A coring member useful in wellbore excavating operations comprising at least one segment disposed onto the end of a shaft, where a channel is formed between each at least one segment. The at least one segment has an impeller like arrangement that on rotation produces a pressure differential across the face of the coring member. The impeller like arrangement comprises an obliquely attached vane on one side of the face, and an obliquely attached rib on the other side. Rotation of the coring member within a fluid produces a localized high-pressure zone adjacent the face of each rib and a corresponding low-pressure zone adjacent the face of each vane. Each channel provides fluid communication between a vane and a rib, where the vane and the rib are located on different but adjacent segments. The pressure differential between the vane and the rib during rotation of the drill bit within a fluid can produce fluid flow through the channel from the rib to the vane.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of excavating of wellbores. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for inducing fluid circulation over an excavation bit. Yet more specifically, the present invention further relates to inducing fluid circulation over a circulation bit during side bore excavating.
2. Description of Related Art
In excavating or operations within a wellbore 5, drill bits are often used in the drilling or coring of a wellbore 5 that extends from the earth's surface into and through a subterranean formation 8. The drilling involved includes the drilling of a standard vertical wellbore 5, slanted or deviated wellbores (not shown), as well as lateral wellbores 6 that extend at a substantially perpendicular direction from a primary wellbore 5. These are standard drilling operations and they involve circulation of drilling fluid through a drill string (or drill pipe) from the surface above the wellbore 5.
Generally, when forming lateral wellbores 6 a coring tool 10 may be used as shown in FIG. 1. Coring tools 10 are deployed in a wellbore generally on a logging cable and in some cases on tubing or drill pipe, but even then fluid circulation from the surface to the coring tool 10 is not possible. The coring tools 10 comprise means for urging a coring bit 26 against the inner wall of a wellbore 5 for drilling a lateral wellbore 6—where the coring bit 26 is disposed on the end of a drill shaft 23. A driver 20 can be attached to the coring drill 22 as a drive source to the drill shaft 23 thereby providing a rotational force to the coring bit 26 for drilling into the formation 8 around the wellbore 5. The driver 20 can be powered by hydraulic fluid provided within a hydraulic feed line 18, or other mechanical means. Push rods 12, working in combination with associated piston heads 14 disposed within a cylinder 16 can provide the lateral force necessary for urging the coring drill 22 into the formation 8.
During most vertical excavating operations a fluid is generally supplied to the drill bit for cooling and lubricating the drill bit and to wash away debris accumulated during excavating within a wellbore. Once the fluid passes through the cutting zone it generally flows to the surface for treatment where it can be filtered and possibly refurbished. As is well known, the fluid supplied to the bit is typically a drilling fluid that is supplied under high pressure. The drilling fluid must be supplied at high pressure to overcome the local high pressure within the wellbore as well as to have sufficient velocity for removing the debris away from the bit. This debris, which includes shards of rock and other material cut from the formation, as well as broken pieces of the drill bit or coring device, remains between the face of the drill bit and the formation and can greatly hinder the ability of further excavating through the formation.
Ports and fluid nozzles (not shown) generally are provided at the drill bit for directing the drilling fluid for directing the drilling fluid from the drill bit into the cutting zone. Various drilling fluid flow paths are utilized depending on the composition of the earth formation being drilled. Most drill bits include downwardly directed nozzles for flushing and removing the formation cuttings from the bottom of the well hole. Some drill bits include nozzles that direct drilling fluid on the cutting elements to prevent clogging of the cutting elements in earth formations.
While fluids have been successfully implemented in typical vertical drilling operations, when coring operations are performed, fluids have not been supplied to the face of the drill bit of a coring drill 22. Accordingly, in the absence of a cleaning and lubricating fluid, coring operations are often severely hindered by an accumulation of formation shards and other debris collecting at the face of the coring drill 22. Therefore a need exists for a device and method of providing fluids to the bit of a coring drill 22 during use.
Pumps (not shown) are used in pressurizing the drilling fluid and delivering the pressurized fluid to the drill bit. The pressurized fluid can flow from the pump discharge to the bit through a drill string or other tubular member. When the coring tool 10 is lowered on a cable or wireline, it is technologically extremely complicated and economically not feasible to create fluid circulation involving pumps as part of the tool. Therefore, a true advantage over prior art devices exists in an apparatus capable of inducing fluid flow in the cutting zone that exists between a drill bit and the subterranean formation where excavation is being conducted.


Compositions and methods for preventing sporadic neoplasia of the colon are provided. The compositions provided are based on administration of acetylsalicylic acid.

Neoplasia of the large bowel, colon or rectum is one of the most common forms of cancer, second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in the United States. The etiology for most cases of large bowel cancer appears to be environmental, with much research having been focused on dietary links to cancer of the colorectum. Although as many as 25% of patients with colorectal cancer may have a family history of the disease (most evident in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) or Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colon Cancer (HNPCC)) the majority of patients have no such family history and are said to have sporadic neoplasia. Once a tumor has been detected, treatment involves surgical removal of the tumor and often large portions of the affected colon.
Dietary alteration has been well studied as a method to reduce the risk of colon cancer. Although two of the risk factors for development of the disease were thought to be ingestion of high levels of animal fat and ingestion of a diet low in fiber, clinical trials have shown that reduction in dietary fat and increases in dietary fiber may not reduce the risk of colorectal neoplasia. Other efforts at reducing the risk of development of colon cancer have focused on intake of calcium supplements, which may inactivate bowel carcinogens through formation of insoluble soaps (Mayer (1994) In: Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Chapter 257, pgs. 1424-1428) or may affect cancer risk through effects mediated by the extracellular calcium sensing receptor (Lamprecht and Lipkin (2001) Annals New York Academy of Sciences 952:73-87).
Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), an inhibitor of arachidonic acid metabolism, has been shown to inhibit the growth of colon tumors in rodents. Studies have also suggested that aspirin use is protective against carcinogenesis in the large bowel (Greenberg, et al. (1993) J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 85:912-916; Giovannucci, et al. (1995) New Engl. J. Med. 333:609-14; Thun, et al. (1991) New Engl. J. Med. 325:1593-1596). Several studies have also shown that sulindac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, may have use as a preventative treatment for hereditary polyposis of the colon and rectum (Labayle, et al. (1991) Gastroenterology 101:635-639; Ladenheim, et al. (1995) Gastroenterology 108:1083-1087; Giardiello, et al. (1993) New Engl. J. Med. 328:1313-1316). However, there remains a need for substances that can prevent colon cancer in humans.

Compositions and methods for preventing sporadic neoplasia in colon


A data sizing circuit in a data flow type system is disclosed. A copy is made of the data included in a packet. The original first data of M.times.N bits is circulated by N-bit unit, where only the required bits are selectively written into the memory and read out. M (M is integer) is added to the address corresponding to the copied second data, and data of M.times.N bits is circulated by N-bit unit, where only the required bits are selectively written into the memory and read out. The first and second data read out from the memory are synthesized, circulated by N-bit unit, and output. Data of plural types with different data width can be read/written into an arbitrary address without wasting memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data sizing circuits in data flow type systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a data sizing circuit in a data flow type system where a packet including an address signal, data, and a flag specifying read/write is passed in synchronism with a pulse signal so that data processing is carried out associated with the passing of the packet.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional data sizing circuit in a data flow type system. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional data sizing circuit will be described. A data sizing circuit comprises transfer control circuits 201, 202, pipeline registers 203, 204, a memory 205, and an address decoder 206. A packet input line 212 is connected to pipeline register 203. A packet including data and address signals required for memory access and a read/write flag specifying the read/write is applied to packet input line 212, which is a parallel bit train propagated in synchronism with a pulse. The write data provided from pipeline register 203 is applied to memory 205 via data line 221. The read/write flag is applied to memory 205 via read/write flag line 222. A portion of the address signal provided from pipeline register 203 is directly applied to memory 205 via address line 223, as well as to address decoder 206 via address line 225. The output of address decoder 206 is applied to memory 205 via chip enable line 227 as a chip enable signal.
A portion of the packet which does not have its contents changed by memory access provided from pipeline register 203 is applied to a pipeline register 204 at a succeeding stage via packet transfer line 224. The data read out from memory 205 is applied to pipeline register 204 via read data line 226. A packet output line 214 is connected to the output of pipe line register 204.
A pulse input line 211 is connected to transfer control circuit 201. When a pulse signal is applied to pulse input line 211, transfer control circuit 201 applies a write pulse signal to pipeline register 203 immediately, and a pulse signal to transfer control circuit 202 after a predetermined time of delay. When a pulse signal is applied, transfer control circuit 202 supplies a write pulse signal to pipeline register 204 immediately, and a pulse signal to pulse output line 213 after a predetermined time of delay. Pipeline registers 203 and 204 fetch the data on the input line and hold the same while providing the same simultaneously, when a write pulse signal is applied.
When the read/write flag provided to read/write flag line 222 is set to a read value, and the chip enable signal provided from address decoder 206 is at an active state, memory 205 carries out reading operation to provide the data whose address is specified by the address signal applied from the address line 223 to read data line 226. When the read/write flag provided from read/write flag line 226 is set to a write value, and the chip enable signal provided from address decoder 206 is at an active state, memory 205 carries out writing operation to write the write data provided to write data line 221 to the address specified by the address signal provided from address line 223. The data provided to read data line 226 has the same value of the data in write data line 221, regardless of the state of the chip enable signal.
When the chip enable signal is not active, memory 205 attains a non-selected state, regardless of the signal state of other input lines, to hold the stored contents.
In accordance with the above described structure, the operation of reading from memory 205 is described hereinafter. A packet with a read value set in the read/write flag is applied to packet input line 212, and a pulse signal is applied to pulse input line 211. Transfer control circuit 201 applies a write pulse signal to pipeline register 203. Pipeline register 203 fetches and holds the packet provided from packet input line 212 in response to the write pulse signal. Then, transfer control circuit 201 provides a pulse signal to transfer control circuit 202 after a predetermined time. Meanwhile, the read/write flag provided from read/write flag line 222, the address signal applied from address line 223, and the write data applied from write data line 221 are available as the packet for memory 205 to carry out reading operation, to provide the data read out to read data line 226.
When a pulse signal is applied from transfer control circuit 201 to transfer control circuit 202, transfer control circuit 202 applies a write pulse signal to pipeline register 204. The data provided from read data line 226 and packet transfer line 224 are fetched and held in pipeline register 204, to be provided from packet output line 214. After a predetermined time, transfer control circuit 202 provides a pulse signal to pulse output line 213. Thus, a series of read processing is carried out. In the case of writing to memory 205, the read/write flag of the packet applied to packet input line 212 is set to a write value, whereby a writing process similar to the above mentioned serial read processing is carried out.
The conventional data sizing circuit of FIG. 1 has the following inconveniences. For the sake of explanation, it is presumed that data width is 32 bits, that is to say, each width of write data line 221 and read data line 226 is of a system of 32 bits. In this case, the read/write of the system is carried out at one time all in 32 bits width. Therefore, in write operation, data of 8 bits in width, for example, can not be used because the contents of the remaining 24 bits are destroyed at the time of writing data of 8 bits in width. Only the less significant 8 bits, for example, out of the 32 bits can be handled as being valid during processing of 8-bit wide data. That is to say, although 8 bits of data are valid and can be used even if the data region is 32 bits, the remaining 24 bits will be wasted entirely, to degrade the usage efficiency of memory 205.
The unit of the address in the system is automatically established to 32 bits. Assuming that the unit of the address is 8 bits in a 32-bit wide data, the location of a data whose address is 1 for example (8-bit unit) lies over two words of 32 bits in width, requiring access to two addresses. Therefore, handling will not be possible in the example of FIG. 1. In the case where such a processing of impossible handling is removed, the positioning of data will be limited to be carried out under a multiple of 4 when an address unit of 8 bits for example is to be used, because the address unit of word is 32 bits in the system.
When a write packet is applied to pipeline register 203 as the first packet, the above mentioned serial writing processing is carried out. When a pulse signal is provided from transfer control circuit 202 to pulse output line 213, the data sizing circuit returns to a waiting state. At this time, pipeline register 203 holds the contents of the first packet and continues to apply the data thereof to memory 205. In other words, the data sizing circuit is in a waiting state with a write flag applied from read/write flag line 222 to memory 205 and with a chip enable signal of an active state applied from chip enable line 227 to memory 205.
Under this state, a write packet with only the address signal provided to memory 205 via address line 223 differing from that of the first packet is applied as the second packet. Attention is directed to the change in the output data when the contents held in pipeline register 203 is updated to the contents of the second packet in response to the pulse signal applied from transfer control circuit 201. The read/write flag remains at a write value in this case. The chip enable signal also remains at an active state. In other words, when seen from the memory 205 side, the read/write flag and the chip enable signal remain stabilized in a write state and active state, respectively, with only the address signal changed. This provokes the problem of erroneous writing or destruction of the stored data, in view of the operational characteristic of memory 205 and whether all bits in address line 223 are actually altered simultaneously.
FIG. 2 shows the address signal applied to address line 223, the read/write flag provided from read/write flag line 222, and the chip enable signal provided from chip enable line 227. The above mentioned problems occur at time point t.sub.0 where only the address signal changes.

Memory access circuit for handling data pockets including data having misaligned addresses and different widths


An improved method for simplifying a slip casting applied conventional all ceramic core molding process by molding an all ceramic core from a ceramic sheet. In the method, there is prepared a slurry which consists mainly of alumina, spinel, alumina/zirconia powder, by adding thereto a dispersant, a binding agent, a plasticizer, a solvent and the like. The slurry is formed into a sheet having a thickness of 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm for thereby fabricating a tooth molding mass by using a heat hydrostatic pressing at a pressure of 15 Kgf/cm.sup.2 to 150 Kgf/cm.sup.2 at a temperature of 50.degree. C. to 110.degree. C., with slurry composition for fabricating an all ceramic jacket crown applicable to an artificial crown.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating an all ceramic jacket crown which is placed over a decayed or broken tooth so that the original shape and function of such tooth is restored, wherein the ceramic tooth core is made by an innovative method.
2. Description of Prior Art
Conventionally, tooth crowns used for restoring decayed or broken teeth can be classified into metal ceramic crown and all ceramic jacket crown, depending upon the materials employed.
The artificial crown now widely in use is a metal ceramic crown, more specifically a PFM (porcelain fused metal) crown which is manufactured by melting a ceramic powder on a metallic crown formed of a precious metal core such as gold, silver, platinum or palladium so as to produce a natural tooth color appearance. However, the conventional metal ceramic crown is disadvantageous because of its low esthetic quality and due to side effects and sensitiveness caused by the metallic material employed therein.
A ceramic artificial crown, that is, an all ceramic jacket crown comprises single crown and a tooth mold formed of a ceramic material and is attached to an appropriately prepared tooth substance. Unlike a metal ceramic crown, the color of the all ceramic jacket crown may be easily adjusted to match that of a natural tooth to thereby exhibit a high esthetic quality and accordingly is welcome by many relevant experts due to its biological compatibility and in addition, virtually no side effects have been observed.
An all ceramic jacket crown as described above has many advantages relative to a metal ceramic tooth crown, and a variety of ceramic materials and fabrication steps thereof have been developed based on continued research in an effort to replace the conventional metal ceramic crown. Yet, the characteristically low fracture toughness and low physical strength of ceramics are obstacles in the development of all ceramic jacket crowns.
To solve the above problems, an improved fabrication method of an all ceramic jacket crown having high durability has been introduced. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,436 of Sep. 20, 1988, a slip casting method is disclosed wherein, alumina by itself or a mixture formed by adding a considerable amount of zirconia to alumina is used as a ceramic source material. To make the slip of this method, 12.about.20 g of water is added to 100 g of metal oxide powder and 0.05.about.0.5 g of a stabilizer such as polyvinyl alcohol, acrylic acid, cellulose ester or sodium silicate is added thereto. An acid such as citric acid is added to control the pH of the slip. Prior to its use, the slip is subjected to an ultrasonic treatment under a vacuum state to eliminate bubbles therefrom and then a base structure is formed by coating the slip on a tooth mold which contracts during heat treatment, allowing the formed structure to be easily removed therefrom.
The tooth mold is formed of calcium sulfate hemihydrate (CaSO.sub.4 1/2H.sub.2 O) having an expansion rate of 0.1.about.0.4%, and also may be formed of a mixture of a refractory material such as alumina or silica, and a binding agent such as sodium silicate, ethyl silicate, ammonium sulfate or ammonium acid phosphate. Metallic oxide particles coated on the tooth mold form an infrastructure having a pore-like structure which is formed through a first sintering, and the infrastructure exhibits a contraction rate of less than 0.4% and yet maintains the desired precision by offsetting the dry expansion effects which occurred during the preceding tooth mold fabrication step.
When applied to 3.5 .mu.m particles, the first sintering is carried out at a temperature of 1,050.degree. C..about.1,150.degree. C. for one to three hours, and sintering contraction is minimized by the rapid rate of temperature elevation. Glass impregnation, in which glass is impregnated into the infrastructure obtained by the first sintering, is performed at a similar temperature to that of the first sintering for less than two to four hours so as to prevent contraction resulting from the impregnation, thereby not influencing the structure formed as a result of the first sintering.
Oxides such as boron oxide, lead oxide and vanadium oxide are added to increase the wettability in the glass composition. Oxides such as boron oxide, lead oxide and a lanthanum oxide are added to lower viscosity. Also, the reactivity of the glass with regard to the metal oxide must be neither too strong nor too weak, thus a glass powder which contains alumina or zirconia in an amount slightly less than the saturation of glass vis-a vis those metal oxide at the impregnation temperature is employed. The heat expansion coefficient of glass should be a little less than that of the first-sintered oxide frame structure to allow heat impact resistance of the tooth crown. The heat expansion coefficient of glass is increased when a sodium oxide, a calcium oxide or a lithium oxide is added thereto, but decreased when a silicon oxide or a titanium oxide is added thereto. Here, the weight percentages of the major components of glass are, SiO.sub.2 :20, B.sub.2 O.sub.3 :19, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 :20, La.sub.2 O.sub.3 :30, CaO:5, TiO.sub.2 :4, and pigment oxide:2.
To impregnate glass into the metal oxide skeleton, glass paste which, when heated to the appropriate temperature, melts and spreads spontaneously inside the entire volume of the infrastructure by filling all of the pores, can be applied on the outer surface of the infrastructure of the tooth prosthesis. In order to prevent the variations in the surface structure caused by the remaining glass, the prosthesis which comes into contact with the tooth should not contact the melted glass and that the filling of the pores located in the vicinity of this surface is effected by capillarity starting from the interior of the infrastructure mass of fritted metal oxide particles.
The structure formed after glass impregnation is treated by one or two enamel layers, thereby obtaining the desired optical characteristics, a variety of colors and resulting in an appearance that is similar to a natural tooth.
To form a ceramic core by a slip casting method, a slip should first be manufactured and a stabilizer should be added thereto for stability, and an ultrasonic treatment has to be applied to make the mixture of the slip to be uniform. The thusly obtained stable and uniform slip is coated on a plaster mold of a tooth using a brush, then dried and sintered at around 1,150.degree. C., and carved out by a knife so that the thickness is adjusted to correspond to the plaster tooth mold. Then, a tooth core is manufactured by impregnating a glass powder into the first-sintered portion. The process for stabilizing, uniformly mixing and drying the slip and for appropriately carving the slip cast to obtain the desired constant core thickness requires a long time and many fabrication steps, and thus, is quite expensive.

Ceramic slurry composition for ceramic core of a dental prosthesis

Misung Apt. B-803, Yoido-Dong, Yongdungpo-ku

Daemyung Apt. 206-504, Daehwa-Dong, Ilsan-Ku, Koyang


In one embodiment, a system and method for charting audible choices comprises determining if an option is offered; selecting the option if the option is offered; and saving a result, wherein the result is associated with the selected option.

Interactive voice response systems, often referred to as voicemail systems, are a common way of channeling incoming calls. Many voicemail systems can be inefficient and annoying for the caller who may need to listen to multiple levels of options before reaching his final destination. It would be beneficial to have a more efficient way of navigating through a voicemail system.


A method of choosing a formulation for a carrier free pad having desired thermal conductivity and elastomeric properties therein which will produce a pad having a desirable thermal impedance. A combination of a vinyl functional fluid, hydrogen capped polysiloxane, cross linker and powder in the form of heat conductive particles with or without electrically insulating particles is utilized which is variable according to the desired thickness, elastomeric and thermal characteristics of the pad. Inhibitors and catalysts may be utilized to control reaction rate. The formulation enables one to more efficiently arrive at a final formulation for a thermal pad having the desired performance characteristics according to the job at hand.

This invention relates to thermally conductive pads and, more particularly, to a method for selecting the formulation of a silicone pad providing desirable elastomeric and thermally conductive characteristics therein.
Circuit designs for electronic devices have become more sophisticated resulting in various components closely packed on circuit boards. As a result, the problem of heat dissipation generated by component operation arises which raises the probability of component malfunction, if not failure.
Heat dissipation may be achieved by the use of a heat sink, whether in the form of a separate plate or device chassis, which is positioned adjacent the component for a heat transfer thereto. The interface between the respective faces may be irregular resulting in air spaces therebetween. As air is a poor heat conductor the spaces denigrate the heat transfer between the component and the heat sink. Thus, the operating temperature of the component may rise above its desired value.
This heat transfer may be improved by inserting a thermally conductive material between the component and heat sink so as to eliminate the air spaces therebetween. Such materials have been in the forms of waxes, greases and oils, inclusive of silicone materials loaded with heat conducting particles to increase conductivity. The silicone matrix needs to be very soft as the particle loading decreases its conformability, which in turn decreases the conformance of the material about the component face and the circuit board such that air gaps may result.
Such a soft material needs a supporting substrate, web or other carrier so as to maintain cohesion. However, carriers such as Fiberglas® or substrates prevent the material from being sufficiently elastic and so have limited elongation and flexion characteristics. Foam carriers that are impregnated with silicone and heat conducting particles have limited compression once the foam cells are collapsed. Such carriers, whether Fiberglas® cloth, foam substrate, etc., are unable to intimately conform to various contours of electronic components and so leave air gaps, which cause an increase in thermal impedance.
To eliminate the carrier and yet maintain conformability, oils and/or plasticizers are added. However, the resulting material may present poor thermomechanical properties. Moreover, when the component is compressed against the heat sink with the thermal pad therebetween, exudation of silicone oils into a monomolecular layer may result which contaminates the surrounding circuit board and components. This problem of silicone exudation has led some electronics manufacturers to forbid the use of silicone in thermal pads despite the desire to use such a silicone based material due to its conformance advantages. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a silicone based thermal pad loaded with heat conducting particles which has the desirable cohesion, conformance, thermal impedance and elastomeric properties; does not require a substrate or carrier and does not exude undesirable amounts of oil when compressed in its functional environment.

Silicone pads for electronics thermal management


An arithmetic unit capable of reconfiguring circuitry in accordance with configuration data supplied includes a data processing unit performing a processing using input data; an output data maintenance unit maintaining the result of the processing to output it as an output data; and an output valid signal control unit outputting an output valid signal indicating whether or not the output data is valid, in which an output timing of a valid data to outside the arithmetic unit can be controlled optionally by controlling the output timing of the output valid signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more specifically, to a data flow control technology in a reconfigurable semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A coarse-grained reconfigurable circuit is composed of a plurality of processing elements provided with various functions and an internal-connection network connecting between such processing elements. In the coarse-grained reconfigurable circuit, the functions of the processing elements and a path of the internal-connection network are set in accordance with configuration data, and any function can be realized by changing the configuration data. The coarse-grained reconfigurable circuit is designed such that processing details executed by the processing elements and the path of the data provided to the processing are dynamically reconfigurable in accordance with the configuration data.
The processing element is provided with functions such as computing functions by word unit including four-arithmetic operations and shift and mask operations, a delay processing for adjusting timing, a conditional statement processing like a selector, and a bit processing including logical AND/OR operations. Further, with the above-described functions and so on, the processing element can function as a counter.
The processing performed by stream-oriented applications such as wireless communication and so forth (the processing related to communication stream data) includes a processing with a data flow control processing. Such a processing with the flow control includes a processing that executes a pipeline processing by converting a single input data into sequential series data and also a processing that, on the other hand, retrieves only a single valid data from sequential series data for computation. As an example of the former processing, there is a processing of spreading code (refer to FIG. 8A) in which a 1-bit input (code) is multiplied by a multiple-bits spread code to be converted into a multiple-bits signal. As an example of the later processing, there is a data transfer processing (refer to FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B) between circuits operating at different frequencies, for example, a data transfer processing from a circuit operating at a lower frequency to a circuit operating at a higher frequency.
In order to realize the processing as described above, in the case of a normal circuit of which circuitry is fixed, what should be done is only to install a circuit simply executing the processing in advance. Meanwhile, in the case of the reconfigurable circuit, a processing form like that of a so-called data flow machine is preferable. Hence, in order to realize a processing as described above using a basic function provided in the processing element, many processing elements are required.
For instance, in order to realize a processing of spreading code that uses the multiple-bits (for example, n-bits) spread code as shown in FIG. 8A, a 1-bit input (code) is further repeated (n−1) times for the purpose of repeating the same input (code) in terms of time. By multiplying the input with the n-bits spread code, an n-bits signal after the code-spreading processing is obtained.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8B, an input signal is converted into parallel signals by being branched, and after that a selector 103 sequentially selects a signal in accordance with an output from a counter 102 to carry out a parallel-serial conversion process, so that a sequential one-dimensional series signal is obtained. By multiplying the one-dimensional series signal with the spread code thereafter using a logical exclusive OR operator (XOR operator) 104, a desired code after the spread processing can be obtained. Here, in the previous step of the parallel-serial conversion by the selector 103, timing adjustments are performed by delay devices 101-1, 101-2, . . . , 101-(n−1) so that outputs thereof are arranged sequentially.
Each of the delay device 101, counter 102, selector 103 and XOR operator 104 is composed of a single processing unit. Accordingly, in order to realize the processing of spreading code using, for example, an n-bits spread code by the reconfigurable circuit, (n−1) piece(s) of delay device(s) 101 capable of delaying by "n" at maximum, the counter 102, the n-inputs selector 103, the XOR operator 104 are used, requiring many processing elements.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-199694

Reconfigurable semiconductor device capable of controlling output timing of data


A pole/wearable article assembly that includes a pole, a handle for the pole, and a wearable article designed to at least partially cover a user's hand. The wearable article includes an element for fastening to the handle. The handle includes the following: a body having a housing to receive the fastening element; a retaining element cooperating with the fastening element when the latter is within the rear housing; and a latch. The retaining element is movable in relation to the body between a position for retaining the fastening element and a position for releasing this fastening element. The latch is movable between a locking position in which the latch cooperates with the retaining element so as to maintain the retaining element in its retaining position, and an unlocking position in which the latch no longer cooperates with the retaining element to maintain it in its retaining position. The handle of the assembly includes a return mechanism biasing the latch towards its locking position.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to assemblies comprised of a pole and a wearable article.
Assemblies of the aforementioned type can be used while practicing any of cross-country skiing, ski touring, hiking, or mountaineering, and Nordic walking, as well as other activities. The invention also relates to an assembly of a pole and a handle, as well as to the handle.
2. Description of Background
The wearable article associated with the pole is generally a wrist strap wrapping the hand of the skier. The wrist strap can take the form of a glove or a strap forming a closed loop. Connected to the handle, the wrist strap prevents the skier from dropping the pole when he/she releases the handle. The wrist strap also makes it possible to improve the transmission of the skier's thrust forces to the pole, which is particularly advantageous for the practice of winter sports and summer activities mentioned above. The wrist strap also enables transmission of these bearing forces for a longer period of time, in particular because such transmission can be carried out without clenching of the user's fingers around the handle.
During practice of cross-country skiing, constant contraction of the hand muscles when taking supports can result in muscle soreness or muscle pain. Thus, a number of athletes lightly grip the pole handle with their fingers to avoid causing muscle pain in their hands and forearms. The wrist strap is thus used as a vector in the transmission of the propulsive force between the hand of the skier and the pole. The pole is then retained by the wrist strap, thereby also enabling the user to quickly grab the handle again to plant the same further forward.
In certain designs, the wrist strap can selectively be affixed to or separated from the grip handle.
A number of documents disclose such a wrist strap.
The Patent Publication EP 0 370 900 discloses various mechanisms for fastening the wrist strap on a handle, some of such mechanisms comprising a retaining element cooperating with a connecting element of the wrist strap and a latch for locking the retaining element in a configuration for engagement with the connecting element. In these solutions, the latch is not energized to switch to a stable position. In addition, it is apparent that these constructions are not very ergonomic in use, particularly for operating the latch. Due to the kinematics, it is impractical to actuate the latch with one hand, without using the other hand. Finally, these systems present a risk of unintentional triggering that releases the latch if the handle becomes caught or snagged during use.


In various embodiments, a lamp has a bulb with a pinch seal, which holds a light-emitting element by means of a wire clip. The wire clip consists of tungsten and has, at an end remote from films embedded in the pinch seal, an eyelet for holding the light-emitting element. An end of the wire clip which is close to a film is bent back. A film associated with the wire clip is folded in a roof-shaped manner. Overall, it is thus possible to realize a lamp with a long life.

DE 10 2008 028 383 discloses a holder for a built-in lamp in an outer bulb, wherein the holder consists of molybdenum.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electric lamp which has an extended life.
It is a further object of the present invention to specify a production method for such a lamp.

Electric lamp and associated production method


The invention is a method and remote control apparatus for controlling an electronic device that is capable of indicating a low battery state without the need for cooperation with the electronic device. In one aspect, the invention is a remote control apparatus for controlling an electronic device comprising: a power supply having a voltage; and means to activate an indicator, wherein the activation means activates the indicator in the first way when the voltage is at or above a predefined threshold and the activation means activates the indicator in the second way when the voltage is below a predefined threshold.

Remote control devices are used to control electronic devices such as televisions, video cassette recorders, digital versatile disc players, stereos, digital recorders, cable boxes, etc. Most remote controls are wireless and have an internal energy source such as a battery to provide the necessary power to the remote control device. Wireless capability allows a user to control the desired electronic device from almost anywhere in a room and without having to be in physical contact with the device. As the capabilities, functionality, and complexity of electronic devices have increased over the years, so has the dependency of the user on the remote control.
Through the use of processors and programming, a single remote control, known as a universal remote control, can be used to control a plurality of electronic devices. The increased capabilities and applications of remote controls have resulted in an increased use of the internal power source, e.g., batteries, of the remote control. In some cases, the voltage of the batteries may be decreased to a point where the remote control either operates poorly and/or stops working completely. This is undesirable not only because the user loses the ability to control electronic devices without physical interaction, but also because the user's programming that is saved within a volatile memory of the remote control, for example, programming multiple universal devices and learned codes, will be lost. However, if the batteries are replaced before the voltage level of the batteries get too low, these problems can be avoided.
While many remote controls will drain their batteries to an undesirably low level without giving any indication to the user, a number of methods and apparatus have been developed to alert the user that the batteries must be replaced. For example, some remote controls will send a special "Low Voltage Display" remote hexcode to the electronic device it is being used to control. In response to this hexcode, the electronic device will display a message, such as "BATTERIES ARE LOW—REPLACE THEM SOON" on its display screen. A disadvantage of this technique is that it requires co-ordination of the remote control and the electronic device. Thus, if the electronic device does not have a display screen or is not capable of deciphering the hexcode, the message will not be displayed to the user. Moreover, this coordination between remote control and electronic device cannot be implemented if the remote control is sold as a replacement for an original remote control of a different brand and/or having different compatibility requirements.
Other remote controls have a specially dedicated light emitting diode ("LED") that will light up when a key is pressed and the voltage of the batteries is below a certain level. Specially dedicated LED's are located on the remote control itself and do not require cooperation with the electronic device in order to alert the user of a low voltage status of the battery. However, specially dedicated LED's increase the cost of the remote, take up additional space on the remote control face, and use additional voltage from the batteries. Moreover, some remote controls have replaced the specially dedicated LED with a liquid crystal display ("LCD") for displaying a low battery icon. These remote controls not only suffer from the same deficiencies as the LED remotes but also form the additional problem that LCD's are even more expensive.
Thus, a need exists for a remote control that can alert the user that it is in a low battery without using requiring a specially designated indicator and/or requiring cooperation with an electronic device.

Remote control with low battery indication


Methods for producing plasma-treated, functionalized inorganic oxide surfaces are provided. The methods include the steps of subjecting an oxide surface to a plasma to create hydroxyl functionalities on the surface and reacting the hydroxyl functionalities with epoxy group-containing molecules in situ in the absence of plasma. Biomolecules may be immobilized on the resulting functionalized surfaces. The methods may be used to treat a variety of oxide surfaces, including glass, quartz, silica and metal oxides.

Bioactive surfaces made from surface-bound biomolecules may be used in a variety of bioassays, biosensors and other devices. For example, polymer-bound oligonucleotides find applications in hybridization-based diagnostics and in the discovery of new therapeutics based on molecular recognition. Prenatal diagnostics of genetic aberrations, identification of virus born diseases, detection of mutations of regulatory proteins controlling carcinogenesis, and novel hybridization-based identification techniques oriented to forensic or archaeology fields are some of the potential applications.
Bioactive surfaces may also play an essential role in areas other than medicine, pharmaceutics and biotechnology. Development of ultra-selective chemical sensors and absorbent surfaces are crucial for creating environmentally safe processes. Monitoring the quality of water is one of the major demands in this area. Biomolecular-based chemical sensors and filters for toxic chemicals and microorganisms (e.g., E. coli) will play a significant role in future technologies.
Proteins, and enzymes in particular, are one class of biomolecules commonly used to make bioactive surfaces. The advantages of using enzymes in bioassays and biosensors are related to their very high specificity (regio- and stereo-specificity) and versatility, mild reaction conditions (close to room temperatures and to pH neutral media), and to their high reaction rates. However, due to the poor recovery yields and reusability of free enzymes, much attention has been paid in the last few years to the development of efficient enzyme immobilization processes. Most biologically-active in vivo species, such as enzymes and antibodies, function in heterogeneous media. These environments are difficult to reproduce in vitro for industrial utilization. Immobilized enzyme systems are useful for experimental and theoretical research purposes for understanding the mechanisms of in vivo, bio-catalyzed reactions, and offer solutions for use in batch-type reactions, where there is poor adaptability to various technological designs and recovery of the enzymes is difficult.
The activity of enzymes (polypeptide molecules) are based on their complex three-dimensional structures containing sterically exposed, specific functionalities. The polypeptide chains are folded into one or several discrete units (domains), which represent the basic functional and three-dimensional structural entities. The cores of domains are composed of a combination of motifs which are combinations of secondary structure elements with a specific geometric arrangement. The molecular-structure-driven chain-folding mechanisms generate three-dimensional enzyme structures with protein molecules orienting their hydrophobic side chains toward the interior and exposing a hydrophilic surface. The —C(R)—CO—NH— based main chain is also organized into a secondary structure to neutralize its polar components through hydrogen bonds. These structural characteristics are extremely important and they make the enzyme molecules very sensitive to the morphological and functional characteristics of the potential immobilizing substrates. High surface-concentrations of enzyme-anchoring functionalities can result, for instance, in excessive enzyme-densities or multi-point connections which can "neutralize" the active sites or can alter the three-dimensional morphologies of the enzyme molecules through their mutual interaction and their interaction with the substrate surfaces. These are just a few of the factors which may be responsible for the significantly lower activities of immobilized-enzymes in comparison to the activities of free enzyme molecules. Rough substrate surface topographies or stereoregular surfaces (e.g., isotactic or syndiotactic polymers) might also influence, in a positive or negative way, the specific activities. Morphologically ordered surfaces might induce changes of the stereoregular shapes of protein molecules. It has also been found that enzymes can adopt more than one functional conformation other than its lowest potential energy state. E. S. Young et al., Anal. Chem. Vol. 69, 1977, pp. 4242, et seq.
A number of approaches have been proposed for immobilizing bioactive molecules, such as enzymes on inorganic substrates. One common approach is to use wet chemical techniques to functionalize a substrate surface and then to link the surface functionalities to free functional groups on a biomolecule through a linking molecule capable of forming covalent bonds to both. Unfortunately, these wet chemical techniques tend to be time-consuming, multi-step processes that involve the use of expensive and/or hazardous reagents.
Cold plasma processing has shown promise for the functionalization of inorganic substrates. Numerous experiments performed in recent years in plasma laboratories under various internal and external plasma conditions and reactor geometries clearly indicate that inert and reactive-gas discharges are effective for the surface modification (functionalization) of even the most inert materials, such as silica. The industrial applications of macromolecular plasma chemistry are rapidly developing. Large capacity reactors and continuous flow system plasma installations have been designed, developed and tested.

Plasma-enhanced functionalization of inorganic oxide surfaces


An combustion state detecting apparatus for an internal-combustion engine is provided for preventing control errors and detection errors by preventing a biasing circuit from discharging at the start of energization, thereby allowing good sensitivity for detecting ionic current to be maintained. The combustion state detecting apparatus comprises an ionic current detecting circuit which includes a biasing circuit connected to the low voltage end of a secondary winding of an ignition coil and which detects ionic current flowing from the biasing circuit via a spark plug after the combustion of a fuel-air mixture. A current limiting circuit is provided between the low voltage end of the secondary winding and the biasing circuit. An electronic control unit detects the combustion state at the spark plug according to the ionic current. The biasing means circuit applies a bias voltage of the opposite polarity from high voltage for ignition to the spark plug via the low voltage end of the secondary winding; and the current limiting means controls the current flowing from the biasing means to the spark plug via the secondary winding, thus restraining the voltage at the high voltage end of the secondary winding when starting current supply to a primary winding.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combustion state detecting apparatus for detecting the combustion state of an internal-combustion engine by detecting the changes in the quantity of ions observed during the combustion in the internal-combustion engine and, more particularly, to a combustion state detecting apparatus for an internal-combustion engine which is capable of preventing pre-ignition or a drop in bias voltage at the time of energizing an ignition coil so as to obviate control errors and to ensure sound bias voltage for detecting ion current especially in an internal-combustion engine of low voltage distribution.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, in an internal-combustion engine driven by a plurality of cylinders, a fuel-air mixture composed of fuel and air which has been introduced into the combustion chamber of each cylinder is compressed as a piston moves up, and high voltage for ignition is applied to a spark plug installed in the combustion chamber to generate an electric spark so as to burn the fuel-air mixture; the explosive force produced when the fuel-air mixture is burnt is converted to the force which pushes the piston down is taken out as a rotary output of the internal-combustion engine.
It is known that, when the combustion takes place in the combustion chamber, the molecules in the combustion chamber are ionized, and therefore, applying bias voltage to ionic current detecting electrodes, which are usually spark plug electrodes and which are installed in the combustion chamber, causes ions with electric charges to move in the form of ionic current between spark plug electrodes.
It is also known that the ionic current sensitively reacts to the combustion state in the combustion chamber, making it possible to detect a combustion state in the internal-combustion engine by detecting the state in which the ionic current is generated.
This type of combustion state detecting apparatus for an internal-combustion engine is described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-191465 wherein a spark plug is employed as an electrode for detecting ionic current, and a combustion failure including a misfire is detected from the quantity of ionic current detected immediately after ignition.
FIG. 8 is a circuit configuration diagram illustrative of an example of a conventional combustion state detecting apparatus for an internal-combustion engine based on low voltage distribution.
In FIG. 8, the cathode of an in-car battery 1 is connected to one end of a primary winding 2a of an ignition coil 2, the other end of the primary winding 2a being connected to the ground via an emitter-grounded power transistor 3 for cutting off the supply of primary current.
A secondary winding 2b of the ignition coil 2 constitutes, together with the primary winding 2a, a transformer; the high voltage end of the secondary winding 2b is connected to one end of a spark plug 4 corresponding to each cylinder, not shown, to output high voltage of negative polarity at the time of ignition control.
The spark plug 4 composed of opposed electrodes discharges to ignite the fuel-air mixture in a cylinder when the high voltage for ignition is applied thereto.
In this drawing, only a pair of the ignition coil 2 and the spark plug 4 are shown as a representative of those ignition coils 2 and spark plugs 4 which are provided for respective cylinders.
The low voltage end of the secondary winding 2b is connected to an ionic current detecting circuit 10. The ionic current detecting circuit 10 applies a bias voltage of positive polarity, which is the opposite polarity from the ignition polarity, to the spark plug 4 via the secondary winding 2b and it detects the ionic current which corresponds to the quantity of ions generated at the time of combustion.
The ionic current detecting circuit 10 includes: a biasing means, namely, a capacitor C connected to the low voltage end of the secondary winding 2b; a diode D inserted between the capacitor C and the ground; a resistor R connected in parallel to the diode D; and a zener diode DZ for limiting voltage which is connected in parallel to the capacitor C and the diode D.
The series circuit composed of the capacitor C and the diode D and the zener diode DZ connected in parallel to the series circuit are inserted between the low voltage end of the secondary winding 2b and the ground to constitute a charging path for charging the capacitor C with the bias voltage at the time when ignition current is produced.
The capacitor C is charged with the secondary current which flows via the spark plug 4 discharged under the high voltage output from the secondary winding 2b when the power transistor 3 is turned OFF, i.e. when the current supplied to the primary winding 2a is cut off. The charging voltage is limited to a predetermined bias voltage, e.g. a few hundred volts, by the zener diode DZ; it functions as the biasing means, i.e. the power supply, for detecting ionic current.
The resistor R in the ionic current detecting circuit 10 converts the ionic current provided by the bias voltage to a voltage which is supplied as an ionic current detection signal Ei to an electronic control unit (ECU) 20.
The ECU 20 comprised of a microprocessor determines the combustion state of the internal-combustion engine according to the ionic current detection signal Ei; if it detects a bad combustion state, then it carries out appropriate corrective measures to prevent a problem.
The ECU 20 also computes the ignition timing, etc. according to the operating conditions obtained through various sensors, not shown, and issues an ignition signal P for the power transistor 3, fuel injection signals to the injectors, not shown, of the respective cylinders, and driving signals to various actuators such as a throttle valve and an ISC valve.
FIG. 9 through FIG. 11 are explanatory drawings illustrative of the path along which current flows into the secondary winding 2b and the ionic current detecting circuit 10; FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 illustrate the path, which is indicated by the solid line, of secondary current I2 flowing under the high voltage at the time when the spark plug 4 discharges, that is, during the ignition control; and FIG. 11 illustrates the path, which is indicated by the dashed line, of ionic current i running under the bias voltage at the time when the ionic current is detected.
Referring now to FIG. 9 through FIG. 11, the operation of the conventional combustion state detecting apparatus for an internal-combustion engine shown in FIG. 8 will be described.
Normally, the ECU 20 computes the ignition timing, etc. according to operating conditions and applies the ignition signal P to the base of the power transistor 3 at a target control timing so as to turn the power transistor 3 ON/OFF.
Thus, the power transistor 3 cuts off the supply of the primary current flowing into the primary winding 2a of the ignition coil 2 in order to boost the primary voltage and to generate the high voltage, e.g. a few tens of kilovolts, for ignition at the high voltage end of the secondary winding 2b.
This secondary voltage is applied to the spark plug 4 in each cylinder to generate a discharge spark in the combustion chamber of the cylinder under ignition control, thereby burning the fuel-air mixture. At this time, if the combustion state is normal, then a predetermined quantity of ions are produced around the spark plug and in the combustion chamber.
The secondary current I2 triggered by the discharge of the spark plug 4 at the time of ignition flows along the path indicated by the solid line shown in FIG. 9 and charges the capacitor C, which provides the bias power supply, via the charging path in the ionic current detecting circuit 10.
Then, as soon as the bias voltage of the capacitor C exceeds the zener voltage of the zener diode DZ, the secondary current I2 flows along the path indicated by the solid line in FIG. 10, and the bias voltage of the capacitor C is limited by the zener voltage of the zener diode DZ. The bias voltage of the capacitor C is set to an arbitrary predetermined value by the circuit characteristic of the zener diode DZ.
The bias voltage thus charged in the capacitor C is applied to the spark plug 4 of a cylinder which has just been subjected to the ignition control, i.e. combustion, via the secondary winding 2b, causing the ionic current i, which corresponds to the quantity of ions produced at the time of combustion, flows as indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 11. At this time, the ions move between the electrodes of the spark plug 4, and the capacitor C discharges.
The ionic current i is detected as the ionic current detection signal Ei by the voltage drop across the resistor R. The ECU 20 determines the combustion state of each cylinder according to the ionic current detection signal Ei and computes appropriate control parameters such as ignition timings in accordance with the operating conditions and the combustion states as previously described.
When, however, the supply of current to the primary winding 2a of the ignition coil 2 is begun, the high voltage end of the secondary winding 2b develops a positive voltage, which is opposite from that at the time of ignition.
This voltage has the same polarity as the bias voltage; therefore, if the bias voltage is superimposed, then there is a danger that discharge may take place between the opposed electrodes of the spark plug 4.
If the discharge takes place at the spark plug 4 at the time of the start of energizing the ignition coil 2, then a control error due to pre-ignition occurs and also, the capacitor C in the ionic current detecting circuit 10 wastefully discharges.
Furthermore, the discharge of the capacitor C causes a drop in the bias voltage, resulting in deteriorated sensitivity for detecting the ionic current i, and the current at the time of the discharge is erroneously detected as the ionic current i.
Thus, the conventional combustion state detecting apparatus for an internal-combustion engine has been posing a problem in that control errors attributable to pre-ignition, deteriorated sensitivity for detecting ionic current, and detection errors cannot be prevented because no measures have been made against the discharge of the bias voltage which may occur at the start of energizing the ignition coil 2.

Combustion state detecting apparatus for an internal-combustion engine


A circuit arrangement for use in a controller circuit of a switched mode power supply for turning on a power device in the switched-mode power supply when a voltage across the power device is at a minimum. The circuit arrangement includes circuitry for detecting when a change in the voltage across the power device is substantially zero, and for detecting when the voltage across the power device is less than a predetermined level. When these two criteria are met, the circuit arrangement generates a turn-on signal for the power device.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to switched-mode power supplies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Switched-mode power supplies generally include a power device for periodically applying power to a primary winding of a transformer. To this end, a main current path of the power device is connected in series with the primary winding and a source of power. In order to minimize dissipation on the power device, it is desirable that the power device be turned on when the voltage on the drain of the power device is at its minimum. This usually requires the measurement of the drain voltage, where voltages as high as 650 V. may be present, depending upon the application. Measuring such a high voltage is usually difficult and requires costly components.

Switched-mode power supply having a circuit arrangement for turning the switching device when a voltage on the switching device is at a minimum

Philips Electronics North America Corporation


The present invention relates to methods of making articles, and systems for providing wool articles having self-cleaning properties. The self-cleaning properties are brought about coating the wool articles with a photocatalyst formulation. The formulation contains titanium compounds, stabilizers, catalysts, and water.

Stain resistant finishes for wool products, such as wool carpets, have been available since 1987. Owing to intensive marketing campaigns in the USA, consumer response was rapid and by 1989 stainblocked carpets accounted for more than 50% of U.S. domestic wool containing carpet sales. The finishes used in stainblocking are mainly condensates of formaldehyde, furfuraldehyde or benzaldehyde, with phenol sulphonic acids, napthol sulphonic acids or dihydroxydiphenyl-sulphae sulphonates.
The stain-resist polymers are believed to form a layer close to the surface of the wool fiber exposing an anionic shield on the outer surface. This serves to repel other anionic species such as the acid dyes used as artificial coloring in food, for example the dyes FD&C40 and amaranth. However, such stain-resist treatments have less effect against non-ionic organic contaminants and hot beverages such as coffee and other non-ionic organic contaminants. Two particularly different common stains are coffee and red wine. These are often said to be the main staining problem in Europe. Clearly, methods and products are needed to address organic contaminants on wool articles.
Heterogeneous photocatalysis have shown promise as a chemical method for oxidizing and thereby removing unwanted organic compounds from fluids, including water, and air. A UV-illuminated catalyst, such as titanium dioxide, absorbs UV light, which produces electrons and holes that migrate to the surface of the catalyst. At the surface, the electrons reduce adsorbed oxygen, while the holes oxidize organic compounds or adsorbed water molecules.
For example, titanium dioxide is a semi-conductor with a band gap of 3.0 ev (rutile) and 3.2 ev (anatase). When a photon having an energy in excess of the band gap is absorbed by the photocatalyst, an electron is promoted from the valence band to the conduction band. The promotion of the electrons produces a "hole". The hole and the electron may diffuse to the surface of the photocatalyst where each may chemically react. Surface electrons generally reduce adsorbed oxygen, while surface holes generally oxidize organic compounds or absorbed water molecules. When electrons vacancies (holes) react with water reactive OH radicals and protons are formed.
While the use of photocatalysis for the removal of organic pollutants is generally known, a commercially feasible process for the use of such catalysts on wool products has not been developed.
It is an object of the present system to provide improvement, and overcome the disadvantages and problems of the prior art.


A method is disclosed for managing power in a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain having multiple components, including an engine, a motor, a generator and a high voltage battery. Power losses in the individual components are computed. An engine speed corresponding to a minimum value for the power losses is selected to achieve optimal total powertrain efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to management of power from two power sources in a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain.
2. Background Discussion
A series-parallel hybrid electric vehicle powertrain has two power sources for delivering driving power to vehicle traction wheels. An example of a series-parallel hybrid electric vehicle powertrain may be seen by referring to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/248,886, filed Feb. 27, 2003, entitled "Closed-Loop Power Control System for Hybrid Electric Vehicles," now U.S. Pat. No. 6,991,053, dated Jan. 31, 2006, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
The first power source in a powertrain of the kind disclosed in the co-pending patent application identified above comprises a combination of an engine and a generator that are mechanically coupled by a planetary gearset. A second power source is an electric drive system comprising a motor, the generator and a high voltage battery that are electrically coupled. The battery acts as an energy storing medium for the generator and the motor.
When the powertrain is operating in a driving mode that includes the first power source, the planetary gearset, together with the engine and the generator, cooperate to effect a power delivery characteristic that is analogous to the characteristic of a conventional continuously variable transmission in a vehicle powertrain. This is done by controlling generator speed, the generator being connected to the sun gear of the planetary gearset and the engine being connected to a planetary carrier. The ring gear of the planetary gearset is connected to the vehicle traction wheels through torque transfer gearing and a differential-and-axle-assembly.
Because of the fixed ratio of the planetary gearset and the variable generator speed, which achieve a decoupling of engine speed and vehicle speed, the planetary gearset acts as a power divider that divides engine output power and distributes power to torque transfer gearing and to the generator through separate power flow paths. The portion of the power delivered from the engine to the generator can be transmitted to the electric motor and then to the differential-and-axle assembly through the torque transfer gearing. Generator torque functions as a torque reaction as engine power is delivered through the planetary gearset.
When the vehicle is operating using the second power source, the electric motor draws power from the battery and provides driving torque to the vehicle traction wheels independently of the first power source. The two power sources can provide traction power for the vehicle either simultaneously or independently.
The two power sources must be integrated to work together seamlessly to meet a driver's demand for power within system power constraints while optimizing total powertrain system efficiency and performance. This requires a coordination of control of the two power sources.
As in the case of conventional continuously variable vehicle transmissions, a series-parallel hybrid powertrain can achieve better fuel economy and reduce undesirable exhaust gas emissions by operating the engine in its most efficient speed and torque operating region whenever possible. It also can potentially further improve fuel economy and quality of exhaust gas emissions, compared to a conventional continuously variable transmission, because the engine size can be reduced while providing the same vehicle performance. Still further, the engine can be stopped if operational conditions are not favorable for fuel economy and emissions purposes.
A vehicle system controller is used in a series-parallel hybrid powertrain to determine an engine torque and engine speed operating region to meet a driver demand for power while maintaining optimal fuel economy and optimum emissions quality under various vehicle operating conditions.
An example of a prior art hybrid powertrain system having a hydraulic pump and motor, rather than an electric generator and motor, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,912. The combination of the hydraulic pump and motor, together with an accumulator, in the powertrain of the '912 patent, is analogous to the combination of an electric motor and a battery in a hybrid electric powertrain with divided power flow paths.
Both the powertrain system of the '912 patent and the powertrain system disclosed in the co-pending patent application identified above can provide an effective power command that is satisfied by two power sources, and both powertrain systems are capable of regenerative braking. In the case of the powertrain system of the '912 patent, the strategy used by the powertrain controller may achieve the best brake specific fuel consumption operating region for the engine for any given driver power demand by using the hydraulic pump and motor to control the engine. That is not sufficient, however, to achieve optimum total powertrain system efficiency since power losses in other components and sub-systems of the powertrain of the '912 patent are not taken into consideration.

Optimal engine operating power management strategy for a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain


A heart stimulator, operable for single-chamber and/or dual-chamber pacing, includes a first unipolar electrical lead placeable in the atrium of a heart, and a second unipolar electrical lead placeable in the ventricle of the heart. In the heart stimulator, a differential detector is connected to each of these unipolar leads and detects a differential signal representative of cardiac activity between the atrial electrode and the ventricular electrode. The differential signal is supplied to decision logic which evaluates each of those outputs including using a morphology analysis, if necessary. Depending on the type of cardiac activity identified as a result of the evaluation, the decision logic supplies a signal to a control unit in the heart stimulator to cause the therapy administered by the heart stimulator to be altered as warranted. The decision logic may also derive a respiration signal from the differential signal, which can also be used to modify the administered therapy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a cardiac assist device, such as pacemaker, defibrillator or cardioverter, of the type having a unipolar atrial lead and a unipolar ventricular lead, and more particularly to an arrangement in such a device for analyzing the differential signal between the unipolar leads to identify various types of cardiac events and cardiac activity which produced the differential signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of implanted cardiac assist devices, such as pacemakers, defibrillators and cardioverters, it is known to employ leads implanted in or around the heart in order to obtain electrical signals which are representative of cardiac events and/or cardiac activity in the heart. Various types of sensing arrangements are known for this purpose. For example, unipolar atrial sensing takes place using the tip electrode on the electrode lead which is also used for delivering pacing pulses to the atrium, with sensing taking place between the tip electrode, functioning as an active sensing electrode, and the metallic pacemaker housing, functioning as the indifferent electrode. Similarly, unipolar ventricular sensing can be accomplished using the tip electrode of an electrode cable placed in the ventricle, operated as a sensing electrode, and the metallic pacemaker housing as the indifferent electrode. Such unipolar sensing has the advantage of requiring only one electrical conductor to be contained within the particular electrode cable which is employed, thereby minimizing the diameter of the cable, and allowing a simplified cable structure, since the same electrode (the tip electrode) is used for pacing and sensing.
Another common form of cardiac activity sensing employed in implanted cardiac assist devices is bipolar sensing. For bipolar sensing, the particular lead which is used (i.e., the atrial lead, the ventricular lead, or both leads) has, in addition to the tip electrode, a ring electrode spaced a distance from the tip electrode, with sensing taking place between the tip electrode and this ring electrode. Because the signal path in bipolar sensing between the two electrodes is much shorter than in the case of unipolar sensing, the sensed signal is less cluttered with noise in comparison to a unipolar signal, since the relatively large amount of intervening tissue between the unipolar electrode and the pacemaker housing allows an opportunity for various types of noise signals to become superimposed on the actual signal produced by the cardiac event or cardiac activity. Such conventional bipolar sensing, however, has the disadvantage that it requires two electrical conductors, and associated insulation to insulate the two conductors from each other, to be contained within the implanted lead, thereby increasing the lead diameter.
A relatively recent sensing approach, differing from conventional unipolar sensing and conventional bipolar sensing, is differential sensing, sometimes also referred to as "combipolar" sensing. In this type of sensing, a unipolar lead is placed in the ventricle and a unipolar is placed in the atrium, and sensing takes place between the respective tip electrodes of these two unipolar leads. A differential signal is produced between these two leads. Sensing of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,143. Atrial activity is sensed between the atrial tip electrode and the ventricular electrode, while ventricular electrical activity is sensed between the tip electrode in the ventricle and the metallic housing of the pacemaker. Such a differential sensing arrangement avoids interference, such as from muscular activity, which particularly arises in the case of conventional unipolar atrial sensing, since the atrial signal is by far the weaker signal compared to the ventricular signal, but there is no need to employ a bipolar electrode in the atrium.
Since the resulting signals in differential sensing can represent activity arising in the atrium as well as activity arising in the ventricle, in order to analyze such a differential signal, there must be provided a way to identify which chamber produced the electrical activity represented in an incoming differential signal. One such approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,457 wherein the incoming electrical signals are differentially sensed between the unipolar atrial electrode and unipolar ventricular electrode, and the sensed signal is additionally subjected to a correlation detection in order to identify which electrode is the source for the incoming signal.
In the case of conventional (i.e., non-differential) unipolar sensing, as well as in the case of conventional bipolar sensing, a large number of analysis techniques and algorithms are known for analyzing the sensed signals and identifying the type of cardiac event or cardiac activity which produced the signal for the purpose of classifying the incoming signal. Such classification, in turn, can be used for a number of different purposes, such as determining whether the signal represents normal (or desired) cardiac activity which is not in need of a change in the cardiac assist regimen, such as the pacing regimen, as well as for identifying whether some type of adjustment in the electrical therapy being administered by the cardiac assist device is needed, such as by increasing the pulse amplitude, for example, if an evoked response following an emitted pacing pulse is not detected in the sensed signal. Such classification can also be used to identify critical cardiac events which are in need of immediate attention by the cardiac assist device, such as the presence of tachycardia and/or fibrillation.
One such known technique employed in conventional unipolar sensing and conventional bipolar sensing is a pattern recognition, or waveform morphology, technique. A number of different versions of this technique are known in the art, but in general the technique involves identifying a pattern or waveform shape in all or a portion of the incoming signal representing a cardiac cycle and comparing this pattern or morphology to a number of stored patterns, each indicative of a different type of cardiac event or cardiac activity. The incoming signal is then classified according to the event or activity which is represented by the stored signal most closely resembling the pattern or morphology in the incoming signal. The pattern, in stored form, can be characterized in any of a number of different ways, such as by the occurrence of and/or the amplitude of peaks, the slope of various portions of the signal, as represented by a first differentiation of the signal, or changes in this slope, as represented by a second differentiation of the signal. Various combinations of these characteristics can also be employed to define the pattern even more precisely. Examples of these types of techniques employed in conventional unipolar and/or bipolar sensing are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,708 and in the article entitled "Detection of Pathological Tachycardia by Analysis of Electrogram Morphology," Davies et al., PACE, Vol. 9, March-April 1986, pp. 200-208.

Implantable cardiac assist device having differential signal detection between unipolar atrial and ventricular leads using signal morphology analysis


A vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photon source includes a body, a VUV window, electrodes disposed on the body outside an interior thereof, and a dielectric barrier between the electrodes. A method for generating VUV photons includes generating a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in an interior of a photon source by applying a periodic voltage between a first electrode and a second electrode separated by a dielectric barrier, wherein the DBD produces excimers from a gas in a gap between the electrodes, and transmitting VUV photons through a window of the photon source.

A mass spectrometry (MS) system in general includes an ionization apparatus (or ion source) for ionizing components of a sample of interest, a mass analyzer for separating the ions based on their differing mass-to-charge ratios (or m/z ratios, or more simply "masses"), an ion detector for counting the separated ions, and electronics for processing output signals from the ion detector as needed to produce a user-interpretable mass spectrum. Typically, the mass spectrum is a series of peaks indicative of the relative abundances of detected ions as a function of their m/z ratios. The mass spectrum may be utilized to determine the molecular structures of components of the sample, thereby enabling the sample to be qualitatively and quantitatively characterized. In certain "hyphenated" or "hybrid" systems, the sample supplied to the ionization apparatus may first be subjected to a form of analytical separation. For example, in a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) system or a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) system, the output of the LC or GC column may be transferred into the ion source through appropriate interface hardware.
The type of ionization apparatus deployed in the system depends on many factors. Examples of ionization techniques implemented by different types of ionization apparatuses include photo-ionization (PI), electrospray ionization (ESI), chemical ionization (CI), field ionization (FI), electron ionization (EI), laser desorption ionization (LDI), and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI). Some of these techniques are effective at or near atmospheric pressure and others are effective at vacuum pressure, while some may be adapted for implementation in either regime.
Ultraviolet (UV) PI is becoming recognized for its ability to ionize many chemical species, both polar and non-polar, with reduced ion suppression and retention of high sensitivity and dynamic range, as compared for example to widely used ESI. With the appropriate choice of photon wavelength (energy), efficient analyte ionization and low levels of undesired ionization of common LC solvents can be achieved simultaneously. Common UV PI sources, however, use a low internal-pressure gas discharge lamp, e.g. krypton (10.2 eV), in an atmospheric pressure ionization chamber. These sources are limited in their use mainly by low-intensity radiation (photon flux), ambient optical absorption of the UV flux, and unwanted ion chemistry in the high-pressure environment.
Therefore, there is a need for PI sources capable of producing higher photon flux levels and ionization efficiency with minimal ionization of non-analytical molecules, and which are effective for providing the advantages of UV PI in both low-pressure and high-pressure environments.

Vacuum ultraviolet photon source, ionization apparatus, and related methods


Audio data of 20 bits is separated into first data of upper 16 bits and second data of lower 4 bits. EFM modulation data is formed from the first data. A laser beam is on/off controlled in correspondence to the logic level of channel data obtained by NRZI modulating a serial data train. The first data, therefore, is recorded in a manner similar to the case of a compact disc. Each pit is controlled so as to have a displacement in the right/left direction for the track center in accordance with the second data and the deviated pit is formed. When data is recorded by the displacement of the pit, since a high frequency component of a tracking error signal changes upon reproduction, the second data can be extracted from the tracking error signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an optical recording medium suitable when it is applied to an optical disc such as a compact disc, recording apparatus and method for the optical recording medium, and reproducing apparatus and method for the optical recording medium.
2. Background Art
A compact disc (hereinafter, abbreviated to CD) has been spread as an optical disc. In the CD, audio data is sequentially divided into blocks, subjected to an encoding of an error correction code, and after that, and EFM (Eight To Fourteen) modulated, and a modulation result is recorded by an NRZI (Non Return to Zero Inverted) modulation.
As a result of the EFM modulation, for a basic period T serving as a period of a channel clock, the audio data is recorded onto the disc by a repetition of pits and a land having nine kinds of lengths 3 T to 11 T in which the basic period T is used as a unit. In case of a CD, each pit has a length of about 0.87 to 3.18 [μm] in correspondence to 3 T to 11 T, a pit width of about 0.5 [μm], and a depth of about 0.1 [μm].
The audio data recorded on the CD is 2-channel data in which a sampling frequency is equal to 44.1 [kHz] and the number of quantization bits is equal to 16 bits. However, it is also demanded to realize a high sound quality and multichannels. In this case, it is necessary that there is reproducing compatibility in which the audio data can be reproduced by the existing CD player. It is not preferable that a time of an audio program which can be recorded on one CD becomes short due to the realization of the high sound quality and multichannels. Further, since a copy preventing technique for copyright protection is not used in the CD, in a present situation, data is illegally copied.

Optical recording medium, recording apparatus and method for optical recording medium, and reproducing apparatus and method for optical recording medium