A pocketformer apparatus for post-tension construction has an anchor member with an interior passageway, a tubular member extending into the interior passageway, a cup member with an interior opening in which the tubular member extends through the interior opening, and a securement member affixed adjacent the opposite end of the tubular member from the anchor body. The interior passageway has a threaded portion. The tubular member has a first end retained in the threaded portion. The tubular member has the second end extending outwardly of a side of the anchor body opposite the threaded portion. The cup member is interposed between the securement member and the anchor member. A form board is interposed between the cup member and the securement member. The threaded portion is an internal thread formed on an non-tapered portion of the interior passageway.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to post tension anchor systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to pocketformers that are used for the creation of a pocket in concrete adjacent to the end of a tendon in the anchor system. Additionally, the present invention relates to devices for securing the pocketformer in place.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
For many years, the design of concrete structures imitated typical steel design of column, girder and beam. With technological advances in structural concrete, however, its own form began to evolve. Concrete has the advantages of lower cost than steel, of not requiring fireproofing, and of its plasticity, a quality that lends itself to free flowing or boldly massive architectural concepts. On the other hand, structural concrete, though quite capable of carrying almost any compressive (vertical) load, is extremely weak in carrying significant tensile loads. It becomes necessary, therefore, to add steel bars, called reinforcements, to concrete, thus allowing the concrete to carry the compressive forces and the steel to carry the tensile (horizontal) forces.
Structures of reinforced concrete may be constructed with load-bearing walls, but this method does not use the full potentialities of the concrete. The skeleton frame, in which the floors and roofs rest directly on exterior and interior reinforced-concrete columns, has proven to be most economic and popular. Reinforced concrete framing is seemingly a quite simple form of construction. First, wood or steel forms are constructed in the sizes, positions, and shapes called for by engineering and design requirements. The steel reinforcing is then placed and held in position by wires at its intersections. Devices known as chairs and spacers are used to keep the reinforcing bars apart and raised off the form work. The size and number of the steel bars depends completely upon the imposed loads and the need to transfer these loads evenly throughout the building and down to the foundation. After the reinforcing is set in place, the concrete, a mixture of water, cement, sand, and stone or aggregate, of proportions calculated to produce the required strength, is placed, care being taken to prevent voids or honeycombs.
One of the simplest designs in concrete frames is the beam-and-slab. This system follows ordinary steel design that uses concrete beams that are cast integrally with the floor slabs. The beam-and-slab system is often used in apartment buildings and other structures where the beams are not visually objectionable and can be hidden. The reinforcement is simple and the forms for casting can be utilized over and over for the same shape. The system, therefore, produces an economically viable structure. With the development of flat-slab construction, exposed beams can be eliminated. In this system, reinforcing bars are projected at right angles and in two directions from every column supporting flat slabs spanning twelve or fifteen feet in both directions.
Reinforced concrete reaches its highest potentialities when it is used in pre-stressed or post-tensioned members. Spans as great as 100 feet can be attained in members as deep as three feet for roof loads. The basic principal is simple. In pre-stressing, reinforcing rods of high tensile strength wires are stretched to a certain determined limit and then high-strength concrete is placed around them. When the concrete has set, it holds the steel in a tight grip, preventing slippage or sagging. Post-tensioning follows the same principal, but the reinforcing is held loosely in place while the concrete is placed around it. The reinforcing is then stretched by hydraulic jacks and securely anchored into place. Prestressing is done with individual members in the shop and post-tensioning as part of the structure on the site.
In a typical tendon tensioning anchor assembly in such post-tensioning operations, there is provided a pair of anchors for anchoring the ends of the tendons suspended therebetween. In the course of installing the tendon tensioning anchor assembly in a concrete structure, a hydraulic jack or the like is releasably attached to one of the exposed ends of the tendon for applying a predetermined amount of tension to the tendon. When the desired amount of tension is applied to the tendon, wedges, threaded nuts, or the like, are used to capture the tendon and, as the jack is removed from the tendon, to prevent its relaxation and hold it in its stressed condition.
In such post-tension construction, the tendons are anchored and cut off just inside the face of the structure in what are termed "pockets." The "pockets" surrounding the tendon end are filled with a concrete grout. A "pocketformer" is placed in the concrete adjacent to the face of the structure and against an end of the terminal anchor. After the concrete is suitably hardened, a form board is removed and the pocketformer is removed so as to expose the pocket. The ends of the tendon extend outwardly of the pocket. After the tensioning has occurred, the pocket is then filled with a concrete grout so as to be flush with the face of the structure.
Typical pocketformers as used in the prior art have a frustoconical surface on the exterior of the pocketformer. The frustoconical shape defines the pocket. A central tubular member is formed within the interior of the frustoconical portion. One end of the tubular member extends into the central bore of the anchor. The interior of the tubular member allows the tendon to extend therethrough. The tubular member is generally centered within the interior of the frustoconical portion. The surface of the anchor will abut the narrow end of the frustoconical portion. The wide end of the frustoconical portion will abut a surface of a form board. The tubular member extends through a hole in the form board. As such, the tendon will extend outwardly of the form board during the formation of the concrete structure.
One of the problems with the prior art pocketformer is the inability to properly secure the anchor relative to the pocketformer. In conventional practice, long threaded members will extend through holes in the anchor member and be attached to the form board. After the concrete is hardened, it will be necessary to remove the threaded members or nails. If these items are not removed, then corrosion can occur and rust patterns will form on the facing surface of the concrete structure. Furthermore, the use of nails or threaded members for securing the anchor relative to the form board is a time consuming and labor-intensive operation. As such, a need has developed so as to allow the anchor to be removably secured to the pocketformer during the installation of the pocketformer.
In the past, various patents have issued relating to pocketformers that serve to retain the anchor in place, against the form board, during the installation of the anchor. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,697, issued on Oct. 29, 1974 to H. J. W. Edwards, describes an anchorage assembly including an anchor having a hollow housing and a means therein for engaging a stressing tendon passing therethrough. The hollow member is removably attached to the anchor housing and to the concrete formwork and fixing the relative position of the anchor housing to the formwork. The member surrounds the tendon between the anchor housing and the formwork and is adapted and arranged to be detached from the anchor housing after the concrete has set. A cavity forming spacer is provided which surrounds the member and is disposed between and seals against the anchor housing and the formwork to form a cavity in the concrete.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,797, issued on May 18, 1976 to Brandestini, describes a pocketformer apparatus in which the pocketformer is initially threaded into the interior opening of a steel anchor. As such, the steel anchor will have internal threads which threadedly receive the external threads on the end of the pocketformer. The pocketformer includes an interior bore through which the tendon passes. On the opposite end of the pocketformer is a threaded section which extends on an opposite side of the form board from the anchor. A threaded nut is threadedly received by the threads of the pocketformer which extend on the opposite side of the form board.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,974, issued on Oct. 18, 1977 to Howlett et al., describes a method of forming a concrete structure with a recess to receive an anchorage. This method includes a tubular mounting means mounted to extend over the tendon and through an opening in a bearing or anchor plate in order to secure the bearing plate in a fixed position aligned in relation to the tendon for casting the bearing plate into the concrete member in a predetermined orientation. A spacing means is provided between the form board and the anchor plate so as to allow the anchor plate to be cast into a recess in the concrete member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,462, issued on Dec. 14, 1982 to Wlodkowski et al., teaches a formwork for a concrete structural member. This device includes a recoverable formwork part. The recoverable part has an axially elongated sheath which closely encloses a tendon. A cup-shaped part is formed integrally with the sheath and is arranged to form at least a portion of the recess in the concrete member. When assembled on the formwork, one end of the sheath is arranged to be located within the concrete when it is poured and the other end is located on the exterior of the formwork. The cup-shaped part is located intermediate of the ends of the sheath and just inside the formwork. A member is engageable with the sheath for attaching it to the formwork.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,102, issued on Apr. 27, 1999 to the present inventor, describes a pocketformer apparatus for a post-tension anchor system. This pocketformer apparatus includes a tubular member with an outwardly flanged end, a securement member affixed to the tubular member, and a cup member having an interior opening such that the tubular member extends through the interior opening. The tubular member has an interior passageway extending from the flanged end to another end. The flanged end engages an anchor of the post-tension anchor system. The cup member is interposed between the flanged end and the securement member on the tubular member. The tubular member has an externally threaded area extending inwardly of the end opposite the flanged end. The securement member is threadedly received by the externally threaded area. An annular ring is formed on the flanged end of the tubular member so as to engage a receptacle formed in the encapsulation of the anchor. The securement member, the cup member and the tubular member are formed of a polymeric material.
Although the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,102 has performed well in actual usage, the system described in this patent is particularly adapted for use in association with an encapulated anchor. In particular, the flanged end of the tubular member engages the cap-receiving opening at the end of the encapsulation of the anchor member. In certain circumstances, certain construction requirements specify the use of a unencapsulated anchor. When such construction projects are specified, the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,102 cannot be adequately utilized. As such, a need has developed so as to provide a nailless pocketformer system whereby the system would accommodate unencapsulated anchorages.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,425, issued on Jul. 25, 1995 to the present inventor, describes a system whereby the tendon can be properly cut by using a plasma cutting torch. The present inventor is also the owner of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/317,097, filed on May 23, 1999, for another system for the cutting of a tendon used in post-tension anchor systems. These systems utilize a plasma cutting torch which utilizes a positioning element for interconnecting the head of a plasma cutting torch with a tendon to be severed. The pocket into which the plasma cutting torch and positioning element are inserted has a particular configuration so as to allow enough space for the apparatus. In actual use, the product described in this patent and this patent application has been very successful. As such, a need has existed for the use of such a plasma cutting torch in association with unencapsulated anchor systems.
The present inventor is identified as the inventor on a pair of patents dealing with such pocketformer apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,102 issued on Apr. 27, 1999 to the present inventor, describes a pocketformer apparatus for a post-tension anchor system that has a tubular member with an outwardly flanged end, a securement member affixed to the tubular member, and a cup member having an interior opening such that the tubular member extends through the interior opening. The tubular member has an interior passageway extending from the flanged end to another end. The flanged end engages an anchor of the post-tension anchor system. The cup member is interposed between the flanged end and the securement member on the tubular member. The tubular member has an externally threaded area extending inwardly of the end opposite the flanged end. The securement member is threadedly received by the externally threaded area. An annular ring is formed on the flanged end of the tubular member so as to engage a receptacle formed on the anchor. The securement member, the cup member and the tubular member are formed of polymeric material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,781, issued on May 28, 2002 to the present inventor, also describes a pocketformer apparatus for post-tension construction. This pocketformer apparatus has an anchor member having a wedge-receiving cavity therein, a tubular member having a portion extending through the wedge-receiving cavity, a first securement member affixed to a first end of the tubular member, a cup member positioned over the tubular member, and a second securement member affixed to a second end of the tubular member. The cup member is interposed between the second securement member and the anchor member. The tubular member also extends through a hole in a form board. The second securement member is positioned on one side of the form board. The cup member and the anchor member are positioned on an opposite side of the form board. A tendon extends through the tubular member.
One of the problems associated with each of these prior art patents is the requirement for various appliances that are required in order to create the assembly. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,781 a securement member located on a side of the anchor is required so as to engage with the threads on the tubular member. In circumstances in the field, this securement member can be lost or misplaced. As such, it can be difficult to install or misinstalled. Furthermore, this securement member must be threaded along the length of the tendon so as to be in a proper position for assembly. Often, the threads of the securement member are misaligned with the threads on the end of the tubular member that a proper positioning cannot be achieved. In the prior art, threads cannot be formed on the interior passageway on the anchor body since such threads could interfere with the proper seating of the wedge used to secure the tendon within the anchor. The internal cavity of the anchor was continuously tapered from one side of the anchor to the opposite side of the anchor. Any attempt to form threads on such a tapered surface would be ineffective. As such, it was not believed possible to install threads on the interior cavity of the anchor body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pocketformer system which allows the anchor to be properly secured in place relative to the form board.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pocketformer system whereby an unencapsulated anchor can be properly positioned relative to the form board without the use of nails.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pocketformer system which eliminates the need for nails or threaded members for the attachment of the anchor relative to the form board.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pocketformer system which is easy to use, relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pocketformer system which minimizes the number of components required in order to create the pocket.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pocketformer system which allows the end of the tubular member to be directly engaged with the interior passageway of the anchor body so as to establish a direct fixed positioning of the anchor body relative to the pocketformer cup.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.

Pocketformer assembly for a post-tension anchor system


Apparatus for identifying the condition of a heart based on auscultation, comprising: a computer including a CPU, an input device, a display device and a data storage medium, wherein the data storage medium has a first storage region storing data which can be applied to the display device to provide a readable representation of one of a plurality of different heart sounds, a second storage region storing data representing heart conditions respectively associated with the different heart sounds; a third storage region storing software linking the input device and the data in the first and second storage regions for displaying on the display device a readable representation of a heart sound selected by operation of the input device and for displaying a representation of the heart condition associated with the selected heart sound.

The present invention relates to media, systems and a method for aiding medical professionals in the diagnosis of heart conditions.
The present invention relates more particularly to the use of heart sounds to provide such diagnoses.
The invention further relates to a system and apparatus which help to familiarize practitioners with the relation between specific heart sounds and corresponding heart conditions.
One of the oldest basic techniques employed in the practice of medicine is auscultation, which involves listening, either directly or through a stethoscope or other instrument, to heart sounds and making at least a preliminary diagnosis based thereon.
This form of diagnosis is widely used because it requires nothing more than a stethoscope which, by its nature, is highly portable and relatively inexpensive, reasonably acute hearing and the knowledge to interpret the sounds heard. Conventionally, this knowledge has been conveyed by allowing students to listen to a variety of heart sounds and instructing the students on the condition represented by each different sound. The value of this training depends to a considerable degree on the student's audible memory and very few resources are available for refreshing a practitioner's skills in this area. However, acquisition and retention of those skills is a problem, particularly when one considers that the explosion of medical knowledge has of necessity reduced the time which can be devoted to teaching auscultation in medical schools.
In light of an acknowledged need for resources which can be used to learn or relearn auscultation, various types of media providing recorded versions of various heart sounds have been placed on the market. These media include a variety of word descriptions of the individual sounds by analogy to generally known sounds. For example, such descriptions may use words such as "rough", "smooth", "train wheel", etc. to describe various heart sounds and murmurs. Of course, the manner in which these descriptions would be interpreted varies considerably from one individual to another. These known media do not permit the knowledge required to arrive at diagnoses by auscultation to be learned, or relearned, in either an acceptably short time or with the requisite degree of accuracy. Therefore, the methods and systems proposed to date fall far short of that which is needed to place the practitioner in a position to make effective use of this potentially powerful diagnostic technique.

Apparatus for aiding in the diagnosis of heart conditions


An apparatus and method for protecting memory content of a programmable memory is disclosed. A programmable memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), is configured to include a write protected portion defined as part of the programmable memory. The write protected memory portion may be configured within the memory space of a single programmable memory, or implemented in a logically or physically separate programmable memory. A microprocessor is coupled to the programmable memory and generates an access code for providing write access to the write protected portion of the programmable memory. A logic circuit, coupled to the programmable memory and microprocessor verifies the access code received from the microprocessor. In response to a verified access code, the logic circuit enables write access to the write protected portion of the programmable memory. In response to an unverified access code, the logic circuit disables write access to the write protected portion of the programmable memory. A timer may be employed to disable write access to the protected memory portion. A power on reset strategy may be employed to reset the logic circuit so as to disable write access to the protected memory portion after reestablishing power following an intended or unintended loss of power. Power may advantageously be applied and removed from the logic circuit and other system components without compromising the integrity of the programs and data stored in the write protected portion of the programmable memory.

Various approaches have been developed to address the problem of inadvertent destruction of data stored in a programmable memory. A number of these approaches are directed to protecting against the destruction of data stored in a programmable memory due to uncontrolled operations or malfunctions occurring in a memory writing unit. A conventional approach to implementing such a memory protection scheme involves deployment of redundant circuit elements, such as redundant decoders or flip-flop circuits, to detect the presence of a spurious memory write command. U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,819 to Takizawa et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,336 to Itoh, are examples of conventional memory protection approaches that employ such redundant circuit elements.
Microprocessors and programmable memory devices are widely used in medical devices which are implanted in the human body in their intended use. It is well understood in the art that the size and power consumption of such medical devices are two parameters that are severely restricted when designing a device which is to be implanted in the body. Another parameter of paramount important is the integrity of programs and data stored in one or more programmable memories of the implantable medical device.
In most implantable medical device applications, size and power consumption considerations are of primary concern, while memory access speed is of secondary importance. A traditional approach to protecting a programmable memory using redundant write signal testing circuitry, although generally providing for decreased memory access time, typically results in a design having increased power consumption and physical memory size requirements. Such prior art memory protection schemes have limited usefulness in applications in which a reduction in memory circuitry size and power consumption is required or desired, such as in medical device applications.
Various implementations of systems and approaches for protecting a programmable memory device are known in the art, some examples of which may be found in the issued U.S. Patents listed in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor(s) Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,897,819 Takizawa et al. Jan. 30, 1990 5,119,336 Itoh Jun. 2, 1992 5,341,494 Thayer et al. Aug. 23, 1994 ______________________________________
All patents listed in Table 1 hereinabove are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their respective entireties. As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate readily upon reading the Summary of the Invention, the Detailed Description of the Various Embodiments, and the claims set forth below, many of the devices and methods disclosed in the patents of Table 1 may be modified advantageously by using the teachings of the present invention.

Apparatus and method for write protecting a programmable memory


A method for managing a subscription to content-based presence information entails receiving a subscription-suspension message from a device at a presence service, identifying the subscription associated with the subscription-suspension message, suspending the subscription, and sending a response from the presence service to the device to notify the device that the subscription has been suspended. Suspending the subscription may involve accumulating notifications in a persistent data store. The method may further involve receiving a subscription-resumption message at the presence service to resume the subscription that was suspended.

In telecommunications, presence information has traditionally been used to indicate the ability, availability and willingness of a person to communicate. More generally, a person's presence information provides contextual information to let others know something about the present context of the person.
Presence is currently one of the key drivers behind instant messaging (IM) and some of the recent developments in VoIP technology, in particular Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). While these and other rudimentary presence technologies have been implemented and discussed (see, e.g., the IETF's RFC 2778 entitled "A Model for Presence and Instant Messaging" and RFC 4480 entitled "RPID: Rich Presence Extensions to the Presence Information Data Format (PIDF)"), these technologies are still generally quite embryonic. These prior-art technologies provide limited flexibility, scalability, security and privacy. Accordingly, improvements in the manner in which presence information is collected, managed and disseminated remain highly desirable.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

Subscription management for a content-based presence service


A delivery device for semi-solid implantable material such as synthetic bone graft substitutes. The device includes a handle, a cylinder extending from the handle and having an outlet at its distal end. A piston is operated by a trigger and is slidable within the cylinder to displace the material from the cylinder. The cylinder has a substantially constant inner diameter along its entire length such that the outlet has substantially the same inner diameter as the rest of the cylinder. When the trigger is fully depressed, a ratchet mechanism is disengaged allowing the piston to be pulled back to a starting position.

The present invention relates to a dispensing instrument. The invention has been specifically designed for the dispensing of a semi-solid implantable material such as synthetic bone graft substitutes; demineralised bone matrices; bone graft extenders; calcium phosphate cements; polymethylmethacrylate cements; bone cements; dental cements. However, the dispenser may be used to dispense a variety of semi-solid materials or viscous liquids.
Known delivery systems for semi-solid materials in medicine have traditionally been based on two-part or three-part syringes where the dispensing of the material from the dispensing part is achieved by the user applied force transmitted directly through a plunger or through a separate displacement piston. This has limitations. For example, the maximum force generated by the user is relatively low due to the lack of mechanical advantage provided by the dispensers.
More complex systems for delivery of high viscosity liquids are known in the prior art.
One such product is the well-known mastic gun. This has a cradle-like portion arranged to receive a cartridge of high viscosity liquid, such as a filler or sealant. The device has a handle with a squeezable trigger. The trigger is pivotally mounted about an axis adjacent to the cartridge. One end of the trigger is squeezed by a user and the opposite end pushes on a piston within the cartridge. A spring biases the trigger so that, upon its release, it returns to its starting position allowing further movement of the trigger to selectively depress the piston and dispense more material. A spring loaded latch engages with a piston rod to prevent retraction of the piston rod during operation. When the cartridge is empty, the spring loaded latch is depressed and this allows the piston rod to be pulled out of the cartridge. In view of the cradle-like nature of the design, and also to ensure accurate dispensing of the material, the cartridge is provided with a nozzle through which the material is dispensed.
Such an arrangement is impractical for the dispensing of semi-solid implantable materials as the nozzle design generates a significant amount of latent hydraulic pressure in the liquid during dispensing which can cause an overrun of the material dispensed after the pressure on the handle has been relieved. The nozzle is also prone to clogging, particularly were it to be used with a semi-solid material. Similar devices are known in the medical field. A cement injection gun sold by Stryker®, and also by Orthovita® under the Cortoss® brand.


An improved drawer slide member ball bearing raceway. The improved raceway comprises a square U-channel shape with double indentations restricting lateral movement of the ball bearings contained therein. Alternatively, a shoulder may be formed in the raceway restricting lateral movement of the ball bearings in the direction towards a web of the slide member, thereby providing both ball bearing float and reducing the amount of lean of an inner or intermediate slide member.

Telescopic slides for file drawers and the like are often desirable for use in cabinets and other rack-mounted applications. Such slides permit easy access to the interior of the drawer. The slides maintain the drawer in a horizontal position regardless of how far the drawer is withdrawn from the cabinet. A typical drawer slide has two or three slide members slidably secured to each other by sets of ball bearings held by retainers riding in raceways formed on the slide members.
Two-element telescopic slides normally include an outer slide member and an inner slide member. For purposes of exposition, the outer slide member is connected to the cabinet or enclosure, although it is recognized that the inner slide member may instead be so connected. When the outer slide member is connected to the cabinet or enclosure, the slide member affixed to the drawer is the inner slide member. The slide members are often slidably connected through the use of ball bearings which are in rolling engagement with raceways formed on the slides. A three-element telescopic slide will additionally normally include an intermediate slide member slidably connected to and between the outer and inner slide members.
A typical drawer will often have two slides securing the drawer to the cabinet or enclosure, with slides attached to each of the outside of the vertical side walls of the drawer (shown in FIG. 7). When a drawer attached to a cabinet or enclosure through the use of telescopic slides is opened, the slide members of each slide extend longitudinally with respect to the other slide members of that slide. Some lateral movement of the slide members relative to one another may also be desirable, however. This is because inaccuracies may be present in the width of the cabinet opening or the width of the drawer such that the slides do not fit snugly between the cabinet and the drawer. The result of inaccuracies in cabinet and drawer construction may require that spacing strips be mounted between the drawer and the telescopic slide or between the cabinet and the telescopic slide, or both, to provide for an exact fit. Additionally, these inaccuracies in dimensions may cause the ball bearing raceways to exert excessive lateral forces on the ball bearings or the retainers for ball bearings and thereby make slide movement more difficult.
One solution known in the art which allows some lateral movement between adjacent slide members is to provide substantially flat bearing raceways which allow the bearings some lateral movement, or float, in the bearing raceways of one of the slide members. The Model 3800 slide from Accuride International Inc., for example, incorporates such substantially flat bearing raceways. A slide embodying such a configuration may be seen in FIG. 1, wherein an outer slide member 11 has avertical web 12 and substantially flat horizontal arms 13, 15 extending from the top and bottom of the vertical web 12. Lips 17, 19 extend vertically inward from the horizontal arms 13, 15. The arms 13, 15 in conjunction with the web 12 and the lips 17, 19 form upper and lower substantially square U-channel bearing raceways in which ball bearings 21, 23 ride. For purposes of exposition these ball bearings shall be referred to as outer upper ball bearings 23 and outer lower ball bearings 21. The outer ball bearings 21, 23 comprise multiple ball bearings held by ball bearing retainers 25, 27. The outer ball bearings 21, 23 are able to locate themselves laterally along the flat arms 13, 15 to the extent allowed by the ball bearing retainers 25, 27, which may contact either the web 12 or the lips 17, 19 which form the sides of the U-channel bearing raceways.
The outer ball bearings 21, 23 slidably connect the outer slide member 11 to an intermediate slide member 29. The intermediate slide member 29 has a vertical web 31 from which extends substantially horizontal arms 32, 34. The substantially horizontal arms 32, 34 are not substantially flat, instead having vertically inward curves proximate the vertical web forming vertically outward concave outer ball bearing raceways 33, 35. The vertically inward curves are followed by vertically outward curves forming vertically inward concave inner ball bearing raceways 37, 39. The concave shape of the inner and outer ball bearing raceways restrict ball bearings placed therein from moving laterally. The outer ball bearings 21, 23 are in rolling engagement with the outer raceways 33, 35. Inner ball bearings 41, 43 are located in the inner raceways 37, 39, and are held by a common bearing retainer 45 which has a shape similar to the intermediate slide member 29. The ball bearings 41, 43 are in rolling engagement with ball bearing raceways 51, 53 of an inner slide member 47. The inner slide member 47 comprises a substantially flat vertical web 49 with protruding horizontal arms 50, 52 having inward curves forming vertically outward concave bearing raceways 51, 53. As with the intermediate slide member 29, the concave shape ball bearing raceways 51, 53 of the inner slide member 47 do not allow for lateral ball bearing movement. The inner slide member 47 is attached to a vertical side wall 55 of a drawer through the use of screws 57 or through other methods and devices known in the art.
When the drawer is fully loaded, the weight of the drawer is transferred by the screws 57 to the inner slide member 47. This weight, or load, is transmitted from the inner slide member 47 to the intermediate slide member 29 by the lower inner bearings 41. The lower outer bearings 21 transmit the load from the intermediate slide member 29 to the outer slide member 11. The outer slide member transmits the load to the cabinet or enclosure. So long as no deformation of the drawer, the slide members, or the cabinet or enclosure occurs, the result will be that the weight of the drawer is transmitted in a problem free manner to the cabinet or enclosure.
Bearing float, however, which provides for greater ease of drawer and cabinet connection, allows for lateral movement of the upper and lower outer ball bearings 23, 21 in opposing directions. In particular, the upper ball bearings 23 may move laterally away from the web of the outer slide member while the lower ball bearings move laterally towards the web of the outer slide member. This opposing lateral motion may occur because the inner ball bearings 41, 43 are offset horizontally from the outer lateral ball bearings 21, 23. The lower horizontal protruding arm 32 of the intermediate slide member 29 therefore acts as a lever arm and causes the lower ball bearings 21 to move laterally towards the web 12 of the outer slide member 11 thereby pivoting the intermediate slide member. As the intermediate slide member 29 pivots, the upper ball bearings 23 move laterally towards the outer lip 19 of the upper U-channel bearing raceway. If the vertical side wall 55 of the drawer is sufficiently inflexible, however, the intermediate slide member 29 will not pivot. This is because the inner slide member 47 and intermediate slide member 29 are laterally fixed in position relative to one another because the inner ball bearings are constrained from moving laterally and the sturdy vertical side wall 55 of the drawer prevents pivoting of the inner slide member 47.
Economies in the manufacture of drawers and cabinets, however, increasingly cause the utilization of thinner and weaker materials. One such material is used in the vertical side wall of a drawer shown in FIG. 2. Whereas the inner and intermediate slide members shown in FIG. 1 are maintained in position by the sturdy vertical side wall 55 of the drawer, the same slide members in FIG. 2 are not maintained in position as the thin side wall material 101 of the drawer in FIG. 2 allows the inner slide member 47 to pivot and thereby deform the side wall 101. As previously described, the intermediate slide member 29 pivots when the drawer is loaded. The result of such pivoting is that the lower ball bearing retainer 25 contacts the vertical web 12 of the outer slide member 11 and the upper ball bearing retainer 27 contacts the upper lip 19 of the square U-channel. Additionally, a portion of the intermediate slide member 29 contacts the vertical web 12 of the outer slide member 11. Thus, the slide does not operate as smoothly as possible due to the frictional contact between the ball bearing retainers 25, 27 and the outer slide member 11, and due to the frictional contact between the intermediate slide member 29 and the outer slide member 11. As the coefficient of friction may be greater for the material of the intermediate slide member than that of the bearing retainers, the frictional contact between the slide members is particularly undesirable. Furthermore, the drawer cabinet material 101 has also likely been damaged.
Thus, there is a need for a drawer slide that provides lateral ball bearing float to increase the ease of attaching drawers to cabinets while avoiding the above-described problems. Additionally, there is a need to provide slides with the square U-channel-shaped raceways found popular with customers with a slide of a corresponding shape which does not allow the aforementioned problems.


A circuit is provided for use on a wafer formed with a plurality of dice on each of which a memory device, such as a DRAM (dynamic random access memory) device to perform a burn-in operation on the memory device so as to test the reliability thereof. By this circuit, a plurality of pads are formed in the scribe lines that are used as reference marks in the cutting apart of the dice. These pads are used to transfer an externally generated burn-in enable signal and a DC bias voltage to each memory device. Since the pads for burn-in wiring are formed in the scribe lines, they will not take additional space on the dice where each memory device is formed. The burn-in operation is more convenient, quick, and cost-effective to implement.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor technologies, and more particularly, to a circuit for use on a wafer formed with multiple discrete semiconductor devices, such as DRAM (dynamic random access memory) devices, to perform a burn-in operation on the semiconductor devices so as to test the reliability thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Burn-in is the operation of a new integrated circuit (IC) product for a specified time under accelerated aging conditions prior to the shipment so as to sort out premature failures. The burn-in operation is an essential step for testing the reliability of the IC products. Most IC products, such as DRAMs, undergo the burn-in operation after they have been cut apart from the wafer and then packaged in holders. One drawback to this practice is that, in the event that any failures are found in the addresses, including row or column addresses, or memory cells in the DRAM package during the burn-in operation, the IC chip is not repairable since it is already sealed in the package. As a consequence, the whole IC package may have to be discarded or sold at a significantly reduced price.
A solution to the forgoing problem has been disclosed and published in IEEE, IEDM 93-639 by Tohru Furuyama et al. of Toshiba Corporation of Japan. This paper teaches an improved method for the burn-in operation on the DRAM devices formed on a wafer. This method, however, still has the following drawbacks. First, for each DRAM device, the burn-in for the memory cells thereof and the burn-in for the periphery circuitry thereof should be separately performed (i.e., a concurrent burn-in operation to these two parts of each DRAM device is impossible). The overall burn-in is therefore quite time-consuming. Second, since the burn-in is carried out by using a number of probes to poke on the pads formed on each die in the wafer, additional work time may be required if the number of probes is insufficient. Third, it requires the provision of a number of test pads on each die in the wafer for the burn-in operation, which causes each die to be take additional real estate of the wafer in order to incorporate these test pads thereon. The die is therefore large in size.

Circuit for burn-in operation on a wafer of memory devices


An ink feed adjusting apparatus for use in an ink supply equipment that includes a plurality of ink feed adjusting members juxtaposed with one another under a top plate so as to adjust the amount ink supplied by moving each of them towards or away from or bringing each of them into contact with the peripheral surface of an ink fountain roller the adjusting members have through-holes formed in each of them and cover members fitted at least in the respective upper parts of these through-holes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink feed adjusting apparatus for use in an ink supply equipment of a printing press, and particularly to an ink feed adjusting apparatus wherein at least upper parts of through-holes respectively formed in a plurality of ink feed adjusting members are blocked with cover members, respectively.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A prior art ink feed adjusting apparatus for use in the above-mentioned ink supply equipment is shown in the publication of Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. SHO 63-233842.
This ink feed adjusting apparatus comprises a single cover plate 1 between a top plate (which is described as "bottom plate 6 of an ink reservoir" in the above-mentioned publication) and a plurality of juxtaposed ink feed adjusting members (which are described as "ink-keys 2" in the above-mentioned publication), and is constructed such that through-holes (which are described as "perforated portions 3" in the above-mentioned publication) formed in the upper parts of the ink feed adjusting members are blocked simultaneously with the cover plate 1. And, the cover plate 1 is fitted in recesses 3a formed in the ink feed adjusting members (ink keys 2) whose depth is nearly equal to the thickness of the cover plate 1 so that it may be slidably moved relative to the top plate (bottom plate 6). This arrangement ensures smooth movement of the ink feed adjusting members (ink keys 2) relative to the top plate (bottom plate 6) and prevents the ink, which makes an inroad underneath the top plate (bottom plate 6) from making an ingress into the through-holes (perforated portions 3). Further, the above-mentioned cover plate 1 has guide projections formed on the lower surface thereof that are adapted to be fitted in the above-mentioned through-holes so as to restrain the cover plate 1 from skewing relative to the ink feed adjusting members (ink keys 2) thereby preventing the occurrence of malfunction or trouble due to useless loading on the driver device of the ink feed adjusting members (ink keys 2).
In the above-mentioned prior art ink feed adjusting apparatus, although the cover plate 1 is prevented by fitting of the guide projections into the through-holes from skewing largely relative to the ink feed adjusting members (ink keys 2), because the cover plate 1 is fitted in the recesses 3a formed in the ink feed adjusting members (ink keys 2) it is unavoidable that the cover plate 1 be bent due to difference in setting position between the adjacent ink delivery adjusting members (ink keys 2) so that generation of useless loading on the driver device can not be eliminated. Further, the function of preventing the ink which made an inroad under the top plate (the bottom plate 6) from making an ingress into the through-holes (perforated portions 3) tends to become incomplete. Further, there is no possibility of the cover plate 1 being skewed relative to the ink delivery adjusting members (ink keys 2), but it is unavoidable that the whole of the cover plate 1 slips out of position in parallel relationship with the direction of movement of the ink feed adjusting members (ink keys 2), and therefore to rectify this it is required to spare time to perform rectification work which is not directly connected with the adjustment of the amount of supply of ink.

Ink feed adjusting apparatus for use in ink supply equipment


A segment carrying knitting elements for a warp knitting machine comprising a plurality of similar plates. Holes provided in said plates are penetrated by at least one hollow pin, which at its circumference is connected with the plates. This gives rise to low weight segments for attachment to the bars of a warp knitting machine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lightweight, rigid segment carrying knitting elements for a knitting machine.
2. Description of Related Art
Care must be taken to properly support knitting elements such as knock-over sinker plates, stitch comb plates, pile sinker plates, slider plates, thread comb plates, and other plate-like elements.
Conventionally the rear ends of these plates are embedded in a block of metal or synthetic material which, for its part, is attached to the bar. Herein it is already known to provide holes in the plates. The threading of a rod therethrough, which protrudes beyond the segment serves to brace the plates during the casting step (see DE PS 12 074 541). The disadvantage herein is the relatively large mass which limits the working speed of the warp knitting machine. Furthermore, cooling after the casting step leads to imprecision in the relative position of the plates.
It is also known (DE PS 813 741) to connect the forward ends of the plates of a segment by flanging a sheet metal strip of a light metal and to lay the rear ends into grooves formed in the bar and to press them against the bar by a tightening screw and cover plate. The thus formed segments are somewhat unstable before they are fixed to the bar and this makes attachment to the bar more difficult.
In the segment mentioned above and known from DE 72 26 832.7U, the pins have substantial mass and deform the plates on both sides.
Accordingly advances are accomplished over the prior art on a segment carrying knitting element for knitting machines having a number of similar plates which (a) are held and separated from each other by a predetermined distance by means of a connecting arrangement, and (b) are attachable to a bar by means of an attaching arrangement, wherein the connecting arrangement comprises at least one pin which penetrates holes in the plates and which at its circumference is connected with the plates.

Lightweight, rigid segment for carrying knitting elements for a knitting machine


The exit ramp of the invention comprises a flat, discoid base lying flatly on the bottom wall of a conventional pool skimmer screen bucket. An upright post is fixed to the base and vertically extends beyond the bucket upper edge. An inclined platform is pivotally installed upon the post upper end. The platform is selectively pivoted into a position in which it will reach or extend beyond the pool skimmer well upper edge, so as to allow small animals caught in the pool skimmer well to climb onto the platform and exit the pool skimmer well onto the pool deck. Elastic strings are provided on the exit ramp post to allow attachment thereof onto the screen bucket upper edge, for a removable but fixed engagement of the exit ramp with the screen bucket.

Outdoor, in-ground swimming pools are often subjected to the undesirable visit on the part of small animals, especially batrachia including spiders and other insects, and salamanders and small snakes. These animals are attracted by the large water body, and dive in without any consideration of a way out. Once a frog jumps into a swimming pool, it becomes trapped, firstly because the frog cannot "jump" since it will simply sink into the water during the jumping motion, and secondly because the upper side walls of the swimming pool are too steep and smooth for the frog to grasp and climb the surface thereof. Thus, they stay trapped in the pool water, swim but eventually tire and drift with the water current into the pool skimmer. There, they will try to remain at the surface of the water, fighting against drowning from the downward current. Once inside the pool skimmer, escape through the pool skimmer well opening back into the pool is difficult, due to the incoming water current. Sometimes, if strength and energy is sufficient, they will be able to escape from the bottom of the pool skimmer and come back at the surface of the water. When their strength wears out, after a strenuous battle for life itself, they will drown to the bottom of the skimmer basket, and die. Not only is this a sad period for the batrachian, but also for the pool owner, who will have to empty his pool filter, which can contain several dead animals, especially after rainy nights. This can be a problem in the case of outdoor, in-ground pools which are located out of the cities, i.e. in the open country, where the occurence of such above-mentioned small animals is rather frequent. Not only does the pool owner have to empty the screen bucket of his pool filter, but also the water itself may be contaminated by the decaying corpses of the dead animals, which then represent clean-up and health safety problems for the pool owner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,623 issued in 1995 to J. A. Parr discloses an apparatus for rescuing frogs from swimming pools. This invention comprises a small platform having an integral annular bracket destined to snappingly engage the post of the pool ladder at water level. In use, the frog trapped in the pool water may climb onto the platform, and from there jump from the water onto the pool deck and thus escape its otherwise fatal destiny.
An important problem with this invention is that the platform is located on the periphery of a usually very large pool, and thus the frog may not swim or drift onto the platform. The frog is more likely to drift with the water current into the pool skimmer, remain trapped therein and never have access to the salutary platform.
Another problem with this platform is that it is intended for use by batrachia able to jump up onto the higher located pool deck. Indeed, the platform must be positioned at water level for it to be functional, and thus a vertical jump of six inches or more will be necessary to reach the safety of the pool deck. Some small frogs, salamanders or small snakes will not be able to perform this achievement and reach the pool deck from the platform.
Yet another problem with the above invention is that the water level may lower or rise under or above the platform. Indeed, the platform must be manually vertically sled along the ladder post to position it at water level. Thus, if the water level varies--e.g. during dry weather, it may lower under the platform, and during rainy weather, it may rise above the platform--then the platform may again be useless to the frogs trapped in the pool.
Another problem with the platform of the Parr patent is that a swimmer may accidentally hit it and possibly damage or break it, especially the rather small bracket holding the platform to the ladder post.

Swimming pool skimmer well frog rescue device


An adhesive layer of which thickness is over 25 μm and a dicing tape are laminated on a rear surface of a semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is cut together with a part of the adhesive layer by using a first blade of which cutting depth reaches the adhesive layer. The adhesive layer is cut together with a part of the dicing tape by using a second blade of which cutting depth reaches the dicing tape and of which width is narrower than the first blade. A semiconductor element sectioned by cutting the semiconductor wafer with the adhesive layer is picked up from the dicing tape, and is adhered on another semiconductor element or a circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to realize miniaturization, high density mounting, and so on of a semiconductor device, a stacked multi-chip package in which plural semiconductor elements are stacked and sealed inside of one package is in practical use. In the stacked multi-chip package, the plural semiconductor elements are sequentially stacked via adhesive layers on a wiring substrate. Electrode pads of respective semiconductor elements are electrically connected to an electrode part of the wiring substrate via bonding wires. A multi-layered body as stated above is packaged by a sealing resin, and thereby, the stacked multi-chip package is constituted.
In the stacked multi-chip package, when the same shaped semiconductor elements with each other are stacked or the semiconductor element larger than that of the lower side is stacked at the upper side, there is a possibility that the bonding wire of the lower semiconductor element and the upper semiconductor element may be in contact. Accordingly, it becomes important to prevent occurrences of insulation failure and a short circuit caused by the contact of the bonding wire. Consequently, the following action is taken in which a thickness of the adhesive layer adhering between the semiconductor elements is made to be thick such as 50 μm to 150 μm, and the bonding wire of the lower semiconductor element is taken in the adhesive layer to thereby prevent the contact of the bonding wire with the upper semiconductor element (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. JP-A 2001-308262 (KOKAI), Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. JP-A 2004-072009 (KOKAI)).
A semiconductor wafer is cut in accordance with an element region after an adhesive film and a dicing tape are sequentially laminated on a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer, in order to prepare the sectioned upper semiconductor element. The sectioned semiconductor element is picked up from the dicing tape, and adhered on the lower semiconductor element by using the adhesive film on the rear surface. When a thin semiconductor wafer of which thickness is 85 μm or less is diced, a step cut is applied to suppress a chipping of the semiconductor element (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. JP-A 5-074932 (KOKAI)). The step cut is performed by cutting to the dicing tape by a second axis dicing blade after the semiconductor wafer is cut into the middle by a first axis dicing blade.
When an adhesive film having a normal thickness of 10 μm to 25 μm is used, the adhesive film may not have a bad effect on the cut of the semiconductor wafer. However, when a thick adhesive film provided with a spacer function is applied, problems may occur such that the adhesive films is bonded caused by the deformation of adhesive at the time of cutting, the mixture of cut scraps, and cutting heat (approximately 80° C.). This may cause pick up failure of the semiconductor element. Concretely speaking, the adhesive films are bonded to thereby generate breaks and cracks on the semiconductor element at the time of the pick up, or element failure may occur because several pieces of semiconductor elements are picked up continuously.

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device


The sputter target has a composition selected from the group consisting of high-purity copper and copper-base alloys. The sputter target's grain structure is at least about 99 percent recrystallized; and the sputter target's face has a grain orientation ratio of at least about 10 percent each of (111), (200), (220) and (311). In addition, the sputter target has a grain size of less than about 10 μm for improving sputter uniformity and reducing sputter target arcing.

Recently, researchers have focused on the refinement of sputter target microstructures based on optimizing cold-working and recrystallizing heat treatments (annealing). Unfortunately, these techniques have experienced limited success for refining high-purity copper and copper alloy microstructures. Despite the relative ease of refining copper and copper alloys' microstructure, manufacturers are reliant upon conventional working and annealing to produce acceptable results. Most commercial manufacturers of copper sputter targets tend to produce sputter targets having a grain size between about 25 and 100 μm.
Koenigsmann et al. in US Pat. Pub. No. 2001/0023726 disclose the advantage of limiting a sputter target's grain size and controlling crystallographic texture orientation ratios to improve sputter uniformity. Koenigsmann's process relies upon a combination of warm working, cold working and annealing to produce high-purity copper sputter targets having a relatively fine grain size and a balanced grain structure orientation. This process successfully produces sputter targets having a grain size on the order of 20 μm.
Pavate et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,701, disclose controlling multiple target properties using conventional production processes to lower sputter target micro-arcing for high-purity copper targets. This patent suggests reducing dielectric inclusions, grain size and surface roughness to limit defects arising from field enhanced emissions.
Despite the recent improvements achieved by Koenigsmann et al. and proposed by Pavate et al., conventional copper working processes have limited success with respect to refining microstructures to ultrafine grain sizes. This is because at normal working temperatures (ambient) copper and copper alloys reach a limiting-steady-state dislocation density and subgrain or cell size. And upon annealing this structure recrystallizes into a relatively coarse grain structure.
Target manufacturers have relied upon equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) to produce fine grain microstructures. Nakashima et al., "Influence of Channel Angle on the Development of Ultrafine Grains in Equal-Channel Angular Pressing," Acta. Mater., Vol. 46, (1998), pp. 1589-1599 and R. Z. Valiev et al., "Structure and Mechanical Behavior of Ultrafine-Grained Metals and Alloys Subjected to Intense Plastic Deformation," Phys. Metal. Metallog., Vol. 85, (1998), pp. 367-377 provide examples of using ECAE to reduce grain size. ECAE introduces an enormous strain into a metal without imparting significant changes in workpiece shape. In fact sputter target manufacturers have claimed an ability to use ECAE to reduce the grain size of high-purity copper sputter targets to less than 5 μm. Although this process is effective for reducing grain size, it does not appear to align grains in a manner that facilitates uniform sputtering or provide an acceptable yield—the low yield originates from the ECAE process operating only with rectangular shaped plate and thus, requiring an inefficient step of cutting circular targets from the rectangular plate.
Lo, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,380, entitled "Method for Fabricating Randomly Oriented Aluminum Alloy Sputtering Targets with Fine Grains and Fine Precipitates" disclose a cryogenic method for fabricating aluminum alloy sputter targets. This method uses cryogenic processing with a final annealing step to recrystallize the grains and control grain structure. Similarly, Y. Liu, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,621 uses cryogenic working and annealing to manipulate and enhance crystallographic texture of titanium sputter targets.


One or more organic or inorganic metal salts or compounds of at least one of the groups IV, V and VI of the periodic system, particularly V, Cr, Mo and W, optionally together with one or more organic iron group metal salts, are dissolved in at least one polar solvent and complex bound with at least one complex former comprising functional groups in the form of OH or NR.sub.3, (R=H or alkyl). Hard constituent powder and optionally soluble carbon source are added to the solution. The solvent is evaporated and the remaining powder is heat treated in an inert and/or reducing atmosphere. As a result, coated hard constituent powder is obtained, which after addition of a pressing agent and optionally with other coated hard constituent powders and/or carbon to obtain the desired composition, can be compacted and sintered according to standard practice.

The present invention relates to a method of producing metal composite materials such as cemented carbide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,902 discloses a method in which one or more metal salts of at least one iron group metal containing organic groups are dissolved in at least one polar solvent such as ethanol, methanol and water, and complex bound with at least one complex former comprising functional groups in the form of OH or NR.sub.3 (R=H or alkyl). Hard constituent powder and, optionally, a soluble carbon source are added to the solution. The solvent is evaporated and the remaining powder is heat treated in inert and/or reducing atmosphere. As a result, a hard constituent powder coated with at least one iron group metal is obtained, which after the addition of a pressing agent, can be compacted and sintered according to standard practice to form a body containing hard constituents in a binder phase.
When making submicron cemented carbide, i.e., with a WC grain size of <1 .mu.m, grain growth inhibitors have to be added in order to avoid WC grain growth during sintering. Examples of such grain growth inhibitors are VC, Cr.sub.3 C.sub.2. The above mentioned patent discloses a method of depositing a layer of binder metal onto the surfaces of the hard constituent grains. It is, however, desirable to also be able to precipitate at the same time, the elements inhibiting grain growth.

Method of making metal composite materials


The invention provides a system for providing passage of fluid lines through an RF shield, the device comprising an RF shield having external and internal surfaces; a channel defined by the RF shield and extending from the external surface to the internal surface of the RF shield; a hollow cylinder rotatably communicating with said channel and extending substantially the length of the channel; a longitudinally extending region of said cylinder defining a gap adapted to receive a fluid conduit; mounting plates attached to the external surface and the internal surfaces of the RF shield; a movable member having a handle, the movable member attached to either end of the channel, the handle in slidable communication with the mounting plate so as to slide about the periphery of the plate; and a depending end of the handle rigidly attached to the cylinder which in turn is in rotatable communication with the circular plate such that the handle can be manipulated to a first position to allow loading of the conduit into the cylinder and whereby the handle can be manipulated to a second position to prevent unloading of the conduit from the cylinder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for facilitating fluid flow to and from an MRI enclosure, and more specifically, the present invention relates to an intravenous conduit channel to facilitate intravenous treatment of patients positioned within MRI enclosures.
2. Background of the Invention
MRI technology requires a pristine electromagnetic radiation environment to produce relevant images. Otherwise, stray radiation (such as that emanating from electric motors found in elevators, radio transmitters and other transmitters, equipment, passing vehicles, etc.) will create "noise" on diagnostic images.
Elaborate enclosures are designed to prevent the aforementioned noise from reaching MRI equipment. These enclosures include door closing and sealing mechanisms to eliminate radiation encroachment into the enclosure during critical imaging periods.
However, a need exists in the art for a device which allows fluid transfer in and out of an MRI enclosure without compromising the electromagnetic shield the enclosure embodies. The device should be easy to operate by medical personnel without the need for specialized training. Also, the device should be easily integrated with existing MRI enclosures.


A method of disposing of hazardous volatile liquid organic waste materials that includes the steps of providing a dry free flowing solid material containing lime and preferably, an organic salt of calcium, magnesium or aluminum containing about 10 to 22 carbon atoms; stirring a volatile organic liquid waste material to be disposed of therein to form a non-aqueous paste; allowing the paste to harden into a solid form that does not release the waste liquids when 100 grams thereof are placed in a 400 micron conical paint filter for five minutes: and, burning the resultant solid whereby the volatile material is burned and any hazardous metallic impurities remain in the resultant lime-based ash. The preferred organic salt component is calcium stearate.

Many commercial operations, particularly those involving painting result in hazardous volatile organic waste by-products. Such wastes include solvents that contain hazardous metallic compounds such as silver nitrate, chromium compounds and the like. The presence of the metallic compounds has resulted in the prohibition of burning of said materials except under very carefully controlled conditions due to the fact that the metallic compounds can be released into the atmosphere during combustion thereby creating health-threatening environmental pollution.
Heretofore it has been necessary to transport the materials, usually for several hundred miles at great cost for purposes of disposal. Various proposals have heretofore been made to mix hazardous materials into an aqueous slurry than is hardened into a cementitious form suitable for landfill disposal. These methods suffer, however, from the possibility that both the volatile organic liquids such as paint thinners and the suspended solid metallic waste materials can eventually be leached into the soil and thus may contaminate the ground water Disposal of the waste materials has therefore continued to be a costly proposition.

Process for disposal of volatile hazardous wastes


The invention relates to a flow activated circulating valve (1). The valve comprises an outer housing (10) comprising radial ports (11) provided axially between an upper portion (1a) of the valve (1) and a lower portion (1b) of the valve (1). An inner sleeve (20) provided inside the outer housing (10), where the inner sleeve (20) is providing an axial bore (21) through the upper portion (1a) of the valve (1) to the radial ports (11). A cylinder compartment (30) is provided between the inner sleeve (20) and the outer housing (10). A piston (40) is arranged for axial and rotational movement in the cylinder compartment (30), where the piston (40) comprises piston ports (41) arranged to provide fluid communication between the axial bore (21) and the radial ports (11) when the piston (40) is in an open position (P0), and where the piston (40) is arranged to prevent fluid communication between the axial bore (21) and the radial ports (11) when the piston (40) is in closed positions (P1, P2, P3). An actuating device (50) is applying an axial pressure on the piston (40). A sleeve opening (22) is providing fluid communication between the axial bore (21) and the cylinder compartment (30). A fluid orifice (24) provided radially inside the inner sleeve (20). A position controlling device (60) for controlling the axial and rotational position of the piston (40) in relation to the outer housing (10).

A circulating valve is generally used during different well operations in subterranean oil and/or gas wells. The circulating valve is lowered into the well bore by means of a tubular string. In its open state, circulating valves allow fluid to flow from the inside of the string to the well (or in the reverse direction). The circulating valve may be brought from its open state to a closed state wherein no fluid flow is allowed. The control of the circulating valve is performed from the topside, either by applying one predetermined pressure, applying several pressure pulses, or by increasing the fluid flow over fixed exit ports.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,659 describes a pressure controlled reversing valve comprising a housing with fluid ports being closed by means of a valve sleeve mounted on a spring-loaded mandrel. Two J-slot channel arrangements are used to control the opening/closing cycle of the valve. This reversing valve is closed in its initial state.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,345 describes a circulating valve which is responsive to the fluid flow rate through the valve. The valve comprises a housing and a mandrel provided inside the housing. The mandrel comprises a radial flow port, a biasing member, a ratchet with a J-slot channel arrangement, an inner sleeve and a one-way flow restrictor carried on the mandrel.
There are several disadvantages With the above valves. First of all, they are relatively complex, and they are also vulnerable to operation failure. The above valve use ports with relatively small diameter to achieve pressure differences. Hence, the valves are vulnerable to debris obstructing the ports. Moreover, these valves use only a small portion of the flow in order to control the operation of the valve, since most of the fluid is flowing through the through bore.
The object of the invention is to provide a reliable and relatively simple circulating valve. It is an object to provide a valve which is actuated by changing the fluid rate through the valve. Moreover, it is an object of the invention to be able to pressure test the inside of the string above the valve and the well below or outside the wall before re-opening the valve after a closure.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a valve which easily can be adapted to different wells, i.e. with respect to different well pressures, well fluids etc.
The circulating valve may replace ball subs, where it saves a significant amount of time waiting for activating halls to land. It also reduces risk in deviated wells where balls may have difficulties landing due to a combination of restrictions and gravitational effects. The circulating valve may also be used for flow control underneath bridge plus, packers, etc or for pressure testing of completion packers after installation.
Moreover, the circulating valve may be used in situations where a temporary barrier and circulation possibility are needed to avoid wireline intervention during completion or recompletion of the well.


An exemplary housing mechanism (8) for an electronic device includes a cover (10) and a frame (20). The cover has a cover body (11), a sealing element (12), and a sidewall (13) formed around the cover body. A surface of a distal end of the sidewall is recessed thereby forming a receiving slot (16) therein. The sealing element has a connecting portion (122) and a positioning portion (124) connected to the connecting portion. The connecting portion is fixedly received in the receiving slot of the cover. The frame has a positioning slot (26) defined therein and the positioning portion of the sealing element is for reception in the positioning slot of the frame when the cover is closed to the frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic devices and, more particularly, to a housing mechanism for an electronic device configured (i.e., structured and arranged) for preventing water or dust from invading the electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of wireless communication and information processing technologies, portable electronic devices such as notebook computers, mobile phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are now in widespread use. These electronic devices enable consumers to enjoy high technology services anytime and anywhere.
Most contemporary electronic devices have little protection against water or dust. If the electronic devices drop into water, the electronic devices cannot be used because water may erode electronic elements of the electronic devices and cause short circuits. Some electronic devices have rubber plugs to protect against water or dust. However, the rubber plugs may easily become lost or fall out as they are small.
Therefore, a new housing mechanism for an electronic device is desired in order to overcome the above-described shortcomings.

Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industry Co., Ltd.


A threaded spindle adjusting drive, e.g., a vehicle seat adjusting drive, includes a threaded spindle, a drive gear operably connected to the threaded spindle, and a bearing system for supporting axial and radial forces from the threaded spindle and/or the drive gear on a jacketed pipe. The bearing system has an axial bearing element abutting on at least one radially inwardly directed crimp of the jacketed pipe for supporting axial forces and a radial bearing ring abutting on the inner circumference of the jacketed pipe for supporting radial forces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a threaded spindle adjusting drive, e.g., a vehicle seat adjusting drive.
2. Description of Related Art
Published German patent document DE 10 2005 046 356 A1 describes a threaded spindle adjusting drive in the form of a rotary spindle drive for adjusting a movable part in a motor vehicle. The known adjusting drive comprises a radial bearing for supporting radial forces acting on a drive gear in the form of a worm gear on a support pipe as well as an axial bearing for supporting axial forces on a stop disk, which is accommodated in a pot-shaped bearing support, which rests in the axial direction on an mounting module fastened on the support pipe. Both the bearing support as well as the stop disk are made of metal.
A threaded spindle adjusting drive having a combined axial/radial bearing is known to the applicant internally within the applicant's firm, which has a one-part bearing element made of metal that is used to support both axial forces as well as radial forces on a jacketed pipe. The bearing element rests in the radial direction on the inner circumference of the jacketed pipe and in the axial direction on radially inward directed crimps of the jacketed pipe. A disadvantage of the simple construction is the comparatively high weight, due to the fact that the bearing element is made of metal, as well as the difficulty of being able to adhere to tight tolerances in the manufacture.


A data communications system is disclosed. The data communications system comprises two clock domains. Each of the clock domains are coupled to receive a source clock signal. The first clock domain includes a first clock signal and the second clock domain includes a second clock signal, each of the first clock signal and the second clock signal are derived from the source clock signal. The first clock signal has a frequency which is different from that of the second clock signal. The system includes circuitry configured to generate a pulse indicative of when data transferred between the first clock domain and the second clock domain may be latched. Data is only latched when the pulse is asserted and on a given edge of the first clock signal, and the circuitry is configured to generate the pulse such that the given edge occurs at approximately a position corresponding to a middle of a period of the second clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to multi-clock domain digital data communication and, more particularly, to detecting the alignment of multiple clock signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
New techniques to ensure the reliability of the communication of digital data have become necessary as the speed of communication links has increased. Particularly within computer memory systems, a reference clock may accompany parallel digital data so as to provide a mechanism for determining the appropriate time to sample the data. However, it is often the case that multiple clock domains are established within a given communications system due to the difficulties involved in distributing a single clock throughout a large system. Although the clocks of each individual clock domain may or may not have the same frequency, it is to be expected that the phase relationship between any two clocks in different domains will vary depending on changes in voltages and temperature between the domains over time. Jitter in the phase offset between a transmitting clock and a receiving clock tends to move the sampling point away from the ideal point in the received data signal, resulting in poor timing margins and/or a higher bit-error-rate (BER). The higher the speed at which a communications link is clocked, the more significant the effects of phase jitter become.
For example, assume a system where two clocks, fast_clk and slow_clk are generated from two phase locked loops (PLLs) but from a single reference, ref_clk. The PLL's would typically be placed several millimeters apart from each other to avoid coupling and noise issues, and the two clocks will inevitably have significant inter clock skew with respect to a common coincident edge. In some cases, 2-port SRAM based FIFO's may be used as a brute force solution. However, FIFO design can be tricky and difficult to prove 0% failure across all logical and physical conditions. Also, the complexity and area overhead of SRAM FIFO's can be overkill for clocks that maintain a simple, periodic (if skewed) relationship with each other.
In addition, if the ratio of the clock frequencies across a given boundary is not an integral multiple, determining when the respective clocks are aligned can be difficult. Therefore, it is desirable to have a mechanism to determine when to sample the data across a clock boundary while maintaining a robust timing margin thereby reducing the impact of phase changes between clock domains and enabling higher communication speeds. Still further, it can be important to pick a point in time "deterministically" when one or more ratioed synchronous clocks are aligned, especially when it pertains to domain crossing between such clocks.
In view of the above, methods and mechanisms for performing high bandwidth, deterministic, skew tolerant domain crossing between ratioed synchronous clocks are desired.

Skew tolerant communication between ratioed synchronous clocks


A device that provides a map and/or navigation application that displays items on the map and/or navigation instructions differently in different modes. The applications of some embodiments provide a day mode and a night mode. In some embodiments the application uses the day mode as a default and activates the night mode when the time is after sunset at the location of the device. Some embodiments activate night mode when multiple conditions are satisfied (for example, when (1) the time is after sunset at the location of the device and (2) the ambient light level is below a threshold brightness).

Mobile devices with map and/or navigation applications display map and navigation data with certain sets of colors and textures. That is, the applications provide a simplified view of an area, with particular colors and textures used to depict each type of item (e.g., buildings, roads, parks, etc.). The applications use different colors and textures to depict buildings than to depict roads. The colors and textures of roads and buildings are different from the colors and textures of parks, vacant spaces, etc. These colors and settings are generally selected in order to make the map and/or navigation data easy to read at a glance. However, a set of colors and textures that are easy to understand under one set of conditions (e.g., bright colors are easily seen in daylight) may not be easy to understand under other conditions (e.g., bright colors may be blinding at night).


A fluid flow regulating component adapted for sealed engagement to a drinking straw is provided to prevent excess fluid flow to users drinking with a straw. The device has a body adapted to engage the straw at one end to direct fluid flow through an axial cavity to an exit aperture. A translating valve body within the axial cavity ceases fluid flow during periods of excess acceleration or volume. A secondary valve may be engaged to prevent backflow of the fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to drinking straws. More particularly, the invention relates to a straw device for consumption of liquids from a reservoir in a vessel, which provides a means for regulating fluid flow of fluid volume, velocity, and acceleration, on exit from the proximal end of the straw during which suction is imparted by a user. The device is removably engageable to conventional straws without the need to modify the existing straw or can be formed as a unitary structure.
2. Prior Art
Drinking straws are a convenient way to drink fluids from containers and in some instances may be a necessity for certain individuals such as hospital patients, children, the elderly, disabled persons, and others. While some such individuals are able to employ a cup or limited pouring glass device, for many patients, a straw is the only means for ingesting liquid from a container holding it. Such patients may have suffered from a stroke causing facial paralysis or other motor function problems inhibiting muscular control of the mouth and/or throat. For patients suffering from facial paralysis affecting one side of their mouths, or causing lack of muscle control, or lack of experience using a straw, there is an inherent risk if they are allowed to ingest the total volume of liquid reaching the distal end of the straw on which they are sucking. Further, for patients recovering from head trauma or brain trauma, there can be a lack of reflexes as well as lost knowledge on how to swallow and how hard to suck on a straw. Such patients can suffer severe health problems should fluid from a straw be communicated to the lungs from misuse or lack of ability to use the straw properly.
As such, within the medical realm there exists a population of patients who, because of inexperience with straws or various congenital or acquired physical disorders, have deficient oropharyngeal or oral motor function which impairs their ability to manipulate and transport food and fluids placed in their mouths. Due to such poor control of the oropharyngeal muscles, such patients may tend to draw too much fluid through a straw, or such patients may have reflexes which are slow to swallow the volume of fluid drawn through the proximal end of the straw which can lead to the fluid being accelerated into the mouth and throat which can cause choking and communication of the fluid to the lungs.
As a result of such inherent or acquired disabilities, many patients are in constant danger of ingesting too much fluid when sucking on a straw to drink or sucking too hard and causing excess acceleration of the discharge of the fluid to their mouths. Whether there is an excess of fluid or fluid discharging to the mouth at high acceleration, many patients are just unable to effectively swallow the volume of fluid naturally drawn into their mouths.
Excess fluid volume or over accelerated fluid can result in the patient losing the drawn fluid out of their mouth or nose through choking or coughing, thereby yielding an embarrassing occurrence. Worse yet, patients who ingest too much in a suck of the straw or fail to dispose of the fluid from the nose or mouth during choking may suffer from passage of the fluid into their lungs. Communication of such fluid to the lungs can result in respiratory arrest, or more often, a lung infection from fluid being deposited in their lungs.
To limit or eliminate the danger and embarrassment to patients from such occurrences, a drinking straw is needed that limits both the acceleration and the volume of fluid a patient can suck from the distal end and bring into their mouth during each instance.
As a result, prior art has shown many attempts to provide straw devices which solve these problems. U.S. Pat. No. 7,354,007 to Pearson teaches a therapeutic training straw for controlling the intake of beverages. The device to Pearson generally comprises an elongated straw body having a flow limiting compartment axially aligned with the straw body. The compartment houses an insoluble object which can be positioned to stop the flow of fluid through the compartment by imparting a suction force on the straw to draw the object to a fluidly sealed position within the compartment.
The device to Pearson is intended to regulate the amount of liquid a user may drink in one sip, and in the event of excessive suction and acceleration of fluid through the straw, it provides a seal to stop fluid flow to prevent inadvertent aspiration by the user.
However, the device to Pearson relies solely on an insoluble object to properly seal the conduit from further fluid flow in the event of excessive volume suction or acceleration of fluid through the straw. Pearson does not teach any means for regulating fluid volumetric flow rate into the compartment as may be needed to further regulate and control fluid flow through the straw.
As such, there exists a need for a flow regulating apparatus that will limit both the volumetric flow rate and acceleration of fluid exiting the distal end of the straw to the user's mouth. Further, such a device, depending on the fluid flow rate, should provide a means to limit the maximum volume of fluid allowed to exit the distal end of the straw into a user's mouth during each suck upon the straw. Such a device should be easily engageable with conventional straws without the need to permanently modify the existing straw. Such a device should provide a means for varying the flow rates and the maximum fluid volume in relation to flow rate during each impartation of suction by the user to allow for different flow rates and maximum potential volume dispensed to a user depending on their ability to swallow.
The forgoing examples of related art and limitation related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.


An informatics platform provides an architecture to integrate information from relevant patient information systems. The informatics platform may include: a workflow tool that can be used to prepare and review information at multi-disciplinary board meetings; a visual timeline of patient events; a search engine to search for patients with specific attributes; a graphing tool that can display disparate clinical variables in a single chart; a virtual PinBoard for users to identify relevant patient information for board meetings; an image viewing application that can provide for comparison of images from different information systems; structured reporting functionality that incorporates system aggregated patient information and board recommendations; an application interface that integrates clinically relevant tools to provide patient specific references; a collaboration interface that facilitates communication of patient specific information and documents the discussion threads as independent reference points; and a default display of relevant patient information customized for each clinical specialty.

Patient information can be stored in numerous individual information systems that can perform analyses and reports on that very specific data. Such systems include, for example an EMR (electronic medical record) system, a PACS (picture archiving and communication system), a Digital Pathology (DP) system, an LIS (laboratory information system), RIS (radiology information system), etc. These individual information systems do not have the ability to leverage data across information systems due to a lack of integration, and do not provide intelligent aggregation and display of the information. Instead, medical personnel are forced to hunt for information kernels in disparate information systems, where the desired information may be nestled many levels beneath the primary screen of interaction of an information system.
The storing of patient information in multiple information systems can cause problems for medical personnel, such as doctors, physicians and/or clinicians, who are attempting to view, at a single time, a complete and comprehensive clinical data set for a patient. For example, medical personnel may be unable to view radiology images alongside pathology images with related diagnostics and biomarkers. Medical personnel traditionally enter each corresponding information system to view the specific patient related information independent of other clinical information for the patient. Since medical personnel cannot see all of the relevant information and data for a patient at a single viewing, medical personnel are often forced to rely on their memory or on handwritten notes with regard to some pertinent patient information when attempting to make meaningful correlations and associations of various data points.
As an example, when preparing for tumor board presentations, medical personnel currently have to access individual information systems to obtain the desired patient information. Additionally, medical personnel are forced to print paper based notes, prepare hand written notes and create digital presentations by copying and pasting images and relevant information. Much time and effort is involved in this very tedious, manual process. Furthermore, medical personnel cannot present information from the disparate information systems in real-time during the tumor board meeting. During the tumor board meeting, hand written notes are often taken to capture the information that was shared with the multi-disciplinary team to provide context to the development of the group-defined treatment plan for the patient and to track which medical personnel participated in the group-defined treatment plan.
Presently, healthcare information systems contain department-specific patient information only. The lack of integration of all relevant healthcare information systems (e.g., EMR, RIS, PACS, DP, LIS, and other relevant systems) can prevent medical personnel from being able to search across the systems with respect to a specific patient to better understand the comprehensive, holistic view of the patient's information. Medical personnel often search each individual system on a patient and manually review, compare and correlate and/or aggregate the information to determine correlations or unique patterns that may exist within multiple clinical values.
Medical personnel are also challenged to document the discussions and treatment plans that take place during the multi-disciplinary tumor board meetings. In many cases, the information is documented by doctors, nurses or other administrative personnel who enter free text into the EMR sometimes days or weeks after the meeting has occurred. The administrative team is then challenged to decipher or interpret handwritten notes of others without the immediate benefit of clinical context or the immediacy of the discussion that would allow to accurately document the group consensus for the treatment plan for the patient. Further, free text documentation presents the challenge of easily mining the data for future analysis or undocumented correlation patterns within the tumor board notes and recommendation.
The charting of relevant clinical values of a patient typically involves entering several information systems (since many of the desired clinical values exist in different information systems), aggregating the relevant clinical results over time, inputting the aggregated data into a visualization application and then finally rendering the information in a visual chart. The resulting chart likely would be static and provide little or no connections back to the source systems. A doctor cannot interact with the chart to add additional data points or explore other relevant, potential clinical values from the chart unless the doctor enters the specific information system originating the clinical value of interest. If the doctor wants to document the charting exercise, the doctor has to either add it to the paper based medical record of the patient or decide which specific information system to add a .PDF report.
Referring back to multi-disciplinary tumor board meetings, such meetings currently require medical personnel to rely on outdated technologies, such as printed notes from disparate information systems, hand written notes and PowerPoint presentations with information copied/pasted from disparate information systems. Each doctor participating in the multi-disciplinary tumor board meeting often reviews relevant information from the unique information systems in their clinical domain without the benefit of clinical context from other disciplines. Because the relevant information is "piecemealed" together, it is difficult to review all of the relevant patient information and attributes and document or flag the specific, relevant data points that were presented as context to understand the patient's current clinical state and the final treatment decision.
Current medical information systems can require medical personnel and other clinical care providers and administrators to write free-form text notes or select a value from drop-down menus to describe a patient's medical status. A patient's overall medical status includes many individual elements, such as a patient's history of smoking, allergies, allergies to medications, current medications, and many other medically relevant characteristics or events. When these pieces of information are retrieved from a medical information system and viewed by medical personnel, the information often appears in the same or similar text-based format that was used to originally enter the information. While the raw information itself is available, the format of the information, i.e., raw text or drop-down menu values, often requires that the viewer visually parse and read text in order to understand the patients medical status. Reading such a list is time consuming, and it typically requires the user to remember a list of items that can be easily forgotten with no ready mnemonic to assist with memorizing the "overall picture" of the patient.
Past solutions have focused on text-based designs that tend to subdivide visual screen space into discrete forms or "areas" dedicated to a different domain of medical information. Each of these areas is individually filled with text, form fields, or both. Pictorial or visual elements are rarely, if ever, used to provide a summary status of key medical events or health status indicators for a patient.

Informatics platform for integrated clinical care