A trocar which has an obturator assembly for establishment of a surgical port for endoscopic or arthroscopic surgery is disclosed. The obturator includes a flat cutting blade, a shield that moves proximally and distally, a precock lever to move the shield proximally to expose the flat cutting blade, and a shield retaining assembly to constrain the shield in the proximal position. "Precocking" the trocar moves the shield from the distal position wherein the flat blade is covered, to a proximal position wherein the flat blade is exposed, and the shield is constrained by the shield retaining assembly. The exposed flat cutting blade of the precocked trocar can be used to incise or pierce tissue, thus avoiding the need to use a separate surgical sharp.

The present invention relates in general to trocars for use in endoscopic, laparoscopic, and arthroscopic surgery, and in particular, to trocars that employ a moveable shield to establish a surgical port in an internal body cavity.
Trocars are generally assembled from two primary components, a cannula tube and an obturator. The trocar assembly is inserted through the skin to gain access to a body cavity so that endoscopic surgery can be performed. The trocar is placed against the outer skin of a patient, and pushed through the layers of skin, fat, muscle, and fascia until the trocar enters the body cavity. Once the trocar is properly positioned, the surgeon removes the obturator so the cannula can be used as an access port for endoscopic instrumentation.
The trocar and obturator assembly, while of great benefit, could inadvertently penetrate organs or other body structures during insertion. The addition of a moveable shield to envelop the piercing or cutting tip of the trocar was a breakthrough concept. The shield consists of a spring loaded generally tubular member interposed between the piercing or cutting tip and the trocar cannula. In the unbiased state, the shield covers the piercing tip of the obturator. When the distal shielded end of the trocar is pressed against the skin of a patient, the shield retracts to expose the piercing or cutting tip. When the body layers are penetrated, the force on the shield lessens and the shield spring biases the shield distally to envelop the piercing tip. Any further distal motion into the body cavity results in the blunt shield contacting the underlying organs or structures, rather than a cutting or piercing tip. A trocar describing such a shield can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,773.
Typically, the piercing or cutting tip of a trocar has been of a conventional pyramidal or conical shape. While the tip is effective in penetrating tissue, the use of a flat, razor blade has been found to offer less trauma to tissue during penetration and is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,314,417 (Stephens et al.) and 5,609,604 (Schwemberger et al.). The flat blade, as described in these patents, is shielded within a tapered bullet shaped shield that offered additional improvements in accordance with the principles of Deniega, as found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,288. The combination of a flat blade that produces a diametral slit in tissue with a shield shape that dilates the tissue as it penetrates, was found to reduce the force of penetration, improve the shield response time, and improve healing.
With the flat bladed shielded trocar, new levels of safety and performance were reached. However, there are disadvantages, such as an increased force to penetrate, caused by the need to overcome the shield spring force to expose the piercing tip. It would therefore be desirable to provide a shield with a precock feature that enables the shield to be retracted and locked in an armed position, with the piercing or cutting tip exposed. This precooking action would desirably compress the shield biasing spring, arm the shield in a ready to deploy condition, and reduces the force of penetration. A trocar describing such a shield, with a pyramidial tip, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,635 (Yoon).
While the precooking shield with a pyramidial tip addressed the conventional shield retraction problem, it did not provide the means for the surgeon to make the initial skin incision at the trocar insertion site. This incision is generally made in the skin to reduce the penetration force and requires the use of two surgical instruments to make a trocar insertion, a trocar and a scalpel. The scalpel, or surgical sharp, poses a handling risk to surgical personnel as surgical gloves can be inadvertently cut or nicked during the exchange, exposing the handler to bloodborne diseases. The scalpel is passed back and forth each time a trocar, or surgical access port, is inserted, providing multiple chances for a mishap. Although there is a discussion in the Stephens et. al '417 patent concerning the use of a flat blade to incise internal tissues, there is no discussion concerning the availability or the desirability of using the flat blade of the trocar to initially incise the skin to avoid the use of a surgical sharp, and thus avoid the disadvantages attendent with this type of instrument.
Significant advances have been made in the development of surgical penetration instruments, and the methods of their insertion, but there are still risks to surmount. It would be advantageous if there was an instrument that combined a precocking shielded trocar with a surgical scalpel blade so that one instrument could be used, with increased safety, to both incise and penetrate tissue at a surgical site.

Trocar for penetration and skin incision


Arrow rest arrangement for an archery bow including a rod rotatably received in base member attached to the bow where a pin extends outwardly from the rod and holds an arrow rest which is formed from low friction polymer and adapted to support an arrow prior to launching and provide initial guidance to the arrow at launch. Several embodiments of invention are shown.

The present invention relates in general to archery and more particularly to devices useful as an arrow rest with a bow to launch arrows from the bow.
Arrow rests are typically used in both sport and hunting activities utilizing bows to stabilize the arrow before it is launched from the bow. In general arrow rests are located on a lateral extension of the mid portion of the bow and permit accurate aim.
Typical prior art rests are taught by U. S. Pat. No. 5,137,006 which provides a pair of spaced elongate supports to support the arrow therebetween. The supports are flexible to allow selected depression of the arrow on the rest by adjustment of the angle of attack of the supports.
Another rest configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,854 teaches a rest with vertical depression which is asserted to improve accuracy by dampening vertical oscillation of the arrow off the rest.
U. S. Pat. No. 5,107,818 teaches an arrangement which is easily laterally adjusted and includes a support member which pivots in response to the arrow vanes passing over it to maintain stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,048 teaches an arrow rest using a grooved block where the arrow rests in the vertical groove.
No prior art arrangement is known which provides the advantages of devices within the scope of the present invention.


Application programs compiled for a first, "source", computer are translated, from their object form, for execution on a second, "target", computer. The translated application programs are linked or otherwise bound with a translation of the source computer system software. The translated system software operates on the image of the source computer address space in the target computer exactly as it did in the source computer. The semantics of the source computer system software are thus preserved identically. In addition, a virtual hardware environment is provided in the target computer to manage events and to deal with differences in the address space layouts between the source and target computers.

The present invention relates to the field of computer program code translation.
Historically, high-level computer source languages such as FORTRAN, COBOL and PL/1 were developed to provide not only ease of programming, but also portability among various computers by enabling programs to be written in machine-independent languages and thereafter translated into machine-dependent object code form by a compiler. Thus, computer users and vendors, having made the (often enormous) investment in the development of a software system, were provided with a relatively inexpensive means of upgrading their computer hardware without losing the benefit of that investment.
Compiler technology is not the total solution, however. For example, the source code for a program may be unavailable, because, perhaps, the party owning it is not willing to make it available for recompiling or, in the case of older programs, it has simply been lost. Additionally, the resolution of the dissimilarities among various hardware configurations may be beyond the scope of compiler technology; the principal function of a compiler is to resolve differences in semantics and syntax from one processor to another, not differences in particular features of the computer hardware and operating system. For example, a program taking advantage of particular graphics capabilities of one computer cannot simply be recompiled to run on a machine that does not have those capabilities. (The terms "computer" and "machine" are used interchangeably herein.)
The above considerations have magnified with the personal computer explosion. A wide variety of hardware configurations have been introduced into the marketplace and, because of the above-described limitations of compiler technology, it is expensive to port sophisticated programs, such as word processors and graphics-oriented packages, from one hardware configuration to another. This has led to a lag in the development of programs relative to the marketplace introduction of new hardware; software developers have hesitated to commit the resources to such porting until sufficient sales of the hardware have evidenced the likelihood of reasonable return on the porting effort. By the same token, computer vendors have had to wait for third-party software developers to commit to porting their software to the new hardware base before they could profitably market their hardware--a real catch-22.
In response to this situation, some vendors have developed schemes by which the unported version of the software, designed to execute on a first or "source" computer, is made to execute on a different, "target" computer. Such schemes include so-called hardware and software emulation.
Specifically, hardware emulation involves the introduction of, for example, a co-processor which replicates, in hardware, the functionality of the source computer. The merits of this approach include performance comparable to that of the source machine and the ability to execute most of the applications developed. However, it is quite difficult to exactly replicate the necessary functionality of the source machine in a cost-effective manner. Indeed, it is often the case that, due to architectural differences between the source and target machines (e.g., differing bus architectures), certain nonstandard peripherals used in the source machine (e.g., graphics controllers) cannot be supported in the target machine, thereby precluding the execution on the target machine of programs that relied on the presence of such peripherals. Such limitations of hardware emulation approaches have relegated them to only limited success in the marketplace.
The other approach, software emulation, involves the use of so-called emulation software, which takes, as input in real time, object code programs compiled for the source machine, identifies each instruction as it needs to be executed, and performs an equivalent operation on the target machine by executing a sequence of target machine instructions which replicates the functionality of the original instruction. This has the effect of converting the source machine instruction to one or more target machine instructions. In cases in which the source machine instruction would have invoked operating system or other machine-specific services of the source machine, the emulation software must further include software which recognizes the occurrence of each such invocation and accesses a corresponding target machine service.
One of the merits of the software emulation approach is the fact that it is relatively inexpensive. Moreover, the emulation software can be easily modified to accommodate both a) changes made to the source and/or target machines and b) necessary corrections to the emulation software itself, e.g., to fix "bugs". On the other hand, in order for the emulation to execute on the target machine with performance comparable to that of the source program executing on the source hardware, the target machine hardware must provide performance substantially superior to that of the source machine hardware as described below. Depending on the capabilities of the source machine, this criterion may be unattainable at reasonable cost.
There are at least two reasons why a software emulation requires superior performance from the target machine, both being due to the realtime nature of software emulation. The first relates to the fact that, in addition to the actual execution of the emulating target machine instructions, time is required to first convert each source machine instruction as it is encountered in the input stream. The second reason relates to the need to replicate both the primary and so-called side effects of the source processor instruction set.
As the term implies, the primary effect of any instruction is the fundamental purpose of the instruction. (For example, the primary effect of an ADD instruction is the addition of two quantities, while the primary effect of a JUMP instruction is the changing of the flow of control.) By contrast, side effects include pieces of information resulting from the execution of an instruction which are maintained by the hardware for further reference by the executing program. (The term "side effect" as used herein is defined more rigorously hereinbelow.) Side effects include, for example, the setting of condition code registers. Inasmuch as the emulation software operates on an instruction-by-instruction basis and therefore cannot determine when, if ever, such side effects will be referenced later in the execution, all side effects must be duplicated in the target machine. Because in the source machine these side effects are carried out by the processor hardware as an integral part of the instruction itself, they do not significantly affect performance in the source machine. However, differences in the processors used in the source and target machines are typically such that execution of the individual instructions of the software emulation on the target machine may result in side effects that are completely different from those of the source instructions executed on the source machine. Therefore, each side effect of each source machine instruction that does not have an equivalent on the target machine must be explicitly emulated on the target machine via a separate target machine instruction or instruction sequence. This results in a voluminous expansion of the program code.
As a consequence of the foregoing, the target machine must be capable of executing a great number of instructions in the time that the source machine would have executed a single instruction in order to simply provide performance comparable to that of the program executing on the source machine. This may be readily achievable if the source machine is of an older, inferior technology, in which case a target machine with substantially superior performance may well be available at reasonable cost. Disadvantageously, however, if the source and target machines are of similar technology, then the user must either accept substantially degraded performance or invest in a superior, and undoubtedly much more costly, target machine.
A third approach to the execution on a target machine of software developed for another machine is referred to as "translation"--an approach which overcomes at least some of the drawbacks of both hardware and software emulation as outlined above.
Translation is similar to software emulation in that it involves the use of software which typically takes, as its input, object code programs compiled for the source machine and converts each source machine instruction to one or more target machine object code instructions which replicate both the primary and side effects of the source processor instruction set. However, while the software emulation approach involves the processing of source machine instructions in real time, i.e., as they are encountered in the program input stream, translation does this "off line" and stores the resulting target machine instructions for later execution. The advantage of this approach is that the loss of performance occasioned by the need to perform the conversion of source machine instructions at execution time is avoided. Disadvantageously, however, the translation typically requires vast amounts of storage space due to the aforementioned expansion of program code, as described above. Moreover, since the translation must still emulate side effects, it potentially suffers from the same performance degradation as software emulation.

Method and apparatus for direct conversion of programs in object code form between different hardware architecture computer systems


Provided are a halogen-free electric wire including an insulation coating the life of which is less reduced in the case of the insulating coating being in contact with a PVC-resin-containing member; a wire bundle including the halogen-free electric wire and a PVC-resin-containing member, wherein a reduction in the life of a covering material of the halogen-free electric wire is lessened; and an automotive wiring harness comprising the wire bundle. The halogen-free electric wire includes a conductor and a covering material that covers the outer surface of the conductor, wherein the covering material includes a polyolefin resin and a flame retardant, and the flame retardant contains aluminum hydroxide as a main component, in particular, at a ratio of 80 weight percent or more. The wire bundle includes the halogen-free electric wires and a member containing a vinyl chloride resin. The automotive wiring harness comprises the wire bundle.

A wiring harness, which can be used as a wiring component for an automobile or the like, is composed of a wire bundle prepared by bundling a plurality of insulated wires. In general, a wiring harness that is widely used is structured such that a wire bundle is wrapped with a tape having an adhesive material or with a protective sheet, or such that a wire bundle is inserted into an insulative tube so that the outer periphery thereof may be protected therewith.
Hitherto, polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-covered electric wires, which are produced by applying an insulation coating of PVC resin onto the surface of a conductor composed of copper, copper alloy, or the like, have been widely adopted as insulated wires generally used in a wiring harness because these electric wires are excellent in terms of various properties, such as flame retardant property, electrical properties, mechanical properties, flexibility, and processability. However, the coating formed of a PVC resin contains a halogen element, and consequently a halogen gas, which causes an environmental pollution, is emitted during discarding incineration of electric wires or in case of a fire. Therefore, from the viewpoint of protection of the terrestrial environment, electric wires insulated with a halogen-free covering material (halogen-free electric wires) have recently been proposed and practically used instead of the PVC-covered electric wires.
Halogen-free polymers such as polyolefin resins are used for the halogen-free covering material (insulating coating). However, since the flame retardancy of these polyolefin resins is inferior to that of the PVC resin, a flame retardant such as magnesium hydroxide is mixed with the resins in order to improve the flame retardancy. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-226792 describes a flame retardant resin composition prepared by mixing a polymer composed of a propylene/ethylene-propylene block copolymer and a reactive polymer with metal hydroxide or the like (claim 1) and an electric wire including the resin composition as a covering material (claim 3). Examples in which magnesium hydroxide is used as the metal hydroxide are also described (Tables I to IV).
Thus, halogen-free electric wire having excellent flame retardant property can be produced and a wire bundle prepared by bundling only such halogen-free electric wire are used in some cases. However, since the PVC-covered electric wire is superior to the halogen-free electric wire in terms of processability and economic efficiency, a wire bundle including both PVC-covered electric wires and halogen-free electric wires are also used for a wiring harness and the like so that the excellent features as those of the PVC-covered electric wire and the reduction in the emission quantity of a halogen-based gas can both be attained. In addition, materials containing a PVC resin as a main component are generally used as bundling materials such as a tape, a protective material sheet, and an insulating tube that are used for bundling wires or protecting the bundled wires.
However, it has been a problem that when the halogen-free electric wire and the PVC-covered electric wire are used together, or when a PVC resin is used for the bundling material, the life of the halogen-free electric wire is shortened if the halogen-free electric wire and a PVC-containing member contact each other, thereby the degradation of the covering material of the halogen-free electric wire being caused, resulting in cracks, breakage, or the like. Accordingly, it has been sought to develop a halogen-free electric wire having a covering material which does not suffer from reduction in the life thereof even if the covering material is in contact with a member containing a PVC resin. Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-226792 (claim 1, claim 3, and Tables I to IV)

Halogen free electric wire, wire bundle, and automotive wiring harness


An apparatus for facilitating the sharing of memory blocks, which has local physical addresses at a computer node, between the computer node and an external device. The apparatus includes snooping logic configured for coupling with a common bus of the computer node. The snooping logic is configured to monitor, when coupled to the common bus, memory access requests on the common bus. There is also included a snoop tag array coupled to the snooping logic. The snoop tag array includes tags for tracking all copies of a first plurality of memory blocks of the memory blocks cached by the external device. Further, there is included a protocol transformer logic coupled to the snooping logic for enabling the apparatus, when coupled to the external device, to communicate with the external device using a protocol suitable for communicating with the external device.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for sharing memory among coherence domains of computer systems. More specifically, the invention relates to a novel method and apparatus for efficiently solving coherence problems when memory blocks having local physical addresses (LPA) in a particular computer node of a computer system are shared by other nodes of the system as well as by external entities coupled to that computer node.
The sharing of memory among multiple coherence domains presents unique coherence problems. To facilitate a discussion of these coherence problems, FIG. 1 shows a computer node 100 representing, e.g., a computer node in a more complex computer system. Within computer node 100, there are shown a plurality of processing nodes 102, 104, and 106 coupled to a common bus 108. Each of processing nodes 102, 104, and 106 represents, for example, a discrete processing unit that may include, e.g., a processor and its own memory cache. The number of processing nodes provided per computer node 100 may vary depending on needs, and may include any arbitrary number although only three are shown herein for simplicity of illustration.
Within computer node 100, a common bus 108 is shown coupled to a memory module 110, which represents the memory space of computer node 100 and may be implemented using a conventional type of memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Memory module 110 is typically organized into a plurality of uniquely addressable memory blocks 112. Each memory block of memory module 110, e.g., memory block 112(a) or memory block 112(b), has a local physical address (LPA) within computer node 100, i.e., its unique address maps into the memory space of computer 100. Each memory block 112 represents a storage unit for storing data, and each may be shared among processing nodes 102, 104, and 106 via common bus 108. Of course, there may be provided as many memory blocks as desired to satisfy the storage needs of computer node 100. In some cases, many memory modules 110 may be provided by computer node 100.
As is known to those skilled in the art, computer processors, e.g., processor 116 within processing node 102, typically operates at a faster speed than the speed of the memory module 110. To expedite access to the memory blocks 112 of memory module 110, there is usually provided with each processing node, e.g., processing node 102, a memory cache 114. A memory cache, e.g., memory cache 114, takes advantage of the fact that a processor, e.g., processor 116, is more likely to reference memory addresses that it recently references than other random memory locations. Further, memory cache 114 typically employs faster memory and tends to be small, which further contributes to speedy operation.
Within memory cache 114, there exists a plurality of block frames 118 for storing copies of memory blocks, e.g., memory blocks 112. Each block frame 118 has an address portion 120 for storing the address of the memory block it cached. If the unique address of memory block 112(a) is, e.g., FF5h, this address would be stored in address portion 120 of a block frame 118 when memory block 112(a) of memory module 110 is cached into memory cache 114. There is also provided in block frame 118 a data portion 122 for storing the data value of the cached memory block. For example, if the value stored in memory block 112(a) was 12 when memory block 112(a) was cached into block frame 118, this value 12 would be stored in data portion 122 of block frame 118.
Also provided in block frame 118 is a status tag 124 for storing the state of the memory block it cached. Examples of such states are, e.g., E, S, and I, representing respectively exclusive, shared, and invalid. The meanings of these states are discussed in greater detail herein.
A processing node may hold an exclusive copy of a memory block in its cache when it is the only entity having a valid copy. Such exclusive copy may potentially be different from its counterpart in memory module 110, e.g., it may have been modified by the processing node that cached it. Alternatively, a processing node may possess a shared, read-only copy of a memory block. When one processing node, e.g., processing node 102, caches a shared copy of a memory block, e.g., memory block 112(a), other processing nodes, e.g., processing nodes 104 and 106, may also possess shared copies of the same memory block.
If a memory block is never cached in a processing node or it was once cached but is no longer cached therein, that processing node is said to have an invalid copy of the memory block. No valid data is contained in the block frame when the state associated with that block frame is invalid.
The coherence problem that may arise when memory block 112 is shared among the processing nodes of FIG. 1 will now be discussed in detail. Assuming that processing node 102 caches a copy of memory block 112(a) into its memory cache 114 to change the value stored in memory block 112 from 12 to 13. Typically, when the value is changed by a processing node such as processing node 102, that value is not updated back into memory module 110 immediately. Rather, the updating is typically performed when memory cache 114 of processing node 102 writes back the copy of memory block 112(a) it had earlier cached.
Now suppose that before memory cache 114 has a chance to write back the changed value of memory block 112(a), i.e., 13, into memory module 110, processing node 104 wishes to reference memory block 112(a). Processing node 104 would first ascertain in its own memory cache 132 to determine whether a copy of memory block 112(a) had been cached therein earlier. Assuming that a copy of memory block 112(a) has never been cached by processing node 104, a cache miss would occur.
Upon experiencing the cache miss, processing node 104 may then proceed to obtain a copy of memory block 112(a) from memory module 110. Since the changed value of memory block 112(a) has not been written back into memory module 110 by processing node 102, the old value stored in memory block 112(a), i.e., 12, would be acquired by processing node 104. This problem is referred to herein as the coherence problem and has the potential to provide erroneous values to processing nodes and other devices that share a common memory.
Up to now, the sharing of memory blocks 112 is illustrated only with reference to devices internal to computer node 100, i.e., devices such as processing nodes 102, 104, and 106 that are designed to be coupled to common bus 108 and communicate thereto employing the same communication protocol. There may be times when it is necessary to couple computer node 100 to other external devices, e.g., to facilitate the expansion of the computer system. Oftentimes, the external devices may employ a different protocol from that employed on common bus 108 of computer node 100 and may even operate at a different speed.
External device 140 of FIG. 1 represents such an external device. For discussion purposes, external device 140 may represent, for example, an I/O device such as a gateway to a network. Alternatively, external device 140 may be, for example, a processor such as a Pentium Pro.TM. microprocessor (available from Intel. Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif.), representing a processor whose protocol and operating speed may differ from those on common bus 108. As a further example, external device 140 may represent a distributed shared memory agent for coupling computer node 100 to other entities having their own memory spaces, e.g., other computer nodes having their own memory modules. Via the distributed shared memory agent, the memory blocks within computer node 100 as well as within those other memory-space-containing entities may be shared.
Although an external device may need to share the data stored in memory module 110, it is typically not possible to couple an external device, such as external device 140, directly to common bus 108 to allow external device 140 to share the memory blocks in memory module 110. The direct coupling is not possible due to, among others, the aforementioned differences in protocols and operating speeds.
In view of the foregoing, what is needed is an improved method and apparatus for permitting memory blocks having a local physical address (LPA) in a particular computer node to be shared, in an efficient and error-free manner, among interconnected entities such as other processing nodes and external devices.

Methods and apparatus for a coherence transformer for connecting computer system coherence domains


A display device includes a display panel including a display area in which an image is displayed, and a light unit that includes: a light guide plate including a light receiving surface and a light emitting surface; a light source spaced apart from the light receiving surface while facing the light receiving surface and overlapping the display area; and a light diffusion member extending between the light receiving surface and the light source. The light diffusion member includes at least one of a first pattern formed on a surface of the light diffusion member facing the light emitting surface, and a second pattern formed on another surface of the light diffusion member, thereby implementing uniform brightness across the whole surface of the display panel.

(a) Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to display devices. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to display devices with improved illumination characteristics.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Many contemporary computer monitors, televisions, mobile phones, and the like, each of which are in wide use today, often require display devices. An example of such a display device may include a cathode ray tube display, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, and the like.
The liquid crystal display (LCD), which has recently received attention, has advantages such as the fact that the technology lends itself well to miniaturization, weight reduction, and low power consumption, and therefore has been gradually gaining interest as an alternative device capable of overcoming drawbacks of the existing cathode ray tube (CRT). Accordingly, it is currently mounted in almost all information processing devices which require a display device.
In general, the LCD display device is a device which generates an electric field by applying different potentials to a pixel electrode and a common electrode in a state in which a liquid crystal material is injected between an upper substrate on which the common electrode, a color filter, and the like are formed and a lower substrate on which a thin film transistor, the pixel electrode, and the like are formed, so as to change an arrangement of liquid crystal molecules and control transmittance of light, thereby displaying images.
A display panel of the LCD display device is a non-emissive light receiving device, and therefore a back surface of the display panel is provided with a light unit for supplying light to the display panel.
Meanwhile, demand for a thin display device has recently increased. The display device may be implemented as a structure in which a bezel portion, which is configured from a top chassis and a bottom chassis which are positioned at edges of the display panel, may be formed to be narrow or designed to have a structure in which a portion of the chassis may be removed so as to minimize or remove the bezel portion. However, as the bezel portion is reduced, a light source is exposed to more of a display region, and thus a light leakage phenomenon may occur in the display panel.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Display device having improved illumination characteristics


The invention provides devices, kits and methods for delivering an agent to a breast milk duct. Intraductal agent delivery provides an opportunity to treat a breast condition locally and avoid the pitfalls of systemic drug delivery for a local condition. Time-released agents delivered into the ducts using an intraductal device or formulation reduces the frequency of intraductal administration required for desired efficacy over time. The methods include methods of treating a breast condition, including the conditions of cancer or precancer.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is delivery of agents to breast milk ducts.
2. Description of the Background Art
Drug delivery to breast cancer patients, and patients having other breast conditions requiring therapeutic intervention, has been limited to systemic administration of the prescribed drug, the clear disadvantage of which is that the whole body is treated for a condition localized in the breast. Although systemic antibiotics for mastitis (infection in the breast duct) are reasonable treatments, and where the breast cancer has become metastatic, systemic administration is also reasonable, there are conditions that remain confined to the breast tissue and which would be most effectively treated by local administration.
Local surgical intervention is common in the treatment of localized breast cancer, as evidenced by the widespread practice of fine needle biopsies (FNAs), lumpectomy (breast lump removal), and partial mastectomy. Often following a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy, the breast tissue is radiated adjunctively. Such procedures generally disrupt the breast tissue, and in any event do not provide an opportunity for local delivery of a therapeutic agent to the breast.
Diagnostic procedures are being developed which involve collecting ductal fluid, in some cases by cannulating or catheterizing a breast duct to collect such fluid for cytological or marker analysis. Originally, retrieval of ductal fluid was facilitated by collecting the fluid from spontaneous nipple discharge, and later from nipple aspiration. Papanicolaou et al., (1958) Cancer, 11:377-409 describes exfoliative cytology from spontaneous nipple discharge of the human mammary gland and its value in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Goodson W H & King E B, Chapter 4: Discharges and Secretions of the Nipple, The Breast: Comprehensive Management of Benign and Malignant Diseases (1998) 2nd Ed. Vol 2, Bland & Kirby Eds. W. B. Saunders Co, Philadelphia, Pa. pp. 51-74 describes nipple discharge and the ways in which it has been used to characterized conditions of the breast. Nipple aspirate cytology for the study of breast cancer precursors is described in King et al., (1983) Journal of the National Cancer Institute 71(6): 1115-21. Cytological epithelial hyperplasia and a typical hyperplasia diagnosed in nipple aspirate fluid are associated with increased risk of breast cancer in a study of 2701 women as described in Wrensch et al., (1992) Am. J Epidemiology, v. 135 (2): 130-141. Nipple aspirate fluid is identified as a promising non-invasive method to identify cellular markers of breast cancer risk in Sauter et al., (1997) British Journal of Cancer 76(4): 494-501.
Diagnosis using ductal fluid retrieved by accessing the duct with a lumen-based device such as a catheter or cannula is described by Sartorius et al., (1977) which proposed cytologic evaluation of breast fluid retrieved using hair-like single-lumen catheters for the detection of breast disease as described in Journal of the National Cancer Institute 59(4): 1073-80. Love and Barsky, (1996) Lancet 348(9033): 997-9 demonstrated retrieval of ductal fluid by breast-duct endoscopy using a single-lumen device to study stages of cancerous breast disease.
A company called Diagnostics, Inc. formed in 1968, produced devices to obtain breast ductal fluid for cytological evaluation. The devices included a nipple aspiration device to collect NAF from subjects, and single-lumen catheters to retrieve ductal fluid. The devices were sold prior to May 28, 1976, for the purpose of collecting breast ductal fluid for cytological evaluation.
Co-owned and copending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/067,661, filed Apr. 28, 1998, and Ser. No. 09/301,058 filed Apr. 28, 1999, and a corresponding PCT filed case describe and claim methods of ductal lavage using dual lumen catheters for infusing wash fluid through the infusion lumen and retrieving ductal fluid that mixes with the wash fluid and that is collected through a collection lumen of a dual lumen catheter. Co-owned and copending U.S. patent application No. 60/143,359 filed Jul. 12, 1999, describes and claims a dual lumen catheter for delivery and retrieval of ductal fluid for diagnosis. Co-owned and copending U.S. patent application No. 60/122,076 filed Mar. 1, 1999, (manifold) describes and claims a manifold device for lumen-based delivery of a therapeutic agent to multiple breast ducts on a single breast at the same time.
While cannulation and catheterization are suitable means for diagnostic retrieval of breast duct fluid, and also reasonable approaches to intraductal delivery of therapeutic agents, it would be a great advantage to improve upon the intraductal delivery devices and modalities available to patients having localized breast conditions for which the safest, least toxic and most effective therapeutic administration is intraductal.
The present invention improves upon existing and developing intraductal therapy by providing alternative intraductal delivery devices and modalities, and by extending the usefulness and practice of the presently known and described intraductal delivery modalities using ductal catheterization and ductal cannulation.
Relevant Literature
U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,415, to Sukumar discloses prophylactic and therapeutic methods of treating the ductal epithelium of a breast duct by treating the duct with an epithelium destroying agent, and claims a method of treating the ductal epithelium of a mammary gland prophylactically or therapeutically for cancer by ductal cannulation of a duct, and administration of a vector comprising thymidine kinase to the duct and its prodrug ganciclovir.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,692, to Popescu et al., discloses and claims a method of treating infections in an animal (particularly bovine animals) by administration of a therapeutically effective amount of aminoglycoside in liposome form by intramammary infusion.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,202,329 and 4,365,632, to Kortum disclose a process and apparatus for stimulating immune resistance by the introduction of at least one relatively small solid non-toxic substantially non-biodegradable body, having non-specific antigenic action, into each gland cistern of the udder. The continued presence of the non-specific antigenic body induces immune resistance including an increase in the number and activity of phagocytic cells in the udder, which in turn provides protection against bacterial invasion without degrading milk quality. U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,329 claims a method for inhibiting bacterial infection by use of this process and apparatus.

Methods and devices for delivery of agents to breast milk ducts


The present invention relates to an apparatus (1) for generating a rotating laser beam (5) which may used for various applications including welding, cutting, drilling or ablation of materials. More particularly, the apparatus (1) according to the present invention is able to produce a fast rotating and accurate laser beam, because the main optical device (100) that is rotated consists of a first reflecting surface (102) rotating about an axis (X1), a second reflecting surface (26) having an annular shape, wherein the first reflecting surface (102) redirects said laser beam in to the direction of the second reflecting surface (26), which reflects said laser beam towards said axis (X1).

Although the following description relates specifically to a welding apparatus, it must be understood that, depending on the laser beam parameters, the apparatus according to the present invention can also been used for machining operations, such as cutting, drilling or ablation of materials.
Systems for circular welding with a laser beam, for example, are known from the prior art.
Some of these systems are based on the principle that the welding apparatus is arranged with respect to one or more workpieces to be welded in a stationary manner. The laser beam is directed to a welding region of the workpieces in a fixed direction, whereas the workpieces are driven in rotation by a support comprising motor means for that purpose.
However, such systems present many drawbacks in that it is difficult to precisely adjust the position of the workpiece with respect to the laser beam, this being especially critical when the workpiece is rotated at a high speed of rotation.
Further, the corresponding welding process takes a long time if there are a large number of workpieces to be welded successively. Indeed, in the process, the workpiece has to be positioned in its still support before the latter is driven in rotation with a high speed. Then the welding treatment Is applied as soon as the workpiece Is rotated faster than a predetermined rotating speed. After the welding treatment, the support has to stop rotating before the workpiece is removed from it and before the next workpiece is positioned.
Other systems are known, in which the workpiece remains still during the welding process, the laser beam direction being changed to sweep the whole welding region. In order to cover the whole welding region with the laser beam, two mirrors are arranged in the optical path of the laser beam so that they can be tilted independently of each other, each between two end positions. Thus, one of the mirrors is responsible for a movement of the laser beam along a first direction X-X′ while the second mirror is responsible for a movement of the laser beam along a second direction Y-Y′, perpendicular to the first direction X-X′. Consequently, the combination of the respective tilts of the two mirrors covers the whole welding region of the workpiece.
However, a drawback of such systems is that the larger the dimensions of the welding region, the further the end positions are from one another for each of the mirrors. Thus, the time necessary for a mirror to tilt from one end position to the other is longer, which leads to a decrease in the overall speed of the welding process.

Apparatus for generating a rotating laser beam


A scroll compressor includes a compressor housing, an orbiting scroll member and non-orbiting scroll member intermeshed to form a compression chamber, a discharge pressure chamber, an intermediate pressure chamber. The housing includes a lower portion, a first intermediate cap, a second intermediate cap, and an upper portion. The discharge pressure chamber configured to receiving a discharge pressure fluid from the compression chamber. The intermediate pressure chamber fluidly connecting an intermediate pressure fluid inlet port and an intermediate pressure fluid injection port of the non-orbiting scroll member. A method injecting an intermediate pressure fluid into a compression chamber of a scroll compressor includes disposing the intermediate pressure fluid in an intermediate pressure chamber. The method also includes injecting the intermediate pressure fluid in the intermediate pressure chamber through the intermediate pressure fluid injection port into the compression chamber.

A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) system generally includes a compressor, such as a scroll compressor. Scroll compressors include a pair of scroll members which orbit relative to each other to compress a working fluid, such as for example, a refrigerant. The compressor compresses a working fluid (e.g., refrigerant, or the like) at a lower pressure and discharges the fluid at a higher pressure. An intermediate pressure fluid can be introduced to the compressor at an intermediate pressure to increase compressor capacity.

Scroll compressor with second intermediate cap to facilitate refrigerant injection


The invention relates to a novel pharmaceutical composition comprising an effective amount of bio-active fraction from cow urine distillate as a bioavailability facilitator and pharmaceutically acceptable additives selected from anticancer compounds, antibiotics, drugs, therapeutic and nutraceutic agents, ions and similar molecules which are targeted to the living systems.

In Ayurveda cows urine is suggested for improving general health. But it is never scientifically tested for any utility alone. The applicants have developed the curiosity about this component in the preparations and asked many questions to them; whether the component cow urine is having any activity by itself or it does not have any activity but enhance the activity of other components in the preparations? What are the components present in the urine of cow? Whether the urine contains microorganism, which are beneficial? Whether the degradation products from the urine are beneficial? To answer these questions the applicant obtained "Kamadhenu Arka" the urine distillate from "Go-Vigyana Anusandhana Kendra" Nagpur, India. This is the urine distillate suggested for drinking to improve the general health and sold and distributed in different size bottles. The applicants tested the urine on Luria agar and broth in sterile condition and did not notice any growth of microorganism. To test whether this is inhibitory to growth of different microorganism, Escherichia coil and Mycobacterium smegmatis were grown at different temperatures ranging from 20 to 40° C. in presence and in absence of the cow urine distillate, no significant difference in the colony count is noticed. Surprisingly, the same distillate enhanced the antibiotic action on these bacteria leading to this invention. The novelty of the invention lies in the fact revealed through precise experimentation that the enhancement action and its effectiveness is achievable only in the range of concentration which is literally in nano to micro molar levels. And when a higher concentration/dosage is used in the formulation or combinations the activity(ies) do not appear. That should be the reason for non-detection such a valuable potential of cow urine (Go-mutra). From million doses of annual antibiotics consumption goes waste as these could not be utilized or targeted to the infective organisms effectively due to various factors like efficient absorption, transportation to the target site, retention time, operation of efflux pump, metabolism etc. Thus, large portions of the drugs we apply are wasted and only a miniscule percentage is being targeted to the infective microbes. Also, the unutilized drug/antibiotic amount remains as a load in the body and environment acting as a selection pressure to facilitate emergence of drug resistance in parasites and their predominance, ultimately leading to failure of antibiotics against resistant infections. This also is responsible for side effects, illness and reduction in life expectancy being more acute in the older population. One of the ways, which has been feasible to reduce drug dosage, has been synergism between two therapeutic agents. However, if both have the antibiotic property, still the problem of continued selection pressure on microbes is likely to continue. So, the applicants thought of utilizing cow urine, which is not microbicidal but when present with a drug or active molecule, enhance its activity and availability (bioenhancers). This way, the selection pressure will be counter-balanced simultaneously reducing the dosage of antibiotics or drugs for minimizing the side effects, which has also high commercial importance.
The present invention was the result of planned experiments to provide a novel method for improving activity and bioavailability of antibiotics, drugs and other molecules using 'cow urine distillate' in different formulations.
The bioavailability of nutrients and enhancement antibiotics effect is relevant to human, plant as well as animal health and thus the compositions and methods of the invention are also intended to be used in agriculture and veterinary practice.

Use of bioactive fraction from cow urine distillate (‘

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A method for generating search results based on a search term and displaying the search results in one or more groupings. The method includes receiving a search term entered by a user, selecting one or more search result groupings based on the search term entered by the user and at least in part on a bid amount associated with the search term, providing search results based on the search term entered by the user for each search result grouping, and displaying the search groupings to the user.

There are currently a wide variety of search engines and search tools that permit computer users to search for electronic information. Some search engines allow users to search general network-stored content. These and other search engines allow users to search narrower and/or other categories of information as well. For example, a search engine may allow users to search such categories as images, news, products for sale, etc. The search engine my further allow the user to search a category of the network-stored content organized by topic (e.g., art, business, computers, science, shopping, sports, etc.) or by various subcategories of content.
Different categories of search results and/or different topics of search results may be displayed to the user. One example may include a user interface having a plurality of search result groupings, such as columns, where each search result grouping is associated with a unique category and/or topic. The presentation of the categories in the user interface may be configured according to a wide variety of criteria, such as likelihood of applicability to a search term, previously selected categories of interest, etc. The configuration of columns may affect the likelihood that a user will select a link within any particular column.
Search engines generally allow sponsors to prominently display their links on search engine user interfaces using sponsored links. Sponsored links are search results that are provided based on the search results when users input search terms to a search engine. For example, if a visitor to the search engine enters the term "flowers," search results that a sponsor believes may be relevant to someone searching for flowers are displayed. Sponsors generally pay the provider of the search engine a fee for the display of the search results. The search results appear as a result of sponsors bidding on particular search terms, such as "flowers."
The bidding process is commonly managed by an intermediary, such as the search engine provider. Sponsors bid on search terms and submit search results associated with the search terms to the intermediary. The intermediary typically utilizes one or more engines for associating the search results with bids and search terms, keeping track of the highest bidders, scheduling, etc., and ensuring that at any given instance the search results corresponding to the highest bids are displayed when search terms matching the search terms are entered by the users of the search engine. Whenever a visitor clicks on a displayed search result, referred to herein as a "click event," the intermediary charges the sponsor a fee. The intermediary also commonly monitors the "click-through" rate (e.g., how many users actually select or click on the displayed advertisement). In some cases, if the number of users clicking on the sponsored search result is too low, the sponsored search result will no longer be displayed, even if it is associated with the highest bid.
An ongoing challenge is to ensure that sponsors receive adequate value for the money they spend on sponsorship. It would be beneficial to sponsors to be able to focus their advertising spending to capture the value of a prominently displayed search result grouping. It should be understood that, although certain advantages are described, the teachings herein may be used to implement systems and methods that do not have any of these advantages but which have other advantages.

System and method for displaying columns of search results


An imaging method includes acquiring one or more passive light images of a scene. A region of interest in the scene is identified based on the one or more passive light images. One or more illumination zones of a plurality of illumination zones that collectively cover the region of interest is determined. Each illumination zone is sized according to active illumination emitted from a steerable illumination source. For a determined illumination zone of the one or more illumination zones, the illumination zone is individually illuminated with the active illumination from the steerable illumination source. For a pixel of a sensor array that maps to the illumination zone, a depth value of an object locus in the scene reflecting the active illumination back to the pixel is determined.

A two-dimensional (2D) camera can include a monochrome or color image sensor that can acquire images in an infrared (IR), near infrared (NIR), visible (i.e., color), and/or ultraviolet (UV) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. A color 2D camera typically relies on ambient illumination of a scene to acquire 2D passive light images. In addition, computations to process and analyze data from a 2D camera can be relatively minimal. Such factors can make a 2D camera relatively power efficient.
A three-dimensional (3D) camera typically operates by actively illuminating a scene and determining a depth of an object in the scene reflecting the active illumination back to the 3D camera by measuring one or more parameters of the active illumination. Such active illumination is often constrained to IR or NIR illumination so that it will not be perceivable to a human observer. The generation of the active illumination and computations to process and analyze data from a 3D camera can be relatively resource intensive. Such active illumination and resource intensive processing, among other factors, can make a 3D camera relatively less power efficient than a 2D camera.

Selective power efficient three-dimensional imaging


A flexible interrupt system for presenting interrupt signal to a microcontroller located on an integrated circuit responds to either on chip or off chip components. An interrupt circuit is connected to each bonding pad and is also connected to interrupt control logic which establishes priority for interrupt signals from the components located on chip. All interrupt signals pass through a common node in the interrupt circuit. A p channel transistor and a n channel transistor connected to the common node function as a pull up or pull down so that the microcontroller senses the rising or falling edge of the interrupt request. Since the interrupt request signals from either on chip components or off chip components pass through the common node, and the common node is directly coupled to a pad, system development and debug is simplified.

It is well known that microcontrollers sample for the presence of an interrupt at the end of the instruction being executed. The microcontroller saves the interrupted program's next instruction address, currently residing in its program counter (pc), and then loads the starting address of the interrupt service routine. The new value then goes to the address bus so that the first instruction of the service routine can be fetched for execution.
The interrupted program address is generally saved by "pushing" it into a memory stack, which is a block of memory utilized as a first-in-last-out buffer, or by storing the address in a temporary register.
It is well known that an on chip microcontroller might service interrupt requests from either on chip components or off chip components. In systems where such multiple interrupt requests sources are present, priority resolution among the interrupt requests must be clearly established so that the microcontroller can determine which interrupt request to service. Depending on the system architecture, this priority resolution may or may not add to the interrupt latency. At the end of an interrupt service routine, the saved program address is reloaded into the microcontroller, so that the interrupted program can resume its execution. During system test and debug it is particularly helpful to access the interrupt requests so that problems, if any, can be diagnosed and corrected.
Because none of the prior art interrupt systems for a microcontroller embedded in an integrated circuit are entirely satisfactory. It is therefore desirable to provide an improved system for handling interrupt request signals on an integrated circuit which is more flexible in respond to both on chip and off chip components and yet can be easily tested and debugged.

Flexible interrupt system for an integrated circuit


A device for coupling microwave signals with arbitrary phase shifts and power split ratios over broadband may comprise a first branch comprising a cascade of first stripline sections connected to one another. A second branch may comprise a cascade of second stripline sections connected to one another. A single stripline section and a capacitor may be coupled in series to at least one of the branches. The first stripline sections of the first branch and the corresponding second stripline sections of the second branch form broadside coupled stripline sections. Those cascaded coupled stripline sections may be arranged to have a monotonically changing horizontal offsets but at a uniform vertical distance.

Hybrid couplers are important components in microwave integrated circuits and systems. Next generation broadband networks and systems may require broadband hybrid couplers. Conventional hybrid couplers with single octave bandwidth may be insufficient for these next generation broadband networks and systems. In addition, as microwave systems become more compact with a higher level of integration, components with integrated functionalities are desired.

Wide-band microwave hybrid coupler with arbitrary phase shifts and power splits


A strap pressing device for a strap packing apparatus includes a strap presser, an eccentric shaft, and a spring. The eccentric shaft consists of a first shaft and a second shaft eccentrically connected to the first shaft and received in an oval hole of the strap presser. The first shaft is pivotally connected to a side of the base. A spring is fitted around the second shaft in the oval hole, so the strap presser may be pressed down to press a strap closely contact the upper surface of the base, and also moved bias by movement of the second shaft when the first shaft is moved by a lever so that the strap presser may be moved bias to rise up quickly to leave the upper surface of the base so as to prevent a curved bottom surface of the strap presser from frictionally sliding on the strap to give scar on it.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a strap pressing device for a strap packing apparatus, particularly to one capable to prevent a strap from being scarred or hurt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional strap packing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a base 11, a cutting device 12 provided beside the base 11, a strap roll supporter 13 and a strap pressing device 14. A lever 15 and a grip 16 are pivotally connected to the base 11 for performing strapping, strap pressing, tightening and cutting. The pressing device 14 is provided with a body 141, a pressing block 142 is pivotally connected to the body 141, and a toque spring 143 located between the body and the pressing block 143 for elastically pressing the pressing block 142 to press tightly overlapped ends of a strap on the base 11. When the lever 15 is pressed down, the cutting device 12 cuts the strap, and at the same time the body 141 of the strap pressing device 14 rotates forward bias, forcing the pressing block 142 also moving forward bias to release the strap pressed so far, finishing retreating of the strap.
However, when the conventional strap pressing device 14 retreats the strap, the pressing block 142 moves together with the body 14 bias to release the strap, but at the beginning of moving bias the pressing block 142 is still moved bias by the torque spring 143, with the sharp front edge and a partial rough bottom surface of the pressing block 142 producing sliding frictionally against the surface of the strap, which is then easily scarred to get cut lines on its surface, resulting in the strap's appearance and worsened in strength resisting tension. And if worse, the strap may be broken off. Moreover, the frictional slide may increase pressing resistance against the lever 15, and strap retreating operation needs more force.

Strap pressing device for a strap packing apparatus


An adjustable basketball standard includes a mast, a backboard and rim, a support arm for holding the backboard and rim, and a clamp assembly for attaching the support arm to the mast. The clamp assembly is configured to slide along the backboard to enable the user to move the backboard and rim to a desired height. Unlike many of the prior art configurations, the adjustable basketball standard does not move the backboard and rim horizontally with respect to the boundaries of the playing surface. Additionally, the adjustable basketball standard is easy to use and provides a greater variation of heights at which the backboard may be placed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustable basketball standard which enables the user to adjust the height of the rim. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adjustable standard which is configured to provide improved durability, ease of use, and an improved range of heights at which the basketball rim may be used.
2. State of the Art
The game of basketball has long been one of the most popular sporting activities in the United States of America and has gained considerable popularity in other countries. The ever increasing popularity of the game in the United States and abroad is due, in part, to the increasing involvement of young children. For many years very young children did not play basketball because it was difficult to shoot a ball through the rim which is typically positioned ten feet off of the ground.
This problem was at least partially resolved with the creation of adjustable basketball standards. The devices typically include a mast which is either embedded in concrete, or attached to a movable anchor filled with a weighting material, such as sand. The backboard and rim are attached to the mast by an adjustable support mechanism, and a control mechanism to hold the support mechanism at a desired location. The most common expression of such an adjustable basketball standard incorporated a parallelogram configuration such as that shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,801,142; 4,805,904; 4,881,734; 5,133,547; 5,324,027; and 5,388,821.
The parallelogram structure typically enabled the rim to be moved from 10 feet above the playing surface down to approximately 7 feet above the playing surface. This reduction of height made it easier for young children to throw a basketball through the rim. The ability to lower the height of the rim and backboard was also quickly valued by youths and less athletic players who were finally able to imitate their favorite professional and college players by dunking the basketball.
As shown by the above-referenced patents, considerable effort has been spent attempting to improve the parallelogram configuration. Additional support mechanisms have been included, different control mechanisms have been suggested to hold the support mechanisms in place and other modifications have been proposed. All of these efforts, however, overlook the fundamental disadvantages which are present in the parallelogram configuration.
One problem with the parallelogram configuration is that it limits the extent to which the user may adjust the height of the rim. While a range of 7 to 10 feet is desirable for older youths, many younger children are unable to reach the rim, and many very young children are still unable to throw a basketball therethrough. While some shorter masts have been provided, this prevents placement of the rim at regulation height for use by older youths and adults.
Another problem with the parallelogram design is that there are numerous critical locations within the configuration (primarily the pivot points). If any one of these were to fail, the entire standard may be unusable. In other words, many of these systems have too many moving parts which can be damaged or lost.
Yet another disadvantage of the parallelogram configuration is that the backboard follows an arcuate movement path. Thus, the backboard and rim are disposed further forward of the baseline when the support arms are horizontal than when the support arms are disposed semivertically. Likewise, forward movement of the backboard changes the distance between the backboard and points on the playing surface, such the foul line and the three point line, further affecting the shot of the user. In some systems, the distance can increase as much as 8 to 12 inches, potentially altering the shot of the user. Furthermore, the greater the range of heights at which the rim can be placed, the greater the potential horizontal displacement.
Still another disadvantage of many of the parallelogram configurations is that no support is provided when the control mechanism is released to allow raising or lowering of the backboard. No support is provided to counter the weight of the rim, the backboard and the associated support structure. Thus, it is often difficult for young children and petite men and women to raise or lower the backboard and rim to the desired location.
Thus, there is a need for an improved adjustable basketball standard. Such a standard should provide an increased range of movement of the rim, dependability and ease of adjustment.


Disclosed herein is an electronic apparatus having a keyboard and a display unit and having a base unit made of a synthetic resin. The base unit comprises an upper case having a top wall and a peripheral wall, and a lower case having a bottom wall and a peripheral wall. The peripheral walls of the upper and lower cases are connected. A storage space is formed between the upper case and the lower case, for containing a battery pack. A loading port is formed in the sides of the upper and lower cases, communicating with said storage space. Though this port, the battery pack can be inserted into, and removed from, the storage space. A cover is connected to the base unit. It can move between a port-closing position where it closes the loading port and a second port-opening position where it opens the loading port. The cover has a top wall slidably mounted on the top wall of the upper case, and a lower wall slidably mounted on the bottom wall of the lower case. A temperature sensor is also provided for detecting the battery temperature and a temperature fuse is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic apparatus such as a book-sized personal computer or word processor and, more particularly, it relates to a base unit to be used for such an electronic apparatus comprising a battery pack for storing a drive power source and a keyboard.
2. Description of the Related Art Various book-sized or so-called lap-top personal computers comprising a flat and box-shaped base unit and a keyboard and a flat panel-type display unit arranged on said base unit are currently available.
Computers of the above described type are normally provided with a rechargeable battery pack for storing a drive power source so that they may be used at locations where the commercial power supply is not available. Since such a battery pack needs to be replaced by a new one when the battery pack contained there has lost its life after a long use, it is normally removably fitted to the base unit. In other words, the base unit of a conventional computer of the type under consideration is provided with a storage space for containing a battery pack. Such a storage space is located adjacent to and in communication with a loading port disposed on a lateral side of the base unit, through which the battery pack is pushed into and taken out of the storage space.
The loading port is normally closed by a cover. The cover is fitted to the base unit in such a manner that it is slidable between a closed position for closing the loading port and an open position for exposing the aperture. When the cover is in the closed position, its outer surface is found on the plane of the outer surface of the lateral side wall of the base unit on which the loading port is located to form a continuous plane so that the cover constitutes part of the side wall.
The base unit contains in it functional components such as printed-circuit board carrying various circuit components thereon and floppy disc drive device. So, the base unit is normally divided into two sections; an upper case and a lower case. In the base unit comprising the upper case and the lower case, the loading port extends from a lateral side of the upper case to the corresponding lateral side of the lower case and the cover for closing and exposing the port is slidable between the upper case and the lower case.
The walls of both the upper case and the lower case are made very thin to maximize the inner spaces of the cases sometimes at the cost of the rigidity of the top wall of the upper case and the bottom wall of the lower case having a relatively large surface area. Since the top wall of the upper case is used to support a display unit which is hinged to the upper case, any force applied to the display unit to open or close it is transmitted to the top wall of the upper case, which then can be deflected because of the lack of sufficient rigidity. Additionally, since the battery pack normally weighs more than one kilogram, the bottom wall of the lower case can also be deflected when the battery pack is loaded in the storage area of the lower case.
A base unit having deflected walls of the upper and lower cases can significantly lose its esthetic and hence commercial value. Besides, the loading port can vary its vertical dimension depending on the deflection of the top and bottom walls of the upper and lower cases, resulting in malfunctions such as a totally removed cover or an unmovable cover.

Electronic apparatus wherein components are detachably arranged in a housing having a recess with a sliding and clamping cover


An engine start controller shortens the time required from when an operation switch is operated to when an engine is started. The engine start controller controls starting of the engine of a vehicle and power supply to an electric device system. A control unit selectively locks the steering shaft of the vehicle and performs authentication with a portable device, which is carried by a user of the vehicle, for permitting use of the vehicle. An operation switch is connected to the control unit and generates an operation signal when operated by the user. The control unit unlocks the steering shaft in parallel with supplying power to the electric device system when the operation signal is generated and use of the vehicle is permitted through the authentication.

The present invention relates to a controller, and more particularly, to an engine start controller provided with a smart ignition function.
In recent years, engine start/stop control systems provided with a "smart ignition" function for controlling starting and stopping of an engine have been proposed to improve the operability of vehicles. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-317689 describes an example of such an engine start/stop control system. In this engine start/stop control system, when an owner (driver) carrying a portable device enters a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the portable device automatically communicates with an engine start controller installed in the vehicle. When the communication authenticates that an ID of the portable device corresponds to an ID of the vehicle, the engine start controller permits starting of the engine.
To prevent vehicle thefts, the vehicle has a steering lock mechanism. The steering lock mechanism prevents the vehicle from being stolen by restricting rotation of the steering shaft while the vehicle is parked. In the engine start/stop control system, the ID of the portable device is first authenticated through communication. Afterwards, the steering shaft is unlocked when the driver operates an operation switch, such as a push switch, arranged in the vicinity of the driver's seat in the vehicle.
The engine start controller switches power supply modes when the operation switch is operated. To be more specific, the engine start controller switches the power supply mode to one of a mode for supplying power to an accessory (ACC) system including electric components such as a car audio system (hereafter referred to as the "ACC system power supply mode"), a mode for supplying power to, in addition to the electric components, an ignition-on (IG-ON) system including the air conditioner and gauges in the instrument panel (hereafter referred to as the "IG-ON system power supply mode"), and a mode for cutting the supply of power to any of these electric device systems (hereafter referred to as the "power OFF mode").
For example, when the driver starts the engine using a mechanical key, the power supply mode is switched in the following way. First, the driver inserts the mechanical key in a key cylinder and turns the mechanical key. Then, the engine start controller unlocks the steering shaft and supplies power to the ACC system. Afterwards, when the driver further turns the mechanical key, the engine start controller supplies power to the IG-ON system. In this way, when the driver starts the engine with the mechanical key, the steering shaft is first unlocked. Afterwards, power is supplied to the ACC system and then to the IG-ON system. With reference to FIG. 1, the following describes the procedures performed by a conventional engine start controller in which the operation switch is operated, the system to which power is supplied (power supply system) is switched, and the engine is started. In FIG. 1, the rectangular blocks represent processes that require an operation of a user (driver) to proceed to the next process. The rectangular blocks with rounded corners represent processes that do not require an operation of a user (driver) to proceed to the next process.
In step J50, power is not supplied to the electric device systems (power OFF mode). In step J50, the engine start controller is set in a state in which the unlocking of the steering shaft is enabled (hereafter referred to as a "standby state") when the ID of the portable device is authenticated through communication between the portable device and the engine start controller. When the driver operates the operation switch in the standby state, the engine start controller unlocks the steering shaft (step J51). As shown in step J52, the engine start controller then determines whether the steering shaft is unlocked. When the steering shaft is unlocked, the engine start controller switches the power supply mode to the ACC system power supply mode (step J53). Afterwards, when the driver further operates the operation switch, the engine start controller switches the power supply mode to the IG-ON system power supply mode (step J54). Then, the driver depresses the brake pedal and operates the operation switch so that the engine start controller starts the engine (step J55). In this way, the engine is started only when the steering shaft is determined as being unlocked. Subsequently, the engine starts running as shown in step J56.
In step J54, when the driver operates the operation switch without depressing the brake pedal, the engine start controller does not supply power to the electric device systems (power OFF mode) (step J57). Thereafter, the engine start controller sequentially switches the power supply mode to the ACC system power supply mode (step J53), the IG-ON system power supply mode (step J54), the power OFF mode (step J57), and the ACC system power supply mode (step J53) every time the operation switch is operated. In this way, the engine start controller shifts only to the processing in one of steps J53, J54, and J57 when the brake pedal is not depressed. Thus, the driver needs to depress the brake pedal to start the engine.
In the power OFF mode in step J50, the driver depresses the brake pedal and also operates the operation switch. Then, the engine start controller unlocks the steering shaft, and determines that the steering shaft is unlocked (step J52). Afterwards, the engine start controller starts the engine (step J55) without entering the ACC system power supply mode (step J53) and the IG-ON system power supply mode (step J54). The engine start controller also starts the engine when the driver depresses the brake pedal and operates the operation switch in steps J53 (the ACC system power supply mode), J54 (the IG-ON system power supply mode), and J57 (the power OFF mode). In this way, the driver may start the engine by depressing the brake pedal and also operating the operation switch in any power supply mode.
When the driver operates the operation switch while the engine is running, the engine start controller stops the engine and switches the power supply mode to the power OFF mode (step J57).
As described above, a conventional engine start controller switches the power supply mode from the power OFF mode to the ACC system power supply mode after the steering shaft is unlocked. Thus, a long period of time is required from when the operation switch is operated to when the power supply mode is switched to the ACC system power supply mode. As a result, a long period of time is required from when the operation switch is operated to when the engine is started.

Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho


A method and apparatus for enabling a player Io participate in a live online card game. After a card is drawn, and before all players can see it, it is optionally squeezed, i.e. slowly revealed to one or more players, such as the players who placed the highest bet for a particular side. The gradual revealing of the cards is performed by capturing and broadcasting a representative of the particular side showing the cards to a capturing device, by broadcasting pre-recorded image streams, or by broadcasting an image stream generated by a computing platform after a card was scanned by a scanning device. The player can choose the part of the card being revealed, and its orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a live computer game in general, and to VIP baccarat game in particular.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Baccarat is a live table card game played in casinos or gaming establishments. The object of the game of baccarat is for a player to successfully wager on whether the "banker" hand, the "player" hand is going to win, or there will be a tie. In order for a hand to win, the hand count, i.e. the sum of the cards in the hand, should be closer to the target count of nine (9) than the other hand. If the hand value exceeds ten, the hand value is determined to be the digit value of the raw hand value. For example, if the raw hand value is 15, the hand value is determined to be 5. The bettor wins even money if he selects the winning hand; wins nine times the wager if he selects tie which indeed occurs; gets his money back if he bet on banker or on player and the result is a tie (a "push" situation); and loses the wager if he bet on tie and the result is player or banker, or if he bet on player or on banker and the other one was closer to nine. Due to the rules of baccarat, and particularly the pre-established card drawing rules, the "banker" hand has slightly higher chances of winning than does the "player" hand. Therefore, if the bettor wagers on the "banker" hand and the "banker" hand wins, the bettor must pay to the gaming establishment a commission, typically about 5% of the amount the bettor wins. No commission is paid if the bettor successfully wagers on the "player" hand.
The manner of play of baccarat is as follows: a multiple number of decks of standard playing cards, 52 in number, are used, typically eight decks are shuffled together and placed in a shoe box from which the cards are dealt during the play of the game. Each player makes a wager on whether the "banker" hand will win, the "player" hand will win, or a tie will occur. Once all wagers are made, two cards are dealt from the shoe box to the "player" hand and two cards are dealt to the "banker" hand in alternate fashion. The cards are turned face-up, the values of the "player" hand and the "banker" hand are summed, and the unit digit is determined to be the hand value. Aces count as one, faces and tens count as zero and the other cards count their respective value. For example, a seven, an eight and a queen total fifteen, so the hand value is determined to be five.
The highest hand value in baccarat is nine, and all hand values range from zero to nine. If a set of predetermined "player" criteria are met, a third card will be dealt to the player, and similarly for the "banker", although the criteria are not identical for the "player" and for the "banker". The value of this third card is added to the total of the first two cards and a new hand value is established. Again, if the new hand total exceeds nine, the hand value is determined by subtracting ten from the total hand. The rules for determining whether a third card is dealt are fixed, there is no discretion for either the "player" hand or the "banker" hand on whether a third card is dealt. Prior to drawing, each player can place their wagers on "player", "banker", or tie. Whichever of the player hand or banker hand is nearest to nine is the winner, and if the hands are equal, it is a tie.
Live Baccarat is offered to players who wish to feel the thrill and excitement of a live game, although they are not personally present in a gaming room.
An online live game comprises a real gaming facility such as a casino or a gaming room, wherein the game is played by a manager, such as a human dealer, and captured by a capturing device such as a video camera. Multiple online players, each using a computer view the online game via a display device such as a monitor of the computer displaying the captured game, and participate in the game by using input devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen or another pointing device or mechanism. However, even when a player views and participates in an online game, the thrill and excitement of personally participating in a baccarat game in a real gaming room is still missing. Also missing is a way for the gaming room operator to reward or encourage a certain player.
There is therefore a need in the art for a method and apparatus that will provide an online Baccarat player participating in a remote game with enhanced excitement and added benefits, in order to make him feel as if he was personally present in a gaming room.


Unicode data can be protected in a distributed tokenization environment. Data to be tokenized can be accessed or received by a security server, which instantiates a number of tokenization pipelines for parallel tokenization of the data. Unicode token tables are accessed by the security server, and each tokenization pipeline uses the accessed token tables to tokenization a portion of the data. Each tokenization pipeline performs a set of encoding or tokenization operations in parallel and based at least in part on a value received from another tokenization pipeline. The outputs of the tokenization pipelines are combined, producing tokenized data, which can be provided to a remote computing system for storage or processing.

Each human language corresponds to a set of characters, symbols, punctuation, accents, and other representative markings. The Unicode standard was developed to ensure consistent encoding and representation of text of various languages. In Unicode, a character of a language is assigned a unique code value, encoding, or index value ("Unicode code value" hereinafter) such that no two characters across all languages represented by Unicode are mapped to the same Unicode code value. Given the flexibility of Unicode in representing the world's languages while guaranteeing that code value conflicts are avoided, the adoption of Unicode in information systems, computing systems, operating systems, networks, and other systems associated with the processing and storage of text has become nearly universal. Accordingly, there is a need to protect information that accounts for the format, structure, and characteristics of Unicode.

Parallel unicode tokenization in a distributed network environment


A semiconductor wafer according to the present embodiment is a semiconductor wafer having a first face. A plurality of chip structures are provided on a plurality of chip regions of the first face. A test structure is provided on dicing regions between adjacent ones of the chip regions. The chip structures each comprise first integrated circuits provided on the semiconductor wafer, and a first stacked body provided above the first integrated circuits and including a plurality of first layers and a plurality of second layers different from the first layers alternately stacked. The test structure comprises second integrated circuits provided on the semiconductor wafer, and a second stacked body provided above the second integrated circuits and including the first layers and the second layers alternately stacked.

Semiconductor storage devices such as a NAND flash memory having a three-dimensional memory cell array in which memory cells are three-dimensionally arrayed are developed. In these semiconductor storage devices, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) circuit is sometimes provided below the memory cell array.
However, it is difficult to detect the effect of the memory cell array on the CMOS circuit located therebelow in the conventional semiconductor storage devices.

Semiconductor wafer, semiconductor chip, and dicing method


A roll-forming machine formed of a machine base, a plurality of sheet-transfer roll sets, and a plurality of forming roll sets and adapted for the formation of a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet material is disclosed to have an adjustment structure for adjusting the horizontal pitch between the left-side forming rolls and the right-side forming rolls, the vertical pitch between the first left-side forming toll and the second left-side and the vertical pitch between the first right-side forming roll and the second right-side forming roll, and the pitch between the impression roll and sheet-transfer roll of each sheet-transfer roll set.

The present invention relates to a roll-forming machine and more particularly, to an improved structure of roll-forming machine, which is adjustable to fit different thickness of sheet materials for the formation of a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped selectively.
Many roll-forming machines are known and used to transform a planar sheet of metal into a component having either a C-shaped or Z-shaped cross-sectional area. U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,514 B1 is a typical one of these designs. This design, as shown in FIG. 1, is still not satisfactory in function because of the following drawbacks:    1. When forming rolls 91, 92 or transferring rolls 931, 932, 941, 942 start to wear or other related component parts are damaged, locating members 951, 952, gears 961, 962, axle sleeve means 971, 972, 973, 974 and shaft members 981, 982 must be detached, so that the repair or replacement work can be started. After the repair or replacement work, the detached component parts must be installed again, i.e., much labor and time are wasted during a repair or replacement work.    2. The left-side and right-side telescoping arbor assemblies 991, 992 that support the forming rolls 91, 92 are adjustable so that the lateral distance between the forming rolls 91, 92 may be adjusted. However, the forming rolls 91, 92 are not adjustable vertically to fit sheet materials of different thickness to facilitate the formation of C-shaped components/Z-shaped components of different specifications.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is therefore the main object of the present invention to provide a roll-forming machine, which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the roll-forming machine comprises a machine base, a plurality of sheet-transfer roll sets, a plurality of forming roll sets and adapted for the formation of a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet material, and an adjustment structure for adjusting the horizontal pitch between the left-side forming rolls and the right-side forming rolls, the vertical pitch between the first left-side forming toll and the second left-side and the vertical pitch between the first right-side forming roll and the second right-side forming roll, and the pitch between the impression roll and sheet-transfer roll of each sheet-transfer roll set. According to another aspect of the present invention, the sheet-transfer roll sets and the plurality of forming roll sets are conveniently detachable from the machine base for a maintenance or repair work. According to still anther aspect of the present invention, the left-side wheel holder and right-side wheel holder of each forming roll set each have a wheel bracket pivotally secured thereto by a respective pivot shaft. The pivot shaft at the left-side wheel holder of each forming roll set is rotatable by a motor through 180° to reverse the relative position between the first left-side forming roll and the second left-side forming roll, for enabling the forming rolls of each forming roll set to roll a sheet material into a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component selectively.


A portable communication system includes a first metal housing for containing a high frequency circuit unit such as a transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit, a second metal housing for containing a low frequency circuit unit such as a control circuit, and also an antenna mounted on the first metal housing. An antenna apparatus for this portable communication system is arranged by the above-explained antenna, first and second metal housings, and also a control element for controlling distribution of high frequency currents flowing through the first and second metal housings. An antenna radiation pattern of this antenna apparatus can be optimized by controlling an impedance of the control element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an antenna apparatus used in a portable communication apparatus. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a structure of an antenna apparatus capable of producing desirable antenna radiation patterns without modifying the antenna structure.
2. Description of Prior Art
As is well known in the field, an electromagnetic radiation pattern of an antenna would be varied when a conductive article would be located adjacent to this antenna, since a high-frequency current may flow through the antenna during transmission/reception of electromagnetic waves.
Therefore, to obtain a desirable radiation pattern of the antenna, effect of the conductive member in the vicinity of the antenna should be taken into consideration. For example, in the portable communication apparatus, since a circuit board is provided with a grounding conductive layer of a comparatively large surface area, the effect of such grounding conductive layer should be taken into consideration. In recent, to protect the circuit boards from external electromagnetic effect, portable communication apparatus are provided with an electromagnetic shield plate or such circuit boards are installed within a metal housing. But, in the portable communication apparatus, attention should be paid to effects of the electromagnetic shield plate and the metal housing.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a structure of antenna apparatus which has been proposed recently. The antenna apparatus draws much attention in the art, since the antenna apparatus is effective to obtain a desirable radiation pattern, and is often used for a communication apparatus of a type in which the circuit board is electromagnetically shielded with a metal housing.
As shown in FIG. 1, the antenna apparatus is composed of an antenna 1 (a so called .lambda./4 monopole antenna) having a length of one fourth of a wave length and a metal housing 2 formed with a notch 3 in the side wall thereof. The notch 3 is formed with an opening end 3a in the side wall thereof. The notch 3 is formed in the side wall of the metal housing at a position apart by a length of .lambda./4, i.e., a length of 0.25.lambda. from the upper surface on which an electric supplying point 1a is provided. The notch 3 has a depth of 0.25.lambda., and the ceiling and bottom composing the notch 3 are connected by an end wall (the leftend wall as viewed in FIG. 1). Therefore, the notch 3 has a stub function.
Then, the portion defined from the uppermost portion of the right side surface of the metal housing to the opening end 3a of the notch 3, namely the portion having the length of 0.25.lambda. will be cooperated with the .lambda./4 monopole antenna 1, which are therefore operated like a .lambda./2 dipole antenna.
The above-described conventional antenna apparatus requires the notch 3 having the depth of 0.25.lambda. (wavelengths). As a result, the horizontal (transverse) width 1 of the metal housing 2 necessarily becomes longer than 0.25.lambda., which may impede compactness of the metal housing 2.
As to the manufacturing stages of the conventional antenna apparatus, when another antenna apparatus is manufactured which is operable in another frequency different from that of the above-described conventional antenna apparatus by changing the length of the above-described .lambda./4 monopole antenna 1, a length from an upper surface of a metal housing to an opening end should be varied in order to be fitted to this new frequency. As a consequence, there are drawbacks in the conventional antenna apparatuses that various metal housings whose notch forming positions are different from each other should be manufactured, depending upon the frequencies of the electromagnetic waves used in the communications.

Antenna apparatus capable of producing desirable antenna radiation patterns without modifying antenna structure