The cellular components that comprise haematopoietic supportive marrow stroma and associated skeletal tissues are derived from a population of multipotential cells including multipotential mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and their precursors (mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs)). MPC reside within the bone marrow spaces located primarily in perivascular niches which surround blood vessels (Gronthos S et al., 2003 and Shi S et al., 2003). Over the last two decades, studies have focused on the regenerative potential of different human stromal/mesenchymal cell populations to reconstitute fat, bone, cartilage and muscle (Gronthos S et al., 2003 and Simmons P J et al., 1991). However, the successful application of these technologies is dependent on the ability to isolate purified populations of MPC and to subsequently manipulate their growth and differentiation ex vivo. Moreover, there is a need to overcome the various technical and safety concerns often associated with stem cell based therapies by assessing the safety and efficacy of MPC preparations in appropriate large pre-clinical animal models representative of human diseases. Ovine models of human orthopaedic and cardiac disease/trauma have been widely used, as sheep share similarities with human anatomy, physiology, immunology and embryonic development (Airey J A et al., 2004; Licchty K W et al., 2000 and Mackenzie T C et al., 2001).
Whilst, several human multipotential cell specific markers such as STRO-1, CD106, CD146 have been described in the literature (Gronthos S et al., 2003 and Shi S et al., 2003), significant progress in examining the therapeutic potential of multipotential cells in ovine models of human disease has been limited due a lack of specific reagents which enable the isolation and characterisation of an equivalent multipotential cell population in ovine tissues. The development of biological reagents, such as monoclonal antibodies, reactive with both ovine and human multipotential cells would greatly facilitate the capacity to monitor and equate the functional properties of both ovine and human multipotential cell populations in pre-clinical and clinical trials, respectively.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.


Most conventional sensors for the detection of chemicals and/or fire are electrochemical sensors. Electrochemical sensors operate at a fixed potential. Changes in that fixed potential, caused by the presence of an analyte, signal the analytes presence. Most often these sensors are directed towards the recognition of a single analyte and utilize a single sensor or a simple array of sensors.
Current concerns about homeland security, battlefield protection and terrorist activities have created an interest in sensors that detect a variety of chemicals, such as a variety of blood agents, toxic industrial chemicals, explosives, etc, preferably with specificity for the identification of type and quantity of chemicals detected.
Also, an interest has developed in fire prevention and fire detection. Along with fire detection, early detection of various gases or of precursors of fires, before the presence of flame and smoke, which are necessary for detection using conventional smoke detection/fire detection devices, is also desirable. For example, with increased automation on ships, the Navy has sought fire detection systems capable of improved performance over conventional smoke detectors. To the extent such precursors can be identified, fire prevention can occur in advance of mere fire detection to avoid damage to expensive infrastructure.
Although the use of multiple conventional electrochemical sensors monitoring multiple criteria has been studied for this type of chemical identification with varying degree of success, most of the sensors did not have the specificity desired. For example, in fire detection, multiple criteria electrochemical sensors have difficulty discriminating fire-like nuisance sources, such as welding, grinding steel, and cutting with a torch. Further, multiple criteria electrochemical sensors are typically limited to only a few standardized test sources, without providing the range of detection capability often desired.
Cermet sensors are well known in the art that use various ceramic metallic (cermet) films. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,687, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Rather than operating based on a single potential, some cermet sensors characterize data using cyclic voltammetry, in which current is measured while manipulating the potential in a cyclical fashion. Thus, the data provided by such sensors is provided in a cyclical waveform.
Cermet sensor arrays have been used for more realistic and difficult conditions than prior electrochemical sensors and have been used to identify chemical analytes and fires, particularly distinguishing nuisance sources from harmful events. Such cermet sensors are capable of high temperature operation and can be fabricated using both thick and thin film techniques. Cermet sensors are small, lightweight and low cost alternatives to conventional electrochemical sensors. Plus, cermet sensors have design flexibility since different cermet sensors may respond to the same gas in different ways. Using conventional methods for data analysis of cyclic voltammetry, cermet sensors are capable of detecting very low level concentrations (part per billion) for a variety of analytes using aqueous electrolytes, but only higher levels (parts per million) for gas phase detection.
However, the use of cyclic voltammetry creates complex data waveforms having a great deal of information, such as peak position, magnitude, and shape, all of which can be exploited for analytical purposes. Such waveforms contain data that incorporates variations in the presence, concentration, temperature, accessibility to the sensor, function of the sensor etc. which must be selectively analyzed before any meaningful information about the identity and/or quantity of a certain analyte or fire/non-fire condition can be ascertained.
Previously pattern recognition software has been used to analyze waveform data. However, the shear volume of data generated by cyclic voltammetry has caused concern about accuracy of probable identification of analyte sources, particular in the presence of quite similar nuisance sources. Further, the volume of data required may be more than a microprocessor embedded within a portable device used for field applications is capable of processing in a fast, real-time manner.
Wavelet analysis of analytical data prior to pattern recognition has been used in a variety of different applications. For example, wavelet analysis has been used in medicine to specifically look at identifying conditions from time-dependant data such as EEG and ECG scans and in identifying features of interest in medical imagery. Non-medical applications also included image analysis, as well as optical character recognition, and acoustic pattern recognition.
In sensing applications, wavelet analysis of linear voltammetric data of analytical chemical data, has been demonstrated as a means of de-noising linear voltammetric data. An “electric tongue” system has been developed for monitoring industrial liquid process streams. They utilize a “Wavelet Neural Network” as a pattern recognition technique which incorporates wavelet transformation into a feed forward multilayer neural network architecture. The parameters of the wavelet transform are thus modified by the error propagation structure of the neural network during training. Wavelet packet transforms have also been used for pattern recognition. The wavelet packet transforms have included the use of a Euclidean distance measure to generate the best wavelet basis set of an analytical signal for classification purposes. This approach has been generally applied only to spectroscopic and chromatographic data. Wavelet transformation has also been used for semi-conductor based gas sensors, particularly the use of discrete wavelet transform as a data pretreatment step prior to pattern recognition via a number of different techniques. Wavelet transform followed by classification by a PNN has been done by HPLC-DAD data in the classification of Chilean wines, peak detection in LC-TOF MS data and to capture features in NIR data.
In these various known data analysis techniques, the wavelet-transformed data are not down-selected or narrowed based on any particular classifying ability. As such, the data continues to include random variables and data points which are not necessary for classification purposes. The inclusion of unnecessary data points increases processing time and creates additional variables which can unnecessarily complicate or interfere with pattern recognition. In some cases, the wavelet coefficients may be selected based upon mere visual inspection. However, it is particularly difficult to discern narrow differences by mere visual inspection. In other cases, another “quick and dirty” method has been used to reduces the wavelet data, but not by any particular method particularly suitable for classification purposes. These “quick and dirty” methods do not ensure selection of the most desirable features of a wavelet, which can lead to lack of accuracy in pattern recognition.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of preventing retinal ganglion cell death, associated with glaucoma, by administering to retinal ganglion cells of a mammal, a compound which blocks the putative non-inactivating sodium ion channels of the above cell type.
2. Brief Description of the Art
Glaucoma is an optic neuropathy associated with elevated intraocular pressures which are too high for normal function of the eye, and results in irreversible loss of visual function. (See for example, Dreyer et al "Elevated glutamate levels in the vitreous body of human and monkeys with glaucoma", Arch. Ophthalmology 114:299-305, 1996) It is estimated in medical science that glaucoma afflicts approximately 2 per cent of the population over the age of forty years, and is therefore a serious health problem. Ocular hypertension, i.e. the condition of elevated intraocular pressure, which has not yet caused irreversible damage, is believed to represent the earliest phase of glaucoma. Many therapeutic agents have been devised and discovered in the prior art for the treatment or amelioration of glaucoma and of the condition of increased intraocular pressure which precedes glaucoma.
Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is associated with a rise in intraocular pressure (IOP). This increase in IOP is believed to contribute to the loss of optic nerve function which ultimately leads to blindness. Reduction of IOP is therefore a crucial component in the management of POAG. However, in many individuals lowering of IOP is not sufficient or ineffective in preventing vision loss associated with POAG.
It is thought that a novel class of sodium channels residing within the optic nerve of the rat are responsible for damage to the rat optic nerve following anoxia or hypoxia. However, in glaucoma the sequence of pathological events leading to the loss of optic nerve function, is not known.
The drugs currently utilized in the treatment of glaucoma include miotics (e.g., pilocarpine, carbachol, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors), sympathomimetrics (e.g., epinephrine and dipivalylepinephrine), beta-blockers (e.g., betaxolol, levobunolol and timolol), alpha-2 agonists (e.g., para-amino clonidine) and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (e.g., acetazolamide, methazolamide and ethoxzolamide). Miotics and sympathomimetics are believed to lower intraocular pressure by increasing the outflow of aqueous humor, while beta-blockers, alpha-2 agonists and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors are believed to lower intraocular pressure by decreasing the formation of aqueous humor. All five types of drugs have potential side effects. Miotics, such as pilocarpine, can cause blurring of vision and other visual side effects which may either decrease patient compliance or require termination of miotic drug therapy. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors can also cause serious side effects which affect patient compliance and/or necessitate withdrawal of the drug therapy. At least one beta-blocker, timolol, has increasingly become associated with serious pulmonary side effects attributable to its effect on beta-2 receptors in pulmonary tissue.
As a result additional antiglaucoma drugs are being developed, e.g., prostaglandin derivatives, muscarinic antagonists, etc. However, none of the above drugs are designed to directly interact with the retinal ganglion cell and its associated axon.
Thus, it would be desirable to prevent the loss of ganglion cell body and axon function, which may be associated with glaucoma by a biological mechanism which does not modulate aqueous humor dynamics and therefore intraocular pressure. Moreover, it would be desirable to treat the retinal ganglion cell body and axon of a mammal directly to prevent the destruction thereof by the glaucomatous condition.


The management of rewards for an account is known, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Published Patent Applications 2002/0087410 (Walker et al.), incorporated by reference herein. Unfortunately, such programs are not self-learning.
Thus, there is a long-felt need to provide a system and a method to manage rewards for a multi-tiered account that is dynamic and can be readily adapted to meet various and variable requirements.


Vehicles are used both in conditions with good visibility, such as during the day, and in conditions with poor visibility, such as at night or in bad weather. Thus, in conditions where the visibility is good, the driver can see people and objects such as fallen objects around the vehicle by looking at the actual landscape with his or her (hereinafter, the driver will be referred to in the masculine form for simplicity) own eyes. In conditions where the visibility is poor, however, it is difficult for the driver to see all of these by looking the landscape. Hence, vehicle surroundings information output systems have been developed which inform the driver of the existence an object about which the driver is to be warned (hereinafter also referred to simply as “object”), such as a person or object around the vehicle.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2003-291688, for example, describes one kind of vehicle surroundings information output system which is a so-called head-up display (HUD) that displays the landscape in front of the vehicle on the front windshield as both an object about which the driver is to be warned and a virtual image.
When an object is detected in front of the vehicle, the vehicle surroundings information output system (i.e., the head-up display system) described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No, JP-A-2003-291688 displays information (a solid star symbol) of strong visual stimulus to the driver and moves information (a triangular outline) to guide the driver's line of sight from that place to the object on the head-up display. That is, after an object is detected, the vehicle surroundings information output system described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2003-291688 notifies the driver of the existence of that object by displaying information that stimulates the driver's vision (i.e., catches the driver's eye) and draws his line of sight to it (i.e., by displaying highly visually alluring information).
Also, other similar vehicle surroundings information output systems (head up display systems) which display such highly visually alluring information are described below.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-7-61257 describes a vehicle surroundings information output system which displays highly visually alluring information when the driver is not looking at the display of the head-up display and displays not so visually alluring information when the driver is looking at the display from the head-up display.
Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. JP-A-2004-30212 and JP-A-2001-357498 describe vehicle surroundings information output systems which suppress the provision of information relating to a detected object as necessary. More specifically, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2004-30212 describes a vehicle surroundings information output system which prevents the driver from receiving more information than is necessary, thereby reducing the burden on the driver, by providing the minimum necessary information relating to objects while suppressing the provision of highly visible and visually alluring information relating to objects. Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2001-357498 describes a vehicle surroundings information output system which prevents the driver from receiving more information than is necessary, thereby reducing the burden on the driver, by suppressing information relating to objects near where the driver is looking.
Incidentally, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2000-251200 discloses an obstacle detection system structured such that warnings are issued more often when visibility of detected objects is poor than when it is good.
However, the vehicle surroundings information output system described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2003-291688 provides the driver with high visually alluring information instantaneously after an object has been detected. That is, the head-up display displays highly visually alluring information when it is still unclear as to whether that object is real or not. Therefore, even if that object does not actually exist, the driver's eyes are still drawn to that highly visually alluring information. When the driver wants to drive by detecting objects on the actual landscape with his own eyes, his line of sight is forced from the actual landscape by the false information. The same can also be said for the vehicle surroundings information output system described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. IP-A-7-61257 when highly visually alluring information is displayed when the driver is not looking at the head-up display.
In this case, even though these kinds of problems exist, if no information is provided to the driver until it is clear as to whether the object is real or not and that object happens to really exist, and further, if a warning has to be issued quickly, the notification to the driver of that object ends up being delayed. The same may also be said for the vehicle surroundings information output systems described in Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. JP-A-2004-30212 and JP-A-2001-357498 when the provision of information regarding a detected object is suppressed as necessary because the driver feels it is annoying.
That is, despite the fact that some drivers want to drive giving priority to information obtained from the actual landscape while other drivers want to drive giving priority to information provided by the vehicle surroundings information output systems described above, these systems provide and suppress information relating to objects with disregard to the intentions of both kinds of drivers.


Various data communication schemes are available for radio communication systems. Modulation techniques (e.g., analog or digital modulation) may be utilized in such communication schemes. In addition, encoding and decoding processes may also be utilized to improve the signal integrity of the data being communicated.
Various data transmission schemes are available for information systems. Cipher techniques may be utilized in such transmission schemes. In addition, encoding and decoding processes may also be utilized to improve the signal integrity of the data being communicated.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, and, more particularly, to semiconductor devices that combine high-speed performance and low power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of reducing power consumption by substrate bias control is described in 1996 IEEE International Solid-State Circuit, Digest of Technical Papers, (1996), pp. 166-167.
With the recent popularity of low-power CMOS LSIs (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Large Scale Integrated circuits), a trend has developed to maintain high-speed operation by decreasing the threshold voltage VT of the MOSFETs as the operating or supply voltage is dropped. When the supply voltage drops to 2 V or lower and when the threshold voltage VT is decreased to 0.5 V or lower correspondingly, however, the subthreshold leakage current increases, whereby the transistor cannot be cut off completely. Consequently, the standby current of the LSI chip increases, which represents a bottleneck in the design of a system that includes a battery-powered CMOS LSI chip. Furthermore, the current during normal operation also increases as the threshold voltage VT increases.
In order to break the bottleneck, a well-known system achieves a high-speed operation by decreasing the threshold voltage of each of the MOSFETs in the chip during normal operation, and decreases the standby current by increasing the threshold voltage at the time of standby. Nevertheless, the following three problems exist in this system:
(1) An overcurrent flows because of latching-up when the power supply is turned on, and the wiring in the CMOS LSI chip may fuse, or the normal supply voltage may become inapplicable as the load exceeds the current capacitance of the power supply. This problem is caused because the layout and connections of the circuit are designed so that the substrate (well) and source of the MOSFET are not at equipotential.
For example, when a p-channel MOSFET (PMOSFET) is used for applying a positive supply voltage (e.g., 1.8 V) to the source (p-layer), the pn junction between the source and well is excessively biased in the forward direction because the well (n-well) remains at a floating 0 V just until the application of the supply voltage, thus causing latch-up of the CMOS. In the case of conventional CMOS LSI products at 2 V or higher, the pn junction is never biased in the forward direction as in the normal operation thereafter, even during the application of the supply voltage, since the well and source of the MOSFET are connected so that both are at equipotential as much as possible. Since the threshold voltage VT is constant at all times at a value of substantially 0.5 or higher, moreover, there is no problem of subthreshold current.
In the case of an n-channel MOSFET (NMOSFET), the problem is not so serious. When the supply voltage is applied to the drain, the substrate (p-well) of the NMOSFET is at a floating 0 V and the source is fixed to an earth potential of 0 V, because the pn junction, formed between the drain and the well, is not biased in the forward direction. However, there is a subthreshold current flowing between the drain and source when the threshold voltage is 0.5 V or lower. By separately controlling the well and source, the threshold voltage in the CMOS LSI is lowered.
(2) The time required to switch the normal mode to the standby mode and the time required to switch the standby mode to the normal mode are extremely long, on the order of xcexcs. Assuming that the substrate voltage is generated on-chip, by a charge pumping circuit for pumping the capacitor in the chip, the output current is limited to a low level. On the other hand, the transistor in the chip is used to connect the power supply terminals of the substrate in common, and consequently the total substrate capacitance has an extremely large value (100 pF or greater). Therefore, a large load (substrate) capacitance is driven by a substrate-voltage generating circuit whose current driving capability is low when the mode is switched, so that the response time tends to become longer.
(3) The subthreshold current flows everywhere, even in the CMOS circuit, thus increasing the operating current of the whole chip. This problem exists because, in the inactive state, the threshold voltage of the transistor in the CMOS circuit or circuit block is low during normal operation.
The present invention controls the substrate or well voltage of a transistor in a manner that solves the foregoing three problems.
An object of the invention is to hinder the latching-up that occurs when the supply voltage is applied to a CMOS circuit that includes MOSFETs having a low threshold voltage, or when the supply voltage is cut off to the CMOS circuit.
Another object of the invention is to decrease the subthreshold current during normal operation.
A further object of the invention is to realize low power consumption while maintaining high operating speed, for a CMOS circuit that operates at a voltage of 2 V or below, a CMOS LSI, and a semiconductor device using the CMOS circuit.
In general, the invention achieves these and other objects by controlling the well voltage of a CMOS circuit when the power supply is turned on and when cut off, and during operation.
In one embodiment of the invention, in which the CMOS circuit includes MOSFETs that cannot be cut off substantially satisfactorily during normal operation, after the well voltage is applied to the well of the CMOS circuit so that the MOSFETs can be cut off, the supply voltage is applied to the CMOS circuit.
In another emboidment, after a third supply voltage (generated from a first supply voltage by a voltage conversion circuit) is applied as a well voltage to the well of the CMOS circuit, a second supply voltage is applied to the CMOS circuit.
In yet another embodiment, the invention provides a circuit for fixing the well potential of the CMOS circuit, and a circuit for varying the well potential of the MOSFETs by capacitive coupling according to the variation of the input signal of the CMOS circuit.
In still another embodiment, the invention provides a semiconductor device that includes a dynamic memory cell comprising a MOSFET, a capacitor, and a CMOS circuit, wherein the well potential of the MOSFETs constituting the CMOS circuit is subjected to a pulse variation, and wherein the substrate voltage of the dynamic memory cell is substantially a DC supply voltage.
In another embodiment, the invention provides a semiconductor device including a static memory cell that is operated at a high voltage and is constituted by MOSFETs of high threshold voltage, and a CMOS circuit operated at a low voltage and constituted by MOSFETs having a low threshold voltage. The well potential of the MOSFETs constituting the CMOS circuit is subjected to a pulse variation.
In yet another embodiment, the invention provides a semiconductor device including at least one CMOS circuit, a standby control circuit, and a voltage conversion circuit, wherein the voltage generated by the voltage conversion circuit is supplied to the standby control circuit, and the standby control circuit varies the well potential of the CMOS circuit using the output of the voltage conversion circuit, depending on operating conditions. A capacitor having a capacitance that is greater than the capacitance of the well is connected to the output of the voltage conversion circuit.


This invention relates to computer systems and circuits; and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for generating an appropriate reference voltage level for differential signaling.
Computer systems are consistently being updated to operate at faster rates. In doing so, many of the components of these system must operate within new parameters, or be replaced at an additional cost. Achieving these higher operating rates further requires devices within these systems to communicate among themselves at faster rates.
A technique employed to increase the rate at which two devices can communicate with each other is decreasing the voltage swing between a communication signal""s high and low values. Typically, this includes reducing the supply voltage level at which these devices operate. This decrease in voltage swing allows a signal to transition faster between values. However, as this voltage swing is decreased, additional precautions must be taken to ensure that noise does not interfere with the signal.
Differential signaling is one method used in communicating between devices in a system and is useful in avoiding errors induced by noise. Typically, each sending device provides a voltage reference and a communication signal which are typically connected to a differential amplifier. Because approximately the same noise is typically induced on both the voltage reference and a communication signal, a receiving differential amplifier produces a relatively xe2x80x9ccleanxe2x80x9d communications signal.
However, not all sending devices can provide an appropriate reference voltage. For example, when a system is upgraded or a new version is introduced that requires a different reference voltage level and possibly uses a different supply voltage, an older component of the system might not be able to provide the new reference voltage.
Such is the problem introduced by the Accelerated Graphics Port (xe2x80x9cAGPxe2x80x9d) Interface Specification Revision 2.0, May 1998, which requires a universal AGP target (such as the 82465GX GXB manufactured by Intel Corporation) to support both 3.3 Volt and 1.5 Volt operation on the AGP interface supply voltage (Vddq). The specification stipulates a voltage reference that is nominally 0.5*Vddq for 1.5 Volt operation, and nominally 0.4*Vddq for 3.3 Volt operation. Therefore, the value of the reference voltage must be adjusted to match the requirements based on the supply voltage used. What is needed is a system for efficiently providing the appropriate reference voltage.
According to the invention, systems, apparatus and methods are disclosed for providing one or more bimodal reference voltages for using in differential signaling. Typically, a system comprises a first component requiring a first reference voltage; a second component requiring a second reference voltage; a power source to produce a supply voltage; a first voltage reducer electrically coupled to the power source, the first voltage reducer to produce a third reference voltage using the supply voltage; a multiplexor electrically coupled to the first voltage reducer to produce the first reference voltage by selecting between at least the third reference voltage and a fourth reference voltage; and a second voltage reducer electrically coupled to the power source and to the second component, the second voltage reducer to produce the second reference voltage using the supply voltage.


As communication technology develops, cell phones and other mobile terminals have become more powerful. Not only can one make telephone calls and send short messages with a mobile terminal, one can also install various applications (apps) on the cell phones and the other mobile terminals to perform various functions. When using a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal often captures and stores an image within an application (app). The capturing and storing of the image process is also known as screen capture.
The screen capture technique of existing mobile terminals using the Android system includes executing the screen capture through SurfaceView. However, images captured through the SurfaceView screen capture will turn black within the SurfaceView zone due to the way screen capture in SurfaceView is implemented. Because SurfaceView and commonView are in different hierarchies with respect to rending, only black images are captured through the SurfaceView screen capture technique when using a mobile terminal. The screen capture result is poor, and only a single method for implementing the screen capture exists.


This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-246913, filed Aug. 16, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a synthesis gas to be employed for the synthesis of gasoline, methanol or dimethyl ether by way of the GTL (Gas to Liquid) process.
A synthesis gas comprising hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) has been employed as a raw material for the synthesis of gasoline, etc. by way of the GTL (Gas to Liquid) process according to the Fisher-Tropsch reaction system.
This synthesis gas has been conventionally manufactured by a method wherein steam and carbon dioxide are added at first to a natural gas employed as a raw gas to prepare a mixed gas, which is then fed to the reaction tube of reformer which has been heated to a predetermined temperature so as to steam-reform the natural gas together with carbon dioxide, thereby manufacturing the synthesis gas containing hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO).
By the way, depending on the place of origin, the natural gas occasionally contains hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (for example, CO2: 7.1% by volume, and H2S: 0.6% by volume). When such a natural gas is to be employed as a raw material, it is usually practiced to remove hydrogen sulfide prior to the step of adding steam and carbon dioxide to the natural gas. In this case, the removal of hydrogen sulfide from the natural gas is conventionally performed by means of amine absorption method.
However, if it is desired to remove hydrogen sulfide to a level of the order of ppm by means of the amine absorption method, carbon dioxide included in the original natural gas is also removed together with hydrogen sulfide. As a result, it becomes impossible to utilize the carbon dioxide that has been originally included in the natural gas, so that a large quantity of carbon dioxide is required to be supplied to the natural gas prior to the stage where the natural gas is to be transferred to the reaction tube of the reformer, thus increasing the manufacturing cost of the synthesis gas.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a synthesis gas, which makes it possible to effectively utilize the carbon dioxide in a natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide by selectively removing only the hydrogen sulfide therefrom in the synthesis gas manufacturing method employing a reformer, thereby making it possible to reduce the quantity of carbon dioxide to be added to the natural gas prior to the stage where the natural gas is to be transferred to the reformer.
Namely, this invention provides a method of manufacturing a synthesis gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which comprises steps of;
removing only hydrogen sulfide from a natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide by permitting the natural gas to pass through a hydrogen sulfide-removing device filled with a hydrogen sulfide absorbent;
adding carbon dioxide and steam to the natural gas which the hydrogen sulfide has been removed to prepare a mixed gas; and
feeding the mixed gas into a reaction tube of a reformer, thereby permitting mainly a steam reforming reaction to take place in the mixed gas.
The method of manufacturing a synthesis gas according to this invention may be performed in such a way that before the natural gas is fed to the hydrogen sulfide-removing device, the natural gas is forced to pass through a convection portion communicated with a combustion radiation portion of the reformer, thereby heating the natural gas up to a temperature which is suited for the reaction between the hydrogen sulfide in the natural gas and the hydrogen sulfide adsorbent.
The method of manufacturing a synthesis gas according to this invention may be performed in such a way that the carbon dioxide recovered from a combustion exhaust gas generated at the combustion radiation portion of the reformer is utilized as a carbon dioxide source.
The method of manufacturing a synthesis gas according to this invention may be performed in such a way that the carbon dioxide recovered from the synthesis gas at a downstream side of the reformer is utilized as a carbon dioxide source.
It is preferable in the method of manufacturing a synthesis gas according to this invention that the hydrogen sulfide adsorbent is at least one oxide selected from triiron tetraoxide (Fe3O4) and zinc oxide (ZnO).
It is preferable in the method of manufacturing a synthesis gas according to this invention that the hydrogen sulfide-removing device is provided with at least one unit of first desulfurizing column filled with the hydrogen sulfide adsorbent comprising triiron tetraoxide and with a second desulfurizing column filled with the hydrogen sulfide adsorbent comprising zinc oxide, and that the natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide is permitted to successively pass through one column selected from these first desulfurizing columns and second desulfurizing column.
It is preferable that the hydrogen sulfide-removing device is provided with at least three units of first desulfurizing columns to be filled with triiron tetraoxide, wherein a first placed first desulfurizing column among the first desulfurizing columns is designed to execute an adsorption operation of hydrogen sulfide, a second placed first desulfurizing column among the first desulfurizing columns is designed to execute an operation of regenerating the adsorbent (iron sulfide) on which hydrogen sulfide is adsorbed, and a third placed first desulfurizing column among the first desulfurizing columns is designed to execute an operation of reducing the adsorbent that has been regenerated, these operations being sequentially executed.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.


F125 is an HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) which can be employed as substitute for F115 (a CFC or chlorofluorocarbon) in the field of low-temperature refrigeration.
Known processes for obtaining F125 include, inter alia, the fluorination of perchloroethylene or its fluorinated derivatives like 1,1-difluoro-l,2,2-trichloroethane (F122), 1,1-dichloro-2,2,2-trifluoroethane (F123) and 1-chloro-1,2,2,2-tetrafluoroethane (F124), the fluorination of chlorotrifluorethylene (F1113) or the chemical reduction of F115, especially the hydrogenolysis of the latter. In most cases these synthesis routes to F125 produce a crude F125 which is contaminated by significant quantities (several hundred ppm to several tens per cent) of F115, either through formation of byproducts due to the high temperatures needed to obtain high yields of F125 (in the case of fluorination reactions), or because of nonquantitative conversions of the starting material (in the case of the hydrogenolysis of F115).
As indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,329, the separation of the compounds F125 and F115 by distillation is very difficult, or even impossible if it is desired to obtain a very low F115 content.
Nevertheless, there is at present a trend towards a commercial F125 of high purity in which the F115 content might be of the order of a hundred ppm or so. Because of the difficulties encountered in separating the compounds F125 and F115, obtaining such low F115 contents does not appear to be feasible with a distillation line of realistic size. Processes for purifying F125 which make it possible to gain access to these very low F115 contents are therefore being investigated at present.
The process for separating F125 and F115 which is described in the abovementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,329 relies on extractive distillation consisting in adding to the F125-F115 mixture before distillation an extractant consisting of an optionally hydrogenated and/or chlorinated C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 fluorinated hydrocarbon which has a boiling point of between -39.degree. C. and +50.degree. C. As examples of such extractants the patent mentions 1,2-dichlorotetrafluoroethane (F114), 1,1-dichlorotetrafluoroethane (F114a), 1,1,2-trichlorotrifluoroethane (F113), 1,1,1-trichlorotrifluoroethane (F113a), 2-chloro-1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (F124), 2,2-dichloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (F123), trichlorofluoromethane (F11) and octafluorocyclobutane (F-C318).
In Patent Application EP 508,631, which describes the production of HFC compounds by liquid-phase chemical reduction of chlorinated, brominated or iodinated compounds with a metal hydride or a complex of such a hydride, it is indicated that this process may be of interest for purifying certain HFCs like F125. The purification of F125 is not exemplified. On the other hand, example 6 describes the reduction of F115 with LiAlH.sub.4 in diglyme; the best result indicates a 60% conversion of F115 to F125.


The present invention relates to a process for waterproofing leather, particularly leather for the manufacture of shoes, clothes or leather accessories. The present invention also relates to the leather obtained by said process.
Leathers, particularly those which are used for the manufacture of shoes, clothes or leather accessories, are known to be waterproofed by chemical treatments consisting in applying thin layers of water-repellent substances outside the leather itself, for example by means of sprayers. Because of the low efficiency of this process in the long term, a new process has been conceived, consisting in sewing inside the leather a fabric lining combined with a semi-permeable film, which not only prevents water from further penetrating into the shoe or dress article, but also allows the body outward transpiration.
However, this process is disadvantageous in that it allows water to penetrate anyway under the leather, and therefore, especially if the latter is used for the shoe-manufacture, an undesired water-cushion is formed between the waterproofing fabric and the leather internal surface. Further, this process necessarily requires the application of a lining combined with a semi-permeable film, which, besides increasing the production costs, is in some cases inadvisable, for example in the manufacture of summer shoes and clothes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,644 discloses a process for waterproofing a tread of leather, wherein a semi-permeable membrane is glued to the perimetric regions thereof. However, this process does not avoid the formation of water-cushions and the need of an upper perimetric part for fastening the membrane to the tread, thus reducing its transpiration properties.


Integrated circuits (“ICs”) such as, for example, programmable integrated circuits can be programmed to perform specific functions. One example of programmable integrated circuits is programmable logic devices (“PLDs”) which can be programmed by a user to perform specified logic functions. One type of programmable logic device, called a field programmable gate array (“FPGA”), is popular because of a superior combination of capacity, flexibility, time-to-market, and cost.
In a typical architecture, the FPGA includes a processor, an array of configurable logic blocks (“CLBs”), and programmable input/output blocks (“IOBs”) which provide external access to the CLBs. The processor, CLBs, and IOBs are interconnected by programmable fabric routing. The fabric routing comprises many interconnect wires and associated programmable interconnect points (PIPs) which can be programmed to selectively route signals among the various CLBs and IOBs.
The processor typically implements numerous debug features such as a trace feature. When the trace feature is enabled, the instruction stream executed by the processor is monitored and certain debug events are used to cause trigger events. When a trigger event occurs, the processor asserts an output-trigger-event signal to indicate that the trigger event occurred. The output-trigger-event signal is typically modified outside the processor and fed back to the processor using the fabric routing.
For proper operation of the trace feature, there is typically a constraint that the output-trigger-event signal be fed back to the processor within less than a fraction of one clock period. However, placement of pins on the processor is based on optimizing processor performance rather than optimizing debug features, and thus the debug pins associated with the input and output trigger-event signals are typically placed far apart from each other. Thus, the delays associated with using the fabric routing (e.g., the delay associated with driving the output-trigger-event signal to two or more CLBs) are too great to satisfy this constraint when the processor is running at or near maximum speed. As a result, features such as trace collection cannot be done reliably unless the processor is configured to run at a slower speed. However, processor performance and efficiency are significantly decreased if the processor is configured to run at a slower speed. In addition, a problem may not appear if the processor is configured to run at a slower speed because the problem may only occur when the processor is running at the faster speed. For example, deadlock may occur between the processor and a hard disk drive only when the processor is running at full speed. However, deadlock may not occur when the processor is running at a slower speed.
Therefore, it is desirable to feed back a signal such that stringent timing requirements are satisfied while still maximizing processor performance.


The present invention relates to a method of refreshing a dynamic RAM (Random Access Memory) used by any personal computer, more particularly to a new method of refreshing a dynamic RAM so that the desired refreshing of a dynamic RAM can be executed by means of relatively simple circuitry, and therefore any of the high-speed devices using the real-time means such as a floppy disc driver unit can easily be accessed.
The semi-conductor manufacturing technology has achieved an overall development in recent years. This modern technology has successfully brought a variety of ICs into the field of the computer memory means. The problem of trading cost economy for further improvement of memory density potentials has been solved by now, and as a result, a large quantity of low-cost ICs, having greater capacities, have been delivered to the industrial markets, including ROM, static RAM, dynamic RAM, and others. Of these, compared to the static RAM, the dynamic RAM must be periodically subject to a refreshing process in order to properly store a variety of data in memory. Usually, such a periodic refreshing process must be executed at intervals of every 2 microseconds. In terms of the operational speed, such a dynamic RAM is rather disadvantageous when compared to other memories having identical access time such as the static RAM. This is because a short period of delay must be taken into account covering a period from the entry of the address up to the data output. Conversely, the dynamic RAM can be advantageously used in a system such as one incorporating a high-density memory, for example, that incorporates a minimum of 16K byte memory. Any dynamic RAM stores its bit data in the bit-cell capacitor as charge. A typical construction of the dynamic RAM is shown in FIG. 1 of the attached drawings. During the write mode, any desired data is fed to the input of the dynamic RAM so that switch S1 is closed. Capacitor C is either charged or discharged according to the status of the input data. During the read mode, switch S2 is closed so that the voltage in capacitor C is compared to the reference voltage Vref of comparator CP, and then according to the difference of the voltages compared, either "1" or "0" of the binary code is transmitted to the output of the dynamic RAM. When the dynamic RAM remains in the data-hold mode, all the switches S1, S2, and S3 remain open so that the data can remain in capacitor C. Nevertheless, since the MOS capacitor is characteristically subject to leakage resistance R, the capacitor charge will be gradually discharged. To compensate for this, a process called "refreshing" must be applied to any dynamic RAM being used. To achieve this, the dynamic RAM controller must be subjected to the "refreshing" process at intervals of every 2 microseconds so that the data stored in the bit-cell can properly be held unaffected.
Conventionally, in regard to the refreshing process applied to the dynamic RAM, a variety of means are made available, for example, "burst mode refreshing process" capable of refreshing all lines within a specific period of time, for example: within 2 microseconds, and the other one called "cycle steal refreshing process" (or called "single cycle refreshing process") capable of sequentially refreshing every line at specific intervals. Of these, the "burst mode refreshing process" can be executed by means of a relatively simple circuitry. However, since this process requires entire operation of the CPU (central processing unit) to periodically halt for a relatively long period, for example, at least for a period of 50-60 microseconds for each cycle, and as a result, using this process, any real-time high-speed devices such as a floppy disc driver system cannot be accessed. Conversely, since the "cycle steal refreshing process" uses the surplus time of the CPU bus cycle, this process is advantageous because it does not cause the CPU to actually decrease the speed needed to execute any operation. On the other hand, this second process still has a difficult problem in that a considerably high speed is needed to properly operate the circuits, and the operation timing cannot easily be controlled. Of these two refreshing processes, in reference to the attached drawings, some of the existing problems related to the "burst mode refreshing process" are described below.
A simplified block diagram shown in FIG. 2 and its flowchart shown in FIG. 3 respectively denote a significant disadvantage of the conventional "burst mode refreshing process". The data contents of a dynamic RAM (DRAM) loaded in the CPU, of a microprocessor are continuously transmitted to the floppy disc controller (FDC). If the time at which the data contents were loaded from the DRAM to the CPU exactly coincides with the period when the DRAM is being refreshed by the "burst mode refreshing process", the CPU will be obliged to remain in a stand-by mode for a long time, and as a result, the contents of the dynamic RAM loaded into the CPU cannot be written into the floppy disc controller (FDC) within a pre determined period. In FIGS. 2 and 3, symbol DRAM represents a dynamic RAM, symbol FDC represents a floppy disc controller, symbol FDD represents a floppy disc device, and symbol CPU represents the central processing unit. Symbol DRQ is a data request signal output from the FDC to the CPU, while symbols RD and WT respectively represent the read and write signals output from the CPU to the FDC.
In reference to the flowchart of the CPU operation shown in FIG. 3, operations of the circuit shown in the block diagram are described below. During step S1, if the floppy disc controller (FDC) outputs a data request signal (DRQ=High) to the CPU, the mode then proceeds to step S2 where the contents of the address designated dynamic RAM (DRAM) are loaded into the CPU. After being temporarily stored in the CPU, said contents are then sent to the floppy disc controller (FDC) during the next step S3. This operation is continuously executed until all the contents of the dynamic RAM (DRAM) loaded in the CPU are completely transmitted to the floppy disc controller (FDC) during the next step S4. In this case, such a floppy disc controller can consist of a microprocessor. If any of the single side floppy discs is used as the floppy disc controller (FDC), all the data contained in the dynamic RAM (DRAM) must be fed to the floppy disc controller within 32 microseconds from the time the data request signal (DRQ) is received. This corresponds to the processing period covering steps S1 through S3 shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2. These processes are actually executed within about 30 microseconds. Using a programmed system like this, when transmitting the data contents of the dynamic RAM (DRAM) temporarily stored in the CPU to the floppy disc controller (FDC), a when such contents output from the dynamic RAM are being fed to the CPU, if this timing coincides with the period of the "burst mode refreshing process", the CPU will be obliged to stand by for a long time, and as a result, the necessary data stored in the CPU cannot be written into the floppy disc controller within the predetermined period of time. To prevent this, if the refreshing process is stopped, the period between refreshes of the RAM which should normally last 2 microseconds will run out, and as a result, the data contents remaining in the dynamic RAM will eventually be destroyed.


a) Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a front sole holding device according to the preamble of claim 1.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solar battery controller.
2. Description of Related Art
A technique of calculating a maximum power point in solar battery arrays in total by connecting the solar battery arrays, which are connected in series to each other, to monitoring solar batteries corresponding to the number of solar battery arrays in parallel and detecting short-circuit currents of the monitoring solar batteries and open-circuit voltages of the solar battery arrays is known (for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 61-281316 (JP 61-281316 A)).
However, in the technique described in JP 61-281316 A, the timing of detecting the short-circuit currents of the monitoring solar batteries and the open-circuit voltages of the solar battery arrays is not described. Accordingly, when a solar battery module is mounted on a moving object, the maximum power point calculating timing cannot be appropriately set and thus there is a possibility that an increase in computational load or a delay in the maximum power point calculating timing will occur.


Power management is used in many devices and systems to improve power efficiency, helping to reduce power consumption and/or heat dissipation. For battery-powered mobile devices and systems, power management can help extend operation.
Some platform-level power management may place a processor and/or a chipset into a lower power state which can impact input/output (I/O) performance. As one example where a platform supports bus mastering, an I/O device may initiate a data transfer to system memory when a processor and chipset are in a lower power state. The processor and chipset would have to return to a normal operating state to complete the data transfer and therefore introduce delay which reduces performance.
The figures of the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.


Particulate matter may be present in the exhaust of some engines, diesel engines for example. Vehicle tailpipe emissions may be reduced by installing particulate filters and particulate matter sensors in vehicle exhaust systems. One particular type of particulate sensor senses particulate matter by electrodes separated by a dielectric gap. When particulate matter bridges the gap between electrodes, the resistance and conductance of the particulate matter sensor is changed.
The above-mentioned sensor may under some conditions experience degradation. For example, a wire connecting the particulate matter sensor to an engine controller may become disconnected or holes in a protective shield may become partially plugged. In such circumstances it may be desirable to determine whether or not the particulate matter sensor is operating as desired. However, it may be difficult to establish sensor degradation because the particulate sensor exhibits a high resistance when there is little particulate matter between the positive and negative electrodes. Thus, the particulate sensor output may appear to look like an open circuit. Therefore, it may be difficult to distinguish a properly operating particulate sensor from an open circuit. One embodiment of the present description includes a method for detecting a degraded particulate matter sensor, comprising: starting an engine when a temperature of said engine is less than a threshold temperature; and indicating degradation of said particulate matter sensor in response to an output of said particulate matter sensor being below a threshold, said output related to water vapor in exhaust gases generated by said engine during said starting of said engine.
Thus, by recognizing that the output of a particulate matter sensor may be affected by water vapor contained in engine exhaust gases, the inventors herein have developed a way to diagnose a resistive particulate sensor that exhibits characteristics of an open circuit when the particulate sensor is operating properly in the presence of little particulate matter. For example, the particulate sensor can be monitored during an engine start when water in the exhaust may cause a change in the state of the output of the particulate sensor. If the output of the particulate sensor does not increase above a threshold level, it may be judged that the particulate matter sensor is degraded.
The present description may provide several advantages. Specifically, the approach may improve engine emissions by allowing degraded sensors to be replaced before engine emissions degrade. Further, special hardware for monitoring or stimulating the particulate sensor may not be required because the method may be performed with the hardware that controls the particulate heater and senses the particulate sensor output. As a result, system cost may be reduced.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.


The prostaglandins are a group of hormone-like substances which may be viewed as derivatives of prostanoic acid. Several prostaglandins are found widely distributed in mammalian tissue and have been isolated from this source. These prostaglandins have been shown to process a variety of biological properties such as bronchodilation, the ability to reduce gastric secretion, to modify muscle tone, as well as the ability to raise or lower blood pressure.
Various derivatives of prostaglandins have also been synthesized and reported. 9,15-Dihydroxy prost-13-enoic acid and methods of synthesis thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,432,541 and 3,455,922. 9-Oxo-15-hydroxy-15-methyl-prostanoic acid, 15-oxo-9-hydroxy-prostanoic acid, and 9,15-dioxo-prostanoic acid are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,671,570.
The present invention concerns new unsaturated 15-polycarbon(lower)alkyl, vinyl and benzyl 9-oxo-15-hydroxy-prostanoic acids and new intermediates thereto.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to valve systems of the type adapted to allow the introduction of a surgical instrument into a patient's body. In particular, the invention is applicable to a cannula assembly wherein a cannula housing includes the valve assembly and the cannula is intended for insertion into a patient's body to sealingly accommodate an instrument inserted through the cannula and valve.
2. Background of the Prior Art
In laparoscopic procedures surgery is performed in the interior of the abdomen through a small incision; in endoscopic procedures surgery is performed in any hollow viscus of the body through narrow tubes or cannula inserted through a small entrance incision in the skin. Laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures generally require that any instrumentation inserted into the body be sealed, i.e. provisions must be made to ensure that gases do not enter or exit the body through the incision as, for example, in surgical procedures in which the surgical region is isufflated. Moreover, laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures often require the surgeon to act on organs, tissues, and vessels far removed from the incision, thereby requiring that any instruments used in such procedures be relatively long and narrow.
For such procedures, the introduction of a tube into certain anatomical cavities such as the abdominal cavity is usually accomplished by use of a trocar assembly comprised of a cannula assembly and an obturator. The cannula assembly includes a cannula tube attached to a valve assembly which is adapted to maintain a seal across the opening of the cannula assembly. Since the cannula tube is in direct communication with the internal portion of the valve assembly, insertion of the cannula tube into an opening in the patient's body so as to reach the inner abdominal cavity must maintain a relatively gas-tight interface between the abdominal cavity and the outside atmosphere.
Since surgical procedures in the abdominal cavity of the body require insufflating gases to raise the cavity wall away from vital organs, the procedure is usually initiated by use of a Verres needle through which a gas such as CO2 is introduced into the body cavity. Thereafter, the pointed obturator of the trocar assembly is inserted into the cannula assembly and used to puncture the abdominal cavity wall. The gas provides a slight pressure which raises the inner wall surface away from the vital organs thereby avoiding unnecessary contact with the organs by the instruments inserted into the cannula. Following removal of the obturator, laparoscopic or endoscopic surgical instruments may then be inserted through the cannula assembly to perform surgery within the abdominal cavity.
In view of the need to prevent leakage of the insufflation gas from the cavity, the cannula is typically provided with a valve assembly which permits introduction of surgical instruments to provide selective communication between the inner atmosphere of the cavity with the outside atmosphere. In this regard, there have been a number of attempts in the prior art to provide such a seal as part of the cannula assembly.
One form of cannula valve assembly includes a flapper valve which is pivotally mounted within the cannula assembly and is automatically opened by the obturator or other object when it is inserted into the proximal end of the cannula. Conventional flapper valves may also be manually opened by pivoting a lever on the exterior of the housing. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,280 to Lander. Trumpet valves are also known.
Other conventional cannula valve devices for accommodating surgical instruments include a single or plurality of flexible sealing members as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,752 to Honkanen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,798 to Fleischhacker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,393 to Suzuki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,665 to Matsumoto et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,717 to Adair.
Further, typical hemostasis valve devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,095 to Littrell, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,745 to Guest et al.,
While attempts have been made to provide a valve assembly which maintains the integrity of the seal between the body cavity and the atmosphere outside the patient's body. Seal systems provided to date have failed to address the full range of surgeons' needs, especially when instruments varying in diameter are used. Specifically, sealing elements currently used may be damaged when an instrument, such as a pointed obturator is passed therethrough. Moreover, present seal systems have not provided adequate sealing about an instrument before and after an instrument is passed therethrough. Also, existing seal systems have failed to provide adequate sealing of a cannula, or a trocar assembly having a cannula which accommodates instruments of varying diameters. It is a further disadvantage of existing seal systems that adequate sealing is not provided in conjunction with a structure for holding a cannula in a desirable position in an incision with respect to a patient's body.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a valve assembly which addresses these shortcomings in the art by maintaining a substantially fluid tight seal between an internal portion of a patient's body and the outside atmosphere during insertion and manipulation of a surgical instrument into the patient's body. Such an assembly may further provide stabilization or lateral limitation of motion of an instrument passed therethrough. Also, the valve assembly may inhibit fluids from exiting with the instrument while being withdrawn, and the valve assembly may inhibit contact with sealing structure. It is further desirable to provide a valve assembly for use with a cannula or trocar assembly which provides substantial fluid and gas tight sealing before and after an instrument is passed therethrough. It would also be desirable to provide a cannula which maintains a predetermined position of a cannula or trocar assembly in an incision.
The present invention provides a valve assembly which may be incorporated into a cannula assembly or utilized in combination with any type of tubular member for providing access into the body of a patient while permitting introduction of instruments through the valve assembly into the body. The valve assembly includes a sealing gasket which provides a desirable seal about an instrument inserted through the valve assembly. The valve assembly may further provide stabilization of the cannula or limit lateral motion of the cannula when an instrument is passed therethrough. Also, the valve assembly may include more than one sealing element providing improved sealing qualities under varied conditions. At all times, the surgeon maintains control over the interface between the atmospheres within and without the patient's body. Moreover, the present invention makes it possible to introduce instruments of varying sizes into the body and insures the maintenance of a gas seal despite instrument manipulation therethrough.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to control devices, display devices and methods for controlling a display device.
2. Related Art
Among electrophoretic type display devices, there is a type that performs each rewriting operation by applying voltages multiple times. Such a rewriting operation may be performed when it takes a relatively long time for display elements to change their display state (i.e., gradation). When such a rewriting operation is performed, unless one rewriting operation is completed (in other words, unless the time for multiple voltage applications has elapsed), the next rewriting operation cannot be started.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application JP-A-2009-251615 (Patent Document) describes a technology for rewriting an image at each of divided regions by a pipeline processing in a display device such as an electrophoretic display device or the like. By using such a method, a rewriting operation can be started on a region where rewriting is not performed, without depending on the rewriting state of other regions, such that the time required for rewriting may be made shorter, compared to the case where the entire image is rewritten at once.
Incidentally, in an area of the electrophoretic display device where rewriting is performed a plurality of times, an afterimage of the image may remain due to operation failure of the electrophoretic particles. In order to erase such an afterimage, the entire target area is displayed in black or the entire target area is displayed in white, a so-called refreshing operation may be performed. However, according to the technology described in the Patent Document, partial refreshing is not described, but refreshing is performed over the entire display area. Therefore, while refreshing is performed, other rewriting operations are stopped.


The engine start system of the present invention generally relates to mechanical actuation of components used to start a turbojet engine in a more economical fashion than currently known systems.
A one-shot start system for a turbojet engine is typically comprised of a pyrotechnic device called an ignitor activated by an initiator. Initiators (often called squibs) are generally electroexplosive devices utilizing an electrically heated bridgewire to ignite an explosive charge. The bridgewire is designed to ignite the charge only when a specific level of current is applied across it by a firing circuit. Since the initiator is electrically activated, the bridgewire and associated firing circuit must be carefully designed to prevent accidental activation from exposure to external electromagnetic signals produced by equipment such as conventional radars. Manufacturing an initiator wherein the bridgewire is electrically heated at a very precise firing current requires strict manufacturing and quality control processes that tend to increase the cost of the device.
A bullet operates in an analogous fashion to the aforementioned ignitor. A sharp blow from the hammer of a gun mechanically fires an initiator, usually termed a primer. The primer then ignites a gunpowder charge which propels the bullet down a gun's barrel. The primer serves the same actuation function for a bullet as the bridgewire initiator does for an ignitor. However, unlike the initiator, the primer is a percussion-activated device. As such, it is much cheaper to produce than the initiator since it has no critical electronic components. Additionally, the primer used in a bullet is not susceptible to accidental activation from electromagnetic radiation as evidenced by the longstanding practice of using conventional bullets in combat aircraft applications. The use of a percussion primer initiator for turbojet engine start system will substantially reduce overall system cost.
Most known turbojet engines utilize an electric fuel pump to meter fuel into an engine combustor. Engines using through-shaft fuel induction may utilize a low pressure fuel delivery system in conjunction with a pressurized fuel tank. This obviates the need for a high pressure fuel delivery device such as a pump. A low pressure fuel injector, for example an automotive injector, may be used in place of a metering fuel pump.
Conventional automotive injectors are typically operated by a solenoid actuated valve. These valves may be opened and closed by a pulse width modulated signal (PWM) which varies the valve actuation time by varying the signal pulse duration. (See for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,174, assigned to assignee of the present invention.) Fuel delivery systems using automotive type injectors have proven acceptable for use in turbojet engines when operating at pulse frequencies of 60 to 140 hertz. Automotive injectors are readily available, durable, and very cost effective when compared to metering pumps.


Metal, ferroelectrics, oxide, and silicon (MFOS) transistor ferroelectric memory devices have been proposed in the related applications. In order to provide a MFOS transistor memory device having desirable characteristics, the oxide must not react with nor diffuse into the ferroelectric and silicon substrate. On the other hand, ferroelectric thin films deposited on an oxide layer should have good ferroelectric properties for use in a memory transistor. Homogeneous ferroelectric thin films having desirable ferroelectric properties are difficult to deposit on gate oxides because of the interface mismatch between the high-k gate oxide and the ferroelectric materials. The mismatch results in random ferroelectric, such as PGO, thin films and coarser surface roughness. Seed layer processes have been developed for MFOS transistor ferroelectric memory applications to resolve the interface mismatch.


1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to the regulation of the growth of aquatic weeds in canals, rivers, ponds, lakes and impoundments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The problems of controlling or regulating the growth of organisms in aqueous systems are series and growing in severity. Submerged aquatic weeds, for example, cause major problems in water distribution and irrigation systems. The growth of such weeds in irrigation canals greatly reduces the conductivity and capacity of such systems with resulting substantial economic loss. Large sums are spent in the mechanical and other methods of removal of weed growths from irrigation canals, especially in the western parts of the United States. Because of the great difficulties involved in the mechanical removal of weeds and other undesired forms of aquatic life from irrigation canals, ponds, lakes, impoundments, etc., it has been proposed to utilize chemical control. Accordingly, various types of chemicals have been added to such bodies of water.
However, with the growing emphasis on conservation, current efforts are directed toward regulating the growth, that is limiting or inhibiting the amount of growth accomplished by the naturally occurring submerged or floating aquatic weeds, without killing those weeds. This approach is being taken in order to continue to provide the natural environment for fish and other forms of marine life. A further reason is to avoid the masses of dead and rotting aquatic weeds which result when said weeds are killed by means of an aquatic herbicide, since the decomposition of the weeds decreases the amount of available oxygen present in the water. Such decaying matter, when it occurs in reservoirs and/or streams from which drinking water for cities is obtained, makes purification of the water much more difficult. Such decaying vegetation also gives off an unpleasant odor when it collects in a body of water. Thus, a control of the amount of growth rather than a destruction of the submerged aquatic weeds serves to overcome both pollution of the water and pollution of the air.
In the prior art, Krumkalns et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,359 Apr. 11, 1972), teach and claim the use of substituted 3-pyridylmethanes for eliminating germinating weed grasses and broadleaf weeds selectively from crop plants such as corn, cotton, and soybeans, and their close relatives in the plant kingdom. I have found many of the compounds appearing in this reference useful for the regulation of the growth of aquatic weeds and they come within the scope of the compounds used in the present invention. There is no teaching in the reference that the compounds disclosed therein would act to control the growth of submerged or floating aquatic weeds.
Also in the prior art, Krumkalns et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,988 (July 10, 1973), teach and claim the use of substituted 3-pyridylmethanes in a method for inhibiting sucker growth to tobacco plants. This patent is a division of U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,359, supra, and includes in its disclosure many of the same compounds disclosed in that patent. There is no teaching in the reference that the compounds disclosed therein would act to control the growth of submerged or floating aquatic weeds.
Van Heyningen, U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,224 (Aug. 6, 1968), teaches and claims a method of controlling fungi pathogenic to plants by contacting the fungus-susceptible plant with a fungicidal amount of a 3-pyridylmethane derivative, mainly a 3-pyridinemethanol. I have found many of the compounds disclosed in this reference active as aquatic plant growth regulators, and they are included within the scope of the instant application. There is no teaching in this reference that the compounds disclosed would be active as aquatic growth regulators of submerged or floating aquatic weeds.
Van Heyningen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,273 (Aug. 13, 1968), teach and claim a method for protecting plants from attack by phytopathogenic fungi by treating the plants with a fungicidally-effective amount of a 3-pyridylmethane. Some of the compounds disclosed by this reference have now been found by me to be active as aquatic growth regulators, and their use for that purpose is disclosed and claimed in the instant application. This reference makes no suggestion that the therein disclosed compounds would be active as growth regulators of submerged or floating aquatic weeds.
Krumkalns, U.S. Pat. No. 3,335,148 (Aug. 8, 1967), discloses and claims the 9-(3-pyridyl) derivative of fluorene, 9-fluorenol, xanthene, 9-xanthenol, and the corresponding nonphytotoxic acid addition salts thereof. The compounds are alleged to posses antifungal and antibacterial activities. I have now found some of the compounds to be active as aquatic growth regulators, and such compounds are included for that use in the instant application. There is no teaching or suggestion in this reference that the compounds would be active as growth regulators of submerged or floating aquatic weeds.
Yet another reference, Krumkalns, U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,753 (Jan. 2, 1968), is directed to 9-(3-pyridyl)-thioxanthene and thioxanthol derivatives, active as plant antifungal agents and as antibacterial agents. There is no teaching that the compounds of this reference would be active as regulators of the growth of submerged or floating aquatic weeds.
Another reference is German Pat. No. 1,935,292, also identified by Derwent No. 04548S, which patent teaches and claims a means for controlling plant growth, that is restraining growth and influencing the habits of higher plants, influencing blossom and fruit formation, checking the growth of grass, and the like, using triarymethylimidazoles, -pyrazoles, and -triazoles, or their salts. One of the aryl groups is taught as pyridyl. The reference does not include use on aquatic weeds or plants.
Yet another reference is British Patent No. 1,274,578, also identified by Derwent No. 23143S. This reference teaches plant growth regulators containing N-benzylimidazoles, wherein one of the substituents is a pyridyl group. These compounds are alleged to be plant growth regulators capable of inhibiting or accelerating growth, flowering, and fruiting, according to the amount applied. Certain of the compounds are also alleged to be plant fungicides and bactericides.


Tie-downs for mounting objects on motor vehicle frames are well known. Such tie downs are often provided for fixed installation to the frame, or to the underside of a vehicle (such as a pick-up truck), for securing a load (such as a camper) to the vehicle frame. Generally, four such tie downs are installed on a vehicle for securing the camper to the pick-up truck's bed at or near all four corners. The currently used tie downs known to me generally include a cantilevered telescoping arm projecting horizontally from a secure position on the vehicle frame. Such prior art tie downs include a rigid support member projecting perpendicularly from an outer sleeve of a cantilevered telescoping arm to fixedly attach to a point on the underside of the vehicle to brace the tie down when the load is secured. Also, such tie downs include a chain having one end pliantly attached to the end of the telescoping arm opposite the frame mount and the other end free for fixedly attaching to the load, such as a camper, to secure it to the vehicle. The load is secured to the vehicle by tensioning the chain using, for example, a turnbuckle. Thus tensioned, the chain is a rigid member unable to relieve sudden loads, such as those caused by shifting of the camper relative to the truck bed. Such sudden load, when not relieved, may exceed the stress-bearing capabilities of the joints mounting the tie downs to the vehicle and may loosen the joints and/or damage either or both of the vehicle and the tie downs. While a spring-loaded turnbuckle is known, it is a separate assembly from the tie down and forms no part of the tie down.
It is a drawback that the currently utilized tie downs must be professionally installed by qualified mechanics, primarily since they are provided from the factory in a single embodiment or configuration which requires drilling of additional mounting holes in the vehicle frame. The drilling of such holes in or adjacent to highly loaded or specially hardened steel frame members requires equipment and a skill level ordinarily available only to the professional installer. Furthermore, the warranties provided by many vehicle manufacturers might be violated or voided by the addition of such holes in the vehicle frame members. Therefore, such considerations severely limit the practical application of the known tie downs, as well as effectively prevent their distribution by mail order.
Undesirably, many tie downs also interfere with use of the vehicle even when the load is not present. This is because rigid support members projecting perpendicularly from the outer sleeve of the cantilevered telescoping arm places the tie down in a position beneath the vehicle in a manner that may interfere with steps, bars and other platforms attached to many vehicles for ease of entry and exit. Fixed position tie downs may also interfere with use of the vehicle off-road, because they are positioned below the vehicle, near the ground, and may encounter brush, stumps, rocks and other low lying obstacles.


1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to techniques for measuring levels of chemical compounds found in biological tissue. More specifically, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for the noninvasive detection and measurement of levels of carotenoids and related chemical substances in biological tissue, which can be used as a diagnostic aid in assessing antioxidant status and detecting malignancy diseases or risk thereof.
2. The Relevant Technology
Carotenoids are plant pigments available from the diet which have important functions in the human body. The role of carotenoids in human health is a rapidly expanding area of research. Much carotenoid research has focused on their role as precursors to retinoids or vitamin A, but current research is also being conducted on other functions of carotenoids. These include antioxidant activities, modulation of the immune response, cell-to-cell communication and gap junction modulation.
It has been demonstrated that carotenoids offer some degree of biologic protection against the formation of malignancies in various tissues. For example, carotenoids have been shown in animal models to prevent carcinoma formation in tissues such as skin, salivary gland, mammary gland, liver, and colon. In addition, low levels of carotenoids and related substances such as retinoids have been assessed as high risk factors for malignant lesions. For example, having low levels of the carotenoid lycopene has been associated with prostate and cervical cancer; the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene with lung cancer; and beta-carotene with oral cancer. Therefore, quantitatively measuring the chemical concentrations of these carotenoids, retinoids and other related substances provides an indicator of the risk or presence of cancer.
The most common cancer in the United States is skin cancer. Despite attempts at patient education, skin cancer rates continue to rise. Methods to provide detection of the levels of chemicals which are associated with skin related malignancies are of great assistance to physicians and medical personnel in the early diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer.
It has been theorized that carotenoids in the skin provide biologic protection from cutaneous malignancy. Most findings, however, have been somewhat compromised by the fact that concentrations of carotenoids in skin and skin malignancies were never measured directly, with data on levels of carotenoids in patients being derived only indirectly from blood plasma.
Prior methods used to detect the presence of chemicals associated with skin cancer have mainly been through the analysis of tissues obtained by biopsies or other invasive procedures. The standard method presently used for measuring carotenoids is through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques. Such techniques require that large amounts of tissue sample be removed from the patient for subsequent analysis and processing, which typically takes at least twenty four hours to complete. In the course of these types of analyses, the tissue is damaged, if not completely destroyed. Therefore, a noninvasive and more rapid technique for measurement is preferred.
A noninvasive method for the measurement of carotenoid levels in the macular tissue of the eye is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,831, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, in which levels of carotenoids and related substances are measured by a technique known as Raman spectroscopy. This is a technique which can identify the presence and concentration (provided proper calibration is performed) of certain chemical compounds. In this technique, nearly monochromatic light is incident upon the sample to be measured, and the inelastically scattered light which is of a different frequency than the incident light is detected and measured. The frequency shift between the incident and scattered light is known as the Raman shift, and the shift corresponds to an energy which is the "fingerprint" of the vibrational or rotational energy state of certain molecules. Typically, a molecule exhibits several characteristic Raman active vibrational or rotational energy states, and the measurement of the molecule's Raman spectrum thus provides a fingerprint of the molecule, i.e., it provides a molecule-specific series of spectrally sharp vibration or rotation peaks. The intensity of the Raman scattered light corresponds directly to the concentration of the molecule(s) of interest.
One difficulty associated with Raman spectroscopy is the very low signal intensity which is inherent to Raman scattered light. It is well known that the scattered light intensity scales with the frequency raised to the fourth power. The weak Raman signal must be distinguished from Rayleigh scattered light, which is elastically scattered light of the same frequency as the incident light and which constitutes a much greater fraction of the total scattered light. The Raman signal can be separated from Rayleigh scattered light through the use of filters, gratings, or other wavelength separation devices; however, this can have the effect of further weakening the measured Raman signal through the additional attenuation which can occur when the light passes through a wavelength separation device. In practice, the Raman scattered light is extremely difficult to detect. One might attempt to increase the Raman signal by increasing the incident laser power on the tissue sample, but this can cause burning or degradation of the sample.
In order to overcome some of these difficulties, a technique known as resonance Raman spectroscopy has been used, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,831, referenced hereinabove. Such a technique is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,483, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. In resonance Raman spectroscopy, the incident illumination utilized has a frequency which corresponds to the resonance frequency corresponding to electronic energy transitions of the molecules of interest. This has the effect of strongly enhancing the Raman output signal without using a higher intensity input signal, thereby avoiding damage to the sample which can be caused by laser burning. Also, these resonance Raman signals have much higher intensity than off-resonance Raman signals which are virtually invisible. Therefore, in resonance Raman spectroscopy only those Raman signals which belong to the species of interest are obtained.
In the above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,831, the resonance Raman technique is used to measure the levels of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, two chemicals which are associated with healthy macular tissue of the human eye. The above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,483 uses resonance Raman spectroscopy to measure certain carotenoids in blood plasma, and suggests the use of the ratios of the intensities of the Raman spectral peaks as a method of indicating the presence of various malignancy diseases.
Yet another difficulty associated with Raman measurements is that the substances of interest in the skin not only scatter incident light, but can absorb and subsequently fluoresce with substantial intensity. This fluorescence often comprises a very strong, broad signal which tends to "drown out" or overwhelm the Raman spectral peaks, thereby making identification and quantification of the substances of interest practically impossible.
Fluorescence spectroscopy is itself another technique which can be used to measure amounts of chemical compounds in biological tissue. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,373 discloses use of fluorescence and/or Raman spectroscopy to detect tissue abnormality in the cervix. The disadvantage of fluorescence measurements is that since many different molecules fluoresce in broad bands of frequencies, such measurements cannot be used to conclusively identify the presence or concentration of a particular substance.
It would therefore be a significant advance to provide a method and apparatus for the safe, noninvasive, rapid, accurate, and specific measurement of the levels of carotenoids and other similar chemical compounds which are present in varying degrees in biological tissues, and to use this information to aid in the assessment of cancer risk or disease risk in all types of biological tissue.


1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to containers, such as for example corrugated containers, paperboard containers, etc. having tear lines and blanks for making such containers. It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the word container is being used broadly to include, but not be limited to boxes, cartons, bags etc. and not limited in anyway to the material used.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Today, many types of containers have been developed for the attractive packaging of articles, such as food products, drug items, cosmetics, and the like. Conventionally, the containers are formed from a one-piece blank of material which is cut, scored and folded to produce a generally rectangularly shaped box.
The art is replete with various other designs of cartons, which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. D436,859 to Botsford et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,884 to Podosek; U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,749 to Bozich; U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,833 to Desrosiers et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,277 to Krapohl, Sr.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,351 to Gibb; U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,262 to Boriani et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,941 to Tokarski; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,557 to Aubry et al.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,749 to Bozich, for example, teaches a carton that includes a front panel, a back panel, and side panels. The carton includes a top panel and a bottom panel. The carton includes a tear line extending about the periphery of the carton. The tear line extends into a gripper used by a consumer (not shown) to tear the tear line to expose the carton to an open top as a top cover is removed from the carton. A display section is defined in the front panel and can be separated from the front panel by a perforation or tear line. All items contained in the carton are exposed to and are accessible to the consumer when the top cover is removed from the carton. The items are only available for display purposes when the display section is severed from the front panel.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,277 to Krapohl, Sr., for example, teaches a carton having a front panel, a back panel, and side panels. The carton includes a top panel and a bottom panel. The carton includes a tear line extending about periphery of the carton. The tear line extends into a gripper used by a consumer to tear the tear line to expose the carton to a first opening as the bottom of the carton is removed. The top panel is defined by a pair of flaps with each flap being integral with and extending from the front panel and the back panel, respectively. The flaps are mechanically interconnected with one another and present a second opening. The carton is designed for holding a bag containing perishable goods. One of the most common problems associated with the prior art patents is a configuration of the perforations or slits along the tear line, which results in the corners, defined between the front, back, and side panels, being damaged and deformed.
There is a constant need in the area of the packaging industry for an improved carton adaptable for dual dispensing of a product contained therein at a user's preference and an improved configuration of the perforations or slits along the tear line.


This application is related to the below listed co-pending patent applications which are filed on even date herewith, are assigned to the same assignee, and are incorporated herein in their entirety by these references:
An application entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus For Interactively Selecting Display Parameters For An Avionics Flight Displayxe2x80x9d by Sarah Barber, Norm W. Arons, and George W. Palmer;
An application entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus For Interactively Selecting, Controlling and Displaying Parameters For An Avionics Radio Tuning Unitxe2x80x9d by George W. Palmer, Claude Eyssautier, and Matt Smith;
An application entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus For Interactively Displaying A Route Window For A Flight Management Systemxe2x80x9d by Gary L. Owen, Sarah Barber, and George W. Palmer; and
An application entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus For Graphically Inserting Waypoints For A Flight Management Systemxe2x80x9d by Martin Pauly.
The present invention generally relates to avionics, and more particularly relates to avionics display systems, and even more particularly relates to multi-functional electronic flight display systems.
In the past, designers of avionics displays and flight deck electronic navigation, control and communication systems have endeavored to achieve a reduction in pilot workload. One area of concern has been the control of new large-sized multi-functional displays (MFDs), which typically requires a significant amount of xe2x80x9cheads-downxe2x80x9d time. This xe2x80x9cheads-downxe2x80x9d time occurs when the pilot is neither looking at the primary flight displays, nor out the wind screen, but instead is focused upon a task in an oblique direction, such as when manually controlling the information content of these MFDs via a separate controller, which may or may not be co-located with the MFDs and may have an integrated keypad or tuning knob console. Another approach has been proposed in which MFDs are segmented into smaller viewing areas and are controlled via a single pop-up, cursor-driven menu in the center of the MFD. The pilot can select from several predetermined options. Depending on the predetermined size of each instrument function to be displayed, earlier selected functions may be either removed from the view, and/or shifted to a new position on the MFD. While these alternate means of controlling MFDs have clear advantages, they also have significant drawbacks.
During times of moderate and severe turbulence, otherwise very simple tasks can become too difficult and too time consuming. For example, the step of requiring a pilot to look for or mentally keep track of the shifting location of each previously displayed instrument function is undesirable. Requiring the pilot""s attention to be diverted to a side-mounted display to operate a separate controller may also be undesirable in certain circumstances. In general, during take-off and approach, the workload on a pilot can already be extreme, leaving the pilot with little or no time to spare. Any additional effort, at an already busy time, is quite undesirable.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and apparatuses for effecting the operation of electronic flight instruments in an aircraft which overcome some of these shortcomings.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved avionics electronic flight display system.
It is a feature of the present invention to include a segmented forward-mounted multi-functional display with enhanced menu display capabilities, including localized pop-up menus which appear in each segment upon clicking in such segment.
It is another feature of the present invention to include a graphical user interface which allows for automatic vertical expansion/compression of a segment of an electronic flight instrument display.
It is yet another feature of the present invention to include a manual expansion/compression feature.
It is still yet another feature of the present invention to include automatic presentation of a one-click toggle feature, for linking to a hidden page, when an expanded display segment is compressed.
It is even another feature of the present invention to include a feature to prohibit simultaneously displaying the same instrument in two or more display segments.
It is an advantage of the present invention to reduce pilot workload.
It is another advantage of the present invention to enhance pilot situational awareness.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for selecting, controlling and displaying parameters for an avionics electronic flight display system, which is designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, provide the previously stated objects, include the above-listed features, and achieve the already articulated advantages. The present invention is carried out in a xe2x80x9cheads down-lessxe2x80x9d manner in a sense that the undesirable requirement for the pilot""s attention to be diverted from the primary flight displays is reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention is an avionics multi-functional display with enhanced menuing capabilities and operating in innovative ways so as to reduce pilot xe2x80x9cheads-downxe2x80x9d time.