A seismic isolation apparatus which has a composite multilayered member comprising a plurality of hard plates having rigidity and a plurality of soft plates having viscoelastic property which are arranged to form alternating layers between an upper flange and a lower flange; and satisfies the condition that the proper vibration to the horizontal direction of the seismic isolation apparatus which is represented by f.sub.H and obtained by the equation ##EQU1## wherein K.sub.H represents a spring constant of the seismic isolation apparatus to the horizontal direction, M represents mass of a structure mounted on the seismic isolation apparatus, and f.sub.H has a value in the range of: 0.1 Hz.ltoreq.f.sub.H .ltoreq.2 Hz when the displacement of the seismic isolation apparatus in the horizontal direction is 2 mm or less, 0.1 Hz.ltoreq.f.sub.H .ltoreq.0.8 Hz when the displacement of the seismic isolation apparatus in the horizontal direction is equal to 100% shearing strain, and 0.9 Hz.ltoreq.f.sub.H when deformation in terms of shearing strain is relaxed by 10% from the maximum deformation in measurement of a hysteresis loop of the seismic isolation apparatus. The seismic isolation apparatus has the function of seismic isolation, prevention of shake by wind, and isolation of traffic vibration and is advantageously used for structures having a light weicht, such as single family houses.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seismic isolation apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a seismic isolation apparatus advantageously used for single family houses having a light weight.
2. Description of the Related Art
For protection of buildings from earthquake, seismic isolation apparatus in which a plurality of hard plates having rigidity such as steel plates and a plurality of soft plates having viscoelastic property such as rubber plates are arranged to form alternating layers have heretofore been used. It is generally practiced that, by shifting the proper vibration of a building to a lower value by supporting the building with the seismic isolation apparatus to avoid resonance of the building with the quake wave, the building is controlled to have a movement which is low in the frequency although large in the displacement, and that the vibration is damped in a short time by the combined use of a damper. As the damper used in combination with the seismic isolation apparatus, a damper of a rigid metal rod, a friction damper, and a viscous damper are used. A multilayer rubber having a lead plug confined into a composite multilayer structure and a high damping laminated rubber using a rubber having a high damping property are also used.
In recent years, seismic isolation of single family houses has been desired in addition to seismic isolation of heavy construction structures such as high rise buildings and bridges. However, when a conventional seismic isolation apparatus for heavy weight (for large buildings) is used as the seismic isolation apparatus for a single family house having a light weight, it is inevitable because of the light weight of the house that the seismic isolation apparatus has a small diameter and a large height in order to obtain the desired seismic isolating property. This shape is not suitable for practical use because buckling takes place very easily.
A rubber having a low elasticity which is suitable for supporting a light weight is necessary for obtaining the seismic isolation effect suitable for a structure having a light weight. However, when a rubber having a low elasticity is used, shake by wind arises because of the low elasticity. It is also strongly desired for a seismic isolation apparatus used for single family houses that the seismic isolation apparatus can isolate small vibrations (traffic vibration).
Thus, it has been desired that a seismic isolation apparatus for single family houses satisfies the following three requirements: (1) seismic isolation, (2) prevention of shake by wind, and (3) isolation of traffic vibration. No seismic isolation apparatus satisfying all these requirements is heretofore known.


An autonomous vehicle control system includes one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to cause a transmitter to transmit a transmit signal from a laser source. The one or more processors are configured to cause a receiver to receive a return signal reflected by an object. The one or more processors are configured to cause one or more optics to generate a first polarized signal of the return signal with a first polarization, and generate a second polarized signal of the return signal with a second polarization that is orthogonal to the first polarization. The one or more processors are configured to operate a vehicle based on a ratio of reflectivity between the first polarized signal and the second polarized signal.

One of the challenges to any autonomous vehicle-related technology relates to collecting and interpreting information about a vehicle's surrounding environment, along with planning and executing commands to appropriately control vehicle motion to navigate the vehicle through its current environment. For example, measurement data can be captured from one or more sensors of an autonomous vehicle (or a vehicle equipped with autonomous vehicle sensors) and used for tracking and/or determining dynamic objects within the environment surrounding the vehicle. It can be difficult to detect and track the shapes of objects with sufficient precision and accuracy to enable effective autonomous decision-making in response to the objects.

Systems and methods for autonomous vehicle control using depolarization ratio of return signal


A drilling tool, in particular a drill, has replaceable cutting elements that form the cutting edges, and chip-removing flutes. A chip shaping area (22) at least partially made of a more wear-resistant material than the drill body itself is arranged next to the faces (11) of the main cutting edges (5) approximately in the chip flow direction. In another embodiment, the chip shaping area if made of the same material as the drill body and is subjected to a subsequent local hardening process that makes it wear-resistant.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drilling tool, in particular a drill which has chip flutes for the removal of the chips, the drill cutting parts of which are formed by replaceable cutting elements. In the design of drills, one general problem is that the material of which the drill is made must on one hand be sufficiently hard and resistant to wear and abrasion, so that in the cutting area of the drill, the desired cutting action can be guaranteed over a long period. On the other hand, however, the drill must be sufficiently tough to withstand the torsional vibrations to which it is subjected during drilling. On drills of the prior art, this problem is solved by fabricating the drill using a material which is capable of withstanding the above-mentioned vibrations and has sufficient toughness, but which is therefore somewhat less resistant to wear, and the cutting parts are formed by replaceable cutting elements. Such replaceable cutting elements are also realized in the form of replaceable inserts. For the sake of simplicity, therefore, the term "replaceable inserts" will be used in the remainder of this description. In drills, the chip which has been removed from the workpiece, after the chip has been deflected by the face of the replaceable insert in the chip removal direction, is guided at a more or less acute angle toward the chip flute wall, where it is deformed into a spiral or a helical chip. The purpose of the deformation is to generate a chip spiral, the diameter of which is less than the depth of the chip space, i.e. the radial distance between the drill web and the wall of the drill-hole formed by the drill. A chip spiral shaped in this manner specifically comes into contact with the wall of the drill-hole only to an insignificant extent; it is transported away primarily with friction against the wall of the chip flute. The surface of the wall of the drill-hole is thereby protected.
2. Background Information
On account of the material of which the drill is made, which material has lower resistance to wear, however, the chip shaping area described above which is active in the deformation of the chip is subject to increased wear and abrasion. While the indexable inserts are designed to have a relatively long useful life, the above-mentioned wear causes uncontrolled changes in the chip shaping area, which can in particular be eroded in a concave fashion. The original chip shaping characteristics of the chip shaping area are thereby lost. One of several consequences of this situation is that the chip is deflected against the wall of the drill-hole, and as the chip is being removed, it rubs against the wall, as a result of which the surface quality of the wall of the drill-hole deteriorates. The wear of the chip shaping area can also result in the rupture of the chip. The chip fragments can become wedged in the chip space which is formed by the chip flute and the wall of the drill-hole, and can also have an adverse effect on the surface quality of the wall of the drill-hole. Chip fragments can even become jammed between the drill and the wall of the drill-hole, which results in a severe heating and finally a "welding" of the drill.

Kennametal Hertel AG Werkzeuge + Hartstoffe


An apparatus for cleaning a helmet has a container with a hollow interior, a lid and a base. The lid is detachable from the base. The base has a body and a removable bottom panel. The body of the base has a shoulder and the removable bottom panel has a lip that rests on the shoulder of the body of the base. A magnet is provided for attaching the container to a ferromagnetic surface and a cleaning device is positioned within the container.

This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the invention. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Automobile drivers often clean their windshields while on the road. It is common, particularly in the summer months due to bugs, for a driver to need to clean their windscreen several times in a single trip to maintain good visibility. The windshield on a motorcycle is much smaller and generally does not prevent bugs and other debris from contacting a motorcyclist's visor. Many motorcyclists refrain from using a glove to wipe away this debris as it is then transferred to their bikes. Using a glove can also result in a smear across the visor which can make it even more difficult to see. Similar issues are seen for users of all-terrain vehicles and other recreational vehicles.


A semiconductor process in which an initial gate dielectric layer is formed on an upper surface of a semiconductor substrate. The initial gate dielectric layer is polished with a chemical mechanical polish to produce a finished gate dielectric layer. A thickness of the finished gate dielectric layer is less than a thickness of the initial gate dielectric layer and the thickness of the preferred finished gate dielectric layer is in the range of approximately 25 to 60 angstroms. In one embodiment, the initial gate dielectric layer is formed by thermally oxidizing the semiconductor substrate in an oxygen bearing ambient maintained at a temperature in the range of approximately 600.degree. C. to 900.degree. C. In an alternative embodiment, the formation of the initial gate dielectric layer is achieved by depositing an oxide. In this embodiment, the deposited oxide is preferably fabricated by a chemical vapor deposition process using a TEOS source in a CVD reactor chamber maintained at a temperature in the range of approximately 300.degree. C. to 600.degree. C. and a pressure of less than approximately two torrs. In a presently preferred embodiment, the polishing includes depositing a slurry on a ceramic polishing pad and applying the gate dielectric to the polishing plate in the presence of the slurry while rotating the ceramic plate with respect to the semiconductor substrate. The slurry preferably comprises fumed silica suspended in a suspending solution. The suspending solution preferably comprises KOH or NH.sub.3 OH. In one embodiment, the polishing plate is comprised of aluminum oxide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor processing and more particularly to a method of fabricating ultra thin gate dielectrics using a chemical mechanical polishing technique.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
The fabrication of MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) transistors within a semiconductor substrate is well known. Typically, the substrate is divided into a plurality of active and isolation regions through an isolation process such as field oxidation or shallow trench isolation. A thin oxide is then grown on an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate in the active regions. This thin oxide serves as the gate oxide for subsequently formed transistors. Next, a plurality of polysilicon gate structures are formed wherein each polysilicon gate traverses an active region effectively dividing the active region into two regions referred to as the source region and the drain region. After formation of the polysilicon gates, an implant is performed to introduce an impurity distribution into the source/drain regions.
As transistor channels shrink below 0.5 micron, the limitations of conventional transistor processing become more apparent. To combat short channel effects in these smaller transistors, the depth of the source/drain junctions and the thickness of the gate oxides must be reduced. Thin oxides present significant manufacturing challenges to the manufacturer. The uniformity of the gate dielectric film across the wafer becomes more critical as the film thickness decreases. A 5 angstrom variation in film thickness across a wafer is far more significant in a 50 angstrom film than a 150 angstrom film. Greater control over oxide growth rates, uniformity, and etch rates is needed to insure that the thinner dielectric can be consistently reproduced in a manufacturing environment. Conventional gate formation techniques, which typically consist of immersing a plurality of wafers into an oxidation tube maintained at a temperature sufficient to thermally oxidize exposed silicon, do not provide sufficient film thickness control for the reliable fabrication of ultra-thin films (i.e., films with a thickness less than approximately 65 angstroms).
Despite the manufacturing difficulties noted, thin gate dielectrics are desirable not only to minimize short channel effects, but also because the transistor drive current is roughly inversely proportional to the gate oxide thickness over a wide range of operating conditions. Because higher drive currents result in faster devices, a great deal of effort has been directed towards reducing the gate oxide thickness (as well as other transistor geometries including channel length and junction depth) without significantly reducing the reliability of the integrated circuit. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to fabricate ultra-thin MOS gate dielectrics with a consistently reproducible and manufacturable process.

Polishing method for thin gates dielectric in semiconductor process


The invention concerns a scoop-and-dump jack of a loader shovel or a fork of a shovel loader and comprising a piston-rod extension 46a guided in a sealed borehole of the jack cylinder-bottom 43 to achieve a dumping motion at least as rapid as the retracting motion and to permit simple assembly and maintenance of the jack, the diameter of said extension corresponding at least to that of the piston rod 46, the jack bearing-eye 50 and the jack cylinder-bottom being integrally joined by a connection member 49 extending over most of the length of advance of the piston-rod extension 46a, and the receiving space 51 for the piston-rod extension comprising a laterally open access for purposes of assembly or exchange of the guide means and seals 44, 45 in the jack cylinder-bottom.

It is known to control the pivoting motions of a loader shovel using parallelogram kinetics wherein the scoop-and-dump jack together with the operational truss, the loader chassis bearing the stationary link points and a drive lever displaceable along the operational truss form a parallelogram for at least one length of the jack. In order to enlarge the pivot-angle of the loader shovel, the drive lever is connected by a steering means with said shovel. For a particular parallelogram size, a loader shovel filled with dumping material retains its upward open pivoted position over the entire range of pivot motion of the operational truss. Even when the loader shovel is replaced by a stacking implement, the loaded material resting on the fork remains approximately parallel to its initial position over the entire pivoting path of the operational truss. The parallelogram kinetics entails the drawback that only the differential area of the jack piston will be hydraulically loaded when the loader shovel is retracted or when it is used to break out the material to be picked up. Moreover dumping is slower than retraction because the available oil flow must load all the jack cross-section when the loader shovel is being emptied by dumping.
On the other hand, as regards a so-called Z kinematics, the scoop-and-dump jack is connected at one end of the drive lever which in this case rests between its two ends and the loader shovel is connected by a control means to the other end. The rocker lever serves to so reverse the jack motions that to fill the loader shovel the entire piston area shall be available, but only the differential piston area will be for dumping. However this advantageous use of jack power also entails the drawback that the loader shovel or the fork of a forklift are not automatically kept parallel to the pivoting range of the operational truss and as a result the scoop-and-dump jack must be fine-controlled several times.

Karl Schaeff GmbH & Co., Maschinenfabrik


An actively shielded superconducting magnet having a dipole shim coil for adjusting and fine-tuning an external or far fringe magnetic field produced by a main coil of the magnet. An active shield coil is coupled to the main coil in reverse polarity and produces a magnetic field when energized that opposes the far fringe field to substantially reduce the far fringe field. The dipole shim coil is electrically isolated from the active shield and main coils of superconducting magnet, and produces a magnetic field when energized that provides for the fine adjustment of any residual far fringe field.

Strong magnetic fields are used in research and in diagnostic instruments. Magnet applications include Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FTICR), materials processing, gyrotrons, neutron diffraction, charge particle beam bending, and medical imaging MRI. Electrical winding magnets of various shapes can be used to produce such strong magnetic fields. For example, the shapes of such electrical winding magnets can range from generally circular to an increasingly racetrack shape. One such high field magnet is a superconducting magnet.
In addition to the magnetic field produced in the center region of such a magnet, which is generally the useful region for the intended purpose of the magnet, a magnetic field is also produced in a region located outside of the windings. This external field is often called the fringe field. The fringe field can be a source of interference with other processes being used in the vicinity of the magnet, including the proper operation of some instrumentation. Moreover, exposure to the fringe field can pose a recognized health hazard for humans. Therefore, methods have been developed for the reduction of the magnitude of the fringe field in the vicinity of high field magnets.
To reduce the fringe field, superconducting magnets have been constructed to include shields. Such shields may be passive or active. Passive shields consist of large quantities of low permeability material such as magnetic steel arranged or placed around the magnet. Active shields consist of a secondary electrical winding, or coil, surrounding the main coil of the magnet at some small but finite distance and operated with a polarity such as to cancel the field outside the combination of main magnet and shield coils.
In principle, there is no limit to the field reduction possible with the application of an active shield. The external field distribution of the main magnet may differ somewhat from that of the shield coil, but at some distance from the device the field distribution will correspond closely to an ideal dipole field. Thus, in an ideal configuration, the fringe field can be eliminated when the dipole moment of the shield coil is caused to be equal in magnitude and opposite in polarity to that of the main magnet.
In practice, however, there are limitations to the precision to which the active shield coil dipole moment is adjusted. The active shield coil is usually operated in series and in opposition with the main magnet, so the electrical energizing current is constrained to be the same. As a result, the dipole moment depends on the size of the shield coil and on the number of winding turns in the coil. Typical manufacturing variations in size or the balance of turns between the main magnet and the shield coil can lead to an imbalance in the dipole moment.
Moreover, the requirements on fringe field reduction from active shield coils are often such that the variations in the dipole moment of the shield coil, and the resulting small differences in the degree to which the fringe field is canceled, are of no practical importance. On the other hand, there are situations in which a very precise cancellation of the fringe field is required, or in which the cancellation must be adjusted by very small amounts from time to time. For these situations, a dipole shim coil may be effectively employed. The magnitude of the field required of the dipole shim coil is small in comparison with the magnitude of the field produced by the main magnet or the shield coil, and a correspondingly small number of windings are typically required. The provision for adjustment of the fringe field is possible because the dipole shim coil is a circuit that is independently energized from the main magnet and shield coil circuit. The coil is therefore properly referred to as a shim coil.
There are other shim coils that are often used together with superconducting magnets, for other purposes. But the dipole shim coil is distinguished by purpose and use. The purpose and required performance is also reflected in the design of the dipole shim coil as compared to shim coils intended for other purposes. The typical shim coils often associated with superconducting magnets are for the purpose of adjusting aspects of the central field including magnitude, variation of magnitude, and uniformity. Shim coils for the adjustment of uniformity are usually so-called gradient coils of various orders. Shim coils for the adjustment of the central field magnitude and time variations have a dipole moment, but the purpose, operation, and design of these coils of the magnet is to affect the central field. Such coils may also be placed on the outside of a main magnet windings due to space limitations on the inside of the magnet, or to benefit from the lower value of the ambient magnetic field on the outside of the magnet. Being a winding that surrounds a larger area than a shim coil inside the magnet, the shim coil on the outside of a magnet will have a larger dipole moment. But the purpose of the shim coils employed to date has been for the adjustment of the central field. In addition, a single coil does not obtain an independent adjustment of the central field and of the external fringe field simultaneously, and therefore the shim coils presently used do not suffice for the far fringe field adjustment of the present invention.
Accordingly, improvements in active shielding, which include allowing fine adjustment of the residual fringe field of an actively shielded superconducting magnet, are desired.

Dipole shim coil for external field adjustment of a shielded superconducting magnet

Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.


A method of depositing a coating on a glass substrate by pyrolysis, which entails:. superheating a face of a substrate intended for receiving a coating to a temperature higher than or equal to the softening temperature of the substrate, and depositing the coating without any homogenization of the temperature throughout the substrate to a value going above the softening temperature of said substrate being produced within the thickness of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of depositing pyrolyzed films having improved performance and a glazing pane coated with the same.
2. Description of the Background
It is known, from EP 125 153, for example, that a low-emissivity film can be formed on a glass substrate from a tin compound in powder form, especially from dibutyl tin fluoride (DBTF). The deposition is carried out at a high temperature in the region of 550.degree. C. This deposition may be performed at a speed sufficiently high for coating a ribbon of float glass, of whatever thickness, that is to say at a speed which may range from 3 to more than 25 m/min and which on average, for glass thicknesses most commonly produced at present, is about 12 m/min.
When a film of SnO.sub.2, doped with fluorine, of a thickness of about 180 nm is produced as described in EP 125 153, an emissivity of the order of 0.35 is achieved. With an increased thickness of from 300 to 350 nm, an emissivity of the order of 0.25 is attained.
This 180 nm film is slightly bluish in reflection, and can tolerate only small variations in thickness, of the order of the size of the DBTF molecule, if variations in color are to be avoided. Thus, if the thickness increases too much, the color becomes yellow.
The film of 300 to 350 nm thickness is slightly green in reflection and if its thickness varies too much, its color also varies. Thus, if its thickness increases, the color of the film may become red.
Therefore, film thickness must be carefully controlled so that the color of the film will not vary locally if the thickness is not uniform, or overall if the thickness remains uniform. Moreover, the selection of desirable performance characteristics for a product cannot be made without considering that performance and thickness, and therefore color, are linked together. It is possible to remove these constraints, imposed by color, by selecting film thickness ranges for which the colored appearance in reflection disappears. Certainly, interesting emissivity levels are achieved, of the order of 0.12 and even less, from 800 or 1,000 nm. However, the light transmission through the glazing is reduced, production costs are increased by the much greater consumption of coating material, and the dull, veiled appearance of the film, approximately proportional to its thickness, increases. Further, production difficulties increase (for example, fouling of the powder projection nozzle increases due to the higher powder flow rates), and, hence, cleaning and stoppages become more frequent. Further, the glass is much more cooled, and, hence, pyrolysis is less effective. Additionally, process limits are also approached, and greater amounts of pollutants are produced.
It is also known that the pyrolysis efficiency can be increased if the deposition is carried out on a hotter glass, but this leads to defects of planeity in the glass by reason of its increasing deformability with temperature. In fact, if the glass were raised to too high a temperature, it would soften and sag between the supporting rollers conveying it.
Thus, a need exists for a method of depositing pyrolyzed films having improved performance and a glazing pane coated with the same.

Method of depositing pyrolyzed films having improved performance and glazing pane coated with the same


A gas-dispensing device (2) for dispensing a gas into breathing gas, comprising a membrane (6) through which the gas can diffuse into the breating gas, is described. The gas-dispensing device (2) is simple and reliable because it contains a self-contained chamber (4) in which the gas is held at a predefined overpressure, and the membrane (6) is arranged to form a part of the chamber's (4) wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a gas-dispensing device for dispensing a gas into a breathing gas, of the type having a membrane through which the gas can diffuse into the breathing gas. The invention also is directed to a breathing apparatus having such a gas-dispensing device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conjunction with respiratory care (with a respirator, ventilator, anesthetic machine or other breathing machine), the physician may sometimes wish to supplement the breathing gas with a medical gas. NO is an example of a medical gas, but there are other gases with a therapeutic or other effect (e.g. anesthetic, analgesic).
One way to dispense a gas is to utilize a membrane permeable to the gas. The rate of diffusion then governs the amount dispensed. Connecting a gas source containing the gas to be dispensed into the flow of breathing gas in a breathing apparatus via a membrane is known.
One disadvantage of this system is that the gas source may be bulky. Patient transport then becomes more difficult, or dispensing may need to be interrupted during transport. The gas source can also require more rigorous safety precautions to ensure that the gas source does not leak. This is the case for e.g. NO and anesthetic gases. In addition, the gas-dispensing system must be equipped to prevent overdosing, even if the membrane or some other component (e.g. a pressure regulator) should fail.
Another disadvantage of known techniques is that special monitoring equipment, or special pressures combined with fixed valves etc., are required if a specific total amount (a given amount of gas) is to be dispensed.

Gas-dispensing device with self-contained gas container having a diffusion membrane


The present invention relates to oncolytic adenoviruses with functional deletions of immunodominant T-cell epitopes of adenovirus proteins, as well as to methods of using the oncolytic adenoviruses for the treatment of diseases, such as cancer. The oncolytic adenoviruses may also contain one or more heterologous nucleic acid sequences each encoding a tumor antigen or epitope. The oncolytic adenoviruses may also contain other mutations and insertions of DNA sequences used to confer selectivity and antitumor potency. The invention has application in the field of cancer therapy.

Current cancer treatment is based mainly on chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery. Despite a high rate of success when the treatment is applied at early stages, most cases of advanced disease are not curable because tumors cannot be excised by surgery or radio and chemotherapy doses that can be administered are limited by toxicity to normal cells. To alleviate this problem, biotechnology strategies that seek higher selectivity and potency have been developed. Among them, gene therapy and virotherapy use viruses with a therapeutic aim against cancer. In gene therapy, the virus is modified to avoid its replication and to function as a vehicle or vector of therapeutic genetic material. Conversely, virotherapy uses viruses that replicate and propagate selectively in tumor cells. In virotherapy, the tumor cell dies by the cytopathic effect caused by the replication of the virus inside the cell rather than by the effect of a therapeutic gene. The preferential replication in a tumor cell is known as oncolysis. In a strict sense, viruses that replicate selectively in tumors are named oncolytic, although in a broader sense the oncolytic word can be applied to any replication-competent virus able to lyse tumor cells, even without selectivity. In this description the oncolytic term is used in both senses.
Immunotherapy is based on the use of the immune system to eliminate a tumor. The main idea of treatment is to stimulate or restore the ability of the immune system to recognize tumor cells and activate effector cells to selectively destroy them. The different immunotherapies are divided into two groups: a) passive, which aims to improve existing anti-tumor immunity; and b) active, which involves directly stimulating a patient's immune system to trigger an anti-tumor immune response. Passive immunotherapies include monoclonal antibodies that block signals suppressing the immune system, such as Ipilimumab (CTLA-4), Nivolumab (PD-1), or MDX-1105 (PD-L1) (Pardoll, D. M., Nat Rev Cancer. 2012 Mar 22; 12(4):252-64). In this group, we also find the transfer of autologous T cells. There are several techniques to confer antitumor capacity, but all involve some degree of ex vivo manipulation of cells. Ex vivo manipulation of cells includes: a) stimulating cells against a tumor antigen and amplifying these cells specifically, and b) introducing tumor-specific receptors by inserting a high affinity T-cell receptor (TCR) transgenic for a tumor-associated antigen or replacing the TCR with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) (Kalos, M. and June, C. H., Immunity 2013 Jul. 25; 39(1):49-60). In the case of active therapies, one approach is to reactivate or re-stimulate the immune system of a patient in vivo. For example, use of the immunostimulatory cytokine IL-2 has been used for over a decade to treat melanoma and renal carcinoma (Amin, A. and White, R. L. Jr., Oncology (Williston Park). 2013 July; 27(7):680-91). In addition, TNF-α (van Horssen, R., et al., Oncologist. 2006 April; 11(4):397-408) and IFN type I and II (Kotredes, K. P. and Gamero, A. M., J Interferon Cytokine Res. 2013 April; 33(4):162-70) have been used in cancer treatment. Finally, one of the fields with more development in recent years has been therapeutic vaccines (Myc, L. A., et al., Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2011 August; 59(4):249-59). A wide range of preparations have been used to immunize, including DNA-based vaccines (Bei, R. and Scardino A., J Biomed Biotechnol. 2010; 2010:102758), peptide-based vaccines (Arens, R., et al., Semin Immunol. 2013 April; 25(2):182-90; Vacchelli, E., et al., Oncoimmunology. 2012 Dec. 1; 1(9):1557-1576), dendritic cell-based vaccines (Bonaccorsi, I., et al., Immunol Lett. 2013 September-October; 155(1-2):6-10; Palucka, K. and Banchereau, J., Immunity. 2013 Jul. 25; 39(1):38-48), and viral vector-based vaccines (Larocca, C. and Schlom, J., Cancer J. 2011 September-October; 17(5):359-71). Despite great efforts made so far, the effectiveness of this type of therapy remains limited. The main obstacles to overcome are tumor immunosuppression and the power and specificity of the induced response.
Cancer virotherapy is older than gene therapy. First reports on cancer cures with viruses date to the beginning of the past century. In 1912, De Pace obtained tumor regressions after the inoculation of rabies virus in cervical carcinomas (De Pace N., Ginecologia 1912; 9:82-89). Since De Pace 1912, many types of viruses have been injected in tumors to treat them. There are viruses that present a natural oncotropism such as autonomous parvovirus, vesicular stomatitis virus, and reovirus. Other viruses can be genetically manipulated to achieve selective replication in tumors. For example, Herpes Simplex virus (HSV) has been rendered oncotropic by deleting the ribonucleotide reductase gene, an enzymatic activity not necessary in cells undergoing active proliferation such as tumor cells. However, adenovirus, due to its low pathogenicity and high efficacy to infect tumor cells, has been the most commonly used virus in virotherapy and gene therapy of cancer.
The use of replicative virus in cancer virotherapy is based on the idea that, as a result of viral replication, the tumor cells are destroyed and released viral progeny infect surrounding cells. After multiple replication rounds, total destruction of the tumor is achieved. In principle, only a few cells are initially infected, but the virus replicative effect generates a chain reaction such that the virus expands throughout the tumor mass. Once the virus reaches and infects normal cells in the periphery, the virus is not able to replicate in them due to its tumor selectivity, and normal tissue does not suffer pathogenic effects.
There are different aspects to consider when choosing a viral species for cancer virotherapy. Adenoviruses are non-enveloped viruses 70-90 nm in diameter with an icosahedral capsid. Their genome is linear, double-stranded DNA varying between 25-45 kilobases in size with inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) at both termini and a terminal protein attached to the 5′ ends (Russell, W. C., J Gen Virol 2009 90:1-20). Adenoviruses have a lytic replicative cycle and thus kill cells in which they replicate. In addition, the extensive knowledge of adenovirus biology and the possibility of manipulating adenovirus DNA make it easy to confer selectivity, improve other characteristics such as tumor cell infectivity, and increase the oncolytic potency by several strategies. Also, it is a virus which has a very low mutation rate and very mild pathology in immunocompetent patients. In addition, the replicative capacity of adenovirus is high, which allows it to be produced in highly concentrated amounts (1012-1013 virus particles (vp)/mL).
The icosahedral capsid is formed by three major proteins, of which the hexon trimers are most abundant (Nemerow, G. R., et al. Virology 2009 384:380-8). Each of the twelve vertices of the capsid also contains a pentameric protein, a penton base that is covalently attached to the fiber. The fiber is a trimeric protein that protrudes from the penton base and is a knobbed rod-like structure. Other viral proteins IIIa, IVa2, VI, VIII, and IX are also associated with the viral capsid. The proteins VII, small peptide mu, and a terminal protein (TP) are associated with DNA. Protein V provides a structural link to the capsid via protein VI.
The hexon protein is the most abundant capsid protein and represents 63% of the total protein mass of the virus. The protein has different well defined structural regions. The V1 and V2 domains form the base of each subunit. These domains adopt a "double barrel" or "double jellyroll" conformation and give the pseudohexagonal homotrimer form, which allows larger assembly of viral shells. These structures are separated by the VC region at the base and loop DE2 in the top half. These regions are highly conserved and thus play an important role in stabilizing V1 and V2. DE1, FG1, and FG2 form the top of the trimer. DE1 and FG1 zones contain highly variable and flexible areas whose structures have not been determined. These areas are called hypervariable regions (HVR). Various modifications in the HVRs can be made without affecting virus assembly (Roberts, D. M., et al., Nature. 2006 May 11; 441(7090):239-43; Alba, R., et al., Blood. 2009 Jul. 30; 114(5):965-71; Matthews, Q. L., Mol Pharm. 2011 Feb. 7; 8(1):3-11).
Human adenoviruses are classified within the family Adenoviridae. Fifty seven serotypes of human adenovirus have been identified and grouped in six differentiated groups, A to G. The human adenovirus type 5 (Ad5), which belongs to group C, consists of an icosahedral protein capsid which contains a double-stranded, linear DNA of 36 kilobases (kb). Adenoviruses are dependent on the cellular machinery to replicate the viral genome. They can infect quiescent cells and induce them into a cell cycle S-phase-like state enabling viral DNA replication. The Ad5 genome has eight overlapping transcriptional units on both DNA strands. The eight units are grouped according to the chronology of the transcripts: immediate early (E1A), early (E1B, E2, E3, E4), intermediate (IX, IVa), and late (L1-L5) genes (Russell, W. C., J Gen Virol 2009 90:1-20). At the ends of the genome are two ITR sequences that are identical to each other and contain the origins of viral DNA replication. A virion packaging signal formed by adenine and thymine rich sequences is present at the left end of the genome.
In adults, Ad5 infection is often asymptomatic and causes colds and conjunctivitis in children. In general terms, Ad5 infects epithelial cells, which in a natural infection are the bronchial epithelial cells. It enters the cell by means of the interaction of the fiber, which extends as an antenna from the twelve vertexes of the capsid, with a cellular protein involved in intercellular adhesion known as Coxsackie-Adenovirus Receptor (CAR). When the virus DNA reaches the nucleus, the transcription of early genes (E1 to E4) begins. The first genes to be expressed are those from the early 1A region (E1A). E1A binds to cellular protein pRb (retinoblastoma protein) to release the transcription factor E2F to activate the transcription of other virus genes such as E2, E3, and E4, and of cellular genes that activate the cell cycle. On the other hand, E1B binds to the transcription factor p53 to activate the cell cycle and to inhibit the apoptosis of the infected cell. E2 encodes proteins for replication of the virus. E3 encodes proteins that inhibit the antiviral immune response. E4 encodes for proteins involved in viral RNA transport. The expression of early genes leads to the replication of the genome and, once replicated, to the activation of the major late promoter. This promoter drives the expression of an mRNA that is processed by differential splicing to give all the RNAs that encode the structural proteins that form the capsid.
There are two important points to consider regarding the design of oncolytic adenoviruses: selectivity and potency. To achieve selectivity towards a tumor cell, three strategies have been used: the deletion of virus functions required for replication in normal cells, but that are dispensable for replication in tumor cells; the substitution of viral promoters with tumor selective promoters, for example driving expression of genes that initiate viral replication under tumor selective promoters; and the modification of the virus capsid proteins implied in the infection of the host cell. With such genetic modifications, a considerable level of selectivity has been obtained, with a replication efficiency in a tumor cell 10000-fold higher than in a normal cell.
Adenoviruses require the machinery of the host cell for replication of their genetic material. Therefore, mutations or deletions in the viral genes involved in the activation of cell replication or inhibition of apoptosis generate conditionally replicating virus. In contrast, tumor cells have both activated cell cycle and inhibited apoptotic pathways, allowing adenoviruses harboring mutations or deletions in the viral genes involved in the activation of cell replication or inhibition of apoptosis to replicate. For example, p53 is activated in an infected cell and its effect is normally blocked by E1b-55K. Given that p53 is mutated in approximately 50% of tumors, the virus d11520 (ONYX-015) was used as an oncolytic virus (Bischoff, J. R., et al., Science. 1996 Oct. 18; 274(5286):373-6). This virus has a deletion of 827 bp of the gene E1b-55K. The selectivity mechanism is based on the fact that a normal cell with functional p53 enters apoptosis before allowing the replicative cycle of the virus to be completed. However, tumor cells with non-functional p53 (or other disorders affecting regulation) allow the virus to replicate normally (Hall, A. R., et al., Nat Med. 1998 September; 4(9):1068-72; Rothmann, T., et al., J Virol. 1998 December; 72(12):9470-8; Goodrum, F. D. and Ornelles, D. A., J Virol. 1998 December; 72(12):9479-90).
In another strategy to achieve selectivity, partial deletions of E1A result in restricted replication in normal cells but allow replication in target cells, such as cancer cells. Conditionally replicating viruses featuring a 24 base pair deletion in the CR2 (constant region 2) have been created and shown to be potent and selective in the treatment of glioma and breast cancer xenografts (Fueyo, J., et al., Oncogene 2000 19:2-12; Heise, C., et al., Nat Med 2000 6(10):1139-9). Their cancer specificity results from the inability of dysfunctional E1A to release E2F1 transcription factor, which leads to the requirement of free E2F1. E2F1 is abundant in cancer cells, where the pRb pathway is most often disrupted (Hanahan, D. and Weinberg, R. A., Cell. 2000 Jan. 7; 100(1):57-70).
Another strategy for conferring tumor selectivity is the use of adenoviruses which harbor deletions of adenovirus VA-RNA genes (Cascalló, M., et al., Cancer Res. 2003 Sep. 1; 63(17):5544-50; Cascalló, M., et al., Hum Gene Ther. 2006 September; 17(9):929-40) and which depend on activation of the RAS pathway or truncation of the interferon pathway commonly present in tumor cells.
Another strategy for conferring tumor selectivity is to limit expression of adenovirus genes essential for viral replication using promoters specific for certain types of tumors. Adenoviruses have been generated with various specific promoters, such as the α-fetoprotein promoter (Hallenbeck, P. L., et al., Hum Gene Ther. 1999 Jul. 1; 10(10):1721-33). This virus selectively replicates in hepatocarcinoma cells overexpressing α-fetoprotein. Similarly, viruses have been constructed which control the expression of E1A using 1) a promoter derived from the human prostate-specific antigen (PSA) gene to achieve selective replication in PSA-expressing prostate cancer cells (Rodriguez, R., et al., Cancer Res. 1997 Jul. 1; 57(13):2559-63), 2) a human osteocalcin (hOC) promoter to achieve selective replication in hOC-expressing prostate cancer cells (Hsieh et al., Cancer Res. 2002 Jun. 1; 62(11):3084-92), and 3) a DF3/MUC1 promoter to achieve selective replication in MUC1-positive breast cancer cells (Kurihara, T., et al., J Clin Invest. 2000 September; 106(6):763-71).
In contrast to promoters specific for certain types of tumors, promoters that respond to the E2F transcription factor, such as the E2F-1 promoter, allow expression of adenovirus genes essential for viral replication in a wide range of tumors (Cascallo, M., et al., Mol Ther. 2007 September; 15(9):1607-15; Johnson, L., et al., Cancer Cell. 2002 May; 1(4):325-37, Rojas, J. J., et al., Gene Ther. 2009 December; 16(12):1441-51, Tsukuda, K., et al., Cancer Res. 2002 Jun. 15; 62(12):3438-47). In normal cells, expression of an essential adenovirus gene from a E2F-1 promoter would be inhibited due to the association of E2F with pRb. In tumor cells, however, there are increased levels of "free" E2F as a consequence of the absence or hyperphosphorylation of pRb, which results in the expression of the essential adenovirus gene from the E2F-1 promoter. For example, the ICOVIR15K adenovirus (SEQ ID NO:1) contains palindromic E2F-binding sites inserted into the endogenous E1A promoter. The insertion of these sites allows selective expression of the E1AA24 protein in highly replicative cells, such as cancer cells. In addition, the E1AA24 protein of ICOVIR15K harbors a deletion of the pRb-binding site of E1A which renders the mutant adenovirus unable to dissociate pRb from E2F in quiescent normal cells.
An example of a modification of a virus capsid protein to achieve selectivity is the elimination of the heparin sulphate glycosaminoglycan (HSG)-binding site KKTK (SEQ ID NO: 26) of the fiber shaft to reduce hepatic tropism (Bayo-Puxan, N., et al., Hum Gene Ther. 2009 October; 20(10):1214-21). In the ICOVIR15K adenovirus, this was accomplished by replacing the HSG-binding site KKTK (SEQ ID NO: 26) in the fibre shaft with an integrin-binding motif (RGDK) (SEQ ID NO: 27). This modification in the ICOVIR15K adenovirus improves the tumor/liver transduction ratio with respect to a wild-type virus fiber, enhances the toxicity profile, increases the virus infectivity of cancer cells, and increases the antitumor efficacy in experimental models in vivo (Rojas, J. J., et al., Gene Ther. 2012 April; 19(4):453-7).
With regard to oncolytic potency, several genetic modifications to increase it have been described as well. These modifications affect either the entry of the virus in the cell or the release of virus from the cell. To increase the entry step, the capsid proteins that the virus uses to infect the cell have been modified. For example, the insertion of the RGD peptide (Arginine-Glycine-Asparagine motif) in the fiber allows adenovirus to use integrins to dock in the cell and not only to internalize as it is the case with wild type adenovirus. The use of integrins as cellular receptors of the virus increases the infectivity and the oncolytic potency.
Regarding the modifications that increase the release of virus from the infected cell, these modifications include the deletion of E1b-19K, the overexpression of E3-11.6K (ADP), and localizing E3/19K protein in the plasmatic membrane. E1b-19K is an apoptosis inhibitor homolog to Bcl-2. E1b-19K deletion increases cell death by premature apoptosis of the infected cell. This premature apoptosis often results in a lower total virus production in many infected cell lines; however, it accelerates the fast release of virus and, in turn, the spread of virus in a cell culture. Accordingly the mutants that do not express E1b-19K present a large plaque phenotype compared to the wild type adenovirus in a plaque assay. E3-11.6K (ADP) protein plays a role in the lysis of the infected cell and ADP overexpression increases the release of the virus accumulated inside the nucleus. The phenotype of ADP-overexpressing viruses is also characterized by large plaques and the presence of more viruses in the supernatant of infected cells. ADP overexpression has been achieved by two mechanisms: 1) Eliminating the other E3 genes except ADP, or except ADP and E3-12.5K; and 2) inserting the ADP gene after an strong promoter. Eliminating the other E3 genes except ADP, or except ADP and E3-12.5K, removes other splicing sites in the pre-mRNA driven by the E3 promoter. Without the competition for these splice sites, the processing of the mRNA encoding ADP is favored.
Another strategy used to increase the oncolytic potency of adenovirus is the insertion of a therapeutic gene in the genome of the oncolytic adenovirus to generate an "armed oncolytic adenovirus." In this case, the therapeutic gene would have to mediate the death of non-infected tumor cells by means of the activation of a prodrug with bystander effect (that is to say, that kills the non-infected neighbouring cells), the activation of the immune system against the tumor, the induction of the apoptosis, the inhibition of the angiogenesis, or the elimination of the extracellular matrix, among others. In these cases, the way and the time of expression of the therapeutic gene will be critical in the final result of the therapeutic approach.
Regarding oncolytic viruses armed with a therapeutic gene to activate the immune system against the tumor, virally infected cells are superior at delivery of non-viral antigen (i.e., tumor antigen) for cross-presentation (Schulz, O., et al., Nature. 2005 Feb. 24; 433(7028):887-92), and virally induced cell death would be expected to enhance the availability of tumor-associated antigens for uptake by dendritic cells (DCs) (Moehler, M. H., et al., Hum Gene Ther. 2005 August; 16(8):996-1005) and subsequently enhance stimulation of cytotoxic T-cells. Furthermore, viral infection may alter the balance of cytokine production from the tumor, and subsequently affect the nature of the immune reaction to the tumor, that is, by counteracting the immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment (Prestwich, R. J., et al., Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2008 October; 8(10):1581-8). Most importantly, viruses can be engineered to express highly immunogenic proteins such as granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). When immunogenic proteins are expressed within tumor cells, they are potent stimulators of specific and long-lasting antitumor immunity. Introduction of immunotherapeutic genes into tumor cells and, furthermore, their translation into proteins, leads to the activation of the immune response and to more efficient destruction of tumor cells. The most relevant immune cells in this regard are natural killer cells (NK) and cytotoxic CD8+ T-cells.
The immune response against the oncolytic virus is one of the most important parameters to be considered in developing virotherapies. With respect to the host immune response, two seemingly opposing positions are at play. One being that the immune system is a barrier which eliminates the oncolytic virus before it can destroy all tumor cells. The other being that the virus is a vehicle to induce an antitumor immune response.
The terms "immunodominance" and "immunodominant" were originally used in the 1960s and 1970s to refer to particularly potent humoral immune responses to specific antigenic determinants. (Curtiss, L. K. and Krueger, R. G., Immunochemistry. 1975 December; 12(12):949-57; Johnston et al., J Pathol Bacteriol. 1968 April; 95(2):477-80). Some years later, different authors described that the response to various pathogens in experimental mice was restricted to certain alleles of H-2 depending on the pathogen or that the main response was restricted to one allele specific H-2 (Biddison et al., J. Ex. Med. 1978 Dec. 1; 148(6):1678-86; Doherty P. C. and Zinkernagel R. M., Nature. 1975 Jul. 3; 256(5512):50-2). It was also described that specific H-2 alleles are linked to low responsiveness or non-responsiveness for a given antigenic determinant (Bennink, J. R. and Yewdell, J. W., J Exp Med. 1988 Nov. 1; 168(5):1935-9). As knowledge regarding the peptide nature of antigenic determinants advanced, the existence of immunodominant or subdominant determinants according to the amount of antigen required to induce a detectable immune response was described (Sercarz, E. E., et al., Annu Rev Immunol. 1993; 11:729-66). Epitope immunodominance refers to the phenomenon that is observed after infection with a virus or bacteria, which has multiple antigens and generates hundreds or thousands of peptides that can be presented by between 3 to 6 different alleles (in humans) to MHC class I. However, only a small number of these epitopes are actually presented by certain MHC alleles and are capable of generating a response (Yewdell, J. W. and Del Val, M., Immunity. 2004 August; 21(2):149-53). There are different factors involved in epitope immunodominance, including: immune history, route of infection, abundance of viral proteins and antigen processing, transportation and stability of the peptide/MHC complex, co-expression of multiple alleles of MHC, frequency of precursor T cells in the repertoire of naïve cells, MHC/TCR interaction, memory CTL generation, and generation of regulatory T (Treg) cells. Overall, the most important parameters to define a hierarchy of immunodominance are that an epitope is processed efficiently and to have at least a minimal threshold affinity for anchoring to given MHC allele (Beekman et al., J Immunol. 2000 Feb. 15; 164(4):1898-905; Seifert et al., J Clin Invest. 2004 July; 114(2):250-9; Sette, A., et al., J Immunol. 1994 Dec. 15; 153(12):5586-92; Regner et al., Viral Immunol. 2001; 14(2):135-49). In the absence of these minimal characteristics, an epitope would not differ from the multitude of non-immunogenic peptides produced during the normal process of protein degradation.
In spite of the efforts to date, it is still necessary to find new therapeutic approaches effective in the treatment of cancer.

Oncolytic adenoviruses with mutations in immunodominant adenovirus epitopes and their use in cancer treatment


A method and system for automatically generating telephone bills that include customer defined or requested billing information. Customer specific data including billing parameters for a customer is stored. A record describing a telephone call between the customer and a party is generated at a network switch. The record is received at a billing analysis system, the billing information relating to the party is determined using the record and at least one billing parameter and a telephone bill for the customer including billing information relating to the party is generated. In one embodiment of the present invention, customer specific data entries including at least one billing parameter and customer information are stored for each of a plurality of a customers and a telephone bill for the first customer including billing information relating to the second customer is generated based on a billing parameter for the first customer and customer information for the second customer. In another embodiment of the present invention, customer specific data including at least one billing parameter and caller information is stored for a customer and a telephone bill for the customer including billing information relating to the caller is generated based on a billing parameter and the caller information.

Conventional telephone bills provide standard billing information, such as the telephone number of each party called, the time and date each call was made, and the duration and charge for each call. The customer who receives the bill has no control over the billing information presented and cannot define or request custom billing information. It would be useful if bills including the desired customer defined or requested billing information were automatically generated by the telephone billing process.

Telephone billing with customized billing information


Systems and methods are disclosed for electronically transferring currency from a source user account to a target user account in relation to a game application. A payment service provider may receive a request to transfer an amount of currency from the source user account to the target user account to be used for the game application.

A game application may support multiple users and allow users playing the game to purchase virtual objects using in-game or virtual currency. For example, a game application for social networking websites, virtual worlds, and online gaming sites may allow characters in the virtual world to own virtual objects within the context of the virtual world (e.g., equipment, land, or weapons). A user may spend "real money" on virtual currency, which may be used to purchase objects of value to assist characters in the game. Real money may refer to currency that is accepted outside of the game context and may be used to purchase in-game or virtual currency. In-game or virtual currency may refer to currency that is accepted in the game and may be used to purchase objects in the game.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures.

Triggering in-application currency transfer


Repetitive waveforms are processed to produce an averaged replica of the waveforms by first determining a stream of digital samples, with random time shifts of waveform starts relative to the samples. A mutual arrangement of a trigger signal and a following sample over a succession of sampling periods, enables k sections coinciding with segments [k·T/K, (k+1)·T/K]. K is determined and a distance D between the trigger signal and the following sample is calculated. Second, values of the samples are transformed so that waveforms represented by the samples, are shifted in time by D in relation to the sample positions. The mutual positions of the delayed waveforms and the sampling clock along multiple axes, exactly repeats so that values of the produced samples along the axes coincide. The discreet time delays before averaging avoid frequency component distortions in resulting replicas of the waveforms.

Digital averaging is used as a method of repetitive waveforms detection and/or measurement in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environments typical for high speed digitizers and digital oscilloscopes. Digital averaging is also used in wide bandwidth radio frequency communications, radar, signal processing, scientific research and other applications.
Digital waveform averaging improves signal to noise ratio proportionally to a square root of a number of averages. Depending on a required SNR, a large number of averaging cycles may be required (e.g., 106 averages can result in 60 dB SNR improvement). A block diagram of a conventional device 10 for repetitive waveforms averaging is shown in FIG. 1.
In the block diagram of FIG. 1, a sequence of the analog repetitive waveforms is applied to a signal input 10A of device 10. An analog to digital converter (ADC) 12 transforms this analog waveforms sequence into stream of digital samples. The start of each applied waveform in the applied sequence is identified and marked by a trigger signal coming from an external device through a trigger input 10B. The trigger signal actuates an address counter 14, which is advanced by a sampling clock source applied by way of a clock input 10C. In this way, the address counter 14 "counts" the samples produced by ADC 12. During each sampling period, the address counter 14 forms at an output, a serial number of a sample in the representation of a "current" waveform.
In addition to ADC 12 and address counter 14, device 10 comprises an accumulator 16 (typically in the form of a memory unit having a signal input 16A, a control read/write input 16B and an address input 16C) and a register 18. The read/write (R/W) input 16B receives the sampling clock signal, so that in the first half of a sampling interval, the accumulator 16 is in a "read" mode, while in the second half of that sampling interval the accumulator 16 is in a "write" mode. The number at the address input 16C of the accumulator 16 equals the number produced by the address counter 14, which shows the serial number of the current sample. An output 16D of the accumulator 16 is connected to a signal input 18C of the register 18, while the clock input 18A receives the sampling clock. A falling edge of the sampling clock writes into the register 18 by way of an input 18A, an amount/value which has been read from the accumulator (memory) 16 in the previous half of sampling period (it is the amount/value which has been saved in a memory cell of accumulator 16 with the number equal to the number of the then-current sample). That amount/value appears at an output 18B of register 18 and is applied to a first input 19A of the adder 19. The adder 19 adds this value to a then-current sample value, applied from an output of ADC 12 to its second input 19B. Since in the second half of the sampling interval, the accumulator 16 is in a writing mode, the sum is written into the memory cell of accumulator (memory) 16 with a number equal to the number of the current sample. In this way, the samples representing the current waveform of the applied sequence are added to the contents of the accumulator 16.
After the number of the waveforms, saved in the accumulator reaches a specified value, the accumulated sum is read from the memory of accumulator 16, producing at the accumulator output 16D, the result of waveforms averaging. In this manner, the problem of repetitive waveforms averaging becomes solved, however the procedure, which has been described, has a serious disadvantage.
In particular, the stream of waveforms at the signal input 10A and the sampling clock 10C, are unbound; that is, those signals are asynchronous. The start of a waveform may appear at any arbitrary point inside a sampling interval. The distance between the instant of the waveform start (i.e., the instant of trigger signal appearance) and the next sample is a random variable which lies in a range from zero to T, where T is the sampling period. As a consequence, the assembly of samples, representing a waveform, is shifted in time in relation to the waveform start by this random value.
The mutual disposition of the ADC samples and the trigger signal, with indication of the sampling interval and the delay of the samples assembly from waveform start, is shown in FIG. 2. If i is the number of a waveform fi(t) and εi is the time displacement of samples relative to the start of the waveform which they represent, then the average of N waveforms is:
      〈          f                    (        t        )              〉    =            1      N                          ∑                  i          =          1                N                                                              f                                (                          t              -                              ɛ                i                                      )                          .            A Fourier transform of an averaged signal equals the average of Fourier transforms of the individual waveforms. A reasonably close approximation of the statistics of the time displacements εi is obtained by a uniform distribution within the interval [0,T], where T is the sampling period. The Fourier transform of a uniform distribution (characteristic function) has a frequency response given by:
                              〈                      F                                      (              ω              )                                〉                =                              F                                      (              ω              )                                                                                sin                                                  (                                      ω                                                              T                      /                      2                                                        )                                                            ω                                                  T                  /                  2                                                      .                                              (        1        )            This frequency response is shown in FIG. 3 for a signal frequency normalized to Nyquist frequency. For example, use of a 32 GSa/s ADC results in 2.2 dB attenuation of 12 GHz signal after averaging.
FIG. 4 illustrates the impact of time shift of the trigger signal relative to the ADC sampling clock on the waveforms averaging. A Linear Frequency Modulated (LFM) pulse having 7 ns duration and frequency range from 1 GHz to 12 GHz, is shown in part (a) of FIG. 4. That signal has uniform 1V amplitude. Part (b) of FIG. 4 demonstrates result of 10,000 waveforms averaging with random digital trigger position relative to ADC sampling clock of 32 GSa/s. As may be seen, the averaged signal is distorted, with increasing attenuation toward the pulse end, corresponding to higher frequencies.
It is convenient to estimate the degree of distortions due to the time shift of the trigger signal relative to the ADC sampling clock by attenuation bN at the Nyquist frequency ωN=π/T, where this attenuation is the greatest. Calculation according the equation (1) shows that bN=3.92.
Equation (1) and FIG. 3 show that the spectrum of the averaged signal<F(ω)>differs from the real spectrum F(ω) of the unshifted waveform f(t): the high frequency components of the averaged signal are suppressed, as compared to the low frequency components. In a number of applications, such frequency components distortions of the processed signal prevent the use of averaging for noise suppression or, at least, reduce the efficiency of such a suppression. For this reason, serious efforts are made in practice, to reduce the frequency components distortions which appear during averaging of a stream of repetitive waveforms.
A method and apparatus for improving the accuracy of measurement instruments by minimizing effects, such as higher frequency components attenuation in the process of increasing signal to noise ratio through averaging repetitive waveforms, were proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,346,339. According to that patent, the phase of the averaged signal <f(t)> is computed by performing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). In a similar way, phases of the individual waveforms are calculated and then phase differences between each individual waveform, and the phase of the averaged signal, are determined. The phase differences are used to find time shifts εi for each waveform. To compensate the encountered time shifts, the result of the FFT, which was performed on each individual waveform, is multiplied by exp(j·2π·f·εi). The compensated FFT results are averaged and converted to the time domain, in order to obtain averaged time domain result.
The method and apparatus of the U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/346,339 (the "'339 patent") provide for an accurate correction of frequency distortions, which appear during averaging of a sequence of repetitive waveforms. However, the necessity to perform a pair of direct and inverse FFTs of each waveform (which may be done only at the sampling frequency of the ADC) requires a great quantity of computing recourses, which, in turn, prevents real time realization of the proposed approach. Another serious disadvantage of the proposed method and apparatus of the '339 patent, consists of the use of the concept of signal phase. This concept is applicable to signals with high signal to noise ratio only. It is impossible to speak about phase of an arbitrary signal in the presence of noise higher than signal. This fact significantly narrows the possible areas of application of the proposed problem solution of the '339 patent.
The goal of the present disclosure is to provide a method and apparatus of noise suppression by averaging a sequence of repetitive waveforms with correction of frequency distortions, caused by the time shift of the trigger signal and waveforms starts in relation to the sampling clock, thereby establishing a real time realization and processing of all kinds of signals.

Real-time waveforms averaging with controlled delays


An artificial intervertebral disc for at least partially replacing a diseased or damaged intervertebral disc. The artificial disc includes a concave-convex articulating surface. The artificial disc can be used in the cervical region of the spine, where a concave-convex articulating surface is advantageous for improved anatomical fit and region appropriate kinematics. The artificial disc of the present invention also includes an anchor for attachment to bone.

There are many painful disorders of the spine, many relating, at least in part, to diseased or damaged intervertebral discs. Disorders include Degenerative Disc Disease, generally an age related disorder where the intervertebral disc gradually loses its water content, resiliency, and height. With a loss in intervertebral disc height and associated loss of normal spacing between vertebrae, motion of the vertebrae can place pressure on the spinal cord or exiting nerve roots. The intervertebral disc itself can also be a source of pain. Spinal disorders, commonly referred to as disc herniation and bulging disc, place painful pressure on the spinal cord and exiting nerve roots. Abnormal bone growth, called osteophytes, can place pressure on nerves or the spinal cord. Often, a surgeon must at least partially remove an intervertebral disc to access and remove an osteophyte.
A surgical approach to treating chronic spinal disorders relates to bony fusion of two adjacent vertebrae in a treatment called spine fusion. Following the achievement of appropriate spacing and alignment of the vertebral bodies, bone graft material and stabilization provide an environment for spine fusion. Implant systems, to include plate and rod systems and interbody devices, such as, interbody spacers and fusion cages can be used to support the spine during fusion. Concerns persist regarding spinal fusion treatment stemming from modest clinical success rates and the creation of rigid regions along an otherwise flexible spine.
Artificial intervertebral discs, or simply artificial discs, are an alternative to spinal fusion and represent an emerging technology. These spinal implants are designed to restore or maintain the appropriate alignment and spacing of adjacent vertebral bodies. In addition, an artificial disc is also designed for kinematic behavior similar to a healthy natural disc. Known artificial disc concepts use numerous means for providing motion and stiffness similar to a natural healthy disc, to include the adaptation of elastomers, mechanical springs, and articulating surfaces.
Prior art artificial discs often use articulating surfaces to create a joint between adjacent vertebrae. Disc implants using articulating surfaces rely on methodology and proven technology used in total joint arthroplasty of the hip, knee, and shoulder. Numerous prior art artificial discs resemble artificial hip and artificial knee joints. Numerous known artificial disc devices resemble variations of a ball-and-socket. Kuntz, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,921 (Sep. 21, 1982) discloses an artificial disc, with two components that articulate by means of a projection on one component pivotally engaging a depression on the second component. An artificial disc resembling an artificial knee joint has also been suggested. Shelokov, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,763 (Mar. 21, 2000) discloses an artificial spinal disc, similar in configuration to an artificial knee joint.
Heggeness et. al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,180 (May 1996) categorizes the shape or contours of vertebral endplates into five groups: "ramp", "saddle", "irregular", "bowl", and "hump". Heggeness et. al., teaches the importance of endplate shape relating to fit and load distribution of a prosthetic devices within intervertebral disc spaces, but Heggeness et. al. does not discuss endplate shape relating to articulating surfaces or spinal kinematics.
Spine kinematics and anatomical shapes vary by region of the spine (cervical, thoracic, and lumbar), and a need exists for artificial discs addressing specific regions of the spine, especially the unique geometry and kinematics of the cervical spine.


An electronic cigarette atomizing device is provided. An atomizer thereof has an atomizing rod and an electric heating filament wrapped around the atomizing rod, the atomizing rod is made of a non-glass fiber material, and includes a base and at least two wrapping bars spaced apart from each other and axially disposed on outer sides of the base. The atomizing rod axially defines an air guiding hole through the base and connected between the at least two wrapping bars for communicating with an inhaling air path. The atomizing rod is made of the non-glass fiber material, an electric heating filament directly abutted against a liquid storing portion which efficiently prevents people from inhaling harmful glass fiber particles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic cigarette and a cigarette case, and particularly to an electronic cigarette comprising an atomizing device that has an atomizing rod made of non-glass fiber, and an electronic cigarette device thereof.
2. Related Art
A current electronic cigarette has an inhaling rod and a power rod, and the inhaling rod generally includes a suction nozzle and an atomizing device for converting cigarette liquid to smoke. The power rod is generally installed with a battery and a control switch, the battery is used for providing power, and the control switch is used to control the operation of the electronic cigarette.
The atomizing device of a current electronic cigarette has a complex internal structure, and includes an atomizing rod generally made of a glass fiber material for enabling electric heating wires to be wrapped around and for providing a cigarette liquid to the electric heating wires for being heated to generate smoke. Two ends of the atomizing rod are respectively engaged with engaging holes formed on a holding tube to abut against a liquid storing portion of the atomizing device in order for absorbing the cigarette liquid. When people use the electronic cigarettes, glass fiber particles will be generated at the time that the glass fiber material is heated by the electric heating wires, and people will inhale the fine glass fiber particles together with smoke, whereby damaging people's health.

Electronic cigarette device, electronic cigarette and atomizing device thereof

HUIZHOU KIMREE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., SHENZHEN BRANCH


A seat for a motor vehicle includes a seat and a backrest, the seat including inner and outer lateral supporting legs, the legs being placed on either side of the seat and being designed to be joined to the motor vehicle. The seat also has a beam for joining the seat to the inner and outer supporting legs. The beam extends laterally between the supporting legs and is joined to the seat and legs. The joining beam is arranged so as to transmit the energy of a side crash from the outer lateral supporting leg to the inner lateral supporting leg. The inner supporting leg has a structure arranged so as to deform and absorb at least a part of the energy from the side crash.

The invention relates to a seat of a motor vehicle that enables improved energy absorption in the event of a side crash against the vehicle.
In the event of a side crash against a motor vehicle, in particular with regard to a car seat, the energy of the crash is passed on to the seat and its occupant can, in turn, suffer a crash against the side wall of the vehicle and possibly hit this wall. The crash of the occupant against the wall can be violent and thus dangerous for the occupant of the seat.

Automotive vehicle seat for absorbing side impact energy


A fastener for securing a cargo container includes a first fastener component, a second fastener component, and a lock assembly. The first fastener includes a pair of rods which bridge a first and a second fixed body. The lock assembly is disposed between and slidable along the pair of rods. A rotary member is disposed in the lock assembly and rotatable relative to the lock assembly within a limited angular distance, the rotary member having a non-circular locking hole. The second fastener component extends between the pair of rods through a screw hole formed in the first fixed body, and has a locking portion of non-circular cross section extending into and engaging the locking hole of the rotary member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fastener, more particularly to a fastener for securing a container on the deck of a cargo vessel or ship in which the components of the fastener can be easily and smoothly assembled and ineffective fastening can be avoided.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, when containers are being transported in a cargo vessel or ship, in order to prevent undesired movement or toppling down of the containers 11 stacked on the ship as shown in FIG. 1, lashing ropes 2 and fastening assemblies 3 are used to secure the containers 11 to deck fittings (not shown) on a deck 12 of the ship. The conventional fastening assembly 3 includes a connecting member 31 and a connecting rod 32 that are connected in threaded engagement. However, when the ship pitches and rolls in a stormy sea, the threaded connection may be loosened thus resulting in disengagement of the connecting member 31 from the connecting rod 32 and, hence, ineffective fastening.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,634 proposes a "Positioning assembly for positioning a container on a platform," which was intended to overcome the aforesaid drawback of the conventional fastening assembly. The positioning assembly includes a limiting seat formed with a limiting hole, and a platform-connecting rod that engages threadedly a container-connecting unit and that has an engaging stud portion for engaging the limiting hole to arrest rotation of the platform-connecting rod, thereby preventing undesired disengagement of the platform-connecting rod from the container-connecting unit.
In the conventional fastener described above, however, it is found that the process of attaching the platform-connecting rod to the limiting seat with the engaging stud of the platform-connecting rod engaging the limiting hole of the limiting seat cannot be performed smoothly, particularly due to the non-circular cross sectional shape of both the engaging stud and the limiting hole. The present invention is directed to such drawback.


A digital cordless telephone apparatus comprising a microprocessor based battery powered portable handset unit and a microprocessor based stationary base unit which each transmit and receive digital voice data and digital command data to and from one another over multiple RF channel frequencies in the 902-928 MHz band, is disclosed. The user's voice is digitized, scrambled and modulated for transmission and upon reception, the modulated digital voice data signal is demodulated, descrambled and decoded. A command data - voice data interface inserts command data packets into the stream of digital voice data prior to transmission and locates and captures command data packets from the incoming stream of received digital data. A silence sequence replaces the captured command data packet such that no audible sound is heard by the user. A link check command signal is also periodically transmitted by the base unit and acknowledged by the handset unit to evaluate the quality of the RF link toward triggering an automatic channel change or signaling an out-of-range condition.

The present invention relates generally to the transmission and reception of a telephone signal between a remote battery powered cordless handset unit and fixed hard wired base unit, and in particular, to a microprocessor based digital cordless telephone apparatus capable of transmitting both digitized voice data and digitized command data between a hand unit and a base unit. In the present cordless digital telephone apparatus the handset and base unit communicate with one another using FSK modulated digital signals transmitted on an RF carrier in the 902-928 MHz band.
The function of the conventional prior art cordless telephone is to provide the user with the ability to freely move about while speaking on the telephone without the hindrance of being "tied" down by the coiled cord connecting the handset to the conventional telephone set. The typical prior art cordless telephone comprises a base unit which is physically connected to the user's telephone company lines and a hand-held handset unit. The physical hard wire connection between the conventional handset and telephone set is replaced by an radio frequency (RF) link, usually in the 46 and 49 MHz bands. The spoken voice is usually communicated between the base and handset by first converting the user's voice into an analog electrical signal and modulating the signal using an RF carrier for radio transmission to the receiver, typically through the use of a Narrow-Band Frequency Modulation (NBFM) technique. At the receiver the modulated analog voice signal is demodulated and directed to a speaker through which the voice is heard. The various command functions which must be communicated between the handset and the base are instead communicated in the digital format. To accommodate both formats of data the digital command signal is usually modulated as either a 600 Hz or 1 kHz square wave and transmitted as an "in-band" signal on top of the analog voice signal.
One shortcoming of the in-band transmission of digital command data is that the command data is part of the voice data signal and thus is inherently audible to the user when the analog voice signal is demodulated and listened to. Moreover, the command data in addition to being audible to the user is also transmitted very slowly precluding implementation of channel monitoring. Another limitation inherent in transmitting an analog voice signal using the NBFM technique is the often occurring static, interference and otherwise poor reception which accompanies the transmission and reception of the analog voice signal. While some recent cordless telephone designs have sought to include "enhanced" circuitry to improve the transmission and reception of the analog voice, hoping to obtain a "corded" sound quality, many are still subject to troublesome static and interference.
One way in which the prior art has attempted to overcome static and interference has been by providing the user with the ability to select among several different RF channel frequencies in hopes of finding a "clearer" RF link. While the ability to change channels is useful, prior art devices require that channel changing be done manually by the user who must elect to change channel based upon how much interference he or she perceives. Should the interference be in the transmission from the handset only, it will usually not be heard by the handset user, but may be very annoying to the party at the other end of the line.
When a handset is transmitting command data to a base, such as when the user accesses an outgoing line and dials a telephone number, it is essential that the base receive the complete command if the cordless telephone is to operate as intended. Static and interference in the RF link may obscure the flow of command data and cause the complete command data not to be received. The user will learn of the missing or lost command data only as a result of the device's failure to respond to the user's command request or the execution of an unintended command.
Moreover, while virtually every RF communication device has a physical range limitation beyond which a transmitter and receiver cannot communicate with one another, the implication of this limitation represents a significant shortcoming in the operation of a cordless telephone. For example, when the handset is physically located at the outer edge of the communication range the received signal is often weak and interference from other signals may result in intermittent loss of the RF link when a conversation is in progress In addition, when the handset unit is in a "standby mode" awaiting receipt of an incoming telephone call and the user moves out of range from the base unit, the user is unable to receive an incoming telephone call from the base unit and more importantly is totally unaware of being out of range unless an attempt is made to use the handset at which time the out of range condition would be discovered due to the inability to establish communication with the base unit
When the prior art handset unit is in a standby mode it must nevertheless be able to receive an incoming call from the base unit and accordingly at least the receiver circuits of the handset must remain energized. The need to maintain power to the receiver as well as other portions of the handset, even when in a standby mode, places a continuing power drain on the handset batteries and will ultimately serve to deplete the handset battery charge necessitating that the handset be returned to the base unit for recharging even if no telephone conversations have been made or received.
Accordingly, the present invention seeks to address the foregoing limitations of the prior art cordless telephone by providing a cordless telephone apparatus which comprises a base unit and handset unit which each transmit and receive digitized voice signals toward providing true noise free conversations with significantly greater immunity to static and interference, and with increased range.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for the combined communication of digitized voice signals and digital command signals toward the wireless transmission and reception of such signals on an RF band of 902-928 MHz taking advantage of revised FCC regulations which have allocated portions of this band for just such an application.
Moreover, the present invention seeks to provide for the seamless intermixing of digital command data into the stream of digital voice data flowing between the base unit and the handset.
It is an associated object of the present invention to provide a means by which transmitted digital command data is received and captured by the receiving unit from the stream of incoming digital data and replaced with a quiet sequence so as to prevent the command data from causing an otherwise undesirable audible sound to be heard by the user.
It is a still further object of the present invention to implement a command data protocol incorporating positive acknowledgment with retransmission technology in order to insure that each transmitted command is acknowledged when received and if lost or damaged is repeated until acknowledged all before further commands are transmitted.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a command data protocol which incorporates a randomly generated security code which prevents an unintended person from gaining access to the user's telephone line and placing unauthorized telephone calls.
It is additionally an object of the present invention to provide for the selection and changing of RF channel frequencies without intervention by the user in response to the automatic detection of interference in the RF link or a total loss of the RF link.
Another object of the present invention is to provide twenty frequency channels for operation of the handset at operating frequencies of 925.5 to 927.4 MHz and twenty paired frequency channels for operation of the base unit where such channels are paired in a manner which permits rapid channel scanning.
It is yet a further object of the present digital cordless telephone apparatus to provide for the transmission of a link check command signal by the base unit and the acknowledgment of receipt by the handset unit in order to continually monitor the viability and existence o the RF link while a call is in progress as well as to detect an out of range condition toward signaling the user at the handset of the inability to make or receive a telephone call.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a means by which the handset and base unit can communicate data between one another through a physical connection when the handset unit is in its storage cradle within the baseset unit, thereby precluding the need to modulate the recharge power source as a way of establishing communication between the handset and the base unit when in storage.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a power saving mode wherein the handset unit automatically powers down when a call is not in progress and periodically automatically awakens to check for the presence of an incoming call, incoming link check command signals or the actuation by the user of the keypad, thereby serving to extend handset battery life.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide for the scrambling of the digital voice signal prior to transmission and for the unscrambling of the digital voice signal upon reception in order to minimize the possibility that the telephone conversation may be monitored by unintended persons listening to the RF channel frequency.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification and drawings.


A method for stabilizing track jump of a recording medium by which bumping of an object lens disposed in a sled against the sled's wall can be prevented during a track jump for accessing a desired track on a recording medium, in which tracking is turned off whenever the sled is kicked and the numbers of zero crossing of the track are counted by first turning off the sled, and alternately kicking the tracking and checking the zero crossing, until the zero crossing reaches a predetermined number.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for stabilizing track jump in a disk drive, and more particularly, to a track jump stabilizing method of a disk drive wherein jump margin is stabilized by controlling the jump timing of the sled and the actuator.
The present application is based on Korean Application No. 59420/1995 which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, pickup 101 traces tracks of a disk by a tracking servo, and pickup body 117 jumps in accordance with the track playing since the tracking movement range of the object lens 201 driven by an actuator is limited. Also, in order to access a desired song, the pickup body 117 jumps to reach that song. At this time, the maximum jump range is conventionally set to within about .+-.200 tracks. When a targeted jump is beyond 200 tracks, access time is delayed due to focus drop or track oscillation. However, an excessive delay may cause degradation of the data. In a conventional manufacturing process, a jump algorithm has been adopted for mass tests of the deviation of the deck (change of a sign) or that of the drive circuit voltage.
In mass production of disk drives, the test algorithm of FIG. 4 is conventionally used. FIG. 3 is a control system diagram for explaining the conventional jumping algorithm. The control system is comprised of a command logic circuit 302, which receives from microcomputer 300 commands for controlling the tracking and the sled, and generating a sled driving control signal and a switching control signal. Pulse generator 303 is controlled by the output of the command logic circuit 302 to generate tracking kick/brake and sled driving control signals for pickup 306. Servo controller 304 controls the driving of the pickup and the sled. Switching unit 331 selects the tracking kick/brake and sled movement signals generated from the command logic circuit 302 or the sled and a pickup reproducing control signal of the servo controller to provide to the pickup 306.
Referring to FIG. 4, the microcomputer 300 generates a track jump command signal in step 4a. Then, the signal is analyzed at the command logic circuit 302 and applied to the pulse generator 303. The switching signal generated from the command logic circuit 302 and applied via switching control 313 turns on sled and tracking driving on/off switches 317 and 318 and makes switches 319 and 320 contact point 1. Thus, in step 4b, tracking is kicked as in FIG. 5A and the sled is kicked as in FIG. 5B, both being controlled to be concurrently driven (see 501 and 505 of FIGS. 5A and 5B). Correspondingly, the pickup 306 is driven and the control result of the pickup is applied to the servo controller 304. The servo controller 304 detects the zero crossing state (i.e., the state where a track is sensed) according to the driving state of the pickup 306 and informs the microcomputer 300. The microcomputer 300 counts the zero crossing states and checks whether the track zero crossing reaches 50 in step 4c. When the track zero crossing reaches 50, the microcomputer 300 brakes the tracking (see 504 of FIG. 5A) and applies a control signal for sled-off to the command logic circuit 302 (see 506 of FIG. 5B). The command logic circuit 302 outputs signals for tracking brake and sled-off to the pulse generator 303 and the pulse generator 303 generates corresponding signals to provide to the pickup 306 via the switches 317, 318, 319 and 320. At this time, the tracking assumes a braking state and the sled is turned off.
In step 4e, the microcomputer 300 checks whether the number of the zero crossing reaches 50 through the servo controller 304. When 50 is reached, in step 4f, tracking gain is turned on and the sled is turned on as in 502 of FIG. 5A. After time is delayed for 10 ms in step 4g, the switches 319 and 320 are positioned at a point 2 according to the signals of the command logic circuit 302 via switching control 313 so that the tracking is turned on in step 4h.
Considering the problem of jumping over 100 tracks, when continuous jumping over 100 tracks is made, tracking, i.e., actuator, reaches exactly 160 .mu.m.+-.10% (1.6 .mu.m.times.100 tracks) by checking the track zero crossing. However, the sled has an error of 25-30% (movement distance error of 160 .mu.m.+-.30%) due to the load deviation of the deck and that of sled voltage. The error becomes further considerable due to the deviation of the tracking and sled movement time as shown in FIG. 6.
FIG. 6 shows an example of when the actuator, the pickup 101 and the object lens 201, are concurrently moved 5 times at an error of 20%. When one jump covers 100 tracks, the margin becomes 75 tracks, assuming that the tracking of the object lens 201 and the sled driving of the pickup 101 occur concurrently as in the example of FIGS. 5A and 5B. Thus, the object lens 201 bumps the pickup 101 since 25 tracks are missed for every jump. Consequently, the focus drops and tracking oscillation occurs accordingly.
That is, since the pickup servo and the lens actuator have different operational characteristics (e.g., different response curve), if the track jump command is applied to both concurrently, the lens actuator may attempt to reach a track beyond the range allowed by the pickup servo. Specifically, if is the pickup servo is slow to respond to the jump command, it may take a short time before it can place the lens at a location where the target track is within the range of movement of the actuator. Therefore, if the actuator is attempting to reach that track prematurely, the lens will collide with the pickup wall.

Track jump stabilizing method of disk drive