1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates generally to lead frames which are used to constitute various electronic components such as IC's or LSI's, and more particulary to such a lead frame having a pin holding structure which serves to prevent undesirable deformation of the lead pins during transport of the lead frame or during assembly thereof into an electronic component. The invention also relates to a pin holding method for a lead frame.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
As is well known in the art, lead frames are manufactured by photoetching or press-working a thin metallic strip into a predetermined form to have a longitudinally spaced islands and a plurality of lead pins associated with each island. The metallic strip is usually made of Fe-Ni based alloy, copper, or copper based alloy.
Due to recent demand for further integration or sophistication of semiconductor devices, lead frames to be incorporated in such devices are required to have a very small thickness with its lead pins slenderized and densely arranged. Therefore, the lead pins are becoming increasingly liable to deformation during transport of the lead frame and/or during assembly thereof into an IC, particularly during chip bonding and wire bonding. Such deformation of the lead pins results in poor quality and low yield.
In order to eliminate the above problem, it has been proposed to apply a heat-resistant adhesive tape onto the inner lead pins of a lead frame, so that the inner lead pins are prevented from deformation and resultant shorting. More specifically, the tape consists of a polyimide film coated at one side with an acrylic adhesive. Such adhesive tape is available under the tradename "PYRALUX" from Du Pont Company.
In use, a blank adhesive tape which is originally wide is punched by a die into a segment of suitable shape and dimensions depending on the particular type of lead frame being processed. The tape segment is then transferred onto a specified surface portion of the lead frame, and the taped lead frame is subjected to heat and pressure to maximize adhesion of the tape.
The above pin holding tape, however, has a disadvantage that it necessitates the use of a costly punching die which is designed to suit a particular type (length, width, configuration, etc.) of lead frame and which must be replaced in a time-taking operation by a differetly designed die to suit another type of lead frame. After punching, the tape produces a substantial residual portion, resulting in economical problem in view of the expensive materials of which the tape is made. Further, the tape has a possibility of coming off relatively easily from the lead frame surface.


Aerated frozen products generally require the mixing of selected liquid ingredients with a prescribed volume of air and freezing of the resultant mixture and dispensing of the finished product. The desirability of the finished product is often related directly to the manner and to the degree in which the air is metered and blended with the liquid ingredients of the mixture and the manner in which the blended mix is frozen. The prior art is replete with examples of apparatus for dispensing ice cream and other semifrozen dairy products such as soft ice cream and frozen yogurt.
Usually in such dispensers, the liquid mix containing, in the case of ice cream, ingredients such as cream, milk, condensed milk, syrup, etc. is delivered to a freezing chamber containing air or another non-toxic gas. In the freezing chamber, the mixture is slowly frozen and mechanically agitated by blades or the like to incorporate the air or gas in the mixture. This aeration is especially important and produces an increase in bulk corresponding to a decrease in the product specific gravity, thereby providing what is referred to in the ice cream industry as "over-run". The slow freezing and continuous agitation of results in the formation of ice crystals and particles of varying size which can detract from the palatability of the resultant product.
The chamber typically serves both as the means of freezing and as a reservoir from which individual servings are withdrawn. When the ice cream is partially frozen to the proper consistency, it is pumped or extruded from the freezing chamber to the dispenser outlet for delivery, on demand, to containers such as cups and cones. Examples of such apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,904,085; 3,954,126 and 4,201,588.
The prior apparatus do not necessarily achieve close control of over-run, which is a prime factor affecting product palatability and profit in the manufacture of ice cream and similar products. If there is not enough aeration in the finished product, not only may the product be so dense as to be unpalatable, but also more liquid mix is required to make a given volume of the product, thereby lowering profit. On the other hand, if there is too much air in the finished product, the product may be considered too "fluffy" and of lower quality and value. Also, in many states there are regulations against providing excessive over-run in certain products to protect the consumer from being charged for a product that consists largely of air.
Conventional dispensers are usually dedicated to dispensing one or two flavors of product and, in some cases, a combination ("twist") of the two. For example, in an ice cream shop, there may be one machine with two separate freezing chambers for making and dispensing chocolate and vanilla ice cream, a second two-chamber machine for making and dispensing strawberry and banana ice cream, a third machine dedicated to making and dispensing coffee and frozen pudding flavors, and so on. The reason for this is that each chamber typically contains a volume of ice cream greater than is required for a single serving. In order to dispense a different flavor ice cream, that chamber must be emptied before the new flavor can be made in that chamber and appear at the outlet of the dispenser; additionally, the vat of preflavored mix from which the material being aerated and frozen is drawn must also be cleaned. While high volume ice cream shops and confectionery stores may have sales to justify the presence of several dispensing machines dispensing many different products, smaller sales outlets can usually only afford one or two such machines and are thus restricted in the number of flavors that they can offer to customers.
Further, because the product is typically formed in a quantity that is greater than that to be dispensed at any one serving, the excess product remains in the chamber after formation and until the next serving is required. The excess is thus subjected to further mechanical beating by any blades in the chamber, as well as to excess freezing which promotes crystallization. Because of the quantity of the premixed flavors, and the continuous freezing and beating of several quarts of the product, the freshness and palatability of the product may be adversely affected in stores with slow sales of the product.
Another disadvantage of the prior dispensers is that they have many interior surfaces and moving parts that are difficult and time-consuming to clean and to maintain. At the end of each day or at other intervals prescribed by local Health Department regulations, each dispenser must be purged of any remaining product, and its chamber walls, pumps, and other internal parts cleaned thoroughly to prevent growth of bacteria that could contaminate product being delivered by the dispenser. Not only is the cleaning operation expensive in terms of downtime, it is also costly in terms of product waste and is an unpleasant and difficult job to get employees to do properly.
There have been attempts to produce and dispense aerated frozen products on a continuous basis by atomization. In one example of this type of dispenser, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,594,422, a liquid mix and a liquid refrigerant are mixed in a mixing chamber and fed through a rotary emulsifier which forms a single liquid emulsion. The emulsion is then jetted from a spray nozzle, into a separating chamber where the liquid refrigerant evaporates, effectively freezing adjacent droplets of mix and thereby transforming them into flakes or a fine powder. Groups of flakes then agglomerate into larger particles containing an interior void. The refrigerant adsorbed on the interior surfaces of the void may further expand in the separating chamber to increase the bulk of the particles and thus decrease their density. The liquid refrigerant evaporated in the separating chamber is drawn off and reused. The frozen particles fall into the chamber of a screw-type extruder which compresses the particles at a controlled rate to give the final product the desired density and drives the frozen product to the dispenser outlet.
The over-run is formed by, and limited by, the void space between flakes formed by mechanical agglomeration as opposed to actual entrapment of air within the interior of an individual droplet. Thus, even though that patented dispenser uses atomization to make an aerated frozen product, the over-run is determined by the amount of liquid refrigerant adsorbed in the liquid mix before it is fed to the separator. In addition, the extruder is required to further reduce over-run and improve body texture.
Also that patented apparatus, like the other dispensers described above, has various internal surfaces and moving parts which must be cleaned in order to keep that dispenser in a sanitary condition. Moreover, there is always a supply of frozen product in the extruder chamber. As described above, this makes it impossible to change quickly from one product flavor to another and, if there is a change without disassembling and cleaning the machine, this results in a mixing of flavors.


Whenever the line or supply voltage is less than the open circuit voltage (OCV) required to operate a gas discharge lamp, the supply voltage magnitude to the lamp must be increased in order to drive the lamp into operation. There must also be some technique to start and restart the lamp, either hot or cold. The required starting voltage is greater than the lamp operating voltage.
Many different systems have been devised to provide this required operating lamp voltage. The conditions described above, wherein the supply voltage is less than the OCV required for lamp operation, are common because the lowest usable voltage is normally employed for reasons of economy and availability at the application site. One normally uses the highest lumen-per-watt output lamp which is often one of the higher voltage lamps. The lighting system must be consistent with the lighting requirements and must be operable on the available line voltage. If a 120 VAC supply is available, lamps of certain types up to some known wattage level and lumen output can be operated; for the newer, more efficient metal halide lamps and higher wattage lamps, one must arrange for a higher lamp supply voltage such as 240-530 VAC, which may not be available.
In these circuits, there are certain basic components, in addition to the lamp itself, which are present, including some form of ballast for voltage transformation and for controlling or limiting the operating current level and lamp power. A semiconductor switching circuit is typically used to step up the source voltage to provide the required lamp ignition and sustaining voltage. A lamp starting circuit is normally present and it is common to switch this starting circuit out of operation, or minimize its influence, after the lamp has entered its normal operation mode.
Stated differently, a lamp operating circuit most often includes a power source, which is normally a low-voltage AC source, some circuit means for controlling the amount of wattage which is delivered to the lamp, and the lamp itself. The circuit usually includes other components for special purposes such as power factor control.
Lamp operating circuits of the prior art have relied upon switching devices such as SCRs, Triacs, transistors or the like to do some of the voltage transformation and control switching, and many of these circuits have included complex and expensive collections of circuits and components. The more components that are used, the more attention that must be paid to the problems associated with heat dissipation and circuit failure rates and life. It is therefore desirable to minimize the number of such components.
It is also very desirable, especially in high wattage lamp circuits, to have a high operating power factor for the lamp and the operating circuit. This is sometimes a problem with circuits using large inductive devices, and many circuits of the prior art include capacitive devices to correct the power factor. Switching circuits that are used in lamp operating circuits most often generate a poor power factor and high line harmonics condition.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a contacting and separating mechanism which causes a first member to contact a second member and separates the first member contacting the second member from the second member and an image forming apparatus using the contacting and separating mechanism such as a copying apparatus, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a multifunctional apparatus having the above functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying apparatus and a printer, a contacting and separating mechanism, which causes a member to be contacted such as a secondary transfer roller to contact a contacting member such as an intermediate transfer belt (image carrier) and separates the member contacting the contacting member from the contacting member, has been widely used (see Patent Documents 1 through 3).
In an image forming apparatus in Patent Document 1, four photoconductor drums are arrayed to face an intermediate transfer belt. On the four photoconductor drums, a black toner image, a yellow toner image, a magenta toner image, and a cyan toner image are formed, respectively. The four toner images are transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt by being superposed. The superposed toner image on the intermediate transfer belt is transferred onto a recording medium at a position where the intermediate transfer belt contacts a secondary transfer roller.
In the image forming apparatus, in order to reduce the wear and deterioration of the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary transfer roller caused by the friction between the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary transfer roller, or in order to remove a recording medium jammed at a position where the intermediate transfer belt contacts the secondary transfer roller, a contacting and separating mechanism is provided which automatically causes the secondary transfer roller to contact the intermediate transfer belt and automatically separates the secondary transfer roller from the intermediate transfer belt.
Specifically, in Patent Document 1, by a roller pressure applying lever (pressure applying member) whose rotation supporting point is near the secondary transfer roller, the secondary transfer roller is caused to contact the intermediate transfer belt. When a cam contacting the roller pressure applying lever is rotated to a predetermined angle, the roller pressure applying lever is pushed downward against a spring force which pushes the roller pressure applying lever. With this, the secondary transfer roller is separated from the intermediate transfer belt.
In Patent Document 1, in order to replace the secondary transfer roller with a new one, a rotation supporting point for moving the secondary transfer roller by its own weight is provided, in addition to the rotation supporting point of the roller pressure applying lever.
In Patent Document 2, a secondary transfer frame pressure applying metal plate and a secondary transfer member (pressure applying member) whose rotation supporting point is near the secondary transfer roller pushes the secondary transfer roller to the intermediate transfer belt. When a cam is rotated to a predetermined angle, which cam is disposed under the secondary transfer roller, and contacts the secondary transfer frame pressure applying metal plate, a spring force pushing the secondary transfer frame pressure applying metal plate and the secondary transfer member is released. With this, the secondary transfer roller is separated from the intermediate transfer belt.
In Patent Document 3, a secondary transfer unit (pressure applying member) whose rotation supporting point is separated from the secondary transfer roller causes the secondary transfer roller to contact the intermediate transfer belt. When a cam is rotated to a predetermined angle, which cam is disposed under the secondary transfer roller and contacts the secondary transfer unit, the secondary transfer roller is separated from the intermediate transfer belt.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-252258    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-030896    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-201954
However, in the image forming apparatus, when, for example, a power source of the apparatus is cut off and an automatic contacting and separating mechanism which is moved by a motor is not operated, in order to remove a recording medium jammed at a position where the intermediate transfer belt contacts the secondary transfer roller, or in order to perform maintenance of the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary transfer roller, a manual separating mechanism which manually separates the secondary transfer roller from the intermediate transfer belt must be provided.
However, in a case where the manual separating mechanism is attached to the automatic contacting and separating mechanism, when a manually operable cam (manual cam) contacts the pressure applying member of the automatic contacting and separating mechanism while using the pressure applying member and the rotation supporting point of the automatic contacting and separating mechanism as they are, a great force may be required for the manual operation or pressure deviation may be generated in the width direction of the secondary transfer roller which contacts the intermediate transfer belt.
That is, in order to increase the operability of the manual separating mechanism, in a case where the rotation supporting point of the pressure applying member rotating with the secondary transfer roller is disposed near the secondary transfer roller and the manual cam is disposed at a position separated from the secondary transfer roller, when the parallelism between the secondary transfer roller and the rotation supporting point of the pressure applying member is not accurately obtained, the pressure deviation in the width direction of the secondary transfer roller which contacts the intermediate transfer belt becomes great.
Specifically, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the rotation supporting point of the pressure applying member is near the secondary transfer roller, the pressure deviation in the width direction of the secondary transfer roller which contacts the intermediate transfer belt may be great.
In addition, in Patent Document 1, when the secondary transfer roller is replaced with a new one, the rotation supporting point for moving the secondary transfer roller by its own weight is formed, in addition to the rotation supporting point of the pressure applying member. However, the above problem is not solved and the size of the apparatus becomes large.
In Patent Document 3, since the rotation supporting point of the pressure applying member is at a position separated from the secondary transfer roller, the pressure deviation of the secondary transfer roller is relatively small at the contacting position with the intermediate transfer belt; however, when the cam is manually moved, a large force is required.
The above problems are not limited to the separating mechanism in which the secondary transfer roller is separated from the intermediate transfer belt. That is, the problems are common in all the separating mechanisms in which a member contacting another member is separated from the other member.


Modern inventory systems, such as those in mail order warehouses, supply chain distribution centers, airport luggage systems, and custom-order manufacturing facilities, face significant challenges in responding to requests for inventory items. As inventory systems grow, the challenges of simultaneously completing a large number of packing, storing and other inventory-related tasks become non-trivial. In inventory systems tasked with responding to large numbers of diverse inventory requests, inefficient utilization of system resources, including space, equipment, and manpower, can result in lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, an ever-increasing backlog of unfinished tasks, and, in general, poor system performance. Additionally, expanding or reducing the size or capabilities of many inventory systems requires significant changes to existing infrastructure and equipment. As a result, the cost of incremental changes to capacity or functionality may be prohibitively expensive, limiting the ability of the system to accommodate fluctuations in system throughput.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to antennas employing single reflector configurations and, more particularly, to antennas of this character adapted for use simultaneously for a plurality of frequency bands, with the multiple main beams (at different frequencies) coincident, separate or scannable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been proposed in the prior art, for coincident multiple beams, to use a single reflector for a pair of frequency bands from a pair of feeds. This has been achieved by employing dicroic frequency selective surfaces. Prior art systems of this type are disclosed, for example, in T. W. Leonard and L. R. Young, "Frequency Selective Surfaces," AP-S International Symposium, June 1977, pp. 560-563 and A. G. Cha, "Beam Squint in Large Ground Station Antennas," AP-S International Symposium, June 1977, pp. 538-540. Such frequency selective surfaces, however, require high manufacturing tolerances and employ multilayers which increase the losses and cost of the antennas.
Separate multiple beams, however, are generated from multiple separate feeds at the focal area of the reflector. These are restricted to minimum beam separation which corresponds to the sizes of the feeding arrangements. The degradation of the beams is a function of the beam separation and the multiplicity of the feeding arrangements. Detailed description of these systems are disclosed, in M. Afifi and P. Foldes, "Optimum Contiguous Multibeam Antenna Coverage," AP-S International Symposium, June 1980, pp. 74-77.


It has been suggested to treat an entire windshield of a vehicle (e.g.—an automobile) with a uniform layer of material that is normally transparent, but fluoresces when it is illuminated with ultraviolet (UV) light, and then project a focused pattern of UV light onto the windshield by using a UV laser to display images on the windshield. The UV laser projects images by altering the direction and intensity of a UV laser beam onto the windshield according to a scanning pattern in order to display both complex indeterminate information, such as a map or other navigation information, and display simple predetermined information such as a symbol indicating that a turn signal is activated. U.S. Pat. No. 6,979,499 issued Dec. 27, 2005 to Walck et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,986,581 issued Jan. 17, 2006 to Sun et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,355 issued Aug. 15, 2006 to Liu et al. describe suitable fluorescent materials and application methods, and describe using a UV laser to project images, the entire disclosures of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. It has been observed that using a UV laser to illuminate such fluorescent material on a windshield may not always provide a sufficiently distinguishable image, such as when bright sunshine is present. Also, when considering providing such a feature on lower priced automobiles, the cost of a UV laser is generally thought to be prohibitive.


A variety of therapeutic articles are used to treat various ailments, injuries and the like. However, a need exists for personal care articles, which can be used in home spa applications. The personal care articles need to be modular and have activatable personal care compositions to provide a variety of therapeutic benefits to a user.


Electronic endoscope devices for a living body to be inserted into a body cavity for internal observation have been developed. In general, such electronic endoscope device is provided with a lens, a solid-state image pickup element (CCD) and the like at a distal end of its insertion portion. An observed image is formed by the solid-state image pickup element through the lens and photoelectrically converted. An electric signal indicating the photoelectrically converted observed image is processed as appropriate by a processor and outputted to a monitor TV, which displays the observed image.
Size reduction is sought after for from various reasons image pickup devices in which a lens and a solid-state image pickup element are provided at a distal end of an electronic endoscope.
Regarding a structure to reduce the size of an image pickup device mounted at the distal end of an endoscope, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-115436 discloses size reduction of the image pickup device by mounting parts on a flexible board connected to the solid-state image pickup element and by bending the flexible board in a cylindrical shape so as to enlarge a mounting area.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus connectable to a plurality of external devices.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Conventional printing apparatus have been provided for forming copy images based on print data transmitted from a personal computer, word processor or similar data processing device (hereinafter referred to as the "host"). Furthermore, printing apparatus connectable to a plurality of hosts have also been provided. The printing apparatus connectable to a plurality of hosts is provided a plurality of connectors for external device input, and print data input from the plurality of hosts to the printing apparatus can be accomplished by connecting signal cables between the aforesaid connectors and the various hosts.
The aforesaid type of printing apparatus allows a single printing apparatus to be commonly used as a printing means by a plurality of hosts without providing a selector for selectably switching among the plurality of host devices connected thereto. Such an arrangement is particularly logical from the perspectives of cost and space requirements.
Heretofore, printing apparatus have been unable to receive print requests from other hosts while printing print data transmitted from a single printing apparatus in accordance with a print request received therefrom. That is, conventional printing apparatus have a disadvantage inasmuch as during the time that the printing apparatus is being used by a single host, that printing apparatus is unavailable for use by other hosts connected thereto.


1. Field of the Invention
The subject of the present invention is a method for preparing 19-norsteroid compounds, and the intermediate compounds prepared during the use of this method.
2. Description of the Art
Osteoporosis is a bone disease which affects 50 million people worldwide, more particularly women. Its development is linked to age and begins most often after the menopause. This disease is characterized by a reduction in bone density, causes deformations, vertebral compression and in time spontaneous fractures. Osteoporosis therefore represents a serious challenge for public health. The main treatment consists in taking estrogens regularly, which reduces bone loss but which, nevertheless, may be accompanied by certain side effects (bleeding, hot flushes, risk of breast cancer, and the like). A novel series of molecules called SERM (Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator) allows the treatment of osteoporosis while avoiding some of the side effects (WO98/45316, WO99/67274, WO98/28324, WO99/25725, EP605193, WO02/100880).
The subject of the present application is the development of a novel method for preparing a key intermediate (compound of formula I) in the synthesis of certain estrogen derivatives having a dissociated activity.
All of the references described herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration motor having brushes with different osculatory tracks, and more particularly to a vibration motor having brushes with different osculatory tracks, which reduces the abrasion of a commutator and has an elongated life span.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, communication apparatuses essentially require an incoming-call notification function. The above incoming-call notification function may take the form of sound, such as a melody or bell, or vibration.
The vibration is mainly used to prevent the melody or bell from being transmitted to the outside through a speaker, thereby not annoying other persons. In order to generate the vibration, a small-sized vibration motor is driven to transmit its driving force to a case of an apparatus, thereby vibrating the apparatus.
Vibration motors, which are recently applied to portable phones, are divided into coin type vibration motors having a small thickness and bar type vibration motors having a long shape according to shapes of the motors.
Regardless of the type of vibration motor, the vibration motor uses electromagnetic induction, in which electromagnetic force perpendicular to a magnetic field is generated by flowing current in the magnetic field, to which a conductor is positioned perpendicular.
The coin type vibration motor generates vibration in a simple manner such as by rotating a counter weight positioned therein.
Particularly, the coin type vibration motor has a small thickness and minimizes the number of components of a portable phone, thereby being increasingly used now.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional coin type vibration motor. With reference to FIG. 1, the coin type vibration motor 100 will be described in detail, as follows.
The coin type vibration motor 100 comprises a stator assembly 110 serving as a fixed member, and a rotor assembly 120 serving as a rotary member.
The stator assembly 110 includes a bracket 111 having a circular flat plate shape, a lower substrate 112 attached to an upper surface of the bracket 111, and a magnet 113 having a disk shape attached to an upper surface of the lower substrate 112.
The upper surface of the bracket 111 is sealed by a case 150, and is connected to the case 150 by a central shaft 130.
The rotor assembly 120 is rotatably connected to the shaft 130, and includes a bearing 121, coil assemblies 122, a counter weight 123, a commutator 124, an upper substrate 125 and an insulator 126.
The upper substrate 125 is a circular printed circuit board, and supplies current having opposite polarities to the coil assemblies 122 through patterns formed on upper and lower surfaces of the upper substrate 125 when power from the commutator 124 attached to the lower surface of the upper substrate 125 is supplied thereto.
The commutator 124 is buried under the lower surface of the upper substrate 125 such that a plurality of segments of the commutator 124 form a circle centering on a rotary center and a contact surface of the commutator 124 is exposed to the outside.
Each of the coil assemblies 122 includes at least one coil so that the coils have the same rotating radius as the magnet 113, and the powers having opposite polarities are supplied to the coil assemblies 122 by the upper substrate 125.
The counter weight 123 is made of a material having a high specific gravity, such as tungsten, and is attached on the surface of the upper substrate 125, on which the coil assemblies 122 are positioned, thereby determining the eccentricity of the vibration motor 100.
The insulator 126 serves to firmly attach the bearing 121, the coil assemblies 12 and the counter weight 123 to the upper substrate 125, and to insulate the bearing 121, the coil assemblies 12 and the counter weight 123 from the upper substrate 125.
Here, lower ends of the stator assembly 110 and the rotor assembly 120 are fixed to the lower substrate 112, and upper ends of the stator assembly 110 and the rotor assembly 120 are electrically interconnected by a brush 140 contacting the commutator 124.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional bar type vibration motor. With reference to FIG. 2, the bar type vibration motor 200 will be described in detail, as follows.
The bar type vibration motor 200 comprises a stator assembly 210 and a rotor assembly 220.
The stator assembly 210 includes a body 211, a cap 212 fixed to one side of the body 211, and a magnet 213. The body 211 has a hollow cylindrical shape, and the magnet 213 is fixed to the inside of the body 211.
The rotor assembly 220 includes an eccentric poise 223, a plurality of commutators 224 divisionally fixed to one surface of a fixing body 225, and a plurality of coil assemblies 222 fixed to the fixing body 225.
The commutators 224 include a plurality of flat segments on the lower surface of the fixing body 225, and the coil assemblies 222 are electrically connected to the commutators 224 respectively.
Here, one end of a shaft 230 is connected to the eccentric poise 223, and the other end of the shaft 230 is connected to the fixing body 225. The shaft 230 is rotatably supported by bearings 221 installed in the body 211.
Further, a lower substrate (not shown), provided with a pair of brushes 240 fixed thereto, is mounted on the fixing cap 212. The brushes 240 are connected to a lead wire 215 for supplying power therethrough, and contact the commutators 224, thereby applying current.
The above-described vibration motors, in which the brushes contact the commutators to supply current, are referred to as “brush type vibration motors”. In order to achieve the commutating action of such brush type vibration motors, it is important to maintain proper stress of the brushes and to make the brushes contact the commutators constantly.
Hereinafter, types of the brushes of the coin-type vibration motor will be described.
With reference to FIG. 1, one end of the brush 140 is fixed to the lower substrate 112 by welding, and the uppermost tip of the other end of the brush 140 contacts the commutator 124 so as to apply current. The brush 140 serves to electrically connect the stator assembly 110 and the rotor assembly 120.
The brushes 140 are prepared in a pair, which are symmetrically designed for transmitting positive and negative power, and are located on the same osculatory track.
The brushes 140 are mainly made of a copper alloy, and the uppermost tips of the brushes 140 contacting the commutators 124 are coated with gold or other precious metal so as to obtain electric conductivity.
Regardless of which of the above-described types of vibration motors or types of brushes are used, left and right brushes 141 and 142 of the brush unit 140, as shown in FIG. 3, which are symmetrically positioned on the same osculatory track (R), contact the commutators along the same osculatory track (R).
That is, since contact portions of the commutators 124 contact the left and right brushes 141 and 142, the contact portions of the commutators are abraded twice per cycle (hereinafter, a track of the brush contacting the rotating surface of the commutator is referred to as an “osculatory track”).
Accordingly, the contact portions of the commutators are worn out, thus shortening the life span of the vibration motor.
Accordingly, in order to solve the above problems, a vibration motor having brushes with different osculatory tracks has been required in the art.


1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to document management. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and system for content dissemination by in-document tagging.
2. Related Art
Network-based document dissemination is an increasingly critical part of everyday work. However, current dissemination mechanisms, such as email, networked file systems, document management systems, or workflow systems suffer from several limitations.
In conventional systems, users can only send information at the level of entire documents. To share selected portions of documents, a user is typically required to manually extract the specific content to be shared, e.g. using cut and paste, and sending it to the recipient as a separate document or in an email message. This manual process not only is cumbersome, but also makes it difficult to reestablish context for the information or to incorporate responses into the original content when the recipient replies with comments or changes to the shared content.
In addition, conventional document sharing typically requires special sharing-related interfaces or applications, which are often stand-alone modules and are outside the context in which the information to be shared is actually generated (e.g., a word processor where the document is edited). In addition, most of these interfaces or applications only allow simple distribution of information, whereas specialized functions, such as requests for comments, edits, or approval, are often performed in an ad-hoc fashion using, for example, context provided in an email message.


This invention relates to a composition or mix and method for insulating and inducing slag formation in contact with molten metal, particularly in the manufacture of iron and steel and, more particularly, to an insulating and slag inducing mix which is cast or spread over the surface of the molten metal to form a layer of slag that acts as a refractory thermal insulation and prevents oxidation of the metal by the surrounding atmosphere.
In steelmaking and other molten metal processes, a layer of slag on the upper surface of the molten metal prevents both oxidation and excessive heat loss. The slag is formed by the selective oxidation and combination of various impurities (for example, in a charge of blast-furnace iron, scrap iron and other added materials) and causes separation of the material components into desired compositions of steel and slag.
Various materials have been used or proposed as additives to form an insulating slag cover for molten metal in steelmaking furnaces. In steelmaking processes, ferrous blast furnace slag has been used as an inexpensive slag inducer to form a layer over the molten metal in basic oxygen or electric arc furnaces. Ferrous slag, however, releases sulfur compounds which cause pollution of the atmosphere. Ferrous slag addition, moreover, creates a thicker than usual layer of slag that increases refractory wear and, in addition, promotes the formation of undesirable sticky or viscous slag. Viscous slag, as has been long known, hinders the rapid transfer of oxygen to the molten metal mass and causes the undesirable build-up of oxygen in the slag in the form of iron oxides.
Mixes of sand and silica have been used as inexpensive fillers but silica can create excessive amounts of slag as well as sticky slag formations and can contaminate the molten metal. Pitch or tar has also been blended with such mixes to provide a less expensive slag inducer. However, the carbon content of pitch and tar gives rise to fire safety and contamination problems. In order to reduce slag formation, aluminum oxide or alimina can be added to the mix. Free or nonfused aluminum oxide, however, has a tendency to plug the furnace orifices and causes undesirable bridging.
Thus, it is apparent that satisfactory slag and slag inducer compositions must have good chemical and thermal stability while in contact with the molten metal and must neither be subject to overly rapid breakdown or excessive slag formation, if contamination of the molten steel as well as air polluting gas formations are to be avoided. Furthermore, as in most industrial processes, it is important that materials selected for inducing slag formation be chosen on the basis of cost effectiveness.


A number of techniques are available for treating cardiovascular disease such as cardiovascular by-pass surgery, coronary angioplasty, laser angioplasty and atherectomy. These techniques are generally applied to by-pass or open lesions in coronary vessels to restore and increase blood flow to the heart muscle. In some patients, the number of lesions are so great, or the location so remote in the patient vasculature that restoring blood flow to the heart muscle is difficult. Percutaneous myocardial revascularization (PMR) has been developed as an alternative to these techniques which are directed at by-passing or removing lesions.
Heart muscle may be classified as healthy, hibernating and “dead”. Dead tissue is not dead but is scarred, not contracting, and no longer capable of contracting even if it were supplied adequately with blood. Hibernating tissue is not contracting muscle tissue but is capable of contracting, should it be adequately re-supplied with blood. PMR is performed by boring channels directly into the myocardium of the heart.
PMR was inspired in part by observations that reptilian hearts muscle is supplied primarily by blood perfusing directly from within heart chambers to the heart muscle. This contrasts with the human heart, which is supplied by coronary vessels receiving blood from the aorta. Positive results have been demonstrated in some human patients receiving PMR treatments. These results are believed to be caused in part by blood flowing from within a heart chamber through patent channels formed by PMR to the myocardial tissue. Suitable PMR channels have been burned by laser, cut by mechanical means, and burned by radio frequency current devices. Increased blood flow to the myocardium is also believed to be caused in part by the healing response to wound formation. Specifically, the formation of new blood vessels is believed to occur in response to the newly created wound.
What remains to be provided are improved methods and devices for increasing blood perfusion to the myocardial tissue. What remains to be provided are methods and devices for increasing blood flow to myocardial tissue through controlled formation of channel patterns in the myocardium.


1. Field of Invention.
This invention relates generally to a medical ventilator and more particularly to a medical ventilator which is operable in both an invasive and non-invasive ventilatory environment.
2. Description of the Related Art.
Ventilators are used by patients in various health situations. Typically, these patients have weak physiological attributes that prevent them from breathing unassisted and require invasive ventilation. Invasive ventilatory support generally requires the patient having either a tracheotomy or endotracheal tube disposed into the trachea of the patient. Such treatment generally occurs in hospitals and is administered in acute care situations or post operative recovery situations. Ventilators, such as the Siemens 300, are known to provide invasive ventilatory assistance.
The use of invasive ventilatory support has many risks. By positioning an endotracheal tube down the trachea of a patient, the patient is placed at some medical risk. Typically, there are certain physiological attributes in the trachea of a person for preventing bacteria and the like from invading into a person""s lung. However, the endotracheal tube circumvents these natural defense systems. Accordingly, patients may acquire pneumonia by having the bacteria circumvent the natural defense mechanism of the body. Additionally, positioning of an endotracheal tube into a patient subjects the patient to a risk of tracheal abrasion. Overall, the positioning of an endotracheal tube, known as intubation, should be avoided when necessary.
Typically, when a patient is placed on ventilatory support, most patients are subsequently weaned from the ventilator. Weaning involves manipulating the ventilator from that mode when the ventilator provides the most ventilatory assistance to the mode when the patient is providing most of the breathing. However, during the weaning of the patient from the ventilator, the patient remains intubated continuing further exposing the patient to health risks. Thus, there is a need for a medical ventilator that will enable a patient to be extubated, having the endotracheal tube removed from the trachea, as soon as possible to eliminate health risks.
Additionally, there are situations which arise wherein a patient having difficulty breathing is intubated prematurely and connected to a ventilator. This generally occurs since the attending physician lacks a ventilatory device which can provide ventilation in a non-invasive environment for initially determining if the patient is merely having difficulty breathing or truly requires invasive ventilation. This situation arises due to the costs associated with having a separate invasive ventilator and a non-invasive respirator which may be utilized to provide the patient with initial ventilation support. Due to the costs and expenses of having duplicate machines, most hospitals merely have invasive ventilators at their disposal.
Also, to provide ventilatory assistance in hospitals, the hospitals generally have specially designed respiratory care facilities having compressed air and oxygen hookups permanently affixed in a specific location. Such fully equipped facilities are expensive and also limit the areas where the ventilator may be accessed. Consequently, some patients who are otherwise healthy but require invasive ventilation are prevented from discharge due to their dependency on the respiratory care facility. With the high cost of hospital stays, some patients who require long term ventilatory utilization may occur exceptional hospitalization charges for the use of such expensive facilities. Thus, it is desirous to enable the ventilatory patient to be discharged to a low-acuity subacute facility or nursing home if the situation is warranted. However, most of these facilities lack the necessary pressurized air and oxygen hookups thus preventing the ventilatory patient from being discharged.
Also, since surgical areas and emergency room areas are typically stressful environments, it is desired that ventilators are easy to operate. This is also essential in today""s health care environment since many different type of health care providers are assisting patients. These include respiratory therapists, nurses and physicians. Accordingly, it is desired that an intuitive ventilator exists for both invasive and non-invasive ventilation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ventilator that can be used in both an invasive and non-invasive environment.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ventilator which can operate in both an invasive and non-invasive environment and having an operator interface that is simple to use for reducing error in operation;
Also, it is an object of the present invention to provide a self contained invasive/non-invasive ventilator having its own source of air and having the ability to mix with an oxygen or other gas source to provide flexibility in providing ventilatory assistance at different physical locations without requiring special respiratory care facilities with preexisting air sources.
The above objectives are accomplished according to the present invention by providing a ventilatory system for use in an invasive and non-invasive ventilator environment. The ventilator system includes a gas flow generator for providing a flow of gas to a patient. A conduit delivers the gas flow to the airway of the patient. At least a first valve regulates the delivery of the gas from the gas flow generator to the conduit. A controller controls the delivery of the gas flow to the patient. The system further includes a first set of operational parameters for directing the controller to control the delivery of gas to a patient if the patient is being ventilated in an invasive ventilation mode and a second set of operational parameters for directing the controller to control the delivery of gas to the patient if the patient is being ventilated in a non-invasive ventilation mode. Also a selector is utilized for selecting either the first or second set of parameters to direct the ventilator to provide either invasive or non-invasive ventilatory support to the patient.
Also, a unique blower is utilized for providing ventilatory assistance. The blower is a multi-stage centrifugal blower having an air inlet for receiving air from the ambient environment. A first impeller imparts centrifugal force onto the air. A first stator receives the air from the impeller and pressurizes the air. A second impeller subsequently receives the air from the first stator and imparts additional centrifugal force onto the air. A first impeller spacer directs the air from the first stator to the second impeller. A second stator receives the air from the second impeller and further pressurizes the air. A third impeller receives the air from the second stator and further imparts centrifugal force into the air. A second impeller spacer directs the air from the second stator to the third impeller. A blower outlet permits the pressurized air to leave the blower assembly. The overall impeller and stator configuration enables air to be pressurized to at least one hundred and sixty centimeters H2O when exiting the blower outlet.
Also, a graphical user interface is utilized in the ventilator for controlling the operation of the ventilator. An activation area is present for displaying a first activation device for a first mode of ventilation and a second activation device for a second mode of ventilation. A selector selects either the first or second activation device. A display area then displays the operational parameters pertaining either to the first or second mode of ventilation depending on the mode selected by the operator. Only those operational parameters relating to the particular ventilation mode selected by the operator are displayed.
These and other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of the specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various FIGS.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a muffler arranged in an exhaust path for reducing exhaust noise.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a muffler according to a related art. In the muffler 50, exhaust gas passes through an upstream pipe 54 and enters a first chamber 51 through small holes 54a. Also, the exhaust gas exits from an outlet end of the upstream pipe 54 and enters a second chamber 52. The exhaust gas in the first chamber 51 enters a downstream pipe 55 through an inlet end thereof. The exhaust gas in the second chamber 52 enters the downstream pipe 55 through small holes 55a of the downstream pipe 55. The exhaust gas is then discharged into the atmosphere. According to the flow of exhaust gas mentioned above, noise from an engine passes through the upstream pipe 54 and enters the muffler 50. The noise expands when the exhaust gas enters the first chamber 51 through the small holes 54a and contracts when the exhaust gas flows into the downstream pipe 55. Also, the noise expands when the exhaust gas enters the second chamber 52 from the upstream pipe 54 and is muffled when the exhaust gas enters the downstream pipe 55 through the small holes 55a.


The invention relates to functionalized saccharides and methods of making and using such saccharides.
The early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, a family of diseases that affects one in three Americans, continues to present a major challenge (1). While primary tumors can be removed surgically, by the time they are identified, metastatic cells may have spread throughout the body resulting in the lethal growth of tumors in secondary sites. As a result, most treatment protocols involve the additional use of chemotherapeutics, many of which are characterized by severe toxic side effects. These problems have motivated the search for cancer-cell specific agents capable of facilitating the early diagnosis of tumors (i.e., before metastases have developed) and targeting the toxic effects of drugs to cancer cells and away from normal cells. A central feature of these efforts is the identification of cell-surface antigens that are specific to cancer cells. Several such antigens have been identified and, likewise, some progress has been achieved using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) as delivery agents for drugs (xe2x80x9cimmunotoxinsxe2x80x9d) (2) and diagnostic probes (xe2x80x9cimmunodiagnosticsxe2x80x9d) (3). Unfortunately, the heterogeneity of cancer-associated epitopes has necessitated laborious and cumbersome mAb preparation for each of the myriad of different cancer-associated antigens (4,5). Furthermore, the murine-based mAbs in common usage have proven to be immunogenic in human patients (6) and attempts to xe2x80x9chumanizexe2x80x9d such mAbs have not yet reached maturity (7). A particularly refractory problem is the development of resistant cells that are able to mask or downregulate the targeted antigens (4,8). Thus, alternative approaches are urgently needed for selective cancer cell targeting.
The composition of cell surface carbohydrates is dramatically altered in many epithelial and blood-derived cancers. Alterations in cancer-associated cell surface carbohydrate structures can be divided into two broad categories: a) increased levels and inappropriate expression of normal oligosaccharide epitopes and b) expression of novel carbohydrate moieties that do not normally occur on healthy cells. The major antigen families associated with transformed cells are the sialyl Lewis a, sialyl Lewis x, Lewis y, A and Tn-related oligosaccharides (4). A common feature of these antigens is that each contains one or more terminal sialic acid or fucose residues, and the Lewis antigens contain both. The overexpression of sialic acid and fucose residues is highly correlated with increased metastatic potential in several cancers with the greatest impact on human health including gastric, uterine endometrial, colonic, epithelial, pancreatic, bladder, liver, lung, prostate and breast cancers as well as several types of leukemia (9). Consequently, therapeutic and diagnostic strategies that target sialic acid and/or fucose residues may have broad applicability to a variety of cancers.
The invention provides methods and compositions for making and using functionalized glycoconjugates. For example, novel and/or unnatural sugars are incorporated into cell associated oligosaccharides using resident pathways of oligosaccharide biosynthesis to expand the informational repertoire of the plasma membrane.
Disclosed methods for making glycoconjugates include (a) contacting a cell with a first monosaccharide, and (b) incubating the cell under conditions whereby the cell (i) internalizes the first monosaccharide, (ii) biochemically processes the first monosaccharide into a second monosaccharide, (iii) conjugates the second monosaccharide to a carrier to form a glycoconjugate, and (iv) extracellularly expresses the glycoconjugate to form an extracellular glycoconjugate comprising a selectively reactive functional group. In a particular embodiments, the first monosaccharide comprises a chemically reactive functional group such as a ketone, which is incorporated into the second monosaccharide, the glycoconjugate and the extracellular glycoconjugate, the first functional group is N-linked in the first monosaccharide, and the first monosaccharide comprises ManLev.
The invention also includes methods for forming a wide variety of products at a cell. The products may provide a label, a binding site, a modulator of cell function such as a drug or toxin, a radiative emission, etc. These methods comprise the steps of making a glycoconjugate according to the invention and then contacting the functional group of the extracellularly expressed glycoconjugate with an agent which selectively reacts with the functional group to form a product. In a particular embodiment, the agent comprises a functional group moiety, such as a hydrazide, which selectively reacts with the functional group of the extracellular glycoconjugate to form a covalent bond, and an effector moiety, such as a drug, which modulates a function of a cell.
The subject compositions include cyto-compatible monosaccharides comprising a nitrogen or ether linked functional group, such as a ketone, selectively reactive at a cell surface and compositions and cells comprising such saccharides.


The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the fundamental privacy principles of both the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act 1998, along with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in February 2009 and Accountable Care Act (ACA) followed by April rulings by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) included a standard of privacy regarding an individual's right to privacy regarding health care data. In January 2013, a new revision of HIPAA 1996, labeled the HIPAA Omnibus Rule, was issued with increased emphasis on privacy, disclosure of identifiable information and tougher security provisions which comes under the 2009 HITECH Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination act. Under the provisions of HIPAA, ARRA, ACA and the FTC, health information, with few exceptions, can only be shared with the express permission, advance consent, and authorization of the patient (or the patient's legal guardian, as appropriate), and when compromised, electronic notifications (transactions) must be sent, and followed up with electronic audits and risk analysis.
By way of example, if a patient is unconscious and has provided advance authorization and consent for a licensed health care provider to securely access and view health-related and protected health information with family, next-of-kin, friends, or others involved, the patient's care and emergency care can be shared when in the best interest of the patient.
In Florida, vehicle owners can securely store emergency contact information electronically, including the name and telephone number of at least one person, and link same to their driver's licenses (DL). A law enforcement officer or first responder, if they can locate a driver's license at an accident scene, can contact the Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain emergency contact (ER-Cont) data. If not available and the vehicle occupants are unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate, notifying the family can be a challenge. ER-Cont information is only available to police at a crash scene in the state of Florida.
NLETS, the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, part of Department of Justice, can interface with Department of Motor Vehicle sites across the country and obtain emergency contact information, but only if linked to a vehicle's vehicle identification number (VIN) and with the driver's consent. However, medical data cannot be collected, stored, accessed, or shared via NLETS, which can cause a loss of critical time gaining access to critical healthcare data, such as allergies, blood type, and other medical data. Such data can save lives or improve the quality of life after a life-threatening event. In addition the Government, in 2013, added the Federal ‘First Net’ a telecommunication secure spectrum for Emergency Responders, part of the Department of Commerce.
As will be addressed throughout this disclosure, attributes contain information about a subject (known also as an actor). A subject's digital ID has a limited number of identity attributes such as address, age, title or driver's license or trait features that are inherent such as eye color, gender or birth place. A subject can also have acquired associated attributes (lifestyle, purchasing behavior, medical or banking activities) which can change easily whereas trait attributes most likely do not change. Upon being validated and authenticated with a digital ID (public key certificate attributes) and or authenticated attributes in good standing, then a person's (subject) authenticated identity can be enhanced with attributes that originate from an Attribute Certification process where one's Authentication privilege is extended to provide “certified binding attributes' such as access control, secure email, access privileges and associated relationships. As a result of the security and auditing process incorporated into Attribute Certification there is a strong privilege management policy monitoring effort, risk management process and certificate-attribute revocation process. Entities, institutions, exchanges, enterprise servers and the environment (defined as ‘objects’) can also have attributes which are represented by defined characteristics and functions. Attribute certs cannot be used to establish an identity but are used to extend the attributes of one's identity. The forgoing is in concert with NIST guidelines.
Anonymization and Pseudonymization are specific de-identification processes that file the intent of HIPAA 1996 and the HIPAA omnibus rules of January 2013. Anonymization is the process that removes the identifying characteristics (HIPAA defined) associated with protected health/clinical information and generates a not so unique health data set. The value of such allows a subject/patient to make a part of or subset of their clinical data available for a range of secondary purposes without having to access identifiable clinical information. Such data will be made available on a need to know or on an arranged basis and risk of identity is greatly minimized. The activity is handled through a trusted third party who attests to the validity of the clinical information. Pseudonymization is a specialized class of Anonymization that removes the association and adds an association between a particular set of data characteristics relating to the data subject in addition to adding more pseudonyms. This is a means by which information can be linked together to the same group of persons over time and across multiple data records without revealing the identity of the person and subject data. A trusted third party play's a critical role if there needs to be a re-identification event that is in response to a major public health event. (Activities defined in HIPAA, ACA and HITSP-ONC).
Yet further, there is a need to provide medical help for a patient using a smartphone. By way of example, if the patient is unconscious and has provided advance authorization and consent for a licensed health care provider to securely access and view health-related and protected health information with family, next-of-kin, friends, or others involved, the patient's care and emergency care should be able to be shared when in the best interest of the patient, and in particular during a medical emergency situation where a smartphone provide time access to patient medical information.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a secure system and method for making both VIN and emergency medical data available on an as-needed basis to licensed emergency medical responders, in order that care be provided in a more efficient, safe, and secure fashion if such data can be voluntarily provided and stored in a secure and separate, non-law-enforcement repository, and linked to the NLETS and the Government's ‘First Net’ telecommunication spectrum for Emergency Responders, both trusted secure infrastructures.


Reduction of the amount of soot particles emitted by diesel engines (diesel particles) during operation can make the use of diesel engines more attractive because of the considerably reduced environmental pollution. The use of soot filters in the exhaust system of diesel engines can lead to the retention of a considerable percentage of the soot particles present in the exhaust gas.
However, the fact that filters that appear to be suitable, especially filters consisting of ceramic threads or ceramic fiber packings, become clogged relatively rapidly, thus losing their filter effect, is problematic.
To regenerate such filters, it has been proposed that the soot particles located within the filter material be burned off with a burner. It has also been proposed that an oxidizing agent be sprayed into the filter in order to lower the ignition temperature of the soot.
Soot filters must be regenerated at certain intervals (determined in terms of hours of operation or the pressure rise of the exhaust gas flowing through). Since the regeneration process takes some time and it cannot be assumed that the engine would be stopped during this period, two diesel particle filters can be arranged in parallel, one of which is always connected in the path of the exhaust gas, while the other is being regenerated and is awaiting use after completion of the regeneration. In an attempt to keep the fuel consumption of an engine as low as possible, the output of the burners during the regeneration of diesel particle filters should also be kept low.


Printing plates are imaged on special opto-mechanical plate setters. The imaged plates undergo a chemical development process which is usually performed by a plate developing device 100 shown in FIG. 1A. The development process uses chemical development material in a liquid form 108. The material contained a developer tank 104 within the plate developer device 100, as is shown in FIG. 1B.
During the filling of the developer tank with developer liquid 108, air 132 may cause carbonization of liquid 108. The carbonization of the developer liquid results in degraded performance of the plate developing process. The intention of this invention is to prevent, or substantially reduce, the carbonization of the developer liquid inside the plate developing machinery.


Fiberoptic illuminators are employed widely in medical, dental and surgical procedures. The illuminator housing encloses a relatively high intensity light source. Metal halide, xenon and halogen light sources are commonly utilized. A fiberoptic cable is connected to a turret or output port mounted on the front panel of the illuminator. Light from the light source is directed through the turret to a focal point located within the turret at or close to the inlet end of the attached fiberoptic cable. The cable conducts the light and delivers it to an attached headlamp or analogous equipment. The light output is then used, as needed, for a particular medical procedure or application.
The heat generated by the illuminator at the focal point is typically extremely intense. In conventional illuminators, the turret is composed of a heat conducting metal or metal alloy. As a result, the turret transmits the intense heat at the focal point to the attached fiberoptic cable, as well as to the front panel of the illuminator housing. During a medical or surgical procedure using the illuminator, the doctor, nurse, technician or other medical personnel operating the equipment may have to touch the inlet end of the fiberoptic cable and/or the front panel of the illuminator. Such persons risk being seriously burned by the intense heat that is generated by the illuminator. To date, there are no known illuminator turrets which effectively dissipate this heat and reduce the danger of the user being seriously hurt.


Use of radio frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum is regulated by governments in most countries, by allocating specific frequency bands to particular types of uses, such as licensed bands for commercial radio and television broadcasting, cellular telephony, mobile networks such as CDMA2000, WCDMA, HSPA, LTE, and IMT, maritime radio, police, fire, and public safety radio, GPS, radio astronomy, earth stations for satellite communications, and many other uses. Governments also allocate unlicensed bands, for example, for Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) broadband access for rural areas and wireless local area networks (WLAN) and wireless personal area networks (WPAN), such as the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band.
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates use of the radio spectrum, including radio and television broadcasting. Frequencies are allocated according to a bandplan in which guard bands are assigned between the allocated radio bands to avoid interference between adjacent signals. There are also unassigned frequency bands in the spectrum that either have never been used or have become free as a result of changes in technology. Unassigned or un-used frequencies also appear locally inside the frequency bands, which are otherwise allocated in other locations. The unassigned frequency bands and guard bands are referred to as white spaces.
TV white space may be broadly defined as broadcast television spectrum that is unused by licensed services. There are at least two categories of TV white space: [1] Dedicated TV white space is a portion of the spectrum that the FCC has reallocated to unlicensed use from previously analog broadcast usage, and [2] Locally unused spectrum by licensed TV broadcasters in a geographic area.
[1] Dedicated TV white space: In the United States, the FCC has dedicated approximately 400 MHz of white spaces for unlicensed use that became unused after a federally mandated transformation of analog TV broadcasting to digital TV broadcasting. However, the FCC has prohibited unlicensed use of white spaces from interfering with existing licensed uses, including digital TV stations, low power TV stations, cable TV headends, and sites where low power wireless microphones are used. Various proposals have been made for unlicensed use of the white spaces left by the termination of analog TV, for example rural broadband deployment, auxiliary public safety communications, educational and enterprise video conferencing, personal consumer applications, mesh networks, security applications, municipal broadband access, enhanced local coverage and communications, fixed backhaul, and sensor aggregation for smart grid meter reading.
[2] Locally unused spectrum by licensed TV broadcasters: The FCC has adopted rules to allow unlicensed radio transmitters to operate in the broadcast television spectrum at locations where that spectrum is not being used by licensed broadcasters. The FCC proposes two mechanisms to enable the unlicensed transmitter to discover the available channels: geo-location and database based approach, and spectrum sensing. The use of one of the mechanisms is required for the unlicensed transmitter. The FCC proposed the use of geolocation to establish the location of the unlicensed transmitter and a database of TV bands use by licensed broadcasters organized by their geographic coverage areas, to enable the unlicensed transmitter to know where local TV band white spaces may be available. The FCC proposed the use of spectrum sensors in the unlicensed transmitter to detect the presence of the incumbent, primary TV broadcaster's signal in the local TV band to enable the unlicensed transmitter to immediately relinquish using the band. A primary user in such a local TV band would be an incumbent TV broadcaster licensed to operate in that band, but in those geographic areas where there are no licensed incumbent TV broadcasters in operation, other unlicensed secondary users may make use of that band. There may be also other incumbent users in the TV band, which the secondary users should avoid, such as program making and special events (PMSE) systems.
In addition to the United States, other countries are also considering to enable unlicensed, secondary operation in TV band white spaces. The requirements may slightly differ in different countries, e.g. in the United States the maximum transmit power for unlicensed device is defined based on the device type, whereas in Europe location specific maximum transmission power has been considered. In that case the maximum allowed transmission power for an unlicensed device would depend on the device geo-location, i.e. the distance from the primary users. The device characteristics, such as emission mask/ACLR (adjacent channel leakage ratio) may affect the maximum allowed transmission power.
Other RF spectrum white spaces may be defined as RF spectrum that is locally unused in certain geographic areas, such as for example frequency allocations from maritime radio in landlocked areas remote from the sea. A primary user in such a maritime radio band would be a maritime radio licensed to operate in that band, but in those geographic areas where there are no licensed maritime radios in operation, other unlicensed secondary users may make use of that band. Similarly, locally unused spectrum white spaces may be present in certain geographic locations, such as the frequency allocations from 2.025 GHz to 2.110 GHz for earth stations to transmit to communications satellites, in areas remote from such earth stations. A primary user in such a satellite earth station radio band would be a satellite earth station licensed to operate in that band, but in those geographic areas where there are no satellite earth stations in operation, other unlicensed secondary users may make use of that band. Further, other schemes of secondary use of spectrum, other than unlicensed schemes may exist, such as licensing, regulator defined policies, cognitive principles, or authorized shared access.


This invention relates to optical couplers and more particularly for coupling an arthoscope to a camera such as a television camera.
An arthoscope is a device or instrument which allows the practioner to examine the internal structures of joints. This is necessary in performing diagnosis of various joint ailments or diseases.
In surgical procedures or for teaching students the practioner desires to couple the arthoscope to a television or other camera while conducting an examination or procedure. In this manner the entire procedure can be viewed on a conventional television receiver.
Thus there are presently available a number of relatively small television cameras which are employed in such procedures. These cameras contain a vidicon tube which converts light images into a signal for application to the television receiver.
The television cameras are not constructed uniformly as is known. For example, the vidicon tube or the lens system is never in the same location from camera to camera. Hence a properly focussed camera will operate with an associated arthoscope and another camera will provide an unfocussed picture. The range of focussing of such cameras is limited and this range may not be suitable for operation with various different types of arthoscope. The focal length of the arthoscope from various manufacturers is never the same and the focal length will differ from each manufacturer. In any event, in order to place the image on a television receiver one must have the ability to focus the image prior to application of the same to the television camera.
In regard to the arthoscope, these devices are also supplied by various manufacturers. There are of course prior art devices which serve to accomodate or hold various optical instruments to enable one to utilize a camera or other device together with an associated optical instrument. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,938 entitled MICROSCOPE APPARATUS WITH TELEVISION FILM CAMERA issued on Mar. 13, 1979 to R. E. Feinbloom and assigned to the assignee herein. This Patent shows an optical coupler which has an input port which receives a beam of light from a microscope or beam splitter. One output is coupled to a television camera while another port is coupled to a film camera. The coupler uses a lens asssembly to provide par focal registration at the associated ports and uses a pivotable mirror to select a given output port. In any event, in that Patent, the coupling is afforded by conventional screw threads which coact with the corresponding ports of the coupler.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical coupler for coupling an arthoscope to a television camera in a simple and reliable manner whereby, the arthoscope can be quickly removed from the coupler. The apparatus also allows one to independently focus the image from the arthoscope prior to directing the image to the television camera.


The present invention is directed to electrical amplifier apparatuses, and especially to electrical amplifier apparatuses adaptively controlling output to accommodate signal clipping to improve recovery from signal clipping.
The present invention is generally useful in electrical signal amplifiers. The present invention is particularly advantageously employed in audio signal amplifying apparatuses. Amplification of electrical signals, and especially audio signals, is a challenging area of analog circuit design. Unlike some other linear circuits, audio systems are required to function with high fidelity over a broad dynamic range. While the average power required for most music listening (an example of use of an audio amplifying apparatus) is quite low, there can be peak output levels which are larger than the supply rail—the signal provided for operating the amplifier. When the output signal levels exceed the supply rail, clipping occurs at the outputs of the amplifier. Ideally the amplifier output signal will exactly match the shape of the input signal with a perfect cutoff for levels above the supply voltage. Class-AB power amplifiers typically will have no trouble achieving this kind of performance provided that good design techniques are employed. Class-D amplifiers however, which are rapidly increasing in popularity for audio amplifying applications, present challenging design issues in order to approach such ideal clipping performance.
A problem that may be experienced during a clipping condition in an amplifier is that, while clipping (i.e., while the output signal levels of the amplifier exceed the supply rail), may be illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation, in the contest of an exemplary Class D amplifier. The exemplary amplifier receives input signals at an integrator unit. The integrator unit integrates the input signals (using integrating capacitors in a feedback arrangement, which will be described in greater detail hereinafter in connection with FIGS. 1–4. When a clipping condition exists, the amplifier output can no longer maintain proportionality with the input signals received by the amplifier. During this clipping condition, integrating capacitors continue to be charged, so that the output of an integrating unit becomes larger than the reference signal. When the input signal returns to a lower level at which clipping does not occur, the amplifier takes a finite time to reduce the excess charge that has been accumulated in the integrating capacitors during clipping conditions. After the excess charge is reduced, the amplifier can return to normal operations. The delay in reducing excess charge in the integrating capacitors causes distortion during clipping recovery. A user of an audio amplifier system can notice noise occasioned by the distortion that occurs during clipping recovery operation.
There is a need for an amplifier apparatus that can reduce time required for clipping recovery operations.


Spread spectrum concepts are gaining increasing importance in the protection of communication links from jamming and detection by unfriendly forces. The most common prior art technique comprises a direct modulation of pseudorandom sequences. A binary code is generated at an information rate which is much greater than that of the data being transmitted. The data is modulo-two added to the binary code, and the resultant sequence is modulated on a suitable carrier frequency, and then it is transmitted. At the receiver, the signal is heterodyned down to baseband to remove the high frequency carrier. A high rate binary sequence which is identical to the transmitter sequence is synchronized to the incoming sequence and modulo-two added to thereby reproduce the lower rate data information back into its original form.
The above technique has several disadvantages. First, in the heterodyne procedure, a local oscillator signal of proper frequency is mixed with the incoming signal. To obtain the proper signal at baseband, the phase of the local oscillator must be identical to that of the received signal, thereby necessitating the use of elaborate techniques such as phased lock loops and in-phase and quadrature channels. Second, assuming that the signal has been properly heterodyned, to recover the data, the high-rate digital sequence generated at the receiver must be precisely synchronized with the corresponding sequence in the received waveform. As is known to those skilled in the art, achieving the requisite synchronization is a complex problem.


Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is a mobile broadband wireless communications technology in which transmissions from base stations (referred to as enhanced, or evolved, Node Bs (eNBs)) to mobile stations (referred to as User Equipments (UEs)) are sent using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). OFDM splits the signal into multiple parallel sub-carriers in frequency. The basic unit of transmission in LTE is a Resource Block (RB), which in its most common configuration consists of 12 subcarriers and seven OFDM symbols (one slot). A unit of one subcarrier and one OFDM symbol is referred to as a Resource Element (RE), as illustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, an RB consists of 84 REs. An LTE radio subframe is composed of two slots in time and multiple RBs in frequency with the number of RBs determining the bandwidth of the system, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Furthermore, the two RBs in a subframe that are adjacent in time are denoted as an RB pair. Currently, LTE supports standard bandwidth sizes of 6, 15, 25, 50, 75, and 100 RB pairs. In the time domain, LTE downlink transmissions are organized into radio frames of 10 milliseconds (ms), each radio frame consisting of ten equally-sized subframes of length Tsubframe=1 ms.
The signal transmitted by the eNB in a downlink (the link carrying transmissions from the eNB to the UE) subframe may be transmitted from multiple antennas and the signal may be received at a UE that has multiple antennas. The radio channel distorts the transmitted signals from the multiple antenna ports. In order to demodulate any transmissions on the downlink, a UE relies on Reference Symbols (RSs) that are transmitted on the downlink. These RSs and their position in the time-frequency grid are known to the UE and hence can be used to determine channel estimates by measuring the effect of the radio channel on these symbols. In LTE Release 11 and prior releases of LTE, there are multiple types of RSs. Common Reference Symbols (CRSs) are used for channel estimation during demodulation of control and data messages in addition to synchronization. The CRSs occur once every subframe.
Heterogeneous, or multi-layer, deployments of LTE networks (referred to as heterogeneous networks) can be used to, e.g., increase capacity and achievable data rates in areas where needed. A heterogeneous network includes a macro cell layer including a number of macro cells served by corresponding eNBs (sometimes referred to as macro eNBs or macro cell eNBs) and a small cell layer including a number of small cells served by corresponding small or small cell eNBs (e.g., Homes eNBs (HeNBs), pico eNBs, micro eNBs, femto eNBs, etc.). The macro eNBs serving the macro cells and the small eNBs serving the small cells have vastly different transmit powers and may be deployed in two main ways. In the first deployment type, the small cell layer and the macro cell layer share the same carrier frequencies, which creates interference between the two layers. In the second deployment type, the small cell layer and the macro cell layer are on separate frequencies.
Many features of LTE technology benefit from the eNBs in the system being synchronized with each other with respect to transmit timing and frequency. Synchronization of eNBs is typically done using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as Global Positioning System (GPS), or by using network based methods such as IEEE 1588v2. However, such methods may not be available to all eNBs, particularly small cell eNBs in a heterogeneous network. As such, there is a need for systems and methods for transmit timing and frequency synchronization for small cell eNBs in a heterogeneous network.


Many broadcast systems employ one or more headend sites (also known as headends) to receive broadcast signals from multiple sources and/or on multiple channels to facilitate redistribution of the broadcast signals to subscribers and/or other reception sites over a common transmission medium. For example, a typical Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) system employs at least one headend to receive Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) broadcast signals on one or more broadcast channels for redistribution via a digital Internet Protocol (IP) network. The digital format of ATSC broadcasts, as well as the redistribution of their content via a digital IP network, offers the promise of improved signal quality over traditional National Television System Committee (NTSC) analog broadcasts. However, the quality of ATSC broadcast content, like other types of content conveyed by wireless broadcasting systems, can suffer degradation associated with various transmission phenomena or channel conditions, such as co-channel interference, adjacent channel interference and/or weather-induced signal fading.


In diagnosing and treating certain medical conditions, it is often desirable to perform a biopsy, in which a specimen or sample of tissue is removed for pathological examination, tests and analysis. As is known, obtaining a tissue sample by biopsy and the subsequent examination are typically employed in the diagnosis of cancers and other malignant tumors, or to confirm that a suspected lesion or tumor is not malignant. Examination of tissue samples taken by biopsy is of particular significance in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is often used to locate the site within a breast where a potentially cancerous lesion or tumor is located. Interventional MRI is the magnetic resonance imaging technique (often involving real time imaging) that allows a surgeon to perform MRI-guided tissue biopsy or surgery. One application of interventional MRI is to guide a surgeon during a biopsy or surgical operation on one or both of the breasts of a female patient.
Interventional MRI procedures typically require a magnetic resonance signal detection coil which has large openings so that the surgeon can have access to the surgical site through the coil with the biopsy device or other surgical devices. The MRI device may also include compression plates to compress the breast. Compression plates contain needle guide holes to allow for proper placement of a needle during a needle biopsy or larger windows configured to hold guide blocks. Guide blocks have block bodies with needle guide holes or with larger openings to allow access for larger biopsy devices. The guide blocks assist the physician with proper placement and stabilization of the biopsy device during a biopsy procedure.
The compression plates are secured to the housing of the signal detection coil. Markers, such as Vitamin E Capsules, which are highly visible under MRI device are placed on the compression plates and the position of the markers relative to the suspect tissue is measured using the magnetic resonance images. The proper window of the compression plate is then determined by finding the window in the compression plate which is closest to the desired entry point.
For larger biopsy devices the guide blocks are usually cube-shaped and contain about nine circular openings spaced in three rows of three. Due to the configuration of the openings in the guide block and the large size of some biopsy devices it is often difficult to precisely reach the desired tissue location. Present guide blocks for larger biopsy devices do not allow for access to every area of tissue directly behind the block. Thus, there is need in the art for improved guide blocks which allow access to all areas of tissue directly behind the block.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for transmitting and receiving an event message. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for transmitting and receiving an event message, which registers phonebook data of users in a server that manages an event message, and which transmits an event message to at least one user having mutually registered phonebook data when an event message transmission is requested.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with remarkable advancement of information communication technologies and semiconductor technologies, portable terminals are being widely distributed and used. In particular, recent portable terminals are reaching a mobile convergence phase covering the areas of other terminals beyond traditional unique areas. As a representative example, mobile communication terminals are providing various functions such as a TV viewing function (e.g., a mobile broadcasting such as a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) and a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)), a music replay function (e.g., an MP3), a photographing function, a data communication function, an Internet connection function, a near field communication function, and the like.
Further, as mobile communication services develop and a portable terminal becomes a necessity of citizens, recently, more and more users are informing others of an event (e.g., a first-birthday party, marriage, and advertisement, etc.) using a portable terminal. However, according to the prior art, user had to individually make a phone call or send a text message and an e-mail, etc. using a portable terminal, all of which is relatively inconvenient. Further, in the case in which an advertisement message is transmitted, such an advertisement message is transmitted to unspecified individuals regardless of their thinking. As such, according to the existing message transmission method, it is difficult to expect the effects of advertisement exposure or information provision, and the recipient user may feel unpleasant due to the receipt of spam.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present 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 present invention.


The invention relates to covers or closures for containers such as nuclear fuel storage canisters of the type used to store consolidations of spent fuel rods underwater. An understanding of fuel consolidation may be gained from U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,808 issued to Formanek, Oct. 28, 1986 and assigned to Combustion Engineering, Inc., assignee of the instant application.
It is important to know that stored spent nuclear fuel rods are in closed canisters which are fully identified as to content and time in residence in a spent fuel pool. To ensure the accuracy of records, indicia are stamped on the canister closure. It is also important to know that the closure has not been tampered with or that access to the contents has not been had to ensure such accuracy. Moreover, it is also important that the closure be inexpensive and capable of providing natural convection flow of the spent fuel pool liquid (water) therethrough. As a practical matter, it is also important that the closure not obstruct canister lift features for remote handling of the canister in the pool and that the tamper-proof closure can be easily positioned in place in the opening of the canister and removed when desired.
Nuclear fuel consolidation canisters are normally provided with a combination lifting and storage cover. These prior art covers are complicated and expensive and one is required for each canister. In using the instant invention, reusable separate lifting covers are employed in handling, but a new and expensive separate lifting cover for each canister is not required, since for storage, only the disposable sheet steel tamper-proof cover of the invention is needed.


A database system may store data across several data volumes of a data area. During operation of the database system, it may occasionally become desirable to delete a data volume from the data area in order to reduce a size of the data area and/or to otherwise reconfigure the data area. Conventional techniques necessitate the database system to enter an offline mode prior to deleting a data volume. Since the database system cannot be read or written in an offline mode, conventional techniques for deleting a data volume are unsuitable for some applications.
Conventional techniques for deleting a data volume pose additional problems if the data volume stores a restart page for the database system. A restart page may include information used to start the database system and reconstruct its underlying structures. Upon start-up, the database system looks for the restart page at a particular location of a particular data volume. The database system will therefore fail to start properly if the data volume including the restart page has been previously deleted.
Systems are therefore desired for deleting a data volume of a database system while the database system remains in an online operational mode. Systems to perform such deletion and to efficiently move and access a restart page of the deleted data volume are further desired.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration isolating device having a liquid chamber which is a space defined mainly by a vibration absorbing main body and a flexible membrane and in which a liquid is charged, the liquid chamber being divided into liquid sub-chambers which communicate through a passage, and a method for manufacturing the vibration isolating device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among the conventional vibration isolating devices of this kind, a vibration isolating device is well known which comprises an annular vibration absorbing main body made of an elastic material containing a natural rubber having a low loss factor and which is concave at the top thereof and also has attached on the outer circumference thereof a clamping ring to which a top plate is fixed by caulking, a receptacle having an arch-like sectional shape being attached on the inner bottom circumference of the vibration absorbing main body, and a flexible membrane disposed along the bottom surface of the receptacle and having the circumferential edge sandwiched between the receptacle and a bottom plate. There is formed in the top of the receptacle an orifice which provides communication between the liquid chamber formed above the concavity of the vibration absorbing main body and the liquid chamber between the receptacle and flexible membrane (Japanese Utility Model Provisional Publication No. 110344/82 and Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 70240/86).
The above mentioned conventional vibration isolating device is not of a so-called bush type structure having inner and outer cylinders, and its structure is not suitable for improving the damping effect by lengthening the orifice.