text
stringlengths 2
806k
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, a printer or the like and a toner supply container for supplying toner to the image forming apparatus. Here, typical examples of the image forming apparatus include an apparatus which forms an image on a recording material through an electrophotographic image formation process. Examples of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus include an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrophotographic printer (laser beam printer, LEDprinter, for example), a facsimile machine, a word processor or the like. In the image forming apparatus such as the electrophotographic copying machine, the printer or the like, a developer in the form of fine powdery toner is used. When the developer (toner) in the main assembly of the image forming apparatus, is used up, the toner is supplied into the main assembly of the image forming apparatus using a toner supply container. Since the toner is very fine particles, the toner which is being supplied or the toner remaining in the toner supply container might scatter with the result of contamination of the operator or the environment around the apparatus.
In the case that toner discharging opening of the toner supply container is covered by film welded therearound, the toner supply container having been used up cannot be resealed. In order to avoid this problem, a proposal has been made in which a shutter for openably sealing the toner discharging opening, and it has been put into practice.
On the other hand, the toner supply opening of the toner supply device provided to receive toner is provided with a shutter for openably sealing it. By doing so, the toner supply device is sealed except when the toner is supplied and so that no foreign matter such as clip or the like is prevented to enter, or erroneous toner is prevented from supplied.
Moreover, another proposal has been made in which it is combined with the above-described toner supply container so that they are integrally opened and closed, by which the toner scattering during the toner supply operation can be prevented, and this system has also been put into practice.
However, such a system involves following problems.
The toner enters between the container shutter and the main assembly shutter, by which the toner is deposited on an outer surface of the shutter of the toner supply container which has been used and removed. Particularly in a system in which the toner supply container is installed in the main assembly of the image forming apparatus,this problem is significant when the toner supply container is taken out before the absence of the is detected, that is, during the toner is being discharged.
In such a case, a quite a large amount of the toner remains in the toner supply container, and the neighborhood of the toner discharging opening is filled with toner. In such a state, the container shutter and the main assembly shutter are integrally wedged to effect the sealing, and therefore, the toner enters between the two shutters with the result that outer surface of the shutter of the toner supply container taken out and the neighborhood therefore are contaminated with the toner.
Moreover, the toner between the two shutters is deposited and remains more in the main assembly shutter. Therefore, by repeating in the removing operations, the contamination gradually increases. Such an accumulation tendency exists in the case that it is taken out after the detection of the absence of the toner, that is, after the toner supply container becomes substantially empty. After the exchange of the toner supply container is repeated several tens times, the competition becomes remarkable.
In an example, the toner supply container has a cylindrical shape, and a relatively small toner discharging opening is formed in a part of the surface thereof; the inside of the toner supply container is provided with toner feeding means for feeding the toner bidding to the toner discharging opening. Such a ton, container is inserted in the direction of the axis of the cylindrical shape into the image forming apparatus, and is used in the inserted state. However, the toner discharge opening is relatively small, and the toner supply opening of the toner supply device which receives the toner, and therefore, the access thereto from outside is very difficult. In such a system, it is difficult to remove periodically the accumulated toner in the toner supply device.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a toner supply container and an image forming operators wherein the toner deposition to the outer surface of the container at and adjacent to the shutter of the toner supply container. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a media player and a control method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a media player and a control method thereof, which receives and processes a signal from an external source.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display apparatus, which displays an image based on a received video signal, generally employs a cable connected thereto to receive the video signal from a signal source. The cable is one of various cable designs, wherein each cable design is designed according to the type of a transmission signal it is going to carry and a desired length. For example, a conventional high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable having a length of 7 m or more has noise that is generated by virtue of its design characteristics. An exemplary design characteristic is a star cable design.
A display apparatus processes a signal transmitted through the connected cable, thereby displaying an image. The signal processing operation is performed to compensate for frequency loss such as signal loss or signal weakening that results due to the connected cable. The conventional display apparatus processes the received signal on the basis of a register value used for frequency loss compensation.
The register value is set by a manufacturer while the display apparatus is being produced. The manufacturer sets the register value to an optimal value associated with a reference connected cable. That is, the manufacturer tests various cables for noise and then sets the optimal register value at which a resulting image has the least amount of noise.
However, in the case where a user uses a cable having different characteristics than the reference cable, frequency loss may be generated. For example, in the case where a user uses the cable having a length longer or shorter than 7 m by a predetermined length, under the condition that the register value is set with regard to the connection cable having a length of 7 m, noise is likely to arise in processing the signal.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved media player that can process a signal with a minimized amount of noise despite the characteristics of a cable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to an improved moxibustion case which may also have the function of an acupressure, and more particularly to a novel acupressure-type moxibustion case which can be simultaneously used for superior moxibustion therapy and superior acupressure therapy by touching moxa combustion gas directly to an affected part to heat it and penetrate the effective ingredient contained in moxa and raw loquat leaves into the hypodermic portion of the affected part.
The raw loquat leaf has been nicknamed said "Needless for Doctor" and utilized for health improvement in various parts of Japan. For instance, several effective folk remedies utilizing loquat leaves have been transmitted and utilized from generation to generation. Specifically, one folk remedy is the touching method, in which the surfaces of two sheets of loquat leaves are repeatedly and quickly put on an affected part just after broiling them over a slow fire and then rubbing them against each other. Other methods include the drinking method and the hot-water bath cure method. Further, relatively recently, it has been ascertained that the loquat leaf contains the substance "amygdalin", from which vitamin B17 (Laetrile) can be extracted and which has the superior effect of purifying the blood by vapor penetration into the body through the skin.
On the basis of this knowledge, the present inventors have already invented a moxibustion case which improved the moxibustion effect by utilizing the vaporized effective ingredient of raw loquat leaves in addition to the moxa combustion gas, and filed Japanese Utility Model Application No. 52-80716 (Sho52(1977), Laid-Open Publication No. 54-7591 (Sho54 (1979). However, this moxibustion case for loquat leaf therapy has suffered from one or more defects in its operation and usage, which prevent its wide acceptance. That is, in the previous moxibustion case, it was necessary to almost always operate an inside pump including a slidable rear end cap in order to control the fire force of moxa and increase the pressure of moxa combustion gas to a desired level during usage. Also, the previous case assumed that raw loquat leaves were always readily available. Therefore, both hands were needed to operate the pump, and the case was useless if raw loquat leaves could not be obtained. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Microelectronic manufacturing techniques have led to the miniaturization of numerous devices. Mobile phones, personal digital assistant devices, and digital cameras are very common examples of the miniaturization trend.
One device that has not seen the advantage of microelectronic manufacturing techniques is the printer. Commercially available printers are large compared to many of the devices they could support. For instance, it is impractical to carry a color printer for the purpose of instantly printing photographs taken with known compact digital cameras.
A compact printhead has been described in co-pending United States patent applications filed simultaneously to the present application and hereby incorporated by cross reference:
USSNDocket No.Title09/575,152MJ62Fluidic seal for an ink jet nozzle assembly09/575,141IJ52Ink jet printhead having a moving nozzlewith an externally arranged actuator09/575,125IJM52Method of manufacture of an ink jet print-head having a moving nozzle with an exter-nally arranged actuator09/575,176MJ63Ink jet printhead nozzle array09/575,147MJ58Nozzle guard for an ink jet printhead
Some cameras have self-timers that allow a user time to move into frame before a photo is taken. Self-timers are only useful for capturing a single image. Some cameras also have the facility for taking multiple frames but this generally requires the user to maintain pressure on a ‘take’ button. In any event, the timers are built in to the camera and have fixed functionality. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Ordinary free standing paper bags have become very popular in all facets of day-to-day life. Some bags are often used in the retail and food industries for packing of items such as groceries and food items from restaurants and take-out services, as well in the household waste industry for disposal of leaves, grass clippings and other biodegradable items. These bags are very simple in design and therefore easy to manufacture in large quantities and in an economical manner.
Such paper bags are generally foldable into a relatively flat rectangular form that is compact in size, so that they can be transported and sold more conveniently. In particular, two opposing sides of the bag are typically folded inward, collapsing the cavity of the bag so the other two opposing sides are brought together and centered perpendicularly above the base of the bag. Once the two opposing sides are brought together, the base of the bag can then be pivoted around the sides so that it is substantially parallel with the sides, and together with the sides forms a substantially flat rectangular shape. Bags folded into such a flat shape are typically stacked and packaged so that they can be sold in quantity.
In order to use the bag for its intended purpose, the bag is generally unfolded to create a vertical standing bag with a rectangular cavity and a base as the support for the bag. The simple design provides sufficient rigidity to the bag, but also allows the bag to collapse easily due to the folds in the vertical sides of the bag. This design aspect may be particularly important in taller lawn and leaf bags. Other variants of this basic design also include handles for easy carrying of the bag containing its contents.
One issue with such bags, which may be particularly problematic in lawn bags, is tears in the top portion of the bag resulting from the act of loading the contents, particularly odd-shaped objects or slightly oversized items such as twigs or branches. Further, in the case of lawn bags, factors such as wind can make it difficult to load the bag when the sides of the bag collapse. The fixed opening dimension also makes it quite challenging to load items such as grass clippings and leaves. The bag can collapse upon itself resulting in partial or complete closure of the opening, which makes the act of loading the bag a frustrating experience. Furthermore, the act of transferring grass clippings into the paper bag directly using the receptacle unit that collects grass clippings generally attached behind a lawnmower can result in tears in the paper bag opening leading to spills and additional inconvenience and frustration.
None-the-less, this standard bag design has withstood the test of time without significant modifications to the opening dimensions and shape of the bag. One reason for this is the simple manufacturing process that easily enables production of large quantities of the existing design. A number of mechanisms and devices that can aid in filling of the paper lawn bags have been documented. Some of these are funnel-shaped devices that aid in loading the bag, (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,647 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,548), while others are rigid frames that are inserted into the bag (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,768) or around the mouth of the bag to keep the mouth open and prevent from collapsing (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,962). The variety of products that have been designed to address the explicit problem of the difficulty in loading the lawn bags is an indication of the importance of the problem and clear evidence of the need to alleviate this problem.
However, most of these devices or methods are items that have to be sourced separately and/or modified extensively for use with bags of other dimensions, and therefore necessitate additional expenditure of money and time. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,647 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,548 demonstrate the use of a hopper mounted on a stand that can be used to fill lawn bags placed below. It can be easily concluded that a bag of a different dimension or cross-section would necessitate a different hopper and stand design and dimensions. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,768 demonstrates a method of creating a funnel made out of plastic material that can be used for packing yard waste into a bag. U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,962 demonstrates a method to use a frame to keep the mouth of the bag open during the act of loading.
Furthermore, most of these devices or methods do not have desirable characteristics for routine consumer use. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 7,736,057 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,302,978 B1 demonstrate devices that are foldable in design, but are not exactly compact. In addition, their design also limits the amount of material that can be loaded into the bag due to a rigid bottom portion that extends all the way into the base of the bag. Moreover, the material used in the manufacture of these devices is corrugated paper that can easily get wet which would cause the device to lose its structural integrity and prevent reuse of the device. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,589 demonstrates a method of creating a device made out of two interlocking pieces and is not compact either. This item also suffers from the same disadvantage of getting wet and is therefore designed as a disposable product. Finally, while this device can be used as an aid to fill lawn and leaf bags, it is designed for use with plastic refuse bags ideally. None of these existing solutions provide all the benefits that can be provided with a compact, light-weight, washable and reusable adapter as described in this invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present disclosure relates to a portable tool for machining a workpiece and to a method for replacing a rechargeable battery of a portable tool.
Conventionally used battery-operated tools usually have a rechargeable battery or battery which supplies an electric motor with electrical energy so that said electric motor can move or drive the parts accordingly used to carry out work.
In the case of tools which have a simple design and do not have a control device for controlling and regulating different consumption units, for example, a measuring and/or analysis device for determining the performance or work carried out or achieved by the tool, replacing the rechargeable battery or battery is unproblematic since use of the tool can be immediately continued after the new or charged rechargeable battery has been inserted.
The situation is different, however, with battery-operated tools having a control device which, for example, in the case of a cordless screwdriver, regulates and controls the torque or the rotational speed of the screwing head and monitors it by means of corresponding measuring devices. In the case of these tools, the control device is deactivated or switched off when removing the rechargeable battery, which, for example, has been discharged from the tool, as a result of which the operating system in the control device or the specific software is likewise shut down. After the new or charged rechargeable battery has been inserted into the tool, the control device must consequently be activated or switched on again, as a result of which the operating system is rebooted or started up again or restarted.
Since the operation of starting up the operating system takes some time, a workpiece cannot be machined using the tool within this period of time. As a result, the cycle times for machining a workpiece are considerably extended, particularly in tools in which it is necessary to frequently change the rechargeable battery.
Therefore, the object of the present disclosure is to provide a portable and battery-operated tool for machining a workpiece and a corresponding method, wherein the tool and method make it possible to replace a rechargeable battery when the operating system or software is activated. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to door locks and more particularly to a demountable temporary door locking device for use when a door lacks or has an inoperative permanent self contained lock.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many situations arise in which a temporary and demountable door locking device is desirable and in some instances, a necessity. Some examples of such situations are; for use by travelers wanting security in addition to the usual permanent door locks provided such as in hotels, motels, and the like; for use by landlords in locking out tenants that are delinquent in their rent payments; for use during periods when now locks, or re-keying work is pending; and for use when a lock or door is damaged as a result of vandalism or burglary.
However, the most pressing need for this type of a device is in the construction arts for use between the times when it becomes possible and desirable to prevent unauthorized access to a structure and when the permanent door locks are installed, which is usually at or near completion of the construction job. The need for temporary and demountable locking devices is necessary in this phase of building construction due to the high incidence of distructive vandalism, theft of construction materials, fixtures and the like, and to prevent youngsters from playing in areas which are naturally attractive to them and where they are particularly susceptable to injury.
It is a common practice to bar the doors at construction sites by using a long carriage bolt which passes through two 2.times.4 studs mounted in transverse engagement with the opposite sides of the door jamb and passes through the door knob hole formed in most doors at the time of manufacture. When this technique is employed, the nut used on the carriage bolt must be located on the inside of the building and the person installing this type of door barring device must leave some means open for him to leave the structure. Therefore, the use of this door securing technique is limited in that it cannot be used at all in the absence of door knob holes, and can be used in all but one door when such holes are formed in the doors.
Other techniques sometimes used are to nail the door itself shut, or to nail a piece of wood to the door jamb at a place where it prevents hinged movement of the door. In addition to marring or damaging the door or its jamb which is the obvious disadvantage of these techniques, the security provided is less than satisfactory in that any force which exceeds what may be referred to as a normal push, will in many instances force the door open.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,295, suggests the use of a door securing device which includes a pair of plates, one of which is screwed to the door jamb with the other aligningly screwed to the free edge of the door. When the door is closed, these plates extend from the crack between the door and its jamb and a padlock is passed through aligned apertures formed in the plates. This device cannot be reasonably classified as a temporary demountable door locking device due to the screws which are required to attach the plates both to the door and to the jamb. Further, this device is suitable for use in interior locking of inwardly swinging doors or alternately for use in exterior locking of outwardly swinging doors, not both, and cannot be used at all for exterior locking of inwardly swinging doors.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,181,319, suggests the use of a temporary and demountable door locking device which includes an elongated metal strap which is bent into a C-shaped configuration on one end thereof and is provided with apertures on its other end. Thumb screws are mounted on the C-shaped end of the metal strap and are used to clampingly secure the strap to the projecting stop shoulder of the door jamb in a manner so that its apertured other end extends through the crack between the door and its jamb, with its apertures exposed for receiving a suitable padlock. When mounted in this fashion, the device may be used to prevent unauthorized access into a building by application of a padlock to the metal strap at the exterior of an outwardly swinging door. But, it cannot be used for exterior padlocking of an inwardly swinging door. Although this same locking structure is disclosed in this patent as being clampingly secured to the edge of the door for use in situations which require exterior locking of an inwardly swinging door, such use cannot be implemented in that clamping attachment of the metal strap to the edge of the door must be accomplished with the door open and when accomplished, the apertured other end of the metal strap interferingly engages the door jamb when attempts are made to swing the door shut. Thus, the use of this particular type of prior art door securing device is limited for use only in situation which require exterior padlocking of outwardly swinging doors.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and useful temporary demountable door locking device which overcomes some of the problems and shortcomings of the prior art door barring techniques and locking devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nickel base repair alloy which may be used to repair workpieces, such as turbine engine components, and to methods for repairing such workpieces.
(2) Prior Art
Current materials used for repairing workpieces or components formed from a nickel based alloy used in turbine engines typically permit a maximum 0.010 inch wide crack to be repaired. Thus, there is a need for a repair material which can be used to repair wide gap cracks greater than about 0.010 inch wide. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Ink jet printers, and in particular, drop-on-demand ink jet printers having print heads with acoustic drivers for ink drop formation, are well known in the art. The principle behind an impulse ink jet of this type is the generation of a pressure wave in an ink chamber and subsequent emission of ink droplets from the ink chamber to a nozzle orifice as a result of the pressure wave. A wide variety of acoustic drivers have been employed in ink jet print heads of this type. For example, such drivers may consist of a transducer formed by piezoceramic material bonded to a thin diaphragm. In response to an applied voltage, the diaphragm displaces ink in the ink chamber and causes a pressure wave and the consequent flow of ink to one or more nozzles. other types of acoustic drivers for generating pressure waves in ink include heater-bubble source drivers (so called bubble jets) and electromagnet solenoid drivers.
Known ink jets typically combine an ink jet print head, from which drops of ink are ejected toward a record medium, with a reservoir for supplying ink, including plural colors of ink, to various nozzles of the ink jet print head. Also, it is common to shuttle or scan an ink jet print head transversely across a record medium as the medium is being printed by the print head.
In a typical application, record media (a sheet of paper, for example) is delivered to a drum and secured to the drum for subsequent printing by a mechanism, such as a clamp, that grips one edge of the medium. As the drum rotates past a printing location, ink is ejected from the print head onto the medium to accomplish the printing. In a typical printing arrangement, the medium is, in effect, printed in rows of pixels, each pixel (picture element) having a predetermined size and height. The height of the pixel corresponds to a distance along the medium in the direction of rotation of the drum.
One exemplary printer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,618 Watanabe et al. In Watanabe, record medium is fed by a roller mechanism to a first pinch roller which bears against a drum. This drum is described as being a platen of high friction material, such as rubber. Soft rubber rollers would not have a precise radius, particularly at locations where engaged by other rollers. A motor 10, described as a "feed pulse" motor, is used to drive the drum and the paper transport mechanism of the printer. An elaborate multiple gear drive system is used to couple the motor to the drum and other paper transport rollers of the system. At the appropriate time, the medium is transferred from the first roller to the drum, with the medium being retained on the drum by a movable pinch roller illustrated in this patent as having a gap in its center. The movable pinch roller retains the paper on the drum by torque established by a friction clutch. During printing, the drive mechanism is described as rotating the drum through a predetermined angle after the printing of each line of print.
Because gears are used in the paper transport mechanism of this device, backlash can occur which can result in inaccurate positioning of the paper during the printing operation. Also since gears typically have very few teeth which engage one another at any given time, variations in the configuration of particular teeth of a gear translate to inaccuracies in the transportation of the record medium through the printer. In addition, a drive mechanism that relies on a multiplicity of gears is subject to wear and mechanical failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,704 to Allen et al. mentions the use of a stepper motor for driving a drum of an ink jet printer. In this patent, the stepper motor is shown coupled directly to the shaft of the drum. With this construction, the inertia of the drum is applied directly to the motor shaft and can cause a very poor inertia match between the motor and the load on the motor. In addition, this patent discloses a transport path in which a roll of record media is positioned within a drum and moved by an internal roller, including one covered with resilient material, to the exterior of the drum for printing.
Prior art printers have also employed numerous types of clamps for securing record media to a drum during printing operations. U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,870 to Sparer et al. discloses a sheet clamp for a thermal printer drum in which the clamp is positioned within a recess of the drum. The drum is rotated in one direction during printing and in a reverse direction during sheet ejection.
Still another clamping device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,771 Lakdawala for a facsimile machine. In this device, a gripping bar grips the edge of a sheet to hold it onto a drum. The direction of rotation of the drum is reversed to eject the sheet from the drum with a guide and a sheet scraper being utilized to remove the sheet from the device.
The use of pressure fixing rollers for fusing or spreading phase-change or hot-melt ink on record media is also known. Japanese Patent No. 18,351 to Moriguchi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,420 to Gerstenmeier and U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,761 to Titterington et al. are examples. Other examples of prior art image fixing apparatus including rollers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,293,059 to Stole, 3,566,076 to Fantuzzo and 4,568,949 to Muranaka. These existing fusing rollers typically apply an extremely high loading force along the line of contact between fusing rollers, e.g., 100 lbs. per lineal inch. In this case, for a ten inch long roller, 1,000 lbs. of force must be applied. Consequently, the structural support for such fusing rollers is typically relatively heavy and bulky in order to withstand extremely high forces.
Although a number of printers and printer drive mechanisms are known, a need exists for an improved ink jet printer which is capable of overcoming these and other disadvantages of the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a fuel control system for a gas turbine engine.
It is known, for example from EP-A-0132977 to effect shut-down of a gas turbine engine fuel system by causing substantially all of the fuel delivered by an engine-driven pump to be spilled back to pump inlet. In such a system the spillage of fuel results in a correspondingly rapid loss of system pressure. It is, however, desirable that system pressure, even though reduced, shall be maintained for sufficiently long as to enable servo operated equipment on the engine, as for example the compressor inlet guide vanes, to adopt operating positions appropriate to shut-down. It is also required that after shut-down the engine shall be able to windmill, as herein defined, without undue temperature rise of pumped fuel. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In climate control systems, thermostats and other controllers may be provided whereby a user can select temperature and other settings. Thermostats typically provide menu items and other features that may be selected by a user, e.g., by touching a touch screen on the device. Wireless-capable thermostats may be configured for communication with a user's home network, e.g., to receive data from remote sensors in the home. Wireless-capable thermostats may also be remotely controlled by users via smart phone, tablet, etc. to manage climate control settings such as when the user is away from home. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
My invention relates to door operating systems, and more particularly to automatic operating systems for swinging doors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatic operating systems for sliding and swinging (sidehung) doors are well known in the prior art.
Self-contained electromechanical automatic door openers which operate by both manual and automatic actuation on both right hand hung and left hand hung doors are made and sold by Roto/Swing, Inc., of Oklahoma City, Okla. Radio-controlled systems are provided. Copies of catalogue pages from this manufacturer are provided herewith.
Automatic swing door operators are made and sold by Besam, Inc., of East Windsor, N.J. Copies of catalogue pages from this manufacturer are provided herewith.
Automatic door operators are made and sold by Keane Monroe Corporation, Monroe, N.C. Copies of catalogue pages from this manufacturer are provided herewith.
Generally, however, these prior art automatic door openers are characterized by high cost, the need for professional installation, or both; which makes them economically unavailable to many potential users.
Additionally, these prior art automatic door openers in general involve destructive installation, i.e., the necessary modification of doors, door jambs, or parts of the building adjacent the door frame.
Yet further, these prior art automatic door openers must, in general, be incorporated into the door or the door frame, or both; thus qualifying them as "fixtures", which under many state laws requires that they be left in place when the rented or leased premises in which they are installed are vacated.
The term "prior art" as used herein or in any statement made by or on behalf of applicant means only that any document or thing referred to as prior art bears, directly or inferentially, a date which is earlier than the effective filing date hereof.
No representation or admission is made that a prior art search has been made, or that no more pertinent information relating to the prior art than contained herein exists. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention concerns improvements in and relating to emitters, particularly, but not exclusively, to emitters for indicating their position to a remote location.
In many cases it is desirable to locate an item or person who has in some way become separated from their expected location. For instance, it is desirable to be able to locate a person separated from a sea-going vessel when that vessel sinks or the person is swept overboard. Other applications may include detecting a person lost in a remote location on land and/or piece of equipment for which remote detection is desirable.
The present invention aims to provide a more readily detectable emitter which is highly portable, reliable and suitable for continuous use without interfering with every day activities.
According to a first aspect of the invention we provide an emitter comprising a power source, light emitting means and radiowave emitting means, the light emitting means comprising a first and second electrode, a dielectric material and an electroluminescent material being provided between the first and second electrodes, the radiowave emitting means comprising an antenna.
Preferably the first and second electrodes and the antenna are provided within a casing. The casing may comprise a length or loop of material. The casing may be incorporated in, mounted on or attached to an item, such as a life jacket.
The antenna may comprise the first and/or second electrode.
According to a second aspect of the invention we provide an emitter comprising a power source, light emitting a means and radio wave emitting means, the light emitting means comprising a first and second electrode, a dielectric material and an electroluminescent material being provided between the first and second electrodes, the radio wave emitting means comprising an antenna, the antenna comprising the first and/or second electrode.
The first and second aspects of the invention may include one or more of the following features or possibilities, independently of one another.
The emitter may be provided as a discrete item or may be incorporated in or on a further item.
The emitter may be mounted on or in or be provided integrally with another item, such as a life jacket.
The emitter may comprise a loop providing the light emitting means and the antenna, the loop being connected to a unit, the unit providing the power source. The unit may further comprise a part of the radio wave emitting means and/or control means.
The power source is preferably a DC source. The source may be a battery. One or more batteries may be provided. The batteries may be of the alkaline and/or lithium type. The power source may be provided together with an inverter or power convertor. The power source may be converted to give between 20 and 400V, more preferably between 70 and 220V. The power source may be converted to give a frequency of between 50 Hz and 2750 Hz and more preferably of between 70 Hz and 2500 Hz.
Preferably a single power source is used for the light emitting means and the radio wave emitting means.
The power source may be controlled by control means. The control means may complete or break the electrical circuit. The control means may close the electrical circuit to give light emission and/or radio wave emission.
The control means may include a manually operated on and/or off and/or on and off switch. The control means may include an automatic on control. The automatic on control may be activated where predetermined conditions are met. The predetermined conditions may be or include emersion of the emitter or part thereof in water, for instance for a predetermined period. The predetermined period may be greater than 5 seconds, greater than 10 seconds or even greater than 20 seconds.
The control means may include selection means for continuous and/or intermittent (flashing) light emission and/or radio wave emission. The light emission may flash at between 20 and 80 flashes per minute.
The control means may include radio wave frequency selection means.
The first electrode may be formed of metal. The first electrode may form a core to the light emitting means and preferably to the radio wave emitting means too.
The second electrode may be provided around the first electrode. The second electrode may be provided about the axis of the first electrode, for instance concentrically there about. The second electrode may allow the passage of visible light through it. The second electrode may be discontinuously provided about the first electrode.
The second electrode may be provided by one or more braided electrical conductors. The braids may define apertures there between to allow the passage of visible light.
The dielectric material may be provided as a layer between the first and second electrodes. The dielectric material may be provided as a sleeve. The dielectric material may be provided around the first electrode. The second electrode may be provided around the dielectric material. The dielectric material may be provided as a concentric sleeve on the first electrode.
The electroluminescent material may be provided as particulate material within the dielectric material. The electroluminescent particles may be homogeneously provided within the dielectric material.
The electroluminescent material may be phosphor.
The light emitted is preferably coherent. The light may have a wavelength of between 480 and 530 nm and more preferably of between 500 and 510 nm.
An outer cover may be provided over the second electrode. The outer cover is at least partially transparent to visible light and may be transparent throughout its extent. The outer cover is preferably waterproof.
The combined light emitting means and antenna may be provided in the form of a strand, fibre or cord. The combined light emitting means and antenna may be flexible. The strand, fibre or cord may have a diameter of between 0.1 mm and 10 mm and more preferably a diameter of between 0.3 mm and 3 mm. The bending diameter may be less than 20 times, more preferably less than 10 times and ideally less than 7 times the diameter of the strand, fibre or cord.
The radio wave emitting means may include a radio frequency transmitter. The radio frequency transmitter may provide between 2 mW and 250 mW into the antenna and more preferably between 20 mW and 150 mW. The radio wave emitter means may transmit at 121.5 MHz and/or 243 MHz. One or more further emission frequencies may be provided.
The antenna may include both first and second electrodes. The antenna may be a looped antenna.
According to a third aspect of the invention we provide an item incorporating and/or provided with an emitter according to the first and/or second aspect of the invention.
The item may be an item of clothing, such as a survival suit, waterproof suit, wet suit, dry suit, diving suit, a coat, a waterproof coat or harness.
The item may be a buoyancy item or aid such as a life jacket, life raft, lifeboat, floatation aid or life belt. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Modern automotive vehicle engines are generally equipped with fuel injectors for injecting fuel (e.g. gasoline or diesel fuel) into the individual cylinders of the engine. The fuel injectors are coupled to a source of high pressure fuel that is delivered to the injectors by way of a fuel delivery system. The fuel injectors typically employ a valve needle that is actuated to disengage and re-engage an associated valve seat so as to control the amount of high pressure fuel that is metered from the fuel delivery system and injected into a corresponding engine cylinder. It is known to use solenoid operated injectors in which an electrically driven solenoid is operably connected to the valve needle. Energising the solenoid causes the valve needle to disengage from its seat, thus permitting fuel delivery, and de-energising the solenoid causes the valve needle to re-engage it seat, thus preventing fuel delivery.
It is also known to use piezoelectrically operated fuel injectors that act either directly on the valve needle, or indirectly on the valve needle by way of a servo valve arrangement, to cause movement of the valve needle.
The injectors of the engine are controlled by an electrical drive arrangement. FIG. 1 shows a simplified schematic of a known drive arrangement 2 which includes an injector driver stage 4 that is supplied with power from a vehicle power supply 6, typically the vehicle battery, and provides power and control inputs to one or more fuel injectors 8 (two of which are shown in FIG. 1).
The injector driver stage 4 is a circuit arrangement that is configured to select a specific one of the injectors 8 for operation and to apply an operating voltage thereto. The functionality of the injector driver stage 4 is controlled by an Engine Control Unit 10 (ECU) of the vehicle within which it is installed.
A known problem is that such electrical drive arrangements do not operate under ideal conditions and are typically supplied with electrical power that is subject to spurious electrical oscillations, hereinafter referred to as ‘noise’. A significant proportion of power supply noise can be compensated for by the injector drive stage 4 under the control of the ECU 10 since some sources of noise are predictable. However, some sources of noise are not predictable and such noise affects detrimentally the level of control that the ECU 10 has over the operational timing of the injectors 8. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to a flat pallet which is made up principally from extruded sections joined together, and in particular is used in applications concerning e.g. the foodstuff industry where the pallets have to meet relatively high demands with respect to hygiene standards.
Known flat pallets which have been used in the past for the above purpose are generally made up of extruded individual parts which are reinforced by ribbing and are joined together by boiling, rivetting and/or welding.
Large series production of such pallets has been expensive up to now partly because the joining of the individual parts was relatively time consuming. Also, only skilled workers could be employed for the welding of these pieces.
The object of the present invention is to develop a flat pallet of the above kind which can be made simply and economically i.e. without requiring skilled labor, at the same time avoiding the disadvantages associated with the previously mentioned, known pallets. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Fuel injectors are well known for supplying a precisely metered amount of fuel to a fuel consuming device, for example, an internal combustion engine, where the fuel may be liquid or gaseous. The fuel injector generally includes a fuel inlet, a fuel outlet, and a valve member which is reciprocated to seat and unseat with a valve seat. Seating the valve member with the valve seat prevents fuel from flowing from the fuel inlet to the fuel outlet while unseating the valve member with the valve seat permits fuel to flow from the fuel inlet to the fuel outlet. A return spring is used to urge the valve member into contact with the valve seat while an actuator, commonly a solenoid, is used to apply a force to the valve member in order to unseat the valve member from the valve seat. In operation, when the actuator does not apply a force to the valve member, the return spring keeps the valve member seated with the valve seat, thereby preventing fuel from flowing from the fuel inlet to the fuel outlet. Conversely, when the actuator applies a force to the valve member, the valve member compresses the return spring and the valve member is unseated from the valve seat, thereby allowing fuel to flow from the fuel inlet to the fuel outlet. When the actuator ceases applying a force to the valve member, the return spring again urges the valve member to be seated with the valve seat.
The valve member is seated and unseated with the valve seat with high frequency, for example from four times per second to one hundred or even more times per second. Consequently, the time it takes the valve member to unseat (move the valve member from the seat to full open) and the time it takes the return spring to seat the valve member with the valve seat is important in determining the amount of fuel that is allowed to flow from the fuel inlet to the fuel outlet because if the valve member is unseated too quickly and seated too slowly due to low spring force, then too much fuel will be allowed to flow while if the valve member is unseated too slowly and seated too quickly due to high spring force, then not enough fuel will be allowed to flow. The force of the return spring determines the speed at which the valve member is opened and seated with the valve seat. Therefore, when the fuel injector is assembled, the force of the spring is deliberately set to achieve a desired dynamic flow through the fuel injector. As used herein, dynamic flow is the rate of flow of the fuel through the fuel injector over a period of time where the valve member is seated and unseated a plurality of times over the period of time. The spring force is set by adjusting the amount of compression that is applied to the return spring by a calibration tube. While the dynamic flow through the fuel injector is being monitored, the calibration tube is moved to change the amount of compression applied to the return spring until the desired dynamic flow rate is obtained.
It is known in the art of fuel injectors that the calibration tube mates with a fuel tube in a press fit relationship to fix the position of calibration tube in the fuel tube. It is also known in the art of fuel injectors that the fuel tube may include inwardly extending protrusions which mate with the calibration tube as will be described in greater detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The protrusion create a spring fit between the calibration tube and the fuel tube, thereby However, as will also be described in greater detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, there may not be sufficient room on the fuel tube to provide inward protrusions of sufficient length to accommodate the range of axial positions of the calibration tube that may be needed to achieve the desired compression of the return spring.
What is needed is a fuel injector which minimizes or eliminates one or more of the shortcomings set forth above. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a sensor and a sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally known sensors include oxygen sensors configured such that a detection element assuming a tubular shape (hereinafter also referred to as a tubular detection element) is housed in a metallic shell. Some oxygen sensors employ a tubular detection element having a flange portion, which is integrally formed at a substantially central position in the axial direction such that the flange portion faces rearward and projects radially outward. The tubular detection element is disposed in the metallic shell such that the flange portion is engaged directly or via another member (such as a packing) with a stepped portion projecting radially inward from the wall surface of a through-hole of the metallic shell.
Meanwhile, recently proposed oxygen sensors employ a detection element having a plate shape (a detection element having a laminated structure; hereinafter also referred to as a plate-type detection element) in place of a detection element having a tubular shape. Such a plate-type detection element does not have an integrally formed flange portion for engaging a stepped portion of a metallic shell. Thus, the plate-type detection element employs a tubular insulator on which an engagement surface is formed for engaging the stepped portion of the metallic shell, so that the plate-type detection element can be held by the metallic shell. More specifically, the insulator and the plate-type detection element are fixedly united, and the engagement surface of the insulator serves as the engagement surface of the flange portion and is engaged with the stepped portion of the metallic shell, whereby the plate-type detection element is held by the metallic shell (refer to Patent Document 1).
Use of the insulator as a flange portion enables attachment of a plate-type detection element to a metallic shell designed for use with a tubular detection element. Thus, sensors employing a tubular detection element and sensors using a plate-type detection element can share metallic shells as common components. Such sharing of components reduces component costs in the production of sensors.
Meanwhile, some oxygen sensors that employ a detection element having a plate shape are configured such that an insulating holder, a powder-compacted filler, and an insulating sleeve are arranged in layers so as to surround the plate-type detection element from all radial directions. In the process of manufacturing such a sensor, after the insulating holder and the powder-compacted filler are disposed within a metallic shell, a plate-type detection element to which the insulating sleeve is attached is inserted through an element-insertion through-hole of the powder-compacted filler and through an element-insertion through-hole of the insulating holder, whereby the plate-type detection element and the metallic shell are joined together. Subsequently, pressure is applied to the powder-compacted filler. Compression stress of the powder-compacted filler causes the plate-type detection element to be held in the metallic shell, thereby uniting the plate-type detection element and the metallic shell (refer to Patent Document 2).
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2002-174622 (FIGS. 1 and 3)
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2002-168823 (FIG. 1)
3. Problems to be Solved by the Invention
However, the conventional oxygen sensor disclosed in above-mentioned Patent Document 1 employs a glass seal material to fixedly join the insulator and the detection element. Glass welding requires high-temperature thermal processing. Since high-temperature thermal processing may crack (fracture) the detection element with an abrupt change in temperature, thermal processing time must be set long with a slow rate of raising the temperature so as to prevent fracturing of the detection element. However, in the process of manufacturing a sensor, increasing the high-temperature thermal processing time reduces manufacturing efficiency.
Meanwhile, the conventional oxygen sensor disclosed in above-mentioned Patent Document 2 employs a powder-compacted filler (a ring member formed through compaction of a powder substance (hereinafter also referred to as a powder-compacted ring)) in place of the glass seal material, thereby eliminating the need of a thermal processing step for glass welding and thus avoiding reduced sensor manufacturing efficiency, which could otherwise result from increasing the high-temperature thermal processing time.
The powder-compacted ring can be formed into, for example, an annular shape having an element-insertion through-hole formed at a central portion. The element-insertion through-hole has a cross-sectional area slightly greater than that of the plate-type detection element so as to allow insertion of the plate-type detection element therethrough.
However, in manufacturing a sensor that uses a powder-compacted ring having an element-insertion through-hole formed in the above-mentioned shape, the following assembly work becomes troublesome: after the powder-compacted ring is disposed in a through-hole of a metallic shell, a plate-type detection element and the metal shell are assembled together such that the detection element is inserted into the element-insertion through-hole of the powder-compacted ring. Specifically, when the plate-type detection element is to be inserted into the element-insertion through-hole, the plate-type detection element must be set to an angular orientation (an angular position around its axis) so as to be insertable into the element-insertion through-hole. Particularly, in the case of a metallic shell configured such that the powder-compacted ring is disposed deep in its through-hole, identifying the angular orientation of the element-insertion through-hole of the powder-compacted ring becomes difficult; as a result, assembling the plate-type detection element and the metallic shell becomes troublesome. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical devices and, in particular, to an improved knee brace hinge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of braces have been made available for the support of body joints which have become weakened as a result of sports activity, accident, deterioration due to age, or disease. Braces for the knee are designed primarily to provide support while enabling the knee to function during normal activity.
Knee braces are often utilized by people who have suffered a knee injury and require some means of protection against further aggravation of the knee during rehabilitation. A knee brace can limit the amount of damage to an injured knee by providing the patient with adequate knee stabilization and control. Stabilization and control is achieved in such a manner as to permit the patient relative freedom in the normal use of the knee joint while, at the same time, permitting control over the joint so as to optimize healing.
In addition, knee braces are often employed by a person having previously suffered a knee injury who wishes to actively participate in strenuous and demanding physical activity. In such cases where the person seeks knee support in furtherance of activities involving heavy running or sprinting, it is extremely advantageous to design a knee brace which most accurately simulates the true motions of the anatomical knee joint. This will minimize the leg forces required to overcome mismatched motions and generally increase comfort levels.
Knee braces generally serve two purposes. Firstly, the brace has to support the knee at all times, but especially during movement. Secondly, the brace should limit knee movements in flexion or extension within limits beyond which injury to the knee may occur. Further, movements are confined to the varus/valgus plane.
Flexion is defined as flexing of the knee from the extended position to a position where the foot and ankle is bent towards the thigh. Extension is defined as being the opposite movement. An extended leg is normally straight with virtually no bending at the knee joint.
Knee braces for providing support for the knee of a person are well known in the art. Such braces generally include a tibial shell which is constructed so as to be closely configured to the shape of the lower leg and a femoral shell which is constructed so as to be closely configured to the shape of the thigh area of the leg. The two shells are secured to their respective areas on the leg and are interconnected by some type of mechanism so as to pivot relative to each other as the knee is bent. The mechanism is usually a pair of hinge joints, one on each side of the knee brace, with the tibial shell usually being attached to the lower part of each one of the two knee joints and the femoral shell usually being attached to the upper part of each one of the two hinge joints.
Often, a person will wear knee braces bilaterally. When wearing double upright rigid knee braces bilaterally, the medial hinges often interfere with one another. The hinges sometimes lock together, causing the knee brace wearer to fall or injure himself. This problem is evident during normal walking and running, but becomes pronounced in activities such as snow skiing or motocross.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved knee brace which prevents interference and/or locking between the medial hinges. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head, particularly to a reproducing head, for example, a magnetic head suitable to its automatic azimuth adjustment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For example, if the azimuth of a reproducing head is not correctly adjusted, phase difference is produced between reproduced signals from the left and right recording tracks and also playback characteristics in high frequency regions is worsened. In order to overcome these problems, an apparatus for adjusting the azimuth of a reproducing head by using recording signals has been proposed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,144.
This apparatus scans separately the upper and the lower half of one of the tracks in a recording tape which is to be reproduced, for example the recording track for the right channel, by means of a reproducing head and detects difference in phase between reproduced signals obtained respectively from the halves and ajusts automatically the azimuth of said reproducing head in accordance with difference in phase.
However, since this proposed reproducing head has two magnetic head constructions, which are independent of each other, corresponding to each of the divided upper and lower halves of one recording track, it construction is complicated and lacking in practical utility. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a process for producing ethylene-.alpha.-olefin copolymer rubbers.
It is already known to copolymerize ethylene and an .alpha.-olefin, or ethylene, an .alpha.-olefin and a non-conjugated diene compound by using a so-called Ziegler catalyst comprising a vanadium compound and an organoaluminum compound. It is also known to prepare a vanadium compound containing an alkoxy group by reacting a vanadium compound and an alcohol. As to a concrete method of using a vanadium compound containing an alkoxy group for polymerization, there is known a process which comprises separately feeding a vanadium compound and an alcohol into an inert hydrocarbon solvent containing an organoaluminum compound in a polymerization vessel, followed by mixing, to use for polymerization. This process, however, has a problem of greatly lowering the polymerization activity of the catalyst. In another known method, an inert hydrocarbon solution containing a vanadium compound and an inert hydrocarbon solution containing an alcohol are mixed beforehand in a batch type mixing vessel and the resulting solution is fed into an inert hydrocarbon solution containing an organoaluminum compound, to be used for polymerization. This method, however, has a problem in that the by-product of the reaction of the vanadium compound and the alcohol deposits in the mixing vessel as a precipitate and catalytic activity is lowered. As a method for solving such problems, JP-B-49-14542 discloses a process wherein the side reaction is suppressed by bubbling an inert gas such as nitrogen through the mixed solution containing a vanadium compound and an alcohol and thereby removing the protonic acid present in the solution. In such a process, which requires additional operation steps, however, neutralization treatment of a gas containing a large amount of corrosive substances is necessary and further, since a part of the inert hydrocarbon solvent is vaporized off, an environmental problem relating to air pollution takes place and the concentration of the catalyst fluctuates, which necessitates readjustment of the catalyst concentration to the intended level. Thus, this process is disadvantageous from the viewpoint of industrial operation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A growing method to defeat electronic article surveillance (“EAS”) systems is the use of readily available metal foils such as aluminum foil to shield EAS markers from detection by an EAS system. Thieves often line the insides of shopping bags, handbags and backpacks with metal foil to provide a concealed compartment for placing items to be stolen while inside the store so that they can exit through the detection zone of an EAS exit systems without detection. In response to this problem, retailers are increasingly using metal detection systems tuned to detect metal foil so that they can be alerted if a foil lined bag or backpack passes through the exit.
A major problem with this approach is that there are many metal objects and products that pass through the EAS system detection zone that are not related to theft. Some examples of these items are shopping carts, wheel chairs, products that have metal or aluminized packaging, and foil bags used for keeping hot serve deli items warm, etc. The effectiveness of a metal detection system is dependent on reducing alarms from non-theft items that pass through the detection zone and increasing detection of actual foil lined bags and backpacks.
Metal detectors are typically formed with a transmitter and receiver pair. The transmitter transmits a signal and the receiver receives the transmitter signal which is attenuated and/or shifted in phase when metal is inside the interrogation zone. Traditionally, these systems discriminate between foil lined bags and other metal objects by only alarming when detecting metals that have a responsive signal with amplitudes that fall in a range that is indicative of foil lined bags rather than other items. Unfortunately, relying on amplitude is not entirely reliable because a foil lined bag that is physically close to a metal detector antenna may exhibit a responsive signal strength similar to that of a shopping cart that is located further away from the metal detector. This problem forces the metal detection systems to be confined to narrow openings and to narrowly limit the range for positive detection of foil lined bags which causes the sensitivity of the system to be degraded.
As another attempted solution, retailers sometimes place metal detection systems so that shopping carts cannot pass. In other words, the metal detectors and/or EAS systems are arranged such that shopping carts will not fit through the exits. However, controlling the flow of traffic to eliminate false alarms from shopping carts interferes with the normal behavior of customers and degrades the customer experience. Since a positive customer experience is extremely important to retailers, this approach is usually undesirable.
Retailers may also eliminate products that cause false alarms, such as metallic or metalized packaging, or foil lined bags for keeping hot serve deli items warm, etc. Eliminating products that cause false alarms also degrades the shopping experience and limits the customer choices that are extremely important to retailers. Thus, this approach is also undesirable to retailers.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method that can identify items that are likely to be used as foil lined containers so that metal detector signals can be confirmed, as well as automatically identifying items entering a detection zone that could cause false alarms and inhibiting these false alarms. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a coding method of coding a digital video signal by subjecting the digital video signal to redundancy reduction coding. This invention relates also to a coding device for use in carrying out the method.
Each of the successive pictures is called a frame when the digital video signal is, for example, a television signal. Redundancy reduction coding is effective to code the digital video signal into a coded video signal having a low bit rate. As the redundancy reduction coding, basic interframe predictive coding is known in the art. The basic interframe predictive coding makes use of a correlation factor between adjacent ones of the pictures or frames. In the basic interframe predictive coding, the redundancy reduction coding is carried out on a difference between corresponding picture elements of two successive pictures to provide a result of the basic interframe predictive coding.
Motion-compensated interframe predictive coding is also known in the art as the redundancy reduction coding. In the motion-compensated interframe predictive coding, a motion vector is detected which represents a movement of each picture element between two of pictures. The motion-compensated interframe predictive coding carries out interframe predictive coding of the digital video signal by using the motion vector.
Inasmuch as the motion-compensated interframe predictive coding is also carried out by using a correlation factor between two adjacent pictures like the basic interframe predictive coding, not only the basic interframe predictive coding but also the motion-compensated interframe predictive coding will be referred to as interframe coding.
Intraframe or inframe coding is still also known in the art as the redundancy reduction coding. The intraframe coding is carried out by using a correlation factor between the picture elements within each of the pictures. The intraframe coding is, for example, PCM (pulse code modulation) coding, intraframe predictive coding, orthogonal transformation coding, or vector quantization coding.
Such redundancy reduction coding is generally used in transmitting the digital video signal. However, the redundancy reduction coding is also used in a video signal processing system which is for use in a recording medium, such as a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), to record and/or reproduce the digital video signal.
In the meanwhile, it may be preferable that the compact disk read-only memory can be operable like a video tape in performing not only a normal reproduction but also various other functions, such as a reverse reproduction, a high speed reproduction, scene skipping, an arbitrary reproduction of an arbitrary scene. However, it is difficult to perform the reverse reproduction when the digital video signal is subjected to the interframe coding alone. More specifically, the digital video signal is divided into a zeroth or leading frame to an end or trailing frame as leading through trailing compressed video signals subjected to the interframe coding. The digital video signal is successively recorded on the recording medium from the leading compressed video signal to the trailing compressed video signal in a normal order. Merely for convenience of description, the zeroth through the end frames may be understood to correspond to zeroth through end scenes, respectively. On carrying out the reverse reproduction, the digital video signal is reproduced from the recording medium in a reverse order from the end scene in response to a request issued by an operator or user to indicate the reverse reproduction.
In order to perform the reverse reproduction, an improved method is disclosed in a prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 189,249 which was filed May 2, 1988, by Toshio Koga, Junichi Ohki, Mutsumi Ohta, and Hideto Kunihiro for assignment to the present assignee and c/o NEC Home Electronics, Ltd. The above-named Mutsumi Ohta is the instant applicant. The Ohta et al patent application corresponds to a prior Canadian patent application No. 565,485 which was filed Apr. 29, 1988. In the prior patent applications, the video signal processing system is called an image processing system. The digital video signal is called a sequence of image signals. In the improved method, the digital video signal is coded with the leading and the trailing frames subjected to the intraframe predictive coding and with the remaining frames subjected to the interframe predictive coding. According to the improved method, it is possible to carry out not only the normal reproduction but also the reverse reproduction. The improved method is, however, defective in that the reverse reproduction can not be performed when an interframe/intraframe adaptive coding is used as the redundancy reduction coding. In the interframe/intraframe adaptive predictive coding, the digital video signal is decoded into a decoded signal with a first result of the interframe coding and a second result of the intraframe coding alternatingly appearing in the coded signal. More specifically, the interframe coding and the intraframe coding are adaptively alternatingly carried out in consideration of an amount of produced information of the first result and another amount of produced information of the second result. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) represent an important component of animal and human nutrition. ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (also called n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have a wide range of roles in many aspects of health, including brain development in children, eye functions, syntheses of hormones and other signaling substances, and prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes mellitus (Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2). These fatty acids therefore represent an important component of human nutrition. Accordingly, there is a need for polyunsaturated fatty acid production.
Meanwhile, microorganisms of the class Labyrinthulomycetes are known to produce polyunsaturated fatty acids. Concerning microorganisms of the family Thraustochytrium, there are reports of, for example, a polyunsaturated fatty acid-containing phospholipid producing method using Schizochytrium microorganisms (Patent Document 1), and Thraustochytrium microorganisms having a docosahexaenoic acid producing ability (Patent Document 2). For enhancement of food and/or feed by the unsaturated fatty acids, there is a strong demand for a simple economical process for producing these unsaturated fatty acids, particularly in the eukaryotic system.
With regard to the class Labyrinthulomycetes, there have been reported foreign gene introducing methods for specific strains of the genus Schizochytrium (the genus Auranthiochytrium (Non-Patent Document 4) in the current classification scheme (Non-Patent Document 3)) (Patent Documents 3 and 4). Further, a method that causes a change in fatty acid composition by means of transformation is known in which a polyketide synthase (PKS) gene is destroyed to change the resulting fatty acid composition (Non-Patent Document 5). However, there is no report directed to changing a fatty acid composition by manipulating the enzymes of the elongase/desaturase pathway. Under these circumstances, the present inventors found ways to change fatty acid compositions through introduction of elongase/desaturase genes into various species of Labyrinthulomycetes, and have filed a patent application therefor (Patent Document 5). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Systems for delivery of nutrients and/or fluids to plants may be known. Hydroponic techniques, aeroponic techniques, geoponic techniques, and/or other techniques to grow plants in a controlled manner are known. The use of one or more dyes to affect a change of color in a plant is known. The arrangement of flowers to depict a graphic and/or an image may be known from flower-covered floats as used in some parades. The use of different nutrients and/or fluids to control plant growth is known. The use of different nutrients and/or fluids to control growth of organisms surrounding plants may be known. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present disclosure relates to an automotive interior and exterior member made of a thermoplastic resin composition containing a specific polycarbonate resin, butyl acrylate-methyl methacrylate-styrene based rubber, a specific hindered phenol based antioxidant, dibutylhydroxytoluene, 1,1,3-tris-(2-methyl-4-hydroxy-5-t-butylphenyl) butane, tris (2,4-di-t-butylphenyl) phosphite, bis (2,4-di-t-butylphenyl) pentaerythritol-diphosphite, a specific benzotriazole based weathering stabilizer, a specific hindered amine based weathering stabilizer, and a specific perinone based colorant.
Aromatic polycarbonate resins have been widely used as engineering plastics having high heat resistance, high impact resistance, and high transparency for various applications in the fields of automobiles, office equipment, and other apparatuses. In general, the aromatic polycarbonate resins are produced using raw materials derived from petroleum resources. Recent apprehension about the depletion of the petroleum resources has created a demand for the provision of plastic moldings made from raw materials derived from biomass resources such as plants. Further, there has been apprehension that the global warming caused by the increase in CO2 emissions and the accumulation of CO2 may result in climate change and other adverse phenomena. Therefore, there has been a need for the development of plastic moldings of a plastic which is made from a plant-derived monomer as a raw material and which is carbon neutral when disposed of after use. In particular, the development of such plastic moldings is strongly needed in the field of large moldings.
To address the need, polycarbonate resins of various types including plant-derived monomers as raw materials have been developed.
For example, it has been proposed to produce a polycarbonate resin by using isosorbide as a plant-derived monomer and through transesterification with diphenyl carbonate. (See, for example, GB 1079686.) Further, a polycarbonate resin produced by copolymerizing isosorbide with bisphenol A has been proposed as a copolymerized polycarbonate of isosorbide and another dihydroxy compound. (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. S56-55425). Furthermore, an attempt has been made to improve the stiffness of a homo-polycarbonate resin made of isosorbide, by copolymerizing isosorbide with aliphatic diol. (See, for example, WO 04/111106).
Moreover, it has been known that a molding can be produced from a mixture containing at least two selected from polycarbonate resins obtained by copolymerizing isosorbide with a dihydroxy compound and having different composition ratios. The mixture has high flowability and high heat resistance, and the resultant molding is resistant to defects in appearance such as a flow mark and a tiger mark which may be caused in the injection molding process, and has high impact resistance. (See Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-208800.)
In addition, it has been described that a molding with high transparency, weather resistance, and hue can be produced from a polycarbonate resin composition made of a polycarbonate resin using isosorbide and containing a hindered amine based light stabilizer. (See WO/2011/118768).
However, automotive interior and exterior members are further required to improve in weather resistance when used outdoor, in addition to heat and impact resistance. Therefore, when used as automotive interior and exterior members, the moldings described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-208800 and WO/2011/118768 are also required to improve in weather resistance when used outdoor, in addition to have high heat and impact resistance.
The present disclosure is conceived in view of the above requirements and intended to provide an automotive interior and exterior member with high heat, impact, and weather resistance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
With the rapid development of the mobile Internet, a component has become an important technology increasingly indispensable in the field of the mobile Internet. A component is an icon displayed on a home screen and corresponding to an application program, and may be a shortcut icon (shortcut), or may be a widget. The widget is a small application program platform that can run on a network terminal or a mobile terminal, and is also a network-based plug-in tool that can run on a terminal home screen. A widget can provide information such as weather and news for a terminal user. For example, a clock widget can display current time on a home screen; a weather widget can display weather information of a specific area; and a central processing unit (CPU) widget can display CPU usage of a terminal.
In a running process of a component, the component can be clicked on a terminal home screen, so as to start an application program corresponding to the component and enter a window of the application program. However, after the window of the application program is entered, a whole display screen of a terminal displays only the window of the application program, which significantly reduces interface display utilization. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat-retaining exhaust components and methods of preparing such components. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of lining a two-piece exhaust pipe or an automotive cylinder head with a heat-resistant compound containing zirconium, a ceramic material, or both, and a heat-retaining component which is the product of the described process.
2. Prior Art
In the automotive industry, it has long been recognized that heat generated by the combustion process emanating from hot vehicle components into the engine compartment of a vehicle is a problem. Not only does such heat degrade the various other components in the engine compartment which are not heat resistant, but the heat also causes the hot components themselves to become brittle and deteriorate. The problem is exacerbated in today's smaller engine compartments since cars are being "down-sized", especially when a high-performance engine such as a turbocharged or supercharged engine is packed tightly into such a small engine compartment. Heat generation in engine compartments is not limited to such high-performance engines, however. Heat loss is particularly a problem with any component which comes into contact with hot engine exhaust, such as vehicle cylinder heads, exhaust manifolds, and exhaust piping.
Many varied types of heat shields and insulation have been employed in prior attempts to alleviate this problem. Ongoing efforts continue to channel the maximum possible amount of heat, which has been generated in the combustion chambers, from the exhaust ports of the cylinder heads into and through the exhaust system, minimizing the amount which is released in the engine compartment.
Another important reason for wishing to channel the maximum amount of heat possible through the exhaust system is that by retaining heat in the exhaust system, "light off" of the catalytic converter may be achieved sooner if more heat is conveyed directly to the converter rather than dissipated outwardly. This promotes greater fuel efficiency as well as lowered exhaust emissions, which are both high priorities in today's market.
For all of the above listed reasons, it is desirable to retain heat within components which contact engine exhaust. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In today's wireless communication networks, Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs) have been established to provide land mobile telecommunications service to the public. Generally, each service provider operates its own PLMN, albeit a number of service providers may share some network equipment. The number of PLMNs in a country may be as little as a single PLMN in a small country, to as many as twenty or more in a large country like India. A PLMN may provide service in one, or a combination, of frequency bands. Different PLMNs present in a common geographical region or cell may operate using the same or different access technologies such as time division multiplexed (TDM) based Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), or, CDMA based systems such as CDMA2000 or WCDMA.
Most of the time, a mobile terminal (MT) communicates via its own service provider's PLMN, which is called the Home PLMN (HPLMN). Occasionally, the MT cannot acquire service on the HPLMN, or it may lose service. In this case, the MT may attempt service acquisition on another PLMN, and if successful, this PLMN is designated a Visited PLMN (VPLMN). The attempt to employ a VPLMN is what is commonly known as roaming. Typically, a prioritized list of PLMNs that the MT is allowed to access is stored on a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card or other non-volatile memory within the MT. The entries and prioritization in the list is usually based on agreements contracted among the various service providers.
In networks that operate in accordance with the current Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) protocol, the MT (also referred to as User Equipment or UE) supports both automatic and manual network selection mechanisms (modes) as described, e.g., in specification 3GPP TS 22.011. In the automatic selection mode, which is the mode used the vast majority of time, the MT consults the PLMN priority list pre-established by the network operator (service provider), and attempts to register on a PLMN in accordance with the listed priority. If registration cannot initially be obtained on the HPLMN, the MT will then attempt to register on the next highest priority PLMN on the list, and so on, until service is acquired.
In the manual selection mode, the user is given an opportunity to select an available PLMN. The MT contains display functions by which available PLMNs and the selected PLMN can be indicated. For instance, in a “settings” display function, various settings of the MT may include available PLMNs which can be selected by the user. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new antitumor antibiotic complex and to its production, recovery and separation into two bioactive components.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The two antibiotic compounds of the present invention are glycosides composed of an aglycone, chartarin, the aglycone of chartreusin, and either one or two sugar moieties. BBM-2478B has one sugar moiety of the formula ##STR1## attached to the aglycone while BBM-2478A, the other antibiotic of the present invention, has in addition the amino sugar of the formula ##STR2##
The antibiotic chartreusin disclosed, for example, in J. Am. Chem. Soc. 75: 4011-4012 (1953) and Helv. Chim. Acta 47: 1459-1484 (1964) has the same aglycone portion as the present antibiotics but contains two different sugars, i.e. D-fucose and D-digitalose. Chartreusin has the structure ##STR3## and is produced by fermentation of Streptomyces chartreusis, Streptomyces Sp. No. 747 (S. viridis), Streptomyces Sp. 6A36 (S. viridochromogenes) and by two actinomycete strains designated Streptomyces Sp. X-3988 and S-465. Chartreusin is apparently the same as antibiotic 747 and antibiotic X-465A. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention pertains to apparatus for producing, in a magnetic image-storage medium, a high-resolution, smooth-edge-defining magnetic image. More particularly, it relates to the production of a generally doughnut-shaped magnetized region in such a medium, which region functions as a portion of a total magnetic image, with magnetization in the region characterized by multi-directionally oriented magnetic vectors distributed generally with spherical geometry. The magnetic field for producing the magnetized region is generated by the induction of magnetic flux by an electricity-conducting spiral coil spaced from the field.
For the purpose of illustration, embodiment of the invention are described herein in the setting of electromagnetic printers, wherein the invention has been found to have particular utility.
In recent years, there has been much interest in the development of electromagnetic printers. The basic operational mode for such a printer is that electromagnetic "writing heads" are used to create discrete magnetized regions in an expanse of a magnetic image-storage medium--thus to create the desired image--with this region then suitably coated with a magnetizable powdered toner which is later transferred in a variety of ways to a sheet of paper, or the like.
In the past, the individually magnetized regions which combine to form an overall image have been produced in two principal ways. One of these is referred to as linear perpendicular magnetizing, and the other as linear longitudinal magnetizing. The first of these prior art techniques produces a magnetized region through a pair of North-South poles disposed along an axis which is substantially normal to the plane of an image-storage medium. Such a technique results, predominantly, in normally directed magnetic vectors (relative to the plane of the medium) in the magnetized region. The second-mentioned technique uses a pair of confronting North-Sourth poles placed along one side, and parallel to the plane, of an image-storage medium. This technique produces a magnetized region with magnetic vectors directed substantially within a plane paralleling that of the medium.
Among the problems which have plagued apparatus employing each of these magnetizing techniques has been that the finally magnetized regions do not exhibit an especially high degree of toner-collecting capability, particularly in the zones between adjacent magnetized regions. As a consequence of this, edge definition in a resulting printed image is often quite poor. This becomes especially apparent in the printing of alpha/numeric characters whose edges can appear to be jagged rather than smooth and continuous.
One technique of which applicant is aware has been developed to overcome this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,950,161 issued to W. J. Rueger, entitled "Coaxial Magnetic Printing Head". The invention therein described includes a cylindrical inner magnetic-flux-permeable core surrounded by an electrically conductive sleeve functioning as a single coil. The sleeve is in turn surrounded by an outer magnetic-flux-permeable base. When the sleeve is conducting, a magnetic field is produced between coplanar faces of the core and base across the sleeve.
Although this invention solves the above-described problem, it has other limitations. These limitations include the inherent interdependency between size of the coil and size of the resulting magnetic field. In brief, the field size is determined from the coil size.
Additionally, the amount of flux induced by the coil is limited to that provided by a single coil. In the Rueger patent, it appears that this is compensated for by increasing the size of the coil. This requires more power to operate and results in an enlarged magnetic field.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a unique apparatus for overcoming such deficiencies in a highly satisfactory, and relatively simple manner.
More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide such an apparatus which is capable of producing a magnetic image, in which individual magnetized regions exhibit a very high degree of toner-capturing capability, coupled with a propensity for the zones of adjacency between such regions also to exhibit high toner-collecting capacity.
Yet another object of the invention, and one which relates to the preceeding object, is to provide such an apparatus wherein extremely good edge definition (continuous smoothness) is attainable in the edges of a printed image.
It is a further and primary object of the invention to provide such a method and apparatus which divorces the size of the magnetic poles, and, therefore, the resulting field, from the coil inducing magnetic flux.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such magnetic imaging is accomplished through the cooperative action of two opposite-polarity concentric magnetic poles created by magnetic flux induced with a spiral coil spaced from the poles. These poles function to create, on a face in a magnetic storage medium, a somewhat doughnut-shaped magnetized zone, which zone is characterized by multi-directionally oriented magnetic vectors that are distributed generally with spherical geometry. By creating magnetized zones characterized by spherical magnetic-vector geometry, each individual zone exhibits an extremely high capacity for capturing toner. Further, immediately adjacent regions all experience confronting or opposing magnetic vectors, which results in the zones between adjacent regions also exhibiting high toner-collecting capability. With such geometry attained for each individual magnetized zone, and considering that a string of such zones will define the edge of an image, the toner-collecting capability exhibited in the indentations between adjacent zones avoids the development of a jagged edge in a finally printed image.
Also, by physically separating the magnetic field and the coil inducing the magnetic flux which creates the magnetic field, substantially reduced field sizes are available. The size limitation is then a constraint caused by construction methods rather than by coil requirements. The use of spiral coils also multiplies the effectiveness of the coil in inducing a desired amount of magnetic flux.
In order to explain the extreme versatility of the proposed invention, and after there is given below a general description of the basic apparatus required to perform the invention, several specific writing head constructions are described, which constructions have been shown to offer a high degree of utility. In each of these constructions, a generally coplanar concentric opposite-polarity pole configuration is used to achieve the desired doughnut-shaped magnetized region with spherical-geometry magnetic vectors.
Another important feature of the invention is that magnetic pole pairs having the desired geometry can be formed in extremely small regions within very thin-film versatile materials. As a consequence, very high-quality, high-resolution, low-power-consumption, and low-cost magnetic writing is made possible by the invention.
These and other objects and advantages which are attained by the invention will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compositions of matter useful in performing extracapsular cataract operations and to a method of performing such operations with the use of such compositions. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of a solution of alpha-chymotrypsin in the area of operative treatment of grey cataract.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Grey cataract is an ailment of the eye in which there develops a darkening or clouding of the lens and a decrease of vision produced thereby. By a so-called intracapsular operation, the darkened or clouded lens, which is located in a capsule, is removed by extraction as a whole together with the capsule.
By another method, a so-called extracapsular operation, which is presently widely used, the darkened or clouded lens is likewise removed, but the posterior capsule is left behind. In performing an extracapsular operation, the anterior capsule of the lens is removed and then the main part of the lens and the intracapsular posterior rind coating are drawn away with the aid of a flushing process with simultaneous irrigation. There also exists the possibility of using an ultrasonic sound apparatus for the destruction of the main body of the lens and its removal by aspiration. In most cases, there is practiced in such operations the subsequent implantation of a clear typically glass-bodied posterior chamber lens which replaces the removed darkened or clouded lens. A prerequisite for this is that the posterior capsule be exposed by the operation and that the capsule be completely clear so that optimum physiological (optical) properties including complete light transmission are restored, hence indicating success of the operation. It is known to mechanically polish the posterior capsule before the implantation of the posterior chamber lens. However, despite careful polishing, there frequently develops a so-called capsule fibrosity; this concerns a thickening of the capsule because of very fine particles which cannot be seen microscopically but which form a thickened film on the capsule during the operation.
Alpha-chymotrypsin is a substance that in its cleanest, crystallized, dialyzed and stabilized form is commercially available. Its molecular weight is 22,500; its isoelectric point lies between a pH value of 5 to 4, with the effective maximum being at 8.1 to 8.6.
The use of alpha-chymotrypsin is known for the practice of intracapsular operations. In such operations, it is used in a dilution of 1:5,000 to about 1:10,000 and it serves for enzymatic zonulolysis, that is, the dissolution of the zonule fibers that hold the lens in tension. It was therefore surprising to establish, and not foreseeable, that the same substance could be used in a dilution of 1:10,000 to 1:30,000 whereby the fibers are not dissolved and the solution can be used for the cleaning of the posterior capsule.
During such cleaning, it has been discovered that, in some circumstances, there exists a problem in that liquid present in the eye or liquid forming or collecting in the capsule may undesirably further dilute the alpha-chymotrypsin solution. Accordingly, there has been a need for a further modification or improvement in accordance with which the composition of the alpha-chymotrypsin solution is suitably modified to overcome this problem. There is a looseleaf reference work, periodically updated and available to U.S. pharmacists, called "Facts and Comparisons", published by the Lippincott firm of St. Louis, Missouri, and it contains information that sodium hyaluronate is known to be naturally present in the aqueous humour and vitreous humour of the eye, and that sodium hyaluronate is known as a specific material which is useful in extracapsular eye surgery. There is not to be derived from this information, however, any particular suggestion of its role in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to vehicle navigation systems and, more particularly, to vehicle navigation systems that employ positioning data from the Global Positioning System (GPS) as an input.
Use of the Global Positioning System ("GPS") has been a principal method for vehicle navigation systems to sense an absolute position of the vehicle. However, the accuracy of GPS suffers from the current incomplete coverage of its satellites, from problems of multiple path reflections, and from artificial accuracy degradation caused by the so-called Selective Availability that results from military control of GPS. Experience demonstrates that, although the root-mean-square (RMS) error of GPS is generally 30 meters, transient errors of up to several hundred meters are not unknown.
The error in a position found from GPS can be divided into two components. The first component is the short-term effect caused by the temporary interference of buildings or trees with line-of-sight transmission from satellites. The second component is the long-term effect caused by poor satellite geometry.
Many current vehicle navigation systems use GPS as one part of a hybrid system. The other part uses dead-reckoning sensors to verify the validity of GPS signals. When GPS signals are determined to be unreliable, a switching algorithm switches the system to positions determined by dead reckoning and ignores GPS positions. Conversely, when the signals from GPS are determined to be valid, GPS positions alone are used and dead-reckoning positions are ignored.
Hitherto hybrid navigation systems have largely confined themselves to detecting problems with positions from GPS rather than to correcting them when detected. Most systems simply switch to another source of positioning information if they determine that GPS positions are unreliable. However, there is no guarantee that the reference source is any more reliable than GPS. The reference source may be in error, or both it and GPS may be in error.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,700 discloses a system wherein an odometer is used to determine whether the vehicle is stopped. If the vehicle is stopped, its average GPS position is processed to reset the vehicle's location.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,285 discloses a system that compares GPS positions and signal characteristics with those from dead-reckoning sensors. If the GPS position is determined to be reliable, it is used to reset the dead-reckoning position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,285 discloses a similar system. Vehicle velocity and/or acceleration generated from GPS position measurements is compared with dead reckoning. If the comparison shows them to give similar results, the GPS position is used. If not, the dead-reckoning position is used.
However, the error in GPS positioning caused by poor satellite geometry usually varies slowly over time. The result is an offset in the GPS position that also varies slowly over time. Such an offset cannot in general be detected by checking the difference in heading, velocity, or acceleration between the GPS and the dead-reckoning sensors.
Moreover, the dead-reckoning position itself is calculated by integrating the relative displacement vectors generated by the dead-reckoning sensors. Hence the accumulation of errors over time cannot be avoided. Therefore dead-reckoning positions are not absolutely accurate, and there is no way to choose which positioning source, GPS or dead reckoning, is in error. In most cases both are.
Thus the only absolute positioning available to a navigation system comes from a database of roads. Most road databases are digitized from highly accurate maps, from aerial photographs, or from ground surveys. Their margin of error can be as close as 50 feet, so that much greater accuracy is available from a road database than from the 100 feet root-mean-square error and several hundred meters transient error of GPS. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A short signal transmission between two evaluation units is discussed in EP 866 971 B1. In the process, data relating to failed components and failed functions are exchanged via the line. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Imaging apparatus have been widely used for diagnosis of arteriosclerosis, for diagnosis before operation at the time of an endovascular treatment by a high functional catheter such as a balloon catheter, a stent and the like, or for confirming the result after an operation.
An example of an imaging apparatus for diagnosis is an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) apparatus. Generally, the intravascular ultrasound apparatus radial-operates an ultrasonic probe unit installed with a transmitting and receiving unit composed of an ultrasound transducer inside a blood vessel, a reflected wave (ultrasonic echo) reflected by a biological tissue inside a body cavity of a test subject is received by the transmitting and receiving unit and thereafter, based on the intensity of an ultrasonic echo signal generated by applying a process of amplification, detection or the like, a cross-sectional image of the blood vessel is to be visualized.
Also, another known imaging apparatus is an optical coherent tomography (OCT) apparatus which carries out diagnostic imaging by utilizing coherence of light.
The optical coherent tomography apparatus is an apparatus in which a measurement light is emitted inside a blood vessel while rotating a transmitting and receiving unit while inserting an optical probe unit which is built-in with the transmitting and receiving unit mounted with an optical lens and an optical mirror at the distal end and an optical fiber inside the blood vessel, a radial scan is carried out with receiving reflected light from a biological tissue, and a cross-sectional image of the blood vessel is visualized based on interference signal obtained by making the reflected light obtained depending on this radial scan and a reference light split from the measurement light beforehand interfere each other.
Further, recently, as an enhancement of the optical coherent tomography apparatus, there has been developed an optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) apparatus which utilizes wavelength sweep.
With respect to the optical frequency domain imaging apparatus utilizing wavelength sweep, the basic constitution is similar as that of the optical coherent tomography apparatus, but a light source having a longer wavelength compared with the optical coherent tomography apparatus is used and also, light having different wavelengths is emitted continuously. Then, mechanism for variably changing the optical path length of the reference light is made unnecessary by employing a constitution in which reflected-light intensity at each point in the depth direction of the biological tissue is found out by frequency analysis of interference signal.
In the description hereinafter, the intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) apparatus, the optical coherent tomography (OCT) apparatus and the optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) apparatus utilizing wavelength sweep are named generically and referred to as an “imaging apparatus”.
Generally, when visualizing a cross-sectional image by using those imaging apparatuses, an X-ray image processing apparatus is used together concurrently. This is because it is effective for making a decision about the treatment region or the like while seeing an angiographic image generated in the X-ray image processing apparatus, and for confirming the contrast marker which the ultrasonic probe unit or the optical probe unit possesses based on the angiographic image and comprehending the position of the ultrasonic probe unit or the optical probe unit. Consequently, it is desirable for the angiographic image (X-ray image) generated in the X-ray image processing apparatus and the cross-sectional image visualized by using the imaging apparatus to be stored and displayed by being mutually correlated with each other.
With this back ground, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3167367 proposes a method in which an angiographic image generated in an X-ray image processing apparatus and a cross-sectional image visualized in an intravascular ultrasound apparatus are held and displayed by being mutually correlated with each other. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to memory devices and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for reading data from a disk type memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an optical disk drive, which is one example of disk drives for disk type memories, rotates a recording medium called an "optical disk". The optical disk is rotated at given revolution speed (i.e., a given number of revolutions per minute) while an optical-pick-up reads from or writes to the optical disk. When there is defective (or unreadable) data on the disk due to dust or damage to the recording media, the data cannot be accurately read using the given revolution speed. In order to read the defective area, the revolution speed is reduced until the data can be read (i.e., to perform error correction). In a conventional optical disk drive, error correction is performed by retry operations. Thus, if defective data is encountered during the reading of data, the pick-up is moved to where the defective data exists, and the number of revolutions of the disk is reduced. The reading operation is restarted at this position to read the defective data, i.e., to perform error correction. If it is impossible to achieve error correction with the reduced revolution speed, the above operation is retried in a subsequent manner.
The conventional optical disk drive performs a retry operation to read defective data and, depending on the extent of defective data, the number of retry operations may be quite large. For this reason, the conventional optical disk drive has an disadvantage in that reading speed is decreased when defective data is detected due to the retry operations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There is known a polygon mirror (rotary polyhedron) as an actuator provided in laser printers, for example. In such a printer, in order to achieve higher-resolution and higher-quality printed output as well as higher-speed printing, it is necessary to rotate the polygon mirror at higher speed. Currently, an air bearing is used to rotate the polygon mirror at high speed with stability. However, the method using the air bearing involves a problem in that it is difficult to rotate the polygon mirror at much higher speed than the speed available at the present. Further, although a larger motor is required in order to rotate the polygon mirror at higher speed, use of such a larger motor gives rise to a problem in that it is difficult to miniaturize the size of an apparatus in which the polygon mirror is used. Furthermore, use of such a polygon mirror gives rise to another problem in that the structure of the apparatus becomes necessarily complicated, thus leading to an increased manufacturing cost.
Taking such problems into account, an actuator of a relatively simple structure has been proposed that employs a torsional vibrator (for example, see JP-A No. 2004-13099). The actuator disclosed in this reference includes a fixed comb electrode and a movable comb electrode, both of which mesh with each other in a spaced-apart relationship. In the actuator of this type, alternating voltages are applied to between the fixed comb electrode and the movable comb electrode, thus creating an electrostatic attractive force to rotate the movable electrode. In the actuator referred to above, a SOI substrate having a SiO2 layer sandwiched between two silicon layers is used. The movable comb electrode is patterned on one of the silicon layers of the SOI substrate, while the fixed comb electrode is patterned on the other silicon layer of the SOI substrate. Thus, the fixed comb electrode and the movable comb electrode remain out of alignment with each other in a thickness direction of the SOI substrate. This enables the actuator to start its operation in an easier manner.
According to the above-described actuator, however, it is necessary to form masks on the opposite surfaces of the SOI substrate by use of a photoresist and then to etch both of the silicon layers, at the time of forming the fixed comb electrode and the movable comb electrode. For this reason, the gap between the fixed comb electrode and the movable comb electrode varies depending on the alignment accuracy of the masks formed on the opposite surfaces of the SOI substrate, thereby making it difficult to provide the gap with an increased degree of precision. As a result, the gap between the fixed comb electrode and the movable comb electrode becomes greater, which results in a problem in that an increased drive voltage is required. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a flavored nut product and to an advantageous process for making such a product.
The problem of creating new "snack" foods is well recognized, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,950 to Weiss. It is difficult to create a new and distinctive taste that is still acceptable to a consuming public (which has generally shown a preference for the familiar); and that lends itself to reliable quality control, practical and economical production techniques, and has sufficiently long "shelf-life" for the realities of modern food distribution.
It is known in the art to provide nuts with various flavored coatings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,063,843 to Hashimoto disclosed a flavored nut made by adding succeeding layers of sugar syrup, and then flour, to nut centers; followed by roasting; and finally coating with a flavored sauce. However, Hashimoto has been criticized (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,545 to Green et al.) as failing to give a wholly satisfactory product, both as to color and flavor. The method of Hashimoto can be inefficient, hence expensive, in requiring a separate roasting stage, a separate flavor coating stage, and a separate and additional drying stage (note FIG. 1 therein). Further, the moving air method of Hashimoto is a not the most efficient heat exchange mechanism, and does not contribute to the flavor of the final food product.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,588 to Turitz disclosed wrapping a dough, made from a kneaded mixture of corn and wheat flour, around a peanut center; and then baking or deep-fat frying; optionally glazing prior to baking. However, Turitz has been criticized (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,650 to Chino et al.) as involving a difficult and troublesome step of wrapping small edible items, it being particularly difficult to so wrap without strain and unevenness in thickness, leading to uneven expansion when cooked. The method of Turitz involves the expensive and inefficient steps of kneading and wrapping, and suggests the additiional cost and time of a glazing or finishing step. The dough system of Turitz involves using a relatively high level of water, which is, due to its high specific heat, difficult to remove during further processing. Such removal of water is necessary to obtain the desired crisp texture. The method and product of Turitz also require the use of egg, a costly ingredient.
The above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,545 to Green described a honey coated roasted nut, produced by first coating nuts in a honey and water mixture; then "enrobing" the coated nuts in a sugar-starch mixture; and finally roasting and cooling quickly. After cooling, the nuts may be dusted with salt or a salt/sugar mixture. It appears that a principal goal was to improve color and consistency of adhesion, as well as flavor, by the use of honey (which is not necessary in the instant invention). The primary purpose of the sugar-starch mixture in Green appears to to be to prevent the honey coated nuts from adhering to each other, rather than for flavor or to control coating density, as by "puffing". There is no suggestion to repeat the liquid and solid coatings, and the only flavoring suggested is honey-based, using a far greater amount of honey than would the instant invention, even for a honey-flavored version.
Thus the prior art leaves unsolved the problem of disclosing or suggesting a process for making a food product which is appealing in taste and appearance, while being economical, quick and convenient to manufacture, able to be made with a variety of distinctive yet appetizing flavors; capable of being produced with commonly available equipment and minimal labor costs.
The known prior art does not disclose or suggest a process which accomplishes these goals without one or more negative features. In particular, it is desirable to avoid the use of a dough, thus eliminating the time and expense of a kneading step, and thereby also avoid the introduction of excess water which only needs to be removed later. In addition, it is desirable to avoid baking, which has the cost and inefficiency inherent in using air as a heat exchange mechanism. The use of expensive ingredients, like eggs, is preferably eliminated or reduced. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field
Various features relate to communications systems and, more particularly, to the authentication of devices, such as relay nodes and machine-to-machine devices, employed in a wired and/or wireless communications system.
2. Background
Modern wireless networks may include relay nodes and/or access terminals, cumulatively referred to here as devices. In order for such a device to function properly, the device is often provisioned/configured with operational and subscriber security credentials before the device is put into operation. Such subscriber security credentials may be used to, for example, authenticate the device prior providing wireless service or access and, in some cases, may be stored in a module that irremovably couples to its host device. A risk exists that subscriber security credentials may be removed from an authenticated device and placed in an unauthorized device. In the case of a relay node, this may allow an unauthorized relay node to surreptitiously access transmissions, for example, between an access node and one or more access terminals and/or to obtain free access to network services. This risk or vulnerability also exists in the case of machine-to-machine (M2M) devices in that valid subscriber credentials (e.g., authentication and key agreement—(AKA) parameters in a removable Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC)) in a M2M device could be transferred to another device in order to gain free network access. A related vulnerability exists in that it is not necessary to have physical access to the M2M device itself. Access to the data (e.g., the security keys resulting from authentication) that is going across a M2M device interface (e.g., host device to UICC interface) is sufficient to gain access to security keys and expose data secured by said keys.
A similar issue exists if an operator wishes to control which devices are allowed to access their network.
Consequently, there is a need to provide additional security for devices to address these and other vulnerabilities and risks. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Benzimidazoles substituted in the 2-position with hydrocarbon alkyl and hydrocarbon aryl groups are well known compounds. For example, in Elderfield's "Heterocyclic Compounds", John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, New York, such 2-substituted benzimidazoles and processes for their preparation are disclosed. Also, the literature describes benzimidazoles that are substituted with perfluoroalkyl groups. While various 2-substituted benzimidazoles are disclosed by Elderfield as well as in other publications, e.g., "Imidazole and Its Derivatives" by Klaus Hofmann, Interscience Publishers, New York, New York, the prior art makes no mention of benzimidazoles substituted in the 2-position with a perfluoroalkyleneether group.
It is a principal object of this invention, therefore, to provide benzimidazoles substituted with perfluoroalkyleneether radicals.
Another object of the invention is to provide a process for preparing the 2-substituted benzimidazoles.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the ensuing disclosure. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A processing node or core in a computing system may be placed in any of multiple performance states (also referred to as power states or operational states) during operation, where the particular performance state (P state) is characterized by an associated operating voltage and operating frequency. Typically, the decision to transition the processing node between performance states is made by the operating system (OS). Other high-level control software or a hardware controller such as a bridge circuit (e.g., northbridge) may also initiate a change in the performance state. One exemplary factor for determining the appropriate performance state of a processing node is the processor's utilization. Utilization is the ratio of the time spent by one or more processing nodes in the active (execution) state to the overall time interval over which the execution time was tracked or measured. A higher node utilization may trigger the selection of a higher operating voltage and/or frequency to better address performance/watt requirements. For example, if the processing node is running at a relatively low performance state resulting in longer code execution time, the system perceives the need for a higher utilization and changes the processing node to a higher performance state suitable for faster code execution. Other suitable factors may cause the system to change performance states, such as the number of chip components running, the number or type of programs running, power saving needs, and/or performance needs, for example.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary known computing system 10 including a computer processor 50. Processor 50, which may include one or more processing devices, includes one or more processing cores (nodes) 16, a bridge circuit 14, memory 19 containing microcode 21, and voltage/clock regulators 20. Memory 13 containing operating system code 15 is accessed by processor 50. In one embodiment, processing cores 16 execute microcode 21 and operating system code 15. In particular, an operating system module 12 includes operating system code 15 executed by at least one processing core 16, and microcode module 18 includes microcode 21 executed by at least one processing core 16. Processor 50 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an accelerated processing unit (APU), and/or any other suitable processor or processing device. Processor 50 may be a single chip device, such as a system on a chip (SOC), or multiple physical devices. Computing system 10 includes a display 34 operatively coupled to processor 50. An exemplary computing system 10 includes a laptop, desktop, gaming system, mobile device (e.g., tablet, smartphone, etc.), multimedia player, electronic book (e-books), or any other suitable computing system or device.
Microcode module 18 interfaces with operating system module 12 to control aspects of processing cores 16. Microcode module 18 receives instructions or sequences from operating system module 12 and outputs instructions/sequences to bridge circuit 14 for controlling cores 16. For example, microcode module 18 provides signals to bridge circuit 14 for controlling the P state of processing cores 16 based on instructions from operating system module 12. Bridge circuit 14 manages communication between components of computing system 10, including between microcode module 18 and voltage/clock regulators 20. Bridge circuit 14 includes P state control logic 24 for controlling the P state of processing cores 16 based on instructions from microcode module 18.
Operating system module 12 (or P state control logic 24) may determine that a P state of processing cores 16 should change from one level to another based, for example, on usage or utilization of the cores 16. Operating system module 12 generates a P state change request 22 and transmits the request 22 to microcode module 18. Alternatively, operating system module 12 may write request 22 to a register, and microcode module 18 retrieves the request 22 from the register. The P state change request 22 identifies a target performance state, which includes a target operating voltage and a target operating frequency of the cores 16. Microcode module 18 sends the P state change request 22 to bridge circuit 14 for servicing. Microcode module 18 may adjust the request 22, for example, by delaying transmission of the request 22 to bridge circuit 14 or by transmitting the request 22 according to a delivery sequence.
Microcode module 18 writes the request 22 to a storage register 26 of bridge circuit 14 accessible by P state control logic 24. P state control logic 24 issues a voltage and frequency request 30 to regulators 20 (voltage regulator 40 and clock regulator 42, respectively) corresponding to the P state identified with request 22. The voltage and frequency request 30 specifies the target operating voltage and operating frequency of processing cores 16 that was identified in the request 22. Voltage/clock regulators 20 execute the voltage/frequency request 30 by sending corresponding voltage/frequency signals to the respective power rail and clock rail of processing cores 16. In response to the request 22 from microcode module 18, P state control logic 24 may implement the voltage change before or after the frequency change.
If computing system 10 is hacked or otherwise accessed without authorization, the hacker may attempt to cause processor 50 (or subsystems of processor 50) to enter into an improper P state with improper operating voltage and/or frequency levels of processing cores 16. Such improper operating voltages and frequencies may create security vulnerabilities in computing system 10. For example, changes to the operating voltage or frequency of the processing cores 16 may be applied to other voltage planes, pins, or rails coupled to other subsystems of processor 50, including processor memory, for example. As such, if a change in an operating voltage and/or frequency occurs in an undesired manner, there may be a potential that either the processing cores 16 or other subsystems are put in a state that allows the readout of data from registers and memory locations. For example, a hacker may attempt to glitch (e.g., short-term fault) the operating voltage in a predictable way to cause the processor 50 to incorrectly branch or load data, read out proprietary information, or perform other illegal or improper operations.
Therefore, a need exists for methods and systems to provide improved monitoring and secure control during a performance state change of the processor to thereby reduce the likelihood of a security breach. Further, a need exists for methods and systems to improve the detection and blocking of unauthorized access during a performance state change. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 47183/1999, filed in the Republic of Korea on Aug. 16, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device by which semiconductor devices having different electrical characteristics can be implemented in the same chip.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, as the degree of integration of a semiconductor, in particular, a DRAM (dynamic random access memory) increases, it is often the case that a transistor of a memory cell unit and a transistor of a peripheral circuit have a different operating voltage with each other. In other words, the transistor of the memory cell unit fabricated with a fine line width operates at a voltage less than 1.8V, and the transistor of the peripheral circuit operates at a voltage of 3.3V or 5V for matching with exterior system equipment.
Accordingly, as devices having different operating voltages are formed in the same chip, there occurs a problem that a gate oxide film of the transistors formed in the same semiconductor chip must have different thicknesses.
Methods conventionally known as a method for forming a gate electrode having different thicknesses in the same chip will now be described.
First, FIGS. 1A through 1D illustrate a method for fabricating a gate oxide film by a dual step oxidation process.
As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a semiconductor substrate 10 is prepared.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, a first gate oxide film 11 is formed on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 10.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 1C, the first gate oxide film 11 of a portion on which a relatively thin gate oxide film is to be selectively etched and removed to thereby expose parts of the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 10.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 1D, a second gate oxide film 12 is formed on the top surface of the first gate oxide film 11 and the top surface of the semiconductor device 10.
Besides the above-said method using the dual step oxidation process, there is a method for fabricating a gate oxide film using an ion implantation process. This method will now be described with reference to FIGS. 2A through 2D and FIGS. 3A through 3D.
First, FIGS. 2A through 2D illustrates a method for fabricating a gate oxide film using a nitrogen ion implantation process.
As illustrated in FIG. 2A, a semiconductor substrate 20 is prepared.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 2B, a screen oxide film 21 is formed on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 20. Then, an ion implantation mask 22 is formed on the screen oxide film 21 of a portion on which a relatively thick oxide film is to be formed. Then, nitrogen (N2) ions are implanted into the semiconductor substrate 20 of a portion being not covered with the ion implantation mask 22.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 2C, the screen oxide film 21 and the ion implantation mask are removed.
Next, when a gate oxide film 23 is formed on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 20, as illustrated in FIG. 2D, a thin oxide film 23a is formed on a portion into which nitrogen ions are implanted, because oxidation is restrained, and a relatively thick oxide film 23b is formed on a portion into which nitrogen ions are not implanted.
In addition, a method for fabricating a gate oxide film using a fluoride ion implantation process will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3A through 3D.
First, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, a semiconductor substrate 30 is prepared.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 3B, a screen oxide film 31 is formed on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 30. Next, an ion implantation mask 32 is formed on the top surface of the screen oxide film 31 of a portion on which a relatively thin gate oxide film is to be formed. Then, fluoride ions are implanted into the semiconductor substrate 30 using the ion implantation mask 32.
Next, as illustrated in FIG. 3C, the ion implantation mask 32 and the screen oxide film 31 are removed.
Next as illustrated in FIG. 3D, a gate oxide film 33 having different thicknesses is formed on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 30 by oxidation of the semiconductor substrate 30. That is, a thick gate oxide film is formed on the top surface of the semiconductor of a portion into which fluoride ions are implanted, and a thin gate oxide film is formed on a portion into which fluoride ions are not implanted.
However, the above-described conventional methods for fabricating a gate oxide film has the following problems. First, the method for fabricating a gate oxide film by the dual step oxidation process has a complicated procedure, and a peripheral portion of a fabricated, thick gate oxide film becomes thinner and a breakdown is easily occurred on a thinned portion.
Second, in case of the fluoride ion implantation process, since a large amount of fluoride ions must be implanted in order to make the thickness of a gate oxide film different according to its portion, the semiconductor substrate is largely damaged to thus increase the amount of leakage current.
Third, the nitrogen implantation process is disadvantageous in that, in case of forming a gate oxide film on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate into which nitrogen ions are implanted, the gate oxide film is degraded, although it is advantageous in that a smaller amount of ions can be implanted as to compared to the fluoride ion implantation process, which rather decreases the amount of leakage current.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device having a small leakage current amount and a high reliability by reducing the concentration of nitrogen in the gate oxide film when a gate oxide film having different thicknesses according to its portion is fabricated on the top surface of a semiconductor substrate using a nitrogen ion implantation process.
A method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device according to the present invention includes the steps of: forming a screen oxide film on the top surface of a semiconductor substrate; forming an ion implantation mask on parts of the top surface of the screen oxide film; implanting nitrogen ions into the semiconductor substrate using the ion implantation mask; removing the ion implantation mask and the screen oxide film; forming an oxide film on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate; and annealing the semiconductor substrate.
There is provided a method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device according to the present invention which further includes a pre-annealing step after the ion implantation step.
A method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device according to the present invention includes the pre-annealing step by a process of annealing at 500-900xc2x0 C. by a furnace annealing method.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device wherein the pre-annealing step is a process of annealing at 850-1200xc2x0 C. by a rapid thermal annealing method.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device wherein the oxide film formation step being a method for thermal oxidation at a furnace of 700-950xc2x0 C.
A method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device according to the present invention includes the oxide film formation step being a method for thermal oxidation at 850-1200xc2x0 C. at the rapid thermal annealing method.
A method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device according to the present invention includes the annealing step being performed by means of the rapid thermal annealing method in a N2O atmosphere at a temperature of 900-1200xc2x0 C. for about less than five minutes.
The annealing step can also be performed by means of the thermal annealing method in an O3 atmosphere at a temperature of 400-1200xc2x0 C. for about five minutes.
The annealing step can also be performed by means of the furnace annealing method in a N2O atmosphere at a temperature of 850-1200xc2x0 C. for about one hour.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for fabricating a gate oxide film of a semiconductor device according to the present invention wherein the annealing step is performed by means of the rapid thermal annealing method in a N2O atmosphere at a temperature of 900-1200xc2x0 C. for about less than five minutes.
Additional advantages, aspects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the description which follows. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor integrated circuit device for driving a vacuum fluorescent display device (hereafter referred to as a "VFD"). The vacuum fluorescent display device is constructed basically of:
(1) an anode made of a fluorescent material;
(2) a cathode for emitting electrons; and
(3) a grid interposed between the anode and the cathode for controlling the migration of the electrons.
When the cathode is supplied with a specified voltage, it is heated to about 650.degree. C. to emit the electrons. If a positive voltage is applied to both the (fluorescent) anode and the grid, the electrons emitted from the cathode pass over the grid and are accelerated to impinge upon the fluorescent material, whereupon this material emits light. The vacuum fluorescent display device, in which fluorescent dots are arrayed in a matrix shape, is called a "dot matrix vacuum fluorescent display device".
In recent years, he need has increased for producing graphic fluorescent display panels having extremely high display capacity and density. In view of this technical trend, we have investigated developments of dot matrix displays of capacity as high as 240 dots (vertically).times.320 dots (horizontally) or fluorescent display tubes and have revealed the following functions required for the drive IC of a vacuum fluorescent display device:
(1) In order to achieve high luminosity of a fluorescent display tube, it is necessary to abruptly accelerate the electrons generated from the cathode and to make them impinge upon the fluorescent material at high speed. In order to attain high luminosity, a voltage as high as 250 V has to be applied to the anode and the grid. Therefore, the drive device (or the driver IC) for the anode and the grid must be able to withstand a considerably high voltage.
(2) In order to improve the display function of the fluorescent display tube of high capacity, moreover, it is necessary to scan (or drive) the fluorescent matrix at a high speed. For this reason, it is necessary to remarkably shorten the period from the time when data is input to the time when the drive output is generated. This makes it necessary to operate the anode and grid driver at high speed.
(3) In order to reduce heat dissipation of the driver IC, this IC has to be operated with low power consumption.
(4) In order to reduce the size of the vacuum fluorescent display device, the chip area of the driver IC has to be made small.
In order to satisfy the needs for the high luminoscity and capacity of the fluorescent display tube, as has been described above, the anode and grid driver are required to have a high voltage function, high speed, low power consumption and must be small. It is, however, very difficult to satisfy all those requirements. Therefore, it is difficult to integrate the driver.
These difficulties will be described in the following from the respective standpoints of the circuit, device and layout. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Reliable predictions indicate that there will be over 300 million cellular telephone customers by the year 2000. Within the United States, cellular service is offered by cellular service providers, by the regional Bell companies, and by the national long distance operators. The enhanced competition has driven the price of cellular service down to the point where it is affordable to a large segment of the population.
To maximize usage of the available bandwidth, a number of multiple access technologies have been implemented to allow more than one subscriber to communicate simultaneously with each base transceiver station (BTS) in a wireless system. These multiple access technologies include time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), and code division multiple access (CDMA). These technologies assign each system subscriber to a specific traffic channel that transmits and receives subscriber voice/data signals via a selected time slot, a selected frequency, a selected unique code, or a combination thereof.
In order to further increase the number of subscribers that can be serviced in a single wireless network, frequency reuse is maximized by making individual cell sites smaller and using a greater number of cell sites to cover the same geographical area. Accordingly, the greater number of base transceiver stations increases infrastructure costs. To offset this increased cost, wireless service providers are eager to implement any innovations that may reduce equipment costs, maintenance/repair costs, and operating costs, or that may increase service quality/reliability, and the number of subscribers that the cellular system can service.
Electrical power is one of the more significant operating costs of a wireless system. Every base transceiver station has a transmitter for sending voice and data signals to mobile units (i.e., cell phones, portable computers equipped with cellular modems, and the like) and a receiver for receiving voice and data signals from the mobile units. The transmitter uses a comparatively large RF power amplifier to increase the strength of transmitted signals.
Wireless systems cannot tolerate large amounts of signal distortion and therefore require the use of RF amplifiers having good linearity characteristics across a wide range of operating conditions in order not to violate the IS 95 bandwidth requirements due to spectral spreading effects. Unfortunately, the DC-to-RF conversion efficiency for linear RF amplifiers is very low. CDMA amplifiers generally require about 8-10 dB of overhead input power ratio in order to maintain linearity in the RF waveforms.
The transmitter power amplifier consumes a constant and comparatively large amount of power, regardless of the relative strength of the output signal transmitted by the base transceiver station. For example, if the normal traffic load during the daytime requires the RF output power level to be approximately 10 watts, the DC prime power consumed by the transmitter power amplifier is approximately 80-100 watts (i.e., 8-10 dB higher). However, in the middle of the night, when the traffic load is very light, the RF output power level of the transmitter may be reduced in decrements down to, for example, about 1 watt, as power control is exercised over the RF output signal. However, the DC prime power consumed by the transmitter power amplifier will still be approximately 80-100 watts, since the operating bias points of the power amplifiers are fixed. In short, no allowance is made for reduced traffic loads.
There is therefore a need in the art for improved wireless networks that are less expensive to operate. In particular, there is a need for wireless networks that implement power control in the power amplifiers of the base station transmitters. Improved systems are needed that monitor the RF output signal level of a transmitter power amplifier and reduce the DC power level of the transmitter power amplifier according to the traffic load on the base station. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a method for the synthesis of nojirimycin derivatives and, more particularly, to the synthesis of deoxynojirimycin and nojirimycin .delta.-lactam from an epoxide derivative of L-idofuranose.
Deoxynojirimycin is a well-known glucosidase inhibitor [Ishida et al., J. Antibiot. Ser. A20, 66 (1967)]. Recently, it has been suggested as having potential use for the treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). See, e.g., Sunkara et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 148(1), 206-210 (1987); Tyms et al., Lancet, Oct. 31, 1987, pp. 1025-1026; Walker et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 8120-8124 (1987); and Gruters et al., Nature 330, 74-77 (1987).
Derivatives of deoxynojirimycin also have been reported to have potential use as anti-AIDS drugs based on inhibitory activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). See, e.g., the report of such use of the N-methyl derivative of deoxynojirimycin in PCT Inter. Appln. WO 87/03903, published July 2, 1987, and the substantially more effective anti-HIV activity of the N-butyl derivative of deoxynojirimycin as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,430.
The properties of deoxynojirimycin as a glucosidase inhibitor and the recognition of the potential applications of such compounds have led to considerable studies on the synthesis of nojirimycin derivatives. See, e.g., Paulsen et al., Chem. Ber. 100, 802 (1967); Kinast and Schedel, Angew. Chem. Int. Edit. 20, 805 (1981); Vasella and Voeffray, Helv. Chim. Acta 65, 1134 (1982); Bernotas and Ganem, Tetrahedron Lett. 26, 1123 (1985). Although the most common strategy for the synthesis of nojirimycin derivatives has been by the introduction of nitrogen with retention of configuration at C-5 of glucose [Saeki and Ohki, Chem. Pharm. Bull. 16, 2477 (1968); Sohmidt et al., Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1989, 423], the only reported stereospecific synthesis of nojirimycin .delta.-lactam was by hypoiodite oxidation of nojirimycin [Inouye et al., Tetrahedron 24, 2125 (1968)]. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an anastomosis system and method, and more particularly, the invention relates to an anastomosis system for controlling a tissue site during an anastomosis procedure.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Vascular anastomosis is a procedure by which two blood vessels within a patient are surgically joined together. Vascular anastomosis is performed during treatment of a variety of conditions including coronary artery disease, diseases of the great and peripheral vessels, organ transplantation, and trauma. In coronary artery disease (CAD) an occlusion or stenosis in a coronary artery interferes with blood flow to the heart muscle. Treatment of CAD involves the grafting of a vessel in the form of a prosthesis or harvested artery or vein to reroute blood flow around the occlusion and restore adequate blood flow to the heart muscle. This treatment is known as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
In the conventional CABG, a large incision is made in the chest and the sternum is sawed in half to allow access to the heart. In addition, a heart lung machine is used to circulate the patient's blood so that the heart can be stopped and the anastomosis can be performed. In order to minimize the trauma to the patient induced by conventional CABG, less invasive techniques have been developed in which the surgery is performed through small incisions in the patients chest with the aid of visualizing scopes. Less invasive CABG can be performed on a beating or stopped heart and thus may avoid the need for cardiopulmonary bypass.
In both conventional and less invasive CABG procedures, the surgeon has to suture one end of the graft vessel to the coronary artery and the other end of the graft vessel to a blood supplying vein or artery, such as the aorta. The suturing process is a time consuming and difficult procedure requiring a high level of surgical skill. In order to perform the suturing of the graft to a target vessel such as the coronary artery or the blood supplying artery the surgeon generally has an assistant hold the edges of the incision in the target vessel while the surgeon takes small stitches as close as possible to the edges of the incision. This suturing requires a high degree of precision and is quite time consuming. In addition, during conventional CABG procedures blood flow at the anastomosis site is stopped during suturing. This prevents bleeding from the incision site but also prevents blood from reaching a portion of the heart muscle served by the vessel.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a vascular anastomosis system which allows the tissue at the anastomosis site to be controlled during suturing or other connection of the graft and target vessels. It would also be desirable to provide a vascular anastomosis system which allows the connection of a graft vessel to a target vessel prior to making an incision in the target vessel which allows blood flow between the target vessel and the graft vessel. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Cultivation of animal cells, especially in large quantities, is essential to the production of antiviral agents such as viral vaccines and interferon or biologically active chemicals such as hormones. In particular, the production of monoclonal antibodies having the ability to bind to a specified protein as a target relies on the cultivation of a large quantity of a hybridoma obtained by fusing antibody-producing cells with myeloma cells, and the solution of problems associated with this technique is an industrially important subject.
Heretofore, cell culture has been carried out on a laboratory scale by using a Petri dish, a test tube, a cultivation bottle, etc. Generally, the cell culture is classified into anchorage dependent cell culture and suspension culture depending upon the cells to be cultivated. The suspension culture would be an industrially advantageous method since it has a possibility of cultivating cells at a high density.
Cell cultures usually demand supply of oxygen (O.sub.2), and for this purpose, the concentration of oxygen in the suspension is maintained constant by, for example, supplying an oxygen-containing gas from the gaseous phase above the liquid surface of the suspension and dissolving it in the suspension, or by blowing an oxygen-containing gas into the suspension. The supply of oxygen by these methods does not particularly give rise to any problem in the cultivation of cells on a small scale.
But where cell culture is desired to be effected on an industrial scale, above all at a high cell density, all of the above methods of oxygen supply are unsuitable. In the case of supplying oxygen from the free liquid surface of the suspension, even when the amount of the suspension increases, the area of the liquid surface cannot be increased correspondingly. Thus, on an industrial scale, it is almost impossible to avoid the insufficiency of oxygen supply.
When the oxygen-containing gas is blown into the suspension, the liquid surface rises owing to bubbling, and it is sometimes even difficult to continue the operation. Furthermore, this method is difficult to apply to cells which might die or decrease in proliferating activity upon contact with bubbles, or to cells which undergo a separation phenomenon by the action of bubbles (a certain kind of plant cells, for example).
Recently, a different method was proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4235/1982. This patent document discloses a method of cultivating cells which comprises adhering cells to the surface of a semipermeable containing a quaternary ammonium salt having a water content of 20 to 90%, and passing a cultivation fluid over at least the opposite side to the cell-adhering surface of the membrane. This method is characterized by the fact that nutrients and oxygen are supplied to the cells through the semipermeable membrane without direct contact of the cells with the cultivation fluid.
The cultivation of plant cells has the same problem as the cultivation of animal cells. It is known that the cultivation of plant cells can give the same substances as primary or secondary metabolites obtained from the parent plants, such as enzymes, terpenoids, flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids, quinones and phenols, and useful substances in the fields of medicines, foods, cosmetics and fine chemicals. It is very important therefore to solve the same problem of the cultivation of plant cells as in the case of the cultivation of animal cells.
Science, volume 219, pages 1448-1449, March 1983 discloses a method in which a fluorocarbon emulsified and stabilized with polylysine is used as a microcarrier, and anchorage-dependent cells are cultivated on the microcarrier.
U. S. Pat. No. 3,850,753 discloses a method of cultivating an aerobic microorganism in the presence of a water-immisicible inert liquid fluorocarbon under aeration, agitation and/or shaking.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel method of suspension cultivation on an industrial scale of animal and plant cells. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
Disclosed herein are delivery devices and methods of delivery. Certain embodiments are described with reference to sequential delivery of multiple intraluminal devices from a delivery device. The delivery devices and methods can be used in procedures to treat atherosclerotic occlusive disease, though they are not limited to these procedures.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a number of medical conditions and procedures in which a device such as a stent is placed in the body to create or maintain a passage. There are a wide variety of stents used for different purposes, from expandable coronary, vascular and biliary stents, to plastic stents used to allow the flow of urine between kidney and bladder.
Stents are often placed in the vascular system after a medical procedure, such as balloon angioplasty. Balloon angioplasty is often used to treat atherosclerotic occlusive disease. Atherosclerotic occlusive disease is the primary cause of stroke, heart attack, limb loss, and death in the US and the industrialized world. Atherosclerotic plaque forms a hard layer along the wall of an artery and can be comprised of calcium, cholesterol, compacted thrombus and cellular debris. As the atherosclerotic disease progresses, the blood supply intended to pass through a specific blood vessel is diminished or even prevented by the occlusive process. One of the most widely utilized methods of treating clinically significant atherosclerotic plaque is balloon angioplasty, which may be followed with stent placement. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of digital communication protocols and circuits, and in particular to phase modulation communication protocols and circuits using only the carrier frequency, without sidebands, for information transmittal or reception.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ultra Narrow Band Methods must separate the carrier from the sidebands, transmitting only one or the other. The object is to obtain a single modulation bearing frequency, or very narrow band of frequencies, that will occupy the least possible transmitted bandwidth. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,742,532, 5,185,765 and 5,930,303 encode the data stream, then transmit the resulting waveform as a “Single Sideband—Suppressed Carrier—Phase Modulated” signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,737 modifies the carrier as little as possible and transmits a signal in which the sidebands are suppressed or ignored. In the prior art, other than that described in the references above, every effort is made to use phase shift modulation in a continuous, or smooth phase changing manner, as opposed to the abrupt change manner of the present invention. This prior art has resulted in a modulation concept known as Continuous Phase Frequency Shift Keying (CPFSK), which applies to all the commonly used methods. The CPFSK method results in frequency as well as phase modulation, with the required J0 and J1 Bessel products. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a reference position of a servo-controlled member such as a throttle valve of an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to a servo-driving apparatus which includes a DC motor controlling the position of the movable member, wherein a reference position of the movable member is detected by a reference position detecting apparatus having a novel constitution.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
A known prior art, e.g. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. SHO 58-10131, has disclosed a method of detecting a reference position of the throttle valve, in which a fully opened position or a completely closed position of the throttle valve is repeatedly detected to obtain a reference position of the throttle valve through learning process on the basis of the detected throttle valve opening angle. In more detail, this prior art has introduced a specially provided switch for detecting a completely closed position of the throttle valve. This switch is cooperatively associated with a conventional throttle valve opening sensor which generates a linear output in response to the detected opening degree of the throttle valve. The following is the reason why such a special switch is required.
The throttle valve opening sensor is normally accurate in the detection of how much angle the throttle valve is opened or closed, but is incapable of accurately detecting how completely the throttle valve is closed. Because, a significant amount of installation error is inevitable in the assembling of the throttle opening degree sensor onto the throttle valve.
Therefore, above special switch (referred to as a complete close switch, hereinafter) is utilized to compensate such a deficiency of the throttle valve opening sensor. That is, in operation, an output signal of the throttle valve opening sensor, generated when the complete close switch is depressed by the throttle valve at the completely closed position, is memorized as a reference position representing a complete close position of the throttle valve.
However, the installation of the complete close switch is never free from the error. As the computer-based engine control has been advanced, an accuracy in the detection of the complete close position has been becoming important and therefore will be more severely required in the future. For this reason, even if an installation error of the complete close switch remains within a narrow range, it may not be acceptable for the present-day and future precise engine control. It is therefore feared that small installation error of the complete close switch will give an adverse affect to an overall control of the throttle valve opening degree.
On the other hand, there has been conventionally known a method of detecting a lock current of the DC motor. This lock current, flowing through a resistance provided in series with the DC motor, is detected in such a case where the driving motor is forcibly stopped by an obstacle or the like. The circuit for detecting this lock current, however, tends to be complicated in construction and large in size because of necessity of providing at least the following three components, i.e. a resistance detecting lock current, an amplifier circuit for amplifying an output voltage obtained from the resistance, and a conversion circuit for converting the analogue output of the amplifier circuit into a digital signal. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a banknote scope, and more particularly to a banknote-checking machine that is used for verifying the verity of paper money.
2. Description of Prior Art
In accordance with the conventional banknote-checking machine, as shown in FIG. 1, it is comprised of an upper shield 1xe2x80x2, a circuit control verifying device 2xe2x80x2, a base stand 3xe2x80x2. Wherein, said verifying device 2xe2x80x2 is set on the inner surface of the shield constructed of the upper shield 1xe2x80x2 and the base stand 3xe2x80x2. In use, turn on the switcher 4xe2x80x2 to cut in the circuit control verifying device 2xe2x80x2, then put paper money into the verifying window 11xe2x80x2 under the upper shield 1xe2x80x2, by shining ultraviolet rays generated from the verifying device 2xe2x80x2 on the upward surface of the bill, the water mark, the metal line or the value of denomination can be presented out for distinguishing the true from the counterfeit banknote.
But in operation of the above-mentioned banknote-checking machine, putting the paper money into the window under the upper shield 1xe2x80x2, the fingers of the user may easily be affected by generated static electricity, harmful to the health of a human body. And if the operator accidentally puts his or her hand into the upper side of the verifying window 11xe2x80x2, it is easy to be shocked by electricity, so operation safety is quite poor. In addition, the volume of the above-mentioned banknote-checking machine is excessive.
It is therefore a main object of the present invention to provide a safe banknote scope.
This object is achieved by a banknote scope that is comprised of a lightproof cartridge and a circuit control-detecting device. A light-emitting component of the detecting device is located in the inside of the light-proof cartridge, and the lightproof cartridge has a detecting window with a slot detecting channel so that the light rays emitted from the light-emitting component can shine on the detecting channel via the detecting window, and a sight-glass is formed opposite the slot detecting window.
Said lightproof cartridge is in a drum shapes, such as a cap of a pen, and the detecting device is set in the inside of a bacillary sleeve, such as a pen, and the light-emitting component is located on the tip end of the bacillary sleeve. The lightproof cartridge shades over the light head of the detecting device, and a through-hole receives the switching button of the detecting device. Said lightproof cartridge has a graded slot centralized in said through-hole at a center thereof, and said through-hole is put on the switching button of the detecting device.
Said lightproof cartridge may be comprised of an upper shield and a base-stand, the whole detecting device is mounted into the hollow cave constructed of the upper shield and the base-stand. A pair of a conducting strip and an elastic conducting strip is set upon the inside of the detecting channel.
Said sight-glass is embedded with a positive lens also.
An indicating board corresponding to the sight-glass is mounted on the inside of said detecting channel. An indicating lamp is set upon the upper shield.
Said base-stand has a groove cut into the bottom side for embedding a slide L-shape rod.
Said detecting device has two light-emitting components, one is an ultraviolet lamp, another is an infrared lamp, the both of them are connected to the control circuit of the detecting device.
By employing the above-mentioned structure, insert the paper money into the detecting channel, via the sight-glass set upon the lightproof cartridge and the positive lens embedded into the sight-glass for enlarging the picture, the user may easily check the paper money.
Due to adapting the slot detecting channel structure in the present invention, during using time, the radiating effect to the human body is reduced; meanwhile it prevents the user unexpectedly extending fingers into the detecting window to harm the health of the user. So the present invention is a safe, easy carryover instrument with cramped construction and small volume. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A wide variety of implantable heart monitors and therapy delivery devices have been developed including pacemakers, cardioverter/defibrillators, heart pumps, cardiomyostimulators, ischemia treatment devices, and drug delivery devices. Most of these cardiac systems include electrodes for sensing and sense amplifiers for recording and/or deriving sense event signals.
These devices typically utilize the sense event signals to detect problems with a patient's cardiac system and to delivery of the therapy. Prior art disclosures have been made suggesting methods for detecting cardiac conditions including:
TABLE 1CountryPatent NumberInventor/ApplicantIssue DateU.S.A.5,199,428Obel et al1993U.S.A.5,305,745Zacouto1994
All patents listed in Table 1 above are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their respective entireties. As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate readily upon reading the Summary of the Invention, Detailed Description and Claims set forth below, many of the devices and methods disclosed in the patents of Table 1 may be modified advantageously by using the teachings of the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), also known as benign prostatic hypertrophy, is a urological disease in which the prostate enlarges and constricts the urethra. BPH affects a majority of the male population over 50 years of age, and is thus of great medical and commercial importance.
Surgical treatment of hypertrophy of the prostate has been a routine procedure for many years. One method of such surgical treatment is open prostatectomy wherein the gland is totally or partially removed. Another method of surgical treatment is transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). However, surgical treatment is an extremely invasive procedure which is debilitating, painful and often traumatic to the patient. Various complications including impotence, incontinence, bleeding, infection and other undesirable problems attendant with such surgery can result.
Another procedure to treat prostatic hypertrophy is to place a catheter at the external opening of the urethra and into the obstructed portions of the urethra, allowing urine to pass from the bladder by way of the catheter lumen. These urinary catheters typically employ a positioning or retention balloon at the distal tip which inflates at the bladder neck and prevents the expulsion of the catheter from the body.
Heat, such as produced by microwave or laser energy, may be provided in combination with such catheters for treating the enlarged portion of the prostate. However, this procedure may result in pain and discomfort to the patient
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the figures. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A wellbore can be drilled through a subterranean formation for extracting hydrocarbons (e.g., oil or gas) from the subterranean formation. It can be desirable to determine various characteristics of the wellbore prior to, or concurrent with, drilling the wellbore. For example, a well operator can use the determined characteristics to make judgments about the wellbore, to detect the existence of any potential hazards, or to perform other functions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to milling or machining apparatus, and auxiliary equipment therefor, and is more specifically directed to a device that handles pallets on which are mounted workpieces that are to be positioned at a work station adjacent the milling or machining apparatus.
The invention is more particularly concerned with a device in which raw workpieces can be mounted on an upper surface of a pallet on the device, after which the device automatically positions the pallet and its workpiece or workpieces at the milling or machining work station, and brings out from the work station a similar pallet containing parts which have been suitably machined by an earlier operation. The latter pallet is brought to a cleaning or working station within the device where metal chips and other milling debris are washed and/or blown from the finished parts and from the pallet, after which the pallet is positioned so that an operator can remove the finished parts and replace them with fresh, unmachined workpieces.
It is the current practice for an operator to position workpieces by hand at a milling machine, or if a pallet is employed for carrying the workpieces, to position the pallet by hand at a work station beneath the head of the milling machine tool.
An automatic set-up system for providing palletized work to be machined by an automatic machine tool has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,970. In that system the pallet is conveyed to the machining device, and the pallet and work that is clamped to it are fed into a cleaner where debris and chips are washed from the pallet and the machined parts. This system is rather complex and elaborate and is not readily field installable or retrofittable onto existing machining equipment. The system cannot be made compactly enough to be positioned alongside a milling center or the like. Also, the setting table and cleaner are in separate units, and an elaborate conveyer system is required to carry the pallets among its various stations. In addition, no effort has been made to address the problem of misalignment which can occur if metal chips or debris work themselves between a pallet and the bed of the milling machine on which the pallet sits. This is a significant problem, as an error of less than one mil can be sufficient to require scrapping of an entire batch of machined parts. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention refers to a twisting method and fixture for twisting free end portions of bar conductors, in particular for stator or rotor windings of electric machines.
It is known to provide stators or rotors of electric machines, like electrical generators or motors, for example for use in hybrid electrical vehicles (HEVs), wherein the stator or rotor winding is composed of a plurality of bar conductors, which are bent and variously interconnected to each other in order to provide so called bar windings.
In particular, the known art comprises bar windings composed of bar conductors having a rectangular cross section, where the term “rectangular” refers to a square section as well as to a “flat” section, generally indicating a rectangular section, wherein two sides of the section are smaller than the other two.
So called bar conductors are usually preformed by “U” or “P” bending, starting from linear bar conductors. U.S. Pat. No. 7,480,987 describes an exemplary method for pre-forming bar conductors (called “hairpin conductors” in this document). “U” or “P” preformed conductors, often also called “basic preformed conductors” in the technical field, typically have two adjacent legs, of different length, each provided with a free end portion and an opposed end portion, which is joined, by means of a joining portion, to the other leg.
For example, in order to provide a stator, it is known to carry out two different types of twisting on the “U” or “P” preformed conductors.
In a first type of twisting, also called “twisting from the insertion side”, the basic preformed conductors are adequately inserted in corresponding radially aligned pockets, which are provided in a twisting device, suitable for deforming, after insertion, such conductors. The twisting device is essentially used for “driving apart” the legs of the “U” or “P” shape, in order that both legs of same conductor, after extracting the latter from the twisting device, may be successively inserted into slots of a stator core, which are radially offset to each other by a predetermined pitch.
Published patent application US 2009/0178270 describes an exemplary “insertion side” twisting method, for uniform-pitch twisting of preformed bar conductors after their insertion into pockets of a twisting device.
After having undergone the first type of twisting, the bar conductors are inserted into the slots of the stator core through a first side of same (the so called “insertion side”) with respective free end portions protruding from a second side of core (the so called “welding side” or “connection side”), which is opposed to the first side.
The free end portions protruding from the welding side are then subjected to a second type of twisting, also called “welding side twisting”, after being inserted into pockets provided in a suitable twisting fixture. The twisting fixture's goal is to bend (“twist”) the free end portions of conductors in order to adequately shape such end portions and therefore allow the provision of adequate electrical connections between conductors in order to complete the winding.
It is to be noted that precision bending of free end portions of conductors facilitates the forming of connections among conductors. However, for various reasons, it may be difficult to correctly and precisely bend the free end portions of conductors, as required. For example, since the protrusion of the majority of these end portions on the welding side is relatively small, it may be difficult to access the end portions of conductors and carry out the operations required to ensure a correct bending both in the circumferential and in the axial direction with respect to the stator core axis. Moreover, as an example, a precise shaping of conductors is complicated by the fact that these are provided with an intrinsic elasticity, which, after bending, tries to drive them partially back to their starting configuration.
Published US patent application 2009/0302705 describes an exemplary welding side twisting method of above said type. The method described in this patent application allows at one time to achieve non uniform twisting of free end portions of bar conductors. In order to provide such twisting, the patent application describes a twisting fixture comprised of a pocket member, which is provided with a lost motion member, for defining a pocket of pocket member. In particular, the lost motion member is mounted circumferentially movable with respect to a main structure of pocket member.
It is felt the necessity to provide an alternate twisting method, with respect to the above said known art, for twisting free end portions of bar conductors for bar windings of electric machines.
The present description's general objective is to provide a twisting method, which is able to satisfy above said necessity.
This and other objectives are reached by a twisting method as defined in claim 1 in its more general form, and in its dependent claims, in some specific embodiments of the same.
A further aim of the present invention is to provide a twisting fixture as defined in claim 6 in its more general form, and in the dependent claims, in some specific embodiments of the same. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bicycle supports, and more particularly to a removable and foldable stand for bicycles which may be locked in an extended position for attachment to the axle of a bicycle for support thereof and easily removed and folded into a compact nested position to be carried in the pocket of the rider.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Bicycle motocross racing is a popular sport which utilizes small, light weight bicycles known as a "BMX" bicycle. This same light weight BMX type of bicycle is also a very popular commercial design because of its inherent style and handling characteristics. The BMX bicycles are customarily striped of all non-essential parts, such as a kick stand, which would add weight or present a danger to the rider. In some instances even the extended ends of the axles are cut off to prevent them from protruding beyond the retaining nut. The lightweight materials used in the frame, pedals, sprockets, and spokes of these bicycles make them vulnerable to damage when left lying on the ground or supported on some other object.
Bicycle stands and supports are known in the art. There are several patents which disclose various bicycle stands and support devices.
Fry, U.S. Pat. No. 292,163 discloses a portable bicycle support consisting of a base piece having a semitubular notch to accept the wheel of a bicycle, and two pivotal telescoping adjustable rods extending upwardly therefrom to cradle the hub of the wheel.
Marks, U.S. Pat. No. 506,600 discloses a removable bicycle support consisting of two inclined legs connected at their top ends by a bow spring which impinges the step of a bicycle.
Longbottom, U.S. Pat. No. 747,449 discloses a bicycle support comprising a brace which is inserted between the rear stays of the frame and which has projections to engage the underside of the stays. When not in use, the brace is attached to the bicycle by an elastic cord looped around the seat post. When the brace is used to support the bicycle, the brace is pulled down and tipped at an angle with the projections resting on the rear stays.
Ellis, U.S. Pat. No. 850,527 discloses a bicycle support comprising a socket plate secured to the seat post of the bicycle frame. Angular downward opening sockets are provided on the socket plate to receive a tubular brace which supports the bicycle.
Cook, U.S. Pat. No. 1,227,390 discloses a bicycle attachment or strut, comprising a bar having a transverse recess near its upper end to receive the under portion of one of the arms of the rear frame fork of the bicycle. The contiguous extremity of the bar is curved away from the recess to pass over and removably engage the upper portion of the other arm of the fork.
The prior art in general, and none of these patents in particular, disclose a removable and foldable stand for bicycles which may be locked in an extended position for attachment to the axle of a bicycle for support thereof and easily removed and folded into a compact nested position to be carried in the pocket of the rider. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
During the last four decades, interest in fluorinated purine and pyrimidine derivatives has grown, driven by their potential use as anti-cancer and anti-viral agents and the unique properties displayed by fluorine-substituted bioactive molecules. In terms of size, replacement of hydrogen for fluorine would produce minimum stearic perturbations upon the binding of the analogue molecules to receptors or enzymes. Fluorine has a small van der Waals radius (1.35 .ANG.), which closely resembles that of hydrogen (1.2 .ANG.). However, the strong electron-withdrawing properties of fluorine may substantially, yet in a predictable manner, alter the chemical stability or enzymatic activity of substrate molecules. In addition, the carbon-fluorine bond is energetically more stable than the carbon-hydrogen bond.
Although the fluorine atom has been successfully introduced at the 2- and 6-positions of the purine ring system and the sugar moiety of related nucleosides, access to 8-fluoropurines and derivatives has remained limited. The absence of successful syntheses of 8-fluoropurines using elemental fluorine is quite conspicuous, as other halogens--chlorine, iodine, and particularly bromine--have been successfully used in their elemental form to produce regiospecific substitution of the C(8)-hydrogen of purines. Indeed, in many instances, the use of elemental halogen has been the most convenient procedure for regiospecific C(8)-halogen substitution.
Earlier approaches to 8-fluoropurines have been limited to a few reports, involving nucleophilic displacements, Schiemann reactions, halogen exchange reactions, and electrochemical oxidations. None of the synthetic methods involve the use of elemental fluorine or similar agents (e.g., acetyl hypofluorite) that have been successfully used in the synthesis of substituted and unsubstituted 5-fluorouracil and 5-fluorocytosine. Indeed, an attempted fluorination of an oxopurine with phosphoryl fluoride was unsuccessful.
Because of the burgeoning interest in fluorine-substituted bioactive molecules and the numerous failed attempts of others, a need exists for an effective, straightforward synthetic method for making 8-fluoropurines and related derivatives, such as 8-fluoroguanine and 8-fluoropurinylnucleosides. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Traditional Malay medicine dictates that “kacip fatimah” (or Selusoh fatimah, Rumput siti fatimah, Akar fatimah, Kachit fatimah, Kachip fatimah, Kachip patimah, Kunchi fatimah, Pokok pinggang, Rumput palis, Tadah mata hari, Mata pelandok rimba, Bunga belangkas hutan), as disclosed in Burkhill (1993) is used much in childbirth. A detection of the plant is given not only after childbirth as a protective medicine, but before to expedite labour. Additional uses include being given for flatulence, dysentery, dysmenorrhoea, gonorrhoea and “sickness in the bones”.
While there is now an increasing demand for the supply of “kacip fatimah” (Labisia pumila syn. Labisia pothoina) in the food industries, the reproducibility of extraction processes is still in doubt due to the lack of reliable chemical profiling methods. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
It is well known that die parts may be locked into position by wedges and/or hook means as shown, for example, in Gaddi U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,264 issued Jan. 8, 1985 and Allen U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,405 issued June 3, 1986, and even having a floating wedge means as disclosed in Bauer U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,936 issued June 13, 1967. Cooperating tapered slides for holding movable dies in position when the dies are closed are also well known as shown by the above mentioned patents. However, there is no known means in which a floating wedge is employed to position and lock a slide mounted in and to a movable die in the positive manner disclosed herein. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
It is important that a proper operating temperature be maintained within an enclosure that houses an electrical assembly or communications equipment. The equipment often needs to be maintained at or above a minimum operating temperature. For example, certain electronic devices will not operate below 0.degree. C. Yet due to the intended use for the equipment (e.g., a cell site base station for a cellular telephone system), the equipment may have to be mounted outdoors where the ambient temperature may at times drop to below 0.degree. C. or other minimum operating temperature for the equipment.
Traditionally, for equipment mounted outdoors, heaters have been placed in the housings for keeping the equipment sufficiently warm. However, traditional heaters have presented considerable difficulties. One difficulty relates to disabling of the equipment in a cold environment which may be necessitated, for example, when the equipment is inspected for maintenance, repaired, or when there is a power outage. In these cases, it may be necessary to heat the equipment to the minimum operating temperature before reactivation, but to do so, the heater may have to be manually operated. Another difficulty arises because the equipment itself may have heat generating components, or it may be heated from sun rays hitting the assemblies in the outdoors. Traditional heaters are known to create fire hazards. Solar shields have been placed over the devices to prevent an increase in temperature from the sun, but these shields may adversely inhibit the dissipation of heat from the system. Thermostat controls have been placed on the enclosures and regulated externally, that is, in an effort to control the temperature within the enclosure, but regulating the temperature in this fashion produces unstable performance, is not reliable, and generates a relatively high failure rate. Another difficulty with traditional heaters is that presently available heater pads are comprised of materials that will not operate at narrow voltage ranges, placing limits on use of the devices. For example, these systems are not operable for cell site base stations located in Europe or other parts of the world where a high operating voltage (e.g., >110V), is required.
The challenges presented by the outdoor environment coupled with the increased use of outdoor-mounted communications equipment has led to innovative designs for the electrical housing units themselves. For example, a new housing design having heat dissipation fins is described in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 09/008,726, "Heat Dissipation Structure for an Electrical Assembly," filed Jan. 1, 1998 by Aakalu et al, and assigned to the present assignee, which is hereby incorporated by reference. See also U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 08/976,708, "Multi-Layered Polymer Structure For Fabricating Housings For Communications And Electrical Products," by Zimmerman et al., and U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 08/976,713, "Dual Network Housing Device And Improved Method For Enclosing Networks" both filed Nov. 24, 1997, and assigned to Lucent Technologies, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,700 to Gaudet, "Protective Enclosure." All three of the patents cited immediately above are incorporated herein by reference. These devices provide improved heat dissipation features and flame retardant materials. However, it would be advantageous to provide an improved housing that avoids use of traditional heater elements and their associated drawbacks. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Antibody affinity and specificity are widely applied in a broad range of fields, including therapeutic applications, diagnoses, and reagents. With recent years' advances in antibody engineering, miniaturized antibodies in a wide variety of forms, such as scFv (single chain Fv) and diabody have been reported [Bird et al., Science (1988), vol. 242, pp. 423-426; Holliger et al., Proc. Natl. Sci. USA (1993), vol. 90, pp. 6444-6448]. Furthermore, artificial antibody molecules that are smaller and more stable than antibodies have been developed [Skerra, Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. (2007), vol. 18, pp. 295-304].
For example, JP-T-2001-500531 discloses an artificial antibody of a fibronectin III type domain that mimics the CDR (complementarity determining region) of an antibody. This artificial antibody has an antigen recognition site artificially created on the surface of a protein by randomizing flexible loops on the protein surface.
RNF8 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase having a RING-Finger domain and an FHA domain, and is known to be involved in responses to DNA damage. Conformational analysis showed that the FHA domain of RNF8 (PDB code: 2PIE, 2CSW) has an Immunoglobulin(Ig)-like structure (β sandwich structure) with five loops (two long loops and three short loops) on the protein surface (FIG. 1). Also, the binding to the binding partner MCD1 has been shown to occur via the two long loops in the FHA domain. This binding pattern is similar to the antigen recognition pattern of antibody; the FHA domain of RNF8 is expected to have a suitable structure for development of artificial antibody molecules.
Also, RNF8 is an intracellular protein and an artificial antibody derived from RNF8 is therefore expected to work as a highly functional intrabody (intracellularly expressed antibody). An intrabody is defined as an antibody (primarily scFv) that works within cells to bind to an intracellular protein as a target thereof. Intrabodies have been developed for therapeutic uses for a wide variety of disease, for example, AIDS, cancers, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease.
Furthermore, intrabodies are effective in knocking out intracellular targets. RNAi is a generally known knock-out form of intracellular target. However, RNAi is not applicable to analyzing post-translationally modified targets because the gene is knocked out as it is, and also because the half-life of the intracellular RNA is short. Intrabodies have longer half-lives in cells than those of RNA, and can knock out at the protein level. For this reason, intrabodies make it possible to solve the above-described problem with RNAi [Zhou et al., Mol. Cell. (2000), vol. 6, pp. 751-756; Jendreyko et al., J. Biol. Chem. (2003), vol. 278, pp. 47812-47819; Melchionna et al., J. Mol. Biol. (2007), vol. 374, pp. 641-654].
However, the binding activity often decreases or disappears completely when the antibody is expressed as an intrabody in cells under reducing environmental conditions due to the disruption of disulfide bonds in their molecular structure.
Initial attempts to solve this problem included the development of an antibody deprived of intramolecular cysteine involved in disulfide bonds [Proba et al., J. Mol. Biol. (1997), vol. 265, pp. 161-172] and an antibody with increased stability [Ohage et al., J. Mol. Biol. (1999), vol. 291, pp. 1129-1134]. As a method of preparing a functional antibody in cells more effectively, a method of direct selection of scFv in cells was developed [Visintin et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1999), vol. 96, pp. 11723-11728]. However, selection systems using cells have limitations with regard to ligation efficiency of antibody library onto the vector and cell transformation efficiency. For this reason, it is difficult to apply selection systems using cells to a library with greater diversity. Therefore, combinations with another method such as phage display or ribosome display, and a method of validation for selected scFv have been proposed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a powder coating composition which is employed for coating an automobile, a building material or a metal product.
2. Description of the Background Art
Acrylic resin powder coating material is watched with interest in view of the excellent appearance of a coating film as formed, weather resistance, solvent resistance, flexibility and the like. Powder coating material which is applied as a clear coating or the like is known as an acrylic resin powder coating material. For example, each of Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 53-15089 (1978), 58-4947 (1983) and 58-25388 (1983) discloses acrylic resin powder coating material prepared from acrylic resin containing glycidyl groups, which is heat-cured after coating.
Such acrylic resin powder coating material is baked at a temperature of 160.degree. to 180.degree. C. after coating, although it is preferred that the coating film be formed by baking the coating material at a lower temperature of 130.degree. to 160.degree. C., in consideration of productivity and energy savings. When conventional acrylic resin powder coating material is baked at such a low temperature, however, the appearance of the coating film is deteriorated with reduction in weather resistance and blocking resistance. While it may be possible to add a curing catalyst to the coating material for facilitating curing at a low temperature, storage stability is deteriorated in this case. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Elevated blood triglyceride levels (hypertriglyceridemia) are a causal factor for atherosclerosis, and increase the risk of cardiovascular events, such as cardiovascular death, angina, myocardial infarction, and stroke.
ApoC3 is a protein that circulates at very high concentrations (greater than 10 μM) in the blood, mostly bound to triglyceride rich lipoprotein (TRL), TRL remnants, and high density lipoprotein. ApoC3 appears to be an important regulator of blood triglyceride levels. For example, ApoC3 levels in humans have been shown to positively correlate with blood triglyceride levels, with elevated ApoC3 levels being associated with hypertriglyceridemia. In addition, ApoC3 has been shown to inhibit the activity of lipoprotein lipase (an enzyme that hydrolyses triglycerides in TRL) and also to inhibit hepatic uptake of TRL remnants, both of which cause elevation of blood triglyceride levels.
Several therapies have been approved for the treatment hypertriglyceridemia, such as fibrates, niacin, and omega-3 fatty acids. However these therapies are only modestly effective at lowering plasma triglycerides. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved therapies for lowering plasma triglycerides. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Joint Photographs Expert Group (JPEG) is widely used for image compression for images accessible via the Internet owing to good performance with moderate implementation complexity. JPEG uses the block-based discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding architecture, which suffers from block artifacts when the compression ratio is high. This can be seen in the blocking and ringing that exists in many JPEG images available via the Internet. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an original image reading device for use in an image scanner, a facsimile machine and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to an original image reading device having a plurality of light receiving elements for receiving light reflected from an original document, which are formed on a substrate, and for outputing image data signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a conventional original image reading device, particularly a contact type image sensor, optical image data from the original is projected onto a light receiving element array without variation in size to be converted to electrical image data signal. In this case, the image projected is divided into a number of picture elements (corresponding to light receiving elements). Charges generated by the respective light receiving elements are temporarily stored every block in the capacitors existing among wires by using thin film transistor (TFT) switch elements, so as to read the stored charges in time-series manner out of the capacitors at a speed of several hundreds kHz to several hundreds MHz. The thus operated image sensor is known as a TFT drive type image sensor.
The TFT drive image sensor is operable for data reading with a single drive IC according to the operation of the TFT switch thereby resulting in reducing the number of drive ICs for driving the image sensor.
An example of an equivalent circuit of the TFT drive image sensor is as shown in FIG. 1, which is disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Sho-63-9358 published in 1988. As shown, the TFT drive image sensor comprises a linear array 11 of light receiving elements, the length of which is approximately equal to the width of an original document, a charge transfer section 12 including thin film transistors T.sub.i,j (i=1 to N, and j=1 to n) connected to light receiving elements 11', respectively, and multi-layered wires 13 arrayed in a matrix fashion.
The linear array 11 is divided into N number of blocks each including n number of light receiving elements 11'. These light receiving elements 11' may be equivalently expressed in the form of photo diodes P.sub.j,i (j=1 to N, and j=1 to n). The light receiving elements 11' are connected to the drain electrodes of the thin film transistors T.sub.i,j, respectively. The source electrodes of the thin film transistors T.sub.i,j are connected, every block, through the matrix arrayed multi-layered wires 13 to n number of common signal lines 14. The common signal lines 14 are further connected to a drive IC 15.
The gate electrodes of the thin film transistors T.sub.i,j are connected to a gate pulse generator 16 so that the transistors are simultaneously conductive every block. Photocharges generated in the light receiving elements 11' are stored, for a fixed period of time, in the parasitic capacitors of the light receiving elements and the gate-drain overlap capacitors of the thin film transistors T.sub.i,j. Then, the photocharges, every block, are transferred to and stored in wire capacitors C.sub.i (i=1 to n) of the multi-layered wires 13. In this case, the thin film transistors T.sub.i,j operate as charge transfer switches.
In response to a gate pulse .phi.G1 from the gate pulse generator 16, the thin film transistors T.sub.l,l to T.sub.l,n of the first block are turned on, so that the charges generated and stored by the light receiving elements 11' are transferred to and stored in the wire capacitors C.sub.i. The charges stored in the wire capacitors Ci cause the potential of the common signal line 14 to vary. The varied potential is time sequentially output to the output line 17 by sequentially turning on the analog switches SW.sub.i (i=1 to n) within the drive IC 15.
Subsequently, in response to gate pulses .phi.G2 to .phi.Gn, the thin film transistors T.sub.2,1 to T.sub.2,n to T.sub.N,1 to T.sub.N,n of the second to Nth blocks are turned on. The charges generated and stored are transferred every block from the light receiving elements to the drive IC, and the charges are sequentially picked up. As a result, the image data signals of one scan line in the fast scan direction are collected. The above sequence of operations are repeated in the slow scan direction to thereby collect the image data signals of an image on the entire original document.
An overall construction of the original image reading device under discussion will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2 which schematically illustrates the construction.
As shown in FIG. 2, the original image reading device includes a platen glass 21 on which an original document 20 is placed, a light source 22 for illuminating the original document 20 on the platen glass 21 with light emitted therefrom, a rod lens array 25 for condensing the reflected light from the original document 20 to form an erect image at 100% magnification on a light receiving element linear array 11, and the linear array 11 for converting the erect image of reflected light into electrical image data signals. The optical axis of the rod lens array 25 is perpendicular to the light receiving elements 11'.
With such a color contact type image sensor as disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. sho-63-76567 published in 1988, in which a color separation filter is attached to the light receiving part of light receiving elements, the same location on the original must be scanned plural times to collect color image data resulting in requiring much time to read the color image. More adversely, it is disadvantageous in that the processing for composing the image data that is read is complicated.
To increase the resolution, the conventional original image reading device employs the method to physically decrease the size of light receiving elements, thereby to increase a pixel (picture element) density of the light receiving elements array. However, there is a limit in decreasing the size of light receiving elements. This hinders the improvement of the resolution.
Additionally, since the focal depth of the rod lens array is small, problem arises when the original on the platen glass rise to the surface. As the result of the increased distance of the original from the rod lens array owing to the waving of the original to the surface , the rod lens array focuses the risen part of the image on the original at a location out of the focal depth. The risen part of the erect image is not focused on the linear array of light receiving elements, and visually become indistinct. Accordingly, high definition image data cannot be obtained. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This relates to load detection circuits and, more particularly to multirange load detection circuitry.
It is sometimes desirable to measure the impact of a load on an electronic circuit. For example, a power converter circuit may include load detection circuitry that determines whether or not an electronic device is plugged into the power converter.
Power converter circuitry can be used to convert alternating current (AC) power into direct current (DC) power. AC power is typically supplied from wall outlets and is sometimes referred to as line power. Electronic devices include circuitry that runs from DC power. The DC power that is created by an AC-to-DC power converter may be used to power an electronic device. The DC power that is created may also be used to charge a battery in an electronic device.
In some applications, AC to DC power converter circuitry may be incorporated into an electronic device. For example, desktop computers often include AC to DC power converter circuitry in the form of computer power supply units. A computer power supply unit has a socket that receives an AC power cord. With this type of arrangement, the AC power cord may be plugged directly into the rear of the computer to supply AC power without using an external power converter.
Although desktop computers are large enough to accommodate internal power supplies, other devices such as handheld electronic devices and portable computers are not. As a result, typical handheld electronic devices and laptop computers require the use of external power converters. When untethered from the power converter, a handheld electronic device or portable computer may be powered by an internal battery. When AC line power is available, the power converter is used to convert AC power into DC power for the electronic device.
Compact AC-DC power converter designs are typically based on switched-mode power supply architectures. Switched-mode power converters contain switches such as transistor-based switches that work in conjunction with energy storage components such as inductive and capacitive elements to regulate the production of DC power from an AC source. A feedback path may be used to tap into the converter output and thereby ensure that a desired DC voltage level is produced under varying loads.
High power converter efficiency is desirable for conserving power. High power conversion efficiency can be obtained by using efficient converter topologies and low-loss parts. Even when an optimal design is used, however, there are residual power losses when operating a power converter. These residual losses are associated with leakage currents and other parasitics that arise from running the switched-mode circuitry of the converter and lead to the consumption of power by the power converter even when the power converter is not being actively used to power an electronic device. Power consumption when the power converter is not being used to power an electronic device represents a source of undesirable power loss that can be reduced without adversely affecting converter functionality. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Stereotactic devices are used for accurate surgical positioning of probes, electrodes, catheters, and other intra-body devices, such as in the brain, spine, lung, and liver. Stereotactic surgical procedures to place these types of devices within body or tissue can require accuracy to within millimeters or even micrometers. Such accuracy can depend upon the stereotactic devices used to guide the intra-body devices to specific points in the body.
Placement of intracranial devices requires particular accuracy. There are several types of stereotactic devices used for guiding and placing intracranial devices. Some of these devices fix the position of the head and utilize a Cartesian coordinate system to relate the known features on skull to an external grid. Others use a frame system that attaches to the skull and utilize a polar coordinate system to relate features on the skull to the known locations of other features. One specific system requires a burr-hole be drilled into the skull and the stereotactic device is affixed within the burr-hole. The stereotactic device is then used to guide intracranial devices into the brain through the burr-hole.
Stereotactic devices utilized for implantation of devices in humans can be quite different than those used for implantation into animals. Even stereotactic devices used for animal implantations can be different for different animal species. The differences in anatomy, size, orientation of features, and points of attachment necessitate different types of stereotactic devices for different species.
Another issue is intracranial devices that are permanently or semi-permanently emplaced for long term treatment, therapies, or research. Such intracranial devices often have externally exposed ends, protruding outside the body. The exposed ends should be supported to ensure that the intracranial placed devices remain in position. Those that provide a direct conduit into the body need to be covered to ensure that undesirable materials are not introduced into the brain. Intracranial devices implanted in animals can be particularly problematic, since the animal will often actively attempt to remove or displace the exposed ends. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Battery housing for an electric-motor-driven vehicle comprising a tub-like housing part having multiple support elements arranged at a distance from each other and having a bottom part supported on the support element for receiving one or more battery modules.
In electric-motor-driven vehicles such as, for example, passenger cars, trucks, forklift trucks or the like, battery modules are used as current storage. Such battery modules typically consist of multiple individual rechargeable batteries. Usually, these batteries are high-voltage batteries. A battery module can consist of one or more batteries. Certain requirements apply to the accommodation of the battery modules necessary for operating such a vehicle. They include also the behavior of such a battery housing in the case of an impact, the so-called crash performance, as well as the weight. In addition, the goal is to design the production of such battery housings to be as simple as possible.
Such battery housings as a general rule are produced from metal components, for example, aluminum or steel components, wherein battery housings which can be produced from different metals are also known. In order to accommodate the necessary number of battery modules, such battery housings can have quite large dimensions. Usually, they are accommodated in the area of the bottom of the vehicle. Battery housings having sizes of 2.0 m×1.5 m are not uncommon.
Such a battery housing comprises a tub-like housing part which can be provided, for example, by a frame or a frame structure and a bottom connected thereto or by a corresponding deep-drawn or bent component. A separator for subdivision is inserted in the tub structure. Each compartment is used for receiving typically one battery module.
Such a separator is formed by providing at least one longitudinal strut extending parallel to an edge and connected by its two ends in each case to the wall inner sides of the tub structure. For further subdivision, multiple transverse struts are provided, in each case arranged at a distance from one another and extending in parallel, wherein in each case two transverse struts are arranged facing one another with respect to the longitudinal axis of the longitudinal strut. The transverse struts are connected by one of their end faces to a side surface of the longitudinal strut and by the other end face to the inner wall of the tub structure or to another longitudinal strut. The connection of the struts to one another and the connection of the struts to the inner wall of the tub structure of the housing occurs by a joining process which, for these connections, typically involves welding connections.
DE 10 2015 111 749 A1 discloses a battery device for a vehicle operated at least partially electrically. This battery housing comprises an outer peripheral frame extending peripherally on the outside, which is closed on the bottom side by a stiffening plate for providing a bottom for setting battery modules. The space enclosed by the peripheral frame is subdivided by transverse bars and longitudinal supports which form a compartment. Under the stiffening wall forming the bottom, cooling channels are arranged in an underbody cavity provided for this purpose. The cooling channels contact the stiffening wall on the bottom side. By means of the insertion of connection profiles used as spacers, the battery housing is closed off on a bottom side by a bottom plate. Foam material can be arranged between the bottom plate and the cooling channels. The bottom plate itself is flat.
DE 10 2011 003 535 A1 discloses a bracing device for bracing individual battery modules. This device comprises two module supports arranged laterally to the battery modules to be connected together, which are connected and held together under pretensioning by an outwardly arched tensioning plate with resilient properties. The cavity which, due to the arching of the tensioning plate, lies opposite a bottom plate on which the battery modules are set is used for accommodating cooling channels. For evening out the pressure exerted by the tensioning plate and acting on the cooling channels, an elastic foam layer can be provided between the tensioning plate and the cooling channels. The tensioning plate is used for pressing the cooling channels against the bottom plate on which the battery modules are set, or, if no bottom plate is present, in order to press the cooling channels directly against the outside of the battery modules for improving the heat transfer.
Such battery housings are arranged commonly on the underbody of the car body bottom assembly due to the necessary accessibility and to their size. Vehicle-side bottoming out therefore acts directly on the battery housing. In order to prevent damage to the battery modules contained in such a battery housing, underbody linings and/or hoop guards are used, which extend over the battery housing. Such protective components are made of hard resistant materials, for example steel or also titanium. In each case, the weight of the vehicle is increased thereby. In addition, the remaining ground clearance is reduced by the additional attached protective components. Although protection of such a battery housing can also be provided by a flat plate when the ground clearance should not be restricted excessively. In such cases, titanium plates are used for the protection of the battery modules. Sandwich modules with an aluminum foam core are also used for the protection of battery housings. However, the cost of such components is quite high.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, frequency divider methods and devices can be used to control frequency synthesizers operating in phase-locked loop (PLL-loop) circuitry in which the phase-locked loop circuit is provided for an oscillator.
Reference may be had to German Open Application DE-OS 35 44 371 and to the commonly owned U.S Pat. No. 4,697,156 which discloses a frequency synthesizer having an oscillator provided with a phase-locked loop utilizing fractional frequency divider control.
In German Open Application DE-OS 32 10 048, like German Open Application DE-OS 35 44 371, it is possible to obtain a fine frequency resolution in spite of a high keying frequency by a periodic adjustment of the frequency divider factor by +1
or by -1, for example so that the frequency divider which can be set only with integral (whole-number) frequency division factors m can have a frequency division effect which changes with time.
The requisite calculation of the frequency divider factor m in the case of the aforementioned patent and German Open Application 35 44 371, is accommodated utilizing a so-called phase accumulator while in German Open Application DE-OS 22 40 216, a similar effect is obtained by a synchronous divider chain. Upon overflow of the phase accumulator, to the whole number value of the frequency divider factor, +1 or -1 may be added.
In the German Patent Document DE-OS 22 40 216, the modification of the frequency divider factor by +1 (or by -1) is effected by a pulse-suppression circuit or by a pulse-injection circuit which is enabled upon each overflow of the synchronous divider chain to provide a single increment.
A frequency divider with periodic adjustment of the frequency divider factor m by +1 or -1 can also be termed a "fractional frequency divider" and a phase-locked loop which includes such a frequency divider can correspondingly be referred to as a "fractional synthesizer."
These systems will be discussed in greater detail below with reference to the drawing.
It suffices, at this point, to mention only the references previously described briefly and to observe that in the prior art devices, phase errors may be compensated with analog means. The effect of the compensation is, as a result, a function of the linearity and slope variations of the circuit elements which operate in the analog sense. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There is great interest in the cosmetic industry to develop products containing natural plant-derived materials that may be applied topically to the skin to provide anti-acne, anti-oil, and anti-cellulite benefits. Plant-based cosmetic products that enhance the appearance of skin are increasingly in demand. Active ingredients or components with skin care benefits can be obtained from either the entire plant or various parts of a plant, such as seeds, needles, leaves, roots, bark, cones, stems, rhizomes, callus cells, protoplasts, organs and organ systems, and meristems, either as dried powders or liquid extracts, which can then be incorporated into topical compositions.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (hereinafter “TCM”) has been in existence for several thousands of years and is based largely on accumulated human experience in using naturally occurring plant and animal extracts to treat various diseases. In recently years, TCM practices have gained significant recognition by the Western world, especially for treatment of chronic pathological conditions. Certain TCM ingredients have been known to have skin care benefits for thousands of years, and cosmetic or skin care products containing such TCM ingredients are becoming more popular. Because the TCM ingredients are all natural, they are significantly more appealing to customers who are conscious of the side effects and adverse environmental impacts of synthetic compounds.
However, it is important to note that the basic principles of TCM are quite different from that of the western medicinal sciences. For example, TCM believes that an internal physiological balance has to be maintained for a person to be healthy, and all diseases are caused by one or more types of imbalances, and each type of imbalances manifests through an identifiable pattern of symptom and requires a particular set of treatments for correction. A TCM practitioner typically uses a compound prescription containing a blend of multiple herbal ingredients to treat various symptoms of a disease after careful examination of an individual patient, and such prescription is specifically designed for the patient to re-establish the internal physiological balance of such patient. In other words, the TCM practice takes an individualized treatment approach, instead of a “one-size-fits-all” treatment approach.
Unfortunately, the currently available skin care products containing naturally occurring TCM ingredients are mass-marketed to all consumers and fail to implement the individualized treatment approach of TCM. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide new cosmetic and skin care products containing TCM ingredients that adopt the individualized treatment approach of TCM in improving the appearance and skin condition of specific users.
Further, a problem commonly encountered when formulating TCM ingredients into cosmetic or skin care products is the distinctive color and undesirable odor associated with many TCM ingredients, which makes it difficult to form aesthically and olfactorily acceptable cosmetic or skin care compositions containing such TCM ingredients. It would also be desirable to process TCM ingredients by reducing the color and odor so that they can be readily formulated into aesthically and olfactorily acceptable cosmetic or skin care compositions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal transmission, and more particularly, to a signal transmission technique by a differential input/output circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with current advancement of an LSI (large-scale integrated circuit) manufacturing technique, a high-performance MPU (Micro Processor Unit) whose operating frequency exceeds 1 GHz has been developed. When such an MPU is employed in an information processing device or especially a server/workstation, high-speed and large amount of data transmission is needed. In order to achieve this, a system connecting the MPU with each module of a memory by PTP (Point-to-Point) employing an FB-DIMM (Fully Buffered Dual Inline Memory Module) has been used, for example. The FB-DIMM includes an AMB (Advanced Memory Buffer) chip for connection between modules mounted thereon in addition to a memory chip, and employs high-speed serial interface standard “FB-DIMM High Speed Differential PTP Link at 1.5 V” as a connection interface.
A terminating resistor is typically provided in a transceiver in consideration of an impedance matching in order to prevent influence of reflection due to the transmission path length in high-speed transmission.
FIG. 7 shows an example of a differential transceiver having terminating resistors provided therein. The differential transceiver includes a differential transmitter block 20, a differential receiver block 30, and an idle state detector block 40.
The differential transmitter block 20 includes a constant current source 22, N channel transistors (hereinafter referred to as N transistors) 23a and 23b receiving a constant current from the constant current source 22 to form a mirror circuit, P channel transistors (hereinafter referred to as P transistors) 25a and 25b connected to a power line 24 to form a constant current source, P transistors 26a and 26b functioning as switches for logic output, and terminating resistors 28a and 28b connected to a ground line 27.
The P transistors 26a and 26b include gates connected to input terminals 21a and 21b, respectively, and drains connected to the terminating resistors 28a and 28b, respectively. Further, sources of the P transistors 26a and 26b are connected to the drain of the P transistor 25b, and the output terminals 29a and 29b are connected between the P transistor 26a and the terminating resistor 28a, and between the P transistor 26b and the terminating resistor 28b, respectively. Differential logic signals inside an LSI ARE input through the input terminals 21a and 21b, and voltage values determined by current values flowing in the P transistors 26a and 26b and resistance values of the terminating resistors 28a and 28b are output from the output terminals 29a and 29b as logic amplitude.
The differential receiver block 30 includes a differential comparator 33, and terminating resistors 35a and 35b connected between two inputs of the differential comparator 33 and a ground line 34. The differential outputs from the output terminals 29a and 29b of the differential transmitter block 20 are input to the differential comparator 33 through the input terminals 31a and 31b, and the logic signal determined by the difference of the symbols is output from an output terminal 36.
The idle state detector block 40 includes a pair of differential comparators 41a and 41b, and a logic NOR circuit 42 to which the outputs of the differential comparators 41a and 41b are input. Positive logic input sides of the differential comparators 41a and 41b are connected to the input terminals 31a and 31b, respectively, and negative logic input sides thereof are connected to a reference voltage input terminal 44 to which the reference voltage for determining idle state is input.
The idle state detector block 40 thus configured compares the signal levels of the input terminals 31a and 31b with the reference voltage, and determines that there is no data transmission and reception performed between the differential transmitter block 20 and the differential receiver block 30, which means the differential transceiver is in the idle state on a condition that any signal level of the input terminals is lower than the reference voltage, so as to output the Hi logic output indicating it from a determination terminal 43.
In the differential transceiver including the terminating resistor provided therein, if the logic output in the transmitting side (differential transmitter block 20 side) is fixed when there is no data transmitted or received, current is consumed constantly due to the presence of the terminating resistor. According to the differential transceiver shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to prevent power consumption in the idle state by turning off the P transistors 26a and 26b and setting the output to Hi-Z (high impedance) state when there is no data transmitted or received.
Further, since the discharge is generated through the terminating resistors in the transmitting and receiving sides in the idle state, any signal level of the input terminals 31a and 31b is Low. In this case, the receiving side (differential receiver block 30 side) may respond to small potential difference due to the influence of the noise in the actual operation and may accidentally receive the signal. In the differential transceiver shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to prevent accidental receiving of the signal at the receiving side by detecting the idle state which is different from the normal transmitting or receiving state of the data by the idle state detector block 40.
FIG. 8 shows another example of the transmitting side of the differential transceiver including the terminating resistors. Note that the same components as those of the differential transceiver shown in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same symbols, and the overlapping description thereof will be omitted.
As shown in FIG. 8, a differential transmitter block 50 includes a switch 54 capable of turning on or off the connection between the power line 24 and the gate of the P transistor 25b forming the constant current source, and a switch 58 capable of turning on or off the connection between the gate of the P transistor 25a, and the drain of the p transistor 25a and the N transistor 23b. These two switches are controlled to be turned on or off complementarily by a control signal from a control terminal 51. More specifically, the switch 54 is turned off and the switch 58 is turned on when the data is transmitted, whereas the switch 54 is turned on and the switch 58 is turned off in the idle state. Accordingly, the P transistor 25b which is the driver current source is turned off and the current flowing in the P transistors 26a and 26b reduces in the idle state. Hence, the power consumption in the terminating resistor in the idle state can be reduced.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-209830 discloses a technique for reducing power consumption by disconnecting a terminating resistor in the idle state. In FIG. 9, a symbol 7 is added to the ground line with respect to FIG. 1 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-209830, and the technique thereof will be described with reference to FIG. 9.
An input interface circuit 10 shown in FIG. 9 includes a sampling circuit 4 sampling a signal from an input connecting point 1, and a terminating resistor 3. Further, a switching element 2 whose ON/OFF is controlled by a sampling control signal 5 is provided between the sampling circuit 4 or the terminating resistor 3 and the input connecting point. A power supply voltage is applied to the sampling circuit 4 through the input connecting point 1 and the switching element 2. Since the input impedance of the sampling circuit 4 is normally a large value, most of the current i flowing in the input connecting point 1 and the switching element 2 flows in the terminating resistor 3. Accordingly, the current i flowing in the input connecting point and the switching element 2 is determined by a resistance value of the terminating resistor 3. The sampling circuit 4 performs sampling on the voltage applied according to the sampling control signal 5, so as to detect ON/OFF of the input connecting point 1. When the input connecting point 1 is in ON state, the power supply voltage is applied to the input of the sampling circuit 4, so that the sampling circuit 4 outputs Hi level signal as the sampling value 6. When the input connecting point is in OFF state, the power supply voltage is not applied to the input of the sampling circuit 4, so that the sampling circuit 4 outputs the Low level signal as the sampling value 6. The switching element 2 is turned on when the sampling control signal 5 is input in accordance with the sampling control signal 5, and is otherwise turned off. Accordingly, the switching element 2 is turned on and the current flows only when the sampling circuit 4 performs sampling, and otherwise the switching element 2 is in OFF state and the current does not flow. According to this configuration, the power consumed in the terminating resistor 3 can be reduced.
In recent years, the volume of the data has become larger and the transmission speed has been increased. Accordingly, there is a growing demand to reduce power consumption of the transceiver. For example, the memory modules have been connected to each other by a plurality of lanes in order to transmit large volumes of data in higher speed. In case of the FB-DIMM, it is required by the standard to connect high-speed serial interface in parallel to connect adjacent modules by 24 lanes. In a transmission path having a terminating resistor provided for impedance matching in each lane, power consumption of the terminating resistor increases as the number of lanes increases, which requires further reduce of the power consumption of the terminating resistor in the idle state.
In the differential transceiver shown in FIG. 7, the output of the differential transmitter block 20 is in Hi-Z state in the idle state, so as to reduce power consumption of the terminating resistor. Accordingly, the signal levels of the two output terminals of the differential transmitter block 20 are Low in the idle state, which requires a reference voltage for detecting the idle state to prevent the false reception. Since there is a need to determine the idle state by fully considering a noise margin in order to correspond to the signal having small amplitude, this reference voltage needs to be highly accurate and constant value without being influenced by power supply fluctuation or temperature fluctuation. Therefore, a dedicated analog circuit for generating the reference voltage needs to be provided, which complicates the circuit design and increases the layout area.
In the differential transmitter block 50 shown in FIG. 8, the power consumption of the terminating resistor is reduced by reducing the current flowing in the P transistors 26a and 26b in the idle state. At this time, the differential transmitter block 50 is in the Hi-Z output state. Accordingly, as in the differential transceiver shown in FIG. 7, the reference voltage for detecting the idle state at the receiving side is required, which also causes the problem as described above.
In the input interface circuit 10 shown in FIG. 9, it is possible to reduce the power consumed at the terminating resistor 3 in the idle state. At this time, the input level to the sampling circuit 4 is in the level of the ground line 7, which means that the idle state and the logic “0” state of the signal input to the input interface 10 cannot be determined by the sampling value 6. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
A method and compositions are for metabolic control of thioretinamide utilization in prevention and treatment of cancer, arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, dementia, autoimmune disease, and other degenerative diseases of aging. The method combines administration of thioretinamide with enzymatic degradation of homocysteinylated proteins, nucleic acids, and glycosaminoglycans, together with vitamins, amino acids and nitrilosides to enhance metabolic elimination of homocysteine by cystathionine synthase and to promote synthesis of thioretinaco in regenerative cells and measuring and adjusting homocysteine levels to thereby ameliorate the development and progression of degenerative diseases. The compositions include thioretinamide, retinol and combinations thereof with pancreatic enzymes and/or pro-enzymes.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Abnormal homocysteine metabolism was first implicated in the etiology of degenerative diseases by observation of accelerated arteriosclerosis in children with two different inherited enzymatic disorders resulting from a deficiency of cystathionine synthase and methionine synthase, as reported by McCully K S in American Journal of Pathology 1969; 56:111-128. Accelerated arteriosclerosis was subsequently demonstrated in a child with deficiency of methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase, a third enzymatic disorder of homocysteine metabolism, as reported by Kanwar Y S et al in Pediatric Research 1976; 10:598-609. In all three of these enzymatic disorders, elevation of blood levels of homocysteine is implicated in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis by a direct effect of homocysteine on the metabolic activity of arterial cells and tissues.
Abnormal homocysteine thiolactone metabolism was demonstrated in cultures of cells from malignant tissues, as reported by McCully K S in Cancer Research 1976; 36:3198-3202. The results of this study show that cultured malignant cells contain a metabolic blockade of the oxidation of the sulfur atom of homocysteine thiolactone to sulfate, leading to accumulation of homocysteine thiolactone within malignant cells. Homocysteine thiolactone reacts with the free amino groups of macromolecules, forming peptide bonds that cause homocysteinylation of the amino groups of proteins, nucleic acids, and glycosaminoglycans. This metabolic blockade within malignant cells is ascribed to deficiency of a derivative of homocysteine thiolactone that normally occurs within non-malignant cells.
The formation of homocysteine thiolactone from methionine in malignant cells is catalyzed by methionyl t-RNA synthase by an error editing reaction, as reported by Jakubowski H in FEBS Letters 1993; 317:237-240. Abnormal homocysteine thiolactone metabolism in malignant cells is hypothesized to result from a deficiency of or a failure to synthesize an N-substituted derivative of homocysteine thiolactone, as discussed in Cancer Research 1976; 36:3198-3202. According to this hypothesis, normal cells contain a chemopreventive derivative that facilitates sulfate formation from homocysteine thiolactone. The concentration of this hypothetical derivative is believed to be diminished during the carcinogenic transformation of normal to malignant cells through the action of carcinogenic chemicals, radiation, microbes or chronic inflammation. The function of this chemopreventive derivative in normal cells is to prevent accumulation of homocysteine thiolactone by catalyzing its conversion to phosphoadenosine phosphosulfate, sulfate esters of glycosaminoglycans, steroids, and other compounds, and sulfate ions.
Decreased concentration of this chemopreventive derivative in malignant cells leads to the characteristic metabolic abnormalities of malignancy, which are attributable to excessive accumulation of homocysteine thiolactone. According to this concept, the increased growth rate, the aggregation of nucleoproteins, the increased expression of developmentally suppressed genes, the degradation of cellular membranes, and the abnormalities of oxidative metabolism, such as aerobic glycolysis, are attributable to increased accumulation of homocysteine thiolactone within malignant cells. Treatment of animals with transplanted malignant neoplasms by homocysteine thiolactone perchlorate causes increased necrosis within malignant neoplasms, presumably by increased accumulation of homocysteine thiolactone within malignant tissues, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,443.
The identity of the N-substituted derivative of homocysteine thiolactone that prevents growth of malignant tumors in animals was elucidated by organic synthesis of anti-neoplastic compounds containing homocysteine thiolactone. Arachidonoyl homocysteine thiolactone amide and pyridoxal homocysteine thiolactone enamine decrease the growth of transplanted murine mammary adenocarcinoma, as reported by McCully K S et al in Chemotherapy 1977; 23:44-49. As taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,994, N-maleyl homocysteine thiolactone amide, N-maleamide homocysteine thiolactone amide, and rhodium trichloride oxalyl homocysteine thiolactone amide suppress the growth of transplanted neoplasms in animals. Encapsulation of N-maleamide homocysteine thiolactone amide within liposomes greatly enhances its anti-neoplastic activity, as reported by McCully K S et al in Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 1985; 180:57-61. Structural analysis of these biologically active derivatives of homocysteine thiolactone shows that the hypothetical chemopreventive derivative of homocysteine thiolactone in normal cells is (1) active in a lipid-soluble form, (2) contains a conjugated double bond system with a carbonyl group adjacent to the nitrogen atom of homocysteine thiolactone, and (3) forms a complex with a transition metal atom that enhances anti-neoplastic activity.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,685 and 4,925,931 teach that the reaction of homocysteine thiolactone with retinoic acid forms N-homocysteine thiolactonyl retinamide (NHTR), known as thioretinamide, and thioretinamide reacts with cobalamin to form N-homocysteine thiolactonyl retinamido cobalamin ((NHTR)2Cbl), known as thioretinaco. Both thioretinamide and thioretinaco have anti-carcinogenic and anti-neoplastic activities, as reported by McCully K S et al in Carcinogenesis 1987; 8:1559-1562 and in Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 1989; 191:346-351. The method of synthesis of thioretinamide was significantly improved by use of N-ethyl-N′-(3-dimethyl-aminopropyl) carbodiimide in the reaction mixture, as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,054,595 and 6,287,818. This method replaces the conjugation agent, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide in the reaction mixture of the original method and produces pure thioretinamide in 72% of theoretical yield. This pure thioretinamide and its complex with cobalamin, thioretinaco, have anti-atherogenic activity in rats treated with parenteral homocysteine thiolactone, as reported by Kazimir M et al in Research Communications in Molecular Pathology and Pharmacology 2002; 5, 6:179-198.
As taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,558 the anti-carcinogenic, anti-neoplastic, anti-viral, and anti-aging activities of thioretinaco ozonide are enhanced by use of membranergic compositions, specifically the polypeptide cytokines, alpha-interferon, beta-interferon, and gamma-interferon. As taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,696,082 a therapeutically active composition of thioretinaco ozonide for providing anti-carcinogenic, anti-neoplastic, anti-viral, anti-atherogenic, and anti-aging benefits is formed by thioretinaco ozonide, complexed with adenosine triphosphate and oxygen within an ozone-resistant liposomal carrier.
Studies of homocysteine thiolactone metabolism in the liver of scorbutic guinea pigs that are deprived of dietary ascorbate disclosed a failure of oxidation of homocysteine thiolactone to homocysteine and sulfate, as well as a pathway for synthesis of phosphoadenosine phosphosulfate from the sulfur atom of homocysteine thiolactone, as reported by McCully K S in Nature 1971; 231:391-392. Homocysteic acid, the oxidized sulfonic acid derivative of homocysteine, promotes growth in normal animals and promotes growth and release of insulin-like growth factor, IGF-1, in hypophysectomized animals that are treated with thyroxine, as reported by Clopath P et al in Science 1976; 192:372-374. Young animals and hypophysectomized animals convert more homocysteine thiolactone to homocysteic acid and other oxidized homocysteine derivatives than older or normal animals, as reported by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 1975; 5:147-152. Cultured cells that are deficient in cystathionine synthase and unable to convert homocysteine to cystathionine are able to oxidize the sulfur atom of homocysteine thiolactone to sulfate, demonstrating a pathway for sulfate synthesis that is independent of conversion of homocysteine to cystathionine, cysteine and sulfate, as reported by McCully K S in American Journal of Pathology 1972; 66:83-95. The pathway for synthesis of sulfate from homocysteine thiolactone involves synthesis of thioretinamide from homocysteine thiolactone and retinoic acid and subsequent oxidation of thioretinamide to sulfite, alpha-keto-butyrate and retinoic acid by superoxide, as described by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 1994; 24:27-59.
Nutritional studies have demonstrated that the hyperhomocysteinemia of protein energy malnutrition is associated with reduction in levels of plasma transthyretin, the plasma protein that transports retinol binding protein and thyroxine, as reported by Ingenbleek Y et al in Nutrition 2002; 18:40-46. The metabolic disorder caused by protein energy malnutrition involves decreased synthesis and activity of cystathionine synthase, leading to hyperhomocysteinemia and decreased synthesis of cystathionine and cysteine. Transthyretin contains abundant tryptophan, and the plasma level of transthyretin declines in protein energy malnutrition because of dietary deficiency of tryptophan and other essential amino acids, leading to decreased endogenous synthesis of transthyretin. The heme oxygenase function of cystathionine synthase catalyzes the generation of superoxide radical from dioxygen, as reported by Carballal S et al in Biochemistry 2008; 47:3194-3202. Retinoic acid enhances the stimulation by thyroid hormone of heme oxygenase activity in the liver of thyroidectomized rats, as reported by Smith J J et al in Biochimica Biophysica Acta 1991; 1075:119-122, demonstrating interaction between retinoic acid and the heme group of heme oxygenase. N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-retinamide, known as fenretinide, induces apoptosis in retinal cells through reactive oxygen species generation and through increased expression of heme oxygenase, as reported by Samuel W et al in Journal of Cellular Physiology 2006; 209:854-865. Investigation of fenretinide demonstrates anti-neoplastic potential, because of its ability to induce apoptosis in malignant cells, as discussed by Hail N Jr et al in Apoptosis 2006; 11:1677-1694, and to increase insulin sensitivity in subjects at risk for breast cancer, as discussed by Johannsson et al in Cancer Research 2008; 68:9512-9518.
The synthesis of thioretinamide from retinol and homocysteine thiolactone by the heme oxygenase function of cystathionine synthase explains the failure of sulfate synthesis from homocysteine thiolactone in experimental scurvy and the function of dehydroascorbate in sulfate synthesis, as reported by McCully K S in Nature 1971; 231:391-392. Thioretinamide is a precursor of thioretinaco by reaction with cobalamin, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,931 and reported by McCully K S in Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 1989; 191:346-351. Thioretinaco ozonide catalyzes the process of oxygen utilization in oxidative phosphorylation, as reported by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 1994; 24:27-59. The synthesis of thioretinaco from thioretinamide is facilitated by thyroxine that is transported by plasma transthyretin, explaining how oxidative metabolism is stimulated by thyroxine. Only higher eukaryotes contain cystathionine synthase with a heme functional group, and the cystathionine synthase of prokaryotes, such as yeast and flagellates, contains no heme functional group, as discussed by Miles E W et al in Journal of Biological Chemistry 2004; 279:29871-29874. Since embryonic and malignant cells are deficient in the activity of cystathionine synthase, as reported by Kim J et al in Oncology Reports 2009; 21:1449-1454, this formulation explains why malignant cells are deficient in oxidation of homocysteine thiolactone to sulfate by the heme oxygenase function of cystathionine synthase.
The embryologist John Beard discovered that trophoblastic cells of the embryo, which invade the uterine endometrium and myometrium during implantation of the fertilized embryo, are related to the asexual cycle of cellular organisms and are converted to placental cytotrophoblastic and syncytiotrophoblastic cells by the action of lytic enzymes produced by the pancreas of the developing fetus. This discovery is described in his book The Enzymatic Treatment of Cancer and its Scientific Basis, originally published in 1911, and republished by New Spring Press, New York, 2010 with a foreword by Nicholas Gonzalez. Based on the concept that trophoblastic cells, which are distributed within developing tissues of the fetus, are similar in their cellular behavior to malignant cells, Beard introduced the enzyme treatment of cancer. This treatment consists of injecting enzymes and pro-enzymes extracted from porcine pancreas into patients with various forms of primary or metastatic cancer. The trophoblastic theory of the origin of cancer is based on the assumption that adult stem cells are related to the trophoblastic cells which migrate from the yolk sac of the developing embryo into somatic tissues, as described by Beard.
Human fetal and malignant cells produce small quantities of chorionic gonadotrophin, as reported by Acevedo H F et al in Cancer 1995; 76:1467-1475. This hormone is produced in large quantities by the highly malignant tumor of placenta, choriocarcinoma. These observations provide evidence for the trophoblastic origin of malignant cells. Although the origin of adult stem cells in normal human tissues is currently not well understood, the sensitivity of trophoblastic cells to oncolysis by pancreatic enzymes and pro-enzymes forms the theoretical basis for this therapeutic approach, as described by Nicholas Gonzalez and Linda Isaacs in The Trophoblast and the Origins of Cancer, published by New Spring Press, New York, 2009. This sensitivity is related to the accumulation of homocysteinylated enzymes, plasma proteins, and cellular proteins by reaction with excess homocysteine thiolactone that accumulates during aging, atherogenesis, carcinogenesis, and autoimmune diseases, as discussed by Perla-Kajan J et al in Amino Acids 2007; 32:561-572 and by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 1994; 24:27-59.
The enzyme cystathionase (cystathionine γ-lyase) is absent from the liver of human fetus and premature infants, and the activities of the enzymes, cystathionine synthase and adenosyl methionine synthase, are at a level of about 15% to 25% of adult human liver, as reported by Gaull G et al in Pediatric Research 1972; 6:538-547. This discovery shows that the transsulfuration pathway for conversion of homocysteine to cystathionine, cysteine and sulfate is inactive in fetal tissues. Therefore, the pathway for synthesis of sulfate from homocysteine thiolactone, involving synthesis of thioretinamide from retinol and homocysteine thiolactone and subsequent oxidation of thioretinamide to sulfite and sulfate by superoxide, is the source of sulfate groups of glycosaminoglycans utilized in the growth of fetal cells and tissues. The fetal cystathionine synthase assayed in human tissues contains the heme oxygenase function of the enzyme, since sulfate groups of glycosaminoglycans and other molecules are synthesized from the sulfur atom of methionine and homocysteine in embryonic tissues.
In the early 20th century the German biochemist Otto Warburg discovered that embryonic tissues and malignant cells are unable to utilize oxygen for cellular metabolism but instead metabolize glucose to lactate as a source of cellular energy, as summarized in Warburg O Science 1956; 123:309-314. In other studies, Warburg showed that carcinogenic chemicals decrease normal cellular respiration by inhibition of oxygenases and by inhibition of transport of electrons by cytochrome enzyme systems. These findings are supported by the demonstration of deficient succinic dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase activities within malignant tissues, as reported by Schneider et al in Cancer Research 1943; 3:353-357.
Taken together these early observations can be interpreted as examples of the clonal selection of malignant cells from trophoblastic stem cells that are deficient in the heme oxidase activity of cystathionine synthase. The resulting failure of oxidation of retinol to retinoic acid and failure of reaction of retinoic acid with homocysteine thiolactone to produce thioretinamide by these malignant cells will lead to deficient formation of thioretinaco and failure of oxidative phosphorylation, catalyzed by thioretinaco ozonide, as discussed by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 1994; 24:27-59. The failure of oxidative phosphorylation by malignant cell clones that are deficient in the heme oxygenase function of cystathionine synthase, resulting from decreased production of thioretinaco ozonide from cobalamin and thioretinamide, will lead to an embryonic form of metabolism in which ATP synthesis is dependent upon production of lactate from glucose, otherwise known as aerobic glycolysis.
Nitrilosides are substances containing nitrile groups produced by plants. The most important plant nitriloside is amygdalin (mandelonitrile β-diglucoside), and other nitrilosides are dhurrin (hydroxymandelonitrile β-glucoside), lotaustralin (methylethyl-ketone-cyanohydrin β-glucoside), and linamarin (acetone-cyanohydrin β-glucoside), as discussed in The Nitrilosides in the Prevention and Control of Cancer, the McNaughton Foundation, 1962. Malignant cells contain glucosidase, the enzyme that metabolizes amygdalin and other nitrilosides to cyanide. Normal cells contain rhodanese, a sulfotransferase enzyme that catalyzes thiocyanate synthesis from cyanide and hydrogen sulfide. Malignant cells contain insufficient rodanese to prevent accumulation of cyanide. Therefore, the prevention and control of growth of malignant cells and tissues by dietary nitrilosides are attributable to the consequent accumulation of cyanide within malignant cells. The reaction of cyanide with thioretinaco inactivates thioretinaco ozonide, thereby preventing oxidative phosphorylation, as discussed by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 2009; 39:219-232. This system of chemical surveillance against the growth of trophoblastic malignant cell clones is promoted by dietary or supplemental consumption of amygdalin and other plant nitrilosides.
Hydrogen sulfide is generated from homocysteine by cystathionine synthase and cystathionase, and low levels of hydrogen sulfide decrease oxidative stress and ameliorate pathological conditions such as ischemia-reperfusion injury, hypertension, and renal failure, as reported by Sen U et al in American Journal of Physiology Renal Physiology 2009; 297:F410-F419. Hydrogen sulfide is a key gasotransmitter in sensing oxygen availability in tissues, as discussed by Olson K R in Antioxidants and Redox Signaling 2010; 12:1219-1234. The reducing properties of hydrogen sulfide are responsible for scavenging the reactive oxygen species production induced by increased blood levels of homocysteine, inhibiting myocardial injury, as reported by Chang L et al in Amino Acids 2008; 34:573-585. Increased production of hydrogen sulfide from homocysteine, metabolized from homocysteinylated proteins, nucleic acids, and glycosaminoglycans of apoptotic cells by pancreatic enzymes will promote catabolism of homocysteine and conversion of the sulfur atom of homocysteine to thiocyanate by reaction of hydrogen sulfide with the cyanide generated from dietary nitrilosides.
During the past 42 years since the discovery of the atherogenic properties of homocysteine in 1969, an elevated level of homocysteine has been demonstrated in the plasma of persons with a wide variety of chronic degenerative diseases. A partial list of these conditions includes arteriosclerosis, stroke, acute coronary syndrome, cancer, osteoporosis and fracture, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases such as lupus erythematosus, ulcerative colitis, thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis and pernicious anemia, venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, retinal vein thrombosis, hypothyroidism, accelerated aging, renal failure and uremia, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, macular degeneration, severe psoriasis, organ transplantation with therapeutic immune suppression, protein energy malnutrition, familial or spontaneous amyloidosis, dietary vitamin deficiencies of folate, pyridoxal, and cobalamin, complications of pregnancy such as pre-ecclampsia and placenta previa, and congenital birth defects, including neural tube defects, cleft palate, and congenital heart disease. The etiology of many of these diseases and conditions is incompletely understood. However, many of these chronic degenerative diseases are strongly correlated with the aging process. The importance of deficiencies of thioretinaco ozonide in cells of aging tissues is discussed by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 1994; 24:134-152. Regardless of etiology, however, elevation of plasma homocysteine levels and homocysteinylation of macromolecules in chronic degenerative diseases are susceptible to therapeutic intervention by preservation of cellular oxidative metabolism through increased production of thioretinaco ozonide and by enhanced catabolism of homocysteine produced by enzymatic degradation of homocysteinylated macromolecules. Moreover, preservation of cellular thioretinaco ozonide by membranergic proteins and by the liposomal complex of ATP and oxygen with thioretinaco prolongs survival and counteracts the aging process, as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,565,558 and 6,696,082.
General aspects of senescence and aging are discussed in Longevity, Senescence, and the Genome by Finch C E, University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 1990, pp 380-385. The synthesis of multiple enzymes of liver, muscle and other organs declines with age, and hormonal factors such as corticosteroid hormones are important in restoration of declining enzyme activity with aging. The absorption of folate, pyridoxal and cobalamin, other vitamins and nutrients declines with aging, correlating with decreased production of gastric acid and intrinsic factor, and decreased formation of pancreatic digestive enzymes with aging.
Increasing evidence supports the role of infectious organisms in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerotic plaques. Remnants of infectious microbes, such as Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Salmonella, Herpes simplex, Escherichia coli, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumonia, Poryphomonas, other dental organisms, Helicobacter pylori, and Archeae, are detected within plaques by immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and hybridization with DNA oligonucleotides directed against microbial nucleic acids. In the case of Chlamydia pneumoniae, live organisms have been cultured from plaques. The lipoproteins of the plasma constitute an innate immune system that is capable of inactivating a wide variety of infectious organisms and their toxins by complexation and aggregation. Homocysteine thiolactone reacts with the free amino groups of the apoB protein of low-density lipoproteins to form aggregates that undergo spontaneous precipitation in vitro, as reported by Naruszewicz et al in Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Disease 1994; 4:70-77. Vulnerable plaques of arteries in atherosclerosis originate from obstruction of vasa vasorum of arterial wall by aggregates formed from lipoproteins complexed with microbial remnants, homocysteinylated lipoproteins, and lipoprotein autoantibodies in areas of high tissue pressure, causing ischemia, degeneration of arterial wall cells and rupture into arterial intima to form a micro-abscess, as described by Ravnskov et al in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 2009; 39:3-16. The obstruction of vasa vasorum by lipoprotein aggregates is exacerbated by swelling and hyperplasia of endothelial cells, as well as by fibrin deposition in the walls of arterioles, as reported by McCully K S in American Journal of Pathology 1969; 56:111-128. These changes in endothelial cell structure and function are manifestations of the endothelial dysfunction caused by hyperhomocysteinemia, as described by McCully K S in Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 2009; 39:219-232. Increasing evidence also implicates the presence of microbial remnants within the extracellular amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles within neurons as a factor in the pathogenesis of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, as described by Fife B, in Stop Alzheimer's Now, Picadilly Books, Colorado Springs Colo., 2011, pp 115-138.
A number of prior art patents have described methods for measuring homocysteine levels in plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, urine and other body fluids such as, for example, Matsuyama, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,172, Kawasaki, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,867,014 and Esaki, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,135,306. The prior art has also recognized that high homocysteine levels are markers for various types of disease. Some of the prior art such as Smith, et al. PCT/US97/20021, Dibner, et al. WO 2006/128048 and Horrobin, et al. U.S. Pub. 2005/0147665 provide methods and compositions for reducing homocysteine levels in mammals having elevated levels of homocysteine. Dibner, et al. WO 2006/128048 uses 2-hydroxy, 4-(thiomethyl) butanoic acid for lowering plasma homocysteine; Smith, et al. PCT/US97/20021 uses B vitamins to lower plasma homocysteine and prevent stroke and Horrobin, et al. U.S. Pub. 2005/0147665 uses an agent selected from a group consisting of vitamin B12, folic acid and vitamin B6. This prior art as well as the previously discussed patented prior art of McCully and Kazimir, et al. have not used pancreatic enzymes together with thioretinamide alone or combined with retinol to facilitate the cellular processing of thioretinamide.
The prior art also includes numerous references to the use of retinol and retinoid compositions as topical treatments for skin such as Millstein Pub. US 2010/0113352, Varani U.S. Pat. No. 6,919,072 and Sin, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,030,265 as well as for the treatment of diseases associated with aging. For example Roullet, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,003 uses retinoids for treating high blood pressure and stroke. The retinol prior art has not used retinol with pancreatic enzyme or has combined retinol with enzymes and thioretinamide to employ the heme oxygenase function of cystathionine synthase to facilitate the cellular processing of thioretinamide and the catabolism of homocysteine. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Sometimes therapeutic substances, such as drugs, biologics, etc., are infused intraparenchymally or intracerebroventricularly to treat brain disorders, such as malignancies or neurodegenerative diseases. Co-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/540,444, filed Mar. 31, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,290), and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/625,751, filed Jul. 26, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,969, issued Sep. 20, 2005 (both incorporated herein by reference) disclose catheters that are particularly well suited for intraparenchymal or intraventricular convection-enhanced infusion of therapeutic substances. As used herein, “IPA” means intraparenchymal, “ICV” means intracerebroventricular, and “intraventricular” and “ventricles” refer to cerebroventricles.
Previously, intracranial catheters have been anchored to the periosteum, which is a fibrous membrane covering the surface of bone. The periosteum has not provided as much stability as desired, and movement of the catheter anchor may result in changes in the location of the catheter tip. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Semiconductor devices are commonly found in modern electronic products. Semiconductor devices vary in the number and density of electrical components. Discrete semiconductor devices generally contain one type of electrical component, e.g., light emitting diode (LED), small signal transistor, resistor, capacitor, inductor, and power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). Integrated semiconductor devices typically contain hundreds to millions of electrical components. Examples of integrated semiconductor devices include microcontrollers, microprocessors, charged-coupled devices (CCDs), solar cells, and digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs).
Semiconductor devices perform a wide range of functions such as signal processing, high-speed calculations, transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, controlling electronic devices, transforming sunlight to electricity, and creating visual projections for television displays. Semiconductor devices are found in the fields of entertainment, communications, power conversion, networks, computers, and consumer products. Semiconductor devices are also found in military applications, aviation, automotive, industrial controllers, and office equipment.
Semiconductor devices exploit the electrical properties of semiconductor materials. The atomic structure of semiconductor material allows its electrical conductivity to be manipulated by the application of an electric field or base current or through the process of doping. Doping introduces impurities into the semiconductor material to manipulate and control the conductivity of the semiconductor device.
A semiconductor device contains active and passive electrical structures. Active structures, including bipolar and field effect transistors, control the flow of electrical current. By varying levels of doping and application of an electric field or base current, the transistor either promotes or restricts the flow of electrical current. Passive structures, including resistors, capacitors, and inductors, create a relationship between voltage and current necessary to perform a variety of electrical functions. The passive and active structures are electrically connected to form circuits, which enable the semiconductor device to perform high-speed calculations and other useful functions.
Semiconductor devices are generally manufactured using two complex manufacturing processes, i.e., front-end manufacturing, and back-end manufacturing, each involving potentially hundreds of steps. Front-end manufacturing involves the formation of a plurality of die on the surface of a semiconductor wafer. Each semiconductor die is typically identical and contains circuits formed by electrically connecting active and passive components. Back-end manufacturing involves singulating individual semiconductor die from the finished wafer and packaging the die to provide structural support and environmental isolation. The term “semiconductor die” as used herein refers to both the singular and plural form of the words, and accordingly, can refer to both a single semiconductor device and multiple semiconductor devices.
One goal of semiconductor manufacturing is to produce smaller semiconductor devices. Smaller devices typically consume less power, have higher performance, and can be produced more efficiently. In addition, smaller semiconductor devices have a smaller footprint, which is desirable for smaller end products. A smaller semiconductor die size can be achieved by improvements in the front-end process resulting in semiconductor die with smaller, higher density active and passive components. Back-end processes may result in semiconductor device packages with a smaller footprint by improvements in electrical interconnection and packaging materials.
One common technique of interconnecting a semiconductor die with a printed circuit board (PCB) or other substrate involves the use of bumps. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional semiconductor device 10 with flipchip type semiconductor die 12 having an active surface 14 and contact pads 16 formed over active surface 14. An insulating or passivation layer 18 is formed over active surface 14 and contact pads 16. A portion of insulating layer 18 is removed to expose contact pads 16. An electrically conductive layer 20 is conformally applied over the exposed contact pads 16 and insulating layer 18. Conductive layer 20 operates as an under bump metallization (UBM) layer electrically connected to contact pads 16. A conductive bump material 22 is deposited over conductive layer 20.
A substrate or PCB 24 has one or more conductive layers 26 operating as conductive traces or contact pads. An insulating or passivation layer 28 is formed over conductive layer 26. A portion of insulating layer 28 is removed to expose conductive layer 26. A conductive pre-solder or bump material 29 is deposited over the exposed conductive layer 26. Semiconductor die 12 is positioned over and mounted to substrate 24 using a pick and place operation with active surface 14 oriented toward substrate 24. Bumps 22 and 29 are reflowed and merge to form a bump interconnect structure mechanically and electrically connecting semiconductor die 12 to conductive layer 26 of substrate 24.
FIG. 2 illustrates another conventional semiconductor device with flipchip type semiconductor die 12 having an active surface 14 and contact pads 16 formed over active surface 14. An insulating or passivation layer 18 is formed over active surface 14 and contact pads 16. A portion of insulating layer 18 is removed to expose contact pads 16. An electrically conductive layer 20 is conformally applied over the exposed contact pads 16 and insulating layer 18. Conductive layer 20 operates as a UBM layer electrically connected to contact pads 16. A conductive pillar 30 is formed over conductive layer 20. A conductive bump material 32 is deposited over conductive pillar 30.
A substrate or PCB 34 has one or more conductive layers 36 operating as conductive traces or contact pads. An insulating layer 38 is formed over conductive layer 36. A portion of insulating layer 38 is removed to expose conductive layer 36. A pre-solder or bump material 40 is deposited over conductive layer 36. Semiconductor die 12 is positioned over and mounted to substrate 34 using a pick and place operation with active surface 14 and conductive pillars 30 oriented toward the substrate. Bumps 32 and 40 are reflowed and merge to form a bump interconnect structure mechanically and electrically connecting conductive pillars 30 and semiconductor die 12 to conductive layer 36 of substrate 34.
In each case of FIGS. 1-2, the bump interconnect structure is susceptible to de-wetting of the UBM layer and exhibits weak joints and reliability problems. For example, semiconductor die 12 has a problem with delamination or damage of the extremely-low dielectric constant (ELK) interlayer dielectric layer (ILD) around the bump area. When the semiconductor wafer is subjected to thermal or mechanical stress, the ELK ILD delamination or damage can occur which causes defects in the semiconductor die. Similarly, semiconductor die 12 is subject to pre-solder cracking at the junction with the substrate. The incidence of pre-solder cracking and ELK delamination reduces reliability and manufacturing yield, and increases cost. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
To obtain high quality flat panel displays, active-matrix driving technology is needed. This includes liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Active matrix driving allows full color realization and high resolution without cross-talk. The key technology of active-matrix driving display involves the fabrication of thin film transistors (TFTs) on a substrate, which is usually glass.
In conventional active matrix displays, TFTs are formed by amorphous silicon (a-Si), due to its low processing temperature and low manufacturing cost on large area glass substrates. However, it has been difficult to use the amorphous silicon TFT for advanced applications such as liquid crystal displays having very high resolution. For lower power consumption, and more compact structure, polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) is needed. In particular, if the polycrystalline silicon is formed at low temperature, peripheral driving circuits can be fabricated on the glass substrate as well. Thus, low temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) may be a key technology to the future of the display market.
Presently, the techniques mainly used to crystallize a-Si to poly-Si are excimer laser crystallization (ELC), which irradiates the a-Si film with strong energy, or with nickel induced crystallization of amorphous silicon. The latter seems promising to produce poly-Si over large areas of glass substrate at low cost.
To realize this possibility, the technique of nickel induced crystallization of amorphous silicon has to meet the following requirements: (1) a low concentration of nickel after processing, (2) no alignment misplacement caused by the shrinkage of the glass substrate during the crystallization process, and (3) reduction of crystallization time to 2-3 hours. There appears to be no presently available technique that can fully satisfy these requirements. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to use arranged continuous grain metal-induced lateral crystallized polycrystalline silicon film technology to meet the three requirements set forth above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,829 (Miyanaga) discloses semiconductor device using a crystalline semiconductor film. The crystalline semiconductor film is formed by providing an amorphous silicon film with a catalyst metal for promoting crystallization thereof, and then heating to effect a thermal crystallization, following which the crystallized film is further exposed to laser light to improve the crystallinity.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2003/0129853 (Naoto) discloses a method for producing a thin film transistor, wherein after an amorphous silicon film is formed on a substrate, a nickel silicide layer is formed by spin coating with a solution nickel acetate solution that promotes the crystallization of silicon. The nickel silicide layer is selectively patterned to form island-like nickel silicide layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,674 (Zhang) discusses a method for eliminating influence of elemental nickel from a crystal silicon film obtained by utilizing nickel. A mask made of a silicon oxide film is formed on an amorphous silicon film. Then, the elemental nickel is held selectively on the surface of the amorphous silicon film by utilizing the mask. Next, a heat treatment is implemented to grow crystals. This crystal growth occurs with the diffusion of the nickel. Next, phosphorus is doped to a region by using the mask. Then, another heat treatment to removes the nickel from the pattern under the mask. After that, the silicon film is patterned by utilizing the mask again to form a pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,991 (Zhang) relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device such as a thin film transistor using a crystal silicon film. The crystal silicon film is obtained by selectively forming films, particles or clusters containing nickel, iron, cobalt, ruthenium, rhodium, paladium, osmium, iridium, platinum, scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, copper, zinc, gold, silver or a silicide thereof in a form of island, line, stripe, dot or film on or under an amorphous silicon film and using them as a starting point, by advancing its crystallization by annealing at a temperature lower than a normal crystallization temperature of an amorphous silicon.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,779 (Masashi) relates to a method for annealing amorphous silicon film to produce polycrystalline film suitable for thin-film transistors fabricated on glass substrates. The method involves using the selective location of nickel on a predetermined region of silicon to define the pattern of the lateral growth front as the silicon is crystallized. The method defines the resistivity of the silicide formed. The method also defines a specific range of nickel thicknesses to form the nickel silicide. A minimum thickness ensures that a continuous layer of nickel silicide exists on the growth front to promote an isotropic lateral growth front to form a crystalline film having high electron mobility, while a maximum thickness limit reduces the risk of nickel silicide enclaves in the crystalline film to degrade the leakage current. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Clutch mechanisms find wide use in power drive trains and in other modern industrial mechanisms. Many of these clutches use hydraulic fluid and pressure to actuate or de-actuate the clutching mechanism. One such clutch which has met with considerable commercial success is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,319 to Euler and Pear.
However, many vehicles and other mechanisms are not provided with sources of hydraulic power. Non-hydraulic, strictly mechanical clutches are required in these services.
It is accordingly the general object of the present invention to provide a clutch unit which is effective and powerful in operation, yet which does not require hydraulic fluid or hydraulic pressure for its operation.
Another object is to provide a non-hydraulic clutch unit which is compact in its overall dimensions, yet which effectively transfers large amounts of torque or mechanical energy without slipage.
Another object is to provide such a non-hydraulic clutch which is reliable and rugged in design and manufacture, yet which can be offered at a commercially attractive price.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings. Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Some of the approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, the approaches described in this section are not necessarily prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The HEVC standard defines a profile for the encoding of still images and describes specific tools for compressing single still images or bursts of still images. An extension of the ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF) used for such kind of image data has been proposed for inclusion into the ISO/IEC 23009 standard, in Part 12, under the name: “Image File Format”. The standard covers two forms of storage corresponding to different use cases: the storage of image sequences, with timing that is optionally used at the decoder, and in which the images may be dependent on other images, and the storage of single images, and collections of independently coded images.
In the first case, the encapsulation is close to the encapsulation of the video tracks in the ISO Base Media File Format (see document <<Information technology—Coding of audio-visual objects—Part 12: ISO base media file format>>, ISO/IEC 14496-12:2008, Third edition, October 2008), and the same tools and concepts are used, such as the ‘trak’ boxes and the sample grouping for description. The ‘trak’ box is a file format box that contains sub boxes for describing a track, that is to say, a timed sequence of related samples.
In the second case, a set of ISOBMFF boxes, the ‘meta’ boxes are used. These boxes and their hierarchy offer less description tools than the ‘track’ boxes and relate to “information items” or “items” instead of related samples.
The image file format can be used for locally displaying multimedia files or for streaming multimedia presentations. HEVC Still Images have many applications which raise many issues.
Image bursts are one application. Image bursts are sequences of still pictures captured by a camera and stored as a single representation (many picture items referencing a block of data). Users may want to perform several types of actions on these pictures: select one as thumbnail or cover, apply effects on these pictures or the like.
There is thus a need for descriptive metadata for identifying the list of pictures with their corresponding bytes in the block of data.
Computational photography is another application. In computational photography, users have access to different resolutions of the same picture (different exposures, different focuses etc.). These different resolutions have to be stored as metadata so that one can be selected and the corresponding piece of data can be located and extracted for processing (rendering, editing, transmitting or the like).
With the increase of picture resolution in terms of size, there is thus a need for providing enough description so that only some spatial parts of these large pictures can be easily identified and extracted.
Another kind of applications is the access to specific pictures from a video sequence, for instance for video summarization, proof images in video surveillance data or the like.
For such kind of applications, there is a need for image metadata enabling to easily access the key images, in addition to the compressed video data and the video tracks metadata.
In addition, professional cameras have reached high spatial resolutions. Videos or images with 4K2K resolution are now common. Even 8k4k videos or images are now being common. In parallel, video are more and more played on mobile and connected devices with video streaming capabilities. Thus, splitting the videos into tiles becomes important if the user of a mobile device wants to display or wants to focus on sub-parts of the video by keeping or even improving the quality. By using tiles, the user can therefore interactively request spatial sub-parts of the video.
There is thus a need for describing these spatial sub-parts of the video in a compact fashion in the file format in order to be accessible without additional processing other than simply parsing metadata boxes. For images corresponding to the so-described videos, it is also of interest for the user to access to spatial sub-parts.
The ISO/IEC 23009 standard covers two ways for encapsulating still images into the file format that have been recently discussed.
One way is based on ‘track’ boxes, and the notion of timed sequence of related samples with associated description tools, and another is based on ‘meta’ boxes, based on information items, instead of samples, providing less description tools, especially for region of interest description and tiling support.
There is thus a need for providing tiling support in the new Image File Format.
The use of tiles is commonly known in the prior art, especially at compression time. Concerning their indexation in the ISO Base Media File format, tiling descriptors exist in drafts for amendment of Part 15 of the ISO/IEC 14496 standard “Carriage of NAL unit structured video in the ISO Base Media File Format”.
However, these descriptors rely on ‘track’ boxes and sample grouping tools and cannot be used in the Still Image File Format when using the ‘meta’ based approach. Without such descriptors, it becomes complicated to select and extract tiles from a coded picture stored in this file format.
FIG. 1 illustrates the description of a still image encoded with tiles in the ‘meta’ box (100) of ISO Base Media File Format, as disclosed in MPEG contribution m32254.
An information item is defined for the full picture 101 in addition to respective information items for each tile picture (102, 103, 104 and 105). Those information items are stored in a box called ‘ItemInfoBox’ (iinf). The box (106), called ‘ItemReferenceBox’, from the ISO BMFF standard is used for indicating that a ‘tile’ relationship (107) exists between the information item of the full picture and the four information items corresponding to the tile pictures (108). Identifiers of each information item are used so that a box (109), called ‘ItemLocationBox’, provides the byte range(s) in the encoded data (110) that represent each information item. Another box “ItemReferenceBox′” (112) is used for associating EXIF metadata (111) with the information item for the full picture (101) and a corresponding data block (111) is created in the media data box (110). Also, an additional information item (113) is created for identifying the EXIF metadata.
Even if the full picture and its tiles are introduced as information items, no tiling information is provided here. Moreover, when associating additional metadata with an information item (like EXIF), no data block referenced using an additional ItemReferenceBox′ is created.
Reusing information on tiling from EXIF and reusing the mechanism defined in the Still Image File format draft wouldn't make it possible to describe non-regular grid with existing EXIF tags.
Thus, there is still a need for improvements in the file format for still images, notably HEVC still images. In particular, there is a need for methods for extracting a region of interest in still Images stored with this file format.
The invention lies within the above context. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to the semiconductor feature known as via holes, or xe2x80x9cvias,xe2x80x9d and more particularly to routing channels among such vias.
Via holes, or more simply xe2x80x9cvias,xe2x80x9d are semiconductor device features that are through holes made in a substrate, for a variety of different purposes. Via holes may be used to ground semiconductor devices and passive devices. Via holes may be made through dielectric layers, for subsequent metal deposition to form a plug and create an interconnect between two metal lines. Multi-level interconnect schemes may employ such via holes. Processes used to perform such interconnection using via holes include the damascene process and the dual-damascene process, among other processes.
Within an integrated circuit (IC) layout that has a number of metal layers, vias are particularly employed to connect signals from lower metal layers to upper metal layers. However, the presence of the vias blocks the routing of wires horizontally. The typical solution to this difficulty is to add a limited number of routing channels among the vias. Wires can then be placed or fabricated through or within the routing channels to enable horizontal routing along one or both axes of the horizontal plane. Thus, using routing channels enables horizontal routing through the IC layout.
A difficulty with this current deployment of routing channels, however, is that they do not provide flexible routing within the IC layout. In particular, the placement orientation of the layout relative to the horizontal plane may have to be fixed, so that the wires running through or within the routing channels remain in the same direction relative to the routing channels. This constrains semiconductor designs and fabricators in designing and fabricating semiconductor IC""s. In turn, this adds cost to the semiconductor device design and fabrication processes, as well as introducing delay into these oftentimes-critical processes.
FIG. 1 shows an exploded three-dimensional perspective view of a sample IC layout 100 that exhibits the routing inflexibility of placing routing channels among vias in the prior art. Three layers of the IC layout 100 are shown: top and bottom inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layers 102 and 106, sandwiching a middle metal layer 104. Via holes are located within the IMD layers 102 and 106, to connect the middle metal layer 104 with other metal layers above and below the middle metal layer 104, respectively. However, they are not shown in FIG. 1 for illustrative clarity.
A horizontal plane is defined by the x-axis 112 and the y-axis 114. Thus, whereas the via holes not shown in FIG. 1 connect the metal layer 104 to other metal layers through the IMD layers 102 and 106 along the z-axis 116, the routing channels enable routing wire, such as copper or aluminum wire, to route through the IC layout 100 along the horizontal plane. In particular, there are two routing channels through the metal layer 104 represented by the arrows 108, along the x-axis 112. However, there are no corresponding routing channels through the metal layer 104 along the y-axis 114, as aptly indicated in FIG. 1 by the blocked arrow 110.
This means that once the orientation of the semiconductor device represented by the IC layout 100 of FIG. 1 is determined relative to the routing wires through the IC layout 100, the orientation cannot be subsequently changed. For example, the positioning of the IC layout 100 cannot be rotated ninety degrees. This is because the routing wires that pass freely through the routing channels represented by the arrows 108 along the x-axis 112 cannot pass freely along the y-axis 114. Thus, the semiconductor designers and fabricators are restricted to the initially determined orientation.
Therefore, there is a need for improved flexibility in positioning semiconductor IC layouts relative to routing wires passing through routing channels among vias. Such improved flexibility should desirably ensure that the orientation of IC layouts relative to their routing wires can be rotated as necessary by semiconductor designers and fabricators. That is, the orientation of IC layouts relative to their routing wires can be reconfigured even after initial determination. For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.
The invention relates to flexible routing channels among vias. A semiconductor device of an embodiment of the invention includes a number of metal layers, a number of dielectric layers, a number of via holes, and a number of routing channels. The metal layers are organized along a vertical axis. The dielectric layers are alternatively positioned relative to the metal layers. The via holes are situated within the dielectric layers and electrically connect a lower layer of the metal layers to an upper layer of the metal layers. The routing channels are situated within the metal layers and provide for electrical routing through the device along at least one of two horizontal axes of a horizontal plane perpendicular to the vertical axis.
Embodiments of the invention provide for advantages over the prior art. The routing channels enable a semiconductor layout of the semiconductor device to be rotated during the design and/or fabrication thereof without affect the electrical routing of wires or other metal elements through the routing channels. Thus, the orientation of the layout can be rotated relative to the routing wires even after initial determination thereof. That is, the layout can be rotated as necessary be designers and/or fabricators of the layout and the semiconductor device. Other advantages, embodiments, and aspects of the invention will become apparent by reading the detailed description that follows, and by referencing the attached drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In the past decades, integrated circuit technology has achieved remarkable developments, and the technology wherein the key size is 22 nanometers and beyond is the trend of the development of semiconductor integrated circuit technology. The gate electrode in the gate-last process does not have to endure the high-temperature annealing at about 1000° C., which is capable of improving the performance of devices by using a structure of high-k dielectric layer/metal gate, and is considered to be the mainstream process.
The gate-last process involves the problem of deposition of work function metal layers after the removal of dummy gates. At present, titanium-aluminum (TiAl) alloy thin film is a relatively commonly-used work function metal of nMOSFET. The groove formed after removing the dummy gate has the characteristic of large depth-to-width ratio. The conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) method, bound by the drawback of poor step coverage ability of the thin film formed by this method and the presence of the phenomenon of overhang 1011 as shown in FIG. 1, has been very difficult to satisfy the application requirement for a key size less than 22 nanometers.
For the purpose of satisfying the application requirement for TiAl alloy thin films in small-size devices, i.e., to ensure good step coverage ability and filling, a best known solution is to prepare TiAl alloy thin films by using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. However, due to the limitation of the precursor, it is relatively difficult to obtain a TiAl alloy thin film by using the ALD method. In addition, the ALD method for growing pure metals in the prior art is typically aided with a plasma. Although plasma aids in the reaction of the precursor, it may also damage the substrate at the same time. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a heat-dissipating apparatus which can position a light emitting diode (LED) more precisely.
2. Related Art
A vehicle is equipped with vehicle lamps. Vehicle lamps have lighting function and signaling function, among others. That is, vehicle lamps enable the driver of the vehicle to easily detect objects around and ahead of the vehicle while driving at night or in a dark area. They also inform other vehicles and road users of the vehicle's driving state. For example, a headlamp and a fog lamp are designed for the lighting function, and a direction indicator, a taillight, a brake light, and a side marker are designed for the signaling function. Typically, halogen lamps and high intensity discharge (HID) lamps are used as a light source.
Recently, LEDs were adopted as a light source for vehicle headlamps or lighting devices. The color temperature of LEDs is approximately 5500 kelvin (K) which is close to sunlight. Thus, LEDs cause less eyestrain than other light sources. Since LEDs are small-sized, lamps using LEDs can be designed with a greater degree of freedom. In addition, LEDs are economical since they are semi-permanent. In this regard, LEDs are being introduced to reduce complexity in the configuration of lamps and prevent an increase in the number of processes required to manufacture the lamps. That is, attempts are being made to extend the life of lamps and reduce the space occupied by lamp apparatuses by taking advantage of properties of LEDs.
However, temperature remains a major challenge in the adoption of LEDs as a light source for vehicle lamps. As the performance of LEDs improves, the LEDs emit heat at higher temperatures, and the heat at higher temperatures reduces the performance of the LEDs. That is, as the temperature of LEDs increases, the luminous efficiency thereof significantly deteriorates. To address this problem, the junction temperature of LEDs must be increased, or a heat-dissipating apparatus for lowering the ambient temperature must be installed. In particular, since there is a limit to increasing the junction temperature, the heat-dissipating apparatus must be used efficiently. Although the junction temperature of LEDs is expected to increase continuously, an improved heat-dissipating apparatus is essential to increase the efficiency of a lamp more effectively.
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-section of a conventional LED heat-dissipating apparatus 10. Referring to FIG. 1, a thermally conductive material 13 is disposed under the LED-mounting block 12 having an LED 11 mounted thereon. The LED-mounting block 12 and the thermally conductive material 13 are coupled together to a heat sink 14 by fixing bolts 15. The conventional LED heat-dissipating apparatus 10 has the following problems. When the LED-mounting block 12 is coupled to the heat sink 14 by the fixing bolts 15, the thermally conductive material 13 is compressed by the elasticity thereof, which may cause the LED 11 to be moved out of its intended position. In addition, after the thermally conductive material 13 is coupled to the heat sink 14, aiming control is required.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
It has previously been proposed to seal beverage preparation ingredients in individual air-impermeable packages. For example, cartridges or capsules containing ground coffee are known for use in certain coffee preparation machines which are generally termed “espresso” machines. In the production of coffee using these preparation machines the coffee cartridge is placed in a brewing chamber and hot water is passed though the cartridge at relatively high pressures, thereby extracting the aromatic coffee constituents from the ground coffee to produce the coffee beverage.
In EP-A-1440903 a cartridge is described which is formed from high density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyester, or a laminate of two or more of these materials. The cartridge has an inlet for the introduction of water into the cartridge, and an outlet for a beverage produced from said the beverage ingredients. The cartridge comprises an outer member, an inner member inserted in the outer member and an aperture in a beverage flow path linking the inlet to the outlet for producing a jet of the beverage. The cartridge produces a jet of the beverage which can be used to alter the appearance and characteristics of the dispensed beverage, by for example entraining air into the jet of beverage to produce a multitude of small air bubbles in the dispensed beverage.
The quality of many beverage ingredients, in particular coffee, starts deteriorating when exposed to the air, for example due to oxidisation of fatty acids and evaporation of volatile oils which contribute to the flavour of the beverage. This causes the coffee to have a stale flavour. In order to maintain the quality of the beverage ingredients and to give the cartridges a reasonable shelf life, it is therefore important to prevent the ingress of air and moisture. Thus, whilst the materials used in the manufacture of the cartridges are generally impermeable to liquids, to protect them from air penetration, such cartridges are often packaged in gas impermeable secondary packaging, such as plastic wrappers or metallised foils. Suitable materials used in such packaging are, for example, polyamide coated cellulose film, ethylene vinyl alcohol polymers (EVOH) or other vinyl alcohol polymers (PVOH).
However, the use of secondary packaging has the disadvantage that, once it has been opened, the cartridges are vulnerable to air ingress which causes staling of the product. In addition, it is highly desirable to reduce the amount of packaging used, both in terms of reduction of waste products which need to be disposed of and to reduce packaging costs. Furthermore, it is neither cost effective, nor environmentally friendly, to wrap each cartridge separately.
A number of prior art containers and packages exist, especially for food products, which are gas and water impermeable. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,507 describes a packaging container used for a liquid food formed from a multilayer resin sheet, such as polypropylene and ethylene-vinyl alcohol polymer, polystyrene and ethylene-vinyl alcohol polymer, polyethylene and polystyrene. The sheet is formed by co-extrusion melding or blown film melding deformed into a cylindrical container, which is bonded to a separately formed sleeve or expanded polypropylene or another material of greater rigidity than the resin sheet.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,423 a composite sheet can be preformed, for example of polypropylene and ethylene-vinyl alcohol polymer, and the food product wrapped in the sheet and heat sealed.
Whilst the packaging materials described above are highly suitable for protecting the beverage ingredients contained in the cartridges described above, because of their complex shape, the formation of the component parts of the cartridges adds a limitation as to how these materials can be used. The afore-mentioned cartridges are designed to incorporate a variety of features that are not possible with a part formed from sheet material.
It is therefore desirable to retain the present general construction of the cartridges described in EP-A-1440903, whilst making them substantially gas and water impermeable.
Such cartridges are conveniently formed by an injection moulding process, which is one of the most common methods used in manufacturing plastic articles and components for a wide variety of applications. Although tooling is expensive, the cost per part is low and the process is particularly suitable for accurate high volume production of parts which require a high tolerance.
In order that the outer member of the cartridge has sufficient strength and rigidity to maintain its shape and not deform in use, and can be injection moulded, it is necessary to use a suitable polymer such as polypropylene, polyethylene or polystyrene. However whilst these materials are impermeable to liquid, they are not sufficiently impermeable to gases and it is desirable to include a gas impermeable barrier layer, such as ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) polymer.
Whilst it is possible to form multilayer laminates of different materials, using thermoforming and other processes, the options have hitherto been somewhat limited with injection moulding. Co-injection moulding is a process in which two different materials, such as polymers, are formed into a laminar structure during injection moulding. This produces a sandwich construction of a skin and an inner core. However until recently the polymers used have had to be compatible in so far as they melt at the same temperature and bond together. If the layers are not bonded, the sandwich tends to delaminate, i.e the layers physically separate, due to differential shrinkage.
With recent advances in co-injection techniques, however, it has become possible to mould multi-layer polymer articles using a sandwich consisting of a core enclosed by inner and outer layers in which the materials used for the core and inner/outer layers are different. This means that the core may be formed from a gas impermeable material, such as EVOH, whilst the inner/outer layers may be formed from a more cost effective material such as polyethylene, polypropylene etc. A method of co-injection moulding multi-layer polymer articles is described in WO-A-02/081172.
One of the disadvantages of injection moulding are that the parts to be moulded (and therefore the injection mould itself) must be designed carefully to ensure that the mould can be properly filled, that the finished part can be extracted and that a myriad of other problems are avoided, such as distortion, stress failure and cracking. With an article having a complex geometry, as is required for these cartridge component parts, and the requirement for rigidity as well as impermeability, this has not been hitherto possible to achieve.
However the complexity of the design of the cartridge component parts brings a further significant challenge in co-injection moulding, which is currently generally only used for manufacturing articles having simple, axially symmetric shapes, such as cups and tubs. The structure of a more complex article, for example one which is asymmetric and has ribs and section changes as in the afore-mentioned cartridges component parts, causes turbulence in the plastic flow during the injection process and disrupts the laminar flow required to maintain a contiguous core layer. This results in an uncontrolled layer structure which compromises the uniformity of the core layer. The resulting moulded articles therefore have a structure and layer thickness which cannot be relied on to function as intended, which is particularly disadvantageous where the core layer is intended to be a barrier layer or a uniform coloured layer. This can also cause problems when sealing to a face of a co injected part. It is possible for the inner material to come so close to the outside of the part that the physical strength of any supplementary sealing or welding process would be insufficient for its function.
EP-A-0735943 addresses the problem of co-injection moulding articles having a complex shape by designing the mould cavity so that the flow paths therein all have substantially the same hydraulic resistance. In addition the injection points are selected and the injection temperature, pressure and flow rate are controlled so that the different flows of injected materials meet each other in a fluid condition at a predetermined point.
It is an object of the present disclosure to further improve the method and apparatus for co-injection moulding multilayered articles having a complex shape. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase on a silicon semiconductor substrate. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase on a silicon semiconductor substrate to form a thin film such as a silicon thin film or a silicon epitaxial single crystal thin film on the surface of the substrate by using a rotary gas phase thin film growth apparatus which rotates the silicon semiconductor substrate while feeding a material gas onto the upper surface of the substrate by causing the gas to flow downward from above.
2. Prior Art
A conventional method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase on a silicon semiconductor substrate will now be described with reference to FIG. 2 which is a diagram of a relationship between the effective component gas for film-forming, the thin film growth rate and the film-forming temperature.
In the manufacture of a semiconductor, a method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase (the CVD method) is generally used to form a thin film on a surface of a silicon semiconductor substrate. In such method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase, a material which contains a component of a thin film to be grown is fed such that a depositional growth of a thin film of a desired component is realized by a chemical contact reaction on a surface of a substrate on which the thin film is to be grown.
Further, an apparatus used to operate said method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase (the CVD method) is divided broadly into a vertical type apparatus which feeds a material gas onto the surface of a silicon semiconductor substrate from above and a horizontal type apparatus which feeds a material gas to the surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate from sideways.
Now, in case where said horizontal type apparatus is used, it is difficult to grow a silicon single crystal layer such as a silicon epitaxial single crystal thin film or the like uniformly on the surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate having a diameter of 200 mm or more. Moreover, the silicon semiconductor substrate having a diameter of 300 mm or more is nowadays in general use. Therefore, the vertical type apparatus is finding a wider application.
Particularly, in order to grow a thin film having uniform inside characteristics, a single wafer type rotary gas phase thin film growth apparatus which is able to rotate the silicon semiconductor substrate is generally adopted out of a variety of vertical type apparatuses.
In addition, as a material gas to grow such thin film, for example to grow a silicon thin film on the surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate, monosilane (SiH4), dichlorosilane (SiH2Cl2), trichlorosilane (SiHcl3), silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) or the like is used as an effective component gas.
Said effective component gas is generally mixed, together with a very small amount of dopant (doping material such as B2H6), with a carrier gas such as hydrogen gas or the like to be fed into a reactor.
Further, in case where said single wafer type vertical rotary gas phase thin film growth apparatus is used to grow the thin film on the surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate by the CVD method, it is known that relationship between the film growth rate and the film-forming temperature of said respective effective component gases is as shown in FIG. 2.
Furthermore, the diagram shown in FIG. 2 is generally called Arrhenius plot, in which a transversal axis is representative of a reciprocal of the temperature whereas a vertical axis is representative of a logarithmically plotted film-forming rate.
It is clear from FIG. 2 that in a high temperature range, a gradient of growth rate is gentle in any effective component gas and a temperature dependency of the growth rate is low, where a film deposition reaction is subject to a material transfer rate.
On the other hand, in a low temperature range, the gradient of growth rate is steep and the temperature dependency of the growing rate is high; that is to say, the film deposition reaction is subject to a reaction rate in this temperature range (low temperature range).
It is clear from the fact mentioned above that the uniformity of the thin film is easily controllable in said high temperature range (material-transfer-rate-dependant area) than in said low temperature range (reaction-rate-dependant area). Therefore, it is general to grow a film (thin film-forming) in the high temperature range. To be more specific, film-forming is done at temperature range of 1000xc2x0 C. to 1200xc2x0 C.
By the way, FIG. 2, shows examples of use of the component gases such as monosilane, dichlorosilane, trichlorosilane and silicon tetrachloride that are effective component gases to grow into a silicon thin film on the silicon semiconductor substrate. Of these component gases, a substance having a larger number of chlorines in a molecule thereof has said material-transfer-rate-dependant area closer to the high temperature side. Therefore, conventionally, in a substance having a larger number of chlorines in its molecules, the CVD reaction thereof must be done at a higher temperature.
As a result, an edge dislocation called xe2x80x9cslipxe2x80x9d is apt to occur within the silicon semiconductor substrate or within the thin film during this heat treatment. Thus, said xe2x80x9cslipxe2x80x9d dislocation is principally caused by stress concentration due to heat distortion or the like. On the other hand, tensile power of the silicon semiconductor substrate decreases as the temperature rises. Therefore, more slip dislocations are observed as the heat treatment temperature (the film forming temperature) rises.
In addition, the silicon semiconductor substrate with a larger diameter is more likely to produce a warp or a deformation. And the warp or the deformation is produced even by a slightest ununiformity in heating or the like in a silicon semiconductor substrate having a diameter of as large as 300 mm or more.
As a result, by a local stress concentration, the slip dislocation occurs more frequently in the treatment at the film-growing temperature which has not been a problem in case where the diameter of the silicon semiconductor substrate is smaller. Recently, as the diameter of the silicon semiconductor substrate tends to be larger, such occurrence of the slip dislocation is becoming a serious problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase which is able to grow a film in a low temperature range, restrain an occurrence of a slip dislocation of a silicon semiconductor substrate and obtain a thin film whose quality is more than or equal to the conventional thin film.
The present invention provides a method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase using a rotary gas phase thin film growing apparatus which feeds a material gas by causing the gas to flow downward from above onto a surface of a rotating silicon semiconductor substrate to grow a thin film thereon such that a thin film-growing reaction is done wherein monosilane gas is used as an effective component of the material gas to grow into a thin film, under a reduced pressure of from 2.7xc3x97102 to 6.7xc3x97103 Pa, with the number of rotations of said silicon semiconductor substrate being from 500 to 2000 minxe2x88x921 and the reaction temperature being from 600xc2x0 C. to 800xc2x0 C.
Here, it is desired that a silicon thin film growth rate of said thin film growing reaction is within a range of 0.01 to 0.5 xcexcm/min.
It is further, desired that composition of said material gas is monosilane gas from 0.5 to 20 mol %, a doping material from 0.1 to 50 ppb and the remainder is a carrier gas. Furthermore, it is desired that said carrier gas is hydrogen gas.
Further, it is desired that the downward flow rate of said material gas is from 0.01 to 0.15 L(litter)/cm2xc2x7min.
The present invention uses the rotary gas phase thin film growing apparatus and the CVD method to grow a thin film on the silicon semiconductor substrate under a specific film-growing condition that is to say, using monosilane as an effective component of the material gas, causing the material gas to flow downward onto the surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate from above, controlling the number of rotation of the silicon semiconductor substrate in a range of 500 to 2000 minxe2x88x921 while operating under a reduced pressure of 2.7xc3x97102 to 6.7xc3x97103 Pa and causing a reaction in a temperature range of 600xc2x0 C. to 800xc2x0 C.
Thereby, an occurrence of a slip dislocation on the silicon semiconductor substrate can be restrained and more particularly, the occurrence of slip dislocation on the silicon semiconductor substrate having a diameter of as large as 300 mm or more can be restrained, which was conventionally considered difficult.
Moreover, a film growth rate is 0.01 to 0.5 xcexcm/min which indicates that it is possible to grow the high or equal quality thin film of uniform thickness without a rapid decrease of a film-growth rate as compared to that of the conventional method.
Furthermore, it is observed that the insulating pressure resistance characteristic of an oxide film obtained by oxidizing the grown thin film has an inside film characteristic of equal to or slightly higher than the thin film formed by a conventional method. Particularly, the method of chemically growing a thin film in a gas phase employed in the present invention is desirable for a method to grow a single crystal thin film such as a silicon epitaxial single crystal layer or the like on the silicon semiconductor substrate. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic recording medium and more particularly a magnetic recording medium having excellent electromagnetic conversion characteristics, improved durability, and reduced dropouts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various magnetic recording media have been proposed for the purpose of increasing-recording density and improving high frequency characteristics.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 4-113510 discloses a magnetic recording medium having a double magnetic layer formed by double coating in order to record low frequency signals and high frequency signals simultaneously. The upper magnetic layer of this magnetic recording medium has a coercive force of 1200 to 2000 Oe, and the lower magnetic layer comprises a Co-containing ferromagnetic oxide. The coercive force of the lower layer is not more than 80% of that of the upper layer. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 2-110824 describes a magnetic recording medium having a double-coated magnetic layer, in which the squareness ratio of the lower layer is smaller than that of the upper layer by at least 0.02. Additionally, a magnetic recording medium having a double-coated magnetic layer in which the upper layer has a thickness of 0.5 to 1.0 .mu.m while the lower layer has a thickness of 2.5 to 3.5 .mu.m (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 62-231426) and a magnetic recording medium having a double-coated magnetic layer in which the upper layer to lower layer thickness ratio is 0.4 to 1.0, which were proposed for the same purpose as described above, are also known.
In order to obtain a high output in an attempt to realize a further increased recording density, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 6-4854 proposes a magnetic recording medium having a double-coated layer in which the lower layer comprises a nonmagnetic substance and the upper layer comprises a magnetic substance and has a thickness of not more than 1.0 .mu.m. However, such a magnetic recording medium cannot assure sufficient output characteristics in recording long wavelengths of 2 .mu.m or longer because the thickness of the upper layer is too small. It follows that the magnetic recording medium fails to obtain well-balanced output characteristics over a low-to-high frequency region.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 62-236132 discloses a magnetic recording medium having a double-coated magnetic layer in which an upper layer comprises vertically oriented barium ferrite and a lower layer comprises an acicular ferromagnetic metal oxide or ferromagnetic metal alloy. Because both the upper and lower layers comprise magnetic powder, the magnetic layers, as a whole, have a considerable thickness. As a result, appreciable influences of self-demagnetization are exerted, making it difficult to obtain a high output in the high frequency region as compared with the above-described thin film type magnetic recording media having a magnetic/nonmagnetic layer structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 6-4854. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In wafer-to-wafer bonding technology, various methods have been developed to bond two package components (such as wafers) together. The available bonding methods include fusion bonding, eutectic bonding, direct metal bonding, hybrid bonding, and the like. In the fusion bonding, an oxide surface of a wafer is bonded to an oxide surface or a silicon surface of another wafer. In the eutectic bonding, two eutectic materials are placed together, and are applied with a high pressure and a high temperature. The eutectic materials are hence melted. When the melted eutectic materials are solidified, the wafers are bonded together. In the direct metal-to-metal bonding, two metal pads are pressed against each other at an elevated temperature, and the inter-diffusion of the metal pads causes the bonding of the metal pads. In the hybrid bonding, the metal pads of two wafers are bonded to each other through direct metal-to-metal bonding, and an oxide surface of one of the two wafers is bonded to an oxide surface or a silicon surface of the other wafer.
The previously developed bonding methods have their advantageous features and disadvantageous features. For example, the fusion bonding requires low forces, and may be performed at room temperature. However, since there is no electrical connection between the bonded wafers, extra electrical connections need to be made to interconnect the bonded wafers. The Eutectic bonding does not require high-quality surfaces, and hence the pre-requirement for a successful bonding is loosened. The accuracy of the eutectic bonding, however, is low, and there may be metal-squeeze problem during the eutectic bonding due to the melting of the bonding metals. The direct metal-to-metal bonding has a high accuracy. The throughput, however, is very low. In the hybrid bonding, there may be dielectric delamination problem. The reason is that in the hybrid bonding, metal pads have higher Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) than the dielectric layers and silicon at the surfaces of the bonded wafers. The greater expansion of the metal pads causes the oxide of one wafer to be pushed away from the silicon or the oxide on the other wafer. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to orbital welders, and more particularly to a novel orbital welder facilitating easier tube alignment and capable of forming non-planar welds.
2. Description of the Background Art
Orbital welders are widely used in the construction of fluid handling systems, for example semiconductor processing equipment. Known orbital welders join metal tubes in an end-to-end fashion by forming a flat, circular weld around the circumference of the tube's open end. One problem encountered by conventional orbital welders is that the ends of the tubes which are to be joined must be carefully aligned prior to performing the welding operation. Additionally, because known orbital welders are limited to forming flat, circular welds (i.e., a circular weld lying in a single plane), special tube preparation is required to weld a cross or a tee ("T") joint.
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a typical orbital welder 100, which includes an insulating housing 102, tube clamps 104 and 106, a rotor 108, a weld tip 110, and a rotation and voltage controller 112. Clamps 104 and 106 hold tubes 114 and 116, respectively, in position for welding, and are maintained at a common voltage (e.g., ground) and in electrical contact with tubes 114 and 116. Rotor 108 is disposed within housing 102 so as to be rotatable about an axis 118 passing through the center of the open ends of tubes 114 and 116. Housing 102 provides electrical insulation between rotor 108 and clamps 104 and 106. Rotation and voltage controller 112 functions to rotate rotor 108 within housing 102, and to apply a voltage, via rotor 108, to attached weld tip 110.
FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of orbital welder 100. As controller 112 rotates rotor 108 about axis 118 and applies a high voltage to weld tip 110, an arc weld 202 is formed between the open ends of tubes 114 and 116. Because clamps 104 and 106 are held at the common voltage, they must be displaced a safe distance from weld tip 110, so as not to generate an arc therebetween. The distance between clamps 104 and 106 and the open ends of tubes 114 and 116 makes alignment of the open ends of tubes 114 and 116 more difficult. Moreover, the interior chambers of known orbital welders are dark, and, therefore, visual confirmation of proper alignment is difficult.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an orbital welder 300 capable of forming a flat "T" weld. Orbital welder 300 includes an insulating housing 302, a tube clamp 304, a "T" fitting clamp 306, a rotor 308, a weld tip 310, and a rotation and voltage controller 312.
Orbital welder 300 functions similarly to orbital welder 100. Clamps 304 and 306 hold a tube 314 and a T-fitting 316 in position and at a common voltage. Rotation and voltage controller 312 causes rotor 312 to rotate about an axis 318, and applies a high voltage, via rotor 308, to weld tip 310. As rotor 308 rotates about axis 318, a weld 320 is formed between the open ends of tube 314 and T-fitting 316.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of T-fitting 316. In order to make T-fitting 316 from a standard piece of tube stock 402, an opening 404 is first cut or ground into the tube stock 402. Next, an extrusion process is required to draw the tube material surrounding opening 404 into an extended portion 406 defining a flat circular opening 408. Because the extrusion process is relatively complex, workers cannot weld T-joints quickly and easily on job sites, from standard tube stock. Additionally, for commonly used 0.25 in. O.D. tubing, the extrusion process is generally limited to tubes with a wall thickness of 0.028 in. or less, and is therefore unavailable for the preferred 0.035 in. walled tubing.
What is need is an orbital welder capable of welding T-joints and cross-joints from standard tube stock. What is also needed is an orbital welder which facilitates easy alignment of the tube pieces which are to be welded. What is also needed is an orbital welder with that facilitates visual confirmation of proper alignment. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Since a fuel cell utilizes energy generated during a binding reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, fuel cells contributes to a next-generation power generation system whose introduction and widespread use are expected from the viewpoint of energy-saving and environmental measures. Examples of the fuel cells include a solid electrolyte fuel cell, a molten carbonate fuel cell, a phosphoric acid fuel cell, and a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell.
Of those, the solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell has high output density, is capable of being reduced in size, operates in lower temperature than other types of fuel cells, and is easily started and stopped. From those advantages, use of solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells for small-sized cogeneration for automobiles and homes has been expected, and has recently been drawing attention particularly.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell (hereinafter, may also be simply referred to as “fuel cell”). FIG. 1(a) is an exploded perspective view of a single cell included in the fuel cell, and FIG. 1(b) is a perspective view of an entire fuel cell made by combining multiple single cells.
As shown in FIG. 1, a fuel cell 1 is a stack of single cells. As shown in FIG. 1(a), viewing a single cell, an anode-side gas diffusion layer (also called “fuel electrode film”, hereinafter, referred to as “anode”) 3 is stacked on one side of a solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2, and a cathode-side gas diffusion layer (also called “oxidizing agent electrode film”, hereinafter, referred to as “cathode”) 4 is stacked on the other side of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2; and on the both sides thereof, separators (bipolar plates) 5a and 5b are stacked, respectively.
Some fuel cells have separators having a gas flow channel for cooling water to pass through, each separator being placed between two adjacent single cells or every several single cells. The present invention also targets at such a water-cooled fuel cell separator.
As a solid polymer electrolyte membrane (hereinafter, simply referred to as “electrolyte membrane”) 2, mainly used is a fluorine-based proton conductive membrane having a hydrogen ion (proton)-exchange group.
As each of the anode 3 and the cathode 4, mainly used is a carbon sheet (or carbon paper having a thickness smaller than the thickness of the carbon sheet, or a carbon cloth having a thickness smaller than the thickness of the carbon paper) obtained by rendering conductive carbon fibers into a sheet shape. There are cases where the anode 3 and the cathode 4 are each provided with a catalyst layer including a particle-shaped platinum catalyst, graphite powder, and, as necessary, a fluorine resin having a hydrogen ion (proton)-exchange group. In those cases, fuel gas or oxidizing gas comes into contact with the catalyst layer and the reaction is promoted.
Regarding the separator 5a, on the surface of the side of the anode 3, a flow path 6a having a groove shape is formed. Fuel gas (hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gas) A flows through the flow path 6a, and the anode 3 is supplied with hydrogen. Regarding the separator 5b, on the surface of the side of the cathode 4, a flow path 6b having a groove shape is formed. Oxidizing gas B such as air flows through the flow path 6b, and the cathode 4 is supplied with oxygen. Supplying of those gases causes an electrochemical reaction to occur and direct-current power to be generated.
Main functions that a separator of a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell is demanded to have are as follows.
(1) A function as a “flow path” for supplying uniformly a surface of the cell with fuel gas or oxidizing gas.
(2) A function as a “flow path” for efficiently discharging water generated at the cathode side outside the system from the fuel cell together with air generated after reaction and a carrier gas such as oxygen.
(3) A function to be a passage for electricity by being in contact with the electrode films (anode 3 and cathode 4) and to be an electrical “connector” between two adjacent single cells.
(4) A function as a “partition wall” between, of adjacent cells, an anode chamber of one cell and a cathode chamber of the other cell.
(5) In a water-cooled fuel cell, a function as a “partition wall” between a cooling water flow path and an adjacent cell.
It is necessary that a material of a base material of a separator for a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell (hereinafter, simply referred to as “separator”) be able to achieve those functions. The materials of a base material is roughly classified into metal-based materials and carbon-based materials. Using a carbon-based material, there is an advantage in that a lightweight separator can be obtained, but there are problems that the carbon-based material has gas permeability (the function as a partition wall is limited) and that the mechanical strength is low.
Examples of the metal-based materials include titanium, stainless steel, and carbon steel. The separator made of those metal-based materials is manufactured by press working and the like. The metal-based materials have, as characteristics unique to metals, advantages that processability is excellent, the thickness of the separator can be decreased, and that the weight of the separator is reduced, but has a risk that the electrical conductivity may decrease due to oxidation of the metal surface. Accordingly, there arises a problem that contact resistance between a separator made of a metal-based material and a gas diffusion layer may increase. In regard to this problem, the following measures are proposed.
Patent Literature 1 proposes a separator in which a surface of a metal member is plated with gold. Patent Literature 2 proposes a separator in which a noble metal thin film layer is formed on a surface of a metal base material.
The separators of Patent Literatures 1 and 2 each include a large amount of a noble metal. Accordingly, a separator in which an amount of gold included is reduced by performing plating with a noble metal partially is proposed. For example, Patent Literature 3 discloses a metal separator including a surface having corrosion resistance and a conductive inclusion shown above the surface, wherein an area other than an area in which the conductive inclusion is shown is covered with gold. Patent Literature 4 discloses a structure (separator) including a gold-plated portion and a non-plated portion on a surface of a titanium base material.
The following are separators which do not include gold. Patent Literature 5 proposes a titanium alloy whose increase in contact resistance is suppressed by pickling a titanium alloy containing one or more platinum group elements and concentrating the platinum group elements on a surface. Patent Literature 6 proposes a titanium separator in which platinum group element(s) is(/are) concentrated on a surface through pickling, and then, in order to improve adhesion between the platinum group element(s) concentrated on the surface and a matrix, heat treatment is performed in a low oxygen concentration atmosphere.
The following are a separator and an electrode, in which a conductive substance is dispersed (scattered) on a surface. Patent Literature 7 discloses a separator in which a metal coating film containing conductive ceramics is formed on a surface. The conductive ceramics are dispersed in the metal coating film. Patent Literature 8 discloses an electrode for electrolysis including a surface layer made of a metal oxide film, wherein a layer immediately under the surface layer includes noble metal(s), and, at an outer layer portion, the noble metal(s) is(/are) precipitated and dispersed in grain boundaries of the metal.
Patent Literature 9 discloses a separator obtained by forming a concave flow path on a titanium substrate, then forming a plated layer made of noble metal(s) such as Au and/or Pt on a substrate, and further performing heat treatment at 300 to 800° C. Patent Literature 10 discloses a corrosion-resistant conductive covering material in which a platinum group metal-plated layer is formed on an outer layer of a metal substrate, and two intermediate layers are formed between the metal substrate and the plated layer, the two intermediate layers including, from the side of the metal substrate, a layer (A): a thin film made of oxides of metals in the fourth group and the fifth group; and a layer (B): a thin film containing platinum group metal(s) or the oxide(s) thereof. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A common problem associated with drugs intended for parenteral, and especially intravenous, administration has been the solubilization of a slightly soluble or water-insoluble active ingredient (Sweetana et al., PDA J. Pharm. Sci. & Tech., 50, 330 (1995)). As a result, many drugs of potential benefit in cancer chemotherapy and other areas of therapeutics have been abandoned. Methods have been developed whereby drugs can be enveloped in micelles and placed into aqueous solutions (Hawthorne et al., J. Neurooncol., 33, 53–58 (1997)). Likewise, cosolvents and complexing agents allow some drugs to be dissolved in water (Badwan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,131). The use of these reagents, however, can be complex and have negative attributes due to the additional reagent required to dissolve the active ingredient (Sweetana et al. (1995), supra). Prodrugs also have been developed by attaching groups, such as phosphates and other conjugates, to increase their solubility and enhance their performance (Schacter et al., Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol., 34, S58 (1994); Kingston et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,324).
One water-insoluble drug of potential beneficial use in cancer therapy is geldanamycin. The drug is an ansamycin isolated from the broth of Streptomyces hygroscopicus var. geldanus (DeBoer et al., Antiobiot., 23, 442 (1970)). It has been found to exert its antiproliferating and anticancer activities by binding with the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) chaperone and, in turn, altering the translocation properties of the tumor suppressor protein p53 (Stebbins et al., Cell, 239 (1997); Sepehrnia et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271, 15,084 (1996); Dasgupta et al., Experimental Cell Research, 29, 237 (1997)). Despite its therapeutic potential as an anticancer agent, initial studies indicate that the bioavailability of geldanamycin must be enhanced and the toxicity associated with the natural product reduced before significant progress can be made with respect to the anticancer use of geldanamycin. Chemical modifications of geldanamcyin could potentially provide analogs with improved bioactivity and bioavailability. While derivatives of geldanamycin have been developed to enhance the cancer-fighting effects of the drug, the low solubility of such derivatives have required the use of emulsifying or suspending agents in order to obtain aqueous solutions. This has tended to reduce the bioavailability of the drug, and has thereby affected its utility as an anticancer agent.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing a method of producing water-soluble analogues of water-insoluble drugs and, in particular, by providing a water-soluble analogue of the anticancer drug geldanamycin. Due to its thiol ether linkage, the analogue is expected to exhibit superior bioavailability and stability under physiological conditions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A welding fume collection process that meets the Laboratory Method for Measuring Fume Generation Rates and Total Fume Emission of Welding and Allied Processes, ANSI/AWS F1.2-92 and AWS F1.2:1999 uses a fume collection chamber. With reference to FIG. 1, a known fume collection chamber A includes a circular chamber housing B upon which a conical hood C is permanently welded. The conical hood C communicates with a vacuum source, which is provided by an air line hose D connected to a Venturri apparatus, to provide an airflow in the chamber so that welding fumes can be collected.
A primary filter E is disposed inside and near the top of the conical hood C. The primary filter E is sealed by compressing the filter around a rubber gasket F attached to a screen G, which is attached to the conical hood C. The primary filter E is made from a material that can allow the passage of fine particles in the fume emissions, especially during the initial start up of the test. Accordingly, a secondary filter H is disposed in a cylindrical filter housing I that is in communication with the conical hood C. The air line D also communicates with the secondary filter housing I so that air is drawn through the housing. Welding is performed on a turntable J disposed in the housing.
Loading and changing of the primary filter E requires tilting back nearly the entire assembly on hinges K. Removal and installation of the primary filter E is done from inside the chamber. During a test, the primary filter E can fall out of the gasket F and/or lose its seal, whereby an airflow path can develop bypassing the primary filter, which results in an unusable test. While running the test, one is unable to determine whether the primary filter E has fallen out or lost its seal. Furthermore, emissions that pass through both the filters E and H can travel through the air line hose D en route to a muffler (not shown), which can result in blockage in the muffler and loss of vacuum pressure in the chamber. Also, airflow through the chamber is difficult to regulate. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure detecting apparatus constituted by integrating a pressure sensor having a built-in semiconductor pressure-detecting device provided with a gauge resistance and a solenoid valve for controlling a channel of a measurement fluid into one body.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional pressure detecting apparatus.
In FIG. 6, a pressure sensor 100 is set so that a semiconductor pressure-detecting device partitions the inside of a sensor vessel 101 into a reference pressure chamber and a measurement fluid introduction chamber. Moreover, a nipple 102 for introducing a measurement fluid into the measurement fluid introduction chamber is provided for the sensor vessel 101.
The pressure sensor 100 is set to a bracket 106 together with a solenoid valve 103. Moreover, the nipple 102 and an outlet 105 of the solenoid valve 103 are connected each other by a hose 107.
The conventional pressure detecting apparatus thus constituted is set to, for example, the chassis in an engine room and used by connecting a hose from an engine intake pipe to an inlet 104 of the solenoid valve 103.
Moreover, intake air introduced from the engine intake pipe through the hose is introduced into the measurement fluid introduction chamber through the inlet 104, outlet 105, hose 107, and nipple 102 when the solenoid valve 103 opens. Therefore, in the pressure sensor 100, the semiconductor pressure-detecting device is distorted due to the differential pressure between the reference pressure chamber and the measurement fluid introduction chamber and the pressure of the intake air is detected.
As described above, the conventional pressure detecting apparatus requires the bracket 106 and the hose 107 in order to integrate the pressure sensor 100 and the solenoid valve 103 into one body because the pressure sensor 100 and the solenoid valve 103 are separate products. Thus, problems occur that a unit is increased in size and a large setting space is necessary.
Moreover, because the pressure sensor 100 and the solenoid valve 103 are respectively provided with a connector for electrical connection, problems occur that two pairs of connectors are also necessary for the chassis harness side and the connecting operation becomes troublesome. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to video editing systems, and more particularly to the composing of an image to be used in a video in a video editing system.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and data as described below and in the drawings hereto: Copyright(copyright) 2000, Microsoft Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
Conventional video editing systems (VES) compose video from a number of different media types, such as video objects, text objects, and image objects. VES""s have a separate rendering subsystem for each of the media types, that renders the object and then pass the object to a composition engine. The composition engine combines video objects, text objects and image objects into a combined image. After the composition engine combines all of the objects, it renders the combined image back to the composition space, a file, or a device. Because each of the components of the VES, such as the rendering subsystems, composition engine and composition space, are developed as separate pieces, the system is inherently closed, making it difficult to add, extend, or enhance the features, functions and/or the capabilities of the video editing system. More specifically, it is difficult to add a chart, texture, or some not-yet-thought-of control to a video.
Furthermore, each rendering subsystem supports an effects engine to change the look of an object at a specified or predetermined point in time. For example, an effect can be added to a piece of text to fade or scroll away when the life span of the text expires.
The composition space and the composition engine require position information and timing information for each object. Timing information specifies an amount of time that an object is displayed. The VES must also be able to save or embed this information so that the information can be edited at a future point in time.
Furthermore, there are no standards for the layout and position of objects in a video. The systems are closed, so all of the layout must be done within the tool itself. The layout cannot be machine generated or automated (or localized, version controlled, etc.)
In addition, each rendering subsystem supports an effects engine, the functionality of which is duplicated in browsers. This is problematic because the duplication of functionality requires additional disk space to store the software component, slows performance of the application, and adds complexity to the development of the software components that could reduce the quality of the software components.
Lastly, conventional VES""s are installed and executed locally on computers. Installing, deploying and maintaining VES""s on locally on computers is expensive because the installation, version control, and multiple system configurations are managed on numerous physically separate machines.
The above-mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed by the present invention, which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
The present invention uses a browser as the composition space in a video editing system (VES), thereby providing a video editing system that is open and extensible. A standard format or language, such as hyper-text-markup-language (HTML), is used to define the image layout. Therefore, the present invention enables image composition using conventional HTML authoring tools system. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the present invention is implemented as an application service provider (ASP) service offered through the Internet.
In one aspect of the invention, a method for composing a video stream uses a standard composition environment as the composition space for image editing. The method includes initializing control of the timing of a display-language-renderer, such as an HTML browser, attaching a frame grabber service to the display-language-renderer, progressing the timing of the display-language-renderer, rendering an image from the display engine into a screen buffer including at least multi-media object, invoking the frame grabber service, and combining the image with at least one other image, yielding a video stream.
In another aspect of the invention, the method includes asserting control of the timing of a display-language-renderer, a display-language document, and a source of multimedia information. The method also includes removing external audio and video sources from the display-language document and attaching the external audio and video sources to a video compositor engine. Furthermore, the method includes attaching a frame grabber service to the display-language-renderer. Subsequently, the method includes progressing the timing of the display-language-renderer, the display-language document, and the multimedia information. Thereafter, an image is rendered into a screen buffer of the display-language-renderer from the document, and the multimedia information is composited with the rendered image and the multimedia information. Thereafter, the method includes invoking the frame grabber service, and combining the composited images with other images in a video stream.
In yet another aspect of the invention, an apparatus includes a display-language-renderer, that receives an HTML document. The renderer generates a composed image from the HTML document. The composed image is generated in a compositor of the renderer. The apparatus also includes a timing service attached to the renderer. The timing service is controlled by a video editing system. The apparatus also includes a video compressor that communicates with the renderer that receives the composed image from the renderer and combines the composed image with other composed images, yielding a video stream.
In still another aspect of the invention, an apparatus includes display-language-renderer that receives an HTML document. The renderer generates a composed image from the HTML document. The apparatus also includes a compositor that is external to the renderer. The compositor is coupled to the renderer. The compositor receives the composed image and multimedia data. The compositor has a timing service. The compositor timing service is attached to the multimedia resource and the HTML document.
A second timing service is attached to the compositor and the second timing service controlled by a VES.
When the second timing service is incremented by the VES, the compositor timing service that is attached to the multimedia resource and the HTML document, is thereby incremented, and the compositor generates a second image from the composed image and the resource.
The present invention is suitable for use by application service provider (ASP) systems and/or a web-based implementation of a video editing system where the rendering portion of the present invention is distributed among rendering components that are distributed across communication lines.
The present invention describes systems, clients, servers, methods, and computer-readable media of varying scope. In addition to the aspects and advantages of the present invention described in this summary, further aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent by reference to the drawings and by reading the detailed description that follows. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The prior art includes a variety of constant rate flow controllers employing elastomeric elements that are deformable in proportion to the applied pressure to vary the area of a flow passage. Such devices are found, for example, in faucet spouts, drinking fountains, showerheads, shower arms, automatic washing machines and agricultural drip irrigators and each of these applications may have a relatively broad range of flow rate requirements. The flow rate of a given device depends on a number of factors including the geometry and modulus of elasticity of the elastomeric element and the geometry of the members cooperating with the elastomeric element. Thus, in many prior art devices the properties of the elastomeric element and of the cooperating members must be tailored to provide a particular flow rate. This results in increased manufacturing costs due to the need, for example, for a multiplicity of mold cavities of different geometries.
As dwelling construction and plumbing materials become lighter, an emerging problem that has not been satisfactorily solved by the prior art is that of excessive noise generated by flow control devices, particularly at high flow rates and pressures. Illustrative of the attempts to meet this problem are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,630,455 and 3,642,031. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,455, however, employs an elastomeric flow disk having projections that are in frictional engagement with a perforated plate. As a result, these projections tend to wear rapidly thereby altering the flow rate of the device. The insertion of a noise-reducing fibrous plug in the flow path, as suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,031, causes clogging as well as eventual hardening of the plug caused by interaction with the minerals carried by the water.
Moreover, many flow control devices of the prior art tend to be complex and costly. In some cases, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,878,836 (Binks), the flow control element comprises a multiple-part structure that must be assembled before incorporation into the housing of the flow control device. High material cost is also a factor in those devices employing relatively large elastomeric elements.
Furthermore, many of the flow control devices of the prior art cannot be used in conjunction with laminar stream devices (such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,276 (Nelson)) because the characteristics of the water flow discharged from the flow control device is not compatible therewith.
In view of the foregoing, an overall object of the present invention is to provide an improved flow control device of the type incorporating an elastomeric element and which is capable of accurately controlling flow rates in a variety of plumbing system environments.
Another object of the invention is to provide a flow control device in which a single elastomeric element of preselected geometric and material properties that cooperates with a member having a single basic design may be used to provide a broad range of flow rates.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a flow control device that is extremely quiet in operation across a wide range of pressures and flow rates.
A further object of the invention is the provision of a flow control device that is simple, economical and easy to maintain.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a flow control device employing an elastomeric element that is not subject to wear and therefore has a long life.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved flow control device that is compatible with the production of a laminar stream from a faucet spout. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There has been used a recording medium, such as a DVD, capable of readily recording content data, such as video images and audio, and other various data. Moreover, in order to record the content data and the other various data with a larger data amount into one recording medium, there has been developed a dual-layer type recording medium on which two recording layers are laminated, which is already commercialized in some field.
In order to preferably record the content data and the other various data with a larger data amount into such a recording medium, it is necessary to calibrate the power of laser light, which is irradiated to record the data. The power calibration is performed by recording an OPC pattern into a PCA (Power Calibration Area), an IDTA (Inner Disc Testing Area), an ODTA (Outer Disc Testing Area), or the like. The process related to the power calibration is generally referred to as OPC (Optimum Power Control).
On the other hand, in the dual-layer type recording medium, a middle area for preventing the runaway of an optical pickup which irradiates the laser light is generated immediately before the ODTA located on the outer circumferential side, at the time of finalize process. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a novel microfluidic device and methods of using this device to conduct in vitro studies on the reaction and effects of various compounds on cells.
The following references are cited in the application.
1. Harrison et al., Science; (1993) 261:895-897.
2. Fluri et al., Analy. Chem.; (1996) 68:4285-4290
3. Kitagawa et al., Electrophoresis; (1995) 16:1364-1368
4. Kricka et al., Pure and Applied Chemistry; (1996) 68:1831-1836
5. Fettinger et al. Sens Actuat B. 17 (1993) 19
6. Zimmerman et al., The electromanipulation of cells, CRC Press (1996)
7. Fan et al., D. J. Anal Chem.; (1994) 66:177-184
8. Slappendel et al., J. J. Blood; (1994) 84:904-909
9. Agar et al., Red Blood Cells of Domestic Mammals; Elsevier; Amsterdam (1983)
10. Greenwalt et al., The human red cell in vivo; Grune and Stratton; New York (1973)
11. Harrison et al., Science; (1993) 261:895-897
12. Effenhauser et al., Anal Chem; (1993) 65:2637-2642
13. Seiler et al., Anal Chem; (1993) 65:1481-1488
14. Lehninger, A. L. Biochemistry; 2nd ed.; Worth Publishers: New York (1975)
15. Berry, D. R. The Biology of Yeast; E. Arnold: London (1982)
16. Rech et al., Nucleic Acids Res; (1990) 18:1313
17. Crowley, J. M. Biophys. J.; (1973) 13:711-724
18. Zimmermann et al., Biophys. J.; (1974) 14:881-889
19. Serpersu et al., Biochim, Biophys, Acta; (1985) 812, 779
20. Dower et al., Nucleic Acids Res.; (1988) 16:6127-6145
21. Hagar et al., Cell Calcium; (1992) 13:123
22. Boyum, A., xe2x80x9cSeparation of leucocytes from blood and bone marrowxe2x80x9d, Scand. J. Clin. Invest. (1968) 21, Suppl.97
The in vitro manipulation, study and processing of individual cells continues to be of importance both for theoretical evaluation as well as for the in vitro assaying of compounds for biological activity in such cells. However, conventional biological assay systems such as flow cytometry and cell perfusion chambers are typically operated with from 1 ml to 100 ml of reagents or more. A further disadvantage of techniques involving large volumes of cells is the inability to observe the effects on a cell both before, during and after it comes into contact with a candidate compound. Finally, statistical variations within a population of cells can limit the ability to resolve the effect of a compound.
Recently small disposable devices have been developed for handling biological samples and for conducting in vitro experiments on a controlled basis. For example, microchips have been used to electrophoretically separate mixtures of amino acids (1). Fluri et al. (2) also describe an integrated capillary electrophoresis device where electrophoresis is used to separate mixtures of amino acids.
The manipulation of a single cell by its electrophoretic mobility has been shown in a capillary. (3). Microchips have been designed to evaluate sperm function, principally motility, for in vitro fertilization. (4).
Analysis of the effects of candidate compounds on cell function demands careful handling of candidate compounds which are often limited in both quantity and concentration. The ability to observe the effect of the candidate compounds on individual cells in a device potentially suitable for a high level of multiplexing makes miniaturized analysis very attractive. Furthermore, the ability to observe the effect of a candidate compound on non-adherent cells would be of benefit.
Microfluidic systems embodied in a microchip would use small volumes, providing cost saving advantages for work involving expensive reagents, especially candidate compounds made for new drug screening and of course would reduce the amount of candidate compound required.
The ability to sort cell responses into classes and analyze each class separately would reduce the apparent statistical variation seen when large number of cells are evaluated en masse. Single cell studies would also allow the progression of events within a single cell to be evaluated, in contrast to flow cytometry where a progression of events is studied over an ensemble of cells. Statistical variations within an ensemble can limit the ability to resolve a particular effect, whereas working with individual cells will maximize resolution and signal to noise for a given event.
It would be therefore advantageous to manipulate and transport cells within a microfabricated reaction device thereby allowing the observation of the cell reactions.
The present invention is directed to a method of observing the effect of a compound or a mixture of compounds on cells in a microfluidic device having a main flow path having a detection zone, at least two inlet flow paths intersecting and merging with the main flow path at or upstream of the detection zone; applying at least one cell to a first inlet flow path and the desired compound to a second inlet flow path; inducing flow of the cells and the desired compound toward the outlet; allowing the cells to mix with the desired compound at the intersection of the second inlet flow path and the main flow path; and observing the effect of the compound on the cells in the detection zone.
In one of its method aspects the present invention is directed to a method for studying calcium influx on a cell in a microfluidic system having a main flow path having a detection zone and an outlet, at least two inlet flow paths sequentially intersecting and merging with the main flow path upstream of the detection zone applying lymphocytes to a first inlet flow path and an activator to a second inlet flow path; inducing flow of the lymphocytes and the activator toward the outlet; allowing the lymphocytes to interact with the activator at the intersection of the second inlet and the main flow path; and observing the effect of the activator on the lymphocytes in the detection zone. The method wherein the device further comprises a third inlet flow path which intersects with the main flow path upstream of the detection zone and an inhibitor is added to the third inlet flow path and the effect of the inhibitor is observed in the detection zone.
In another of its method aspects the present invention is directed to a method for studying leukocyte rolling comprising a microfluidic system having a main flow path with a detection zone and an outlet, at least two inlet flow paths intersecting into the main flow path upstream of the detection zone and wherein the walls of main flow path in the detection zone have attached thereto a cell adhesion molecule; applying at least one leukocyte cell to a first inlet flow path; applying a candidate compound to a second inlet flow path; inducing flow of the cells and the candidate compound toward the outlet; allowing the leukocytes; candidate compound and the cell adhesion molecules to interact; and observing the leukocyte rolling in the detection zone. The method wherein the device further comprises at least two detection zones wherein the walls of the main flow path in the first detection zone are free of adhesion molecules and the walls of the main flow path in the second detection zone have adhesion molecules attached thereto and observing the rolling of the leukocytes in both detection zones.
In one of its product aspects the present invention is directed to a microfluidic device comprising a main flow path comprising a detection zone and an outlet; at least two inlet flow paths intersecting in fluid communication with the main flow path at or upstream of the detection zone at an upstream angle of less than 90xc2x0.
In another of its product aspects the present invention is directed to an observation device comprising a plurality of the microfluidic devices of the present invention wherein the main flow paths of the microfluidic devices are substantially parallel at their detection zones. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Data storage devices are used in a variety of applications to store and retrieve user data. In such devices the user data are often stored on internal storage media in a housing that is sealed to isolate the media from potentially deleterious contamination from an external atmosphere.
The data storage media can be one of a variety of forms, such as rotatable discs accessed by a data transducer array supported by a moveable actuator, such as found in hard disk drives. In such drives, a sophisticated preamplifier and write driver chip is positioned in close proximity to the read write heads, usually on the actuator, for signal integrity purposes.
The enclosed environment, and the insulation qualities of a flexible circuit that supports the preamplifier, can present difficulties with regard to the efficient dissipation of thermal energy generated during operation of the device. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to fabrication processes suitable for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits ("ICs"), and more particularly to a two-step borophosphosilicate glass ("BPSG") deposition process and related devices and apparatus.
The fabrication sequence of integrated circuits often includes several patterning processes. The patterning processes may define a layer of conductors, such as a patterned metal or polysilicon layer, or may define isolation structures, such as trenches. In many cases the trenches are filled with an insulating, or dielectric, material. This insulating material can serve several functions. The material serves to electrically isolate one region of the IC from another, and can also electrically passivate the surface of the trench. The material also typically provides a base for the next layer of the semiconductor to be built upon.
After patterning a substrate, that material is not flat. The topology of the pattern can interfere with or degrade subsequent wafer processing steps. It is often desirable to create a flat surface over the patterned material. Several methods have been developed to create such a flat, or "planarized", surface. Examples include depositing a conformal layer of material of sufficient thickness and polishing the wafer to obtain a flat surface, depositing a conformal layer of material of sufficient thickness and etching the layer back to form a planarized surface, and forming a layer of relatively low-melting point material, such as BPSG, and then heating the wafer sufficiently to cause the BPSG to melt and flow as a liquid, resulting in a flat surface upon cooling. Each process has attributes that make that process desirable for a specific application.
Forming and then melting a layer of BPSG is a desirable layer-forming process for many reasons. The re-flow (melting) temperature of the BPSG is fairly low and the re-flow time is fairly brief, thus re-flow may be accomplished without significantly adding to the thermal budget of the device fabrication sequence. Additionally, BPSG may be doped to various doping concentrations to vary the re-flow characteristics. BPSG can flow to fill very fine features on the surface of a substrate, and can fill trenches of varying widths on a single substrate.
As semiconductor design has advanced, the feature size of the semiconductor devices has dramatically decreased. Many circuits now have features, such as traces or trenches less than a micron across. While the reduction in feature size has allowed higher device density, more chips per wafer, more complex circuits, lower operating power consumption, and lower cost, the smaller geometries have also given rise to new problems, or have resurrected problems that were once solved for larger geometries.
An example of the type of manufacturing challenge presented by sub-micron devices is the ability to completely fill a narrow trench in a void-free manner. To fill a trench with BPSG, a layer of BPSG is first deposited on the patterned substrate. The BPSG layer typically covers the field, as well as walls and bottom of the trench. If the trench is wide and shallow, it is relatively easy to completely fill the trench with BPSG. As the trench gets narrower and the aspect ratio (the ratio of the trench height to the trench width) increases, it becomes more likely that the opening of the trench will "pinch off".
Pinching off a trench traps a void within the trench. Under certain conditions, the void will be filled during the re-flow process; however, as the trench becomes narrower, it becomes more likely that the void will not be filled during the reflow process. Such voids are undesirable as they can reduce the yield of good chips per wafer and the reliability of the devices. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to fill narrow gaps with BPSG in a void-free manner. It is also desirable that the process used to deposit and reflow BPSG be efficient, reliable, and result in a high yield of devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to a fuser member, a method for fabricating the fuser member, and a method of fusing toner images in electrostatographic reproducing apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a fuser member which may preferably take the form of a fuser roll, pressure roll or release agent donor roll containing an overcoating of a grafted titamer composition.
As used herein, the term grafted titamer refers to a composition comprised of substantially uniform integral interpenetrating networks of haloelastomer, titanium oxide, and polyorganosiloxane, wherein both the structure and the composition of the haloelastomer, titanium oxide, and polyorganosiloxane are substantially uniform when viewed through different slices of the fuser member. The grafted titamer may contain in embodiments other compounds or derivatives thereof disclosed herein including, for example, an amine coupler compound.
The phrase interpenetrating network refers to the intertwining of the haloelastomer, titanium oxide and polyorganosiloxane polymer strands for the grafted titamer.
In a typical electrostatographic reproducing apparatus, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member and the latent image is subsequently rendered visible by the application of electroscopic thermoplastic resin particles which are commonly referred to as toner. The visible toner image is then in a loose powdered form and can be easily disturbed or destroyed. The toner image is usually fixed or fused upon a support which may be the photosensitive member itself or other support sheet such as plain paper.
The use of thermal energy for fixing toner images onto a support member is well known. To fuse electroscopic toner material onto a support surface permanently by heat, it is necessary to elevate the temperature of the toner material to a point at which the constituents of the toner material coalesce and become tacky. This heating causes the toner to flow to some extent into the fibers or pores of the support member. Thereafter, as the toner material cools, solidification of the toner material causes the toner material to be firmly bonded to the support.
Typically, the thermoplastic resin particles are fused to the substrate by heating to a temperature of between about 90.degree. C. to about 160.degree. C. or higher depending upon the softening range of the particular resin used in the toner. It is undesirable, however, to raise the temperature of the substrate substantially higher than about 200.degree. C. because of the tendency of the substrate to discolor at such elevated temperatures, particularly when the substrate is paper.
Several approaches to thermal fusing of electroscopic toner images have been described in the prior art. These methods include providing the application of heat and pressure substantially concurrently by various means: a roll pair maintained in pressure contact; a belt member in pressure contact with a roll; and the like. Heat may be applied by heating one or both of the rolls, plate members or belt members. The fusing of the toner particles takes place when the proper combination of heat, pressure and contact time are provided. The balancing of these parameters to achieve the fusing of the toner particles is well known in the art, and they can be adjusted to suit particular machines or process conditions.
During operation of a fusing system in which heat is applied to cause thermal fusing of the toner particles onto a support, both the toner image and the support are passed through a nip formed between the roll pair, or plate or belt members. The concurrent transfer of heat and the application of pressure in the nip, effects the fusing of the toner image onto the support. It is important in the fusing process that no offset of the toner particles from the support to the fuser member takes place during normal operations. Toner particles offset onto the fuser member may subsequently transfer to other parts of the machine or onto the support in subsequent copying cycles, thus increasing the background or interfering with the material being copied there. The so called "hot offset" occurs when the temperature of the toner is raised to a point where the toner particles liquefy and a splitting of the molten toner takes place during the fusing operation with a portion remaining on the fuser member. The hot offset temperature or degradation of the hot offset temperature is a measure of the release property of the fuser roll, and accordingly it is desired to provide a fusing surface which has a low surface energy to provide the necessary release. To ensure and maintain good release properties of the fuser roll, it has become customary to apply release agents to the fuser roll during the fusing operation. Typically, these materials are applied as thin films of, for example, silicone oils to prevent toner offset.
Particularly preferred fusing systems take the form of a heated cylindrical fuser roll having a fusing surface which is backed by a cylindrical pressure roll forming a fusing nip there between. A release agent donor roll is also provided to deliver release agent to the fuser roll. While the physical and performance characteristics of each of these rolls, and particularly of their functional surfaces are not precisely the same depending on the various characteristics of the fusing system desired, the same classes of materials are typically used for one or more of the rolls in a fusing system in a electrostatographic printing system.
One fusing system involved the use of silicone elastomer fusing surfaces, such as a roll with a silicone oil release agent which could be delivered to the fuser roll by a silicone elastomer donor roll. The silicone elastomers and silicone oil release agents used in such systems are described in numerous patents and are fairly collectively illustrated in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,087 to Heeks et al. While highly successful in providing a fusing surface with a very low surface energy to provide excellent release properties to ensure that the toner is completely released from the fuser roll during the fusing operation, these systems suffer from a significant deterioration in physical properties over time in a number of fusing environments. In particular, the silicone oil release agent tends to penetrate the surface of the silicone elastomer fuser members resulting in swelling of the body of the elastomer causing major mechanical failure including debonding of the elastomer from the substrate, softening and reduced toughness of the elastomer causing it to chunk out and crumble, contaminating the machine and providing non-uniform delivery of release agent. Furthermore, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,087, additional deterioration of physical properties of silicone elastomers results from the oxidative crosslinking, particularly of a fuser roll at elevated temperatures.
A more recent development in fusing systems involves the use of fluoroelastomers as fuser members which have a surface with a metal containing filler. The polymeric release agents having functional groups interact with the metal containing filler in the fluoroelastomer surface. Such fusing systems, fusing members and release agents, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,181 to Lentz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,699 to Lentz and U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,179 to Seanor, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated by reference. Typically, the fluoroelastomers are (1) copolymers of vinylidenefluoride and hexafluoropropylene, and (2) terpolymers of vinylidene fluoride, hexafluoropropylene and tetrafluoroethylene. Commercially available materials include: Viton E430, Viton GF and other Viton designations as Trademarks of E.I. Dupont deNemours, Inc. as well as the Fluorel materials of 3M Company. The preferred curing system for these materials is a nucleophilic system with a bisphenol crosslinking agent to generate a covalently crosslinked network polymer formed by the application of heat following basic dehydrofluorination of the copolymer. Exemplary of such a fuser member is an aluminum base member with a poly(vinylidenefluoridehexafluoropropylene) copolymer cured with a bisphenol curing agent having copper oxide or lead oxide filler dispersed therein and utilizing a mercapto functional polyorganosiloxane oil as a release agent. The use of polymeric release agents having functional groups which interact with a fuser member to form a thermally stable, renewable self-cleaning layer having release properties for electroscopic thermoplastic resin toners is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,827 to Imperial et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,686 to Strella et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,140 also to Strella et al., the disclosures of which are totally incorporated by reference.
However, a significant problem of the fluoroelastomer/metal oxide material such as Viton/copper oxide is its relative instability against certain charge control additives which reduces the life of the fusing components, especially for fusing of colored toner. Thus, there is a need for a fusing component material which exhibits one or more of the following characteristics: superior toughness, excellent wear resistance, excellent release capability, and degradation resistance against charge control additives.
Various compositions for components of fuser members are known as illustrated by: Badesha et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,788; Eddy et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,432; Henry, "Fuser Roll Coatings," Xerox Disclosure Journal, Vol. 4, No. 6, p. 821 (November/December 1979); and Badesha et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,031.
Compositions containing organic and inorganic components and processes for the preparation thereof include: Badesha et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,703; Yu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,624; Badesha et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,980; Santoso et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,434; Bjerk et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,100; Marzocchi, U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,163; Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 3,663,842, Lentz et al., "Filler Treatments For Thermally Conductive Silicone Elastomers," Xerox Disclosure Journal, Vol. 5, No. 5, pp. 493-94 (September/October 1980); Wilkes et al., "`Ceramers`: Hybrid Materials Incorporating Polymeric/Oligomeric Species Into Inorganic Glasses Utilizing A Sol-Gel Approach", ACS Polymer Reprints, Vol. 26 (2), pp. 300-301 (1985); Lin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,503; and Kirby et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,228.
Badesha et al., U.S. Ser. No. 08/044,870, filed Apr. 8, 1993 (Attorney Docket No. D/92067), discloses a fuser member comprising a supporting substrate and a layer comprised of integral interpenetrating networks of haloelastomer and silica.
Badesha et al., U.S. Ser. No. 08/044,860, filed Apr. 8, 1993 (Attorney Docket No. D/92067Q), discloses a fuser member comprising a supporting substrate and a layer comprised of integral interpenetrating networks of haloelastomer, silica, and polyorganosiloxane. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Chitin is one of the most abundant polymers on the planet, yet it is highly insoluble and only a few organisms can degrade it down to simple monomers. It is a long chain polymer of N-acetylglucosamine that is produced by crustaceans (crabs, lobster, shrimp), mollusks, cephalopods (squid, octopus), insects, fungi, and yeasts. At present most known chitin degraders are microorganisms that are aerobic heterotrophs. In other words, they require oxygen to metabolize chitin as a source of energy, carbon, and nitrogen. Other chitin degraders require that an independent source of organic compounds be added to the culture medium as an energy source. Thus current schemes to use the microbial degradation of chitin as a source for biomass or biofuel production, large scale culture conditions require abundant aeration and for the oxygen tensions to be carefully monitored and controlled. For some species of microorganism, an external source of carbon and energy must be provided (in the form, for example, of yeast extract). Both of these requirements add significantly to the cost and energy required to carry out large-scale degradation of chitin for the purposes of biomass production.
A need remains for an efficient method that uses the abundant polymer chitin as a nitrogen source to produce biomass, particularly cyanobacterial or algal biomass, on a commercial scale. In order to make the subject process as carbon neutral as possible, the method should replace the use of carbon-intensive materials, such as conventional nitrogen-based fertilizers, with carbon neutral alternatives. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
When hay is cut, the cutting machine typically leaves the hay in the field in long windrows. The cut hay is baled with balers which are driven along these windrows and which pick up the hay. When sufficient hay is accumulated in the baler, it is wrapped with twine and ejected from the baler, typically onto the ground. As a result, a large number of bales are left scattered over the field. Bales come in different sizes and shapes, and include large rectangular bales measuring roughly four feet (4') by four feet (4') by eight feet (8') and weighing up to two thousand pounds.
Some mechanical devices for picking up, moving and stacking these large rectangular bales have been developed, but they either don't carry very many bales or they are not suited for road travel. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a convenient and automated system for loading a large number of the large rectangular bales onto a vehicle, transporting them relatively long distances to a storage area and unloading them. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present application is related to Merck 19275, 18996 and 18996IA.
The present invention is concerned with a novel process for synthesizing compounds that inhibit the protease encoded by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and in particular certain oligopeptide analogs, such as derivatives of Compound J in the Examples below. These compounds are of value in the prevention of infection by HIV, the treatment of infection by HIV and the treatment of the resulting acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). These compounds are also useful for inhibiting renin and other proteases.
A retrovirus designated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the etiological agent of the complex disease that includes progressive destruction of the immune system (acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS) and degeneration of the central and peripheral nervous system. This virus was previously known as LAV, HTLV-III, or ARV. A common feature of retrovirus replication is the extensive post-translational processing of precursor polyproteins by a virally encoded protease to generate mature viral proteins required for virus assembly and function. Inhibition of this processing prevents the production of normally infectious virus. For example, Kohl, N. E. et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci., 85, 4686 (1988) demonstrated that genetic inactivation of the HIV encoded protease resulted in the production of immature, non-infectious virus particles. These results indicate that inhibition of the HIV protease represents a viable method for the treatment of AIDS and the prevention or treatment of infection by HIV.
The nucleotide sequence of HIV shows the presence of a pol gene in one open reading frame [Ratner, L. et at., Nature, 313, 277 (1985)]. Amino acid sequence homology provides evidence that the pol sequence encodes reverse transcriptase, an endonuclease and an HIV protease [Toh, H. et al., EMBO J., 4, 1267 (1985); Power, M. D. et at., Science, 231, 1567 (1986); Pearl, L. H. et al., Nature, 329, 351 (1987)]. Compounds, including certain oligopeptide analogs that can be made from the novel processes of this invention are inhibitors of HIV protease, and are disclosed in EPO 541,168, which published on May 12, 1993. See, for example, Compound J therein.
Previously, the synthesis of Compound J and related compounds was accomplished via a 12-step procedure. This procedure is described in EPO 541,168. The extreme length of this route (12 steps), renders this process time consuming and labor intensive, and it requires the use of many presently expensive reagents and a presently expensive starting material. A route requiring fewer reaction steps and reagents would provide desirable economical and time-saving benefits.
Applicants have identified and synthesized a variety of derivatives of Compound J, by incubating Compound J with a selected microbial system, MA7074. The new compounds are active and potent inhibitors of HIV protease.
The 2,3-cis-hydroxy analogue of Compound J has previously been synthesized by chemical synthesis. Chemical reactions are usually complex, expensive, and due to the usage of various chemicals and solvents are environmentally damaging. The 3-Keto analogue of Compound J is a novel structure and showed less HIV-protease activity than Compound J. Because of the availability of a keto group this compound is useful as starting material for the synthesis of other derivatives. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The chemical processes of the present invention provide novel antibacterial agents of the .beta.-lactam type containing a hitherto unknown nucleus and useful intermediates for the synthesis of said antibacterial agents.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Penicillins and cephalosporins comprise a group of well-known antibacterial agents commonly grouped together as a class called .beta.-lactam antibiotics. Most of the work in this field has been done, broadly speaking, with 6-aminopenicillanic acid, 7-aminocephalosporanic acid and derivatives thereof produced by fermentation or chemical transformation of the natural products. Despite the extensive progress made in preparing active derivatives of 6-aminopenicillanic acid and 7-aminocephalosporanic acid, there is a continuing search for synthetic and semisynthetic routes to new families of .beta.-lactam antibiotics which may possess more advantageous properties than those derived from the known penicillin and cephalosporin nuclei.
Literature publications relating to other more non-conventional .beta.-lactam-containing antibiotics include the following:
A. Belgian Patent 846,933 discloses the compound of the formula ##STR2## which has been isolated from fermentation of Streptomyces clavuligerus. This compound, named clavulinic acid, possesses a low order of antibacterial activity but inhibits the action of certain .beta.-lactamases and reportedly enhances the in vitro and in vivo activity of some penicillins and cephalosporins. PA1 B. U.K. Patent No. 1,467,413 discloses the fermentation product having the formula ##STR3## which is reported to possess some antibacterial activity and to be a .beta.-lactamase inhibitor. PA1 C. Brown, et al. in J.C.S. Chem. Comm., 359-360 (1977) disclose preparation of the compound of the formula ##STR4## There is no indication from the publication that the compound possesses any antibacterial activity. PA1 d. U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,357 describes a fermentation process for producing thienamycin, the compound of the formula ##STR5## Thienamycin is reported to be a highly potent broad-spectrum antibiotic. e. Belgian Patent No. 849,118 discloses a series of 6-amino-2-penem-3-carboxylic acid derivatives of the formula ##STR6## where R.sub.1.sup.a is hydrogen or an N-protecting group, R.sub.1.sup.b is hydrogen or acyl (or R.sub.1.sup.a and R.sub.1.sup.b taken together are a divalent N-protecting group), --CO--R.sub.2 is carboxyl or a protected carboxyl group and R.sub.3 is hydrogen or a C-bonded organic group. The compounds and their salts are said to possess antibacterial activity. Example 8 in the Belgian Patent discloses the compound where R.sub.1.sup.a is hydrogen, R.sub.1.sup.b is C.sub.6 H.sub.5 OCH.sub.2 CO--, R.sub.2 is OH and R.sub.3 is CH.sub.3. No compounds are disclosed in the publication which do not contain the amino or acylamido moiety at the 6-position of the .beta.-lactam ring. PA1 (1) thermally cyclizing in an inert organic solvent a phosphorane intermediate of the formula ##STR15## wherein Z represents phenyl or C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl but preferably phenyl to produce a compound of the formula ##STR16## (2) subjecting the ester of formula I.sub.a to catalytic hydrogenation employing a noble metal catalyst in a non-reducible inert aqueous or non-aqueous solvent in the presence or absence of a base to produce the racemic acid of the formula ##STR17## or a carboxylic acid salt thereof and, if desired, performing one or more of the further steps selected from (a) resolving the so-produced racemic compound into its dextrorotatory and levorotatory optical isomers thereof and recovering the dextrorotatory isomer; and (b) converting the racemic free acid or salt of formula I or the dextrorotatory isomer thereof to a physiologically hydrolyzed ester thereof or a pharmaceutically acceptable carboxylic acid salt thereof. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.