A method, system, and an apparatus for stimulating a cranial nerve of a patient to treat a disorder, such as a metabolic or an endocrine disorder associated with the thyroid gland with an implantable medical device are provided. The method comprises coupling an electrode to the cranial nerve selected from the group consisting of a vagus nerve, a trigeminal nerve, and a glossopharyngeal nerve. The method further includes generating an electrical signal to treat a disorder associated with the thyroid gland. The electrical signal may be applied to the cranial nerve using the electrode to provide electrical nerve stimulation therapy to the patient. For treating a patient with a metabolic or an endocrine disorder associated with the thyroid gland, a neurostimulator may be adapted to apply an electrical stimulus to the vagus nerve and/or a branch of the vagus nerve associated with the thyroid gland. By balancing hormonal imbalance, the neurostimulator may provide electrical nerve stimulation therapy to the patient, thereby treating a target metabolic or an endocrine disorder associated with the thyroid gland.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to implantable medical devices and, more particularly, to methods, apparatus, and systems for stimulating a cranial nerve of a patient to treat a medical condition, such as metabolic disorders and/or hormonal imbalance associated with the thyroid gland.
2. Description of the Related Art
The human nervous system (HNS) includes the brain and the spinal cord, collectively known as the central nervous system (CNS). The central nervous system comprises nerve fibers. The network of nerves in the remaining portions of the human body forms the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Some peripheral nerves, known as cranial nerves, connect directly to the brain to control various brain functions, such as vision, eye movement, hearing, facial movement, and feeling. Another system of peripheral nerves, known as the autonomic nervous system (ANS), controls blood vessel diameter, intestinal movements, and actions of many internal organs. Autonomic functions including blood pressure, body temperature, heartbeat and essentially all the unconscious activities that occur without voluntary control.
Like the rest of the human nervous system, nerve signals travel up and down the peripheral nerves, which link the brain to the rest of the human body. Nerve tracts or pathways, in the brain and the peripheral nerves are sheathed in a covering called myelin. The myelin sheath insulates electrical pulses traveling along the nerves. A nerve bundle may comprise up to 100,000 or more individual nerve fibers of different types, including larger diameter A and B fibers which comprise a myelin sheath and C fibers which have a much smaller diameter and are unmyelinated. Different types of nerve fibers, among other things, comprise different sizes, conduction velocities, stimulation thresholds, and myelination status (i.e., myelinated or unmyelinated).
The human body includes many endocrine glands such as the pituitary gland, the pancreas, the adrenal glands, the parathyroid gland, and the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland is located in the lower part of the neck and is shaped in a butterfly structure. The thyroid gland comprises two separate lobes that are inter-connected via thyroid tissue. The two lobes are located on the opposite sides of the windpipe called the trachea.
A number of cranial nerves innervate the vicinity of a person's larynx. For example, the thyroid gland is innervated by the vagus nerve (cranial nerve X). The trigeminal nerve (cranial nerve V), the glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX), and the vagus nerve (cranial nerve X) provide branches to the pharyngeal plexus, which innervates muscles and mucosa of the pharynx and many of the muscles of the soft palate. The vagus nerve uses an innervating branch called inferior thyroid nerve originating from the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The recurrent laryngeal nerve is another branch of the vagus nerve, and it innervates the muscles of the larynx other than the cricothyroid.
Many chemical processes, such as metabolism process, transform food and oxygen into substances that any human body uses to perform various functions, such as operating different organs by stimulating different nerve fibers. Metabolism is generally responsible for cell activity that regulates body energy. However, the chemical balance in each body as well as the rate of metabolism differs from person-to-person. One known primary factor responsible for these two aspects of the human body is inheritance of certain genes. Other factors include lifestyle, cultural, eating, and emotional issues that may adversely affect the chemical balance and the rate of metabolism, resulting in one or more metabolic disorders.
Certain chemicals called hormones produced by human organs (e.g., the endocrine glands, such as the thyroid gland), may cause metabolic or hormonal disorders. Hormones work with the human nervous system to control various organs and tissues for ensuring a smooth, effective and normal functioning of disparate parts of the human body in a cooperative manner. Specifically, when a hormone is released into the bloodstream, only a target part(s) of the human body is affected. The thyroid gland provides the thyroxin hormone, which controls metabolism rates in the body. Another endocrine gland, the pituitary gland, produces a thyroid-stimulating hormone that is regulated by a thyroid-releasing hormone. The metabolism rate is based on the amount of the thyroxin hormone secreted by the thyroid gland.
The thyroid gland processes hormones that are essential to body metabolism. A malfunction of the thyroid gland may result in increased or decreased amounts of the thyroxin hormones, which may cause metabolic disorders. Examples of metabolic disorders include increased appetite, weight loss, increased sensitivity to heat, diarrhea, muscle wasting, sweating, tremors, heart palpitations, thyrotoxicosis, toxic goiter, Graves' disease, and shortness of breath. Besides a drug regimen or surgical intervention, effective treatments for such diseases and disorders are fairly limited. Additionally, patient may build resistance to the drug regimens and/or surgical intervention may be unadvisable in some situations.

Stimulating cranial nerve to treat disorders associated with the thyroid gland


In a sprocket for a roller chain, the tooth form is such that the distance between the tooth center line and a part of the front tooth surface, at a location on the tooth head side of the pitch line, is greater than the distance between the tooth center line and the front surface of the tooth along the pitch line. The diameter of the tooth gap bottom circle is smaller than the diameter of a tooth gap bottom circle in a sprocket having an ISO tooth form for the same chain.

Tooth forms for roller chain sprockets, referred to as ISO tooth forms, are defined in ISO 606: 1994 (E). FIG. 17 shows an ISO tooth form, and FIG. 18 illustrates the engagement between a roller chain and a sprocket having the ISO tooth form shown in FIG. 17.
In the ISO tooth form shown in FIG. 17, when the chain pitch is p, the pitch circle diameter is d, the roller outer diameter is d1, the radius of the arc of the tooth gap bottom portion is ri, the tooth surface radius is re, the diameter of the tooth gap bottom is df, and the number of sprocket teeth is z, the relationships of these parameters are defined by the following expressions from ISO 606: 1994 (E):d=p/sin(180°/z)df=d−d1re(max)=0.12 d1(z+2)ri(min)=0.505 d1re(min)=0.008 d1(z2+180)ri(max)=0.505 d1+0.069 (d1)1/3
As apparent from the above expressions, in the ISO tooth form shown in FIG. 17, the tooth gap bottom portion 3 is in the form of an arc having a radius ri, which is slightly larger than the radius (d1/2) of the roller 62, and the tooth surface 2 is in the form of an arc having a radius re. The tooth surfaces 2 are continuous with on both sides of the tooth gap bottom portion 3. Further, as apparent from the above expressions, the diameter df of the tooth gap bottom is equal to the difference between the pitch circle diameter d and the roller outer diameter d1. Furthermore in view of the above expressions, the diameter df of the tooth gap bottom is substantially the same as the difference between the pitch circle diameter d and twice the arc radius ri of the tooth gap bottom portion.
As shown in FIG. 18, when a chain 61 is in mesh with, and partly wrapped around, the sprocket 1 having the ISO tooth form, and the chain and sprocket are in use for power transmission, a roller 62 meshes with the sprocket 1 at a tooth gap bottom portion 3, and polygonal motion of the roller chain 61 occurs, as is well known. This polygonal motion allows the roller chain 61 to pulse. The pulsing in turn vibrates the roller chain 61, which causes generation of noise. Furthermore, this polygonal motion generates a speed change in the roller chain in the advancing direction.
A system to decrease the pulse motion of the roller chain due to polygonal motion has been devised, in which the sprocket comprises sprocket teeth, each having a front tooth surface (relative to the direction of rotation), a rear tooth surface, and an asymmetric tooth groove for receiving a roller, formed of a front tooth surface and a rear tooth surface of an adjacent tooth. The asymmetric tooth groove has a flat portion formed on a front tooth surface. This system is described in Japanese Patent No. 2002-514287
However, the roller chain sprocket of Japanese Patent No. 2002-514287 leaves room for further improvement in the reduction of pulse motion of the roller chain due to polygonal motion.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a sprocket for a roller chain or bushing chain, in which the amount of pulse of the chain due to the polygonal motion is further reduced and the roller or bushing more smoothly disengages from the sprocket.


A metal mold for manufacturing a honeycomb structure having a plurality of cell density regions and an annular boundary wall includes a honeycomb-like slit part, which is opened to an extrusion surface of a single metal mold body, that is formed of a plurality of cell slits for forming the plurality of cell density regions and an annular boundary slit for forming the boundary wall. Out of the plurality of cell slits, adjacent cell slits adjacent to the boundary slit have all corner portions formed in a round shape by the adjacent cell slits and the boundary slit.

A honeycomb structure for use in an exhaust purification catalyst for an automobile and the like generally has a large number of cells that are formed by partitioning the inside of a cylindrical outer cover by cell walls and are extended axially in parallel. The cell walls have a grid shape corresponding to rectangular cell shapes, for example, and the size of the grid is set such that the honeycomb structure has a desired cell density. The honeycomb structure is manufactured, for example, by extrusion molding of a ceramic material using a metal mold with a grid-like slit part. The slit part in the metal mold can be formed by electrical discharge machining using a grid-like discharge electrode.
In addition, there is known a complex honeycomb structure with a plurality of cell density regions. In this case, for example, an annular boundary wall is arranged on the inside of a cylindrical outer cover, and the shape and cross-section area of the cells are changed between the both sides of the boundary wall to form a plurality of different cell density regions. In such a complex honeycomb structure, cells adjacent to the boundary wall are smaller and more incomplete in shape than unit cells in the cell density regions, which makes it difficult to design the cell shape and process the metal mold. In particular, in the region with a high cell density, the cells adjacent to the boundary wall are minute and thus it is difficult to process a discharge electrode corresponding to an arbitrary slit shape.
Accordingly, there has been suggested a metal mold for complex honeycomb structures that are formed by combining a plurality of metal molds corresponding to a plurality of cell density regions. For example, PTL 1 discloses a method of manufacturing a honeycomb structure by the use of a metal mold that includes a first metal mold with a convex portion on the downstream side in an extrusion direction and a second metal mold with a penetration hole to fit onto the convex portion and is integrated by convexo-concave fitting the first metal mold and the second metal mold with a clearance left therebetween for forming a boundary wall. The first metal mold and the second metal mold are fixed to each other by inserting a bolt into a positioning hole.

Metal mold for manufacturing honeycomb structure, apparatus for producing metal mold, and method for manufacturing honeycomb structure


A desensitizing solution for lithography is disclosed which contains at least one member selected from acyclic amine and ammonium compounds each containing specific structures. The desensitizing solution does not cause environmental pollution, is stable to long-term storage, continuous use, and fluctuations in environmental conditions, is effective in reducing the time required for etching treatment, and has excellent desensitization performance.

Electrophotographic lithographic original plates (hereinafter referred to as "masters") have a photosensitive layer comprising fine photoconductive particles, such as zinc oxide particles, dispersed in a resin binder, and are obtained by forming an ink-receptive image on this layer by an ordinary electrophotographic technique.
In lithographic printing, a plate having nonimage areas (hydrophilic areas) readily wettable by water and image areas (ink-receptive areas) sparingly wetted by water is generally used. However, in the case of electrophotographic original lithographic printing plates, normal printing is impossible when the printing plates are used as they are, because the printing surface of these untreated plates is made of a hydrophobic photoelectroconductive layer and a printing ink hence adheres also to nonimage areas.
It is therefore necessary to desensitize the nonimage areas of such an original printing plate prior to printing to impart hydrophilicity. Proposed so far as this kind of desensitizing solutions include a cyanide-containing desensitizing solution containing a ferrocyanate and a ferricyanate as major components and a cyanide-free desensitizing solution containing an ammine/cobalt complex, phytic acid (inositol hexaphosphate), a derivative of the acid, and a guanidine derivative as major components.
However, these prior art desensitizing solutions are not wholly satisfactory. Specifically, the former desensitizing solution, which contains a ferrocyanate and a ferricyanate, has a drawback that it suffers discoloration and precipitation upon exposure to light because of the instability of ferrocyanate ions and ferricyanate ions to heat and light to come to have weakened desensitizing power, although it has high initial desensitizing power and is capable of rapidly forming a tenacious hydrophilic film. The former desensitizing solution has another drawback that since it contains cyanide (CN.sup.-) ions, a free cyanide is detected in wastewater, etc. to pose various problems concerning environmental pollution.
On the other hand, the latter desensitizing solution, which is a cyanide-free desensitizing solution containing desensitizing agents such as an ammine/cobalt complex, phytic acid, and guanidine as major components, was proposed in view of the drawbacks described above. However, this prior art desensitizing solution also cannot give a fully satisfactory lithographic original plate. Specifically, the latter desensitizing solution has a drawback that since it has a lower film-forming rate than the former cyanide-containing desensitizing solution, a hydrophilic film having high physical strength and capable of being immediately subjected to printing cannot be formed when an original plate is etched only once with the latter desensitizing solution in a processor, leading to scumming and plugging of halftone dot.
It has conventionally been well known that phytic acid and metallized derivatives thereof form metal chelate compounds, and various proposals have been made on use of these compounds as desensitizing agents for original offset printing plates. However, all these desensitizing agents have a drawback that since they have a low film-forming rate, a hydrophilic film usable in printing cannot be formed through one treating operation in a processor and the resulting film has poor ink repellency, leading to scumming and plugging of halftone dot.
For eliminating the problems described above, investigations are being made on addition of various additives to desensitizing solutions based on phytic acid.
Examples thereof include a desensitizing solution containing a combination of phytic acid and a metal complex of an aminocarboxylic acid or the like (see JP-B-2-39397; the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"), a desensitizing solution containing a combination of phytic acid and a hexametaphosphate (see JP-B-62-7597), and desensitizing solutions containing a lower amine, an alkanolamine, or a polyamine (see, for example, JP-A-54-117201, JP-A-53-109701, and JP-A-1-25994; the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). Although these desensitizing solutions are satisfactory in water receptivity in the initial stage of use, a sufficient effect cannot be obtained therewith because they have problems, for example, that continuous use results in reduced etching and reduced water receptivity and use after long-term storage results in reduced water receptivity to cause scumming.
Desensitizing solutions containing a cationic polymer (see, for example, JP-A-60-23099) have drawbacks that continuous use and long-term storage result in a decrease in performance as in the above-described desensitizing solutions, and that they cause rusting.
Further, desensitizing solutions containing a combination of phytic acid and a polyethyleneimine copolymer have been proposed (see, for example, JP-A-7-68967 and JP-A-7-137475). However, this kind of desensitizing solutions still have problems, for example, that the latitude in which the impartation of hydrophilicity to nonimage areas by etching is consistent with the impartation of ink receptivity to image areas is narrow, or long-term continuous use results in a decrease in performance.
On the other hand, automatic printing machines especially of small size which have a desensitizing system united therewith have spread increasingly in recent years from the standpoint of labor reduction. In addition, the time required for electrophotographically produced offset masters to be processed to give finished printing plates is being reduced. Under these circumstances, a desensitizing treatment is required to be carried out rapidly and to meet the attainment of a longer life.
With respect to systems for electrophotographically producing masters, a digital exposure technique has been proposed. As a result, not only conventional masters bearing images consisting mainly of line originals and characters, but also masters bearing fine images such as middle tone images, screen tints, etc. have come to be easily produced. Although printing plates are hence required to reproduce such fine images on prints, this is difficult to attain with any of the prior art known desensitizing solutions.


Ink jet printing apparatus for forming a color ink image on a receiver in response to a digital image that includes a plurality of color planes, includes a plurality of color ink jet print head located at spaced apart transfer positions adapted to deliver color ink to the receiver to form a color ink image at an image receiving position, and the spacing between color ink jet print heads being selected to be a distance longer than the length of a color ink image to be formed on the receiver. The receiver is moved along a path past the color ink jet print heads, a registration mark formed on the receiver before the image receiving position. Two detectors are disposed adjacent to the path with each detector being disposed before a color ink jet print head for detecting the registration mark before printing the corresponding color plane of the ink image to produce a signal a control circuit is responsive to the digital image and the detector signals for actuating each color ink jet print head to form the corresponding color plane of the ink image on the receiver in registration with the previously printed color planes of the same ink image.

Ink jet printing has become a prominent contender in the digital output arena because of its non-impact, low-noise characteristics, its compatibility with plain paper and its avoidance of toner transfers and fixing as well as lack of pressure contact at printing interface. Ink jet printing mechanisms includes continuous ink jet or drop-on-demand ink jet. U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,398, which issued to Kyser et al. in 1970, discloses a drop-on-demand ink jet printer which applies a high voltage to a piezoelectric crystal, causing the crystal to bend, applying pressure on an ink reservoir and jetting drops on demand. Other types of piezoelectric drop-on-demand printers utilize piezoelectric crystals in push mode, shear mode, and squeeze mode. Piezoelectric drop-on-demand printers have achieved image resolutions up to 720 to 1440 dpi for home and office printers.
Great Britain Patent 2,007,162, which issued to Endo et al. in 1979, discloses an electrothermal drop-on-demand ink jet printer which applies a power pulse to an electrothermal heater which is in thermal contact with water based ink in a nozzle. A small quantity of ink rapidly evaporates, forming a bubble which causes an ink drop to be ejected from small apertures along the edge of the heater substrate. This technology is known as Bubblejet.TM. (trademark of Canon K. K. of Japan).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,728, which issued to Vaught et al. in 1982, discloses an electrothermal drop ejection system which also operates by bubble formation to eject drops in a direction normal to the plane of the heater substrate. As used herein, the term "thermal ink jet" is used to refer to both this system and system commonly known as Bubblejet.TM..
The advancement of ink jet printing technologies has opened up opportunities for applications in photo minilab and microlab. In these environments, the ink jet printing techniques have the advantages of easy image manipulation, compatibility with digital image files, and faster turn-around time. When configured properly, ink jet printers can deliver images with qualities comparable to that of the traditional photographs. For digital photo applications, it is crucial to minimize all image artifacts related ink jet printing so that the customers can perceive the digital prints having the similar image quality as the traditional photographs.
Many image artifacts in ink jet printing are caused by improper (i.e. not rapid enough) drying of ink dots on the ink receivers. The ink dots are formed by ink droplets ejected from the ink jet print heads. The drying of ink dots on the receiver can include several stages. First, within each printing pass (or swath), the ink dots freshly placed on the receiver need to dry fast enough so that the ink dots will not merge with each other. The interaction (e.g. merging) of ink dots on the receiver can cause image artifacts such as coalescence and inter color bleeding. For a print head transport speed of 20 inch/second relative to a 20 inch wide receiver, for example, the time scale of this drying stage is in the range of 10 .mu.s to 1 second. Second, after an ink image is printed, the ink receiver needs to be dry on the surface before it can be stacked with other printed images or handled by a customer. This time scale is typically in the range of 10 seconds to 10 minutes, depending on the printing throughput and the size of the ink image.
The drying mechanisms of ink dots on receiver include absorption by the ink receiver and the evaporation to the ambient environment. The ink drying can be accelerated by improving both mechanisms. Absorbant materials are often coated in the ink receiver to accelerate absorption of ink solution into the receiver. Auxiliary drying devices can also be installed in the ink jet printer to assist evaporation of ink into air. Many techniques have been reported in these areas. Examples of the disclosures can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,141,599, 5,479,199 and EP 761 449 A2. These techniques, however, have the disadvantages in added cost. Furthermore, photo color images usually have high ink coverage; the above techniques often do not dry ink fast enough to eliminate coalescence and color bleeding artifacts.
Artifacts in color ink images also include misregistration between different color planes of a color ink image. For example, if cyan, magenta, and yellow colors are to be sequentially formed on a receiver, if the yellow image plane is printed not in registration with the cyan and magenta color planes, improper colors will result in the formed color ink image.

Ink jet printing registered color images


A decorative wireless earphone is a single piece integrated with a necklace, a microphone, a main unit and an earpiece. The main unit has a shape of pendant and the earplug is hidden behind the ornamental part. The lead wire is received in the necklace. The distance between the microphone and the earpiece is almost equal to the distance between the mouth and the ear of human. Due to the wireless earphone being designed as an ornament, it could be worn on the neck naturally and reasonably with less chance of being lost, convenience and easy-storage. Hence, the decorative wireless earphone of the present invention has enhanced the value thereof additionally and has promoted competition thereof in the market.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a wireless earphone device and particularly to an earplug type combining wire-hanging type Bluetooth earphone.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Currently, there are four types Bluetooth earphones available on the market: ear-hanging type, earplug type, earplug combining ear-hanging type and wire-hanging type. The preceding four types have their advantages and disadvantages depending on factors, such as power consumption, price, portability, comfort, storage at the time of on-duty, storage and affect to the glasses worn by the user. The user usually selects one of the preceding types according to his/her personal need.
The preceding Bluetooth earphone are belonged to cold technological products with regard to shape and function and their designs are much more favorable for male users rather than for female users.
Taiwan Utility Model No. M268827 discloses a necklace with wireless receiver. Taiwan Patent Publication No. 540950 discloses an improved wireless earphone. Taiwan Patent Publication No. 516762 discloses a hanging type held-free receiver.
The preceding prior art provides an ear receiver and a coil or necklace hanging on the neck. The receiver is separated from the coil or necklace distinctly and structure of the earphone exposes clearly. A single piece integrated with both the receiver and the necklace in association with ornamental design is not found in the prior art.


Embodiments relate to modular reductions. An aspect includes a system to perform modular reductions. The system includes a shift register to store an input string or number. The system also includes a plurality of processing elements arranged in a pipeline configuration to convert the input string to a predefined alphabet or to convert the number to a different base based on a plurality of modular reductions, an output of one of the plurality of processing elements being an input to a subsequent one of the plurality of processing elements in the pipeline as part of a recursive division, and an input of a first one of the plurality of processing elements in the pipeline being an output of the shift register.

The present invention relates generally to encryption and computation, and more specifically, to modular reduction algorithms.
In encryption and computation algorithms, alphabet conversion or conversion of numbers from binary to any base, for example, may be necessary. For example, the format preserving encryption (FPE) algorithm, VISA FPE (VFPE), requires alphabet conversion. This alphabet conversion, as well as conversion from binary to a different base or computation (e.g., banking computation) requires the performance of several modular reductions of the quotients resulting from division by predefined constants.

Pipelined modular reduction and division

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


High protein and high fiber food products, additives for preparing high protein and high fiber food products, and methods of making high protein and high fiber food products are disclosed. More particularly, the additives and methods disclosed are useful for preparing high protein and high fiber bread products. The additives comprise protein and/or fiber, at least one hydrocolloid, oil, and water and may optionally comprise minerals and emulsifiers.

Bread and cereal products are the predominate source of nutrition worldwide, supplying important nutrients such as protein, fiber, fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins. In addition to the nutritional advantages of grain based products, it is believed that diets high in grain products may reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers. Despite the dietary advantages of breads and cereals, it has been estimated that only one in ten U.S. consumers eat the USDA's recommended 6 to 11 daily servings of grain-based foods.
Further contributing to the deficiency of grain nutrition in the U.S. is the consumers' preference for certain grain products which have only low to moderate levels of protein and fiber. For example, white breads, which are made from flour having up to 30% of the whole grain removed, constitute the majority of all bread consumed in the U.S. Similarly, consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere are increasingly receiving daily grain intake from snack foods which are high in sugars and starch with only minimal protein and fiber content.
Therefore, it has long been considered desirable to supplement bread products with additional quantities of protein and/or fiber to increase the intake of these nutrients per serving. Traditionally, the amount of additional protein and fiber that may be added to bread dough has been limited. It is widely recognized in the art that bread dough becomes unworkably tough and rubbery or does not properly rise when even small amounts of additional protein and/or fiber are added. The resulting bread products have been described as unacceptably rubbery, chewy, dense or low in volume.
Most bread products are made from wheat flour that has a protein content between 7% and 13%, primarily in the form of vital gluten. After the addition of all other bread ingredients, a typical bread product made from wheat flour has a total gluten content of only about 3-4% by weight. It is well known in the art to add vital gluten to bread flour or dough in order to supplement the protein content of the resulting bread product. However, only relatively small amounts of vital gluten can be added before the dough becomes unworkable.
The rubbery and tough dough characteristic of added vital gluten result from the "knitting" or "development" of the vital gluten upon hydration as it is mixed with water to form dough. Vital gluten knitting has traditionally been considered to arise from disulfide cross-linking between gluten proteins. More recently, it has been discovered that cross-linking of tyrosine residues in wheat gluten proteins may also contribute to gluten development. See Tilley et al, J. Agric. Food Chem. 2001, 49, 2627-2632. The knitting of vital gluten produces the visco-elastic properties characteristic of most bread dough. The elasticity of the dough allows gas bubbles formed by yeast in leavened bread to be retained in the dough. In this manner, vital gluten permits the dough to rise. When additional amounts of vital gluten are added to flour or dough to supplement the protein content, excessive knitting of the protein molecules reduces the elasticity of the dough, resulting in the deleterious effects on the dough and bread properties described above. Due to these limitations, it was heretofore possible to add only about 3-5% by flour weight of additional vital gluten to a leavened bread product. The resulting gluten supplemented bread products contain a total protein content of only about 8% by weight per loaf.
Prior approaches to increasing the protein content of bread products include adding non-fat dry milk (NFDM) to the dough as a source of additional whey protein. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,902 ("Rudel"). The whey proteins in NFDM do not "knit" to the high degree associated with vital gluten allowing for somewhat more workable dough. Breads supplemented with NFDM are reported achieve total protein contents of 20-24% by weight. However, the use of NFDM suffers the disadvantage of introducing dairy ingredients not typically associated with bread products. Such bread products are not acceptable to consumers that have difficulty digesting lactose, are allergic to milk products, or otherwise do not desire breads made with milk products.
Other approaches to increasing protein content in bread have involved denaturing proteins to reduce knitting, diluting flour with large quantities of fiber to offset the added protein, or adding reducing agents to disrupt disulfide bond formation. Typically, vegetable gums must be added in these processes to mimic the moisture and volume of a normal bread product. These approaches have had only limited success in increasing the protein content of bread products and produce breads with commercially unacceptable taste and texture.
Similar limitations on the amount of fiber that can be added to a bread product are well known in the art. Bread products have been supplemented with a variety of dietary fibers such as alpha cellulose, in order to increase the total fiber content. However, the quantity of additional fiber that may be added has heretofore been limited by the unworkable dough and the unacceptable texture and volume of the resulting breads.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need in the art for grain products having high total protein and/or fiber content.


According to this invention, the prior art problem that relatively many steps and a long time are required for obtaining a high quality polycarbonate of a high molecular weight by a solid phase polymerization method has been solved by subjecting a polycarbonate oligomer to swollen solid phase polymerization under an atmosphere containing a swelling solvent gas or subjecting a polycarbonate oligomer to poor solvent solid phase polymerization under a stream of a poor solvent gas.

The prior method for producing a polycarbonate in industry includes an transesterification method by which a dihydroxy compound and a carbonic acid diester compound are used as the starting materials and these are subjected to transesterification to obtain a polycarbonate.
This transesterification method is roughly classified into a molten transesterification method and a solid phase polymerization method, and hence, these are explained in this order below.
(1) Molten Transesterification Method (JP-A-61-62,522, JP-A-2-153,925)
The case where bisphenol A is used as the dihydroxy compound and diphenyl carbonate is used as the carbonic acid diester compound is taken as an example and explained. This molten transesterification method is a method for producing a polycarbonate which comprises melting bisphenol A and diphenyl carbonate and subjecting them to transesterification reaction in the molten state to eliminate the phenol.
In this molten transesterification method, however, the melting point and melt viscosity of the polycarbonate polymer increase with the progress of polymerization reaction, and hence, a reaction temperature near 300.degree. C. is finally required and a surface renewal by stirring as much as possible and a high vacuum of not more than 1 mm Hg are required for the deaeration-removal of phenol produced as a by-product. Accordingly, in this molten transesterification method, an apparatus enabling high temperature, high vacuum and strong stirring is indispensable and hence the equipment cost increases necessarily.
Moreover, since in this molten transesterification method, the polycarbonate polymer produced is exposed in the vicinity of the decomposition temperature of the polycarbonate for a long period of time, the coloring of the polycarbonate and the deterioration of the polycarbonate due to decomposition reaction and side reactions such as cross-linking, branching and the like are caused with a high possibility.
Accordingly, in the current technique relating to a high viscosity fluid, there is a limit in the molecular weight of a polycarbonate which can be stably produced in industry by the molten transesterification method, and it is considered to be about 20,000 in terms of a viscosity average molecular weight.
(2) Solid Phase Polymerization Method (JP-A-63-223,035, JP-A-1-158,033)
Similarly, the case where bisphenol A is used as the dihydroxy compound and diphenyl carbonate is used as the carbonic acid diester compound is taken as an example and explained. This solid phase polymerization method is a method for producing a high molecular weight polycarbonate which comprises subjecting bisphenol A and diphenyl carbonate to transesterification reaction in the molten state to produce an oligomer, thereafter crystallizing the oligomer by a solvent-treatment, a heat-treatment or the like and subjecting the crystallized oligomer to solid phase polymerization.
This solid phase polymerization method enables the reaction to be conducted at a temperature not higher than the melting point of the polycarbonate (e.g., not more than 240.degree. C.), so that the polycarbonate obtained does not have the problem of coloring polycarbonate which has been recognized in the above molten transesterification method and is superior in quality to the polycarbonate obtained by the molten transesterification method.
However, in this solid phase polymerization method, at least three steps including the oligomerization step, the crystallization step and the solid phase polymerization step are essential, and not only is the production operation complicated, but also a high equipment cost and a high production cost are unavoidable. The solid phase polymerization for obtaining a high molecular weight polycarbonate from the oligomer can be conducted at a low temperature; however, the transesterification reaction rate depends upon the temperature, and the higher the temperature, the higher the reaction rate. Therefore, when the solid phase polymerization is effected at a low temperature, a long reaction time is required. For example, in order to obtain a high molecular weight polycarbonate from the oligomer by the solid phase polymerization process, a reaction time 1.5 to 10 times that in the molten transesterification method is required.
Accordingly, the object of this invention is to provide a process for producing a polycarbonate which has overcome the disadvantages of the conventional method for producing a polycarbonate, especially the solid phase polymerization method and can produce a high quality, high molecular weight polycarbonate in steps as few as possible with a good efficiency in a short time at a low cost.


This invention concerns the addition of fibrous alumina material to a phosphor or phosphor mixture before fluidization as a means of increasing the cohesiveness of the phosphor or phosphor mixture. The increase in cohesiveness can be controlled by varying the concentration of the fiber in the mixture.

Processes are known in the lighting industry for applying a thin protective coating to the outer surface of individual phosphor particles in order to improve the performance properties, e.g., lamp maintenance, of the phosphor when used in lamps.
One such known process applies such coating to the individual phosphor particles employing a fluidized bed which is maintained in a temperature gradient. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,673 "Method For Coating Phosphor Particles" of A. G. Sigai, issued Apr. 29, 1986, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Such coating processes can experience operational problems if the phosphor powder becomes too fluid in the bed. Very fluid or mobile phosphor powders transfer heat efficiently from the hot upper zone of the reactor to the lower zone. One possible consequence of such high powder mobility is a loss of the temperature gradient in the system leading to unacceptably high temperatures in the lower section of the reactor. This often may lead to undesired pyrolysis of precursors at the distributor plate causing plugging of the plate and a loss in conversion efficiency. In addition, the high temperatures at the reactor bottom often may lead to failure of gaskets, which is undesirable when using flammable or pyrophoric chemicals.

Method for increasing the cohesiveness of powders in fluid beds

102
FSS 10
FSS 213
FSS 301.4 R
FSS 313 FB
FSS DIG. 16


A method, for dynamic document localization, includes issuing a request for locale-neutral content, the request having a locale-neutral identifier. The locale-neutral content is received responsive to the request. Localized language content is built by applying a language setting for a current language selection to the locale-neutral content. The language setting includes a language-specific string in a strings data structure corresponding to the current language selection.

The global nature of the World Wide Web (WWW) has given rise to the need for localizing the contents of Web pages for the specific language skills of a given user. Localization refers to the process of altering a document or program so that it is appropriate for the area in which it is used. For example, if the area in which a document is used is the German language, then when a user requests a Web page, the contents of the Web page are displayed in German.
In currently existing systems, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a Web page document written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language, a markup language used for documents on the WWW) is requested from a client computer system (client 100) via a client application such as a Web browser 102. A user enters a uniform resource locator (URL) specifying an address for the particular document. A locale is determined for the user's computer system, and a document specific to the locale, as determined by the locale-specific URL 114, is determined. The URL is sent to a Web server (server). The server has multiple copies of the HTML document 106, 108, 110, each tailored to a specific language, or locale. Using the locale-specific URL, the Web server retrieves the HTML document 112 for the locale indicated by the URL from a repository comprising the locale-specific HTML document. The locale-specific HTML document is returned to the client, and the localized content 116 is communicated to the client.
There are various problems associated with this method. First, the content developer must create an HTML document for each existing locale. Secondly, the content developer must keep the various localized copies synchronized, wherein edits to the contents of a Web page must be reflected in all of the HTML documents. Third, if the user requests a different locale setting, the browser must fetch a new copy of the HTML document.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dynamic localization for documents using language setting


Antibodies having binding affinity for free IGFBP-1, biological compositions including antibodies having binding affinity for free IGFBP-1, kits for detecting free IGFBP-1 using the antibodies, and cell lines for producing the antibodies are provided. Also provided are devices and methods for detecting free IGFBP-1 and a rupture in a fetal membrane based on the presence of amniotic fluid in a vaginal secretion, as indicated by the presence of free IGFBP-1 in the vaginal secretion. The antibodies that are provided may be characterized by their ability to selectively recognize those IGFBP-1 molecules which are free of IGF-1 and IGF-2, i.e., antibodies which have a binding affinity for free IGFBP-1 that is greater than a binding affinity of the antibody to bound IGFBP-1. These antibodies may also be characterized by their competition with IGF-1 and IGF-2 for binding to IGFBP-1.

Premature rupturing of fetal membranes (the membrane defining the amniotic sac) in pregnant women occurs in about 5% to 14% of all pregnancies and is the cause of about 10% of all perinatal deaths. When a fetal membrane rupture occurs toward the end of a pregnancy (38-40 weeks of pregnancy), delivery of the fetus should be effected as soon as possible in order to minimize the associated risks to the fetus and the mother. A simple, rapid and effective method for identifying fetal membrane ruptures is therefore needed so that the occurrence of a fetal membrane rupture toward the end of a pregnancy can be effectively monitored in order to limit the amount of time between the occurrence of the fetal membrane rupture and delivery.
Premature rupturing of fetal membranes is not a problem that is limited to the last few weeks of pregnancy. More than 30% of premature fetal membrane ruptures occur before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Fetal membrane ruptures before 37 weeks of pregnancy have been associated with significant increases in the risk of an intrauterine infection, Keirse M. J. N. C., et al., "Prelabor Rupture of the Membrane Preterm," in Efficient Care in Pregnancy and Child-birth, 1989, Vol. 1, Oxford, N.Y., Toronto. Edited by J. Chalmers, M. Enkin, and M. Keirse. Intrauterine penetration of such infections increase both maternal and perinatal mortality. The risk of intrauterine penetration of the intrauterine infection increases significantly as time passes between the rupture of the membrane and delivery. Early diagnosis of fetal membrane ruptures that occur before 37 weeks of pregnancy is therefore extremely important. Positive diagnosis of fetal membrane ruptures before 34 weeks of pregnancy is also important since it permits the timely monitoring and treatment of pregnant women to prevent intra-amnion infection and to stimulate fetal lung development.
A variety of methods have been developed for detecting fetal membrane ruptures. One method, called the crystallization test, detects amniotic fluid in vaginal secretions based on the observation of arborization, a tree-branch-like structure which forms when amniotic fluid dries on a slide. The crystallization test is described in M. L. Friedman and T. W. McElvin, American Journal of Obstetrical Gynecology, 1969, Vol. 104, pp. 544-550.
The crystallization test relies on the visual image produced on a slide by a vaginal secretion containing amniotic fluid being sufficiently visually distinct from normal vaginal secretions so as to enable the detection of amniotic fluid in a vaginal secretion. Because the crystallization test relies on the user to identify the presence of arborization in a test sample, the crystallization test is highly susceptible to user error. As a result, the accuracy of the crystallization test can be significantly operator dependent.
Many factors can cause a vaginal secretion sample to appear as though it contains amniotic fluid when it does not, and visa versa. For example, results obtained from the crystallization test can be erroneous if a long time has passed since the rupture has taken place. Vaginal infections can also influence the results of the crystallization test. It has been found that the crystallization test produces false results in as many as 20% of the cases, most commonly due to the pattern produced by a vaginal secretion being misidentified as containing amniotic fluid or not containing amniotic fluid.
A method has also been proposed for detecting fetal membrane ruptures based on the pH of a vaginal secretion where a detectable agent, such as a dye, is used to stain the amniotic fluid in vaginal secretion samples. M. L. Friedman and T. W. McElvin, American Journal of Obstetrical Gynecology, 1969, Vol. 104, pp. 544-550. Detection of fetal membrane ruptures based on the pH of vaginal secretions is inaccurate due to the susceptibility of the test to user error, as well as the variability of the pH of vaginal secretion samples person to person due to factors independent of the presence or absence of amniotic fluid in a vaginal secretion.
Methods have also been proposed for detecting fetal membrane ruptures based on an immunochemical analysis of the proteins contained in amniotic fluid. Immunochemistry is a branch of science that deals with the chemical changes and phenomena of immunity, specifically, the chemistry of antigens, antibodies, and their reactions. The proposed methods utilize the following four protein compounds for diagnosing fetal membrane ruptures: alpha-fetoprotrin, prolactin, fibronectin, and insulin-like growth-factor-binding protein 1 (IGFBP-1). B. L. Rochelson, et al., "Rapid Assay-Possible Application in the Diagnosis of Premature Rupture of the Membranes," in Obstetr. Gynecol., 1983, Vol. 62, pp. 414-418; Koninckx, et al., "Prolactin Concentration in Vaginal Fluid: A New Method for Diagnosing Ruptured Membranes," Br. J. Obstetr. Gynecol. 1981, Vol. 88, pp. 607-610; P. Hellemans, et al., "Preliminary Results with the Use of Rom-Check Immunoassay in the Early Detection of Rupture of the Amniotic Membranes," Eur. J. Obstetr. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol., 1992, Vol. 43, pp. 173-179; Rutanen, E. M., et al., "Measurement of Insulin-Like Growth-Factor Binding Protein-1 in Cervical/Vaginal Secretions: Comparison with the ROM-Check Membrane Immunoassay in the Diagnosis of Ruptured Fetal Membranes," Clin. Chim. Acta, 1993, Vol. 214, pp. 73-81).
Among the above immunochemical methods, those which are based on the detection of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and prolactin (PRL) in vaginal secretions are unreliable because the corresponding blood/amniotic fluid ratio of the above proteins varies considerably, i.e., between 1 and 10. In some cases, higher concentrations of proteins have been found in serum than in amniotic fluid. In addition, the concentration of amniotic proteins, such as alpha-fetoprotein, prolactin, and fibronectin, in amniotic fluid also varies during the course of a pregnancy. For example, AFP and PRL are present in amniotic fluid in high concentrations only during the second trimester (i.e., the second three-month period) of the pregnancy. As the pregnancy advances, the amniotic/serum protein concentration ratios for both these proteins decrease and is only about 3 to 4 at term.
Detection of fetal membrane ruptures based on the presence of fetal fibronectin in vaginal secretions has also been found to be unsatisfactory. P. Hellemans, et al., "Preliminary Results with the Use of the ROM-Check Immunoassay in the Early Detection of Rupture of the Amniotic Membranes," Eur. J. Obstetr. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol., 1992, Vol. 43, pp. 173-179; C. Lockwood, et al., "Fetal Fibronectin in Cervical and Vaginal Secretions as a Predictor of Preterm Delivery," in The New England Journal of Medicine, 1991, Vol. 325, pp. 669-674. The ROM-Check immunoassay taught by Hellemans, et al. is an immunochemical method based on the detection of fetal fibronectin.
Rutanen, et al. teaches an immunochemical method based on the detection of insulin-like growth-factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1). Rutanen, E.M., et al., "Measurement of Insulin-Like Growth-Factor Binding Protein-1 in Cervical/Vaginal Secretions: Comparison with the ROM-Check Membrane Immunoassay in the Diagnosis of Ruptured Fetal Membranes," Clin. Chim. Acta, 1993, Vol. 214, pp. 73-81). In this study, Rutanen, et al. teaches a ROM-Check membrane immunoassay with a false positive rate of 20% and a false negative rate of 9%.
The aforementioned methods for detecting fetal membrane ruptures based on the detection of alpha-fetoprotein, prolactin, fibronectin, and insulin-like growth-factor-binding protein 1 are not highly accurate, due, at least in part, to the many variable factors regarding the concentration of these proteins in amniotic fluid, and the relative concentration of these proteins in amniotic fluid to serum. The natural occurrence of these proteins in serum, albeit at a significantly lower concentration, creates a background noise level which can lead to the false identification of a fetal membrane rupture or the absence thereof. The background noise level due to the natural occurrence of these proteins in serum is particularly significant when the amount of amniotic fluid in the vaginal secretion sample is small. As a result, these methods are inaccurate and unreliable for the detection of fetal membrane ruptures.
At least one method has been developed for detecting fetal membranes ruptures based on the presence of IGFBP-1 in vaginal secretion samples at higher levels than is normally found in serum. International Patent Application WO 92/12426 to Eeva-Marja Rutanen, 1992. Two monoclonal antibodies (MAb 6303 and MAb 6305) which are capable of binding to IGFBP-1 are used in this method to determine the total amount of IGFBP-1 in a vaginal secretion sample. As will be discussed herein, antibodies MAb 6303 and MAb 6305 recognize functionally different antigenic determinants on the surface of the IGFBP-1 molecule than the antibodies of the present invention. It is the different antigenic determinants of the antibodies of the present invention which crucially determines their medical interest and their utility in the methods and devices of the present invention.
The method described in WO 92/12426 uses a method known as a two-site immunoradiometric assay which is described by F. Pekonen, et al., in Journal of Immunoassay, 1989, Vol. 10, pp. 325-337. More specifically, the method involves placing a vaginal secretion sample into a sample-holding plate containing one of the two monoclonal antibodies (MAb 6303 and MAb 6305). IGFBP-1 molecules contained in the vaginal secretion sample are attached to a first of the two antibodies which is present in the holding plate. A specially-labeled second antibody is then introduced and is connected to another site of the same IGFBP-1 molecule. Those labeled second antibodies which bind to the IGFBP-1 molecule are immobilized on the holding plate and are subsequently measured by methods known in the art, for example, by means of a radioactive counter.
Using the method described in WO 92/12426, one can quantitatively determine the amount of IGFBP-1 in a vaginal secretion sample. This method partially overcomes the disadvantages associated with the above described immunochemical methods by selecting a protein for analysis in which the blood/amniotic fluid ratio varies over the second and third trimesters within a narrower range than the immunochemical methods described above.
One serious drawback of the diagnostic method proposed by Rutanen et al. is that IGFBP-1 can be present in the blood in relatively large concentrations. For example, the concentration of all forms of IGFBP-1 in the blood sera of pregnant women ranges from 58 to 600 ng/mL (median 220 ng/mL). As a result, even small admixtures of serum can cause an increase in the level of IGFBP-1 detected in the sample to be significantly higher than the level of sensitivity (about 0.5 ng/mL) of the Rutanen method. For example, IGFBP-1 can be present in a vaginal secretion sample in a concentration range from 0.5 to 90 ng/mL in women with an intact fetal membrane. In addition, Rutanen assumes that even with the fetal membrane being intact, a trace amount of IGFBP-1 is still leaking into the vagina.
In order to reduce the frequency of false positive results in the Rutanen method based on the presence of a low concentration of IGFBP-1 in a vaginal secretion not due to a fetal membrane rupture, (for example, due to blood or IGFBP-1 leaking into the vagina from an intact membrane), the Rutanen method requires a relatively high concentration of IGFBP-1 to be detected (100 ng/mL) before being considered to indicate the presence of a fetal membrane rupture. For example, Rutanen treats the occurrence of a lower concentration of IGFBP-1 in a sample than the highest known concentration of IGFBP-1 in maternal serum as a determination that a fetal membrane rupture has not occurred. This approach, however, could cause the method described in WO 92/12426 to produce a high level of false negative results. For example, when the rupture is small or in its initial stage, the small increase in IGFBP-1 in the vaginal secretion relative to serum may not be sufficient to be recognized by the Rutanen method as a positive result. This severely limits the Rutanen method as a reliable early detection method.
All of the methods described above detect the presence of a fetal membrane rupture based on the detection of a biomolecule in a vaginal secretion which occurs in amniotic fluid at a higher level than in serum. A common disadvantage to all of these methods is the fact that the biomolecule being detected can also be present in appreciable amounts in serum. As a result, an unacceptably high level of false positive results can occur when the concentration of the biomolecule in the patient's serum is unusually high and an unacceptably high level of false negative results can occur when only a very small amount of amniotic fluid is present in the vaginal secretion.
A need therefore exists for a method for detecting fetal membrane ruptures based on the presence of a biomolecule in a vaginal secretion which occurs in amniotic fluid at a significantly higher level than in serum. The biomolecule should also occur in a lower concentration in serum than the biomolecules which have been previously used to detect fetal membrane ruptures.
A need also exists for a method which can detect fetal membrane ruptures based on the presence of amniotic fluid in a vaginal secretion with a high level of accuracy. In order to minimize the number of false negative results, it is important that the method be able to detect small concentrations of amniotic fluid in a vaginal secretion.
The above described methods are also designed generally for measuring the presence of a biomolecule in a relatively narrow range of its concentration. For example, some methods require dilution of the sample prior to testing. In order to broaden this range, multiple attempts to match the concentrations of the sample to the specific range of protein concentrations must be made. A need exists for a method which can be used over a wide range of biomolecule concentrations.
A further common disadvantage of the above-described methods is the significant amount of time required to perform these methods, as well as the amount of laboratory equipment and skill required to perform these methods. A need exists for a method which can be rapidly performed without appreciable laboratory equipment. A need also exists for a method whose accuracy is not operator dependent and can be performed by untrained personnel, such as the patient.
A variety of test devices which are based on visual color detection of various antigens are known. European Patent Application 421,294 A2 to E. Osikowic, 1991. However, a simple test kit suitable for rapidly detecting the presence of amniotic fluid in a vaginal secretion is not known. Although Rutanen specifies in WO 92/12426 that a special kit has been developed which may be used to carry out the method, no description of any test kit, except for the reagents used in the method for measuring the concentration of IGFBP-1 is provided. There are no drawings or any other physical description of the kit as a device. A need therefore exists for a test device and kit for detecting the presence of amniotic fluid in vaginal secretions.


Techniques for adapting previously-annotated training examples into updated training examples for training a machine learning model are disclosed. One example includes a computer program that recognizes a find expression, a replacement expression, and a filtering constraint in which the filtering constraint distinguishes a subset of previously-annotated training examples from others of the previously-annotated training examples. An instance of the find expression is identified by the computer program within the subset of the previously-annotated training examples that were identified among the previously-annotated training examples based on the filtering constraint. The instance of the find expression identified within the subset of the previously-annotated training examples is replaced by the computer program with an instance of the replacement expression to obtain an updated subset of training examples. The updated subset of training examples is output by the computer program, which may be used for training a machine learning model.

Computers may be trained using training examples that link an action that is performed in response to a particular input. As one example, conversational computing systems that utilize machine learning or other artificial intelligence techniques may be trained to respond to a variety of human utterances. For example, a conversational computing system may be trained to respond to a user speaking the question, "what'll the weather be like tomorrow?" by querying a network-accessible weather service for tomorrow's weather report, and outputting a response utterance based on the weather report that includes a textual summary for the user that includes, "tomorrow will be cloudy with a high of 74 degrees." Training of such conversational computing systems can be time consuming and challenging to implement. For example, such training may rely on thousands or more training examples that are labeled by human annotators. Some training systems rely on highly skilled human annotators that are capable of labeling training data with annotations having a defined format and syntax.

Updating training examples for artificial intelligence


A recording control device for controlling a recording operation on a first recording medium on which first identification information for identifying the recording medium, first data, and data editing information which is information on an editing result of the first data are recorded includes a reading unit for reading second identification information from a detachable second recording medium on which the second identification information, first small data, and first small data editing information are recorded, a determination unit for determining whether the second identification information read by the reading unit is identical to the first identification information, and an update unit for updating the data editing information recorded on the first recording medium on the basis of the first small data editing information recorded on the second recording medium when the determination unit determines that the second identification information is identical to the first identification information.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a recording control device, a recording control method, and a program, and more particularly, to a recording control device, a recording control method, and a program which are capable of updating editing information of predetermined data on the basis of data obtained by reducing the data size of the predetermined data.
2. Background Discussion
Typically, video recording devices which generate/record editing information for high-resolution video on the basis of the editing result of low-resolution video transmitted from another device through a network. For example, such a recording and reproducing device is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0213935.

Recording control device, recording control method, and program


An intramolecular amidation processes for substrates such as sulfamates using chiral and non-chiral metalloporphyrin complexes which can maximize catalytic activity, enhance efficiency, stereoselectivity and speed of amidation reactions is described. The chiral metalloporphyrin catalyzed amidation of sulfamates exhibits excellent cis-selectivity, affording cyclic sulfamidates with high enantiomeric excess values.

Cyclic sulfamidates and sulfonamides are useful building blocks for organic synthesis and drug discovery. Major recent pharmaceutical applications include the carbapenem antibiotic L-786,392 3 and brinzolamide 4 for the treatment of glaucoma (Rosen et al. Science (1999), 283, 703; Dauban et al. Org. Lett. (2000), 2, 2327; Dauban et al. Tetrahedron Lett. (2001), 42, 1037; FIG. 2). Cyclic sulfamidates have also been utilized in the preparation of amino acids (Baldwin et al. Tetrahedron: Asymmetry (1990), 1, 881; Boulton et al. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1 (1999), 1421; Halcomb et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2002), 124, 2534) and have been shown to serve as useful chiral auxiliaries for organic synthesis (Oppolzer et al. Tetrahedron Lett. (1994), 35, 3509; Ahn et al. Tetrahedron Lett. (1998), 39, 6321; Lin et al. Tetrahedron (1999), 55, 13983).
Pioneering work by Breslow and co-workers in 1983 demonstrated catalytic intramolecular amidation of sulfonamides with either transition metal porphyrin complexes or rhodium acetate as catalysts gave cyclic sulfonamides in good yields (Breslow et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1983), 105, 6728). Recent studies by Du Bois and co-workers reported rhodium acetate to be an efficient catalyst for intramolecular amidation of sulfamate esters, affording the corresponding cyclic sulfamidates in good to high yields (Du Bois et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2001), 123, 6935). However, the challenge still remains to seek more stereoselective catalysts for the synthesis of optically active cyclic sulfamidates. To our knowledge, the asymmetric intramolecular amidation of such substrates using chiral catalysts is not known.
Metalloporphyrin catalyzed intermolecular nitrogen-atom transfer has attracted considerable attention because of their unique relationship to heme-containing enzymes, high stereoselectivity and catalytic turnover (Che et al. Org. Lett. (2000), 2, 2233). Moderate ee values have been obtained for asymmetric aziridination of alkenes and amidation of saturated C—H bonds (Che et al. Chem. Commun. (1997), 2373; Che et al. Chem. Commun. (1999), 2377; Marchon et al. Chem. Commun. (1999), 989; Che et al. Chem. Eur. J. (2002), 1563). The successful isolation of bis(tosylimido)ruthenium(VI) porphyrins have provided useful insights into the mechanism of ruthenium porphyrin catalyzed intramolecular nitrogen-atom transfer reactions (Che et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1999), 121, 9120; Che et al. Chem. Eur. J. (2002), 1563).
The present invention describes the first intramolecular amidation of sulfamates catalyzed by a metalloporphyrin and asymmetric intramolecular amidation of sulfamidates catalyzed by a transition metal complex supported by a porphyrin macrocycle. The target cyclic sulfamidates can be easily converted to α- or β-amino alcohols (Du Bois et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2001), 123, 6935), which are important precursors for drug synthesis and for the synthesis of chiral ligands for asymmetric catalysis (Kajiro et al. Synlett (1998), 51; Davies et al. Tetrahedron Lett. (1996), 37, 813; Ghosh et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1996), 118, 2527).

Intramolecular amidation of sulfamates catalyzed by metalloporphyrins


The present invention relates to novel derivatives of oxazolidinone, a method thereof and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the derivatives for use in an antibiotic. The oxazolidinone derivatives of the present invention show inhibitory activity against a broad spectrum of bacteria and lower toxicity. The prodrugs, prepared by reacting the compound having hydroxyl group with amino acid or phosphate, have an excellent efficiency on solubility thereof against water. Further, the derivatives of the present invention may exert potent antibacterial activity versus various human and animal pathogens, including Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococi, Enterococci and Streptococi, anaerobic microorganisms such as Bacteroides and Clostridia, and acid-resistant microorganisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium. Accordingly, the compositions comprising the oxazolidinone are used in an antibiotic.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to novel derivatives of oxazolidinone, preparation methods of the same, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same for use in an antibiotic.
2. Description of the Related Art
Used as orally administrable antibacterial agents, oxazolidinone compounds are not products of fermentation, but artificially synthesized ones, and various structures of their derivatives are known. For instance, 3-phenyl-2-oxazolidinone derivatives having one or two substituents are stated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,948,801, 4,461,773, 4,340,606, 4,476,136, 4,250,318 and 4,128,654. 3-[(Monosubstituted) phenyl]-2-oxazolidinone derivatives of Formula 2 are disclosed in EP 0312000, J. Med. Chem. 32, 1673 (1989), J. Med. Chem. 33, 2569 (1990), Tetrahedron, 45, 123 (1989), etc.

Pharmacia & Upjohn developed oxazolidinone derivatives of Formulas 3 and 4 (WO 93/23384, WO 95/14684 and WO 95/07271). Having succeeded in gaining the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of U.S.A., the oxazolidinone derivative of Formula 3, by the name of 'Zyvox', has come into the market. However, these conventional synthetic oxazolidinone compounds were found to suffer from the disadvantage of showing antibacterial activity against a narrow spectrum of bacteria, being toxic to humans, and being poor in therapeutic activity in vivo. Zyvox may be used restrictively as injection since the solubility of Zyvox against water is inadequate for use in injection, which is about 3 mg/ml.

Further, WO 93/09103 discloses derivatives of phenyl oxazolidinone, substituted with heterocyclics such as thiazole, indole, oxazole and quinole, as well as pyridine, at position 4 of the phenyl ring. However, these derivatives of oxazolidinone are known as providing insufficient medicinal effects because the heterocyclics bear simple substituents such as alkyl or amino groups.
In WO 01/94342, synthesizing derivatives of phenyl oxazolidinone, having with pyridine or derivatives of phenyl at position 4 of the phenyl ring was described. The compounds synthesized are potent in inhibitory activity against a broad spectrum of bacteria and are also superior antibiotic to Zyvox. However, The compounds are unable to be formulated as injection because solubility of the same is under 30 μg/ml.
Accordingly, the intensive and thorough research on oxazolidinone derivatives, conducted by the present inventors aiming to overcome the above problems encountered in prior arts, resulted in the finding oxazolidinone derivatives as well as prodrugs thereof, wherein the prodrugs are prepared by reacting amino acid or phosphate with the oxazolidinone derivatives having hydroxyl group. Further, salts of the oxazolidinone derivatives prodruged were easily synthesized by using amine group of amino acid of the same to synthesize organic acid or inorganic acid and by using a hydroxyl group of phosphate and one selected from sodium and calcium. The oxazolidinone derivatives have excellent effects on antibiotic activity and the solubility of the same is greatly enhanced.


A method of patterning a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack is provided. According to such method, an MTJ stack is formed having a free layer, a pinned layer and a tunnel barrier layer disposed between the free layer and the pinned layer. A first area of the MTJ stack is masked while the free layer of the MTJ is exposed in a second area. The free layer is then rendered electrically and magnetically inactive in the second area.

The invention relates to microelectronic devices, and more particularly to a magnetic tunnel junction and method for patterning the same.
In a magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM), information is stored in arrays of magnetic storage elements known as magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). One of the advantages of MRAM is the capability of the MTJ storage array to be placed in a level above the surface of a semiconductor substrate. In that way, the surface area of the semiconductor substrate is conserved for use by relatively few transistors used to control the MTJ array. In addition, the available substrate surface area does not constrain the density of the MRAM to the same extent as in other types of memory. MRAM technology potentially offers great benefits to the integration of processors and other system elements on a single integrated circuit (IC or "chip"), commonly referred to as "systems on a chip" (SOCs). The placement of the MTJ array in a layer above the semiconductor substrate surface increases the flexibility for fabricating the MRAM cell control transistors in the substrate. With such flexibility, MRAM cell control transistors can be fabricated using most, if not all of the same process steps as transistors used in logic circuitry, e.g. a microprocessor, of such chip.
Another advantage of MRAM compared to dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and static random access memory (SRAM), is that the stored information is non-volatile. In an MRAM, information is stored according to the orientation of magnetic dipoles within an MTJ storage element of each MRAM cell. The magnetic dipoles are re-orientable by application of a magnetic field to program the MTJ, that is, to write information to the MTJ. Once the MTJ is programmed by the magnetic field, the MTJ remains in either a first state or a second state until reprogrammed by a different magnetic field, even if power is removed from the MTJ in the meantime. An advantage of MRAM compared to other non-volatile rewriteable memory such as flash memory, is that the MTJ has longer life. Current technology suggests that MTJs are reprogrammable many billions of cycles. Flash memory, which utilizes thin dielectrics and is reprogrammed by applying relatively high voltage (10 V to 15 V) and current, typically fails within one million cycles.
A magnetic tunnel junction memory element includes a structure having ferromagnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic tunnel barrier. Digital information is stored and represented in the memory element as directions of magnetization vectors in the ferromagnetic layers. More specifically, the magnetic moment of one magnetic layer is fixed. Such layer is called the "pinned" or "reference" layer. The magnetic moment of the other magnetic layer may be switched to be either parallel or antiparallel to the pinned layer. This layer is called the "free" or "soft" layer. When the orientations in the pinned layer and the free layer are parallel, the MTJ is in a first state having a first electrical resistance. On the other hand, when the orientations in the pinned layer and the free layer are antiparallel, the MTJ is in a second state, in which its electrical resistance is significantly higher than in the first state. In general, the device state is determined by the orientation of the magnetic films in closest proximity to the tunnel barrier, even if the pinned and free layers are themselves comprised of multiple layers of materials. Such composite pinned and free layers are common, as they can enhance device operation and lifetime.
The patterning of the MTJ device is one of the most challenging aspects of fabrication. Conventional techniques used to pattern other structures of a chip, such as reactive ion etching (RIE) or ion milling, have been less than satisfactory when applied to the materials that compose magnetic stacks. In most cases utilizing such techniques, it is extremely difficult to cleanly remove etched material. Physical sputtering, often the dominant component of magnetic material RIE, usually results in the formation of re-deposited residues (called "fences" or "veils") that can short circuit the junctions of the MTJ, as well as short circuit conductive patterns in different metal layers. Short circuiting may occur either immediately as a result of such fence residues, or after subsequent high temperature processing.
Another problem of conventional etch techniques is corrosion and degradation of the patterned free and pinned layers that form the MTJ, due to chemical residue remaining after etching. Exposure to reactive gases during deposition of dielectrics such as silicon nitride and silicon dioxide after the etching of the MTJ can also cause corrosion and degradation. For example, fluorine and/or chlorine species may be present when plasma-etching a stack of magnetic films. Chlorine and fluorine species can combine with conductive and photoresist material removed in the process to deposit a conductive residue along sidewalls of the stack. When subjected to high temperatures, the residue can migrate and cause corrosion, degradation and electrical shorting.
One way proposed for handling these problems is development of a process having better selective etch control to minimize exposure of sensitive interfaces to corrosive chemicals and conductive fences. Such etch process should have high selectivity, in order for etching to stop when the thin tunnel barrier layer of a magnetic film stack is reached. Such etch process is known as stop on alumina (SOA), named historically because many of the MTJ tunnel barriers are formed from alumina-type compounds. However, the tight process control and high selectivity required to maintain an acceptably controlled etch process across an entire wafer is difficult to achieve. Moreover, the SOA process does not necessarily protect the free layer from harmful corrosion and degradation.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved structure and method for patterning magnetic tunnel junctions of an MRAM.

Method of patterning a magnetic tunnel junction stack for a magneto-resistive random access memory

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is a method for programming SSI cells or an array of said cells. The method achieves very fast programming while consuming only a very small amount of power, which paves the way for new applications such as battery-operated systems, page-mode programming for very high data throughput. The method also allows for the bitline voltage to be increased internally on the chip in order to circumvent the efficiency decrease associated with supply voltage scaling. By exploring the SSI mechanism in the subthreshold regime, an optimum value for the CG voltage is found for which the gate current is no longer maximized, but the energy consumed from the power supply is minimized and the injection efficiency during programming is maximized. The programming of a memory cell in this regime, where the gate current is a very steep function of the CG voltage, is, however, still achieved in a few microseconds while consuming only a very small cell current in the range of nanoamperes. This allows an entire wordline in the array to be programmed simultaneously, even if the supply voltage is scaled down to 3.3V or below. This possibility, combined with a physical programming time per cell which is still very short, realizes an effective programming time in the order of 20 ns/byte for a 1 Mbit device, which corresponds to a maximum programming transfer rate of 50 Mbyte/s. State-of-the-art Flash memories typically show a transfer rate in the order of 20-300 Kbyte/s during programming which is 2 to 3 orders of magnitude slower than in the case of the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for programming a fast-programmable Flash EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) cell, or array of such cells, that rely on the Source-Side Injection (SSI) mechanism for programming. The method is particularly well suited for low-power applications. The invention also relates to a novel low-voltage erase scheme of a fast-programmable Flash EEPROM cell or an array of such cells.
2. The Prior Art
Presently, most Flash memories use Channel Hot Electron Injection (CHEI) at the drain side of the memory cell, or Fowler-Nordheim Tunneling (FNT) for programnming. The CHEI mechanism provides a relatively high programming speed (.about.10.mu.s) at the expense of a high power consumption (-1 mA/bit) which limits the number of cells that can be programmed simultaneously (so-called page-mode programming) to a maximum of 8 bytes (Y. Miyawaki et al., IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol.27, p.583, 1992). Furthermore, in order to allow a further scaling of the transistor dimensions towards 0.5 .mu.m and below, supply voltage scaling from 5V towards 3.3V and below also becomes mandatory. This supply voltage scaling is known to cause considerable degradation of the CHEI efficiency as well as the corresponding programming speed because the high power needed to trigger the CHEI can not be easily supplied on-chip from a high voltage generator or charge pumping circuit. Such additional circuitry increases the complexity and expense of the device.
On the other hand, FNT tunneling provides slower programming times (.about.100 .mu.s), but requires a lower power consumption so as to allow larger pages (.about.4 kbit). This reduces the effective programming time to 1 .mu.s/byte (T. Tanaka et al., IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol.29, p.1366, 1994). Further improvements are hindered, however, by tunnel-oxide scaling limits and by the very high voltages (.about.18V) needed on chip for FNT, both compromising device reliability and process scalability.
The recent success of SSI as a viable alternative over FNT and CHEI for Flash programming is mainly due to its unique combination of moderate-to-low power consumption with very high programming speed at moderate voltages. A typical example of such a device relying on SSI for programming is the Applicant's High Injection Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor or HIMOS memory cell (J. Van Houdt et al., 11.sup.th IEEE Nonvolatile Semiconductor Memory Workshop, Feb. 1991; J. Van Houdt et al., IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol.ED-40, p.2255, 1993; J. Van Houdt et al., EP501941, published Sept. 1992). As also described in the co-pending applications Ser. Nos. 08/275,016 and 08/080,225, incorporated herein by reference, a speed-optimized implementation of the HIMOS (High Injection MOS) cell in a 0.7-.mu.m CMOS technology exhibits a 400 nanoseconds programming time while consuming only a moderate current (.about.35 .mu.A/cell) from a 5V supply. This result can be obtained by biasing the device at the maximum gate current, i.e. at a control-gate (CG) voltage (V.sub.cg) of 1.5V. The corresponding cell area is in the order of 15 .mu.m.sup.2 for a 0.7-.mu.m embedded Flash memory technology when implemented in a contactless virtual ground array as described in co-pending application Ser. No. 08/426,685. However, due to the growing demand for higher densities, and also in embedded memory applications like, for example, smart-cards, a continuous increase in array density and the scaling of the supply voltage will become desirable, if not mandatory. This evolution increases the relative impact of bitline voltage drops, and increases the importance of power consumption during programming.
Other references to SSI devices are listed below:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,952, issued Aug. 16, 1994, to Y. Yamauchi
U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,360, issued Feb. 28, 1995, to T. Fukumoto
U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,446, issued Jan. 18, 1994, to Y. Y. Ma et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,115, issued Apr. 18, 1995, to K. T. Chang
U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,784, issued Feb. 8, 1994, to M. H. Manley
U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130, issued Jul. 2, 1991, to B. Yeh
In contrast to Applicant's device as described in the co-pending applications Ser. Nos. 08/275,016 and 08/080,225, all these patents describe SSI devices and/or arrays that require complicated processing technologies (Yamauchi, Fukumoto, Ma and Manley use 3 polysilicon layers, while Chang and Yeh use special dielectrics) which presently are cost-effective only for very high-density stand-alone memories. Moreover, the corresponding devices described in the above-mentioned patents aim at maximizing the gate injection current in order to obtain the highest possible programming speed. This is typically done by biasing the select gate at a voltage slightly higher than the threshold voltage of this select channel. For the Applicant's device, as described in U.S. applications Ser. Nos. 08/275,016, 08/080,225 and 08/426,685, the select gate is referred to as Control Gate, and although the function is identical during programming, this select gate is given several names depending on the specific device, as indicated parenthetically in the following discussion. Yamauchi's patent mentions a cell current of 10 .mu.A for a select gate voltage of 2V (Auxiliary Gate, see FIG. 4). Fukumoto mentions a voltage of 1.5V to be applied to the select gate (Third Gate Electrode or Selection Gate, see col.3, line 39). Ma et al. mention a select gate voltage between 1.5 and 2V (Select Gate 47 in FIG. 4) which corresponds to a cell current of 20 .mu.A (col.9, line 22). More specifically, it is stated in the corresponding paper by Ma et al. (Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers, p.49, 1994) that "maximum programmed threshold happens at V.sub.sg of 0.6V above Vt(SG)" (col. 2,1.sup.st paragraph), where Vt(SG) represents the threshold voltage of the Select Gate SG. This implies that the `optimum` value for the select gate voltage is 1.8V (see table 1 in the same paper). Similarly, another publication on the same device (Symposium on VLSI Circuits Digest of Technical Papers, p. 77, 1995) mentions that "a low wordline voltage of 1.8V is used during programming to maximize the hot electron injection rate" (col. 2, 3.sup.rd paragraph). Chang mentions a typical select gate voltage of between 1 and 2V which corresponds to a cell current in the range of 10-15 .mu.A (Select Gate 14 in FIG. 1a), while Manley prefers a select gate voltage of 1.5V or "a potential just above the threshold voltage of the select transistor (select gate 20 in FIG. 11), since this is the optimum condition for hot-electron injection. . ." (col.4, lines 22-24). Finally, Yeh reports that "a positive voltage level in the vicinity of the threshold voltage of the MOS structure defined by the control gate 29 (on the order of approximately 1 Volt), is applied to the control gate 29" (col.3, lines 46-49).
Thus, all above-mentioned patents mention a select-gate voltage between 1 and 2V, which corresponds to the maximum gate current, and, hence, maximum programming speed. Since for state-of-the-art MOS technologies the threshold voltage of the select channel is definitely smaller than 1V (typically 0.7V for a 0.7-.mu.m technology), all above-mentioned patents still describe a programming scheme which is essentially in the strong inversion or on-state of the MOS structure. This has the advantage that the maximum gate current (and thus the maximum threshold-voltage shift) is obtained and that the gate current is less sensitive to small variations in the select gate voltage (see e.g. the co-pending U.S. applications Ser. Nos. 08/275,016 and 08/080,225, FIG. 4, or U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,952, issued Aug. 16, 1994, to Y. Yamauchi, FIG. 4).
Although in this case the programming cell current is only in the range of 10-50 .mu.A, a further reduction of this parameter will greatly improve the conditions for page-mode application and for supply voltage scaling. Indeed, if the supply voltage is scaled towards 3.3V, the injection efficiency may be increased by increasing the bitline voltage internally on-chip, as already suggested in the co-pending applications 08/275,016 and 08/080,225, p. 17, lines 4-13, and also in U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,446, col.9, lines 19-25. The power that can be delivered from such an on-chip high voltage generator or charge pump is, however, known to be limited in the order of a few .mu.A's (see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,009, issued on Aug. 20, 1991, to R. Kazerounian et al.). It is, therefore, still not straightforward to increase the drain voltage internally on-chip for the devices reported in the prior art.
On the other hand, programming a larger number of cells simultaneously (page-mode programming) can reduce the effective programming time per bit considerably. However, the simultaneous programming of, for example, 1024 cells on a common wordline would again require 10-50 mA in the prior art devices, which is unacceptable from the point of view of power consumption and bitline voltage drops, especially if at the same time the drain voltage is to be increased internally on-chip for higher speed performance.
In the present application, these problems are solved and additional interesting features are demonstrated by optimizing the programming operation from the point of view of power consumption and page-mode programming speed, in contrast to the prior art which shows optimum solutions only from the point of view of programming speed per cell.

Method of erasing a flash EEPROM memory cell array optimized for low power consumption

Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronica Centrum VZW


An apparatus for supplying respiratory gas to a patient in which respiratory gas components are metered with great accuracy and sources of error are detected early. The apparatus has metering devices for respiratory gas components which are connected, on the leading side of a mixing chamber volume, to a ring line; a first respiratory gas analyzer on the trailing side of the mixing chamber volume; a second respiratory gas analyzer at a patient connection; a regulating device for the respiratory gas components which controls the delivery of respiratory gas components, as a function of the concentration measured with the second respiratory gas analyzer, in such a way that the difference between a predetermined concentration and a measured concentration at the patient connection is minimized; and means for performing a plausibility comparison between the measured values of the first respiratory gas analyzer and the second respiratory gas analyzer.

One apparatus for supplying respiratory gas to a patient is known from German Patent DE 34 22 066 C2. In the known ventilator, an inhalation branch and an exhalation branch communicate with one another in the form of a closed ring line. A blower, as a respiratory gas feeder unit, brings about circulation of the respiratory gas in the ring line. For controlling the phases of respiration, a triggerable inhalation valve is included in the inhalation branch and a triggerable exhalation valve is included in the exhalation branch. When the inhalation valve is open and the exhalation valve is closed, the inhalation pressure builds up in the lungs of the ventilated patient. By comparison, when the inhalation valve is closed and the exhalation valve is open, the lungs of the ventilated patient are evacuated via the intake side of the respiratory gas feeder unit. An absorber disposed in a container removes the carbon dioxide contained in the respiratory gas breathed out.
When the known ventilator is used in anesthesiology, a certain quantity of anesthetic agent is admixed with the respiratory gas. In that case, it is important that the predetermined anesthesia concentration at the patient connection be achieved as accurately as possible; that rapid changes of concentration can be attained; and that safety mechanisms are provided that give a warning if incorrect dosages are given.

Apparatus and method for supplying respiratory gas to a patient in which respiratory gas components are metered with great accuracy


The subject invention pertains to a method and apparatus for providing a trailer jack mount. The subject invention also pertains to a method and apparatus for providing a trailer jack mount for use with towable trailers. The subject invention is advantageous for use with trailers, such as utility trailers, which are frequently moved between various locations. The subject apparatus can also enable the mounting of a trailer jack to a trailer such that the trailer jack can quickly transition up or down relative to the trailer. In a specific embodiment, the subject invention includes a first piece mountable to a trailer and a second piece to which a trailer jack can be secured. In this embodiment, the subject apparatus also includes means for securely attaching the second piece to the first piece and allowing the second piece to pivot relative to the first piece. Advantageously, the subject invention can either be retrofitted to an existing trailer with jack, or installed at original manufacture. In another specific embodiment, the second piece is slidably attached to the first piece to allow an individual to adjust the height of the trailer jack.

Towed trailers, such as utility trailers or camper trailers, are in wide spread use in this country and worldwide. Individuals who use these types of trailers often move them from location to location on a frequent basis. Towed trailers typically have wheels and a hitch mechanism to allow them to be attached to a towing vehicle and moved easily. The hitch mechanism normally will employ a tongue coupler to engage a vehicle's hitch and a stabilizer, or trailer jack, which allows the trailer to be supported while disengaged from the towing vehicle.
Towed trailers are typically purchased with a trailer jack installed at the point of manufacture. The trailer jacks typically have a flange, or a mounting bracket integrated with the jack which allows the jack to be mounted to the trailer. The height of the trailer jack is normally adjustable by means of a hand crank. The adjustable trailer jack allows an individual to adapt the jack to differing terrain and use conditions. For example, in typical operation, an individual with a utility trailer will tow the trailer to the desired site. In order to release the towing vehicle, the individual will then crank the trailer jack until the jack meets the ground and raises the trailer's tongue coupler free from the towing vehicle's hitch. The individual is then free to drive the towing vehicle away and the trailer is supported by the trailer jack. In order to tow the trailer again, the process is reversed, requiring the individual to crank the jack such as to lower the trailer's tongue coupler onto the vehicle's hitch and continue cranking the jack until the lowest portion of the jack is high enough off the ground to prevent the jack from hitting the ground during transport.
Thus, as can be see by the typical mode of operation of trailer jacks, a significant amount of time and energy can be expended by the individual in cranking the jack from the up, or travel, position to the down, or supporting, position and vice versa. Additionally, it is important that when the jack is in the up position the jack is sufficiently high enough off the ground, to avoid damage during travel.
Accordingly, there is a need for a trailer jack apparatus and method which allows an individual to quickly and easily transition a jack from the up position to the down position and vice versa. Also, as there are many existing trailers in use which currently have jacks, there is a need for an apparatus and method which can allow existing jacks to be retrofitted with an apparatus allowing the jacks to quickly be transitioned from the up position to the down position and vice versa.
The subject invention relates to a method and apparatus for a trailer jack mount. The subject invention also pertains to a method and apparatus for providing a trailer jack mount for use with towable trailers. The subject apparatus can also enable the mounting of a trailer to a trailer such that the trailer jack can quickly transition up or down relative to the trailer. In a specific embodiment, the subject invention includes a first piece mountable to an A-frame coupler and a second piece to which a trailer jack can be secured. In this embodiment, the subject apparatus also includes means for securely attaching the second piece to the first piece and allowing the second piece to pivot relative to the first piece. Advantageously, the subject invention can either be retrofitted to an existing trailer with jack, or installed at original manufacture. In another specific embodiment, the second piece is slidably attached to the first piece to allow an individual to adjust the height of the trailer jack.
The subject method and apparatus can be used to shorten the time required to transition a trailer jack from an up, or travel position, to a down, or support position, and vice versa. With respect to typical crank jacks, an individual must manually crank the trailer jack the entire distance between the up and down or down and up positions. The subject invention can significantly reduce the amount of cranking needed to transition the jack between the up and down positions and vice versa. The subject invention is advantageous in situations where an individual needs to frequently move a towable trailer, such as a utility trailer used to tow equipment to and from different job sites, because the time needed to mount and dismount the trailer is significantly shortened over currently available solutions.

Method and apparatus for trailer jack mount