A manually-operated, adjustable dental implant torque wrench employs a screw holding sheath for placing a dental screw in a mouth of a patient. A handle offset to avoid opposite teeth to the work area is provided with a bevel gear and pinion set to translate the turning motion from a straight turning shaft in the handle to a perpendicular screw turning head. An assortment of replaceable snap-fit screw turning heads fits the various types of dental screws. An easy turn T-shaped handle with a pivotable turning knob is controlled by a torque limiting device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand manipulated dental implements and particularly to a manually-operated and adjustable dental implant torque wrench which employs a bevel gear and pinion set, each of which is attached to a shaft, the bevel gear being attached through its shaft to a T-handle and the pinion gear is attached to the drive mechanism, said drive mechanism is located in an angled and offset head for accessibility to the patient's rear teeth and is equipped with a screw holding sheath.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
A dental implant, popularly known as a tooth implant, is an artificial root and tooth which are used to replace a missing tooth (or teeth). Dental implants are placed in the jaw to provide support for a dental restoration, fixed bridge or removable partial denture. Dental implants provide good chewing function and also improve the patient's cosmetic appearance thereby allowing the patient to smile, speak, and interact with others with greater confidence. The dental implants as well as other oral surgery involve dental screws which must be placed in line with threaded implanted screw receptacles and screwed into them to specific torque levels.
The mouth can only open so far. The average range of opening is between 40–50 mm. The average movement of the mandible (lower jaw) from side to side (right to left) is 7 mm. The average amount of mandible movement in a forward position is also about 7 mm. It is necessary to provide an instrument that will enable the clinician who is performing dental restorative (placing crowns, bridges or bars onto the implants once the bone has integrated and fused to the implants) procedures to:
bring screws to the mouth without dropping them in the throat area,
to be able to access difficult areas of the back of the mouth
and to be able to torque screws to the manufacturer's specifications.
To date there are no such item as a lock washer that can be placed on a screw that retains a crown or bridge to the dental implant. Every time the cycle of chewing is performed an impact moment is accomplished. Meaning, the teeth come together as if a hammer is hitting the head of a nail. The result is, the threads of the screw and the threads within the implant (the nut in this case) can disengage allowing the screw to back out and loosen. After many cycles of this impact moment occurring the screw can back out and the crown or bridge (teeth supported on the implant(s) become loose. Screws can fracture as a result making their retrieval potentially challenging. They can become wedged inside the implant body.
None of the prior art devices adequately address the problem of bringing the dental screws into the mouth and accurately positioning them for screwing into the implanted threaded socket, especially for the back area of the mouth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,474, issued May 6, 1997 to Kukla, is for a manually operated dental implant torque wrench with an elongated shaft assembly having a first shaft end and a second shaft end. A manually operable control device is connected to the first shaft end of the elongated shaft assembly for rotating the elongated shaft assembly. An angled housing assembly having a passageway extending from a first open end of the housing to a second open end of the housing is provided. The housing has a first portion and a second portion in an angled relationship to the first portion. A drive assembly is provided within the passageway and is operatively connected to the elongated shaft assembly. The drive assembly includes a receptacle end rotatably mounted to the second open end and adapted for attaching a dental tool thereto. An adjustable torque limiting assembly is connected to the elongated shaft assembly for disengaging the elongated shaft assembly from rotation of the drive assembly when rotation of the elongated shaft assembly has reached an adjustable predetermined torque setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,053, issued Dec. 19, 2000 to Hollander, concerns an analog dental wrench with selectable adjustable torque-shear limits in which, at a given level of torque imparted to a dental work object, force communicated by a compression spring through an interface impart against a ball bearing will cause rotation of a handle and medial hollow cylindrical segment of the wrench off of the bearing to an off-axis position relative to a longitudinal work axis, disabling a wrench head, precluding further application of a torque to the work object, and causing shear of the wrench to occur either to the left or right of the longitudinal axis, and external to the mouth of the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,638, issued Aug. 16, 1994 to Coss, illustrates an adjustable torque wrench for procedures requiring the application of precise small torques. The wrench includes a handle pivotally connected to a cam member rigidly attached to a driving head. The handle breaks out of alignment with the extending cam member upon application of an adjustable torque limit. A spring-biased plunger within the handle normally holds a rigid ball within an elliptical indent in the cam member. Application of the torque limit on the handle forces the ball out of the indent and onto an angled surface before a projecting flange of the handle contacts the cam member and limits the further pivot of the handle. The angled surface provides a reaction force to the ball sufficient to maintain the handle in a pivoted position. The handle pivots a noticeably large angle of 30.degree. before the flange contacts the cam member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,994, issued Jul. 21, 1987 to Singleton, provides a speed socket wrench with a reversing ratchet, which substantially reduces the work required to remove nuts or bolts. The wrench includes a bevel gear and mating bevel pinion mounted respectively on a gear shaft and pinion shaft. A drive shaft is provided on the outer end of the pinion shaft. Interlocking cap elements are provided on the outer end of the drive shaft for releasably locking the drive shaft to prevent rotation thereof. In one embodiment, the cap elements include inner and outer caps which cooperate to provide a locking mechanism. In the locked position of the caps, the wrench can be employed as would any conventional wrench. In the unlocked position, a handle on the outer end of the gear shaft is rotatable by hand, resulting in revolving of the drive shaft. The gears of the present wrench turn freely in either direction and gear ratios and sizes can be varied with wrench size. In a further embodiment, a reversing ratchet mechanism is employed to lock the drive shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,470, issued Feb. 12, 1991 to Singleton, shows a speed socket wrench with an improved handle which substantially reduces the work required to remove nuts or bolts. The wrench includes a bevel gear and mating bevel pinion mounted respectively on a gear shaft and pinion shaft. A drive shaft is provided on the outer end of the pinion shaft. A reversing ratchet mechanism is employed to lock the drive shaft. The specific construction and arrangement of components provides a socket wrench has been found to substantially reduce the work required to remove nuts or bolts, as compared with conventional wrenches. The present invention provides an improved T-handle for use with a tool having a shaft which rotates about its longitudinal axis. The T-handle is constructed with a generally L-shaped end member, having the shorter leg of the end member extending outwardly at an angle such as about 45 degrees and with the end member being pivotable at its center about the shaft so as to form an angle with the shaft which is complementary to the angle formed by the shorter leg of the end member with the main portion of the end member. In this manner, there is obtained a lever arm that is parallel to the shaft in the operating mode.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,561, issued Apr. 21, 1981 to Mize, claims a ratchet and gear drive socket wrench handle. An elongated handle is provided defining a hand grip at one end and an enlarged head at the other end. The enlarged head has a reversible ratchet-type drive assembly supported therefrom including a rotary output shaft disposed transverse to the handle. The handle is tubular intermediate the handle and head ends thereof and rotatably receives a torque input shaft extending therethrough. The torque input shaft and output shaft include meshed gear wheels and the end of the input shaft adjacent the hand grip includes first torque transfer structure. An elongated head is positioned adjacent and disposed transverse to the hand grip in alignment therewith and includes laterally projecting second torque transverse structure releasably coupled with the first torque transverse structure. The elongated head, on the side thereof remote from the head end of the handle, defines an elongated laterally opening groove formed therein and an elongated crank arm has one end pivotally mounted in one end of the groove for swinging of the crank arm between a retracted position within the groove and an extended position projecting endwise outwardly of the aforementioned one end of the groove. The other end of the crank arm includes a right angulated terminal end portion generally paralleling the handle when the crank arm is in both the retracted and extended positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,476, issued Mar. 13, 1990 to Singleton, describes a speed socket wrench with an improved handle which substantially reduces the work required to remove nuts or bolts. The wrench includes a bevel gear and mating bevel pinion mounted respectively on a gear shaft and pinion shaft. A drive shaft is provided on the outer end of the pinion shaft. A reversing ratchet mechanism is employed to lock the drive shaft. The specific construction and arrangement of components provides a socket wrench which has been found to substantially reduce the work required to remove nuts or bolts, as compared with conventional wrenches. The present invention provides an improved T-handle for use with a tool having a shaft which rotates about its longitudinal axis. The T-handle is constructed with a generally L-shaped end member, having the shorter leg of the end member extending outwardly at an angle such as about 45 degrees and with the end member being pivotable at its center about the shaft so as to form an angle with the shaft which is complementary to the angle formed by the shorter leg of the end member with the main portion of the end member. In this manner, there is obtained a lever arm that is parallel to the shaft in the operating mode.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,459, issued Nov. 4, 1986 to Singleton, discloses a speed socket wrench which substantially reduces the work required to remove nuts or bolts. The wrench includes a bevel gear and mating bevel pinion mounted respectively on a gear shaft and pinion shaft. A drive shaft is provided on the outer end of the pinion shaft. Interlocking cap elements are provided on the outer end of the drive shaft for releasably locking the drive shaft to prevent rotation thereof. In one embodiment, the cap elements include inner and outer caps which cooperate to provide a locking mechanism. In the locked position of the caps, the wrench can be employed as would any conventional wrench. In the unlocked position, a handle on the outer end of the gear shaft is rotatable by hand, resulting in revolving of the drive shaft. The gears of the present wrench turn freely in either direction and gear ratios and sizes can be varied with wrench size.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,703,030, issued Mar. 1, 1955 to Marvin, provides a manual gear-operated ratchet wrench that comprises a body having a bevel gear and pinion set, each of which is attached to a shaft. The bevel gear is attached through its shaft to a crank-type handle and the pinion set is attached to the drive mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,336, issued Dec. 28, 1999 to Sapkos, is for a dental prosthesis support device that can be positioned in a dental implant by mating screw threads with the support device being torqued to a predetermined torque, preferably using a torque wrench which can be set using a non-variable, preferably gravity-based, standard.
What is needed is an instrument that can carry a dental screw to a desired location anywhere in a mouth of a patient including in the back of the mouth without dropping it and can effectively turn the dental screw to the required torque level in all locations including the very rear of the mouth to allow greater confidence and ease of treatment when rendering procedures involving dental screws and provide the capability of being able to torque the screw to the desired torque level.


A system and method for enabling a UPnP device to provide services on behalf of another UPnP device. According to the present invention, all services requested from the original serving devices are redirected to the shadow device, while the original device has no knowledge of this redirection. With the present invention, a remote UPnP device requesting a service has no knowledge that the service is being provided by a shadow device.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
UPnP technology defines an architecture for pervasive peer-to-peer network connectivity of intelligent appliances, wireless devices, and personal computers of all form factors. UPnP technology is designed to bring easy-to-use, flexible, standards-based connectivity to ad-hoc or unmanaged networks whether in the home, in a small business, in public spaces, or attached to the Internet. UPnP technology provides a distributed, open networking architecture that leverages TCP/IP and Web technologies to enable seamless proximity networking in addition to control and data transfer among networked devices.
The UPnP Device Architecture (UDA) is designed to support zero-configuration, "invisible" networking and automatic discovery for a breadth of device categories from a wide range of vendors. With the UDA a device can dynamically join a network, obtain an IP address, convey its capabilities, and learn about the presence and capabilities of other devices.
Remote Access enables remote UPnP devices to interact with the UPnP devices located in a home network, as they are physically attached to the home network. Typically, the remote device connects to the home network using a secure tunnel such as the tunnel provided by IP security (IPsec) technology. A simple service discovery protocol (SSDP) proxy in the home network interacts with the remote device and provides several functionalities in discovery of services provided by home network devices. For example, the SSDP proxy maintains a list of local devices/services that can be discovered, forwards search/notify requests, filters multicast messages, etc.
A number of systems have been developed involving the creation of "virtual devices," but each has its drawbacks. One such system comprises a UPnP relay tool that is based upon the idea of bridging two UPnP networks by creating a virtual device in one network for each device in the other network. However, this approach is very complex and requires software to run on a personal computer. This system is not scalable because, as new services/functionalities are added in the UPnP stack, the relay tool must be updated on both sides of the UPnP network. U.S. Application Publication No. 2004/0233904 describes a mirroring agent that is similar to the virtual device described above. This mirroring agent also possess the same shortcomings as the virtual agent.
The concept of virtual devices is described by the Digital Living Network Alliance, an alliance of leading companies in the consumer electronics, mobile and personal computer industries. Virtual devices are described as bridging the mobile handheld domain and the fixed network domain. The roles of the virtual devices are to offer transcoding, transcaling, transrating services between the two domains as they don't share common codecs. However, no such support currently exists at the UPnP stack of network protocols.

Framework for enabling service tuning for UPNP remote access


A workpiece image search apparatus includes: a workpiece image deformation unit that generates a third workpiece image by deforming a second workpiece image so that a difference in workpiece shape between a first workpiece image and the second workpiece image becomes smaller, wherein the first workpiece image is obtained by projecting a first workpiece shape of a first workpiece on a two-dimensional plane, and the second workpiece image is obtained by projecting a second workpiece shape of a second workpiece on a two-dimensional plane; and a similarity calculation unit that calculates a similarity between the first workpiece shape and the second workpiece shape by comparing the third workpiece image with the first workpiece image.

A machine tool controlled by a control device such as a numerical control (NC) device machines workpieces having various shapes. Since it takes a lot of time and effort to create a machining program used by the control device in controlling the machine tool, improvement and reinforcement for a creation support function has been in progress for creation of the machining program. For example, the creation support functions for the machining program include a function of creating the machining program by a user setting a dimension of a machining target on an NC display screen while viewing a drawing, a function of creating the machining program such as an NC program by directly reading computer-aided design (CAD) data, and the like. These creation support functions are based on the premise that the machining program is created from scratch, and since the machining program needs to be created from scratch even when a workpiece having a similar shape is to be machined, the efficiency of creating the machining program has been poor.
The efficiency of creating the machining program is increased by using a machining program corresponding to the workpiece having the similar shape. However, in order to re-use the machining program, it is necessary to determine whether or not a workpiece shape of a workpiece to be newly machined is similar to a workpiece shape of a workpiece that has been machined in the past.
A machining step generation device described in Patent Literature 1 compares a machining shape bitmap obtained by converting a machining shape of CAD data into a bitmap with a machining shape bitmap registered in a database, and thereby extracts a machining shape matching the machining shape given as the CAD data.

Workpiece image search apparatus and workpiece image search method


A loudspeaker apparatus is provided with a loudspeaker unit attached to an inner panel. The inner panel of the loudspeaker unit is provided with: an opening to which the loudspeaker unit is attached; a volume unit in which the loudspeaker unit is housed from the opening to form a closed space; and a groove passing through to the volume unit. The loudspeaker unit is housed in the volume unit, and a rear space of the loudspeaker unit in the volume unit is used as an acoustic volume unit of the loudspeaker unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technical fields of an inner panel and a loudspeaker apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional in-vehicle loudspeaker apparatus, a Helmholtz resonator is arranged so as to suppress an in-vehicle inner panel from being vibrated, and attenuates generated vibration to prevent an unnecessary sound from being produced (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-37371).
However, in the conventional technique described above, a plurality of Helmholtz resonators must be arranged to absorb sound waves having different frequencies. For this reason, parts increase in number, so that the manufacturing cost disadvantageously increases.


An AWG device includes a plurality of arrayed waveguides positioned close to each other. An input signal excites one of these coupled waveguides and the power is then transferred to all of the arrayed waveguides so there are enough degrees of freedom in the device to achieve any desired distribution.

The invention relates to the field of arrayed waveguide grating (AWG), and in particular to an AWG device using an input structure comprising of an array of coupled waveguides.
AWGs can be useful in many optical communication applications where wavelength-specific filtering and processing are required. Unlike the legacy TDM systems, AWGs function purely in the optical domain when filtering the independent wavelength bands and thus do not require expensive, electrical up/down conversion. As all-optical wavelength filtering components, AWGs have become attractive for optical communication systems. However, as with any component, many technical and economic factors impact the viability of AWGs in the market.
AWGs are thin, fragile chips with narrow waveguides produced using planar lightwave circuit (PLC) processing techniques. The waveguides can be fabricated by forming (e.g., etching) waveguide core patterns over a substrate and undercladding. A doped glass overcladding (e.g., boro-phosphate silicate glass or BPSG) is then formed over the cores, to complete the waveguide formation. As an "integrated" PLC component in a fiber optic system, the optical signals are usually coupled (e.g., at the chip edge) between input and output fiber optics and the on-chip waveguides, leading to concerns about the device's end-to-end insertion loss.
Since the mode of a waveguide can extend past the core as an evanescent tail, the mode in one waveguide may actually excite a field in a neighboring waveguide. The mathematics that describes this coupling is known as coupled mode theory. The effects can be harmful, causing closely spaced waveguides to couple into one another and destroying the original intention of a device. However, the effects can also be useful. In particular, coupled mode theory can be used to spread light from the input waveguide to the entire array in a uniform or Gaussian distribution.


The present invention relates to a plasma display apparatus and image processing method thereof. According to the present invention, the plasma display apparatus includes a scan driving unit and a sustain driving unit which have a sustain driving circuit for allowing a peaking pulse to be included in one sustain pulse so that a plurality of discharges are generated by one sustain pulse when a sustain pulse is supplied to a PDP and predetermined electrodes of the PDP.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display apparatus and image processing method thereof.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, in a plasma display panel (hereinafter, referred to as "PDP"), a barrier rib formed between a front glass and a rear glass, which are made of soda-lime glass, forms one unit cell. Each cell is filled with a main discharge gas, such as neon (Ne), helium (He) or a mixed gas (Ne+He) of Ne and He, and an inert gas containing a small amount of xenon. When the PDP is discharged by a high frequency voltage, the inert gas generates vacuum ultraviolet rays, and light-emits phosphors formed between the barrier ribs to implement an image.
Such a PDP can be easily fabricated since it has a simple structure compared to a cathode ray tube (CRT) that has been mainly used as the display means. Further, the PDP has characteristics that it can be made thin and large compared to the CRT, and has been spotlighted as a next-generation display apparatus.
FIG. 1 is a view for explaining gray level representation of a conventional PDP. As shown in FIG. 1, the three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP is driven with one frame being divided into several sub-fields having a different number of emission in order to implement gray levels of an image.
Each of the sub fields is subdivided into a reset period for uniformly generating discharging, an address period for selecting a discharge cell, and a sustain period for implementing gray levels depending on the number of discharging of a sustain pulse. For example, if it is desired to display an image with 256 gray levels, a frame period (16.67 ms) corresponding to 1/60 seconds is divided into eight sub-fields SF1 to SF8, as shown in FIG. 1.
Each of the eight sub-fields SF1 to SF8 is subdivided into a reset period, an address period and a sustain period. At this time, the reset period and the address period of each of the sub-fields are the same every sub-field, but the sustain period of each of the sub-fields and the number of discharging of a sustain pulse increase in the ratio of 2n (n=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) in each sub-field. As such, as the sustain period is different in each sub-field, gray levels of an image can be represented.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing comparison results of brightness characteristics between a PDP and a CRT. As shown in FIG. 2, the CRT and LCD represent a desired gray level by controlling displayed light in analog mode according to an input video signal. Thus, they have non-linear brightness characteristics. In contrast, the PDP represents a gray level by modulating the number of light pulses using a matrix array of a discharge cell that can be turned on or off. It thus has linear brightness characteristics.
This method of representing the gray level of the PDP is called a "pulse width modulation (PWM) method". The brightness of the PDP varies linearly against the number of pulses. As the degree that is recognized by the naked eyes is non-linear, however, noise is generated when the gray level is represented in a low gray level region. Accordingly, in order to solve this problem, input video data undergo inverse gamma correction in the conventional PDP. That is, after a reference brightness value such as the CRT brightness curve of FIG. 2 is set, a gamma curve data LUT storage unit in which gamma curve data look-up table (LUT) corresponding to reference brightness values are stored is provided, and input gray level values undergo inverse gamma correction.
Meanwhile, the results of measuring real brightness values depending upon gray level values before the inverse gamma correction is shown in FIG. 3.
FIG. 3a is a table showing a mapping state of sub-fields depending upon gray level values of the conventional PDP. FIG. 3b is a graph showing the relationship between a real brightness value and a gray level value of the conventional PDP.
From FIG. 3a, it can be seen that when a gray level is represented by turning on/off a sub-field, the number of address discharge (a), which is additionally required to individually control each sub-field, as well as the sustain discharge (s) depending upon sub-field weight for representing the gray levels is different. That is, since light by a reset discharge (r) and the address discharge (a), which are additionally needed to individually control each sub-field, is displayed on a screen, a real brightness value depending upon a gray level value before inverse gamma correction does not increase linearly, as shown in FIG. 3b.
As such, a phenomenon in which a gray level having a lower gray level value, among neighboring gray levels, has a higher brightness value since it has a greater number of reset discharge and address discharge, is called an "inversion phenomenon of a gray level". In this case, there occurs a problem in that the linearity of a gray level for inverse gamma correction is not secured due to the inversion phenomenon.

Plasma display apparatus and image processing method thereof


A failure detection method enabling the detection of I/O bus failure and address parity error when installing I/O controllers connected to a system bus in a computer system, and also enabling failure location when installing units in slave/master relationships (e.g. SCSI controller and disk storage units) and when installing an additional slave in a computer system, thus improving the reliability of the system. The failure detection method comprises the steps of executing an instruction which involves providing I/O bus access to a memory to be used by an I/O controller after installed, determining that there is no failure when predetermined results are obtained with the instruction, and installing the I/O controller in the system. When the I/O controller has slave/master relationships with a plurality of slave units, the failure detection method further comprises the steps of detecting a failure in the slave units on the occasion of the installation, and notifying the host processor of the slave unit having the failure.

A computer system generally comprises a number of input-output (I/O) controllers such as a LAN controller and a SCSI controller in addition to a control section (hereinafter referred to as a processor unit) including a processor that takes a central part in the system and a memory. The processor unit is connected to other units via system buses. There have been disclosed some techniques for fault detection concerned with the system bus in Japanese Patent Applications laid open No. HEI4-8147, laid open No. HEI7-168727, and laid open No. HEI8-263328.
A SCSI port is a standard interface for connecting the peripheral equipment such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) with the processor unit. With the SCSI port, a SCSI controller is used as an I/O controller to be a host for communicating with a magnetic disk and the like. Techniques involved with the SCSI controller have been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Applications laid open No. HEI11-203239 and laid open No. HEI11-110138.
Generally, in a conventional system, I/O controllers like the SCSI controller are installed in the system when the operation of the processor unit starts. At a restart of the processor unit or when executing an instruction from a system maintainer to install an I/O controller, only a part of memory area related to the operation of the I/O controller is used and installation processing is simply carried out during the process of the installation. After completion of the installation, necessary parts of memory area are selectively used for executing respective instructions each time when I/O access occurs in operation.
In the following, a description will be given of problems in the above-mentioned conventional techniques and systems.
The first problem is that an I/O bus access fault which occurs while using an I/O controller has an impact on the whole processor system, thus causing a system failure. This is because a fault cannot be located when the fault occurs in the I/O bus access from the I/O controller to the memory.
The second problem is that the I/O controller which has caused the failure can be reinstalled when restarting the processor. This is because normal operation is performed at the stage of installation processing since only sectional I/O bus accesses may occur when installing the I/O controller.
The third problem is that in the case where an I/O controller having slave/master relationships with plural devices (slave devices), for example, the SCSI controller and disk storage units are installed and one of the slave devices has a failure, the slave device with the failure cannot be specified.
Besides, in a system adopting a disk array, etc., there is a case where an additional disk storage unit is installed in the active system in which the SCSI controller and a disk storage unit #A have been already installed. When a SCSI controller failure is detected on such occasion and failure recovery is performed for the SCSI controller while the disk storage unit #A is in use, accessing to the disk storage unit #A is interrupted, which affects a software or program running on the system.

Method for detecting failure when installing input-output controller


An apparatus and method are provided for generating sterile infusion fluid from non-sterile infusion fluid produced by a machine. In one embodiment, the sterile infusion fluid is produced by a sterile fluid generating device that is an ancillary device designed to operate in conjunction with the existing machine. For example, the sterile fluid generating device is used in conjunction with a dialysis machine according to one embodiment resulting in sterile infusion fluid being produced.

Sterile infusion fluid is used in various medical applications, particularly in blood-cleansing applications such as hemodialysis, hemofiltration, hemodiafiltration, or peritoneal dialysis treatments. In hemodialysis, for example, the infusion fluid is generally used to prime an extracorporeal circuit of a blood-cleansing machine, prior to connecting a patient to the machine, and to rinse back the patient's blood at the end of the treatment. Sterile fluid may also be administered to patients in the form of a bolus, which may improve the patient's fluid status, blood pressure, etc. In tile practice of hemodiafiltration, plasma water is removed by filtration from the blood as it traverses through the hemodialyzer cartridge and certain toxins or other material diffuses from the patient's blood. To compensate for this loss of plasma water, sterile fluid must be added either upstream or downstream of the hemodialyzer cartridge. The sterile fluid used in these applications is generally a normal saline solution (e.g., a solution having a sodium chloride concentration of 0.9 percent by weight) which is supplied pre-sterilized in one or two liter flexible bags. In some cases a Ringer's Lactate Solution might be used. In peritoneal dialysis, sterile dialysate packaged in flexible bags is typically infused into and subsequently emptied from the patient's peritoneal cavity.
In dialysis clinics that have multiple dialysis stations, the clinic must purchase and store large volumes of sterile fluid. The costs involved in buying and storing the pre-packaged sterile fluid may be significant. Further, peritoneal dialysis patients are typically treated at home and thus, the cost and storage capacity for the required amounts of sterile fluid, as much as 12 liters per day, become even more significant.

Method and apparatus for generating a sterile infusion fluid


In the magnetron, an upper end hat 122A is used as a composing element of a cathode structure member 12A and includes a portion 122Aa which is in contact with one end portion 121a of a filament coil 121. The thickness of the portion 122Aa is reduced, whereby the portion 122Aa is held not in contact with a center lead 124. Owing to this, heat generated in the filament coil 121 can travel to the upper end hat 122A without traveling directly to the center lead 124. Therefore, even when the quantity of input power is reduced to such a degree as to be able to reduce noise, or even when the electron radiation area of the filament coil 121 is reduced, the getter effect can be displayed fully. As a result of this, noise reduction and cost reduction can be realized at the same time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetron for use in a microwave using apparatus such as a microwave oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is proposed a technology which uses a getter for the purpose of enhancing the degree of vacuum in the inside of a magnetron (for example, see the patent reference 1). FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section view of a magnetron for use in a conventionally general microwave oven. In FIG. 5, in the inside of a cylindrical-shaped anode barrel member 10, there are radially arranged anode vanes 11; and, there are provided cavity resonators formed of spaces respectively enclosed by the mutually adjoining anode vanes 11 and anode barrel member 10. In the central portion of the anode barrel member 10, there is provided a cathode structure member 12; and, a space enclosed by the cathode structure body 12 and anode vanes 11 provides an action space 19.
The cathode structure member 12, as shown in FIG. 6 which is a partial section view of the cathode structure member 12, comprises: a filament coil 121 made of thorium tungsten; an upper end hat 122 and a lower end hat 123 respectively made of molybdenum for supporting the two end portions of the filament coil 121; a center lead 124 having a leading end portion fixed to the upper end hat 122 and penetrating through the lower end hat 123 in such a manner that it is not in contact with the filament coil 121; and, a side lead 125 the leading end of which is fixedly secured to the lower end hat 123. The filament coil 121 is fixed to the upper and lower end hats 122 and 123 by high frequency brazing. As the material of the filament coil 121, there is used the above-mentioned thorium tungsten and, in order to increase the quantity of emission of electrons, on the surface of the filament coil 121, there is provided a carbonized layer by applying a current to the filament coil 121 in a hydrocarbon system gas to thereby heat the filament coil 121. The current, which heats the filament coil 121, flows in order of the center lead 124, upper end hat 122, filament coil 121, lower end hat 123 and side lead 125 or in reverse order.
On the top surface of the upper end hat 122, there is disposed a getter 126 which is used to enhance the degree of vacuum of the inside of the magnetron. As known well, when a magnetron is operated, there is emitted a gas from the composing members of the magnetron and, due to the gas, the degree of vacuum of the inside of the magnetron is lowered and the oscillation efficiency of the magnetron is thereby lowered, which can raise a fear that the oscillation of the magnetron is caused stop. To solve this problem, by disposing the getter 126 made of titanium, zirconium or the like in the inside of the magnetron, the gas emitted from the composing members of the magnetron is absorbed to thereby prevent the lowered degree of vacuum.
By the way, the getter 126 may also be disposed on the lower end hat 123 instead of the upper end hat 122. Also, in the magnetron disclosed in the patent reference 1, the particle diameter of gas absorbing metal powder used as the getter 126 is set for 10 μm or smaller to thereby not only prevent the getter 126 from peeling off from the top surface of the upper end hat 122 but also enhance the getter effect.
Referring back to FIG. 5, to the upper end of the anode barrel member 10, there is fixed a pole piece 14; and, to the lower end thereof, there is fixed a pole piece 15. The pole pieces 14 and 15 are respectively formed in a funnel-like shape by drawing a plate member made of magnetic material having small magnetic resistance such as iron. In the pole piece 14, there is opened up a hole through which an antenna 16 can be passed. Just above the pole piece 14 and just below the pole piece 15, there are closely mounted ring-shaped magnets 17 each of which has a hollow central portion, respectively. Through the magnet 17 mounted just above the pole piece 14, there can be penetrated the antenna 16. As the magnet 17, from the viewpoint of reducing the size of the whole of the magnetron and making the magnetron easy to handle, there is used a ring-shaped permanent magnet using ferrite; and, one end portion of the magnet 17 is closely contacted with the pole piece 14(15). A yoke 18 is used to magnetically connect together the other end sides of the magnets 17 and the pole pieces 14 and 15, and the yoke 18 is made of a plate member having small magnetic resistance such as iron. That is, the upper and lower magnets 17 are respectively connected to the pole pieces 14 and 15 magnetically by the yoke 18.
The anode barrel member 10, together with the anode vanes 11 respectively formed in the inside thereof, is made of material such as oxygen-free copper which can radiate heat well and is hard to generate gas. The reason for this is that, when the following two facts are taken into consideration, a material which can provide good electric conduction and heat conduction is preferred: that is, one fact is that the material is heated by impacts generated when electrons fly into the leading end portions of the anode vanes 11; and, the other is that, when the anode vanes 11 and anode barrel member 10 cooperate together to form cavity resonators and, within the cavity resonators, microwaves are resonated and oscillated, a large amount of high frequency currents flow in the respective surfaces of the anode vanes 11 and anode barrel member 10.
When the conventional magnetron is used, the inside of the anode barrel member 10 is evacuated and a direct current high voltage is applied to and between the anode vanes 11 and cathode structure member 12. In the action space 19, there is formed a magnetic field due to two magnets 17. As the direct current high voltage is applied to and between the anode vanes 11 and cathode structure member 12, thermoelectrons discharged from the cathode structure member 12 fly out toward the anode vanes 11. At the then time, the magnetic field generated by the two magnets 17 concentrates in a gap formed between the pole pieces 14 and 15 and thus, in the action space 19, the magnetic field acts in a direction perpendicular to a direction where the cathode structure member 12 and anode barrel member 10 are opposed to each other. As a result of this, while the thermoelectrons discharged from the cathode structure member 12 are caused to circle due to a Lorentz force received from the magnetic field caused by the two magnets 17, they turn around the periphery of the cathode structure member 12 and then arrive at the anode vanes 11. Energy generated due to the then time electron motion is applied to the cavity resonators, which contributes to the oscillation of the magnetron.
Patent Reference: JP-A-2004-281320
By the way, in the case of a magnetron, since it discharges electrons in the inside thereof, when the quantity of electrons to be discharged is large, there increases noise. As a method for reducing the noise, there are available a method which reduces the quantity of input power (that is, which reduces the quantity of a current flowing in a filament coil to thereby lower the temperature of the filament coil and thus restrict the quantity of thermoelectrons to be discharged), and a method which changes the line diameter or pitch of a filament coil 121 to thereby reduce the electron discharge area of the filament coil 121. However, in both of these methods, a getter effect (that is, a gas sucking effect) cannot be displayed sufficiently. In the conventional magnetron shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a getter 126 is heated by heat discharged from the filament coil 121, whereby the getter effect can be displayed; however, when the quantity of the input power is reduced, it seems that the quantity of heat radiated from the filament coil 121 is reduced and thus the heating of the getter 126 becomes insufficient, which results in the lowered getter effect.


An integrated circuit is reprogrammable in metal using (a) a set of spare devices, and (b) separate arrays of spare rows and columns. The spare rows are formed in the top metal layer, and the spare columns are formed in the next to the top metal layer (for example, metal layers 4 and 5 of a 5 level metal process). Use of arrays of spare rows/columns facilitates silicon debug of the integrated circuit using FIB (focused ion beam) reprogramming without requiring FIB connections of more than 500 .mu.m.

Modern integrated circuits, including modern microprocessors, utilize stacked layers of a conductive material to provide electrical connectivity between various devices formed in a base layer of semiconductor materials. These conductive layers, which are electrically isolated by insulator layers formed between each conductive layer, carry signals within and between the devices during operation of the integrated circuit. Stacked conductive layers are used to interconnect the devices, instead of a single conductive layer, in order to minimize the footprint of the integrated circuit. By making integrated circuits with smaller footprints, complex electronic equipment can be employed in many applications where space is critical, such as in aircraft; space vehicles; and consumer products such as computers, watches, calculators, automobiles, telephones, televisions, and appliances. In addition, reducing the footprint of an integrated circuit minimizes the separation of the various devices and correspondingly minimizes the time delay of signals transferred between the devices.
However, this stacking of conductive layers also makes the debugging of an integrated circuit and the implementation of prototype design changes to an integrated circuit a more difficult and time consuming process. To implement physical changes to an integrated circuit required by such debugging or design changes, one typically (1) modifies the masks for the semiconductor layer, the conductive layers, or both the semiconductor and conductive layers or (2) attempts to utilize existing conductive lines and devices in the circuit. As used in this document, a "device" refers to a plurality of CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide-silicon) transistors interconnected by electrically conductive lines in the conventional manner to form inverters, AND gates, OR gates, NAND gates, NOR gates, latches, or other conventional integrated circuit devices.
Modifying masks and remanufacturing the integrated circuit may take as long as eight weeks or more for an integrated circuit as complex as a microprocessor. During this time, an error which one is attempting to debug may prevent or greatly reduce debugging efforts on the rest of the microprocessor.
Attempting to utilize existing conductive lines and devices in the circuit is also a time consuming process. First, one must select the device to be utilized. Next, one must form the necessary interconnections between devices. Such interconnections are typically formed using conventional focused ion beam (FIB) equipment, such as the IDS P2X ProbePoint Extension sold by Schlumberger. The FIB, or similar equipment used to make these interconnections, is capable of removing conductive and/or insulator layers of a circuit to create a via providing access to a particular device or conductive line; cutting an existing conductive line in a circuit; and depositing conductive materials such as metals and metal alloys within vias and on the top insulator layer of a circuit.
FIG. 15a provides a first example of such a conventional interconnection in which a "problem" inverter 400, having an input 402 and an output 404, is replaced with a "cannibalized" inverter 406, having an input 408 and an output 410. First, a FIB is used to cut through the conductive and insulator layers (not shown) of the microprocessor to create vias 412 providing access to input lines 402 and 408 and output lines 404 and 410. Next, a FIB is used to deposit a conductive line 414 in vias 412 and on the top insulator layer (not shown) of the microprocessor to interconnect input line 402 with input line 408. Similarly, a FIB is used to deposit a conductive line in vias 412 and on the top insulator layer (not shown) of the microprocessor to interconnect output line 404 with output line 410. Finally, a FIB is used to cut output line 404 to create a discontinuity 418, to cut input line 408 to create a discontinuity 420, and to cut output line 410 to create a discontinuity 422. As part of the selection of the device to be cannibalized, one should verify that the cannibalized device has no effect on the problem logic being debugged, the circuit logic to be modified, or other circuit logic which is dependent on the cannibalized device and is being debugged concurrently.
FIG. 15b provides a second example of such a conventional interconnection between a NAND gate 500, having an input 502, an input 504, and an output 506, and a second NAND gate 508, having an output 510. First, a FIB is used to cut through the conductive and insulator layers (not shown) of the microprocessor to create vias 512 providing access to input line 504 and output line 510. Next, a FIB is used to deposit a conductive line 514 in vias 412 and on the top insulator layer (not shown) of the microprocessor to interconnect input line 504 with output line 510. Finally, a FIB is used to cut input line 504 to create a discontinuity 516.
Creating such conventional interconnections with a FIB is a very time consuming process. Using a FIB to cut a via through a single conductive layer, and its corresponding insulator layer, typically requires on the order of one-half hour to one hour. In addition, using a FIB to deposit a conductive line having a length of 500 .mu.m on the top insulator layer of a microprocessor typically takes on the order of five hours. One should note that in an integrated circuit as complex as a microprocessor, many more than the minimum of two FIB vias and one FIB conductive line may be required to form each of the above-described interconnections due to the complexity of the routing of the conductive layers.
Furthermore, when performing such conventional interconnections with a FIB, one often faces several additional problems other than the time consuming nature of the process, as described above. First, a FIB can only reliably deposit a conductive line having a length of no more than 500 .mu.m to 1000 .mu.m. Such limited FIB line length is due to the high resistance of FIB lines. Second, FIB lines are less reliable than conductive lines created by conventional masking due to a higher frequency of voids or discontinuities in FIB lines. Third, in many instances, such interconnections may not be possible due to the particular layout of the integrated circuit. For example, in many layouts, it is impossible to reliably create the FIB vias for the necessary interconnections due to existing conductive lines overlying a desired point in the circuit. As another example, some layouts may require a FIB line having a length greater than 1000 .mu.m, and therefore it is not possible to create the necessary interconnections using a FIB. As a further example, some layouts may require a FIB line having a length greater than 500 .mu.m, and therefore it is not possible to create the necessary interconnections using a FIB without a high possibility of reliability problems for the FIB line. In these situations, modifying the masks and remanufacturing the circuit may be the most practical option.
One should also note that it is conventional to include "spare devices" in modern microprocessors, as space on the semiconductor surface permits. As used in this document, a "spare device" refers to a device having no function in a routed integrated circuit as originally designed. However, the existence of spare devices may not always facilitate the above-described conventional interconnection process. For example, a spare device may be located on the circuit so as to require a FIB line of greater than 500 .mu.m to 1000 .mu.m. As another example, it may be impossible to create a FIB via to the input or output lines of a spare device due to existing conductive lines overlying the input or output lines. Therefore, a need exists in the industry to provide a technique of reprogramming an integrated circuit which requires a minimum amount of time and which does not suffer from the above-described limitations and reliability problems.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an integrated circuit which can be reliably reprogrammed to debug errors or implement prototype design changes without requiring modification of masks and remanufacturing of the circuit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an integrated circuit which can be reprogrammed in a minimum amount of time.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an integrated circuit in which conductive interconnections made by a FIB are no more than 500 .mu.m in length.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following specification together with its drawings.

Integrated circuit having reprogramming cell


A new deep blue extended super continuum light source is provided wherein said super continuum at least extends to a low wavelength border λlow low below 480 nm comprising a pump source which operates at a at least one wavelength λpump and produces pump pulses of a duration (full width half maximum) longer than 0.1 picoseconds with a repetition rate higher than 1 MHz, and a peak power λpeak, and a micro-structured optical transmission medium having at least one wavelength of zero dispersion λzero, and for the parameters for said pump source exhibiting a second order dispersion parameter β2, and a non-linear parameter λ arranged so that the optical transmission medium exhibits a modulation instability gain extending to wavelengths above a wavelength λhigh≧1300 nm and a phase match between λ1ow and a wavelength λmatch≧λhigh, wherein the pump is adapted to provide energy within the region of anomalous dispersion of the transmission medium.

Super continuum (SC) generation is a nonlinear phenomenon characterised by dramatic spectral broadening of intense light pulses passing through a nonlinear material. SC generation occurs in various media and finds use in numerous applications ranging from spectroscopy to ultra-short-pulse generation. Inter alea, optical radar and ranging (LIDAR), spectroscopy, optical computing, and reaction rate studies. Spectral slicing of the generated SC in order to replace several discrete light sources is one main mean to design such multi wavelength optical sources.
The newly developed micro structured fibres (MF) possess unique optical properties which allow generating SC with a broader bandwidth than what is possible in bulk silica or in standard optical fibres. Since the first report on SC generation in a MF in 1999 by Ranka et al. (Optics Letters, Vol. 25, No. 1, (2000), pp. 25-27) comprehensive efforts have been made to understand the physical mechanisms leading to the generation of light with a broad spectrum in this type of fibres, and an extensive literature has been published on the subject. The bulk part of these studies utilises femto-second pulses (10−15 s) to generate the SC. The physical mechanism responsible for the SC generation is believed to be the creation and fission of higher order solutions according to J. Herrmann et al., Phys. Rev. Letters, Vol. 88, No 17, 2002. It has also been shown that it is possible to create SC by use of pico- and nanosecond pulses, and the mechanism responsible for these SCs are believed to be a combination of four wave mixing and stimulated Raman scattering (Coen et al., Optics Letters, Vol. 26, (2001), pp. 1356-1358, and Town et al. Applied Physics B (Lasers and Optics), Vol. B77, No. 2-3, September 2003, pp. 235-238). The possibility of tailoring the properties of MFs for improving the efficiency of SC light generation using pico- or nanosecond pulses has, however, been little explored. The use of longer pulses is, however, attractive as it does not require an often complex and expensive femto second laser. This has so far been a main obstacle to the creation of commercially viable SC light sources.
The spectral slicing of a SC only utilizes a small part of the spectrum and there only a small part of the launched energy. The energy in the SC is often symmetrically distributed around the pump and primarily generated through a four wave mixing process or alternatively red shifted relative to the pump when stimulated Raman scattering dominates the generation process in the case of inefficient phase matching of the four wave mixing process. The hereby generated blue light will be limited to the half pump wavelength due to energy conservation of the four wave mixing process. Here the blue shifted light (idler) is generated through the action of two pump photons and a red shifted (signal) photon. The idler light wavelength generated through the four wave mixing process is determined through the conservation of energy equation: h ννdler=2 h νpump−h νsignal<=>1/λilder=2/λpump−1/λsignal, where ν and λ denote frequency and wavelength, respectively, and h is Planck's constant. For the hypothetic situation of the infrared part of the SC extending to infinity the idler wavelength minimum is to be found at the half pump wavelength.
In prior art SC from Kudlinski et al. Optics Express, Vol. 14, No. 12, 12 Jun. 2006, pp. 5715-5722 a blue extended spectrum with a flat (3 dB) spectrum from 395 nm to 850 nm, with a minimum spectral power density of 2 mW/nm (3 dBm) was achieved in a configuration with a total continuum output power of 3.5 W. The shortest wavelengths were generated by cascaded four-wave mixing: the continuous decrease of the zero dispersion wavelength along the fibre length enables the phase-matching condition to be satisfied for a wide range of wavelengths into the ultraviolet, while simultaneously increasing the nonlinear coefficient of the fibre. The manufacturing process involved in the continuous decrease of the zero dispersion wavelength along the fibre is likely difficult.
In prior art SCs shown in FIG. 1 for a 100 femto second pulse generated spectrum and in FIG. 2 for a 60 ps pulse generated spectrum there is no significant light generated below the half pump wavelength. In prior art SC from European patent application EP 1502332 by Braun and Bertram shown in FIG. 4 for a 8.5 ps 5.8 kW pulse generated spectrum light is not generated below the half pump wavelength either. This spectrum shows power intensity of the red shifted part that is equal to or smaller than the power intensity of the blue shifted part contrary to the SCs of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. This indicates that the light is generated through another process than four wave mixing. The generated spectrum shows in the blue part a spectral density of −25 dBm/nm.
In prior art SC from Price et al. (Optics Express, Vol. 10, No. 8, Mar. 20 2002, pp. 382-387) shown in FIG. 5, a blue extended spectrum with −10 dBm/nm output power in the blue part of the spectrum for a single excitation pulse of 21 kW peak power and 350 fs duration launched into a micro-structured fibre with a 1.6 μm core diameter is shown.
Thus, there is a need for a light source providing a spectrum extending into the blue and ultraviolet part of the spectrum with a spectral density exceeding −10 dBm/nm produced in a conventional fibre design which can be manufactured on a standard drawing tower.

Deep blue extended super continuum light source


In particular embodiments, a data processing data inventory generation system is configured to: (1) generate a data model (e.g., a data inventory) for one or more data assets utilized by a particular organization; (2) generate a respective data inventory for each of the one or more data assets; and (3) map one or more relationships between one or more aspects of the data inventory, the one or more data assets, etc. within the data model. In particular embodiments, a data asset (e.g., data system, software application, etc.) may include, for example, any entity that collects, processes, contains, and/or transfers personal data (e.g., such as a software application, “internet of things” computerized device, database, website, data-center, server, etc.). For example, a first data asset may include any software or device (e.g., server or servers) utilized by a particular entity for such data collection, processing, transfer, storage, etc.

Over the past years, privacy and security policies, and related operations have become increasingly important. Breaches of data networks used in handling personal data, leading to the unauthorized access of the personal data (which may include sensitive personal data), have become more frequent among companies and other organizations of all sizes. Such personal data may include, but is not limited to, personally identifiable information (PII), which may be information that directly (or indirectly) identifies an individual or entity. Examples of PII include names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, and biometric identifiers such as a person's fingerprints or picture. Other personal data may include, for example, customers' Internet browsing habits, purchase history, or even their preferences (e.g., likes and dislikes, as provided or obtained through social media).
Many organizations that obtain, use, and transfer personal data, including sensitive personal data, have begun to implement measures to combat breaches of their data networks. For example, many organizations have attempted to implement data controls within their data networks to ensure they are handling personal within the data networks in a secure manner. However, a technical challenge that is often encountered in implementing such data controls is identifying where in the data networks such controls should be implemented. This is because often these data networks are comprised of a significant number of components and/or processing activities that may involve the personal data. As a result, an organization may have significant difficultly in identify the flow of the personal data through a data network and the various components and/or processing activities involved in the data flow. This can further result into the company not recognizing and/or identifying the appropriate data controls that need to be implemented for the data network and the corresponding components and processing activities in which the data controls should be implemented.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for improved systems, methods, and tools for identifying and representing data flows of specific types of data (e.g., personal data) through a data network. Accordingly, such improved systems, methods, and tools can assist an organization in ensuring proper data controls are in place for a data network to minimize the risk of data breaches.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Data processing systems for generating and populating a data inventory


A shunt coupled array of slots in a waveguide broadwall, wherein the slots are defined by a punch operation which leaves a tab connected at one side of the slot. The slot side to which the tabs are connected is alternated. The tabs extend downwardly into the waveguide and provide a means for exciting the slots without requiring the longitudinal slots to be alternatively offset. Thus, the invention provides a method of fabrication which permits elimination of the slot offsets, while at the same time is lower in cost than conventional methods of creating slot openings arrays. Higher antenna gain results from a given aperture when slot offsets are eliminated and the slots are truly located along straight lines in rows and columns.

The present invention relates to fabrication cost and performance improvements in waveguide-fed slot array antennas.
Waveguide-fed slot array antennas are well known in the art. One type of this slot array antenna uses shunt coupled broad wall radiating slots.
An array of slot radiators disposed in a straight line along a wall of a waveguide is employed frequently to generate a beam of electromagnetic power. As a typical example of an array antenna composed of slot radiators, the antenna comprises a waveguide of rectangular cross section wherein the width of a broad wall is approximately double the height of a narrow wall, and wherein the slots are formed within one of the broad walls. Antennas are constructed also of a plurality of these slotted waveguides arranged side-by-side to provide a two-dimensional array of slot radiators arranged in rows and columns. To facilitate description of the antenna, a column of slot radiators is considered to be oriented in the longitudinal direction to a waveguide, in the direction of propagation of electromagnetic power, and a row of slot radiators is considered to be transverse to the waveguide. An antenna composed of a single waveguide generates a fan beam while an antenna composed of a plurality of the waveguides arranged side by side produces a beam having well-defined directivity on two dimensions.
Antennas employing slot radiators may have slots which are angled relative to a center line of the broad wall of the waveguide, or may have slots which are arranged parallel to the center line of the broad wall of the waveguide. In order to attain a desired linear polarization, and a desired illumination function of the radiating aperture of the entire antenna, the configuration of the antenna of primary interest herein is to be configured with all of the slots being parallel to each other.
A co-phasal relationship among the radiations from the various slot radiators is employed for generating a broadside beam directed perpendicularly to a plane containing the plurality of slot radiators. Herein, the antenna comprising the two-dimensional array of rows and columns of radiators with slots oriented in the column direction is of primary interest. One method of obtaining the co-phasal relationship is to position the slot radiators in alternating offsets fashioned along a centerline of each waveguide broad wall. The transverse offsetting of the slot radiator permits a coupling with a non-zero value of longitudinal component of the magnetic field of the electromagnetic wave in each of the waveguides. With a spacing of one-half guide wavelength along the direction of propagation within the waveguide, the alternation of the offsetting compensates for periodic variations in the phase of the magnetic field so as to obtain a constant value of phase in the radiated field. The waveguides are fed in phase and operate in the TE.sub.10 mode. Since the spacing and pattern of alternation of offsetting of slot radiators is the same in each of the waveguides, good control of the radiated beam is obtained without excessive grating lobes, i.e., energy radiating in unintended directions.
However, in the event that a TE.sub.n,0 mode rectangular waveguide, having a single broad wall with n columns and many rows of slots is employed in the lieu of the plurality of parallel slotted waveguides, then the relationship among the wave components in each of the columns changes. The phasing of the components of the wave in one column is 180 degrees out of phase with the wave components of the contiguous column. To compensate for this phasing of the wave components within the waveguide, the pattern of offset slot radiators of one column must be reversed from that of the contiguous columns of slots to ensure identity of slot phasing.
A problem arises in that the foregoing arrangement of reversed patterns of offset slot radiators introduces excessive grating lobes in addition to the desired beam. The resulting loss of antenna gain militates against the convenience of using a very wide waveguide with a single broad wall as an antenna, unless the grating lobes can be eliminated. This invention relates to a method to eliminate slot offsets while also reducing cost of fabrication.
The issue of eliminating slot offsets while maintaining producibility is the subject of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,010,351 and 4,985,708 by the inventor of the present invention. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,351 requires that an extra element in the form of an iris or vane be placed in the waveguide for each radiating slot employed. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,708 requires that a thick and heavy plate be used for the wall of the waveguide to be slotted, and that slots be cut at an angle through that thick plate.

Tab coupled slots for waveguide fed slot array antennas


A curtain airbag device with which the position of a tether that pulls an end chamber during inflation and deployment thereof can be stabilized, thereby stabilizing the deployment behavior of the end chamber. A curtain airbag device 100 is housed in a side face upper portion of a vehicle cabin and inflated and deployed along the side face, and includes a main chamber 132 that is inflated and deployed using gas from an inflator 122, an end chamber 134 that is disposed on a front end 136 of the main chamber and inflated and deployed by gas received from the main chamber, a tab 144 attached to an upper portion of the main chamber, a bracket 128 fixed to the side face upper portion of the vehicle cabin, the tab being passed through the bracket, and a tether 126 attached so as to extend from a front end 138 of an upper portion of the end chamber to the bracket, wherein a length La of the tether is shorter than a distance Lb from the front end of the upper portion of the end chamber to the bracket in a case where the main chamber and the end chamber are inflated and deployed without the tether.

In recent years, airbag devices are substantially standard features in vehicles. An airbag device is a safety device activated during an emergency such as a vehicle collision, in which a cushion is inflated and deployed by gas pressure in order to receive and protect an occupant. A curtain airbag device, for example, is disposed in a side face upper portion of a vehicle cabin, and is inflated and deployed along a side window, for example, of the vehicle when an impact is generated in order to protect the occupant from an impact generated during a side-on collision or the like. The cushion, which serves as an inflation region of the curtain airbag device, is divided into a plurality of small chambers with the aim of facilitating gas flow and so on.
A curtain airbag device to which technology (Wrap-around IC technology) corresponding to the OMDB (Oblique Moving Deformable Barrier) test has been applied, the OMDB test being an evaluation test prescribed by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), is known in the prior art Japanese Publication No. 2016-509977A, for example.
The curtain airbag device described in Japanese Publication No. 2016-509977A restrains and protects the head of a moving occupant during a collision by being configured such that an end chamber of a cushion, which is disposed on a front end of a main chamber of the cushion, is pulled by a tether so as to bend toward the vehicle inner side when the cushion is inflated and deployed.
In the above-cited reference, a tab attached to an upper portion of the main chamber is fixed to the side face upper portion of the vehicle cabin, and the tether is attached so as to extend from a predetermined location on the upper portion of the end chamber to the fixing location of the tab. In the case envisaged here, a structure in which the tab is passed through a bracket fixed to the side face upper portion of the vehicle cabin, the tether is attached to a different bracket to this bracket, and the two brackets are fastened together in the aforesaid fixing location is employed.
With this structure, when the end chamber is pulled by the tether during inflation and deployment of the main chamber, the bracket to which the tether is attached may move (rotate) relative to the bracket through which the tab is passed. In this case, the position of the tether that pulls the end chamber varies, making the deployment behavior of the end chamber unstable.
Further, in the upper portion of the cushion, an interval between tabs attached at an interval in a vehicle front-rear direction may be very long due to the layout of the vehicle (for example, attachment positions of an inflator and an assist grip, and so on). In this case, the upper portion of the cushion cannot be fixed to the vehicle over the very long distance in the region between the tabs, and as a result, the deployment behavior of the cushion during inflation and deployment may be unstable in this region. Moreover, this region is not fixed to the vehicle and therefore sags downward to a greater extent than other regions. Accordingly, a location not covered by the cushion may appear in the side face upper portion of the vehicle cabin, and as a result, it may be difficult to receive and protect the head of the occupant sufficiently during a collision.
In consideration of these problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a curtain airbag device with which the position of a tether that pulls an end chamber during inflation and deployment thereof can be stabilized, thereby stabilizing the deployment behavior of the end chamber. Another object of the present invention is to provide a curtain airbag device that can receive and protect the head of an occupant sufficiently during a collision.


A new and distinct Gardenia cultivar named ‘LEEFOUR’ is disclosed, characterized by a upright growth habit and suitability for Southern climates. The new cultivar is a Gardenia, suitable for ornamental garden purposes.

The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program by the inventor. This new variety, hereinafter referred to as 'LEEFOUR', was found as an openly pollinated seedling in a group of Gardenia jasminoides 'Daisy' (unpatented) seedling plants being grown in Independence, La. The inventor, Robert Edward Lee, discovered the seedling in Independence, Louisiana, at a research nursery during October of 2000.
After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, the inventor first organized propagation of 'LEEFOUR' by vegetative cuttings during 2004 at the same commercial nursery in Independence, La. The inventor continued confidential, controlled testing and propagation, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety. Multiple generations have been reproduced and have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.


The safety goggles with a ventilation fan is an eye protection system intended to improve wearer safety and comfort by preventing fogging. The safety goggles with a ventilation fan comprises safety goggles, a ventilation fan, and a distribution system to direct airflow through the goggles.

The present invention relates to the field of personal protective equipment, more specifically, the invention is directed to eye protection goggles with a ventilation system.
People use safety goggles to protect their eyes in potentially hazardous situations. One drawback of safety goggles is their propensity to fogging. Fogging is a result of the condensation of water on the lens of safety goggles while the safety goggles are being worn. Goggles are prone to fog when body heat and body sweat accumulates in the space between a lens and a wearer's face. When a temperature differential between the ambient temperature (on the outside of the lens) and the temperature of the space between the lens and wearer's face exists, the cooler air will tend to cool the lens causing the water vapor in the warmer space to condense on the lens.
A second drawback of safety goggles is that when a temperature differential between the ambient temperature (on the outside of the lens) and the temperature of the space between the lens and wearer's face exists, the safety goggles can also become uncomfortable to wear. A third drawback of safety goggles is that excess water vapor, in the form of sweat, tends to accumulate in the space between the lens and wearer's face, which increases the propensity of fogging.


What is disclosed is a system and method for method for fitness evaluation to be used with a directly calculated or iterative optimization method for automatic document assembly. The method for fitness evaluation includes the steps of first capturing the creator's desire as a set of relative weights to be applied to an intent vector. Then, calculating for each candidate document assembly a set of value-property functions that evaluate properties considered to be factors in a good design (e.g., the balance of the document component on the page). Next, an inferred intent vector needs to be determined for each candidate document assembly as a function of the calculated value property function. Note that if the inferred intent vector is determined by a matrix multiplication applied to the vector of value property function results then the relative weights and intent definition matrix can be multiplied together to provide a weight vector that can be applied directly to the value properties. The desired weights are then applied to the inferred intents to derive a fitness measure by multiplying the intent vector components by weights and summing.

Custom documents are documents that are personalized or tailored in some way to the particular user of the document. Two growing applications of custom documents are in the domain of variable data printing, as well as in web personalization.
Traditional approaches to custom document creation are non-automated and therefore user-intensive, and result in documents that are typically quite similar: the layout is the same for all instances, regardless of the available content pieces. Furthermore, the document creator is responsible for ensuring that the final document adheres to good design principles, and is therefore aesthetically pleasing. Thus the document creator himself typically creates the document template according to his preferred design criteria, which requires knowledge about document design and how to best achieve the desired qualities in a particular instance of the document.
Traditional creation of custom documents such as variable data documents requires expertise in many areas such as graphic arts and databases and is a time consuming process. With the ever-increasing amount of information in the digital world and the amount of untrained users producing documents, old publishing tools often prove cumbersome and demanding whereas present dynamic digital environments demand tools that can reproduce both the contents and the layout automatically tailored to personal needs and which can enable novices to easily create such documents.
Known methods for automated creation of documents have focused more on particular types of documents, and not on modeling the problem in a general way in order to address all types of documents. Existing work provides methods for creating diagrams (see Dengler, E. Friedell, M., Marks, J., Constraint-Driven Diagram Layout, Proceedings of the 1993 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages, pages 330-335, Bergen, Norway, 1993), or multimedia presentations (see Rousseau, F., Garcia-Macias, A., Valdeni de Lima, J., and Duda, A., User Adaptable Multimedia Presentations for the WWW, Electronic Proceedings from the 8th International World Wide Web Conference, 1999), or flowcharts and yellow pages (see Graf, W. H., The Constraint-Based Layout Framework LayLab and Applications, Electronic Proceedings of the ACM Workshop on Effective Abstractions in Multimedia, 1995). Others have explored automating the process of web document layout (see Kroener, A., The Design Composer: Context-Based Automated Layout for the Internet, Proceedings of the AAAI Fall Symposium Series: Using Layout for the Generation, Understanding, or Retrieval of Documents, 1999).
Known methods for a constraint-optimization approaches to document layout use a single optimization criterion: cost, and model their layout task as finding an ordering of stories and advertisements that can minimize the production cost as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,286. The present invention differs in that it offers a more general model for representing a layout problem as a constraint optimization problem, enables the specification of multiple optimization criteria, and provides a process by which to combine required and optimization constraints in order to achieve a well-designed document.
What is needed in the arts in order to ensure that an automatically assembled document also meets desired aesthetic design criteria, is a way to model document creation as a multi-criteria optimization problem, allowing the specification of both required layout constraints as well as desired aesthetic qualities of the output document, and a means to automatically process this combination of hard and soft constraints to automatically generate a well-designed document.

System and method for fitness evaluation for optimization in document assembly


A system and method for optimizing the consumption of fuel in a hybrid electric vehicle is disclosed. A Hybrid Efficiency Index (HEI) is used to quantify a relative efficiency advantage achievable with the expenditure of electrical energy at a given power level. Also disclosed is a minimum efficiency threshold useful for determining which HEI values will result in the optimum use of electrical energy throughout the operation of the vehicle. Methods for adjusting the minimum efficiency threshold with respect to regenerative braking events, storage capacity in the energy storage system, along with other aspects are disclosed as well.

Hybrid electric vehicles commonly use both the electric and fossil fuel drive systems to minimize fuel consumption. As a result, controlling the hybrid vehicle drive system often includes making some determination of how best to expend electrical power along with (or instead of) burning fossil fuel in the engine. In some circumstances it may be advantageous to favor the use of electrical power to a greater degree where in other circumstances the best fuel economy may be achieved by burning more fuel in the engine and using less electrical power in the electric motor generator. Determining this balance may be difficult and is often counterintuitive because numerous factors may be involved in determining the best fuel economy such as the fuel efficiency of the engine, the quantity and maximum transfer rate of electrical energy available, losses incurred in the transfer of electrical energy at various power levels, as well as the speed of the vehicle, its weight, and numerous other related factors.

System and method for optimizing power consumption in a hybrid electric vehicle


A method makes use of a minimally-shearing feeder mechanism supplying a desired flow of particulate solids mixture, with minimal to no sifting segregation to a desired location. The feeder methodology maintains a uniform concentration of each size of particle within the mixture.

Mixtures of solid particles can separate or segregate during handling. The non-uniformity of the mixture can result in quality control problems, such as the waste of raw materials, lost production, and increased maintenance and capital costs required to retrofit existing facilities where unwanted segregation of solid particle flows is occurring. Segregation problems can occur with a number of different types of solid particle mixtures, including larger particles, such as coal or rocks, to smaller particles, such as powders, including pharmaceutical powders.
Segregation can occur in a number of different ways, based primarily on various physical properties of the mixture and environmental or handling conditions. Sifting is a prevalent form of segregation. Sifting can be defined as the movement of smaller particles through a mixture of larger particles. This can occur during formation of a pile, as smaller particles percolate into the pile, while coarse particles slide or roll to the perimeter of the pile. In order for sifting segregation to occur, several conditions are required. There must be a difference in particle size, for example, ratios as small as 1.3:1 can induce sifting segregation. Sifting is generally most pronounced when the mean particle diameter is greater than 100 microns. The mixture must be sufficiently free flowing to allow interparticle motion. Finally, there must be movement of the particles relative to one another or portions of the flow within the mixture.
Bulk storage containers, such as hoppers, silos, bunkers and bins, are conventionally used for the storage of quantities of loose particulate solids, including particulate solid mixtures. For the purposes of the present application, the term "hopper" will be used to cover all such differing forms of storage containers for particulate material, where the material fills or partially fills the container and moves during the discharge process to an outlet situated in the lower regions of the container. If all of the material is in motion during discharge, this is referred to as mass flow of the material.
Bulk solids are generally comprised of particles of different sizes. It is commonly desirable to maintain a uniform concentration of each size throughout the mixture during industrial processing, storage, and packaging. However, segregation of the particles by size frequently occurs during processing steps such as the filling or discharge of a hopper. Such actions can lead to segregation by sifting. Accordingly, different regions within a mixture of particulate solids within a hopper can have different proportions of fine and coarse particles. Thus, uniformity of the mixture is lost.
For numerous reasons it can be desirable to be able to handle and move bulk solids with different size particles while maintaining a uniform concentration of each size, including sampling, measurement, and testing processes as well as general handling of the material. Feeder mechanisms can be utilized to supply mixtures of bulk solids to hoppers or other locations.

Method of uniformly supplying a mixture of particulate solids


A durable water heating system providing rapid hot water delivery includes a water heating unit connected to a water source. A hot water line connects the water heating unit to at least one water delivery fixture. A return line of substantially the first cross-section connects to the hot water line adjacent the water delivery fixture located at a greatest distance from the water heating unit. A flow velocity reduction device has a first end, a second end, a first cross-section, an aperture and that extends from the first end to the second end. The aperture and has a second cross-section smaller than the first cross-section. Attachment fittings are provided adjacent the first and second ends. When the device is installed in the return line, velocity of water circulating through the system will be substantially reduced, thereby reducing wear on the system while providing rapid hot water delivery at the fixture.

As houses and apartment buildings become larger, often the distance from a hot water heater to points of end use, such as showers and faucets, becomes longer. As a result, system users may have to wait several minutes for hot water after turning on a faucet or shower. As this is both wasteful of water and annoying to the users, systems have been developed to circulate the water heated by the water heater so that hot water will be quickly available at remote end use points. Unfortunately these recirculating systems often result in water moving constantly through the pipes. Such movement tends to cause unnecessary wear on the pipes through abrasion, resulting in leaks, often in inconvenient locations. The present invention attempts to solve this problem by slowing the flow of water through hot water circulating systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,602, and U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0121557 both by Stroup, are directed to a flow valve, a fixed control device that can be machined to provide a reliable restriction to limit a flow to a predetermined value at a given applied pressure. The flow valve can be used for reliably testing compressors without the need for recalibration between tests. The device has threads at each end for coupling the valve into the compressor test set-up. The valve can be provided with flats at the center portion for engagement by wrenches. The control device is shown with a bore that tapers from a large diameter at the entrance to a smaller diameter at the exit, though an embodiment can be provided with the bore tapered at both ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,744,842, issued to Suverkrop et al is directed to a flow nipple used in oil wells to reduce the flow of oil without causing eddy currents. The flow nipple is a short length of pipe threaded at both ends and has a decreased diameter of the flow path in the pipe. The diameter of the bore is large at each end of the pipe and gradually decreases in diameter toward the center. The decrease in diameter can be any smooth curve like a sine wave. The smooth curve will reduce the flow without causing eddy currents.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,790,463, issued to Delano et al illustrates a flow regulator that can be inserted in the fluid conduits to regulate the flow of a drinking fountain. The flow regulator formed from a single piece has a cylindrical body with external threads formed at each end for cooperation with stand pipe fittings of the proper size. The fluid path through the cylindrical body is a bore that starts out with a tapered feed-in leaving to four consecutive bores with the first being narrow and the subsequent ones of greater diameter. The Venturi-like formation opening into the compartments of increasing size provides a drag or friction on the flow of water, thus eliminating spurting at the fountain.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,974, issued to Grohs et al. discloses an apparatus for limiting the volume of fluid flowing from an automotive hose into a heat exchanging device in an automotive heating or air-conditioning system. The restrictor includes a generally cylindrical, hollow body disposed in the hose and a flow limiting washer disposed in the body. The body includes an annular wall having a stepped region of reduced cross-sectional area which receives a hose clamp therein to prevent sliding and rotation of the restrictor within the hose.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,455, issued to Ramirez-Rivera is directed to a fluid flow rate economizing device having a tubular body and a reduction in the inner diameter, suitable to install inside residential, commercial or industrial hydraulic tubing at fluid intakes, meters and/or registers
U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,049, issued to Anderson discloses an abrasive resistant choke assembly. It is especially for use in withstanding the abrasive action of sharp particles of silt and sand that are carried by hot fluids flowing under pressure from producing wells. It includes a choke passage with an inlet end that has an angle of taper of less than 8.degree.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a device to reduce the velocity of water circulating through a hot water circulating system. It is a further objective to provide a device that will reduce wear on the pipes of the circulating system. It is a still further objective of the invention to provide a device that is easily installed in existing circulating system. It is yet a further objective of the invention that the device can be properly installed in any orientation and provide the desired functionality. Finally, it is an objective of the present invention to provide such a device that is readily identified in the system once installed, easily removed, and that can be easily and inexpensively manufactured.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.

Durable water heating system providing rapid hot water delivery


Disclosed is a lithography system. The lithography system includes a source designed to provide energy; an imaging system configured to direct the energy onto a substrate to form a predefined image thereon, and defining an optical axis; and an aperture incorporated with the imaging system, the aperture having a plurality of transmitting regions defined along radial axis not parallel to the optical axis, and each transmitting region operable to transmit the energy with adjustable intensity.

Semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) technology has experienced rapid progress including the continued minimization of feature sizes and the maximization of packing density. The minimization of feature size relies on improvement in photolithography and its ability to print smaller features or critical dimensions (CD). However, a photomask used in photolithography may suffer an angle-dependent CD difference, in which pattern features such as lines may have different widths when disposed from different directions. For example, a photomask may have an X-Y CD difference, 45-135 degree CD difference, or any other angle related CD difference. These CD differences often cause lithography patterning degradation, wafer manufacturing quality issues, and even yield concerns.

Method and apparatus for compensated illumination for advanced lithography

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.