A method for forming a plurality of fastener components comprises providing a composite web which includes a web of hook material. The hook material includes a hook base layer which has first and second longitudinally extending side sections and has a plurality of hook elements which are integrally formed with the base layer and extend away from a base plane of the hook base layer. The hook elements are configured to operably engage a selected, cooperating loop material to provide an operative fastening, and the web of hook material has an extending section of carrier web material attached to extend laterally outboard from each of the side sections of the web of hook material. Each section of carrier web material has an extending web of panel material attached to extend laterally outboard from each section of carrier web material. The composite web is divided along first and second, non-intersecting, serpentine division lines which repeatedly traverse across a complete lateral width of the hook web and extend generally longitudinally along a medial region of the composite web to provide for a serpentine strip which can be removed away and separated from the composite web. The first serpentine division line has a first plurality of laterally inboard hill regions and relatively outboard valley regions which alternate in occurrence along said longitudinal dimension of said composite web. The second serpentine division line has a second plurality of laterally inboard hill regions and relatively outboard valley regions which alternate in occurrence along the longitudinal dimension of the composite web. The hill regions of the first and second serpentine division lines do not extend into the webs of panel material.

Conventional absorbent articles, such as disposable diapers, have been constructed with elasticized waistbands. Particular article designs have incorporated a stretchable outer cover composed of an elastomeric web material, such as a stretch bonded laminate which includes a layer of nonwoven fabric. Other conventional designs have included elastomeric or nonelastomeric side panel members connected to the lateral side edges of an outercover composed of a polymer film material, and fasteners and fastening tabs have been connected and attached to the side panels for securing the article on a wearer. The fastener tabs can include mechanical fastening mechanisms, such as the complementary components of a hook-and-loop fastener.
Conventional techniques have been employed for forming articles which have fastening systems with shaped side-panel members having desired edge contours. Particular techniques have been configured to remove a continuous die-cut strip from the middle region of a web of side panel material having strips of a mechanical fastener component attached thereto. Conventional processes, such as those described above, have, however, exhibited significant shortcomings when incorporated into desired, high speed manufacturing operations. For example, the process arrangements have required the use of excessive amounts of side panel material, which can be expensive and may create excessive thickness. The processes have also provided fastener web constructions which have insufficient integrity or have been excessively bulky or difficult to handle during subsequent operations. As a result, it has been difficult to provide a technique for reliably and efficiently producing a mechanical fastening system which has a desired contoured shape, and desired performance characteristics. There has been a continued need for an improved manufacturing technique which can more efficiently produce an article having a more reliable and lower cost fastening system.

Process for making a mechanical fastener


A lockable endgate for a pickup truck includes a lift handle assembly mounted within the endgate for releasably securing the endgate in a closed position. The lift handle assembly includes a lift handle actuating a pair of handle pawls which translate a pair of latching mechanisms thereby releasing the endgate from the closed position. The lockable endgate further includes a bezel mounted on the outer panel having an access hole for the lift handle to extend through. A key actuated locking cylinder is mounted to the bezel and includes a locking pawl which prevents the actuation of the handle pawls in the locked position. A rigid close out plate is also included which mounts between the locking pawl and the bezel.

It is well known in the design and manufacture of pickup trucks to include an endgate to provide access to the bed of the pickup truck. The endgates are typically attached to the body of the truck and opened and closed about an axis defined by a pair of hinges. The typical endgate is held closed in a vertical position by a pair of latching mechanisms actuated by a latch handle assembly centrally located in the outside face of the endgate. The latch handle assembly is typically a pull type handle attached to a pair of pawls which articulate during operation of the handle to displace a pair of latch rods attached to the latching mechanisms thereby allowing the opening of the endgate. Locking devices for truck endgates are known in the art.


Software typically changes over its useful lifetime. New versions of software are created to change or improve functionality, to add functionality, to correct coding errors, improve performance, to adapt to new hardware and for many other well-known reasons. The process of delivering new versions of software to users is called servicing the software. The operating system decides which version(s) of a piece of software satisfy dependencies of other software by creation of a context. The context may be used to organize and manage versions of software, to declare activation policies concerning the use of different versions of software and to service the versioned software. The context may include an activation service that maintains and manages resolution polices, resolves dependencies, constructs the environment in which an application runs and initiates the running of the software.

Software typically changes over its useful lifetime. New versions of software are created to change or improve functionality, to add functionality, to correct coding errors, improve performance, to adapt to new hardware and for many other well-known reasons. The process of delivering new versions of software to users is called servicing the software.
A typical operating system does not know what executable software resides on the machine nor does it know what system or software resources are needed by the software to execute. It follows, therefore, that the operating system can have no knowledge of how or if one piece of software depends on another and will be unable to determine if a particular piece of software will run. This state of affairs makes it difficult to properly service software. For example, in the course of installing new software, one version of a program relied on by an existing piece of software may be overwritten with a new version, rendering the existing piece of software inoperable. The operating system is unable to prevent this from happening because it does not know that the existing piece of software needs a different version of the program.


The presence of eyeglasses worn by a human subject is detected regardless of whether the subject's head is viewed frontally or in profile. Image data within search windows defined relative to the subject's eye is processed to form linear representations of edge boundaries. Angles formed by intersections of the linear representations are determined and used as a basis for determining if eyeglass lenses are present. When prescribed eyeglass components are detected, the eye detection and tracking routines are configured accordingly.

Vision systems frequently entail detecting and tracking a subject's eyes in an image generated by a video camera. In the motor vehicle environment, for example, a camera can be used to generate an image of the driver's face, and portions of the image corresponding to the driver's eyes can be analyzed to assess drive gaze or drowsiness. See, for example, the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,795,306; 5,878,156; 5,926,251; 6,097,295; 6,130,617; 6,243,015; 6,304,187; and 6,571,002, incorporated herein by reference.
Since a high percentage of people wear some form of eyeglasses when driving, a vehicular vision system must be capable of reliably monitoring the driver's eyes regardless of whether the driver is wearing eyeglasses. And yet eyeglasses complicate eye monitoring because they can significantly change the appearance of the driver. Moreover, eyeglass lenses and frames can obscure the vision system's view of the driver's eyes, and produce glare spots due to reflected ambient and active illumination. While there are special lighting and image processing techniques for addressing the challenges posed by eyeglasses, using these techniques for all drivers would impose an unnecessary burden on the vision processor. Accordingly, what is needed is a simple but reliable way of detecting whether the driver is wearing eyeglasses so that the vision system can be configured accordingly.


A memory cell includes an ONO film composed of a stacked film of a silicon nitride film SIN which is a charge trapping portion and oxide films BOTOX and TOPOX positioned under and over the silicon nitride film, a memory gate electrode MG over the ONO film, a source region MS, and a drain region MD, and program or erase is performed by hot carrier injection in the memory cell. In the memory cell, a total concentration of N—H bonds and Si—H bonds contained in the silicon nitride film SIN is made to be 5×1020 cm−3 or less.

EEPROMs (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memories) have been widely used as electrically programmable/erasable nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices. These memory devices (memories) typified by flash memories, which are widely used today, have an electrically conductive floating gate electrode or trapping dielectric film surrounded by oxide films under a gate electrode of a MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistor. A charge trapping state in the floating gate or in a trapping characteristic dielectric film is used as memory information, and it is read as a threshold value of the transistor.
The trapping dielectric film is a dielectric film capable of trapping charges, and a silicon nitride film is referred to as an example thereof. The threshold value of the MOS transistor is shifted by injection/discharge of charges into or from such a charge trapping region to operate it as a memory element. A nonvolatile memory that uses such a silicon nitride film as the charge trapping region is called a MONOS (Metal Oxide Nitride Oxide Semiconductor) type memory, and is excellent in the reliability of data retention as compared with the electrically conductive floating gate film since charges are discretely trapped. Moreover, since it is excellent in the reliability of data retention, it has advantages in which, for example, oxide films over and under the silicon nitride film can be made to be thinner, so that low voltage program/erase operations can be performed.
The silicon nitride film used in the charge trapping region of the above-described MONOS type memory always contains hydrogen. It is known that a contained hydrogen concentration is approximately 3×1021 cm−3 in the case where the film is formed by generally-used Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD). (for example, see Physical Review B, Vol. 48, pp 5444, 1993, Non-Patent Document 1). The hydrogen is present in the form of a bond between silicon and hydrogen (Si—H bond) or bond between nitrogen and hydrogen (N—H bond). Generally, the number of N—H bonds is larger than that of Si—H bonds (for example, see Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol. 124, pp. 909, 1977, Non-Patent Document 2).
Concerning the hydrogen of the silicon nitride film used in the charge trapping region of the MONOS type memory, several proposals for improving the data retention characteristics by reducing the density of Si—H bonds have been made. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2006-128593 (Patent Document 1), the silicon nitride film is formed by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) under a condition in which a flow ratio of dichlorosilane (DCS: SiCl2H2)/ammonia (NH3) is 0.1 or less, so that the density of Si—H bonds is set at 1×1021 cm−3 or less. As a result, the trap density in the silicon nitride film is reduced, the charges in the silicon nitride film are not readily moved, and therefore, the data retention characteristics can be improved.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2004-356562 (Patent Document 2), the density of the Si—H bonds in the silicon nitride film is made to be 1×1020 cm−3 or less by employing Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). As a result, shallow traps in the silicon nitride film are reduced, the charges in the silicon nitride film are not readily moved, and the data retention characteristics can be improved.
The reason why the Si—H bond is attracted instead of the N—H bond higher in density than the Si—H bond being present in the silicon nitride film is that bonding energy of the Si—H bond is smaller, and therefore the bond is readily broken by energy such as a thermal load during manufacturing processes.
As a method of forming the silicon nitride film with a low hydrogen concentration including the N—H bond, there is a method in which the film is formed by using a gas containing no hydrogen. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2002-203917 (Patent Document 3), a method in which the silicon nitride film is formed by using silicon tetrachloride SiCl4 and ionized nitrogen in a plasma state is disclosed.


A flip chip type LED lighting device manufacturing method includes the step of providing a strip, the step of providing a submount, the step of forming a metal bonding layer on the strip or submount, the step of bonding the submount to the strip, and the step of cutting the structure thus obtained into individual flip chip type LED lighting devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting device manufacturing method and more particularly, to a simple method of making flip chip type LED lighting devices without wire bonding.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lighting device is a requisite in our daily life. It lights up the space when dark. Following fast development of high technology, flip chip LEDs have been intensively used to substitute for conventional incandescent lamps.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a flip chip type LED lighting device made according to the prior art. According to this design, the flip chip type LED lighting device 1 comprises a submount 12, bond fingers 16, 18 provided at two sides of the submount 12, and a plurality of flip chip LEDs (light emitting diodes) 10 bonded on the submount 12 and electrically connected to the bond fingers 16, 18 by wire bonding. According to this design, a die bonding and a wire bonding procedures must be employed to have the legs of the LEDs 10 connected to the bond fingers 16, 18. This wire bonding procedure is complicated. During wire bonding, the LEDs 10 or submount 12 may be damaged accidentally.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a flip chip type LED lighting device manufacturing method, which eliminates the aforesaid problem.

Flip chip type LED lighting device manufacturing method


Frequently only a portion of the data within an error correction data block is required to be changed or overwritten. For example in optical data storage on DVD type discs, an error correction block contains 32K bytes of user data, however, a computer system typically operates on 2K byte sectors and therefore frequently does not involve the full 32K byte block. In these circumstances the old data block must be read, error corrected, the new data combined with the old and new error correction redundancy bytes calculated. This invention is a method and apparatus of improving access time when only a portion of the data in an error correction data block is modified. The contributions to the redundancy bytes in the codewords, due to the old data to be modified and the new data to be written, are calculated. Required modifications to the old redundancy bytes can be calculated by parity checking (multiple exclusive or-ing), or by matrix operations and implemented by exclusive or-ing the modifications with the old redundancy bytes. This modification process need only involve the portion of the data that is to be modified and can make the new redundancy bytes available rapidly, thereby improving access time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage systems and, more particularly, to the reduction of access time to storage systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
When recording digital data, it is usual to group the user data into blocks and to protect the integrity of the data by adding error correction data. A commonly used scheme is Reed Solomon Product Code in which two levels of error correction codes (ECCs) are added. These two levels are often referred to as inner and outer error correction codes or ECC1 and ECC2.
Within a block, user data plus header information is arranged in an array of rows and columns. To each row is added an ECC1 code field and to each column is added an ECC2 code field. The resulting data block forms the minimum recordable block or unit record.
The host computer, however, may operate on smaller data segments or sectors. There are typically multiple sectors within a recordable block or unit record. When the host is to modify a sector, the drive typically reads the relevant block, error corrects the block, updates the block with the new sector of data, computes the error correction field values on this new block and writes the new unit record to the disc.
The process of calculating the new ECC, typically involves scanning the data along the rows as the data is being written to disc. ECC1 is calculated during this row scanning and appended to the data on disc. Meanwhile the ECC2 is gradually accumulated as the scanning progresses from row to row. This means that the ECC2 is not available until the complete data block has been scanned. It also means that even in situations where the unchanged data does not have to be rewritten, the complete data block has to be scanned to accumulate the new ECC2.
Furthermore, in some formats, e.g., the DVD format, ECC2 is interleaved throughout the data block, not appended at the end as is more usual. This means that writing cannot begin until ECC2 is available. On the inner tracks there is not sufficient time to read the data block, perform the complete scanning of the data block, necessary for calculating ECC2 in the conventional way and also to rewrite the new data block, in one revolution of the disc. This means an additional revolution is required to complete writing of the block.
Thus, it can be seen that multi-level error correction coding constraints, especially the interleaving of the error correction codes within a unit block, impose access limits upon current technology storage system devices and hinder the use of these devices in many applications.
Therefore, there is an unresolved need for multi-level error correction device that will significantly improve access time of current technology storage systems while providing reliable multi-level error correction, especially in the case of a device employing interleaving of the error correction codes within a unit block.

Method and apparatus for reducing the access time for storage systems


A cable management system provides cable management for a switch chassis configured to receive a plurality of line card units. The cable management system comprises a cable guide arrangement configured to guide each of a plurality of cables from a line card such that the cables extend out from the line card unit and lie substantially within a plane.

The invention relates to a cable management system, for example for use with a communications system such as a communications switch.
In a modern communications system, for example in a modern switch system, cable management can become a significant problem, due to a potentially large number of cables to be managed that exit communications equipment. Potential concerns relate to maintaining a proper bend radius for cables and good airflow for the communications equipment, which still permitting access to and maintenance of the communications equipment.
An example embodiment of the invention seeks to mitigate address at least some of these concerns.


The present invention provides silica-based reversed-phase HPLC methods that lead to higher retention of the analytes in the column and longer column lifetimes than usually observed under medium to high pH aqueous mobile phase conditions. The inventive methods comprise eluting the HPLC column using an aqueous mobile phase comprising at least one fluorinated additive. Preferred additives are polyfluorinated alcohols such as 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol. The methods of the present invention may be used for analyzing, separating, purifying, and/or isolating small organic molecules, natural products, as well as biomolecules such as polypeptides, oligonucleotides and polynucleotides (e.g., DNA fragments).

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is one of the most widely used separation techniques (J. G. Dorsey et al., Anal. Chem. 1998, 70: 591–644); and its applications range from industrial preparation to trace level detection. The popularity of HPLC stems from its ability to separate a large variety of analytes, including organics, inorganics and biomaterials with low to high molecular weights, and with different degrees of polarity, hydrophobicity, acidity, and ionization (J. Swadesh, HPLC. Practical and Industrial Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2001; J. S. Fritz, Ion Chromatography, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2000). The development of highly sophisticated HPLC procedures has provided a sensitivity that allows researchers to separate enantiomers (A. Satinder, Chiral Separations by Chromatography, Oxford University Press, Washington, D.C., 2000) and even isotopes; to detect mutations in DNA fragments; and to achieve resolution of very similar polypeptides that differ by a single amino acid residue. The vast majority of biomedical and environmental analyses are currently performed by HPLC; and in the pharmaceutical industry, where it is the premier analytical technique, HPLC is used in all phases of drug discovery, development, and quality control.
Chromatography may be defined as the separation of analyte molecules based on their differing affinities for distinct phases in relative motion. Essentially, in HPLC, components of a sample mixture are carried through a solid stationary phase by the flow of a liquid mobile phase, that is pumped under controlled conditions of high pressure. The stationary phase, which is composed of a packed bed of finely divided beads or particles contained within a chromatography column, acts as a retentive media and differentially retards the migration of the analytes through the column so that the individual components of the mixture are gradually separated from one another and ultimately exit the column at different time points of the chromatographic run.
Successful chromatography requires a proper balance of the intermolecular forces between the analyte, the mobile phase, and the stationary phase. In HPLC, both the mobile phase and stationary phase may be varied to alter the interaction mechanism(s). The important criteria to consider for HPLC method development are resolution, sensitivity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection, linearity, reproducibility, time of analysis and robustness of the method. The quality of the column itself, and its performance over time, contribute in important ways to each of these criteria.
In spite of recent advances in the development of alternative stationary phases such as zirconia, alumina, titania, and polymer-based packings (K. K. Unger, Packings and Stationary Phases in Chromatographic Techniques, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1990), microparticulate silica is by far the most commonly employed chromatographic support in HPLC. This is mainly due to its versatility, high derivatization potential, high column efficiency, and easily controlled particle size and porosity. Most of the silica-based packings in use today are bonded phases that are formed by covalently attaching organic molecules with specific properties to silanol groups (Si—OH) present on the silica surface. Of these silica gel-based support materials, reversed-phase (i.e., weakly polar or non-polar) bonded packings are generally preferred because of their high resolution power, separation efficiency, and mechanical stability.
Although superior to most other available packings, silica-based bonded phases remain imperfect supports for reversed-phase HPLC, especially in the analysis of basic substances. The derivatization process that produces the bonded phase is rarely fully complete and generally leaves unreacted a significant number of silanol groups on the silica surface. The presence of these residual weakly acidic silanols leads to irreversible adsorption of basic solutes, high peak tailing, and a strong dependence of retention times on solute concentrations (H. Engelhardt et al., J. Chromatogr. 1988, 458: 79–92). Separations at high pH (i.e., pH 9 or greater) appear, therefore, attractive for certain basic analytes since, under these conditions, (1) such analytes would be in their free-base form, and (2) the unreacted weakly acidic silanol groups would be totally ionized, a situation where irreversible and potentially deleterious electrostatic interactions between solute molecules and stationary phase would be minimized. Furthermore, operating at a pH well above the pKa value of basic compounds should also allow more reproducible separations, since retention times changes due to the formation of ionized forms would not take place (J. J. Kirkland et al., J. Chromatogr. 1997, 762: 97–112; J. J. Kirkland et al., J. Chromatogr. A, 1998, 797: 111–120). However, using reversed-phase HPLC columns under intermediate to high pH aqueous conditions, especially at elevated temperatures, is known to result in rapid loss of column performance and in reduced column lifetimes due to deterioration of the packing material, largely through solubilization of the silica support (J. J. Kirkland et al., J. Chromatogr. A, 1995, 691: 3–19; C. S. Horvath et al., Anal. Chem. 1977, 49: 142–154; A. Wehrli et al., J. Chromatogr. 1978, 149: 199–210).
Several studies have been carried out to devise ways to extend the lifetime of reversed-phase HPLC columns. Thus, the use of untreated silica pre-columns that partially saturate the mobile phase with dissolved silica, thereby reducing or precluding solubilization of the packing material in the analytical column, has been found to significantly improve the longevity of a column (J. G. Atwood et al., J. Chromatogr. 1979, 171: 109–115). Addition to the mobile phase of a large variety of certain additives and modifiers, such as organics, salts and detergents (L. C. Sander and S. A. Wise, CRC Crit. Rev. Anal. Chem. 1987, 18: 299), that interact with the analytes and/or the stationary phase, has been reported to increase the lifetime of HPLC columns by, for example, preventing irreversible adsorption of basic solutes to the reversed-phase support and/or by decreasing the solubility of microparticulate silica at intermediate to high pH.
Chemical approaches have also been developed to extend the lifetime of reversed-phase HPLC columns by shielding, eliminating, or reducing the number of residual silanol groups on the silica surface (K. K. Unger, Porous Silica, Elsevier, Amsterdam, N.Y., 1976; J. Kohler and J. J. Kirkland, J. Chromatogr. 1987, 385: 125–150; D. B. Marshall et al., J. Chromatogr. 1986, 361: 71–82; J. G. Dorsey and W. T. Cooper, Anal Chem. 1994, 66: 857A–867A). Work has, for example, been directed at increasing the efficiency of the derivatization reaction in order to produce more densely bonded silica supports with a smaller number of unreacted silanols. Silanol groups have also been partially removed by curing, a condensation reaction of adjacent silanols (T. G. Waddell et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1981, 103: 5303–5307), or by end-capping, a chemical process in which relatively small reagents (such as activated silanes) are reacted with the remaining silanols (G. B. Cox, J. Chromatogr. A, 1993, 656: 353–367; J. J. Kirkland et al., J. Chromatogr. A, 1997, 762: 97–112). Bonding of bidendate silanes or bulky silanes (J. J. Kirkland et al., Anal. Chem. 1989, 61: 2–11) with tentacle-like chains (M. Ashri-Khorassani, et al., Anal. Chem. 1988, 60: 1529–1533) has been shown to produce stationary phases with improved stability properties as compared with the commonly used monofunctional packings. Similarly, polymeric (T. Darling et al., J. Chromatogr. 1977, 131: 383–390; A. J. Alpert and F. E. Regnier, J. Chromatogr. 1979, 185: 375–392) and horizontally polymerized silanes (G. Schomburg et al., J. Chromatogr. 1983, 282: 27–39; M. J. Wirth and H. O. Fatunmbi, Anal. Chem. 1993, 65: 822–826) have been found to exhibit some stability in high pH mobile phases. In a slightly different approach, treatment of silica particles with metal oxides or hydroxides, which results in the formation of a protective layer over the silica, has also been demonstrated to increase the lifetime of the stationary phase thus obtained (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,646).
Although most of the modifications of the silica surface generate chromatographic supports with improved stability properties at medium to high pH, several of the chemical reactions cannot easily be applied to many of the currently commercially available columns.
Therefore, a need continues to exist for improved strategies for extending the lifetime of silica gel-based reversed-phase HPLC columns. There is a particular need for approaches that are widely applicable, do not involve chemical modifications of the stationary phase, increase the retention of analytes in the column, and yet preserve the integrity of the HPLC column.
Such strategies would for example be useful in the case of a particular superficially porous silica-based packing material that has been reported to show great performance for the separation of large molecules. This packing material, which is composed of particles made of a solid silica core and a macroporous shell, cannot practically be used at medium pH (i.e., 6–8) and at high temperature (i.e., >50° C.) since these conditions cause a dramatic shortening of its lifetime. Methods to increase the longevity of this packing material under the above conditions, which are typical for the analysis of some large biomolecules such as DNA, oligonucleotides, and some proteins, would considerably widen the range of applications of this chromatographic support. Furthermore, in the case of DNA fragments, it may be desired that the retention of the fragments take place in the order of the fragments' length regardless of their composition. A reverse order is sometimes observed due to interactions with silanol residues on the silica surface. Methods that would reduce or eliminate this problem and thus allow DNA fragment sizing are therefore highly desirable.

Additives for reversed-phase HPLC mobile phases


A system for, and method of, pixel data compression and a smartphone incorporating the system or the method. In one embodiment, the system includes: (1) a differential pulse code modulation encoder operable differentially to compress the two pixel values losslessly to yield two losslessly compressed pixel values and (2) an entropy encoder coupled to the differential pulse code modulation encoder and configured to receive and entropy-encode the losslessly compressed pixel values using a tiered technique to yield entropy-encoded, losslessly compressed pixel values. values using a tiered technique to yield Huffman-encoded, losslessly compressed pixel values.

Digital photography has become commonplace. Whether the photography is done with a dedicated still camera, a videocamera, or a smartphone having a camera or video function, the high-level procedure is the same. Optics are employed to focus an image of a scene being photographed on a rectangular photodetector array. On command, the photodetector array captures the image as an array of picture elements, or pixels. The pixels are transferred over a bus to a processor and eventually gets written to memory. Additional images may then be captured using the array.
As consumers are aware, today's cameras and smartphones are offering ever-increasing image resolution, expressed in terms of millions of pixels, or megapixels, ever-increasing contrast (e.g., color) depths and ever-increasing rates at which these high-resolution images can be taken. Increasing resolutions, contrast depths and image rates tax the bandwidth of the bus that is responsible for moving the images to the memory. However, compounding these demands are less-apparent advances in image processing in which multiple images are captured in rapid succession, processed and reassembled to allow images to be taken under low-light conditions, increase image depth-of-field, allow the image plane to be changed after-the-fact or reduce the blurring, often called "shutter shake," that results from camera movement. These image processing techniques further tax the bus, which must now convey the pixels of each of the multiple images to the memory. Fortunately, buses have, so far, been able to accommodate the ever-increasing bandwidth requirements.

System and method for pixel data compression


Integration of DSP running algorithms with general purpose processor running applications including plugin objects as proxies for the DSP algorithms and with quality of service including application controls of algorithm scheduling and algorithm events reported to the applications.

1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to multiprocessor and digital signal processor frameworks and methods.
2. Background
The growth of the Internet coupled with high-speed network access has thrust real-time multimedia processing into the computing mainstream. Indeed, the proposed MPEG-21 standardization of multimedia framework architecture considers seven architectural elements: digital item definition, multimedia content representation, digital item identification and description, content management and usage, intellectual property management and protection, terminals and networks, and event reporting. Applications of such a architecture could be in creation of a photo album distributed over the computers of widely dispersed family members with connections over the Internet and with editing facilities or could be consumption of Internet streaming video with related simultaneous additional content available which needs resolution of quality of service (QoS) and terminal and network resources available issues prior to consumption.
MPEG-21 proposal standard interfaces aim to shield users from network and terminal installation, management, and implementation issues. Such architecture could include a global QoS manager in each terminal which controls terminal resource and prediction managers and interacts through APIs with a user plus with network resource and prediction managers; see FIG. 25 and FIG. 24 for general network architecture.
The need for a QoS manager within a terminal/network node (client/server) stems specifically from real-time service requirements of all streaming-media based applications. Streaming media applications have to deal with heterogeneous codecs (encoders/decoders) and filters with unique rendering deadlines. These applications should also be able to exploit and translate human perceptual characteristics to graceful degradations in the quality of service. They should be able to handle reasonable amounts of jitter in their processing and rendering cycles. For instance, in video applications, the frame rate for rendering has to be maintained at 30 frames/sec (fps), which translates to a frame period of 33 ms. The application, however, should be capable of withstanding limited instantaneous variations as negotiated with the server. Also, at 30 fps, human visual perception can withstand frame drops of about 6 frames/sec. The client application should again be capable of supporting a graceful degradation in performance (instantaneous dropping of frames) and maintain a steady-state of rendering within specific tolerances negotiated with the server. A QoS manager is the mechanism that provides the necessary functions and capabilities to realize such a real-time system.
Microsoft DirectShow provides an application framework on a general purpose processor for playback of multimedia streams from local files or Internet servers and for capture of multimedia streams from devices. DirectShow revolves about a filter graph made of pluggable filter components with a filter graph manager controlling the connection of filters and the stream's data flow through the filters. Applications control the filter graph by communication with the filter graph manager; see FIG. 26. Playback from an Internet simply requires the source filter be capable of reading from an Internet URL. A parser filter after the source filter can perform the parsing into audio, video, text, etc. streams; see FIG. 27. The filter graph manager controls and also searches for needed filters (e.g., renderer) in a registry with merit values for selection. The filters have pins for filter input/output. FGM supports media stream starting, pausing, duration of play, . . . by application/ActiveX controls calls to the filter graph manager which accesses methods of the filters, and the filter graph manager posts events from the filters to the application.
A filter is a COM object for performing a task; and a pin is a COM object created by a filter for unidirectional data stream to/from the filter; see FIG. 28. A filter has IBaseFilter interface which enumerates the pins, properties, et cetera and inherits from IMediaFilter which allow control of state processing such as running, pausing, and stopping, plus synchronization; called by FGM. Pin interface supports transfer of time-stamped data using shared memory or other resources, negotiate data formats at pin-to-pin connections, buffer management/allocation to minimize data copying and maximize data throughput. IQualityControl interface on output pins.
Data flow in filter graphs (protocols), including quality control data, originates in the renderer and flows upstream (or to QCM) through the filters until it finds a filter capable of media data flow change. For example, media sample protocol: how media samples are allocated and passed between filters. Quality management protocol how filter graph adapts dynamically to hardware and network conditions to degrade/improve performance gracefully.
Media sample data flow by either push or pull: source filter push by call IMemInputPin::Receive from the downstream filter, or downstream pull by IAsyncReader interface (IAsyncReader Transport). Media samples are data objects which support IMediaSample interface. Data from one filter to another is called "transport", and there is support for local memory transport in DirectShow classes: input pin supports IMemInputPin interface and output pin. The IAsyncReader interface is for pull.
Notenboom U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,468 and Equator Technologies PCT published application WO 99/12097 each describes methods of allocating processor resources to multiple tasks. Notenboom considers a host processor plus coprocessor with tasks allocated to coprocessor resources according to a priority system. Equator Technologies schedules processor resources according to task time consumption with each task presenting at least one service level (processor resource consumption rate) supported, and the resource manager admits a task if sufficient resources for a supported service level exist.
Systems with two or more processors, each processor with its own operating system or BIOS, include systems with widely separated processors connected via the Internet and also systems with two or more processors integrated on the same semiconductor die, such as a RISC CPU plus one or more DSPs.
The XDAIS standard prescribes interfaces for algorithms which run on DSPs; this provides reusable objects. XDAIS requires an algorithm implement the standard interface IALG plus an extension for running the algorithm. XDAIS also requires compliance with certain flexibility rules such as relocatable code and naming conventions. A client application can manage an instance of the algorithm by calling into a table of function pointers. With the XDAIS standard/guidelines the algorithm developer is able to develop or convert an algorithm so that it is easier to plug into a DSP application.
FIG. 20 shows a diagram of how data flows through the processing elements of current heterogeneous systems. The data transactions are numbered 1 through 6 to show time ordering. For each transaction data must pass through the system bus under control of the Central Control Processor (CCP). The CCP initiates transactions by sending messages or triggers via the control paths to the various processing elements in the system.
Processing elements in FIG. 20 are shown as separate processors (e.g. DSPs, ASICs, GPPs, etc.) capable of running a defined set of tasks. That is why each is shown with its own memory. Processing elements can also be individual tasks running on the same processor.
In some cases, the same data must pass through the system bus multiple times (e.g. transactions 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6). In such systems data must pass through the system bus a total of 2+(2×n) times, or in this case 6 times. Each pass through the system bus and intervention by the CCP introduces data flow overhead and reduces overall system throughput.
Data flow overhead negatively impacts how much data can move through the system in a given time frame and thereby restricts the amount of data the system is capable of processing. Such a system would likely be performing fewer useful tasks than the sum of capabilities of its elements might otherwise indicate.


Embodiments of the present invention utilize an attachable lens board that can be secured to the back of a mobile device and placed in a position that is proximate to the built-in camera lens associated with the camera system of the mobile device. As such, the lens board can be positioned to accurately align several different auxiliary camera lenses, each installed within various camera lens receivers formed within the lens board, with the built-in camera lens for focusing and/or image capture. Additionally, embodiments of present invention can include circuitry within the lens board that can be used to identify the types of lenses currently installed within each camera lens receiver. In this manner, embodiments of the present invention can correct possible optical imperfections of resultant images produced by the combination of the built-in camera lens and auxiliary lens selected for focusing and/or image capture by the user.

Conventional mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, include technology to perform a number of different functions. For example, a popular function available on most conventional mobile devices is the ability to take photographs a digital camera system. Many sophisticated camera systems included with conventional mobile devices possess automatic focusing features that enable them to capture high quality images of subjects that are of interest to the user.
However, when engaging these focusing features, many of these camera systems offer very little flexibility in terms of providing users with a wide range of lens choices other than the standard built-in camera system fixed lens. Conventional solutions, to provide lens flexibility, generally require gluing metal rings to the mobile device or adding large cases over the mobile device in order to perform auxiliary focusing functions using auxiliary lenses. As such, these solutions often only provide one or two lens choices for the user to use when capturing an image with the camera system. Furthermore, these conventional solutions are often mechanically cumbersome for the user to utilize.

Method and apparatus for augmenting and correcting mobile camera optics on a mobile device


A combined container and date-notification mechanism includes a container that has a body and a lid removably attached thereto for maintaining the perishable food item isolated from the environment. A mechanism is included for identifying a date when the perishable food item is placed inside the body such that a user can quickly identify a number of days that the perishable food has been housed within the container without removing the lid from the body. An identification marker is adjustably connected to the date-identifying mechanism and is spaced from the affixing mechanism. A mechanism is included for removably affixing the date-identifying mechanism onto the lid such that the user can selectively affix the date-identifying mechanism onto alternate containers. The affixing mechanism is formed from water insoluble material.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to food containers and, more particularly, to a date-identifying container for perishable food items.
2. Prior Art
Many food stuff, including fresh and frozen foods, have a use-by-date after which the item is no longer safe or suitable for human consumption. Should a person accidentally consume food that has expired they become susceptible to food poisoning and various other ailments, like gastro-intestinal discomfort and diarrhea, to name only a few. Although the food items are sold in packages and containers that have the use-by-date printed thereon, a consumer does not always keep the food stuff in the container or package that is was bought in.
Thus, a person may store food in the refrigerator or in a cupboard in a conventional container, like a plastic bowl with a lid, while discarding the original container that the product was bought in. As time progresses a user may forget what the use-by-date of a particular food item was. Unfortunately, when this occurs, people tend to simply discard the food so as not to run the risk of becoming sick from spoiled food stuff. This can become a very expensive practice if food, which is expensive, is repeatedly thrown in the trash due to the uncertainty of its use-by-date.
Accordingly, a need remains for a date-identifying container for perishable food items in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing food container that is convenient and easy to use, is versatile in its applications, is light-weight and durable in design, and eliminates the unfortunate possibility of a person eating or serving spoiled food. Such a container allows a user to indicate the date, in clear and easy to read manner, when the food stuff within the container is no longer safe for consumption. Advantageously, the container can be used to store fresh and frozen foods, alike. Persons find use for such a container both at home and in commercial establishments, like restaurants, delis and food catering businesses, to name a few.

Date-identifying container for perishable food items


Disclosed is a method of compressing and decompressing an executable file in a mobile communication terminal capable of improving a compression mode of an executable file necessary for an operation of the mobile communication terminal to reduce a booting time of the terminal and to smoothly carrying out a wireless upgrade service. The method of the invention divides storage spaces in which executable files are stored into plural areas depending on properties of the executable files using a scatter loading file and selectively compressing each of the areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of compressing and decompressing an executable file in a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a method of compressing and decompressing an executable file in a mobile communication terminal capable of improving a compression manner of an executable file necessary for an operation of the mobile communication terminal, thereby reducing a booting time of the terminal and smoothly carrying out a wireless upgrade service.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A boot-up process of a mobile communication terminal having mounted a predetermined operating system therein is a process progressed from after power is applied thereto until an initial screen is displayed. The boot-up process can be specifically divided into (1) an initialization process of a central control unit, (2) an initialization process of a RAM, (3) an initialization process of a hardware and (4) an initialization process of a task.
(1) The initialization process of the central control unit is a process of initializing a central control unit of the mobile communication terminal such as micro processor unit (MPU) or micro controller unit (MCU). (2) The initialization process of the RAM is a process of filling a zero-initialization area of the RAM with number 0 and then copying a code stored in an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) into a code area of the RAM. (3) The initialization process of the hardware is a process of initializing all hardware in the mobile communication terminal. (4) The initialization process of the task is a process of initializing an operating system (OS) of a mobile station module (MSM).
Among the initialization processes constituting the boot-up process, the initialization process of the RAM and the initialization process of the task take the most time to progress the boot-up process.
In the mean time, as the communication industry has been developed and the mobile communication service has been rapidly expanded, many people possess the mobile communication terminal. In addition, in order to meet the needs for a variety of function improvements of users, various functions such as reproduction of a music file, wireless internet and the like have been added to the mobile communication terminal, in addition to the basic telecommunication function.
As the various additional functions have been added to the mobile communication terminal, it is increased the time required for the boot-up process since every additional functions should be also initialized when the terminal is booted. Specifically, when the boot-up process of the terminal is progressed, an operating system of the additional function such as WIPI module of the wireless internet, camera module of a digital camera and the like should be copied to the code area of the memory. In addition, when the operating system of the additional function is copied to the code area, a task of the additional function should be initialized. Accordingly, any function is added to the mobile communication terminal, it is also increased the booting time required for the boot-up process due to the increase of the copying time to the code area of the memory and the increase of the time to initialize the task of the additional functions.
In order to solve the problem in that the booting time is increased due to the additional functions, the conventional technology adopts a method of compressing an executable file. In other words, according to the prior art, the RAM initialization and the task initialization are progressed by storing the compressed executable file in the EEPROM of the mobile communication terminal and copying the compressed executable file to the RAM.
However, the method of compressing the executable file according to the prior art adopts a manner of compressing the executable files (for example, gzip, bzip, etc.) entirely, so that it takes much time to decompress the entirely compressed executable file. As a result, the method cannot substantially reduce the booting time.
In addition, in recent years, as various functions are added, it is frequently required the firmware upgrade. When carrying out the wireless upgrade manner such as FOTA (Firmware Over The Air), if it is used the method of compressing entirely the executable files, it is prolonged the time necessary for the upgrade.

Method of compressing and decompressing executable file in mobile communication terminal


A windscreen wiper device comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade of a flexible material, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, which wiper blade includes at least one longitudinal groove, in which groove a longitudinal strip of the carrier element is disposed, which windscreen wiper device comprises a connecting device for an oscillating arm, wherein the oscillating arm can be pivotally connected to the connecting device about a pivot axis near one end, with the interposition of a joint part, with the special feature that the connecting device has a substantially H-shaped cross-section, wherein lower legs of the H-shaped cross-section are connected to the flexible material of the wiper blade on opposite sides thereof, and wherein upper legs of the H-shaped cross-section are adapted to receive the joint part.

1. Technical Field
The present invention refers to a windscreen wiper device comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade of a flexible material, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, which wiper blade includes at least one longitudinal groove, in which groove a longitudinal strip of the carrier element is disposed, which windscreen wiper device comprises a connecting device for an oscillating arm, wherein the oscillating arm can be pivotally connected to the connecting device about a pivot axis near one end, with the interposition of a joint part.
2. Related Art
Such a windscreen wiper device is generally known. The prior art windscreen wiper device is in particular designed as a "yokeless" wiper device or "flat blade", wherein use is no longer made of several yokes pivotally connected to each other, but wherein the wiper blade is biassed by one or two longitudinal strip (s) of the carrier element, as a result of which it exhibits a specific curvature. According to the prior art one drawback of the prior art windscreen wiper device is the fact that the connecting device, also called "connector", lacks sufficient rigidity, not only at the location of its connection to the wiper blade, but also at the location of its connection to the oscillating arm. Hence, the connecting device may permanently deform under the influence of high stresses exerted thereon. As a result, the interconnection between the connecting device and the wiper blade, for example, may be adversely affected, so that the wiping properties may deteriorate, particularly at high speeds, due to the so-called "fish tailing phenomenon". According to this phenomenon the wiper blade on opposite sides of the connecting device vibrates in an uncontrollable manner parallel to the windscreen to be wiped. Hence, as a consequence thereof, wiping properties may seriously deteriorate, with all negative consequences involved.


Disclosed are a preparation containing cell extracts for cell-free protein synthesis, prepared by excluding from a living organism a system, participating to inhibiting of self protein synthesis reaction, an apparatus for cell-free protein synthesis reaction equipped with a reaction tank for cell-free protein synthesis, and a kit for use therefor; the preparation can be stored at room temperature and prepared as a preparation in a state where biological functions of the cell extracts are maintained, and further, disclosed is methods for cell-free protein synthesis comprising providing cell extracts from which an inhibitor for self protein synthesis reaction is substantially excluded, having introduced therein treatment selected from supplement, storage, exchange or discharge with respect to an element selected from at least mRNA serving as a template for synthesis reaction, an energy reproduction system enzyme, a substrate, and an energy source.

Protein synthesizing reactions which occur in cells proceed in a process to synthesize the protein in which first from DNA having genetic information, the information is transcribed to mRNA and ribosomes translate said information of mRNA. Currently, as the method for performing ex vivo protein synthesis, e.g., in vitro, there has been intensively conducted investigation on a cell-free protein synthesizing method in which ribosomes are extracted from a living organism and in vitro protein synthesis is performed using thereof (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. Hei 6-98790, Hei 6-225783, Hei 7-194, Hei 9-291, and Hei 7-147992). In this method, Escherichia coli, embryo, rabbit reticulocyte, etc. have been used as a raw material of ribosome.
Cell-free protein synthesizing reaction mixture containing cell extracts for use in cell-free protein synthesizing system and chemical substances which are indispensable for or increases an efficiency of translation reaction, such as other synthetic substrates excluding translation temperate, energy sources and various ions, and etc. are instable at an ordinary temperature and their stable storage has been merely possible at a super low temperature of −80° C. or lower.
Cell-free protein synthesizing system is a useful method which is capable of retaining accurate performances, comparable to living cells in a peptide synthesis reaction rate and translation reaction and obtaining target protein without practicing complicated purification step. Therefore, to more usefully apply the synthesizing system in industry, several inventions relating to an improvement in synthesizing efficiency has been published. However, in order to improve the usefulness in industry, it is necessary to provide not only synthesizing efficiency but also various substances used in the synthesizing system with stably retaining and supplying in high quality.
An object of the present invention is to provide a means capable of being stable in an ordinary temperature and maintaining biological function of the preparation containing a cell extracts for cell-free protein synthesis containing cell extracts for cell-free protein synthesis necessary for cell-free protein synthesizing system, and chemical substances, which is indispensable for or increases the efficiency of the translation reaction, such as other synthesizing substrates excluding translation templates, energy sources, and various ions, etc.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means for stably storing and supplying a kit comprising a preparation containing cell extracts for cell-free protein synthesis, thereby simplifying operation steps in cell-free protein synthesis.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a means for cell-free protein synthesis using a preparation containing cell extracts for cell-free protein synthesis, which is improved in productivity, yield, and simplicity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Preparation containing cell extracts for cell-free protein synthesis and means for synthesizing protein using the preparation


The invention relates to a novel safe and eco-friendly health protective and beauty enhancing herbal compositions having various cosmetic applications such as lipsticks, eye shadows, glow-glitters and rouges, said compositions containing colorants from plants of the family Boraginaceae, the invention also provides a method for preparing the said compositions. The invention also relates the use of lipsticks as a medium of aromatherapy.

There is worldwide revival of interest in the use of natural colours especially in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals as the synthetic colours are likely to cause many side effects. Keeping this in view the present invention is undertaken to develop purely natural herbal colorants for cosmetic compositions. One aspect of the invention pertains to the development of a herbal composition useful as Lipstick with mood altering functional attributes including stimulation of creative thoughts on persons who apply the same on lips. Such features of the composition are attributed to the selected blended formulations of Natural colours and essential oils/aroma isolates incorporated.
Lips being the most sensitive part of skin, can effect fast transdermal absorption and also the lips being very close to nose facilitate a continuous inhalation of the slowly vaporizing essential oils/aroma chemicals blended in the composition, thus, providing a double effect on the specific centers of the brain by releasing neurochemicals leading to mood alteration stimulation and change of mental perceptions. The different blends of essential oil/aroma isolates/natural aroma chemical selectively blended in the lipsticks provide anti-depressant, mood enhancing/mood lifting effect and give rise to creative thoughts.
While lipsticks with different colour shades blended with aromatic principles have been developed for women, another range of compositions useful as lipsticks has also been developed for men. These compositions are without colours but provide a moisturizing transparent effect and have mood altering functions and are designed to altered mental perception, functioning similar to the lipstick compositions developed for developed for women. Both the groups of lipstick have some additional health promotive/protective and beautifying attributes by preventing the lips from darkening and providing it with moisturizing effects. These compositions also give attractive luster and texture to the lips. The lipsticks with colour, developed for women, have antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory effects. With regard to lip beautification topical application lipstick with different shades of colours are well known. Likewise, spraying of aromatic oils or sprays for refreshing is also well known. Many studies have been carried out on the effect of fragrance on mental perception; for example, the nice fragrance has an aesthetic impression and multiple positive effects on our life, they are not only for pleasure and seduction, healing and magic products but also for positive mood creators.

Safe, eco-friendly, health protective herbal colors and aroma useful for cosmaceutical applications

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research


Described are devices and methods for diverting emboli away from the carotid arteries in the aorta. The devices are aortic diverters that generally comprise a hollow tube with a substantially cylindrical or conical wall, which is impermeable to emboli and which has open ends that allow blood to enter one end, flow through the tube and exit the other end. Additionally, snowshoe aortic diverters, which are planar rather than cylindrical are also shown. The methods of the invention generally include the steps of providing an aortic diverter carried by an intravascular catheter, introducing the intravascular catheter into the vascular system, advancing the intravascular catheter into the aortic arch to the region of the carotid arteries, and deploying the aortic diverter.

The present invention relates generally to aortic diverters for temporary or permanent placement in the aorta in order to divert embolic material away from the arteries that carry blood to the brain, i.e., the carotid or cerebral arteries (including the brachiocephalic trunk, the left common carotid, and the left subclavian; Anne R. Agur, Grant""s Atlas of Anatomy 52 (9th ed., Williams and Wilkins 1991) (1943) (this and all other references cited herein are expressly incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety in this disclosure)). More particularly, the invention relates to aortic diverters placed within the ascending aorta, either temporarily or permanently, such that embolic debris entering the aorta are carried through or past the diverter and past the carotid arteries, thus being diverted away from cerebral blood vessels. The present invention also relates to methods of protecting patients against cerebral embolization by using aortic diverters.
Preventing emboli from entering the carotid arteries- (i.e., the brachiocephalic, the left common carotid, and the left subclavian) by way of the aorta reduces the incidence of ischemic stroke. Emboli in the aorta come from several sources. These sources include: 1) aortic atheroma which detaches from the wall of the aorta due to various reasons including incising, clamping, and/or clamp release of the aorta during surgery (see, Barbut et al., xe2x80x9cCerebral Emboli Detected During Bypass Surgery Are Associated With Clamp Removal,xe2x80x9d Stroke, 25(12):2398-2402 (1994)); 2) thrombus which forms in the right atrium resulting from atrial fibrillation; 3) thrombus which forms on ventricular assist devices; 4) venous thrombus which passes into the left ventricle through a patent foramen ovale or other arteriovenous shunt; and 6) other less common sources.
There are a number of known devices designed to filter blood (see, e.g., Barbut et al., International Application No. PCT/US97/12751, and Barbut et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,671), but no known devices designed to divert or redirect emboli past the carotid arteries. Using careful surgical techniques, the chance of an embolic event causing harm to the patient by way of cerebral embolization is so low that emboli managing devices have not been considered. Thus, there are no known solutions to minimizing the probability of cerebral embolization; except for reducing the amount of emboli released into the blood stream by careful handling of blood vessels.
On the venous side of the circulatory system, implantable vena cava filters reduce the incidence of pulmonary embolism, but they only trap large emboli, and they have a tendency to become clogged as they accumulate material. For example, Cottenceau et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,612 discloses a blood filter intended for implantation in a blood vessel, typically in the vena cava. This device comprises a zigzagged thread wound on itself and a central strainer section to retain blood clots. Another example is Lefebvre, French Patent No. 2,567,405, which discloses a blood filter for implantation by an endovenous route into the vena cava. The filtering means may consist of a flexible metallic grid, a flexible synthetic or plastic grid, a weave of synthetic filaments, or a non-degradable or possibly biodegradable textile cloth.
There are very few intravascular devices designed for arterial and especially aortic filtration, much less diversion. A filter that functions in arteries must address additional concerns because of the hemodynamic differences between arteries and veins. Arteries are much more flexible and elastic than veins and, in the arteries, blood flow is pulsatile with large pressure variations between systolic and diastolic flow. These pressure variations cause the artery walls to expand and contract. Thus, filters and diverters must be able to expand and contract along with the lumen of the aorta to which they may be anchored.
The problem of preventing emboli from reaching the cerebral vasculature has thus far not been adequately addressed. Therefore, a need exists for new devices and methods to prevent embolic material from entering the carotid/cerebral arteries, while maintaining peripheral blood flow from the heart to the descending aorta.
The present invention relates to aortic diverters and methods of diverting or redirecting emboli away from the carotid arteries to prevent cerebral embolization. The invention includes safe aortic diverters positionable in the ascending aorta in order to divert embolic material of all sizes away from the carotid arteries, thereby washing emboli downstream into the thoracic and peripheral vasculature. The devices of the present invention are adapted to be placed in the ascending and transverse aorta in order to divert embolic material away from the carotid arteries. This embolic matter includes but is not limited to atheromatous fragments or material, thrombus, globules of fat, air bubbles, clumps of bacteria and/or other foreign matter, tumor cells, or any other bits of tissue. The aortic diverters of the present invention can be placed surgically, endoscopically or percutaneously, and either permanently or temporarily.
In one embodiment of the invention the aortic diverter includes two components. The first component is a hollow tube, which is substantially cylindrical, conical or frustoconical in shape. The hollow tube is an appropriate size to fit within the lumen of the ascending aorta. The proximal end of the hollow tube is adapted to fill the lumen of the aorta so that substantially all blood entering the ascending aorta from the heart must travel through the hollow tube in order to continue past the ascending aorta and into the other arteries leading to the rest of the human body. The second component is an anchoring mechanism for securing the hollow tube to the lumen of the aorta.
In another embodiment the aortic diverter also includes two components. The first component is a hollow tube, which is substantially cylindrical, conical or frustoconical in shape. The hollow tube is an appropriate size to fit within the lumen of the ascending aorta. The proximal end of the hollow tube is adapted to fill the lumen of the aorta so that substantially all blood entering the ascending aorta from the heart must travel through the hollow tube in order to continue past the ascending aorta and into the other arteries leading to the rest of the human body. The second component is a sleeve secured to the proximal end of the hollow tube. The sleeve can be substantially rigid and circumferentially sized to frictionally anchor the hollow tube to the lumen of the aorta.
In another embodiment, the aortic diverter is a flat, planar, snowshoe device that can be placed across the apex of the aorta in order to prevent emboli from flowing into the carotid arteries. The snowshoe diverter comprises a planar tongue and a handle, and can also include supports or legs mounted on either or both sides of the tongue. The handle is attached to the proximal end of the tongue for convenient connection to an introducing device such as a cannula, and is also useful for easy orientation and placement of the snowshoe diverter within the aorta. The handle itself can be hollow, thus acting as a cannula to supply filtered blood to the carotid arteries as well as the descending aorta. The hollow cannulated handle can be attached to the tongue such that blood flowing out of the handle and into the aorta is partitioned by the tongue to flow either anterior or posterior the tongue. Alternatively, the cannulated handle can be attached to the tongue so that all blood flowing out of the handle and into the aorta flows anterior the tongue. Alternatively, the cannulated handle can be attached to the tongue so that all blood flowing out of the handle and into the aorta flows posterior the tongue. Alternatively, the handle can be solid with no lumen for blood flow. The handle can also be flexible and bendable in order to move the handle out of the way of the surgeon. The tongue of the snowshoe diverter has a compliant framework that allows conformance with naturally irregular interval wall structures within the aorta. The framework allows the size of the tongue to be reduced allowing for introduction through small incisions, thus minimizing aortic trauma. Thus, the tongue can be rolled or folded up in any direction or manner. The framework can comprise rings that are circular or oval. Alternatively, the framework can be a figure xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d suspension frame. The tongue also has a thin, compliant membrane that is impermeable to emboli. The membrane can be made of a mesh material that may be cotton based, Teflon, nitinol, urethane or polyurethane, any combination of the above, or a combination of the above along with wire. Alternatively, the tongue can be made of material that is impermeable to blood, but have one or more way valves allowing unidirectional blood flow. The tongue can be flexible and/or elastomeric, thus enabling the tongue to be rolled or folded up in any direction or manner. The tongue can be amoeba shaped, curved or billowed, tapered, or a combination thereof.
The methods of the present invention relate to the prevention of cerebral embolization. Cerebral embolization can occur when emboli found in the bloodstream are carried to the brain and become lodged in the smaller blood vessels of the brain, thus obstructing blood flow to an area of the brain, which can result in a stroke. One way of protecting patients against cerebral embolization is by preventing emboli from reaching the smaller blood vessels in the brain.
In one method of the invention an aortic diverter is provided. The aortic diverter is inserted into the aortic arch in the region of the carotid arteries. The surgeon secures the aortic diverter to the lumen of the aorta so that the proximal end of the aortic diverter extends upstream of the brachiocephalic trunk while the distal end of the aortic diverter extends downstream of the left subclavian artery. In the uncommon case where the carotid arteries directly connected to the aortic arch are just the left and right branch of the brachiocephalic trunk (see Anne R. Agur, Grant""s Atlas of Anatomy 52 (9th ed., Williams and Wilkins 1991) (1943) (incorporated herein by reference)), the distal end of the aortic diverter extends downstream of the left brachiocephalic trunk. With the aortic diverter placed in the ascending aorta in such a manner, emboli entering the ascending aorta will necessarily have to flow through the aortic diverter and exit the distal end of the aortic diverter downstream of the carotid arteries, thus reducing the likelihood that emboli will reach the openings leading into the carotid arteries.
In another method the surgeon provides an aortic diverter comprising a planar filter material which is impermeable to emboli but not to blood. The surgeon inserts the filter material into the aortic arch in the region of the carotid arteries. The surgeon secures the filter material to the aortic lumen so that it completely covers all of the openings leading from the aorta into the carotid arteries such that blood flowing into the carotid arteries is filtered of embolic material. The embolic material is not trapped on the filter but is washed downstream of the left subclavian artery or the left brachiocephalic trunk by the stream of blood rushing through the aorta into the peripheral vasculature.
In another method the surgeon provides an aortic cannula. The surgeon then penetrates the wall of the aorta with the aortic cannula, which can have an inflatable balloon occluder concentrically disposed on its distal end. The aortic cannula is sutured to the wall of the aorta to prevent loss of blood. The balloon occluder can be inflated to prevent back-flow of blood towards the region of the heart. The surgeon then provides the snowshoe diverter previously described. The surgeon then inserts the snowshoe diverter through the aortic cannula and into the aortic arch in the region of the carotid arteries, thus preventing emboli from flowing into the carotid arteries. Alternatively, the snowshoe diverter can be integral with the aortic cannula and disposed on the distal end of the aortic cannula. The surgeon then provides a blood-return cannula. If the handle of the snowshoe diverter is hollow (i.e., cannulated), the surgeon can connect the blood-return cannula to the handle of the snowshoe diverter such that it is in fluid communication with the handle. If the handle of the snowshoe diverter is not hollow, then the surgeon can connect the blood-return cannula to the aortic cannula such that it is in fluid communication with the aortic cannula. Alternatively, the surgeon can insert the blood-return cannula through the wall of the aorta either upstream or downstream of the point of insertion of the aortic cannula. When protection from cerebral embolization is no longer necessary, the surgeon removes the snowshoe diverter from the aorta.
In another method, an aortic cannula with a snowshoe aortic diverter attached to its distal end is introduced. The aortic cannula is inserted through the wall of the aorta and the snowshoe diverter is positioned in the region of the carotid arteries. The aortic cannula can be inserted through the wall of the aorta while the snowshoe diverter fully deployed. Alternatively, the snowshoe diverter can be hidden inside the lumen of the aortic cannula until after the aortic cannula is inserted through the wall of the aorta. The snowshoe diverter can then be deployed and positioned over the carotid arteries. The snowshoe diverter extends over all of the openings leading into the carotid arteries. The aortic cannula is sutured to the wall of the aorta to prevent loss of blood. A cardioplegia cannula comprising an opening in its distal end is then introduced. The cardioplegia cannula also has an inflatable balloon occluder concentrically mounted around its distal end. The cardioplegia cannula is inserted through the wall of the aorta and sutured to the wall of the aorta to prevent loss of blood. The balloon occluder is inflated to prevent all fluid flow downstream thereof, and then cardioplegia solution is delivered to the heart through the opening in the distal end of the cardioplegia cannula. Blood from a bypass machine is introduced into the aorta through aortic cannula. Blood flowing out of the distal end of the cannula and into the aorta can be partitioned by the snowshoe diverter such that some of the blood flows to the carotid arteries superior to the snowshoe diverter while the rest of the blood flows anterior the snowshoe diverter and toward the descending aorta and peripheral vasculature. Alternatively, the snowshoe device can be attached to the distal end of the aortic cannula in such a way as to divert substantially all blood exiting the distal end of the cannula to either the carotid arteries or the peripheral vasculature.
In another method the surgeon provides an aortic diverter, which is a substantially cylindrical, conical or frustoconical hollow tube comprising a wall that is impermeable to emboli. The hollow tube is substantially flexible, is in a compressed state, and is releasably carried by an intravascular catheter for percutaneous delivery into the aorta. When deployed, the hollow tube allows blood to flow through the tube, and the proximal end of the hollow tube is circumferentially sized to completely fill the lumen of the aorta. The surgeon introduces the intravascular catheter containing the compressed aortic diverter into the vascular system. The surgeon advances the intravascular catheter into the aortic arch to the region of the carotid arteries. The surgeon deploys the aortic diverter so that the aortic diverter radially expands to contact the lumen of the aorta. In the fully deployed state, the proximal end of the aortic diverter should completely fill the lumen of the aorta and should extend upstream of the brachiocephalic trunk. The distal end of the aortic diverter should extend downstream of the left subclavian artery (or the left brachiocephalic trunk in those patients having this as the most downstream carotid artery) so that when emboli exit the distal end of the aortic diverter, they are downstream of the carotid arteries, thus reducing the likelihood that they will reach the openings leading into the carotid arteries. The surgeon then secures the aortic diverter to the lumen of the aorta, either by friction of contact or by other means discussed herein.
The present invention addresses the dangers associated with cerebral embolization. Specifically, embolization contributes significantly to problems such as stroke, lengthy hospital stays, and, in some cases, death.
Embolic material, which has been detected at 2.88 mm in diameter, will generally range from 0.02 mm (20 xcexcm) to 5 mm, and consists predominantly of atheromatous fragments dislodged from the aortic wall and air bubbles introduced during dissection, but also includes platelet aggregates which form during cardiac surgery, thrombus in general, globules of fat, clumps of bacteria and/or other foreign matter, tumor cells, or any other bits of tissue. These emboli enter either the cerebral circulation or systemic arterial system. Those entering the cerebral circulation obstruct small arteries and lead to macroscopic or microscopic cerebral infarction, with ensuing neurocognitive dysfunction.
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate or reduce the incidence of cerebral embolization. The present invention is intended to divert emboli away from the carotid arteries, which direct blood to the brain. This diversion prevents strokes, which can lead to lengthy hospital stays, damage to the brain, and sometimes death. The present invention is particularly suited for those who are at high risk of suffering from cerebral embolization, such as elderly patients and those who have atheromatosis, as well as those patients undergoing cardiac surgery, which has been shown to result in the release of emboli into the bloodstream. See, for example, Barbut et al., xe2x80x9cCerebral Emboli Detected During Bypass Surgery Are Associated With Clamp Removal,xe2x80x9d Stroke, 25(12):2398-2402 (1994).
As for the devices, one object is to provide safe and reliable devices that are easy to manufacture and use. A further object is to provide devices that may be used in the aorta, and especially in the ascending aorta. Yet another object is to provide devices that will reduce the likelihood of cerebral embolization, especially in those patients who are at high risk for cerebral embolization. Yet another object is to provide devices that can be introduced into the aorta and secured to the lumen of the aorta with minimal trauma to the patient.
The devices disclosed herein have the following characteristics: they can withstand high arterial blood flow rates for an extended time; they can expand and contract with the wall of the aorta; they can be made of a monolithic molded material that is impermeable to blood as well as emboli, such as Teflon impregnated with an anti-thrombogenic coating or nitinol impregnated with an anti-thrombogenic coating, or they can be made of material that is impermeable to emboli and not blood, such as a mesh, a woven material, or a thin polymer; they can be biodegradable; they can include openings on their walls of any shape or predetermined pattern, wherein the openings are covered in material that is impermeable to emboli; they can be introduced surgically, endoscopically, or percutaneously with cannulas or intravascular catheters introduced through the femoral artery, subclavian artery, brachiocephalic artery, or a cut-down to the abdominal aorta; they can be left in the aorta permanently or temporarily; they can be secured to the lumen of the aorta through various mechanisms including sutures, surgical clips, hooks, adhesive material, substantially rigid sleeves, or frictional engagement; they can be flat, conical, frustoconical, or cylindrical; they can be radially self-expanding or expanded mechanically; they can be substantially rigid or substantially flexible like a xe2x80x9cwindsock;xe2x80x9d and they can be sized to fit vessels of varying sizes.
As for the methods of this invention, an object is to prevent cerebral embolization. The methods of this invention can be employed on various patients, especially those at high risk for cerebral embolization, in order to reduce the incidence of cerebral embolization, which can lead to neurologic or cognitive complications and death. Another object is to temporarily or permanently divert emboli away from the carotid arteries by forcing emboli downstream of the openings leading from the aorta into the carotid arteries. Another object is to provide a method for eliminating or minimizing cerebral embolization during invasive cardiac procedures. Yet another object is to provide a method of introducing an aortic diverter intravascularly or with a cannula for minimal trauma to the patient.

Implantable cerebral protection device and methods of use


A magnetic recording disk drive has a patterned magnetic recording disk with data blocks of magnetizable material separated by nonmagnetic regions, a write-clock-generation circuit for timing write pulses to the write head, and a rotational vibration sensor that adjusts the timing of the write pulses to correct for errors caused by rotational disturbances to the disk drive. The write-clock-generation circuit receives a reference clock signal synchronized to disk rotation and multiplies it to generate a higher-frequency write-clock signal. The write-clock-generation circuit includes a phase detector that compares the phase of the reference clock signal and the write-clock signal and provides an error signal. The output of the rotational vibration sensor is summed with the phase detector error signal to compensate for disk rotation speed changes caused by rotational disturbances.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to magnetic recording disk drives for use with patterned media, wherein each data bit is stored in a magnetically isolated block on the disk, and more particularly to such a disk drive with an improved clock for writing the data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic recording hard disk drives with patterned magnetic recording media have been proposed to increase the data density. In patterned media, the magnetic material on the disk is patterned into small isolated blocks or islands such that there is a single magnetic domain in each island or "bit". The single magnetic domains can be a single grain or consist of a few strongly coupled grains that switch magnetic states in concert as a single magnetic volume. This is in contrast to conventional continuous media wherein a single "bit" may have multiple magnetic domains separated by domain walls. To produce the required magnetic isolation of the patterned blocks, the magnetic moment of the regions between the blocks must be destroyed or substantially reduced so as to render these regions essentially nonmagnetic. Alternatively, the media may be fabricated so that that there is no magnetic material in the regions between the blocks. U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,769 is representative of various types of patterned media and their methods of fabrication. A description of magnetic recording systems with patterned media and their associated challenges is presented by R. L. White et al., "Patterned Media: A Viable Route to 50 Gbit/in2 and Up for Magnetic Recording?", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 33, No. 1, January 1997, pp. 990–995.
Disk drives typically use a rotary voice-coil-motor (VCM) actuator for positioning the read/write heads. A servo control system receives servo positioning information read by the read/write heads from the data tracks, typically from equally-angularly-spaced servo sectors that extend generally radially across the tracks. The servo control system generates control signals to the VCM to maintain the read/write heads on track and move them to the desired tracks for reading and writing of data. The servo sectors also contain servo timing marks (STMs) that indicate the start of the servo sectors. The STMs are often used as a reference clock signal for the write clock which controls the timing of the write pulses from the disk drive write head.
To assure that the disk drive write head magnetizes the blocks on the patterned media, the media must be patterned perfectly with a single accurate period, and the effective motor speed of the spindle supporting the disks must be highly stable so that the write clock is perfectly synchronized with the blocks as they pass beneath the write head. While the STMs are often used as the reference clock input to the write clock, U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,017 B2, assigned to the same assignee as this application, describes a magnetic recording disk drive with patterned media that uses a special pattern-sensor that senses the data blocks before they pass beneath the write head and generates a write-clock signal.
Disk drives experience rotational vibration and disturbance forces during normal operation. These disturbances arise internally, such as from motion of the VCM actuator, as well as externally, such as from shocks to the frame supporting the disk drive or from the movement of other disk drives when the drives are mounted together in a disk array system. These disturbances affect the spindle motor speed, causing small speed variations or "jitter", which in turn affects the timing of the reference clock input. The spindle motor jitter is especially problematic in patterned media drives because of the requirement of precise timing of the write pulses to the patterned data blocks.
What is needed is a magnetic recording disk drive with patterned media that has an accurate write-clock signal that is not significantly affected by rotational disturbances so that the data can be accurately written to the patterned data blocks.

Magnetic recording disk drive with patterned media and compensation for write-clock timing error caused by rotational disturbances

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.