An antibiotic impregnated fracture fixation device and antibiotic impregnated drug delivery polymer are provided. In a preferred embodiment, a homogenous mixture of thermally melted poly(lactic) acid and at least one antibiotic and/or antibacterial agent are employed.

Despite the advent of many new antibiotics, osteomyelitis, in particular, chronic osteomyelitis, continues to represent a medical dilemma. Osteomyelitis is a bone infection caused by pyrogenic microorganisms, most commonly, Staphylococcus aureus. Infection may reach the bone directly, for example, through the blood stream or by direct extension from infections in adjacent structures. Very often, infection reaches the bone via compound (open) fracture.
Infection may be introduced to a compound fracture at the time of surgery, but more often, the infection is a result of contamination of the open fracture. It is estimated that 60-70% of open fractures are contaminated with various types of bacterial organisms prior to any surgical or antibiotic therapy. The growth of microorganisms in an open fracture environment is enhanced by the impaired vascularity, avascular bone fragments, and loss of skeletal stability. The majority of bacteria cultured from such wounds are either normal skin flora, for example, Staphylococcus aureus, Propionibacterium, or Cornybacterium, or environmental contaminants, for example, Clostridium, Pseudomonas, or Mycobacterium. In addition, nosocomial bacteria may colonize in the wound after hospital admission.
Infection may seriously complicate the healing process. Infections are the primary cause of non-union and bony instability following open fractures. Thus, the clinical objective in the treatment of open fractures is not only to stabilize osseous structures, but also to prevent soft tissue and bony infections.
There is a vast array of treatment options for stabilizing open fractures, including external and internal fixation methods. Although external fixation devices have, in theory, a lower potential for infection, statistically the rate of infection following external fixation ranges from 3.5-30%. This rate is comparable to the incidence of infection using internal fixation techniques and antibiotics. In addition, external fixation procedures are fraught with other potential complications. For example, long periods of external pin fixation often result in pin loosening, pin tract infections, and increased incidence of malunion and non-union.
Alternatively, compound fractures may be fixed internally, for example, with plates or intramedullary rods. Such procedures were initially unpopular despite the excellent skeletal fixation because of the increased infection potential with the introduction of a metallic foreign body into the human body. However, stabilization of the open fracture site is critical for local wound healing and the resolution of a potentially infected wound. The stability provided by internal fixation devices far outweighs the disadvantages of the potentially infected foci. As a result, use of internal fixation devices is increasing.
Empiric utilization of antibiotic therapy has been shown to be extremely important in reducing the incidence of infection. The prognosis of patients undergoing antimicrobial therapy is determined by the bactericidal level of antibiotics at the locale of the infected foci. A persistent problem with treating any localized infection by systemic administration of antibiotics is that the relationship between the assayed serum antibiotic concentration and the level present at the infected foci is inconsistent, especially when the foci is traumatized tissue. Antibiotic concentrations are often subtherapeutic due to impaired vascularity at the fracture site, devitalized bony fragments, and/or associated systemic complications. The situation is compounded by the anaerobic conditions of the infected foci that further decrease the effectiveness of antibiotics. Consequently, high doses of parenteral antibiotics must often be used to achieve adequate local concentrations. The high doses are not only costly, but also increase the incidence of systemic side effects, for example, ototoxicity or nephrotoxicity.
The treatment of osteomyelitis due to compound fracture or other cause, often fails due to the inability to achieve adequate antibiotic levels at the infected foci. As a result, the patient may experience many episodes of recurrence and sepsis.
As can be seen from the foregoing, there is a need for materials and methods which enable clinicians to achieve a therapeutically effective concentration of antibiotic at the infected foci. Local therapy methods include local injection, closed irrigation and suction, implantable antibiotic pumps and antibiotic impregnated beads. Tsukayama et al., Orthopedics, 11:1285 (Sept. 1988) disclose an example of a non-degradable implant using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) beads containing an antibiotic to achieve local concentrations of particular antibiotics at the site of infection. Three of the antibiotics tested, vancomycin, teicoplanin and ciprofloxacin, were found to be active against staphylococci under anaerobic conditions. However, a significant problem with any non-degradable implant is that once the implant is spent, it must be removed.
Accordingly, an implantable biodegradable delivery system is preferred because there is no need for subsequent procedures to remove the implant system. Further, such systems are able to localize the concentration of antibiotic to the area of infection, for example, the bone, while avoiding problems associated with administering high doses of antibiotic systemically.
A few biodegradable drug delivery systems have recently been suggested for the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis. Lin et al., "Evaluation of a biodegradable drug delivery system for chronic osteomyelitis," 38th Annual Meeting, ORS, Washington D.C., Feb. 17-20, 1992; Robinson et al., "Preparation and degradation of a biodegradable gentamycin delivery system for the treatment of osteomyelitis," 38th Annual Meeting, ORS, Washington D.C., Feb. 17-20, 1992; Garvin, et al., "Treatment of Canine Osteomyelitis with a Biodegradable Antibiotic Implant," 38th Annual Meeting, ORS, Washington D.C., Feb. 17-20, 1992; Wei et al., "A bioabsorbable delivery system for antibiotic treatment of osteomyelitis," J. Bone Joint Surg. 73B:246-52 (1991). However, such delivery systems have not been demonstrated to be appropriate for use with antibiotics demonstrated to be effective under anaerobic conditions in bones in pathological states.
For example, Wei et al., disclose that a biodegradable carrier of D,L-lactic acid oligomer having an average molecular weight of 9000 can be combined in its powder form with the antibiotic dideoxykanamycin B to form a small rod (approximately 3 mm in diameter by 10 mm in length) to be implanted into a bone via a burr hole made in the bone for the purpose of implanting the rod therein. J. Bone Joint Surg. 73(B):246 (Mar. 1991). However, testing was not conducted on bones in various pathological states. Further, the efficacy of this system for use with any of the antibiotics shown by Tsukayama et al., to be effective under anaerobic conditions similar to those found in infected bone has not been demonstrated. To the contrary, Weston et. al. (37th Annual Meeting, Orthopaedic Research Soc'y, Mar. 4-7, 1991, Anaheim, CA), disclose that ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic demonstrated to be effective under anaerobic conditions, is incompletely released from an implant using poly(L-lactide) as a carrier. Thus, the references suggest that a poly(1-lactide)-ciprofloxacin implant would not be effective for the treatment of osteomyelitis.
There is a heretofore unmet need for biodegradable drug delivery systems that are appropriate for use with compromised bone, for example, fractured bone. Such delivery systems preferably combine an antibiotic efficient under anaerobic conditions, for example an aminoglycoside antibiotic or quinolone, especially ciprofloxacin, with a biodegradable carrier to form an intramedullary rod for use in the reduction of open fractures as well as the prevention and/or treatment of infection.

Biodegradable drug delivery system for the prevention and treatment of osteomyelitis


A pharmaceutical composition that blocks angiogenesis comprising as active agent at least one substance selected from the group consisting of (i) a nucleic acid molecule of a gene coding for protein IRS-1, a complementary sequence or a fragment thereof and (ii) a molecule which inhibits expression of a nucleic acid molecule according to (i).

Angiogenesis is a fundamental process by means of which new blood vessels are formed. This process is essential in multiple normal physiological phenomena such as reproduction, development and even cicatrization. In these normal biological phenomena, angiogenesis is under strict control, i.e., it is triggered during a short period (several days) and then completely inhibited. However, many pathologies are linked to uncontrolled, invasive angiogenesis: arthritis, a pathology due to the damaging of cartilage by invasive neovessels; diabetic retinopathy or the invasion of the retina by neovessels leading to blindness of patients; neovascularization of the ocular apparatus which is a major cause of blindness. This neovascularization is involved in about twenty different eye diseases. Moreover, the growth and metastasis of tumors which are linked directly to neovascularization are dependent on angiogenesis. The tumor stimulates the growth of neovessels by its own growth. Moreover, these neovessels are escape routes for tumors which thereby join up with the blood circulation and induce metastases in sites remote from the initial tumor focus, such as the liver, lungs or bones.
Angiogenesis, the formation of neovessels by endothelial cells, involves the migration, growth and differentiation of endothelial cells. Regulation of these biological phenomena is directly linked to genetic expression.

Antisense oligonucleotides capable of inhibiting the formation of capillary tubes by endothelial cells


The present invention relates to systems (1) and a method for executing code. According to the method a non-critical code portion is executed on a computer (3). When an application (5) on the computer detects a critical code portion to be executed, the application sends a request to a secure execution unit (4) connected to the computer to execute the critical code portion. The secure execution unit (4) executes the critical code portion in response to the request. Thereafter the secure execution unit authenticates the result of the execution of the critical code portion using a secret key (7). The authentication allows for another party (2) to verify that the execution was carried out in a trusted way. An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a reliable execution environment that can be trusted to execute critical code.

Computers of today can not be trusted to one hundred percent. Computers contain software that easily can be tampered with. Programs can be written that secretly alter the computer's actions. Well-known examples are the plethora of viruses that constantly plague computer users all over the world. The viruses replicate themselves and often destroy information or modify computer programs to perform harmful actions. Thus in a client-server situation the server cannot trust code residing in the client to do what it is supposed to do, or even trust that the code that is supposed to be executed actually is executed on the client. A piece of code on the client may easily be modified to do something other than it is supposed to do or to do something in addition to what it is supposed to do. It is possible that the code is modified to do something malicious that may cause trouble on the client side and/or server side without a user of the client noticing anything. The server has no control over the execution environment on the client side. For this reason the client-server relationship is usually arranged so that all code that performs something even remotely sensitive is executed on the server side. In this way the server has control over the execution of all code portions that are considered to be critical for some reason.
Many large software manufacturers of today sign their code digitally to make it possible to ensure that the code has not been tampered with. However, when the code is executed in an environment that is not secure, the signed code may be exchanged for another piece of code. The memory of a conventional computer, where the code resides, may be modified e.g. using direct memory access, and as a result an executing program, although digitally signed, may execute differently from what was initially intended. Many operating systems are provided with protective mechanisms to prevent tampering. But conventional operating systems are insecure environments and it is thus possible to manipulate the protective mechanisms.

Arrangement and method of execution of code


A cache for use with input/output devices attached to an input/output bus. Requests for access to system memory by an input/output device pass through the cache. Virtual memory addresses used by the input/output devices are translated into real addresses in the system memory. Virtual memory can be partitioned, with some virtual addresses being mapped to a second memory attached to the input/output bus.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and more specifically to a cache controller for use with input/output devices.
2. Background Art
Computer systems generally have several different storage layers defining a memory hierarchy. These layers typically include registers in a central processing unit, main system memory, and mass storage, such as disks. The performance of these different levels is quite different; the processor registers are much faster than system memory, which in turn is significantly faster than access to mass storage.
In order to improve system performance, a cache, consisting of a small, fast memory, is often used between the central processor and system memory. The cache takes advantage of the locality of reference phenomenon within computer programs to store data which is likely to be reused into the fast memory.
A similar bottleneck occurs between system memory and the much slower mass storage devices and other input/output devices which need to transfer data to and from the system memory. Any system design which makes data transfer between input/output devices, which term as used herein includes mass storage devices, more efficient will have a positive impact on overall system performance. However, traditional caching technology such as used between a central processor and system memory does not work well with input/output devices.
This is due, in large part, to differences in access patterns found with a single central processing unit and a plurality of input/output devices. A central processor is a single unit accessing memory, and makes a large number of relatively random accesses to different locations throughout system memory. Memory accesses by input/output devices have a different pattern of use. Each device usually accesses only a few memory locations, but different devices access different memory locations. In addition, the different devices access memory in unpredictable patterns.
Since some input/output devices access memory relatively infrequently, a cache hit would seldom occur for those devices. This is especially true when some input/output devices, such as disks, read or write a large number of consecutive memory locations. After such a transfer, a cache would tend to be filled with data transferred by that device. Providing a separate cache memory for each input/output device is not generally feasible.
If there are some portions of the main system memory which are accessible by both the input/output devices and the central processor, the central processor may have to access such memory through the input/output cache in order to avoid a cache coherency problem with a normal CPU cache This tends to interfere with use of an input/output cache by the input/output devices.
It would be desirable for an input/output interface device to enable a central processor and input/output devices to have common access to a shared area of main system memory. It would further be desirable for such an interface to provide a mechanism whereby a portion of the memory address space is assigned to devices attached to an input/output bus.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention provides an optical particle sensor which uses light sources of different first and second wavelengths. A first light source is used to detect light scattering and also to determine when a particle reaches a target positional area. In response to the particle being determined to reach the target positional area, a second light source is operated to provide a pulse of light, and light emitted from the particle in response to the pulse of light is detected by the same detector.

Particle sensors are for example used to measure the level of pollution in the air.
Low-cost systems are available based on the measurement of light scattered at the particles which pass along with an air flow through a detection volume in the sensor. This air flow is for example driven by a fan or a heater. Each particle is illuminated by a continuous light source and creates a light pulse with a duration determined by the passage time of the particle through the detection volume.
These pulses are amplified, filtered and counted in an electronics system. In addition to indicating the particle concentration level, such detectors can be used to drive the operation of an air purifier device.
Particulate air pollution has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality from respiratory and cardiac disease and with allergic reactions. The precise effects on human health depend on the type of particle present.
Thus, there is a need to identify which types of particle are present in addition to providing a concentration level.
Fine particles, larger than about 0.5 μm can be counted individually by optical means using existing technology as outlined above. In most cases, a cheap and efficient LED or laser with a red or near infrared wavelength is used. Pollen detectors are commercially available which operate in this way.
A pollen detector can generally detect one type of pollen and discriminate from the presence of dust, but it cannot distinguish between more pollen types or fungal spores.
In order to identify which type of particle is present (dust or which type of pollen or fungal spore), the particle may be illuminated with multiple light sources, such as visible (400 nm to 760 nm), infrared (760 nm to 3000 nm) and UV wavelengths (200 nm to 400 nm). The UV illumination can give rise to fluorescence whereas the visible and IR illumination give rise to scattering. The ratio between these different effects can be used to identify the type of particle. This is for example disclosed in the article "Classification of pollen species using autofluorescence image analysis", J Biosci Bioeng. 2009 January; 107(1):90-4, or Vital Autofluorescence: "Application to the Study of Plant Living Cells", International Journal of Spectroscopy, Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 124672.
These methods currently require expensive professional equipment.
One of the problems to be overcome is the narrow wavelength sensitivity of the optical detectors. That makes it difficult to use detectors for other wavelengths. For instance, the cheap mass-produced photodetector designed for remote controls has a maximum efficiency at around 970 nm. FIG. 1 shows the photosensitivity as function of wavelength for this type of photodetector. If this detector is used to detect scattering of particles at the UVA wavelength of around 365 nm, or fluorescence at around 340 nm, the detector sensitivity is reduced to below 0.1.
There is therefore a need for an optical particle sensor which is able to perform measurements at multiple wavelengths (and hence enable particle identification as well as size measurement), but which can be made using low-cost mass-produced electrical components.
US 2004/0057050 discloses a system for detecting particle size based on light scattering and for detecting fluorescence. A first and second light source are used and a common sensor. US 2016/0209318 discloses a cytometry system with a plurality of lasers along a flow stream path. A detector is used to detect side scattered or fluorescent light.

Optical particle sensor and sensing method


An implantable medical device having a sealed housing forming a chamber containing rhythm management circuitry. The housing has an exterior defining a recess in which a header is received. The header has a number of lead bores, and includes an electrical contact within each bore, with each contact connected to the circuitry in the housing. The housing recess encompassing a major portion of the header, which may be positioned away from the corners of the housing, and which may be formed to avoid protruding from the housing. The recess may enclose at least three orthogonal sides of the header, and may include opposed parallel side capturing the header.

Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs) are implanted in patients susceptible to cardiac tachyarrhythmias including atrial and ventricular tachycardias and atrial and ventricular fibrillation. Such devices typically provide cardioversion or defibrillation by delivering low voltage pacing pulses or high voltage shocks to the patient's heart, typically about 500–800V. The ICD operates by detecting a fast heart rate or tachyarrhythmia, upon which a battery within the device housing is coupled via an inverter to a high voltage capacitor or capacitor pair to charge the capacitors. When the capacitor reaches a desired voltage, charging is stopped and the capacitors are discharged under control of a microprocessor to provide a therapeutic shock to the patient's heart.
ICDs are contained in compact housings. Housings are typically flat bodies having parallel major surfaces, and a periphery shaped to closely contain internal components to minimize device volume. The periphery is normally formed of straight or convexly rounded segments, with any corners and edged smoothly radiused for patient comfort.
To provide communication between the device circuitry and leads that extend to a patient's heart, the housing includes a connector header. The header is a body that defines bores to receive the ends of the leads, and has electrical contacts in the bores that extend through the wall of the housing via insulated sealed feedthroughs to internal circuitry. Headers are typically formed of inert material such as epoxy, which adheres to the housing surface. Housings normally define an inlet space for the header, so that the overall housing and header shape has the desired smooth form.
In existing devices, the header is formed on one corner of the housing, so that the housing is notched at the corner, and the header fills in the notch. While effective, such an arrangement may have certain disadvantages in certain applications or circumstances. With the protruding header forming the corner of the device, it is exposed to possible damage. If the device were dropped or struck against a hard surface on the protruding header, there is a risk that the header may be damaged or dislodged. In addition, with the header typically contacting the housing at only two surfaces defining the notch, and with these two surfaces being obtusely angled with respect to each other, the housing provides only limited structural support for the header. Even in instances in which the device is not dropped, the forces generated by lead insertion, and at all other stages of manufacturing, shipping, handling, and installation, may generate unwanted stresses.
Moreover, with the electrical feed-through located at one corner of the housing, connections to internal components away from the header corner require longer conductors, increasing device volume. Also, existing devices are limited to only a single housing surface to be penetrated by feed-throughs, limiting design flexibility for internal components.
In addition, the process of molding a corner-located header is challenging. Normally, a silicone mold defining the outer surface of the header is attached to a housing, and the defined chamber is filled with epoxy. However, with the protruding header exterior defined only by the flexible silicone mold, there may be unwanted variations in the final shape, with a flush resulting surface transition between the housing and header being potentially compromised.

Implantable medical device having a protected connection header


A start-stop retrofit kit includes a start-stop module configured to monitor one or more parameters of a vehicle, configured to automatically stop an engine of the vehicle when the vehicle is idling during operation, and configured to automatically start the engine when the vehicle is not idling during operation. The retrofit kit further includes a wire harness configured to couple the start-stop module to a switch disposed between a starter motor and an ignition of the engine of the vehicle, wherein the switch is disposed in parallel with an existing connection between the ignition and the starter motor.

The invention relates generally to vehicle systems and, more particularly, to start-stop retrofit systems for retrofitting manufactured vehicles.
Many current motor vehicle systems utilize an internal combustion engine that combusts a fuel in the presence of oxygen in a combustion chamber to generate a power supply for the operation of the motor vehicle, such as a car, boat or aircraft. Once the energy from this combustion process has been harnessed to provide power to the vehicle, the remaining hot gases are generally vented, for example, through the exhaust system of a vehicle. Unfortunately, the combustion process may utilize costly fuel as well as lead to the generation of undesirable byproducts (e.g., emissions).
In an effort to reduce these emissions and improve fuel economy, start-stop systems have been developed as an original equipment manufacturer feature on some new vehicle systems. Such integrated start-stop systems may increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions by stopping the engine when the driver, for example, is stopped at a red light or in heavy traffic. Accordingly, such start-stop systems may reduce the amount of time the engine is idling, thus reducing fuel consumption and unwanted emissions. Unfortunately, many vehicles currently being utilized do not include an integral start-stop system, and therefore, may suffer from fuel inefficiently and produce undesirable emission levels.


A mobile drive unit includes a pivot between the front chassis unit and the rear chassis unit, thereby diminishing the total height of the unit.

The invention relates to robotic devices and methods, and more particularly to mobile drive units.
Movement of products in a modern warehouse environment, such as a fulfillment center, occurs on a vast scale. One means for managing order fulfillment is to house the products in free-standing shelving units, referred to as pods, and to transport the pods using mobile drive units. Some mobile drive units are self-powered robotic devices that travel on the floor of the warehouse guided by fiducial markers in or on the floor. The mobile drive units move beneath desired pods, lifts the pod from the floor, and transport the pods to desired locations.
One type of mobile drive unit that has been in commercial use employs a one-piece chassis having a pair of motorized midwheels, a pair of front caster wheels, and a pair of rear caster wheels, which are attached to the chassis by a suspension arm. For each of the front caster wheels and the rear caster wheels in some prior art units, the left and right caster wheels are mounted on a common shaft and spaced apart such that the left and right wheels straddle the longitudinal centerline of the mobile drive unit.
Increasing storage density enables fulfillment centers to increase the quantity, and potentially diversity of products stored, which typically leads to an enhanced consumer experience. The total height of the mobile drive unit is important variable in effectively managing storage density. Specifically, as the height of the mobile drive unit uses vertical space that could otherwise be used by pods to hold products. Further, it is common for warehouse concrete floor to have irregularities, such as expansion joints or dips inherent in building process or caused by floor wear or damage.

Mobile drive unit having a split chassis


In an optical information recording/reproducing device that radiates signal light and reference light to a recording medium, forms a hologram, and records information and emits the reference light to the hologram of the recording medium and reproduces information, a laser light source that generates the signal light and the reference light; a light angle control unit that controls an angle of the reference light incident on the recording medium; a light detecting unit that detects diffracted light when the reference light is radiated; a positioning unit that allocates an address to the recording medium and performs positioning of the recording medium for the address; a tilt measuring unit that measures a tilt of the recording medium; and a control unit that controls the incidence angle of the reference light, on the basis of a tilt measurement result in a recording mode, in a reproduction mode, are included.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information recording/reproducing device that records information on an optical information recording medium using interference patterns of signal light and reference light as page data and/or reproduces information from the optical information recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the related art of a field of present technology, JP-2010-3358-A is known. In JP-2010-3358-A, "a tilt error signal generating mechanism for generating a tilt error signal from a hologram reproduction signal for tilt detection previously recorded on an optical disk and a control mechanism for correcting a tilt of the optical disk on the basis of the tilt error signal" are described. In addition, JP-2010-44830-A is known. In JP-2010-44830-A, "a method related to a tilt detection method of a hologram device and suitable for a coaxial method, recording a first tilt reference hologram, a second tilt reference hologram, a third tilt reference hologram, and a fourth tilt reference hologram in the same area, and obtaining a signal for tilt correction from the holograms recorded as described above in a reproduction mode" are described.

Optical information recording/reproducing device and optical information recording/reproducing method


A chute control assembly and related methods for mounting a motor to a snowblower are disclosed, wherein the motor is capable of being operated to rotate the chute of the snowblower. The motor and a chute bottom holding bracket can be preassembled so that the assembly can then be slipped over the chute gear for final assembly. The motor can receive electrical impulses from the movement of a standard control handle mounted on the snowblower. The electrical impulses can cause the motor to rotate a worm gear or pinion in either direction depending on the movement of the handle. The worm gear or pinion can rotate a gear chute in an appropriate direction, thereby rotating the chute of the snowblower.

When using a snowblower to remove snow, a user will often move in a first linear direction until reaching the end of some real or imaginary boundary. By doing so, the user throws snow in a consistent direction, usually to the side of the directional movement. After reaching the boundary, the user will generally turn the snowblower 180° and continue to remove snow by moving in a direction opposite of the first linear direction. During this return, the snow is thrown in a direction opposite that of when the user was moving in the first linear direction. As such, snow is thrown in areas that may have already been passed over by the snowblower and were clear of snow. To prevent such problems, snowblowers often include means for rotating a snowblower chute so that snow can be thrown in a consistent direction no matter which direction the snowblower is being directed.
Typically, snowblower chute controls can be mechanical or electrical mechanisms. Mechanical controls can have a gear system in which a control handle is connected to the gear system for rotating the snowblower chute. A crank shaft, for example, can be used to transfer rotational motion from a shaft to a gear system that is directly configured to the snowblower chute for rotational movement. Electrical controls can typically include a joystick-type control handle that is mechanically linked to a gear system configured directly to the snowblower chute. Thus, movement of the joystick-type control handle elicits movement on the snowblower chute.
Electrical chute controls provide an obvious advantage over purely mechanical systems in that the user need only trigger an electrical input to drive the rotation of the snowblower chute. Electrical controls can often be complex systems, however, having a variety of interlinking electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, and/or structural components. As a result, the complexity of these systems can contribute to costly and time-consuming assembly. Thus, it would be advantageous to have an electrical snowblower chute control system that minimizes the number of separate components to reduce time spent—and thus help reduce the cost—of assembling the snowblower chute control mechanism.
Therefore, improved snowblower chute controls are provided for electrically controlling the rotation of a snowblower chute with an easy-to-assemble control mechanism.

Motorized snowblower chute control assembly and related methods


A method and an arrangement for monitoring the measured-value detection for an electronic power control of a motor of a vehicle is suggested wherein the single computing element outputs a signal which operates on at least one of its input channels or operates indirectly on this at least one input channel by changing the supply voltage. A fault condition is detected when the variable, which is supply via this input channel, exceeds at least one pregiven limit value correlated in time to the output of the control signal.

A method of this kind and an arrangement of this kind is known from DE-OS 36 21 937 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,427). There, for fault detection in the area of measured-value detection of an electronic power control, the operating variable of the power control which is detected by a measuring device is influenced. Especially faults in the A/D interfaces or in the channels of a multiplexed A/D converter of the electronic control unit of the power control system can be detected. This fault detection takes place by switching off the ground lead of the position transducer of an accelerator pedal and/or of a throttle flap by means of a switch element actuated by the computing element of the control unit. The position transducer is configured as a potentiometer. If the measured variable detected by the measuring device in the switched-off state exceeds pregiven limit values or limit values derived from the read-in supply voltage of the measuring device, a fault state is recognized.
In several applications, it has been shown that this procedure is not always satisfactory. A control variable of the power control is changed during monitoring. Accordingly, this power control cannot be carried out during the monitoring time.
Furthermore, it has been shown that the monitoring procedure, as a consequence of tolerances in the region of the switching element, the measuring devices as well as the input lines to the control unit, takes considerable time during which the electronic control cannot be carried out (in the range of several 100 milliseconds). Furthermore, additional circuit measures in the area of the switch element are necessary especially with a view toward the resistance to short circuits of the switch element to the battery or supply voltage.

Method and arrangement for monitoring the detection of measured values in an electronic power control of a motor of a vehicle


An integrated circuit is provided that includes an execution engine and a memory controller. The execution engine is clocked at a first rate and the memory controller is clocked at a second rate that is less than the first rate. Pins on the integrated circuit can transfer data to and from the integrated circuit on both the rising and falling edges of a second clock transitioning at the second clock rate. The integrated circuit is preferably packaged using a lead frame and wire bonds extending from pads on the integrated circuit to corresponding leads. The leads are secured to trace conductors on a surface of a printed circuit board. The board contains no more than two conductive layers separated by a dielectric layer. Thus, an overall electronic system is formed having a board with no more than two conductive layers, an execution engine that receives a first clock signal, a memory controller which receives a second clock signal, and a memory device that sends data to and from the memory controller at twice the rate of the second clock signal. Using a throttled second clock signal allows for less expensive packaging and mounting of packaged integrated circuits on a less expensive PCB, while still maintaining use of a DDR DRAM transfer mechanism.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor memory and, more particularly, to a low power memory controller placed on a two-layer printed circuit board (PCB) with a double data rate (DDR) DRAM, both of which are packaged with leads extending outward from the package and secured to pads on the PCB for a lower cost semiconductor memory system.
2. Description of Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
There are numerous types of memories available in the marketplace. For example, large volumes of data can be stored in magnetic memory, such as a hard disk drive. Lesser quantities of data can be stored in memory arranged upon an integrated circuit, oftentimes referred to as "semiconductor memory." Semiconductor memory is typically arranged closer to the core logic unit, or execution unit, than the hard disk drive and can be accessed much faster than the disk drive.
Common to semiconductor memory is an array of storage cells. Depending on the function of the semiconductor memory, each storage cell can have a significantly different architecture and function. For example, semiconductor memory can be volatile or non-volatile. Types of volatile memory include memory which must be periodically refreshed (DRAMs) or memory that will lose its programmed state if power is removed (SRAMs).
The differences between SRAMs and DRAMs are fairly significant. For example, each cell of SRAM includes latch and pass transistors. Conversely, each cell of DRAM involves simply one transistor. While DRAMs are denser than SRAMs, DRAMs require additional support circuitry to coordinate the access of each cell, along with the need to periodically refresh that cell. The faster access time of SRAMs allow their use as the primary cache of the execution unit, whereas DRAMs are generally used as the main semiconductor memory. SRAMs are, therefore, placed on the same address and data bus as the execution unit, whereas DRAMs are linked to the execution unit by a memory controller and stand-alone memory bus.
In addition to having a memory controller between the array of storage cells (DRAMs) and the execution unit, the DRAMs themselves take on numerous forms: fast page DRAMs, extended data out DRAMs, burst extended data out DRAMs, and the more recent synchronous DRAMs (SDRAMs). SDRAMs take advantage of the fact that memory accesses by the execution unit are typically sequential. SDRAMs are thereby designed to fetch all bits within a particular burst in sequential fashion by allowing the column address to be incremented sequentially and in sync with the system clock of the execution unit or processor.
With the increased access speed of the SDRAM came yet another enhancement to DRAMs in general. Instead of providing source-synchronous data capture at the clock frequency, double data rate (DDR) DRAMs allow data to be captured at twice the rate of the clock frequency. Instead of capturing data once per cycle as in single data rate (SDR) DRAMs, DDR DRAMs utilize a 2n prefetch architecture to allow data to be captured twice per clock cycle. Details of the difference between SDR and DDR are set forth in "General DDR SDRAM Functionality," Micron Technology 2001 (herein incorporated by reference).
While both SDR and DDR DRAMs include the same core memory array of cells, the input/output (I/O) interface is considerably different. For example, DDR utilizes a true and complementary pair of clock signals to formulate the triggering rising and falling clock edges, and also utilizes a data strobe signal (DQS) to drive the data signal (DQ) to and from the memory banks.
One benefit of DDR is the higher speed at which data can be read from or written to the storage cells. Unfortunately, however, the increased speed of the I/O interface within the memory controller limits the available selection of available packing techniques. For example, when the data transfer rate exceeds several 100 MHz, relatively high inductance occur on the data signals sent to and from the memory controller. In an attempt to reduce the inductance, the data pins are kept as short as possible and are placed as close to the ground plane as possible. By shortening the data pins or leads extending from the controller and/or DRAMs and placing those pins near the ground plane, the current loop area and the magnetic flux are minimized. As described in "Circuits, Interconnections, and Packaging for VLSI," 1990, pg. 321 (herein incorporated by reference), packages which incur the poorest lead inductance are dual in-line packages (DIPs) or small outline packages (SOPs) which have approximately 3-50 nH inductance. Packages that have the smallest lead inductance (0.025-1 nH) are those that employ flip-chip technology.
To take full advantage of the higher transfer speeds of DDR, the integrated circuit having the memory controller also has preferably an array of solder bumps arranged on the upper surface of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit is then flipped over so that the solder bumps are in alignment with solder balls on a single or multi-layer substrate. The "flipped" integrated circuit is then heated along with the substrate, to establish a reflow bond between the integrated circuit and the substrate. Flip-chip mounting with collapsible solder balls provides the least parasitic inductance and capacitance, generally less than 1 nH and less than 1 pF. See "Circuits, Interconnections, and Packaging for VLSI," 1990, pg. 91 (herein incorporated by reference).
While flip-chip mounting techniques enjoy lessened parasitic inductance and capacitance, flip-chip mounting is nonetheless relatively expensive. First, the integrated circuit must be laid out with bonding pads on an upper surface, and one or more ground planes either on the integrated circuit near the solder bumps or on the substrate near the solder balls. Second, the added multi-layer substrate and the added encapsulate process needed to secure the collapsible solder balls increases the overall complexity of the packaged integrated circuit. Third, in addition to the specially configured array of solder bumps and the encapsulate between the collapsible solder balls and solder bumps, flip-chip mounting also requires additional mounting of the substrate-connected integrated circuit to a much larger printed circuit board (PCB).
Instead of requiring a special purpose multi-layer substrate, and flip-chip arrangement of solder balls and bumps, it would be desirable to utilize a less expensive packaging technique. For example, use of a lead frame and wire bonds to form a packaged integrated circuit, and simply mounting the leads onto a PCB without any intervening special-purpose substrate would not only be faster, but less costly to implement than flip-chip mounting. However, if conventional lead frames and wire bonding packages are to be used, it would be desirable to implement modifications to the overall data rate transfer of a DDR DRAM.
In addition to reducing the overall packaging costs of the integrated circuit, additional cost savings must be implemented on the PCB to further reduce costs of the interconnect solution. For example, it would be desirable to introduce DDR transfers in a lower cost small outline package (SOP), with a minimum number of layers formed on the PCB. The desired solution would achieve the benefits of DDR, yet also reduce the costs of packaging, interconnect, and PCB complexity that currently exists in the flip-chip mounting solution.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Low power memory controller with leaded double data rate DRAM package arranged on a two layer printed circuit board


A processor-based electronic system includes several memory modules arranged in first and second ranks. The memory modules in the first rank are directly accessed by any of several processors, and the memory modules in the second rank are accessed by the processors through the memory modules in the first rank. The data bandwidth between the processors and the memory modules in the second rank is varied by varying the number of memory modules in the first rank that are used to access the memory module in the second set. Each of the memory modules includes several memory devices coupled to a memory hub. The memory hub includes a memory controller coupled to each memory device, a link interface coupled to a respective processor or memory module, and a cross bar switch coupling any of the memory controllers to any of the link interfaces.

Computer systems use memory devices, such as dynamic random access memory ("DRAM") devices, to store instructions and data that are accessed by a processor. These memory devices are normally used as system memory in a computer system. In a typical computer system, the processor communicates with the system memory through a processor bus and a memory controller. The processor issues a memory request, which includes a memory command, such as a read command, and an address designating the location from which data or instructions are to be read or to which data or instructions are to be written. The memory controller uses the command and address to generate appropriate command signals as well as row and column addresses, which are applied to the system memory. In response to the commands and addresses, data are transferred between the system memory and the processor. The memory controller is often part of a system controller, which also includes bus bridge circuitry for coupling the processor bus to an expansion bus, such as a PCI bus.
Although the operating speed of memory devices has continuously increased, this increase in operating speed has not kept pace with increases in the operating speed of processors. As a result, the data bandwidth between a processor and memory devices to which it is coupled is significantly lower than the data bandwidth capabilities of the processor. The data bandwidth between the processor and memory devices is limited to a greater degree by the even lower data bandwidth between the processor and the memory devices.
In addition to the limited bandwidth between processors and memory devices, the performance of computer systems is also limited by latency problems that increase the time required to read data from the memory devices. More specifically, when a memory device read command is coupled to a memory device, such as a synchronous DRAM ("SDRAM") device, the read data are output from the SDRAM device only after a delay of several clock periods. Therefore, although SDRAM devices can synchronously output burst data at a high data rate, the delay in initially providing the data can significantly slow the operating speed of a computer system using such SDRAM devices.
One approach to alleviating the memory latency problem is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a computer system 10 includes a processor 14 coupled to several memory modules 20a–f, although a lesser or greater number of memory modules 20 may be used. Each of the memory modules 20 includes a memory hub 24 coupled to several memory devices 28, which may be SDRAM devices. The memory modules 20 are shown in FIG. 1 as being coupled to the processor 14 and to each other 20 through unidirectional input buses 30 and unidirectional output buses 38. However, it will be understood that the memory modules 20 may be coupled to the processor 14 and to each other by bi-directional buses (not shown).
The memory modules 20 are shown in FIG. 1 as being coupled in a point-to-point arrangement in which each bus 30, 38 is coupled only between two points. However, other bus system may alternatively be used. For example, a switched bus system as shown in FIG. 2A, a shared bus system as shown in FIG. 2B, or some other bus system may also be used. The switched bus system shown in FIG. 2A includes a processor 40 coupled to a switching circuit 42. The switching circuit 42 is coupled to several memory modules 44a–d, a graphics processor 46 and an I/O device 48. In operation, the switching circuit 42 couples the processor 40 to either one of the memory modules 44a–d, the graphics processor 46 or the I/O device 48. The shared bus system shown in FIG. 2B includes a processor 50 coupled to several memory modules 54a–c through a shared bus system 58.
Any of the above-described architectures may also be used to couple multiple processors to multiple memory modules. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a pair of a processors 60, 62 are coupled through respective bi-directional bus systems 64 to respective sets of memory modules 66a–e, 68a–e. Each of the memory modules 66a–e, 68a–e includes a memory hub 24 coupled to several memory devices 28.
A memory hub architecture as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 can provide performance that is far superior to architectures in which a processor is coupled to several memory devices, either directly or through a system or memory controller. However, they nevertheless suffer from several limitations. For example, the architecture shown in FIG. 1 does not provide a great deal of flexibility in the manner in which the processor 14 can access the memory modules 20a–f. If, for example, the buses 30–38 include a 32-bit data bus, all accesses to the memory modules 20a–f will be in 32-bit double words even if a lesser number a data bits are being read from or written to the memory modules 20a–f.
The flexibility of the architectures shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 are also limited in other respects. For example, the architecture shown in FIG. 3 does not provide a great deal of flexibility in the manner in which the processors 60, 62 can access the memory modules 66a–e, 68a–e, respectively. Although the processor 60 can access any of the memory modules 66a–f, and the processor 62 can access any of the memory modules 68a–e, the processor 60 cannot access any of the memory modules 68a–e nor can the processor 62 access any of the memory modules 66a–e. As a result, if the processor 60 writes sufficient data to the memory modules 66a–e to reach the storage capacity of the modules 66a–e, the processor 60 will be unable to store any further data even though there may be substantial unused capacity in the memory modules 68a–e. Finally, the memory modules 66, 68 cannot be used to allow the processors 60, 62 to communicate with each other.
Another limitation of the memory architectures shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 is the relatively high latency that the processors 14, 60, 62 incur in accessing their respective memory modules 20, 66, 68. Insofar as each memory module is accessed through any memory module that is between it and the processor, substantial delays may be incurred in coupling address, data and control signals through the intervening memory modules. Further, if any of the memory modules 20, 66, 68 becomes defective, the memory modules that must be accessed through the defective memory module become unusable.
There is therefore a need for a memory system architecture that is relatively fault-intolerant, that provides relatively low latency memory accesses, an that allows multiple processor to have a great deal of flexibility in the manner in which they access hub-based memory modules.

Multiple processor system and method including multiple memory hub modules


A vacuum control valve includes a valve body defining a cavity, an inlet opening and a vent opening. A vacuum supply control member is movably mounted at the inlet opening, and is movable between an open position to open the inlet opening, and a closed position to close the inlet opening. A vent control member is movably mounted at the vent opening, and is movable between an open position to open the vent opening, and a closed position to close the vent opening. The vacuum supply control member and the vent control member are movable independently of each other, for selectively controlling the supply of vacuum when the vacuum supply control member is in the open position and the vent control member is in the closed position, and for selectively venting vacuum when the vacuum supply control member is in the closed position and the vent control member is in the open position.

This invention relates to a vacuum valve, and more particularly to a two-stage vacuum valve such as for use in a vacuum packaging apparatus and method.
A vacuum packaging machine typically includes a series of vacuum heads or chambers that are selectively positioned so as to enclose a package to be evacuated and sealed. Each vacuum head is typically moved into engagement with a package support, which may be in the form of a plate, which supports the package. The plate defines a flat engagement surface, and the vacuum head engages the engagement surface of the plate, and defines an interior within which the package is located. Vacuum is then supplied to the interior of the vacuum head, by operation of a vacuum source that is connected to the vacuum head through a vacuum conduit. The vacuum supplied to the interior of the vacuum head evacuates the package, and the package is then sealed so at to close the evacuated package. The vacuum head is then disengaged from the engagement surface and the sealed package is discharged from the plate.
In prior art vacuum packaging machines, vacuum is supplied to the interior of the vacuum head or chamber by operation of a vacuum valve that is interposed between the vacuum source and the vacuum head or chamber. The valve includes a single poppet member that controls the supply of vacuum to the interior of the vacuum head. When the poppet member is open, vacuum is supplied to the interior of the vacuum head. When the poppet member is closed, the supply of vacuum to the interior of the vacuum head is cut off and the interior of the vacuum head is vented, i.e. exposed to ambient air pressure. With this arrangement, the vacuum valve is either in an evacuation mode or a venting mode, and evacuation and venting of the vacuum head cannot be controlled separately from each other.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum control valve, such as for use in a vacuum packaging machine, in which the evacuation and venting functions can be controlled separately from each other, to enable precise control over the timing of the evacuation and venting functions. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a vacuum control valve which has a compact and efficient design that simplifies the components and assembly of the valve, so as to minimize the cost of the valve while providing the significant advantages that can be attained by separating control over the evacuation and venting functions. Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a vacuum valve that is well suited for mounting to a vacuum manifold that also functions as a support for the vacuum head to which the vacuum valve is connected, and that moves along with the vacuum head toward and away from the package to be evacuated.
In accordance with the present invention, a vacuum control valve for a vacuum packaging system, which includes a vacuum chamber and a vacuum source, includes a valve body defining a cavity, an inlet opening and a vent opening. A vacuum supply control member is movably mounted to the valve body at the inlet opening, and is movable between an open position in which the vacuum supply control member opens the inlet opening, and a closed position in which the vacuum supply control member closes the inlet opening. A vent or exhaust control member is movably mounted to the valve body at the vent opening, and is movable between an open position in which the vent control member opens the vent opening, and a closed position in which the vent control member closes the vent opening. The vacuum supply control member and the vent control member are movable between the open and closed positions independently of each other, for selectively controlling the supply of vacuum through the valve body cavity when the vacuum supply control member is in the open position and the vent control member is in the closed position, and for selectively venting vacuum through the valve body cavity when the vacuum supply control member is in the closed position and the vent control member is in the open position. In one form, the vent opening and the inlet opening are in alignment with each other, and the vent control member and the vacuum supply control member are mounted to the valve body for movement along a common longitudinal axis between the open and closed positions. The vent control member and the vacuum supply control member may be mounted to the valve body for coaxial movement between the open and closed positions.
The valve may be formed so as to include an actuator section, and the vent control member and the vacuum supply control member each includes a piston-type actuator movably mounted to the actuator section for controlling movement of the vent control member and the vacuum supply control member between the open and closed positions. The vent opening may be in communication with the valve body cavity and the exterior of the valve body by means of a vent passage located between the valve body cavity and the actuator section. The piston-type actuators are interconnected with the control members by means of actuator rods that extend from the actuator section and through the vent passage for connection to the control members. The vent control member may be in the form of a poppet member that is normally in the closed position over the vent opening, and the vacuum supply control member may be in the form of a poppet member that is normally in the closed position over the inlet opening.
The invention also contemplates a vacuum packaging system that includes a vacuum source, one or more evacuation chambers and a vacuum control valve substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary, as well as a method of selectively evacuating and venting a vacuum chamber, also substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.

Two stage vacuum valve for a vacuum packaging system


A current source includes a substrate, a base region of a first doping type formed in the substrate, an emitter region of a second doping type formed in the substrate and surrounding the base region, a first collector region of the second doping type formed in the base region, and at least one second collector region of the second doping type formed in the base region, wherein the emitter region includes a deep-well portion and an extending portion, the deep-well portion situated beneath the base region, the extending portion laterally surrounding the base region, the extending portion joined at its bottom to the deep-well portion, the extending portion being flush at its top with a top surface of the substrate. A method of forming the current source is also disclosed.

Current sources are basic circuit elements that are widely used. Examples of commonly used current sources include mirrored current source, proportional current source, and so on. Generally, a current source contains multiple transistors which define an input terminal and at least an output terminal, and an input current can be mirrored to the output terminal. However, it is difficult for existing current sources to be integrated with semiconductor logic devices.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,255,713B1 discloses a current source shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the current source includes an N-doped emitter region (N-Well), a P-doped base region (P-Well) over the emitter region and a plurality of N-doped collector regions within the base region, which together constitute a plurality of bipolar transistors for current mirroring. In addition, the bipolar transistors are isolated by a trench isolation structure (OX). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the trench isolation structure (OX) surrounds and isolates the base region (P-Well) of the current source, while not blocking the emitter region (N-well) in order to allow a signal to be led out from the emitter region. To this end, a depth of the trench isolation structure (OX) within the substrate is required to exceed a depth of the base region (P-Well) and be small than a depth of the emitter region (N-Well).
Therefore, the above current source requires the trench isolation structure to penetrate deeper than the base region in order to isolate the base region. However, it will be recognized that this is contradictory to the current practice in contemporary semiconductor technology to usually fabricate a trench isolation structure not deeper than a base region (P-Well). Thus, the above current source is incompatible with other semiconductor logic devices due to its demand for the deeper trench isolation structure.

Current source using emitter region as base region isolation structure


A method and apparatus for marking recyclable books permits the user to retain the recyclable value of the books while effectively deterring third-parties from reselling books which are intended to be recycled. The method includes transporting recyclable books past a designated marking location and marking at least a portion of the covers of the books with a distinguishing mark, and then transferring the marked books away from the marking location. The apparatus includes a marking device for marking the covers of the books, a transport device having a first and a second end for transporting the books past the marking device so that the covers of the books become marked thereby, and a removal device for moving the books away from the marking device after the covers of the books have been marked thereby.

Recycling is becoming increasingly important for the preservation of natural resources. Because of the enormous volume of books manufactured by various publishing companies throughout the United States, the commercial book recycling business has become an increasingly important part of overall recycling efforts. Publishers generate thousands of books each week that are deemed "non-sellable" for various reasons. Instead of selling these books to retailers, wholesalers or other distributors, the publishers sell them as scrap to private book recycling companies. At the recycler's plant, the covers are removed and the pages of the books are bundled for shipment to paper mills. The publishers rely on the recyclers to assure that the books are actually destroyed rather than resold in readable condition. The prohibited resale of these "non-sellable" books, intended for recycling, has become a problem of increasing magnitude in the book recycling industry. In this regard, the reputation of the book recycling industry has been damaged by some unethical recyclers who obtain shipments of the "non-sellable" books, intended for recycling, and then resell such books in readable condition.
Efforts have been made, by the publishers and private book recycling companies, to mark the "non-sellable" books at the publishers' warehouses, before shipment to the recycling plant, so as to discourage the unethical resale of such books. However, those efforts have been largely unsuccessful. In particular, a spray coating apparatus for spray coating entire lots of books with a dye composition, has been used. The spray coating device has presented various problems. Although the spray coating device does effectively coat and identify the "non-sellable" books so that they cannot readily be sold, it also significantly decreases the recycling value of the books. Books treated with the spray-coating dye composition absorb substantial amounts of liquid and thus increase in size and weight. It becomes extremely inefficient to prepare the books for recycling and to ship such treated books to paper recycling mills.
Moreover, the pages which absorb the spray-coating dye composition become partially or substantially dyed. Paper recycling mills are not eager to process dyed paper into pulp since additional chemical processing additives and steps are necessary to bleach out the dye. These additional processing steps and additives are costly and create environmental problems. Thus, the paper recycling mills pass this cost on to the book recyclers by "downgrading" the quality rating of the recycled paper from books. The paper mills offer the recyclers a much lower price per unit weight for dyed paper than for substantially undyed paper. The greater the amount of dye absorbed by the pages of the books, the less valuable the paper will be. Thus, if the books absorb too much of the spray coat composition, the paper mills often refuse to process the salvaged paper at all. In this case, the books are rendered completely useless for recycling purposes and must be discarded in a landfill at substantial expense. However, even if edges of the pages are slightly colored with a composition, the recycling mills will often "downgrade" the quality of the paper.
To avoid the downgrading problem, many of the recyclers refuse to process books treated by the prior art spray-coating method.
Thus, methods and apparatus for marking recyclable books which alleviate the inefficiencies and waste associated with conventional spray-coating methods are needed. Moreover, such devices and methods should be inexpensive, rugged and suitable for use by unskilled individuals. Presently, no known acceptable marking method and apparatus exists.
Other marking equipment and apparatus have been developed for other purposes. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,939 to Lasauskas et al, a marking device is disclosed which utilizes a revolving printer wheel to print indicia on the bottom surface of packages which pass along a horizontal conveyor surface and thereafter contact the printer wheel as shown in FIG. 6 of the '939 patent. The uppermost portion of the printer wheel is disposed in the same plane as the horizontal conveyor surface. The printer wheel is operably associated with the bottom surface of the packages so that the printer wheel is rotated by frictional engagement with the bottom surface of said package. The marking device of '939 patent would not be suitable for marking recyclable books, since the structure of the marking device requires the uppermost surface of the printer wheel to be disposed in the same plane as the conveyor surface. Such a structure would mark a portion of the edges of pages of the recyclable books.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,260 to Navi et al discloses an apparatus for printing indicia on the bottom surface of a plurality of moving containers. The apparatus includes a printing device disposed between a pair of conveyor belts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,440 to Lazzarotti et al discloses an apparatus for sorting a plurality of stacked items and producing a singulated flow of the items by combining two or more adjacent conveyor belts operating at different speeds.
The present invention solves the aforementioned shortcomings of the prior art, and thus fulfills the needs of the industry by providing a simple and efficient method and apparatus for marking recyclable books without decreasing the recyclable value of such books.


A system and method may include a device including a user interface, a detector, and a central processing unit (CPU) in communication with the detector. The CPU controls operation of the device. A stylus is used to input data with respect to the device. The stylus may include a main body and an engagement member operatively coupled to the main body. The engagement member alters a mechanical relationship within the main body in response to engagement by a user. The stylus generates a signal in response to the altered mechanical relationship within the main body. The detector detects the signal generated by the stylus. The CPU performs an action in response to detection of the signal.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a stylus and to a device that includes a stylus, and, more particularly, to a stylus having an engageable member, such as a button or deflectable tip.
Devices, such as personal computers, laptop computers, electronic tablets, smart phones, watches, smart cards, and various other handheld components, are ubiquitous. Mobile devices, such as laptop computers, electronics tablets, smart phones, and the like, are easily transported between locations. Many devices include user interfaces, such as touch screen displays. A handheld stylus may be used to input data through a user interface of a device.
A known electromagnetic resonance stylus includes a resonant circuit and a coil. As a tip of the stylus is deflected, the relationship between the resonant circuit and coil changes, thereby changing an output resonance, which may be detected by a device. In response to the change in resonance, the device acknowledges an action to take, akin to a mouse click, for example.
Another type of stylus includes an integrated circuit that may be powered through a scanning signal of a device. Other types of styli are battery powered.
As can be appreciated, with increased internal components, such as internal circuits, batteries, and/or the like, the time and cost of manufacturing a stylus increases. Accordingly, a need exists for a cost-effective stylus that includes an engagement member, such as a button or deflectable tip, that may be easily and efficiently operated.

Signal-generating stylus, system, and method


A multi-stage, preprocessing technique increases the quality of a monochrome or colored mixed-mode document printed on a binary-type printer. The document is preferably apportioned into a plurality of small tiles, each of which provides information to the inventive technique for eventually defining the modes as either text or images. The multi-stage technique comprises a first stage for normalizing a non-ideal histogram of the mixed-mode document to a histogram having an ideal distribution of selected pixel values. A second stage classifies each tile as either text, image or background, while a third stage collates groups of tiles in both vertical and horizontal directions to remove variances in the document. Those portions of the document classified as images are then halftone processed, while the text areas are threshold processed to thereby significantly improve the reproduction quality of the printed document.

Most computer-driven printing devices which generate hard copy, such as laser, dot-matrix and ink-jet printers, print in a binary fashion--the output medium is divided into an array of picture elements or pixels and the devices can either print a small colored dot at each pixel location or leave the pixel location blank. In the case of monochrome printers, all of the dots are printed with a single color, whereas with color printers a dot color is chosen from a small set of colors. In any case, each dot has a generally uniform color so that the resulting output consists of an array of colored and blank pixels.
Text images are typically printed as hard copy characters in either black or white text. Pictorial images, such as those produced by photographic techniques or by computerized imaging systems, by contrast, are continuous in tonality. If a monochrome image is divided into pixels, each pixel exhibits a gray scale color whose tonal value falls within a range of tonal values. Similarly, if a color image is divided into pixels, each pixel exhibits a hue and an intensity which fall in ranges. In order to reproduce such continuous-tone images by means of electronic printing, the images must be converted into a form which is suited to the characteristics of the printing device, e.g., generally a binary format. This conversion process, which may take many forms, is generically referred to as halftoning. Although a halftone image actually consists solely of a spatial pattern of binary pixels (colored or blank dots), the human visual system integrates this pattern to create an illusion of a continuous-tone image.
During the printing process, the image to be printed is divided into a series of pixels and the value of the image in each pixel is quantized to produce a multi-bit digital word which represents the tonal value of the pixel. The image is thus converted to a stream of digital words which are provided to the printing device. In order to convert the format of each word into a format suitable for reproduction on the digital device, halftoning is performed on the digital word stream during a process called preprocessing. Numerous halftoning techniques have been developed and refined over the years. In their simplest form, such techniques compare the value of each digital word with a threshold level, and generate a binary output pixel value depending on the relative values; this simple type of "threshold" processing is also typically performed on text images.
For example, a digital scanner processing a monochrome image generates a stream of multi-bit words representing the detected light intensities. The numerical value of these words typically ranges from 0 to 255 corresponding to a 256-level gray scale or an 8-bit word. If such a digital word stream is to be reproduced on a binary printing device, the simple thresholding process typically compares the scanner output words with a single (threshold) value to produce the required binary output pixel stream. Illustratively, the fixed threshold value may be 128 for a gray scale value range between 0 and 255. In such a system, each 8-bit scanner word has effectively been compressed into a single-bit output word.
Color images are typically processed by separating each color into one or more color components or "primaries" whose superposition generates the desired color. Generally, three primary colors (either the conventional additive primary colors, i.e., red, green and blue, or the conventional subtractive primary colors, i.e., cyan, magenta and yellow) are used. A digital scanner processing a continuous-tone color image generates a stream of multi-bit words for each of the three color components. The numerical value of these words also ranges from 0 to 255, corresponding to 256 intensity levels or an 8-bit word. Thus, each colored pixel is represented by three 8-bit words or 24-bits total.
The digital word stream corresponding to a colored image is halftoned by comparing the 8-bit word for each color component with a threshold value in the same manner as monochrome processing. The color components are processed separately so that the three 8-bit scanner words are compressed into a 3-bit output word which is eventually printed as three dots--each dot being printed in one of the primary colors.
When processing a monochrome or colored mixed-mode document, it is preferable to distinguish between those areas that are image and text, and to process them differently. For example, threshold processing of text improves the clarity of the printed characters, while halftoning operations increase the reproduction quality of images printed on a document. However, distinguishing between text and image areas is rather difficult, particularly for documents with overlaying portions of these areas. The present invention is applicable to such documents and is concerned with distinguishing between text and image areas.
Therefore, it is among the objects of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method of improving the quality of images and text produced by a binary printing device.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus which distinguishes between areas of text and images when processing a monochrome or colored mixed-mode document for printing on a binary printing device, such as an ink jet printer or a laser printer.
Still another object of the invention is to provide such a method which can be implemented relatively easily either in specialized hardware or in existing printer drivers. Other objects will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.

Method and apparatus for processing a document by segmentation into text and image areas


A device for forming a solder connection between a plurality of electrical conductors, comprises a hollow, dimensionally heat-recoverable sleeve 1 formed for example from polyvinylidine fluoride, the sleeve having one end that is open to allow the insertion of the electrical conductors therein, and another end that is closed by a substantially spherical sealing insert.

Heat-recoverable articles are articles the dimensional configuration of which may be made substantially to change when subjected to heat treatment.
Usually these articles recover, on heating, towards an original shape from which they have previously been deformed but the term "heat-recoverable", as used herein, also includes an article which, on heating, adopts a new configuration, even if it has not been previously deformed.
In their most common form, such articles comprise a heat-shrinkable sleeve made from a polymeric material exhibiting the property of elastic or plastic memory as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,027,962; 3,086,242 and 3,597,372. As is made clear in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,027,962, the original dimensionally heat-stable form may be a transient form in a continuous process in which, for example, an extruded tube is expanded, whilst hot, to a dimensionally heat-unstable form but, in other applications, a preformed dimensionally heat-stable article is deformed to a dimensionally heat-unstable form in a separate stage.
In the production of heat-recoverable articles, the polymeric material may be cross-linked at any stage in the production of the article that will enhance the desired dimensional recoverability. One manner of producing a heat-recoverable article comprises shaping the polymeric material into the desired heat-stable form, subsequently cross-linking the polymeric material, heating the article to a temperature above the crystalline melting point or, for amorphous materials the softening point, as the case may be, of the polymer, deforming the article and cooling the article whilst in the deformed state so that the deformed state of the article is retained. In use, since the deformed state of the article is heat-unstable, application of heat will cause the article to assume its original heat-stable shape.
Heat-recoverable articles have become widely used for forming solder connections between electrical conductors in view of the ease of forming the connection and the quality of the connection so formed.
For such applications the article, usually in the form of a sleeve, contains a quantity of solder for forming the electrical connection and a pair of fusible inserts for sealing the connection. These articles are described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,243,211, 4,282,396 and 4,283,596, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, and are sold by Raychem Corporation, Menlo Park, Calif. under the trade mark "SOLDER SLEEVE".
Such heat-recoverable articles may be used for forming a stub splice, between a pair of wires, in which case both wires are inserted into one end of the sleeve, and the sleeve is then recovered. The devices are usually manufactured with a fusible polymeric sealing ring in the region of each end of the sleeve to provide a seal when the sleeve is recovered about the conductors. Some devices, for example, as described in European Patent Application No. 159,945 are provided with a cylindrical insert in one end of the device which will act as a seal. We have found, however, that the articles employed in the prior art suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, when the article contains a ring-shaped seal, the seal must be completely melted during recovery of the article so that it will act as a plug. Such a degree of heating is not only time consuming when large quantities of articles are to be installed but also runs risk that the article will be overheated which may cause the article itself or electrical insulation of the conductors to be damaged, or may cause the formation of a poor joint due to migration of the solder. In addition, when the insert is fused it will tend to flow along the sleeve, both towards the centre of the sleeve and out of the end of the sleeve. This fusion of the insert prevents the insert from being used reliably as a stop to limit insertion of the conductors, and also may necessitate lengthening of the sleeve in order to prevent fused sealant flowing out of the end of the sleeve. When a cylindrical insert is employed considerable problems can be experienced during manufacture due to mis-orientation of the insert within the sleeve which can cause very high rates of scrap during production of the articles. In order to reduce scrap rates it is possible to overheat the article during installation about the wires so that the insert is completely melted and the irregular profile of the sleeve disappears. However, such a solution leads to the same problems of overheating as described above.


A lens-fitted film unit has a light tight unit body made up of a main body assembly including at least an exposure mechanism and injection molded polystyrene front and rear covers between which the main body assembly is interposed and a looped body-band label fitted to the light tight unit body. The looped body-band label is made of a polypropylene film sheet only, or otherwise a polypropylene film sheet laminated with a polystyrene film sheet, which has a thickness less than approximately 60 .mu.m. The polypropylene film sheet has a tensile strength greater than approximately 7.times.10.sup.3 N/m and a bending moment less than approximately 3.times.10.sup.-4 N.multidot.m and has a weight less than 1.5% with respect to the total weight of the injection molded polystyrene front and rear covers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lens-fitted film unit with a body-band label.
2. Description of Related Art
There are lens-fitted film units on the market which are inexpensive and make one easily enjoy taking pictures. Such a lens-fitted film unit has a case in which a simple exposure mechanism including a taking lens and a shutter and a roll of film are contained and which is covered with a decorative wrap. The lens-fitted film unit is widely spread because of the convenience that it can be gotten whenever and anywhere wishing to take pictures and is put to a photo-shop as it is for processing and printing, and because the lens-fitted film unit is available at a low price. The lens-fitted film unit typically has a shell comprised of front and rear cover sections between which a base section in which a roll of film and an exposure mechanism are installed is interposed. These base section and covers are made of plastic such as polystyrene. A decorative wrap of the lens-fitted film unit is consists of a paper bag printed with a product name, a proprietary name, logotypes and vignettes thereon.
In recent years, it is a new trend to use body-band labels in place of the decorative wrap. Such a body-band label, which is made of a synthetic paper sheet such as "YUPO" (trade name of Oji Oil & Chemical Co., Ltd.), is tied round and pasted on a shell of the lens-fitted film unit to cover the shell excepting opposite end portions, which is desirable for making the lens-fitted film unit be easily put together and increase tightness between the front and rear cover sections. The lens-fitted film unit covered by the body-band label provides a smaller apparent overall size as compared with the conventional lens-fitted film unit fully covered or wrapped by a paper bag type of wrap.
Meanwhile, it has been hastened to recycle used lens-fitted film units for the purpose of saving natural resources and reducing industrial wastes. Used lens-fitted film units put to photo-shops are sent to a photo-laboratory for processing exposed films. The units with a film withdrawn are collected by the manufacturer and taken apart to pieces or parts. Some pieces are recovered as they are for reuse as parts of lens-fitted film units. The remaining pieces are recycled as raw materials. Specifically, plastic front and rear covers and body-band labels of the lens-fitted film units are melted to provide raw material pellets.
Because polystyrene and the synthetic paper sheet "YUPO" are unfavorable with each other in view of compatibility, in the case where the polystyrene covers and the body-band labels made of synthetic paper sheet "YUPO" are melted together, if the "YUPO" content of a melt mixture is higher than several percent in weight, the polystyrene changes its physical properties and is hard to be recycled as a material for the covers of the lens-fitted film unit. For this reason, it is essential to peel apart the body-band label from the lens-fitted film unit before taking the lens-fitted film unit apart pieces and to melt the polystyrene parts separately from the body-band label, which are always inefficient for recycling processes. This problem is possibly solved by employing a body-band label made of a polystyrene film sheet so as to enable polystyrene parts to be melted together with the body-band label. However, because a polystyrene film sheet is poor in tensile strength as compared with a synthetic paper sheet ("YUPO"), the polystyrene body-band label is possibly torn if the lens-fitted film unit is accidentally dropped down onto a hard surface such as a floor, a road and so forth. A thick polystyrene film sheet is unsuitable for the body-band label for lack of flexibility. Specifically, the body-band label made of thick polystyrene film sheet easily comes off from, in particular, curved part of a shell of the lens-fitted film unit.

Lens-fitted film unit with body-band label


An image processing apparatus scans image data along a row in an x direction, and if a series of black pixels having a length equal to or more than a first threshold is detected, the series of black pixels is determined as a rule and erased. Furthermore, if a series of black pixels having a length equal to or more than a second threshold that is connected to the rule and extends in a y direction is detected, the series of black pixels is determined as a rule and erased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a rule extracting program product. In particular, it relates to an image processing apparatus and a rule extracting program product that discriminate a rule part in a document.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent advance of computerization of information, there is a growing demand for archive or transmission of documentation in an electronic form rather than in a paper form. Thus, an increasing number of image processing apparatus that obtain image data, such as multi function peripherals (MFP), are provided with a function of transmitting image data obtained by scanning as an attachment to an e-mail without printing out the image on a sheet of paper.
The images handled by the image processing apparatus, such as MFP, are now shifting from monochrome images to color images, so that the image data described above are now color image data in many cases. If an MFP scans and captures an A4-sized (297 mm by 210 mm) full-color document with a resolution of 300 dpi, the size of the color image data reaches about 25 MB. Thus, there is a problem that the color image data is too large to transmit as an attachment to an e-mail.
In order to solve the problem, typically, the image data captured by scanning (abbreviated as scan data, hereinafter) is reduced in size by compression for transmission. However, if the scan data is compressed with a uniform resolution for the whole image, the readability of characters in the image is compromised. Meanwhile, if the scan data is compressed with a high resolution enough to assure the readability of characters in the image, the size of the scan data cannot be reduced satisfactorily.
In order to solve the problem, there has been proposed a file creation method, such as a so-called compact PDF (portable document format) formatting, which compresses scan data with different resolutions for different areas in the image. In the compact PDF formatting, a PDF file is created as follows:
(1) A process of discriminating between areas in scan data is performed to separate a character part and a non-character part;
(2) Binarization is performed on the character part with a high resolution, and areas of characters which have the same color attribute are integrated on the same layer and reversibly compressed by modified modified-read (MMR) compression or the like;
(3) The non-character part is irreversibly compressed by joint photographic experts group (JPEG) compression or the like with a reduced resolution; and
(4) The PDF file is created from the each compressed data.
This method of compressing scan data can assure both the readability of characters and the size reduction.
In this method, which is performed as described above, it is important to accurately extract the character part from the scan data. To this end, it is important to accurately extract rules from the character area containing both characters and rules.
Specifically, for example, concerning character discrimination performed on a document image containing a set of characters "ABC" and a set of characters "123" placed between rules and a set of characters "abc" placed on a rule shown in FIG. 18, the difference of the discrimination result between a case where rule extraction is performed and a case where rule extraction is not performed will be described.
In the case where character discrimination that does not involve rule extraction is performed on the document image shown in FIG. 18, as shown in FIG. 19, the set of characters "abc" placed on a rule is not recognized as characters, because the characters and the rule are recognized as one image. As a result, when the document image is compressed, the set of characters "abc" is compressed with a reduced resolution, so that the readability of the characters is compromised.
On the other hand, in the case where character discrimination that involves rule extraction is performed on the document image shown in FIG. 18, rules in the document image are extracted and removed as shown in FIG. 20, so that all the characters in the document image are recognized as characters as shown in FIG. 21. As a result, when the document image is compressed, the characters are compressed with a high resolution, so that the readability of the characters is not compromised.
As such a rule extraction, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-187878 (referred to as Patent Document 1, hereinafter), for example, there is proposed a table processing method that recognizes frames in a table image. In addition, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-222577 (referred to as Patent Document 2, hereinafter), there is proposed a rule processing method that extracts a black run having a length in the main scanning direction or sub-scanning direction equal to or more than a predetermined threshold as a rule and determines a set of rules extracted in a predetermined area as a character if the number of the rules is equal to or more than a prescribed number. In addition, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-306102 (referred to as Patent Document 3, hereinafter), there is proposed a rule extraction method of extracting runs from an input image, extracting connected rectangles from the extracted runs, extracting a connected rectangle having a length equal to or more than a predetermined threshold from the extracted connected rectangles, and extracting a short rule by further extracting a connected rectangle from the remaining image.
However, if the method described in the Patent Document 1 is used to extract a rule in a document image, there is a problem that rules other than those forming a frame are not extracted, although rules forming a frame are extracted. On the other hand, the methods described in the Patent Documents 2 and 3 have a problem that rule extraction takes a long time because it involves extracting a line having a length equal to or more than a predetermined threshold as a rule or extracting a connected rectangle before extracting a rule.
Furthermore, these methods have a problem that any oblique line is not extracted, although frame lines and rules extending in the main scanning direction or sub-scanning direction are extracted.

Image processing apparatus capable of extracting rule from document image with high precision

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.