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To meet a demand for radio data traffic that is on an increasing trend since commercialization of a fourth generation (4G) communication system, efforts to develop an improved fifth generation (5G) communication system or a pre-5G communication system have been conducted. For this reason, the 5G communication system or the pre-5G communication system is called a beyond 4G network communication system or a post long term evolution (LTE) system. To achieve a high data transmission rate, the 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in a very high frequency (mmWave) band (e.g., like 60 GHz band). To relieve a path loss of a radio wave and increase a transfer distance of the radio wave in the very high frequency band, in the 5G communication system, beamforming, massive multiple input and multiple output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beam-forming, and large-scale antenna technologies have been discussed. Further, to improve a network of the system, in the 5G communication system, technologies, such as an evolved small cell, an advanced small cell, a cloud radio access network (cloud RAN), an ultra-dense network, a device to device communication (D2D), a wireless backhaul, a moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), and reception interference cancellation have been developed. In addition to this, in the 5G system, hybrid frequency shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) that are an advanced coding modulation (ACM) scheme and a filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and a sparse code multiple access (SCMA) that are an advanced access technology, and so on have been developed.
Meanwhile, the Internet is evolved from a human-centered connection network through which a human being generates and consumes information to the internet of things (IoT) network that transmits/receives information between distributed components, such as things and processes the information. The internet of everything (IoE) technology in which the big data processing technology, and the like, is combined with the IoT technology by connection with a cloud server, and the like, has also emerged. To implement the IoT, technology elements, such as a sensing technology, wired and wireless communication and network infrastructure, a service interface technology, and a security technology, have been required. Recently, technologies, such as a sensor network, machine to machine (M2M), and machine type communication (MTC) for connecting between things has been researched. In the IoT environment, an intelligent Internet technology (IT) service that creates a new value in human life by collecting and analyzing data generated in the connected things may be provided. The IoT may be applied to fields, such as a smart home, a smart building, a smart city, a smart car or a connected car, a smart grid, health care, smart appliances, and an advanced healthcare service, by fusing and combining the existing information technology (IT) with various industries.
Therefore, various tries to apply the 5G communication system to the IoT network have been conducted. For example, the 5G communication technologies, such as the sensor network, the M2M, and the MTC, have been implemented by techniques, such as the beamforming, the MIMO, and the array antenna. The application of the cloud RAN as the big data processing technology described above may also be considered as an example of the fusing of the 5G communication technology with the IoT technology.
In accordance with the recent development of LTE and LTE-advanced, a method of acquiring information on a beam that a user equipment (UE) or a base station may be used for signal transmission and reception in a mobile communication system may be required.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the disclosure. | {
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This invention relates to a modular block and more particularly to a modular block for constructing a retaining wall or other similar landscaping structure.
Retaining wall structures and similar landscaping structures have been constructed from various materials. Examples of such materials include railroad ties, steel rods or bars, poured concrete, rocks, stones, and preformed concrete blocks. In recent years the preformed concrete blocks have been popular because such blocks can be mass produced and are relatively inexpensive. Additionally, such blocks are as durable as concrete and have various finishes and colors. Even though these blocks are relatively inexpensive, they typically require complex installations to construct various landscaping structures. Further, due to the weight of the blocks, they are sometimes difficult to carry or handle when constructing a landscaping structure. Frequent hand or finger injuries occur when handling these blocks. Additionally, more than one type of block is typically required to construct a structure. Homeowners and commercial landscapers will avoid using numerous blocks due to the difficulty encountered in building a landscaping project or structure.
The present invention is designed to obviate and overcome many of the disadvantages and shortcomings associated with present wall blocks. In particular, the present invention is a modular block which may be used to easily construct various landscaping structures. Moreover, the modular block of the present invention can be employed to construct various complex landscaping structures and is easier to handle than currently available stones or blocks.
In one form of the present invention, a modular block comprises a front side, a top side, a bottom side, and a pair of sides with all of the sides forming a triangular shaped body, and the bottom side surface having a score line.
In another form of the present invention, a modular block comprises a first side having a split face surface, a second side having a split face surface, a top side, a bottom side, and a back side, with all of the sides forming a triangular shaped block.
In yet another form of the present invention, a modular block comprises a front side having a split face surface, a top side, a bottom side, and a pair of sides with all of the sides forming a triangular shaped block, and a hand hold formed in one of the pair of sides.
Another form of the present invention is a modular block which comprises a first side, a second side, a third side, and a fourth side, a top side, and a bottom side, the bottom side further comprising a primary score line, the primary score line for splitting the block into a pair of complimentary blocks with each of the complimentary blocks comprising a front split face surface and a pair of sides with the front split face surface and the side surfaces forming a triangular shaped block.
In another form of the present invention, a landscaping structure is disclosed which comprises a first course of modular blocks with each of the blocks comprising a front side having a split face surface, a top side, a bottom side, and a pair of sides with all of the sides forming a triangular shaped body, and the bottom side having a score line.
In light of the foregoing comments, it will be recognized that a principal object of the present invention is to provide a modular block which is of simple construction and design and which can be easily employed with highly reliable results.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a modular block that is easy to carry for use in both residential and commercial landscaping projects or applications.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a modular block which is capable of being manufactured using a mold with each mold being capable of producing two, four, or more of the modular blocks.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a modular block which can be used to construct various landscaping structures such as retaining walls, fences, sitting walls, and steps.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a modular block that can be tumbled to present a natural or weathered appearance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a modular block which can be used to construct a mortarless retaining wall structure having courses interlocked in a predetermined set-back relationship in a variety of straight or curved configurations.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a modular block that can be used to construct various landscaping structures from a single set of identical blocks.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after considering the following detailed specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: | {
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The present invention pertains generally to systems and methods for producing weather reports including systems and methods for tracking the expected future paths of storms and other weather phenomenon, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing such weather reports and storm warnings to individuals and businesses, e.g., over computer networks such as the internet.
Most of the current weather and weather forecast information used by individuals and businesses is obtained by them from weather reports provided by local television and radio stations. Such reports are typically prepared by meteorologists at a television or radio station serving a particular geographical area, e.g., a large city and surrounding environs. The reports are based on current weather information available to the meteorologists, which may be provided by various local (e.g., local radar) and national (e.g., NEXRAD radar and weather satellite) weather information sources. A meteorologist may also employ computer implemented weather forecasting models in preparing a weather forecast report. A meteorologist may prepare and/or update such reports throughout the day, and such reports may be provided as part of periodic radio and/or television broadcasts. A person who is interested in the current or forecast weather conditions for a geographic location accesses such a weather report by tuning in to the television or radio broadcast of the report at the designated time.
If severe weather threatens a particular area, an emergency radio or television broadcast may be made to provide such information to the public immediately and, if necessary, continuously. For example, a television station may provide a graphic indication of the general location (e.g., county) and nature of severe weather (e.g., tornado and thunderstorm warnings, etc.) as part of its television broadcast, throughout the period during which severe weather threatens an area. Such severe weather or storm warnings may be generated from various different weather information sources and provided in various different manners to the public. For example, a television station may subscribe to National Weather Service weather wire information, which includes weather warning bulletins authored by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, and other related government agencies. The weather warning bulletins include tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, flash flood warnings, and the like. This information is typically employed by WxWarn, or other systems, for displaying the warning bulletins, e.g., as an overlay on a television broadcast.
NEXRAD weather radar weather information is also obtained from the government by many television stations. NEXRAD information includes a storm attributes table which defines storm cells and provides detailed information concerning the cells, including the characteristics of the cells (e.g., hail and vortex intensity and location, rain fall intensity, speed, etc.) as well as the position, direction, and speed of movement of the cells. A storm cell tracking and display system employed by the television station may use such NEXRAD data to determine the position of a storm and to derive a predicted storm path therefrom. Such a derived storm track may be displayed to viewers, e.g., as part of a severe weather update television report. Such a report may include a display indicating the time that a selected storm or storms is predicted to arrive at a particular city or town, based on the storm track derived from NEXRAD storm attribute information.
Government-provided NEXRAD radar data includes detailed information on storm cells, including detailed information on the characteristics of the cells, including their speed and direction of movement, contents (e.g., hail or tornadoes), etc. This detailed information is obtained by the NEXRAD radar system by preforming a volumetric radar radar scan of the atmosphere. A weather tracking and display system can expect to receive updated NEXRAD weather information no more often than every six (6) minutes. The speed and direction of movement of a severe weather cell can change significantly during this relatively long period between NEXRAD updates. Thus, storm warnings based on the predicted track of a storm cell will become increasingly inaccurate between NEXRAD updates, if NEXRAD information alone is relied upon to determine the predicted track of a storm cell. Local or remote live radar systems perform a much more rapid scan of the atmosphere, and are, therefore, able to provide more up-to-the-minute information on the current location of a severe storm weather cell. Since such live radar systems are significantly less expensive than NEXRAD radar systems, many television news and weather operations have their own live local radar systems, in addition to access to government provided NEXRAD data, which provides much more detailed storm attribute information. U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,747, entitled Weather Tracking and Display System and Method, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, describes a system and method for employing such live radar information to update the detected position of NEXRAD defined storm cell attributes between NEXRAD updates. Such a system combines the detailed information describing the characteristics of a storm, provided by NEXRAD, with the up-to-the-minute information on the current location of a storm, provided by live radar, to provide more accurate storm warnings.
A limitation of conventional weather reports and storm warnings is that they are generalized over a relatively large geographic area. For example, a typical storm warning may indicate that severe weather, e.g., a tornado, thunderstorm, etc., is present or expected to arrive in a geographic area such as a county. Of course, such severe weather will arrive at different locations in the county at different times, and some areas of a county under a weather warning may not receive any severe weather at all. A county-wide storm warning, therefore, does not provide sufficient information for an individual to know whether or when to expect severe weather at his home, place of work, or other specific location of interest within the county. Televised weather reports which provide expected arrival times of severe weather at specific cities or other populated areas are also of limited value for many individuals. Such reports, which may employ NEXRAD information or NEXRAD information in combination with live radar information to provide accurate storm cell tracking, typically only provide arrival time information for a handful of populated areas in the path of a storm. Those in rural areas and smaller towns in the path of a storm must attempt to estimate on their own, from the graphics provided in the televised weather warning broadcast, if severe weather will reach their area and, if so, when. What is desired, therefore, is a system and method which provides personalized storm or other severe weather warnings to individuals or businesses which indicate whether or not a storm will reach an individual""s location of interest and, if so, when.
Another limitation of conventional televised or radio broadcast storm warnings is that such warnings provide information only on the types of storms which are deemed significant by the television or radio station providing the broadcast. If a televised storm warning provides information on all severe weather conditions (e.g., thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes, etc.) occurring in a television station""s service area, a viewer may be overwhelmed with information, and miss the particular severe weather information in which he is interested (e.g., a tornado headed toward his home). Alternatively, if a broadcast storm warning report includes information on only selected severe weather conditions, an individual may not be provided with storm warning information which would be valuable to him, and which is available to the television or radio station, but which is not provided in a storm warning report which is directed to a more general audience. Furthermore, conventional televised or radio broadcast storm warnings provide an amount of advanced storm warning which is selected by the television or radio station to satisfy a general audience. This may be too much or too little for any individual interested in when a storm will reach the individual""s location of interest. What is desired, therefore, is a system and method which allows an individual to select the particular types of severe weather conditions for which the individual desires a storm warning to be provided, and an amount of advanced warning which such a report will provide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,699, to Baron, Sr. et al. describes a weather alert manager which receives meteorological data, e.g., NEXRAD data, which includes weather information defining storms within a relevant geographic area. The current position and predicted path of a storm is determined from the data and combined with a geographical grid to produce a storm profile indicating storm severity and if a storm is in or is likely to enter any geographical grid area. The storm profile may be distributed to remote units located within a particular grid area to provide storm warnings to individuals in such areas. For example, the remote unit may be a cellular phone or pager which is associated with a particular area, and which receives the storm profile to provide the appropriate warning when a storm is in or approaching that area. Such a system, however, does not allow an individual user to identify a particular location of interest for which the user desires storm warnings to be provided, nor does it allow a user to select the particular storm conditions, advanced warning time, etc. for such a location for which a storm warning is to be provided.
Advances in computer connectivity technology have allowed television and radio station meteorologists to provide access to their latest weather condition and forecast reports via computer over the Internet at any time desired. Thus, an individual need not try to catch the local television or radio broadcast of a weather report to get the latest weather information. An individual may be able to access weather reports or other outdoor information for both local and remote geographic locations via computer over the internet. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,987, entitled System and Method for Providing Personalized Weather Reports and the Like, and assigned to the assignee of the present application, describes a system and method for providing accurate personalized weather reports to individuals or businesses for individual user of locations of interests. Such personalized weather reports may be delivered to users over the Internet, via e-mail, via a pager or cellular telephone, etc. Such a system employs a highly accurate weather forecasting model to provide detailed weather forecast information for particular user locations of interest, from which the personalized weather reports are generated periodically, e.g., twice a day. However, a system which also provides personalized up-to-the-minute storm warnings to individuals and businesses during rapidly developing severe weather conditions using, e.g., timely weather radar information, is also desired.
The present invention provides a system and method for generating storm warnings which are precisely tailored automatically for a particular individual or business user""s geographic location of interest, e.g., home or work, and which may be provided automatically to the individual user or business. The present invention allows an individual to identify a particular geographic location for which the user desires a personalized storm warning to be provided, as well as to establish a storm profile, defining attribute characteristics of storms for which a storm warning is desired, and the amount of advanced warning which the personalized storm warning is to provide.
In accordance with the present invention, a user establishes an individualized user profile, in which the user may define a particular location of interest (e.g., home or work) and a contact address (e.g., e-mail address or pager number) to which a personalized storm warning is to be delivered. A user may also establish a storm profile, defining attribute characteristics of a storm for which the user desires a storm warning to be provided, and an amount of advanced warning to be provided by the personalized storm warning. A detailed and accurate storm track is generated. The storm track includes information describing a storm""s characteristics (severe weather conditions) as well as the current location and predicted track of movement of the storm. Such a storm track may be generated automatically from weather radar data, such as NEXRAD data, either alone, or in combination with local live weather radar information, and other available weather information. The generated storm track is compared to the individual user profile. For user profiles defining locations of interest within a predicted storm track, and if the storm track characteristics meet the storm attribute and advanced warning characteristics specified in the storm profile, a personalized storm warning is automatically generated. The personalized storm warning thus generated preferably identifies in detail the storm conditions approaching a user location of interest, and the predicted arrival time at that location. A personalized storm warning in accordance with the present invention may be provided directly to an individual or business, e.g., via e-mail, pager, cellular telephone, etc.
An exemplary system for providing personalized storm warnings in accordance with the present invention includes a main computer system, which may be implemented, for example, as part of a television or radio station news and weather reporting operation. The main computer system receives weather information from one or more weather information sources, e.g., NEXRAD weather radar information provided by the government, local live weather radar information, and other weather information from local and/or remote sensors. NEXRAD weather radar information includes detailed storm attribute information describing the characteristics of storm cells. The NEXRAD storm attribute information also includes information on the direction and speed of movement of storm cells, from which a predicted track of these storms may be generated. The main computer system includes software for generating a predicted storm track from such NEXRAD data, or, more preferably, from NEXRAD data in combination with local live radar information. The local live radar information, which is less detailed, but which provides updated storm cell positions much more often than NEXRAD information, may be used in combination with NEXRAD information to enhance the accuracy of the predicted storm cell tracks.
The main computer system preferably also includes a user profile generator. The user profile generator provides various user profile set-up menu user interfaces which allow a user to establish a user profile. These menus may be accessed by a user by use of, for example, a personal computer connected to the main system computer over a network such as the internet. Using such menus, the user establishes a personal user profile which includes a particular location of interest, e.g., home, vacation home, or work, for which the user would like a personalized storm warning to be provided, and a contact address, e.g., e-mail address or pager number, to which the personalized storm warning is to be delivered. The set-up menu user interface also allows a user to define a storm profile, including storm attribute conditions for which the user would like a personalized storm warning to be provided, and the amount of advanced warning (e.g., based on predicted storm cell arrival time at the user location of interest, or the distance of a storm cell from the user location of interest) which the personalized storm warning is to provide. User and storm profile information thus obtained is stored in a user profile data base.
Each time a storm track is generated or updated, the resulting storm track data is compared to the user profiles saved in the user profile database, and personalized storm warnings are generated automatically by a storm warning generator implemented in the main computer system. Personalized storm warnings are generated for each user location of interest which falls within a projected storm track, if the storm attribute characteristics and advanced warning limitations established by the user in the storm profile are satisfied by the characteristics of the generated storm track.
In accordance with the present invention, personalized storm warnings may be delivered to a user at the user contact address indicated in the user profile, and preferably include detailed information on the contents of an approaching storm, e.g., the types of severe weather that are approaching, as well as the predicted time of arrival of the storm at the specific user location of interest identified by the user in the user profile. Such detailed personalized storm warnings may be delivered automatically directly to a user""s contact address, e.g., in the form of an e-mail or phone message. Alternatively, or additionally, personalized storm warnings in accordance with the present invention may be provided at an internet web page accessible at a personalized web page address provided to the user.
A system and method in accordance with the present invention for providing personalized storm warnings based, e.g., on current weather radar information, may be combined with a system or method for providing more long-term personalized weather forecast reports based, e.g., on computer modeled weather data. In such a case, a user may establish a single user profile to obtain both personalized storm warning and weather forecast reports for a specific user location of interest, each of which may be delivered, at the appropriate times, to a user contact address identified by the user in the user profile, and/or to an internet web page accessible at a personalized web page address provided to a user.
Further objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. | {
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This invention provides an advanced medical oxygen concentrator process and system. More specifically, the invention achieves a compact, light weight and low power medical oxygen concentrator using a fast PSA (pressure swing adsorption) cycle and advanced adsorbents. The invention provides significant system improvements and cost savings over commercial stationary medical concentrators. Also, when integrated with a conserver, the invention provides a truly portable unit.
A growing number of people need oxygen to alleviate respiratory insufficiency. Although home oxygen can be provided by liquid or high pressure cylinders, more recently medical oxygen concentrators have become a cost effective and preferred system.
Most oxygen concentrators are based on pressure swing adsorption (PSA)including vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) or vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA). PSA is a well-known art for separating oxygen from air for various applications ranging from a few liters per minute (LPM) in medical concentrators to several hundred tons per day of oxygen (TPDO) in industrial scale plants.
While a medical concentrator and large scale industrial plant share the same PSA fundamentals, it is the nature and scale of their applications that differentiate the two. Components of a PSA system contribute differently between the medical concentrator and the large scale plant to the overall cost. For example, while adsorbent and vessel normally represent a large contribution to the overall cost in the large scale plant, the compressor is the single largest component for medical concentrators. In addition, because a medical concentrator is for home use, its size and weight are critical performance parameters, especially for a portable unit. Conversely, in a large scale plant, system size and weight are not particularly important other than their effects on the overall oxygen cost.
It is well known that the overall PSA performance depends primarily on the inter-relationship of three parameters: BSF (the amount of adsorbent required to produce a given quantity of oxygen per unit of time (lbs/TPDO)), recovery (where oxygen recovery is defined as the ratio of the oxygen in the product to the oxygen in the feed) and power consumption (the overall power consumed in a process per unit of product produced, also known as specific power). Thus, while a small BSF may reduce the adsorbent cost, this may be offset by decreased product recovery and higher power consumption. Power consumption becomes a significant issue, especially with portable units powered by a battery.
Medical concentrator design must consider not only the cost and power consumption, but also the system size, weight and comfort. Most efforts in the prior art of oxygen concentrators have been focused on developing small and economic systems.
Typical commercial concentrators use zeolite adsorbents such as 5A, 13X or Oxysiv-7 (LiX (SiO2/Al2O3=2.5) available from UOP, Des Plaines, Ill. USA). Highly exchanged LiX adsorbents are illustrated by Chao in U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,217.
A more advanced LiX adsorbent with SiO2/Al2O3=2.0 was recently disclosed by Chao and Pontonio (WO 99/43415). This adsorbent was exploited by Ackley and Leavitt (WO 99/43416), and Ackley and Smolarek (WO 99/43418) to achieve fast PSA cycles in the production of oxygen.
Norman R. McCombs(U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,595) disclosed a medical concentrator based on a two-bed PSA and having a capacity control system disposed upstream of the compressor for power reduction.
Charles C. Hill and Theodore B. Hill (U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,541) disclosed a medical concentrator employing a rotary distribution valve instead of a number of conventional solenoid valves. This design simplified the conventional concentrator system and was more compact and reliable.
R. H. Kaplan et al. (AIChE Meeting, Nov. 7, 1989, San Francisco) traced developments in the design of concentrators and selected a rapid PSA (RPSA) system. Using a three-bed system and small adsorbent particles (40xc3x9780 beads, or diameter xcx9c0.25 mm), the cycle time was reduced to as low as 2.4 s. The present inventors calculate that bed size factor (BSF), was about 200 lbs/TPDO when operating at an adsorption pressure of 30 psig and a desorption pressure that is atmospheric, (e.g. an adsorption/desorption pressure ratio of xcx9c3). The corresponding adsorbent weight based on a standard 5 LPM capacity was then determined to be about 2.2 lb. This BSF (e.g. 2.2 lbs/5 LPM oxygen)was about two times smaller than that obtained by other conventional PSA concentrators. However, the achieved oxygen recovery was only about 25%. This recovery is very low compared with large scale VPSA processes which achieve as much as xcx9c60% to 70%. Because of the low recovery a large air compressor is required. Also, the pressure drop in this RPSA system was large, about 8 psi/ft at 1 fps superficial velocity compared with less than 1 psi/ft in large O2 PSA plants. The low recovery and high pressure drop result in a concentrator having a relatively high power consumption.
Stanley Kulish and Robert P. Swank (U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,358) disclosed another rapid PSA oxygen concentrator. It employed at least three adsorbent beds, and a process cycle of approximately 1xcx9c2 seconds (s) for the adsorption step and 5xcx9c10s for the desorption step. Using a six-bed configuration, the rapid cycle allowed for a BSF we estimate to be about 125 lb/TPDO at a pressure ratio of about three. Thus the adsorbent inventory is about 1.3 lb for 5 LPM capacity system. No recovery result was disclosed.
Sircar, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,449 disclosed a single bed RPSA cycle having a continuous feed and a cycle time ranging from six to sixty seconds.
Typical parameters for prior art oxygen concentrators are summarized in Table 1.
The power set forth in the Table is larger than that required for large scale industrial PSA systems, where the typical power is 10kw/TPD or less. The power is lower for at least one of the following reasons:
1. higher separation power of superatmospheric PSA;
2. lower efficiency of smaller scale blowers; and
3. higher compression power of faster cycle processes.
While so-called xe2x80x9cportablexe2x80x9d concentrators having a capacity of about 2-3 lpm of oxygen do exist, such machines typically weigh more than about 20 lbs. excluding battery. Thus, there is a need to reduce the size and weight of such portable medical oxygen concentrators.
An additional problem associated with medical oxygen concentrators is that a large part of product oxygen is wasted if oxygen flow is continuously provided to the patient, since oxygen is only brought to the patient""s lungs during inhalation (about ⅓ time of the breathing cycle).
Chua et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,268 disclose the use of a conserver to save breathing oxygen from a source such as liquid oxygen tank to the respiratory patient.
Sato et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,099 teaches the combination of a concentrator and a conserver where an oxygen buffer tank connecting the concentrator and the conserver makes the initial oxygen flow higher than the steady flow of each inhalation phase.
The present invention combines a very fast pressure swing adsorption oxygen cycle with a high-rate adsorbent to achieve significant improvements over commercial/prior art medical oxygen concentrators. In most preferred embodiments, the cycle time may be as short as xcx9c4 s, and the adsorbent inventory and vessel volume are decreased by a factor of at least about seven when compared with current commercial medical concentrators. In more preferred embodiments, the oxygen recovery achieved is greater than 50%. The result is a concentrator having a size, weight and power consumption that are significantly reduced when compared to the current state of the art.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the inventive portable concentrator system and process of the invention is further integrated with a conserver.
Product purity for the medical concentrators of the invention ranges from about 85 to 95% oxygen. | {
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The present invention relates, in general, to an improved surgical biopsy instrument and, more particularly, to a lockout mechanism for use in a surgical biopsy instrument.
The diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancerous tumors, pre-malignant conditions, and other disorders has long been an area of intense interest in the medical community. Non-invasive methods for examining tissue and, more particularly, breast tissue include palpation, X-ray imaging, MRI imaging, CT imaging, and ultrasound imaging. When a physician suspects that tissue may contain cancerous cells, a biopsy may be done using either an open procedure or in a percutaneous procedure. In an open procedure, a scalpel is used by the surgeon to create an incision to provide direct viewing and access to the tissue mass of interest. The biopsy may then be done by removal of the entire mass (excisional biopsy) or a part of the mass (incisional biopsy). In a percutaneous biopsy, a needle-like instrument is inserted through a very small incision to access the tissue mass of interest and to obtain a tissue sample for examination and analysis. The advantages of the percutaneous method as compared to the open method are significant: less recovery time for the patient, less pain, less surgical time, lower cost, less disruption of associated tissue and nerves and less disfigurement. Percutaneous methods are generally used in combination with imaging devices such as X-ray and ultrasound to allow the surgeon to locate the tissue mass and accurately position the biopsy instrument.
Generally there are two ways to percutaneously obtain a tissue sample from within the body, aspiration or core sampling. Aspiration of the tissue through a fine needle requires the tissue to be fragmented into small enough pieces to be withdrawn in a fluid medium. Application is less intrusive than other known sampling techniques, but one can only examine cells in the liquid (cytology) and not the cells and the structure (pathology). In core biopsy, a core or fragment of tissue is obtained for histologic examination which may be done via a frozen or paraffin section. The type of biopsy used depends mainly on various factors and no single procedure is ideal for all cases.
A number of core biopsy instruments which may be used in combination with imaging devices are known. Spring powered core biopsy devices are described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,699,154, 4,944,308, and Re. 34,056. Aspiration devices are described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,492,130; 5,526,821; 5,429,138 and 5,027,827.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,822 describes and illustrates an image-guided, vacuum-assisted, percutaneous, coring, breast biopsy instrument which takes multiple tissue samples without having to re-puncture the tissue for each sample. The physician uses this biopsy instrument to xe2x80x9cactivelyxe2x80x9d capture (using the vacuum) the tissue prior to severing it from the body. This allows the physician to sample tissues of varying hardness. The instrument described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,822 may also be used to collect multiple samples in numerous positions about its longitudinal axis without removing the instrument from the body. A further image-guided, vacuum-assisted, percutaneous, coring, breast biopsy instrument is described in commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/825,899, filed on Apr. 2, 1997 and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,007,497; 5,649,547; 5,769,086; 5,775,333; and 5,928,164. A handheld image-guided, vacuum-assisted, percutaneous, coring, breast biopsy instrument is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,544 and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,462. The instrument described therein moves drive motors and other electronic components into a control unit separate from and remotely located from the biopsy probe. Biopsy probe cutter rotational and translational motion is transferred from the motors in the control unit to the biopsy probe via flexible coaxial cables. This arrangement greatly improves the cleanability of the reusable hardware that remains in close proximity to the biopsy site as well as improves the life and durability of the electric motors and electronic components now remotely located from the biopsy probe. The biopsy instrument described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,544 and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,462 was designed primarily to be a xe2x80x9chand heldxe2x80x9d instrument to be used by the clinician in conjunction with real time ultrasound imaging. Several image-guided, vacuum-assisted, percutaneous, coring, breast biopsy instruments are currently sold by Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. under the Trademark MAMMOTOME(trademark).
The majority of breast biopsies done today, however, utilize an x-ray machine as the imaging modality. Using x-ray requires that the biopsy instrument be affixed to the x-ray machine by some type of bracket arrangement. Since the biopsy instrument is fixed to a portion of the x-ray machine there is now a need for a means to conveniently rotate the biopsy probe once it is advanced into the breast in order to accurately position the vacuum port at the distal end of the probe.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,547 a biopsy device is disclosed which includes a drive assembly containing a stored energy probe xe2x80x9cfiringxe2x80x9d mechanism. This firing mechanism is used by the clinician to rapidly advance the biopsy probe piercing element into the patient during a biopsy procedure, which is necessary to penetrate the dense tissue comprising many lesions. Also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,547 is a biopsy device which includes a drive assembly containing a stored energy probe xe2x80x9cfiringxe2x80x9d mechanism. This firing mechanism is used by the clinician to rapidly advance the biopsy probe piercing element into the patient during a biopsy procedure, which is necessary to penetrate the dense tissue comprising many lesions. The firing mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,547 includes a probe firing safety system intended to minimize the risk of the biopsy probe being fired prematurely or accidentally. The system includes a xe2x80x9cpiercexe2x80x9d button and a xe2x80x9csafetyxe2x80x9d button, both of which are utilized in the process of firing the biopsy probe piercing element into the patient. The pierce button is attached to a latch, which interfaces with the stored energy firing mechanism. By depressing the pierce button, stored energy in the firing mechanism is released causing the biopsy probe to rapidly advance distally into the patient. The safety button is attached to a rod and is free to slide in a linear fashion. In the xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d position, the rod is placed in interference with the travel of the pierce button thus preventing accidental firing of the biopsy probe. Conversely, the safety button can be placed by the clinician in the xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d position, moving the rod clear of the pierce button and allowing for full travel of the pierce button to effect the firing of the biopsy probe.
It would, therefore, be advantageous to design an image-guided, vacuum assisted, percutaneous, coring, breast biopsy instrument which may be conveniently mounted to an x-ray machine, and incorporate into it a safety system that is located in an area that can be easily viewed and accessed by the user irrelevant of the position of the user to the instrument during a biopsy procedure. It would further be advantageous to design an image-guided, vacuum assisted, percutaneous, coring, breast biopsy instrument which may be conveniently mounted to an x-ray machine in which the safety system is biased to the xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d or safe position, to eliminate the risk of the safety being unknowingly positioned to the xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d position. It would further be advantageous to design an image-guided, vacuum assisted, percutaneous, coring, breast biopsy instrument which may be conveniently mounted to an x-ray machine in which the safety system operates in a non-linear motion, is biased to the on or safe position, and is located immediately adjacent to the pierce button further improving the convenience of activating the firing mechanism to the user while reducing the risk of the biopsy probe being fired unintentionally.
The present invention is directed to a biopsy instrument including a probe assembly, a base assembly and a drive assembly. The probe assembly including a cutter assembly and a piercer assembly slideably attached to the cutter assembly. The base assembly is detachably mounted to the probe assembly wherein the base assembly includes a firing fork operatively connected to the piercer assembly, a spring operatively connected to the firing fork wherein the spring opposes movement of the firing fork in a proximal direction, a trigger mechanism adapted to move the firing fork in a proximal direction, a latch mechanism adapted to hold the firing fork in a first position a release mechanism adapted to release the latch mechanism and a lockout mechanism adapted to prevent the release mechanism from releasing the latch mechanism. The drive assembly including a flexible drive shaft which is operatively connected to the cutter assembly.
The present invention is further directed to a biopsy instrument including a probe assembly, a base assembly and a drive assembly. The probe assembly including a cutter assembly and a piercer assembly. The cutter assembly including a cutter and a gear mechanism adapted to move the cutter. The piercer assembly being slideably attached to the cutter assembly. The base assembly is detachably mounted to the probe assembly wherein the base assembly includes a firing fork removably attached to the piercer assembly such that movement of the firing fork in a distal direction moves the piercer assembly in a distal direction, a spring operatively connected to the firing fork, the spring being adapted to oppose movement of the firing fork in a proximal direction, a trigger mechanism operatively connected to the firing fork, the trigger mechanism being adapted to move the cutter in a proximal direction, a latch mechanism operatively connected to the firing fork to hold the firing fork in a first, proximal position, a release mechanism adapted to release the latch mechanism when the release mechanism is moved in a first direction, a lockout mechanism adapted to prevent the release mechanism from moving in the first direction, the lockout mechanism including a spring biased rotatable plate. The spring biased rotatable plate includes a first spring wire, a second spring wire wherein the first and second spring wires define a first opening in the plate, a handle affixed to the plate and projecting from the base assembly. The drive assembly including a flexible drive shaft operatively connected to the gear mechanism. | {
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Portable battery-powered radiant sources such as flashlights are well known devices that can be embodied in small and light weight packages. However, such conventional battery-powered devices have a limited service life before needing either replacement or recharging, making them inefficient for particular applications, particularly for applications such as surveillance operations where long radiant source operating life is critical to the success of the operation. In such operation the early failure of the radiant source could result in an unsuccessful operation, or could even put ones life in danger. For a similar reason, conventional portable small, light-weight electrical power generating sources such as batteries are also not well suited for powering accessories that are used in applications calling for a long service life, such as surveillance operations.
It is, therefore, desired that a portable radiant and/or electrical power generating source be developed that have a service life superior to conventional battery-powered radiant and electrical power generating sources. It is desired that such portable radiant and/or electrical power generating sources be packaged in a construction that is small in size and light weight. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to enclosures for cable splices for mechanical protection of the splice and for providing a barrier against water and moisture intrusion into the splice.
A variety of enclosures for cable splices are presently in use, including electrical and optical cables with a plurality of conductors. After the conductor interconnections are completed and the appropriate insulation or other protection has been applied, a housing is positioned around the splice with some form of sealing compound in the housing. The sealing compound usually is a gel which functions to reduce penetration of moisture into the splice. The housing itself provides mechanical protection for the splice and is normally designed to be removable for reentering the splice.
In one type of enclosure, the housing is partially filled with the sealing compound before it is positioned around the splice. Some form of end seal is provided to close the open ends of the housing around the cables which extend from each end of the splice. In another type of enclosure, an opening is provided in the wall of the housing for pouring the sealing compound into the interior of the housing after it is positioned around the splice. This type of construction, usually referred to as gravity encapsulation, tends to leave many openings and paths in the sealing compound through which moisture can penetrate.
In another type of encapsulation, a bag or wrap of some nature is positioned around the splice and filled with a sealing compound by pouring or the like. Then the encapsulated splice is tightly wrapped with overlapping turns of tape to apply pressure to the sealing compound within the bag to force the sealing compound into the interstices to provide a more effective barrier against moisture. While this type of encapsulation is reasonably effective, it is not easy to install, requiring considerable time and considerable skill to achieve a highly moisture-resistant closure.
Another approach for a quality encapsulation is to utilize a caulking gun or the like for injection of sealing compound into the interior of the housing after it is positioned around the splice with the end seals in place. With this system, considerable pressure can be exerted on the sealing compound to urge the compound into the various spaces. However, this method requires an extra tool and space for operating the tool.
The current designs for cable splice enclosures are shown in greater detail in the publications of the manufacturers, including AT&T, 3M, Raychem, Thomas & Betts and Communications Technology Corporation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates generally to telecommunication techniques. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and a circuit for block undesired direct current (DC) out of input RF signals of AC-coupled broadband communication circuits while introducing a low cut-off frequency independently.
Over the last few decades, the use of communication networks exploded. In the early days Internet, popular applications were limited to emails, bulletin board, and mostly informational and text-based web page surfing, and the amount of data transferred was usually relatively small. Today, Internet and mobile applications demand a huge amount of bandwidth for transferring photo, video, music, and other multimedia files. For example, a social network like Facebook processes more than 500 TB of data daily. With such high demands on data and data transfer, existing data communication systems need to be improved to address these needs.
Over the past, AC-coupled high data rate broadband communication has been widely implemented via optical network, in which data signals are carried by laser light that is specifically modulated using various kinds of electro-optic modulators. Through various broadband communication circuits for transmitting the AC-coupled high-data rate signals, a DC blocking circuit is typically applied in many applications to inject/remove undesired input direct current (DC) or voltage in RF circuits without affecting the RF signal through the main transmission path. But designing a DC blocking circuit that provides a controllable bias (voltage and current) while independently and simultaneously defining a low cut-off frequency is challenging. Conventional designs of the DC blocking circuit usually are implemented with trade-offs in reduced voltage headroom, extra die area, unstable low cut-off frequency response. For example, a common approach is the use of a blocking capacitor and resistors (two resistors in series from the supply voltage to ground) with values selected to set a DC voltage for the internal circuit. The operation frequency range of the circuit depends on the capacitor and resistors values. To achieve broadband operation the capacitor and resistors need large values and consequently can occupy a large area. Furthermore, manufacturing process variation of the resistors changes the low-frequency cut-off. Alternatively, another approach uses a blocking capacitor in combination with a current source that pulls (or pushes) current through a resistor tied to the supply (or ground) to control the circuit bias voltage. The low-frequency cut-off depends on the resistor value. A lower cut-off requires a larger resistor, but the maximum value of the resistor is limited by the supply voltage and the voltage drop when conducting the bias current.
Therefore, an improved DC blocking circuit design is desired for isolating undesired DC signal out of AC-coupled high data-rate RF signals and defining a low cut-off frequency independently of the bias voltage and current. | {
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The abstract of that PCT specification PCT/NZ99/00186 (published as WO 00/45068) described one example of a Continuously Variable Transmission. That abstract was based on various configurations including that shown in FIG. 10, and said: A transmission is provided which comprises a fixed housing or support 105, input means 121, 156 moveable relative to said support and a torque shaft 112 rotatable about its longitudinal axis and a driven shaft arranged to be rotated about its longitudinal axis by the torque shaft 112, a first one-way clutch 102 between the torque shaft 112 and driven shaft 104, linkage means 117, 134, 135, 132, 140, 147, 158, 170 rotatable about the axis of rotation of the driven shaft 104 under the influence of said input means 121 and an inertial body 113, 160 mounted on the linkage means to be cyclically angularly deflected in response to the input means, the reaction forces generated by the inertial body 113, 160 as it is cyclically deflected being applied to the torque shaft 112 as positive and negative torque and the torque shaft 112 being connected over a second one-way clutch 101 opposite to the first one-way clutch 102 either to said support 105 or to the driven shaft 104 over a rotation reversal system 150, 151, 152 whereby the drive shaft 155 can be rotated by the torque shaft 112 in one sense of rotation only. The inertial body preferably comprises a rotor 113 so that gyroscopic forces are applied to the torque shaft 112.
Various methods were described in said PCT application to generate and control the output torque. The methods described to spin the rotor varied from using an independent source to drive the rotor, to driving the rotor from the transmission input using gear trains and a one-way clutch.
The main method described to control the output torque involved controlling the independent source driving the rotor. Therefore when it is desired to maintain the input speed within narrow limits the only option left would be an independent source to drive the rotor to control the output torque by controlling the rotor speed.
The method of driving the rotor by an independent source such as an electric motor, while it is attractive poses challenges such as access to power supply, motor construction to withstand complex dynamic conditions and operating environment and therefore a subject for future development.
The method of driving the rotor by the input rotation through gear trains and one-way clutch, while it may be satisfactory for non-differential type configurations poses problems when used for differential type configurations as described in FIG. 10. This is due to the relatively high loadings on the rotor drive gear train caused by the accelerations and decelerations of the sub-frame that carry the rotor. The differential type configuration is preferred in many applications due to compactness, dynamic balancing etc. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Over the past several years, the number of transistors in semiconductor devices has increased dramatically. Due to this increase, the time to design and manufacture semiconductor devices has also increased.
A typical semiconductor design process includes numerous steps. Initially, a schematic diagram that represents an integrated circuit is prepared. The schematic diagram provides a representation of the logical connections between logic elements that form the integrated circuit. Once the schematic diagram has been tested to verify that the circuit performs the correct functions, the schematic diagram is converted into a mask layout database that includes a series of polygons. The polygons may represent the logic elements and the logical connections from the schematic diagram. The mask layout database is then used to form a series of photomasks, also know as masks or reticles, that may be used to manufacture the different layers of the integrated circuit.
Typically, the mask layout database is created manually by a mask designer or automatically by a synthesis tool. Once the mask layout database is complete, polygons that form electrical connections in the mask layout database are compared to the logical connections from the schematic diagram. This comparison may result in connection mismatches between the schematic diagram and the mask layout database. A connection mismatch typically indicates that an electrical connection in the mask layout database does not match its corresponding logical connection in the schematic diagram.
Today, any mismatches are corrected manually by a layout designer. The layout designer first must find the correct connection and then determine how to create the correct electrical connection in the mask layout database. Typically, the layout designer is required to delete the mismatched connection in the mask layout database and locate a path through existing polygons in the mask layout database. Once an appropriate path through the mask layout database is found, the layout designer creates a new electrical connection in the mask layout database that matches the corresponding logical connection in the schematic diagram. This process of adding the new electrical connection may take several hours or days to complete. Furthermore, the layout designer may introduce design rule errors in the mask layout database when adding the new connection. Eliminating the design rule errors may additionally require several more hours or days and thus, increase the design time for the integrated circuit. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for separating a sample such as a bonded substrate stack, a transfer film transfer method, a substrate manufacturing method, and a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same.
A substrate (SOI substrate) having an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure is known as a substrate having a single-crystal Si layer on an insulating layer. A device using this SOI substrate has many advantages that cannot be achieved by ordinary Si substrates. Examples of the advantages are as follows.
(1) The integration degree can be increased because dielectric isolation is easy.
(2) The radiation resistance can be increased.
(3) The operating speed of the device can be increased because the stray capacitance is small.
(4) No well step is necessary.
(5) Latch-up can be prevented.
(6) A complete depletion type field effect transistor can be formed by thin film formation.
Since an SOI structure has the above various advantages, researches have been made on its formation method for several decades.
As a method, an SOI structure is formed by bonding a single-crystal Si substrate to another thermally oxidized single-crystal Si substrate by annealing or an adhesive. In this method, an active layer for forming a device must be uniformly thin. More specifically, a single-crystal Si substrate having a thickness of several hundred micron must be thinned down to the micron order or less.
To thin the substrate, polishing or selective etching can be used.
A single-crystal Si substrate can hardly be uniformly thinned by polishing. Especially, in thinning to the submicron order, the variation range is several ten %. As the wafer size becomes large, this difficulty becomes more pronounced.
Selective etching is effective to uniformly thin the substrate. However, the selectivity ratio is as low as about 102, the surface planarity after etching is poor, and the crystallinity of the SOI layer is unsatisfactory.
The present applicant has disclosed a new SOI technique in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-021338. In this technique, a first substrate obtained by forming a porous layer on a single-crystal Si substrate and a non-porous single-crystal layer on its surface is bonded to a second substrate via an insulating layer. After this, the bonded substrate stack is separated into two substrates at the porous layer, thereby transferring the non-porous single-crystal layer to the second substrate. This technique is advantageous because the film thickness uniformity of the SOI layer is good, the crystal defect density in the SOI layer can be decreased, the surface planarity of the SOI layer is good, no expensive manufacturing apparatus with special specifications is required, and SOI substrates having about several hundred-xc3x85 to 10-xcexcm thick SOI films can be manufactured by a single manufacturing apparatus.
The present applicant has also disclosed, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-302889, a technique of bonding first and second substrates, separating the first substrate from the second substrate without breaking the first substrate, smoothing the surface of the separated first substrate, forming a porous layer again, and reusing the substrate. Since the first substrate is not wasted, this technique is advantageous in largely reducing the manufacturing cost and simplifying the manufacturing process.
To separate the bonded substrate stack into two substrates without breaking the first and second substrates, the following methods are available: the two substrates are pulled in opposite directions while applying a force in a direction perpendicular to the bonding interface; a shearing force is applied parallel to the bonding interface (for example, the two substrates are moved in opposite directions in a plane parallel to the bonding interface, or the two substrates are rotated in opposite directions while applying a force in the circumferential direction); pressure is applied in a direction perpendicular to the bonding interface; a wave energy such as an ultrasonic wave is applied to the separation region; a peeling member (e.g., a sharp blade such as a knife) is inserted into the separation region parallel to the bonding interface from the side surface side of the bonded substrate stack; the expansion energy of a substance filling the pores of the porous layer functioning as the separation region is used; the porous layer functioning as the separation region is thermally oxidized from the side surface of the bonded substrate stack to expand the volume of the porous layer and separate the substrates; and the porous layer functioning as the separation region is selectively etched from the side surface of the bonded substrate stack to separate the substrates.
Porous Si was found in 1956 by Uhlir et al. who were studying electropolishing of semiconductors (xe2x80x9cElectrolytic Shaping of Germanium and Siliconxe2x80x9d, A. Uhlir, Bell System Technical Journal Vol.35, pp. 333-347, March, 1956).
Porous Si can be formed by anodizing an Si substrate in an HF solution.
Unagami et al. studied the dissolution reaction of Si upon anodizing and reported that holes were necessary for anodizing reaction of Si in an HF solution, and the reaction was as follows (xe2x80x9cFormation Mechanism of Porous Silicon Layer by anodization in HF Solutionxe2x80x9d T. Unagami, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol. 127, pp. 476-483, 1980T. Unagami).
Si+2HF+(2xe2x88x92n)e+xe2x86x92SiF2+2H++nexe2x88x92
SiF2+2HFxe2x86x92SiF4+H2
SiF4+2HFxe2x86x92H2SiF6
or
Si+4HF+(4xe2x88x92xcex)e+xe2x86x92SiF4+4H+xcexexe2x88x92
SiF4+2HFxe2x86x92H2SiF6
where e+ and exe2x88x92 represent a hole and an electron, respectively, and n and xcex are the number of holes necessary to dissolve one Si atom. According to them, when n greater than 2 or xcex greater than 4, porous Si is formed.
The above fact suggests that p-type Si having holes is converted into porous Si while n-type Si is not converted. The selectivity in this conversion has been reported by Nagano et al. and Imai (xe2x80x9cOxidized Porous Silicon and It""s Applicationxe2x80x9d K. Nagano et al., (The transactions of the institute of electronics and communication engineers), The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Vol. 79, pp. 49-54, SSD79-9549, 1979), (xe2x80x9cA New Dielectric Isolation Method Using Porous Siliconxe2x80x9d K. IMAI, Solid-State Electronics, Vol. 24, pp. 159-164, 1981).
However, it has also been reported that n-type at a high concentration is converted into porous Si (xe2x80x9cComplete dielectric isolation by highly selective and self-stopping formation of oxidized porous siliconxe2x80x9d R. P. Holmstrom and J. Y. Chi, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 42, pp. 386-388, 1983). Hence, it is important to select a substrate which can be converted into a porous Si substrate independently of p- or n-type.
To form a porous layer, instead of the above anodizing method, for example, a method of implanting ions into a silicon substrate may also be used.
For example, in the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-021338, i.e., the method of preparing a substrate (to be referred to as a bonded substrate stack hereinafter) by bonding a first substrate having a non-porous layer such as a single-crystal Si layer on a porous layer to a second substrate via an insulating layer, and separating the bonded substrate stack at the porous layer so as to transfer the non-porous layer formed on the first substrate side to the second substrate, the technique of separating the bonded substrate stack at high reproducibility and high yield is very important.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object to improve the reproducibility and yield in separating, e.g., a sample or composite member such as a bonded substrate stack.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a separating apparatus for separating a sample by a fluid, characterized by comprising a holding portion for holding a sample having a separation layer inside, a nozzle for injecting a fluid to the separation layer of the sample held by the holding portion, a fluid supply portion for supplying the fluid to the nozzle, wherein the fluid supply portion suppresses a variation in pressure of the fluid to be supplied to the nozzle within a predetermined range during separation processing so that the fluid is ejected from said nozzle at substantially constant pressure.
The fluid supply portion preferably suppresses the variation in pressure of the fluid to be supplied to the nozzle within xc2x110% of a target pressure during the separation processing.
The fluid supply portion preferably comprises a servo-driven pump and supplies the fluid to the nozzle from the servo-driven pump.
The separating apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention preferably further comprises a rotational drive portion for rotating the sample about an axis perpendicular to the separation layer by rotating the holding portion.
The separating apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention preferably further comprises an operation mechanism for changing a position where the fluid is injected from the nozzle to the sample along with progress of the separation processing. The operation mechanism preferably changes the position where the fluid is injected to the separation layer of the sample gradually or stepwise from a peripheral portion to a central portion of the separation layer along with progress of the separation processing.
The sample preferably has, outside the separation layer, a concave portion recessed from a side surface.
The separation layer is preferably a fragile layer, e.g., a layer formed by anodization or ion implantation.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a separating method of separating a sample by a fluid, characterized in that a sample having a separation layer inside is separated at the separation layer while injecting a fluid whose variation in pressure is suppressed within a predetermined range to the separation layer of the sample.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transfer method of transferring a transfer layer on a surface of a first member to a second member, characterized by comprising the preparation step of preparing a composite member by bringing the first member having a separation layer inside and the transfer layer on the separation layer into tight contact with the second member, and the step of separating the composite member at the separation layer while injecting a fluid, maintained at substantially constant pressure by suppressing variation in pressure within a predetermined range, to the separation layer of the composite member, thereby transferring the transfer layer of the first member to the second member.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate manufacturing method characterized by comprising the preparation step of preparing a bonded substrate stack by bonding a first substrate having a separation layer inside and a transfer layer on the separation layer to a second substrate, and the separation step of separating the bonded substrate stack at the separation layer while injecting a fluid, maintained at substantially constant pressure by suppressing variation in the pressure within a predetermined range, to the separation layer of the bonded substrate stack.
The predetermined range is preferably xc2x110% of a target pressure.
In the separation step, preferably, the pressure of the fluid is servo-controlled.
In the separation step, preferably, the bonded substrate stack is separated while being rotated about an axis perpendicular to the separation layer.
In the separation step, preferably, the bonded substrate stack is separated while changing a position where the fluid is injected to the bonded substrate stack along with progress of separation processing. In the separation step, more preferably, the bonded substrate stack is separated while changing the position where the fluid is injected to the separation layer of the bonded substrate stack gradually or stepwise from a peripheral portion to a central portion of the separation layer along with progress of the separation processing.
The separation layer is preferably a fragile layer, e.g., a layer formed by anodization or ion implantation.
The transfer layer preferably includes a single-crystal Si layer, and more preferably, in addition to the single-crystal Si layer, an insulating layer on the single-crystal Si layer.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device manufacturing method characterized by comprising the steps of preparing an SOI substrate using the substrate manufacturing method according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, and element-isolating an SOI layer of the SOI substrate and forming a transistor on the element-isolated SOI layer.
The transistor may be either a partial depletion type FET or a complete depletion type FET.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wafer and a wafer cutting and dividing method.
2. Description of Related Art
A dicing (laser dicing) technique, which uses a laser beam to cut and divide a wafer-like workpiece into individual chips, has been under development.
For example, as recited in Japanese Patent No. 3408805 that corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,992,026B2, US2005/0173387A1, US2005/0181581A1, US2005/0184037A1, US2005/0189330A1, US2005/0194364A1, US2006/0040473A1 and US2006/0160331A1, it has bee proposed that the laser beam is irradiated on the wafer-like workpiece in such a manner that a focal point of the laser beam is placed in the interior of the wafer-like workpiece to form modified areas (modified areas including crack areas, modified areas including fused areas, modified areas including areas where a refractive index changes) through multiphoton absorption from the laser beam. A cutting start area is formed by the modified areas in the wafer-like workpiece along a predetermined cutting line of the wafer-like workpiece at a predetermined depth from a laser beam incident surface of the wafer-like workpiece. The cutting of the wafer-like workpiece is initiated along the cutting start areas to cut and divide the wafer-like workpiece.
Furthermore, as recited in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-205180 that corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,992,026B2, US2005/0173387A1, US2005/0181581A1, US2005/0184037A1, US2005/0189330A1, US2005/0194364A1, US2006/0040473A1 and US2006/0160331A1, it has been also proposed that the laser beam is irradiated on the wafer-like workpiece to form the modified areas in the interior of the wafer-like workpiece along the predetermined cutting line. However, in this instance, a position of a focal point of the laser beam in an incident direction of the laser beam to the wafer-like workpiece is changed in the interior of the wafer-like workpiece from one to another to form multiple rows of the modified areas in the incident direction of the laser beam.
According to this Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-205180, the multiple rows of modified areas are formed in the wafer-like workpiece in the incident direction of the laser beam. Thus, the number of cutting start areas is also increased, and thereby the wafer-like workpiece having a relatively large thickness can be easily cut along the cutting start areas.
Furthermore, as recited in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-1001, which corresponds to US2006/0011593A1 and US2005/0202596A1, an expansible film may be applied to one of opposed surfaces of a planar workpiece, which includes a substrate, and a laser beam is irradiated into an interior of the substrate through the other one of the opposed surfaces of the workpiece to place a focal point of the laser beam in the interior of the workpiece, so that modified areas (fused areas) are formed by multiphoton absorption from the laser beam. The thus formed modified areas may be used to form cutting start areas in the predetermined depth of the workpiece, which is spaced by a predetermined distance from the laser beam incident surface of the workpiece, along the predetermined cutting line of the workpiece. Then, the film may be expanded to cut the workpiece into multiple pieces in such a manner that the cutting is initiated in the cutting start areas.
According to the technique recited in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-1001, the film is expanded after the formation of the cutting start areas in the interior of the substrate, so that the stretching stress can be appropriately applied to the cutting start areas to start the cutting initially from the cutting start areas, and thereby the substrate can be relatively accurately cut and divided into the pieces with a relatively small force.
In the recent years, the multi-layering technique of the semiconductor substrate is progressed, and the laser dicing technique recited in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3408805, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-205180 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-1001 is applied to a wafer (a semiconductor wafer), which is used in manufacturing of a semiconductor substrate having the multi-layers, to cut and divide the wafer into individual chips (semiconductor chips).
The multi-layering technique of the semiconductor substrate may include a bonding technique, a Separation by Implanted Oxygen (SIMOX) technique, a silicon on insulator (SOI) technique, a crystal growth technique for growing a III-V family chemical compound semiconductor layer on a substrate (e.g., sapphire) or a bonding technique for bonding a silicon substrate and a glass substrate together through use of anodic bonding.
FIG. 14 is a descriptive view, which indicates a way of forming modified areas by irradiating a laser beam on a wafer 50 having a bonded SOI structure according to a previously proposed technique and which schematically shows a longitudinal cross section of the wafer 50.
The wafer 50, which has the bonded SOI structure, includes a substrate Si (single crystal silicon) layer 51, a buried oxide (BOX) layer 52 and an SOI (single crystal silicon) layer 53 in this order from the bottom side to the top side thereof. Thus, the wafer 50 has the SOI structure, in which the single crystal silicon layer 53 is formed on the buried oxide layer 52 that is an insulation layer.
Here, the wafer 50, which has the bonded SOI structure, may be produced by bonding two wafers, each of which has a bonding surface (a mirror surface) that is thermally oxidized to form an oxide film thereon through the oxide films. Then, one of the two wafers is polished to a desired thickness. Here, the polished wafer becomes the SOI (single crystal silicon) layer 53, and the unpolished wafer becomes the substrate Si (single crystal silicon) layer 51, and the oxide films become the buried oxide layer 52.
A dicing film (a dicing sheet, a dicing tape, an expanded tape) 54 is bonded to the back surface (the lower surface of the single crystal silicon layer 5.1) 50a of the wafer 50.
The dicing film 54 is made of an expansible plastic film, which expands when the film is heated or when a force is applied to the film in an expansion direction. The dicing film 54 is bonded to the entire back surface of the wafer 50 through a bonding agent (not shown).
A laser processing machine (not shown) includes a laser beams source (not shown) for outputting a laser beam L and a converging lens CV. In a state where an optical axial OA of the laser beam L is placed perpendicular to the surface 50b of the wafer 50, the laser beam L is irradiated on the surface (the laser beam incident surface) 50b of the wafer 50 through the converging lens CV such that a focal point (light converging point) P of the laser beam L is placed at a predetermined point in the interior of the wafer 50. Therefore, a modified area (a modified layer) is formed at the focal point P in the interior of the wafer 50.
The laser beam L may be a laser beam that has a wavelength of 1064 nm, which is in an infrared wavelength range.
Here, the modified areas R include fused areas, which are generated mainly through the multiphoton absorption caused by the irradiation of the laser beam L.
Specifically, a portion of the wafer 50 at the focal point P of the laser beam L in the interior of the wafer 50 is locally heated through the multiphoton absorption from the laser beam L, so that the portion of the wafer 50 is melted once and is then resolidified. As described above, the portion of the wafer 50, which is melted and is then resolidified, becomes the modified area R.
That is, the fused area refers to an area, which has undergone the phase change, or an area, which has a changed crystal structure. In other words, the fused area refers to an area, in which the single crystal silicon is changed to the amorphous silicon, an area, in which the single crystal silicon is changed to the polycrystal silicon, or an area, in which the single crystal silicon is changed into a structure having the amorphous silicon and the polycrystal silicon. The wafer 50 is a bulk silicon wafer, so that the fused area is mainly made of the polycrystal silicon.
The fused area is formed mainly by the multiphoton absorption rather than simple absorption of the laser beam L in the interior of the wafer 50 (i.e., rather than the heating by the normal laser beam).
Thus, the laser beam L is not substantially absorbed in the area other the focal point P of the laser beam L in the interior of the wafer 50, and the top surface 50b of the wafer 50 is not melted.
The pulsed laser beam L is applied on the wafer 50 by the laser processing machine such that the laser beam L is scanned, i.e., run over the wafer 50 while the depth position of the focal point of the laser beam L in the interior of the wafer 50 is kept constant. In this way, the focal point P is moved along a predetermined straight cutting line (i.e., in a direction of an arrow α).
FIG. 14 shows a state where the laser beam L is scanned in a direction parallel to a plane of the drawing.
Here, it should be noted that the irradiating position of the laser beam L from the laser processing machine may be fixed without scanning the laser beam L by the laser processing machine. In this state, a table (not shown), which supports the wafer 50, may be moved in a direction perpendicular to an impinging direction of the laser beam L, i.e., an optical axis of the laser beam L (the incident direction of the laser beam L to the top surface 50b of the wafer 50).
Specifically, the focal point P of the laser beam L may be relatively moved with respect to the wafer 50 along the predetermined cutting line of the wafer 50 either by scanning the laser beam L or moving the wafer 50.
As described above, in the state where the depth position of the focal point P of the laser beam L in the interior of the wafer 50 is kept constant, when the pulsed laser beam L is irradiated in such a manner that the focal point P of the laser beam L is relatively moved with respect to the wafer 50, the multiple modified areas R (a modified area group including the multiple modified areas R) are formed at constant intervals d in a direction parallel to the top surface 50b and the back surface 50a of the wafer 50 at a fixed depth from the top surface 50b of the wafer 50 (i.e., a position that is spaced by a predetermined distance from the laser beam incident surface 50b of the wafer 50, on which the laser beam L is impinged), so that a layer of a modified area group Ga-Gc is formed.
Here, the depth of the focal pint P of the laser beam L in the interior of the wafer 50 is defined as a distance from the top surface (the laser beam incident surface) 50b of the wafer 50.
Also, the interval d of the modified areas R is defined as a center-to-center distance between a left-to-right center of one of corresponding adjacent two modified areas R and a left-to-right center of the other one of the two modified areas R in a left-to-right direction of FIG. 14 (in a direction parallel to the top surface 50b and the back surface 50a of the wafer 50).
Here, the interval d of the modified areas R of each modified area group Ga-Gc is set to be a value (d=s/f), which is obtained by dividing the relative moving speed s of the focal point P of the laser beam L with respect to the wafer 50 (the scanning speed of the laser beam L or the moving speed of the wafer 10) by the pulse oscillation frequency (a pulse repetition frequency) f of the pulsed laser beam L.
That is, in the case where the relative moving speed s of the focal point P is constant, the interval d of the modified areas R gets larger as the pulse oscillation frequency f of the laser beam L gets lower. Furthermore, in the case where the pulse oscillation frequency f of the laser beam L is constant, the interval d of the modified areas R gets larger as the relative moving speed s of the focal point P gets higher.
When the depth position of the focal point P in the interior of the wafer 50 is changed stepwise, multiple layers of modified area groups Ga-Gc are formed by the laser processing machine along the predetermined cutting line of the wafer 50 at constant intervals in a depth direction of the wafer 50 (i.e., the thickness direction of the wafer 50, the cross sectional direction of the wafer 50, the perpendicular direction that is perpendicular to the top and back surfaces 50b, 50a of the wafer 50, the top-to-bottom direction of the wafer 50), which is perpendicular to and is directed from the top surface 50b of the wafer 50.
The position (the depth position) of the focal point P of the laser beam L in the incident direction of the laser beam L on the wafer 50 (the depth direction of the wafer 50) is changed multiple times, so that the corresponding modified areas R of the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc are aligned in the incident direction of the laser beam while a desired interval is provided between each corresponding two modified areas R in the incident direction of the laser beam.
For example, the first layer (the lowermost layer) of the modified area group Ga is formed by relatively moving the focal point P in a state where the depth position of the focal point P is set adjacent to the back surface 50a of the wafer 50. Then, the second layer (the intermediate layer) of the modified area group Gb is formed by relatively moving the focal point P in a state where the depth position of the focal point P is set generally at a half point between the top surface 50b and the back surface 50a of the wafer 50. Thereafter, the third layer (the uppermost layer) of the modified area group Gc is formed by relatively moving the focal point P in a state where the depth position of the focal point P is set adjacent to the top surface 50b of the wafer 50.
In the case of FIG. 14, although the three layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc are provided, the number of the layers of the modified area groups is not limited to three and may be set to two or less or four or more.
Here, in the case of the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc, it is desirable that the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc are formed one after anther from the farthest layer to the closest layer (in the order of Ga, Gb and Gc) with respect to the top surface (the laser beam incident surface) 50b of the wafer 50, on which the laser beam L impinges.
For example, in a case where the farthest layer of the modified area group Ga is formed after the formation of the closest layer of the modified area group Gc, the laser beam L applied to form the modified area group Ga is scattered by the previously formed modified area group Gc. Thus, the size of the modified area R of the modified area group Ga varies from one modified area R to another modified area R, so that the modified area Ga cannot be formed uniformly.
However, when the modified area groups Ga-Gc are formed one after anther from the farthest layer of the modified area group Ga to the closest layer of the modified area group Gc, it is possible to form a new modified area R with the focal point P of the laser beam L while no modified area R is yet formed between the incident surface 50b and the current focal point P of the laser beam L. Therefore, at this time, the laser beam L is not scattered by the previously formed modified areas R, and thereby the multiple layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc can be uniformly formed.
However, the forming sequence of the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc are not limited to this and may be appropriately experimentally set through actual experiments since in some cases, generally uniform modified area groups can be possibly obtained even when the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc are formed one after another from the closest layer of the modified area group Gc to the farthest layer of the modified area group Ga (in the order of Gc, Gb and Ga) with respect to the top surface 50b of the wafer 50, or even when the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc are formed at a random layer forming sequence.
The layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc can be formed by changing the depth position of the focal point P in the interior of the wafer 50 through, for example, any one of the following methods (I)-(III).
(I) In one method, a head (a laser head), which includes the laser beam source for outputting the laser beam L and the converging lens CV, may be moved in the direction perpendicular to the top surface 50b and the back surface 50a of the wafer 50.
(II) In another method, the table, which supports the wafer 50, may be moved in the direction perpendicular to the top surface 50b and the back surface 50a of the wafer 50.
(III) In another method, the above two methods (I) and (II) may be combined to vertically move both of the head and the table in opposite directions. According to the method (III), the time required to form the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc can be reduced in comparison to the methods (I) and (II).
As described above, the multiple layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc are formed in the interior of the wafer 50, and then the dicing film 54 is stretched in the horizontal direction with respect to the respective predetermined cutting line to apply the stretching stress to the modified area groups Ga-Gc.
In the case of FIG. 14, the dicing film 54 is stretched in the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 14.
Thus, the shearing stress is generated in the interior of the wafer 50. As a result, a crack (break) is generated in the depth direction of the wafer 50 from the lowermost layer of the modified area group Ga, which is closest to the dicing film 54 and serves as a crack start point. Then, another crack is generated in the depth direction of the wafer 50 from the intermediate layer of the modified area group Gb, which serves as a crack start point. Thereafter, the crack is generated in the depth direction of the wafer 50 from the uppermost layer of the modified area group Gc, which serves as a crack start point. These cracks grow further and are connected to each other. When the grown cracks reach the top and back surfaces 50b, 50a of the wafer 50, the wafer 50 is cut and is divided.
Here, the modified area groups Ga-Gc are formed along the predetermined cutting line. Thus, when the stretching stress is appropriately applied to each modified area group Ga-Gc by stretching the dicing film 54, the wafer 50 can be relatively accurately cut and divided with a relatively small force without generating unnecessary cracks in the wafer 50 through the cracking started at the respective modified areas R in the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc.
In the top surface 50b of the wafer 50, which has a generally circular disc shape, chips are regularly arranged in a grid pattern. Each of the predetermined cutting lines is provided between the chips. That is, multiple predetermined cutting lines are arranged to form the grid pattern on the top surface 50b of the wafer 50.
Thus, after the formation of the modified area groups Ga-Gc along the predetermined cutting lines, the dicing film 54 is stretched. Therefore, the wafer 50 is cut and divided into the chips.
In the previously proposed technique shown in FIG. 14 and the prior arts recited in Japanese Patent No. 3408805, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-205180 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-1001, each of the relative moving speed s of the focal point P and the pulse oscillation frequency f is set to a corresponding constant value, so that each interval d (=s/f) of the modified areas R in each modified area group Ga-Gc is made constant.
Therefore, in the case where the wafer 50 is the bulk silicon wafer or the bulk silicon wafer having an oxide film on its surface, it is possible to reliably form the normal modified areas R in each of the layers of the modified area groups Ga-Gc, which include the lowermost layer to the uppermost layer.
However, in the case of the wafer 50, which has the bonded SOI structure, although it is possible to form the normal modified areas R in the uppermost layers of the modified area group Gc, it is difficult to form the normal modified areas R in the intermediate layer of the modified area group Gb and in the lowermost layer of the modified area group Ga.
As described above, It is difficult to form the normal modified areas R at the deep part (the deep location), which is deep from the top surface (the laser beam incident surface) 50b of the wafer 50, due to the following reason.
That is, in the wafer 50, which has the bonded SOI structure, due to a variation in the optical characteristics of each layer 51-53, the refractive index of the laser beam L varies according to the layer thickness and material of each layer 51-53.
Thus, at a boundary surface between the layer 51 and the layer 52 or between the layer 52 and the layer 53, a portion of the laser beam L is reflected. This reflected laser beam interferes with the newly impinging laser beam to cause cancellation between the reflected laser beam and the newly impinging laser beam. Therefore, the energy of the laser beam L is reduced. Furthermore, the laser beam L, which has entered into the wafer 50, is absorbed in the interior of the wafer 50. Thus, as the depth from the top surface (the laser beam incident surface) 50b of the wafer 50 gets deeper, the energy of the laser beam L is more reduced.
As a result, at the deep part of the wafer 50, the energy of the laser beam L, which is required to cause the multiphoton absorption, becomes insufficient, so that the formation of the modified areas R, which include the fused areas, becomes impossible.
FIG. 15 schematically shows the longitudinal cross section of the wafer 50, in which the layers of the modified area groups are formed.
In the case of FIG. 15, the layers of the modified area groups are formed in the wafer 50 having the total thickness of 650 μm under the processing condition where each of the relative moving speed s of the focal point P of the laser beam L and the pulse oscillation frequency f of the laser beam L is set to be constant.
In the case of FIG. 15, the normal modified areas R are formed in each of the layers of the modified area groups in a portion 50c, which ranges from the top surface (the laser beam incident surface) 50b of the wafer 50 to the depth of 478 μm. However, in a deeper portion 50d, which is deeper than the depth of 478 μm, the modified areas R are not formed.
In the wafer 50, which does not have the normal modified areas R all the way from the lowermost layer of the modified area group Ga to the uppermost layer of the modified area group Gc, unnecessary cracks are easily formed at the time of cutting and dividing the wafer 50. Thus, it is difficult to relatively accurately cut and divide the wafer 50 along the predetermined cutting lines. Therefore, the yield and the quality of the chips made from the wafer 50 are deteriorated.
In the recent years, as recited in Japanese Patent No. 3408805, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-205180 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-1001, it has been attempted to cut thicker wafers with the laser dicing technique.
However, in the technique recited in Japanese Patent No. 3408805, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-205180 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-1001, it is required to provide the greater number of layers of the modified areas and to reduce the intervals d of the modified areas in all of the layers of the modified area groups, which include the lowermost layer to the uppermost layer.
Therefore, the relatively long time period is required to form the layers of the modified area groups, and thereby the throughput (the productivity per unit time) is deteriorated. As a result, the above technique is not suitable for the mass production.
Furthermore, the output power W of the laser beam L needs to be increased to form the normal modified areas R in each of the layers of the modified area groups. Thus, the power consumption of the laser processing machine, which generates the laser beam L, is disadvantageously increased to cause a disadvantageous increase in the manufacturing cost at the time of cutting and dividing the wafer.
Furthermore, in the recent years, it has been demanded to reliably form the normal modified areas through use of the laser dicing technique to improve the accuracy at the time of cutting other types of wafers made of the other type of material (e.g., a material that includes glass) other than the wafer made of the semiconductor material used in the manufacturing of the semiconductor substrate. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic nanomedicine for inhibiting/treating human prostate cancer, particularly to a magnetic nanomedicine, whose local concentration can be magnetically promoted to inhibit/treat prostate cancer without using surgical operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, the prostate cancer is primarily treated with Taxol and the derivatives thereof. However, Taxol is poisonous and water-insoluble. Thus, Taxol injection and treatment has many side-effects. The current solution is carrying Taxol with a vector system to the nidus and releasing Taxol in the nidus.
The current vector technologies include the liposome encapsulation method, the transistor encapsulation method, the gelatin encapsulation method, the polymer vesicle system, and the magnetic nanocomposite method wherein the medicine is encapsulated by a compatible polymeric material. In the liposome encapsulation method, medicine is encapsulated by liposome, whereby the medicine can be released gradually and exempted from being decomposed by enzymes in the digestive tract. However, the timing and dose of releasing medicine are hard to accurately calculate in the liposome technology. In the transistor encapsulation method, a transistor encapsulating medicine is surgically implanted into the cancer area and then releases the medicine to the cancer to effectively increase the medicine concentration in the cancer with the normal regions being less affected by the medicine. In the gelatin encapsulation method, gelatin encapsulates magnetic particles and medicine, and the package is magnetically conducted to the nidus. However, the package has too greater a diameter (about 150-350 nm). Besides, the medicine releasing rate is hard to accurately control in the gelatin encapsulation method. The polymer vesicle system can gradually release medicine to increase the time that the medicine remains in the body. However, the polymer vesicle system cannot concentrate the medicine to the cancer area. | {
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The invention relates to a circuit for automatic gain control.
In communication technology it is frequently required to control audio signals, for example speech or music signals so as to maintain them at a substantially constant level. This process is generally referred to as gain control. In particular in the field of entertainment electronics, it is desirable, mainly for reasons of convenience, to have automatic gain control without the intervention of the user. Automatic gain control circuits are employed in practically all video recorders and in many compact-cassette recorders. The basic problem in automatic gain control systems is that on the one hand gaturation of the tape should be avoided and on the other hand the systems should not be too sensitive to individual pulses.
DE-OS No. 30 27 715 describes a circuit for automatically controlling or limiting of the dynamic range in which the emphasis is put on a fast response of the control system. This circuit comprises two inputs through each of which a capacitor is charged. The time constants are selected in such a way that the charging-time constant and the discharge-time constant of the first capacitor are very small and those of the second capacitor are significantly larger. However, in particular in the case of peak rectification of the signal this leads to an oversensitivity to brief high-frequency signal components. This means that in the case of such signal components the control system reduces the audio signal considerably and subsequently increases this signal too slowly, which sounds annoying. This "flutter" effect results in a very unsteady sound impression. Generally, this becomes even worse when a noise-reduction circuit is used.
Further, DE-OS No. 23 01 281 describes an automatic gain control circuit by means of which it is attempted to overcome this problem by the use of two control inputs with different response times and different recovery times. For example, in the case of signal components or noise of short duration the recovery time should be small. However, this leads to the above-mentioned fluttering and unsteady sound impression, in particular if the control circuit is so arranged in a recording amplifier that it receives the pre-emphasized audio signal. However, if it is so arranged in the recording amplifier branch that it receives the signal without pre-emphasis, this results in the treble tones being distorted because the control circuit processes these tones in the same way as the mid-range tones and the bass-tones. No allowance is then made for the fact that the treble tones are pre-emphasized after the gain control. | {
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The present disclosure relates to a diffusion sheet having a surface on which convex-shaped structures are formed and a method of producing the same, and to a backlight and a liquid crystal display apparatus each including such a diffusion sheet.
In related art, for a backlight to be incorporated into a liquid crystal display apparatus, there have been used various optical sheets. As one of the most important sheets among the various optical sheets, there is a diffusion sheet. As the diffusion sheet, a sheet obtained by forming a convex-shaped micro-lens group on a main surface of a transparent sheet substrate is known (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-318668). | {
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Host processor systems may store and retrieve data (or datasets) using storage devices containing a plurality of host interface units (host adapters), disk drives, and disk interface units (disk adapters). Such storage devices are provided, for example, by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,939 to Yanai et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,394 to Galtzur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,147 to Vishlitzky et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,208 to Ofek, which are incorporated herein by reference. The host systems access the storage device through a plurality of channels provided therewith. Host systems provide data and access control information through the channels of the storage device and the storage device provides data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems do not address the disk drives of the storage device directly, but rather, access what appears to the host systems as a plurality of logical volumes. Different sections of the logical volumes may or may not correspond to the actual disk drives.
Virtual provisioning (also referred to as thin provisioning) storage systems present a large amount of storage capacity to a host, but consume physical storage space only as needed from a shared pool. The devices of virtual provisioning may be known as thin devices or thin LUNs. With thin devices, the host visible capacity (e.g., storage perceived by the applications) is larger than the actual allocated space on the storage system. This simplifies the creation and allocation of storage capacity. Thin devices may be sized to accommodate growth without regard for currently available assets. Physical storage may be assigned to the server in a capacity-on-demand fashion from a shared pool.
Thin devices may be expanded as a file system runs, but may storage space may not be easily returned to the shared pool when no longer needed. Once allocated, in some cases, storage spaces may not be later recycled even if they are freed by the file system. A Symmetrix storage system product by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. may be able to dynamically assigned tracks from a free track pool for thin device usage, but may not be able to detect when the track usage is no longer necessary and return the tracks to the free track pool. Known systems and techniques for space reclamation, such as the products by EMC Corporation, may include checking all the storage chunks allocated for a specified thin device and unmapping or otherwise freeing the allocated, but unneeded, storage chunks only if the storage chunks contain all zeroes. Space reclamation does not occur if any byte of a storage chunk is other than zero. Utilities, such as SDelete from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., may be used to fill unused spaces of a volume with zeroes; however, such utilities may generate a large number of write I/Os that may have a disadvantageous impact on the system and other applications.
In particular, for Count Key Data (CKD) devices, there is no simple method available to return track space to a thin storage pool when no longer needed. CKD is a disk data architecture. In a CKD device, each physical disk record may include a count field, a key field (optional), and a user data field with error correction/detection information appended to each field. Because data records can be variable in length, in CKD, the count field indicates the user data record size. The key field enables a hardware search on a key. The commands used in the CKD architecture for managing the data and the storage devices are called channel command words. Reclaiming storage space that is no longer needed for a CKD device may not be easily accomplished with known techniques and systems. For example, when a dataset is initially allocated for a CKD device, an operating system, such as zOS by IBM Corporation, may assign track extents to the dataset. As writes occur to the dataset, the storage system, such as Symmetrix, may ensure that tracks are assigned on the back end. When the dataset is no longer needed, the zOS dataset is scratched, releasing the assigned extents. However, with known systems, there may be no notification to the storage system that the track extents being released may now be returned to the thin storage pool.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system that provides for efficient reclaiming of unused storage space in virtual (or thin) provisioning storage systems, and in particular, a storage system using CKD devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the treatment of a hot aqueous brine solution containing various dissolved components, such as iron, silver and silica, to inhibit precipitation of undesirable scale, such as iron silicate scale, while enhancing deposition and recovery of a valuable silver-containing scale. More particularly, the invention relates to such a treatment wherein the scale is formed in a geothermal brine which is being processed to recover its heat content and the brine is handled prior to injecting it back into a geothermal reservoir.
2. Description of Prior Art
The solubility of most ions in solution decreases with a decrease in temperature or pressure of the solution. If dissolved ions are present near their saturation concentration in the solution, a slight reduction in the temperature or pressure of the system can result in precipitation of a portion of these ions, which often combine and deposit as a scale on any solid surface with which they come into contact, such as the vessel or conduit in which the solution is confined.
One example of such a solution is a liquid stream containing hot water which is passed through a conduit in an industrial operation under conditions, such as a lowering of the pressure, which flash at least a portion of the hot water to steam. If the hot water is a brine containing appreciable amounts of dissolved salts, this flashing is often accompanied by the formation of scale on the surfaces of the conduit contacted by the fluid stream. Scale deposits tend to build up over a period of time and restrict further fluid flow through the conduit requiring either operation at a reduced flow rate or an increase in the amount of power used to move the fluid through the conduit. In extreme cases, the conduit can become completely plugged with scale and the industrial operation must be shut down for maintenance. Industrial operations for generating steam power often are hampered by the buildup of scale deposits caused by flashing of hot water containing dissolved salts.
Geothermal steam and hot brines are found in naturally occurring, large subterranean reservoirs in many regions of the world. When hot geothermal fluids can be used to generate electric power, pressurized geothermal water or brine, having a temperature above about 400.degree. F., is flashed to a lower pressure and the steam generated thereby drives a steam turbine in combination with an electric generator. However, formidable problems are generally encountered in handling and disposing of large amounts of heavily contaminated and frequently highly saline geothermal liquids. Consequently, production of electricity from geothermal waters on a commercial scale has been difficult and costly to achieve.
One of the most serious problems encountered in using hot geothermal liquids for producing electric power results from scaling of the equipment used to confine and contain the liquid. Because geothermal liquids have usually been confined in subterranean reservoirs for extraordinarily long periods of time at elevated temperatures, large amounts of minerals are leached from the reservoirs into the brine. Typically, salts and oxides of heavy metals, such as lead, zinc, iron, silver, cadmium and molybdenum, are found in geothermal brine. Other more common minerals, such as calcium and sodium, are also dissolved in the brine, as are naturally occurring gases, including carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and methane. An especially troublesome component of the hot brine may be silica, which is found in large concentrations in the form of silicic acid oligomers. These tend to precipitate out at almost every stage of brine processing, either as substantially pure silica or as a tightly adherent iron-silica scale. If this scale is not removed, or prevented from forming, serious problems can arise with conduit plugging. Even when the brine has completed its passage through the plant, it typically retains some small amount of silica, which if not removed, will eventually result in the plugging of the injection wells used to return the now cooled brine to the geothermal field.
Various proposals have been made to decrease the scale formation in equipment used in producing and handling geothermal brine. In "Field Evaluation of Scale Control Methods: Acidification," by J. Z. Grens et al, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Geothermal Resources Council, Transactions, Vol. 1, May 1977, there is described an investigation of the scaling of turbine components wherein a geothermal brine at a pressure of 220 to 320 p.s.i.g. and a temperature of 200.degree. to 230.degree. C. (392.degree. to 446.degree. F.) was expanded through nozzles and impinged against static wearblades to a pressure of 1 atmosphere and a temperature of 102.degree. C. (215.degree. F.). In the nozzles, the primary scale was heavy metal sulfides, such as lead sulfide, copper iron sulfide, zinc sulfide and cuprous sulfide. Thin basal layers of fine-grained, iron-rich amorphous silica promote adherence of the primary scale to the metal substrate. By contrast, the scale formed on the wearblades was cuprous sulfide, native silver and lead sulfide in an iron-rich amorphous silica matrix. When the brine which originally had a pH of 5.4 to 5.8 was acidified with sufficient hydrochloric acid to reduce the pH of the expanded brine to values between 1.5 to 5.0, scaling was eliminated. However, such acidification of hot brines increases the corrosion of the brine-handling equipment to such levels that it often defeats the purpose of using acid for scale control.
It is known to recover metal values and salts from brine, such as geothermal brine produced from a subterranean reservoir. U. S. Pat. No. 4,127,989 to Michelson discloses a method in which brine is pressurized and maintained above the bubble point pressure and thereafter a precipitating agent, such as a soluble sulfide, is added to the brine to enhance formation of insoluble metal sulfide precipitates. Soluble salts and metal values are recovered from the brine effluent after the hot brine has been processed to recover energy therefrom. Silver sulfides are among the mineral values recovered by this process.
While the aforementioned treatments have met with some success in particular applications, the need exists for a further improved treating process to better control the scaling process and to efficiently recover the mineral values in geothermal brines containing silver and/or other precious metals.
Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide an improved method for recovering valuable precious metal-containing scales from clarified geothermal brines, inhibiting the overall precipitation of scale, particularly iron-silicate scale, inhibiting corrosion, and polishing the fluid so as to prevent the transport of residual silica and other particulate material suspended therein to an injection well.
Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description, drawings and appended claims. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Leukotrienes and prostaglandins are important mediators of inflammation. Leukotrienes recruit inflammatory cells such as neutrophils to an inflamed site, promote the extravasation of these cells and stimulate release of superoxide and proteases which damage the tissue. Leukotrienes also play a pathophysiological role in the hypersensitivity experienced by asthmatics [See, e.g. B. Samuelson et al., Science, 237:1171-76 (1987)]. Prostaglandins enhance inflammation by increasing blood flow and therefore infiltration of leukocytes to inflamed sites. Prostaglandins also potentiate the pain response induced by stimuli. prostaglandins and leukotrienes are unstable and are not stored in cells, but are instead synthesized [W. L. Smith, Biochem. J., 259:315-324 (1989) from arachidonic acid in response to stimuli. Likewise arachidonic acid is not free in cells but is released from the sn-2 position of membrane phospholipids by Phospholipase A2 (hereinafter PLA.sub.2). The reaction catalyzed by PLA.sub.2 is believed to represent the rate-limiting step in the process of lipid mediator biosynthesis. When the phospholipid substrate of PLA.sub.2 is of the phosphatidyl choline class with an ether linkage in the sn-1 position, the lysophospholipid produced is the immediate precursor of platelet activating factor (hereafter called PAF), another potent mediator of inflammation [S. I. Wasserman, Hospital practice, 15:49-58 (1988)]. Consequently the direct inhibition of the activity of PLA.sub.2 has been suggested as a useful mechanism for a therapeutic agent, i.e., to interfere with the inflammatory response. [See, e.g., J. Chang et al, Biochem. Pharmacol., 36:2429-2436 (1987)].
A family of PLA.sub.2 enzymes characterized by the presence of a secretion signal sequenced and ultimately secreted from the cell have been sequenced and structurally defined. These secreted PLA.sub.2 's are approximately 14 kD molecular weight and contain seven disulfide bonds which are necessary for activity. These PLA.sub.2 s are found in large quantities in mammalian pancreas, bee venom, and various snake venom. [See, e.g., references 13-15 in Chang et al, cited above; and E. A. Dennis, Drug Devel. Res., 10:205-220 (1987).]However, the pancreatic enzyme is believed to serve a digestive function and, as such, should not be important in the production of the inflammatory mediators whose production must be tightly regulated.
Recently, the primary structure of the first human non-pancreatic PLA.sub.2 has been determined. This non-pancreatic PLA.sub.2 is found in platelets, synovial fluid, and spleen and is also a secreted enzyme. This enzyme is a member of the aforementioned family. [See, J. J. Seilhamer et al, J. Biol. Chem., 264:5335-5338 (1989); R. M. Kramer et al, J. Biol. Chem., 264:5768-5775 (1989); and A. Kando et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 163:42-48 (1989)].
However, it is doubtful that this enzyme is important in the synthesis of prostaglandins, leukotrienes and PAF, since the non-pancreatic PLA.sub.2 is an extracellular protein which would be difficult to regulate, and the next enzymes in the biosynthetic pathways for these compounds are intracellular proteins. Moreover, there is evidence that PLA.sub.2 is regulated by protein kinase C and G proteins [R. Burch and J. Axelrod, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 84:6374-6378 (1989)] which are cytosolic proteins which must act on intracellular proteins. It would be impossible for the non-pancreatic PLA2 to function in the cytosol, since the high reduction potential would reduce the disulfide bonds and inactivate the enzyme.
A murine PLA.sub.2 has recently been identified in the murine macrophage cell line, designated RAW 264.7. A specific activity of 2 .mu.mols/min/mg, resistant to reducing conditions, was reported to be associated with the approximately 60 kD molecule. However, this protein was not purified to homogeneity. [See, C. C. Leslie et al, Biochem. Biophys. Acta., 963:476-492 (1988)]. The references cited above are incorporated by reference herein for information pertaining to the function of the phospholipase enzymes, particularly PLA.sub.2.
There remains a need in the art for a definitive identification of an intracellular PLA.sub.2 enzyme, purified from its natural source or otherwise produced in purified form, which functions intracellularly to produce arachidonic acid in response to inflammatory stimuli. Such enzymes may be useful in methods for developing effective anti-inflammatory agents for therapeutic use in a variety of disease states. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a gas concentration measuring apparatus for measuring the concentration of gases which may be employed in an air-fuel ratio control system for automotive vehicles, and more particularly to a gas concentration measuring apparatus designed to correct an error contained in an output of a gas concentration sensor.
2. Background Art
The air pollution caused by exhaust emissions of automotive internal combustion engines is giving rise to a serious problem at the present day. The exhaust emission control standard regulations have been made more rigorous recently. The burning control of gasoline or diesel engines or use of catalyst are, therefore, being studied to reduce pollutants contained in exhaust gasses. In U.S., OBD-II (On Board Diagnostic-II) requirements prescribe that automotive vehicles have a function of determining whether a catalytic converter is operating normally or not.
As one of systems meeting the OBD-II requirements, a two-O2 sensor monitoring system is proposed which monitors outputs of two O2 sensors mounted upstream and downstream of a catalytic converter, respectively, but it is not designed to detect pollutants directly and cannot determine whether pollutants in exhaust gasses have been reduced accurately or not.
If it becomes possible to measure the concentration of NOx in exhaust gasses for monitoring the burning control and the catalytic converter, the pollutants in the exhaust gasses can be reduced greatly. Specifically, the reduction in pollutants in exhaust emissions of the engine is achieved by controlling the quantity of fuel to be injected into the engine and the EGR rate based on the concentration of NOx contained in the exhaust gasses. Additionally, the determination of deterioration of the catalytic converter is achieved easily by installing a NOx sensor downstream of the catalytic converter.
NOx sensors capable of measuring the concentration of NOx accurately and techniques for mounting such NOx sensors in automotive vehicles are, therefore, being sought.
The effects of air-fuel ratio feedback control may be improved further by monitoring the concentration of O2 contained in the exhaust gasses as well as the concentration of NOx. Specifically, modern air-fuel ratio control for automotive vehicles is required to improve the accuracy of the control and perform lean burn engine control. For meeting these requirements, sensors capable of determining the air-fuel ratio of a mixture supplied to the engine over a wide range are preferable.
Keeping such sensors activated to maintain the accuracy of detection at a certain level requires a heater for keeping the temperature of the sensor at a constant value required for activation of the sensor. The heater may be built in the sensor. In this case, an insulator is disposed between the heater and a sensor element of the sensor. A supply of power to the heater is controlled cyclically by turning on and off a switch connecting a power supply and the heater. An increase in temperature of the sensor element by the heater, however, causes the resistance of the insulator of the sensor to drop, which will cause a leakage current to flow to the sensor element through the insulator during on-off control of the supply of power to the heater, resulting in addition of an error current to an output of the sensor element. Even if the resistance of the insulator is constant, an increase in voltage applied to the heater during the on-off control of the supply of power to the heater also results in an increase in leakage current.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to avoid the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a gas concentration measuring apparatus designed to correct an error contained in an output of a gas concentration sensor arising from control of supply of power to a heater built in the gas concentration sensor.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a gas concentration measuring apparatus which comprises: (a) a gas concentration sensor including a sensor element producing a signal indicative of the concentration of a preselected component contained in gasses, a heater heating the sensor element, and an insulator disposed between the sensor element and the heater; (b) a heater control circuit controlling a supply of power to the heater of the gas concentration sensor; and (c) an error correcting circuit correcting an error contained in the signal produced by the sensor element of the gas concentration sensor arising from a leakage current flowing into the sensor element through the insulator during control of the supply of power to the heater by the heater control circuit.
In the preferred mode of the invention, the heater control circuit determines a target voltage to be applied to the heater for keeping a temperature of the sensor element of the gas concentration sensor at a given value required for activation of the sensor element and controls the supply of power to the heater based on the target voltage.
The heater control circuit limits a change in voltage applied to the heater when the gas concentration sensor is in a activated state to below a given value.
The heater control circuit includes, a power supply, a switching element, a coil, and a capacitor. The switching element is turned on and off to apply a voltage of the power supply to the heater cyclically. The coil and the capacitor serve to smooth the voltage of the power supply.
The switching frequency of the switching element is 1 kHz or more.
A filter may be provided which cuts off low frequency components below 100 Hz from the signal produced by the sensor element of the gas concentration sensor.
The may cut off low frequency components below at least the switching frequency from the signal produced by the sensor element of the gas concentration sensor.
The sensor element may include a first cell which is responsive to application of voltage to discharge oxygen contained in the gasses and produces a current signal as a function of a concentration of the oxygen and a second cell which is responsive to application of voltage to produce a current signal as a function of a concentration of a given gas component contained in the gasses after the oxygen is discharged through the first cell.
The sensor element may alternatively has a cell which produces an electromotive force as the gas concentration signal.
According to the second aspect of the invention, there is provided a gas concentration measuring apparatus which comprises: (a) a gas concentration sensor including a sensor element producing a signal indicative of the concentration of a preselected component contained in gasses, a heater heating the sensor element, and an insulator disposed between the sensor element and the heater; (b) a heater control circuit supplying power to the heater cyclically using a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal; and (c) a filter passing frequency components of the signal produced by the sensor element within a given low frequency band. The frequency of the PWM signal is so determined as to allow the filter to compensate for an error which is contained in the signal inputted to the filter and which arises from the PWM signal.
In the preferred mode of the invention, the frequency of the PWM signal is ten or more times a cutoff frequency of the filter.
The PWM signal may be at least greater than a frequency of a change in signal outputted from the gas concentration sensor.
The cutoff frequency of the filter is less than or equal to 100 Hz.
The cutoff frequency of the filter may also be at least less than or equal to the frequency of the PWM signal.
A detecting circuit is provided which detects at least one of a voltage applied to the heater and a current flowing through the heater and a sample-and-hold circuit connected to an output of the detecting circuit.
The sensor element includes a first cell which is responsive to application of voltage to discharge oxygen contained in the gasses and produces a current signal as a function of a concentration of the oxygen and a second cell which is responsive to application of voltage to produce a current signal as a function of a concentration of a given gas component contained in the gasses after the oxygen is discharged through the first cell.
The sensor element may alternatively have a cell which produces an electromotive force as the gas concentration signal.
According to the third aspect of the invention, there is provided a gas concentration measuring apparatus which comprises: (a) a gas concentration sensor including a sensor element producing a signal indicative of the concentration of a preselected component contained in gasses, a heater heating the sensor element, and an insulator disposed between the sensor element and the heater, the heater being connected at a first end to a power supply and at a second end to ground; (b) a heater control circuit controlling a supply of power from the power supply to the heater of the gas concentration sensor; and (c) a switch disposed between the first end of the heater and the power supply, the switch establishing communication between the heater and the power supply when the power is supplied to the heater through the heater control circuit while blocking the communication when the supply of power to the heater is cut.
In the preferred mode of the invention, a second switch may also be disposed between the second end of the heater and the ground. The second switch establishes communication between the heater and the ground when the power is supplied to the heater through the heater control circuit while blocking the communication when the supply of power to the heater is cut.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a gas measuring apparatus which comprises: (a) a gas concentration sensor including a sensor element producing a gas concentration signal as a function of concentration of a specified component of gasses to be measured, a heater heating the sensor element, and an insulator disposed between the sensor element and the heater; (b) a heater control circuit controlling a supply of power to the heater of the gas concentration sensor in pulse-width modulation; and (c) a circuit detecting the gas concentration signal either for a power supply-on duration in which the power is supplied to the heater through the heater control circuit or for a power supply-off duration in which the supply of power to the heater is cut.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a gas concentration measuring apparatus which comprises: (a) a gas concentration sensor including a sensor element producing a gas concentration signal indicative of the concentration of a preselected component contained in gasses, a heater heating the sensor element, and an insulator disposed between the sensor element and the heater; (b) a heater control circuit supplying power to the heater cyclically using a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal; and (c) a correction circuit monitoring values of the gas concentration signal in a power supply-on duration for which the power is supplied to the heater and a power supply-off duration for which supply of the power to the heater is cut off, the correction circuit corrects the gas concentration signal using the monitored values.
In the preferred mode of the invention, the correction circuit averages the values of the gas concentration signal in the power supply-on duration and the power supply-off duration and corrects the gas concentration signal using an averaged value.
The sensor element includes a first cell which is responsive to application of voltage to discharge oxygen contained in the gasses and produces a current signal as a function of a concentration of the oxygen and a second cell which is responsive to application of voltage to produce a current signal as a function of a concentration of a given gas component contained in the gasses after the oxygen is discharged through the first cell.
The sensor element may alternatively have a cell which produces an electromotive force as the gas concentration signal.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a gas concentration measuring apparatus which comprises: (a) a gas concentration sensor including a sensor element producing a gas concentration signal indicative of the concentration of a preselected component contained in gasses, a heater heating the sensor element, and an insulator disposed between the sensor element and the heater; (b) a heater control circuit supplying power to the heater cyclically using a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal; and (c) a correction circuit estimating an error which is to be contained in the gas concentration signal and which arises from a leakage current flowing into the sensor element through the insulator caused by a change in resistance of the insulator produced during control of supply of the power to the heater by the heater control circuit using the PWM signal, the correction circuit removing the estimated error from the gas concentration signal.
In the preferred mode of the invention, the correction circuit corrects the gas concentration signal using a greater correction value as a voltage of a power supply for the heater increases.
The correction circuit corrects the gas concentration signal using a greater correction value as a temperature of the sensor element increases.
The sensor element includes a first cell which is responsive to application of voltage to discharge oxygen contained in the gasses and produces a current signal as a function of a concentration of the oxygen and a second cell which is responsive to application of voltage to produce a current signal as a function of a concentration of a given gas component contained in the gasses after the oxygen is discharged through the first cell.
The sensor element may alternatively have a cell which produces an electromotive force as the gas concentration signal. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Heretofore, resist compositions have been used to prepare masks for production of circuits, such as semiconductor integrated circuits (IC) and thin film transistor (TFT) circuits for liquid crystal displays (LCD).
On the other hand, a resist composition has attracted attention also as a material to form a permanent film for e.g. partition walls between pixels of a color filter, partition walls for ITO electrodes of a liquid crystal display device, partition walls between pixels of an organic EL display device or partition walls of a circuit wiring substrate.
For example, in the production of a color filter, so-called an ink jet method has been proposed which employs an ink jet printing technique to jet and apply R (red), G (green) and B (blue) inks within fine pixels. Here, formation of a pixel pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls between pixels.
Further, in the production of a liquid crystal display device, an ink jet method has been proposed wherein an ITO-containing fluid (solution or dispersion) is jetted and applied to form ITO (tin-doped indium oxide) electrodes, and formation of an ITO electrode pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls.
Further, in the production of an organic EL display device, an ink jet method has been proposed wherein a solution of a hole transport material or a luminescent material is jetted and applied to form hole transport layers or luminescent layers within fine pixels. Here, formation of a pixel pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls between pixels.
Further, in the production of a circuit wiring substrate, an ink jet method has been proposed wherein a metal dispersion is jetted and applied to form circuit wirings. Here, formation of a circuit wiring pattern is carried out by photolithography using a resist composition, and a coating film cured product of the resist composition is utilized as partition walls.
In the ink jet method, it is necessary to prevent e.g. color mixing of inks between adjacent pixels, or to prevent the ITO-containing fluid or the metal dispersion from attaching to or solidifying at portions other than the predetermined regions. Accordingly, the partition walls are required to have repellency against water or an organic solvent constituting the ink jet coating solution, i.e. a so-called water-and-oil repellency.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2005-60515 (claim 1, Paragraphs [0029] and [0055])
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2005-315984 (claim 6, Paragraphs [0050] and [0053], Paragraph [0148]) | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present patent application relates to thickening water-in-oil latices, to a process for their preparation and to their use as thickeners and/or emulsifiers for skincare and haircare products or for the manufacture of cosmetic, dermopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical preparations.
Various thickeners exist and are already used for these purposes. Natural products such as guar gums or starch are known in particular, but the drawbacks thereof are those inherent in natural products, such as currency fluctuations, difficulties in supply and a random quality.
Synthetic polymers in powder form, mainly polyacrylic acids, are also widely used but have the drawback of requiring neutralization during use, since they only develop their viscosity from a pH of greater than 6.5 and they are often difficult to dissolve.
Synthetic thickening polymers which are in the form of reverse latices, i.e. latices in which the continuous phase is an oil, also exist. These latices dissolve extremely quickly; the polymers contained in these reverse latices are usually acrylamide/alkali metal acrylate or acrylamide/sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulphonate copolymers; they are already neutralized and, when dissolved in water, for example to a concentration of 1%, it is observed that the pH is generally greater than 6.
However, acrylamide/sodium acrylate copolymers do not develop considerable thickening properties when the pH is lowered below 6; on the other hand, the acrylamide/sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane-sulphonate copolymers described in EP 0 503 853 conserve considerable thickening capacity even at a pH equal to 4.
However, such copolymers have monoacrylamide contents which, although extremely low, may lead in the future to their use in cosmetics not being possible, on account of the changes in European regulations regarding hazardous substances.
Furthermore, all of the polymers mentioned have a tendency to lose their thickening property when the medium to be thickened, for example a cosmetic product, contains salts; this tendency becomes accentuated as the concentration of salts present in the said medium increases.
The Applicant has thus become interested in the search for novel acrylamide-free reverse emulsions which are more stable with respect to electrolytes.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, its subject is the use of a composition comprising an oil phase, an aqueous phase, at least one emulsifier of water-in-oil (W/O) type and at least one emulsifier of oil-in-water (O/W) type, in the form of a reverse latex comprising from 20% to 70% by weight, and preferably from 25% to 40% by weight, of an anionic polyelectrolyte, the said anionic polyelectrolyte being based on partially neutralized acrylic acid, which may be branched and/or crosslinked, to prepare a cosmetic, dermopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical composition.
The expression xe2x80x9cemulsifier of water-in-oil typexe2x80x9d denotes emulsifiers with an HLB value which is low enough to give water-in-oil emulsions, such as the surfactant polymers sold under the name Hypermer(trademark) or such as sorbitan esters, for instance sorbitan monooleate sold by the company SEPPIC under the name Montane(trademark) 80 or sorbitan isostearate sold by SEPPIC under the name Montane(trademark) 70.
The expression xe2x80x9cemulsifier of the oil-in-water typexe2x80x9d denotes emulsifiers with an HLB value which is high enough to give oil-in-water emulsions, such as, for example, ethoxylated sorbitan esters, for instance sorbitan oleate ethoxylated with 20 mol of ethylene oxide or sorbitan laurate ethoxylated with 20 mol of ethylene oxide, sold by the company SEPPIC under the names Montanox(trademark) 80 and Montanox(trademark) 20, respectively, castor oil ethoxylated with 40 mol of ethylene oxide or alternatively lauryl alcohol ethoxylated with 7 mol of ethylene oxide, sold by the company SEPPIC under the names Simulsol(trademark) OL 50 and Simulsol(trademark) P7, respectively.
The expression xe2x80x9cpartially neutralized acrylic acidxe2x80x9d denotes more particularly acrylic acid partially salified in the form of an alkali salt, such as the sodium or potassium salt, or in the form of the salt of a nitrogenous base, such as the ammonium salt, or a salt with a compound containing quaternary ammonium, such as an amino alcohol salt. It is preferably acrylic acid partially neutralized in the form of the ammonium salt (NH4+) or a monoethanolamine salt (HOCH2CH2NH3+).
The expression xe2x80x9cbranched polymerxe2x80x9d denotes a non-linear polymer which contains pendant chains so as to obtain, when this polymer is dissolved in water, a strong state of entanglement leading to very high low-gradient viscosities.
The expression xe2x80x9ccrosslinked polymerxe2x80x9d denotes a non-linear polymer which is in the form of a three-dimensional network which is insoluble in water but swellable in water and thus leads to the production of a chemical gel.
The composition according to the invention can comprise crosslinked units and/or branched units.
The term xe2x80x9camino alcoholxe2x80x9d means mono- or poly(hydroxyalkyl)amines.
A subject of the invention is, more particularly, the use, as defined above, of a composition in which the anionic polyelectrolyte is crosslinked and/or branched with a crosslinking agent and/or a branching agent chosen from trimethylolpropane triacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate or methylenebis(acrylamide) or compounds comprising at least two allyl radicals such as, for example, diallyloxyacetic acid or a salt thereof such as sodium diallyloxyacetate, triallylamine or diallylurea.
The crosslinking and/or branching agent is generally used in a molar proportion, expressed relative to the monomers used, of from 0.05% to 0.5% and preferably from 0.1% to 0.25%.
The latex according to the invention generally contains from 2.5% to 15% by weight and preferably from 4% to 9% by weight, of emulsifiers, among which from 20% to 50%, in particular from 25% to 40%, of the total weight of the emulsifiers present are of the water-in-oil (W/O) type and in which from 80% to 50%, in particular from 75% to 60%, of the total weight of the emulsifiers are of the oil-in-water (O/W) type.
According to one specific aspect of the present invention, the oil phase of the composition used represents from 15% to 40%, preferably from 20% to 25%, of the total weight of this composition.
This oil phase consists either of a commercial mineral oil containing saturated hydrocarbons of paraffin, isoparaffin or cycloparaffin type, with a density at room temperature of between 0.7 and 0.9 and a boiling point of greater than 180xc2x0 C., such as, for example, Exxol(trademark) D 100 S sold by Exxon or a white mineral oil such as Marcol(trademark) 52 also sold by Exxon, the isohexadecane sold by Bayer or isododecane, or of a plant oil such as hexamethyltetracosane or squalane, or of a synthetic oil such as polyisobutene or hydrogenated polyisobutene, or of a mixture of several of these oils.
The isohexadecane, which is identified in Chemical Abstracts by the number RN=93685-80-4, is a mixture of C12, C16 and C20 isoparaffins containing at least 97% C16 isoparaffins, among which the main constituent is 2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane (RN=4390-04-9). It is sold in France by the company Bayer. Marcol(trademark) 52 is a commercial oil corresponding to the definition of liquid petroleum jellies in the French Codex. It is a white mineral oil in accordance with the rules FDA 21 CFR178.878 and CFR 178.3620(a); it is registered in volume US XXIII of the USA Pharmacopoeia (1995) and in the European Pharmacopoeia (1993).
According to one preferred aspect of the present invention, the oil phase of the composition used comprises isohexadecane or a white mineral oil.
The latices contain between 20% and 50% water. They can also contain various additives such as complexing agents, transfer agents or chain-limiting agents.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, its subject is a composition as employed in the use defined above, comprising an oil phase, an aqueous phase, at least one emulsifier of water-in-oil (W/O) type and at least one emulsifier of oil-in-water (O/W) type, in the form of a reverse latex comprising from 20% to 70% by weight, and preferably from 25% to 40% by weight, of a crosslinked anionic polyelectrolyte, the said anionic polyelectrolyte being based on partially neutralized acrylic acid, characterized in that the crosslinking agent is chosen from compounds comprising at least two allyl radicals and most particularly from diallyloxyacetic, sodium diallyloxyacetate or triallylamine.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, its subject is a composition as employed in the use defined above, comprising an oil phase, an aqueous phase, at least one emulsifier of water-in-oil (W/O) type and at least one emulsifier of oil-in-water (O/W) type, in the form of a reverse latex comprising from 20% to 70% by weight, and preferably from 25% to 40% by weight, of an anionic polyelectrolyte which may be branched and/or crosslinked, characterized in that the said anionic polyelectrolyte is based on partially neutralized acrylic acid, in the form of an amino alcohol salt, and preferably a monoethanolamine salt.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, its subject is also a process for preparing the composition as defined above, characterized in that:
a) an aqueous solution containing the monomers and the optional additives is emulsified in an oil phase in the presence of one or more emulsifiers of water-in-oil type,
b) the polymerization reaction is initiated by introducing a free-radical initiator and optionally a co-initiator into the emulsion formed in a), after which the reaction is left to proceed,
c) when the polymerization reaction is complete, one or more emulsifiers of oil-in-water type are introduced at a temperature below 50xc2x0 C.
According to one variant of this process, the reaction medium obtained from step b) is concentrated by distillation before step c) is carried out.
According to a preferred embodiment of the process as defined above, the polymerization reaction is initiated by a redox couple which generates hydrogen sulphite ions (HSO3xe2x88x92), such as the cumene hydroperoxide/sodium metabisulphite (Na2S2O5) couple the sodium, potassium or ammonium peroxydisulphate/sodium metabisulphite or the cumene hydroperoxide/thionyl chloride (SOCl2) couple, at a temperature below or equal to 10xc2x0 C., if desired accompanied by a polymerization co-initiator such as, for example, azobis(isobutyronitrile), followed by proceeding either under virtually adiabatic conditions up to a temperature of greater than or equal to 50xc2x0 C., or by controlling the temperature.
A subject of the invention is also a cosmetic, dermopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical composition, characterized in that it comprises at least one reverse latex as defined above, as well as a process for preparing a cosmetic, dermopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical composition, characterized in that from 0.1% to 1% by weight of a composition whose use is the subject matter of the present invention is incorporated therein.
The cosmetic, dermopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical composition defined above generally comprises from 0.1% to 10%, and more particularly between 0.5% and 5%, by weight of the said reverse latex. It is, in particular, in the form of a milk, a lotion, a gel, a cream, a soap, a bubble bath, a balm, a shampoo or a conditioner.
In general, the said reverse latex can advantageously replace the products sold under the name Sepigel(trademark) 305 or Sepigel(trademark) 501 by the Applicant, in cosmetic, dermopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical compositions, since it also has good compatibility with the other excipients used for the preparation of formulations such as milks, lotions, creams, soaps, bubble baths, balms, shampoos or conditioners. It can also be used in combination with the said Sepigel products. In particular, it is compatible with the concentrates described and claimed in the international publications WO 92/06778, WO 95/04592, WO 95/13863, WO 98/47610 or FR 2 734 496, or with the surfactants described in WO 93/08204.
It is also compatible with Montanov(trademark) 68, Montanov(trademark) 82, Montanov(trademark) 202 and Sepiperl(trademark) N.
It can be used in emulsions of the type described and claimed in EP 0 629 396 and in cosmetically or physiologically acceptable aqueous dispersions with an organopolysiloxane compound chosen, for example, from those described in WO 93/05762 or in WO 93/21316. It can also be used to form cosmetically or physiologically acceptable aqueous gels at acidic pH, such as those described in WO 93/07856; it can also be used in combination with nonionic celluloses, for example to form styling gels, such as those described in EP 0 684 024, or alternatively in combination with fatty acid esters of sugars, to form compositions for treating the hair or the skin, such as those described in EP 0 603 019, or alternatively in shampoos or conditioners as described and claimed in WO 92/21316, or, finally, in combination with an anionic homopolymer such as Carbopol(trademark) or Pemulen(trademark), to form products for treating the hair, such as those described in DE 195 23596.
It is also compatible with many active principles, such as, for example, self-tanning agents such as dihydroxyacetone (DHA) or anti-acne agents; it can thus be introduced into self-tanning compositions such as those claimed in EP 0 715 845, EP 0 604 249, EP 0 576 188 or in WO 93/07902.
It is also compatible with N-acylamino acid derivatives, thereby allowing it to be used in soothing compositions, in particular for sensitive skin, such as those described or claimed in WO 92/21318, WO 94/27561 or WO 98/09611.
It is also compatible with glycolic acids, with lactic acid, with salicylic acid, retinoids, phenoxyethanol, sugars, glyceraldehyde, xanthans, fruit acids and the various polyols used in the manufacture of cosmetic formulations.
The composition according to the invention is, most particularly, compatible with cosmetic active agents that are rich in mineral salts, for example in sodium or magnesium salts. It is compatible in particular with Sepicalm(trademark) S, Sepicontrol(trademark) A5, sodium 2-pyrrolidonecarboxylate, Proteol(trademark) OAT, Ajidew(trademark) A100 or pyrrolidone.
Finally, a subject of the invention is a cosmetic, dermopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical composition as defined above and containing up to 5% by weight of one or more metal cations chosen in particular from sodium, potassium, magnesium, manganese and aluminium cations. | {
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Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems use multiple electrical devices that are connected together to perform a desired function. These electrical devices may be common devices that are obtained from third parties and used by various HVAC manufacturers in their particular HVAC units. As such, these electrical devices may have generic terminals, such as spade connectors.
With the generic terminals, the various electrical devices are often connected together using point-to-point wiring. Point-to-point wiring, however, can be labor intensive since individual harnesses are typically made for each particular connection. Point-to-point harnesses can also be more prone to errors. For example, with point-to-point wiring, wires can be connected in multiple positions and can even fit on wrong components. Additionally, with point-to-point harnesses, the harnesses can not be pretested. Instead, they are only tested after installed in the different HVAC units.
As such, it is essentially impossible to mistake proof the wiring during manufacturing of HVAC units when using point-to-point wiring. This can lead to incorrect connections of the wires during manufacturing and assembly. Accordingly, troubleshooting can also be difficult when employing point-to-point wiring with multiple components since faults may be due to wiring problems instead of faulty components. Thus, in addition to problems in manufacturing, it is also easier for the field to make incorrect wiring changes with point-to-point wiring. This can lead to errors in servicing a HVAC unit, which in turn can lead to a malfunction in the operation of the unit. | {
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Software applications are increasingly operating on large sets of data and themselves becoming increasingly complex. In some cases, distributed computing systems are used to support such applications (e.g., where a large database system distributes portions of data onto a landscape of different server nodes, and optimizes queries into sub-queries that get distributed across that landscape). Unfortunately, significant effort has to be spent managing that distribution both in terms of data placement and data access distribution methods, including the complexities of networking. If the landscape changes, if the data organization changes, or if the workload changes, significant work will be required. More generally, the behavior of complex computing systems changes over time, e.g., with new releases of applications, the addition of new intermediate software layers, new operating system releases, new processor models, and changing structural characteristics of data, increasing amounts of data, and different data access patterns. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus employing a grid-like matrix of display elements, such as a liquid crystal panel display, a plasma display, an EL display, or the like, and more particularly to an image display apparatus to be connected to a video signal source for outputting a video signal such as an RGB video signal and a high-definition video signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known image display apparatus employing a grid-like matrix of display elements, such as a liquid crystal panel display or the like.
The image display apparatus of the above type is connected to a video signal source such as a personal computer, a workstation, or the like, and is capable of displaying an image based on a video signal supplied from the video signal source.
The video signal source supplies the image display apparatus with a video signal whose signal level changes at a constant frequency (hereinafter referred to as “dot clock”) that is higher than the frequency of a horizontal synchronizing signal representing the display period in a horizontal direction of a displayed image. The image display apparatus reproduces a dot clock having the same frequency as the dot clock in the video signal source, and displays an image based on the video signal from the video signal source based on the reproduced dot clock. The dot clock reproduced in the image display apparatus will be referred to as “reproduced dot clock”. The image display apparatus has a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) circuit, and can adjust the frequency of the reproduced dot clock so as to be an integral multiple of the frequency of the horizontal synchronizing signal for the video signal supplied from the video signal source, by changing the frequency-division ratio of the frequency divider of the PLL circuit.
If the dot clock frequency (or the frequency-division ratio) in the video signal source is known, the frequency of the reproduced dot clock can accurately be equalized to the dot clock frequency in the video signal source by setting the frequency-division ratio of the PLL circuit according to the known dot clock frequency.
If the input video signal is an analog signal, however, no information is available as to the dot clock supplied from the video signal source to the image display apparatus, and only a horizontal synchronizing signal and a vertical synchronizing signal are provided as timing information. Since the image display apparatus cannot acquire, in advance, the dot clock frequency (or the frequency-division ratio) in the video signal source, there is no guarantee that the frequency-division ratio of the frequency divider of the PLL circuit will be set to a correct value. If the frequency-division ratio is not set to a correct value, then since the frequency of the reproduced dot clock is not in agreement with the frequency of the dot clock in the video signal source, a deviation occurs between the reproduced dot clock for capturing the video signal and the video signal, with the result that the image cannot properly be displayed.
The user itself may be able to adjust the frequency of the reproduced dot clock while watching the displayed image, using an adjustment function of the image display apparatus. However, it is highly tedious and time-consuming for the user to manually adjust the frequency of the reproduced dot clock.
There has been proposed an apparatus for automatically adjusting the frequency of the reproduced dot clock.
Japanese patent No. 3487119 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Document 1”) discloses a dot clock reproducing apparatus having an A/D converter for converting an input video signal (analog) supplied from a video signal source into a digital signal, a PLL circuit for generating a clock in synchronism with the horizontal synchronizing signal of the input video signal, a frequency analyzing means for detecting an aliasing frequency which is produced when the input video signal is converted into a digital signal with a sampling clock that is different from the dot clock of the input video signal, and a frequency-division ratio setting circuit for setting a frequency-division ratio of the PLL circuit depending on the aliasing frequency detected by the frequency analyzing means. The disclosed dot clock reproducing apparatus automatically adjusts the frequency of the reproduced dot clock so as to minimize the aliasing frequency, without the need for manual frequency adjustment.
A process of automatically adjusting the frequency of the reproduced dot clock is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,916 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Document 2”) in addition to Patent Document 1.
According to Patent Document 2, the frequency of a horizontal synchronizing signal that is supplied simultaneously with an analog video signal (RGB) is measured, and the number of lines during one frame is counted. From the frequency of the horizontal synchronizing signal and the number of lines during one frame, a table is referred to for estimating the horizontal resolution of the analog video signal and the frequency of the dot clock, and a horizontal display interval E of the analog video signal and a frequency-division ratio n are temporarily established. Then, a horizontal display interval W of the actually captured video signal is determined. If W<E or W>E, a new frequency-division ratio n′ is determined according to the equation n′=n×E/W and then the same measurement is carried out with respect to the following frame. If W=E, then it is judged that the frequency of the reproduced dot clock is accurately adjusted, and the automatic adjusting process is put to an end.
However, even when the frequency of the reproduced dot clock is accurately adjusted, if the phase of the video signal and the reproduced dot clock is not properly adjusted, then the display image suffers fluctuation and flickering. This problem will specifically be described below.
A reproduced dot clock generated by a PLL circuit suffers fluctuation (jitter) on the time axis. Jitter is determined by a time constant circuit such as a loop filter or the like of the PLL circuit. Since a tradeoff generally exists between jitter and response speed, it is difficult to eliminate jitter. Since the reproduced dot clock suffers jitter of necessity, even when the frequency of the reproduced dot clock is in agreement with the frequency of the dot clock in the video signal source, if the phase of the reproduced dot clock is not correct, then it is difficult to display the image stably. The reasons for this problem will specifically be described below.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows the manner in which the phase relationship between an input video signal and a reproduced dot clock is correctly adjusted, and FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings shows the manner in which an input video signal and a reproduced dot clock are out of phase with each other. The video signal shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 represents a portion of one line displayed on the screen, and has its signal level varying according to the dot clock in the video signal source. In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the video signal includes a succession of signals having different signal levels, e.g., nth signal 32, (n+1)th signal 34, (n+2)th signal 35. Changing points 33 whose levels change gradually are present between signals 32, 34, 35.
The phase of reproduced dot clock is in agreement with negative-going edges, for example, of the horizontal synchronizing signal of the input video signal. The frequency of the reproduced dot clock is represented by an integral multiple of the horizontal synchronizing signal (the frequency-division ratio). No phase comparison is possible from a negative-going edge to a next negative-going edge of the horizontal synchronizing signal. Therefore, fluctuation on the time axis, called jitter, occurs on positive-going edges of the reproduced dot clock. A positive-going edge of the reproduced dot clock is present somewhere in jitter area 31, but its position cannot be located because it varies from line to line and from frame to frame.
In FIG. 1, since jitter area 31 of the reproduced dot clock is positioned in a stable level portion of the video signal, the video signal can be sampled correctly regardless of the position of the positive-going edge in jitter area 31. In FIG. 2, however, since jitter area 31 of the reproduced dot clock is positioned at a changing point of the video signal, nth signal 32 is sampled on a certain line, and (n+1)th signal 34 is sampled or changing point 33 is sampled on another line. As a result, the sampled image becomes indefinite. If the video signal and the reproduced dot clock are out of phase with each other, then the example shown in FIG. 2 occurs, and the sampled image becomes indefinite, resulting in a reduction in the displayed image quality. Particularly, flickering occurs at image edges due to the phase shift.
To solve the above problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a dot clock reproducing apparatus for determining the difference between the sampled values of adjust dots in a converted digital video signal, accumulatively adding the absolute values of the differences during one frame, and adjusting the phase of an output clock from a PLL circuit based on the accumulated sum of the absolute values of the differences during one frame. The disclosed dot clock reproducing apparatus determines a phase adjustment value at the time the accumulated sum of the absolute values of the differences is minimum, and automatically adjusts the phase of the reproduced dot clock so as to estimate a phase adjustment value that is ½ period shifted from the determined phase adjustment value, as an optimum value.
However, the disclosed dot clock reproducing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 evaluates phase adjustment for each frame, and hence requires time-consuming processing because it needs to evaluate phase adjustment for several frames to several tens of frames in order to determine an optimum value for phase adjustment.
Generally, when a digital video signal is received from a video signal source, not only digital video signals of R, G, B and horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals, but also a dot clock, are supplied from the video source. Therefore, it is guaranteed that the frequency of the dot clock is optimum. However, if a very long cable which is not up to given standards is used to interconnect the video signal source and the image display apparatus or if the layout of components in the image display apparatus, i.e., the pattern of signal lines for transmitting a video signal and a dot clock, is not appropriate, then the dot clock and the digital video signal may possibly be out of phase with each other. Inasmuch as there is no guarantee that the digital video signal and the dot clock are in phase with each other, the displayed image quality may be degraded due to a phase shift between the digital video signal and the dot clock as is the case with the analog video signal. | {
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The processing of individual tasks of a control program in a cooperative mode means that, in response to differently prioritized tasks, a higher prioritized task to be executed leads to the interruption of a lower prioritized task being executed at the moment. Differently from preemptive mode, in which a higher prioritized task to be executed interrupts a process of a lower prioritized task being executed at the moment, in the cooperative mode, the higher prioritized task awaits the end of the process of the lower prioritized task being executed at the moment. Only then is the lower prioritized task interrupted, and the higher prioritized task is executed. When the higher prioritized task is completed, the lower prioritized task is continued at the process before which it was interrupted.
The processing of tasks of a control program in cooperative mode is known from German Published Patent Application No. 195 00 957. The interruption of a lower prioritized task by a higher prioritized task belongs to the objects of a multitasking operating system. Such a multitasking operating system, which supports the cooperative mode as well as the preemptive mode in the execution of control programs is, for example, the real time operating system ERCOSEK of the firm ETAS, Entwicklungs- und Applikationswerkzeuge für elektronische System (Development and Application Tools for Electronic Systems) GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, Germany, (cf ETAS GmbH & Co. KG: ERCOSEK V2.0.0 Manual, Stuttgart, 1998). Specific reference is made to German Published Patent Application No 195 00 957 and the ERCOSEK handbook.
The running time of the processes fluctuates according to the loading of the computing element. For this reason, and for reasons of the possible interruptions caused by other, higher prioritized tasks, the sequence of process calls can be different for multiple executions of one and the same control program. That means that, after the execution of the control program, the exact sequence of process calls is not known, and also cannot be reconstructed, for example, for simulation purposes.
Various methods are known for the simulation of a control program, or of parts thereof (algorithm). A subsequent simulation of an algorithm or of the control program, using measured data, is denoted as offline open loop simulation (OOL). A so-called offline closed loop simulation (OCL) concerns simulation of an algorithm or of the control program with a simulation model in a closed simulation loop. The lacking reproducibility of the sequence of the executed processes leads to considerable difficulties, in particular in the case of a subsequent simulation of the algorithm using measured data (OOL).
According to the related art, algorithms which are controlled by a multitasking operating system are usually simulated in an optimum state. That means that the individual tasks of the control program are called up in such a way that no interruption takes place.
In German Published Patent Application No. 195 00 957 it is mentioned that the simulation of a control program to be executed in the cooperative mode has advantages over the simulation of a program to be executed in the preemptive mode, since the time sequence of program execution and the effect of interruptions can be simulated.
That is possible without further consideration because the individual processes are not interrupted in the cooperative mode, and the number of variables describing the program, which variables are stored in a stack storage, is constant. Thereby, the interruptions between the processes can be very well simulated during the development phase, since the number of possibilities of an interruption is limited, and the interruptions are independent of the program sequence.
Because of the lack of reproducibility of the process sequence subsequently to an actual processing of a control program, all simulations, known from the related art, of algorithms of a control program to be processed in a cooperative or in a preemptive mode have the disadvantage that a simulation under real conditions is not possible. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device control apparatus, a device control method and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A television receiver that acquires various applications from an application server and executes the applications on the television receiver is known (e.g., International Publication No. 2008/093780). Here, the television receiver often constitutes an audio visual (AV) system together with an external device, such as an AV amplifier, connected to the television receiver. In this system, manipulations for controlling the television receiver and the external device are often not sufficiently systematized. In this case, a user performs the manipulation for controlling the system using both of a remote control of the television receiver and a remote control of the external device, resulting in cumbersome manipulation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mechanism for animating toy figures, including large stuffed animals and dolls. The mechanism is capable of various simultaneous movements of a plurality of appendages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Toys that have moving parts are well known in the art. Particularly, dolls that have moveable arms and legs. The mechanisms used to animate the dolls vary from elastic cords to springs and levers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,125 issued to Goldfarb et al., uses cords attached to one end of each limb to provide a wiggling movement of the limbs when a button is pushed. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,671, issued to DeMars, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,008, issued to Pelunis, use levers to provide a hugging motion when a central mechanism is squeezed. U.S. Pat. No. 1,063,403, issued to Whitehouse, discloses a spring and lever mechanism to move the eyes of a doll.
In the prior art the movements of the parts of the dolls are relatively limited, being restricted to relatively simple movements. It is clear that there remains a need for a mechanism that will provide various types of activity through a relatively wide range of movement to provide toys that are interactive and provide a wide range of action to gain and maintain the interest of children. | {
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Side wing blade assemblies are extensively used on snow plow vehicles. A typical side wing blade arrangement includes an elongated curved blade and an articulated attachment system for mounting the blade to the vehicle. Typically, a mounting system comprises a coupling for connecting the front end of the blade to a vehicle, and an articulated hanger unit for connecting the rear end of the blade to the vehicle chassis and also for tilting the wing between a plowing position and a retracted position. In the plowing position, the blade extends at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle engaging the road surface, while in the retracted position it is lifted up and extends generally parallel and close to the vehicle cabin.
Many different mounting systems have been tried over the years with changes from steel cables running over sheaves or pulleys to a variety of hydraulic cylinder systems. One such hydraulic cylinder actuated system is shown in Farrell U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,892. This includes a pair of generally vertical posts mounted on the side of the vehicle on which the front and rear of the side wing blade are attached. Not only are the posts intrusive, but with this design, when the blade is in the retracted position, it seriously interferes with the visibility of the vehicle driver.
The assembly shown in Canadian Patent 1,212,540 represents one attempt at solving the problem of obstructed vision. This still utilizes vertical post arrangements for connecting the front end and rear end of the blade to the vehicle. However, the mounting arranging on the vertical posts has been changed such that the blade in retracted position sits at a lower angle to avoid obstructing view of the vehicle driver.
In Thorneloe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,280 there is described a side wing assembly having a rear mounting arrangement which permits a controlled blade deflection to reduce the risk of damage to the snow plow or to the side wing assembly itself, when the blade hits an obstacle. This is accomplished by a fluid ram with stops limiting the amount of movement.
Raines et al. Canadian Patent 1,082,545 describes a retractable snow plow wing which does not use a vertical post for the rear attachment assembly. Instead, a telescopic arm is used which can be fixed at different lengths. The raising and lowering of the arm and rear end of the blade is accomplished by way of a hydraulic cylinder. A coil compression spring is utilized in association with the telescopic arm to absorb shock. The design of this patent is another one which seriously obstructs the view of the vehicle driver when the blade is in the retracted position.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved form of side wing plow assembly having a novel form of front mounting for the blade.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved form of rear mounting for the blade which includes a novel shock absorbing linkage. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to voltage induced magnetic switching, and more particularly to magnetic switches and memory devices which are voltage controlled.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern electronic devices increasingly incorporate significant amounts of solid state memory. The electronics industry continually seeks for higher density devices that provide low power consumption. Magnetic memory devices by their nature provide non-volatile characteristics, and are drawing increasing attention as a next generation memory type.
However, in proposed magnetic memory devices, such as field-switched (toggle) MRAM, spin transfer torque MRAM (STT-MRAM) or thermally-assisted switching MRAM (TAS-M RAM) significant current flow is required for switching states. Each of these proposed MRAM devices are switched in response to substantial current flow, such as through the layers of the MTJ, through an adjacent conductor, or by heating of the MTJ using an electric current. These devices thus offer only limited scalability, in view of the need to control and distribute large electric currents for switching the devices.
Accordingly, a need exists for high density and highly energy efficient magnetic memory devices. The present invention fulfills this need and overcomes shortcomings of previous magnetic memory devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to piezoelectric transformers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a piezoelectric transformer having segmented electrodes on one or both faces of a piezoelectric ceramic disk. The transformer may be configured with a resonant feedback circuit that provides step up voltage transformation, and may provide voltage to multiple loads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wound-type electromagnetic transformers have been used for raising or lowering input voltages (step-up and step-down transformation, respectively) in internal power circuits of devices such as televisions or in charging devices of copier machines which require high voltage. Such electromagnetic transformers take the form of a conductor wound onto a core made of a magnetic substance. Because a large number of turns of the conductor are required to realize high transformation ratios, electromagnetic transformers that are effective, yet at the same time compact and slim in shape are extremely difficult to produce.
To remedy this problem, piezoelectric transformers utilizing the piezoelectric effect have been provided in the prior art. In contrast to the general electromagnetic transformer, the piezoelectric ceramic transformer has a number of advantages. The size of a piezoelectric transformer can be made smaller than electromagnetic transformers of comparable transformation ratio. Piezoelectric transformers can be made nonflammable, and they produce no electromagnetically induced noise.
The ceramic body employed in prior piezoelectric transformers takes various forms and configurations, including rings, flat slabs and the like. A typical example of a prior piezoelectric transformer is illustrated in FIG. 1. This type of piezoelectric transformer is commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9cRosen-typexe2x80x9d piezoelectric transformer. The basic Rosen-type piezoelectric transformer was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,274 to Rosen, and numerous variations of this basic apparatus are well known in the prior art as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 which show disk-shaped and annular Rosen-type piezoelectric transformers, respectively. The typical Rosen-type piezoelectric transformer comprises a flat ceramic slab 110 which is appreciably longer than it is wide and substantially wider than thick. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a piezoelectric body 110 is employed having some portions polarized differently from others. In the case of the prior art transformer illustrated in FIG. 1, the piezoelectric body 110 is in the form of a flat slab which is considerably wider than it is thick, and having greater length than width. A substantial portion of the slab 110 the portion 112 to the right of the center of the slab, is polarized longitudinally, whereas the remainder of the slab is polarized transversely to the plane of the face of the slab. In this case, the remainder of the slab is actually divided into two portions; one portion 114 being polarized transversely in one direction, and the remainder of the left half of the slab, the portion 116 also being polarized transversely but in the direction opposite to the direction of polarization in the portion 114. In the annular Rosen type transformer of FIG. 3, some portions of the annulus are polarized in the thickness direction, and the remaining portions are polarized in a circumference direction.
In order that electrical voltages may be related to mechanical stress in the slab 110, electrodes are provided. If desired, there may be a common electrode 118, shown as grounded. For the primary connection and for relating voltage at opposite faces of the transversely polarized portion 114 of the slab 110, there is an electrode 120 opposite the common electrode 118. For relating voltages to stress generated in the longitudinal direction of the slab 110, there is a secondary or high-voltage electrode 122 cooperating with the common electrode 118. The electrode 122 is shown as connected to a terminal 124 of an output load 126 grounded at its opposite end.
In the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 1, a voltage applied between the electrodes 118 and 120 is stepped up to a high voltage between the electrodes 118 and 122 for supplying the load 126 at a much higher voltage than that applied between the electrodes 118 and 120.
An inherent problem of such prior piezoelectric transformers is that they have relatively low power transmission capacity. This disadvantage of prior piezoelectric transformers relates to the fact that little or no mechanical advantage is realized between the driver portion of the device and the driven portion of the device. This inherently restricts the mechanical energy transmission capability of the device, which, in turn, inherently restricts the electrical power handling capacity of such devices. Additionally, because the piezoelectric voltage transmission function of Rosen-type piezoelectric transformers is accomplished by proportionate changes in the x-y and y-z surface areas (or, in certain embodiments, changes in the x-y and xxe2x80x2-yxe2x80x2 surface areas) of the piezoelectric member, which changes are of relatively low magnitude, the power handling capacity of prior circuits using such piezoelectric transformers is inherently low.
Because the typical prior piezoelectric transformer accomplishes the piezoelectric voltage transmission function by proportionate changes in the x-y and y-z surface areas (or, in certain embodiments, changes in the x-y and xxe2x80x2-yxe2x80x2 surface areas) of the piezoelectric member, it is generally necessary to alternatingly apply positive and negative voltages across opposing faces of the xe2x80x9cdriverxe2x80x9d portion of the member in order to xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cpullxe2x80x9d, respectively, the member into the desired shape. Prior electrical circuits which incorporate such prior piezoelectric transformers are relatively inefficient because the energy required during the first half-cycle of operation to xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d the piezoelectric member into a first shape is largely lost (i.e. by generating heat) during the xe2x80x9cpullxe2x80x9d half-cycle of operation. This heat generation corresponds to a lowering of efficiency of the circuit, an increased fire hazard, and/or a reduction in component and circuit reliability.
Furthermore, in order to reduce the temperature of such heat generating circuits, the circuit components (typically including switching transistors and other components, as well as the transformer itself) are oversized, which reduces the number of applications in which the circuit can be utilized, and which also increases the cost/price of the circuit.
Another problem with prior piezoelectric transformers is, because the power transmission capacity of such prior piezoelectric transformers is low, it is necessary to combine several such transformers together into a multi-layer xe2x80x9cstackxe2x80x9d in order to achieve a greater power transmission capacity than would be achievable using one such prior transformer alone. This, of course, increases both the size and the manufacturing cost of the transformer; and the resulting power handling capacity of the xe2x80x9cstackxe2x80x9d is still limited to the arithmetic sum of the power handling capacity of the individual elements.
Another problem with prior piezoelectric transformers is that they are difficult to manufacture because individual ceramic elements must be polarized at least twice each, and the directions of the polarization must be different from each other.
Another problem with prior piezoelectric transformers is that they are difficult to manufacture because it is necessary to apply electrodes not only to the major faces of the ceramic element, but also to at least one of the minor faces of the ceramic element.
Another problem with prior piezoelectric transformers is that they are difficult to manufacture because, in order to electrically connect the transformer to an electric circuit, it is necessary to attach (i.e. by soldering or otherwise) electrical conductors (e.g. wires) to electrodes on the major faces of the ceramic element as well as on at least one minor face of the ceramic element.
Another problem with prior piezoelectric transformers is that the voltage output of the device is limited by the ability of the ceramic element to undergo deformation without cracking or structurally failing. It is therefore desirable to provide a piezoelectric transformer which is adapted to deform under high voltage conditions without damaging the ceramic element of the device.
It is another problem with prior transformers that they cannot withstand heat loads in excess of 600 degrees F., without sustaining damage.
It is another problem with prior transformers that they have low power utilization efficiencies, such as magnetic transformers which have an efficiency loss of up to 40-50%.
It is another problem with prior transformers that in order to handle certain ranges of frequencies, they must have a large size.
Another problem with prior transformers is that the magnetic core and coiled wire can generate magnetic fields that interfere with surrounding circuitry.
In addition to xe2x80x9cRosenxe2x80x9d type piezoelectric transformers, thickness mode multilayer piezoelectric transformers are known, as shown in FIG. 4. U.S. Pat. No. 5,834,882 to Bishop describes a multilayered, laminated, piezoelectric transformer which demonstrates the ability to convert a primary or input voltage Vin to a secondary or output voltage Vout through the application of voltage Vin to a first polarized piezoelectric ceramic wafer. The application of a voltage Vin to the first piezoelectric wafer generates an extensional stress in that wafer which is then mechanically transmitted to a second tightly adhered polarized piezoelectric ceramic wafer which undergoes a similar and proportional extensional stress, producing output voltage Vout.
A problem with these types of prior multilayer piezoelectric transformers is that they are difficult to manufacture because it is necessary to bond at least two ceramic layers together.
Another problem with prior piezoelectric transformers is that they are difficult to manufacture because of the use of adhesives to bond the ceramic layers and electrodes.
Another problem with prior piezoelectric transformers is that for a particular thickness of ceramic, their resonant frequencies are dependent upon the diameter of the ceramic layer.
The term piezoelectric transformer is here applied to an energy-transfer device employing the properties of a piezoelectric material to achieve the transformation of voltage or current or impedance. It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer comprising a ceramic element exhibiting piezoelectric properties, which has electrodes bonded to both faces of the ceramic element. At least one face of the ceramic element has multiple electrodes bonded to it such that deformation of the ceramic element across one electrode segment results in corresponding deformation of the ceramic element in adjacent electrode segments.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described in which application of a first voltage across a first electrode segment causes a first deformation of the ceramic element at that electrode segment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described in which such a first deformation causes a corresponding deformation of the adjacent sections of the ceramic element in the same direction (i.e. substantially parallel to the interface plane).
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described in which such a deformation of the adjacent piezoceramic element sections produces a second voltage across the electrode segments at the adjacent sections of the ceramic element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described which may be easily and inexpensively produced.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described which is easy to manufacture because it is sufficient to polarize each ceramic element only once and in only one direction.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described which is easy to manufacture because it is sufficient to apply electrodes only to the major faces of a ceramic element, and which does not require application of electrodes to minor faces of the ceramic element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described in which electrode segments on a single face of the piezoceramic element are electrically isolated from each other.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described which electrically isolates the voltage and current at the input to the device from the voltage and current at the output of the device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described which is easy to manufacture and miniaturize, for example by using Micro Electronic Machining Systems (MEMS).
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described which is easy to connect or install in an electric circuit, because it is sufficient to attach (i.e. by soldering or otherwise) electrical conductors (e.g. wires) only to electrodes on the major faces of the ceramic element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described which is operable throughout a broad thermal range.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein application of a voltage across spaced apart input electrode segments creates vibration of the transformer in a tangential, radial and/or thickness mode.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein application of a voltage across spaced apart input electrode segments creates a standing compression wave in the ceramic element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein such a standing compression wave in the ceramic element is at the resonant frequency of the ceramic element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein sequential application of a voltage across input electrode segments creates a traveling compression wave in the ceramic element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein such a traveling compression wave in the ceramic element creates output voltages whose phases are dependent on the phases of the input voltages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described with a traveling compression wave in the ceramic element that may be used in polyphase power applications.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein the output voltages may drive more than one load.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein the output voltages may be added in series to drive a single load.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric transformer of the character described wherein the output of one electrode segment may be used to provide a feedback voltage to the driving circuit of the piezoelectric transformer.
Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description thereof. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Cutting boards for use in cutting and preparing various food items are generally known. Further, cutting board assemblies including various components that aid in the cutting and preparation process are also known. Examples of available cutting board assemblies include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,271 to Collins, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,970 to Scott.
Collins et al. discloses a cutting board assembly including a cutting board surface having a pair of legs supporting the surface, a container for holding food that has been cut or prepared and a container for disposing of waste produced during the cutting. The containers are separate components that may be detachably connected to the cutting board surface when it is being used. However, there is no accommodation for storing the containers integrally with the cutting surface when it is not in use.
Collins et al. also discloses that the container for holding food that has been cut or prepared includes hash marks for measuring purposes. The hash marks begin near a base of the container and extend up a wall of the container such that food volume may be measured based on the depth of the food in the container. This method of measuring volume may be well suited for liquid or granular food items that have a tendency to level out in a container due to gravity. However, cut food items, which are typically more bulky, solid foods, such as onions, peppers, celery, and the like, do not share the tendency to level out along the base of a container. In contrast, such food items tend to stack in mounds. Accordingly, the “bottom-up” volume measuring method of Collins et al. is not ideal for the typical type of food items that are cut using a cutting board.
Scott discloses a cutting board assembly with multiple interchangeable cutting surfaces. The available surfaces include a perforated cutting surface, a cutting surface including a door hinged to the surface and a cold cutting surface. Both the perforated surface and the surface with the door provide access to a holding container under the cutting surface. For the perforated surface, the holding container provides a receptacle for juices or other fluids associated with the food being cut. For the surface with the hinged door, the holding container provides many uses. Examples include holding waste from the food being cut and holding the food that has been cut until it is used. The holding container slides into a base of the cutting board assembly and may be stored therein when the cutting board assembly is not in use. Unfortunately, in order to access the holding container, the hinged door of the surface must be lifted thereby reducing the surface area available for cutting.
A cutting board assembly addressing the shortcomings of available cutting board assemblies would be desirable. For instance, a cutting board assembly providing a cutting surface free from obstruction in addition to containers for holding cut food that may be stored within the cutting board assembly when it is not in use would be advantageous. Further, a cutting board assembly providing a means for measuring the volume of cut food that is better suited to bulky, solid foods would be advantageous. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Embodiments relate to a warhead and, more particularly, to a fragmentable package within a warhead that has individual interconnected fragments having a pattern with a plurality of voids defining the pattern.
The primary lethal mechanism of a fragmented warhead is the kinetic energy of the shattered casing fragments or pre-formed “frag pack” fragments rather than the heat or overpressure, or blast overpressure, caused by the detonation. An existing problem associated with typical preformed fragment warheads is that the mass of the fragments does not contribute to structure stiffness and strength. More specifically, the mass of the preformed fragment warhead is usually parasitic and does not contribute to airframe performance over the life of a. delivery device, such as, but not limited to, a missile, a rocket, a drone, etc. Additionally, preformed fragmentable packages within the warhead may also be susceptible to vibration and shock environments and have a lot of mass with a lower natural frequency.
Currently, an ability to produce varied fragmentable designs has been limited due to manufacturing technologies. Traditional manufacturing has been labor and process intensive since fragmentable packages are usually hand packed whereas other applications involve casting fragmentable packages in a binder, which may result in less density of the individual fragments and thus less efficient warheads.
Manufacturers and users of fragmented warheads would benefit from warheads with fragmentable packages which contribute to structural stiffness and strength of the warhead where the fragmented warhead is lightweight, when compared to prior warheads, and are not fully parasitic during a lifetime of the warhead and its delivery system. | {
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This invention relates to the measuring of the gas and/or water content of oil, and in particular to a method and apparatus for measuring the proportions of gas, water and oil in a crude oil flowing mixture.
The production of oil through wells and production pipelines is usually accompanied by the production of some associated gas or water. The measurement of the volume fractions of such components in the flowing system is of importance in any oil production system, but particularly in the case of offshore production where several wells may be connected to a subsea manifold with one riser or pipeline to the surface. A knowledge of the oil, water and gas components in the pipeline from each well would provide information needed for better control of a production system and the producing reservoir.
Several techniques exist for measuring one or more of these components. For example, capacitance or microwave techniques are used to measure water content in a flowing pipeline; gamma-ray or neutron techniques can be used to measure the void or gas fraction.
Another method involves the use of an oil/water separator for measuring the volume of water in crude oil. However, such a method measures the quantity of water by batch only. In crude oil, water and oil are often emulsified, in which case separation is incomplete which results in erroneous measurements. Moreover, the quantity of gas in the oil must be measured separately, and since regulatory bodies usually require individual well flow measurements on a frequent basis, a separate test separator is needed for this purpose. Since the oil/water separator is large, and occupies precious space on a production or drilling platform, there exists a need for a reliable method of measuring the proportions of gas and water in flowing crude oil from an individual well or combined well flow. The object of the present invention is to meet such a need. | {
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Often, transferring data in phones can be very cumbersome. In particular, modern phones may hold multiple gigabytes of data comprising pictures and other graphical representations, address records, emails, etc. A lot of overhead going through the applications creates a data bottleneck for service stations and other stores that offer such data transfer services.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show two typical telephone/PDA device data transfer stations. In FIG. 1A, transfer station 100 has a phone data transfer machine (PDTM) 110, typically a PC with USB and Bluetooth connectivity running phone data transfer applications such as PC Suite, PC Tools and other phonebook transfer applications, which typically may connect to two handsets: originating handset 101 and a receiving handset 102. Said connections are typically made via USB cables 103 or custom cables 104. Each phone has its own operating system with software 101a and 102a, respectively, and data sets 101b1-n and 102b1-n, respectively. This data may contain a variety of information, including, but not limited to, address book data, phone numbers, email addresses, pictures, video clips, and other types of data that may be used by cell phones and their applications. In some cases even the applications installed on the phone and/or the application data may be transferable. Typically, machine 110 would have its own operating system 110a, which has multiple programs 110b. Often, machine 110 with operating system 110a and programs 110b is actually a custom, dedicated PC, and as such it has to contain drivers or DLLs 110c for all the phones to which it may be connected. As a result of having a large library of DLLs (or drivers, used interchangeably here) almost any data transfers between two different phones can work. The machine can, by using the DLLs, communicate and download the data objects (each item typically comes down as one or more data objects from the phone), which are then stored in machine 110 temporarily and eventually sent on to the other phone, as its data objects, using the matching DLL. Each of these devices has a CPU and memory, both volatile and nonvolatile, and thus each forms a small, distinct computing device.
FIG. 1B shows another type of known data transfer station 120. Copy machine 121 has only one connector. It is first plugged into the originating machine 101, using connection 105, via which connection the data is transferred into machine 121. Then the receiving device 102 is connected by a cable connection 106 (dotted) in a second step, and that connection is used to transfer the data from machine 121 to phone 102. Again, these devices have operating systems, programs, and DLLs, as described above in the discussion of FIG. 1A.
A large cost is inflicted on cellular network operators by the user practice of returning devices for repair or exchange that are not actually defective. There are several reasons for this problem: some operating intermittencies may not be caught during in store testing of a defective device, or the problem may be caused by peripheral devices that are not returned with the supposedly faulty phone. A large portion of the problem may be attributed to user configuration errors, network configuration errors, or user software add-ons that are installable in the phone but may not be completely compatible with the particular phone set up and its particular network. Only a small fraction of returns are due to actual failure of the hardware. However, efficient and expedient repair of handsets is very important, because the cost of each handset repair affects the final profitability of an operator. One of the most important aspects of handset repair is efficiently achieving a specific level of program and data sets in a repaired handset.
In some cases, more thorough diagnostics of devices with problems are needed than the diagnostics that are available currently. These diagnostics should not merely rely on internal functional diagnostics, but they should also include hardware configuration diagnostics, program configuration diagnostics, and network configuration diagnostics; and they should also look for other factors, including but not limited to program compatibility issues.
Often, the exchange of data objects between different phones is desired or required. Some phones do not support such a feature; other phones have a very limited ability in this regard. For example, such phones may allow exchange of an object such as a business card, but do not support exchange of photos, videos or other larger graphic images.
In some cases wired telephone connections may be difficult or impossible due to defective connectors, unavailable infrastructure, etc.
Some telephone devices are notoriously difficult to access with an in-store diagnostic device, be it wirelessly or via wired connection. In the context of universal serial bus (USB) devices, the manufacturers are supposed to use vendor ID (VID) and product ID (PID) numbers to distinctly identify every product.
These VID/PID numbers are often also used in other connectivity schemes, including but not limited to Bluetooth (BT), local area network (LAN) and over the Internet. These access problems occur due to various legitimate or not-so-legitimate reasons, and more frequently, device manufacturers either re-use the same VID/PID numbers for different devices to save money on registration fees, or in other cases, a fly-by-night garage-style manufacturer clandestinely produces a series of few hundred or a few thousand devices and then closes up shop. This is often because such phones infringe copyrights or other intellectual property, pretending to be brand-name manufacturers' phones, but using different components, such as chips. Despite these problems, it is sometimes desirable for an operator, such as, for example, an independent store operator, to provide service nevertheless, doing so to maintain good customer relations, rather than to rebuff or annoy a customer.
In many cases, it is desirable to back up the data on a mobile communication device with a back-up device that does not require a connection to a standard computer, such as, for example, the exemplary computer of FIG. 7. For example, when a person with a mobile communication device is traveling away from the office, sometimes it is necessary or desirable to travel without a computing device such as a laptop computer; however, a person may still need to back up the data in his or her mobile communication device. | {
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As is well known, frequency bands commonly used in commerce at present include eight frequency bands in total, such as a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), GSM850 (824 MHz to 894 MHz), GSM900 (880 MHz to 960 MHz), a Global Positioning System (GPS) (1575 MHz), digital video broadcasting (DVB)-H (1670 MHz to 1675 MHz), a data communications subsystem (DCS) (1710 MHz to 1880 MHz), a personal communications service (PCS), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or a 3rd Generation Mobile Communications technology (3G) (1920 MHz to 2175 MHz), and Bluetooth or a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) 802.11b/g (2400 MHz to 2484 MHz). In addition, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) project is a currently popular operating frequency band, and operating frequency bands thereof include 698 MHz to 960 MHz and 1710 MHz to 2700 MHz.
An antenna is an apparatus used by a radio device to receive and transmit an electromagnetic wave signal. As the fourth generation mobile communications comes, there is an increasingly high requirement for a bandwidth of a terminal product. Because the antenna implements both signal propagation and energy radiation based on resonance of a frequency, an electrical length of the antenna is one fourth of a wavelength corresponding to a resonance frequency of the antenna, and terminal products at present become lighter and slimmer, how to design an antenna in smaller space is a problem to be urgently resolved. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Event processing may include tracking and analyzing streams of information to determine the occurrence of an event. An event may be described as any occurrence of relevance to a particular area (e.g., a field, technology, etc.). Once an event is detected, a conclusion may be drawn from the occurrence of the event, and further actions may be taken with respect to the event. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a defect inspection method and a defect inspection device for inspecting the status of occurrence of defects in a manufacturing process for manufacturing a product by forming a pattern on a substrate (semiconductor manufacturing process, liquid crystal display element manufacturing process, printed circuit board manufacturing process, etc.) to be used in a process for detecting the defects, analyzing the occurrence of defects and taking countermeasures against the occurrence of defects.
2. Description of the Related Art
A background technology of this technical field is described in JP-A-2008-39882 (Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, light caused by incidence of an optical beam upon a sample or reflected light from the sample is incident upon a polarization control element. The polarization control element causes a phase difference corresponding to the position of the incidence of the light or reflected light upon the polarization control element. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In general, it is required to remove as much impurities, particularly artificial compounds, as possible from compounds to be taken into the human body such as pharmaceuticals. According to the bulk pharmaceuticals guideline by International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH), for example, the weight percent of impurities is to be 0.05% or less. L-Alanyl-L-glutamine is a dipeptide used as a pharmaceutical material (e.g., a component of an infusion preparation) and in cosmetics, and when used as a pharmaceutical material or the like, the above standard is applied.
Known examples of processes for producing dipeptides by the chemical synthesis method, for example, processes for producing L-alanyl-L-glutamine, include a process which comprises condensing N-benzyloxycarbonylalanine with a protective group-added glutamine and then removing the protective group (non-patent document Nos. 1 and 2), a process which comprises condensing N-benzyloxycarbonylalanine with glutamine without a protective group and then removing the protective group (patent document No. 1) and a process which comprises subjecting an N-(2-substituted)-propionylglutamine derivative to reaction with ammonia (patent document No. 2 and non-patent document No. 3).
Known examples of processes for producing dipeptides which do not comprise D-amino acid as a constituent using an enzyme or a microorganism include a process which comprises subjecting L-amino acid amide and L-amino acid to the action of L-amino acid amidohydrolase (patent document No. 3), a process which comprises subjecting L-amino acid ester and L-amino acid to the action of various microorganisms (patent document No. 4), a process which comprises subjecting L-amino acid ester and L-amino acid to the action of proline iminopeptidase (patent document No. 5), a process which comprises subjecting L-amino acid ester or L-amino acid amide and L-amino acid to the action of an enzyme derived from bacteria belonging to the genus Empedobacter or Sphingobacterium (patent document No. 6), and a process using a protein having the activity to form a dipeptide from one or more kinds of amino acids (patent document No. 7).
Of these processes, the chemical synthesis method tends to involve isomerization of an amino group and production of tripeptides as by-products. For example, according to non-patent document No. 3, crystals of L-alanyl-L-glutamine obtained by repeating recrystallization contained 0.19% D-alanyl-L-glutamine. It is suggested that the enzymatic synthesis method using amino acid ester and amino acid amide as starting materials may possibly form polypeptides consisting of three or more amino acids (patent document No. 6).
There exists, therefore, a demand for dipeptide crystals which do not contain impurities such as a dipeptide comprising D-amino acid as a constituent and a polypeptide consisting of three or more amino acids, and a process for production thereof.
Non-Patent Document No. 1:
Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 34, 739 (1961)Non-Patent Document No. 2: Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 35, 1966 (1962)Non-Patent Document No. 3: Org. Process Res. Dev., 4, 147 (2000)Patent Document No. 1: U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,675Patent Document No. 2 Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 234715/94Patent Document No. 3 WO03/010187 pamphletPatent Document No. 4 WO03/010189 pamphletPatent Document No. 5 WO03/010307 pamphletPatent Document No. 6 WO04/022733 pamphletPatent Document No. 7 WO04/058960 pamphlet | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to machines for making embossed textile materials, and more particularly to improvements in machines wherein the embossing of a carpet or a like accumulation of loose fibrous material (hereinafter called fleece for short) takes place during advancement through the nip of two embossing rolls.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,137 discloses an embossing machine wherein a smoothsurfaced embossing roll cooperates with a second roll having a peripheral surface provided with knobs to condense selected portions of a fleece which is caused to advance through the nip of the two rolls. An advantage of such machines is that the roll which has a smooth peripheral surface can be produced, and its peripheral surface finished, at a relatively low cost. However, such machines also exhibit certain drawbacks, especially as concerns the maximum achievable thickness of the embossed textile material and the quality and condition of the less compacted portions which surround the condensed portions of the fleece.
It was further proposed to advance a fleece through the nip of two embossing rolls each of which is provided with peripheral knobs. The knobs of one of the rolls register, at least in part, with the knobs of the other roll during travel through the nip of the two rolls. This enhances the compacting action upon selected portions of the fleece, namely upon those portions which happen to advance between pairs of registering knobs during travel through the nip. Such embossing apparatus are not capable of producing an embossed textile material having a thickness which exceeds the thickness of the fleece, i.e., the thickness of the starting material. Moreover, the quality (especially the thickness) of compacted portions of the fleece is overly dependent upon the accuracy of finish of knobs on the two embossing rolls. Thus, even minor deviations of the dimensions of knobs on at least one of the rolls from optimum dimensions will result in the making of an embossed textile material wherein the thickness of compacted portions can vary within a rather wide range. In addition, the cost of embossing rolls is high. Still further, elastic deformation of rolls during the passage of fleece through the nip of the rolls also affects the quality of the thus obtained embossed textile material. Such elastic deformation can exert a pronounced influence upon the quality of the textile material in the middle of the nip, and the effect of elastic deformation upon the quality of the embossed textile material is compounded by the weight of the rolls as well as by the sizes of the knobs. Textile materials which can be produced in embossing machines of the just outlined character are disclosed in German Auslegeschriften Nos. 25 18 531 and 25 18 532 of Cumbers et al.
European patent application No. 0 007 665 of Aziz discloses a machine for embossing pretreated textile materials. The machine employs a pair of embossing rolls each of which is provided with knobs, and the knobs on one of the rolls are staggered with reference to knobs of the other roll so that the pretreated textile material which passes through the nip of such rolls is provided with two layers of compacted portions and with compacted intermediate portions which connect the compacted portions of one layer with the compacted portions of the other layer. The clearances between the external surfaces of the knobs and the internal surfaces bounding the complementary depressions for the knobs are dimensioned in such a way that the compacting action upon the intermediate portions of the pretreated textile material which is caused to advance through the nip of the rolls is more pronounced than upon the portions which form the two layers. This adversely affects certain desirable characteristics of the twice treated textile material, particularly the absorbency of intermediate portions and the softness and suppleness of the ultimate product. The starting material is a precompressed layer of nonwoven textile material. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A mobile or modifying communication device may have multiple antenna elements that transmit signals to communicate information. A base station or feedback communication device may extract information from the transmitted signals. Multiple antenna elements may enhance spatial or spectral efficiency, allowing for more users to be simultaneously served over a given frequency band. The transmitted signals, however, propagate along different paths and may reach the receiving communication device with different phases that destructively interfere. It is generally desirable to reduce interference of transmitted signals.
US Patent Publication No. 2003/0002594, assigned to the assignee of the present application, the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, describes using a power control signal, for example, as provided by the power control bit of the CDMA protocol, as a quality indication signal. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A variety of medical devices are used for chronic, e.g., long-term, delivery of therapy to patients suffering from a variety of conditions, such as chronic pain, tremor, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, urinary or fecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction, obesity, or gastroparesis. As examples, electrical stimulation generators are used for chronic delivery of electrical stimulation therapies such as cardiac pacing, neurostimulation, muscle stimulation, or the like. Pumps or other fluid delivery devices may be used for chronic delivery of therapeutic agents, such as drugs. Typically, such devices provide therapy continuously or periodically according to parameters contained within a program. A program may comprise respective values for each of a plurality of parameters, specified by a clinician.
In some cases, the patient may be allowed to activate and/or modify the therapy delivered by the medical device. For example, a patient may be provided with a patient programming device. The patient programming device communicates with a medical device to allow the patient to activate therapy and/or adjust therapy parameters. For example, an implantable medical device (IMD), such as an implantable neurostimulator, may be accompanied by an external patient programmer that permits the patient to activate and deactivate neurostimulation therapy and/or adjust the intensity of the delivered neurostimulation. The patient programmer may communicate with the IMD via wireless telemetry to control the IMD and/or retrieve information from the IMD. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication device, and particularly to a power supply for a mobile communication device carrying out wireless data communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a mobile communication device such as a portable telephone and a car telephone, during communication to a base station, when a battery voltage becomes lower than a voltage necessary for the communication, the communication is cut off. Thus, after exchanging a battery, a user of the communication device must make operations again for connection of a communication line, such as a calling operation. Besides, since various kinds of information required for communication operations or for signal processing are stored in a RAM, they are lost at the exchange of the battery.
With regard to such a problem, for example, Japanese patent application Laid-open No. Hei. 5-22188 discloses a technique in which when a battery voltage is lowered, data stored in a RAM is stored in an EEPROM to protect the data.
FIG. 1 is a structural block diagram schematically showing a mobile communication device disclosed in the publication.
In FIG. 1, at the reception of a signal from a not-shown base station, the signal received through an antenna 51 is subjected to processing such as amplification and demodulation by a wireless section 52. Thereafter, the output of the wireless section is subjected to predetermined signal processing by a signal processing section 53 and is outputted as a voice from a speaker 54.
On the other hand, when a signal is transmitted to the base station, a line is connected by the operation of a key pad 60. Thereafter, a voice from a microphone 55 is subjected to predetermined signal processing by the signal processing section 53, and then, is subjected to processing of demodulation and amplification and is transmitted from the antenna 51.
A micro-computer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) 56 is a circuit for controlling and processing these transmitting/receiving operations, and the information regarding the controlling or processing is stored in a RAM 57.
A battery 62 supplies power to the respective sections of the communication device, and the output voltage thereof is monitored by a voltage monitoring circuit 61. On the basis of the output of the voltage monitoring circuit 61, when the battery voltage becomes lower than a predetermined value, the microcomputer 56 stores the information stored in the RAM 57 into an EEPROM 58. In this way, the information is protected.
Thereafter, after an exchange of batteries is ended, the information stored in the EEPROM 58 is restored in the RAM 57, and on the basis of the information from the RAM 57, the microcomputer 56 makes setting of a transmission/reception channel, transmission/reception output level, and the like. That is, the state before the power was cut off is recovered. Then the operation of the device shifts to a communication operation.
On the other hand, in recent years, wireless communication of data from an information terminal such as a personal computer is carried out by using a mobile communication device. It is also possible to use the above described mobile communication device in this wireless data communication.
However, in the above described conventional mobile communication device, when a drop in battery voltage is detected, the information must be transmitted from the RAM to the EEPROM, and the information must be recovered from the EEPROM to the RAM after the exchange of batteries is ended.
On the other hand, even if the above described conventional mobile communication device is applied to the wireless data communication, data from the information terminal is lost by the voltage drop of the mobile communication device. Otherwise, it is necessary to interrupt the data communication by a communication application which has operated until now at the side of the information terminal. Thus, if the application at the side of the information terminal does not retransmit all the data lost during the interruption, data communication after resumption can not be realized. That is, the data communication which has been carried out by the communication application at the side of the information terminal comes to nothing, and the same data communication must be carried out again, so that finite radio frequencies are wasted, and also time is wasted. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ceiling fan which can regulate humidity and temperature in buildings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional ceiling fan includes an electric motor suspended on a ceiling and a plurality of blades drivingly connected and disposed under the electric motor. As the blades are rotated by the motor, a current of air will be set up for ventilating or cooling. However, such a ceiling fan suffers from the following drawbacks:
1. When used in a badly ventilated room, the ceiling fan will not be able to lower the temperature thereby rendering it useless.
2. As the ceiling fan has been running for a long period of time, the motor will become hot thus increasing the temperature of the air current and therefore making the ceiling fan useless.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air-conditioning fan which can obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a radio communication technology, and more particularly to a technology for reducing interference among base stations in a cellular radio communication system.
In a cellular radio communication system, multiple base stations or antennas are geographically dispersed and a radio communication service area is formed in a range in which the radio waves from the base stations and the antennas are received. A mobile terminal, which is capable of receiving signals from multiple base stations and antennas, is controlled so that the mobile terminal is connected to the base station from which the highest-quality signal is received. A radio communication system provides a mechanism, called a handover, via which a terminal switches the base station, to which it is connected, from one base station to another as the terminal moves, allowing the terminal to maintain the radio communication even when it is moving. To assure the connectivity of a terminal while it is moving, the boundaries of the service areas formed by the base stations and antennas overlap. The signal transmitted from each base station or each antenna, though significant information to a terminal connected to the base station and the antenna, is interference to the communication of a terminal connected to another base station or antenna. Such interference becomes an obstruction to an interfered terminal and results in a reduction in communication quality or throughput.
One known method for reducing interference among base stations is Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR). This technology provides a mechanism in which multiple base stations and antennas put weight on the transmission power of frequency resources or select frequency resources to allow the usable frequency resources to be shared to prevent the generation of interference.
The technology FFR is based on the premise that mobile terminals are uniformly distributed. Actually, however, the distribution of mobile terminals depends on the factors such as commercial activities with the tendency that the density is high in a specific area. For example, the population density is very high at a major terminal station, but not in the area surrounding the major terminal station. As a result, there is a large difference between the number of terminals in communication with the base station covering a major terminal station and the number of terminals in communication with the base station covering an area surrounding the terminal station. Because of this, FFR that is based on the premise that the distribution of mobile terminals is uniform sometimes does not improve interference.
To achieve fairness for each mobile terminal when the distribution of mobile terminals is very uneven, it is desirable that the base stations surrounding a major terminal station limit the use of a part of frequency resources and that the reduction in interference in the limited frequency be declared to the surrounding base stations. In a part of radio communication systems using a new standard (for example, 3GPP TS36.423 V8.9.0 8.3.1 (Load Indication), hereinafter called Document 1), the interface for transmitting and receiving the information on the interference control among base stations is installed. This mechanism is called Inter Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC). In a radio communication system in which ICIC is installed, the resource state and the interference state must be reported among the base stations. FFR in which ICIC is installed is called Dynamic FFR (DFFR). | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for transmitting a radio frequency signal to a medical device implanted in an animal, and more particularly to cardiac pacing devices in which the radio frequency signal causes the implanted device to deliver energy to cardiac tissue for the purpose of stimulating contractions.
2. Description of the Related Art
A remedy for people with slowed or disrupted natural heart beating is to implant a cardiac pacing device. A cardiac pacing device is a small electronic apparatus that stimulates the heart to beat at regular intervals. That device consists of a pulse generator, implanted in the patient's chest, which produces electrical pulses that stimulate heart contractions. Electrical wires extend from the pulse generator to several electrodes placed adjacent specific muscles of the heart, which when electrically stimulated produce contraction of the adjacent heart chambers.
It is quite common that the wires extend through arteries or veins which enter the heart so that the electrodes can be placed in the muscle of the heart chamber requiring stimulation. The wires typically extend for some distance through the arteries or veins and may pass through one or two heart valves. In other patients, patch electrodes are placed on the exterior heart surface with wires extending through tissue to the pacing device. With either type of wire placement, it is important that the electrodes be attached to the proper positions on the heart to stimulate the muscles and produce contractions. Thus, it is desirable to properly locate the electrodes for maximum heart stimulation with minimal adverse impact to other physiological functions, such as blood circulation.
More recently wireless pacing devices have been proposed, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,953. With this type of device, a radio frequency (RF) signal is transmitted from a conventional pacing circuit to stimulator devices placed on the heart at locations where stimulation is to occur. For example, the stimulator device can be mounted on a stent that is implanted in a blood vessel of the heart. The radio frequency signal activates the stent which applies an electrical stimulation pulse to the heart tissue. Electrical power for stimulating the heart is derived from the energy of the radio frequency signal.
One of the difficulties in this wireless system is ensuring that a maximum amount of the RF energy is received by the stimulator device. In the case of a stent, the antenna is a coil located on a cylindrical surface and receives the greatest amount of energy from an electromagnetic field oriented in a direction through the turns of the coil. However, since the stent can be implanted in different orientations in the patient's body and the orientation of the transmitter antenna similarly varied, it is difficult to ensure that the electromagnetic field from the RF signal will be properly oriented with respect to the stent antenna. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for recording data on a recording carrier or support.
2. Description of the Prior Art
DOS No. 2,137,371 discloses a process for producing a recording head with wire recording electrodes in which closely juxtaposed wire turns are placed on a rotating drum and held in position by means of an adhesive support previously applied to the drum. The resulting wire cylinder with an adhesive support is cut open, removed from the drum and spread out to form a flat foil. One end of the juxtaposed wire electrodes are pressed between two facing plates to form the recording head. The other end of the recording electrodes of the foil are subdivided into a plurality of groups for connection to a selection circuit. The electrodes of each group are connected in each case to a circuit card. The circuit cards with the wire portions are twisted and bent so that they can be inserted into a selection circuit. However, with this type of contacting, the twisting and bending of the groups of electrodes can lead to damage to the electrodes. Furthermore, a large amount of space is required for receiving the circuit cards.
DOS No. 2,126,043 discloses a process for producing a recording head in which the electrode wire is placed with a clearly defined spacing on an insulating material plate, the plate having staggered, outwardly directed leads contacted with the electrode wire at points displaced relative to one another by spot welding using resistance, laser beam or electron beam welding methods. Following the contacting of the leads with the electrode wire, the arrangement is cast in a sythetic resin, with the ends of the electrode wire projecting from the cast insulating material body and the leads projecting out of the cast body perpendicular to the axis of the recording electrodes being in the form of plug pins. The recording head produced by this process has the disadvantage that a clearly defined spacing between the electrodes is required, so as to ensure that contact only takes place between one electrode wire and one lead in each case. In addition, the spacing of the electrodes is dependent on the width of the plug pins. Thus, with this known arrangement, it is not possible to have a randomly narrow spacing of the recording electrodes. | {
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Because of excellent in properties such as mechanical strength (especially, impact-resistant properties), electrical properties, transparency etc., polycarbonate resins have been widely used as engineering plastics in various sectors such as office automation equipment, electrical and electronic equipment, automobiles, etc. Recently, in the field of liquid-crystal displays, high reflectance materials made of polycarbonate resins increasingly have greater use in backlight application. Among others, application to monitors and televisions is remarkable, and enlargement of a backlight member is increasingly in progress as the display size is becoming larger. Accordingly, as parts of the backlight member such as a reflecting plate, a reflecting frame, a cold cathode-ray tube supporter etc. are becoming lager and the residence time during molding is becoming longer, there is a tendency that thermal stability in residence under harder molding conditions than with conventional conditions is desired. In addition, since manufacturing abroad has become frequent due to globalization in recent years, a material having a wide range of manufacturing conditions is increasingly desired, wherein the material can provide good products regardless of the level of skills or the level of perfection of molding techniques or molding machines.
On the other hand, in order to provide a reflecting function, incorporation of titanium oxide into polycarbonate-type resins or polyester-type resins has been conventionally performed. In such a case, methods for improving the thermal stability in residence have been generally adopted, for example, to prevent hydrolysis reaction between the polycarbonate resins and titanium oxide by using a method such as coating titanium oxide with a reactive silicone in advance. However, there was a problem, that is, when the amount of titanium oxide was increased in order to improve the reflectance of the composition, the thermal stability in residence during molding became increasingly poor, resulting in the reduction of the reflectance and appearance of the molded object, and hence it was generally difficult to make high reflectance and the thermal stability in residence during molding compatible with each other.
Further, there is disclosed a resin composition wherein an inorganic filler whose base amount is 20 μmole/g or less is used in order to provide a resin with sufficient thermal decoloration resistance and mechanical strength (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Publication No. H9-3211, page 1 to page 4). In order to improve the reflectance by blending titanium oxide, it is preferable to increase the coating amount of a hydrous oxide and/or an oxide of a metal, for example, silica-alumina on the surface of titanium oxide particles (the base amount becomes 20 μmole/g or more). However, when commercially available titanium oxide particles with a large coating amount of silica-alumina were used directly, there was a phenomenon of lowering of the thermal stability in residence, that is, there was a limit in the improvement of thermal stability in residence by using only the method described above, wherein the titanium oxide was coated with a reactive silicone in advance. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the use of mixtures containing (A), unsaturated C.sub.16-22 carboxylic acid C.sub.16-22 alkenyl ester sulfonates and (B), at least one surfactant from the group of sulfates as wetting agents in aqueous alkaline treatment preparations for yarns or sheet-form textiles.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Cotton contains natural impurities, for example waxes, wax-like substances, proteins, seed shells, fruit husks and pectins and also impurities which are applied as foreign substances in the course of processing, such as paraffins and/or mineral oils. The impurities in wool, regenerated fibers, such as viscose rayon, and synthetic fibers, such as polyester and polyamide, emanate from the treatment of these materials with finishes (Chwala/Anger in "Handbuch der Textilhilfsmittel", pages 526-528, 537, 558 et seq., Verlag Chemie Weinheim 1977). In order completely to remove these impurities mentioned by way of example, textile fibers, particularly cellulose-containing textile fibers, are normally subjected to a pretreatment.
Aqueous treatment preparations for the pretreatment and bleaching of natural fibers, such as cotton, or of mixtures of natural and synthetic fibers, such as cotton/ polyester or cotton/polyamide, require the addition of wetting agents to obtain relatively quick and intimate contact between the treatment preparation and the textile material. Mercerizing liquors, bleaches, cleaning preparations, boil-off preparations and degreasing preparations are examples of pretreatment and bleaching preparations. Wetting agents present in treatment preparations such as these must be soluble in water and stable to alkalis and must guarantee uniform wetting of the textile material In addition, they should be able to be easily added to the treatment preparations, i.e. should be present in liquid form at room temperature. In addition, wetting agents must be ecologically acceptable, i.e. must be readily biodegradable and non-toxic to aquatic organisms.
The object of the present invention was to develop liquid, water-soluble and alkali-stable wetting preparations which may be used in alkaline treatment preparations for sheet-form textiles or yarns. | {
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Wind turbines are used to produce electricity. The trend goes to units with a large rotor diameter. The Growian in Germany has a diameter above 100 meters. The new largest concept goes up to 175 meters. It turned out that production costs for this kind of wind electricity energy generators are so high that the period of amortization is longer than the expected life time of the machine.
The invention shows a way to produce electricity in an economical way.
The invention shows, how powerful wind machines can be made without large rotors. The solution is a multi-rotor tower. If conventionally designed wind turbines are analyzed, it is apparent that all types have some common disadvantages than can be eliminated by using small rotors. The following compares conventional 54-ft diameter wind turbines and multi-rotor turbines with four rotors of one half the diameter. The diameter of 54-ft was chosen because more than 3,000 wind machines with this rotor diameter have already been sold. In contrast to that trend it can be proven, that large rotors show much higher cost per KW than a group of small rotors together having the same total swept area and performance. Transformation of wind power into mechanical performance takes place within the plane of the rotor, therefore the rotor is the most important element of any wind turbine.
A rotor assembly consists of the rotor hub and blades. In the case of a rotor without pitch control, which shall be compared in this case, about 80% of all costs are within the blades. The price of blades with the same mechanical properties depends on their size. Material costs are proportional to weight. The weight of a blade follows the equation: EQU G=G.sub.o .multidot.L.sup.3
L=Length of blade PA1 .omega..sub.f =Angular velocity PA1 W=Weight of blade l=Length of blade PA1 f=frequency PA1 I=Moment of inertia PA1 W=Weight of blade PA1 D=diameter of rotor PA1 TRQ=Torque on shaft PA1 z=Number of blades PA1 H=height [ft] PA1 V.sub.33 =Wind velocity in 33-ft PA1 .sigma.=max. stress PA1 M.sub.B =bending moment=P/V.multidot.H PA1 W.sub.B =I/C=section modulus PA1 H=tower height
When comparing the two rotor systems, this equation shows a weight ratio of 8:1. Four small rotors produce the same energy as one large rotor. Therefore, material cost for four small rotors is only 50% of the material cost for one large rotor. The real savings are considerably higher because the production of one large rotor needs much more investment for jigs, tooling and labor than production of four sets of blades for small rotors. Therefore, also investment for production means and labor costs lie far below comparable costs for large rotor and blade assemblies.
The invention shows, how powerful windmachines can be made without using large rotors. The solution is the use of a multi-rotor tower.
Upwind rotors are exposed to the undisturbed air stream. The costs of upwind turbines are higher than for downwind turbines because the upwind machines require sensitive high torque servo drive means for the heavy duty yaw control bearing systems. The disadvantage from the engineering standpoint is the fact that, as each blade crosses the front of the tower, cyclic forces excite cyclic vibrations causing fatigue in the tower structure. Therefore, upwind type tower construction requires more material. The engineering advantage of downwind wind turbines is that they do not require mechanical means for yaw control, however, the blades crossing the wind shadow of the tower, undergo extreme cyclic excitations. This is one of the main causes for blade distruction by fatigue.
The multi-rotor system according to the invention combines the advantages of upwind turbines, e.g., the undisturbed wind stream, with the advantage of the downwind turbines, e.g., the automatic yaw control--without the above described disadvantages of single rotor wind turbines. | {
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While it has been shown that coating compositions such as those disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,644 to Mosser et al and assigned to the assigne of the present invention are suitable for dip-spin application to small parts such as fasteners, the thixotropic nature of the coatings causes problems when applied over fasteners which contain blind holes, fine threads and recessed heads, like Phillips crossheads, Torx.RTM., and other types of fasteners. These problems arise from the fact that due to the low shear forces exerted in the aforementioned areas, the thixotropic nature of the compositions does not allow full return of the coating to its liquid state thus providing the good flow and leveling exhibited on adjacent unencumbered areas of the fastener being coated. This lack of flow and leveling in these areas often gives rise to excessive build-up of coating, usually resulting in coated parts which are nonuseable, that is, rejected parts.
While there are physical means employed to facilitate the proper flow and leveling, such as fewer parts processed at a given time, increased spin time and centrifugal force and use of inserts to reorient parts, these means have only shown marginal improvement in solving the aforementioned problem. When employed in production operations, these means can diminish the throughput capacity for bulk coated parts, thereby defeating the purpose for which bulk processing is intended. Adjustments in the compositions within the spirit of the invention of the Mosser et al patent to allow lower viscosities also shows some improvement, but not yet such improvement as is required for various industrial applications.
During research and development, applicant has attempted to overcome the lack of flow and leveling in the compositions by incorporating wetting agents, i.e. surface tension modifiers, surfactants, to improve the flow and leveling. These wetting agents can be nonionic, anionic or cationic. The Mosser et al patent discloses the use of nonionic surfactants to establish what is referred to as the thixotropic network. The acid stable nonionic surfactant is capable and does form a three dimensional, crosslinked network with an amorphous silica. The nonionic surfactant is present in the composition at relatively low concentrations. Larger amounts of the nonionic surfactant adversely affect the consistency of the desired composition. Because the compositions are water based and therefore highly polar, it was demonstrated that nonionic species could be used for the practice of making compositions of the Mosser et al patent and that anionic and cationic wetting agents were not useful in establishing the thixotropic network.
Through experimentation, applicant has found that the addition of an anionic surfactant to the composition of the Mosser et al patent, in an attempt to reduce the surface tension of the composition, resulted in the viscosity previously established by the practice of the Mosser et al patent to be substantially lowered so as to render the composition substantially unusable for practical purposes. In these experiments, sodium 2-ethyl hexyl sulfate was used.
Another anionic material based on polysulfonic acid designated by the manufacturer (Henkel Corp., Minneapolis, Minn.) as a thickener and fluid friction reducer was added by applicant to the composition of the Mosser et al patent. This addition resulted in a significant increase in viscosity. When used alone in a precursor of the composition disclosed in the Mosser et al patent without the nonionic surfactant and silica, the polysulfonic acid thickened the material. To obtain viscosities that were suitable for good coating film development, high levels of the polysulfonic were required, giving the coated articles brittle films and marginal adhesion.
The present invention provides a coating composition which exhibits improved viscosity stability and improved wettability of intricate surfaces such as fine threads and recessed heads particularly when applied by dip-spin methods to small metal parts such as fasteners. The invention results in better flow and leveling of the compositions and less rejected unusable coated parts. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to jet engines, and more specifically, to jet engine noise suppression.
2. Description of Related Art
Aircraft noise has been a major problem in the aircraft industry. Among the sources of aircraft noise, jet engine noise is a dominant source. For commercial aircraft, the noise level becomes significant during both take-off and landing, causing concerns to local communities near airports.
Current techniques to suppress jet engine noise have a number of drawbacks. Techniques relying on corrugated or fluted exhaust nozzles or additional passages connected to exhaust gas flow can only reduce some amount of noise at the expense of thrust loss and base drag increase. Other techniques do not provide satisfactory results or are not flexible to accommodate different engine operational modes in a typical aircraft flight route. | {
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Sterile medical liquids such as 5% dextrose, normal saline, sterile water, etc., are often bottled and sterilized by manufacturers and then shipped to hospitals. When ready for use these bottles are opened to dispense sterile irrigating liquids to a surgical wound, or to deliver intravenous liquid into a patient's vein.
A very critical portion of these sterile medical liquid containers is their closure system which protects the dispensing outlet of these containers. Such a closure system must maintain the sterility of the dispensing outlet.
It has been proposed in the past to use double closure systems in which an outer closure fits over and protects a sterile inner closure of the container. In some situations it is desirable to separately remove the outer closure from the inner closure. Then in a subsequent step all or part of the sterile inner closure can be removed to dispense the sterile medical liquid from the container. Sometimes the inner closure is replaceable or reclosable when only a portion of the bottle's contents are dispensed.
While these previous double closure systems with an outer closure separable from the inner closure performed the primary function of protecting the sterility of the dispensing outlet, they were often hard to open. This was because the outer closure required some unusual hand movements and an unusual sequence of steps that the nurse or physician had to remember. | {
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This invention relates to an apparatus for disintegrating a bale of fibrous material.
Throughout the years, fibrous material has been collected and stored in a variety of forms for later use in a variety of applications. For example, animal food stuffs may be collected in a mass either loosely held together under its own weight as in a stack or bound by twine or other securing means as in a cylindrical rectangular or other configuration. As used in this invention, the term bale shall include any type of fibrous material which is in a collective configuration irrespective of whether it is bound by twine or loosely forming a stack. When collected to form a bale, such fibrous material may be stored or transported or both for use at the same or different location or at a later time for a variety of purposes including animal feed, bedding, etc.
A variety of methods and machines have been developed over the years for converting a bale of fibrous material into disintegrated form. Such machines have included a variety of hoists for lifting the bale from the ground and placing it upon the machine where the bale is shredded or cut with the disintegrated fibrous material thereafter being discharged either at a stationary point or linearly as the machine is moved across the ground.
Many of such machines have involved complicated cutting or shredding assemblies wherein the fibrous materials frequently become clogged and/or wherein the disintegrated fibrous material is frequently found to be of non-uniform particle size. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to a reactor for biological, in particular anaerobic, purification of waste water including a reactor vessel having a substantially flat or round bottom, at least one supply line arranged in the lower region of the reactor vessel for feeding waste water to be purified into the reactor, at least one fluid discharge pipe for discharging purified waste water from the reactor, and at least one discharge pipe for solid matter arranged in the lower region of the reactor vessel for discharging solid matter from the reactor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multitude of mechanical, chemical and biological methods and corresponding reactors are known for waste water purification. In biological waste water purification, the waste water to be purified is brought into contact with aerobic or anaerobic micro-organisms, which in the case of aerobic micro-organisms decompose organic contaminants contained in the waste water predominantly to carbon dioxide, biomass and water, and in the case of anaerobic micro-organisms mainly to carbon dioxide and methane and only in small part to biomass. In recent times the biological waste water purification methods are carried out increasingly with anaerobic micro-organisms whereby the reactors, depending on the type and form of the utilized biomass, are categorized for anaerobic waste water purification into contact sludge reactors, upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASA) reactors, expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors, fixed bed reactors and fluidized bed reactors. Whereas the micro-organisms in fixed bed reactors adhere to stationary carrier materials and the micro-organisms in fluidized bed reactors adhere to freely moving, small carrier material; the micro-organisms in UASB and EGSB reactors are utilized in the form of so-called pellets.
In the case of UASB and EGSB reactors, waste water which is to be purified, or a mixture of waste water which is to be purified and already purified waste water from the outlet of the anaerobic reactor, is fed continuously to the reactor through an inlet which is arranged in the lower region of the reactor and is directed through a micro-organism pellet-containing sludge bed which is located above the inlet. During decomposition of the organic compounds from the waste water, the micro-organisms form methane and carbon dioxide containing gas (which is also referred to as biogas) which partially adheres to the micro-organism pellets in the form of small bubbles and which partially rises to the top in the reactor in the form of free gas bubbles. Because of the added gas bubbles the specific weight of the pellets decreases, which is the reason that the pellets rise to the top in the reactor. In order to separate the formed biogas and the rising pellets from the water, separators are arranged in the center and/or upper part of the reactor, mostly in the embodiment of gas hoods under the top of which biogas accumulates, forming gas cushions. Purified water, relieved of gas and micro-organism pellets rises to the top in the reactor and is drawn off at the upper end of the reactor through overflows.
Moreover, during operation of the reactor, solids continuously float downward in the reactor and settle on the reactor bottom from where they are discharged from the reactor through a solid matter discharge pipe. These are, on the one hand, solids contained in the waste water and, on the other hand, solid matter which initially only forms in the reactor, for example in the situation where waste water having a high content of dissolved calcium is used—as for example waste water from the paper industry. Due to chemical conditions, a portion of the calcium precipitates as solid calcium-carbonate. Since the solid matter settles uniformly across the reactor cross section, not all solid matter sediments can be removed in practice from the reactor through the solid matter discharge line. Therefore, large areas of sediment accumulate increasingly on the reactor bottom and in particular at right angle locations in the reactor vessel. In order to remove these sediments from the reactor, the reactor must be shut down from time to time.
To overcome this problem, reactors for biological purification of waste water have been suggested, for example in DE 40 42 223 A1, whereby the lower reactor section tapers conically in the downward direction. This ensures that at least the greater portion of the sediment accumulates in the tip of the cone from where it can be easily discharged from the reactor through a solid matter discharge pipe. This lower conical reactor section must, however, be manufactured from a particularly stable material in order to be able to withstand the weight of the waste water contained in the possibly several meters high reactor. Moreover, manufacture of a reactor of this type is very complicated and therefore expensive.
What is needed in the art is a reactor for biological, in particular anaerobic, purification of waste water from which solid matter occurring during its operation can be easily and in particular completely removed and which is of simple design and can be produced cost effectively. The reactor is to be suitable for purification of calciferous waste water, for example from the paper industry. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The field of this invention is that of diesel fuel filter systems and the invention relates more particularly to a system which is adapted for use in passenger automobiles.
With the present energy crises extending world-wide, the use of diesel-powered passenger automobiles is rapidly increasing. As a result, diesel engines have to be adapted for more trouble-free operation by drivers who may not provide routine maintenance such fuel filter replacement and the like with the same degree of care as professional drivers and who may be unable to cope with problems such as fuel filter clogging which may occur. At the same time, it would be desirable to lower the cost of diesel-powered automobiles to reach the larger popular market which is becoming interested in such vehicles and to adopt the diesel-powered automobiles to incorporate the various, power-operated automobile convenience features to which the popular market has become accustomed. In this regard, it is found that although diesel fuel as manufactured is intended to have low boiling point constituents removed from the fuel, paraffin residues and the like which may remain in the fuel can solidify in the fuel in the fuel-tank or filter housing when diesel powered automobiles or other equipment stand idle during cold weather. Then, when operation of the engine is initiated, such solidified components of the fuel tend to clog the filter as the fuel passing to the engine is filtered for removing extraneous contaminant particles and the like. In many cases such filter-clogging solidified fuel components will be returned to liquid state and passed through the filter to the engine as engine warm up gradually takes place. Frequently, however, such clogging will sufficiently reduce fuel flow so that engine performance is adversely affected during the initial period of engine operation. This can result in considerable drive inconvenience particularly where routine filter replacement may have been disregarded or where the filter clogging is not recognized or understood due to driver inexperience.
It will be desirable to be able to avoid such cold weather filter clogging particularly if such an improvement could be achieved at reasonable cost in a manner which would not involve undue drain on the electrical power supply capacity of the automobile.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel and improved diesel fuel filter system; to provide such a diesel fuel filter system which is free from cold weather filter clogging; to provide such a system which utilizes low cost components adapted to be incorporated in an otherwise conventional fuel filter system; to provide such a filter system which is operable without excessively loading the electrical power supply capacity of the automobile or other diesel-powered equipment; and to provide such a system which can be used without risk of fuel over heating and the like. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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a) Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a radiation source for generating extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation based on a hot, dense plasma generated by gas discharge, particularly for generating high average EUV radiation outputs.
b) Description of the Related Art
In the last 35 years, semiconductor chip producers have achieved considerable growth rates and increases in output by continuously reducing transistor sizes from the micrometer range to the nanometer range. Since its formulation in 1965, Moore""s law has been steadily corroborated in the semiconductor lithography industry by a gradual reduction of the wavelength in the utilized radiation. At present, the industry is making the transition from the ArF excimer laser with a wavelength of xcex=193 nm to the F2 laser with a wavelength of xcex=157 nm. There is a conviction that because of the transmission limits of lens systems radiation at xcex=157 nm will be the smallest radiation ever used in semiconductor lithography which utilizes transmission optics or catadioptric systems.
However, the increase in the operating speed of a microprocessor predicted for the end of this decade by Moore""s law could stagnate if the resolution limit of exposure equipment given by Rxcx9cxcex/NA for a resolvable structure spacing R is reached. This equation shows that the structure resolution can only be improved by reducing the wavelength xcex and/or increasing the numerical aperture NA of the optics. Since the theoretical limit of the numerical aperture NA is 1 and the industry already uses values up to NA=0.8, the sole possibility for reducing the resolution limit and, therefore, further reducing transistor size is a further reduction in wavelength.
Therefore, it can be stated at the present time that a further substantial increase in the numerical aperture of optics is impossible and that no transmission optics or catadioptric system permits the use of wavelengths substantially smaller than 157 nm. Accordingly, there was reason to fear that the development predicted by Moore""s law would stagnate in coming years if no alternative possibilities were found for overcoming the problem. Fortunately, the development of multilayer mirrors with a 70-% reflection factor in the range of 10 to 15 nm offered the semiconductor industry a new prospect for the use of EUV radiation in this wavelength range and accordingly provided new hope that current lithographic chip fabrication will remain for another decade as dynamic as it has been thus far.
Although radiation sources based on plasma generated by gas discharge as well as laser-generated plasmas have shown adequate potential to emit EUV radiation in the desired wavelength range of 10 to 15 nm, these sources are still far from being used as commercial high-output radiation sources such as are required in chip fabrication for exposure machines with output powers of several hundred watts. With the greatest possible conversion efficiency that can be achieved for a plasma generated by gas discharge estimated at about 1%/2xcfx80xc2x7sr, an input power of 20 kW would be required to collect 100-watt EUV radiation in a solid angle of xcfx80sr. Further, it must be kept in mind that the majority of this enormous power for converting into plasma must be transmitted over discharge surfaces of a few square centimeters. It can easily be imagined that these small surfaces will not be stable over a long duration, so that radiation sources based on a gas discharge appear unsuitable for stable long-term use due to the fact that they must work in continuous operation for upwards of at least twenty hours and more at repetition frequencies of between 2 and 10 kHz for commercial use in chip lithography.
Therefore, it is the primary object of the invention to find a novel possibility for the realization of an EUV radiation source which achieves a high average radiation output in the EUV region and remains stable for a sufficiently long period of time.
According to the invention, in a radiation source for the generation of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation based on a dense, hot plasma generated by gas discharge containing two electrodes which are electrically separated from one another by insulators which are resistant to breakdown and at the same time form rotationally symmetric electrode housings for parts of a vacuum chamber, wherein a gas discharge for plasma generation is provided between a first electrode housing and a second electrode housing within the vacuum chamber and an exit or outlet opening for the radiation emitted by the plasma is provided in the first electrode housing, further containing a gas supply unit for generating a flow of working gas through the vacuum chamber, a high-voltage module for providing high-voltage pulses at the electrodes and a preionization unit for generating preionization of the working gas prior to the gas discharge triggered by the high-voltage pulse, the above-stated object is met, according to the invention, in that the second electrode housing has a narrowed portion and an electrode collar which adjoins the latter and which is enclosed concentrically by the first electrode housing, wherein a concentric insulator layer is provided in this area of concentric overlapping between the first electrode housing and the electrode collar of the second electrode housing in order to shield the concentric surface regions of the two electrode housings, which concentric insulator layer extends in the direction of the outlet opening of the first electrode such that the gas discharge takes place substantially only parallel to the axis of symmetry of the electrode housing, and the electrode collar is stepped radially relative to the concentric insulator layer in such a way that at least one end region of the electrode collar is at a distance from the concentric insulator layer such that a concentric gap is formed.
The outlet opening in the first electrode housing advantageously has the shape of a circular narrowed portion coaxial to the axis of symmetry of the electrode housing and the first electrode housing is expanded conically following the narrowed outlet opening, so that the gas discharge is ignited between the two electrodes in the interior of the first electrode housing and the dense, hot plasma is formed within the conical expansion after the outlet opening of the first electrode housing.
For purposes of suitable orientation of the gas discharge in the interior of the first electrode housing, the electrode collar of the second electrode housing projecting into the first electrode housing preferably has the shape of a hollow cylinder with a plurality of steps.
In this connection, it can be advantageous that the electrode collar is a hollow cylinder with two outer and one inner step, wherein the second outer step forms a transition from the electrode collar to the base body of the second electrode housing. Further, it is useful when at least one of the steps of the hollow cylinder has a conical transition in order to improve heat dissipation and the stability of the electrode collar relative to the base body of the second electrode housing.
The base body of the electrode housing is advantageously produced from one of the metals, copper, tungsten, molybdenum or a tungsten-copper alloy in a desired mixture ratio, wherein at least highly loaded zones of the electrode collar of the second electrode housing are produced from an alloy of tungsten with one of the materials, titanium, tantalum, zirconium, rhenium, lanthanum, lanthanum oxide, nickel, iron, nickel-iron compounds or zirconium-oxygen compounds in a desired mixture ratio, or the highly loaded zones comprise an alloy of molybdenum with one of the materials, titanium, tantalum, zirconium, rhenium, lanthanum, lanthanum oxide, nickel, iron, nickel-iron compounds or zirconium-oxygen compounds in a desired mixture ratio.
Zones of the electrode housing upon which the radiation flow acts particularly intensively, particularly free inner edges of the electrode collar or of the outlet opening, are coated, in addition, with a material having a low sputter rate. Coatings with aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, zirconium oxides or silicon oxides are particularly suitable for this purpose.
Another advisable possibility for reducing electrode wear consists in coating highly loaded zones of the electrode housing, particularly the electrode collar or the outlet opening, with an alloy of tungsten, molybdenum or rhenium with one of the compounds aluminum nitride, aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide or silicon oxide. Further, coating these highly loaded electrode zones with a tungsten-carbon compound, preferably a tungsten-diamond compound, has proven particularly suitable.
It is advisable for the operation of the radiation source that the first electrode housing is arranged as anode and the second electrode housing is arranged as cathode for the high-voltage gas discharge. In another preferred variant, the first electrode housing is arranged as cathode and the second electrode housing is arranged as anode.
In order to prolong the life of the electrodes, it is further advisable when the first electrode housing and the second electrode housing are fashioned in such a way that they have a base body comprising material with very good thermal conduction, particularly copper, wherein an efficient heat dissipation system is joined to this base body for efficient elimination of heat from the discharge zone of the electrodes.
The heat dissipation system is preferably based upon a porous metal structure through which coolant is pumped under high pressure or upon a heat pipe system. In either case, water, a low-viscosity oil, e.g., Galden, mercury, sodium or lithium, can be used as active coolant.
It proves advantageous when a heat dissipation system of the type mentioned above is integrated in the base body of each electrode housing. However, it can also be arranged externally so that it is possible to exchange the electrode housings and heat dissipation system separately.
The concentric insulator in the interior of the first electrode housing which is provided for shielding the side walls of the first electrode housing from the electrode collar of the second electrode housing is advisably produced as an insulator pipe from one of the compounds, Si3N4, Al2O3, AlN, AlZr, AlTi, BeO or lead-zirconium-titanate (PZT).
The preionization module is advantageously arranged coaxially inside the second electrode housing and comprises two circular electrodes with a rod-shaped insulator located therebetween, wherein an end surface of the second electrode housing is advisably used as one of the circular electrodes and the surface of the rod-shaped insulator is provided for a sliding discharge for preionization of the working gas. In this connection, the rod-shaped insulator is preferably made of one of the materials, Si3N4, Al2O3, AlN, AlZr, AlTi, BeO, or of highly dielectric materials such as lead-zirconium-titanate (PZT), barium titanate, strontium titanate, lead borosilicate or lead-zinc borosilicate.
At the same time, the preionization module can have a gas inlet for the working gas, this gas inlet being guided coaxially through the rod-shaped insulator. Another advantageous way to supply the working gas consists in that a gas inlet with inlet openings that are evenly distributed with respect to the axis of symmetry is arranged in the conical expansion of the first electrode housing.
One of the gases, xenon, krypton, argon, neon, nitrogen, oxygen or lithium, or a mixture of some of the latter can be used as working gas. Xenon in a desired mixture ratio with one of the gases, hydrogen, deuterium, helium or neon, has proven to be a particularly suitable working gas.
In order to achieve sufficiently high average output power of the radiation source, the high-voltage module advisably contains a pulse generator with a repetition frequency between 1 Hz and 20 kHz for igniting the gas discharge and generating a dense, hot plasma.
In a radiation source for generating extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation based on a dense, hot plasma generated by gas discharge, preferably using hollow cathode triggered pinch arrangements, theta pinch arrangements, plasma focus arrangements or astron arrangements, containing two electrodes which are electrically separated and which at the same time form rotationally symmetric electrode housings for parts of a vacuum chamber, wherein a gas discharge for plasma generation is provided between the electrode housings inside the vacuum chamber, and an outlet opening for the radiation emitted by the plasma is provided in at least a first electrode housing, a gas supply unit for generating a flow of working gas through the vacuum chamber, a high-voltage module for providing high-voltage pulses to the electrodes, the above-stated object is further met, according to the invention, in that a second electrode housing likewise has a narrowed portion which is coaxially received by the first electrode housing, and each of the electrode housings comprises a base body with very good heat conduction which is connected to an efficient heat dissipation system and electrode zones subject to high thermal loading comprise materials with a high melting point at least at the narrowed portions of the electrode housings.
The first electrode housing is advantageously coated with an insulator layer at the inner surfaces coaxially adjoining (in an electrically insulated manner) the narrowed portion of the second electrode housing, so that the gas discharge is oriented essentially only parallel to the axis of symmetry of the electrode housings.
Further, it has proven particularly advisable when the outlet opening of the first electrode housing is a circular narrowed portion coaxial to the axis of symmetry of the electrode housing and the electrode housing is expanded conically after the outlet opening, so that the gas discharge between the two electrodes is ignited and the dense, hot plasma is formed inside the conical expansion after the outlet opening of the first electrode housing.
The highly loaded electrode zones preferably comprise tungsten or molybdenum or an alloy of tungsten or molybdenum with one of the materials, titanium, tantalum, zirconium, rhenium, lanthanum, lanthanum oxide, nickel, iron, nickel-iron compounds or zirconium-oxygen compounds in a desired mixture ratio.
In order to protect especially highly loaded parts of the electrode housings that are exposed to the radiation flow emitted from the plasma, the inner edges of the electrodes in particular are advantageously coated with materials having low sputter rates such as aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, zirconium oxides, silicon oxides or an alloy of one of these compounds with tungsten, molybdenum or rhenium. Another possibility for protecting against erosion of parts of the electrode housing that are especially loaded by radiation consists in that the inner edges of the electrodes are coated with tungsten-carbon compounds, particularly with a tungsten-diamond compound.
The heat dissipation system connected to the electrode housings preferably contains a porous metal structure or heat pipe system in the base body.
In an electrode configuration in which at least a substantial portion of an electrode lies within an external electrode housing, the heat dissipation system has cooling channels for the inner electrode, wherein the cooling channels through the outer electrode housing are provided for cooling the inner electrode based on a porous metal structure or a heat pipe system.
The basic idea of the invention is founded on the consideration that present EUV radiation sources based on a gas discharge plasma can not meet the exacting requirements of lithography exposure devices for the semiconductor industry above all because enormous electrode wear apparently makes long term use impossible. On the one hand, the electrodes are exposed to considerable thermal loading and, further, are subject to an embrittlement effect through the intense radiation from the generated plasma which contains not only the desired EUV light, but also hard x-ray radiation and matter in the form of neutral particles and charged particles. On the other hand, the shape of the vacuum chamber and the electrode configuration located therein cause additional effects which lead to malfunctions even after brief use in continuous operation due to metallization of insulator surfaces. According to the invention, these unwanted effects are countered in that the active electrode zones are designed in such a way that a directed gas discharge is ignited in a defined manner and metallization of the insulator surfaces is extensively prevented. By means of further suitable shaping of an electrode housing, the location of the generated dense plasma is relocated from the actual gas discharge area to behind the termination of the discharge zone of the vacuum chamber provided as conventional outlet opening. Additional measures involve the choice of material of the base body of the electrodes and the highly loaded electrode zones and a coating of the inner surfaces of the electrodes for reducing sputter of electrode surfaces (common cathode sputter as well as sputter due to radiation-induced surface embrittlement). Another focal point for reducing electrode wear is the arrangements for effective cooling of the electrodes by means of porous metal structures or heat pipe systems (e.g., with porous tungsten-lithium heating pipes) in order to draw off heat loading of multiple kW/cm2.
With the radiation source according to the invention it is possible to achieve a stable plasma generation for emission of EUV radiation through reduction of electrode wear and other effects (e.g., metallization of insulator surfaces) impairing the discharge behavior in the vacuum chamber, a high average radiation output in the EUV range, and long-term stability of sufficient extent.
The invention will be described more fully in the following with reference to embodiment examples. | {
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The present disclosure relates in general to array index computations, and more specifically to reducing the overhead required to perform array index computations.
The simplest type of data structure in computer architecture is a linear array, which consists of a collection of elements (or values, or variables) each identified by at least one array index. A programmer locates and accesses a particular array element by knowing an address that identifies where the start of the particular array is located in memory, along with the index, which identifies how far from the array start address the element is actually located. An array is stored so that the position of each element can be computed from its index tuple by a mathematical formula. For example, an array of 10 32-bit integer variables, with indices 0 through 9, may be stored as 10 words at memory addresses 2000, 2004, 2008, . . . 2036, so that the element with index i has the address 2000+4×i. This operation is known generally as an array index computation.
For a variety of reasons, 64-bit servers must be able to execute 32-bit applications. This means that for a 32-bit application running on a 64-bit server, the array memory locations are 64-bits while the indices are 32-bits. The disparity between data types and address widths typically requires multiple step adjustments to a 32-bit application-generated index in order to perform an array index computation on a 64-bit server. Implementing the multiple adjustments to 32-bit indices typically requires multiple additional code instructions and corresponding processor circuitry, thereby increasing programming and processor overhead and potentially having a negative impact on system performance, particularly for large data sets. | {
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The present invention relates broadly to the field of recombinant vaccines. The vaccines are directed to preventing Group A streptococcal infections, which may otherwise result in rheumatic fever.
Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is the major cause of heart disease in children around the world. The disease is rampant in developing countries where prevalence rates of rheumatic heart disease may be as high as 35-40 per thousand individuals. By one estimate, it affects nearly six millon school-age children in India. Although the incidence of ARF in the United States and other Western countries declined markedly during the later half of the twentieth century, there has been a remarkable resurgence of the disease in the United States.
Streptococci are a group of bacteria with the capacity to grow in chains. Many varieties are part of the normal bacterial flora in humans and are not especially harmful. However, a particular subgroup of streptococcal bacteria, called Group A and represented by Streptococcus pyogenes. is a human pathogen. Between 20 and 30 millon cases of Group A streptococcal infections occur every year in the United States alone. These cases include infections of the skin and throat, forms of pneumonia and a recently identified disease resembling toxic shock. The most common infection is acute streptococcal pharyngitis, or strep throat, which occurs predominantly in school-age children. Strep throat qualifies as a major worldwide health problem if judged only by time lost from school and work and by the amount spent on related doctor""s fees.
Strep throat""s toll is much greater, however. In as many as 4% of the pharyngitis cases that are untreated or treated ineffectively, the strep infection leads to ARF. Current attempts to prevent ARF rely on treatment of the pharyngitis with antibiotics. During a recent outbreak of ARF in Utah, only a fourth of the patients sought health care prior to the onset of symptoms, and only a third recalled a recent sore throat. The finding that ARF may follow a subclinical infection in such a high percentage of individuals and the fact that access to health care in developing countries is not widely available serve to underscore the need for a safe and effective vaccine against Group A streptococci.
The causal relationship between streptococcal pharyngitis and ARF was established over 50 years ago, yet the mechanism of the pathogenesis of the disease remains unclear. It is widely held that ARF is an autoimmune disease, and that in the susceptible host the infection triggers an immune response that leads to inflammatory and sometimes destructive changes in target tissues. Streptococci have been shown to contain antigens that are immunologically cross-reactive with host tissues (14, 20, 24, 26, 27, 35, 39 40, 41, 44, 55) and heart-crossreactive antibodies from patients with rheumatic fever have been shown to react with streptococci (15). However, it was also shown that sera from patients with uncomplicated pharyngitis also may contain heart-crossreactive antibodies (57), yet these patients do not develop clinical evidence of carditis. Until the significance of tissue-crossreactive antibodies in the pathogenesis of ARF is better understood, there remains a need to exclude potentially harmful epitopes from vaccine preparations.
The surface M protein of Group A streptococci is the major virulence factor and protective antigen of these organisms (45). Group A streptococci have developed a system for avoiding some of the antimicrobial defenses of a human host. Strains of streptococci that are rich in M protein evade phagocytosis by PMNs and multiply in non-immune blood (45). Yet, resistance to an infection by these bacteria is possible if the host""s body can produce opsonic antibodies directed against the M protein. Such antibodies will neutralize the protective capacity of the M protein and allow the streptococcus to be engulfed and destroyed by phagocytes. The development of secretory or mucosal immunity is also now suspected of playing an important role in preventing streptococcal infections.
A major obstacle to effective vaccine development has been the tremendous number or M protein serotypes (now over 80) (33). Laboratory tests suggest that antibodies against one serotype do not offer protection against others. Immunity then appears to be type or sero-specific and optimal vaccines would require that most of the serotypes be represented. There is evidence that not all serotypes of Group A streptococci have the same potential to trigger acute rheumatic fever in susceptible individuals (12). The concept of xe2x80x9crheumatogenicxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cnon-rheumatogenicxe2x80x9d organisms is supported by multiple surveillance studies over many years and in diverse areas of the world. Thus, there are probably about 12-15 serotypes responsible for most cases of ARF. Some of these are types 1, 3, 5, 6, 14, 18, 19, 24, 27 and 29.
Previous studies have shown that in many cases the protective epitopes of M protein may be separated from the potentially harmful, autoimmune epitopes of the molecule (4, 5, 7, 23, 29). The NH2-terminal segments of M proteins have evoked antibodies with the greatest bactericidal activity (5, 23, 38).
Previous studies have also shown that synthetic peptides copying limited regions of types 5, 6 and 24M proteins evoked type-specific, opsonic antibodies that were not heart tissue cross-reactive (4, 5, 23). Because of their lack of immunogenicity (haptens), the synthetic peptides were chemically linked covalently to carrier proteins (4, 5, and 23). However, such fragments of M proteins linked to carrier proteins with chemical reagents do not result in hybrid proteins of defined structures. Thus, in general it has not been possible to obtain antigens which can elicit specific, desired antibodies or which decrease the risk of undesirable side reactions. Further, formation of haptenxe2x80x94carrier complexes using chemical cross-linking reagents is time-consuming and costly and results in undefined heterogenous mixtures of vaccine components.
It is evident from this description of the state of the art that there is an important need for a vaccine which is effective by raising sero-specific antibodies against the various serotypes of Group A streptococci, especially those serotypes capable of triggering acute rheumatic fever, which is known to follow a sore throat, without eliciting cross-reaction with human tissue. Particularly, there is an important need for a vaccine which has not only these properties, but which also is capable of raising protective antibodies to prevent sore throat, skin infections, deep tissue infections and streptococcal infections of the like that are not necessarily followed by rheumatic fever. The invention contributes to solving these important needs in human health.
The parent patent application is related to and was co-filed on the same day as patent application Ser. No. 07/945,954, entitled xe2x80x9cRECOMBINANT MULTIVALENT M PROTEIN VACCINExe2x80x9d with named inventors James B. Dale and James W. Lederer.
The present invention provides recombinant M protein antigens. The antigens are constructed by recombinant DNA methods. They are comprised of amino acid fragments of serotypes of M protein, which fragments carry one or more epitopes that evoke opsonic antibodies against specific serotypes of Group A streptococcus and, if desired, when the fragments carry appropriate epitopes, also evoke protective antibodies. The fragments are either fused directly or linked in tandem by an amino acid linker to an appropriate carrier. The antigens are generally non-immunogenic (or not adequately immunogenic) because of their molecular size or for other reasons.
The invention thus provides a recombinant fusion antigen comprising a gene encoding the carrier protein and an NH2 or COOH- terminal M protein fragment carrying one or more epitopes. The recombinant antigen does not elicit antibodies which cross react with human heart or other human tissue.
In accordance with the invention, there are provided mixtures of antigens which are serotype-specific comprising the same or different carrier. Such a mixture of selected antigens-carriers or xe2x80x9ccocktailxe2x80x9d provides immunogenicity against several serotypes (and if desired raise different protective antibodies). The recombinant fusion antigens are constituted of segments of the NH2 terminal portions of the M proteins, which fragments raise specific opsonic antibodies. Fusion antigens are also provided which are constituted of the COOH-terminal fragments of the M proteins. The COOH-terminal fragments raise protective antibodies of the mucosal or secretory type. In the antigen with an amino acid linker, the carrier and the fragment of the M protein, which carries the desired epitope, are linked in tandem by an amino acid linker, described in greater detail hereinafter, which has the capacity to promote the conformation of the fragment of the M protein to optimize the exposure of the epitope and thus to optimally raise the desired antibodies.
The invention also provides for an antigen comprised of a carrier, which constitutes the carboxy-terminal portion of a serotype of M protein linked by a linker or fused directly to an amino acid fragment of M protein. The carrier and fragment may be of the same or different serotype.
The invention also provides for carriers which are free of epitopes which elicit antibodies to serotypes of streptococcal M protein.
The invention provides recombinant hybrid genes which nucleotide sequences encode for the antigens of the present invention and a method of construction of such genes.
The invention further provides the new fusion genes or DNA fragments which code for the hybrid antigens and the transformed microorganisms (eukaryotes or prokaryotes) that express the hybrid antigens.
The invention also provides a virulent microorganisms which are transformed with the genes of the present invention. These microorganisms are especially suitable for oral administration to and immunization of mammals, in particular humans.
The invention provides for methods of administration of the antigens of the present invention in therapeutic compositions via oral, intranasal and parenteral routes of administration, to induce or evoke opsonic and/or protective antibodies against serotypes of Group A streptococcus. The administered compositions confer immunity to immunized mammals against Group A streptococci.
The invention provides vaccine compositions which are comprised of the antigens of the present invention and biologically acceptable diluents for administration to and immunization of mammals, in particular humans. The composition is administrable orally, whereby the antigens are released from the transformed microorganism and the desired antibodies are elicited, intranasally and parentcrally.
The invention also provides for broad spectrum protection and wide- ranging immunity against all serotypes of Group A streptococci, particularly rheumatogenic streptococci by the formulation of compositions of the antigens, either singly or in mixtures or xe2x80x9ccocktailsxe2x80x9d. | {
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1. Overview
The safe and reliable operation of passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, military equipment, boats, aircraft, telecommunications equipment, electric vehicles, computer systems, and many other devices requires predictable and reliable performance of the batteries that are integrated into those systems. The present invention relates to battery monitoring equipment, more particularly to methods and apparatus for monitoring the condition of one or more batteries, and in particular for continuously monitoring performance characteristics of one or more batteries while the batteries are in use.
In the past it has been difficult to monitor the condition of the batteries used in such applications. One aspect of this difficulty relates to the many variables associated with battery systems, including dynamic and unpredictable duty cycles, loads, environments, connections, charging systems, battery age, battery to battery interactions, etc. In addition to the difficulty associated with monitoring battery systems subject to such variables, in many applications there is difficulty in conveniently installing a monitoring system. This difficulty relates to the remote location of the battery or batteries compared to the location of the operator. For example, in an automobile, the battery may be located in the engine compartment, while the operator, or the system that can benefit from battery performance information, is located in the cabin. This presents a wiring problem, especially if such a system is to be installed in a preexisting vehicle. Difficulties are also associated with distinguishing between a battery in good condition that happens to be discharged and a battery that has reached or is nearing the end of its useful lifespan. Finally, batteries are used in different circumstances that demand different monitoring techniques; more specifically, different techniques are appropriate for monitoring batteries used in engine starting service, which requires high currents drawn for short periods, than for batteries used in “deep-cycle” applications, wherein relatively lesser currents are typically drawn for longer periods.
More particularly, in many battery applications, for example, automotive and marine applications, it is useful and important for the vehicle system and the operator to understand the state of charge (“SOC”) of the battery, sometimes called the charge level, and the state of health (“SOH”) of the battery, sometimes called the battery life. SOC is often expressed as a percentage, such that a battery at 100% SOC is considered to be fully charged and a battery at 0% SOC is considered to be completely discharged. SOH is also commonly expressed as a percentage such that a battery exhibiting 100% SOH is considered to be new, and a battery at 0% SOH has reached the end of its useful life, being able only to store at full charge a fraction of the energy (typically set at 60%) it could store when new.
In particular, a class of automobiles commonly called stop-start vehicles automatically shut off the engine when the vehicle is slowing down or at rest at a traffic light, for example. When the vehicle is at rest with the engine turned off, all vehicle systems such as headlights, air conditioning, media equipment, etc. are being powered by the battery. When the driver wishes to accelerate, the vehicle automatically commands the engine to start so the vehicle can continue driving. The automatic engine control systems (ECS) in such vehicles require very accurate SOC information as the system must always ensure that there remains enough energy in the battery to start the engine. Based on SOC information, the ECS will allow the engine to be automatically turned off if it is determined that enough battery energy remains. Similarly, if SOC falls below a pre-determined threshold the ECS may command the engine to start in order to charge the battery even if the driver has not applied the accelerator.
SOH information is also important, primarily so as to allow the battery to proactively be replaced when it reaches the end of its useful life, rather than fail inconveniently while the vehicle is being used. More specifically, SOH measures the ability of a battery to store energy, which decreases as the battery ages. The SOH of a battery is derived by comparing the amount of energy the battery can store when fully charged compared to the amount of energy the battery could store when new. For example, a new battery of 100 ampere-hours (Ah) capacity may be considered to have reached end of life (SOH=0%) when it can only store 60 Ah of energy when fully charged.
Thus, for proper operation of a start-stop vehicle (and in many other battery applications), the SOH and SOC must be accurately evaluated to ensure that the battery always contains sufficient energy to function properly in the system.
2. Terminology
Different segments of the battery and related industries use the same terms, particularly “capacity”, differently; so that this application can be clearly understood, we define the following terms as indicated.
Present Capability (“Ca”)—A measure of the amount of energy stored by a battery at any given time.
Maximum capability (“Cm”)—A measure of the maximum amount of energy storable by a battery at any point over its entire lifespan.
Effective capability (“Ce”)—A measure of the maximum amount of energy storable by a battery at a given point in its lifespan.
End-of-life capability (“Ceol”)—A measure of the amount of energy storable by a battery at the end of its useful lifespan.
Thus, when a battery is in peak condition (typically shortly after entering service, as discussed further below) and is fully charged, its present capability Ca is equal to its effective capability Ce, and this is equal to its maximum capability Cm.
Over time, a battery's effective capability Ce decreases with respect to its maximum capability Cm; the relationship of Ce to Cm is termed the battery's state of health (“SOH”). When its effective capability Ce is equal to its end-of-life capability Ceol, it is considered to be beyond use. Ceol may be set arbitrarily, e.g., to 0.6 Cm. In order to express SOH as a percentage, such that SOH=100% when Ce=Cm and SOH=0% when Ce=Ceol, Ce−Ceol is divided by Cm−Ceol and multiplied by 100.
At any given time, a battery may be partially discharged, so that its present capability Ca is somewhat less than its effective capability Ce; the relationship of Ce to Ca is termed the battery's state of charge (“SOC”). As above, SOC can be expressed as a percentage by Ca/Ce×100.
3. Description of Related Art
The field of battery testing has been very active and many different technologies for evaluating various aspects of the condition of a battery have been developed. The principal approaches taken by the art are first categorized briefly below, for the purpose of describing the shortcomings of the various approaches, such that the benefits of the battery evaluation technologies used in the preferred embodiment of this invention can be readily appreciated.
Traditional methods for evaluating various different aspects of the condition of a battery include: 1. Establishing a pre-determined predicted voltage discharge curve for the battery, measuring the voltage between its terminals, and comparing the measured voltage to the pre-determined voltage discharge curve to determine its state of charge (SOC). This is referred to as “voltage sensing”. 2. Applying a heavy load to the battery, and measuring the voltage drop across its terminals. This method is referred to as “load testing”. 3. Establishing a reference point for the energy stored in a battery, measuring the current flowing into and out of the battery over time, typically by measuring the voltage drop across a shunt resistance or coil, and then estimating the total remaining energy compared to the reference point. This method is often referred to as “coulomb counting” or “current integration”, typically performed using a “VIT (voltage-current-temperature) sensor”. 4. Measuring the “dynamic conductance” of a battery by applying a time varying small amplitude AC signal to the battery for a period of time and measuring the voltage response, and then calculating the “dynamic conductance” of the battery based thereon; this value may be corrected with reference to the voltage across the battery, which is taken as indicative of its state of charge. See Champlin U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,909,708 and 4,912,416.
The voltage sensing method mentioned first above has many shortcomings. First, the voltage curve of every battery model is unique and thus the reference curve must be specifically matched to a single battery model. Second, the actual discharge profile changes as the battery ages. Third, the discharge profile changes based on the size of the load. Lastly, the measured voltage will be significantly affected by the load (or charger) applied to the battery. For example, a fully-charged battery with a large load applied will display a low voltage, so that the battery will erroneously be deemed to be discharged.
The “load testing” method described second above, as typically practiced in the prior art, has the shortcoming, among others, of requiring significant current to be drawn from the battery, interfering with the accuracy of the measurement, and discharging and possibly damaging the battery.
The current shunt, “VIT”, or “coulomb counting” method mentioned third above also has many shortcomings. Most importantly, this method does not directly measure the level of energy in the battery, but only monitors the flow of energy into and out of the battery, and uses this data to measure departure from a prerecorded reference value. Over even a few discharge/recharge cycles the resulting estimation of capability drifts substantially and quickly from the actual energy in the battery due to inefficiencies associated with battery charging and discharging that cannot be measured or accurately estimated. Devices implementing this method are also large and cumbersome to install and connect.
More specifically, the “stop/start” vehicles discussed above require very accurate information concerning the SOC of their batteries. This has been attempted using VIT sensors. As above, VIT sensors measure current flow in and out of the battery, typically by measuring the voltage drop across a highly accurate shunt resistance while also measuring temperature. This data is sent to the vehicle computer or is analyzed by the sensor and SOC is evaluated by a process called current integration or coulomb counting. To achieve useful SOC results the sensor or vehicle computer must include a significant amount of detail about the battery and how it will be charged and discharged. This is necessary because the results of current integration must always be adjusted for factors that have large impacts on stored energy in the battery, but which cannot be measured by the current sensor. Such factors may include battery size, temperature sensitivity, rate capability, and other factors. Even with such detail, VIT sensors and the process of current integration over time are inherently prone to accumulated errors. While a VIT sensor may provide a highly accurate indication of SOC at the start of a measurement cycle, errors accumulate and can become substantial after 10 or 20 discharge cycles and often get worse as the battery ages.
In addition to being prone to accumulated error problems, because of the specific nature of the correction algorithms it is not possible to simply apply a VIT sensor to any battery in any application and expect to get useful SOC or SOH information. These shortcomings limit the application of VIT sensor technology to very specific applications for which the sensor has been programmed. These limitations are problematic for car makers and makers of other equipment that offer many models of equipment with many different batteries. Furthermore, the customers may use the products in many different ways and may replace the battery with respect to which the sensor was calibrated to function with different battery models available in the aftermarket. In each case the VIT technology is incapable of accurately measuring SOC.
The “AC signal” or “dynamic conductance” method mentioned lastly above also has significant shortcomings. The most significant shortcoming is that while the battery is in use, it will often be connected to loads or chargers producing noise or having components that respond to the applied AC signal. Thus, the measured voltage response will include significant distortion associated with devices attached to the battery. This deficiency makes it very difficult for this method to be used for accurately determining the condition of a battery while it is being used.
The prior art includes many patents directed to battery monitoring and evaluation. Exemplary approaches are disclosed in the following:
Tsuji U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,300 relates to characterization of the individual batteries of a large set of batteries. Internal resistance is estimated from cell voltage. See Col. 5, lines 32-38.
Fakruddin U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,294 also characterizes battery condition based on measurements of voltage.
Arai U.S. Pat. No. 6,201,373 shows a circuit for measuring the state of charge (SOC) of a battery, not a battery condition evaluation device per se. Voltage and current are both sampled.
Hirzel U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,096 also relates to SOC measurement.
Satake U.S. Pat. No. 6,531,875 teaches estimating the open circuit voltage of a battery based on extrapolation from a series of measurements.
Disser et al. US Patent Pub. No. 2003/0067221 A1 shows voltage regulator circuitry for automotive use.
Yokoo U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,218 shows a method for estimating residual capacity of a battery based on discharge current and voltage during discharge.
Munson U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,734 shows a battery monitoring system wherein the battery voltage is compared to a fixed reference value and an alarm is given when the battery voltage is less than the reference value.
Bramwell U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,721,688 and 6,097,193 discuss various methods of measuring the internal resistance and/or impedance of a battery, including application of a small AC signal to the battery and using a Wheatstone bridge or equivalent to measure the internal resistance. See col. 1, lines 40-48. Bramwell's claimed method includes the steps of measuring the impedance of a battery by sourcing to or sinking from the battery a current of known magnitude at intervals while the vehicle sits. Col. 9, lines 18-50.
Turner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,106 shows a circuit for preventing discharge of a battery beyond a predetermined point. Yorksie et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,732 is directed toward the same objective. Finger et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,026 is directed to measuring the SOC of a battery by integrating a signal indicative of reduction of the terminal voltage below a threshold value.
Reher et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,699 shows a device for monitoring a battery by measuring the terminal voltage at regular intervals, comparing the measured values to a predetermined value, and setting a flag in a shift register depending on the result. When a predetermined number of flags indicate an under-voltage condition an alarm is given.
Sato et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,067 discloses determining the internal impedance of a battery by measuring the voltage during discharge of a predetermined current, or by measuring the current during discharge at a predetermined voltage.
Slepian U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,469 shows disconnecting electronic equipment of a vehicle when the battery voltage falls below a predetermined level.
Gollomp et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,157 refers to the difficulty of measuring battery SOC from open-circuit voltage (OCV) because this requires that the battery be disconnected. Gollomp instead teaches monitoring of the quiescent voltage (QV), e.g., measured at 30 minute intervals while the vehicle sits. Col. 9, lines 18-50. An alarm message can be given when QV falls below a predetermined point Col. 11, lines 28-39. Gollomp also teaches monitoring of voltage and current during engine starting (see FIG. 6). This data is stored in memory, see Col. 12, lines 48-50, and used to determine internal resistance (IR) and polarization resistance (PR). Gollomp also teaches monitoring SOC and QV over time to determine when the battery will not be able to start the car; see FIG. 3, Col. 14, line 22—Col. 16, line 36. Gollomp also teaches storing the first IR value of the battery, or some subsequent one, for “future use”—e.g., determination of IR change over time. PR is similarly monitored over time; see Col. 17, line 12- Col. 18, line 35. The result is to give warning of incipient battery failure or some problem with connections or the like. These data can be monitored during successive starts; see claim 1.
Kchao U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,217 shows a method and circuit for assessing battery impedance, which is stated to be applicable only to fully charged batteries, see Col. 3, lines 49-55, and Col. 4, line 12, and which is intended to be incorporated in a battery charger. By comparison, the apparatus of the invention is not limited to fully charged batteries and can be economically provided as a stand-alone unit or installed in a vehicle.
As noted above, it is also known to evaluate the condition of a battery by measurement of its “dynamic conductance”, that is, the inverse of its internal “dynamic resistance”, by applying a time-varying, small-amplitude AC signal to the battery for a period of time and measuring the voltage response, and then calculating the “dynamic conductance” of the battery based thereon; this value may be corrected with reference to the voltage across the battery, which is taken as indicative of its state of charge. See Champlin U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,909,708 and 4,912,416. However, this method is not suitable for measuring the dynamic conductance of a battery in use in the typically electronically “noisy” automotive environment.
Bertness U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,165 addresses measurement of the “cranking state of health” and “reserve state of health” of a battery by monitoring certain parameters of a battery, apparently preferably the dynamic conductance as measured according to the Champlin patents mentioned above.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,791,464 to Huang, one of the present inventors, incorporated herein by this reference, shows evaluation of the condition of a motor vehicle's battery by monitoring the voltage across the battery during starting, while the starter provides a substantial load. The minimum voltage reached during starting can be compared to a predetermined value to evaluate the condition of the battery.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,629 is also to Huang, and is also incorporated herein by this reference. According to the method disclosed in the Huang '629 patent, which can be considered a refinement of the known “load testing” technique described above, a relatively large known load is applied to a battery for a very short time. The voltage change and current flow associated with the very short transient load are measured. The DC internal resistance of the battery can be directly calculated from the voltage change and the current flow during the application of the known load. As the DC internal resistance is directly related to the remaining energy in the battery, this method directly measures battery capability. This method also eliminates the distorting effect of noise associated with connected equipment, and thus is considerably more useful than the AC signal method.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,212,006 also to Huang, and also incorporated herein by this reference, relates to a method and apparatus for monitoring the condition of a battery by measuring its internal resistance (IR). The method involves measuring no-load voltages across the battery and a known load, connecting the load, measuring the loaded voltages, and determining IR based thereon. The method is capable of measuring the internal resistance of a battery while installed in an operational vehicle, that is, despite the presence of charge sources, such as an alternator, on the one hand, and loads on the other.
Commonly-assigned pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/984,669 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Monitoring the Condition of a Battery By Measuring Its Internal Resistance”, incorporated herein by this reference, also to Huang, shows a further improvement in techniques for evaluating IR of a battery with respect to those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,212,006. This method involves connecting different known loads across the battery, measuring the load and battery voltages, and determining IR therefrom. Some of the methods and instruments disclosed herein requires measurement of IR of a battery during and after charging, and preferably employ the techniques disclosed in Ser. No. 11/984,669 for doing so, as discussed in detail below. | {
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Object tracking, also called visual tracking, is the process that detects, extracts, identifies and locates the target in a sequence of images or a video. It is a fundamental computer vision task with a wide range of real-world applications, including traffic flow monitoring, medical diagnostic, visual surveillance and human-computer interaction.
Most of the existing appearance-based tracking methods have been posed as a tracking-by-detection problem. According to the model-construction mechanism, statistical modeling is classified into three categories, including generative, discriminative and hybrid generative-discriminative. One major drawback is that they rely on low-level hand-crafted features which are incapable to capture semantic information of targets, not robust to significant appearance changes, and only have limited discriminative power. While much breakthrough has been made within several decades, the problem can be very challenging in many practical applications due to factors such as partial occlusion, cluttered background, fast and abrupt motion, dramatic illumination changes, and large variations in viewpoint and pose.
Deep learning has dramatically improved the state-of-the-art in processing text, images, video, speech and many other domains such as drug discovery and genomics, since proposed in 2006.
Especially, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have recently been applied to various computer vision tasks such as image classification, semantic segmentation, object detection, and many others.
Such great success of CNNs is mostly attributed to their outstanding performance in representing visual data. Object tracking, however, has been less affected by these popular trends since it is difficult to collect a large amount of training data for video processing applications and training algorithms specialized for object tracking are not available yet, while the approaches based on low-level handcraft features still work well in practice. Several recent tracking algorithms have addressed the data deficiency issue by transferring pretrained CNNs on a large-scale classification dataset such as ImageNet.
Although these methods may be sufficient to obtain generic feature representations, its effectiveness in terms of tracking is limited due to the fundamental inconsistency between classification and tracking problems, i.e., predicting object class labels versus locating targets of arbitrary classes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates generally to water traps or liquid sepators, and more particularly, is directed to a liquid separator that solves unique problems associated with removing water, liquids and other debris from the sample gas in a gas analyzer.
Both dispersive and nondispersive radiant energy gas analyzers are used in the prior art to measure certain predetermined constituents of a sample gas containing contaminants such as water, which interfere with the operation of the analyzer. For example, nondispersive type infrared gas analyzers are currently used for breathing gas analysis, both in the medical field and the law enforcement field. In the medical field, such analyzers are used to determine the concentration of a wide variety of gases in a patient's breath. For example, the art of capnography involves the precise measurement of carbon dioxide concentrations in the breathing gas of a patient. This data, if accurate, is quite useful in determining a patient's ventilatory status as well as other physiological conditions. In the law enforcement field, nondispersive analyzers have been used for determining ethanol concentration in the breathing gas expelled from a driver's lungs. In both of these applications, water, liquids and other debris are often expelled from the subject along with breathing gases.
In the past, attempts to remove liquids from the sample gas flow in such analyzers have generally involved the use of a simple water trap comprising a cannister or housing substantially filled with a water absorbing material. The housing is provided with an inlet and an outlet for passing sample gas through the housing and the absorber material contained therein. The problem with this type of water trap stems from the detrimental effect that it has on the response time of the analyzer and its limited capacity. In the art of breath-by-breath analysis, the available volume of sample gas can be quite small and this type of water trap impairs the response time of the analyzer because of its relatively large volume and the mixing of sample gas in the trap. When the size of the water trap housing is reduced to a point at which the volume of the housing is low enough to have a negligible effect on the response time of the analyzer, the amount of absorbent retained within the housing no longer provides a satisfactory water absorbing capacity.
This problem is found to be particularly acute in the field of capnography, where it is important to obtain a continuous and very accurate measure of the carbon dioxide content in the end tidal portion of a patient's breathing gases. Such analyzers are often referred to as capnographs. While the volume of a normal adult patient's lungs is substantial, only a portion of the breath is analyzed, namely, the last portion of the breath expelled or end tidal portion. This problem is, of course, exacerbated in children and neonatals.
High levels of secretions are encountered in patients that are anesthetized or patients that are in critical care situations. These patients are normally supplied highly humidified gases. The condition of the patient is often such that mucous, sputum and/or blood can be present in the sample tube as well as condensed water. The sample tubes are small because the sample is small and thus blockages from such high viscosity liquids are common. Heating of the sample tube to prevent condensate from interfering with the operation of the analyzer further promotes the build-up of these highly viscous liquids. Such blockages interfere with gas flow and flow profile. This is intolerable in a capnograph which must be reliable, accurate and highly responsive.
The misnomer "water trap" is often applied to liquid collection devices that are used to strip contaminants from the sample flow in a capnograph. If water was the only fluid to contend with then other solutions are possible. In the past, large area collection vials (discussed above) or tortuous path water traps have been used to deposit or accelerate liquid particles out of the sample gas flow, respectively. The large area fluid traps are effective in separating liquids from sample gas but so greatly reduce the response time of the capnograph that physiological data cannot be truly recorded (i.e. transient changes in respiratory gas are completely damped). The tortuous path traps function relatively well on entrained pure water, but high viscosity fluids are not easily accelerated out of the gas path.
While most analyzers used in capnography to determine carbon dioxide concentration are relatively simple and cost effective, the efficacy of these instruments has sparked a continuous debate among physicians because of slow response and frequent failures. Monitoring of patients in the operating room or critical care situations is desirable, but physicians have, through experience, developed reservations concerning their use because of the failure reputation of these instruments. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable audio logic deck mechanism, and a pinch roller driving apparatus and an ejecting apparatus adopted therein, which are operated by a single driving source, and more particularly, to a portable audio logic deck mechanism, and a pinch roller driving apparatus and an ejecting apparatus adopted therein, having an improved structure in which loads applied to a main slider during a power conversion and a mode conversion are reduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical portable audio deck mechanism is operated either manually or automatically. The portable audio deck employs a cassette tape as a recording medium to record/reproduce information, and a head operation, a tape running driving, and a mode conversion are performed by a single driving motor.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional portable audio logic deck apparatus comprises a driving source 20, which is fixedly installed at a main base 10 formed of a single motor, a power transfer unit 30 for transferring power generated from the driving source 20, a pair of reel tables 40 on which reels (not shown) of a cassette tape are placed, an interlocking unit 50 for transferring the power to a selected reel table of the pair of reel tables 40 by being engaged with the power transfer unit 30, a magnetic head 60 for performing magnetic recording/reproducing, a mode converting unit 70 for moving up/down of the magnetic head 60 and converting rotational speed and direction of the pair of reel tables 40, and an ejecting unit 80 for loading/unloading the tape.
The power transfer unit 30 comprises a pair of capstan wheels 33 and 34 rotating around a capstan axis (not shown), a main gear 35 rotating interlockingly with one capstan wheel 34, and a belt 31 for linking the driving source 20, a pulley 32 and the capstan wheels 33 and 34. The belt 31 is wound in an anti-rolling position via the pulley 32 to allow the capstan wheels 33 and 34 to rotate in opposing directions from each other. The capstan wheels 33 and 34, respectively, have rotation shafts 36 and 37 which extend to the rear side of the main base 10. Thus, the rotational force of the driving source 20 is delivered to the main gear 35 by the power transfer unit 30.
The interlocking unit 50 includes a plurality of gears and appropriately drives the reel table 40 with the rotational force transferred through the main gear 35 in a forward/reverse-direction play mode or a fast winding mode.
The mode converting unit 70 includes a cam gear 71 having a cam groove 71a and selectively rotates by being interlocked with the main gear 35, and a main slide 73 having a hooking protrusion 73a to be inserted into the cam groove 71a and moves linearly by the rotation of the cam gear 71. The main slide 73 receives an elastic force by an elastic spring 75 toward a position in a stop mode and is converted into an operation mode by moving linearly according to the rotation of the cam gear 71.
The magnetic head 60 is supported by and installed at a head slide 61 and moves up/down by being interlocked with the main slide 73.
The ejecting unit 80 is comprised of a knob 81 for opening/closing a door (not shown), an ejecting slide 83 and levers 85 and 87. Thus, in the stop mode, the door is open by operating the knob 81. In an operation mode, the door is prevented from opening since the one lever 87 is hooked by a stopper 74 which is installed at the main slide 73. Also, a step portion 83a is formed at one end of the ejecting slide 83 to selectively catch the head slide 61, thereby enabling performance of an automatic music sensor (AMS).
As described above, in the conventional portable audio logic deck apparatus having the above structure, since mode conversion, rotation of the pinch roller, and up or down movement of the magnetic head 60 are performed by being interlocked with the movements of the main slide 73, an overload is applied to the cam gear 71 which moves the main slide 73 linearly.
Also, in the ejecting unit 80, since the eject slide 83 and levers 85 and 87 are additionally required to move the magnetic head 60 up or down while being interlocked with the movements of the main slide 73, and the function of preventing the opening of the door in a play mode and the AMS function are separately operated, the structure thereof is complicated and the man-hours required for assembly and the number of parts increase. | {
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The present invention concerns a transfer element for the transfer of molten steel between an upstream container such as a tundish and a downstream vessel such as a continuous casting mold, the said element having a body delimiting a steel entrance zone, a channel and a steel exit zone.
In the field of continuous casting, it is common practice to transfer the molten steel from an upstream container such as a tundish to a downstream vessel such as a continuous casting mold by means of transfer elements, e.g., a pouring spout or a tube, that protect the molten steel from the air and thus improve the quality of the metal cast.
In order to assure the best possible quality of the poured steel, several requirements should be met. The steel should arrive in the channel as slowly as possible. It should be uniformly distributed. It should cool in a homogeneous manner to assure a constant crystallization. The steel should not arrive close to the walls because it is through them that heat removal takes place (water cooling). The steel would thus be cooled too rapidly at the level of the walls and not enough in the center of the mold, which would result in a lack of homogeneity in cooling. Finally, it is necessary to avoid the formation of eddies that would entrain the cover powder, which would form inclusions in the steel. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention has for its aim the production of aqueous solutions of alkali metal hypochlorite and in particular sodium hypochlorite.
A common procedure used to manufacture aqueous solutions of alkali metal hypochlorite consists of reacting gaseous chlorine with an aqueous solution of alkali metal hydroxide according to the general reaction: EQU Cl.sub.2 +2NaOH.fwdarw.NaClO+NaCl+H.sub.2 O
The operation of this process is difficult because of the generally unstable nature of solutions of alkali metal hypochlorite. To avoid rapid decomposition of the solutions of alkali metal hypochlorite it is necessary to maintain continuously a substantial excess of alkali metal hydroxide in the reaction mixture. It is difficult to adhere to this condition in the case where the process is carried out as a batch process. Indeed in the carrying out of the batch process an aqueous solution of hydroxide and hypochlorite of alkali metal is made to circulate between a tank containing an aqueous solution of the alkali metal hydroxide and a reaction vessel into which chlorine is introduced; the solution in the reaction vessel is thus progressively enriched in alkali metal hypochlorite and it is, in consequence, convenient to control its composition continuously and accurately, so as to reduce the chlorine flow at the proper time and to terminate it as soon as the percentage of alkali metal hydroxide in the reaction mixture falls below a critical predetermined value.
To check the change of the pH or the alkali metal hydroxide content of the reaction mixture, it has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,199,949 filed on July 10, 1962 in the name of Clerbois et al, to follow the change of the derivative, with respect to time, of the oxidation-reduction (or redox) potential of the reaction mixture.
This known method of control has been proved accurate and reliable in the case of plants operating steadily, fed with controlled amounts of chlorine and alkali metal hydroxide. It is however poorly adapted to the control of a process for the manufacture of alkali metal hydroxide in plants operating under unsteady conditions, such as plants in which the chlorine supply undergoes uncontrollable fluctuations. This is generally the case of plants which are fed by waste chlorine derived from the liquefaction of the chlorine gas produced in cells for the electrolysis of sodium chloride brine.
Such uncontrollable fluctuations in the chlorine feed, which can sometimes be of considerable size are often the cause of corresponding variations in the derivative of the redox potential of the reaction mixture, even when the alkali metal hydroxide content of this is high. These fluctuations are likely in certain cases to act unfavourably on the operating control of the plant, for example by a sudden cessation of the chlorine flow to the reaction vessel. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A conventional sequence controller having a writing means and a reading means is very unreasonable and expensive although it is used only for reading after the write-in of data. In order to remove such disadvantages, it is necessary be attempted to provide a sequence controller having a single function. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a papermakers' fabric and more particularly to such a fabric free of edge curl while providing an excellent machine surface and an improved forming surface.
While the improved papermakers' fabric of the present invention could be advantageously used in the forming, transfer, press or drying sections of a papermaking machine, for purposes of an exemplary showing the fabric will be described in its application as a forming fabric.
2. Prior Art
Several well known types of papermaking machines utilize a forming fabric comprising a fabric of interwoven warp and filling yarns formed into an endless belt. A layer of wet pulp is deposited on the forming side of the papermakers' fabric and water is withdrawn from the pulp through the fabric by vacuum means or the like located on the machine side of the fabric.
Such papermakers' fabrics can be manufactured in two basic ways. First, they can be flat woven by a flat weaving process with their ends joined by any one of a number of well-known methods to form an endless belt. Alternatively, they can be woven directly in the form of a continuous belt by means of an endless weaving process. Both methods are well known in the art. In a flat woven papermakers' fabric, the warp yarns extend in the machine direction and the filling yarns extend in the cross-machine direction. In a papermakers' fabric having been woven in an endless fashion, the warp yarns extend in the cross-machine direction and the filling yarns extend in the machine direction. As used herein the terms "machine direction" and "cross-machine direction" refer respectively to a direction equivalent to the direction of travel of the papermakers' fabric on the papermaking machine and a direction transverse this direction of travel.
In the usual practice, papermakers' fabrics are manufactured utilizing weave patterns such as the 1/2 twill, 2/1 twill, 2/3 twill, 3/2 twill, 1/4 twill, 4/1 twill, 1/5 twill, 5/1 twill and variations thereof such as the sateens. These most commonly used weave patterns have one characteristic in common. They are all unbalanced weaves yielding two-sided fabrics; one side being warp faced and the other side being filling faced. This characteristic leads to an imbalance of forces within the fabric structure, together with the different conditions which obtain at the edges of the papermakers' fabric when used on a papermaking machine (such differences including less lubrication by water, less vacuum being applied, etc.) result in a tendency of the papermakers' fabric to curl at its longitudinal edges. This tendency to curl results both in running problems and wear problems. | {
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The edible mushroom Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Imbach var. bisporus, a basidiomycete fungus, is widely cultivated around the world. In Europe and North America, it is the most widely cultivated mushroom species. The value of the annual Agaricus bisporus mushroom crop in the United States was about $920,000,000 in 2003-2004, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture (Aug. 16, 2004). More than 90 percent of the Agaricus mushrooms cultivated in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere have a white pileus color, in accordance with consumer preferences.
Approximately 25 years ago, the first two white hybrid strains of A. bisporus, developed by a laboratory at Horst, the Netherlands, were introduced into commercial cultivation. These two “Horst” strains, called U1 and U3, are closely related crosses between two pre-existing white cultivated strains, as per M. Imbernon et al., Mycologia, 88(5), 749-761 (1996), herein incorporated by reference. The U1 and U3 strains, while still cultivated at present, are additionally thought to be the direct progenitors of all other white A. bisporus mushrooms currently cultivated in most regions of the world. Commercial mushroom strains developed from U1 and U3, such as A15 and S130, are all either clones or quasi-clones of U1 or U3, being developed either by clonal vegetative propagation or from spores which retain the great majority of the parental genotype, as shown by R. W. Kerrigan et al. in Genetics, 133, 225-236 (1993), herein incorporated by reference. A group of strains developed either by cloning or by spore propagation, or both, from a single progenitor (as opposed to outcrossing between two different progenitors) is called a lineage group. Except for minor acquired genetic differences all white strains developed within the Horst U1 lineage group and Horst U3 lineage group share a single basic genotype with the original U1 or U3 strains, respectively (which are themselves very similar, due to their close relationship). For these reasons, and the fact that the Horst U3 lineage group is presently cultivated to a much smaller extent than the Horst U1 lineage group, modern white Agaricus mushroom cultivation is effectively a monoculture. Hence, for purposes of this disclosure, all of these cultivar strains will be described hereinafter as the “Horst U1/U3 lineage group” where both the Horst U1 lineage group and Horst U3 lineage group are implied.
Currently, one of the most commercially successful representatives of the Horst U1/U3 lineage group is a strain designated A15 by the assignee of record. That strain, specifically, is from the Horst U1 lineage group.
The introduction of new varieties of white Agaricus bisporus mushrooms into commercial culture has been impeded by three difficulties. First, cross-breeding strains of Agaricus bisporus var. bisporus can be difficult and cumbersome. U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,721 sets forth many of the problems associated with cross-breeding. Second, experience indicates that most wild germ plasm resources for this species exhibit various traits that would be unacceptable in the marketplace. Third, most of these germ plasm resources incorporate alleles that give rise to brown mushrooms, which are in less demand by consumers than are white mushrooms. Color is predominately determined by alleles at the Ppc-1 locus; see P. Callac et al., Fungal Genetics and Biology, 23(2): 181-188 (1996), herein incorporated by reference. Alleles providing the white color trait are rare to relatively uncommon in most wild populations of A. bisporus. Of approximately 150 wild Agaricus bisporus mushroom strains collected in coastal California, only 2 were white, while the rest were brown, as seen in, inter alia, R. W. Kerrigan and I. K. Ross, Mycologia, 81(3):433-443 (1989), R. W. Kerrigan et al., Molecular Ecology, 7:35-45 (1999), herein incorporated by reference.
The difficult nature of breeding a commercially successful hybrid variety of A. bisporus is illustrated by the fact that very few patent applications for novel hybrid Agaricus bisporus strains have been filed in the United States; of these, only one (i.e., assignee of record's brown hybrid strain X618, marketed as S600) enjoyed even moderate commercial success. It is believed that no novel hybrid white mushrooms other than U1 and U3 have heretofore ever been successfully introduced into commerce in the United States.
There is a wide range of potential benefits to introducing greater diversity of strains into commercial cultivation. Novel strains may exhibit novel patterns of nutritional resource utilization, different responses to environmental manipulation, precocity or different developmental schedules, and novel aesthetic and culinary properties for the consumer. Examples of traits favored by the consumer could include a smooth, bright white cap surface, a more attractive shape (i.e., more round) or a greater development of pileus tissue (i.e., greater “meatiness” or thickness). Some of these benefits may become apparent only after years of cultivation and marketing experience, for example, if a novel crop pathogen emerges.
New strains may offer improved resistance to known and emerging diseases of the crop. In particular, they are potentially more resistant to infection by established viral diseases that are transmitted by anastomosis (i.e., the fusion of fungal cells, called hyphae). Empirically, it is known that, for two individual heterokaryotic strains of basidiomycete fungi, anastomosis is often difficult and perhaps even impossible, and generally unsuccessful. This condition is called “vegetative incompatibility.” A more detailed description of anastomosis and of some viral diseases to which basidiomycete fungi are susceptible can be found in A. S. M. Sonnenberg et al., Mushroom Science 14, 587-594 (1995), incorporated herein by reference.
Instances of incompatibility between strains of the mushroom Agaricus bisporus, and in other species of basidiomycete fungi, have been noted for many years. However, there is no real understanding of how this self/non-self recognition system works. It is not known for Agaricus bisporus how many genetic loci are involved, where they occur on the chromosomes, how many alleles are present at any locus, or what the specific effects of any allele or locus might be. Consequently it is not possible to predict what the compatibility phenotype of any new hybrid might be.
As noted above and since the 1980s, the only strains of white Agaricus bisporus mushrooms now grown commercially in North America and Europe, and in most other parts of the world, are strains derived from the Horst U1/U3 lineage group, and most particularly, the ‘Horst U1’ group. All share very similar genetic identities and all are compatible within and among the group, a situation known to agronomists as a ‘monoculture’. The industry has essentially standardized on this inter-compatible group of strains, and no widely-accepted alternative white strains have been introduced since 1980.
Prior to the 1980s, when a more diverse set of commercial strains was in use, crop rotation was sometimes adopted in response to the establishment of virus disease at commercial facilities. However the current situation of monoculture has, in recent decades, made it impossible to implement a scheme of crop rotation to allow for an interruption of strain identity and compatibility at production facilities. This situation of monoculture allows pathogens to become more perfectly adapted to the host strain, and to establish reservoirs of pre-adapted infectious material, in production facilities, and, in the case of obligate intracellular pathogens including the dsRNA viruses of Agaricus, also allows them to pass freely from established infection reservoirs into new strain-compatible crops.
In modern mushroom production facilities, a crop of mushrooms may typically occupy production space for 46-57 days, between the planting of spawn in the compost and the emptying and cleaning of the facility to prepare for the initiation of the next crop. During that crop cycle, three ‘flushes’ of mushrooms are normally harvested at about weekly intervals. In some cases, the scheduling of new crop production cycles may lead to the disposal of the prior crop before three full flushes of mushrooms can be obtained. There are three potential opportunities for accelerating this crop cycle: (1) during the spawn run interval, typically of 13-16 days duration, (2) during the case run interval, typically of 15-19 days duration, and (3) during the flushing/harvest periods, typically of 18-22 days duration. There are several economic benefits that derive from a shorter crop cycle: (a) higher utilization of physical plant, and distribution of overhead costs over more crops, (b) ability to routinely complete harvest of the third flush, increasing productivity, (c) opportunity to harvest more of the crop earlier with respect to disease pressure, which impacts crop quality and value, and (d) additional scheduling flexibility represented by multiple strain-schedule options.
In some markets, mechanical harvesting is preferred due to the higher cost of human labor. In order for a mushroom crop to be suitable for mechanical harvesting, uniform development and a sufficiently long stem are necessary and desirable. | {
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Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to message delivery and network planning.
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as, for example, voice, data, and so on. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access systems may include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and the like. Additionally, the systems can conform to specifications such as third generation partnership project (3GPP), 3GPP long term evolution (LTE), ultra mobile broadband (UMB), evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc.
Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems may simultaneously support communication for multiple mobile devices (e.g., which can be commonly referred to as mobile phones, tablet computers, or mobile computers, collectively referred to as access terminals (AT), user equipment (UE), etc.). Each mobile device may communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to mobile devices, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from mobile devices to base stations. Further, communications between mobile devices and base stations may be established via single-input single-output (SISO) systems, multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, and so forth. In addition, mobile devices can communicate with other mobile devices (and/or base stations with other base stations) in peer-to-peer wireless network configurations.
To supplement conventional base stations, additional small cells can be deployed to provide more robust wireless coverage to mobile devices. Small cells are low power base stations which transmit at a lower power than macro cells and have smaller coverage than macro cells. For example, small cells (e.g., which can be commonly referred to as Home NodeBs or Home eNBs, collectively referred to as H(e)NBs, femtocells, femto nodes, femtocell nodes, femtocell access points, pico nodes, micro nodes, etc.) can be deployed for incremental capacity growth, richer user experience, in-building or other specific geographic coverage, and/or the like. In some configurations, such small cells are connected to the Internet via broadband connection (e.g., digital subscriber line (DSL) router, cable or other modem, etc.), which can provide the backhaul link to the mobile operator's network. In this regard, small cells are often deployed in homes, offices, etc. without consideration of a current network environment.
Some small cells are not open for public access and will not serve unauthorized mobile devices. Such private small cells are often installed in areas with a significant amount of traffic from users of unauthorized mobile device. It is still desirable to send informational or marketing messages to users of the unauthorized mobile devices. Preferably, the informational or marketing messages are created to be relevant to the users sent to. In addition, network load for macro cells and small cells may be better matched with available network capacity by obtaining user density for specific areas. Therefore, it is also desirable to obtain information regarding the unauthorized mobile devices to facilitate network planning decisions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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As technology progresses, the sizes of electrical interconnections become smaller. Concurrent and related to these size reductions, electronic components are becoming more compact, occupying new, smaller shapes. Electronic components of reduced size, having new shapes, require new methods and structures.
One electronic component having electrical interconnections is the capacitor. To promote size reductions, new shapes, and robust manufacturing, new electrical connections for capacitors are needed. These new interconnections should not damage capacitors or their subcomponents. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to stabilizing devices and, more particularly, to stabilizing devices for spreading tools.
Various rescue tools are used for aiding in rescue operations during emergency situations. For example, rescue spreader tools, hereinafter “spreader tool,” can be used to aid in lifting vehicles, separating structural elements of vehicles or other structures, etc. Spreader tools are typically configured to be operated manually, i.e., held by an operator. However, during operation, a spreader tool may require operation below a vehicle and thus be supported by the ground. The spreader tool can be used to lift a vehicle, or otherwise apply a force upward against a structure (e.g., a vehicle body), but may tilt or otherwise shift based on the supporting ground. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to portable table apparatuses, namely apparatuses that are removably attached to trailer hitch mounts found on most vehicles.
2. Prior Art
Many attempts have been made in the past to provide utility tables that can attach to the back of a vehicle for use on hunting and camping trips, on remote job sites, and at tailgate parties around the stadiums and arenas where sporting events are held.
Unfortunately, the prior art devices have disadvantages. Some of the devices are heavy, cumbersome, and difficult to install. Other devices are adapted for use only with trucks having beds or with trucks having tailgates. Thus, a need exists for a utility table that is adaptable to all types of vehicles. A need also exists for a utility table that is lightweight and easy to install.
The present invention meets these needs by providing a table constructed of lightweight durable plastic that is easy to install in a short period of time with a minimum number of parts.
With the aforementioned considerations in mind, it is therefore an object of this invention to provide a lightweight utility table that is easy to install.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a utility table that can be used with any type of vehicle.
These and other advantages and objects of this invention shall become apparent from the ensuing description of the invention.
The invention disclosed herein is a tailgate table comprising (a) a first arm having a front end and a tail end whereby the front end is configured for slidable insertion into a receiver hitch of a vehicle and whereby the tail end is configured to attach to a lower end of a second arm; (b) a second arm having an upper and a lower end whereby the lower end is configured to attach to the tail end of the first arm and whereby the upper end is configured to attach to a table member; and (c) a table member configured to engage the upper end of the second arm, comprising (i) one or more sidewalls and a bottom forming an interior; and, (ii) a top attached to the table member having an open and closed position and forming a substantially horizontal surface when said top is in the closed position. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates generally to computer-implemented techniques for information retrieval. More specifically, it relates to query-based search engines and methods for improved searching through the use of contextual information.
The basic goal of a query-based document retrieval system is to find documents that are relevant to the user""s input query. Since a typical query comprises only a few words, prior art techniques are often unable to discriminate between documents that are actually relevant and others that simply happen to use the query terms.
Conventional search engines for unstructured text documents can be divided into two groups: keyword-based, in which documents are ranked on the incidence (i.e., the existence and frequency) of keywords provided by the user, and categorization-based, in which information within the documents to be searched, as well as the documents themselves, are pre-classified into xe2x80x9ctopicsxe2x80x9d that are used to augment the retrieval process. The basic keyword search is well-suited for queries in which the topic can be described by a unique set of search terms. This method selects documents based on exact matches to these terms and then refines searches using Boolean operators (and, not, or) that allow users to specify which words and phrases must and must not appear in the returned documents. Constructing Boolean search queries is considered laborious and difficult for most people to use effectively. Moreover, unless the user can find a combination of words appearing only in the desired documents, the results will generally contain too many unrelated documents to be of use.
Several improvements have been made to the basic keyword search. Query expansion is a general technique in which keywords are used in conjunction with a thesaurus to find a larger set of terms with which to perform the search. Query expansion can improve recall (i.e., results in fewer missed documents) but usually at the expense of precision (i.e., results in more unrelated documents) due in large part to the increased number of documents returned. Natural language parsing falls into the larger category of keyword pre-processing in which the search terms are first analyzed to determine how the search should proceed (e.g., Infoseek""s Ultraseek Server). For example, the query xe2x80x9cWest Bankxe2x80x9d comprises an adjective modifying a noun. Instead of treating all documents that include either xe2x80x9cwestxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cbankxe2x80x9d with equal weight, keyword pre-processing techniques can instruct the search engine to rank documents that contain the phrase xe2x80x9cwest bankxe2x80x9d more highly. IBM""s TextMiner makes extensive use of query expansion and keyword pre-processing methods, recognizing xcx9c105 commonly used phrases. Even with these improvements, keyword searches may fail in many cases where word matches do not signify overall relevance of the document. For example, a document about experimental theater space is unrelated to the query xe2x80x9cexperiments in spacexe2x80x9d but may contain all of the search terms.
Categorization methods attempt to improve the relevance by inferring xe2x80x9ctopicsxe2x80x9d from the search terms and retrieving documents that have been predetermined to contain those topics. The general technique begins by analyzing the document collection for recognizable patterns using standard methods such as statistical analysis (e.g., Excite""s Web Server) and neural network classification (e.g., Autonomy""s Agentware). As with all such analyses, word frequency and proximity are the parameters being examined and/or compiled. Documents are then xe2x80x9ctaggedxe2x80x9d with these patterns (often called xe2x80x9ctopicsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cconceptsxe2x80x9d) and retrieved when a match with the search terms or their associated topics have been determined. In practice, this approach performs well when retrieving documents about prominent (i.e., statistically significant) subjects. Given the sheer number of possible patterns, however, only the strongest correlations can be discerned by a categorization method. Thus, for searches involving subjects that have not been pre-defined, the subsequent search typically relies solely upon the basic keyword matching method is susceptible to the same shortcomings.
It is appropriate to note here that many categorization techniques use the term xe2x80x9ccontextxe2x80x9d to describe their retrieval processes, even though the search itself does not use any contextual information (i.e., how collections of words appear relative to one another in order to define a context). U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,709 to Caid et. al. is an example of a categorization method that uses the term xe2x80x9ccontextxe2x80x9d to describes various aspects of their search. Caid""s xe2x80x9ccontext vectorsxe2x80x9d are essentially abstractions of categories identified by a neural network; searches are performed by first associating, if possible, keywords with topics (context vectors), or allowing the user to select one or more of these pre-determined topics, and then comparing the multidimensional directions of these vectors with the search vector via the mathematical dot product operation (i.e., a projection). In many respects, this process is identical to the keyword search in which word occurrence vectors are projected on a keyword vector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,812 to Hilsenrath et. al. describes an improvement to the ranking schemes of conventional search engines using a technique similar to categorization. Hilsenrath""s application is rather specialized in that the search relies upon first having a set of documents about the topic of interest in order to retrieve more like it, rather than the more difficult task of finding related documents using only a limited set of keywords provided by the user. Hilsenrath""s method first analyzes a set of documents and extracts a xe2x80x9cword clusterxe2x80x9d which is analogous to the xe2x80x9ctopicsxe2x80x9d described above. The words defined by this word cluster are then fed to an existing keyword-based search engine, which returns a set of documents. These documents are then re-ranked by comparing the original word cluster with similar ones computed for each document. Although the comparison step does use context-like information (e.g., word pair proximities), the overall method is fundamentally limited by the fact that it requires already having local documents related to the topic of interest. The quality of the search is also limited by the quality and completeness of these local documents. In some sense, it is really an improvement to a xe2x80x98more like this documentxe2x80x99 search feature than a complete query-based document retrieval method.
The disclosed invention provides a computer-implemented method for improving query-based document retrieval using the vast amount of contextual information (i.e., information about the relationships between words) within the document collection to be searched. The goals of a context-based search are 1) to take advantage of this wealth of information in order to automatically facilitate the specification of search topics from a limited set of search terms, and 2) to rank documents using a measure of contextual similarity that takes into an account the usage and relationship of all words within a each document. Essentially, words related to a particular topic tend to frequently occur in close proximity to one another. When the user specifies a query, the information compiled from the document collection can be enough to determine the desired topic and reconstruct the associated context (e.g., related words, usage proportions, etc.). Documents with the greatest contextual similarity are most likely to be relevant to the search topic.
As implied in the Background Art, categorization techniques also rely upon the fact that even without a xe2x80x9csemanticxe2x80x9d understanding of a text, highly useful contextual information can be read and compiled from a document collection by analyzing the statistics of word occurrence. But unlike categorization, context-based searching recognizes that in order to use this contextual information effectively, all of the statistics must be kept. Instead of analyzing the compiled data beforehand and extracting a limited set of correlations and patterns, the present invention stores all of the compiled contextual information for use at the time of the search. In other words, this technique is effective for queries about all topics. From just a few query terms supplied by the user, this technique is able to perform a true contextual search, that is, one in which word frequencies, word pair (and higher order) proximities, and proportions of word appearance are essential elements of the retrieval and ranking process.
The feature that fundamentally differentiates the present invention from all other search engines is its utilization of a context database (xe2x80x9cC-dbxe2x80x9d), a repository of unfiltered (i.e., not pre-categorized) word frequency and proximity statistics compiled from the documents to be searched. Using the query terms supplied by the user, the context search method computes a search matrix to retrieve relevant documents. A search matrix is a set of numerical values that specify a topic of interest within a multidimensional word relationship space. This matrix contains information not only about words and phrases used to describe the desired subject matter but about how these words and phrases appear relative to each other. It is important to note that search matricies are not and cannot be pre-determined; they are computed at the time of the search using the query terms supplied by the user. The added word relationship information from this search matrix draws upon information from the entire document collection to be searched and thus allows the subsequent search to apply a much more rigorous set of criteria for determining the relevance of each document to the topic of interest.
The context-based search comprises five general steps, not necessarily performed in the following order. First, the C-db is generated by analyzing word usage at the same time the search engine indexes a document collection. At a minimum, parameters such as word frequency, occurrence counts, and proximities are compiled during this step. Next, for each query, one or more search matrices are computed from the query terms using the contents of the C-db. The third step involves generating (or retrieving) a word relationship matrix for each document, thus preparing for the fourth step, a matrix comparison calculation that produces the final weight used to rank the relevance of each document. An optional fifth step of refining the search may be performed by replacing the original search matrix (derived from the query terms) with the word relationship matrix from a particular document (i.e. a xe2x80x98more like this documentxe2x80x99 function).
The present approach improves on prior art in several important ways. The additional information provided by the context database and, in turn, the search matrix narrows the description of the desired topic: the more specific the area of interest is defined, the more accurate the results. Since the search uses the contextual (i.e., word relationship) information contained in the search matrix, documents are ranked not on the simple occurrence of individual words but on how these words appear in relation to each other. That is, a document must not only use relevant words in proximity to each other, but these words must be used in the proper proportions as well. This feature is particularly important for searches about topics described by common words (i.e., words associated with numerous subjects) because it is precisely the subtleties within collections of words, rather than the individual words themselves, that distinguishes one topic from another.
Defining a search matrix also allows useful generalization because the search is not limited to the keywords provided by the user. Relevant documents are found even when the original search terms are not present. Moreover, this method is able to recognize and discard documents which use the original search terms but do not contain the proper context. In short, the context search method improves both precision and recall specifically in situations that are most troublesome for conventional keyword and categorization search engines: queries about less popular topics that are difficult to define with a limited number of search terms. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention described herein may be manufactured, used and licensed by or for the Government for Government purposes without the payment to us of any royalties thereon,
Technical Field
The present invention provides an aluminumxe2x80x94lithium titanium carbide alloy composite material, and comprises a method of mixing an inxe2x80x94situ aluminum matrix composite and an aluminum lithium alloy via a spray deposition process to obtain an aluminum lithium matrix composite.
For high temperature aerospace applications, Ti alloys are often used to produce structural parts, However the costs have often been the drawback. Finding an alternative has motivated the development of advanced aluminum alloys to satisfy the requirement of Ti alloys.
Among the aluminum systems developed over the decades, the aluminum transitional element family has so far given the most promising properties. With improvement in processing techniques and conditions, these dispersionsxe2x80x94strengthened aluminum alloys exhibit strength up to 600 MPa. 17% elongation and fracture toughness of 25 MPa( at room temperature and retain strength of 300 MPa up to 315 Centigrade.
A new class of elevatedxe2x80x94temperature aluminum based materials is being developed by incorporating the concept of metal matrix compounds (MMC) into designs. It has been shown by introducing the matrix with ceramic particles, the strength of the MMC is increased by as much as 100 MPAs over the monolithic counterpart. Work is continuing on advancing MMCs with the properties of the existing elevatedxe2x80x94temperature materials to produce high strength, better thermomechanical response composites.
This invention provides the processing means by which monostructural requirements are obtained in producing a lighted material with superior ballistic protection compared to that of conventional aluminum armor alloys. Conventional aluminum alloys are a strain hardened material processed through direct chilled casting followed by warm and cold rolling. The ballistic performance of the alloys improves with increasing yield strength. Armor strength is limited by the lack of workability with increasingly hardness.
Aluminum -lithium alloys are developed as a lightweight replacement for conventional high strength aerospace aluminum alloys. Addition of lithium to aluminum lowers the density, and enhances stiffness and strength of the aluminum alloy. Ballistic performance of the aluminumxe2x80x94lithium is limited by delamination and spall due to impurities along highly delineated fibrous grains developed from processing.
The present invention circumvents the aforementioned difficulties via processing. The present method provides for the mixing of an inxe2x80x94situ particulate reinforced aluminum and an aluminumxe2x80x94lithium alloy. The inxe2x80x94situ particulate reinforced aluminum alloy may be process from prolonged precipitation in a heavily alloyed molten aluminum melt or by other proprietary method. The main criteria for the inxe2x80x94situ composite is that it contain thermodynamically stable subxe2x80x94micron reinforcements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide and disclose a light weight, lithium containing aluminum composite having superior ballistic properties.
It is an object of the invention to provide and disclose a light weight lithium aluminum composite having an ultra fine grain size.
It is a further object of the invention to provide and disclose a method for mixing inxe2x80x94situ of the aluminum matrix composite with aluminumxe2x80x94lithium via spray deposition process to obtain an Alxe2x80x94TiC matrix composite | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computers and computer processors, and more particularly to a method and means for connecting computers together such that the overall speed and efficiency of the combined computers is optimized. The predominant current usage of the present inventive computer array is in the combination of multiple computers on a single microchip, wherein cooperation of the computers to achieve a unified object is desirable.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the art of computing, processing speed is a much desired quality, and the quest to create faster computers and processors is ongoing. Since, for any given state of the art, the maximum available processor speed is finite, there have been efforts to use multiple processors or multiple computers to speed up operations. It is known in the art to combine a plurality of computer processors or computers to divide a task or computation, such that the task is achieved in a minimum amount of time. An example is a multi-threading application wherein different program threads are operated upon by different processors.
As discussed above, it is a given that it is desirable to speed up the operation of a computer process. However no prior art method or apparatus has achieved an optimal speed for the performance of many computer operations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tack roll tool for expanding the ends of heat exchanger tubes into intimate contact with openings through a tube sheet of a steam generator and more particularly to such a tool and tool support therefor for remote automatic operation within a nuclear steam generator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Retubing of a steam generator generally includes a procedure for initially placing the heat exchanger tube ends flush with the lower face of a tube sheet and manually tack rolling the tube end (e.g. expanding the diameter of the tube wall by an internal tube expansion tool) so as to provide intimate contact to retain the tube in proper position in the tube sheet for subsequent welding therebetween.
In a normal steam generator such operation can be done manually and the tack roll tool generally comprises a pistol-like hand-held reversible air motor having a tool chuck for receiving the expanding-roller tool head which in turn comprises an axially extending, rotatable, conically tapered mandrel and a plurality of generally cylindrical roller members mounted in slantwise relationship thereon by a mandrel cage so that rotation of the mandrel causes the rollers to roll against the tube wall and, as the wall diameter expands, the increasing diameter of the tapered mandrel causes the rollers to move further radially outwardly to continue the expansion procedure. In such manual tool, the collar of the tool chuck has a flat face for engaging the tube end extending below the lower face of the tube sheet, and the tool is disposed within the tube. The tube and tool are thus manually lifted until the chuck face contacts the bottom face of the tube sheet. Further upward movement of the air motor pistol grip (while the chuck and tool remain stationary) permits air valving internal to the air motor to initiate forward rotation of the tool head to accomplish the tack rolling. As the tube is expanded into engagement with the tube sheet the torque required by motor is increased. Upon a preset torque being attained, the tool head stops automatically and a manually operated reversing trigger is depressed to reverse the air motor to free the tool from the expanded tube and ready for the next expansion process. Such an air driven tube expansion torque control tool is commercially available from the Tool Group Marketing Division of Dresser Industries Inc. and identified as Airetool Model 810, in Airetool Tube Expander Catalog #E-3-10.
However, in the environment of an irradiated nuclear steam generator the manual procedure described above must be accomplished by a remotely operated tool in order that presence of repair personnel within the generator is minimized. Further, because of certain internal structure of the nuclear steam generator and because of the desirability for unimpeded maneuverability of the tool, the pistol-like air motor and tool chuck cannot be maintained together in axial vertical alignment without causing interference with certain other structure of either the generator or the tool support. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention generally relates to pneumatic control apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for providing an analog pneumatic output control pressure as a function of applied electrical signals.
In the art of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems (HVAC), there are many systems which utilize pneumatic pressure control lines that extend between components of the system for controlling the operation of the system. The use of such pneumatic lines has existed for decades and systems using the same continue to be installed. As a result of the long use of such pneumatic control lines, there are thousands of systems in existence which may need to be upgraded. However, whether it is for the purpose of upgrading an existing system or interconnecting components in a new system, there is a continuing need for a regulating apparatus which reliably operates to maintain a desired pneumatic pressure in a control line for the purpose of accurately controlling the components in the system. The above cross-referenced and related application of Hurmi et al., Ser. No. 07/714,147 describes the use of pneumatic control lines in an application relating to unit ventilators.
Even though such pneumatic control lines extend to and operatively control valves, dampers and the like, which are associated with a heating and ventilating system, the modulation or regulation of the pneumatic pressure in the pneumatic control lines may be performed by electrically actuated solenoid valves which interconnect the controlled pneumatic output line with a pneumatic supply line of increased pressure and with a low pressure line or ambient atmospheric pressure. Such solenoid valves admit pressure from the supply line to the controlled line to increase the pressure and bleed pressure from the controlled line when the pressure is to be reduced.
One of the problems with such pneumatic control systems is that dust or dirt or other contaminants that may be introduced into the pneumatic control line, which may accumulate and clog small orifices that are necessary in such systems so that the pressure change in the control line will not fluctuate wildly in response to one of the solenoid valves being operated for a short time. Because of the potential for the contaminants clogging the system and thereby severely detrimentally affecting the operation of the system, filters are utilized which catch the dirt particles before they reach the small orifices. While such filters are generally effective, over a period of time they often become loaded and if there is a sufficient amount of dirt present, then the capability of passing air through them is diminished which may also detrimentally affect the operation of the system. This is generally experienced in terms of system response, i.e., when correction of the pneumatic pressure is necessary, it may take longer for the desired control pressure to be obtained in the controlled pneumatic output line. Thus, with many systems, it is necessary to service the control device and clean or replace the filters to regain optimum operation of the system. Given the fact that many systems have many devices with such filters, the maintenance costs can become significant.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved output pressure control apparatus of the general type which admits a higher supply pressure to a controlled output line when it is desired to increase the pressure in the output line and which bleeds pressure from the controlled output line when it is desired to reduce the pneumatic output pressure.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved control apparatus which has the superior operating characteristics and also includes a filter means, which by virtue of the superior design of the apparatus, seldom requires cleaning of the filters.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved pressure regulating apparatus of the foregoing type which requires only a single filter means and utilizes bidirectional flow of air through the filter means during normal operation which cleans the filter means.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a pneumatic control apparatus of the foregoing type, which employs a single restrictor, thereby reducing the probability that detrimental clogging of the apparatus will result.
Still another object of the present invention lies in the provision of the choice of normally opened and normally closed solenoid valves which provide maximum safety for such systems, in that a power failure will cause the system output pressure to drop to atmosphere.
Another general object of the present invention is to provide such an improved pneumatic output apparatus which is compact in size, reliable in its operation and has a modular design which facilitates installation and maintenance.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a pneumatic regulating apparatus which includes an easily accessible orifice plate which can be replaced with plates having different orifice sizes to accommodate the design characteristics of the particular system in which it is installed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Retinoids are defined as substances that can elicit specific biological responses by binding to and activating a specific receptor or set of receptors. Retinoids are known to play a fundamental role in normal cell growth and differentiation. (Roberts, A. B. et al, in "The Retinoids," ed. by M. B. Sporn, A. B. Roberts and D. S. Goodman, Vol. 2, pp. 209-256, Academic Press, Orlando, Fla., (1984); Sporn, M. B. et al, J. Amer. Acad. Dermatol., 15:756-764 (1986)). Multiple retinoic acid nuclear receptors. (RAR.alpha., .beta. and .gamma.) and retinoid X receptors (RXR.alpha., .beta. and .gamma.) have been identified (Evans, R. M., Science, 240:889-895 (1988); O'Malley, B. W., Mol. Endocrin., 4:363-364 (1990); Gudas, L. J. Cell Growth Differ, 3:655-662 (1992)); Lohnes et al, Cell Sci., 16 (Suppl): 69-76 (1992). Moreover, numerous isoforms of the various nuclear receptors exist as a result of alternative splicing (Gudas L. J., J. Biol. Chem., 269:15399-15402 (1994)).
Retinoic acid receptors mediate gene transcription through a variety of mechanisms. These nuclear receptors can bind to specific DNA consensus sequences termed retinoid receptor response elements (RAREs or RXREs) which are located in the regulatory regions of the retinoid target genes (Gudas, L. J., Cell Growth Differ., 3:655-662 (1992); Lohnes et al, Cell Sci., 16 (Suppl.):69-76 (1992)). Nuclear receptor binding to these response elements preferably occurs through heterodimer formation between the RAR and RXR, although homodimer binding and subsequent gene activation has also been found (Hermann et al, Mol. Endocrinol., 6:1153-1162 (1992); Leid et al, Cell, 68:377-395 (1992); Zhang X, Nature, 355:441-446 (1992)). The RXRs can mediate gene transcription via heterodimer formation with the RARs, with the vitamin D, thyroid hormone (Yu et al, Cell, 67:1251-1266 (1991); Hermann et al, Mol. Endocrinol., 6:1153-1162 (1992); Kliewer et al, Nature, 355:446-449 (1992); Leid et al, Cell, 68:377-395 (1992); Zhang et al, Nature, 355:441-446 (1992)), and a number of orphan receptors. (Apfel et al, Mol. Cell Biol., 14:7025-7035 (1994); Song et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 91:10809-10813 (1994)). These orphan receptors can, in turn, inhibit the activity of RARs and thyroid nuclear receptors (TRs) (Kliewer et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 89:1448-1452 (1992); Tran et al, Mol. Cell Biol., 12:4666-4676 (1992); Apfel et al, Mol. Cell Biol., 14:7025-7035 (1994), Casanova et al, Mol. Cell Biol., 14:5756-5765 (1991); Song et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 91:10809-10813 (1994)).
The retinoid receptor response elements usually consist of direct repeats (DRs) in which the half-sites are separated by a number of base pair spacers. Selectivity for binding appears to be determined by the number of base pairs utilized as spacers, as well as by the sequence of the response element itself (Kim et al, Mol. Endocrinol., 6:1489-1501 (1992), Mader et al, J. Biol. Chem., 268:591-600 (1993)).
RAR and RXR inhibition of AP-1-mediated gene transcription that does not require RAR or RXR binding to DNA has also been observed (Pfahl, Endocrin. Reviews, 14:651-658 (1993), and references cited therein); RAR and RXR when completed to their ligands have been shown to inhibit c-Jun/c-Fos binding to the AP-1 consensus sequence and subsequent gene activation (Pfahl, Endocrine Reviews, 14:651-658 (1993), and references cited therein). Negative regulation of transcription by RA can apparently also occur by means that do not involve RAR binding to the promoter region but by inhibiting enhancer activity (Gudas, J. Biol. Chem., 269:15399-15402 (1994)). In addition, negative regulation of RAR-mediated, as well as TR-mediated, gene transcription occurs by the competitive binding of the orphan receptor coup and v-ErbA to RARE and TREs (Tran et al, Mol. Cell. Biol., 12:4666-4676 (1992), Hermann et al, Oncogene, 8:55-65 (1993)).
Most cell types express more than one RAR and RXR receptor. RAR homologous recombination studies have suggested that RAR functional redundancy exists among the different RARs (Li et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 90:1590-1594 (1993), Lohnes et al, Cell, 73: 643-658 (1993), Lufkin et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 90:7225-7229 (1993)). However, other studies have indicated that the various receptor subtypes possess distinct functions and may indeed modulate the activity of distinct genes (Nagpal et al, Cell, 70:1007-1019 (1992); Boylan et al, Mol. Cell Biol., 15:843-851 (1995)). Evidence also suggests a unique role for each of the receptor subtypes: (1) receptor selectivity towards specific transactivating response elements has been demonstrated (Nagpal et al, Cell, 70:1007-1019 (1992)); and (2) specific cell types have become refractory to the antiproliferative and differentiating effects of RA with the loss of one receptor subtype, despite the presence of other RAR subtypes (Sheikh et al, J. Cell Biochem., 53:393-403 (1993); Moasser et al, Oncogene, 9:833-840 (1994)).
The RARs bind both RA and its isomer 9-cis-RA, while the RXRs only bind 9-cis-RA (Allenby et al, J. Biol. Chem., 269:16689-16695 (1995), and references cited therein). To further document a unique function for each receptor subtype, conformationally restricted retinoids have been synthesized that selectively bind to and enhance transcriptional activation by selective RAR and RXR subtypes (Graupner et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 179:1554-1561 (1991); Lehmann et al, Cancer Res., 61:4804-4809 (1991), Lehmann et al, Science, 258:1944-1946 (1992); Dawson et al, in "Retinoids: New Treatments in Research and Clinical Applications". Livrea M A and Packer L., (eds) Marcel Dekker: NY pp 205-221 (1992); Davies et al, Amer. Ass'n of Cancer Res. Conf., Banff, Alberta, Canada, Mar. 15-20 (1993) Abst. B-28; Jong et al, J. Med. Chem., 36:2605-2613 (1993); Reichert et al, from "Mol. Biol. to Therapeutics: Pharmacology of the Skin", Vol. 5, Bernard B A and Shroot B (eds), Karger: B.2d pp 117-127 (1993); Beard et al, Bioorg. Med. Chemical, 4:1447-1452 (1994); and Boehm et al, J. Med. Chem., 37:2936-2941 (1994)).
These synthetic receptor-selective retinoids have further confirmed the uniqueness of specific RAR sub-types in modulating RA responses in various cell types (Rudd et al, Cancer Letter, 73:41-49 (1993); Sheikh et al, J. Biol. Chem., 269:21440-21447 (1994)). Recently, a series of synthetic retinoids has been described that selectively transactivate RAR.gamma. (Bernard et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 186(2):977-983 (1992)).
Because of the ability of retinoids to affect cell growth and differentiation, these compounds have been disclosed to be useful for the treatment or prevention of diseases and conditions involving abnormal cell proliferation and differentiation. For example, the usage of retinoids as efficient therapeutics for the treatment of various skin diseases and neoplasms has been reported (Roberts, A. B. and Sporn, M. B., in "The Retinoids", Sporn et al, pp 209-286, Academic Press, Orlando, Fla; Bollag et al, Ann. Oncol., 3:513-526 (1992); Smith et al, J. Clin. Oncol., 10:839-864 (1992)).
To date, the best results of retinoid therapy have typically been achieved with a regimen which combines retinoid administration with the administration of other differentiation or cytotoxic agents. Besides retinol and retinoic acid, isotretoin (13-cis-retinoic acid) and etretinate have been used, as well as 9-cis retinoic acid and N-(9-hydroxyphenyl)retinoid.
The most convincing results have been documented in the field of dermological disorders, where topical application can circumvent the toxic effects sometimes observed during systemic administration of retinoids. For example, retinoids have been reported to be useful for the treatment of a variety of dermatoses including psoriasis, cystic acne, cutaneous disorders of keratinazation, among others.
Besides dermatological disorders, retinoids have important potential as anti-cancer agents. For example, retinoid compounds have been disclosed to have potential for the prevention of skin cancer, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) for the treatment of other hematopoietic malignancies such as myelodysplastic syndrome, juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia, Sezary syndrome, squamous cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract, non-small lung cancer, and human head and neck carcinomas. (See Pfahl et al, Vitamins and Hormones, 49:327-382 (1993) at 363-366, which reviews the usage of retinoids as therapeutics).
In the specific case of breast cancer, the growth of some breast cancer cell lines has been reported to be inhibited by retinoids (La Croix et al, J. Clin. Invest., 65:586-591 (1980)). Also, etretinate has been reported to prevent the growth of xenotransplanted breast carcinoma cells in athymic mice (Halter et al, Cancer Res., 48:3733-3736 (1988)). Further, it has been reported that N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) retinamide (4-HPR) induces apoptosis and the differentiation of breast cancer cell lines, assertedly independent of the status of estrogen receptor (ER) and RAR expression (Pellegrini et al, Cell Growth Differ., 6(7):863-869 (1995)).
Also, a recent patent issued to Curley et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,792, assigned to Ohio State Research Foundation, teaches the use of retinoyl beta-glucuronide N-glycoside analogs for the treatment, prevention and study of cancers, including breast cancer. Further, N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) retinamide (4-HPR), a derivative of trans-retinoic acid, is currently in clinical trials as a chemopreventive agent for breast cancer.
Additionally, retinoic acid in combination with RAR-.beta. receptors has been reported to promote apoptosis of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) human breast cancer cell lines (Liu et al, Mol. Cell Biol. 16(3):1138-1149 (1996)).
Further, the use of retinoic acid in combination with interferon, specifically alpha interferon or gamma interferon, has been reported to inhibit the proliferation of some breast cancer cell lines (Widschwendter et al, Anticancer Res., 16 (1):369-374 (1996); Widschwendter et al, Cancer Res., 55(10):2135-2139 (1995)).
Also, 9-cis retinoic acid has been reported to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells and to down-regulate estrogen receptor RNA and protein (Rubin et al, Cancer Res., 54(24):6549-6556 (1994)).
Still further, the use of (4-HPR) in combination with the anti-estrogen tamoxifen as a potential synergistic combination for breast cancer chemoprevention has been reported (Costa, A., Eur. J. Cancer, 29A(4):589-592 (1993)).
However, while some retinoids have been reported to have potential as anticancer agents, and specifically for the treatment or prevention of breast cancer and leukemia, the identification of retinoids having improved therapeutic properties which are suitable for the treatment or prevention of such cancers would be highly beneficial. In particular, the identification of retinoids which are cytotoxic to either estrogen receptor positive or estrogen receptor negative breast cancers would be highly beneficial. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
An “option” is understood to be a contract that gives a buyer a right, but not an obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price on or before a certain date. An option pricing formula, known as the Black-Scholes option pricing formula, provides a theoretically consistent framework for pricing options. Option pricing theory is also known as Black-Scholes theory or derivatives pricing theory.
There are basically two types of options: calls and puts. A call gives a holder a right to buy an asset at a certain price within a specific period of time. A put gives a holder a right to sell an asset at a certain price within a specific period of time. Entities that buy options are called holders and those who sell options are called writers. Based on the two types of options and the two types of entities that trade in options, there are a total of four types of participants in the options markets: buyers of calls, sellers of calls, buyers of puts, and sellers of puts.
The price at which an underlying asset can be purchased or sold, according to the terms of the option, is called the “strike price.” This is the price an asset must go above (for calls) or go below (for puts) before a position can be exercised. The strike price is distinguished from the “spot price,” which is a current price at which a particular asset can be bought or sold at a specified time and place.
There are two classes of options: American and European. The classes are based on when an exercise can occur. An American option can be exercised at any time between its date of purchase and its expiration date. A European option can only be exercised at the end of its life. An option is worthless after its expiry or exercise date has passed. This holds true for both American and European options.
The calls and puts described above may be referred to as “plain vanilla” options. Plain vanilla options can be identified as standard options. There are, however, many different types and variations of options. Non-standard options are often called “exotic options.” Exotic options may use variations on payoff profiles of plain vanilla options or may differ in other respects from plain vanilla options. Exotic options may also include completely different products that nonetheless carry some type of option ability.
A “basket option” is one type of exotic option. In contrast to a plain vanilla option, the underlying asset of a basket option may consist of a number of assets. That is, NA≧1, where NA is the number of underlying assets of a basket option. Accordingly, a basket spot price is the sum of the spot prices of each individual asset. The underlying assets may be, for example, commodities, securities, or currencies. This list of possible underlying assets is not meant to be exclusive, but rather exemplary.
A calculation of a fair market value of an exotic option, such as a typical basket option, is a computationally complex task that presently, using known tools and methods such as Monte Carlo analysis, can take several hours using a personal computer. In financial analysis systems, such time intensive calculations typically have been performed periodically, for example, in a “back office area” of a banking organization.
In order to evaluate a Basket Option (“BO”) or an Average Spot Option (“ASpO”) there are two main approaches: analytical approximate approaches (using “closed form” nearby solutions) and Monte Carlo based ones (performing numerical simulations). An Average Spot Basket Option (“ASpBO”) can be evaluated by Monte Carlo (e.g., using the finance tool FinCad®) or by sequentially applying an analytical approximation for BO and an analytical approximation for ASpO. However, sequential application of a BO and an ASpO method in order to evaluate ASpBO neglects the correlation between spot prices of distinct underlying assets at distinct instants resulting in restricted accuracy. What is needed is a method to quickly and accurately evaluate a fair value, or approximation of a fair value, of exotic options, such as basket options that includes the effect of the correlation between spot prices of distinct underlying assets at distinct instants. It is also desirable to have a system, incorporating the desired method, which can be implemented on personal computers, which can provide accurate results in near real-time, or within a fraction of the time now taken by standard methods, such as Monte Carlo analyses. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data processing systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for automatically selecting and installing an application onto a portable (e.g., palmtop) computer system.
2. Related Art
As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of computer systems have emerged. One of the more recent categories of computer systems is the portable or xe2x80x9cpalmtopxe2x80x9d computer system, or personal digital assistant (PDA). A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and is thus xe2x80x9cpalm-sized.xe2x80x9d As a result, palmtops are readily carried about in a briefcase or purse, and some palmtops are compact enough to fit into a person""s pocket. By virtue of their size, palmtop computer systems are also lightweight and so are exceptionally portable and convenient.
The portability and convenience of palmtops has made it increasingly desirable to increase the number and types of applications that can be run on them. It is advantageous to expand the capabilities of a palmtop so that it can provide many of the same, if not the same, services provided by a desktop or laptop computer system, particularly with regard to access to the World Wide Web (WWW). As such, information currently available via the Internet using personal computers, such as on-line access to news and financial information, can also be provided via a palmtop. In addition, a palmtop can be used for electronic mail (xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d) and multi-player gaming, and features such as voice recognition can also be added.
It has proven to be convenient to exchange data and information between a host computer and a palmtop computer using a communication interface, such as a serial or parallel input port. It has also proven to be convenient to transfer an application installed on one palmtop computer to another palmtop. Accordingly, many palmtop computers include an infrared communication port that can be used for transmitting data and applications between palmtops (commonly known as xe2x80x9cbeamingxe2x80x9d). Beaming applications from one palmtop to another has proven to be popular among users.
The portability and convenience of palmtops comes with a tradeoff in processing power and memory space. Processing issues can be addressed in part using processors that are smaller and faster than preceding generations, and innovative techniques are also available to store data and information more densely in smaller places. Still, processing and data storage issues may be present due to the size of the operating system needed to support the various applications loaded on the palmtop.
As the number and, in particular, the variety of applications increase, the operating system needed to run those applications increases in complexity and correspondingly in size. The traditional model for generic, limited resource devices such as palmtops is that a memory image is built and installed on the device. The memory image provides a certain set of abstract operating system services for the applications on the device. However, as the application set expands and becomes more diverse, the operating system needs to grow in size and abstraction and as a result uses a greater portion of the resources available in the device.
In addition, many applications today utilize the well-known Component Object Model (COM) software architecture as well as other well-known architectures such as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Distributed COM (DCOM), and Distributed Computing Environment (DCE). COM is based on software objects or modules that are well encapsulated and accessed through interfaces provided by services such as Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and ActiveX. COM objects can interoperate with other COM components through their interfaces. In this way, COM allows applications to be built from different components.
Thus, with a COM-based architecture, the operating system on the palmtop provides services supporting the execution of an application, in essence building the application by defining and implementing interfaces and modules between its various COM components when the application is called. Accordingly, with COM applications, further complexity is added to the operating system, requiring more coding and hence more memory.
A recent technique for reducing the memory space needed for the operating system is to build and load the operating system memory image when the palmtop is coupled to a host computer system during a synchronization process (xe2x80x9csync-time image bindingxe2x80x9d). Typically, the palmtop is placed into a device, such as a cradle, that is communicatively coupled to the host computer system via a serial or parallel input port. The synchronization process is used to allow the computer system and the palmtop to share information such as applications and databases. With the sync-time image binding technique, the operating system is configured so that it includes only the specific code and resources required to support the palmtop and the applications installed on the palmtop. Thus, software/code or resources not required by the palmtop or its applications are not installed, thereby saving memory space.
However, the sync-time image binding technique can cause a problem when a user wishes to add an application to his/her palmtop by beaming the application from another palmtop. While the palmtop acting as the source of the application will have the operating system code and resources needed to support the application, the palmtop receiving the application may not. Thus, the application may be satisfactorily received, but the application cannot be used.
In addition, the palmtops may have different hardware that prevents operation of an application beamed from one palmtop to another. For example, the processors used by the palmtops may be different, and so each palmtop may require a different version of the same application that is compatible with their processor. Similarly, one palmtop may use a monochrome display device and the other may use a color display device. A version of an application specifically designed for a color display may not function as well with a monochrome display, or vice versa. Under these circumstances, the application can likely be beamed from one palmtop to the other, but it may not be able to function to its fullest capabilities on the palmtop receiving the application.
Another disadvantage associated with beaming is that, in those cases where the application is being sold or where licensing agreements do not permit the application to be freely shared, beaming an application between compatible palmtops can provide a ready method for circumventing the commercial and intellectual property interests of a distributor or vendor for the application. In other words, copies of the application can be beamed and thereby distributed between palmtops without having to purchase the application or otherwise compensate the entity that owns the intellectual property rights to the application.
When an application cannot be beamed from one palmtop to another because, for instance, the palmtops do not share compatible hardware or software, or because the application is not available from another palmtop, a user can instead locate the application on his/her own and then install the application by synchronizing the palmtop to a host computer system. However, there are also disadvantages to installing an application onto a palmtop in this manner. First, the application must be located, both at its source and later at a location within the host computer system. For example, if the application is obtained from an external source such as a site on the WWW, the Uniform Resource Locator for the application must be determined and properly entered so that the application can be found. Once the application is located, the proper version must be selected. For example, the user must select the version that is compatible with the hardware and software capabilities of his/her palmtop. Next, the application is downloaded onto the computer system from the WWW, given a file name, and stored somewhere in the computer system. The user must then locate the file in computer system memory.
Typically, the file is in a compressed format, so the user must locate the proper software for decompressing the file according to the compression scheme used, and then execute that software. Once decompressed, the file has to be tagged in some manner to indicate that it is to be downloaded onto the palmtop during a subsequent synchronization. In one implementation, the user accomplishes this by dragging the file into a window; files in that window are installed at the next synchronization between the computer system and the palmtop.
Thus, the process for installing an application onto a palmtop via a host computer system can be somewhat complex and tedious, and is also prone to error. For an occasional user not familiar with the particulars of locating, downloading and decompressing files, or not familiar with the specific hardware and software configurations of his/her palmtop, the task of installing a new application may to be a challenge. Such users may be inclined to avoid installing new application onto their palmtops, or perhaps will steer clear of palmtops altogether. Even experienced users may be daunted by the involved process for installing a new application onto a palmtop.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and/or method that can allow an application installed on one palmtop to be readily installed on another palmtop, in particular in those instances in which a functioning version of the application cannot be beamed from one palmtop to the other (because, for example, the hardware or the operating systems are not compatible between the palmtops). What is also needed is a system and/or method that can satisfy the above need and that can provide a user-friendly mechanism for locating a version of the application proper for a particular type of palmtop, and for installing the application onto the palmtop. In addition, what is needed is a system and/or method that can satisfy the above needs and that can, when so desired, provide a mechanism for providing billing information associated with installing the application onto a palmtop. The present invention provides these advantages and others not specifically mentioned above but described in the sections to follow.
A method and system are described for installing an application on a client device, such as a portable (or palmtop) computer system. In the present embodiment, instead of transferring the application to the client device from another client device, the client device receives a description of the application from the other client device. When a host device (e.g., a host computer system) and the client device are synchronized, the description is automatically communicated from the client device to the host device, which is also in communication with a source of applications. In one embodiment, the host device is in communication with a site on the World Wide Web. In another embodiment, the source of applications is a site on an intranet. In yet another embodiment, the application source is a data storage device such as a magnetic or optical disk.
In the present embodiment, hardware and software attributes of the client device can also be automatically communicated to the host device by the client device. The host device automatically communicates to the application source a specification comprising the description of the application as well as the attributes of the client device. The host device receives from the source one or more software elements (e.g., a component, object or file, or the application itself) characterized by the specification. The host device automatically makes the software element(s) ready for installation on the client device. The software element(s) are then installed on the client device when the host device and the client device are subsequently synchronized.
In one embodiment, the description of the application is transferred to the client device from the other client device using a wireless link (e.g., an infrared beam). In various embodiments, the description of the application can include a version number for the application, a vendor or application name, a description of the software elements (e.g., components, files or objects) needed to build the application, or a location of these software elements (e.g., a Uniform Resource Locator) or of the application itself.
In other embodiments, the attributes of the client device considered in the specification can include the type of processor, the type of display device (e.g., color or monochrome), or the type of operating system used by the client device, or the amount of memory space available in the client device.
In another embodiment, billing and payment information can be provided to the host device from the application source along with the software elements for the application.
In yet another embodiment, the software elements can be automatically decompressed (when they are in a compressed format) and tagged to indicate they are to be installed on the client device during a subsequent synchronization of the host and client devices.
The present invention thus provides a user-friendly method of transferring an application from one palmtop to another, such as for those cases in which the application as configured for one palmtop is not compatible with the hardware or software used by the other palmtop. The process of identifying and retrieving the appropriate version of an application and making the application ready for installation can be performed automatically, substantially without user intervention. The user does not have to know the particulars of the application to be installed or of the hardware and software used by his/her palmtop. The user also does not need to intervene in order to prepare the application for installation. The present invention therefore simplifies for users the process of finding an application, selecting the proper version, and downloading the application onto the palmtop. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Before our invention there were various techniques for shaping metal vessels. None of these techniques alone were particularly well suited to provide a low cost, lightweight contoured vessel by way of a high speed production line, wherein the contoured vessel is made form highly recyclable metal and the production line decoration and vessel shaping can be easily customized.
With regards to metal shaping, current metal shaping methods employ concepts of hydro forming, wherein a fluid is used at high pressure to shape the metal. Other methods include pressure ram forming, wherein a ram is pressed into a metal perform to deforming the metal into the shape of a surrounding mold, and yet other methods include using linear motion in combination with a die to shape the metal.
However, each of these methods has shortcomings when it comes to using the method in a standalone application of manufacturing vessels in high volume production lines and none of the methods purport dynamic and flexible shape customization as an ability or asset.
With regards to hydro forming, forming time can be lengthy. It is not uncommon for it to take several minutes to deform a single piece of metal and as such hydro forming though a reliable forming option does not lend itself well to trying to achieve vessel forming at line speeds of around 600 or more vessels per minute. With regards to pressure ram forming molds are required and as such can limit the customizability of the shaped vessel. In addition, there is a tight design relationship between the ram design and the mold that can limit vessel customization flexibility. With regards to die forming it can be the shear number of dies required to shape a vessel that can be a limiting factor for vessel customization flexibility.
On the other hand these and a few other techniques have been developed to shape metal and as such to manufacture shaped metal vessels at high speeds requires using these and other techniques in an innovative new way incorporating these and other technologies into a production line configuration that overcome the limitations and builds in the ability to mass customize the production line, decoration applied to the vessel, and the shaped vessel itself.
What is needed is a solution that can be scaled to accommodate as many metal forming technologies that are required to raise production speeds and line efficiencies, increasing the number of types and kinds of shaped vessels producible by a single production line. These production line speed increases, efficiencies, and variation capabilities of the shaped vessels are required to increase customization capabilities and lower the shaped metal vessel production costs. Such factors barriers are currently gating items in being able to scale volume, create distribution opportunities, and meet changing on-the-go consumer needs.
Currently there are production lines that can manufacture metal packaging; however these lines among other things, do not posses the capability of dynamic on-the-fly changeovers, do not accept consumer or event data to create customized packaging, and cannot be scaled in configurations to produce a multitude of varying sizes, decoration styles, and shaped vessels. Furthermore, current metal packaging production lines typically do not have the capability to contour the vessel along its entire length. Instead metal shaping is typically limited to the top or bottom portion only as many metal forming techniques are not capable of contouring an entire surface length.
Even if the technological problems of speed and shape were overcome for a single production line it would be too costly to build a production line to produce only a single type or kind of vessel. As such, there is a long felt need for a production line that can shape and contour the entire surface of the metal vessel and has the inherent flexibility to produce many different types, sizes, and kinds of shaped metal vessels. Furthermore, there is a long felt need to consolidate non-shape forming operations such as decoration, trimming, and top forming, to name a few into the shaping process as a way to further reduce production line costs, increase metal packaging reliabilities and speed the vessel forming process.
Furthermore, consumer packaging insights suggest consumer's want more choices of grip, shape, decoration, styles, coatings, and closure type to meet the ever expanding on-the-go lifestyle. All of these features are unmet needs with current technology. In addition, current metal forming techniques alone cannot meet the needs of consumer's and cannot meet the sensitive packaging cost targets necessary to open the metal vessel market to mass consumers packaging opportunities.
In this regard, current hindrances in addition to the speed of metal forming technologies, decoration customization abilities, and top form flexibilities include metal forming production line changeover. In this regard, to be competitive a production line changeover can no longer be measured in hours, instead changeover needs to be done on-the-fly accommodating different sizes, shapes, and decoration styles driven by business insights, technical insights, and consumer needs.
These reasons, issues, and problems as well as other reasons, issues, and problems give rise to a long felt need for the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The field of the present invention is ophthalmic monitoring Systems and, more particularly, scleral and corneal contact lenses for use with such systems.
Recently, substantial attention has been directed to the use of pupil monitoring systems for use in medical applications. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,554, which is entitled "Device for Use in Real-Time Monitoring of Human or Animal Bodily Function" (hereinafter "the '554 patent"). The system described in the '554 patent employs a scleral contact lens for locating and supporting on the eye of a patient an optical system including at least one discrete light source and one discrete receiver. The described scleral contact lens has a first surface which conforms to the sclera and bulbar conjunctive tissue of a patient's eye, and a second surface including a tubular extension that provides a mount for the optical system.
While the system described in the '554 patent may be useful in short term pupil monitoring applications, its usefulness for long term pupil monitoring applications is questionable. The reason for this is that the combination of the scleral contact lens and optical monitoring system is quite bulky. Moreover, it is difficult to assess how long a patient's eye could tolerate having a device such as that described in the '554 patent mounted thereon.
Another device for monitoring the size of a patient's pupil is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,980, entitled "Device for the Measurement of the Size of an Eye Pupil" (hereinafter "the '980 patent"). The device described in the '980 patent is also quite bulky and likely could not be tolerated by a patient's eye for substantial periods of time.
In view of the foregoing, it is believed that those skilled in the art would find a scleral contact lens that could be easily manipulated and left on a patient's eye for a substantial period of time to be quite useful. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A typical configuration of an HVDC power transmission system has two converter stations that are linked by DC transmission lines. Each converter station employs an AC/DC converter to connect the DC transmission lines to an AC network or power grid There are two different types of HVDC power converter technologies, namely, Current Sourced Converters (CSC) and Voltage Sourced Converters (VSC). VSC HVDC systems are the latest technology, and can easily be used: (a) to construct a Multi-terminal HVDC system; (b) for bulk power transmission and system interconnection; (c) for large scale renewable generation integration; and (d) to construct hybrid AC/DC systems, etc.
Examples of commercially available systems using VSC converters include two- or three-level converter topologies and a Multi-level Modular Converter (MMC) topology as well as a cascaded two-level converter topology. Also, for these converter technologies, there are different variants such as half bridge MMC topology, full bridge MMC topology as well as hybrid converter topologies. The hybrid converter topologies, which combine the features and advantages of both of the MMC and 2-level converters, can be formed from a combination of high-voltage series switches, using IGBTs connected in series, and “wave-shaping” circuits based on the same types of “half-bridge” and “full-bridge” cell which make up the MMC. The wave-shaping circuits can be connected either in series or in parallel with the series-switch circuits.
FIGS. 1a and 1b show the main structures of a one-terminal MMC VSC of a HVDC system. As shown in FIG. 1 a, power is supplied to or from an AC system 1. There is a point of common coupling (FCC) 2 of the buses of the VSC converter station, which is connected to a transformer 3 having a star-delta configuration. Power to/from the transformer 3 is provided from/to a MMC 8, via a line that includes three-phase AC shunt filters 4, having a resistance and inductance represented by resistor 5 and inductor 6, and an AC connector 7. On the DC side of the converter are poles P1 and P2 with capacitors 9 and 10 between the pores and earth. P1 is connected to DC terminal pole P3 with the reactance of the line represented by reactance 11, while P2 is connected to DC terminal pole P4 with the reactance of the line represented by reactance 12.
FIG. 1b shows the structure of the MMC converter 8. In this example, there are three bridges 18, 19, 20 for three phases, respectively, in each converter. There are two arms, 18a, 18b; 19a, 19b; 20a, 20b in each bridge. There are sub-modules 13 in each arm, and for an n-level MMC HVDC system there will be n−1 sub-modules 13 in each arm. Each arm 18a, 18b; 19a, 19b; 20a, 20b also has a reactor 14 used to facilitate current control within the phase arms and limit fault currents.
DC fault current suppression is extremely important for a two-terminal or Multi-terminal VSC HVDC power transmission system to suppress both AC and DC currents arising from a DC-side (or DC-grid) short circuit, to control and protect the converters and the DC grid, and hence isolate the faulty DC circuit. Such a control and protection strategy is crucial to all types of MMC VSC HVDC Systems and their variants, in particular for a Multi-terminal configuration.
A full bridge MMC topology can suppress a DC fault current, but needs more semiconductor (IGBT) modules and produces higher power losses. The “full-bridge” MMC VSC can reverse the voltage to counteract the AC side voltage, and in this way the converter bridge can totally block the current flow, thereby suppressing fault currents arising from DC-side short circuit events by the converter control action alone. However, the full bridge MMC topology requires, in principle, twice the number of IGBTs compared with a half bridge MMC of the same rating, resulting in an increase in costs and power losses. Thus, the half-bridge MMC is favoured from the point of view of the economics of the MMC itself. Unfortunately, as well as with a 2-level VSC system, a 3-level VSC system and cascaded 2-level or 3-level systems, currently half bridge MMC VSCs do not possess the ability to suppress fault currents arising from DC-side short circuit events by converter control action. As a consequence, half bridge MMC VSC systems are required to include expensive DC circuit breakers, thereby substantially eroding their economic benefits.
It would thus be desirable to be able to use a half bridge VSC MMC in a two-terminal or Multi-terminal HVDC power transmission system where a DC fault current can be controlled or managed by the action of the VSC converter itself. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,977,018 and 4,037,311 disclose methods of manufacturing an infra-red detector element including the steps of forming a masking layer on part of a surface of a body of infra-red sensitive material, depositing metal on said masking layer and on a surface part of said body not covered by said masking layer, and removing said masking layer to lift away the metal thereon and leave the metal on said surface part for forming separate electrodes of said detector element. In both these Patent Specifications the masking layer is of photoresist which can be removed by dissolving in a suitable solvent such as acetone.
During operation, the resulting detector elements exhibit a high current density near the facing electrode-extremities defined by the removal of the masking layer. Sometimes these facing extremities of the electrodes are not sharply defined by the metal lift-off process; furthermore in these elements this high current density occurs adjacent part of the body surface between the electrodes, and the free charge-carrier recombination velocity may be high adjacent this surface in spite of passivation.
In both said patent specifications the photoresist masking layer is provided on part of a passivating layer formed at the surface of said body, for example by anodising. Before depositing the metal, the masking layer is used as a mask in a process for entirely removing the unmasked parts of the passivating layer so as to expose surface parts of the body for contacting by the electrodes. The process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,311 is a polishing process using a lapping cloth and a fine abrasive; the applicant shave now found, however, that such abrasion can damage the surface of the infra-red sensitive material by introducing recombination centres within the sensitive area of the detector element. The anodic passivating layer is removed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,018 with a buffered hydrofluoric acid solution; however, the applicants have found that chemical etchant solutions also etch the passivating layer under the edge of the masking layer so that the metal electrodes left on removal of the masking layer may not adjoin the remaining passivating layer and may leave an area of unpassivated infra-red sensitive material where the high current density occurs in operation of these elements.
All these factors can adversely affect the low frequency (l/f) noise characteristics, and detectivity (D*) of detector element manufactured by these previous methods. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to chain wheels, and more particularly, to a chain wheel assembly and a chain wheel device using it, which is installed on a wheel hub of a back wheel of a bicycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional wheel hub of a back wheel of a bicycle is provided with plural chain wheels with different diameter sizes, which are optionally engaged by a chain through a derailleur, whereby chain wheels with multiple gear ratios are applied on the bicycle.
DE102012006771.2 discloses a pinion assembly 12, which is provided with plural chain wheels 141 to 1410 with different diameters and numbers of sprockets, wherein the chain wheel 1410 with the largest diameter engages one end of an impeller 16, and other chain wheels 141 to 146 with smaller diameters engage the positions where an outer thread 22 being screwed by an inner thread 30 and the position where the impeller 16 is axially positioned at.
However, as shown by the drawings of DE102012006771.2, the chain wheels 141 to 1410 are integrally formed. Compared with other chain wheels formed by plural single-piece board materials, cost of manufacturing is high; furthermore, such a component lacks the advantage of being lightweight. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a novel coating composition which comprises a hydroxyl-containing polyacrylate as binder and a tris(alkoxycarbonylamino) triazine as crosslinking agent. The present invention further relates to the use of the novel coating composition to produce novel scratch-resistant clearcoats, especially for motor vehicles. The present invention additionally relates to a novel process for producing multicoat topcoats.
Coating compositions which comprise a hydroxyl-containing polyacrylate as binder and a tris(alkoxycarbonylamino)triazine as crosslinking agent are known from the European patent EP-A-0 604 992. These known coating compositions mandatorily include an acidic crosslinking catalyst, which may cause problems when they are used to produce clearcoats. For instance, the crosslinking catalysts may be fused to the underlying pigmented basecoat and impair the intercoat adhesion and the optical properties of the basecoat/clearcoat system. Moreover, these known clearcoats do not possess the scratch resistance which is a future requirement of the market, especially of the automobile manufacturers and the auto buyers.
The patent WO 92/22615 discloses clearcoat materials whose binders contain up to 5% by weight of polysiloxane macromonomers in copolymerized form. Higher proportions are regarded as deleterious. These clearcoat materials are applied directly to metallic basecoat films and baked together with them (wet-on-wet technique). The crosslinking of these clearcoat materials is by way of epoxide and carboxyl groups. This results in free hydroxyl groups, which may impair the weathering stability. Moreover, the use of these clearcoat materials as sole clearcoat materials may lead to an undesirably high silicone loading in the circuits of the coating plants.
It is an object of the present invention to find a novel coating composition for the preparation of a novel clearcoat material which no longer has the disadvantages of the prior art but which instead gives highly scratch-resistant topcoats which exhibit a so-called xe2x80x9cmaintenance freexe2x80x9d, effect. These advantages ought not to be acquired at the expense of an undesirably high silicone loading in the circuits. Moreover, the novel coating material or the novel clearcoat material should no longer be tied to crosslinking by way of the epoxide and carboxyl groups but instead should be based on a system which, on crosslinking, gives a weathering-stable polyurethane network. A further object of the present invention is to propose a novel multicoat clearcoat system which provides the aforementioned advantages without any problems of delamination.
The invention accordingly provides the novel coating composition which comprises
A) at least one hydroxyl-containing polyacrylate containing in copolymerized form at least one polysiloxane macromonomer as binder and
B) at least one tris(alkoxycarbonylamino)triazine as crosslinking agent.
In the text below, the novel coating composition or the novel clearcoat material is referred to as the xe2x80x9ccoating composition of the inventionxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cclearcoat material of the inventionxe2x80x9d.
The invention additionally provides the novel process for producing multicoat clearcoats, in which
(1) at least one clearcoat film is applied to the substrate surface and baked, and then
(2) the coating composition of the invention is applied and likewise baked.
The invention further provides the novel process for producing a multicoat topcoat on a substrate, in which
(1) a pigmented basecoat material is applied to the substrate surface,
(2) the basecoat film applied in process step (1) is dried,
(3) a nonaqueous transparent clearcoat material is applied to the basecoat film dried in process step (2),
(4) and then the basecoat film and the clearcoat film are baked together,
which involves applying to the baked clearcoat
(5) a further clearcoat film of the coating composition of the invention, and then
(6) baking it.
In the text below, the two novel processes for producing a multicoat clearcoat and for producing a multicoat topcoat are referred to collectively as the xe2x80x9cprocesses of the inventionxe2x80x9d.
The invention not least provides the novel multicoat clearcoat and the novel multicoat topcoat which both comprise
(I) at least one clearcoat and
(II) at least one clearcoat obtainable from the coating composition of the invention.
In the text below, the novel multicoat clearcoat is referred to as the xe2x80x9cmulticoat clearcoat of the inventionxe2x80x9d and the novel multicoat topcoat is referred to as the xe2x80x9ctopcoat of the inventionxe2x80x9d.
In the light of the prior art there was no reason to expect that the object on which the present invention is based could be achieved by means of the coating composition of the invention.
The first key constituent of the coating composition of the invention is the binder (A). In accordance with the invention this binder comprises a hydroxyl-containing polyacrylate containing in copolymerized form at least one polysiloxane macromonomer.
Suitable polyacrylate resins for use in the coating composition of the invention include in principle all polyacrylate resins (A) having an OH number of from 80 to 200 mg KOH/g and an acid number less than 20 mg KOH/g. The polyacrylate resins preferably have a number-average molecular weight Mn of from 1500 to 30,000, more preferably from 2000 to 15,000, and in particular from 2500 to 5000.
Particular preference is given to the use of the polyacrylate resins (A) obtainable by polymerizing the following monomers in an organic solvent or solvent mixture and in the presence of at least one polymerization initiator, and in the presence or absence of regulators:
a1) a (meth)acrylic ester which is different from but copolymerizable with (a2), (a3), (a4), (a5), (a6) and (a7) and is substantially free from acid groups, or a mixture of such monomers,
a2) an ethylenically unsaturated monomer which is copolymerizable with (a1), (a3), (a4), (a5), (a6), and (a7), is different from (a5), carries at least one hydroxyl group per molecule, and is substantially free from acid groups, or a mixture of such monomers,
a3) an ethylenically unsaturated monomer which carries per molecule at least one acid group which can be converted into the corresponding acid anion group, and which is copolymerizable with (a1), (a2), (a4), (a5), (a6), and (a7), or a mixture of such monomers,
a4) if desired, one or more vinylaromatic hydrocarbons,
a5) and, if desired, at least one reaction product of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid with the glycidyl ester of an alpha-branched monocarboxylic acid having from 5 to 18 carbon atoms per molecule (e.g., the glycidyl esters available commercially under the name Cardura(copyright)) or, instead of the reaction product, an equivalent amount of acrylic and/or methacrylic acid which is then reacted, during or after the polymerization reaction, with the glycidyl ester of an alpha-branched monocarboxylic acid (e.g., the glycidyl esters available commercially under the name Cardura(copyright)) having from 5 to 18 carbon atoms per molecule,
a6) at least one polysiloxane macromonomer described in detail below and intended for use in accordance with the invention, and
a7) if desired, an ethylenically unsaturated monomer which is copolymerizable but different from (a1), (a2), (a3), (a4), (a5) and (a6) and is substantially free from acid groups, or a mixture of such monomers,
the nature and amount of (a1), (a2), (a3), (a4), (a5), (a6) and (a7) being selected such that the polyacrylate resin (A) has the desired OH number, acid number, and molecular weight.
To prepare the polyacrylate resins (A) used in accordance with the invention, use may be made as component (a1) of any ester of (meth)acrylic acid which is copolymerizable with (a2), (a3), (a4), (a5), (a6) and (a7) and is substantially free from acid groups, or a mixture of such (meth)acrylic esters. Examples include alkyl acrylates and alkyl methacrylates having up to 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical, such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, n-butyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, hexyl, ethylhexyl, stearyl, and lauryl acrylate or methacrylate, for example, or cycloaliphatic (meth)acrylic esters, such as cyclohexyl (meth)acrylate, isobornyl (meth)acrylate, dicyclopentadienyl (meth)acrylate, and tert-butylcyclohexyl (meth)acrylate.
As component (a1) it is also possible to use ethyl triglycol (meth)acrylate and methoxyoligoglycol (meth)acrylate having a number-average molecular weight Mn of preferably 550, or other ethoxylated and/or propoxylated, hydroxyl-free (meth)acrylic acid derivatives.
As component (a2) it is possible to use ethylenically unsaturated monomers which are copolymerizable with (a1), (a3), (a4), (a5), (a6), and (a7), are different from (a5), carry at least one hydroxyl group per molecule, and are substantially free from acid groups, or a mixture of such monomers. Examples include hydroxyalkyl esters of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid or another alpha, beta-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid. These esters may be derived from an alkylene glycol, which is esterified with the acid, or may be obtained by reacting the acid with an alkylene oxide. As component (a2) it is preferred to use hydroxyalkyl esters of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid in which the hydroxyalkyl group contains up to 20 carbon atoms, reaction products of cyclic esters, such as epsilon-caprolactone, for example, and these hydroxyalkyl esters, or mixtures of these hydroxyalkyl esters and/or epsilon-caprolactone-modified hydroxyalkyl esters.
Examples of such hydroxyalkyl esters include 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl acrylate, 3-hydroxypropyl acrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate, 3-hydroxypropyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate, 4-hydroxybutyl methacrylate, methylpropanediol monoacrylate, methylpropanediol monomethacrylate, hydroxystearyl acrylate, and hydroxystearyl methacrylate. Corresponding esters of other unsaturated acids, such as ethacrylic acid, crotonic acid, and similar acids having up to about 6 carbon atoms per molecule, for example, may also be used.
As component (a2) it is also possible to use olefinically unsaturated polyols. Preferred polyacrylate resins (A) are obtained if trimethylolpropane monoallyl ether is used, at least in part, as component (a2). The fraction of trimethylolpropane monoallyl ether is customarily from 2 to 10% by weight, based on the overall weight of the monomers (a1) to (a7) used to prepare the polyacrylate resin. In addition, however, it is also possible to add from 2 to 10% by weight, based on the overall weight of the monomers used to prepare the polyacrylate resin (A), of trimethylolpropane monoallyl ether to the finished polyacrylate resin. The olefinically unsaturated polyols, such as trimethylolpropane monoallyl ether in particular, may be used as sole hydroxyl-containing monomers or else, in particular, may be used proportionately in combination with others of the abovementioned hydroxyl-containing monomers (a2).
As component (a3) it is possible to use any ethylenically unsaturated monomer which carries per molecule at least one acid group, preferably a carboxyl group, and is copolymerizable with (a1), (a2), (a4), (a5), (a6), and (a7), or a mixture of such monomers. As component (a3) it is particularly preferred to use acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid. However, it is also possible to use other ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids having up to 6 carbon atoms in the molecule. Examples of such acids include ethacrylic acid, crotonic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, and itaconic acid. Use may also be made, for example, of ethylenically unsaturated sulfonic or phosphonic acids, and/or their partial esters, as component (a3). It is also possible as component (a3) to use mono(meth)acryloyloxyethyl maleate, succinate, and phthalate.
As optional component (a4) use is made of vinylaromatic hydrocarbons, such as styrene, alpha-alkylstyrenes, and vinyltoluene.
As optional component (a5) use is made of the reaction product of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid with the glycidyl ester of an alpha-branched monocarboxylic acid having from 5 to 18 carbon atoms per molecule. The reaction of the acrylic or methacrylic acid with the glycidyl ester of a carboxylic acid having a tertiary alpha carbon atom may take place before, during or after the polymerization reaction. As component (a5) it is preferred to use the reaction product of acrylic and/or methacrylic acid with the glycidyl ester of Versatic acid. This glycidyl ester is available commercially under the name xe2x80x9cCardura E10xe2x80x9d.
Particular preferencexe2x80x94owing to their ready availabilityxe2x80x94is given to the use of vinyl esters of saturated aliphatic monocarboxylic acids having from 9 to 11 carbon atoms which are branched on the alpha carbon atom.
For the present invention it is important that the polyacrylate resins (A) contain in copolymerized form at least one polysiloxane macromonomer (a6).
Suitable polysiloxane macromonomers (a6) are those having a number-average molecular weight Mn of from 1000 to 40,000, preferably from 2000 to 20,000, with particular preference from 2500 to 10,000, and in particular from 3000 to 7000 daltons and containing on average from 0.5 to 2.5, preferably from 0.5 to 1.5, ethylenically unsaturated double bonds per molecule.
Examples of suitable polysiloxane macromonomers include those described in DE-A-38 07 571 on pages 5 to 7, in DE-A 37 06 095 in columns 3 to 7, in EP-B-0 358 153 on pages 3 to 6, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,014 in columns 5 to 9. Also suitable, furthermore, are other acryloxysilane-containing vinyl monomers having the abovementioned molecular weights and ethylenically unsaturated double bond contents, examples being compounds preparable by reacting hydroxy-functional silanes with epichlorohydrin and then reacting that reaction product with (meth)acrylic acid and/or hydroxyalkyl esters of (meth)acrylic acid.
Particular preference for use as component (a6) is given to the polysiloxane macromonomers cited in DE-A 44 21 823.
Examples of polysiloxane macromonomers suitable as component (a6) are also the compounds specified in the international patent application having the publication no. WO 92/22615 on page 12 line 18 to page 18 line 10.
The polysiloxane macromonomers (a6) are available on the market and are sold, for example, under the brand name Marubeni(copyright) AK5 by Toagosei.
The amount of the polysiloxane macromonomer(s) (a6) used is from 0.1 to 20% by weight, preferably from 1 to 15% by weight, with particular preference from 2 to 8% by weight, in particular from 3 to 7% by weight, based in each case on the overall weight of the monomers used to prepare the polyacrylate (A).
As optional component (a7) it is possible to use all ethylenically unsaturated monomers which are copolymerizable with but different from (a1), (a2), (a3), (a4), (a5), and (a6) and are substantially free from acid groups, or mixtures of such monomers.
As component (a7) it is possible to use one or more vinyl esters of alpha-branched monocarboxylic acids having from 5 to 18 carbon atoms in the molecule. The branched monocarboxylic acids may be obtained by reacting formic acid or carbon monoxide and water with olefins in the presence of a liquid, strongly acidic catalyst; the olefins may be cracking products of paraffinic hydrocarbons, such as mineral oil fractions, and may comprise both branched and straight-chain acyclic and/or cycloaliphatic olefins. The reaction of such olefins with formic acid or with carbon monoxide and water gives a mixture of carboxylic acids in which the carboxyl groups are located predominantly on a quaternary carbon atom. Other olefinic starting materials are, for example, propylene trimer, propylene tetramer, and diisobutylene. Alternatively, the vinyl esters may be compared in conventional manner from the acids, by reacting the acid with acetylene, for example.
Acrylate resins (A) used with particular preference are obtained by polymerizing
(a1) from 5 to 80% by weight, preferably from 10 to 70% by weight, of component (a1),
(a2) from 3 to 45% by weight, preferably from 15 to 35% by weight, of component (a2),
(a3) from 0.1 to 15% by weight, preferably from 0.5 to 5% by weight, of component (a3),
(a4) up to 50% by weight, preferably from 15 to 45% by weight, of component (a4),
(a5) up to 50% by weight, preferably from 15 to 35% by weight, of component (a5),
(a6) from 0.1 to 20% by weight, preferably from 1 to 15% by weight, of component (a6), and
(a7) up to 30% by weight, preferably up to 25% by weight, of component (a7),
the sum of the weight fractions of components (a1) to (a7) being in each case 100% by weight.
The polyacrylate resins (A) used in accordance with the invention are prepared in an organic solvent or solvent mixture and in the presence of at least one polymerization initiator, and in the presence or absence of a regulator. Organic solvents, polymerization initiators, and regulators used are the solvents, regulators, and polymerization initiators that are customary for the preparation of polyacrylate resins. The solvents may participate in the reaction with the crosslinking component (B) and so act as reactive diluents.
Examples of suitable solvents include butyl glycol, 2-methoxypropanol, n-butanol, methoxybutanol, n-propanol, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, diethylene glycol diethyl ether, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether, trimethylolpropane, ethyl 2-hydroxypropionate, and 3-methyl-3-hydroxybutanol, and also propylene glycol-based derivatives, e.g., ethyl ethoxypropionate, isopropoxypropanol, methoxypropyl acetate, and the like.
Examples of suitable reactive diluents are oligomeric polyols, which are obtainable from oligomeric intermediates themselves obtained by metathesis reactions of acyclic monoolefins and cyclic monoolefins by hydroformylation and subsequent hydrogenation; examples of suitable cyclic monoolefins are cyclo-butene, cyclopentene, cyclohexene, cyclooctene, cyclo-heptene, norbornene or 7-oxanorbornene; examples of suitable acyclic monoolefins are present in hydrocarbon mixtures obtained in petroleum processing by cracking (C5 cut); examples of suitable oligomeric polyols for use in accordance with the invention have a hydroxyl number (OHN) of from 200 to 450, a number-average molecular weight Mn of from 400 to 1000, and a mass-average molecular weight Mw from 600 to 1100;
Further examples of suitable reactive diluents are branched, cyclic and/or acyclic C9-C16 alkanes functionalized with at least two hydroxyl groups, especially diethyloctanediols, and also cyclohexane-dimethanol, neopentyl glycol hydroxypivalate, neopentyl glycol, trimethylolpropane or pentaerythritol.
Further examples of suitable reactive diluents are dendrimers or hyperbranched compounds, which are prepared from tetrols as compounds forming the central groups, dicarboxylic acids and/or their anhydrides, and Versatic(copyright) acid glycidyl ester.
Examples of suitable polymerization initiators are initiators which form free radicals, such as tert-butyl peroxyethyl hexanoate, benzoyl peroxide, azobisiso-butyronitrile, and tert-butyl perbenzoate, for example. The initiators are used preferably in an amount of from 2 to 25% by weight, with particular preference from 4 to 10% by weight, based on the overall weight of the monomers.
Examples of suitable regulators that may be mentioned include mercaptans, such as mercaptoethanol, thioglycolic esters, and chlorinated hydrocarbons and the like, for example. The regulators are used preferably in an amount of from 0.1 to 15% by weight, with particular preference from 0.5 to 5% by weight, based on the overall weight of the monomers.
The polymerization is judiciously conducted at a temperature of from 80 to 160 degrees C., preferably from 110 to 160xc2x0 C.
If desired, the coating compositions of the invention may further comprise up to 25% by weight, based on the overall amount of the binders (A), of one or more hydroxyl-containing binders other than the components (A), such as linear and/or branched and/or block, comb and/or random poly(meth)acrylates, polyesters, poly-urethanes, acrylated polyurethanes, acrylated poly-esters, polylactones, polycarbonates, polyethers, (meth)acrylatediols or polyureas.
Used in accordance with the invention as crosslinking agents (B) are tris(alkoxycarbonylamino)triazines of the general formula I.
Examples of suitable tris(alkoxycarbonylamino)triazines are described in the patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,939,213, 5,084,541, and EP-A-0 624 577. Use is made in particular of the tris(methoxy-, tris(butoxy- and/or tris(2-ethylhexoxycarbonylamino)triazines.
The invention prefers the methyl butyl mixed esters, the butyl 2-ethylhexyl mixed esters, and the butyl esters. These have the advantage over the straight methyl ester of improved solubility in polymer melts, and also have less of a tendency to crystallize.
The tris(alkoxycarbonylamino)triazines may also be used in a mixture with conventional crosslinking agents.
Suitable such crosslinking agents include, in particular, polyisocyanates or block polyisocyanates, other than the tris(alkoxycarbonylamino)triazines, which are referred to by those in the art as paint polyisocyanates.
It is also possible to use amino resins, examples being melamine resins. In this context it is possible to use any amino resins suitable for transparent topcoats or clearcoats, or a mixture of such amino resins. Particularly suitable are the customary and known amino resins some of whose methylol and/or methoxymethyl groups have been defunctionalized by means of carbamate or allophanate groups. Crosslinking agents of this kind are described in the patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,710,542 and EP-B-0 245 700 and also in the article by B. Singh and coworkers entitled xe2x80x9cCarbamylmethylated Melamines, Novel Crosslinkers for the Coatings Industryxe2x80x9d in Advanced Organic Coatings Science and Technology Series, 1991, volume 13, pages 193 to 207.
The coating compositions of the invention may comprise customary and known additives in customary and known, effective amounts.
Examples of suitable additives are crosslinking catalysts, initiators, especially photoinitiators, fillers, reinforcing fillers, rheological aids, solvents, wetting agents, dispersants, defoamers, adhesion promoters, additives for improving substrate wetting, additives for improving surface smoothness, flatting agents, leveling agents, film-forming auxiliaries, dryers, antiskinning agents, light stabilizers, corrosion inhibitors, biocides, flame retardants, polymerization inhibitors, especially photoinhibitors, or plasticizers, as are customary and known, for example, in the plastics or coatings sector.
Where the coating composition of the invention is to be used for purposes other than the production of clearcoats, such as to produce primers, primer-surfacers, effect coats or basecoats, for instance, it may further comprise pigments, including effect pigments, or dyes.
The selection of the additives is guided by the desired profile of properties of the coating compositions of the invention and may therefore be made by the skilled worker in a simple way, with or without the assistance of simple preliminary tests.
The preparation of the coating compositions of the invention has no special procedural features but may instead take place in a customary and known way by mixing of the components in appropriate installations, such as in stirred tanks or dissolvers, for example.
The coating composition of the invention is outstandingly suitable for the coating of different substrates with clearcoats, especially with multicoat clearcoats.
The multicoat clearcoats of the invention, especially the two-coat clearcoats, comprise at least one first clearcoat film which is obtainable from a customary and known clearcoat material. Materials suitable in this context include not only the conventional one- or two-component clearcoat materials, which commonly include hydroxyl-containing binders and amino resins and/or blocked and unblocked polyisocyanates as crosslinkers, but also powder slurry clearcoat materials, as are known, for example, from the German patent DE-A-196 13 547.
The multicoat clearcoats of the invention further comprise a clearcoat film which is prepared from the coating composition of the invention. In accordance with the invention, this clearcoat film forms the outermost coat.
In accordance with the procedure of the invention, the multicoat clearcoats of the invention are produced by applying, in a first process step, at least one customary and known clearcoat material to the substrate. In a second process step, the coating composition of the invention is then applied and is likewise baked.
The substrates may comprise wood, glass, plastic or metal. The substrates may already have been coated with customary and known coating compositions, such as primers, primer-surfacers, effect coating films or basecoat films. Accordingly, the coating composition of the invention may be used with advantage in the technological fields of the coating of furniture, industrial coating, or automotive finishing.
In the field of automotive finishing, the coating composition of the invention is especially suitable for the production of multicoat topcoats by the wet-on-wet technique, as is described, for example, in the patents U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,147, DE-A-33 33 072, DE-A-38 14 853, GB-A-2 012 191, U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,644, EP-A-0 260 447, DE-A-39 03 804, EP-A-0 320 552, DE-A-36 28 124, U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,132, EP-A-0 297 576, EP-A-0 069 936, EP-A-0 089 497, EP-A-0 195 931, EP-A-0 228 003, EP-A-0 038 127 and DE-A-28 18 100. In this procedure the coating composition of the invention is used in place of customary and known clearcoat materials.
In particular, however, the coating composition of the invention is suitable for producing multicoat topcoats by the process of the invention, resulting in the topcoat of the invention.
For the process of the invention it is likewise possible to use the aforementioned substrates of glass, wood, plastic or metal, but especially of metal. In a first process step, a pigmented basecoat material is applied conventionally to these substrates. Examples of suitable basecoat materials are given in the aforementioned patents.
In the second process step, the resulting basecoat film is dried, after which, in the third process step, a customary and known, nonaqueous transparent clearcoat material is applied to the basecoat film.
In a fourth process step, the basecoat film and the clearcoat film are baked together.
In the fifth process step, in the procedure of the invention, the coating composition of the invention is applied and is likewise baked, so giving the topcoat of the invention.
Viewed in terms of its procedure, the process of the invention has no special features but instead employs the application, drying, and baking techniques which are customary and known in this technical field. For these, reference may be made by way of example to the abovementioned patents.
The thickness of the clearcoat film prepared from the coating composition of the invention is exclusively a functionxe2x80x94for both the topcoat of the invention and the multicoat clearcoat of the inventionxe2x80x94of the amount of the coating composition of the invention that is needed in order to achieve the particular desired technical and/or visual effect. It follows from this that the skilled worker will aim to use a just-sufficient thickness, in order to save material. Accordingly, in each particular case the skilled worker is able to determine this thickness on the basis of simple preliminary tests. The thickness is generally from 2 to 50, preferably from 3 to 40, with particular preference from 5 to 30, and in particular from 10 to 25 xcexcm.
The multicoat clearcoat of the invention and the topcoat of the invention have particular advantages. For instance, with a minimum deployment of polysiloxane macromonomers they are extremely scratch-resistant and have a pronounced xe2x80x9cmaintenance freexe2x80x9d effect. Not least, the clearcoat films prepared from the coating composition of the invention adhere outstandingly to the clearcoat films situated beneath them. Consequently, the multicoat clearcoat of the invention and topcoat of the invention are suitable for all applications which are customarily envisaged for clearcoats. In particular, however, they are suitable for automotive OEM finishing or original finishing, where particularly stringent requirements are imposed on the part of the automobile manufacturers and the buyers. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to active matrix type light valve devices using monocrystalline semiconductor layers as an active region, stereoscopic image display devices capable of observing an image from light valve devices provided on both eyes to obtain stereoscopic vision, and image projectors composed of a light source section, the light valve device, and a projection optical system.
Conventionally, the light valve devices of compact type image display devices used in view finders of the 8 mm video cameras are made by depositing polycrystal or amorphous silicon thin films on transparent electrically insulating substrates by vapor depositing or vapor phase epitaxy to form an individual-pixel switching element group and a X-Y electrode driving circuit group for driving such switching element group by the thin film transistors.
First, the conventional active matrix type liquid crystal display device is described referring to FIG. 40 for its general configuration. In the image display device of this kind, one quartz glass substrate 1001 and the other glass substrate 1012 are oppositely arranged each other and a liquid crystal layer 1016 is sealed between the substrates. On a main surface of the quartz glass substrate 1001 is formed a film of a silicon polycrystal semiconductor layer 1002P, which constitutes an active region. A pixel array section 1017 and a peripheral circuit section are integrally formed on an inside surface of the quartz glass substrate 1001. The peripheral circuit section includes an X axis driving circuit 1006 and a Y driving circuit 1008. Matrix driving electrodes 1005 are formed on the pixel array section 1017 as orthogonally intersecting in the X axis direction and Y axis direction, and pixel electrodes 1010 are formed on intersecting points thereof. Switching elements 1009 are arranged corresponding to individual pixel electrodes 1010. The switching elements 1009 are composed of the thin film transistors (TFT) having the silicon polycrystal semiconductor layer 1002P as an active region. Drain electrodes thereof are connected to the corresponding pixel electrodes 1010, source electrodes thereof are electrically connected to the corresponding X axis matrix driving electrodes 1005, and gate electrodes thereof are electrically connected to the corresponding Y axis matrix driving electrode 1005. The Y axis driving circuit 1008 selectively scans the matrix driving electrodes 1005 of the Y axis direction in lineal sequence. The x axis driving circuit 1006 is electrically connected to the matrix driving electrodes 1005 of the X axis direction and feeds display signals to the pixel electrodes 1010 through the selected switching elements 1009. A polarizer 1011 is bonded on an outer surface of the quartz glass substrate 1001.
A common electrodes 1014 are entirely formed on an inner surface of the other glass substrate 1012. A color filter with three original colors RGB is simultaneously formed for color display. A polarizer 1013 is bonded on outer surface of the glass substrate 1012. The substrate 1012 on the upper side is bonded to the quartz glass substrate 1001 on the down side by seal agent 1015. The seal agent 1015 is supplied along a seal region 1018 shown by dotted lines. The seal region 1018 is provided to embrace the pixel array section 1017, the peripheral circuit section composed of the X driving circuit 1006 and Y driving circuit 1008 are positioned outside the seal region 1018.
These amorphous silicon thin film and polycrystal silicon thin film are easily deposited on the glass substrate by chemical vapor phase epitaxy or like procedures, thus they are suitable for producing a an active matrix type liquid crystal display device having relatively larger display. The transistor elements formed into the amorphous silicon thin film or the polycrystal silicon thin film are generally of a field effect insulating gate type. Displays of approximately 3 inches to 10 inches are included in the active matrix type liquid crystal display devices using the amorphous silicon thin film which are commercially manufactured these days. The amorphous silicon thin film can be formed at a low temperature equal to or less than 350xc2x0 C. and therefore it is suitable for a large-area liquid crystal panel. The active matrix type liquid crystal display device using the polycrystal silicon thin film is now produced which includes display of a picture size approximately 2 inches in the market.
However, the conventional active matrix type liquid crystal display device using the amorphous silicon thin film or the polycrystal silicon thin film is suitable for direct-view type display devices using relatively larger displays, however it is not always suitable for miniaturizing the devices and high density planning of the pixels. Recently, microminiature type display devices or light valve devices with a microminiature device structure and high density pixel formation are now increasingly in strong demand, other than the direct-view type display device. Such microminiature type light valve device is, for example, used as a primary image forming display of the image projector, and can be applied for the high-definition type television of the projection type. The application of the technique in producing fine semiconductors provides the microminiature type light valve device having a pixel size in the order of 10 xcexcm and with an entire size of about several centimeters.
Some secondary problems arise in using the active matrix type liquid crystal display device as a light valve device of the projector. The drawbacks in the liquid crystal display device include damage of its light valve function due to temperature rise. In the projector, the light source intensively lights the transmission type liquid crystal display device to project the transmitted light forwardly through an enlargement optical system. Such intensive light from the light source is absorbed in the liquid crystal display device to cause temperature rise, thus if the temperature exceeds a critical point, the liquid crystal phase itself turns to be liquid and not liquid crystal any more.
The use of the active matrix type liquid crystal display device as a light valve device provides a drawback of a relatively lower brightness of the projected image. The pixel image accounts for a relatively too small ratio of space of the entire liquid crystal panel surface to provide a sufficient opening ratio. This prevents a brightness of the projecting image from increasing because of low utilization efficiency of the light. In addition, the polarizer which absorbs light is generally bonded on the liquid crystal panel, therefore the transmitted light amount decreases. Therefore, the use of the liquid crystal panel as a light valve device disadvantageously causes a lower utilization-efficiency of the light.
Conventionally, the light source is used only for lighting the light valve device, and is not intended for other utilizations. The projector requires an intensive light source capable of large amount of energy radiation, however such energy itself is almost lost uselessly. Thus, a problem arises that larger is given the projector power supply.
Using parallax of both eyes has conventionally been proposed to view stereoscopicaly image. For examples, (1) images for the left eye and right eye are separately picked up using two cameras, and projected alternatively on a monitor or a screen by switching from one image to the other, a liquid crystal shutter device is used to alternatively turn ON or OFF the left eye and the right eye in synchronization with the switching period of the projected images, thus the left eye watches the image prepared for the left eye and right eye watches the image prepared for the right eye to view stereoscopically image, and (2) image display elements are arranged separately in front of both eyes to display different images for each of the both eyes, thus a method of stereoscopic view is provided.
However, the conventional amporphous or polycrystal silicon thin film hardly operates at a high speed because of its lower driving current due to its monocrystalline material, it is impossible to form a sub-micron order of transistor elements even by applying the microminiature semiconductor technique. For example, a mobility of the amorphous silicon thin film is about 1 cm2/Vsec, this prevents the peripheral circuit requiring a high speed operation from forming on the same substrate. In using the polycrystal silicon thin film, crystal particles have each size of approximately several xcexcm to correspondingly limit the fine planning process for the transistor elements. Accordingly, in the conventional compact size image display devices using the polycrystal or amorphous silicon thin films, it is extremely difficult to realize integration density and high speed operation similar to those of the ordinary semiconductor integrated circuit elements.
The transmission type panels such as view finders require the light source elements, but the active elements of these driving circuits need to be composed of discrete parts because of requirements for a high withstand voltage and large current driving. Hence, it is difficult to produce, an integrated unit as a display device containing the light source elements which is a problem in realizing compact size and convenience on utilization.
There are limitations such that, in view of an electrical performance, it is impossible to assemble both the control circuit for supplying timing signals to the peripheral circuit section (for example, driving circuit) necessitating the high speed operation and the driving circuit for the light source elements together on one substrate, while in view of a integration density, the increase in size prevents the other peripheral circuits from incorporating therein. For this reason, in the present situation, it is impossible to assemble the peripheral circuit section, other than the pixel array section and the driving circuit group thereof on one substrate.
In view of the conventional problems mentioned above, the present invention is display elements for a compact size image display device in which a switching element group for selectively supplying electricity to the pixel and a highly integrated peripheral circuit capable of operating with high speed are formed on one substrate, and the peripheral circuit includes a driving circuit capable of driving the light source elements with a high withstand voltage and large current. The present invention provides an improved reinforced structure of the light valve device with high reliability, high utility convenience, microstructure, high density and high accuracy by integrating the light source elements and the display elements into a unitary structure. In particular, another object is to provide a packaging construction of a light valve device with a high grade in compact size, solidity, easy handing, reliability, light shielding, cooling, and assembling. Further another object is to improve an image reproducing quality by preventing attenuation of the display signals. Still another object is to improve image to be highly fine by saving display data transfer speed in respect of circuit and increasing the number of matrix driving electrode groups correspondingly. In addition, further another object is to provide a fine and highly accurate display devices suitable for the view finders and the like by reducing of outer sizes of the flat panels.
In the methods of stereoscopic view described in the prior art, method (1) has a problem in tiring the eyes due to a flickering image method (2) constitutes display elements using the transparent substrate formed of the pixel array section and the driving circuit on the polycrystal silicon thin film. In view of an electrical performance, it is impossible to assemble both the control circuit for supplying timing signals to the peripheral circuit section (for example, the driving circuit) necessitating the high speed operation, and the driving circuit for the light source elements together on the same substrate, while in view of an integration density, the increase in size prevents the other peripheral circuits from incorporating therein. For this reason, in the present situation, it is impossible to assemble the peripheral circuit section other than the pixel array section and the driving circuit group thereof on one substrate. Hence, the peripheral circuits other than the driving circuits require to be formed on the external circuits. Moreover, image data generated by the external circuits, and timing signals both must be connected by wires, where inconvenience arises in handling and operating. A space is required for disposing light source elements for irradiating the display elements and the pixel array section of the display elements from the back-side thereof, this causes a problem of thinner construction.
To solve the problems hereinbefore described, the present invention comprises at least a transparent electrically insulating substrate and a semiconductor monocrystalline thin film regulating a peripheral circuit area arranged in at least a part of the substrate surface. A pixel array area is provided in adjacent with the peripheral circuit area, A pixel electrode group and a switching element group for selectively supplying electricity to the each pixel electrode is provided. The switching element group is driven by X and Y driving circuits. There are similarly included a control circuit for supplying timing signals to the X and Y driving circuits, a display data generating circuit for generating display data, and a receiving circuit for receiving image data through radio communication. These peripheral circuit and driving circuit switching element group are integratedly formed, for example, using a very-large-scale integrated circuit (VLSI) manufacturing technique.
To produce the compact type image display device of such structure, semiconductor monocrystal, for example, a high quality of silicon monocrystalline wafer ordinarily used for forming VLSI, is bonded on the transparent electrically insulating substrate, this wafer is mechanically or chemically abraded to produce a semiconductor thin film on an entire surface of the substrate. The semiconductor monocrystalline thin film is selectively processed by VLSI producing technique to form a first transparent substrate which is formed of switching elements, X and Y driving circuits, a control circuit and a light source element driving circuit for driving light source elements. Next, the second transparent substrate composed of the transparent electrically insulating substrate arranged with the common electrode is provided in the region opposed to the pixel array group formed on the first transparent substrate, the electrooptic material is sealed into a gap between the first and second substrates to constitute the display elements. Electro-luminescence elements (EL element), fluorescence lamp elements (FL element) and the like as a light source element of the display elements are disposed on the backside of the display elements to mount them inside of a tightly sealed unit structure integrally.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the display data generating circuit includes a RGB conversion circuit for converting composite video signals into RGB display signals and a synchronous separation circuit for separating synchronizing signals from the composite video signals. The control circuit generates the timing signals depending on the synchronizing signals. According the other embodiment, the driving circuit section includes two sets of X driving circuits and one set of Y driving circuits. The two set of X driving circuits are arranged separately upper and lower relative to the pixel array section, and operated parallely each other in accordance with the predetermined timing signals. On the other hand, the Y driving circuit, control circuit, and display data generating circuit are arranged separately on left and right to the pixel array section. According to further another embodiment of the invention, the display data generating circuit includes an A/D converter circuit for converting analog display signals temporarily into digital display data. The driving circuit section includes a D/A converter circuit for re-converting the digital display data into the analog display signals. According to still another embodiment the pair of substrates are bonded each other by a seal region provided along the peripheral portion of the substrates. This seal region is arranged to overlap lively with the peripheral circuit section including the driving circuit section, the control circuit, the display data generating circuit.
The present invention is to provide an improved structure of a light valve device with a microminiature size, high density and high accuracy. Particularly, an object is to provide the mount structure of the light valve device superior in size, solidity, handling, reliability, light shielding, cooling, and assembling and like factors. To achieve such objects, an IC package type monocrystalline semiconductor light valve device has been invented. The light valve device according to the invention has an IC package structure in which light valve cells, connector terminals, and package members are formed into a unitary shape. The package members embrace the light valve cells to enhance them physically, and possess a structured portion for shielding a window section matching to the pixel array section and the peripheral circuit section. The connector terminals have one end electrically connected to the peripheral circuit section of the light valve cells and the other end protruding from the package member.
The package member may preferably be made of black molded resin product, otherwise the package member may be formed of ceramic mold product. The window section of the package member is attached in unitary shape with a protecting glass member. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the package member has the same thickness as that of the light valve cell. The package member is provided on its external surface with heat radiating fins, or the window of package member is attached with an infrared ray filter for cutting heat ray. The infrared ray filter is laminated sometimes on the polarizer disposed apart from the light valve cell. According to another embodiment, the package member has a through hole to be a flow path of coolant. For a particular embodiment, the package member is provided with a recess portion for detachably holding the light valve cell.
The connector terminals are disposed in parallel with the light valve cell and in a manner of protruding from the lateral end surface of the package member. Otherwise, the connector terminals may preferably be arranged in orthogonal to the light valve cell and in a manner of protruding from the main surface of the package member.
An object of the present invention is to provide a projector light valve device having a high density and high accuracy with a compact size. In addition, an object is to provide a cooling structure effectively suppressing temperature rise of the light valve device. Another object is to improve a lightness of the projecting images. Further, an object is to provide a possibility of effectively utilizing light source energy. To achieve the objects, various counter measures are taken as undermentioned. The projector according to the invention includes as a basic constituent element a light source section, a light valve device, and a projection optical system. The light valve device includes a pair of transparent substrates disposed opposingly each other, and an electrooptic material arranged between the substrates. On one transparent substrate, a pixel array section and a peripheral circuit section for driving that section are provided. The other transparent substrate is provided thereon with a counter electrode. As a feature of the present invention, the peripheral circuit section is integratedly formed on the monocrystalline semiconductor layer provided on the one transparent substrate.
Preferably, the pixel array section includes a pixel electrode group arranged in matrix shape and a switching element group for selectively power supplying to individual pixel electrodes, and at least, one of the transparent substrates includes a light-reflective shield film for shielding individual switching elements from incident light. Preferably, a solar cell is integrally formed on the semiconductor layer to photoelectrically convert incident light and to directly supply a power supply voltage to the peripheral circuit section. More preferably, the light valve device includes a micro-lens array to converge the incident light and to selectively light the pixel electrode group contained in the pixel array section. The micro-lens array is adhered on one of the transparent substrate through a transparent adhesion layer having a smaller refractive index compared there with. In addition, the light valve device preferably includes a cooling means, which concretely is composed of a container for containing the light valve device, and provided with an inlet for introducing compressed gas and an outlet for discharging decompressed gas to cool the device by means of adiabatic expansion. Or, the cooling means includes a fan for sending cooling gas to the light valve device. Or, the cooling means is composed of the container for containing the light valve device and a cooling system connected to the container and for supplying cooling gas. The cooling system is provided with an automatic temperature control arrangement. A supply port and a discharge port of the cooling system are provided together on lateral surface of the container.
In the display device as constructed above, a substrate with a double layered structure composed of an insulating substrate and a semiconductor monocrystalline thin film formed thereon is used and the semiconductor monocrystalline thin film layer has the same quality as that of a wafer formed of semiconductor monocrystalline bulk. Accordingly, the VLSI manufacturing technique is used to integrate switching elements, and a driving circuit for driving the pixels and peripheral circuits such as a receiving circuit, at ordinary electric performance with a high density, high withstand voltage, and large current driving. In addition, the display elements and the light source elements are made unitary to produce a display device which constitutes a stereoscopic vision display device for binocular, thus a wireless stereoscopic view image display device of a compact size can be provide.
Further in this construction, a video signal processing function and the like can be added to a flat panel device and is suitable for a view finder and the like of the video cameras. The peripheral circuit employs a digital type, and not the conventional analog type. Thus, the analog video signals are converted into the digital display data for data processing or data transfer, thereafter at a final stage, the digital display data is re-converted into the analog display signals to drive the pixel array section, hence an excellent image reproducibility is secured without attenuation of display signals. The VLSI manufacturing technique is used to parallelly operate using the driving circuit as a split structure and to decrease driving frequency, thus, correspondingly the number of matrix driving electrodes can be increased to achieve highly accurate images. Moreover, the peripheral circuit section is disposed on periphery of the pixel array section in the center and the seal region is arranged so as to overlay the peripheral circuit section, there can be obtained a highly integrated multi-functional compact image display device in which a center of the display picture is substantially coincident with the center of the flat panel.
According to the present invention, the light valve cell is constituted using the monocrystalline semiconductor layer to integrate and form the peripheral circuit section and the pixel array section into a unitary shape with a high density, thus a microminiature type highly precise light valve cell can be obtained. The light valve cell, the connector terminals, and the package member are integrally formed to provide a IC package construction. Therefore, as in the ordinary IC device, it is extremely easy to handle and is readily assembled into the circuit substrate and the like. In addition, a high grade of solidity, compact size, and reliability are provided because of mold products, and moreover, a shielding effect and cooling effect are given depending on requirement to be suitable for the projector.
According to the invention, the transparent substrate having the monocrystal semiconductor layer is used to form integration of the projector-light valve device. The peripheral circuit section for driving the pixel array section is integratedly formed on the monocrystalline semiconductor layer. It is of course possible to form also the pixel array section on the monocrystal semiconductor layer. The monocrystalline semiconductor layer has a high uniformity of crystal and is thermally stable, thus processing at a high temperature can freely be performed to produce the fine structured monocrystalline transistor element, simultaneously since it has a larger carrier mobility compared to the polycrystal semiconductor layer or amorphous semiconductor layer, the transistor element with a high speed response can be obtained. Therefore, compared to the conventional example, the projector light valve device with a compact size, high performance, high density, and high accuracy is produced. The video signal processing circuit and the like in addition to the driving circuit can be added to the peripheral circuit section according to the circumstances.
In addition to the foregoing basic operation, various devices are intended. For example, the light reflection shielding film is formed on the transparent substrate for shielding the individual switching elements from the incident light. The light reflection shielding film not only prevents light leakage of switching elements but also suppresses temperature rise of the light valve device because of reflecting the incident light. The solar cell is integrally formed on the monocrystalline semiconductor layer to enable a self-sufficent power supply voltage and to intend effective energy utilization for the peripheral circuit section. The light valve device contains the micro-lens array, and only the pixel electrode portion is selectively lighted to improve a utilization efficiency of the light from the light source. The light valve device includes the cooling means to effectively suppress temperature rise. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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For individuals who have undergone “ostomy” procedures to have internal structures (such as portions of an intestinal tract and/or urinary tract) removed, an external opening (stoma) is often created to re-route bodily waste. The stoma is commonly created in the abdominal wall in these procedures, though the exact location may vary depending on the circumstances of the procedure. An ostomy pouch is coupled to the stoma to collect the waste.
Ostomy procedures and the subsequent formation of stomas are physically and psychologically intrusive. The patient's ability to engage in physical activity, and conceal the ostomy pouch while engaging in activity, is often impaired. Ostomy garments have been disclosed in the prior art (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,202,222, 5,626,570, 4,495,662 and 7,313,832) that at least partially assist in concealing the ostomy pouch.
It would be beneficial to devise a garment for accommodating an ostomy pouch that allows an ostomate to accommodate the pouch in an aesthetically acceptable manner. In addition, it would be beneficial to devise a garment that allows an ostomate to engage in physical activity while comfortably carrying the ostomy pouch. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Notwithstanding the power of modem microprocessors, such microprocessors can perform little, if any, work without reading and writing to external memory. When a microprocessor needs to access memory, it generates an address. The address corresponds to the particular location in memory that is of interest to the microprocessor. Most conventional memories are divided into rows and columns. The columns are formed by bit lines while the rows are formed by word lines. By specifying a row and a column, data that corresponds to the row and column may be read. Because the address generated by the microprocessor is not typically in a row/column format, a memory controller converts the microprocessor generated address into an address format that is suitable for a particular memory array.
During the fabrication of memories, one or more specific memory locations within a single memory device may become defective. If a microprocessor attempts to write data to a defective memory location, then the data may or may not be stored. For example, if the defective location is latched to the `1` state, then a `0` data bit could never be stored. Similarly, if a microprocessor attempts to read the data stored in the defective location, then the data read may or may not be accurate.
Conventional memory devices can contain millions of memory locations, only a few of which may be defective. A memory device that contains at least one defective location will be referred to as a defective memory device. In general, defective memory devices are discarded as unusable. Thus, a need exists for a memory controller that allows defective memory devices to be utilized. | {
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In the discussion of the background that follows, reference is made to certain structures and/or methods. However, the following references should not be construed as an admission that these structures and/or methods constitute prior art.
Managing events often require an enormous amount of work and planning on the part of an event organizer. Additionally the event organizer may not be able to solicit the help of friends in an adequate way to get help. Often with events, it is difficult for an event participant to know enough about the event to determine whether or not they will attend, and it may be difficult for participants to help one another with transportation and needed items for the event. Moreover, it is often very difficult to provide people the opportunity to participate at a public event while the event is ongoing. Additionally, often an event has different time periods to manage the event that may have different needs of management. | {
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Well bores are lined with tubing, referred to as a casing or a liner, for many reasons, for example, to prevent formation collapse into the bore, protect fresh-water formations, isolate a zone of lost returns or isolate formations with significantly different pressure gradients. The tubing is usually manufactured from plain carbon steel that is heat-treated to varying strengths, but may be specially fabricated of stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, fiberglass and other materials. A single liner may extend from the top of the well bore or one liner may be anchored or suspended from inside the bottom of the previous strings of liner.
Lining a well that includes one or more auxiliary bores extending from a main bore is difficult, because a junction must be made between the liner for the auxiliary bore and the liner for the main bore. The liner spanning the junction is installed through the liner in the main bore, and must be oriented with respect to the bores and make a connection downhole. Furthermore, the auxiliary bore is often drilled through the main bore with the liner of the main bore installed. The drilling bit is deflected into the wall of the main bore with a whipstock. Therefore, numerous trips into and out of the well are required to set the whipstock, drill the auxiliary bore, and set the liner in the auxiliary bore. For example, in the past, lining a well with laterals has required one trip (into and out) to set whipstock in the main bore liner, one trip to drill the auxiliary bore, one trip to set the auxiliary bore liner, and one trip to withdraw or reposition the whipstock for drilling and lining additional auxiliary bores. Trips into and out of the well are time consuming and add to the expense of completing a well, as well as delay the time in which the well begins to produce. | {
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This disclosure relates generally to quality assurance programs, and particularly to systems, methods and machine-readable mediums for integrated quality assurance services among a plurality of businesses. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates generally to trim actuators for exit devices and more particularly to a trim actuator with means for changing the handing of the exit device trim.
Frequently, exit devices are provided with handle or lever actuated trim on the side of the door opposite the exit device. The lever actuated trim must accommodate the handing of the door. Either the trim must be manufactured in both right hand and left hand configurations, or the trim must be capable of having its handing changed in the field. To change the hanging of some current trims, the installer must disassemble the trim, change the handing and parts and reassemble the trim before continuing the exit device installation. This can become costly due to the increased labor time to change the handing of the trim.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present trim actuators. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a polyester resin with high resistance to hydrolysis and a toner comprising the same. More particularly, the present invention concerns a polyester resin prepared by adding an anti-hydrolysis agent to a reactant comprising an acid selected from an alkylester of aromatic dibasic acid or a mixture of an alkylester of aromatic dibasic acid and an alkylester of aliphatic dibasic acid; an aromatic diol; and an aliphatic diol, which has its acid value of 0.1 to 2.0 mgKOH/g and the hydroxyl radical value of 200 to 600 mgKOH/g, and a toner produced by using the polyester resin as a binder resin.
2. Background Art
Image formation has been traditionally accomplished by way of electrostatic recording, magnetic recording, toner jet and so forth. While there have been developed several methods and apparatuses for settling toner images on sheets such as papers, currently the most typical method is hot-pressing. The hot-pressing is advantageous to process rate and accuracy because a heat roller operates to compressively contact with a toner image. To form such a quick image, proposed is an art improving low-temperature fixability of toner by employing as a binder the polyester resin which has a low softening point. However, in the preparation of the polyester resin with the lower softening point, the required use of the smaller molecular weight results in a low degree of polymerization. The polyester resin with a low degree of polymerization has high acid value to degrade chargeability and moisture resistance, and has low glass transition temperature to deteriorate the blocking resistance.
For a binder resin, mostly required as cardinal functions are blocking resistance during the toner preservation and chargeability heavily affecting image formation. With respect to the blocking resistance, it is important for a toner-specific binder resin to maintain relatively high glass transition temperature without an effect of blocking even if temperature is high during the toner preservation. But if the glass transition temperature is too high, it is disadvantageous to low-temperature fixability and pulverizability thereof. The chargeability most seriously affecting image formation is represented in the dimensions of a quantity of electrified charges and moisture resistance. A quantity of electrified charges can be determined by measuring the charges of a toner and a toner-specific binder resin through a visual receptor of a copier or printer. In the toner-specific binder resin, charge quantity can be controlled by means of its monomer and molecular structure. Moreover, for the charge stability of the resin, it is necessary to ensure good moisture resistance so as to retain a constant charge quantity during a printing operation and prevent a decrease in the charge quantity of the resin at very humid conditions.
There have been disclosed technical manners in preceding documents by which the aforementioned functions for a binder resin can be accomplished, e.g. controlling acid values and blocking resistance by means of monofunctual isocyanate (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-275902), enhancing moisture resistance and blocking resistance by means of monofunctual amine (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-092553), and adjusting acid values with an equivalence ratio of hydroxyl and acid radicals and monocarboxylic acid (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-004149).
However, since the polyester resins produced from the former applications are kinds of acids whose terminals are made of carboxylic acids, their acid values are high while their hydroxyl radical values are low, incurring higher rates of moisture contents. Thus, toners produced from those resins are easily hydrolyzed to deteriorate durability and image quality, so that it is difficult to preserve them for a long term.
The present inventors have found out that when a polyester resin is left at room temperature, its softening temperature may be lowered with hydrolysis by hydrogen bonding between ester linkages in the chain of the polyester resin and/or carboxyl terminals of the resin and water. Accordingly, the inventors intended to develop a polyester resin with excellent hydrolysis resistance, filming resistance, moisture resistance, electrical characteristics and image stability through controlling of its acid value and hydroxyl radicals value thereby lowering its moisture content and through preventing hydrolysis of the resin with addition of anti-hydrolysis agent thereto.
An acid value and a hydroxyl radical value of a polyester resin generally affect moisture content thereof, thereby significantly effect on occurrence of hydrolysis by moisture during production of a toner with the polyester resin and on image formation and storage stability of the toner. Enhanced anti-hydrolysis of a polyester resin can be accomplished to reduce its moisture content by lowering its acid value and hydroxyl radical value. For controlling acid and hydroxyl radical values of a polyester resin, the following ways have been used: (1) varying a composition ratio of acidic and alcoholic components; (2) changing a reaction rate of esterification and polycondensation; and (3) employing a monomer other than acidic or alcoholic components.
The method (1) is carried out by using an excess of one component to adjust an acid value of a polyester resin. But, its commercial application may heavily increase product costs because an excess of the monomer must be consumed. The method (2) is adversely influential to physical properties of a polyester resin owing to change of the reaction rate, and the method (3) increases product costs and adversely affect the physical properties of a polyester resin owing to a new monomer further added thereto. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Heat generation of vapor spray is known. Illustrative of this type of prior art are U.S. Pat. No. 2,128,263 to Ofeldt and U.S. Pat. No. 2,790,063 to Bok et al. The Ofeldt patent shows an apparatus for generating a spray in which the fluid to be sprayed is passed through a heating coil 4. Heat is provided to the heating coil using a fire pot. The vapor sprayer of Bok includes an easily transportable reservoir having electrical heating means provided within the reservoir. The electrical heating means is immersed directly into the fluid to be vaporized.
This prior art and the other prior art of which we are aware fails to provide an apparatus and process for generating a vapor spray from a volatile fluid that heats the volatile fluid within a heat exchanger in which the fluid is exterior to a heating element, that is capable of producing a continuous vapor spray, that modulates flow of the fluid prior to entry thereof into the heat exchanger whereby a selected pressure is maintained downstream from a pump drawing the fluid from a reservoir, and that controls the velocity of the stream of fluid as it enters the heat exchanger so as to ensure that the fluid is at a selected temperature when discharged from the heat exchanger. | {
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The present invention relates generally to the field of hydraulic circuits within an automatic transmission and, more particularly, to a Torque Converter Clutch (hereinafter xe2x80x9cTCCxe2x80x9d) Apply Valve for General Motors 4T60-E and other similar transmissions that directs torque converter fluid pressure to the TCC apply and release circuits to actuate the torque converter clutch.
Automatic transmission systems of the prior art have a hydraulic circuit subsystem which includes at least a hydraulic pump, a valve body having fluid conducting passageways or circuits, input and exhaust ports formed within the fluid circuits, and a plurality of xe2x80x9cspoolxe2x80x9d valves so-called because of their resemblance to sewing thread spools. Such spool valves are comprised of modified, cylindrical pistons which alternately open and close fluid ports within the valve body to regulate the flow and pressure of automatic transmission fluid (hereinafter xe2x80x9cATFxe2x80x9d) within the fluid circuits to actuate different components of the transmission. It will be understood that in describing hydraulic fluid circuits, ATF usually changes names when it passes through an orifice or control valve in a specific circuit.
ATF leakage within the TCC apply and release circuits occurs due to the constant oscillation and abrasive action of the steel TCC apply valve within the mating bore of the aluminum valve body, which results in a loss of converter apply pressure. The loss of pressure in the apply circuit causes TCC slippage, converter shudder, and eventually an overheated and/or burned torque converter. Thus, the present invention has been developed to resolve these problems and other shortcomings of the prior art.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a replacement TCC Apply Valve including an apply valve piston having an expandable seal fabricated from polytetrafluoroethylene (hereinafter xe2x80x9cPTFExe2x80x9d) i.e. Teflon(copyright) or other similar material installed thereon at the primary wear location within the valve body to reduce ATF leakage. The present valve piston also includes an internal ATF gallery with radially extending passages formed therein in fluid communication with an annular groove wherein the expandable seal resides. Whenever the present TCC Apply Valve is actuated by the TCC solenoid, TCC signal pressure forces ATF into the gallery in the apply valve piston and further urges the seal radially outward into contact with the bore to minimize ATF leakage during the apply cycle of the torque converter clutch.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Neural stimulation has been applied to modulate various physiologic functions and treat various diseases. One example is the modulation of cardiac functions using autonomic modulation therapy (AMT) such as vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy in a patient suffering heart failure or myocardial infarction. The myocardium is innervated with sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves including the cardiac branches of the vagus nerve. Activities in the vagus nerve, including artificially applied electrical stimuli, modulate the heart rate and contractility (strength of the myocardial contractions). Electrical stimulation applied to the vagus nerve is known to decrease the heart rate and the contractility, lengthening the systolic phase of a cardiac cycle, and shortening the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle. This ability of VNS is utilized, for example, to control myocardial remodeling.
Batteries are used as energy sources for implantable medical devices including those delivering neural stimulation. While the use of a battery allows a medical device to be totally implantable, without the need of transcutaneous power transmission, the power consumption and longevity of the medical device is limited by the capacity of the battery. For example, many implantable medical devices providing for cardiac and/or neural stimulation treating cardiac disorders are long-term treatments that may last up to the patient's lifetime. When the battery of such an implantable medical device is no longer able to provide sufficient energy for the operation of the device, the device is to be explanted and replaced. Because it may take weeks to months to arrange for the device replacement after such need is indicated based on the energy state of the battery, there is a need to manage behavior of the implantable medical device during this period of time, when the battery is near its end of life. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The dystrophin-deficient muscle diseases include Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), and X-linked dilated cardiomyopathy (XLDC). They are among the most common genetic diseases and affect more than one male infant in every 3,000 newborns. The progressive muscle degeneration and weakness usually confine the patients to wheelchairs by their early teens, and lead to death by their early twenties. Women carriers are also affected in their 40s to 50s. The above mentioned muscle diseases are caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, specifically, the X-linked recessive mutations. The dystrophin gene is the largest gene known to date, which spans nearly 2.4 million base-pairs on the X-chromosome with 79 exons, a coding sequence of about 11.5 kb, and a high rate of de novo mutations.
Currently, there is no effective treatment for dystrophin-deficient diseases. Novel genetic approaches including cell therapy and gene therapy have been actively explored. However, the tremendous size of the dystrophin gene and mRNA (14 kilobases; kb) are formidable obstacles to the development of gene therapy. For this reason, studies have focused on developing smaller abbreviated versions of the mini-dystrophin or micro-dystrophin genes. These abbreviated genes can be introduced via a viral vector (such as an AAV vector and a lentiviral vector) or via stem cells (such as mesoangioblasts, CD133+ stem cell, and side population cells) (Yuasa et al., 1998; Wang et al., 2000; Ferrer et al., 2000; Harper et al., 2002; Fabb et al., 2002; Sakamoto et al., 2002; Bachrach et al., 2004; Sampaolesi et al., 2006; Benchaouir et al 2007, Cell Stem Cell 1:646-657). The microgene generally refers to the naturally occurring and the synthetic dystrophin genes that have a coding sequence equal to or less than 5 kb and can be packaged in a single adeno-associated viral vector (AAV). The minigene refers to the synthetic dystrophin genes that have a coding sequence equal to or less than 10 kb, but larger than 5 kb. The minigene cannot be packaged in a single AAV vector but can be delivered through a variant of dual vectors such as the overlapping vector, the trans-splicing vector and the hybrid vector.
The wild type dystrophin gene carries two main biological functions. One is to provide a mechanic link between the cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix so that the muscle membrane is stabilized during contraction. The other is to provide signaling function for a number of important cellular activities. The signaling function of dystrophin is accomplished mainly through a partner protein called neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) (Rando, 2001). Several studies have shown that nNOS is recruited to the sarcolemma by the full-length dystrophin protein (Brenman et al., 1995; Brenman et al., 1996). Recent studies further suggested that the loss of nNOS in dystrophin-deficient muscle contributed significantly to the disease progression in animal models of DMD and human DMD patients (Brenman et al., 1995; Chang et al., 1996; Thomas et al., 1998; Sander et al., 2000). Furthermore, transgenic over-expression of nNOS ameliorates muscle pathology in the mdx mouse model of DMD (Wehling et al., 2001; Tidball and Wehling-Henricks, 2004; Shiao et al., 2004; Wehling-Henricks et al., 2005).
Attempts to generate dystrophin minigenes and microgenes have been documented. For example, the ΔR4-R23/ΔC micro-dystrophin can reduce histopathology in mouse models of DMD. However, this micro-protein cannot recover muscle specific force to the normal level (Harper et al., 2002; Gregorevic et al., 2004; Liu et al., 2005; Yue et al., 2006; Gregorevic et al., 2006). The ΔH2-R19 mini-dystrophin gene is derived from a very mild patient (England et al., 1990; Harper et al., 2002). This minigene is better than the ΔR4-R23 microgene or the ΔR4-R23/ΔC microgene because it can recover the muscle specific force to the same level as the full-length dystrophin gene (Harper et al., 2002; Lai et al., 2005). However, the minigene cannot restore nNOS. As a matter of fact, none of the existing mini- or micro-dystrophin genes have the ability to recruit nNOS to the sarcolemma (Table 1) (Chao et al., 1996; Crawford et al., 2000; Warner et al., 2002; Wells et al., 2003; Torelli et al., 2004; Lai et al., 2005; Yue et al., 2006; Li et al., 2006; Judge et al., 2006). The failure to restore sarcolemmal nNOS will significantly reduce the therapeutic efficacy of the minimized dystrophin genes.
Previously it was thought that nNOS is recruited to the sarcolemma through the C-terminal domain of the dystrophin protein (Brenman et al., 1995; Brenman et al., 1996). The full-length dystrophin protein has four domains including the N-terminal domain, mid-rod domain, cysteine-rich domain, and C-terminal domain. The N-terminal domain and a portion of the mid-rod domain interact with cytoskeleton protein F-actin. The mid-rod domain contains 24 spectrin-like repeats and four hinges. The cysteine-rich domain interacts with transmembrane protein dystroglycan to connect dystrophin to the extracellular matrix. The C-terminal domain contains two syntrophin binding sites and one dystrobrevin binding site. Several studies suggest that nNOS is recruited to the sarcolemma through a PDZ/PDZ domain interaction between nNOS and α-syntrophin (Brenman et al., 1996; Hillier et al., 1999; Kameya et al., 1999; Tochio et al., 1999; Adams et al., 2001; Miyagoe-Suzuki and Takeda, 2001). This seems to suggest that a mini- or micro-gene with the C-terminal domain should be able to recruit nNOS to the sarcolemma. However, studies have repeatedly shown that none of the existing C-terminal domain containing mini/micro-dystrophin proteins can bring nNOS to the sarcolemma although syntrophin is perfectly localized to the sarcolemma in these occasions (Chao et al., 1996; Lai et al., 2005). Furthermore, a C-terminal truncated full-length dystrophin protein was shown to recruit nNOS to the sarcolemma (Crawford et al., 2000).
Table 1 evaluates and summarizes the structures and functions of several naturally occurring dystrophin genes and several representative synthetic dystrophin minigenes and microgenes. Among all the tested genes, only the natural isoform Dp427 (full-length dystrophin gene) and Dp260 (retinal isoform of the full-length gene), and a C-terminal truncated full-length gene (Δ71-78) have been confirmed to restore nNOS to the sarcolemma. However, as discussed above, these genes are too big for AAV or lentiviral vector packaging.
Therefore, there is a need for developing a novel mini/micro-dystrophin gene, or a series thereof, with the ability to restore nNOS to the sarcolemma, and to be used for gene therapy in the treatment of DMD, BMD and XLDC. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Retailers are under constant pressure to cut costs, improve margins, improve customer service, increase floor traffic, and increase customer satisfaction. This has always been so, but the rise of the internet, available at home and while mobile, has increased the pressure greatly. Loyalty programs and per-customer pricing, such as special discounts, are one set of tools used in the past, and used more. Moreover, there is an increased demand to communicate efficiently with management, employees, customers and other associated with the retail environment. Such concerns also extend to situations and environments besides retail settings. Modern communication devices provide for many communication and business analytics opportunities in retail and other settings.
The drawings referred to in this description of embodiments should be understood as not being drawn to scale except if specifically noted. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Home construction recently has been in a conversion from the use of wooden frame construction to the use of metal frame construction. Wooden studs, particularly 2×4 and 2×6 studs have been replaced with metal studs. When performing home construction numerous holes or openings are required to be machined into the wall studs to permit the wiring, plumbing and other utility services to be placed behind walls and below floors of home construction.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a prior art spade drill 1 is shown for use in preparing hole 2 in a stud, for example a 2×4 wooden stud 3. The drill bit 1 includes a pilot 4 which extends from cutting face 5 of the drill bit 1. The pilot 4 contacts the stud 3 and provides a pilot or guide until the cutting face 5 contacts the stud 3 and serves to remove material from the stud 3 to provide opening 2.
Referring now to FIG. 1A, a 2×4 wooden stud 3 is shown in cross section. The 2×4 stud 3 has cross sectional dimensions of about 1½ inches by 3½ inches.
For metal studs, a hole saw 6 is typically used for preparing openings 7 in the metal studs 8. As shown in FIG. 2, the hole saw 6 includes a pilot 9 as well as a peripheral circular cutting surface 10. The pilot 9 first contacts the metal stud 8. After the pilot 9 has engaged the stud 8, the peripheral circular cutting surface 10 of the hole saw 6 creates a cylindrical opening in the metal stud 8 whereby a plug (not shown) is created from material of the metal stud 8. The plug is then removed from the hole saw 6.
Referring now to FIG. 2A, a metal construction wall stud 8 is shown in cross section. The metal stud 8 has cross sectional shape that is generally U-shaped with opposed lips 12 extending inwardly for the end of the U-shape. The metal stud 8 is typically made of 20 gauge mild steel and has a thickness TS of about 0.0359 inches.
The prior art hole saw 6 for use in preparing holes in metal stud 8 as shown in FIG. 2A is a relatively expensive tool. Further, the use of construction crews to build homes having either a combination of metal and wooden studs or having the frame crew of the construction company preparing both wooden framed homes and metal framed homes requires the framers to have drill bits for wood and separate drill bits for metal studs.
There is a need for a less expensive drill bit for use in preparing openings in metal wall studs. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A mobile terminal is a portable device having at least one of a function for performing voice and video communication, a function for inputting and outputting information, and a function for storing data. Such a mobile terminal has complicated functions such as photographing of photos, capturing of moving images, playback of music files or moving image files, reception of games or broadcasts, or wireless Internet and has been implemented as a multimedia player, as the functions thereof have been diversified.
New attempts have been variously given to the mobile terminal implemented as the multimedia player in hardware or software in order to implement complicated functions. For example, there is a user interface environment for enabling a user to easily and conveniently search for or select a function. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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