The object of the invention is a communications system that increases successful call setups, improves resource utilization, and reduces overhead. The communications system of the present invention includes a calling endpoint coupled to a called endpoint through a packet switched network. A flag is encoded in a fast call setup message sent from the calling endpoint to the called endpoint. The flag allows the calling endpoint to present the called endpoint with a plurality of different codec options for the send and receive directions. The called endpoint can then choose which one of the codec options is best suited for the proposed call. If the calling endpoint does not support asymmetric channel capabilities, the flag indicates to the called endpoint that the calling endpoint wishes it choose the same or symmetric capability from the plurality of codec options presented for both the send and receive directions. Conversely, if the calling endpoint supports asymmetric channel capabilities, the flag indicates to the called endpoint that it is unrestricted in its choice of which codecs to select for encoding and decoding data. By establishing the call in this manner, a calling endpoint that does not support asymmetric codec capabilities is not faced with call rejection from a called endpoint that has selected different or asymmetric codecs for the send and receive directions. Thus, more calls are successfully set up avoiding the necessity of defaulting to less efficient call procedures.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a packet-based multimedia communications system and, more particularly, to a system having a fast connect option for enforcing symmetric codec capabilities in call setup procedures such as the fast connect setup in the International Telecommunication Union Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation H.323, incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) H.323 standard describes terminal and other entities that provide multimedia communication services over Packet Switched Networks (PSN). H.323 devices provide real-time audio, video, and/or data communications. H.323 devices must support audio, while data and video are optional. If data or video is supported, the device must use a specified common mode of operation, so that all terminals supporting that media type can interface properly.
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a packet-based multimedia communications system 10. The system 10 includes a PSN 12 connected to terminals 14, 16, and 18, gatekeeper 20, gateway 22, and multi-point control unit 24. Gateway 22 provides Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) access between the PSN 12 and a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 26 and an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) 28. PSTN 26 is connected to several PSTN endpoints, such as PSTN endpoints 30 and 32. PSTN endpoints 30 and 32 are standard circuit switched telephones. Phones 30 and 32 access one another through PSTN 26. Phones 30 and 32 access ISDN endpoints 34 and 36 through gateway 22. Similarly, ISDN 28 is connected to ISDN endpoints, such as ISDN endpoints 34 and 36. ISDN endpoints 34 and 36 are, for example, digital visual telephone terminals and equipment. ISDN endpoints 34 and 36 access one another through the ISDN 28 and access phones 30 and 32 through gateway 22.
VoIP services are accessed from the phones 30 and 32 via PSTN 26, more directly through the PSN 12 by digital phones 34 and 36 via ISDN 28, or from an H.323 endpoint to another through the PSN 12. In the first two cases, a phone connection involves dialing into an incoming gateway and connecting to a terminating gateway that eventually connects to a destination telephone.
The H.323 standard covers the technical requirements for multimedia communications systems where the underlying transport is a PSN 12. The PSN 12 may include Local Area Networks (LAN), Enterprise Area Networks, Metropolitan Area Networks, Intra-Networks, and Inter-Networks (including the Internet). The PSN 12 also includes dial up connections or point-to-point connections over the PSTN 26 or the ISDN 28 that use an underlying packet based transport such as a point-to-point protocol. These networks may consist of a single network segment, or they may have complex topologies that incorporate many network segments interconnected by other communications links.
The terminals 14, 16, and 18 provide audio and optionally video and data communications capability in point-to-point or multi-point conferences. Interworking with other terminals, such as PSTN endpoints 30 and 32 or ISDN endpoints 34 and 36, is accomplished through gateways like gateway 22 if a PSTN 26 or an ISDN 28, respectively, is involved. Gatekeeper 20 provides admission control and address translation services. Multi-point control unit 24 provides support for multi-point conferences. The scope of H.323 is defined by the dotted lines 38 and does not include the network interface, the physical network, or the transport protocol used on the network. Examples of these networks that could comprise part of PSN 12 include but are not limited to the Ethernet (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.3), Fast Ethernet (IEEE 802.3xcexc), Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Token Ring (IEEE 802.5), and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).
H.323 endpoints, such as terminals 14, 16, or 18, multi-point control unit 24, or gateway 22, may establish media channels in a call using either the procedures defined in ITU-T Recommendation H.245 (H.245) or the Fast Connect procedure described in the H.323 standard although the latter is preferred. The Fast Connect procedure allows the endpoints to establish a basic point-to-point call with as few as one round-trip message exchange, enabling immediate media stream delivery upon call connection. The H.245 requires a set of message exchanges to setup the call. For example, the H.245 requires determining a master-slave exchanging a capability, opening logical channels on both endpoints and acknowledging the logical channels on both endpoints, closing and re-opening the logical channels, and the like. The Fast Connect feature eliminates the need to establish a separate H.245 Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) connection by using the existing H.225 channel for a simplified capability exchange between two endpoints. Another advantage of a Fast Connect call is that the audio, data, and/or video paths, if supported, are available much sooner than would be the case using the H.245 procedures. In essence, Fast Connect uses the resources more efficiently, reduces the overhead of establishing media channel(s) for a call, and establishes the media paths sooner than using the H.245 procedures.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram describing a drawback with the communications system 10 shown in FIG. 1. A calling endpoint 40, such as gateway 22 (FIG. 1), initiates a call by sending a message containing certain predetermined elements to a called endpoint 42, such as terminal 18. In H.323, the Fast Connect call procedure is initiated by sending a SETUP message containing a faststart element. The faststart element consists of a sequence of OpenLogicalChannel structures 43 describing a particular media channel proposalxe2x80x94audio, video, or dataxe2x80x94and a certain directionxe2x80x94send or receivexe2x80x94. Where the media channel proposal involves audio, the OpenLogicalChannel structure 43 describes, among other things, media channel capabilities associated with respective audio coder/decodersxe2x80x94commonly known as codecsxe2x80x94that the calling endpoint 40 can use to encode and decode audio signals. In other words, the calling endpoint 40 advertises its send and receive codec capabilities to the called endpoint 42. Here, the send directionxe2x80x94the term xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d is used in the H.323 standardxe2x80x94refers to signals traveling from the calling endpoint 40 to the called endpoint 42. Conversely, the receive directionxe2x80x94xe2x80x9creversexe2x80x9d in the H.323 standardxe2x80x94refers to signals traveling from the called endpoint 42 to the calling endpoint 40.
For example, the calling endpoint 40 sends notification 43 to the called endpoint 42 that it has audio codec 1, codec 2, . . . , codec N (44) available for encoding signals to packets (send direction) and audio codec 1, codec 2, . . . , codec M (46) available for decoding the packets back into audio or video signals (receive direction). In the H.323, the plurality of codec options is included in the OpenLogicalChannel structure 43 sent in the call setup message. The codec options are, for example, audio G.729, G.711, G.723, G.726, and the like.
The called endpoint 42 chooses one of the codec capabilities 44 proposed by the calling endpoint 40 for the send direction and one codec 46 for the receive direction. For example, endpoint 42 selects codec 2 for encoding packets in the send direction 48 and selects codec 1 for decoding packets in the receive direction 50. The choice of which codec the called endpoint 42 will choose depends on several factors including which codecs the called endpoint 42 supports and is configured to use. More specifically, the choice of codecs depends on the codecs supported by digital signal processing software or firmware included in the called endpoint 42.
Often, the calling endpoint 40 does not support using different codecs for the send and receive directions (asymmetric). In such a case, if the called endpoint 42 selects one codec for the send direction and a different codec for the receive direction, the calling endpoint 40 will be unable to proceed with the fast call. If the calling endpoint 40 wishes to maintain a speech path, for example, with the called endpoint 42, the calling endpoint 40 must revert from the Fast Connect call to a normal call by establishing a separate, slower, H.245 TCP connection. The called endpoint 42 may also refuse the Fast Connect call by not returning the faststart element in any return message up to and including the CONNECT message. When the Fast Connect call cannot be initiated, the H.245 procedure is used for capabilities exchange and opening of media channels. It is possible for the called endpoint 42 to select the same codecs for the send and receive direction thereby successfully establishing a fast callxe2x80x94e.g., a H.323 Fast Connect callxe2x80x94with the calling endpoint 40. However, it is not guaranteed under current protocol specifications.
It is important to emphasize that the H.245 TCP call procedures require much more overhead to establish calls than the H.323 procedures. An H.245 call also uses resources less efficiently and is slower. Thus, is it beneficial to establish calls using the Fast Connect procedures whenever possible.
A workaround for the above-described drawback is shown in FIG. 3. Assume again that the calling endpoint 40 does not support different or asymmetric codecs for the send and receive directions. The calling endpoint 40 provides the called endpoint 42 a single choice of codec 52 for the send and receive direction, for example, codec 2. Because the called endpoint 42 is only given the one choice of codec 2 for both send and receive directions, endpoint 42 is precluded from choosing asymmetric codecs. However, if the called endpoint 42 does not support the one codecxe2x80x94codec 2xe2x80x94proposed by the calling endpoint 40, the call is rejected, requiring invocation of the H.245 call setup procedures.
Accordingly, a need remains for a communications system affording a calling endpoint the ability to offer a called endpoint more than a single choice of codecs for encoding and decoding data in the send and receive directions while at the same time alerting the called endpoint when only symmetric codecs must be selected for encoding and decoding data.
The object of the invention is a communications system that increases successful fast call setups, improves resource utilization, and reduces overhead. The communications system of the present invention includes a calling endpoint coupled to a called endpoint through a packet switched network. A flag is encoded in a fast call setup message sent from the calling endpoint to the called endpoint through the packet switched network. The flag indicates to the called endpoint whether the calling endpoint wishes for the called endpoint to select asymmetric channel capabilities for encoding and decoding audio and video signals in the send and receive directions. The flag allows the calling endpoint to present the called endpoint with a plurality of different codec options for the send and receive directions. The called endpoint can then choose which one of the codec options is best suited for the proposed call based on the wishes of the calling endpoint.
If the calling endpoint does not support asymmetric channel capabilities, the flag indicates to the called endpoint that the calling endpoint wishes it choose the same or symmetric capability from the plurality of codec options presented for both the send and receive directions. If the calling endpoint supports asymmetric channel capabilities, the flag indicates to the called endpoint that the calling endpoint believes it is unrestricted in its choice of which codecs to select for encoding and decoding data. That is, the called endpoint can choose one codec for encoding data in the send direction and select the same or a different codec for decoding encoded data in the receive direction.
By establishing the call in this manner, a calling endpoint that does not support asymmetric codec capabilities is not faced with a failed call because the called endpoint has selected different or asymmetric codecs for the send and receive directions. Thus, more calls are successfully set up avoiding the necessity of defaulting to less efficient call procedures.
A method for improving communications efficiency in a packet based communications system includes sending a call setup message from a calling endpoint to a called endpoint. The calling endpoint sends a call setup message that offers a choice of different codecs for encoding audio, video, and/or data signals into packets in the send direction and another choice of codecs for decoding previously encoded packets in the receive direction. The called endpoint evaluates the flag to determine whether the calling endpoint supports asymmetric capabilities. The called endpoint then chooses a channel capability for the send and receive directions based on the flag. If the calling endpoint has set the flag to indicate symmetric capabilities, the called endpoint must chose the same codec for the send and receive directions. Conversely, if the calling endpoint has not set the flag to enforce the selection of symmetric capabilities, the called endpoint is unrestricted in its choice of codecs. That is, the called endpoint can choose the same codec or different codec for each of the send and receive channels.

Fast connect option for enforcing symmetric codec capabilities


The organic EL display module includes an organic EL display device having flexibility, a touch panel having flexibility, a first adhesive portion for attaching the organic EL display device and the touch panel to each other, a curved and flexible intermediate housing disposed on an opposite side from the organic EL display device with respect to the touch panel, and a second adhesive portion for attaching the touch panel and the intermediate housing to each other.

Recently, a wearable device worn on a body such as a watch, glasses or clothes has been actively developed as a type of electrical equipment terminal. The wearable device mainly includes a housing that forms an appearance of the wearable device, a display device assembled with the housing, and a touch panel. The wearable device is curved to fit along a line of the body. For this reason, a film organic EL display panel (hereinafter referred to as "film OLED"), which uses an organic resin film having flexibility as a substrate, is used as the display device (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3193457). In addition, a film touch panel (hereinafter, referred to as "film TP"), which uses an organic resin film having flexibility as a substrate, is used as the touch panel.


In a multilayer metallisation/dielectric structure on a silicon substrate a trimmable capacitor is formed between two of the higher metallisation layers, with one layer being segmented and the individual segments connected by way of one or more vias and respective narrow links to one terminal of the capacitor. The narrow links are formed from titanium tungsten on the oxide isolated silicon substrate.

The present invention relates to trimmable capacitors formed in multilayer metallisation/dielectric structures such as those used in multichip modules (MCM).
The multichip module approach to interconnection and packaging employs unpackaged integrated circuit (IC) dice mounted onto a high interconnection-density substrate structure, the resulting assembly being packaged to form a module. The removal of the individual die packaging overhead allows very close die proximity (from 0.4 to 2 mm die spacings being typical) and a high functional density to be achieved. This technology also provides a considerable area and weight saving over the equivalent circuit function realised using individually packaged ICs and surface mount assembly. Typical area savings of between 5 and 10 fold at the substrate level may be achieved. The area fraction of functional silicon in this technology when measured at the substrate level is a function of the assembly method employed. For wire bonded modules this area fraction is typically 30 to 60 percent, while flip chip solder bonded module assemblies can provide area fractions of up to 80 percent. Improvements in reliability are also achieved through the elimination of package leads, solder joints and other materials interfaces in the transition from individual to multichip packaging. Performance improvements are achieved through the elimination of individual device package parasitics and the typically three-fold reduction in inter-device trace lengths.
A number of categories of MCM technology have been defined, describing the type of structure employed to interconnect the naked dice in the MCM assembly. The MCM-L category uses very fine line, multilayer printed circuit board (pcb) substrate structures that are fabricated using extensions of existing pcb manufacturing techniques. Such substrates are suited for interconnect only, all digital modules with low or medium power dissipation and medium wiring density demand (i.e. medium device pin count). They offer the lowest cost per unit area of the MCM substrate alternatives and employ typically up to six metal and dielectric layers. The MCM-C category uses cofired, multilayer ceramic technologies to provide the required interconnection structure. Since the track geometries in this technology are commonly defined by screen printing, which implies limited resolution, the required routing density is achieved by employing additional layers in the multilayer substrate structure. MCM-C modules with up to 40 layers have been reported. The MCM-C substrate structure may be readily incorporated with the module package structure to provide a reliable, cost effective approach to MCM construction for many all-digital, high reliability applications.
The MCM-D substrate category that is of interest in the present application is constructed by thin film deposition technologies (as indicated by the -D qualification) for example with a multilayer aluminium-polyimide metallisation structure (as typical of a silicon MCM substrate), with typically three or four metallisation layers, a ground plane, a power plane and one or two layers for signal trace routing. A five layer construction is also sometimes employed, the fifth metallisation layer being used to place chip connection pads, thus avoiding any constraint on routing in the two signal routing layers below.
The tracks on the silicon substrate are of widths between 10 and 25 micrometers, with metal thicknesses of 2 to 5 micrometers at track pitches of 40 to 100 micrometers, dielectric thicknesses being in the 5 to 20 micrometer range. Such geometries allow controlled impedance, 50 ohm lines to be defined if required. Alternative materials include copper as the conductor material and a range of alternative polymers, including BCB (Benzo cyclo butene) and PPQ (Polyphenyl Quinoxaline). This interconnection geometry allows very high interconnection density to be achieved, while the low parasitics of the interconnection traces and the well defined trace impedances provide high bandwidth. The power and ground plane structures provide high performance power and ground connections locally at each mounted device.
A very important and unique capability of the MCM-D substrate option lies in the ability to integrate the full range of thin film resistor, capacitor and inductor components into the MCM-D substrate structure as required, for example for line termination, decoupling, biassing, matching, filtering and related functions.


An active implantable medical device, in particular a pacemaker, defibrillator and/or cardiovertor of the multisite type providing resynchronization of the ventricles electrodes are placed in at least two sites, right and left, and are connected to a circuit for the collection of cardiac signals, to detect a depolarization potential. Electrodes also are connected to a stimulation circuit, to apply stimulation pulses to at least some of the sites. The device provides resynchronization of the ventricular contraction, by establishing a delay between the times of application of the respective stimulation pulses on the right ventricle (RV) and left ventricle (LV), determining a parameter (z) representative of the degree of synchronization between ventricles, and varying the delay in the direction of the improvement of the aforesaid representative parameter. The parameter is a bio-impedance measurement.

The present invention relates to xe2x80x9cactive implantable medical devicesxe2x80x9d as such devices are defined by the Jun. 20, 1990 directive 90/385/CEE of the Council of the European Communities, more particularly to pacemaker, defibrillator and/or cardiovertor devices which are able to deliver to the heart low energy stimulation pulses for the treatment of the cardiac rate disorders, and even more particularly to the so-called xe2x80x9cmultisitexe2x80x9d prostheses in which electrodes are placed in a plurality of distinct respective cardiac sites, comprising at least one ventricular site and one atrial site.
Multisite prosthesis are known and include the following types: xe2x80x9cdouble chamberxe2x80x9d (right atrial stimulation and right ventricular stimulation), xe2x80x9ctriple chamberxe2x80x9d (right atrial stimulation and double ventricular stimulation), and xe2x80x9cquadruple chamberxe2x80x9d (double atrial stimulation and double ventricular stimulation).
In addition to the treatment of cardiac disorders, it has been proposed to treat by stimulation myocardial contraction disorders which are observed among patients having a cardiac insufficiency. These disorders may be spontaneous or induced by a traditional stimulation pulse. One will be able, in particular, to refer to the study of J. C. Daubert et al., Stimucoeur, 25, nxc2x03, pp. 170-176, which gives a report on work with respect to this subject.
Daubert et al. proposed to stimulate simultaneously and permanently the left and right ventricles, for the resynchronization of both ventricles. One often can observe spectacular results by such treatment for patients having a Class-III type cardiac insufficiency, whose condition was not improved by the traditional treatments.
In practice, multisite devices preferably operate in synchronous stimulation. This means that the two ventricular stimulation sites receive stimulation pulses at the same time, i.e., there is no inter-ventricular delay. This is also called a bi-ventricular stimulation.
The starting point of the present invention lies in the observation by the inventors that this bi-ventricular stimulation with no inter-ventricular delay is not necessarily optimal, and, further, does not necessarily lead to a synchronous contraction of the two ventricles. Indeed, the times of conduction within the myocardium are not the same on the right and on the left sides, and the variance can depend on multiple factors, such as the site of the left ventricular probe, according to whether this probe is placed in the coronary sinus or an epicardial probe.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to propose a device that is able to establish an inter-ventricular delay between two ventricular stimulations, and to adjust this delay so as to resynchronize the contraction of the ventricles, and thus to lead to a fine optimization of the patient""s hxc3xa9modynamic condition.
Broadly, the present invention is directed to a device which is, in a way in itself known, a device of the multisite type, for use with electrodes that are placed in at least two cardiac sites, right and left. These electrodes are connected to a circuit in the device for the collection (i.e., the sensing or detection) of cardiac signals, more specifically to detect a depolarization potential, as well as to a circuit in the device for the stimulation of the heart, more specifically to apply stimulation pulses to at least certain of the aforesaid sites.
According to the invention, the device also comprises means for resynchronization of the ventricular contractions, with means for establishing an inter-ventricular delay between the time of application of the respective stimulation pulses on the right and left ventricles, means for determining a parameter representative of the degree of synchronization between the ventricles and analyzing this parameter, and means for varying the inter-ventricular delay in the direction of the improvement of the aforesaid representative parameter.
According to an advantageous subsidiary characteristic of the invention, the means for determining the representative parameter comprise a hemodynamic sensor, in particular a sensor of an intracardiac bio-impedance measured dynamically between a right site and a left site, more preferably between a right ventricular site and a left ventricular site, or between a right atrial site and a left ventricular site. The measurement of impedance is preferably operated by injection of a current pulse between the right and left sites, and the collection of a differential potential between a right site and a left site, or between two right sites, or between two left sites.
The configuration of the bio-impedance measurement can be a quadripolar configuration, without a site common to the injection and the collection, or a tripolar configuration, with one site common to the injection and the collection. One particular a configuration is where the site common to the injection and the collection is a left ventricular distal site, the other injection site is a distal right ventricular site, and the other collection site is a right ventricular proximal site.

Active implantable medical device, in particular a pacemaker, defibrillator and/or cardiovertor of the multisite type providing resynchronization of the ventricles


The inductive flow meter and method of exciting a coil includes a coil with unipolar excitation, which generates exciting pulses having a pulse interval therebetween. The length of the pulse interval is shorter than that of an exciting pulse. The associated evaluation circuit includes two alternately clocked channels whose evaluation phases overlap each other in time, the measuring voltage being obtained at the ends of the signal paths by alternately sampling the channels.

The invention relates to a magnetic-inductive flow meter with clocked excitation.
Inductive flow meters described in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,018,391 and 5,400,660, both granted to Doll, or in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,686 operate in the form of clocked alternating field devices generating a magnetic field in the flowing liquid by supplying exciting pulses derived from the primary frequency to a coil. The clock frequency of the exciting pulses of the coil is about 1/3 to 1/10 of the primary frequency. The exciting current pulses generate pulses of magnetic field strength in the flowing medium. At electrodes which are in contact with the medium, an electric potential is generated whose magnitude is proportional to the field strength and the flow velocity. Thus, a measuring signal is obtained which is a measure of the flow velocity of the flowing medium. The reaction time of the flow meter depends on the clock frequency by which the coil is excited. Further, it has to be considered that numerous noise components occur, falsifying the measuring signal and impairing the measuring accuracy and stability of the flow signal.


A product formed by reacting at least one acyclic hydrocarbyl substituted succinic acylating agent such as polyisobutenyl succinic anhydride with at least one N-(alkoxyalkyl)alkanediamine such as N-(isodecyloxypropyl)-1,3-diaminopropane is effective as a detergent-dispersant for liquid fuels and oleaginous liquids.

The prior art discloses many ashless dispersants useful as additives in fuels and lubricant compositions. A large number of such ashless dispersants are derivatives of high molecular weight carboxylic acid acylating agents. Typically, the acylating agents are prepared by reacting an olefin (e.g., a polyalkene such as polybutene) or a derivative thereof, containing for example at least 30 to 50 aliphatic carbon atoms, with an unsaturated carboxylic acid or derivative thereof such as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid and maleic anhydride. Dispersants are prepared from the high molecular weight carboxylic acid acylating agents by reaction with, for example, amines characterized by the presence within their structure of at least one N--H group, alcohols, reactive metal or reactive metal compounds, and combinations of the above. U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,435 summarizes some of the prior art relative to the preparation of such carboxylic acid derivatives.
It also has been suggested that the carboxylic acid derivative compositions such as those described above can be post-treated with various reagents to modify and improve the properties of the compositions. Acylated nitrogen compositions prepared by reacting the acylating reagents described above with an amine can be post-treated, for example, by contacting the acylated nitrogen compositions thus formed with one or more post-treated reagents selected from the group consisting of boron oxide, boron oxide hydrate, boron halides, boron acids, esters of boron acids, carbon disulfide, sulfur, sulfur chlorides, alkenyl cyanides, carboxylic acid acylating agents, aldehydes, ketones, phosphoric acid, epoxides, etc. Lists of the prior art relating to post-treatment of carboxylic ester and amine dispersants with reagents such as those described above are contained in a variety of patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,855 (Col. 19, lines 16-34) and U.S. Pat No. 4,234,435 (Col. 42, lines 33-46).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,936 describes lubricant additives which are compositions derived from the acylating of alkylene polyamines. More specifically, the compositions are obtained by reaction of an alkylene amine with an acidic mixture consisting of a hydrocarbon-substituted succinic acid having at least about 50 aliphatic carbon atoms in the hydrocarbon group and an aliphatic monocarboxylic acid, and thereafter removing the water formed by the reaction. The ratio of equivalents of said succinic acid to the mono-carboxylic acid in the acidic mixture is from about 1:0.1 to about 1:1. The aliphatic mono-carboxylic acids contemplated for use include saturated and unsaturated acids such as acetic acid, dodecanoic acid, oleic acid, naphthenic acid, formic acid, etc. Acids having 12 or more aliphatic carbon atoms, particularly stearic acid and oleic acid, are especially useful. The products described in the '936 patent also are useful in oil-fuel mixtures for two-cycle internal combustion engines.
British Pat. No. 1,162,436 describes ashless dispersants useful in lubricating compositions and fuels. The compositions are prepared by reacting certain specified alkenyl substituted succinimides or succinic amides with a hydrocarbon-substituted succinic acid or anhydride. The arithmetic mean of the chain lengths of the two hydrocarbon substituents is greater than 50 carbon atoms. Formamides of monoalkenyl succinimides are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,704. The formamides are reported to be useful as additives in lubricating oils and fuels.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,639,242 and 3,708,522 describe compositions prepared by post-treating mono- and polycarboxylic acid esters with mono- or polycarboxylic acid acylating agents. The compositions thus obtained are reported to be useful as dispersants in lubricants and fuels.
U.S. Pat No. 4,780,111 describes fuel compositions containing a hydrocarbon-soluble dispersant prepared generally by the post-treatment of a nitrogen-containing composition with mono- and polycarboxylic acids which may be aliphatic or aromatic carboxylic acids, preferably the latter. The nitrogen-containing compositions which are post-treated in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,111 are obtained by reacting an acylating agent with alkylene polyamines or alkanol amines. The patent reports that when such fuel compositions are utilized in internal combustion engines, and in particular, fuel-injected internal combustion engines, the amount of solid deposits of the various parts of the internal combustion engines are reduced.
PCT International Publication No. WO 87/02663 published May 7, 1987 describes succinimide derivatives of various structures including those of the formula ##STR1## where R is a hydrocarbon group containing from about 8 to about 35 carbon atoms, R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are each independently hydrogen or an alkyl group containing up to 8 carbon atoms, and R.sub.3 is a hydrocarbon group containing up to about 28 carbon atoms. These compounds, which are reported to reduce the amount of fuel consumed during the operation of internal combustion engines, are made by reacting a succinimide of the formula ##STR2## with an aldehyde or ketone (R.sub.1 COR.sub.2) and an alcohol (R.sub.3 --OH).


Protecting systems for coasts, breakwaters, slopes, dikes, sand dunes and similar, and more particular improvements in self-locking blocks forming component elements of protection structures against erosion, to the process of assembling said structure, as well as the resulting structure. The purpose is to afford a structure adapted to counteract the destructive and erosive action of external physical phenomena, such as wing, water, and the like, with respect to coasts, slopes, breakwaters, dikes and sand dunes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention refers to protecting systems of coasts, breakwaters, slopes, dikes, sand dunes and similar, and more particular refers to improvements in self-locking blocks, components elements of protection structures against erosion, to the process of assembling said structure, as well as the resulting structure. Inventively, it is a purpose to afford a means destined to counteract the destructive action of external physical agents--wind, water, etc.--with respect to coasts, slopes, breakwaters, dikes and sand dunes.
The physical agents which attack and damage this type of coasts, are of two species: the internal ones, with the phenomenon of siphonage and cutting of slopes due to the presence of tangentials tensions; and the external ones, in which intervene the erosive action of wind, waves, rain, tides, and the combined action thereof.
Traditionally, in the case of coasts protection, rockfills of stone aggregates, and vertical walls of rock blocks, containment walls of reinforced concrete and vertical sheetpiles in their different types have been used.
In regions such as the Argentine mesopotamia and humid pampa, for example, where the grounds are erosible and deposits of natural stone aggregates do not exist (or at least with a low cost operation), the protection with metallic vertical sheetpiles made of concrete has been used generally, anchored by tensors with special anchorage weights.
The disadvantage of this methods consists in that, as they are vertical walls, the active and passive thrusts, of the solid matter should be balanced by efforts in the tensor, generally subjected to important corrosive attacks, or else the waves "wash" the fine particles dragging them through the openings between one sheetpile and another sheetpile.
Both phenomena or the simultaneous action of these reduce the useful life of the protection or forces the implementation of costly maintenances. Another great disadvantage of the known method, resides in it complexity and high cost of construction.
The protection of erodible coasts is a very important chapter of any hydraulic work, recovery of low lands or harbor structures. It is of importance in the first place due to the great safety which it should confer to the coast, and in the second place--specially in zones without natural stone aggregates--by its high cost of supply and execution.
In the case of protections with anchored metallic sheetpiles and/or concrete, furthermore to the previously mentioned problems, generally exists a great difficulty in their execution, reason by which it requires highly specialized personnel and the technique of implementing them is very specialized and generally costly. This fact is worsened by the lack of possibility of detecting hidden vices or faults in the construction once the work is finished.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Some known structures, supply a defensive structure based in blocks coupled between each other. Among these principles, for example, is the object of French Patent 1.265.140 which consists in blocks of a double T configuration, that allow the coupling of the different blocks in a locking reciprocal way, with two of its axes of possible relation aligned to each other--and that correspond to the virtual axes of length and width of the blocks--but lacking any kind of locking in a third sense, i.e. the transversal to the plane defined by said aligned axes. This makes that, for the action of the water, tides or waves, said conventional blocks, though they have a coupling that resists the traction of the assembling in the sense of the axes virtually aligned to the structure, i.e. according to the orthogonal axes of width and length, they are not resistant in the transversal sense to the plane defined by said aligned axes; therefore, in said senses and due to the action of the above mentioned effects, they and by displacing easily.
Should there be any doubt in this reference left, it would be enough to observe FIGS. 1 and 10 to establish that effectively nothing could prevent the disconnection of the same in this sense. All of which makes said patent of costly application and furthermore of relative low effectiveness.

Component elements of protecting structures against erosion and process for assembling and placing the protection structure


A cholesteric liquid crystal compound having the following general formula (I), and a polymric cholesteric liquid crystal compound formd by polymerization thereof and a polymer dispersed liquid crystal display device having an improved contrast and driving voltage which is prepared by coating surfaces of two glass substrate plates with the above liquid crystal or the polymer liqui crystal formed by polymerization thereof in a thickness of 50-1000 .ANG., injecting a conventional nematic liquid crystal and a polymer gel precursor into a space formed between the two glass plates and subjecting them to the polymerization under ultraviolet light radiation are disclosed. ##STR1## wherein Y represents hydrogen, a hydrocarbon radical having one or more carbon atoms, and optionally containing one or more hetero atoms selected from the group consisting of oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen,. X represents a halogen atom, and PA0 n denotes an integer of one or more.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cholesteric liquid crystal having amphiphilic properties in the polymer liquid crystal dispersed system and a polymer dispersed liquid crystal display device showing greatly improved properties of the dispersion system, particularly memory function and contrast, by utilizing the said cholesteric liquid crystal as an agent for treating the surface of transparent electrodes and phase transition inducers in liquid crystal cells.

Cholesteric liquid crystal and polymer dispersed liquid crystal display device utilizing the same


An improved multi-disc wet clutch assembly. The improvements include an inner clutch hub having eighteen holes extending through a wall of the inner clutch hub, arranged in six series of three holes with each series being disposed approximately sixty degrees apart from each other and starting at a different position along the length of the inner clutch hub wall. The improvements further include a diaphragm plate disposed within a bore at the distal end of the inner clutch hub. Methods of retrofitting preexisting clutch assemblies are also described.

The present disclosure relates generally to improved clutch systems, and more particularly to clutch systems featuring a plurality of ported oiling holes in the inner hub and a control diaphragm to contain the oil.
In general, multi-disc wet clutch transmissions have a plurality of friction plates capable of engaging with one another. Transmissions that utilize a multi-disc wet clutch system typically have a limited amount of clutch allocated lubricant (oil) volume. This limited volume must be used in the most efficient and direct point placement to minimize the consumption of volume from the pump system that provides pressure and volume to the entirety of the transmission demands for gear and bearing lubrication. Typically the inner clutch hub is a forged or cast shape ported with oil from one side. This oil that is ported in, flows across inner hub and cools the inner surface profile of the clutch hub. With inadequate lubricant placement or volume, multi-disc wet clutch systems will run near dry, overheat, and cause friction material failure.
In order to overcome these problems, various solutions have been introduced. For example, some designs have fluid holes drilled through the inner hub to allow a small percentage of the oil to centrifugally pass directly into the clutch plates. In this scenario, a majority of the oil is expelled out the large opening due to the design aspect and the lofted interior surfaces created for the mold/production and part ejection process during manufacturing. In many other applications, the clutch assembly actually sits in an oil bath or is sprayed from a port or ports to the outer surface of the clutch assembly. As elevated rpm is introduced, the clutch assembly cuts through the oil creating parasitic friction loss, foaming, and lubrication is centrifugally thrown off.
As such, there is a need for a system to continuously oil and cool a wet clutch system at all engagement or modulation rpm ranges with a limited amount of lubricant volume. There is a need for such a system that allows for every friction plate to be sufficiently lubricated, while also minimizing system drag, parasitic friction loss, foaming, and other undesirable effects from the use of excess lubricant.

Low loss direct point wet clutch fluid wall system


A recombinant adenoviral vector encoding the human tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) gene is disclosed which is useful for transduction of vascular smooth muscle cells at a selected blood vessel site to provide local vascular expression of TFPI. A method of using the transduced hTFPI cDNA as an in vivo antithrombotic agent to provide localized production of hTFPI for protecting an at-risk site against thrombus deposition is also disclosed. Gene therapy using the new TFPI expression vector is also expected to deter the development of chronic vascular stenosis in blood vessels (arteries, veins, arteriovenous shunts, and endovascular grafts) and deterring intimal hyperplasia.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to agents that effect vasoprotection in mammals. More particularly, the invention pertains to anti-thrombotic agents that are adapted for localized rather than systemic administration. Still more particularly, the invention relates to recombinant adenovirus vectors containing a DNA sequence encoding a human tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) gene and to methods of making and using such vectors to effect local expression of TFPI in vascular smooth muscle cells at a specific blood vessel site.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pharmacological anticoagulation therapies are widely employed to deter thrombus formation in injured or atherosclerotic arteries. These therapeutic approaches typically employ physiological inhibitors of thrombin and require systemic administration of multiple drugs. However, the presence of anticoagulants in the circulating (systemic) blood is generally associated with increased bleeding risk. For instance, in clinical trials studying heparin and the thrombin inhibitor desirudin, most patients with acute coronary syndromes who developed intracranial bleeds had received aspirin, heparin or desirudin, and a thrombolytic agent (1-3). Those trials indicated that systemic blockade of multiple platelet/coagulation pathways is not without risk. Similarly, it is known that high doses of heparin are poorly tolerated in conjunction with potent platelet inhibition with c7E3 Fab (ReoPro) (4).
Short Term Local Administration of Antithrombotics
Since most conventional methods aimed at deterring thrombosis deposition act systemically and typically cause bleeding, some recent research efforts have focused on determining the feasibility of local anticoagulant treatment of predetermined "at risk" arterial sites, as opposed to treating the entire circulatory system. Local delivery of anticoagulant drugs has been attempted.
For example, the isolation of a portion of a vessel with a pair of angioplasty balloons and instillation of hirudin or heparin has been reported (4a). However, these methods are limited by uncertain drug delivery (given the systemic escape) and the short persistence of the antithrombotic drug in the vessel wall, given the diffusion gradient towards the vessel lumen. However, even in these localized treatments, no locally delivered antithrombotic drug has been reported to be present at the target site 48 hours after delivery. Points within the human circulatory system that are subject to injury, inflammation or atherosclerosis are especially likely targets for the local application of therapeutic anticoagulant agents, and include such specific sites as those subjected to angioplasty, stent or graft placement, or arteriovenous shunt.
For the purposes of this disclosure, "local" treatment, as distinguished from "systemic" treatment, means that a specific region, site or area within the blood circulatory system (especially a blood vessel) is the focus or target of the treatment and therefore receives the significant part of the treating agent, while the rest of the vessel and/or the circulatory system receive none or only an insignificant exposure to the treating agent. Short-term administration of antithrombins does little to passivate the injured artery, and allows thrombin generation to relentlessly proceed. In prior studies, for instance, it was found that short-term administration of the direct antithrombins failed to reduce restenosis rates after percutaneous coronary balloon angioplasty (5,6). This may be explained in part by experimental and clinical evidence suggesting that the thrombin inhibitors are not capable of inhibiting thrombin generation in the course of arterial thrombosis or in systemic procoagulant states (7,8). Furthermore, after withdrawal of short-term thrombin inhibitor therapy at 3-5 days, thrombin activity soon recurs (9,10).
Similar conclusions can be drawn from trials of short-term administration of synthetic inhibitors of GP IIb/IIIa integrin receptor (11). The administration of platelet IIb/IIIa integrin receptor blocker, c7E3 Fab (ReoPro), was effective in reducing early ischemic events in an early trial (12) and reduced the need for recurrent revascularization at 6-months. However, this was associated with increased bleeding at the time of the initial intervention (4). In a later trial, however, ReoPro failed to reduce the need for repeated revascularization at 6 months (13).
In summary, while effective during their administration, systemically given antithrombotic drugs are associated with increased hemorrhagic risk and require hospitalization associated with high cost, inconvenience, and additional risk of (hospital-acquired) infection; and, finally, do not passivate the thrombogenic lesion after the drug infusion is stopped (typically 3-5 days).
Anti-thrombotic Gene Therapy
Recent trials of systemic antithrombins to prevent restenosis after percutaneous revascularization suggest that there may be advantages to local antithrombotic gene therapy, which conventional drug therapy cannot presently match (5,6). Gene therapy potentially ensures the continuous in situ production of the foreign antithrombotic protein. Lee et al., in 1993, demonstrated that a replication-defective recombinant adenovirus can serve as an efficient vector for direct in vivo arterial gene transfer (14). Zoldhelyi et al. have previously described the adenovirus-mediated transfer of the cyclooxygenase gene (Ad.COX-1) as a localized anti-thrombotic agent (15). Cyclooxygenase is the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of prostacyclin, an important vasoprotective molecule that inhibits platelet aggregation and vasoconstriction. Delivery of recombinant adenovirus to the artery at the doses used in the Ad.COX-1 study was associated with only minimal inflammation (15). Ad.COX-1 is a reasonable antithrombotic agent but has no direct influence on the thrombin-coagulation pathway involved in fibrin formation and smooth muscle cell proliferation contributing to restenosis after percutaneous balloon angioplasty. Also, platelet aggregation plays little role in venous thrombosis where thrombin inhibition is a highly effective approach (16).
Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor
Another approach to blockading platelet/coagulation pathways involves inhibiting thrombin activation via the tissue factor metabolic pathway. Tissue factor (TF), the cellular initiator of blood coagulation, is a transmembrane protein receptor exposed after vessel injury or after cytokine activation of endothelial cells and monocytes. Blood coagulation in the extrinsic pathway begins when the serine protease, activated factor VII (factor VIIa), which binds to its cofactor, TF, and the factor VIIa/TF enzyme complex activates by limited proteolysis of coagulation factors X and IX (17-19). On the membranes of activated platelets and endothelium, factor Xa then binds to factor Va, forming the prothrombinase complex, which in the presence of Ca.sup.2+ proteolytically converts prothrombin to thrombin (20). Factor IXa, also activated by the factor VIIa/TF complex, combines with factor VIIIa to activate in a second (intrinsic) pathway factor X. Thus, TF plays an initiating role for both the extrinsic and intrinsic pathway of thrombin generation (21).
Thrombin, the final product of the converging coagulation pathways, activates platelets and converts fibrinogen to fibrin, thereby stimulating formation of the fibrin-platelet clot. Thrombin not only activates platelets, converts fibrinogen to fibrin, and via factor XIII activation, stabilizes the fibrin clot, but also positively feeds back on its generation by activating platelets, factors V, VIII and XI (22-24). In addition, thrombin promotes release of P-selectin from storage granules of platelets and endothelial cells, contributing to platelet-leukocyte interaction and leukocyte rolling and migration into the vessel wall (25). Thrombin-activation of platelets promotes exposure of the platelet IIb/IIIb integrin receptor (26). Activation of this receptor mediates platelet-platelet and platelet-vessel wall interactions and, by recruiting additional platelets, thrombin allows for its generation to be further amplified.
Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) inhibits thrombin generation at several steps. TFPI inhibits factor VIIa/TF, thereby initiating thrombin generation after vascular injury or cell activation by cytokines, and also inhibits the factor Xa/prothrombinase complex, thereby interrupting thrombin generation at its major amplification step (27,28).
The mature TFPI is composed of 276 amino acids and contains three tandem Kunitz-type protease inhibitory domains, in addition to an acidic amino-terminal and a basic carboxy-terminal region (27-29). End-linked glycosylation occurs at one or more of three potential sites, but the role of this and other post-translational modifications is not yet known (27,30).
Initially, the second Kunitz-type domain interacts with factor Xa, by binding with 1:1 stoichiometry at or near the factor Xa active serine site. This TFPI/factor Xa interaction, then, promotes efficient binding of the first Kunitz-type domain to the factor VIIa/TF complex, resulting in a quaternary factor Xa/TFPI/factor VIIa/TF complex (27,28,31 ). The basic carboxy-terminal region of TFPI also contributes to high-affinity binding of factor Xa (32,33). While the inhibition of factor VIIa/TF by physiological concentrations of TFPI is dependent on initial binding to factor Xa, TFPI at 50-fold greater concentration can inhibit factor VIIa/TF in the absence of factor Xa. The function of the third Kunitz-type domain of TFPI is not clear and its deletion has no significant effect on factor Xa or factor VIIa/TF inhibition (27,28).
The concentration of TFPI in the plasma is about 2 nM, or 68-82 ng/mL (the apparent molecular weight of TFPI in plasma ranging from 34-41 kD) (27,28). Over 90% of circulating TFPI is bound to the lipoproteins, LDL, HDL, and Lp(a). Platelets contain about 10% of TFPI in 1-5 the circulating blood and release TFPI upon aggregation initiated by thrombin and other agonists (34). Plasma TFPI concentrations increase 2 to 4-fold after infusion of heparin, presumably by displacement of TFPI from heparin sulfate or other glycosaminoglycans on the surface of endothelial cells (35,36). TFPI associated with the endothelium may be important in local regulation of coagulation and its release by heparin may contribute to systemic anticoagulation (37). Conversely, heparin (in the presence of calcium) enhances the inhibition of factor Xa by full-length and carboxy-terminus truncated TFPI (28).
The tissue distribution of TFPI has not been fully elucidated (38). By immunohistochemistry, TFPI was detected in one study in megakaryocytes and microvascular endothelium but not in the endothelium of large and medium-sized vessels (39). Others recently reported the presence of endothelial TFPI in normal and atherosclerotic arteries but detected no TFPI in the smooth muscle cells of the medial layer (40). The inventors were also unable to detect TFPI in the conditioned medium of cultured human VSMC (See discussion in "Examples" infra.)
Mice with inactivated TFPI gene are subject to intrauterine lethality as a result of bleeding due to disseminated intravascular coagulation (41). Therefore TFPI likely plays an indispensable role among the endogenous antithrombotic molecules. However, physiological concentrations of TFPI do not completely inhibit thrombin generation. After prothrombotic stimuli (such as gram-negative sepsis) activate the factor VIIa/TF complex, disseminated intravascular coagulation can occur, consistent with the ability of physiological TFPI levels to inhibit factor VIIa/TF-initiated thrombin generation only after some factor X activation and prothrombinase complex formation have occurred (28). In contrast, pharmacological concentrations of TFPI inhibit the TF/factor VIIa complex in Xa-independent fashion and were reported to prevent disseminated intravascular coagulation after gram-negative bacterial sepsis (42,43) and thrombus formation after vascular injury (44-46). Experimentally, systemic administration of TFPI accelerates pharmacological lysis of arterial thrombi (47,48) and attenuated neointima formation after percutaneous balloon angioplasty (49,50).
Expression of tissue factor is tightly regulated (17,18) because TF is the common membrane receptor involved in blood vessel formation (62), hemostasis, and thrombosis at sites of vessel injury, inflammation and atherosclerosis. In healthy vessels, TF is mainly present in the adventitial layer (51). In contrast, in atherosclerosis, TF is expressed in the medial smooth muscle cell layer and the intimal plaque as well (52). TF is also upregulated acutely by shear stress (53), oxygen-free radicals generated during post-ischemic reperfusion (54), balloon injury (55) and, in vitro, by lipopolysaccharide, phorbol ester, interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor, and other cytokines (17,18,56-61). The increased TF burden in the atherosclerotic vessel wall not only heightens the thrombotic risk, but also contributes to other problems. Factor Xa and thrombin, activated in TF-initiated pathways, are potent mitogens for vascular smooth muscle cells (63-65) and thereby may promote formation of the fibrous cap and restenosis after arterial revascularization interventions. TF may also directly contribute to neointimal smooth muscle cell accumulation through chemotactic effects (66). Thrombin activates matrix metalloproteinases involved in intimal smooth muscle cell accumulation and plaque rupture (67,68) and, through P-selectin release (25) may promote accumulation of inflammatory cells contributing more TF to the atherosclerotic plaque. Thus, TF initiates pathways, which lead to atherosclerotic plaque instability, rupture, thrombosis and exuberant proliferative "repair" and may promote thrombosis, inflammation, and intimal proliferation after percutaneous revascularization interventions as well.
None of the known anti-thrombotic methods employ gene therapy to achieve local expression of an anti-thrombotic agent specifically targeting the tissue factor pathway of thrombin generation. What is needed is an alternative or superior anti-thrombotic agent that can provide its therapeutic effects without incurring hemorrhagic risk. It is also desirable to have such an agent that can provide vessel site-specific anti-thrombotic activity and deter or prevent restenosis after balloon-injury. A method employing such an agent should be able to provide long-term therapeutic effects without increasing hemorrhagic risk, and without the need for co-administering multiple drugs.

Vasoprotective recombinant adenovirus vector containing a human TFPI gene


A transmitter or a method for transmitting data from a first antenna imposes a low level phase modulation, for example of less than 90°, on a carrier signal in accordance with a data signal to create a modulated signal, preferably having a carrier frequency and sidebands, and the sidebands may be substantially lower in amplitude than the carrier frequency. The method may be used in an identification system, for example for identifying luggage or other items. In another aspect of an apparatus or method for transmitting data, a phase modulation may be imposed on a carrier signal in accordance with a data signal to create a modulated signal having a carrier and sidebands, where the amount of phase modulation being selected is such that the amplitude of the sidebands is substantially lower than that of the carrier. Phase modulation may be imposed by a mixer.

Hitherto, high speed data has been transmitted to RFID transponders by modulation of the excitation field. Generally pulse position modulation with 100% depth amplitude modulation of the excitation field is used. The excitation field is turned off for short intervals which are detected by the transponder's processing circuitry. To achieve high data rates while maintaining the transmission of power the intervals must be short and the duty cycle low. Typically a duty cycle of 10% is used and the intervals are 1 μs long and the average time between intervals is 10 μs. Short intervals such as these have a wide bandwidth. Accordingly, both the interrogator and the transponder require low Q factor, wide bandwidth antennae to transmit and receive the data. Low Q factor antennae are not energy efficient and, as such, the interrogator antenna will consume more power than a high Q factor antenna. Moreover, for passive transponders a stronger excitation field is required to compensate for the less efficient antenna.
Additionally, regulations governing the magnitude of electromagnetic emissions place upper limits on the strength of excitation fields that can be used and the allowable bandwidth of an excitation field. The wide bandwidth of the prior art pulse, modulation data results in limitations being placed on the maximum excitation field strength.

Transmitter and a method for transmitting data


A fuel pump has a pump housing, and a rotor rotatable in the pump housing and having an outer surface. The housing has an inner wall which faces the rotor and forms with the outer surface of the rotor a narrow gap. The inner wall is provided with a plurality of depressions which are independent from one another and form a sealing region.

The present invention relates generally to fuel pumps.
More particularly, it relates to a fuel pump which has a pump housing and an impeller movable in the pump housing.
Fuel pumps of the above-mentioned general type are known in the art. Fuel pumps serve, for example, for supplying fuel to a gasifier in Otto motors and injection pumps of diesel motors. It is therefore conventional to form the fuel pump as a turbine pump since the fuel must be supplied under pressure because otherwise the filling of the pump cylinder is not guaranteed. The construction of the seals in turbo machines has the purpose of producing narrow gaps with a maximum possible throughflow resistance. The high speed of these machines prohibits surface contact between the housing and the rotor. It is also necessary to provide gaps through which a certain quantity of the fluid to be supplied can flow. The gaps, however, must be formed so that the quantity is as small as possible. The losses through the seals are therefore decisive for the possibility to use such a turbine pump.


The present disclosure provides a display panel and a pressure sensing method for the same, which belongs to the field of pressure sensing technology for display panel, and can solve the problem that the existing pressure sensing technology for the display panel needs to change the overall structure of the display device and has poor accuracy. The display panel includes a first substrate and a second substrate, which are opposed to each other; a constant voltage electrode, which is applied with a constant voltage, and disposed on one of the first substrate and the second substrate; and a pressure sensing electrode, which is disposed to be opposite to the constant voltage electrode, configured to sense a pressure applied on the display panel in accordance with a distance thereof from the constant voltage electrode, and disposed on the other one of the first substrate and the second substrate.

With the development of the technology, it is desired that not only a display panel (such as a liquid crystal display panel) can realize a touch function, but also a pressure (force touch) applied thereto can be sensed, such that a user can apply different pressures to the display panel for different operations, making the operation more convenient and improving the user experience.
The existing display panel is generally provided in a display device such as a mobile phone, and the display device further includes a frame, a backlight, and the like. However, the existing structure for sensing a pressure applied on the display panel is generally provided in a frame (such as a middle frame), a backlight, etc., to detect the pressure applied on the display panel as a whole or a displacement caused by the pressure.
However, the above design requires a change in the overall structure of the display device, which has a large influence on the original design and is difficult to be achieved. There is inevitably a certain assembling tolerance when mounting the display panel into the display device, which may affect the result of the pressure detection and limit the accuracy of the detection.

Display panel and pressure sensing method for the same

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A bicycle pedal for attaching to a crank arm having a pedal shaft including an attachment portion formed at one end thereof and attached to the crank arm, the pedal shaft defining a small diameter portion formed adjacent the other end thereof and having a smaller diameter than the attachment portion, and a first and a second ball bearings arranged in a region of the small diameter portion and spaced apart from each other axially of the pedal shaft. A needle bearing is disposed adjacent the ball bearings, and a pedal body is rotatably supported on the small diameter portion through the first and second ball bearings and the needle bearing. The pedal body defines at least one tread on a surface thereof. The needle bearing may be disposed between the first ball bearing and second ball bearing, or may be disposed closer than the first and second ball bearings to the crank arm or closer than the first and second ball bearings to an extreme end of the pedal shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bicycle pedal having a pedal body rotatably supported through bearings on a pedal shaft attached to a crank arm.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known example of bicycle pedals as noted above is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1990-44630. In the known construction, the pedal shaft includes a distal portion having a smaller diameter than a proximal portion attached to the crank arm. A pair of ball bearings are mounted between the pedal body and the small diameter distal portion of the pedal shaft.
In the prior construction, since the pedal shaft is supported in a cantilever mode, the proximal portion of the pedal shaft is formed to have a large diameter to secure sufficient strength against a strong bending moment. The distal portion of the pedal shaft is free from a strong bending moment, and may therefore have a small diameter for accommodating the pair of ball bearings axially spaced from each other. With the pedal body supported through the ball bearings mounted on the small diameter portion, the prior construction avoids the pedal having an excessive thickness as a whole.
According to this prior construction, the pedal body is rotatably supported through only the pair of ball bearings. The pedal body, which is trodden directly by the cyclist's foot, and the pedal shaft are in point contact with the bearing balls. Consequently, the load of the treading force concentrates on positions of the point contact. Such positions tend to wear quickly, to impair durability of the pedal construction. The wear may result in displacement of the balls axially of the pedal shaft, whereby chattering occurs between the pedal shaft and pedal body to obstruct a smooth pedaling action.


A blow molded container including (A) a layer containing an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer as a principal component, in which the layer (A) contains an unsaturated aldehyde, and the content of the unsaturated aldehyde in the layer (A) is 0.01 ppm or more and 100 ppm or less. The unsaturated aldehyde (II) is preferably an unsaturated aliphatic aldehyde. The unsaturated aldehyde (II) is preferably at least one selected from the group consisting of crotonaldehyde, 2,4-hexadienal and 2,4,6-octatrienal. The layer (A) preferably contains a conjugated polyene compound, and the content of the conjugated polyene compound in the layer (A) is preferably 0.01 ppm or more and 1,000 ppm or less.

Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers (hereinafter, may be abbreviated as EVOH(s)) are polymeric materials that are superior in barrier properties against gas such as oxygen, oil resistance, antistatic properties, and the like. Therefore, EVOH-containing resin compositions have been widely used as various types of packaging materials, etc., through molding into containers, films, sheets and the like. Particularly, in the field of blow molded containers and the like, multilayer structures have been widely employed which are formed from a layer constituted with the EVOH-containing resin composition, a layer constituted with other thermoplastic resin that is superior in moisture resistance, impact resistance, etc., and the like.
For the blow molded containers, melt molding is generally conducted; however, the melt molding may result in impaired appearance characteristics of molded articles through generation of defects such as gels, seeds (dirt under paint), streaks and the like. In addition, the gels, seeds and the like not only lead to impairment of the appearance of the molded article but also cause deterioration of performance; therefore, suppression of these events is needed.
Furthermore, in the step of manufacturing blow molded containers, an operation of the melt molding apparatus must be stopped once and restarted after a certain time period for a change of the resin, a halt in manufacture on weekends, etc., as well as a replacement operation of the molding die, and the like. In these instances, a small amount of the resin composition remaining in the apparatus may be deteriorated during the steps of elevation and lowering of the temperature of the apparatus, and gelled upon restarting, leading to the occurrence of a disadvantage of causing deterioration of appearance characteristics and qualities such as strength of the molded articles. Therefore, after the restarting of the apparatus, it is necessary to conduct idling for a certain time period to await until such gels and the like disappear and the appearance of the molded articles is reverted to the normal state. In light of the production cost, the time period required for the reverting is preferably short, in other words, a self-purge feature is preferably favorable; however it is impossible to conclude that the self-purge feature of conventional EVOH-containing resin compositions is favorable.
Therefore, as EVOH-containing resin compositions having an improved self-purge feature, (1) a resin composition prepared by adding a polyolefin resin, a carboxylic acid-modified polyolefin resin and an alkaline earth metal salt of a lower fatty acid having 9 or less carbon atoms to an EVOH resin at a specific ratio (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. H5-255554), and (2) an EVOH-containing resin composition containing a carboxylic acid having a specific viscosity and a molecular weight of less than 75, and an alkaline earth metal salt at a specific ratio (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2001-234008) have been known. However, due to containing the alkaline earth metal, these EVOH-containing resin compositions may cause coloring of molded articles, and also the self-purge feature is not satisfactory. Particularly, the aforementioned EVOH-containing resin composition (1) is disadvantageous in leading to deterioration of the hue and impairment of the long-run workability, owing to the addition of the polyolefin resin.
In addition, a production method of EVOH has been known in which crotonaldehyde is coexisted in a polymerization step of ethylene and vinyl acetate (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2007-31725). According to this production method, an adhesion of scales in the interior of a polymerization tank can be suppressed by the coexistence of crotonaldehyde during polymerization. As a result, in regard to films of EVOH produced by this production method, generation of fish eyes resulting from the scales detached and contaminated in the polymer can be reportedly decreased.
However, in the production method, crotonaldehyde added in the polymerization is consumed in the polymerization step and a saponification step, and further washed away with water in a washing step and the like; therefore, crotonaldehyde hardly remains in a finally obtained resin composition containing EVOH since the solubility of crotonaldehyde in water is 18.1 g/100 g at 20° C. (see THE MERCK INDEX 14th 2006). Therefore, effects of the unsaturated aldehyde such as crotonaldehyde on an improvement of thermal stability and/or long-run workability in a secondary processing (melt molding, etc.) of the resultant EVOH has been unknown.

Blow molded container, fuel container, and method for producing blow molded container


An output value of neuron within an objective layer of a hierarchical neural network is computed. The data of the output value of neuron is stored in a memory only if the output value of neuron is greater than or equal to a predetermined value by referring to the computed output value of neuron within the objective layer. When the data of the output value of neuron on a former layer of objective layer is read from the memory, the data having a predetermined value is read, instead of the data of the output value of neuron not stored in the memory.

Conventionally, in the field of image recognition or speech recognition, a recognition processing algorithm specified for a specific recognition object can generally be performed either using computer software or using a dedicated parallel image management processor (SIMD, MIMD machine and so on).
As an example of the latter approach, i.e., a dedicated parallel management processor, a conventional object recognition device has a plurality of image management processor units, in which an arithmetical operation is performed with DSPs (digital signal processors) mounted on those processor units, and a plurality of results are transferred to an additional unit for making the object recognition (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-6793). For example, an image is divided into plural areas, which are processed in parallel by the processor units, and the inference for the recognition of the object is made by the additional processor unit, employing the neural network and fuzzy control.
As hardware which performs hierarchical parallel processing using a neural network, for example, a conventional hierarchical structure neural network has an architecture in which a single layer of hardware is used in time division multiplexing and stratified. In other words, a neural network formed by interconnecting a plurality of neuron models includes,
(i) a single layer unit aggregation means which forms a unit aggregate of single layer by installing a plurality of neuron model units that can output a voltage through a non-linear output function in time division, by generating the product of a time division multiplexed analog signal and digital weight data from an outside source and then adding or integrating the product through a capacitor in time division, (ii) feedback means for feeding back the output of the single layer unit aggregation means to an input part of the same unit aggregate of the single layer, and (iii) control means that controls an analog signal from each unit that is outputted by the single layer unit aggregation means in time division multiplexing and controls the single layer unit aggregation means through the feedback means to be employed in time division multiplexing, whereby the neural network having the hierarchical structure is equivalently formed by using the unit aggregation means having a single layer structure in time division multiplexing (e.g., refer to Japanese patent No. 2679730).
On the other hand, a neural network is a mathematical network that is formed based on an information processing system of the brain. Many methods for recognizing and classifying the pattern in an image using a hierarchical neural network have been recently proposed. For example, there is a neural network of the multi-layer perceptron type in which the learning occurs by error back propagation, as is generally widely known. This neural network of the multi-layer perceptron type prepares a number of units equaling the order of the input vector, as an input layer, and the number of categories to be distinguished, as an output layer, and further prepares a sufficient number of middle layers and units, all the units being connected.
For example, a conventional neural network circuit is a multi-layer neural network circuit that recognizes and processes the feature data of a given image by performing the arithmetic operation of the network, in which it is aimed to construct this circuit with small-scale hardware, and to recognize the recognition object of concern at high speed (e.g., refer to Japanese patent No. 03172278). To this end, the speed-up of the operation is effected by performing the operation only for a network having an effective coupling coefficient.
Moreover, another conventional signal processing device consists of a network which combines a plurality of neuronal cell imitation elements with a learning function, each of which inputs plural signals and outputs one signal, in which signal information deletion means for deleting the redundant or unnecessary information of inputs (or outputs) is provided on each of the input side and the output side of the network (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-83796).
In the image processing requiring an enormous amount of computation as described above, high-speed operation is being realized through parallel processing by special-purpose machines. However, the amount of computation increases as the object to be recognized becomes more complex.
In view of the hardware of the neural network, it is expected that the scale becomes larger to make more complicated processing, considering the number of brain cells of a living body. When the hardware is realized by the conventional method, the number of coupled neurons becomes so enormous that the operation speed of the parallel processing is limited. Also, when the chips mounted on the product are fabricated, it is desired that the size of the circuit and the consumption electric power are made smaller.
In the neural network circuit as disclosed in the above Japanese patent No. 03172278, though the arithmetical operation processing speed is increased by performing the arithmetical operation only for the network of which the coupling coefficient is effective, or not zero, when a noise component is contained in the value of the coupling coefficient, no measurement is taken, whereby the arithmetical operation is finally performed. Moreover, learning of the weight coefficient is not made when the coupling coefficient is 0, because the weight coefficient is updated only for the neurons with a coupling coefficient other than for 0. In other words, universality is expected to be lacking.
Moreover, in the signal processing device as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-83796, though the signal information deletion means for deleting the redundant or unnecessary information from the input or output is provided to make the learning easier, the weight coefficient is not learned for the deleted part, as in Japanese patent No. 03172278.

Information processing method and apparatus, and image pickup device


A new method is provided for applying a soft flexible sugar coating to soft chewing gum pieces which method requires that a sugar coating be applied to fresh soft chewing gum substantially immediately (within 3 hours) after the chewing gum is prepared and without first subjecting such chewing gum to the normal 24 to 48 hour conditioning period. The resulting coating takes the form of a continuous soft flexible protective shell which tightly adheres to the soft chewing gum piece, locks in freshness and imparts a long-shelf life thereto. The chewing gum piece produced by the above method remains soft even after prolonged periods of storage.. The coated chewing gum produced by the above method is also provided.

Candy- or sugar-coated chewing gums are well known in the art. The sugar-based coatings may be applied to chewing gum employing procedures such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,554,767 to Daum et al, 2,304,246 to Ekert, 2,460,698 to Lindhe, 3,208,405 to Beer, and 3,635,735 to Patil.
Generally, prior to coating chewing gum pieces by conventional coating procedures, the chewing gum pieces must be first subjected to a long, time-consuming conditioning or aging period of upwards of 24 to 48 hours or more to be certain that the sugar coating to be applied will uniformly adhere to the chewing gum pieces. A discussion of this problem and the fact that shortening of the aging period is not an acceptable solution is set out in column 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,735 to Patil. Patil's solution is using an accelerated process which includes evaporative cooling of gum mass initially prepared at an elevated temperature by mixing wet saccharides, such as corn syrup or table sugar combined with water with molten gum base centers, at an elevated temperature to coat the gum base centers and vacuum drying the gum centers at various stages of coating.

Method for applying soft flexible sugar coating to fresh chewing gum and coated chewing gum product


An interpenetrating gel and a method of forming an interpenetrating gel which undergoes a significantly large volume change in response to a physical or chemical stimululs is disclosed.

Gels can exhibit phase transition, or significantly large volume change, in response to variation of the surrounding conditions. For example, the fluids supporting a gel can be modified to cause a significantly large contraction or expansion of a gel such as by changing the pH, solvent composition, relative concentration of solvents, solvent temperature, or the ion concentration of the fluid.
However, phase transition of gels generally has been dependent upon generating an interaction between a gel polymer network, comprising a single polymer and a phase-transition-modifying agent, or upon intramolecular interactions between like-strands of the polymer network. Also, phase transition caused by changes in fluid temperature have heretofore been limited to significantly large contraction during an increase in temperature and, conversely, a significantly large expansion during a decrease in temperature.

Interpenetrating-polymer network phase-transition gels


The present application disclosed a decision feedback equalization processing device and method. The device comprises: a channel estimator for receiving an input signal, and determining, based on the input signal, an input signal autocorrelation matrix Ryy, an input-output signal cross-correlation matrix Ryx and an input-output signal cross-correlation vector ryx; a tap coefficient calculator for receiving Ryy, Ryx and ryx, and calculating a feed-forward equalizer (FFE) tap coefficient vector g and a feedback equalizer (FBE) tap coefficient vector f, wherein at least one of the FFE tap coefficient vector g and the FBE tap coefficient vector f is calculated using a conjugate gradient descent algorithm. The tap coefficient calculator comprises: a circulant matrix construction unit and a fast Fourier transformation (FFT) calculating unit. And the device further comprises a decision feedback equalizer for receiving from the tap coefficient calculator the FFE tap coefficient vector g and the FBE tap coefficient vector f, and performing equalization on the input signal and generating an equalized output signal.

In high-speed digital communication, time-varying property and multi-path delays of wireless channels may cause severe inter symbol interferences (ISI). The ISI may lead to pulse broadening, rendering unstable voltage amplitudes of signals, increased bit error rates and so on. These are key factors that limit the improvement of signal speeds. A method to overcome the ISI is using equalization technologies in receivers. However, the conventional equalization technologies do not perform well and are complicated in computation.
Therefore, it is desired to provide an efficient channel equalization processing method.

Decision feedback equalization processing device and method

MONTAGE LZ SEMICONDUCTOR (SHANGHAI) CO., Ltd.


Diagnosis of defect(s) in a system is disclosed. A defect signature-based query is performed against system diagnostic data stored in one or more structured records. It is determined that a defect signature is associated with a system based at least in part on the query. Remediation information generated based at least in part on the defect signature and the system diagnostic data may be output.

Technical support personnel typically spend a great deal of time manually reviewing system data to diagnose and resolve problems associated with a system. For example, a support engineer may receive a call from a customer regarding a defect in the customer's system. Often based on rough description of a defect from the customer, technical support personnel must manually search through system diagnostic data to identify defect symptoms. This process of manually searching through diagnostic data may be inefficient and costly for a technical support department.

Automated defect diagnosis from machine diagnostic data


An operational amplifier input stage includes two transistors coupled as a differential amplifier to receive input signals. At least one transistor is stacked in a load circuit of each input transistor for the purpose of lowering the voltage across each transistor. In order to eliminate the effects of error currents resulting from conventional resistor self biasing of the stacked transistors, two nodes, to which the input transistors are coupled, are identified. According to a first embodiment, feedback circuits are coupled to each node and each feedback circuit maintains the coupled node at a voltage level established by the feedback apparatus of the operational amplifier. According to a second embodiment, a single feedback circuit controls the voltage at a first node and the same feedback circuit maintains the voltage level of a second node at a constant level. Either feedback circuit eliminates circuit drift and offset voltage changes resulting from changes in common mode and/or power supply voltages by eliminating the effects of resistive loading on the input stage components.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the electronic circuits and, more particularly, to circuits that can be used as an input stage for an operational amplifier. The input stage to which present invention has application includes components coupled in series to increase the voltage rating of the stage. A feedback circuit and method are described which eliminates error currents in the differential stage, currents which would adversely affect the drift and the offset voltages as the power supply or the common mode voltage changes after the input stage has been calibrated for the initial conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring now to FIG. 1, an input stage, according to the prior art, having components coupled in series in a cascode configuration. The negative terminal of a power supply T1, which is shown coupled to the ground potential, is coupled to a first terminal of resistor R11 and to a first terminal of resistor R13. The second terminal of resistor R11 is coupled to a gate terminal of an enhancement mode MOSFET transistor Q12 and to a first terminal of resistor R12. The second terminal of resistor R12 is coupled to a first terminal of resistor R14 and to a drain terminal of transistor Q12. A second terminal of resistor R13 is coupled to a source terminal of an enhancement mode MOSFET transistor Q13. A drain terminal of transistor Q13 is coupled to a source terminal of transistor Q12. A second terminal of resistor R14 is coupled to a positive terminal T2 of a power supply. The SIGNAL IN for the stag is applied between the common terminal and a gate terminal of transistor Q13. The SIGNAL OUT V.sub.0 is supplied between ground potential and the first terminal of resistor R14.
The circuit shown in FIG. 1 includes two (transistor) components, Q12 and Q13, coupled in series. However, any number of (transistor) components can be coupled in series using similar techniques. In addition, the common terminal, shown as being coupled to the ground potential, can be decoupled from the ground potential and be permitted to float electrically. The resistors R11 and R12 provide biasing for the transistors with the result that approximately one half of the supply voltage is applied across each resistor.
When an input signal applied to the input stage is changed, the voltage across transistors Q12 and Q13 will vary. The variation in the voltage across the two transistors Q12 and Q13 will result in variation in the current through resistors R11 and R12. The total stage current changes thereby and is dependent of the SIGNAL IN.
Referring next to FIG. 2, a simplified circuit diagram of a operational amplifier input stage wherein protection of the differential amplifier from excessive voltage is required. A negative voltage terminal T1 of a voltage supply is coupled to a first terminal of resistor 27, and a first terminal of resistor R26 and a negative terminal of V21. A second terminal of resistor R27 is coupled to source terminal of an enhanced mode metal oxide semiconductor field effect (MOSFET) transistor Q20. The positive terminal of power supply V21 is coupled to a gate of transistor Q20. A drain terminal of transistor Q20 is coupled to the source of enhanced mode MOSFET transistor Q29. A second terminal of resistor R26 is coupled to a first terminal of resistor R25 and a gate terminal of transistor Q29. A second terminal of resistor R25 is coupled to a source terminal of field effect (FET) transistor Q27, a drain terminal of transistor Q29, a first terminal of resistor R28, and a source terminal of FET transistor Q28. A drain terminal of transistor Q27 is coupled to a first terminal of resistor R22 and to a source terminal of enhanced mode MOSFET transistor Q24. A drain terminal of transistor Q28 is coupled to a source terminal of enhanced mode MOSFET transistor Q26 and to a first terminal of resistor R24. A second terminal of resistor R28 is coupled to a gate terminal of transistor Q24, a gate terminal of transistor Q26 and a first terminal of current source I22. A second terminal of resistor R22 is coupled to a gate terminal of enhanced mode MOSFET transistor Q23 and to a first terminal of resistor R21. A drain terminal of transistor Q24 is coupled to a source terminal of Q23. A second terminal of resistor R24 is coupled to a gate terminal of enhanced mode MOSFET transistor Q25 and to a first terminal of resistor R23. A drain terminal of transistor Q25 is coupled to a second terminal of resistor R23 and to a collector terminal of pnp transistor Q22. The drain of transistor Q23 is coupled to a second terminal of resistor R21, to a collector terminal of pnp transistor Q21, to a base terminal of transistor Q21, and to a base terminal of transistor Q22. The positive voltage terminal T2 of the network power supply is coupled to an emitter terminal of transistor Q21, to an emitter terminal of transistor Q22, and to a second terminal of current source I22. Input signals are applied to a gate terminal of transistor Q27 and to a gate terminal of transistor Q28. The output signal is obtained from the collector terminal of transistor Q22.
As will be clear to those skilled in the art, the stage current dependent on the SIGNAL IN in FIG. 1 can be reduced by increasing the resistor values R11 and R12 to arbitrarily high values. The higher the value of the resistors, the smaller the stage current dependence on the SIGNAL IN. However, the response of the circuit is compromised by this approach. The gate capacitance of transistor Q12 must be charged and discharged through the bias setting resistors, which because of the high values of resistance, limit the dynamic response. A sufficiently fast step alteration in the input signal can induce an unequal voltage distribution in the input circuit which can result in the destruction of the transistors. The present operational amplifier input circuit permits the values of resistance for the bias setting resistors to be sufficiently low to avoid damage to the transistors during dynamic operation while minimizing the variations in stage current.
In the operation of FIG. 2, the circuit prevents excessive voltage from being generated across the differential amplifier. The current through current source I22 established a constant and low voltage across transistors Q27 and Q28. The remaining supply voltage is distributed across the transistor pair Q23 and Q24, the transistor pair Q25 and Q26, and the transistor pair Q29 and Q20. With a zero common mode voltage, the gate terminal of transistor Q28 and the gate terminal Q27 are coupled to ground terminal (i.e., the applied voltage equals zero volts). With the zero common mode voltage, approximately one half of the supply voltage will be developed across the transistor pair Q23 and Q24 in the portion of the circuit coupled in series with transistor Q27 and approximately one half the supply voltage will be developed across the transistor pair Q25 and Q26 in the portion of the circuit coupled in series with the transistor Q28. The remaining half of the supply voltage will be developed across the transistor pair Q29 and Q20. One quarter of the supply voltage will be developed across each transistor of the transistor pairs. As the common mode voltage varies, the voltage developed across each transistor of the transistor pairs will vary. As in the circuit of FIG. 1, the current in the resistance divider networks will change, the change being reflected in the current through the differential amplifier (i.e., transistors Q27 and Q28). Whenever the current through the differential amplifier changes, the offset voltage and the drift characteristics of the input stage will change.
A need has been an input amplifier stage providing an extended input signal to an operational amplifier for which the offset voltage and the drift characteristics will be minimized for changes in the input common mode voltage and power supply voltage.

Apparatus and method for an input stage of an operational amplifier


A reinforcing metal blank may be used to form metal matrix composite (MMC) drill bits. For example, an MMC drill bit may include a shank attached to a reinforcing metal blank that extends into a bit body comprising a metal matrix composite, wherein the reinforcing metal blank comprises reinforcing structures that are positioned along at least a portion of an inner surface and/or at least a portion of an outer surface of the reinforcing metal blank and extend into the metal matrix composite; and a plurality of cutting elements coupled to an exterior portion of the bit body.

A wide variety of tools are used in the oil and gas industry for forming wellbores, in completing drilled wellbores, and in producing hydrocarbons such as oil and gas from completed wells. Examples of these tools include cutting tools, such as drill bits, reamers, stabilizers, and coring bits; drilling tools, such as rotary steerable devices and mud motors; and other tools, such as window mills, tool joints, and other wear-prone tools. These tools, and several other types of tools outside the realm of the oil and gas industry, are often formed as metal matrix composites (MMCs).
Cutting tools, in particular, are frequently used to drill oil and gas wells, geothermal wells, and water wells. For example, fixed cutter MMC drill bits may be formed with a composite bit body (sometimes referred to in the industry as a matrix bit body), having cutting elements or inserts disposed at select locations about the exterior of the matrix bit body. During drilling, these cutting elements engage the subterranean formation and remove adjacent portions thereof.

Metal matrix composite drill bits with reinforcing metal blanks