Isolated DNA elements that direct either pistil-specific or anther-specific expression of a polypeptide-encoding gene are disclosed. Plants comprising the DNA fragment operably linked to a gene are also disclosed. A further embodiment comprises a method of producing a female sterile plant, the method comprising growing a plant having integrated into its genome an isolated DNA element that directs pistil-specific expression of a nucleotide sequence that encodes or is transcribed into a moiety that causes female sterility in plants.

Self-incompatibility, a mechanism that prevents self-fertilization in flowering plants, is based on the ability of the pistil to recognize the presence of self-pollen and on the female tissue's capacity to restrict the growth or germination of self-related but not of genetically unrelated pollen. Although the mechanism of self-recognition is not yet known, a chromosomal location, the S-locus, has been shown from genetic crosses to encode the putative pistil and pollen elements that interact in this recognition process. When both the captured pollen grain and the receptive pistil possess and express different S-locus haplotypes, pollen growth proceeds; when the two S haplotypes are identical, pollen growth, as well as self-pollination, are prevented. The expression of S-locus encoded elements in two tissues, the female sporophytic tissue as well as in the anther or pollen (or in both male tissues), is a hallmark of all models of self-incompatibility and distinguishes gene regulation in this system from many other systems in which tissue specificity is limited to a single location.
Self-incompatibility has been best studied in the Brassicaceae and Solanaceae, and genes associated with the S-locus have been identified in species of Brassica, Nicotiana, Petunia, and Solanum. In Brassica, two partially homologous genes have been shown to reside at the S-locus: one, SLG, encodes a secreted glycoprotein that is present in stigma papillar cells and in the tapetum and microspores of the anther, and the other, SRK, specifies a putative membrane-spanning receptor protein kinase that is present in Brassica pistil and anther. Expression of the S-locus products in the Brassicas is controlled sporophytically. A haploid pollen grain will possess a self- incompatibility phenotype that is determined by the two S-locus alleles carried by the parent plant. In contrast, the self-incompatibility phenotype of pollen derived from plants that express gametophytic control of self-incompatibility (e.g., in the Solanaceae) is dictated by the single S-locus haplotype carried by the pollen.
Evidence for this specificity of SLG promoter activity derives from genetic ablation studies in which a chimeric gene construct consisting of the SLG promoter fused to the diphtheria toxin subunit A (DTA) gene was introduced into tobacco (M. K. Thorsness, M. K. Kandasamy, M. E. Nasrallah and J. B. Nasrallah, Dev. Biol., Vol. 143, (1991) pages 173-184), Brassica (M. K. Kandasamy, M. K. Thorsness, S. J. Rundle, J. B. Nasrallah and M. E. Nasrallah, Plant Cell, Vol. 5, (1993) (in press)), and Arabidopsis (M. K. Thorsness, M. K. Kandasamy, M. E. Nasrallah and J. B. Nasrallah, Plant Cell, Vol. 5, (1993) (in press)). Transformation of these plants with the SLG-DTA gene fusion resulted in the production at high frequency of transgenic plants that underwent normal differentiation and produced flowers in which only specific cells of the pistil and anther were ablated.
Surprisingly, when the Brassica SLG gene is introduced into Nicotiana tabacum, a self-compatible species belonging to the Solanaceae family, it is expressed in pistils in a manner similar to that noted for the S-linked RNase of Nicotiana alata and not according to the pattern shown for this gene in Brassica. In transgenic tobacco, the product of the introduced Brassica SLG gene accumulates in the secretory zone of the stigma, the transmitting tissue of the style, and to a lesser degree in the placental epidermis of the ovary. In Brassica, endogenous SLG molecules are detected mainly in the cell wall of stigma papillar cells. These expression patterns are consistent with the site and timing of self-pollen rejection in Brassica and Nicotiana.
Similar findings have been made with regard to S-locus expression in the anther. The analysis of the SLG-DTA fusion and of a reporter gene fusion consisting of the SLG promoter fused to the reporter .beta.-glucuronidase (GUS) gene have identified the cell types of the pistil and anther in which the SLG promoter is active. In the pistils of transgenic Brassica and Nicotiana, the promoter is active in cells of the stigma and in the transmitting tissue of the style and ovary (T. Sato, M. K. Thorsness, M. K. Kandasamy, T. Nishio, M. Hirai, J. B. Nasrallah and M. E. Nasrallah, Plant Cell, Vol. 3, (1991) pages 867-876; M. K. Thorsness, M. K. Kandasamy, I. E. Nasrallah and J. B. Nasrallah, Dev. Biol., Vol. 143, (1991) pages 173-184). In the anthers of transgenic Brassica, promoter activity is evident in the tapetum, a sporophytic tissue of the anther, and in microspores (T. Sato, M. K. Thorsness, M. K. Kandasamy, T. Nishio, M. Hirai, J. B. Nasrallah and M. E. Nasrallah, Plant Cell, Vol. 3, (1991) pages 867-876). In transgenic tobacco anthers on the other hand, the SLG-GUS fusion exhibits strict gametophytic expression: GUS activity is detected in pollen grains and not in the sporophytic tissues of the anther (M. K. Thorsness, M. K. Kandasamy, M. E. Nasrallah and J. B. Nasrallah, Dev. Biol., Vol. 143, (1991) pages 173-184). Moreover, approximately one half of the pollen grains of transformed plants that contain a single copy of the introduced gene show GUS activity. On the other hand, Brassica plants transformed with this construction display GUS activity in the tapetum, a sporophytic tissue of the anther, and in pollen microspores. Thus, although the S-locus-linked genes identified to date differ in plants possessing sporophytic and gametophytic forms of self-incompatibility, a common, conserved mechanism apparently exists in Brassica and Nicotiana for directing the expression of S-locus genes.
The DNA sequences required in cis for the expression of the SLG gene lie within 3.65 kb upstream of the gene's coding region. Promoter activity is detected in both pollen and pistil of transformed Brassica and Nicotiana plants and follows the temporal, spatial, and developmental-regulated expression pattern noted above.

Isolated DNA elements that direct pistil-specific and anther-specific gene expression and methods of using same


An image forming device includes an acquisition unit and a display controller. The acquisition unit accesses multiple storage devices in units of a certain number of storage devices in order starting with a storage device having a highest priority to acquire information concerning image data stored in a certain number of storage devices equal to the number of storage devices in each unit. The display controller causes information concerning image data acquired from a certain number of storage devices having a first priority, equal to the number of storage devices in each unit, to be displayed on a display. In response to receipt of instructions to continue acquisition, the display controller causes information concerning image data acquired from a certain number of storage devices having a second priority next to the first priority, equal to the number of storage devices in each unit, to be displayed on the display.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming device, an image forming method, and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
(ii) Related Art
In some cases, an image forming device may access all the image forming devices included in a system to acquire information concerning image data, display a list of pieces of image data after the information has been acquired, and print a piece of image data selected from the list by a user.

Image forming device, image forming method, and non-transitory computer readable medium


A system for controlling a plurality of load devices includes a high-side system operative to source current relative to at least two associated outputs. A low-side system is operative to sink current relative to a plurality of associated inputs. A control system controls the high-side system and the low-side system according to a multiplexing scheme that is operative to provide current to selected load devices of the plurality of load devices connected between the associated outputs and the associated inputs. The system can be implemented as an integrated circuit for driving the plurality of loads, which can include LED's.

Various types and configurations of driver circuitry have been developed for driving different load devices. For example, driver circuits have been designed to drive light emitting diodes (LED's). LED's provide a unique type of load, as illumination provided by an LED is proportional to the current through the device. In certain applications (e.g., the automotive industry, consumer electronics, etc.), a constant intensity of illumination may be desirable. Hence, efforts have been made to design LED drivers that provide a controllable amount of current to LED's to achieve a desired intensity of illumination. These designs, however, typically have not been completely satisfactory. For example, complex and/or expensive circuitry is generally required to provide a desirable level of control over the amount of illumination or to enable driving different color LED's. Accordingly, a more cost efficient and versatile solution is desirable.

System and method for driving a plurality of loads


Systems and methods for management of geographic data layers in a geographic information system are provided. A layer control tool can be presented in conjunction with the geographic imagery. The layer control tool can provide a control interface to allow the user to manage the display of various geographic data layers in conjunction with the geographic imagery. The layer control tool can include a dynamic control list of geographic data layers. Geographic data layers can be identified for inclusion in the dynamic control list and/or ordered within the dynamic control list based on frequency of user interaction with the geographic data layers. In a particular implementation, the geographic data layers are identified for inclusion in the dynamic control list and/or ordered within the dynamic control list based on a layer score associated with each geographic data layer.

Geographic information systems provide for the archiving, retrieving, and manipulating of data that has been stored and indexed according to geographic coordinates of its elements. Interactive geographic information systems allow for the navigating and displaying of geographic imagery. Some interactive geographic information systems provide a user interface with navigation controls for navigating cities, neighborhoods, geographic areas and other terrain in two or three dimensions.
Geographic information systems can display many different layers of information on top of a two or three dimensional representation of the world. These geographic data layers can include, for instance, terrain data layers, street information data layers, building data layers, border data layers, and other geographic data layers that provide information associated with discrete geographic coordinates. Due to the high volume of available geographic data layers in some geographic information systems, the browsing, selection and control of the geographic data layers can be difficult and cumbersome for a user. This can be particularly true in mobile device applications where display space may be limited.

Management of geographic data layers in a geographic information system


A cell agnostic battery pack that is capable of receiving sub-modules including lithium-ion cells regardless of form factor type, technology or supplier is described. The battery pack includes a chassis comprising compartments for receiving lithium-ion cells in the form of sub-modules that are connectable in series, parallel or series and parallel, and a battery pack controller. The battery pack further comprises internal interconnects adapted for coupling the sub-modules received in the compartments to the battery pack controller to create a target pack voltage and energy density.

An electric battery is a device including one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. There are different types of battery technology. Lithium-ion is an example of an emerging battery cell technology that is popular in mobile devices, power tools, electric vehicles and energy storage applications. Common lithium-ion batteries use a lithium compound as one electrode material and carbon as another electrode material. In a discharge process of a typical lithium-ion battery, lithium ions move from a negative electrode to a positive electrode, through an electrolyte, generating a voltage. Lithium-ion battery technology has a number of advantages including long battery life, improved energy density and wide operating temperature range. Cell suppliers typically offer batteries based on different lithium-ion cell technologies and having different form factors (i.e., shape and size).


In one example, a vehicle seat includes a non-woven and a J-clip, wherein the non-woven is secured to the J-clip to define a single component. The vehicle seat includes a trim cover attached to the non-woven, and the J-clip is attached to a cushion frame to attach the trim cover to the cushion frame.

A J-clip is attached to a trim cover, and the J-clip attaches to a cushion frame to attach the trim cover to the cushion frame. When approximately 250 N of force is applied, the J-clip can disengage from the cushion frame, requiring the J-clip to be manually reattached to the cushion frame.


An external electrode fluorescent lamp and a method for manufacturing the same is disclosed, in which indentations are provided in a surface of a glass tube filled with a discharge gas by etching, and external electrodes are formed at both ends of the glass tube, thereby realizing close adhesion between external electrode and the glass tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an external electrode fluorescent lamp EEFL for a backlight, and more particularly, to an external electrode fluorescent lamp and a method for manufacturing the same, in which indentations are provided in a surface of a glass tube by etching when forming external electrodes at both ends of a fluorescent lamp.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) has been widely used as monitors in televisions, measuring machines, and information terminals. However, the CRT has limitations in size and weight. Accordingly, display devices such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices using an electro-optics effect, plasma display panels (PDP) using gas discharge, and an electro luminescence display (ELD) devices using an electro-luminescence effect have been developed to replace the CRT.
LCD devices have been studied because LCD devices have great picture quality, low power consumption, and low heat dissipation as compared to CRTs. However, an LCD device does not emit light by itself, so that it is necessary to provide an additional light source. One solution is a reflecting-type LCD device using ambient light as a light source, but this has limitations in practical use due to the environment. In response, a transmitting-type LCD device having an additional light source has been developed, in which the additional light source is referred to as a backlight. An LCD device may use one of various light sources such as electro luminescence (EL), a light emitting diode (LED), a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL), or a hot cathode fluorescent lamp (HCFL). The CCFL having a long lifetime, low power consumption, and a thin profile is generally used for the light source.
In transmitting-type LCD devices, the backlight may be classified into a direct-type method and an edge-type method depending on the position of a fluorescent lamp. In the edge-type backlight, a tube-type fluorescent lamp is positioned at a side of the LCD panel, for transmitting the light from the fluorescent lamp to the entire surface of the LCD panel with a transparent light-guiding plate. Meanwhile, the direct-type backlight has been more widely used with large-sized LCD devices of 20-inch or more, in which a plurality of fluorescent lamps are placed below a lower surface of a light-diffusion plate, whereby the entire surface of the LCD panel is directly illuminated by the fluorescent lamps. At this time, the direct-type method, which has greater luminous efficiency as compared with that of the edge-type method, is used for large-sized LCD devices requiring high luminance. For example, the LCD device of the direct-type method is generally used for large-sized monitors or the televisions.
Hereinafter, a backlight for an LCD device according to the related art will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a direct-type backlight according to the related art, and FIG. 2 illustrates a fluorescent lamp according to the related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the direct-type backlight according to the related art includes a plurality of fluorescent lamps 1, an outer case 3, and light diffuser 5. In this example, the plurality of fluorescent lamps 1 are positioned along one direction at fixed intervals, and the outer case 3 maintains and supports the plurality of fluorescent lamps 1 at fixed intervals. Then, the light diffuser 5 is positioned above the plurality of fluorescent lamps 1. The light diffuser 5 prevents the silhouette of the fluorescent lamps 1 from being displayed on the display surface of the LCD panel (not shown), and for providing a light source having uniform luminance. For improving efficiency in diffusing light, a plurality of diffusion sheets and diffusion plates 5a, 5b, 5c may be provided. Also, a reflecting plate 7 is provided on an inner surface of the outer case 3 to concentrate the light emitted from the fluorescent lamps 1 to the display surface of the LCD panel, thereby improving the luminous efficiency. Also each fluorescent lamp 1 is fixed to holes provided at both sides of the outer case 3.
As shown in FIG. 2, the CCFL 1 is filled with a discharge gas, and electrodes 2 and 2a are provided, one electrode of a glass tube for applying power (not shown). Also, wires 9 are connected to the electrodes 2 and 2a. The wires 9 are also connected to an inverter (not shown) and a driving circuit. Each fluorescent lamp 1 requires an individual inverter.
However, the direct-type backlight according to the related art has the following disadvantages. In the direct-type backlight according to the related art, the silhouette of the CCFL may be displayed on the display surface of the LCD panel. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a predetermined distance between the LCD panel and the CCFL. When using the direct-type backlight according to the related art, there are limitations as to how thin the LCD device may be. Also, hot cathode or cold cathode type electrodes are provided at the both ends of the glass tube in the related art fluorescent lamp. However, the process for providing the electrodes inside the fluorescent lamp is complicated, and each fluorescent lamp is driven with an individual inverter, thereby increasing manufacturing cost and the lifetime of the fluorescent lamp.

External electrode fluorescent lamp and method for manufacturing the same


A method and a control unit for controlling the authorization of charging operations of electrically operated vehicles. A control unit is provided between a main terminal and a plurality of electric coupler sockets, which are connected to the control unit via a power line. A vehicle to be charged is connected to one of the electric coupler sockets, and the total charging current, which is conducted from the main terminal to the electric coupler sockets via the control unit, is measured. Charging-current requests are transmitted to the control unit by each of the vehicles connected to the electric coupler sockets, and the total charging current is compared to the sum of the charging currents reported by the vehicles connected to the charging outlets. The charging outlets are switched off if the total charging current exceeds the sum. The connecting of a vehicle to be charged includes transmitting authorization information from the vehicle to the control unit. The authorization information is compared to a list of authorized vehicles by the control unit, in order to check the authorization of the vehicle. The transmitting of charging-current requests and authorization information is provided by modulating an alternating current signal upon the power line, the alternating current signal representing the authorization request or the charging-current request.

Electrically operated vehicles, i.e., hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, are powered by electric storage batteries, which store traction energy for the vehicle. In order to supply the vehicle with new traction energy, there is the possibility of replacing an empty storage battery of the vehicle with a new one, but this is associated with a complicated replacement operation, and further problems occur during vehicle-related maintenance of the storage batteries.
In addition, electrically operated vehicles may be charged at an electric coupler socket of a customary system interconnection, but the electric coupler socket must be secured to protect against unauthorized withdrawals of power, e.g., by putting the electric coupler socket in a lockable chamber. However, this kind of access control is not practical in the case of mobile applications and is therefore associated with difficulties when constructing a charging power supply network.
The option of providing individual electric coupler sockets with individual switching modules for self-contained access control, which carry out authorization interrogations themselves, requires a high expenditure, since each electric coupler socket must be individually modified.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device, by which controlled charging of electrically operated vehicles may be implemented without resulting in a high degree of installation and hardware expenditure.

Method and device for controlling the authorization of charging operations of electrically operated vehicles


Methods and apparatuses for a attaching a first substrate to a second substrate are provided. In some embodiments, a first substrate has a protective layer, such as a solder mask, around a die attach area, at which a second substrate is attached. A keep-out region (e.g., an area between the second substrate and the protective layer) is a region around the second substrate in which the protective layer is not formed or removed. The keep-out region is sized such that a sufficient gap exists between the second substrate and the protective layer to place an underfill between the first substrate and the second substrate while reducing or preventing voids and while allowing traces in the keep-out region to be covered by the underfill.

Integrated circuits or chips are made up of millions of active and passive devices such as transistors and capacitors. These devices are initially isolated from each other, and are later interconnected to form integrated circuits. Connector structures are further formed for integrated circuits, which may include bond pads or metal bumps formed on the surface of the circuits. Electrical connections are made through the bond pads or metal bumps to connect the chip to a package substrate or another die. In general, chips may be assembled into a package such as a pin grid array (PGA), or ball grid array (BGA), using wire bonding (WB) or flip chip (FC) packaging technology.
A flip-chip (FC) packaging technology may connect a chip to a package substrate using a bump-on-trace (BOT) structure, wherein the connections are made through the metal bumps to connect the chip to the metal traces of the package substrate or die. The BOT structure offers a low cost alternative to microelectronic packaging industry. However, the reliability issues for BOT structure rises as substrate structure goes thinner.
When using a BOT structure, bumps for the chip are soldered onto the trace on the package substrate by a reflow process. When the bumps are joined to the substrate and cooled down from the reflow condition to a room temperature, thermal force caused by coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch drives the substrate shrinkage and leads to relative twist on each bump. Once stress level rises over the adhesive criteria between the substrate and the trace, a trace peeling failure occurs.

Methods and apparatus for bump-on-trace chip packaging

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


Various embodiments are directed to streaming DVR devices that can communicate over an Internet Protocol (IP) network with other streaming enabled DVR devices. Implementing a peer-to-peer type connection, one streaming enabled DVR device may be able to stream buffered video data to another streaming enable DVR device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) allow users to time-shift television programming, watching content recorded by the DVR at a time of their choosing. Most DVRs continually record at least one broadcast feed that is buffered in memory. Typical buffers can store 30-60 minutes of programming. Viewers can thus "restart" a program from a point in the past. However, this functionality is typically limited to programs that are currently being buffered by the DVR. Accordingly, there may be a need for improved techniques to solve these and other problems.

Peer to peer streaming of DVR buffered program data


Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are provided to implement video coding system (VCS). The VCS may be configured to receive a video signal, which may include one or more layers (e.g., a base layer (BL) and/or one or more enhancement layers (ELs)). The VCS may be configured to process a BL picture into an inter-layer reference (ILR) picture, e.g., using picture level inter-layer prediction process. The VCS may be configured to select one or both of the processed ILR picture or an enhancement layer (EL) reference picture. The selected reference picture(s) may comprise one of the EL reference picture, or the ILR picture. The VCS may be configured to predict a current EL picture using one or more of the selected ILR picture or the EL reference picture. The VCS may be configured to store the processed ILR picture in an EL decoded picture buffer (DPB).

Multimedia technology and mobile communications have experienced massive growth and commercial success in recent years. Wireless communications technology has dramatically increased the wireless bandwidth and improved the quality of service for mobile users. For example, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard has improved the quality of service as compared to 2nd Generation (2G) and/or 3rd Generation (3G).
With the availability of high bandwidths on wireless networks, video and multimedia content that is available on the wired web may drive users to desire equivalent on-demand access to that content from a wide variety of mobile devices with different size, quality, and/or connectivity capabilities.
To make the various types of video content available over networks, one or more video coding and compression mechanisms may be used. The video coding systems may be used to compress digital video signals, e.g., to reduce the storage need and/or transmission bandwidth of such signals. Various types of video compression technologies based on one or more video coding standards may be used. The standards may include, for example, H.261, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, MPEG-4 part 2, and H.264/MPEG-4 part 10 AVC, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), etc. Extension of the video coding standards, e.g., H.264 (scalable video coding (SVC)), and/or scalable HEVC may be used. The scalable coding mechanisms provided may have disadvantages and may be inadequate.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Codec architecture for multiple layer video coding


A light-adjusting unit includes: a light-shielding plate centered an optical axis of an incoming light flux and configured to block the light flux in response to the amount of rotation; a rotation transmitting gear configured to hold and rotate the light-shielding plate; a supporting shaft configured to rotatably support the rotation transmitting gear; and a supporting substrate on which the supporting shaft is provided, and the light-shielding plate is provided on one surface side of the supporting plate, and the rotation transmitting gear is provided on the other surface side of the supporting substrate opposite to the one surface side.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light-adjusting unit and a projector.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a projector configured to modulate a light flux emitted from a light source unit by a light-modulating unit according to an image signal and project the modulated light flux on a screen or the like as image light is known. Examples of such a projector include those having a light-adjusting unit configured to adjust the light amount of the light flux to be caused to enter the light-modulating unit corresponding to the brightness of an image to be projected. The projectors having such a light-adjusting unit provide high dynamic contrast.
A light-adjusting unit disclosed in JP-A-2010-175679 includes a dimming unit configured to dim a light flux emitted from a light source, a second gear and a third gear having a dimming unit mounted thereon and configured to rotate for changing the position of the diming unit, a base portion having a supporting shaft configured to rotatably support the second gear and the third gear and configured to sandwich the second gear and the third gear respectively with an optical component housing in the direction substantially orthogonal to an axial center of the supporting shaft. In this configuration, the supporting shaft is allowed to be projected from a rotating portion, the rotating portion is prevented from coming apart from the supporting shaft without arranging a guard ring or the like, and a stable rotation is achieved in order for changing the position of the dimming unit adequately.
In the light-adjusting unit disclosed in JP-A-2010-175679, the second gear and the third gear are provided on the same side as the side where the dimming unit (light-shielding plate) is provided with respect to the base portion. In other words, the second gear and the third gear are provided on the side where the light flux passes, and are subject to a transfer of heat generated by the light flux blocked by the dimming unit. Therefore, there is a problem that the second gear and the third gear expand by the transfer of the heat, and a seizure of these gears with each other (a state of being stuck and immobilized) may often occur. For reference, the second gear and the third gear are formed of synthetic resin or the like having the high heat resistance. In the light-adjusting unit disclosed in JP-A-2010-175679, the second gear and the third gear have a configuration of a spur gear. Therefore, the light-adjusting unit has a problem that a noise is liable to occur due to the engagement between the gears at the time of driving. Therefore, for the purpose of silencing at the time of driving, a method of applying lubricant such as grease is employed. However, problems such as an increase in noise when being used for a long time, seizure of foreign substances adherent to grease between the gears, and unstable operation under a low temperature environment still exist.
Therefore, a light-adjusting unit and a projector capable of inhibiting the thermal transfer to the gears and a reduction of the noise at the time of driving have been demanded.


In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a system for widening passages in the body of a patient includes a member extendable into a patient with a proximal end and a distal end with a tip and a hollow interior extending therebetween; bristles adjacent the distal end of the member such that rotation of the proximal end of the member causes rotation of the bristles to remove material from walls of pre-existing passages in the patient and, all of the bristles are inclined away from the tip of the distal end as they extend out from the distal end; a guide wire having a proximal end and a distal end disposed within the hollow interior and extendable into the patient; and a non-rotating capture member coaxially aligned with and fixed near the guide wire distal end to be disposed within the hollow interior and extendable into the patient.

Within the human body are various passages, which convey fluids. Material may build up on the walls of such passages such that partial blockages may occur. Indeed, such partial blockages, if left untreated, may eventually become complete blockages. Whether the blockages are partial or complete, there usually are adverse health consequences associated therewith.
In the cardiovascular system, in particular, a vein or artery may be partially or completely blocked. The veins or venous blood vessels may be blocked (hereinafter meaning partially or completely blocked) by a blood clot called a thrombus. The arteries or arterial blood vessels may also be blocked by a thrombus. In either a vein or artery, plaque or other such blockages should be treated using one or more medical procedures.
The following patents are noted:
InventorPatent No.Issue DateAuth4,445,509May 1, 1984Auth4,646,736Mar. 3, 1987Summers4,850,957Jul. 25, 1989Stack et al4,867,156Sep. 19, 1989Auth4,990,134Feb. 5, 1991Stack et al5,059,211Oct. 22, 1991Stack et al5,306,286Apr. 26, 1994Auth et al5,314,407May 24, 1994Auth et al5,364,393Nov. 15, 1994Cragg5,370,653Dec. 6, 1994Abela5,895,400Apr. 20, 1999
The Stack patents disclose catheters for removing plaque from the wall of an artery using blade elements and devices to work with such cutting catheters.
The Auth patents show various structures for removing calcified material. The use of diamond dust covered abrasive devices, a cutting tool with spirally shaped cutting flutes, and electrical ablation are among the techniques disclosed.
The Cragg patent and the Summers patent both show cutting catheter systems and methods. Cragg has rotatable soft flexible bristles, whereas Summers has a cutting arrangement with a continuous filament brush and an alternate cutting blade design.
The Abela patent discloses a catheter with a rotatable bristle arrangement carried on a sweep catheter extending along a guide wire.
Cutting devices often must be sized to fit the particular passage which is being treated. In other words, one must use a different size cutter for every different size of vessel. Disadvantageously, one must then have more than one cutter available and must determine the correct size before putting the cutter into the patient, such that the correct size cutter is used. Use of a cutter that is too small will not remove all of the plaque or other built-up material. Use of a cutter that is too large increases the chances of damaging healthy tissue on the wall of the passage.
Some prior devices for cutting or removing material from the walls of passages in a patient are constructed such that they may damage healthy tissue on the wall of the passage even if they are the right size. Depending on the characteristics of the blocking material, the adjacent healthy tissue, and the cutting device (for example, if the cutting device is too rigid), damage may occur when cutting.
A further problem with some prior arrangements is that materials removed from the wall of a blood vessel, for example, can create problems downstream from the original blockage. Removed materials can resettle downstream and create a partial or complete blockage at a new location. Depending on the size of the material pieces, a heart attack, stroke, or other health problems can result from attempting to remove blood vessel obstructing material.
Chemical solutions have been proposed for use in dissolving the pieces. Depending upon the chemical used, this may require that the passage be blocked by a balloon for a considerable period of time. A catheter-controlled balloon may be used downstream from where the material is being removed. The balloon prevents removed material from passing by it until the material is dissolved. Suction devices have also been used for removing material.
The Abela patent discloses a catheter system that overcomes several of the disadvantages found in prior devices. A sweep catheter having a set of bristles on its distal end is proposed for use in removing all or portions of a thrombus located in a vein or artery. This system is effective at removing the material while eliminating or reducing the risk of damage to blood vessel tissue.
Accordingly, a catheter system and method that addresses one or more of the above-noted deficiencies or disadvantages would be desirable.

Catheter for clearing passages in a patient


A blister pack includes a cavity sheet including at least one product blister and an access blister associated with each of the at least one product blister, and a child resistant backing coupled to the cavity sheet, the child resistant backing including a weakened pattern corresponding with each of the at least one product blister formed in the cavity sheet, wherein the access blister includes a generally V-indent member configured to initiate a separation of the weakened pattern. The V-indent member focuses forces to allowing easy access to the product blister by adults, including seniors, while maintaining child resistant standards.

It is generally known that pharmaceutical products may be distributed in a variety of forms. Single dose pharmaceutical products are commonly available in tablets, lozenges, capsules, and the like. It is also known that some pharmaceutical products can pose a health risk to young children who are unable to recognize the risks of ingesting such products.
Accordingly, recent efforts have been made to provide child resistant pharmaceutical product packaging that prevents a child from accessing the pharmaceutical while still providing access to adults. By designing child resistant pharmaceutical packaging, the likelihood of accidents caused by a child ingesting a pharmaceutical product are greatly reduced.
Blister card packages are one form of container commonly used for the child resistant packaging of pharmaceuticals, particularly for unit-dose packaging where the delivery of individually packaged dosage units to the consumer or patient is desirable. Generally, a conventional blister card package provides a container for individual dosages of the pharmaceutical, separately packaged for delivery to a consumer. Typically, a blister card package contains one or more individual dosages on a card where each dosage is independently sealed and can be readily detached along perforations. The blister card package is usually constructed of several layers. The top layer is a blister card cover that covers a cavity sheet or container form-stock constructed of a rigid material having integrally formed pharmaceutical blisters or cavities designed to hold a pharmaceutical dosage. The bottom of the cavity sheet is sealed to a lidding layer generally constructed of a foil or paper. Additionally, a thick child resistant backing sheet is typically coupled to the blister card cover and folded so that it is positioned adjacent to the lidding, thereby making the blister card packaging child resistant.
The blister package can be designed for removal of the pharmaceutical from the container in a variety of ways. In some packages, the pharmaceutical is removed by first removing a perforated section of the child resistant backing followed by pressing the pharmaceutical through a rupturable lidding. In other designs, the child resistant backing and the lidding are designed to be peeled off of the cavity sheet to expose and allow removal of the pharmaceutical. One example pharmaceutical package design is the Key-Pak design. The Key-Pak design includes a number of holes formed through the fold over card, each hole positioned adjacent to a corresponding pharmaceutical blister. The holes formed through the blister card cover allow an object to be forced through the holes directly to the child-resistant backing, thereby allowing separation and subsequent removal of the child resistant backing located adjacent to the desired pharmaceutical blister. While the Key-Pak design is sufficient for single row blister strips, the Key-Pak design requires the cutting of holes in the blister package to access pharmaceutical blisters located in the middle cavities of cavity sheets having multiple rows. The formation of extra holes in the blister package results in unnecessary added cost and time to the manufacture of the resulting pharmaceutical package.
In the formation of child resistant blister card packages, a balance is had between designing a blister that is both tamper resistant and hermetically sealed while being easily opened by adults but not by children. However, many conventional blister packages are difficult to open, particularly by seniors or others with impaired dexterity. In the case of rupturable blisters, difficulty in opening may result in damage to the pharmaceutical. Additionally, with respect to peel-apart blisters, the child resistant backing layers are often difficult to manipulate and separate because they are thin and tightly sealed.

System and a method for a V-indent blister opening cavity


The invention provides a coordinates input device capable of detecting coordinates with high accuracy by eliminating errors that could be contained in detected voltage depending on the condition of the pressure applied to a coordinates input section. When pressure is applied to a plane resistive sheet of the coordinates input section, the maximum voltage applied to the coordinates input section is detected by means of an A/D converter prior to the detection of the coordinates, and correction is made by a reference voltage regulating circuit so that a reference voltage becomes equal to the maximum voltage. Thereafter, the A/D converter converts the detected voltage to digital data on the basis of the corrected reference voltage, for calculation of the coordinates. Errors that could be contained in the detected voltage when detecting the coordinates can thus be eliminated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coordinates input device such as a pressure sensitive tablet or the like wherein the position of a pressed point is detected when two spaced apart and oppositely disposed resistive sheets are pressed together by a pen or a finger, and also to a method for such a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is generally known to provide a coordinates input device called a tablet as input means for information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a word processor. Such a tablet is used to input positions, characters, graphics, etc. Various types of tablets have heretofore been proposed, several of which, for example, pressure sensitive type, electromagnetic induction type, electrostatic induction type, etc. have already been put into practical use. Among others, the pressure sensitive type tablet has achieved widespread use because of its simplicity in construction.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing the basic configuration of a prior art pressure sensitive coordinates input device 1. The coordinates input device 1 comprises: a coordinates input section (pressure sensitive tablet) 2 which is pressed by the operator; an A/D converter 3 which detects the potentials of the electrodes (to be hereinafter described) provided in the coordinates input section 2; and a central processing unit (CPU) 4 which controls the supply voltage for the coordinates input section 2 and which, based on the output from the A/D converter 3, detects the coordinates of a point entered on the coordinates input section 2.
The coordinates input section 2 includes plane resistive sheets 5 and 6 whose surfaces are formed from uniform plane resistive material such as indium oxide. Along the opposite edges of the plane resistive sheets 5 and 6, there are provided electrodes XLa, XHa and YLa, YHa which are formed from silver paste or the like. The plane resistive sheets 5 and 6 are disposed so that the electrodes of one of the plane resistive sheets extend at right angles with the electrodes of the one of the plane resistive sheets.
The resistance of the plane resistive sheets 5 and 6 are generally in the order of several hundred ohms, the resistance between the electrodes XLa and XHa being designated by Rx and the resistance between the electrodes YLa and YHz by Ry.
When the plane resistive sheet 6, which serves as an input plane of the coordinates input section 2, is not touched with a pen or a finger, the two plane resistive sheets 5 and 6 are slightly separated by a spacer or the like, thus keeping the plane resistances of the plane resistive sheets 5 and 6 from contacting each other.
Switching elements SxL, SxH, SyL, and SyH are connected to the electrodes XLa, XHa, YLa, and YHa, respectively. The CPU 4 controls these switching elements to switch the electrodes XLa, YLa between a low level (ground potential) and a high impedance state and the electrodes XHa, YHa between a high level (+5 V in this example) and a high impedance state.
With this configuration, it is possible not only to put the plane resistance of the plane resistive sheet 5 in a high impedance state by putting the electrodes XLa and XHa both in a high impedance state, but also to provide a gradient potential to the plane resistance by setting the electrode XLa low and XHa high. This also applies to the electrodes YLa and YHa.
Let us now consider the situation where the plane resistive sheets 5 and 6 of the coordinates input section 2 are brought into contact with each other at a pressing point Pi. In this situation, when the switching elements SxL and SxH are both turned on to set the electrode XLa low (at ground potential) and XHa high (at +5 V) and the switching elements SyL and SyH are both turned off to put the corresponding electrodes in the high impedance state, the potential at the electrode YLa represents the potential at the contact point Pi. Under these circumstances, when the resistance from the electrode XLa to the contact point Pi is denoted as Rx1 and the resistance from the contact point Pi to the electrode XHa as Rx2, the potential at the contact point Pi represents the potential at which 5 V is divided in the ratio of Rx1:Rx2. The x coordinate of the contact point Pi can thus be computed.
Next, when the switching elements SyL and SyH are both turned on to set the electrode YLa low (at ground potential) and YHa to high (at +5 V) and the switching elements SxL and SxH are both turned off to put the corresponding electrodes in the high impedance state, the potential at the electrode XLa represents the potential at the contact point Pi. When the resistance from the electrode YLa to the contact point Pi is denoted as Ry1 and the resistance from the contact point Pi to the electrode YHa as Ry2, the potential at the contact point Pi represents the potential at which 5 V is divided in the ratio of Ry1:Ry2. The y coordinate of the contact point Pi can thus be computed.
The potentials at the electrodes XLa and YLa are detected by the A/D converter 3 having a relatively high input impedance, the potentials then being converted to digital data and supplied to the CPU 4. The CPU 4 thus computes the x and y coordinates of the contact point Pi on the basis of the potentials of the electrodes XLa and YLa.
In the above coordinates input device 1, the reference voltage VREF for the A/D converter 3 is set at a fixed level of +5 V which is equal to the supply voltage for the electrodes XHa and YHa of the coordinates input section 2.
Generally, in a pressure sensitive tablet, even when the same point is pressed, the resulting resistances slightly vary depending on the condition of the pressure. The resistance variations result in variations in the voltages VINX and VINY input to the A/D converter 3. The voltage VINX is a voltage measured along the x-axis and the voltage VINY a voltage measured along the y-axis.
Since the A/D converter 3 performs conversion based on the fixed reference voltage VREF, errors are inevitably contained in data DI0-DI7. Such low-resistance variations are a problem inherent in the coordinates input section 2, and it is not possible to reduce or completely eliminate the variations.
To overcome this problem, a method is proposed wherein the measured voltages are corrected by software processing by the CPU 4. In this method, when pressure is applied to the coordinates input section 2, first the switching element SxH alone is turned on to supply 5 V to the electrode XHa. This sets the electrode YLa to a high level, the potential of which is measured to provide an x-axis correction voltage VINX1. Therefore, the x-axis correction value XSET is obtained by the following equation 1. EQU XSET=VINX1/5 (V) [Equation 1]
Then, the x-axis corrected voltage VINXf is obtained by the following equation 2. EQU VINXf=XSET.times.VINX [Equation 2]
Next, the switching element SyH alone is turned on to set the electrode YHa at 5 V. This sets the electrode XLa to a high level, the potential of which is measured to provide a y-axis correction voltage VINY1. Therefore, the y-axis correction value YSET is obtained by the following equation 3. EQU YSET=VINY1/5 (V) [Equation 3]
Then, the y-axis corrected voltage VINYf is obtained by the following equation 4. EQU VINYf=YSET.times.VINY [Equation 4]
However, according to such correction by software, since corrections are made for both x- and y-axis for every data sampling, an appreciable time is spent in calculation, and therefore, this method is not effective unless the operating speed of the CPU 4 is fast enough.

Pressure sensitive coordinate input device with improved voltage regulation


Certain aspects of the invention provide handling out-of-order TCP segments and may include placing a first received segment in a host buffer and determining whether a second received segment is an in-order or out-of-order (OOO) segment. Control information associated with OOO segments may be stored locally on a network interface card (NIC) and the OOO segment placed in a host buffer rather than on the NIC. An address or location occupied by an end of the first received segment may be recorded and stored on the NIC. As in-order and/or OOO segments are received, control information associated with a starting address and/or end address may be stored on the NIC. Accordingly, as subsequent in-order and/or OOO segments are received, they may be correctly placed within the host buffer based on the recorded and/or stored control information without being buffered on the NIC.

Conventional transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) offload engines residing on network interface cards (NICs) or elsewhere in a system such as in system software stacks, may inefficiently handle out-of-order (OOO) transmission control protocol (TCP) segments. For example, some conventional offload engines may merely drop out-of-order TCP segments. Dropped TCP segments need to be retransmitted by the sender, thereby utilizing additional bandwidth and reducing effective throughput. On links with large bandwidth-delay products such as a high-speed local area network (LAN) of the order of 1 Gbps or faster, a large number of segments may be in transit between the sender and the receiver when the out-of-order TCP segment is dropped. Accordingly, many of the segments in transit must be retransmitted, thereby creating a substantial delay and excessive consumption of additional, often expensive and scarce bandwidth. A similar situation may arise with long-haul wide area networks (WANs) that may have moderate bit rates and typical delays of the order of about 100 ms. In these types of networks, for example, system performance and throughput may be drastically reduced by the retransmissions.
In some conventional systems, on the sender or transmitter side, TCPs generally begin transmission by injecting multiple TCP segments into the network corresponding to a maximum window size that may be indicated by a receiver. In networks in which traffic traverses multiple networking entities or devices having varying link speeds, some of the networking entities or devices may have to queue TCP segments in order to handle the traffic. For example, slower network devices such as routers and links in the communication path between the transmitter side and the receiver side may have to queue TCP segments. In this regard, there may be instances when there is insufficient memory on the networking entities or devices for queuing the TCP segments resulting in dropped segments. Accordingly, the TCP segments will have to be retransmitted, thereby consuming additional bandwidth.
In certain systems, retransmission may trigger TCP slow start and congestion-avoidance procedures which may result in a substantial decrease in available bandwidth of a communication link. TCP slow start is an algorithm that may be utilized to minimize the effects of lost packets that may result from insufficient memory on slower networking entities or devices. TCP slow start utilizes a congestion window that is initialized to one TCP segment at the time of link initiation. The TCP segment size may be advertised by the receiver side. In operation, the TCP segment size is incremented by one (1) for every acknowledgement (ACK) that may be received from the receiving side by the transmitting side. The sending side may therefore transmit a minimum number of TCP segments as specified by the minimum of the congestion window and the window that may be advertised by the receiving side. This may provide a near exponential growth in the window side and at some point, maximum capacity may be reached and the networking entity or device may start dropping packets.
Congestion avoidance is an algorithm that may be utilized in conjunction with slow start to minimize the effects of lost packets. Congestion may occur when a device receives more TCP segments at its input than it may be able to adequately process with some minimal acceptable delay. Congestion may also occur when TCP segments transition from a faster transport infrastructure to a slower transport infrastructure. In this regard, the network device at the edge of the faster transport infrastructure and the slower transport infrastructure becomes a bottleneck. Congestion avoidance utilizes packet loss and duplicate acknowledgements (ACKs) to determine when congestion occurs. Although slow start and congestion avoidance have varying objectives and are independent of each other, TCP recovery from congestion may involve decreasing the transmission rate and executing slow start to gradually increase the transmission rate from a window size of one (1). In some cases, TCP generates numerous ACKs and congestion avoidance may interpret this to mean that TCP segments are lost, resulting in retransmission. Accordingly, TCP recovery from congestion avoidance and/or TCP slow start can be a relatively slow process and may in certain instances, also cause unwanted retransmissions.
Other conventional offload engines may store out-of-order TCP segments in dedicated buffers attached to the offload engines residing on the NIC or a host memory until all the missing TCP segments have been received. The offload engine may then reorder and process the TCP segments. However, storing the TCP segments in dedicated buffers can be quite hardware intensive. For example, the size of the dedicated buffers scale with the number of out-of-order TCP segments which may be based upon, for example, the bandwidth of the connections, the delay on the connections, the number of connections and the type of connections. In addition, storing the out-of-order segments on dedicated buffers may consume precious processor bandwidth when the out-of-order segments have to be reordered and processed. In addition, the offload engine still needs to handle other segments arriving at wire speed. Therefore, the reordering and processing may have to occur at the expense of delaying the processing of currently received TCP segments.
Accordingly, the computational power of the offload engine needs to be very high or at least the system needs a very large buffer to compensate for any additional delays due to the delayed processing of the out-of-order segments. When host memory is used for temporary storage of out-of-order segments, additional system memory bandwidth may be consumed when the previously out-of-order segments are copied to respective buffers. The additional copying provides a challenge for present memory subsystems, and as a result, these memory subsystems are unable to support high rates such as 10 Gbps. Thus, a reduction in activity on the memory would improve availability and would reduce latencies for at least some memory consumers.
In general, one challenge faced by TCP implementers wishing to design a flow-through NIC, is that TCP segments may arrive out-of-order with respect to the order placed in which they were transmitted. This may prevent or otherwise hinder the immediate processing of the TCP control data and prevent the placing of the data in a host buffer. Accordingly, an implementer may be faced with the option of dropping out-of-order TCP segments or storing the TCP segments locally on the NIC until all the missing segments have been received. Once all the TCP segments have been received, they may be reordered and processed accordingly. In instances where the TCP segments are dropped or otherwise discarded, the sending side may have to re-transmit all the dropped TCP segments and in some instances, may result in about a fifty percent (50%) decrease in throughput or bandwidth utilization.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for data placement of out-of-order (OOO) TCP segments


A waste liquid container that can be installed to a waste liquid discharging device main body. The waste liquid container includes an insertion hole into which a waste liquid discharging nozzle, which is included in the waste liquid discharging device main body, having a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion located on a front end side relative to the large diameter portion is inserted. When the waste liquid container is installed to the waste liquid discharging device main body, the insertion hole guides the small diameter portion by being brought into contact with an outer circumferential face of the small diameter portion in an inner face of the insertion hole and determines a position of the waste liquid container in a diameter direction of the large diameter portion with respect to the waste liquid discharging device main body by being fitted with the large diameter portion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a waste liquid container that is used for housing waste liquid generated inside a waste liquid discharging device and can be installed to a waste liquid discharging device main body and a waste liquid discharging device having the waste liquid container.
2. Related Art
Generally, as waste liquid discharging devices that discharge waste liquid inside the devices, ink jet printers and the like are widely known. For example, in the ink jet printers, in order to suppress clogging of a nozzle (ink injecting nozzle) due to ink having increased viscosity and discharge air bubbles and dusts that are mixed into ink inside a head, a cleaning operation for forcedly injecting ink inside the head from the ink injecting nozzle so as to be discharged is performed.
In addition, inside the waste liquid discharging devices, a waste liquid discharging device main body that includes a waste liquid discharging nozzle for discharging the waste liquid, an insertion hole into which the waste liquid discharging nozzle is inserted, and a waste liquid container that houses the waste liquid that is discharged in the waste liquid discharging device are included. Among waste liquid containers, there are waste liquid containers that can be attached, detached, and replaced with respect to the waste liquid discharging device main body. In the waste liquid discharging devices, when the waste liquid container is installed to the waste liquid discharging device main body, the waste liquid discharging nozzle is inserted into the insertion hole. Then, the position of the waste liquid container with respect to the waste liquid discharging device main body in the diameter direction of the waste liquid discharging nozzle is determined by fitting the insertion hole with the waste liquid discharging nozzle, finally.
A related art has been disclosed in JP-A-2007-130998.
It is preferable that installation of the waste liquid container to the waste liquid discharging device main body can be performed in a simplified manner. However, for example, when the posture of the waste liquid container is adjusted such that the waste liquid discharging nozzle is inserted into the insertion hole and the waste liquid container is to be installed to the waste liquid discharging device main body with the posture of the waste liquid container maintained, the waste liquid container may not reach a position in which the insertion hole is fitted with the waste liquid discharging nozzle due to collapse of the posture in the middle of the installation process or the like. In other words, when the waste liquid container is to be installed to the waste liquid discharging device main body with the posture of the waste liquid container maintained, it is difficult to install the waste liquid container.

Waste liquid container and waste liquid discharging device


A computer-implemented method of acquiring electronic content for an augmented reality greeting card includes presenting, on a display screen of a mobile computing device that includes a camera, a camera viewer with an aspect ratio that matches an aspect ratio of a placeholder of a predefined greeting card template. A photograph with an aspect ratio that matches the aspect ratio of the placeholder is captured at a first resolution via the camera. A video is recorded via the camera at a second, lower resolution, where an aspect ratio of the recorded video matches the aspect ratio of the placeholder. The recorded video is uniquely associated with the captured photograph, and the captured photograph, the recorded video, and an indication of the unique association between the captured photograph and the recorded video are transmitted for receipt by a remote computer system via a transmitter of the mobile computing device.

Traditional greeting cards have long been used to convey information from a sending party to a receiving party. The information conveyed by the greeting card can be for any number of purposes, such as to offer thanks, to offer sympathy, to congratulate, to inform of an upcoming event, to provide an update, or to recognize a holiday or special occasion. Greeting cards have historically been printed on cardstock, and either hand-delivered or delivered by a postal service or other delivery service. More recently, electronic delivery (e.g., via email) of electronic greeting cards has also been used. Greeting cards can be generic without specific reference to the sending party or receiving party, or can be personalized to include one or more photographs selected by the sending party, and in some cases the sending party can provide a photograph to be included on the greeting card.
Mobile computing devices, such as smartphones and tablet computing devices, have been used to capture photographs or videos using a camera included with the mobile computing device. For example, a user may take a photograph or record a video using the camera of their smartphone. Upon selection of the camera, for example, the smartphone displays on a display screen of the device one or more camera control features and a camera viewer that provides a view of a subject to be photographed or recorded. The camera viewer and camera control features together typically occupy all or substantially all of the display screen, which typically has an aspect ratio of approximately 16:9 for modern smartphones.


Apparatus and method for biofeedback of human central nervous system activity using radiation detection. This invention uses radiation from the brain resulting either from an ingested or injected radioactive material or radio frequency excitation or light from an external source impinging on the brain. The radiation is measured by suitable means and is made available to the subject on which the measurement is being made for his voluntary control. The measurement may be metabolic products of brain activity or some quality of the blood, such as its oxygen content. One such system utilizes red and infrared light to illuminate the brain through the translucent skull and scalp. Absorption and scattering of incident radiation depends on the degree of oxygen saturation of the blood in the illuminated tissue. The relationship of the returned scattered and absorbed light intensities can be obtained and displayed via a suitable display of sound, graphics or both so that a human being included in the feedback system can attempt to vary the display and thereby control the actual brain blood oxygenation at will. Control of brain blood perfusion is so quickly mastered that most subjects require less than 5 minutes to gain control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and equipment for biofeedback of alterable characteristics of the brain with the objective of altering blood flow and encouraging vascular growth in a manner conducive to the mental health of a human being.
2. Brief Description of the State of the Art
With the advent of SPECT, PET and fMRI, blood flow in various brain areas is increasingly being correlated with various brain disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Schizophrenia, Parkinson's Disease, Dementia, Alzheimers Disease, Endogenous Depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, memory loss, brain trauma, Epilepsy and others.
These disorders are, at present, mainly treated with psychoactive drugs and or psychotherapy. Such treatments are marginally effective. The drugs require continuous treatment schedules and have serious side effects such as Tardive Diskinesia, sleep disruption, drowsiness, dullness, skin disorders and digestive interference. Psychotherapy is of limited usefulness in these disorders and is very expensive.
Previous brain blood flow measurement techniques have required injection of radioactive materials into the blood stream or irradiation of brain tissue with radio frequency power. These are, at present, slow and expensive, requiring minutes to achieve a measurement. Consequently, at present, many important clues to brain operation are completely obscured. See "Interactions Between Electrical Activity and Cortical Microcirculation Revealed by Imaging Spectroscopy: Implications for Functional Brain Mapping", Malonek, D. and Grinvad, A., Science, May 26, 1997, pp. 551-554. Continued research and development are making inroads on these obstacles and it is anticipated that the radioactive tracer and radio frequency irradiation techniques will eventually become useful for biofeedback.
Research has demonstrated that low frequency electrical activity of the brain, as measured by the EEG, is negatively correlated with brain blood flow. ADD as well as many other brain disorders are characterized by excessive, slow wave activity and below normal blood flow to one or more brain areas. See "Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Adults with Hyperactivity of Childhood Onset", Zametkin, A. J. et al., New England Journal of Medicine, Sep. 15, 1990, pp. 1361-1366.
In recent years Electroencephalographic (EEG) Biofeedback has been used for treating brain disorders with considerable success. A limited course of treatment produces lasting effects. EEG Biofeedback has made great strides in the treatment of some of these problems. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is on outstanding example. The EEG Biofeedback technique makes non-invasive measurements of brain electrical activity, modifies them to enhance important characteristics and attempts to present the result in a readily understandable form to the patient so that the he can modify the EEG in a healthful direction.
EEG Biofeedback is difficult to utilize because of the required multiple electrodes and the required skin preparation for each electrode. See "Muscles Alive", J. V. Basmajian and C. J. Deluca, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, pp. 22-23. It is also sensitive to artifacts due to eye and muscle movement. This is especially troublesome near the prefrontal cortex, an important brain area involved in executive functions, planning, and working memory. The complex electrical signals obtained are ambiguous and represent many simultaneous events. They are difficult for the trainee to interpret and require many sessions before control is learned. The cost of present day EEG Biofeedback equipment, the skill required to operate it, and the total required treatment time has made this technique so costly that only a small proportion of the estimated eleven million handicapped people in the United States who need access to this technology can afford it.
Development of a low cost non-invasive brain blood flow monitor represents a great improvement in the field of biofeedback and provides, for the first time, an easily used, safe method of treating many devastating brain disabilities, satisfying a long felt need of the mental patient and the mental health professional.

Biofeedback of human central nervous system activity using radiation detection


A joint between a pair of aircraft components comprising a first component; a second component bonded to the first component over a bonded area, the bonded area terminating at an edge; a non-bonded area located between the edge of the bonded area and an edge of the second component, the components not being bonded over the non-bonded area; and one or more fasteners passing through the non-bonded area and fastening the first component to the second component.

FIG. 1 shows a conventional joint between a stringer foot 1 and a wing skin panel 2. The components are bonded together by an adhesive layer 3. A failsafe bolt 4 maintains a connection between the components in the event of failure of the adhesive layer 3.
Three main types of load typically act on the joint when the aircraft wing is in use. Firstly, loads act on the joint as a result of local curvature of the wing skin 2 which is caused by global bending of the wing. Secondly, shear loads act on the wing skin 2 which must be transmitted to the stringer 1 through the joint. Finally, as a result of the geometrical discontinuity at the stringer run-out 5, peeling loads can act to separate the stringer foot 1 from the skin 2.
Shear stresses 6 are transferred by the adhesive layer 3 from the skin 2 to the stringer foot 1 as shown in the graph 7. The shear stresses are at a maximum where the transfer starts, then they reach zero once all the load is proportionally distributed between the components. While the adhesive layer 3 remains intact, the bolt 4 transmits little or no shear stress.
A problem with the arrangement of FIG. 1 is that the adhesive layer 3 is susceptible to cracking which typically initiates at the stringer run-out 5 where the shear stress 7 is at a maximum.
Although the structure as a whole can withstand relatively high loads before catastrophic failure due to the presence of the failsafe bolt 4, aircraft regulations require the total integrity of the structure to be preserved. It is therefore necessary to prevent crack initiation up to ultimate load levels, that is the highest load levels that are likely to be experienced during the operational life of the aircraft. This is typically achieved by thickening the skin 2.


A method is disclosed for attaching a sheet for receiving toner removed from an image bearing member to a frame. The method includes the steps of adhering the sheet to the frame, using an adhesive, while bending the frame and releasing the frame after the sheet is adhered to the frame. A toner-guiding sheet for guiding toner removed from an image bearing member to a toner-receiving unit is also disclosed. The sheet is widened near a central portion in a longitudinal direction so that the sheet edge will conform to the bent shape of an attachment surface. A cleaning device is also disclosed. The cleaning device may include a frame and a sheet attached to the frame by an adhesive in a condition that a tension force is applied to the sheet. Further, the cleaning device may include a cleaning container having a wall that is thinner at a position near an attachment surface for a sheet than at a position away from the attachment surface, to facilitate bending of the attachment surface during application of a sheet to the attachment surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a body to be cleaned, such as a photosensitive body, a dip sheet used with such a cleaning device, a method for adhering such a dip sheet, a process cartridge and an image forming system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a known image forming system, or image forming apparatus, includes an image bearing member of a rotating drum type having a photo-conductive photosensitive layer at its outer peripheral surface is used, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive layer while rotating the image bearing member, the electrostatic latent image is developed (visualized) with toner as a toner image, and then the toner image is transferred onto a transfer sheet. In such an image forming system, after a cycle of the image formation is finished, the residual toner (and other foreign matters) adhered to the surface of the image bearing member is removed from the image bearing member by a cleaning device.
As an example, the cleaning device comprises a cleaning blade for removing the residual toner remaining on the image bearing member while slidingly contacting with the image bearing member, a squeegee or dip sheet disposed below the cleaning blade and contacted with the image bearing member to receive the removed toner, and a waste toner reservoir for collecting the waste toner received by the squeegee sheet.
The cleaning blade and the squeegee sheet are arranged to contact the surface of the image bearing member, and, in particular, the squeegee sheet is attached to a predetermined position (referred to as "attachment surface" hereinafter) of the waste toner reservoir by a both-sided adhesive tape.
However, the waste toner reservoir is made of resin material and, thus, has an uneven and/or slightly deformed surface. Accordingly, if the squeegee sheet is merely stuck to the toner reservoir by the both-sided adhesive tape, undulation or sinuosity is generated at a free edge portion of the squeegee sheet which is contacted with the image bearing member, with the result that the free edge portion of the squeegee sheet does not closely contact with the surface of the image bearing member, thus causing a problem that the toner removed by the cleaning blade is received by the squeegee sheet less than perfectly that is, with reduced efficiency.
Further, when a charger roller (charger device of contact type) is used to charge the image bearing member, the contacting pressure between the charger roller and the image bearing member becomes great at both ends of the roller, and a small amount of toner which has escaped from the cleaning blade is compressed by the urging force of the charger roller, thus adhering to the surface of the image bearing member. Further, when the overlapped DC and AC voltages are applied to the charger roller, since the charger roller is vibrated, the toner which has escaped from the cleaning blade is compressed by the roller with stronger force, thus considerably contaminating the surface of the image bearing member with toner.
In order to eliminate the above drawback, the inventors conducted various tests and found that the above drawback was caused not only by the urging force of the charger roller against the image bearing member, but also by the urging force of the squeegee sheet against the image bearing member. Further, if the urging force of the squeegee sheet against the image bearing member is too great, the surface of the image bearing member will easily be damaged, with the result that the adhesion of the toner to the image bearing member (particularly, to both end portions of the image bearing member) is promoted.

Dip sheet adhering method, cleaning device, process and image forming apparatus


A method for adaptive scoring of responses to constructed response questions is disclosed. Adaptive scoring may be used to apply evaluator time in such a way that a predetermined reliability level is reached with the least possible use of evaluator time, including adjusting the number of response graded and/or the number of evaluators grading each response. A score may be calculated after grading a subset of a test taker's responses to the constructed response questions. A probability or an error estimate is calculated and compared to a threshold value. Grading may be discontinued based on the comparison. A score may be calculated based on a predetermined number of ratings for the test taker's response to a constructed response. A probability that the score is within a predetermined range of what the score would be if all the responses are graded is calculated. If the probability is less than a threshold value, the number of ratings is increased.

Many standardized tests require a test taker to provide a response to a constructed response question. A constructed response question may contain no response alternatives (like a multiple choice question) and require the test taker to self-generate a response, such as an essay question. For example, high school students may take Advanced Placement (AP) examinations that, if successful, may permit the student to receive college credit. As another example, law school graduates may take one or more state bar examinations to become a licensed attorney in that state. Both the AP examinations and the bar examinations may include constructive response questions, such as essay questions. Constructed response questions may also require the test taker to provide a spoken response, such as during a speech examination, or provide a pictorial response, such as during an architectural examination.
Responses to these constructed response questions are typically graded by one or more human graders or evaluators. It is important that the grading of these responses be efficient and consistent. The effort to grade the responses to constructed response questions can be enormous, especially when a question is graded by multiple evaluators. Many testing programs using constructed response questions have instituted a requirement that each question be graded by two different evaluators and the scores compared to assure that if the scores differ, the difference is within a predefined range. Scores that differ by more than the predefined range may be graded by a third evaluator to resolve the discrepancy. Alternatively, the two original evaluators may work together to resolve the discrepancy or the scores may be averaged.
Computer-based adaptive testing methods select and deliver questions to test takers based on an ongoing dynamic estimate of a test taker's performance level taken from that test taker's previous responses. For example, a test taker may receive a next question based on the test taker's response to a previous question. If the test taker answers the previous question correctly, the computer may deliver a harder question to the test taker. Conversely, if the test taker answers the previous question incorrectly, the computer may deliver an easier question to the test taker. As a result, the computer can determine the proficiency of the test taker with a fewer number of multiple choice questions than with a standard multiple choice examination.
It would be desirable to make the process of grading responses to constructed response questions more efficient without sacrificing the consistency of the scores. By using adaptive scoring to grade responses, the process of grading examinations with constructed response questions may be performed more efficiently without sacrificing consistency of the scores.

Adaptive scoring of responses to constructed response questions


In one embodiment, a system for obtaining an image of an RFID tag comprising a transponder and a tag antenna is provided, the system comprising: a plurality of inductors, each inductor being associated with a capacitor to form a resonant tank circuit, wherein each resonant tank circuit has a first resonant frequency in the presence of metal and a second resonant frequency in the absence of metal; a signal processor configured to determine a resonant frequency for each resonant tank circuit in the presence of the tag antenna; and a processor configured to compare the resonant frequency of each resonant tank circuit to the first and second resonant frequency to determine an image of the tag antenna.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems represent the next step in automatic identification techniques started by the familiar bar code schemes. Whereas bar code systems require line-of-sight (LOS) contact between a scanner and the bar code being identified, RFID techniques do not require LOS contact. This is a critical distinction because bar code systems often need manual intervention to ensure LOS contact between a bar code label and the bar code scanner. In sharp contrast, RFID systems eliminate the need for manual alignment between an RFID tag and an RFID reader or interrogator, thereby keeping labor costs at a minimum. In addition, bar code labels can become soiled in transit, rendering them unreadable. Because RFID tags are read using RF transmissions instead of optical transmissions, such soiling need not render RFID tags unreadable. Moreover, RFID tags may be written to in write-once or write-many fashions whereas once a bar code label has been printed further modifications are impossible. These advantages of RFID systems have resulted in the rapid growth of this technology despite the higher costs of RFID tags as compared to a printed bar code label.
Although RFID systems offer certain advantages over traditional bar code schemes their use is also not without concerns. One such concern is radiations, such as those of an electric signal, emitted by RFID tags when made operational. Generally, in a RFID system, an RFID tag includes a transponder and a tag antenna, and communicates with an RFID transceiver pursuant to the receipt of a signal, such as an interrogation or encoding signal, from the RFID transceiver. The signal causes the RFID transponder to emit via the tag antenna a signal, such as an identification or encoding verification signal, that is received by the RFID transceiver. In passive RFID systems, the RFID tag has no power source of its own and therefore the interrogation signal from the RFID transceiver also provides operating power to the RFID tag.
A concern in the foregoing approach is when numerous RFID tags are within range of each other while a signal is transmitted from a transceiver to one of the RFID tags. This concern becomes particularly acute during the initial encoding of the RFID tags, where an often large number of RFID tags are juxtaposed in an assembly line fashion during manufacturing. In this setting, the encoding signal from a transceiver to an intended recipient transponder can cause the intended transponder to generate electric fields, such as dipole fields, which in turn would excite the tag antenna in the intended RFID tag to transmit encoding and operating radiations to adjacent RFID tags. The adjacent RFID tags will then in turn become operational and encoded with the information intended for the recipient transponder, thus detrimentally overwriting the adjacent tags' previous encoding. This results in one or more of the adjacent RFID tags to have the same identification information as the intended RFID tag, and thus become distinguishable from each other during future usage. In addition, the information encoded on the intended recipient transponder will also be overwritten in the same manner once the transceiver begins encoding of the next adjacent RFID tag.
Since the direction and magnitude of the signal transmitted by the tag antenna depends on the geometric shape of the RFID tag, such as the shape of the antenna and its orientation relative to the transponder, it is desirable for the transceiver to be provided with an image of the intended RFID tag prior to transmitting encoding signals. Based on the provided image, available safeguards for reducing the adverse radiation interference of an intended RFID tag with adjacent RFID tags (and vice versa) can then be invoked during encoding. In addition, based on the provided image, it can be more readily identified if an RFID tag is placed at a less than ideal orientation in respect to the transceiver, such as during the encoding process.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for obtaining an image of an RFID tag for use by the RFID system.


A child seat apparatus includes a seat portion sized and dimensioned to receive a child and a tray portion substantially surrounding the seat portion so as to provide a surface for preventing an object from falling to the ground. The child seat apparatus further includes a loop member connected to the tray portion for keeping the tray portion taut or for collapsing the child seat apparatus.

A family with small children, such as babies or toddlers, who go to a restaurant or other such facility for dining often utilize a standard restaurant high chair or child seat. Typically, the standard restaurant high chair or child seat is made from wood, plastic or other such material and only includes a place for the child to sit. The high chair provides restraints, such as a belt, to be placed around the waist of the child placed therein. The child is strapped in the high chair, and the high chair is typically positioned in proximity to the table so that the child utilizes a table surface for eating or performing other activities, such as playing with a toy, coloring, etc.
Typically, small children tend to throw or drop food, toys, or other such objects on the floor or ground while sitting at the table in a restaurant. The dropping of toys or food can disrupt a table conversation, creates noise and distraction, requires the parent or care giver to repeatedly pick the dropped toys off the floor causing frustration to both child and parent and also precludes re-use of the toy or food because of contact with the floor.
In addition, high chairs are normally not very clean having been dirtied by other children when dining at a restaurant. Typically, a child places their hands or mouth on the high chair surfaces, thus placing the child in contact with bacteria and other various disease-causing germs that may lead to illness.
To this end, although child seat covers of the existing art are operable, further improvements are desirable to enhance the use of a child seat apparatus which functions to prevent food, toys and other objects from falling to the floor, prevent child contact with the high chair and table surfaces, and extend the reachable playing surface for the child. It is to such a child seat apparatus that at least one embodiment of the present invention is directed.


A method and composition for the treatment of HIV and HBV infections in humans and other host animals is disclosed that includes the administration of an effective amount of a [5-carboxamido or 5-fluoro]-2′,3′-dideoxy-2′,3′-didehydro-pyrimidine nucleoside or a [5-carboxamido or 5-fluoro]-3′-modified-pyrimidine nucleoside, or a mixture or a pharmaceutically acceptable derivative thereof, including a 5′ or N4 alkylated or acylated derivative, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

This invention is in the area of biologically active nucleosides, and specifically includes antiviral compositions that include a [5-carboxamido or 5-fluoro]-2′,3′-dideoxy-2′,3′-didehydro-pyrimidine nucleoside or [5-carboxamido or 5-fluoro]-3′-modified-pyrimidine nucleoside, or its physiologically acceptable derivative, or physiologically acceptable salt.
In 1981, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was identified as a disease that severely compromises the human immune system, and that almost without exception leads to death. In 1983, the etiological cause of AIDS was determined to be the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The World Health Organization estimates that currently 13 million people worldwide are infected with HIV and that forty million people will be infected by the year 2000. Each day approximately 5,000 people are newly infected.
In 1985, it was reported that the synthetic nucleoside 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine (AZT) inhibits the replication of human immunodeficiency virus. Since then, a number of other synthetic nucleosides, including 2′,3′-dideoxyinosine (DDI), 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine (DDC), and 2′,3′-dideoxy-2′,3′-didehydrothymidine (D4T), have been proven to be effective against HIV. After cellular phosphorylation to the 5′-triphosphate by cellular kinases, these synthetic nucleosides are incorporated into a growing strand of viral DNA, causing chain termination due to the absence of the 3′-hydroxyl group. They can also inhibit the viral enzyme reverse transcriptase.
The success of various synthetic nucleosides in inhibiting the replication of HIV in vivo or in vitro has led number of researchers to design and test nucleosides that substitute a heteroatom for the carbon atom at the 3′-position of the nucleoside. Norbeck, et al., disclosed that (±)-1-[(2β,4β)-2-(hydroxymethyl)-4-dioxolanyl]thymine (referred to as (±)-dioxolane-T) exhibits a modest activity against HIV (EC50 of 20 μM in ATH8 cells), and is not toxic to uninfected control cells at a concentration of 200 μM. Tetrahedron Letters 30 (46), 6246, (1989). European Patent Application Publication No. 0 337 713 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,449, assigned to IAF BioChem International, Inc., disclose that racemic 2-substituted-4-substituted-1,3-dioxolanes that exhibit antiviral activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,407 and European Patent Application Publication No. 0 382 526, also assigned to IAF Biochem International, Inc. disclose a number of racemic 2-substituted-5-substituted-1,3-oxathiolane nucleosides with antiviral activity, and specifically report that the racemic mixture (about the C4′-position) of the C1′-βisomer of 2-hydroxymethyl-5-(cytosin-1-yl)-1,3-oxathiolane (referred to below as (±)-BCH-189) has approximately the same activity against HIV as AZT, and no cellular toxicity at the tested levels (±)-BCH-189 has also been found to inhibit the replication of AZT-resistant HIV isolates in vitro from patients who have been treated with AZT for longer than 36 weeks. The (−)-enantiomer of the β-isomer of BCH-189, known as 3TC, which is highly potent against HIV and exhibits little toxicity, is in the final stages of clinical review for the treatment of HIV.
It has also been disclosed that (−)-cis-2-hydroxymethyl-5-(5-fluorocytosin-1-yl)-1,3-oxathiolane ("FTC") has potent HIV activity. Schinazi, et al., "Selective Inhibition of Human Immunodeficiency Viruses by Racemates and Enantiomers of cis-5-Fluoro-1-[2-(Hydroxymethyl)-1,3-Oxathiolane-5-yl]Cytosine" Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 1992, page 2423-2431;
Another virus that causes a serious human health problem is the hepatitis B virus (referred to below as "HBV"). HBV is second only to tobacco as a cause of human cancer. The mechanism by which HBV induces cancer is unknown, although it is postulated that it may directly trigger tumor development, or indirectly trigger tumor development through chronic inflammation, cirrhosis, and cell regeneration associated with the infection.
After a two to six month incubation period in which the host is unaware of the infection, HBV infection can lead to acute hepatitis and liver damage, that causes abdominal pain, jaundice, and elevated blood levels of certain enzymes. HBV can cause fulminant hepatitis, a rapidly progressive, often fatal form of the disease in which massive sections of the liver are destroyed.
Patients typically recover from acute hepatitis. In some patients, however, high levels of viral antigen persist in the blood for an extended, or indefinite, period, causing a chronic infection. Chronic infections can lead to chronic persistent hepatitis. Patients infected with chronic persistent HBV are most common in developing countries, By mid-1991, there were approximately 225 million chronic-carriers of HBV in Asia alone, and worldwide, almost 300 million carriers. Chronic persistent hepatitis can cause fatigue, cirrhosis of the liver, and hepatocellular carcinoma, a primary liver cancer.
In western industrialized countries, high risk groups for HBV infection include those in contact with HBV carriers or their blood samples. The epidemiology of HBV is very similar to that of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which accounts for why HBV infection is common among patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex. However, HBV is more contagious than HIV.
Both FTC and 3TC exhibit activity against HBV. Furman, et al., "The Anti-Hepatitis B Virus Activities, Cytotoxicities, and Anabolic Profiles of the (−) and (+) Enantiomers of cis-5-Fluoro-1-[2-(Hydroxymethyl)-1,3-Oxathiolane-5-yl]Cytosine" Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 1992, page 2686-2692; ***
A human serum-derived vaccine has been developed to immunize patients against HBV. While it has been found effective, production of the vaccine is troublesome because the supply of human serum from chronic carriers is limited, and the purification procedure is long and expensive. Further, each batch of vaccine prepared from different serum must be tested in chimpanzees to ensure safety. Vaccines have also been produced through genetic engineering. Daily treatments with α-interferon, a genetically engineered protein, has also shown promise.
In light of the fact that acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS-related complex, and hepatitis B virus have reached epidemic levels worldwide, and have tragic effects on the infected patient, there remains a strong need to provide new effective pharmaceutical agents to treat these diseases and that have low toxicity to the host.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and composition for the treatment of human patients infected with HIV.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and composition for the treatment of human patients or other host animals infected with HBV.

[5-carboxamido or 5-fluoro]-[2′,3′-unsaturated or 3′-modified]-pyrimidine nucleosides


The invention relates to a filter manufacturing apparatus including: —a feed path adapted to continuously feed a filter material along a longitudinal transport direction; —a forming device connected to a terminating end of the feed path and adapted to form the filter material into a rod-shaped continuous filter body and deliver the formed continuous filter body, the forming device including: a tubular element adapted to allow the filter material to pass therethrough to form the filter material into the continuous filter body; a heat source adapted to heat the filter material passing in the tubular element; —a diameter measuring device positioned at the outlet of the forming device and adapted to measure a diameter of the continuous filter body.

It is known in the tobacco industry to make paperless filter rods—also called non-wrapped filters or acetate (NWA)—using a continuous strip of filtering material, normally cellulose acetate, which is continuously fed through an impregnation station, at which the strip is impregnated with a plasticizer, for example triacetin, and is then transformed, by means of pressurized air, into a generally cylindrical tow band, which is caused to advance along a longitudinal through channel of a forming beam comprising a first portion, in this case a stabilization portion, and a second portion, in this case a drying portion. Along the first portion, the hardening substance in the tow band is caused to react by means of heat, such as blowing steam, or microwave. Along the second portion, the tow band, previously heated or moistened, is dried and cooled so as to come out of the forming beam in the form of a continuous rod having a determined stable section and relatively high axial rigidity.
This continuous rod is hence preferably fed, again with continuous motion, to a cutting station to be cut into filter segments of determined length.
These filters segments are then coupled to other components so as to form an aerosol-forming article. In an aerosol-forming article, the diameter of the various components is standardized and kept substantially unchanged for each aerosol-forming article type. Therefore, also the diameter of the continuous rod hardened in the way above described needs to be controlled and preferably kept substantially identical to the diameters of the other components to form an aerosol-forming article having an uniform external surface. Aerosol-forming articles having variation in diameter or indentations need to be rejected or discarded because they do not fulfill the desired specifications.
However, the realization of a filter rod having a well-defined diameter is particularly complex in case of non-wrapped filters because commonly the wrapping paper enveloping the filter rod keeps the filter material confined within a certain diameter fixed by the wrapping paper itself. Without the aid of the wrapping paper, the non-wrapped filter needs to be stabilized at a given diameter without added material.
There is therefore a need of an apparatus to produce a filter component whose diameter can be accurately controlled and pre-determined. Further, the achievement of a pre-determined diameter during production should be simple and reliable, minimizing wasted material.