An apparatus in a computer for creating a diagram, which may include a plurality of symbols. The apparatus includes a graphical controller, which is associated with a symbol of the aforementioned diagram that is "selected." In one embodiment, the graphical controller includes a connector graphical controller for creating a first connector, which is coupled to the aforementioned selected symbol. Further, the graphical controller includes a symbol graphical controller for creating a new symbol, which new symbol is coupled to the aforementioned selected symbol by a second connector. The symbol graphical controller and the connector graphical controller are visually distinct from one another on the display screen so that the user may easily select either of the two for drawing diagram objects. In another embodiment, the invention further creates a temporary version of the aforementioned new symbol when the symbol graphical controller is held by the pointing device of the computer. The temporary version of the new symbol is advantageously capable of being moved around the computer display screen responsive to movement of the pointing device while the temporary version of the new symbol is held by the pointing device. To make the temporary version of the new symbol permanent into the aforementioned new symbol, users may release the temporary version of the new symbol at a user selected location on the display screen.

The present invention relates generally to computer software. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved apparatus and method for creating diagrams using a computer.
Software for creating diagrams and flowcharts are known in the art. To facilitate discussion of diagram and flowchart software, FIG. 1 illustrates a window showing a flowchart created in accordance with a prior art method. In FIG. 1, there is shown a window having a plurality of drawing tools along its border, including flowchart tool 200. Within the window, a flowchart having three symbols, 202, 204, and 206, is shown. To create the symbols of the flowchart shown in FIG. 1, users typically first select a flowchart tool 200. Upon selection of flowchart tool 200, the screen pointer, i.e., cursor, changes from a pointing mode (e.g., an arrow) to a flowchart mode (e.g., an outline of a bounding box or the ghost image of the first symbol to be created) to indicate that screen pointer manipulations henceforth will be interpreted as commands related to flowcharting.
Next, users may select a particular shape, e.g., rectangle, circle, or the like, from a symbol palette (not shown) to determine the shape of the next symbol to be placed in the window display area. To actually place a new symbol in the window display area, users then move the screen pointer to a desired location and click on a mouse button once to cause a symbol having a selected shape to appear on the display screen.
For discussion purposes, assume for the moment that symbol 202, representing the rounded rectangle in FIG. 1, is the first symbol being placed. Immediately after its creation, symbol 202 becomes the "selected" symbol, i.e., the symbol that is the focus of user operation. To subsequently create diamond symbol 204, users then pick a diamond symbol from the aforementioned symbol palette. The user may then click on a button 208 at the right edge of selected symbol 202 to cause diamond symbol 204 to appear next to the respective button clicked. For example, when button 208 is clicked, a new diamond symbol will appear to the right of button 208. Further, the newly created diamond symbol will have its left comer connected by the prior art flowcharting technique to the right edge of selected symbol 202.
To move the newly created diamond symbol to its final location, i.e., the location of symbol 204 shown in FIG. 1, users may then select the new created diamond symbol 204 and drag it to its final location. Typically, this operation is accomplished by first placing the screen pointer on the newly created diamond symbol, and depressing the mouse button to select it. The user may then drag the mouse while keeping the mouse button depressed to move the newly created symbol to its final location. While diamond symbol 204 is moved, the connector that couples its left comer to the right edge of symbol 202 is kept track of in memory. However, the aforementioned connector is not visually displayed during the move in the prior art. When diamond symbol 204 is released at its final location on the display screen, the connection materializes into connector 212, i.e., becomes visible.
Note that the prior art requires two distinct operations to create a new flowchart symbol: 1) creating a new symbol adjacent to a selected symbol by clicking on a button associated with the selected symbol, and 2) subsequently selecting and dragging the newly created symbol to its final location in the window display screen. Further, the connector between the newly created symbol and the selected symbol is not seen during the drag operation and only materializes in the window display screen once the user releases the newly created symbol at its final location.
To subsequently create circle symbol 206, users then reselect symbol 202 to cause buttons to appear thereon. Users may then select a circle symbol from the above-mentioned symbol palette and click on button 210 at the lower edge of selected symbol 202 to cause a new circle symbol to appear directly below button 210. As before, the prior art method automatically connects the upper edge of the newly created circle symbol to the lower edge of selected symbol 202. To place newly created symbol 206 at its final location in the window display screen of FIG. 1, users may again select the newly created circle symbol and drag it to its final location on the window display area. Again, the connector that couples between the lower edge of symbol 202 and circle symbol 206 is kept track of logically in memory but not visually presented on the screen during the move. Once the user releases the mouse button, circle symbol 206 is placed and the connector between it and symbol 202 materializes.
In the example of FIG. 1, diamond symbol 204 is shown connected to circle symbol 206 via a connector 218. To create connector 218, users in the prior art typically place the screen pointer in the center of one of the symbols to be connected, e.g., diamond symbol 204, and depresses the mouse button therein to change the screen pointer mode to a connecting tool (usually indicated visually as the screen pointer changes shape to a cross-hair). Users may then drag the cross-hair to the second symbol to be connected, e.g., circle symbol 206, and release the mouse button therein to create a connector between the two symbols.
Although the prior art flowchart creation technique represents a useful method for creating drawings, it has been recognized that improvements may be made. For example, the prior art typically defines connection points at fixed locations on a symbol. It has been recognized that users may wish to edit those locations and move connection points to user-selected locations on a symbol. Further, buttons in the prior art, e.g., button 208, include no visual indication of the drawing methodology. By way of example, symbols may be connected to each other by either right angle connectors, i.e., connectors for coupling between objects which is made up of only horizontal and vertical segments such as connector 212, or a straight connector adjoining two symbols along a straight line. In the prior art, if users wish to know which connector methodology is currently in operation, they must perform an independent check by, for example, checking a menu, or making a trial connection to visually determine the currently active connector methodology.
Further, the prior art method of creating connectors between two existing symbols, e.g., by requiring users to mouse down at the center of an existing symbol, invites errors. This is because users in the prior art must be careful in the placement of screen pointers in the first of the two symbols to be connected. By way of example, if a user places the screen pointer closer to the periphery of a symbol than at its center, the drawing mode may change to a moving mode instead of the desired connecting mode (e.g., the screen pointer may change to the shape of a hand instead of a cross-hair) when the mouse button is depressed. When those users drag the screen pointer to another symbol, they may inadvertently move the two symbols closer to one another instead of creating a connector therebetween, which is really the desired effect. Conversely, users may inadvertently create a connector between two symbols when they really intend to move the symbols closer to one another.
In view of the above-mentioned disadvantages, what is desired is an improved apparatus and method for creating diagram symbols and connectors. The improved apparatus and method preferably simplifies the creation and placement of new symbols and connectors. Further, the improved apparatus and method preferably provides improved visual indicators of the active connection methodology to render the diagram creation process more user-friendly, less error-prone, and more intuitive.

Apparatus and method for creating diagrams


In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for preparing siloxane polymers comprising the steps of: (a) polymerizing at least one siloxane-based monomer in the presence of a crosslinking agent consistent with the following structure:

Siloxane-based rubbers such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are important commercial commodities. PDMS rubbers are commonly produced by the polymerization of cyclic siloxanes in the presence of a base catalyst, in bulk, at elevated temperatures followed by curing of the linear prepolymer. Some examples of such cyclic siloxanes are hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane (D3), octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4), decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5), and the like.
Initiation of D4 polymerization by a base (B in FIGS. 1 and 2, e.g., —OH, —OR) to the PDMS prepolymer proceeds by the reaction scheme represented in FIG. 1. Propagation is by repetitive ring opening steps in equilibrium with cyclization, as shown in FIG. 2. This process yields a mixture of linear and cyclic products. The cyclics are removed and recycled. Useful articles are prepared from the linear products by crosslinking. Crosslinking to desirable rubbers may proceed by various techniques, i.e., by the use of peroxides, high-energy radiation, hydrosilation, condensation, and the like.

Process for preparing siloxane compounds

Abstract: where n is an integer in the range of 1 to about 100; and (b) recovering at least one polymerization product generated by the reaction of Step (a).


System and method for selectively applying electrical energy to structures within or on the surface of a patient's body and controlling the flow of an electrically conductive fluid from the application site to provide or maintain a desired operating condition of the electrosurgical device. An electrosurgical probe is in communication with a fluid transport apparatus through a fluid transport lumen having an opening at an end proximate the application site and disposed proximate the electrosurgical probe. A controller in communication with the fluid transport apparatus provides control signals to the fluid transport apparatus in response to at least one operating parameter associated with the system. Based on the received control signals, the fluid transport apparatus adjusts a flow rate of the electrically conductive fluid at the application site through the fluid transport lumen in response to at least one operating parameter associated with the system.

The field of electrosurgery includes a number of loosely related surgical techniques which have in common the application of electrical energy to modify the structure or integrity of patient tissue. Electrosurgical procedures usually operate through the application of very high frequency currents to cut or ablate tissue structures, where the operation can be monopolar or bipolar. Monopolar techniques rely on external grounding of the patient, where the surgical device defines only a single electrode pole. Bipolar devices comprise both electrodes for the application of current between their surfaces.
Electrosurgical procedures and techniques are particularly advantageous since they generally reduce patient bleeding and trauma associated with cutting operations. Current electrosurgical device and procedures, however, suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, monopolar devices generally direct electric current along a defined path from the exposed or active electrode through the patient's body to the return electrode, which is externally attached to a suitable location on the patient. This creates the potential danger that the electric current will flow through undefined paths in the patient's body, thereby increasing the risk of unwanted electrical stimulation to portions of the patient's body. In addition, since the defined path through the patient's body has a relatively high impedance (because of the large distance or resistivity of the patient's body), large voltage differences must typically be applied between the return and active electrodes in order to generate a current suitable for ablation or cutting of the target tissue. This current, however, may inadvertently flow along body paths having less impedance than the defined electrical path, which will substantially increase the current flowing through these paths, possibly causing damage to or destroying tissue along and surrounding this pathway.
Bipolar electrosurgical devices have an inherent advantage over monopolar devices because the return current path does not flow through the patient. In bipolar electrosurgical devices, both the active and return electrode are typically exposed so that they may both contact tissue, thereby providing a return current path from the active to the return electrode through the tissue. One drawback with this configuration, however, is that the return electrode may cause tissue desiccation or destruction at its contact point with the patient's tissue. In addition, the active and return electrodes are typically positioned close together to ensure that the return current flows directly from the active to the return electrode. The close proximity of these electrodes generates the danger that the current will short across the electrodes, possibly impairing the electrical control system and/or damaging or destroying surrounding tissue.
The use of electrosurgical procedures (both monopolar and bipolar) in electrically conductive environments can be further problematic. For example, many arthroscopic procedures require flushing of the region to be treated with isotonic saline (also referred to as normal saline), both to maintain an isotonic environment and to keep the field of viewing clear. The presence of saline, which is a highly conductive electrolyte, can also cause shorting of the electrosurgical electrode in both monopolar and bipolar modes. Such shorting causes unnecessary heating in the treatment environment and can further cause non-specific tissue destruction.
Many surgical procedures, such as oral, laparoscopic and open surgical procedures, are not performed with the target tissue submerged under an irrigant. In laparoscopic procedures, such as the resection of the gall bladder from the liver, for example, the abdominal cavity is pressurized with carbon dioxide (pneumoperitoneum) to provide working space for the instruments and to improve the surgeon's visibility of the surgical site. Other procedures, such as the ablation of muscle or gingiva tissue in the mouth, the ablation and necrosis of diseased tissue, or the ablation of epidermal tissue, are also typically performed in a "dry" environment or field (i.e., not submerged under an electrically conducting irrigant).
Present electrosurgical techniques used for tissue ablation also suffer from an inability to control the depth of necrosis in the tissue being treated. Most electrosurgical devices rely on creation of an electric arc between the treating electrode and the tissue being cut or ablated to cause the desired localized heating. Such arcs, however, often create very high temperatures causing a depth of necrosis greater than 500 μm, frequently greater than 800 μm, and sometimes as great as 1700 μm. The inability to control such depth of necrosis is a significant disadvantage in using electrosurgical techniques for tissue ablation, particularly in arthroscopic procedures for ablating and/or reshaping fibrocartilage, articular cartilage, meniscal tissue, and the like.
In an effort to overcome at least some of these limitations of electrosurgery, laser apparatus have been developed for use in arthroscopic and other procedures. Lasers do not suffer from electrical shorting in conductive environments, and certain types of lasers allow for very controlled cutting with limited depth of necrosis. Despite these advantages, laser devices suffer from their own set of deficiencies. In the first place, laser equipment can be very expensive because of the costs associated with the laser light sources. Moreover, those lasers which permit acceptable depths of necrosis (such as eximer lasers, erbium:YAG lasers, and the like) provide a very low volumetric ablation rate, which is a particular disadvantage in cutting and ablation of fibrocartilage, articular cartilage, and meniscal tissue. The holmium:YAG and Nd:YAG lasers provide much higher volumetric ablation rates, but are much less able to control depth of necrosis than are the slower laser devices. The CO2 lasers provide high rate of ablation and low depth of tissue necrosis, but cannot operate in a liquid-filled cavity.
For these and other reasons, improved systems and methods are desired for the electrosurgical ablation and cutting of tissue. These systems and methods should be capable of selectively cutting and ablating tissue and other body structures in electrically conductive environments, such as regions filled with blood or irrigated with electrically conductive solutions, such as isotonic saline, and in relatively dry environments, such as those encountered in oral, dermatological, laparoscopic, thoracosopic and open surgical procedures. Such apparatus and methods should be able to perform cutting and ablation of tissues, while limiting the depth of necrosis and limiting the damage to tissue adjacent to the treatment site.
The assignee of the present invention developed Coblation® technology. Coblation® technology involves the application of a high frequency voltage difference between one or more active electrode(s) and one or more return electrode(s) to develop high electric field intensities in the vicinity of the target tissue in order to treat said tissue. The high electric field intensities may be generated by applying a high frequency voltage that is sufficient to vaporize an electrically conductive fluid over at least a portion of the active electrode(s) in the region between the tip of the active electrode(s) and the target tissue. The electrically conductive fluid may be a liquid or gas, such as isotonic saline, blood, extracellular or intracellular fluid, delivered to, or already present at, the target site, or a viscous fluid, such as a gel, applied to the target site.
The electrosurgical devices described above may incorporate a suction lumen to carry away blood, tissue or other material from the treatment site. Presently available devices that utilize suction typically access vacuum pressure from a surgical vacuum source that is self-regulated to maintain a pre-set vacuum pressure. One problem associated with such systems is that the flow of liquid, gas and/or tissue particles in the vicinity of the treatment end of device may negatively affect the efficacy of such electrosurgical devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrosurgical system with suction control apparatus, system and method


Techniques for detecting malicious activity are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for detecting malicious activity including receiving information indicating a first process being executed, the first process including a plurality of first process components, receiving information specific to at least one of the plurality of first process components, determining whether the first process exhibits malicious behavior; and identifying which of the plurality of first process components is responsible for the malicious behavior based on the received information.

Computer viruses and malware can create serious problems for computing systems including, for example, unauthorized access to private data, degradation of system performance, and hijacking of system resources. Accordingly, detection of such malicious activity has become very important. However, traditional methods of detecting malicious activity are not capable of sufficiently detecting malware or viruses that are non-process threats and appear as extensions of trusted operating system processes or applications.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there may be significant problems and shortcomings associated with traditional malicious activity detection.


The present invention describes an on demand service provisioning system to interface with suppliers and customers. One embodiment of the present invention includes a database to store information on customers, suppliers and transactions; a module to interface customers; a module to interface suppliers; a module to interface the database; a stateful section including the module to interface with the database; and a stateless section including the module to interface with the customers and the suppliers.

The increasingly mobile, remote and distributed nature of today's workforce makes it difficult for an organization to provide adequate administrative support for their workers. As a result, the workers themselves must spend part of their working day identifying, procuring, managing, coordinating and accessing the services they need to perform their job. Additionally, even people who are not mobile or remote workers find that they have less time to spend in organizing the services they need for their business or personal life.
This problem is further exacerbated when many workers must attend off-site events requiring travel plans including airfare, sleeping accommodations and local transportation. The distributed nature of the workforce could result in numerous people staying in varying hotels, renting individual cars and/or transportation to and from airports and event locations. This can add up to the redundant cost of travel-related services.
Another problem is the inherent lack of knowledge between workers as to who is attending a given event, further hindering a chance for coordinated travel arrangements. Online systems such as Evite, Yahoo Calendar and Microsoft Outlook have brought together group notices of events and meetings. This has allowed workers to know who has been invited and whether they plan to attend a given event. However such systems do not alleviate the problem of redundancy in the booking of event-related services to attend such off-site events. Organizations have an interest in reducing redundant expenses such as individual rental cars and hotel rooms. However, they often lack the bandwidth to coordinate a sharing of such services.
In generic terms, a service is a unit of work done by a service provider to achieve desired end results for a service consumer. For such a broad, generic application, many different aspects apply. For example, there is no inventory in the classic sense, as, for example, unused seats on a flight just departed may no longer be sold. On the other hand, as some people do not come to their flights (no-shows), airlines typically overbook flights, meaning, they typically sell more seats than are available, following statistical patterns of no-show behavior, occasionally leading to overbooking, etc. Therefore, a system interacting with such types of services requires capabilities to deal with the type of issues that can occur.


A device detects the location of patterned objects in an environment by receiving an optical image and converting the optical image of the lost object into a color digital image. The device employs software to perform an analysis of the color digital image to detect the location of the one or more patterned objects in the environment by using color characteristics of light reflected from a pattern on the one or more patterned objects. The software uses a range of the visible portion of the color space uniquely identified for the light reflected from the pattern on the object and identifies those pixels in the digital image that may be possible targets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device, system and computer program product for detecting a patterned object. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, device and computer program product for detecting the location of a patterned object in a landscape using Reflection Spectroscopy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many circumstances where an object is lost in landscape and determining its location in the landscape is difficult due to the complexity of the landscape. One such circumstance occurs while playing the sport of golf. Typically, the sport of golf is played on landscape having a variety of characteristics, such as grass, sand, trees, water, etc. It is not uncommon for a golf ball to become lost while playing golf due to these characteristics. Once a golf ball is lost a substantial amount of time can be spent trying to find it. Attempting to find a lost golf ball results in an increase of playing time for the golfer who lost the ball, as well as other golfers playing behind or with the golfer that lost the ball. In cases where the golf ball cannot be located, the golfer who lost the ball is accessed a penalty stroke thereby increasing that golfer's final score.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device, method and computer program product for detecting the location of a patterned object in landscape having a variety of characteristics. There is a need for a device, method and computer program product for detecting the location of a patterned object using reflection spectroscopy. There is further need for a device, method and computer program product for detecting the reflection of laser light from a pattern on a patterned object with a mobile device. There is further need for a device, method and computer program product for detecting the location of a patterned object, where the pattern on the object is standard to the object. There is a need for a device, method and computer program product for detecting the location of a patterned object in a reduced amount of time.

Reflection spectroscopic means for detecting patterned objects


The present invention relates to methods for producing a polypeptide having biological activity, comprising: (a) cultivating a fungal host cell in a medium conducive for the production of the polypeptide, wherein the fungal host cell comprises a first polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide operably linked to a second polynucleotide encoding a variant signal peptide or a variant prepropeptide; and (b) isolating the secreted polypeptide having biological activity from the cultivation medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for producing secreted polypeptides. The present invention also relates to variant signal peptides or variant prepropeptides and nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the variant signal peptide or variant prepropeptide coding sequences operably linked to polynucleotides encoding polypeptides.
2. Description of the Related Art
A signal peptide is an amino acid sequence linked in frame to the amino terminus of a polypeptide having biological activity and directs the encoded polypeptide into the cell's secretory pathway. A propeptide is an amino acid sequence positioned at the amino terminus of a polypeptide, wherein the resultant polypeptide is known as a proenzyme or propolypeptide (or a zymogen in some cases). A propolypeptide is generally inactive and can be converted to a mature active polypeptide by catalytic or autocatalytic cleavage of the propeptide from the propolypeptide. Where both signal peptide and propeptide regions are present at the amino terminus of a polypeptide, the propeptide region is linked in frame to the amino terminus of a polypeptide and the signal peptide region is linked in frame to the amino terminus of the propeptide region.
The secretion of a recombinant polypeptide of interest in a particular host cell may require the replacement of its native signal peptide with a new signal peptide that is compatible with the host cell of choice. In addition, a propeptide sequence of a polypeptide may also need to be replaced with a different propeptide sequence or deleted because the propeptide sequence is not processed or is processed improperly by the host cell to secrete an active polypeptide. In other cases, a signal peptide and/or propeptide may be absent.
It may be possible to improve the secretion of a polypeptide of interest by modifying the native signal peptide or native prepropeptide naturally associated with the polypeptide through mutation.
Belin et al., 2004, Journal of Molecular Biology 335: 437-453, describe mutations that improve the functional activity of the plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 (PAI-2) signal sequence. Tsuchiya et al., 2003, Nucleic Acids Research Supplement No. 3, pp. 262-262, describe mutation of a signal sequence for effective secretion of human lysozyme in yeast. Nothwehr and Gordon, 1990, The Journal of Biological Chemistry 265: 17202-17208, describe structural features in the amino terminal region of the human pre(Δpro)apolipoprotein A-II signal peptide that influences the site of its cleavage by signal peptidase. Ngsee and Smith, 1990, Gene 86: 251-255, describe changes in the bovine prolactin signal peptide required for efficient secretion in yeasts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,912 discloses the cloning and sequence of a full-length wild-type lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus containing a prepropeptide sequence. U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,438 discloses variants of a full-length wild-type lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus.
There is a need in the art for improved signal peptide and propeptide sequences for the secretion of active polypeptides in various host cells.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved methods for producing a polypeptide in a fungal host cell using variant signal peptides or variant prepropeptides.

Methods for producing secreted polypeptides having biological activity


A rotating hose device for rotating and helically thrusting a high pressure hose and biased nozzle into a pipe for the purpose of cleaning the interior surface of the pipe. The rotating hose device is powered by converting linear torque from a rotating high pressure hose into linear thrust, forcing the high pressure hose and biased nozzle into the pipe, where the high pressure hose and biased nozzle travel through the pipe in a helical manner. The present invention more effeciently cleans conduit, pipe and other tubular members, by constantly positioning the biased nozzle against the interior surface of the pipe and avoiding the "streaking" effect left by prior art nozzles. The helical pitch of the rotating high pressure hose, speed and direction of travel of the high pressure hose are controlled through the alignment of the drive wheels in the rotary hose drive.

Effectively and effeciently cleaning plugged or partially plugged conduit, pipe or assorted tubular members continues to be a major problem. Keeping industrial, commercial and residential piping clean and avoiding the problem of "streaking" or leaving an uncleaned or partially cleaned path is an ongoing concern which costs hundreds of millions of dollars annually in this country alone. Plugged residential piping is a nuisance and inconvenience to the home dweller and can become costly if improperly handled. Plugged commercial and industrial piping is more than a nuisance or inconvenience. Plugged commercial and industrial piping is costly in terms of lost production and lost profits to the company, lost or reduced wages to the workers and the costly expense of cleaning and maintaining the piping.
Of primary concern in the present invention is to provide a more efficient, less expensive, safer and easier to use system to clean and maintain the internal surface of industrial, commercial and residential piping.
It is, therefore, a feature of the present invention to provide a cleaning operation which is automatic and thereby reduces the cleaning time compared to manual prior cleaning techniques.
A feature of the present invention is to provide an independent set of controls for forward or backward speed, and rotational speed to control the size particles removed from the internal surface of the piping.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a safer system of cleaning the interior surface of piping, in that the operator need not be in close proximity to the pipe opening or the rotating hose.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a hydraulic, or other non-internal combustion, powered rotating device which can be safely used in hazardous or explosive environments, where an internal combustion engine could not safely operate.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide rotating, helical or screw-like insertion of the high pressure hose and nozzle into the pipe, which greatly reduces the amount of streaking on the interior surface of piping.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide an internal pipe cleaning system which is light and portable permitting its use in many small or elevated work areas.
Still another feature of the present invention is to provide an internal pipe cleaning apparatus which can be used in piping of wide ranging diameters, with comparatively small water blast equipment.
Yet further, an additional feature of the present invention is to provide a safe internal pipe cleaning apparatus whereby, should the high pressure hose burst or the nozzle become separated from the high pressure hose, the hose will not uncontrollably retreat from the piping.
Still another feature of the present invention is to convert the torque from the rotating hose into linear thrust, to thrust the high pressure hose forward or backward, and to use the same linear thrust to control the speed with which the hose and nozzle are inserted into the pipe.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to control the helical pitch at which the hose and nozzle are inserted into a pipe, to provide more effecient cleaning.
Another feature of the present invention is to employ a biased cleaning nozzle which is designed to press itself against the interior surface of the pipe to more effectively clean the interior surface and not attempt to position itself centrally within the pipe as do prior art nozzles.
Yet still another feature of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for cleaning the interior surfaces of pipe more effectively and more efficiently than other currently known devices.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent from the description, or maybe learned by practice of the invention. The features and advantages of the invention maybe realized by means of the combinations and steps particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


The present disclosure relates to methods and products for reducing adhesions. In certain embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method of reducing adhesions in a subject, the method comprising exposing a region in the subject susceptible to formation of an adhesion to an agent having iron chelation and/or antioxidant activity, thereby reducing adhesions in the subject.

Adhesions are fibrous bands that form between tissues and organs which are not normally connected. They typically form when two or more surfaces, such as the surfaces of discrete tissues, stick together following injury associated with surgery. Adhesions are a frequent complication of surgical procedures and their formation is difficult to avoid.
Whilst normal wound healing is a highly regulated and coordinated process, the causes underlying formation of adhesions are complex and not completely understood. In addition, the formation of adhesions can be exacerbated by a number of pathological processes. The critical time interval to block formation of many types of adhesions appears to be in the first 48 hours after initial injury, and the extent of adhesion formation appears to be dependent, at least in part, on the inhibition of fibroblast proliferation and/or migration during that time.
Adhesions may occur after almost all types of surgeries and are capable of forming in most anatomical locations. For example, a bowel resection within the abdominal cavity may lead to attachment between the bowel and the abdominal wall. Adhesions can produce pain and discomfort for the patient, impair the functioning of effected organs, and hinder subsequent surgeries in the same anatomical region. Adhesions are also a common complication of spinal surgery, and they are a primary reason for postoperative pain even after a successful spinal surgery.
The formation of adhesions may result in increased health care costs. These costs include subsequent surgeries to remove or separate adhesions, additional visits to medical practitioners, pain medication and lost productivity. In addition, if a patient has a subsequent operation at the same surgical site, the operation can be complicated by existing adhesions. Surgeons may have to spend additional time removing existing adhesions before a new procedure can begin.
As such, the reduction of adhesions remains an important goal of surgical practice. A variety of approaches have been undertaken to treat adhesions, but they have not generally withstood rigorous clinical examination or they have significant practical limitations.
For example, one such approach is to perform a further operation to remove existing adhesions. However, many times these operations are not effective because adhesions simply reform. Another approach to preventing adhesions has been the use of agents such as anti-inflammatory agents, anticoagulants, and fibrinolytic agents. However, such approaches have not been particularly encouraging.
Another approach has been the development of barriers to be used in surgical procedures, with the aim of physically separating tissues. Liquid barriers and gels typically do not perform well, and structural barriers have been found to have lower clinical effectiveness than desired.
Accordingly, there is a need for new methods and products to reduce the formation of adhesions.

Methods and products for reducing adhesions


Disclosed is a unit volume mixing apparatus for reconstituting a one or more component concentrated media in an influent stream. Mixing is facilitated by a water-driven mixing vortex. The effluent fluid stream is filtered, sterilized and delivered to a sterilized receiving bag for containing a unit volume of reconstituted material.

The present invention relates to mixing apparatus for mixing an incoming fluid stream with a material to be mixed with the incoming fluid stream. More particularly, the present invention relates to mixing apparatus specially adapted for reconstituting powdered cell culture media in predetermined unit volume amounts.
Viable animal cells and tissue in in vitro cultures have been known since the early 1900s. While animal cell culture today is a sophisticated technology, the basic culture technique has not changed since the beginning of the century. Cells or tissue, either primary or transformed, are grown in a liquid nutrient mixture generally referred to as "media." This media is a complex mixture of amino acids, vitamins, salts, and other components. It is often supplemented with 1-10% purified bovine fetal or newborn calf serum. Cell culture media and serum are available commercially from many sources.
While the basic cell culture technique has not changed appreciably over the years, the volume of cell culture and the accessibility of this laboratory technique has increased dramatically. Not only are more research laboratories, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies employing tissue culture techniques but they are doing so, often, on a relatively large scale. A medical product related corporation may consume tens or hundreds of liters of liquid media a day and employ large numbers of laboratory technicians and scientists to generate antibodies, growth factors or purified protein from tissue culture for commercial use. Thus, between media supply costs and employee time there is a considerable expense associated with the tissue culture process today.
Cell culture media is available commercially either as a dry powder which is reconstituted by adding an appropriate volume of water, or as a pre-packaged liquid. There are also a number of additives that are typically added to the media before use. These include sodium bicarbonate, glutamine, additional buffers or antibiotics.
Pre-packaged liquid is sterile, aliquoted into convenient sizes and is ready to use. However, the media is typically light sensitive and has a prescribed shelf-life. Therefore, media must be ordered on a regular basis. It also should by stored under refrigeration and, in its prepackaged form, requires significant man-power time to unpackage and transport. Further, shipping costs of prepackaged liquid is becoming increasingly more expensive.
Powdered media is provided in bulk or in premeasured packages. It tends to have a longer shelf life, is less expensive and requires less storage space and handling time than the liquid form. However, the powdered media must be dissolved and aliquoted under sterile conditions. The increased handling and preparation time especially for large volume media preparation often makes pre-packaged liquid media the preferred choice despite the increased cost. Thus a powdered media that is easy to prepare, requires less storage space than liquid media and whose preparation requires minimal effort will be a significant improvement over the current art.
Reconstitution of powdered media is a several step process. To prepare a liquid media from a solid powder, a known amount of powder intended for a specific volume of media is measured out and added to a volume of distilled water which is typically slightly less than the final desired volume. The powder and water are stirred until the solid is completely dissolved. Then, a specific quantity of sodium bicarbonate is added and dissolved. Sodium bicarbonate and the powdered media must not be simultaneously added to the water, or a calcium carbonate precipitate forms. The pH may thereafter be adjusted using acid or base and additional water is added to increase the media to its final volume. The entire mixture is then passed through a sterilizing filter. The media may thereafter be collected in a single large sterile vessel, or proportioned into several smaller sterile vessels.
Powdered tissue culture media has a very fine particle size and is hygroscopic. When mixed with water, it tends to "ball" or "clump." Thus, when reconstituting in water, sufficient agitation is required to break up any clumps that may form upon initial contact with water. For smaller batch sizes, sterile magnetic stir bars can be added to the mixing container and the container is then placed on a magnetic stir plate. Additional manipulations are required to add stir bars to the mixing containers. In a typical laboratory setting, magnetic stir plates are not a practical solution for large volume media preparation.
In addition, due to its hygroscopic nature, the media absorbs water when stored, especially in humid environments. Wet media has a shortened shelf-life, becomes lumpy and requires aggressive agitation to reconstitute. Thus, powdered media shelf life could be improved if it were provided in premeasured sealed and desiccated aliquots.
The reconstitution process requires several steps and several separate pieces of equipment. It generally requires at least one vessel, large enough to contain the entire final volume of reconstituted media, plus one or more vessels to receive the sterile media after filtration. The sterilized media is usually delivered into open top containers. Thus, most media preparation is done in a laminar flow hood. Processing large volumes of media in a hood is difficult because there is often not enough space to accommodate the containers and sterile media. A device that would permit the preparation of such a product with minimal physical contact and facilitate media preparation without the inconveniences described above would fulfill a long felt need in the scientific community.
There are a wide variety of solutions, the preparation of which requires the sequential dissolution or addition of components with minimum physical contact. In the research laboratory there are a range of chemicals that are purchased as a powder or series of powders or as a series of concentrates and must be prepared prior to use. Other substances may be toxic so handling should be minimized. Some chemicals are required to be free of nucleases such as those found on human hands and require sterilization before use. Still others must be free from contaminants including dusts, bacteria, viruses and fungi. As a liquid these substances may have a predetermined shelf-life and while they may be inexpensive to purchase as a powder, they are considerably more expensive to purchase and receive in a prepackaged, filtered sterile liquid form.


A device for monitoring a test subject includes a light source and at least one optical waveguide configured for at least one of directing light from the light source onto a biological substrate and receiving the light directed onto the biological substrate. The device also includes a sensor operable to detect the light received, a logic component operable to analyze the light detected by the sensor, an output component operable to convey information from the logic component to a user of the device, and a housing containing the light source, the sensor, the logic component, and the output component, where the at least one optical waveguide forms at least one bristle extending outside of the housing.

Personal healthcare typically requires invasive testing and monitoring. A person typically goes to a hospital, clinical laboratory, or doctor's office and undergoes one or more clinical tests that involve invasive testing to determine the person's wellbeing and general health. Conventional clinical tests during physical examination often involve the taking of a blood sample to test for a range of medical conditions. Taking a blond sample usually necessitates the insertion of a needle or other instrument which is often a painful experience. Physical examination often necessitate other types of invasive testing and monitoring.
In addition to the inconvenience and costs associated with invasive testing in a hospital or clinical laboratory setting, most people only very infrequently undergo such invasive testing. Such infrequent or intermittent testing often poses risks to a person's health, because one or more signs or symptoms of a potential illness or disease are often overlooked or detected too late because the testing was not performed sufficiently early. In addition, it is difficult to maintain a preventive approach to healthcare because of the infrequent or intermittent testing and monitoring that occurs. More frequent monitoring and testing is necessary in order to maintain a more accurate record of the person's health.
Moreover, the costs associated with physical examinations and clinical testing often deter people from seeking healthcare. Additional laboratory testing typically adds significant costs to the burden associated with a physical examination. A relatively simple and inexpensive device capable of monitoring and testing would therefore be beneficial.


A swirler for swirling fluid in a nozzle has a swirler body. The swirler body defines an inlet end, an outlet end opposed to the inlet end, and a circumferential periphery. The circumferential periphery extends axially from the inlet end to the outlet end. The outlet end defines a first swirl chamber. The inlet end defines a second swirl chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to nozzles, and more particularly to swirler elements for nozzles for swirling fluid flowing through the nozzle, for example as in spray dry nozzles.
2. Description of Related Art
Fluid nozzles or atomizers having spiral swirl chambers have been employed for various applications including spray drying, aeration, cooling, and fuel injection. Such nozzles operate by forcing a fluid composed of a liquid and a suspension, dispersion, emulsion, or slip of abrasive material through a swirl chamber. The swirl chamber changes the direction of the liquid and imparts a rotation or swirl to the fluid flow. This causes the fluid to exit the nozzle in a cone of small droplets that are well dispersed into the environment outside the nozzle.
In applications such as spray drying, the fluid feed pressure supplies the energy for fluid atomizing. The fluid feed pressure can exceed 5,000 psi, and in certain applications, exceeds 10,000 psi. Because of the nature of the fluid and the high pressure of the pumping process, swirl units can require frequent replacement due to erosion of the surfaces defining the swirl chamber. Replacement requires taking the process equipment out of service, replacing the eroded swirler unit, and returning the process equipment to service. Such replacement events reduce the availability of the process equipment during the replacement process.
Conventional swirler units have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is a need for swirler units that allow for increased usable life. There is also a continuing need for swirler units that are easy to make and use. The present disclosure provides solutions to these needs.


A method for obtaining data while facilitating keeping a minimum amount of state is provided. The method includes receiving at a first device an Internet Protocol (IP) frame sent from a second device to a third device wherein the first device is in a flow path between the second and third devices, the first device including at least one of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and a Field Programmable Gate Array FPGA. The method also includes removing an embedded stream-oriented protocol frame including a header and a data packet from the received IP frame with at least one of the ASIC and the FPGA, and determining a validity of a checksum of the removed steam-oriented protocol header. The method also includes dropping the IP frame when the checksum is invalid, supplying a client application with data from the removed protocol frame when the checksum is valid, and sending an IP frame including the removed stream-oriented protocol frame to the third device from the first device when the checksum is valid.

This invention relates generally to data transfer through a network and, more particularly, to the monitoring of data passing through the Internet.
At least some known protocol analyzers and packet capturing programs have been around as long as there have been networks and protocols to monitor. These known tools provide the ability to capture and save network data with a wide range of capabilities.
For example, one such program "tcpdump" available from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (http://ee.lbl.gov/) allows for the capture and storage of TCP packets. These known tools work well for monitoring data at low bandwidth rates, but the performance of these programs is limited because they execute in software. Post processing is required with these tools in order to reconstruct TCP data streams.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a solution to data monitoring that is implementable at high bandwidth rates.

TCP-splitter: reliable packet monitoring methods and apparatus for high speed networks


In a vibration sensing device for sensing a knocking vibration of an engine, a piezoelectric element is connected to an output terminal through a resilient conductive member. The resilient conductive member has a fixed base part, a sliding part at a position opposite to the fixed base part, and an intermediate V-shaped part resiliently contacting the piezoelectric element. When the sliding part moves slidingly in response to vibration of the piezoelectric element, the sliding friction force which exerts on the sliding part increases the spring constant of the resilient conductive member to be larger than the stationary spring constant of the same by hysteresis characteristics, thereby reducing damage to the piezoelectric element and enhancing reliability of the electric connection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration sensing device or an accelerometer used as a knock sensor which converts knocking vibration of an engine into an electric signal by a vibration-voltage converting element.
2. Related Art
Conventional knock sensors for engines generally have a sensor housing attachable to a cylinder block of an engine, a vibration plate housed in the sensor housing, a piezoelectric element joined to the vibration plate and an output terminal (connector terminal) electrically connected to the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element produces a voltage signal corresponding to the knocking vibration occurring in the sensor housing and transmitted to the vibration plate. It is proposed by JP-U 62-128331 that, for simplifying the electric connection between the piezoelectric element and the output terminal, a leaf spring-type resilient conductive member is used. The top end part of the resilient conductive member fixed to the output terminal side is held in resilient contact with the electrode surface of the piezoelectric element so that the voltage signal from the piezoelectric element is transmitted to the output terminal through the resilient conductive member.
It may be effective to set the resiliency (spring constant or elastic constant) of the resilient conductive member large so that the contacting pressure of the resilient conductive member to the piezoelectric element is increased, thereby enhancing the reliability of electric contact between the piezoelectric element and the resilient conductive member. Such a large spring constant, however, is likely to cause damage such as cracks in the piezoelectric element because of the excessive pressing force on the piezoelectric element, when the resilient conductive member is pressed onto the piezoelectric element to flex at the time of assembling the two. Even if not damaged at the assembling process, the piezoelectric element may possibly wear excessively.
Therefore it is desired to set the spring constant of the resilient conductive member low for protecting the piezoelectric element from damages. The lower spring constant will result in lower contacting pressure of the resilient conductive member, causing the resilient conductive member to resonate with the knocking vibration. That is, as the spring constant of the resilient conductive member and the resonance frequency are in proportional relation to each other, the resonance frequency becomes lower with the decrease in the spring constant and often as low as below 10 KHz which is close to the resonance frequency of the vibration plate (piezoelectric element). This resonance of the vibration plate will also cause the resilient conductive member to resonate as well at the time of occurrence of the knocking vibration. The contact part of the resilient conductive member temporarily bounces from the piezoelectric element, resulting in temporary interruption of the electric connection. As a result, not only the knock signal will not be provided accurately, but also the fixed part of the resilient conductive member will break because of fatigue.

Vibration sensing device having slidable conductive member


A display panel driver including a moving image determining part, a sensing part and a dithering part. The moving image determining part determines whether an input image data represents a moving image or a static image. The sensing part senses a movement of a display apparatus or a user of the display apparatus. The dithering part performs a dithering operation to the input image data when the input image data represents the moving image or when at least one of the display apparatus and the user moves when the input image data represents the static image.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a display apparatus. In particular, example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a display panel driver, a method of driving a display panel using the display panel driver and a display apparatus having the display panel driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display apparatus may include a display panel and a display panel driver. The display panel may include a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines and a plurality of pixels. The display panel driver may include a controller, a gate driver and a data driver.
The controller may receive input image data and the controller may compensate the input image data to generate output image data. The controller may also apply a dithering operation to the input image data.
However, when the dithering operation is applied to the input image data representing a static image, a dithering noise may be generated such that a display quality of the display panel may deteriorate. Additionally, when the display apparatus is shaken or a user holding the display apparatus moves, the display quality of the display panel may also deteriorate.

Display panel driver, method of driving display panel using the same and display apparatus having the same


A combustion system for a gas turbine engine provides a reaction limiting means for preventing the combustion process within the combustion chamber of the engine from proceeding towards completion by limiting the reaction rate or duration of the reaction process sufficiently such that a clean combustion gas is produced having substantially less carbon particles than for a combustor effective for essentially complete combustion. The invention also provides an efficient method of removing carbon deposits which do form by controlling the combustor shutdown technique in such a way as to cause the carbon to be oxidized. The preferred embodiment provides an aircraft emergency power unit having a high pressure air storage tank, an aviation fuel storage tank, and a combustor with a reaction limiting means which combusts pressurized air and aviation fuel in a fuel rich ratio to produce a motive combustion gas in a reaction limiting means.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a gas turbine combustor and a method for operating such a combustor so that the exhaust products flowed to a turbine will be relatively free of carbon particles. More specifically, this invention provides a combustor for a stored energy subsystem using aviation fuel and compressed air for burning a fuel rich mixture to yield a controlled, high temperature, high pressure gas whereby apparatus and method are provided for preventing the reaction from reaching completion.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an aircraft has one or more primary engines which provide thrust for the aircraft, as well as pressurized bleed air for the environmental control systems. The primary engine also provides power to drive electric generators and hydraulic pumps, both of which are necessary for powering instruments and flight control systems. In addition, many aircraft also have an auxiliary power engine to provide electric and hydraulic power, as well as bleed air to the aircraft when the primary engines are not operating, for example when the aircraft is on the ground. The auxiliary power engine may also provide power to start the primary engines either on the ground or in flight. Both the primary engine and the auxiliary power engine operate on aviation fuel from the aircraft's main fuel tanks, mixed with air drawn from the atmosphere as the combustion components. For maximum fuel efficiency, these engines operate in an air rich, fuel lean mode. In many instances, starting the auxiliary power engine requires an external power source such as a ground based start cart, a pressurized air tank, or an emergency power system. Since the auxiliary power engine is primarily designed to operate on the ground where the air is relatively dense, the auxiliary power engine may be incapable of operating at higher elevations, for example above 55,000 feet. It is therefore evident that in many applications the auxiliary power engine would not be able to restart a failed primary engine above 55,000 feet, and in this event there would be no electrical or hydraulic power available. Also, since both the primary engine and the auxiliary power engine operate on fuel from the main fuel tanks, if this fuel supply is depleted there will be no source of power for the electrical and hydraulic power systems to allow the pilot to control and land the aircraft.
It is therefore desirable to have on an aircraft an emergency power system capable of operating independent of external conditions which can provide emergency electrical and hydraulic power to the flight control systems and may be used to restart the auxiliary or primary engines. These are the minimum requirements of the emergency power system. Since they are only operated in the event of an emergency, these systems remain stored and inactive for long periods of time, but are required to start instantly and provide continuous power output for a prespecified duty cycle. Ideally, such an emergency power system would be compact, lightweight, highly reliable, easily maintained, require no special handling of materials or fuels, while providing a combustion process which is controllable and which produces a clean, combustion gas. Presently, emergency power units primarily rely on liquid hydrazine based fuels sprayed into a catalyst bed to generate a pressurized gas. These units are in use on several aircraft and combine high performance with low weight.
However, liquid hydrazine is highly corrosive and toxic, thereby requiring special handling procedures and design considerations. The catalyst material is expensive, and when the catalyst is depleted it must be replaced. Further, the combustion gas which is produced is toxic and therefore limits ground testing of the emergency power unit.
To overcome such problems emergency power systems were designed to operate on a fuel rich mixture of aviation fuel and air which optimizes the advantages of such a system to yield an emergency power system with the improved characteristics of relying on an energy source which is readily available, non-toxic, and clean burning, packaged in a compact, lightweight, highly reliable, and easily maintained emergency power unit.
Such an emergency power system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,793 entitled "Emergency power unit" and its divisional U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,934,136 entitled "Method of Operating an Emergency Power Unit" and 4,898,000 entitled "Combustor for an Emergency Power Unit" assigned to the present assignee.
A problem with using carbon based jet fuels such as contemplated for the present invention is that in a fuel rich environment formation of solid particles occur, generally comprised of carbon, suspended in the combustion product gas flow. These particles pose a significant problem effecting the gas turbine's operation, durability, and reliability because it can cause erosion of gas nozzles and turbine blades as well as clog gas passages downstream of the combustor.

Low carbon particle producing gas turbine combustor


A method for preventing activating a malicious object passing through a checkpoint, and decreasing the overall inspection delay thereof, the method comprising the steps of: (a) at the checkpoint, creating an envelope file, being an executable file comprising: the object; code for extracting the object from the envelope file; and an indicator for indicating the integrity of the object; (b) forwarding the envelope file instead of the object toward its destination, while holding at least a part of the envelope file which comprises the indicator; (c) inspecting the object; and (d) setting the indicator on the envelope file to indicate the inspection result thereof, and releasing the rest of the envelope file.

The term "gateway" refers in the art to a bridge between two networks. For each network, the gateway is a point that acts as an entrance to another network. From the implementation point of view, a gateway is often associated with both a router, which knows where to direct a given packet that arrives to the gateway and a switch, which provides the packet with the actual path in and out of the gateway. Due to its nature, the gateway to a local network is a proper point for checking out objects (e.g. files and email messages) that pass through it, in order to detect viruses and other forms of maliciousness ("inspection") before reaching the user.
As a filtering facility, a gateway server has to deal with two contradicting objects: on the one hand, it has to hold a file that reaches the gateway in its path from a source to a destination until the inspection indicates it is harmless and thereby prevents its execution on the destination site, on the other hand holding a file at the gateway server until the inspection process terminates which results in a bottleneck to data traffic passing through the gateway.
Inspection activity has a substantial influence on the traffic speed through a gateway. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/002,407, titled as Security Router, deals with this problem by skipping the inspection of trusted files. According to this invention, since multimedia files (e.g. JPG files) do not comprise executable code (according to their definition), these files are not inspected, thereby diminishing the delay caused by the inspection process.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/498,093, titled as "Protection of computer networks against malicious content", deals with this problem by holding in a checkpoint (e.g. a gateway) only a part of the file, such as the last packet of the file, and releasing it once the file has been indicated as harmless. This way the majority of the file is not delayed at the gateway, but its execution at the destination site cannot be carried out until the last part reaches the destination. This solution is applicable only for files that in order to be executed or activated, the whole file has to be available on the executing platform. However, if the executing platform activates a file even in the case where only a part of the file is available, the executing platform is exposed to viruses and other malicious forms.
Furthermore, some inspection methods, such as CRC-based methods, require that the whole file be available during the inspection process. Files that should be fully accessible for inspection, may cause a substantial delay to the traffic through a checkpoint since the inspection can start only after the whole file is accessible to the inspection facility. Thus, in this case, the parts of a file should be accumulated and held at the inspection point until the inspection indicates that it is harmless, and only then the file may be "released" to its destination.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for preventing activation of malicious objects.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for preventing from a checkpoint the activation of malicious objects on the executing platform.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method for inspecting a file on a checkpoint, by which the delay thereof is decreased in comparable to the prior art.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Method for preventing activation of malicious objects


The independent claims of this patent signify a concise description of embodiments. Multiple copies of the design or multiple designs are compiled into a single emulation module or prototype FPGA/sub-system to enable multiple concurrent users. The design is executed on the emulator or prototype with the main design clock always running. A debug transactor is attached to each copy of the design which connects to one software debugger per user. The improvement is especially important for long interactive debug sessions which often occur with embedded-software debug use models. This Abstract is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

Debug of embedded software often occurs with an interactive session connected to an emulation or prototype system. The software debug can often use a smaller cut-down version of a design that is significantly smaller than the full design. This reduces the hardware capacity requirements for emulation, FPGA, or other hardware systems.
However, the emulation or prototype system often has a relatively large minimum size that is allocated to one user. If this limit is considerably larger than the design, then the extra capacity is wasted.
For example, a Zebu ZS4 system (commercially available from Synopsys, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.) has a minimum user granularity of 150 Million gates per module with a maximum of two users per module, corresponding to 75 Million gates per user minimum size. If the circuit design has 20 Million gates, the 40 Million gates are used leaving 110 Million gates unused and wasted per module. If the full capacity could be used, then the hardware could support seven concurrent users for such as design size.
Embedded software debug runs are often long and time consuming as the hardware is utilized for the entire run, including the time when the user is thinking about why the software behaved in a certain manner or long software sequences such as operating system boot occur. Batch debug is not suitable for many of these use models.

Method to enable multiple users of embedded-software debug to share a single hardware resource


A light distribution screen is constructed of a main light distribution region including a main optical axis, a low light intensity region darker than an upper part of the main light distribution region, and high light intensity regions brighter than an upper region of the low intensity region. A corner can be brightly illuminated when the motorcycle is cornering, which means that the visibility of the corner can be improved and oncoming traffic is not dazzled when the motorcycle is travelling straight on.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motorcycle headlight in for improving light distribution at the time of cornering.
2. Description of Background Art
FIG. 21(a) and FIG. 21(b) are overhead views illustrating the light distribution for a dimmed beam of a conventional motorcycle headlight. FIG., 21(a) illustrates a motorcycle when travelling in a straight line while FIG. 21(b) illustrates the case when cornering.
In FIG. 21(a), the headlight 100 shines light having a left and right spread on the road surface in the relative foreground in front of the motorcycle so as not to dazzle vehicles coming in the opposite direction.
In FIG. 21(b), during cornering, the motorcycle 101 leans into the corner, and a portion 103 of the light distribution inside the corner moves to the side of the motorcycle 101.
FIG. 22(a) and FIG. 22(b) are overhead views illustrating light distribution of a main beam of a conventional motorcycle headlight. FIG. 22(a) illustrates a motorcycle travelling in a straight direction, while FIG. 22(b) illustrates a motorcycle when cornering.
In FIG. 22(a), the headlight 100 illuminates the road surface along a distance in front of the motorcycle 101. In FIG. 22(b), during cornering, the motorcycle 101 leans into the corner and a portion 103 of the light distribution 102 inside the corner moves to the side of the motorcycle 101.
FIG. 23(a) and FIG. 23(b) illustrate a light distribution screen for a conventional motorcycle headlight at the time of cornering.
FIG. 23(a) corresponds to the dimmed beam in FIG. 21(b) while FIG. 23(b) corresponds to the travelling straight beam in FIG. 22(b), and the main light distribution region 104 of FIG. 23 (a) and the main light distribution region 105 of FIG. 23(b) both slope downwardly to the left.
As shown in FIG. 21(b) and FIG. 22(b), the amount of light reaching the shoulder 107 of a corner seen by the rider 106 of the motorcycle 101 during cornering, and the amount of light reaching the road surface 108 ahead of the shoulder 107 is reduced, and these regions become dark. That is, at the time of cornering, because there is no light distributed in the ranges A1 and A2 in FIG. 23(a) and FIG. 23(b), which include the shoulder 107 and the road surface 108, there is a need to improve the forward 25 visibility of the corner by distributing light in these ranges A1 and A2.
Also, in Japanese Utility Model Publication Sho 59-13685, entitled "Headlight for Vehicle", and Japanese Patent publication Sho 63-312280 entitled "Headlight for Motorcycle", techniques for adjusting light distribution using lenses and reflectors are disclosed, but with respect to lighting up a corner during cornering, insufficient consideration is given to where and at what brightness light is irradiated.


A rain sensor, for motor vehicles in particular, having one measuring distance with at least one transmitter and at least one receiver for electromagnetic waves (light waves), a windshield being arranged in the measuring distance, and the measuring distance influencing the wave propagation between the at least one transmitter and the at least one receiver in such a way that when a coating forms on the windshield, in particular as the result of wetting by precipitation, an output signal sensed by the receiver is changed. It is provided that the optical and electronic components of the rain sensor are mounted in a housing, a light conducting element forming a cover of the housing.

Windshield wiper mechanisms for windshields of motor vehicles are known, the windshield wiper being controlled not only via a conventional steering column lever but also additionally via an optical rain sensor. The optical rain sensor normally includes a light source, the electromagnetic radiation of which is reflected in different ways by the windshield as a function of the moisture coating on the windshield. The reflected component is detected using a photoelectric cell so that an output signal of the rain sensor corresponding to the moisture coating can be supplied. These output signals can be analyzed and used to control the windshield wipers in such a way that both the switching on as well as the wiper speed are varied as a function of a measured quantity of rain.
Known rain sensors are customarily mounted on the inside of the windshield, preferably behind an interior rear-view mirror. Cemented metal feet, for example, are used for mounting. Also known are mountings using an additional frame which is previously joined to the windshield and the rain sensor housing is pressed into it later.


A recyclable cellular telephone is disclosed having an inner rigid cellular electronics supporting frame member surrounded by a replaceable outer cover. The telephone is acquired having a limited period of use. The electronics of the telephone operate to disable the telephone following expiration of the period of use. Following expiration of the period of use, the telephone is returned for refurbishment where the outer cover is stripped and replaced and the electronics tested before being recycled with a new period of use for an another acquisition. The cellular network supporting telephone operation also monitors the period of use, disabling telephone access to the network following expiration. Directory numbers are selectively assigned to the recyclable telephones from a pool of available numbers, with assigned numbers returned to the pool after expiration of a predetermined period or telephone deactivation for re-use by another recyclable telephone. The recyclable telephones are activated and deactivated in a number of ways, including through the use of a separate activation and deactivation station which communicates with the telephones over a radio frequency communications link.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cellular telephones and, in particular, to the provision and support of a recyclable cellular telephone for use within a cellular telephone network.
2. Description of Related Art
There often times exists a need for cellular telephone service for relatively short periods of time within a limited geographical area. One example of such a need arises during a family, or other group, visit to a theme or amusement park. During such visits, it is not unusual for individuals within the family or group to have different interests, want to see different events, or ride on different rides in the park. In order to meet everyone's needs, the groups often split up and later find it difficult to reestablish contact. Through use of cellular telephones, it is possible for separated families or groups to communicate with each other to solve the separation problem and coordinate joint activities. However, a deterrent to that solution is the need for at least two cellular telephones, i.e., one phone for each body of the group. Under current practices, each cellular telephone has its own service contract and expenses associated with the contract. Although one member of the family or group may already have a cellular telephone, there exists a need for temporary use of a second or third cellular telephone to meet the group needs.
In connection with such a visit to a theme or amusement park, many patrons experience the frustration associated with standing in line awaiting entry to a desired attaction. There would be an advantage if entry to particular desired attractions could be scheduled by a patron ahead of time. This would obviate the need to stand in line, and would further facilitate a more efficient enjoyable visit to the park. There is further a need to provide such a scheduling feature through the convenient use of a telecommunications network.

Recyclable cellular telephone and method and apparatus for supporting the use of a recyclable cellular telephone within a cellular telephone network acting as a theme park communicator/scheduler


An implantable electrical lead having a tip electrode and a ring electrode located proximal to the tip electrode. A flexible spacer is located between the electrodes and includes a tubular plastic member having a thickness gradually increasing proximally and distally of a point intermediate the electrodes. Optionally the spacer includes an inner member of a lower durometer plastic, gradually decreasing in thickness proximally and distally from the intermediate point.

The present invention is directed toward medical electrical leads generally, and more particularly toward cardiac pacing leads.
Endocardial pacing leads can generally be divided into two basic groups, depending upon the type of mechanism employed to maintain the electrode on the distal tip of the lead in contact with heart tissue. Leads employing mechanisms which do not penetrate heart tissue are typically referred to as xe2x80x9cpassive fixationxe2x80x9d leads. Such leads are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,501 issued to Citron. Leads employing mechanisms which penetrate heart tissue are typically referred to as xe2x80x9cactive fixationxe2x80x9d leads. The most common type of active fixation lead employs a helical fixation member which is screwed into heart tissue. Examples of such leads are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,512 issued to Bisping and U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,913, issued to Dutcher. These leads may include advancable fixation helixes, as in the Dutcher and Bisping patents previously cited, or may employ fixation helixes which are inextendable and mechanically coupled to the outer lead body, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,285 issued to Hess et al and U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,812 issued to Morris et al. A hybrid between the two types may employ a lead with a fixation helix which is rotationally fixed with respect to the lead body, but which can be slid into and out of the distal end of the lead. Such leads are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,766 issued to Bradshaw, U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,455 issued to Barcell.
In both active and passive fixation leads, it is often desirable to employ electrodes in a bipolar configuration, such that located proximal to the tip electrode, is a second electrode, typically taking the form of a conductive ring encircling the lead body. The electrode assembly at the distal tip of the lead and the ring electrode, are typically quite rigid, with the lead body intermediate the tip and ring comprising a tip-ring spacer of some sort carrying a single conductor. Because the lead body proximal to the ring electrode carries two conductors, it is typically stiffer than the portion of the lead intermediate to tip and ring electrodes. The result of this basic structural arrangement is that bending forces applied to the distal portion of the lead, for example due to contraction of the heart, tend to localize bending in the tip-ring spacer region of the lead. With some present designs, bending tends to uneven along the length of the tip-ring spacer, with small radius bends occurring adjacent the proximal end of the tip electrode assembly and/or the distal end of the ring electrode, raising the possibility of stress induced conductor fractures at these points.
The present invention is directed toward providing a lead with an improved tip-ring spacer, optimized to provide a controlled radius of curvature throughout the length of the tip-ring spacer and to avoid areas of high radius of curvature which might otherwise occur. The tip-ring spacer of the present invention accomplishes this goal by means of an internal lumen having a dual-taper configuration. The spacer has a generally uniform outer diameter while the central lumen therethrough has an inner diameter which increases gradually from a first diameter at its proximal end to a second diameter at a point intermediate the proximal distal ends of the spacer, and which gradually tapers distally to a third, reduced diameter adjacent the proximal end of the electrode assembly. In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the tip-ring spacer is formed of a material having a relatively high modulus of elasticity, in order to resist bending stress at the proximal and distal ends of the spacer, and is provided with an insert having a lumen therethrough of a generally uniform diameter, and an outer configuration corresponding to the inner configuration of the lumen through the tip-ring spacer. This insert may be provided by molding or backfilling, and preferably has a lower modulus of elasticity, optimized to balance the overall bending characteristics of the lead in the tip-ring space region to provide for a uniform radius of curvature along the length of the tip-ring spacer. Alternatively, a lower modulus material may be chosen for the spacer, and the dual-tapered lumen may be left unfilled.
The present invention is particularly beneficial in leads employing helical fixation devices, as in such leads, the conductor coupled to the fixation helix is typically a high torque, coil conductor in which the individual coil wires typically have a cross section greater than that which might be employed in a passive fixation lead, which in turn may result in a reduced ability to withstand repeated flexing over a small radius of curvature. However, the invention is also believed to be useful in the context of passive fixation leads as well.

Medical electrical lead having variable stiffness tip-ring spacer


A reduction in size nonvolatile semiconductors for use in a memory device and an increase in the capacity thereof are promoted. Each memory cell of a flash memory is provided with a field effect transistor having a first gate insulator film formed on a p-type well, a selector gate which is formed on the first insulator film and has side faces and a top face covered with a silicon oxide film (first insular film), floating gates which are formed in a side-wall form on both sides of the selector gate and which are electrically isolated from the selector gate through the silicon oxide film, a second gate insulator film formed to cover the silicon oxide film and the surface of each of the floating gates, and a control gate formed over the second gate insulator film.

The present invention relates in general to a nonvolatile semiconductor for use as a memory device and to a method for producing the same, and, in particular, to a technique which is useful for achieving an increase in the memory capacity of flash memories.
As a memory wherein data can be erased at a time, among nonvolatile semiconductor memories wherein data can be electrically rewritten, the so-called flash memory is known. The flash memory has excellent portability and impact resistance, and data memorized therein can be electrically erased at a time. In recent years, therefore, the demand for the flash memory has been expanding rapidly as a memory device for use in small-sized portable information-processing instruments, such as portable personal computers and digital still cameras. However, in order to expand the market thereof, it is important to make the area of the memory cells smaller, thereby decreasing the cost per bit.
Japanese Patent No. 2694618 describes a flash memory having imaginary-grounding type memory cells, each using three-layer polysilicon gates. Each of the memory cells described in this document is composed of a semiconductor region, which is formed in a well in a semiconductor substrate, and three gate electrodes. The three gates are a floating gate formed over the well, a control gate formed to extend over both the well and the floating gate, and an erasing gate formed between the control gate, a control gate adjacent thereto and the floating gate. The three gate electrodes are each made of polysilicon, and they are separated from each other through an insulator film. The floating gate and the well are also separated from each other through an insulator film. The control gates of plural memory cells are connected to each other in the row direction so as to constitute a word line. Source and drain diffusion layers of the memory cells are formed in the column direction, and any one of the diffusion layers is commonly used between memory cells that are disposed adjacent to each other. Thus, the memory cells turn into an imaginary grounding type. As a result, the pitch thereof in the column direction is small. Each of the erasing gates is arranged in parallel to each channel, and also in parallel to the word lines (control gates), between the word lines.
When data is written in a selected one of the memory cells, independent positive voltages are applied to the word line and the drain thereof, and further voltages at the well, the source and the erasing gate thereof are set to 0 V. In this way, hot electrons are generated in the channel region near the drain, and then the electrons are injected into the floating gate so that the threshold value of the selected memory cell rises. When data is erased, a positive voltage is applied to the erasing gate, and further voltages at the word line, the source, the drain and the well are set to 0 V. In this way, electrons are discharged from the floating gate to the erasing gate so that the threshold value lowers.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-373948 discloses a flash memory equipped with split gate type memory cells having an AND mode array structure. In each of the memory cells described in this document, a trench is made in a substrate; an auxiliary gate is buried in the trench; and a diffusion layer, which becomes a data line, and the channel region of the auxiliary gate are formed on the bottom face and the side faces of the trench. In this way, the pitch of the memory cells in the data line direction is small.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-156275 discloses a nonvolatile semiconductor memory having memory cells each using three-layer polysilicon gates. In each of the memory cells described in this document, a third gate electrode, which is different from a floating gate and a control gate, is extended in the data line direction of the memory. A reversion layer formed in the substrate, when the channel under the third gate electrode is turned on, is used as a data line. This makes it possible to delete any diffusion layer in the memory array. Consequently, the pitch of the data lines can be small.

Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and a method of the same


A multi-scanner scans a signal according to several different patterns. A scanning pattern selector determines which scanning pattern produced the most efficient coding result, for example, for runlength coding, and outputs a coded signal, coded most efficiently, and a selection signal which identifies the scanning pattern found to be most efficient.

Image signals may be compressed by motion-compensated interframe discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding such as is defined by a MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) international standard. This form of signal compression has attracted much attention in the field of high definition television (HDTV).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of such a conventional motion-compensated interframe DCT coder. In the shown coder, an image signal is divided into a plurality of sub-blocks. The sub-blocks are all of the same size, for example 8×8, 16×16, . . . . A motion estimator 40 produces a motion vector, defined by the difference between the current image signal and a one-frame delayed image signal, output by a frame memory 30. The motion vector is supplied to a motion compensator 50 which compensates the delayed image signal from the frame memory 30 on the basis of the motion vector. A first adder 8a serves to produce the difference between the present frame and the delayed, motion compensated frame. A discrete cosine transform portion 10 processes the difference signal, output by the first adder 8a, for a sub-block. The motion estimator 40 determines the motion vector by using a block matching algorithm.
The discrete cosine transformed signal is quantized by a quantizer 20. The image signal is scanned in a zig-zag manner to produce a runlength coded version thereof. The runlength coded signal comprises a plurality of strings which include a series of "0"s, representing the run length, and an amplitude value of any value except "0".
The runlength coded signal is dequantized by a dequantizer 21, inversely zig-zag scanned and inversely discrete cosine transformed by an inverse discrete cosine transforming portion 11. The transformed image signal is added to the motion-compensated estimate error signal by a second adder 8b. As a result the image signal is decoded into a signal corresponding to the original image signal.
Refresh switches RSW1, RSW2 are arranged between the adders 8a, 8b and the motion compensator 40 so as to provide the original image signal free from externally induced errors.
The runlength coded signal is also supplied to a variable length coder 60 which applies a variable length coding to the runlength coded image signal. The variable length coded signal is then output through a FIFO transfer buffer 70 as a coded image signal.
In motion-compensated adaptive DCT coding, the interframe signal can be easily estimated or coded by way of motion compensation, thereby obtaining a high coding efficiency, since the image signal has a relatively high correlation along the time axis. That is, according to the afore-mentioned method, the coding efficiency is high because most of the energy of a discrete cosine transformed signal is compressed at the lower end of its spectrum, resulting in long runs of "0"s in the runlength coded signal.
However, the scanning regime of the aforementioned method does not take account of differences in the spectrum of the motion-compensated interframe DCT signal with time.
A method is known wherein one of a plurality of reference modes is previously selected on the basis of the difference between the present block and that of a previous frame and the image signal is scanned by way of a scanning pattern under the selected mode and suitably quantized. With such a method, however, three modes are employed to compute the energies of the intermediate and high frequency components of the image signal in accordance with the interframe or the intraframe modes in order to determine the appropriate mode. This mode determining procedure is undesirably complicated.