Methods and systems are provided for regenerating a NOx storage catalytic converter of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine comprising selectively switchable cylinders. During permissible engine operating conditions, the switchable cylinders may be deactivated in order to regenerate the NOx storage catalytic converter using the rich exhaust from the active cylinders blended with un-combusted gas from the deactivated cylinders.

Various approaches are provided for regenerating a NOx storage catalytic converter for an internal combustion engine. One example approach, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,752 B2, comprises cylinder deactivation. The activated cylinder is operated here with a rich fuel-air mixture to achieve an enriched or rich exhaust gas composition for the purposes of the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter. This ensures an increased exhaust gas temperature and also provides sufficient amounts of reaction partners for the oxides of nitrogen bound within the NOx storage catalytic converter.
In another example approach, an engine control system with which a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine can be operated is known from US 2003/0188527 A1. Therein, the inventors show that some of the cylinders can be deactivated, and in certain operating situations the internal combustion engine can be operated with a reduced number of active cylinders. During this time, for the purposes of the regeneration of a NOx storage catalytic converter, operating parameters of the active cylinders are adjusted such that the NOx storage catalytic converter is changed to a state that is suitable for regeneration.
In yet another example approach, an internal combustion engine and an operating method for the internal combustion engine are known from US 2014/0026872 A1, wherein some cylinders of the internal combustion engine can be deactivated as required and the engine continues to be operated during the deactivation with a remaining number of active cylinders. Control of inlet and exhaust valves of the deactivated cylinders is carried out such that the exhaust gas of the active cylinders can flow via a common exhaust manifold in the opposite direction from the outlet side of the deactivated cylinders to the inlet side of the deactivated cylinders. The exhaust gas flowing through the deactivated cylinders in the opposite direction can mix with the fresh gas for the active cylinders in the vicinity of a common inlet box. Exhaust gas recirculation thus actually takes place through the deactivated cylinders.
It is the object of the disclosure to describe a method with which NOx storage catalytic converters of lean burn engines can be efficiently regenerated under everyday operating conditions. For regeneration of a NOx storage catalytic converter of a lean burn engine it is necessary to pass a rich mixture with an excess of unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide to the NOx storage catalytic converter. This should in particular enable efficient regeneration at low loads. Furthermore, the torque output by the internal combustion engine during the transition phase from a lean burn mode to a rich burn mode for the purposes of the regeneration should be able to be operated in a controllable manner. Furthermore, high efficiency of the internal combustion engine should also be achievable during the regeneration phase and for preparation of the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter. Furthermore, a time window necessary for the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter should be able to be kept very short, which makes it necessary for the oxidation reaction for removing the oxides of nitrogen from the NOx storage catalytic converter to be able to proceed as quickly as possible.
The inventors herein have recognized the above issues and identified an approach by which the issues described above may be at least partly addressed. One example method for regenerating a NOx storage catalytic converter of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine comprises deactivating at least one switchable cylinder of the internal combustion engine, maintaining at least one net valve and at least one exhaust valve of a deactivated cylinder partially open, routing a flow of fresh air through the deactivated cylinder, operating at least one active cylinder of the internal combustion engine; and routing a flow of exhaust gas from the active cylinder to the NOx storage catalytic converter, wherein during the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter, a first part of an un-combusted gas emanating from the deactivated cylinder is added to the exhaust gas of the active cylinder, and a second part of the un-combusted gas is cooled via a cooling device and recirculated to the inlet side of the switchable cylinder and/or of the active cylinder.
A method for regenerating a NO storage catalytic converter of a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine comprising cylinder deactivation and comprising at least one cylinder that can be deactivated during the operation of the internal combustion engine comprises passing a flow of exhaust gas from the at least one non-deactivated (active) cylinder through the NOx storage catalytic converter, operating the at least one active cylinder of the internal combustion engine such that regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter can take place. During the period of cylinder deactivation of the at least one cylinder that can be deactivated, at least one inlet valve and at least one exhaust valve of the inactive cylinder are held at least partly open to enable a flow of fresh gas through the inactive cylinder; and a return flow of the un-combusted gas (fresh air) emanating from the inactive cylinders on the exhaust side back to the inlet side of the internal combustion engine. Admixing of at least a first part of the un-combusted gas recirculated to the inlet side of the at least one inactive cylinder and/or of the active cylinder(s) may take place. In addition, at least a second part of the un-combusted gas may be added to the exhaust gas of the at least one active cylinder.
A flow of exhaust gas through the NOx storage catalytic converter is reduced by the part of the un-combusted gas that is recirculated towards the catalytic converter. Owing to said reduction of the volumetric flow/mass flow through the NOx storage catalytic converter, the dwell period of the exhaust gas components of the remaining exhaust gas of the active/combusting cylinders in the NOx storage catalytic converter is extended, so that the redactions taking place in the NOx storage catalytic converter have more time available to proceed. Such a reduced space velocity improves the efficiency of regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter with rich exhaust gas.
Furthermore, there is a reduction in the amount of unburnt gas (un-combusted gas) in the exhaust system that exits the inactive cylinder(s). As a result, the concentration of the exhaust gas components that are necessary for the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter is increased. With higher concentrations of said exhaust gas components, the chemical reactivity also increases, which overall causes an increase in the efficiency of regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter.
Due to a flow of the exhaust gas of the active cylinders through the NOx storage catalytic converter, the temperature of said exhaust gas in the NOx storage catalytic converter is higher, because said volumetric flow/mass flow is not diluted by un-combusted gases from inactive cylinders and thereby cooled. Because of said unwanted cooling by the un-combusted exhaust gases from the inactive cylinders, in the prior art with low loading on the internal combustion engine, the temperature of the exhaust gas flowing through the NOx storage catalytic converter is often too low to cause regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter. With the method according to the disclosure, a sufficiently high exhaust gas temperature is successfully achieved even for low engine loads, so even at low loads on the internal combustion engine, effective regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter is enabled.
Furthermore, with the method according to the disclosure, owing to the cylinder deactivation operation, remaining active cylinders may operate under greater load, which is usually effected with a richer mixture. Because individual cylinders are operated under higher load even at a lower total engine loading, the additional fuel cost to achieve a rich exhaust gas that is required for regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter is reduced. In the prior art, such an additional amount of fuel is usually added into the flow of exhaust gas downstream of the internal combustion engine by means of an additional injection device. This can be dispensed with when using the method according to the invention, or a significantly smaller amount of post-injection fuel can suffice to achieve effective regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter. This increases the overall efficiency of the internal combustion engine.
Furthermore, in the prior art it is often problematic to provide a well-controlled or accurately controllable exhaust gas composition for the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter by means of post-injection. Since post-injection is no longer necessary for adjusting the exhaust gas composition with the method according to the disclosure, or has to be used to a significantly lesser extent, the exhaust gas composition is essentially predetermined by the exhaust gas emanating from the engine (from the active cylinders), it is simpler and more accurate to control and to adjust.
Furthermore, the composition of the rich exhaust gas that is necessary for the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter during the regeneration phase can also be maintained better and in a simpler way with the method according to the disclosure.
A particular advantage of the method according to the disclosure is that, owing to the possibility of the metered addition of at least a part of the un-combusted gas that can be recirculated to the exhaust gas of the at least one active cylinder, the flexibility for adjusting and optimizing the exhaust gas temperature and the volumetric flow through the NOx storage catalytic converter during a regeneration phase of the NOx storage catalytic converter, and its optimization in said time period, are increased.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, at least the second part of the fresh gas emanating from the at least one inactive cylinder is controllably added from a recirculation line to the exhaust gas of the active cylinders upstream of the NOx storage catalytic converter in the direction of flow of the exhaust gas. With the said measure, the NOx storage catalytic converter is successfully provided on the input side with an optimized mixture of exhaust gas from the active cylinders and un-combusted gas exiting the inactive cylinders. Advantageously, such metered addition takes place at a sufficient distance upstream of the NOx storage catalytic converter in order to ensure adequate mixing of the exhaust gases from the active cylinders with the fresh gas emanating from the inactive cylinders.
In a particular embodiment of the method according to the disclosure, the un-combusted gas is controllably added to the exhaust gas of the active cylinders upstream of a turbine of a turbocharger. By this measure it is achieved that both exhaust gas components flow through the turbine of the turbocharger together, so that good mixing is achieved. On the other hand, the controllability of the exhaust gas properties of the exhaust gas composition that finally flows through the NOx storage catalytic converter is easier to influence or control if metered addition of the un-combusted gas already takes place in the "hot" exhaust system upstream of the turbocharger turbine.
In order to be able to provide a sufficiently rich exhaust gas composition for the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter, it is recommended at least during the process according to the disclosure to operate the remaining active cylinders with a rich mixture, in particular with a mixture with air-fuel equivalence ratio (λ)<1.
According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the un-combusted gas recirculated from the inactive cylinders, which is recirculated to the internal combustion engine on the inlet side, is cooled. This can in particular be necessary if for example there are inlet manifolds on the inlet side that cannot withstand the high gas temperatures. Furthermore, the fresh gas fed into the internal combustion engine is prevented from being heated in an unwanted manner.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the disclosure, more cylinders are deactivated with decreasing load or with decreasing revolution rate of the internal combustion engine. The result thereof is that in order to meet the current driver's wishes or the current loading of the internal combustion engine, the remaining active cylinders can be operated with a higher load and hence a richer mixture may be available in the exhaust gas (to be used for NOx storage catalytic converter regeneration).
In a further advantageous embodiment, fresh gas and exhaust gas or un-combusted gas emanating from inactive cylinders are conveyed to the cylinders that can be deactivated and the cylinders that cannot be deactivated separately from each other, at least in part and at least outside of the internal combustion engine. Said separation of the gas flows for example enables the un-combusted gas emanating from the inactive cylinders to be conveyed exclusively to the inactive cylinders on the engine inlet side or optionally, possibly by means of a suitable dosing valve, to also be mixed with the fresh gas for the active cylinders.
Advantageously, the metered addition of the un-combusted gas emanating from the at least one inactive cylinder to the exhaust gas of the active cylinder takes place on the outlet side by means of at least one valve device, for example a branching valve from the recirculation line into the exhaust system.
For example, the metered addition can take place continuously with a predetermined volumetric or mass flow. Nevertheless, the metered addition can also take place by means of a non-controllable valve by clocking the "open" and "closed" valve positions.
Appropriately, the metered addition can be controlled and/or regulated such that operating parameters that are necessary for the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter are held constant or almost constant at least for a period of time that is necessary for the regeneration of the NOx storage catalytic converter. One such operating parameter is for example the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas that is flowing through the NOx storage catalytic converter. Other operating parameters can be the exhaust gas temperature and the volumetric flow/mass flow through the NOx storage catalytic converter.
In order to carry out the above mentioned method for NOx storage catalytic converter regeneration, a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine is comprising at least one cylinder that can be deactivated may be provided, wherein the switchable cylinder that can be deactivated comprises an inlet manifold and an exhaust manifold. The inlet manifold and the exhaust manifold are fluidically connected by means of a recirculation line, wherein at least in the deactivated state (inactive state of the switchable cylinder), the recirculation line can carry a flow of un-combusted gas that is flowing through the switchable cylinder. According to the disclosure, the recirculation line is connected by means of a metering line to an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine in which the NOx storage catalytic converter to be regenerated is disposed.
Appropriately, a valve device is provided, by means of which un-combusted gas emanating from the inactive cylinder(s) can be added to the flow of exhaust gas from the active cylinders in a controlled manner. In this case the valve device can be a continuously adjustable regulating valve, with which an optional component between 0 and 100% of the un-combusted gas emanating from the at least one inactive cylinder can be controllably added to the flow of exhaust gas from the active cylinders upstream of the NOx storage catalytic converter.
In order to provide separation of the gas flows to be conveyed if needed, cylinders that can be deactivated and cylinders that cannot be deactivated each comprise common inlet manifolds and/or exhaust manifolds that are separate from each other.
In order to achieve a further increase in the flexibility of the exhaust gas composition that is provided to the NOx storage catalytic converter, it can be advantageous to associate each switchable cylinder from other switchable cylinders with a recirculation line from the exhaust manifold thereof to the inlet manifold thereof, wherein a valve device is disposed in at least one of the recirculation lines from the switchable cylinders, by means of which metered addition of the fresh gas emanating from the switchable cylinders to the exhaust gas of the active cylinders is possible.
In the case of a plurality of recirculation lines, it can be advantageous to admix different gas flows from the inactive cylinders to the exhaust system or the exhaust gas from the active cylinders by means of separately activated or separately regulated valve devices.
A switching valve may be used to feed the un-combusted gas from the inactive cylinders either into the exhaust system or into the intake system based on the valve position. If necessary, a cooler for cooling the recirculated fresh gas can be provided in the at least one recirculation line.
Furthermore, the device for performing the method appropriately comprises a control system, by means of which the metered addition of the un-combusted gas emanating from the at least one inactive cylinder to the exhaust gas of the active cylinders can be controlled and/or regulated by means of the valve device.


An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit that forms a first image and a second image and transfers the first and second images to a recording medium, the first image including a metallic color image, the second image not including the metallic color image; and a fixing unit that fixes the first image and the second image to the recording medium. The image forming apparatus has a mode in which, when forming the first image on only one of a first surface and a second surface of the recording medium, the image forming unit transfers the first image to the first surface of the recording medium and the fixing unit fixes the first image to the first surface, and subsequently the image forming unit transfers the second image to the second surface of the recording medium and the fixing unit fixes the second image to the second surface.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
(ii) Related Art
A toner including a flat pigment may be used to form an image having a metallic gloss. If flat surfaces of particles of the pigment extend substantially parallel to a surface of a recording medium, the metallic gloss is improved as compared with a case where the flat surfaces do not extend substantially parallel to the surface.
In duplex printing, that is, when forming images on both surfaces of a recording medium, an image that is first formed on a first surface of the recording medium passes through a fixing unit twice, and an image that is subsequently formed on a second surface of the recording medium passes through the fixing unit once. Thus, a binder resin of a toner in the image on the first surface, which passes through the fixing unit twice, becomes softer than that in the image on the second surface, which passes through the fixing unit once. As a result, flat surfaces of a pigment of the image on the first surface becomes closer to parallel to the surface of the recording medium, and the image on the first surface has a higher metallic gloss.


An elongated waterproof enclosure for spliced telephone cables is provided by a two-part molded resinous housing that provides openings for one or more cables at opposite ends. A one piece resilient sealing gasket includes longitudinally slitted tubular gaskets at the ends to snugly receive individual cables side by side. The grommets at each end are formed integrally and connected by flat connecting pieces arranged to be transverse to opposed narrow edges of the mating opposed housing portions. The narrow edges when clamped together pinch and seal the flat pieces. Housing ends conforming to the grommets also have opposed narrow edges which, when clamped together, pinch the grommets and provide a seal. The housing pieces are preferably connected along one side by an integral molded hinge offset from the opposed longitudinal edges to give the seal clearance. At the opposite side of the housing, offset from the edges, are rigid flanges molded integrally with the housing parts. The flanges lie generally parallel to one another when the housing is closed. Urged together by suitable clamping device, the flanges apply pressure to urge the opposed narrow edges together and into the gasket. A preferred clamping device is a channel-like member having cam elements on the opposed inside walls of the channel cooperating with cam elements on the flanges. A tubular port is provided through one of the housing parts and preferably provided with a closure which is piston-like and seals against the sidewalls of the cylindrical tubular port. Structure to draw the piston into the housing is connected between the piston and the housing. As the piston is drawn into the port against the insulating fluid filling the housing parts, the piston imposes pressure on the fluid to fill small spaces within the housing. A thinner part of the housing wall provides a pressure gauge designed to be forced outwardly as a protruding bubble when the pressure is sufficient to fill the voids as desired.

For many years splicing of telephone cables has been a job requiring accuracy and the patience of a skilled technician. Particularly if the splice of the connected cables is to be buried, special precautions need to be taken to make sure that the many electrical connections made within the splice are protected from moisture, dirt and atmosphere which might attack and destroy one or more of the connections. Any such failure can cause problems requiring unearthing the splice, repairing interrupted connections and redoing the splice protection.
In order to minimize problems, prepared splice enclosures have been developed having disk-like end walls which preferably are made of rubber and have holes into which the cables are fit, usually through lateral self-closing slits. Once the splice is completed, it is carefully wrapped and placed within an enclosure extending to and wrapped around the end walls through which the cables pass. Various materials are used to impregnate the splice by pouring insulating fluid or semi-fluid material intended to keep the splice covered and exclude water from the splice enclosure and keep its various connections dry. The splice may be further wrapped if desired, particularly if it is buried. Even though such a splice is done very well by highly skilled people, its life expectancy is very short, and replacement is commonly required within a year or two years.

Housing for telephone splices and the like and method


A subsea system for installing, suspending and removing underwater equipment below the surface of the sea is provided. The subsea system includes a landing base module for landing and positioning underwater equipment thereupon, the landing base module comprising a base member and a first buoyancy system; and a second buoyancy system for affixing to the underwater equipment, the second buoyancy system having sufficient buoyancy to float the underwater equipment toward the surface of the sea when detached from the landing base module, wherein the underwater equipment includes a ballast system structured and arranged to permit the underwater equipment to be lowered onto the landing base module. A method for installing, suspending and removing underwater equipment below the surface of the sea and a kit of parts are also provided.

Oil and gas production is pursuing opportunities in increasingly deeper waters, thus it is desirable to develop solutions that can enable efficient production from deepwater fields. Subsea production and processing systems have been qualified and applied at water depths of up to 2500 meters. However, there are challenges associated with deep water production and processing systems.
For example, deep water production and processing systems should be designed to endure the high pressure of the water columns acting upon them. If the water is too deep, the wall of the equipment may need to be too thick to be manufactured. To address this challenge, the industry has been pursuing compact technologies to reduce the size and wall thickness of the equipment. However, the performance of these compact systems is generally lower when compared to conventional systems and more complicated, which may introduce reliability issues over the long run. Another challenge of greater water depths is the difficulties of system maintenance and intervention. ROVs have limited intervention capability and the whole production and processing system may need to be retrieved for a thorough intervention, which can be cost prohibitive at greater water depths.
As such, there exists a desire to address the aforementioned problems and issues. Therefore, what is desired is a means to apply current qualified production and processing systems and technologies to greater water depths. The systems proposed will, advantageously, also be easier to maintain compared to conventional systems.

Subsea system for the installation, suspension and removal of production and processing equipment


A cryogenic air separation system wherein high pressure oxygen is transition-warmed against both transition-cooling feed air and transition-cooling nitrogen, supplying added reflux for the air separation and enabling column operation at higher pressures without degraded recovery.

The demand for high pressure oxygen gas is increasing due to the greater use of high pressure oxygen in partial oxidation processes such as coal gasification for power generation, hydrogen production, and steelmaking. Often nitrogen is also employed in these processes.
Oxygen gas is produced commercially in large quantities generally by the cryogenic rectification of air. One way of producing the oxygen gas at high pressure is to compress the product oxygen gas from the cryogenic rectification plant. This, however, is costly both in terms of the capital costs for the product oxygen compressor and also in terms of the operating costs to power the product oxygen compressor. Another way of producing high pressure oxygen gas is to operate the cryogenic rectification plant at a higher pressure thus producing the oxygen at a higher initial pressure and reducing or eliminating downstream compression requirements. Unfortunately, operating the cryogenic rectification plant at a higher pressure reduces the efficiency of the production process because component separation depends on the relative volatilities of the components which decrease with increasing pressure. This is particularly the case when high pressure nitrogen product is also desired from the cryogenic rectification plant because the removal of nitrogen from the high pressure distillation column as product reduces the amount of reflux which may be employed thus reducing oxygen recovery.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a cryogenic rectification system which can produce high pressure product gas with improved efficiency over results attainable with conventional systems, particularly if both oxygen and high pressure nitrogen product gas is desired.

Cryogenic rectification system with dual heat pump


A concentric core optical fiber provides for the simultaneous but independent transmission of signals over a single optical fiber. The concentric optical fiber is constructed of a single-mode or multimode inner optical fiber defined by a core and a cladding of a lower index of refraction than the core and an outer optical fiber defined by additional cladding concentrically disposed around the cladding and of an index of refraction lower than the first mentioned cladding whereby the latter functions as the core of the outer optical fiber. By employing such an optical fiber construction with a single-mode inner core or optical fiber, highly sensitive interferometric and stable less sensitive amplitude based sensors can be placed along the same length of a concentric core optical fiber. Also, by employing the concentric core optical fiber secure telecommunications can be achieved via the inner optical fiber since an intrusion of the concentric optical fiber will first cause a variation in the light being transmitted through the outer optical fiber and this variation of light being used to trigger a suitable alarm indicative of the intrusion.

The present invention relates generally to a multiple-core optical fiber arrangement with simultaneous independent single-mode or multimode and multimode transmission capabilities, and more particularly to such an optical fiber with a concentric core construction as provided by an inner single-mode or multimode optical fiber formed of a core encased in a cladding of a lower index or refraction and an outer multimode optical fiber provided by an additional cladding of yet a lower index of refraction concentrically disposed about the casing of the inner optical fiber whereby the cladding of the inner optical fiber functions as the core of the outer multimode optical fiber.
Optical fibers have been successfully utilized in sensor applications for detecting and measuring various physical parameters such as temperature, strain, moisture content, and the like. The optical fibers previously used for the detection and the measurement of such physical parameters were limited to the transmission of sensor signals with either a signal-mode or a multimode propagation. Thus, the multiplexing of various types of sensors such as highly sensitive, interferometric-based sensors with less sensitive, amplitude-based sensors on the same optical fiber has not been possible.
Optical fibers have also been increasingly used in signal transmission applications such as in telecommunications where the light signals are transmitted over long distances by employing single-mode optical fibers over shorter distances by using multimode optical fibers. While the use of single-mode and multimode optical fibers in the telecommunication field are of significance importance, the signals being transmitted through the previously known optical fibers can be surreptitiously extracted so as to compromise the security of the telecommunications.

Concentric core optical fiber with multiple-mode signal transmission


A novel polycrystalline stoichiometric fine SiC fiber substantially free of impurities is produced using a novel pre-ceramic polymer. The pre-ceramic polymer is prepared by reacting a mixture of chlorodisilane, boron trichloride, and a vinyl chlorodisilane with an excess of hexamethyldisilazane to form the pre-ceramic polymer resin, which may then be melt-spun, cured, pyrolyzed and heat-treated to obtain the finished SiC fiber. The manufacturing process for the production of the fine SiC ceramic fiber allows for flexibility with respect to cross-linking, in that low-cost thermal treatments may replace more complex methods, while obtaining fibers with improved materials properties as compared to currently available SiC fibers.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to stoichiometric silicon carbide (SiC) fibers, and methods of making SiC fibers.
2. Description of Related Art
Various processes are known for producing fine SiC fibers, but known processes are subject to certain disadvantages. For example, known processes are limited to producing a SiC ceramic fiber that contains at least one of the impurities boron, oxygen, nitrogen or metal impurities such as aluminum, zirconium or titanium. For further example, known processes produce fibers with undesirably high variability in physical properties, or entail an undesirably high manufacturing cost or complexity. It would be desirable to provide an SiC fiber and process for manufacturing that overcomes these and other disadvantages of the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Stoichiometric silicon carbide fibers from thermo-chemically cured polysilazanes


A closure which is particularly useful to seal a container of material that is used in a process for the manufacture of preforms from which fiber lightguides are drawn includes an annular seal having a tapered opening therethrough. The annular seal is supported in engagement with an outwardly facing surface of a flared neck of a container by a shelf of an annular retainer which is held about the neck by an adjustable clamp which is disposed about the retainer. The neck opens to an external surface of the container which is covered by a stepped cap made of plastic material that is clamped in engagement with a ring seal positioned in a groove formed in the external surface by an outer clamp plate. A smaller diameter portion of the cap is received in a centrally disposed opening of the outer clamp plate which is connected to the retainer by a plurality of circumferentially disposed fasteners. Advantageously, the outer clamp plate, cap and ring seal can be removed from the container to provide access for cleaning, for example, without removing the annular seal, retainer and adjustable clamp.

With the advent of fiber lightguides for use in the communications industry, much emphasis has been placed on vapor disposition as a forming technique for a preform from which lightguides are drawn. In manufacturing preforms from which fiber lightguides may be drawn, vapors of materials such as SiCl.sub.4, GeCl.sub.4 and PoCl.sub.3 must be precisely delivered at controlled mass flow rates to a preform manufacture site where they are reacted and deposited on or in a support. This can be done by passing carrier gases such as oxygen, for example, through a supply of the material in liquid form to the deposition site as a mixture with the vapors entrained in the carrier gas.
In performing this operation, a vaporizer of the type known as a bubbler is ordinarily used. The bubbler generally has a carrier gas intake conduit that terminates with an outlet orifice located below the surface of a liquid material and an outlet conduit extending from the space above the surface of the liquid within the bubbler to the deposition site. Exemplary of deposition systems employing bubblers is that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,560.
Typically, the bubbler is supplied with a liquid that is caused to be transferred from a pressurized container which is made of glass and which is also used for shipping. Each of these containers is made with valved tubes which include a pressure application tube and a dip tube extending through and welded to a top of the container. The top of the container also includes a cleanout port to provide access to the interior of the container for cleaning and filling purposes.
The port in the top of the container could be eliminated and the container filled through one of the tubes which are later valved. However, the capability of cleaning the interior of the container of sediment deposits to permit its reuse instead of the costly alternative of discarding used containers requires the use of the port.
The construction of a container with a port requires that the port be sealed during shipment and during use. The seal must be such that it allows pressurization of the interior of the container during the transfer process. Furthermore, the seal must prevent leakage of the contents during shipment and must prevent the ingress of moisture which would contaminate the contents of the container.
One apparent solution is the construction of the container top to include a threaded port to be fitted with a threaded plug. This arrangement has not proved to be a feasible one since the plug tended to become welded to the material of the container so that the application of turning forces to the plug caused a rupture of the container.
The prior art is replete with patents dealing with closures. One such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,609,453, for example is a typical bottle closure comprising a cap and a carrier with the carrier being lifted to permit the cap to spring open. In recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,425, a sealing ring which is pressed around a skirt that surrounds a bulbous mouth of a container includes an upwardly directed sharp edge that protrudes into the skirt and prevents the ring from sliding along the skirt. The ring in the latter described arrangement is made of a material that will burst or be permanently deformed when the cap is removed from the bottle.
Seemingly the prior art is devoid of a reuseable closure for a container having a bulbous mouth which provides effective sealing of the container from egress of its contents or ingress of contaminants and which is easily removeable from the container to provide access to the interior.


An improved gun design is disclosed which includes a highly effective and accurate hammer rebounding mechanism and a safe and efficient locking mechanism for securing the barrel of a breech load gun to the frame. Particularly, the rebounding mechanism encompasses a torsion spring device which controls the hammer of the pistol to effectuate an automatic hammer rebound after firing. There is also included a procedure to assure proper rotation of the hammer and a procedure to maintain the hammer in its rebounded position when the gun is at rest. The locking mechanism of the present invention increases the ease and speed with which the barrel can be moved into a loading position. Another feature of this locking lever is that if excessive force is applied to the locking lever in an attempt to unlock the barrel from the frame, an accidental discharge from a fully cocked hammer will be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in the construction of guns and in particular to improvements, among others, in a mechanism for effectuating the rebounding of a hammer after firing and a locking mechanism for securing a barrel to the frame of a breech load pistol. These improvements make the pistol more efficient to use and also minimize the threat of accidental discharge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The configuration of many guns in the prior art includes a firing pin extending from either the gun frame or the gun hammer. U.S. Pat. No. 51,440 issued to Elliot on Dec. 12, 1865 (the original Remington derringer patent) discloses a breech load gun having a firing pin connected to and protruding from the hammer. When the barrel of this type of gun is moved into the firing position, there is a danger that the protruding firing pin can contact the ammunition stored within the barrel. Therefore, to prevent accidental discharge, the hammer must be manually returned to its half-cocked position before moving the barrel into the firing position.
A common subject of the prior art is an automatic hammer rebound mechanisms which assure that ammunition cannot be contacted when loading a gun. These mechanisms are frequently connected to the trigger which supports the hammer in its cocked state. When the trigger is pulled, the hammer is released. Forces applied to the hammer by a hammer spring propel the hammer in the direction of the firing pin. Once the hammer encounters the pin and the gun is fired, the rebounding mechanism returns the hammer to a position where it is no longer in contact with the firing pin.
One example of a hammer rebounding device is seen by U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,443 issued to Beretta on Dec. 2, 1986 which includes a tripping mechanism for a four barreled pistol. Included in this tripping mechanism is a method to hold the hammer in a cocked position when the trigger is at rest. Beretta incorporates a disengaging tappet which acts against a lever. This lever then acts against the hammer to force the hammer back to its cocked position. This type of mechanism requires the precise interaction of many elements, each of which must exert pressure on an adjacent element. The successive interaction of these elements increases the likelihood that the rebounding mechanism will fail, as each component must work precisely to supply force on an adjacent component. Therefore, a simple and uncomplicated hammer rebounding means is desired.
The need for an efficient hammer rebounding mechanism is especially necessary in breech load guns where the firing pin protrudes into the barrel. Upon closure of the barrel to the firing position, there is a high risk that a protruding firing pin could ignite live ammunition, thus causing an accidental discharge.
Another topic of the present invention which is also the subject of prior art is a locking mechanism for securing the barrel of a breech load hand gun to a frame. Such breech load guns typically employ a barrel with a breech end pivotally attached to a gun frame. This type of attachment is seen by French Pat. No. 1.128.692 issued to Michler on Jan. 9, 1957 which shows a gun stock and barrel pivotally secured by a screw attachment. Such an attachment allows the barrel to be rotated between the loading and firing positions. When in the firing position, it is of great importance that a secure locking means holds the barrel to the frame. Many different methods are currently used to accomplish this connection. One such means is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,643 issued to Fisher on Mar. 17, 1992 which discloses the use of two longitudinal slots of substantially rectangular cross-sectional shape. One of these slots is cut into the receiver while the other slot is cut into the frame at a location where it will abut the receiver slot. The receiver is then secured into place by the use of a lug which is moved from the slot of the frame to the slot of the receiver.
Another configuration of a barrel locking means is shown in the Elliot patent. This locking mechanism consists of a circular rod transversely mounted in the gun frame. Half of the rod diameter has been cut away allowing the barrel lug to have clearance when the barrel is rotated away from the frame. To unlock the barrel from the frame, the locking lever handle must be rotated approximately 180 degrees.
These types of locking mechanisms often prove inefficient and awkward to use as manufacturing inadequacies or wear frequently result in excess play between the lug and the slots. The result is a loose contact between the barrel and frame. Also, if there is excessive powder build up on the breech of the barrel, the barrel to frame contact may not be flush, but the lug may still be able to inadequately lock the barrel to the frame. Therefore, the gun will still be capable of firing thus creating an extremely dangerous condition.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Gun with improved barrel locking means and rebounding hammer


An affordable tension device for maintaining tension on a wire rope of a cable-based lifting system is provided. The tension device has an elongated casting weight adapted to govern the casting weight as it rides along a predetermined wire rope for maintaining tension thereon. The tension device provides a clevis with a sheave for operatively associating with the tension wire rope.

The present invention relates to a device for maintaining tension on a wire rope and, more particularly, to a tension device for maintaining tension on a wire rope or cable that rides a winch drum.
Cable-based systems adapted to move cargo utilizing winches and/or pulley assemblies are susceptible to slack in the wire rope backlashing on the drum, preventing further pay out of the wire rope off the drum. Backlashing is usually caused by the absence of an overhauling load on the wire rope during some phase of winch operation.
Backlashing is a hazard to equipment during all winch-based systems, and is a serious hazard to personnel during replenishment activities at sea when the wire rope is connected between two ships, as any increase in separation distance between the two ships may result in increased tension on the wire rope.
As can be seen, there is a need for an affordable tension device for maintaining tension on a wire rope of a cable-based lifting system.


A watercraft is described that has a shell with a bottom hull, a top deck, a bow, and a stern. A storage compartment is integrally formed with the top deck of the shell. A seating area is provided above the storage compartment. A first standing zone is formed on the top deck adjacent to the seating area and located toward the bow relative to the seating area. The first standing zone defines a first plane. The first standing zone is not a floor of a well. The seating area is raised relative to the first plane.

Watercraft designers always have faced a range of differing customer needs. Kayak and board designers in particular, typically diverge in many respects.
Kayak manufacturers continue to develop products to suit the needs of their customers. Various segments of customers have widely differing needs and intended uses when looking to purchase a kayak or other watercraft. Whitewater enthusiasts typically prefer a shorter, maneuverable sit-inside kayak. Users in the ocean or other open water typically prefer a longer sit-inside design. Dedicated kayak fisherman, on the other hand, often prefer sit-on-top kayaks designed specifically to store or hold the large assortment of equipment necessary for successful fishing.
Board manufacturers have similarly continued to develop product to suit the needs of their customers. Surf boards, for example, are designed for buoyancy on top of a moving wave. To expand their customer base, board manufactures have increased the width and length of traditional surfboards to produce significant additional buoyancy and stability. These products are often referred to as stand up paddle boards. These stand up paddle boards are designed to support an individual even when stationary on flat water. Compared to surf boards, the added width of stand up paddle boards provide increased stability to allow users to paddle while standing.
The present disclosure provides a watercraft that seeks to further the versatility of watercraft design to encourage even more participants in watersports without having to purchase multiple products.


An apparatus for providing continuous flushing of intravascular catheters. The apparatus consists of a small block having passages which define a continuously open path through which flushing solution is introduced into a catheter. A flow resistor is placed in the continuously open path in order to limit the flushing solution to a desired small amount. At least a portion of the block consists of a resilient sleeve which surrounds the flow resistor. The resilient sleeve provides a by-pass passage around the flow resistor. A disk placed in the by-pass passage cooperates with the resilient sleeve selectively opened to permit relatively large amounts of flushing solution to be introduced into the catheter when desired.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to intravascular catheter systems for monitoring physiological phenomena, for example, blood pressure in various regions of the heart, and in particular the present invention relates to an apparatus for effecting continuous flushing of such intravascular catheter systems.
2. The Prior Art
Catheter cannulation of an artery or a vein for pressure monitoring has long been recognized as an important technique for monitoring conditions in the thoracic cavity both during and after surgery. Such monitoring systems can provide valuable information pertaining to heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, duration of systole, and systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressures.
However, in order to insure a high quality clinical recording of central arterial pulse waveforms, it has been found necessary to continuously flush the catheter to prevent occlusion of the catheter end by clotting blood. In many instances such monitoring systems may be required to operate continuously over a period of several days, and it is thus essential to prevent occlusion of the catheter end by clotted blood.
Various types of continuous catheter flushing systems have theretofore been developed. An example of one type of system is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,733. In this type of system, a saline flushing solution is conducted through a long capillary tube which limits the amount of flushing solution passed through the catheter system to a predetermined small amount. A larger by-pass tube is also provided which may be used to quickly prime the system with the saline solution. A stopcock is provided with this tubing system so as to direct the flushing solution through either the large by-pass tube or through the long, narrow capillary tube.
One disadvantage of this type of system is that it is complicated to set up, requiring several connections to stopcocks and tubing. Moreover, the use of stopcocks in the system results in a decrease of the pressure pulse fidelity because of minute leaks in the stopcocks.
More recently, continuous catheter flushing devices have been devised which eliminate the complicated tubing and use of stopcocks described above. One such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,891. Another prior art device consists of a small unitary piece of apparatus which may be connected directly into the tubing of the catheter system. This type of device is sufficiently light in its weight that it may be suspended by the tubing. An example of one such type of prior art device is illustrated in FIG. 5 below.
However, even with the improved continuous catheter flushing device illustrated in FIG. 5, inaccuracies in the recorded pressure pulses have persisted. One reason for these inaccuracies is that the extremely sensitive pressure monitoring equipment will sense and will reflect any damping of the pressure pulses caused by the continuous catheter flushing apparatus.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved continuous catheter flushing apparatus which incorporates the advantages of small size and efficient operation but which also maximizes the fidelity of the recorded pressure pulses by minimizing the damping effects otherwise created by the continuous catheter flushing device. Such an invention is disclosed and claimed herein.


An information recording apparatus includes recording means for recording a file and filesystem information on a recording medium; filesystem-information generating means for generating the filesystem information for every application software program using the file; and operation control means for controlling the operation of the recording means so as to allocate the filesystem information, generated for every application software program using the file by the filesystem-information generating means, to virtual addresses as one file. When the file is to be recorded by the recording means, the operation control means controls the recording means so as to update the filesystem information corresponding to the application software program using the file to be recorded and to record the updated filesystem information on the recording medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information recording apparatuses, information recording methods, program storage media, and programs. More specifically, the present invention relates to an information recording apparatus, an information recording method, a program storage medium, and a program which are capable of saving the space on a recording medium, when an additional file is to be recorded, by recording only the filesystem information corresponding to an application software program using the file to be recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technologies of recording files in high-capacity recording media have been in widespread use.
At the same time, various formats for use in recording files in such high-capacity recording media have been proposed.
For example, the formats include Universal Disk Format (UDF) used in digital versatile discs (DVDs) (for example, Universal Disk Format Specification Revision 2.50, Apr. 30, 2003, Optical Storage Technology Association).

Information recording apparatus, information recording method, program storage medium, and program


An ECL OR gate circuit, or a logical equivalent AND gate circuit, is provided whereby the input signals are both referenced to the same bias reference signal such that the propagation delay between each input port to the output port of the gate is substantially equivalent. Also provided is an improved ECL flip flop circuit using the ECL OR (or AND) circuit taught in accordance with the teachings of this invention for a faster ECL flip flop. In accordance with the teachings of this invention, a flip flop clock input signal is referenced to the same bias reference signal as the flip flop data input signal such that the propagation delay between the clock input to the output stage is substantially the same as the data input to the output stage.

Flip flops are well known in the art, as are emitter coupled logic (ECL) circuits in general. ECL circuits are often preferred due to the very high speeds achieved. ECL circuits have found particular use in telecommunications applications where increasing bit rates require increased speed of operation of logical circuits.
ECL fabrication processes are continually being upgraded in order to provide increased speed. It is also desirable to increase the speed of operation of the circuitry itself, for example to increase the toggling frequency of a D flip flop 100 shown in FIG. 1. The toggle rate, f.sub.toggle, is the inverse of the sum of the setup time for data input D.sub.M 102 and the propagation delay for clock input CLK 101 to reach output Q 103, ##EQU1##
FIG. 2 is a prior art logic diagram of the typical D flip flop 100 of FIG. 1, including input port 102 for input data D.sub.M and input port 101 for input clock signal CLK. Flip flop 100 also includes output port 103 and 104 for providing output signals Q and Q, respectively, in response to input signals D.sub.M and CLK. The logic diagram in FIG. 2, shows that flip flop 100 may be constructed of a combination of NAND logic gates or OR logic gates, such as OR gate 10 or NAND gate 20 shown in FIG. 3.
The logical operation of NAND gate 20 and OR gate 10 (shown in FIG. 3) is functionally equivalent as is described in Table 1.
Table 1 ______________________________________ A .sup.-- A B .sup.-- B Z .sup.-- A + .sup.-- B AB ______________________________________ 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 ______________________________________
Table 1 illustrates that output Z may be expressed as EQU Z=AB (2)
or, equivalently, as EQU Z=A+B (3)
FIG. 4 is a typical prior art ECL circuit representation of NAND gate 20, or OR gate 10. ECL circuit 200 is referred to as a two level ECL circuit, since a first and a second level bias reference signal, VBB1 and VBB2 are implemented. VBB1 is typically equivalent to the voltage level at the midswing of an ECL input signal voltage range such that the logic state of an ECL input signal may be easily determined when compared to VBB1. The voltage level of VBB2 may be expressed as EQU VBB2=VBB1-Vbe (4)
where Vbe is equivalent to one base-to-emitter voltage drop through a transistor, or approximately -0.8 V. For example, if the ECL input signal voltage swing is from -0.75 V (equivalent to a logical one) to -1.8 V (equivalent to a logical zero), VBB1 is typically equivalent to -1.3 V, while VBB2 is typically -2.1 V. Thus, if the input voltage of ECL input data signal A provided to the base of transistor 209 is a logical one, or -0.75 V, which is a voltage greater than VBB1, transistor 209 turns on, or biases to conducting, while transistor 210 turns off. Conversely, if ECL input data signal A is a logical zero, or -1.8 V, transistor 209 turns off, while transistor 210 switches on.
In the prior art ECL NAND gate 200, an extra transistor 208 is needed in the signal path of ECL input signal B to the base of the differential pair transistors 207/217, referenced to a second level bias reference voltage VBB2. Since VBB2 is approximately -2.1 V, or approximately at a voltage at the midswing of an ECL input signal reduced by Vbe, transistor 208 is necessary to reduce ECL input signal B by Vbe to properly reference input signal B to VBB2. Prior art NAND circuit design of FIG. 4 has a drawback of increasing the propagation delay between ECL input signal B to output signal Z due to the extra transistor propagation delay required to reduce input signal B voltage for a second level bias reference, VBB2. As illustrated in FIG. 4, input signal B must first propagate through transistor 208 prior to reaching the base of transistor 207. The propagation delay from input signal B to output signal Z is therefore longer than from input signal A to output signal Z, or EQU t.sub.pd A to Z<t.sub.pd B to Z (5)
Input signal B has a longer propagation delay due to input signal B propagating through transistors 208, prior to propagating through the differential pair of transistors 207/217 and transistor 212, while data input signal A need only propagate through differential pair of transistors 209/210 and transistor 212.
FIG. 5 is an example of a typical prior art ECL circuit representation of flip flop 100 implementing one or more of the prior art ECL NAND gate circuit 200. The logical operation of the prior art ECL flip flop 300 circuit is depicted in Table 2. Flip flop 300 receives a data input signal D.sub.M-1 on input lead 302 and a clock signal on input lead 301 and, in response thereto, provides output signals Q and Q on output leads 303 and 304, respectively. ECL flip flop 300 includes master subcircuit 300-M, and slave subcircuit 300-S. Nodes N3 and N4 serve as the output nodes of master subcircuit 300-M, as the input nodes of slave subcircuit 300-S. The master and slave subcircuits each operate in the transparent mode, wherein master and slave input data D.sub.M and D.sub.S immediately appears at the master and slave outputs, respectively, or the latch mode, in which previous input data D.sub.M-1 and D.sub.S-1 is latched and provided at the output. When master subcircuit 300-M is in the transparent mode, slave subcircuit 300-S is in the latch mode, and vice versa.
When the clock input signal applied to lead 301 is low, master flip flop 300-M operates in the transparent mode, providing input signal D.sub.M as its intermediate output signal on nodes N3 and N4 which, in turn, provide the data input signal D.sub.S to slave flip flop 300-S. At the same time, slave flip flop 300 operates in the latch mode, providing Q and Q output signals indicative of the previous data value D.sub.S-1 applied to slave flip flop 300-S.
Conversely, when the clock signal applied to input lead 301 is high, master flip flop 300-M operates in the latch mode, and applies a signal D.sub.S to slave flip flop 300-S which is indicative of the previous input data of D.sub.M-1 applied to master flip flop 300-M. At this time, with a high clock signal, slave flip flop 300-S operates in the transparent mode, providing Q and Q output signals indicative of this D.sub.S data provided by master flip flop 300-M.
A current source bias voltage V.sub.CS is applied to the base of transistor 372, thereby causing transistor 372 to serve as a current source. Transistor pair 326/333 forms a differential pair responsive to the clock input signal applied to lead 301. The base of transistor 333 is connected to receive a bias voltage VBB2 such that for a high clock input signal applied to lead 301, transistor 326 turns on (and transistor 333 turns off), thereby enabling latch mode differential pair 324/325 and disabling transparent mode differential pair 329/330 of master flip flop 300-M. Conversely, for a low clock input signal on lead 301, transistor 326 turns off (and transistor 333 turns on), thereby enabling transparent mode differential pair 329/330 and disabling latch mode differential pair 324/325 of master flip flop 300-M.
Transistors 329 and 330 form a differential pair of transistors, with the base of transistor 330 receiving bias voltage VBB1 and base 302 of transistor 329 receiving the D.sub.M input signal. With a logical one D.sub.M input signal applied to lead 302, and transistor 333 conducting due to a low clock input signal applied to lead 301, transistor 329 turns on, thus causing transistor 331 to be biased to a low state of conduction, and biasing transistor 332 to a high state of conduction. This establishes suitable voltages at nodes N3 and N4 which are applied to the bases of differential transistor pair 324/325 which latch the D.sub.M input data when transistor 326 turns on in response to a high clock signal subsequently applied to lead 301.
The voltages on nodes N1 and N2 control the conduction states of transistors 332 and 331, and thus the voltages on nodes N3 and N4, respectively. The voltages on nodes N3 and N4 provide the output signal from master subcircuit 300-M which are applied to latch mode differential pair 324/325, and transparent mode differential pair 338/339 of slave subcircuit 300-S. The output signals on nodes N3 and N4 are controlled by the input data D.sub.M when master flip flop 300-M operates in the transparent mode (low clock signal) and by the latched value of the previous data input signal D.sub.M-1 stored in latch 324/325 when master flip flop 300-M operates in the latch mode (high clock signal).
Slave flip flop 300-S operates in much the same manner as master flip flop 300-M, as indicated in Table 2.
In a master-slave flip flop such as flip flop 300 of FIG. 5, there are two propagation delays which are of primary concern. The set-up time is defined as the time required for the data input signal D.sub.M applied to input lead 302 of master flip flop 300-M to propagate through master flip flop 300-M and to provide on nodes N3 and N4 data input signal D.sub.S to slave flip flop 300-S. As shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 5, the input data D.sub.M set-up time is equivalent to the propagation delay through transistors: 324/325 and 331/332.
The other propagation delay of importance is referred to as the clock to Q output propagation delay. This is time required for the D.sub.S data to appear as output data in response to a low clock signal. As seen in FIG. 5, the propagation delay associated with the clock to Q output delay is that associated with the following transistors: 320; 340/343; and 346/347. Thus in the prior art ECL flip flop circuit, EQU t.sub.pd data to Q<t.sub.pd clock to Q (6)
Although the prior art ECL flip flop circuit of FIG. 5 functions properly, the electronics circuits coupled to the ECL flip flop circuits are continuously being improved to operate at a faster and faster speed. To avoid slowing down the operation of the electronic circuits to which the ECL flip flop is coupled, ECL flip flop circuits must also be continuously improved to operate at a faster speed. Accordingly, it remains desirable to provide an ECL flip flop with even greater speeds.


In a method for determining the state of a road during driving of a motor vehicle, the sound which is generated when a vehicle tire rolls on an underlying surface is sensed. A frequency signal is determined by means of a sound level signal which describes the sound, and is divided into at least two sub-zones by means of at least one limiting frequency. The sub-zones are each assigned to an associated frequency band, and an intensity value is determined for each of at least two frequency bands from the assigned sub-zone of the frequency signal. The intensity value is characteristic of the sound intensity which is present in a frequency band. An intensity ratio is formed from two intensity values by dividing the first intensity value of the first frequency band by the second intensity value of the second frequency band, and is used to determine the state of a road.

This application claims the priority of German patent document 102 59 979.3, filed 19 Dec. 2002, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a method for determining the state of a road during driving of a motor vehicle.
German patent document DE 42 13 221 C2 discloses a method for determining the degree of wetting of an underlying road surface, without contacting it. A sound pickup is used to sense the noise of spray water or the rolling noise of at least one wheel of the vehicle, and generates an output signal which corresponds to the sensed noise. The spectral distribution of the sensed noise is determined from this output signal by means of a Fourier transformation, and a frequency band is cut out from the spectral distribution. The average amplitude of the spectral distribution within the frequency band is calculated, and a value for wetting of the underlying surface is assigned to the average value by means of a characteristic diagram. A further variable such as, for example, vehicle speed, engine speed, steering angle, tire type, tire temperature, tire pressure or load state can be taken into account as correction variables. In addition, background noise such as the engine noise of the drive engine can be determined and compensated.
One object of the invention is to permit more precise and reliable determination of the state of the road surface during driving of a motor vehicle.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved by the method according to the invention, which determines the state of the road surface by taking advantage of the phenomenon that various noises are generated when a vehicle rolls on an underlying surface, including not only the actual rolling noise produced by the direct contact between the tire of the vehicle and the underlying surface, but also, for example, additional wind noises which are produced by the relative movement between the ambient air and the wheel of the vehicle, or the sounds of spray water which are produced as a result of an impact of the water droplets sprayed from the tire onto a component of the vehicle. The sound of these various superimposed noises is sensed and a sound level signal is generated which describes the sensed sound. The sound level signal can be generated with any suitable sound pickup such as, for example, a microphone or some other vibration pickup. Depending on the type of the sound pickup and its mounting location, the various noises are weighted to differing degrees, filtered due to the sound transmission link and possibly additionally accompanied by numerous background noises. In order to feed as far as possible only the desired noise or noises (in particular the actual rolling noise) to a processor for further evaluation, filtering or some other conditioning of the sound level signal may take place. However, this is not absolutely necessary.
Based on the sound level signal (in particular of a chronologically limited section of the sound level signal) a frequency signal which describes the chronologically limited section of the sound level signal is then determined. This may be carried out, for example, by means of a discrete Fourier transformation. The frequency signal is divided into various sub-zones by means of at least one limiting frequency. Each of these sub-zones is assigned to an associated frequency band in each case. An intensity value is determined for each of at least two frequency bands from assigned sub-zones of the frequency signal, such intensity value being characteristic of the sound intensity which is present within the assigned frequency band and, if appropriate, within a predefinable chronological section. An intensity ratio is determined from two intensity values by dividing a first intensity value of a first frequency band by a second intensity value of a second frequency band.
A plurality of intensity ratios can be determined as a function of the number of intensity values. It is possible, for example, to use arithmetic or geometric amplitude average values, other weighted average values or autocorrelation values of the frequency signal as intensity values. It is also possible to take into account the standard deviation or the variance of the frequency signal in order to determine the intensity values. The intensity ratios which are acquired from the intensity values are used to determine the state of a road. The covering which is present on the road surface or whether the road is wet, for example, is determined as a state of a road.
In order to determine the state of a road it is also possible to sense and use further variables, for example the outside temperature or variables relating to the dynamics of vehicle movement.
An advantage of the method according to the invention is that the state of the road can be determined precisely and reliably. The method according to the invention is additionally very robust with respect to interference and is independent of, or at least largely insensitive to, a change in a large number of further parameters, for example the velocity of the vehicle, the load of the vehicle, the type of tire, the profile depth or the tire pressure.
In one advantageous embodiment of the invention, a comparison is made between at least one determined intensity ratio and a predefinable value range. The result of the comparison is used to determine the state of the road, in particular the state of the road is determined directly by means of this comparison, i.e. without further variables. In a subsequent step, further variables can be used to obtain more precise information on the directly determined state of the road or verify it.
In a simple embodiment it is possible, without taking into account further variables, to determine the state of the road merely by comparing a determined intensity ratio with a predefinable value range and without carrying out further subsequent evaluation steps. For this purpose it is possible to predefine an assignment of a road state to a value range of the intensity ratio of the intensity values of two frequency bands. An advantage of this embodiment is the possibility of determining the state of the road very quickly and easily.
Instead of the comparison between an intensity ratio and one or more predefinable value ranges it is possible to compare a plurality of determined intensity ratios with a plurality of predefinable value ranges. The comparison results are used to determine the state of the road, in particular in one simple embodiment conclusions about the state of the road are drawn directly from the comparison results.
In another advantageous embodiment of the invention, a spectrogram is determined as the frequency signal. The spectrogram is divided into at least two frequency bands by means of at least one limiting frequency. A weighted average value of the spectral energy distribution contained in the frequency band can be determined as an intensity value for a frequency band. Conclusions are then in turn drawn about the state of the road from the ratio of the intensity values of the two frequency bands. This technique permits more precise and reliable determination of the state of the road, which additionally permits time-dependent effects to be taken into account if the spectrogram has a corresponding chronological resolution.
In still another embodiment of the invention, a quadratic matrix is determined for at least one frequency band. Each element of this matrix is assigned a frequency sub-band (a predefinable range of the frequency domain and a time subsection, i.e., a predefinable range in time). One element of the matrix is characteristic of the intensity of the frequency signal in the frequency sub-band assigned to the matrix element, and in the time subsection assigned to the matrix element. The norm of a matrix is determined as an intensity value. Such a quadratic matrix is preferably determined for each of the frequency bands predefined by the limiting frequencies, and the respective norm for said matrices is determined from the matrices as intensity values. The Frobenius norm is preferably determined as the norm of the matrices.
Such a matrix may be constructed in such a way that, for example, the frequency band from 0 to 99 Hz is assigned to row 1, the frequency sub-band from 10 to 199 Hz is assigned to row 2, the frequency sub-band from 200 to 299 Hz is assigned to row 3, etc. In a comparable way, the time subsection from t0 to t0+10 ms is assigned to column 1, the time subsection from t0+5 ms to t0+15 ms is assigned to column 2 and the time subsection from t0+10 ms to t0+20 is assigned to column 3, etc.
The time periods which are assigned to the columns may overlap, adjoin one another or be arranged with gaps. An inverted arrangement of the sequence of the rows or columns or interchanging the rows with the columns does not have any fundamental effect on the method according to the invention, and is therefore possible.
If the frequency signal is divided by n limiting frequencies, n+1 matrices are generated and an intensity value is determined for each matrix. The intensity ratios are determined from the n+1 intensity values by forming quotients. The intensity ratios are used to determine the state of the road.
An advantage of this embodiment of the invention is that, to a significant degree, the effects which bring about non-steady-state behavior and transient recovery effects during the generation of sound between the underlying surface and tire can be completely eliminated or at least reduced.
In one embodiment, each frequency band is divided into 2k frequency sub-bands, k being a natural number. In addition, the time section which is assigned to a matrix is divided into 2k time subsections. As a result, a matrix comprises 2k columns and 2k rows. This permits the norms of the matrices to be determined easily and efficiently, and thus permits the state of the road to be determined rapidly.
k is preferably greater than 1, which increases the precision and/or the reliability of the determination of the state of the road. However, unnecessarily large values for k are to be avoided in order to reduce the computational complexity.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, in each case the determined intensity ratios of adjacent frequency bands are used to determine the state of the road. As a result, the states of the road, for example the detection of different thicknesses of water film on the underlying surface or the detection of different degrees of roughness of the underlying surface, can be satisfactorily separated.
In order to simplify the determination of the state of the road it is advantageous for all the frequency bands which can be predefined by the one or more limiting frequencies to have the same bandwidth.
If a plurality of intensity ratios are used to determine the state of the road, a refined and/or more precise determination of the state of the road is possible. For example, when the frequency signal is divided into four frequency bands A, B, C, D, the intensity ratios IA/IB, IB/IC, IC/ID, and possibly in addition the intensity ratios IA/IC, IA/ID and IB/ID, can be used to determine the state of the road.
It is possible, for example, to determine the thickness of a water film located on the underlying surface, the aggregate states of snow or ice, the nature of the underlying surface, and in particular the maximum possible coefficient of friction, as the state of the road. It is possible to distinguish between different road coverings, such as asphalt, concrete and cobblestone pavement. It is particularly advantageous to detect the thickness of a film of water which wets the road pavement as the maximum possible coefficient of friction between the tire and underlying surface depends greatly on the thickness of wetting.
Because the method according to the invention is not a computationally complex, and thus requires only a short computing time, it may be carried out very rapidly so that the state of the road which is determined is available virtually without a time delay, i.e. in real time.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method for determining a state of a road during the driving mode of a motor vehicle


A method is presented for forming a semiconductor device. The method includes forming source/drain over a semiconductor substrate, forming a sacrificial layer over the source/drain, and forming an inter-level dielectric (ILD) layer over the sacrificial layer. The method further includes forming trenches that extend partially into the sacrificial layer, removing the sacrificial layer to expose an upper surface of the source/drain, and filling the trenches with at least one conducting material. The sacrificial layer is germanium (Ge) and the at least one conducting material includes three conducting materials.

Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, and more specifically, to trench contact resistance reduction in semiconductor devices.
Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor device performance is dependent upon numerous factors, one being the total device resistance. The total device resistance is, in turn, a function of parameters such as contact resistance, wiring resistance, channel resistance, etc. Decreasing the total device resistance can improve device performance (i.e., improve device speed).
High contact resistance results in loss of performance, errors in data and increased heat and power loss, to name a few effects. Contact resistance in semiconductor devices increases dramatically with reduction in pitch scaling sizes. Smaller contact areas result in rapid increases in contact resistance. With nanometer scale structures, such as fins for fin field effect transistors, smaller three-dimensional structures present particular difficulties in forming suitable contact areas to make adequate electrical contact.

International Business Machines Corporation


Methods for forming a chip package are provided. The method includes providing at least one carrier substrate including first semiconductor dies mounted thereon. The method also includes forming a first noble metal layer including nanopores irregularly distributed therein to cover each one of the first semiconductor dies. The method further includes immersing the carrier substrate with the first semiconductor dies into an etchant solution including a fluoride etchant and an oxidizing agent, so that each one of the first semiconductor dies covered by the first noble metal layer is thinned.

In the packaging of integrated circuits, semiconductor dies may be stacked and bonded to other package components (e.g., interposers and package substrates). The resulting packages are known as three-dimensional integrated circuits (3DICs). 3DICs have become very popular in recent years due to the increased levels of integration they provide. 3DICs typically utilize through silicon via (TSV) structures which penetrate through substrates and are employed to electrically connect features on opposite sides of the substrates.
The formation process for TSV structures at least includes etching or drilling into the substrate to form TSV openings and thinning the substrate before or after forming the TSV openings. The TSV openings are then filled with a conductive material to form the TSV structures. It would therefore be desirable to take advantage of the advanced integration levels afforded by 3DICs using TSV structures while avoiding problems created by forming such TSV structures.

Thinning process using metal-assisted chemical etching

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A warp-knit elongate structure is provided which has a pair of spaced warp-knit elongate webs and a plurality of transverse thread portions spaced longitudinally of and interconnecting the warp-knit elongate webs. The shape of the warp-knit structure is corrected into a ladder-like structure and then is introduced into an elongate mold cavity, in which synthetic resin is molded around the portion of the warp-knit webs and the transverse thread portion which are disposed in the mold cavity. A molded product that constitutes a portion of a coupling element assembly is separated from the mold cavity, and is bent about its transverse central axis into the shape of a U. A guide drum is disposed adjacent to a molding wheel for guiding the warp-knit structure onto the molding wheel and for rectifying the shape of the warp-knit structure into a ladder-like structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to zippers or slide fasteners and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for producing a coupling element assembly for slide fasteners.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,445,915 and 4,033,014 exemplify the prior art in the field of methods and apparatus for producing a coupling element assembly for slide fasteners which includes a row of spaced coupling elements of synthetic resin and a plurality of connecting threads having their portions embedded in the coupling elements to interconnect the spaced coupling elements. The known methods and apparatus, however, are not suitable for manufacturing coupling element assemblies having coupling elements securely fastened to connecting threads and, at the same time, laterally shiftable just enough for smooth engagement and disengagement between an opposed pair of rows of coupling elements.

Apparatus for producing a coupling element assembly for slide fasteners


A measured displacement is determined by extracting components proportional to a sine value and cosine value of the displacement from a phase modulated wave in synchronization with a reference wave. A response delay which tends to occur in a PLL circuit due to the variations of the reference wave is not generated. The detecting resolution is determined depending upon that of the A/D convertor. Generally, the higher the resolution of the A/D converter the lower the speed at which the converter operates. However, since the upper digit is obtained by counter, it is possible to engage the low speed A/D converter even if the measured displacement varies at a high speed. For this reason, it is possible to easily detect the measured displacement at a high resolution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a displacement detecting apparatus which transforms a signal generated by in particular, a displacement quantity detector which adopts a phase modulation method, such as laser length measuring device and the like, into a numeric value which is proportional to the detected displacement quantity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in the displacement detecting apparatus, such as a resolver, an inductosyn, a laser length measuring device and the like, in which a detected displacement quantity is outputted as a numeric value by phase-modulating an input reference wave with the measured displacement quantity, in order to detect the phase difference of the phase modulated wave from the reference wave, the quantity of the displacement is detected by counting the quantity of the phase difference based on a counting pulse which is synchronized with the reference wave and which has a frequency which is an integer multiple of that of the reference wave. However, although this method is useful for the resolver, the inductosyn or the like in which the reference wave can be formed by dividing the counting pulse, in such the detector as a laser length measuring device where the frequency of the reference wave is to be determined depending upon the intrinsic character of the laser oscillator, the counting pulse synchronized with the reference wave has been necessarily generated by means of a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) circuit. However the poor stability of the frequency of the reference wave in the laser oscillator has generated detecting errors caused by a response delay of the PLL circuit. Furthermore, such a displacement detecting apparatus must be provided with a high frequency counting pulse and its counter for obtaining a high resolution, thus exhibiting difficulties in improving the resolution.
FIG. 1 shows a constructional view of a laser length measuring device and a displacement detecting apparatus based on the conventional method. In this figure, a laser oscillator 1 generates two kinds of light beams f.sub.1 and f.sub.2 having different frequencies and different polarization planes. The combination of the outputted light beams f.sub.1 and f.sub.2 is optically divided by a beam splitter 2 into two paths, and then one path of the combined divided light beams f.sub.1 and f.sub.2 is converted by means of a photodetector 6 into an electric signal F.sub.R denoting the light-interference intensity for the light beams f.sub.1 and f.sub.2. Here, the frequency of the electric signal F.sub.R coincides with a difference in frequency between the light beams f.sub.1 and f.sub.2, and as is adopted as the reference wave F.sub.R (F.sub.R =.vertline.f.sub.1 -f.sub.2 .vertline.). The other path of the combined divided beams f.sub.1 and f.sub.2 is optically divided by another beam splitter 3 into two separate light beams f.sub. 1 and f.sub.2, the light beam f.sub.1 being directed to a movable reflecting mirror 5. When the light beam f.sub.1 is directed to the movable reflecting mirror 5 and when the movable reflecting mirror 5 is moving in the X-axis direction, the light beam f.sub.1 is affected by the doppler modulation of .+-..DELTA.f which is proportional to the moving speed of the reflecting mirror 5, and consequently the reflected light beam f.sub.1 .+-..DELTA.f is generated. On the other hand, the light beam f.sub.2 divided by the beam splitter 3 is reflected by a fixed reflecting mirror 4, and the reflected light beam f.sub.2 is combined with the reflected light beam f.sub.1 .+-..DELTA.f by the beam splitter 3. The mixed beams f.sub.1 .+-..DELTA.f and f.sub.2 are converted to an electric signal F.sub.P denoting the light interference intensity of light beams f.sub.1 .+-..DELTA.f and f.sub.2 by means of photodetector 7. Here, the electric signal F.sub.P has a frequency which corresponds to the frequency difference between the light beams f.sub.1 .+-..DELTA.f and f.sub.2. Accordingly, when the electric signal F.sub.R is adopted as the reference wave, the electric signal F.sub.P becomes a phase modulated wave which is formed by modulating in phase the reference signal F.sub.R by the shifted displacement X of the movable reflecting mirror 5. Concretely, if the wave length of the light beam f.sub.1 is denoted by .lambda., the phase modulated wave F.sub.P is to be displaced by a shift (4.pi./.lambda.)X.
The description above is directed to the basic principle for the laser length measuring device, and the operation of the displacement detecting apparatus of FIG. 1 will now be described with reference to the timing chart shown in FIGS. 2A to 2J.
Firstly, the reference wave F.sub.R outputted from the photodetector 6 is subjected to waveform shaping in a comparator 23 to form a signal DF.sub.R as shown in FIG. 2A, and the formed signal DF.sub.R is inputted into a phase comparing unit 9 to be compared with a most significant bit signal MSB (refer to FIG. 2B) of an outputted signal T' on a counter 8. Then, a voltage RV having a pulse width proportional to the phase shift is outputted. The voltage RV from the phase comparing unit 9 is smoothed by an LPF (low pass filter) 10, and inputted into a VCO (voltage controlling oscillator) 11 in order to oscillate and output a counting pulse CLK', as shown in FIG. 2C, having a frequency in accordance with the phase difference of the signal MSB from the signal DF.sub.R. Then the counting pulse CLK' is inputted into the counter 8 to be divided by "64", as is shown in FIG. 2D, to be adopted as the most significant signal MSB of the counter output signal T'. As detailed above, a PLL circuit is constructed of the phase comparing unit 9, the LPF 10, the VCO 11 and the counter 8, and generates the counting pulse CLK' to be approximately synchronized with the reference wave F.sub.R and to have 64 times the frequency of the reference wave F.sub.R. On the other hand, the output signal T' of the counter 8 is, as is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2D, formed to be a signal changing sawtoothwise from "0" to "63" within about one cycle of the reference wave F.sub.R. The output signal T' of the counter 8 is stored as a signal x' as shown in FIG. 2F in a latch circuit 12 when the signal DF.sub.P falls down which, as shown in FIG. 2E, has been waveform-shaped from the phase modulated wave F.sub.P by the comparator 17. The signal x' becomes the phase difference of the phase modulated wave F.sub.P to the reference wave F.sub.R within the range of the wave length of the reference wave. Employing the heretofore, it is possible to detect the displacement X of the movable reflecting mirror 5 with a precision of up to .lambda./2.
The signal x' is stored as a signal x" in a latch circuit 13 when the next falling transition of the phase modulated wave F.sub.P occurs. Consequently, the signal x" is adopted to precede the signal x' changing. The signals x' and x" are subjected to a subtraction operation in an updown pulse generator 14. The up pulse U.sub.P shown in FIG. 2H or down pluse D.sub.P is outputted based on the condition indicated by the following expression (1) in accordance with the subtraction value .DELTA.x as shown in FIG. 2G. ##EQU1## The up pulse U.sub.P and the down pulse D.sub.P from the up-down pulse generator 14 cause an up-down counter 15 to count up or down, respectively. The phase difference of the phase modulated wave F.sub.P from the reference wave F.sub.R is outputted in terms of the number x.sub.u of the wave length of the reference wave F.sub.R by way of the up-down counter 15 (refer to FIG. 2I). Here, a signal x having the signal x' as the lower digit and the signal x.sub.u as the upper digit, that is, the signal x of which value is 64.times.x.sub.u +x' becomes the phase difference x of the phase modulated wave F.sub.P from the reference wave F.sub.R. As a result, the shifted displacement X of the movable reflecting mirror 5 can be detected at a resolution of .lambda./128.
The broken line characteristic A indicated in FIGS. 2D, 2F and 2J shows the value where there is no follow-up delay caused by a PLL circuit, and the hatched portion B in FIG. 2J shows the error caused by the follow-up delay, i.e., the error of the displacement detection.
As shown, the conventional apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 is disadvantageously liable to yield a large displacement detection error as such depicted by the hatched portion B, compared with the case where there is no follow-up delay caused by a PLL circuit such as depicted by the signal x in the timing chart in FIG. 2J.
In the conventional example of FIG. 1, the frequency difference between oscillated light beams f.sub.1 and f.sub.2 of the laser oscillator 1, in other words, the frequency of the reference wave F.sub.R is apt to be varied or affected as shown in the timing charts of FIGS. 2A to 2J. For this reason, the PLL circuit having an LPF does not enable the frequency of the counting pulse CLK' to exactly synchronize with and follow up the frequency variations of the reference wave F.sub.R, thus exhibiting a displacement detection value error caused by the follow-up error. Furthermore, in order to obtain the quantity of the displacement detection at a high resolution, it is necessary to provide a high frequency counting pulse and its counter, and consequently, it is difficult to realize the higher resolution.


A test sheet for the determination of the presence of a substance having peroxidase-like activity in a throw-in-the-bowl fecal occult blood test, includes a specimen test area and a positive control area. The test area has deposited thereon a test ink having at least one oxygen donor reagent and a chromogen reagent capable of being oxidized by the oxygen donor in the presence of blood or a substance having peroxidase-like activity, to provide a visually observable change of color. The test ink also includes a water soluble polymer for immobilizing the chromogen and oxygen donor. The positive control area has deposited thereon the test ink and a substance having the peroxidase-like activity.

The present invention relates generally to an occult blood test product, of the type to be physically placed into a toilet bowl containing a fecal specimen, for detecting the presence of fecal occult blood in an aqueous solution. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved, reliable fecal occult blood test product which may be utilized with a minimum of human intervention. The principles of the present invention may be employed in the testing for occult blood, ferritin and myoglobin in various biological fluids.
In general terms, the testing of a fecal specimen for occult blood is based on the well-known principle that blood (more particularly hemoglobin) will function as a catalyst and cause oxygen to be liberated from an oxygen donor, with the liberated oxygen thus causing a color change in a chromogenic substance. As such, the test for fecal occult blood is not only well-known, but numerous oxygen donors, numerous chromogens and numerous donor-chromogen pairs have been suggested in the prior literature. In considering the chromogens and oxygen donors which may be used, it should be appreciated that the fecal occult blood test is frequently referred to as a test for the presence of a substance having a peroxidase-like activity.
In addition, there are several principle styles of fecal occult blood test products which have been marketed or described in the literatures. These include slides, tape, wipe and throw-in-the-bowl products. Slide products require the patient to retrieve part of the stool specimen and, using a spatula or equivalent device, place part of the specimen on a paper which paper is thereafter submitted to a laboratory where a developing solution is applied to the slide. Tape products are typically utilized by a physician after a rectal examination in which instance the physician smears a stool sample on a thin, narrow tape and then a developing solution is applied to the tape. In both of these types of products, the chromogen is guaiac, and the oxygen donor or developing solution is hydrogen peroxide.
A third type of product is often referred to as the wipe type of product where a form of toilet paper is impregnated with a suitable chemical, typically the chromogen and after a bowel movement, the patient self-wipes the anal area, and thereafter may apply the developing solution to the paper. As may be appreciated, in each of these types of products there is a need for the patient (or physician) to physically handle or physically contact the fecal specimen. Thus, there is a natural reluctance to employ these types of products, notwithstanding that they are well-known as beneficial screening agents, to assist in the early detection of colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal disorders.
In Nov. 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,923 issued to William Friend. This patent described a fecal occult blood test product of the throw-in-the-bowl type where a guaiac impregnated sheet was sprayed with a developing solution (hydrogen peroxide) and then placed into a toilet bowl containing a fecal specimen. If blood was present, the blood catalyzed a chromogenic reaction, and a blue color was observed in the toilet bowl. The product described in the Friend patent also included a positive monitor which would turn blue if the chemicals were functioning properly. However, the product as described in the Friend patent still required patient intervention in that the patient was required to apply the developer to the test product.
Guadagno U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,987, issued Sep. 17, 1985, relates to a throw-in-the-bowl type of product which included both positive and negative test monitors. A product generally in accordance with the teachings of the Guadagno patent has been successfully marketed by Helena Laboratories Corporation, of Beaumont, Tex., under their trademark CS-T. Helena Laboratories Corporation is the Assignee of the Guadagno patent and Assignee of the instant application. The CS-T brand of fecal occult blood test product is commercially successful and medically reliable.
In addition to the CS-T brand of fecal occult blood test product, which is in the nature of a test pad or sandwich of dry chemicals between layers of paper, a thin film type of product for throw-in-the-bowl fecal occult blood testing is known as described in the aforementioned Patel, et al. applications. However, the product of the type described in the Patel, et al. applications has not met with success in the market place even though it does not require patient intervention. The product of the Patel, et al. application does not include self-contained controls or monitors, and the product as marketed has heretofore utilized an external type of positive monitor which must be dropped into the toilet bowl.
Thus, there is a need for a less expensive, reliable, easy to use throw-in-the-bowl type of fecal occult blood test product which is easy to manufacture and provides consistent, reliable results, and which also includes built-in or self-contained positive and negative monitors. These self-contained monitors, of course, aid the patient because the monitors inform the patient if a positive or a negative result should be ignored a being induced by contaminants or being the result of loss of activity by the chromogen or oxygen donor. In this fashion, a patient will know to repeat a test rather than rely upon false test results.
Hence, the present invention responds to these needs by providing an improved formulation of film-type throw-in-the-bowl fecal occult blood type product.

Fecal occult blood test product with positive and negative controls