In an apparatus for improving the contrast in a motor vehicle heads-up display, the windshield, as viewed by the driver, is dark-tinted in a specific solid angle. Information shown by the heads-up display is visible to the driver in this specific solid angle. Furthermore, important information is visible when viewed in the specific solid angle, while other less important information is visible when viewed from a straight-ahead direction.

This application claims the priority of German application No. 198 16 647.8, filed Apr. 15, 1998, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for improved contrast in a motor vehicle heads-up display.
Heads-up displays are known as systems for displaying information. Initially, these systems were used mainly in aircraft technology for displaying to the pilot information concerning the operating condition of the aircraft. Such heads-up displays produce an image of the displayed information, which can be recognized by the pilot directly in his field of vision. As a result, it is not necessary for the pilot to direct his eye away from the environment toward the instrument panel in order to read the displayed information. For some time, it has also been known to use such systems in the field of automotive technology. Images of the information to be displayed are produced in the driver""s field of view through an optical system.
Problems can arise if the ambient brightness is high. Due to the subsequent reduced contrast between the displayed information and the background, the displayed information can become difficult to recognize and read. From SAE Paper 920600 (pp. 21 to 27, especially p. 25), it is known to avoid this problem by varying the brightness of the displayed information according to the ambient brightness. For example, in sunlight the information is displayed more brightly than it is in darkness.
Furthermore, in German patent document DE 41 16 043 C2, reference is made to Japanese patent publication No. 02-58284 which shows that a portion of a windshield is dark-colored, and displayed data are made visible by a heads-up display in which the windshield is darkened. This darkening can be achieved by tinting the windshield or by applying a film for this purpose. The windshield is thus, from the driver""s viewpoint, dark-tinted within a certain angular range of view. Data presented in a heads-up display are visible for the driver within this specific solid angle.
German patent document DE 42 42 797 C2 discloses a display of information by means of a holographic plate. According to this document, to improve contrast the back of the hologram is tinted dark.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the readability of important data presented by means of a heads-up display.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved by an apparatus for improving the contrast of a heads-up display in a motor vehicle, in which important data are visible in the specific angle of view, while other data are visible in the straight-ahead direction.
It proves advantageous that the information for the driver is always visible at the same location. In the case of the important information (such as the vehicle""s speed), the assurance is given, on account of its display in front of the darkened background, that it is generally readable regardless of the light conditions.
In a preferred embodiment according to the invention, the data indicated by the heads-up display is shown to the driver in the straight-ahead direction, while important information such as speed (or the like) is displayed in the lower, dark area of the windshield (area 3) and comparatively unimportant information, such as minimal interval, navigation indications (or the like) are displayed in the upper field (area 4).
Thus the driver can, under normal ambient luminous intensities, read the information in both windshield areas. If the ambient luminous intensity increases, the driver can no longer read unimportant information in his immediate field of view, but the important information is still easily readable in the lower display area.
The specific solid angle in which the windshield is darkened lies outside of the usual field of view of the driver which the driver must usually see while driving a motor vehicle. In comparison with other common display apparatus involving a combination instrument integrated into the instrument panel, an advantage is gained in that the driver need only change his line of sight by a small angle in order to be able to see the information. Furthermore, by using the heads-up display the advantage is retained in that the focusing of the eye, which usually approaches infinity when observing the surroundings while driving a vehicle, requires hardly any change. Nevertheless, sufficient contrast against the background is provided in the displayed information, so that the information can be seen easily at all times.
In another advantageous embodiment according to the invention, information is shown in a heads-up display in the driver""s straight-ahead view and important information is still visible to the driver within the specific solid angle. Thus, in normal ambient light, the information is displayed for the driver without requiring a change in visual accommodation within the customary field of view. If the light conditions change such that the information is poorly or not at all visible on account of the lack of contrast with the ambient light, the driver can read the information with sufficient contrast in the specific solid angle.
In the previous embodiments according to the invention, it is advantageous that the area of the dark portion of the windshield is limited. The readability of important information is assured quite independently of light conditions. At the same time, in the embodiments the possibility is provided for making a great number of data displayable.
In a further embodiment according to the invention, the windshield seen by the driver is dark-toned in the lower area of the windshield. This area proves to be suitable since the driver can read the information simply by lowering his line of site, although this area usually must not be viewed while driving a motor vehicle.
In yet another embodiment according to the invention, the area of the windshield is tinted by impressing the tint onto the windshield by a printing method. This method of tinting is known and is already used in order to produce a darkened strip in the upper area of windshields of motor vehicles. This method can be used in order to advantageously darken the windshield in the appropriate area.
In still another embodiment according to the invention, the area of the windshield is tinted by tinting the inner layer of the windshield in an appropriate area. The film forming the inner layer can likewise be tinted comparatively easily within a certain area.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Apparatus for improved contrast in a motor vehicle heads-up display


A stuffed pizza crust includes a lower layer of an uncooked crust dough having a flanged peripheral edge, an upper layer of a baked crust having a peripheral edge, and a layer of an edible filling material disposed between the lower layer and the upper layer. The flanged peripheral edge of the lower layer is sealed with the peripheral edge of the upper layer, thereby encasing the layer of edible material therebetween. A method and apparatus for making the stuffed pizza crust is also provided.

Although originally made entirely by hand in Italy, the manufacturing processes of today's technology allow a pizza to be made in large scale production assemblies, frozen or freeze-dried before packaging, and shipped to grocers nationwide. The pizza may be a completed prebaked pizza pie, having the customary prebaked pizza crust topped with a sauce, shredded cheese, and assorted vegetables or meats of choice, or the pizza may be supplied in the form of a pizza kit, having an unbaked crust provided along with containers of sauce and cheese for the consumer to build the pizza and then bake the same. In both instances, the pizza crust is generally flat, and the toppings on the pizza must be applied with moderation in order to prevent the same from overflowing the crust during the baking process.
To overcome this problem, the traditional pizza has also taken on new forms and new shapes made possible by an ever evolving technology. Circular pizza crusts may be provided with a flange or lip extending around the periphery thereof, thus creating an upstanding edge to prevent the overflow of any toppings. Not only does this apply to classic circular pizzas available in restaurants and grocer's freezers, but square and rectangular shaped pizzas have likewise become available with a flanged crust. Similarly, the folded over pizza, or calzone, has emerged as a more suitably-sized meal for one person having generally similar ingredients to the pizza. Although the folding over of the calzone crust theoretically prevents the overflow of the toppings therein, in practice the joining seams of the folded crust may not be sufficiently sealed to prevent the same. The simple hand-tossed pizza crust of the original pizzas has also developed, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,627, into a two layer flanged crust capable of mass production through a plurality of crust templates and known press technology.
While each of the above pizza advances may further the production capabilities and/or conveniences for the consumer, the prior art has not developed a pizza capable of having increasing toppings, and thus, increasing the edible appeal for the consumer.

Apparatus for making a stuffed pizza crust


Base-soluble release layer compositions for microlithographic processing, comprising nonamic acid functionalized polyamic acid/imide resins are disclosed. These materials permit concurrent lithographic development of photoresist and release layers. They also afford effective lift-off, by alkaline media, even after high imidization.

The present invention generally relates to new and improved polyamic acid/imide microlithographic compositions, their method of manufacture, and particularly their use in a novel concurrent wet-development and improved lift-off process.
Photoresist compositions are commonly used in microlithographic processing and generally consist of a diazoquinone photosensitizer and a novolak resin binder. Normally, such compositions are coated onto semi-conductor substrates; and, when exposed to light of the proper wavelength, they are chemically altered in their solubility to alkaline developer solutions. Positive-working photoresists are initially insoluble in the alkaline developer, but after exposure to light, the exposed regions will dissolve or "wet-develop" in alkaline solution forming indented, micron-size line features. Subsequently, for many applications, the undissolved portion of the resist must be stripped from the substrate.
Positive-working novolak photoresists, however, are being increasingly used under conditions which render them insoluble in conventional strippers. Ion implantation, plasma hardening, deep UV hardening and other high temperature processing conditions produce, for example, crosslinking reactions within the resist. This makes stripper penetration and resist dissolution, which are essential to removal of the resists, virtually impossible.
Oxidative strippers such as hot sulfuric acid-hydrogen peroxide mixtures can be effective against intractable resists, but removal is often slow or incomplete. Moreover, these treatments are restricted to use on unmetallized substrates. Alternatively, removal of intractable resists is sometimes possible by soaking in hot chlorinated and/or phenolic solvents. However, toxicity and disposal problems associated with these materials are critical drawbacks to their use.
In the past there have been attempts to remove, otherwise intractable, photoresist compositions from metallized substrates with safe stripper solvents, devoid of the prior art problems. For example, IBM's U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,361 taught that novolak photoresist hardbaked at 210 degrees centigrade could be stripped with the conventional stripper solvent N-methyl pyrrollidone. Although this liftoff process was specifically designed to accommodate the formation and removal of metallic masking layers above the resist, in practice, it simply failed to work because the N-methyl pyrrollidone did not dissolve the hardened photoresist.
H. A. Protschka (IBM), European Patent Application 0 257 255 (1987).
One such solvent-soluble release layer material is polysulfone. This material has the advantage of enabling the liftoff of metal mask layer by conventional solvent stripping. Although the material also serves to insulate and protect the metal substrate from attack by harsh oxidative strippers, it all the same requires such harsh strippers to liftoff the photoresist layer if hardened. Polysulfone can serve to liftoff the photoresist material itself as in the fifth step of FIG. 3, but not without other drawbacks.
Such polysulfone release layers are insoluble to conventional alkaline developing solutions. Accordingly, unlike the photoresist they are not "wet-developable". Patterns in the release layer must be made by "dry-development" with, for example, reactive ion etching. In fact, little if any commercial use has been made of these special release layers, in large part because they must be dry-developed.
In conventional microlithography, micron feature sizes developed by dry etching are excessively more expensive than wet etching. Additionally, the dry developable release layer material requires separate plasma etching equipment in addition to that required to etch the photoresist layer and other layers of multilayer microlithographic processing. The addition of even more equipment and more steps becomes such a serious drawback that those in the art have preferred the toxicity, disposal, and other restrictions associated with employing non-conventional strippers, to remove the photoresist layers, rather than deal with a dry-developable release layers. Some otherwise acceptable release layer materials do not adhere sufficiently to semi-conductor substrates or are incompatible surfaces for applying resist layers, or other organic or inorganic layers, thereto.
Accordingly, a wet-developable release layer of material that could be co-developed concurrently with the photoresist material, without requiring separate plasma etching equipment, and which could be lifted off by immersion in more mild and less toxic solvents and which would not erode metallized substrates, while providing good adhesion to semiconductor substrates and a compatable surface for applying resist layers, or other organic or inorganic layers, would be a surprising advancement in the art fulfilling a long felt need in the industry.

Base-soluble polyimide release layers for use in microlithographic processing


A protective cover is provided for a bicycle or the like. The cover is adapted for use with several types of bicycles, such as multispeed road, hybrid or mountain bikes, for protective purposes. The cover has side wall members extending over and substantially covering the side of the wheel and tire portions of the bicycle. The cover also a center panel which is mounted extending between the side wall members to fit over and cover the seat and handlebars. The center panel is shaped for use with various seat and handlebar arrangements. The cover may also be provided with a cover sleeve or fitting for aero bars, the arm rests or weight supports provided for use with bicycles in competitive cycling events.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to protective covers for bicycles or the like.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are a number of instances where it has been desirable to cover and protect a bicycle against weather or other conditions, usually rain. In some situations, it is desirable to be able to quickly and effectively cover the bicycle, such as in the event of a sudden weather change. In other circumstances, such as competitive cycling events, it is necessary to securely cover one's bicycle and leave it at a common storage site the evening before the competition.
No matter the intended use, bicycle covers have been subject to competing considerations or trade offs between the effectiveness of the cover provided, and the complexity of manufacture and therefore cost. A single drop sheet or tarpaulin-like cover would be simple to make and thus relatively inexpensive, but would be difficult to keep in place on the bicycle if the weather became even slightly windy. On the other hand, covers specifically intended for tightly fitting over bicycles were generally made from a number of specially shaped cover fabric pieces. As such they became relatively expensive to manufacture and assemble.
There have been a number of types of protective covers for bicycles or other vehicles proposed in the prior art. Certain types of bicycle covers were intended as protective covers for the bicycles during their transport on other vehicles, usually a car or van. In these situations, aerodynamic flow and snug fitting considerations required relatively complex cover structures. Certain other types of covers were intended for use to protect other types of vehicles, which governed their shape. Because of their particular shape, they were not suitable for use as bicycle covers.


The present invention relates to auto-provisioning of authentication data for client devices. A registration server includes a gateway determination unit, which is configured to determine a gateway apparatus transferring a request signal from a device, and a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to transmit a first signal including a token and first access information of the gateway apparatus to the device if an identifier of the gateway apparatus is stored on the server, and to transmit a second signal indicating a positive response to the gateway apparatus when it obtains the token and the identifier based on a third signal received in response to the first signal. The gateway apparatus sends the secret value to the device when it receives the second signal.

In current client-server systems, servers cannot reach clients and transmit data to them whenever new data is available. In other words, a client must send a request message to a server to fetch new data. To solve this problem, the introduction of a connectivity server is proposed on the following website, https://labs.ericsson.com/apis/web-connectivity/
FIG. 7 shows a system including such a connectivity server 106 connected to a public network 107, such as the Internet. In the system, terminal devices 101 and 105, and a home gateway 102 are client devices of the connectivity server 106. Further, the home gateway 102 may have one or more control interfaces for electric devices, such as a digital versatile disc (DVD) recorder 103 and a television (TV) receiver 104. In FIG. 7, the home gateway 102, a terminal device 101, the DVD recorder 103 and the TV receiver 104 are placed in a home 200 of a user.
The connectivity server 106 maintains a connection to a client device after authenticating the client device by an identifier and a password assigned to the client device or the user. After establishing connections between the connectivity server 106 and client devices 101, 102 and 105, terminal devices 101 and 105 as well as the home gateway 102 can freely transmit data via the connectivity server 106. For example, a terminal device 105 can send control information of the DVD recorder 103 to the home gateway 102, which the home gateway 102 outputs to the DVD recorder 103. The home gateway 102 can also upload the status of the DVD recorder 103 and/or TV receiver 104 to the terminal device 105. The user can monitor status information regarding each electric device in the home 200 from any client device via the connectivity server 106. As described above, the connectivity server 106 provides a connectivity service to client devices.
The connectivity server 106 requires authentication of client devices. In other words, the user of the client device must remember the combination of an identifier and a secret value, such as a password, and input the combination to establish a connection with the connectivity server 106. The identifier and the associated secret value are normally generated off-line.
It is convenient if the identifier and the associated secret value can be automatically generated and stored on each client device of the connectivity server 106.

Registration server, gateway apparatus and method for providing a secret value to devices


A method and a semi-finished article for producing plastic material objects, in particular smart cards, are disclosed. At least two surfaces of the object are constituted by films, preferably by labels. The labels are applied to surfaces of a cavity in a mold of a plastic material injection molding machine. The cavity is then filled by injecting molten plastic material. The labels are connected one to the other prior to being introduced into the cavity.

The term smart card is used to describe a plastic card with one or two laminated sides, which usually carry some instructions and/or advertising printed thereon and/or certain safety features, for example a hologram, a magnetic strip, a photo of the card holder, or the like. A sort of module is embedded in the smart card. The module consists of an integrated semiconductor electronic circuit (chip) and, usually, of a contact-and-carrier plate carrying the chip. In the case of some cards, the wafer coacts with a plurality of surface segments to form electric contacts that are accessible from the outside. In the case of other cards, antennas are provided in the card for the non-contact exchange of information, for example of data. Smart cards of that kind are employed as telephone cards, authentication cards for mobile communications equipment, as check cards for money movements, as authorization cards for medical insurance schemes or the like, as right-of-access cards for buildings or parts of buildings, and for other purposes, such as the protection of goods. The user then introduces the smart card into, or moves it past, a card reader which thereby enters into communication with the electronic chip in the smart card via, corresponding contacts or antenna means. In the case of a telephone card or a check card, for example, it is then possible in this way to check the credit balance on an account, to determine the identity of a person or to exchange other data.
In order to enable smart cards to be simultaneously used as advertising vehicle, the smart cards preferably are produced in such a way that one or two films, preferably so-called labels, are employed to form one or both flat sides of the finished smart card. In this connection the term label is understood to describe a film with, preferably, one printed side. The label carries the advertising imprint, or the like. The imprint must be of high quality. It has been found that improved quality is achieved for the imprint when the film forming the label is printed before the smart card is produced.
For producing the smart card the label is introduced into the cavity of a plastic injection mold. For this purpose, the cavity exhibits a flat, cuboid shape, and the labels are placed on the flat surfaces of the cavity. It must be ensured in this connection that the labels are precisely positioned in the cavity and pressed against the surfaces of the cavity in order to allow the injection-molding process to be carried out smoothly.
Preferably, the same or a similar plastic material, such as polystyrene, propylene, ABS or polycarbonate, are used for the film of the label and the plastic material to be injected so as to ensure that an especially strong bond is achieved between the labels and the injected plastic material.
In this connection, the term "label" is used by way of example only. Generally speaking, both pre-cut and uncut films may be used within the scope of the present invention. The films may carry an imprint on one or both sides. They may be arranged on one or on more surfaces of the object, for example the smart card. In addition, other materials, such as transfer labels or transfer films may also be employed. The latter are provided with an imprint that is transferred to the object during the injection-molding process. After completion of the injection-molding process, the film is then removed and disposed of. Accordingly, films or labels may be used on one or more surfaces, or alternately with transfer labels or transfer films, or the latter may be used exclusively. And all these materials may be employed in pre-cut condition, or drawn off the roll.
The plastic material is conventionally injected into the cavity between the two labels through a feed slot provided in the area of one narrow end of the cavity.
Regarding the cross-section of the smart card, the rear surface is then formed by one of the labels. The front face, i.e. the view surface, comprises the contact and carrier wafer with the chip arranged behind it.
A method for producing a smart card has been known from EP-B1-0 399 868. In the case of this known method, the chip is at first mounted and wired on a metal strip, and is then embedded, together with the metal strip, in a plastic material so that one obtains a module which already exhibits a certain thickness. The module is configured in such a way that its thickness corresponds to the height of the cavity in the mold. Thus, when the mold is closed, a certain pressure is exerted upon the module whereby the latter is fixed in the cavity in a given position. Instead of using a pre-printed label, some embodiments of the known method make use of a picture-transfer film that is introduced into the mold cavity. The picture on the transfer film comes to adhere to the injected plastic material. After removal of the smart card from the mold, the imprint then remains of the plastic body, which does not contain any label, and the transfer film can be removed. According to certain variants of this production method, one or both flat sides of the smart card may be provided with an imprint with the aid of such films. On the other hand, the use of labels on one or both flat sides is likewise possible according to the known method. Since the known method provides that when labels are used the module is arranged on the inside of the label, the latter is cut out in the area of contact of the module so that the contacts of the module can be accessed from the flat side of the finished smart card.
It is a disadvantage of the known method that the proper positioning of the module in the mold cavity can be guaranteed only with difficulty. Specifically, the contact pressure required for fixing the module inside the cavity is produced only after closing of the mold so that there is a risk that the module may get displaced during the closing process of the mold.
Another disadvantage of the known method lies in the fact that when two labels and/or picture transfer films are used, two separate elements have to be introduced into the mold cavity. As the edges of smart cards have a length of a few centimeters only, the labels and/or the picture transfer films are relatively soft and instable because the label or films are extremely thin. Precise handling and positioning is difficult. This is true in particular when short cycle times are to be achieved, which are of course connected with rapid traveling speeds, accelerations and decelerations of the handling unit. Due to the resulting inertia forces, the relatively soft and instable labels and/or transfer films may then bend, fold over, or the like, so that there is a risk that an excessive percentage of waste may be produced.
Another disadvantage of the known method lies in the fact that after removal of the smart card from the mold, the material still has to be separated in the sprue area. The feed slot gives rise to a so-called film sprue that must be cut off after removal of the smart card from the mold. However, if such as sprue has to be cut off, there is always the risk that an inaccurate cutting line may be obtained which is extremely undesirable for the users of smart cards.
The invention claimed within the scope of the application also relates to plastic objects generally, to the extent comparable problems are encountered, even if this may not be specifically described herein by way of specific embodiments of the invention.
For example, it has been known in the production of plastic containers, i.e. small boxes, bowls or the like, or lids or inserts for such containers, to provide one side of such objects with a lamination. The respective side may be flat, dished, or bent in cylindrical shape. The lamination, which may, for example, contain an advertising imprint or instructions for use, may in this case likewise be formed by a label, i.e. an embedded plastic film.
Comparable problems are encountered also with plastic objects where mechanical, especially metallic objects are embedded by the injection-molding process, such as fasteners, reinforcing elements, hinges or electric/electronic elements, such as antennas, screenings, or the like.
In addition, it is generally a problem connected with the production of plastic objects by the injection-molding process that the indispensable gate points should be invisible on the finished product, if possible.
Now, it is the object of the present invention to improve a method and a semi-finished product of the before-mentioned kind in such a way that the described disadvantages are avoided. Specifically, the aim is to facilitate the inserting operation and to achieve shorter cycle times by avoiding the disadvantages connected with the rapid handling of soft, inelastic objects, specifically labels.

Method for producing plastic material objects


Disc dispensing device for dispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics onto a culture dish. The device comprises a stationary support on which a magazine is removably mounted. The magazine holds a plurality of tubular containers each containing a stack of discs to be dispensed. A moving means moves one disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position. From the pick-up position a transfer means picks up said one disc and transfers it to the culture dish where it is dispensed. The removable culture dish is supported by a moveable carriage which is mounted on the stationary support. The carriage is moveable relative to the magazine from a starting position to an operating position and vice versa. Control means control the operation of the device. The plurality of tubular containers is rotatable around a magazine centre under control of the control means.

Such disc dispensing devices may be used in antibiotic susceptibility testing, the agar gel in the culture dish acting as a sterile nutrient medium for a bacteria colony being analysed. The bacteria colony is introduced onto the surface of the gel, usually coming from an original petri dish (preferably after incubation), and the discs are distributed over the surface of the gel by means of the disc dispensing device. Each disc contains a different antibiotic or an antibiotic in a different concentration, so that the effect on the bacteria colony of a plurality of different antibiotics or different concentrations of antibiotics can be simultaneously studied. The use of impregnated discs in this way is well known and will not be described further. In addition, as is usual in this technical field, a bacteria colony normally is put in suspension and brought at the desired concentration before it is transferred to the culture dish. For the sake of simplicity throughout this application the expression bacteria colony is used, but it will be clear to a person skilled in the art that this term refers to any form in which a bacteria colony can be brought which is suitable to transfer to a culture dish. In addition, although the expression "disc" is used throughout this application, this expression in the meaning of this application also refers to discs having a substantial thickness, and thus also encompasses tablets impregnated with antibiotics. In addition the discs need not have a uniform thickness.
A disc dispensing device of the kind as described above is known from GB-A-2 001 432. In this known device the discs are stacked one on top of another in a plurality of elongate cylindrical cartridges provided in a magazine. The discs are biased to an exit end of the cartridge by means of an internal coil spring. Any one cartridge contains only discs impregnated with one particular antibiotic, details of which are displayed on the exterior of the cartridge. A culture dish can be placed on a moveable carriage which is moved in an operating position which is at least almost directly positioned underneath the magazine. After manually positioning the culture dish in the starting position and manually positioning the cartridge in the device the known dispensing device further operates almost completely automatic and consequently provides a preparation for a rapid analysis of clinical samples, thus facilitating its use in situations such as hospitals and laboratories where a considerable number of tests must be made. In the known device a disc is transferred by applying suction to a transfer pipe to thereby hold a disc on the free end of the pipe. The pipe is moved so that the disc is transferred with the pipe from the pick-up position to a releasing position. Upon termination of the suction applied to the pipe the disc is released on the culture dish. Although this known disc dispensing device can operate satisfactorily the internal construction of the magazine and the suction device to transfer discs from a respective cartridge to a specified position on the culture disc is complex and only provides a limited choice in dispensing positions of discs on the culture dish. Furthermore, adaptation of the known disc dispensing device to a different bacteria colony present on the culture dish is relatively time consuming, in particular replacing the magazine and replacing the cartridges within the magazine is time consuming.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Disc dispensing device, tubular container for use in such a disc dispensing device and method of dispensing discs


A workpiece manipulation system to provide high-precision manipulation of a workpiece by an aircraft. The workpiece manipulation system comprises a lifting mechanism to couple with the aircraft, an end-effector, and a processor. The lifting mechanism includes one or more joint actuators to extend or retract the lifting mechanism relative to the aircraft. The end-effector includes an end-effector actuator to control an operation of the end-effector to manipulate the workpiece. The processor is communicatively coupled with the aircraft processor and configured to control operation of the end-effector actuator and the one or more joint actuators. In operation, the processor provides feedback to the aircraft.

Robotic arms have proven to operate accurately around the clock with limited supervision (typically requiring little operator interaction after initial programming). Over the recent decades, robotic automation has evolved to enable highly reliable, millimeter-precision pick-up and placement of workpieces using a robotic arm. While robotic arms have evolved to be highly reliable and efficient, they suffer from a number of shortcomings. For example, robotic arms are also costly, occupy valuable facility real estate, and, because they are limited to either being bolted to the floor or to riding on rails, a single facility often requires that multiple robotic arms be installed next to each other in order to service a continuous production line. In certain industries, precision grasping and emplacement of a workpiece is crucial. For example, wet-lab automation requires the ability to manipulate microplates (e.g., microtiter plates) with millimeter accuracy, which is traditionally performed with robot arms that are either bolted to the ground or placed on stiff linear rails.
In contrast to a high-precision robotic arm that may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, an unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV") with perception and comparable transportation capability is an order of magnitude cheaper. Indeed, commercial low-cost UAV development is an active and growing industry where UAV technology has proven to be a valuable tool for mission profiles involving intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and payload delivery. UAV companies continue to introduce UAVs with greater capabilities and, more recently, UAVs have been employed to manipulate and transport workpieces. For example, Amazon recently introduced Amazon Prime Air™, which is a UAV-based delivery system designed to safely delivery packages to customers.
The current generation of low-cost commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) UAVs (i.e., consumer UAVs) is already capable of performing relatively safe indoor operation. Accordingly, UAVs are an excellent candidate to replace robotic arms in warehouses, factories, and laboratories, which may provide automation and transportation of workpieces within a given facility. Existing consumer UAVs, however, suffer from aerodynamic instability and inaccuracy, which makes such UAVs incapable of precision grasping and emplacement. Indeed, modern consumer UAVs hover with a precision of approximately tens of centimeters, which can also be strongly affected by proximity to walls and tables, arm motion, and mechanical interaction between the arm and the environment.
Accordingly, a need exists for a UAV equipped with an arm and end-effector that is capable of high-precision manipulation, transportation, and emplacement of workpieces in an environment (e.g., an indoor environment). A need also exists for a workpiece manipulation system capable of retrofitting an UAV to compensate for such aerodynamic instability and inaccuracy to provide increase endpoint-accuracy. As will be disclosed, the workpiece manipulation system (a) enhances the effective endpoint-accuracy of the UAV and (b) constrains how mechanical forces caused by interaction between an end-effector (e.g., a gripper) and the environment reflect back onto the flight dynamics of the UAV.

Manipulation system and method for an aircraft


There is disclosed a process for purification of a styrene polymer, for purifying a styrene polymer having a high degree of syndiotacticity obtained by using a catalyst comprising (A) aluminoxane and (B) a transition metal compound containing no halogen, deashing the above styrene polymer with an alcoholic alkaline solution and then washing with an alcohol. Also disclosed is a process for purification of a styrene polymer which comprises deashing the above styrene polymer having been produced with a conversion rate of 60% or more after swelling it by adding an aromatic solvent and/or a styrene monomer.. According to the process of the present invention, a high purity styrene polymer can be obtained with good efficiency.

This invention relates to a process for purification of a styrene polymer, more particularly, it relates to a process for purifying a styrene polymer having a high degree of syndiotacticity in stereochemical structure of polymer chain with good efficiency and high purity. 2. Description of the Related Arts
Heretofore, a styrene polymer produced by the radical polymerization method has an atactic configuration in stereochemical structure, and it has been molded into various shapes by various molding methods such as injection molding, extrusion molding, blow molding, vacuum molding, cast molding, etc., and has widely been used for domestic electric appliances, office machines, household articles, packaging containers, toys, furnitures, synthetic papers, other industrial materials, etc.
However, the styrene polymer having atactic configuration has problems that it is inferior in heat resistance and chemical resistance.
The group of the present inventors have previously succeeded in developing a styrene polymer having a high degree of syndiotacticity, and further shown that a styrene polymer having syndiotactic configuration can be obtained by using a catalyst comprising a contacted product (alkylaluminoxane) of a transition metal compound and an organic aluminum compound with a condensing agent (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 187708/1987, No. 179906/1988 and No. 241009/1988).
According to the above methods, deashing and washing are each carried out by using a mixed solution of hydrochloric acid and methanol. However, when the deashing and washing are carried out with the mixed solution of hydrochloric acid and methanol, an acid-resistant equipment is required as an equipment for washing so that special steel or a tank subjected to glass lining must be used whereby the problem that costs of equipments become expensive is present.
Also, in the polymer product obtained by washing with the mixed solution of hydrochloric acid and methanol, a minute amount of a halogen compound is present so that it causes the problem of occurring mold corrosion, or coloring to black when a heat resistant test for a long period of term is carried out. Further, when the catalytic component contains halogen, the halogen reacts with an alcohol to form a corrosive component such as hydrochloric acid so that it is not preferred.
While the styrene polymer having a syndiotactic configuration can be produced by a slurry polymerization, a bulk polymerization, etc., it is advantageous to effect the polymerization with high content of styrene in view of the points of catalyst activity and productivity. Also, it has been desired to decrease the catalytic component remained in the resulting polymer product by deashing.
However, in a polymer product which is low in a conversion rate or polymerized by making low styrene concentration, deashing can be easily effected, but in the case of a polymer product with a high conversion rate of 60% or more, there is the problem that deashing and washing thereafter become difficult with increase of the conversion rate.
The present inventors have proceeded with consideration from such a point of view and investigated intensive studies to develop a process which can effect deashing (removal of residual catalyst) of a styrene polymer which is a high conversion rate effectively and can purify it to high purity.

Process for purification of styrene polymer


A laser induced thermal imaging (LITI) donor film having a substrate, a light-to-heat conversion layer overlaying the substrate, and a transfer layer overlaying the light-to-heat conversion layer. A surface of the transfer layer includes microstructured or nanostructured features, in a continuous or discontinuous pattern, embossed or otherwise imparted in the transfer layer. The features provide break points to assist in release and transfer of portions of the transfer layer to a permanent receptor in a pattern defined by the features.

A general trend exists to reduce the size of many articles and devices used in industrial and consumer applications, particularly in electronic devices. In addition, a variety of articles and devices utilize microstructured surfaces. These articles and devices often require microstructured or nanostructured surfaces, layers, or components. Microstructured and nanostructured surfaces and layers can be useful, for example, in films, tapes, coated adhesives, optical elements, organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices, electroluminescence devices, field emission cathodes for display devices, fluid control films having capillary channels, bioanalytical and biomolecular processing devices, chemical sensors, bio-absorption substrates, and patterned electronic components and circuits.
In at least some instances it is inconvenient, economically unfeasible, or difficult to form these nanostructured features, layers, surfaces, and components on a desired substrate. For example, the nanostructured features of a field emission device may be difficult to form in a desired pattern on a substrate. Known techniques for patterning small features on substrates include, for example, ablation or adhesive lift-off techniques to remove a portion of a previously formed layer of nanostructured features. However, these methods may require multiple steps, may produce excessive waste materials, and tend to be expensive.


The in vivo chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer cells in a living animal is improved by first administering to the animal, a compound which inhibits normal cell proliferation while promoting malignant cell proliferation, specifically a potent antagonist selective for intracellular histamine receptors, in an amount sufficient to inhibit the binding of intracellular histamine to the receptors in normal and malignant cells. An enhanced toxic effect on the cancer cells from the chemotherapeutic agent is obtained while any adverse effect of the chemotherapeutic agent on normal cells, particularly bone marrow and gastro-intestinal cells, is inhibited. In addition, long term continuous administration of the antagonist following administration of the chemotherapeutic agent results in at least amelioration of adverse side effects of chemotherapy on normal bone marrow and gastro-intestinal cells. The treatment of cancer cells using DPPE in combination with the chemotherapeutic agents specifically illustrates the invention.

One of the major chemotherapeutic treatments is that of malignant growth (cancer) in humans. The objective of chemotherapy is the total extermination of clonogenic tumor or malignant cells, with minimal damage to the patient. However, one of the major limitations of the chemotherapeutic approach for managing human cancer is the general inability of anticancer drugs to discriminate between normal and tumorous cells. Anti-neoplastic agents have the lowest therapeutic indicies of any class of drugs used in humans and hence produce significant and potentially life-threatening toxicities. Certain commonly-used anti-neoplastic agents have unique and acute toxicities for specific tissues. For example, the vinca alkaloids possess significant toxicity for nervous tissues, while adriamycin has specific toxicity for heart tissue and bleomycin has for lung tissue. In general, almost all members of the major categories of anti-neoplastic agents have considerable toxicities for normal cells of gastrointestinal, epidermal and myelopoietic tissues.
Generally, the dose-limiting consideration for chemical management of cancer in humans is the toxicity that anti-neoplastic agents have for the pluripotent stem cells of myelopoietic tissue. This toxicity arises from the fact that most anticancer drugs function preferentially against proliferating cells but with no significant capacity to discriminate between cycling normal and cycling tumor tissues.
Attempts have been made to confer specificity upon presently-available chemotherapeutic agents. In Anticancer Research 6:451 to 464 (1986), Robert C. Warrington describes certain in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrating the achievement of improvements in both the specificity and efficacy of a number of commonly-used anticancer drugs by using these agents in combination with L-histidinol. L-histidinol is a structural analogue of the essential amino acid, histidine, in which the .alpha.-carboxyl group has been reduced to a primary alcohol, and is a precursor of histamine. In the work presented by Warrington in this paper, L-histidinol was found in mice to be effective at doses of approximately 1000 mg/kg (4000 mg/M.sup.2) of tissue administered five hours or more prior to the chemotherapeutic agent.


A method is provided for patterning a submicron semiconductor layer of an integrated circuit, and an integrated circuit formed according to the same. An interlevel dielectric layer is formed over the surface of the integrated circuit. A substantially planarizing layer is formed over the interlevel dielectric layer. A photoresist layer is formed and patterned over the planarizing layer. The planarizing layer is etched to form openings exposing selected portions of the interlevel dielectric layer, wherein each opening has substantially the same lateral dimensions. The photoresist and planarizing layers are then removed. The interlevel dielectric layer is etched in the openings to expose portions of the underlying integrated circuit.

With the trend to continue to miniaturize semiconductor integrated circuits to achieve submicron feature sizes, photolithography has become one of the most critical steps in semiconductor manufacturing. The goal of photolithography in establishing the critical dimensions of the various devices and circuits is to create a pattern which meets design requirements as well as to correctly align the circuit pattern on the surface of the wafer.
As line widths shrink smaller and smaller in submicron photolithography, the process of printing lines and contact holes in photoresist becomes increasingly more difficult. Photoresists have been developed to keep pace with the industry's need to print narrower lines with fewer defects. The selection of the photoresist must be made on whether the photoresist has the capability of producing the design dimensions. A thinner resist layer will generally improve the capability of printing smaller feature sizes. However, the resist must simultaneously be thick enough to act as an etchant barrier and be free of pinholes.
The smallest equal lines and spaces that can be formed in the photoresist layer is known as the resolution capability. Thinner photoresist film thicknesses will improve the resolution capability.
As circuits increase in the number of layers, the wafer surface becomes less planar. The resolution of small image sizes is further reduced due to the difference in the topography areas in which the photoresist thickness becomes uneven across the wafer surface. When the exposure radiation is directed at the wafer surface at a 90.degree. angle to the surface, a well-defined image is created in the photoresist because the exposing waves reflect up and down in the resist. If, however, any of the exposing radiation waves reflect at angles other than 90.degree. up from the surface beneath the photoresist, unwanted portions of the photoresist will be exposed. Variations in the subsurface topography intensify the problem of reflection. The sidewalls of the steps, for example, reflect the radiation at various angles, causing poor image resolution. A smooth surface under the photoresist will eliminate much of the reflection problems.
In addition, where the surface beneath the photoresist is uneven, the exposure time of the photoresist must be sufficient to expose the photoresist at its thickest depth. This means that the thinner areas of photoresist will be over exposed, resulting in wider lateral openings or narrower lines which will produce poorer image resolution.
It would be desirable to provide a fabrication technique having a planarized surface beneath the photoresist layer to achieve better image resolution and smaller image-size openings. It would further be desirable for such technique to use a thin photoresist to achieve smaller line openings. It would also be desirable for such fabrication technique to be easily adapted for use with standard integrated circuit process flows.

Structure formed by a method of patterning a submicron semiconductor layer


The cellular core structure building element is a three dimensional arrangement of pyramidal elements in a continuous rectangular pattern interconnected at their bases by a base plane panel. The pyramid elements are normally void internally to form a structurally strong, lightweight panel. The common pyramid structure is modified by truncating the top of the pyramid to form a top face and by flattening the side face edges to form edge faces thereby creating a pyramid with a top face, four side faces and four edge faces. For best strength as a construction or building material, two cellular core structure sheets are superimposed one on the other by inverting and offsetting one relative to the other such that when mated the pyramid elements of one sheet fit between the pyramid elements of the other such that mating faces may be attached. Continuous faces sheets may be added to the external faces of the structure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to structural cores generally used to form lightweight panels, walls or other structural elements. Such structural elements may be formed of sheet material such as metal, plastic, paper, fabric or composite material so configured to provide the core structure as a matrix structure to which face sheets may be affixed. The new structural element provides a strong, interlocking core to form, for example, a glass fiber sandwich type structure panel for use in construction.
2. Description of Related Art
There are currently in use various types of cellular structure building component designs for construction of all manner of objects in which structural integrity and light weight are important or required. These cellular structure patterns include the well known octagonal shape for building geodesic domes and the sandwich structures used to form panels with thin wall cellular cores commonly known as honeycomb core panels because of the appearance of hexagonal shaped compartments created in the forming of the core element. The core element may be formed using other geometric shapes suitable for sandwiching between face sheets and allowing for a reasonable method for manufacture as discussed regarding related art and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,474, issued Jul. 2, 1991.
The present invention provides a simple pattern for manufacture of the cellular core structure which is assembled by inverting the pattern on itself and attachment by adhesive bonding, welding, fasteners or other suitable attachment means. Once assembled in this manner the cellular core structure creates a strong, lightweight structure with face surfaces broken by the pyramidal cell voids. If added strength or a continuous face surface is desired, face sheets may be attached to the cellular core structure. The invention uses a simple one shape formed panel to be easily assembled into a two piece lightweight, strong cellular core panel having face surfaces for attachment of other desired elements.

Cellular core structure building component


An ultra-low field pre-pulse Magnetic Resonance Imaging (PMRI) system for a head includes RF coils defining a bore for head access, a pre-pulse coil outside the RF coils, and a coil assembly including a main magnetic field coil and gradient coils outside the pre-pulse coil. The PMRI system includes a first cylindrical shield concentric with the RF coils and made from conductive materials. The first cylindrical shield partially encloses the RF coils and inside the pre-pulse coil for shielding the RF coils from environmental electromagnetic disturbances.

The need for affordable and appropriate medical technologies for developing countries continue to rise as challenges such as inadequate energy supply, limited technical expertise and poor infrastructure persist.
Hydrocephalus is a common condition in children planet-wide that requires brain imaging and neurosurgical treatment. It is estimated that there are as many as 300,000 new cases per year throughout sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Hydrocephalus in infancy also presents one of the most straightforward challenges for imaging. In these cases, the most important task is to segment an image of the head into brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The requirements for tissue contrast within the brain are not important for initial diagnostics and treatment. Similarly, the spatial resolution required to affect treatment decisions are low-fluid compartments of at least multiple cubic centimeters in volume must be identified for fenestration or drainages. Although most new cases are seen in infancy, the heads can readily grow to adult size early in the first year of life. Nevertheless, the small infant body permits designs of imaging systems far smaller than that required for adult imaging.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is arguably the safest imaging method technology for brain imaging, that can be used to guide the treatment of hydrocephalus, but it is also the most expensive structural brain imaging modality available. Conventional high field (HF) MRI uses very strong magnetic fields produced by super-conducting magnets, cooled by liquid helium and nitrogen. Additionally, HF MRI systems must be shielded from external electromagnetic fields using high permeability materials. The high cost, which can be over $1 million for just installation of a 1.5 T whole body MRI scanner, high power requirements, stringent technical demands and strict infrastructure specifications have hindered the proliferation of HF MRI in developing countries. As a less expensive option, developing, countries more often use computed tomography (CT) for brain imaging. While this alleviates many of the difficulties of HF MRI, CT delivers relatively high doses of ionizing radiation which are especially harmful to young infants.

Adult head-sized coil-based low-field MRI


Various embodiments of a metal-air cell having a tab system that covers an air entry port of the metal-air cell are provided. In one representative embodiment the tab system includes polymer layer and an adhesive layer between the metal-air cell and the polymer layer. The tab system has a loss stiffness of less than 55,000 N/m at 20° C. to 25° C.

The present invention relates to a metal-air cell having a tab system that covers an air entry port of the metal-air cell prior to use.
Metal-air cells use oxygen directly from the atmosphere to produce electrochemical energy. A metal-air cell typically has a negative electrode, the anode, and contains an active material, such as zinc, and an electrolyte such as potassium hydroxide. The metal-air cell does not contain a consumable cathode material, as oxygen from the atmosphere is the active cathode material. For this reason, metal-air cells have a greater capacity for anode material relative to their size and they are used extensively in applications which require moderate drains and continuous discharge usage, such as in hearing aids. The diffusion of oxygen into the cell begins a series of chemical reactions that produce gases inside the cell and ultimately consume the anode material.
Metal-air cells typically have at least one air entry port for the ingress of oxygen into the cell and the egress of hydrogen out of the cell during operation. The air entry port is covered by a tab system prior to the use of the metal-air cell to prevent it from becoming prematurely activated. Conventional tab systems typically include at least one polymer film to control diffusion of oxygen into the air entry port of the metal-air cell and at least one adhesive to adhere the polymer film to the metal-air cell.
The tab system must have proper air permeation characteristics to provide the proper balance in the amount of oxygen that diffuses into the metal-air cell and the amount of gas that diffuses out of the cell. One problem associated with metal-air cells despite the presence of a tab system is the reduction in the shelf life and the useful discharge life of the metal-air cell. Some tab systems allow too much oxygen ingress which causes the open cell voltage (OCV) of the metal-air cell to be too great, consuming an excessive amount of active material. In other metal-air cells in which a tab system has low oxygen permeation, the OCV of the metal-air cell is too low upon removal of the tab system, which causes the user to believe that the metal-air cell is dead.

Tab system for a metal-air electrochemical cell


An in-line resonator for an air induction system of an internal combustion engine is provided. The system includes a resonator housing, an upstream duct, a downstream duct, a conduit, a partition, and a sleeve. The conduit extends through the resonator housing connecting the upstream duct and the downstream duct. The partition is moveable within the resonator housing and divides the housing into an upstream chamber and a downstream chamber. The downstream chamber, the conduit, and the downstream sleeve cooperate to form a first Helmholtz resonator that is in fluid communication with the downstream duct. The upstream chamber, the conduit, and the upstream sleeve cooperate to form a second Helmholtz resonator that is in fluid communication with the upstream duct. Further, a means is provided to axially move the partition to vary the volume of the chambers concurrently with the length and/or area of the passages.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an in-line resonator for an air induction system.
2. Description of Related Art
Resonators for attenuating acoustic pressure pulsations in automotive applications are well known. The air induction systems of internal combustion engines produce undesirable noise in the form of acoustic pressure pulsations. This induction noise varies based on the engine configuration and engine speed. The induction noise is caused by a pressure wave that travels from the inlet valve towards the inlet of the air induction system. Further, the induction noise may be reduced by reflecting a wave toward the inlet valve 180° out of phase with the noise wave. As such, Helmholtz type resonators have been used to attenuate the noise wave generated from the inlet valve-opening event. In addition and more recently, resonators have been developed that change the volume of the resonator to adjust for varying frequencies of the noise wave, as engine speed changes. Previous designs, however, have not provided the control of multiple frequencies at the same engine speed, which is required for some applications.
To meet order based air induction noise targets, it is generally necessary to incorporate a tuning device, such as a resonator, into the air induction system. Traditional static resonators are tuned to a fixed frequency that will not change with engine speed. These resonators provide notch-type attenuation at their designated frequency, but introduce undesirable side band resonances at higher and lower frequencies. Even after the addition of multiple static devices, it may still not be possible to match the desired order based targets due to the notch-type attenuation and side band amplification caused by such devices. Resonators have been developed that change the volume of the resonator to adjust for the varying frequencies of the noise wave as engine speed changes. However, the acoustic pressure pulsations may be composed of several frequencies of significant amplitude that occur simultaneously at any given engine speed.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need for an improved resonator having broader flexibility to attenuate the various noise frequencies of the engine.

Electronically controlled dual chamber variable resonator


The present invention is directed to a child""s or infant""s hat which protects at least the sides, top or rear of the wearer""s head from injuries due to falls or bumps against hard objects. Generally, the head protector of the present invention comprises: (1) a cap member: (2) one or more flexible, resilient shock absorbent fluid-containing pads; and (3) an outer covering of pliable fabric material. The cap member is constructed so as to fully enclose and/or encapsulate the fluid-containing gel pads. The pads substantially surround the entire inner surface of the cap member, or a substantial portion thereof. The head protector of the present invention is fashionable, having an appearance and surface texture of a conventional hat worn by infants and small children.

Infants and small children are especially susceptible to banging their heads on hard surfaces due to falls or slips. The typical infant or small child will sustain multiple falls on hard surfaces before it can learn to sit, crawl or walk. For example, infants often crawl beneath chairs and tables. While underneath these items, the child will bang her head when attempting to stand up or lift her head. While the resulting injuries are not life threatening, they cause swelling and bruising about the head. Moreover, the bang or bump to the head is quite traumatic, causing the child to cry or become agitated.
Small children capable of walking or running are particularly vulnerable to falls against table corners, walls and other hard, pointed surfaces. In some instances, serious head injuries can result when a child bangs his or her head against any of these items.
Much of the protective headgear currently available for infants and children is neither fashionable, comfortable nor effective. Many are usually bulky and restrictive. Also, most of a the current protective headgear for small children and infants is not enjoyable to wear, nor is it designed for use in the house during daily activities such as playing, crawling, and learning to walk. Much of the protective headgear for children is designed for outdoor athletic activities, such as soccer, baseball and other contact sports, and is not suitable for everyday wear.
The present invention overcomes the problems of currently available protective headgear by providing a head protector that is attractive, comfortable and effectively provides the infant or child head protection for extended periods of time in a fun, enjoyable manner. The present invention is also low cost and may be worn daily by the infant or child.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a head protector protective headgear for infants and small children.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a head protector which is lightweight and comfortable to wear and will not interfere with the wearer""s activities.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a head protector that is enjoyable to wear by an infant or small child during their daily activities.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a head protector that is configured to provide protection to at least the sides, top or rear of the wearer""s head.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the following drawings.

Head protector for infants and small children


The main rotor control system includes a rise/fall swashplate assembly that is coupled to three triplex actuators. The swashplate assembly is configured to provide full collective and cyclic pitch controls. Each triplex actuator includes three piston/cylinder assemblies in parallel. Selective actuation of each triplex actuator is controlled by a fly-by-wire system in conjunction with three flight control computers and three hydraulic power packs. Integrated three function valves can be associated with an individual manifold for each piston/cylinder assembly of each triplex actuator, the integrated three function valve be configured to insure safe operation of the triplex actuator during a failure of a certain piston/cylinder assembly.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates in general to a control system for an aircraft. More specifically, the present application relates to a main rotor control system for a rotorcraft.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, rotorcraft main control systems are designed with many factors in consideration. One conventional main rotor system uses a plurality of mechanical linkages in conjunction with hydraulic actuators to selectively impart pitch control inputs in the rotor system. Although the foregoing represents a significant technology in the area main rotor control, significant room for improvement remains.

System and method of actuating a swashplate for main rotor control


A system and method are disclosed for providing a complete architectural and procedural solution to wireless subscriber loyalty issues. A flexible promotion creation environment allows mobile phone operators to rapidly create and deploy various incentive programs and other such loyalty schemes; together with a data mining and profiling method for tracking, monitoring and analysing subscriber (or aggregate) usage information associated with given promotions. The proposed data mining and profiling method purposely incents specific subscriber behaviors by triggering a point-based reward scheme based on the dynamic screening of event records which are correlated with incented behaviors. Wherein a threshold is assigned based on usage information for a particular promotion; upon realization of which, the subscriber is, immediately notified of the reward through a plurality of means including e-mail, voice notification and by way of Short Message Service (SMS) at their wireless handset.

Securing new clientele while sustaining the approval and satisfaction of existing ones is perhaps a feature common to most, if not all business concerns. In seeking these ends most businesses implement various customer loyalty and reward programs, of which, frequent flyer miles would arguably be the most well-known. The telecommunications industry is no different. Mobile subscribers for instance are notorious for indiscriminately switching between mobile phone operators, with little regard as to brand or service loyalty. The latter must therefore learn to effectively manage and moderate such churn.
As loyalty, and related issues, remain crucial to the survival of telecommunications companies and service providers it seems unsurprising then that the prior art should disclose some existing inventions directed to such ends. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,599 to McCausland, et al., entitled Churn Amelioration System and Method therefore, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,471 to Dahm et al., entitled Online Churn Reduction and Loyalty System, disclose art relevant solely to the prediction of churn. However, the subscriber data mining and profiling methods disclosed herein are for the most part not directed to the prediction of churn and remain materially unique. Indeed, it is an object of our present invention to disclose a complete system and architecture for the reduction of churn through the implementation of various loyalty schemes and promotions coupled with immediate subscriber notification of rewards thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,447 to Golden et al., entitled Method and apparatus for aggregating customer information for a telecommunications system, discloses art directed towards applying discounts and/or promotions to calls which meet identified patterns or thresholds. Said patterns and the means used to identity and appraise them remain limited to call time, cost, number of calls, destination and/or geographic region. The art of our invention is not tied to any particular call variables, and indeed the value of the Promotion Creation Environment (PCE) remains in its bespoke and tailor-able nature. Additionally, our invention is directed to wireless subscriber loyalty issues and the benefits providing near real-time notification of rewards and other incented behaviour(s).
U.K. Patent No. 2,367,445 to Mayes et al., entitled Rewarding a Customer for Call Usage, presents a system for rewarding and penalising customers for call usage across a telecommunications network. However the art detailed therein does not intimate any special data mining and profiling method, nor a novel loyalty promotion creation environment, or for that matter, any immediate method for subscriber reward notification.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,376 to Hennessy, et al., entitled Subscriber Reward Method, discloses a technique for providing an instantaneous reward to a communications subscriber. The method therein nevertheless remains particular to inter-exchange carriers, local service providers, and/or internet service providers.
REFERENCES CITED:U.S. Pat. 6,301,471October 2001Dahm et al.455/405U.S. Pat. 6,052,447April 2000Golden et al.379/114.1U.S. Pat. 6,049,599April 2000McCausland et al.379/111U.S. Pat. 5,991,376November 1999Hennessy et al.379/114.1Foreign PatentApril 2002GB.Document(s) 2367445

Wireless subscriber loyalty system and method


A method is provided for manufacturing a semiconductive insulating shield for an electrical cable accessory. The method includes providing a substrate having a desired contour in relation to the electrical cable accessory. The substrate is then coated with an elastomeric semiconductive material to form a coated substrate. An elastomeric insulating dielectric material is then molded around the coated substrate, and the elastomeric semiconductive material and elastomeric insulating dielectric material are cured by applying heat and pressure sufficient to transfer the elastomeric semiconductive material to the elastomeric insulating dielectric material by chemical bonding.

Termination or connection of high or medium voltage electrical cables in the field requires electrical shielding or stress control. Geometric electrical stress control and/or shielding of elastomeric cable accessories may be generally accomplished by one of the two following methods.
In one method, an elastomeric semiconductive geometric stress control insert is pre-molded in one manufacturing operation. The insert is subsequently bonded to an elastomeric insulating dielectric in a second molding operation. This method has certain disadvantages. The pre-molded semiconductive components are nominally 0.020 inches thick or thicker. The component, therefore, must be trimmed of flash and cleaned. Also, the components must be specially stored to accommodate the secondary molding and bonding process. The thicker pre-molded semiconductive components may impart undesirable physical characteristics to the final product. These characteristics include higher modulus, resulting in a stiffer final product. This is especially significant in the wide range of cable accessory designs where the product is radially expanded significantly and the modulus must be controlled.
Another method includes molding the elastomeric insulating dielectric by one process and applying a semiconductive coating in a second process. This semiconductive coating may be applied by conventional techniques such as brushing, dipping, or spraying. This technique also has certain disadvantages. The application of the secondary coating to irregular interior surfaces is very difficult to achieve effectively and is costly to apply. Chemical cross-linking (chemical bonding) between an elastomeric semiconductive coating and an elastomeric insulating dielectric cannot be satisfactorily achieved unless the coating is subsequently cured or vulcanized by using heat and/or pressure during a secondary operation. The shelf life of these components is limited in that the coatings are reactive systems containing catalysts.
It is therefore desirable to provide a coating and application process for an elastomeric electrical cable accessory which is more reliable and cost-effective to achieve.

Semiconductive coating and application process for shielded elastomeric electrical cable accessories


Disclosed is a constraining mechanism that enhances the strength of a medical device, while also preventing over expansion of the device, during a procedure. The medical device includes a plurality of biased struts to which a constraining mechanism is coupled. The constraining mechanism includes a spine, which couples to one of the plurality of struts, and one or more branches extending from the spine. The branches have a curvature enabling the branches to substantially surround the plurality of struts while at the same time avoiding contact with the wall of the blood vessel of the patient when the medical device is deployed.

1. The Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to interventional cardiology. More specifically, the invention relates to procedures performed within a body lumen. The invention further relates to systems for providing embolic protection during procedures performed in a body lumen.
2. The Relevant Technology
Human blood vessels often become blocked with deposits such as plaque, thrombi, and other materials. If the blockage occurs at a critical place in the vessel, serious and permanent injury, or even death, can occur. To prevent these results, medical intervention is performed to clear the occluded vessel.
Several procedures are currently used to open stenosed or occluded blood vessels. Balloon angioplasty is a well known method for opening occluded blood vessels which involves inserting a balloon-tipped catheter into an occluded region of a blood vessel. After being inserted into the blood vessel, the balloon is inflated and the stenosed region of the blood vessel is dilated, thereby increasing the intraluminal diameter.
Another technique for opening stenosed blood vessels is atherectomy. Atherectomy refers to a procedure which employs a rotating blade to shave plaque from an arterial wall. A catheter including a rotating blade or cutter is inserted into the blood vessel. Located at the tip of the catheter is an aperture and, on the opposite side of the catheter tip from the aperture, a balloon. The tip is placed in close proximity to the fatty material and the balloon is inflated, thereby forcing the aperture into contact with the fatty material. When the blade or cutter is rotated, the fatty material is shaved off and retained within the interior lumen of the catheter. This process is then repeated until sufficient fatty material has been removed from the wall of the blood vessel.
An additional procedure for opening stenosed or occluded blood vessels includes stent introduction. A stent typically includes a cylindrical tube or mesh sleeve made from materials such as NiTiNOL or stainless steel. The characteristics of the material permit the diameter of the device to expand radially while still providing sufficient rigidity such that the stent maintains its shape once it has been enlarged to the desired size.
Many medical devices are used in placing a stent in a body lumen. After access to the arterial system has been established, a guide catheter is inserted into the artery and the tip of the catheter is positioned proximal to the occluded region of the blood vessel. A guide catheter allows other devices to be rapidly delivered to the stenosed region without being carefully guided from the point of access to the arterial system to the point of intervention. A small diameter guide wire is inserted through the catheter and guided to a point proximate the stenosed region. After the guidewire has been successfully put in place, the stent is attached to a delivery device and installed over the guide wire. When correctly placed, the stent will be deployed in a manner which will maintain the blood vessel open at that point.
Many different types of stents are used in intravenous procedures. Often a system requires a stent to be deployed or expanded from a compressed state by a balloon to which the stent is attached. When the balloon is inflated not only is the stenosed region opened, the stent is also embedded into the inner region of the blood vessel at that point.
The guidewire not only facilitates delivery of the stent to the stenosed region, it also serves the purpose of providing a delivery mechanism for all other devices which may be used in the procedure. Devices which may be needed in the procedure contain an inner lumen through which the guidewire is inserted. The device then slides along the guidewire into the body of the patient, with the guidewire guiding the device to the desired location. The process of sliding devices over the guidewire for delivery into the patient is commonly known as an exchange. The ability to perform an exchange reduces the invasive nature of the interventional procedure.
When interventional procedures are performed with occluded blood vessels, particles are released from the vessel wall. These embolic pieces can then flow downstream potentially causing adverse effects. To prevent the dangers associated with embolic particles flowing through the blood stream, devices are emerging which are designed to catch or filter such particles. The particles are then aspirated out of the blood stream before they can flow downstream.
Filter and trapping systems designed to capture particulate matter released during intravenous procedures include many forms. Trapping devices are often structured as an umbrella-like device designed to catch emboli as they are released from the vessel wall during an atherectomy or angioplasty procedure. Filter devices are also designed to catch released embolic material and can be either permanently or temporarily deployed in the blood vessel.
Both permanent and temporary filtering devices can present serious difficulties. Accurate deployment of permanent filtering devices is difficult and incorrect placement can limit filtering capabilities. Furthermore, permanent devices have been designed to filter large blood clots and have proven ineffective for trapping smaller emboli. In certain cases a permanent filter may accumulate too much clot and block of the area of the blood vessel in which it rests. In addition, permanent filters are often secured to the vessel wall by anchoring hooks which, with time, may cause the vessel wall to rupture due to erosion. Temporary filters, while circumventing many of the problems present in permanent devices, also present certain difficulties. Even if temporary filters succeed in capturing emboli from within the blood vessel it is difficult to remove the filter without redepositing the emboli into the blood stream.
The device and methods described herein are designed to overcome these and other deficiencies in current devices and to allow safer and better protection for the patient from particulates which may be released into the blood stream during an intravenous procedure.


An optical telecommunication unit includes a shielded case having a size adapted for mounting upon a standard open-rack frame, wherein the shielded case includes a rear panel carrying an interconnection pattern, a plurality of plug-in connectors provided on the rear panel at an inner side thereof in electrical connection with the interconnection pattern for holding plug-in units forming an optical telecommunication apparatus inside the optical telecommunication unit, wherein the optical telecommunication unit carries a plurality of interface connectors on the rear panel in electrical connection with the interconnection pattern for accepting external interconnection cables, and a rear cover is provided on the shielded case so as to cover the rear panel.

The present invention generally relates to the art of optical telecommunications and more particularly to an optical telecommunication apparatus for use in a node forming a part of an optical ring network.
FIG. 1 shows a typical example of a two-fiber bidirectional-line-switched-ring (2F-BLSR) network 10 that is used commonly in current optical telecommunication networks.
Referring to FIG. 1, the 2F-BLSR network 10 includes nodes 11.sub.1 -11.sub.4 connected with each other by an optical fiber link, wherein the nodes 11.sub.1 -11.sub.4 are connected each other successively in a counterclockwise direction by a first optical link called a work link Wk and a second, redundant optical link called a protect link P, wherein the protect link connects the nodes 11.sub.1 -11.sub.4 in a clockwise direction. Thus, the work link Wk carries optical signals traveling in the counter-clockwise direction in the ring 10, while the protect link P carries optical signals traveling in the ring 10 in the clockwise direction.
Thus, when there occurs a failure in the work link Wk, the ring network continues functioning properly by using the protect link P. For this purpose, each of the nodes 11.sub.1 -11.sub.4 includes a switch circuit as will be explained later.
FIG. 2 shows a typical example of a four-fiber bidirectional-line-switched-ring (4F-BLSR) network 20 that is proposed for enhancing the capability of the network to maintain a connection upon occurrence of a severe failure in the link.
Referring to FIG. 2, the 4F-BLSR network 20 includes nodes 21.sub.1 -21.sub.4 connected with each other by an optical fiber link, wherein the nodes 21.sub.1 -21.sub.4 are connected in the counter-clockwise direction by a work link Wk1 and a protect link P2 and further in the clockwise direction by a work link Wk2 and a protect link P1.
Thus, in the 4F-BLSR network 20, any failure occurred in the second work link Wk2 is immediately saved by using the protect link P1 as indicated in FIG. 3A. Similarly, any failure occurred in the work link Wk1 is immediately saved by using the protect link P2. Further, the 4F-BLSR network 20 is capable of saving the failure occurred in all of the links connecting a pair of mutually adjacent nodes such as the node 21.sub.1 and the node 21.sub.4, by forming a link between the nodes 21.sub.1 and 21.sub.4 by the first and second protect links P1 and P2 over the nodes 21.sub.2 -21.sub.4 as indicated in FIG. 3B.
FIG. 4 shows the construction of the node 11.sub.1 used in the 2F-BLSR system of FIG. 2 in the form of a block diagram. As other nodes 11.sub.2 -11.sub.4 have substantially the same construction, the description thereof will be omitted.
Referring to FIG. 4, the node 11.sub.1 includes a reception unit (11A).sub.WK to which a high-speed multiplexed optical signal comes in from the node 11.sub.4 located at an East-side via the work link WK and another reception unit (11A).sub.P to which a multiplexed optical signal is supplied from the node 11.sub.2 located at a West-side via the protect link P. The reception unit (11A).sub.WK includes a photo reception device RC(1) for detection of the incoming optical signal and a demultiplexer device DM(1) for demultiplexing the multiplexed signal detected by the photoreception device RC(1) into individual signal components. Similarly, the reception unit (11A).sub.P includes a photo reception device RC(2) corresponding to the photo reception device RC(1) and a demultiplexer device DM(2) corresponding to the demultiplexer device DM(1).
It should be noted that each of the photo reception devices RC(1) and RC(2) receives an optical transmission having a bit-rate of 1.2 Gbps, wherein the bit-rate of 1.2 Gbps corresponds to a transmission of 24 channels each channel having a bit-rate of 50 Mbps. Thus, the photo reception device RC(1) receives the optical transmission for the first twenty-four channels (CH1-CH24) while the photo reception device RC(2) receives the optical transmission for the second twenty-four channels (CH25-CH48).
The signals for the channels CH1-CH24 thus detected by the photo reception device RC(1) are then demultiplexed by the demultiplexer device DM(1) in the photo reception device RC(1), and the signals for the first twenty-four channels (CH1-CH24) thus demultiplexed are supplied to a first switch unit (11B).sub.WK and further to a second switch unit (11B).sub.P. Similarly, the signals for the channels CH25-CH48 are demultiplexed by the demultiplexer device DM(2) and are supplied to the first switch unit (11B).sub.WK as well as to the second switch unit (11B).sub.P.
The first and second switch units (11B).sub.WK and (11B).sub.P, on the other hand, cooperate with each other and supply the signals of the first twenty-four channels (CH1-CH24) and the signals of the second twenty-four channels (CH25-CH48) selectively to one of first and second optical transmission units (11C).sub.WK and (11C).sub.P connected respectively to the work link Wk and the protect link P at a West-side of the node, wherein each of the optical transmission units (11C).sub.Wk and (11C).sub.P includes a multiplexer devices MX(1) or MX(2) and a laser transmitter device TC(1) or TC(2).
Thus, when there is a failure in the work link Wk at the West-side of the node 11.sub.1 leading to the node 11.sub.2, the switch unit (11B).sub.WK switches the path of the signals for the channels CH1-CH24, such that the signals of the channels CH1-CH24 are supplied from the photoreception unit (11A).sub.Wk at the East-side to the optical transmission unit (11C).sub.P also at the East-side. Thereby, the signals are transmitted from the node 11.sub.1 to the node 11.sub.2 via the protect link P over the nodes 11.sub.4 and 11.sub.3 consecutively. Simultaneously, the switch unit (11B).sub.P switches the signal path such that the photoreception unit (11A).sub.P and the optical transmission unit (11C).sub.P are disconnected.
Further, each of the nodes 11.sub.1 -11.sub.4 includes an add/drop unit A/D in the switch unit (11B).sub.Wk or (11B).sub.P as indicated in FIG. 4 for an add/drop control of optical signals in anticipation of connecting the node to an external optical network or link outside the 2F-BLSR network 10.
Conventionally, the apparatus of FIG. 4 has been used successfully in a node of an optical network in a state that the apparatus is accommodated in NEBS (Bellcore spec) standard open-rack frame structure typically having a height of 2100 mm (7 feet), a width of 660 mm and a depth of 305 mm (12 inches) as indicated in FIGS. 5A or 5B, wherein both of FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B show a frame 30 or 30' for a front-side loading of devices. In the frame 30 of FIG. 5A, it should be noted that the cables, provided along one or both of the side pillars, are connected to the corresponding devices on the frame 30 at a rear side thereof as indicated in FIG. 6A. In the frame 30' of FIG. 5B, on the other hand, the cables are connected to the corresponding devices at a front side thereof as indicated in FIG. 6B.
As the size of the frame is thus limited, it is necessary to reduce the size of the devices loaded on the frame as much as possible. The optical telecommunication apparatus of FIG. 4 is no exception.
As long as the optical telecommunication apparatus on the frame is used to handle the optical bit-stream of 2.4 Gbps, 1.2 Gbps for the work channels CH1-CH24 and 1.2 Gbps for the protect channels CH25-CH48, no problem occurs. The apparatus of FIG. 4 can be formed by merely connecting the various units by a limited number of coaxial cables. The apparatus thus assembled easily fits into the standard frame of FIGS. 5A or 5B.
When the bit-rate of the incoming optical signals is increased, however, there arises various difficulties as noted below.
FIG. 7 shows an example of the circuit in which the telecommunication circuit of FIG. 4 is expanded in a straightforward manner so as to handle the optical transmission of 9.6 Gbps in total, 4.8 Gbps of which are for the work channel and 4.8 Gbps of which are for the protect channel. In FIG. 7, those parts corresponding to the parts described already with reference to FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.
Referring to FIG. 7, it should be noted that the incoming multiplexed optical signal on the work link Wk now includes 1-96 channels each carrying optical signals with a bit-rate of 50 Mbps. In correspondence to this, the circuit of FIG. 7 uses four switch devices MM1-MM4 for the switch unit (11B).sub.Wk each capable of handling signals of 24 channels or 1.2 Gbps bit-rate. In all, the switch unit (11B).sub.Wk of the apparatus of FIG. 7 is capable of handling 4.8 Gbps bit-rate signals. Thus, the switch device MM1 handles the channels 1-24 for the work channel or the channels 97-120 for the protect channel, the switch device MM2 handles the channels 25-48 for the work channel or the channels 121-144, the switch device MM3 handles the channels 49-72 for the work channel or the channels 145-168 for the protect channel, and the switch device MM4 handles the channels 73-96 for the work channel or the channels 169-192 for the protect channel.
In FIG. 7, it should be noted that there are another four switch devices MM5-MM8 for the switch unit (11B).sub.P of the protect link, wherein the switch devices MM5-MM8 have a similar construction to the switch devices MM1-MM4. Thus, the number of wirings for the circuit of FIG. 7 becomes, although not illustrated in FIG. 7, four times as large as that of the circuit of FIG. 4, and interconnection of various units by way of coaxial cables becomes difficult. This is particularly true when the overall size of the apparatus has to be adapted so as to fit into the standard frame of FIGS. 5A or 5B.
FIG. 8 shows an example of the telecommunication apparatus in which the apparatus of FIG. 4 is expanded in a straightforward manner so as to be capable of forming a 4F-BLSR network.
Referring to FIG. 8 showing the constitution of the node 21 of FIG. 4 as an example, the apparatus includes two series of circuits somewhat similar to the circuit of FIG. 7 respectively at the east side and the west side, such that the high-speed multiplexed optical signals on the work link Wk1 and the protect link P2 are received respectively by a photoreception unit (21A).sub.Wk1 and a photoreception unit (21A).sub.P2 at the east side of the node 21. Similarly, the high-speed optical signals on the work link Wk2 and the protect link P1 are received respectively by a photoreception unit (21A).sub.Wk2 and (21A).sub.P1 at the west side of the node 21. Similarly as before, each of the photoreception units includes a photoreception device designated as RC(1) or RC(2) and a demultiplexer device designated as DM(1) or DM(2).
Each of the photoreception units (21A).sub.Wk1, (21A).sub.Wk2, (21A).sub.P1 and (21A).sub.P2 supplies an output signal corresponding to the incoming high-speed optical signal to corresponding one of switch units (21B).sub.Wk1, (21B).sub.Wk2, (21B).sub.P1 and (21B).sub.P2, wherein each of the switch units (21B).sub.Wk1, (21B).sub.P1, (21B).sub.Wk2 and (21B).sub.P2 includes four switch circuits. The switch unit (21B).sub.Wk1 includes the switch devices MM1-MM4, while the switch unit (21B).sub.P2 includes the switch devices MM5-MM8, wherein each of the switch devices MM1-MM8 handles signals of 48 channels. For example, the switch device MM1 of the switch unit (21B).sub.Wk1 handles the signals of the channels 1 through 24 supplied from the photoreception unit (21A).sub.Wk1 as well as the signals of the channels 1-24 supplied from the photoreception unit (21A).sub.P2 at a first switch element SW and further the signals of the channels 1-24 supplied from the photoreception unit (21A).sub.Wk2 and the signals of the channels 1-24 supplied from the photoreception unit (21A).sub.P1 at a second switch element also designated by SW. Similarly, the switch device MM2 handles the channels 25-48 and the channels 25-48, the switch device MM3 handles the channels 49-72 and the channels 49-72, and the switch device MM4 handles the channels 73-96 and the channels 73-96. The other switch units (21B).sub.P2, (21B).sub.Wk2 and (21B).sub.P1 have a similar construction.
Further, each of the switch units (21B).sub.Wk1 -(21B).sub.P2 is connected to each of optical transmission units (21C).sub.Wk2 and (21C).sub.P1 at the west side as well as to each of optical transmission units (21C).sub.Wk1 and (21C).sub.P2 at the east side.
Thus, in the normal operational mode of the 4F-BLSR system shown in FIG. 2, the switch units (21B).sub.Wk1 -(21B).sub.P2 forward the optical signals incoming to the east side via the work link Wk1 and the protect link P2 of the east side respectively to the work link Wk1 and the protect link P2 of the west side and further the optical signals incoming to the west side via the work link Wk2 and the protect link P1 of the west side respectively to the work link Wk2 and the protect link P1 of the east side. When there occurs a failure in the link, the switch units (21B).sub.Wk1 -(21B).sub.P2 switches the path of the optical signals as indicated in FIGS. 3A or 3B. Thus, the work link Wk1 may become the work link Wk2 and the protective link P1 may become the protect link P2, or vice versa, depending upon the switching in the switch units (21B).sub.Wk1 -(21B).sub.P2.
It should be noted that the construction of FIG. 8 requires a very complex wiring between various units. Thus, it becomes extremely difficult or totally impossible to assemble the apparatus of FIG. 8 with a size such that the apparatus is accommodated in the standard open-rack frame shown in FIGS. 6A or 6B, as long as the interconnection is achieved by way of coaxial cables.
Further, there are customers who wish to continue operating the 2F-BLSR system with the construction of FIG. 7 for the optical telecommunication apparatus while opening the possibility of constructing the 4F-BLSR system in the future. In such a case, it is desired not to discard the existing optical telecommunication apparatus when constructing the 4F-BLSR system but to upgrade the existing optical telecommunication apparatus.
As to the first problem, it is well known that the complexity of wiring is successfully eliminated by using a printed circuit board. However, use of a printed circuit board in such a GHz system inevitably causes a problem of extensive electromagnetic emission. In order to avoid this problem, a shielding structure has to be devised in combination with the printed circuit board.
As to the second problem, it is necessary to form the optical telecommunication apparatus with a size such that two of the optical telecommunication apparatuses, each used for forming a 2F-BLSR system, are accommodated in the standard open-rack frame in order to form a 4F-BLSR system. In relation to this, it should be noted that each of the optical telecommunication apparatus has to have a shielding such that the node can be operated in the state equipped with only one of the optical telecommunication apparatuses while the half of the open-rack frame is empty.
Further, the optical telecommunication apparatus should be configured so as to allow an interconnection with another optical telecommunication apparatus to form a telecommunication apparatus for the 4F-BLSR system.
In addition, it is desired to provide an optical compensation device inside the open-rack frame in order to compensate for the dispersion of optical signals caused during the transmission through the optical fibers forming the optical link.

Optical telecommunication apparatus for use in an optical ring network