A method of enhancing the drug release rate from a composite material. The composite material includes a synthetic, bioabsorbable polymer matrix and a drug particle phase dispersed therein. The release rate of the drug from the polymer matrix is enhanced by orienting the composite material. The drug release rate of the oriented composite material is greater than the drug release rate from an otherwise comparable non-oriented composite material.

Bioabsorbable surgical devices made from bioabsorbable polymers are becoming more frequently used in the medical profession in bone-to-bone, soft tissue-to-bone or soft tissue-to-soft tissue fixation. Numerous publications describe bioabsorbable devices for tissue fixation applications. (See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,203; 4,743,257; 4,863,472; 5,084,051; 4,968,317; EPO Pat. No. 449,867; U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,704; PCT/FI 96/00351; PCT/FI 96/00511; FI Pat. Appl. No. 965111; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/873,174; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/887,130; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/914,137; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/921,533.
In the case of bioabsorbable tissue fixation devices, surgeons would prefer to use such devices that eventually resorb and disappear from the body after their function during tissue fixation and healing has been served. Such a device made from a bioabsorbable polymer must have sufficient strength and stiffness for effective tissue fixation and must retain sufficient strength to perform its function during the tissue healing process before being absorbed by the body.
It is advantageous to mix different additives, like drugs, into bioabsorbable polymers to modify their properties and/or to achieve useful properties. Antibiotics are typical additives, which can promote clinical performance of the surgical device and can be released from the device in vivo to counter an infection and/or prevent the colonization of bacteria on the surface of the device.
A well-known procedure for treatment of bone infections is the use of polymethymethacrylate (PMMA) beads that contain antibiotics (e.g. SEPTOBAL® beads). Such beads are placed in surgical voids and thereby fill the voids, as well as provide local bactericidal levels of antibiotic. However, even these PMMA beads have disadvantages. First, they usually can only provide bactericidal levels of antibiotic for about a few weeks, so parenteral antibiotic must also be administered. Second, the PMMA beads must eventually be removed surgically, resulting in further trauma to the patient's body. Third, PMMA beads do not facilitate new bone formation in any way. Additionally, PMMA bends act as fillers and they have no effect as a bone fracture fixation device. Antibiotics may also be mixed with a PMMA bone cement, which, however, is a non-absorbable biomaterial.
A long-standing need exists for improved methods of preventing and treating infections in fixation of bone fractures and osteotomies. An especially long-standing need exists for strong, totally synthetic, bioabsorbable drug-releasing implants for preventing and/or treating infections in fixation of bone fractures and osteotomies, which implants give a secure fixation of bone fracture and prevent and/or treat infections by starting rapid continuous antibiotic release in therapeutic concentrations and also by releasing antibiotics over several weeks or months.
The principles of synthetic, bioabsorbable polymeric fracture fixation devices, which can contain and release antibiotics, were described for the first time in the late 1980s. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,692 describes a method of producing sintered tricalcium phosphate implants for filling bone cavities and for fixing bone fragments in a living body, which comprises: mixing tricalcium phosphate with at least one substance which under heat sufficiently high to bake said tricalcium phosphate forms a gas; shaping the thus-formed mixture into shaped bodies thereof; baking the shaped bodies at a temperature sufficiently high to cause gas formation from said substance, thereby forming pores in said shaped bodies; impregnating said shaped porous bodies with a therapeutically-active ingredient, thereby distributing the same in the pores; and coating at least a part of one of said shaped, porous bodies having said therapeutically-active ingredient distributed therein, with a coating of a predetermined thickness of a biodegradable substance, whereby the time of absorption of said therepeutically-active ingredient is controlled by the thickness of said biodegradable substance. Sintered ceramic bodies, however, are brittle and mechanically weak, which is a risk factor when such materials are used in manufacturing of implants for fixing of bone fragments. Additionally, the biodegradable coating on the porous body may prevent bone growth into the pores of the tricalcium phosphate body as long as the coating is uniform. Therefore, there is not an advantageous synergism of release of antibiotic and growth of bone tissue into contact with absorbing ceramic filler phase. Also, the therapeutically-active ingredient is not mixed with a bioabsorbable matrix in this case, but is distributed among the pores within the tricalcium phosphate body.
PCT/FI 88/00108 and PCT/FI 90/00113 describe absorbable, self-reinforced polymeric materials and absorbable fixation devices for different surgical purposes for fixation of different tissues or parts of tissues by internal or external fixation techniques. These references describe that materials of the invention can contain different additives, like antibiotics, which can give the materials special functional advantages. However, no information is given of antibiotic release from such materials and implants.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,234 describes a collagen based drug delivery system which is resorbable in the body. Even if this drug delivery system can be used in the treatment of osteomyelitis, it contains a substantial amount of animal or human-based collagen. Biological tissue-based biomaterials have aroused concern because of the risk of delivering host based diseases, like viral or prion infections, into the human patients (See e.g. S. Yamada et al. Neurosurgery, 34 (4) 1994, p. 740-743). It is well known that collagen based materials became flexible in tissue conditions because of water absorption. Therefore, they cannot be applied as fracture fixation materials. Therefore, a totally synthetic drug-delivery system should be preferable.
Bioabsorbable polymeric drug delivery systems for the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis were described further in 1991-1992 by several groups. C. Teupe et al., in "Ciprofloxacin-impregnated poly-L-lactic acid drug carrier", Arch. Orthop. Trauma Surg. 112 (1992) 33-35 and S. Winckler et al., in "Resorbierbare Antibiotikumträger zur lokalen Behandlung der chronischen Osteitis—Polyglykolsäure/Poly-L-Laktid als Träger, Experimentelle Untersuchungen in vitro", Langenbecks Arch. Chir. 377 (1992) 112-117, described bioabsorbable polyglycolic acid (PGA) and poly-L-lactic (PLLA) cylinders containing antibiotic ciprofloxacin which is released from cylinders in hydrolytic and in vivo conditions during several weeks in therapeutic doses. No information is given of long lasting, therapeutic level release of antibiotics from these implants, which were manufactured from antibiotic impregnated fibers with a slow and complicated sintering process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,178 describes bioabsorbable antibiotic implants comprising at least one antibiotic drug. U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,419 describes an antibiotic impregnated fracture fixation device and antibiotic impregnated drug delivery polymer. However, no indication of therapeutic release level of antibiotics of these implants is given in either reference.
Di Silvio and Bonfield describe a drug delivery system comprising gelatin for the combined release of therapeutic levels of both gentamicin and growth hormone in "Biodegradable drug delivery system for the treatment of bone infection and repair," Int. Conf. Adv. Biomater. and Tissue Eng., June 14-19, Capri, Italy, Book of Abstracts, 1998, p. 89-90. Even if this system combines a sustained release of antibiotics in combination with a bone stimulating factor, this system releases gentamicin only up to 14 days. This is in many cases too short of an influence time of an antibiotic. Effective healing of an osteomyelitis may need antibiotic(s) treatment of at least several weeks (see e.g. L. Dahl et al., Scand. J. Infect. Dis., 30 (6), (1998) p. 573-7 or S. Veng et al., J. Trauma, 46 (1) (1999) p. 97-103). Additionally, gelatin based systems are mechanically weak and cannot be used in the form of bone fracture fixation implants. Also, as mentioned above, animal based biomaterials, like gelatin, have aroused concern of the risk of delivering animal based diseases, like viral infections, into human patients. Further, the release of a bone growth promoting factor from the drug delivery system was limited to 2 weeks, which is far too short time for proper new bone formation, which in the case of cancellous bone is at least 6 weeks.
Accordingly, there is need for a method of enhancing drug release from a synthetic, bioabsorbable product, which has tissue supporting function, high mechanical strength and releases drug in therapeutic doses over several weeks or months.

Method to enhance drug release from a drug-releasing material


Methods, devices, and systems for probing electrical circuits without loading the circuits are described herein. One embodiment of an electrical probe includes a coaxial cable having an inner conductor and an outer conductor, an extension portion of the inner conductor extending beyond the outer conductor at a probe end of the cable. The electrical probe includes a conductive whisker having a first portion separated from and extending a distance along the extension portion such that the first portion and the extension portion form a first capacitor and a second portion having a probe tip for receiving an input test signal from a circuit node under test.

Electrical test probes are used to transmit a signal voltage from a circuit under test to an electronic test instrument, such as an oscilloscope, logic analyzer, voltmeter, or ammeter, among other test instruments. One desirable characteristic for a test probe is that the signal response at the test instrument, e.g., the probe output signal, is an accurate (although attenuated) representation of the probed test signal over a range of frequencies of interest. Another desirable characteristic is that the probe does not influence, e.g., "load," the response of the circuit under test.
Some test probes attempt to provide such characteristics by exhibiting both high resistance and low capacitance. A high probe resistance allows relatively little of the output current to flow through the probe, thereby decreasing any loading effect of the probe on the circuit under test. In various test probes, the frequency response of the probe is dependent upon the capacitance of the probe in parallel with the resistance of the circuit under test. Capacitive reactance varies as a function of frequency, causing the impedance of the probe to fall as the applied frequency increases. As such, the effective bandwidth of prior art probes has thus been limited by probe capacitance, thus making some such probes unsuitable for use in the GHz range.
Some test probes that can be used to measure test signals at relatively higher frequencies, e.g., the GHz range and above, use a relatively low input impedance, e.g., 50 ohms, which can be matched to a coaxial input line. However, circuits under test can be severely loaded by the lower impedance such that additional output drivers may need to be used to drive the lower impedance.
To increase the effective bandwidth of test probes, some prior approaches attempt to compensate for, e.g., reduce, probe tip capacitance by using active electronics in the probe tip, e.g., by using active probes which require a source of electrical power. However, such active probes have drawbacks that include relatively large and easily damaged probe tips as well as the use of additional components as well as a source of electrical power.


An electro-optical recording system for recording spatially multiplexed images (SMI) of a 3-D object for use in stereoscopic viewing thereof with high image quality and resolution. A micropolarization panel of electrically passive polarization is employed to produce first and second patterns corresponding to spatially modulated perspective images. These pixel patterns are optically combined to produce a spatially multiplexed image of the 3-D object which can be used for stereoscopic viewing thereof with high image quality and resolution.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of three dimensional (3-D) stereoscopic imaging and display technologies in general and relates more particularly to stereoscopic photography, television, motion picture, printing and computer displays.
2. Description of Related Art
The binocular vision of humans perceives the real world as 3-D images. This fact results from a combination of the physiological and psychological properties of the human pair of eyes. The pair of eyes is the most important source of depth perception. Because of its spherical shape, the retina of a single eye collects only two-dimensional image information. Therefore, cues of the third dimension (depth) can never be collected by the retina of a single eye.
The inventions of printing (1450) and photography (1839) enabled man to cheaply mass-produce pictures for popular use. There has always been the awareness that these technologies lacked the third dimension (depth), and therefore, the desire to invent ways to faithfully capture and reproduce nature as 3-D images has persisted throughout the ages. Around the year 1600, Giovanni Battista della Porta produced the first artificial 3-D drawing. The history and evolution of 3-D imaging techniques are surveyed in T. Okoshi, Three-Dimensional Imaging Techniques, Academic Press, New York, 1976, and T. Okoshi, Three Dimensional Displays, Proc. IEEE, 68, 548 (1980). Accounts of the most recent activities in 3-D technologies were recently presented in the Conference on Three-Dimensional Visualization and Display Technologies, in Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 18-20, 1989 and published in the Proceedings of the International Society for Optical Engineers, SPIE volume 1083, edited by Woodrow E. Robbins and Scott S. Fisher.
3-D imaging is classified into two major classes: Autostereoscopic Imaging, a technique which produces 3-D images that can be viewed directly without the aid of wearing special eye-glasses; and Binocular Stereoscopic Imaging, a technique that requires wearing special eye-glasses.
Autostereoscopic Imaging
This 3-D class is further broken into four subclasses:
I.1 Parallax Barrier PA1 I.2 Lenticular Sheet PA1 I.3 Holographic PA1 I.4 Multiplanar free viewing PA1 1. It does not provide a full color display; PA1 2. It has been shown to lead quickly to eye fatigue; PA1 3. The image display is dark; PA1 4. The filter eye glasses are dark and cannot be used to view the natural 3-D environment when the viewer turns away from the artificial 3-D scene; PA1 5. Special new TV production equipment and transmission hardware are required; and PA1 6. Vertical misalignment leads to eye discomfort, fatigue, and headaches. PA1 1. Ghosting due to afterglow of the phosphors (slow decay) results in cross-talk between the left and right images affecting adversely the 3-D image quality. PA1 2. The LC shutter is angle dependent, affecting the quality and color of the 3-D image when the viewer's head is moved, and when more than one viewer is present. PA1 3. This technology cannot be adapted to hardcopy technologies such as plotting, computer printing, offset printing, instant photography, and conventional consumer photography. PA1 4. The system is very complex and very expensive, needs multiplexing electronics, scan converters, LC shutters and LC controllers. PA1 5. The technique cannot be used for TV. If the shutter frequency is compatible with TV then the flicker is unacceptable. If the frequency is higher than 60 Hz then it is incompatible with all the existing TV infrastructure, production equipment transmission equipment, receivers and VCR's. PA1 6. Freeze frame of live 3-D scenes is not possible. PA1 7. The technique cannot be adapted to the conventional motion picture infrastructure without discarding the massive investment in existing facilities.
The operating principles of these techniques are reviewed in detail in Three-Dimensional Imaging Techniques. The Parallax Barrier technique is one of the earliest techniques and was experimented with in the first quarter of this century. However, because of its complexity and the dark images it produced, it fell out of favor and was abandoned. The Lenticular Sheet technique is still used today to produce 3-D color postcards. It requires multi-cameras or one camera with multiple lenses. The recording process is quite complex and the final product is obtained after four or more images with different perspectives of the object are aligned and mounted to a sheet of a clear plastic cylindrical micro-lens array. Vertical misalignment results in discomfort and headaches. The technique becomes expensive for large prints, and has significant technical problems. Because of the use micro-lenses, the image does not look the same to different viewers in different viewing positions. Also the depth information in the image can be distorted and can depart significantly from the original object. Finally, this technique cannot be used for TV, computer displays, or computer printers.
The Holographic technique described in Three-Dimensional Imaging Techniques and Three Dimensional Displays, and by L. F. Hodges et al. in Information Displays, 3, 9 (1987), has shown promise for still images but not for TV or movies. It requires very sensitive and expensive film, and is unable to produce large holograms because of sensitivity to vibration. Also, because of the requirement for coherent monochromatic sources for recording and reconstruction (viewing), it is difficult to produce full color holograms. Holography is very expensive and is not used for mass markets as in conventional photography. The Multiplanar technique described by M. C. King and D. H. Berry, Appl. Opt., 9, May 1980; and R. D. Williams and F. Garcia Jr., SID Digest, 19 ,91 (1988), is the only member of the Autostereoscopic class which has a commercial product. It uses a verifocal mirror 1 which is a reflective membrane mounted on a speaker 2 as shown in FIG. 1. The speaker 2 causes the membrane to vibrate and to vary the focal length of the mirror. When the image of a cathode ray tube (CRT) 3 is viewed through this mirror it appears as a 3-D image 4. The information of the third dimension (depth) is represented by the different focal lengths which image different z planes of the original object. While this method has been successful in realizing a 3-D system for some special applications, it has serious limitations: i) it is not general purpose, i.e., the method cannot be used for 3-D hard copy production such as photography and printing; ii) it cannot be used for mass viewing as, for example, in a motion picture theatre; iii) it cannot be used for 3-D TV without making the massive investments in existing TV production equipment, broadcast equipment, TV sets, VCR, and other video equipment obsolete; and iv) has poor depth resolution given by the ratio of frame frequency to the mirror vibrating frequency. Other limitations such as cost and bulkiness, will limit the utility of this verifocal method.
Binocular Stereoscopic Imaging
This 3-D class has had the most relative success in narrow fields. To record an image, one generally requires two cameras, as illustrated in FIG. 2, one for the left image 5 and the other for the right image 6. In order to simulate the human stereoscopic vision, the cameras are separated by the pupil distance of 6.5 cm, which is the average distance between the two eyes. There are two techniques for coding the left/right information: Color Coding, as described in Three-Dimensional Imaging Techniques; and by L. Lipton, Foundations of the Stereo Cinema, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1982; and Polarization Coding, as described in Hartmann and Hikspoors, Information Displays, 3, 15 (1987); L. F. Hodges and D. F. McAllister, Information Displays, 5, 18 (1987); P. Bos et al., SID Digest, 19, 450 (1988).
Color Coding: In this technique, two different color filters 7,8 are placed in front of the cameras; for instance, green 8 in front of the left camera 5 and red 7 in front of the right camera. When the images are displayed as in FIG. 3, the viewer wears eye glasses 9 having the corresponding color filters, green, for the left eye, and red for the right eye. Thus, the left eye sees only the left image 10 (green image) of the object 15 taken by the left camera, while the right eye sees only the right image 11 (red image) taken by the right camera. This technique has been used for decades to produce movies with 3-D sensation and it can be used for 3-D TV. For real time TV (transmission and reception of live scenes), one requires extra hardware to synchronize TV cameras and to electronically combine the red with the green information before transmission. The TV receiver does not require any modification. This technique has several limitations:
Polarization Coding: Electromagnetic plane waves have electric and magnetic fields which are transverse to the propagation direction, as shown in FIG. 4. There are two possible orientations for each of the electric and magnetic fields. These orientations are called polarization states. The E1 and H1 transverse fields represent one wave having polarization P1 while the E2 and H2 transverse fields represent another independent wave having polarization P2 which is perpendicular to P1 as shown in FIG. 4.
Light from the sun, fluorescent lamps and incandescent bulbs is unpolarized, and is represented by electromagnetic plane waves which are an incoherent mixture of wavelengths, polarizations, amplitudes, and phases. Half of this light energy (luminance, or brightness) is in one polarization state, P1, while the other half is in other polarization state, P2. These two states of polarization are linear. Using quarter wave retarders with P1 and P2 states produce two circular polarization states, one is clockwise and the other is counter-clockwise.
It is possible to turn unpolarized light into linearly polarized light by one of three well known means: 1) Nicol prisms; 2) Brewster Angle (condition of total internal reflection in dielectric materials) ; and 3) Polaroid film. These are called linear polarizers. The most inexpensive and widely used polarizers are the Polaroid films. They are made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) sheets stretched between 3 to 5 times their original length and treated with iodine/potassium iodide mixture to produce the dichroic effect. This effect is responsible for heavily attenuating (absorbing) the electric field components along the stretching direction while transmitting the perpendicular electric field components. Therefore, if P1 is along the stretching direction of the PVA sheets, it is not transmitted, where as only P2 is transmitted, producing polarized light. By simply rotating the PVA sheet 90 degrees, P1 state will now be transmitted and P2 will be absorbed.
The two polarization states of light, P1 and P2, can be used to encode the left image and separately the right image to produce 3-D sensation, see L. Lipton, Foundations of the Stereo Cinema, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1982 and V. Walwarth et al., SPIE Optics in Entertainment, Volume 462, 1984. The arrangement of FIG. 2 without the filters 7,8 is used to record the left and right images separately. To reconstruct and view the images, the arrangement in FIG. 3 is used. The P1 polarizer 13 is placed in front of the left image 10 and in front of the left eye of the viewers eye glasses 9, and P2 polarizer 12 in front of right image 11 and in front of the right eye. The half-silvered mirror 14 is used to combine the left and right images. The viewers left eye sees only the left image because its polarizer P1 blocks the right image state of polarization P2. Similarly, the right eye sees only the right image. The brain fuses both images to perceive 3-D sensation.
This polarization coding technique, unlike the color coding, can reproduce color and therefore is considered the most promising for widespread applications. However, the arrangements (parallel field technique) shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 require two image sources, i.e., two CRTs or two computer displays, two movie projectors, or two slide projectors in addition to the half-silvered mirror combiner which loses half the brightness. For TV, it requires major investment in new production and transmission hardware because two separate channel frequencies are required for the left and right images.
As early as the 1940s, attempts were made to improve the polarization encoding technique by eliminating the need for two image sources during image reconstruction and viewing. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,301,254 to Carnahan and 2,317,875 to Athey, et al., left and right perspective images of a three-dimensional object are effectively combined into a single composite image referred to therein as an "interlined stereogram". As disclosed in these prior art references, the composite image is produced during an image recording process by (1) recording left and right perspective images, (2) spatially-filtering these perspective images using complimentary optical masks, and thereafter (3) optically combining the spatially-filtered perspective images to produce the composite image. In its final form, the composite image contains thin spatially alternating image strips taken from the left and right perspective images. Then during the image reconstruction and viewing process, the composite image is displayed from a single image source (e.g. film projector) through a linear polarizing filter or screen consisting of vertically-interleaved cross-polarized light polarizing strips, physically aligned with the left and right image strips in the displayed composite image. As the composite image is being displayed through the light polarizing filter, the viewer views the polarized composite image through a pair of linear polarizing spectacles. In theory, the polarization encoding technique taught in these prior art references should permit one to view three-dimensional objects stereoscopically. In practice, however, an array of unsolved problems, relating to stereoscopic cross-talk and polarizing filter design and manufacture, has continued to prevent anyone from using this polarization encoding technique to build a n image display system that permits stereoscopically viewing of three-dimensional imagery with high image quality and resolution.
Field Sequential Technique J. S. Lipscomb, Proc. SPIE, 1083, 28 (1989)!: The major motivation to pursue this technique is to have a 3-D system that uses only one display screen (CRT) instead of two as was required in the parallel field arrangement of FIG. 3. This is accomplished by means of sequentially recording the left and the right scenes (fields) and then sequentially displaying them in the same order with proper synchronization. The sequential imaging, recording and displaying, require two fundamental pieces of hardware, during recording and during display. They are the time multiplexing electronics and the optical shutters or switches. As described by P. Bos et al., SID Digest, 19, 450 (1988), these shutters can be either electromechanical or electro-optical shutters. Electro-optical shutters are the most preferable and are used as representatives of the field sequential 3-D display prior art illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6.
In FIG. 5 an electro-optical shutter 16 made of liquid crystal (LC) or piezo-electric (PZLT) crystal is placed in front of the left camera 5 and an identical shutter 17 in front of the right camera 6. The shutter electronics box 18 sends signals to these shutters to open them and close them sequentially at a predetermined frequency, fc. The video output 19 of the cameras 5,6 are combined by means of the time multiplexing electronics 20 and then sent to the transmitters, the processor or the display system. The two cameras and the shutters are driven by proper sync signals which also control the multiplexer 20. At the receiving end, to display the 3-D image, one needs an electro-optical shutter/polarization switch 22 in front of the CRT display 21 and a shutter controller box 23 and scan electronics 24 to drive the CRT. The display shutter has to be driven at the same frequency fc of the recording shutters 16,17. The LC shutter 22 switches to transmit the left scene with polarization P1 and the right scene with polarization P2 (P1 and P2 are either linear or circular polarizations). The viewer wears passive eye-glasses 9 with the corresponding states of polarization so that the left eye will see only the left scene and the right eye will see only the right scene, thus achieving the 3-D sensation. In FIG. 6, the LC shutter 22, which is the same size as the CRT, consists of a linear polarizer 25, the LC switch 26, and a quarter wave retarder 27. The eye-glasses 9 have two quarter-wave retarders 28 and two linear polarizers 29.
Because a large area LC shutter is very expensive, U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,463 by L. Lipton describes alternatives to the method of FIG. 6. These are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Instead of one large LC shutter in front of the CRT, two small LC shutters 30 are fixed to the eye-glasses 9. These shutters are either driven directly by a cable 31 (the viewer is teetered to the display system) FIG. 7, or by means of an infrared transmitter/receiver arrangement 32 shown in FIG. 8, and described by Hartmann and Hikspoors, Information Displays, 3, 15 (1987). The latter has a small battery fixed to the glasses to drive the receiver electronics 33 and the LC shutters 30. All the components within the dashed box 34 are mounted on the eye glasses 9 worn by the viewer.
Of all the 3-D prior art, the field sequential 3-D technique is considered state-of-the-art and is being used in some applications in conjunction with computer workstations, achieving acceptable 3-D sensation for those applications (see J. S. Lipscomb, Proc. SPIE, 1083, 28 (1989)). However, this technique has fundamental limitations which will confine it to a very narrow application niche. These limitations are:
A hardcopy technique using polarization coding is described by Edwin Land in J. Opt. Soc. of America, 30, 230 (1940) and is called a vectograph. It is made of two sheets of stretched, unstained PVA material laminated together with their transmission axes perpendicular. If iodine based ink is used to draw an image on one side of this laminate, the area covered by ink will polarize light through it while all unpainted areas leave the light unpolarized. Drawing on the opposite side likewise produces an image in polarized light but with polarization oriented perpendicular to the first. For stereo images, the left perspective is recorded on the front side of the vectograph and the right perspective on the back side. The 3-D image is viewed by using polarized glasses.
The image recording process of vectograph is complex. It uses the method of dye transfer from matrix films. One matrix film is exposed with the image of the left perspective, developed and then filled with iodine/dye ink. The ink saturated matrix is then pressed onto the front side of the vectograph, transferring the ink to it. The image on the vectograph is in the form of spatial variations of the amplitude of the polarization vector. The process is repeated to create the image of the right perspective on the other side of the vectograph. For color vectograph, color separation methods are used. In this case the process is repeated eight times, four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) for each perspective. These eight images must be carefully aligned, for any vertical misalignment leads to eye discomfort, fatigue and headaches. The alignment of images on both sides of the vectograph is a major problem.
Clearly, the vectograph cannot be used for TV, computer displays, or computer color printing. For this reason and the complexity and the cost of the vectograph process, its use is limited to special black and white 3-D hardcopy applications.

Method and system for recording spatially-multiplexed images of 3-D objects for use in stereoscopic viewing thereof


A CMOS circuit maintains a constant slew rate over a range of environmental or process conditions. The circuit includes an output stage having a slew rate that is a function of the switching characteristic of the output stage and a bias current. A current adjustment stage adjusts the bias current in view of the switching characteristic to maintain a substantially constant slew rate. The slew rate of the output stage may be tuned to a desired level. A clamp may also be used to limit the voltage variations at the output stage.

This invention relates to CMOS circuits, and more particularly to techniques for maintaining a constant slew rate within a CMOS circuit.
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits are subject to a slew rate that typically varies with environmental conditions and/or process parameters. A slew rate that varies over a large range is typically undesirable for many applications such as an Ethernet line driver. Therefore, CMOS circuits are typically modified to maintain a substantially constant slew rate.
Many techniques have been employed to maintain a substantially constant slew rate. A few of these techniques include trimming the circuit with fuses, the use of an oversampled waveform synthesizer, or using a replica bias circuit that is slaved to a phase locked loop. However, each of the previous techniques has disadvantages including, but not limited to, increasing the complexity of the circuit and having a corresponding increase in manufacturing cost.
Each transistor that is fabricated on the same integrated circuit chip typically has similar switching characteristics and behavior. This results from all of the devices on the same chip being fabricated at the same time with the same process parameters. As such, the circuits operate in a matched manner over wide variations in power supply voltage, process parameters (threshold voltage, channel length, etc.), and temperature. This consistent behavior allows the circuit of the present invention to control the relative current flow as will be described below.

CMOS circuit for maintaining a constant slew rate


Integrated power systems and methods for use in an electric vehicle having a fuel cell and an electric motor, the integrated power systems and methods including a common casting, a traction inverter module operable for converting DC current generated by the fuel cell into AC current capable of powering the electric motor, and a DC/DC converter operable for stepping-down the voltage of the fuel cell. The traction inverter module and the DC/DC converter are disposed within the common casting.

The present invention relates generally to integrated power systems and methods for use in a variety of applications, such as in battery-powered vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to integrated power systems and methods including a traction inverter module and a bi-directional DC/DC converter combined into a single assembly.
Traditionally, the powertrain and power conversion systems of battery-powered vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) (collectively referred to as xe2x80x9celectric vehiclesxe2x80x9d) have included a plurality of separate, discrete components and assemblies. Among these components and assemblies are the traction inverter module (TIM) and the bi-directional DC/DC converter (DC/DC converter). The TIM, also called the electric power inverter, converts the raw DC current generated by a battery or a fuel cell into an AC current capable of powering an electric motor, such as a field-oriented induction motor. This power is converted for driving and controlling the motor, i.e. for generating torque. The motor, in combination with a transaxle, converts the electrical energy into mechanical energy which turns the wheels of the electric vehicle. The DC/DC converter is the electric vehicle equivalent of the alternator of an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle. The DC/DC converter uses pulse-width modulation (PWM) to step the voltage associated with an electric vehicle""s high-voltage battery pack or fuel cell down to that which an alternator would usually generate (13.5 to 14V). The DC/DC converter is typically used to charge a 12V accessory/auxiliary battery, which is typically separated from the potentially dangerous high-voltage battery pack or fuel cell. The DC/DC converter may also be used to transfer power from the accessory/auxiliary battery to the high-voltage battery pack or fuel cell to, for example, start the electric vehicle.
Traditionally, the TIM and the DC/DC converter have been enclosed within separate, discrete castings, one in the front of the vehicle and one in the rear. The TIM and the DC/DC converter have utilized separate busbars to route incoming power to each, separate coldplates to cool the components of each, and separate connectors to connect each with other components and assemblies of the electric vehicle. This has increased the overall volume, weight, and complexity of the powertrain and power conversion systems. Thus, what is needed are integrated power systems and methods which combine the TIM and the DC/DC converter into a single assembly, reducing their overall volume, weight, and complexity.
The present invention provides integrated power systems and methods including a traction inverter module (TIM) and a bidirectional DC/DC converter (DC/DC converter).
In one embodiment, an integrated power system for use in an electric vehicle having a fuel cell and an electric motor includes a common casting, a traction inverter module operable for converting DC current generated by the fuel cell into AC current capable of powering the electric motor, and a DC/DC converter operable for stepping-down the voltage of the fuel cell. The traction inverter module and the DC/DC converter are disposed within the common casting.
In another embodiment, an electric vehicle having a fuel cell and an electric motor includes an integrated power system. The integrated power system includes a common casting, a traction inverter module operable for converting DC current generated by the fuel cell into AC current capable of powering the electric motor, and a DC/DC converter operable for stepping-down the voltage of the fuel cell. The traction inverter module and the DC/DC converter are disposed within the common casting.
In a further embodiment, an integrated power method for use in an electric vehicle having a fuel cell and an electric motor includes providing a common casting, providing a traction inverter module operable for converting DC current generated by the fuel cell into AC current capable of powering the electric motor, and providing a DC/DC converter operable for stepping-down the voltage of the fuel cell. The method also includes disposing the traction inverter module and the DC/DC converter within the common casting.
Advantageously, the integrated power systems and methods of the present invention combine the TIM and the DC/DC converter into a single assembly, reducing their overall volume, weight, and complexity.

Integrated traction inverter module and bi-directional DC/DC converter


An automatic system for adjusting the output impedance of fast CMOS drivers, wherein the output impedance of a plurality of slaved drivers is adjusted by a circuit for measuring and correcting mismatch between the output impedance of one of the drivers, taken as reference and dedicated for this purpose, and the impedance at the input of a reference transmission line, equal in geometry to the lines connected to the other drivers. The voltage measured at the far end of the reference line is sent to a differential amplifier where it is compared with the supply voltage of the final driving stage. According to the comparison result at specific time intervals, a signal is supplied to the regulator which supplies power to the penultimate driving stage, thereby controlling the resistance of the driver to match the line impedance.

It is known that when a driver is to send a digital signal to a remote receiver through a transmission line there can be problems in the case in which there is no good match between the transmission line impedance and the input and output impedances of the circuits connected therewith. Generally, in these cases there are power losses and multiple reflections which can cause an error probability increase in the symbol transmitted at a given instant, because, in addition to the symbol transmitted at the given instant, there are present at the receiver, vestiges of symbols transmitted in preceding time intervals and reflected by the line ends.
These disadvantages can be eliminated if at least the driver output impedance is rendered equal to the characteristic impedance of the line. In fact, even though there may be a mismatch at the end of the line connected to the receiver, the input impedance of a rather long line is almost equal to the characteristic line impedance. That would result in a reflection at the far end of the line, but the reflected signal is absorbed at the input by the driver output impedance, whose value is equal to the line impedance, thus avoiding multiple reflections.
However, drivers with output impedance equal to the characteristic impedance of the usual transmission lines are not easy to build, owing to unavoidable tolerances in the fabricating process. Transmission lines can have tolerances in the characteristic impedance also, but these tolerances are typically much smaller than those of integrated circuits. It is hence advisable to have an automatic system for adjusting the driver output impedance so as to obtain a good match to the line, independent of fabrication tolerances and accidental circuit variations.
It is also convenient that the driver output impedance be made equal to the characteristic line impedance without using an external additional resistance, in order to avoid an oversizing of the output circuit with consequent speed loss and power consumption.
A solution to these problems has been described in the article entitled "A Self-Terminating Low-Voltage Swing CMOS Output Driver" by Thomas F. Knight et al., IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, Vol. 23, No. 2, April 1988.
In this system, the output impedance of a plurality of drivers contained in the same integrated circuit is controlled by a suitable circuit, also housed in the integrated circuit, comprising a reference driver, analogous to those controlled, and a receiver. The reference driver sends a clock signal, locally-generated for this control purpose, onto a transmission line length with the same characteristics as those of the lines connected to controlled-driver outputs. The line output is connected to the input of a receiver that extracts from the received signal an enabling signal synchronized to logic-level transitions.
The voltage at the input of the reference line is read continuously by a threshold comparator, whereby it is compared with a reference voltage of value equal to half the maximum value of the output voltage of the driver under matching conditions. The information at the output of the comparator is used to control the driver output impedance.
However, this circuit has a number of disadvantages.
A first disadvantage is the comparison of the near-end line voltage in lieu of comparing the far-end line voltage to a reference. This requires additional circuitry for exact timing of the comparison, which has not been disclosed in the paper.
The second disadvantage is the requirement that the (0.5 V) reference voltage is required to be precisely equal to one half of the (1 V) supply voltage of the last driver stage and that any deviations from this ratio produces a corresponding mismatch condition. Unavoidable tolerances in integrated circuits make this precise ratio disproportionately costly to achieve.
The third disadvantage is the use of additive 1 V, -5 V and 0.5 V supplies, which is not economical for integrated circuit manufacture.
Finally, the circuitry for proper timing of the comparator is not provided.
Another solution to these problems has been described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,231 entitled "Automatic System for Adjusting the Output Impedance of Fast CMOS Drivers" by Sartori et al.
This system uses the same principles as Knight and Krymm, but also has several disadvantages, and also compares the voltage at the input of the reference line to a reference voltage.
A first disadvantage is that it uses an off-chip resistor for termination of the transmission line. Consequently, the driver on-resistance has to be negligible compared to the characteristic line impedance, leading to an oversized output circuit with speed loss and greater power consumption. Furthermore, the external termination resistor drastically increases the manufacturing costs.
A second disadvantage is due to the additional 0.5 V reference supply required for comparison of the near-end line voltage and the requirement that this supply voltage precisely equals one half of the supply voltage of the last driver stage. This is not practical for the manufacture of integrated circuits.

Self adjusting CMOS transmission line driver


This invention relates to MRI-based methods and systems useful for diagnosing and clinically assessing the presence, location, and size of cardiovascular disease-associated stationary targets, e.g., thrombi and atherosclerotic lesions, within the vascular system. Methods and systems of the invention allow for improved anatomical information to be obtained from MRI images and allow the clinician to develop more effective treatment plans. In one aspect, the invention provides a method of determining the presence or absence of a stationary target within the vascular system of a mammal wherein two MRI data sets representing images of the vascular system and the stationary target are acquired after administration of a targeted MRI contrast agent. In another embodiment, both a targeted MRI contrast agent and a vascular MRI contrast agent are administered to a mammal, and both a vascular MRI and a targeted MRI data set are acquired.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, angina pectoris, atherosclerosis, and arteriosclerosis, affect millions of people and are a leading cause of death in the world today. CVDs mainly consist of a progressive narrowing of the arteries that nourish an organ or tissue, e.g., the heart. The narrowing is caused by an excessive buildup of fatty plaque along artery walls. The plaque buildup can lead to aneurism and thrombi, i.e., blood clots, and thrombi in turn can result in thrombosis, heart attack, and stroke.
The key to CVD therapy is early detection and diagnosis so that the proper treatment can be initiated. Accurately identifying the presence, location, and size of a CVD, such as a thrombus or atherosclerotic lesion, within the vascular system is diagnostically significant to establish a proper course of treatment, the need for surgical intervention, and the site of surgery or therapy.
Effective detection and diagnosis of plaque build-up, aneurism, thrombus, and other injuries or disease processes often require the use of imaging techniques to visualize the patient's vascular system. Such imaging techniques include x-ray angiography, computed tomography (CT) and spiral CT angiography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The use of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to diagnose CVDs has become increasingly popular because it is generally perceived to be cost-effective, convenient, and safe. MRA is a non-invasive MRI technique that uses short magnetic pulses to provide three-dimensional ("3D") images of the arteries and blood vessels that supply blood to the heart and other vital organs.
Contrast agents may be administered during an MRA exam to improve the visualization of the vascular system. A contrast agent is a substance that, when administered to a subject, increases the image contrast (e.g., provides contrast enhancement) between a chosen target, tissue, or organ and the rest of the field of the image (e.g., the remaining areas of the body). "Vascular" contrast agents can improve the visualization of the vascular system by altering the contrast of the vascular system relative to the surrounding tissues, usually by brightening (hyper-intensifying) the vascular system (e.g., the blood).
Injecting a vascular contrast agent into a patient's blood stream provides contrast enhancement to the vascular system image and may allow clinicians to visualize and measure the diameter of blood vessels, including those that are very small. Accurately defining vessel size and diameter is important to CVD diagnosis because the diameter of the vessels indicates the presence of stenoses, characterized by a narrowing of the blood vessels, and aneurisms, characterized by a widening of the vessels. Other types of CVDs may also be indirectly detected through use of a vascular contrast agent during an MRI exam. For example, thrombi and atherosclerotic lesions may be indirectly detected as these displace blood, causing the blood vessels to appear blocked or narrowed in contrast-enhanced images.
Despite the use of vascular contrast agents, the diagnosis of CVDs in the vascular system remains difficult. For example, the physician must seek out dark areas (e.g., areas of negative contrast) of the vascular image, within the bright (e.g., enhanced) vascular system. In addition, the use of vascular contrast agents typically does not allow a physician to distinguish between a vessel that contains a thrombus within the vessel interior and some other type of blockage (e.g., a blockage within the vessel wall).
Another class of contrast agents, referred to herein as "targeted" contrast agents, can function by binding to a particular target that may be present within the vascular system. For example, the targeted agent may bind to a CVD target, e.g., a thrombus, present within a blood vessel. Thus, the targeted agent may enhance the contrast between the target and background tissue and blood by, for example, hyper-intensifying the target relative to background tissue and blood. The use of such targeted agents, however, does not indicate whether the contrast-enhanced target is indeed within a blood vessel, nor does it identify the location or size of the target within the vascular system itself. Thus, a targeted image often lacks important anatomic information required for effective diagnosis and therapy of CVDs.
It would be useful for the clinician to be able to identify accurately the presence, location, and size of CVD targets within the vascular system using a method that is cost-efficient, safe, and convenient. It would be further useful for the clinician to have methods to distinguish a chosen target (e.g., a CVD) and the vascular system one from the other and also from the remaining background tissues in the field of view.

Systems and methods for targeted magnetic resonance imaging of the vascular system


An electrochemical measuring sensor for selectively determining nitrogen oxides in a gas mixture including oxygen and nitrogen oxides, includes a solid electrolyte layer; a cover layer; and a diffusion channel which is defined between the solid electrolyte layer and the cover layer, and through which the gas mixture diffuses in a diffusion direction. The solid electrolyte layer has provided on a surface thereof a first cathode and a second cathode disposed one after the other in the diffusion direction of the gas mixture within the diffusion channel and exposed to the gas mixture in the order recited, and has provided on an opposite surface thereof at least one anode. The diffusion channel forms a diffusion barrier for the second cathode. The first and second cathodes and the at least one anode are gas permeable and consist of one of a precious metal or a precious metal alloy. The first cathode is provided with a coating which completely covers same, which is impermeable to nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x), and which is permeable to oxygen. The first cathode, a portion of the solid electrolyte, and the at least one anode form a first pumping cell. The second cathode, another portion of the solid electrolyte, and the at least one anode form a second pumping cell. A measuring signal for determining NO.sub.x is measured between the second cathode of the second pumping cell and the at least one anode of the second pumping cell as a limiting current.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrochemical measuring sensor for determining nitrogen oxides in gas mixtures, particularly in exhaust gases of internal combustion engines.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that exhaust gases of internal combustion engines, for example diesel engines, contain nitrogen oxides in addition to unburnt fuel components and oxygen. The composition of the exhaust gas is primarily determined by the setting of a fuel-air mixture with which the internal combustion engine is operated. If, for example, fuel is present in a stoichiometric surplus, significant quantities of unburnt or only partially-burnt fuel is present in the exhaust gas, whereas in a stoichiometric surplus of oxygen of the air in the fuel-air mixture, a correspondingly higher concentration of oxygen is noted in the exhaust gas. For setting an optimal fuel-air mixture, it is known to determine the composition of the exhaust gas with a limiting current sensor (.lambda. sensor). The limiting current sensor includes a solid electrolyte which is disposed between two electrodes, with one electrode being exposed directly to the exhaust gas and another electrode being exposed to the exhaust gas by way of a diffusion barrier. If a constant voltage is applied to the electrodes, a limiting current is established at the two electrodes due to a difference in oxygen concentrations; this current is measured with a measuring device and evaluated, for example to set the fuel-air mixture with which the internal combustion engine is operated.
A limiting current sensor of this type is known from, for example, DE-PS 37 28 618. In this case, an electrode configured as a pump electrode is disposed in a diffusion channel which is connected on one side to the gas mixture to be measured. Disposed inside the diffusion channel is a diffusion barrier which is designed such that an oxygen partial pressure corresponding to the applied voltage is established at the electrode connected to the exhaust gas by way of the diffusion barrier.
Furthermore, measuring sensors are known in which the one electrode is exposed to the gas mixture to be measured and the other electrode is exposed to a reference gas. Because a difference in oxygen concentrations is established at the electrodes, a voltage is applied to the electrodes which provides a measure for the oxygen concentration in the gas mixture to be measured.
A disadvantage of the known measuring sensors is that they can only be used to determine the oxygen content of the gas mixture to be measured, while other components of the gas mixture are not taken into consideration.

Electrochemical measuring sensor for determining nitrogen oxides in gas mixtures


Biosensors, methods, and systems for determining the presence of biomolecules using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) are provided.

In general, a biosensor is capable of identifying biomolecules such as polynucleotides and polypeptides. One method includes introducing a biomolecule sample containing target biomolecules to a substrate having probes deposited thereon. The probe can include various biomolecules that can interact with target biomolecules, while the substrate can be a solid surface such as silica, surface-derivatized glass, polypropylene, and activated polyacrylamide. The target biomolecules can then interact (e.g., bond or hybridize) with one or more of the probes. Subsequently, the interaction can be analyzed based on the presence and location of the target biomolecule-probe interaction, which can be determined by one or more detection techniques such as optical, radiochemical, and electrochemical techniques.
Another method includes introducing a substrate having target biomolecules disposed thereon to a solution that can include complimentary polynucleotide or polypeptide probe samples derived from biomolecules that have been tagged with fluorescent dyes. The probe material interacts selectively with target biomolecues only where complimentary bonding sites occur. In other words, probe biomolecules with similar chemical characteristics (e.g., nucleotide sequence or amino acid sequence) to the target biomolecule interact with the target molecules, while dissimilar probe biomolecules do not significantly interact with the target biomolecules. Thereafter, the presence and quantity of bound probe biomolecules can be detected and analyzed in a manner similar to the detection techniques discussed above.
In regard to detection of target biomolecules, the ability to detect and identify trace quantities of chemicals has become increasingly important in virtually every scientific discipline, ranging from part per billion analyses of pollutants in sub-surface water to analysis of cancer treatment drugs in blood serum. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has proven to be one of the most sensitive methods for performing such chemical analyses by the detection of a single molecule. (Nie, S. and S. R. Emory, "Probing Single Molecules and Single Nanoparticles by Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering", Science, 275,1102 (1997)). A Raman spectrum, similar to an infrared spectrum, includes a wavelength distribution of bands corresponding to molecular vibrations specific to the sample being analyzed (the analyte). In the practice of Raman spectroscopy, the beam from a light source, generally a laser, is focused upon the sample to thereby generate inelastically scattered radiation, which is optically collected and directed into a wavelength-dispersive or Fourier transform spectrometer in which a detector converts the energy of impinging photons to electrical signal intensity.
Historically, the very low conversion of incident radiation to inelastic scattered radiation limited Raman spectroscopy to applications that were difficult to perform by infrared spectroscopy, such as the analysis of aqueous solutions. It was discovered in 1974, however, that when a molecule in close proximity to a roughened silver electrode is subjected to a Raman excitation source, the intensity of the signal generated is increased by as much as six orders of magnitude. (Fleischmann, M., Hendra, P. J., and McQuillan, A. J., "Raman Spectra of Pyridine Adsorbed at a Silver Electrode," Chem. Phys. Lett, 26, 123, (1974), and Weaver, M. J., Farquharson, S., Tadayyoni, M. A., "Surface-enhancement factors for Raman scattering at silver electrodes. Role of adsorbate-surface interactions and electrode structure," J. Chem. Phys., 82, 4867–4874 (1985)). Briefly, incident laser photons couple to free conducting electrons within the metal which, confined by the particle surface, collectively cause the electron cloud to resonate. The resulting surface plasmon field provides an efficient pathway for the transfer of energy to the molecular vibrational modes of a molecule within the field, and thus generates Raman photons.
The described phenomenon occurs however only if the following two conditions are satisfied: (1) that the free-electron absorption of the metal can be excited by light of wavelength between 250 and 2500 nanometers (nm), preferably in the form of laser beams; (2) that the metal employed is of the appropriate size (normally 5 to 1000 nm diameter particles, or a surface of equivalent morphology), and has optical properties necessary for generating a surface plasmon field. (Weaver, J. Chem. Phys., 82, 4867–4874 (1985), and Pettinger, J. Chem. Phys., 85, 7442–7451 (1986), supra).
Analyses for numerous chemicals and biochemicals by SERS has been demonstrated, but none of the foregoing techniques is capable of providing quantitative measurements with reproducible results.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for biosensor systems and methods for determining the presence of biomolecules


Process for the production of precipitated calcium carbonate particles, structured at the nanoscale, by carbonation of milk of lime in the presence of a crystallization controller selected from the following list: polyaspartic acid, dioctyl sodium sulphosuccinate, polyacrylic acid, the molecular weight of which is between 500 and 15 000, and citric acid. When the crystallization controller is citric acid, its concentration in the milk of lime is between 5 and 15%.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of precipitated calcium carbonate particles structured at the nanoscale.
Particles of calcium carbonate precipitated by carbonation of milk of lime, by virtue of their high purity, are highly suitable as filler, in particular in paper and plastics. These applications also require very fine particles.
It is known (WO 99/51691) to produce precipitated calcitic calcium carbonate by carbonation of milk of lime in the presence of soluble organic compounds, such as citric acid, at very low concentration, of the order of 0.1%. However, the calcite particles obtained are too large to be actually used as filler in plastics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,379 discloses fibrous particles, structured at the nanoscale, of precipitated calcium carbonate which are composed of the agglomeration, as a chain, of primary corpuscles having a mean diameter of between 10 and 100 nm.
However, these particles require a complex two-stage carbonation of the milk of lime; in the first stage, a chelating agent is added to the milk of lime to form a colloidal suspension; the latter is subsequently carbonated in the presence of another additive, a soluble metal salt, everything being under controlled pH.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for obtaining precipitated calcium carbonate particles of nanometric scale structure


A method and apparatus for detecting and tolerating situations in which one or more processors in a multi-processor system cannot participate in timer-driven or timer-triggered protocols or event sequences. The multi-processor system includes multiple processors each having a respective memory. These processors are coupled by an inter-processor communication network (preferably consisting of redundant paths).. Processors are suspected of having failed (ceased operations) outright or having a failed timer mechanism when other processors detect the absence of periodic "IamAlive" messages from other processors. When this happens, all of the processors in the system are subjected to a series of stages in which they repeatedly broadcast their status and their connectivity to each other. During the first such stage, according to the present invention, a processor will not assert its ability to participate unless its timer mechanism is working. It arms a timer expiration event and does not assert its health until and unless that timer expiration event occurs.

Distributed, shared-nothing multi-processor architectures and fault-tolerant software using process pairs require that all processors in a system have a consistent image of the processors making up the system. (The NonStop Kernel.RTM. available from the assignee of this application is an example of such fault-tolerant software.) This consistent system image is crucial for maintaining global system tables required for system operation and for preventing data corruption caused by, say, an input/output process pair (IOP) of primary and backup processes on different processors accessing the same I/O device through dual-ported I/O controllers or a shared bus (such as SCSI).
Detection of processor failures occurs quickly with an IamAlive message scheme. Each processor periodically sends IamAlive packets to each of the other processors in the system. Each processor in a system determines whether another processor is operational by timing packets from it. When the time interval passes without receipt of a packet from a given processor, the first processor decides that the second might have failed.
In older systems, before regrouping was implemented, the following could occur when the second processor then sent a packet to the first. The first processor judged the second to be functioning improperly and responded with a poison packet. The first processor ignored the content of the packet from the second.
Ultimately, many or all of the other processors could end up ignoring the affected processor (except to try to stop it). The affected processor was, in effect, outside of the system and functioning as if it were an independent system. This condition was sometimes called the split-brain problem.
Without regrouping, the following situations can occur: Both of the processes in a process pair running on different processors can regard themselves as the primary, destroying the ability to perform backup functions and possibly corrupting files. All system processors can become trapped in infinite loops, contending for common resources. System tables can become corrupted.
Regrouping supplements the IamAlive/poison packet method. Regrouping uses a voting algorithm to determine the true state of each processor in the system. Each processor volunteers its record of the state of all other processors, compares its record with records from other processors and updates its record accordingly. When the voting is complete, all processors have the same record of the system's state. The processors will have coordinated among themselves to reintegrate functional but previously isolated processors and to correctly identify and isolate nonfunctional processors.
Regrouping works only when physical communication among processors remains possible, regardless of the logical state of the processors. If a processor loses all of its communications paths with other processors, that processor cannot be regrouped. It remains isolated until communications are restored and the system is cold loaded. (Such a processor usually stops itself because its self-checking code cannot send and receive message system packets to and from itself.)
A processor's logical state and its condition are distinguished. A processor has two logical states in a properly configured system: up or down. However, a processor has three conditions: dead, which is the same as the down logical state; healthy, which is the same as the up logical state; and malatose, which is described further below.
A processor is dead if it does not communicate with the rest of the system. Dead processors include those, for example, that execute a HALT or a system freeze instruction, that encounter low-level self-check errors such as internal register parity errors, that execute infinite loops with all interrupts disabled, that execute non-terminating instructions due to data corruption or that are in a reset state.
Dead processors are harmless, but the regrouping algorithm removes them from the system configuration. Other processors detect dead processors and declare them down.
A processor is healthy if it is running its operating system (preferably, the NonStop Kernel.RTM. operating system available from the assignee of the instant application) and can exchange packets with other processors (preferably, over a redundant high-speed bus or switching fabric) within a reasonable time. The regrouping algorithm prevents a processor declaring down a healthy processor.
A malatose processor is neither dead nor healthy. Such a processor either is not responding in a timely manner (perhaps because of missing timer ticks) or is temporarily frozen in some low-level activity. A malatose processor might be, for example, flooded with highest-priority interrupts such that the processor cannot take lower-priority interrupts or might be flooded with lower-priority interrupts such that the processor falls behind in issuing IamAlive packets. A malatose processor might be waiting for a faulty hardware device on which the clocks have stopped or might be running too long with interrupts disabled by the mutual exclusion mechanism.
The regrouping algorithm detects a malatose processor and forces it to become either healthy or dead, that is to say, either up or down. Correspondingly, a processor halts itself when another processor that it has not declared down declares it down.
With regard to regrouping, each processor in the system is either stable (that is, waiting for the need to act) or perturbed, including several states described below.
While a processor is stable, the IamAlive message scheme continues to operate. If a predetermined amount of time, say, 2.4 seconds, passes without an IamAlive message from another processor, the processor becomes perturbed.
While perturbed, a processor exchanges specially marked packets with other perturbed processors to determine the current processor configuration of the system. When that configuration is agreed upon, the processor becomes stable again.
Processors spend most of their time stable.
A regrouping incident begins when a processor becomes perturbed and ends when all processors become stable again. Each regrouping incident has a sequence number that is the number of regrouping incidents since the last system cold load.
Each processor also maintains variables to store two configurations, one old and one new. While a processor is stable, bit-map variables called OUTER.sub.-- SCREEN and INNER.sub.-- SCREEN both contain the old configuration.
While a processor is stable, it knows that every processor in the old configuration is up and every processor not in the old configuration is down. Each processor in the old configuration has the same regrouping sequence number.
While a processor is perturbed, it broadcasts its view of the configuration (and its own status) on its busses or fabrics. It sends this view periodically, for example, every 0.3 seconds, to all other processors in the old configuration. Receiving such a broadcast perturbs any stable processor in the configuration.
The four stages of the regrouping protocol described further below make all perturbed processors create the same view of the system configuration. When regrouping completes, all processors in the system are stable and contain the same new configuration. Also, every processor in the new configuration has the same regroup sequence number that is greater than the number in the old configuration.
The new configuration contains no processor that was not in the old configuration. All processors that remained healthy throughout the incident are in the new configuration.
Any processor that was dead when the incident began or that became dead during the incident is not in the new configuration. Regrouping restarts if a processor becomes dead during an incident.
Correspondingly, processors that were malatose when the incident began are in the new configuration as healthy processors if they participated in the complete incident.
The regrouping method ensures that all processors in the new configuration have included and excluded the same processors.

Method an apparatus for tolerance of lost timer ticks during recovery of a multi-processor system


An information processing apparatus using a neural network learning function has, in one embodiment, a computer system and a pattern recognition apparatus associated with each other via a communication cable. The computer system includes a learning section having a first neural network and serves to adjust the weights of connection therein as a result of learning with a learning data signal supplied thereto from the pattern recognition apparatus via the communication cable. The pattern recognition apparatus includes an associative output section having a second neural network and receives data on the adjusted weights from the learning section via the communication cable to reconstruct the second neural network with the data on the adjusted weights. The pattern recognition apparatus with the associative output section having the reconstructed second neural network performs pattern recognition independently of the computer system with the communication cable being brought into an electrical isolation mode.

The present invention relates to an information processing system using a neural network learning function. A specific example of such an information processing system includes a pattern recognition system using a neural network learning function.
A neural network simulating the neural network in the brain has such a capability that simply by teaching the network input data and an expected output value (hereinafter referred to as "the teacher's data") of the network against the particular input data, a recognition algorithm for discriminating and classifying the data into a predetermined category is constructed. This capability has been actively applied to the fields of pattern recognition, such as image and voice recognitions. Especially in image recognition, however, a great problem has been posed by the requirement for an image-processing expert to develop a recognition algorithm by a heuristic technique each time an object to be recognized changes. If a neural network is used, all that is necessary is to teach the neural network an object of application, and therefore it is possible to simplify and shorten the time for the development of a recognition algorithm.
The conventional neural network system, in a personal computer or a work station, comprises a neural network definition section for defining the construction (number of layers, number of neurons of each layer, etc.) of the neural network and an operating section for producing an associative output having a learning or learned neural network using learning data (a combination of input data and teacher's data) read from a keyboard or a file. Systems of this type are described, for example, in Technical Report PRU 88-58, Sept. 16, 1988, pp. 79-86, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan and in Nikkei Computer, March 14, 1988, p. 14.
The conventional neural network system, configured of a section for defining the structure of a neural network and an operating section for learning and producing an associative output, lacks full consideration of the preparation of the learning data and application of the learning data to the neural network (for example, it is required that an operating section for learning and producing an associative output be provided for each of the applications such as image and voice recognition, learning data being supplied to the operating section) in a specific application of the prior art to image recognition or the like Also, the learning function is redundant in applications to a practical system.

Information processing system using neural network learning function


A saw chain is automatically sharpened during use by causing top sides of the cutter links to be pressed against a stationary abrasive block when the saw chain is running around a rim type sprocket. The cutting link includes a cutting edge, and a depth gauge recessed radially from the cutting edge by a distance defining the cutting depth. The generally cylindrical outer periphery of the drive sprocket has raised steps or ramps formed thereon which lift the front end of the cutter links relative to the rear ends, thereby allowing a sufficiently large cutting depth to be achieved without locating the depth gauge far in front of the front rivet. This reduces vibration and instability of the saw chain when sawing.

The invention relates to chain saw-mounted grinding devices for automatically grinding a saw chain while the saw chain is being driven.
A majority of chain saws have chains, the cutter links of which have one cutter and one depth gauge for limiting the cutting depth and the risk of uncontrollable kick-back and impacts. These chains are sharpened by filing or grinding the front rake face of the cutter. Since the rear clearance face of the cutter has a certain small clearance angle this will lower the edge, requiring lowering also of the depth gauge by filing, which is difficult to do with sufficient precision.
Special chains have been previously suggested, designed for automatic resharpening and height adjustment of the depth gauge with high precision by grinding devices without removing the chain from the chain saw. According to the U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,644 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,122 and others, a grinding device has been located immediately behind the drive sprocket of the chain, and will grind both the cutter and the depth gauge simultaneously as the chain is running around the drive sprocket. Relative to the cutter link, the grinding device will follow a circular path, the highest point of which is located where a radius from the center of the drive sprocket forms a 90 degree angle with a line passing through both of the cutter link-connecting rivets R (see FIG. 3). With normal links and sprockets, that radius and line intersect at the center of the link, as shown in FIG. 3.
That is, in grinding devices according to the prior art, the cutter links run with both of their connecting rivets R spaced at the same distance from the sprocket center (21), and as shown in FIG. 3 the radius (19) extending at 90 degrees to a line (20) passing through the rivets will pass through the center of the link. This means that in order to grind the depth gauge (31) lower than the cutter (32) that corresponds to the desired chip thickness, the depth gauge (31) will have to be located very far forward, and the cutting edge of the cutter (32) located close to the radius (19) at the center of the link.
To keep the depth gauge lower than the cutter edge by an amount that corresponds to the desired cutting depth, the depth gauge must be located at a greater distance from this radius than is the cutter edge, and to get a positive clearance angle the cutting edge must be located behind the radius, as is shown by the U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,644 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,497 and others. For hand-held chain saws a positive clearance angle is necessary since the available feed force is limited, which means that even with a small diameter of the drive sprocket the distance between the depth gauge and the cutter edge must be rather large. This increases the risk for kick-back and violent jerks when sawing thin branches or when a tree moves. Safety requirements have thus excluded such grinding devices from the market.
For vehicle-born chain saws the problems are different. The drive sprocket diameter must be kept rather large to keep the motor velocity and the sprocket wear low. To utilize the motor power the cutting depth should be larger than with hand-held chain saws, which would require a very long distance between the depth gauge and the cutter. In actual cases the depth gauge would have to be situated far in front of the front rivet, (see FIG. 3 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,497), which in turn might cause severe vibration and instability in service.

Automatic chain sharpening device mounted on a chain saw


A fuel injection device increases an increment value of fuel after cut-off of assist air so that the air/fuel ratio for combustion can be held constant to stabilize the idling rotational speed. The device has control means for controlling, based on various detection signals indicative of an engine cooling water temperature, an engine rotational speed, an amount of intake air, etc., a valve-opening time of a fuel injection valve in accordance with a predetermined control program, and also controlling an on/off control valve for cutting off air supplied to fuel atomizing means. Fuel incrementing means increases an amount of liquid fuel supplied to the fuel injection valve depending on opening/closing of the on/off control valve and the temperature of engine cooling water. When the on/off control valve is closed and an engine is in a state of steady operation, the increment value of the liquid fuel supplied to the fuel injection valve can be gradually increased by the fuel incrementing means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection device in which air is jetted out to liquid fuel injected through a fuel injection valve to accelerate atomization of the liquid fuel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several types of air-assisted fuel injection devices for accelerating atomization of liquid fuel are known. Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 54-44821 discloses a device which is provided with a mixing chamber at the mount portion of a fuel injection valve, the mixing chamber being connected to a spring chamber of a pressure adjuster to modify a pressure of supplied fuel depending upon the pressure in the mixing chamber. Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-9555 discloses a device in which an air amount adjusting valve operated responsive to an engine temperature is disposed in an air bypass pipe associated with an intake manifold, the downstream end of the air bypass pipe is open in the vicinity of the air amount adjusting valve, and further the opening at the downstream end of the air bypass pipe has an effective sectional area smaller than that of the air bypass pipe in a portion downstream of the air amount adjusting valve. Additionally, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-8144 discloses a device in which a modifying coefficient is determined based on a pressure essentially equal to the air pressure in an air introducing chamber, and the valve-opening time of a fuel injection valve is determined by the modifying coefficient to obtain an optimum amount of fuel injected at all times.
Particularly in the case of low-displacement engines or multi-cylinder engines, however, any of the above air-assisted fuel injection devices requires assist air to be reduced in amount or cut off during warm-up, because the amount of assist air bypassing a throttle valve becomes too much after the completion of warm-up and the idling rotational speed is so raised as not to maintain a predetermined rotational speed. But cut-off of the assist air causes a shift from the state that fuel is satisfactorily atomized with the aid of the assist air to the state that fuel is not sufficiently atomized, resulting in an increase of manifold wetting. The manifold wetting is increased particularly in cold weather and the fuel supplied to the engine becomes insufficient. As a result, the air/fuel ratio for combustion is fluctuated to produce a lean air/fuel ratio, giving rise to such a problem that the idling rotational speed is dropped down or disturbed (called rough idling) (see FIG. 11).


A plasma processing apparatus and method is equipped with a vacuum chamber, helmholtz coils, a microwave generator and gas feeding systems. An auxiliary magnet is further provided in order to strengthen the magnetic field in the vacuum chamber to produce centrifugal drifting force which confine the plasma gas about the center position of the vacuum chamber.

This invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and method.
There have been known the ECR CVD for depositing thin films on a substrate. In this deposition method, a substrate may be placed in a vacuum chamber apart from the resonating space and a thin film such as an amorphous film is formed on the substrate by virtue of a divergent magnetic field induced in the vacuum chamber.
The ECR CVD can be performed in combination with other known deposition methods such as heated filament CVD, chemical transportation method, plasma CVD making use of a high frequency power at 13.56 MHz, microwave-assisted CVD. In accordance with this method, a reactive gas is confined and excited by supplying a microwave under a magnetic field in accordance with the electron cycrotron resonance. The excited reactive gas is drifted to a substrate which is located at a position remote from the resonating space. At the remote position, the excited gas is deposited on the substrate or attacks to the substrate to effected anisotropic etching. The pressure in the chamber during process has been maintained at a relatively low pressure, e.g. of the order of 10.sup.-4 Torr. Because of this, it is very difficult to form a highly crystallized film such as a diamond film and to choose the process condition with a broad flexibility.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A printer includes laser beam detecting sensors for detecting a laser beams at two positions in the main scanning direction. Write clock generating circuits measure a number of counts of a predetermined clock during a period since one of the laser beam detecting sensors detects each of the beams until another sensor detects the beam. A write clock frequency adjusting circuit takes the number of counts for one laser beam as a reference value and adjusts write clock frequencies of other laser beams so as to coincide with the reference value.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a method of correcting timing for generating laser beams that takes accounts for fluctuations in temperature.
2) Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus writes image information on a photoreceptor by scanning the photoreceptor with laser beams. The laser beams are deflected, for scanning the photoreceptor, with a polygon mirror and a fθ lens. Sometimes an achromatic fθ lens is used to suppress variations in writing magnification as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open (JP-A) No. SHO 62-254110 (see pages 1 and 2, and FIG. 1). However, if the achromatic fθ lens is made of glass, it increases the weight and cost of the apparatus. Therefore, to realize weight and cost reduction, fθ lenses made of plastic are becoming popular.
However, the plastic lenses have a problem that they deform due to change in ambient temperature and change in temperature inside the apparatus. Moreover, the polygon mirrors have a problem that their figure tolerance changes due to change in ambient temperature and change in temperature inside the apparatus. If the lens deforms or the figure tolerance of the polygon mirror changes, the precision of the image formation degrades, because, it shifts the scanning position. The effect becomes prominent when the photoreceptor is scanned with a plurality of laser beams, because, there occurs color misalignment due to a magnification error in a main scanning direction and each magnification error of the beams.
One approach to solve the above mentioned problem is disclosed, for example, in JP-A No. HEI 9-58053 (see pages 2 to 5, and FIG. 1). FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of an optical writing system of this image forming apparatus. FIG. 8 illustrates only one optical writing system although there are a plurality of optical writing systems.
The image forming apparatus includes a laser diode 101, which emits a laser beam, and a laser driving circuit 109, which drives the laser diode. The laser beam emitted from the laser diode 101 is deflected by a polygon mirror 102 towards the photoreceptor 103. Laser detecting sensors 105 and 106 are provided along the main scanning direction. When the laser detecting sensor 105 detects a laser beam, it outputs a detection signal det 1, and when the laser detecting sensor 106 detects a laser beam, it outputs a detection signal det 2, to a write clock generating circuit 107. The write clock generating circuit 107 measures a number of counts of a predetermined clock (hereinafter, also referred to as "a number of clocks") during a period between detection of a detection signal det 1 and detection of a subsequent detection signal det 2. The write clock generating circuit 107 compares the value of the clocks obtained by the measurement (hereinafter, "measured value") with a reference value, and outputs a write clock CLK0 of a frequency such that the measured value substantially coincides with the reference value. The laser driving circuits are activated based on this write clock CLK0. This eliminates the effect of the change in temperature on the scanning.
Although not shown, when there are plurality of beams, there is one laser driving unit, one laser diode, two laser detecting sensors, and one write clock frequency CLK0 corresponding to each laser beam.
However, the amount of calculations required to generate the write clocks of an appropriate frequency is vast. As a result, since a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit is generally used to generate the write clocks, desired write clocks are not output. This causes color misalignment, i.e., the images produced by each laser beam shift from theoretical positions and therefore the images are not superposed properly.

Image forming apparatus, and method of correcting timing for generating laser beams


Embodiments of the invention include a method and software for pre-allocating bandwidth for time-sensitive data such as voice data, for allocating some of the pre-allocated bandwidth to calls, and for timely delivery of frames that include time-sensitive data such as voice data in both the uplink and downlink direction for calls between an access point, e.g., a quality-assured access point (Q-AP) and one or more of its client stations.

Delivery of time-sensitive data streams such as VoIP packets in an infrastructure wireless network, such as a QoS enhanced basic service set (Q-BSS) that conforms to the IEEE 802.11 standard, including IEEE 802.11e or Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) that is based on a subset of IEEE 802.11e, continues to be challenging. There still are issues to be resolved to achieve relatively high voice quality.
Some time-sensitive data communication, e.g., voice communication needs to maintain constant bit rate (CBR) per call basis. In order to provide the constant bit rate, many small packets are constantly transmitted. Use of known IEEE 802.11e mechanisms to carry such relatively small frames can significantly hurt the bandwidth efficiency expressed, for example, as the percentage of the total bandwidth used for application data transferred over the radio interface. In addition to bandwidth efficiency, there is a bottleneck issue in the downlink direction from the access point. One central access point (AP), e.g., a quality enhanced AP (Q-AP) pushes multiple speech frames to multiple client stations associated with the AP.

Delivery of time-sensitive data in a wireless network


The present invention relates to silicon ether compounds having a general formula (I), a method for the preparation thereof and use thereof as a component of catalysts for polymerization of olefins. In particular, in propylene polymerization, catalyst systems comprising the silicon ether compounds as external electron donor component exhibit good hydrogen response, and can be used to prepare polymer having high isotacticity at high yield.

Catalysts for olefins polymerization or copolymerization are well known in literatures. These catalysts typically comprise a transition metal-containing active component, generally comprising magnesium, titanium and halogen as main ingredients; a cocatalyst component, typically organo-aluminium compound; and external electron donor component, typically organo-silicon compound. For stereoelective polymerization of olefins, especially stereoelective polymerization of propylene, if no external electron donor component is used, most of these catalysts give a polymer having lower isotacticity, typically lower than 90%, so that they are not applicable to industrial scale production. Therefore, the addition of external electron donor component is often necessary.
At preset, the types of external electron donor compounds have developed from initial benzoates to current organosiloxane. For instance, WO 00/63261 discloses external electron donor compounds useful in olefins polymerization, i.e. silicon compounds having a general formula R11aR12bSi(OR13)c, wherein a and b are zero or integer from 1 to 2, c is integer from 1 to 3, and the sum of a+b+c is 4, R11, R12 and R13 are independently C1-C18 hydrocarbyl which optionally contains heteroatom. The preferred are those silicon compounds in which a is 1, b is 1, c is 2, at least one of R11 and R12 is selected from the group consisting of branched alkyl, alkenyl, alkylene, cycloalkyl and aryl, having from 3 to 10 carbon atoms and containing optionally heteroatom, and R13 is C1-C10 alkyl, especially methyl, for example, cyclohexylmethyldimethoxysilane. The also preferred are those silicon compounds in which a is 0, c is 3, R12 is branched alkyl or cycloalkyl, containing optionally heteroatom, and R13 is methyl, for example, cyclohexyltrimethoxysilane and the like.
It is noted that, among the silicon compounds having the general formula R11aR12bSi(OR13)c, those silicon compounds in which c is 1 are generally not deemed as good external electron donor. In the prior art, 2,2-dihydrocarbyl-1-hydrocarbyloxy-3-(trihydrocarbylsilyloxy)propane compounds have never been used as external electron donor compounds in olefins polymerization. However, the inventors have surprisingly found that, when used as external electron donor in olefins polymerization, especially in propylene polymerization, silicon ether compounds of general formula (I), which will be described in detail hereinbelow, exhibit good properties, for instance, the catalyst systems exhibit good hydrogen response, and can be used to prepare polymer having high isotacticity at high yield.

Silicon ether compounds and a method for the preparation thereof

Abstract: wherein R1-R10 groups are as defined in the description.

Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation


A lid sealing machine includes a casing attached to a housing, a sealing device disposed in the casing, a container holder for supporting and moving containers into and out of the casing, a supply reel, a take up reel and a roller rotatably attached onto the housing for supporting a film material and for transmitting the film material from the supply reel around the roller and to the take up reel, and for moving the film material between the sealing device and the container holder, and for allowing the film material to be forced to seal the containers by the sealing device. A detecting device may be used for detecting a rotating movement of the roller and a movement of the film material relative to the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lid sealing machine, and more particularly to a lid sealing machine having a detecting or measuring device for detecting or measuring the movement or the position of film material and for allowing the film material to be precisely operated or cut to apply and to seal various recessed containers without applying any marks or patterns or identification points onto the film material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical lid sealing machines comprise a supply reel for winding or supporting a continuous ribbon or web of a thin and transparent film material which may be selected from a wide range of flexible materials such as plastic, foil and paper or laminated combinations of such materials, and a take up reel for winding and receiving the film material that has been partially cut to seal the containers.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,498 to Parsons discloses one of the typical lid sealing machines comprising a continuous ribbon or web or film material wound and supplied from a supply reel toward a take up reel, and moved through a vacuum head and/or a hot pressing or sealing device, for allowing the ribbon or web or film material to be cut and sealed onto the containers.
However, the typical lid sealing machines have no detecting or measuring devices provided therein such that the movement or the position of film material may not precisely detected or measured and such that the film material may not be precisely operated or cut to apply and to seal various recessed containers.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional lid sealing machines.