An image processing method includes the steps of setting a predetermined concentric circular area of first and second image data as a workpiece image, dividing a plurality of pixels constituting the workpiece image in the concentric circular area into a concentric circuit arrangement and extracting the plurality of pixels, generating the plurality of pixels in the divided concentric circuit arrangement as a function of the central angular position of the concentric circle, computing the initial term resulting from subjecting the luminance of the plurality of pixels in the concentric circular arrangement to Fourier expansion together with the central angular position, computing the central angular position where the initial term of Fourier expansion is maximized as a function of a plurality of concentric radii, and comparing the function with the first and second image data so as to recognize the arrangement of an object to be detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for computing a position from a reference point or an inclination from a reference line as a condition in which a workpiece is disposed using not only data concerning a workpiece image picked up for the purpose of detecting the position of the workpiece as an object for detection but also pre-cataloged data concerning the workpiece image.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 41A and 41B are schematic block diagrams illustrating a conventional image processing apparatus. The conventional image processing apparatus comprises a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as "CPU") 1a for performing control and arithmetic processes in the entire apparatus, an imaging device 2 for optically fetching a workpiece image, a storage device 3a for storing operational program data for the CPU la and results of operations, a display unit 4 for graphically displaying a position where a workpiece is detected on the basis of the results of operations performed by the CPU 1a, an input device 5 for feeding input data and command data to the CPU 1a, an output device 6 for outputting the contents displayed on the display unit 4 in the form of characters and the like, a communication device 7 for transferring the detected position data to other devices, an image fetch means 301 for fetching the image stored in the storage device 3a, a workpiece image data cataloging means 302a for cataloging image data on a workpiece as an object whose position and tilted angle are to be detected, a rotated workpiece image generating means 341 for generating an image t0a1-t0a359 resulting from rotating the workpiece out of cataloged workpiece image data t0a so as to detect its tilted angle, and a correlation value computing means 306a for computing the correlation value between the workpiece image data t0a and image data v1 fetched from the imaging device 2 to detect the position of the workpiece together with its tilted angle.
A description will subsequently be given of a method of cataloging the image of a workpiece w0 so as to detect the position of the workpiece and its tilted angle as shown in FIGS. 43A and 43B by means of the conventional image processing apparatus thus configured by reference to a flowchart of FIG. 42, diagrams of FIGS. 43A and 43B in a workpiece imaging mode, diagrams of FIGS. 44A and 44B in a workpiece image data mode, diagrams of FIGS. 45A and 45B in a rotated workpiece image data mode, diagrams of FIGS. 46A and 46B in a fetched image data imaging mode, and diagrams of FIGS. 47A and 47B in a mode of detecting the position-tilted angle of the workpiece. In order to distinguish visual displays on the display unit in the drawings above from those illustrative of internal processing in an easy-to-understand way, reference characters starting with v such as v0, v1 will be employed as those representing visual displays of FIGS. 43B, 47A, 47B and so forth.
At Step S501 of FIG. 42, first, a workpiece image data creation command is input by the input device 5 of FIG. 41A (workpiece image data creation command).
At Step S502 then, the CPU 1a starts the image fetch means 301 of the storage device 3a to fetch an image of the workpiece w0 shown in FIG. 43A from the imaging device 2 (fetching of image).
At Step S503, further, the CPU 1a displays on the display unit 4 the image data v0 shown in FIG. 43B (display of fetched image).
At Step S504, further, a workpiece image data size.multidot.position setting command is input by the input device 5 to make the CPU 1a display on the display unit 4 a rectangular window frame c0a of FIG. 44A in which the size.multidot.position of the workpiece image data are shown. Then the CPU 1a is made to extract pixel data within the frame c0a by inputting the size.multidot.position data on the workpiece image data, changing the frame c0a into the input size and moving it to the input position and to generate the pixel data as the workpiece image data t0a shown in FIG. 44B (designation of size.multidot.position of workpiece image data). In FIG. 44B, workpiece image data T0a represents the structure of the workpiece image data t0a and the workpiece image data T0a is configured in the form of grid-spaced luminance data. Numerical values 1, 5, 7, . . . denote the luminance of the workpiece image data.
At Step S505, the CPU la starts the rotated workpiece image generating means 341 and turns the workpiece image data t0a, degree by degree, up to 359.degree. to generate the rotated workpiece image data ranging from t0a1 up to t0a359 as shown in FIG. 45A (rotated workpiece image generation). In FIG. 45B, moreover, the rotated workpiece image data TOa20 represents the structure of the rotated workpiece image data TOa20 resulting from turning the workpiece image data t0a through an angle of 20.degree.. The rotated workpiece image data T0a20 is such that luminance data on the workpiece image data t0a is turned through an angle of 20.degree. and stored in a grid-spaced arrangement. The other rotated workpiece image data ranging from t0a1 up to t0a19 and those ranging from t0a21 up to t0a359 are turned degree by degree and stored in the grid-spaced arrangement likewise.
At Step S506, the CPU 1a starts the workpiece image data cataloging means 302a of the storage device 3a and stores in the storage device 3a the workpiece image data t0a and the rotated workpiece image data t0a1-t0a359 (cataloging of workpiece image data).
At Step S507, a position.multidot.tilted angle detection command and the threshold value s0a of the correlation value sa between the workpiece image data t0a and the fetched image data are input by the input device 5 of FIG. 41A (position.multidot.tilted angle detection command). In this case, the threshold value s0a of the correlation value is set so that only a greater correlation value is detected: for example, 90% of the maximum value of the correlation value sa that can be taken.
At Step S508, further, the CPU 1a terminates the processing when it is interrupted by a termination command (reception of termination command).
In the absence of the termination command at Step S509, the CPU 1a starts the image fetch means 301 of the storage device 3a and has a workpiece w1 of FIG. 46A picked up by the imaging device 2 in order that the image data v1 shown in FIG. 46B may be displayed on the display unit 4 (fetching of image). In this case, the workpiece w1 is tilted by an angle of "a" and placed within the visual field of the imaging device 2.
At Step S510, the CPU 1a superimposes the workpiece image data t0a and the fetched image data v1, starts the correlation value computing means 306a of the storage device 3a and then computes the correlation value sa between the workpiece image data t0a and the fetched image data v1 using the following correlation equation (1) based on normal correlation (correlation value computation). ##EQU1##
Where the symbol Fi represents the luminance value of the i-th pixel of the workpiece image data t0a; Gi, the luminance value of the i-th subscript of the fetched image data vi; n, the number of pixels of workpiece image data; and the subscript i, a pixel number.
At Step S511, the CPU 1a decides that when the correlation value sa is greater than the threshold value s0a, the workpiece image data t0a correlates with the fetched image data v1. FIG. 47B shows that the luminance of workpiece image data T0a 35 appears to conform to workpiece image data t0a 35 on the fetched image data v1. FIG. 47A refers to a case where workpiece image data TOa20, for example, is situated in a position in nonconformity with the position of the workpiece w1 on the fetched image v1, whereby the luminance of the workpiece image data remains in nonconformity with the workpiece image data (correlation exists).
At Step S512, the CPU 1a displays the position.multidot.tilted angle on the display unit 4 when the correlation is judged existent at Step S511 and sends the position.multidot.tilted angle to the communication device 7 (outputting of position.multidot.tilted angle).
At Step S513, further, the CPU 1a decides whether to have completed the computation of the correlation value sa over the whole fetched image data v1 when the correlation is judged nonexistent, shifts the position of a pixel one place where the workpiece image data t0a and the fetched image data v1 are to be superimposed when the CPU 1a decides to have not completed the computation and repeats the steps from S510 up to S513 (completion of the whole pixel computation).
At Step S514, the CPU 1a updates the rotated workpiece image data to what has an tilted angle greater by one degree when it is decided that the computation at Step S513 has been completed. For example, rotated image data t0a1 is updated to rotated image data t0a1 whose tilted angle is greater than the former data by one degree (update to the next workpiece image data).
At Step S515, further, the CPU 1a regards the process of detecting the position.multidot.tilted angle of the whole rotated workpiece image data as being completed and completes the processing of the workpiece w1 when rotated workpiece image data to be updated is the rotated workpiece image data t0a359 at Step S514. At Step S508, the CPU 1a alters the position.multidot.tilted angle of the workpiece w1 or replaces the workpiece w1 with another one similar in configuration until receiving the termination command and repeats the steps from S509 up to S515 (completion of processing the whole rotated workpiece image data).
Since the conventional image processing apparatus is configured as described above, the problem is that when a workpiece is turned degree by degree up to 360.degree., the time required to create image data at every angle and to compute the correlation value in order to detect the tilted angle of the workpiece tends to become longer.

Image processing method and apparatus for recognizing an arrangement of an object


A memory storage system which facilitates swappability of memory storage device controllers includes a circuit assembly, a host system connector, controller connectors, memory storage device connectors and a display. The circuit assembly attaches to memory storage devices, memory storage device controllers and a host system. The circuit assembly enables rapid removal and replacement of memory storage device controllers from the memory storage system during operation of the memory storage system. The display electronically communicates with the circuit assembly and indicates which host system data bus the controller connector is associated with. The display also indicates the SCSI ID of the controller connector.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computers and memory storage systems. More particularly, this invention relates to memory storage systems having swappable elements.
2. Previous Art
Typically a host system such as a computer system will have at least one data bus capable of communicating digital signals between a processor and a memory storage device. Often single data buses serially connect with numerous memory storage devices such as is common in systems which employs SCSI architecture. SCSI is an acronym for small computer standard interface.
Increased data storage capacity and through-put are demanded in the marketplace. This demand has driven the development of computer systems with multiple data buses. Multiple buses provide a wider channel for communicating data through than a single bus may provide. The wider channel provided with serial computer subsystems enables more rapid through-put. The wider channel enables increased storage capacity in memory storage systems by enabling increasing numbers of memory storage devices to be connected with the channel.
Multiple memory storage devices have been arranged in an array to increase data storage capacity. The array communicates with the host system bus so that the host system may simultaneously communicate with multiple memory storage devices. Various computer systems have hundreds of discrete memory storage devices arranged in arrays to achieve hundreds, and even thousands, of gigabytes of memory storage capacity.
Data reliability in memory storage systems is important. The more memory storage devices which operate in a system, the higher the likelihood one will fail. If a single memory storage device fails, data may be lost. In order to increase data reliability, redundancy between memory storage devices may be introduced such as in a RAID system. RAID is an acronym for "Redundant Array of Independent Disks".
RAID systems typically rely on a device controller (e.g. RAID controller) to regulate the operation of memory storage devices such as hard disk drives, in an array. The device controller, while often appearing to the host system as a single memory storage device, may regulate multiple memory storage devices. For example, a device controller may employ data storage methods including data striping and parity across numerous memory storage devices.
To improve host system reliability by reducing the probability of down time, storage systems having redundant controllers have been introduced. With redundant controllers, when one controller fails another controller assumes the role of the failed controller to provide continuity of operation of the memory storage system. The failed controller may then be swapped with a new controller when the host system is shut down for maintenance.
Several problems exist with systems having redundant device controllers. The physical location of a failed device controller may be difficult or virtually impossible to identify. Often the host system must often be shut down to facilitate replacement of a failed device controller. Replacement of a single device controller may require disconnection of multiple buses and other connectors as well as removal of numerous fasteners. These problems are sought to be overcome.
Generally, when a device controller fails, the host system will typically alert a system administrator or technician through a message displayed on the system administrators computer screen. The message may identify the failed device controller by a SCSI ID numeral and a bus ID numeral. The physical location of the failed device controller is generally not available.
Identification of the physical of location of a failed device controller may require removal and testing of each device controller in a system until the failed controller is found. Removal of the wrong controller can cause failure of multiple memory storage devices and loss of data. What is desired is a way to readily identify the physical location of a device controller such as a failed device controller ease replacement of the device controller.
Replacement of a device controller may be a time consuming and multi-step process. To illustrate, an example of a known device controller is shown in FIG. 4. The device controller in FIG. 4 includes multiple data ports. The multiple data ports are capable of various connections. The various connections include connection with host data buses, memory storage device buses, a power cable, a serial interface and fault signal buses, for example. Each bus must be removed and reconnected to facilitate replacement of the controller.
The replacement of a device controller having multiple data ports may take hours to complete. Additionally, there is a possibility that the buses may be incorrectly connected. What is desired is a simple way to interconnect device controllers with a memory storage system.
Host system downtime is undesirable. Replacement of a failed device controller often causes memory storage system and/or host system downtime. What is desired is a way of replacing a failed device controller without host and/or memory storage system downtime.

Memory storage system having removable memory storage device controllers


A bicycle hub is provided that comprises a hub axle, a hub body, a bearing and a clearance adjusting member. The bearing includes an outer ring coupled to the hub body, an inner ring coupled to the hub axle, and a plurality of rolling components disposed between the outer ring and the inner ring. The clearance adjusting member is disposed with respect to the outer ring of the bearing such that at least a portion of the clearance adjusting member is disposed axially inwardly of the outer ring. The clearance adjusting member is configured and arranged to prevent a grease inside the bearing to leak toward an axially inward direction of the hub axle with a prescribed radial clearance being maintained between the clearance adjusting member and one of the hub axle and the outer ring of the bearing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bicycle hub mounted to a bicycle frame.
2. Background Information
Official Gazette for Kokai Utility Model No. S52-60062 discloses a conventional bicycle hub installed in the central portion of a wheel of a bicycle comprises a hub axle, a hub body and a pair of bearings. The hub axle is non-rotatably mounted to a frame of the bicycle (for example, to a front-fork). The hub body is coaxially coupled to the hub axle so that the hub body is disposed radially outwardly with respect to the hub axle. The bearings are configured and arranged to support the hub body so that the hub body can freely rotate around the hub axle. The outer peripheral surface of the hub axle includes a pair of male screw sections in axial ends thereof so that the hub is mounted to the frame by a pair of nuts that are screw on axial ends of the male screw of the hub axle. The bearings are angular-type bearings. Each of the bearings is provided with an outer ring, an inner ring, and a plurality of rolling components. The outer ring is disposed along an inner peripheral surface of the hub body and includes a ball receiving surface. The inner ring is screwed into the hub axle and includes a ball pushing surface. The rolling components are disposed between the outer ring and the inner ring at predetermined intervals in a circumferential direction of the hub.
The inner portion of each of the bearings is filled with grease in order to make the rotation of the bearings smooth. The ball receiving surface of the outer ring is arranged as a concaved surface that faces toward a generally axial outward direction of the hub axle. The ball pushing surface of the inner ring is arranged as a concaved surface that faces toward a generally axial inward direction of the hub axle. The angular-type ball bearing installed on the hub is designed to maintain a certain degree of clearance or gap between the radial innermost peripheral surface of the outer ring and an outer peripheral surface of the hub axle. Moreover, a sealing component is coupled to an outer axial direction of the bearing. Therefore, the bearing is designed so that the grease does not leak towards the outer axial direction of the bearing.
However, since there is the clearance between the outer ring and the hub axle in at an axial inner position of the bearing, the grease filled within the bearing occasionally leaks towards the inner axial direction of the bearing. Especially when the hub includes the male screw section is formed in the same screw direction along the entire surface of the outer peripheral surface of the hub axle, the male screw acts like a pump due to the rotation of the wheel (i.e., the rotation of the outer ring of the bearing) relative to the hub axle. Consequently, the grease flows out form the bearing toward the inner axial direction of the hub axle. For example, in a case in which the male screw is a right-handed screw, in the bearing on the right side as viewed from the rear side of the bicycle, when the wheel rotates in the direction of travel, the grease tends to flow out toward the inner axial direction of the hub axle. When the grease flows out from the bearing toward the inner axial direction of the hub axle, the grease tends to travel toward a relatively larger space behind the outer ring and retained in that space due to the centrifugal force. In such a case, the amount of the grease in the bearing becomes insufficient, and rotation of the wheel deteriorates.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved bicycle hub. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


An inductive proximity sensor or switch and a method of using same. The sensor or switch includes an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (“ASIC”) and a plurality of external components. The ASIC is implemented in CMOS technology and has an oscillator. A switch point of the sensor or switch is predetermined by selection of a bias voltage to a potential node of the oscillator.

A number of programmable proximity switches have been previously proposed. Particularly, programming of a proximity switch, and then final trimming thereof has been proposed in the art, e.g. in: U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,132 (Sorin Fericern, et al); U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,602 (UEDA); and commercially available products from XICOR, INC of the USA which provide for remote trimming after construction. Also proposed has been an inductive proximity switch with a temperature dependent set point as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,004 (HOEDIMAYR et al). The content of the aforementioned prior art documents are incorporated herein by reference.
Known proximity switches suffer from a number of disadvantages, and the present invention obviates or at least mitigates one or more of these disadvantages.

Inductive proximity sensor and related methods


A method and apparatus for compiling a protocol data unit (PDU) having a predetermined length from at least one data block for transmission in a wireless communication system. At least one data block is designated for transmission. The data block is first stored in a memory. A data block information list and a data block address list are generated for the data block. The data block information list contains the length of the data block which is to be included within the PDU and the data block address list contains the memory address of data block which is to be included in the PDU. The PDU is then compiled utilizing the data block information list and the data block address list when the PDU is ready for transmission.

A typical Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) in accordance with current Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications is depicted in FIG. 1. The UMTS includes a Core Network (CN) interconnected with a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) via an Iu interface. The UTRAN is configured to provide wireless communication services to users having wireless transmit receive units (WTRUs) via a Uu interface. The UTRAN has one or more Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) and Node-Bs, which collectively service the geographic coverage of the wireless communication system for WTRUs.
One or more Node-Bs are connected to an RNC via an Iub interface. The UTRAN may have several groups of Node-Bs connected to different RNCs. Where more than one RNC is provided in a UTRAN, inter-RNC communication is performed via an Iur interface.
In a 3GPP communication system, multiple shared and dedicated channels of variable data rates are combined for transmission. Transport Channels (TrCHs) are used for transfer of user data and signaling between WTRUs and a Node-B or other devices within the communication network. TrCHs are a composite of one or more physical channels defined by mutually exclusive physical resources. TrCH data is transferred in sequential groups of Transport Blocks (TBs) defined as Transport Block Sets (TBSs). Each TBS is transmitted in a given Transmission Time Interval (TTI). For each TrCH, a Transport Format Set (TFS) is specified. Each Transport Format (TF) defines a TBS comprising a specified number of TBs, where each TB preferably has the same size within a given TBS.
The Radio Link Control (RLC) function generates octet-aligned PDUs (i.e., 8 bit quantities). Thus, the RLC PDUs are defined as groups of selected number of octets, such that the RLC PDU bit size is always evenly divided by eight. All data transferred by specific TrCHs must fit into the TB sizes specified for the TFS of a particular TrCH. However, variable size data blocks exist that cannot be predicted for Random Access Network (RAN) and CN signaling data as well as Non-Real Time (NRT) user data transmissions.
In order to allow for the transfer of variable size data blocks, the RLC provides a segmentation and reassembly function and a padding function. The segmentation and reassembly function reduces the size of data blocks and is used when a data block is larger than the maximum allowed TB size. The padding function increases the data block or segmented data block size by padding it with extra bits to fit a specified TB size.
Each RLC PDU can contain one or more unrelated data blocks, or a portion of a data block. The final internal composition of the RLC PDU is not determined until transmission of the RLC PDU is requested. Therefore, it is inefficient to build part of the RLC PDU and have to rebuild it later, when additional data blocks are added to the RLC PDU.
FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) illustrate RLC PDUs for transmitting data blocks under current 3GPP specifications for an unacknowledged mode (UM) and on acknowledged mode (AM), respectively. At the front of the PDU are a series of length indicators (LIs). The LIs indicate the last octet of data blocks ending within the PDU. Following all the LIs are blocks of data to be transmitted.
Information relating to each separate block of data is conveyed along with, but separated from, the data blocks which are grouped together in the PDU. Data blocks are sequentially assembled as they become designated for a particular transmission unit. Conventionally, each data block of the PDU is written into a memory individually as it became designated for inclusion in a PDU.
Prior art systems need a significant amount of time for rearranging the data blocks within the formatted PDU. In order to add another data block and its corresponding LI, the previous data block must be moved over by one or two bytes in order to add a new LI after the previous one. As each data block is added, the amount of data that needs to be shifted to accommodate new LIs gets larger and larger. This incurs a tremendous number of processing cycles and, therefore, time.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a more efficient processing method and apparatus for assembling unrelated data blocks into a PDU for transmission.

Method and apparatus for compiling a protocol data unit


An optical element includes a substrate and an infrared anti-reflective film. The substrate is made of ZnSe, and the infrared anti-reflective film is formed on at least one surface of the substrate. The infrared anti-reflective film includes a low-refractive-index layer made of BaF2, a high-refractive-index layer made of ZnSe, ZnS, or Ge, and an intermediate layer made of an amorphous or anisotropic material. With this structure, an optical element having a high transmittance and a small surface roughness can be produced without using ThF4.

In recent years, optical devices using infrared light have been actively developed. In particular, infrared light in the range of 8 to 14 μm have been attracting attention. Accordingly, various optical elements suitable for infrared light in this range have been proposed. As an example of such an optical element, an optical element having an infrared anti-reflective function is known which includes a substrate (base member) and an infrared anti-reflective film provided on the substrate. The substrate is formed of an infrared transmitting material such as ZnSe, ZnS, GaAs, or Ge. The infrared anti-reflective film includes a low-refractive-index layer made of a fluoride such as PbF2, BaF2, LaF3, CeF3, or ThF4, and a high-refractive-index layer made of, for example, ZnSe, ZnS, GaAs, or Ge.
In an optical element for use in a high-power laser, such as a CO2 laser, the influence of heat generated when the laser light is absorbed cannot be ignored. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the laser-light absorption of the infrared anti-reflective film. Among the materials for forming the low-refractive-index layer in the infrared anti-reflective film, ThF4 is known as a material having such a characteristic. However, since ThF4 is a radioactive material, there are problems that ThF4 is harmful to humans and handling thereof is restricted.
To solve such a problem, Patent Literature 1 proposes an optical element including a low-refractive-index layer made of BaF2 and a high-refractive-index layer made of ZnSe.


Embodiments of this application provide a service management method and apparatus, so as to cover service level indication information at interfaces between various management network elements in NFV MANO, and further perform differentiated resource allocation and fault recovery for services based on the service level indication information. The service management method includes: receiving, by a first management unit, a first message sent by a second management unit, where the first message includes first identification information, the first identification information is used to obtain first information, the first information includes information used to obtain first service level information, and the first information is a network service NS deployment flavor DF or a virtualized network function VNF deployment flavor DF; and determining, by the first management unit, the first service level information based on the first identification information and the first information.

A conventional telecommunications system includes various dedicated hardware devices. Different hardware devices are used for different applications. As a network scale grows, a system becomes increasingly complex, thereby bringing many challenges, including challenges on development and launching of newly added services, system operation and maintenance, resource utilization, and the like.
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) aims to develop standard Internet technologies (IT) and virtualization technologies to change a manner in which a network operator constructs a network, so as to integrate various types of network devices into industry-standard high-capacity servers, switches, and storage devices located in various NFV infrastructure network nodes specified by operators. In a conventional high-availability system, such as a telecommunications network element, it is quite difficult to perform operations, such as service availability deployment and configuration, in an end-to-end manner. An availability design in a conventional system is identical for all applications or services, in other words, all services provide a same level of service availability. Because availability and reliability actually "required" by a service are not considered in the system, a service having a relatively low service availability requirement is overprotected in this design, and as a result, excessive system resources are consumed.
In the prior art, when service reliability and availability differentiation of different service types or service groups is operated and managed in an end-to-end manner, information carried in a virtual deployment unit (VDU) is used to indicate service importance or a degree of service importance. However, at least some management units in NFV cannot parse the VDU.


The invention relates to a prosthetic valve for regulating fluid flow through a body lumen. The valve includes a frame and a valve member comprising at least one semi-rigid leaflet and at least one flexible leaflet. The at least one semi-rigid leaflet comprises a first portion and a second portion, the first portion attached to the frame and the second portion free of the frame. The at least one semi-rigid leaflet is slanted in a retrograde direction from the second portion to the first portion. The at least one flexible leaflet comprises a first portion and a second portion, the first portion attached to the frame and the second portion free of the frame. The at least one flexible leaflet is slanted in a retrograde direction from the first portion to the second portion when at rest.

The venous system includes a multitude of one-way bicuspid valves that permit substantially unidirectional blood flow toward the heart. These valves are particularly important in the lower extremities to prevent the pooling of blood. When the leaflets of the bicuspid valves fail to close properly, the valve is considered "incompetent" as it permits leakage of retrograde flow resulting in the abatement of flow towards the heart.
This potentially serious condition is known as "chronic venous insufficiency." Symptoms can progress from unsightly "spider" or varicose veins to skin discoloration and painful skin ulcerations. The etiology of venous insufficiency is multifactorial, including a past history of thrombotic events, chronic venous stasis, and venous hypertension. Current treatments for venous insufficiency include elevation of the feet and compression stockings. While these can relieve symptoms, the underlying disease remains untreated. Surgical techniques are also employed in which native valves can be bypassed or replaced with autologous sections of veins having functioning valves.
Recently, various implantable medical devices and minimally invasive techniques for implantation of these devices have been developed to treat and repair undesirable conditions within body vessels. For example, implantable medical devices can function as a replacement venous valve, or restore native venous valve function by bringing incompetent valve leaflets into closer proximity. These devices are advantageously inserted intravascularly, for example from an implantation catheter.
However, post-implantation thrombosis and platelet deposition on surfaces of endovascular prosthetic valves may occlude the conduit defined by the endovascular prosthesis or compromise the functionality of an implanted valve by limiting the motion or responsiveness of moveable portions of the device such as valve leaflets. For example, stagnation of blood around implanted prosthetic valves may cause stiffening and thickening of valve leaflets, reducing the leaflets' functionality and possibly eventually occluding the body lumen.

Prosthetic valve with slanted leaflet design


The sheet material identification apparatus, includes a sensor adapted to bring a probe having a built-in piezoelectric element into contact with a surface of sheet material being conveyed, and thereby to generate electric detection signals corresponding with irregularities of the sheet material surface; an identification part adapted to identify types of sheet material based on detection signals outputted from the above described sensor; and a correct part adapted to correct fluctuations in detection features of the above described sensor based on detection output of the above described sensor at the time when the above described sensor has detected correction sheet material having a predetermined surface roughness. The appratus prevents misdetection during use for a long period of sheet material identification apparatus that does not require any type-of-paper selection setting operation by a user and can implement good heat treating, fixing and image forming efficiently even if sheets of paper having various kinds of surface roughness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet material identification apparatus to identify the difference in skin friction resistance of objects to be measured and the difference in surface roughness as well as the difference in surface material, both to be the cause thereof and a heating apparatus as well as image forming apparatus such as printers in electro photography system, photocopiers, ink jet printers, thermal head printers, dot impact printers, facsimiles, and compound devices comprising them, etc. equipped with this apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, a image forming apparatus of any kind is generally an apparatus to form an image on sheet state recording material such as plastic type film plate for plain paper, postcard, cardboard, letter paper and OHP, and printers, photocopiers and facsimiles, all adopting an electro photography system, as representative examples thereof, form a toner image on recording material by electrostatic image forming means using toner as developer and thereafter heat and press the recording material with fixing means to bring the toner image into fusion and fixation for image forming.
In addition, the other apparatuses such as printers, photocopiers, facsimiles and the like, all adopting ink-jet system, use ink as developer to implement image forming onto recording material with image forming means which makes use of mechanical or thermal reaction to bring a recording head configured with a number of nozzle having micro orifice into rapid discharge of ink.
Moreover, the other apparatuses such as printers, photocopiers, facsimiles, and the like adopting the thermal transfer system use ink ribbons as developer and use thermal head to bring ink into heat transfer from the ink ribbon with image forming means to form image onto recording material.
Incidentally, these apparatuses have undergone improvements in recent years, and devices for enhancement in image quality improvement and in speeding up of process speed have been being realized with various means, and at the same time, cost-saving measures have been devised to advance price discount giving rise to popularization.
However, there are various kinds of recording material for use in these image forming apparatus including plain paper, high quality paper which has undergone special surface treatment for envelopes and a sheet for OHP made of resin, etc., moreover all of which have been being used all over the world accompanied by proliferation of the apparatus, therefore giving rise to necessity to correspond with the order for feasibility of forming good images for any recording material used in respective locations, and especially, roughness on the surface of recording material which significantly affects image forming conditions is very important element.
For example, in the apparatus adopting electro photography system, in case of the surface of the recording material for use being smooth (hereafter to be referred to as smooth sheet) and in case of being rough (hereafter to be referred to as rough sheet), in the fixing part, heating efficiency of transferring heat from a heating source to the sheet surface is different in accordance with the difference in thermal resistance due to difference in surface property, and fixing a rough sheet is brought into fixing under a fixing temperature which is appropriate for a smooth sheet will end in introducing insufficient fixing, and therefore it is necessary to bring a rough sheet into fixing under higher temperature. Therefore, for an apparatus under the present state, a temperature under which a rough sheet can be brought into fixing is used as a fixing temperature while a smooth sheet is always continued to be brought into fixing under excessive temperature, and for a rougher sheet, higher fixing temperature is required, and therefore at the time when such a sheet is used, a selection mode was provided to make a user change the setting of the fixing temperature.
As a particular example, basic configuration of a printer adopting an electro photography system is shown in FIG. 6.
That is, FIG. 6 is a sectional view of major parts of a conventional printer, and in the printer, the surface of a photosensitive drum 2 is brought into charging to a predetermined polarity uniformly with a charging roller 1, and thereafter only the region that has undergone exposure by means of an exposing means 3 such as laser, etc. is deprived of charge so that a latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 2. Thereafter, this latent image is developed with toner 5 of a developing device 4 to be visualized as a toner image. That is, the toner 5 of the developing device 4 is brought into friction charging between a developing blade 4a and a developing sleeve 4b to the same polarity as the charged surface of the photosensitive drum 2, and DC and AC biases are applied in an overlapped fashion to the developing gap part where the photosensitive drum 2 and the developing sleeve 4b faces each other to bring the toner 5 into floating and oscillating while selectively attached to the latent image forming part of the photosensitive drum 2 in operation of the electric field, and thereafter this toner 5 is conveyed with rotation of the photosensitive drum 2 to the transfer nip part formed by the transfer roller 6 and the photosensitive drum 2.
On the other hand, as for the recording material 7 such as paper etc. where an image is recorded, the tip part is brought into sheet feeding through any of the following routes, namely, from the recording material housing box 7a to reach a pair of vertical conveyance rollers 7d with a pair of a pair of sheet feeding rollers 7c (the bottom roller may be a pad), and thereafter is conveyed by this pair of vertical conveyance rollers 7d to reach pre-transfer rollers 7d′ or is conveyed by the pair of sheet feeding rollers 7c from a manual sheet supplying tray 7b to reach the pre-transfer conveyance roller 7d′, and moreover is conveyed by these pre-transfer rollers 7d′ along the spacing between the transfer top guide plate 9 and the transfer bottom guide plate 9′ with predefined incident angle to reach the transfer nip part. Up to the point when the recording material 7 is conveyed from these pre-transfer conveyance rollers 7d′ to the transfer nip part, the recording material 7 may be charged on the surface by sliding with a various kinds of members which the recording material 7 has contacted before it is conveyed to reach this region, and therefore, neutralization brush 8 for removing such unnecessary charging which will result in image confusion at the time when electrostatic recording is implemented is provided so as to come in contact with the back surface side of the recording material 7 during conveyance and be grounded.
In the transfer part, in order to electrostaticly attract and relocate the toner 5 on the photosensitive drum 2 to the recording material 7 side, a high voltage with the opposite polarity of the toner 5 is applied to the transfer roller 6 on the back surface of the recording material 7, the toner 5 is electrostaticly attracted to the rear surface of the recording material 7 so that a toner image is transferred onto the recording material 7 and the rear surface of the recording material 7 is charged to the opposite polarity of the toner 5 and the transfer charge for continuing to hold the transferred toner 5 is given to the rear surface of the recording material 7.
Lastly, the recording material 7 where the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to reach a fixing device 12 configured by comprising a pressure roller 14 to form a nip part with the heat rotation body 13, and is heated and pressed in a nip part by a heater provided in the heating rotation body 13 side so as to keep the fixing temperature set in advance and then a toner image is fixed.
Here, since extraneous attachment such as toner and the like having different polarity remains on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 after toner image transfer, the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 after passing the transfer nip part is cleaned in a cleaning device 10 with a cleaning blade 10a which comes in counter contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 so that the extraneous attachment is removed, and will readily wait for the next image forming.
Here, since the above described respective configuring elements of the charging roller, the photosensitive drum, developing device and the cleaning device have short exchange cycle, an apparatus in a cartridge exchange system which enables to exchange in a unit of a cartridge 11 where these items are integrated has mainly come into wide use.
Among the above described steps, as an image fixing system, a fixing apparatus in contact heating type with good heat efficiency and safetiness is widely known, conventionally, a heat roller fixing apparatus has been used and is configured by pressing and bringing in contact a heat fixing roller having mold-releasing layer formed on a metal core of a metal cylinder enclosing a halogen heater inside the cylinder and a pressure roller configured by forming an elastic layer made of a heat resisting rubber on a metal core and forming on the surface thereof a pressing side mold-releasing layer, in recent years, as a further more heating efficient system, a film heating type fixing device using in stead of the above described heat fixing roller a fixing film with a heat-resisting resin film with low heat capacity being processed to shape a cylinder and to form a mold-releasing layer so that from inside of the fixing nip part of this film a ceramic heater is brought into contact to heat.
This kind of film heating type fixing device has higher heat transfer efficiency compared with a heat roller system using as a fixing roller a metal cylinder enclosing a conventional halogen heater in view of recent promotion of energy saving, and attracts attention as a system with fast startup of the apparatus and has been adopted in faster machines, but particularly in this system, since heating speed is regarded important, the heat capacity on the heating surface of the fixing part needs to become small, and consequently it is difficult to form an elastic layer on the heating surface and hard heating surface is being used. Thus, this kind of fixing system is configured to easily give rise to a difference in heating efficiency due to a difference in irregularities on the recording material surface.
In the respective kinds of image forming apparatuses using such a fixing device, accompanied by the above described speeding trend in processing speed, difference in types of paper gives rise to a problem of remarkable difference in fixing performance, and it is necessary for a user himself to input into a printer an appropriate fixing mode in advance corresponding with types of paper for use by the user.
However, to force a user to select modes in order to switch the fixing conditions like this depending on types of paper for use each time would increase user's work load and in case of wrong selection mode, fixing performance for that printing would get insufficient or otherwise overheating would waste power and cause image deficiency due to heat offset or possibly might introduce toner pollution of the fixing device.
In addition, as in recent years, under a circumstance of use where a plurality of users share a network printer, one user uses special paper and switches the mode setting corresponding with that, and thereafter he might leave that special paper in the apparatus, and therefore when another user who does not know about it uses the printer, the mode does not correspond and appropriate fixing is not implemented, which may highly possibly end in giving rise to the above described problem.
In addition, with regard to the number of fixing modes available for setting, there are various levels in smoothness of actual paper in strict terms, and it is impossible to provide optimum conditions for them respectively, and therefore the number of setting mode is limited by fixing sheets having a certain range of smoothness at a same mode collectively, and for a special sheet, there is a case where the power more than necessity is used for fixing, and there is a case where inefficient fixing is implemented depending on the combination between paper and setting.
On the other hand, in such an apparatus that adopts the above described ink-jet system, required quantity of ink is different in case of smooth sheet being the recording material for use and in case of rough sheet, and when a rough sheet undergoes image forming with a quantity of ink which is appropriate for a smooth sheet, the ink penetrates in the direction of the thickness of the sheet to introduce insufficient density, and therefore more ink is required to be ejected for a rough sheet. In apparatuses under the present circumstances, this requires a user to operate a printer to identify that type of paper in advance for sheets with these different surface properties.
In addition, in such an apparatus that adopts the heat transfer system, required amount of power is different in case of smooth sheet being the recording material for use and in case of rough sheet, and when a rough sheet undergoes heat transfer with a quantity of power which is appropriate for a smooth sheet, the heat resistance is large to drop transfer property of the ink to introduce insufficient density.
As described above, any of the present apparatuses will consume excess temperature, ink and power for preventing decrease in image quality of an image due to surface roughness of recording material or otherwise introduce decrease in image quality, and in order to prevent these problems, it is necessary to switch these conditions corresponding with surface roughness of recording material, but under the present circumstances, only such a method to force a user to operate to switch settings or optical sensors which require complicated configurations or signal processing used in a part of apparatus are taken into consideration, only introducing a significant cost increase.
Therefore, several apparatuses to implement image forming by detecting surface roughness of recording material and changing image forming conditions corresponding with the detected result thereof have been proposed so far, and among them, a detection principle enabling surface roughness of recording material to be detected comparatively inexpensively and rapidly has been proposed. These proposals have disclosed a method of detecting physical phenomena such as oscillation, sliding sound and the like taking place due to sliding when the contact means brought into contact with the surface of recording material slides on the surface of recording material and detecting the difference in those detection quantities as difference in surface roughness, and as a particular configuration, such a configuration has been proposed that provides the contact means with a piezoelectric element to detect oscillation which is converted to electric signals.
However, particular configuration conditions required for a member (hereinafter referred to as a probe) actually to be brought into contact with the surface of recording material are not disclosed in detail in the above described proposal, and only such a configuration with a simple straight line probe having one end part fixed in the upstream side in the conveyance direction and having the tip in the downstream side brought into contact not to go askew from the conveyance direction has been shown, and it was difficult to actually realize highly accurate detection with this content.
Therefore, in order to spectacularly improve sheet material identification performance in a detection system using a piezoelectric element and make it available for common use, the present inventor studied shape and mounting configuration of a sensor probe newly; found that very high identification performance is obtainable by giving to the tip part of the probe such construction to make the tip contact part enable to oscillate forward and backward in the conveyance direction on the conveyance plane and setting an angle so that the tip contact part protrudes into the surface to be measured in disagreeing with the conveyance direction; devised an S-shaped surface detecting sensor 15 configured by comprising a probe being a rectangular metal plate subject to bending twice to be S-shaped in side view as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, which is rotationally fixed into the rotation shaft, as a configuration to realize such a structure most inexpensively without disturbing sheet conveyance; mounted this sensor onto the transfer top guide 9 shown in FIG. 6 as optimum location to enable detection from the sheet surface side in the downstream side of the sheet conveyance direction in the interflow part of both of two sheet conveyance routes, that is, one from a paper cassette and the other from a manual sheet supply tray, enabling detection in any case of sheet feeding, to assess; and consequently confirmed that very high identification performance is obtainable without disturbing sheet conveyance.
As shown in FIG. 7A in further detail, this sensor has an S-shaped probe 15a with a piezoelectric element part 15b formed in the flat part being fixed onto a probe holder 15c with a fixing screw 15d at its non-conveyance side end part, and this probe holder 15c is fixed rotatably onto a probe rotation shaft 15e having axis direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction and in a parallel direction to the conveyance plain, and the probe tip part is brought into pressure contact by not shown pressure means at the contact pressure around 10 to 31 g to the conveyance plain with this probe rotation shaft 15e as the center. Moreover, this probe rotation shaft 15e is fixed on a sensor holding plate 15g (=transfer top guide) through a shaft receiver 15f, and as the conveyance plain, a conveyance plain plate 15h (=transfer bottom guide plate) is provided on the sheet conveyance lane. FIG. 7B is to show the relationship of dispositions of respective members in case of top view of these configuring members, in the center of the sensor holding plate 15g, an angled opening is provided for bringing the tip part of the S-shaped surface detecting sensor 15 into contact with the conveyance plain, and from the surface of the piezoelectric element part 15b and the surface of the metal plate of the S-shaped probe 15a, soldered signal leads for picking up detection signals are pulled out along the longitudinal direction on the surface of the sensor holding plate 15g to reach the electric part.
FIG. 8A shows a result of measuring output signal wave form of a sensor when an S-shaped surface detecting sensor configured as described above is used and major sheets of paper used in an actual printer in electro photography system are brought into sheet feeding in succession, and therein the horizontal axis is for type of paper and the vertical axis is for signal voltage. In this measurement, as the order of sheets brought into sheet feeding, a rough sheet and a smooth sheets are arranged in turn and fed, and in the measurement result, the detected signal levels for rough sheets are classified to be high and the signal levels for smooth sheets low.
However, this result itself only provides signals coming out of respective sheets in collected wave forms of minute pulse signals, and therefore, it is necessary to process to pick up signals rapidly with good timings, and there is a case where a high pulse signal occurs due to unpredicted cause in a part of sheets locally, though, among signal wave forms of smooth sheets which originally is supposed to give rise to low signals, and in order to make the apparatus internally identify the detection results accurately, the wave forms as they are were not appropriate. Accordingly, as a signal processing method further appropriate to this sensor, the present inventor provided the latter step of the signal detecting circuit with an integral circuit; devised moreover a signal processing circuit to devise so as to implement self-discharge appropriately; and processed the above described pulse signals; and consequently, wave forms as shown in FIG. 8B were obtainable, making identification of types of paper readily realizable.
Moreover as an application of the present sensor, a flexure structure 16 is provided in the conveyance path of sheet material as shown in FIG. 7C so as to configure to readily form paper loop in the contact locations where the sensor contacts the sheet material, giving rise to difference in height of this loop according to difference in rigidity, that is, in terms of sheet thickness or replacing difference in rigidity with the quality of material being same, difference in shape of sheets during conveyance for thin sheet 7′ and a thick sheet 7″ as in the drawing; introducing difference in pressure so as to lift up the probe tip part upward from downward accompanied by difference in quantity of loop deform of sheet to relatively shift the contact pressure applied to the probe tip part of the sensor; and consequently enabling to detect difference in rigidity of paper (higher rigidity gives higher signal level), and making realizable detection of thickness of sheet material since difference in rigidity between those with the same quality of material is proportional to thickness of sheet material.
Appropriately implementing signal processing with such a configured and mounted S-shaped surface detecting sensor 15 as described above, detection of surface property, rigidity/thickness of paper conveyed in is completed at least prior to the fixing step so as to enable fixing controls to be switched, a user will be able to use the apparatus without taking care about types of paper for use and without introducing image defects or unnecessary power consumption.
However, the above described configuration presented good identification performance and sheet conveyance performance for the level of basic study, but when this S-shaped surface detecting sensor was actually incorporated inside an apparatus to implement consecutive sheet feeding endurance tests, there existed still imperfect parts for use for a long period. FIG. 9 is to show detects taking place in actual use, with the above described sensor having been incorporated inside a printer, and a graph of assessment result on detection characteristics of a sensor when consecutive sheet feeding endurance tests were implemented regularly in 50000 sheets to reach 450000 sheets with standard paper.
For the detection characteristics assessment of the sensor, ten kinds of paper with representative rough sheets and smooth sheets taken from major types of paper used for a printer in a commingled fashion were used and conveyed, and among identification symbols for types of paper, characters respectively stand for F: smooth paper, R: rough paper having uniform surface roughness and W: rough paper subject to wave form modification onto the paper surface, and numerals respectively stand for basic weight of each paper, and in general, paper with larger basic weight gives higher rigidity and thickness becomes thicker at the same time. In addition, OHT denotes an OHP sheet with surface being very smooth, and a sheet in this level will be referred to as super smooth sheet.
As understood from the endurance result in FIG. 9, at each checking point of time from the start to sheet feeding in the amount of 450000 sheets and afterwards, detection performance of the present sensor gave rise to difference in detection signal levels for respective sheets so as to enable respective types of paper to be categorized into three kinds of "super smooth sheet, smooth paper, rough paper and thick paper (basic weight of not less than 135 g), and identification by providing respective regions of "types falling between the super smooth sheet and the smooth paper" and "types falling among smooth paper and rough paper and thick paper" with threshold values is feasible, and identification performance itself is maintained, but in case of considering a threshold values for respective regions throughout the entire endurance period, the threshold value for "types falling between the super smooth sheet and the smooth paper" may always remain at a constant threshold value (the value around 0.7 V in this example), but there is little margin in the region of "types falling among smooth paper and rough paper and thick paper", and between the value of the detection with respect to F105 at the point of time of 50k and other values which were detected to comparatively low levels in the rough paper and the thick paper at other endurance point of time there are cases with approximately the same level or with reversal, it is difficult to identify each region with one threshold throughout the entire endurance period, and for some point of time of use, there exists a risk of misdetection taking place between some parts of sheets.
In addition, in the above described endurance assessment, fluctuations in detection signal level for thick paper with comparatively large basic weight tend to get large, and as an application of sheet material identification apparatus, among image forming apparatuses in the same electro photography system, in case of a color machine which brings tone images consisting of a plurality of color toner layers into fixing at the same time, or a rapid machine which implements fixing very rapidly, such a system in which a fixing roller surface of the first part of the fixing device is configured by an elastic layer of heat-resisting rubber and the sheet material surface is enclosed with a soft surface so as to increase heating efficiency is mainly adopted, and in such an apparatus, changes in fixing performance due to difference in heat capacity will be more important than difference in more or less roughness on sheet material surfaces and therefore reliability on identification capability on rigidity of paper or thickness of paper both of which are highly correlational to heat capacity of sheet material might become a problem.

Sheet material identification apparatus and image forming apparatus therewith


An improved implantable pacer lead separates the pacing function and sensing function to the benefit of both pacing threshold and sensing effectiveness. Such separation permits the reduction of the size of the necrotic capsule that forms around the pacing electrode and also permits the use of smaller pacing electrodes which stimulate smaller regions, and therefore require less energy. The separation also permits the use of materials that concentrate the pacing energy where it is needed. The separation further works to the benefit of the sensing function because the sensing electrode may be placed exactly where it is most effective, independent of the optimal pacing electrode position. Similarly the size, shape, material and surface characteristics of the sensing electrode may be optimized irrespective of the pacing electrode.

Artificial pacemakers have been used for several decades to treat poor heart rhythms. One such arrhythmia is bradycardia. A person with this abnormality suffers from an unacceptably slow heart rate. This condition may be treated by implanting a pacemaker system to artificially increase the heart rate.
The pacemaker system consists of the pacemaker itself and a pacemaker lead. A pacemaker is a small electrical device implanted under the skin, usually below the collar bone. A pacemaker generates electrical impulses at a comfortable, life sustaining rate, 60 beats per minute for example. These impulses are transmitted from the pacemaker to the heart by the pacemaker lead. With the pacemaker output properly adjusted, each pulse causes the heart to beat.
A pacemaker may be constructed or programmed to operate in a variety of different modes. The simplest is the fixed rate mode. A pacemaker in this mode will generate pulses at regular intervals, irrespective of any conditions or responses. A fixed rate pacemaker set at 60 beats per minute will generate one pulse every second. Each beat is conducted along the lead and is transmitted to the heart muscle, also known as the myocardium. The myocardium immediately adjacent the tip of the lead becomes excited, that is it depolarizes. This initiates a series of physiological events that, in total, closely mimic the actions and results of an intrinsically generated heart contraction.
A more sophisticated pacemaker may be programmed to operate in response to the activity of the heart. The pacemaker will only emit a pulse to be conducted to the heart if the heart needs it. In other words, the pacemaker monitors the activity of the heart, and pulses only if the heart rate is too slow. In order to do this, the pacemaker circuitry must be informed of the activity of the heart. The lead performs this function. The lead, thus, performs two important functions in this instance; it allows the myocardial activity to be monitored and it allows pulses to be conducted from the pacemaker to the heart when needed. When a pacemaker is operating in this mode, it is operating in the inhibited mode. It will provide stimulation pulses to the heart at regular intervals unless it is inhibited by ongoing, intrinsic heart contractions.
The pacemaker lead is a flexible, insulated conductor with ends that are particularly suited to the functions they perform. One end must be electrically and mechanically connected to the pacemaker. Accordingly, it has any of a number of configurations that are standard in the pacemaker industry.
At the other end of the lead, the distal end, the lead must contact the heart electrically and mechanically. The manner in which the lead contacts the myocardium may have a profound effect on the efficiency with which the pacemaker pulse is conducted to the heart. A good interface (connection) will allow the heart to be paced with low energy and with little variation over time. This conservation of energy permits longer pacemaker battery life; thereby forestalling a subsequent operation to replace the pacemaker. A bad interface will require larger energy pulses to pace the heart and may, by virtue of the bad contact, cause physical trauma to the myocardium in the region adjacent the tip of the lead.
Past efforts at providing a good interface to the myocardium have resulted in continual improvements. An early standard among pacemaker leads had a smooth, hemispherical, metal electrode at the tip of the lead. This electrode served the dual purpose of pacing and sensing of the heart. At the time of implant the lead was positioned to a location that exhibited good pacing performance (as indicated by low energy depolarization threshold) and good sensing (as confirmed by relatively high voltage sensed signals). Over time, as the heart responded to this foreign body against it, a tissue reaction would ensue. This reaction effectively caused the formation of an unexcitable capsule immediately surrounding the electrode. The pacing threshold (the minimum pacing energy needed to result in a heart contraction) generally rose and then settled to an intermediate plateau; just as the immune system response flared in a large initial response to the foreign body and then subsided to a more stable intermediate level.
Largely through empirical observation, several factors were noted to affect the pacing threshold. Large mechanical stress on the heart resulted in the destruction of tissue adjacent the electrode. This destruction of tissue, known as necrosis, effectively moved the nearest excitable myocardial tissue further away from the electrode. In order to achieve a supra-threshold (successfully depolarizing) pulse, more energy needed to be delivered, since the pulse intensity diminishes roughly with the square of the thickness of the necrotic capsule.
It was noted that for a given lead stiffness, the size of the electrode had an effect on the size of the necrotic capsule that formed around the electrode. A very small electrode was perceived by the heart to be as an arrow; that is, very high stress was induced. A very large electrode was wasteful of the energy it delivered; that is, despite low stress on the heart, it used a great deal of energy because the current needed to be spread over such a large area. An optimum electrode surface area was found to be approximately 9 mm.sup.2.
It was also noted that the surface finish of the electrode had an effect on the threshold. Evidently, a small amount of surface roughness or porosity allowed the body to quickly and efficiently stabilize the electrode with respect to the heart with only a thin necrotic capsule. The in-growth of tissue to the electrode surface apparently minimized shear stress on the heart, and so permitted lower pacing thresholds.
Electrode material was also noted to have effects on the pacing threshold and also on sensing effectiveness. The early pacemaker electrodes displayed a large degree of residual voltage polarization following pacing pulses. Research revealed that some materials displayed better pacing and sensing characteristics.
Other factors have been discovered to improve the effectiveness of pacing and sensing as well as simplifying the placement of leads. Some electrode shapes were shown to create lower thresholds, by creating higher local current intensities for example. Other leads reduced the immune system response to the electrode by eluting an immuno-suppressant at the myocardial interface. Still other leads made lead positioning simpler and more stable by incorporating an anchor by the electrode, typically a tiny corkscrew. Such leads are called active fixation leads.
Nonetheless, there remains a great need to create pacing leads with lower pacing thresholds and good sensing capability. There are several reasons why these improvements are needed. The reasons are basically of two sorts; (1) to improve the reliability and efficiency of state of the art pacing systems and (2) to introduce technology which will allow the state of the art in pacing technology to be extended.
Virtually every pacing system would benefit if pacing thresholds could be reduced without compromising safety or cost. Lowering the pacing threshold would imply that the pacer output could be reduced. This in turn implies longer pacer life and thus more reliability and safety for the patient.
In most patients, the pacing lead or leads are placed and the pacer is programmed so that pacing and sensing are both well performed. In some patients however there are difficulties. Some patients display abnormally high thresholds or loss of capture. For these patients, there is an absolute need for low threshold leads. In other patients sensing is difficult. This is especially true in particular instances. For example, sensing in the atrium (one of the upper chambers of the heart) is almost always more difficult than sensing in the ventricle (one of the larger, more powerful lower chambers). Sensing unipolarly is almost always more difficult than sensing bipolarly (only one electrode in the respective chamber of the heart for unipolar versus two electrodes in the chamber for bipolar). One particularly challenging sensing application is found in single pass leads. Usually, if sensing and/or pacing of both atrium and ventricle is to be done (dual chamber pacing), one lead is placed in the right atrium and a separate lead is placed in the right ventricle. When a single pass lead is employed, only one lead is placed, and it is intended to service both chambers. In this instance, atrial sensing is particularly tenuous.
There is also a need to extend the state of the art in pacing leads. Presently, a single pacing electrode requires so much energy that it is simply impractical to consider placing more than one electrode in one heart chamber. If a pacing lead were available that consumed very little energy it would be practical to place more than one electrode in one chamber. This could result in lead designs that offer unprecedented benefits to the patient. For example, the risk of losing capture due to electrode migration, localized myocardial deterioration (as may be associated with an infarct) or necrosis would be enormously reduced. The availability of multiple pacing electrodes for a single chamber may prove quite effective in the application of anti-tachycardia pacing (pacing the heart in an attempt to interrupt dangerously fast heart rates). The use of multiple electrodes in a single chamber may even permit more physiologic pacing. In other words, it may allow a deployment of electrodes that, when correctly activated, promotes the effectiveness of the heart pumping by increasing the ejection fraction.


An apparatus for embossing sheet material by applying pressure to punch and die members positioned on both sides of the sheet material using force developed by one or more solenoids to force the punch and die members together to apply an imprinting force. In order to reduce the impact force, noise and wear on the mechanical parts, the solenoid may be energized in two separate steps, the first to move the punch and die members into contact with the surface of the card and the second to apply the embossing force to the punch and die members. Both rotary and linear solenoids may be used with differing coupling linkages in various embodiments of the embossing mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an embossing system and more particularly to a solenoid driven embossing mechanism for embossing information onto a common credit card.
Automated embossing systems have found wide acceptance in the field. Two such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. RE 27,809 to Drillick and U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,454 to Hencley et al and U. S. Pat. No. 3,820,455.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,271,012, 4,180,338 and 4,088,216 all show a system utilizing a pair of embossing heads in a card transport mechanism for rapidly positioning a card to receive characters from punch and die members carried by punch and die wheels. The characters are applied to various embossing locations on the surface of a card. The application of the embossing forces to the punch and die members is, in all of the systems shown in the patents listed above, by a motorized cam driven, continuously oscillating bail arm mechanism for mechanically driving the punch and die members. Such systems are mechanically complex and quite heavy because of the necessity of providing extremely strong mechanical structures for mechanically developing and coupling the embossing forces to the punch and die elements. Such prior art structures are not particularly helpful for use in simple and common lower volume applications where machines having reduced physical size and weight and lower cost are particularly necessary.

Direct solenoid drive imprinting mechanism


A shower floor former assembly is provided which comprises a shower floor former having a non-circular waste-plate receiver and a drain waste plate which is dimensioned to be receivable in the waste-plate receiver. A centre point of the waste-plate receiver is offset from a centre point of the shower floor former, and the drain waste plate has a drainage aperture therethrough, a centre point of the drainage aperture being offset from a centre point of the drain waste plate. The drain waste plate is receivable in the waste-plate receiver in a first condition in which the centre point of the drainage aperture is offset relative to the centre point of the shower floor former. The drain waste plate is also receivable in the waste-plate receiver in a second condition in which the centre point of the drainage aperture is coincident with the centre point of the shower floor former.

Shower floor formers are used in shower areas where a wet-room type floor covering is to be applied. This is where the base of the shower is continuous with the surrounding floor, and therefore the shower floor former is provided to encourage water run-off into a shower waste.
The need to create a slope for water run-off means that the shower floor former has a depth which is greater than that of the floor boards or boarding which compose the floor prior to laying of the floor covering, such as tiles. Usually, the shower floor former is positioned directly onto underlying joists or floor supports, and the floor boards or boarding are then built up around the shower floor former to provide a flush surface.
The close proximity of the shower floor former to the joists presents a problem. If the pre-drilled drainage aperture is provided in a fixed position, then there is a risk that the shower waste will be in a position which overlaps with a joist. The joist must then be cut, weakening the support to the shower floor former.
Some shower floor formers are known which have circular drain plates having eccentrically positioned drainage apertures. This allows the position of the drainage aperture to be adjusted with respect to the joists, allowing the installer to position the shower waste in a position so as to avoid the joist.
The problem with such arrangements is that the drainage aperture is always in an eccentric position, and therefore there is no prospect of the drainage aperture being positionable in the perfect centre of the shower floor former. The finished shower floor will always look asymmetric and therefore unappealing to users.
Additionally, circular drain plates are extremely difficult to neatly cover. Where tiling is used, which is the most common method for installing a floor covering in a shower area wet room, the installer must cut arcs into the tiles, which is a laborious process.


A system and method for sending an image are described. An exemplary system includes a communication device having an image capture device is configured to capture the image. A memory is coupled to the image capture device and is configured to maintain an address book having an address of a recipient. An input system is coupled to the memory and is configured to receive an input indicating a recipient. An image transmit manager is coupled to the input system and is configured to receive the input and associate the input to the address of the recipient, and in response to associating the input with the address for the recipient, to automatically transmit the image to the recipient using the address.

Hand held communication devices, such as mobile telephones and PDAs, currently are adapted to incorporate a variety of functions and to support multiple mechanisms of communication. For example, a mobile phone can provide traditional wireless telephone functions, while also providing the ability for a user to capture digital images and the ability to transmit or receive captured images for display on the phone's LCD. Indeed, the modern mobile phone allows the user to send and receive text messages, audio and video clips, graphics and images via electronic mail, Short Message Service (SMS), or Multimedia Message Service (MMS), in addition to simply talking to another caller.
Each communication mechanism is associated with a particular addressing scheme, such as a phone number for phone calls, an email address for electronic messages, or an http URL for posting images. The personal communication devices that support a wide range of communication mechanisms generally treat each mechanism separately.
One primary limitation of conventional communication devices, such as camera phones, is that address entry is cumbersome and tedious using the limited keys available. For example, assume the user of the camera phone sees an image that he desires to transmit to a friend. The user must take a picture of the image and then enter the friend's email address for the image to be delivered via electronic mail. Then, the picture must be attached to the email and the email sent. Each of the communication mechanisms require multiple steps in order to send the image.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved system and method that allows a user of a communication device to capture an image and send the image from the communication device. The present invention addresses such a need.

System and method for sending an image from a communication device


Devices and methods for a communication device having at least one power supply unit coupled to a power connector for providing an operating power for operation of network modules of the communication device and a PoE power for the ports connected to Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices. The PoE power includes a consumable power to power up at least one PoE devices and a leftover power. Further, a PoE power harvester adapter is coupled to a power connector to convert the leftover PoE power into additional operating power for operating additional network modules.

Power over Ethernet (PoE) may include techniques for delivering power and data to PoE devices over network cable, such as Ethernet cable. The network cables may connect a variety of the PoE devices to network modules of a communication device through ports provided onto the communication device. The network modules and the ports of the communication device can be powered by at least one power supply unit (PSU). The PSU generally provides both an operating power for the operation of the network modules and a PoE power to the ports. In such cases, PoE technique is employed to provide the power over data transfer cable, such as an Ethernet cable, used for communication of data. In this way, power can be provided to the PoE devices by the Ethernet cable itself, rather than requiring a separate source of power for the PoE devices.

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.


An enhanced fuseless fuse structure is provided herein. Additionally, an IC with an enhanced fuseless fuse structure, a data structure that can be used with this structure and a method of manufacturing an IC are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the IC includes: (1) a fuse wrapper configured to decode fuseless fuse data for controlling the fuses, (2) JTAG registers configured to store fuse register values in designated blocks, wherein the fuse register values and the designated blocks are determined from the fuseless fuse data and (3) options registers configurable by software to store fuse override data for modifying the fuse register values.

Fuses are a type of programmable ROM that are often utilized to store chip-specific information such as a stock-keeping-unit (SKU) configuration, calibration parameters, chip ID, RAM repair, etc. Earlier generations of chips used dedicated fuse bits in a fuse macro to store a particular feature. Automated Test Equipment (ATE) program would then be used to burn the fuses to select a feature.
Using the dedicated fuse bits had advantages with the ATE and in operations of the manufacturer since it was easy to convert a chip to a given SKU by burning specific bits in a fuse macro. The main disadvantage, however, was the lack of re-programmability; once a particular configuration for the chip was set, it could not be changed. Thus, human and programming errors could not be corrected and could lead to inventory backlogs and waste when errors occurred on a large scale. Accordingly, changes, such as fuse-based RAM repair, could not be supported in a flexible fashion under a fixed programming scheme.

Integrated circuit having an enhanced fuseless fuse structure, a method of manufacturing the same and a data structure for use with the fuseless fuse structure


Glass as a substrate for fluorescence-based assays is expensive. Disclosed is a poly(cyclic olefin) alternative to glass that is of comparable sensitivity. More specifically, disclosed is a method of making a microdevice for the immobilization of biomolecules for the purpose of carrying out a fluorescence-based assay, said method comprising providing a substrate comprising a poly(cyclic olefin); protecting the substrate from ultraviolet (UV) light; and subjecting a surface of said UV-protected substrate to ozone oxidation to activate said surface; wherein a content of intrinsic fluorophores on the surface of the substrate remains substantially unchanged after the ozone oxidation. Also disclosed is a microdevice for the immobilization of biomolecules for the purpose of carrying out a fluorescence-based assay, said microdevice comprising a body comprising a poly(cyclic olefin), said body having an ozone-activated surface substantially free of intrinsic fluorophores; wherein said activated surface is substantially free of intrinsic fluorescence during a fluorescence-based assay of said biomolecules bound to said activated surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of ozone in the activation of the surface of a poly(cyclic olefin) substrate in the absence of UV light, for the production of a substrate suitable for a fluorescence-based assay.
2. Background Art
High throughput technologies, particularly microarrays, have had a large impact in life sciences. Microarrays not only permit carrying out a large number of experiments in a parallel format, but also decrease significantly the amounts of reagents required for the analysis. Traditionally, glass has been the substrate of choice for the fabrications of microarrays and this is partly due to the existence of rather simple and well-known surface modification methods that are based on silane chemistry.
The main problem with the use of glass is expense. Chemically modified glass slides for microarray technologies are expensive and therefore plastic slides are an economical alternative. Moreover, micromachining of glass is an extremely expensive process and as a consequence this material is not suitable for 1) enhancing microarray slides with micro/nanostructures which would increase the surface area and therefore enhance the detection limit and 2) fabrication of nano/microfluidic-based systems for high throughput screening devices.
Several approaches are presented in the literature for the chemical modification of a poly(cyclic olefin) substrate. For instance, plasma treatment has been employed successfully to increase the hydrophilicity of the plastics (J. Kai, Y.-S. Sohn, C. H. Ahn, Micro Total Analysis Systems 2002, Proceedings of the mTAS 2002 Symposium, 6th, Nara, Japan, Nov. 3-7, 2002 2002, 1, 419-421; Y.-S. Sohn, J. Kai, C. H. Ahn, Sens. Lett. 2004, 2, 3, 4, 171-174; D. Nikolova, E. Dayss, G. Leps, A. Wutzler, Surf. Interface Anal. 2004, 36, 8, 689-693; A. Puntambekar, S. Murugesan, R. Trichur, H. J. Cho, S. Kim, J.-W. Choi, G. Beaucage, C. H. Ahn, Micro Total Analysis Systems 2002, Proceedings of the mTAS 2002 Symposium, 6th, Nara, Japan, Nov. 3-7, 2002 2002, 1, 425-427; C. Ahn, S. Kim, H. Chao, S. Murugesan, G. Beaucage, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings 2002, 729, BioMEMS and Bionanotechnology, 131-136). This is an aggressive method that generates a large number of polar groups such as hydroxyl groups. However, this technique is difficult to implement on an industrial scale since it requires expensive high vacuum systems.
A second approach involves reacting the poly(cyclic olefin) surface with highly reactive intermediates (H. J. Mathieu, Y. Chevolot, L. Ruiz-Talor, D. Leonard, Adv. Polym. Sci. 2003, 162, 1-34; J. J. Tate, J. Persinger, B. Bartholomew, Nucleic Acids Res. 1998, 26, 6, 1421-1426), such as free radicals (T. Rohr, D. F. Ogletree, F. Svec, J. M. J. Frechet, Adv. Funct. Mater. 2003, 13, 4, 264-270), nitrenes (K. A. Schnapp, R. Poe, E. Leyva, N. Soundararajan, M. S. Platz, Bioconjug. Chem. 1993, 4, 172-177; K. A. Schnapp, M. S. Platz, Bioconjug. Chem. 1993, 4, 178-183; J. F. W. Keana, S. X. Cai, J. Org. Chem. 1990, 55, 3640-3647) or carbenes (W. Kramer, S. Schneider, J. Lipid Res. 1989, 30, 1281-1288; K. Bergmann, K. E. Carlson, J. A. Katzenellenbongen, Bioconjug. Chem. 1994, 5, 141-150; A. Collioud, J.-F. Clemence, M. Sanger, H. Sigrist, Bioconjug. Chem. 1993, 4, 528-536). Although several degrees of success have been achieved with this approach, some of the precursors for the reactive intermediates are expensive (e.g., fluorinated aryl azides). Moreover, this approach results in many cases in inhomogenous surfaces that are not useful for assay applications (L. M. Shamansky, C. B. Davis, J. K. Stuart, W. G. Kuhr, Talanta 2001, 55, 909-918).
Ozone treatment of poly(cyclic olefins) has been used with respect to preparing a surface for adhesion to other materials on a macroscopic scale. EP 694,567 A2 and EP 694,568 A2 disclose ozone treatment of poly(cyclic olefins) with a view to producing a material that has good adherence properties to metal, glass or plastic. The ozone is preferably produced with a UV source, consistent with aggressive oxidation suitable for that application. US Patent Application 20050181531, filed Jan. 26, 2005, discloses use of ozone-treated poly(cyclic olefin) to improve adhesiveness of a base layer in coating with a bright decoration layer for use in a radar apparatus. Again, the surface of the poly(cyclic olefin) was aggressively treated with plasma ion etching and/or highly concentrated ozone water with a view to subsequent macroscopic modifications.

Microdevice for a fluorescence-based assay, and a method for making the microdevice


A device for the optimized circulation of mandrels includes a presentation and/or cooling table for mandrel rods, a lubricating station for the mandrel rods, optionally an additional drying station for the lubricant applied to the mandrels, and associated roller conveyors. An additional secondary rod circulation of is arranged upstream of the standard rod circulation and includes two redundantly operating transfer tables connected to the presentation and/or cooling table by a third roller conveyor or the first roller conveyor for the discharge of no longer needed rods from the standard rod circulation. The third roller conveyor either forms the continuation of the first roller conveyor or is arranged parallel thereto with an offset. A fourth roller conveyor for accommodating mandrel rods or passing mandrel rods intermittently into the standard circulation via an intermediate buffer is arranged on the opposite side of the transfer tables parallel to the first roller conveyor.

The invention relates to a method for optimized circulation of rods in the production of a seamlessly hot-fabricated steel pipe using the continuous pipe method, and a device for carrying out the method.
When producing seamless pipes using the so-called continuous pipe method (continuous rolling method), a solid round steel bar is initially heated to a rolling temperature of about 1250° C. This is typically done in a rotary hearth furnace. The round steel bar is then pierced into a thin-wall hollow block, typically with a cross roll piercing mill.
The hollow block is subsequently rolled at the same temperature in a multi-frame continuous rolling mill into a shell using a mandrel rod and into a pipe having the final dimensions in a subsequent reduction rolling mill or sizing mill.
To allow the hollow block to be rolled to slide on the mandrel rod in the continuous rolling mill after the mandrel rod has been maneuvered into the hollow block which is stretched longitudinally during rolling, a lubricant must be applied to the mandrel rod. The lubricant is typically applied on the mandrel rod in liquid form and dried until the time of use.
The rod must be cooled after rolling to prepare the rod for the next use or to store the rod.
To improve the utilization of the rolling mill and achieve optimal conditions of the mandrel rods with respect to the surface characteristics, lubrication and temperature, it is known, for example from DE 33 35 942 A1, to arrange a so-called (mandrel) rod circulation upstream of the actual rolling mill as standard equipment, which includes all necessary stations for preparing the mandrel rods and has approximately 4 to 8 mandrel rods in form of a mandrel rod set circulating simultaneously.
Specifically, the standard rod circulation includes the following steps:                lubricating and drying the lubricant on the still warm mandrel rod,        maneuvering the mandrel rod (A) into the hollow block, rolling the hollow block and stripping the shell from the mandrel rod,        returning the used hot mandrel rod to a cooling conveyor with selective precooling,        cooling the mandrel rod on the cooling conveyor, and in the event of reuse        transferring the mandrel rod to the supply roller conveyor for lubrication and repetition of the cycle.
Due to this repeating cycle, a mandrel rod is always ready for use at the beginning of the rolling process.
When changing the mandrel rod set to a different dimension, the rods of the circulating set are removed via a discharge table and the rods of the new set are inserted via a presentation table. Because the cycle times have to be maintained, this may lead to dead times of the rolling mill, when the rods with the next dimension are not available in time.
To ensure that a mandrel rod with a suitable dimension and with a dried lubricant is available on the feed into the rolling mill, three possibilities exist when changing dimensions:                1. The mandrel rods are heated before their use, the lubricant is subsequently applied, and the rod is inserted for rolling shortly after having been dried.        2. The mandrel rods are lubricated after removal from the standard rod circulation and are stored after natural or accelerated drying. Re-lubrication due to flaws caused by handling of the rods may be required before reuse.        3. The use of rapidly drying special lubricants which dry sufficiently fast even when the rods are not preheated.
Due to a worldwide increase in rolling mill capacity, more and more special programs must be performed in a continuous rolling mill. This specialization means, on one hand, an increase of the number of different rolling lots with different materials and dimensions and, on the other hand, a decrease in the number of pipes being rolled in a rolling lot. The smallest rolling lot unit is a single pipe to be rolled on a corresponding mandrel rod.
As a result, with small and extremely small rolling lots and frequent dimensional changes, it is frequently necessary to change from one set of mandrel rods to another set or from one size of mandrel rods to the next size.
To minimize downtimes in the rolling mill, the rolling lots are sorted so that a dimensional change requires the shortest possible conversion time. Longer-time conversions, for example for a block change, are planned less frequently, shorter-time conversions, such as major and minor gauge changes, are planned more frequently.
However, the aforedescribed measures are not adequate for rolling programs requiring a consecutive fast changes of the mandrel rods with other diameters. In particular, it has been observed that the rod circulation practiced to date cannot be optimally matched to rolling of smaller lots, for example when the number of pipes to be rolled is identical to or only insignificantly larger than the number of provided mandrel rods. When a mandrel rod change is required, a readily usable mandrel rod may not always be available on the presentation unit at the time of the planned rolling start, already causing downtimes.
In particular, the often very long preheating times of a mandrel rod or of a mandrel rod set and inadequately sized transport and storage facilities for a frequent rod change may also result in longer downtimes and thus an uneconomical production.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method for optimized rod circulation in the production of a seamlessly hot-fabricated steel pipe using the continuous pipe method, with which also small or extremely small rolling lots can be produced economically due to a rapid rod change. A corresponding device will also be described.

Method and device for the optimized circulation of rods in the production of a seamlessly hot-fabricated steel pipe according to the continuous pipe method