A method and system for optimizing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols to improve MRI value are described herein. An example method includes selecting an imaging sequence, selecting at least one objective function from a plurality of objective functions, simulating a relationship between controllable acquisition variables and the objective functions, trade-offing the influence of the controllable acquisition variables for MRI value in whole k-space acquisition to determine optimal acquisition condition, acquiring at least one MR image using the optimal acquisition condition, receiving or estimating outcomes related to the at least one MR image, and evaluating an MR image value for the MR image based on the outcomes.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the most important modern medical imaging modalities. It has far less risk of side effects than most other imaging modalities such as radioscopy with x-rays or computed tomography because patients and medical personnel are not subjected to ionizing radiation exposure in the procedure. The use of MRI has grown very fast. Every year, more than 40 million MRI scans are performed in the United States; more than 70 million MRI scans are performed worldwide. Doctors often recommend MRI for the diagnosis of various diseases, such as tumors, strokes, heart problems, and spine diseases. A high-quality scan is important for maximizing diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy. Generally, high quality images are characterized by high signal to noise ratio (SNR), high contrast between normal and pathological tissues, low levels of artifacts, and appropriate spatial-temporal resolution.
In order to obtain a detectable MR signal, the object/subject examined is positioned in a homogeneous static magnetic field so that the object's nuclear spins generate net magnetization oriented along the static magnetic field. The net magnetization is rotated away from the static magnetic field using a radio frequency (RF) excitation field with the same frequency as the Larmor frequency of the nucleus. The angle of rotation is determined by the field strength of the RF excitation pulse and its duration. In the end of the RF excitation pulse, the nuclei, in relaxing to their normal spin conditions, generate a decaying signal (the "MR signal") at the same radio frequency as the RF excitation. The MR signal is picked up by a receive coil, amplified and processed. The acquired measurements, which are collected in the spatial frequency domain, are digitized and stored as complex numerical values in a "k-space" matrix. An associated MR image can be reconstructed from the k-space data, for example, by an inverse 2 dimensional (2D) or 3 dimensional (3D) fast Fourier transformation (FFT) from the raw k-space.
Recently, health care delivery in the United States is to transfer from traditional volume-driven to value-driven care. The healthcare value is defined as a metric which equals health outcomes of the patients divided by costs of delivering the outcomes. That is, the healthcare value is defined as the quality of patient outcome per unit of cost. The healthcare outcomes include mortality, safety of care, readmissions, effectiveness of care, efficient use of medical imaging, and so on. Improving healthcare outcomes mainly means improving the health of patients and the patient experience, and reducing costs. The healthcare cost relies on various factors such as report turnaround time, equipment utilization rates and downtimes, access and wait times, and staffing efficiency. The goal of value-based MRI is to improve healthcare quality of the patients and reduce the overall costs of care by improved MRI techniques, operation pipelines and utilizations.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,076,936 B2 to Borthakur A et al. discloses methods and systems for shortening scan time by as much as 3- or 4-fold or more over conventional MRI scanning methods in the combination of T1ρ preparation and acquisition of multiple lines of k-space.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,504,392 B2 to Saria S et al. discloses methods and systems to mine structured clinical event data in an electronic health record system to determine patient outcomes.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,664,954 B2 to Hetzer S et al. discloses methods and systems for improved imaging contrast and/or shortened acquisition time via the two segments in k-space sampling which are sampled along trajectories beginning with a central k-space line through a k-space center and continuing to opposite k-space borders of the two segments and wherein one central k-space line is sampled in both of the two k-space segments.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,286,572 B2 to Madabhushi A and Basavanhally A discloses a method and apparatus for predicting disease outcome using a multi-field-of-view scheme based on image-based features from multi-parametric heterogeneous images.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,339,239 B2 to Wang J et al. discloses a method and apparatus to optimize the objective function for the center of k-space based on a pre-determined k-space strategy to improve the image quality and efficiency. The cost of MRI exam is improved by the increased efficiency without the penalty of increased other costs. The method mainly focuses on 3 dimensional T1-weighted sequence acquisition.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,430,616 B2 to Duftler M J et al. discloses methods and systems for data analysis to identify treatment pathways correlated with the patient outcomes.
International Patent Publication No. WO 2016/145355 A1 to Wang J et al. discloses a method and apparatus to optimize the objective function through simulating Bloch equation or the solution of Bloch equation. The image quality and its efficiency was improved by shortening acquisition train length and optimal imaging parameters. The cost of MRI exam is improved by the increased efficiency without the penalty of increased other costs. The method mainly focuses on T1-weighted sequence with shortened acquisition train length.
International Patent Publication No. WO 2017/147418 A1 to Wang J discloses a method and apparatus to optimize the objective function through simulating Bloch equation or the solution of Bloch equation with administration of contrast agent. The cost of MRI exam is increased by the increased efficiency without the penalty of increased other costs. The method mainly focuses on T1-weighted sequence for contrast-enhanced imaging.
International Patent Application No. PCT/US2018/057007 to Wang J discloses a method and apparatus with optimal variable flip angels to improve the image quality and efficiency. The cost of MRI exam is decreased by the increased efficiency without the penalty of increased other costs. The method mainly focuses on the echo train techniques for both T1-weighted and T2-weighted sequences which involve acquiring plural, differently encoded, echo signals after one RF excitation. (e.g., using gradient refocusing in echo planar imaging (EPI), RF refocusing in rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE), or using both RF and gradient refocusing in gradient and spin echo imaging (GRASE)). But this method does not integrate with image interpretation for further improvement of MRI value.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0315182 to Rapaka S et al. discloses methods and systems for assessment and/or outcome determination in a medical system based on a large amount of information.

Method and apparatus for high value magnetic resonance imaging


The present invention is directed to azonafide derivatives obtained by reacting azonafide with aldehydes, acyl halides, thioacyl halides, monoisocyanates, isothiocyanates, sulfonyl halides, monohalogenoalkanes, monohalogenoalkenes or monohalogenoalkynes, and are useful as active ingredients of pharmaceutical compositions for the prevention and treatment of cell proliferative disorders, in particular several forms of cancer.

Various kinds of substituted naphthalimides are known in the art as having anti-tumour effect or other useful biological activity.
Amonafide is an isoquinolinedione derivative which has undergone extensive tests for its anti-tumour activity. Although the level of activity found for amonafide was and continues to be of high interest, this material does have significant deficiencies which indicate the continuing need for agents with improved properties. In the first place, amonafide was found to be too toxic for some patients: in particular it has produced substantial myelotoxicity leading to some deaths in patients receiving five daily doses of the drug. In addition, it was shown that amonafide had only moderate activity in leukemia models in mice. Also, it was shown that amonafide has no activity in human tumour xenografts in mice with colon, lung and mammary cancers. Thus, while amonafide shows significant biological activity, it does not have a substantially broad spectrum of activity in murine tumour models. Ajani et al. in Invest New Drugs (1988) 6:79-83 has shown that amonafide has poor activity when tested in primary human solid tumours in vitro.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,506 discloses compounds based on anthracene instead of naphtalene and having the following formula:
wherein:                A is (CR4R5)n3, lower cycloalkylene or arylene or a chemical bond;        each R4 and R5 are independently hydrogen or lower alkyl;        D may be a chemical bond;        R12 and R13 may be independently hydrogen or an optionally substituted lower alkyl; and        n1, n2, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10 and R11 together form the substituting pattern of the anthracenyl moiety.
These compounds are described as being useful in treating cancer in animals and humans, e.g. against malignant tumors (especially solid tumors and leukemia).
In particular, 2-[2′-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-1,2-dihydro-3H-dibenz(deh)isoquinoline-1,3-dione (also called "azonafide") disclosed in this document showed anti-tumor activity on multidrug resistant tumors in vitro but did not completely maintain its activity with the human Myeloma 8226/DOX 40 cell line where a possible three-fold cross resistance was evident. Azonafide was also said to delay the appearance of tumors and to reduce tumor growth in mice with more efficiency than amonafide. On another hand, most of the compounds disclosed in this prior art document, including azonafide, showed a higher cardiotoxicity than amonafide.
Although the activity of antiproliferative agents such as amonafide or azonafide derivatives against certain forms of cancers can be shown, improvement in tumor response rates, duration of response, metastatic inhibition and ultimately patient survival are still sought. There is also a need in the art for improving the efficacy of antiproliferative treatments in humans by providing suitable combinations of new drugs with conventional antineoplastic agents. In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of amonafide, azonafide and similar drugs available heretofore, the present inventors searched for azonafide derivatives which could demonstrate to be more effective anti-cancer agents. Specifically, they searched for compounds having one or more of the following characteristics:    1) increased tumor cell cytotoxic potency;    2) minimal, if any, cross resistance with multidrug resistant tumor cells;    3) relativity low cytotoxic potency in normal heart cells;    4) activity in a wide range of malignant tumors, especially solid tumors, hematological tumors, and leukemia; and    5) reduced myelotoxicity in humans at the tumor cell cytotoxic dosage.    6) Anti-migratory (anti-metastatic) effect
As a result of their research, the present inventors have developed the following compounds, methods and compositions meeting these objectives.

Azonafide derivatives, methods for their production and pharmaceutical compositions therefrom


An electronic driver circuit for word lines in a memory matrix is described. The driver circuit has coded outputs of a driver source, in particular of a current/voltage source, which are switched through to selected word lines. In this context, the word lines are selected in blocks by a control signal, and the outputs of the driver source are connected thereto. The coding of the driver source then selects the respective active word line.

The invention relates to an electronic driver circuit for word lines in a memory matrix and also to a memory apparatus, in particular a magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM) apparatus.
Semiconductor memories normally contain a cell array having a matrix of column and row lines, otherwise known as word and bit lines, at whose points of intersection the respective memory cell is located. In this case, the word line in a memory component is used for addressing during read and write operations, and the bit line is used for reading or writing to the memory cell.
The memory elements used in an MRAM memory cell are typically magnetic tunnel elements (TMR elements; TMR: tunnelling magnetoresistance). Such a TMR element contains, in principle, two magnetic layers, a hard magnetic layer and a soft magnetic layer. The layers are isolated from one another by an insulating intermediate layer having a thickness of only a few atomic layers. The magnetizations in the two layers may have both the same direction and opposite directions. The insulating barrier between the magnetic layers is so thin that, after a voltage has been applied, a few electrons can pass; a xe2x80x9ctunnel currentxe2x80x9d flows. In this context, the level of the tunnel current depends on the orientation of the magnetization directions with respect to one another.
Such a memory is written to by applying an electric current to a word line and a bit line in order to stipulate the magnetization direction of the xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d magnetic layer. The direction of the currents determines the content of the memory element. The currents required are relatively high (approximately 2.5 mA), particularly for writing, since the magnetization is produced by overlaying the magnetic fields of the currents in the word line and bit line.
For a read operation, a defined voltage is applied to the word line of the selected memory cell, and the defined voltage should be different from the voltage of the selected bit lines. On the bit lines running perpendicular to the word lines, it is then possiblexe2x80x94depending on the nature of the evaluation circuit on the bit linesxe2x80x94to evaluate a reading current or a reading voltage, which vary depending on the content of the addressed memory cell.
A requirement of the driving conditions is that each word line in a memory matrix in an MRAM component needs to be driven by in some cases very powerful transistors, which take up a relatively large area in integrated circuits. The transistors should be able to switch the high writing currents and to provide various voltage potentials for the un-activated and activated word lines. For the word lines in an MRAM cell array which are situated extremely close together, a special configuration is therefore required in order to minimize the area requirement and wiring complexity of the word line driver circuit.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an electronic driver circuit for word lines in a memory matrix and a memory apparatus which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art devices of this general type, which allows the wiring complexity and the area of the driver circuit to be reduced.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an electronic driver circuit for word lines in a memory matrix. The driver circuit contains a driver source having a plurality of outputs and the outputs include coded outputs, and a plurality of word line switches connected between the outputs of the driver source and the word lines such that the outputs of the driver source are switchably connected to the word lines. The word line switches receive and are driven by a control signal.
The invention provides that such a driver circuit for word lines in the memory matrix has the driver source, preferably the current/voltage source, having a plurality of outputs and a plurality of word line switches. The word line switches switchably connect the outputs of the driver source to the word lines. The outputs of the driver source have a plurality of coded outputs, which are connected to the word lines by the word line switches, the word line switches being selected by one or more control signals. The coded outputs supply the necessary signals for reading and writing to memory cells on a word line.
The inventive concept is that a number of word lines are first selected and the coded outputs of a driver source are applied thereto. In this context, the coded outputs of the driver source are isolated from the unselected word lines by the appropriate word line switches. The driver circuit makes it possible to avoid providing for each of the word lines a dedicated line driver or a complex word line switch which switches through the respectively provided signals to the word line in the manner of a multiplexer. This allows the word line switches to be configured using little circuit and wiring complexity.
In one preferred embodiment, each of the coded outputs of the driver source can assume various output values, which respectively correspond to a particular operating mode of the word lines. The outputs are coded such that they provide the various output values according to the desired operating mode of the respective word line. The respective output, which is in each case switched through to only one of the word lines, is coded on the basis of addressing provided for the respective word line and for the operating mode provided at that point. The fact that the word line signals are actually coded in the driver source results in that the circuit complexity for the word line switches can be significantly reduced. The various output values can be current values or voltage values.
Preferably, another provision is that the outputs of the driver source contain at least one further output, which is switched through to all the word lines, which are not selected by the control signal. This ensures that the inactive word lines are at a fixed potential and do not assume an undesirable voltage by floating.
Another provision in accordance with one preferred embodiment may be that the circuit receives a plurality of control signals, each of which controls a number of the plurality of word line switches, and that at most one of the control signals switches through the coded outputs of the driver source to the respective word lines via the word line switches. In this way, in each case only one of the coded outputs is connected to a respective one of the word lines. This advantageously allows the number of outputs provided for the driver source to be reduced. The word lines are thus subdivided into a plurality of blocks, each of the blocks having a number of word lines, which corresponds to the number of coded outputs of the driver source. In this context, it is expedient to weigh the respective circuit and wiring complexity arising when a driver source having a number of outputs is produced and the saving on circuit and wiring complexity for the word line switches against one another.
Preferably the word line switches are in the form of transistors. This has the advantage that the switches are easy to produce in integrated circuits. In integrated circuits, it is also expedient, for technological reasons, to provide metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors as switching elements. These additionally have low losses, i.e. the control input has virtually no current, which results in that little driver power is required when driving a plurality of such control inputs, e.g. using the control signal.
Preferably, the coded outputs of the driver source are switchably connected to the word lines by first transistors, and the further outputs of the driver source are connected to the word lines using second transistors. In this context, the first transistors are preferably chosen so that they turn on when selected by the control signal, and the second transistors are chosen so that they turn off in the case of the same control signal. The coded outputs are then connected to the word lines as a result of being selected by the control signal. The further outputs are consequently applied to the word lines not selected by the control signal by the second transistors. This advantageously ensures that, according to selection, either the coded outputs or the further outputs are connected to the word lines, which defines the respective operating mode of a word line.
Preferably, provision may be made for the first transistors to be N-MOS transistors, and for the second transistors to be P-MOS transistors and to be connected to a respective word line, the first and second transistors being controlled by the control signal. This is advantageous because N-MOS transistors and P-MOS transistors can be operated in complementary fashion, so that they can be addressed using only one control signal.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment, provision is also made for the first and second transistors to be N-MOS transistors which are controlled by two control signals such that in each case only the first transistor or only the second transistor on each of the word lines is on, and the other one is off. This is advantageous because N-MOS transistors have a smaller area than P-MOS transistors for the same power and are able to switch voltage levels in other ranges.
Preferably, a first voltage potential is present at at least one of the coded outputs, and a second voltage potential is present at the further output of the driver source, the first and second voltage potentials being approximately the same. When changing between a write and a read operation, the voltage potential of all unselected word lines and all inactive word lines, i.e. word lines which are not in a read or write mode, should preferably remain unchanged, since a flow of current through the unaddressed memory elements also needs to be prevented as far as possible in this case.
In one preferred embodiment, four word lines activated by one control signal are provided, since this allows the area of the circuit complexity to be minimized for the word lines.
Generally, the number of word lines selected by a control signal can be assumed to be arbitrary, however.
Preferably, that output of the driver source, which is connected to an active word line by an appropriate word line switch outputs a current for the purpose of writing to the memory matrix. Such a writing current on the word line permits writing to, by way of example, TMR memory elements in MRAMs.
In one preferred embodiment, that output of the driver source, which is connected to an active word line by the appropriate word line switch, outputs a reading voltage for the purpose of reading from the memory matrix. The reading voltage should be different than the voltage on the unselected word lines. This is necessary to ensure that a current flows through the TMR memory cell only via the active word line. If the voltages were the same, this would possibly result in a flow of current through a plurality of TMR elements, which would mean that it would no longer be possible to establish that memory cell through which the current were flowing, and it would thus no longer be possible to read the content of the individual memory cell.
In addition, a memory apparatus having an inventive driver circuit is preferably provided. The circuit complexity for the word line drivers can be greatly reduced in this apparatus, which allows the word line spacing to be reduced.
In this regard, another provision is made in the memory apparatus in that the two ends of the word lines can be respectively provided with the inventive driver circuit. This allows parasitic flows of current to be reduced. In this context, however, it is necessary to ensure that, when impressing currents on to the respective active word line, the output currents of the coded driver source have the same magnitude, but different arithmetic signs at the two ends.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an electronic driver circuit for word lines in a memory matrix and a memory apparatus, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Electronic driver circuit for word lines in a memory matrix, and memory apparatus


This invention provides a method for producing a lactic acid ester that can minimize input energy at the time of production, that can reduce chemical costs, and that can minimize equipment costs. This method comprises steps of: performing an esterification reaction in a reaction solution containing ammonium lactate obtained via fermentation and alcohol with an ammonia concentration of 1.0% by weight or lower; and recovering the lactic acid ester synthesized in the above step.

A fermentation process whereby lactic acid is synthesized by fermentation caused by lactic acid bacteria, ammonium lactate is obtained therefrom, and a lactic acid ester is then produced is known as a method for producing a lactic acid ester (JP Patent Publication (Unexamined) Nos. 2004-208501, 2002-300898, 7-194387 (1995), and 2003-284580). In this method, lactic acid produced by fermentation is neutralized with ammonia to prepare ammonium lactate, and alcohol is added thereto to esterify the ammonium lactate. Also, sulfuric acid is added to the reaction system to promote the esterification reaction. In such a production method, a lactic acid ester contained in the reaction solution is isolated by distillation and recovered at the end of the process.
Conventional methods for producing a lactic acid ester, such as those disclosed in the above patent documents, do not provide techniques that are sufficient to industrially produce a lactic acid ester. These methods have not been practical in terms of production cost. Specifically, the industrial production of a lactic acid ester requires a minimization of input energy at the time of production, a reduction in chemical costs, and a minimization of equipment costs. However, conventional methods for producing a lactic acid ester have not been able to provide any concrete means of fulfilling such requirements.


A monolithic ink-jet printhead includes a substrate which has an ink chamber to be supplied with ink, a manifold for supplying ink to the ink chamber, and an ink channel for providing communication between the ink chamber and the manifold, a nozzle plate including a plurality of passivation layers sequentially stacked on the substrate, a metal layer formed on the passivation layers, and a nozzle, through which ink is ejected from the ink chamber, that penetrates the nozzle plate, a heater provided between adjacent passivation layers, the heater being located above the ink chamber for heating ink within the ink chamber, a conductor provided between adjacent passivation layers, the conductor being electrically connected to the heater for applying a current to the heater, and a hydrophobic coating layer formed exclusively on an outer surface of the metal layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet printhead. More particularly, the present invention relates to a thermally driven, monolithic, ink-jet printhead having a nozzle plate that is formed integrally with a substrate and a hydrophobic coating layer formed on a surface of the nozzle plate, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, ink-jet printheads are devices for printing a predetermined image, color or black, by ejecting a small volume ink droplet of a printing ink at a desired position on a recording sheet. Ink-jet printheads are largely classified into two types depending on the ink droplet ejection mechanisms: a thermally driven ink-jet printhead, in which a heat source is employed to form and expand a bubble in ink thereby causing an ink droplet to be ejected, and a piezoelectrically driven ink-jet printhead, in which a piezoelectric crystal bends to exert pressure on ink, thereby causing an ink droplet to be expelled.
An ink droplet ejection mechanism of the thermally driven ink-jet printhead will now be described in detail. When a pulse current flows through a heater formed of a resistive heating material, heat is generated by the heater to rapidly heat ink near the heater to approximately 300° C. Accordingly, the ink boils and bubbles are formed in the ink. The formed bubbles expand and exert pressure on the ink contained within an ink chamber. This causes a droplet of ink to be ejected through a nozzle from the ink chamber.
The thermally driven ink-jet printhead may be further subdivided into top-shooting, side-shooting, and back-shooting types depending on the direction of ink droplet ejection and the direction in which a bubble expands. The top-shooting type refers to a mechanism in which an ink droplet is ejected in a direction that is the same as a direction in which a bubble expands. The back-shooting type is a mechanism in which an ink droplet is ejected in a direction opposite to the direction in which the bubble expands. In the side-shooting type, the direction of ink droplet ejection is perpendicular to the direction in which the bubble expands.
Thermally driven ink-jet printheads need to meet the following conditions. First, a simple manufacturing process, low manufacturing cost, and mass production must be provided. Second, to produce high quality color images, a distance between adjacent nozzles must be as small as possible while still preventing cross-talk between the adjacent nozzles. More specifically, to increase the number of dots per inch (DPI), many nozzles must be arranged within a small area. Third, for high-speed printing, a cycle beginning with ink ejection and ending with ink refill must be as short as possible. That is, the heated ink and heater should cool down quickly to increase an operating frequency. Fourth, heat load exerted on the printhead due to heat generated by the heater must be small, and the printhead must operate stably under a high operating frequency.
FIG. 1A illustrates a partial cross-sectional perspective view of a structure of a conventional thermally driven printhead. FIG. 1B illustrates a cross-sectional view of the printhead of FIG. 1A for explaining a conventional process of ejecting an ink droplet.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a conventional thermally driven ink-jet printhead includes a substrate 10, a barrier wall 14 disposed on the substrate 10 for defining an ink chamber 26 filled with ink 29, a heater 12 installed in the ink chamber 26, and a nozzle plate 18 having a nozzle 16 for ejecting an ink droplet 29′. If a pulse current is supplied to the heater 12, the heater 12 generates heat and a bubble 28 is formed due to the heating of the ink 29 contained within the ink chamber 26. The formed bubble 28 expands to exert pressure on the ink 29 contained within the ink chamber 26, thereby causing an ink droplet 29′ to be ejected through the nozzle 16. Then, the ink 29 flows from a manifold 22 through an ink channel 24 to refill the ink chamber 26.
The process of manufacturing a conventional top-shooting type ink-jet printhead configured as above involves separately manufacturing the nozzle plate 18, which includes the nozzle 16 and the substrate 10, which includes the ink chamber 26 and the ink channel 24, and bonding them together. The manufacturing process is complicated and misalignment may occur during the bonding of the nozzle plate-18 and the substrate 10. Furthermore, since the ink chamber 26, the ink channel 24, and the manifold 22 are arranged on a same plane, there is a restriction on increasing the number of nozzles 16 per unit area, i.e., the density of nozzles 16. This restriction makes it difficult to implement a high printing speed, high-resolution ink-jet printhead.
Recently, in an effort to overcome the above problems of conventional ink-jet printheads, ink-jet printheads having a variety of structures have been proposed. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a conventional monolithic ink-jet printhead.
Referring to FIG. 2, a hemispherical ink chamber 32 and a manifold 36 are formed on a front surface and a rear surface of a silicon substrate 30, respectively. An ink channel 34 is formed at a bottom of the ink chamber 32 and provides communication between the ink chamber 32 and the manifold 36. A nozzle plate 40, including a plurality of passivation layers 41, 42, and 43 stacked on the substrate 30, is formed integrally with the substrate 30.
The nozzle plate 40 has a nozzle 47 formed at a location corresponding to a central portion of the ink chamber 32. A heater 45 connected to a conductor 46 is disposed around the nozzle 47. A nozzle guide 44 extends along an edge of the nozzle 47 toward a depth direction of the ink chamber 32. Heat generated by the heater 45 is transferred through an insulating layer, which is the lowermost passivation layer 41, to ink 48 within the ink chamber 32. The ink 48 then boils to form bubbles 49. The formed bubbles 49 expand to exert pressure on the ink 48 contained within the ink chamber 32, thereby causing an ink droplet 48′ to be ejected through the nozzle 47. Then, the ink 48 flows through the ink channel 34 from the manifold 36 due to surface tension of the ink 48 contacting the air to refill the ink chamber 32.
A conventional monolithic ink-jet printhead configured as above has an advantage in that the silicon substrate 30 is formed integrally with the nozzle plate 40 thereby simplifying the manufacturing process and eliminating the chance of misalignment. Another advantage is that the nozzle 46, the ink chamber 32, the ink channel 34, and the manifold 36 are arranged vertically to increase the density of nozzles 46, as compared with the conventional ink-jet printhead shown in FIG. 1A.
In a conventional ink-jet printhead, since ink is ejected as an ink droplet, the ink must be ejected in a discrete ink droplet form to provide acceptable printing performance. In an ink-jet printhead, a size, a shape, and a surface property of the nozzle greatly affect a size of the ejected ink droplet, a stability of the ink droplet ejection, and an ejection speed of the ink droplet. In particular, the surface property of the nozzle plate greatly affects the characteristic of the ink ejection.
In the ink-jet printhead shown in FIG. 2, the passivation layers 41, 42, and 43 formed around the heater 45 are formed using low heat conductive insulating materials, such as oxide or nitride, for purposes of providing electrical insulation. Thus, a considerable amount of time is required for the heater 45, the ink 48 within the ink chamber 32, and a nozzle guide 44, all of which are heated during the ejection of the ink 48, to sufficiently cool and return to an initial state, thereby making it difficult to increase the operating frequency to a sufficient level.
In the ink-jet printhead shown in FIG. 2, since the nozzle plate 40 is relatively thin, it is difficult to secure a sufficient length of the nozzle 47. A small length of the nozzle 47 not only decreases the directionality of the ink droplet 48′ ejected but also prohibits stable high-speed printing since the meniscus in the surface of the ink 48 after ejection of the ink droplet 48′ retreats into the ink chamber 32. In an effort to solve these problems, the conventional ink-jet printhead has a nozzle guide 44 formed along the edge of the nozzle 47. However, if the nozzle guide 44 is too long, this not only makes it difficult to form the ink chamber 32 by etching the substrate 30 but also restricts expansion of the bubbles 49. Thus, the use of the nozzle guide 44 causes a restriction on sufficiently securing the length of the nozzle 47.

Monolithic ink-jet printhead and method for manufacturing the same


A wire form includes a conductor having a distal end and a proximal end. The conductor is coiled and has a predetermined spacing between adjacent coils. The predetermined spacing provides a parasitic capacitance and an inductance. The parasitic capacitance and inductance have a resonance frequency tuned to about an excitation signal's frequency of a magnetic-resonance imaging scanner.

Magnetic resonance imaging has been developed as an imaging technique adapted to obtain both images of anatomical features of human patients as well as some aspects of the functional activities and characteristics of biological tissue. These images have medical diagnostic value in determining the state of the health of the tissue examined. Unlike the situation with fluoroscopic imaging, a patient undergoing magnetic resonance imaging procedure may remain in the active imaging system for a significant amount of time, e.g. a half-hour or more, without suffering any adverse effects.
In a magnetic resonance imaging process, a patient is typically aligned to place the portion of the patient's anatomy to be examined in the imaging volume of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus. Such a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus typically comprises a primary electromagnet for supplying a constant magnetic field (B0) which, by convention, is along the z-axis and is substantially homogeneous over the imaging volume and secondary electromagnets that can provide linear magnetic field gradients along each of three principal Cartesian axes in space (generally x, y, and z, or x1, x2 and x3, respectively). The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus also comprises one or more radio frequency coils that provide excitation and detection of the magnetic resonance imaging induced signals in the patient's body.
The gradient fields are switched ON and OFF at different rates depending on the magnetic resonance imaging scan sequence used. In some cases, this may result in a changing magnetic field on the order of dB/dt=50 T/s. The frequency that a gradient field may be turned ON can be between 200 Hz to about 300 kHz.
For a single loop with a fixed area, Lenz's law can be stated as:EMF=−A·dB/dt
where A is the area vector, B is the magnetic field vector, and "·" is the vector scalar product. This equation indicates that an electro-motive-force (EMF) is developed in any loop that encircles a changing magnetic field.
In a magnetic resonance imaging system, there is applied to the biological sample (patient) a switched gradient field in all 3 coordinate directions (x-, y-, z- directions). If the patient has an implanted heart pacemaker (or other implanted devices having conductive components) the switched gradient magnetic fields (an alternating magnetic field) may cause erroneous signals to be induced/generated in a sensing lead or device or circuit; damage to electronics; and/or harmful stimulation of tissue, e.g. heart muscle, nerves, etc.
As noted above, the use of the magnetic resonance imaging process with patients who have implanted medical assist devices; such as cardiac assist devices or implanted insulin pumps; often presents problems. As is known to those skilled in the art, implantable devices (such as implantable pulse generators and cardioverter/defibrillator/pacemakers) are sensitive to a variety of forms of electromagnetic interference because these enumerated devices include sensing and logic systems that respond to low-level electrical signals emanating from the monitored tissue region of the patient. Since the sensing systems and conductive elements of these implantable devices are responsive to changes in local electromagnetic fields, the implanted devices are vulnerable to external sources of severe electromagnetic noise, and in particular, to electromagnetic fields emitted during the magnetic resonance imaging procedure. Thus, patients with implantable devices are generally advised not to undergo magnetic resonance imaging procedures.
To more appreciate the problem, the use of implantable cardiac assist devices during a magnetic resonance imaging process will be briefly discussed.
The human heart may suffer from two classes of rhythmic disorders or arrhythmias: bradycardia and tachyarrhythmia. Bradycardia occurs when the heart beats too slowly, and may be treated by a common implantable pacemaker delivering low voltage (about 3 V) pacing pulses.
The common implantable pacemaker is usually contained within a hermetically sealed enclosure, in order to protect the operational components of the device from the harsh environment of the body, as well as to protect the body from the device.
The common implantable pacemaker operates in conjunction with one or more electrically conductive leads, adapted to conduct electrical stimulating pulses to sites within the patient's heart, and to communicate sensed signals from those sites back to the implanted device.
Furthermore, the common implantable pacemaker typically has a metal case and a connector block mounted to the metal case that includes receptacles for leads which may be used for electrical stimulation or which may be used for sensing of physiological signals. The battery and the circuitry associated with the common implantable pacemaker are hermetically sealed within the case. Electrical interfaces are employed to connect the leads outside the metal case with the medical device circuitry and the battery inside the metal case.
Electrical interfaces serve the purpose of providing an electrical circuit path extending from the interior of a hermetically sealed metal case to an external point outside the case while maintaining the hermetic seal of the case. A conductive path is provided through the interface by a conductive pin that is electrically insulated from the case itself.
Such interfaces typically include a ferrule that permits attachment of the interface to the case, the conductive pin, and a hermetic glass or ceramic seal that supports the pin within the ferrule and isolates the pin from the metal case.
A common implantable pacemaker can, under some circumstances, be susceptible to electrical interference such that the desired functionality of the pacemaker is impaired. For example, common implantable pacemaker requires protection against electrical interference from electromagnetic interference (EMI), defibrillation pulses, electrostatic discharge, or other generally large voltages or currents generated by other devices external to the medical device. As noted above, more recently, it has become crucial that cardiac assist systems be protected from magnetic-resonance imaging sources.
Such electrical interference can damage the circuitry of the cardiac assist systems or cause interference in the proper operation or functionality of the cardiac assist systems. For example, damage may occur due to high voltages or excessive currents introduced into the cardiac assist system.
Moreover, problems are realized when the placement of the implant is next to particular organs. For example, when a pacemaker is placed in the upper chest and the lead tip is placed into the heart, a loop (an electrical loop) is created. A changing magnetic field (the switched gradient field) over the area of the loop (through the area of the loop) will cause an induced voltage (and current) across the heart. This induced voltage (current) can stimulate the heart inappropriately and can cause heart damage or death.
It is further noted that uncoated wire forms used by in-vivo devices, such as pacing leads, do not have significantly less DC resistance than coated wire forms because it appears that the current path is the same for the uncoated and coated wires. In other words, an apparent oxidation layer on the uncoated wire results in essentially a resistive coating over the "uncoated" wire form. Thus, the current does not flow through adjacent coil loop contact points but instead follows the curvature of the wire, just as in the case of the coated wire.
At a magnetic resonance imaging scanner's frequency, approximately 63.85 MHz, both uncoated and coated wire forms have the characteristics of capacitors, not inductors. It is apparent that parasitic capacitance is formed between adjacent loops in the wire and is the dominate characteristic of the wire at approximately 63.85 MHz. This parasitic capacitance enables electrical current to flow into and out of the wire form due to several mechanisms, including the oscillating electrical field set up in the body by the magnetic resonance imaging unit. In a pacing lead, this condition creates a high current density at the exposed electrode located at the distal end of the lead.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide wire forms which shift the resonance frequency of the wire form towards approximately 63.85 MHz, the resonance frequency of a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, thereby changing the wire form's characteristics to that of an inductor, which has the property of adding impedance to the flow of AC current induced by the magnetic resonance imaging unit.

Magnetic resonance imaging interference immune device


The current invention provides a method and system for establishing communication to a mobile module. A plurality of call signals is initiated into the mobile module from a plurality of remote communication devices based on a timed sequence. Which of the plurality of call signals has established communication with the mobile module is determined. The call signals that have not established communication are terminated based on the determination. A computer usable medium with suitable computer program code is employed for establishing communication to a mobile module.

One of the fastest growing areas of communications technology is related to automobile network solutions. The demand and potential for wireless vehicle communication, networking and diagnostic services have recently increased. Although many vehicles on the road today have limited wireless communication functions, such as unlocking a door and setting or disabling a car alarm, new vehicles offer additional wireless communication systems that help personalize comfort settings, run maintenance and diagnostic functions, place telephone calls, access call-center information, update controller systems, determine vehicle location, assist in tracking vehicle after a theft of the vehicle and provide other vehicle-related services. Drivers can call telematics call centers and receive navigational, concierge, emergency, and location services, as well as other specialized help such as locating the geographical position of a stolen vehicle and honking the horn of a vehicle when the owner cannot locate it in a large parking garage. Telematics service providers can offer enhanced telematics services by supplying a subscriber with a digital handset.
A call is received at a call center from a subscriber requesting a service. Call centers provide services to the subscriber by sending a call signal from the call center to the telematics unit in the vehicle. The vehicle must be in a standby mode or awake mode to receive the call signal. A telematics unit will remain in the standby mode for several hours after the vehicle ignition is turned off. After the standby mode is exited the telematics unit goes into a sleep/wake cycle. In one sleep/wake cycle the telematics unit is in a sleep mode for 9 minutes followed by a wake mode for 1 minute. This cycle will repeat for several hours before the telematics unit enters a continuous sleep mode. It is difficult to communicate with the telematics unit during the wake/sleep cycle, since the call center must send a call signal when the telematics unit is in the wake mode to successfully establish communication with the telematics unit.
Cellular activity and other network traffic can cause a communication device to become unavailable. Device availability effects the ability of the call center to establish communication with the telematics unit. A subscriber must wait for the call center to establish communication with the telematics unit before the service is provided.
It is desirable therefore, to provide a method and system for establishing communication to a mobile module, that overcomes the challenges and obstacles described above.

Method and system for establishing communication to a mobile module


A system and method which may directly resolve a URL into the IP address of a web server running a regional website of a web service provider based on a user's geographic location. A user may type a URL of a website in his browser. A user location analyzer may decide the user's geographic location according to his IP address. With the user's geographic location, a DNS server may resolve the URL to a regional website of a web service provider which provides services specific to the user's geographic location. Consequently, the user may be presented a regional website of a web service provider without delays caused by re-directing, and save the user's time and effort to look for a regional website himself.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to DNS (Domain Name System) lookups, and more particularly to determining an IP address according to a user's geographic location.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, some web service providers provide regional websites for various countries/regions in addition to a general website, and each regional website may provide services in which users in that country/region are more interested and which may use a language popular in that country/region. For example, Yahoo! provides a general website Yahoo! corresponding to a URL www.yahoo.com, and regional websites Yahoo! Italy corresponding to a URL it.yahoo.com to users in Italy, and Yahoo! Singapore corresponding to a URL sg.yahoo.com to users in Singapore.
The URL www.yahoo.com is static and always resolves to Yahoo!'s general website, i.e., Yahoo! (which is also Yahoo! US corresponding to URL us.yahoo.com), irrespective of the requesting user's geographic location. To load a regional website, e.g., Yahoo! Italy, a user may have to type the URL for the regional website it.yahoo.com. Less technical savvy users may not know the URL for a regional website. If a user types in www.yahoo.com, he may be directed to the general website Yahoo! even though the user is in Italy. In addition, since www.yahoo.com uses English, a user who does not speak English may not be able to figure out how to go to it.yahoo.com from www.yahoo.com, and may simply give up. Consequently, the web service provider may lose users.
Sometimes users may only know the name of a company, but do not know the URL of its website. If a user searches for the website of this company, he may be directed to the general website of the company and may face the same problem. The company may lose potential customers in this scenario.
With currently available technologies, a web service provider may redirect a user from its general website to one of its regional websites according to the user's geographic location. FIG. 1 illustrates a currently available system for redirecting a user to a regional website of a web service provider. As shown, a web service provider, e.g., Yahoo!, may have a number of associated web servers 104a, 104b and 104c, each of which may run a website of the web service provider. For example, the web server 104a may run a general website www.yahoo.com, a web server 104b may run a regional website for Italy it.yahoo.com, and a web server 104c may run a regional website for Singapore sg.yahoo.com.
A user in Italy may type the URL of the general website of a web service provider Yahoo!, i.e., www.yahoo.com, into the address bar of his web browser 101.
A DNS (Domain Name System) server 102 may receive the URL request via a network 103, e.g., the Internet. A DNS server is used to translate a URL into an IP address. An IP address is a group of numbers for identifying a web server on the Internet, and is used by networking equipment for information delivery. For example, the IP address of the web server for www.yahoo.com is 188.8.131.52. Since it is easier to remember names than to remember long numbers, users may use a name of a web server, e.g., www.yahoo.com, when communicating with computer systems.
The DNS server 102 may resolve the URL www.yahoo.com from the web browser 101 into the IP address of a web server 104a which runs the general website www.yahoo.com of the web service provider Yahoo!, and the user's computer and the web server 104a may be connected. The web server 104a may determine from the user's IP address that the user is in Italy, and connect the user's computer with an associated web server 104b which runs Yahoo!'s regional website for Italy it.yahoo.com. As a result, the user may be redirected to Yahoo!'s regional website for Italy.
Since the system shown in FIG. 1 resolves the URL from the user to an IP address without considering the user's location, and then redirects the user to a regional website, it may cause delays. Therefore, it may be desirable to provide a system and method which may resolve a high level domain to a website based on a user's geographic location.


An uninterruptible D.C. battery backup power supply is designed to operate medical respiratory treatment equipment such as a machine for the treatment of sleep apnea. A power supply with D.C. backup consists of a rectifier/charger, a rechargeable battery and a D.C.-to-D.C. converter. The rectifier/charger is connected to the wall outlet providing the D.C. charging capacity as well as the capacity to provide power to the D.C.-to-D.C. converter which provides D.C. power to the equipment being protected during a momentary interruption in the A.C. commercial voltage or a prolonged power outage.

Sleep apnea is a common sleeping disorder characterized by a brief interruption of breathing during a sleeping period. These episodes can last up to 10 seconds and occur repeatedly throughout the sleeping period. People with sleep apnea will partially awaken as they struggle to breathe and in the morning they will not be aware of the disturbance in their sleep. This condition affects over 12 million people. Not treating this condition may result in high blood pressure and a decrease in hemoglobin oxygen level. Untreated cases of sleep apnea can cause a person to fall asleep during normal activities such as working at a computer, talking on the phone or driving a car (which can be fatal).
There are three types of sleep apnea: (1) Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), which is the most common, caused by relaxation of the soft tissue in the back of the throat that blocks the air passage; (2) Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) caused by irregularities in the brain's normal signals to breathe; and (3) Mixed Sleep Apnea (MSA), which is a combination of these two.
One of the methods applied to treat sleep apnea is to use a continuous positive airway pressure (C-Pap) machine or a bi-level positive airway pressure (Bi-Pap) machine. This equipment consists of a face mask which covers the nose and/or mouth area. The face mask is attached to a tube and a motor with a compressor that blows pressurized air into the mask and through the patient's airway to keep it open. This machine is designed to assure that the patient is able to experience a deep and adequate sleeping period. During the use of the C-Pap machine, when the A.C. power source is interrupted for a few seconds, the unit goes into a fault alarm that causes the machine to stop providing pressurized air flow. Because airflow has stopped and the patient's air passage is covered with a face mask, this has the unfortunate consequence of suffocating the patient while he or she is asleep. When there is a prolonged A.C. power outage the machine simply turns off and the same result is obtained where a suffocating period commences.
Present day solutions to this problem suggest a rechargeable battery connected to the machine by means of a D.C. connector. The respiratory machine is sensitive to the D.C. voltage it uses and its stability. Commonly the input voltage range is 11-14 volts D.C. Once the battery is depleted the user must then recharge the rechargeable battery with a battery charger. The most common problem is not charging the battery when required, which deteriorates the capacity to store energy. When the battery is over-charged the battery can spill acid and fumes that may cause serious damage to skin, eyes or irritation of the respiratory passage. The charging procedure requires that the D.C. adaptor cable which is connected to the machine be removed while recharging the battery. This avoids high voltage and current to be exposed to the machine during the charging cycle, which may cause damage. However the patient must take caution in not shorting out the D.C. connection cable with the battery terminals which are exposed. A patient must also take caution that no metal objects short out the battery terminals damaging the battery as well as causing danger to the patient due to spark and acid contents. Patient must store the charger and place the battery in a dry safe area and periodically recharge the battery to maintain its capacity to store energy.
One obvious problem with this configuration is the maintenance required to maintain the battery. Another less obvious problem results from the operation of the C-Pap machine. Specifically, upon a momentary loss of power, the C-Pap machine may activate an alarm to alert the patient of the condition. One example of such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,555, titled "Medical Equipment Warning Device," which issued to Most, Jr., on May 21, 2002. It is important that patients being treated for sleep apnea should not be awoken unless absolutely necessary. Waking such a patient upon a momentary lapse of power is counterproductive to treatment.
Hospitals generally have auxiliary power sources that supply electricity if the primary source fails for any reason. Hospital auxiliary power is provided within seconds when there is a power failure. Individual homes generally do not have an auxiliary power source unless it is a backup generator. In the unlikely event of a power failure in a hospital, home care facility or a residence there is an interruption of power to the machine. If an immediate manual reset is not performed the machine will stop operating and the patient will experience a suffocating episode. Once the auxiliary power source is supplying power, it is necessary to manually reset the respiratory machine. A person that depends on a respiratory machine to treat sleep apnea requires a backup device that will assure that his sleep is not interrupted due to a power failure or alarm.

Methods of powering medical equipment for the treatment of sleep apnea


Medical devices formed using a sacrificial structure, and processes of forming the devices therefrom.

The present invention relates to the field of medical devices, and more particularly to catheters, dilatation balloons, and the like.
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is common, and is caused by a narrowing of the arterial lining due to atherosclerotic plaques. Balloons mounted on the distal ends of catheters are commonly used in the medical treatment of atherosclerotic diseases. Such balloons may be used for dilating lesions or blockages by compressing plaque, for recanalizing and dilating a diseased vessel, and for expanding prosthetic devices such as stents at a desired location in a bodily vessel. The requirements for strength and size of the balloons vary widely depending on the balloon's intended use and the vessel size into which the catheter is inserted.
Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, or balloon angioplasty, is a non-invasive, non-surgical means of treating peripheral and coronary arteries. This technique consists of inserting an uninflated balloon catheter into the affected artery. Dilation of the diseased segment of artery is accomplished by inflating the balloon which pushes the atherosclerotic lesion outward, thereby enlarging the arterial diameter. The balloon is then deflated and the catheter is withdrawn.
Cutting balloons are another type of medical balloon which have cutting edges, also referred to as atherotomes or blades for recanalizing and dilating a diseased vessel, and facilitating balloon angioplasty procedures.
In any applications such as the above, the balloon traverses a tortuous anatomy as it is being delivered to the location in extremely small bodily vessels and used to open stenoses of blood vessels by balloon inflation, or for delivery of medical devices, for example. In these applications, it is desirable for the balloon to assume as low a profile, i.e. the outer diameter of the balloon, as possible. Considerable effort has been put forth in the development of medical balloons with a low profile by minimizing the dimensions of the shape-form or the inner tube which extends through the balloon to its distal end, and by reducing the wall thickness of the balloon itself.
Several methods have been employed to reduce the profile of the dilatation catheter including manipulating the wall thickness of the balloon material by o developing ever thinner walled balloons, while still retaining the necessary distensibility and burst pressure rating, so as to permit lower deflated profiles.
The profile of the deflated balloon is limited by the thickness of the waist and cone portions of the balloon. Usually, the waist and cone wall thicknesses are thicker than that of the body of the balloon due to the smaller diameter of the waist and cone portions. Thus, a reduction in thickness of the waist and cone portions can reduce the profile.
Balloon forming techniques involve stretching and blowing of the balloon from a segment of extruded polymer tubing. Balloons produced by stretching and blowing a balloon preform or "parison" can have thicker waist and cone walls than the wall thickness of their body portions. It is desirable to reduce the thickness of the cone walls which contribute to the overall thickness of the catheter, to allow for improved tracking, crossing and recrossing of lesions, and to improve refolding after use to facilitate withdrawal of the balloon catheter.
One method of reducing the cone or waist thicknesses of a balloon has been by laser ablating material from the cone or waist. This is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,588, the entire content of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Other methods are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,738, the entire content of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Thus for such applications, thin walled, high strength, relatively inelastic balloons of predictable inflation properties are desired. However, this combination of properties, i.e. thin walls and low resilience, may have increased susceptibility to pin hole formation and ruptures. Stronger balloon materials having greater wall thickness may be employed to increase balloon robustness, but this can also decrease balloon flexibility.
There remains a need for a balloon having improved abrasion resistance and resistance to rupture during use, without sacrificing flexibility, which is not subject to pin holes during the molding process and is readily collapsible to a small diameter upon deflation.

Medical devices formed with a sacrificial structure and processes of forming the same


A train control system includes a positioning system and consults a database to determine when the train is approaching a configurable device such as a switch or grade crossing gate. The system continuously interrogates the device to determine its status as the train approaches the device, and forces an engineer/conductor to acknowledge any detected malfunction. The train is forced to come to a complete stop before proceeding past the device or may be slowed down to a speed that will allow the engineer/conductor to visually determine whether it is safe to proceed past the device if the engineer/conductor acknowledges a message warning of the malfunction and will stop the train if the engineer/conductor fails to acknowledge the warning message.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to railroads generally, and more particularly to a method and system for ensuring that a train does not pass a device such as a grade crossing gate or a track switch when that device is not properly configured.
2. Discussion of the Background
Train safety has always been a concern in the railroad industry. If anything, this concern has increased in recent years. This concern has led to proposals for and development of automated, safety-enhancing systems such as Automatic Train Control (ATC), Positive Train Control (PTC), and others. While such systems vary in their implementation, one goal they all share is to avoid accidents.
One source of accidents is an improperly set switch. Historically, an engineer or conductor would visually verify that a switch has been set to the correct position. However, engineers and conductors, being human, sometimes make mistakes, including traveling too fast such that there is not sufficient time to stop the train when the signal is first visible, not activating the brakes a sufficient distance from the switch, failing to notice that the switch has been improperly set, and even forgetting to look at the switch. The results of such mistakes can be disastrous.
Another source of accidents is a malfunctioning grade crossing gate. Grade crossing gates may be triggered by radar, by a track circuit, or by a mechanical switch set at a position far enough away from the crossing gate such that the gate will have sufficient time to go down when triggered by a train traveling at the maximum allowable speed. Some gates are equipped with monitoring equipment that can determine if the gate is malfunctioning and, in some cases, sends a message via telephone or radio informing the dispatcher of a malfunction. The dispatcher is then required to broadcast this information to all other trains that pass the grade crossing.
What is needed is a method and apparatus that ensures that a train will not pass a switch, grade crossing gate, or other device that is not properly configured.

Method and system for ensuring that a train does not pass an improperly configured device


A drive circuit for driving a voltage-driven-type element including a gate terminal, an emitter terminal and a collector terminal includes a first semiconductor switch including an output terminal disposed between a power source for the drive circuit and the gate terminal, a first resistor disposed between the output terminal and the gate terminal and a capacitive element connected in parallel with the first semiconductor switch. The capacitive element supplies an external electric charge from the power source to a portion between the gate terminal and the emitter terminal after an internal electric charge accumulated in the portion between the gate terminal and the emitter terminal is supplied to a portion between the gate terminal and the collector terminal.

In recent years, a voltage driven type element such as an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) has been used in a switching circuit or an inverter circuit employed in power control circuits for applications requiring high power. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-125574 discloses a switching circuit and inverter circuit that includes two series-connected IGBTs where each is connected with a freewheeling diode (FWD) in the form of an inverse-parallel connection. A reactor functioning as an inductive load is connected to the connection point of the IGBTs. The first IGBT (IGBT1) is connected to a direct-current voltage, the second IGBT (IGBT2) is connected to ground (GND), and a gate terminal of each IGBT is connected to a drive circuit. This drive circuit includes a push-pull transistor for charging/discharging the IGBT by means of an input of gate signal, a gate resistor connected between this transistor and the gate terminal of the IGBT, and an external capacitor connected between an emitter terminal of the IGBT and the gate resistor.

Drive circuit for voltage driven electronic element


An image capturing lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element and a third lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, wherein the surfaces of the first lens element are aspheric. The second lens element with positive refractive power has a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, wherein the surfaces of the second lens element are aspheric. The third lens element with negative refractive power has a concave image-side surface in a paraxial region thereof, wherein the image-side surface of the third lens element has at least one convex shape in an off-axis region thereof, and the surfaces of the third lens element are aspheric. The image capturing lens assembly has a total of three lens elements with refractive power.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an image capturing lens assembly, image capturing device and mobile. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a compact image capturing lens assembly and image capturing device applicable to mobile terminals.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the popularity of mobile products having camera functionalities, the demand of miniaturized optical systems has been increasing. The sensor of a conventional optical system is typically a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) sensor. As the advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies have allowed the pixel size of sensors to be reduced and compact optical systems have gradually evolved toward the field of higher megapixels, there is an increasing demand for compact optical systems featuring better image quality.
A conventional optical system with three-element lens structure usually has, in order form an object side to an image side, a positive refractive power, a negative refractive power and a positive refractive power. This type of optical system is also usually with a front aperture stop. However, the image scene tends to be confined by this conventional design of refractive powers and aperture stop. It is also not favorable for making a good balance between enlarging the field of view and reducing the total track length.

Image capturing lens assembly, image capturing device and mobile terminal


A compressible and deformable layer is densified and laminated to a layer of a material that is relatively resistant to stretching. The densification and bonding take place in a single step. As used in fabrication of electrodes, for example, electrodes for double layer capacitors, a deformable and compressible active electrode film is manufactured from activated carbon, conductive carbon, and a polymer. The electrode film may be bonded directly to a collector. Alternatively, a collector may be coated with a wet adhesive layer. The adhesive layer is subsequently dried onto the foil. The dried adhesive and foil combination may be manufactured as a product for later sale or use, and may be stored as such on a storage roll or other storage device. The active electrode film is overlayed on the metal foil, and processed in a laminating device, such as a calender. Lamination both densifies the active electrode film and bonds the film to the metal foil. Spreading of the active electrode film in the plane parallel to the plane of the metal foil is reduced or eliminated during lamination, because of the adhesion between the film and the foil.

Manufacture of many articles involves attachment of a relatively pliable layer to a relatively rigid layer. Electrodes constitute one class of such articles.
Electrodes are widely used in many devices that store electrical energy, including primary (non-rechargeable) battery cells, secondary battery cells, fuel cells, and capacitors. Because of various competing performance criteria that need to be considered when designing electrodes, many electrodes are constructed using two or even more constituent materials. One application where such composite electrodes are often used is construction of double layer capacitors, also known as electrochemical capacitors, supercapacitors, and ultracapacitors.
Double layer capacitors employ, as their energy storage elements, electrodes immersed in an electrolytic solution (electrolyte). Typically, a porous separator impregnated with the electrolyte ensures that the electrodes do not come in contact with each other. A double layer of charges is formed at each interface between the solid electrodes and the electrolyte. Double layer capacitors owe their descriptive name to these layers.
In comparison to conventional capacitors, double layer capacitors have high capacitance in relation to their volume and weight. There are two main reasons for this volumetric and weight efficiency. First, the width of the charge separation layers is very small, on the order of nanometers. Second, the electrodes can be made from a porous material, having very large effective area per unit volume, i.e., very large normalized effective surface area. Because capacitance is directly proportional to the electrode area, and inversely proportional to the width of the charge separation layer, the combined effect of the narrow charge separation layer and large surface area results in capacitance that is very high in comparison to that of conventional capacitors. High capacitance enables double layer capacitors to receive, store, and release large supplies of electrical energy.
Another important performance parameter of a capacitor is its internal resistance, also known as equivalent series resistance (ESR). Frequency response of a capacitor depends on the characteristic time constant of the capacitor, which is essentially a product of the capacitance and the internal resistance, or RC. To put it differently, internal resistance limits both charge and discharge rates of a capacitor, because the resistance limits the current that flows into or out of the capacitor. Maximizing the charge and discharge rates is important in many applications. In hybrid automotive applications, for example, a capacitor used as the energy storage element powering a vehicle's engine has to be able to provide high instantaneous power during acceleration, and to receive power produced by regenerative braking.
High internal resistance may create heat during both charge and discharge cycles. Heat causes mechanical stresses and speeds up various chemical reactions, thereby accelerating capacitor aging. Moreover, the energy converted into heat is lost, decreasing the efficiency of the capacitor. It is therefore desirable to reduce internal resistance of capacitors.
Active materials used for electrode construction—activated carbon, for example—usually have rather limited specific conductance. Thus, large contact area may be desired to minimize the contact resistance between the electrode and its terminal. The active material may also be too brittle or otherwise unsuitable for directly connecting to terminals. Additionally, the material may have relatively low tensile strength, needing mechanical support in some applications. For these reasons, electrodes typically incorporate current collectors.
A current collector is typically a sheet of conductive material on which the active electrode material is deposited. Aluminum foil is commonly used as the current collector material of an electrode. In one electrode fabrication process, a solvent based electrode film is produced, and then attached to a thin aluminum foil using a wet solvent based adhesive or binder layer. To improve the quality of the interfacial bond between the film of active electrode material and the current collector, the combination of the film and the current collector is processed in a pressure laminator, for example, a calender or another nip. Pressure lamination increases the bonding forces between the film and the current collector, and reduces the equivalent series resistance. After laminating the combination of solvent based electrode film, wet adhesive binder, and current collector are subsequently dried to remove any liquid solvent, lubricants, or impurities.
As has already been mentioned, high capacitances of double layer capacitors result, to a great extent, from the high normalized effective surface area of the active electrode layers. Porosity of the active electrode layer film plays an important role in increasing the effective surface area. Generally, porosity on a small scale level is unchanged when the active electrode film is densified through compaction, for example, through calendering or processing in another kind of high-pressure nip. Because compacting reduces the film's volume while keeping pore surfaces relatively unchanged, the normalized effective surface area is increased. Furthermore, compacting tends to decrease the equivalent series resistance, and possibly also improves structural integrity of the film. For these reasons, current solvent based active electrode films are often compacted before they are attached to current collectors.
The material of a typical active electrode film is compressible and malleable. When the film is processed in a calender, alone, or onto a wet adhesive binder layer, it tends not only to densify through compaction in the direction of pressure application, but also to deform, elongating and widening in the plane transverse to this direction. This is problematic for two reasons. First, densification is reduced, potentially requiring multiple compaction/densification steps. Second, the film may need to be trimmed because of spreading, i.e., because of the elongation and widening. Trimming becomes necessary, for example, when the film spreads beyond the current collector surface, or when the film spreads to the areas of the current collector that need to be connected to other components, such as terminals or other electrodes. The additional compacting and trimming steps increase processing costs and time, and are best reduced or avoided altogether. These problems are not necessarily limited to electrode fabrication, but may be relevant when densifying and laminating other compressible materials.

Densification of compressible layers during electrode lamination


Embodiments described herein provide a tree-based key management protocol with enhanced computational and bandwidth efficiency. A tree structure including a plurality of nodes is formulated according to modules in a vehicle. A group key and a blinded key are computed for a leaf node from the plurality of nodes based at least in part on a multiplication operation defined in an ecliptic curve group. Or a group key and a blinded key are recursively computed for a non-leaf node based at least in part on a key derivation function and the multiplication operation involving a group key and a blinded key corresponding to nodes that is one level down to the non-leaf node.

In vehicular communications, a module inside a vehicle may communicate with another module inside the vehicle. Specifically, as many mechanical control units have been replaced with Electronic Control Units (ECUs) in modern vehicles, the different ECUs may exchange control messages with each other and/or other parts of the vehicle. The security of communications on board within the vehicle becomes paramount to protect the authenticity, integrity and possibly confidentiality of data exchanged among the communicating components. Otherwise, the safety of the vehicle may be compromised with malicious intent, e.g., by sending invalid reconfiguration messages for critical components, such as those related to speed or fuel regulation.
Encrypting data messages for on-board communications may improve safety and security. In addition, message integrity and authenticity in such a distributed environment inside the vehicle are also likely to be important security concerns. Sometimes, even when the messages exchanged are not confidential, acceptance of invalid data (e.g., generated either by natural causes or with malicious purposes) may lead to misguided actions and severe consequences. In some scenarios, delayed messages may also be harmful as the vehicle may not have enough time to react to emergent situations, and thus a low end-to-end latency is desired.

Systems and methods for efficient key management in a vehicular intranet


A target data storage system is simulated. A source configuration is received. First activity data is received representing workload for the source configuration. A target data storage system configuration for one or more target data storage systems is created. The target data storage system configuration is modeled including determining a simulated workload for components of the target data storage system configuration based on the first activity data. A utilization map is displayed in a user interface indicating component level utilizations of components of the target data storage system configuration based on the simulated workload. A data movement optimization for the target data storage system configuration is simulated. A second utilization map is displayed indicating updated component level utilizations for the target data storage system configuration which have been revised to model the simulated data movement optimization for the target data storage system configuration.

Technical Field
This application generally relates to data storage, and more particularly to techniques used in connection with modeling or simulating a data storage system.
Description of Related Art
Computer systems may include different resources used by one or more host processors. Resources and host processors in a computer system may be interconnected by one or more communication connections. These resources may include, for example, data storage devices such as those included in the data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation. These data storage systems may be coupled to one or more host processors and provide storage services to each host processor. Multiple data storage systems from one or more different vendors may be connected and may provide common data storage for one or more host processors in a computer system.
A host processor may perform a variety of data processing tasks and operations using the data storage system. For example, a host processor may perform basic system I/O operations in connection with data requests, such as data read and write operations.
Host processor systems may store and retrieve data using a storage device containing a plurality of host interface units, disk drives, and disk interface units. Such storage devices and data storage systems are provided, for example, by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. The host systems access the storage device through a plurality of channels provided therewith. Host systems provide data and access control information through the channels to the storage device and storage device provides data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems do not address the disk drives of the storage device directly, but rather, access what appears to the host systems as a plurality of logical disk units, logical devices or logical volumes. The logical disk units may or may not correspond to the actual physical disk drives. Allowing multiple host systems to access the single storage device unit allows the host systems to share data stored therein.
Design objectives for data storage systems include cost, performance, and availability. Objectives typically include are a low cost per megabyte, a high I/O performance and low response time (RT), and high data availability. Availability is measured by the ability to access data. Often such data availability is provided by use of redundancy using well-known techniques such as mirroring, RAID protection and remote replication.
One problem encountered in the implementation of data storage systems concerns optimizing the storage capacity while maintaining the desired availability and reliability of the data through redundancy. It is important to allocate as closely as possible the right amount of storage capacity with going over or under significantly because of cost and necessity but this is a complex task. It has required great deal of skill and knowledge about computers, software applications such as databases, and the very specialized field of data storage. Such requisite abilities have long been expensive and difficult to access. There remains and probably will be an increasing demand for and corresponding scarcity of such skilled people.
Determining the size and number of disk array or other data storage system needed by a customer requires information about both space, traffic and a desired quality of service. It is not sufficient to size a solution simply based on the perceived quantity of capacity desired, such as the number of terabytes believed to be adequate. In addition to general capacity planning problems with data storage systems other complexities may arise. One such complexity arise when there is an interest in merging existing data storage systems with newer or fewer data storage systems. Such consolidation helps a customer reduce operating costs by decreasing the number of storage systems, and migrating the data to fewer and/or newer, larger capacity, more efficient storage systems. Consolidation may be of interest for some of the following reasons: saving footprint space; reducing the cost of utilities; simplifying management and reducing management costs; reducing hardware inventory costs; and upgrading to new technology. On the other hand there are costs associated with such a change and there is need for a simple tool to allow for the analysis of such a change and to determine an optimum solution, and in particular with regard to performance requirements and desired characteristics.
There is a long-felt need for a computer-based tool that would allow a straight-forward non-complex way to allocate proper storage capacity while balancing cost, growth plans, workload, and performance requirements and further if such a tool would be useful for analyzing consolidation or merging operations along with simulation or modeling of different aspects of a data storage system.


Automatically monitoring pads of material deposited on a surface of a workpiece using an inspection system that senses a deposited pad of material and determines pad height values at a plurality of locations across the pad, and a shape classifier that receives the pad height values as inputs and outputs a plurality of three-dimensional shape attributes related to pad deposit conditions.

The invention relates to flowable material dispensers and more particularly to depositing solder in a desired pattern on the surface of a workpiece.
Solder pads are often deposited in a desired pattern on a circuit board using a stencil printing system. Screens can be used in place of stencils, and solder printing systems have also been used to apply a pattern of adhesive pads to circuit boards. Typically a line of solder paste is dispensed onto the upper surface of the stencil, and a squeegee blade is used to spread the solder paste across the stencil and cause it to fill up the openings in the stencil and contact a circuit board positioned directly under the stencil. The circuit board is then lowered from the stencil, the board carrying solder pads in the desired pattern on its upper surface.
Cameras can be used to automatically inspect the deposited solder pads and provide information used to determine whether the pads are acceptable and whether process conditions should be changed. e.g., Chung, C-W, et al. "Closed Loop Process Control for Solder Paste Stencil Printing," pp. 485-491, describes viewing solder pads with a paste inspection system that determines such things as solder deposit area, solder deposit volume, average height of the solder paste deposit, border violation of the solder paste deposit, and the x and y position of the solder paste deposit. Chung describes the ability to use this information by a knowledge base/inference engine to control process parameters such as print speed, separation speed, print gap, squeegee pressure, paste dispense rate, and clean screen rate. Bryant, S., et al., "Neural Network Machine Vision for SMT Solder Paste Inspection," pp. 510-516, describes using an on-line inspection system to provide immediate feedback to an operator on solder paste quality for implementing a control loop. Bryant describes using a CCD camera to view solder pads and determine "image metrics," including such things as pad width, pad length, pad edge deviation, pad edge straightness, pad corner roundness, pad area, pad grayscale histogram, and pad grayscale image. The image metrics are used as the inputs to a neural network that grades the quality of a deposited solder pad on a scale from 0 to 9.
More recently it has been proposed to deposit solder pads by ejecting solder droplets from an ejector and directing the droplets to desired positions on a workpiece under the ejector.


A sewing data processing apparatus which may be used to attach an IC tag to a work cloth without impairing a design of the work cloth. The processing apparatus may acquire an IC tag area on the basis of a size and shape of the IC tag and subsequently may determine whether the IC tag area can be included in an applique pattern area which is determined on the basis of applique pattern data. If the IC tag area can be included in the applique pattern area, positions of the applique pattern area and the IC tag area may be set in such a manner that the IC tag area is positioned in the applique pattern area.

The present disclosure relates generally to technical fields including a sewing data processing apparatus that processes sewing data used to sew a cloth piece having a size and shape determined by applique pattern data to a work cloth by using a sewing machine so that an applique pattern of the cloth piece is formed on the work cloth, a sewing machine equipped with the sewing data processing apparatus, and a computer-readable recording medium with a recorded sewing data processing program.
In the related art, a technology is known for utilizing an optically-readable mark attached to a work cloth in production of the work cloth, management of products for sales of the products, or display of a quality of the work cloth.
The mark is directly printed to a fabric or printed to a piece of paper or cloth which is to be attached to the fabric. In such cases, depending on the handling of the fabric, the mark can be partially or totally lost, or separated due to water and chemicals used in various processing steps. To solve this problem, a sewing machine has been proposed which forms an optically-readable mark by sewing it to the work cloth (see Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. Hei 6-67422). The mark that is sewn to the work cloth by the sewing machine generally has low occurrence of being lost or separated from the work cloth, and may also be protected from deformation.

Sewing data processing apparatus, sewing machine equipped with sewing data processing apparatus, and computer-readable recording medium with recorded sewing data processing computer program


A disc brake device includes: a disc rotor rotating around a rotational axial line; a friction pad facing a friction surface of the disc rotor; a caliper capable of pressing the friction pad to the friction surface of the disc rotor; a mounting provided with the caliper; and a caliper slide mechanism supporting the caliper on the mounting in a manner enabling slide movement via a slide pin inserted in a guide section provided in a hole section of the caliper or the mounting, in which the caliper slide mechanism has a variable mechanism making a permissible swing angle of the slide pin with respect to a slide movement direction variable in response to a braking action along with slide movement of the caliper. Accordingly, the disc brake device and the caliper slide mechanism can provide an effect of reducing noises.

As a conventional disc brake and a caliper slide mechanism, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a pin slide type disc brake in which a slide pin is fixed to an ear portion of a caliper by a bolt that passes through the ear and screwed in the slide pin, the slide pin is inserted in a pin hole of a support member, and the caliper is thereby supported slidably in the disc axial direction. In the pin slide type disc brake, a slit is provided on an end surface on a slide pin mounting side of the ear of the caliper, a head portion of the slide pin that has two parallel flat surfaces is arranged in the slit, and the flat surfaces of the slit that face each other thereby prevent rotation of the slide pin.

Disc brake device and caliper slide mechanism