area.

Inputting apparatus and storage medium storing program


An insulated Bayonet Neill Concelman (BNC) connector includes a replaceable non-metallic insulating shell. The non-metallic shell is attached to a metallic portion of the BNC connector such that, when mounted on an oscilloscope, or other electronic instrument, the non-metallic shell may be disconnected from the metallic portion of the BNC connector without having to gain access to the interior of the instrument housing. Thus, in the event of damage to the non-metallic shell, the damaged non-metallic shell may be quickly and easily replaced by a user, instead of having to return the instrument to the manufacturer for repair.

Bayonet Neill Concelman (BNC) coaxial connectors are commonly-used in the electronics industry for coupling low voltage signals to a measurement instrument, such as an oscilloscope. The mating halves of BNC connectors are referred to as male and female, respectively. Typically, the male portion of the BNC connector is mounted to the instrument chassis, and the female portion is attached to the end of a coaxial cable, such as a probe cable. The cable-mounted female potion of the BNC connector is secured to the panel-mounted male portion by way of a pair of metal "bayonets" mounted on the male portion of the BNC connector perpendicularly to the major axis of the connector.
In ground-referenced oscilloscopes, the outer shell of the Panel-mounted BNC connector is physically and electrically connected to the chassis of the oscilloscope. The oscilloscope chassis, in turn, is coupled to earth ground through the ground wire of its power cord. So long as no effort is made to interfere with this grounding system, it is safe for an operator of the oscilloscope to touch the outer shell of the BNC connector.
When a probe is connected to the grounded BNC connector on the oscilloscope, the metallic shield of the probe's cable is coupled to ground potential. The ground clip of the probe is also connected to the coaxial shield. Thus, all measurements being taken will be referenced to ground potential. However, there are times when it is necessary for an engineer to make a measurement that is not ground-referenced. In such circumstances, some engineers have resorted to a not-recommended and potentially dangerous practice known as "floating the scope". The term "floating the scope" refers to the above-mentioned practice of interfering with the grounding system of the oscilloscope by breaking the connection between the oscilloscope and earth ground. In such a case, the oscilloscope chassis and the shell of the BNC connector may develop a high and potentially lethal voltage on exposed surfaces.
Fortunately, there is a better solution to the problem of making non-ground-referenced measurements than "floating the scope". The THS700-series portable oscilloscopes manufactured by Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, Oreg., employ a non-conductive case and a BNC connector having a non-conductive outer surface to prevent inadvertent contact of the user with dangerous voltages that may otherwise be present.
However, there is a problem that arises when such a solution is used. Safety requirements for an isolated instrument require the use of non-metallic BNC shells. The non-metallic shells necessarily require a pair of non-metallic bayonets. These have a history of failing because the bayonets are prone to being sheared from the shell. That is, the forces applied to the BNC connector when mating it will eventually cause the insulating material of the bayonets to fail. When this happens, the oscilloscope must be returned for service. In fact, the rate of replacement of damaged non-metallic BNC connectors can run as high as 300 BNC's per year for this exact problem. Without the bayonets, the mating connector will not be securely coupled to the Panel-mounted portion, and will simply fall off under normal use conditions.
One might think that a solution to the problem would be to change the size or shape of the bayonets to increase their strength. Unfortunately, geometry changes to increase strength are not permitted because the instrument must remain compatible with all existing BNC receptacles owned by the customer.

Isolated BNC connector with replaceable bayonet shell


An apparatus for automating billing reimbursement includes an electronic handheld processing device that displays patient demographic information, billing codes and guideline information. The physician selects patient information and is able to sort the patient information by different categories. The physician, after examination of the patient, inputs a billing code which is outputted to an interface device for distribution to an information system for providing medical bills.

The typical physician billing system that is used in most hospitals includes a physician carrying 3″×5″ cards, visiting a patient and afterwards assessing the extent of service performed and entering a diagnosis and procedure on the card, which determines the amount to be charged. The physician then provides the cards to the billing department. Although it sounds simple, there are many inefficiencies and hazards in this process that can result in unrealized revenue, lost revenue, and fines from healthcare insurance reimbursement agencies.
The card approach has documentation problems such as overbilling and underbilling. After seeing the patient, the physician typically documents the visit on the patient's medical chart. The physician then uses official billing guidelines to determine that these guidelines are confusing and change often. For example, a physician may confuse the difference between "Initial Inpatient Consultation" and "Confirmatory Consultation," or "Hospital Observation Services" and "Hospital Observation or Inpatient Care Services." A mistake in this determination can lead to denied reimbursement and a possible fine (up to $10,000) per transaction.
As another example, a physician may confuse levels 2 and 3 of "Initial Hospital Care." Both require documentation of a comprehensive patient history and a comprehensive exam. But level 3 requires "medical decision making of high complexity" while level 2 requires only "moderate complexity." A mistake in this choice can also lead to denied reimbursement and a possible fine.
What ultimately justifies the physician's reported category and level of service is the documentation he/she enters into the patient's record. The difference between a denied claim and a reimbursed one can be as simple as whether the physician examined nine body systems or ten. Physicians are expected to remember and abide by these micro-managing guidelines but typically cannot.
In order to avoid accidentally billing for too high a level of service, many physicians habitually underbill. That is, they always bill at the lowest level in order to ensure compliance with the guidelines and avoid fines. This results in a huge loss of revenue for physicians, clinics, and hospitals, because the difference in price between two levels of service can be $20 or more.
Further, the card system suffers from billing latency (or "charge lag") and lost cards. In an inpatient setting, a physician may have 35–40 patients whom the physician visits during rounds. For each patient, the physician carries a 3″×5″ card—often using different coat pockets as a makeshift filing system—on which to record the category and level of service the physician performs each day.
The physicians have a habit of holding onto the paper cards for too long. They typically wait until patients are discharged (maybe after weeklong stays), and then actually submit the cards to the billing department at the end of that month. This long delay between the time of service and the time of billing card submission is known as "charge lag," and can average thirty-six days at many hospitals. That is a long period of time for a large amount of money to remain in the insurance companies' coffers rather than the hospital's. Of course, this assumes the physician has not already lost the card, in which case the charge is never submitted.
Lost charges from failure to enter information on cards are much like lost cards. Again, records of services and procedures performed do not reach billing personnel. In this case, it is simply because physicians have demanding schedules and it is often too inconvenient, difficult, or time-consuming to record billable events. When the appropriate form or chart is not easily available, many physicians will try to memorize what they've done and write it down later.
In summary, the existing paper-based billing card system has severe problems:
Overbilling: Billing for too high a level of service means noreimbursement, possible fines, and wasted time re-submitting theinsurance claim at a lower service level.Underbilling: Billing for too low a level of service, while ensuringcompliance with official billing regulations, means losses at least $20 perpatient per visit.Late and lost cards: Reimbursement is unnecessarily delayed or does notoccur.Lost charges: Some billable events are never recorded.

Device for automating billing reimbursement


An electrical apparatus that can be fixed to a supporting frame having a mounting window to receive the electrical apparatus includes a main body having a substantially box-like shape and first fixing elements provided on first and second opposite sides of the body to engage with corresponding second fixing elements the frame and facing the mounting window. The first fixing elements include guiding fixing elements to permit axial and guided sliding of electrical apparatus with respect to the frame in inserting the apparatus into the mounting window. The first fixing elements further include snap-in fixing elements to block axial sliding of the electrical apparatus with respect to the frame once a predetermined snap-in position has been reached.

For the purposes of this description, electrical apparatus will mean, in general, any electrical means or device whatsoever generally forming part of electrical installations in civil buildings and similar and usually intended to be mounted, for example built-in, on the walls of said buildings.
Therefore, this definition includes, but is not limited to, switches, power supply sockets, data network sockets, TV sockets, telephone sockets, pushbutton switches, change-over switches, regulating electrical devices in general, connectors, thermostats, timers, fuse-holders, ringers/buzzers, emergency lights for example removable, signaling lights for example step lights, displays for example LCD and similar.
As is known, many of the above-mentioned electrical apparatuses are usually installed on the walls using composite mounting structures, or groups of parts, generally including:
a box intended to be inserted into the wall;
an apparatus-holding mounting frame (or supporting frame) which can be fixed to the box and comprising a frame body surrounding an opening defining a mounting seat suitable to receive and hold one or more electrical apparatuses; and
a removable covering plate which can be fixed to the frame and provided with an opening so that the user can access, visually or manually, the electrical apparatuses installed on the supporting frame.
Various systems are known in the state of the art to fix an electrical apparatus to a supporting frame in such a way that it can be removed. For example, it is known to provide flexible tongues on two sides of the supporting frame opposite the mounting seat and suitable to engage with respective rigid teeth provided on opposite sides of an electrical apparatus intended to be fixed to the supporting frame. Said tongues must be sufficiently flexible to allow smooth attachment/detachment between the electrical apparatus and the supporting frame and, at the same time, they must be sufficiently rigid to guarantee adequate holding between the electrical apparatus and the supporting frame.
For this reason, the above-described fixing system of the prior art, even if widely used, in some cases presents a problem of fragility of the flexible fixing tongues, in other cases it is not such as to prevent accidental and unwanted detachment of the electrical apparatus from the supporting frame or dislodging of the electrical apparatus into the supporting frame and, therefore, towards the inside of the box built into the wall.

Electrical apparatus and supporting frame for wall-mounting same


A business system that allows vehicle telematics and other trip planning systems to be updated with latest road construction information. This information can be periodically downloaded to the trip planning system in order to factor in possible road construction delays into trip planning. The information can be gathered by direct observation or by periodic reports from governmental agencies. A subscription fee could be charged for this service.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of on-board vehicle navigation systems and more particularly to a system and method of providing real-time road construction information to such systems.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is known in the art to provide on-board navigation systems for vehicles. These systems are usually based on a combination of GPS, gyro, vehicle steering, wheel, or odometer connections, and dead reckoning. It is very common to provide these systems with canned maps of various regions from common map suppliers. Presently these maps are supplied on CD-ROM.
Recently there has been considerable interest in the field of telematics where generally vehicle on-board systems communicate via wireless radio connections to the cellular telephone network or to local or wide area networks. It is envisioned that considerable information will be downloaded into vehicle on-board systems via such telematic systems.
It has been proposed that possibly up to date maps could be periodically downloaded via telematics systems to keep the map database for on-board navigation systems up to date. It has also been proposed that it might be possible in future telematics systems to download real-time traffic conditions into on-board navigation systems so that the system's advanced planning features could provide temporary routes around traffic jams.
What is needed however, whether maps are loaded offline from say CD-ROMs or online via wireless or other means is current road construction information. This would provide considerable help in planning trips whether by automatic means or manual means.

System and method of providing real-time road construction information for vehicle trip planning


A welding torch for plasma arc welding apparatus has a transparent shield cup disposed about the constricting nozzle, the cup including a small outwardly extending polished lip. A guide tube extends externally of the torch and has a free end adjacent the lip. First and second optical fiber bundle assemblies are supported within the guide tube. Light from a strobe light is transmitted along one of the assemblies to the free end and through the lip onto the weld site. A lens is positioned in the guide tube adjacent the second assembly and focuses images of the weld site onto the end of the fiber bundle of the second assembly and these images are transmitted along the second assembly to a video camera so that the weld site may be viewed continuously for monitoring the welding process.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to plasma arc welding (PAW), and more particularly to plasma arc welding apparatus having optical enhancement and monitoring of the location where the metal is being fused so that accurate, real time information is available for controlling the weld.
(2) Description of Related Art
Plasma arc welding is a process wherein coalescence of metals is produced by heating them with a constricted arc between a nonconsumable refractory electrode and the work or between the electrode and a constricting nozzle having an orifice. A filler metal may or may not be added during the process. Thus, plasma arc welding is a method of electrical arc welding in a protective gas wherein the arc is maintained between the workpiece and a nonconsumable electrode of a high melting point metal such as tungsten, the plasma of the arc being passed through a nozzle. The electrode is disposed within and insulated from a welding torch body and a front end having the constricting nozzle. An inert gas is supplied to the torch body and is channeled about the electrode exiting through the orifice. This gas acts upon the electric arc to constrict its shape to that of a narrow column and becomes ionized in the arc to form the plasma. In addition the orifice gas provides some shielding effect to the molten weld zone and the electrode. In most, if not substantially all, cases an auxiliary shielding gas is provided by channeling a second inert gas stream to blanket the area of arc plasma impingement on the workpiece to avoid contamination of the weld pool.
In plasma arc welding of certain ranges of metal thicknesses, certain combinations of plasma gas flow, arc current and weld travel speed will produce a relatively small weld pool with a hole, known as a keyhole, penetrating completely through the base metal. In a stable keyhole operation, molten metal is displaced to the top bead surface by the plasma stream to form the characteristic keyhole. As the plasma arc torch is moved along the weld joint, metal melted by the arc is forced to flow around the plasma stream and keyhole to a progressively lower temperature area at the rear where the molten metal is solidified. The motion of the molten metal and the complete penetration of the metal allows the impurities to flow to the surface and the gases to be expelled more readily before solidification. Orifice gas flow rates for PAW welding are critical and must be closely controlled in the keyhole mode.
The high density arc column in PAW in the keyhole and non-keyhole modes require accurate alignment between the weld torch and the joint seam to assure weld joint integrity. Structures and vessels fabricated with this process require high tolerance in joint fit-up and rigid tools for maintaining critical alignment of the parts during the weld process. Monitoring the process is a full time task by either a welder at the torch or at a remote location using a video monitor. Current systems in use and in the development stages utilize various methods to locate the weld joint seam. These methods can be inaccurate and easily rendered unreliable resulting in costly errors.

The United States of America as represented by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A filter circuit includes a first input node and a second input node for receiving an input signal, and a first output node and a second output node for providing an output signal. A first series acoustic resonator is coupled in series between the first input node and the first output node. At least one coupled resonator filter (CRF) includes first and second transducers, which may be acoustically coupled to one another. The first transducer has a first electrode coupled to the first input node, a second electrode coupled to the second input node, and a first piezoelectric layer between the first electrode and the second electrode. A second transducer has a third electrode coupled to the first output node, a fourth electrode coupled to the second output node, and a second piezoelectric layer between the third electrode and the fourth electrode.

Acoustic resonators, such as Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) resonators and Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) resonators, are used in many high-frequency communication applications. In particular, SAW resonators are often employed in filter networks that operate frequencies up to 1.8 GHz, and BAW resonators are often employed in filter networks that operate at frequencies above 1.5 GHz. Such filters need to have flat passbands, have steep filter skirts and squared shoulders at the upper and lower ends of the passband, and provide excellent rejection outside of the passband. SAW- and BAW-based filters also have relatively low insertion loss, tend to decrease in size as the frequency of operation increases, and are relatively stable over wide temperature ranges.
As such, SAW- and BAW-based filters are the filter of choice for many 3rd Generation (3G) and 4th Generation (4G) wireless devices and are destined to dominate filter applications for 5th Generation (5G) wireless devices. Most of these wireless devices support cellular, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, and/or near field communications on the same wireless device and, as such, pose extremely challenging filtering demands. While these demands keep raising the complexity of wireless devices, there is a constant need to improve the performance of acoustic resonators and filters that are based thereon.
To better understand acoustic resonators and various terminology associated therewith, the following provides an overview of a BAW resonator. However, the concepts described herein may employ any type of acoustic resonator and are not limited to SAW- and BAW-based resonators. An exemplary BAW resonator 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The BAW resonator 10 generally includes a substrate 12, a reflector 14 mounted over the substrate 12, and a transducer 16 mounted over the reflector 14. The transducer 16 rests on the reflector 14 and includes a piezoelectric layer 18, which is sandwiched between a top electrode 20 and a bottom electrode 22. The top and bottom electrodes 20 and 22 may be formed of Tungsten (W), Molybdenum (Mo), Platinum (Pt), or like material, and the piezoelectric layer 18 may be formed of Aluminum Nitride (AlN), Zinc Oxide (ZnO), or other appropriate piezoelectric material. Although shown in FIG. 1 as each including a single layer, the piezoelectric layer 18, the top electrode 20, and/or the bottom electrode 22 may include multiple layers of the same material, multiple layers in which at least two layers are different materials, or multiple layers in which each layer is a different material.
The BAW resonator 10 is divided into an active region 24 and an outside region 26. The active region 24 generally corresponds to the section of the BAW resonator 10 where the top and bottom electrodes 20 and 22 overlap and also includes the layers below the overlapping top and bottom electrodes 20 and 22. The outside region 26 corresponds to the section of the BAW resonator 10 that surrounds the active region 24.
For the BAW resonator 10, applying electrical signals across the top electrode 20 and the bottom electrode 22 excites acoustic waves in the piezoelectric layer 18. These acoustic waves primarily propagate vertically. A primary goal in BAW resonator design is to confine these vertically propagating acoustic waves in the transducer 16. Acoustic waves traveling upward are reflected back into the transducer 16 by the air-metal boundary at the top surface of the top electrode 20. Acoustic waves traveling downward are reflected back into the transducer 16 by the reflector 14 or by an air cavity, which is provided just below the transducer in a Film BAW Resonator (FBAR).
The reflector 14 is typically formed by a stack of reflector layers (RL) 28, which alternate in material composition to produce a significant reflection coefficient at the junction of adjacent reflector layers 28. Typically, the reflector layers 28 alternate between materials having high and low acoustic impedances, such as tungsten (W) and silicon dioxide (SiO2). While only five reflector layers 28 are illustrated in FIG. 1, the number of reflector layers 28 and the structure of the reflector 14 varies from one design to another.
The magnitude (Z) and phase (ϕ) of the electrical impedance as a function of the frequency for a relatively ideal BAW resonator 10 is provided in FIG. 2. The magnitude (Z) of the electrical impedance is illustrated by the solid line, whereas the phase (ϕ) of the electrical impedance is illustrated by the dashed line. A unique feature of the BAW resonator 10 is that it has both a resonance frequency and an anti-resonance frequency. The resonance frequency is typically referred to as the series resonance frequency (fs), and the anti-resonance frequency is typically referred to as the parallel resonance frequency (fp). The series resonance frequency (fs) occurs when the magnitude of the impedance, or reactance, of the BAW resonator 10 approaches zero. The parallel resonance frequency (fp) occurs when the magnitude of the impedance, or reactance, of the BAW resonator 10 peaks at a significantly high level. In general, the series resonance frequency (fs) is a function of the thickness of the piezoelectric layer 18 and the mass of the bottom and top electrodes 20 and 22.
For the phase, the BAW resonator 10 acts like an inductance that provides a 90° phase shift between the series resonance frequency (fs) and the parallel resonance frequency (fp). In contrast, the BAW resonator 10 acts like a capacitance that provides a −90° phase shift below the series resonance frequency (fs) and above the parallel resonance frequency (fp). The BAW resonator 10 presents a very low, near zero, resistance at the series resonance frequency (fs) and a very high resistance at the parallel resonance frequency (fp). The electrical nature of the BAW resonator 10 lends itself to the realization of a very high Q (quality factor) inductance over a relatively short range of frequencies, which has proven to be very beneficial in high-frequency filter networks, especially those operating at frequencies around 1.8 GHz and above.
Unfortunately, the phase (φ) curve of FIG. 2 is representative of an ideal phase curve. In reality, approaching this ideal is challenging. A typical phase curve for the BAW resonator 10 of FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 3A. Instead of being a smooth curve, the phase curve of FIG. 3A includes ripple below the series resonance frequency (fs), between the series resonance frequency (fs) and the parallel resonance frequency (fp), and above the parallel resonance frequency (fp). The ripple is the result of spurious modes, which are caused by spurious resonances that occur in corresponding frequencies. While the vast majority of the acoustic waves in the BAW resonator 10 propagate vertically, various boundary conditions about the transducer 16 result in the propagation of lateral (horizontal) acoustic waves, which are referred to as lateral standing waves. The presence of these lateral standing waves reduces the potential Q associated with the BAW resonator 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, a border (BO) ring 30 is formed on or within the top electrode 20 to suppress certain of the spurious modes. The spurious modes that are suppressed by the BO ring 30 are those above the series resonance frequency (fs), as highlighted by circles A and B in the phase curve of FIG. 3B. Circle A shows a suppression of the ripple, and thus of the spurious mode, in the passband of the phase curve, which resides between the series resonance frequency (fs) and the parallel resonance frequency (fp). Circle B shows suppression of the ripple, and thus of the spurious modes, above the parallel resonance frequency (fp). Notably, the spurious mode in the upper shoulder of the passband, which is just below the parallel resonance frequency fp, and the spurious modes above the passband are suppressed, as evidenced by the smooth or substantially ripple free phase curve between the series resonance frequency (fs) and the parallel resonance frequency (fp) and above the parallel resonance frequency (fp).
The BO ring 30 corresponds to a mass loading of the portion of the top electrode 20 that extends about the periphery of the active region 24. The BO ring 30 may correspond to a thickened portion of the top electrode 20 or the application of additional layers of an appropriate material over the top electrode 20. The portion of the BAW resonator 10 that includes and resides below the BO ring 30 is referred to as a BO region 32. Accordingly, the BO region 32 corresponds to an outer, perimeter portion of the active region 24 and resides inside of the active region 24.
While the BO ring 30 is effective at suppressing spurious modes above the series resonance frequency (fs), the BO ring 30 has little or no impact on those spurious modes below the series resonance frequency (fs), as shown by the ripples in the phase curve below the series resonance frequency (fs) in FIG. 3B. A technique referred to as apodization is often used to suppress the spurious modes that fall below the series resonance frequency (fs).
Apodization tries to avoid, or at least significantly reduce, any lateral symmetry in the BAW resonator 10, or at least in the transducer 16 thereof. The lateral symmetry corresponds to the footprint of the transducer 16, and avoiding the lateral symmetry corresponds to avoiding symmetry associated with the sides of the footprint. For example, one may choose a footprint that corresponds to a pentagon instead of a square or rectangle. Avoiding symmetry helps reduce the presence of lateral standing waves in the transducer 16. Circle C of FIG. 3C illustrates the effect of apodization in which the spurious modes below the series resonance frequency (fs) are suppressed, as evidence by the smooth or substantially ripple free phase curve below the series resonance frequency (fs). Assuming no BO ring 30 is provided, one can readily see in FIG. 3C that apodization fails to suppress those spurious modes above the series resonance frequency (fs). As such, the typical BAW resonator 10 employs both apodization and the BO ring 30.
As noted previously, BAW resonators 10 are often used in filter networks that operate at high frequencies and require high Q values. A basic ladder network 40 is illustrated in FIG. 5A. The ladder network 40 includes two series resonators BSER and two shunt resonators BSH, which are arranged in a traditional ladder configuration. Typically, the series resonators BSER have the same or similar first frequency response, and the shunt resonators BSH have the same or similar second frequency response, which is different from the first frequency response, as shown in FIG. 5B. In many applications, the shunt resonators BSH are detuned versions of the series resonators BSER. As a result, the frequency responses for the series resonators BSER and the shunt resonators BSH are generally very similar, yet shifted relative to one another such that the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SH) of the shunt resonators approximates the series resonance frequency (fs,SER) of the series resonators BSER. Note that the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH is less than the series resonance frequency (fs,SER) of the series resonators BSER. The parallel resonance frequency (fp,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH is less than the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER.
FIG. 5C is associated with FIG. 5B and illustrates the response of the ladder network 40. The series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH corresponds to the low side of the passband's skirt (phase 2), and the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER corresponds to the high side of the passband's skirt (phase 4). The substantially aligned series resonance frequency (fs,SER) of the series resonators BSER and the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH fall within the passband. FIGS. 6A through 6E provide circuit equivalents for the five phases of the response of the ladder network 40. During the first phase (phase 1, FIGS. 5C, 6A), the ladder network 40 functions to attenuate the input signal. As the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH is approached, the impedance of the shunt resonators BSH drops precipitously such that the shunt resonators BSH essentially provide a short to ground at the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators (phase 2, FIGS. 5C, 6B). At the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH (phase 2), the input signal is essentially blocked from the output of the ladder network 40.
Between the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH and the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER, which corresponds to the passband, the input signal is passed to the output with relatively little or no attenuation (phase 3, FIGS. 5C, 6C). Within the passband, the series resonators BSER present relatively low impedance, whereas the shunt resonators BSH present relatively high impedance, wherein the combination of the two leads to a flat passband with steep low- and high-side skirts. As the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER is approached, the impedance of the series resonators BSER becomes very high, such that the series resonators BSER essentially present themselves as open at the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators (phase 4, FIGS. 5C, 6D). At the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER (phase 4), the input signal is again essentially blocked from the output of the ladder network 40.
During the final phase (phase 5, FIGS. 5C, 6E), the ladder network 40 functions to attenuate the input signal, in a similar fashion to that provided in phase 1. As the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER is passed, the impedance of the series resonators BSER decreases and the impedance of the shunt resonators BSH normalizes. Thus, the ladder network 40 functions to provide a high Q passband between the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH and the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER. The ladder network 40 provides extremely high attenuation at both the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH and the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators. The ladder network 40 provides good attenuation below the series resonance frequency (fs,SH) of the shunt resonators BSH and above the parallel resonance frequency (fp,SER) of the series resonators BSER. As noted previously, there is a constant need to improve the performance of acoustic resonators and filters that are based thereon.


The disclosed technology relates to a sterilization indicator and a process to concentrate signal generated by constraining it to a minimal surface, in a minimal volume and minimal pH and growth buffering or mediating influences. The sterilization indicator may comprise a carrier 12, the carrier having a first surface 14 and a second surface 16; a support 20, the support having a first section 22 and a second section 24, the carrier 12 overlying the first section 12 of the support 20, the second surface 16 of the carrier being adhered to the first section 22 of the support 20; and a biological indicator 30 supported by the carrier 12. The second section 24 of the support 20 may be of sufficient dimension to permit handling the sterilization indicator 10 without contacting the biological indicator 30. A process for making the sterilization indicator is disclosed. Processes for using the sterilization indicator are disclosed.

Primarily in the health care industry, but also in many other commercial and industrial applications, it is often necessary to monitor the effectiveness of the processes used to sterilize equipment such as medical and non-medical devices, instruments and other articles and materials. It is often standard practice in these sterilization processes to include a sterilization indicator in the batch of articles to be sterilized. This allows a direct approach to assay the lethality of the sterilization process.
Conventional sterilization indicators typically contain a biological indicator. The biological indicator may comprise one or more test organisms which are designed to be more resistant to the sterilization process than the organisms to be destroyed by the sterilization. These test organisms are usually bacterial spores. Conventional sterilization indicators may be available in two forms.
The first of these forms involves the use of a substrate wherein bacterial spores are directly applied or inoculated on the substrate. The substrate may be fully covered with the spores. Any physical handling by the user may result in spores being lost from the substrate, transferred to the user, or potentially contaminating or being contaminated by the surrounding area. It has been proposed to provide special clips to allow the user to handle the substrate. However, these clips often hinder the sterilization process and may result in a faulty test result. Also, minimum size constraints for these substrates typically lead to the requirement for relatively large volumes of incubation medium, for example, from about 5 to about 10 milliliters (ml), and relatively long incubation periods, for example, from about 2 to about 7 days.
The second of these forms involves a self-contained sterilization indicator. These sterilization indicators typically contain the bacterial spores and the incubation medium in a single container, but in separate compartments. The spores are subjected to the sterilization process. Following sterilization, the container is activated so that any surviving spores may come into contact with the incubation medium to determine the effectiveness of the sterilization. These sterilization indicators may be useful in gaseous sterilization processes, but are typically not suitable for liquid sterilization processes.
A major drawback with each of these sterilization indicators relates to the time delay in obtaining results for the sterilization test. These sterilization indicators normally require that the bacterial spores be cultured for at least two and often up to about seven days to assure adequate detection of any surviving spores. During this time, the articles that went through the sterilization process and are under evaluation should not be used until the results of the spore viability test have been determined. However, many health care facilities have limited resources and must reuse their "sterilized" instruments within 24-48 hours and often immediately. In such settings, the two to seven day holding period for sterility verification may be impractical, costly and inefficient.
Thus, a problem that has been presented by the art is to provide a sterilization indicator that minimizes or eliminates the handling of the biological indicator and accurately detects the effectiveness of a sterilization process within a relatively short period of time. It would be advantageous if this sterilization indicator could be adaptable to liquid sterilization processes as well as gaseous sterilization processes. The disclosed technology, in at least one embodiment, may provide a solution to this problem.


In accordance with the present invention there is provided exemplary embodiments of an introducer sheath in accordance with the present invention, wherein the introducer sheath of the present invention is formed of multiple components which are resiliently assembled to form a single introducer sheath. One embodiment of the introducer sheath includes a hub, a retaining member and an elongated tubular member. The hub has a lumen that has a groove. The elongated tubular member has a proximal end that includes a flared portion. The distal end of the retaining member is configured to be received in the groove formed in the lumen of the hub. The distal end of the retaining member contacts the flared portion of the tubular member when distal end of the retaining member is disposed in the groove such that the tubular member is retained within the lumen of the hub in a sealed engagement.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and methods. More specifically, the present invention relates generally to introducer sheaths and, in particular, to an introducer sheath that is assembled from individual components such that the individual components are resiliently locked together when assembled. The introducer sheath in accordance with the present invention is generally for use during minimally invasive medical procedures.
2. The Relevant Technology
A wide variety of introducer sheaths have been developed for medical use. Introducer sheaths are often used to access a vessel or artery to allow a surgical procedure to be performed. For example, introducer sheaths are often used for medical procedures that utilize catheters, such as angioplasty or stenting procedures. In practice, the introducer sheath is typically inserted into the patient's vasculature using the modified Seldinger technique. Under the Seldinger technique, a needle is first inserted into the vessel. A guidewire is then inserted through the needle and into the vessel. Next, the needle is removed and a sheath/dilator combination is advanced over the guidewire. The dilator is used to expand the puncture in the vessel to a size suitable to receive an introducer sheath. After the distal end of the sheath is disposed within the vessel, the dilator and guidewire are removed, thereby allowing access to the vessel.
Conventionally, introducer sheaths are formed of three or more components that require assembly: an elongated tubular member, a hub portion, and a hemostasis valve disposed within the hub portion. In some designs an introducer sheath may also include a strain relief member which is disposed adjacent the distal end of the hub and about the proximal end of the elongated tubular portion. A suitable example of such an assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,350, which discloses an introducer sheath having a construction similar to that described above, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Introducer sheaths, such as that described above, are generally constructed of multiple pieces which must be assembled to form the sheath. In most cases, the distal end of the hub portion is molded over the elongated tubular member. While molding may produce a stronger part, there is the possibility of damaging a portion of the other components of the device during the process. Any such damage results in the entire device having to be thrown away. As a result, there is a need for a way to attach the proximal end of the tubular member to the distal end of the hub portion which still meets all of the requirements of the introducer sheath, including but not limited to forming a fluid seal and having sufficient strength between the attachment of the hub portion and the tubular member to remain attached, but does not require throwing the entire device away if a portion of the sheath is damaged during manufacturing or assembly.
Prior introducer sheaths with such a substantially unitary design had difficulty accounting for or accommodating the variations that occur in the manufacturing process. When a defect occurred, even if it is only in a portion of the sheath, the unit must be discarded resulting in higher manufacturing costs and lower yields.
Similarly, the unitary design of introducer sheaths made it difficult to change materials during the manufacturing process or even changing the design of the sheath itself. Where an overmolded process is used to create the unitary introducer sheath, all the portions of the sheath are subjected to the heat from the molding process. As a result, the manufacturing processing itself may result in an uncontrolled change in geometry or a general decrease in quality control. Thus, there is a need for a new introducer sheath having lower manufacturing costs and higher quality control while still retaining the important requirements for an introducer sheath.
In another embodiment, the introducer sheath may be manufactured to be splitable during use. That is, the elongated tubular member may have a pre-scored line or another feature that allows it to split along a pre-determined path. In these instances, the choice of the material for the tubular shaft must be balanced between being splitable and being kink resistant and providing good performance. Therefore, there is a need for an improved introducer sheath having good kink resistance and good splitting properties.


A method and apparatus for transferring data from a donor storage device to a target storage device in parallel with requests from a host computer for transfers between the host computer and the target storage device. A copy subroutine operates in response to background and foreground mode controllers. The background mode controller normally copies data from an initial position in the donor storage device sequentially by data block. When a DTR command from the host processor requests a data element from a block that has not migrated to the target storage device, the foreground controller uses the copy subroutine to transfer the designated block. The storage areas are divided into statistical blocks. If a threshold number of consecutive DTR commands accesses a particular statistical block, the system resets the parameters for the background mode controller to effectively move the copy subroutine to begin background copying from the statistical block. A subsequent request to move the subroutine in the background mode cannot occur until a minimum number of data blocks have been transferred.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data storage systems including systems and methods for the on-line replacement of an existing data storage system. More particularly this invention relates to a system and method for transferring data from one disk storage sub-system to another.
2. Description of Related Art
Data processing centers of businesses and organizations such as banks, airlines and insurance companies, rely almost exclusively on their ability to access and process large amounts of data stored on a data storage system or device, typically a disk array storage device. Data and other information which is typically stored on one or more data storage devices which form part of a larger data storage system is commonly referred to as a database.
Databases are nearly always "open" and constantly "in use" and being accessed by a coupled data processing system, i.e., a central processing unit (CPU) or host mainframe computer. The inability to access data is disastrous if not a crisis for such business and organizations and will typically result in the business or organization being forced to temporarily cease operation.
During the course of normal operations, these businesses and organizations must upgrade their data storage devices and data storage systems. Although such upgrading sometimes includes only the addition of data storage capacity to their existing physical systems, more often than not upgrading requires the addition of a completely separate and new data storage system. In such cases, the existing data on the existing data storage system or device must be backed up on a separate device such as a tape drive, the new system installed and connected to the data processing unit, and the data copied from the back-up device to the new data storage system. Such activity typically takes at least two days to accomplish. If the conversion takes more than two days or if the business or organization cannot withstand two days of inoperability, the need and desire to upgrade their data storage system may pose an insurmountable problem.
Some prior art data copying methods and systems have proposed allowing two data storage systems of the same type, a first system and a second system, to be coupled to one another, and allowing the data storage systems themselves to control data copying from the first to the second system without intervention from or interference with the host data processing system. See for example, the data storage system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,347 issued Aug. 6, 1996 entitled DATA STORAGE SYSTEM CONTROLLED REMOTE DATA MIRRORING WITH RESPECTIVELY MAINTAINED DATA INDICES, fully incorporated herein by reference, which describes one such remote data copying facility feature which can be implemented on a Symmetrix 5500 data storage system available from EMC Corporation, Hopkinton, Mass.
Although such a system and method for data copying is possible, in most instances, the first and second data storage systems are not of the same type, or of a type which allow a "background" data migration to take place between the two data storage systems, unassisted by the host and while the database is open. Additionally, even on such prior art data storage systems, migrating data as a "background" task while the database is "open" does not take into account the fact that the data is constantly changing as it is accessed by the host or central processing unit and accordingly, if the old system is left connected to the host, there will always be a disparity between the data which is stored on the old data storage system and the data which has been migrated onto the new data storage system. In such cases, the new data storage system may never fully "catch up" and be able to be completely synchronized to the old data storage system.
Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/522,903 depicts a system and method for migrating data from a first or a donor data storage device or sub-system to a second or target data storage device or sub-system. As described more fully therein, the target data storage device replaces the donor disk storage device and has the same general configuration as the donor storage device, albeit generally with a greater capacity. Connections are established among a host computer system and the donor and target storage devices so that data transfer requests from the host processor are handled by the target storage device. A copy subroutine, normally controlled to operate in a background mode, transfers sequential blocks of data elements, by track in the specifically disclosed embodiment, from the donor to the target storage device. The target storage device also responds to data transfer requests, such as read and write commands, that identify locations for particular data elements in one or more sequential locations. When this occurs the copy subroutine switches to a primary or foreground mode to make the requested transfer of a track or block containing the data elements from the donor to the target storage device assuming that the data element is not already present in the target storage device.
As an alternative, the migration process may determine that one or more read requests from the host 12 are part of a sequence of such read requests. In such an instance, a channel process may take the current address of data being requested by the host processor and increase it by a predetermined number. For example, if the host processor were currently requesting data from an address `411`, the channel process could issue a read request to the donor storage device for the data at address `411`. Generally simultaneously the channel process will pass an indication to begin prefetching data from the next successive address so that the target storage device "gets ahead" of the channel process in the actual data requests from the donor storage device.
This general concept of prefetching or otherwise optimizing the transfer of data from one data storage facility to another has also been disclosed in a number of other patents including:
______________________________________ 4,371,927 (1983) Wilhite et al. 4,980,823 (1990) Liu 5,146,578 (1992) Zangenehpour 5,293,679 (1994) Shih et al. 5,530,941 (1996) Weisser et al. ______________________________________
United States Letters U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,927 discloses a data processing system including a cache store to provide an interface with a main storage unit for a central processing unit. The central processing unit includes a microprogram control unit in addition to control circuits for establishing the sequencing of the processing unit during the execution of program instructions. Both the microprogram control unit and control circuits include means for generating pre-read commands to the cache store in conjunction with normal processing operations during the processing of certain types of instructions. In response to pre-read commands, the cache store, during predetermined points of the processing of each such instruction, fetches information which is required by such an instruction at a later point in the processing thereof. It is the object of the execution of pre-read commands to provide a prefetch capability suitable for use in either a high speed processing system or a multiprocessing environment.
United States Letters U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,823 discloses a method and apparatus for sequentially prefetching data with deconfirmation. Specifically, a computer memory management method for cache memory uses a deconfirmation technique to provide a simple sequential prefetching algorithm. Access sequentially is predicted based on simple histories. Each memory line in cache memory is associated with a bit in an S-vector, which is called the S-bit for the line. When the S-bit is on, sequentiality is predicted meaning that the sequentially next line is regarded as a good candidate for prefetching, if that line is not already in the cache memory. The key to the operation of the memory management method is the manipulation (turning on and off) the S-bits. It is the object of this methodology to provide a technique that will substantially reduce cache misses and prefetch with high accuracy based upon simple histories.
United States Letters U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,578 discloses a method of varying the amount of data prefetched to a cache memory in dependence on the history of data requests. If the previous fetch and current fetch requests are not sequential no data is prefetched. If the previous fetch and current fetch request are sequential and less than all of the current fetch request is already in the cache, two blocks of data sequentially beyond the current fetch request are prefetched. If the previous two blocks fetched and current fetch request are sequential and less than all of the current fetch request is already in the cache, four blocks of data sequentially beyond the current fetch request are prefetched. If the previous three blocks fetched and the current fetch request are sequential and less than all of the current fetch request is already in the cache, eight blocks of data sequentially beyond the current fetch request are preferred. The prefetch algorithm is limited at eight blocks. Each additional sequential request, when less than all of specified data is already in the cache, will cause eight blocks to be prefetched. The object of this methodology is to sequentially prefetch data only when it is advantageous to perform such prefetching based upon past history and to provide a methodology by which the amount of data which is prefetched can be altered.
United States Letters U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,609 discloses a method for a hit density based replacement for a data cache with prefetching. A least recently used cache replacement system includes a data cache that is logically partitioned into two separate sections, demand and prefetch. A cache directory table and a least recently used table are used to maintain the cache. When a new demand data page is added to the cache, a most recently used (MRU) pointer is updated and points to this new page. When a prefetch page is added to the cache, the least recently used pointer of the demand section is updated with its backward pointer pointing to this new page. A cache hit on a demand of prefetch page moves that page to the top of the least recently used table. When a free page is needed in the cache, it is selected from the demand or prefetch sections of the memory based on a comparison of the demand hit density and the prefetch hit density so to maintain a balance between these two hit densities. It is the objective of this system to provide a cache management data system that automatically adjusts the size of the storage areas of cache allocated for demand and prefetch data to balance allocated areas on the basis of area performance during operation.
United States Letters U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,941 discloses a system and method for prefetching data from a main computer memory into a cache memory. The main and cache memories are accessible by a host processor and other bus masters connected thereto by a bus. Code data elements to be read by the host processor are predicted. The predicted code data elements are then transferred from the main memory to cache memory without delaying memory access requests for data from the other bus masters. The objectives of this system are to improve the response time of a memory system by prefetching.
The foregoing prior art utilizes one of two basic approaches either singularly or in combination. In one approach, the system is adapted for operating under a set of conditions in which it is presumed that any requests for data from a host processor system will be random in nature. In the other it is assumed that the requests will access locations sequentially. Some combine the two. However, in those systems described in the cited patents, the methods are applied to transfers to a cache memory. In such applications only small amounts of memory are involved. Performance in such systems will degrade if a large amount of data needs to be transferred. In each patent the methodology is involved with the processing aspect of data system operation that involves the actual manipulation of data. Nothing in these patents discloses on-line transactions when data is being manipulated with the parallel migration of data from a donor storage device to a target storage device. Responses to host processor data transfer requests can slow, even with the system disclosed in the copending application, to a level where the data migration is no longer transparent and on-line performance is affected.

Data transferring system having foreground and background modes and upon detecting significant pattern of access in foreground mode to change background mode control parameters


In a planar radiation detector having a substrate; a charge-collection electrode; a radiation-induced-charge conversion film formed mainly of amorphous selenium; and an upper electrode which transmits radiation, or in a planar radiation detector having a substrate; a charge-collection electrode; a light-induced-charge conversion film which is formed mainly of amorphous selenium and generates electric charge when the light-induced-charge conversion film is irradiated with visible light which has passed through an upper electrode; the upper electrode which transmits the visible light emitted from a fluorescent layer; and the fluorescent layer formed of a fluorescent material which converts a radiation carrying image information into the visible light, the radiation-induced-charge conversion film or the light-induced-charge conversion film is formed of amorphous selenium or amorphous selenium alloy and has a residual oxygen concentration of 35 ppm or lower.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a planar radiation detector which uses a radiation-induced-charge conversion film or a light-induced-charge conversion film formed of amorphous selenium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the planar X-ray detector is known to be used in medical X-ray radiography for reducing the exposure dose of a subject and improving diagnostic performance. In the planar X-ray detector, an X-ray-induced-charge conversion film, which is sensitive to X rays, is used, and a distribution of electric charge produced in the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film by X rays is read by use of light or a great number of electrodes for recording the distribution of electric charge. Specifically, the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film is arranged in the planar radiation detector. When the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film is irradiated with X rays, the distribution of electric charge is produced in correspondence with the energy of the X rays, and is then read out in the form of an electric signal. The X-ray-induced-charge conversion film is conventionally made of amorphous selenium (a-Se).
However, in the case where the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film of amorphous selenium is used in a static-image type planar radiation detector such as a mammography system or another radiography system, electrons are trapped by electron traps and a spatial distribution of negative charge is produced in the vicinity of a so-called through region of the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film (i.e., a region of the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film exposed to an extremely high dose of X rays, which is higher than the normal dose by two orders of magnitude), so that a phenomenon called a ghost, in which the sensitivity is lowered, occurs. The ghost is particularly conspicuous in the case where the upper electrode, through which the X rays enter the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film, is negatively biased for protection of TFTs and the like.
Incidentally, the planar radiation detector is a detector which takes radiographic images at intervals of at least 0.3 seconds, and the intensity of X rays incident on the planar radiation detector is normally an order of magnitude higher than the intensity of X rays incident on the moving-image type detector which takes radiographic images at intervals of at least 0.03 seconds.
In addition, another type of planar radiation detector in which a fluorophor converts X rays into visible light, and a thin selenium film is used as a light-induced-charge conversion film is also known. In this type of planar radiation detector, the negative bias is also used for protection of TFTs and the like. Therefore, in this case, the ghost also becomes conspicuous since electrons also mainly move in the light-induced-charge conversion film.
As explained above, the performance of the conventional X-ray-induced-charge conversion film and light-induced-charge conversion film against the ghost is insufficient in the case where the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film and light-induced-charge conversion film are used for taking static images, in particular, when the upper electrode is negatively biased.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-229596 discloses an X-ray photoelectric converter in which the halogen concentration in an X-ray-induced-charge conversion film is suppressed to or below 1 ppm for enhancing responsiveness in dynamic X-ray radiography (using concurrent movement of carriers of both polarities) in consideration that halogen causes electron trapping in the X-ray-induced-charge conversion film. However, even when only the halogen concentration is limited, the phenomenon of lowering the sensitivity can still occur according to the lots of raw material.
In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,880,472 and 6,171,643 discloses an X-ray-induced-charge conversion film made of amorphous selenium doped with As and Cl. In this X-ray-induced-charge conversion film, the phenomenon of lowering the sensitivity can also occur.
Further, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20030223534 discloses reduction of electron trapping in a film by doping the film with alkali metal for enhancing responsiveness in dynamic X-ray radiography (using concurrent movement of carriers of both polarities) as Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-229596. However, even when the film is doped with alkali metal, the phenomenon of lowering the sensitivity can still occur according to the lots of raw material.
The present inventors consider that the phenomenon of lowering the sensitivity is greatly related to concurrent movement of both of electrons and positive holes in a film.

Planar radiation detector using radiation-induced-charge conversion film of amorphous selenium


Provided are systems and methods for precise intra-operative placement and positioning of components of hip prostheses, particularly with respect to avoiding acetabular prosthetic implant malpositioning in the human hip. In one embodiment the system includes at least a pair of electronic sensors as tilt and direction sensors, which are positioned on the patient's native bone structure and the prosthesis, plus at least one of an electronic angle sensor and an electronic leg length measurement unit, plus a computer processor running application software that is capable of receiving and using information from the various electronic sensors to calculate relevant angular relationships and, optionally, distance relationships. The system electronically measures a living subject's pelvic tilt and position while lying in the lateral decubitus position during the surgery. The systems and methods provide accurate and precise measurements of the subject's pelvic tilt, angle of inclination, and angle of forward flexion to the surgeon during the procedure by which the hip prosthesis is surgically implanted into the subject.

Joint replacement surgery is a long-established and well accepted mode of treatment for conditions of the human hip, including degenerative arthritis and fracture of the femoral neck. Anatomically, the hip is essentially a ball and socket joint, in which the "ball" or head of the thigh bone (femur) is inserted into and joined with a cup-shaped "socket" in the pelvic bone. Accordingly, when these bones become eroded or broken, a total hip prosthesis is typically surgically implanted to replace the damaged native bone and cartilage within the hip joint.
In essence, a complete hip prosthesis generally comprises four different structural parts, as illustrated by FIG. 1:
(i) an acetabular prosthetic implant (prosthesis), also known as an acetabular "cup" or "shell", that replaces the native acetabulum (hip socket);
(ii) a liner that covers the inner surface of the cup, typically made of polyurethane, ceramic, or metal;
(iii) a metal stem, for insertion into the shaft of the native femur, replacing the femoral neck and providing stability and motion for the reconstructed joint; and
(iv) a metal or ceramic ball that replaces the head of the native femur.
In some embodiments parts (iii) and (iv) are provided as a single article of manufacture.
The Recurring Surgical Problem:
Successful hip prosthetic surgery requires precise intra-operative placement and positioning of replacement structures as implants within the host's native bones such that the in vivo function of the reconstructed joint is optimized biomechanically and biologically. For the surgeon, it is necessary to ensure that the replacement structural components are implanted correctly and function in situ properly in order to avoid intra-operative and post-operative complications, as well as to ensure a long-lasting action and use for the implanted prosthesis.
There are three critical parameters for achieving a successful hip arthroplasty procedure: (1) position angles of the cup; (2) position angle of the stem; and (3) longitudinal placement of the stem.
A malpositioned hip prosthesis will not adequately restore the joint's biomechanics, will not function properly, and is at increased risk of intra-operative and post-operative complications. Such complications can include, without limitation, dislocation, impingement, fracture, implant failure, aseptic loosening, subsidence, and even catastrophic outcome. A malpositioned prosthetic implant is particularly susceptible to dislocation and early loosening because the prosthesis will not be well fitted or supported within the host's native bone.
The biggest problem routinely faced by surgeons today concerning human hip replacement procedures is how to achieve proper acetabular prosthetic implant alignment. It is generally agreed among orthopedic surgeons that the ideal anatomic position (for most patients) for positioning the acetabular prosthetic implant within the native bone of the host's hip is at 45° (degrees) of inclination (see below).
A second important angle is the angle of forward flexion (see below), which ideally is at 20° (degrees) of forward flexion. More recent advanced techniques emphasize "combined anteversion" of the reconstructed hip, rather than the cup's absolute angle of forward flexion. Combined anteversion is the sum of the angle of forward flexion of the cup plus the angle of anteversion of the stem. Since there is limited space for changing the stem's angle of anteversion, adjusting the position of the cup to that of the stem is critical to improving stability of the reconstructed hip and reducing impingement.
However, precise measurement of these specific angles, and therefore proper placement of the prostheses, has been difficult to achieve, mostly because two of these angles are relative to the patient's pelvis and the patient is covered by sterile surgical drapes during the course of the hip replacement operation. It also has not been possible to monitor any change in position of the patient's pelvis that can occur after draping the patient for the surgery.
Besides the implants' angles, tension of the soft tissue surrounding the hip is another important factor in stability of the reconstructed joint. The common tendency is adding to the length or offset of the limb to make the joint stable. In many cases the soft tissue is not tight enough to provide adequate stability and allow the most suitable prosthesis with adequate length to be implanted. It is very important to be aware of amount of change in length of the leg intra-operatively to achieve a balance between leg length and offset and avoid changes in leg length more or less than what intended.
It is also critical to realize that almost all patients with arthritic and broken hips have different degrees of shortening of the leg pre-operatively, causing leg length inequality. A common expectation, at least as important as replacement of the damaged joint, is correction of this discrepancy. Following total hip arthroplasty, otherwise satisfactory clinical results can be undermined by dissatisfaction related to a change in leg length. Moreover, leg length discrepancy after total hip arthroplasty has been reported to be associated with inferior clinical outcome.
Currently there is no device to accurately measure the change in length of the leg caused by the operation. This causes another common problem with the biggest impact on patient's satisfaction, the discrepancy between length of the operative and non-operative legs.
Currently Available Surgical Options and Choices:
It is therefore somewhat surprising to recognize that conventionally available modes of avoiding malpositioned prosthetic implants remain relatively few in number. All of these currently available techniques are cumbersome, intricate and/or complex. A summary review of the presently available options is presented below.
(1) One method to facilitate insertion of an acetabular prosthetic implant is to use a visual alignment guide device that attaches to an acetabular cup impactor (a tool used to hammer a prosthetic cup into place). Once attached, the alignment guide device provides a point of reference for the operating table and the topographical surface upon which the patient rests. See FIGS. 2A and 2B.
When using this particular technique, the surgeon must assume that the patient's body lies parallel, and the pelvis lies perpendicular, to the operating table surface. The surgeon must further assume that the surface of the operating table itself is parallel to the operating room floor and the floor itself is horizontal. Based upon these assumptions, the alignment guide device is then also presumed to be parallel to the floor during the time the surgeon implants the prosthesis.
Nevertheless, the surgeon often discovers that the underlying assumptions for using the alignment guide device are false and ultimately finds that the resultant angle of inclination for the prosthetic implant is often quite different from what was expected. Thus, even when this procedure has been correctly utilized, it is not unusual for the surgeon to see a post-operative x-ray which depicts an acetabular prosthetic implant in less than an ideal aligned position, with either a markedly increased or greatly decreased angle of inclination and/or angle of forward flexion. The other underlying problem with such conventional alignment guide devices is that the measurements are only subjective, i.e., they do not have any calibrated component by which to measure the angles of inclination or forward flexion in situ.
(2) Surgeons are commonly aware that acetabular prosthetic implant malpositioning is often caused by an unrecognized/undiscovered tilting of the host's pelvis which occurs after the patient is placed in the lateral decubitus position (i.e., lying on the side of the body) for the surgery. This recognition and awareness has persuaded some surgeons to use intra-operative x-rays as a means for detecting pelvic tilt, which may occur at any time during the course of the surgical operation, and evaluating position of the acetabular implant.
However, there are multiple disadvantages in following this procedure, among which are the following: This intra-operative x-ray technique is frequently very time-consuming and can potentially increase the risk of infection owing to the introduction of non-sterile x-ray equipment into the operating theater. In addition, the obtained x-ray images (which are directed antero-posteriorly through the host's pelvis) are almost invariably of poor quality; and useful bony landmarks (such as the anterior superior iliac spine) are often obscured within the x-ray image. These obstacles and disadvantages markedly hinder the surgeon's ability to detect or accurately measure the degree of pelvic tilt.
Furthermore, the surgeon would be required to break sterile scrub in order to use a computer to detect digitally the existence and degree of pelvic tilt and implant angle. Moreover, even if a particular degree of pelvic tilt were discovered during the operation, there is no way for the surgeon to adjust the alignment of the prosthesis with the same accuracy and precision as the measurement made using computerized digital tools.
Thus, even if intra-operative x-rays were used to determine the existence and degree of pelvic tilt, this measurement would only be of limited assistance in determining the proper inclination of the acetabular implant and would not help in any meaningful way in determining the proper degree of inclination/forward flexion for the acetabular component. In effect, assessing the presence of any changes in patient pelvic tilt or cup position would require the taking and evaluation of ever more x-ray images.
(3) The intra-operative estimation of anteversion of the femoral component of a total hip arthroplasty is generally made by the surgeon's visual assessment of the stem position relative to the condylar plane of the femur. Although the generally accepted range of intended anteversion is between 10° and 20°, the surgeon's estimation of the anteversion of the femoral stem has poor precision and is often not within the intended range of 10° to 20° of anteversion. Alternatively, modular femoral components or stems with retroverted or anteverted necks could be used, but these components are much more expensive than non-modular femoral stems.
(4) Computerized navigation systems are recognized today as being useful tools for aiding with acetabular implant position. Nevertheless, the computerized navigation system itself is very expensive equipment; and it requires both a pre-operative CT (computerized tomography) scan and time-consuming pre-operative planning in order to be used effectively during the surgery.
In particular, intra-operative positioning of the digitizing frames is time-consuming and requires the placement of pins and numerous surgical incisions. Also registration with digitizing probes is very time-consuming; and this technique is always vulnerable to an unexpected software or hardware failure, which is not immediately replaceable in many instances.
Also, loosening of the implanted pins, especially in older and osteoporotic patients, is always a risk. The main risk factor is their location (inside the operating field) that leaves them at risk of getting accidentally jarred. In addition, being in the surgical field is another reason that makes computerized navigation undesirable for many surgeons since it limits the surgical field. Thus, more surgeons than ever before are still looking for an alternative and better method, especially after encountering the difficulties imposed by the computerized navigation guided system on multiple surgical occasions.
(5) Still other surgeons follow a specific and routine practice as a mode of quality control. Such surgeons consistently and invariably insert the acetabular component in the host at 35° of inclination, even though the proper goal is placement at an angle of 45°. Their rationale is simple: It is impossible to know whether or not the host's pelvis has become tilted during the surgery. Accordingly, it is anatomically better to achieve a cup position having a less-than-perfect angle of inclination, but with certainty, rather than involuntarily create too large an angle of inclination for the implanted prosthesis. In short, these surgeons knowingly preferred to err with certainty rather than with uncertainty.

System and method for precise prosthesis positioning in hip arthroplasty


An intraocular correction lens has at least one aspheric surface which when its aberrations are expressed as a linear combination of polynomial terms, is capable of, in combination with a lens in the capsular bag of an eye, reducing similar such aberration terms obtained in a wavefront having passed the cornea, thereby obtaining an eye sufficiently free from aberrations.

Beside first order defocus and astigmatism of the eye a number of other vision defects could be present. For example aberrations of different orders occur when a wavefront passes a refracting surface. The wavefront itself becomes aspheric when it passes an optical surface that has imperfections and vision defects occur when an aspheric wavefront falls on the retina. Both the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag contribute thus to these types of vision defects if they deviate from being perfect or perfectly compensating optical elements. The term aspheric will in this text include both asphericity and asymmetry. An aspheric surface could be either a rotationally symmetric or a rotationally asymmetric surface and/or an irregular surface, i.e all surfaces not being spherical.
It is presently discussed that the visual quality of eyes having an implanted intraocular lens (IOL) is comparable with normal eyes in a population of the same age. Consequently, a 70-year-old cataract patient can only expect to obtain the visual quality of a non-cataracteous person of the same age after surgical implantation of an intraocular lens, although such lenses objectively have been regarded as optically superior to the natural crystalline lens. This result can be explained by the fact that present IOLs are not adapted to compensate for age-related defects of the optical system of the human eye. Age-related defects of the eye have also recently been investigated and it is found that contrast sensitivity significantly declines in subjects older than 50 years. These results seem to comply with the above-mentioned discussion, since the contrast sensitivity measurements indicate that individuals having undergone cataract surgery with lens implantation will not obtain a better contrast sensitivity than persons of an average age of about 60 to 70 years.
Even if intraocular lenses aimed to substitute the defective cataract lens and other ophthalmic lenses, such as conventional contact lenses or intraocular correction lenses, have been developed with excellent optical quality, it is obvious that they fail to correct for a number of aberration phenomena of the eye including age-related aberration defects.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,719 (Williams et al.) discloses a method and an apparatus for accurately measuring higher aberrations of the eye as an optical system with wavefront analysis. By using a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor, it is possible to measure higher order aberrations of the eye and using such data to find compensation for these aberrations and thereby obtain sufficient information for the design of an optical lens which can provide a highly improved optical correction. The Hartmann-Shack sensor provides means for obtaining light reflected from the retina of the eye of a subject. The wavefront in the plane of the pupil is recreated in the plane of the lenslet array of the Hartmann-Shack sensor. Each lenslet in the array is used to form an aerial image of the retinal point source on a CCD camera located at the focal plane of the array. The wave aberration of the eye, in the form of a point source produced on the retina by a laser beam, displaces each spot by an amount proportional to the local slope of the wavefront at each of the lenslets. The output from the CCD camera is sent to a computer, which then performs calculations to fit slope data to the first derivatives of 65 Zernike polynomials. From these calculations, coefficients for weighting the Zernike polynomials are obtained. The sum of the weighted Zemike polynomials represents a reconstructed wavefront distorted by the aberrations of the eye as an optical system. The individual Zernike polynomial terms will then represent different modes of aberration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,981 (Roffman) discloses another method for designing a lens by calculating modulation transfer functions from tracing a large number of rays through the lens-eye system and evaluating the distribution density of the rays in the image position. This is repeatedly performed by varying at least one lens surface until a lens is found which results in a sharp focus and a minimum of image aberrations.
The methods referred to above for designing are suitable for the design of contact lenses or other correction lenses for the phakic eye which can be perfected to compensate for the aberration of the whole eye system. However, to provide improved intraocular lenses adapted to be placed between the cornea and the capsular bag, in the anterior chamber or in the posterior chamber, it would be necessary to consider the aberrations of the individual parts of the eye.
There has recently been a focus on studying the aberrations of the eye, including a number of studies of the development of these aberrations as a function of age. In one particular study, the development of the components of the eye were examined separately, leading to the conclusion that the optical aberrations of the individual components of younger eyes cancel each other out, see Optical Letters, 1998, Vol. 23(21), pp. 1713–1715. Also the article of S. Patel et al in Refractive & Corneal Surgery, 1993, Vol. 9, pages 173–181 discloses the asphericity of posterior corneal surfaces. It is suggested that the corneal data can be used together with other ocular parameters to predict the power and the asphericity of an intraocular lens with the purpose of maximizing the optical performances of the future pseudophakic eye. Furthermore, it was also recently observed by Antonio Guirao and Pablo Artal in IOVS, 1999, Vol. 40(4), S535 that the shape of the cornea changes with age and becomes more spherical. These studies indicate that cornea in the subjects provides a positive spherical aberration which increases with the age. In Vision Research, 1998, 38(2), pp. 209–229, A Glasser et al. investigated the spherical aberration of natural crystalline lenses from eyes obtained from an eye bank after that the corneas had been removed. According to the laser scanner optical method used herein it was found that the spherical aberration from an older lens (66 years) shows uncorrected (positive) spherical aberration, whereas a 10-year-old lens shows over-corrected (negative) spherical aberration.
In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that there is a need for ophthalmic lenses that are better adapted to compensate the aberrations caused by the individual surfaces of eye, such as the corneal surfaces and the surfaces of the lens in the capsular bag, and capable of better correcting aberrations other than defocus and astigmatism, as is provided with conventional ophthalmic lenses.

Methods of obtaining ophthalmic lenses providing the eye with reduced aberrations