Gaming machines and systems having MRAM and MROM are disclosed. MROMs for storing boot programs and other Read Only code are formed by cutting write connections or not providing PCB socket leads to MRAM write pins, or by using memory hubs to prevent writing to MRAMs. A tale-tale board or other logging device monitoring activities at various components while primary machine power is down records to MRAM, which can be dual ported to the logging device and MGC. Various components can each have dedicated logging devices and MRAMs. One MRAM associated with the brain box replaces both DRAM and NVRAM of regular machine architectures, and is used for dual purposes of regular operational use and as safe storage to facilitate a state recovery. Prioritization of data during the storage process is rendered unnecessary. Another MRAM associated with the back plane board stores data associated with the exterior housing or terminal.

Casinos and other forms of gaming comprise a growing multi-billion dollar industry that has experienced a marked shift over the past few decades to the extensive use of gaming machines, and in particular electronic and microprocessor based gaming machines. In a typical gaming machine, such as a video poker or slot machine, a game play is first initiated through a player wager of money, credit or other indicia, whereupon the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and then potentially dispenses an award of some type, including a monetary award, depending on the game outcome. Although this process is generally true for both mechanical and electronic gaming machines, the electronic machines tend to be more popular with players and thus more lucrative for casinos for a number of reasons, such as increased game varieties, more attractive and dynamic presentations and the ability to award larger jackpots.
Electronic gaming machines can include various hardware and software components to provide a wide variety of game types and game playing capabilities, with such hardware and software components being generally well known in the art. A typical electronic gaming machine can include hardware devices and peripherals such as, for example, bill validators, coin acceptors, card readers, keypads, buttons, levers, touch screens, coin hoppers, ticket printers, player tracking units and the like. A gaming machine can also have various audio and visual display components, such as, for example, speakers, display panels, belly and top glasses, exterior cabinet artwork, lights, and top box dioramas, as well as any number of video displays of various types to show game play and other assorted information, with such video display types including, for example, a cathode ray tube ("CRT"), a liquid crystal display ("LCD"), a light emitting diode ("LED"), a flat panel display and a plasma display, among others. Software components can include, for example, boot and initialization routines, various game play programs and subroutines, credit and payout routines, image and audio generation programs, various component modules and a random number generator, among others.
In addition, an electronic gaming machine typically includes a central processing unit ("CPU") or master gaming controller ("MGC") that controls various processes and combinations of hardware and software devices, such as components and processes that encourage game play, allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine, run the game itself, and control payouts and other awards. In addition to the many other processors within a gaming machine, this MGC or CPU in particular is associated with and can have access to a wide variety of memory or storage devices, many of which are of different types. Such memory or storage devices can include, for example, various types of random access memory ("RAM"), such as static RAM ("SRAM") dynamic RAM ("DRAM"), synchronous DRAM ("SDRAM"), battery backed and other types of non-volatile RAM ("NVRAM") and various forms of flash and cache RAM, among others, as well as numerous types of read only memory ("ROM"), such as a programmable ROM ("PROM"), including erasable PROM ("EPROM") and electrically erasable PROM ("EEPROM"), a compact disc ("CD"), a digital video disc ("DVD") and specific portions of hard drives, among others.
Instructions and other computer code for gaming machine peripherals and components are typically stored in some form of ROM by design, by regulatory requirement, or both. Many ROM devices for electronic gaming machines and their peripherals must currently be programmed externally from the gaming machine or peripheral, and then installed into the gaming machine or peripheral once they are programmed. This standard process has several major drawbacks. For one, special equipment is usually required to program the ROM devices at special programming voltages. In addition, most ROM devices cannot be reprogrammed "in circuit," and must therefore be removed from the gaming machine for any reprogramming or updating, which then usually requires some disassembly of other gaming machine components just to gain access to the ROM device. Furthermore, ROM devices must typically be completely erased prior to reprogramming, which can in itself be a time consuming process. Hence, current programming and updating parameters for many gaming machine ROM devices can be problematic or inconvenient at best.
As is generally known, many forms of ROM tend to be relatively slow in terms of access speeds, particularly with respect to many SRAM and DRAM type devices. For example, many EPROM and EEPROM type devices have access speeds on the order of about 8 to 33 MHz, while SRAM and DRAM type devices have access speeds that are typically around 133 to 800 MHz or higher. Even faster ROM devices, such as CD-ROMs and hard drives tend to run at access speeds in the vicinity of about 100 MHz, which are still significantly lower than those of many RAM type devices. Since many gaming machine programs and processes, including much or all of the initialization, authentication and other boot, startup or similarly sensitive processes, must be stored on ROM devices for a variety of reasons, such as for security purposes, these processes tend to be relatively slow in terms of the length of time taken to run with respect to the amounts of actual memory used in the processes. In fact, modern gaming machines typically load and run many resources each time that they are powered up or otherwise go through a boot process. Depending on the amount and size of the resources that must be loaded, this process tends to take upwards of several minutes to complete, with such times generally increasing as gaming machines become more sophisticated and complex.
Although the majority of the resources that are loaded do not change while the gaming machine is in use, it remains a requirement in many jurisdictions, and is still otherwise customary, to store these boot programs and other sensitive routines in the relatively slower ROM devices. In fact, many such programs and routines are copied into DRAM or some other faster storage component during the boot process, such that these programs can be accessed and operate faster as the program is first executed and/or repeatedly accessed during normal gaming machine operations. For example, most or all authentication code is currently stored in one or more EPROMs in the gaming machine. During the boot process, this authentication code is copied and loaded into gaming machine DRAM for further future use, since EPROMs are so relatively slow. Other programs and processes are similarly copied, potentially authenticated, and then stored in a relatively faster SRAM, DRAM or other storage location for future use. Although such designs are known to be standard within the gaming machine industry, it is inherently inefficient to require multiple storage units and allotments of memory space for multiple copies of the same exact programs.
While existing systems and methods for providing system architectures and memory devices in electronic gaming machines and systems have been adequate, improvements are usually welcomed and encouraged. In view of many of the above legacy features and their inherent inefficiencies, it would be desirable to have more efficient, more accessible, less complicated and yet more secure apparatuses, systems and methods of providing non-volatile memory within an electronic gaming machine.
Further, many electronic gaming machines also include some form of powered down or powered off logging, such that certain noteworthy events can be detected while the main power to the gaming machine is down or off. If provided, such events are typically recorded by a "tell-tale board" or other similar logging device that is powered by a separate battery. Such a device is usually adapted to monitor for a select few offline activities, such as the opening of the main door, bill door, drop door, brain box or card cage door and/or other critical doors or accesses of a gaming machine, such that a casino or other gaming machine operator can be notified if such events have occurred while the main power to the gaming machine has been down or off. Appropriate security measures or other action may then be taken in such cases where such critical accesses have been made during a power down or off period, as is generally known in the art.
Although useful, the overall capabilities of such tell-tale boards or logging devices can be limited due to limited power supplies for operating the logging device and maintaining the storage of any data recorded until the main power to the machine is restored. Many convenient forms of storage, such as DRAM, require a constant refresh to maintain storage, and thus tend to be quite costly and impractical in battery powered situations. DRAM tends to drain a battery over time, resulting in situations where the stability of recorded data is not guaranteed for lengthy time periods. Thus, other forms of storage tend to be used for tell-tale boards, with flash RAM being a popular choice due to its ability to hold data without constant power refreshing. Flash RAM has drawbacks too though, as it typically requires page writes, which require longer cycles and more power. Due to concerns over limited finite power supplies and the relatively large amounts of power required to monitor events and record data offline, tell-tale boards and other logging devices are typically designed only to record actual "yes" or "no" data with respect to critical offline events, with other pertinent data such as dates, times, number of occurrences and other details not being recorded. When full power is then restored to the gaming machine, it is usually only known that a given door was opened at least once during the time that power was off.
While existing systems and methods of using logging and storage devices to track and record powered down and off events in electronic gaming machines and systems have been adequate, improvements are usually welcomed and encouraged. In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable for such logging and storage devices within electronic gaming machines and systems to have more versatility, at least with respect to greater storage capacities and recording options, but without creating any expected corresponding increases in the levels of power needed for such features.
In addition, many gaming machine operators, manufacturers and gaming jurisdictions require some level of power-hit tolerance and electrostatic discharge ("ESD") tolerance in gaming machines, particularly with respect to any "safe storage" method of backing up critical gaming machine data. Such critical data can include, for example, a state and outcome of a current game, various meter readings, machine settings, logs, and so forth, some or all of which can be stored using a non-volatile memory "safe storage" device, such that stored data can be recalled whenever a malfunction, power failure, player dispute or other similar event occurs. A battery backed RAM is one an example of such a non-volatile memory "safe storage" device (i.e., NVRAM) used on many types of gaming machines for these purposes. Another possible solution for NVRAM issues is to use EEPROMs, which can maintain their memory without a constant power supply. EEPROM use does have other drawbacks though, as EEPROMs tend to have long access times, usually require software drivers to facilitate access, and can fail after tens to hundreds of thousands of writes, such that EEPROMs are generally not used as safe storage devices.
Rather, many NVRAMs designed to store critical game information for long periods of time typically require some form of battery or power backup to preserve the non-volatile nature of the device. While many such batteries are designed to last for a number of years, the need to replace any battery eventually can lead to a number of issues, including the consequences of critical lost data if such a replacement is not made in a timely manner. Also, the use of batteries as a backup source of power can severely restrict the types and amounts of memory that can be used for such purposes. As noted above, the relatively high power requirements of SRAM or DRAM make such types of units virtually impossible to use in conjunction with a battery as a practical matter. As a result, the actual storage space available for a battery backed RAM device is relatively limited. Furthermore, as in the case of many ROM devices, the access speeds for a typical battery backed RAM device are relatively slow when compared to those for SRAM, DRAM and many other RAM type devices. Also, many typical battery backed fixed memory approaches for non-volatile memory can be problematic for a variety of other reasons, such as in the instance of an open game development environment, due of security issues.
Other issues also arise with respect to the use of NVRAM as safe storage for critical gaming machine events and data. Such use of battery backed RAM or other NVRAM devices as safe storage is typically duplicative, in that the same or similar data is stored elsewhere at the gaming machine for regular gaming machine operations, such as on volatile DRAM. Of course, duplicative storage is inherently inefficient, and can sometimes cause discrepancies in instances where a recording is made at one storage device and main power is lost before an identical or similar recording is made at the other recording device. For example, a specific game state that is recorded to DRAM can occasionally be lost in the split-second that it takes to also record that specific game state to NVRAM. Recording to a safe storage device also typically involves some form of encryption or checksum process for security purposes, which can add to overall inefficiencies in the process.
In addition, multiple state related items may need to be recorded to various devices, such as permanent and transient meters within the gaming machine. For example, many electronic gaming machines are equipped with one set of meters and storage devices that are MGC or main processor board based, and another separate set of meters and storage devices that are main cabinet or physical terminal based. This distinction becomes significant where the MGC, main processor board or "brain box" contents are removed from a gaming machine and replaced with another. The former set of meters and storage devices would migrate with the outgoing components, while the latter set of meters and storage devices would remain with the "back plane" of the gutted or modified gaming machine. As noted above, using multiple devices to record the same or similar items can be inefficient, and the level of such inefficiency increasing where the number of devices and types of processes used increases.
While existing systems and methods of providing "safe storage" devices to record specific states in electronic gaming machines and systems have been adequate, improvements are usually welcomed and encouraged. In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable for such safe storage devices and techniques to involve greater storage capacities, and be more reliable and efficient, at least with respect to the number of devices used, the complexity of the various safe storage procedures used, and the reliability of gaming machine state data being stored to and recovered from both safe storage and regular use devices.

Magnetoresistive memory units as read only memory devices in gaming machines


A system for displaying points of interest on a heads-up display is disclosed. In particular, the system may utilize vehicular cameras, a touchscreen device, and a heads-up display to provide the functionality supported by the system. The system enables a user to select a point of interest within a field of view on the touchscreen device. Based on the selection of the point of interest, the system may display information associated with the point of interest on the heads-up display. The point of interest may be determined by the location of the vehicle, the vehicle's azimuth, and the real-time measured distance to an object corresponding to the point of interest. In order to accurately display the point of interest information at the correct location on the heads-up display, the system may utilize a calibration mechanism specific to the user to determine the correct location.

In today's society, users have become increasingly comfortable with technology in terms of performing their daily tasks, which include, but are not limited to, placing telephone calls, sending text messages, accessing internet services, streaming media content, performing work, performing any other tasks, or any combination thereof. While such technology often creates efficiencies, improves users' quality of life, and facilitates the exchange of information on a grand scale, such technology also may serve as a source of distraction for users. For example, as smartphones have become ubiquitous, an increasing number of users regularly send text messages or access the internet while driving their vehicles. Unfortunately, when users send such text messages or access the internet while driving, they often do so by taking their eyes off the road to view the screen of whatever device that they are using to send the text messages or access the internet. As a result, such actions lead to severely impaired vehicle safety, which often leads to traffic accidents, pedestrian fatalities, and a host of other safety-related issues.
Now that the safety issues and problems associated with using mobile devices while driving have become so widespread, state legislatures and other governing bodies have begun to legally prohibit certain uses of mobile devices while driving. While current versions of hands-free headsets and heads-up displays provide substantial ways of increasing vehicle safety by increasing the probability that users' eyes are on the road, the current versions of such technologies still have shortcomings. For example, current versions of headsets often cover the users' ears and often interfere with the users' perception of noises occurring outside the vehicles that the users are driving. Additionally, current versions of heads-up displays often fail to provide enough information to prevent the users from visually inspecting their mobile devices while driving. As a result, current methodologies and technologies associated with heads-up displays may be enhanced and improved so as to provide enhanced quality-of-service for users. Such enhancements and improvements to methodologies and technologies may provide for improved user satisfaction and increased vehicle safety.

System and method for displaying points of interest on a heads-up display


A nitride-based semiconductor light-emitting device includes an n-type nitride-based semiconductor layer, an active layer, a p-type nitride-based semiconductor layer, an ohmic contact layer covering a portion of the p-type nitride-based semiconductor layer upper surface, and a p electrode including a first portion contacting the p-type nitride-based semiconductor layer and a second portion contacting the ohmic contact layer.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) having a wavelength of 200 to 350 nm have been applied to various fields, e.g., sterilization, water purification, various medical fields, decomposition of pollutants, bio engineering, etc. As products using a deep ultraviolet (DUV) LED have evolved, much effort is required to improve the light extraction efficiency (LEE) of the DUV LED.

Nitride-based semiconductor light-emitting device


An information management device is provided which is capable of performing a flexible search of input information, without the need to attach user-specified keywords or search information and without the need of pre-processing of the input information such as character matching processing, natural language processing, statistical processing and recognition processing. The information management device is used in a network of multiple information processing devices at least one of which is a mobile information processing device and is equipped with an information input unit that inputs information via the mobile information processing device; an attribute value input unit that measures and inputs at least one of information attribute values from the mobile information processing device and attribute values of the information resulting from the input of the information; an information database that stores the information along with the corresponding attribute information; an information registration unit that registers the information and the attribute value to the information database; a search key input that inputs search keys; an attribute database unit that outputs at attribute information in response to the search keys; an information search unit that outputs to the information database; a search directive that includes at least one attribute information output from the attribute database; and an information output unit that outputs information from the information database in response to the search directive.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an information management device that manages information input from an information input device.
Specifically, the invention relates to an information management device which is ideal for managing information input from mobile information processing devices. More specifically, the invention relates to an information management device which is ideal for managing the information input from mobile information processing devices connected to network systems. In the present document, a mobile information processing device is defined as a mobile object that performs information processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional information management systems for mobile objects are categorized as follows:
(a) The systems usually have a database. The information input from a mobile object is registered to the database with a user-specified keyword each time a user inputs the information. The information is searched using the keywords or the search information that includes the keywords.
(b) The information input from a mobile object is registered to the database with a character or a character string. In some system, a character or a character string are generated through text processing, natural language processing, statistical processing or recognition processing of the input information, and attached to the information to be registered to the database. The information is searched using search information which includes the character or character string.
(c) The position information of a mobile object is registered to the database. The position of a mobile object is searched using its identifier. Conversely, the identifier of a mobile object is searched based on the region of its position.
Since the system (a) manages the information using the user-specified keywords or search information, it cannot search the information with a character string unless it has been previously stored with a keyword or search information. Also, the search is possible only by the keywords the user previously specified. In other words, the search is not possible using character strings or search information not previously specified by the user. Hence it is extremely difficult to optimize the search keys for future searches, and a good selection of the character strings and the search information is often costly.
The system (b) generates a character, a character string or data string through character matching processing, natural language processing, statistical processing or calendar processing. It is then registered to the database either with the input information, without the input information, or as the search information of the input information. Pre-processing such as character matching requires large processing cost, which is likely to overload mobile objects with a limited processing power due to the need for low energy consumption and small sizes. This inevitably causes a delay in registering the input information. Although a solution is to use the processing resources of other computers on the network via communication, the communication procedure also takes time.
The system (c) simply searches the position or the identifier of mobile objects, and does not have the function of attaching the position information of a mobile object to the input information from the mobile object. It is not possible, therefore, to search the input information from a mobile object using the position information of the mobile object.
Bibliographic material related to the systems (a), (b) and (c) described above are found in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-205457, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-281902 and the Technical Report of IEICE EID93-88, HC93-55, December 1993, pp. 7-12. Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-205457 discloses a means to reduce the cost of registering position information to the network of mobile objects when many mobile objects move simultaneously, by receiving the signal from the mobile terminals at a base station and storing the position information of the mobile terminals in a database. Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-281902 publicly discloses a means to accurately capture the current positions of mobile objects by transmitting the current position information and calculating the position information using a road map database. The above Technical Report of IEICE publicly discloses a means to save raster image information of hand written letters after recognizing and converting it to text information that consists of a character code.


A method for providing a triggering mechanism in an all-IP wireless communication system. A plurality of communication paths are established between a mobile terminal and a correspondent node to obtain at least one QoS parameter associated with each communication path. Each communication path that provides a predetermined acceptable level of performance is then identified. A handoff trigger is then generated to the communication path that provides the highest level of performance to the mobile terminal.

Digital data networks have become a ubiquitous part of business, commerce, and personal life throughout the United States and the world. The public Internet and private local and wide area networks (LANs and WANs) have become increasingly important backbones of data communication and transmission. Email, file access and sharing, and services access and sharing are but a few of the many data communication service and applications provided by such networks. Recently, next generation data communication applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and real-time interactive multi-media have also begun to emerge.
The Internet and nearly all digital data networks connected to it today adhere to substantially the same addressing and routing protocols specified in a "network layer" or "layer 3." According to these protocols, each node in the network has a unique address, called the Internet Protocol (IP) address. To communicate digital data over the network or between networks, a sending or source node subdivides the data to be transmitted into "packets." The packets include the data to be transmitted, the IP addresses of the source node and the intended destination node, and other information specified by the protocol. A single communication of data may require multiple packets to be created and transmitted depending on the amount of data being communicated and other well-known factors.
This approach introduces certain time considerations into the data communications process. Such time considerations arise for a number of reasons, including delays in the arrival of packets (latency) and delays due to the reconstruction of the signal because of variable inter-packet arrival time (packet jitter). For example, packets may be delayed in arrival if a specified or selected transmission route is interrupted due to problems (congestion) at an intermediary node. In such cases, further transmission may await resolution of the congestion at the intermediary node, which may result in even further delay. At the destination node, a certain amount of overhead is involved in processing packets in order to reconstruct their original sequence. Such overhead may increase substantially when a particular data communication involves a large number of packets, for example, or when the destination node is experiencing heavy processor loads due to other factors. In addition, it is possible for packets to be lost en route and to never reach the intended recipient node (packet loss). Further, since links are not dedicated and resources are shared, there are no guarantees of bandwidth availability.
VoIP provides real-time, interactive end-to-end voice communications over IP digital data networks using standard telephony signaling and control protocols. In VoIP, voice signals are converted to digital format, packetized, transmitted, and routed over the IP network from a source node to a destination node using the commonly used Internet protocols. At the destination, the packets are reassembled, and the voice signals reconstructed for play back. In VoIP, packet latency manifests itself as delay between the time one party to a conversation speaks and another party to the conversation hears what the speaker said. Delays that exceed a threshold and interfere with the ability to converse without substantial confusion are unacceptable. It has been demonstrated that one way packet latency in the range of 0 ms to about 150 msec results in excellent to good communication quality, whereas latency above about 150 msec results in poor to unacceptable quality.
Packets lost during transmission also adversely impact the quality of VoIP communications. It has been demonstrated that speech becomes unintelligible if voice packets comprising more than about 60 ms of digitized speech data are lost. Packets can be lost in transmission for three reasons: (1) if the electrical signal suffers from an electromagnetic disturbance, thus causing an error in one or more bits or (2) if the queue it is waiting in for transmission at some intermediary router along the path overflows due to congestion, thus causing packet dropping or (3) because of some configuration errors that cause packet transmission collisions (i.e., two or more electrical transmission signals overlapping and jamming each other). Because VoIP is a real-time interactive data communications application the current Internet protocols that provide for retransmission are of little help in this instance since late packets may become outdated, i.e., useless, when the packets finally arrive.
Packet jitter also substantially affects the quality of VoIP communications. In VoIP, packet jitter may result in the inability to reassemble all packets within time limits necessary to meet minimum acceptable latency requirements. As a consequence, sound quality can suffer due to the absence of some packets in the reassembly process, i.e., loss of some voice data or excessive packet delay. It has been determined that to achieve acceptable voice quality, voice packet inter-arrival times (i.e., jitter) generally must be limited to about 50–75 msec. Within this range, data buffering can be used to smooth out jitter problems without substantially affecting the overall quality of the voice communications.
Additionally, the current Internet addressing and routing protocols and approaches for fixed node data networks are incapable of supporting the dynamically changing addressing and routing situations that arise in recently proposed wireless, mobile-access digital data networks. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the Internet Society, the recognized authority for worldwide data network standards, has recently published its International Mobile Communications-2000 (IMT-2000) standards. These standards propose so-called third generation (3G) and beyond (i.e., 3.5G, 4G, etc.) data networks that include extensive mobile Internet access by wireless, mobile node devices including cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), handheld computers, and the like. (See http://www.itu.int).
Unlike previous wireless networks, the proposed fourth generation and beyond networks are entirely IP based, i.e., all data is communicated in digital form via standard Internet addressing and routing protocols from end to end. However, unlike current fixed node networks, in the proposed third generation and beyond wireless, mobile access networks, wireless mobile nodes are free to move about within the network while remaining connected to the network and engaging in data communications with other fixed or mobile network nodes.
Among other things, such networks must therefore provide facilities for dynamic rerouting of data packets between the communicating nodes. The current Internet addressing and routing protocols and schemes, which are based on fixed IP addresses and fixed node relationships, do not provide such facilities. Similarly, current fixed node Internet protocols are not sufficient for wireless LAN usage.
Real-time applications such as VoIP usually have strict requirements over the end-to-end QoS from the mobile node all the way to the correspondent node. It is therefore necessary to ensure QoS requirements are met from source to destination and vice-versa, not just on portions of the path. The existing handoff trigger mechanisms in wireless communication systems are all essentially based on measurements of layer 2 QoS parameters over the wireless link only (BER—bit error rate, SNR—signal-to-noise ratio, etc.). Unfortunately, this measurement does not cover the path to the correspondent node in its entirety.
With circuit-switched core networks in current wireless communication systems, measurements of layer 2 QoS parameters over the wireless link only is sufficient to decide to which access point to handoff the wireless communication device. This is because the circuit-switched core network is robust and well provisioned to provide reliable and stable service. In that case, the wireless link is the only bottleneck in the end-to-end path and it is appropriate to base the handoff trigger on QoS measurements on that portion of the communication path.
As set forth generally above, next generation wireless communication systems will be based on an all-IP infrastructure, especially the core network. As such, these wireless communication systems will lose the robustness and reliability that was provided by circuit-switched networks thereby making the fixed hop of the end-to-end path from mobile to correspondent node a possible bottleneck, just like the wireless hop or link. To that end, using the existing layer 2 QoS measurements to determine handoff triggers, which do not estimate QoS on the fixed hop as well as the wireless hop, will lead to re-establishment of ongoing real-time sessions on paths where the end-to-end QoS requirements are not satisfied.
As such, a need exists in wireless communication systems that use an all-IP infrastructure for a handoff trigger that is based on the QoS experienced on the entire communication path between the wireless communication device and the correspondent node.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Layer three quality of service aware trigger


Surgical procedures, kits and implants for alleviating human incontinence, and particularly providing improved methods and apparatus to secure a urethral sling (30) to pubic bone (24, 26) to support the urethra and alleviate incontinence are disclosed. Bone anchors (64) are driven into pubic bones with elongated bone anchor sutures (84) configured to be passed through openings of a urethral sling. Suture retainers are applied to the sutures to apply retentive force to the urethral sling to maintain the fixation of the urethral sling proximate to the pubic bone.

Incontinence is a condition characterized by involuntary loss of urine, beyond the individual's control, that results in the loss or diminution of the ability to maintain the urethral sphincter closed as the bladder fills with urine. Male or female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) occurs when the patient is physically or emotionally stressed.
One cause for this condition is damage to the urethral sphincter or loss of support of the urethral sphincter, such as can occur in males after prostatectomy or following radiation treatment, or that can occur due to pelvic accidents and aging related deterioration of muscle and connective tissue supporting the urethra. Other causes of male incontinence include bladder instability, over-flowing incontinence and fistulas.
The female's natural support system for the urethra is a hammock-like supportive layer composed of endopelvic fascia, the anterior vaginal wall, and the arcus tendineus (a distal attachment to the pubic bone). Weakening and elongation of the pubourethral ligaments and the arcus tendineus fascia pelvis, weakening of the endopelvic fascia and pubourethral prolapse of the anterior vaginal wall, and their complex interaction with intraabdominal forces are all suspected to play a role in the loss of pelvic support for the urethra and subsequent hypermobility to an unnaturally low non-anatomic position, leading to urinary incontinence.
Females can also exhibit cystocele, a condition due to laxity of the pelvic floor wherein the bladder extrudes out and downwards causing SUI. The severity of this bladder collapse is rated between Grades one through four. In Grade four cystocele, the bladder extrudes out of the vaginal opening. The treatment of choice for this condition includes the reduction or closing of the pelvic floor opening from which the bladder descends using sutures. As noted below, other procedures involving implantation of a urethral sling are also gaining acceptance.
In general, continence is considered to be a function of urethral support and coaptation. For coaptation to successfully prevent or cure incontinence, the urethra must be supported and stabilized in its normal anatomic position.
The present application is directed to the treatment of SUI and chronic urinary incontinence due to inability of the urethral sphincter to close or remain closed as bladder fluid pressure builds. Currently, incontinence treatments of choice involve implantation of a Kaufman Prosthesis, an artificial sphincter (such as the AMS-800 Urinary Control System available from American Medical Systems, Inc.), or a urethral sling procedure in which a urethral sling is inserted beneath the urethra and advanced in the retro pubic space. Peripheral portions of the elongated urethral sling are affixed to bone or body tissue, and a central portion of the elongated urethral sling extends under the urethral or bladder neck to provide a platform that compresses the urethral sphincter, limits urethral distention, and pelvic drop, and thereby improves coaptation.
Male and female urethral sling procedures are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,652,450 and 6,382,214, for example, and further female urethral sling procedures are described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,524, for example, and publications and patents cited therein. The implantation of certain urethral slings involves the use of delivery systems configured for and techniques that involve transvaginal, transobturator, suprapubic and pre-pubic exposures or pathways.
The above-referenced '214 patent describes apparatus and methods for treatment of male incontinence and female cystocele repair in which a urethral sling material is positioned between the descending pubic rami of the pubic bone. In such an operation a "hammock-like" urethral sling material is sutured below the urethra in males, or below the posterior bladder wall in the case of cystocele in females. The urethral sling material may comprise synthetic material or cadaveric or autologous fascia and may or may not be absorbable over time.
In the male case, the urethral sling applies passive compression against the bulbar urethra. The compression, either by itself or in conjunction with urethral mobility, prevents urine leak during strain. If additional passive pressure is required on the urethra after surgery is completed, collagen or other bulky material can be injected with a tiny needle through the perineum, causing more pressure created by the bulky material on one side (the lower or caudal side) by the urethral sling, and on the other (the upper or superior) side compressing the urethra. An example of a urethral sling sutured to and extending between four bone screws fixed to the descending pubic rami is depicted in FIG. 12 of the above-referenced '214 patent.
One minimally invasive surgical procedure that incorporates the teachings of the above-referenced '214 patent to alleviate mild to moderate male SUI is performed employing the InVance™ Male Urethral Sling System for implanting the InteMesh™ Synthetic Surgical Mesh (both available from American Medical Systems, Inc.) in a manner generally described in the above-referenced '214 patent and depicted in FIGS. 1-3. The InteMesh™ Synthetic Surgical Mesh is about 4 cm×7 cm and knitted from a supple polyester material coated with silicone, the knitted mesh having a pore size that allows for tissue ingrowth during chronic implantation. The InVance™ Male Urethral sling System includes four to six, typically, titanium bone screws and a disposable, battery powered, inserter or driver. Each bone screw has a distal self-tapping spiral thread and a length of No. 1 Prolene suture extending proximally from the bone screw.
In the implantation procedure, the patient is first placed in the lithotomy position and draped, and the surgical field is prepared. A 16 French Foley catheter, for example, is inserted into the urethra, the catheter balloon is inflated t to assist the surgeon in identifying the urethra during dissection, and the scrotum is elevated. A vertical incision is made over the midline in the perineum, and the skin and subcutaneous tissues are dissected free. The bulbocavernous muscle is then exposed, and dissection is carried out posteriorly to the area of the transverse perineum to completely free the bulbar urethra. Lateral dissection is used to expose the corpora cavernosum and the descending pubic rami.
The six titanium bone screws or anchors are then screwed, one at a time, into the inner portion of the descending pubic rami of the pubic bone using the battery-powered driver. The bone screws are screwed fully into the pubic bone so that the No. 1 Prolene sutures extend outward from each bone. The location of each bone screw and the order of bone screw insertion can be selected by the surgeon. In one approach, the first pair of bone screws is inserted just below the symphysis, the second pair is inserted just proximal to the level of the ischial tuberosity, and the third pair is inserted intermediate the first and second pair.
The InteMesh™ Synthetic Surgical Mesh is then applied against the array of bone screws bridging the lower surface of the bulbar urethra between the descending pubic rami to determine where the sutures will be passed through the mesh pores and tied off. The sutures extending from one of the descending pubic rami may be first passed though selected mesh pores and tied off employing several surgeon's suture knots. Tension is then applied to the other side or end of the urethral sling as it is drawn against the other pubic ramus to determine where the bone screw sutures should be passed through the mesh pores and tied off.
The determination of the appropriate tension may be accomplished using a cough test or Retrograde Perfusion Pressure (RPP) test. To perform a RPP test, the Foley catheter balloon is then deflated, and the Foley catheter is withdrawn and connected to a sterile saline perfusion line. A zero pressure state is obtained by lowering the bag to the level of the symphysis. The tip of the catheter is repositioned at the penoscrotal angle, and the urethral resistance to start of flow or leakage is recorded (by distance of the bag above the level of the symphysis). In patients under anesthesia suffering from sphincter incontinence, the urethral resistance is very low. Tension is then applied to the untied side of the urethral sling by advancing the end of the urethral sling along the sutures toward the bone screws so that the urethral sling bears against the bulbar urethra. The mesh urethral sling compresses the bulbar urethra as it is adjusted in tension to increase urethral resistance to withstand a pressure selected between 30 and 60 cm of water. The sutures are then tied to maintain the selected tension.
The Foley catheter is then advanced to the bladder (which should advance without difficulties), and the wound is irrigated with Bethadine solution and closed in layers. Subsequently, the Foley catheter is removed after 2 hours, and the patient can be discharged home on oral antibiotics and pain medication after completing a successful voiding trial.
The above-referenced '214 and '524 patents also disclose procedures for repairing a cystocele using retropubic and lateral pubic bone anchors. The surgery disclosed in the '214 patent is indicated for patients with grade four cystocele and urethral hypermobility. The procedure repairs the central defect, the lateral defect, approximates the cardinal ligaments to the midline, and creates a urethral sling of the urethra.
After preparation and draping, a Foley catheter is inserted in the bladder. Once the catheter is in place, a "goal post" incision is made. The vertical bars of the goal post extend laterally from the distal urethra to the horizontal bar that is made just proximal to the bladder neck. The vertical bars reach the vaginal cuff.
After creation of the goal post incision, the vaginal wall is dissected free to expose the perivesical fascia laterally and the cardinal ligaments posteriorly. A figure eight 2-0 absorbable suture is applied to approximate the cardinal ligament to the midline without tying it. If an enterocele sac is encountered, it should be repaired at this stage.
The retropubic space is then entered over the periurethral fascia at the level of the vertical bars of the incision, and the urethropelvic ligaments are exposed. Two fascial anchors (the upper pair) are inserted into the tissue of the suprapubic area. Each of these anchors comprises a bone screw having a distal self-tapping screw thread of the type described above with a No. 1 Prolene suture attached to the proximal end of the bone screw.
In an alternative embodiment, at this stage of the procedure, the retropubic space is not open and two bone anchors or screws of the type described above are applied to the inner surfaces of the symphisis using a right angle drill.
After application of the first set of anchors, a second pair of bone anchors or screws of the type described above are applied to the inner surface of the descending pubic rami of the symphysis.
Once the four bone screws are in place, the bladder prolapse is reduced using a moist sponge over a right angle retractor. Alternatively, a Dexon mesh is applied and left in place. The lower pair of Prolene sutures is then used to incorporate the perivesical fascia and the cardinal ligaments area. Interrupted 2-0 absorbable sutures are used to approximate the perivesical fascia to the midline over the Dexon mesh.
A variation on this procedure is set forth in commonly assigned, U.S. Patent Application Publication No 2002/0183762 to provide urethral support and coaptation employing the InFast™ Ultra Transvaginal Urethral sling System for implanting a urethral sling selected from among the InteXen™ Porcine Dermal Matrix or the InteDerm™ Allograft Dermal Matrix or the InteLata™ Allograft Fascia Lata (all available from American Medical Systems, Inc.). The selected urethral sling is intended to be cut to size and in a T-shape to fit between the bone screws and to be attached thereto as described above. The InFast™ Ultra Female Urethral sling System includes four, typically, titanium bone screws and a disposable, battery powered, inserter that positively engages the bone screw to drive it into bone. In this system, a length of No. 1 Prolene suture is passed through a metal ring extending proximally from the bone screw, and the ends of the suture are joined to needles adapted to be passed through the urethral sling. A distal end of a drive shaft of the battery-powered inserter engages the bone screws, and the drive shaft is shaped to enable orientation of the screw threads toward the posterior aspect of the pubic bone. Other types of bone anchors that include a penetrating tip, a shaft, and a suture threaded through the shaft and that are adapted to be inserted into bone are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,635,058 and 6,746,455.
The tensioning of the selected urethral sling is accomplished in this procedure as the suture needles are passed through the urethral sling, and the urethral sling is pressed against the bone surface. The suture needles are severed, and the suture ends are tied together. The tied suture knot is slid upward and posteriorly (behind the bone) to ensure juxtaposition of the sling end to the bone surface.
The above-described bone screws are intended to be driven into the bone until completely embedded with the suture extending out of the self-tapped bore in the bone.
Thus, in the above-described procedures, the urethral sling in maintained in place, and sling tension is adjusted and applied through the tied sutures. The procedure of initially tensioning and tying the sutures takes an undue amount of the surgical time, up to 15-25 minutes as observed in some instances employing the InVance™ Male Urethral Sling System for implanting the InteMesh™ Synthetic Surgical Mesh. Moreover, it is sometimes difficult to achieve the tension in the urethral sling that is sufficient to constrict the urethral sphincter to provide urethral resistance to leakage at the selected water bag height, e.g. at 60 cm.
If the resulting sling tension is not adequate, it may be necessary to untie the tied sutures to readjust tension including possibly repositioning the bone screw in the pubic bone or the sutures extending through the urethral sling. Tying, untying and retying the suture knots consumes further time. Thus, it would be desirable to simplify the process of and to reduce the amount of time that it takes to detach, adjust tension, and reattach the urethral mesh to the sutures extending from bone screws.
Moreover, the sutures may have been trimmed at the knot following an earlier tying. Applying tension through and retying the trimmed sutures may be difficult to accomplish. Therefore, it would be desirable to simplify the process of tensioning and retying the sutures in a manner that is not compromised by trimming the suture length.
In addition, redundant knots are often tied to increase reliability of the suture knot, and the size of the knots so formed can irritate adjacent enervated tissue, causing discomfort to the patient. Consequently, it would be desirable to minimize the physical size of suture fixation of the urethral sling to the bone anchors or screws.
Various types of bone anchors that include a penetrating tip, a shaft, and a head and are adapted to be inserted into bone are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,328,744, 6,387,041, 6,544,273, 6,730,110, and 6,843,796. In certain embodiments disclosed in the '041 patent, for example, the head extends at an angle to the shaft axis, and may comprise laterally extending arms or may comprise a circular plate, a sphere or a half-sphere. In use, the tip is advanced through the sling so that the sling bears against the shaft and is maintained there by the head.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention incorporate a number of inventive features that address the above-described problems that may be combined as illustrated by the preferred embodiments or advantageously separately employed.

Surgical kit for securing an implantable sling in a pubic region


Flame retardant flexible polyurethane foam compositions, methods of flame retarding flexible polyurethane foam compositions, articles made therefrom and flame retardants that comprise blends of (alkyl substituted) triaryl phosphate ester and phosphorus-containing flame retardant having at least about 5 wt. % phosphorus additives. The combined weight of the (alkyl substituted) triaryl phosphate ester and the phosphorus-containing flame retardant comprises about 5 to about 40% by weight of the flexible polyurethane foam compositions or reaction mixtures. The ratio of the (alkyl substituted) triaryl phosphate ester to the phosphorus-containing flame retardant is from about 95:5 to about 50:50 percent by weight.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to flame retardant polyurethane compositions, and more particularly to flame retardant flexible polyurethane foam compositions, methods of flame retarding flexible polyurethane foam compositions, articles made therefrom and flame retardants that comprise blends of alkylated triaryl phosphate esters and phosphorus-containing flame retardant additives.
2. Description of Related Art
Polyurethanes are polymers produced by the reaction of an isocyanate and a hydroxyl-containing material, such as a polyol. Polyurethanes are available in many different forms including a flexible foam, which is typically formed by treating a polyol with a diisocyanate in the presence of water and a catalyst. This reaction results in a flexible foam composition having an abundance of carbon-hydrogen bonds, a large surface area, and an open cell structure. Due, at least in part, to these characteristics, the flexible polyurethane foam is extremely susceptible to combustion. Accordingly, flame retardant additives are often used to reduce the risk and severity of flexible polyurethane foam combustion.
Flame retardant additives commonly used in flexible polyurethane foams typically contain halogens. Non-halogen flame retardant additives have also been used. However, non-halogen flame retardant additives may be less efficient than halogenated flame retardants, thereby prompting the use of higher flame retardant additive levels to compensate for this lower efficiency. Unfortunately, the use of higher flame retardant additive levels may contribute to reduced foam physical properties.
Triaryl phosphate-based flame retardant agents have been used in thermoplastic compositions. However, such agents may form a liquid deposit on the injection molds, which may adversely affect the environmental stress crack resistance of the resulting thermoplastic resins.
Historically, the first commercially available triaryl phosphates were derived from coal tar and included tricresyl phosphate, trixylyl phosphate, and mixtures of triaryl phosphates. Isopropylated and butylated synthetic triaryl phosphates were later developed as direct substitutes for coal tar derivatives and were mainly used as plasticizers for polyvinylchloride (PVC) compositions. During the development of flame retardant applications, the trend for newer additives was toward higher performance through increased phosphorus content and lower viscosity.
Alkylated triaryl phosphate esters have been used as flame retardants for flexible polyurethane foam for many years. These esters combine good hydrolytic and thermal stability with flame retardant efficiency provided by their phosphorus content. Triaryl phosphate esters are used either alone, or more commonly, in conjunction with halogenated additives.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,682 to Green discloses blending alkylated triaryl phosphate esters with brominated diphenyl oxide for use as a flame retardant for polyurethane. U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,833 to Buszard et al. discloses the use of isopropylated phosphate esters as flame retardant agents in rigid polyurethanes or polyisocyanurates. These esters contain varying levels of triphenyl phosphate (TPP). The use of triphenyl phosphate has hereto been desirable because it was found to reduce viscosity and contribute to higher phosphorus content. Phosphorus is known to contribute to performance as a flame retardant.
Alkylated triphenyl phosphates that have been recommended and used as flame retardants have had phosphorus contents in excess of 7.7 percent. Butylated phosphates available and recommended for use as flame retardants have a phosphorus content of at least 8 percent (AKZO-Nobel Functional Chemicals Bulletin 99-94, 1999).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,993 to Blundell et al. discloses the use of resorcinol bisdiphenylphosphate (RDP) to impart flame retardency to polyurethane compositions.

Blends of alkyl substituted triaryl phosphate esters with phosphorus-containing flame retardants for polyurethane foams


An apparatus and the method for upgrading the firmware code of an optical disk drive via the ATA/IDE interface are disclosed. The optical disk drive has a firmware code memory and a microcontroller that executes the firmware code. A drive decoder decodes to connect the optical disk drive to a host computer system via the ATA/IDE interface. The apparatus includes a programming controller that receives signals from the ATA/IDE interface and performs input/output decode to determine whether the host computer system has requested an upgrade of the firmware or to maintain the optical disk drive in normal operation. A multiplexer has a first input connected to the programming controller, and the second input connected to the microcontroller. The multiplexer selects the first input to the memory device via the multiplexed output for performing a firmware upgrade operation when the host computer system requests a firmware upgrade. The on-site upgrade operation can be performed without access to the inside of the drive unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to on-site upgrading of firmware code in optical disk drives. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus for optical disk drives and its corresponding method capable of implementing firmware code upgrade via the ATA/IDE interface of the host computer system.
2. Technical Background
Optical disk drives, in particular the category of CD-ROM drives, the digital optoelectronic memory storage equipment have become so popular that almost every personal computer system has at least one installed. In the world of personal computers, the design of CD-ROM drives was intended originally for the storage of mass information on the CD-ROM discs. The concept, in a sense, is basically the same as the magnetic disk drives, which store information on the surface of the storage media. No writing capability is available to the user for this member of the CD family, and thus the name "CD-ROM." Large data is, however, accessible from CD-ROM discs that are mass produced for a low cost.
Although CD-ROM has been adopted by the ISO as a standard for digital data storage, there are also other applications beyond the simple storage of large amounts of data. Under proper software control, a CD-ROM drive may also be used to access several other types of discs in the CD family.
For example, in personal computer systems, CD-ROM drives are frequently used as the traditional CD player for playing back music pieces stored on the very first generation of CD, namely, the music CD. After the introduction of the original music CD, there had emerged in the family such formats as the Video CD (VCD). Conventional CD-ROM drives for personal computer systems are designed to be able to play back VCD video programs on the computer display screen. Due to the inherent limitation of the MPEG-1 adopted, the VCD standard is not for serious applications, and a couple of groups of electronic appliance conglomerates have recently achieved a new standard known as the Digital Video Disc (or Digital Versatile Disc).
This is a new video data storage format, a new member of the CD family based on the MPEG-2 standard that provides substantially better video effects via the use of higher resolution. As the DVD standard had proposed, backward compatibility for the new generation of DVD drives to the CD-ROM format has been designed into the new system. In other words, the up-coming DVD drives will be able to read CD-ROM in addition to its default DVD.
Thus, as an optical Compact Disc subsystem for a computer system, the CD-ROM drive can be programmed to access different formats of the CD family of media. In the popular x86-based IBM-compatible machines, this is implemented in a manner known as software driver installation. With the installation of the proper software drivers, the computer system, governed by the operating system, can be used to read data files stored on the CD-ROM, playback music CD, or video VCD. These software drivers are essentially established on top of the hardware-level control program resident in the control system of a CD-ROM drive. This firmware program is usually stored in non-volatile semiconductor memory devices, such as the erasable-programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable-programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).
Based on this firmware, CD-ROM drives can be controlled by the host computer system to suitably implement the functionality of music CD player, VCD player, and/or CD-ROM data drive. However, under certain circumstances, in particular when new models of CD-ROM drives are released to market for sale, software programs, either the firmware in the control electronics of the drive itself or the operating system/application-level driver, may have program problems (program bugs) that might cause the drive to malfunction. If the problem was with the operating system/application-level driver, it's fix may not involve the CD-ROM drive at all. If, however, the problem was unfortunately with the firmware of the CD-ROM drive, the software fix will inevitably cause much trouble.
Basically, if the drive firmware has any program problem, the firmware stored in the semiconductor memory device must be upgraded, namely, replaced by another copy without the problem. If the semiconductor memory used for holding the firmware program was a device like an EPROM, it must be removed from its inserted socket or de-soldered from the printed circuit board so as to implement reprogramming of its memory content. Normally, this involves ultraviolet irradiation on the EPROM device for its memory content erasure. If the erased memory device was to be reused again, as is usually the case, it then has to be reprogrammed to hold the new problem-free firmware program. Even if an EEPROM device was used to store the drive firmware, it must be handled in the manner as in the case of EPROM. This is because the conventional CD-ROM drive control logic lacks the design for on-site reprogramming.
The above-described procedure of firmware upgrade/fix for the conventional CD-ROM drives requires that the casing of the drive be opened in order to be able to have access to the firmware memory device. Before the memory device can even be accessed, the CD-ROM drive itself must be removed from the drive bay of the computer system unit, if it has already been installed. Further, erasure and programming of EPROM and/or EEPROM devices normally require the use of dedicated equipment such as ultraviolet eraser and programmer. Therefore, typical firmware upgrade operation for a CD-ROM drive is not normally handled by the end user of the computer system. A more likely scenario would be to have service personnel remove the CD-ROM drive from the system, and have the drive sent back to the manufacturer's site where the firmware gets upgraded.
When the CD-ROM drive whose firmware is to be upgraded is returned to the manufacturer's facility, the casing is opened, and the memory device is removed from the drive electronics utilizing proper tools and/or equipment. After reprogramming, the memory device, or a substitute thereof containing the correct firmware program code, may then be replaced back into the drive electronics. After adequate testing procedures, the upgraded CD-ROM drive is ready to be returned to the owner. Again, qualified personnel must replace the drive back into the computer system. As is obvious, relatively complicated professional knowledge is required to perform all the tasks involved in the upgrade of a CD-ROM drive. In a time when severe competition has driven the prices of CD-ROM drives down to the level where it is difficult for manufacturers to maintain a descent profit margin, such upgrading operation is strictly disastrous.
This is because the necessity to perform firmware upgrade for a CD-ROM drive often arises within the warrantee period of the product. As such, it is convention that the manufacturer will have to be responsible for the expenditures of drive removal from the host computer system as well as shipment, not to mention all the additional man power required to perform the upgrade. On the other hand, in the process of upgrade, the drive and its components may easily be subject to damages to cause additional loss. For the drive owner, the cost to find some technician to remove the drive from the computer system (if the manufacturer was not going to be responsible) may frequently amount to the level of the cost of some low-end CD-ROM drives.

System for selectively upgrading firmware code for optical disk drive via ATA/IDE interface based on host system programming enable signal


A method for producing a silica container having a rotational symmetry includes forming a preliminarily molded article by feeding a powdered substrate's raw material to an inner wall of an outer frame having aspiration holes with rotating the frame, and forming a silica substrate. The preliminarily molded article is aspirated from an outer peripheral side with controlling a humidity inside the outer frame by ventilating gases present in the outer frame with charging from inside the preliminarily molded article a gas mixture comprised of an O2 gas and an inert gas and made below a prescribed dew-point temperature by dehumidification, and at the same time heated from inside the preliminarily molded article by a discharge-heat melting method with carbon electrodes, thereby making an outer peripheral part of the preliminarily molded article to a sintered body while an inner peripheral part to a fused glass body.

A silica glass is used for a lens, a prism and a photomask of a photolithography instrument in manufacturing of a large-scale integrated circuit (LSI), for a TFT substrate used for a display, for a tube of a ultraviolet lamp or an infrared lamp, for a window material, for a reflection plate, for a cleaning container in a semiconductor industry, for a container for melting of a silicon semiconductor, and so forth. Accordingly, from the past, various methods for producing a silica glass have been proposed.
For example, in Patent Document 1, a method (sol-gel method) in which a silicon alkoxide is hydrolyzed to a silica sol, which is then gelated to a wet gel, then to a dry gel by drying, and finally to a transparent silica glass body by heating at high temperature is disclosed. In Patent Document 2, a method in which a transparent silica glass is obtained by a sol-gel method from a silica sol mixture solution formed of tetramethoxy silane or tetraethoxy silane and a silica sol solution containing silica fine particles is disclosed. In Patent Document 3, a method for producing a transparent silica glass by using a silicon alkoxide and silica glass fine particles as its main raw materials, wherein a heating process at a temperature range from 200 to 1300° C. is carried out under an oxygen gas-containing atmosphere, a further heating process to 1700° C. or higher is carried out under a hydrogen gas-containing atmosphere, and a heating process between the foregoing two heating processes is carried out under a reduced pressure atmosphere, is disclosed. In these conventional sol-gel methods, however, the produced silica glass had problems of a dimensional precision at the initial stage and a heat resistance under its use at high temperature thereafter; and in addition, not only there were problems of release of carbon fine particles and emission of large quantities of gases such as CO and CO2 because of high carbon content, but also the cost thereof was not so cheap.
In Patent Document 4, a method (slip casting method), wherein at least two different kinds of silica glass particles, for example, silica glass fine particles and silica glass granules are mixed to obtain a water-containing suspension solution, which is then press molded and sintered at high temperature to obtain a silica-containing composite body, is disclosed. In Patent Document 5, a method, wherein a mixed solution (slurry) containing silica glass particles having the size of 100 μm or less and silica glass granules having the size of 100 μm or more is prepared, then the slurry is cast into a molding frame, dried, and then sintered to obtain an opaque silica glass composite material, is disclosed. In these conventional slip casting methods, however, shrinkage of a molded article in a drying process and a sintering process is so significant that a thick silica glass article with a high dimensional precision could not be obtained. In addition, because of high water content there were problems of the high OH concentration and of a large released of an H2O gas during its use at high temperature thereafter.
Accordingly, there are problems as mentioned above in the method for producing a silica glass article from a powdered raw material. Therefore, as a method for producing a silica crucible for manufacturing of a single crystal silicon used for LSI, such production methods as those disclosed in Patent Document 6 and Patent Document 7 are being used still today. In these methods, after a powdered ultra-highly purified natural quartz is fed into a rotating frame and then molded, carbon electrodes are inserted from the top and then electrically charged to cause arc discharge thereby raising the atmospheric temperature to a temperature range for melting of the powdered quartz (estimated temperature in the range from about 1800 to about 2100° C.) so that the powdered raw quartz may be melted and sintered.
In these methods, however, there has been a problem of a high cost because powdered raw material quartz with high purity is used. In addition, because various kinds of impure gases and a large quantity of fine carbon particles scattered from the carbon electrodes are dissolved or contained in a produced silica crucible, the gases are released and then incorporated into a single crystal silicon as gaseous bubbles when it is used as a silica crucible for growing of a single crystal silicon, thereby causing problems in production cost as well as quality of the silicon crystal. In addition, there has been a problem of a poor thermal distortion resistance of the silica crucible because side wall of the crucible is distorted by softening at the time of pulling up of a single crystal silicon.
In Patent Document 8, a silica crucible formed of three layers of an outer layer comprised of a natural quartz glass, an intermediate layer comprised of a synthetic quartz glass containing aluminum in high concentration, and an inner layer comprised of a high purity synthetic quartz glass, obtained from a powdered silica raw material by an arc-discharge melting method is described (it seems that the melting was carried out under an air atmosphere). In it, prevention effect of impurity migration by the intermediate layer is shown. However, not only a high cost of the three-layer structure having the structure as mentioned above but also the problems of thermal distortion resistance and of formation of voids and pinholes contained in a single crystal silicon have been remained unsolved.
In Patent Document 9, a technology to reduce gaseous bubbles in a wall of a melted quartz crucible by aspiration from a peripheral of a molding frame at the time of an arc-discharge melting of a molded article of a powdered raw material silica is shown.
However, dissolved gases in a wall of a melted quartz crucible could not be removed completely by mere aspiration of an air present in the powdered silica. It was only possible to produce a crucible containing a large quantity of residual gases, in particular, CO, CO2 and H2O.
In Patent Document 10, a silica crucible formed of three layers containing a crystallization facilitation agent, produced by a similar arc-discharge melting method, is shown.
However, when a single crystal silicon is pulled up by using this three-layered crucible, there have been problems that the crucible is not necessarily crystallized uniformly, defects such as voids and pinholes are formed in a grown single crystal silicon because of a large quantity of released gases from the crucible, and the thermal distortion takes place at the time of using the crucible.

Silica container and method for producing the same


A communication control device receives and transmits control data and/or communication data through a ring communication network. The apparatus comprises a wait time decision unit for deciding, according to a state of the network, a wait time for detecting a reception of the control data circulating through the network; a wait time holding unit for holding the wait time decided by the wait time decision unit; and a time counting unit for counting time from a reception of the control data and providing a broken control data report signal if the control data is not again received within the wait time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication control apparatus for detecting the absence of a control data circulating through a ring communication network, and particularly to a communication control device that can shorten a wait time for issuing a broken control data report signal which indicates the absence of a control data and to quickly carry out a control data recovery process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A token ring network is a kind of a local area network (LAN) communication system. The token ring network connects a plurality of communication control devices (nodes) in a ring as defined in IEEE Std. 802.5, and circulates a frame having communication data and a control data called a token, which is control a communication of the frame, as a bit stream through the communication control devices in the network.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram related to a token management function in the communication control devices connected to the token ring network. The communication control device 101 comprises a reception unit 103 for receiving a bit stream from an upstream one of the communication control devices and detecting the token in the data bits; a transmission unit 104 for receiving the communication data from the reception unit 103 and transmitting the same to a downstream one of the communication devices; a timer unit 105 for starting a time counting operation in response to a token detection signal provided by the reception unit 103 and providing a broken token report signal (a time out report signal) if not receiving the next token detection signal within a predetermined time; and a protocol control unit 107 for providing a token transmission signal to the transmission unit 104 when receiving no broken token report signal from the timer unit 105.
Upon receiving the token transmission signal from the protocol control unit 107, the transmission unit 104 generates and transmits the token. The timer unit 105 detects whether or not the token is broken due to noise, etc.
FIG. 2 shows a format of the token.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a conventional timer unit to be disposed in the communication control device of FIG. 1.
In FIG. 3, the timer unit comprises a good token timer 121, which is restarted to count in response to a restart signal, i.e., the token detection signal provided by the reception unit 103 when an enable signal is supplied from the protocol control unit 107. If the good token timer 121 does not receive the next token detection signal from the reception unit 103 within the fixed wait time, the good token timer 121 provides a time out signal, i.e., the broken token report signal and stops counting. If the good token timer 121 receives the next token detection signal from the reception unit 103 within the fixed wait time, the good token timer 121 is restarted as described above.
With the good token timer 121 installed in the timer unit of each communication control device, the number of the communication control devices (nodes) to be connected to the token ring network may be 260 at a maximum. A token holding time of each node is 10 milliseconds (ms), so that if there are 260 nodes, it takes 2.6 sec (10 ms.times.260) at maximum for a token to circulate through the network. Accordingly, the good token timer 121 is usually designed to have the maximum value of 2.6 sec as a fixed wait time.
Namely, if the token is not again detected 2.6 sec after detecting the token for the first time, the good token timer 121 provides the broken token report signal indicating that the token was broken by noise, etc., and that a recovery process such as sending again the token must be carried out.
FIG. 4 shows a token ring network 125 including four nodes (communication control devices) A to D each having the good token timer 121 of FIG. 3. This network circulates a token in a counterclockwise direction.
In each of the nodes A to D, the good token timer 121 is restarted to count the fixed wait time of 2.6 sec whenever receiving the token. If the good token timer 121 of a certain one of the nodes A to D again receives the token within the fixed wait time, the normal data communication is carried out.
If the circulating token is broken due to noise, etc., between, for example, the nodes A and B, the good token timer 123 of the node B causes a time out at first because the timer 123 of the node B has been started earliest. The node B, therefore, provides the broken token report signal.
As explained before, a maximum token holding time of each node for holding a token for transmitting communication data is 10 ms. In the token ring network 125 with the four nodes A to D of FIG. 5, a maximum time for circulating the token through the network 125 is 40 ms (10 ms.times.4 nodes), so that the 40 ms is sufficient as the wait time set in the good token timer 121.
The wait time of the good token timer 121, however, is fixed to 2.6 sec in consideration of the maximum node number of 260 possibly connected to the token ring network. As a result, although the 40 ms is sufficient as the wait time for determining whether or not the token is broken in the small token ring network with the four nodes shown in FIG. 5, each node of the network of FIG. 5 must have a redundancy of 2.56 sec (2.6 sec -40 ms). For this redundancy, the broken token report signal is delayed, and data transmission is disabled. This means that, if the token ring has a data transfer rate of 4 Mbps, data of about 10 megabits are not transmitted during the redundancy of 2.56 sec, to cause a lowering of communication efficiency.
When no data is transmitted from any one of the four nodes, the token is circulated at high speed through the network 125 because the token is not kept in each node. In this case, the broken token report signal will never be provided by any one of the nodes before the expiration of the fixed wait time of 2.6 sec, and during this period, no communication will be made, thereby aggravating the problem.

Communication control device having an apparatus for detecting the absence of a control data on a ring communication network


An integrated bottle enclosure includes a top cap, bottom cap, rigid straw casing and telescoping straw assembly to provide efficient means to contain a straw within a sealed bottle. Opening the top cap presents a straw ready for immediate use, or the straw may be grasped and pulled, to reveal ample straw length for keeping a consumer's mouth away from the bottle. The top cap and bottom cap connect by means to create a secure straw vault which prevents fluid from leaking out of the straw.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to means and methods of creating a drinking straw and integrated enclosure assembly suitable for use with a bottle. More particularly, the invention relates to a telescopic straw system integrated into a bottle closure and bottle cap system.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Several attempts to create a self contained straw and bottle cap system are known in the related art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,315 issued to Shrum on Mar. 27, 1990 discloses a container lid and integral straw. The straw in Shrum is secured by a lid, but is relatively exposed to damage as the beverage is handled before consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,382 issued to Li on Aug. 13, 2002 discloses a plug inserted into the top tip of a straw, with the plug being connected to a cap assembly. The plug piece may tear the upper portion of a straw during transit. The plug also adds difficulty and expense in manufacturing as gently inserting the plug into a straw is not a trivial task. Li also fails to provide easy means of resealing and covering an internal straw.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,779 issued to Lee on Oct. 19, 1993 discloses a self-contained pop-up straw assembly using a coil component to upwardly propel a telescoping straw member. Lee presents expense and complexity in the area of telescoping straws, as the coil component must be of sufficient rigidity to move an inward telescoping straw frictionally secured within an outside telescoping straw. Lee also presents a complex system that attempts to self center a pop-up straw that is stored in a skewed position.
There is a need in the art to overcome the shortfalls of, inter alia, Lee, Li and Shrum.

Integrated straw and bottle closure assembly


The invention relates to a method and a device for identifying a damaged bearing (4a, 4b) of a rotating shaft (1). According to the invention: the rotational speed (n) of the shaft (1) is determined; the alternating component (nAC) of the rotational speed (n) is determined, together with a smooth curve (h) of said alternating component (nAC) of the rotational speed (n); the smooth curve (h) is converted into the frequency range and a frequency response (B) of the value of the smooth curve (h) is determined. Said frequency response (B) of the value of the curve is monitored for the passing of a threshold value (G1, G2, G3, G4) and if said threshold value (G1, G2, G3, G4) is exceeded, a damaged bearing (4a, 4b) is identified. The invention thus provides a method and a device for identifying a damaged bearing (4a, 4b) of a rotating shaft (1) of a motor, which do not require a vibration sensor (11) to identify a damaged bearing (4a, 4b) of said shaft (1).

The invention relates to a method and to a device for identifying a damaged bearing of a rotating shaft.
In motors, in particular in electric motors, the bearings of a rotating motor shaft of the motor must frequently be monitored for bearing damage.
FIG. 1 illustrates a standard method and a standard device for identifying a damaged bearing of a rotating motor shaft of a motor. The motor as per FIG. 1 has two sides A and B, which are denoted in FIG. 1 by A and B. The motor comprises a motor shaft 1, which is mounted by means of two bearings 4a and 4b, and a housing 2. Rolling bearings, for example, can serve as bearings 4a and 4b. In order to measure the position, that is to say the angular position of the motor shaft in relation to an origin, and/or in order to measure the rotational speed of the motor shaft, the motor has a position sensor 3 which, in the example, is in the form of a resolver. The position sensor 3 outputs the position φ of the motor shaft, for the open-loop and/or closed-loop control of the motor, to an open-loop and/or closed-loop control unit of the motor. The motor does of course comprise further elements, but these are not illustrated in FIG. 1 as they are not essential to the understanding of the invention.
In the standard method for identifying a damaged bearing of a rotating motor shaft of a motor, a vibration sensor 11 is attached to the motor, which vibration sensor 11 measures the vibrations of the motor. The vibration sensor 11 passes a vibration signal S on to an external evaluating unit 13 which is not a constituent part of the open-loop and/or closed-loop control device. In the evaluating unit 13, an envelope is placed over the vibration signal S, the envelope undergoes a Fourier transformation and the absolute frequency response of the envelope is determined. If the absolute frequency response exceeds a limit value, bearing damage is identified and an alarm signal AL is generated. Here, the alarm signal AL is preferably generated after a relatively long period of exceedance of the limit value in order to avoid false alarms.
The standard method and the standard device for identifying a damaged bearing have some disadvantages. On the one hand, a vibration sensor must be provided, and on the other hand, the external evaluating unit 13 is usually required as a separate unit which is not a constituent part of an already-existing open-loop and/or closed-loop control device for the open-loop and/or closed-loop control of the motor. Said disadvantages make the above-described standard method and standard device for identifying a damaged bearing expensive and complex.

Method and device for identifying a damaged bearing of a rotating shaft


Composite rigging, rigging terminals, methods of forming composite rigging, and methods of assembling the rigging terminals in a rigging system of a sailboat incorporate a sling of composite fibers having an equivalent cross-sectional profile and stretch resistance, but greater strength and less weight as compared to steel rigging. The rigging terminal includes a terminal fitting having a first opening, a second opening, and an interior space, and a terminal insert disposed inside the interior space. The terminal insert is formed with a first end disposed toward the first opening of the fitting, first and second posts disposed on the first end, and a second end having a shape tapered and disposed toward the second opening of the fitting. One or more composite fibers can be wound around the first end of the insert and held in a space between wall of the terminal fitting interior space and the terminal insert.

A standing rigging system is used for stabilizing the mast of a sailboat. Standing rigging systems, which encompass continuous and discontinuous standing rigging systems, typically have rigging terminals or terminal fittings to terminate tension members, or rigging, for example, stays and shrouds. Rigging terminals are typically constructed with steel, cobalt, or titanium metals, and are formed with couples to connect parts of the rigging system together and to the body of the boat. Design of rigging terminals and material selection for rigging can significantly affect performance of the sailboat as a whole. The weight, size and shape of rigging terminals may especially affect the performance of discontinuous standing rigging systems. This is due to the fact that discontinuous standing rigging systems require more discrete or discontinuous segments of tension members, and therefore a greater number of rigging terminals.
Material selection and methods of assembling standing rigging such as stays, shrouds, and other tension members, and rigging terminals for use on sailboats typically have the following design goals: minimize weight, minimize size (for ease of installation), maximize elastic modulus, maximize tensile strength, and minimize aerodynamic drag. In choosing an appropriate material for constructing the tension members, there often is a trade off between these goals. For example, standing rigging made of synthetic polymer fibers, such as poly-p-phenylenebenzobisoxazole (PBO) fibers, can provide performance advantages by way of weight reduction over standard stainless steel rigging. Synthetic polymers, however, provide less stretch resistance than stainless steel. As a result, a greater cross-sectional area of synthetic fibers is required to construct standing rigging with an equivalent stretch resistance. Consequently, to date, PBO rigging have been significantly larger in cross-sectional area than equivalent steel rigging. Similarly, rigging terminals for PBO rigging generally are larger than their steel rigging counterparts.
Composite carbon fiber is another class of synthetic fibers that have been used to construct rigging for standing rigging systems. Composite carbon fibers typically are formed into pultruded carbon rods of about 1 mm in diameter. These carbon rods are then assembled into rigging terminals using a precisely controlled tension apparatus that attempts to equally distribute the tension load among the carbon rods. Generally, the higher the tensile strength requirement to resist a stay load, the higher the number of pultruded carbon fibers are required. Therefore, a predetermined number of pultruded carbon fibers are bundled into a given rigging terminal based on its tensile strength requirement. However, in rigging constructed with pultruded rods, unwanted spaces can form between the rods, making the total cross sectional area larger than a comparable bundle of PBO fibers. According to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,886,484 and 6,848,381, spaces between pultruded rods can be reduced by forming hexagonal rods and assembling the hexagonal rods into rigging terminals. Consequently, rigging and rigging terminals constructed with pultruded carbon rods are also larger in cross-sectional area than their steel rigging counter parts.
While use of the above-described synthetic materials can reduce total weight of standing rigging systems by up to about 75% over the industry standard Nitronic stainless steel rigging, current design and construction techniques for composite rigging require the use of additional material having a larger cross-sectional area, due to the lower elastic modulus of composite materials as compared to stainless steel. This can result in a larger aerodynamic profile (drag) for the composite rigging. Also, when this composite rigging is assembled inside a mast, a larger internal mast space may be required and larger holes on the body of the mast may be required to accommodate the larger cross-sectional areas of the composite rigging and attendant large rigging terminals. This weakens the mast enclosure and increases the aerodynamic profile of the mast.
FIGS. 1A-1D (PRIOR ART) depict a prior art method of constructing rigging of a predetermined length and assembling terminals using composite fibers such as PBO fibers. First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a plurality of loops of PBO fibers 10 are wound around two spools 11A and 11B to form a sling 12 of PBO fibers. The spools 11A and 11B are held at a predetermined distance from each other to ensure that the loops of fibers forming the sling are held at an approximately equal tension. Referring to FIG. 1B, one end of the sling 12 is then formed into an end fitting with an "eye" opening 13. A temporary "eye" mold 17 may be used to hold the fibers of the sling 12 in place. Once formed, this "eye" opening provides a means to connect the rigging terminal to other parts of the standing rigging system, for example, the mast, or the body of the boat. Due to the nature of PBO fibers, a large-diameter "eye" mold is required to prevent the PBO fibers from breaking around the spool. A spacer 14 may be inserted adjacent to the "eye," and the PBO fibers are combined to form a rigging tension member. To protect the newly formed end fitting from environmental damage such as saltwater ingress and UV radiation, a molded plastic cover 15 may be slipped over the PBO fibers, as shown in FIG. 1C. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 1D, a braided anti-UV cover 16 may be applied to cover the PBO fibers where they are initially joined together after the wedge.
According to the above design depicted in FIGS. 1A-1D, PBO fibers with a larger cross-sectional area, as compared to equivalent steel rigging, are required to construct a rigging with a stretch resistance equivalent to steel rigging. Consequently, rigging terminals with the "eye" opening are undesirably larger than rigging terminals for steel rigging.
FIGS. 2A-2C (PRIOR ART) depict a prior art method of constructing rigging and rigging terminals using pultruded carbon fiber rods. Referring to FIG. 2A, a bundle of pultruded carbon fiber rods 21 is fed through a terminal fitting 22 with a conical interior space. A conical insert 23 is placed inside the terminal fitting to compress the carbon fiber rods toward the tapered end of the terminal fitting 22, as indicated by an arrow 24a. As shown in FIG. 2B, the conical insert 23 has been completely inserted into the interior space of the terminal fitting 22 while applying a compressive force against the carbon fiber rods 21 against the interior wall 25 of the terminal fitting 22. The compressive force is designed to create enough friction between the carbon fiber rods 21 and the conical insert 23 and between the carbon fiber rods 21 and the interior wall of the terminal fitting 22 such that the tension load on the carbon fiber rods 21 does not pull the rods 21 out of the terminal fitting 22. Additionally, referring to FIG. 2B, a terminal end 26 includes a threaded portion 28 to be screwed into the terminal fitting 22 to provide further compression of the carbon fiber rods 21 to secure the rods inside the terminal fitting 22. An "eye" opening 27 can be formed on the terminal end 26 for connecting with other rigging elements. An example of this arrangement is provided in U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2007/0295256 to Sjostedt et al., in which FIGS. 15 and 16 depict a termination end in which composite rods are retained in a conical plug, and the plug is placed inside a housing portion with a threaded end. Alternatively, as depicted in FIG. 2C, an adhesive, such as epoxy, may be applied to the surface of the conical insert 23 to provide additional holding strength through glue shear.
However, the above design depicted in FIGS. 2A-2C results in rigging and rigging terminals of relatively large cross-sectional areas as compared to equivalent steel rigging and attendant rigging terminals. A further problem with pultruded carbon fiber rods occurs during assembly, where existing processes generally do not provide a consistent load distribution without the use of complex and costly apparatuses for equally distributing the tension load among the rods.
It would be desirable to provide rigging and rigging terminals made of composite materials such as carbon fibers in which the rigging and terminals have cross-sectional areas equivalent to steel rigging, but with a significantly reduced weight, and where the rigging and terminals have a substantially consistent load distribution, without forming unwanted spaces between the fibers.

Rigging, rigging terminals, and methods of assembling rigging and rigging terminals for a sailboat